After doing some serious thinking, I've decided I should view these weeks without Jason as more bonding time with my son than this horrible tragedy that is being bestowed upon me. Yeah, I'll miss Jason terribly, but it is fact, it will happen, there is nothing I can do to change that. There are so many single moms out there, or moms with husbands overseas right now that have month after month without their husband. What is 3 weeks really? A challenge. A pin for my mom hat. Something I can say I accomplished all by myself. We can do this.
It doesn't hurt that my son just keeps getting cuter and more charismatic every single day.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Henry turns 15 weeks!
So we leave for Alaska (Anchorage to be exact) on Thursday. 4 days! Yikes! I feel it has totally snuck up on me. For the longest time it seemed like forever away, like it would never really happen, and here it is, right around the corner. I think Henry now has more winter clothes than Jason and I combined. It won't be terribly cold there, but we figure babies need layers. He has like 3 jackets, and somewhere around 14 outfits for an 8 day trip plus about another 5 pairs of pants and some onesies. I think we're good in the clothes department lol.
Now as for myself, that's a whole other story. We will be heading to the store here shortly. I'm not too concerned except for the fact I only have like one pair of shoes and no raincoat.
I cannot really explain how nervous I am about coming home without Jason. He will be gone for nearly 3 weeks. When returns we will be heading to New Mexico almost immediately. Like, that say day. He gets in at 5:15 am and about 14 hours later, if not sooner, we will be in the car driving. We hope that Henry will fall asleep and we can make decent headway. Oh yeah, the reason for the NM trip is that my cousin Phillip is getting married.
In Henry news, we recently got his activity center from his Auntie Alicia (a friend of mine) and he absolutely adores it. It is becoming more and more apparent that he has discovered his hands and he knows what to do to do with them - a bit anyway. He is grabbing for things and putting everything in reach in his mouth. Toys are a new favorite word around our house. He actually has toys now! And he loves his stuffed animals.
Also, for the past 3-4 mornings we've woken up around 7:30 to find Henry wide awake in his pack n play, on his back and playing with his blanket or feet or just staring at things. Not crying, just staring at things. He does, however, sitll wake up at 3am-4am and want to be fed. Bah. If only he'd sleep all the way through the night! He's killing me! That's one thing I am not looking forward to, there will be no one to help with those late night feedings, they're all on me. I know people mean well, but I am tired of being told "oh, you'll be fine." Like this is nothing. Like I have nothing to worry about. Pretty much like I'm being completely silly for any worry or concern. My husband is being dropped off in the middle of nowhere Alaska by a bush plane that only carries 2 people and will get maybe 1 thirty second phone call to me in nearly 3 weeks and I have nothing to worry about? It's not like I'll be getting daily calls from him. Also, the one set of friends we have here in Weatherford will be gone the entire time we are away. And the moms group I'm apart of happens to have nothing much planned on the days we are free and everything planned on the days we are gone on either trip. The three weeks inbetween are fairly barren, except for the library trip on the day he gets his shots, a stroll through the gardens (looking forward to that) and something geared towards bigger kids. I am afraid I'll lose it here alone with not anyone to talk to really.
On top of all that I have school work! I have no idea what to expect from this semester, but hopefully it won't be too rough. I hope to stay on top of things, get things done early in the week so I have the rest of my time free to spend with Henry. Hopefully I'll look back on these three weeks and say "What was I so worried about?" I really, really hope so. In the meantime, I'll just worry, thank you very much.
Now as for myself, that's a whole other story. We will be heading to the store here shortly. I'm not too concerned except for the fact I only have like one pair of shoes and no raincoat.
I cannot really explain how nervous I am about coming home without Jason. He will be gone for nearly 3 weeks. When returns we will be heading to New Mexico almost immediately. Like, that say day. He gets in at 5:15 am and about 14 hours later, if not sooner, we will be in the car driving. We hope that Henry will fall asleep and we can make decent headway. Oh yeah, the reason for the NM trip is that my cousin Phillip is getting married.
In Henry news, we recently got his activity center from his Auntie Alicia (a friend of mine) and he absolutely adores it. It is becoming more and more apparent that he has discovered his hands and he knows what to do to do with them - a bit anyway. He is grabbing for things and putting everything in reach in his mouth. Toys are a new favorite word around our house. He actually has toys now! And he loves his stuffed animals.
Also, for the past 3-4 mornings we've woken up around 7:30 to find Henry wide awake in his pack n play, on his back and playing with his blanket or feet or just staring at things. Not crying, just staring at things. He does, however, sitll wake up at 3am-4am and want to be fed. Bah. If only he'd sleep all the way through the night! He's killing me! That's one thing I am not looking forward to, there will be no one to help with those late night feedings, they're all on me. I know people mean well, but I am tired of being told "oh, you'll be fine." Like this is nothing. Like I have nothing to worry about. Pretty much like I'm being completely silly for any worry or concern. My husband is being dropped off in the middle of nowhere Alaska by a bush plane that only carries 2 people and will get maybe 1 thirty second phone call to me in nearly 3 weeks and I have nothing to worry about? It's not like I'll be getting daily calls from him. Also, the one set of friends we have here in Weatherford will be gone the entire time we are away. And the moms group I'm apart of happens to have nothing much planned on the days we are free and everything planned on the days we are gone on either trip. The three weeks inbetween are fairly barren, except for the library trip on the day he gets his shots, a stroll through the gardens (looking forward to that) and something geared towards bigger kids. I am afraid I'll lose it here alone with not anyone to talk to really.
