First Stroll

With the temperatures being mild today, Matthew and I ventured our for our first walk in the neighborhood. And let me just say I love the baby jogger summit XC. Best. Stroller. Ever.

Oh. And Matthew got to show off his new hat!

Bath Time!

We finally gave Matthew his first tuba! And he really liked it. Future swimmer?!?!

Gaining!

On Matthew's three week birthday we got great news at our lactation appointment... He gained 7.5 oz in 5 days - weighing in at 8.2lbs!!! Our boy is back on track!

First Christmas

This year Christmas was extra special with the arrival of Matthew. What better gift could we ask for!

It was also his Cousin Claire's first Christmas! A very exciting year for the Musci's and Wainer's.

And Matthew's new friend Nicholas was born December 24th. We couldn't be happier for Stacy and Fred!

Life at 3 Weeks

The week went by quickly. Matthew seemed to be more alert each day and started waking up on his own instead of us waking him up to eat. And our hardwork was confirmed at his doctor's appointment on Dec 23rd when he weighed in at 7lbs 11.5oz and 22". A two inch growth spurt and 6.5oz weight gain! Go Matthew go or should I say grow Matthew grow!

Week Two with Matthew

Off to Beverly hospital we went to have them draw blood from my little man again... Thankfully my mom was able to come with us! The results were positive... Trending down to 13.8 and then home to relax. Matthew and I relaxed while my mom cleaned and did laundry for us! Best. Mom. Ever. I seriously don't know what I would go without her!

Thursday we headed back to the pediatrician for a weight check. We didn't get good news - and I had a minor heart attack when they first out him on the scale and it said 6lbs 14oz?!?! What? Luckily the scale needed new batteries and just a minute later he is 7lbs 2oz. Still not great because this meant he hadnt gained any weight and he should be. Concern flowed through me. The doctor set us up with a lactation appointment that night and sent us back to Beverly hospital to test his bilirubin level again. Good news for the jaundice. Continuing to trend down at 13.4.

And the lactation appointment went okay - little guy just needs to be kept awake when he feeds by stripping him down to his diaper and playing with his feet / arms to keep him eating. Scheduled a weight check for Saturday to check the progress.

Sat appointment did not go well - still not gaining, but all other signs are good. Is he just flushing out the billirubin? Do I have enough milk? One hospital grade pump later and an SNS later... We are instructed to supplement an oz of formula or pumped milk when available at the end of a feeding if he will take it. Needless to say... I am nervous. Scared. And feeling like maybe formula is the way to go. But I decided to stick with it to see what happens.

Monday weight check... 7.5!! Woohoo. Something is working. And we started taking funugreek to help boost supply. They said keep up the supplementing for now and come up next week.

The First Week

Since we left the hospital early, it entitled us to a visiting nurse appointment within the first two days we were home to check on us. To our surprise it was our neighbor down the street, Joyce, who was assigned to our case!

She came Friday morning to check us both out. She reported that Matthew was jaundice but nothing to worry about at the moment and that his weight was down to 7lbs. That was a bit concerning because it was the max amount you really want then to loose. Joyce called our pediatrician to see if she wanted us to come in for a visit before our Tuesday appointment. Lots of questions and phone calls later they determine we are okay to wait, but red to wake up Matthew every two hours to eat to flush the billirubin out and get some lbs on him!

Over the weekend he was very sleepy but we woke him up to eat like dr said... And the whole time I am thinking "I can't believe I am waking a happy sleep baby!" He also seemed to get more yellow which had me worried because it was suppose to be getting better. Since I am a new mom and a worry wort I called Joyce to see if she would mind popping by on Monday to check him out. Boy it is great to have such wonderful neighbors!!!

She checked him out - he gained 2 oz according to her scale! And she did think his yellow color was worse but nothing that couldn't wait till the doctor checked him the next day. She just recommended we keep him in the sunlight when we can.

Tuesday we headed to the doctor for his one week appointment and out first excursion out of the house! Rob had to go to work so it was just me and Matthew - luckily it was just down the street from our house because it definitely takes longer to get out of the house with a newborn than it ever has before!

Everyone at the doctor's office loved Matthew. He is developing a little fan club :-). His weight stayed the same at 7.2lbs and she drew blood to check his billirubin level. We would have the results that evening. Turns out his levels were medium to high at 16.8 and we would have to go Beverly hospital to get blood drawn again the next day to see if he was trending up or down. No light therapy yet but definitely generating stress for me with all the worrying about him. Welcome to motherhood I guess!!

Oh and how could I forget... Matthew also met his great Grampy too!!

Coming Home...

We were released from the hospital in the afternoon on Thursday, December 8th around 3pm.  We left a little early - technically we could have stayed until 5:40pm (48 hours from his birth)... but driving home from Boston in rush hour traffic with a newborn wasn't high on my list of things to do so we left a few hours early.

All bundled up in my car seat

The outfit that was under my white snowsuit coming home from the hospital

The Baby is Here!

