Home alone with the baby…. Wednesday, Aug 13 2008

Today James went back to work and Ethan and I were home alone for the first time.  I have to say it feels totally strange.  I feel like I’m playing hooky from school or work or something.  I guess its because today I’m not dead tired and the pain is pretty much gone.  And here I am, at home, staring at my baby and feeling like I should be getting something done around the house.  I have been working on finalizing stuff for our move which has been more stressful than it should be, but I guess nothing about buying a new home and moving 700 miles away is particularly easy- especially when you are a hormonal postpartum new mom.  Anyway, I ramble….

Last week we had two sets of professional pics of Ethan taken.  One by a photography student who is looking to expand her portfolio and the other by our wedding photographers.  Ethan was NOT a huge fan of being all nudie-pudie in front of the camera, but between yells we got some good shots until I couldn’t stand it any longer.  You can be sure that I will be posting up these pics for you to see soon, but in the meantime here is a sneak peak shot of James holding Ethan that just melts my heart.  These were taken by the photography student- I give her an A+!

Enjoy!

Daddy holds his son - 10 days old

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Week one of being a parent Friday, Aug 8 2008

 

They say nothing can ever prepare you for becoming a parent and truer words have never been spoken.  The past week has been the biggest physical and emotional challenge we have ever experienced.  Nothing can ever prepare you for how much you will immediately love your newborn: as you stare at every body part, comment on every movement, every expression.  He is utterly fascinating and infinitely amusing. 

Simultaneously, it is impossible to explain how this tiny 6 lb 4 oz bundle of human potential can utterly flip your life upside down.  As you all know, I am a big planner.  And I thought I had everything we could possibly need for his first couple of months.  Boy was I wrong.  Within minutes of getting home from the hospital we had a long list of things we needed to keep going in the upcoming days.  I am SO thankful that we are currently living with my parents as they been handling everything from buying nursing pads to doing laundry to cooking us dinner.  Don’t try to do this alone kids.  I have no idea how James and I would have made it through the past week without the help of my family and of his family and friends bringing by food and giving us some time sleep, shower, etc.  So far we have managed the feeding every 2-3 hours, but I know that as the weeks go by it will wear on us more and more.

Personally, I underestimated the pain and recovery from the C-section, and I know recovery from a vaginal delivery is no picnic either.  So short of feeding the baby, I haven’t been able to do much since we brought him home.  However, each day I feel a bit better and get a bit more mobile and I’m slowly starting to be able to help out with changing diapers and doing stuff that requires me to be out of bed or off the couch.

That said, when his little cry wakes me up at 2:37AM, I find that I’m not annoyed or upset, I’m excited to pick him up and spend this time with him.  In just a week he has already changed.  Seeing him next to his cousin Will, who is only 4 weeks older and he seems SO much bigger! Its amazing how much they can grow in 4 weeks!  I find myself wishing he would stay just like he is – all tiny and warm.  But I know that is impossible.  So we try to enjoy each moment, no matter how sleep deprived we are.  Every day he is a little different, doing something new.  I’m also proud to say that when he was 5 days old we officially got the hang of breastfeeding and have been doing that for every feeding.  Its really a pretty cool thing!

Anyway, I’ll stop rambling, but here are some new pics of our little man, since we all know you are here to see him anyway!

2 days old

  

4 days old

 

His post-eating face - he conks out, its so cute!

 

Quality time with daddy

All clean after his first bath

Mama, whatcha doin'?

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I would like to introduce you to: Ethan James Saturday, Aug 2 2008

Everyone, I would like you to meet someone very special and precious to James and I.  Our son, Ethan James, was born on Wednesday, July 30 at 5:01pm.  He weighed 6 lbs, 8 oz and was 20 inches long.  He is healthy and absolutely perfect!!!  He was born 3.5 weeks early, but is a great weight for when he arrived.

 

Daddy James and Ethan

  

 I will post a full birth story below, but for those of you who don’t want to read all the gory details (which I understand, I really do…) a brief summary is that my water broke at 36.5 weeks.   I labored for 24 hours trying to dilate enough to deliver him vaginally, but after 24 hrs I was still only 1 cm.  So he was delivered via C-section.  I have been recovering quickly (so they tell me) though it has not been a picnic. 

Ethan is very healthy – his pediatrician said he would never have guessed he was a 36 weeker.  He has passed all his tests with flying colors.  James, Ethan and I have been learning about each other and getting into our new rhythm as a family.  We are both completely in love with him.  We hope you can meet him soon!

Here is the full birth story for those of you who want the details:

My water broke at 36w3d at about 5:30pm on Tues. We had planned to labor at home for awhile, but since my water had broken I was a bit anxious so we went in to the hospital. When I got there I was still only 1/2 cm dilated. We had studied Hypnobirthing and were hoping for a natural-ish birth, so we started walking the halls and walked until about midnight. When I got checked again I was still only 1/2 cm. Doc was a bit concerned since I was 1) early and 2) my membranes had ruptured – she said that since I was still early a lot of times your body hadn’t quite built up the hormones necessary to thin your cervix. So I agreed to some cervadil while I slept to see if we could get some progress and good contractions.

At 4AM I went to the bathroom and lost the cervadil. They wouldn’t put another one in for risk of infection. When I got checked at 7AM (14 hrs since water broke) I was only 1cm. At this point, doc explained that they really are uncomfortable letting someone whose water has broken go much longer than 24 hours, due to some risk of infection, and esp. since EJ was early. So, I agreed to a low dose of pitocin to try to get things moving.

I did start to get some contractions, but they weren’t great ones. An interesting point to note here regarding the Hypnobirthing. ONce I started the pitocin the contractions were getting stronger and more painful, so DH and I started doing some of our hypnobirthing stuff. It was VERY effective and helped with managing the pain – so much so that my contractions actually lessened – the nurse even commented. The MINUTE we stopped my contractions increased again. At the time we decided not to continue with it, since we needed the contractions to get stronger, but it was pretty neat to see how effective it was on the pain.

Anyway, 23.5 hrs after my water had broken, contractions, cervadil and pitocin, I was still only 1cm dilated.

At that point we talked with the doc and while she said we could go longer it just didn’t seem like my body knew what to do since I was early. We made the tough decision to go ahead and get the C-setion. I have to say it was pretty tough and I was not thrilled about it at all, but we knew that since he was a bit early and my risk of infection was increasing by the hour, it was best for our son to go ahead and deliver.

This hospital really has it together, from the time we said, “OK” the anesthesiologist was in here like 5 minutes later and I was wheeled into the OR within 20 minutes. I have to say I was TERRIFIED. I have never had major (or minor) surgery before and it was not something I was even remotely prepared for, but it was like hopping on a speeding train.

But – I got in there, James came in and about 5-10 min later after some tugging out came our son!! He didn’t have any trouble breathing and once I was stitched back up they brought me into the recovery room where DH and his mom (who is an admitting nurse at our hospital) were doing all the tests and giving him his bath. I felt like it took FOREVER – he was like 5 feet away from me but I couldn’t touch or hold him. FINALLY they brought him to me – and he is just the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

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