Summer Time

We have been pretty busy over the last couple weeks, making the summer and my maternity leave go way too fast. For the fourth we went to the cabin and we had very nice weather this time. Which was great for Larry and Nancy's latest purchase of a sailboat! I have not been brave enough to go in it yet, I thought I would give the guys some time to master it before doing so. :) By the time we left, they had it down pretty good so I think I will brave it when we are at the cabin this weekend.




Levi also had a good first Fourth of July, seeing a lot of people again. He does really good at the cabin, so that makes us happy and not afraid to take him.



We didn't have room to bring his big bath tub, but we still wanted to give him a bath since he goes to sleep really good afterwards, so we brought his hospital one. As you can see, he was a little crammed in there with his long legs!



We have just been hanging out everyday while Grant is at work. We go for our daily walk, sometimes two depending on the weather, and then rotate through all his toys. He is starting to play with more of them now and also doing a lot more facial expressions. It is fun to just sit and watch his reactions.







Levi had a rough few days of coughing and weezing really bad so I took him to the doctor a few weeks ago. I was worried he wasn't going to do the cough while we were there, but thankfully he did. She diagnosed him with reflux and we got him on Zantac now twice a day. We now have a totally different baby! Shortly after being on the medicine, we had his first night that he slept through the night and since then, he does pretty much every night. Hopefully he follows suit when I go back to work in a few weeks.

Other than that, Grant has been busy working, doing a summer class, and his latest found passion of golfing. (He might be a little obsessed). I had my ten year class reunion a few weekends ago and we had a friend's wedding this last weekend, so Levi had his first overnight with Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt. He did good! It was nice to see everyone at the wedding, especially our friends from Boston Jess and Adam.

And of course we had to find time for his best friend Carter to come over and play with him. You would think he would get annoyed with her in his face all day, but he really doesn't and keeps on smiling/staring at her! She is a good big sister for him and is a great help. :)





We have Levi's two month appt. tomorrow with some shots, so I am not looking forward to that. Grant is coming with and hopefully it goes smooth. Then we are heading to the cabin this weekend, hopefully the weather will cooperate for us :)

One Month

You would think being home all day I would have tons of blog posts, but for some reason, I never find the time! I always manage to figure out something else that needs to be done. Anyways... we have survived Levi's first month! It went very fast and I still cannot believe he is four weeks old. We are getting a schedule down pretty well now, and in return, Levi is sleeping pretty good for us. He had his longest stretch so far last night of five and a half hours. It was great! He usually sleeps between three and four hours before waking up, he eats, then goes back to bed. He had a few irritable nights, but thankfully they didn't last. We will take them here and there, but not in a row! We have had a busy month that is for sure...

Levi LOVES his bath, but doesn't love getting out of the bath as you can see below. We learned last week that giving him a bath before bed, makes him sleep much easier and he calms down right after he has his last feeding. SO bath every night it is!




The second weekend in June we braved a newborn and headed to the lake for Grant's Grandma Betty's birthday party. It went pretty well and he got to meet a lot of people! The weather wasn't as nice as we wanted it to be, but it was relaxing. He met his Great Grandma Betty at her party.



Then we have just been hanging out during the weeks and getting adjusted with our new family of three. My sister still has Kujo, I am not sure how that is going to work with Levi. She brought him over a few times to see how he did, but when he is sleeping we cannot really tell. The first time when Levi moved, Kujo lunged right at him and that will not work. So we will see how that goes.







My dad, Levi, and I stopped over at my Grandpa Pat and Papa Gene's house last week for Levi to meet them. He sure is getting out and about, thank goodness for it being summer! Here he is with his Great Grandma Pat, we will need to get a picture of him with Great Grandpa Gene next time we see him.



Then this last weekend, he was even busier with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins in town as well as a wedding and a graduation party. Again, he sure gets around! Which we are thankful he doesn't mind being in his carseat. He got to meet his Great Grandma and Grandpa Hulscher as well as attend his first wedding.





This week, Levi finally got to see his buddy Carter. She has been sick the last couple of weeks so he has missed her! She was more than happy to sleep over the other night so she got lots of bonding time in with her little buddy. Sometimes, she likes getting right into his face to make sure he knows she is still here :)



I have been recovering well, still sore when I over due it, but overall, I would say I am doing good. Had a few bumps in the road, but managed to get by them. I am getting ansy to start working out after my 6 week appt, until then, Levi and I go for our daily walks. Grant is staying busy with work and an online summer class on top of being a dad, so he is getting exhausted at times! It is his birthday today and he gets to enjoy a concert tonight with his dad and brother. We are off to the cabin this weekend for the fourth, hopefully I will be able to work on my tan :) Here is the little guy yesterday, one month old....

Levi's First Few Days

First family picture :)



So alert right away...






First bath, I look happy!



All the commotion is over, now I can rest!



Grandpa Thurmes and Levi



Charli and Carter Lou couldn't get enough of him!



Dad had to dropper feed him the first few days until my milk came all the way in.



Poor baby had to be in this blanket to get his billi levels down.


FINALLY get to go home!

Levi Joseph Schmidt

On Monday, May 31st I was scheduled to be induced at United Hospital in St. Paul due to my blood pressure that wouldn't go down. So Sunday night, both Grant and I were mixed of emotions and didn't get much sleep. I woke up and had to call the hospital at 6:30 and they told us we could come in between 7-7:30.... So off we went! It was a very nerve racking car ride, but I knew it would all be worth it. We got to the hospital right at 7:30, got checked in, and the fun began!

We got all settled into our delivery room and the nurse started the Pitocin at 8:30 am. It took about a half hour for me to start feeling contractions, but they were easy to deal with at this point. The plan was to up the dose every forty minutes. At 9:00, Dr. Huberty came in and broke my water. She doesn't mess around! That was more of a mess than I ever could have imagined, I am glad I did not get my wish granted of that happening at home. After this it took about a half hour and the contractions started coming about 3-7 minutes apart. I was dealing with them okay at this point, just felt like a period cramp. I breathed through them and of course Grant was right there to say something funny to get my mind off of them. They started picking up more by 11:00 so I asked for some Nubane in my IV. This helped for the time being.

After that started kicking in, I sent Grant down to get some lunch. I had Joline via text message right by my side while he was gone. Contractions started getting a little more intense around 1:00 and I had the nurse check me. I was between 4-5 cm dilated so I asked for the epidural. That was my goal to get to before I asked! Once I got that in.... ahhhh sweet relief. It was the best thing ever. I didn't feel another contraction the entire day. After this was in, I got the catheter in which was way easier than I ever imagined it to be.

5:30 I was checked again and now I was 6-7 cm dilated and his head was very low. Slowly progressing....The nurse noticed baby's heartbeat was starting to decrease, so she put me on an oxygen mask. I was starting to get naseous by this point, I was so hungry! I couldn't have anything besides ice chips, so Grant was great and kept them coming. I ended up throwing up all over at about 6:30, in the oxygen mask and all! After that mess was cleaned up it was now 8:00. The nurse checked me again and I was now 9cm. This day was getting very long for us! Just before 8:30, I was fully dilated and it was time to push. Pushing went on FOREVER it seemed like. His head was super low and would just not come down any further! The nurse saw his hair and said he had a ton! There was my heartburn the last few months :)

She called in the Dr and she had me push a few more times and then decided she would try the vaccuum on his head to help him come down. She did that three times and he just wouldn't move. So after 2.5 hours of pushing, a tear, and a vaccuum, I heard the word I dreaded, C-Section will be needed. At this point I was so tired and exhausted that I just wanted it to be over and I wanted to see that baby! SO Grant and I looked at each other nervous as can be, and off I went. Once in the OR it went very fast. Once they finally got into where the baby was the Dr said, "That's why he wouldn't move!"... He was so low and sideways in there that his head couldn't move any lower. So I patiently waited there for that first cry and when I heard it, that long exhausting day was SO worth it.

Levi Joseph Schmidt was born at 11:46pm weighing in at 7lbs, 6ozs, and was 20 inches long. Grant was already a perfect dad right at that time. He stayed with him when they cleaned him up and went to the nursery with him while I was getting stitched back up. When I finally got out of recovery and could hold him, it was the happiest day of my life.

The hospital stay ended up being way longer than we wanted, we just got discharged yesterday (Friday). So five days total. Levi has a little jaundice so we had to stay extra to have him in the special bed and then they sent us home with a blanket yesterday. A nurse is coming by this morning to check his levels and I hope we can send the blanket back. I hate having to have him in it the whole time.

That is how are week has been! I got very emotional towards the end of the hospital stay, I just wanted to go home. Grant was the best partner I could have asked for through the whole week, he is always there for me. I want to thank everyone who visited, sent messages, or called, it really helped us get through the week. We are lucky to have so many family and friends in our lives! I also want to thank Joline for coming to the hospital four different times with the kids, she knows they can always make me feel better. My recovery is a lot harder than I wanted, but I am getting through it. I am not used to moving so slow, so it is taking some getting used to. But, I think I am getting better everyday. We are settling in at home now and we wouldn't want it any other way. "Our little surprise" is the best thing that has happened to both of us. I will post a ton more pictures later, but here is one for now.....

