Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween

Braylen was a giraffe for Halloween, thanks for the costume Mandi and Andriy. We visited Madison and Gavin, or maybe I should say a lady bug and tiger, this evening. Unfortunately, I was still feeling not so great, so I didn't take any photos of the cuties, but it was good to see them in their costumes.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

3 weeks old

3 weeks old...doesn't quite seem possible. Although I woke up this morning feeling horrible, I had a feeling mastitis was in my imminent future, I was able to get a 3 week photo of Braylen. Fortunately, Jeremy stayed home a little this morning to help me out, I had a fever and was feeling quite crummy with this miserable ailment. Even though I'm not feeling well, it's not effecting Braylen, which is great and he's growing like a weed every day!




Sunday, October 25, 2009

Meeting the rest of the family...

Friday mom and my Nana, this could get confusing, came up to visit. They arrived Friday night and Nana was smitten with little Bray! We had dinner ready, or maybe I should say Jeremy had dinner ready, and we cooed over Bray over our late dinner and then he was put to bed. We had a lazy Saturday morning relaxing before the busy day. Mom and Nana went to Galena while Jeremy and I had Abby's baby shower where Braylen made his debuted performance for Abby's friends and family. We got back home and had the Fluhr's over for the Hawkeye game and Braylen was able to meet his Aunt Angie, Uncle Jason and cousin Alana. Madison and Alana came equipped with their Halloween costumes and Gavin came decked in Hawkeye apparel. It was a nice night with the families. Sunday we walked around downtown to some shops before mom and Nana had to say goodbye. After they left I felt it was time to brave a walk with Braylen and the dogs... It was a nice afternoon and other than the girls pulling us along for the first part of the walk, they all did very well. It was great to get some exercise and add Braylen into our, the dogs and I, lifestyle.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

2 week birthday and Dr appt

Today is Braylen's 2 week birthday. I plan to take pictures every Tuesday to document his changes, not sure when I'll end this, people have made fun of me saying he'll be seventeen and I'll have him sit for his Tuesday photos, we'll see if it goes that far! Today he had a special photo shoot with my boss's wife and she took some amazing pictures.

We had his 2 week dr appt this morning and everything was great. Healthy and happy little boy and his weight 8lbs 6oz is looking great! He is getting over a cold and has an eye infection that we're battling, but the dr didn't seem worried. He's sleeping well and I'm really enjoying our time during the day and even in the middle night with my little guy, I guess that's what you call parenthood!




Sunday, October 18, 2009

First outings

We had our first outings this week. Nana left on Tuesday night and we were officially on our own! Jeremy and I ventured out to do some errands and feel "normal" with Braylen. He did very well as we wen to Target and WalMart on Wednesday, I know very exciting!! We also went out to dinner to Red Robin and although I was nervous about him screaming or someone knocking his car seat over, he was a very good little boy. We survived the first week by our selves and even a few outings, looks like we're going to make it!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

One week Birthday

After everyone left, everyone but Nana, we had a nice quiet first week home. Mom was a huge help doing laundry I didn't even know we had and making sure the kitchen was always clean and Braylen was always happy, life was bliss for about 3 days! We took a picture of Braylen at 10:30am on Tuesday, his one week birthday, wowzer time will definitely fly by with a little one!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Backdating posts

I have been horrible about getting new posts up, so I am backdating a number of posts so I have the dates of our "major events." Sorry to those of you diligent followers, I will be much better from here on out, you have my word!! Thanks!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Our first weekend home

We had a busy weekend home with Braylen. Jeremy and I gave Braylen his first bath on Friday and later that night Nana, Mandi, Andriy, Jessica and Clint and their puppy Chase. It was quite a full house! Braylen was as cute as ever and putting "on a show" for everyone! We had the visiting nurse come by on Saturday and she weighed Braylen and checked his jaundice and vitals. Everything was great and his weight was back to his birth weight. We had Jen, Pat and Gavin stop by as well as Joleen, Bob and Madison, also my coworker Jill and Melissa came to visit. It was nice to see everyone and also pretty exhausting, but all of the help was really great!! Braylen can't wait for more visitors!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7mywZdHQe0

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Welcome home Braylen

We made it home safe and sound on Thursday and are glad to bring our little bundle to his new home. The dogs were quite curious and were pretty good around him. Both were extremely interested in what he was and his smells and a few warnings to stay back and not to lick seemed to do the trick. Nana and papa were there to catch the moments on camera and video and it was an emotional and exciting time. We are anxious to start making the memories with Braylen in our home.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Day 2 at the hospital

We survived the first night and it wasn't too bad, of course Braylen gets brought to me in the evening when it's time to feed, but really pretty smooth. He has the sweetest temperment and will just open his eyes to gaze around extremely content. We feel very fortunate and are hoping everything continues to be smooth as we head home and are "on our own"!!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Celebrating the Chukin way...

