A Little Delay

Levi just born

Levi in NICU

Levi sleeping in NICU

Bringing Levi Home

Chloe saying Hi to Levi

Zach feeding Levi w/Daisy the guard dog

Well this post may be a little delayed, but so was Levi so I guess it all fits.

Levi Allen Batsche was born on Thursday April 5th at 6:31pm. He weighed in at 8lbs 10oz and was 19 inches long. His head was 15 inches around and his chest was 13 3/4 inches around. He has a lot of hair that is a light brown/strawberry blonde and looks a lot like Zach (according to Levi's doctor). He was a big boy compared to Chloe who was 6lbs and 12 oz when she was born! He still looks and seems so small compared to Chloe now. I still feel like he would just snap in half even though he is bigger than what Chloe was when she was born.

Labor was on the same path as Chloe as we had to be induced, but the time was much shorter. We started the induction medication around 9:30am while I was not dilated at all and at 5:30pm Thursday they took me off the medication because my contractions were lasting one minute and one minute apart and they said the could no longer control my body. I was then again put on oxygen for the remainder of the time. I quickly started to feel like Levi was going to fall out and I believe by 6pm I was fully dilated and at 6:31pm he was born. I was exhausted and really cold. In my head Chloe's delivery was all quiet and rainbows and relaxed, but this time there seemed to be millions of nurses and it was chaotic. It was probably more chaotic because it was right at shift change and the fact that I went from a 5 to a 10 in about 30 minutes probably didn't help (normally they say you go up a number about each hour), but I think there were about 8 nurses/doctors in the room with us. After Levi was born he cried, but it was very muffled. The nurse immediately noticed there was some fluid in his lungs still. This is normal and most babies they can suction it out or the baby can get it out within a short time so they continued to clean him up. Once most of the nurses were gone there were only about 4 nurses/doctors and they decided to take him to the NICU to observe him some more because of the fluid and difficulty breathing.

Zach was able to hold him and get a few photos, but I was not able to hold him just to see him from afar at first. What was suppose to be just a few hours of monitoring soon turned into admitting him for a 48 hour watch in the NICU. So we were still planning on taking him home when we were to leave on Saturday. On Friday morning I spoke to the doctor and his words were: "You will bring a very healthy baby home, but just not on your desired time frame." He said it would be the beginning of the next week before we could probably bring him home. This was hard...very hard. I had a pretty healthy baby that I couldn't take home and then I was stuck in the hospital for two days while I only saw my daughter a few times a day.

We finally were able to bring Levi home on Tuesday April 10th around 2pm. Chloe was napping when we got home and so we brought Levi in and put him down for a nap in his pack n play. When Chloe woke up and came downstairs she immediately went over to the pack n play and said hi to her brother. No prompting from us she just knew. It was pretty much the sweetest thing ever. I wish we would have gotten it on video, but we did not expect that from her and the lights were so dim since he was sleeping.

Chloe has been very curious, but very good with Levi. She likes to come over and see him and say hi and tell him he is nice. She also likes to give whoever is feeding him the bottle and put it in the sink when he is done. We are really trying to include her in everything with Levi and show her how she can be helpful and a big sister. I think it has been harder on me more than Chloe because I want to make sure that she is still getting our attention and knows that she is special and it isn't all about her brother.

Its been a rough few days for me. Since Levi came home 5 days after he was born we feel like we missed some of the bonding time and time to figure out his cries and cues. When Chloe came home we had a good grasp on her, but Levi is different and I've had a bit of a hard time, but thankfully nurse Zach is here to help. He is definitely the more natural of the two of us and I forgot a lot even though it was just 17 months since we brought Chloe home. All the nurses in the NICU couldn't believe how confident and good he was with Levi. He had tubes everywhere the first two or three days and Zach would just get in and take charge.

I'm so glad and lucky that Zach has still another week off and I'm off until June!

