We're home!!

After spending just 6 days in the Special Care Nursery, I got to go home last Wednesday, the 17th!! I had successfully passed all of my tests (everything from the bilirubin test to the carseat test) and was deemed ready to start my new life at home with Mom and Dad!

We've been home for a week now and Mom and Dad are learning to adjust from a life of "Bed Rest" to "No Rest." Actually, that's not really true. I've been sleeping really well, especially at nights, and have been really easy to care for so far.

Mom and Dad have been recovering well, too. Mom has actually lost 22 pounds in 2 weeks (of course, I was almost 6 pounds of that). And you'll be glad to know that Mom's gestational carpal tunnel syndrome is completely gone and her blood pressure has returned to normal. HOORAH!!

One of the first things that I did when I got home was took my rightful place in the cradle, claiming it back from Zoli. He has taken my arrival very well and has since found a comfy sleeping spot for himself underneath the cradle.

Here are some pictures of me enjoying my cradle:





I had my first Well Baby visit at the pediatricians office on Friday and had gained 4 ounces after just 2 days of being home! That puts me at 5 pounds, 14 ounces now, which is quite an improvement since I had dropped down to 5 pounds, 5 ounces in the hospital. I'm still only at the 5th percentile for my weight, but I'm eating really well, getting better at breastfeeding, and hope to be over the 6 pound mark at my next doctor's appointment this Friday. (By the way, I'm at the 50th percentile for my height.)



My Uncle Mike came to visit me once I was at home and took this picture of me on his camera phone. And it's not gas...it's a smile!

Hoorah for grandmothers!! Gram came to visit me while I was still in the hospital and then the minute she got on the plane to go home, Grammie came to visit! I loved it when they fed me and snuggled with me! They sure helped Mom and Dad out a lot and we all hope they come back soon! (Check out the Frankenstein buttons on the side of my head in these photos. "We've created a monster!!!" But I sure am a cute monster.)

And finally, here are some pictures with me snuggling with Daddy. I am his little girl afterall. :)

The story behind my name..."Kairos"

Kairos Elizabeth Johnson Rawert

The ancient Greeks had two words for time, both of which appear in the New Testament. The first was "chronos" which is man-made time. It is the seconds, minutes, days, and years that are measured systematically by a clock or calendar. This notion of time permeates our western culture today. The second word the Greeks used for time was "kairos" which is God's time. It is the time in which God acts and moves. It is the right or opportune time as chosen by God Himself. It is God's appointed time in which His purposes are fulfilled.


Mom and Dad's lesson in embracing kairos all started 3 years ago in September of 2005 when they started to "try to have a baby." The timing would be perfect, they thought. The baby would come in the early summer of 2006, just as Dad was finishing up a school year and Mom had completed all of her graduate coursework, leaving only her dissertation research left to get her Ph.D. So they tried to have a baby that month - but no such luck. So they tried the next month - and still nothing. So they tried the next month and the next month and the next month and the next month and the next month and the next month and the next month and the next month and the next month and the next month - which brought them to September of 2006 - and still nothing. In chronos time, a year seems like a long time to try to have a baby. And yet it turned out that Mom and Dad would have to wait even longer before they were blessed with a LittleBit; 2 1/2 long years passed by before the timing was truly perfect.


Those 2 1/2 years of waiting were very tough, but over the course of that chronos, God taught Mom and Dad a great deal about kairos. He taught them how to surrender their plans and calendars to God, have patience, trust in His will for their lives, and believe in the fact that God's timing is always better than our man-made timing. Mom and Dad also learned that while you can "try NOT TO HAVE a baby", you can't "try TO HAVE a baby", because as Christian author Margaret Brownley states, "Conception is truly a kairos moment."


