I can do anything you can do better!

Anything you can do I can do too!

TJ is trying so hard to be a big boy. He wants nothing more than to get up and walk around. He's getting really good at "standing" on my lap and puts all his weight on his legs and can even push up from a squat. Perhaps he heard us making fun of his chubby legs and is trying to work them out... ;-)

He has also been practicing at sitting - something he gets very excited about. He can sit unaided for about 20 seconds before tipping to the side. Here he is showing off his accomplisment. Pretty good for three months, eh?










He amazes me daily.

What a difference a year can make

Here we were 1 year ago:






And one year later the result is:







Amazing.

Remembering who we are

Saturday, Jim and I got back to our roots and hit up the Dave Matthews Band concert. We've gone to at least one a year since we've been together - since 2002. I bought these tickets way back in March, knowing we'd have a 3 month old but I just couldn't fathom breaking our tradition. Am I'm glad we went! It was wonderful to have not only a night out, but a remembrance of who we are and where we came from. How our mutual love for Dave is one of the driving things that brought us together. While it was no where near the best Dave concert we've been to, it was wonderful to be together listening to the music.

The array of people we saw was fascinating. Everything from a chick in her early 20s sporting a sequined mini-dress, to a gaggle of teenagers all wearing uggs and clutching their dooney & burke bags, to the middle age couples in flannel shirts and high waist mom jeans. I couldn't tell where we fit in, but it was the first time I felt old at a Dave concert. Though, perhaps it was the lack of sleep after having been up at 3 and 6 the night before that made me feel old and tired. Regardless, we had a fun night out without our new little accessory, and I remembered all over again why I fell in love with my husband.

Thanks for that Dave, and we'll see you next year!

TJ's new best friend

Meet Sophie



Sophie hails from France. She's made of a very soft and flexible natural rubber. Perfect for teething which I suppose is her purpose. TJ's friend Sam highly recommended Sophie to us and TJ is in LOVE. She's particularly easy for him to grasp and hold on to. Her ears and legs often find their way into TJ's little mouth. I never thought I'd spend 20 bucks on a teether but she's worth every penny. ;-)

3 months

update to come

2 months

update to come

1 month

TJ's first month was a whirlwind.
Quick updates:
Thomas was born at 9 lb.s 5 oz. and left the hospital at 8 lbs. 12 oz. He regained all of that weight by his first pediatrician visit 4 days later. :) The doctor was so impressed and said TJ was "thriving." The first weekend home also happened to be the weekend my brother John graduated from DePaul with his MBA. Consequently, my grandparents from Iowa were in town for John's graduation and also to meet TJ. Jim's parents were also staying with us so we had a house full! It was wonderful to have so many people enjoying our little guy's first week.





On his one week birthday TJ rolled over! He was on his tummy and somehow managed to just flip himself over. He did this two more times but that was it - so just a fluke. After the first night (Jim and I were up all night) we slowly got settled into a night routine. The first month or so TJ was waking up every 2-3 hours during the night to eat. Luckily, he did go back to sleep fairly quickly so it wasn't too bad.

Breastfeeding. Wow, what a wonderful yet challenging thing! TJ was (is) very eager to eat. All the time. We got off to a pretty good start in the hospital, unfortunately being so large, TJ had a much bigger appetite than I could provide for before my milk came in so he was supplemented for 2 days in the hospital with formula. Luckily, by the time we got home my milk came in and I could fill his belly. The first week was very painful for me. It was challenging to juggle things while trying to get him to latch on and TJ didn't quite "get" how to open his mouth wide enough. That resulted in a visit to the lactation consultant and some very sensitive and bloody nipples. The lactation consultants are incredibly helpful and I recommend anyone just starting to breastfeed see one, no matter how well you think you are doing. Breastfeeding consumed about 75% of my time that first month. TJ would spend about 30-45 minutes feeding, snooze for a bit then wake up and repeat. We had a pretty large hiccup when I landed back in the hospital and I'm sure a lot of women would have just stopped. I'm determined to breastfeed for at least a year if not longer so with the nurses help I pumped every 3 hours throughout my stay. We didn't have any milk stored previously so TJ did have about a day of formula until I was able to send milk home with Jim. It was a nice chance for my nipples to heal though!

TJ's first trip out of the house was at 5 days old when we went to Mandy's birthday party.





He was a good little trooper and slept the whole way in the car. After that, we've found him to be a good rider, almost always sleeping in the car. We had another trip down to the lake house over my 28th birthday through the 4th of July.





TJ also had his first boat ride!

Back to the hospital...

We like to call this little episode "When TJ broke mommy"

9 days post partum - June 18th - I felt a little off. I called my mom to come over that afternoon to watch TJ so I could take a nap. I woke up a couple hours later, around 3pm, and just started gushing blood when I got out of bed. I made it to the bathroom and screamed for my mom or Jim (who luckily was working from home). We called the emergency line at my OB's office and spoke with a nurse. She said to sit on a bad and see if it soaked through within 30 minutes, she would call me back. It soaked through almost immediately. I was feeling light headed, dizzy and hot and my mom and Jim tried to get me to eat something. After about an hour there was no stopping in sight so we decided I needed to go to the hospital. When I stood up huge blood clots just fell out of me. This happened twice more. On the third attempt of me getting up to get downstairs in the car I passed out completely, taking my mom down with me on the bathroom floor. I was out about a minute and woke up to Jim on the phone with 911.

The ambulance showed up shortly there after and loaded me. The entire way to the hospital I still have these huge blood clots (about the size of a dinner plate) coming out. In the emergency room they check me out and call the doctor on call at my office which happened to be the doctor that delivered me. The started an ultrasound to see if they could see where the bleeding was coming from about the time my doctor came. She dove into action demanding blood be sent down and calling for the OR to be prepped. I was taken into surgery for an emergency D&C. Unfortunately, I had eaten shortly before so had to be intubated. Luckily, I came through with all the parts I went in with - my biggest fear was losing them.

I was in the hospital until Sunday afternoon. I had 2 IVs, one in each arm pumping me with antibiotics and fluids. I had 3 units of blood during and just after my surgery. The hospital was wonderful and watched me like a hawk. I had a little setback on Saturday with an allergic reaction when they tried to give me plasma. Funny, considering how much of that I donated in college for beer money. :-)

The worst part of the ordeal was being away from my new baby and leaving poor Jim in such a state with a newborn at home by himself and almost losing his wife. Everyone I talked to commented on what a close call it was. That if I was home by myself I probably wouldn't have been able to get to a phone and would have bled out and died. We thank God that both Jim and my mom were home with me!

Jim's mom came back to town to help out at home and Jim did bring TJ to visit me each day. Luckily, I was able to pump at the hospital and send milk home for him so he was only on formula for about a day. Even one day on that stuff made him stink though! Yuck! lol

Everything is perfectly fine with me now. The doctors aren't sure if this was a fluke since most post postpartum hemorrhaging happens within 48 hours of giving birth. I could also have Von Willebrand's disease, a blood clotting disorder that only appears during pregnancy. They're running tests now to find out if I have that but I haven't heard back with the results yet. I'll worry and cross that bridge when we're ready for our next child.

Catching up!

I wanted to continue this blog to keep track of the baby's growth and milestones. Unfortunately, life gets away from you. Especially with a little one! I have 3 months of catching up to do here!

Introducing....

Thomas James VanDeCasteele
June 9, 2009
9 lbs 5 oz
20 3/4 inches

TJ's entrance into the world was rather unremarkable. I woke up the morning on the 8th with contractions about 10-15 minutes apart. I spent the morning and afternoon timing and convincing myself this wasn't really it. At this point I was 5 days past my due date and hadn't had a contraction or braxton hicks at all. I really thought I was going to have to be induced. In fact, my doctor had scheduled an induction to take place on the 12th. At my 39th and 40th week appointments there was little change. I was still dilated to about 2 and 100% effaced. It was a total stand still.

But going back to June 8th... Jim worked from home that day to keep an eye on me in case things suddenly progressed. I spent the day walking around the house and timing. Jim and I had a fun afternoon (since he actually had a rather slow day work wise) playing monopoly and stratego. By late afternoon the contractions were about 5 minutes apart but not too painful. I gave it a couple more hours and they were still 3-5 minutes apart. I debated back and forth about when to go to the hospital. At this point, the contractions were coming quick but still not as painful as I thought they should be and I didn't feel the baby dropping too low.

We went to the hospital around 7pm. Before admitting me, they checked and I was still only 2-3 centimeters dilated. Hearing that gave me a bit of an anxiety attack and I started to panic that I wasn't progressing like I should be. Jim and I walked around the labor and delivery floor for an hour and still no change. The nurse seemed very tempted to send me home but at this point the contractions were getting close to unbearable. I think it was the anxiety and panic of not being dilated any further after 15 hours of contractions that made me lose focus on laboring. Luckily, she did admit me. Around 10pm I received an epidural and finally relaxed. My parents came to the hospital to wait for the little guys arrival and we all hunkered down for the night.

I couldn't sleep at all that night, I was way too excited for the little guy to come. Around 2am I was checked and up to 5 centimeters dilated - finally progress! My poor husband and parents really suffered that night with only 1 chair and a love seat to camp out on. Plus, I was extremely hot and kept asking the temperature to be set lower and lower - everyone was freezing! Around 5am my epidural started wearing off and I could feel the contractions and lots of pressure. I called the nurse in and she checked me - 9 centimeters! She started prepping for the delivery. Around 6am I started pushing. It was helpful to be able to feel the contractions and I think the pain made me push harder to get him out and everything over with. My nurse said I was an excellent pusher and the baby would be here within the hour! (Most first timers take 2-3 hours of pushing)

Sure enough Thomas came into the world at 6:57am on June 9th. The doctor commented right away on what a big baby he was! Jim cut the cord and the nurses checked him out. He was perfect in every way except a bit pale - not the typical red, shriveled, screaming baby. He didn't look like a newborn at all. TJ did decide to try and wedge his arm and hand out with his shoulders and ended up tearing me pretty good. While the nurses were cleaning him up the doctor went to stitch me up with no epidural. That was more painful then the actual birth! In the end everyone was health and ecstatic.