Stats and Crazy Thoughts

Stats first since I'm so excited to say... our healthy boy is still a BIG, healthy boy!

At 9 weeks, his head circumference was 16.5 inches (90th percentile), he weighed 14 pounds (95th percentile) and was 26 inches long (off the charts - the average length of a 5.5 month old!). The doctor said he eats, sleeps, pees and poops just the right amount. Wait, was that TMI? Sorry if so... I mean those terms in the most medical of senses ;)

Perhaps getting 9 hours of sleep on one of the weekend nights and another 9 hours last night (yes! a work night!) made me a little loopy because I said something to Paul about having another and he said something like "did we win the lottery and you didn't tell me??" I guess this is one of those situations where I can't say "money aside..." because, well, money is never aside. Perhaps we can talk along those lines if I get another kick-ass bonus next year :) For now, and for always, Caleb is a blessing and I know we're lucky to have him and our lives are so full and complete just the way we are.

And some recent pictures of our little-big guy:

Had to put a pic with Paul's hand so Caleb would look small(er) than something

When do we add peanut butter and chocolate to the diet?

Ack! So cute! We have 3 robes for him and use them all because, well, why wouldn't we when he looks this cute??

Currently my facebook profile pic because every time I look at this, I smile!

Chicks dig him

From today... 9 weeks 3 days (but who's counting?)

From the weekend... Happy Easter, naked baby style!

Updated Pictures

I uploaded new pics today here
Password = calebian

Damn he's cute. I don't think I'm supposed to say that... I'm supposed to wait for everyone else to say that. Ahhh to hell with the "rules."

Back to Work. Blech.

I went back to work today. My work is generous and offers a "new parent transition week" which means I can work 20 hours and get paid for 40. Quite frankly, I was not ready for this. Even now - after finishing a 4 hour work day - I'm not ready for this! I had a mini panic attack this morning... like a last minute attempt to figure out how I could NOT go back to work and still pay our bills. I failed to come up with anything doable, because short of selling our house and living like homeless people, it ain't gonna happen.

Of course I knew my return to work day was coming. In fact, I had chest pain that started on Sunday and got worse yesterday. All sorts of things went through my head... like maybe it was a physical symptom of stress (like the idea of returning to work). I went to the doctor and he poked and pushed and diagnosed it as costochondritis (click here to learn more about that) which according to Wikipedia, a diagnostic version of God, if you will, has symptoms similar to those you may have with a heart attack. Alas, it's likely due to hauling a heavy little baby around in a heavy little car seat and his recommendation was to switch the load to the other side of my body. We'll see about that.


I'm pretty sure if I look back through the archives of this blog, I'll find a post about how sure I was I wanted (perhaps even wrote "needed") to work because that's what I know and it's how I define(d) myself. I don't have time to go look for that blurb but that's ok... I'd probably choke on my own words anyway. In case I'm not being clear, let me put it this way: I want to stay home and play with Caleb all day!

Because I don't want to just complain and not have a plan of action, I do plan to do something about this quandary: I will immediately start playing Lotto, the Early Retirement Plan :)

4 Weeks

Do you want to eat him, too, or is it just me?

This "little" (I'll use the term loosely since Paul thinks he's around 12 pounds... yikes!) guy melts my heart. At 2 o'clock in the morning, he'll be sucking down a bottle and I still just look at him and smile. Paul and I still fake-argue about who gets to feed him.

Things Caleb loves:

• Snuggling (good thing since he doesn't have much of a choice) and being held.
• His carseat.
• To grab our fingers and hands while we feed him.

Things Caleb tolerates:

• The dogs barking.
• Tummy time and reading books.
• Bath time for the first few minutes. After the first few minutes, it falls down to the "doesn't like much" list.

Things Caleb doesn't like much:

• Not having control over his hands yet. When his pacifier falls out of his mouth, this is abundantly clear.

Crying: I read something the other day about newborns crying, on average, 2-3 hours per day. I am happy to report he is not average. He rarely cries, and when he does, I know he needs something (food, new diaper, sleep).

Eating: He's eating 3-4 ounces of formula every 3-4 hours right now. We tried breastmilk last week but he got very fussy and gassy. We're going to try again today with some Mylicon and hope for better results. It's important to us that he gets the health benefits of the milk, but if he doesn't tolerate it well, we won't force it. I'm not ready to give up. We'll mix 50/50 milk/formula today and if that's still too much, we'll try 25/75. I'm crossing my fingers. The goal is for him to have the best nutrition and immune system possible.