911

I've never called 911 or had the need to call 911, but in the past month 911 has been called from our home twice!
Chloe likes to play with our phone and pretend to talk to her daddy. She loves to turn the phone on and hear the operator come on and say "If you would like to make a call..." She has called Zach once on accident, but no one else. Normally when she has our phone I follow her pretty closely to make sure she doesn't call anyone. It just so happened that she was playing with the phone and dialed 91111111. I got to the phone before it rang on their end and I was hoping we were safe, but I was also expecting a sheriff to arrive at the front door and make sure everything was okay. That was not the case. About 5 minutes later I got a call from 911 stating that they received a call and wanted to make sure everything was okay. I apologized and said it was an accident by my daughter and everything was okay. I still kind of sat a little nervous expecting them to come out and double check since I did say my daughter called and didn't reference the age of her. No one ever came out to the house that I know of. So we were in the clear.
Today, was a little different. It was about 4:30pm and Chloe and I were playing downstairs when I heard the front door knob turn and it sounded like someone was trying to force their way in. I first sat there in shock and partially thought Zach was coming home early to surprise me and just was having troubles with the door or it was my sister trying to be funny. I was definitely wrong. After a few seconds I went up to the door and looked out the peep hole. There was a man outside trying to get in. My heart started racing and I really didn't know what to do. I could tell he was an older gentleman and he had a broom. I quickly went to the back door and shut and locked it.
The man kept telling me to let him in so he could get his daughter. I would respond back asking who he was and that he had the wrong house and his daughter wasn't here. I could tell he was an older gentleman and was obviously confused, but I was still terrified as he was trying really hard to get in the door. After a few minutes I decided I should call 911 because I didn't know what else to do.
The 911 dispatcher was very nice and was asking everything that was going on. She had said a sheriff had been sent out to my house and would be there shortly. After what felt like eternity I asked her how long until the Sheriff was there and she very nicely said, "I know you are scared, but it has only been 2 minutes and they will be there as soon as possible." I was breathing pretty heavy and she was trying to keep me calm by asking if I was there alone and all of those kind of questions. I told her I was home with my two dogs and 1 1/2 year old daughter and that I was 9 months pregnant. She started asking about my pregnancy and when I told her my due date was less than a week away she was very sympathetic and reassured me again that help was on the way and told me to stay calm as I didn't need this kind of stress.
The man had a broom and would start sweeping our porch and then come and knock on the window, which scared me even more as I was afraid he would try to throw the broom through the window or something to get in. The dispatcher chuckled a little bit when I told her that he wasn't using our broom and he brought it himself. He was clearly disoriented, but I was not going to open the door and have him still convinced his daughter was in the house.
The sheriff finally arrived after what seemed like forever, but it was only about 10-15 minutes. He came up and talked to the old man and then came to the door and I opened the door just as much as the chain would allow since Chloe and the dogs were trying to see what was going on. The sheriff explained that the man was disoriented and appeared to be suffering from Alzheimer's and that he was going to take him and find out where he lived. What scared me again was that the old man tried to tell the Sheriff that the two dogs were his and the little girl inside was his. I immediately said "No, they are not. This is not your house." The sheriff got on to me and said not to argue because the old man didn't know what was going on, but in my head the sheriff needed to know that the dogs and Chloe were not this old man's.
About 5-10 minutes after the sheriff left with the old man he came back and explained that the old man actually is living NEXT DOOR with his daughter! I had never seen him before and I was shocked that he was next door. He said that it appeared the old man was sweeping rocks from the sidewalk and came up to our door thinking it was his and that he dropped off the man at the house and if we see him wandering again just to call and say George is out and they will come escort him back home. The sheriff then made me feel like an idiot and said he understands that it was scary, but that the man was not out to hurt us and blah blah blah. In my head I wanted to say, that's fine but I still have the right to be upset as someone whom I've never seen is trying forcefully to get in the house. Clearly the sheriff has never been 9 months pregnant and 100 times more emotional than normal!
When Zach got home I was able to laugh about it a bit as I had about an hour to calm down and reflect. So we are all fine and now I'm just paranoid. I told Zach that I want to put another deadbolt on the door because if this old man got out once he will probably get out again and I would like to seal the door and have locks up and down the door so I feel a bit safer.

Quick Update

We think Chloe is the funniest girl ever, but probably because she is ours. Her brother will be here any time now. We've tried to teach her about her brother, and she rubs my belly and says "nice" or "hi brother". It is really cute, but she has recently started to do it to Zach and herself. We are trying to teach her the difference, but she's only 16 months...it may take some time. She has also started yelling at the dogs a lot. If they are in her way or not playing with her she says "Daisy" in a high pitched voice. Poor Daisy as it is always her fault even when Chloe is directing her command at Buster. A lot of time has passed since our last update. We've been really busy and I haven't made much time to record things on the blog so below are some photos from the past month as well as a video at the end.

Chloe playing in the grass at the park

Chloe & Zach playing on the playground

Our own little Houdini taking off her clothes and diaper instead of taking her nap!Chloe trying to figure out how to get out of her short sleeve onesie...her foot is out of the same hole as her head rather than in the leg hole where it is suppose to be.Another angle of her foot out of the head holeChloe drinking water out of a big girl cup

Chloe's favorite seat...not sure why, but she loves it.

