Picture Post

Big sister holding little bro for the first time at home...LOVE!

Sleepy boy

Spoiled girl playing with a new toy that Kiki got for her.

First bottle

Kiki loving on her grandkids... so sweet!

First time out to eat (lunch date with Mama and Daddy)

Baby powder disaster (I'm told I loved baby powder when I was her age too)

Love smooching those cheeks!

Little Mister

Mama with her babies

Big Foot (those are cabbage patch doll shoes)

Two weeks in and we are still adjusting

I figured the first post I would right post baby would be about the baby and the birth story.  I was surprised when Pat told me that he had written a post already and when I read it, it filled me with so much happiness that I cried.  Pat, like many men, isn’t big into sharing his feelings constantly and it can sometimes be hard to tell what is going through his head.  To read his account of the day our son was born was truly a special thing for me.  I have re-read the post several times since then and each time, the happiness and joy of that day is brought back to me.  As I said, I figured my first post after baby would be about Mitchell’s birth, but it’s not. I still plan on writing my account of the day, but for now, I’ll just keep re-reading Pat’s.  No, my first post is mostly about my first born, Evie. 

Life has changed a little bit in the past two weeks.  Mitchell is home and is already filling our lives with joy. But as anyone who has ever had a newborn knows, the first weeks at home are an adjustment.  They are filled with spit-up and diapers, 2 am (and 3, 4 ,5 am) wake up calls, laundry and crying - and I’m not just talking about the baby.  In between the chaos, there is also an abundance of cuddles, kisses, and precious moments.  Our first few days at home were filled with family.  My mom stayed with Evie on Wednesday and Thursday (we came home Thursday afternoon) and my dad and Shannon drove up on Friday.  Pat parents stopped by to visit as well.  It was a time filled with laughter and fun with both of our kids.  And we totally appreciated all of the help!! While I was in the hospital, Pat told me that Evie had been acting out a little bit with him.  Nothing too out of the ordinary, but a little more often than normal.  When I got home from the hospital, I definitely noticed how…strong willed she was being.  Evelyn is a stubborn, willful child 90% of the time, but she was definitely more defiant than normal.  We all knew that there would be some major adjustments following the new baby and that it would most likely be hard for awhile.  For a few days, everything seemed fine.  This can definitely be attributed to the fact that there were plenty of people around to shower Evie with attention while Mama and Daddy were busy with the baby.  The seemingly inevitable crash back to reality happened after everyone had gone home.  Evie cried when Kiki and Pops left, and has been even badly behaved.  While she’s not always great with me, most of her frustration has unfortunately been taken out on Pat.   Phrases like “Get away from me” and “Leave me alone” are common from Evie and when she doesn’t get her way, she has taken to hitting and even biting on occasion.  While we are trying to be patient and understanding with her, these behaviors are obviously something that we do not condone and will not tolerate.  She gets an immediate time-out and we’ve been having frequents talks about how hands are not for hitting and teeth are not for biting.  It’s been a frustrating and exhausting time for us, but I guess they don’t call them the terrible twos for nothing.  But it’s not all bad.  In between the arguments and tantrums, we have has some really good moments with Evie too.  She loves her little brother and kisses him all the time.  She likes to turn on the mobile and the music on his swing and help with diaper changes.  She even shared her blankie and a butterfly sticker with him.  Pat and I have enjoyed sweet snuggles with both of our kids. We’re finding out how to balance the attention for both kids.  Mitchell is a pretty mellow little guy, something that we both hope continues since Evie is currently being so demanding.  One thing is for sure… life is rarely boring around here!

39 weeks (I’m HERE!!!)

