There is so much to write and tell and share: the birth story and the NICU story and all of those emotions. And let’s not forget about the appendix I no longer have. But now is not that time as I’m tired and you know, needing to nurse a baby.

We are home though. Got home this afternoon. I think he likes it. It’s really odd to be home. I always think it’s a little weird to come home with a new baby, but coming home with a baby that is 8 days old and having been away (unexpectedly!) so long, well it’s weird.

I will say that as awful as the NICU experience was and how stressful it was to have a baby 24 days early that really should have spent at least one more week in the womb if not more (his scheduled csection was tomorrow! sept 25). It was kinda neat to watch him do what he would have been doing in the womb this last week: learning to breathe. He literally made progress in 12 hour increments. You could almost see his little lungs getting better and filling with surfectant. But like I said, that’s a story for another time.

Thank you for all of your prayers, positive thoughts, and well wishes. As always, my internet friends step up and lift me up in my times of need, and I have no doubt that your thoughts and prayers coming in from around the world, helped our little boy get better so quickly. Each night and whispered in his ear that people from around the world were thinking of him and praying for him, and that we are blessed to live in such a world.

Kevin has been transferred to a hospital with a NICU which has doctors that can administer a CPAP machine to help expand his lungs.  He will be on this machine for 24 hours, but should be able to come home after that.  Suzanne is still at the first hospital waiting to be discharged by her doctor and for her mother to come back with the car and children.  Thank you for all of your prayers and support as we go through the process of bringing Kevin home.

I have lot to write out. This is what I sent out via email this morning.

We had our baby boy on Monday, September 15 at 4:57pm. He came 24 days early (10 days earlier than our scheduled section). I woke up in horrible pain in my side and shoulder and started contracting. By the time I got to the hospital it was determined that I most likely had appendicitis and that he needed to come out. Kevin Clayton was born at 4:57pm weighing 6# 11ounces and was 19″ long. (He’s a big boy for a 36weeker!) He is named after his Grampy Kevin, who died in 1992.

He is currently in the special care nursery requiring oxygen. He does not appear to be sick, just early. The hope is that he will start weaning off the oxygen today and hopefully go home soon. We are all anxious to hold him and love him (and you know me! I want to nurse him!) All prayers and positive thoughts are greatly appreciated.

The general surgeon came in to talk to me a bit ago. The pathology on my appendix is not back, but it was enlarged and the tip looked “thickened” which he said is generally a sign of early appendicitis. He thinks that my body was just sensitive and that being pregnant made everything more agitated. Kevin’s heartrate was in the 180s when we got to the hospital, so he was a bit distressed as well. The surgeon thinks that we absolutely made the right decision and thinks that we saved his life and mine.

6 lbs, 11 oz.

19 in.

We are happy.

it’s a bit irrational.  Every where I look online someone is talking about food and I’m thinking, man that sounds good!  I don’t need to eat more nor do I need to go to the grocery store and try and find the ingredients to make all of these things people are talking about.  Sheesh.

This week was eventful.  We had an ultrasound and appointment.  Little Dude is guesstimated to weigh about six and a half pounds at this point.  Since ultrasound guesstimates this late are usually a little high, and because my husband seems to create children with really long legs that really mess up their calculations (I think), my guess is that in two weeks he will be no bigger than eight pounds.  Really I’m guessing about seven and a half pounds.  He has super super chubby cheeks.  He frowned at us when we were putting pressure against his head to get a nice face shot, he’s not a fan of the ultrasounds!  He also blew us a little kiss.  He looks like his Daddy.  We are all really excited to meet him.

I also received all of my pre-op paperwork.  It’s insanely bizarre to me to see this stuff.  They already have my appointment made to come the day before and get my blood drawn.  I have the lab work orders, and they type and screen two units of blood and reserve them for me in the blood bank.  That’s weird.  I’m glad it’s there (obviously) it’s just odd.  It made me think of all the preparation that the hospital staff will go through the day before my surgery, all this preparation that *I* used to do for others is now being done for me in anticipation of this Little Dude’s birthday.  I’m excited and nervous and a wee bit scared, ha! Only 14 days to go!

That would be the reason for the silence on this blog, at least that’s what I’m claiming.  I recently had to shut down my business to customs.  It was a hard decision, because I have major issues telling people no and I enjoy the knitting. But I realized that time was going much quicker than my fingers.  I have this long list of stuff to do for the Little Dude who will be here in 3 weeks (!) and I couldn’t work on all of it, unless I give up something, like sleeping.

So I shut down my store to customs and hope to open it again by Halloween.  I woke up one morning with the incredible urge to either knit every yarn I have in my stash, or to sell it.  So I sold a BUNCH of stuff and started knitting a bunch of stuff.  If you frequent my Flickr account, you probably see how much stuff is coming off of my needles.

I also decided that I needed to work on a homeschooling room.  It turned out really nice and Magdalena is very excited about it.  I have plans to order the rest of her books for this quarter of her curriculum on the next payday.

We are also excitedly anticipating the local Pork Festival.   Magdalena has been talking about going to parades since the festival ended last year.  It’s also the last thing on her calendar before her baby brother is scheduled to make his appearance.  She’s a very experienced and excited big sister you know.

Carmina is also seems to be understanding that their is a baby in my belly.  And I think she gets that he will want to nurse and that she will have to share. Of course, telling her that the baby will nurse, just makes her want to nurse right away.

Anyway, a busy month.  Hopefully I’ll get better about posting.  And Erich will be posting here and there and will also update when the Dude makes his arrival.

What do you think? Does this make you want to vote for McCain more or less now? Does it matter? Should we care?

Suzanne has been hard at work hand knitting wool pants, hats, and sweaters.  Her latest and biggest project was just completed last night, a baby blanket for our up and coming son.  Its the first time she’s knitted in blue.  I jokingly gave her an approved color list after she came to me with some wild oranges.  I told her that if Eddie Bauer didn’t have it in their product line for men, then she wasn’t allowed to let my son wear it.  You may have heard that our oldest daughter wanted to buy her brother a pink towel.  Suzanne talked her out of it, but despite my forementioned rules I would have allowed it.  I guess you could say I value my daughter’s pride over my own.  I am looking forward to the birth of our first son and will probably be posting more during and after the delivery, so I wanted to sort of “warm up the crowd” to my presence by posting now and again before the big day.

PS. Suzanne is doing good. She is making t-shirts for all three birthday beauties today.