Yes, I know I haven't been good at keeping the blog updated (sorry Hendy's I got the word that I have been slacking and you have been waiting for more pictures!)... it has been a crazy few weeks with the arrival of the newest member of our family... Matthew Robert Musci. Born Tuesday, December 6th at 5:40 p.m. weighing 7 lbs 11 oz and measuring 20" long.   I am going to do my best to do a few quick posts while he's napping to get everyone up to speed on the first few weeks of his life.

The Birth

12/2/11.... It all began on Friday morning (very early) when I woke up itching everywhere!  No rash to be found.  No hives.  Nothing to point to why I was so itchy.  I thought it may be that I was having an allergic reaction to the drywall that just went up in the basement so I jumped in the shower to see if that would help. Nada.  My hands and feet were the worst of all.  And what do you do when you can't sleep, you are having weird symptoms and you're 9 months pregnant???? Well, you take out your iphone with your husband sleeping soundly next to you and you start googling the symptoms to find out what is wrong, ha!  Self diagnosis is never a good thing when you're not a doctor.  Luckily Rob woke up at 6am and talked me into calling the doctor, the person that might actually know what is going on :-)

Being 38 weeks with a new symptom, they wanted to see me as soon as the office opened.  So we jumped in the car and headed into Boston to go see Dr. Cline.  She thought my symptoms were classic signs of Cholostatis (aka Itchy Liver Disease) so she ordered a blood test and sent us for an ultrasound to check on the baby.  In the meantime, with the thought that the blood test would come back positive she scheduled us to begin the labor induction Monday night... yikes, this baby might be coming sooner than we thought!!!  We were to call the on-call doctor in the morning to get the results of the blood test.

The results of the ultrasound were positive and they estimated that the baby was somewhere around 7 lbs 5 oz, but said they could be wrong by 1 lb either direction.  Needless to say I was hoping they weren't off on the low end.  After that we headed home and I began scrambling to things wrapped up at work in a matter of a couple of days in case the induction was happening on Monday. My last in the office had not been scheduled until December 7th.

12/3/11
Surprise... the test results were not ready.  The on-call doctor informed us that the lab must has messed up and only completed one test - the liver function and not the bile test which would be the real indicator if I had cholostatis.  My liver levels were slightly elevated, but she said that is typical for pregnancy so didn't tell them anything.  She was able to get in touch with the lab to have them add the test without me having to go have more blood drawn, but we wouldn't know the results until Sunday morning.  Ugh!  So we continued through the weekend as if the induction would happen so that we would be prepared.

12/4/11
And you wonder why people are frustrated with the medical field sometimes.... surprise, the test results are still not ready.  The new doctor on call is able to get in touch with the lab and informs us that the bile test is a specialized test that is only run on Mondays and Wednesdays... and takes 3 days for the results.  What?!  He tells us he's really sorry, but we'll have to talk to Dr. C first thing Monday morning to determine what she wants to do.

12/5/11
I go into the office in the morning with the plan to either stay all day if the induction isn't starting that night or heading home after lunch to relax before the 7:30pm appointment.  Dr. C calls first thing in the morning full of apologies.  She didn't realize it was a specialized test.  Since my symptoms were classic and they did not go away over the weekend she didn't want to wait until Thursday for the results - we would proceed with inducing him early since I was 38 weeks which is technically full term and he was estimated to be a good size.  So finished up my work in the office - put my out of office message on my computer and voicemail and said my goodbyes.  No work for 16 weeks!

I spent the afternoon with my mom and Claire - relaxing and napping on my parent's couch.  We ordered a yummy Italian dinner from Angelo's and then my dad drove me into Brigham and Women's to meet Rob for the 7:30pm appointment.  One cervical ripening procedure later with some monitoring of me and the baby and we were back home by 10:30 pm.  They said we would be more comfortable sleeping at home, but there was a chance that my water could break and we would be back before my induction appointment at 6:30am.  That night the contractions began, but no other signs of labor.

12/6/11
We arrived at the hospital around 6:15am... they scheduled us early so that we could beat the traffic.  Originally the appointment was for 8:30am, but Dr. C moved us up.  Love my Dr. by the way!  We proceeded up to the delivery floor and they monitored me for a while to see if I would go into labor on my own... but when Dr. C came in around 8am and asked how my contractions were and saw that I was reading a book she said... definitely not real contractions if you are reading... time to start the Pitocin.  The IV and Pitcon were given by 9am... along with a breaking of the membranes and then the REAL contractions began.  Oh boy!  I latest a few hours and then decided that I would enjoy the birth much more if an epidural was involved, ha!

One epidural later and I am back to reading my book waiting for our sweet baby boy to continue down the birth canal.  Around 3:30pm I told the nurse that I had to push the epidural button twice in a row (only can release more every 15 minutes) and that I could still feel contractions and pressure.  She sent for Dr. C to check me just in case because if she was going to deliver the baby it would have to be before 7pm when her shift ends.  Low and behold... 10 cm and all the preparation begins for the pushing!  Here goes nothing....

