A Special Visit

We had a quick and fun visit with Molly & Josh....They drove down from NY with G & G Swanee for a Christmas visit and to meet little Keaton. We had such a great time with them, just sad it was so short!

Thankful for the help!

Grandma Julie & Masie holding baby Keaton!

We were lucky to have J-pa and Grandma Julie come to town to help us while Keaton was back in the hospital. Jensen enjoyed having the extra time with his grandparents and we're so appreciative for the help!

Hanging out on the couch...probably watching Super Why!

J-pa with his new granddaughter!

Christmas at the Gerda's!

Our Christmas celebration
Jensen loves being a big brother!

Jensen's new train table

We're home and celebrated Christmas in the Gerda household today!

Keaton continued to improve on Christmas night and into Sunday and we were discharged from the hospital on Sunday afternoon. It was so nice to get home AGAIN! The doctor could never give an exact cause of what happened??? It just seemed to be a snowball effect - the vomiting caused the dehydration, which caused the lethargy, which caused the lack of desire to eat, etc. She received great care while we were in the hospital and we now seem to be back on track! She's eating well and is having regular awake periods. We saw her pediatrician for a follow-up yesterday and he said she looks great! Yeah!

Luckily Santa postponed his visit to our house until this morning. Jensen was so excited when he came downstairs and Santa had brought him a train table! And Keaton was extra lucky because Santa found her in the hospital on Christmas morning and then again this morning!! Santa and 2 elves knocked on our hospital room door with a bag full of toys for a baby girl:) Nearly brought me to tears...such a special treat, especially for the kids who have been in the hospital for a long time. Some of the chronically ill children were able to get out and play in the snow on Christmas night!

Jensen has been a GREAT big brother so far! Most of the time he just points to her, smiles and says baby! He likes giving her high 5's and knuckles. The rest of the time he doesn't even realize she's here!!

We're so thankful to have our healthy baby girl back home and all be together!

White Christmas in Georgia!!

Christmas at home was a little different than what we expected just two days ago when we brought Keaton home. With Monica and Keaton in the hospital, Jensen and I had some very welcomed guests that joined us for Christmas dinner. My mom, sister, and neice all came up from Savannah to spend Christmas with us and watch Jensen while I ran back and forth to the hospital to visit and pick up Monica and Keaton. There was a suprise this year too...A White Christmas! Hasn't happened in Atlanta since 1892. Jensen and Masie had a blast in the snow!

Jensen is LOVING the snow. Just like dad.

A Christmas night view of the backyard.

Jensen yelled "bubbles, bubbles" as the big flakes flew.

A view from the warm living room.

A little message to our baby girl that could not be home for Christmas. She was definitely missed today.

A Different Kind of Christmas

Our beautiful, bright eyed baby girl!

Merry Christmas! Keaton is now 5 days old! We're in love with our little baby girl and enjoying every second with her. In fact, we had quite a scare with Keaton yesterday so we're even more appreciative and counting our blessings today as her condition has much improved.

We brought Keaton home from the hospital on Wednesday and she was doing great! On Thursday night, she became quite groggy (even for a newborn baby!), hard to awaken enough to eat and was vomiting after eating. This continued throughout Thursday night and by noon Friday (Christmas Eve), we decided to take her to the emergency room. We were immediately seen in the ER due to Keaton's age (4 days old) and condition. The doctor was highly concerned with her vomiting, lethargy, lack of desire to eat and dehydration and wanted to run various tests. Keaton had a spinal tap to test for meningitis, xrays to check her bowels (possible obstruction or malformation) and an upper GI. She had to receive an IV for dehydration and had vials of blood drawn. As you can imagine, hearing all of this potential news and watching her get poked and needled is extremely scary, especially for your 4 day old baby!! Throughout the following 3-4 hours, Joe and I were by Keaton's side for every test. By 7:00 last night, we had received the good news that all of the tests run were negative so the major issues had been ruled out.

The ER doctor checked us into the hospital to be observed for 2 days. Keaton has continued to receive IV fluids and antibiotics for the past 24 hours and has nursed successfully 4 times without vomiting. The doctor has seen her a few more times and says everything looks good. Her color has improved and she is much more alert. We're staying at the hospital again tonight for continued observation. If everything goes well tonight, we should be able to go home tomorrow. I'm not sure if we'll ever know what caused the problems (kind of a tough pill to swallow), but good news is she's improving.

