Four Weeks

Time is flying by just as everyone said. I can't believe four weeks has past already. We're still trying to get a grip on this whole parenting bit. Week 2 and 3 in our house seemed to go south for whatever reason. Sam was a bit of a fussy baby when he came home from the hospital but as we were settling in he progressively was getting worse. We had 3 or 4 nights where he was actually screaming for 2 or more hours in the evenings which are symptoms of cholic. If he wasn't eating or sleeping he was fussing or crying. He was not taking naps during the day either unless I put him in the car. Since it was recently 100+ degrees here in STL walks were not an option. So I told Brant that he may have to take a second job to support our shopping habit since our son would only fall asleep in the car. The problem here was that since I had to leave to get him to sleep I was not getting any sleep. This then led to a few emotional break downs on my part.

I've been with newborn babies that have had these screaming fits and was familiar with the feelings of frustration and stress. What was new to me, is that when it's your own child, there was a new feeling of helplessness and failure that I couldn't please my baby. Hearing him scream and knowing how unhappy he was, along with the sleep deprivation brought me to tears a few times now. So I finally contacted our pediatrition to get her opinion. She agreed that it was either the breastmilk, formula, or acid reflux. So we decided to put him only on Similac Sensitive Stomach and wow what a difference it has made.

Sam is now taking naps during the day and lastnight he went 5 hours between feedings. Of those 5 hours he slept for 4. I woke up at 1:30 this morning, wiped the eye boogies from my face and looked at the clock and started to do the happy dance. We are FINALLY moving in the right direction. Brant and I have been able to enjoy some time together in the evenings because even though he's not sleeping, he's just relaxed and hanging out with us....... and not screaming. It really is a fabulous thing.

In the last couple of weeks I've also had my first night out away from him. My friend Beth turned 30 so we decided to leave Sam with Grandma and leave my house-bubble for a few hours. I think I called my mom 4 times in 3 hours to check on him and have never been so excited to be home by 9:30 on a Friday night. But I did it! Haven't left him since then. Sam also had the pleasure of going to his cousin Kylie's soccer game but it was so hot out that I had a hard time enjoying that too. I made grandma hold the umbrella over us, took his clothes off, and was blowing on him trying to keep him cool. I think I may have cought about 10 minutes of her entire game. We also took I trip to Diagraph finally to meet my coworkers. He was a big hit of course and slept like a champ the whole time. Aside from that we spend most of our time in the house staring at each other.

It's funny to think how much my life has changed since he's arrived. He's become like a drug to me and I'm completely addicted to this little guy. Someone asked me what I've been up to aside from the baby and I had to laugh. I honestly don't think there is a minute that goes by in a day that I'm not taking care of him, staring at him, or just thinking about him.

"The Best Things Come To Those Who Wait"

Welcome Baby Sam

He's finally here. Samuel Brayden Rademeyer was born Friday, July 23rd at 8:02am. Weighed in at 8lb 3oz, and was 20 1/4 inches long. 39 weeks in the womb, 12 hours of labor, 2 of those pushing, and it was worth every minute. He is the most beautiful baby I've ever seen of course. Sorry for the delayed post, but we've been adjusting to our new lives and it was a bit chaotic this past week with the lack of sleep.

He's already starting to get on a schedule of eating every 3 hours, but starting last night it's already becoming 4 hours which is fabulous. I've taken so many pictures of him already and have too many to even post on here so I'm just attaching my link to snapfish and you can log in and view them all here:
http://www2.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=5290843013/a=91451742/


I would like to thank all our friends and family who have been so much help and coming to visit us recently, as well as all the flowers we've recieved. It's such a great feeling to know how loved we all really are. You all mean so much to us. I will try to do better from here on out with the postings now that we're feeling better.

Love you all!
Brant, Dawn, & Sam

Here's a sneek peak of our precious little son:

The Final Countdooooown!