The End is Near....

It has been an interesting last few weeks to say the least. After that doctor's appointment I had on the 12th, I haven't been back to work. My blood pressure continued to stay low when I was laying down and then elevated when I was sitting up. So she thought with the way I sit up all day at work and the added stress of work in general, it would be better to just be done with work. So I tied up all my loose ends and have been just laying around at home. As much as I can make myself that is! It messed up my maternity plan for work a little bit, but that is what I get for being such a planner I guess. And I am hoping it will still work out to be off of work until August. Fingers crossed!

So for the last two weeks I have had to go to the doctor on both Tuesdays and Thursdays to monitor everything to make sure everything else was still okay. Between blood tests, urine samples, NST's... everything is still going great. Just the blood pressure won't go down! At my appointment I had last Thursday, she mentioned she would want me to deliver at 39 weeks. So I started asking her questions about this and she said we will talk about it at my appointment Tuesday, which was today. So Grant thought it would be a good idea to be at this appointment with me, so he came with today.

I had lost three pounds last week, but thanks to Grant's mom bringing over a French Silk Pie and my mom bringing over tons of bars, my weight was back up today. :) Better enjoy those sweets now before I have to lose all this weight! My blood pressure was high again today when sitting, and low when laying down. At least it is consistent right? SO she suggested that we schedule an induction for this Monday, Memorial Day. There is an end in site! I am dilated to almost 2cm, 80% effaced, -2 station so I am hoping that this progress will make the induction easier than I have heard from other people. With this heat, I am more than ready to be done! So stay tuned for further updates, I am still hoping he decides to come on his own before then. :)

Here is a picture of me today, 38 weeks, 3 days....

Almost 37 Weeks, Not so much fun!

We sure have been keeping ourselves busy the last few weeks, I cannot believe how fast time has been going. The good news is, I feel that I am now ready for the baby to get here, I just want to be done! My biggest concern was holding him in long enough for Grant to get done with his finals and we made it to that milestone. He had a very stressful week last week, but is now more than happy to be done. So now we are good to go! Here is a funny picture he texted me last week of what he was up to in class.....


My aunts Jennifer and Brenda hosted a baby shower for me last Saturday and it was fun to see everyone I hadn't seen in a long time. I was once again overwhelmed with presents and thankfully I had my "little helper" Carter Lou with to help me open all of those. I appreciated all of their hardwork making it a fun shower! And I also thank everyone who came.

After the shower, Grant and I headed to the cabin for the night. Then on Sunday Grant's two aunts Barb and Debbie hosted a shower for me there! Again, it was nice to see everyone and I appreciated everyone's work on making this shower fun as well. I was overwhelmed with presents again, and had a new little helper Mason there to help me out. Thank you everyone who came to this one as well. As you can see we overflowed the nursery again... But I had Monday off to organize so it ended up looking much better by the end of the day. :)



Then comes the not so fun stuff. At my dr's appointment on Tuesday, my blood pressure was quite elevated which concerned the dr because it had been low the entire pregnancy. So she did a couple tests and decided to put me on bed rest with no work until Thursday (today) and see what happened in those two days. I had my other appointment this morning, and it was still elevated but only when I was sitting up. When she had me lay down, it went back to how it has been. So she did a few more tests to test for pre clampsia again and those results were normal. SO she prescribed me some medicine and kept her order of bed rest and no work until this next Tuesday. Her main concern was having me make it past the 37 week mark on Saturday. So until Tuesday, I will be forcing myelf not to do anything work or stress related and just hang out. Hopefully on Tuesday these restrictions will be lifted! I go to the dr every Tuesday now until I have him, so I am thinking the time will go fast.

The other day I had Carter over and I thought it was funny when she came to lay with me she put her baby in the bassinet and pulled it close to her to "watch" over her baby. She was holding onto it until she fell asleep... She will be a little mother hen to our baby, I can see it now!


Not much going on for me this weekend as I am now restricted. Grant will be enjoying some fishing for the opener, but not at the cabin like usual. We have to stay close to the hospital so he is just going to go somewhere around here. Hopefully he has good luck! Here is a picture of me at 36 weeks, 5 days....

Shower Pictures

As promised, here are some of the shower pictures from a few weeks ago. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and I will do another update then!

Kate, Jenn, Laurie, Leslie, Carter Lou in the way back...


Me and Carter eating some good food!


Carter patiently waiting to bring me the next present...


Always a good helper :)


Charli was much happier away from all the action!


Not sure what we are doing here...


Chloe, my other helper!


Katie, Jenni, Sarah... Katie must not like pictures :)