One Month Old

May 30, 2007: Today Casey turned one month old. It is hard to believe. Casey is getting bigger, but she still seems small to me. She is changing and developing every day. Lately James and I have noticed that she is starting to smile when she sees us. She is spending more and more time alert and content. We put her on a play mat on the floor and she will stare at the objects that hang over her head. Just yesterday she was batting at them (see the picture) with her hands. Casey has been to her first parties this week. Last night we went to the end of the year faculty party where Casey witnessed her first games of beer pong. On the walk over to the party Casey said her first word. James was carrying her in the Baby Bjorn and she was looking up at him. He said "hi" to her over and over and then she said "hi" back to him. We could not believe it. Obviously she is not really talking but she somehow imitated his sound. It was funny. The party must have done Casey in because she had a banner night of sleep. I fed her at 11pm and she went to sleep at 12. She did not wake up until 6 am. I hope this can continue!!

Meeting Meme

May 24, 2007: Today James and I took Casey down to Manchester to meet her great grand mother, Meme. She was very well behaved and they had a great time meeting. Casey has been great. She is sleeping well and eating well. Her throwing up has slowed down, she had not thrown up for 6 days and then did this morning. Also she has some little zits on her face, but they say that is totally normal. I can't image this heat is helping the cause at all. Today we took her to the post office and applied for her first passport. She is going to need it for our trip to Italy in mid-July. It was funny to take her picture for it. Anyhow, graduation is tomorrow and then there are a few faculty meetings next week and then we are off for the summer. Here are some pix from this week...

Road Trip

May 19, 2007: Today Casey returned home to New Hampton from her first road trip down to Connecticut. Mom and Casey headed down to Greenwich for three nights to meet uncle Mark and Baba and Pop as well as to visit with Sally and Eddie. Casey slept the entire way down to Greenwich. This was great for mom so they did not have to pull over to eat or change a diaper, but I had to reach back and make sure she was still breathing a few times. Here are some pictures of Casey with her cousins, her uncle Mark, and her great grandparents (4 generations are in this photo). Casey is the 14th great grand child for Baba and Pop! We also had a surprise visit from Jordan and her son William. The visit in Greenwich was great and Sally and Eddie spoiled us rotten. Eddie baby sat a few times and even managed a diaper changing crisis all on his own. In the last few days Casey seems to have changed a little bit in that she has more alert periods of the day and they last for longer stretches of time than before. She is still throwing up but it is occurring every other day now instead of every day. James missed Casey a lot and was very happy to have her home. At the moment, Casey and Dad are asleep on the couch.

2 Weeks Old

May 14, 2007: Casey turned two weeks old today and we also had her two week check up at the doctor. She has been throwing up lately which has been very unnerving for her new parents. She has thrown up once a day for the past 4 days and then twice yesterday. The first time it happened the visiting nurse was due to arrive any moment so I remained calm. The next day the doctor's office could barely understand my name through the sobbing I was doing over the phone. Lack of sleep and hormones raging can do that to a new mom I guess. Now at her two week check up we were assured that this is well within the realm of normal behavior for a newborn and that we can expect it to keep up for as long as two months. Some babies are just spitters they told us. Besides that issue things are going very well so far. Casey continues to gain weight, today she weighed 8 pounds 4 ounces. She is in the 47th %ile for weight, 76th % for height, and 40th %ile for head circumfrence. A lean, mean, fighting machine. Last night James was changing her diaper and her umbilical cord stump had fallen off. She has ended her streak of sleeping from midnight until 5 am, unfortunately for me. The past two or three nights we have been up much more often. This week we might take our first trip and head down to Greenwich for a few nights so that we can meet uncle Mark, aunt Jen and Brinley, and all of our cousins.

Visitors

May 12, 2007: The Duvals came up to visit us and meet Casey. She met aunt and uncles Jenny, Dave, Heather, Geoff and her cousin Andrew for the first time. It was very fun for everyone to see where we live but more importantly for them to see the newest Duval. Donna and Lou held Casey for the first time. They had seen her in the hospital but had not yet held her. We love having our families so close and sharing this exciting new time with them.

Casey's First 10 Days

May 10, 2007:

Here is what we've been up to the past 10 days. We went home from the hospital on Wednesday, May 2nd and since then have been adjusting to life at home. We've been for one car ride to the doctor for a check up, had three baths, played in the swing and gone for a few walks. We had a lot of bonding time with Sally and Eddie who have helped us out so much. We were sad to see them go home today, especially Little Sal. Today a visiting nurse came by the apartment to check on how we are doing and Casey weighed in at 7 pounds 15 ounces, which is great! Casey has been a great baby so far- eating well, sleeping well (knock on wood), and happy a lot. Mostly we just eat, poop, and sleep though. Here are a few pictures...

Casey Grace Duval

April 30, 2007:

My contractions began yesterday morning at 7:15 am. They fluctuated between 5-9 minutes apart. Around 8:30 am I called the doctor to let him know they were coming consistently at 5-7 minutes. He told us to come down to the hospital and get checked out as this was probably the real deal since I was now a week past my due date. We gathered up all our bags and headed down to Concord. Much to my dismay I was only 1 cm dilated and we were sent home to wait it out. The contractions got progressivley stronger all the time, but we were told to wait until they came every 4 minutes for an hour before heading back to the hospital. After 13 hours they finally got there and we had to leave the 'Amazing Race' and go back to the hospital. Despite 13 hours of contractions I was still only 1 cm dilated but they kept me in there this time because the pain was significant. I was lucky enough to be having back labor which is when the baby is turned sunny side up and puts pressure on your back, making labor more painful. We got into our room around 9:30 pm and had 12 hours ahead of us. I spent most of the labor standing up in my room. Around 4 am the pain was too much to take and I was only 4 cms dilated. With so much progress still to be made I decided to finally get the epidural. This was heavenly and allowed me to get about an hours rest. By 7 am my water had broken and I was 10 cms dilated. I started pushing around 8:30 am and our baby girl arrived at 9:48am. Casey Grace Duval weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces and was 21 1/2 inches long. What a miracle!