For the Lopinots, St. Patrick’s Day is just another excuse to down a few pints of beer. But this year, the almost national holiday has special meaning. It reminds us how lucky we are to be sitting here, on a rainy Monday morning, holding our new son.
Almost a year ago, we could not have imagined this day would ever come. We had been trying to have a baby for nearly two years, struggling with disappointment after disappointment, visiting numerous doctors and undergoing some humiliating tests.
But we had a nice, relaxing day at the in-law’s house last spring. Sarah and I took the dog on a hike around their 5-acre lot. As we walked, I kept seeing four-leaf clovers out of the corner of my eye, amid huge patches of clover. I had never had that much luck in finding those genetically enhanced little charms, but there I was, finding one after another. I must have plucked five or six from the ground that afternoon. Sarah never found a four-leafer, but she did find that day’s “pot o’ gold,” a five-leaf clover.
We took our loot into the house and pressed them in an old book. We talked to each other that day with newfound optimism in our quest to become parents. “Just maybe,” we thought, “our luck had turned.” And little did we know, we did find our stroke of luck, and we now are holding the luckiest charm of all, Oliver.
Below is a picture taken this morning in his St. Paddy’s Day getup. For any of you out there that need some luck in the coming year, we hope you find it.
Category Archives: oliver
Free photos for first-time parents at Wal-Mart
Last night, Sarah sent me out to pick up a few items like gauze pads, baby wipes and Mylicon (for those in the know, yes, our son has some bad gas). I thought, “While I’m out, I should get a few prints made of some of the hundreds of photos we’ve taken over the past week.”
I could have went anywhere, but decided on Wal-Mart. It as a sound decision. Here’s why: I took my flash drive back to the photo department and loaded it into the Kodak machine. It was really cool. Instead of waiting an hour for the prints, the pictures started popping out of the machines within minutes. However, the machine didn’t tell me how to pay. I could have easily just walked away with some freebie photographs.
Instead, I went into the electronics department on the other side of the wall and asked the man how I was supposed to pay for the pictures. He flipped through them briefly, inserted the stack into a sleeve and then told me, “There’s no charge. Photos are free for new parents.” So they were freebies after all.
How sweet was that? At just 28 cents apiece, and with only 25 photos, the gesture only saved me $7. But it also earned a lot of my respect. Being part of the public relations industry (or whatever terms we’re using nowadays), this was a smart move on behalf of Wal-Mart. Next time I’m thinking about getting prints made, Wal-Mart will be the place I think of first. They’ve earned my business through their $7 investment.
Are there any other perks for new parents that I should be aware of? If so, let me know!
A bath, a doctor visit and more napping
Yesterday, we had our first so-called “big” day since coming home from the hospital. It started off with our first morning alone at the house. Just the three of us. Trying to get going. Once we finally did get our acts together, we headed to the pediatrician for Oliver’s first appointment. Everything checked out fine, but they wanted to check him for jaundice again, so we had to head down to a different medical office for a blood draw (Oliver’s numbers were great, by the way).
We then headed to Dierberg’s to pick up a prescription for Sarah. I sat the car with Oliver. And I sat. And I sat. And I sat … Probably took over a half hour, and we just sat there doing nothing. It’s about as fun to write and read about as it was to actually be there.
At home, we all ate lunch and awaited the arrival of Grandma Annette. Once she got here, we gave Oliver his first bath (see picture below). Because his umbilical cord is still attached, it was more of a sponge bath. He was really calm about it, which we all found surprising. For example, he just closed his little eyes and let the water run through his hair as I rinsed away the baby shampoo. He smelled much better afterward, and he was ready for a nap with grandma so Sarah and I headed upstairs for over two hours to catch up on sleep ourselves.
Refreshed around 5 p.m., we got ready for some visitors, one of my longest and best friends, Jason, and his wife. They got here around 5:30 p.m., and we hung out for a half hour, just long enough to keep Oliver’s stomach at bay, since he was due for a feeding.
After that, everybody was gone and it was again just the three of us here. We had a relaxing evening, catching up on some old episodes of “How I Met Your Mother.” With a late feeding at 11 p.m., we finally were able to sleep around 12:30 a.m. Oliver did pretty well overnight and we don’t have anybody coming over today, so hopefully everything will go smoothly.
So far, the most exciting thing that has happened today is Oliver breaking his personal record by tooting about 10 times in a row. Gosh, does he make me proud.
Another long night, plus a thank you to friends and family
Last night was another long one. At least Oliver cut his awake time by 30 minutes (so he was up from 1:30 to 4:30 a.m.). I’m tired again today, but I realize there’s light at the end of this sleep-deprived tunnel.
Also, I wanted to thank all of the readers for the great comments over the past week. I can’t believe that Sarah and I went to the hospital just seven days ago. Crazy. Using the blog as a conduit for sharing information has been awesome, and it’s allowed me to connect with several people who I haven’t spoken to in quite some time. One of those folks, Valerie, is a friend from college who’s an amazingly clever/hilarious writer. I look forward to following her stories as she raises her son, Leo. Valerie found me through Cara’s blog, so I’ve added them and a few others to my blog roll today. I’d encourage you to check them out.
