Mom and dad made it in last night after their long flight! They were thrilled to be here and finally meet Cormac, see Duke and our lives in Korea.
Dad with his favorite Grand dog!
Grandma and Cormac resting…
He’s so happy in Grandpa’s arms
We are so happy they are here, plus they’ve been helping us around the house. Dad has already completed one project for us and mom is going to start cooking for us today! Yippee!
They say that once you have a baby your life completely revolves around them. That is so true! We are definitely fine with that though and have welcomed the change!
Cormac is absolutely amazing! We wish that he could get his days and nights figured out because, like a college student, he sleeps all day and parties all night! His shirts that say, “Party at my crib 2 am” and “I pulled an all-nighter” are very accurate. We are exhausted, but still love every minute of it! His (gas induced) smiles make up for it and I love the way he smells after a bath. I’ve even come to appreciate the smell of his diapers and occasional spit up… Wow, motherhood has changed me!
Sleeping all day can also make some things easier. For example, yesterday we went to the Dr. for him to get his blood drawn. I was a frantic mother worrying about how he would react, but low and behold, he slept right through it. He’s also been sleeping through bath time much to the surprise of Kim, who helped me with this arduous task! (Thank you Kim for being such a great role model and help! I have so much to learn from you!)
Ryan, Duke and I are doing great. That was the point of this post originally, but of course, I had to brag about our little man! Ryan got in a “bad” bicycle wreck earlier in the week trying to “jump the speed bumps”… Here is a picture of his gnarley road rash. This is what it looks like after a week of healing! Yuck!
Ryan “proud” of his injury!
I’m feeling pretty good. I got the stitches from the C-Section removed six days after the surgery and feel pretty much back to normal. I’m looking forward to getting back to the gym and taking Cormac for walks in the jogging stroller.
I’m so excited that my parents are going to be here in a few days! I can hardly stand it! Then Ryan’s parents will be here. It will be awesome! We are looking forward to all of their help!
A friend of mine that I “met” through a military wives message board on the internet figured out how to send me flowers- with the help of her husband. He is stationed in Korea, though not on this base. It was such a nice surprise!
We visited the bazaar on base yesterday and bought some Korean furniture. We’ve been wanting some for a year now and got a pretty decent price on these pieces.
Duke got a new dog bed from L.L.Bean. When I ordered it I didn’t realize how big it was! It’s huge and takes up most of our bedroom! We figure it will be perfect for our next house (and second dog)! Duke doesn’t know that we want to get another Golden, so don’t tell him, okay?
We haven’t let any kids hold him yet until he reached 2 weeks old. Since Kim is my best buddy here, and the kids have been very involved with my pregnancy, they were the first to get to hold him.
They were lucky enough to be home when their new cousin Campbell was born on August 9th! One day after we delivered!
Some of you may remember Sydney from a previous post where she was touching my belly. You can tell how proud and excited she is to finally get to hold him and “help with him”.
Tanner said, “don’t worry, I know how to hold a baby” and placed his arms in the perfect position! SO cute!
As if I haven’t taken enough pictures, we decided to have Jamie, the uber talented photographer that took my maternity shots, take some pictures yesterday. Cormac obliged and just laid there contentedly.
This is one of our favorite pictures!
This one is precious too!
Of course we think he is absolutely adorable, but of course we are a little biased!
This is a very long story. To summarize, it was difficult, painful and resulted in an emergency C-Section. Not at all what we had planned but worth every minute of exhaustion now. We tried to remember every detail, so that’s why it is so lengthly.
My water broke at 12:04 am on Wednesday morning. I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for months, but no “real” contractions prior to that. I decided to take a shower, straighten up the house, and let Duke out before we left for the hospital. I ate a banana that I would later soon regret eating. I should have learned my lesson after the embryo transfer when I threw one up all over myself as we were entering the base.
Our friend Michelle, the ultrasonographer from Elle Medi, had told us to call her any time day or night when labor began so she met us at 1:45 am. She was so excited. We were nervous!
They hooked me up to the heartrate and contraction monitors and checked me. I was 1 cm dilated. We had a long way to go. I started having regular contractions and leaking more amniotic fluid. Hours went by (no pain meds) and when they checked me at 6 am I was only at 2 cm. They told me I had to get to 3 before the epidural and they put me on oxytocin. This strengthened the contractions, but didn’t help with dilation at all.
When they checked me at 8 am I was barely 2.0 cm. They noticed that whenever I had contractions that his heart rate dropped really badly. His recovery time at that point was good though, so they were going to just keep an eye on it.
This may be stating the obvious, but contractions hurt! I just kept telling myself that no matter what, we would be having a baby that day.
By noon and only dilating to 3 cm, the Dr. consulted with Ryan and decided that because of the rapid decrease of his heart rate and the slower recovery time that a C-Section was necessary. We had previously discussed NOT wanting one, but at that point, it was absolutely necessary for his health. Ryan was amazing. I could tell how stressed he was, but he had a calming affect on me. He massaged my back, helped me take deep breaths and asked that they give me oxygen when I was having problems breathing.
Off to the emergency C-Section…
They put me completely out of it for the surgery which is probably best considering how Cormac was at birth. Ryan was in the room with me for the C-Section and I had always said on the day of delivery, I want Ryan to be a husband and a father, not the Dr… Well, Dr. Cho was great with involving Ryan throughout the pregnancy and asking his opinions along the way. Most Korean men don’t even go to appointments with their wives and lack any involvement overall. Dr. Cho respected Ryan from the beginning and it was reassuring to have them speak “medical speak” at least through this ordeal…
SO, back to delivering. When Cormac was born Ryan said that he was the bluest baby he has ever seen. Ryan has delivered over 150 babies, so this was terrifying for him. Apparently Cormac wasn’t reviving fast enough so Ryan had to jump in, demanding the stethoscope from the anesthesiologist and getting Cormac to breathe! Cormac is completely fine now and gained color quickly once he started to.
