He's here, he's finally here!!
I'm sure by now you've all heard that Maksim Thomas arrived on April 18th at 4:49pm. He weighed 8lbs 5oz and was 21in long.
Maksim entered the world ensuring that he had a story to tell!
After waiting almost 2 weeks after my due date for his arrival, Mark and I went into the hospital to have them start inducing me. We were supposed to go on the evening of Tuesday the 17th, however the hospital called and told us that they had no rooms available so we needed to come in the morning instead. So we got up early on Wednesday the 18th and headed to the hospital. Once we got there they hooked me up to an IV, put the baby heart monitors on me and started the Pitocin (inducing medicine). Mark and I were getting a little bored hanging out waiting for his arrival...
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| Mark played doctor |
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| all hooked up and ready to go |
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| last family picture as a family of 2 |
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| Thumbs up! lets do this! |
So we continued to wait... until about 3:30ish when Mark and I noticed that Maksim's heartbeat on the monitor had shot up to about 195 and then dropped to about 24, and it wasn't going back up. We were nervous so we called the nurse and told them we wanted someone to come check the monitor since the baby's heartbeat had dropped. A nurse ran into our room, and tried to move the monitor to find his heartbeat, the next thing we knew they were calling for the residents, more nurses and our doctor... everyone was rushing into our room and Mark and I really didn't realize what was going on at first. They started flipping me from side to side to try to find Maks's heartbeat - at this point we were really scared, they didn't find his heartbeat and we heard our doctor say... ok we have to go - let's bring her in for an emergency c-section now! I was so scared and I saw the look on Mark's face... he was so scared too, we hadn't expected this at all. They rushed me into the operating room and when I got in there they were getting me all ready and all of a sudden his heartbeat returned. The doctor made everyone stop and take a breath, at this point since his heartbeat was back and steady she said that Mark was going to come into the room so that we could discuss if we wanted to do a c-section anyways or go back into the room and try more Pitocin. When Mark walked in I was so happy to see him, we immediately decided that the c-section was the right way for us to go, we didn't want to risk this all happening again. So they put in my epidural and got us ready for a c-section. I was happy that I wasn't being put under since that meant that Mark could be in the room with me. He held my hand the whole time and then... we heard the cries of our baby boy... the sweetest sound we've ever heard. Of course we sobbed in happiness and relief that he was ok and had finally arrived. They brought him over for Mark to hold for the first time, it was amazing. He was the most beautiful little man we had ever seen and we couldn't be happier. (We never did find out why we lost his heartbeat, the doctors didn't find anything wrong with him or any reason of why it dropped so much - guess it will always be a mystery.) It was a long and very emotional day but we were so happy to finally be a family of 3! (well 5 counting our furry boys)
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| our little man |
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| our new addition to our family |
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| sad baby boy! he's even adorable when he cries! |
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| Daddy's hand is delicious! |
Maksim is now almost a month old (24 days old to be exact) and it just feels like yesterday that all of that happened. He is a blessing and we are cherishing every moment with him. He makes us laugh with his silly faces, and crazy sleeping positions. He does silly things like suck on Daddy's nose - which apparently is delicious! He also loves his bouncer and plays and sleeps in it often. At night he does a pretty good job sleeping - going about 4-5 hours before he wakes up for a feeding and then goes back to sleep for about another 3-4 hours... we feel pretty lucky about this. He really is a great baby! He barely cries and is overall very happy. He smiles alot and lets us see his adorable dimples.
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| mmm Daddy's nose! |
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| Happy Boy! look at those dimples! |
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| Just lounging |
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| Mommy and Me |
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| I love cuddling after a bath |
At one week old we decided to have him do some tummy time and to our surprise.. he rolled over! 3 times!! and he has continued to do so since... he really is such a strong little boy! He stands up regularly and is already holding his head up on his own. He's going to be crawling and walking in no time - we're in trouble!
We went to NY to have Maksim meet his family in early May. First stop was Utica to meet Aunt Meghan, Uncle Joe, Aunt Kenzie, and their parents, and of course Maksim's soon to be best friend Sawyer. We didn't realize how little Maks was until we saw him next to Sawyer - who is about 13 months old. Before we know it they are going to be the same size and running all around together. We next went to Syracuse to stay at Nana and Papa Zacholl's house -They had already met Maks however since they were at the hospital when he was born, but of course they were so excited to see him again. On Sunday it was off to Rochester to meet Grandma and Papa Huss, Uncle Brian, Aunt Beth and Brian, Uncle Bob, Aunt Eileen, Cousins Aaron, Cody and Daityn, Great Grandma Huss and Great Grandma Griffin. It was a great day with family and Maks was soo good and loved being held by everyone. On Monday, we went back to Syracuse to pick up Beckham and stopped in to see Great Grandma Zacholl - she was so happy to meet him. On Tuesday... we headed home with a brief stop in Albany to meet Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Krupa. It was a great trip to see family and we are so glad everyone got to meet Maks when he was still so young. We also did a photo shoot with our friend Bob and can't wait to see all the great pictures (We got a sneak preview which is below, Bob sent it to me for Mothers' Day from Maks).
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| Maks gave me this for Mothers Day (with the help of Bob Pease Photography!) |
I celebrated my first Mothers' Day on Sunday and it was a fantastic day! Mark gave me my present when I woke up and it was a beautiful heart bracelet from my boys. Then he made me a delicous breakfast of eggs benedict and potatoes... it was sooo good! We then decided to go for a mini hike - our first in CT! I carried Maks in his Baby Bjorn and he was a sleep in it before we even started hiking. We didn't go far but it was a beautiful day out - about 85 degrees - and it was nice to be outside for a little while. We stopped for ice cream on the way home and spent the rest of the day relaxing at home with our little family. It truly was a great first Mothers' Day!
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| my beautiful bracelet and cuddly boy |
We are really enjoying being home with Maksim (and of course Bex and Milo - who have both been great with Maks, Milo pretty much ignores him and Bex just likes to lick him ... alot!) and know that we are so lucky to be able to both be on maternity and "paternity" leave together. We couldn't be happier with our little family!! We look forward to all the fun adventures and moments to come. Thank you to our family and friends for all the congratulations and well wishes you've sent our way! :)
