Caden at 1 month

I can not believe it's already been a month since this little munchkin joined us.

He was born 20 1/4 inches and is already about 22 inches long!

He was 7lbs 12oz and is somewhere around 10lbs now! We'll find out his length and weight for sure on Monday and his 1 month well baby check up! Some days we still have our days and nights mixed up. His favorite thing to do is wiggle (see video below)! And he LOVES to shower with mommy and daddy!

Caden's Birth Story

Sunday (12/16) I was an emotional wreck. Which was strange because I hadn't really been too emotional the whole pregnancy. Little did we know....

Monday morning (12/17- Caden's Estimated Due Date) at 5am I was awoken suddenly by a gush of liquids. I couldn't stop it so I immediately yelled Levi's name. Sure enough my water had broken. I got into the shower and started shivering and shaking. After a while it finally stopped, at this point I wasn't feeling any contractions but we sent our midwife a few texts and shortly after that I started feeling them. Boy did I feel them!
My midwife said to start timing them and send her the report after 10 contractions, which was super easy with the contraction master app!  They were already 5 to 6 minute apart lasting about a minute! She said it was a great start. She came by at 930am to check on me, sure enough I was already 4 centimeters dilated. She went into the dining room and set up her post for the next couple hours.
By noon I was 6 centimeters and by 3 or 4 I was 8. So I got in the birthing tub to relieve some of the pain. It helped alot!

Sometime later I was checked again and they said I was at 10 cm and that when I felt the urge to push I could. Shortly after I felt that urge and I started my attempt to push the little booger out.

4 hours and quite a long break breathing through contractions later, still no baby and it turned out I hadn't gotten to 10 cm. There was still a lip of cervix that we couldn't push baby passed. At 9pm my midwife was concerned about babies heart tones. They kept going up and down, so she called it that she wasn't comfortable delivering him at home and called 911.

We were rushed to Condell Medical Center in Libertyville. The men in the ambulance were so wonderful and helping coach me through contractions. My midwife took heart tones the whole way and Levi had to drive my midwife's car to the hospital. I was scared and shaking uncontrollably (which turns out is normal during labor).

The plan when we got to the hospital was to let me try to push again... The doctor on call agreed to this plan with my midwife but he never let me try to push. He checked me and saw that there was still a lip of cervix that was in the way and decided to 'section' me. Of course being overwhelmed and scared I looked to my midwife and she agreed it was for the best. Levi had to wait out in the hall while they prepped me and once I was ready they sent him in. He was a mess, I was a mess. It was the scariest moment of our lives. Levi later told me he was afraid he was going to lose me and baby.

At 9:33pm the doctor announced "Dad, you have a son" And then we heard Caden cry. The sweetest sound ever. After what seemed like forever they brought him over for us to see. He was the cutest thing I've ever seen!

I am so grateful I got to try to have a natural birth at home, grateful to experience the natural pain, and also so very grateful for my midwife knowing when intervention was truly needed and making the call in time. AND I'm grateful for the option to c-section. I got to experience natural childbirth except for the actual delivery but I'm totally ok with that. I know that I could have made it through if Caden had been positioned correctly. He was OP and stuck hitting my pelvis and we couldn't get him passed a lip of cervix which wouldn't dilate because I kept trying to push him into it.

I may have forgotten some details but I wanted to finish this before I forgot more.

Right after birth

3 weeks old

He is the sweetest little munchkin ever and I'm so in love with him and I'm so glad he is here with us safe and sound :-)

38 weeks - First day of "vacation"

So today is my first day off of work. I guess you could call it maternity leave but I'm going to call it my "undetermined vacation". I was up at my normal time, did my normal morning routine and then stared at the wall coming up with what I was going to do with my day.

First thing I tackled was putting together the pack n play. This was a mess because I got it all together, in the nursery, and realized I wanted it in our bedroom. Welp... It didn't fit through the door assembled. So I had to take it apart and put it back together again in our bedroom. Voila!

That was done by 9am, so then I started some laundry and this blog. So far it's been a productive day and it's barely 10am! 

Last night was the Annual Koch Family Christmas Party and Santa brought Baby some presents! His second ornament & a baby journal!

His Great Aunt Daryll made him another one of her amazing bibs! With of course a penguin in it!

And last week Daddy (Levi) finally hung up the last shelf! I decorated it with my first mother's day gift (A monthly photo frame from my mom), Clifford's First Christmas (from my coworker Jill), and 2 sweaters (One Knitted by Great Aunt Daryll and the other from Aunt Allie). Please excuse the lack of light switch cover! Lol

And last but not least, here is this weeks bump, still sitting kind of high, but he feels lower, so I think he's just stretched out.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year I'm so very thankful for so many things. Family, Friends, Levi & little baby Caden. I can't wait to meet him.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone :)

These goofs are my life :) 

33 & 34 Weeks

This week according to my silly app, baby is the size of a Pineapple/Cantaloupe. It sure feels like he's the size of The Great pumpkin! Most of the time these days when people ask "How are you feeling?" I reply with one word "Stretchy"


Not much exciting has happened lately other than some more growing. So I'll just leave you with belly shots for these 2 weeks.

Here's 33 weeks 2 days! I was a tomato for Halloween

 And for a more dramatic bump. Here's 34 weeks 2 days, in a tight shirt! lol

32 Weeks - Beginning the Diaper Collection

We decided we're going to use cloth diapers with Baby for many reasons.
1. No nasty chemicals on babies skin
2. They're better for the environment
3. Less expensive in the long run
4. They're cuter!

Just to name a few.
After tons and tons of research, I decided to try out 2 brands. Gdiapers & Swaddlebees. Both have great reviews but are very different.

The Gdiaper is a 'hybrid' diaper. It comes with the option to purchase cloth and/or disposable inserts. The cloth are made of hemp, cotton & micro fleece. The disposables are flushable, compostable and can be thrown in the trash but WILL break down until traditional disposable diapers. I could go on all day but if you want to know more about them visit their website (gdiapers.com)

The Swaddlebees we purchased are the Infant Simplex All-in-one. They're all cloth, a PUL outer shell with Birdseye cotton inside. (http://www.swaddlebees.com/All-in-One-Diapers)

I ordered the small sizes in both of these for now. After we get to try them out I might like one over the other and just pick one brand to stick with.

So here's the beginning of the collection!

Here is 32 weeks and 3 days!

31 Weeks - Baby Shower & Nursery pictures!

I don't have much to gab about this week other than we had our shower on Sunday, and it was amazing!

Also today I took at trip to UIC medical center to meet with a midwife there just in case of transfer.

So heres a couple pictures...

The nursery is coming together!

My rocking chair! This came from my grandma's house! It's so comfortable!

The closet is still a wreck! But Levi washed all the baby clothes!

Bump at 31w 3d

Shower pictures