Shhhh...Baby's Sleeping!

Hampton is taking a nap. In his swing. Not my arms. I should be showering, or cleaning my house, or really, anything productive. But I'm not. Ha!

It has been really hard to figure out what to do with my colicky baby. During the day, he has to be held all the time. He seems to like the car seat and going for rides, so I try to get us out as much as possible. Night time was horrible for a few weeks, but I think we're starting down a better road. Hampton sleeps on my chest most of the night, but I have been putting him in the pack-n-play next to me after his night feedings, and he will usually sleep there for an hour or two. I take this time to roll on my side or stomach. ;) Breastfeeding is going well. He sucks like a champ. My right side was terribly sore earlier this week, but I've worked on helping him get a better latch, and it is making a huge difference.

The past month has flown by. My little monkey is growing and changing so fast. He is trying really hard to lift his head during tummy time. He is looking around and really starting to focus on things. Smiles are coming more and more often, but I haven't been able to catch one on camera yet. Jordan and I are quickly learning his cues, and we can usually tell when he wants food, sleep, or just to be held and loved on. It is usually the first, followed by the last, which results in the second!

Having a baby is: wonderful, exhausting, exciting, hard, and many, MANY more emotions all rolled into a big ball of bliss. I love it!! I always wanted children, but now that I have this little guy here and in my arms, I know that I was meant for this. Being a mom has just come so naturally. Do I have questions? Sure. But who wouldn't? I already want another one!!

1 month!

Baby boy is growing so fast! He was not pleased about taking pictures, either. This was the best I could do!

I know I've been MIA--Hampton has been colicky, and I am holding him all the time. It's hard to peck out a decent post with just one hand :(. I will give a real update and get back to the blog real soon...I hope! :/

My Boys

Saturday afternoon, I went to hop in the shower and asked Jordan to pick out something for Hampton to wear and dress him while I was getting ready. He put him in a cute little camo trimmed outfit that had a matching hat and booties.

Adorable, no?

Well, while I'm in the bathroom drying off, I hear Jordan say, "genius!" and look out to see what's going on. And, much to my surprise, my husband had put on his own camo, and they wore matching outfits. It was so funny!
Gotta love 'em!

It is my due date!

I'll be honest, I was 100% sure that I would still be sitting here today with no baby, scared to death of giving birth to a giant headed, chunky little boy. Instead, I'm looking at my little peanut (who didn't have a big head AT ALL! Stupid ultrasounds!), sleeping soundly next to me in his swing. :) Crazy!

2 week appointment

We went to the pediatrician yesterday for Hampton's 2 week appointment (2 weeks! already?!), and he is doing well! He is now 7 lbs (25%) and 20.5 inches (50%). He's growing like a weed! Breastfeeding is going much better, but I was worried that he wasn't getting enough food. The doc said it looked like he was doing just fine, though. He does have what we are treating as an infection in his right eye. It has been mucousy and gunky for a few days, so we were given a prescription for eye "drops" (really a gel-like medicine that we have to put on a q-tip and rub on his lower lid...poor baby). After 4 or 5 days, if his eye doesn't look any better, we can rule out an infection and assume it is a clogged tear duct, but Dr. H wanted to treat him for an infection first--just in case.

All in all, things are going well. It's been pretty much a blur b/c we haven't done much of anything. We had a few rainy days here, and I found myself sitting on the sofa snuggling with the monkey all day. I'm in shock how quickly the days pass, but when your schedule consists of feeding every 2 hours, it's hard to fit much else in. We did get out today and visited my old co-workers. I feel like I have much more energy tonight, so I'm going to make it a point to try and get out every day that we can now that I'm getting a little more used to everything. The weather here is still pretty warm, so I'm hoping to get some walks in before it gets to be too cool.

We took some pictures for our announcements the other day, and I have to share. Can you handle the sweetness?!?! I'm so in love!!

I'm Alive! My Birth Story

Wow, I can't believe how quickly the days have gone by. This first week has been a blur, but I am falling more and more in love with my little monkey as each day passes. I've been MIA b/c I'm trying to catch a few winks of sleep here and there. I'll be back to updating (with some cute pictures) soon!

For now, here's my birth story. It didn't go as I had planned, but I wouldn't change it:

Tuesday morning I went in for my weekly BPP and NST. The BPP showed my fluid levels were at 5. Last week, they were at 7.9. The tech called my doctor and instead of doing the NST, she just sent me right over to L&D to be monitored. I was hooked up by 9:45 and things looked okay-baby was moving, heart rate was good, and my contractions were there, but not too drastic. My blood pressure was pretty normal as well. A couple hours later, they came in to draw some blood, and I passed out (twice!), causing both heart rates to drop. Things got back to normal quickly, though, so no one was too concerned. Jordan showed up around lunch, and the doctor on call came in to tell us that he was going to let us go. He wanted me to call my doctor and let her know I had been in L&D but all was well. I let him know that my doctor was the one who actually sent me to L&D, and he said to sit tight while he called her. My doctor got there about an hour later and said she had talked to the high risk doctor and they both agreed that it was time for the baby to come out! Jordan and I just sat there...shocked. I was not expecting that!! So, it was time to have a baby...

