Ethan's First Christmas

Ethan's first Christmas was a marathon, but it was a success! Christmas Eve we had dinner with the Lawrance side at Bucca di Beppo and went to Scott's Uncle Mark and Aunt Jan's for a Chinese gift exchange. We spent Christmas morning at my parents with my brothers, grandparents and Logan and that afternoon we were joined by my aunt, uncle and cousins. Christmas night we headed to the Davis family (Scott's mom's side) gathering at Scott's grandparents house. The day after Christmas we had lunch at our house with Scott's parents, Ken, and Kristy. Ethan handled the festivities well, but he let us know he had had enough fun on Christmas night and the day after! Check out the photos link for pictures!

Road Trip!

Saturday we took our first road trip to New Albany for the Pearl family Christmas party. Ethan did great and slept the entire trip down and back. Ethan met a lot of family and got to spend some time with his Uncle Ryan who was sick at Thanksgiving.

Spending time with my big cousin...

Merry Christmas!

Not another bath!

I'm clean, mom, I promise! Isn't one bath a month enough???

Working is hard work!!!

Ethan helped daddy call his patients today...

Good news, Great news! Ethan Update

Ethan is growing. Megan took him this last week to Dr. Roscoe's office and he weighed in at 5 pounds 11.5 oz, up from 5 pounds, 1 oz just less than 2 weeks ago. He measured at 18.5 in so he's also getting a little taller. Our little peanut is growing and I'm sure pretty soon we'll look back and wish for this nice teeny-tiny baby again.

Yesterday we got great news from Dr. Roscoe's office. As some of you know, Ethan had a positive test on his newborn screen. The screen is performed within the first 48 hours an infant is alive and tests for about 30 different diseases based on what state you live in. Ethan was positive for one of them so they always do a second test which is a better test to look into it more conclusively. After waiting for what seemed like forever, his test came back negative. Since I'm the compusive anxious type, this has really set my mind at ease.

Today we're going to the Pearl Christmas Party in New Albany and its our first big trip. We'll be gone all day so we'll see how Ethan and mom/dad hold up. I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

Uncle Ken and Aunt Kristy

Ethan finally got to meet Uncle Ken and Aunt Kristy for the first time since they are home for the holidays from Germany. Ken and Kristy flew in and my mom and dad picked them up at the airport before we all got together for a late dinner. Uncle Ken even had a couple of saves getting Ethan calmed down twice over the night time.

Practicing for the Colts game on Sunday

Some new pictures

Splish splash I was taken a bath

Now that Ethan's cord has fallen off, we can give Ethan a bath and no longer have to sponge bath him which has been nice for Mom and Dad. After a small learning curve we were able today to give him a bath with minimal difficulty and with minimal fussing.

Weight update

Megan and Ethan went back to see Dr. Roscoe again yesterday for a weight check. Since at the last visit he had not gained any weight and in fact had lost some, Dr. Roscoe wanted to see him again to make sure that he was putting on some weight. Thankfully, Ethan has finally gained some weight and yesterday he was up to 5 pounds, 1 oz. Dr. Roscoe was happy with how Ethan looked and our next scheduled visit with him will not be until the two month time frame although I would bet we'll take him in again at some point for another weight check.

Ethan is starting to stay awake more and more and he is getting stronger. He is able to lift his head easier and he is able to turn from side to side easier. His umbilical cord also finally fell off and he has a nice little belly button although we can't tell yet whether he'll be an "outtie" or an "innie".

I hate getting my diaper changed!!

First Check Up

We took Ethan to his first check up with Dr. Roscoe this morning and everything went well. He measured 18 in and weighed in at 4 pounds, 13.5 oz which is less than before, but as Dr. Roscoe said, he probably continued to loose weight after leaving the hospital and has now bottomed out and should be increasing. He was not concerned about this since Ethan is eating and pooping sufficiently throughout the day (and as the father who changes the bulk of the poopies, I can attest to that!). We go back in a week for another weight check and as long as he increases his weight at that time, he'll be fine.

