I smell like vomit and have had 3 hours of sleep

In the past 24 hours, I have been spit up on countless times by Nate, who manages to spit up at regular intervals during the day and all through the night. The second I change his clothes, he spits up again. We are trying to have burp cloths every where, but he seems to manage to turn his head from the burp cloth at the very last second. I get tired of changing my shirt more than 3 times a day, and as such am smelling a bit like sour milk by the end of the day. Which was enhanced yesterday by my daughter, who projectile vomited her lunch onto my shorts. She has never once vomited in the 23 months since she was born. Nor has she ever presented with rashes (which thankfully were not chicken pox but more likely some sort of hives). We think these might be an alergic reaction to her new brother? And, in what I can assume was an effort of both of them to get attention, Nate was awake from 2-5 am last night and the second that I got him asleep, Adrienne woke up for some pre-dawn 1-on-1 time with mommy. So needless to say, I was feeling a little cranky. But then I came into this scene: really, smelling like vomit and having only 3 hours of sleep is such a small price to pay to have these 3 adorable faces to wake up with. Besides, nothing that a shower and some strong coffee can't fix, right?!   

Heartfelt Thank-you

I just wanted to write this post as a heartfelt 'Thank-you' to all of you who have been thinking of and praying for us and baby Nate during the time he was in the NICU. It was an extremely long, stressful, and scary 11 days for us, especially at the beginning of it as things were progressively getting worse. On top of that, trying to keep your mind in a good place through the post-partum hormone drop is a challenge in and of itself. However, I truly believe that it was through a series of small miracles that resulted in getting Nate to the right care at the right time. No doubt thanks to all of you and your prayers. We also got so many messages and emails of support. I am sure I will be unable to find the words to tell you what that meant to us to know that so many people were thinking of us and praying for us. I did not have a chance to answer every message, but please know that I did read and greatly appreciate every one of them. The distance between Singapore and our families in the USA has always been hard.  I know it was particularly hard for our families being so far away and feeling like they couldn't help during this time. But rest assured that just knowing you were there for us was in fact a huge help for us. I also want to say a very special thank-you to our Singapore friends, who checked in with calls and messages, took us to lunch, entertained our daughter, lent a listening ear, brought us treats, and gave us advice. I feel both humbled and extremely blessed to have found such amazing friends in a world so far away from home. Additionally, I know a lot of you mom's went through similar things with your babies and some of you even had longer and scarier times away from your babies. My heart goes out to anyone who went or will have to go through these things. I did take comfort knowing that this too will pass and, like you all have done, we will be stronger for it. Finally, a big thank-you to my wonderful husband. It is easy to get along during the good times, but there is no one I would rather have by my side during the hard times.

Sleepy cuddle bug! Don't believe the nurses, he is a  very quiet and sweet guy.

Homecoming

Good news! After a long 11 days, Nate was given a clean bill of health and released from the care of the hospital into our excited and nervous arms. We have been hopefully anticipating this day for not only the past 11 days, but really for 9 months now. We missed not having Nate around, just showing how much of a part of the family he had already become despite the fact that he hasn't been home ex vivo until now. I found myself often telling Regis how much I missed my belly during those days that Nate was away, knowing full well that it wasn't really my belly that I was missing. The nerves started to kick in last night after we realized that it was our last night before we had a newborn and a 23-month old in the house. We were trying to do all the things that we are afraid we aren't going to be able to do for the next several months. You know, personal hygeine things like shower, shave my legs, pluck my eyebrows....sleep! Remember this when you don't see a picture of me posted herein until Nate is six months years old. Besides, the nurses have been telling me for days what a loud and strong boy Nate is. They claim he cries all night, demanding food and attention. I tell them Nate sounds like just like his daddy. Truthfully, I'm not sure I believe them because he is always so quiet and sweet when I am there, but they claim he just pipes down whenever I come around. I guess we are about to find out...

We had been telling Adrienne all day yesterday that baby Nate was coming home today. She remembered this too, because when I asked her what day it was this morning, she answered, "Baby Day!". So when Adrienne's school called this morning and asked us to pick her up because she has rashes on her body (a phone call we received while waiting at the hospital for Nate's release), you can imagine our concern. Both Adrienne's and Nate's doctors recommended trying to keep them separated for a few days. Obviously neither of them lives with a 23-month old in a 3 bedroom apartment. We managed to sneak Nate in during Adrienne's naptime. It took her approximately 17 minutes to discover Nate after her nap.  You can imagine her surprise, however, to discover a baby on Mommy and Daddy's bed. She was pretty excited! She wanted to show him her toys and share her granola bar and give 'hugs!'. So at the moment we are spraying her down with instant hand-sanitizer, trying to prevent her from touching Nate, and praying that it's not chicken pox!!

