Pump it Up

Today was a pretty average, normal day! Parker has been waking up at 4am every day for the last three days. We are not used to this! Prior to this he was sleeping until around 6-ish, so this is just a little different. These past three days, he has had one arm out of his swaddle, which I has me wondering if this could be the reason he's been waking up a little early. I'm just not sure! We are still glad that he is sleeping almost all the way through the night, though. When I go to get him out of his crib each morning, he has scooted himself all the way down to the end. It's so cute.

Tummy Time....he's still not too crazy about this.

Ashley, Parker and I ran a few errands together today, one of which included picking up my new breast pump. How exciting! :) I really am glad, though, because I plan on continuing the breastfeeding journey for a while, and the pump will be necessary when I go back to work. It will also help out with the "babysitting" breast milk supply, which has dwindled a little. I am looking forward to pumping again!

Ryan rescuing Parker from tummy time (this was later in the day..)

My mom got off work early because the power was out (lucky her) and stopped by to see Parker. I had just fed him, and he had fallen asleep, so she volunteered to watch him while I went grocery shopping. I went to TJ Maxx and the grocery store, and when I came back, he was still sleeping! I'm sure my mom was soooo upset that she got to hold him the whole time :)
This evening, we took a nice walk around the neighborhood with both our boys. It was so nice to get out and get some fresh air! We took a walk a few nights ago and used the Baby Bjorn front carrier, and that was very nice as well. Reese did pretty good. He only barked at one of the many dogs we walked past. Parker did excellent! He really seemed to enjoy it. He didn't cry at all until we came home and then decided to walk some more. The "second" walk ended very quickly. He was over it!I am hanging with my sister all day tomorrow, so it should be a good day! I am looking forward to it, and I'm pretty sure the P-man is, too :)

Doctor, Doctor....Give Me the News!

Today we had two doctor's appointments for Parker. The first was this morning at CHKD with the Neurosurgeon, Dr. Dilustro. Since I didn't blog about it, I guess I'll just mention that the appointment was to check up on Parker's skull fracture from a fall we took on the stairs on April 2nd. I slipped on our stairs about halfway down and fell, dropping Parker in the process. As a result, he had a skull fracture and a very small bruise on his brain. We spent that whole weekend at CHKD so they could observe him and make sure he was okay. Everything looked good, so we went home that Sunday. We've been following up with the surgeon so that he can keep a good eye on him. We have another appointment on July 1st to follow up again. If Parker's head still feels good to the doctor, he will probably have an X-ray to check the healing, and then we will be done with all of that. I will be so glad!
Parker's other appointment was this afternoon with our Pediatrician, Dr. Toland. This was his two-month appointment! He is 13 pounds, 2 ounces, 25 inches long, and his head circumference is 42 centimeters. He received several vaccinations today which were given in three injections. Parker cried right after they gave him the shots, but fell asleep on the way home and was actually very good this afternoon. I expected him to be really fussy from the shots, but he was not fussy at all! He slept and was very good overall.Other than the doctor's appointments, the it was mostly a normal day. Parker ate, slept very little, and played on his playmat! Today is my mom's birthday, and we went to dinner at Plaza Azteca to celebrate. She is an amazing woman and I am so glad to have her as my one and only mother! I love you, Mom! :)

Two Months!

• You are now into a size Two diaper! We still have some size One’s left that we’re finishing up, but we’re now buying size Two.
• You smile all the time now. You smile the most in the morning when you wake up, but you give us smiles at other times of the day, too. We love to see them!
• You started sleeping in your crib in your own room on April 24^th. You have been sleeping in your cradle in our room, but since you are so long, it seemed like you were running out of room and would me more comfortable in your crib. Mommy was pretty emotional about it because to me it seems like you are “all grown up.” Daddy had to remind me that you are only two months old, not going to college.
• You love to lay on the floor and kick your legs and “punch” your arms in the air. You have a playmat that has a hanging koala and butterfly that you love to swing at. We also have a mirror that we lay on the floor next to you, and you like to stare at your reflection.
• You still love to eat, but you are starting to eat a little less. You are so much more alert and active during the day that you have better things to do, I guess!
• You are still sleeping through the night! It is wonderful, and Mommy and Daddy feel sooooooooooooo thankful. We put you to bed around 9:00 each night, and you usually sleep until around 6:00. This makes Mommy scared to have another baby because I feel like the next one just can’t be this good!
• On April 4^th, the Easter Bunny brought something that we all fell in love with—your paci. This has helped us in so many ways! Since we’ve been using the paci, you haven’t been taking the bottle at night like you used to. You also do much better in the car because of it. All of the times that we give you the paci and it soothes you have shown me that during the first few weeks of your life, you were probably gaining so much weight because you were using me as your paci!
• You are now wearing size Three Months clothes. Some of them are getting a little tight length-wise, though, so you’ll probably be in Six Months size VERY soon!
• You still love your bath. When we take you upstairs and take your clothes off, you calm right down if you’re upset. I think it’s because you know it’s bath time! We try to bathe you every other night. I kind of want to do it every night just because you seem to love it so much! You are starting to splash around a little bit and I know that that will soon turn into splashing around a lot.We can't believe you're growing up so fast. You are such a sweet little boy and we can't wait to see what all of your future months hold. We love you!
  

