Chinese Tradition!

Being that Liam is a big melting pot of different races, it would only come natural that he would be exposed to a lot of different cultural traditions and experiences. From Kobe's side Liam gets Cambodian, Chinese, & Vietnamese. From my side, he gets Mexican, Spanish, German, & French (mostly the first two though). Saturday, we went to a family event for Kobe's cousin's birthday. The first thing that happened was the traditional Chinese blessing of "good luck" for Liam. It wasn't a ceremony or anything. It was very informal, but cool to me since I had never experienced or witnessed it. What they did was tie a red string around Liam's wrist with money hanging from the string. Traditionally this happens after the first month, but since we wouldn't be having another family get-together until probably Thanksgiving, they decided to do it then. Also, usually coins are used, but Mr. Liam got a rolled up bill of money. haha

 -Amber

LIAM IS HERE!!!

So, as you all read in my previous post, doctor planned on inducing me tomorrow (September 26th) for prevention of pre-eclampsia & also because of Liam measuring below the 10th percentile. Well, after being in the hospital that Friday for observation, the doctor told me she wanted me to follow up Monday just to see how bed rest had gone over the weekend. Turns out my BP was still high, so the doctor decided to induce me Tuesday instead of waiting a whole other week. 

I checked in at 7:15 Tues morning & was in my room dressed & on the monitor by about 7:45 am. By 8 am my IV was in & they started my pitocin. Contractions were coming on well and started hurting, so I got my epidural at about 10 a.m. By 1 pm I had only progressed from 1.5 & 50% effaced (what I was when I got there) to just 3cm dilated & 80% effaced. I was checked again at 3 pm & had moved up to 4cm & 90% effaced. Dr said after 4cm that I would progress about 1cm per hour, so we thought "Alright! Only 6 hours to go!" Little did we know that that wouldn't be the case for me at all. At 4:45 I started feeling a lot of pressure & some discomfort on my right side pelvic area. Turns out I had progressed to 8cm in just 1 hour & 45 minutes & the pressure was pushing on the bulb of my foley catheter - in turn causing the discomfort. The pressure & discomfort only got worse & by 5:30 I was 10cm & ready to push. They called the doctor & I was able to start pushing by 5:45 pm. After only 1 hour of pushing baby Liam entered this world at 6:46 pm! It really wasn't bad at all, I thought I would've been more tired from pushing than it turned out I was. Right away they laid him on my chest & those first few moments just staring at him had me all worked up & sobbing because he was finally here! I now truly understand what it means when people say they fall in love with their baby instantly! After me seeing him for a few precious moments, they had to take him to be weighed, get footprints done, & all that other good stuff. He had to go to the NICU for his first 6 hours of life due to his weight (5 lbs). The NICU nurses assured Kobe that if he kept his O₂ sats up, maintained his temperature, & kept a good breathing pattern, that he would be transitioned to the nursery at 2 am. Of course our little 5 pounder went in there & kicked butt! He passed all his parameters & was sent to the nursery as promised. He came to the room with us at 2:30 am & we've had him ever since! We are now home & he's eating like crazy. Kobe & I are both so overwhelmed with happiness just thinking how healthy he is - despite his small size! He's a tough little guy & we couldn't have asked for anything more!

Here are a few pics of Mr Liam! 

After he was all cleaned up... daddy holding Liam for the first time! All those bedtime stories paid off because Liam just stared at Kobe the whole time he spoke to him. 

Our first "family" picture! =)

All cleaned up! A few hours after he transitioned to the nursery from the NICU and came to our room.

Our second night with him at the hospital... can you tell how tired we were? lol

The morning after we got home... isn't he so cute?! Already holding his pacifier too! Liam is 2.5 days old in this picture!

Finally... Mr. Liam posing for the camera that same morning. He looks so mature for a 2.5 day old! =)

Hope you enjoyed reading Liam's birth story. I'll leave y'all with his stats:

Liam Austyn Nol

DOB: 9/20/11

TOB: 6:46 pm

Weight: 5 lbs

Length: 17.5"

-Amber

Baby Shower #3...

This is a really overdue post, but I figured I would go ahead & get this one done before I get to the really good ones! This post is about my last baby shower that my two wonderful friends, Casie & Mary, threw for me. I was truly excited the most about this one because we all planned it out so well & I would get to see a lot of friends that I hadn't seen in a long time. Everything turned out way better than I expected! Here are the pictures to tell the story:

Here is the table the night before... we were in the midst of decorating & figuring out where to place everything on the table.

Mary... you will appreciate me capturing this moment! lol... Casie & Mary peeling & chopping kiwis for the fruit plate.

My belly at 35 wks and 5 days.

I looooove love love hydrangeas! Morning of the shower: running around Fannin haggling vendors for low prices! haha... My favorite comment of the day "Casie, do you want my sunglasses?" lol

The table all set! I love how it turned out!

The cake! It was adorable as well as delicious. Thanks again, Eric & Casie!

The beverage area - we had tea, lemonade, & water with green apples & pears in it for flavor. I also got this cute idea online to use mason jars & striped straws... so momma got what she wanted. I ordered green & white stripes! I didn't want everything to be "too" blue.

The sign in frame - Mary gave us the great idea of using a frame instead of a book. Now it will hang on the wall above Liam's dresser. You can also see our cute little yarn-wrapped flower vase sitting there in the corner! We added buttons onto the yarn for that cute button touch. =)

Finally: my amazing hosts! I know I've said it a hundred times before, but I'll say it again - thank you for being such great friends, Casie & Mary!!! Liam is such a fortunate baby to have you two as honorary aunties! =)

 

-Amber 

What a day...

Yesterday... oh how I'm glad that's over!! It all started with me going to the doctor for another routine weekly visit, or so I thought! Doctor was concerned because I'd gained 3.5 lbs in 1 week ("and it's all fluid" she said). Then my BP read a little high. She worried I could be getting pre-eclampsia b/c my grandmother had had it. First she checked for baby's heartbeat & all was good there, then came the pelvic exam. She told me I had progressed from last week (1 cm, 0% effaced) to 1.5 cm dilated, 50% effaced, and still at -2,-1 station. Then she measured my belly & that's really when the concern began. Apparently I hadn't grown since last week & she was afraid that I was measuring "too small." 

Next thing you know I was being sent to the hospital. They hooked me up to the external monitor for a few hours as they listened to baby's heartbeat & measured my BP every 15 min. I was poked for 2 tubes of blood, & then was sent to get an ultrasound done to check my amniotic fluid levels. Luckily everything up to that point went well! Blood work came back near perfect, my BP went back to normal after about 15 min of laying in the bed, baby wasn't under any kind of stress, and there was plenty of amniotic fluid. She did however say that baby Liam was tiny. He only weighed in at 4 lbs. 15 oz. & attributed this to him not getting enough nutrients b/c I'm constantly moving or on the go - burning calories before he can get them!

So, I was put on bed rest & am only allowed to "get up to go to the bathroom & to eat" and am being induced on next Monday, Sept 26th. She is hoping that by putting me on bed rest I won't burn many calories & he will gain a few more ounces. The hospital automatically puts small babies in the NICU, but if he can sneak past 5 lbs 8 oz, he won't have to go in there & can hang with the big babies in the normal nursery. We'll see what happens! We know he is healthy & all, just on the smaller side of the fence. With that said... let's get this party started! I've already started eating, sleeping & doing absolutely nothing. I'm sure it'll get really old really quick though. On the bright side... only 9 days til we meet our baby boy!! I leave you all with a picture of me "enjoying" bed rest... taken by my wonderful Kobe. =)

-Amber

Baby Shower #2...

This post is overdue by about a week, so here it goes. We had our second baby shower last Saturday (Aug 27th, 2011) with Kobe's side of the family. It was a lot of fun. We had great food, an awesome cake, and lots of great gifts for baby Liam! Here are some pics of the special day:

Kobe & his brother, Sothain, being goofy... they took this pic together when we realized they were dressed alike! lol

Our really cool frog-themed cake made by Kobe's cousin, Vanarin, who was just on Top Chef Desserts. He's so talented!

Top view of the cake - chocolate lily pads & plastic frogs. Too cool! Thanks, again Van! =)

Me, Kobe's sis - Sithon, & our friend Vuthavy!

Cutting the cake.

 Playing that infamous "measure the belly" game. lol... Here's Kobe's aunt measuring me!

A long time friend of the family, Soeuth, measuring me - she was 1 ply too short! lol

Kobe's other aunt with the winning measurement! YAY! lol

Us with Kobe's cousin Sandra & her boyfriend, Elliott.

Opening one of the gifts... we got lots of necessities!

Me & Kobe's momma - she's so sweet!

Last picture of the night - here we are with Kobe's parents.