Welcome Collin!

Better late than never right?  For those of you who don't know the whole story of Collin's birthday, here goes...(FYI, I am using terms like dilation and cervix, so if that makes you squeamish, skip ahead to the part after the line).

We were scheduled to be induced at 5:30am on Thursday May 12.  We got to the hospital at 5:15 and got checked in.  After answering about a million questions (you'd think they would have kept all that information from 2 years ago), they checked my cervix to discover I was 2 cm and about 50% effaced just like I had been the week before at my dr appointment.  I was afraid this meant we were in for a long day.  They put in my IV and started fluids and the pitocin (this is the drug that causes strong contractions to get things moving).  This was around 7am.  They told me that my doctor would be in at 9am or so to break my water and to let them know when I wanted my epidural.  I had planned on laboring for a little while without the epidural, but I knew I didn't want to feel her breaking my water so I told them just to make sure I got it before then.  The anesthesiologist must have been bored because he was there about 5 minutes later to give me the epi.  It was a little more painful this time than I remember with Max, but maybe that was because I wasn't having any contractions to distract from the pain of the needle.  The nurses kept telling me that Joel (the anesthesiologist on duty) tends to be pretty heavy handed with the drugs, and they were right!  Pretty much immediately I lost all feeling in my lower half.  My right foot hung off the bed for about an hour and I tried everything I could to move it but had no luck.  These were good drugs.  I also was having contractions fairly consistently but couldn't feel anything.  That was a little bizarre, to see them on the monitor but not be able to feel them at all.  At 9am, my dr came in to break my water and at that point I was 3 cm dilated, so we had made progress.  I was only at a level 6 on the pitocin drip then, which is pretty low (the nurses can take it up to a 20 without dr approval, or a 40 with it!), but the 6 was doing what it was supposed to do, and by 10am I was dilated to 4-5 cm.  This is when things got a little crazy...

Three times between 10 and 11 Collin's heartrate bottomed out when I had a strong contraction.  Each time it came back strong as soon as the contraction was over.  It helped when my wonderful nurse (Teri) rubbed my belly after the contraction to soothe him and calm him down.  They also had me on oxygen to help get more air to Collin.  After the second time, Teri decided to insert an internal monitor (on Collin's head) to be able to better monitor his heartrate.  She also called the dr to get her input on what our next steps should be.  After the 3rd time this happened, at almost 11am, the dr and nurse decided to prepare an operating room in case I had to be moved back for an emergency c-section.  There was a scheduled c-section at 11am and they actually pushed it back 15 minutes to make sure they wouldn't need the OR for me.  The dr told me they believed Collin was perfectly healthy because his heartrate kept recovering so well after the dips, but too many dips could begin to cause problems so the next time he had a dip they would decide to go into the c-section.  This was a little scary, but we trust our dr to make the right decision.  They turned off the pitocin in case the artificial labor was what caused the dips in heartrate and Teri told me to keep rubbing my belly where Collin was laying since it seemed to keep him calm.  They also pushed a lot of warm fluid through me to hopefully move some things around inside and give Collin a little more room to move around.  After that we had to just wait, hoping we wouldn't have another dip in heartrate.  For the next hour, there were no dips, but no progress on my labor either.  A little after noon I was still around 5 cm dilated and he was still pretty high up.  They decided to go ahead and re-start the pitocin and increased it slowly back to a level 5 over the next hour.  Around 1:15 I started feeling pressure with each contraction and at 1:45 Teri came in to check my cervix again and discovered that I was fully dilated and ready to push!  She called the doctor and had me do a couple of practice pushes...on the 3rd one she told me to stop and not push again because Collin was ready to be born and the dr wasn't there yet!  The dr came in a few minutes before 2 and they spent 10 minutes or so getting everything ready.  The dr told me to start pushing with my next contraction but I couldn't feel the contractions (that Joel sure knew what he was doing!).  It took only about 9 pushes (3 pushes through 3 contractions) and Collin's head was out!  After a little suction she told me to give one more push and out he came!  He started crying right away and was checked out by the nursery staff then given back to me for a little bonding time before he had to go have a bath and spend some time under a heat lamp to warm up his body temp.
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We had a very easy couple of days in the hospital and got to come home around lunchtime on Saturday.  My recovery started off going really well; I had a little cramping and soreness but overall was bouncing back pretty easily.  Unfortunately Max came down with a virus while we were in the hospital so we came home to a sick toddler and we had to try to keep the two of them separated for a couple of days.  I ended up getting the fever portion of Max's virus and Oma and Daddy ended up getting the congestion and sore throats.  We were hoping Collin missed the illness, but last Thursday he started getting congested and still today he's fighting a lot of drainage in his head and throat which makes it hard for him to eat and sleep.  Until the last few nights he had given us at least one 4-hour stretch of sleep per night, but since he's been so congested it's been hard for him to rest.  We feel like he's been a little better today and he's definitely been able to rest better most of the day so hopefully the worst is behind us.  Let me tell you, after the past few months we are ready to have a healthy household again! 