By 4:15 or so they are all setup and ready for final phase of labor.  Approximately an hour later at 5:40pm.... our beautiful baby boy Matthew was born.  He received a 9 on the Apgar and was placed immediately on my chest.  Best. Moment. Ever.

12/6/11 - About an hr after Matthew was born.  Still in the delivery room.

 

Nesting...

Baby M's due date is only 6 weeks away, so we are officially in nesting mode.  My version is different than Rob's, but both are equally required in preparing for the baby's arrival.  Rob has been finishing half of our basement to create an office / spare bedroom space now that the 2nd bedroom upstairs is being turned into the nursery.  This project has been going on for a couple of months with a lot of assistance from Pa Wainer when he's not traveling for work and Pa Musci when he came up for the baby shower.  We (I should say Rob) are on track to have it done in the nick of time!  Pictures to be posted at a later date.  My nesting involves organizing every space I can get my hands on... so far I have finished all the closets, the attic, the pantry, and the garage.  We have purged a lot of unnecessary stuff and have had 2 pickups by Big Brother/Big Sister for donations.  It is totally addicting getting rid of things that you don't need to make space for the new addition in our lives!  Today has been dedicated to the nursery... I have put away all the wonderful gifts from the two baby showers (New Jersey and Massachusetts) and I am planning out where to put the wall decal that just arrived today.  Here is a preview of what it looks like... once I have arranged it in the nursery I'll post another one that shows you how it looks in Baby M's room.

By WallArtDesign (www.etsy.com)

The Bump...

I have not been a good blogger.  My updates have been few and far between, but I am determine to get back into it before the baby arrives!  Here are some pictures that show just how much the baby has grown in the last 3 weeks.  I also want to say thank you to all of you that attended my baby showers in New Jersey or Boston. It was so amazing to have so many of my friends and family celebrate this wonderful time in our lives! Baby M will be here before we know it.

28 weeks (3 weeks ago)

Today (31 weeks, well almost 32 weeks - 58 days to go!)

Let the Decorating Begin!

This week marked the half way point of pregnancy at 20 weeks and what better way to celebrate then to begin the decorating process for the nursery!  The bedding set has been chosen so I have the color pallet to start from to choose the paint color, rug, etc.  Oh yeah, and the crib and dresser has been ordered!

Bonding with Neighbors

What an amazing weekend! We could not have asked for a better day to go out on the boat on Northwood Lake in Epsom, New Hampshire with our neighbors Beth and Dan and their kids Cameron and Christopher.  The sky was blue, the humidity was low, and the water temperature was perfect for a day of swimming, tubing, and water-skiing.  Here is a picture and video of Rob learning to water-ski!

Trucks it is!

We are very excited to announce that we are having a baby boy!!!!

Trucks or Dolls?

Tomorrow is the big day... our 18 week ultrasound will reveal the surprise that we have been waiting for since the day the stick said Pregnant... Is it a Boy or a Girl? 

Landscaping 101

Each spring we try to pick one area of the yard to improve.  To get those of you caught up that haven't been to our house yet, I'll start with 2010's improvement - the driveway.  We added pavers to the edges and bought new stone to cover the entire surface.  I've added a few before and after pictures to show you the dramatic difference with simply adding the adding concrete pavers (huge money savings over the granite or marble)!

2010 Project - Driveway

Pre Pavers

The after pictures of the driveway above are not that great because I never took any! Ops!  Just another reason why keeping this blog is a great idea so that I remember to document the projects that we do and adventures that we go on since I haven't made one of my scrapbooks in years!

This year in addition to the annual maintenance of our flower beds where we edged and mulched, we focused our energy on two problem areas... 1) the crazy rock garden that the previous owners have created under the oak tree; and 2) the back edge of our property .  I use the words rock garden loosely as I would say it was more like a weeded mess by the time we moved it.  Maybe at one time with some love it was pretty, but definitely not now!  Since we already have a ton of flower beds in the yard we decided that the best use of this space with not a lot of maintenance would be to remove the rocks, till the land, and plant grass.  It only took a few weeks of work to remove over 20 wheelbarrows filled with rocks, a hour of work with our wonder neighbors tiller (thankfully we did not have to do this by hand), and a rainy spring to grow the grass.... we got exactly the results we were looking for! Now I just need Rob to build me my swing and this spot will be absolutely perfect!  On a side note: I was in my first trimester through all this spring cleanup and had the energy to make it through... I must say I am pretty proud of myself!

Project 1: Removing the Rock Garden under the Oak Tree

Project 2: Planting Wildflowers along the back edge of the property

The wildflowers did not come out perfect this year, but we have heard it is something that is very hard to start so I am pretty impressed with the first results.  This just means that each year we will hopefully continue to get a better quality product which means fresh flowers in the house all summer long!

The before (after tilling the land)