Chloe dancing, giggling and changing her stuffed animals because they are "stinky"

Fridays

Well like I have said this has been a more emotional pregnancy than before. There is definitely a recurring theme....Fridays. For some reason it seems like Friday is my breaking down day. I'm not sure if it is just that I am so tired from the whole week or what it is, but it is definitely the day I turn crazy!

Two Fridays ago was the first day that Zach was gone to Jamaica for his brother's wedding. I was doing good most of the day, but then around 6:30pm it all came crashing down. Zach had called and we were trying to skype. Let me first say that I hate skype so I wasn't thrilled about it, but I wanted Zach to see Chloe and Chloe to see Zach while he was gone. We got it all set up and then it kept freezing which made me frustrated. So after Chloe said Hi I decided to just quit Skype and talk to Zach on the phone. Right when I called Zach back my mom came home so she could play with Chloe. This all seemed great, except my phone conversation was cut short by the pizza man. Mom and I had ordered pizza and it wasn't suppose to be here for another half hour or so, but it was early. Normally I would be happy but I was sad I had to end my conversation with Zach. So I slowly got up to go get the pizza and then I heard my mom call out for Daisy. I flew down the stairs threw the gate on the floor and ran out the door. Mom and Chloe were talking with the pizza guy, Buster was in the yard and Daisy was no where to be found.

My mom said she went to the right. It was dark out so I couldn't see her. I put my hands in the air to try to figure out which was was right but I was just so overwhelmed I couldn't figure out if the L meant left or right...I know I know you are thinking how crazy that was.
So I asked...in a crazy lady panic voice to just point. She pointed to the right and this crazy big pregnant lady started running (a slow run) down the road. A few houses down there was Daisy. A family was outside and Daisy went right over to them. So after saying thank you to the family for holding Daisy this big pregnant lady tried to hold on to her 110 pound dog and drag her back to the house. Any by drag I mean Daisy was dragging me! We got back to the house and I put the pizza on the table and just started crying. I was just so overwhelmed with the last 15 minutes that I just couldn't take it and cried because that is all I could do.

The next day I was telling my sister about this and we were laughing at it with my mom. Crazy Friday pregnant Jenna had gone to bed and had a good night sleep and realized how silly it all was. Mom said she heard the loud footsteps running down the stairs and the gate crashing to the floor. She thought she was in deep trouble, but she wasn't. I never thought or blamed mom because Daisy doesn't normally run out and we got Daisy back so no big deal. We had a good long laugh.

This last Friday nothing too terrible happened, but by about 8pm I was done. I was in bed by 8:30pm and didn't wake up until 7:30am today. Before I had gone to bed I told Zach that I just needed to go to bed because I had the Friday pregnancy grumpies and just needed to sleep it off. So Saturday came around and I was back to happy pregnant lady. At least it is predictable :)

New Developments

There have been quite a few new developments with Chloe. She is 15 months now and we went to the doctor this past Monday for her check up. She weighs 20 pounds and is about 30 inches long. The check up went good and her doctor said she was perfect. My big concern was that Chloe wasn't really walking. She would hold on to everything and walk, but just not by herself. Her doctor said that it was nothing to worry about and that it was a sign of intelligence. He said she doesn't want to walk because she doesn't want to fall and hurt herself. I laughed a little and obviously agreed because Chloe is the smartest 15 month old in the world. :) The laugh was more because I think this is her doctor's go to answer. A few months ago my sister was talking to the doctor, the same one as Chloe, and she was talking to him about her son's anxiety. His answer was similar. Anxiety is a sign of high intelligence because he is thinking more into things than most 6 year olds. Obviously as a parent of course I like to hear that my daughter is smart, but I still think that is the doctor's go to answer. Just an answer to stop any worry.

So the next day was Valentine's day. We got the best Valentine's day gift. Chloe started walking on her own on Tuesday! Every Tuesday we go to my sister's house so Chloe can play with her cousin Allie for a few hours. When we were over there Chloe just started walking around. She would walk to get a ball or walk to a toy like she had been doing it forever. Ever since she hasn't stopped. She can't really stand from a sitting position yet without grabbing on to something for help, but she is getting close. As soon as you put her on her feet she is go go go....