Despite all the stress of being sick and having sick babies, we have been so happy to have Collin home with us.  Oma has been with us since he was born and is staying through this weekend.  I'm still trying to figure out a way for her to never leave, because I'm not sure how we'll be able to handle it without her!!  One of our biggest concerns with bringing Collin home was how Max would react to not being the center of attention.  He has been a wonderful big brother!  He always wants to hold Collin (or Col-Col as he calls him), or bring him a blanket, or kiss him on the head, or give him his pacifier.  He's really sweet with him.  We've had a few moments where he seems to be testing his boundaries and acting out, but that could be just as much being 2 years old as having the new baby at home. 

Speaking of Max, he continues to amaze us every day with his vocabulary and mental ability.  One day last week he was sitting in his high chair eating dinner and started counting.  I had only heard him count to 3 by himself, but he counted all the way to 10!  I asked Oma if I had heard what I thought I did and she said she'd heard it too!  He was so proud of himself!  He knows almost all of the alphabet by sight...he mixes up a few of the similar letters like K and X but for the most part can identify all of them with little or no help.  He's also gotten a lot better with his pronounciation of most words.  I think he probably knows as many words as we do, he just can't always make them come out the way he wants them to.  He gets better with it every day though.  We really can't believe how much he's grown physically and mentally just in the past few months.  I guess having a newborn makes him seem so much older and bigger as well. 

Here are some of my favorite pictures of the past couple of weeks.  I've posted a ton of pictures on the shutterfly site - click the link on the left side of the page to view. 

1st Family Picture (believe it or not this was the best one!)

Big Brother/Little Brother

Gamma & Poppy

Oma & Jiggs

Sucking his thumb right away.  The nursery nurses said it's rare that they see a thumb-sucker so early.

Max wanted to show how much taller he was than baby Collin

Aunt Em

Aaaaaaaggghhhhhh!

So peaceful

Wish Mommy could get this kind of sleep...

Max's Birthday, Easter, & Updates

Max is TWO!  Can you believe it?  It's been a couple of weeks now and it's hard for me to believe it myself!  It's been amazing to see the transition from baby to boy over the past few months.

Speaking of the past few months, they have been crazy busy around here.  We've been trying to prepare for Baby Collin's arrival.  It's also hard to believe that he will be here in just a couple of weeks!  The current "plan" is a scheduled induction on May 12.  If I haven't progressed any more between now and then, it will probably have to be pushed back.  So please send some positive baby vibes our way to get things moving.  Of course we want him to come when he's ready, but it would be really nice if he was ready sooner rather than later. :)  I'm definitely finding out that being THIS pregnant while also having a 2-year old is a lot more of a challenge than doing it the first time.  Luckily Max has an amazing Daddy to do most of the taking care of him. 

Backing up a few weeks, we've had some rough days & nights with illnesses around here.  It started out with Max getting the Roseola virus and his temperature staying very high for a few days.  It topped out at 105.3, which was terrifying for us.  We're so thankful Oma was here that week to help care for such a sick baby.  About a week after he was over the Roseola, he came down with a stomach virus that lasted for about 5 days.  Aunt Em got the pleasure of being here for the worst part of that virus (the many, many diapers).  As a thanks for helping out, Aunt Em came down with the virus herself.  I also had it the same weekend.  Unfortunately this was the weekend of Max's birthday party, which Aunt Em had to miss because she was still sick in the bed.  We had a good time at the party (more to come on that later), but were so sad Em had to miss it.  Oma had the pleasure of again taking care of the sick ones that weekend, and came down with the same virus a few days later (on her birthday, no less).  Since Max's birthday, all 3 of us have had a cold that lasted for 7-10 days each.  FINALLY, we all seem to be pretty healthy.  Fingers crossed we all stay that way until after Collin gets here.

