3 Weeks Old!

Hunter is eating and eating and eating and eating and pooping and eating....so that means he is growing too. Pushing the 8lb mark and he is a lengthy 22 inches.

It's April 28th

Well Hunter is due today...but our little guy is already 19 days old! We are going to measure him tonight and see how much he has grown. He is stretching his newborn clothes.

Baby Picture Comparison

Well here are all 3 of our baby pictures...Does Hunter look like one of us? Cast your vote!!!

7lbs 10oz

Two week weight...and he is due in 4 days :)

2 Weeks

Hunter is now 2 weeks old! We go to the doc tomorrow for his 2 week check up. It will be neat to see how much the little piggy has grown! I’ll let you know…

I am such a Beefcake!

"My pecs are a perfectly sculpted piece of art...aren’t they?"

Baby Dedication

Hunter had is first trip up on “stage” this last Sunday. I told Pastor Brent that we would like to dedicate Hunter to Christ. We know that Hunter is Gods child and we are the lucky ones he chose to raise him here on earth. Thanks to Brent and Masami for the prayers and the words of wisdom, encouragement and hope.
When Brent asked me why we wanted to do this and handed me the mic I was not surprised, he told me in advance I should say something if I wanted to. I had it all figured out what I was going to say…and then it hit; emotions. I did not get 3 or 4 words into my little dialogue when unknown to me I started to tear up a bit…I thought I was over that at the hospital, but I guess not. Hunter is still such an unbelievable miracle to me, that I can’t help it sometimes to shed a few tears, then you put me in front of a couple hundred people, and its all over! I know I will get a hard time from my friends who don’t have kids yet, and the ones who do know exactly what I am talking about. Every time you look into your newborns eyes, a feeling goes through you that you have never felt before. A joy that God has given to us that is like nothing else. So for those of you who missed it, or could not understand a single thing I tried to say here it goes again, minus the “womanly” emotion…now I am making fun of myself…anyway-

It seems like people are always searching for something; for truth. Does God exist? People argue over this, and even die over this. As a Christian, I have always known there is a God, a creator, a savior…call him what you want, I know he is there, he has changed my heart, no one can take that away. But on April 9th it was made even more clear to me that not only does God exist, but his love for us is unfathomable. Of course the ultimate love was given to us on the cross, but in addition to that, he chooses to bless us with so much more. Two things will always stand out in my mind that day. The first is the obvious, I got to “catch” or deliver Hunter and place him on Becky’s stomach (remember he was 3 years in the making). Watching the miracle of childbirth, especially when it is your own, is something that nothing else can compare with on this earth. (Psalm 139: 13-16) The second was when it was confirmed that Becky’s water had indeed broke, I sent out a text message saying that she was in labor to everyone I could think of at the time. Within seconds I got about 15 or so messages back that simply read “praying” or “praying for you”. As I got them I thought it was nice to see that, but did not think much about it. After the delivery I was awestruck. The delivery was “better than textbook” as one of the nurses said (read Becky’s post on he birth for more detail). Anyway a short time after he was born I sat back and thought, it was so obvious that Christ was with us today, and the fact that I knew for sure that those who sent me a text back were all praying for us, and not to mention the ones who didn’t, but were still praying for us, was a testament to God being faithful to answer those prayers. It hit me like a ton of bricks and now is so obvious to me. It wasn’t just the nurses, midwife and us in that room that day, but the creator of life himself was in that room guiding every single step. To God be the glory! – You can tell me God is a fairy tail all you want or that it all happened by an evolutionarily, random, blind chance process, but now more than ever I know the truth; everything that happens; God is in control of. - God does exist, you just might just have to sit back and think a bit.
Well I am no preacher, and by this post it is now more obvious, but those are my thoughts, and what I really wanted to say on Sunday.

Hunter Meets Noah

Well, these are really cool photos…for more reasons than one. These two little guys are almost exactly the same age…if you go from conception, but Noah (right) was born about 2 months premature on march 6th, I believe he was due may 1st. Hunter was due on April 28th. After 6 weeks at the hospital Noah got to come home! Our good friends Brian and Teresa Merrell came over with their little guy, to meet our little guy. In this picture Noah is about 6lbs and hunter is probably over his birth weight, which was 7lbs 3oz. You can read the story of Noah at: http://www.merrellsville.blogspot.com/

We are all excited to bring these little guys up together. God is indeed Good!