We had a couple of coincidences with Dr. Roscoe as well...his grandmother used to live in Fort Wayne and was Kristy's (Ethan's Aunt) neighbor. Dr. Roscoe remembers Kristy and told us to tell her hello (passing along the message Kristy!). Dr. Roscoe also went to Wabash College and spent some time rotating and learning orthopedics from Dr. Shelbourne who I work for which made me feel a little better for some reason.

Overall, things went well this morning and Ethan is just plugging away. He's becoming a pro at the eat, sleep, poop thing and Mom and Dad are getting better at handling him and managing with 5 hours of sleep each night.

And finally, since I can't post something up here without a new picture, here are a couple of pictures from yesterday or Ethan with his Uncle Brandon and Cousin Logan.

Best picture yet!

Megan took this picture the other day and we think its Ethan's best yet! Look at those wonderful eyes!

Thanksgiving

Ethan had his first Thanksgiving yesterday and he was a big hit with both families. We always start the day with Megan's family for Thanksgiving lunch and then go over to my mother's family house for Thanksgiving dinner with the Davis's. We were not sure how Ethan would react to the day since it would be our first big trip together and Megan and I were a little apprehensive as well. Megan packed the diaper bag the night before loading up on diapers and exta outfits. Because of Ethan's size, the diapers do not fit perfectly and every so often he will soak through some of his clothes.

Here is his first family picutre with the Pearl's. This is our family on Megan's side including Ethan's great grandparents, grandparents, Uncle Brandon and Ryan, and his cousin Logan. Logan (who's almost 7 years old) was funny when we arrived - he asked if it was ok for Ethan to watch and play video games with him that afternoon.

We stayed at the Pearl's until about 5pm and then left for the Davis home. Outside of my parent's no one at the Davis household had met Ethan and so everyone was excited when we showed up. Everyone wanted to hold him and I was able to take some pictures of a few people, butunfortunately not everyone.

We left the Davis's and made our way home having made it through the day with no major issues or blowouts. Ethan did really well and in fact he probably held up better than I did. We did have a rough night though last night as he was not happy for most of the night and wanted to be sure and let up know by keeping us up most of the night. Hopefully Christmas will be just as good without the late night rebound.

Ohhh so satisfied!!

Ethan is feeding better and better with time and here he is after his latest feeding looking like a drunken sailor.

A chance to meet Grandma and Grandpa Lawrance

Today my parents arrived back in Indiana from Florida. Each year they spend 2-3 weeks in Siesta Key unwinding from the long summer season at the resort. They typically leave the first weekend in November and then return for Thanksgiving. Since our original due date was December 4th, we all figured they would have enough time to be here when Megan went into labor. Because of the way things happened, they were unable to be here when Ethan was born.

They were anxious to see our little guy and ended up spending the afternoon with us. Both Mom and Dad were amazed at how small Ethan really was since they had seen only pictures. They were able to spend some quality time with Ethan and hung around long enough to see Ethan actually awake for a short time.

Size comparison

Everyone keeps saying that Ethan is small, but until you can see him its hard to believe. Here is a size comparison - on the right is the remote controller for our TiVo and on the left is my cell phone to give you some perspective on how tiny our little peanut really is.

Supermom actually sleeps...

Notice that Raja is trying to work in some mommy time as well...

Meeting some of my other Great grandparents

Today has been a mostly uneventful day for the most part. Ethan is doing well and feeding/sleeping better. Megan and I both hope that this will carry over to tonight. I've developed a small cold and last night to be safe, I didn't really have any contact with Ethan. We were afraid that if I passed this on to Ethan ir would really set him back. This means that Megan did all the heavy lifting last night while I was isolated away from both of them.

We talked with Dr. Roscoe's office this morning and they said it was fine to be with him though as long as I was careful and not coughing/sneezing on him and I was washing my hands frequently. I'm feeling better as the day goes on and hopefully tomorrow I'll be recovered.

Today Megan's grandparents were able to come by and spend some time with us. It was nice to see them again and it was their first chance to meet their newest great grandson.

We're Home!!

