The Honeymoon is over....

Not to say that we don't ooh and ahh over this little one, he is still the main attraction at our house and we love him dearly... but this is HARD WORK! The last few weeks everything has still been very new and exciting... now I'm trying to figure out how to change a diaper without getting in the firing range. Our little guy has had a diaper rash for a few days now which means a prolonged time of the diaper being off... which increases my chances of getting a little something special on me. I feel bad for him, it looks so red and bad. He has been very fussy the last three days. Maybe the diaper rash has something to do with it? He has started wanting to eat more often... every hour, hour and a half. Which is really draining on me, especially at night. I feel like a zombie during the day. I've been trying to sleep when he sleeps, but often he sleeps when I'm driving and out doing errands :-( At the end of the day the little smiles and coos we hear make it all worth it. He is just so adorable. We kiss him as much as we can, knowing that one day he will be a teenager and that will just not be cool. Oh I'm off to get a little rest before Nathaniel needs to eat again.

He's growing!

We had Nathaniel's two week checkup this week and we are pleased to report he is 8 pounds 11 ounces and 23 inches! It's hard to believe he grew two inches in two weeks. He is doing well and sleeping quite a bit (sometimes this coincides with normal night time hours). He's also pooping a lot which I suppose is a good thing. I'm making sure Ken is getting his fair share of diaper changes :-)
My two week check up is this week... hopefully I have been shrinking (not growing!). I'm anxious to feel like myself again. We have been more active over the last few days and it feels good to be out and about. Mentally I'm ready to start working out but physically I have felt pretty sore just after walking around the track so I'm trying to listen to my body and take it slowly.
We have been so blessed to have friends and family provide meals for us the last two weeks. It's been so helpful not to have to think about what to make for dinner. It's also fun to have people visit briefly and check in on us.

My sweet little boy

Pictures

The neighbor kids were so excited to see little Nate come home from the hospital. I guess they were asking about him all week long. Each of them went through their baby books and picked one to give Nathaniel. How sweet! They each made him a card too that said they would like to be friends with him.


This is a picture of my friend Bonnie and her little guy Andrew who was born in September. We are hoping they turn out to be best buds!!!

Smiles

Yesterday I witnessed the most adorable moment. Ken came home from work so Nathaniel and I came downstairs to see him. When he saw Daddy he gave him a biggest smile, not just one, not just two, but three big grins. It was so precious. Ken says we can keep him :-)

Every evening I hand off the little one to Ken for a little bonding time. It is so precious to see Nathaniel in his arms. Together they watch Nightly Business Report so Nathaniel can learn all about the stocks in the news.

Out and about

I've been feeling a little housebound so I thought I would try getting out. Today I ventured out with Nathaniel to a bible study at church and then a quick stop at Costco and Babies R Us. I think it was too much. Oops! Nathaniel was exhausted by the time we were driving home. I felt like it was a big accomplishment to get him in and out of the car and moving around a bit. We've been naping all afternoon.

More Mommy Medals

First medal for getting out and about by myself for an hour yesterday! Ken encouraged me to take some time off and so I went and gassed up the car and ducked into Fred Meyer for a few minutes. It seemed to go really well. Meanwhile at home Daddy and Nathaniel were fast asleep. They didn't even know I was gone!

Second medal for leaving Nathaniel with a sitter for about 1.5 hours. Ever year we take Ken's neices out to dinner for their birthday. Laurel's birthday was a week ago and we had to postpone dinner until yesterday. She chose to go to Red Robin and we decided that it would probably be healthy for me to let Ken's sister babysit while we were out. It sounds like he did just fine. We came home and he was sound asleep. She said he had been awake for about 45 minutes and the other cousins (7 and 3yrs) enjoyed watching him and interacting with him. At dinner I kept asking Ken if I should call and check in on them but we resisted the urge. He did just fine... and I got to hold him when we arrived back at their house.

Two big steps for me before he was two weeks old!

Bathtime

We gave our little guy a bath this morning. I fully expected it to be a traumatic experience. Ken and I decided we should double team him. Nathaniel was actually pretty cooperative and we didn't hear a squeek from him. He made a few sour faces but we were able to complete the task :-) He sure is slippery when he is wet! I forgot to get the camera out before hand so I didn't get a picture (sorry mom).

We are enjoying the long weekend. Catching up on laundry/cleaning and doing our best to keep it low key. I guess it's Valentines Day today... we will have to celebrate some other day.

Here's a picture of him in his Valentine outfit...

Sleeping?

Last night "Mr. Fussy Pants" as we like to lovingly call him would not stop squirming and crying. Ken told me he was going to have a full day at work today and would be out of the house early. I'm thinking okay this will be the quite the challenge and we are starting off at 8pm with fussiness. We did eventually get Nathaniel off to sleep and went to bed around 10:30.... At 2:30 he was still sleeping! I couldn't believe it! Eventually I woke him up to fee him and change him and put him back down around 3:15 fully expecting to be up within the hour. At 6:30 Ken got up for work and Nathaniel was still sleeping. What a blessing!

