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Friday, November 29, 2013

Hudson - One month

I can't believe Hudson has been with us for a month already. I go back and forth between feeling as though he's always been in our lives to feeling as though life has changed so quickly. However, I always feel incredibly lucky to call him my son (ahhh - it's still surreal to use "my" and "son" together).



His stats:

Weight - 10 pounds 7 ounces

Height - 55 centimeters


His likes/dislikes:

Likes - sleeping on chests, staring at shutters, listening to his dad sing the oompa loompa song (well, sing the first two lines over and over), taking "laps" around the house, lifting his head when he's on your chest, hanging out in the baby bjorne, and floating in his bath.


Dislikes - nappy changes and being put down in the bassinet.

His adventures:
Obviously this whole month was basically a list of firsts - baths, pram rides, car rides, etc. He went on three car rides - home from the hospital, to the baby store to pick-up a sinfully expensive but equally awesome swing made by 4moms, and to his grandparents house. He's gone on a few walks in the baby bjorne, including to mothers' group. He also took his pram for a spin twice.  


New changes this month:
We've spent this month learning about each other and getting the hang of breastfeeding. Hudson calls the shots, whether it be to party at 3am with ear piercing screams or deciding to take a long nap on a Saturday afternoon (I would also vote for the latter!). He changes daily. Lately he's been foregoing his morning nap like a rebel, which makes his mom cranky. I try to remind myself that the boy will eventually sleep and I will eventually get my nap. He's usually waking twice at night, and I'm dreaming of the day he sleeps longer than 3.5 hrs at a time over night. We like having him sleep in our room, so we probably won't transition him to his own room for awhile.

Just like every other new parent, we think he's a genius. He lifts his head like a rockstar and has started making babbling sounds. I'm sure doing long division is right around the corner. He's so inquisitive, and I love watching him look around a room.

Thoughts on the month:
I've loved watching how easily my husband has taken on the role of dad, and I feel blessed to have his love and support as we embark on this crazy thing called parenthood. I feel like a hermit most days because I don't get out of my pjs, but I'm hoping in the upcoming weeks we get into a better routine.


Off to rock a crying baby,

B

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

November - our month

It's been 7 wonderful years since I walked into a bar and met the man who would fill my life with an ungodly amount of happiness - the man who could soothe my soul by simply placing his hand on top of mine.


 Love cannot begin to capture what we have.


It's been 5 years since I walked into a hotel room filled with flowers and said "yes" to the man I knew I'd marry from our first kiss. 

It's been 3 wonderful years since I walked down the aisle and we sealed forever with a kiss.


And it's been 3 crazy, surreal weeks since we brought home our son.


People say relationships are hard work and require compromise, but that simply isn't the case for all couples. Some people find their perfect match, and with that comes an ease and comfort that is unimaginable. I feel so blessed to have your love in my life

November will always be our month - the month I met you, the month we got engaged, and the month we got married.  

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

Off to enjoy take-out Indian and a crying baby (that's how we do anniversaries these days),

B

Thursday, November 14, 2013

A Day in the Life with a Newborn

Pre-Hudson I searched YouTube videos on a day in the life with a newborn to try to get an idea of what life with a baby would entail (my experience with newborns was nonexistent). Now that I'm on the otherside of things with a mere two weeks of experience, I thought I would share what my days are looking like with a lil fellow.

2:00 am - time for the first feeding of the day. I hear Hudson stir, and think there is nothing worse than getting out of a warm bed in the middle of the night. I quickly throw on my sweat pants and a button down sweater over my maternity tank (trust me it's super sexy). Then I go turn on the nursery lamp, the back room light, grab a drink of water, and go to the bathroom. I grab Hudson from the bassinet in our bedroom and take him to the nursery to change his diaper and strip him down to his tank top to nurse. We head to the living room and assume our go to position on the boppy. He nurses and I check Instagram and stare at his adorable face. He finishes and I burp him. We go back to the nursery to get his onesie back on and to swaddle him. Then back for more boob time. If it's a good night, he'll go to sleep after nursing. If not, I'll spend time walking him around the house and chatting to him until he passes out. He's done nursing at 2:40 am and it's a good night so we head back to bed.

4:30 am - back on the boob and I repeat the same routine - lights on, diaper change, strip down, one boob, dress and swaddle, and more boob time. He finishes nursing at 5am.

7:00 am - another feeding. He finishes at 7:30 am. We both go back to bed.

9:00 am - back on the boob. He finishes at 9:30 am.

10:00 am -  Hudson cover us both in vomit, which is different from spit-up. It flies out of him and goes down my tank top and all over him. Time for an outfit change for both of us. Then he naps on me while I watch TV.

12:00 pm - lunch time for the little guy. Then I get him rugged up, so we can head out. He refuses to give me a good picture.


