Steadman Family

hBaby Rowan joined us at 10:26 PM this evening. Weighing in at 7 lbs. 13 oz. and stretching out to 20.5 inches.

Both Mom and baby are doing just fine. In fact, Rowan latched on for nursing on the first attempt and hasn't let up.

Better pictures coming as I get a better connection.

We're in hour 14 of Melinda's labor and she's resting fine now that the epidoral has kicked in. Everything is moving along at a nice, slow pace and the baby is doing fine. The doctor is pretty happy with her progress so we're sticking with it for a while longer.

I might try to catch another nap before things get too busy, but I'm not too sure that this "couch" will be accomodating.

It was a good plan.

We got up at 4:45, grabbed (and then forgot) a few last minute items to bring to the hospital, relenquished control of Chez Steadman to my mom and jumped in the car to make our 7:30 AM scheduled c-section.

And then Melinda went into labor.

Rowan is estabilishing himself as the man of the house by setting his own timetable. He's calling all the shots and will come out when he's damn well ready.

I'm full term now and still no baby. He's decided to wait and force the issue, so tomorrow he comes out via scheduled c-section. I am having a hard time with this. It's entirely my decision and what the doc believes to be the best course of action (based on his size and my history of difficult deliveries). All of us (Dean, the doc, and I) want to avoid a repeat of what happened with Lily's birth. Yet, I can't get past feeling like this is a cop-out. Just going into the hospital and having the baby surgically removed isn't the way it's supposed to be. Then again, none of my birthing experiences have been great; they've mostly been both complicated and traumatic. This, in fact, will probably be my easiest one, so how come I'm struggling with this decision? Maybe it's just plain old fear. It is major abdominal surgery after all, and the recovery is so much more difficult. What if something goes wrong? What if something happens to the baby or I? This is my fear. Of course, something can always go wrong, even with a regular delivery. There is also a little bit of sadness on my part, since this will be my last pregnancy. I know I will miss "the belly" and feeling life grow inside of me, it's such a wonderful thing and I so appreciate the experience of it all!!

I am also very excited to finally meet the newest little man in my life. I hope he knows what he's gotten himself into by choosing us as his family. Two very headstrong and independent older sisters who will fawn over him and love on him constantly!! Hopefully the girls will let Dean and I spend some time with him as well. :) Madie is excited to have another brother and plans on telling him all about Ben. I am so grateful that she feels this way. It will help her to keep her memories of Ben strong within her mind and Rowan (as will Lily) can have some sort of tie to Ben through her. Lily will be her nurturing, baby loving self, which means fighting to get the baby back once she has her hands on him! I am concerned about making sure the girls still get the personal attention they need and deserve from both Dean and I. This will be the hardest for Lily since she is used to all of the attention given to the youngest. Somehow we'll manage, there’s too much love here for it not to reach everybody!!!

Well, I guess that’s all for now. We'll post again soon with new pics and how things are going with everyone.

Well, I'm 37 weeks pregnant today, which is considered full term. Yeah! Now if I could just convince him to come on out. I'm pretty sure it's wishful thinking since none of my babies has ever come before 39 weeks.

I did have an ultrasound last Friday and received some good news. It appears that this little guy (whom we've decided to name ROWAN) is almost a full pound lighter than Lily was at this stage (she measured well over 7lbs while he is only measuring around 6.5 lbs.). This was good to hear since I was facing a scheduled c-section if he was as big or bigger than she was. Now the doc thinks it will be ok for me to have a vbac if I want to. Rowan should only weigh about 8-8.5 lbs by 40 wks.

I would really like him to come this weekend so I could be out of the hospital by the Fourth of July. I don't want to spend the holiday in the hospital if I can avoid it. If not this weekend, then hopefully he'll wait until the weekend after so I can enjoy the holiday with the girls first.

Madie is having a pretty good summer so far. She has been attending various summer camps being offered through her school that help to keep her busy. She has also had plenty of neighbor kids to play with, which is a big help to me.

