Almost 4 Months Old...

Caden has a doctor's appointment on Tuesday for his 4-month check-up so we'll have official stats then, but here are his "unofficial" 3.5 month old stats -

Length: 27 inches
Weight: 16.5 pounds

He's learning new things all the time...he's rolled over from his tummy to his back several times; he's trying to mimic us by sticking his tongue out through his lips and saying "mmm"; he laughed, like really laughed last night when he was playing with JJ (our dog) and he's always talking more and more and learning new sounds. He even practices those new sounds at 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning! :) Yep, that's right, sometimes he wakes me up with his "ahhs" and "oohs" in the middle of the night.

It's so fun watching him grow, we absolutely love it!

Here are some more pictures of him -

Saturday Stroll

Went to the farmers market and then to the cafe...Caden was good the
whole time! Even though it wasn't super sunny it was still nice to be
outside.

2 Months Old

Caden turned 2 months old this week and with it came the following…

Doctor and Shots…
On Monday we took him to the doctor for his 2 month checkup and his first round of immunization shots. Everything was going well and we had a happy baby until the doctor stripped him down and started poking him and then he was really pushed over the edge when the nurse gave him his shots. It was soooo sad and broke our hearts! Now we know what his “I’m in pain” cry sounds like….poor little guy!

Here are his stats:
Height - 24.5 inches (96th percentile)
Weight - 13lb 7.5oz (92nd percentile)
Head - 16.26 inches (86th percentile)

Sleeping through the night…
Last night marked another milestone for Caden because he slept through the night – yay! I fed him at 10 o’clock and then woke him up at 6:30 this morning to feed him again. He didn’t go to sleep right after I fed him at 10pm but settled in around midnight and slept until 6:30am. It’s hard to believe that he’s already 8 ½ weeks old because I’m not really sure where the time has gone!!! I’m heading back to work on the 22nd of this month so I’m taking in as much as I can right now….

We’re so happy and blessed to have such a healthy, smiley baby boy!

Baby at the Beach

We took Caden to the beach over Memorial Day weekend and had a great time! I wasn’t sure how he would do being away from home that long and was a little nervous to take him BUT he did a great job.

We met up with friends at Hug Point for a few hours, walked around Cannon Beach for awhile and then stopped at Camp 18 for dinner on the way home and thankfully Caden slept or was happy for most of the time.

Here are some pictures of the group and Caden with his cool shades, poor child!

First Bath

Last week was Caden's first real bath. He's had several more since then but Im just now getting around to posting some pictures. At first he didnt seem to like it, I think the water was a little cold or something...but soon enough he realized it wasnt that bad and seemed to enjoy himself.

Caden Slideshow

Here's a fun video in case you wanted to hear him.

Caden Michael Pierce

Throughout the last few weeks of pregnancy Mollie has been having higher than normal blood pressure. The doctors have been concerned about both Caden and Mollie and monitoring the situation very closely. Finally his due date came and went and the decision was made to induce if he didn’t start coming by Sunday night.

Sunday – 8:00pm

We drove up to the hospital as the sun was setting over the pacific coast range. The weather had been extremely nice and in the high 70s most the day. We parked in the parking garage and unloaded a suitcase and several other bags of necessities (laptops, phones, ipods, baby stuff, etc). As we walked through the west entry to St V’s and up the purple elevators to the 3^rd floor we realized something…we may be entering this hospital as two but we would be leaving as 3!

We got settled into the room and not long after the Dr came in to discuss the plan…everyone has a plan..a birth plan, an induction plan, a recovery plan…sometimes however you have to plan that things won't go as planned…

By time they gave Mollie Cervidil it was probably about 10pm. Time to go to sleep and see what the morning would bring.

Monday 6:00am –

It started…lots of contractions and things happening pretty fast. Usually the drug takes about 12 hours…but it seemed to be working faster than that. Most of the Drs thought that it would still be some time so they put off checking Mollie until later. So we had a blueberry muffin and waited.

Monday 9:00am –

Finally checked to see what was going on…whoa, dilated to 7 or 8cm! The nurse went to get the doctor…I called Grandma Nanette and she started driving over from La Pine. Contractions continued to get stronger and the pain was getting really intense for Mollie. She decided to have an epidural and it was the last chance to do so. That ended up being a really good decision.

Monday 2:00pm –

Time to push…pushing, pushing and more pushing….lots and lots of pushing. 3 hours to be exact…Caden progressed down to 10 cm and was effaced to +1 but then at some point didn’t progress any further…

Monday 5:00pm –

This is when the Drs started getting concerned…everything was going fast and working great up until a bit into the pushing. They expected him to crown after about 1 or 2 max of pushing but it just didn’t happen so they recommended a C-section.

Monday 5:30pm

The anesthesiologist came in to prepare Mollie for surgery.

Monday 6:00pm -

Mollie was wheeled into the OR and I got to wait outside until they were finished with the anesthetics. Then I got to go in, with my camera in hand.

Monday 6:15pm –

Caden Michael Pierce entered the world kicking and screaming! He was born 8lbs 7oz and measured 20 5/8in. long. His Apgar score was a 9 and everything looked great. 10 fingers and 10 toes everything intact! Mollie did awesome and also got to meet Caden and see his pink screaming face.

Monday Night

Finally got be moved from the recovery room into our normal room that we get to stay in for the next couple of days. Caden is doing well…his breastfeeding is going good, and everything else is coming out the right way too. We got to see Grandma M and Grandma and Grandpa P, as well as cousins, aunts, uncles and other family members. It was a long day…but we’re now officially a Mom and Dad and Caden, our firstborn son is finally here. All of that waiting and all of those plans…they were finally worth it.

