Rounding out March

Theodore was sad to turn 1 month old :(

But happy to see spring arrive.

And meet his two of his great grandparents!

He looks like such a little man in the new jeans grandma got him!

Crazy Eyes and Crazy Arms

Just a quick clip of his movements at about a month old.

Spring!!! (And St. Patrick's Day)

It was the most beautiful day of the year Saturday, a great start to spring.

We started it with a trip to Babies R Us.  They were having a promotion for a new type of diapers. We got a bunch of the new Pampers with Dry Max feature. And an outfit for baby to wear to his daddy's softball games this fall, a picture will come eventually of that. We also got him some new shades to protect his eyes.

Then we headed to Main Street to stroll, eat, and watch basketball.

We had lunch at Grotto Pizza, and watched Villanova lose.

We then finished walking along Main Street, with lots of people commenting on how cute Theodore looked in his stroller with his shades on.

And then we participated in a 20 year Newark tradition. Apparently, Rita's gives out free water ices on the first day of spring. We stumbled upon the line that stretched at least 200 feet from the counter. I've been wanting to try water ice for a long time, and we liked it, and will need to return this summer. It's one of area's claims to fame, along with pretzels and Philly cheesesteaks.

Earlier in the week, we also made a big deal out of Theodore's first official holiday:  St. Patrick's Day! He wasn't at all excited though :(

Visitors!

Theodore had some more visitors recently...

His grandpa E

Aunt Emily

And Grandma E

He was good the whole time, and even showed off stretching out to his full 22 inches.

3 Generations

Newborn Baby Videos

I will be posting many, many more pictures of the baby boy soon. Here are a few videos until then... Brian has taken over 20. Most of them are of Theodore and I sleeping.

Newborn Photos

For a few more days, you can access our hospital photo shoot at the website below:
http://www.bellababyphotography.com/
Password: 0223theodorejoseph

My friend Ashley also took some AMAZING photos while she was out here. They are fabulous: http://aacook.blogspot.com/2010/03/theodore.html

Feb. 22-23 Getting Theodore Joseph...

So... we have our son! After a long day, with little sleep, Brian and I became the parents of a bouncing brunette baby boy. Here is a breakdown of the timeline:

8:55 pm- We check in at the maternity ward. Actually, they didn't have our paperwork and we had to wait until they contacted the doc before we could check in... I was a little panicked that we weren't going to get to be induced.

9:15 pm- For about 45 minutes we sit in the waiting room upstairs, waiting for a room to open up. The hospital has 16 delivery rooms, we are taken to room 15.11:30 pm- By this time we have received the introduction to the unit, and I'm in bed with my IV in. The first doctor I will see comes in and starts to get me ready. The goal is to get me to 10 cm, and I'm starting at about 2. They do a procedure that should take all night, but I am farther along than they think so I get to 3 cm in a matter of seconds. We are then encouraged to sleep... me in an uncomfortable bed, with monitors attached and an IV pumping me full of fluids. Brian on a small little mattress in a very drafty part of the room. Needless to say, neither of us got very much sleep.

5:30 am- Now the ball really gets rolling. They start me on the oxytocin, which should start my contractions.

8:00 am- I am already having small contractions, and they break my water. I cannot believe just how much water there is!! For the rest of labor I will be releasing more and more water. Over the next hour my contractions get very strong and get very close together! Brian guides me through our relaxation exercises and breathing. As the contractions increase to 90 seconds apart I decide I will go ahead and try an epidural.

9:00 am- Epidural in. I'm asleep within the next half hour.

12:00 noon- I'm at 5 cm. They estimate that I'll be progressing at 1 cm an hour, and should have the baby by 5.

1:15 pm- I'm already up to 7 cm!! I'm very excited that labor is progressing so quickly.

3:00 pm- Still at 7 cm. The doctor starts to suggest we may need a C-section...

4:00 pm- Still at 7 cm. Feeling a lot of pressure with each contraction.

5:00 pm- Still at 7 cm. I puke all over the place! Something is not right between my stomach and bladder... The doctor strongly suggests we go through with a C-section. The baby doesn't be seeming to come down right, which is why I can't get the last 3 cm that I need. I'm pretty upset by this, but am in a lot of pain and very frustrated that nothing has changed in the past 4 hours except the pain getting stronger and the epidural wearing off. We agree to the procedure. There are already a few people in front of us in line, so it is going to be a while.

6:00 pm-The nurses get us ready for the procedure, I receive a spinal, and get sick again from that. Time starts moving very fast!

6:30ish-We get to the Freezing operating room and the c-section begins.

6:47-Brian gets to see Theodore for the first time! Due to his white blond eyebrows, and tints of red in his hair, every nurse and doctor proclaims a different hair color! But everyone tells me how beautiful he is.

6:58-Brian cuts the cord. Theodore has an APGAR of 9. Minus one the for color of his hands and feet.

7:00-His weight is taken... just shy of 9 pounds at 8 lbs, 15.6 oz. He's also 22 inches long!

7:01- I finally get to see my son up close. I am shaking pretty bad, and strapped down to the table, but I can still kiss him.
7:05- Getting his footprints.
7:30- I FINALLY get to hold my son after they have stitched me up (first stitches I have EVER gotten). We then travel to recovery where we spend about 4 hours... Theodore cries quite a bit, but eventually settles down. Brian does a great job with him while I'm still coming out of the shock and numbness that my body has just gone through. He gets to meet his Grandma Knight here.

Around midnight we are released from recovery and wheeled up to the maternity ward. Brian pretty much passes out at this point and doesn't remember much more... however I remember the nurse giving Theodore his first bath, and getting woken up a few hours later for an assessment and meds.
Our hospital does "rooming-in" (no nursery) so from this point forward, we are totally responsible for little Theodore, and our world has changed forever!
*We didn't officially name him for about 24 hours.*