Jack - Week 6

I hate that I'm already behind in documenting our little guy, but I'm going to try and start from here, and hopefully have some time to go back and get caught up eventually...  
Side note: does anyone have any tips on how they blog quickly with a baby? This took me forever!!

February 6, 2015

Week 6

This is the week that Jack officially outgrew his Newborn size clothes, although he is still in NB diapers.  It's funny because I remember very specifically looking at the handful of newborn clothes that I had before he was born and thinking to myself, "Oh, I will ever have a baby this tiny.  Good thing I don't have a ton of these size clothes, because we will never get to use them." Well, obviously, I was wrong- and had to go out and buy more even.  One morning this week I gave my mom an outfit to dress him in for the day.  She called me in to come look at him, and I couldn't believe that the same one piece outfit he had worn 4-5 days previously couldn't even be pulled up over his shoulder.  Our man is a little guy, but he is all of a sudden growing quickly!  He's not a rolly polly chubby baby by any means.  He is long and lean.  But I am gradually starting to see some rolls and chub growing!  I'm excited that he's growing big and strong, but of course it's always a little sad, too.  

As I mentioned above, my mom is here again.  We are SO lucky to have her here again already.  She has been such a huge help!  It's nice to just have another adult here during the day who can help me with our fussy guy.  She's also been really good at encouraging me to take him on outings, since I am so scared to take him anywhere really for fear that he will throw a conniption in public.  I need to just get over that, otherwise I will drive myself crazy with this hermit life. So this week, we took a little trip to Target and even to the mall!  Small victories!

Naps with Mimi

 

On Friday night, David and I had our first dinner out alone since Jack was born.  It felt strange to be out without him, but it was also really nice to have some time alone again.  Of course it was hard not to think or talk about Jack the whole time, but it was definitely a comfort to know that he was with the best babysitter- my mom.    

Jack pulled a not so fun stunt this week.  On Friday night/Saturday morning, he decided to stay awake from 2:30 AM - 5:30 AM.  In his defense, at least he wasn't crying that whole time.  He was just happy and ready to party.  I was EXHAUSTED though and had a hard time being patient with him.  He's lucky he's cute.  These are the faces he was giving me... looks like a baby who is ready to sleep, right?...

Worst parent of the year award right here- It was only this week that Jack had his first real at home bath.  He had one in the hospital, and since then we had just been giving him sponge baths.  I 100% admit that I was avoiding this entirely because I knew that it would be a scream fest, so I just wasn't looking forward to it at all.  My mom cracked the whip though and helped me get that first at home bath out of the way.  He did indeed scream his head off, but hopefully he will eventually learn to enjoy his baths. 

Baby buns!

Post bath naked baby time

Some changes I've noticed in Jack this week:

-He doesn't hate diaper and clothes changes as much.  Jack used to cry every time his diaper or clothes were changed.  Which was really annoying, because that ends up being like 10+ times a day.  So I'm glad that he seems to be getting over that trauma.  

-Jack is beginning to show very focused interest in black/white contrast items.  There is a little mobile above his swing with black/white toys hanging on it, and he never really seemed to notice it at all until this week. Now he will just stare at them intently.  He also loves to stare at our ceiling fans (whether they are on or not), which I think is because they are very dark in color so they stand out against the white ceiling.  

-Jack is sleeping a little better at night time and seems to know night from day finally (aside from the stunt I mentioned above).  I can get 3-4 hour stretches of sleep from him pretty consistently.  He still doesn't really go down for the night until anywhere from 10:30 PM- 1 AM, unfortunately.  I have noticed recently though that he seems to be getting tired slightly earlier, so I am thinking that he is trying to move his bedtime up gradually.  I sure hope so!  My mom is a saint when it comes to bedtime, and she takes the first shift with Jack and then just brings him to me when he is ready to eat.  That way I can get at least one stretch of undisturbed sleep.  Thanks, mom!

Well, that's Jack at 6 weeks!  

Here are some other random photos of baby Jack from the week...

Baby's first Superbowl

Growing a double chin

1.  

Baby's First Hoodie

Hospital Photos

I'm here.  Taking it day by day and just trying to keep my head above water with this parenting thing at this point.  Survival mode, for sure.  This baby momma gig is no joke!  To celebrate the first time in a long time that the baby is asleep (not in my arms!), and that I have some computer time, I wanted to share the photos that the hospital photographer took on our second day in the hospital.  We had actually arranged for the photographer who did our maternity photos and who will do our newborn photos to come to the hospital and do an "arrival photo session" (no, not birth photography), but since Jack Man was so late to arrive, she actually ended up being out of town for the holidays.  I was really disappointed about that, but I was pleasantly surprised with how well these photos turned out, so it worked out just fine in the end!  