Updates to come...

I will be posting some more updates, soon. I went back to work today:( - so I will not be able to devote as much time to this as I have.

Calling on Parents!!

Ok so this is were I begin to think my kid is a super developmental genius…unless you all with little ones can tell me otherwise.
So what I am getting at is this: Hunter was on his side today on the floor on a blanket (we were spending some good father son bonding time reading) and he heard the toy elephant we have rattle behind him and he rolled over from the side he was on all the way to the other side. His knees were on the floor, butt in the air. His shoulders and head were not all the way turned, but he just about made it on to his stomach. Now I know I sound like the stereotypical first time parent thinking my kid now belong in the guinness book of world records, but that aside I guess I am just curious, if any of you with little ones has noticed this kind of reaction and mobility and how soon you noticed it. I fully admit I am an ignorant first time parent, that why I am calling on those with a little more experience than myself. Thanks

Update

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Well I have to say this whole “being a Dad” thing is one of the best things that has ever happened to me (salvation in Christ and being a husband to the most wonderful woman in the world are obviously good too) Despite the lack of sleep, I have to say the last two nights have been the best ones. Hunter is starting to sleep in 2-3 hour increments, which compared to 2-3 minutes increments is really refreshing for us. I never knew how much one could feel refreshed on just 3 hours of sleep in a row, now I do. Hunter is eating and growing. His birth weight was 7lbs 3oz but when we left the hospital he was down to 6lbs 14oz. it is normal for babies to lose up to 10% of there body weight in the first 3 or 4 days (which he never came close to). But when we went back to the doctor on Monday to get the ok to get off his “glow baby” light his weight was back up to 6lbs 15oz…and he has been eating like a chunky monkey ever since. So far everyone thinks he is going to be a big boy…
We gave him his first bath yesterday, which was not his favorite, but we did learn a lesson in water displacement while we where executing “operation baby bath”. We have a “baby tub” that you just fill with water and put the baby in. So Becky fills it and I put it on the counter. Well, when you put the baby in the tub and the tub is full…you get the picture. We also gave our counters a bath as well! I don’t know if it is the lack of sleep, or if this is just a normal consequence of my lack of brain cells, either way we accomplished our objective, which was getting Hunter clean.
Another thing that we have learned in our whole week of parent hood is…
1. All babies do not like swings
2. Pacifiers suck…I’ll explain than one…
Ok, so the baby swings that all babies love…Hunter hates his so far. A few nights ago we were desperate to try to get him to sleep, so me and my bright ideas, I said “hey lets put him in the swing”, all babies love those things right? (at least this is what we have heard from friends and family) so I put Hunter in the swing…He hated it, he screamed, cried and kicked his little legs. I picked him up and he was fine, I put him back in it and instantly he was acting like nothing possibly in the whole world could be worse than this…so needless to say, what we inadvertently discovered that night was an excellent tool to get him to wake up during the day! J
And the whole pacifier thing – Becky and I prefer not to use a pacifier with Hunter, but the other night, (the same night we tried the swing) Hunter was crying and not sleeping…we had just fed and burped him, he had a clean diaper, so what more could he want right? Well he seemed to be sucking on his blanket, fingers or anything else that came remotely close to his mouth, so I said in all my wisdom “lets give him the pacifier until he goes to sleep, then we will just “sneek” it away from him. Well good plan, but one minor detail…he could only keep it in his mouth for about 2-3 minutes, which was not enough time for him to go to sleep. So consequently instead of getting up every 15 minutes to rock him or hold him, we were getting up every 2-3 minute to “reinstall” the crutch that I thought would work…Strike two for Dad! So the pacifier is out, for good! The little guy likes being held by mom and dad, but in order for him to not be attached to me 24/7 he needs to learn to be on his own while sleeping. Thank God the last two nights Hunter has done a way better job.
We also decided yesterday to go on our first walk. It was so nice outside and we were sick of being cooped up, so we went for a short walk around the neighborhood, and Hunter got to meet Henry (the neighbor baby born in February) the walk went well, and I’ll post a picture of it.
We have had a lot of friends and family be so generous with so many things. In the hospital Emily Searls brought me a hamburger and a fresh strawberry milkshake from burgerville, and boy I tell you , after two days living off of hospital food that was absolutely amazing…thanks Em, I’ll never forget that! My mom brought me the laptop, which then started this whole blog thing, so thank her for the speedy updates from the hospital. Thanks to the Dodrills, Searls, Wisemans, Hambeltons, Yamamotos, Great Aunt Diane and Gramma Rotrock for the dinners and other food. Auntie Lisa also cleaned up our kitchen a few times too..thanks! It was very helpful! A lot of people have been so generous to us, Thanks to everyone.
Well that’s all for now, I’ll post a bath picture and a picture from this morning in his new “Car outfit” thanks to Auntie Lisa! Hope you enjoy the updates.
Sorry for the typos, I am sure they are plentiful…

