Some Four Generation Pictures

My mom and grandma came out for a week to help out and we had professional pictures taken. It is hard to believe he is only 2 weeks old in them! These are a few of my favorites!






















Hi- Yah!























Already thinking of ways to solve the world's problems!















Mommy and Jonathan



















And this is my favorite one of all!

Our New Addition!

After 18 hours of labor, Jonathan Edward Schaefer made his entrance into the world at 11:28pm on July 6th. It is now almost three weeks later and I cannot believe how the time has flown! For a while there I had no concept of day or night! I saw 2am as often as I saw 2pm. But he is here and he is healthy! All that neurology stuff created some lively debate among the doctors but the final result was "Take your kid home and enjoy him. He is perfectly normal!" Unfortunately, while they were discovering this, Jonathan had to stay in the NICU on another floor which meant for the first 24 hours, I had to drag myself into a wheelchair, travel upstairs, and scrub up every two or three hours to nurse him! That was not fun.





In Mom's room, in her arms, FINALLY!









Chris has been a wonderful Dad and Jonathan responded to Daddy's voice within the first 20 minutes of his life-- That made Chris's year I think! We have had tons of help from friends and family (Thank you!) so we have been able to keep relatively sane.







Proud Grandpa (Papa Randy)








Jonathan is getting so much stronger and bigger! The other day he was on Chris's chest and lifted his head up for quite a while just to get a better look at Daddy's very interesting face! He has already put on a pound (up to 8lbs 2oz now) and has no intention of slowing down!






Aren't they cute together?








He is currently sleeping in his car seat at all times because he has an aversion to laying flat on his back. For now we are just saying "Whatever works!" and we will solve the problem of getting him to sleep like a normal person farther on down the road.







Ahh, this is cozy!







Overall I would have to say this whole Mom thing is hard but SO SO SO worth it!

He's Coming!

Well, Jonathan gave us a week to get our act together! At my doctor visit today, some of the results of the ultrasound were not as positive as we would have liked. The amount of fluid was low and he had not gained as much weight as expected. His heart rate and oxygen intake were fine, but the doctor doesn't want to risk him going into distress at a later time. So with that in mind, we are headed to the hospital tonight to be induced. We both feel comfortable with this decision as I have sensed that my body is ready to introduce this little guy to the world within the next few days anyway.

Please pray for us as we have many decisions to make in the next 24 hours and we will be tired, overwhelmed, stressed and about a million other things! We are trusting that God has put us into the hands of the doctors He thinks are best for Jonathan. However, we are still feeling anxious (in a good way) and unsure of how all of this is going to play out. We will be making phone calls and sending emails as we can tomorrow so keep your eyes out for new information!

P.S. This is me at 38 weeks!

And so it begins...

We mangaged to find a high-risk OB who agreed to take me on this late in the game. We weren't sure about him at first, since he initially wanted to induce me between 39 and 40 weeks. However, we met with him again and had a much better experience. However, all of that is a moot point (moo-point for you "Friends" fans) because Jonathan has decided to initiate things early! Since Monday (26th) afternoon I have been having regular but minor contractions. I thought I just ate something bad since they did not at all feel like what everyone described! Chris stayed home with me on Wednesday and we ended up going in to St. Joe's for monitoring. The nurse said the reason I am so uncomfortable, even though the contractions are minor, is because his head is really low! They monitored me for an hour, made me walk the halls for an hour then figured out nothing had progressed in that time. I am only at a 1 or 2, so it could be awhile, or it could be tomorrow! We did stop at Babies 'R' Us and get those last few items just in case. We also did all the packing I have been putting off! So now, we wait. Watch your email this week for updates and unless I need to have an emergency C-Section, you are more than welcome to come visit me in the hospital and meet Jonathan! P.S. I would like to send a BIG thanks to my mom for her genes, since I apparently did the same thing to her for 3 days before I was born! :P

Update on Jonathan

We met with the pediatric neurologist on Thursday, and came away with a wider range of options and some good news too! The good part is his head is measuring around the 50th percentile which means there is a lowered chance of him being born with hydrocephalus. Hydrocephalus can lead to extreme pressure on parts of the brain, complicating any existing issues. The widening of the range of options is either good news or not, because it means there is a greater chance he will never show any symptoms of the abnormality and a greater chance it could be something more serious. We won't get any more news on that front until he is born. They will take him in for an MRI soon after he is born, which will give use more information. The scariest part for us is that infants have to be sedated for an MRI because they can't stay still on their own. As you can tell, there is still a HUGE need for prayer for all of us. The neurologist was great, though. He took the time to help us understand and feel comfortable with the process and answered all our questions thoughtfully and carefully. I met with my OB on Monday and decided he is not the doctor for me so the hunt for a new one is on! Hopefully I can get my original OB office to pull some strings and get me into the high risk practice soon! Thank you all for your support and caring as we go through these last 4 weeks. As we have said many times so far, this is God's way of reminding Chris and I that He is in charge of Jonathan's life, not us and we are just going to have to trust that He knows what He is doing!

The Game Name for the Baby Pool to the right is "SchaefPup".

The first Post

Hi! Welcome to our new site for information and updates on our new family! Our little boy is set to arrive in about 5 weeks, so be sure to check back then for his picture! As you may know, we have had several complications this last trimester, so please keep us in your prayers. We have a meeting set with a pediatric neurologist on Thurs, June 8 and we will hopefully leave with more answers than questions! Thank you for all of your support during this stressful time and we look forward to introducing you to our little guy in just a few short (hopefully) weeks!