Turkey Day 2008

For Thanksgiving we drove roughly 700 miles round trip, made it to Turkey Lunch in Trempealeau, Wisconsin with Nicole's family and then continued our trip to Oshkosh to have dinner with Ryan's family. We spent a few extra days in Oshkosh so the family could meet and play with Addison...I don't think we held Addison much at all during the weekend :(
Addison was a trooper on the road trip. Once we got started Thursday morning, she slept the whole 2.5 hours to Trempealeau. Once we got back in the car to head to Oshkosh, she did great again, only fussing when we got about 10 minutes away. Coming home, we had a small adventure in Thoma, Wisconsin when we made a short pit-stop. We decided to feed and change Addison in the car...well, 3 diapers, a wet onesie and a dirty changing pad later, we got back on the road. Addison was awesome all the way back to Minnesota!

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Here's Addison showing off her neck muscles :)

Halloween

Hey all!

It's been a week or so since I last updated, so here we go.

Addison is doing great. She has figured out the whole sleeping thing, which have made mom and dad very happy! She's been sleeping for about 3-4 hours between feedings and goes down pretty quick after each feeding.

Nicole isn't going to crazy at home, and it helps that she takes Addison on field trips just about everyday. Fortunately for dad, they haven't taken a field trip to the Mall of America and Ikea :)

Addison has already gone on a few evening excursions with us. Nicole and Addison joined Ryan for lunch at school last week. Addison loved being held by all of the teachers at Victoria Elementary. Nicole and Addison also went out to Nicoles work the follwoing day.

This past weekend we went out on Friday and Saturday nights for dinner. We love being able to take her out and she is such a good little girl. If no one is holding her, she is usually zonked out in her carrier :)

Here are a few recent photos:

Hiccups

This was after one of Addison's first feedings! It cracked us up in the hospital.

We're Home

We came home Thursday and things have been going pretty well. Addison was a bit fussy the first day or two, but she's settled in pretty well. Nicole is doing very well. We still haven't figured out bedtime yet...Addison must not want to fall asleep for fear she'll miss something :) Once she does go down, things have gone pretty smoothly.

She's Finally Here

Many of you have probably heard...our bundle of joy arrived at 3:01 PM on Tuesday, October 14. Addison Elizabeth weighed in at 7 pounds 11 ounces and was 20 1/4 inches long.

It was a very long day for Mom. Nicole first went in to the hospital at 11:00 AM on Monday, October 13 with some contractions and measured 1 cm of dilation. Unfortunately, after 2 hours of being monitored, Nicole was sent home with no progress.

Ryan came home from work at 4:00 to a very uncomfortable Nicole, so back to the hospital we went. Upon arriving, they strapped Nicole into monitors and measured again. Nicole's contractions were increasing in intesity and duration, but she still hadn't made any gains in dilation....so yup, back home we came to "relax".

At 12:30 AM, Nicole had "relaxed" all she could and we came back to the hospital. Apparently the third time was the charm and they admitted us. At about 1:30 they gave Nicole Nubain, which is a nice narcotic, and she was finally able to relax. With the drugs, Nicole and Ryan were able to get about 2 hours of sleep. When Nicole woke up, we were happy to hear that she had dilated to 3 cm.

At 6:00 AM, the anestheseologist came to give Nicole her edidural which she was very happy to recieve. Although Nicole hates needles, she was a champ!At 8:00 AM, Nicole hadn't made much progress (still at 3 cm) so the decission was made to give her Pitocin and break her water.From 8:00 AM to 12:30 Nicole and Ryan spent most of their time trying hard to not be bored. Nicole wasn't able to get up and walk around and she was getting pretty antsy. Fortunately Nicole's sister Allison paid us a visit around Noon and stayed through the delivery.

At 12:30 PM, Nicole asked to get the nurse becuase her epidural was wearing off. The nurse came in and did a quick check and told us that Nicole was measuring 9.5 cm!!!!!! The option was to let the meds wear off and go ahead with the oncoming labor, or have the anestheseologist return and potentially slow things down. Nicole was ready to go, so that's what we did!

At 1:00 PM Nicole had progressed to the point where she was in full labor....let the pushing begin :)For 2 hours Nicole pushed and rested and pushed and rested while Ryan and Allison did their best to keep Nicole focused and relaxed. Nicole did a great job and was rewarded.

At 3:01 Addison Elizabeth was born.Nicole and Addison have been doing great. Feedings are going well and Addison has been checked and determined to be "Perfect" (those were the doctor's words, not ours). Of course, we already knew that!!!

Pictures of Addison Elizabeth Meulemans

Nothing new to report

Well, we've had our third weekly appointment and we are 0-3. No dialation yet. We think Addison is just way to comfortable and content :) It is a bit wierd knowing that at any moment it could be time to head for the hospital...I think Nicole would like that to happen right now!

We did get an email from Scott and Sara and Nolan is doing really well...although he's a little night owl :) Here are a few pics of the little guy:

Visting Nolan Pastryk (our nephew)

We were so lucky to visit Sara and Scott's new baby boy, Nolan Michael Pastyk, on Tuesday. He was exactly one day old! We took turns holding him, cuddling him, and holding him some more. Sara is doing very well and Scott is one proud dad. We're pretty sure Scott had him watching some baseball tonight on TV!

Here are some pictures of the cutie!

Nolan's letting out a HUGE yawn :)

Two proud parents!