Monday, December 19, 2011

'Tis the season

Well, our sweet baby is 3 weeks old now and my attempt to blog one time every week hasn't happened exactly, but I'm going to try to find a good time, the same time each week to make sure I am blogging recent events and updating with pictures!

Updates:
- Will DID roll over on his own, just a few days after my last post!  Sunday Dec. 10th to be exact....and he has rolled over 3 times since then!!  It has always been when we put him on his tummy, on his giraffe mat, and then he must not like it, so he figures he might as well take care of it himself and roll himself over!  Such an overachiever!

- Will is still sleeping very good (compared with how I know it could be!) although, some nights are better than others...but overall, we are very lucky with the amount of sleep we have been able to get and if he does fuss, many times he will just put himself back to sleep.

- He is still eating really well!!  Seriously he is a hungry guy---and I think just had a growth spurt (which we can tell he is definitely getting bigger/longer!)  In fact, we gave him his first bottle last week, and the pediatrician said about 2 oz is normal for his age, and he CHUGGED that 2 oz and then still ate a full meal from mom right after that!  So, the next bottle we gave him was 3.5 oz, and he ate all that and probably could have kept going!  So interesting, since I have no clue exactly how much he is eating when I nurse him---but I'm thinking it's enough :)

- Grunter - we really find it funny how much Will grunts and the noises he makes! I think I need to record them so I don't forget it someday. 

- ...and the Grammy goes to.....Sarah/Patrick's made-up songs!!  Seriously, from lack of remembering lyrics or knowing what to sing, Patrick and I will make up words to songs and they are usually pretty funny.  We will play off each other and create some pretty 'original' songs for Will to enoy :) 

- Plugged milk duct/bleb = NOT FUN!  So early last week and late Saturday night, I developed what is called a bleb, or a plugged milk duct....basically looks like a whitehead zit that you want to pop, but it's milk that gets clogged and let me tell you it is SO. VERY. PAINFUL...especially when Will would latch on....holy cow!  I was seriously in tears pretty much both times---I called the Le Leche people (luckily someone that Patrick works with gave him her card to pass on to me, otherwise I feel like I would have felt very lost and not known who to turn to with breastfeeding help---any new mom's out there, make sure you know who to call, because you never know when you will need the support!)  I did lots of googling and searching ways to make it better, but talking to the Le Leche support, Summer, definitely was what I needed.  Basically it got or it gets better the more he nurses from it, but it's nothing I would ever wish on anyone!  (So, if you never had any issues with breastfeeding, consider yourself lucky!)

- Date night! This last Saturday night, Patrick and I went on our first date night in awhile---every year we go out to a nice dinner for our Christmas gift to each other, and we were hoping we would still be able to this year.  So Aunt Amy and Uncle Cody watched Will, while we went to new restaurant on the Plaza, Gram and Dunn.  It was VERY good, I highly recommend it and am looking forward to going again sometime!  It was exactly what Patrick and I needed and we are so lucky we were able to go and do that together.  Of course, we couldn't wait to get back and love on our little guy, but was nice to know he was in good hands while we were out! (Now, we just have to figure out a babysitter for both boys, so that the four of us can go to dinner together again sometime!)

- Newborn pictures are in!  We ordered the pictures last Friday and hoping to get the rights soon so that I can order our birth announcement/Christmas cards!  They are so stinkin cute!  I will post the ones we have the rights to on here ASAP.

- Last week our friend John came over to visit Will, a couple neighbors stopped by, the Kirby family came down and brought us dinner... and looking forward to several more friends/family coming over this week to meet Will.  It's such a nice reason to catch up and get to see our friends!

- We also went out and bought things for the bookshelves this weekend and it looks so great!! I think it makes the room/our house look more homey and I am SO proud of Patrick for making them on his own and doing such great work!!  Lastly, if we didn't feel 'adult' enough already, we got a CostCo membership this past weekend and were super excited!!  Now for sticking to that budget... :)

More pictures from the past week:





Thursday, December 8, 2011

A few of my favorite things...

