Out of Towner's

In a couple hours, we'll be headin' up to Massanutten in Virginia. Including a lunch stop, it's about a six hour trip. Of course, that's without a WMJ ;)

My uncle Clete was the coordinator and highlight of the trip, but he's not able to go now -- he just had unexpected sugery on Monday. So, the cousins, some of their friends, Jen, me, and WMJ are still going though. Anyone reading this should say a quick prayer for my aunt Sandi who has to miss out on the trip to stay home and take care of Clete ;)

Wes, Meet Wes

WMJ's namesake got back in town late this past Monday night. We'd already made lunch plans with a third Wes, so we figured we'd invite the main Wes along too ;)

So, with three Wes' at one table, WMJ and Wes Foy got to meet for the first time.

Wes & Lois came over on Christmas day in the evening for a little more multi-Wes time. Of course, we forgot to take pictures ;)

Speaking of Mustard....

Since I've gotta play 'Ketchup' again....

- We went to the doctor's office for the two week checkup this past Monday. Right after having been pronounced 9lbs 15oz, l'il Western released what had to be 3oz of pee on everything within a 3 foot radius - including the doctor's stool ;) Of course the scale had already pronounced its measurement, so the world may never know just how much he really released that day. (note the use of the number '3' in the explanation... even 9, 15, and the resulting 12 are divisible by '3'... This kids gonna grow up to be such a geek)

- Westibule took his first trip to Target yesterday. Jen and I have supposedly finished our Christmas shopping now...

- We're getting tired of this co-sleeping thing that we've put him in the habit of doing, so today we started on a schedule Jen got out of a book somewhere. Hopefully we'll stick with it for at least a few days to see how it goes... It sure would be nice if it kicks in good by the time we're on vacation ;)

Ready... Aim......... FIRE!

Well, there's a first time for everything I guess... Today was WMJ's first time for a projectile puke.

It was sort of half burp, half spit up. Of course, a lady from church - Carla Barber, mother of four - was holding him at the time. I just had to take a picture of the post-cleanup. Note the towel she's sitting on and the number of places wiped with a wet wash cloth ;)

Playing Ketchup

Or is it "catch up"... I know it's the latter, but it's not as funny ;)

So WMJ's been keepin' us busy lately.....

A few things semi-worthy of blogging (as if a "two-poo platter" isn't worthy ;) ):

- At the appointment noted in the last entry, he weighed in at 9lbs even. The doc wasn't super thrilled, but it sounded like Jen's milk hadn't quite come in yet, so she wasn't worried. She said it'd probably come in that night, and we should schedule a "nurse visit" to get re-weighed on Monday. We did, her milk came in, and on Monday he weighed 9lbs 10oz. We're back to where we started ;)

- Trying out the bed.... Jen was getting tired of sleeping on the couches, so we're trying to transition to the bed. It's a little tougher.... Not quite the same routine.... This morning was kinda sweet though - in a girly sorta way. I was pretty tired, so Jen took a turn at checking/changing, and didn't come back. She tried to sleep out on the couch for a couple hours. Of course, it didn't work out too well for her. So, I returned the favor at 6AM and took him out to the couch 'till 11:30AM ;)

- Boudreaux's Butt Paste stinks once it's gotten hot and mixed with baby poo ;)

- This evening's gonna be a trial run for Jen... I'm heading off to rehearsal at church soon, so she'll be on her own for what could be up to five hours.... Best of luck babe! ;)

The Traditional "Two-Poo" Platter

The little wiggle worm's been worrying us with the lack of poos recently. It was in the middle of our first good night two nights ago when we'd last seen a good poo. We were supposed to be seeing two or three poos yesterday, but none.

Luckily, we weren't super worried about it since we had our first pediatric appointment this morning. So, we went through the ordeal of getting both him and us ready and headed out. At the doc's, the first thing they wanted us to do was strip him down for a weigh-in. ("And in this corner.....")

We got off everything except the diaper. When we pulled it off, we found quite the surprise ;) After the clean up on aisle 2, a quick tare of the scale, he was weighed. 9lbs even. A new diaper was put on 'im, and we waited for the doc.

