Wordless Wednesday

Turning Point

Everyone says that 6 weeks is the turning point with a newborn. By then some sort of schedule seems to form and they are more aware and alert. In the beginning, things were rough and I remember counting down the weeks till we hit the 6 week mark. And then around 4 1/2 to 5 weeks, things began to change. For us that time frame was the turning point. I am not sure why it was earlier. Could it be since he was almost 2 weeks over due? Who knows, but I can tell you one thing - Eddie's more alert and content when he is awake. We sort of have a night-time sleep schedule forming, he interacts with his toys and best of all - he smiles and laughs!

Last week we transitioned him from sleeping in our room at night to sleeping in his crib. I am now sleeping better because I don't hear every little sound that he makes when he sleeps (which resulted in me jumping up and checking on him repeatedly). For our family this has been a good transition and it has worked for us. We didn't rush moving him to his crib (his room is on the second floor while ours in on the main level), but after he fell asleep on his own in his crib during the day, I realized that I could do this and so that night we did. 

Of course we have ran into issues and challenges, but overall, I do agree that the 6 week point is great.  Not that we didn't enjoy Eddie before, but now it's a whole new level of enjoyment.  And we know that it will only continue to increase the older Eddie becomes.

The picture at the beginning of my blog was taken by our friend Ella yesterday.  I love it so much and I feel like it captures exactly what I am trying to express in this post.

3 days Apart

This past Friday we had our friends Lisa and Kevin over for dinner. Well, they actually brought dinner (pizza), but we did provide dessert! Anyhow - their daughter Ashley is three days younger than Eddie and they brought her over too. It was a lot of fun to hang out with them because they are literally going through everything we are with our baby at the exact same time!

We constantly joke about our kids dating when they get older. In fact, when Kevin was holding Eddie, Kevin asked what Eddie's intentions were toward his daughter :-)
Lisa also had a chance to hold Eddie. It was fun to compare the weight and size of the kids. Even though Eddie weighed less at birth (he was 8 lb. 5 oz, she was 9 lb.), Eddie by far weighs more. Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures of the two kids together this time.
Below is one of my favorite pictures from Friday. Unfortunately Uncas thought for sure on Friday that it was really Saturday morning. I asked him to watch Eddie for a minute while I ran to the bathroom. As you can see - all my boys are a little lazy in the morning!

I See You!

Reunion Babies

Last week we had our reunion from our Centering Prenatal appointments. Everyone brought their babies and we shared our birth stories (for the record - apparently my labor was the worst!). At the end we laid the babies on the floor and snapped pictures. I, of course, forgot my camera, but ran into one of the other women late last week and exchanged emails. Here are some pictures (Eddie is the one wearing the bib):

Happy Birthday Sammy!

Today is Sammy's 2nd Birthday! He is having a fun day of being outside in the sun and barking at people! Tonight for his b-day dinner - steak with a side of milk. And later we'll be going on a walk. What a great day! Happy birthday to the best and cutest dog ever!!!!

One Month

Mama and Eddie

Happy One Month Birthday Edward! I can't believe it's been one month already! When I look at Edward's newborn pictures, I think he looks completely different already. He's been growing like crazy and I love his cute, plump cheeks. I am constantly kissing them.

It's been a fast month and I can barely remember what life was like before Edward arrived. And the changes we have noticed aren't all physical. It's so fun to see his developmental changes as well. Here are some things from this first month:

- Edward is the only person who likes my singing. I am terrible and quite off-key, but he loves it. Unfortunately I don't know/remember many kid's songs. I have some cds that I need to listen to, to expand my set list.

- my favorite feature of Eddie's are his sideburns. They are so cute!!!

- Eddie hates a wet diaper. When we change him, sometimes he is downright giddy to have a dry diaper on. That doesn't keep him from kicking like crazy, which makes diapering a challenge, but he is happy.

- Eddie loves the water. We haven't given him a lot of baths, but when we do, he loves them! No crying while in his little tub. Sometimes when we dry him off, but not always.

- when Eddie was 8 days old we started using cloth diapers. At first we weren't too sure about them, but as time has gone on, we do like them. For as many diapers as he goes through right now, it definitely seems like the way to go. We are washing them ourselves, but it really isn't that hard. Originally we were using disposables at night, but switched to cloth when he started blowing out the disposables. We just use prefolds with covers - nothing fancy, but they work!

- The bouncy seat tends to have a soothing effect on Eddie, which is helpful. The bouncy seat allows me to take showers during the week when Uncas is at work.

- Eddie likes the car seat which enables me to get out and about a lot during the week. This also means we can take walks (which Sammy loves!)

- The week that he stayed with us, Grandpa B. bought Eddie a stuffed giraffe that plays Rock-a-bye Baby. We call it the magical giraffe because when we put Eddie in the Pack N Play, we wind up the giraffe and he just loves it! We often run over and quick have to wind it back up before the music stops.

- Sometimes when he is sleeping, he snores a little - just like his Mama!

There's probably so much more, but it's hard to remember everything. He amazes us daily and we constantly say "oh look how cute he is!"

We took a picture of Eddie today with his stuffed whale that Grandma Jo bought for him (because if Grandpa bought him something, then Grandma has to as well!) We hope to take pictures of him with it each month.

Edward's Birth Story

I have been wanting to write down Edward's birth story and even started weeks ago and now he is almost a month old!  To finally just get it out - here is a shorter version of what I had originally started.

On Monday afternoon (March 15) I had my 41 week appointment.  At that appointment we set my induction date for March 17.  I figured I would have a day to get things done and wrapped up and then the baby would come.

That night I wasn’t feeling well.  I woke up around 2 with the cramps and decided that these must be actual contractions.  I waited until 3 to wake up Reid and we timed contractions.  By 6:00 am we were on our way to the hospital.  I was worried that I would be sent home, but when they checked me, I was dilated to 4 cm.  Hurray – I was on my way. 

I was doing pretty well laboring with no medications.  At 11 am they checked me and I was at a 6.  I was pleased that things were progressing so well.  The midwife broke my water a couple of hours later and when I was checked next, I was at an 8.  I thought things weren’t too bad at that point, but that changed as the day went on.

I sort of stalled out and the baby wasn’t moving down.  The contractions were really painful at this point.  I ended up receiving Fentanyl through an IV which would take the edge off of the contractions, but also allow me to rest in between the contractions.  The hope was that I would be able to relax, so the baby would move down more.  I was able to relax in between the contractions, but I could still feel them and they were pretty powerful.  When the midwife came back to check on me about an hour and a half after the drug had been administered, I was at a 9 ½.  She thought that if I started pushing, it would help move the baby down.  I was scared and nervous to push, but did so for about an hour, with little to no progress.  I was in a lot of pain and asked about options.  She said that I could get an epidural if I wanted to, so I accepted. 

There were some issues getting the fluid in me before the epidural, so that took a while and my blood pressure and heart rate were going crazy after the epidural was administered (and there were complications with that!).  But the baby remained fine and stable, which was great.

After resting for a while with the epidural, I started pushing again.  While I was making great progress, it was very slow.  Finally just before 2 am on Wednesday, I was getting extremely tired, so I asked again about options.  The midwife said they could page the OB and use a vacuum to help push the baby out.  I agreed and at 2:20 am on March 17, on the first contraction using the vaccum, Edward David finally popped out screaming!  Uncas announced that it was a boy and I remember not being surprised at all.  The other thing that I vividly remember was how beautiful Edward looked from the first moment.  I was really expecting after all that pushing (about 5 hours total) and being overdue by 11 days that he would look a little strange - but no - he was perfect (and still is!)

I can honestly say that going through labor was the hardest thing physically and mentally I have ever done.  In fact, I am fully convinced that running a marathon would be easier!  Uncas was absolutely amazing the whole time and I didn't even yell or swear at him once the whole time!  The staff at our hospital was wonderful and I loved our midwife.  Fortunately for me, there was no one else in labor using a midwife while I was, so I had her all to myself.  

In some ways I can't even believe what I went through and that I am still here to talk about it.  It just goes to show that your body is really meant to do this.  I am also amazed because I thought for sure I would never recover or be able to walk the same again.  However, by the end of the second week, I was amazed at how well I felt.

So there it is - finally!  If you want more details, you can ask me in person.  The timeline is a little fuzzy for some of it and I have decided that it's best not to remember every little detail.  The important thing is that both Edward and I made it through labor!

Wordless Wednesday

Girlfriend

Eddie's first girlfriend - Ashley.

We met Ashley's parents through our prenatal appointments. Ashley's mom was due on March 17 and I was sure that she was going to deliver before me. And then I was hoping she would be in the hospital at the same time as me. We missed each other by a couple of days! Ashley was born on March 20! Today was the first time that the kids were able to meet. They were on their best behavior (sleeping), so the new moms were able to catch up! We are determined that our kids will date when they are older :-)

My Job

My current job is taking care of Eddie. I tell myself this as a reminder of what's important each day - my son. A part of me still can't believe he is here, but he is. And right now he takes up much of my time, which explains my lack of posting. I can't tell you where the time goes, but somehow each day passes and I find I have little time on my computer, or the time that I do have, is with only have one hand free (which makes typing really difficult). I still haven't finished typing up my birth story, but hope to finish that one day this week.

So - what have we been up to? Here are some random pictures.

Here is a picture of our first walk in our neighborhood last week. We have been blessed with awesome weather. Eddie loves riding in his car seat and often falls asleep quickly.

A lot of people have asked how Sammy is doing with his little brother. In a nutshell, very well. I think a large part of it has to do with the nice weather - he is spending as much time as possible outside. He also likes to lick Eddie, but we don't let him too much. At night when I get up to feed Eddie, Sammy will come and sleep out on the couch in living room while I am in the recliner. Then he'll go back to bed with me. It's kind of nice to have him out there with me. Here is a picture of Sammy meeting Eddie for the first time.

Last week Ella stopped by with her daughter Eliza. Eliza is 4 months older than Eddie and as you can see, she is quite fascinated with him!

And of course - here is Eddie in part of his Easter outfit (thank you Laura!). He peed on the top before we could take pictures of it, but he is in the hat and pants here. This is him after his Easter Egg hunt with Grandma Jo. As you can see it wore him out!
I hope to post a little more frequently, but we'll see how that goes. Last week my parents were here all week. I loved having them here to help out! Today Eddie had a visit from his great aunt Margit and great uncle Dale (and cousins Brad and Doug), and from Grandma Nimz, Auntie Abbie and cousin Anna. Uncas took a half day off of work to see everyone too. I hope to post pictures of the visit soon.

Grandma Jo and Grandpa B

Dear Grandma Jo and Grandpa B.,

Thanks for coming and spending the week with me and my parents. I had so much fun spending time with you. My Mama says that you were a huge help with the cooking, cleaning, laundry, taking care of Sammy, and just offering support. The week sure went by fast with so many different things: a trip to the doctor's office, the grocery store, walks outside, a trip to daddy's work, a bath, an Easter egg hunt and lots and lots of cuddles!

Thanks again and can't wait to see you again soon!

love,
-eddie