Celebrating two weeks!

Well, we are now two weeks old!!!  Calvin really started celebrating this milestone overnight by sleeping for nearly six hours straight - yay!  It was the first night that we did not set the alarm in order to wake the sleeping baby and force him to eat.  Since he's been gaining well we decided to let him dictate the night time schedule, especially since Cortney is now dictating the daytime schedule.  So far so good... Then during the day today Calvin celebrated his two week old status by visitng the church office, where they had been awaiting his appearance just as eagerly as we had been awaiting the chance to introduce him.  Though he slept through the whole visit a good time was had by all.  Following that stop he was treated to a nice French Quarter style lunch in Ann Arbor by Cortney's parents.  Of course, all he got out of the lunch was a flower and a nap, but we didn't hear him complaining.  After lunch he showed how mature he was by spending nearly an hour in a very alert state, taking in the sights of the world around him, especially the back side (that being the hypnotizing black and white side) of Baby Whoozit.  Who knewzit that toy could be so entertaining!!!  The day of celebration was capped off with a wonderful visit by his Aunt Ann, who was kind enough to take him out for a walk in his sling and hold him on her lap all evening, even when he decided to be a little ornery towards the end of the day.  Of course, ornery is what his parents are looking for at 11pm in hopes of another long sleep overnight.  Here's to keeping our fingers crossed...

Celebrating one week!

Actually, knowing the difference that a day makes, Calvin won't really be a week old until 10pm tonight.  We'll have to wait and see what other accomplishments he can squeeze into these last twelve hours.  So far in his first week he:  Lost 6 ounces, then gained five back;  Lifts his head during tummy time, and while on his back;  Has rolled back onto his back during tummy time twice now (we know it's just luck, but we'll count it anyway);  Has aquired the ability to sleep peacefully for a five hour stretch, which the doctor said was fine now that he regained his birthweight;  Went for a walk;  Has tried out all his toys;  Has received visitors;  Has learned to take his bath in stride;  And has basically defeated the jaundice just by being a pro at nursing.  We think it was a successful week.

So those are Calvin's accomplishments...what about ours?  So far, in our first week as parents, we:  Have learned how to get a decent night of sleep;  Have become pros with diapering (we've caught all baby boy showers in a washcloth!);  Have learned how to calm him when fussy and burp him after feedings;  Have survived two baths, two car trips, and two doctor's appointments;  And have gotten better at putting him down every once in a while, at not looking at him every few seconds while he's sleeping, and at sharing him when we are both home and awake.  This, too, feels successful to us!

June 13 milestones

So what we said about good nights...not so sure anymore!  It's not the fact that he wakes us up and wants to eat or needs a new diaper.  It's not even the fact that it might take a while to get him back to sleep.  The thing we take issue with was his being more alert between 1am and 3am than he was at any one time during the day yesterday.  He didn't even have his days and nights mixed up before he was born (Cortney never felt him being busy at night), so what gives?

That, however, is our only complaint.  On Calvin's list of achievements for June 13 is playing with Octunes (though Jon did most, actually all, of the playing), meeting Cortney's Godmother, Lonnie (who made a very long and special detour just to see him), meeting his aunt Ann, starting tummy time, and his first trip to the doctor, which deserves a little more said.  His appointment today was actually with his nurse practitioner, who is a wonderful lady.  The bad news is that Calvin's jaundice is a little worse, the good news is that it is still within normal ranges for an infant born nearly two weeks early.  More good news is that he did not lose any more weight, so he is holdig his own now at 6lbs 6oz.  And the especially good news is that we have an unusual newborn.  We figured that Calvin's take-it-in-stride attitude was normal for a newborn (how would we know heads from tails?) but the nurse made sure that we would understand how lucky we are - Calvin is, apparently, just really easy going.  Cortney says he gets that, just like his good looks, straight from his dad.

Calvin's arrival!

Though he wasn't due until June 19, Calvin decided on June 9, the first day of the full moon cycle, that he was tired of waiting. That's okay, so were we! Everything started at 2am on Friday morning when Cortney's water broke. Actually, she wasn't entirely certain that's what had happened, but after a failed dash to the bathroom her contractions became somewhat regular, so we started timing them. At 9am, still uncertain whether we had broken water or incontinence with strong contractions (yes, looking back now this sounds silly), Jon called in to work to take the day off "just in case" and Cortney decided to go on with her daily 2 mile neighborhood walk, this time joined by Jon, who timed the contractions, and Kristin (since that had been planned the night before), who recorded the data. We walked for almost 3 hours, after which Cortney showered and trimmed the pets' nails while Jon mowed the lawn and vacuumed (got to be prepared, right?). Around 2:30pm, still uncertain about that incontinence issue, we decided to take no chances, especially since it was Friday, and we headed over to Labor and Delivery Triage at St. Joe's. Good thing.

On the way to the hospital the contractions became more powerful and more regular (now coming every 5-7 minutes, not every 5-15) and when we told the triage nurses that we thought we would be sent home, they laughed at us (in a good natured way). It was clearly not incontinence, but broken water, and we had been laboring courageously for around 14 hours now. We were admitted. When we arrived at our Delivery Room at 4:45, Cortney had been laboring for nearly 15 hours had progressed to only 3cm (only 1cm farther than the 2cm she had been in her Dr.s appointment on Tuesday), and we were both exhausted. Nothing seemed manageable under those conditions and it looked like a long road ahead, so we opted for the epidural. Great choice. We both got some rest, and the relaxation really moved things along - we made 10cm in the next 4.5 hours! Around 9:40 the nurses were astounded to find Cortney ready to push, but they guessed that it would be another couple of hours before we would meet our son. We showed them! At 10:10 they found themselves rushing to ready the room for this rapidly approaching infant, and, finally:

38.5 weeks of waiting

+ 20 hours of labor

+ 20 minutes of pushing

= 6lbs 13oz and 19inches of Calvin Curtis Ophoff, born at 10:11pm on Friday, June 9.