One Month Old!

Parker, you are one month old! Here is what you are up to lately....

• You are still wearing size Newborn diapers. I think we are going to move up to the size One diapers, though, because we are pretty much out of Newborn but have TONS of size One!
  
• You weight 10 pounds, 10 ounces as of today. This is a 13 ounce difference from only one week ago! You are not fat at all, though, and the doctor said you will probably just be tall and skinny like your daddy.

• You are spitting up ALL the time. The doctor seems to think that this, coupled with the fact that you gained almost a whole pound in a week, means that you are eating too much! Even though the breastfeeding is VERY demanding, Momma loves to feed you and knows that one day the cuddle time we get from feedings will vanish, so I will feed you as much as you want for now! :)
• We have been giving you a bottle with about two to three ounces of pumped breastmilk each evening because you scream your HEAD off after about an hour of trying to eat from me. The doctor said you are probably just getting into the eating "zone" and may need to be distracted after these hour-long feeding sessions. Again with the eating too much!
  
• You are still wearing Newborn size clothes. We bought SO many Three months sizes that are too big for you! The Newborn stuff is starting to get a little tight length-wise, but the Three months clothes are too big because you are so skinny. It's making it hard to shop for cute stuff for you right now!
  
• You are just starting to smile a little when you are awake. You smile alllll the time in your sleep but not very much yet when you're awake. Mommy tries to make silly faces and entertain you to get a smile...you must be smiling on the inside.
  
• You are sleeping pretty well through the night. You still sleep in our room in your cradle. I don't know when we will put you in your room. This past weekend you slept nine hours one night and about eight hours the night before that! Even if you don't sleep all night, you usually only wake up one time to eat in the middle of the night and then again at about five or six. Mommy is still getting used to this....
• You are starting to enjoy your bath! You were not a fan of the sponge baths or your first couple tub baths, but now you just look all around while Daddy washes you off. Daddy gives you all of your baths--that is his "thing" to do with you.
• You have some pretty bad dry skin and some "moderate" baby acne. We love you anyway! :)
• You are soooo strong. When we have tummy time, you lift your head up and move it from side to side and kick your legs and arms everywhere! You have been doing really well with this since you were just a few days old.
  

We both love you so much and are so glad to have you in our lives! You are the best thing that's ever happened to us and we can't wait for all of the milestones in your life that are to come. Happy One Month Birthday!

Parker's Birth

Well, he is finallly here! Our sweet baby boy, Parker Bryan Jefferson has been with us for over a week now and we are soooooooo in love. I wanted to document the events that occurred right before and after his birth so we would remember later on down the road.....

On Wednesday night, 2/24, we had to call the hospital at 630 to see if they had a room available for us. We were both so anxious because we just knew they wouldn't have one available right away and that we would have to wait until midnight to check in. This was not the case--we called at 630 and they said we could check in at 730! I had been anxious and nervous all day about the whole process. To distract myself, I went shopping, baked cookies, re-packed the hospital bag, and took a shower. It all helped, but not totally. After we called, I made sandwiches for us to eat in the car, and we left for the hospital.

The last belly pic--39 weeks 6 days, taken right before we left for the hospital
A last picture of us at home together

Once we arrived at about 715, they had me change into a gown and get settled in with the heartbeat and contraction monitors. At about 915, the wonderful nurse, Trisha, inserted the IV and also gave me a cervical insert to help soften my cervix. They needed to do this before they could administer Pitocin to start my labor.

I had to unhook myself from the monitors and IV pole to go to the bathroom!

We watched American Idol and then went to bed to try to get some sleep. Alarms started going off on the monitors at about 3am because the machine was out of paper--after this, I don't know that I ever fully went back to sleep. More alarms started going off at about 5am, and then at 7am, we were finally up for good.

