Cole Update

We took Cole to get weighed again today and he's gained 2.5 ounces since Wednesday. He's now 5 pounds 5.5 ounces. I will take him in again on Thursday of next week to get him weighed again. At this point, he should be gaining an ounce a day. And really, if life were fair, I would be losing a pound (or two) a day! It'd be a whole lot cooler if once Cole had been born, all 70 pounds I gained would have just melted off. A girl can dream...

Here's a video of Cole when he was still in the NICU unit. We were laughing at our poor boy having the hiccups. Man, he's going to be in serious trouble growing up considering Steve and I love to laugh and will most likely play pranks on him just simply for our own amusement. We suck.

By The By...

Kankles GONE! Ankles BACK!!! Nice sock marks, eh?




So worth it!!

First Doctor's Visit

Cole had his first doctor's appointment today and all went well. When we left Swedish on Monday, his weight was 4 pounds, 12 ounces and his jaundice level was at a 12. He weighed in at 5 pounds, 3 ounces today - one ounce above his birth weight (porker). His jaundice level also lowered on it's own and is down to 9.5 which is considered normal. The doctor advised that Cole looks great and is progressing very well. WOO HOO!! We go back in on Saturday to have him weighed again and to also schedule his next visit. Stay tuned....

Future Friends

Here are some of Cole's future buddies. Brenden will be one year in June and Dustin is a little over a month old. One girlfriend and another either buddy or girlfriend on the way....what a lucky little boy Cole is!

By the Way...

It's possible that Steve and I will drive each other bat shit crazy by the end of this week. I don't remember the last time we spent two straight weeks together. In fact, I don't think we ever have. Add total lack of sleep to the mix and some differences of opinion regarding parenting and put a cherry right on top. There may or may not be some very fun/interesting stories to come. GAHHH!

Congratulations Amber and Greg!!

My friends Amber and Greg just found out today that they will be having a baby girl come October. I am so excited that Cole is going to have a little girlfriend this fall. This gives us time to beef up our little man so that he looks fresh when little princess Adams arrives. Congrats Amber and Greg! We love you!!

Cole is Home Now!!!

We got the great news today that we could take Cole home. We hadn't brought the car seat with us because we didn't really think today would be the day. We were under the impression that he would be at the hospital for a few more days. Once we got the okay, we got home, grabbed the car seat and headed back to pick up our little man. He's been home for about 5 hours now and it's been awesome! Goliath has been really great about things too. I probably won't post for a few days until we get a little settled. Hope everyone is well!

More Cole - What Else.....?

Steve went to the 8am touch time this morning and Cole was (is) doing very well. He decided sometime overnight that he no longer wanted the tube in his nose and ended up pulling it out. So the nurses just left it out. They are lowering the heat levels on the incubator in order to have Cole start maintaining his own temperature. Sounds like we're getting closer to getting the little bugger home. His food intake is over 30 ML's right now and they continue to up it every 12 hours. His jaundice levels are lowering on their own now so he didn't have to go back under the photo light therapy again yesterday/today. We went to the 11am touch time this morning and got some cute pics. His expressions are all over the board these days. He also spit up on me a little after I fed him....YUM!

Happy Friday!

So Cole is 5 days old today. He was moved from the NICU unit on the 6th floor down to the unit on the 2nd floor. It's a step toward him coming home. Today has been a little rough. I think everything has finally hit me all at once. We're definitely ready for him to come home!!
His food intake was upped from 16 ML to 22 ML today and they are upping it again tonight. They are now going to up the intake every 12 hours. He'll be packing on weight in no time! Here are some more pics from yesterday. I didn't get too many today but hope to get some more this weekened.

Little Cutie Pie

I swore I wouldn't go overboard with pics of Cole....apparently, I'm a liar! I just can't help it. I'm so smitten with him it's ridiculous!

Here are some from today. The little mask is because he is currently sitting under the photo light because he is a little jaundice. Even though he's having to sit under the light, he is doing very well. His food intake was upped to 16 ML this afternoon when we went in to feed him. They will up it again tomorrow. Steve and I have both been changing diapers, taking his temperature, feeding and burping him. We're not able to do much but we're glad to do what we can. We still don't know when he'll be able to come home with us but it sounds like another week and a half or two at the most. Our fingers are crossed!

He smiles so much now. I love it!

Video of Cole

Not sure why this wasn't working earlier - but here's the video of Cole flexing his muscles.

More Cole

Here are some from today/tonight

Cole McGowan Stredicke

Well, he's here. Long story short....Steve and I went into Swedish on Saturday afternoon because of some things that I had been experiencing that day. Turns out, my water broke. I wasn't going home no matter what. I finally fell asleep around 1:00 am that morning and then one hour later, it was GO TIME! I can not even describe contractions. They are evil. I got an epidural (THANK GOD) around 3:00-3:30am and was a happy camper from that point on. No feeling from the waist down, eh, can't complain there! I started pushing around 8:00-8:30 am and was totally gung ho for the first hour. Not so gung ho after that first hour. I had an amazing delivery and had so much fun - yes, fun. The friends/family that were in there with me by my side were amazing and I couldn't have asked for a better group/support system! Cole was born at 10:53 am on 05-18-2008. He was 5 lbs. 2 ounces and 17 3/4 inches long. He is still in the NICU unit but we hope that he will be home soon. I have so much I want to type and tell you all but I have to go pump some food for my little man before we head back to Swedish to see him for his "touch times". As soon as I get somewhat of a routine and normal schedule (yeah, good luck from what I hear), I'll post more. Here are some pics now and I will have more tonight and tomorrow for sure.

Mid May Updates

So my big "whatever it was" from last week is back today. However, you will be proud to know that there was no Delridge action this time around. I've learned my lesson based on you all giving me shit about it. Seriously, I was in panic mode and I refused to puke on the bus. What's a girl to do? Anyway, I had my doctor appt. earlier this week and my doctor believes strongly that it's kidney stones regardless if the ultrasound picked them up or not (try or not).
I was able to catch my regular bus and made it home and am now resting comfortably with my kankles kicked up on the coffee table. Just waiting for the anti nausea pill and Vicodin to kick in - HURRY THE HELL UP ALREADY DAMN IT!!

Okay, so onto the baby update...

We went to the doctor earlier this week. I was SOOOO excited because this was going to be the day that my doctor was supposed to tell me that I'm measuring further along because I AM further along. By two weeks to be exact. Now why would I be so lucky?

Turns out I'm only measuring further along - by two to three weeks. However, based on last week's ultrasound, Cole is right on track and I still have 7 weeks to go. Pleasant. Can I be anymore overjoyed that I have 7 weeks to go?

But Cole is doing well and developing as expected. He's healthy and strong and hopefully will be here sooner than 7 weeks - if he doesn't want to be grounded for the first year of his life!

Prior to my doctor letting me down about when to expect my little bundle of joy, I had my baby shower. It was absolutely amazing. Rachele did a great job (thanks again Rachele)! Thanks to everyone that came and a special big fat thank you to Rachele for such an awesome day! Pics to come soon.

Lined up for this weekend...? Rat City Rollers - YEAH BOY!!! I will also be going on a salt water taffy hunt in Seattle. Actually, more like I already know where the taffy is so it's not really a hunt. YUM, can't wait. I'll post after Roller Derby.

Stay beautiful!

Happy Mother's Day!

To all you lovely mothers, I hope you all have a wonderful day! Although I am not yet a mom, I have gained a new respect for what you go through and can only imagine the fun times to come.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Whatever It Was...

Is gone now. I guess I'll just chalk yesterday up as one of those mysterious pregnancy things.
Late last night, I broke the fever and the puking stopped. I slept from 10:00 to 3:30. I had to wake Steve up for work and make sure Goliath went for a pee. Then I was out from 3:45 to 10:00 this morning. Up for a couple hours and then back out until 4:00 this afternoon when Steve got home. Gail took Goliath for the day which is why I was able to get so much great sleep. It was definitely much needed. I feel great today but a bit groggy from the pain medicine. Back to the normal grind tomorrow.

Not Exactly What I Had Planned for Today...

So today has been interesting and full of me being scared out of my mind. I got to work and was having a good/productive day. Around 10:00 this morning, I felt a nagging constant cramp on my left side. I tried to not think too much of it and continued on. Around 11:30 or so, the cramp was still there and getting slightly worse so I put a call into the nurse at my doctor's office. Around noon, I was extremely uncomfortable and called Steve to see if he could come pick me up. I'm thinking at this point, I am just going to go home and get some rest and let whatever this cramping business is run it's course. Steve is also at work and is able to come get me but it will be a while. I decide to buck up and take the bus home. NOT SMART!

I miss the commuter bus by 2 minutes so I opt to take the dreaded 120 thinking that I will just close my eyes for the ride and it will be over in no time and I'll be on the couch resting before I know it. WRONG!

We get onto the viaduct and I get that salty spit taste in my mouth - yuppa, I am about to puke. And, my back to front cramp on my left side is still nagging at me. I pull the next stop cord and call Steve to tell him that he needs to pick me up ASAP because I am getting off the buss at the first stop after the West Seattle Bridge. I was NOT going to be the weirdo that someone blogs about that puked on the bus. So I get off on Delridge. WTF was I thinking?

So I call Steve to let him know where I am and ask where he's at and I start to walk. Not sure what I thought that would accomplish but it was kindof getting my mind off of things until the nagging/constant cramping on my left side became significantly worse and I started to panic. Here I am at about 32 and a half weeks pregnant walking down Delridge trying to concentrate on not falling over and puking. I imagine I look exactly like a model strutting it on the run way in Paris or something. And the I remember that models don't have double/triple chins and an extra 65 lbs ta boot.

The cramping has gotten so bad now that I am walking down the street in tears and I can hardly talk. Steve is staying on the phone with me because he is so worried. We had both called Shana at some point earlier so Shana is clicking in on Steve's phone. Steve wants to let her know what's going on so he gets off and I decide to sit down because it just hurts to much at this point. I talk to the nurse again and she is wanting me to come into the office now.

So while Steve is en route to picking me up, Shana calls and I am on the phone with her. She proceeds to tell me that she KNOWS I'm in labor. Thanks Shana! She has also called everyone and their mom's dog to let them know it's baby time. Thanks again Shana! But she's talking and it's keeping my mind off of things so what to I do?

This post is getting VERY long so I'm going to get to it. Got the the doctor, they confirmed it was NOT labor. HA HA Shana! They are pretty positive that I have kidney stones at this point based on what I am describing and the death chop the doctor gave me in the back to confirm that whatever it was - it had to do with my kidney. They schedule me for two ultrasounds. One to make sure the baby is okay and the second to check out my kidneys.

Baby Cole is good - thank god! This is what had me in serious panic mode. But he's doing well. He's still a boy (made the technician check again) and everything looks and sounds good. He is currently 4 lbs. 9 ozs. and on his way to 50 lbs. How else do I explain the crazy weight gain other than my son will come out at 50 lbs meaning I've gained 15 pregnancy pounds. I'm right on track!

The second ultrasound showed NOTHING. The radiologist said that if I did in fact have kidney stones, it/they may have already passed. I don't buy it but whatever. If it/they had passed, why do I feel like I'm dying? While looking around at my innards, they check the gallbladder as well. Things look fine there too.

So Shana and I haul our butts back up to the doctor. They aren't sure what's going on but send me home because based on what they saw with the ultrasounds, they can't determine what the problem really is and since Cole is okay, they are much less concerned. So off I went with a prescription for some pain and nausea medication. If things don't get better, I will be back in the doctor tomorrow. Otherwise, I have my regular appointment on Monday.

Okay, got home, ate food I shouldn't have and have since puked 4 times now. I am also running a slight fever of 100. Oh, and don't let me forget to mention that my back is in wretched pain from the cramping. If I am even able to walk, it's slow going and straight to the bathroom to get more acquainted to the toilet. I am really hoping that whatever this is, it runs it's course and is gone by morning. I am staying home from work tomorrow in hopes of getting plenty of R&R before the busy weekend.

A big fat thanks to my sister, Shana for all of her help today!! I really should have puked in your car since you told everyone I was going into labor, but I'll save that for another day/time. :)

So needless to say, it doesn't sound like all that big of a deal, but I was scared out of my mind today. Calmer now - but that's probably because of the pain medicine.

To the lady that was walking down Delridge with a pigeon on her head (no shit), GET HELP! It's not normal to walk with a street bird on your head - spaz!

Hope everyone is having a better day than I am!