1 Month Old!

This picture was taken today. He is becoming so much more alert.

Time flies! It's hard to believe our little guy has been with us over a month now. I took Matthew to the doctor on Thursday and we found out he is a big, strong, healthy boy. He weighed in at 11 pounds 11 ounces and measured 23 inches. 90th percentile on both weight and height and 50th percentile for head circumference. We are headed out to Utah on Wednesday, the 23rd, for the holidays and I figure he should be about 12 pounds then. This means I have a 5 week old the size of a 3 month old! It makes for easier packing. I figure I will just wash and pack his 3-6 month clothes since he is actually at the weight and height for that size. I can't believe it. My baby boy is growing way too fast.

Note: Matt had an idea to take a picture of Matthew every day of his life for the first year. Afterward, we will make a movie showing each day and the progression of change. I thought it would be a good idea to do it on the Boppy so that there is an constant in the pictures to measure his growth by. Hence all the pictures of our sweet little guy on the Boppy :)

Matthew on the day of his 1 month check up.

I decided to dress him in 3-6 months clothes the day after his appointment, just to see how they look. The pants are a tad big in the waist and a little long, but other than that he is filling them out quite well. I hope he stays in this size for a while!

Dress Up

Mommy loves to play dress up. Matthew doesn't. He hates having his clothes changed. His little arms are so stiff and he just cries and cries. I had to catch him while he was sleeping to get this little sweater on him.

He LOVES being in the bath, but dreads getting out and having to get dressed.

Daddy bathing baby Matthew.

Mommy drying him off.

Look who came to visit!

Grandpa Shipley called us this morning to let us know he'd be stopping by in the evening to say hello and give us all a big hug. He had to come out to Washington D.C. for business for a few days. We were so excited to see him and have him meet Matthew for the first time. He was actually in town the day I went into labor. My water broke an hour after his plane took off. So, he was back out exactly a month later to meet Matthew. It was so fun to watch him interact with Matthew. He is so good with babies. He lulled Matthew right to sleep and put him down in his crib. Only problem was he woke up an hour later, but gave us enough time to play a game of Settlers :) My dad has VERY strong genes. So many of the Shipley babies look just like their grandpa. I was amazed looking at the picture of the two of them and noticing that Matthew's coloring matches grandpa's.

First Airplane Ride

All ready for my first airplane ride. Dressed up in my "Little Pilot" outfit.
So excited for my first big trip!

We took a quick trip to Boston. It was quite the adventure. The week Matthew was born, Matt offered to take a hearing in Boston so that I could come and bring the baby to visit our friends Alisa and Eric. Matt has earned enough flights with Southwest that I can fly for free with him anywhere he goes. Matt was flying back from Louisville, Kentucky and didn't have enough time to come up to the house and get us and go back to the airport, so my sweet friend, Donna, offered to drive Matthew and I to the airport. Just before leaving, I decided to see if we needed any documents for the baby. I found out that Southwest requires you to bring the baby's birth certificate to prove that he is at least 2 weeks and less than 2 years old and also to prove that you aren't trying to fly away with someone else's child. Well, this was a problem because we had to send the birth certificate back as they had forgotten to put the "IV" after MKS on the certificate. After lots of phone calls and inquiry, Matt found out that we would be okay if we had an immunization record from the pediatrician. Luckily I planned an extra 30 minutes to get to the airport, so Donna drove us by the pediatrician to pick the paper up.

When we arrived at the airport, we found out our flight was delayed 50 minutes. There was a big snow storm in Boston that day and the airplane coming in was late. It seemed as if everyone at the airport was flabbergasted that we were taking a 3 week old on an airplane. We were nervous about it too, but hoping all would go well. After getting through security and waiting for daddy to get out of the bathroom so that we could find a decent place to feed the baby, we got onto the airplane only to find out that our flight was delayed another 90 minutes!!! So much for hanging out with Alisa and Eric that night. I was regretting coming, but after pondering the thought of going back home only to have to turn around to pick Matt back up the following night at the airport, decided to stick it out. Luckily, Matthew fell asleep. When we finally took off I was so worried about making sure Matthew was sucking on his pacifier that I put it in his mouth and kept moving it around to get him to suck. I wasn't sure if he was sleeping if his ears would be okay and didn't want to take any chances. After landing, we waited for the Dollar Rental Car shuttle to take us to get our car. We watched as 3 or 4 shuttles passed from every other rental company before Dollar's shuttle came by. Talk about bad luck! We didn't get to our hotel until almost 11 p.m. Side note: we realized it would be much easier to check the car seat instead of taking it to the gate.