38 weeks today! ...... and feeling pretty awful, but we're almost there. I will admit that I am hoping this will be my last pregnany blog and then next entry will be the joyous news of Sam's arrival. Two Dr appointments ago I went for the weekly check up and was surprised to hear that I was dilated 1 cm and 80% effaced. Doesn't sound like much but I still had just over 3 weeks left and knew I needed to keep this bun in the oven just a bit longer. So it was just nice to hear we were moving in the right direction. Then I went this past Tue and learned that I was still at that same stupid cm and 80% effaced, but I still know that technically I have 2 weeks left so I just need to deal with it.

I've recently moved to sleeping on the couch. Those luxuries I've previously enjoyed such as the 2" memory foam mattress and beachwood cotton sheets, now cause more back pain and hot flashes and I've grown to hate them. So that along with the acid reflux and fact that I can no longer bend over have made things a bit difficult in these last few weeks. I also believe this little boy has yet to "drop" so I feel confident that I have at least another week left. Below is my most recent big baby belly shot (hoping to be the last) and I will be praying daily that we GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD ALREADY!  until next time........

36 weeks, 4 days

Hello again! So we're just a few days away from being considered "full term" (37w). Yeah for us! I have never in my life been so excited to turn a calender month!  We are 24 for days from our due date as of today. Sometimes I still have a hard time believing that this is really happening. The last couple of weeks have been very busy again. This weekend of course was 4th of July. We had little Jonathan's 2nd bday party w/ the fam on Saturday. He got a new nerf gun and was so excited all he could do was scream when his dad finally shot the first bullet. Made my day!

Then we had the annual Rademeyer pool party on the 4th which was also combined with our last baby shower w/ the Rademeyer fam. I unfortunately do not have any pic's to post as I didn't have my camera, but will share if I have any come across my email. We recieved more adorable little clothes and the last final touches to bring home this little guy like his toys, bottles, camcorder and car seat. From here we are packed and ready for the hospital and let me tell you..... "we are sooooooo ready". I haven't been to the doc for almost 2 weeks; go again on the 7th so I don't have anything new to update on the baby really. He's still moving around like a busy little bee. I can tell now how much bigger he's gotten though b/c there is much discomfort with every little kick and squirm. I am hoping that Thursday will bring wonderful news that I am even dilated 1cm, however, he's still sitting so high that I don't believe I'll be that lucky.  Not much else to report, so with that I will leave you with the most recent sweet belly shot. I don't know how this child could possibly continue to grow, but he seems to be making more space:

34 Down and Hopefully Less Than 6 To Go!

So like many other pregnant women, I too would not be upset if this little boy was ready to go in like 4 or 5 weeks. I know 6 weeks doesn't sound like much to most, but at this time it seems like an eternity The heat index today was at 101 degrees. Disgusting! On the bright side, we've had another very busy 4 weeks with all baby on the mind and in my life which as been wonderful. I haven't received pic's from others so I'll post what I have, but to start off with we had a wonderful baby shower thrown by my lovely mom and sis for my sides of the family and friends. Everyone was so generous and we received so many awesome things. Shower number two that brought out the ugly cry. My sister, hub, and their three children, Kylie, Chloe, and Jonathan gave us a recordable book of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Each of them read a page for little Sam and it was the sweetest thing I've ever seen. My aunt also gave me a copy of a poem titled A Newborn's Conversation with God. I was told to read it out loud and I barely made it through the first sentence. Just to see the excitement in everyones' eyes for Brant and I after we've waited for this for so long is sometimes overwhelming for a pregnant girl and the hormones tend to kick in. Below is a shot of the fam:

Following that, our neighbors invited us over for a fantastic BBQ in honor of the little man as well. The Falk's, Lewis's, and Bradlo's each brought a dish and all went in on a gift for us as well. We ate two of the best pork tenderloins I've ever had ever, and many other sides and deserts. Yummy! Great times were had with great company. We are so fortunate to be surrounded by such awesome people and I don't think I ever want to move.

