The joys of motherhood!

Ok so when you get pregnant everyone wishes you congrats, ask tons of questions about what your having, names you might have picked out, etc. Then they start saying how different your life is going to be - less sleep, endless diaper changes, bottle or breast, etc and you think "We (hubbie and I) can handle it, I mean we are adults for gosh sakes, how hard can it be to adjust to a change. HOW WRONG COULD I BE!!!!!!

No ones really tells you about the changes you will go through with your spouse....it's amazing that I can see Karl every single day but I miss him. I feel like my whole life right now is consumed with Max, and although I love him with all my heart and soul I also love my husband. I have the feeling that Karl is a Saint in disguise because he has been absolutely amazing these last few weeks. He is incredibly patient (not only with Max but his emotionally charged wife!). Let's just say that he has had to be put on the back burner since our little bundle of joy arrived. :) He keeps telling me that is okay but you have to wonder how much a person can take before they really start getting their feelings hurt??

I think that if people really told you all of the things that you give up to have kids there may not be so many people having them. Besides all of the aforementioned things (sleep...) you don't realize how different your relationship becomes with your spouse. I have talked to a few friends and they all say that what we are going through is completely normal and they assure me that things get better, our relationship will get even better than before - with time. Because I know that my friends all love me dearly I know that they are telling me the truth, now I just have to have the patience to wait it out! Or maybe I should say that Karl has to have the patience to wait it out!!! LOL! I am one hell of a lucky woman to have such a fantastic husband!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On a side note here a couple of cute pics of Max...I told you my life is consumed with him!! LOL!!!!!!!! Do you think that he could look a little more crazed in this first pic?? LOL! The bottom one is for my mom...she bought him this onsie when she was out for his birth...too cute, and yes Mom I will send you this one for your own copy!

2 Weeks Old....

Well Little Max is doing great! He had a follow up visit with the pediatrician for his jaundice and all is well! He goes back on the 14th for his first "actual" visit - this one means shots! Be still my beating heart! He now weighs 8 lbs and 3 ozs and the Dr. said that he is just where he should be...yeah!

Sleep is going well...he pretty much wakes up at night about every 2 to 3 hours to feed and get a diaper change and let me just say that my fantastic husband has truly stepped up to the plate of being a great Dad! He is so willing to get up and change him after I fed him or just to help me out and I appreciate it so much!!!! Who knew a girl could get so lucky!!! Anyway I do have more pictures to show but have to download them from the camera first!! Ciao everyone. :)

1 week old!!

Here are some more pictures of our little bundle of joy. Max is doing great, he sleeps pretty well through the night - only wakes to eat, he eats a ton and go through diapers with amazing speed! I wish that I had a camera at the ready for every single thing that he does... :)

The 1st few pics are of his first bath - it's apparent that he did not like it to much! The other ones were to cute not to post and the last one just makes me smile! Like father, like son!!!!

Announcing Mr. Max Rudolph

Max is home! Finally!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you to everyone for all your patience and understanding. It has been a rough 1st week for the little guy and his brand new parents but we are all starting to get some much needed rest and enjoying this new life we have! Here are just a few pics of our handsome man...some from the hospital and some from home! Enjoy!!!

Max's Big Day!

Hi everyone...sorry about the delay but it has been quite a hectic week for the Rudolph Family! Little Max has finally arrived! He was born on Friday, July 13th @ 4:16 am in the morning. He weighed 7 lbs and 11 ozs. We came to the hospital on Wednesday evening and started the induction process but little Max has his own way of doing things - at his own pace! Hence the reason that he was not born until Friday morning! LOL! He MUST be a Rudolph!

Unfortunately he does have a pretty serious case of Jaundice. We were able to come home from the hospital Saturday but had to have him re-admitted just this past Monday. He is doing much better but the Pediatrician is pretty sure that he will have to be here until probably Thursday. The hospital has been amazing and have set Karl and I up with a room so we can stay here at the hospital to see him and I can feed him regularly. He does not seem to mind, he is under light therapy just about 24/7 - but I am sure that in his little mind he is just enjoying the sun!! I have not had a second to download any pictures but I can attest so the fact that he is the most adorable, handsome, beautiful little baby - just my own opinion! I hope to be able to post some more info in the next couple of days!!

The Big Fakeout!

Ok this whole labor thing is very unorganized! Apparently I am NOT in labor, yes I said NOT in labor. I had contractions throughout the night and they decided to take a hike and they have been far and few in between all day today. I did go see the doctor and I am STILL dilated to a one but we are planning on heading to the hospital on Wednesday for induction. SOOOOOO FRUSTRATING! I was going to end with my "hope the next post will be about Max arriving".....think I am just going to leave well enough alone!

The time has come!

