Sawyer was sick over the weekend, but that hasn’t stopped him from trying to stand whenever possible. Tonight, after his bath and feeding, Abby put him in his crib. He immediately stood up and started to scream.
Abby picked him up, held him for a bit, calmed him down, then put him back in the crib. Again, he immediately stood up and started to scream.
We stayed downstairs for a little longer the second time, hoping he would grow tired and give up. He did not, tenacious little bugger that he is. Since Diana, Abby’s mother, thinks he never cries or causes any trouble, I grabbed the camera to give all of you a little taste of our last week with Sawyer:
He was so tired he didn’t know what to do with himself. Abby also thinks he’s not quite sure how to sit back down once standing, so that likely had something to do with it. As soon as I shut off the camera and laid him down, he feel right to sleep. What a relief!
To be fair, he gave me his cold from last week, and I’ve been down for the count, so it’s no wonder he was so unhappy. I think he’s just starting to feel better, but still lacks his full energy, hence the frustration.
On a related note, there was one night last week, some time around 2am if memory serves me well, that Sawyer was wide awake and completely uninterested in going back to sleep. Since it was dark, I figured he could play with his firebugs that his Grandparents Truitt bought for him — they blink when struck, and Sawyer loves to put them in his mouth. I think he enjoyed it:
He slept better last night than he has in a long time, as he was quickly falling back to sleep without any fuss. Hopefully tonight will be even more of a success. I’m starting to feel a little better myself, and really hoping that Abby makes it through unscathed. It hasn’t been a whole lot of fun around here.
Sawyer has been growing like crazy the past few weeks. All of a sudden he has outgrown a lot of his clothes that have looked, in our eyes, like they would not fit for a while. He received so many wonderful things when he was born, and even though we have tried things on him periodically, he has really surprised us by his growth.
I have tried to take pictures of all of these wonderful gifts, so the givers could see Sawyer in them. This post packs in three of those items. His hat, which was a gift from his Grandpa Bob, came with the outfit seen in the previous ode to Ohio State. The onesie was a gift from Janet, a close family friend of Grandma Penny. The jeans were a gift from Great Aunt Jenny, and the Ohio State towels and light up buggies were gifts from Grandma Penny and Grandpa Steve.
Not Levi’s, but still cute.
Sawyer is sending out a special shout out to Janet…it is not exactly a shout, more of a, well I’ll let you come up with a word for it… Janet, whenever you need a really good laugh, these two videos will do the trick!
Sawyer had an amazing time visiting family and friends in Ohio. While we were at my parent’s home, Scott introduced Sawyer to the warm, soft green grass of Ohio. One would think that grass would be grass anywhere you go, but it is the earth beneath that is different. In Ohio, the earth is especially warm and seems to be much more inviting. I love these pictures of Scott and Sawyer, and I think they are perfect for this Father’s Day post.
Sawyer wasn’t too sure of his surroundings
Sawyer also spent many long sleepy hours comfortable relaxing with his Grandpa Doernberg. It doesn’t get much better than this.
This is Scott now: Of the many pictures taken on our trip home, this next one of my Dad holding Sawyer for the first time in a few months is my favorite. I love how Sawyer’s shirt almost perfectly matches his grandpa’s tie, but most of all I love the expression on each one’s face:
I’m sure if he could, he would happily wish his grandpas a very Happy Father’s Day. And right now we could use their help, Sawyer’s new tooth is making him all kinds of cranky. He’s not sleeping or resting well at all. Help!
As you no doubt already know, Sawyer made his maiden voyage home to Columbus two weeks ago. He first met his Grandparents Truitt just hours after his birth, and was reacquainted with Grandma Penny in the middle of February, but this was his first extended stay with them. He wasted no time making himself at home on the comfy couch:
Then, he had my Mom in stitches:
Then my Dad took him away to watch basketball (you can tell he was very focused, after all it was the first weekend of the NCAA tournament):
Then my Dad taught him how to operate the remote control, including the way to switch between basketball games, golf, and FOX News:
All of which eventually wore him out:
After a week in Bath with Abby’s parents, Sawyer had one more night with my parents:
Look at how much he has grown:
When we last left the story of Sawyer’s birth, I was quite sad at my parent’s departure, and Sawyer was showing no signs of wanting to come out to greet the world. 12/11 passed without notice, as did the day of 12/12. On 12/12, we were to call the hospital at 6pm in order to check if there was room for us to come in and be induced. The response was that we needed to call back at 8pm. Apparently the maternity ward was really busy with babies that DID want to come out, and the hospital was short on nurses (a fact that will become much more pressing — to be described in a bit.) We took a nap as we figured if we were to go in, we wouldn’t be getting much sleep.
