THE SHEHANE CLAN

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Easter Dinner

We had Easter dinner at my parents. Kate helped my Mom decorate and set the table and she was so proud of her work. I think she did a pretty good job!

Rocking Liam. We do a lot of this!

We went to St. Ives for their Easter festivities. This is so fun for the kids. They have a petting zoo, bouncer, a clown making balloon animals, face painting, pony rides... After playing we eat lunch, then they do an Easter egg hunt. Abby was with the younger kids this year and had fun getting a bunch of eggs. Kate, however, was put in the older group. Most kids were a couple years older than her. Even before it started I knew it wasn't going to go in her favor. Kids were already trying to creep out and talking about how many they were going to collect. When they gave the signal to go, Kate got upset because all the big kids ran ahead. Luckily Abby shared some treats with her and I did a real egg hunt for them with treats and everything at my parents the next day.

Abby was very serious about her job of holding the bunny rabbit

Kate was not a fan of the dressed up bunny rabbit that my Mom and Abby were waving too

Very patiently getting her face painted

Abby wanted a butterfly just like her big sister but picked purple. She did so good sitting still the entire time!

Getting ready for the hunt

This is what Liam did the ENTIRE time! Still not sure how this happened!

She loved riding on the pony

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Backyard Pictures

We came home from the hospital Friday afternoon and I wanted to get some pictures of the girls with Liam on Saturday. That morning I got the girls ready and actually dressed myself. I don't really have any newborn pictures with the girls so I decided to jump in too so I could have some with Liam. As soon as he was fed and asleep we took some pictures. The girls love their big brother! These were taken when he was 2.5 days old.

They LOVE their baby brother!

Monday, April 2, 2012

5 Day Update

Liam had his first Doctor's appointment on Monday. Which made him almost 5 days old. Here were his stats:

Weight - 7lbs 15.4oz (!)
Height - 20"
Head -34.5 cm

I'm not too surprised by his weight considering how often he eats! He's a hungry little guy :) Everything else looked great.

When we were discharged the nurse had me concerned about his jaundace level and even recommended bringing him back to the hospital for a blood test. His pediatrician laughed at his level at time of discharge and said they weren't even worth writing down. I'm glad I don't have to worry about that anymore.

The pediatrician also commented on how strong Liam is and freaked a little when she had him on the table and he semi rolled over and took her by surprise!

Since I'm doing a medical update I should mention how wonderful Emory Johns Creek Hospital was for his birth. We have only had good experiences there. My Dr. is incredible and all the nurses were extremely supportive during his delivery. I love that I got to hold Liam right away and they do everything in our room so he never had to leave us (minus one time). Plus, they don't wake you during the night! They would only come in when I would ask for some Motrin or when our lights were on. The second night Liam was up a lot so the night nurse told our day nurse and she let us sleep in as long as Liam let us which was great. It's not a busy hospital so they're very attentive and it's pretty quiet. I really liked our room too. Most people are eager to leave the hospital but I enjoyed having that time with Jason to focus only on Liam.

I think Liam may have Kate's sensitive skin. When he was born he didn't have a single mark on his skin, like Kate. When he was 3 days old he got a rash that the Doctor thinks was heat rash since it ended up only lasting a few hours. That would make sense because we had him outside taking pictures the morning he got the rash. Kate had the same rash when she came home from the hospital but it lasted for a day or two. We'll see if he also got Kate and Abby's sensitivity to mosquito bites. I hope not!

I really feel like I've been enjoying Liam's newborn stage as much as possible. I love cuddling him and while I wouldn't mind more sleep, I'm loving how little and sweet he is now.

5 Days Old

Hanging out with his sisters

10 (?) Days Old

Sleep during the day is a hit or miss with him. I love taking pictures of him when he actually sleeps because he looks so peaceful and sweet! These are in the bassinet in the family room with us running around him and being loud (I don't put blankets like this in his bed upstairs when he's not in the room with us...)

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Visitors

Liam had some visitors during the first week of his life...

The night he was born

The next morning, Jason's parents came to the hospital

The girls came to meet their brother! They brought balloons and treats :)

Our fun girls!

Tiffany and Jared brought us lunch while we were in the hospital

Leslie, Courtney, Melissa, Angie, Lauren

Ty, Dana, Hadley, and Hudson came the first full day we were home from the hospital

Jenny and Brian

We're so thankful to family and friends for all their help! We are very blessed to have such wonderful people in our life and especially to be near our family!

Monday, March 26, 2012

The Longest or Shortest Labor Ever!

I started having strong/painful contractions a week before I went into labor. These were more painful than anything I experienced with the girls and thought for sure I was going into labor, but they would abruptly stop. They continued for the next few days then went away for a couple of days. This was beyond frustrating. I kept thinking it was happening then nothing. My due date came and went and the contractions were back. I went to my appointment two days after my due date and my Dr. couldn't believe I wasn't in the hospital having a baby considering I was a 5. She messed with me a little and the contractions started pretty quickly. So what do you do when you might be in labor? I took the girls to meet my parents for lunch. However, my contractions were so painful that I ended up leaving and my parents brought the girls home. I told Jason I thought I was in labor but was ok at that point. I laid down upstairs while MeeMaw and PawPaw watched the kids. The contractions were incredibly strong but started getting further apart so I was worried it was stopping again. I wanted to labor at home as long as possible since I was going to see how far I could go without an epidural... This was difficult considering I'm in pain while the girls are trying to talk to me and I was trying to get stuff together. Jason finished work and started timing my contractions. He made us leave when he saw they were only 2 minutes apart. I think I'm always in denial about my labor being real. Luckily his parents were here so we could just leave without worrying about the kids. I was hurting really bad and had been most of the day. Thinking of doing it without an epidural was not looking appealing.

When I got checked into our room at the hospital I was already a 6. Those contractions were working! I had mentioned to my Doctor I might want to try it naturally, but honestly didn't really think I would be able to so we never prepared for it. Apparently this was on my chart as all the nurses mentioned it when they came in. It was nice not being hooked up to an IV. When my parents got there I told my Mom I was going to see how far I could go without anything. I think she thought I was crazy (probably since she had two natural births that were beyond painful due to positioning of my sister and me and other stuff). She tried to cram her months of Lamaze class into a couple of minutes for us since, again, we didn't really prepare for this. Well, with some tips from my Mom, Dana, and an awesome husband the rest of my labor progressed pretty fast. I can't even explain how wonderful and supportive Jason was. I couldn't have done it without him! There was definitely a point where I truly didn't think I could do it. I quickly felt the need to push then had to endure waiting until it was time to push. Then an amazing boy was born! It really was beyond amazing. I'm so glad with how everything went and I did feel I was more emotional, in a good way, after his birth. We're not sure if the hours after when I could not sleep due to excitement was from a baby high or the pain medication they gave me later :)

I don't even feel like I just had a baby. Besides being tired, I feel completely fine physically.