Thursday, September 25, 2008

Goodness, I'm terrible at updating!



It's been almost two weeks since I have updated our blog and I do apologize...things have been pretty busy and pretty hectic around the house with a newborn and lots of company in and out.

I went to see my OB last Friday and she said my incision was healing very well so my fall down the stairs didn't hurt the incision...just my rear end...but there's still much cushion so it didn't hurt too bad! ;)

My mom (Mimi) left us to go back to Texarkana on the 19th and Graham and I miss her tons! I know she misses Graham a lot too! She calls all of the time and wants to talk to him...it's so cute cause when I put the phone to his ear and he hears Mimi's voice, he turns his head to look at the phone. He's probably so confused, thinking, "My mimi is a phone?? She sure looks different!" ha!

Chad's best friend, Chad Darnell and his girlfriend, Lindsey flew down from Pennsylvania last Friday and stayed the night with us. We didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with them because they had a lot of family stuff to do but it was great to see Darnell (that's what I call him since he's Chad too) and to meet his GF Lindsey.

Then my Dad (Grandpa....how original, huh? ha!) and his fiancee, Cheryl, drove down from Sacramento, California and arrived here Monday to meet Graham. It was so nice to have them here. Cheryl and Dad cooked a lot of food for us to freeze so we definitely won't have to worry about cooking for a WHILE!! We appreciate that soooo much! They left this morning around 7am to head back...but they are supposed to stop in Vegas on Saturday to get married! We will see if they do or not...they seem to chicken out at the last minute quite a bit! ;) They've had their wedding bands for 5 months now!! Committment issues?!?! I told them they better do it or I'm going to call them and "bock" at them a lot!


Graham is just growing by the minute! He is already developing such a personality and he seems to be pretty high maintenance so far! He didn't get that from me, I PROMISE!!! ha! He does like to be pampered like his momma though! I love to watch him while he sleeps cause he makes the cutest faces! The other night he was fast asleep in his swing and it was bath night so I had to get him out of his swing and he never woke up during the bath...he just kept on sleeping and puckering his lips. I'll post a pic of it! It's adorable!!

Not much is going on! All of our company has now left and it's just Graham and I until Daddy gets home...but daddy hasn't been getting home til 9-10pm every night. This new U-Verse program that AT&T launched has all of those guys out working so late. And he is still working 6 days a week. He will have to do that for at least another 6 months to a year. :( I know Chad is hating it too since he doesn't get to see Graham very much. So we have made Sunday's (Chad's ONLY day off) Daddy and Graham day.

Also, please pray for my brother Steven. He is a Captain in the U.S. Army and is stationed in Mosul, Iraq and earlier this week they were hit with an IED and one of his Iraqi soldiers was killed and several were wounded. The one that was killed has a wife who is 8 months pregnant. I pray for him numerous times a day every day and hope that he is being watched over and protected. I hate this war but I know it's what has to be done right now and we can't just pull all of our troops out until they have accomplished what they set out to do. I'm very proud of my brother and all of our other soldiers who sacrifice their lives for others freedoms. They are all TRUE heroes!

Well, I've babbled enough so I'll go for now! Sorry this was a pretty boring post! Hopefully there will be more excitement next time! Not much to say about newborns when they just eat, sleep and poop! :)

Monday, September 15, 2008

Graham is 10 days old today!!

Graham taking a nap in our bed
First Bath
He loves his swing!
His first pediatrician appt.

He's already growing up so fast!!! 10 days old!!!!!!! Makes me want to cry! We had his first pediatrician appt today with Dr. R at the LR Pedi Clinic and Graham did so great! Except for having two poopie diapers while we were there. This lil baby poops so stinkin much it's not even funny! All he does is Sleep, Eat and Poop. Dr. R said that he looks great and is doing great! He is back up to his birth weight and then a couple of more oz. He weighs 6lbs. 13ozs. We will go back in a month for his 2nd Hep. B shot.



Everything has been so great with Graham. He is such a good baby! Some nights he will keep us up because he's gassy and will be fussy but for the most part, he sleeps really well at night...he's up every 3 - 4 hours for diaper change and feeding.



