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!

The boy loves drama {volume 2}

So.  Not to be outshadowed by his I-don't-wanna-grow-in-the-womb sister, Jacky boy has really turned up the drama queen king stunts these past few weeks.  We all remember last week when blood pressure = pre-term labor in the hospital. 

Well on Wednesday, I had my weekly appointment to have the non-stress test and ultrasound.  During the non-stress test, they put monitors on the baby's heartbeat and I'm supposed to click this button everytime I feel him kick and they look for heart rate accelerations and decelerations.  So, I get hooked up and after 20 minutes, he has not moved.  His heart rate remained even with no accelerations or decelerations.  Normally, he is moving all over the place and his heart rate is going up and down.  Lovely.  So, the nurse decides to do "accoustic stimulation" where she took a tiny pot and a spoon and starting banging it right on my stomach to try and wake him up.  That didn't do the trick either.  Great.  So, doc comes in and guess where we head?  Labor and delivery.  YAY!

Brandon was with me for the appointment and can I just say patience while waiting is NOT one of his strong suits, so imagine how fun this whole process was. :)  All kidding aside, I was glad to have him there and he was a great encourager throughout the whole thing. 

Anyways, we get to L & D and they do what's called a biophysical profile.  They basically do an ultrasound and check for 4 different things.  Each subcategory gets a score and then all those numbers are added together and make a final grade.  Of course, Jack starts moving and and passed the "test" with an 8/8.  Apparently he doesn't like to perform under pressure.

So, doctor G comes in and says he looks great and we will let him cook a little bit longer.  He decided to induce next Friday night {Feb. 25th}, so it looks like our little boy will be making his debut on February 26th!  We will go in Friday night and start the process.  Saturday morning, we will start pitocin and hopefully after a smooth, epidural-laced delivery, a healthy, squishy Jack Ellis will make his appearance!!

P.S. I'm sorry my past few posts haven't had any pictures...I've temporarily misplaced my camera charger, which I'm only slightly freaking out about with the impending arrival of little brother.

10 things I learned yesterday...

10.  I should probably go ahead and pack my hospital bag.

9.  I might need to get the car seat installed soon.

8.  My legs should be shaved at all times.

7.  The Lord knew what he was doing when I was prompted to get a pedicure this past weekend.

6.  I'm so very thankful to work with my mom.

5.  I love having a laid back doctor.

4.  Jackson Hospital makes pregnant women walk a very long way to labor and delivery.

3.  I will cause my husband bodily harm if his phone is not attached to him for the duration of this pregnancy.

2.  The shot they gave me to stop contractions might as well have been a strong dose of Vicodin. 

And the number 1 thing I learned:  Jack would like more time in the oven.   

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So yesterday was an exciting day.

Started feeling funny around lunch time.  BP was checked and it was around 160/105 for about 30-45 mins.

Called my doc who asked me just to come in and get it checked.  It was 158/98 when I got there.

Doc decides to send me to Jackson to get monitored "just for an hour or so...no big deal." {His words}

Check in after walking through the maze at Jackson.

BP there was 128/74.  WELL SURE IT IS.

Oh hey, what was that?  Oh, just a small contraction.

30 mins later.....

Cue the mountainous hills of contractions EVERY 2 minutes.

 Also.  Cue the blood pressure at 176/99.

I go from freezing to hot and back to freezing a couple of times.

Nurse calls doctor who orders a shot of Terbutaline, which stops contractions.

She says it might make me jittery.

My heart feels like it's racing.

My mind and mouth cannot form words.

I cannot keep my eyes open.

I'm shivering like crazy.

Contractions stop.  BP comes down.  Doc comes to say hey.  We get to come home!

I pass out at 8:00 last night.

I came home and passed out at 1:30 today.

That Terbutaline is some strong stuff.

Or maybe it was body suddenly having 80 contractions in a row. {that's just a dramatic estimate}

Luckily, just a few small contractions today, which I'm predicting will be the norm from here on out.

And who says girls cause all the drama?

Will the real Reese Dismukes please stand up?

What do HIM:

pic

and HER:

have in common??

They have the same name!

Ok.  So, there might be a height/weight difference and a slight age difference, but other than that...they're practically twinsies right??

 

Reese Dismukes, a senior from Spanish Fort has committed to Auburn next year!!  He actually committed last year as a junior, but it's now official.  ESPN has him ranked as the #1 center IN THE NATION.

 

Yall, that means he's good.

Know what else that means?

I predict we'll be hearing his name a lot.

So.  Obviously, I must find and collect all the "Reese Dismukes" equipment I can find.

Jerseys, t-shirts, buttons, etc.  All mine.

 

A picture is certainly a must.  Maybe I should find him on Facebook and start stalking him now.

WAR EAGLE!