1 WEEK OLD!!!

We have had our little bundle for 1 whole week now.

The Family - 4/15/09

The Family - 4/15/09
The boys got some big feet...will see if he can fill Daddy's size 15 someday!

Slideshow - With arms wide open

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Another slide show...it has a slight delay at the beginning. These take awhile, but they are so cool to have...Hope you enjoy!

Hunter's Big Day! (birth story)

1:30 am on Thursday morning April 9th…I thought it was just another typical trip to the bathroom for someone in there ninth month of pregnancy. I had grown quite accustomed to the hourly trips to the restroom, as Hunter had made my insides quite crowded in the last month especially. This trip to the restroom was a little different than my others and soon I realized that my water might have broke. Of course it was not the obvious gush of water, the pop of water like you might see in a movie scene, it was more like “did I just wet myself?” Anyway I went back to bed, in denial that I might actually be in labor, and laid there just wondering if it was really happening. I didn’t want to wake Scott up not knowing if this was the “real deal” or not and not wanting to jump to conclusions too soon. So a couple hours passed by, I quietly took a pregnancy book I had by the bed into the bathroom, and tried to analyze the situation and figure out what to do next. Around 3:30 am as I got back into bed and accidentally knocked something off of my nightstand, Scott began to stir and I thought it was a good opportunity to fill him in, so I leaned over and said “I think I sprung a leak”. If I remember correctly his response was “what?…are you serious?” Well I was serious, but I certainly wasn’t really sure that this was it. We both got out of bed at this point and went downstairs, I began searching around on the internet hoping to get some answers and feel a little more confident about my “self diagnosis”. Scott began writing down all of my contractions and keeping track of all of that information. Of course at this point my contractions didn’t really seem any different than the Braxton-Hicks contractions I had been having for the last month or two, but we thought we would see if there was any type of pattern to them. After a couple hours of tracking my contractions and realizing that they were coming on a little stronger we realized they were coming consistently every 2 minutes and lasting about 30 seconds. During this time we had already started doing a few preparation things “just in case”. I think around this time we called the hospital just to check in with them and see what they thought about my timing of contractions. They said it was a good idea to come in but that they didn’t see any urgency, so to come in whenever we were ready. Hmm…now I had to decide when I was ready. I don’t know when I’ll be ready, how do you know these things, and I certainly knew I didn’t want to labor for hours and hours in some uncomfortable hospital. I was certain of one thing…I had a long day ahead of me. Scott put the car seat in the car and packed a few snacks and other last minute things that we thought we might need. Luckily we already were fairly prepared and had Hunter’s diaper bag and our hospital bag already packed into the car so it was just figuring out the last minute things. Scott made breakfast (egg and ham omelet), I took a shower and we called Verizon to increase our plan to include text messaging. We really tried to think of everything! So after we felt like we had everything together (as much as possible) we decided we would take off to the hospital. It was probably around 6 am when we decided it might be a good idea to leave the house. Scott brought up the fact that rush hour might become a factor if we wait too long, it seemed like my contractions might be getting a little more intense, so I decided it was a good decision to go in. I thought we might end up back at home in a few hours (if labor was false), but I was starting to finally believe it might be real so I figured it was good idea. Scott helped me into the car, we backed out of the driveway and pulled up on the curb at the lot next to our house and Scott began to pray before we took off on our journey. I don’t think he got into his prayer two words before I realized that my feelings of nausea that I began feeling just before we got into the car were real. I got out of the car and discarded the wonderful meal that Scott had made for me. Well I almost made it through the whole pregnancy without getting sick at all. I absolutely hate getting sick, and have felt so thankful not to experience “morning sickness”, so I tuffed it out and didn’t let it get to me. I told myself “I can handle one day of sickness”. So after a trip back into the house to “refresh” myself, Scott was able to complete his prayer and we were on our way to the hospital by 6:30’ish. Our trip went well and we arrived at the hospital around 7:30 am. Scott offered to drop me off at the front door to be “wheeled in”, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do that. My contractions had intensified a little on the way in to the hospital but I was certain that I could still walk in just fine. Well I did walk in, just had to take about a 30-45 second break every two minutes, but before long I was all checked in and in a labor room. The next hour to hour and a half consisted of nurses introducing themselves, being hooked up to a couple monitors to check the consistency of my contractions and Hunter’s heart rate, and just general admittance stuff for a labor I’m sure. During this time I have continued to get sick and my contractions were getting even more intense. I really knew that I was in for a long day, I was able to use the relaxation methods from Bradley class through the contractions, but just could not imagine how much more intense things were going to get. I was just certain that this was only the beginning and that things were going to get drastically more intense and painful. I just prayed that I would be able to keep control throughout the entire labor as I was doing at that point. Scott was so great to have by my side the entire time. He would make sure that I didn’t tense up during the contractions, rub my shoulders/back/legs, put water up to my mouth, lay a wet rag on my forehead and grab the upchuck cup whenever I needed it. It didn’t take long before it just became a rhythmic event. It was probably around 9 am when they pulled out this little chart and asked me to rate my pain between a 0 and 10. I really have a hard time with these things. In my mind I was thinking well this is probably like a 8 or 9 on my scale of pain I’ve experienced before, but I was certain that this was just the beginning so I told her I was at a 4, I had to