Catching up!

Wow. I have not posted ANYTHING in so long! My apologies. Since my last entry, we have had Thanksgiving, Christmas, my birthday, New Year's, and first day back to work. A lot has happened!

Our first round of holidays with Palmer went great. Thanksgiving was easy. We celebrated with Andy's mom and step dad a couple of weeks before the big day and saw my parents the afternoon of Thanksgiving. On Black Friday, I got up early and went to my mom's to pick her and Shauna (my little sister) up to go shopping. Andy was left to his own devices with Palmer for the morning. I was gone for about 5 hours total and came back to an exhausted husband. He touched my heart when he told me he has a new appreciation for what I do everyday. Apparently Palmer was a little fussy :).

The Christmas season was a whirlwind. We spent Christmas Eve with the Howells, Christmas morning at our house, Christmas Day with the Darlands, and the Sunday after with the Hahns. Palmer got so many great gifts! We are still having so much fun playing with everything.

The Sunday after Christmas took a turn for the worse though. Really long story short, Andy ended up taking me to the ER with severe abdominal pains where I was admitted for colitis. I had to stay until Tuesday night, but probably should have stayed a little longer. I had a rough few days, but didnt want to be in the hospital on my birthday so I insisted on being discharged. I was on a liquid diet all week...talk about baby weight just melting away! That was the only good side effect of the whole situation.

After that, Andy got a severe sinus infection, I came down with strep and an inner ear infection, and now, Palmer has a little cold! We've had a tough time in the Hahn house! I think everything is starting to slow back down though. I'm back to work with a flexible schedule and Palmer stays with my parents during the day. I dont know how people leave their kids at daycare. It is hard enough having to take him to my mom's! No one does things just like mommy does :).

Enough rambling...here are some pictures from the last couple of months. The little man is growing up! Here he is in his Christmas outfit.

My college roommate, Becca, brought her son, Malakai to visit. Malakai wasnt too sure about Palmer!

Day 12-The Rollover

I just love these two pictures! I took Palmer to Andy's work yesterday dressed in his cute golfer outfit. He is such a stud :). This morning he decided he didnt want to take a nap but instead wanted to sit on the couch and watch TV. Believe me when I say he WANTED to sit on the couch. I tried his bouncy seat, swing, pack and play, and crib and nothing was satisfiying him. He's been so active lately! I dont mind though as long as it wears him out for the night time!

I have tried to upload a video of our little muffin ROLLING OVER, but I cant seem to get blogger to cooperate. When he was 12 days old, Palmer rolled over for the first time from belly to back. Andy and I were getting dinner ready and Andy put Palmer in his pack and play on his belly. He looked up and said, "He just rolled over!". I didnt believe him and Palmer wouldnt do it again. However, the next day, I was getting my lunch ready and I had just laid Palmer on his belly in his pack and play when I looked back over and he was on his back. I grabbed the camera and put him back on his belly. I waited a second and he rolled over...this time I caught it on video! If I get it to work, I'll post it on here. What a little over-achiever!

Aunt Lisa (my old college roomie) came to visit today. We were so happy to spend some time with her and she even gave Palmer a manicure. I'm too afraid of cutting his little fingers so I havent tried the clippers yet. Lisa, the veteran mommy, jumped right in and got the job done. Thanks Lis!

Pictures Galore

Here are some random pictures of Palmer. He LOVED his first bath and each one thereafter. They seem to calm and relax him.

We are learning more and more about our little guy's personality as it begins to develop. He is such a calm baby, but definitely a boy who loves his food. He is wearing me out to the point of tears when it comes to breast feeding. I'm trying to stick with it, but I may not be able to keep up. We already have to supplement with formula for the vitamin D benefits, and because I am just in pain! I'm trying to stay relaxed and know that I'm doing my best and if I'm stressing out so much then it is not worth it. We'll see how long I can make it :).

Besides getting a little stir crazy now and then, I love being home with our son and my days just fly by as I take care of him and the household chores. My maternity leave ends after the holidays...which is coming too fast! I cant believe Palmer is already 2 weeks old! Ahh!

Thank you to everyone for the thoughts and prayers...and gifts! What an amazing ride this has been already!

Welcome Palmer Mitchell Hahn

So in love with our little man!

Labor and Delivery

I've been meaning to hop on here and get some updates of our little one's arrival in the blogosphere. He's napping now, so I'll give it my best.

Last Monday, October 26th, I had a routine doctor's appointment for my 39 week check up. The doctor stripped my membranes again and stretched me to 3 cm and I was about 75% effaced. The doctor said he would call the hospital to get a date for inducing me that week, if I didnt go on my own. Andy and I were so excited to hear that one way or another, we would have a baby within the week! I think it was exactly what I needed...a light at the end of the tunnel!

I called the doctor twice on Monday to see if they had a date set for induction, but I never got a solid response, just that they were working on it. I went to bed Monday so excited and anxious. I slept in a little on Tuesday and stayed busy around the house. When I finally checked my phone at about 11:15am or so, there was a message from the doctor telling me to call them as they had set a date and time for my induction. I called right away and was told they wanted me at the hospital THAT NIGHT! I was to check in at 6:00pm! I hung up the phone and told Andy the news. Anxiety, nerves, excitement, happiness...all hit at once.

We went to the hospital that Tuesday evening, October 27th, to start a drug called Cytotech. This made my contractions come every minute to a minute and a half all night long. It was miserable. I didnt get any sleep and was in a lot of pain for over 9 hours. By 6:00am on Wednesday, I was defeated, ready to talk pain meds, but scared to deviate from my initial plan of a natural birth. The nurse gave me the pros and cons of Nubane and I decided to give it a try to buy me some time to decide if I wanted to take the epidural. She told me Nubane would give me a couple of hours to get some rest and decide, but for me, it only gave me 45 minutes. I was done...exhausted beyond belief and ready for some help.

The doctor came in to do the epidural and I knew what the procedure entailed so I wasnt too scared. My blood pressure dropped really fast though so they had to check the dosage, push some extra drug to regulate me and lay me down with my feet elevated. Let the scares begin! Once the dosage was right and everything was in place, I felt pretty good. I was able to relax, accept some visitors and let labor progress more easily. They began the Pitocin at this point to kick labor into high gear.

About mid-day the epidural wasnt working anymore and I was in extreme pain. Andy called on our nurse and the doctor came in to increase the dosage in my epidural. Long story short, the dose was too high. I went numb up to my collar bone, felt like I couldnt breathe, couldnt move at all from my ribs down and ended up vomiting multiple times. They pushed Finnergan, an antinausea drug to help the vomiting and from that point on, I was a zombie. I dont remember a ton after that and have had to rely on Andy to put the pieces together for me.

Luckily, I remember the actual delivery part. I think adrenaline must have kicked in, praise the Lord. They had shut my epidural off prior to delivery, as it just wasnt working out, so I could feel the contractions and knew when to push on my own. I was actually glad for that, as I was still able to do a vaginal birth, which was the ultimate plan. I lost a lot of blood and had a rough and scary delivery, but I'm so thankful for our baby boy and would endure it all over again if I had to.

Palmer Mitchell Hahn came into the world on October 28, 2009 at 8:04pm, weighing in at 8 lbs 4 oz, 21 1/4 inches long.

The Little Big One

I had an ultrasound yesterday where it was estimated that the baby is 8 pounds and 6 ounces...looking more like a 40 week 5 day baby than the 38 week baby that the calendar predicts.

I've spent my first week of maternity leave trying to naturally induce labor. Walking, eating spicey foods, cleaning, and all the other unmentionables...I've done them all! This baby seems to be comfortable where it is. I'm so anxious and excited to meet him/her that I can hardly stand it. I really dont want to be induced at the hospital as I have heard how much more painful and abrupt labor is with Pitocin. I'll keep trying my methods and pray that this baby comes before the doctor insists on hitting eject :).

Here's the latest ultrasound!

Tick-Tock

Well, I'm 36 weeks down with just a few more to go. Time is flying, but also dragging on. I am so anxious for this baby to begin its arrival. I've started to really think through the actual delivery process and I'm getting nervous about that part. It'll all be well worth it once Baby Hahn finally arrives!

Here are some pictures of my 36 week belly:

As a belated post, my work girls threw me a shower a couple of weeks ago and I never put up the pictures. Take a look at some of the fun I had :). The girls started a pool on when Baby Hahn would make his/her big debut. They based their predictions on the size of the baby, thus the October 18th due date they hovered around. You'll also see a fabulous picture of me scarfing down a piece of pizza. My boss, Sarah, brought me a couple of slices from one of my favorite pizza places on the Circle. I dont eat "girly food" like chicken salad and veggies, so Sarah brought me pizza so I wouldnt starve. Oh how they know me well!