The changes never cease

Whew. Hard to believe Grayson is nearly 12 weeks old. He's met so many milestones, and yet there are so many events we eagerly await. He's made it through his first round of immunizations (not a pleasant experience for either of us); figured out how to roll from stomach to back (prior to his second month I might add); begun smiling in response to other people's smiles; he's loving bathtime for the most part; and he no longer screams in terror during a diaper change. As you can see from the pictures, his jaundice is a thing of the past; and his complexion is really clearing up. And probably the best thing- he will now simply lay on the couch or sit in his swing and be perfectly content to just look at his hands or the ceiling fan and not demand constant holding and bouncing (though he gets plenty of it!) It's great because I'm not sure if I could have dealt with it for much longer. I guess God has our development programmed just right.
Jennifer has been dealing with a horrible case of mastitis. It flared up around labor day and she's still seeing a doctor right now. Things are seemingly improving though. Needless to say it has been a stressful month and a half. But she's incredibly strong and will pull through it in time.
I'm getting more and more adept at taking care of the little man. We have our ups and downs, but each of us is getting very comfortable with the other. I know what its like to think that no one else can care for a child like his own mother or father. But thank God for grandparents! We'd be in trouble without them.
Grayson has graciously given me some time for this, but I have more pressing obligations to fulfill while he sleeps.

Long time, no blog

It's been a while since A) I've had time to sit here and really contemplate what has transpired over the past 6 weeks; B) Really had a desire to. It's not that I don't want to blog, its just well, Grayson is so dang selfish. I mean come on, its like he just naturally expects me to do everything for him the minute he wants it. Geez. Okay okay I'm kidding. Grayson is so much more fun hanging with right now. Even when he sleeps. Which, btw, is not very consistently during the day, hence the lack of consistency with this blog. But as with all things, it will get better. My son will be six weeks old tomorrow. That's hard to fathom. I remember his first night home like it was yesterday. He's grown out of that newborn state and really has developed into a strikingly beautiful baby boy. I'm nearing the end of my 4th day on the job as a stay at home dad, and every day seems to be more bearable. I miss my wife horribly at times (for her support with Grayson and also because I'd been able to hang out with her daily since the end of the school year) but I'm learning how to take care of my son in ways I never could without going solo. And just as I type this sentence, he awakes from his nap. I'll get a schedule going for this eventually. It's really all about what Grayson wants me to do. And most of the time, he doesn't care for my blogging it seems.

Grayson under the lights

Well here is Grayson getting some phototherapy. He's very jaundiced and these lights help to break down the excess bilirubin in his system. He had to be kept there all of Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, though the pediatrician let him come home Sunday night. We went and had bloodwork done this morning in order to ensure the levels hadn't risen since being taken from the lights. He was given a good bill of health with the exception of the jaundice. For what its worth, I too had jaundice as a newborn. Hopefully this won't be something that requires multiply doctor visits. The visit today was stressful enough for all of us with Grayson having to get pricked several times to get bloodwork done. Results show the bilirubin levels are back up, but the doctor says its okay right now. He's not having enough wet diapers to the doctor's satisfaction, but we're working on that. Just as I type this he's having another wet/dirty diaper changed. Things will continue to get better. We're all exhausted, but somehow making it. This is a big change for me, but I'm loving every minute I have with him.

Grayson Reid Heyboer

After all these weeks of waiting, Friday at 2:09 p.m., July 18th, 2008 - My son was finally born. He weighed 8 lbs 11oz, and was 21 inches long. We're exhausted but doing well. Thank goodness for wireless internet in the hospital! I'm still absorbing the experience, but for now I give all a picture. More to come.

Aah! We're having a baby!

Psych. Not quite. So last night around 6:30, I get a phone call from the wife. She's at Vacation Bible School and she says that she's pretty sure her water just broke. I tell her to come on home and we'll call the hospital. She gets home, we call, and they tell her to come to the E.R. She went ahead and ate a light dinner, we packed the car (assuming we might not have come back home) and drove to the hospital a little after 7. At this point, Jen still wasn't having any contractions, but we got up to the room, she got checked out and hooked up, and the nurse gave her a quick check up. The water had not broken, but since we were there, as policy they wanted to observe her for one hour. So we watched "John and Kate plus 8" to pass the time. Eventually, Pam (the nurse) came back in and released us. An experience we didn't really want, but not horrible (at least from my perspective). Jennifer had been determined to not be one of those people who go in for a false alarm. Once isn't that bad though.

