The Kids!

Here they are--somewhat unaware of one another, but I think Champers is on to us.....

Laura's Side of the Story

Oh, I love my husband.  Let's see if I can top his unbelievably kind words about me.....Probably not, but I will try.  He and Colby are like two peas in a pod.  From the moment he first held her, she was like a little koala bear attached to his chest.  He could make her calm down when she was screeching for milk or resisting the urge to fall asleep.  He makes being a father look easy and you can tell that he is in love with this little girl.  And man does she love her Daddy.  I know that it is too early for recognition, but when he holds her, she looks up at him with what can only be described as adoration.  Aside from Colby, Joseph continues to take exquisite care of me, just like he always has.  He always saves me from myself, as I have a hard time taking things easy and slow, and he protects me from totally exhausting myself.  He is the definition of "marrying well" and I am so lucky to have him.

As for little Miss Colby, she is the best.  She is such a little Collins and unfortunately, she does get very splotchy and red when angry, hungry and going #2.  Some things we would like to avoid inheriting, but oh well.  We go to the doctor's tomorrow for her 2 week check-up and hopefully she will be even tubbier than last week.  Hooray for formula!

More to follow.

Back to work

So today is my first day back to work. The week off with Laura and Colby was probably one of the most amazing, tiring, and rewarding experiences of my life. First, I saw a whole new side to my wife that I had never witnessed before. I always knew she was a strong and confident woman but in this last week she has brought that to an entirely new level. First she was in labor for 22 hours with absoulutely no results. She showed pose and patience in an obviously trying and frustrating situation. She made a lot of sacrafices on how she wanted to bring Colby into this world but handled them all in stride. The C-section came and she was calm and collected. I don't think that would be the case if we knew what we were in for. This was a MAJOR surgery and her ability to handle that and recover so quickly should not be taken lightly. Everyone should be as impressed as I am that she is up and about and acting more normal that can be expected. When I had my appendix out, I was in the hospital for a week and on the couch at home for another. But no one ever mistook me for a strong woman.

Colby is a beautiful little lady. Even though she is tiny and all she does is eat, sleep, go to the bathroom and cry, I couldn't be happier with her. I know she can't see me yet but when I talk to her and feed her, I know she can tell its me. All those months of talking to Laura's belly really paid off.

So here we are, first day back to work. As you can guess, my priorities have changed a little. My family has always come first, but now it is just a bit bigger. My job here isn't as important as the one at home but I gotta pay the bills. I have this picture on my desk to help the days go by quickly.

Laura and I would like to thank everyone for the nice thoughts and emails, cards and gifts. It is truely a blessing to have such wonderful friends and family. We can't for everyone to meet Colby. She would love to have someone else feed her and change her diaper so feel free to come one by from 1-4am when she is at her greatest.

Welcome to the world baby Colby

Well after months and months of waiting it was finally time to get our little lady out. We went to the Hospital on Thursday night for an overnight stay and a gentle dose of Pitocin to get the ball rolling. The night was spent trying to sleep in the uncomfortable beds and all the nurses coming in and out. The morning arrived and the Pitocin was kicked up a notch. Laura was having good regular contractions and things looked good. The contractions started getting a little more painful before lunch. Laura had trouble listening to the amazing articles from Popular Science that I was reading. This means that she was in a lot of pain and it was time for the epidural. Around 1pm our doctor came in and told us that Laura wasn't dialated at all, so she broke her water and dialated her 1cm by brute force. Now things were going to get started for real. Four hours later, nothing had changed. Another 4 hours, still nothing. The doctor was trying her best to get this baby out the old fashioned way but it was becoming clear that Colby had different ideas. So at 8pm after 22 hours of labor it was decided that it was time for a C-Section. So I got all suited up.

The doctors took Laura into surgery and worked quickly and efficiently to get our little girl out. The surgery was pretty painful for Laura, but luckily she doesn't remember that. I will never forget it. I even made the mistake of looking 3 times during the surgery. Not the best plan, but I couldn't help myself. And at 10:12pm Colby Collins Sawicki was born at a healthy 9 pounds 0.2 oz. No wonder she didn't want to come out. She never would have fit.

The next 4 days were spent in the hospital with Laura trying to heal and us getting to know our little girl. She is the cutest thing in the world. If you don't believe me, I have photographic proof.

We got home on Tuesday and the real adventure has begun. The best part is that we have our little girl. It seems like Laura was pregnant forever and it is great to finally have her getting back to normal and for us to have this beautiful new addition to the Collicki Family.

The Plan

Laura at 41 weeks:

Ok, so we went to the doctor today and everything looks great.  The girl is kicking and hanging out, safely and snuggly in the womb and seems content in there.  Well, unbeknownst to her, we will be going into the hospital Thursday night for overnight treatment and completing the induction process on Friday morning.  So we're looking forward to having this kid on Friday and are very excited to have a date planned for when we get to see her.  

One upside to being overdue is that they give you another ultrasound and a chance to see the little lady again before she arrives. Here are her little nose, lips and chin, if you look from right to left sideways.

41 weeks on the inside. What a cute face.

NOTE: The little face is in the very center. 

The little squashed "3" on the right is the nose, 

the long hotdog shaped thing is her mouth open and her lips are around it. 

The little blob next to her lips is her chin. 

This picture is just of her nose, mouth and lips. 

Sorry if this is hard to decipher. 

Let's get started.

Hello, we are the Collickis. Better known as Joe and Laura. We are hosting this blog to keep everyone up to date on the beginning of our new family. Our little girl was supposed to arrive on Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday (depending on which method you choose to determine her "due date") but she is being a little stubborn. So for now we are planning on going in and getting her next Friday if she doesn't decide to come out on her own before then. I'm going to try my best to keep everyone updated with info and pictures as often as possible.

That is all for now. I just wanted to get this thing started.