Here is our sweet Jack...

  

A Letter To My Baby

Hi Baby Boy!

I can't believe we are now at 41 weeks. Your due date came and went, and you are still so cozy in my belly that you just aren't ready to meet the big outside world yet.  As much as this has been driving me crazy this week (your mom's a bit of a control freak), I know that this is OK, you are healthy and strong and content where you are, and you will be here before we know it.  There's no way around that!  

Even though I've been fixated on the when of your arrival, I also think all the time about YOU being here.  It's fun to imagine what our lives will be like, what you will look like, what kind of amazing little person you will grow up to be, etc.  A big part of me feels like the actual event of your arrival is still so surreal- a dream, almost. But I know it IS real, and that before long, we will hold you in our arms and wonder what life was like before you.  It is exciting to think about meeting a little being that no one in the world has ever met or laid eyes on before! 

Want to know a secret? As excited as I am to meet you, I'm also a little sad to think about it not just being you and me anymore- we won't ever be this close again. For 9+ months, I've had you all to myself.  We go everywhere and do everything together, but before I know it, you will be a little person all your own. People are so excited to meet you, but I have been the only one lucky enough to have known you all this time already. I can't wait to introduce you to all the people that love you so much already, but I'm also a teeny bit sad at the thought of having to share you. I just love you so much, and I have LOVED every day of it being just the two of us. But let's be honest- IT. IS. TIME.  So come on little man, when you are ready, come on out and join us- the world has lots in store for you!  

XOXO,

Your Mom

41 Weeks - Baby, You're LATE!

December 25, 2014

Photo Thoughts: Merry Christmas!  Have you ever seen someone more pregnant than me?  41 weeks- sheesh.  Even the pregnancy websites and apps have run out of fruits for me to compare my baby to, so I will just settle for standing by our mini Christmas tree and holding the "My First Christmas" outfit that our little guy was supposed to wear today.  Womp. Also- Christmas day + reaching 41 weeks = no makeup, no real clothes for the day!

How I'm Feeling: On a positive note- I'm excited for Christmas of course! And I got to sleep in really ridiculously late today.  But aside from that, I have quite honestly been a total scrooge and just generally unpleasant to be around this week.  The end of pregnancy is rough- physically and emotionally.  And I'd say it gets even harder with each day past your due date you go.  I've been really emotional- just about anything makes me cry, I've basically stopped returning text messages or answering phone calls (no news mean, NO NEWS people!), and I'm just kind of feeling discouraged and frustrated with my body (why doesn't it know what to do?!).  I try to remind myself that having an overdue baby is much better than having a premature baby and that I should be grateful that I have had such a healthy pregnancy, but it is still HARD.  David, like most males I'd say, is generally at a loss of what to do when women get emotional, but he has been so supportive this week and has been a good voice of reason when I lose perspective.  

This photo was taken as I laid in bed after waking up on the morning after my due date. My view was the bassinet currently serving as a pillow holder, and the very gray and rainy weather outside.  Womp. Womp. 

Keeping this on file in my phone for the unlucky person that pushes me over the edge

Baby/Bump: No one has a comparison fruit or vegetable for me this week. Baby is the size of a baby that needs to come out- let's just leave it at that.  

The bump is getting more and more impressive by the day.  David is newly impressed each morning with my continued progress toward (and past?) "large and in charge."  

Symptoms: The usual- back aches, tail bone pain, sore ribs, and most of all ALL THE EMOTIONS AND HORMONES.

Weight: Same this week. Amazingly.  I've been pigging out on Christmas treats... although I seem to have less and less appetite for actual meals.  So at 41 weeks, my total weight gain stands at 27 pounds.  

What I'm Loving: I'm tempted to say nothing, but in attempts to not be a total negative Nancy, I will say that I am still loving and really trying to enjoy feeling these last (however many) days that I will get to feel my baby move in my belly.  Although sometimes it does feel like I am going to be pregnant forever, I know that I won't, and I know for sure that I will miss these movements.  

What I'm Anticipating: BABY'S ARRIVAL.  I mean, it's not like I'm looking forward to labor and delivery and that whole event, but I feel like I'm about 8943890 weeks pregnant, so I'm finally at the point of just being ready to be DONE. It is still so crazy to me that something that is such a major life event is so unpredictable and beyond my control.  It's hard not knowing.  But I do know he will be here soon, and I can't wait to meet this little stinker.  

Sleep: No problem sleeping, and I'm SO glad!  But I do get pretty sad for a few minutes each morning that I wake up and realize, "Oh, nothing happened last night. I'm still here in my bed. Stiiiiiill pregnant."
  
