VAN OTTEN'S: Happy Birthday Blake! February 17th

February 17, 2009

Our beautiful baby boy has arrived! Blake Austin Van Otten arrived on February 17th at 11:06pm. He weighed 6 pounds 13 ounces and measured 18 ½ inches. Austin and I are so excited to have him here! I apologize it has taken me so long to update our blog. Everyone has probably given up checking it after about three months of no posts.

Our doctor, Dr. Watts, put me on bed rest at the end of January, because I had symptoms of preeclampsia. About three weeks after I was put on bed rest I developed PUPPP (Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy). What a mouth full! The way PUPPP was explained to us is that I was basically having an allergic reaction to my placenta. I had hives everywhere. I couldn’t even sleep, because I was itching so badly. Nothing helped, not Benadryl, Hydrocortisone cream, not even a prescription cream my Doctor gave me. Because of the PUPPP and the preeclampsia symptoms my doctor decided to induce me.

The birth of Blake was the most amazing experience Austin and I have ever been through. I was induced at 9:45 the morning of February 17th and was in labor for a little over 13 hours. I almost had to have a c-section, because Blake’s heart rate dropped a few times. Thankfully, I didn’t have to go through the difficulties of recovering from a c-section. After a few days in the hospital, we were able to take Blake home. It has definitely been an adjustment. First he had his days and nights mixed up, so Austin and I were a little sleep deprived. Now he is on a schedule. We were also very curious, and a little nervous, about how Maya was going to act when we brought Blake home. Much to our surprise, she is very protective, she acts like a baby sitter-it’s adorable.

We really appreciate all of the love and support of our family and friends. We are so glad that our friends Stephanie and her son Chase from Phoenix could visit. Sorry you were under the weather Nick. Thanks to Mona for the visit and the cookies-they were yummy! We were so glad that our good friend Vicki from San Antonio (Go SPURS!) also had time to visit while she was in town. Thank you Greg and Katie for the cookies! We are finding out that Katie is talented in many ways. Thanks to Matt and Teresa for the visit, the bear and blanket are adorable. Thanks to Great Grandma Pat and Great Grandpa Leroy for the yummy chicken noodle soup and bread it was very good. Thank you to Grandpa Tim and Grandma Robyn for the gifts and visit. Thanks to Grandpa Terry and Grandma Joan for the prepared frozen meals and for grocery shopping. To Uncle James and Aunt Brydger for bringing us dinner. To Uncle Charlie, Aunt Heidi and cousin Kaitlyn for the amazing salmon dinner, the noodles were just fine, I promise! Oh and I forgot to tell you that the blueberry cheesecake you brought over from the Cheesecake Factory was awesome-my new favorite! Thanks so much Heidi for coming over and helping me out while Austin was at school.

I will try to post more often to keep you all up-to-date on Blake. Keep an eye out for Blake’s birth announcement-we will be mailing them soon! I will also try to get Austin to post to the blog once in a while too. Love you all!