He scored a 7 on his one minute Apgar and a 9 on his 5 minute one, but Ryan thinks these were probably generously miscalculated.
I was wheeled in to recovery and of course woke up completely out of it from all of the drugs. I was freezing and starving and my mouth was so dry. I couldn’t drink water, but Ryan got a paper towel and dipped it in ice water and gave me little droplets of it. They were the most refreshing drops of water I had ever had!
Ryan got to hold him very briefly, but I didn’t even get to see him until 8 pm on Weds. night. They held him up to the nursery glass and I got to finally see our little boy! He was precious! A little puffy, had the gunk in his eyes, etc… But they had given him a bath and he was gorgeous. I thought he looked a lot like me, but I couldn’t really tell.
I spent Thursday recovering while Cormac was in the nursery. Ryan slept on the floor. It was very uncomfortable for him and we decided that if the Dr. approved it we would go home on Friday. The Pediatrician and Dr. Cho checked me and Cormac out and all looked well.
We finally got to try to nurse and hold the baby around 2 on Thursday! My milk wasn’t in yet, but it was amazing to finally get to hold our little miracle. We were amazed! It helped take away the pain and was reassuring to us that everything was going to be okay.
They didn’t let me eat anything all day Thursday. I was able to get up and shower and walk around, albeit very cautiously. Most Korean women don’t get out of bed for 48 hours and are recommend at least a 6 day stay. Most women stay for a month to recover!
We desperately wanted him in the room with us so we made plans for getting him after dinner.
Dinner consisted of porridge (similar to Cream of Wheat) and Seaweed soup, a specialty of Korea. Apparently it “solves all of the world’s problems” because they insisted that I eat it. In all seriousness, it’s not that bad and it is supposed to help with milk production, fluid retention and weight loss. I held my breath and chugged it down. Meanwhile Ryan was eating a smorgasbord of delicious Korean food right in front of me! The audacity!
Thursday night was great having him in the room with us. Except for around midnight he woke us up coughing and sounding like he was choking a bit, so we sprang to our feet and took care of him. It was like we were the pit crew at a NASCAR race. As we were changing his meconium filled diaper the tab on it broke off, he spit up a little more, I turned his head to the side all the while, grasping on to his diaper so it wouldn’t go everywhere! After we were done, Ryan and I high-fived each other! Job well done. (We actually felt and still feel very clueless when it comes to most things. We still haven’t quite gotten down the “changing a boy” thing and have been peed on several times, including the wall, his changing pad and all over Cormac. He peed on his own face. Poor guy!)
Friday morning started off with the same breakfast that I had for dinner and the decision to go home to recover rather than stay at the hospital any longer. They were taking great care of us, but Ryan sleeping on the floor and the uncomfortable bed I was sleeping in sealed the deal. We figured even if we only got one hour of sleep when we got home, at least it would be “good sleep”. Plus we missed Duke desperately. There were several people taking care of him, but we knew he would be in for enough changed when we arrived home, so we better get to him sooner rather than later.
We drove home Friday in the rain. Ryan was very cautious and of course I sat in the back seat watching every breath that Cormac took. It was great to be home with our little miracle son! Duke was also very happy to see us. We ordered Duffy’s pizza and marveled at our little man. People came over on Saturday and every day of the week bringing us meals and changing and holding him. People on base have been so generous and helpful!
That’s the birth story, and we haven’t slept since…
Please excuse any typos. It’s 5 am right now when I am uploading it!
I’m writing this almost to the minute of when he was born one week ago! People always say that children grow up so fast. We don’t know where this week has gone!
Here he is when he was first born.
One Week Old!
We’re too tired to write too much, but the first week has been awesome. I never imagined I would love being a mommy so much! Ryan has been amazing. He’s changed more diapers than I have and we are loving the Bum Genius diapers.
We’ve been peed on and pooped on and spit up on. It’s great! I laughed outloud the first time there was a “shooting poop” incident. I’m sure I won’t be laughing if it happens in a few weeks, but the first few times, it was “cute”…
Pray for us and pray that he gets his sleeping patterns more regulated. He’s sleeping all day and up all night. Sounds like a college student now that I think of it!
People keep asking how I am doing so I wanted to let you all know that I am great! He cries occasionally, but mostly when he’s tooting and needs a diaper change, or when he’s hungry, which seems like all of the time! I wish I could eat that much! I like to hang out with him when he is in his swing, or sleeping in his pack and play. I’m pretty protective of him, especially if strangers come to visit.
Mom and dad also put a treat jar in his room, so when I go in there, I always get a yummy treat.
Here is our little man! He was born August 8, 2007 at 2:18 pm after 14 hours of labor…. He weighed 7 lbs and was 20 inches long. After 14 hours of labor… Birth story to follow…
Day 2
You can tell how happy we are. I’m still “a little” out of it though in this picture!
It was awesome! Wells made a yummy pasta dish with garlic bread and they ordered Korean food- mondu! It was delicious!
For dessert Kim made a Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese icing! My favorite!
They all went in on getting us the Eddie Bauer Complete Play Yard! I had given up on getting one because I couldn’t find a company to ship it here. They were able to after a lot of work! Gregory did most of the work getting it here! They also got us two outfits, pacifiers, baby shampoo and lotion. They were so generous!
Kim made sure that this matched our house perfectly
Last night we had dinner with a few people on base and after dinner we played a board game. Today Ryan came home for lunch and we decided to start playing a game of Scrabble. We had to stop our game so he could go back to work, but we resumed it after dinner. Ryan ended up kicking my butt! It was a lot of fun though!
