1 Month Old and Gettin' Big

One month already, wow the time really flies.  Seriously, Owen is getting so big so fast.  This month we had so many visitors.  I'll post about that later, but for now. a recap of our month.

The week that we came home, Andrew planned on taking Monday-Wednesday off and had planned on going into work Thursday and Friday before winter break.  O Thursday and Friday, however, we had a huge snow storm.  We're talking 16+ inches and blizzard conditions which cancelled school both days.  So instead of just 3 days home, Andrew had off until after the new year!  It was awesome and we were so happy to have him home for so long. 

Owen in his snowman outfit for the big snow storm

Then we celebrated Christmas.  With Andrew's parents having a condo up here in Madison, we didn't do any traveling.  Everyone came to us.  We did our typical Christmas Eve Fondue which was fabulous.  We also celebrated Christmas at the condo the next day.  It was the first time out of the house as a family of 3.  It wasn't easy but it was nice going somewhere where we felt comfortable.  We did our usual, making gifts routine.  As I was pregnant and with baby, I was not very creative, but everyone else really stepped it up and impressed with fabulous gifts.

 Thanks Auntie Linds for the Herky Hoodie that's just like Daddy's wings!

 Snoozin' in the car seat.

 Baby's first Christmas.

The family celebrating Canada Day.

Grandpa Rick got to meet Owen over the New Year.  He came up from Florida and spent several says watching football with the boys.  Owen took some great naps on Grandpa's chest.  We can't wait till we get to see him again.

We had some other important family visitors.  Aunt Ceese and Auntie Maddie came from Seattle to meet Owen.  He just loved looking at beautiful Maddie.  He knows a pretty lady when he sees one--all he did was stare at her.

Great-Grandma was another very important visitor this month.  My mom and Mike drove my Grandma up to meet her great-grandson.  It was a special day as 4 generations were together.

Papa Bear and Owen

 4 Generations

 Grandma and Owen--thanks for the onesie Grandma!

 Great-Grandma and Great-Grandson

The last family to come up for the holidays was Dad and Kelly.  We enjoyed a nice visit with them too.

Grammy Kelly

 Grampy

**Notice, we have different names for each grandparent.  When there are 4 sets of grandparents, it's important they all have different names.  We'll see if Owen actually calls them by their different names of comes up with his own name for them.

Besides that, it was a lot of getting to know each other and trying to figure each other out.  We had a weight scare when we went in for our post-hospital check up as Owen had continued to lose weight since leaving the hospital.  My milk hadn't come in, so he wasn't getting the nutrients he needed and dropped to 7lbs, 15oz.  Luckily, it came in shortly after and the O-man gained 6 ounces in 2 days.  Way to go buddy.  Dr. Trias, his pediatrician, was pleasantly surprised and knew that he could gain weight.  After that, there was no slowin' him down.  Owen gained almost a pound each week for the next 3 weeks.  By his 4 week check up, he was up to 10lbs, 12oz.

 Ready for the tundra--it's cold out there.

 Please don't bother me, I'm sleepin'.

 Owen and Mommy

 He loves to snooze this way--enjoying some skin-to-skin time with Mommy.

 All swaddled and happy.

 Snoozin' with Daddy.

 Such a handsome boy

Also this month, he started shedding tears when he cried, slept for 7 hours one night (just one night, he hasn't done that since) and started smiling.  He's getting really good at holding his head up and looking at faces.  

 January 15th-1 Month Old

10 lbs. 12 oz.

Welcome Home Owen

We went into the hospital on Dec. 14th at 7:30pm.  Owen was born on Saturday and we left for home on Monday.  We were ready to be home and start our life as a family of 3.  We survived that first night home as Owen spent the night in our arms.  We weren't really happy with our sleeping options for him and were scared to put him down for any stretch of time so between Andrew and I, we took turns holding him.  After a sleepless night, we decided things had to change.  Oh the nerves of being a new parent.  The next night was better as we decided to try our pack-n-play and felt more comfortable putting him down for longer than 5 minutes.

We came home to dinner in the fridge, our Christmas tree lit up and some decorations welcoming Owen into our family.  Thanks Nana and Auntie Linds.

 On Tuesday, my mom came to stay with us.  She was such a huge help, making our meals, doing our laundry and taking the late shift so we could get some sleep.  She was a lifesaver.  Seriously, people always say to have someone come help, but we didn't really understand the need until she left and we had to do everything ourselves.  Thanks Mom!

Andrew had planned on taking off Monday-Wednesday of that week but we had a HUGE snowstorm so he had snow days Thursday and Friday and then it was winter break.  We got really lucky having Daddy home for almost 3 whole weeks before heading back to work.  

Within the first couple of days, we decided we needed to try to give Owen his first bath at home.  Mom captured the whole event.  It was rather scary as babies are quite slippery when wet.  But we survived.  Owen screamed the whole time and didn't seem to like it at all.  We have sense gotten better and Owen even enjoys his baths now.

All hands on deck.

 Cleaning his tush....he actually looks content here.

 Our little ducky getting dry.

 We survived.

 Look at all that hair.  It's curly when it's wet. 

It's a Boy!!

It's a boy!  It's a boy!  We had a boy!!

Owen Michael Bessick

Born: 12-15-12

8 lbs 11 oz

21 inches

5:19pm

We are so excited to welcome this beautiful baby boy into our family.  We couldn't be happier.

