Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Hunter is 2 weeks old

Let me introduce you to Hunter Matthew Park!!! Out little man arrived on Wednesday, September 12th at 2:19 p.m. and we could not be happier. At birth Hunter was 7 lbs 1 oz and 20.25 inches.

It is hard to believe that his due date was just Monday(24 Sept) and we have already had him in our lives for 2 weeks! He is so amazing and I find it hard already to remember a time before him... For sure don't remember what sleep is. :) but it is 100% worth it.

Here are a few photos of our little man.

Coming home from the hospital...










One week...




Last night...



Also on the two week front... we had a visit with our doctor today and Hunter is just perfect!!! He is gaining weight well and currently clocks in at 7 lbs 14 ozs. I have to admit that I have it easy with Hunter! He came right out a hungery boy and already seemed to know how to eat! Our growing boy is also tall... in the 90%ile at 21 inches.

Here we are at 2 weeks! So in love!


We also had a photographer come to the hosital and my amazing friend Virginia came over the weekend and took newborn photos.I will share additional photos once we get them.

We leave in the morning for a trip down to Savannah! Wish us luck! 2 week old and puppy in the car... what are we thinking?

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

37 Weeks... FULL TERM!


Pregnancy: 37 weeks and FULL TERM

According to "The Bump" Hunter:
  • Is the size of a winter melon!
  • Likely measures around 18.9 to 20.9 inches and weighs about 6.2 to 9.2 pounds.
  • Is gaining about 1/2 ounce each day.
  • Is practicing some skills: inhaling, exhaling, sucking, gripping and blinking.
  • Is getting his first sticky poop (called meconium) ready for his first diaper.
Sleep: Not doing too well in this department. Contractions are typically the worst at night and lately I have not been able to fall asleep until about 2 a.m. Throughout the night I am just flipping back and forth waking up every hour.

Name: Hunter Matthew Park

Feeling: Not feeling too great lately... Lots to update on. I've been on bed rest for the last week and a half. Late in week 35 we had a little scare. I was at work and my contractions started coming every 10-7 minutes and throughout the day they got progressively worse and closer together. Once they were about 5 minutes I left work and came home so that we could head to the hospital. We knew that it was still early for Hunter's arrival and likely that if born he would need to spend some time in the NICU... something all parents would like to avoid. Well once checked into Fairfax Hospital we headed up to the triage area where I was out on a monitor to check out the heartbeat and frequency of contractions. At this point they were getting closer together and much more painful... We got down to three minutes apart... The doctor on call said to give me up to three doses of Terbutaline (a shot) designed to delay labor. The max that one individual can take is three and guess how many I went through... Three because the contractions just kept coming back rapidly after the shot...

So these shots were not too fun... Each shot would shoot your pulse up to 120 (while just laying in bed) the elevated pulse resulted in uncontrollable shaking and just generally feeling like you had chugged an entire pot of coffee with your heart raising out of control. After 30 minutes the nurse would check my monitor to see if I was continuing to have contractions and to make sure that my pulse was down to about 100. At this point it was time for another shot... and the cycle of shaking and heart racing started again.... just generally not fun. Luckily after three shots my contractions spaced out to every 10-7 minutes again! After 7 hours we were able to go home and I was put on bed rest until week 37 to help me get to full term! WHICH WE HAVE NOW MADE IT TO!!!!

There have been a few times where the contractions speed up and get more painful but generally they have stayed around 10-7 minutes. This has been very tiring but we are just so happy to be at full term!

Matt has been amazing through this whole process and very protective!

Health: Put a lot of the health stuff in feelings. Now that I am off bed rest because I made it to full term I'm going back to work. The plan is to do 4 hours in the building and I will also do some work from home. Happy about the chance to be back around people.

Also now we are in the clear for delivery! Excited about meeting Hunter

Movement: I thought that Hunter should be running out of room but he is still super active and moves around a lot.

Belly: Very light linea negra, and my belly button is poking out a little. Still no stretch marks!!!

Next Appointment: 11 September at 38 Weeks. Doctor said that he didnt' think that I will make it to the next appointment but it is my goal to get there because we are short handed at work this week.

Non-Baby Highlights for the week:
  • Not many highlights from bed... but I did get out to meet Emma's new teacher!
  • Emma starts school tomorrow! I cannot believe that I have a 3rd grader!

Monday, September 3, 2012

35 Weeks!

I wrote the below at the start of Week 35... But never got around to taking a weekly photo and making my post... Will do a week 37 update tomorrow so that all know what has been going on over the last week and a half.

Pregnancy: 35 weeks!
According to "The Bump" Hunter:
  • Is 17.2 to 18.7 inches. From here on out, he won't get much longer, but he's plumping up.
  • Is 4.2 to 5.8 pounds, and he'll put on a pound or more of baby fat before birth.
  • His hearing is fully developed, and he responds best to high-pitched noises.
Sleep: Still not sleeping very well at night. That seems to be when I have the most contractions. In fact last night I was up for two hours in some major pain.

Name: Hunter Matthew Park

Feeling: Feeling okay... Starting to feel like I'm ready for Baby Park to make is appearance but at the same time I know that we need to wait at least two more weeks so that I can be full term. Also, feeling a bit overwhelmed about my to-do list! I just have to let those worries go though.

In addition to all the above I'm starting to get VERY emotional... I've been crying everyday about stupid things and just letting things get to me.

Health: I am currently at almost 2 cm and 85% effaced! AHHH Doctor told me to cut down at work to only 4-6 hours... but I'm still planning on doing the 8 hour days this week and reevaluating after my next appointment in a week... I figure I've already cut down from 12 to 8 so that is like a normal person cutting down. If I've gotten much bigger at my next appointment I will cut down a little... Also!!! exciting news is that Hunter is head down! Emma wouldn't turn and they had to try to manually turn her... Painful!

Movement: Still a ton of movement.. feels like he is going to just punch right through my belly at times!

Belly: All the same as last week... Very light linea negra, and my belly button is poking out a little. Still no stretch marks!!!

Next Appointment: Monday, 27 August at 36 Weeks!