At 8pm, I called again. After holding for about 10 minutes, we were asked to come in and be admitted at 9:30 pm. So we took showers and finished packing the suitcase. We left the apartment in an odd state of calm. Scott remarked on the way to the hospital that he was somewhat bummed that he didn’t have to race us to the hospital as anticipated — reference any silly movie where a baby is being born.
Inducement is a lot slower of a process than one would think. Upon checking in, it was very quiet in the newly opened baby wing of the hospital. Nurses were even being sent home early now from their shifts because things had quieted down. In the back triage room, Scott noticed a funny drawer marked “fancy pants”. For the record, I met these “fancy pants” following the birth. They were neither “fancy” or “pants”.
We were checked into a very large room. As we were getting situated, one of the nurses mentioned in passing that it may be somewhat noisy outside in the morning. At 7am, the nurses were going on strike. She wasn’t even quite sure why, but she was looking forward to having 2 days off in order to complete her holiday shopping. Apparently she did not intend on spending the entire 2 days of the strike picketing. The new nurses would be well qualified, just unfamiliar with everything, as they were brought in from other states to help fill in.
That night was spent quite uncomfortably due to rubber covered beds. Even though sheets covered the rubber, the breathability was compromised. Scott “slept” next to me in a cot that made camp beds seem luxurious, as we both tried to tune out the sound of other women giving birth in nearby rooms. One woman was screaming so incredibly loudly, that I was quite traumatized. Placing the rubber covered pillow over my head just resulted in an uncomfortably sweaty face.
As previously mentioned, the nurses strike began at 7am on 12/13. Our first “scab” nurse was Debbie from Dallas, no kidding. She was a very big fan of the Beattles, and her granddaughter’s name is Abbey McGill for Abbey Road and the McGill character in Rocky Raccoon, “she called herself Lil, but everyone knew her as Nancy.” Debbie’s favorite jeans are Levi’s 501’s. She helped us until 7pm. Our next nurse was Michelle. She had 4 children of her own, and had helped to birth her granddaughter. She was from Chicago, but working in LA with her retired husband. They were soon moving to Hawaii, where she was going to work. She was one of the biggest reasons that Sawyer was born naturally rather than a c-section. She knew that we did not want a c-section. She made it very clear that “We’re gonna git this baby out!”
So after the uncomfortable yet uneventful night, our doctor, Dr. Heidi Wittenberg, visited our room at 8am sporting a beautiful Prada handbag and high heels. Somewhere between months 7 and 9 of my pregnancy, she seemed to have discovered high fashion and gotten engaged. Scott was amused that I made mention of the bag to him shortly after Dr. Heidi had helped speed up the birth process by breaking my water for me with a what looked like a long crochet hook.
The next few hours passed uncomfortably as pitocin was administered. At around 11am, I was beside myself in pain. Although I had very high hopes of not using an epidural, it became very necessary after the pain medication I was given wore off in well under half of the promised hour time. The next 11 hours passed relatively pain free. My Mom reminded me that there are no extra points for pain. She was right. Epiderals are very helpful.
At 10pm, it was time to start pushing. Michelle helped guide Scott and I through 2 hours of pushing. About 30 minutes into the pushing, she turned off the epidural in order to help me feel how to push. The epidural leaves little to no sensation, so it was difficult for me to feel what I was doing. Michelle let us know that she was only allowed to let me push for 2 hours, and then the doctor would come in. When the doctor made her appearance, I knew I had to prove that I could keep going and not have a c-section. I garnered up all of my strength. I thought of all the people who were pulling for us. I thought of all my family and friends who had made it through. I thought of my Mom who gave birth to me at 10 lbs 8 oz. If she could do it, so could I.
We were given a little bit of help with the suction cup that helped pop the little guy out. All in all, 30 hours passed and we got our little Sawyer. He was 9 lbs. exactly and 22” long at 1:42 am on December 14th, 2007.
