Owen's first days: A photo essay

Dr. Gass holds the world's newest baby, Owen Andrew Shepherd

"Someone get this huge gob of goo out of my face!"

Mama's self portrait, w/ Owen

Grandma Shepherd bonds with her new grandbaby

Mommy and daddy happy — Owen, not so much
(photo by Rebecca P.)

A visit from Aunt Ellen
(Grandma and Grandpa Reitmeyer present but unseen)

Daddy's self-portrait w/ Owen

Squishface One

Happy dreams

Squishface Two

so far so good

This is mama Shepherd tuning in to let you all know that Owen's labs all turned out well, and it appears that we avoided the Group B mess this time! He is in the room with us now and just snoozing it up. He ate a little just after birth, but has been too tired to do anymore of that so far, but he seems super content.

Lewis stopped by to meet his brother and seemed rather freaked out by the whole experience. We're sure he'll warm up to the new addition soon enough. He was most upset that I couldn't walk around the hospital with him.

We're so relieved he is here and that we are all feeling so well. We're gonna try to get some rest now. Thanks for your prayers!

p.s. One correction: Owen is actually 20 1/2 inches long...not 21 1/2 like previously posted. When he gets bigger we don't want anyone to think he shrunk, though he'll probably be losing some weight if he doesn't wake up!!

The first breaths of life

:::IT'S TIME:::

4:05 P.M. — Justin forgot his camera cables, but…

WE HAVE A BABY!

Owen Andrew Shepherd, born 3:41 p.m., weighing 7 pounds, 12 ounces, 21.5 inches long… and a great booming voice!

Pictures up later tonight, along with more details on the birth and such. Needless to say Shelley’s a warrior, and this little guy looks a lot like his brother.

2:52 P.M. — Contractions about two-three minutes apart, and much more intense. Shelley’s ready to get this over with! The nurse is going to call the doctor, as she says the time is nearing.

Meanwhile, back at the homestead, Mandy got Lewis to take his nap! We’re thoroughly shocked.

Baby’s heartbeat is hovering at 160. Reds lead 6-0 in bottom of the ninth. Justin is about 4 degrees too cold. Shelley is in the zone!

1:40 P.M. — Contractions are still about four minutes apart… Shelley’s trying to relax by watching the Reds vs. the Yankees. Shelley’s OB, Dr. Gass, came by and told us he thinks she’s doing fine, that he’ll be back in a few hours, unless things unfold sooner than that.

All the nurses so far seem shocked that Shelley’s going to go au naturale, despite the fact that she did it last time and did great. “Oh, you’ll change your tune” they say… but they don’t know what a tough cookie the ol’ Shelster is.

Anyway, so far, no baby (and no score in the ballgame, either).

12:02 P.M. — We woke up at 8:30 today, thinking it was yet another normal day… who knew?

About an hour later, Shelley said she thought she was seeing some signs of early labor. So she hopped in the bathtub, I took Lewis out for a little playtime, and when we came back in at about 9:50 a.m. Shelley had called the doctor, who told her to head on over to the hospital!

Our friend Mandy came over and is watching Lewis right now… the grandparents Shepherd are heading down from Shepherdsville (no, not a joke) and will be hanging out with Lewis while Shelley and I are here at the hospital.

Her contractions are four minutes apart right now… she’s in good spirits and we’re hoping she’ll get all the antibiotics she needs BEFORE the little guy is born. Last time the speed of the labor left little Lewis with Group B Strep, which necessitated a ten-day trip to Nashville’s NICU — NOT the way you want your firstborn baby experience to go.

Anyway, childbirth has changed a lot, I guess… now I’m able to liveblog from here in the delivery room! So I plan on updating this, briefly, as things progress. Stay tuned…

38 weeks--almost!

Tomorrow I'll be 38 weeks pregnant. Today's appointment found me dilated 4 cm and 90% effaced. I'm measuring at 40 weeks, so the baby is certainly big enough and we're not wanting him to get much bigger. Hopefully labor will happen naturally and soon! We shall see. I've been having contractions on and off for days, but so far nothing consistent or painful even, just uncomfortable.