Luckily Joe's dad was in town for Christmas and was able to be with Jensen while we were at the ER. Joe went home to be with Jensen last night and I stayed with Keaton in the hospital. Joe surprised me this morning and brought Jensen to visit me.....a wonderful Christmas gift for mommy who was so sad to not wake up with her entire family this morning! Joe and Jensen are at home tonight with Joe's mom, sister and niece who have come to help. I'm staying with Keaton at the hospital again tonight and praying we get to go home tomorrow morning.

Please say a prayer for Keaton's healthy recovery. She definitely seems to be doing better, but what a tough 24 hours it's been. We pray that tonight will go smooth and she'll continue to show signs of improvement. Not the way we wanted to spend our Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, but we're just so thankful she's doing better! We'll be celebrating our Christmas in the next few days once we're home and settled again.

Keaton meets her big brother!

Our wonderful friends and Jensen's parents for a few days, Beth & Adam brought Jensen by to meet his little sister on Monday night. He was definitely intrigued by the sight of a baby, but we don't think he understands that this baby is his and will be coming to stay at his house! He cruised around the room and pointed to Keaton a few times, but otherwise was pretty indifferent to her. We LOVED seeing him! It's been a hard few days without him...we miss his cute little face and the funny little things he says. But he's been having a GREAT time with Beth, Adam and Addy and we're so appreciative they've been able to help us out so much! We're forever in debt!

Keaton is just perfect! We'll be leaving the hospital as soon as we receive the go ahead...we're packed and ready to go. We'll be home in time to get settled for Christmas and look forward to have our complete family together for this special holiday! We appreciate all the well wishes and look forward to introducing Miss Keaton to you all in the coming days and weeks. Wishing everyone a very happy and safe holiday!

Keaton Holly Gerda
December 20, 2010 at 5:15am
8lbs. 12 oz. - 21 inches

Welcome Keaton Holly Gerda

We welcomed Keaton into the world yesterday morning, 12.20.10 at 5:15 am. Mom is doing great after a very successful VBAC!

It all started with consistent contractions around 9:30 pm on Sunday night. Judging by her labor with Jensen, we figured we had plenty of time to get ready and maybe get a little rest before heading to the hospital. The contractions were noticeable, but not overwhelming and Monica was going to try and catch a nap before we headed to the hospital...Keaton had other plans!
Within the hour the contractions became debilitating and we had to scurry to gather our things, our dog Bailey, and get our neighbor and friend Beth on the phone to come sleep at our house with Jensen for the night.

The ride to the hospital was straight out of a movie. Monica was having intense contractions about 2 minutes apart, and I was speeding through red lights. On the way, I had to stop for gas because we were almost out, and we had to drop Bailey off with a family member (Andy) at a Costco parking lot.

We got to the hospital and checked in at 12:15 am Monday morning. The mid-wife came in to check on Monica right away to find that she was already fully dilated!!!! It was time to push!! We could not believe that within 3 hours of the onset of labor we were about to start pushing Keaton out! And maybe too late for the epidural.

The pain that Monica endured through each and every contraction was unbelievable. I don't understand how people continue to have children in places where epidurals are not an option. I can't fathom why women who have that option deny it!! Luckily, Monica was able to get the relief she needed and we were able to rest for a while before she started to push.

The experience of a traditional birth was amazing. We were not able to experience this with Jensen because of the emergency c-section. It was truly a life changing event to witness. Cara was there with me to help Monica get through the toughest moments, and I could not have done it without her knowledge and support.

Following an hour and a half of pushing, Keaton came out and my world changed all over again. A dad and his little girl...I'm excited we've started the journey.

Keaton's room

Pink has been added to the nursery and we are "officially" ready for Keaton's arrival!

The cornice board made by myself, my mom and Jamie.
Joe and I enjoyed some QT together as we hung it last night and put the finishing touch on Keaton's room!

I painted the letters for Keaton's room!

This is the wall above the changing table

Hanging with Jensen!

We enjoyed a fun night with Jensen! In fact, we're eating up all the time we have with him right now! He's at such a fun age (although I've enjoyed every age for a different reason)....He's able to communicate with us more now and everyday is a new discovery! In the picture above, we were playing Patty Cake and he was full of giggles! Before this activity, Jensen was mesmerized with my continuously growing belly and what is now my "outie" belly button!

It never fails that "Bailey" is one of Jensen's first words every morning! Bailey is constantly receiving hugs, kisses and cuddles:)