Baby Talk

*VIDEO*

Ford loves play time on his safari mat, where he can look up at his toys and make them jingle jangle. He waves his arms and kicks his legs so hard, and you can tell he's really checking everything out.

Yesterday, he discovered his voice while he was playing. Check it out:

In other news, I finally finished a craft project for his room (with some help from my Mom). We made a family tree on the wall abve his bed and hung pictures of Ford, David, and me. It turned out really cute:

Here are some other pictures from this week. :)

A Day in the Life of Ford

Ford is two weeks old and doing great! He's up to 9 lbs. and has grown 3/4". We're getting into more of a routine at home. He's sleeping about 3-4 hours at a time and we only have to do one feeding in the middle of the night. We're hoping his awesome sleep habits continue (if he takes after his momma, this shouldn't be an issue.....ha).

So, what do we do all day while Daddy goes to work? Well, our day looks a little like this:

On extra special days, we get to visit with friends, too. Corwin loves Ford. He says "baby" and points at him. They're going to be big buddies.

Madelyn and Ford had their first play date. Madelyn is just two days younger than Ford and the daughter of a friend from work. We joked that this was the easiest play date we will ever have. ha

Emily, Laura, and Kirk came by for a visit. Chase may have been a little jealous.

Speaking of Chase, he's doing fine with the new addition in the house. He ignores Ford most of the time. If he's crying a lot, he'll start attacking a toy. We're guessing that's his preferred method of stress relief. He's also more tired than usual because he's not getting his naps and his nighttime slumber gets interrupted a lot. Overall, though, he's adjusted nicely. Still just as awesome as before. :)

Ford Comes Home

*VIDEO*

Bonding with Dad

Nonna visits Ford at the hospital

Uncle Kirk and Aunt Laura stop by, too.

Home sweet home!

Grandaddy holding Ford for the first time

Skyping with Grandpa and Grandma in Wisconsin

Love to snuggle

Not too happy about his first bath

Ahhhh.....that's better

Helping Dad work from home

Being cute

Hiccups and sneezes have never been so cute



The Arrival of Ford David Stelsel

40 weeks!

Our New Year started out with a bang when contractions woke me up early in the morning on January 1. After resting in bed and timing contractions until the sun came up, I woke up David with the good news that "we might be having a baby today or tomorrow."

Boy was I wrong.

After laboring all day, I called the doctor in the early evening to see if I should go to the hospital. Although I wasn't in excruciating pain, my contractions were painful and stayed about 5 minutes apart. I wasn't all that surprised to hear the doctor really preferred I just stay home until I was in more pain. Her exact words: "Call me when your contractions get to the point where they take your breath away." Ummm.....okay.

I awoke in the middle of the night again with even stronger contractions. And I thought, "Ok, this is definitely it. This baby is coming today!"

Wrong again.

By this time, my parents had arrived because I thought for sure after having regular contractions for two days we would be ending the night welcoming our baby. Once again, I labored all day and ended the day with nothing to show for it. So, the next day (Tuesday), despite not feeling great, I went to work. I ended up only staying half the day because I was just not in any state of mind to be working (I mean, really, what was I thinking?!). So I turned in my official notice that I was starting my leave of absence from work and headed home with the hopes of having this baby soon.

It was three more days of laboring at home before I went to the hospital late Friday night. They sent me to triage to monitor me for a few hours to see if my labor was progressing appropriately. I spent those hours walking the halls of the hospital with David and my mom hoping to speed things along. It didn't work. In the end, they gave me the option of inducing or sending me home to continue laboring at home. I chose to go home where I could at least be more comfortable.

The next day (Saturday) was.....terrible. I was in a lot of pain all day, but I wanted to stick it out as long as I could before going to the hospital. I was finally admitted to the hospital around 5 p.m. My goal was to go as long as possible without any drug intervention. However, after a week of contractions and having strong labor pains at home for two days, I was exhausted from the pain. I made it to 7 cm before I reached my breaking point and said, "Enough is enough, give me the epidural." So at 10:30 p.m., my new best friend, Dr. Miller (the anesthesiologist), shot me up and I immediately turned into my old self again. David even made a comment when he came back in the room that "Dana's back!"

After the epidural, we all tried to get some sleep knowing that we were having a baby very, very soon. Unfortunately, I was too excited to sleep. I kept closing my eyes, but I couldn't shut my brain off long enough to get any real sleep. David got in a few naps. And my Mom, bless her heart, spent the night pacing the halls and trying to stay awake (she was afraid if she fell asleep then she wouldn't wake up when the action started).

In the middle of the night, things took a turn. After I had the epidural, they started me on Pitocin to increase the strength and frequency of my contractions in order to speed things up. In the middle of the night, the Pitocin had sent my contractions into overdrive, which was too stressful for the baby. His heartrate dropped and the contractions weren't allowing him to get back up to a normal, resting state. The nurses came in to stop the Pitocin and started flipping me from side to side and put me on oxygen for several hours. I won't lie. It was scary and upsetting. It was good to have David and my Mom there to hold my hand and keep me calm. Unfortunately, I was thiiiiiiis close to delivery at the time, but not close enough to start pushing. Despite everyone thinking I'd deliver in the night, due to the minor setback, it wasn't until 8 a.m. that I was allowed to start pushing. And, boy, was I ready!!

Delivery was easier than I expected (thanks to the epidural). After an hour and a half of pushing, he was here! Ford David Stelsel was born on Sunday, January 8, 2012, at 9:37 a.m. weighing in at 8 lbs. and measuring 21 inches long.

The experience of welcoming our baby boy into the world was....joyous and overwhelming. I can't put into words how amazing it was to meet Ford for the first time. To see him, to hold him, to hear his cries. Love at first sight. We couldn't be happier to welcome Ford into our family.

A huge thank you to my Mom for being there for me and staying up alllllllll night to help me through everything (and keep David company when I was in crazy mode). I love you, Mom!!