Dr. Sherrill came in, pleasantries and chatting ensued, and on with the exam. She unwrapped 'im and noted that I apparently hadn't "pointed it down", so there was apparently some leakage from a wet diaper. Sorry, but I'm still not feelin' too great about aiming a freshly circumcised pee stick. The doc finished her exam, and we were dismissed put on a new diaper, pack him up, and head home. Jen was holding him (with his yellow-snow diaper and the semi-wet receiving blanket) at this point and noted that he felt like he was leaving us a little present down under...

So, we unwrap 'im and find the present to be just gas. Not two seconds after we got the new diaper on and strapped up do we hear pbhtphbtpbht. And a juicy pbhtphbtpbht at that. "I'm glad we brought extra diapers!" I told Jen ;)

So, apparently WMJ has something against our house when it comes to poos ;)

Hope for the Same....

If the rest of the newborn nights go like last night, we'll be awesome!

Starting at 9PM, Jen woke me up to check diapers and hold 'im 'till she was ready, then wes-tacular ate a little and fell asleep. Every three hours after, the same process happened 'till 9AM this morning.

Of course, he's been a little lethargic today... WMJ's got a habit of eating a little and falling asleep. Jen has to keep waking him up so he'll get a good feed... We're wondering if things would be different if we'd have waited with the circumcision 'till the eighth day 'er so to get past some of these times when feedings are so necessary. Not that I'd want to really trade in nights like last night ;)

Oh well -- can't go back now ;)

Home Run!

Well, we're home now... I've made the first of the Rite-Aid runs, and am hoping to get in a quick power nap and disconnect the doorbell before the first appointment/visitor comes by...

I know -- I'm a goob, but I was told by a good friend to keep visits short and unexpected people out....

Of course, I started this post at just before 6PM on the 3rd, and am submitting it just after midnight. What does that foreshadow for us back here at home?!? ;)

Newborn Stuff We Don't Understand

Jen's parents are in the room and we were chatting about what's been happening recently... The scariest thing we've been running into sounds like it's a normal newborn thing, but .... ...... we have NO idea what we're doing regarding it.

Apparently some amniotic fluid gets in newborn's lungs, and in combination with regular extra mucus secretions -- the little dudes choke.

WMJ makes noises that sound kinda like sucking noises, and kinda like wheezing.... But apparently sometimes, those noises are indications of the baby choking... We woke up this morning to a nurse coming in for routine stuff. As soon as she opened the door, WMJ let out a random yell. This other nurse, Sue, from out in the nurse's area for the three room pod yelled, That's a choking baby scream!" and came running in. She snatched up the baby and... I don't really know what she did, 'cause I was half out of it and didn't have my glasses on. Not to sound like I wasn't interested in what was going on, I asked how and what she was doing when she used the little squeeze bulb thing.... Something about 'cleaning out the excess from the sides of his mouth' to boil it down...

Later in the day, Waggie was back and making her rounds. She came to check on Jen and just as she was bending over Jen to check her out, WMJ made some near-inaudible noise and the Wag-ster whipped around and rolled him onto his side. Jen and I were like what in the world?! We had NO idea anything was wrong.... Wag-tastic held the baby so that it was basically laying on her hand on his stomach. She rubbed and patted his back and comforted him, and within a minute, he basically puked a couple times. I could only imagine something similar happened with Sue.

It apparently happened again about 20 minutes ago while Jen's dad was holdin' him. Vicki recognized the sound right off too....... Yet again, Jen and I had NO idea anything was wrong....

Jen and I are in for a long couple days........ I hear that's how long this stuff normally lasts..... Maybe it just means that we're more in tune to hear/listen and understand what's going on when he gets older ;)

First Diaper Duty

Well, the little dude's had a couple poo's and a couple pee's. He's ahead of schedule for a newborn. Of course, we were lucky enough that the first couple poo's were handled by the nursing staff (the second was even "passed over" by the pediatrician).

Then came the third....

I suppose we should've been more diligent in checking to see if he needed changing... I felt some funny action down low after lunch, but no fussing.... Jen and I both ended up taking naps, and in the midst of some other moving, we decided to check him out. Well -- it happened. He had the nasty down low, and parts were dried on 'im. Scrub, scrub, scrub! With cold, wet wipes, he gets a bit perturbed.... And of course, it takes a little longer with the dried up gunk...

And with time and air, little squirters squirt....

He started gettin' it all over my hand and subsequently anything that was in the opposite angle of the squirter-hand relationship. That apparently also included a half dozen fresh linens... Doh!

