Jordan's first ride in Daddy's car
Jordan arrives home
Tucker loves his new buddy
Friday, December 19, 2008
Homecoming
9/13/08 - After two exciting days in the hospital, we went home. We were welcomed with an "It's a Boy" sign on our lawn and nice decorations in our living room.
Jordan's first ride in Daddy's car
Tucker loves his new buddy
Jordan's first ride in Daddy's car Tucker loves his new buddy
The Big Night
9/10/08 – The contractions started around 3:00am on Wednesday. Sari went to work that day and headed to doctor’s office for her last appointment before the baby. At that point, she was 1 centimeter dilated and 98% effaced. That night, she went to dinner with some friends and having contractions every six minutes. She called her parents to come over, and when the contractions starting occurring every five minutes, she called the hospital.
Since it was a Wednesday night, Brad was hosting trivia in Perry Hall while Sari was at home. Brad had just read the final question and, while he was waiting for the teams to bring him their responses, Sari called and simply said, “I think this is it.” Brad begged the teams to bring him their answers immediately, quickly tallied the final scores, threw the prizes at the teams, and rushed home.
Although our baby wasn’t due for another week or so, we had already prepared a hospital bag. We quickly put the bags in the car and headed up to GBMC in Towson. Sari usually told Brad to slow down while driving, but this time she told him to drive faster. We arrived at GMBC around 11:00pm.
Sari was 3 centimeters dilated when we arrived at the hospital. The contractions were painful, but Sari received an epidural around 2:00am that made her a lot more comfortable. Sari was so appreciative of the epidural that she wanted to name the baby after the anesthesiologist – Dr. Douglas Alexander. We hung out all night watching TV while Sari became more and more dilated. She was 10 centimeters dilated early Thursday morning, and her water hadn’t broken, so the doctors broke her water and began the delivery procedures. After about an hour and a half of pushing, we heard a cry. It was the best sound in the world. Jordan Reese was born at 8:32am, weighing 7 pounds, 1.6 ounces. He was 21 inches long.
We had lots of visitors over the weekend, and it was great to celebrate this occasion with so many friends and family. After two days in the hospital, we went home and started life as a family of three.
Here are some pictures from our weekend in the hospital:
Since it was a Wednesday night, Brad was hosting trivia in Perry Hall while Sari was at home. Brad had just read the final question and, while he was waiting for the teams to bring him their responses, Sari called and simply said, “I think this is it.” Brad begged the teams to bring him their answers immediately, quickly tallied the final scores, threw the prizes at the teams, and rushed home.
Although our baby wasn’t due for another week or so, we had already prepared a hospital bag. We quickly put the bags in the car and headed up to GBMC in Towson. Sari usually told Brad to slow down while driving, but this time she told him to drive faster. We arrived at GMBC around 11:00pm.
Sari was 3 centimeters dilated when we arrived at the hospital. The contractions were painful, but Sari received an epidural around 2:00am that made her a lot more comfortable. Sari was so appreciative of the epidural that she wanted to name the baby after the anesthesiologist – Dr. Douglas Alexander. We hung out all night watching TV while Sari became more and more dilated. She was 10 centimeters dilated early Thursday morning, and her water hadn’t broken, so the doctors broke her water and began the delivery procedures. After about an hour and a half of pushing, we heard a cry. It was the best sound in the world. Jordan Reese was born at 8:32am, weighing 7 pounds, 1.6 ounces. He was 21 inches long.
We had lots of visitors over the weekend, and it was great to celebrate this occasion with so many friends and family. After two days in the hospital, we went home and started life as a family of three.
Here are some pictures from our weekend in the hospital:
In the Beginning
Thanks, everyone, for reading our blog. We’re planning to update this blog frequently with pictures and stories, so make sure to come back often. We kept a journal of the nine months leading up to the incredible day when our little boy was born. We had a lot of fun (although it was easier for Brad) and we’d like to share our experiences with you. Enjoy!
1/9/08 – Brad was sitting on the bed, minding his own business, when Sari jumped on top of him and put a positive pregnancy test right in front of his face. We were both really excited. However, since we’re both Tauruses (or is it Taurii? whatever), we decided to take another test. Great, another positive! Well, these particular pregnancy tests come in packs of three, so we decided to take the third test. Three positives. We went to bed very excited about the fact that our happy family was about to grow. We woke up the next morning, got dressed, and rushed to Target to buy more pregnancy tests.
