Mark's 1st Week Home

Mark slept most of the week away, but made time for lots of visitors! Grandma "Dee", Uncle Chris, Aunt Debbie, Aunt Patty, Mary and Brigitte, Shannon and Sean Doherty all came to visit last week. And this weekend, Aunt Carrie, Uncle Jon, Grandma & Grandpa Hodges came to hang out and celebrate Blake's 30th birthday a little early! Blake and I enjoyed some much needed sleep this weekend as Grandma Hodges volunteered to do lots of the feedings:) Enjoy some pics. Check the link for more.

http://gallery.me.com/hodges_family/100116

Feeding TIme

Tonight, Mark ate the most he's ever eaten in one sitting! We also gave him his first bath tonight...luckily we had some coaching from the nurses and attended a "bathing class' this morning in the newborn floor!

Blake and Michelle left the hospital Monday night for the first time in a while...even though Michelle was discharged, the hospital let us keep a room to "stay in" while Mark is still here waiting for his release!

We left Monday night after Mark's 9pm feeding and got home to our house and saw Bentley for the first time in awhile - I think we missed him more than he missed us!

The house was clean from top to bottom(thanks aunt carrie & grandma trotter/hodges), fridge stocked with groceries & minivan oil changed (thanks grandma hodges) and the yard was mowed and looks better than when Blake cuts it : ) (thanks pop pop)

So far it looks like we will be able to come home late Friday/Saturday bc they want to keep Mark on his antibiotics just to be safe.

Update - Day #2

While, I have been officially discharged from the hospital today, Mark has to stay until at least tomorrow evening because of high bilirubin (Blake and I think he just wants to be orange to support the Hokies:) He seems to be doing much better and will be home with us soon! He slept in our hospital room last night so that was pretty cool too! Blake barricaded the door to make sure no one stole him in the middle of the night:)

Blake and I have learned a lot - especially from a really great nurse in the progressive care nursery (Kelly Hodges - yes her last name really is Hodges:)! She taught us how to pick him up without his head falling all over the place, how to feed, swaddle, etc. And today, Blake and I, did the first morning feeding/diaper change and got peed and pooped on. It was great!!!! Only wish we had it on video!

I will probably be more likely to just post a few pics on here and more on the gallery so check back on this link for pictures.

We love everyone and know that baby Mark can't wait to meet you as soon as we are all settled in at home together!

http://gallery.me.com/hodges_family

Mark Trotter Hodges (born 10/10/09 at 9:03am; 5 pounds 10 oz, 19.75in)

After being in and out of the hospital since Monday, October 5 with various diagnoses which included possible early labor and renal colic, our baby boy - Mark Trotter Hodges decided he couldn't wait any longer to meet us (and I guess he wanted to be here to witness a great Virginia Tech victory)! My water broke at exactly 3am after Blake and I had spent another long evening on 3West at Henrico Doctor's hospital. First, I want to thank my awesome husband for spending every night with me in the hospital and assuring me that the pain just had to get better eventually!!! Who would have thought that labor would be less painful than "renal colic" and 2 days of non-stop contractions at 2-3 minutes apart! And at least this way, going downstairs to labor and delivery was only less than 5 minutes instead of the 15 from our house. And I was able to get an epidural instead of morphine (and a constant feeling of making your baby a drug addict) so that was exciting!!

6 hours later, and with 2 great labor coaches (Blake & my mom - I think they are both seriously going to be sore from pushing so hard with me), baby boy Mark took his first breath at 9:03am. It was a really awesome experience, besides the last couple of pushes (those last couple of pictures are reserved for Discovery Health).

Mark is in the NICU for the night because he came out a little early and they wanted to check on his breathing, and he had a slight temperature. He is mainly spending the night there as a precaution and will probably move to the regular newborn nursery tomorrow morning. He is super cute and I don't know how I'm going to stop myself from spoiling him! Aunt Carrie came up this evening and brought us lunch from the Cheese Shop and dinner!!! She's also watching the other baby - Bentley for the night and is going to take a blanket of Mark's home for him!

Tory has also been a lifesaver by being on call off and on all week with Bentley! Blake and I are truly blessed by being around such great friends and family and we can't wait to introduce our son to everyone! Thanks for being a part of our lives!!!