Month One...

Hey guys,

Now that I've covered my pregnancy week by week, and my delivery story, I'll probably be posting monthly. Of course if something exciting happens I'll make a special post for that.

I also find articles from time to time that I like on parenting or controversial topics so I'll be sharing those as well.

So, let's get started shall we?

We ended up coming home from the hospital 3 days after Alden's birth. Chris drove so slow that first drive with him in the car. I'm sure people probably thought we were crazy, but we didn't care! When we finally arrived at the house I remember feeling both relieved to finally have my own privacy and my own things again... but also terrified because now we were on our own.

It seemed like once we got home I had a million questions pop into my head that I could no longer buzz my nurse in to answer for me. I remember trying so hard to sleep when we got home since I hadn't slept much in the hospital and I just couldn't do it! Those first few nights were horrible! Alden was fine, but I wasn't. I'd find myself sitting there hovering over his bassinet making sure he was still breathing. Every single noise that he made worried me.

We got home on a Friday and Chris had to go back to work that next day. My best friend came over for a little while that morning to help me out with him. When she left I broke down in tears. I was totally alone in my house with a newborn. What do I do if I need to pee? Or fix myself something to eat? What if my dogs start acting crazy? What if something happens to Alden and I can't fix it? Obviously I got through it but it was not easy.

At first things were OK. I was alone pretty much everyday except Sundays so I adapted quickly. However about a week after he was born, he started cluster feeding. For those who don't know what this means... It's when the baby eats much more often, and most of the time longer than usual. So instead of eating every 2 hours, he would want to eat every hour. He would take 15-20 minute naps between feedings and so that's all the free time I got. I'd look up and it would be 4:30 in the afternoon and I hadn't eaten or drank anything since breakfast.

Another major thing that happened in month one was getting thrush. Thrush is a yeast infection in your breasts that is excruciatingly painful. At first I thought Alden was latching wrong, but after he would finish eating I would be in miserable pain. Each time he would feed I would sob through the pain. Luckily we got that taken care of, but when you are exclusively breastfeeding and your baby is relying on you for food.. you work through it... even if that means bawling during every feeding!

Now to talk about something I ended up doing that a lot people find controversial... I did too, that I am now doing myself. That my friends would be co-sleeping. I do NOT need your opinions on the subject but I am going to tell you what led me to begin co-sleeping.
I have a bassinet that sits next to my side of the bed. After each feeding during the day or night I would burp Alden and then set him down. About a week after getting home from the hospital I would set him in his bassinet and he would immediately begin crying. I soon realized he was starting the cluster feeding phase.. as shared earlier in this post. I was getting NO sleep at night because of this. I was miserable and so was Alden. When we went to his next doctor appointment I told her about this and she suggested I give him formula. The reason why is so he would sleep better which would allow me to sleep, and allow me to keep my supply up. I FREAKED out because I did NOT want to give him formula at all! I was trying to figure out what I was going to do to solve this problem. One night after a feeding session I leaned back and had Alden on my chest trying to burp him. I ended up falling asleep during this time. My body had just gotten to its breaking point and I couldn't fight sleep anymore. I woke up to him moving on my chest and it was 3 hours later. Turns out he slept better too. So after that, each night I would just let him sleep on my chest. I would cover his legs up with the sheets and kept my boppy around my as a sort of shield. He slept instantly better and I started feeling so much better just from getting 2-3 hours of solid sleep at a time. Then after a few weeks he started squirming a lot more so I laid him next to me one night and although I slept horrible he slept amazing. So I started letting him sleep beside me and I LOVE IT! We both sleep so much better now and I get to wake up to him kicking or punching me with his little flailing arms. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Just so you guys know.. I told myself long before pregnancy that I would NEVER allow a child to sleep in my bed with me. I however had to adapt. I learned very quick that parenting is all about adapting to what YOUR child needs. Every baby is different and so advice that works for one child, may not work for them all. Never say never because you may find yourself in a tough situation looking for relief or a solution with nowhere to turn BUT the things you said you'd never do!

I've been able to watch my sweet boy grow so much in the first month. He looks so much different than he did at birth. I think I fall in love with him more and more every day.

My relationship with Chris has also changed and grown. I think I'll do a separate post for that though.

So as a final recap: Parenting is hard! HAHAHAHA! The journey that is motherhood is a tough one, but at the end of the day it is so worth it! It gets easier every single day.. you just have to keep pushing through!

Now... it's picture time!

 This was the day we brought him home. :)

 

One week old on Christmas day!

 Snuggle time with mama.

 My sleepy little monster man.

 Hanging at the park!

Well that's it for this post! Hope you guys enjoy.

Thanks for reading!!

Week 39: Then There Were Three: A Delivery Story

Hey guys!

So I'm picking back up where I left off. This post will be all about my delivery which happened to be a week early.

As I posted in earlier blogs, I was beyond miserable at this point. I had been working from home since I had been having uncomfortable contractions for over a week. That Monday after working from home a full week, I decided that since I was clearly going to have to be induced, I might as well go back to the office. Sitting at home all day alone was only fueling my misery anyway. So I went in to work on December 15. My boss knew I was miserable and so he said to work as long as I could. I stuck it out until around 4pm that day I think. I actually had quite a bit of things to keep me occupied so I made myself busy and got through it.

That night I was so exhausted, but I knew that come the next morning I would be sitting in my doctor's office discussing when my induction date would be!

I woke up in the middle of the night to pee and I remember saying " OK Alden, since you don't want to come out, now mommy is going to have to get induced and go through extra pain!" That morning I got up and as I was getting ready to take a shower I started leaking fluid. I told Chris that I thought my water was breaking, but then after a few seconds it stopped. FALSE ALARM I guess!

