Happy 1 Week Birthday!

Visiting Grandpa

Mayhew!

Meeting Lisa!

Mommy's Snuggle Buddy!

Rolling your eyes at mommy already!

Sweet baby Eli~

Well we've all survived one week since your arrival!!! You might think it's a silly thing to celebrate, but every moment you've been with us has been such a blessing, even with all the new things to get use to!

You had a pretty exciting day...we had your first visit to the pediatrician. Your doctor is Dr. Zmiejko with Children's Health Care. The wonderful thing about Dr. Zmiejko is that he was my pediatrician when I was a child. It's comforting to have someone I know and trust looking after your health.

You weighed 9 pounds last Tuesday when you were born, when we left the hospital on Friday you were 8 lbs 2 ounces. Which is o.k. because babies usually lose weight after birth, well the goal is to get you back to your birth weight by two weeks. Today you were 8 pounds 10 ounces. So we're doing good with the weight gain! Everything else looked wonderful the doctor said. We're scheduled to go back when you're a month old.

You also got to visit your Grandma and Grandpa in Lexington after the doctor. Mommy enjoyed being out of the house so much, we decided to take you up there for a surprise visit! They loved seeing you :) Too bad you slept the whole time! But don't worry, we're headed back up there for Thanksgiving so you can meet your Aunt Tracy and Aunt Kim, Uncle Rich and cousins, Addison, Devin and Zachary. I'm excited for you to meet Zachary since he was convinced he would be dead by Thanksgiving when you arrived...for a 5 year old, it was just too long to wait!

Then "Aunt" Lisa came by to meet you for the first time! She snuggled with you and we tried to get you to wake up for her so she could see your pretty (what I think are) brown eyes...but you wouldn't. But guess what, you woke up and played with mommy and daddy for an hour and a half after she left! And you enjoyed bath time tonight...we'll, I think any baby would enjoy being wiped clean with a warm wash cloth and getting a little massage with baby lotion! But you did really well :)

We had a little trouble this weekend when we brought you home. We were SOOO thankful for the help Aunt Emily offered on Friday when we came home and Grammy and Aunt MacKenzee were also helpful over the weekend. Unfortunately, we decided to switch you to formula over the weekend. It was a very difficult and emotional decision for both mommy and daddy, but for whatever reasons mother nature just didn't have it in the cards for us. Dr. Kutsche thinks maybe it's because of the c-section, and that because I didn't go into labor on my own my body hasn't quite caught up hormonally with what happened. While we had hoped to breast feed you for at least a few months, both daddy and I must say you are a MUCH happier baby now. And now that mommy has had time to deal with the emotions that came with that decision, we have a much happier house.

We're working on getting you on a schedule...we'll see how that goes. At this point you're sleeping pretty much ALL the time :) Of course that's expected. We are blessed that you're sleeping for 3 to 4 hours at a time during the night. Mommy has been trying to get daddy on a schedule too, since he's going back to work on Friday. I have to keep telling him when to go to bed, he just wants to stay up with us all the time! Silly boy, he'll learn!

Here are some pictures of your one week old birthday! You discovered your swing...don't let the silly look on your face make you think you don't like it...you often roll your eyes at me!

Eli's Here!

Eli Carter Mayhew

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

12:23 p.m.

9 pounds even

20.5 inches long

Healthy baby! Couldn't ask for more :)

Life as we know it...

Today is November 16...in 24 hours, I will be lying in an operating room waiting for you to be born. It's hard to believe that it's already here! It's so exciting and overwhelming at the same time. On one hand I can not wait to meet you and hold you and love you more than I already do now. On the other hand, I am scared out of my mind and worried about both of our health and safety, and wondering how I'm going to know how to take care of you and if your dad and I are going to be good parents.

I joked a few months ago that if people had to go through the childbirth classes first no one would have babies. Then I told another girl who is pregnant and about two months behind me that birth is nothing to worry about that you get to a point when all of your reservations disappear and you're just ready for the baby to come because you're uncomfortable. Well I think all of those fears about giving birth disappear and suddenly it becomes all about you and the life you knew changing forever.

Life as your dad and I know it is about to change entirely. And I know and trust that it will be for the better, that you are the best thing that could ever happen to us, but it's such a big, scary step. In one day, you'll be looking up at us and depending on us for EVERYTHING! It seems so insignificant when you're talking about having a baby with the person you love more than anything in the world. And you spend 9 months taking about the perfect name for you, and how we'll raise you, and the life we dream of for you. We talked about discipline and laughed about you saying your first swear word. And daddy dreams of the day he can take you hunting and the first time he'll teach you how to ride a bike. And I look at this man I've chosen to be your father and am completely amazed at the faith and trust he has in me to be your mother. And you begin to wonder if you're worthy of the love you are going to give to us. I already know that I love you unconditionally. While it was such a shock to learn that you were joining our lives, it has never been anything but amazing...and now, instead of giggling when you kick me, I'm going to have you in my arms and it's just a little hard to believe that the Lord has picked your dad and I to lead you through this life.