Andriy grabbed the Ukrainian vodka at our house before coming back to the hospital and felt it was only appropriate that the guys do a celebratory shot of vodka, anyone surprised??!! We also had a little champagne that we drank to Braylen's health and long life. Regardless where we are or what we're doing, we always try to remember how to have a good time!

Braylen's first visitors

We decided to call mom and dad, or Nana and Papa which they will be referred from here on out, after we made it to the hospital and met with the midwife, no sense in making them rush if labor was going to be all day, or so I thought. Jeremy called them before they left for work and they started their journey to Dubuque. Because of the speedy delivery they arrived around 12:30pm, a few hours after Braylen's birthday, but were the first to hold the little peanut. Mandi and Andriy and Jessica and Clint were next on our list of people to me to notify and the Chukins were already on their way and were excited to hear they were aunts and uncles. Jeremy called his parents, Grandma and Grandpa, and were up to visit later that day. Mandi and Andriy were Braylen's next visitors and were excited to meet the newest and smallest member of the family. Joleen also stopped up after work and friends of ours, Abby and Andy, came by later that evening to see Braylen. Needless to say, even after a pretty exhausting evening, morning and day, we were so proud and anxious to show him off to everyone!

The beginning of our REAL JOURNEY...

Monday we had our 41 week appt with my midwife. I went into the appt with no contractions or labor like symptoms and wasn't sure what was going to happen and Jeremy went in hoping we could get things moving along NOW! The midwife gave us some options and the one she most suggested is going with a folley balloon, or catheter, to try to move labor along naturally, so I had this "procedure" done. It was about 5pm when I left the dr and we knew leaving that we would be going into the hospital the next morning, early, and probably moving along with delivery sometime on Monday. I decided to go back to the office, even though I was feeling a little uncomfortable and anxious, to finish some things before my departure. I got home around 7pm, even more uncomfortable with cramping and abdominal pains, and was pretty much worthless through the evening. Fortunately for me, my husband is WONDERFUL, and got everything together we needed for our early trip to the hospital the next morning. I was sleeping by 10/10:30pm, but woke up a few times for bathroom trips and early in the morning with contractions. Around 3:30am I was feeling pretty uncomfortable and we decided to start getting ready for the hospital around 4:30am. We got to the hospital around 5:30am and I was in pretty intense pain already. I was worried because my contractions were really intense and lasted a little long and I wasn't sure how far along I was and how long labor would be for me. The midwife came in around 7:30 am, just in time to see me getting sick and at this time the catheter came out. She checked my dilation and I was at approx 7cm. I was shocked, but didn't want to get my hopes up thinking I would be in labor most of the day. My other midwife came in around 8:30/9am and checked again and I was at about 8 1/2cm. Jeremy was getting really excited and I was thinking, "Holy hell, this is seriously painful and I'm not sure I can go through with this." I asked for some medication a little later and they got it ready, but then sidetracked me by telling me it was almost time to start pushing. They did have me move positions a few time because the baby's heartbeat was dipping. After a while of pushing we had our little boy, Braylen Jacob, at 10:30am. I was unaware of anything going on other than trying to get the baby OUT, but Jeremy was a little worried when Braylen was born because he saw the cord was wrapped around his neck pretty tight and he was nearly purple. The pediatrician was in the room and got Braylen's vitals up and he was whimpering within moments. I asked what it was because we didn't know the sex and Jeremy looks at me with a HUGE grin and told me it was a boy. He, of course, was beautiful and was so bright eyed for the first few hours. Jeremy and I had a few boys names and after looking at our little boy, we decided Braylen was the best fit and Jacob was a perfect middle name for him. Now, we're a complete family!! It was truly the happiest moment of my, our, life.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

40 weeks

The time is really here. Only time will tell how much longer things will be...

Nice weekend...

We had such a nice weekend and really thought, this will be our last weekend. Because of Jeremy's extreme antsieness he's been having waiting for baby Fluhr, he decided, with much push from me, to take advantage of some free time he has now, but won't for much longer. We went out to dinner with the Fluhr's Friday night and Jeremy partied the night away with his siblings for Jared's 21st birthday. I reassured him that I was just going to relax at home and he reassured me that he wasn't going to be home too late or have too much to drink. He was home early and I didn't have the baby while he was gone, so we both fulfilled out promises. I really relaxed all weekend got caught up on sleep and finished our wedding album, FINALLY! Jeremy went hunting on Saturday and Sunday and watched A LOT of football. All in all a great "LAST" weekend! We think!!