So our little peanut is home! On June 10th, they decided that although still a little jaundiced, he could be discharged from the NICU. He slept the entire ride and through a visit to Rocky Rococo’s.
Since getting home, he’s met the cat, survived his first sink bath, gone for stroller walks, and just recently gone to his first Mallard’s game. (He was born on opening day/the owner’s birthday so he’s a season-ticket-holder-for-life!) He’s been a great baby, typically only crying if he needs something or is occasionally overtired.
We’ve had many family and friends come and help out or bring food, which has been such a blessing.
He’s to be baptized this Sunday, which funny enough was his due date.
I’m a little nervous about going back to work and am dreading not seeing him 24/7…
So there’s my post, though randomly phrased. Here are some pictures!
The Events leading up to and surrounding the birth of our son, Rowan John Shoemaker.
On Tuesday night, June 1st, Amanda watched me play my men’s softball game and afterward, we joined some guys from the team at a bar down the street called The Silver Eagle. Amanda sang two songs karaoke, “Just Like the White Winged Dove” by Stevie Nicks and “I’m Just a Girl” by No Doubt.
On Wednesday morning around 5:30am Amanda woke up to a slightly damp bed and thought to herself, “Oh great, I peed the bed. I guess this is the next fun thing I have to look forward to during pregnancy.” But after using the bathroom, it became clear to her that she had not peed the bed… her water had broken! I heard a surprised voice call out from the bathroom, “Um…. John, I think my water broke.” Let me tell you, that works a LOT better than an alarm clock! A phone call to our doula, Jess Carrano, and a phone call to St. Mary’s hospital confirmed our suspicions: Our baby was on his way… 6 weeks early!
I looked at Amanda and said with a bit of a chuckle, “Well, I guess we should pack a bag or something.” For the next half hour, Amanda and I wandered around the house, not really accomplishing anything. I don’t think we were feeling very anxious, I think we were just so stinkin’ surprised that we couldn’t think. We ate some breakfast, grabbed our stuff, and headed out the door. The Birth Plan…. well, we decided to leave that at home. Ha!
On the way to the hospital, we talked about how crazy all of this was. We were filled with excitement, surprise, curiosity…. but thankfully, very little anxiety. We remembered as we drove, that just one day prior, I had been consumed in an inexplicable anxiety. For some reason on Tuesday, everything was bothering me – work, the house, air conditioning, prayer, vacations, etc. – but Amanda and I prayed that evening that God would remove that worry from our lives and that He would bring calmness and peace into our hearts and minds…. and as crazy as that Wednesday morning may sound, that is what we felt, calmness and peacefulness.
At the hospital, they checked Amanda, gave us the official confirmation that we were headed for labor, and got us settled into our room. It didn’t seem like we had to wait very long before contractions began.
As the contractions picked up and the labor progressed, two things became invaluable, our good friend and doula, Jess, and our trust in God. Amanda and I each wear a ring on our right hand that has the phrase “Trust in Me” written in Hebrew, but it is not every day that we really internalize that. I suppose some of these details would be better left for Amanda to describe but the theme of the day was really about surrendering and there is no better example than Jesus carrying the cross. It was so great having Jess there to remind us of that!
Let It All Out – Relient K (One of the songs on Amanda’s playlist in the delivery room. I have to admit, the fist couple words sound kind of funny… or graphic, really… when thinking about labor, but this song came up just at the right time and was a great comfort to Amanda)
Amanda did such a great job relaxing and moving through labor that by the end of the day on Wednesday, she was fully dilated and ready to start pushing. The strength she showed in those last couple hours was truly remarkable.
Finally, at 11:49pm on June 2nd, this little guy was born…
He weighed 5lbs 3.2oz and was 17 inches long. He turned pink and cried right away after birth and then Amanda got to hold him briefly before they took him to the NICU. We would have loved to hold him longer, but we were happy to leave him in the hands of the NICU doctors to make sure he was stabilized. Because he was born at 34 weeks, he had an increased chance of having difficulty breathing and eating.
Since being admitted to the NICU, however, he has progressed quickly and is getting stronger every day. They were able turn off the CPAP (device to aid in breathing) and the oxygen after only a few hours.
Rowan has also been doing a great job eating on his own. His appetite increases every day as he get’s more and more energy. One thing that is still being monitored is his bilirubin level. Because he is so young, his liver is not quite as good at processing this excrement (created from the turnover of red blood cells). Bilirubin is the substance that causes jaundice in many newborns and is much more likely to cause it in premature babies. In order to help him metabolize the bilirubin, the nurses put him under a photo therapy light. We think he looks like a little beach baby.
He has also had some visitors…
Amanda and I are very proud parents and we can’t wait to bring Rowan home. We thank all of you for your prayers and support. We will do our best to keep updating this blog with pictures, video, audio, etc… of Rowan and our family. We hope you enjoy!
I’m feeing a bit overwhelmed by all the unpacking, the seeming immensity of the local Asian beetle community, and the fact that I have to go back to work tomorrow.