1:00 pm - We're heading to our first Mothers' Group meet-up, so I give him a little top up before we go in the hopes that he can wait to eat again until we get home.

This is our first adventure outside by ourselves and it's Hudson's first time going in the BabyBjorne. He loves it and passes out right away. 


2:00 pm - I get to the meet-up and we stay until 4pm. Hudson is the only boy in the group. The girls all seem nice, and it's lovely to be around women going through the same thing.

4:00 pm - I haven't had lunch yet, so I stop by the supermarket to pick-up some supplies. Walking home I decide that picking up veggie broth wasn't the best idea (those containers are heavy when you're already lugging a baby and diaper bag)

4:30 pm - I shove some food down my throat and quickly get him ready for another feed.

5:00 pm - another feed, but he's distracted and this one doesn't end until 6 pm.

6:00 pm -  I hear him do a huge fart that I know resulted in a massive pooh, and I hope the Hubs gets home soon enough to change him. Luckily he does. He's really great, and doesn't even mind that he's on poop duty the moment he walks in the door.

6:30 pm - Dad gives Hudson a bath, which he enjoys. He smells like vanilla and tangerine, which I love. I jump in the shower. Showers are so much more enjoyable after you have a baby. It feels like heaven.


6:45 pm - Hudson is playing with dad and does another projectile vomit that makes dad scream. Both boys are covered, so back in the tub for Hudson quickly followed by another wardrobe change. I start dinner. Tonight is roasted eggplant and asparagus served over pasta and spinach.

7:00 pm - a short feed to hopefully help his tummy feel better.

7:30 pm - dinner time for the adults and a bit of relaxing while Hudson sleeps on his Dad's chest.


9:00 pm - time for bed. Hudson has been sleeping since 7:30, so I'm not sure how much sleep I'll get before the next feed.

11:00 pm - Hudson is ready for another boob session.

2:30 am - another day begins!


As you can see my days are taken over with feedings and diaper changes, and in between I often don't feel like doing much else. I still need to establish a routine. The house is always a mess and I constantly feel like I'm behind in what I want to accomplish, but I'm giving myself a bit of a break since Hudson and I are still new at this mommy/baby thing.

Right now I'm trying to enjoy all the precious moments between the puking and pooping, because I know they will pass quickly (although at 2 in the morning time passes slowly!). I feel really lucky that I'm able to breastfeed, because it really is an amazing bonding experience, even though it also means I'm solely responsible for feeding Hudson for the time being.

Parenthood is exhausting and wonderful, and I look forward to watching Hudson grow and learn.

Off to wash the mountain of dishes from last night,

B



Friday, November 8, 2013

Welcome to the world, Hudson!

I thought long and hard about the type of labor I wanted, but always knew that my 'plan' might not unfold as I wanted. The focus was on having a healthy baby, with the hope that I could do so without a c-section or epidural. I wanted delayed cord clamping, skin-to-skin contact, and to labor in different positions (including the tub).

I thought I would go into labor at 40 weeks. I thought I would labor at home for hours with the Hubs by my side. I thought the labor would be over 15 hours. I thought I would know when the contractions started. I was wrong on all accounts.

My due date came and went. The days kept coming and going with no baby news. I began to think that I would be the first woman to be pregnant forever. Week 41 came and that night I had a restless sleep - just didn't feel good. But then by the morning I felt fine. The Hubs went off to work and I tried to distract myself. He checked in at 10:30 to see how I was feeling. I said fine and that there was no news.

By noon there was news. I started to feel heavy cramp-like pains across my lower abdomen. The pain didn't go away - it just got more intense and then back to the regular pain then more intense again. I was told that contractions started in your back, so I didn't think these were contractions. I never felt any Braxton Hicks during pregnancy, but I didn't think it was those either. I just thought it might be the beginning of something.

I called the Hubs, and it went straight to voicemail so I left a message and sent him a text. Ten minutes passed and no call back. I called again. Straight to voicemail. I left a message, sent a text, and an email. I was starting to get distressed at this point. I got a text from my sister-in-law, Chelsea, asking how I was going (perfect timing!). When I told her that I can't reach the Hubs, she offered to go to his work since her work is close by. I thank her and go back to rotating between laying on the bed and sitting on the toilet.

Chelsea literally ran from her work to the Hubs' work to tell him to call me. He called and I told him to come home. He called again when he was on the road, and asked if I want to talk while he drove (I ALWAYS want to talk to him). I said "No, JUST DRIVE!".

My mother-in-law called to check-in. She said she could come down, but the Hubs would probably be home quicker than she could get to our place. I tell her about my pains and she said they sounded like contractions to her. I said they couldn't be because I didn't have any back pain. She said everyone was different. 

The Hubs got home around 2pm and started timing my 'pains'. I still refused to call them contractions. The Hubs kept saying we had to go to the hospital. I kept saying no. He's said they're 3mins apart and lasting over a minute. I said I couldn't make it there, because I kept feeling like I had to go to the bathroom. Finally I accepted that we should leave. The Hubs seemed relieved and rushed around to get everything together - snoogle, bouncing ball, music, hospital bags. I decided to get in the shower. I then decided I never wanted to get out of the shower.

We headed out to the hospital at about 3pm. We called the midwife from the road. I said I wouldn't be able to walk through the hospital to get to maternity. She told us to go through ER. The entire way to the hospital I have my eyes closed and all I did was moan. The Hubs later told me that my moans were so funny that he had to stopped himself from laughing.

I swore I wouldn't moan, because it seemed so annoying when I was watching all the birthing videos. However, moaning HELPS! And when you're in labor you'll do whatever it takes to get some help. 

When we got to the hospital the Hubs asked if I could walk in or if I needed a wheelchair. I said wheelchair. When we get to the front desk they wanted all our forms and yadda, yadda. They told us that someone from maternity would come down to wheel me up. I begged them over and over to let the Hubs wheel me because I couldn't wait. Of course they asked if I was a first time mom. I was definitely the crazy, pregnant lady in the ER room. Finally, they decided to check me to make sure I was not actually going to give birth in the next few minutes. The midwife checked how dilated I was and when she did my water broke. She said I was 6-7centimeters dilated (later she told me that she really thought I was 7-8 but wanted to be conservative so I would have more time to labor before interventions began). I was relieved that I wasn't the first-timer who ran to the hospital and she was barely dilated (mostly because of all the moaning I did in the ER ... haha).

They wheeled me in the bed up to maternity to the room with the tub, so I could have the option of laboring in the tub.


I ended up laboring in the tub for a bit, and enjoyed it. Um, 'enjoy' might not be the right word. It was an improvement from the bed though. Then these horrible pains started that felt like my insides were going to burst. I was taking gas to help with the contractions, but no other pain relief. At this point I started screaming about wanting a epidural. I had previously told the Hubs that I would probably ask for one, and he had to be strong. I told him to tell me to work through a few more contractions and then I could have one. So I kept telling him I was serious and he needed to get me one and I really wanted one. I told him I wanted one even after the contraction was over. Our midwife was useless and kept going in and out of the room at the worst times. She said she would go get the guy to give me one, and was gone for 15 mins. Of course I started bleeding a bit and the Hubs freaked out and went to scream for her in the hallway. She finally came back and said it's all normal.

Then she told me that she's never done a water birth, which was  something I said I was interested in when I signed up for this particular midwife program. I thought her timing was pretty poor. She also said she couldn't check me while I was in the water (I think she could have but didn't want to get wet. I'm sure women having water births get checked in the tub).

I decided to get out of the tub, which was a very hard and painful decision. I went back to the bed, but then  I wanted to try standing up. I stood up and leaned against the Hubs. I liked the way it felt, but we quickly realised the baby did not. The midwife told me I had to get back in bed. I was frustrated that the epidural wasn't there yet. It was so painful.

Finally, the epi-guy came into the room. But he told me what I already knew in the back of my mind - it was too late in the game for it. It was time to push! They were worried about the baby's heart rate, so they set up internal fetal monitoring. Doctors were in and out. Finally I was 9 centimeters! I began screaming out that I felt the urge to push. Of course my midwife had left the room again, so it was just the Hubs and me. Another midwife and doctor came rushing in (my scream was pretty loud). They asked where our midwife was and we said we didn't know. They stayed until she got back.

I pushed for 1hr and 13mins, and eventually we needed to use a vacuum to get him out. I scribbled my signature on the consent form (seriously who could read at time like that?), and I pushed as hard as I could. The next thing I know there was a purple bundle on my stomach and I kept saying "oh my God". We waited for the scream, and when it came it was music to my ears (it probably won't be music when he's doing it in the middle of the night).

Hudson Vance was born at 8:43pm on 29 October 2013 and weighed 8 pounds and 2 ounces.


In the end my labor was just shy of 9 hours. The 1st stage was 7hrs 30mins, 2nd stage was 1hr 13 mins and the 3rd stage was 7 mins. The Hubs never even had time to bring in any of our stuff from the car (probably because I wouldn't stop squeezing his hand). It was a completely different experience compared to what I was expecting.

Honestly, I thought I would feel awesome afterwards knowing I did it as naturally as I could, but I wasn't left feeling empowered. I am, however, grateful for my son's safe arrival.

To say that the Hubs and I are smitten with Hudson is an understatement. We are looking forward to sharing life's adventures with our little man. 

Off to enjoy a shower (a rarity these days),

B