make sure that I had somewhere to go from there. If I would have said and 8 or 9, I wasn’t really leaving myself any room for the real intense labor I was expecting to come, and by the end my scale would be from 0 to 20. It wasn’t long after that, around 9:30 or so, that they called my midwife (Karen Parker-Linn) to let her know that I was checked into the hospital and in labor. She hadn’t started work yet and had a full morning routine ahead of her, so she asked the nurse if they had checked me yet that way she could determine when she really needed to get there. She knew this was my first child and most likely wouldn’t be anywhere near ready, but she wanted to make sure before made a decision to go about her morning as usual. So the nurse checked me and told us we were “complete”. Now in my mind I was convinced that didn’t mean what it sounded like. I was sure complete meant something like…your cervix is completely thinned out and now dilation will begin or something like that. In my mind complete in this context did not mean “YOU ARE FULLY DILATED AND READY TO HAVE THIS BABY!” So then Scott asks “what does complete mean…fully dilated?” This was the only time I thought any negative thoughts about Scott the whole entire time. I was thinking “no you idiot and how could you even throw that out there and get that idea in my head when I am certain that I probably have 20 more hours to go of completely painful and excruciating labor ahead of me.” But then the nurse is says yes fully dilated, but she is really surprised and asks if it’s okay with me if she gets a second opinion. I am more than willing for a second opinion, this is kinda important to me. So nurse number two checks me and comes up with the same result as nurse number one. They are both really surprised and call Karen back right away with the news. I am instantly the happiest and most surprised person in the whole entire world and I felt a love for the nurses that is indescribable. I just want to give them a big hug and say thank you even though it wasn’t there doing that made me fully dilated, but they were the messengers that gave me the best news ever. I was in shock and so excited that very soon I was going to meet my little Hunter. Things began to intensify quite rapidly and my body began pushing without my control. I knew this meant that he was really on his way. Karen made it there quickly which I know made the nurses very happy, they seemed a little nervous about this baby coming before she got there. They just began preparing the room, but every time I would have a contraction and they could see the progression they seemed to get a little more anxious. Karen probably came in by 9:45 am and went to work right away. She is such a calm and positive lady, which didn’t change in this setting, but she went to work right away getting everything set up and talking to us about what was going to happen. Since she had read our birth plan at our last weeks doctor appointment she knew exactly how we wanted things to go and what our requests were. She remembered that Scott wanted to help deliver the baby and did a great job getting him all ready to go, while letting him tend to me during my contractions. The whole thing was just amazing. Contractions were getting pretty intense and the feeling of my body just completely taking over and pushing was so foreign, but knowing that it was almost over and that we would soon see our baby was all that I need to get me through the pain. I knew that I needed to focus on one thing and that was my breathing and making sure that my breathing was relaxed and controlled and that my body would do the rest (it got me this far didn’t it?) Eventually I could tell Karen was prepared and she told me that I could continue on like I was and eventually the baby would come because I was progressively pushing him out (without actively pushing, just letting my body do its thing) or that if I wanted to I could grab my legs and really push into it when my contractions came and have this baby real soon. She explained what was going to happen and what to expect and I made my decision right there to just “GET IT DONE!” I mean no matter what I was sure it wasn’t going to feel great, but I certainly didn’t want to prolong the pain and I really wanted to meet this little guy. So I began pushing with my next few contractions and I think it was probably 20 to 30 minutes later that Karen and Scott together helped me deliver Hunter into this world. It was 10:42 am and Karen asked me reach down and grab Hunter as I was delivering him and pull him up onto my abdomen. This was something I wasn’t expecting and didn’t think I would ever have the energy to do, but pulling him up onto my body and holding him and seeing him for the first time was so amazing. I was in disbelief of how amazing and beautiful the whole labor and delivery went. To God be the glory. Scott and I, as well as the nurses and Karen, were all in amazement by the whole experience. “It was better than textbook” said one of the nurses. I just kept replaying the whole event over and over in my head, I couldn’t believe what an amazing experience this had been and how it was just a few hours beforehand that I was in denial that I was even in labor. I truly feel blessed and thank God for His strength and calming during a time when people are usually nervous, scared, exhausted and tense. I am slightly hesitant, but at the same time really happy to say that Hunter came into this world totally natural, well not out in a field in the middle of nowhere, but without the use of any medications, I wasn’t hooked up to continual monitoring or IV’s and even during the recovery process I haven’t needed to take any pain relievers whatsoever. I suppose I’m hesitant to mention all of this because people might think that I’m bragging or being boastful, belittling anyone that hasn’t gone the same route, and that is not my point in mentioning these things at all. I mentioned before that I truly feel blessed by this pregnancy and delivery and I truly do want to give God the glory for all of this. I am thankful that He put specific people into my life to encourage me of natural ways to go about childbirth and providing the education for me to learn that there are different ways of going about the childbirthing process. I am thankful that He has provided me with a loving and supportive husband that is extremely interested in the health and well being of our family is constantly researching and educating himself so that we can make well thought out and educated decisions in our life. I am thankful that He has provided an abundance of support through friends and family that continually amazes me. I have always had so much to be thankful for and little Hunter is like the cherry on top! - Becky