Here's me and Lewis, and baby brother.


























We've managed to get the baby's room mostly together. It's still doubling as a music room for now and we haven't done anything with the stuff that was on the walls. Here are some pics.




















A closer view of the dresser. We found it at the Goodwill and Justin sanded it and painted it himself. It looks completely different! We are really proud of his work on this.





















And another angle.....

shower pics

It's taken a while, but here a some pictures from the shower last weekend. My good friend, Kelly Morgan, put it together with the ladies from our church plant, Grace & Peace. Several other friends and family got to come too.

Preparing for a game involving eating baby food......yum!





















Courtney and Mandy enjoy some deep conversation.




















One of many cute outfits given to the baby.

















Missy Howard (left) and my sister, Ellen, admire the organic items given by Kelly.




















It was a fun time. We have learned since then that our good friends, Nathan and Kelly Morgan are moving at the end of next week! Nathan got a job in Michigan and starts at the end of the month. We are hoping they are the last friends to move for a while, but you just never know what will happen. We're grateful for the time we've had with them in our small group Bible study and just as friends. They're fun people with lots of talent and will have much success in their next phase of life. We'll miss them though!

last days as a threesome

Lewis' days as an only child are numbered! We are trying to make the most of our time with him without having to divide our attention. Mostly we've been outside baking in the heat! Here are some pictures from the last week or so.




























































Lewis smelling a cantaloupe from the farmers' market. This was his first real interest in a smell, and he was very impressed!





































Lewis has finally been taking an interest in climbing. He can climb into several chairs in the house now, and his stroller. We got a double stroller from the family recently and he is also climbing into it!




















Lewis can now do a sign for 'candy.' It's not quite the right sign, but we know what he means! He's also feeding himself grapes consistently after months of trying. We went back to cutting them in half and that seemed to do the trick. Otherwise he continues to communicate in his own way which oddly works the majority of the time. He gets his shoes when he wants to go outside, and drags people around to what he wants. If he doesn't want to do what we ask, he usually tries to give us a hug and/or kiss to distract us from whatever it is. It's cute, but doesn't get the results he's after!

pregnancy update--36 weeks

I had a check-up today with Dr. Gass. I am dilated 2 cm and 50% effaced which is exactly where I was at this point in my pregnancy with Lewis. At this rate, hopefully the baby will be born in the next couple of weeks. He said the head is down which is good news! No other exciting symptoms to report except for nesting and feeling stressed to get things done in time for the baby.

If you were around for our posts about Lewis' birth, you may remember our NICU experience. Lewis contracted Group B Strep from me as he passed through the birth canal. This time we are hoping and praying that we can get to the hospital in plenty of time to get lots of antibiotics prior to delivery. Everything happened quickly with Lewis, which seemed great at the time, but now we know that six hours of IV antibiotics can keep the infection from spreading. We have also found that Group B strep is connected to cases of developmental delays and could be a factor in Lewis' speech delay (and other issues) so we really want to avoid having that happen again. The good news is that Bowling Green has a NICU now, so the likelihood of us having to go to Nashville is minimal even if problems arise. That alone is very comforting. Please pray for this birth to go smoothly!

We had a fun and packed weekend, including a baby shower. We'll post some pictures soon!

Lewis' favorite activities

Currently Lewis is enjoying splashing in water (a big change from last summer!)....especially in the little kiddie size pools that a few friends of ours happen to have. On Monday, Grace Boyer was kind enough to share her pool with Lewis and Simon Basham. Lewis seemed to enjoy the water the most, and loved having the space all to himself for a good chunk of time.

He's also been much more willing to wear his hats, which helps keep his face shaded from the sun and the awful heat we've had lately.




















Simon and Grace hanging out near the pool.




















