Almost three weeks old!

This is Josh at five days old, in his fancy crib that he chooses not to sleep in!



With his adoring Mommy!

Wow, how the time flies... we are almost at three weeks since Josh was born, and it seems like he has been with us months already. We are slowly developing a "schedule", though I use the term loosely, as he has his own ideas about how the schedule will go. Mostly, Mom and Joshua have a VERY leisurely morning, dozing and eating at his will, watching TLC and enjoying each other's company. We have made a couple of excursions - once to my office to be adored by the women in the Music Department office, and twice to the Health Clinic to be weighed. He had dropped to 6lbs 2 and 3/4ozs at a week and a half, and this week was up to 6lbs 10 oz - a growing boy!

We took a surprise visit to the emergency department last night, as Josh was sounding very congested and was wheezing and having difficulty breathing while eating. The doc told us this was going around a lot, and to watch him for any increase to temperature or to the rapidity of his breathing. He has been fine today - a little wheezing but not consistently, and eating just fine. They weighed him again last night, and he was just under 7lbs...with all the eating he is doing I guess I am not surprised!!!

We have Geoffrey's parents here for a visit from Iowa, and as you can imagine Grandma is loving every minute of Joshua time she has! They are already bestest friends, and mommy is watching and taking notes on just how Grandma does it. This was also the case with Grandma Valdine, who could soothe him with a lullaby and cuddle unlike anybody else! Sigh, the knack of Grandmas - they just have it!

This is Joshua on Inauguration Day - we celebrated Barack taking office by peeing all over our fancy Obama onesie!



We will post some more photos here soon - there are LOTS to sort through, as you can imagine. Can't wait for all of you to meet him!!!

He's Here!

Joshua Gerhardt Charles Pagel was born on January 6th, 2009 at 5:05pm, 6lbs 4oz via c-section.

The story: (I'll try to be brief!)

I went for my checkup with the obstetrician on Tuesday morning, and discovered that my blood pressure was quite high, that there were elevated levels of protein in my urine, and that I was dilated 1 cm. They had already scheduled me for another ultrasound for the Friday before my due date, but decided to send me straigt to the hospital that day to do a non-stress test on baby and to run some blood work on me. So, off I went - parking in the 2 hour zone no less - to the obstetrical testing clinic. They hooked me up to the fetal monitor and discovered quickly that baby was doing just fine. They took my blood and I lay there waiting and waiting. They came back and told me the numbers were no good - my platelet levels were dangerously low, and my blood pressure continued to rise into the 150's (I am usually very low, like 100/60 or lower). I peaked at 168/80 later in the day...crazy! I was scheduled for a c-section 2 hours later - was I terrified! I had the car, and Geoffrey was at home (luckily working from home that day) so he had to call a taxi and get all my things together to bring to the hospital. He got there in record time, and held my hand all the way into surgery, which kept getting more and more delayed - a busy day for giving birth, I guess! I was shaking uncontrollably all afternoon as I waited - having never been in hospital or surgery this was a pretty big deal to me, you can imagine. I was really surprised at how easy it all went - the spinal was my biggest fear, I think, and it was really easy, in fact. Weird to lose all sensation of pain without losing all feeling in my legs - the strangest feeling was when they moved me off the table at the end, I felt like I was floating suspended in the air. Anyways, they put up the screen so I couldn't see anything and went to it, and it couldn't have been 10 minutes and Josh was out. I creid and cried and cried - he looked so beautiful and tiny, we STILL can't get over how small he is after how big I was! Geoffrey cut the cord, they washed him up and brought him over to mommy. At this point, mommy expereinced the WORST headache of her life, it just kind of hit like a brick - they tell me it was the meds in my IV. But Geoffrey held on to the baby from that point until we got to our private room where it was "game on" parenting from the get-go. Geoffrey was able to stay 24 hours and did, going home a couple of times for naps, but other than that they had me holding and feeding right away, which was wonderful. Some of the best bonding time ever, I'll never forget it. He is a momma's boy, I'll tell you that! My mom and Arnold arrived later that evening and were able to come in and visit until very late - SO much better here than in Calgary, from what I understand, grandparents could also stay 24/7 if they wanted. My nurses were fantastic, and my recovery has been relatively easy. Intense swelling in my hips, thighs, legs and feet, but that is going away slowly, which is good.We came home on Friday afternoon - I had a bit of an emotional breakdown on the carride home - hooray hormones - and have had many cries since, but am getting much more stable that way too. Just an extension of "Ange the crier" - i am overwhelmed by love for this little man and have to let it out! He is an angel - covered in baby"fur" which makes him look a little like a baby chimp - so adorable! He is a pretty easy baby so far - as long as I feed him often we get along great! Our first night home was a long one - he wanted to eat all night long, whcih took its toll by 6am. However, we are learning his needs and are managing to get some sleep into the nights in creative ways. (The couch and I are very close these days!)

So, I will attach a few photos and include a link to a video and other photos - I will post this exact e-mail up on our blog too.

Can't wait for you all to meet him - there is ALWAYS an open invite to come to Edmonton!

Love you all and see you soon,

Ange and Geoffrey

http://www.ualberta.ca/~pagel/MVI_2288.AVI
http://www.ualberta.ca/~pagel/joshua/