Milestones...

It was back to the pediatrician today for a weight check...we made it back up to birth weight and then some! Hooray! Noah weighed in at 7 lbs on the nose! This is a major accomplishment for a little guy who was only 5 lbs 14 oz around a week ago! We are continuing with a combination of breast feeding and formula feeding...a long and emotional saga that I won't got into huge detail here on the blog. Here is a picture from this morning... Noah is pretty content here lying on mom's legs with a full tummy:



Tomorrow, I head to my OB to get my blood pressure checked. Hopefully, the high blood pressure that accompanied the pre-eclampsia and Noah's early entrance into the world has passed and I will get a clean bill of health. There is a chance that the pre-eclampsia will turn into long-term hypertension, but we are praying against that. I am anxious to take some pictures of Noah in to show Teri, the nurse who walked me through my many pre-natal visits to the office.

Sleep is coming in slightly larger chunks of late (knock on wood)... Noah's feeding schedule has been such that we feed him around 11pm, again at 2:30 am, and then make it to morning. I am certainly not going to complain about 2-3 hours periods of sleep, considering we had many nights that first week that I slept no more than 20 minutes at a time!

We have also decided that Noah is a "cluster pooper". Never heard of that term before? We coined it ourselves. Apparently, some babies like to "cluster feed," that is, eat every hour or so for several hours and then go for long stretches without eating. Noah does this, except with pooping! He will go for more than 24 for hours with only wet diapers, then, all of a sudden, a series of explosions happen... sometimes as many as four in a row over a couple of hours! Amazing, really. Things you never knew about parenthood.

Power Outage

I will be the first to admit that be a first-time mom is NOT easy. They send you home with this little bundle of joy and expect that you somehow know what you are supposed to do with him.

If you are really lucky, he comes home jaundiced and you have to somehow convince him that he wants to lie on a bili-bed, glowing in purple light, surrounded by a rough sheet that closes with velcro, only to be held when it is feeding time. And, if you are really, really lucky, your neighborhood will get hit by a wicked storm that will knock out power for 24 hours when your little guy is just a week old and your husband is out of town. It is an adventure changing a diaper and feeding at 2am -- even more so when you are doing it by the light of a $4 battery-powered lantern and your house is a balmy 85 degrees inside.

Fortunately for me, my parents were in town and staying at our house during this whole escapade (they are my heroes)... and, as the saying goes, "this too shall pass"... Noah is over his jaundice and the evil bili-bed has been sent back to the abyss from which it came, the power is back on and I can once again see when Noah decides that pooping in his diaper is just not as much fun as pooping all over mommy. We can be thankful that our house did not sustain any damage unlike many of the other houses in Webster Groves. And Daddy is back from his volleyball adventures, which makes Mommy REALLY happy.

Noah is one week old!!

If only he always looked this peaceful!

Observations of a new mom...

1 baby creates more laundry than two grown adults.

Just like his dad

Josh tends to sleep with his arms up over his head... and Noah seems to be just like his dad. Noah is sleeping on his light bed here, which he doesn't like very much. Every once in a while he gets into a deep enough sleep that we can slip him on to it without his noticing!

We're home!

At long last, we returned home yesterday (8/19) and began to settle in to life outside of the hospital. This has been somewhat complicated by the fact that Noah has developed some jaundice and has to be on a light bed anytime he is not feeding. He is hanging in there and hopefully we can get rid of the light bed by the end of the week!

Here are a few more pictures from the last few days...

Noah and Daddy:


Noah's "going home" outfit (a little big, you think?):


Safely tucked into his car seat:

Sometimes Noah looks a little worried...

...like this.

A few more pictures...

At some point tomorrow, it is my goal to get some pictures of Noah in clothes that do not belong to the hospital... but until then, here are a few I snapped today once we finally got moved into a recovery room.

You may not be able to tell from this picture, but Noah has some pretty big feet!


Noah seems to like to sleep with his hands up by his face-his hands here are trapped inside the overly long sleeves of his shirt!


Dad was busy taking pictures yesterday (some none too flattering of me)...so I finally managed to snap one of him!

Welcome to the world, Noah Jackson Lauer!

The entire saga will have to wait for another post as I simply don't have the energy yet to record it... but here is the brief version. Noah Jackson Lauer arrived in the world at 4:23am on August 17th. He weighed 6 lbs 7 oz and measured at least 20in long in his dad's approximation.

Noah's journey began when I went to my doctor's appointment on Thursday at 1:30, only to find out that I was in the beginning stages of a nasty disorder called preeclampsia. Because I was already full-term, my doctor decided it was wisest to induce due to the potential dangers to my health... including seizures and liver damage. Yikes!

