Thursday, December 26, 2013

3 weeks and Merry Christmas

First things first... Great news Richards weight gain is back on track!  At his two week appointment he was still well below his birth weight and we were tasked with bulking him up.  So from last Monday to Thursday he gained 5 oz from pumping and breast feeding then bottle feeding him what I had pumped.  Fast forward one week and he is up another 14.5 oz!!! He is currently 9 pounds 12 ounces.   

We had a great Christmas!  It was different this year without Dad but everyone worked hard to make this year special, and it was!  

Tonight we are going to give his crib a try... Not sure if we should mess with the good schedule we have going but we shall see!

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

2 Weeks

We've made it to 2 weeks!  What a blur things have been of feedings, poopy diapers and trying to get sleep in whenever.  This is being a Mommy!  Things have been going pretty well for the most part.  He is feeding every 2-3 hours and he is overall a very happy alert boy.  I had a little shock yesterday at his 2 week check up come to find out he hasn't gained more than an oz in the past 8 days.  I wasn't sure what to think since he should be well above his birth weight by now and he is still under.  He feeds regularly and I'm not sure why he isn't gaining.  So I have to have a follow up with the lactation consultant (Bev) on Thursday.  We introduced a bottle yesterday to feed him with what I am pumping in between feedings.  He is great with the bottle and I am sure his weight will be up by Thursday.  He is downing 2 oz after feeding off of both sides.

I'm going to be honest it was a very rough day yesterday.  It is hard to hear your one job (feeding your baby) and you are pretty much failing.  I cried, a lot, but now see I was just doing the best I could.  So I continue feeding and pumping and giving him the bottle and know that we will get through this and he will gain weight.
Official stats from this appointment:
Weight 8 pounds 10 oz - 55%
Length 22" - 56%
Head Circ 37.5" 58%

Here are a couple pictures:

Cheering on the Packer's!

Alert!

Asleep!

Hanging out listening to Mom play guitar.
As for me, I'm starting to feel like things below are healing.  I don't feel like I need to take pain medication as frequently anymore.  I haven't weighed myself in awhile, but as of last week I had already lost 27 pounds!  I wish I could take him out for a walk in the stroller, but since it is the middle of winter and often times below 0 that isn't going to happen any time soon.  Next week is Christmas and things will be busy, but I think it will be nice to get out of the house again.  Happy Holidays!

Julie

Saturday, December 7, 2013

He's Here!!!

What a crazy week it has been!  Richard Roger arrived 12/1/13 weighing 9 pounds, 21-1/2 inches at 7:14 PM after 20 hours of labor and a natural vaginal birth.  I started feeling contractions on Thanksgiving but they were irregular and spaced far apart.  Friday they became a little more regular, but almost an hour apart but slowly getting closer together.  We were out at my Mom's all day and decided it would be best to go back home for the night.  I was in pain most of the night from the contractions that were now about every 15-30 minutes.  Saturday around 12:00 PM we decided to go to the hospital and check how far things had come along.  Still only 1cm so they sent us back home saying it could be that night...it could be in a week.  UGH!  I felt okay still though and we got back home and took it easy.  Finally around 8PM I decided to try and sleep for a bit and little did I know it was the last sleep I would get for a very long time.  Things started heating up and by 9PM I was having some pretty serious contractions growing up to 11:00 PM when I was feeling terrible.

I would switch between laying and standing and Dick would stand behind me and push on my back to help relieve the pain.  By 3:00 AM contractions were consistently 5 minutes apart and I couldn't stand it and we packed up and went to the hospital.  We got settled in by 3:30 AM and seriously it was a blur.  They checked me and hooked me up to monitors.  Contractions were 3-4 minutes apart and it was on!!!  It stayed this way until I could get to 3-4 cm which happened around 9:30 AM the next morning.  Then it was time for the epidural.  Ahhhhh relief!!!  I finally was able to get comfortable enough to sleep a little more.  As the day progressed I dilated very slowly, and I thought I wouldn't ever get there.  The afternoon rolled around and I was still only around 5-6 cm.  I remember getting to 7cm and the pressure was getting intense.  The epidural was still working, but they told me it wouldn't help for the pressure of the baby and how low he was.  At that point I feel like it was a blink of an eye and I was fully dilated!  They asked me how the pain was and if I was somehow able to wait, the baby would naturally be pushed down and would save me some pushing time.  I was able to wait another hour.  Finally I decided I couldn't stand it anymore and needed to push.  The nurses got me started and I pushed and pushed and they called the doctor to come in.  My regular OB wasn't in so I had the OB on call Dr. Moktar.  She was WONDERFUL!  I pushed for an hour and with some screaming like I was being murdered HE arrived!  I was crying my eyes out, he was finally here!  It was so surreal that everything we waited for the past 4 years had finally arrived and the wait was over.  I'm crying again as I'm writing this.  Anyways, we stayed until Tuesday mid-day and they sent us home.  I'm sure there are details I am missing, but it has been hectic around here figured out balancing feeding (exclusively breast feeding for now) and changing poopy diapers and staying sane. 

Thursday night I spoke with our church and we arranged a private baptism after the PM church service.  So 12/5 Richard was baptized with just the Pastor and Dick and I present (and God :) ).  We will do public affirmation after the craziness of the holidays.  I've always wanted my baby baptized as soon as possible since I never understood the reasons for waiting to be convenient.  We have plenty of time now to plan the public affirmation and our baby is baptized in the Lord.  Anyways, quick before I need to feed the little man again here are some photos:








 

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