Lily continues to be a force to reckon with each day. While I enjoy her immensely, I can't remember it ever being this hard to keep up with a toddler, even when I was pregnant with Madie and Ben was an 18mo. old. Of course, I'm older now, and I live in a much bigger house, and I also have a 7yr. old to contend with. Thank goodness Madie is such a big help and often doesn't mind playing with Lily if I need her to.

What will life be like with 3 of them you ask? I have no idea, but I know that I can handle it, even if it's just one day at a time!

Hopefully my next post will be a baby announcement! Until then, I hope everyone is having a great summer and staying cool.

Well, we weathered yet another horrid anniversary this past weekend. I can’t believe that it’s been two years since Ben’s passing. It still feels like it all just happened. Some days I can’t believe that it actually has happened, and I wonder where Ben is. I suppose the waves of pain come a little less often, but when they hit, they hit as hard as ever. What’s funny is that it’s the days and weeks leading up to THE DAY that are actually the hardest. I seem to be completely unable to focus on anything, and no matter what, nothing seems to feel right. Then the day comes and it’s like any other day. You still have to feed yourself and the kids. You still have to get everybody dressed. You STILL have to make it through this day like you do every other day. The wheel never stops turning.

 

Anyway, the girls continue to bring us joy and healing. Madie is continuing to do well in school and as a big sister. She just recently took her first skiing lesson and had a blast. We may have created a monster though since she’s now begging to go again ASAP! Lily is running full hilt into being a quick and overly curious toddler. Some days it’s a struggle just to keep up, and it will only get worse as my waistline expands and baby boy Steadman gets bigger. She feels my heart with pure love and joy and I can only smile even during her worst tantrum.

 

Dean’s job hunt has finally ended and he began his new job this week. I am so very excited for him in this new journey. He is in over his head, which is how he excels and gains the most confidence and sense of success. I have no doubts that this is a huge step in the right direction for him. All the traveling will be a bummer but is a necessity.

 

The baby and I are doing great. Our last check-up had him right on target for size and his heartbeat was very strong and healthy sounding. All of the ultrasound scans appeared normal and there is no question that he is a HE. I am trying to enjoy this pregnancy as much as possible, since it is likely to be out last. It’s tough because I also want it over with so I can meet the newest little man in my life.

 

I guess that’s enough for now, I’ll try to update more often. At least until the baby comes!

 

All my love to everyone!!!!

Melinda

Melinda had her ultrasound on Wednesday and everything looks great with the baby. He is right were he should be on size and development and things are looking good for a July 16th delivery. We're all very excited (well, Madie wanted another sister, but she's coming around to the little brother idea) and are working on little boy names.

I love incredibly easy ideas that have a positive impact on peoples lives. I feel that we miss opportunities as much of the focus is put into the overall fight against cancer and not into the day-to-day lives of patients and their care-givers. For me, it's about finding a balance between the big and little initiatives.

My friend Michael Birdsong embodies this balance - he's raised thousands of dollars for the LAF and has started a new project called "Chemo Rocks". He's collecting used iPods for use in the Rocky Mountain Cancer Center in Boulder, CO. He's setup an iTunes server with thousands of songs and has iPods that patients can use while getting their treatments. It's a really simple plan that can be easily executed to provide a little comfort during an otherwise crappy time.

My iPod wasn't seeing much use since I upgraded to the iPhone and it's now spending its days where it can do a little good. Please drop me a line if you have an underused iPod that needs a new home.

Thanks

It's the economy, stupid.

I was laid off last week and have started the job hunt machine again. There's never really a good time to be out of work, but I was starting to lose steam with Me.dium as they changed their product direction away from enabling implicit discovery of people as well as online content. I'm a huge believer in the power of meeting people based on what you're doing online and hope that the folks still there find a way to make things profitable in the future.

So it's on to bigger and better things for me. I'm focusing mainly on account and project management positions and have already started getting a few strong leads. Please keep your fingers crossed and ping me if you hear of any cool spots in the Denver/Boulder area.

A group of folks are trying to get a childhood cancer awareness postage stamp created. They're a few thousand signatures short, but we can fix that. Right?

Please take two seconds to sign it.

Thanks