So, Jen was quick to call the nurse and laughingly let 'em know that WMJ had christened the room and needed some fresh linens ;)

Too Much To Remember...

It's after midnight on Wesley Michael Jolly's second calendar day of life... That being said, it's a little tough to remember what all happened since the last post -- other than the 5 work calls I didn't return yet (sorry guys!).

So -- here's the best recap I can come up with...

Jen strained the fool out of herself pushing from 2:05PM - 6:00PM. Dr. Bresnahan (Dr. Wagner went off duty at noon) wasn't sure we'd be able to get the big guy out... He was "transverse" - looking to the side. Apparently, a kid needs to be facing up to have the easiest move through the crazy canal. To try and get the boy to turn, we did a good series of pushes on Jen's side... We made good progress, but he just wouldn't turn good, so his shoulders were probably hangin' up at Jen's pelvic bone. Prior to the side pushing, the doc was even leaning towards an "unnecesarean" (copyright Bobby Wilkinson ;) (he's understandably against 'em being used for convenience purposes - which this wasn't)). By 6:00, Jen was about wasted, and was in tears with the thought of finally giving in to surgery (remember, this was even the first time she had an IV). Luckily, the pushing that she'd done had gotten the head so far down that Dr. B. suggested the little vacuum thing. She wasn't sure we could pull it off, warning that if it pops off a few times, we'd still need to go with the cesarean.

At 6:15, the little suction thing worked on the first try, and our little cone-head - Wesley Michael Jolly - was born. 9lbs 10oz, 22". By tomorrow, he'll be 20" once the swollen cone-head comes back to normal ;)

They made me cut the cord........ with scissors handed to me by Doc B that had stuff on the handles..... YUCK! ;)

Like Father Like Son ;)

Lunch?

Janice - the current nurse - is about to head to lunch, so she did a quick exam before headin' out.

....


Nine ;)

And "zero station" ;)

At the hospital

Got to the hospital a little late last night... Our appointment was at 5PM, but with traffic, we made it here at 5:20PM. Not long after we were checked in and in the room in a gown ;)

Jen got the first IV of her life and was given a quick liter of "fluids" since the baby was all over the place heart rate wise (stayin' up above 170 most of the time). That settled things out. They started her on a second bag, and Dr. Wagner arrived. A normal (what's "normal" for this stuff? ;) ) checkup ensued reporting 1cm and 30% effacement. GEEZ! We're moving backwards ;) Stupid subjective measurements...

Anyway -- the doc put the cervidil in while she was in there and fun times ensued. Vicki headed home to freshen up and get us some food. At about 9:30, we feasted on Arby's ;)

A crampy, sleepless night later, and I helped Jen with a shower and snagged one for myself. At about 7:30AM, we started pitocin and had another exam. We were at 2cm and about 60% (I think... it coulda been 70%, but I'm horrible at remembering).

Crying ensued... Not from the slow progress, but from the pain ;)

At around 9:45, the anesthesiologist was in the unit, and we convinced Jen to go for the epidural ;) Turned out, it was the doctor that taught our pain management class.... I tried to joke with him about not getting a "wet tap", but... I dunno.... There's something about a lack of sense of humor from that guy.... Oh well -- more for the nurses and Dr. Wagner ;)

He did it pretty quick, and at 10:15 Waggie broke Jen's water. There was some meconium color to the water they said, so the nurse said it was a good thing Jen got the epidural. Something about as the baby comes out, prior to the rest of the body coming out, the doctor will suction out the nose and mouth real good. That added time may not be all that fun for someone that's not on the good stuff ;)

Jen said after the epi, the contractions are back to more like what they've been like at home -- just pressure down low. They started to get a little worse, and I realized that they never have her "the button". We called the nurse in and got that situation rectified right quick ;) I've hit the button a few times for her "'cause I love her" ;)

Now for the good news... While Jen was getting her water broke, the doctor did another exam. SEVEN CENTIMETERS!

She said "7, 90, minus 1". What's a "minus 1"? We had to get a lesson in the "station" of the kid with regards to the pelvis to understand what it meant. Apparently that means the little dude's not quite to the pelvis yet. One he reaches the pelvis (the "arch"), that's "zero". You can see head at "plus three" and he's out at "four".

So, anyway -- the tear-bringing pain from those couple hours was apparently worth it. Well, not "worth" it, but no wasted ;)

So -- I'm off to hit the button some more 'till we get to "plus four" ;)