And all this time, I had no idea

I've learned a few things about myself in the last 2 weeks.

I can maneuver around my computer, web browser, and even type comments and emails one-handed.

I had no idea that the word 'poopy' would become apart of my vocabulary so quickly and with such ease.

Likewise, I didn't know referring to myself as mommy or momma and Justin as dad would come so easily.

I can handle a lot more pain than I ever thought was possible (from delivery, to the not-ever-really-talked-about pain after the delivery, to breast-feeding discomfort).

Speaking of breast-feeding, I did not know that I would be absolutely fine with nearly complete strangers fondling, er, helping me position said boobs into various positions.

I can actually function on little to no sleep with relatively few break-downs.

There's nothing good on TV during the day. I also have been forced to 'flip channels' once again. Our TV set up is me watching the TV in the guest bedroom from the nursery, across the hall. I can't read the guide from that far away, and I have to watch commercials. Yuck!

I also had no idea that I would have such a cute kid. I'm actually starting to like him a bit more, it's amazing what a bit of sleep can do for a person.

Much better

We have (finally) discovered that if a baby has a full tummy he sleeps. If he sleeps, mom and dad can sleep. And, if mom and dad can sleep... things are good.

Also, my wonderful mother-in-law offered (and I of course accepted) to clean our house while we were at the funeral. So, our house looks much better too! Thanks, Lisa!

Oh, THAT'S what you've been trying to tell us

So, we found out at our 2 week check up our son hasn't been growing fast enough. So, maybe all of the crying and not sleeping and trying to breast feed for 90-120 minutes (I'm not exaggerating) was for a reason. I have very little milk for the kid.


I made our second trip with him to the lactation specialist (it was our first trip by ourselves which went well) so, hopefully, with the help of this:
these:
and another tubing device that hooks to a bottle (couldn't find a picture of it online that didn't include a boob with it) we are continuing to try things 'naturally'.


Go figure.

I'm ready for my close-up

My friend Terra over at Magnifique Photography is an AMAZING photogragher and did our wedding pictures. She offered to do our baby's first photo's as a gift, which was incredibly generous. Here's a look (he's 10 days old in these)...

Happy Birthday, Daddy

Sorry your 'special' birthday (28 on the 28th) didn't have much excitement. I guess being a new dad will have to do this year. Since I never say it enough (especially right now), I love you and I am a very lucky lady. Thanks for being such a hard worker, both in and out of the home. And thanks for always putting up with me (again, especially right now, and for the last 9 months).

Sprung

Today I left the house for the first time since Friday. I actually had REAL clothes on, my hair was (sort of) done and I had a bit of make-up on. It actually felt pretty nice. It's weird to think that life continues on while we're held up at home.

By the way... near the end of the pregnancy I found it hard to find anything to post about that wasn't baby-related. I'm finding it even MORE difficult now -sorry!

PS- Thanks for all of the well-wishes, gifts, and meals from everyone! Here's a few more pictures.

Best of both worlds

Well... I ended up getting cute toes AND a new baby by Thanksgiving this year.

To answer the basic questions...

It's a BOY.

He was born on November 22nd (11/22) at 2:09 am.

7 lb 7 oz.

19 inches long.

And, yes, no epidural.

Justin and I went in for our regular appointment Friday afternoon and I was showing more signs of preeclampsia, and they weren't on the border any more. My blood pressure was still slightly elevated, but I had WAY too much protein in my urine and I gained 5 lbs that week. So... the doctor said, you'll be heading to the hospital following this appointment and I'll meet you there.

All of my attempts to induce labor myself now seemed a) a little silly, and b) maybe NOT what I really wanted.

However, it was too late to turn back at this point.

Once my water was broken, contractions started within the hour, but I didn't think they were very strong. I made a little bit of progress, and they started me on the lowest dose of pitosin. Contractions stepped up a notch, dialated another centimeter, and they went to the next dose of pitosin.

Contractions started to get more intense, it was taking some real concentration to relax and breathe through them, but I let Justin sleep for an hour or so, because I thought we'd be at this for a while, and the next step up would require more of his help.

Well, at 1am (6 hours after breaking my water) I got up to go to the bathroom and switched sides I was laying on. The nurse checked me, I was a 7. She walked out of the room, with her warning that if I felt an urge to push, to come and get her.

3 contractions later (about 5 minutes) Justin ran out to get her. I was complete... and they were short doctors. A short period of frenzy followed as our nurses called my doctor, tried to find a substitute -just in case, and prepared to possibly deliver baby on their own.

My doctor made it after I was in position and had actually pushed during a couple of contractions. Probably about 20-25 minutes later, maybe 10 or so pushing contractions, and we had our baby boy.

Pretty intense, but pretty short time period. I guess that's the way to go!

We're still in the hospital at the moment, but we're hoping to leave later this evening. Once we're home, I'll hopefully post more pics. For now, mom and baby are doing well. I know I'm pretty bias, but he's pretty dang cute. I love his hair -not sure HOW he ended coming out with so much of it. He's a pretty content baby, which makes feeding a little difficult, but we'll get the hang of it soon.

By the way... I won't be using his name on this blog... so if anyone has any nickname suggestions, let us know... maybe that'll be our next blog poll.