1/11/08 – Brad was sitting in the lobby of McCormick for a taste test, checking out the magazines. He noticed both ESPN The Magazine and Parenting. Hmm, tough decision. He decided to sneak Parenting inside of ESPN The Magazine so that none of the strangers in the lobby would suspect that his wife was pregnant.
1/23/08 – We had our first appointment with Dr. Claire Weitz. It was great to see the ultrasound, although it didn’t look much like a baby at that point. While waiting for the doctor we both picked up Baby Talk magazine, and this time there was no need to hide it from the strangers in the lobby.
2/8/08 – We spent the past week in Las Vegas for Jon and Sara’s wedding. At this time, only our parents knew that we were expecting. Sari decided to tell the bartender that she was pregnant so that he could make her a drink that looked like alcohol but was completely alcohol-free. Somehow, other people at the reception caught on to the fact that she wasn’t drinking. We had no plans to announce anything during Jon and Sara’s big weekend so we just used the excuse that Sari wasn’t feeling well. They totally knew we were lying.
2/24/08 – By this point, our families knew that we were expecting but we hadn’t told anyone else yet. Our sister-in-law Heather brought over a basket of pregnancy goodies, including something called Preggie Pops. We knew that our pantry would never look the same.
2/26/08 – We had another appointment with Dr. Weitz, and we got to hear the heartbeat for the first time. We told Sari’s mom that it was a rapid heartbeat, and she told us that we’re having a boy. If she figured this out before the doctors, we would be impressed.
February '08 – One of Brad’s co-workers noticed that he’d go missing for 2-3 hours a time pretty frequently. Brad never missed a doctor appointment, and nobody at Black & Decker noticed that he was gone. Nobody… except for his co-worker Adam, who quickly decided that Sari was pregnant and that Brad was leaving to meet her at the appointments. Impressive.
3/3/08 - Sari had some blood work done at GBMC, and we got to see the baby again on the sonogram. The baby was sleeping, so the doctor pushed a little on Sari’s stomach and he waved his arms. We also got to take some of the sonogram pictures home. They’re still hanging on the refrigerator even though we’ve already taken over 600 pictures of the actual baby. We had planned to tell everyone our big news the next day, but we couldn’t hold it in any longer. We both went back to work and spent the afternoon on the phone.
3/4/08 – Two of Brad’s co-workers, Jane and Mary Lee, gave him a “daddy-to-be” card. Now that everyone knows, it seems more real.
3/5/08 – Our friends Allie and Scott gave us a delicious batch of cookies that were shaped like teddy bears, baby bottles, etc. Did we mention that it seems more real every day?
3/25/08 – We had another doctor appointment, and we again heard the heartbeat. We found out today that there was about a 1:10,000 chance of our baby being born with Downs Syndrome. We could only pray that our baby would be healthy, and the odds were in our favor. Dr. Weitz told us that we could find out our baby’s sex at the next appointment. Brad wanted to find out the sex, but Sari wasn’t sure if she wanted to know, so Dr. Weitz said that she would keep that information in an envelope in her drawer in case we decided not to find out but then changed our minds.
4/15/08 – We met in the parking lot at GBMC. Today was the big day! If we wanted, we could find out the sex of our baby. Of course, we had no idea what we were going to do. We talked about it as we walked towards the building. We were still talking about it on the elevator ride to the doctor’s office in front of a full elevator. Everyone told Sari that she was going to have a girl based on the way she was carrying the baby. However, the always reliable Chinese Pregnancy Calendar informed us that we’re having a boy. Even while we were in the sonogram room, we still hadn’t decided whether or not we’d find out the sex. Luckily that decision was made for us. Sari couldn’t see the monitor but Brad was standing right in front of it. After a moment, Brad said, “hey, isn’t that a…” “Yes, it is. It’s a boy,” said the nurse. Sari squeezed Brad’s hand and smiled. We were convinced that we were having a girl, but all we wanted was a healthy baby. We got to see the 3D sonogram as well, but the baby didn’t really cooperate so we didn’t get to see his face. Oh well, it was still an exciting day.
4/20/08 – We attended a Baby Expo in Timonium. We thought we’d get some information about baby safety but it turned out to be a two-hour infomercial for some company that sells ugly baby products. It was raining, and it was Brad’s birthday, so this turned out to be a bad idea. Sari promised Brad that we’d feel the baby kick on his birthday, and he started kicking as soon as we got home.
5/6/08 – The baby moved around more than usual while we were watching American Idol. It seems like he really responds to music.
5/10/08 – We went to Mango Manny’s for a night of karaoke. Although he likes music, he only kicked when Brad was singing. He recognized Brad’s voice and responded to it, and he was pretty still when everyone else sang. Maybe his kicking was a reaction to Brad’s bad singing. Who knows?
6/19/08 – We went to see the movie “The Rocker”. There was a lot of music in the movie, and the baby was all over the place.
7/1/08 – After weeks of going to baby stores and searching through catalogs to find something that we liked, we finally ordered the baby furniture. It was exciting, and we couldn’t wait to set up the baby room. That night, we watched the show “Duel”. The baby was kicking like crazy during this show. He already likes music and game shows, just like his daddy.
7/9/08 – We had another doctor appointment today. We hadn’t seen a sonogram since April, and we really wanted see to the baby’s progress. We begged Dr. Weitz, but she wouldn’t let us see him for another few weeks.
7/21/08 – We took a drive out to Direct Buy to inspect our baby furniture. We couldn’t believe that this baby furniture was for us. It still didn’t seem real. The furniture looked great and we couldn’t wait to bring it home. On the way home, we listened to lullaby versions of Jimmy Buffett songs. Our little Parrothead loved it as he was kicking like crazy.
7/23/08 – Sari had a rough night as the baby was kicking all through the night. She said it felt like he was playing the drums. Brad decided that he’s happy that he’s a guy.
1/9/08 – Brad was sitting on the bed, minding his own business, when Sari jumped on top of him and put a positive pregnancy test right in front of his face. We were both really excited. However, since we’re both Tauruses (or is it Taurii? whatever), we decided to take another test. Great, another positive! Well, these particular pregnancy tests come in packs of three, so we decided to take the third test. Three positives. We went to bed very excited about the fact that our happy family was about to grow. We woke up the next morning, got dressed, and rushed to Target to buy more pregnancy tests.
1/11/08 – Brad was sitting in the lobby of McCormick for a taste test, checking out the magazines. He noticed both ESPN The Magazine and Parenting. Hmm, tough decision. He decided to sneak Parenting inside of ESPN The Magazine so that none of the strangers in the lobby would suspect that his wife was pregnant.
1/23/08 – We had our first appointment with Dr. Claire Weitz. It was great to see the ultrasound, although it didn’t look much like a baby at that point. While waiting for the doctor we both picked up Baby Talk magazine, and this time there was no need to hide it from the strangers in the lobby.
2/8/08 – We spent the past week in Las Vegas for Jon and Sara’s wedding. At this time, only our parents knew that we were expecting. Sari decided to tell the bartender that she was pregnant so that he could make her a drink that looked like alcohol but was completely alcohol-free. Somehow, other people at the reception caught on to the fact that she wasn’t drinking. We had no plans to announce anything during Jon and Sara’s big weekend so we just used the excuse that Sari wasn’t feeling well. They totally knew we were lying.
2/24/08 – By this point, our families knew that we were expecting but we hadn’t told anyone else yet. Our sister-in-law Heather brought over a basket of pregnancy goodies, including something called Preggie Pops. We knew that our pantry would never look the same.
2/26/08 – We had another appointment with Dr. Weitz, and we got to hear the heartbeat for the first time. We told Sari’s mom that it was a rapid heartbeat, and she told us that we’re having a boy. If she figured this out before the doctors, we would be impressed.
February '08 – One of Brad’s co-workers noticed that he’d go missing for 2-3 hours a time pretty frequently. Brad never missed a doctor appointment, and nobody at Black & Decker noticed that he was gone. Nobody… except for his co-worker Adam, who quickly decided that Sari was pregnant and that Brad was leaving to meet her at the appointments. Impressive.
