It's a Wonderful Life

These past 5 days as a family of four has been exhausting but so wonderful.  Mason is adapting well to his baby sister and Jordyn is slowly teaching us just how she plans to fit into this family. 

We went to Marshfield today to have Jordyn's heart checked out to make 100% sure that none of our Mason worries would carry over into another baby.  Her EKG was perfect and her clinic appointment with the cardiologist showed no concerns so her heart is perfectly normal!  There was no need for an echo (thank goodness) and we can put all those worries to rest.  The doctor did not see any sign of the tricuspid valve regurgitation that was there previously on ultrasounds. 

Yesterday was Jordyn's newborn followup and its clear that she is eating well and growing.  When we left the hospital on Saturday, her weight was 7 lbs, 8 oz. Two days later it was 7 lbs, 13 oz.  An impressive 5 oz in two days!  She's eating great, but isn't a great burper.  The cardiologist showed us a new burp technique today that has worked twice so far so I hope that we've figured her out and we can kiss those gas pains goodbye. Her sleep routine definitely has room for improvement as she likes to hold in her poopy diapers until late at night and doesn't like sleeping flat on her back.  She also is developing a few cluster feed habits which I'm fine with during the day, but please, little lady, not at night.  Regardless, we're surviving and loving all the awake moments we can capture.

The house is making major progress this week.  Lots of trim went up in the great room and the fireplace burned its first fire today!  The washer and dryer are hooked up today and the house will officially have in-floor heat and hot water thanks to our awesome new boiler!  By end of day, we'll also have toilets! Tomorrow, the cabinet drawers/doors get put back on (small miss on adding finger grooves into them) and the the interior doors arrive.  Black dirt is being spread by Chris and his brother tomorrow while I attempt some touch up paint jobs.  Countertops arrive later this week which means sinks go in too!  Carpet is installed Friday.  By Saturday, we're moving in our stuff!

The appraiser is out Tuesday morning to sign off on the house and we can officially move in.  Although our closing isn't right away, we will be able to move in and finally settle into our new routines!  Hopefully most of the new smells are gone with a few days rest over the weekend, because we want to make sure nothing is too stinky in the house with the two little ones.  It's finally happening. :)

I am so thankful for the 14 months my parents allowed us to invade their home. It really helped us to make things happen as quickly as they did and really helped being close to the whole project. Mason did great and the baby is doing great here (sorry M&D if she's crying too much at night!)  However, I think we're all ready to be back to our normal lives and spaces.

I'll try to get some updated pictures on here next post. As you can imagine, these days are flying by!
I can't believe how many explanation points I used in this post!!!

I am in awe of how lucky we are...it truly is a wonderful life.

We love our visitors!

More Pictures!

 

A great night

Jordyn was an angel last night.  She stayed up and talked/stared at me until about 2 am.  She ate at 2 am and slept until about 6 am.  She ate at 6:20 this morning, went to the nursery for her check-up at 7 am and is still there (I think they are working on pictures.)  Chris got a decent amount of sleep, Mommy got about 3-4 hours as well.  It felt great to get a shower this morning and clean-up the room for our day full of visitors, which we can't wait for!

I'm looking forward to our first family photo today now that I can get up and walk around a bit better.  Either one of our awesome family members will bring Mason up this afternoon (pack his dinner so he can hang today - hint hint) or Chris will run down there to get him. 

I have to get more pictures up from our visitors last night but my food just got here and Jordyn is hungry - so we'll try shortly...

Big Brother Mason's Visit

Big Brother Mason stopped by and he was sort of indifferent to Jordyn.  He didn't really care. :)  He was more into seeing the Ipad and watching a movie.  He did hold her hand once and was interested in her when we tried to steer his attention to it, but I think that will grow even more when we go home.

Had to add this...her most awake picture afterwards.

What's on Tv?

But I see the Ipad...

His first curious look. :)

Mason went back home with the Lemkes but we hope to have him up here quite a bit tomorrow. Jordyn has been sleeping since about 4...but I convinced her to get up and eat at 6:15.  She's a champ at eating.  She is so perfect right now, barely fusses...we'll see if that lasts through the night.

I'm starting to get "full feeling" back which is, well, not the fun part.  But our bundle of joy makes me rarely think about it.

