Dr. Visit

Just a quick post to update on our cardiologist appointment yesterday. Everything looks and sounds good and the murmur is just a typical newborn murmur - they call them "innocent murmurs" and they eventually will go away. We are very thankful for that! I'm starting to learn that there is always going to be something to worry about with having a baby!!

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

So big!

I looked back over my past few posts and it is hard to believe how big Hunter is getting already and how much he has changed! Here is a more recent picture that cracks me up because it looks like he is just lounging on the couch like a big guy, and super cute one I couldn't resist posting of Hunter and AJ.

I took him to the Dr. yesterday to get his weight checked and he is up to 7 lbs 7.5 oz! He is growing up so fast already. We were pleased with his weight gain - he is 4 weeks old now - but Dr. Terwelp found a heart murmur that he wants to get checked out. These apparently aren't all that uncommon in newborns but due to his size and the fact that he is a preemie, he is sending is sending us to a pediatric cardiologist to be on the safe side. I am trying to stay positive and hope that this is just a common murmur and nothing more. I will be sure to post an update.

Whitney was here to visit the weekend before last, so last week was my first week home without any help and I think I am doing pretty well. :) My mom made a ton of food and froze it for us before she left and we are still enjoying that so I guess I'm not totally on my own yet! I am loving being at home with him and being a mommy. Hunter is still eating about every 2-3 hours, but last night he went for 4 hours in between feedings one time and boy, does that extra hour make a HUGE difference. I felt like I was on vacation!

We went on one outing this week to meet AJ for lunch and then Hunter and I went to Babies R Us to get a couple of things for his room. I still am wary of germs, but I am able to put his carrier/carseat in his stroller and totally cover him up where the hoods of the carrier and stroller come together, so I did that and felt okay about it. He did a pretty good job and it is nice to get out of the house with him.

Here is a pic of Hunter and proud Aunt Whitney! I will post more after our Dr. appointment tomorrow.

We have a 2 week old!

Well, the past 2 weeks have gone by amazingly fast. It is hard to believe that little baby Hunter is already 2 weeks old! We sort of lost that first week, since we were in the hospital most of the time, so I imagine that made it seem to go by even faster.

Hunter had his 2 week checkup with Dr. Terwelp yesterday morning and he is doing great! They want babies to be back to their birth weight by 2 weeks of age (Hunter's was 5 lbs 13 oz). Hunter was up to 6 lbs 1.5 oz! He is in the 4th percentile for length, weight, and head circumference which was great because that was on the term babies chart rather than the preemie chart. Now that he is up to his birth weight, I can also start demand feeding - feeding him when he wants to eat rather than having to wake him up every 2-3 hours to eat - although so far he has pretty much been sticking to the 3 hour schedule. I'm hoping that he'll decide he wants to sleep longer than 2-3 hours during the night soon. :)

Mom and Brad left on Sunday and we sure are missing them! AJ took off Monday-Wednesday to stay home and help me and my sister flies in on Thursday for a visit. We are enjoying our new little family and settling into a routine. Here is a pic of Mimi, Papa, and Hunter before they left!

It's a BOY!!!

Hunter William Johnson made his debut 4 weeks early on Easter Sunday, April 12th, at 8:22am. He weighed 5 lbs. 13oz, and was 19 in. long, and AJ and I are over the moon that he is here. There is a lot that has happened over the past 9 days so I apologize in advance for a long post. :)


AJ sent out a note to our friends after he was born and it is the perfect way to tell the story of what happened - here it is -

________________________


From: Johnson, Antoine
Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2009 10:35 PM
Cc: Johnson, Kristin
Subject: Best Easter Ever


Hello everyone,

By now many of you have heard that Kristin gave birth to our new son this morning. Hunter William Johnson was welcomed into the world at 8:22 this morning. He was quite an Easter surprise.

Details:
Saturday was like any normal Saturday. Kristin’s mom was in town to help get the final things she needed for delivery. They went shopping, picked out new baby outfits, etc. Keep in mind that the due date wasn’t until May 9th. Our friends April and Piper came over that morning to take some pregnancy pictures for Kristin. Boy do we have great timing!

Anyhow, Kristin’s mom wanted to treat us to Salt Lick so that’s where we went for dinner – again everything normal so far. Also, Kristin did not have any Braxton-Hicks contractions at all during her pregnancy – our baby was pretty relaxed and chilled out.

After dinner, she helped her mom pack for her 9am Sunday flight back to Indiana. I went to bed to read and watch SNL. She came to bed shortly thereafter. As soon as she laid down – 11:50 on Saturday night, her water broke. She hadn’t even finished packing her overnight bag!! Well, we got her dressed, woke up her mom, and hustled to the hospital. By this time her contractions started. By the way – Kristin and contractions do not get along! After the epidural she was all good though – many of you got phone calls from her!

She labored for about six hours and pushed for about an hour and a half. My mother-in-law was a godsend. She was there to help us through this and offer encouragement. She was completely complimentary to me and made sure that we were both comfortable throughout the process. My wife is a phenomenal woman. She did so well during this that I was truly inspired by her.

We did not know what the sex of the baby was before he was born. This was the best surprise I’ve ever gotten! I was the first person (other than the doctor) to see my new son enter this world. He is truly a blessing! Andrew was born on Father’s Day and that makes Father’s Day special for me. Hunter was born on Easter Sunday, and Easter will always be special to me as well.