Lewis is also enjoying playing a form of hide and seek. Mostly we hide and he looks for us and we shout "boo" when he finds us. We play this in the driveway around our cars, at the park and inside around the couches. We also play "we're gonna get you" at bedtime when he finds it hilarious to run away from us when we want to put on p.j.'s or get him in the bath or whatever. Here's a short video of us playing last week.

bye bye Powells

Today our friends (and maybe yours!) Brian, Carrie & Corrie Powell, moved to Indiana. They spent five years here in Bowling Green, and we greatly benefited from their friendship. They introduced us to Settlers Of Catan which has added much fun and competition to our lives, among other things. We entered parenthood just a month apart and it was kind of comforting to go through that major change together.

We've joked that Corrie was Lewis' first girlfriend, though Lewis has mostly ignored Corrie's 'advances' (she likes to hug him and dance with him sometimes). I'm sure someday he may change his mind, but she probably won't want to hug him then, and surely won't see him so often!

All that said, we wish them great joy, success and fruitfulness in their new home. Here's some photos of them before they departed.

Corrie's attempt at showing Lewis her book.

23 months

Today Lewis is 23 months-old. It's pretty hard to believe he is just shy of turning 2! As he's grown, his hair has gotten out of control. So to prepare him for big-brotherhood, we cut his hair tonight. Here's the before picture with daddy.



















And after:




















Another angle.

























To make the day even more exciting, Lewis used a big boy potty for the first time tonight! Our friends, Brian and Missy Howard, graciously gave us their special potty that plays music when it encounters something wet.

Since Lewis peed on the floor before his bath recently, it seemed like a good time to give it a try, at least before bathtime. So tonight, much to his dismay, we set him on the potty and within a few seconds, the music started! I have to say I haven't been so excited in a long time. The only problem is that the potty continues to play this music until it is completely dry, which is a tough task to accomplish! Hopefully our neighbors won't get irritated at the music because we'll be sitting that thing on the back porch for drying. :)

Who knows if this will become a regular part of our routine, but it was fun to have a successful first attempt.

catching up

We have been busy taking a lot of walks lately! Now that it is warm, Lewis wants to be outside all the time. We take walks in the stroller, and walks where Lewis can roam about freely. We've spent a lot of time at various parks. Oddly, Lewis loves Fountain Square Park the best. There's no play equipment there, but he loves walking around the fountain and checking out the water.

























He's also enjoying reading books. Despite his lack of speaking, he is learning a lot of things and can point out lots of animals and objects in his books. He seems to know his colors fairly well too. He consistently finds blue objects and is generally right about the other colors too. We have no idea what he's thinking about most of the time, but he's having fun.

cute boy

big baby?

Yesterday we had another doctor's appointment and an ultrasound. We were surprised that our friend, Trina Whittle, got to do the ultrasound for us. This was our third ultrasound this pregnancy and had no idea that Trina worked for our group of doctors, so that was a nice surprise for us.

Dr. Gass mainly wanted to check the size of the baby since I'm measuring "big." My weight gain is steady, but oddly enough, my belly is growing at a faster rate! At 32 weeks, which I am now, I'm measuring closer to 35 weeks. After seeing the measurements from the ultrasound, it appears the baby is already approximately 5 lbs. 7 oz.! With a rate of growth of 1/2 lb. each week, in 4 more weeks it will be 7 1/2 lbs. In 8 more weeks, close to 9 1/2 lbs. That is a scary thought! But, he assured me that because my last delivery was at 38 weeks (actually just at the end of the 37th week) that I should deliver early again this time. So that is our hope and prayer. Of course, time will tell. With Lewis weighing only 7 lbs., 3 oz. at birth, it is hard to imagine having a baby much larger, but I know plenty of women who have survived birthing big babies!

Here are the ultrasound pictures:





































One more random note. The moms from our playgroup got to go out on Monday night to see Baby Mama. It was fun to get away from the kids and have some girl time. We had ice cream afterward at Baskin Robbins and took a picture.

















