Jack's First Month

FOREWORD: My apologies for the tardiness of this post :)
We can't believe little Jack has been with us a month already! Wow- time really does fly and he's been growing so much.
The first 2 weeks Jack was home he was still battling jaundice so he spent a lot of time under a bili-blanket light to bring his bilirubin numbers down. He's a little special because it took him a little longer to get that jaundice out of his system, but last time his numbers were checked they had come down without the assistance of the light anymore so he's doing great! We were all so happy to get rid of that bili-blanket :)
Even though Jack had to spend time under his light he still was able to get cuddles from his grandparents. Jack's Gran-Gran and Pap from Arkansas came to visit right away. There was a lot going on during their visit and we all hope they can come back soon. Grandma and Grandpa from New Jersey also came for a visit shortly after Jack came home from the hospital. He got a lot of cuddles with his Grandparents in his first few weeks.
Jack spends his time reading comic books with his Dad, hanging out in his bouncy chair, sleeping and being a baby. But most of all Jack spends his time being cute and adorable!
We were able to celebrate his 1 month birthday on Thanksgiving and lucky enough Grandma and Grandpa were here to celebrate with us! Grandma cooked an amazing Thanksgiving dinner that we all enjoyed...well Jack still only enjoyed milk, but it was Thanksgivingy in spirit. We all were curious though- who was bigger the turkey or Jack!
This first month has been great and we are anxious for Jack to meet more of his family when we go to New Jersey in January.
Love and Hugs to all and hope your holiday season has started off right :)

Welcome to the World, Jack Knowlton Gebhart!

The Bears were terrible yesterday. So bad in fact that by second half, Jack couldn't take it any more and decided it was time to be born. His signal to Sarah? Not a simple contraction or a nice controlled progression into consistent labor. Nope, the first sign was Sarah sitting next to me on the couch at the start of the second half; she looked at me and said, "um, I think I just peed myself." And so our adventure began...

We arrived at the hospital a couple hours later. Sarah wasn't having painful contractions at the time so we were able to get the dogs to the boarders, and load everything into the car. After a quick pit stop at the grocery store to load up on gossip mags we arrived at the hospital for check-in.
The nurses in the maternity floor at Genesis East were absolutely amazing. They had us settled in in no time and before we knew it we were ready to start waiting.

We walked the halls, we laid in bed, we ate Gatorade-soaked ice chips, we watched Twilight (not my choice but momma makes the rules). It was really pretty calm and uneventful until right around midnight. That's when the excitement started...

Sarah had decided to "feel out" how much she wanted to do in the pain killer department. When the "real" contractions started just after midnight, the word "epidural" was said over and over again with a great deal of confidence. Saline IVs were ordered and the anesthesiologist was called out. This was about the time Jack decided to let his mom know that he meant business. Contractions moved much closer together and got a lot more painful. Sarah was amazing. She breathed and she squeezed and she worked through each contraction while getting whatever rest she could afford in between. With each contraction she focused on the epidural and just making it until the saline bag was empty and then the pain could go away.

Jack had other plans, however. As the footsteps of the guy with the drugs could be heard coming down the hall Jack decided it was time to meet his mommy and daddy and epidural be damned!
Once again I was amazed by my beautiful wife as she gutted up and focused on the end goal. It didn't matter that her dreams of the pain subsiding had been thwarted. All that mattered was that Jack was ready to come out and he needed his momma's help.
Forty-five minutes later at 2:30 am CTS on October 26th, in the Year of Our Lord 2009, Jack Knowlton Gebhart drew his first breaths on this earth and brought eternal happiness into the lives of his exhausted mother and father.

Sarah is doing wonderfully now and is catching up on sleep in 45 minute increments. Jack is healthy and happy and, if he's anything like his father, is already plotting some form of mischief that he will unleash upon his unsuspecting parents as soon as discovers the secret to breaking free of his swaddling.

Let's Go [insert Chicago sports team here]!!

So Nate has made it his mission that just because I'm pregnant my team allegiances don't' get lost in the expansion of my waist. Every Sunday, there I sit next to Nate, cheering on the Bears decked out in my Chicago gear. Take a look :) I think this might be bringing them some luck, because I'm not sure how we've won the past 2 games.
And now that the NHL season has officially opened Nate has decided it's not too early to teach our son the finer points of what makes the Blackhawks the greatest sports franchise to root for. Here I am watching the Hawks season opener and our little guy was kicking a lot during that game. Uh-oh maybe Nate will get his wish and our son will play hockey after all.
Surprisingly I don't have any maternity Cubs gear, but I think as a family we kind of ignored this baseball season for a reason :)
I hope you are all enjoying your sports of choice as we enter fall and you can take some comfort in knowing that my belly is dedicated to cheering for Chicago!!
Hugs to you all and Go Bears and Blackhawks!!
PS- Barry Melrose has already predicted it's going to be the Hawks over the Flyers in this season's Stanley Cup! Our little boy might be their good luck charm :)
Oh, and it was my birthday and I got some wonderful presents (not the kitty), thanks everyone!

