First official picture
I will go back to the events earlier in the week and then come back to his birth. Last Sabbath we had a lovely afternoon walk with the church on Long Beach. It was quite mild out for October, so it was very nice.
This is a really cool tree at the end of the beach. People have put tons of conch shells on it like ornaments on a tree and it looks really neat.
After the walk, Aunt Sherrie, Uncle Kevin, David & Yully (and my parents) came over for a little visit. Caleb calls Aunt Sherrie and Uncle Kevin "Bobbie" and "Poppy" which is what their granddaughters call them. Well, Aunt Sherrie had come into Caleb's room while he was playing and she had taken off a sweater. Then a few minutes later we were out in the family room and Caleb comes running out of his room and hands her the sweater and says "Here Bobbie!" and then runs back into his room to keep playing. Aunt Sherrie was quite amazed and told me that I needed to put that story in the blog! I am glad I remembered to do that!
I don't remember if I have mentioned this or not, but it is worth repeating. Every morning when I go into Caleb's room and after every nap, he always says "Good sleep" as soon as I open the door, even before I turn the light on. It must be because I used to ask him if he had a good sleep. It is pretty cute!
Anyway, on Sunday, I worked for several hours in the morning and early afternoon. Then after Caleb's nap (which was unfortunately shorter than normal) we headed up to Edaville Railroad for the Pumpkins Aglow event. I hadn't been to Edaville since I was a kid, but I have very fond memories of it at Christmastime. One of my friends from our play group was also going with her husband and son and we ended up meeting up with them right after we got there and spent the whole rest of the time with them which was really fun. Caleb had sooo much fun! The pumpkins were cool, but what he really enjoyed were all the kiddie rides. Most of them were geared toward little kids, so they were right up his alley. He even rode on one of the rides by himself because parents were too big to go on that ride. And he did great! One of the funniest moments of the night was when Caleb and his little friend Charlie rode in a truck and my friend Beth and I rode behind them. Well, there are seat belts and the lady operating the ride told us that we could only ride there if we could get the seat belt around both of us. Let me tell you, that was not an easy task but we did it and we were laughing so hard!
We also rode on the famous Edaville train which was fun. Caleb really enjoyed it. We are really looking forward to going back at Christmastime, hopefully with the Braces and Grodacks!
Steve loved this ride and they ended up doing it twice!
Caleb's idea, not mine (it was a tight fit)
On the train
This was the turtle he rode on by himself
This is the same truck that Beth and I rode in together in the back
On Tuesday, we went over to Beth's house for a little while in the morning and then did a lot of grocery shopping to shop for healthy food on the CHIP diet. Beth has a bunny and Caleb was not too nice to the bunny so he ended up having to go back in the cage. The rest of this week Caleb has randomly said "Be nice to the bunny", because that's what I kept telling him when we were at the house.
On Tuesday night, Steve had a meeting at the church and I got Caleb ready for bed, put him down, and I was turning on his mobile and he started to cry. He said "Get out!" and so I picked him up (because that was very unusual) and after I got him out of the crib, he threw up. I then brought him to the bathroom and he threw up several more times on the floor. It seems like 80% of the time Caleb throws up Steve is gone, which is so annoying because then I have to clean up the mess and Caleb and it is a pain. Usually after he throws up, I can put him right back to bed and he is fine. This time he would cry and cry and cry every time I mentioned the word bed. So, I ended up sitting in the rocking chair with him and holding him until he fell asleep, which is also pretty unusual because he never falls asleep on me. Although it was a time-consuming process and not how I envisioned spending that time, I enjoyed having him fall asleep on me.
On Wednesday I had to go to Hyannis/Nantucket for the day, so I was in Hyannis at 3:00 when I got the call that Jen's water had broke (while she was in the mall with her mother) and that they were headed to the hospital. I was very excited but I knew it would most likely be a long process, so I went about my day as usual and headed to the hospital around 8:00 after Caleb was in bed. I went prepared to spend the night with my magazines, a little bit of work, etc. I knew my mom would be spending the night as well, so I wanted to keep her company. Well, I won't go into all the details, but it was a long night for everyone. Around 4:00 in the morning Jen was 8-9 cm dilated so we were hoping that she was close. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case and she wasn't even ready to start pushing until around 11:00 or 11:30. The pushing didn't go too well because the baby was face up (sunnyside up) and a little twisted. Eventually they consulted the doctor and we thought she would probably end up with a C-section. I guess at that point it was too late for a C-section and they would have had to push the baby back up. So, the doctor used the vacuum to get him out which was very painful. Then he came out with the cord wrapped around his neck and he wasn't breathing and alarms started going off and the pediatrician actually had to do compressions on his chest to get him breathing. Rad came out to the waiting room after all was said and done and he was crying quite a bit and he said that he thought that they had lost him. It was so emotional for everyone and we were just glad for a good ending, although getting there was a nightmare. So, needless to say, we didn't want to hang around and make Jen and Rad more tired, so we were able to see Levi in the nursery while they were checking him out and then we headed home.
At the very beginning before she even had her own room
When I first got there, she was in a triage area because they were so busy and didn't have a room available for her
Out walking trying to get things moving
Dave and Yully stopped by around 10:00 with some snacks and some moral support
Tired grandparents in the middle of the night
Peeking through the slats of the nursery at baby Levi
What a precious sight!
Happy grandparents
Proud father
Excited auntie
I got home from the hospital around 5:00 and was so happy to see Caleb because that was probably the longest time I had been away from him in his whole life! I was exhausted and hungry and needed a shower, so after a shower and eating, I felt a little better. I went to bed pretty early that night and felt better on Friday morning.
On Friday I went to work and was very busy, but I left work an hour early so I could make it to the hospital to finally get to hold my nephew! I got there around 4:30 and was able to spend some time with him. He is just so precious and he was quite alert while I was there. Rad and Jen are still exhausted but were in a much better place than the last time I saw them! I brought some chocolate and ice cream for Jen and I think she appreciated that.
After that, I went home so Steve could then come to the hospital to see Levi for the first time. I also went to bed very early again last night (8:30) and Caleb slept until about 7:00 this morning, so that was great! I feel much more rested. Too bad we can't say the same for Rad and Jen! Well, here are a few more pictures of Levi and of our week. Until next time!
He loves his mommy!
This was the night he was born - proud daddy!
What a sweet, sweet face!
Proud Grampy! Love the look of adoration!
My "giant" compared to Levi!