On top of all that I have school work! I have no idea what to expect from this semester, but hopefully it won't be too rough. I hope to stay on top of things, get things done early in the week so I have the rest of my time free to spend with Henry. Hopefully I'll look back on these three weeks and say "What was I so worried about?" I really, really hope so. In the meantime, I'll just worry, thank you very much.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
3 months, or 13 weeks!
It has been far, far too long since I posted here. 2 months! I don't know how many times I've told Jason I HAVE to update this thing. I am going to start forgetting everything that Henry did and when. It has to be come more of a priority!
Well first things first, today (well much later today) Henry will turn 3 months old! Already a quarter of a year. Pretty amazing to see how much he has grown and changed in the past 3 months. It seems every single day something new happens.
Backing up some, Henry started sleeping through the night, for the most part, at around 3-4 weeks. He has stayed fairly consistent with the number of hours he sleeps, however, he wants to go to bed earlier now. This means he wakes up earlier. He will adjust eventually, but it is nice he sleeps about 8 hours a night at the moment, usually 8 or 9 to 4 or 5.
He went to his first wedding (my cousin Paul and his wife Delaney). They got married June 26th in Houston. Unfortunately I got VERY sick with a stomach virus. One of the sickest times of my life if not THE sickest. Luckily Jason did not get sick with it until we got home and then it wasn't as severe as mine. His parents both ended up sick and my mom fought it off for a week afterwards herself. Amazingly, Henry was perfectly fine. That is why I pump, even though breastfeeding did not work for us. It keeps my son healthy, it is better for him, and it makes him happy. He has unfortuantely had to have a little formula because he has been eating more than I can produce. Like today, he ate 36 oz! Luckily I had enough for him, but geez kiddo, slow down! I can only get like 30 a day. Anyway, I know it was the breastmilk that kept him from getting sick. I am 100 percent positive of this.
Moving on, on July 8th Henry had his 2 month appointment. He weighed 11 lbs 12 oz (exactly 4 lbs more than his birth weight) and was 24 inches long (he grew 2.5 inches). He is such a long boy! He is finally starting to get a bit chubbier, but for the most part he is fairly lean. The last time Jason weighed him on the postage scale they have for the business (yes, we've done that a few times!), he was 13.5 and that was about a week ago. He goes for his 4 month appointment September 7th I think it is. He took the shots relatively well, however, he started screaming about 3 hours after the shots were done. We gave him some baby Tylenol and he seemed to calm down. He spent a few days just really tired after that. Oddly enough, and this is just for my own personal reference, he also had really green poos for like 9 days afterwards. Gross, yeah, but I want to remember that for future reference if it shows up again.
Another huge step for us: he is no longer sleeping in the swing! I want to say this happened on about July 21st or so. He had already started taking naps in his pack n play, so he was getting accustomed to sleeping there. We had just gotten home from a visit to my mom's and grandparents. I want to say the next night after getting home, he woke up at 2am, very grumpy, we put him in his pack n play and he fell right back to sleep. Now I will go ahead and admit that he sleeps on his stomach. I know many will crucify me for this, but it is the only way he will sleep. He fussies and carries on if he is on his back and he always hated being swaddled. He is an anomoly apparently. He would spend all his time trying to kick the swaddle off of himself instead of getting any rest. Really this isn't exactly surprising since he spent 9 months kicking the heck out of me. Well ok, more like 6, but he enjoyed all 6 of those months lol.
We really feel he is safe this way since he has excellent head control and has since he was like 8 weeks old. Maybe longer actually because the doctor was very impressed at his 2 month appointment. I really think Henry is a bit advanced in that area. I mean it will eventually even out with all the rest of the kids, but for now he seems to have more head control and strength than the average baby his age. He also has a new game he loves called Standing Up While Someone Supports My Arms. He loves, loves, loves standing up. He gets those legs straight as he can and just stands there for a minute or two. He went from maybe doing it a few seconds to being about to do it for a full minute or more now. And that was within a matter of a week or so. He's been doing this now for about a week or two. His dad and grandfather work with him every day, so he has a leg up on the competition. :) Literally!
He absolutely abhors laying down unless he has to, like sleepy time and time to change his diaper. Well still he fusses sometiems when he gets it changed, but once it is changed he might lay on his changing table and coo at us for a while. Then he gets bored and wants up. He has also decided he doesn't really care for our living room anymore. He gets in these fits when we try to sit on the couch sometimes. He wants to be up moving around. He is a peculiar baby in that regard. He has no desire to sit still. There is far too much to see!
Which brings me to another thing we've been doing. We found a Moms group here in Weatherford! I was so hesitant to go, mostly nervous that I would not fit in, but finally decided I am doing this. I RSVP'd for a playdate at the local splash park even though Henry is way too young for it really, but at this age it isn't really about Henry anyway. Stay at home moms need to get out, they need to interact with other adults. It is so important! Especially to interact with other moms going through the same things you are going through. Well that was over 2 weeks ago and we had a great time! There were a few other moms there that were new and we have sorta gotten to know each other a little better. All the moms I've met so far have been super nice, very friendly and ladies I could see myself becoming good friends with. And most importantly, even though Henry is only 3 months old, he LOVES IT! He is so intruigued by the older kids. We went to Storytime at the Weatherford Library this last week and he was the happiest I'd seen him in a while. Not that he isn't normally happy, but he gets bored. Well there wasn't a dull moment that day. Once he was out of his carseat, he never once fussed. He just say there watching all the other kids, eyes wide open, taking it all in. I love that little guy to death.