I knew that I would love being a mom, but I had no clue how much!  It really is true when people say you have no idea the love you can feel until you have your baby.  It's just the best feeling in the world to look down at him and know that someday he will call me Mama....to know that we made him and created this life together... I can never give him enough kisses!!  Those cheeks are so kissable!  He is absolutely beautiful, and I can't help but call him pretty, because he really is!(Sorry buddy, some day I will stop calling you pretty, but you REALLY are!!)

All my life, when people ask what I want to be or what I want, I have always known that I want to be married and have kids, it's that simple, but that's really all I want!  Now that I have this beautiful family, words can't explain how blessed I feel to be Patrick's wife and Will's mom.

More of my favorite things about being a mom:
  • The way he smells--especially after a bath
  • When he stares up at me, with his eyes very awake and alert, and know that he is looking at me and hopefully recognizing that I'm his mama!
  • How everyone wants to see him when we go out somewhere! Knowing our sweet baby can make others smile as much as us too
  • Seeing those angel smiles as he is falling asleep/waking up mostly---he is going to have a gorgeous smile too!
  • I love, love, love nursing him!  I had no clue what an amzing feeling it would be, and the connection we have.  Such a wonderful physical and emotional connection, and I love the way he will look up at me when he's eating sometimes with his big eyes just staring up at me--melts my heart!
  • Just like dad....the other day when I was feeding Will, he had one hand on his chest and the other resting behind his head.... I was laughing telling Patrick about it and when I looked up, Patrick was laying the EXACT same way on our bed!! Same arms up and everything!!  They both can fall asleep in one second and be completely out, and Will also has Patrick's unattched earlobes :)
Will's favorite things:
  • Sleeping!! He is a great sleeper-- mom and dad really appreciate that!!
  • Usually in the late morning he is very alert and awake--I love seeing those beautiful eyes!! Now he will start doing tummy time during all the awake times also!
  • Grunting!! He seriously is usually making some kind of grunt/noise-- we must be used to it, but the pediatrician mentioned yesterday how vocal he is and I guess he really is!  A few times we can tell that he is really grunting and red-faced, most likely from gas.  But hasn't been too bad!
  • Pooping!  He is a great pooper :), and the sweet poopy smell from my milk is getting stronger---in fact, dad gagged a little the other day when changing him!
  • Putting his hands up to his face---it's so sweet and can tell it was his comfort in the womb, and now out in the world....the only bad part is he scratched himself, because he grips so hard!
  • He has great muscle tone, has great neck muscles and strong legs, and he squirms so much when we change him, he is usually rolling from side to side--- I dont' think it'll be long before this guy is rolling over!  Definitely have to keep an eye on him at all times!
  • He loves to be swaddled---that can almost always calm him down.  He loves his bouncy seat and swing also.
Lastly, this week my Mom has been in town all week---so nice to have her cleaning (she is a deep cleaning fanatic!!), spending time with Will, helping with meals, and ALL that she does!

This week we also took Will's newborn pictures at Moment's and Memories--I can't WAIT to see them!! I know they are going to be so, so good---I saw some of the pictures on her camera that she showed, and I seriously almost cried, I am so very glad we did it!

Will had his 2 week appointment yesterday--and the good news is, he now weighs 7 pounds!! YAY!! So, because he is above his birth weight, we no longer have to wake him up at night to eat, he could sleep all the way through if he wants to (after one night, Will slept four hour stretches at a time---seriously, have I mentioned how lucky we are yet??)  and then during the day he will still eat every 3 hours (but helps from the 2.5 I was doing before!)  Everything else looks really good---she is very impressed with how well he is doing---she told us to make sure when he's awake to do tummy time, to let him explore and play on the floor, that's the best way for him to learn and grow. 

Here are a few more pictures from the last several days:





Thursday, December 1, 2011

William Joseph has arrived!!