At 930am, they took out the insert, and I was dilated to 2cm. I was hoping that I would be dilated a little more, but this was not the case. At 1045, they began the Pitocin drip to get things going. I was sooooo nervous because I didn't know how quickly the contractions would start or how intense they would be. We had lots of visitors all morning and in the early afternoon.
At 3pm, I began to feel some major contractions. There were several people in the room when I decided that I needed to go to the bathroom and asked everyone to leave. When I stood up, my water broke! I was glad that this happened on its own instead of having it broken by the doctor. I knew it would be painful to have it broken, but I was glad that nature took it's course. After this happened, I was in a LOT of pain. The new nurse, Megan, checked my dilation, which was at 3cm, and gave me a shot of Nubane into the IV. This is a narcotic medication that is supposed to take the edge off the pain but not completely get rid of it. I wanted to wait as long as possible for the epidural because it sometimes slows down labor and makes it drag on. Once they gave me the Nubane, I felt loopy, almost like being drunk, which they told me to expect. It didn't really get rid of any of the pain for me and just made me feel light-headed. Dr. Kwan, the OB, came in and talked about the epidural and waiting a little bit longer. Since I was only at 3cm, she wanted me to try to wait until about 4 or 5cm before getting the epidural. I told her that I felt like the Nubane wasn't doing much, so she asked if I wanted her to check my dilation again. I as at 4cm, so she said it would be fine to get the epidural.

Here I am, pre-epidural

The anesthesiologist administered the epidural at 4pm. I felt better pretty quick, of course, and was happy to have the meds. They checked my cervix again at 420 and I was 5cm. Everything was progressing well! After this I just relaxed for a while. Megan came in to check my cervix again at almost 6pm and I was 9cm!! I was so glad to hear that it was almost time to push. I did not want to have a long, long labor. After she checked me, I napped for a little while. The epidural made me feel so relaxed. It felt great to sleep for a little bit! Here are all of our wonderful family members and friends that were patiently waiting to hear some news:
I started pushing with Ryan and Trisha at 810 because I had finally reached the 10cm mark. I was so relaxed that I didn't really feel like doing it, but I knew it was a necessary step in meeting our baby boy. In-between contractions, Ryan was feeding me ice chips and wetting a washcloth to lay on my chest. I was so hot and felt very nauseous. I did throw up one time and felt better afterwards. After a little over an hour of pushing, Parker came into the world at 918pm.

I was obviously extremely emotional. Doesn't Ryan look so happy?
Parker didn't look too happy :)

He weighed 9 pounds, 9 ounces, and was 22 inches long. They checked him out and everything looked good, so they gave him back to us for a bit before taking him to the nursery. He was grunting some because of having fluid in his lungs, but this subsided after about an hour.

Our first family photo!

When they took Parker to the nursery, Ryan went with him to be there while they did all of their tests.

Here is Parker getting his first bath from Daddy

After Parker was born, we stayed in the hospital through Sunday at about noon. It was nice to be there with the support of all of the nurses because I had a really rough time with breastfeeding. Parker did not want to latch on, so I had to pump milk to give to him in a syringe pretty much all day Friday and half of the day Saturday. It seemed like every time we had visitors on Friday, it was time for me to try to feed him, and I couldn't get him to eat, so it was frustrating. On Saturday morning, Parker was circumcised and did very well. He was gone for about 10 minutes and came back seeming happy! About halfway through the day on Saturday, Parker latched on and finally got the hang of things. I was so happy. I had been extremely emotional about it because I really wanted to breastfeed and not do any formula.


Even though Parker was getting the hang of things, we had a "scare" Saturday night. The nurse came in at 4am to wake me up to feed him, which was fine becasue this is what I had asked. The way she woke me up, though, was startling, because she said, "He's jaundiced, dehydrated, and hungry. You need to feed him now or we will probably have to supplement with formula." He had also lost about 8.6% of his body weight, so they were concerned about him losing too much. In my half-awake state, I woke up, and attempted to get Parker to eat. He was so upset by the time they brought him in that it took him a few minutes to calm down. Once he did, he ate for about an hour and twenty minutes!

