Gimpy Don

Don had his shoulder surgery this am and came home with a pretty impressive shoulder sling, complete with padding and a built in ball for exercising his hand. He's complained of being pretty numb after the block, but otherwise doing ok. He hadn't been home 2 hrs. when he started disassembling the sling to take out pieces he thought he didn't need. Hope it doesn't affect recovery. He's supposed to wear the sling for 4-6 weeks so we'll see how long that lasts, and how long it takes for him to go nuts considering his activity limitations right now. I think we're both uneasy about how he'll manage to care for Jordon when I am at work. This has all happened at a bad time with Jordon being so young and me being really busy at work, as I will need to bring work home for the next couple weeks just to try and keep up. My Mom is planning to come up to help out some next week, so that should hopefully help us manage for the first few days.

I'm growing so fast

Jordon has really grown over the past few weeks. He is now smiling at us, cooing, and is much more interactive. We got a Bumbo seat from my brother and he seems to like sitting in it. He is doing much better overall, and so am I! His periods of fussiness are less frequent now, and we have a lot of good days. I'm sure part of it is just that we have gotten smarter as time has gone on and can now figure out what he needs /wants most of the time. I go back to work tomorrow and I have to say that I am ready. Who would have thought that working with terminal illness and death could be easier and less stressful than taking care of a newborn? I was not prepared for the amount of work it would take to care for a baby in those first 6 weeks, and I am glad that some friends at work had similar experiences and could relate to some of the difficulties. Everyone says that things get easier over time, and I think that is true. We are very blessed to have this little guy and look forward to all the experiences ahead for us as a family. We will all be adjusting in the upcoming days and weeks...Don is home with Jordon for the summer in the role of "Mr. Mom". Unfortunately, he will also be having shoulder surgery Friday, so things could get very interesting at home!

Graduation

We attended graduation for Don's students in Lexington on May 17. Jordon did great - he slept or at least stayed quiet for the entire ceremony. Don did a great job as the moderator introducing the kids who gave speeches.

First Mom's Day

We had a fabulous first Mother's Day. Don is the best cook ever and made us a shrimp and salmon dinner. His Mom always enjoyed him fixing that meal for her, and I appreciate it as well. Later we went for ice cream. I had a great day hanging out with the boys.

Trip to Columbia

Don and I took Jordon to Columbia a few weeks ago to visit friends and family. Here he is with Helen -- a 92 year old lady who is like my Grandma whom I have known all my life and who taught me how to make some great cinnamon rolls. We also visited Grandma and Grandpa, our friends Mike and Christie, Don's Aunt Marie, Kerri, and attended a birthday party. This trip was much better as Don was along to help out. The first trip to Columbia with Jordon was pretty stressful for Mom, but he was less than a month old and we went for a funeral of a friend, unfortunately. This time was more enjoyable and Jordon did great with such a long, full day of lots of activity!

I love my....

Bouncer, rocker, swing, car seat... anything with movement. He has been an active boy since even before he was born. He loves to be on the move, and often times when he is fussy it can be resolved or at least lessened with movement of some kind. Don has even had him on the treadmill, and earlier on, when we were desperate to get some relief from the non-stop crying episodes, he walked him up and down steps to quiet him down. Like Mom and Dad, he also seems to love being outdoors. He likes to go for walks in his stroller around our neighborhood. We have a swing hanging from a large tree in our backyard that he also enjoys swinging on with Mom. We have had a lot of nice days lately to be able to enjoy being outside.

First bath at home

Here are some pics from the first time we gave him a bath at home. I'm sure Jordon is glad we've become more coordinated and efficient over time! He seems to enjoy baths now most of the time, and has only peed in his tub once!

Family visits

Here's Jordon with Grandma and Grandpa Kirchhoff, and Uncles Tim, Jon, and Nathan.

April 2, 2008 -- We're headed home!

I hate hospitals, and this experience only strengthened those feelings. I was sooo glad to get out. Although the care was very good and staff were kind and competent, I got next to no sleep and the constant interruptions were enough to drive a person nuts. I nearly had an emotional meltdown after they came for vital signs, the lactation consultant visited, a volunteer came for a survey, and the photo lady all came within a few minutes of one another...all at the same time that Jordon was wailing and wanting to be fed. I was really questioning why we didn't go ahead and leave Tues. instead of staying until Wed. like the docs advised to "get a break". Right. Anyway, we were packed up and ready to leave Wed. am hours before the doc did rounds to release Jordon. Aunt Sarah is here holding Jordon and was able to stay with us a few days to help after we came home.