Mommy Merit Badges?

I'm new to the mom thing, so maybe something is already in place...but I think there should be some sort of badge or recognition for accomplishing the little things. I was thinking during this 2am feeding about the day. I was the recipient of my son's projectile vomit and thought that's a first...probably not the last. It was a little accomplishment...like surviving our first night at home or successfully getting to the grocery store and back. I'm not looking for a pat on the back...this is just a late night thought. It;s been a reminder to me of everything my mom has done for me...little gifts of love I've really never thought about till I've become a mom. More and more over the last 10 years I have noticed or been made aware of sacrifices she has made for me. So much so that there is really no words to express my thanks. Mom you are Incredible!

Nathaniel has arrived at last!

Well we have had quite a week! 50+ hours after my water breaking Nathaniel arrived. I seriously thought we weren't going to get him out. I have a huge appreciation for those who have given birth (especially those who have done it more than once!) Backing up to Tuesday last week... the contractions finally started to pick up in the evening and by 2am on Wednesday morning they were about 5 min apart with a few as close as 3 min apart. So we raced off to the hospital, only to have the contractions slow down significantly. Since my water had already broken and we were at risk of infection they kept us there in the hospital. In the morning the Dr. came by to visit and gave us a few things to do that would encourage the labor contractions to pick up. We were the only couple that was making laps around the hospital corridor. Walking did increase the contraction rates but not enough so we tried breast pumping. They had to have me hooked up to monitors for this because the contractions could become to intense. Some of them were 3 full minutes! Uggh. Around mid afternoon we talked to the Dr. who suggested Pitocin to speed things up. She had checked and I was only dialated at 4-5cm. I was really discouraged to hear this because our goal has been to have a natural unmedicated birth. From what I've heard about Pitocin it would probably intefere with that plan as the unnatural contractions are a lot more intense. Anyway, Ken was very supportive and helped me see the benefits of this decision. They also assured me we could slowly use the Pitocin to see if a small amount could give us the results we were looking for. Contractions began to pick up and intensify and we were on our way. At about midnight I was only dialated to 8cm. We still have a ways to go :-( Soon I was starting to feel a strong urge to push, but the Dr said I needed to wait since I wasn't fully dialated and could cause more harm than good. So I tried to breathe through each contraction and wait for full dialation. Ken held my hand and helped me thorough them. We labored for another few hours before I finally got the green light to push. Most stories I've heard of included a few pushes at the end and out comes the baby. Well 3 hours later I was still pushing!!! Why did I decide to go the umedicated birth route? The Dr. kept saying you are almost there.... She said I can see his head it looks like he has dark hair! 20 minutes later, I see his head looks like he has brown hair! 30 minutes later.... well maybe he has red hair. Okay, I'm not a genius but I think they are just saying they can see the head to try and encourage me and we are really no where near seeing the baby. After each contraction/push I would say I'm trying, really I am. Ken just kept giving me a supportive smile, we will see Nathaniel soon. I was so exhausted and felt like I had nothing left to give. I told the Dr. I was going to sit one contraction out to get some rest so I could push really hard on the next one. She said that would be fine... fully knowing that I wouldn't be able to "sit one out". My body started contracting and I had to push. I said nevermind I'm pushing after all. Finally around 5:15 the Dr. put on some scrubs outfit and said we are really close now! and 10 minutes later we saw our precious little guy for the first time. He was so beautiful (and slimey). Oh man, I was tired. I gave birth to the placenta and then the Dr. had to stich me up from a little tearing. Nathaniel was a healthy 8 pounds 6 ounces, 19 inches long.

The last few days have been spent in the hospital recovering and then at home trying to survive "parenting boot camp". We are still totally in love with this little guy regardless of the amount of sleep we have lost. He's just so precious. He makes these cute little noises and funny faces. He looks like his daddy. We have been so grateful to family and friends for their support during this time. We can't wait to tell you more about our new little addition in the coming days... now to catch a nap.

I think he's coming...

Today has been quite a day. It started at 3am with a small water leak. Not quite sure if my water broke I decided to go back to sleep. An hour later.... time to go again...Hmmmm. I don't seem to be having contractions as well. Could this be the day? What was I supposed to do if my water broke? Call the Dr or wait till contractions pick up. I really expected my water to be in tact until I was dilated to 8cm so I guess I hadn't paid close enough attention. Anyway, we got out our notes and decided to call the Dr. They wanted us to come in and made an appointment for us for 11am. Since we were up we decided to start the day off right... at McDs :-) Hey, you never know when your next gourmet meal will be.

The Dr. appointment went well. They hooked me up to a bunch of monitors and listened to Nathaniel's heartbeat and monitored my contractions while they weren't intense, which were closer together than I realized. The "non-stress test" went well and Nathaniel had excellent results. So we were given the option to go straight to the hospital and start induction or go home and see if contractions start on their own within 24 hours. We chose the later option. Contractions have kicked in and picked up throughout the afternoon but I haven't had that "we better get to the hospital" feeling yet. So Nathaniel has until tomorrow morning before we kick him out.