1 week check up

We went to the pediatrician for Emma's one week check up today and were reassured again that she is as healthy as can be.  The doctor didn't have any concerns for her which is always music to our ears.  As it turns out, she has been getting plenty of Momma's milk!   Newborns are expected to gain about 1 oz per day.  Our little piggy has been gaining about double that.  She was born at 8lb 12 oz; was 8lb5.5 oz when we left the hospital on Wednesday; and tipped the scales at the office today at 9lb 6oz!!  That's a little over a lb!  She is a long lean eattin machine :)

So there are no cute pictures from her doctors appointment but I do have some in stock from her first bath!  We were both holding our breath and waiting for screams of displeasure but to our surprise she appeared to love it.  I think she was putting on a show for Grandma Roz and Auntie Megan because we gave her bath number 2 today and got more of what we expected out of bath #1 - an unhappy and cold baby.  Nothing a little milk and cuddle time couldn't fix though.  So here she is hamming it up at her first bath...

Here is a link to some additional pictures we put up on picasa.  More Emma photos  Enjoy!!

Hugs and kisses from Emma and The Crew

Welcome Emma Ruth Burgart!

Hooray, hooray - our baby girl is here!!!  She arrived on June 20th, 2011 at 4:17 in the morning.    Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you!  Happy Birthday sweet Emma!  Happy birthday to you!!  Today we are celebrating her 1 week birthday. And quite a week it has been!  We'll start from the beginning. 

Melissa began having contractions on Sunday the 19th, Father's Day, at around 5:30 in the morning.  I thought, "how cool would it be to have our baby on Father's Day?"  Best Father's Day present ever!  Well, as you already know it wasn't meant to be.  She ended up being the best day-after-Fathers-Day present ever. :)  So, Sunday morning gave way to the afternoon and Melissa's contractions were becoming consistently longer, more regular, and closer together.  We did all the things normal parents-to-be do; I went outside and mowed the lawn and cleaned out the gutters and Melissa baked a delicious pan of cookie bars!  Around 2 in the afternoon we both knew where this was headed and between contractions began to tidy up a bit and gather our hospital things.  At 4:30 pm it was go time!  So we loaded up and headed to Abbot Northwestern Hospital were she was checked for dialation and admitted right away.  We were put in the delivery room and Melissa labored for a couple more hours before having an epidural around 7:30 pm.  Emma was what they called "sunny side up" or "posterior", meaning that she was facing forward with her head against Melissa's spine and tailbone.  This isn't ideal; normally for a baby to move smoothly through the birth canal they should be facing the mother's spine.  When they are posterior, mothers often have "back labor" which is classified by extreme back pain during contractions.  Melissa will tell you that symptomatically this was the case.  Needless to say, the epidural was effective and very welcome.  Melissa had had enough at that point and the epidural allowed her to comfortably continue labor as her body did what it needed to in terms of cervical dialation and dropping farther into the birth canal.

To this point Melissa's water had not broken and the baby was still quite a ways up in the birth canal.  The plan was to have the epidural to relieve pain, then the doctor was going to break Melissa's water to allow the baby to descend and speed up labor.  Nature intervened however, and Melissa's water broke on its own not a minute after the anasthesiologist had left the room.  Things seemed to progress slowly for us first timers but we were re-assured by the people in the room who had done this a couple hundred times that everything was normal and right on schedule.  At 2:20 a.m. Melissa was given the green light to begin pushing, and pushing she did!!  She was an all-star!  She pushed on and off for a little under 2 hours until the sweetest miracle in all the world began to cry at 4:17 a.m.  Emma was a little bluish right away but the nurses were pro's and cleared her lungs; she pinked up in no time and we got to finally meet our precious child. 



Emma weighed in at 8lbs 12 oz and was 20 inches long. 