He is starting to drool like crazy - not my favorite thing ever. That has been going on for 2-3 weeks now. It seems to be getting worse. Some days we have to put a bib on him just to keep his clothes dry! Not sure when he will start teething, but I am really hoping it is after Jason gets back from Alaska. That is one last thing - we are leaving for Alaska in less than 3 weeks now. We leave August 26th and come back September 4th. Jason won't be back until September 22nd. You do the math. Ugh. Not looking forward to this at all. I will be starting a new semester and I am so worried about how I will get it done with just us. I know my mother in law will be around, but I worry so much about taking advantage of her. I already worry about that as it is. I guess for now I need to enjoy the fact Jason is here and just deal with him being gone when the time comes.
We also leave the day after Jason gets back from Alaska for Santa Fe, New Mexico. My cousin Phillip is getting married! Wooo it is going to be quite a month. Traveling with an infant to Alaska then NM (driving at that) should be interesting. I look forward to the trips, just not so much the traveling part of it. At least my mom will be there for both trips and my MIL will be in Alaska as well. There will be tons of help for Henry while we are there. My brothers are going as well. I cannot wait to have a family vacation! We have not gone anywhere as a family since 2001. Almost 10 years! Wowza. This needs to change - more family vacations for us!
I need to wrap this up and get some sleep since I have to wake up in 3 hours and it takes me 30 minutes just to fall asleep. Hopefully I can find time to update this thing again. I know no one reads it but me, but it is really for my records anyway. Well maybe my mom will read it. She's usually interested in this stuff.
Well first things first, today (well much later today) Henry will turn 3 months old! Already a quarter of a year. Pretty amazing to see how much he has grown and changed in the past 3 months. It seems every single day something new happens.
Backing up some, Henry started sleeping through the night, for the most part, at around 3-4 weeks. He has stayed fairly consistent with the number of hours he sleeps, however, he wants to go to bed earlier now. This means he wakes up earlier. He will adjust eventually, but it is nice he sleeps about 8 hours a night at the moment, usually 8 or 9 to 4 or 5.
He went to his first wedding (my cousin Paul and his wife Delaney). They got married June 26th in Houston. Unfortunately I got VERY sick with a stomach virus. One of the sickest times of my life if not THE sickest. Luckily Jason did not get sick with it until we got home and then it wasn't as severe as mine. His parents both ended up sick and my mom fought it off for a week afterwards herself. Amazingly, Henry was perfectly fine. That is why I pump, even though breastfeeding did not work for us. It keeps my son healthy, it is better for him, and it makes him happy. He has unfortuantely had to have a little formula because he has been eating more than I can produce. Like today, he ate 36 oz! Luckily I had enough for him, but geez kiddo, slow down! I can only get like 30 a day. Anyway, I know it was the breastmilk that kept him from getting sick. I am 100 percent positive of this.
Moving on, on July 8th Henry had his 2 month appointment. He weighed 11 lbs 12 oz (exactly 4 lbs more than his birth weight) and was 24 inches long (he grew 2.5 inches). He is such a long boy! He is finally starting to get a bit chubbier, but for the most part he is fairly lean. The last time Jason weighed him on the postage scale they have for the business (yes, we've done that a few times!), he was 13.5 and that was about a week ago. He goes for his 4 month appointment September 7th I think it is. He took the shots relatively well, however, he started screaming about 3 hours after the shots were done. We gave him some baby Tylenol and he seemed to calm down. He spent a few days just really tired after that. Oddly enough, and this is just for my own personal reference, he also had really green poos for like 9 days afterwards. Gross, yeah, but I want to remember that for future reference if it shows up again.
Another huge step for us: he is no longer sleeping in the swing! I want to say this happened on about July 21st or so. He had already started taking naps in his pack n play, so he was getting accustomed to sleeping there. We had just gotten home from a visit to my mom's and grandparents. I want to say the next night after getting home, he woke up at 2am, very grumpy, we put him in his pack n play and he fell right back to sleep. Now I will go ahead and admit that he sleeps on his stomach. I know many will crucify me for this, but it is the only way he will sleep. He fussies and carries on if he is on his back and he always hated being swaddled. He is an anomoly apparently. He would spend all his time trying to kick the swaddle off of himself instead of getting any rest. Really this isn't exactly surprising since he spent 9 months kicking the heck out of me. Well ok, more like 6, but he enjoyed all 6 of those months lol.
We really feel he is safe this way since he has excellent head control and has since he was like 8 weeks old. Maybe longer actually because the doctor was very impressed at his 2 month appointment. I really think Henry is a bit advanced in that area. I mean it will eventually even out with all the rest of the kids, but for now he seems to have more head control and strength than the average baby his age. He also has a new game he loves called Standing Up While Someone Supports My Arms. He loves, loves, loves standing up. He gets those legs straight as he can and just stands there for a minute or two. He went from maybe doing it a few seconds to being about to do it for a full minute or more now. And that was within a matter of a week or so. He's been doing this now for about a week or two. His dad and grandfather work with him every day, so he has a leg up on the competition. :) Literally!
He absolutely abhors laying down unless he has to, like sleepy time and time to change his diaper. Well still he fusses sometiems when he gets it changed, but once it is changed he might lay on his changing table and coo at us for a while. Then he gets bored and wants up. He has also decided he doesn't really care for our living room anymore. He gets in these fits when we try to sit on the couch sometimes. He wants to be up moving around. He is a peculiar baby in that regard. He has no desire to sit still. There is far too much to see!
Which brings me to another thing we've been doing. We found a Moms group here in Weatherford! I was so hesitant to go, mostly nervous that I would not fit in, but finally decided I am doing this. I RSVP'd for a playdate at the local splash park even though Henry is way too young for it really, but at this age it isn't really about Henry anyway. Stay at home moms need to get out, they need to interact with other adults. It is so important! Especially to interact with other moms going through the same things you are going through. Well that was over 2 weeks ago and we had a great time! There were a few other moms there that were new and we have sorta gotten to know each other a little better. All the moms I've met so far have been super nice, very friendly and ladies I could see myself becoming good friends with. And most importantly, even though Henry is only 3 months old, he LOVES IT! He is so intruigued by the older kids. We went to Storytime at the Weatherford Library this last week and he was the happiest I'd seen him in a while. Not that he isn't normally happy, but he gets bored. Well there wasn't a dull moment that day. Once he was out of his carseat, he never once fussed. He just say there watching all the other kids, eyes wide open, taking it all in. I love that little guy to death.
He is starting to drool like crazy - not my favorite thing ever. That has been going on for 2-3 weeks now. It seems to be getting worse. Some days we have to put a bib on him just to keep his clothes dry! Not sure when he will start teething, but I am really hoping it is after Jason gets back from Alaska. That is one last thing - we are leaving for Alaska in less than 3 weeks now. We leave August 26th and come back September 4th. Jason won't be back until September 22nd. You do the math. Ugh. Not looking forward to this at all. I will be starting a new semester and I am so worried about how I will get it done with just us. I know my mother in law will be around, but I worry so much about taking advantage of her. I already worry about that as it is. I guess for now I need to enjoy the fact Jason is here and just deal with him being gone when the time comes.
We also leave the day after Jason gets back from Alaska for Santa Fe, New Mexico. My cousin Phillip is getting married! Wooo it is going to be quite a month. Traveling with an infant to Alaska then NM (driving at that) should be interesting. I look forward to the trips, just not so much the traveling part of it. At least my mom will be there for both trips and my MIL will be in Alaska as well. There will be tons of help for Henry while we are there. My brothers are going as well. I cannot wait to have a family vacation! We have not gone anywhere as a family since 2001. Almost 10 years! Wowza. This needs to change - more family vacations for us!
I need to wrap this up and get some sleep since I have to wake up in 3 hours and it takes me 30 minutes just to fall asleep. Hopefully I can find time to update this thing again. I know no one reads it but me, but it is really for my records anyway. Well maybe my mom will read it. She's usually interested in this stuff.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
4 Weeks!
Sometimes, when Henry is sleeping, I want so badly to just go over, pick him up and cuddle with him for hours. Then I realize that would be ridiculous. NEVER WAKE A SLEEPING BABY!!! I have learned that quickly. He makes the cutest grunting noises when he is sleeping.
Speaking of sleeping, he refuses to sleep in his pack n play. For now he sleeps in his swing. I was completely opposed to it at first when Jason suggested it. Then I decided we could try it, see how it goes. And then when he slept "like a baby" (where the heck did this term come from anyway?), I thought maybe this isn't a bad idea. He HAS to be strapped in, and he is right by my side of the bed. And I check on him constantly. It's like he knows when it is night time now and when he goes in his swing, that means sleepy time. Whether or not he REALLY knows that, I have no idea, but it seems to be working for us right now. A few nights ago he actually slept 7 hours straight. Even when he doesn't sleep that many straight, he gets up, eats, goes back to bed until around 5:30. That's the magic wake up time it seems. Luckily Jason takes that shift. Henry will usually eat then fall asleep on Jason's chest until 7am. Then he's really up. No going back!
He's getting so big and strong now. He lifts his head up all the time, away from our chests and looks around. He really is taking notice of our faces too, and everything around him. He wants to see things and he gets frustrated sometimes when he cannot. He likes to be sat up, like on my knee, so he can look around. He still loves to be burped, especially now because it means he gets to look around. He'll sit up straight as a board for 20 seconds or so, really alert, looking around then crumble for 5 seconds or so and do it again.
He's taken to his paci. Now I know a lot of people say no pacifers are bad, bad, bad, but it really calms him down. He loves to suck and sometimes he'll be "eating" for an hour straight, 30 minutes each side, sometimes longer, but mostly just because he wants to suck. He'll be flipping out, give him the pacifer (which we do while still playing with him, or holding him, paying attention in general) and it calms him right down. He never figured out how to use his hands or his thumb, not yet that is. Maybe he still will
We went to JC Penney's on Friday, his 4 week birthday, and got his picture taken. He wasn't too thrilled about it, mostly the being jostled around, being made to change clothes, and the unfamiliar poses and people, but after he was done he sacked out for several hours. We got a chance to go to lunch while he slept the entire time, then Central Market, which he also completely slept through! We were so happy to get a chance to do some things without a screaming baby.