With our limited human perspective, our idea of perfect timing is often flawed. Only God, with his infinte knowledge and eternal perspective can know what the right time is. He is the God of everything; He is the God of time. The Bible is full of reminders of this truth:


"In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." -Proverbs 16:9


"For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11


"He makes all things beautiful in His time." -Ecclesiastes 3:11


It is tempting for us to plan out all of the details of our lives, leaving no room for God to enter in. James warns those who fall into this trap by saying, "Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow...Instead you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that" (James 4:13-15). It was only once Mom and Dad stopped counting days and planning out the details 9 months in advance that God could work in their lives. God wanted to teach them how to detach themselves from the chronos that controlled them and instead, embrace an attitude of kairos that delights in knowing that things will happen, "if it is the Lord's will."


So according to chronos time, I was 2 1/2 years late. But thanks to God, I'm a kairos baby, and that makes me right on time!

I'M A GIRL!!

It looks like I tricked the majority of you voters who participated in Decision 2008 who thought all along that I was a boy. Gotcha!! Oh yeah, and to the two voters who just so happened to correctly vote "Girl" as my sex as well as correctly vote "before September 30th" as my birthday, don't think that I didn't notice that you did so sometime last week before I could get internet access to close the polls. Nice try.

My parents named me Kairos Elizabeth Johnson Rawert but you can call me "Kaira" (which rhymes with Tyra or Myra) or "Rose". And, of course, I'll always be LittleBit (which sure sounds a lot like Elizabeth, doesn't it? Coincidence?)

Look out world - I'm born!!

So, following Mom's doctor appointment last Monday, the doctors agreed that her blood pressure issue was serious enough that pre-term delivery was necessary. So that evening, 4 weeks before the due date, Mom and Dad packed their bags and headed to the hospital to have me! And after 60 hours of induced labor and 1.5 hours of pushing, I eventually made my entrance into the world at 7:18am on Thursday, September 11th, 2008. We were all pretty exhausted from the long process (look at how horrible we look in these pictures!) but are recovering quite well now.

At birth, I weighed 5 pounds, 11.1 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. Since I was a premie (which is short for PREMIUM, not PREMATURE), I have been staying in the special care nursery in the hospital with the two other coolest babies in the hospital. All of the "regular" babies have a different room which I hear is pretty lame. Overall, I'm quite healthy; I've even been showing off the excellent capabilities of my lungs whenever they take my clothes off to change my diaper. There are just a couple of concerns that the doctors have that are making them hold me hostage here until I get all better:

I was born with a pretty large bruise on the top of my head which was really sore for the first couple of days. It is healing up nicely now, though, and you can barely even tell that I spent 2 days banging my head up against an unripe cervix.

A few days ago, I started turning into a pumpkin. Yep, like most premies - I've developed a mild case of jaundice. Apparently the best way to treat it is to strip me down to my diaper and put me on the beach for the day. It seemed to work because my color looks much better now! I'm convinced that a day in the sun can cure pretty much anything.

I started out as quite a poor eater. Whoever knew that the comment, "your baby sucks!" would be a compliment?!? After my first day of life, I was eating so little that the doctors put a feeding tube in me to feed me whatever I didn't eat on my own from the bottle. And although I wasn't quite as cute with a tube sticking out of my nose, I have to admit that I really liked sleeping cuddled up next to Mom while getting fed through a tube. Afterall, that's what'd I'd been doing for 8 whole months!! I'm eating MUCH better now, though. They only had to keep the tube in me for a day before I gained enough sleep and energy to feed from a bottle for an entire half hour. They keep upping the amount of food I'm supposed to eat, and at this point, I'm eating MORE than that (I'm quite the overachiever)! I especially like it when Mom brings me in breastmilk that she's pumped. It just tastes WAY better than that formula stuff they give me...probably because she keeps eating chocolate pudding and cheesecake from the hospital cafeteria. YUMMY! Mom and I are now working on breastfeeding and as soon as we both master that, we get to go home! It looks like we may even be out of here as early as Wednesday!

Hey Mom - keep on chillin'!