Sleeping: He is sleeping pretty well at night. For the most part, we can wake up, feed him, change him, and put him back down. Sometimes he'll want to fall asleep in Paul's arms and Paul's ok with that. I'm not big on co-sleeping (for Caleb's own safety...) but if we need another hour or two in the morning around 6 or 7 a.m. we'll put him in bed between us.

That's the summary. If I write more, I'd only be gushing so I'll stop here :)

17 Days and a link to pictures!

There is nothing super special about hitting the 17 day mark... other than I have the time and motivation to write this post :) The last couple of weeks have been a blur... lots to learn on everyone's part. I'm enjoying every minute I can and honestly, and obviously, the only part I'm not super keen about is the nighttime feeding and changing. Not sure anyone likes running on low energy/low sleep but I won't complain because in the whole scheme of things, it's not even a blip on the radar.

He is so stinkin' cute and many people have asked to see pics so we've uploaded some to Photobucket. Click here to see the pics; enter the album password: calebian

So much more I could say, but I'm going to go stare at a sleeping baby. Loving this.

Caleb Ian

... is perfect. I know better than to say it aloud, but I do anyway. He has 10 perfect fingers and 10 perfect toes. His little lips are perfect, as are his little dried apricot-looking ears. The boy is completely edible.

Behavior and personality... mellow, chill and only cries (sometimes more like "whimpers") if he needs to be fed or changed, or needs some sleepytime. He liked to be swaddled for the first days, but he's over that now. Now he likes to stretchhhhhhhh as far and long as he can... then curls back up like my hair on a humid day. He is quite GQ... strikes a pose at every chance he gets and I stalk him like paparazzi on Lindsay Lohan.

He likes just about everything. Bouncer seat, big thumbs up. Bassinet? mmmmmmmmmmm. Swing? Sweeeeeeet (said like a stoner). He also pays careful attention when I play the crazy singing stuffed lion that his Auntie Rone got him, and the prayer bear from Auntie Cheryl we play at every diaper change. We're building our routine.

There are a few things he doesn't like, for instance, when you take more than 11 seconds to make a bottle and give it to him. Or cold wipes on his warm little butt. Or when his mommy freaks out because she can't see him moving or breathing (in a 2 second assessment) so she pokes him until he gets a grumpy face or squirms.

There are also some things that, surprisingly to us, don't bother him... yet. Like when the dogs go bat-shit-crazy-nuts and bark like rabid beasts when someone knocks at the door. Or when Coco (the Yorkie) decides she wants to explore him and gets in his face. (just a side note: we guard those situations carefully because frankly I can see her becoming jealous and trying to suffocate him and then saying "what? I sat on his face because I thought he was cold!") Or when we throw him on our shoulders to whack the bubbles out. He's cool like that.

So with this post, our surrogacy journey is complete. We are still in awe that we've come this far... from meeting T to having Caleb in our arms: 359 days. Unbelievable in the best way possible!!!!!!

And on that note, here are pics from his first 10 days:

Just minutes after he was born - still under the warmer. He had bruising on his face from coming out so fast and appeared kind of blue for the first few days. Our own Smurf!

Happy parents - and stupid crying eyes. Emotions were HIGH and sleep was LOW. Not the picture I would have imagined in my head (because I had lots of sleep and makeup on in my head's pic!) but it's what we have and it captures the moment perfectly.

It was a tiring trip for him into the world so we understood that he didn't want to play immediately.

Mr. Alert on Day 2

The "going home from hospital" attire. We had a 12 hour trip home... not for sissy babies!

Nana and Papa also left at the same time so we were very lucky to have the trailer for rest stops along the way home. Caleb found Nana's shoulder irresistible for naptime.



Holy. Moly. Coco is finally BIG compared to something (or someone). She met Caleb up close and personal. He didn't even notice.



Starr's reaction to the baby? "Meh. I've seen these little things before and I have no interest unless I can eat his poopy diaper at some point in the future."

Too cool... and serious.

Caleb has a cousin who's only 16 days older... and much smaller. We had them on the changing pad together and couldn't tell if Parker was trying to kiss him or eat him.

