Samuel's Newborn Photos

Samuel - 2 Week Update

Height: 21.5 inches - 90%
Weight: 7 lb 10 oz - 34% You gained 14 ounces in 1 week since we saw Dr. Mary the first time which is awesome!!
Head Circumference: 14.5 inches - 84%
Vision: I don't think you see much these days. I think you see some shapes and things up close, but the vision takes a little while to come in.
Movement: Obviously we won't have much to report in this category for a while. When you lay on your playmat you do roll on your side, but it will be a few months before you really roll. Good thing though because you love to sleep swaddled nice and tight and once you roll those swaddles are bye bye.
Eating Habits/New Foods: You eat every 2.5 - 3 hours. You latched wonderfully and breastfeeding has gone really well. The only problem we have is my milk comes in too fast and you often choke. Well once you choke and get some air in your throat we have to stop and burp you before you will eat again. It takes some work to get you to burp too! At night I usually get one 4 hour stretch and then you are back to eating every 3 hours. I don't think this schedule is going to change anytime soon!
Sleeping Patterns: You are still so new that sleep encompasses most of your day. Your nighttime is about 9 pm to 9 am. You mainly sleep with the few times you get up to eat, burp, or be changed. Then from 9-11ish you are awake and just hang out. You take a good 1-2 hour nap around 11 and then another good 1-2 hour nap around 2 or 3. You will cat nap throughout the day in between feedings too. Your longest sleep stretch is 4 hours right now.
Sounds/Words: You were so quite the first few days of life. You have found your voice though and when you are upset, you have a nice loud cry.
New discoveries/accomplishments:
-You are adjusting to life on the outside. Getting dragged around lots of places and having to go with the flow while we take your sisters to school, sports, and everything in between.
Places you went/Adventures: You met lots of new people over the past 2 weeks. You have been to the Dr. twice and have been cleared to come back at 2 months for your shots. You met my middle school girls at church, you went to Mom 2 Mom, and BSF. You pretty much just hang in your carseat while we are out and about. It's nice to keep you covered so you don't get sick. We are praying you stay healthy till atleast 3 months.
Clothes: You are in newborn clothes. The 0-3 outfits are too big for your skinny little body! We did just move you up to size 1 diapers though since your little belly is getting large. You are going to be tall and skinny just like your big sis Delainey!
Sisters update: Your sisters are obsessed with you. They want to hug you, kiss you, watch everything I do with you. It is very sweet. Of course when we got home, they both had a cough so I tried my best to keep them away but they are much better so they are getting a little more involved with you. We are trying to just kiss feet and the top of the head. I am being super crazy too about them doing hand sanitizer and nose spray after school to keep everyone healthy. If there is one concern it is you getting sick. I hate that until you are 3 months if you get a fever of 100.4 or higher you go straight to the ER and get a spinal tap. So I would love prayers from everyone that he stays nice and healthy. Other that we are doing great! We are loving all our snuggles with you and just trying to cherish you this tiny. I know you will be a grown boy in no time and I want to remember this time forever! We love you Sammy!

Part 2 of Birth Story

Guys I am so sorry I forgot to come back and post about Day 2 of our hospital stay! Gram reminded me yesterday that I never did it! Whoops! So anyways our first night in the hospital was good and the next morning I finally took a shower and felt like a normal human being. The family came by again that morning and then Pops and Gram came bringing our 55" TV. LOL The college football playoffs were on and we didn't have ESPN on our tv. So Dave hooked up the iPad to the huge tv and we watched football all day and just lived the dream.

Then the fun really began. At about 9 pm, the fire alarm started going off on our floor. We didn't think much about it and Dave went and peeked his head out in the hallway to see what was going on. The nurse said its just a drill don't worry about it. So we continued hanging out watching football. About 5 minutes later a very flustered nurse came in and said I was wrong it is not a drill there is a fire downstairs grab as much stuff as you can you need to evacuate. Get whatever is important to you." Well clearly all I cared about was my baby! She said I needed to carry him with me and head to the stairs as fast as possible. So I grabbed my purse, phone, diaper bag and shoved it all in my rolling suit case. Dave grabbed his work bag and that was really all we needed. So he carried my bag, I carried Samuel and down we were herded out some back hallways to outside of the hospital. The hospital is by no means in a safe area so I was freaking out that someone pulled the alarm and is trying to steal a baby or something. We asked to go sit in our car, but they wanted us to all stay together. Dave wanted to just disappear and go home. LOL Luckily there really was an electrical fire on the first floor and there was about 12 fire trucks around the corner putting it out. The poor nurses were so flustered and had no clue what to do because this has never really happened. After about 30 minutes, they wised up and moved us into the waiting room of the Children's hospital so we atleast were inside and able to sit down. I felt so bad looking around at the other ladies. I was day 2 post partum so I was moving around fine. Some just had babies, some still had epidurals and couldn't walk and were in wheel chairs, and some hadn't had their babies yet and were in active labor. I would have died if I was having contractions while sitting downstairs with no meds! Luckily it only took about an hour to get the all clear, and we were able to go back up to our room. It was quite the adventure though and we surely will never forget Sammy's 2nd day of life. We joked that someone saw Dave carry in a huge TV and they were going to steal it during the fire. LOL Only my husband would bring the queen air mattress and TV to the hospital.