3/3/08 - Sari had some blood work done at GBMC, and we got to see the baby again on the sonogram. The baby was sleeping, so the doctor pushed a little on Sari’s stomach and he waved his arms. We also got to take some of the sonogram pictures home. They’re still hanging on the refrigerator even though we’ve already taken over 600 pictures of the actual baby. We had planned to tell everyone our big news the next day, but we couldn’t hold it in any longer. We both went back to work and spent the afternoon on the phone.
3/4/08 – Two of Brad’s co-workers, Jane and Mary Lee, gave him a “daddy-to-be” card. Now that everyone knows, it seems more real.
3/5/08 – Our friends Allie and Scott gave us a delicious batch of cookies that were shaped like teddy bears, baby bottles, etc. Did we mention that it seems more real every day?
3/25/08 – We had another doctor appointment, and we again heard the heartbeat. We found out today that there was about a 1:10,000 chance of our baby being born with Downs Syndrome. We could only pray that our baby would be healthy, and the odds were in our favor. Dr. Weitz told us that we could find out our baby’s sex at the next appointment. Brad wanted to find out the sex, but Sari wasn’t sure if she wanted to know, so Dr. Weitz said that she would keep that information in an envelope in her drawer in case we decided not to find out but then changed our minds.
4/15/08 – We met in the parking lot at GBMC. Today was the big day! If we wanted, we could find out the sex of our baby. Of course, we had no idea what we were going to do. We talked about it as we walked towards the building. We were still talking about it on the elevator ride to the doctor’s office in front of a full elevator. Everyone told Sari that she was going to have a girl based on the way she was carrying the baby. However, the always reliable Chinese Pregnancy Calendar informed us that we’re having a boy. Even while we were in the sonogram room, we still hadn’t decided whether or not we’d find out the sex. Luckily that decision was made for us. Sari couldn’t see the monitor but Brad was standing right in front of it. After a moment, Brad said, “hey, isn’t that a…” “Yes, it is. It’s a boy,” said the nurse. Sari squeezed Brad’s hand and smiled. We were convinced that we were having a girl, but all we wanted was a healthy baby. We got to see the 3D sonogram as well, but the baby didn’t really cooperate so we didn’t get to see his face. Oh well, it was still an exciting day.
4/20/08 – We attended a Baby Expo in Timonium. We thought we’d get some information about baby safety but it turned out to be a two-hour infomercial for some company that sells ugly baby products. It was raining, and it was Brad’s birthday, so this turned out to be a bad idea. Sari promised Brad that we’d feel the baby kick on his birthday, and he started kicking as soon as we got home.
5/6/08 – The baby moved around more than usual while we were watching American Idol. It seems like he really responds to music.
5/10/08 – We went to Mango Manny’s for a night of karaoke. Although he likes music, he only kicked when Brad was singing. He recognized Brad’s voice and responded to it, and he was pretty still when everyone else sang. Maybe his kicking was a reaction to Brad’s bad singing. Who knows?
6/19/08 – We went to see the movie “The Rocker”. There was a lot of music in the movie, and the baby was all over the place.
7/1/08 – After weeks of going to baby stores and searching through catalogs to find something that we liked, we finally ordered the baby furniture. It was exciting, and we couldn’t wait to set up the baby room. That night, we watched the show “Duel”. The baby was kicking like crazy during this show. He already likes music and game shows, just like his daddy.
7/9/08 – We had another doctor appointment today. We hadn’t seen a sonogram since April, and we really wanted see to the baby’s progress. We begged Dr. Weitz, but she wouldn’t let us see him for another few weeks.
7/21/08 – We took a drive out to Direct Buy to inspect our baby furniture. We couldn’t believe that this baby furniture was for us. It still didn’t seem real. The furniture looked great and we couldn’t wait to bring it home. On the way home, we listened to lullaby versions of Jimmy Buffett songs. Our little Parrothead loved it as he was kicking like crazy.
7/23/08 – Sari had a rough night as the baby was kicking all through the night. She said it felt like he was playing the drums. Brad decided that he’s happy that he’s a guy.
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