Thursday, March 29, 2012

New Mommy Thoughts

- I never imagined that my thoughts would be so consumed with poop and milk.

- Who knew that I could survive for 7 hours on 4 hours of sleep?

- When he smiles, it's the best feeling in the world!

- I had no idea that days could blend together so quickly.  There really is no sense of day or night.  Time is broken up into "When did he last eat?" which is about 2 to 3 hour increments. 

- I am frequently overwhelmed by the amazing and often scary amount of responsibility that comes with such a tiny, fragile human being. 

- How is he almost one month old already?

- Date night tomorrow night!  At a restaurant!  With CLOTH napkins!!

- I can never get enough sleep.  Ever.  I don't think I'll ever really sleep again.  Really.

- I get it now.  I really do.

 Little W loves to be free from swaddling blankets!

Monday, March 19, 2012

Wesley's Arrival - Part 2

The anti-nausea medication makes me a little wonky, so my memory from here on out is a little fuzzy.  The midwife checks me around 3, says she'll come back in another hour to check me again.  For the next hour, I'm in so much pain, and asking Matt every 5 to 10 minutes "Is it 4pm yet?"  I try yoga balls, I try yoga positions, and NOPE.  Not comfortable.  I just want to lean over on the bar in the bathroom to relieve this stupid, annoying, painful back labor.

Finally 4pm rolls around and the midwife checks me.  She says I'm ready for the epidural and gets me ready to be wheeled into the delivery room.  I'm completely out of it from the anti-nausea medication, and the contractions are so intense...as they get me into the wheelchair, and wheel me along to the delivery room, I just have my eyes closed the whole time.  Each contraction is more than I can take, and I'm in so much pain...I can't catch a break.  I'm SO excited for some relief!

I get to the delivery room.  People are coming in and out.  My Dad arrives, so does my Uncle Gregg and Aunt Diane.  Our doula from Spokane is on the way.  Brie is there.  Matt is pacing, getting nervous and excited.  I hear conversations about the anesthesiologist.  I hear the midwife talking about checking me soon, and I hear the nursery nurses getting the bassinet ready. I can't have skin to skin because he's a preemie and they have to check him first.  I hush everyone to please keep their voices down, the noise is overwhelming.  And the contractions just keep happening faster and faster.

She checks me, finally.  And I'm too far for the epidural.  So far, in fact, that, I'm...um, well I'm ready.  Within an hour I had gone from epidural time to "go time".  The midwife tells me I'm going to have to do this without drugs.

I manage to squeak out "WHAT?"

The men clear the room, aside from Matt.  He's on my left, Diane on my right.

This scream comes out of me, something so primal.  I've not heard it before.  It hurts, I'm tired, just get it OUT already!

And then, three pushes later, at 5:15pm, my son is born.  He's not crying at first, but he does quickly, and the nurses tend to him after Matt cuts the cord.  He has a huge cone head, and his little nose is squished so far over, but he's amazing and wonderful, and I can't wait to hold him.  But I have to stop shivering first.

I recover.  We go to a recovery room, and spend the next two nights saying "...a week ago we were at a baby shower..."

And here we are, today...Wesley is 16 days old.  He has gained so much weight, an ounce a day!   (At birth he was 4 pounds, 15 ounces and this last Friday he was 4 pounds, 14 ounces.  I bet he's 5 pounds by now!)  He's starting to get jowls, and his cheeks are getting chubby.  I can see his dimples, and his belly is rounding out.  He has most beautiful, soulful eyes, and a smile that just melts my heart. 


Monday, March 12, 2012

Wesley's Arrival - Part 1

So as most of you know, the week before Wesley was born, I was put on bed rest.  My sister came down towards the end of the week to cook me some food, do some laundry, and generally keep me company (and had the difficult task of keeping me off of my feet).  Saturday, March 3, she headed back to Seattle with Matt, who had a JourneyQuest meeting.  He'd be back in a few hours.  As they left, they barked at me to stay off my feet and get some sleep.

I was looking forward to having some time to myself, actually.  I was going to watch some stuff on Netflix/Hulu, catch-up on my thank-you notes, take a nap, etc.  But first, I needed to shower.

I bathe.  I get out.  I look at my belly in the mirror and grin.  I look down, and say "I can't wait to meet you."

Famous last words.

As if out of a movie, liquid comes gushing out of me.  RIGHT AFTER I GOT OUT OF THE SHOWER.  Ahem.  But I'll just skip the gruesome parts, and say that I called Matt, told him to come home NOW, and then called my midwife.  She wasn't concerned, but thought we should go to the hospital just to be on the safe side.  She was sure it wasn't amniotic fluid because I was only 35 weeks pregnant.

Matt comes home.  We pack a small bag, as I'm convinced I'm NOT in labor because I feel fine.  No contractions, no discomfort.  And we head to the hospital.  We checked in around 11:30am.  We get up to the Labor and Delivery part of the hosptial and there are 2 pregnant women ahead of me, clearly in labor.  Squeezing their faces in pain, grimacing, actually.  And I whisper to Matt, "That's not me.  I'm not in pain.  I'm fine."

Again, famous last words.

We check into a room, I get into the *not so glamarous* hospital gown, and wait.  The nurse says that they are going to check and make sure that the fluid isn''t amniotic, and if it is, then they'll have me stay in the hospital for a few weeks to let the baby "cook" a bit longer and get me on anti-biotics.  Ooo, sounds fun.  Not.  And of course, in the back of my mind, I think, "Oh GREAT.  A giant hospital bill. Just what we need."  Of course, I'm strapped onto monitors, one to hear the baby's heartbeat, and one to see if I'm having contractions.  Which, for the moment, I'm not.

Now this is where I start to lose my sense of time.  Let's just say that I start feeling some discomfort.  And it's happening again and again.  And before I know it, I'm in labor.  I'm not able to labor in water, because they're worried about my risk for infection.  Matt has to ask if I can labor out of bed because I'm having back labor (which thank GOD, they let me out of bed - back labor SUCKS).  I puke, I cry, and Matt is right there by my side.  The midwife comes in, says that based on my sudden contractions, we're having this baby today, and they're going to put me on an epidural (probably because of my high blood pressure but I honestly can't remember) when I hit a certain number, and I'm like "Great.  Sign me up."

So they check me around 3, I think, and say I probably have another few hours before the epidural can be administered.  But they do give me some anti-nausea medication so that I'm not horking all the time.

And with that, I need to go get some food before our little tree frog wakes up and makes his demands known.  This little boy is such a wonderful treasure.  I can't remember my life before he was born.  I'm relishing every moment.

Thursday, March 08, 2012

Automatic Daddy Chair Demo


I can't figure out how to flip the video, but I think you'll get the general idea...

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Baby Wesley!

Baby Wesley made an early arrival.  As in, a month early!  My water broke around 10am on March 3, and he was born at 5:15 that evening.  There's a very detailed, interesting story, and it all started with me getting out of the shower, looking down at my belly and saying "I can't wait to meet you!"

WHOOSH.  Water broke.  Not kidding!  It was like something out of a movie.

But I am too tired/overwhelmed/in love with our little boy and our new life as parents, so you'll just have to settle for some photos.  :)

Born 3/3/12
5:15pm
4lbs, 15 oz
17.5 inches long

We took him in to the pediatrician today and he's already gained back .8 of an ounce and grown about half an inch!