We are so thrilled to say that Will was born on Saturday, November 26th at 8:58pm, weighing in at 6 lbs 9 oz, and was 19 1/2 inches long.  He has a very full head of dark hair and has completely swept his Mom and Dad off their feet and they are head over heels in love with this guy.  So, I'll explain how the whole thing went down:

After my last post, our false alarm, Friday afternoon/evening, Patrick and I ran a bunch of errands, got some Christmas decorations and had a nice, quiet evening.  At about 1:00am, early Saturday morning, I woke up to my shorts being soaked....this time was more than dribbles...I woke Patrick up and he shot up out of bed, and said, Oh--that's definitely it!  Your water just broke!!  So, I did call into the OB and she said to go to the hospital....so, this time we are jumping around, getting all of our stuff together and thinking, "We are having a baby!!"  So, again, we get all registered, get in a gown, they do the same tests, and it was negative AGAIN!  What??  So, again, we go home feeling kind of silly, it was about 3:00am and we took some Tylenol PM to help us get some sleep.  Well, that worked for Patrick, but not for me!  I was having some minor contractions, that actually were enough to keep me awake, and at 4:30am, decided that I should start tracking how long they were and how far apart.  Turns out they were about every 5 minutes and lasting about 30-40 seconds..coming.pretty regularly.  I took a bath for awhile, and that felt nice and also slowed down contractions (at that point, I was thinking, no way---please don't tell me I've been having these contractions and not sleeping, all if this is another joke!)  The pain was mostly felt in my back, and I knew from reading some things that that's what real contractions feel like.




So, Patrick and I went about our morning---with me taking a little time-out every 5 to 7 minutes to breathe out a contraction on my hands and knees, with forehead pressing into the couch.  After that, went back to getting our house decorated for Christmas and doing other chores!  I had called the OB that morning, and she said that likely they were contractions that were real, but that it will take quite a bit of time, I was only dilated at 1 cm when I was checked at 1:00am, so she said to just wait until the pain is too much, or the contractions got more intense.  That's what I did throughout the morning, and then about 12:00 they were feeling more intense, but we said we would wait an hour, make sure the contractions were regular and kept growing---at 1:00pm we called in and they told us to go to the hospital!!!  HOORAY---this time I was SURE it was really happening (who feels contractions all morning for them to be false?!  Apparently, that really can happen though, and the nurses made me doubt it a little when we checked in)  But, thank goodness, they checked me and I was at 3 cm---and they said this was the real deal!!  Patrick and I just stared at each other and couldn't believe it was really happening--we were going to have a baby!! I was bound and determined I was going to have a baby by that night too!

We ended up having a great nurse, Sally, who was the nurse that took care of us on my first false alarm.  She was happy that she could be here this time for the real one :) I got my epidural shortly after we got there, and it was the best!! I could rest and relax....we watched some football, a movie, and even both took a short nap!  It was nice to see on the monitor, whenever I had contractions, all I could feel was a mild squeezing at the top of my uterus, nothing painful though, and my backpain was gone---amen!    My water ended up breaking on it's own, and each hour they checked me I had progressed about another centimeter---this helped pass the time.  I was starving at that point, but couldn't eat, just in case of an emergency C-section, they don't allow you to eat.





Anyway, at about 8:20pm, they told I was ready to push!  AHHH-- I was kind of nervous and not sure how to do it---but found it to be harder than I thought---pushing out for 10 seconds, 3 sets of that is pretty exhausting---I couldn't believe they said it takes some people 1-2 hours usually.  But, I was bound and determined.  Our nurse at this time, Tawny (who also was the nurse on when we got sent home the second time) and Patrick were both saying how great I was doing, and I figured they just say that to everyone, but really Tawny said I was really making some progress.  Oh, and when we were getting ready to start pushing, I have to say, we turned on some Pandora on the quick mix station, and the first song on was "My Goodies" by Ciara!! HA!  Love it---totally my type of music to pump me up and was a perfect start! :)  Actually, Dave Matthews, "You and Me" which was in our wedding slideshow, also came on randomly, and when Will was born, "Show Me Your Glory" by Third Day (now, that's a perfect song at the perfect time!) We were having a good time, had the Stanford vs. Notre Dame football game on, and honestly was a very relaxed environment (Patrick and I have since said that we were both surprised how chill it can be, or I'm sure how stressful/tense it can be, depending on the situation and the people)  Tawny called the doctor in, and although it wasn't my OB, it was the only other one we had met in her practice and we both really liked her!  I told Dr. Schwartman I was going to show her what a good pusher I am, and once I did that, she was like, whoa, this baby is about out!! She barely had time to put her scrubs on, and with one more push, Will was born!!

