June 12 milestones

Wow!  The first night was way easier than either of us had expected!  Calvin only woke us up once, and we had to wake him up to eat the second time.  Of course, coming off of 5 total hours of sleep for the whole weekend means that we are still ridiculously tired, but we won't split hairs.

Today was full of new things and adventures for young Calvin.  He ate and then he explored the backyard with his dad (mostly with closed eyes) then he ate again.  This was followed by a frustrated turn through his dressers and closet looking for clothing that would actually fit.  These things looked small before he was born, but pretty much everything hangs off of him except a couple of outfits from Cortney's mom and a couple from Cortney's aunt, so today he played dress up in a onesie delivered all the way from Peru - lucky baby is so loved and spoiled!  Then the afternoon consisted of more eating and sleeping, a visit from our lactation consultant (she's really cool), a trip to the mailbox (video taped by Jon), trying to get used to the idea that the carseat wouldn't kill him, and a first sponge bath at home.  Jon equates the bath, and pretty much any diaper or clothing change, to the concept of working on a car while the car alarm is going off.  Other than that, though, Calvin is a pretty easy going baby - he usually gets used to new things about the second time through -  and has been quiet and cuddley all day.

I now understand what before I could not.

We knew that we were excited.  We knew that we loved Raspberry.  We knew that we were ready.

We did not know that he would look so beautiful to us, or smell so sweet, or steel us away for all we were worth.  Our weekend in the hospital was magical.  No honeymoon could have been any sweeter.  After Calvin was born at 10:11pm on Friday we stayed in the Labor and Delivery Room for a couple of hours so they could monitor both Cortney and baby.  Calvin, who scored a 9 on the APGAR, was in Cortney's arms within 35 minutes of birth and was nursing shortly thereafter (scoring a 10/10 on the nursing scale), so he seemed content, and we were content just to stare at him.  The world was lost to us and we kept wondering "can this be real?"  We walked (well, Cortney was wheeled) to our hospital room around 1am and that is pretty much where we stayed, rather contentedly, mind you, for the next 37+ hours.  Calvin was a quiet newborn, alternating between states of alert quietness and deep sleep.  He only left our sides once - for a bath and state mandated testing.  When, on Saturday night, the nurses asked us what our "plan" was, we looked at them a little dumbfounded.  Did we want them to take our baby to the nursery for the night?  We never even considered it.  We were visited by a handful of wonderful people - Calvin's grandparents, our friend and Pastor, Andrew, and his wife Erinn, and our church choir director, Susan.  We ate hospital food, sort of, and had some food  brought in (like pizza, Saturday night).  Mostly we just cherished those moments - the two of us drinking in the triumph and beauty of our perfect new son, and baby Calvin taking in this large new world around him.  It may have been a hospital stay, but when we left for home at 2:30 on Sunday we felt as though we were saying goodbye to a vacation made in heaven.

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.

Okay! We're ready!

Raspberry can arrive any day now.  How do we know?  He's considered full term and healthy...and we installed the car seat bases.  Yep.  Any day now.

Daddy type jobs...

Jon is on a mission.  His goal?  Baby proof the house.  So, at his urging we have made several safety oriented purchases and are slowly redecorating our abode.  The crib and bassinet are now draped in romantic safari style tulle (read: mosquito netting that will keep the cats out).  All of our previously nondescript beige outlets are now overlaid with delicate opaque adornments (read: plastic outlet covers which will come in handy when Raspberry starts crawling).  His piece de resistance, however, is definitely the elegant new palisade safeguarding the descent to his atelier (read: baby gate that he installed, power tools and all, to block the basement stairs).  Yes, Jon has accepted his mission and has achieved success.