1 month!

Our little man is 1 month old today!!  Even though I've gone through all this before, time still seems to fly by.  We go to the doctor on Thursday for his 1 month check up, so I'll be back with his weight and length then!  Here are some things for me to remember about Baby Jack:

- He is eating every 2 {sometimes 3} hours during the day and every 3 {RARELY 4} hours at night.

- He is still in the newborn phase of life: sleeping, waking up to eat and change his diaper, then sleeping again!

- This past week, he has had some days where he has been awake for an hour or more during the mid-morning hours.

- He can pretty much sleep through anything {including his sister...YAY!}

- He looooooves to have his hands up by his face.  This is a huge deterrent when trying to swaddle.

- He turns BRIGHT red when he gets mad or stretches.

- He grunts/growls/groans a lot.  Even in his sleep.

- His umbilical cord fell off at exactly 2 weeks...same as big sis.

- Still wearing preemie/newborn clothes.  Preemie clothes fit him best in terms of fit, but most of them are getting too short.  Newborn clothes fit him best lengthwise, but look like you could fit 2 other babies in the outfit with him!

- Wearing newborn diapers.

- Does not like to be naked/bathed/changed, etc.

- Spits up and gets hiccups with almost every feeding {aggravating...}

- Once he is hungry, food must be available immediately.  Do not delay.

- I'm afraid he will always be known as "Baby Jack" to big sister.

- Takes a paci...Reese did too at this age.

Ok...Im sure there are more things, but he is sleeping...I should be too!!!

Lately...

We've been spending lots of time outside doing all kinds of fun things...

 

We've been playing soccer!

and blowing bubbles!

We've been eating popsicles {and Cheetos, obviously}

and we've been rockin some 'hawks!

We've been staying up later...

and getting in some good naps!

 All in all, we are enjoying this season of life!

Am I sleep deprived?  Yes!

Am I tired of feeding and washing bottles and feeding and changing diapers?  Absolutely!

Am I dealing with 2-year-old drama on a hourly daily basis? Of course!

BUT.

 Do I get to snuggle a newborn all day {and night}?  Yes!

Does my heart melt every time Reese wants to give Baby Jack kisses?  Absolutely!

Do I laugh CONSTANTLY at the things that comes out of Reese's mouth?  Of course!

 I read a quote recently that pretty much sums up parenting:

The hours are long, but the years are short. 

So true.  It's easy to want Jack to sleep through the night or to rush Reese through potty training.  But in just a few short years, I know I will want for these times back.  I will ache to have my son fit just perfectly on my chest and feel his baby breaths on my cheek.  I will wish for Reese to run up and say "hold you mommy."  Because I know this will not always be so.

So...I will ENJOY waking up every hour to comfort my 3 week old baby boy.  I will GLADLY pick up my 2 year old baby girl when she asks me to hold her.  I will do my best to soak up all these hours because I know how quickly the hours turn into days, weeks, and years.

** The rest of Jack's birth post is coming, but I do want to keep up with what's going on in our lives right now too! **

Happy Birthday Jack! {part 1}

Ok, so there will be several posts detailing Jack's birth.  Warning you now!  But, I want to go back and remember this stuff, so too bad!!

Also.  The above picture has nothing to do with the post, but I mean, how adorable is he?

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February 25th was induction night.  We were heading to the hospital at 8:00 that night to start the process.  Pitocin was to begin at 4:00 AM.  

Our sweet boy had other plans...

I had already taken off work on the 25th {a Friday} to spend the day with Reese.  I woke up that morning having a couple contractions.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  After Reese woke up, we went for a walk down the block.  We had to cut the walk short because I was having pretty strong contractions.

We ran some errands and as long as I was sitting down I wouldn't have any contractions, but the minute I got up and walked around, I would start having them again.  After I put Reese down for her nap that afternoon, I took a shower and decided to paint my nails. {Priorities, people!}  I noticed that I was having to stop what I was doing to breathe through a contraction.  My mom called at this point and I didn't even mention I was having contractions because I figured they would go away if I talked about them.  Haha.

Around this time, Brandon and I had already schemed for me to call his work and pretend I was in labor since they decided to schedule him to work UNTIL 7 PM {Not cool, guys!} so that he could leave around 2 and head towards Montgomery.  Since I feel guilty about such things, I was sure this action would also stop the contractions.

Between 2 and 4, I began to have contractions whether I was sitting or standing.  Mom got home from work and we decided maybe we should install the car seat :).  By 5:00, the contractions were coming about every 15 minutes and were starting to get pretty painful and made me stop whatever I was doing.  By 6:00, they were coming every 7 minutes or so.  I suffered through a piece of Papa John's pizza {my choice as my "last supper"}.  Finally by 7:00, we figured maybe we should head to the hospital.  We were supposed to be there at 8 anyways, and figured we could arrive a few minutes early.

We arrived and got checked in by my sweet nurse Dottie.  I had told her I felt like I was already starting the process and when she checked me, I was already 5 cms dilated and 90% effaced!!!  I couldn't believe I'd made it that far all on my own!  She then announced that we would be having this baby sooner rather than later and that we wouldn't need any induction drugs!  I was so happy because I had wanted to go into labor on my own.  Who knew it would be 2 weeks early and on the day we were scheduled to be induced!  So of course we call our parents who all immediately come to the hospital.

After receiving the bag of IV fluids and getting the lab work back {2 requirements for getting the epidural}, I was sitting on the edge of the bed getting a needle inserted into my spine.  Oh happy day!  Actually when I had Reese, the epidural hurt me, but this time I felt no pain!! 

And then, because OF COURSE...my blood pressure bottoms out.  Allllllll pregnancy long, my BP is high and now, it gets down to 120/35.  Not good.  The nurse and epidural man stay in my room for a while and try and get the epidural dosage correct to help my BP.  For the next hour, it continues to stay low....Nurse Dottie comes in and starts giving me shots of Ephedrine.  Well then my BP finally stabilizes and then my heart starts racing.  My pulse got up to 147 {it's normally at 95}.  Everything eventually levels out.  Around 9:15, Dottie checks me and says I'm now 7 cms dilated and my water is close to breaking...

Fast forward 2 hours later: even though I can't feel them, I can see on the monitors that my contractions have slowed down.  Dottie comes in and checks me again and I'm still between 7 and 8 cms dilated.  Maybe things won't be happening as fast as we thought they would.....................

Check back for the rest of labor/delivery and other fun stories including our car getting hit in the parking lot and a nurse telling us how to cheat the government into giving us free stuff! 

He's Here!!

Sweet baby Jack has arrived!!  All on his own timing, I might add.  I should have expected nothing else.

A big ol' birth post coming soon, but here's some pics of our adorable little man!

 

I know.  It's annoying with no captions, but it's nap time in the house and I have to join the babies!

But, we are adjusting well.  He really is such a sweet baby.  Big sister has shown a little bit of interest, but mostly acts like nothing much has changed!  I'm sure she will have her big sister role down pat in the next few weeks, months, and years!

Next post will include more words and captions for each picture!