Also, we haven't shared this yet...but today shows how God works in mysterious ways.  Jordyn had two true knots in her umbilical cord.  The doctor showed us that it wouldn't have taken much more twisting and we could have had a very serious problem on our hands.  I can't imagine what could have happened if we would have waited until next week.  She did get tachacartic (sp?) during the early pushing, so the cord may have been cutting off her blood supply a bit.  Scary stuff.

Papa Jim is getting maximum cuddling time and we just got done watching the Brewer game.  :)  We're trying to take lots of pictures to show how much she's changing already. :)  It's easier to post on fb, so look there too.

Little Girl

We are located in room 1756 in the Aspirus Birthing Center.  Visitors are more than welcome..

~Dutt

Pictures

Welcome to the World

Weight 8 lbs .9 oz. - Time 1:59  - Length  19 inches

Closer and Closer

Jen is now at 8 cm.. and is nice and relaxed.  Just chilling until it's time to push.


oww yea and I forgot.  Hi Katie Ho

~Dutt

The Itchies

I forgot how itchy the epidural makes me...but I feel wonderful. I had a few contractions through the procedure but it worked fast. I am going to catch a quick snooze in between my blood pressure readings every 3 minutes. :)

NapTime

Jen is now feeling really good.  Once she gets hooked up to some more drips she'll be able to rest for awhile.  I'm hoping this will spead everything up and we can get down to buisness in a hour or so.  Hopefully she is out in time to cheer for the Brewers with me.

All for now

~Dutt

Epi Time

Jen is now 4-5 cm and the contractions are getting very strong and very close together...  I saw my first tear which means it's time to get an epidural...  So that has been ordered.


All for now...

~Dutt

Pitocin time....

Jen is 3-4 cm. and contractions are staying the same...  We are starting Pitocin and that should get us rolling along.  Our wonderful nurse is guessing an arival time of 2:00.  We are looking for stronger contractions to move the baby down further.  Jen has been able to get up and move around a little bit.  That helped with cleaning up the "flood"..

Want to give a shout out to my Bro...  Good Luck with the inspection today...  Katie get back to work,, find a calf to deliver....

~Dutt

and Jen says i'm a dork... there will be a lot of that today...

Side laying is better...

Hello contractions! Every 2-3 minutes lasting 60 sec...

Water still coming,

Pain bearable.

Chris went to grab bfast.

Here we go...

Water was broke at 8:30...  Jen is now dialated 2-3cm, and she was 50 percent effaced before the water was broke.  Now we wait for things to speed up.  Jen is doing great.  Has a sore back- probably because she has not laid on her back in nine months.

~Dutt

Still laughing....

It's a good sign that I'm still in good spirits, right?  The only thing that hurts is my IV in my left hand and my back, which has been tight since they put me in the bed and put the monitors on.  I asked Chris to rub it and I now know what I'm getting him for Christmas - massage lessons. :)

I had to make fun of him and his last post - with the title "Update".  Really?  That's original. 

I got up to go to the bathroom and get to be off the baby monitors for 15 minutes until Dr. AJ comes back and breaks my water.  When the nurses hear we have Dr. AJ they tell us that he doesn't like to mess around.  That's exactly why we like him. :)

So far no contractions (or painful ones at least).  I'm on a clear liquids diet (boo, should have had breakfast) so Chris brought me apple juice. Doesn't exactly take care of the hunger pains.

Mom - I've got the bed buddy on my back and its really helping.  Shameless plug for the bed buddy.

Excited for things to start happening.  I've already made my pain control wishes known. They'll wait 1-2 hours to see if the water breaking starts the process otherwise, bring on pitocin (and pain meds).

Next post - the flood.

Update

Pill was placed at 7 and we plan to break the water at 8:15---  Guess we're not going to mess around today..  Jen is getting the IV now...

Thats all for now.

~Dutt

We're here!

Monitoring baby before the pill...

Can't wait to meet baby girl!

We literally can't wait.  So my doctor isn't going to make us wait any longer!

I should preface this in saying "I Love My Doctor."  He is all-business, something a 39 week pregnant lady can appreciate.