Last Wednesday, Graham had his first bath...we were going to wait until Thursday to give it to him...BUT when we were changing his diaper, he decided to pee all over mommy. Chad was in the bedroom helping me change him and it was SOOOOO hilarious! I wish I could have had a video of it. Then Friday, Graham had an explosive poopie diaper that made it out of his diaper and onto mommy's nightgown and boppy pillow. My poor baby! But at least he is pooping good is what the dr. said. ha!



Not much else is going on right now. Last night I fell down the steps that lead down to our laundry room...good thing that I landed on my hiney but now my incision is hurting pretty bad. I hope I didn't tear anything. Guess I will find out Friday when I go to my OB appt. I'll let you all know how it goes!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Announcing the arrival of Benjamin "Graham" Neipling!!

OUR FAMILYDaddy and Graham
Mommy and Graham...not even 24 hours old yet...
Here's Graham...3 days old
Daddy had this stork ordered announcing Graham's arrival!

He's Here!!! He's Here!!! Graham arrived Friday, September 5, 2008 at 6:27pm after a Long and complicated labor and delivery BUT he was and is TOTALLY worth everything that we went through for him to get here!



He weighed 6lbs. 11oz and 19 inches long...


Okay, so where in the world do I start??

In the previous post, I told you guys that we were to be induced on Thursday, the 4th at 7:30am. Well, that didn't quite go according to the plan.

I didn't sleep at ALL Tuesday night or Wednesday night cause I was so excited about having Graham...PLUS, Chad and I ran errands all day Tuesday in the POURING RAIN...IN and OUT...IN and OUT of the car so I also developed a TERRIBLE head cold. And I mean TERRIBLE!! So back to the no sleeping part...I decided to finally get out of bed around 4am Thursday morning and start getting ready and finish packing all of our bags...I finish getting ready around 5:30am and decide to lie on the couch since I'm feeling like total POOP. 6:00am, the phone rings and it's the charge clerk at the hospital telling me not to come in at 7:30am because they don't have a room for me and for me to call them back at 9am to see when I can come in. In a way, I am kinda glad and hope that they move me to Friday since I am so sick and VERY EXTREMELY tired but then again, very disappointed because we really want to have him Thursday. So, I decide to take a nap and get as much rest as I can. I call them back at 9am they CAN get me in but it won't be until 1pm BUT it won't be my dr. delivering and they talked with Dr. H and she told them that she really would like for me to come Friday because she really wanted to be the one to deliver Graham. That meant a lot to me that she cared about us to want to be the one to deliver him so I agree to wait until Friday...so Friday at 7am is what they tell me.

So, Friday rolls around and I am feeling really good! Mom got me some really good cold medicine and I also got some really great sleep the night before so we make it to the hospital around 6:40am to check in. We all go to the Labor and Delivery waiting room and pick up the phone to tell them we are there to check in. The charge nurse tells me that my appt isn't until 8am...I WAS LIKE WHAT?!?! Well, I am certainly glad that I got the memo (sarcastic) because the other charge nurse said 7am!!!! Everyone (Chad, Mom, Greg, and Mary are all with me) is a little frustrated especially since we didn't get to do it on Thursday but I just decide to be nice and let it go and say Okay, we will wait. Even though I was FUMING inside, I didn't let the nurse know because I didn't want to make anyone mad at me since they will have mine and Graham's life in their hands.

8:10am rolls around and they still haven't called for us so Chad picks up the phone to call the desk. A nurse finally comes and gets us and says, "I'm so sorry, it's my fault...I was supposed to come and get you a while back and totally forgot." I had to seriously bite my tongue HARD...

So, they get me started in my room and run my IV at 8:30am. Dr. H arrives to see me around 8:45am and tells me that I am dilated to a 4 which is GREAT and she then breaks my water. Talk about a very uncomfortable feeling especially when it just keeps on trickling out through the day...Felt like I was constantly peeing myself. I start feeling contractions shortly after so nurse Caitlyn, who by the way was TOTALLY AWESOME, gives me Stadol (pain meds) because I didn't want to get the epidural quite yet...that Stadol totally KNOCKED ME OUT!!! Which is fine because unbeknownst to me at the time, I was going to need the rest and all of the energy possible for what was about to come.

