Merry Christmas!

Gavin's first Christmas.

Is that a SMILE?!

What a good looking baby!

BiG YaWn!

Professional Pics and....Oma's here!

We picked up Gavin's Oma Richins at the airport last night. She was really excited to FINALLY get to meet Gavin! We are excited to have her here.

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We had our friend Cami, an excellent photographer, come take pictures of Gavin on Dec. 6. This is the results of 3 hours, 1 feeding, and lots of patience! These are just a few of my favorites. There's tons more that I absolutely love, this is just a sample.

Things I have learned

Gavin turned 3 weeks old yesterday- crazy huh!- and it made me think about the last 3 weeks and how our life has changed in those 3 weeks. Here's a few of the things I have learned:

1. Premie clothes are hard to find. Especially premie onesies.

2. Premie diapers are $2.00 cheaper at Babies R Us than at Walmart. Yeah, go figure!

3. For some reason, Premie diapers don't come in Value packs or big boxes, try 30-34 count packs.

4. That I would find a dirty diaper in the clothes hamper. We're not sure if it was Davis or myself, but one of us was so tired that one night we mixed up the garbage and the clothes hamper! oops! Just glad it didn't go through the wash...

5. There truly is love at first sight.

6. How paranoid I could be about making sure my baby was still breathing, even if it means triple checking.

7. That I would laugh when I got pooped on. It's amazing how far baby poop squirts!

8. How cute a tiny baby is! And how entertaining it is to just look at his perfect little face for hours.

9. That skinny babies are just as cute as chubby babies. (if not cuter!)

10. That I can survive on only a few hours of sleep every day.

Gavin Photos

This is such a great photo! love it!

This is Gavin at 13 days old to give those of you who haven't met him yet an idea of how big (or little) he is.

Gavin went to his 2 week checkup yesterday and he has grown 1/2" and now is
20" long and weighed in at a whopping 5 lbs 13 oz! He has gained almost a pound over his birth weight. Yay!

More Hospital Pics

Gavin Richins Gardner

11/17/08

9:59pm

4 lbs 15 oz

19.5"

Proud daddy. Davis never left Gavin's side after he was born.

This is Davis's hand to kind of show how little Gavin is. You can't see his body to really appreciate how little Gavin is, but this gives you a little bit of an idea.

Gavin's story: I went to my doctor's visit on Wednesday, Nov. 12. I went by myself (you would think I would have learned by now to bring Davis along). The nurse listened to his heartbeat with the doppler and heard an irregular heartbeat. So when Dr. Chakravorty came in, they brought in a fetal monitor to see what was going on after she checked me (I was dilated to a 2). The irregular heart beat continued and then his heart rate deccelerated. Dr. Chakravorty told me to get on my left side immediately. Gavin's heart rate went back up, but Dr. Chakravorty told me she was admitting me to the hospital and that they may need to do an emergency C-section. I asked if I could call Davis, she told me to wait until I had my IV. The nurse then wheeled me down to labor and delivery. Davis got to the hospital at about 6:30.

Dr. Fuller, the perionatologist, did an ultrasound that night. He did not find anything wrong, saw no reason for a C-section, and thought the irregular heart beat would probably clear up after birth. He said that the biggest question was whether I was in labor or not. I had been having regular contractions from the time I was admitted to the hospital and at one point, they were 3 minutes apart. They tried to stop my labor, but the contractions continued.

The next morning, my contractions had slowed down a bit. Dr. Chakravorty came and checked me and I had progressed to a 4 & 50%. She told us to walk around the hospital for a couple hours and then she'd check me again. So we walked. 2 hours later I was still a 4 and still having contractions, but she sent me home. Can I just say, walking out of Labor and Delivery still pregnant is not very fun!! Dr. Chakravorty scheduled me an appt monday morning but told me she didn't think I would make it that long.

But I did!! I walked and had contractions all weekend, but no baby. So monday morning, Davis and I headed to the appt. (Yes, I finally learned my lesson and brought Davis) Dr. Chakravorty said I was a 4 & 70%. She told us to go walking, come back and she would check me again that afternoon. So we went walking again. We walked over 3 miles and I was hurting. We ate lunch, ran to the bank, and headed to the hospital. This time I was 4.5 and slightly more effaced. So she admitted me and broke my water so that they could have internal monitoring sooner. His heart rate was irregular during the whole labor. The nurses kept thinking the machine was broken, but it was his heart rate and not the machine. I got my epidural about 5:00 (after two needle sticks). After that, labor was awesome.... until the spinal wore off.... and my epidural was working only on my left side.... And then they decided to taper my epidural so that I "could feel to push"- complete hogwash and would never recommend!

I started pushing at about 9:20 and Gavin came at 9:59pm. The NICU team was there to check out Gavin. Meanwhile, I had a second degree tear and Dr. Chakravorty couldn't get me numb with local anesthia, so they gave me more epidural, which didn't work either. So I felt every stitch (yeah, that hurt!)

The NICU team said that the atrium of Gavin's heart had a slight irregular rythm, but that it would probably correct itself with time and was not that uncommon. Because of my tear and the NICU, I didn't get to hold Gavin until he was an hour old, but he was worth the wait! His big eyes melted my heart! It was the most wonderful feeling looking into the eyes of my little guy and feeling his sweet spirit.

Play Date with Christian

Becca brought Christian over for a play date on Tuesday. Gavin and Christian slept most of the time. It was nice to have some company. It gets pretty lonely by myself all day while Davis is at school.

Hospital Visitors

Gavin had several visitors come see him in the hospital.

Becca, Christian, & Cory (yes, Gavin is the smallest one :) Gavin is 4 weeks younger than his best friend Christian.

Diane Barrus, my Activity Days partner and adopted grandma

Kinsey Haynie & Cindi Ferguson- aka baby gurus

Hazel Luton, Gavin's Virginia Grandma

Our little Turkey

We didn't expect to share Thanksgiving this year with a new baby, so we didn't buy a cute Thanksgiving outfit until the day before Thanksgiving. Let me just tell you, that is the absolute worst day to try and find any type of Thanksgiving outfit for a baby. Every store was sold out!! Davis finally found a 6 month size sleeper at Kohl's. Needless to say, it completely drownded our little man whose premie diapers are big on him!! But it was still fun dressing him up!

Gavin's First Bath 11/23/08

Gavin was a real sport about his bath. He didn't fuss much. But he did pee all over his towel! His favorite part was getting his hair washed.
His hands are constantly in his mouth!

My two handsome guys!

And this is clean Gavin with poofy, soft hair!

Gavin Richins Gardner

Monday Nov. 17, 9:59 pm, Gavin Richins Gardner was born. He was 3 weeks early but still full term, just barely. As you can see he is absolutely adorable only weighing 4 lbs and 15 ounces and measuring 19.5" tall. Davis is writing this blog post because Linda is at home with Gavin, we still don't have internet at our house. So its not organized as cute as usual but Gavin’s cuteness totally makes up for it! Linda and Gavin are both healthy and doing great. Thank you for all of your prayers, we felt them and appreciate them. Thank you also for all of your love and support, from local and far, it had made it much easier since we are far away from our families. Enough delaying, here’s the pictures you have been waiting for!