So after that excitement we then discovered some new teeth. She has a tooth that has broken through at the top back of her mouth and then we can also see a few other teeth trying to poke through. When my mom was here Chloe had a runny nose and she said maybe Chloe was teething. I thought she was crazy, but now I think she was right.

Chloe also loves raisins now and she loves to have her snack at her own little table. It is really cute. We can just tell her to go to her table and she will go and sit at her chair. We have also been going to the park more often and she loves to go down the slides with her daddy. She goes down a slide climbs back up the stairs and picks a new slide to go down. She smiles the whole way down. When we are at home she has a new toy. We bought her a new chair for her room and it came in a big box. So the box is now Chloe's new play house. She has such an imagination!

Chloe sitting at her own table having a raisin snack.

Chloe's new playhouse

We had a baby doctor appointment this past week too. The heartbeat was great. When my doctor would try to get a reading for the heartbeat the baby would move around and kick so she couldn't get a reading, but it sounded good and she estimated it was about at 150. Zach said it was crazy because while I was laying there he was watching the baby move around and it was like an alien trying to get out of my body. He has felt it before, but I think the fact that I was laying down made it look even more like an alien. The other thing we found out was that the baby is NOT head down yet. The baby should be head down by 36 weeks so he has 2 more weeks to make the turn. I'm hoping that he down turn head down because I do not need to worry about that for the next 5 1/2 weeks!

All About Levi & This Pregnancy

Well we finally finished Levi's bedroom! It has taken a lot longer than expected. Zach finished painting a few weeks ago, but we hadn't purchased or put together any of the furniture until the past few weeks. So now we finally have it ready. Not, that I'm ready for him to come, but at least he will have a nice room to come home to when it is finally time.
I realized that I haven't really done a whole lot of blogging the past few months about Levi and the pregnancy. I think it is partly because we've been a little busy and partly because I just haven't been in a "blogging" mood. So now I'll go through a couple things about this pregnancy.
Energy
I've definitely been lacking on energy this pregnancy. I don't remember being this tired when I was pregnant with Chloe, but I was also able to take naps and sleep in on the weekends. Now I can't come home and take a nap after work because I have Chloe to play with and I don't sleep in on weekends because Chloe is up at 8am. So my energy has definitely been zapped.
Size
I feel HUGE! I know that with each pregnancy you start showing sooner, but I just feel so big. Every doctor's appointment I'm measuring right on track, but I just feel huge...did I mention I feel HUGE! My hands and feet also swell all the time. I can't walk around for long periods of time with my arms down at my side because my hands swell really quickly. So I always have to push the stroller or the grocery cart just to keep my hands from hanging down at my side. Chloe has also found my belly button. She likes to pull up my shirt to see my belly button and poke it with her little finger. Then she laughs. It is really funny!
Cravings
I crave all things sweet. There are these wonderfully glorious yummy treats that I like to make, but I have had to stop making them because of how "healthy" they are. You take crescent rolls or biscuits and flatten them out a bit then stuff them with marshmallows and cinnamon sugar. Then you wrap them up and pinch all the sides together and put more cinnamon sugar on the outside. I even sometimes put honey on the inside...YUMMY...see they are just too "healthy" to eat all the time. I am allowing myself to have them instead of my birthday cake, but that will probably be the last time for awhile. I also crave Kool-Aid, oranges and McDonald's cheeseburgers.
Moving & Grooving
Levi moves and grooves all day long. Chloe moved around a lot, but normally she would move around just during certain times of the day. Levi just moves all the time. I like it, and he doesn't hurt me like Chloe did when she would kick back towards my back. I've even started feeling some of the Braxton Hicks contractions. I first thought my pants were just too tight and trying to suffocate me, but then it occurred to me that they are actual the "fake" contractions.
Emotions
I'm not normally a very emotional person. I'm really not great at consoling in times of need and I would rather make a joke than sit in awkward silence. While being pregnant with Chloe I was a bit more emotional, but nothing terrible. This time around it is just ridiculous. I have been so very emotional. I couldn't even watch the movie trailer for War Horse without fighting back tears. I cried when I accidentally put a virus on my computer because I first put the virus on and then because all of our videos since Chloe was born were on my computer. I did get the virus off and all the videos are safe, but it was a rough few days. I cried because one Sunday I didn't think I would get to have lunch with Zach, which is common because we only get to have lunch together once or twice a week. I cried when Zach received his paperwork from the travel agent for his upcoming trip to Jamaica for his brother's wedding. This has actually been a big easy trigger. In the almost six years we have been married we have only spent a total of 2 days apart and that was at 2 separate times. He's only going to be gone for 3 days, but just the idea of him being out of the country while I'm HUGE and pregnant and at home with Chloe has been hard. Being together is one thing that we have always taken very seriously. It isn't a trust issue just a fact that we are best friends and one of the topics we talked about before we got married as neither of us wanted it to be habit to be apart overnight. It is just how our marriage works so whenever this emotional basket case thinks about all the crazy "what ifs" like a plane crash or a strange kidnapping I just can't help but shed a few tears. Luckily my mom is coming in town to help with Chloe and to help time fly by while Zach is gone. For a normal Jenna this wouldn't be as big a deal, but for pregnant emotional Jenna it has been hard.
These are just a few examples as when I asked Zach about the ridiculous times I cried he just laughed and said he just blocks it out and doesn't take it too seriously.

Well only about 9 more weeks until Levi should be here. Maybe this last trimester won't be so emotional and I won't feel so huge, but more than likely my belly will grow larger and larger and the tears will continue to roll.

Happy New Year!

Chloe enjoying a ride in her swing

Chloe going down her slide Chloe and Zach launching smoke bombsChloe sitting like a "big" girl at Subway

Levi's Room

Levi's Room

Our new year has started off great! We have had a lot of great family time and spent a lot of time getting ready for Levi's arrival (which is only about 11 weeks from now!). We have been able to spend a lot of time outside playing on Chloe's playset and swing, going for bike rides and walks. Chloe has really enjoyed the time outside and will now go to our back door and say "outside" because she wants to go out and play.

I feel like for the past few months we keep saying that Chloe is "almost walking" and she is still almost walking. She loves to walk through the house and when we go out, but she doesn't want to let go of our fingers. She's taken about 2 or 3 steps tops and then kneels down and looks up at us like "how dare we let go of her". She's becoming quite the little drama queen sometimes. Surely she must get that from Zach :)

We've finally weaned Chloe off of her formula and onto regular milk and regular food very slowly as she didn't take to milk right off the bat. We started mixing her milk and formula together until finally we are on milk only and no more formula! She has also started really picking up on eating regular food. She likes ham, chicken, turkey, hot dogs, mac n cheese, green beans and all kinds of fruit. The only things she isn't too fond of are hamburgers and french fries. Which really isn't a bad thing. She's also started talking a lot more. She says words like "outside, ball, shoe, socks, birdie and uh-oh". She is also starting to say please, grass and rocks. When Zach takes Chloe out on a bike ride she points at everything and asks what it is and so he is teaching her all the outdoor things.

Zach has been working very hard on Levi's room. We started out with a completely clean slate. The walls and the ceiling were all white and we had cleaned out the room and the closets. It took us (mainly Zach) 3 weekends to get all painted, but it is finally done. I am always amazed at how great of an artist Zach is. He free handed the car and dog on the wall based on a few pictures and then painted it all. He also has such an eye for what will work. I am very much a symmetrical kind of person so I had to have him plot out where the squares would be on the wall for me to paint as if it was up to me they would all be in the same size and in a straight line. Zach laughs at me because of this all the time. Everything needs to be symmetrical or centered or I just can't grasp it. So I tell him if he doesn't want it to be centered and symmetrical then Zach has to do it while I'm not watching as once it is done how he wants it it always looks great, but I can't picture it in my mind. He's normally always right.

So we have about 11 weeks left. I had my glucose testing a week ago and I was pretty proud of myself. Which Chloe the glucose test was just one hour and one sample of blood from each arm. This time I had to fast for 12 hours and then get my blood drawn 3 times for a total of 5 tubes of blood over 2 hours. Last time Zach came with me, but this time I didn't want to make Chloe sit for 2 hours and do nothing so Zach stayed home with her and I sat by myself. I was really dreading it, but then it turned out pretty good. I was able to sit and get my blood drawn by myself and without passing out! I didn't even have to lay down while she drew my blood. While I was waiting in between times they had to draw my blood I just sat and read my book. It was very relaxing.

The pregnancy has been going good. I've definitely been more tired this time, but that is probably because I've been taking care of a one year old and working. I've also been craving McDonald's cheeseburgers and anything sweet. The pregnancy has gone by so fast. I think because the holidays went by so fast it was like 2 months just went by in a blink of an eye. Because it has been going by so fast I have really realized how far behind we are from when we were pregnant with Chloe. By this time with Chloe her room had been long done and ready for her arrival, but with Levi we just have the room painted and we are still trying to get everything ready. I know you are thinking 11 weeks to go, but it will fly by!