They give me the Pitocin at 10am to REALLY bring on the contractions and help get me dilated further. Man, that stuff is no joke cause I immediately told them to get the nurse anesthetist cause I want my epidural ASAP! At 11:02am, I get my epidural and life is great...I'm dilating so fast that they take me OFF of the pitocin to try to slow everything down since my dr is delivering two babies and also will have to do an emergency c-section. So, at 1:40pm I'm dilated to a 9 and 100% effaced and Caitlyn tells me that she's going to have me start pushing soon. OH WOW!! I can't believe it's time!! All day long we kept hoping that I would have him by 3pm because my best friend Tabatha who lives in Hope (2 hrs. away) had been there with us all morning and afternoon and she had to leave at 3pm so she could get home to pick her kiddos up...We thought I wouldn't be pushing for long at all since my nurse and my doctor kept saying that I am dilating so fast and that he was so low and yada yada yada and that had us all excited. I really wanted Tab to be able to meet Graham before she had to leave.

So I start pushing at 2:00pm and everything is going great! I'm pushing really well and they can see Graham's full head of black hair...So I just keep pushing and pushing and pushing AND pushing and NOTHING. He's only coming out so much. And then it happens. I start feeling the contractions...HARD contractions and they are TERRIBLE!!! The only place I can feel them is on my front and back left side. OH MY!!!!!!!!!!!! is all I can say about that...it's terrible...absolutely HORRIBLE!! Not only is that hurting but so is the spot in between my shoulder blades from having to lift up and curl my chest in over my belly as I'm pushing. I start having major spasms in my upper back/shoulders that the pain is overwhelming the pain of the contractions. They give me 3 or 4 epidurals or stronger doses (however that works...I wasn't paying attention, I was just screaming for MORE MORE MORE!!!!). And the labor pains STILL won't go away! They finally have me switch labor positions and that didn't work too well either because they had me propped up facing the bed and sitting/squatting on my legs and my legs start turning blue cause they are DEAD...can't feel them what so ever and plus at that point, there were a total of probably 7 people in my room (doc, nurses, anesthesiologist, etc.) and there's just so much chaos going on. So they get me back to the position to where I am laying on my back but I just can't do it anymore because the spasms in between my shoulders are distracting me from pushing. Yes, I am THAT girl that you can hear screaming and crying because the pain was HORRIFIC...to those ladies who have had their babies naturally with no pain relief, I COMMEND YOU!!! Dr. H also realized that Graham was facing up and his chin was getting caught on my pelvis and he couldn't make it through there so the entire time I was pushing, she was hoping that he would turn over and come out face down. Well, it never happened. So after almost 3 hours of pushing, she decided that we needed to do a c-section. She could tell how exhausted and how much pain I was in plus because of the position that Graham was in, she couldn't extract him with a vacuum or forceps. We were just devastated that we had to do a c-section...it was very VERY emotional for us but we had to do what we had to do because Graham wasn't coming out without the surgery. I was so nervous during the entire pushing process because I was so worried that Graham was in distress since I was...but he wasn't...they said that he was just as happy as he could be in there...I can't thank my mom and Chad enough for being there for me and being a part of the labor (they were my leg holders! ha). They were such awesome coaches but I did have to tell them to stop after a while because they were distracting me with one being in each ear and then I have the nurse and Dr. H coaching as well. It was just too much for me to deal with at the time...

They prepped me and Chad for the operating room and wheeled us in there...I was pretty miserable the entire time because not only was I so doped up from all of the pain medication and epidurals during the pushing, but they also had to medicate me MORE before the surgery cause I could STILL feel my left side...Dr. H would pinch me and I could feel it...What made me miserable was that all of the meds had me shaking uncontrollably and that dang blood pressure cuff would squeeze my arm so hard and tight every few minutes that I just wanted to cry!!! I still have bruises from the cuff.

But then, at 6:27am I heard the cries of our healthy baby boy and then she showed him to me and I lost it...seeing his beautiful face for the first time brought this overwhelming feeling of absolute unconditional love and completeness to me. (Gosh, I'm balling right now just talking and thinking about it!)

So, that is the story of our labor and delivery.