Other than that, the house is GREAT, the baby is a’ kickin,’ and I feel super loved thanks to everyone who helped or called or emailed.
Ok, I will now end this post as to not spend to much time distracted by the internet
We are so excited! One week from tomorrow, Amanda and I will close on our very first house. The situation could not have been more perfect for us.
Amanda and I began a leisurely search for houses back in November or so, very slowly at first. In fact, we weren’t really sure what we wanted to do earlier in the Fall. At the time, a move to a different apartment or a rental house were two options still on the table. I would say one of the biggest challenges was overcoming the social and economic pressure to buy a house. We were hearing things like “the housing market is at an all-time low and it is a ‘Buyer’s Market’”. I didn’t want to buy a house simply for that reason, but we figured we should start looking if we were going to make a decision one way or another.
Our criteria made our search more complicated than many. We both grew up (middle school and high school years anyway) in houses that sat on a couple of acres and were located out in the country. We quickly realized that this is a difficult thing to find in Madison and the difficulty was only compounded by our price range.
I’ll save you the boring details of the months of searching and skip to the end. We had one final viewing scheduled and were both about ready to give up. We told ourselves that we would just go see this last set of houses and then if nothing stood out to us, we would give up the search for a while and let the issue rest. As we pulled into the driveway of the first house on our list for the day, however, we both felt a certain excitement about the property we were about to view. Finally, we had found a house that wasn’t going to be a 45minute+ commute to and from work, was just the right size for a growing family, sat on a beautiful property, and just fell into our comfortable price range. All we had to do was get inside…
(if you are unable to view the pictures, you may need to visit www.theshoesnews.com for the original blog post)
We absolutely fell in love with this house. (Although not too much at first in case we didn’t get it… ha) Thankfully, the whole process has gone very smoothly and all we have left to do is close on the house next week.
I’ve found a lot of things follow this pattern in my life recently. Perhaps it’s simply that I am paying more attention now, but it seems as though God waits for me to fully submit before he’ll provide me with the answers I am seeking. I certainly never get an answer when I’ve already made up my mind without consulting Him. I guess you could see that as a frustration, but I’m learning to take comfort in His guidance. He is always faithful and I really wouldn’t want to move forward with these big life decisions without God’s blessing. I am confident that this house will be a blessing for Amanda and I and our family!
We are looking forward to throwing a massive house warming party and sharing this occasion with all of you!
So here we are, almost starting the 12th week of The Big Baby Adventure! So far it’s been good. I started having morning sickness right from the get-go (at about 4-5 weeks?) and can only say that I have an amazing, AMAZING husband. I initially lost 6ish pounds since I had literally no appetite, but since have gained most of it back. So far the only food preferences are Italian with an aversion to Chinese, and I think I’m just starting to “show.” That freaked me out initially because everyone I’ve talked to says that you show really late with your first…. anywho, ultrasound on the 4th will give a more solidified due date than the 23rd (or confirm it).
God’s really working in our lives and I’m not sure what I’m afraid of, but I wish I could just let go of whatever it is and just pray more. As it is, I WANT to but am pretty sure that I don’t even TRY. Lame. (and here I am posting on a blog…haha).
For anyone that was unable to attend our wedding reception… or for those of you that where there but would like to see it again…. Here is the video that we played on our wedding day that tells the “Story of Us”.
Being married to Amanda is great! It’s great to see her on a daily basis and it’s great to communicate in person rather than relying on the one phone call per day to pack in everything we have to say to each other.
We just got back from camping “Up North” this last weekend. I’m definitely looking forward to going on more vacations and adventures with Amanda.
I’m not really finding the inspiration to write very much. And you may have noticed if you browsed our website that I haven’t found the inspiration to do much work on it recently. I guess that’s alright though because we still have a lot of cleaning to do around the apartment and I’m sure Amanda appreciates the fact that I’m not wasting all of my time dinking around with the website.
There are 3 of our sample pictures up on our wedding photographer’s blog so we’re beginning to get excited about seeing the rest of the pictures!
I will try to update everyone when I have more pictures and video up online… at some later, undetermined date.
So I can now count the days until the BIG DAY on my two hands! I’m so pumped!!! Odd little things need to get done, but nothing that we can’t handle. I guess our rings will be finished tomorrow, so that’s really exciting!
Also, our bachelor/bachelorette parties were great. I’ll try to post some pictures.
So the countdown continues and I find myself preparing to take care of those little things that seemed so far in the future…. like calling for RSVPs or making place cards. Sheesh!
The spring weather has finally settled in and I couldn’t be happier about it! John and I enjoyed a baseball game Wednesday evening with some friends and realized that we’d only see eachother THREE TIMES before we get hitched! That’s insane!
Not only do I have to figure out wedding-related stuff, but I realized that I should send in money for my diploma soon. :S Hopefully I didn’t miss the deadline! Upcoming graduation and the weddings of mutual friends will be occuring very close to our “big day,” so I’m juggling those things as well as art classes and job hunting.
Hope everyone is well and we CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU ALL VERRRRYYYY SOOOON!
~Amanda
