The Birth of Oliver

We had baby Oliver on September 2nd via C-section.  He was born at 12:48pm and was 7lbs and 12oz and 20 inches long.  The past month and 1 week have been a wonderful whirlwind.  Here are some pictures of his first month with us and his big sister Kaylee.  He's a very good baby with a pretty laidback personality so far.  ;-)

Breaking news! Labor Day moved from September 1st to 2nd!

Okay so the real Labor Day is September 1st, but for our family, it will be the 2nd!  I have my C section scheduled for 12:30pm that day for baby Oliver.  We are very excited to meet him, and the last few weeks he's been a trooper and hung in there gaining weight steadily, so we didn't have to get him out early like we had originally feared.  The current estimate is 7lbs as of Wednesday, so we will see if that's what he comes out at this Tuesday!  Prayers are appreciated!  Updates to come next week....hopefully.  ;-)

35 weeks and counting...

Well, over the past six weeks since the last update, we've had our ups and downs with Oliver's weight.  At 32 weeks, he had dropped from the 50th percentile down to the 37th percentile.  He had only gained 1 pound-ish over the course of four weeks.  Most babies gain half a pound per week in the third trimester.  So he clocked in around 4lbs.  This worried me because if you take those measurements and add it to the remainder left in the pregnancy (i.e. - quarter pound a week for 7 weeks) then he would have the potential to be smaller at birth than even Kaylee was!  And she was a very petite 5lbs 11oz. 

Needless to say, I was worried and frustrated beyond belief because I haven't felt like eating much of anything in this trimester.  I'm guessing he's sitting right on my stomach.  Whenever I do eat, I get nauseous feelings, heartburn, and general yuckyness.  But I sucked it up and went against everything I know nutrition-wise and started gorging on junk food.  Arby's, Chic-fil-A, etc. And as of last Friday at the end of 34 weeks, he's back up into the 50th almost 60th percentile and weighs around 5.5lbs!  I guess there's plenty of time to eat healthy once he's born right?  I still try to balance out my days with veggies at a meal or two and some fruit and good fats (coconut milk, nut butters, coconut oil, butter) to try and even out the junk food destruction that is usually one meal a day.  But it worked, so I can't complain. 

For future reference sake, I'm also going to say that there are several theories as to why my babies are slow growers come third trimester, but the one that seems the most plausible currently is that I have a smaller than average placenta during pregnancy.  So this means that my babies don't get enough nutrients unless I'm hoarking down the food....specifically high calorie high carb junk.  The doctor's usual mantra, "The baby will get what it needs from you no matter what." doesn't really apply to me since they don't!

Oliver at 29 weeks

Well we had another ultrasound yesterday to keep on eye on Oliver's progress due to the fact that Kaylee stopped growing around 38 weeks of my pregnancy with her.  We got lucky and while I thought I would get no more 3D/4D face pics...we did!  :-)  

As for his growth, he is right at the 50th percentile and 3lbs.  He had a little fluid on his kidneys, but the doctor said he wasn't worried about it at this point and that many babies have that at this stage.  

At first I celebrated about Oliver's middle of the chart growth thinking that he would definitely be bigger than Kaylee.  Then I looked back at the blog when I was pregnant with Kaylee, and she was in the same 50th percentile at 27.5 weeks.  We all know how that story ends.....5lbs 11oz via C-section at 39 weeks due to no growth.  So we aren't out of the woods yet in my opinion, and I will have to discuss perhaps another ultrasound or two with my doctor at my next appointment in 2 weeks.

In the meantime, here are the face pictures we got the other day of our sweet little boy:

19 and 20 months old

It's been a busy few months. After we went to Disney, we went to the beach the next month. Kaylee loved the sand but hated the ocean unfortunately. Hopefully next year she will want to play in it. Kaylee is still entertaining us constantly and loves reading and learning new words. She will always point out an animal she knows and name it. Some of her favorites are fish, horse, shoes, and ball. She also will say "Thank You" when you give her something she wants, and she's working on saying "Please". She still loves dancing and has to get off the couch every time a new TV theme song comes on at night. She's also learning tempo and will sway to the slower songs.

Here's her latest pics: