2 weeks old! My chunky monkey!

So my little man is 2 weeks old (yesterday)! We had his 2 week appointment today with the pediatrician. She is so cute. I found out today that she is from Chile, so of course she spoke Spanish to me the whole time! LOL! She kept saying that I HAVE to talk to Brock in Spanish. She also said that we have to talk Spanish at the next appointment! YIKES! That makes me nervous :-) LOL!

Brock had little lumps under his nipples, so I asked the Dr about it because I was concerned. She kind of giggled, told me NOT to tell Spike, and squeezed Brock's nipples... um... did you know that babies can produce Colostrum? For those that don't know, that's the "pre-milk" that mothers make in their breasts before real milk comes in! So she sqeezed most of the colostrum out of him and the lumps went away! She told me not to do that at home because it will go away on its own. She just helped the process along. I was completely disgusted because I didn't know that was even possible! So weird! Of course I HAD to tell Spike. How could I not tell him? LOL! He was grossed out and was mad that I told him that! LOL!

Anyhow, the Dr. said that Brock is doing great! Here are his new stats:

Weight: 9 pounds, 2.8 ounces (75th percentile)
Length: 22 1/4 inches (90th percentile)
Head circumference: 15 1/4inches (75th percentile)

Brock has been waking up and needing to eat every 2 hours this past week... which means mommy doesn't get much sleep now :-( So sad. But we get to take a nap from like 10 or 11am to 12:30 or 1pm. So its okay :-)

Finally - my birth story!

Thanks to a friend of mine, I just typed up my birth story for her in an email. I figured that I might as well get it on here too!

I had a contraction wake me up out of the dead of sleep at like 1:40am the day I had him. I started timing them and they were 3-5 minutes apart. After like the 3rd contraction, I had a little bit of spotting and figured "this is it!" So I timed them for an hour, called the Dr. and woke Spike up when the Dr said to go in. I was already 4cm when I got to the hospital. I was 3-4cm at my appt. a few days before then. Once I was admitted to the hospital I walked around the maternity floor for an hour to try and help things along. Nothing happened... So I got into bed and had them give me some staidol for the pain. I believe I made it to 6cm before I even asked for an epidural. Once I got that, I waited a while. I think it was about 10:30am when the Dr came in and broke my water. I stayed at 6cm until 12:30pm. The Dr then came back and started me on pitocin to get things moving. I'm assuming I was on a really low dose, because I was stuck at 6cm until 3pm. I was having back labor (contractions I felt across my lower back), so they gave me some more epi. At 4pm, the Dr. came back in and increased the pitocin.... A LOT... By 4:15pm my contractions were so big and were back to back with no break. I kept telling the nurse that I needed to push and that the pain was so bad. So the Dr. comes back in and was like OMG you're 9cm! Its almost time to push! I was like, I can't NOT push right now! So they let me push a little whenever I felt like I needed to. Just so you know, there is soooo much rectal pressure that it seriously feels like you are about to take the biggest poop in your life. No joke! I wish someone had prepared me for that. I never would have imagined having rectal pressure. But anyway, I started pushing and actually pushed the whole time lying on my right side, until the last push. For that one, I managed to get on my back. On my last push, the Dr told me to STOP pushing, and I could actually feel her trying to push Brock back in! I guess he was coming out with his hand up next to his head. By that point there was noooo stopping me. I couldn't help it! I blasted that baby right out! Because I did that, I ended up with a 3rd degree partial tear :-( The Dr. took about an hour to stitch me up - at least that's what it felt like. I'm sure it was less. But that part hurt wayyyy more than the birth itself. I'm not kidding. I was miserable. My recovery has been alright. About 3-4 days later I hit my maximum swelling point and could barely walk. Motrin wasn't cutting it! Now, almost 2 weeks post partum, I feel so much better. My swelling is almost gone! I don't have to take as much motrin either.

How long will it last?

So we had a pretty busy day yesterday. Spike and I were brave enough to go to the movies with Brock! He was awesome! He fussed for the first few minutes until we got settled in, and then he slept the rest of the time! I was so proud of him!!

We came home after the movie for a little bit, then went to my mom's house to celebrate my nephew's birthday. Brock slept until about 8:30pm. He actually stayed awake until 11pm or so.... and didn't wake up until 5am!! I can't believe I actually got 6 hours of uninterupted sleep!! YAY! I woke up, changed his diaper and fed him. He fell asleep again til 8am! How long will this last? It was so nice to have that solid 6 hours :-)

Today is my first day alone with Brock for a few hours because Spike went across town to buy a new fish tank for the living room! At first I was afraid to be alone with him... and of course, as soon as daddy left Brock had a hissy fit! I fed him a little and he fell asleep.

I'm going to try to take a nap while the baby's sleeping! Later!

1 week old... yesterday!

I can't believe we've been parents for a week already! Here's our little man yesterday at one week old! So crazy! Brock was a little crabby yesterday, but we think he was just gassy because we had a hard time burping him after two feeds.

Today we went out to Target with Brock to get a few things. He slept the whole time :-) Afterwards, we went to Potbelly to have lunch and visit with the people I used to work with there. They were so excited to see Brock! It was nice seeing them again!

We've spent the rest of today doing laundry and cleaning up the house some. Brock's been asleep most of the day today. He was up in the morning from 10-1pm, then slept until 4. He woke up at 4, ate, and has been asleep since! Its almost 7:30 and he's sleeping on daddy's chest. So sweet!

1st Time Parents: Baby's first doctor visit

Brock had his first visit today with the pediatrician. It went very well! He's already gone past his birth weight and he's only 6 days old!! Here are his new "stats" for today:

Weight: 8lbs, 11oz.
Length: 22 inches
Head circumference: 14 3/4inches

The nurse and the doctor said he's going to be a big boy! DUH! LOL!

Well that's it for today. He's been sleeping ALL day today.

1st Time Parents: The first few days at home.

Just had a few minutes before bed and wanted to write about how our first few days at home have been! Besides a whirlwind of emotions, its been quite an adjustment.

The first night we came home Brock initiated me into motherhood by peeing on me when I was changing his diaper! What a treat :-) I was sooo tired, Spike had to keep waking me up because I never heard the baby on the monitor. I was completely delirious and every time I woke up, I kept asking Spike "where's the other one?" Totally convinced we had another baby! LOL!

The boys spent a good part of the day on Saturday watching football! Sooo cute :-) Spike was talking to Brock and Brock started making noises back at him. Adorable! It was like they were talking!! Night time was much better on Saturday. During the day, I was able to take a nap so that helped me A LOT at night time. Thankfully Brock had a late feeding and slept until 4am. He's been sleeping 3-4 hours at a time!

Today, Brock's umbilical cord stump fell off and freaked me out! I thought it was a little early, being that he's only 5 days old but my sister-in-law was here and reassured me that he was okay. I'm still a little freaked out, and Spike is totally grossed out.

Tomorrow is Brock's first visit with the Pediatrician! So it'll be our first time out in public together as a family :-) Awww!

Alright, so not a fun post, but whatever! I'm sleep deprived. I'll figure it out soon.

1st Time Parents: We're home!!!

After Brock's last blood draw, we were told that his bilirubin level was low enough for us to take him home!! We got home at about 5pm on Friday evening.

Everyone is doing great! Spike and I are trying to get used to having a baby in the house - as are the cat and the 2 dogs :-)

Brock loves to eat and sleep :-) He's such a good baby! Its still pretty weird that we have a baby, but we couldn't be more in love with him. Both of us could sit here and stare at Brock for hours!! He has already brought us so much joy and he's only 5 days old!

Brock has his first appt with the pediatrician on Monday! So hopefully that goes well.

1st Time Parents: Bilirubin update

Brock had his blood drawn again this morning at 6am to check his bilirubin levels. At around 8am the neonatologist came in and told me that his levels came down to 9.9!! He discontinued the photo therapy, but wants to keep him at the hospital and do another blood draw at 3pm. They said there is usually a rebound effect when they take the lights off, so they want to see how his body does without the lights.

I'll post another update later! I'm headed to see my Dr because my swelling is getting worse :-( Ugh...

1st Time Parents: Almost home

So we're still at the hospital today. I've officially been discharged, but Brock has jaundice and the pediatrician wanted him to stay in the Special Care Unit and recieve 24 hours of photo therapy. Spike and I decided that I would stay with Brock at the hospital so that I could continue nursing him through the night. Spike went home to get some rest and to finish a few projects around the house. I miss him so much!! He's been such an awesome support and coach through my entire labor, delivery, recovery, and nursing! He's amazing!

The results of the latest blood work showed that his bilirubin levels are decreasing... albeit slowly, but they are coming down. 24 hours after birth, his level was 9.3. Another 24 hours after that, they were up to 11.9. The latest drawing shows his levels to be at 11.0. So this is good! Hopefully all of the supplemental milk he has gotten today helps with passing the bilirubin!

Here is an album with some of his pictures that we took yesterday and the day he was born. Since he's been receiving photo therapy all day today, I only took like 2 pictures. Those are still on the camera, so it'll be a little while before I add them.

Pictures of Brock David: click here

1st Time Parents: Meet the newest member of the family!!

HE'S HERE!!! Meet our son, Brock David! Born on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 4:54pm. Weighing in at 8 pounds and 6 ounces! He is 21 1/4 inches!

We're all doing well and should be home soon! I'll post a birth story as soon as I can.

1st-time-parents: HOLY CONTRACTIONS!!!

Owie!

Its about 2:20am right now and I've been having contractions since about 7pm. The ones I had earlier were about 7 minutes apart, but not very intense. I woke up from a dead sleep with a contraction at 1:42am. Holy Christ! Since then, they've been coming about every 5-7 minutes and hurt like crazy! I have a little spotting with these ones too which kind of has me thinking that baby Brock my soon be on his way!! I'm going to hold out as long as I can before I wake Spike up and call the Dr.

We'll post an update soon :-)

1st Time Parents: Past my due date...

Yup! You read that correctly... I'm past my due date (10/11/08). I'm still here, very pregnant :-( I was really hoping to have Brock this weekend. I guess I just never imagined that I would go past my due date. I also can't believe how bummed I am about it! I am sooo uncomfortable - especially trying to sleep at night. I've been having a lot of hot flashes too. These last few days I have found that I am pretty much constantly hungry. I get full really fast, so I don't eat as much initially, but like 20 minutes later I feel like I'm starving.

I really shouldn't complain! I've had such a wonderful pregnancy. But people are right when they say that the last week is the hardest.

My next scheduled OB appt is this coming Thursday. I pray to God that I have Brock before then. Who knows... maybe tonight will be the night??

My sister-in-law thinks it will be tomorrow because of the full moon, and Spike thinks it will be tomorrow too because it'll be the 13th and 13 is his lucky number... and oddly enough, I was born the 13th of June...! Could be fate! LOL! Wishful thinking I guess :-)

1st Time Parents: 39/40 week appt.

I'm still here... still pregnant... c'mon baby!! GET OUT!!

I had an appt this morning. Today I am 39 weeks and 5 days... so pretty much about 40 weeks. She did a cervical exam and told me that I am now 3-4 cm dilated, and really close to 4cm. Once I get past 4cm, she said that things start moving real fast :-) She also said that my cervix is still 1/2 way there... which is weird because the Dr at the hospital on Sunday said I was 70% effaced. Oh well. Either way, I've made a little more progress. She also said that the baby's head is lower and that my uterus is pretty big ;-)

We scheduled an induction date for October 22nd just in case. At that point, I'll be 41 1/2 weeks pregnant. I (as well as the Dr) highly doubt I'll make it that far. I really hope Brock wants to come out this weekend. I'm so tired and getting so uncomfortable. I know that the sleep thing will be an issue for a while, but I'll have Spike's help after the baby and I'll be able to take naps at least.

I had expected the Dr to strip my membranes today, but I think because I'm so close to 4cm, she decided not to. I didn't bring it up because I was still pretty undecided about it anyway.

Well, here's hoping to having a baby this weekend!!!

1st Time Parents: Early Labor

Ok, for starters, labor is not fun, no matter what stage of it you're in. I've been having timeable contractions since last Thursday. On Sunday this past weekend I started having contractions 5 minutes apart. I waited an hour and had my Dr. paged. She didn't get back to me for 2 1/2 hrs! Apparently she was in surgery. Meanwhile, my contractions were still 5 min. apart. She called and I told her what was going on. She said it sounded like early labor, so she instructed me to drink 2 glasses of water, take a warm shower, and lie down for a while. She said if my contractions didn't go away or slow down, to come to the hospital. So by 9pm I had done what she asked and my contractions were getting closer, like 3-5 min. apart. Mind you, my contractions were just really intense, but not painful - just uncomfortable. Anyway, I decided to page the Dr. again to see if I should come in. She was not able to be found again and now it was 10:45pm. So Spike and I decided to go to the hospital. We made a stop by my mom's house because she was insistent on being at the hospital. So we're on our way and the Dr. calls my cell phone and told me that I couldn't come to the Novi hospital and that I had to go to Providence in Southfield because the Novi hospital was too busy and they couldn’t take me! Apparently they didn’t have enough nurses there to deliver safely if I was in full, active labor. So I had a serious emotional breakdown. I called her back like 10 minutes later to see if there was ANY way they could get me in at Novi and she said no. So whatever. Long story short, I’m thankful I went to Southfield, but we were just really upset because we had expected (and still do) to deliver at Novi... We’ll see. We have to decide now where we want to go before I actually go into labor. We got discharged at like 2:30am after TWO internal cervical exams only to hear that I was still only 3 cm dilated and 70% effaced. So I'm just in early labor (and have been for a few days now). So they sent me home and said to come back if my water breaks, or if my contractions get so bad that I can’t talk, breathe, or walk through them. So... That’s that!

I couldn't sleep last night because my contractions are always pretty bad after an internal exam. I'm still exhausted, but I'll be alright. I just want this baby out!

The Dr. said that the baby looked great. They did an ultra sound too to check his fluids and he's got enough in there. Well, that's it for now. Hopefully our next update includes a birth story ;-)

1st Time Parents: 38/39 week appt!!

I had an appt yesterday where I was 38 weeks and 4 days. Close enough to 39 weeks I suppose! LOL! Anyway, I've made more progress!!! The Dr. said I am now 2 to 3 cm dilated and the baby's head is really low! I felt a little sick after she did the internal exam because it hurt pretty bad. My blood pressure was a little high when I got there. It was 130/80. My normal bp is 110/60, but since being pregnant it is usually in the 120's/70's. So they had to retake it after my appt and thankfully it came down to 127/74.

At about 5:30pm yesterday I started having contractions pretty regularly. I had to leave to go see my niece for her b-day party. In a 25 minute drive, I had regular contractions every 5-8 minutes. That lasted until I got home and started timing again. I started timing just before 9pm and y contractions ranged from 5-7 minutes, then went to 7 minutes, back to 5-7 minutes, then finally started tapering off at 11pm when they were 7-10 minutes apart. I didn't call the Dr. because she said to call when my contractions are 3-5 minutes apart. I wasn't in any pain, just really uncomfortable. I went to bed and felt some more contractions but fell asleep before I could time them! I feel better today and have only had a few contractions so far. Nothing regular. I'm feeling Brock move really low today too...

I dunno! I hope I have him this weekend because my favorite Dr. is on-call this weekend. But we'll see. One more week until my official due date!

I'll keep you posted :-)