We've come to realize that he does not like to be left in his carseat when we're in a store. He is generally ok if we're moving, but as soon as we stop and look at something, he starts getting fussy. So I ordered a baby sling (ring sling to be exact). It's being made, so hopefully it will be done in the next week or so. I REALLY hope it works out because I think it will be perfect for us. He loves to be held and this way we can hold him, or at least I can, dunno if it will fit Jason or not, and move around. He quiets down in stores when he is being held, out of his carseat. Cross your fingers it works!
Tomorrow he will be a month old! Well Monday that is. I cannot believe time has flown so quickly. My little man is growing up! Things are getting easier every day. I cannot wait until he is a little older and we can start playing and interacting with him more. That being said, he's becoming a lot more interactive lately. We can tickle his feet and he'll squirm. Today he even smiled and wiggled around. It wasn't a fluke either, we got it on video! And he went to his grandparents' house so we could go to dinner and he did it for them too!
Now if only I had more energy to get stuff done around the house.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
2 weeks and 4 days. That is how old Henry is today. Getting close to 3 weeks! I spent all this time on the April Baby Board on Babycenter, but everyone I sorta got to know over there has 6 week old babies or even 2 month old babies. No one was at the latter part of April with their due dates and none of them went into May. Now I'm a May Mama!
Henry is doing well. He really is a good baby. It's just at night he doesn't really want to go to sleep. I think he just doesn't like not being held. He looooves to be held. He loves to lay on our chests too. Jason lays down with him on his chest a lot. He had to start wearing a shirt at night though, the little guy tries to rip his chest hairs out! Amazing though, it calms him down almost immediately. Well unless something else is wrong, like he's hungry or a dirty diaper, then his legs start going. He kicks and kicks and kicks and works his way up your chest until he has no where left to go! It is pretty hilarious to watch, except for the fact he needs something.
Our baby boy is SO strong. He has the longest legs and people keep commenting on them. And loves to use them. He already tries to scoot around on his blanket during tummy time. He's not even 3 weeks old! I have no idea what this means for the future, but I don't think he'll be sitting still a lot.
He also loves to be burped. That calms him down really more than anything. He has loved being burped since day one, since the first time Jason sat him on his knee, put his hand under his chin and started patting him on the back. His face goes into an immediate look of satisfaction. Sometimes we burp him just to calm him down. He rarely spits up, except this weekend when he spit up EVERYwhere! He's spit up three times total, and two of the three times we know for certain he got too much to eat. The other he had a gas bubble. 3 times in 18 days is pretty dang good I'd say.
He also loves his swing. He takes naps in it daily. We've used it for nap time so much that we already had to replace the batteries (yikes, three Ds!!). I dunno if that is a bad thing, letting him sleep in his swing, but he loves it, he's right near me and I can see him from where I sit. That's surely ok, right?
We've tried to stay away from the pacifier so far. We've given it to him twice now, just because he clearly needed to suck and he just isn't finding his hand to do so. He will get it a bit but he moves SO much when he is awake, he keeps yanking it out of his mouth, but I do not think it is on purpose. He doesn't understand his arm movements yet, just that he needs to move. He doesn't get that when he moves his hands or arms, they won't be where they were a second ago.
We love him to pieces. Looking forward to the days he sleeps through the night though. Might have to take my mother in law up on that offer to watch him while I nap.
Henry is doing well. He really is a good baby. It's just at night he doesn't really want to go to sleep. I think he just doesn't like not being held. He looooves to be held. He loves to lay on our chests too. Jason lays down with him on his chest a lot. He had to start wearing a shirt at night though, the little guy tries to rip his chest hairs out! Amazing though, it calms him down almost immediately. Well unless something else is wrong, like he's hungry or a dirty diaper, then his legs start going. He kicks and kicks and kicks and works his way up your chest until he has no where left to go! It is pretty hilarious to watch, except for the fact he needs something.
Our baby boy is SO strong. He has the longest legs and people keep commenting on them. And loves to use them. He already tries to scoot around on his blanket during tummy time. He's not even 3 weeks old! I have no idea what this means for the future, but I don't think he'll be sitting still a lot.
He also loves to be burped. That calms him down really more than anything. He has loved being burped since day one, since the first time Jason sat him on his knee, put his hand under his chin and started patting him on the back. His face goes into an immediate look of satisfaction. Sometimes we burp him just to calm him down. He rarely spits up, except this weekend when he spit up EVERYwhere! He's spit up three times total, and two of the three times we know for certain he got too much to eat. The other he had a gas bubble. 3 times in 18 days is pretty dang good I'd say.
He also loves his swing. He takes naps in it daily. We've used it for nap time so much that we already had to replace the batteries (yikes, three Ds!!). I dunno if that is a bad thing, letting him sleep in his swing, but he loves it, he's right near me and I can see him from where I sit. That's surely ok, right?
We've tried to stay away from the pacifier so far. We've given it to him twice now, just because he clearly needed to suck and he just isn't finding his hand to do so. He will get it a bit but he moves SO much when he is awake, he keeps yanking it out of his mouth, but I do not think it is on purpose. He doesn't understand his arm movements yet, just that he needs to move. He doesn't get that when he moves his hands or arms, they won't be where they were a second ago.
