Lists I've been thinking about....

These are things I loved about being pregnant:

5.  Having new wardrobes from my dear friends who borrowed me their maternity clothes
4.  Catching up with friends I hadn't talk with enough lately
3.  Enjoying every last day and date night with just Andy and I.
2.  Every flutter, wiggle, kick, punch, kneeing, rollercoaster movement my baby made.
1.  Talking about the future and names and the traits we hope to raise in our baby

These are things I didn't like about being pregnant:

5.  Peeing every hour.  It is so wonderful now to have my bladder back!
4.  When people said, "Your life will never be the same.."    Duh... we know this... we planned this baby and we are excited for the change or when people said, " You'll never leave your house again and do anything fun."  B.S.... this isn't true if you don't let it be true. Declan has done more in 2.5 weeks than some kids do thru high school!
3. When people said,"Ohhhh... you are SOO gonna have that baby ANYDAY."  Well, they were all wrong.  Wrong wrong wrong.
2.  When people said, "How can you NOT find out what baby is?"  That just annoyed me.  I loved not knowing and don't think we'll find out with our future child/ren now either.  The only tears I shed during labor/c-section were finding out we had a boy.
1.  Getting hives.  Torturous... wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy.  BUT THEY ARE GONE... My back of  hands still itch a little each day but there are no visible hives on legs/arms/back!

These are things I love about motherhood:
5. Nursing... I get my boy not matter what every few hours.  (but I'm thankful for the invention of the electronic pump because he can have a bottle and I can leave for more than 2-3 hours if need be)
4.  Amazing family and friends flock to visit and help and spoil us with gifts of meals, clothes, gifts and gift cards.
3. The respect I have gained for my mother and mother in law and all mothers out there.  I can truly understand better now how no job is harder and equally as rewarding.
2. He knows my voice and smell and is instantly content with me if he was hungry/fussy with someone else.
1.  Parenting with Andy and seeing him be an awesome Dad.

These are my favorite things about my baby boy:
5.   His perfect name.  Declan: full of goodness    Yeah, we picked it but it couldn't be more fitting and it just IS HIM better than I would've thought at this point.  All the nicknames being thought up with it too, I love... Deckers, Dec, Deckels, Upper Dec...
4. When he his "rooting" before he eats... I LOVE the fast, cute head shake... Reminds me of when Croix is shaking around his toys!
3. He is a fantastic eater, napper and nighttime sleeper... for now... fingers crossed ;)
2. His big blue/gray eyes discovering the world
1.  It is impossible to not just stare at him and smile.. all day... every minute... the variety of faces he makes are precious.   Even when he is crying he is cute... again, for now...probably because he cries so rarely too... fingers crossed ;)   Here is our link to his newborn pics if you want to see them and you'll understand how cute he is!  Password is croix

 2 Weeks 

 His adorable crabby outfit- Thank you DeRocks!

Got my diaper changed before going to the College World Series

Declan's First Week of Firsts

The last two blogs (Week Before Declan and Declan's Day) were much more narrative (and probably boring to most, but I'm trying to save memories for me because I have come to learn my memory is seriously getting worse...) but this one I'm going to fill with pictures because the cliche is right, the pics are worth a thousand words!

Preparing for first car ride leaving the hospital

First Car Ride

First of many kisses from Big Bro Croix... Croix is doing wonderfully with Declan though! 

First Bouncer meeting... Fuzzy hasn't been around much but saw her peeking in crib at him once but couldn't get camera in time!

 

First time in crib during tour of house and reaching out towards Croix!

First outing to Target and Mall for Father's Day present shopping!

 First volleyball game and hanging out with pal Noah!

 First 5K watching Sarah and hanging out with pals Eli and Adam. They brought the bell for him to ring!

 First Time on Turtle play mat!  Definitely a favorite place to be!

First time with Snail "Junebug"  He LOVES mirrors/songs/lights & has figured out to tap it to keep it playing!

First Cribbage game with Auntie and me

 First Bath... it had a MESSY start... but you can ask Andy about that ;) 

First bottle from Daddy!  (I had my first "bottle" too ; ) ) 

ONE WEEK (plus 12 hrs...) OLD!!  And First Father's Day!

 First time with grandparents all together!  

If you haven't seen enough, here is a video of all his friends and family visitors this first week too!  With the Smashmouth song, just ignore the pronoun she/her and change to he/his... need to get a few more songs on my computer :)

  Declan's Family and Friend's

His second week of life is going to be jam packed with family from Sue's side in Omaha, NE.  We are headed out on our first road trip!  This trip was up in the air if we'd be up for it, but Declan is proving to be an amazingly easy baby (knock on wood...), I'm healing from my c-section wonderfully and nursing is going smoothly too! 

The Week Before Declan....

The exhaustion physically, mentally and emotionally had definitely hit this 39 week pregnant person.  I went down to half days at work because I cried in my doctors office... or at least that is why I think she made me.... Those were nice and made it possible to nap and take 2-3 oatmeal bath/showers a day to relieve my hive itching... which was at its all time worst at this point.

I also had started having regular bouts of contractions starting May 29th... and I remember this date as it was the night before I was to take my girl's to golf sections in Pebble Creek in Becker, MN... around 2 hrs from Hutch.  I was nervous about going and put my awesome partner in his last year before retirement on call ;) But I made it thru the meet (with an hour straight of contractions that were getting me a little nervous but they subsided :) )

 39 Weeks

 June 4th (39 W 5 Days) "Induction Day"

What we thought would be last picture of us as just the two of us.

Notice Andy's shirt...Obviously Nintendo but the 1UP mushroom to "Get a Life"... He was on his way to "get the new life" :) But of course you all know Declan's birthday was June 8th so no it was not a 4 day induction :) 

My doctor had suggested inducing me about 39 weeks if I still was miserable and with hives, and I had reservations about it and wish I would've gone with my gut and not my selfish mentally, physically, emotionally exhausted self...  But the date was pushed back from Sun 2nd, to Mon the 3rd and finally on the 4th my doctor was not letting the Labor and Delivery reschedule me even though they had 5 babies in house and 1 woman in labor... but I was easy enough to take care of and monitor... especially after two rounds of Cervidal my cervix didn't change and they offered to try one more thing.  In the hospital though, I had the best night of sleep I'd had in over 3 weeks as they gave me an Ambien... who knew I could've been having a sleeping pill the last couple weeks?? I didn't... but really was disappointed the first time in my Dr. that she hadn't suggested this as I know I could've made it if I had just SLEPT!   Anyhow, I  was ready to go home and wait and see and wait and see...with prescription for Ambien... and keep my fingers cross baby would be here before June 13th we they would try again to induce...  It was only sad to be going home without meeting my baby but I knew in my RESTED HEAD and heart it was right.  

Going home had me facing one more problem... I had NOTHING left to do in my house to keep busy... I had gotten EVERYTHING done before induction day... so I mowed the lawn Friday morning June 7th while Andy was still asleep.. but of course the lawn mower woke him and he was a little worried all the neighbors were judging him for letting his 9 month pregnant wife mow... but I think those vibrations and walks did it... contractions started that Friday night... 

and thankfully continued thru.... THE DAY OF DECLAN!  

THE DAY OF DECLAN

As my previous "part 1" The Week Before Declan ended with... contractions started Friday night pretty regular and weren't stopping after 3-4 hours but weren't 5 minutes a part the whole time... so I went to bed because I was NOT going to the hospital unless it was real...

Well, at 3-4 AM, I knew it was real...and the contractions I'd been having the last week were always tight/cramping top half of stomach, but they had to  switch to lower half and stronger cramping...  I broke the news to Andy at 6 am he wasn't able to golf that morning... by 10 we were at the hospital, I was at 4 and I was STAYING!  BABY DAY!!

I was going to try to not have an epidural, but liked that the possibility was there if contractions were unbearable.. But was told at my 39 week appt. it was not going to be an option as the anesthesiologists were worried with scar tissue from my rod it may not work well, and didn't want to risk infection on the hardware. So I was explained options they could do with IV drugs and the 2-hr spinal shot... both I did end up doing...

But truly, my labor and contractions still were not as bad as I anticipated.  Andy was awesome at counter back pressure with a tennis ball that made me think of and miss my Croix boy!  I got to relax in the tub, and still took walks and stayed busy watching lots of Friends between contractions! At 8 cm I opted in for the fentanyl as was getting nervous about pushing, and my dr. urged me to do spinal at 9cm.... by 5:30:

I'm at a 10!!  Push Time.....   but 2 hours later... still at a 10... baby hasn't moved... stuck... csection time so Andy got all prepared in scrubs.  He looked GOOD to me in scrubs... but maybe that was the "drunk" fentanyl talking!!
  I was prepared and had a good feeling we would end up with a csection due to my scolosis rod in my back  (also sprung on me at my 39 week appt...) and was at peace with that and ready to meet my baby!

It's a BOY!!!  Declan Andrew Thrall!  8 lbs 12 oz, 21 inches long, 9:27 pm

Declan's Name, Meaning and Audio

Cutting the cord!  Andy says it is A LOT harder than you'd guess... he had to squeeze hard twice!

 First family photo.  That same grumpy face by Declan is still a favorite of mine.  But you can see how Andy is just smiling and glowing under that mask? Ya, after almost all 12 hours of hospital, thru contractions and pushing and csection news, I didn't cry... I cried when Andy told me it was a boy and was just smiling and tearing up thru his masks.  I was so serenely overjoyed (but truly shocked...as I've said before... I truly thought/felt all along "Junebug" was a girl!)

His first "burrito roll" by Dad... He loves burritos just like Daddy!

Of course every mom is the most biased, but man, I think he is the cutest newborn ever ;) 

I want to close this part with a shoutout to all my nursing friends.... I know you are all fabulous and I definitely have always appreciated people in the medical field, but every single nurse in the Labor and Delivery wing was just wonderful and empathetic and hardworking!  They gave me a much closer viewpoint to all you have to do in your jobs and I THANK YOU!!

Soon Declan's picture should be here:  Declan's Gangster Hutch Hospital Birth Announcement