4 month checkup stats

Hayden is growing up before our eyes. She is such a happy baby and only really gets upset if she's hungry (she is, a Vorhees after all), wet or tired. Jason and I joke that maybe we should stop at 1 since she is such a good baby. :)


She loves her exersaucer already and I love it because it keeps her occupied while I cook dinner or clean up!

Monkey (as we like to call her) had her 4 month checkup this week and all went well. She gained a whopping 4 lb., 1 oz. over the 10 week period since her last checkup. She is now 14 & 1/2 lb. and 25 & 3/4 inches long. She is in the 95% for height and 76% for weight.


Amazingly, she is gaining weight even though she spits up on me every chance she gets!

Developmentally she is doing everything she should be and the pediatrician warned me that we should think about childproofing in the next month or 2. I have several girlfriends with small children who help me see just how non-childproof our house is every time they come over. This should be fun. :)


Hayden loves her activity mat, a gift from Auntie Ashley & Uncle Nick!


She is starting to notice the dogs more which is pretty cute. Meg and Jake are both very good with her and Meg likes to snuggle with her already. :)

Things are settling down and I'm glad to be getting into a routine. Mondays and Wednesdays are my days at home, to catch up on housework, laundry, rest (yeah right), etc. Tuesdays we have bible study in the morning, lunch with Dad in the afternoon - a tradition we are going to try and start. Thursdays we have MOPS or Book Babies at the library. Fridays we celebrate the end of the week by doing something fun (garage saleing, going to the park, meeting up with friends, etc.)


We went on a swim playdate last week with Natalie & Ethan Penner, Hayden looked so cute in her suit I had to get a picture!

Wow, has it really been 4 months?

This will be a bit of a long blog post, probably formed over several days and a few parts. I can't believe it's been 4 months since Hayden's arrival and 3 1/2 months since I've blogged. I think it's like riding a bike, you just have to get back on and it will all come back to you. The prospect of blogging has just seemed so big and time consuming that I have been putting it off.

We've had a great summer with many houseguests and wonderful memories. I'll start at the beginning and gradually work my way to the present...

After my mom left, we had about a week of just the 3 of us, then Jason's parents arrived. His mom is a school teacher so she came up to help, graciously giving up most of her summer to do my laundry and scrub my toilets. Not my idea of a vacation, but she was paid well in hugs and kisses by Hayden. When the time came for her to leave, Jason's dad Tim came up and drove us all back down to California in the 5th wheel. It was Hayden's 1st road trip! Here are some pics we took during her time here and on the trip home...


Hayden's Nursery - before carpet. We were supposed to have carpet installed on 5/19, 3 days before Hayden's arrival. BUT...the installers ripped out the old carpet and laid down the pad before they realized our new carpet was defective! We were promised new carpet in 3 weeks so we decided to wait and live on the pad. The 2nd batch of carpet was also defective so we decided to go with a different brand. That carpet was finally installed on June 15 and our house finally started to feel like a home with this luxurious carpet. :)


Hayden's room WITH carpet

Jason's brother Nick & his wife Ashley came out for a visit June 11-15 and Jason's friend Joel and his wife Stephanie and their 2 daughters came out in early June as well. We had a houseful, it was so much fun!




Hayden & Nana Vorhees next to the Rogue River in Grant's Pass


Hayden, Nana & Grandpa Vorhees outside the trailer in Grant's Pass

Hayden's First Week at Home

I can't believe it's already been almost a week since we took our little one home from the hospital.

We took her to the Dr. on Wednesday and Thursday of last week. On Thursday, she turned the corner and started gaining weight and her billirubin went from 17.4 to 14overnight. We are so thankful she is doing better. It makes the crazy 2 hour feeding schedule worth it. :)

Here's Hayden at 10 days old

On Friday, her umbillical cord fell off and we gave her the first bath at home. Here are some pics of that which Gran White took.















All Clean & Happy! :)

On Friday my mom's friend Cheri came over for a BBQ. She's a nurse in the NICU in Salem and I was so glad to see her again (it had been 10+ years). It's nice to know a NICU nurse, especially one who volunteers to babysit! :) Cheri showed us some tips while she was here and Hayden enjoyed hosting her first dinner party.

Cheri showing us some tips to improve our swaddling technique (AKA by Jason & I as the burrito).



Cheri, Gran White, Me and Hayden

On Saturday we went out shopping to Target (thanks for the new changing table Gran!), Home Goods (where Hayden got her 1st teddy bear), and Trader Joes. It was a busy day and we had to stop along the way to feed her in the Home Goods parking lot, but she was a very good baby and kept the crying to a minimum. I think she's a born shopper just like her mommy. :)

Hayden's "drunken sailor" look after she had finished eating in the car. She turns into a wet noodle when she's full and happy. :)

When we got home, she was TIRED!



