Sweet Pete

My friend Kari came over today and took some pictures of Pete. Here are a few of my favorites.

My Boys

I took this picture this morning of Pete and his dad sleeping together. Have you ever seen such a sweet picture?

Still no time....

No time to write but here are some recent pics of Pete with some friends this week. And one of him sleeping this afternoon. Feeding time.....

No Time

Sorry I haven't blogged lately. Things changed when P. went back to work. Now I am happy to get a shower, eat anything and sleep at all. But this sweet face makes it all worth it and there is less laundry to do when I stay in the same clothes every day all day. I will blog this weekend when P. is home and can give me some relief. For now, hope this funny picture of his bath tonight carries you through, it's what keeps me going right now.....P. forgot to cover his pee pee during a diaper change so he needed a bath, bad...... :)

One week ago.....

One week ago at this time I was in labor. At 4:00 pm today I thought, this is when my water broke exactly 7 days ago. By 6pm we were at the hospital. I was admitted immediately and by 9:30pm desperately seeking an epidural. Labored until 5am then started to push. Pete was born at 7:44am with the help of a vacuum. And here we are.....

What a week this has been. It has been the hardest, most exhausting, most emotional, and best week of my life. I wish I had more time to record all that happened this week to look back on someday but that's ok. When I have time I will put down more about my labor, delivery and our first week as a family. Right now, it is time to sleep.

Joy

I have never felt so much joy as I did today when Pete finally breastfed from me. We have been working on it all week and today at the hospital Pete and I made it happen. I cried and he fed and afterwards we sat and cuddled together enjoying the moments we just shared as mom and son. I don't have time to talk but I just wanted to give you an update and share our wonderful news. Thank you for your prayers and encouragements. Here are some pictures....not of the breastfeeding of course.....

Pete had a doctors appointment yesterday to make sure he was gaining weight and healthy. He was in perfect health, almost back to his birth weight. Here is a picture of P. and Pete waiting to see the doctor. We gave him his first bath the other night. He didn't like it much, too cold I guess.

This bath picture is blurry but is so cute.
Pete hanging out with dad.

Pictures of Pete

Pete is a wonderful baby. He is sweet and handsome and I never want him out of my sight. He makes me smile and laugh. We call him One Eyed Pete because when he is just waking up or the light is too bright he keeps one eye closed. It is so funny. He loves his daddy so much. They are sweet together, talking, sleeping, walking around looking at things. My heart is full of so much love when I look at them together. Pete is healthy and now that we are getting him food he is sleeping better and not as fussy.We could use some prayers. Especially regarding breastfeeding. Pete has not been able to latch on properly resulting in a lot of pain for me and lack of food for him. A lactation consultant worked with us for hours yesterday but Pete insists upon biting and hasn't figured out how to use his tongue to suck. I am not to let him feed again until my breasts heal more and we work on his biting and sucking through some exercises we were taught. Please pray that this will work out for us. I want more than anything to breastfeed my son. Also please pray for continued healing for me.

Enjoy the pictures. I could have posted a hundred of them but here are a few of my favorites. Thank you for your calls and emails. I am not up for talking on the phone right now but appreciate the calls and emails and we will get back to you as soon as things calm down for us. Thanks for sharing in our pregnancy, birth and time now with our sweet Pete.

As of 4/5/08, the Selinski family is one member larger!

This is A.M.'s friend Rachel posting the important details of Peter Jacob's arrival. I just got back from the hospital, and Mommy and baby are doing well, though Mommy, of course, is tired and in shock at how different real life labor is from the labor described on A Baby Story.

Here are the stats. Peter Jacob entered the world this morning, April 5, 2008, at 7:44 AM after a 16 hour labor. He weighed 8 pounds, 1 ounce and was 20.5 inches long. He has brown hair and a nice lower lip, half of which he likes to suck into his mouth. See for yourself:



He's a keeper! He has long fingers with equally long, well-shaped fingernails. The doctor says he is as healthy as can be. It's a happy day for this family!


4/6/08: Here are a couple more photos, per A.M.'s request.

Nursery

The nursery is complete. See what you think.....

We made collages of all the baby cards we have received and put them into frames as our wall art.

We love our blue and green "patchwork" bedding and window covering. I ordered it online so hadn't seen it in person but love it even more than I thought I would.














The dresser/changing table is from a great friend who saw our need and had the perfect piece of furniture for our baby's room.

We have a shelf above the dresser with some special baby items we have received. Under the shelf are pictures of P., the dogs and I that we had taken last Oct.