We love him to pieces. Looking forward to the days he sleeps through the night though. Might have to take my mother in law up on that offer to watch him while I nap.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Two weeks
Well I never really continued my last post. I haven't really had much time to do so lately. Finding time with two hands where I am not completely exhausted is rather difficult. I have so much to get off my chest. I am feeling rather lonely right now. I have Jason, and believe me, I am very grateful to have such a supportive husband, but I feel so alone outside of him. I spend all day in this barn, mostly in the living room, except at night. Nights are by FAR the worst. I hate nights. When the sun goes down I actually get nervous. I get nervous that I will get no sleep, that I will be too drowsy to hear Henry cry, that I will finally get to sleep and he will start crying. He loves to take naps right before bed time so he doesn't like to go straight down to sleep. I hate waking up at 4am to pump if he HAS fallen asleep. Mostly because he will invariably wake up in the middle of my pumping and start crying. He will fuss until he gets food and then be awake. For hours. I dread he will get hungry again. I cannot feed him upstairs, not breastfeeding. I can pump and give him a bottle, but our set up is for downstairs. I am too large up top to feed in bed. There isn't enough support in the bed to let me feed while sitting in bed.
Also, I feel completely abandoned by my group of friends. For the most part, none have kids, very few are married, and none are interested in kids. None of them have called me since I gave birth. None have even left ONE single comment on a single picture on facebook. No one replies to my tweets. They respond to each other, but not me. I got a few text messages the day I gave birth, but I got about 60-70 messages that day. There was no way at the time I could respond to them all then they started getting deleted. I dunno if they are offended because I didn't have time to do so on the day I gave birth or not, either way I feel like it is time to step back. If they want to continue their friendships with me, they're going to have to make the effort. If not, I just need to make new friends.
I want to post about Henry, I really do, but I am so down right now I don't think I can. Baby blues I guess....
Also, I feel completely abandoned by my group of friends. For the most part, none have kids, very few are married, and none are interested in kids. None of them have called me since I gave birth. None have even left ONE single comment on a single picture on facebook. No one replies to my tweets. They respond to each other, but not me. I got a few text messages the day I gave birth, but I got about 60-70 messages that day. There was no way at the time I could respond to them all then they started getting deleted. I dunno if they are offended because I didn't have time to do so on the day I gave birth or not, either way I feel like it is time to step back. If they want to continue their friendships with me, they're going to have to make the effort. If not, I just need to make new friends.
I want to post about Henry, I really do, but I am so down right now I don't think I can. Baby blues I guess....
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Henry is here! Part 1
It is a long story, but I want to document it all so that I don't forget any of it. It might have to be done in pieces though, if Henry doesn't let me finish.
Jason and I spent most of Thursday getting things done around the barn, making sure things were clean and put away. We knew we would have guests after Henry arrived, and we just didn't want to come home to a dirty house. Around 2 or so we ran over to Wal Mart for our last run without a child. Ever. That was a surreal experience. Knowing it was the last time we would walk in there without being parents sorta hit us both pretty hard.
After we were done, we ran home, I got a shower and we made sure we had everything we needed. BTW we needed about 1/3rd of the things we brought. First time parent overpacker syndrome kicked in. Did we really think we needed that many books?
We made sure we got to the hospital by 5pm, and after being redirected to three different places, we found the right place to be. I felt bad for all the mothers I saw coming in there having contractions, looking worse for wear, and I just waltzed up to the front desk and filled out my paperwork. They had me in a room within 5 minutes. I was shocked really! I figured it would take forever.
I should note that earlier in the day, I started having stronger contractions, or at least what I thought were contractions. I hoped that this would help things along and maybe he would come on his own. by 6:15 they administerd the Cervidil. BTW that hurt! Wowza. They have to shove it up behind your uterus. They said at that point I was 2-3 cms, leaning towards 3cms. So we definitely had progressed since Monday. They hooked me up to the baby heart rate monitor adn the contraction monitor which was very interesting to watch. I took an ambien around 8pm to help me sleep. It helped a little bit, but I did start feeling contractions so it woke me up. I slept maybe an hour and a half.
I should also note that the nurses both had told us that most people did not react to the Cervidil and that probably at most I would feel mild contractions through the night. When the night nurse said this, I was watching the monitor and my contractions were already timing themselves at like 5 minutes, if not less. They were consistent too, but then nurse seemed very adament I was NOT in labor. These were just pre labor contractions or Braxton Hicks. I knew better, or thought I did.
The contractions just get stronger and more painful through the night. Poor Jason had to help me to the restroom, it was too painful to try to go alone. Neither of us got a lot of sleep. By about 6am the contractions are about 1.5 minutes apart, and yet the night nurse still seems to think nothing of this. I finally decided to get the Staydol or whatever it is called for the pain, to help take the edge off. In order to get this, I needed to get an IV. Three people and an anesthesiolgist later and finally I had an IV. Once the meds started going in, the contractions were so painful it did not work at all.
I had to ask for an epi at that point. I couldn't continue going through that every 45 seconds basically, that's about how long it was before another one started. They checked my cervix beforehand and low and behold I was a solid 4. After the epi went in, my doctor came in, around 7:30 or so, and at this point I was a 5. Around this time she decided to break my water since she could see it bulging out at that point, could even touch it. She also could see that there was meconium, meaning Henry had pooped in the womb. We were sort of afraid of this since he was late and that is not uncommon at all. Jason did the same, so he takes after his daddy!
They checked me every 45 minutes to an hour after that and by 11am I was 10 cms. No Pitocin at all was necessary. I dilated all on my own. I don't know if the Cervidil helped or not, but if it did, it was all I needed to get it going.
Dr. Carnevale had a procedure to do at 11:30 am and she said if she had to, she'd get another doctor to do it, babies come first, but my mom wasn't there yet and he hadn't dropped into the +3 station yet. He was still at 0 to a +1. I told her to go ahead, we'd start trying to push afterwards. It should only take an hour or so, and again, I wanted to wait for my mom. Actually she had me try a practice push first, nothing happened, so she was comfortable with this decision.
My mom shows up shortly after, and come to think of it, this was probably more like 10:30 or so. Through all of this my doctor was so surprised that I was moving as quickly as I was. I was too, and happy about it, for sure. Well I sent my mom, Jason, his parents and my grandparents to go get some lunch. In the meantime, I could start feeling more, mostly pressure but some pain, so they came and gave me another round of epi meds into the epi catheter. I went back to being completely numb and I was perfectly fine with this. Also, they found out I had a fever that ended up peaking at around 101.5, so some IV meds were required. They are not sure why, but it could possibly be because of the meconium.
Fast forward to about 1pm and the nurse comes in letting me know that a team from the NICU were on their way. They were going to have to clean Henry up and get the meconium out of his lungs ASAP. They didn't even want him crying first, to help make the cleaning up part easier. The nurse, Jolene, who was wonderful by the way, started prepping me for delivery. They got the stirrups out and she and Jason got my legs up in those. That was quite a feat btw. They had to roll me over a lot during the hours leading up to delivery because Henry's heartbeat would go down every time I had a contraction. They had to monitor him pretty closely, but they figured it was because since he had dropped, the cord had wrapped around some part of him, head, neck, legs, arms, etc.
Once I was up in the stirrups, Jolene went to check on the baby. About this time a team of three nurses come in from the NICU and my mom comes in with her lunch. She even sits down to eat it and then Jolene looks down and says "I see a head!" Sure enough, Henry's head was poking out. I didn't even know it happened like that, or could. My mom decided at that point maybe this wasn't the best time to eat. The nurses then were all staring at my parts, which was a tiny bit uncomfortable, but at this point you just don't care. Their eyes were as big as saucers. Apparently they did not see this that often. Dr. C was still not there and Jolene had called her and even paged her at this point. She needed to get there NOW, this baby wanted out.
The nurses jokingly told me not to laugh or sneeze, he might fall out. They weren't kidding! I started to feel something a bit like a tear, but it didn't hurt. It is hard to describe how it felt really. After frantically trying to call the nurses desk and get them to find Dr. Carnevale however they could, Jolene looks down and says, "Well, we're having a baby." Within 10 seconds, she plops him on my stomach, completely covered in slimy meconium. I was in total and utter shock. My doctor burst through the door 30 seconds later and I just gaped at her with my hands out with this look of total and utter surprise on my face. Apparently the look was priceless. Henry came out without a single push. He just simply came out. I did NOTHING. I still, four days later, cannot wrap my head around this. No one could. The nurses and doctor all said they had never seen a first time mom do this before. Maybe a second time mom, but never a first timer.
At least Dr. C was there then to clean everything up, get my stitches taken care, deliver the placenta, etc. Good thing I had that epi. Because I did not push, the placenta did not want to deliver itself, so she had to get it out one way or another. The NICU nurses whisked him to the other side of the room from my stomach and got to work cleaning him up. They were fast, but because it took so long to get ME taken care of, it was almost 40 minutes before I ever got to hold my son. I was in too much shock to worry about it too terribly much until I remembered we needed to try breastfeeding right away. Jason was able to long before I was, because of the position I was in, it just was not possible. He was so handsome, right away, I knew he was a beautiful baby. Of course I am a very bias mother. Who wouldn't be? :)
I'll continue the rest of the hospital story some other time. This is already really, really long and I doubt anyone else will ever read it besides me lol.
Jason and I spent most of Thursday getting things done around the barn, making sure things were clean and put away. We knew we would have guests after Henry arrived, and we just didn't want to come home to a dirty house. Around 2 or so we ran over to Wal Mart for our last run without a child. Ever. That was a surreal experience. Knowing it was the last time we would walk in there without being parents sorta hit us both pretty hard.
After we were done, we ran home, I got a shower and we made sure we had everything we needed. BTW we needed about 1/3rd of the things we brought. First time parent overpacker syndrome kicked in. Did we really think we needed that many books?
We made sure we got to the hospital by 5pm, and after being redirected to three different places, we found the right place to be. I felt bad for all the mothers I saw coming in there having contractions, looking worse for wear, and I just waltzed up to the front desk and filled out my paperwork. They had me in a room within 5 minutes. I was shocked really! I figured it would take forever.
I should note that earlier in the day, I started having stronger contractions, or at least what I thought were contractions. I hoped that this would help things along and maybe he would come on his own. by 6:15 they administerd the Cervidil. BTW that hurt! Wowza. They have to shove it up behind your uterus. They said at that point I was 2-3 cms, leaning towards 3cms. So we definitely had progressed since Monday. They hooked me up to the baby heart rate monitor adn the contraction monitor which was very interesting to watch. I took an ambien around 8pm to help me sleep. It helped a little bit, but I did start feeling contractions so it woke me up. I slept maybe an hour and a half.