We made it! After going to the hospital Thursday afternoon, we were finally able to take our little peanut home with us. First off, both Mom and Ethan are both doing great. Mom is moving around well with occasional soreness around the incision and Ethan is feeding well and stable with all his tests.

We had a tough night last night since Ethan had some gas issues throughout the night and had a hard time going to sleep and staying asleep. We were up with him last night until around 1am when Megan took her first nap and I stayed up with him until his next feeding at 4am when Megan and I switched roles. I wanted to be sure not to miss any of the doctors in the morning, so I woke up again at 7am and took a shower and eat breakfast. We started getting things packed up and Dr. Roscoe came to see Ethan around 9am. He said that he was happy with where Ethan was at. He now weighs an even 5 pounds and has only lost 6 oz since he was born which we were told was fine. He should start gaining this back over the next week and when we see Dr. Roscoe back next week he should be growing. Ethan's overnight jaundice skin test was borderline positive and so blood was drawn and taken to the lab which Dr. Roscoe said looked good and that he was not worried as long as Ethan continued to feed the way he has. Dr. Perkins came by to see Megan around 11pm. He talked with us for a little while and then gave her the go ahead to leave the hospital.

We had to wait on the nursing staff to finish all the paperwork and Megan had to give her thumbprint again to confirm that she was in fact the same person who gave birth to Ethan (they fingerprint mothers as they are giving birth). After a couple of trips down to the car to load everything, we were ready to head home. We got Ethan all set in his carrier and we were off!

Once home, we had to introduce our new prince to the two current princesses at home - Chloe and Raja. We were a little worried about how this would play itself out, but in the end it was fine. Both cats' arrention was peaked as soon as they heard Ethan cry for the first time. They started sniffing around and were just curious about who this new guy was.

Hopefully we have a good night as both Megan and I coukd use some rest, but I guess that's what the first couple of weeks is all about. We'll be around all day tomorrow, so if anyone would like to call or stop by, they are welcome!

Day 3 continued

Its been an eventful day full of lots of activity. Megan continues to feels better, but is sore and certainly not back to normal yet. Ethan is nursing better and really turned the corner we feel this evening.

We had visits from Mindy in Megan's office and from Heather in my office today along with Megan's parents coming in to visit for several hours throughout the later part of the afternoon/evening.

My unofficial rule has been that if you come in to visit and hold Ethan, then you have to pose for a picture. The one exception to this rule today was Margaret, who unfortunately arrived and shortly thereafter, the nurses had to take Ethan away for his visit with Dr. Roscoe.

Ethan and I wrapped up the evening by kicking back and cheering on the Butler Bulldogs. The basketball team played Evansville tonight with the Dogs beating the Aces by 13. We were down for most of the first half so we really had to work to support the team. Ethan helped lead the cheers here and even started to learn the Butler War Song which helps to calm him down when he gets worked up.

We're all looking forward to tomorrow and going home. We've been told today by the doctors that everything is looking great and we're on target to leave tomorrow morning. As anyone in a hospital though can tell you, that only means that you'll get to go home at some point tomorrow. We hope its sooner rather than later, but we'll wait and see. Hopefully our next update comes to you from home.

Day 3

Good afternoon to everyone and thanks to everyone who has stopped by and who has called. We're starting Day 3 today (I guess its not officially until 7pm tonight, but close enough) and things are getting better. Megan and I are much more comfortable passing Ethan back and forth, picking him up, putting him down, changing diapers, feeding, etc, etc.

Last night we were able to keep him in the room for the bulk of the night. He was taken away to be weighed and checked out at the nursery around 11pm and we decided this was our chance to get a little nap time in so they kept him until 1am when it was time to feed him again. We augmented his feeding with formula since he has had some difficulty with feeding and this really seems to perk him up. We've used the formula with a feeding tube that helps Ethan get some nourishment without using a bottle and having him get nipple confusion. He did this for the first time yesterday and then again last night. He took about 30cc of formula last night and then promptly proceeded to spit half of it back up. We kept him here in the room with us and I kept watch over him until his next feeding at 4am so Megan could sleep. After the 4am feeding, I took my turn napping while Megan kept an eye on him.