 Family of 3.

 Proud Daddy.

 Look at those cheeks.

Now for a quick version of the birth, don't worry, I won't go into too much detail.

I had a a doctor's appointment in the afternoon on Friday 12/14.  That day though, I wasn't feeling well.  I was having pain in my chest, was kind of nauseous and overall, just not feeling right.  I called the doctor that morning and they wanted me to come in as soon as I could.  Andrew came home from work right away, picked me up and we went to the doctor.  After another high blood pressure reading and not feeling well, the doctor decided it was probably time for this baby to come.  Since it was after my due date and I wasn't feeling well, I was ready.  Although, I knew that meant an induction, I was ready to meet my baby and wanted to make sure everything was OK.

We went to the hospital that night at 7:30.  My mom came up right away, Patti and Dan were on their way and Lindsay got the first flight out the next day.  It was time to have a baby.

 Ready to have a baby.

After checking in and getting to our room we started the induction process around 9:30.  We started with a couple miso pills to dilate the cervix which worked and ended up breaking my water in the process.  After a night of mild contractions and no sleep they started the pitocin because I was not dilating as quickly as they had hoped.

A couple hours later I got my first epidural.  I had gone into the whole process planning on having one.  I was hoping to be relatively comfortable.  Well, that didn't seem to be the plan for me.  The epidural didn't work.  The anesthesiologist came back to try again and it still didn't work.  It just made my right leg numb and nothing else.

Fast forward several grueling, painful hours later after my contractions went from 0 to 100 rather quickly, I was ready to push.  It was 3:00.  2 hours, 19 minutes later, Owen Michael entered our world at a rather large 8 pounds, 11 ounces.  

While pushing, they thought he was posterior (head facing up) because of the severe back pain I was having.  I also swore quite a bit (which I'm sure wouldn't surprise some of you), asked when it would end, said I'm never doing this again, told them to pull it out of me and finally had some relief when his large head finally came out.

Andrew cut the umbilical cord, which was in a knot.  Owen was then placed on my chest for me to see and then quickly taken away to aspirate and get all the liquid out of his system.  I couldn't believe I had survived labor and that he was a boy.  We were so happy to finally have our baby here with us.  

Third Trimester

The last 3 months of my pregnancy went by so fast!  With school starting, planning for a baby, baby showers, several holidays and bed rest I don't know where the time went. 

I already told you about our tailgating experience (seen here).  I plan on updating you on the rest of our fall, but overall our third trimester went by without a hitch....that is until the beginning of December.

If you know me at all, you know I am a go-go-go person.  I am not very good at delegating things to other people and really didn't slow down at all during my pregnancy, to much disapproval of Andrew.  Well, it finally caught up with me.  The last couple of months of my pregnancy, the doctor was monitoring my blood pressure.  I typically have a pretty low BP, and while being pregnant it usually is higher, mine was up to 140s/90s at one point, which is typically high, but especially high for me.  On December 5, I wasn't feeling well, but went to school anyway.  I ended up calling my doctor's office at 8:00 when it opened and was told to come in as soon as possible.  I left school immediately, and haven't been back since.  My blood pressure was super high and was ordered on bed rest by my doctor.  For the next week and a half I rested and twiddled my thumbs just waiting for this baby to make an appearance.  I'll tell you more about that later.

For now though, some pictures from my third trimester.  

Some pictures from our maternity shot with Beth Skogen from Beth Skogen Photography

September

 

October

 

November

 December

Some belly love.

Wow--look at that belly.

Preggers and Tailgating....

they don't really mix.  

The first game we went to was a Wisconsin game.  Our friends Kristin and Brendan came up to celebrate my birthday and go to a football game labor day weekend.  I was only about 6.5 months pregnant.  We enjoyed some Bloody Mary's (mine virgin, of course), some grilling and a beautiful day of hanging out with our great friends.  While I was not super big yet, I still felt huge in the cramped seats.  We had a ton of fun though!

Kris and B enjoying their bloodies.  

I'll have you know that Schiewitz did not like bloody Mary's until I came around. :o)

 We liked ours too!

 B and Ange hanging out.

 Kris and I.  You can see my little preggo belly.

 Love these guys!

 At the game.

 

We went to the Iowa-PSU game back in October.  As with the last Iowa-PSU game (see post here) we went to, the Hawks were awful.

Anyway, even though they lost horribly, we still had a great time!  Andrew went to Iowa City on Friday night, while I rode in with friends on Saturday.  I didn't think I would be able to make it 2 nights away, being 8 months pregnant. 

We arrived Saturday morning and started tailgating right away.  I stayed off my feet as much as I could, but did end up taking a nap in the car for over an hour.  With it being a night game, it was a long day.  It was, however, a beautiful day to tailgate.

We has a blast with our friends and did some sophisticated-real, adult tailgating.  Here are some pictures from our trip.

 The whole group.

 Baby B is a good beer holder.

 Janice and I.

 The boys.

 Yay band and black and gold stripes!

 The boys at the game--thanks Scottie for the great seats!

 Ange and I.

 I-O-W-A

While it was super fun, I would recommend not traveling past 30 weeks pregnant.  Coming home we had a little scare-I didn't feel well, was nauseous, lethargic and overall feeling gross, but thanks to Janice for keeping us calm and taking care of me, we made it home safely after a long weekend!