When we checked in, the guy told Matt there would be a crib in our room. We got to the room and there was no crib. They finally brought the crib, but it looked pretty scary - very institutional. I opted to let Matthew sleep in his car seat and then near me in the double bed after he got up the first time. Well, we did get to see Alisa and her big boy, Tyler. Ty is 7 months old and in 18 month clothes! He is such a cutie! It was so fun to see Alisa. We went and had Thai food which I haven't had for so long as Matt is not a fan. Then we went back to her house. Eric was home for lunch and Matt pulled up just after we did with canolis from Mike's Pastry! We had a great visit (despite Matthew's fussiness) and Alisa even let me take a much needed nap. Matt and I went to Boston 2 weeks after Ty was born, so it was fun to be able to bring Matthew out at about the same age.

The trip back, we checked the car seat and made it to our gate to find out we were delayed 50 minutes. I guess you just have to expect lots of delays in the winter. We were grateful to make it home safely and agreed that the next trip would be longer than 1 day, but that it was worth the trip to see the Stoddards and to know what to expect before heading out to Utah for Christmas.

Alisa and me with our boys in front of their gorgeous Christmas tree. These guys will be good friends.
Matt and Alisa taking care of the babies.

Ty showing off his mad jumping skills!

Matthew's First Moments

Matthew Kenneth Steen IV - born November 16th, 2009 at 5:37 p.m. 9 lbs. 7 oz. and 20 3/4 inches. He surprised all of us in his timing and his size!

Baby Matthew is here! We thought for sure we'd be waiting a week after his due date to be induced and welcome him to our family, but this boy has good timing. I started contracting on a regular basis at church Sunday the 15th (his due date) during Sunday School. I didn't really say anything until we got home and when I started timing things, contractions were coming every 10 minutes. Around 6:30, I realized my water broke while I was sitting on the couch eating a yummy dinner - Cafe Rio Chicken Salad. I thought I felt something strange and when I got up to go upstairs, realized that indeed, water was flowing down my leg. Thank goodness I was home! I let my mom and Matt know and they both started frantically packing their bags so we could get to the hospital. I called Matt's sister, Aunt Mary (who lives nearby and works in Towson, Maryland as a labor and delivery nurse - she's been nursing in L&D for 17 years). We had been texting about the contractions and when I called to tell her that my water broke, she was at work and telling everyone she had to go! They all knew that she had been anticipating this event for months and agreed she would go as soon as things were under way. She planned on meeting us at the hospital, but after contacting Cheri Gard, my midwife, I decided to stay home for a few hours to let the contractions progress. Around 9:30 p.m., we decided to head into the hospital. My contractions were every 5-6 minutes by this point. Matt was speeding. I had to give him a hard time. We take Route 30 into Lancaster to get to the doctor and the speed limit is only 55 mph. He always gives me a hard time for going too fast. He was going 80-85 the whole time. He said it was different this time and I was just praying that we wouldn't get in a wreck :) Mary and mom followed behind us in Mary's car. Matt dropped me off and I headed to triage. Luckily, Matt brought in all the bags and I found my I.D. to give them and was happy he had his insurance card in his wallet, because for some reason, mine was not in my wallet. After checking me, I was only dilated to a 1! I was pretty frustrated by that, but at least something was happening. The last few weeks of going to the doctor and being told that nothing was progressing was getting a bit depressing. Since my water ruptured, I was stuck in the hospital until Matthew came. They gave me a sleeping pill and mom and Mary went back to our place to rest up for the coming day. It was a LONG night. How is anyone supposed to sleep through contractions? I would lay down and get up every time a contraction came. Finally at 4 a.m., I called the nurse to see if I could try something else. She brought in a birthing ball and I sat on that and leaned on the bed for a few hours. Matt was sleeping through all of this, I'm sure not well, but I was glad he was at least in the same room, albeit envious that he could sleep. At 6:30 a.m. the nurse started me on pitocin. Meanwhile Mom and Mary showed up all rested and ready for the day at 7:30. I sat in a rocker and tried to breathe through contractions until Cheri showed up to check me. She came soon after 8a.m. She actually didn't check me, but told me she would come back around lunch time and look. I decided to get an epidural, which I got around 8:30 a.m. Contractions were evey 2-3 minutes by then. Wow - all I have to say is that epidurals are truly a blessing from God. Immediately, I felt SO much better and able to relax.

