Mom and Dad's First Bath

Since Gage didn't like his bath at the hospital I was dreading his first bath at home! I couldn't stand the thought of making him cry. Craig was such a trooper and just dug right in and got to business. Gage didn't do too bad. He only fussed a little. I fussed a lot. Poor Craig! We have decided that Craig will be the bath giver from now on. :-)

Just as we got him undressed Gage decided to give us a little "shower" of our own! Daddy was quick and covered him up.

How many hands does it take to give a sponge bath??

Almost done!

Ahh, so nice to be clean, and warm and cozy again!

Grandma Mary..."GrandMary"

Grandma Mary, or sometimes "GrandMary", came to help take care of Gage and me after we got home from the hospital. It was such a blessing to have her help with cooking, cleaning, laundry and holding Gage! She came on Thursday night and left the next Wednesday morning. We were sad to see her go!

Coming Home

Gage is ready to go!

After 2 1/2 days in the hospital, it was time to go home. I was very ready for my own bed but felt sad to leave the comfort of the hospital! We had many wonderful nurses throughout our stay, but Marilyn, our discharge nurse was absolutely the best! She spent so much time with us helping us with breastfeeding and preparing us for going home. Another nurse gave Gage a bath, which he didn't like very much. But he did enjoy his time warming up under the warmer!

It was time for us to go. Craig got the car and the nurse and I walked out with Gage. I felt tears welling up in my throat as so many feelings were coming over me. It seemed like ages since we had come into the hospital. I felt surprisingly disappointed that it was over. The day, the moment that I had been looking forward to had come and gone and now we were going home. I never expected to feel sad it was over! While I was pregnant I couldn't wait until it was over and I had my baby!

Two different perspectives...
The minute Craig started the car a talk radio program came on and Craig said, "This is how it's going to be buddy...you and me listening to talk radio in the car." I was sitting in the back seat with Gage, feeling so emotional and trying to hold it together. Along our route home I would have a thought and burst into tears telling Craig things like, "I just feel so much closer to my friends who have had kids now..." And Craig would be saying things like, "Look Gage, there's Jack Trice Stadium where we're going to be spending lots of time together!" Me: "I didn't think I would, but I miss being pregnant..." More crying. Craig (after listening to me and doing his best to comfort): "There's Reiman Gardens where we will take you someday!" All of a sudden I started to laugh at how different we were dealing with coming home from the hospital! Thank goodness for my cute and sweet husband who helps balance me.

Gage is home!

Hospital Visitors

Cousin Will

Unfortunately they don't allow children under 14 to visit the baby so he had to see Gage through the nursery window.

GrandMary and Aunt Holly (Uncle Craig kept Will occupied in the lounge.)

Grandpa Mac

Kate and Martie ~ came at the same time!

Danielle

Brent

Nate & Christina

Tracy

It's Time...(from Heidi's perspective)

Nesting
Saturday, January 3rd started out a typical "pregnant" morning. I awoke with some contractions that went away shortly after getting up. I was growing very anxious with each passing day to have my baby so I decided I was going to walk walk walk, even if only around the house! I did laundry, cleaned and organized, anything I could think of to keep moving.

Contractions...
That afternoon I took a little nap and felt those nagging contractions again so I got up and moved around, only this time they did not go away. By this point Craig was getting a little used to me saying "This could be it!" so he patiently timed them for me. They were 12 minutes apart and growing increasingly painful. I didn't expect to have such intense pain so early in labor so I called First Nurse to confirm they were in fact contractions.

A Surprise!
I expected the nurse to tell me they were contractions but keep watching them and call back when they were 3-5 minutes apart. So I was greatly surprised when she told me we should come into the hospital now and she would be letting the birthing floor know we were coming. What?! It's time? Due to my symptoms and the incoming ice storm at the time she felt we shouldn't stay home much longer.

Emotions
This was it! With tears in my throat I went downstairs to tell Craig. I could see the panic-fear-excitement in his eyes but he remained calm and comforting and we stood there and held each other. I couldn't believe after all the waiting it was finally time. I actually finished the laundry (couldn't let that load stay in the washer for 3 days!) and my packing while Craig referred to our checklist. We were busy little beavers moving around the house getting ready! About 30 minutes later we were on our way.