I took a shower and sat down to fix my hair. Chris said he wanted to grab a bite to eat before my appointment so he got up to get ready. I finished my hair and went to the bathroom to put my straightener away. The second my feet hit the tile BAM... my water breaks. My pants were soaked, the floor was soaked! I said " OK this has to be my water because I'M NOT PEEING RIGHT NOW!" Chris flew out of the shower faster than I've ever seen him move and the race was on! This was around 7:30 in the morning.

I was actually super calm even though Chris was in panic mode. We made it to the hospital around 7:45 am. They checked me and sure enough my water had broke. I was only at 1.5 cm at this point so they had to give me Pitocin. Right when my contractions started getting bad the anesthesiologist showed up to give me my epidural. I got it around 10:30am. I'm so glad it worked out that way because I was able to relax the entire day.

Friends and family came and went through out the day. I brought The Office with me so we ended up having a marathon.

Finally the time arrived that night and it was time to start pushing. I'm not sure when I started pushing because I was in the zone at that point.
Fun side note: The hospital was doing construction and had planned some outages that night. Go figure the very first time I started pushing, the power goes out. Everything went black for a second while the nurses got the generated lights turned on. The staff was GREAT though because nobody flinched or let that distract them, they just kept on counting me through my pushes.

The Dr came in and started taking over. She noted that his head was having trouble getting past my pubic bone, so she told Chris the options of either cutting me, or using the vacuum.  Chris told her to go ahead and make the cut. It's funny because I heard that conversation going on, but I felt like I wasn't really there. Even if the Dr. had asked what I wanted to do, I wouldn't have answered her!

Finally his big old head made its way out and then next thing I know... we've got a baby boy!

Alden was born December 16,2014 at 9:08 pm. He weighed 8lbs 3.6 oz (again.. this was a WEEK early) and 20 inches long!

Shortly after he was placed in my arms, and then taken away for measurements, clean-up, etc... they let me know that I apparently had some sort of infection and was running a high fever. Alden was also.. I believe his temp was 103, so they explained he would have to go to the nursery, get an IV and get some tests and antibiotics.
That was the most terrifying moment for me. I was so worried something was going to happen to him. I wasn't worried about myself, I wanted to get out of the bed and be with him.

Eventually around 10:30-11:00 pm they brought him back to me. Having him in my arms without all the hustle and bustle of clean-up was beautiful. I was instantly in love!

We ended up getting to leave the hospital on the 19th. He had to stay until his 48 hour test results came back. Turns out nothing was wrong with him! Thank goodness! I think the only time I slept when we were in there was the very short periods when they would take him to the nursery to give him the antibiotics, or I'd occasionally doze off while holding him.

So that's my delivery story! :)
I'll end with some extra pictures!

Thanks for reading you guys!

Week 38: My Most Miserable Week Yet!

Picking back from week 37... I decided to work from home this week just in case I needed to rush to the hospital. Plus I was contracting every 2-5 minutes so sitting at a desk all day in work clothes would have sucked!

Monday I was miserable. My back pain was so terrible that I was on all fours in the floor rocking back and forth looking for any relief I could get! That night I went back to the hospital and still I was only at 1 cm. They gave me pain meds and sent me home.

Tuesday was my appointment so I went in. When the nurse asked how I was I started crying and telling her how miserable I was. I did the same thing when the Dr. asked as well. Chris asked if they would induce me and my Dr. said not until 39 weeks. She was hoping that I would go into labor before then, but she agreed that if not we would schedule an induction for the following week.

Every day I prayed I would go into labor. I was dealing with contractions and back pain and everything hurt. My Dr. gave me some sleeping meds to see if maybe getting some good rest would help me not feel so overwhelmed. It didn't, but hey it was worth a shot right?

I kept waiting and waiting and WAITING for my water to break, but no such luck for me yet.

Week 37: I thought it was time!

Hey guys,

So I've been un-pregnant for 7.5 weeks now... but I'm back at work and its a slow day, so I'm going to catch up on my blogging!

So by this point I think it was pretty clear that I was miserable. I was dealing with horrible back pain and was just ready for Alden to be born.

That week we had a fire drill at work (which they made seem like it was not a drill, but indeed a real emergency) so I had to walk... or waddle myself down the stairs. I work on the 15th floor mind you. When we got to the bottom we had to check in with security to make sure all companies participated. As soon as one of the ladies saw me she asked " Did you just walk down all those stairs?" When I replied yes she said that I could have waited since it was just a drill. HMMM funny you mention that NOW! There were 2 guys standing guard in the hall making sure everyone left and they saw me and said nothing.

That night I ended up losing my mucus plug. After that happened I immediately started having some mild cramping. I called my Dr and they suggested I wait until I'm super uncomfortable, or until the cramping starts a pattern. I went into work and of course by about noon I was miserable! I called the Dr again and they said to go to the hospital and get checked out.

Chris rushed home, we loaded up the car and we headed to the hospital. Once we got there they check and I was still only at 1 cm. My contractions were all over the place so they sent me home! womp womp!
I stayed home from work Friday to rest, as the nurse said walking down 15 flights of stairs at 37 weeks pregnant freaked my body out, but they didn't want me to go into labor quite yet.

Around 12:30 in the morning I woke up STARVING and so I went to get some food. All the sudden I started cramping really bad and leaking what I thought could have been my water. We went to the hospital and my contractions were every 2 minutes and hurting but I was still only at 1cm so I was sent home AGAIN!

needless to say at this point I just wanted to progress in my pregnancy or else have the labor pains go away totally.