After Drew’s arrival, we were told that we had to stay at the hospital an extra night (total of three nights) as they wanted to monitor him more closely. With my water breaking so early and no contractions for several hours, as well as Drew being suctioned out, the hospital pediatrician wanted us to stay longer to make sure he was in good health.

Before leaving the hospital on Sunday, the hospital pediatrician asked that we make an appointment with our regular pediatrician the next day since Drew’s bilirubin level (13) was getting a bit high for a newborn.

We went to Sandpoint Pediatrics for Drew’s first doctor’s appointment. Overall, he did really well except when we had to strip off his clothes to get weighed and his bilirubin levels were even higher (19). The normal bilirubin level for a newborn a couple days old is between 12-14. The pediatrician suggested we go to Children’s Hospital to get a second blood test as the machines at Sandpoint Pediatrics are new and may not be 100% accurate.

Off we went to Children’s Hospital. For the most part, I held my composure but did shed a few tears as we waited for the nurse to call us in. It was so sad to see my little guy getting his feet pricked. The test results from Children’s Hospital garnered a similar result in his bilirubin level (18.8).

In order to get Drew’s bilirubin level down, we opted for the in-home photo light therapy vs. hospital stay. More details on this in a post to come.

So much for baby boy Carpenter arriving late. He ended up coming five days early!

Drew Nolan Carpenter made his way into this world at 6:46 am on Friday, November 21st, 2014. He weighed in at 6.29 lbs and measured 18.5 inches long.

Here’s a recap of his arrival:

• Thursday, November 20th:
  • 12:00 PM:  Keith worked from home as his office was moving locations. We initially had planned to have lunch with Andy around 12:30 PM. I went to the bathroom and after washing my hands, I walked towards the kitchen but felt a little something come out. After checking to make sure it wasn’t more than a drip or two, I went back to my desk and continued to work.
  • 12:05 PM:  A few minutes later, I walked towards the kitchen to check on Keith who was making a crock pot of chili. I felt another trickle of water. I told Keith that I thought something might be happening but he thought I would have felt contractions. In any case, I went downstairs to change for lunch.
  • 12:10 PM:  Once I was downstairs, I felt the need to go to the bathroom again so I went. Then I walked towards the bedroom to change but felt more water trickling down but this time it was a more than the last. At this point, I decided to call the doctor just in case.
  • 12:30 PM:  The nurse that I spoke to suggested that we come in so they could run some tests to see if it was indeed my water breaking. She recommended that we bring our hospital bag with us in case I needed to go directly to the hospital. We made the appointment for 2:00 PM so we had about an hour and a half to gather what we could. We finished what we could with work, packed up the rest of our bag and got Pearl situated before heading out.
  • 2:00 PM:  At the doctor’s office, I met with Dr. Lorentz, the on-call doctor that day. It took her only a few seconds to tell me that my water had indeed broken. She told us the baby would likely come that day and said we should go get some lunch (since we hadn’t eaten) and walk around a bit before heading to the hospital around 5:30 PM.
  • 5:30 PM:  When we got the hospital, the staff got us checked in right away. What I thought would be a few hours until the baby was born turned into six hours of waiting, watching tv with Keith and talking to my mom who came to visit. During this time I felt some contractions but nothing that was consistent or painful.
  • 10:00 PM:  I started to feel stronger contractions but still not too painful. At this point I was measuring 4 cm dilated (was 2 cm after my 39 week doctor’s appointment the day before). Dr. Lorentz told me that I may not deliver until 8:00 AM the next morning and that I should get some rest. Her and my nurse suggested that I get the epidural before trying to sleep as it may help with the upcoming pain and let me rest.
  • 11:00 PM:  Epidural completed, finally fell asleep.
• Friday, November 21st:
  • 12:00 AM:  My nurse checked on me and said that I was now 10 cm dilated. However, the baby hadn’t dropped enough to start pushing. She said I should continue to sleep and we would monitor every hour.
  • 3:30 – 4:00 AM:  The nurse checked me again and said I was finally at a point to push. At this point, I had a mini freak out moment thinking that the baby would soon be here!
  • 4:00 AM:  Let the pushing begin…
  • 6:00 AM:  After a couple of hours of pushing, my doctor said that my pelvic bone was too narrow for the baby’s head to push through and that although I was making progress, it may be hours until the baby could make his way through. Needless to say I was exhausted. Note:  The epidural made it difficult to push – in hindsight if I knew I would go from 4 to 10 cm within an hour, I would have bypassed the epidural to help with the pushing.
  • 6:15 – 6:30 AM:  We made a game time decision to use the vacuum to help get the baby out. Within a matter of minutes, the room went from Dr. Lorentz, the nurse, Keith and I to a room full of nurses!
  • 6:45 AM:  One big push and the help of the vacuum, it only took a few seconds to get the baby out.
  • 6:46 AM:  Drew Nolan Carpenter makes his entrance into the world!

Pictures from Drew’s first 24 hours!

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Well folks…we’re in the home stretch of the pregnancy. Only one week to go until baby boy’s due date. Will he be early, on time or late?!? My initial guess was late but now I’m thinking maybe he’ll be punctual and arrive on time.

Not much new to report. I’m still feeling great / normal and have been fortunate to have had such a smooth pregnancy thus far. I hope that translates to a smooth delivery but it’ll probably be the complete opposite.

In any case, Keith and I have been taking advantage of these last few weeks and days. We’ve had several date nights, movie nights and even enjoyed a fancy dinner at El Gaucho (the only reason why we went there was so I could get the bread pudding…soooo good). This coming weekend we plan to put up the Christmas tree and decorations. I know it’s early but heck, we have an excuse if baby boy does come on time!

Here are the latest baby bump photos. As you can see, my wardrobe has consisted of leggings and white t-shirts lately. 🙂

Well we finally got baby boy’s room ready – only took a few months (don’t think we ever had a “nesting” period) but it came together nicely.

Keith and I didn’t want to overly decorate the room so we tried to keep it simple. There isn’t much of a theme either. We initially thought we’d do a baseball themed room but ended up with a mix and match of dogs, planes and baseball items.

The only pieces we’re still missing is the plane mobile for above his crib and the changing table pad as they’re both backordered until December!

All-in-all we’re happy with how things turned out and hope he likes it as well. Even though in the picture Pearl looks like she can’t wait to get out, she likes the room as well. We’ve caught her in there a few times hanging out by herself. 🙂

If baby boy was writing this blog post, he would say “Welcome to my crib”.

lovey from auntie kerry

we’re a family of dog lovers

pearl’s done with the photo shoot

piggy bank from auntie kristen

courtesy of my dad – this pac-man clock is older than me!