The next morning Dr. Garcia came by and did his circumcision and then we got the all clear to head home. We were out of the hospital by noon and off we went. Gram brought the girls home shortly after we arrived and off live began as a family of 5!

Luckily he is a phenomenal chill baby so it hasn't been too hard to adjust. It also is very helpful that I don't require much sleep. If I get a 4 hour stretch at night I feel pretty good so we are all doing well with the adjustment. We love him so much and can't imagine life without him!

Samuel David McLaughlin is here! (Birth Story)

December 28th, 2018 - Eviction Day

So when you are being induced, you have to call the hospital at 6 am to make sure they have room for you since it is an elective procedure. I think the possibility of them not having room gave me the most anxiety of the whole day! So I woke up at 5:30 hopped in the shower and then called the hospital. Of course the nurse said actually we are pretty full so why don't you call back at 7:30 and see if anything opens up. I about had a heart attack! I pleaded my case that this is an IVF baby and have been doing weekly stress tests and he really needs to come out today. She told me to call back at 7 when the day nurse manager arrived to see if she could find space for me. I said ok and sat down to wait. Well at 6 am I went to text Dr. Garcia  to see if he could pull any strings and the sweet nurse called me back at the same time. She said why don't you just show up at 7:30 and we will find a room for you. God bless that sweet nurse! We were still a go for the induction! Phew!

So we arrived, got situated in our room, got my IV and started the pitocin to make some contractions happen. At 9 am, Dr. Garcia came in and broke my water to get things moving. I was still only 2 cm dilated. I chose not to get my epidural yet, because I wanted things to get moving along in case it slowed down my contractions. We kept upping the pitocin every 30 minutes and slowly I started feeling things. By 10:45, I was at about a level 5 contraction wise so I decided lets get my epidural before things get too bad and it takes a hour to get an anesthesiologist in. So the epidural was placed and things slowly but surely got better! This epidural was different than my other 2 though because I could still feel pressure and tell when I was having contractions. The past 2 times, I couldn't move my legs or feel a thing! At 11:30 I was 3 cm and was having contractions every 2-3 minutes. At 1:30, I was up to 4 cm. Moving along slowly but surely... Then at 3:00, I was 6 cm. I was thinking ok things are starting to pick up maybe we will have a baby by 5-6 o'clock. Then the real fun began.

I was feeling way more than I would like to contraction wise and pressure wise. I kept asking the nurses should I feel this much and they kept telling me yes it is fine you want to feel some stuff just not pain. Well at 3:15 I started feeling lots of pressure like I had to poop. I knew that usually meant baby was ready, but I was just 6 cm 15 minutes ago so I couldn't possibly be ready. I had them check anyway and I was up to 8 cm. I told them I need more meds and they went to get an extra dose of what my epidural contained for my last few minutes and pushes. Of they went and 10 minutes later, I kept telling the fam, guys I really think this baby is going to come out of me. So again I called the nurses in, she checked me again and said, Yep we are ready to have a baby you are 10 cm! So they called Dr. Garcia to come down and I got my bolus. I surely didn't feel any pain get better but Sammy was ready to come whether I was ready or not. So Garcia showed up and I started pushing. I felt majority of what was happening so I said lets keep pushing instead of stopping in between sets to breathe. 4 short pushes and 2 minutes later, there he was. He had the cord wrapped around his neck once so Garcia unwrapped that quickly and put him up on my chest. He was a nice shade of blue, but he turned pink shortly after off they took him to do his check up. 

I only needed 2 stitches and all was good to go! Samuel was born at 3:55 weighing at 7 pounds 2 ounces and was 21.5 inches long. He scored a 9 on the Apgar test and all looked great! I couldn't believe he was finally here and we were holding our precious son! 

After Samuel was born, we were moved upstairs to the postpartum area and we got a dynamite room thanks to my friend Jessica who works at the hospital. The girls came and met their brother and were instantly so in love!

Stay tuned for the story of our 2nd day in the hospital.