Anyway, this afternoon brought week 41's checkup. The doc says she's 1-2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Better than last week. After consulting with us and allowing us to talk amongst ourselves, we now know that baby heyboer will be with us no later than sometime on Saturday. She's scheduled to go in around 6 p.m. Friday night for induction if nothing has happened by then. We're still hoping for a natural labor and delivery, but if he hasn't come by then, we're comfortable with getting the process started. That'll be 10 days past the due date. She's not delivering an elephant after all. So that's where we stand. These final days will be marked by last minute preparations (though how much more can we possibly do?) and finding ways to keep ourselves occupied. It's weird being away from work for such as long period of time. I want him here so I can begin my new "career"! Until the next post - "bring on the labor!"

What else can we do?!

Me to my son on a nightly basis: Seriously dude. This is your daddy speaking. It's about time you made your way out of the womb and into the world. We have everything ready and both of us would really like to stop talking to people about when you're going to show up. Let's get this ball rollin'. Don't make me count to five. 1,2...

It really feels this way. We went to the doctor today (her 40th week of pregnancy according to the menstrual date - which we have learned is far more accurate than the ultrasound tech's date) and were told that nothing had really changed. Pretty disconcerting news considering we really hoped that labor would have begun prior to this appointment. Initial discussion with the doctor was quite frightening, with phrases like "probably about a 35% chance of requiring a C-section" and "you'll need to watch your body and child closely over the next week to make sure he continues to progress safely". These were unnecessary, for the doctor wasn't on the same page with previous doctors as to the official due date. So anyway, to wrap up this mess, wife and child are fine, and we'll be going back next tuesday for the final appointment for the next step that needs to be taken. Unless he decides to come between now and then, which is what we want. Here's a picture of the wife doing what she can to get him going. Enjoy :)

By the way, I've enabled comments on this now; please let me know if you're reading it, and what you'd like to know about!

hurry up little man!

It's really all about the day to day wait right now. The doctor doesn't really expect him to come before the 3rd of July, and honestly he may not show up until a few days past the 8th. The wife is quite ready for him to make his appearance, and I must say I'm beginning to feel the same way. The rollercoaster of emotion has slowed a bit, though it'll pick up when the first sign of labor hits. Ah, life.

In other news, I'm now a member of facebook. I signed up for the sole purpose of finding a few friends that I'd lost email addresses for, but now find myself plunging ever deeper into the waters. Having the responsibility of the house and my son, plus this blog (a priority) will prevent me from experiencing it fully, but I look forward to keeping connected with old friends.

Finally, let us hope and pray that my next upate brings news of my car selling. It's been up on craigslist for a while now, and just recently a young man has come by to see it several times. He sounds interested in it. As with everything else in life, I'll just wait.

We're Ready!

Well, almost. The nursery is essentially set up for baby. We still haven't found a rocker-glider that we like and can afford, nor have we decided if we're really going to buy a bookshelf right now. That being said, he has a fully furnished crib, dresser, and changing table ready for him. The house is pretty much ready for us to leave at a moment's notice, though he's probably still a couple weeks out. Who knows though, right? All of the showers have come to an end, but the gifts continue to trickle in.

Speaking of gifts. I appreciate the kindness of others, and definitely would really try to avoid indicating this frustration to them in person, but let me tell you something. Don't tear every single tag off of something before you give it to us! We have soo many blankets we don't know what to do with. Just the other day we got another one, and some more newborn size shirts (which you know he'll grow out of before we can even wash the first load of clothes) and the tags had all been torn off. So we can't very well exchange it for something useful. No more blankets and no more tiny tiny baby shirts. We have enough! that is, unless you made the shirt or blanket yourself. that's a different story.

Here's the crib all set up and waiting!

so many presents

Oh how the people love buying baby gifts! It nearly overwhelms the house. That's all I have to say about this.

Step one of new life has begun

So I'm now in the process of beginning life as a SAHD. Yesterday marked the end of the school year, and thus I'm transitioning into a new career. I consider myself rather adept at most tasks household related, though according to the wife, I've got to improve on a few things: notably, seeing "dirt". According to her (accurately, I admit), I'm a surface cleaner. I pick up and put things away, even sweep surfaces, but I really don't always get to the microscopic dust particles. My eye for cleanliness will improve with training though. In other baby related news, we have received and assembled both crib and changing table. They are amazingly beautiful. The nursery stills feels bare and unusable because we still haven't put up the pieces from the daybed. We're getting closer though! That's all for now.

humor from delivery 101

I had to post these two stories...

There was a student nurse training in the delivery room. They are taught to estimate the dilation of the cervix by feel (because you can't exactly shine a flashlight up there and look). Well, this gal goes to give the lady (in the stages of labor at this point) an exam to see how far dilated she is. She's up in this lady's business, and remarks about how small the cervix is. The pregnant lady has been in labor for a while, and the nurse really pushes hard, trying to figure out why the cervix is still tight. She reports to the head nurse that the lady can't be very far dilated. The head nurse checks, and finds out that the baby is in breach birth position...that is, rear end first. Sooo, yeah. That baby had a very unpleasant moment in the womb, prior to making his or her entrance into the world. blech.

A nurse was, once again, giving an exam, to check for cervical dilation. While in there, the baby actually grabbed one of her fingers! Having your fingers in that place and then suddenly feeling someone grab them is a very unsettling moment. In order to get the baby to let go of her finger, she simply started wiggling them back and forth. Remember where the fingers were. The woman in labor shot her eyes down at the nurse and looked at her as if she were the biggest perv on the face of the planet. oops!

'twas a happy mother's weekend

Yesterday my wife celebrated her first mother's day. I'm so happy.

I've not posted here lately, primarily due to lack of convenient computer access. In a nutshell, here is what has happened over the past week. We began our month long series "Special Delivery 101" last Monday night. It's a four week crash course in delivering a baby. Amazing how women weren't able to properly deliver babies until these $50 courses came along. It was enjoyable, though finding exactly where we were supposed to go proved to be more than enough frustrating. The night began with an overview of the course, introductory comments, and a lecture on the various stages of labor. We ended the night with a tour of the labor and delivery wing of the hospital. That was a very exciting moment for me. I've had times of feeling really anxious and times of wondering if I'm really glad we made the decision. Walking through that part of the hospital reaffirmed the decision. We're doing this!

So other than that, most of the week has been baby event free. Though on Saturday, we did make a major decision. We spent our recently deposited government rebate check on nursery furniture! hooray for the recession. Glad I could put some money back into the economy. Some day in the next few weeks, I'll be able to post regarding the fun I had putting the crib, dresser, and changing table together.

Tonight is round two of the delivery class: Learning how to breathe. Here's hoping everyone makes fools of themselves.

63 days until life changes

I'm home sick today with a sore throat. At least I'm home solely taking care of myself. That fact will soon never be true again. There are only a few weeks of school left, and then the wife and I will have roughly one month to make final preparations for the little one. Counting down these final 2+ months will be both thrilling and anxious. How different will life truly become? Am I cut out for caring for an infant? No amount of preparation or parental advice can soothe the varied emotions I'm beginning to feel. I say bring him on.

What am I doing?!

Well, this is the first of what could be countless posts regarding life as a stay-at-home-dad (SAHD). I'm not sure what I'm getting myself into. By that I mean both raising a child and blogging on this site semi-regularly. It'll be a lesson in discipline and devotion, I'm sure. Cashew (my yet to be born son) is scheduled for arrival on July 3rd, 2008. I couldn't be more ready for him to arrive and my wife is doing well. THERE. I've answered two of the most annoying questions I get. Poor people, they always mean well, and I avoid making them feel bad, but you gotta know how it goes:

Random person i haven't seen for at least 1 week: So, Keith, are you excited about the baby?

Me: Yeah, I can't wait... mention things about decorating the room, buying baby furniture...etc.

(what I'm really thinking: Well, yeah I can't wait for him to come out so that I don't have to keep answering your ridiculously boring question every 5 days! It's a freaking baby for crying out loud. A child that I planned to bring into this world! Why wouldn't I be excited about it? How about you ask me what I thought about the NFL draft? That be a question that you could not have asked me for the last 4 weeks!)

There. I feel much better. I promise this blog won't always take a cynical slant. But sometimes that's necessary. I hope you'll find some truth and maybe even a little humor at times. I'm in for the ride of my life and hopefully you'll enjoy some of the bumps along the way. Don't forget, I'm just the daddy!