It is now 3:09 am in the morning and "it" has begun. My mom is probably going to kill me for posting this without calling her first but she will be here in about 17 hours and she might even witness the birth so I am going to take my chances - plus she will be one of the 1st people that gets the call when we actually leave for the hospital.

I started having steady contractions around 7:30 pm last night. Nothing major but they were definitely more consistent. I went to bed around 11:30 pm and slept for a little while but in the last 1/2 hour have woke up about 10 times and finally just said forget it! So for the time being I am walking around and trying to keep track of my contractions. At the moment they are about 4 to 5 minutes apart but not very strong, like I said just enough to keep me awake. The other reason that I wanted to post this now is that I might not another chance in the upcoming days and I at least wanted to let everyone know my progress!

I am hoping that my next post will include a great photo of Little Max is all his glory! Wish Karl and I luck!!

Not So Patiently Waiting!

Well the 7th has come and gone and Little Max is no closer to being here then I am going to the moon. I woke up feeling pretty crappy yesterday and did start having some pretty good contractions but they were not coming any closer together or getting any worse. I walked around all day in hopes that it might Max motivated to come on out but to no avail!

I feel pretty good today, it is supposed to be a scorcher today - somewhere around 95' or higher. I don't know how much walking I will do outside but thank God we have air!! If I have any news I will be sure to let everyone know!!

Out of the mouthns of hubbies!

Today I met up with Karl for lunch and then off to the DMV so that we could FINALLY get our plates transferred (figured it might be a good idea before Mr. Max arrives) and my incredible husband said that funniest thing I have heard in a long time. Let me set the scenario....

We are in the car in the way to Friendly's and he says to me, "ok so once your cervix starts to open historically does it take about 2 days for the baby to be born", I say "what do you mean", "well" he says "will the baby be born in 2 days since your cervix has started to open?". I tell him that there is no way to tell. Some women can progress very fast, some can go anywhere from a day to 3 days - it's different for everyone. He gets extremely quiet for a few minutes and I can tell that he is thinking very hard about something...suddenly he says "well that is stupid". I immediately bust out laughing so hard I really had to clench my legs closed because I thought I was going to pee.

I told him that he could have a chat with God and maybe get things changed....he got a very sad look on his face and said that he just wanted to know when Max was going to get here! I still am not sure where the "historically" comes into play??? LOL!

I love my husband!! His sense of humor was definitely one of the things that made me fall in love with him! Although I am sure that he will not find this post so humorous.....:)

College Graduate!

I unfortunately do not have any thrilling baby news...still having contractions but again they are not consistent and they are not getting any stronger! Bummer.

But on another note I have officially graduated from college! I received my degree in the mail yesterday! So exciting!! I am kind of bummed that I was not able to actually "walk" for graduation but I am so very proud of myself for accomplishing what has felt like an unachievable goal for the last few years.

The bonus is that I graduated Cum Laude (with honors in case anyone was wondering), and I didn't even know that was going to happen! Karl made me feel to smart when he saw that on my diploma. :) He said that he hoped that Max turned out as smart as I was!! My husband is the absolute best man in the whole world!!

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well the day has finally arrived! I have dilated! WOO-HOO!!! Unfortunately I am only at a 1 so I have a long way to go but at least I am on the right track. I guess there is no going back now! I have had some contractions, not very consistently but they started yesterday afternoon and then a few more last night, nothing too bad - kind of like a strong period cramp. Not looking forward to what 10 might feel like!

I am going to try and be as brave as possible and go as long as I can without an epidural but I am not a sucker for punishment so I don't think that I will have any problems saying "bring on the drugs!". Size wise I have not changed much, thankfully! I would like to starting getting smaller at this point, not bigger! For those that would like to know I have officially gained 24 pounds, I am saying that this is my max...ha ha no pun intended! Well I will try to keep the posts coming as things progress but let's hope that the next one is one Max is here!! Wish us luck!

Fat Cat!

Apparently my cat will eat anything, and has no shame in his game when it comes to getting what he wants. I was very unhealthy today and got Taco Bell (Max wanted it, I had to say yes!) and I had absentmindedly left the wrapper to my nachos sitting on the end table. I went out to the kitchen for minutes, yes just minutes and when I came back this was what I found! Trigger is one of a kind!

Little Max's Room...

Well here I am again with no exciting news to share but Karl and I have finally finished Max's room, now I just need a baby to put in it! LOL. We still have a few more things that we want to hang but we need to get some smaller nails.

We even got motivated enough today to figure out how the car seat works in the van. We figured better to get it working now than when I am having contractions. I have a doctor's appt. on Tuesday so hopefully I will have more exciting news to share then.

On a side note Karl has now changed his mind about when Max is coming. Originally he said that he was coming for sure on 7/7/07 but now he thinks that he is going to come sometime this week....possibly the 4th of July! I guess we shall just have to wait and see! Wish us luck.