Zach's OUT OF CONTROL

Well, at least his hair is. Zachary, the hippy, has not yet had a haircut in his short life. His bangs have been trimmed twice now, but not a complete haircut. I keep saying he needs one, and everyone around me always responds with "nooooooo...". so we have put it off. Also because Zach HATES anything messing with his head. He does not even like for you to stroke his hair, which most people love. So I can imagine that giving him a haircut is going to be a nightmare.

But this day, I decided it is probably time. Zach was sweating in his sleep (I should not have put the blanket over him I guess), and when he woke up from his nap, his hair was OUT OF CONTROL. I could not stop laughing.

I know his Nana will love seeing all these "curls", even if they are sweat induced.

June 21st - Welcome Home Wyatt

After 17 long long days, Wyatt finally gets to come home!! Overall, Wyatt spent 11 days in the NICU, then 6 more days in the Medium Care Nursery (similar to Zach's Extended Care Nursery). I spent the first 10 days at the hospital to be with Wyatt - 5 days in the regular hospital part, sharing my room w/ two other new moms and their sons, then 5 days in a dorm-like apartment provided, free of charge, by the hospital. I came home for good on Saturday, June 14th, the same day that Zach's Oma and Opa (or Ba-Pa as Zach calls him) had to leave to go back to Holland. During my 10 days at the hospital, Art's parents were at our apartment doing an amazing job getting the place exceptionally clean, cooking all the meals, and taking great care of Art and Zachary. While I was at the dorm/apartment, I came home once a day to spend time with Zachary, Art, and his parents. There was always a meal ready for me, and I was taken care of completely. It was wonderful to not have to worry about anything going on at home, and be able to concentrate on Wyatt.

We were told on Friday, June 20th that it looked good for Wyatt to come home on Saturday the 21st. I, of course, was nervous all night (barely sleeping), and the next day until we actually got him home. Saturday was Art's Dad's birthday, and Art's parents and sister came to Dusseldorf for the day, with the hopes of getting to meet Wyatt. We all, plus Zach, went out to eat at a German restaurant that we had gone to before w/ the Dutch clan. It was a beautiful day and we were able to sit in the Bier Garten. The doctor had told us we could come by the hospital around 2-3pm to get Wyatt (after I had asked if 8am would be ok), so Art and I took off for the hospital around 2:15 while the rest of the clan went to the park with Zach. Once at the hospital, we waited and waited and waited. Finally "Dr. Toby" (who checked Zach out and gave him a surgical mask when he first visited Wyatt in the NICU) came by and spoke to us, examined Wyatt, and FINALLY gave us all our paperwork and permission to leave. He apologized for being late saying that the NICU was getting full, and with several quite critical babies - it breaks my heart! We were told to come back on Monday for a weight check and to get his hearing test done.

Art, though reluctant, agreed to take a taxi home, and 10 short minutes later we were introducing Wyatt Carsten Counts to his home. Zach of course INSISTED that Wyatt go directly into the baby swing - the same swing he has been pointing to for weeks. Once firmly enconsed in the swing, Zach set about getting a pacifier ready for Wyatt. Then W woke up which made it picture time. Oma, Opa, and Tante Ja Ja (Janneke) all took turns holding Wyatt and taking pictures. Zach got to hold him for a bit as well. Unfortunately, it was pretty late by the time we got home, so the family had to get back on the road to Utrecht, so it was a brief meeting. Janneke will be back in about a week with Annemieke and will get more time with us then. Sadly, Oma and Opa (whom I now think of as Ba-Pa) were heading back to USA on Tuesday.

We were left on our own after that, and it was indeed a surreal feeling - having Wyatt home hardly seemed real...until about 11pm when he did not want to go to sleep. :)

It is wonderful to have him home! Now we have the task of figuring each other out and setting routines and getting into a rhythm with Zach and the rest of the family. Art will spend the week going into work in the morning, and coming home at lunchtime. This will help ease the transition.

Some pictures of Wyatt's homecoming.

June 4, 2008: World Welcomes Wyatt

Well maybe not the whole world, but at least our entire world welcomes our little boy:

Wyatt Carsten Counts
June 4, 2008
Where: EVK Hospital Dusseldorf, Germany
When: 4:45 AM
Weight: 3,710g ~ 8 lbs 3oz
Length: 53cm ~ 21.8 inches
Head: 35cm

Zach was also 53cm long with a 35cm head. And also born on a Wednesday. Odd. Another unfortunate similarity: Wyatt is also in the NICU for respiratory distress.

Quick Labor recap:
Tues, June 3
10am - early labor starts
11am - contractions become regular at 15 minute intervals
4pm - after a long walk, contractions become regular at 10 minute intervals
7pm - after another long walk, contractions get to 6-7 minute intervals
8pm - after lying down to rest, contractions slow to 20+ minute intervals
9:30pm - go to sleep
Wed, June 4
2am - wake up to active labor contractions
3am - wake up Art, shower, call cab
3:30am - arrive at hospital
4:45am - Wyatt is born, after a short 10 minutes or less of pushing

Name explanation:
Wyatt - A name I like and Art loves. It satisfies my requirement for a "y" in the name, but I don't love it b/c it does not have a one-syllable nickname. However, after reading numerous websites and a book w/ 50,001 baby names, I could not find a name I liked better that Art didn't hate. It is French, sadly, for "Brave, Ready for Battle". It is now appropriate since Wyatt is in the NICU.
Carsten - Because our little guy was going to be born in Germany, we decided we wanted a German middle name to honor our time spent here. We looked at lots and lots of German names, and liked this one the best. It sounds cool (to us), and is also German for "Follower of Christ". It's fairly common - we have a few at our church. I think it's similar to Americans naming a son Christian.

Wyatt update:
After being born, I got to hold Wyatt for a little while until the pediatrician came in to give him his first exam. During this, she determined that he was having some respiratory distress. When Art went to visit him, Wyatt was wearing a face mask so his lungs could get support. He had been panting, like a dog on a hot day. A normal newborn's respiatory rate is about 40-50, and Wyatt's was around 150; higher when he was agitated. Not good. The doctors think he has an infection (but how??), and he will be on antibiotics for 10 days. So we know he'll be in the hospital for at least that long. They have had to give him medication to relax, because he is really freaked out. The Dr.s say that his birth was "very fast" and therefore very hard on Wyatt, and he is having trouble adjusting to his new world.

Shayna update:
Recovering nicely. I did not have an epidural this time (no time!!), so the recovery period was much quicker. I waited on my bed in the hallway for a little over an hour so the midwives & nurses could monitor me and make sure I was fine. I was given some medication to ensure I did not bleed too much, as a precaution because of the blood loss with Zachary's birth. I was moved into my room, that I shared with 2 other ladies, by 7am. I went to visit Wyatt shortly after 8am, after breakfast.

Pictures are the first of Wyatt, complete with all his NICU gear, and his monitor set-up.

June 1: 40 weeks pregnant

Ok, have made it through Zach's 2nd birthday and now our last InsideOut lesson without the baby coming. So NOW we are ready. Art's parents arrive on Monday, June 2, so I'm ready to get this party started! If I look more like an aircraft carrier, I might just throw myself down and cry. Today at church, Art made me stand by the road until someone pulled over to give me a ride to church. The walk through the woods would have taken me about 25 minutes instead of our usual 8-10 minutes. Then, thankfully, Ray and Amanda (from our homegroup) gave me a ride home!