The week of Max's birthday party, we were so happy to have Nicola & Thomas come visit from Germany.  Max got to meet his foreign Aunt & Uncle for the first time.  Unfortunately that was the same weekend Emily & I were sick, so we didn't get to spend nearly as much time with them as we wanted to.  It was still such a blessing to have them here for Max's birthday party.  We hope they get to come back soon to meet baby Collin.  Or maybe we'll finally make it to Germany.....it shouldn't be too hard to travel overseas with an infant and a toddler, right? :)

Max had such a good time at his birthday party.  BIG THANKS to Gamma and Poppy for letting us hold the party at their house.  I wasn't sure I could manage it at our house this year (and good thing, since our house turned out to be full of viruses!).  We had 2 delicious cakes - one each from Nicola & Stacia.  They were both so adorable.  Poppy made his famous homemade chocolate ice cream and Max had a blast opening presents and playing with Caitlin.  Here are some pictures from the party. 

Max loooooved his new Lego set from Nicola & Thomas.

Playing with his Legos in his new Cars chair from Aunt Em!

Cars cake - made by Stacia - so cute!

Nicola worked really hard on this adorable (and yummy) ladybug cake.

Max & Caitlin had a mini Easter Egg Hunt at the birthday party.  This is them enjoying the chocolate inside the eggs.

Max is a big fan of the Easter Eggs, as long as they have candy in them. 

Eating Nicola's lady bug cake



When everybody was in for Max's birthday, he also got to enjoy his first zoo experience.  Aunt Em & I were really looking forward to going, but unfortunately that was the day we both came down with the stomach virus, so we had to enjoy it through the lens of Thomas's (amazing) camera.  Here are a few of the things Max got to see along with Oma, Jiggs, Nicola, & Thomas.

Last weekend was Easter, and Max had a blast hunting Easter Eggs again (twice) and hanging out with the Colberts & Greers at Uncle Adam & Aunt Bri's.  Here are some pics from that weekend.

Sad face - empty basket before the Easter Egg Hunt at Westland Methodist Church

Decorating a rice krispie treat.  He ate more of the icing and jelly beans than he put on the cookie.

Finally getting some eggs for that Easter Basket!

Family pic - Easter 2011

The Colbert Clan

A little rough-housing with Uncle Ken

Max wants his own Barbie Jeep now...think they make them in something other than pink?

Hope you've enjoyed the pictures!  Maybe next time I won't have 2 months of updates and it won't be as long.  There are a lot more pictures up on the shutterfly share site.  Click the link to the left.  Enjoy!

It's Official...Collin James Greer

So after months of indecision, we're happy to annouce that Baby Greer #2 will officially be named Collin James Greer.  Collin is in honor of the Collins portion of Matt's family, and James is in honor of both my grandfathers - Jimmy Ward and Jim Hamilton.  Both names are derivatives of James.  Max is learning how to say his little brother's name.  It mostly comes out as Coll-Coll or Coyin (the L is still hard for him).  We're about 9 weeks away from my due date, and I know it will come so fast.  We can't wait to meet little Collin and have our family complete. 

We've got a really busy next couple of months coming up.  Matt has a couple of trips planned to Atlanta and Louisville for work, so Oma and Aunt Em are coming to stay for those weeks that he's gone.  Nicola and Thomas are coming to visit from Germany the 2nd weekend in April and we are so excited to see them and let Max meet his German family for the first time!  We'll also celebrate Max's and Oma's birthdays that weekend.  A couple of weeks after that is Easter, then only a few weeks until Collin is here!  We started our busy weeks off with a visit from Aunt Gwen, Mariah, Erica, Maddie and Rivers.  Matt and I got a (very small) taste of having more than 1 toddler to take care of when we watched the 3 kids last night.  Here are some pics and a video of the fun they had.

Max and Maddie hanging out on the body pillow...after taking turns jumping on it.

