Otto's First Birthday

Otto is one year old today! We had a little party for him this weekend, and he had an amazing time.

Otto took his first steps on November 9! In the two and a half weeks since, he's become pretty fast, but he still prefers to crawl when he wants to get somewhere quickly. (I will have to get a video soon.)

6 months flies by!

6 months has just flown by! We've been so busy with Otto, going back to work, and everything else. I really mean to keep better track of everything and update this -- so Otto can read it some day.

Otto is such a ball of energy. He started crawling at five-and-a-half months, which the books all say is early, but not too unusual. Now that he's moving, he's pretty unstoppable.

I went back to work right before Otto's four-month birthday. The transition was made easier because Nathan's company started giving dads parental leave, so Nathan got to take ten whole weeks. Their Daddy-Otto time was such a blessing; they took lots of walks in the stroller to the local beer garden, trips to Home Depot, and did work in the garden together.

During my maternity leave, Otto and I spent lots of time going for very long walks. It was a little difficult, since he was a winter baby, but we made an effort to get out of the house every day. He spent lots of time all bundled up in his stroller.

Very bundled. (January 8)

We had a huge snowstorm in January that shut everything down for a week. Lots of the side streets in our neighborhood didn't get plowed for five days. At the time, I really wished Otto was old enough to enjoy the snow, since all the neighborhood kids seemed to be having a great time. Lots of amazing snow forts, and we live near some great sledding hills. But I know there will be other blizzards for Otto to enjoy in the future.

Snow mountain in front of our house.

Now that Nathan and I are both back to work, we found an in-home daycare that Otto absolutely loves. It's very close to home, and the ladies that work there are all smitten with him. He really loves spending time with new people -- he has no separation anxiety at all (fingers crossed that it stays that way).

Otto just got over his first serious cold. He was home from daycare for an entire week, and both Nathan and I got sick, too. On top of everything, the same weekend that Otto was his sickest, he cut his first tooth. We were very excited for him, but wow, did it make him grumpy. We've been trying baby-led weening with him (which is when babies eat adult food instead of purees), and he has already learned to use the tooth when he eats his vegetables!

And now we teeth on everything! (June 17)

Otto's Birth Story

Since Otto arrived on November 29, I've been meaning to write a post about Otto's birth. Now that he's been here eight (!!) weeks, it feels long past due. I want to get something up while it's still at least a little fresh in my mind.

Nathan and I had a very quiet Thanksgiving this year; we spent the afternoon at our favorite vegetarian restaurant. On Black Friday, we worked on painting our master bathroom, and we stayed away from the mall. A little before 2:30am that night (Saturday morning), I woke up to very strong contractions. Not knowing how long labor might last, we tried to go back to sleep to get more rest. I got out of bed at around 6am and started puttering around the house. I took a long shower, and finally finished packing my hospital bag (yes, I procrastinated until the absolute last possible moment). All the while, Nathan was timing my contractions and reminding me of the breathing techniques we'd learned in lamaze class.

We were making progress very slowly, so we decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood. The weather was clear and beautiful, it seemed like a great date to have a baby. We came home and watched the annual UVA/VT football game. (It was close, but Tech won again (of course)) By around 5pm, my contractions were about three minutes apart, so Nathan called my doctor's practice.

The doctor who happened to be on called was Dr. Owen, who was brand new to the practice, and happened to be the only doctor in the practice that I never met during my pregnancy. I talked to her about how I was feeling, and she agreed that it was time for us to come to the hospital. We were so excited that it was time to meet our baby!

After a very uncomfortable drive to the hospital, I got checked by the nurses. I was only three centimeters dilated. Because my water hadn't broken yet, Dr. Owen said it would be okay for us to go back and try to make a little more progress at home. I would much rather be at home than in a hospital, so Nathan and I packed up and left. More than a little disappointing; I was very anxious for the big event!

We returned home and tried to rest, but it my contractions were definitely kicked up a notch. Nathan went to get me some egg drop soup. I continued to move around to different positions and things were progressing, but I was very tired and couldn't get comfortable. As my contractions progressed, I started vomiting with every contraction, which, in addition to being hilarious, made me very dehydrated. Though my contractions were further apart, we called the doctor again at around 3am, and she asked us to come back to the hospital.

After another tough drive to the hospital (even worse than the first time, ha), the nurses examined me and I was six centimeters dilated. Still a long way to go, but I was ready to be admitted to the hospital. They got me hooked up to IV fluids quickly, which really help with the dehydration, but I was still nauseated and quite exhausted. By this point I'd been in labor for over 24 hours. I got some medication to help settle my stomach and I tried rest some more.

The next few hours were a blur; I was completely worn down but couldn't stop shaking from all the adrenaline. Dr. Owen examined me again at 9am and I was only seven centimeters dilated, so she suggested that she could break my water. I relented -- I was so tired and was willing to try anything to move things along. And that's when my contractions got much stronger!

