Here he is after a couple days when it has all straightened out and pretty. NOW he's cute. hehehe. 

This is him in all his ugly splendor. A Few hours after birth.

You can't tell from here, but this hat barely fits. 

Burp for me baby! 

Daddy and baby Gavin 

Mommy and baby Gavin. Awe! 

Big Baby! 

Obligatory baby crying photo. :) 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!

Gavin Michael was Born today March 29th at 9:42am via C-section. His is 9lbs. 5ozs. and 20.5 inches.

You and Gavin are doing great. I actually watched them pull him out; it was nuts! He has a huge head, like daddy did. His little nose is a little smashed, but all in all he looks newborn. Not the cutest kid I ever saw, and I feel a little guilty about that, but you said you agreed with me. The more we are with him throughout the day the more we adore him, and right now there is alot of us staring at him going on.

We were both kinda worried that we weren't awestruck at his arrival, but all seems to be going well. Thank God everything is well, and I will try and post some pictures ASAP, but I didn't bring my camera USB cable. DAMN! :)

(I snuck out of the room to post this.) :)

Gnight!

3 days

So at the doctors appointment the doctor found the babies heartbeat way up by your ribs, so she scheduled an ultrasound because the baby appeared transverse and your cervix wasn't dilated at all. The doc scheduled a C-section for Tuesday because she assumed the ultrasound would come back saying he was transverse. The next morning we went in for the ultrasound and low and behold he spun around in your sleep and was now head down, and according to their measurements he weighs about 9 pounds right now. You were really disappointed that you were going to have to wait. After speaking with the doctor she said the chances are that you would be late giving birth and the baby would be around 10 pounds. If this was the case you would probably wind up getting a c-section anyway. So that's where we are right now. Tuesday 9am for a scheduled C-section.

6 days

I can't believe I forgot to mention Districts! Sunday was another team ice skating competition and man was it a nailbiter. The first team skated a great routine, but our girls skated their best routine all year! The crowd was alive and cheering and now they are the District Champs. Congratulations girls! Who rocks the house? ;)
I get chills just writing about it. I know thats nerdy, but it so cool to see the improvement over the season.

P.S. K,S & K thank you from the bottoms of our hearts for the gift we were sobbing. I wasn't sure how to mention it before.

Hopefully my next post will be the baby post.

7 days

For the last couple days you have been feeling "funny". Stomach is a bit tight and a little sore to touch. I am not sure if this is normal or not, but you seem to be rolling with it pretty good. I still told you to talk to the doctor. It can't hurt to ask.

So if the baby is born today he will have the same birthday as my dad, and if he is born tomarrow he will have the same birthday as your Grandma Harvey, and if he is born on Thursday he will have the same birthday as Aunt Susie. Either way someone is gonna get upstaged. ;) I am sure they won't mind.

I am breaking out now waiting for this baby. Darn anxiety! I suppose 7 days isn't so long to wait...feels like forever. :)

P.S. People keep saying "you are getting HUGE!" like it's a compliment. LOL I told you to ask them if they remember being pregnant. :)

11 days

Bad news...The doctor says you will likely go full term...or...after. *shudder* I was thinking early, but apparently my kung fu is weak. I am still hopeful, but you are bummed out. My poor baby. :( I wonder what the percentage of kids born on the due date are? It doesn't seem that I have spoken to anyone who has had a baby on the exact day.

P.S. Regardless of what happens with Ellen, it's still a great show. *sigh* ;)


EDIT: I found out the percentage of kids born on their due date is less than 5%. Mainly due to not knowing the conception date. We have a solid grasp on that date and you said an online calculator said March 27th?

15 days

Happy Birthday Lori!

We are still waiting. :) We were at Olive Garden last night with the Cousins and we saw a newborn baby, and her daddy was holding her, and she was sleeping so contentedly. It made me all melty inside. I wanna hold my baby! :)

In other news, we had another Ice Skating competition this weekend and over all we did well. Had a couple of unfortunate falls, and since we were in a strong bracket we couldn't afford it. I have to fight my feeling to make excuses for them because you always get mad at me for it. :) (God help me. I'm gonna be the wimpy parent aren't I?)

17 days

Just about every night we talk about the baby, (go figure. hehehe) and I feel your belly and he kicks and moves a bit. For the last month he has been positioned really strangely in your belly. The doctor says he is transverse. We kind of figured as much, but tonight you said the cutest thing. We were talking and feeling him kick around in your belly, and the subject of his position came up, and you said "I hope he's comfortable in there". It was so selfless that it touched my heart. So simple and yet so beautiful I had to get up at midnight, and sneak in here to blog this. :)

19 days

Last night Matt and I went to visit Rebeca and Savannah in the hospital I know you wanted to come with but you were really tired, and the last thing you need to see is a baby in distress.