We were supposed to be able to leave early on Monday, the 8th but Graham had jaundice while we were in the hospital and his bilirubin levels were high since his liver isn't mature enough to break down his red bloods cells as fast as they are being produced so they had to start phototherapy on him and they said we would have to stay another night if not two. Thankfully they were able to do it in our room, but I cried and cried and cried when they put him in the incubator looking thing. I was just so sad that I couldn't hold him in my arms except to breastfeed. I fed him every 30 min by breast feeding but then Chad would feed him afterwards with a 15ml syringe mix of formula and my breast milk that I had to pump in between feedings. The nurses came around 4pm to take him to test his bilirubin levels to see if they had dropped (his count was 14.7 and they wanted it as low as 12.) and in the meantime, we had to move to another room. So mom and I moved to the other room we were going to stay in while Chad ran some errands that I needed done. Right as we were settling into our new room, my nurse came in with the wonderful news! His bilirubin levels dropped to 12 and we could go home!!! We were so excited!!! I absolutely DID NOT want to stay any more nights in that place! 3 nights was definitely enough!!

We greatly appreciate all of the nurses and doctors that took care of us during our stay! Everyone was just absolutely wonderful and it really did make our stay a pleasant one while we were there!

Also a big thanks to our families and to our friends (Tabatha, Jennifer and Trent, Shauntel, Jessica, Kari, Mandi and baby Cole, Amy S., Micah and Morgan, Wes and Davis) and to my boss Butch Calhoun and his girlfriend Donna and Chad's bosses Debbie and Bill for visiting us and for the beautiful flowers and stuffed animals! We are truly blessed!!

There have been a lot of people who would like to come by the house to meet Graham and we would love to have you anytime!!! Please come by! Just don't expect Mommy to look well rested and put together!

We are home now and Graham's Mimi (my mom) will be with us until the 19th and it's been so nice having her here to help us out. She lets me nap and get work and other things done when I need the time...She's been cooking and cleaning and grocery shopping and all that good stuff! Graham loves having his Mimi around!

We are adjusting really well with a new baby. So far so good...now it may be a different story once Mimi leaves but right now everything is great! I've been having to skip the feeding schedule and just feed him when he is hungry because of the jaundice...they want him to eat as much as possible so he can get his bilirubin count down by excreting it through his stools. They also want him to sunbathe in front of the windows as much as possible...it's been a lil hard to do since it's been cloudy but where there is a will, there's a way! ;)

Sorry all of this is so scattered and my grammar and spelling is terrible but I'm trying to get this done!

Leave comments! We LOVE comments! :)

Love,

Stephanie, Chad and Graham

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

37 weeks and...WE ARE HAVING A BABY THIS WEEK!!!!



OH MY GOODNESS!!! We are so excited and so nervous!!! I wasn't supposed to have my weekly appt until Thursday but Chad is off today so I called Dr. H's office this morning to see if we could get in today and we were lucky!! Our appt was at 2pm but didn't see her until 3:15pm because she had to deliver a baby. So, we do the normal urine test and then Julie (the nurse) takes my weight and blood pressure. My BP is high at 140/90 but she says that the doc will probably want to take it again after she checks my cervix. We finally get to see Dr. H and I am dilated to 3cm and I am 80% effaced. At this point she isn't talking about inducing or anything of the such...she just tells me to let Julie check my BP again...so Julie checks my blood pressure and again it's high. So Dr. H says, "So, how to do feel about having a baby later this week?" WOW!! That just smacked us in the face! OF COURSE WE ARE READY!!! BRING IT ON!! TODAY IF THAT'S GOOD FOR YOU!!! ha! So she leaves us to call Labor and Delivery and comes back minutes later and says, "How about 7:30am Thursday morning?" WOW!!! We are still in shock and really cannot believe that we will have our precious Graham by this weekend. We are at home and our minds are just racing and we honestly just don't know what to do with ourselves. We are so excited and so nervous and so scatterbrained. But I'm glad that we were able to schedule it. SO.....that's the update!! I will do my best to try to stay in touch with everyone the best that I can but you just never know how hectic it will be. You guys can always call us and we will get in touch with you as soon as we can!