Non-stress test round 2

We're here at the clinic doing another fetal heart check and ultrasound. They want to continue to monitor Mollie's blood pressure, but so far so good. They basically are trying to figure out if and when they need to induce. They won't have to if everything checks out (fluid levels, bp, cadens stats, etc). More waiting...for now :)

T minus 4 weeks and counting...

T minus 4 weeks and counting...so now is when we become a little more impatient....we planned and prepared and studied and practiced (breathing) and prayed and planned some more...oh and don't forget purchased. Now we are at the point where we just have to wait...and that's the hardest part (for me anyway).

Its kind of like reading a book where the story keeps building and you know that in the next chapter is when all the action will happen....you just want to jump ahead but you keep patiently reading with anticipation.

Along with the countless books, films, websites and informational sheets on pregnancy and birthing, we've also seen a bunch of magazines (albeit the majority while waiting at the doctors office)...here's a fun magazine cover where you may recognize who is on it....

You too can make you own magazine! Here's the link. Enjoy.

Ughhh, we have to pick a name…..for a boy!

We can't wait any longer to tell people what his name is going to be! First off let me just say that Michael and I were sooo sure we were having a girl because when we found out we were having a baby ALL we could think of were girl names!! But....neither one of us was the least bit surprised when the ultrasound tech said, “You’re having a boy”, since there are so many boys in both of our families. On my Mom’s side of the family, my Grandma has 1 great granddaughter and 10+ great grandsons, Michael has 4 brothers and 1 sister...

The girls are definitely outnumbered by the boys in our families which means all the good boy names have already been taken, or so we thought. We’d think of a name and then Michael would say something like, “oh, that’s my Cousin’s name” or “that’s so-and-so’s name” and we didn’t want to name him the same name as a Cousin or 2^nd Cousin or Uncle so we had to do some serious research.

We knew that we wanted something unique, not too popular but also a name that wasn’t weird, like “Kal-el” or “Pilot Inspector” or “Zuma Nesta Rock”. We also received advice from many people about being careful when you pick a name for your child because a) this is the name they will carry with them the rest of their life, b) you have to consider what their initials will be, c) the type of nicknames that school kids will come up with, and the list went on and on. Also, since our last name is rather short and only 1 syllable we wanted a name that had at least 2 syllables so it sounded cool. And we knew that his middle name would start with an M because we have talked about naming all of our children with M middle names, so his first name had to work with an M middle name.

We went through tons of lists of boy names, both online and in baby name books and would try and play the name game in the car….but nothing ever really stood out, Michael always suggested girl names which wasn’t helpful at all! :) He was then banned from making suggestions which left all the research to me. I came up with lists of names that he rifled through and picked out all the ones he liked. And let me just say for the record that he is picky! We were able to narrow it down to 3 names…

Now, I’m happy to report that we’ve finally come to an agreement and found the perfect name for our son - - Caden (Cade for short) Michael (because it’s his Daddy’s name)! :)

Tape and Paint (repeat 3 times)

Finally! We get to paint the baby room. One more step taken in this journey of becoming parents. Starting a few months ago we discussed what kinds of designs and colors to choose. We didn’t want to just paint it baby blue and call it good (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Mollie really likes the color brown and it goes well with blue so we decided to start off there and see what we could figure out next.
Well as you can see we decided to go with a dark blue and light blue argyle pattern with brown stripes. If you ever decide to paint any sort of pattern just be prepared to tape, tape and tape some more.
Was it all worth it? Yep, I’d say so. Would we do it again? Maybe…I guess it just depends on what idea we start off with and where it takes us.

Its kind of weird going into the room now...obviously he isnt here just yet so it could be anyone's baby room. But slowly and surely its starting to take shape and feel more like its a room that belongs in our house. Soon it will be a room we will no doubt be visiting a lot...to change diapers, feed or just hold.

Going back to the whole design thing. We're not quite done yet. We still have to hang the blinds, figure out some sort of curtain and decide whether or not to make a valance. Also, I put together the changing table and the chest of drawers. We plan on putting his name on one of the walls. A lot rooms that we saw had this so its not really unique, but I think it just starts to make it even more real, that he is actually coming soon and that this is his room.

Finally, one other thing that I think would be cool is a quote on the wall....not sure if I want to paint it or not though since we have those lame textured walls...but if anyone has any suggestions for cool quotes or verses that would be good for a boys room...let me know. Im open to suggestion.

Sunny and cold with a chance of angry

Today we went on two walks....great sunny day but a little on the cold side as you can tell from Mollie's rosey nose. We went to Java Vivace and enjoyed a lovely Mexican mocha this afternoon. I should have taken a picture of her afterwards to compare :)

p.s. pregnant women are sometimes emotional...

Yummy Orange Drink

So a lot of these blogs during pregnancy seem to have your common topics. This one is on the dreaded GLUCOSE TEST!. Mollie didnt pass the first 1 hour test, but just barely. Luckily, today we found out that she does not have gestational diabeties! She had to take the 3 hour fasting test on Saturday, which was not fun. But in the end it was all worth knowing for sure. We had plenty of snacks ready to go as soon as the tests were over...After all, it had been about 14 hours since she had anything to eat....which may be doable under normal circumstances...but don't try to tell a pregnant woman not to eat for that long unless theres a really good reason. After leaving the clinic we ate breakfast at Shari's the closest place that serves breakfast all day. Another interesting fact about this whole glucose test thing...some places let you eat or drink stuff other than glucola. Here are some of them:

• Pancakes with syrup
• Jellybeans
• 80z of apple juice
• 12oz Sprite
• 1/2 cup of Gingerale

There are other various breakfasty type items, but you get the point.