 



The plus side to having a baby at 4:17 in the morning is that it buys you an extra day in the hospital which we took full advantage of.  The nurses were wonderful and helped us figure out how to operate this little machine.  During our stay we had a few visitors, none more excited or proud than Emma's new grandparents - John and Roz Stull.

I'm not sure if I have mentioned Melissa's pregnant posse in previous posts but they all visited and brought dinner on Tuesday night.  The posse is a group of 4 women and their husbands with whom Melissa and I run around with quite a bit.  Three of them, including Melissa, are Iowa Law grads and were in the same class and the 4th is a Drake Law grad who they met while studying for the bar exam.  As you might have guessed, they are all pregnant and due within 2 months of each other.  Chris and Lindsay have blazed the trail with their son Cole and the other two are within weeks of having their boys.  It was so much fun to have them visit and we are looking forward to donig the same when they are hungry and sleep deprived!  Here is a great picture of the group (taken with an auto timer!)





I don't think any of my friends were more excited to meet Emma than Peter and his wife Ana.  Pete was almost beside himself when I handed her over. 

We were discharged on Wednesday afternoon and made the long drive home.  Well, it is 5 miles only, but it might as well have been a 100 mile drive along a shear mountain cliff - it almost gave me a heart attack!  Emma loved it though, she was wide awake and very curious about the outside world.  We managed to make it home without incident and showed Emma her new digs.

I think she likes the place.  When we got home Melissa's mom was here and her sister, Auntie Megan, wasted no time coming up from Dubuque.  It was a life saver having them around to help us get settled in.  Those women were machines at cleaning, cooking, and doing just about anything else that could be done to ease our troubles.  They left us on Friday and my parents came on Saturday for a quick visit to meet the princess and to fill our freezer with frozen casseroles.  Its no surprise that both sets of grandparents are completely smitten by this little kitten.   



The girls doting.



Dad is reading her a book called On The Farm

I feel like Melissa and I are finding our rhythm - as much as can be with a newborn.  Our days have consisted of feeding her every 3 hours or so, changing her when she poops or pees, trying to find time to sleep, and being awed by her every cute little expression and squeek.

A quick shout out to my wonderful wife and Emma's terrific mother - Melissa.  They say you can't pick your parents but Emma has hit the mommy jackpot.  And it is true, you can't pick your parents but in my case I did get to pick my partner and I've picked well.  Melissa is the best mother, wife, teammate, and best friend a guy could ask for.  Between Emma and myself we ask a lot of her and she handles it all with grace and a loving smile.  One thing that has been really fun for me and that I've enjoyed is watching her be a mom. 


Hugs and kisses from Jason, Melissa, and of course Emma!

Waving goodbye while saying hello.

The past couple weeks have brought on a number of changes and challenges.  Probably the biggest challenge has been the realization of the impending doom of our once carefree lifestyle.  Of course we have had 8 months for this to sink in but I think it hit both of us like a ton of bricks this week.  Although we are both  very excited about the upcoming addition to our family, we are also mourning the loss of our spontaneous weekend trips to Des Moines, Okoboji, Chicago, the North Shore; our frequent dinner and movie dates; happy hours; twins games; 2 hour workouts; a decent golf game; the list goes on.  Does this make us bad "soon to be" parents?  I like to think just the contrary.  We are starting to see the huge sacrifices and challenges that we are about to make and neither of us have blinked an eye or have felt a tinge of regret, only a sense of duty to this new precious life and the huge pressures of r-e-s-p-o-n-s-i-b-i-l-i-t-y!  <gulp>  I realize that this is not a foreign feeling to any new parent but I think it all hits us in different ways and at different times.  Now, I may be a little over dramatic because of course this isn't the end of all these things but it will certainly make them more challenging.  It has made me grateful to my parents for making those sacrifices and ALWAYS being there for me.  As I look ahead I know it won't be easy and at times will be flat out hard; as I'm sure it was for them.  So a quick shout out to Mom and Dad: I can't say it enough or even come close but thanks for EVERYTHING!  I love you both.

Staying with the theme of out with the old and in with the new; we got a new car!!!  The silver Pontiac has treated me well over the years but as a 2 door sedan it wasn't going to pass mustard as a baby carrier.  So we stepped up in a big way and joined the Honda family with a 2011Pilot.  I was sad to see the old car go, but I have a feeling I'm not going to miss it for very long.  The silver bullet was beginning to fade.  As a matter of fact, I had to jump start it the morning we took it into the dealership.  I thought it was going to be a clean mutual break but apparently the car wasn't to pleased to be traded away.  One last F-U for me.  We are very pleased with our new child chariot!

Melissa continues to amaze, she is doing great at 37 weeks.  I went with her to her 36 week appointment and the doctor assured us that everything is going as scheduled.  Melissa will be going in every week from here on out.  She has even scheduled an appointment for 41 weeks -- apparently 70% of new mothers deliver in the 40th and 41st weeks.  As many of you know, Melissa is an avid golfer.  This is one of the many many reasons I fell in love with her.  With the poor weather and other commitments she hasn't been able to play yet this year so we thought we would give it a shot this weekend.  On Saturday night after doing some car shopping we headed out to the neighborhood golf course for 9 holes.  We got to the course around 5:30 and walked right on.  It had stormed earlier in the afternoon which cleared out the golf course and left behind a picture perfect evening.  Light breeze, sunshine, mild temps, and low humidity.  We felt like we had the course to our self, it was an amazingly peaceful 2 hours.  Melissa and I rode around in our golf cart and enjoyed each others company.  Playing golf with her is one of my absolute favorite things to do.  Due to the growing baby and belly (see previous posts) she had a tough time bending to tee her ball or get it out of the hole.  It was good to feel useful and I was happy to caddy.  The many of you who know that Melissa is an avid golfer, will not be surprised to hear that she shot a 44.  This is a video of her on the first tee, her swing is amazing.  Nobody will ever know that this was her mulligan.  My favorite part of the whole video is how pleased Melissa is with herself after the shot! 

We had decided prior to the round that it wouldn't count against our lifetime tally, as it turns out that agreement was moot because we tied!  So just so everyone who is keeping track at home is clear, Jason still leads the lifetime tally by 4 rounds :)  I'm not sure how well the video will work so here are a couple more great picture from the round.

 

So, what's new in the nursery?  Here are some of the latest pics from the baby palace! 

- Last weekend was a work weekend in the nursery. We spent Saturday morning hanging pictures and hooks, packing away clothes in the dresser, organizing and de-cluttering, and converting part of our built in book shelf to a little extra closet space with the removal of a shelf and addition of a hanging clothes rod.  Its hard to tell from the picture above, but the framed item on the wall is a cross stitch that my mom made for us.  It's fantastic, I'll try to get a better picture of it for an upcoming post. 

- Here is a picture of dresser, complete now with a changing pad and cover, lamp, and bins full of diapering supplies.  I just need to figure out how to use them (I'm told I'll have plenty of practice soon enough).  Also a picture of what our curtains will look like when and if they arrive.  This has become a thorn in Melissa's side.  We ordered these curtains and were told they would take 2 weeks.  As you might have guessed, that time has come and gone with no curtains in sight.  Melissa has hounded the woman who is overseeing the project and was informed that custom jobs will take 4-6 weeks.  News to us!  And not in a welcome way, as we were hoping to have everything in place for baby's arrival.  It's still possible but it will be cutting it close. 

 - Melissa's sister (Aunt) Megan stopped by this weekend on her way home from Okoboji.  On her way home you say?  Indeed.  I have a feeling Minneapolis will be "on her way home" from Okoboji to Dubuque a lot this summer.  She brought a wonderful surprise gift of hand painted animals that match our bedding.  Apparently she snapped some photos while she was here last and channeled her inner van Gogh to create these awesome paintings!

 Well, that about covers most of the goings on over the past couple weeks.  In the weeks ahead Melissa and I will continue to enjoy the "calm before the storm" and spend lots of quite time together doing all of our favorite things while we await our little miracle. 

From Minneapolis with love

~ Jason and Melissa

oh...

And thanks Uncle David for being my first and only official follower!  9,999 more followers and someone might pay me to do this :)

1 month to go!!

Well, our due date is June 18th.  We have 1 month until B-Day!  We are very very excited to meet our baby.  But, we will be just fine waiting 4 more weeks for that to happen.  Melissa is feeling great and looking even better.  One of the more popular questions she gets these days is if she is "getting antsy" or "ready for the baby to come".  The answer to both those quieries is no.  While we are looking forward to baby's arrival, neither of us are wishing away the next 4 weeks.  Time that will be spent relaxing, final prep on the nursery, and just enjoying peace, quiet, and each other.  I told you Melissa is looking great, well here's the proof.  I thought her belly was impressive at 28 weeks when it was just a baby bump!  It is now a full out baby belly.  This picture was taken on May 18th, Melissa is 35 1/2 weeks!  She'll be 36 weeks tomorrow :)

There was a cartoon in an email that Melissa got that said, "I can't sleep, breath, or walk.  How am I supposed to find the time to glow?"  Well, somehow Melissa has done just that.  She is beautiful and, although I know it hasn't been, she has made this pregnancy seem effortless. 

We've been busy the last month getting the nursery ready and going to baby showers.  Melissa had a shower here about a month ago that was thrown by all of her girlfriends.  A couple weeks ago we went to Des Moines for a shower that was hosted by my best friend and high school pal, Josh Clanton and family.  Thanks to everyone who traveled, sent gifts and well wishes, and who were able to celebrate with us.  Most of the rest of our spare time has been spent wallowing in the sorrow of our baseball team.  The Twins have gotten off to their worst start since the 80's and lead the league in everything bad.  We still go.  We still love it.  Here is a picture of us at the park for opening day.  For those of you keeping track, that is 2 opening days in a row!  

How's that nursery coming along you ask?  Just fine thank you!  We have our crib, dresser, and rocker chair (super comfy).  I envision many naps in that chair.  We are still waiting on a few things, namely curtains and a dust ruffle.  So who knew what a dust ruffle was?  Not me, but I do now.  For those of you who don't know its the thing that goes around the bottom of the crib from the matress to the floor.  We have one now, ordered anyway, and its going to be fantastic!  So here are some pictures of what we've done with the baby penthouse. 

So what's left on the nursery?  Well we need the curtains, a rug, to figure out where things will go on the wall, make a baby closet out of some built in shelves, and to fill it with love.  Here is one of my favorite photos that Melissa has had as long as I've known her (her favorite animal is the giraffe).  It is going to go beside the crib. 

Hope you enjoy the updates.  There hasn't been much to talk about lately but I'm sure that will change in about a month! 

Peace and love ~ Jason and Melissa

Greetings!

Hello blog world.  Today has been a big day for me in the tech world.  We can start with the obvious, I started a blog.  Not because I have anything terribly interesting to say, but to help keep family and friends up to date with our latest happenings.  Both before, and more importantly after the birth of Baby B.  What's the second big thing you ask?  I am the proud owner/user of an IPhone!  What took so long?  Good question, this thing is sweet!

So the big project this weekend was to clear out the nursery.  Its previous function was an office and general dumping grounds.  This was no small task!  But it's done and the room is a blank slate and ready to be fit for our queen!  Here are a couple pictures of the room as it is right now.  If we had our way, the wood panelling would be white washed, or painted in some way but after a consultation with a professional painter it just isn't in the cards.  Which, I think, is fine.  There's no doubt, that with Melissa's decorating eye and my nimble ability with a hammer and nail, we'll have the room looking ship shape in no time :)