For those who don't know my niece Savannah was recently admitted to the hospital with RSV. It is basically a really bad cold for babies, that can lead to severe respiratory distress. Savannah is not in the high risk group of children who get this so everything is cool.

It broke my heart seeing Savannah doing things I learned about in class as signs of distress. (Belly breathing and rales in her lungs.) It breaks my heart to see her like that. Poor little thing. Some things put being a future Paramedic in perspective like no other, and that was one of them.

21 days

I KNOW I'M GONNA REGRET THIS POST IN A FEW YEARS. :) But I digress...

Last night we talked and we are one step closer to actually deciding on a middle name. I have been dead set against naming him Michael in any capacity since finding out we were having a child. Last night something happened.

The majority of Michaels are unholy terrors. If you see a little kid streaking down the aisle at Walmart you know his mother will be close behind calling "Michael put some pants on!". Insert you story here and the Michaels of the world have done it. Well...It comes down to this. I don't want a perfect kid with perfect manners who doesn't think for himself. I want my boy to have character. I want to keep him in line, but not squelch his spirit.

23 days

Today's baby shower was awesome. I was trying to read the cards but I kept getting all choked up. I felt like a total moron. I guess the emotion of it all, and stress of work and school has me struggling to maintain. Plus I'm a sap.

Everybody gave great gifts, and we really don't have want of anything to take care of the new baby. Funny as it may seem we have roughly 60 onsies and only 8 bottles or so. I thought that was really funny. The fact that both of our parents gave us gliders was really cool because now we have one for upstairs (the babies room) and downstairs (the TV room).

The babies room is completely decked out now with a new glider, crib bedding matching lamp and diaper holder thing. It looks really cute. By looking at it you would have no idea we are broke. LOL! Thank God we have such great friends and family. I don't know if they know our situation or not, but they didn't leave us wanting for anything to take care of our little boy.

Gavin you are already so loved!

The cake from todays shower 

26 days

Well the belly has definitely dropped. I noticed yesterday in bed. I also had someone talk to me about saving the cord blood and I had mentioned how limited the usefullness is unless you have one of several rare diseases. I spoke with you last night about donating the cord blood so that people who need it can get matched to it and use it. I feel good about that decision. It will be the first decision we make as official parents. :)

It really does mean alot when complete strangers validate what I am trying to do. I will admit I got a little misty when I saw her post about it, and especially that people are actually helping out. I am so very touched, I want to thank Seargent Fun for the help in the Ellen Quest, and thanks to the people who have participated. Thanks Stella, A, Min Pin Momma, and Circus Kelli.

THANK YOU!

EDIT: Some more thanks are in order! :) I am humbled and excited by all the love being shown for this! Thanks to The Fun Times Guide and Jessie_DC for writing articles about this effort.

28 days

From now on I will list the thread titles in how many days left till the official due date.

I looked at the calendar today and my stomach dropped. It's March 1st and this is the first time I have felt a panic set in about the baby. I am giddy with anticipation of Gavins imminent arrival. :) He should be about 2 or 3 weeks old when he sees (or sleeps through) his first NFL draft. I can't wait, but man am I nervous as heck.


Gavin,

Despite my desire to remain unchanged by your arrival I can already feel my heart melting. I don't pretend to know what it is that is laying low my defenses, but it must be a powerful force indeed. What follows is a rough draft, or maybe just a collection of thoughts about you, your mom and our family.

My plan is to be the best of what my dad was to me mixed with the best of what Loris dad was to her. Both approaches produced great results.
I will pretend I am unmoved by your pleas to stay up, just a bit longer, citing "quality time with dad" as the reason for your request.
I will tell you to be a man and stand up to that bully because he is most likely to back down. (They don't always back down, but even if they don't back down the first time they will respect the fight in you on the second.)
I will help you understand that sometimes acting tough is enough to get you through, but if you have to back it up make sure teachers are watching so you don't get pummled too bad before it gets broken up.
I will teach you to respect your mother, and I swear to god if you ever call her a name or hit her there will be hell to pay. I loved her first, and without her there is no "you". Don't forget it.
I will instill in you the fear of God and the respect for beliefs other than your own.
I will make it my lifelong endeavor to lead by example.
I will love your mother with all my heart and soul.
I will promise what I promised your mother.

Till death do us part.

Love,
Daddy