L to R: Tobiaire Utt, Shelley, Carrie Powell, and Sarah Wilson.

primary season

As many of you know, Tuesday, May 20th is Kentucky's primary for the presidential election, as well as many local races. My sister, Ellen Reitmeyer, is running for the Louisville Metro Council to represent District 18. This week, things really heated up when her opponent showed up at her residence with the hopes of stirring up some trouble (or so it now appears). To see a video from the local news, click HERE. It's crazy what people will do to try to sabotage an election, but I had to mention it here in case any of you happen to live in District 18, or know someone who does. Please encourage them to vote for Ellen. She is by far the best person for this job. Most decent people have no desire to get into public service for obvious reasons, but Ellen has the integrity and commitment to serve well, and keep others on the council in check.

daddy returns

Justin made it home this morning with less than 2 hours to spare before he had to report for duty at the Daily News. We are glad to have him back, even though we haven't gotten to see him much so far. He's off the next 2 days which will give us time to catch up! It's hard to believe the Foxhole van made it across 7 states without a break down. Yet another reason to believe in God. :)

Lewis and I finished up the week much as it started--busy and surrounded by friends. Thursday is Bible study (always a highlight, though Lewis does not enjoy the childcare as much as I do!) and speech therapy.

Friday morning we had our usual playgroup. We took some pictures of the kids this week. Isaac Utt is also part of the group but was absent. Here are the other kiddos:

Jacob Wilson, 5 months:




















Jacob's sister, Taylor Wilson, 2 years-old:





















Taylor again, with Corrie Powell, 23 months (almost 2--don't let the baby swing fool you!):


























And Lewis, 22 months, hanging out with the Fisher Price farm:


























Friday night we went to Rivergate to meet up with my Minsk stint team buddies, Shari Hill Kawashima, who was visiting from Lexington, and Heather Morozov. Shari announced this week that she is pregnant, so it was fun to catch up with her and talk about the upcoming changes to her life. We forgot to take pictures! All in all it was a full and fun week. We're all rather exhausted!

the week minus Justin continued....

Lewis and I continue to enjoy our time without daddy, although we are looking forward to his return! Last night we had dinner with some new church friends, the Cahoons. Lewis has eaten great all week, and even had quite a bit of sloppy joe meat last night. Maybe having 3 small kids all eating food around him inspired him to branch out.

This morning we spent some time with Kelly Morgan and Mark, the 3 year-old she nannies. He is a great kid--very polite--and Lewis had a great time running around and swinging. He liked going down the slide quite a bit too. It was fun to be around another adult on a beautiful day.

This afternoon, Justin called as we were waking up from our nap (yes, I got one too!) and Lewis made himself comfortable on the kitchen floor while he rolled his water cup around. He rarely just sits down anywhere, but especially in the kitchen. It was kind of random, so I took a picture.


























Tonight, the ladies from church got together to celebrate a birthday. Lewis got to spend more time with the Cahoons, thanks to dad, Jonathan, for his bravery in taking on a fourth child. We have had so much going on that we haven't had time to think much about Justin's absence. And Lewis continues to be a ton of fun. He has gone with the flow all week, which is such a blessing.

on the road, again

Justin is out touring with Foxhole this week, which has meant a busy weekend and a fun week ahead. On Friday they played in Louisville at the 930. They are touring with a band called Interstates, some good friends of theirs. Here's a picture from Friday night.





















In the meantime, Lewis got to spend some time with Justin's parents in Shepherdsville. He especially enjoyed playing on the pool table. He's quite good at rolling the balls into the pockets.





















On Saturday night, Foxhole played at the Capitol in downtown Bowling Green. Here is a picture of me waiting for the show to start with my new Foxhole t-shirt on. My belly is getting bigger at 31 weeks!




















Here's a clip of Foxhole playing "Forgiving Monarch" that night.



From there, the band headed to Mississippi and on to Texas. For more info on the tour visit their myspace page.

The last couple of days have been better than expected for me and Lewis. He got to stay with his grandparents until Sunday afternoon. He had a lot of fun with them walking in their yard and riding on their tractor.

Yesterday, we had several guests from our church, Grace and Peace Presbyterian, to keep us entertained. Missy and Jayden Howard came over for lunch. Then Mandy Guss and Chie Tanaka joined us for dinner. Lewis seemed to enjoy the company, and I did too!

