We have a fish on our hands

Nora started swimming lessons at Foss about a month ago. She has learned more in her 4 or 5 sessions than she learned the entire time she had swim lessons at the other place... Nora can hold her breath under water for 15 seconds, float on her back for 10 seconds alone and swim with a noodle unassisted. We are so very proud of her. Nora really likes her teacher, Ms. Marie. Check out the pictures below.

3 week size photos of Henry

It has been far too long since I updated the blog. Life with 2 kiddos is busy! Below are a few size photos that I took of Henry at 3 weeks. I have the 7 week photos coming soon.

I don't think he is a huge fan of the size photos :)

We would like to proudly introduce

Henry James Silas Swartzbaugh. Our little man arrived on Thursday, September 16, 2010. Pete won the name battle. Of course, I think the name Henry is adorable too but I cannot ever let him forget that he won that battle-hahaha. His middle names come from my dad, his middle name is James and my grandfather on my mom' side. His middle name was Silas.


On Wednesday, September 15th, I went into work and was feeling really pretty that day which is hard to feel when you are in the last 3 weeks of a pregnancy. I conducted a company wide meeting that morning, took care of a few things and headed out for my 37 week check up at Dr. Chow's office. Pete called me before I was going to leave and said he would pick me up which I thought was great since we needed to have a download on life and maybe we could catch a late breakfast/early lunch after the appointment. We get to the doctors office and everything is normal. Chow came in and we were talking....... We broke down my elevated blood pressure, the extreme itchiness which caused some bitchiness and some swelling etc. After examining me and him telling us a great story, he looked at us and tells us that he would like me to head to the hospital to get my blood pressure monitored for an hour along with some blood tests done. He was 90% certain that we would go home. He told us we could go at anytime that day. We elected to go in the morning since my afternoon was booked and Nora started dance that night. We got there and were placed in the maternal assessment area. I was hooked up to the monitors for blood pressure and the baby. Then about 10 minutes later, the lady came in to draw my blood... that lady was my cousin's wife, Kim. We had a good chuckle. It turned out it was her first day on the job and she did a fantastic job. We sat in the room for an hour and then Chow calls to tell me that he is sorry that it was panning out this way as he did not expect it but they tested me for preeclampsia and one out of six tests, the liver test came back elevated and he was concerned especially since I was itching so bad. He wanted the baby and me to be safe so I had to be induced. I started to cry because it was not what I was expecting and I felt so helpless. I asked if I could go home to get some stuff and tell Nora. He said no since I needed to get induced to have a baby by midnight. When we hung up, I broke down. Not because I was sad that the baby was coming but because I didn't do some stuff at work, I didn't have my bag, Nora was starting dance, I was worried about her, I wanted to tell her she was going to be a big sister... you name it, I was emotional about it (I am welling up in tears typing this).



So, we get in a room and I get situated with a dead blackberry and no charger...and Pete is deployed on his mission to get our lives in order.... He is the man!



The doctor on call comes in and he tries to break my water and his attempt was weak. After consulting with the nurses, it is decided that I will just have my cervix softened then water broke blah blah blah.... So, I get that deal after I moved rooms which is still baffling to me. Anyway, after awhile Pete gets back from his mission with my sunshine, Nora. I was so excited to see her and she was just delightful. Then our savior, Alissa arrives to take over as Nora's caregiver while we are in the hospital. They head to dance and I cry my eyes out since I was missing her first dance class. Pete and I hang out and hang out.. then my dad comes in with our new battery charger for our camera since we lost ours (thanks again, Dad).We go to bed and boom at midnight, I feel this urge to get out of to go to the bathroom and burst, my water breaks all over the floor. It was just as I remember when my water broke with Nora however, I was in the hospital. I call for Pete trying to wake him letting him know that my water broke. He shoots from his "bed" and gets the nurse. From that point on things progressed at a nice pace. I was given my IV's which took 4 tries to get in, they had to call the nurse anesthetist to get the dang thing in... the pain from the first three tries was almost as bad as my contractions-haha. Then I received my epidural with some pitocin and the movements really starting to move. Of course my blood pressure was going up and down like it did with Nora after I received the epidural so they had to lower it. It also caused the baby not to like things too much either. The baby's heart rate kept going up and down and all around. Unfortunately, our nurse wasn't the most comforting gal in town. She kept having looks of concern and telling me that I may have a tough time pushing out this baby since it took me 2 hours to get Nora out. I was getting mad. Dr. Angelats came in and said he was not concerned - whooooo-thank God! He checked me a few times and I will leave out those details and Pete still gets a little queasy when we talk about it. At 12:30 I started pushing and the baby boy was born at 12:43! He was not named at this time. He was actually named close to 48 hours after his birth. Here are some pictures from our birthing adventure with Henry. He truly is a gift and we are so lucky to have a little boy in our house. Admittedly, I am still surprised we have a little boy.

Nora, Lissie and me hanging out before they had to leave for Nora's first dance class.

Nora in her dance gear and me trying to keep it together before she leaves.

The view from our room. It was clear as can be earlier in the day. When I was pushing Henry out all I did was stare at the skyline of Minneapolis... Oh wait, no I didn't!

Getting close to "go time."

I look so great without makeup!

Here's our boy! Welcome, Henry.

He is so handsome

He looks SO much like Nora

Proud Daddy and Henry

The big sister, Nora has arrived! This is their first encounter. She was instantly in love.

Henry had this teddy bear in my tummy with him for his big sister. She LOVES the bear. She gave him the blanket on the chair along with an elephant from when she was a baby.

OOOH Henry has a watch for her too. What great taste he already has.

Nora feeding her little brother. Henry was born with a wicked bruise on his head. Allegedly he was pushing up against my pelvic bone or something during his exit out and it bruised him badly. He also had his cord wrapped around his arm. All of this caused some stress on him and he had a low glucose level. They ran some tests on him and asked us to feed him right away, so we did. Nora and Pete had the honors. I was still loopy and very tired.

Meal time is over so let's hold the little guy. Nora looks like a natural, huh?

Nora is sans bow since she lost it on the playground at school. No worries, the girl still loves her bows.

Brother and sister.

Auntie Lissie holding him for the first time. Nora was out of the room that is why she was allowed to hold him. Nora was very jealous of Lissie for some reason.

It was so great delivering him in a regular room as I had to deliver Nora in the OR since she was so early. We also had to send her to the SCN (Special Care Nursery) right after she was born so it was nice to experience having the baby in the room with us. However, that came to an end when the Olson's and Jiovanazzo's came to visit and Henry's glucose levels were still too low. We had to bring him to the SCN. Of course this was emotional for us but we knew how fantastic the nurses are in the SCN and that he was in great hands.

Henry hanging out in his incubator and Nora looking in at him.

Nora and Lissie peaking in at Henry

Nora reading her book to Henry

Nora loving on her brother

I was discharged on Saturday and Henry had to stay in the SCN for one more night. It was actually an OK thing considering we were able to have a special night at home with Nora. We had Subway, then had movie night with popcorn and went to bed late. Just what we all needed.

On Sunday morning, we hung out as we were told to get up to the hospital around noon. Here are a couple of pictures right before we left. Nora and Bumpa had fun hanging out when Pete and I went to get the little man.

Our family of 3 in our house for one last time

Mr. Handsome ready to leave the hospital. First Day photos have doubled their prices so we decided to play photographers on our own!

All buckled in and ready to head home for the first time

The big sister had her Bumpa call us on the way home to tell us to hurry. She had him in her arms as quick as she could when we got home.

Bumpa holding his grandson for the first time. It was short lived as his princess Nora was VERY jealous.

Henry being introduced to his room

We are so excited and happy to have the little guy home with us. He is a wonderful baby and very chill. Nora is a terrific big sister and treats him like a prince. She is however a little jealous and acting out at times which it totally expected. She is trying to adjust to sharing us and I can only imagine how confused she is. All in all, she is doing great though.

We have been spoiled with meals from friends and family and are beginning to forget how to cook! The gifts are special too. We appreciate everyones love and support. We hope you get to meet our little man very soon.