"The Baby Photo"

Here is a teaser...there is more coming...it is alot of work to keep this up, but I am working on another slide show, and Becky will post "the birth experience" all coming soon.....

Slideshow - I saw God today

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We love this song...too bad it talks about a baby girl at the end...but hey, Hunter is man enough to handle it!

Hunter and Dad

Hunter and Daddy hangin out together.

"yeah I know I'm cute"

First time in crib

Hunters first time in his crib. He did OK but he prefers to be held..of course.

Hunter pics

They let us take him home!

Well we got home around 12:30pm today (4-11-09) and Hunter has mixed emotions. (as you will see from the pictures) he has a slightly elevated billy-reubin level still, so we have a portable UV light he has to be on 24/7…until Monday… then he gets checked again. I have attached some more pics…he already has an attitude…he told us in sign language what he thought of the light thing….

Thanks for praying,
Scott and Becky

Hunter is Here

Well, Hunter Wesley Rotrock decided it was time…19 days early, but he was
ready. He is a very healthy 7lb 3oz 21in baby boy. All is well and we feel
extremely blessed. When you watch a miracle such as life, how could one
deny the existence of God? We feel blessed beyond belief! He is our Easter
blessing this year, Christ made possilbe the most important gift of all
about 2000 years ago…eternal life. And on this Easter weekend he gave us a
new little life.
I don’t like the amount of pink in the “universal”
hat they gave him, but the awesome moose blanket evens it out.
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers,
Scott & Becky