We have a diaper genie, a recliner rocking chair, and monitor. The theme accidentally ended up monkeys and Boxer dogs. Sock monkey on the shelf is from my friend J. The monkey hanging on the crib is from my childhood friend J. and the Build A Bear monkey in the crib is from Katie who made him just for her little brother when she was home at Christmas. The pictures of us on the wall have our dogs in them and there is a small Nintendog Boxer on the nightstand.
















I am so happy with the nursery. I have sat in there many times over the past week just thinking and pondering. I can't wait to sit in the rocker with our son. Each part of the room has special meaning to me.

Now all we need is a baby.

39 Weeks!

The countdown is on! I had a doctor's appointment this morning and my first internal exam due to complaining of intense pain in my crotch. The pain started a couple days ago and has increased in intensity since. I told her it was getting really hard to walk or lift my legs due to the pain. She decided to check and see what was going on. My doctor found that I am 2-3 cm dilated and 60% effaced. She was able to feel his head and said he was right there ready to come out. I know this doesn't mean the baby is coming tonight or even this week but it is a good start. The most exciting thing about being dilated and effaced is that I am a good way through the first phase of labor already. My doctor said I can pretty much count on a shorter labor because of my progress already. She said some women come in to the hospital at just a finger tip dilated and in labor and have hours and hours to go before even reaching 2-3 cm. I am pretty excited now, things are starting to happen. Like I said, I do understand women can be 2-3 cm dilated for weeks and still not go into true labor but in my mind this is a wonderful start and I am thrilled to know things are working towards me having our son in the near future.

Oh, and I gained 3 lbs since last week. That wasn't great news but that's ok. Our boy's heart beat was 151 and my blood pressure was 122/80. At this point I am not doing anything to induce labor or bring him here any earlier than he has planned. They say you can walk, have sex, eat spicy foods, do squats on an exercise ball, and some other things but I haven't tried any methods yet mostly due to the fact that P. hurt his leg last Monday and is on crutches right now. I am hoping for a recuperated husband before our boy arrives. I need a husband that can walk and carry a baby safely at the same time and until that is possible I am ok if our little guy waits a little bit longer. Hopefully the timing will all work itself out.

That's all for now. I will keep you posted. Have a great week and keep us in your prayers!

Votes-Updated 3/29/08

Wow, Peter Jacob is the big winner. So P. says to me last night, "I won't call him Peter, it's too formal". We have talked about the name Peter for months now and he has never disclosed this information to me before. I don't want two PJ's in the house, too confusing. (I know, I just wrote out PJ's name in my blog but the story didn't make sense unless I did. For privacy and security reasons I kept my names to first initials until now though PJ is still not his full name, just his initials.)

Peter Jacob-8 votes. (10 votes if you count the votes just for Peter.)
Daniel Archer-5 votes.
Mitchell Reed-4 votes.
Reed Archer-3 votes. (6 if you count the other votes for Reed.)
Wyatt Reed-3 votes.
Wyatt Archer-2 votes.
Wyatt Mitchell-2 votes.
Peter-2 votes.
Reed-2 votes.
Reed Mitchell-2 votes.
Daniel Reed-1 vote. (wasn't on the list, someone liked it though)
Daniel Jacob-1 vote (not on the list either)
Archer-1 vote.

What I gather from the responses is that any name on our list will work just fine. And that is kind of nice to know. The response to Peter has been mixed. People either love it or hate it but surprisingly enough it is in first place! I polled a whole group of people tonight about the name Peter and everyone said they didn't think of a boy's private part when they heard it or I said it. They all thought it was a great name and I had asked for their true, honest opinion. Glad to see it is a favorite even with the "boy part" thing. That is encouraging. It's been really fun to see what people say about the list!

I would love to get some more feedback and see what other votes come in. Hope you are having a great weekend!

Names

Ok, so after 5 people asked me today what we were going to name our son I felt a little pressure to come up with an answer. P. and I sat down tonight with baby name books from our friend R. and went through ALL the boys names in 3 of the 5 books. Here is what we came up with:

Peter
Wyatt
Archer
Abraham (Abe)
Reed
Mitchell

Peter Jacob
Peter Archer
Wyatt Reed
Wyatt Archer
Wyatt Jacob
Wyatt Mitchell
Daniel Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio's name in the movie Blood Diamond. We both thought it sounded cool because it used Archer, but it is his last name, not first.)
Archer Jacob
Mitchell Reed
Abraham Reed
Reed (?)