Of course, it's not like in the movies when the first time a mom holds her baby, they are all clean and dry, he definitely was covered in fluid and when they put him in my arms, he pooped on me!!  Haha--I was like, hey buddy, I did all that and you pooped on me?! :)  They quickily got us both cleaned up, Patrick was able to cut the cord and hold him shortly after me....and I don't think I will ever forget the look on his face as he was holding Will for the first time---a look of pure love, awe, wonder, excitement, etc....something I will always keep with me (along with the look of when I first told him I was pregnant)...and then I nursed him right away too.  It's amazing to me how he just knew what to do, but he latched right on, and was the most amazing feeling ever.  Words can't describe.  At 8:58pm, our world changed for the better and our lives will never, ever be the same. 





Both of our parents were able to come down to meet him, and after they left, we got set up in our Mother/Baby room and it was almost midnight.  We had Will in his bassinet, sleeping in between us, and I must say that I didn't sleep much that night, with the adreneline (how do you have a baby and then just go to sleep?!) and anytime he would fuss, either P or I would reach over to comfort him. That, plus needing to feed him, nurses coming to check vitals, etc.  That was the 2nd night with little to no sleep...but still was so excited it didn't matter a whole lot. 








Day 1: We had some visitors on Sunday--- and that night had him sleep in the nursery, and what a great idea that was...some people may discourage it, but I knew that I needed a good night's sleep, and that's exactly what I got---I felt so refreshed that next day, and it was the day we got to go home! 









Day 2: They took Will out around 10:00 to get his circumcision, and we were ready to leave before noon!  We got him dressed up all cute and the ride home was so fun--we loved getting him all settled, and the 3 of us just being home. Marilee and Elaina came by to drop us off some dinner, and Aunt Amy and cousin Daniel also came by with some food.  We are so thankful for all the help and food from all. Such a nice thing to do!  Since then, we really have been getting good sleep (Will sleeps so much, that we have to wake him up at night to feed, and we are still able to do things around the house, although mostly one of us just holds him and stares at him and how beautiful and perfect he is!)  I know it's bad to call a boy pretty, but seriously, he is just the prettiest baby and it's such a miracle to know we made him and he's our son.  We are so tremendously blessed, it brings tears to my eyes as I type this (maybe slightly hormonally induced, but quite worthy) and this little guy has his Mama so wrapped around his fingers.  My favorite thing is while nursing....when he looks up at me with his beautiful eyes, it's a connection I can't even begin to describe.  Daddy has been such a huge help, doing pretty much all of diaper duty and burping, and has been home most of the week to help, just going into work a few mornings. 


Day 3: Went to hospital outpatient to test for jaundice, which was slightly high in hospital.  Turns out his counts were good, so we didn't need to worry about that as much, and that was a relief.  Was good practice for us to get all of us stuff ready to go somewhere and good to get out of the house.  I was feeling pretty good on Tuesday, just still somewhat sore, but not too bad.  Brad brought us over some pizza, which was nice, and the weather was so nice, we decided to go for a walk to pick up a few groceries and for a bottle of wine (yes, I was that girl pushing their baby around in the wine store!)  Our neighbor did a double-take when he saw us, of course, not expecting us to have our baby 17 days early!!  We had a nice night, gave Will his first bath, and had a pretty good night's sleep too.



Day 4: Wednesday, Patrick went into work for the morning, so Will and I hung out and made a trip to Target adn then P and I had some lunch together when he got home, before our pediatrician appointment at 3:15.  We were pretty annoyed at the really long wait we had there, but tried to be understanding--Cody was brining over the dresser/hutch that had come in for the nursery and we hated being late for him.  The good thing was, everything looks really good for Will, although he has lost about an ounce or two of weight---I started feeling really bad, like I was not being diligent enough about feeding or keeping him awake, although we has been eating about every 2 1/2 hours, which they reassured me is really great and should be enough, unless he is acting hungry (which he never does, we are still waking him to eat!)  Anyway, he had been spitting up a lot since my milk came in on Monday, and she gave us some tips on how to help that, and it really has seemed to be better.  She commented on how laid-back of a baby he is, and was nice to hear that from a doctor (we have been saying how lucky we are, but it's another thing to hear it from your doctor!)   Erin and Mike brought us over dinner and got to meet him.




Day 5: So, this is Will's 5th day of life, and I will continue to update as he grows up, big and strong and with all the fun stories! :)