Although this is a family blog it has until now been the work of Malia.  I wanted to take the opportunity to add to it in a small way by writing a little about the last week.  
                                                                                                                               -Pat

               

With thoughts of painting, cleaning and otherwise preparing for the arrival of our baby we knew the clock was ticking down fast.  Malia’s nesting instinct in full force, the Marker trio was eagerly anticipating a lot of lasts.  The last time it would be just the three of us, the last time Evie would wake up as an only child, and most importantly the last time we would get a full nights sleep!  We have really tried to do a lot of special things with Evie lately in anticipation of having to divide our attention between her and our new baby.  A trip to the zoo, the Art festival and lots of time in her baby pool have been a few of the activities we have done with our special girl. 

Fast forward to Tuesday June 10^th.  Malia had been texting me a little about how uncomfortable she was at work, but assumed it was no big deal.  These are the screen shots from my phone, and she was obviously a lot more worried about groceries than the fact that she had been in labor almost all day!!!  On the way home from work I received a call from Malia asking me to call my mom to come watch Evie because she had talked to her doctor.  The doctor told her that she needed to go down OSU and be checked out at labor and delivery.  Malia was very frustrated that she was being sent down to the hospital instead of her doctor’s office five minutes away.  By the time I got home it was a mad dash to get a bag packed, a dinner for Evie made and a quick pick up of the house before my mom arrived.  Malia just kept saying she knew that they would monitor her and then send her home and it would be a waste of a trip. 

We left the house and made good time going against the flow of afternoon rush hour traffic.  We got to the hospital at a little after five. On the way to the labor and delivery wing two things happened that made me think that this was really it.  Walking through the parking garage Malia had to stop for a minute while a contraction was happening that took her breath away. The second was that we took the elevator up with the nurse who happened to be the floor manager of labor and she said Malia looked ready to go! We arrived on the 6^th floor to find that they were expecting us and got Malia into an exam room immediately.  The nurse had her get into a gown and hooked her up to a fetal monitor and another monitor that measured contractions. Next she did a check only to find that Malia was 6cm and the contractions were coming about two to three minutes apart.  It was only now that Malia realized that it was really happening, and we were about to finally meet our new baby. 

With Kathy racing up to meet us Malia was taken to her delivery room.  Her nurse was very sweet and immediately asked if Malia wanted an epidural.  After explaining the whole platelet story there was a mad rush to test Malia’s blood to see if she could get it.  Anesthesia was already on call as well as the doctor on duty to review the blood work and be there the second the results were in.  If you have been reading this blog you know the magic number is 80,000 and Malia’s count came back at 82,000.  The Nurse anesthetist wasted no time in placing the line because by now Malia was having very strong contractions that were coming less than two minutes apart.  As the epidural took effect it was instantly obvious the relief it provided.  Dr. Bartholomew appeared to introduce herself, and  reassure us that everything was going to be fine.  On her way out she decided it was time to break Malia’s water.  She departed saying it wouldn’t be long now, and that she would be back very soon.  I barely had time to call Kathy and see where she was.  Close was the answer, but I knew that she would not arrive in time. I didn’t want her to speed or drive crazy so I said that it would be soon, but without a sense of panic. 

Not more than 10 minutes had passed and the nurse decided to check Malia’s progress for what would be the last time.  Instead of determining how dilated she was the nurse found a head! With a slightly panicked voice the nurse called for our doctor to come NOW!  I swear that Malia pushed for less than five minutes total.  The result was our perfect brand new baby boy! Mitchell Joseph was born at 7:57 pm, less than 3 hours after we arrived.

I just wanted to write about how proud I am of my wife.  She is truly the glue that holds our family together, and stronger than she will ever know.  The way she labored all day at work, picked Evie up from the sitter, and still had thoughts of groceries and cleaning on her mind is incredible.  I watched her endure contractions that were coming less than two minutes apart without any pain relief for quite some time.  She refused to believe that she was really in labor because it wasn’t as bad as she thought it was going to be.  By the time Kathy showed up Mitchell and Momma had been cleaned up and were resting so comfortably it looked not like Malia had just given birth, but just finished up a day at the spa.  Malia did such an amazing job and looked so good it has been hard for me to remember that she needs to still take it easy.  We are so looking forward to letting Evie get to know her new brother and grow as a family.