It's a good start right? What do you think? When you read them you have to put them with our last name to see how it sounds.

Regarding Peter-I feel this name is the most meaningful of all of them. It is close to my heart because it is my husband's name and he is a great person that I respect and love very much. But when I say it out loud I can't help but always think about how it sounds, what people think of when they hear it and the teasing he might experience by having a name so easily related to a boy private part. After considering the name Peter for a while now it is hard for me to find as much meaning in other names.

We have always liked the name Archer but it has come and gone off our list a few hundred times telling me I am not really sure exactly how I feel about it. It is unique and rare but at the same time sounds strong and cool. Last names used as first names is a new trend that I seem to like a lot. It means "bowman" and since my husband is a "bowman" or "archer" it seems fitting. It was our first choice of names many months ago and like wedding dresses they always say you should go with your first instinct or that you always go back to the first dress you tried on and buy it.

Wyatt is a new favorite. I thought it was too trendy to put on my list but tonight there was something different about it. P. loves western movies and Wyatt Earp is a favorite of his. He was a cowboy, hunter, miner, farmer and gambler. Seems like a manly name, like an old-time cowboy with rough hands from working the fields all day. Hard working, honest and strong. But it is by far the most popular and trendy name on our list and I am not sure I like that.

Mitchell is another new one we came across tonight. P. likes just Mitch. I don't have much to say about this name except that it means Who is like God which is neat. It is a form of Michael which is P's brother's name. It is popular but not too popular and I like that it is widely used which means people like it but not overly used to where every other boy these days has the name.

I just have to say I am so uncomfortable right now. My son has his foot or leg in such a bad spot I can hardly breathe, sit, move or concentrate. Ok, back to the names....

Abraham, or Abe, was a name that I always seemed to like. P. never really considered it until tonight when he added it to our list. It is a biblical name and I like the sound of it. It means father of the nations and like Mitchell is used but not over used. Hard to find a middle name to go with this one though.

Reed is one of P.'s favorite names. I like it but can't seem to find a middle name that sounds good with it. Any ideas? I think it sounds good with our last name too. It means a reed, duh. And it means red-haired which I am sure he won't be.

So there you go. I feel better now that I have some options. It was getting a little scary there for a while. I think I could be happy with any of these names which feels good. I would love to hear your opinion as long as you have only nice things to say. No just kidding. I do appreciate input on big decisions in my life, especially from those I love and respect. Will try to sleep now, looking forward to your feedback. Adios.

38 Weeks!

Ok, I am ready! Let's do this thing!

I had my weekly doctors appointment this morning. Everything went just fine. A quick check up of all the normal things and I was on my way. I gained just under a pound since last week so my total is up to 22 lbs. My blood pressure was good, baby's heart rate was 136 and he is still hanging out upside down, ready to make his head first exit into this world. Now if he would just make it! I know, I know, patience. He still is allowed 2 more weeks to cook and I need to let him do that if that's what he wants. I asked a few general questions like when to call and when to head to the hospital. So.....now we wait again, another week. Will something start happening this week? How will it feel to go into labor? Where will I be? What are we going to name him???? Ahhhhh! :)

Well, I am going to go back to bed now. I didn't sleep well last night then was up early for my appointment. We had a busy, but fun weekend so I am feeling like I need a little down time. The sun is out today but it doesn't feel warm. It was 17 degrees when I left for the doctor's this morning. Spring? Not here.

Here are a couple more pics from last week. One is from our dinner at the Potters house and one from church on Sat night where they celebrated P.'s birthday with an ice-cream cake. Those are our friends in the background, Luc and Charity.

Celebrate

It's been a week, and weekend, full of fun and celebrations. Today is P.'s actual birthday but we started the celebrating on Wednesday. Our friends the Potters had us over Wed for pizza, fruit salad and cake. It was a nice time hanging out, good food, good company..... :)

Friday P.'s co-workers had donuts for him at work then he and I went to Red Robin for a birthday Bonzai Burger. See picture. I made a cake and took it to work for him to share with his friends. I snuck the leftover donuts for myself. We shopped around town last night even though Grand Rapids was getting blasted with an Easter weekend snow storm. What a crock. This winter needs to come to an end, and soon!