Today, Carrie and Corrie Powell came to participate in Lewis' therapy session. Our Developmental Interventionist wanted to see Lewis interact with another toddler, and Corrie has been the best at trying to play with Lewis. It was fun to spend some time with them, especially since they will not be here much longer! We are sad to report they are moving soon so that Brian can take a job at Purdue. We will miss them terribly, but hope to take advantage of some hospitality when going to visit my sister in Evanston, Ill.

Lewis has been in a great mood so far and has made my first days as a single parent pretty easy. Hopefully the long naps and cooperation in eating some good meals will continue.

A couple more Lewis pics from last week at the park, where we'll hopefully get to spend more time with the beautiful weather we're having.

visiting with friends

A whole week ago, Lewis and I took a journey down to Nashville to visit with our friends the Morozovs. Our friend, Tasha, was visiting from North Carolina to see a Bon Jovi concert (random!). Another friend, Yura, was visiting from Lexington so we had a little Belarussian reunion. We had a chance to catch up and try out the full capacity of our new minivan. It's always nice when my close friends gather together nearby.

Here is little Val and Lewis (who we caught chewing on a french fry).
















Heather and baby Annabella.






















Yura and Tasha in deep discussion.

















Tasha, Heather, Annabella and Shelley.

another tag

My friend Carrie Powell tagged us a while back on the profound topic of "Five things you want your kids to know before they grow up." I've been thinking on it for a while and it is a tough one, but here's a start:

1--To see themselves honestly as fallen creatures in need of a Savior, and know that Christ is the only one who can fix the situation.

2--They are not going to be great at everything, but they have a unique purpose and can take joy in what they are good at........(in addition, they'll never know if they're good at something until they try).

3--To eat a variety of foods. :)

4--The joy of traveling. Our world is a big place to explore first hand.

5--To think for themselves and make wise choices.


Tagging others is hard too, but I can tag Heather Morozov, Nicole Martin, Sarah Wilson, and Darla Oglesby--all moms of TWO babies now.

climbing!

Lewis has never been much of a climber, but the last few days he has worked really hard to get in and out of our little rocker all by himself. Here are some pictures of the proud boy.

getting in to the chair.





















turning around





















getting down





















A random picture of Lewis out and about downtown with brave escort Derek Holt. Derek offered to walk with Lewis while I got some iced coffee at Spencer's. Little did he know how fast and independent our boy can be!

Tagged

I've been tagged by my friend Heather Morozov so here is some interesting info about Shelley.

Four jobs I've had:
1. Purchasing Coordinator for Commonwealth Brands, Bowling Green, KY.
2. Campus Crusade for Christ staff doing campus ministry in Minsk, Belarus and at WKU.
3. Shipping Clerk for Spalding Group in Louisville, KY during the 2000 presidential election. Thank God I'm not doing that anymore!
4. Fast food--I did time at Chick-fil-A and McDonald's.

Four movies I've watched more than once:
1. Back to the Future
2. Karate Kid
3. Fargo
4. Napoleon Dynamite

Four places I've lived:
1. Louisville, KY
2. Minsk, Belarus
3. Bowling Green, KY
4. Hampton Beach, NH

Three TV Shows I watch:
1. Lost
2. The Office
3. Law & Order SVU

Four places I've been:
1. Lithuania
2. Hungary
3. Israel
4. Switzerland

Four people who email me regularly:
1. My sister, Ellen
2. The group of moms I meet with regularly.
3. Kelly Morgan
4. Facebook

Four of my favorite foods:
1. mint chocolate chip ice cream
2. angel food cake
3. meat--I love steak and shrimp especially.
4. salad

Four places I would like to visit:
1. Egypt
2. Great Britain
3. Czech Republic
4. Austria

Five things I'm looking forward to in the coming year:
1. Meeting and getting aquainted with baby #2.
2. Lewis' first words (I hope!!).
3. A new Sixpence None the Richer EP.
4. Our new church plant getting started in Bowling Green.
5. Potty training (just kidding!).

Four friends I'm tagging:
1. Carrie Powell
2. Kelly Morgan
3. Heather Spencer
4. Glenda Jones