He’s a little on the small side – he came 4 weeks early! However, he’s doing well. He’s taking to nursing right away and he’s discovered that he likes to suck his thumb sometimes. Kristin has done great so far – she’s going to be a great mother. We’re all tired but happy. What more could any of us have asked for? Andrew is very excited about his baby brother. He’s going to be a great role model. I could not have done this without my mother-in-law Jan. I’m so happy she was here to witness all of this.

We have plenty of pictures, and I’ll send them out later. We’re at North Austin Medical Center room 224 for anyone that wants to come by and say hello.

Thanks to everyone!

Antoine Johnson


____________________



We were able to go home on Tuesday, April 14th and had a pediatrician appointment with Dr. Terwelp on Wednesday. They wanted to check his bilirubin levels - this is a breakdown product of blood and high levels cause jaundice - and since he is techincally a preemie it needed to be monitored closely. His bili levels had gone up since leaving the hospital at Wednesday's appointment and so we had to go back for another check on Thursday. Thursday's levels had jumped higher than anyone expected, so he was readmitted back in to the hospital Thursday evening to spend some time under the phototherapy lights to work on getting his levels down. It was very hard for us to see him hooked up to all of the machines and having his blood taken several times a day, but he was able to come home again on Saturday evening.


Here is a picture of the little guy -






He has a special little name, as Hunter is my Mom's maiden name, and William was my Dad's name. He is settling in to his new home and routine quite nicely. He is a good little baby and we are so thankful that he is healthy and is home. My Mom has been here and has been a godsend. She has helped us so much. Brad flew in yesterday and my sister will be here to help out at the end of next week. We are lucky to have such a wonderful group of friends and family.

Indy trip

I made it to Indy and back last weekend without any airline drama for a change. My sister threw a baby shower for me on Saturday and it was perfect. It was at noon, so we had a delicious lunch of chicken salad croissants, veggies/dip, fruit, and of course cake! I had a great time and I think everyone else did as well. It was great to see my friends and family and I am very appreciative for everything that everyone did to make it a special day. I felt very loved. :) It was a pretty short trip, but I did get to see a lot of people. It is crazy to think that the next time I am home I will have a baby!

I had a quick Dr. appointment on Thursday before I left. Not much new to report, although the baby is head down, so even though there is plenty of time left, hopefully he/she doesn't decide to flip. 8 more weeks to go!

I passed!

I have been waiting on the news to update the blog and I have the official word – I passed my glucose test! For those of you (men) who are reading and don’t know what that is, it is a blood test they do right around this time in your pregnancy to test your blood sugar. You have to drink an orange drink that tastes like flat McDonalds orange soda in 5-10 minutes and get your blood drawn an hour later. If your sugars are too high then you have to do another 3 hour test, where I believe you drink the same drink but then have to get your blood drawn once an hour for 3 hours, which I was NOT keen on. I have had such a sweet tooth and was totally convinced I was going to fail, but I passed with flying colors. :) It’s the little things that excite me, huh…?

My appointment last week went well. It was just a quick checkup. The baby is measuring right on schedule. I have another appointment late next week so they can check me before I fly out on Friday. Whitney is throwing me a shower in Indy and they wanted to check me before I travel. Everything has been smooth sailing so far, so I don’t anticipate having any problems, but keep your fingers crossed. This will be the last time I can travel before the baby is born so I’m really excited to go home…although I wish that I could stay a little longer. I’ll make sure to post some pics when I get back!

I’m starting to get tired again, but other than that I’m feeling well and really can’t complain at all. I will be 30 weeks on Saturday which is totally crazy to me. It seems like time has flown by ever since I hit 20 weeks. I think I will start to feel more prepared once we start to fill up the nursery with the essentials. I'm starting to think about the fact that this baby is eventually going to have to come out and he/she isn't getting any smaller! Hopefully the epidural will sound less scary to me in 10 weeks.... :)

I almost forgot - we have our first class next week! We have about one per week for the next 5 weeks or so, so I’m looking forward to those. I’ll keep you posted on how those are going!

25 weeks

I'm not sure how I feel about posting a side view picture of myself in all of my pregnant glory, but my friends from home have been asking for belly pictures so I’m biting the bullet. I think I look as big as a house!

My Mom and Brad came down for a little visit last week. We all had a great time. AJ and Brad were able to get in a few rounds of golf while Mom and I played around at Babies R Us. :) Brad loves the fact that he can play golf in January. They picked a good week to come and we enjoyed having them here!

I had my 24 week appointment last week and everything is still going well. Next appointment is in 4 weeks. I'll have the glucose screening test and that is my last 4 week appointment. I’ll start going every 3 weeks after that, which means it will be my 3rd trimester ALREADY! Time is flying by. We are still working on names and it is much harder than I thought it would be. It’s not even that we are in disagreement - it’s more of names reminding of someone else that you grew up with, or someone else already has a child (or a dog) with that name, or that it just doesn’t work with Johnson (crazy, but true), etc. The baby is moving a lot and I’m still feeling well, although it is becoming increasingly difficult to put on my socks and shoes. I might have to start asking AJ for some help here before too long!