Grammie and Grandpa came up for another visit this past week and apparently Mom thought it would be a fun idea to show them the hospital - twice - while they were visiting. Yep - Mom is still having trouble with her blood pressure; it keeps fluctuating all over the place, from 115/78 to 160/115. So, the doctors admitted her to the hospital twice last week to run more tests to make sure that I am doing just fine (I'm doing great!!) and that she doesn't have preeclampsia. Again, thankfully, the problem seems isolated to the high blood pressure. Mom has now been put on Level 3 bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy to keep her chillin'. That means that she's only allowed to get up off of the couch to pee! Don't feel too bad for her. Since she's pregnant and is drinking a gallon of water a day (doctor's orders!), she still gets to get up to stretch her legs about 20 times every day.

Please pray for good health for my mom. The doctors say that the minute she shows any other signs of preeclampsia, they'll induce labor and get me out of here (delivery is the only cure for gestational hypertension). We all want to keep me in here for a few more weeks, though, if possible, so I'll have nice healthy lungs. I've gotta be able to scare that cat out of my cradle somehow!

Surprise Baby Shower!!

Mom and Dad recently took an Infant Safety class to learn how to perform infant CPR and what to do when a baby is choking. Each person got a plastic baby mannequin to practice the procedures . Throughout the class, though, as the instructor was demonstating the techniques, the mannequin's head kept falling off, which was pretty disconcerting. It was especially disturbing because Mom and Dad could never get a straight answer for what they're supposed to do if MY head ever falls off!!!

Surprise!!! Mom and Dad's Bible study group threw them a surprise baby shower which was so much fun! We got to play some really fun games and I got lots of clothes, bottles, and toys! They had even made me a tasty cake that said, "Welcome to the world, LittleBit!"

In one of the games, everyone had to drink apple juice out of a baby bottle. It's harder than it looks, isn't it, Dad?!?!

Mom killed the competition during the diaper changing game. She changed that doll's diaper in just 42 seconds - while blindfolded, too! Now true, there was nothing messy inside the diaper, she didn't need to apply any baby powder or Boudreaux's Butt Paste, and the doll wasn't anywhere nearly as wiggly as I'm going to be. But still - I take comfort in knowing that at least the doll's head stayed on!

"The Cat's In The Cradle..."

It's been quite a busy week as Mom and Dad ramp up the preparations for my arrival!

Last weekend, Gram and Pops came up for a visit and brought me a cradle! Our cat, Zoli, is pretty convinced that it's his, though. Since they set it up, he's been in it constantly! It gives new meaning to "robbing the cradle". I'm good at sharing, though, and am happy to let him sleep in it...until I show up, that is.


On Tuesday, we had another Ultrasound to see how big I am and to see if any of my fingers or toes had fallen off. Here's me (well, my face at least) at 33 weeks of pregnancy.


Aren't I cute?!? It sure looks like I've got my Mom's nose! So far, I'm 4 pounds, 15 ounces and my head is 8.8 cm. I'm expected to grow about a half an ounce a day from here on out and Mom can definitely feel that - she's hungry all the time and getting bigger and bigger and bigger!!


On Wednesday, Mom and Dad took a breastfeeding class, which is good because I'm going to be even hungrier when I come out! Dad and I went in with a lot of questions as to how this was going to work out. How long will it take for Dad's milk to come in? Do they make breast pumps for dudes? Is it more comfortable for the baby if Dad shaves his chest? But then, things made a lot more sense once I realized that only Mom does the breastfeeding! Of course, I still don't know whether it's best for Mom to shave her chest or not. Just kidding!


On Friday, we took a tour of The Snuggery which is the wing in the hospital where I'll be born (if Dad gets Mom to the hospital on time). The place looks great, and I'm excited to be taking my first breaths there. One big problem, though...no wifi. That means I won't be able to blog in the hospital!!! Don't worry, though. I'll take good notes on my Blackberry, take tons of pictures with the digital camera, and then upload everything as soon as I get home.

Tonight Mom and Dad have an Infant CPR class so they'll know what to do if I decide to play the "Let's See How Long I Can Hold My Breath" game.

Only 6 more weeks to go and lots of preparations left! I'm going to work on growing; Mom and Dad, you should work on getting all of that cat hair out of the cradle.

Mom Needs A Vacation

Mom's blood pressure has been a bit high lately which has gotten the doctors concerned. Uh, hello...you can't put a woman on a scale, tell her that she's "successfully" gained 25 pounds since the beginning of the pregnancy, and then take her blood pressure and expect it to be normal! Just to be safe, though, they've run a bunch of lab tests in the past few weeks to make sure that everything is ok with me and with her. Thankfully, it looks like the problem is just isolated to high blood pressure (with no other signs of preeclampsia!) and everything should return to normal after the delivery. So, basically she just needs to take a chill pill and everything will be ok.

That shirt's working hard!

Here are some pictures of Mom and me at 32 weeks.

Mom passed the glucose test! To test for gestational diabetes, the doctors had her drink this sugary lemon-lime drink that tasted like Sprite and then monitored her blood sugar to see if she could handle it. She did great! She had to get under 130 and she scored 106! Man, I told her that she could get away with eating ice cream for breakfast that day, but she just didn't believe me.

Unfortunately, though, it looks like Mom has developed gestational carpal tunnel syndrome. The pregnancy hormones have been causing her hands to swell and retain fluids, causing pain in her fingers. The good news is that the doctor says that it should all go away once I'm born. In the meantime, she's been wearing wrist braces at night to increase the circulation to ease the tissues and nerves. I think they're pretty cool and make her look like a stealthy ninja.

So, maybe I need to get this onesie, too:

This past weekend, Mom and Dad took an 8-hour childbirth class to learn all about labor and delivery. And good news...they passed!

Thank goodness! If they had failed the course, I'd be trapped in here forever. Don't get me wrong - I'm doing just fine in here. But, it's getting a little cramped, and apparently it's unreasonable to ask for a womb with a view. Plus, my nursery is all set up in the new house and is just waiting for me. I can't wait to get in that swing, chill with Dad on the rocking chair, and sleep in my cute and spacious crib!

Just 8 more weeks until the due date (October 6th)! Although, I just learned in my childbirth class that for first-time pregnancies, the average gestational period is 41 weeks, not 40 weeks, so mid-October is probably a better guess for when I'll be making my grand appearance. And you thought I wasn't paying attention in that class...

And finally, some fun facts about Mom's pregnancy thus far...

• A lot of people have asked Mom, "Do you have any strange food cravings or aversions?" Sadly, the answer is pretty much no. Other than the fact that she doesn't really like the taste of red onions anymore (she picks them off of sandwiches and salads now because they're "too strong"), Mom's tastebuds have been the same as they've always been. She's talked to other people and read stories about women who kept boxes of MoonPies at their desk at work because they had to have them or craved raisins even though before they were pregnant (and after they delivered) they couldn't stand the taste of them. Minnie Driver couldn't even say the word "egg" during her pregnancy without gagging because her aversion to them was so strong. But so far, not with Mom. No late night runs to Taco Bell or anything yet...so sad. Maybe something will kick in over the next few weeks.
• In a lot of pregnancies, the mother's belly button "pops out" at around 20 weeks. So far, at 32 weeks, Mom still has an innie! I think it works like one of those pop-up indicators on holiday turkeys - it will pop out when I'm done and ready to come out of the oven!

Happy half birthday to me!!!

Well, Mom...welcome to the 3rd trimester! Mom is 28 weeks along now which means that I'm 6 months old. And as a consequence, her hands are swelling, her pelvic bones are painfully moving, the morning sickness and nausea are creeping their way back into the day, and she's getting bigger and bigger!


Mom went to the doctor today for another check-up and things still look good. As usual, the nurse had to chase me all over the place to get my heartbeat, but she finally caught me and got a reading of 156 beats/minute. Since we're at week 28, Mom also had to do a glucose test to test for gestational diabetes. Thankfully, the sugary drink just tasted like Sprite, though, so the procedure wasn't bad at all. Mom was brave when they took blood, too! Nice going, Mom!


