12 days old

We are a few days behind in updating our Silas blog. Today, Si is 12 days old. He was up from 5 am till almost 10 am, with just a few short fitful naps in between nursing. I think he is having a growth-spurt, and he had a similar nurse-a-thon on day 10. This is around the time when babies' first out-of-the-womb growth spurt is supposed to occur, so it's to be expected. Day 10 was also notable in that Si's umbilical cord stump finally came off. Woo-hoo! Now mom and dad can try some of those belly massages that are meant to sooth and calm the baby.

Silas and I are still getting our daily feeding routine down. Right now, it is common for him to "cluster nurse" during the day. He will often go back and forth several times before finally settling down for a nap. The pay-off is that he often sleeps a three to four hour stretch at night, which mom and dad just love! Since we co-sleep, I always wake up with him, so there is no crying at night (unless a diaper change goes on longer than he'd like). So our nights are actually very calm and we normally get enough sleep, as long as I can nap with him at some point during the day.

Silas's grandparents left yesterday and headed back to Wisconsin (expect pictures from their time here in several future postings). They helped out a lot while they were here! We look forward to their next visit later in the summer. Hopefully, Si will get to meet his Auntie Jennie and his cousins Adam and Anna, who plan on joining Grandma and Papa on that trip.

On Tuesday, Silas's maternal grandparents arrived from Wisconsin. That same day, we went outside for the first time, just for a few minutes. Drew burried the placenta and planted a cedar that Shannon picked out on top of it. Grow, grow, grow, little tree!

Also, today, Silas is 1 week old!

On mom's birthday

Some from this morning...

Mom turns 30 today! She's very glad Silas didn't decide to wait 6 more days so that he could share her birthday. He's still the best present she could have gotten.

Sorry, a little too tired to write... just thought we'd quick add this picture...

Happy Birthday Silas

Silas Bryant-Kunz was born at 11:04 am on Friday March 16th after 32 hours of labor. He weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces and was 20 inches in length.

Well we didn't quite end up with the homebirth we wanted, but 99% of it did take place at home, so we're okay... anyway, during the last hour of labor our midwife discovered a problem - a not so uncommon problem - but nonetheless Mom had to be transported for the safety of the baby... it ended up being the right thing to do.

We had an amazing team: Peggy,
Anna, Patty, and Louisa, we owe you so much... thank you just isn't enough... and props to the doc's and nurses at the hospital as well.

Plus we want to thank Uncle Patrick, Shannon, Jessica and William, Katya, Jerry, Erika and Henry, and all our neighbors who have been so supportive with all the good food and energy.

So now we're just getting adjusted to being parents,
being a family. More to come soon, including details of the labor and birth, and more pictures of our beautiful child. Stay tuned...

40 weeks...

Here's mom at 40 weeks (officially 2 days overdue, but who's counting?). Okay baby, any time now...

Ready for baby

Here's another picture of our baby corner--the changing table with cloth diapers and covers all washed and ready to go, clothes organized by size, supplies, toys, etc. I think we are opting to forgo setting up the co-sleeper, which will eventually fit next to mom's side of the bed, at least for the time being. It will be very nice eventually, but it's quite large for our small bedroom and I think it makes more sense just to have the baby directly in bed with us. After talking to several families who have co-slept, at least during the first few weeks, I'm convinced that this is the way to go. Anyways, there are still little things to attend to, but we are pretty much as ready as we're going to be. The excitement is building!

Birthing Tub

We brought a birthing tub home from the midwife's last week. Here it is, the "Aqua Doula," partially set up. This past weekend, Drew and I decided to take it out of it's compact storage container in order to see how much time it would take to put together, and make sure we weren't missing any thing. It looks to be pretty straightforward and quick to set up, but as you can see, it's pretty big. So, we'll leave it packed up, most likely, till I go into labor. On another note, today is my first official day of leave, and it feels wonderful to be home getting things prepared for the homebirth, rather than travelling to Silverdale and spending all day at a computer screen (my time on the computer at home is by comparison, very limited). Only a few more days remain till my official due date of March 1st! No contractions yet...

39 Weeks

Here's mom: The pictures were just taken today in our "baby corner" --the area of our bedroom set aside for the changing table, baby clothes, etc. We are more or less ready. Today we brought home the birthing tub, so we are all set for a waterbirth. Mom has only 3 more days of work, and then maternity leave officially begins! She can't wait. The due date (March 1st) is just over a week away.

Baby shower at work: January 25th 2007

Barb and Adrianne through me a great baby shower for all of my work colleagues a few weeks ago (at 35 week). Here are a few images from the event:

Baby Shower on January 14th, 2007 (34 weeks)

Grandma Bryant and Auntie Jennie came all the way from Wisconsin to throw mom and baby a shower. Fun was had by all. Here are a few pictures from the event, including a photo of the beautiful quilt Grandma made!