Connell Adventures: Joshua David is here--and he is already 4 weeks old!

So I thought finding time to update a blog was hard BEFORE I had a baby! I had no idea! :) I apologize that it has taken me so long to post about Joshua's arrival! Our bundle of joy is finally here! He arrived 10 days early at 4:59pm on Friday, November 12, 2010. He weighed in at 7 pounds 1 ounce and was 19.75 inches long. Given that his parents are not small people, we thought he would be bigger at birth, but come to find out that neither of us were big babies either. Dave was sub 7 pounds if you can believe that!

Let's start with some pre-birth pictures. Our amazing friend, Julie Stanos, came over about a week before the birth to take some maternity shots. They turned out so perfect! Thanks, Julie! (If you need pics, she is available! Her website is http://67.23.246.108/~jbs/index2.php#/home/). Here are the highlights.

Those were the days when we were actually sleeping! Ha ha!! And now for the birth story! I watched so many birth shows while I was pregnant. I am happy to now have my own special little arrival story. :)

The day before Joshua's arrival, I had an OB appointment with someone besides my regular doctor. My regular doctor refuses to make predictions about arrival dates and the like, but this doctor made it clear that our little one would arrive in the next 5 days--before my next scheduled OB appointment! When I got home and told Dave the news, he had this shocked look on his face. He insisted that we unpack and repack the hospital bags to make sure that we had everything we needed. I had packed them weeks earlier and couldn't even remember what was in there! Good thing we did this!

The next morning around 5:30am, I woke up with what I thought might be a contraction. I wasn't sure...I mean, it felt like what they told me a contraction might feel like, but it could have been gas or something I ate the night before. I was a little excited and had a feeling that it was starting! But I still drifted off to sleep...for about 10 minutes when it happened again.

I decided to get up and get some work done and see how long they lasted. I knew I wasn't going to work that day (all the way to Bethesda), having had some contractions. So I figured I would work from home if they didn't keep going. I knocked out some emails, washed dishes, fed the cats, and the contractions were still there. I woke Dave up, we called the doctor, and they told us to head to the hospital. The contractions still didn't hurt much, but they were coming at about 5 minute intervals at this point. We stopped by Burger King to get Dave some breakfast and made it to the hospital about 9am.

The doctor came in around 10am and did an exam. I was still 3cm dilated, which is what I was the day before. But the monitors showed the contractions coming every three minutes or so! She said that we could either go home until they got more painful or be admitted and walk around for an hour or so until I began to dilate more. We decided to stay and walk around. We made one round of the L&D floor, and the contractions started hurting a little more. I wanted to lay back down, so we walked back into our room. No sooner did we get there did my water break. What a weird feeling!!! Immediately, the contractions became quite painful! I couldn't talk through them anymore, and I hanging on to the side of the bed for dear life. About 30 minutes later, I asked for the epidural. :) A whole HOUR later, the anaesthesiologist came in to administer it. The process took about 20 minutes as he had to do it twice. They wouldn't let Dave watch, which is probably a good thing!

The meds worked really well, and Dave and I spent the next couple of hours quietly talking and reading all of the comments on Facebook. :) At about 4:30pm, the doc came in and said that I was 9.5 cm, and we should do some "test" pushes. Really? Test pushes? Okay. I pushed twice, and she went to get her delivery attire on. I guess the test went well. I pushed for about 20 minutes, and Joshua David arrived. They put him on my chest, and it was the most glorious feeling I've ever had! He cried, then stopped, picked up his head and took a look at Dave and me. We both gasped! It was amazing! We didn't think babies could lift their heads immediately after birth, but our little strong man had been working his neck muscles in the womb for a while. He has since amazed us many more times with his head control!

Aunt Laurie, Uncle Mike, and Pop Pop (Dave's Dad) arrived shortly after he was born to see our little bundle of joy. Then my Mom (Mae Mae) arrived about 3 hours later from MS.

She spent a little over 2 weeks with us, which was absolutely amazing! I don't know how we would have done it without her! The first 2 weeks were a real struggle with breastfeeding not going so well, a significant weight loss, and a bout of jaundice. Joshua was in the bili-blanket for 4 days! Here is a picture of our little glow worm. :)

Thank God, Joshua's bilirubin levels fell back within normal range and his weight began to rise. He went from 6 lbs 2 oz to 7 lbs 1 oz in one week and then to 7 lbs 14 oz the next week! He keeps getting bigger and more filled out! I can't wait to see how much he weighs at his 8 week appointment in January. I probably will have to find a way to weigh him before that just to satisfy my curiosity!

Nana (Dave's Mom) came a few days after Mae Mae left and was a huge help! She came just as the sleepless nights were taking their toll and provided some much needed relief.

During her stay, we were finally able to figure out sleeping arrangements that work for all of us. Joshua now sleeps in his crib in his own room and we use the monitor to listen for him. The whole sleeping in our room in a bassinet wasn't working. He is just too loud!!

And now in no particular order are some photo highlight pics from his first 4 weeks. :)