Austin's 1st Month!

At 1 month old, little Austin is weighing in at 10 pounds and measuring 22 inches long… definitely seeing some growth from his birth stats of 6lbs. 11oz., and 19 inches long… some pretty rapid growth if you ask me!

Given the above-mentioned growth, it’s no surprise that Sir Austin was out of newborn clothing in the first 2 weeks of life… with the exception of one brand… God Bless “Circo” from Target! He’s currently sporting 0-3 month clothing with little wiggle room depending upon the brand! I’m interested to see if his growth continues at this rate given the fact that he was quite the little tater tot at birth!

Speaking of “Tater Tot”, that is one of Austin’s many nicknames! Addie and Blake lovingly prefer to call him “Austy J”, while Mike and I like to call him “Tater Tot” amongst other random names we come up with… including “Gassy Gus”… and seriously, we mean GASSY… but we love him just the same!

Austin is truly a sweet and good-natured baby! Unfortunately, he spent much of his first month with a very nasty cold! He made hardly a peep as we endlessly suctioned mucous from his nose and mouth on an hourly basis! We truly do feel blessed for his good nature during the difficult time of having 3 sick kids (1 being a newborn) and 1sick Mommy as we transitioned into our new roles as parents of 3! Not much has changed at the end of the first month… with the exception of our good health returning (Praise God!), but Austy J has remained just the same… sweet as the day he was born!

We cannot wait to see the changes ahead, as the first year is an exciting time full of fun and “firsts”! Until then, we enjoy his beginning smiles and ever-changing “coos” and “goos”… oh, and his hair… we can’t wait to see where his hair takes us! It’s all over the place!

We love you Austin J!

Oh, and before I forget… something I always hope to remember and share with him… Austin spent the whole first month smiling… almost every time I kissed his closed eyelids! It truly melted my heart… every. single. time!

Valentine's Day 2011...

This Valentine's Day was EXTRA special since it was our first day home from the hospital with Baby Austin... an extra little one to LOVE! It was a most memorable day, followed by an awesome Valentine's dinner courtesy of Grammie and Grandpa Eggie! Doesn't get better than that folks! Praise God!

Austin's Birth Story...

With abundant false labor and much excitement from our little family of four, we proudly welcomed our FIFTH family member! Mr. Austin Jesse Orozco was born at 38.5 weeks gestation on Saturday, February 12, 2011 at 12:20p.m. weighing 6 pounds, 11 ounces, and measuring 19 inches long! The Lord blessed us with another smooth delivery with a healthy baby to boot… we give all of our thanks to Him!

For those interested in the details…

The theme of this pregnancy was FALSE LABOR! It all started with a trip to labor and delivery 3 days after Christmas on Uncle Cameron’s 21st birthday. The contractions were coming at intervals that were easily timed and rather quite painful. The only problem is that I was only 32 weeks pregnant… much too soon for little Austin to make his appearance! They admitted me to the hospital, gave me a shot to stop the contractions, and then ran some tests to see why preterm labor had begun. Turns out that a silly little bladder infection was to blame for all of the commotion! I was finally sent on my way with medication for the bladder infection, medication to keep the contractions at bay while the infection was being treated, and directions to “be lazy” while our little bun finished baking. Orozco’s don’t do lazy, so I settled for taking it easy!

Once we hit 36 weeks gestation, the false labor was almost constant! Thank goodness for family and friends who came running at all hours on the several occasions we “cried wolf”. You’d think that by the third baby you would be able to differentiate between false and real labor… not so much!

Finally, at 38.5 weeks gestation on a Friday evening, the contractions started to kick in pretty good but were pretty irregular. Despite the irregularity, the degree of pain indicated that things were getting a smidge more serious. We decided to call Mike’s parents to come on over to stay with the sleeping kids, despite the fact that the contractions began to fade away immediately after hanging up the phone. By the time the Orozco’s arrived, the contractions had kicked back in and were becoming more regular, but by then I’d had almost a whole month of regular contractions at any given time, so I was still skeptical about heading to the hospital. As it approached 11p.m. Mike’s Mom urged us to go ahead and go and get checked if nothing else! By the time we arrived to the hospital the contractions were fading yet again and I felt kinda silly having them check me, but hey, we were already there!

Upon entering labor and delivery I tried to look as though I was in more pain than I actually was. They definitely looked at me like “there’s no way this girl is in actual labor,” but I had seen that look before while 8cm dilated with Addison, so I brushed it off and went forth to get checked. Before the nurse checked me I had told her that I probably wasn’t dilated since that’s what I was told at my doctor’s appointment less than 24 hours prior. The nurse was as surprised as I was to find that I was 2cm dilated… definitely nothing to write home about, but it was progress and I was thrilled that these contractions were actually serving a purpose at that point! They decide to keep me for an hour to see if I make any further progress. One hour later they discover that I’m dilated to 4cm and we are admitted for active labor!

Given the rapid speed of my previous pregnancies, I called for the epidural… STAT! The pain was so-so at worst, but there was no way I was missing that little slice of heaven… the spinal block! The epidural was administered by none other than Dr. Woo, the same anesthesiologist who performed my epidural during Addison’s birth. Naturally, I was pleased and quite relieved! I did have a few moments of light-headedness that were kinda scary due to a rapid drop in my blood pressure, but aside from those 2 minutes of fright, the epidural was as dreamy as I remember it… for awhile anyways!

I had never gone to the hospital this early in one of my labors, so this was the earliest I had received an epidural. It was so cool to just sit back with Mike and watch late night infomercials, visit, sleep, and eat ice chips… just like in the movies! My previous labors had never allowed enough time for ice chips… what a treat! ;) At this time I was dilated to 6cm with a bulging bag of water. Dr. T said we could let the water break on its own (which it had done in the past, both times, right before it’s time to push), or he could pop it since it was ready to go... we opted to try something new and told him to go ahead and pop it! Oddly enough, there was no significant difference from previous labors in regard to the water breaking or being popped, but it was a new experience nonetheless… nothing
lost, nothing gained!

Well, as 11:50a.m. on Saturday approached, I was still only dilated to 6cm and started to feel the pain through the epidural… so, naturally, I requested another dose of the good stuff! But no sooner than I made my request, I knew it was time to push… and I knew that I would be doing so without a refreshed epidural. The nurse did another check just to be sure, and history repeated itself with a super fast transition from 6 to 10cm. I tried not to cry, but I knew Dr. Tangchitnob had run across the street to his office and I would have to keep the baby in place until he could make a mad dash back… and holding in a baby that has wanted out for quite some time is not a painless process, at least from what I had experienced with Blake’s delivery.

Luckily for me, Dr. T made it back in record time! With Mike, Grammy Ross, and Grammie Eggie crowded around for support, I gave 4 quick pushes and brought Austin Jesse into the world with the umbilical cord around his neck… twice. Thank goodness the cord was easily removed by Dr. T and would soon be cut by the proud Daddy, who was thrilled to discover we had another BOY!

Austin was absolutely adorable the moment he was born with Apgar scores of 9 and 9! He seemed so small and feisty… and we were instantly in love! We continue to thank God for this most precious gift and are anxious to watch Austin grow under the love and protection of his bigger siblings who adored him before he was born! Sir Austin, you are most certainly loved!