That’s all for today. More to come I’m sure …
Lots of naps today
Today was full of many naps, and it wasn’t just Oliver getting into the act. He had a nice feeding going at 1 a.m. this morning, but was fussy afterward. We ended up giving him another half feeding around 2:30 a.m. and yet another half at 4 a.m. He didn’t sleep until 4:30 a.m.!!!! We were sooooo tired. I could barely move last night, and we kept thinking of things we’d need that were either down the hall or downstairs. Man, it was tiring.
Luckily, my mother-in-law is staying with us for a couple days and she was able to help with calming Oliver in the morning and taking care of some diaper changes. I ended up taking a nap from 8 to 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 to 5 p.m. I still feel tired, too!
Hope tonight’s a little easier …
Home is where the dog is
The Lopinot clan was released from the hospital this afternoon. The drive home wasn’t as tough as I imagined it would be. I had heard stories from a few friends who drove with extreme caution, rarely touching the speed limit. Instead, I just zipped along as an almost-normal pace.
Once home, we introduced Oliver to Molly. That relationship has been a fun one to observe develop. So far, Oliver has screamed his little head off and scared the bejeezus out of Molly. In turn, Molly has barked at Oliver on several occasions.
Among the highlights of the first day home:
- An awesome meal cooked up by mother-in-law extraordinaire Annette
- Blocking a blazing pee that unexpectedly shot out of Oliver like a rocket while changing his diaper (my hand was soaked, as was the carpet and couch – nice!)
- Changing a diaper and hearing Oliver toot before an exploding mass shot into a perfectly clean new diaper and grazing my hand
I’m sure there will be more exciting things to report on in the coming days. Below is a picture of Sarah, Oliver and me right before we left the hospital and a photo of Oliver meeting Molly.
Quiet day at the hospital (OK, maybe not so quiet)
Today was the opposite of quiet. Last night was our first feeding Oliver, so the nurse brought him into the room every three hours. Each feeding took at least an hour, including getting ready, changing the diaper, etc. That was tiring. Now I understand exactly what my friend Mike, a new father, has been telling me about sleep deprivation.
We finished our “7:30 a.m.” feeding around 8:30 a.m., then they rolled the clock forward an hour. The next two hours were filled with about a dozen doctor and nurse visits. Oliver also was circumcised during that period (sorry Susan, no bris!).
After Oliver’s surgery, he would hardly eat. It took FOREVER to get the next feeding completed. All the while, visitors began gathering in the hallway. No pressure, right? As soon as we gave the “all clear” sign, our room was filled with seven guests. It was extremely nice, but also chaotic. We sure were glad to see everybody, but we’re enjoying the down time right now.
Well, we head out tomorrow morning on the next step of our adventure: Being at home with our son. Should be fun.
Guess who’s back?
Oliver’s back, and we have him in our room as much as we want!
The nurses in the special care unit today are the “anti-last-night’s-nurse.” These nurses are sooo nice. It’s like Father Merrin from “The Exorcist” came to our floor and banished that mean nurse to the gates of hell (and I say “good riddance,” by the way).
Anyway, these new nurses wanted to get Oliver into our room and learning to breastfeed and all that stuff. It’s been great. He’s been here for about three hours and we’ve had a great time. Here’s a picture Sarah took of me with Oliver shortly after he ate:
Oliver pulls through over night
Our little Oliver kicked some butt last night and had strong blood sugar levels when they tested him four times. He’s now at the level they’d like to see him at, so they have taken him off the IV. That’s the good news. Great news, in fact.
The bad news for his baby-deprived parents? He has to stay in the special care nursury for about 22 more hours. We just want to have him in the room and get to know him, but it won’t be happening today. At least Sarah is up and about a bit, feeling pretty good. So she will be able to see him as much as she can, assuming she has the energy. She should, since she ate a HUGE breakfast. Lots of calories.
If we get any other news today, I’ll try to post it here on the blog. We will be having a few guests today, so I expect to be fairly busy. More to come …
Oliver’s second day
Sarah made an appropriate comment today that sort of sums up Oliver’s second day: “I feel more like a patient than I feel like a mom.”
That’s just how it’s been. Oliver’s blood sugar levels still aren’t consistently high enough for him to be released from the special care nursery. So I can only take one guest in to see him at a time. And I’ve only been able to touch him a few times today due to a rude, rude, rude nurse. Wow is she rude. I’m about to unleash an F-bomb-filled tirade in her direction if she tells me not to tough MY SON one more time.
Sarah, bless her heart, only got to see Oliver for about five minutes today. She was going to feed him a bottle, so we got her out of bed for the first time, put her into a wheelchair and rolled her down to the nursery. Oliver was placed in her arms … for about five seconds. Then Sarah said, “Justin, take him. I’m too weak, and I feel like I’m going to pass out. I need to go lay down.” And that was that. Sarah’s only been able to see photographic and video evidence of our cute namesake.
Oliver has to hit a specific target for blood sugar every three hours for 15 more hours before they even CONSIDER letting him out of the special care nursery and into our room. It’s frustrating, but we waited such a darn long time for this baby that another day apart is something we’re willing to deal with. It just hurts knowing that we could be holding him right now and staring into his cute little face.
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