The doctors and Mom have noticed that I've been hanging out on the right side of Mom's belly all the time. Well, duh! How else can I be her right-hand man (or woman). Actually, the real reason is because Mom just recently had her gall bladder taken out and so there's a little bit more room on that side. Hey, every little bit counts! This LittleBit can count, too. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6... Ok, I'll stop with the puns now. :)


We got our new house! This Saturday is technically moving day but Mom and Dad have already begun to move boxes from the apartment to the new place. I also met one of my neighbors and found out that they have a little baby girl! I hope we can play together soon!


This past weekend, Grammie and Grandpa came up from Kentucky to visit. We had a lot of fun going to see the Wizard of Oz together (I liked the munchkins best), and they also helped Mom and Dad assemble my bedroom! My crib, stroller, swing, and rocking chair are all ready to go. They're just missing one part - me!


Grammie and Grandpa got me this awesome shirt that I can't wait to start wearing. It says, "Diaper Loading: 76% Complete". I love it! Here are some pictures of some other cute onesies that I hope to purchase online once I get my first credit card (I hope my credit is good enough).

Wiggle Bit?

This weekend, I went on my first camping trip. Mom and Dad took me up into the Adirondacks with my friends Jen and Jerod (who are getting married in 3 weeks and have asked me to be in the wedding party!) I was well-behaved and didn't send Mom to the bathroom to pee too many times in the middle of the night! I got to go on my first canoe ride and did a little fishing, too (though I didn't catch anything except some water-lillies). It was nice to spend time in the mountains, even if our trip did get cut short because of the rain.

Mom's been enjoying swimming at the pool at our apartment. She especially likes being able to do backflips in the water to stretch out those abs and back muscles. I'm definitely getting bigger (I'm an estimated 2 pounds now and over a foot long), and it's making it a little difficult for Mom to get sleep. I guess the "honeymoon stage" of pregnancy (a.k.a. the second trimester) is just about over.

I'm just finishing up my first college class; as some of you know, I've been auditing a statistics class that my dad's teaching at ACC this summer. He's a great professor!! I just hope my credits transfer 18 years from now when I go to college full-time. From what I've learned in this class, I've been able to figure out that the 9% difference in the number of people who think I'll be a boy (54%) vs. a girl (45%) is not statistically significant (z = .4454, p = .328). So, your guesses are about the same as flipping a coin. :)

The three of us have now signed up for a series of Childbirth Preparation Classes at my hospital (Glens Falls Hospital) that will start in August. I'm going to take good notes so I know just what to do on delivery day!

Somehow, my name has now morphed into "Wiggle Bit". At my last doctor's appointment, the nurse kept chasing me all over the place with that doplar device to get my heart beat, but as usual, I was quite wiggly and wouldn't hold still for her. And Mom and Dad have started to see me move through Mom's shirt now, too. One day in Dad's class, I body slammed myself up against Mom's belly. That was fun!! Hopefully, we'll be able to get the movements on camera. If so, we'll post them for you all to see!

Playing games with Dad

I was playing this cool new game with Dad today. He lays his head down on Mom's belly and then when I feel him there, I kick him in the face. HA HA!! Apparently it's not very nice to kick your dad, though, because after I did it a couple of times, he told me to "go to my womb."

Hooray for Baby Shopping Sprees!

My smart dad figured out a way to combine his 10% employee discount with a 10% off discount for opening a Target Visa card to get me about $1100 worth of furniture and accessories for only $870 dollars. Mom and Dad wandered around the baby section of Target for about 30 minutes looking like lost sheep, but after a couple of calls to the grandparents and aunts and uncles, they had things figured out! Now we've got a crib, a changing table, a stroller, a carseat, a swing, a rocking chair, and more! They even remembered to get a camcorder. After all, I hear that they won't let you leave the hospital without one of those. I think Mom is most excited about her new camo purse/diaper bag. Apparently, you can also buy this bag at DiaperDude.com.