Peanut, you should know that every doubt your dad and I have are because we love you so much. I promise to you that no matter what, we'll be here for you. I can't promise life will always be easy and that you will get everything you want. But you'll be loved by daddy and I more than you will ever know. I know that there will be days as you get older that you'll hate the food we make you try, or tell us how uncool we are, or get mad because we tell you no, but it's all because we love you.

I know tomorrow when I look at you, everything in this world will be right and you'll suddenly become the most important person in the world. And I can't wait for that. We're lucky parents to be so blessed with you...and I can't wait to watch you grow up.

xoxo,
mommy

Happy Almost Birthday!

Six days baby Mayhew, six days and you're going to have to join the "real" world!!!! And guess what, we're MORE than excited for you to get here :)

We had an ultrasound today and you're still measuring a little bigger than expected and after a VERY long conversation with Dr. Kutsche, we've decided to go the C-section route. After weighing the pros and cons, this is our best option for both your safety and mine.

It was a little overwhelming at first, but I think the more and more we talk about it, the more it sinks in. We can not wait for you to be here and feel very confident in the plan we've made and very confident in the doctor, hospital and the care we've been and will continue to receive.

We have a few finishing touches to put on things around here to make sure we're ready for your homecoming, but everything you need to come home is in place. The fire chief said your seat in installed in the car nice and snug and not going anywhere, and your bed is ready, and I've packed you a few outfits for your homecoming, depending on your true size. We'll post pictures of your pretty face as soon as we can. (Daddy is going to find the software disk for the cell phones so we can upload those photos too).

I was going to post pictures from your ultrasound today since we saw a few good face shots, but when we looked at the pictures we realized the tech gave us 3 pictures of your "boy" parts!!!! No face pictures. She got confused when trying to find the print button and must have printed the same one 3 times. I'll try not to embarrass you before you have a chance to show everyone your pretty face ;-) But I will be saving it for your graduation board.

I'm glad you're doing well and still moving a lot (even when the fetal monitor is on and you're punching it!!!). And we know you'll love everything you have here and all of the people that you'll meet who will shower you with more love than you know. And promise me you'll take it easy on your dad for a while...he's a little nervous you won't like him ;-)

We love you baby...see you SOON!!!!

And we wait...

November 4th Doctor's Appointment...not much of a Decision Day, but more of "Here's a Plan Day...well as much as you can plan for a baby day!"

We met Dr. Kutsche yesterday. Mom and Dad were really nervous because it meant no more JoJean who we were so comfortable with and a new nurse, which was a little nerve racking too because Jennifer is so wonderful. But we had NOTHING to worry about. First because JoJean and Jennifer both checked on us while we were on the fetal monitor and because Jennifer took us into the exam room and took my blood pressure and stuff, and JoJean sat in while we talked to Dr. Kutsche. Daddy and I were thankful for the slow day (and that daddy is so friendly that they liked us enough to still care a lot about how we were...they were excited to hear about the "plan" for you too!). You would appreciate Dr. Kutsche too...he was very friendly and very thorough. He went through our whole pregnancy, asked us a lot of questions, explained a lot of things to us. But he told us we're waiting for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's the "PLAN"
Mom is off of work...not so much "bed rest" but no work, take it easy, etc. My blood pressure creeped back up there, so he decided staying home was best and he increased my blood pressure medication for the next few weeks.

Friday...mom is taking a 24 hour test and
Saturday...mom has to go to the hospital for test results and for a fetal monitoring session (which I LOVE because I get to sit and listen to your heart beat!)
Monday...going to office for fetal monitoring again
Wednesday...hospital in morning for ultrasound THEN doctor's office in afternoon

At our Wednesday appointment, we'll talk about the ultrasound results and see how big you are at that point. My body and you are not ready for delivery. So if next week you're bigger than 10 pounds we're going to schedule a c-section (my pelvis isn't big enough for a 10 pounder...sure didn't get that from grammy!). If not, unless you're in distress, we're going to wait for you to announce when you're ready.

So that's the story babe! We're sorry to disappoint all of your fans with "no" news about your arrival...but at this point I can appreciate the fact that you're the most important thing in the world right now and not just Daddy and I want the best for you, but the amazing team at the doctor's office is focused on you too!

We'll keep everyone updated!