Welcome to the World Gus!

I, August Luc ("Gus") was born at 8:14 am on December 21st. I weighed in at a healthy 8 lbs 4.8 oz, and was 20 1/4 inches long, and came out screaming. Well, it was quite a shock to me- I'm not sure I was ready to come out!! I was born by c-section because of my mommy's mild preeclampsia, but the doctors said that because my cord was around my neck and I was pretty big, I probably would have ended up being born by c-section anyway. We were the first appointment scheduled for the morning, so we had to be at the hospital by 5:45 am (a problem especially for mama, who doesnt like to get up early at all). We were in the operating room by 7:55, and wheeled back to the PACU/recovery by 9:15. I spent about an hour and a half in recovery with my moms, and then we went up to the maternity suites. I slept for about 24 hours- the c-section pretty much tired me out. We did rooming in, so I was with my moms all day (and night) except when the pediatrician came to examine the babies in the morning and they lined us all up to get poked and prodded in the nursery, and when that nurse would come in at night and give me my bath and checkup . There was a pull-out sofa for Mama to sleep on, which was actually pretty comfortable, considering... It was great having a private room - we can't imagine having another recovering mom and baby in the same room.



I had my first visitors around noon. Grandma and Cynthia snuck in before visiting hours to check out me, the sleepy little guy. Unfortunatly, the 21st wasn't just my birthday. Mama's granny (my great-grandma) had been sick for a very long time. She was admitted to the hospital emergency room on Tuesday night. My Mama got up to see her and spent about 5 hours with her, and her friend Uncle Mike was so kind to take off a half day of work to go with her so that Mommy could get some rest before my big arrival. Unfortunatly, at around 1am on the 21st, Mama's granny passed away in the hospital. No one in the family knew about it until around 9am (long story), and no one wanted to call and spoil the excitement of my arrival. So it wasn't until Grandma and Cynthia came to the hospital that Mama found out. It was heartbreaking, but Mama believes that granny and I have a very special connection, even though i never met her. Even though some people might think it is a strange coincidence that this all happened on the same day, maybe she was waiting until she knew I was coming into the world before she let herself leave it. I know she is watching over us, and maybe I even have a little part of her inside of me.

My mama stayed with mommy and I, and we had a few visitors. Uncle Mike and Uncle Dennis came by on my birthday to see me, and came back again the next day and brought all the little things that my moms had forgotten to bring to the hospital. Aunt Tammie (she's really my first cousin, once removed, but I call her Aunt anyway) came to visit me too for a little while. On Friday, Mama went to the funeral. I wanted to go, but being only two days old, they wouldn't let me. i was going to try to sneak out, but they put one of those Martha-Stewart-esqe ankle braclet monitors on ankle to keep anyone from baby-snatching me, so I wouldn't have gotten very far.

On Saturday, mommy and I were both given the go-ahead to go home. Christmas eve! We made it home by Christmas. I was only 4 days old, so I wasn't sure what Christmas meant, but I know my moms had been really hoping to be home for it. I didnt like being put in my car seat AT ALL, but once I was in it, I stopped screaming and fell sound asleep. We got home, and I got to meet my Poppy (he was still a little sad about granny, but he liked to hold me and didn't even want to put me down). I also got to meet RJ, who's kind of like an uncle, and he did a pretty good job of holding me. My moms got some early Christmas presents from my Grandma, and then we went to bed. I am not really good at sleeping for long periods of time yet, so it was a bit of a rough night, but my moms were just so glad to be home and away from all of the people who bother you when you are a new baby in the hospital.

My first Christmas was pretty mellow. My moms exchanged presents (mommy got mama a karaoke machine- I don't know WHAT she was thinking. I'm still a pretty little guy but I know bad singing when I hear it!). I didn't get many presents to open, but there were so many new things that our generous family and friends had gotten me for my birthday that I was still excited. Grandma and Rick came over for dinner, and we had lasagna. Well, I had milk, but everyone else had lasagne. I even let mommy have enough time to eat- that was my present to her.

The day after Christmas I had my first pediatrician visit outside the hospital. They said I looked good (of course), but I was a little jaundiced. They wanted me to supplement my breastfeeding with bottles twice a day. I'm always into more food, so that was a-ok with me. Of course it meant mama had to run all over town on the day after Christmas to find a breast pump and all kinds of other things they needed for me but didnt have. I even got a really cool bear suit to wear outside in the cold. The lactation consultant came at 6:45am the next morning (don't worry, I was already up) and helped mommy learn good ways to feed me better! Then we had to go back to that doctor's office (thank goodness it is close by) and they checked my blood again. My jaundice was better, so I dont have to go back until my 2 week birthday. Yay. Jaundice is a pretty minor thing in the scheme of things that can happen to little guys like me, but it still scared my moms. They get scared easily, I think, because they love me so much. But I'm tough, and I seem to be getting along fine now.

Unfortunatly, my mama's family has been really busy because of granny's death, so we havent seen as much of them as we would have liked, but it's good because we get lots of time to spend as the three of us. Grandma came to stay for a night and helped out. My Uncle Ross will be coming soon on his way back to college to visit me, and I think Aunt Kallie will fly up soon to see me too. Uncle Todd, Uncle Scott and Grandmomma are all planning trips as well. Uncle Mike and Uncle Dennis have been soooo helpful to my moms, bringing them food and coming over to hang out and help out. They even came over on New Year's eve to help us ring in my first new year! (Complete with Karaoke, but I wont even try to describe that).