Somewhere to sleep...

So our little guy finally has a room of his own :) After about 3 stages of construction and planning the nursery is finally done. And when I say "done" I really mean "Don't open the closet door!" We are really happy how the room turned out and I hope our little guy has many wonderful, quiet nights in there.
Really when it's all said and done- Nate did an absolutely wonderful job with the nursery. He painted and installed and built things til I ran out of tasks for him. And he did it all with a smile on his face. Nate assembled all the furniture with some great assistance from Grandpa Ken and Pap. It was nice that both Grandfathers were able to help out with putting the room together. We also inherited a beautiful rocking chair from the Gebharts which I'm very excited to start using. Take a look at the pictures and let us know what you think!
We were also pleasantly surprised when we received a package from Uncle Greg and Aunt Jackie the other day. As you can see the Dad-To-Be is very proud his son will grow up with the right values and morals.
I've also included some more pictures of me so everyone can see how big the belly is getting. Keep in mind I'm nearing the end of my pregnancy so that should account for the rather large baby-bump. I can't believe we only have about 7 weeks left! The little guy is moving all the time- which is great, but a little uncomfortable at times. At least he is active :) How is it possible that Nate and I are about to be parents!?! We both are just so excited to finally meet our son.
Hope you all enjoy getting a glimpse into our life as we prepare for our boy's arrival. Hugs to everyone! XOXO

Baby Shower

So Mama-to-Be reporting again, and this time I get to brag about my awesome friends and family back East :)
Nate and I headed to New Jersey last weekend and my Mom threw a great Baby Shower for yours truly (and my little peanut). It turned out to be a fun, laughter filled afternoon with family and friends all celebrating our little boy. Shannon took on the responsibility of Shower games (no chocolate teacups this time- thank goodness!!) and as it turns out I admire many of the qualities in Nathan so much that I hope the baby inherits his brains and brawn. We were so lucky because not only did we get to share in the joy of our baby with our friends and family, but we were overwhelmed with everyone's generosity and got some great loot :) Our boy is set for awhile with clothes and books (!) and all the great goodies to help us first time parents.
I've attached some pictures so you can take a look at the festivities. Thanks to everyone who came and those who thought of us even if they weren't there. Thanks and Hugs from all of us- Sarah, Nate and Baby.

Baby Mama Reporting...

Sarah here, reporting on today's blog entry. I am currently entering week 26 and the most exciting part is that we got to see our little boy again last week! We had our 2nd ultrasound on July 22nd and it's amazing how much he has grown! I've attached some more pictures and as you can see he's already such a cutie.
Nate and I were able to spend a wonderful week at Lake Michigan with our family earlier this month as well. We've added some pictures of our vacation and as you can see we had a great time. It was such a beautiful area and the weather could not have been better for a family vacation. I think between the two of us we read about 6 or 7 books in that one week so obviously we did a lot of relaxing. It was great to see everyone too- especially Matt & Lisa and Greg & Jackie since they don't make it across the country very often :) Besides, everyone finally got a chance to see my growing belly! For all of those who are curious how big the baby bump has gotten Nate and I decided to add some belly shots to the blog as well. At least now there's no denying it looks like a preggo-belly and not just that I've been hitting the ice cream too hard this summer :)
We are heading back East this weekend to, once again, see my family. I'm excited to be back in New Jersey for my baby shower, and I can't wait to see Shannon and Erin! I know all my friends and family back East are going to love our little boy so much that it's nice to be able to share these moments with them.
When Nate and I get back from New Jersey, we're going to start working on the nursery. We have the baby's furniture, although it's still in boxes, and we are in the process of picking paint colors. As soon as it's all ready for our little boy we will add pictures so you can all see the room.
Well I hope everyone is enjoying the summer as much as we are and we hope to see some of you back in NJ this weekend.
Love and Hugs to you all!

IT'S A BOY!

Ladies and gentlemen, meet the newest addition to the Gebhart family! We had our first ultrasound on June 24th and we can't be more excited! We were in the ultrasound room for close to half an hour. It was truly amazing getting to see our little guy crawling around inside Sarah's belly. I just sat in amazement and held Sarah's hand while we watched our son on the monitor. Seeing him for the first time has only served to make us more excited to meet him! Once again we got Sarah out of the doctor's office with a clean bill of health. I'm so proud of how well she's been doing while she lugs our son around whether it be to Charleston or to the grocery store. Thus far this has been an amazing experience for the both of us. It's times like these, however that we truly miss being near family. It's great to be able to call everyone and share our excitement; but sometimes you just want to be able to get together with the family and see the smiles and the happiness in person. We miss all of you so much and hopefully will be able to get out to visit with all of you soon.
In the meantime, we'll be doing our best to keep this blog up to date so everyone can see pictures and get a better idea of how everything is going out here in Iowa. I've put some more pictures from the ultrasound below and I'll be throwing some pictures from our Charleston trip soon.
We love you guys and we miss you all so much!