I should also note that the nurses both had told us that most people did not react to the Cervidil and that probably at most I would feel mild contractions through the night. When the night nurse said this, I was watching the monitor and my contractions were already timing themselves at like 5 minutes, if not less. They were consistent too, but then nurse seemed very adament I was NOT in labor. These were just pre labor contractions or Braxton Hicks. I knew better, or thought I did.
The contractions just get stronger and more painful through the night. Poor Jason had to help me to the restroom, it was too painful to try to go alone. Neither of us got a lot of sleep. By about 6am the contractions are about 1.5 minutes apart, and yet the night nurse still seems to think nothing of this. I finally decided to get the Staydol or whatever it is called for the pain, to help take the edge off. In order to get this, I needed to get an IV. Three people and an anesthesiolgist later and finally I had an IV. Once the meds started going in, the contractions were so painful it did not work at all.
I had to ask for an epi at that point. I couldn't continue going through that every 45 seconds basically, that's about how long it was before another one started. They checked my cervix beforehand and low and behold I was a solid 4. After the epi went in, my doctor came in, around 7:30 or so, and at this point I was a 5. Around this time she decided to break my water since she could see it bulging out at that point, could even touch it. She also could see that there was meconium, meaning Henry had pooped in the womb. We were sort of afraid of this since he was late and that is not uncommon at all. Jason did the same, so he takes after his daddy!
They checked me every 45 minutes to an hour after that and by 11am I was 10 cms. No Pitocin at all was necessary. I dilated all on my own. I don't know if the Cervidil helped or not, but if it did, it was all I needed to get it going.
Dr. Carnevale had a procedure to do at 11:30 am and she said if she had to, she'd get another doctor to do it, babies come first, but my mom wasn't there yet and he hadn't dropped into the +3 station yet. He was still at 0 to a +1. I told her to go ahead, we'd start trying to push afterwards. It should only take an hour or so, and again, I wanted to wait for my mom. Actually she had me try a practice push first, nothing happened, so she was comfortable with this decision.
My mom shows up shortly after, and come to think of it, this was probably more like 10:30 or so. Through all of this my doctor was so surprised that I was moving as quickly as I was. I was too, and happy about it, for sure. Well I sent my mom, Jason, his parents and my grandparents to go get some lunch. In the meantime, I could start feeling more, mostly pressure but some pain, so they came and gave me another round of epi meds into the epi catheter. I went back to being completely numb and I was perfectly fine with this. Also, they found out I had a fever that ended up peaking at around 101.5, so some IV meds were required. They are not sure why, but it could possibly be because of the meconium.
Fast forward to about 1pm and the nurse comes in letting me know that a team from the NICU were on their way. They were going to have to clean Henry up and get the meconium out of his lungs ASAP. They didn't even want him crying first, to help make the cleaning up part easier. The nurse, Jolene, who was wonderful by the way, started prepping me for delivery. They got the stirrups out and she and Jason got my legs up in those. That was quite a feat btw. They had to roll me over a lot during the hours leading up to delivery because Henry's heartbeat would go down every time I had a contraction. They had to monitor him pretty closely, but they figured it was because since he had dropped, the cord had wrapped around some part of him, head, neck, legs, arms, etc.
Once I was up in the stirrups, Jolene went to check on the baby. About this time a team of three nurses come in from the NICU and my mom comes in with her lunch. She even sits down to eat it and then Jolene looks down and says "I see a head!" Sure enough, Henry's head was poking out. I didn't even know it happened like that, or could. My mom decided at that point maybe this wasn't the best time to eat. The nurses then were all staring at my parts, which was a tiny bit uncomfortable, but at this point you just don't care. Their eyes were as big as saucers. Apparently they did not see this that often. Dr. C was still not there and Jolene had called her and even paged her at this point. She needed to get there NOW, this baby wanted out.
The nurses jokingly told me not to laugh or sneeze, he might fall out. They weren't kidding! I started to feel something a bit like a tear, but it didn't hurt. It is hard to describe how it felt really. After frantically trying to call the nurses desk and get them to find Dr. Carnevale however they could, Jolene looks down and says, "Well, we're having a baby." Within 10 seconds, she plops him on my stomach, completely covered in slimy meconium. I was in total and utter shock. My doctor burst through the door 30 seconds later and I just gaped at her with my hands out with this look of total and utter surprise on my face. Apparently the look was priceless. Henry came out without a single push. He just simply came out. I did NOTHING. I still, four days later, cannot wrap my head around this. No one could. The nurses and doctor all said they had never seen a first time mom do this before. Maybe a second time mom, but never a first timer.
At least Dr. C was there then to clean everything up, get my stitches taken care, deliver the placenta, etc. Good thing I had that epi. Because I did not push, the placenta did not want to deliver itself, so she had to get it out one way or another. The NICU nurses whisked him to the other side of the room from my stomach and got to work cleaning him up. They were fast, but because it took so long to get ME taken care of, it was almost 40 minutes before I ever got to hold my son. I was in too much shock to worry about it too terribly much until I remembered we needed to try breastfeeding right away. Jason was able to long before I was, because of the position I was in, it just was not possible. He was so handsome, right away, I knew he was a beautiful baby. Of course I am a very bias mother. Who wouldn't be? :)
I'll continue the rest of the hospital story some other time. This is already really, really long and I doubt anyone else will ever read it besides me lol.
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