Our baby boy arrives

As time was getting closer to the induction and I was doubting whether that was the route I wanted to go...even though we really had no desire for an April Fool's baby, Don had given me a necklace celebrating a "March baby", and we had no desire for this to drag out much longer... the little man decided to do it on his own time and we avoided the induction after all. He was born just 2 hrs. before he was scheduled to be forced out! I went into labor on 3/30/08 at 11 pm. All the preparation books and stories I had heard made me think I had all kinds of time before I had to get to the hospital, so I showered and packed up a few last minute things before I woke Don and Sarah and we headed off to the hospital. By this time the contractions were getting much stronger and closer together, and things seemed to be moving along rapidly. I was quite surprised when the nurse at the hospital told me I was dilated to 6 cm (this is up from 2 cm at last Dr. appt.), and that they had to do labwork, which could take up to an hour to get the results back before I could have an epidural. I was really unhappy that no one had warned me of the wait for lab. I was getting pretty anxious that I was not going to get the epidural in time and would not do well with the escalating pain. By this time, it was around 1:30 am or so, so the lab results came back fairly quickly and next thing I know, I'm schmoozing with the CRNA to get hooked up with the epidual ASAP. Things got pretty rough for a while before the epidural was in, but once it was in place the rest of the labor and delivery was not that bad. Don and Sarah had a great time making fun of my post-epidural and delivery shuffle which I imagine looked a bit like Frankenstein. It all seemed to happen so fast that it was hard to process all of what was happening. My labor from start to finish was only 5 hrs. as he was born at 4:05 am. It is hard to describe the feelings that occured with the birth of our child, but awe, wonder, joy, fatigue, and relief come to mind. Dr. Gordon remarked about how strong his cry was -- he came out screaming and hasn't stopped yet!

Is he ever going to get here??

This is me on Easter eve, 3/22/08, about a week before my due date of 3/30/08. Early on, I had hoped to have the baby on the due date, as that is the birthday of my Grandma Kirchhoff, whom I was very close to. As time went on and I got bigger, I was ready for him to come anytime. Although I'd had a relatively easy pregnancy, I really was becoming more and more uncomfortable in those last few weeks. A few weeks before the due date, my OB doc seemed to think I was making great progress. From his comments, we thought for sure I would be early, but day after day nothing happened. It got to be difficult going into work each day with people commenting on me still being there, and wondering if anything had changed. I thought for sure I was carrying a groundhog or some kind of creature that burrows and refuses to come out. We learned in childbirth classes that 70% of first-time moms don't have their babies until after the due date, and it appeared that I could fall into that category. With no end in sight and both Don and I wanting to get the show on the road, we followed my OB doc's suggestion of scheduling an induction for the week after my due date, and we were set for an induction on 3/31/08 at 6am if he didn't come sooner on his own.

Getting ready for baby

Here is a picture of the nursery. Don did a great job with painting, and I was really happy with how it looked once we finished decorating. The pictures of me are from my family baby shower on 2/3/08, hosted by my sister Sarah and sister-in-law Stefanie. The cake and goodies were great, and we got a lot of nice things for Jordon. The folks at work also had a wonderful shower for me, but we didn't manage to get any pictures of that one. Don and I were very moved by all the warm wishes and gifts for the baby. I think it is also a blessing that we ended up with a boy, as several friends and family have had boys and we are the lucky recipients of lots of clothes and toys! We are very thankful for such thoughtful and giving friends and family.

New York trip

Here are a couple more shots from the NYC trip. Mary and I have always loved Prince- here we are with him at the wax museum. Kerri and I visited Mary there in September 2007. We saw many of the sites, including St. Patrick's cathedral, Central Park, the Empire State Building, Time Square, West Point, Ground Zero, and rode the Staten Island Ferry. We also found some great fashion bargains, and will not forget the locals with their stands of knock-off bags yelling "Coach, Gucci, Prada!!" in their accents. Kerri got a great (and I think authentic) Coach bag...we only had to do some back-alley apartment dealing that made me a bit nervous. But the anxiety lessened some when we saw grannies doing the same wheeling and dealing to get a good deal on a designer bag. We also went to a comedy show, and had a guided tour from an animated native of Harlem. We did as much as we could fit in the time that we had! Riding the trains and subways was an adventure in itself for those of us not familiar with the big city transportation. The food was fantastic -- the New Yorkers are serious about their bagels and cream cheese and cheesecake. Good thing we had to walk nearly everywhere we went to burn off some of the calories!

Mary's wedding

Here are my friends from nursing school, Kerri and Mary. We had a great time at the wedding and on our trip to NYC in September.

Here we are at my friend Mary's wedding in Ohio in October 2007. I was about 4 months pregnant at the time.

Our Honeymoon

One of the many waterfalls we saw on the island of Kauai

The beautiful Waimea Canyon in Kauai -- the place Mark Twain called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.

Hey, we're only 2 and 1/2 years later, but thought it would be nice to post a couple of these pics. The birth of our son has motivated us to update our blog. We went to Kaui for our honeymoon in Dec. 2005. The weather and sites were spectacular -- can't say the same for the long plane ride. Here we were attending a luau.