This morning I made a trip home to check in and make sure that everything was ok. The cats are a little lonely and know something is going on, but it was good to be able to grab a shower and a few home "comfort" items. Megan and Ethan have been feeding every 3 hours and Ethan is doing better. He now weighs 5 pounds, 3oz so he's lost a little which is normal. Hopefully, today he'll continue to eat better and get out of his sleepy mode.

Megan's parents are coming by again today and a few other people have mentioned they will probably come by. Megan is feeling pretty good and is moving around well. We'll probably be able to go home tomorrow provided everything is going well with Ethan. If you want to call or stop by, please do so. Megan and I are both tired and recovering, but happy to have some distractions throughout the day.

Meeting the Great Grandparents!

We've had a couple of visitors today and Ethan got the chance to meet his Great grandma and Great grandpa Lawrance this afternoon. Ethan was on his best behavior and thank you to Great grandma and Great grandpa for stopping by to check in on us!

Day 2

Well, Day 2 is off and running just fine. We're trying to get Ethan to feed and he's just wanting to sleep, but everything is going well. Here is mommy and Ethan this morning...

We've had a couple of visitors this morning and afternoon from Megan's work and great-grandpa and great-grandma Lawrance are going to come by this evening to meet their newest great grandson. We've had lots of calls today and love talking to everyone!

We had an ultrasound earlier that showed a mohawk on our little one and as you can see Ethan has a nearly full head of hair as this picture shows - Grandpa Pearl said that Ethan had as much hair as he did!

Welcome to the World...

Well, after a long day, Megan and I would like to welcome Ethan Charles Lawrance to the world. He is a healthy, beautiful baby boy - 5 pounds, 6 oz and 18 in long born on 11/15/07 at 6:54pm.

We woke up yesterday morning both anxious about what was going to happen, but trying to make it through with minimal effort and stress. The nurses at our OB office forgot to tell us that Megan was not supposed to eat after midnight, so Megan had a small breakfast in the morning. Dr. Bantz called about an hour later asking if she had eaten and because she had, we had to push the c-section back to 3pm instead of noon.


We arrived at noon to check in and made our way to the labor/delivery room by 1pm. By 3pm it was pretty clear that Megan was not going to have the baby yet and we ended up waiting and waiting and then waiting some more. Apparently there were 3-4 other babies that needed to go before us which was fine since our's was not an emergency. Megan's parents came and kept us company which was a nice. We finally got to go into the operating room around 6:30pm. Megan had her spinal anesthetia put in and then once that was done, I was able to join her.



The delivery was amazing and I cannot do it justice in words so I won't try. Ethan was born and came out kicking and screaming for the first 20min or so. The nurses took him away for their assessments along with the standard weights and measures. We'll post all the vital statistics in the future. After that, they let me be the first to hold him and while I wanted to be able to pass him onto Megan, it was such a trill to be able to hold my son and meet him for the first time.

After Megan was finished with surgery and everything was done, we moved back into the Labor/Delivery room. After that, once Megan was stable we moved upstairs to our current home on the post-partum floor. Ethan was taken away for a bath and further assessments (hearing, etc) and was supposed to be gone for about 1.5 hours. His blood sugar was borderline so they tried to get him to take some formula to boost this back up and he was having trouble sucking on the bottle. He finally took this, but afterward was very cold from being out of his blankets for so long and they kept him under the warmers for quite awhile. We got him back about 4 hours later (now 1am in the morning!). We kept him for an hour and since we were pretty tired at that point, we took him back to the nursery so we could get some sleep.

We got him back around 5:00am today and have had him since that time with the exception of his exam by Dr. Roscoe (our pediatrician). He is doing well and seems to be very happy and active. Dr. Roscoe has no concerns at this time and right now we are just trying to learn how to handle everything.

He likes to be held and likes to be swaddled and warm. Its great getting the opportunity to meet my son and learn more about him and as I do, we'll be sure to post more thoughts and pictures.