This marathon feeding session made me feel so good. We spoke with the Pediatrician the next morning and she assured us that there was no reason to be that alarmed about his jaundice and weight loss. After cleaning up the room, getting Parker changed into his "going home outfit," and successfully putting him in his tight carseat, we were ready to go home. Very ready. I was so sick of being in that hospital room. Parker screamed and screamed all the way down to the lobby, but once we got into the car and out of the parking lot, he was sound asleep. We pulled up to the house and saw that it had been decorated for the arrival of our sweet baby boy! We found out later that this was done by Ryan's parents and sister--thank you :)

This is Parker when we brought him home
Some of the decorations

When we came home, I felt a little overwhelmed and nervous about everything--breastfeeding, being responsible for another life, thinking about his whole life and the rest of ours spanning ahead of us. Also, recognizing that it's no longer "just the two of us," but now the three of us. I know he will only be a baby for a short period of time, so I am working on enjoying these moments now instead of worrying so much about the future and him growing up. I love him so much and want the best in life for him. I want to be the best mother he could ask for, and I think that so far, I'm doing just that.

Stay tuned for an update on Parker's first week.....I am trying to get caught up with blogging after the birthing hiatus :)

One Week!

One week from tomorrow is the due date for our baby boy! I cannot BELIEVE that within the next week we will be parents!!! It is so crazy and exciting and scary all at the same time. I just cannot WAIT to see him and love him and kiss him all over. I think that we are about as ready as we can possibly be. My next "regular" doctor's appointment is on Friday. This is when they will schedule my induction. Scary! I am really hoping that I go into labor on my own before that, but if I have to be induced, then that's just the way our baby boy is meant to be born into this world!

I think I am going to miss my big ol' belly very much! I'm so used to having it there to rub and rest my hands on, and it's not going to be there anymore--well, at least most of it won't be there anymore, haha! It's going to be so weird to not feel him moving around in there. I will not miss the sciatic nerve pain I've had or the swelling of my feet and ankles, though!

This weekend, Amy came over and helped me go through the baby's clothes and organize them to get them put away. It was too confusing to me, and she helped me SO much! In the afternoon, we went to Burlington and looked at all their baby clothes and baby stuff. It was extremely packed and intense in there! After this, we went to Target and Babies'R'Us to do some returning and spending :) It's so fun to have my BFF pregnant at the same time...and with a BOY, too....we can talk about baby products, share information that we're learning, and she will be able to practice on our baby before hers gets here!

Ryan and I put together the bouncy seat and swing for Baby J, and Ryan put together the stroller and carseat. Here are a couple of pictures of him doing that:
That's it for now. Tomorrow I have a dermatologist appointment, and Friday I have the regular OB appointment, as well as an appointment with the Diabetes doctor. When I'm not at the doctor's appointments, I'll be working for Onlineformals. I also need to throw in finishing my Thank You cards for our showers in there somewhere.....this is all unless Baby is born in the meantime. We will see.......

Baby Stuff

Everything right now is allll about baby! We are ready for him to get here--as ready as we can be, anyway. We had TWO baby showers this weekend. Ashley and Amy threw an amazing shower for me on Saturday, even though it was snowing again! Thanks again to both of you SO much...I had such a great time! Here are a few pics:

Here's the cake Ashley made for the original baby shower that was canceled due to the snow!
Gorgeous paper flowers made by Amy
All of the gifts (we are so blessed) and the adorable onesies Amy made
My beautiful diaper cake made by Ashley...that I am not allowed to take apart :)
Amy and I with our babies chilling together already! She just found out today that she is also having a boy...we will be boy mommies together. Amy, I am so excited for you!

On Sunday, our church threw us another shower! It was a "surprise", although Ryan knew about it before hand. There were probably about 40 or 50 people there. Again, we are SO blessed to have so many people that care about us! I don't have any pictures from this shower yet but will have them soon. Here is the aftermath in the baby's room after having two showers in two days:
It was pretty intense. On Tuesday night, we went through everything and determined what needed to be taken back, washed, opened, put away, etc. It's still not 100 percent done, and tonight we went to Target and Babies'r'Us to get the rest of the stuff we needed! Now we have more stuff to open and put away but it is great. We used mostly gift cards for tonight's purchases, so we didn't have to spend too much out of pocket.

I'm 38 weeks as of today, and the baby is definitely considered full term. My next regular OB appointment is next Friday, the 19th. If I haven't had the baby by then, they will schedule an induction for the following week sometime. I am really hoping that I go into labor on my own without being induced, but we will see what happens! He will be born on the day he is meant to be born. We will find out what day that is very soon. We cannot believe that the time is finally here. Two weeks from today, we will definitely have a baby boy to love and hold. It is amazing to think about that!

Okay, I am off to watch The Office with Ry so we can go to bed. I'll leave you with a picture of me at 37.5 weeks....

Not the best picture I've ever seen of myself, but you get it :)