Watch Me Grow…1 month!

On March 10, my sweet little Josh turned 1 month! Each month, I will take his picture next to the guitar for his little growth comparison…he was not so much a fan of this! Oh well…

So what is my sweet guy up to?? 

* Josh wears size 1 diapers. 

* He is still in his newborn clothes, but quickly moving into the 0-3 months size! I may be in a little bit of denial that he is already outgrowing things. 

* At his one month check up: weight - 9 pounds, 1 ounce (25th percentile) and 21 1/8 inches tall (37th percentile) Cate, his pediatrician, said he looked great! 

* Josh has a stuffy nose, just like Greg and Maria did in their first couple months of life…lots of saline and suction. 

* Josh holds his head on his own for extended periods of time. He pushes his whole chest off of the floor during tummy time. He pushes off his feet and "stands" for several seconds at a time. He has come close to rolling over on more than one occasion! Please slow down, little man. 

* Josh likes to nap in his swing. 

* He eats every 3 hours during the day and demand feeds at night.

* He only wakes up once at night. He is down for bed at his last feeding around 9:30 and wakes any where between 2 and 3 to eat. He is then out until 6, and usually falls back asleep until I throw him in the car to go to preschool or dance or wherever else Greg and Maria are off to on any given day! 

* Josh smiles. He is trying to coo and talk a little now, too. 

*He naps 45 min to 2 hours between feedings…just dependent on what we have going on. 

* Josh loves being in the ergo baby carrier. He has been to several teen events in it and has done wonderful! 

* He has his little fussy time from 8-8:45 pretty much every night! :-) But…that's okay because he does not really cry very often! 

Josh is a super sweet, go with the flow baby! He has only been with us for a month, but it seems like he's always been a part of the family! He is a blessing to us and a little joy to our lives! 

Papa and his littlest buddy! 

Mommy snuggles before bedtime! 

So much stimulation! 

He has deep thoughts about life

My little Catholic! Ash Wednesday! 

He's living the life! 

Joshua Kolbe

I know, I know! Josh is one month old…so, before doing that post, I figured I should write about his birth! 

The stats before the story: 

Weight: 6 pound 12 ounces

Height: 20 inches

Head: 14 inches 

Born at 4:59 pm 

On Monday, February 10, I was scheduled for my weekly OB visit. Josh had a two vessel cord (one artery and one vein in the umbilical cord, instead of two arteries, one vein), so each doctor visit starting at 28 weeks I had an ultrasound with a Biophysical Profile. Basically, they checked for four things each week, and Josh got 2 points for each thing if it was good to go. For all of the weeks, leading up to my 39 week appointment this day, Josh had scored an 8/8 on his ultrasound! As I headed into the ultrasound, I was prepared for the usual appointment and was thinking in my head of all of the things I needed to get done that day. Today was the day that Josh scored a 6/8. The ultrasound tech assured me that nothing was wrong with Josh, he just wasn't moving his diaphragm within his allotted 15 minutes. His heart was great, he was moving like crazy…no huge concerns. 

I sat waiting for the doctor. The doctor came in and told me I was heading to the hospital to be induced….AHHHH…the words I did NOT want to hear. I got angry right away and super defensive. I asked why and she said the because he had scored an 8/8 at this point every week and I was one week away from my due date this was the "best thing to do." I asked to go home and get my stuff and my husband…she said no…

Upon arriving at the hospital, after a quick phone call to my friend, Elizabeth, I walked into my L&D room…I was very grumpy. My nurse came in, and I let her know how pissed I was to be induced. After all the paperwork and initial things were taken care of they started my pitocin drip around 11:00. Pitocin contractions are no joke…they hurt 100 gagillion times more than normal contractions…not even joking, here! My nurse kept checking on me adjusting my levels. One time she walked in…I was in tons of pain with contractions, but managed to smile and say hey. She looked at me and said, "oh you can still smile…I need to adjust your levels to be higher, I guess…" So I stopped smiling and just acted pissed and in pain when she walked in after that…It was a good thing I had so many people entertaining me via text messages! 

After nearly four hours on pitocin, I had only progressed 1 cm. I was so grumpy! I decided there was no way I could power through these contractions like this and possibly only progress 1 cm at a time over several hours…so I asked the nurse for the epidural. This also broke my heart. At this point, my plan had been thrown out the window. I never expected to be induced when walking into my appointment that morning. The nurse pushed my fluids and got the anesthesiologist. The anesthesiologist walked into my room, did his thing, and was gone by 4:15. My nurse checked me again, and I was at 7 cm, five minutes later my water broke, and 10 minutes later I was pushing! I pushed through 7-8 contractions, and my sweet boy arrived into the world. 

There are not many things more wonderful than hearing those first cries, watching my husband cut the cord, and holding that sweet baby!  The plan I had didn't matter any more at this point…I was holding my sweet little guy, and that was all that mattered. That's how God arranges it…a woman tears her body apart in labor because in the end she knows she gets to hold the child she has been carrying for 9 months. 

Some pictures from Josh's big day! (I downloaded them in order…but they didn't show up in order…sorry!)

Hi World! 

Daddy and another little man!  

Snuggles with mom

Big Brother

Grammy meets the little guy

Big Sister

sleeping baby

Rebecca and Deacon Mike and Linda came to visit! They brought wine…it was wonderful! 

I had to send this picture to Maria because she only saw Josh swaddled and didn't believe he had arms and legs.

First Family of 5 photo!  

The world is bright. 

The world is cold. 

The first meeting of the siblings!