First Week Home

Shane, Trevor and I have now been home from the hospital for a full week now...and what a wonderful week it has been! We have adjusted really well as a family of three and are taking the time to enjoy each moment that we have with our little guy. We see how fast this past week has gone, and we can only imagine how fast it is going to go by here. Time is flying already, and he is only 11 days old!

So far, Trevor is a really easy baby--he doesn't fuss just to fuss and when he does cry it isn't bad at all. He is extremely laid back--just like his daddy. Nighttime isn't a nightmare at all for us--he sleeps for a good 3-4 hours at a time before he has to be changed and fed....and more often than not, it is us having to wake him at 4 hours to eat, afterwards he goes right back to his sweet dreaming. The 3 a.m. feedings aren't bad at all, as when Shane and I see his sweet little face it is like falling in love with him all over again.

Overall, our first week at home has been a dream...we have made sure to take tons of pictures so that we won't ever forget this special time in all of our lives. Shane heads back to work on Friday, so I will miss having him at home, but I am kind of looking forward to having to "fly solo" with Trevor, so that I can get the kinks worked out with how I do things without an extra set of hands, before things get too far along.

First Outing as a Family of Three

Today was our first time heading out of the house as a family of three. For our outing, we headed back to the Naval Hospital so that Trevor could follow up with the pediatrician from his elevated bili levels. While the hospital has not been the happiest of places for us this week (aside from his actual birth and his discharge on Wednesday) we finally were handed good news from the start of our visit. Trevor's bili level had dropped by four points in the 48 hours since his discharge and the doctors were very impressed with that progress. They felt comfortable enough that his system was taken care of that instead of coming back on Tuesday as we had originally thought for a one-week check, they extended us to the standard two-week check up. OUTSTANDING!

Other than the actual visit, the rest of our outing went quite well. Trevor loves to ride in the car (at least for now) and did not fuss at all once the car was moving and getting pushed around in the stroller makes him calm and relaxed (and sleepy). Now we just have to wait for the weather to turn around and start being actually spring-like so that we can start taking walks around the neighborhood.

Welcome Trevor Francis!!

Trevor Francis is finally here! He arrived on Saturday, March 21st at 11:48 a.m. He weighed 8 lbs. 2 oz. and measured 20 1/2 inches long--what a big boy!

We were scheduled to be induced on Thursday evening 3/19, but the labor deck at the hospital was full. We continued to check back overnight and into the next day, but there was very little change. We finally got a call to come in at 3PM on Friday 3/20, so we headed to the hospital and the actual induction started at about 6:30.

Monday morning we were getting ready to be discharged and the doctors noticed that Trevor was looking a little jaundice so they ran tests and found that his bilirubin levels were higher than they would have liked for a baby his age. He was placed under the bili lights in order to lower his levels and the plan at that point was that he would be under for the day, retested after a few hours and we would be discharged on Tuesday. Tuesday morning came and his levels had risen at a rate that the doctors weren't comfortable sending us home with, so he went back under the lights to try another round in the bed. Today at noon we found out that his levels were back to where they should be and we were discharged around noon. Finally bringing our baby boy home was the best day in the entire world for us and we feel extremely blessed that Trevor is a happy and healthy little baby.

~~~finally asleep in his crib~~

Happy Due Date To Me!

Allright everyone, today is the day--Trevor's Due Date!! Of course, Trevor is not here yet, obviously (that is an entirely different subject all together) but that just means that we have a little time left for a trip down memory lane.....

The day of Shane's Homecoming --0 weeks 0 days pregnant.....

20 weeks along

exactly 40 weeks--March 12, 2009

So here we are at 40 weeks, still waiting for Trevor to make his appearance. Clearly, Trevor is Shane's son, not mine...to justify this fact, here are some 'loving' quotes from conversations between myself and friends who checked in with me today to see if today was the day:

My friend Liz to me: "Good Luck!!! be sure to let me know if anything comes up or should I say out..hehe! I have switched my phone to vibrate at school just in case Shaner calls!"

My response to her:"HAH! clearly, Trevor is not MY son, but his FATHER'S son....due dates and dealines already mean nothing to him...that whole punctuality/being on time concept? doesn't exist in their world....but do keep your phone on vibrate, it gives me a glimmer of hope that one day Trevor might actually arrive!"

My friend Ericka's response to Liz and my exchange: "ok. so i didnt want to be the one to say it so i'm glad you did. that is def shanes kid. if it were yours he would be here already and be doing something productive ;)"

HAHAHA!! I suppose I have to sum it up as, what good is being 40 weeks pregnant if I can't laugh about the situation?!

All joking aside, we did have an appointment today and I did have quite a bit of progress from last week. The doctor gave the impression that I will probably go on my own in the next week, but as a back up, he has scheduled an induction for 8PM next Thursday evening, so at the very latest, Trevor will be here next Friday, March 20th.

When Flat Stanley Comes to Town......

Ok everyone, remember back to your elementary school days...do you remember Flat Stanley? For those who can't or didn't participate in this great project, Flat Stanley is a character from a book who is a boy who is flattened when a bulletin board accidentally falls on him. In the story, Flat Stanley is mailed to his friends so that he can see the world (oh if we could all save money on airfare like that)

Last week, we recieved my 6 year old cousin Connor's Flat Stanley in the mail. We had to spend a few days with him taking pictures and then putting them in his journey journal to document his journey. Here are just a few photos of his visit with us (so far)

Flat Stanley celebrates Mardi Gras with me at Sacred Heart (this is him with the parish staff, complete with Mardi Gras shirts and beads!)

Flat Stanley joined the Navy for the day and went to work with Shaner

The way his teacher has him doing it, he has sent Flat Stanley out and he needs to be mailed around to as many people as possible between now and May 1st, when he needs to be returned to his school in Connecticut.
Would you like to have Flat Stanley visit you? If you do, all you have to do is spend a few days with him, take pictures of your adventures, print them and place them in his journey journal. What we are doing so that we can keep track of where Stanley is located and that he makes it back to Connor's school is making a list of everyone he is supposed to go and once you recieve Flat Stanley and complete your visit with him, you mail him onto the next person on the list. We just need to make sure that he does return to Connor's school around May 1st (he is graded on this project) Either leave me a comment or email me at kimberly.chapman@hotmail.com if you want to take part!

A Celebration for Baby Trevor

Today at work my co-workers put together a nice lunch celebration for Trevor's upcoming arrival. It was so nice to celebrate with everyone on the staff now that I have finally reached the end of my pregnancy. I started working at the church when I was 8 weeks along with Trevor, and now that it is exactly one week until my due date, it was nice to celebrate the ending (soon) of my pregnancy with people who have literally seen me from the very beginning of this adventure :) Trevor recieved some lovely, thoughtful gifts and many well-wishes today and I can't thank everyone enough for their kindness.

One of the adorable gifts for Trevor--A train with his name made by Amy's husband!

Snow in Hampton Roads!!!

Yesterday we finally got some snow here in Portsmouth. We have had several false alarms for snow the past few months but finally Mr. Weatherman came through! We woke up on Monday morning to a snow-covered neighborhood. The dogs thought the snow was interesting...it was their first time having snow on the ground. It was funny to see them hop around the yard because the snow was so chilly on their feet. Their little fun in the snow must have tired them out because once the got back in this is what they did for most of the day.