On Sunday morning, my mom had to go home. It was so hard to say goodbye to her but I'm looking forward to seeing her next month on my trip down to Cali.

We had to sneak in 1 last picture on our way to the airport.

Here are some pics I took today in her bassinet:



She looks so different every day, I can't resist taking pics of her all the time!


Hayden is about to wake up, I'd better run!

Hayden's First Week

Hayden spent much of her 1st week in the hospital while she and mom recuperated. Here are some pics from our time there.


Hayden and Daddy taking a nap


Hayden with Nana Vorhees


Me & Hayden with the beautiful roses Daddy bought


Hayden & Nana Vorhees

On Tuesday, it was time to go home. Jason had been with the movers all day and my dad had been at the new house waiting for the FIOS installer. Mom had stayed with me in the hospital the last 2 nights and we were ready to go home. Discharge is normally around 11 but we had a pretty rough night on Monday with a nurse who kept pushing us to give Hayden formula. I had experienced GREAT nursing care up to that point and so this was pretty discouraging. When Hayden got checked by the pediatrician earlier in the day, they checked her billirubin level and we waited for those results and a consult. Her billirubin was high, and they offered to have us stay one more night, but we had already packed up and I knew that we could manage her jaundice effectively at home with extra feedings and some indirect sunlight. So we made an appointment to have her checked the next day and headed home.



The first night was really rough, Hayden had her days & nights mixed up and Daddy was up with her most of the night except for when I would get up to feed her and pump every 2.5 - 3 hours.


Jason, Hayden & Meg

Last night was much better. We had Hayden on an every 2 hour feeding schedule. I would get up, nurse her, pump, and Jason or Gran would feed her a bottle. Then we would change her, put her down for a bit and then get up and do it all over again. I pumped or nursed her 15 times in the last 24 hours, we gave her 8 bottles and we changed 18 diapers. We are going to have to keep this schedule up until her jaundice goes away but that should be in just a week or two.

Today we went to the Dr. again (it was my 8th consecutive day at OHSU) but got wonderful news. Her levels have already decreased significantly (down from 17.4 yesterday to 14 today) and she has started to gain weight (up to 6 lb. 1 oz today from 5 lb. 14 oz yesterday). We are all doing well and I'm so glad that I have so much support from Jason & my mom. I couldn't do this without them.

Now, for those of you who think Hayden looks like Jason, take a look at these pics of me as a baby.

Me & Mom


Gran & Hayden


Me & Dad


Hayden with Daddy Jason


Baby Karyn


Baby Hayden

I'll continue to take pictures and update the blog when I can, but with the gruelling schedule I've outlined above, I'm sure that you can understand why it takes such a long time.


(No, that's not our new carpet...there was a snafu and so we are living on the pad until the new carpet gets in around June 15).

Overall, we are settling in nicely and feel so thankful that we have been blessed with this little life. We are all managing to sleep when we can and enjoying every moment of this special time.

Hayden's Birth Day(s)

On Wednesday night (5/20/09), Jason and I went out for one last date before Hayden's arrival. We were scheduled to induce labor the next morning because of some liver problems I was experiencing. We had a great time @ the Chart House and after dinner went to the airport to pick up Hayden's gran.



On Thursday morning, we arrived at the hospital at 8 am for the induction. Here's a last pic of my pregnant self.



I was induced and was able to walk around, went to have lunch in the cafeteria with Jason & my mom but once I got back to the room, I was put on pitocin. At that point, I was hooked to an IV pole so I wasn't able to do a lot of the natural measures for dealing with the pain that I'd intended to. At about 2:30 in the afternoon I decided to have an epidural put in. My labor continued to progress but slowly, and the nurses kept increasing the pitocin. It was nice to be able to rest and sleep here and there Thursday night. Unfortunately, my labor eventually stalled out when I reached about 4 cm and I stayed there for several hours. On Friday afternoon, I had been in labor 30 hours at that point and still wasn't making any significant progress, the doctors recommended we have a c-section.




Things moved very quickly after that and Hayden was born at 2:35 PM on Friday. She was perfectly healthy with an APGAR score of 9 out of 10. After spending a couple of hours in recovery and getting to meet both Gran and Nana, we headed up to our room. That evening, nurse Mary came in to give our girl a bath...





Gran and Nana picked out an outfit and got her all dressed up.





Here's a pic of Gran holding Hayden today- thanks to Daddy Jason for the amazing roses. :)



I will get some pics of Jason & I up soon, I'm up and walking around today and feeling much better. I even lost some of my pregnancy chubby face, which I'm thrilled about. :)