On our way to the hospital
I didn't realize just how icy the roads were. Although my heart was in my throat as we were sliding all over the place on the side streets, I think I was less uptight than usual in bad weather since I had other things on my mind! I was focused on getting through the increasingly close contractions. By this point they had quickly reached 5 minutes apart, lasting about 30 seconds. We prayed on the way asking God for a healthy and smooth delivery, safety for our baby, and a good staff at the hospital. I would later find out that God would answer all of our prayers! Craig asked if I would mind if we stopped at Burger King on the way because he was hungry. I knew that the baby wasn't going to be "falling out" anytime soon, and more importantly I know how my hubby gets when he is hungry, so I said sure. I was soon to become not quite so agreeable...

We made it!
Craig was happy he got his food and I was happy to make it to the hospital without getting into an accident! We went up to the 4th floor, the birthing unit, and they were ready and waiting for us. My regular OB was not on call that night but I was fortunate enough to have a doctor that I knew! Dr. Malaki is married to someone I know and we had met before. After monitoring me for about an hour Dr. Malaki declared that my contractions were steadily 2 minutes apart so we would not be sent home. What a relief! 8-) So the journey begins...

Working toward the prize
The contractions were more painful than I imagined! Craig was so sweet to try to comfort me through them but I had to tell him, "Don't look at me, don't talk to me, don't touch me" during a contraction. We tried walking the halls and some other relaxation techniques we learned in our birthing class. I really wanted to try to deliver naturally but after about 5 hours of enduring the pain and only being dilated to 2cm I decided I needed some rest! So an epidural was ordered and I soon got some relief by midnight! I was able to sleep through most of the night with checks from the nurse and Dr. here and there. I was taken such good care of. We knew Dr. Malaki's shift ended at 8am. At about 5 he told us that he really hoped to deliver our baby! By 7 I was dilated to 10! So the pushing (soon) began! The next 2 1/2 hours were the most exhausting I think I have ever endured. It seemed as if I was working so hard and not getting anywhere. After what seemed an eternity Dr. Malaki said those beautiful words, "Stop pushing!" I knew our baby was just on the brink of coming out! Craig and I looked at each other with such joy and relief! Our baby would soon be with us!

Gage William Engelbrecht
At 10:41 on Sunday morning, Dr. Malaki still with us, I gave one more push and could feel our baby come into the world! What a beautiful feeling! My first question was, "Is it a boy or a girl??" Dr. Malaki and Craig both waited for me to find out for myself...The nurse laid a BOY on my chest!! He was so perfect. I couldn't hold back the tears. A boy, just what I was hoping for. Craig and I had 3 names picked out for a boy that we could just not narrow down ahead of time. We decided to wait until we saw him (if it was a him) to pick one. We looked him over then looked at each other and both said, "Gage!" After nine long months our little boy had arrived.

It's a BOY!!!

Gage William Engelbrecht has joined our family at 10:41am Sunday January 4th, 2009. Heidi and I are so proud. It looks like he might be our future basketball player coming in at 8 lbs 13 oz and 22 inches long. He is such a bundle of joy (at least right now when he is sleeping more than crying :-).

It was a long Saturday night and Sunday. Heidi started having some sporadic contractions Saturday morning. They became regular, every 12 minutes, around 4pm. By 5pm they were getting closer so Heidi called First Nurse to see if they thought it was real contractions. They thought we should go ahead and come into the hospital. Almost immediately after getting off the phone the contractions were only 5 minutes apart. So we scrambled to finish packing and head out into the ice storm and ice covered roads. On the way to the hospital it dawned on me that I was starving and I wouldn't have much of a chance to eat when we got there, so my wonderful wife allowed me to go through Burger King drive through to get some food. She is so great! We did arrive safe at about 6pm, just a little sliding on the way.

They put us into a "holding" room and hooked Heidi up to see if it was the real deal and or if we should go home for awhile. By this time her contractions were only 1-2 minutes apart but we found out that she was only 2cm dilated (a LONG way from 10). They went ahead and checked us in at 7pm but we knew we were in for a long night. Heidi was a trooper through the contractions even though they remained around 1-3 minutes apart for several hours. By 11pm she was still at 2cm so she decided to get an epidural.

She finally received the epidural by midnight to give her some relief of the continuous contractions. She was still at 2 cm so they decided to break her water and start giving some potosin to help her start dilating. By 1am Heidi was finally starting to nod off and get some rest and I was finally able to raid the vending machines to get some food again. We were fortunate enough to get the only remodeled room that includes a couch that somewhat fits me so I was able to get some shut eye as well. We got 20 min here, 25 min there of sleep for several hours.