Following that we had another marvelous shower hosted by the lovely Kizzie, Marcy, and Pamela Rademeyer with the Gowert family. Another super hot day, but Joel and Marcy were kind enough to have us all at their home and we were again showered with so many awesome gifts: car seat, baby gate, pack n play, travel bed, clothes, toys, blankets, and so many of those little baby essentials. I don't have a group shot but did capture the little cake bandits:

So I've been very busy growing a little baby, and washing tiny clothes and putting together baby items, putting away baby items, and overall obsessing of how I can make everything perfect before we're headed off to the hospital. I took a little video of his little nursery for those who wanted a sneak peek:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDs60FL7_rI

So onto that little bundle of joy...... our last appointment was two weeks ago and we had another ultrasound. I've been measuring ahead of schedule, but by his measurements in the US he's pretty much right on target. Right at 5 lbs at that time which the nurse advised was around 53rd percentile. His little heart rate is right on target and my blood pressure was 110/70 so everything is perfect, perfect, perfect! Except for the fact that my doctor would not push my due date up. We go again this Tuesday and I'll just try again.

And last but not least are the latest belly phots. All though still huge, it doesn't really seem that I've grown too much over the last few weeks. I'm certain, however, that Sam is getting much stronger just by his movements. Those cute little kicks have grown into huge jabs and looks like he's doing the wave across my belly. Please excuse the sweet shorts below. No they are not maternity, yes they're way too tight, but again, it was 100 degress outside today and I offiicially no longer care. Enjoy!:)

32 weeks:

34 weeks:

30w4days

We are 30 weeks and 4 days today and officially have graduated to bi-monthly dr visits. Yeah! Yet another sign that we're getting closer. We've had a very baby filled past couple of weeks including birthing class, and my first baby shower with my girlies. Thanks to them we brought home many wonderful gifts for the little man such as his stroller, crib mattress, swing, walker, and lots of cute little outfits and other neccesities. It's quite unbelievable how much "stuff' these babies come with. Below are a couple of shots of the fun:

I also had my check up appointment today with my awesome Dr. He rocks! Sam's heart rate is perfect as well as my blood pressure. I still do not have any swelling or stretchmarks, however, he said today that my uterus is now measuring at 35 weeks! No wonder why I look and feel like I am as big as a house. I told Dr. Kuebel that I've been getting that alot lately but it doesn't sound as nice as the way he put it. I hear things more like, "do you have a name picked out for your twin baby, or do you think you're really going to make it to July 30th, or just a simple "whoa" which pretty much says it all.

All of the wonderful little aches and pains have set in and we're not getting much sleep. So naps are my new favorite thing too. We're headed back to the doc June 9th to have an ultrasound done so he can measure the actual size of baby Sam. He told me that it could be that he's just positioned a lot higher than usual. I don't have high hopes for that being the case. And here's the latest belly shot to see for yourself :O) That's all for now. Stay tuned........

3rd Trimester!

28 weeks down, and I'm already in my 3rd trimester! Yeeee-ha! 12 weeks to go til due date, July 30th. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. I had my glucose test done at my last check up (last week) and those counts as well as my iron and others that I can't even remember all came back perfectly normal. Doc says my uterus is still measuring 1-2 weeks ahead of schedule but still assures me that I will not be delivering a gigantic baby. Considering I was 9lb10oz and Brant was around 9lbs, and one of his brothers was just about 10 lbs I think a big fat baby is just inevitable. Sorry uterus. 
Anywho, I've taken some belly photos here and there and thought I'd share since this is everyone's opportunity to watch me get fat. Speaking of fat, I just finished my chocoloate Entemann's donut dunked in milk afternoon snackie. Mmmmmm. Official weight gain to date is about 26 pounds and shouldn't be over 25, and less than 3lbs of that is baby Sam oopsies. Tootles.

29 weeks

17 weeks

11 weeks

4 weeks