Other than that, the day has been wonderful. It has taken me approximately 4 hours plus 1 mommy-baby cuddly nap to two-finger type this post. You'll have to excuse the spelling and grammer errors--I have a snuggly baby boy in my arms that I just can't put down!

Waiting for Nate

Having a toddler during a stressful time can be both a blessing and a curse.  On one hand, they are demanding and blissfully ignorant.  On the other hand, well, they are demanding and blissfully ignorant. They won't be very patient with you when you want to wallow in your worries, demanding essential things like food, water, and more Peppa Pig. But if there is ever someone to make you laugh during a stressful time, count on your toddler. There is nothing quite like a naked 2-yr old steaking down your hallway at full speed and laughing like crazy to help you momentarily forget your troubles. Or having an impromptu dance party on your living room floor even though your heart is at a NICU hospital 50 minutes away. Sometimes I wonder what Adrienne thinks about all of this. I mean, she has been waiting for the baby for some time now. Maybe she just forgot about the baby once my belly was gone? Out of site, out of mind at this age, right? But then she surprised me playing the other day. She started lining up all her bears, saying, 'Momma bear....Daddy bear.....Baby bear'. And then she got a fourth bear, set it down with its family, saying 'Baby Nate!'. It was a sweet moment in our long week of waiting for Nate. Miraculously she allowed me to talk her into posing with her bear family for a quick snapshot.  

As far as an update on Ignatius, today marks one week passing since Nate's arrived. I must say that this week has probably been the longest week of my life. However, I am happy to report that Nate is doing much better and as of today is breathing on his own. We are anxious to bring him home with us but know that he is in good care and getting the attention he needs. I will certainly update you as soon as we are able to bring him home with us. In the meantime, we really appreciate the love and prayers sent our way and ask that you continue to keep Nate in your thoughts and prayers for a full and speedy recovery. 

Baby Covey has Arrived!

I'm sorry Regis and I have fallen off the Internet grid for the past 48 hrs (Regis was never on the Internet grid anyway, remember?). We were in the hospital that apparently has an Internet shield surrounding the building, which is rather inconvenient when you want to share news quickly to people living thousands of miles away. However, we are happy to announce the arrival of our son at 12:55am on Oct 20th, 2011. We have FINALLY come to an agreement on a name, Ignatius. (We are still working on a middle name, so more to come on that) Baby Nate, as we are calling him, weighs in at 3.19 kg (7lbs) and 48 cm (19 in) long, a beautiful little guy with a full head of black hair. Post birth, he was struggling to breath and was sent straight to the NICU for observation. He was diagnosed with fluid in his lungs and they have been treating him with oxygen ever since. We are waiting for the fluid to exit the lungs and for his breathing to return to normal. This morning, as Nate was beginning to look tired, they put him on cpap (continuous positive airway pressure) machine, which is helping him breath more oxygen. They continue to watch him in the NICU and we hope and pray that everything clears up in the next few days. 'Ignatius' is a name derived from Latin that means ardent or fiery.  We know that he is an ardent and fiery little guy that will fight through this and be home soon. Please keep him in your prayers for us!     

Mom and Dad are doing OK. Of course we are counting our blessing for a beautiful little boy, but a little stressed out by the inability to hold him and cuddle him yet and worried for his safety. We have checked out of the hospital and have returned home. It was hard to leave Nate there but we were happy to get home to Adrienne as well. Adrienne was able to peek at her brother through the NICU window, although I'm not sure how much she understands. She did point to my belly and say "Where?" as she has gotten used to patting and kissing it. She was a hit with all the nurses at the hospital, talking their ears off and showing them headstands. We will go back to the hospital to visit Nate during visiting hours and bring him much-needed milk for strength. We will do our best to keep you updated on everything going on on this end. Thanks to everyone for your messages and requests for pictures! We appreciated every message, even if we didn't get back to you right away.  

So, without further ado, here are some pictures of Ignatius. I did get to hold him for a little bit post birth, and I assure you that he is a very handsome guy.  Look at all that hair!

  

It's Time

I think its time for a special arrival. We'll keep you posted. Pray for us!

Baby Bump

We, or rather, I decided at some point in this pregnancy that I wanted to document this baby bump in photos. I kind of wanted to do it with Adrienne as well, but we just never got around to it. Regis is a good sport and was willing to go along with this plan, although he did make a decent argument about what the heck we are going to do with the photos? He's right in some ways, I don't know what I will do with the photos. Probably show them to my son someday to prove that he is my biological offspring, because I'm sure there will come a day that he is convinced that he is not related to someone so lame as myself. But for all the hassles and inconveniences of pregnancy I joke about, there is something so incredible about harboring a tiny human soul in your body that makes you want to remember the experience. 

If you are sensitive to big round bellies, I advise you to click away from this post immediately. If not, enjoy. These were taken by a fellow North American in Singapore, Breanna Harrold, who photographs over at Cecelia Smiles. Check her out.  Here are a few photos from the day: