So I've been out in the world for almost two weeks now, and life is a little different than it was inside the womb. These two people taking care of me are so new at this, the words 'mommy' and 'daddy' sound a little abnormal rolling off their tongues. So far life's been easy. They wake me up to feed me, rub my tummy and back, then rock me to sleep. Pretty nice, huh?
The one they call mommy smells great and everytime she holds me I feel like I'm gonna starve so I have to eat immedietley. I spend most of my awake time with her, but soon after I eat I'm always so sleepy. The one they call daddy holds me like a football, hums horribly in my ear, and is obsessed with rubbing his spiky face all over my soft cheeks. I know he means well, so I'll let him keep it up for now.
All week long we've had tons of people over at our house. They're always bringing me clothes, food, toys, or sports gear. I love it. Maybe I'll mess with Mom and Dad and become a Auburn or Lousiville fan. That'll show 'em.
The rest of our guests leave tomorrow, so I need to go spend some time with my Oma and Jigs. Tonight Gamma and Poppy are feeding us steaks. Wonder if they'll let me have any? Thanks to all of you guys who've sent me gifts, cooked my parents food, or have come by to just visit. You've all made Mom and Dad feel so blessed.
Don't worry, I'll bring them back down to earth. Been working on a little present for them all morning...

Hope to see you soon,
-Max

Week 2 - so far!

Happy Wednesday all! So we're 9 days in, and all is going very well. We had a very busy weekend with lots of visitors and Max was so happy to meet his Granne, Nana Pearl, and Cousin (Uncle) Josh. Now its back to just Oma and Aunt Emmy for right now, and Jiggs is coming for the weekend.

Max is sleeping really well. We're trying to work on a schedule right now, and it's going fairly well. He's not eating as well as I'd like him to, but we're pretty sure he's gaining weight, and he's definitely using the bathroom PLENTY of times per day...I think we have gone through about 150 diapers since Max came home. Some days he decides it's fun to sleep pretty much all day, and some days he's pretty alert. Nighttime has been better than we could have hoped. According to the doctor he has to eat at least every 4 hours overnight, so we have been feeding him around 10pm, putting him down to sleep, and waking him up at 2am and 6am for another feeding. We're trying to get to where he will go right back to sleep after the 10pm and 2am feedings, but it's sort of hit or miss right now. He really doesn't fuss at all, just lays there and stares for a while before he's able to go to sleep. I'm getting to sleep between 2-3 hours at a time, twice per night. Since my mom and Emily are still here, I've been able to take pretty good naps at least once a day, but I may have to get used to not getting those naps when it's just me and Max during the day.

I've uploaded more pics to the shutterfly album, but I've included a few here as well. Enjoy! :)

Max in his cool hoodie. Daddy calls this his gangsta look. :)

With Aunt Emmy sucking his thumb...he hasn't figured out yet how to suck it while making a fist, but he's definitely found the thumb!

Holding on tight to his favorite toy. This is one all the way from Germany and his Aunt Nicola. We go back and forth whether it's a reindeer, dog, or kangaroo...either way, he loves it!

Video

Playing with Oma this morning...Enjoy!

It's a Wonderful Life

Good morning all! It's around 3am right now, and I'm up waiting on Max to decide to wake up and have an early breakfast. We're all doing so well. I feel great - a little tired, but that's to be expected. Max is amazing. It still is a little surreal that he is finally here, but we couldn't be happier to have him. He truly is more wonderful and perfect than I ever could have imagined. I hope we can be the parents that he deserves to have. Matt is such a good daddy! He's still nervous about Max's head falling off or breaking him somehow, but he is a lot better at this parenting thing than even he thinks.

Feedings are going well - Max pretty much only looks at me as a source of food, but that's OK. I am so enjoying the bonding time we get when it's just the two of us and I'm providing his meals. Sometimes he wants to eat a little bit every hour, and sometimes he'll chow down for 30 minutes, then sleep for 3-4 hours. We'll eventually work on getting him on a schedule, but for right now we just make sure he's full and happy as much as possible.

We've had so many visitors so far, and are looking forward to more. My mom (Oma) has been wonderful and is staying with us for a couple of weeks. I was able to take a 2 1/2 hour nap earlier today (well, yesterday I guess) and it was fabulous!! I plan to take advantage of that later today as well. Matt's parents have been fantastic. His dad has a tradition of bring Krispy Kreme's to the hospital the morning after his grandbabies have been born. Those chocolate-covered donuts were heaven-sent Tuesday morning. Yummmmm! My dad had to go back to Vardaman to work this week, but will be coming back this weekend with Granne and Nana to see us. I'm so excited for Jiggs (my dad's Grandfather name) to see how much Max has changed just since he saw him on Tuesday! Aunt Em and cousin Josh are also coming this weekend. Emily is about to go crazy not having met her nephew yet, but I think she'll be able to hold out until Friday. It will be a busy weekend, but we can't wait to see everybody and show off our little man!