After several more hours of hard work, by 11:30am I was only eight centimeters dilated. I broke down and asked for an epidural. I had really wanted a natural childbirth and was pretty afraid of the epidural, but I was so exhausted I was afraid I wouldn't have enough energy to push when the time came. The relief was almost immediate, and I was finally able to take a much needed nap!

I was in much better spirits with the pain relief, though I was still shaking with adrenaline. At this point I became much more chatting, and started making friends with the nurses and the anesthesiologist. At about 3:30pm, the doctor examined me again and confirmed that I was ready to start pushing. At last!

Nathan was such an amazing and supportive coach through the delivery. I was totally overwhelmed with emotion and exhaustion, but he was so encouraging.

Once the baby emerged, our doctor gasped "IT'S A BOY!" before Nathan had a chance to react. Otto was born at 4:11pm: 8 pounds 4 ounces, 21 inches long. Nathan cut the cord, and they rushed baby off to the baby-warmer to check all his vitals. Because I had been in labor so long (almost 38 hours!), he was in distress, and the pediatricians needed to make sure his breathing and blood pressure were normal. We were all surprised that he was so big -- when I was admitted to the hospital, the doctor guessed baby would be about 7 pounds. (Where was all that extra baby hiding??)

When then finally handed Otto to me, I was completely overcome. I had been nervous about how I would feel when I finally got to meet him. But when they laid him on my chest, I felt like I'd known him forever. He was too tired to nurse right away, but he wiggled all over my chest and we had an amazing cuddle. I couldn't stop staring at his amazing hair. He had a full head of thick, white-blonde waves. At first, I thought he was covered in vernix -- I couldn't believe we had a blonde baby.

The next eight weeks have gone by in a flash! I will post more pictures, including some from Christmas, very soon.

Baby shower photos, and coming down to the last few weeks!

We've been so busy lately with classes, errands, and housework in advance of the baby that I haven't had a chance to copy and edit all the photos from the baby shower!

Kate's friend Claire did a fantastic job organizing the shower

My mom, and her sisters Betsy and Luci

Kate's friend Erin, Claire's mom Judy, Kate's mom Emily, Kate's sister Sunny, and Claire in the background

We were both very excited to open all the presents and start getting the nursery finalized

I have about 30 photos of Kate opening various presents.

I got to open some presents for the baby, too!

Click here to see the full album!
-- Nathan

Past is Prologue

I've been having some fun trying to collect old photos of parents, grandparents, and maybe even great-grandparents for the little Hooblette. This is just a few of what we've collected so far, hopefully more to come soon!

First, a bit of Nathan's family...

Nathan's parents, Joan and Jeff, at Rockefeller Center before Christmas 1990.

Jeff's parents: Joan and Ray

Ray's father: Harold (That makes him the baby's great great grandfather.)

Joan's parents, Jim and Joan, at Nathan's christening.

Grandpa Jim with baby Nathan

And my family...

My parents, Emily and Steve, March 1981

Steve's parents, Iona and Bob (1949?)

Grandpa Bob with baby Kate, June 1985

Bob's parents Clare Sr. and Sarah, with Clair Jr. and baby Bob at their farm, Woodlawn

Emily's father, Archibald, canoeing on Squam Lake, NH, August 1979

Emily's mom, Lillian, May 1979

Lillian's father, Charles, after basic training, fall 1918

Lillian's mother, Lillian, at her graduation from Stanford, spring 1923

Mommy, What Will I Look Like?

Well, it would appear that I'm not so great with this whole blogging thing. A person can only get so excited about writing about assembling an old crib, though. (Don't worry! Blog post about crib assembly coming soon!)

Over the last couple of months, Nathan and I have spent a lot of time daydreaming about Baby Hoobs will look like. Blonde hair like Nathan? Green eyes like me? Will the baby be left-handed like dad (yikes!)?

Those ears!

Will Baby Hoobs have a Prince Valiant haircut?

The only thing we can get certain of is that this baby will be born looking like a very red, very angry old man.


*Arrested Development references for the win

20-Week Sonogram

At our 20-Week sonogram, Baby refused to cooperate with the technician, the beginning of what I'm sure will become a life-long trend of refusing to pose for pictures.

We had no luck getting a good profile angle the technician needed to complete the exam; the baby just refused to cooperate. They even had me chug some apple cranberry juice and jump around the room. Nothing.

On the up-side, everything is developing beautifully. Perfect heart, kidneys, spine, and lungs. Head size is right on track.

Here's the best of the photos:

The whole album is on google photos, here.

At the 20-week sonogram, the doctors are able to see the baby's sex. We're very very curious, of course, but Nathan and I decided we want to be surprised.

One important thing we did learn was that I have an anterior placenta, which explains why I haven't been feeling the baby move very much. I was worried I had a lethargic baby, but it's probably moving plenty -- just not where I can feel it.

Only 20 weeks left!