Just cause I can't help but take pictures :)

Sleeping with Ayden and Cambree

With Skyler and Ayden

This is my "grumpy gills" face, depending on the cry it either means feed me/hold me/get that camera out of my face ;)

Loving life with Matt

Sleepy face

Sleeping with Daddy after a hard night in the hospital

Sleeping with Grandma Hennen

Sleeping with Grandpa Hennen

First nap at home in his crib :)

Sleeping on Mommy

Enough with the pictures already!!

Hide-a-baby sleeping with Daddy

Meditating on Mommy's lap

"Hi Dad"

"I don't want to hear it"

Now I just need to remember to bring my camera and get some more pictures with the Long side!! :)

Life with a newborn

       Eric is one week old as of today! It's crazy to me how fast this past week has gone by! At his check up appointment Eric was about as perfect as a baby could be! He'd only lost 2 oz in the hospital and was up to 7 lbs at his initial / jaundice check up. I really feel blessed to have such a healthy baby! Even with the initial scare he gave us, I couldn't ask for a better baby. Matt has been loving every second of being a dad and has been so much fun for me to watch when he takes care of Eric. I've loved having Matt home during the day to take care of Eric so I can take random naps. Even though Eric sleeps most of the day, having Matt here to be able to take care of him so that I can take random naps has been wonderful!! And I love watching them bond, they are both just so cute together I can hardly stand it!! I mean look at these two!!

 

    I'm pretty sure life doesn't get any better then this! I love these two boys more then I ever thought possible!  And I'm so excited to spend the rest of my life/eternity with them!! 

Announcing Eric David Long!! :D

Eric David Long
Born July 10, 2011 at 4:14 AM
6 lbs 10 oz & 19.5 in

My Little Burrito Baby

 

       I was so grateful that Matt had gotten his phone back on Saturday night! I really don't know what I would've done if he hadn't had his phone. I'd tried sending a Red Cross message to get him home for the delivery, unfortunately since I wasn't having any complications with the labor the Red Cross couldn't (or wouldn't...) do anything about getting Matt home.  Thankfully I was able to let Matt know early enough that he was able to get everything worked out on his end to get sent home since he was done with training anyway. The only downside was that his plane didn't leave from Tacoma, WA until 6:05 on Sunday morning :(

       Our precious Eric David Long was born on Sunday at 4:14 AM. He was so anxious to get here that he didn't even wait for the Dr to get here before making his grand entrance! His dad was on the phone with me during the whole labor and was my counting distraction during the contractions/pushing. I was grateful that he came when he did though, it made it so that I could send Matt some pictures before he boarded his plane to come home. Unfortunately the joy of Eric's arrival didn't last long before he was making me worry about him. When Eric was born part of his lungs didn't open completely. Which meant I got to glance at my precious baby before they took him away to the NICU to find out what was wrong. And all they told me before they took him away, was that they were concerned about his coloring and were going to monitor him in the "transitional nursery" (NICU observation). I asked my mom to go with the nurse and my baby so I could find out what was going on, as they weren't telling me anything at the time. My mom kept running back and forth between Eric and me letting me know his progress. Eventually they told us what was wrong and what they were doing about it. Which took a huge load off of me, but I still was just aching to hold my son. It took little Eric 5 hours to open his lungs and pass all the tests the doctors were giving him. When they finally brought him down to the Nursery where I could finally hold him I was over joyed. My nurse took me to see him and Eric's nurse was awesome at explaining everything she was looking at during his assessment. He definitely didn't like getting his shot, or having his diaper changed, but hearing him cry was the most amazing sound I'd heard all day. After she finished assessing everything with him, she helped me and Eric back to our room to finally have some time together. It felt like seconds had passed before Matt walked in the door (even though in reality it'd been about 2 hours). Eric was absolutely perfect and seeing Matt's face when he first saw his son was amazing. I think at that moment the world could've ended and I wouldn't have noticed.

       I was very glad that the rest of the hospital stay was boring and over quickly. Matt and I are loving being parents to such an amazing baby boy (even if he did keep us awake at all hours our first night at home ;) ). I've loved watching Matt as he takes care of little Eric. It's funny to me how alike they already are, Eric is very much his fathers son and a Daddy's boy. Every time Matt says anything if Eric is awake he looks around to find his dad. :) I can't wait to see how they grow and change in the next few days, especially as Eric starts to notice more of his surroundings. :)

       But my little boy is pretty sure it's dinner time, so I'll post again later.

~Melanie
    

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

       So tonight Matt got to call!! Granted it only lasted about 5 min and consisted of him telling me that he got a really bad sinus infection right after getting out of the field (thank heavens it wasn't while he was in the field!!), him asking if I was still prego, to which I responded maybe just to make him sweat a little ;) and then letting him know that yes the baby was still in the oven and me telling him that I needed his address to call him home (which he ended up having to call me back with because he had to go get an OPODR, but hey now I have it!!).

     It's funny how we get used to living without things, and then when they are back how crushing we realize it was to be without them... Don't get me wrong, I knew I missed Matt's voice and being able to talk to him, but I never really let myself know just how much I missed it until I got to hear it tonight. Even if he did sound very off because of his sinus infection... I'm so looking forward to him getting home and being able to take care of him again. I really can't wait! Between being able to talk to him again and being able to see him again I don't know how I'll be able to handle all the excitement and keep this baby in long enough for him to get to the hospital :P. I don't know why, but I keep getting this feeling that I'll have this baby within a few days (as in by the 16th) of him getting home. However until he boards that plane to come home Matt has placed me on bed rest (which I quickly negotiated down to doing as little as possible because I would go crazy being trapped in my house for a week!!) Granted Monday afternoon I'm planning on working out in the yard all day in hopes of getting this baby to start working his way out... And with it being my first I'm probably safe to bet that I won't have a very quick labor so unless I start having major contractions Monday morning I plan on doing everything I can to get this baby out of me ASAP!

       But this child is letting me know it's bed time so I will write again soon I just had to tell someone about how exciting it was to get a few min to talk to the most amazing husband in the world!! :D

Night all!!