Today was a nice day together. It was P.'s turn to run the slides at church tonight so he had to go in about 3pm and practice. I went with because I knew they were going to have cake for him and I wanted to be a part of the surprise, and have some cake. It was really cool of them to celebrate his special day and to thank him for his volunteer time and friendship. We really like our small Saturday night church family and are thankful for the friends we have made there and what the teachings add to our life. After church we finished off the big day with dinner at Famous Daves, a BBQ place P. likes a lot. It was a good day and I love celebrating my great husband. So happy birthday babe! Hope you know how much you are loved and appreciated. Thank you for everything you do for us and hope you have a great next year full of love, happiness, laughs, good times and babies. :)

And tomorrow is a celebration of another type. It is a celebration I feel many people overlook because we get so caught up in the egg hunts, big ham dinners and chocolate bunnies. But do we truly know and remember what the day is really all about? Easter is the day Jesus rose from the dead. 3 days before he was crucified to save us all and now has risen to return to heaven. My goal as a mom someday is to make sure my kids know and appreciate why we celebrate Christmas and Easter. Of course there will still be big ham dinners, egg hunts and chocolate bunnies but there will also be a time of reflection and study to make sure they understand the importance of these holidays.

Happy Easter to you all! Lot's of love to our friends and family.

Doc Appt

Nothing too exciting to report. Everything looks good. I didn't gain any weight, still 172. My uterus didn't grow either. His heart rate was 142 and he is still head down, body to the left and feet to the right. My Group B Strep came back negative so that is good. I have noticed a huge drop in movements from our little guy so my doctor wants me to count kicks and see if I can get at least 10 in an hour throughout the day. If I don't get 10 for two consecutive hours in a row I need to call in and they will check him out. I have yet to count today but will make sure to do that soon. You have to lay down, put both hands on your tummy and wait there until you get your kicks. So basically I need to set aside a few hours for this.

I made chicken enchiladas to freeze today. So far I have 4 meals and banana bread in the freezer for when the baby comes and I don't feel like cooking. The other meals are chili, chicken and rice casserole and taco casserole. I want to get a lot more made up because 4 meals are not going to last very long. I did finish organizing and cleaning the basement last week. It feels good to have that huge project done before the little man gets here. My bag is packed for the hospital and there are just a few little things left to do in the nursery and it will be all ready. P.'s birthday is Saturday so I am hoping to plan a few fun things and shop for something nice for him this week. All of our birthdays are going to be pretty close in date!

Well, hope you are all having a nice day. Love to everyone!

37 Weeks!

Our baby is full term! This basically means his lungs are fully formed and he is perfectly capable to survive on his own outside the womb.

I am feeling pretty good. No major complaints. More than anything I am just anxious. I am so anxious to have this baby. I am a little "nervous" anxious but more "excited" anxious and every time I feel a twinge of pain or a new sensation I wonder could this be it? But in reality my due date is still 3 weeks away and it will be a long 3 weeks if I keep thinking like this. :)

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. I will post an update afterwards. Here is a picture of P. and I from the shower a couple weeks ago. I got it from a friend last week and thought it was a cute shot of us.

The Nursery

No, not our nursery, the nursery at church. We worked the nursery tonight at church for the first time. They were in urgent need of last minute help and although we were not expecting to work tonight we were happy to help out. Let's just say I was out of my comfort zone. I was totally clueless and had no idea what to do. I have never been very good with kids. I don't relate well with little ones and it made me quite nervous to be responsible for a room of kids. Good thing P. was there with me. He took over when it came to the diaper changing and dealt with a little guy that wanted nothing to do with being there. Things got easier as the kids got comfortable and I settled in a little more too. All the kids were very well behaved and quite easy to watch. In the end it was a good experience for me but a little scary because I realized how inexperienced and awkward I am with kids. If you could have seen me those first few minutes tonight you would have laughed. But I am not worried. I know as soon as I hold our son in my arms I will know just what to do. I know my motherly instinct is in there somewhere, just waiting to come out.

For Good Luck Rub My Tummy

I found this shirt today at a consignment store and had to have it. It is too cold outside to wear out but it is a perfect shirt to sleep in and wear around the house. It is so cute and so me. Love the Buddha.

At the same consignment store I found a Diaper Genie for $5.50, a changing table pad for $5.00 and a Colorado State University (my alum) sweatshirt, sz 6 mo., for $1.50. What are the chances of that? So fun.

Oh, and I got a haircut yesterday. Was feeling bogged down by the long hair, needed a fresh change.