Max decided to have some alone time reading so he climbed up on the pillows and bean bag and covered his face with his book.  Rivers tried everything he could to get Max's attention...with no luck.

Almost all three smiling!

I'm not sure which boy hit Maddie, but this was the beginning of the end of our photo session.

Drumroll please.....

…And the name is…


We don’t know! You may all be very surprised to hear this, especially since we’ve practically told everybody it would be Mason, but Mason is no longer in the running. Sorry everybody! We just decided it’s a little too popular right now and we don’t want him to be one of 3-4 other children with the same name in his class. Not to mention the Kardashian baby is Mason, and we just don’t like that connection! So hopefully no one has bought or made anything with the name Mason or the MTG initials yet.

Even though a few months ago I said it wouldn’t happen, we’re leaning heavily towards Collin for the first name. Middle name is still being decided. We hope to have a firm name for you soon. Fingers crossed!

Lots of changes in the Greer household the past few weeks, trying to make room for Baby. Jiggs made Max a new platform bed (will post pictures as soon as I get the bedding for it!). Max’s bedroom will remain a nursery, and Max has moved into the space formerly known as the guest bedroom on the queen sized bed. Last weekend we let Max sleep in his “big boy bed” for the first time. We were terrified that he would be upset about it, or love it so much that he stayed up and played all night. And I’m not sure why we even worried! Our robot baby had no problems at all getting used to the bigger space. In fact, we think he’s been going to sleep faster – either because he has more room to spread out, or he doesn’t have the animals on his bumper pads to talk to! Either way, we’ll take it! Even with a fairly bad cold the last week or so he’s been sleeping like a champ. This morning I came in to find him laying under the 2 pillows at the top of the bed…not sure how that happened. And I am convinced that one day we’ll walk in there in the morning to find him curled up in a corner of the bedroom in the floor…once he figures out how to climb out of the bed anyway.

We still have a lot to do to get ready for #2, but at least that big hurdle is out of the way. We’ve done some rearranging with the bonus room furniture and downstairs living room to make extra room for double the amount of toys/clothes/books, etc that we know will soon take over. We still have to move all of Max’s clothes over to his new bedroom (as soon as we figure out where we’re going to put it!) and bring down all the little baby clothes, but at least we have a few months for that still!

I’m posting this from a computer other than my laptop, so I don’t have many pictures to share this time – except this one. Max got a surprise Christmas present all the way from Germany yesterday and here is the picture of him opening it! He was so excited to unwrap another present…I think he went into withdrawal after having so much fun with it at Christmas. Thank you so much Nicola and Thomas for sending the gift (and the chocolate, especially) all the way to Nashville! Max loves his toy motorcycle – and baby #2 loves the chocolate! :)

Happy 2011!

Happy New Year!  We are so looking forward to welcoming Max's little brother into our family in 2011.  That's right - we're having another BOY!  I know everybody secretly (and not-so-secretly) wished for a little girl, but we are so happy to have 2 boys....and a little relieved, since we already have everything we need for a boy. 

Now the big question is...what will we name him?  That's still a work in progress...we know the middle name will be Taylor or Collins.  For the first name, we're tossing around a few...Mason, Wyatt, Owen, Noah, Evan...these are all options and in no particular order.  We realized that we picked Max's name exactly 1 month after we found out he was a boy...so I've given Matt until Jan 16 to pick a name or I'm revoking his naming privileges. :)

We've had such a great time the past 6 weeks celebrating the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year holidays with all of our family and friends.  I'm in the middle of posting a whole batch of pictures from the last month to the shutterfly site, so check those out soon.  I've posted some of them below. 

First snow for Max to play in this winter...he loves it!

One of his favorite pasttimes now...playing in his crib.  Too bad he's about to lose it in a couple of weeks.....

New wagon!

We loved our White Christmas!

With Cousin Luke at the Colbert Christmas

Max had a blast at Uncle Ken & Aunt Gina's being thrown onto the huge beanbags. 

One of about a thousand pictures of Max opening presents...click the shutterfly link to see the rest.

The aftermath of Christmas at Oma & Jiggs'

Christmas at Granne's - Somebody wasn't happy that we wouldn't let him hold a lit candle...

Cooking with Oma!

Christmas at Nana's