I hope you're all enjoying the pics in the photo album section (to the left). Check daily for updates...even if I'm not updating the blog, I have been uploading additional pics every day. I'll continue to do it until you guys get tired of the pics! :) OK, I'll probably not even stop then.

Max's hospital pics are up on the web. The website is: www.our365.com You can search by our customer number or by the name and hospital. The customer number is 7530-17278. The city is Hermitage, TN. Hospital is Summit Medical Center. You may have to use the first 3 letters of my last name to search. The password, once you find our site, is 753017278 (no dash). These are the pics that were taken by the hospital on Tuesday morning. I'm really happy with them - especially the last two. It's kind of hard to tell on the sample pic, but in the last two Max is poking his lips out in a pout that I'm sure will melt my heart for the next 18 or so years. We'll definitely be ordering some of the prints.

Well it's almost time to wake little man up for breakfast, so I'll stop for now. Thanks SO MUCH to everyone who has sent messages, called, come by, and especially sent up prayers for us. We are so blessed by all the love and support! More soon!!

Pics

Hey all! Click on the link to the left to see more pics of Max. We'll try to get even more of them over the next couple of days.

Enjoy!! :)

Pic

We'll have more later...forgot the USB cable so we're using cell phone pics until tonight, but this is what we have for now.

10:39 am. Max is here! 21.5 inches long, 7 lbs. 8 oz Mom's doing great.
Dad's a wreck. 39 minutes of actual labor and we have a son! Thanks to all for your thoughts and prayers. Pics up soon.
Matt

9:30 am
Jen's Doc just came in and surprised us all. Jen's already out to 8cm...WHAT!?!?
She said Jen would probably start pushing within the hour. And so the fun begins... the yelling you may hear are screams of pure love. HA!

8:45 am Been at the hospital since 1 am. Water broke at 1:30, Epidural at 5. Jen's relaxed now that the meds have kicked in. Her folks flew out of Mississippi right after midnight and made it here in record time. Dr just checked in and baby seems to be healthy but he's still hibernating. Wonder if he'll be here before lunch? Yeah right.

Matt

April 20, At the Latest...

Hi all! So another Thursday, another fun doctor appointment. I wasn't expecting any change this week, and I was right! Still hasn't moved down at all and still no dilation. We tried to get the doctor to say she would start the induction next Friday the 17th, but no luck! She said if I don't go into labor before then, we will go in most likely Sunday night the 19th to start the Cervadil (to soften my cervix), which could take up to 12 hours. After that they would try to induce labor with Pitocin. If after a few hours it doesn't seem to be working, we will consider a c-section at that point. Odds are he would be born sometime on that Monday the 20th.

I'm not upset this week, because I've told myself for the last couple of weeks that the 20th is when it's going to happen, and then I would be surprised if he comes earlier than that. She says there is still a chance he could come on his own sometime in the next 10 days, but she wouldn't give us any statistics. She made it sound like it's about a 50/50 chance that I'll go into labor before we try to induce.

So that's all we know right now! My last day at work will be next Wednesday, unless I go into labor before then. I'm really looking forward to that day. I've been getting more and more uncomfortable the last few days, so it will be nice to have some days off to rest before I go to the hospital.

Thanks for all the prayers and well-wishes. We're hanging in there...it's good to finally have a final end date, so anything that happens before that will just be icing on the cake.

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend and get to spend time with family. We'll enjoy our last peaceful Easter!! :)

39 Weeks...and counting...

Happy Thursday all! I'm sure you're all tired of my negative posts of the last few weeks, so I will try to be positive in this one. Good news is Max is very healthy and I am very healthy. Not-so-good news is there is still no progress...no dilation at all, and apparently my cervix is abnormally high for this point in the pregnancy. Unless my water breaks on its own (which is very unlikely at this point), we're probably looking at at least 2 more weeks. The doc said she wouldn't let me go much over a week past my due date. Due date is officially next Saturday, the 11th. My 41 week appointment will be on Thursday the 16th. We'll assess the situation then, and possible go into the hospital on Friday the 17th or Monday the 20th to start medication that will hopefully start the labor process.

So....we wait. I kind of had a feeling after the last week that not much had changed. It was disappointing to say the least, but as the doctor said - at least I have a healthy baby and things could be a lot worse. And I may not feel the best right mentally right now, but everything is fine physically and not everyone is that lucky.

On a happy note, we recieved a very special package from across the world this week. My German sister Nicola sent Max some adorable outfits, a blanket, and a couple of small toys. We love them! Matt especially loves the HSV onesie (HSV is Nicola and Thomas's favorite soccer team). I will post some pictures of these outfits soon. I'm at work right now and don't have my computer.

Hope you're all having a great week! More soon!