36 Weeks!

Ok, so I am not having a problem gaining weight anymore. Since my last appointment 10 days ago I have gained 5 lbs! That is 1/2 lb a day! They said, "172, good". I said, "172!!! I gained 5 lbs?!!!!!" The nurse said this happens after you go through a period of not gaining weight, your body and baby catch up with you. So, total weight gain as of today, 21 lbs. I think that is good. Enough.

Everything was fine today. Baby's heart rate was 148, my uterine measurements are back on schedule, and my blood pressure was perfect. Baby is head down and in a good position to make his way out. They did my Group B Strep test today but I don't know the results yet. And they found trace amounts of an infection in my urine and said they would do further tests and get back to me soon. I see the doctor every week now. Very exciting.

Oh, and P. re-tiled the back splash in our kitchen yesterday as a birthday gift for me. Here is a picture of him working on it. He is going to grout and seal it on Wednesday and then we will just do a little bit of touch up painting and it will be all finished. I love it already. Such a small thing can make a huge improvement in the look and feel of a room. He did a great job. I love my handyman of a husband.

Peter: the name

My friend R., who has written stuff up on names for me before, wrote this up for us on the name Peter. I think it would be such an honor to have a baby PJ or a PJ Jr.

Peter: the name
This is for A.M. who still has better reason to look at baby name books than I have, but really has to decide sometime very soon.

From The Last Word on First Names (1995) by Linda Rosenkrantz and Pamela Redmond Satran:

"For generations there have been pleasant childhood associations with this name - what with Peter Rabbit; Peter Piper; Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater; and, especially, Peter Pan. But as user-friendly as this makes the name, it has a solid, traditional side as well. One of the most important figures in the Christian hagiography is St. Peter, keeper of the Gates of Heaven. Born Simon bar Jonah, he was given the nickname Peter (which means rock) by Jesus to signify that he would be the rock on which Christ would build Christianity. Centuries later, there was Peter the Great, the czar who developed Russia as a major European power. Never as widely used as some of the more traditional Anglo-Saxon stalwarts, Peter has an enduring appeal to parents seeking a name that is outside questions of style and trendiness, familiar but not faddish. Peter also has some interesting derivatives: The Brits like PIERS and (more American-sounding) PIERCE (as in Irish-born actor, Pierce Brosnan), both of which were introduced to England by the Normans. Other versions around the world include PEARSE (Irish), PIETRO (Italian), PIET (Dutch), PEDRO (Spanish), and FERRIS (Celtic)."

From The Guinness Book of Names (1974) by Leslie Dunking:
"biblical; Greek (translation of Aramaic); 'stone'."

From The Baby Name Wizard (2005) by Laura Wattenberg:
"Popularity:#148
Style: Biblical, Timeless
Nicknames: Pete
Variants: Pedro, Pierre, Piet
Sisters: Theresa, Mary, Kathryn, Susan, Laura
Brothers: Philip, Stephen, Paul, Thomas, Martin
"There will always be Peters, but for now the momentum is moving away from this biblical classic. Pete just sounds a bit out of sync with current tastes - a white-bread name in a low-carb world. Take comfort, though, that nobody actually dislikes this name. Its day will come again."

From The Baby Name Personality Survey (1990) by Bruce Lansky and Barry Sinrod: SIMON: "(Greek) 'rock'
Image: Most people describe Peter as unpretentious, honest, and open. Some, though, think Peter is ambitious and compulsive.
Famous Peters: the biblical disciple Peter; actors Peter ("Columbo") Falk, Peter (Easy Rider) Fonda, Peter (Oceans Eleven) Lawford, Peter (Lawrence of Arabia) O'Toole, Peter (The Pink Panther) Sellers, Peter (The Maltese Falcon) Lorre; singers Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, and Mary, Peter Frampton; rock musician Peter Spero; basketball's Pete Maravich, Pete Anderson; children's story hero Peter Pan; comic book hero Peter ("Spiderman") Parker; the nursery rhymes "Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater," "Peter Piper."

R.'s take: I love Peter. I would have used it myself if its combination with my last name wasn't so outlandish and ridiculous. It's solid and dependable and steady and good. It fits with many last names because of its universality - there are Peters (or Petrs, Pyotrs, Pedros) everywhere. It's historically and hagiographically significant. A winner.

Thanks for the great info R. I like it. We will see where it goes from here. As you know I have reworked my list of favorite names many times over the last 9 months.

I have my week 36 appointment tomorrow morning, 9:30am. There is no way I didn't gain weight this time. I ate a whole Costco sheet cake in 3 days. I have been having some pain in my lower abdomen today so will have them take a look at that tomorrow.