Day 68 ~ October 7, 2010

Here is a picture of Daddy and Rowen. These are the two most amazing and most important guys in my life. I could not imagine my life without either one of them. They both brighten my life in so many ways. Oh, how I love them.

Day 67 ~ October 6, 2010

Today was my due date. Today is also the day that we're going home!

Here is Rowen in his car seat, all strapped in and ready to leave. He's wearing his adorable going-home outfit, although it's a tad big on him. He's still adorable.

We were beginning to think that we wouldn't be going home today after all. Rowen was circumcised this morning and they told us that we could leave once he'd had one wet diaper. No problem, we thought, and began to pack all of our things and get ready to leave.

Hours went by and he hadn't had a wet diaper. I'd nursed him a few times, and still nothing. We tried holding his feet under warm water to try and make him go and that still didn't work. They finally let us leave before he'd had a wet diaper, and told us to come back if he didn't have one soon.

When we arrived at home, we laid him down in his crib for the first time. I thought it would be a good idea to get him out of his "nice" clothes and into something a bit more comfortable for the evening. While we had him undressed (in his crib, let me remind you) we decided to check his diaper to see if he had gone yet. While Daddy had his diaper undone (which was dry, by the way), the little tyke decided to let loose. He peed on Daddy, on Mommy, and ALL OVER his bedding. We had to change the sheets before he even had a chance to sleep on them.

At that moment I knew that I was going to have my hands full with this little guy. Welcome to motherhood, I thought.

Day 66 ~ October 5, 2010

I've fallen WAY behind on this blog, but I'd like to try and catch up. The next several (and I mean SEVERAL) pictures/posts are going to be random pictures taken over the past few weeks.

Today's picture is of Rowen and his Nana Lotz. We had many visitors while we were in the hospital and it was so nice to see everyone and show off our little angel.

Day 65 ~ October 4, 2010

Happy Birthday to our beautiful baby boy! Rowen Todd Lotz was born today at 3:12 pm. He weighed 6lbs 5oz and was 20 inches long. We're so happy he is here!

We arrived at the hospital at 6:00 am for our scheduled induction. The nurses started me on Pitocin through an IV to help stimulate my uterus to contract. They increased the amount of medicine about every 45 minutes because I wasn't progressing. Upon arrival at the hospital I was dilated to a 2. At 1:00, the midwife came in to check me and I was still at 2 cm dilated. They decided to break my water to help things along.

And boy did it! After they broke my water I was dilated to a 3. The contractions were getting much more intense and frequent. The labor pains radiated around to my back and down through my thighs. I could not find a comfortable position. After leaning on the birthing ball for a while I decided that I'd like to try out the jacuzzi tub to see if that helped ease my pain. I was in the tub for about 15 minutes when I decided it wasn't working. I told the nurse that I'd like to talk about getting an epidural.

They got me out of the tub and checked my progress. I was dilated to 7-8cm! I had a few more contractions and felt the urge to push so they checked me again: 9cm! After one more contraction I was fully dilated and ready to push. There was no time for an epidural or any form of IV pain relief. I had to do this drug-free! Once I started pushing, it was just a matter of minutes before he was born. With the help of the vacuum extractor (because his heart rate went down), I pushed for 7 minutes.

I was in active labor for about 2 hours, so it all happened very quickly. Zach and I were so excited to bring our bundle of joy into the world. Happy birthday, Rowen! Mommy and Daddy love you so much!

Day 64 ~ October 3, 2010

Today was our last day before the baby's arrival. We got up and went to church and we took my niece, Jeightlin, with us. After church, we met Zach's cousin and his wife for lunch at McDonald's and then went to my former roommate, Laura's, soccer game. The game was really exciting, and luckily the Leathernecks came out on top. Way to go Laura and the rest of the WIU Women's Soccer Team.

After the game, we took Jeightlin to Dairy Queen because we knew they'd be closing for the season soon. We all sat outside and enjoyed our ice cream together.

I knew I probably wouldn't sleep well tonight because of my anxious jitters about the baby coming. My plan was to go to bed early, but that didn't happen. Hopefully I'll get enough sleep to have the energy to get me through the day tomorrow! So excited!

Day 63 ~ October 2, 2010

Today started off with a trip to Chandler Park in Macomb for "Bark in the Park". It was a fun event for people in the area to bring their dogs to the park for a parade, pet contests, and pictures in the park. All the proceeds went to benefit the Humane Society. Our pups were a little rowdy at first, but they settled down and ended up having a great time.

After the park, we dropped the dogs off at home and headed to Spoon River Drive with our moms. We walked around at London Mills and "The Shed" for about 3 hours before heading home. I spent the early part of the evening getting a little more organized in the baby's room and putting on light switch/outlet covers that I received as a gift today. We had dinner at home with my parents and my brother and then my niece Jeightlin came over. She's going to hang out with Zach and I for a while tomorrow.

Overall, it was a very fun day. I must say, though, I'm exhausted and ready for a good night's sleep. Let's hope this little guy lets me get it.

Day 62 ~ October 1, 2010

Well today's picture was supposed to be of my beautiful baby boy, but since the doctor decided to get sick, my induction got postponed by a few days. I had an appointment this morning with the midwife and I tried not to get my hopes up about being induced. She told me that they don't like to do elective inductions on the weekends because anesthesia can refuse to come in for an epidural on the weekends for an elective induction. So, we scheduled our induction for 6 a.m. Monday. It sucks that we have to wait until Monday, but at least now it's scheduled and we know for sure it will be happening.

The rest of the day was pretty relaxing. We hung out at home for the afternoon and then went to Zach's parents' house for dinner and to play games. We ate yummy lasagna and played spoons (during which I moved the whole table with my belly in an attempt to grab a spoon).

Today's picture is kinda random, but not totally. It's of the diaper stacker that goes with my collection. One of the straps broke off under the weight of all of the diapers, so I asked my grandma to fix it and reinforce the other strap. She did, and she dropped it off today since it was finished. So hopefully it will be strong enough to withstand the weight of diapers for quite a while.