Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there and especially to the newest dad in the family! Gabe you are doing a wonderful job with Nicholas. I can't express how thankful I am for all you do around here - from the burping, diaper changes, laundry, etc. I couldn't do it without you. I hope you have a wonderful first Father's Day.

Saturday we had a rather interesting day as Nicholas experienced his first tub bath. He was so good and didn't fuss at all. When we first placed him in the tub he arched his back (first pic) as if saying "What is this wet stuff I'm in?" He did however give us a good laugh as we heard him making bubbles in the water to discover he christened the tub with a present.





As we have said over and over, Nicholas is already extremely strong. Each day his neck muscles are improving and he can hold his head up longer and longer. We both expect him to crawl rather early as he is already testing out the waters in the crib. We have reverted to putting him to sleep on his stomach as he does not like sleeping on his back. We will place him in a sleep positioner and by the time he wakes up, he has wiggled from the middle of the crib all the way to the bumper on the end.

First Doctors Visit

Today was Nicholas' first doctor's visit and he did great! He was content throughout the whole visit and was just a little fussy when they had to prick his foot at the end.

As of today he weighs 9 pounds and 10 ounces. Even with all the dirty diapers he's gone through, he is up over a pound since he was born! His length has not changed. Dr. Whitaker said everything looked great - eyes, ears, heart rate, coloring, etc.

On Monday his umbilical cord stump fell off - I say fell off when it was really helped off by the elastic at the bottom of the gown he was wearing that kept riding up when I would hold him. Gabe says thats his way of saying "Don't put me in a gown mom!" Hopefully Nicholas will enjoy a real bath more so than the sponge baths he's had and really hasn't been a fan of.

Two Weeks Old Today

Nicholas is only two weeks old and is already very strong. He is able to lift his head up and hold it up for a few seconds and can kick like a soccer player; although with his length we are predicting him to follow in mom and dads footsteps and play basketball. He gets the hiccups daily (some days he gets them several times) and has a tendency to sneeze in twos.

He does smile, but it is only in his sleep. At this point, we'll take a smile where we can get it. Hopefully he's having sweet dreams. More of a nightmare to him is sponge baths. He is just not a fan of those. He still makes his "crazy eye" faces, which always gives us a good laugh.

Our nicknames for him at this point are "big guy", "fussy butt", and "buddy".

Dad went back to work today and so far mom and son are doing fine on our own, but miss having daddy around.

Special Thanks!

We would like to thank everyone who visited us in the hospital and at home. Also, a special thanks goes to everyone who provided a meal for us. We have yet to prepare a dinner for ourselves since leaving the hospital, which is extremely helpful when adjusting to life with a newborn.

Nicholas has had his ups and downs this past week. He is doing much better about sleeping in his crib. I think at this point, Gabe and I feel more confident on how to calm a crying baby - feed him, burp him, change him. When neither of those work, then pace the house with him and sing him made up nursery rhymes.

Tomorrow is Gabe's first day back at work (sort of a trial run before returning for a full week). It will be interesting to see how mom and baby fair on their own.

One week old!

All sense of time and what day it is has been thrown out the window, but we do know that Nicholas is one week old today. My life is now broken down into 2-3 hour time frames that consist of feedings, diaper changes and sleep.

For the most part, Nicholas is a happy baby. Although he is still not sure about sleeping in his crib as he has probably only slept there a few hours over the past week. We are working on breaking the habit of him just being content to sleep in our arms. We pray that slowly but surely he will adjust to life in the crib so we can keep our sanity and get some sleep as well.

Our favorite part of Nicholas is the facial expressions he makes and the sweet faces he makes when sleeping. We love our little guy and can't wait to see what each new day brings.

The day that changed our lives forever...

Was May 29, 2009 at 5:53pm. Nicholas was born 8 lbs, 8 oz and 22 1/4 inches long.

Friday morning we had a regular visit scheduled at 8:15 am. They performed an ultrasound and everything looked great - they estimated his weight at 8 lbs 12 oz. Dr. Gregory checked me and I was only 2 cm dialated. She said everything was great and went ahead and scheduled me to be induced on Monday at 7am. In the meantime, they hooked me up to the fetal heart monitor. During that time I actually had three contractions. Dr. Gregory looked at the monitor and didn't like that his heart rate dropped everytime I had a contraction. She then told us she was going to go ahead and send us to labor and delivery right then to start Pitocin and break my water.

Needless to say we were both in shock as we were both expecting to come back the following Monday. Luckily we brought all our bags with us just in case. The entire walk to labor and delivery was a long one. We got settled into the labor room and got me hooked up to all the monitors, etc. I progressed fairly quickly and the contractions weren't too painful. The nurse asked when I was around 4 cm if I wanted to get the epidural. I wanted to make sure it wouldn't wear off before it was really needed, but the nurse reassured me it wouldn't. Epidurals are wonderful and immediately worked.

Around 4pm they told me to start to push. About an hour and a half later, they told me to stop because Dr. Favor - the one to deliver Nicholas - was in the middle of another labor and I would have to wait. NOT what I wanted to hear. Luckily it was only 5 or 10 minutes before Dr. Favor came in and we started pushing again.

So at 5:53pm Nicholas Brent Davenport made his entrance into this world. Daddy was able to cut the cord (that was actually wrapped around his neck). Immediately Dr. Favor and all the nurses said he was a large baby, so I was dying to know what his stats were. They immediately took him to suction out some fluid that he swallowed in the delivery process. He hardly ever cried during his bath and other tests they performed.

It turns out that Nicholas is in the 95th percentile for his length. I had never heard of a baby being longer than 21 inches. The entire process was much better than I expected and I'm just so happy he is healthy and finally here!

Due date is here and yet Nicholas is not

Well today is the day that Gabe and I have been looking forward to for 9 months and yet we don't have a newborn son to show for it. I was always aware that he could very well be late (especially for first time moms), but I guess I kept thinking he would be here by now. The main reason I'm excited about our appointment on Friday is because Dr. Gregory will tell us when she will induce me.

I'm still doing really well, considering the circumstances. Gabe and I have frequented the walking track at our local park several times recently, which probably helps since I haven't really exercised since becoming pregnant.

Stay tuned for the latest... Hopefully we will have more news soon.