At lunch time, I was at a dilated to a 5. The nurse kept upping the pitocin - until I was at a level 16 and was consistently still getting 5 contractions every 10 minutes. At 2:30, the nurse checked me and I was at a 9 - so close! They told me to let them know when I was feeling pressure down that way and they would call Cheri to come in. Around 4:15, I called the nurse, she checked and I was fully effaced, ready to go, at a 10. I have never been so thrilled to hear the number 10 in my life! Cheri came in around 5:15. We got into position and after pushing for 15 minutes, Matthew arrived! It was amazing! I never thought I would opt for the mirror, but I was curious to see and I think it probably helped me know where to push and be more aware of how things were progressing. I had an incredible amount of support in the room. Aunt Mary, Cheri, Susan - a nurse at Women's and Babies who Mary used to work with, the nurse assigned to me, Bethany, my mom, and Matt. I met Susan a couple of times over the last few months and she actually gave me a private tour of the hospital. She came in on her day off to help me out. I am so grateful to have had such wonderful people with me. Matt stood at my left shoulder with his head nuzzled into my shoulder/the bed. He has a hard time with blood, so I expected this. I did see him peek up a few times to look. My mom and Mary were in charge of taking pictures. Here are some of the photos they took:

Matt and me before the big push!
Mary updating family on facebook. Baby Matthew getting his first look at mom.
The Delivery Team: Left: Cheri, the midwife; Susan, Grandma Shipley. Right: Aunt Mary, Bethany, Robyn's L&D Nurse, Matt
Proud Aunt Mary with Matthew. We've been waiting for him for a long time!
Me after the workout! Looking tired, but so happy to have Matthew here with us.
MKS III with MKSIV
Susan swaddling Matthew.
Our first visitors (besides mom and Mary) - Jessica and Cody. He was excited to meet the baby and anticipating being a big brother in May!
Matt helping Cody hold Matthew - and me thinking how fun this will be when we have our next little miracle.

Guess the Baby's Measurements, Win a Prize!

The days of Robyn's travail are almost over. In fact, according to the scientific countdown clock on the blog, the baby should be born today! While that probably won't happen, it should be anyday now (we're hoping). Robyn is ready to have Baby Maffew evicted, but he is a stubborn hold over tenant to say the least. I thought it would be fun to have a contest, inspired by our discovery this week of Andes Creme de Menthe cookies. Whoever is closest to correctly guessing Baby Maffew's weight and length will win a box of these highly desirable cookies, shipping paid. Trust me, these cookies are awesome. The rules are simple:



* There shall be two prizes given: one (1) box for the person who correctly guesses the weight, and one (1) box for the person who correctly guesses the length. Should the same person guess both measurements correctly, that person shall win both prizes.



* In accordance with time tested game protocol established by The Price is Right, should a person be closest, but go over the official measurements, that person shall be disqualified, and the next person who is closest without going over shall be the winner.



* All entries must be registered in the comments section of this post and must be received before the arrival time of the baby.



* The official arrival hour and minute shall be that time established by the hospital staff.



* Amending entries is allowed, but only the last entry received before the birth of the baby will count.



*All readers, casual, loyal, or by happenstance are eligible for the contest.



* In contrast to other contests, family members of the Steens are eligible to compete, especially the parents of Baby Maffew.



* All measurements should be in pounds/ounces (if ounces are part of the guess) and inches. The length measurement should be rounded to the nearest whole inch. Entries given in grams or centimetres or some other Socialist scale will be immediately deleted and disqualified.

* In the event of a tie, the names of the person(s) with the winning guesse(s) shall be drawn at random. The person whose name is drawn shall be the winner.



Good luck to all participants.

A few pictures of my pregnant belly

Many of you have been asking and I've been avoiding it. I mean, who really wants to take pictures of themselves at this stage of pregnancy let alone share them with other people? I am now 37 weeks and every week for the last few months, I have thought, is it possible for this belly to get any bigger? The answer is yes.

35 weeks prego.

In the car after seeing the doctor at 36 weeks. Yes, this is the same sweater I'm wearing in both pictures, different colors. One thing I will not miss about pregnancy - the limited wardrobe. I can't wait to be able to wear real people clothes again!