Dr. H let me get something to eat and then said they would start the cervadil around 4. Around 3:45, they measured me (1 cm dilated), inserted the cervadil, and let me be. It was a rough night b/c the heart rate monitor kept losing the baby. They had to come in and adjust it practically every 15 minutes. Around 3 am, the doctor came in and wanted to get the cervadil out even though it was about an hour early. I was having contractions one on top of the other (not really strong or painful ones, though) and it was causing stress to the baby. Once that was removed, they checked and I was still just 1 cm. The doc decided she was going to try and stretch me to 2--and let me tell you, that was THE MOST PAINFUL thing I have ever experienced. They started the pitocin drip around 5 am, and my contractions started coming a little stronger. By the next check, I was still 2 cm, and they decided to insert some catheter with a balloon on the end to help move it along. The first time it came right out, so I got to experience that fun twice! I guess it worked b/c by the next check, I was 4 cm. At this point, they broke my water and also inserted a catheter that lays next to the baby and could get a more accurate heart rate. Around noon, my contractions were so strong and were back to back. It was HARD. I tried to stick it out, but I finally decided that I wanted to go ahead and get the epidural. The anesthesiologist came shortly after, but at the same time, the doctor came in to check me b/c the catheter was picking up my heart rate, not the baby's. They decided to put a tocometer on his scalp for the best reading. Suddenly, Hamp's heart rate dropped drastically and mine skyrocketed. They had me quickly get on all fours, gave me oxygen, stopped the pitocin, and gave me a shot of terb (?-not 100% on the name. It was to help my uterus relax). Things calmed down after a few minutes (that seemed like forever!), and I was able to finally get the epidural. At this point (12:15ish) I was 6 cm, but the baby was still pretty high, so she sat me straight up to let gravity do it’s thing. My doctor had to leave and would be back from 3 to 6. She guessed that I would be delivering sometime in the late afternoon/early evening.

Obviously the epi made me and the baby relax so much because a resident came in around 1 to check me again, and I was 10 cm with an anterior lip. They said I was close, but it could be another little while. After about 15 minutes, I asked my nurse if I had the uncontrollable urge to have a bowel movement if that meant I was close to pushing. She said yes and did I think they should check me again. Most definitely! At this point I was ready to go, and everything was set up pretty quickly. I started pushing at 1:34 pm. It was really much easier than I had anticipated (NOT easy, but easier!). My nurse was a great coach, and the baby moved with every single push. After 31 minutes of pushing, Hampton was here at 2:05 pm! It was such a surreal feeling. Jordan and I were in love!

When he came out, he wasn’t crying and I saw the cord wrapped around his neck, which freaked me out, but he did reach up and grab the clamp on his cord and fought with the doctor to let go. At that point, I knew he was okay. He was taken to the other side of the room to get cleaned up while I waited to deliver the placenta. I was getting more and more nervous b/c more and more people kept coming in the room, and all they would tell me is that he was fine. It sure didn’t seem that way! We were finally told that he had fluid in his lungs and was breathing very heavy. It was taking all his strength to suck in, so they took him to the NICU. It was heartbreaking that the first real look I got of him was with an oxygen mask covering his sweet little face.
At this point, I had finally delivered the placenta and was getting examined. Turns out I had two tiny tears on both sides, but I didn’t even have to get stitches! After getting cleaned up and letting the feeling return to my legs (I only pushed the button once, so it wasn’t too bad!), I was carted off to my post-partum room and was FINALLY able to see my baby around 8:30 that night.

Hampton was able to leave the NICU after about 24 hours. They took the CPAP off Thursday morning, fed him twice and he did well. It was great to have him in our room finally. He stayed with us the next night, and then had to be put under the lights for jaundice. The hospital does not have a nursery, but we had them take him to the “watch room” that night b/c his apnea pad kept going off and he kept pulling off his “shades.” I knew I wouldn’t get a wink of sleep with all the alarms going off and worrying about his little eyes being open under the lights. He came out from under the lights on Sunday morning, and we were discharged that evening. It was a l-o-n-g few days, but I am glad that they took the time to make sure he was okay. Now that we’re home, he’s still jaundice, but I let him spend some time in the swing by the window for a little while each day and it seems to be helping. After being given 2 bottles first thing, and my milk not being in, it was a struggle to get him to latch. We worked with a lactation specialist for a couple of days, and she gave me some good advice. Eating has gotten much better, and he is latching well. I don’t think he feeds long enough right now (about 10-maybe 15 min on each side), but we’ll work on that. Other than that, things are going well! Though sleep deprived, we are having a wonderful time being parents!!