So, with many thanks to God's provision for my safety and Noah's, we welcomed him into the world and our little family.

Here he is:


Here is mom and Noah, talking on the phone to Grandma Reckase:

Stay tuned...

Little Lauer is on his way!!!

The baby's room...

A few parts of the baby's room are still a work in progress -- the well loved rocking chair will be replaced in the next few weeks by a swivel/glider/recliner and I still want to add some touches to the walls -- but all the practical aspects are in place and ready for little Lauer to arrive! Which is good as the countdown is 10 days!

Happy Anniversary!

Happy 39th Anniversay to my parents!

1/2 cm at a time

Little Lauer seems to be making his way into the world 1/2 cm at a time... not the fastest entrance, but who am I to complain? 2 weeks ago at my doctor's appointment, I was 1/2 cm dilated. Last week, I was 1 cm and this week (yesterday) I was 1 1/2 cm dilated. Slowly, but surely.

Josh and I are both hoping for a early delivery...although we are prepared for anything. Josh is consumed by his collegiate volleyball pre-season right now (2 weeks of 2 a day practices)--the day after the baby is due he is supposed to be leaving with the team for Joplin, Missouri and the first pre-season tournament. Unless the baby comes early, everyone (us, the team, his assistant coaches, the athletic dept) is prepared for him NOT to go to that tournament. This is particularly tough because that first tournament includes 4 regional matches... the results of which will affect the team's NCAA rankings. Worst case scenario is that we sit around waiting for me to go into labor that weekend and nothing happens... no baby and no tournament. Stinky. Hopefully that will not happen. I set Aug 27th as an induction date with my doctor... so if little Lauer has not arrived in the world by 5 days after my due date, we will encourage him along at that point! Not the ideal, but at least there is a firm end in sight!

Wishing the Cardinals were as hot at the weather...

In spite of excessive heat warnings in the St. Louis area, we ventured out to the Cardinals game tonight. Josh got the tickets free from UMSL...they were for the Coca-Cola Patio, which meant free food as well as a pretty sweet view of the field. You know it is hot when one of the concession stand workers brought me a wet cloth full of ice cubes to put around my neck! The Cardinals lost, by the way, although it was quite the pitching duel for the first 6 innings or so.

Everyone says I look great for being two weeks out from the due date, but all I see when I look at this pic is swelling! We are hoping for an early delivery (last week I was 1cm dilated and 75% effaced), but obviously only time will tell!

What the future holds...

It has been a busy summer for the couples in our small group. The Snyder's son, AJ, is approaching his first birthday... the Cobbs welcomed their son, Micah, into the world in May... the Scotts are expecting their daughter, Sophia, to arrive any day now... and we, of course, will add our own baby to the bunch sometime in the next few weeks.

Needless to say, our growing families have prevented us from gathering quite as often as we are used to... so three of the four couples gathered last night for an impromptu BBQ. It was fun to catch up and see what our future holds... Micah is 10 weeks and AJ is 11 months!

Baby lunch at UMSL

Josh's co-workers in the athletic department were gracious enough to host a lunch/baby shower for us on Wednesday... Josh was thrilled with the Mexican food served at lunch as he has decided that it is bumpy roads and spicy foods until the baby comes (his collegiate volleyball season starts the day after the baby is due)! We also got some great necessities for the baby's room (including a diaper cake!) and a stuffed bear Josh seems pretty attached to...

The dog days of summer

Josh and I like dogs but know that our lifestyle is not conducive to having one of our own. Many ask us what we will do when little Lauer begs us for a dog... our answer? Take them to grandma and grandpa's house! Josh's parents have two scotties, Brody and Tavish (aka Pudgy), who now live in St. Louis... here is candid of Brody.

Showered...

Some of my good girlfriends threw me a baby shower over the weekend... it was quite a whirlwind, with family in from out of town as well as a double celebration of my birthday on the same day as the shower. I definitely felt "showered" with love from all who were there... and little Lauer will be well equipped when he decides to enter the world! (No new updates on WHEN that will be... I was 1/2 cm dilated at my last appointment on the 26th... we'll see if I've made any more progress after my appointment tomorrow!)

Here are some pics from the shower...

Margaret, Molly and I study a book designed to prepare Josh to be a dad in the style of an old boy scout manual. And I suppose this is a good "belly shot" for those who haven't seen me in a while...


This is a quilt my mom made for the baby -- you may not be able to make out the detail, but the fabric has pictures of Noah and the animals from the ark. Very cute.


The gals: Dena, me, Nicole, and Gina