Hospital Photo Shoot

Jordan Valley Medical Center (the hospital where I gave birth) has a contract with Bella Baby Photography. On the day after Kael was born a girl came in to take some pics of him. We fell in love with so many of them that we broke down and bought the disk. I am glad we did because we have full printing rights to them now so that is great. Here are a few of my favorites, I can't believe how much my baby boy has already changed!

A Couple of Pics

Our little man wide awake.

Oh so tired after a long day at the doctor's office.
I love how his hands are constantly up by his face whenever he sleeps.

2 Week Check Up

I cannot believe that my baby is already 2 weeks old (tomorrow)! The days have gone by so fast and he is changing so much everyday.

We went to the doctor for Kael's 2 week check up today. I have been so worried that he has not been getting enough to eat or that I am doing something wrong... letting him sleep too much or he is not getting enough sleep??? Is he gaining the appropriate amount of weight??? There are just so many questions and not enough answers. I have had a hard time breast feeding and so I have been pumping and feeding him with a bottle, I don't think we were getting the right latch and that made it VERY painful for me and frustrating for the both of us. I have felt like a failure for having to feed him with a bottle. I was trying to figure out why he and I are having such a hard time and the other day while I was just sitting here staring at him I noticed that he can't stick his tongue out hardly at all, I did a little bit of research and found that it is called being "tongue tied". I talked to Kevin about it, he simply said, very matter of factly, "Megan, he just doesn't know how to use it yet." Well that answer was not good enough for me! I asked the doc today to take a look at Kael's tongue to see what he thought, I was definitely right, the poor little guy is tongue tied, I have to make an appointment with a Pediatric ENT to get his poor little mouth clipped. The pediatrician said that after that is taken care of we should have a better/easier time with the breast feeding. He also said that I should not feel bad about having to give Kael a bottle, he said that it is great that I am still giving him breast milk and that he will need to get used to a bottle sooner or later so it is good that he is adjusting to the bottle so well.

As far as stats go, Kael now weighs 7 pounds 6 ounces! I was so excited/relieved to know that he has gained some weight and that he is getting enough to eat. He is in the 50th percentile on weight and the 25th percentile on height.

All in all it was a good visit, except for the fact that they had to do the PKU test which poor little Kael did not like one bit. I felt so bad for having to hold him while the nurse stuck his heel and took the blood, he was not too happy with me after that.

KAEL THOMAS RIKLI

I am so far behind! I finally have a minute to sit down and actually blog.

Our sweet baby boy was born on 1.1.11! He was born at 10:32 a.m. weighed 7 pounds and was 20 inches long. We are so excited that he is here, he is perfect.

Just like my pregnancy, labor went great and very smoothly, only about 7 1/2 hours from start to finish. On New Years Eve I kind of started getting some weird pains, I called my Mom and she said that they sounded like contractions to her. I was so excited, I thought that with any luck we would be able to have a New Years baby. My Mom suggested that I should go walk around and hopfully they would start getting a little closer and a little stronger. Kevin decided that we would go a step beyond walking, we started boxing on the Wii instead. What we thought and hoped would jump start my labor actually made it stop... thats right those pains that I thought were going to bring my baby that much sooner went away. I was so upset and disappointed. We went to Kevin's parents house for a little bit and his Mom rubbed my feet and massaged my tendons that are supposed to put you into labor. We wnet home after having a pretty lame New Years and feeling so disappointed that we were not going to be meeting our little boy after all. I went to bed at about 1:15, I was sleeping really soundly when all of the sudden at 2:55 a.m. I was wide awake after feeling a really weird pop/gush/woosh feeling. I said "Kevin I think my water just broke!" and ran to the bathroom, YEP it was definitely my water. I went back into the bedroom and told Kevin that I needed to turn on the light, he said, "UGH! FINE!" and pulled the covers over his head. I started feeling and looking around in my bed to see if there was water all over, Kevin rolled over and asked what I was doing, I said, "Didn't you hear me?!?! MY WATER BROKE!!!!!!!!!" After that he was out of bed in a flash and we were off to the hospital. We arrived at Labor and Delivery at 3:30, they had me change into a gown and they checked me. I was still dilated to a 3, but I was 80% efaced, they told me that I would be staying... THAT IS WHEN REALITY HIT ME!!! All of my emotions started to flow, of course I was happy and excited but I also got very nervous and told Kevin that I wanted to go home. I started to get stronger contractions and they started to get painful. Because it was a holiday, everyone was between shifts so I had to wait what seemed like forever to get my epidural, but once I did, let me tell you it was great! It was the perfect epidural, I could not feel anything but I could still move my legs and my body. Right after my epidural was in the doctor came in and checked me. I was dilated to an 8 and 90% efaced, this was when all the hustle and bustle started! I layed there for a little while longer, the nurse checked me again and told me that it was time to start pushing. I pushed for about 20-25 minutes and then the doctor came back, and ten minutes later our baby was born! I was amazed, and crying of course... Kevin looked like he was in shock. Kael started crying right away, which I was very greatful for. He scored 9 on all of his apgar tests. Kael entered the world at 10:23 a.m. on 1.1.11 weighing 6 pounds 15.8 ounces (we call it an even 7 pounds) and was a perfect 20 inches long. Once I saw him I knew that life would never be the same, he was amazing.

The rest of our hospital stay kind of flew by, with visitors in and out and family all around. We had one scary experience that I will never forget and that I hope will never happen again, I had put Kael in his little glass crib thing at the end of my bed, I woke up to him making a weird noise, his back was arched and his arms were flailing. He was choking on some amniotic fluid that had gotten into his tummy. I was so scared and called the nurse, she tried to suction him out with the ball syringe but that wasn't working so we took him to the nursery where they had to stick a tube down his throat and suction out his little tummy. It was so sad! I was crying and freaking out. Needless to say I did not put him back in that bed, I kept him in bed with me!

I am so happy that our baby is here and I have never loved anything more than I love being a mom. Kael is amazing and even though he has only been here for a few short days I cannot imagine my life without him!

I need to thank Kevin and my mom for being in the delivery room with me and helping me through labor and delivery. I also had a very amazing nurse who I wish I could have there with me for every baby that I have!