Exercise: Walking 1-2 miles per day and bouncing like a crazy person on the exercise ball.  I get very crampy and have some contractions while I walk, but as soon as I get home and sit down, they immediately stop.  I've also recently started forcing myself to climb the stairs 3-5 times each time I need to go upstairs.  This has also resulted in me finding every reason not to go upstairs.  

Movement: Baby boy is still moving a good amount, although it is definitely slowing down a little bit, as he is obviously running out of space.  I notice he is most active in the evenings.  When he does move, it is so strong, and I can tell that there is so little that is actually separating HIM from the outside.  Sometimes it feels like he is actually trying to break out of there!

Boy or Girl: Baby boy!

Milestones: Is reaching 41 weeks a milestone?  It should be. 

Doctor Updates: I had a 40w5d appointment with a nurse practitioner on Tuesday.  I'm still at the same 2 cm that I was last week, but I'm 75% effaced now- but apparently that means nothing to my body. I was so desperate for something to happen with this baby, that I even requested ANOTHER membrane sweep. I was convinced the one last week was going to be successful since I did have some good signs shortly afterwards (I'll spare you), but it wasn't. So desperate times call for desperate requests.  Second time's the charm?  Anyways, it was a generally frustrating appointment. I left with an induction date scheduled (which I'm not announcing btw- partly because I don't want it to be real, and partly because if I make it to that point, I'd like to still have some element of surprise in baby's arrival), but I wasn't happy about having to schedule that.  I was proud of myself for asking lots of hard questions of her, like "why is this considered medically necessary in MY case- especially since I haven't had any problems in this pregnancy, and both baby and I are still very healthy?" She gave me a generic answer about how when you approach 42 weeks, the placenta can deteriorate, and she kept throwing out the scare term of "risk of fetal demise."  I'm not one to mess around when people drop terms like "fetal demise," but I do feel like she was somewhat trying to scare me.  So I left with the official eviction notice, but told her I would like to discuss it with my husband and have the option to call the next morning if I wanted to postpone induction another few days. I talked to David when I got home, and we decided to go ahead with what is scheduled.  But fingers, toes, eyes crossed that this baby comes on his own before then. 

The official eviction notice. Let's just hope I can throw this away without use...

Final Thoughts: I think the biggest thing I'm struggling with is just letting go of this idea I had in my head of going into labor on my own.  It was a scary thought, but somewhat exciting too to wonder about where I would be when it happened, imagining waking David in the middle of the night or calling him at work, the hurried drive to the hospital, etc.  So it's difficult now to accept that there's a pretty good chance that my labor process and the beginning of the end of this pregnancy will likely look very different than I had imagined.  It's hard to think that maybe my body just doesn't know what to do. My pregnancy has truly been nearly perfect, so it's hard to accept that my labor might have to begin with drugs.  I'm in a big "trying to let go" mindset right now.  It's hard, but I'm working on it.  David is good at reminding me that the important thing is healthy baby and healthy mom- so I'm trying to just focus on that. 

But you better believe that I will still be hoping and praying to go into labor on my own up until the very minute that we have to arrive for induction. Wish us luck!

One thing is for sure though- there will NOT be a 42 week update! :-)  

Family Pregnancy Reveals

Shortly after we found out I was pregnant, I started to think about how I wanted to share the big news with our families.  Because we don't live in the same city or state as any of our immediate family, I was a little sad at not being able to share the news in person, but that just meant I would need to be a little more creative in my reveals.  I also knew that it would be important to me to "see" and record their reactions.  This is where Facetime and Google Talk proved very useful.

For each of our parents and siblings, I decided that we would send a onesie with the appropriate "I Love My _________" printed on the front. For David's parents, we were actually able to be there for the reveal, so it was easy to just give the gift to them ourselves and then get the video rolling.  For our siblings I had send them by mail, but then make sure that someone (husband, boyfriend, friend, etc.) was aware that a gift was coming and enforce that they not open the gift before calling me.  A little suspicious, but it worked out without anyone suspecting what it was all about (I think).  And for my mom, I had my good friend Sarah deliver the gift on Mother's Day and record the event for me. 

I'm so glad that I was able to catch everyone's reactions on camera, so it was fun to put this little video together.  Disclaimer about my brother's video- I was an idiot and totally forgot that we were both using headsets to talk/listen to each other, so unfortunately what I videoed obviously has no sound.  Oh well, his facial reaction says enough.  

Video Order:
-My mom on Mother's Day (love the dogs freaking out)
-My brother and his scary beard
-My sister
-David's dad on Father's Day (and the rest of his family around the table)
-My cousins and aunt/uncle
-My grandma, Mimi (who was confused about the ultrasound picture I was displaying and though I was trying to show her a picture of a new kitten I got- HA!)