I went in for my appointment today and my doctor said he was surprised to be seeing me.  Of all his patients, he did not expect me to make it this long. (Really, even though at my 38 week I was only 1 cm dialated atnd 0-10% effaced?) He asked me if I was ready and I said, oh yes, I'm ready.  Then he said "Well, I'm ready too. Let's do this thing. How about tomorrow?"  I said sure!

It's much more common to move things along before/close to the 40 week mark than it used to be.  It's unheard of now to have women go more than 2 weeks beyond their due date. All doctors are different...but I enjoy my doctor for being the all-business type.

He would rather have our healthy, full-term baby come now through induction than to wait and have a chance her meconium could be swallowed and have a C-section (his words, not mine.)  I agree - I'm uncomfortable, and ready, and let's be honest, I love this.

I am a planner, always have been, always will be. I like to know what to expect, and when.  I'm not saying spontaneity isn't great once in a while, but if I could plan for big events like this, and feel more prepared, I'm more calm.  Maybe I'm a little obsessive/compulsive but hey, that's me. No excuses.

So we get to meet baby girl tomorrow!  We go in between 6 am - 6:30 am.  I get a pill that will thin things out a bit and then the doctor comes in to break my water around 8 or 8:30 am.

If you can't handle the details of labor/birth/nursing, I suggest you tune out from the blog for the next couple days because I don't plan on holding anything back.  I'll try to do more of the posting and Chris will fill in when I can't.

For those that plan to visit, there is construction at the Aspirus Birthing Center so you need to use the SOUTH entrance (its marked as NICU/Birthing Center) to come see us.  We'll post our room number and details about when visitors are welcome once she's here and comfy in our arms.

We can't wait to share all the details of this experience with you!  11 more hours...and likely very little sleep...and we'll get this party started...

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Chris and I are so lucky. We had so many friends and family step forward this past weekend to help us with projects at the house.  Jim was on tile, Ben on switches/outlets and other electrical madness, Matt, Mark, Buck, Mic and Chris on laminate flooring, Megan, Gerard, Laura, Michelle, Katie Jo, Dad and I on painting, Mom on meals and everyone helping to watch the kids when they could.  We can't tell you enough how thankful we are for all of your help in getting so much accomplished.

This week the flooring needs to get finished up, some painting touchups and then we wait. We wait for cabinets, sinks, toilets, doors and trim.  We aren't going to be in before the baby comes but that's okay.  We don't want to move in until some of the new construction smells are gone.

Thanks to Michelle and her awesome camera, here are some house pictures so you can see the progress:

Den aka "Jim's Room". The paint is called Churchill Olive.  And this is our wood flooring! :) It looks dirty, we haven't mopped up drywall dust yet.

Baby's Room. The color is a reddish/orangish/peachish color.  There will be carpet here, installed on 9.26 (yes, my due date)

Mason's room in a dark charcoal blue which is VERY dark but I LOVE IT! 

Master Bathroom (before tile is cleaned up)

Outside Shot.  95% complete. We are adding white shutters.

The ADA bathroom/shower.  The floor tile is done, the shower tile to be done next week.

Great room looking at fireplace.

Great room looking towards back porch.

Mud/Laundry Room

Master Bedroom. This color is brown with interior lights on, but a greenish with natural light. Chris, of course, loves it.

Exterior view looking at back porch.



Another great room shot.  The guys did an amazing job on the flooring.

Meanwhile, Mason started school!  Again, thanks to Michelle (I'll get my camera working before baby comes, I promise.) - here are some 1st day pictures!

Is that for me? :)

Loading up...a little nervous.

Alright. Here we go.



I'm good now. Let's rock and roll! :)

 In other news, baby girl is just hanging out...waiting to make her grand appearance.  I'm ready for her anytime, the back and belly are starting to wear on me.  Thankfully, Daddy is awesome at managing his time to do 90% of Mason duties so that I can rest and get a decent amount of sleep.  Tonight, I'm charging our cameras, getting the computer packed and putting in the car seat.  Any day little girl! :)

It's your last chance - log your baby guess!  I think we'll have to cut off entries soon!
http://bebepool.com/go/?a=jenmrdutt&view=list

Watch for facebook/blog updates as the big day approaches!