Bath time!! (Well, sponge bath time until
the umbilical cord falls off.)

Just one of many cutie pics

We were gonna do a DNA test to make sure he's ours (kidding, kidding), but after this move, I think we can all agree. He's our baby for sure!!

Couldn't help but think he was tucking his second chin under so he wouldn't look fat in the picture...

And our restful baby... at this very moment.. in the swing loving life. We are ALL loving life!!!

Progress Report

I'll do my best to update throughout the day... so here we go:

7:30 a.m. Dr broke her water and contractions starrted soon after!

9:10 a.m. Nurse is putting in the IV and T is less than happy. Thinking the next hours will be tough if the IV caused this kind of reaction. Uh oh! I'll be back later to update some more.

10:05 a.m. Nurse checked and she's still hanging out at 4 cm. Did I mention this baby WILL come today?!

11:45 a.m. Just finished taking several laps around the maternity floor. Really trying to avoid Pitocin, but think it may be a next step. Her husband and friend left for lunch; Paul and I are here with her just trying to find the balance of paying attention to her needs without hovering. Hard to do.

1:35 p.m. Paul and I ate in the hospital cafeteria and are back in the room. T is still ~ 4 cm and wants to start Pitocin after some more walking. She knows once it starts, she'll be tethered to the IV and just the idea of that irks her... but she also wants to do whatever is necessary to get Caleb moving faster :)

2:30 p.m. They just changed her IV because the first was giving her troubles. Pitocin is starting in 5 - 4 - 3 -2 - 1

3:35 p.m. The contractions have certainly stepped up a bit. There is a distinguishable pattern and each time one hits, T's face is overcome with concentration for the duration and then she's "back with us." They are checking on her every 30 minutes and administering more Pitocin. Everything seems quite calm right now... maybe this is the calm before the storm?? She's a champ - I can see how high the "contraction-o-meter" (as Paul and I call it) goes and she breathes and focuses right on through. We're dealing with a seasoned pro here.

4:40 p.m. Dr checked and she's at 4.5 cm now. Her contractions are ok but they're going to dial the Pit up just a little bit in about 5-10 minutes. That'll make her uterus get into a better rhythm and get ready for some good laboring :) I think we're still positioned for a regular birth -- no indication (or threats) of c-section at this point. T is texting, talking and watching tv in between contractions so those are all good signs. Paul and I are going strong on not-a-lot of sleep... we were pretty excited last night and didn't sleep well at all. The couch in the labor room is comfy. Good thing!!

5:15 p.m. More frequent contractions - the monitor sounds like a dang plane is taking off inside her. Apparently Caleb is moving around LOTS. That's great - hopefully he's getting uncomfortable inside and will want to come outside and play! T's now on a birthing ball (or exercise ball for the non-pregnant population in this world) and seems to be more comfortable on it - well - as comfortable as one can be while in labor, I suppose. Now in the room: two nurses, T, her husband, her friend, Paul, me, and T's middle daughter. Daughter's #1 and #3 and T's dad will be here soon. A full house for sure.

6:50 p.m. Contractions are consistently 2-3 minutes apart and by the look of things... more painful. No real change in dilation, but his head is planted fimly on the cervix now and the cervix is softer. Definitely the right direction. She's got quite an audience at this point, but as she explained to me prior to labor, she doesn't really care who's in the room because she's focused on doing her job. Excellent :)

9:00 p.m. They gave her some pain meds and both she and Caleb are feelin' better right now. For T, it took the edge off and allowed her to relax some - which allowed her to progress a bit. At this check, she's now 70% effaced and about 5 cm. They expect her to dilate more now that she's thinning out. After talking with the dr, the nurse said since she's showing progress, they'll let her continue on this course. They'll check her again in about an hour or so and if she's made more progress, they'll let 'er ride. They'll likely let her go until midnight and reassess at that point if needed. So I guess we're looking at a baby with a 2/21/11 birthday or 2/22/11 :)

10:15 p.m. She's at 7 cm now and the guess is that things will start to happen a bit faster.

The final update:

10:51 p.m. Caleb Ian was born!!!!!!! He was a whopping 9 pounds 10 ounces and 21 inches long. Here's a little teaser until we can get some real pics posted soon...

He is just perfect.