Wednesday, June 27, 2012

We've Moved!!

Hooray for finally moving. I feel like I have been preparing for it for the last three months, and now with a brand new job for Matthew, a brand new mortgage, and a sort of brand new baby, it is all done!! Whew. It's amazing how much less Zachary cries now that we aren't running around all the time and he can actually take real naps at predictable times.

Last Thursday we loaded up our truck (or really Matthew and one of our friends) on one of the hottest and muggiest days of the year. Blegh. Then in the afternoon, we cleaned our apartment (again with the help of some of the dearest women to me in State College). And in the evening, we drove to Allentown, dropped off the truck at our new place, met some very nice neighbors, and headed off to our hotel room. It was a completely eventful day and by the end of it everyone was sore and ready to sleep. I'll give my baby this much credit - he is a wonderful nighttime sleeper. Thanks be to heaven for that very significant blessing.

The next morning, on Matthew's birthday, we had our final walkthrough with the builder, signed our lives away to the bank, and moved in (this time with five or six teenage boys to help - thanks go out to our Realtor's sons and sons' friends), all within three hours! Holy Hannah, what a whirlwind.

Monday, Matthew started his new job at Air Products and now Baby and I spend our days unpacking, loving on each other, and taking walks around the neighborhood. So it's official, we live an above ground, very adult, existence and we now have cell phone reception IN the house!! Wahoo for school.

Want to come visit? We now have all sorts of extra space to accommodate you! Just drop a line letting me know you're coming.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

We Might be Bad Parents

We might be bad parents. And it's only been a little over a week. Our poor baby is endlessly harassed by both parents, the above video a perfect case in point. Not only did we video tape startling our happily sleeping baby just so we could have it on tape, but we had to startle him several times to capture it perfectly. Though, to our credit, it didn't take much to startle him. If if moved in any way he threw his hands up. Either way, we found it entirely amusing and completely endearing.

Poor child.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Wee Babe is Born


We have a new addition to the Marler family, let me introduce Wee Babe, now known as Zachary Daniel Marler! 

His birth, like his conception was completely unique and pretty miraculous. I went in on Tuesday, May 29, 2012 to be induced and while I was waiting for the first drug to kick in, the drug they give you before they really give you the good stuff, the nurses noticed a concerning element to baby's heartrate. It didn't happen all the time, but every now and again, his little heartrate would drop and then go all wacky for a bit before regulating itself. The second time it happened, they paged my doctor while manually trying to do what they could to get it back to normal. A few minutes later, my doctor entered my room, completely breathless having ran up four flights of stairs to get to me. This was not a good development. I hadn't even really had any meaningful contractions and baby was wigging out, what was going to happen when I really went into labor? She gave me two options, a Cesarean Section, or wait and see, with the possibility of needing an emergency C-Section later. She left the room for what seemed like ten seconds to give Matthew and me a chance to talk it over. Our decision - C-Section. I kind of felt like I was giving up before I even got started, but everyone assured me there was no shame in opting for surgery.

Within minutes I was getting prepped for surgery and Matthew was given scrubs to wear into the OR. And within  the hour I had my baby, all 8 lbs, 6 oz and 21 inches of him. Both Matthew and I were awash in all sorts of emotions, giddiness, gratitude, love, joy, I couldn't figure out if I was crying or laughing. I had a baby. A real, live, more adorable than possible, miracle that was just sucked, literally, from my womb.

It turned out that his umbilical cord was wrapped around the crown of his head so every time he pushed down, he lost oxygen. It didn't help that he had his hand up by his head, further complicating matters. My doctor assured me I made the right decision, and that no matter what, there was no way I was going to escape the OR in delivering this child. What a blessing that I didn't go into labor on my own, leaving me at home without the benefit of baby heartrate monitoring. And what a blessing that they scheduled the inducement close to my due date so I didn't have to remain pregnant for one or two more weeks.
The nurses unstrapped one of my arms so I could awkwardly hold the Babe to me before they again took him away for monitoring. Our first family picture!! And then they doped me up with morphine and I quickly became very very sleepy.

Another family picture. This one a day or so later once I was awake and cleared to be up and moving around my room.


And now a week later, baby spends a lot of time:
 Crying

 Sleeping (always with his hands up by his head)

And staring.

A couple of things
  • I am grateful not to be pregnant, despite what so many of my friends said about wishing him back in once I got him out. While my pregnancy was by no means painful, or complicated, nine months is plenty of time to gestate a baby. I definitely don't want to go back any time in the next few months.
  • I am healing beautifully from my surgery, another blessing, since I am moving in a couple of weeks. Oh, I will be so glad when life slows down!!
  • As trying as Zachary's crying can be on my nerves, (there's a reason why that picture went first - it happens FREQUENTLY) I am surprised at how much I enjoy motherhood and my Wee Babe.
  • My favorite things about him:
    •  the feel of his soft hair on his little head, I can't decide if it feels like Velvet or Suede, either way it's wonderful.
    • his little chin. I'll try to take better pictures that capture it, but it is absolutely precious.
    • the way he toots and fills his diaper with reckless abandon. There is no question to anyone in the room what he is up to.
    • watching him wake up. He goes through all sorts of phases, yawning, stretching, smiling, frowning, pursing his lips, and it's so fun to watch the evolution before he finally opens his eyes and then close them and then open them again.
Welcome Welcome Zachary Daniel!