Easter Morning and Aiden Today

We happily brought home Aiden on April 7th, the day before Easter Sunday.  The kids had a blast this year at the city Easter egg hunt and were lucky to have not only their dad but also Uncle Kip and Aunt Nicole accompany them on their hunt.  Sunday the Easter bunny visited our home and left eggs hidden around the living room and dining room area as well as goodies in their baskets.

Here are some pictures I took today of Aiden and a couple with Hannah.

His long finger-toes. 

Aiden Eli Stromberg

I'm officially a mother of three.  It's been a rough road getting that status, but he's here now and life is good.  33 weeks into the pregnancy I went into labor in the middle of the night and headed to the hospital.  I knew I might go into labor early as I did with Hannah at 34 weeks.  Luckily this time around they were able to stop the contractions before I progressed further into the labor process.  Again I started with contractions two days later and again they were able to stop labor from progressing.  I truly cannot express how thankful I am that my mom came to stay with my family and care for myself, my children and my home so that I could take it easy, super easy, for several weeks.  On March 31st I was 37 weeks and 3 days into pregnancy and this time because 37 weeks is considered to term they did not make any attempt to stop my labor.  I had an ultrasound at my doctor's appointment on March 27th and I was told that my baby was going to weigh 10 lbs 14 ozs based on his measurements.  So my doctor said I had to have a c-section as I did with Hannah.  She was breech, and that's why I had a c-section with her.  Aiden actually weighed in at 8 lbs 11 ozs, so yeah, they were off on their prediction.  The umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck and my doctor said that likely meant that I would've needed a c-section once they discovered that fact if I had been trying for a regular birth.  I find that interesting how that all worked out.  Well, as they were weighing Aiden and assessing his Apgar scores they found that he was working too hard to breathe.  After a six hour trial time taking the CPAP on and off they decided he wasn't improving and Aiden was admitted to the NICU.  He's made quite a bit of progress with his breathing and now he just needs to learn how to eat and gain weight.  Basically the stress of his lung issues has weakened him and made it difficult for him to eat without getting too tired too quickly before he's able to get enough to nourish him.  His other main issue is that he's having some trouble digesting the food he does get.  Each day he makes improvements, but it's a process that will take an indefinite amount of time.  I'm  hoping for about another week at the most, but we just have to wait and see. 

I'm trying my best to take it all in stride and stay positive.  This is my second baby stuck in a NICU and I have to say that's it's hard to carry a baby for 9 months with various complications throughout and then endure the pain of childbirth and then leave the hospital without a baby.  Luckily, it's looking pretty good that he'll be in the NICU less time than Hannah was.  Even though things aren't ideal right now, it will get better.  He'll come home eventually and then I'll have my three kids at home with me.

In the meantime, I've been studying every feature on my new baby's face and trying to decide what he has in common with my other babies and where he's different.  What do you think?

Gabe and Hannah

The Sunday before Valentine's Day Gabe and Hannah dressed for the holiday.  Gabe's wearing an adorable jacket that was Jasen's when he was little and Hannah is wearing red and pink.

Christmas

Christmas has come and gone.  It was wonderful this year.  We went to Providence the night of the 23rd and stayed with Jasen's mom and dad through the 26th.  A Stromberg family tradition is to go out for pizza  on Christmas Eve and then on to Aunt Jane's house to visit.  We went to Pier 49, and never having been there before, I now declare it my new favorite pizza place, 2nd only to the one and only Big Ed's in Oak Ridge, TN.  Also a Christmas Eve tradition is a Christmas program which of course includes the reading of the Nativity out of Luke.  Then we each open one gift- new jammies!  Here are the kids looking too cute:

The ever expanding belly full of Mr. Aiden:

Christmas morning, bright and early, Doug went to pick up Grandma Pat so she could see the kids play with their toys from Santa.  While the kids waited with daddy in the bedroom, I went out to take some pictures of what Santa brought before the pillaging began.

  Gabe's:

Mommy's and Daddy's:

Hannah Riley's:

For the girl who asked for a butterfly for Christmas, this is what Santa brought her:

Santa was good to us, and in addition to that, we all received even more awesome gifts which we unwrapped later that day but that I failed to get pictures of.  I did, however, get some pictures of the kids in their Sunday best for church Christmas day.

And here is the cute outfit Doug and Maren gave Gabe and the cute hoodie from Grandma Pat.

Hannah said, "No pictures of me!" as if I were paparazzi.  So in that manner I had to sneak a shot of her leaving the house when we went out for some day after Christmas shopping. (She carried her tube of "wips" that were in her stocking everywhere with her that day.)

Stromberg Family Christmas Party 2011

Back on the 19th we enjoyed going to the Stromberg family Christmas party.  We had a great time.  The kids had a hard time deciding which part was their favorite.  There was roller skating, bounce house type toys to jump on, and also arcade games.  We ate pizza, ice cream sandwiches, and cake.  It was really a kid's paradise.