11 days old

We took Baylor to his first doctor's appointment on Monday. He was 11 days old. All went well. Baylor weighed 7 lbs, 8 oz which made Dr S very happy. He said that by age 10 days old, the baby should be back up to birth weight and then should gain about 1 oz every day after. So Baylor perfectly reached that target! Everything else also checked out great. And his bilirubin count was back to normal. Yay!

Baylor getting weighed

Big brother Remington had fun at the doctor's

Big brother Southern was lending a hand

Dr S checking Baylor out

proud parents :)

Baylor is home

Baylor is finally home! We got the call Friday morning that we could come get him that same afternoon. After many tests and days spent under UV lights, our baby boy was ready. And we were so ready for him!

Baylor's first night at home

napping while big brothers watch over him (Remington is saying, "shh...")

Baylor Anthony Wyatt

Baylor Anthony Wyatt made his way into this world almost a month early. He was due on August 9th, but for the past two weeks my platelet count in my blood had been dropping. I was called in to have more blood drawn and was told that an early induction was likely if it kept dropping. It did, so my doctor made an appointment for me at 5am on Thursday to go into the hospital.

 

Thursday morning came very early (Dustin and I had been staying up hours after putting the kids to bed this past week to clean and organize our house - you should see our pantry! I guess I was nesting...). Dustin and I woke up, drove to the hospital, got checked in, and the nurses started getting me hooked up to the machines. My contractions were starting as I ordered breakfast (I got the fresh fruit and cottage cheese platter with a side of bacon - yum). Dustin ran down to the cafeteria for his breakfast. We ate, started calling, texting, and messaging the news, and settled in to wait for baby. We didn't have to wait long.

 

Baylor arrived with only one push at 12:46pm on July 11, 2013. He weighed 7 lbs, 7 oz and was 20 inches long.

 

Because he was so early, there was a team of specialists in the room in case he needed help breathing. Dustin and I were nervous about that at first but were greatly relieved when we heard his first cry. They checked him out after giving us a few minutes to hold and admire him.

 

Then they passed him back to me to hold for another 30 minutes or so. By then, Southern and Remington were able to come back into our room and meet their new little brother. They joined us on the bed, and Southern touched Baylor's feet and hands. Remington just looked on curiously.

 

He was then taken to the nursery where they wanted to keep him to monitor his progress. He was breathing a bit too quickly and was not interested in eating. He just wanted to sleep. I was able to help feed him finally around 4pm as a nurse helped manually express some breastmilk onto a spoon and dropped several drops into his mouth. They inserted a feeding tube after that (I have been pumping) and kept him hooked up to the monitors overnight and into the next day.

 

I was released from the hospital on Friday. Luckily, Baylor's breathing by then had been normal for quite some time. I spent the night at home but have been going back and forth to the hospital with Dustin and the boys frequently. Yesterday evening, Baylor had progressed enough to be able to be unhooked for awhile while I held him (before that, I would just have to hold him near the machines so he could stay hooked up). I took him over to the nursery windows so the boys could have a close-up look. Last night, he finally took to a bottle of breastmilk, and he now has progressed enough so that this afternoon, they took the feeding tube out. He spent part of the day today under a LED UV light for jaundice.

 

The doctor is very happy with his progress, especially for his age. Baylor was supposed to spend another month just sleeping and being fed through the umbilical cord, so he is being remarkably brave and strong to have come this far in just a couple days. As for now, we are just spending our days going to the hospitals for visits, feeding sessions, and milk drop-offs. Dustin and I take turns visiting in the nursery, and the boys have fun on the playground outside the hospital and in the room we were given to use while visiting (so much fun that Remington passed out and took his nap at the hospital today).

 

We are looking forward to the day we can bring Baylor home with us. (Should be sometime this upcoming week!)

More projects for Baylor

With the latest news from the doctor's office, we now know that Baylor is going to be coming a bit earlier than planned. I still had some sewing projects that I needed to knock out before he was born. So I spent the last two days working on these...

 

Carseat canopy for Baylor (inside is blue/green ombre stripes and outside is crabs)

a couple of bibs for our little boy (the reverse side is cream colored terry cloth for easy wiping after meals)

Getting Ready for Baylor

We have been slowly getting ready for Baylor this summer. We have his room pretty much finished. We have plans to install the infant car seat this evening. We have diapers, wipes, and his clothes. And, I have finally finished sewing all 8 of his custom burp cloths!! :)

Lime Tree

I remember going over to Dustin's Wyatt grandparents' (Poppy and DeDe) house for lunch occassionally while we were in high school. They would usually have a salad before the meal, and they always had limes cut and out on the table to add to tea or water. But, I was a little surprised the first time I saw that. Their limes were orange! They had a lime tree in their side yard that was given to them when it was only a small plant by someone who had gotten theirs from Mexico (if I remember the story correctly). They taste just like normal limes, but they're orange. How cool is that?

 

Fast forward many years... Dustin and I get married, and the very next year, we move to a rental house in New Braunfels.

 

Upon that move, Poppy gave us a small pot with just a tiny little plant inside. It had a small amount of leaves and was only a few inches tall. He told us it was from his and DeDe's lime tree. What a nice gift!

 

Dustin with his grandparents Poppy and DeDe in front of their lime tree in March of 2008

So we had that little plant in the small pot at our rental house. Within a year, I had graduated college, and we were ready to buy a house. We bought our home in early 2008, and later that year, we were expecting a baby! Meanwhile, our little lime tree had outgrown the small plastic pot Poppy had given it to us in. We went out and bought a larger pot and had the lime tree on the front porch of our new house. Our tree was doing so well that I wanted to take a picture of it to show Poppy and DeDe. And then, I thought it would be fun to pose in front of the tree so that not only could we show the tree's progress to Poppy and DeDe, but we could one day show the picture to Southern and he could see just how small that tree was when I was pregnant with him.

 

Me in March of 2009, pregnant with Southern

Pretty soon our lime tree even outgrow the larger pot. It was time to plant. Unfortunately, Poppy passed away before we could do another pregnant picture in front of the lime tree (I was only 7 weeks along with Remington when he passed), but I thought DeDe would certainly enjoy seeing our lime tree. And, again, I thought it would be fun for our boys to see it's growth measured against theirs.

Lindsey with Southern in May of 2011, pregnant with Remington

And, in keeping the tradition alive, I have posed yet again in front of our "little" lime tree. 

Lindsey with Southern and Remington in July 2013, pregnant with Baylor

Can you believe how fast it has grown?

Thanks for the yummy limes, Poppy!

35 Weeks

I am 35 weeks along, and I had my weekly visit with my doctor today. One of the things she first said to me was, "at this point, if you go into labor, we won't stop you." Eek! That means if Baylor decides he is coming at any time, he WILL be coming!

My tummy measured 39 cm, and Baylor's heartbeat was 127.

Last week, at 34 weeks along, I went in to learn that I measured 37 1/2 cm, and Baylor's heartbeat was 141.

Not much longer now...

Celebrating Baylor

A friend of mine threw a small celebration for Baylor yesterday. It turned out very nicely. We had it at Sertino's here in New Braunfels (http://www.sertinosnb.com/). They have a private room where we all gathered. The food and drinks from Sertino's were very yummy as well as the cake!

I am so thankful for everyone who came. It really meant a lot to Dustin and me to see loved ones excited about Baylor's upcoming arrival. I have gotten so many mean comments with this pregnancy that I wasn't expecting, mostly from strangers, that it was really nice to have a group surrounding us that were looking forward to meeting our newest little guy. And I'm sure Baylor will look back on the pictures from yesterday and see the love.

most of the group