At 6:55 am Heidi was finally dilated to 10cm but the doctor wanted the baby to drop some more before she started pushing. At 8am Heidi started pushing. Every 2-3 minutes until 9:55 she pushed. She was exhausted (so was I but what can I say when I wasn't the one trying to get a 9 lb baby out!). The doctor decided to let her rest for 10 minutes and she quickly fell asleep. At 10:05 she started pushing again. The doctor and nurse were out of the room at the time so I ended up being the only coach! When the doctor came back he said that at hour 3 of pushing (by 11am) if she wasn't progressing we would have to start looking at a C-Section.

Talk about motivation along with a little rest! With the words C-Section, Heidi started pushing extra hard and boy did her hard work pay off. At 10:41 we became proud new parents.

Wow, God is so good and amazing. What an amazing, intelligent design of a child. What an amazing gift from him. Praise and glory go to him.

Today is "D" Day!

December 30, 2008...our baby's due date! There is still time, but I have a feeling our little one is not coming into the world today.

I have a stubborn baby!

We had our Week 40 pre-natal appt. this morning and since today is our due date my doctor wanted me to have a fetal monitoring test to make sure there are no problems and she can let me go overdue. In the waiting area Baby E was rocking and rolling inside my belly! But of course once I went back and had the belts strapped around my middle, "clicker" in hand for every time I felt movement, it all stopped! There was no kicking, moving, or even hiccuping, the feelings I endure all day long! So the nurse eventually had to "buzz" my belly with a loud noise device which startled the baby to kick once, then nothing for a long time! I told Craig I wasn't surprised, we have a stubborn baby! Anytime I have wanted someone to feel a kick or see a "roll" our little Sprout just will not do it. Craig's response was, "Well we know who he (or she) takes after." I'm assuming he means himself...

We Made It Past Christmas!

Yay! No baby born on Christmas!! That was one of my worries, even as special as it would be to share a birthday with Jesus! Our Christmas was very quiet this year, just Craig and me. On Christmas morning Craig woke me up like a little boy would his parents (such a kid at heart!). He read Luke's account of Jesus' birth to me, we gave great thanks and then opened our gifts to each other.

We did open one gift on Christmas Eve...

a diaper bag that Craig will be proud to carry, a blanket, bottle, pacifier, hat and booties...Our child is destined to be a Cyclone fan!

On Saturday we joyfully celebrated with my sister, her hubby Craig (yes 2 Craigs in the family!) son Will, and my dad. It was great to have some interaction with family! We played games

opened gifts

relaxed

and broke rocking chairs!

What a fun time! My dad and sister kept watch for any signs of contractions...they were hoping for some action while they were here! Unfortunately it didn't happen, but tomorrow (Dec. 30th) is my "due date"...so it's bound to be SOON!

Am I Going to Miss Being Pregnant?

As the end draws near Craig has asked me a few times, "You're going to miss being pregnant aren't you?"

I really haven't been able to give him a good answer, due to the fact that it has been wonderful but there is so much I am looking forward to after the baby is born! It is amazing that in 9 short months I have forgotten what it is like to not-be-pregnant. So I decided I must ponder the past several months, all of the ups and downs, joys and "inconveniences", and list them all so we will never forget!

My Joys of Pregnancy:
1. Watching my belly grow!
2. Laughing with Craig as we watch the "fireworks display" across my middle!
3. Wondering is this a boy or a girl?
4. Imagining what he/she is going to look like
5. Snuggling up behind Craig and seeing his eyebrows raise everytime he feels a kick in his back
6. Feeling all the wonderful movements of life inside me
7. All the kind words, prayers, and well-wishes from friends and even strangers
8. Baby showers!
9. Being able to wear belly-snuggy clothes and not feel self-conscious!
10. All the extra pampering!

There is so much more I could write but who wants to read the ramblings of a first time mom?! I have to be honest and list the not-so-great stuff too - just so I can remind Baby E someday what I went through... :)

Things-I-Am-Not-Going-To-Miss-About-Pregnancy:
1. Nausea, nausea, nausea!
2. Short of breath-ness
3. Sweatpants are the only comfortable pants I can wear!
4. Watching myself gain weight and not being able to do anything about it
5. Feeling the need to go to the bathroom every half hour
6. Not being able to bend over which is very inconvenient when I need to shave my legs!

I must stop there because I could probably find more to complain about, but when carrying a miracle of life is such a BLESSING, how can I complain? So I would say my lists prove that I WILL miss being pregnant, but I CAN'T WAIT to hold our little miracle in my arms and share the joys of parenthood with my dear Craig. (It will be nice to not feel so out of shape again too! :)
Will my next post be baby news...???

Getting Ready...

Setting up the crib was a breeze ~

Craig was able to do it in no time!

Now the dresser was another story...

After about 2 hours it is done - woohoo!