There is still a lot of stuff that I need. If you are interested in getting me something to welcome me into this world, please see my Gift Wish List at the bottom of this webpage which is a continual work-in-progress. And on behalf of myself, Mom, and Dad...THANKS!!!!

WHOA - we're half way there!!

Bon Jovi said it best. Sing it with me now...

WHOA...we're half way there!

WHOA...livin' on a prayer.

Take my hand and we'll make it I swear

WHOA...livin' on a prayer.

That's right - we're half way to the due date! Only 140 more days to go. That means you only have 140 more days to vote for whether you think I'm a girl or a boy. :)

I got my first book!! Brian and Natalie sent me "Goodnight Moon"and Mom's been reading it to me at night. It's perfect timing, really, since my hearing just started developing this week. Thanks guys!!

Greetings, Earthlings!

Here I am again. Loud and proud. And yes, I look like an alien. I guess the truth has to come out at some point - the mothership deposited me here in the womb.

Mom was 19.5 weeks along at the time of these photos making me 17.5 weeks old.


The second Ultrasound turned out just fine - I have all of my vital organs, a nice spinal cord (which apparently glows in the dark, as seen in the photos), strong bones, and a HUGE belly (yep, Mom was right...I have been eating all of her food). I wasn't behaving very well for the lab technician. I found this great hiding place in the womb and decided to take a nap there, making it hard for the tech to see what she needed to. HAHA!

In this second picture, I was doing my impression of "The Thinker" as I contemplated what to put in my next blog posting and who I should support in the 2008 Presidential election. Or, maybe I was just politely covering my nose as I was about to sneeze. I don't really recall...

Here's the image tilted to help you see it.

What are you looking at?

Mom's got a baby bump!!

There's no hiding it now...Mom is definitely pregnant and people are starting to stare. Mom has been studying the eye-movements of strangers that she meets and has noticed the distinct eye-movement pattern of face-to-belly-to-face-to-belly-to-face with increased fixation durations on the face region after each successive saccade from the belly region. She's now thinking about auctioning off her belly space on E-bay so that businesses can use it as advertising space. I mean, if people are going to stare at her belly anyway, she might as well make some money off of it!

And it's official, Mom's clothes don't fit anymore. So, she spent a morning at the Salvation army buying up all of the long shirts and anything with an elastic waist. She also spent some time eyeing the cute baby clothes (25 cents each!!), but didn't buy anything for me yet. :(

I went on my first plane ride to Kentucky this past weekend. It was fun to get to spend some time with Gram and Pops, Grammie and Grandpa, Aunt Monica and Uncle Walter, and my cousins Maggie, Clara, and Tyler! Maggie is hoping that I turn out to be a boy, so she can claim to still be the youngest granddaughter. :) While we were in, Aunt Monica and Uncle Walter gave me a hand-me-down PACK AND PLAY!! WOO-HOO!!

On Mother's Day (Sun, May 11th), I started kicking and wiggling around enough for Mom to feel it. I was trying to say "HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY" in morse code. Dad thinks the baby movements are cool; Mom thinks it's freakin' weird. She still can't get over the fact that she has toes, ears, and a nose inside of her. Gross!

Mom has been feeling much better! The morning sickness only creeps in about twice a week now and is actually finally confined to the morning hours. Apparently, the trick was to stop eating crackers, cereal, and toast in the morning and start eating burritos and ice cream. The pet seal still barks almost every day, but at least it's not getting sick as often. Mom's convinced that I'm actually a seal and not a baby - I guess the Ultrasound tomorrow will test that hypothesis.

Yep, the second Ultrasound is scheduled for tomorrow! I can't wait to wave hello to Mom and Dad again. I'll post pictures from it soon. You won't believe how much I've grown...I'm actually more of a Little Byte now than a Little Bit (yep, I'm going to be a pun-creating computer nerd, just like Dad).

My new home...6 Plum Court

Mom and dad bought a house!! Moving date is TBD, but hopefully it will be soon so Mom can actually help Dad some. Here are some pictures:

And here's my room, soon to be decorated in Sesame Street style: