A month gone by

My how time flies!

Well, little Jack is a month old now (as of yesterday). He spends so much time awake now - looking around, starting to smile, cooing and "talking" to us. He's sleeping pretty well, waking up every 2-3 hours or so but pretty much going right back to sleep. He loves taking baths and widens his eyes as soon as he hits the warm water, as if to say "oh yeah - I remember this!"

The girls are still utterly smitten with this little man, as are we. They want to be near him every second of the day and I have to particularly be careful with the little two around him - so they don't "love" him too rough. ALL of them can't keep their voices down in the slightest bit, so hopefully he'll adjust soon and stop startling awake when one of them shrieks or there is a crash (which happens several times a day).

I still can't seem to eat dairy without him projectile vomting. He got J last night BIG TIME - poor guy had to take a shower. It's really hard - it seems dairy is in everything (even our bread). I have to go through my grocery list again and try to figure out meals for next week and right now I feel sort of disenchanted with the whole eating process since so much is off limits right now. But, it's worth it to have a comfortable, happy baby - definitely. I crave cheese like crack, though.

We are in the process of planning Jack's Baptism and his biggest sister's birthday. It just worked out that we could do both on the same day, so that's a big relief to Mom the uber-planner. I've ordered their cakes and just need to figure out what food we're going to have so I can place that order as well. I AM NOT cooking this time! Sorry, guys ;) I just don't know what to get yet. But she's very excited that he's being baptized the day after her birthday. Since she's having a Pirates of the Caribbean-themed party, she wants him to dress up like Captain Jack Sparrow. Um - sorry kid! No chance. Can you see that Baptism?

Made up a new collage for you guys - so I'll upload that and then I'm off to find something to eat for lunch. Crackers and water, perhaps? :)

Sweet Dreams, Little Man

Dragon tales and the water is wide
Pirates sail and lost boys fly
Fish bite moonbeams every night
And I love you

Godspeed, little man
Sweet dreams, little man
Oh my love will fly to you each night on angels wings
Godspeed
Sweet dreams

The rocket racer's all tuckered out
Superman's in pajamas on the couch
Goodnight moon, we'll find the mouse
And I love you

Godspeed, little man
Sweet dreams, little man
Oh my love will fly to you each night on angels wings
Godspeed
Sweet dreams

God bless mommy and match box cars
God bless dad and thanks for the stars
God hears "Amen," wherever we are
And I love you

Godspeed, little man
Sweet dreams, little man
Oh my love will fly to you each night on angels wings
Godspeed
Godspeed
Godspeed
Sweet dreams

Focusing on the present

Okay, I know I promised an update on the recovery process but I've decided that it needs to stay in the past. Long story short, I leaked spinal fluid and had to get a blood patch (google that one!). It took me three weeks to get back to the point where I felt human again, and I think that for my own sanity and mental health I need to leave that whole experience in the past and focus on the present with my gorgeous, whole, healthy miracle.

We're entering week four of his life today and getting back to regular life. The kids are having a great time with their new homeschooling schedule, and Daddy packs up their assignments and lunches every night. When they wake up, they have all their work in folders, inside their backpacks, and their lunches and snacks are assembled and ready to go. This makes my life so much easier, since I'm pretty much constantly attending to feeding or changing the baby. If they have questions or need help, I am right here, but they're learning self-motivation and independence at the same time. It works out nicely for everyone.

Last night Jack decided that from 2:30 to 4, he was going to fall asleep and then wake up about every ten minutes (or so it seemed). We've been dealing with some milk sensitivities in him. He started projectile vomiting, which scared the heck out of all of us (including him!) It may just be overactive letdown (another one you can google - but it basically means when he latches on and my milk comes down into the ducts, it comes down FAST - so he gulps and eats very quickly and overfills his tummy) or it could be a milk sensitivity. Since 75% of the population is lactose intolerant, including over half of our family, it's not unlikely that Jackson is, too. I've elminated dairy from my diet for five days now and so far, no major puking from the peanut. He's also got reflux, and was prescribed a homeopathic remedy called silica for that. Our doctor says 1 in 4 kids are prescribed Zantac at birth now, and once you get them on it, it's very hard to get them off it. So, he wanted to try something else first. Once we can pinpoint the cause of the vomiting, we'll work on controlling the reflux. Right now he sleeps semi-upright (in a bouncy seat or his carseat) and that helps a little. He chokes a lot, though. I hate that sound - hearing him gasp for air, the gurgling deep in his throat. It's miserable.

Jack, however, is growing like a champ and doing very well - despite the vomiting and reflux. He weighed 10lbs, 8ozs at his last checkup, so he's gaining perfectly. He's just at the end of the toes on his newborn sized sleepers, but the 0-3s seem huge on him. Oddly enough, the newborn ones say 5-8lbs. Ha! Who works for Carter's design department, anyway? They're cuckoo-nuts, as my daughter would say.

So, that's our "Life, In A Nutshell" this Monday morning! :)

We're in trouble...

"One Eyed Jack" - quite the lady's man!

Could I love this little guy ANY more?

Finally - the arrival of Jackson (7/29)

Sorry it took so long for me to get this up. I am *finally* feeling well enough to sit and publish. This was written right after we got home the first time. Forgive the poor grammar - I was on some heavy duty meds still.

Went to the hospital Saturday morning after calling my doc from all the prodromal labor all week. She was the house doc for 24 hours Saturday morning to Sunday morning. Took the girls to my sister-in-law's, no traffic on Saturday (yay) and made it to the hospital in about an hour and a half total. Got in and put on the monitor and my contractions were about 4 minutes apart. Doc checked me and I was 4.5cm, and as soon as she checked me things suddenly kicked. It was as if he was waiting for us to be settled in - considerate little one. Since last time I went from 4-10 in twenty minutes, I agreed to a combination spinal epidural (which provides a little instant relief and a push-button control on the epidural). I ended up not needing to push the epidural button and had a lot of good feeling and control on my lower half (could move around, feel contractions, etc.)

My water broke, then the nurse checked me and I saw the look on her face change from anticipation to concern. She stayed very still and called the charge nurse and "house doc" (my OB). I asked what was going on, and very calmly she said she thought she felt a loop of cord. My doc came in, it was a bit of a flurry of activity, and Jack's cord had indeed prolapsed. The charge nurse had an OR prepped and "all hands were on deck" so to speak. (Actually it felt more like all hands were on me as they tried to get his head backed up enough to move the cord). I laid very still, trying to consciously will him into position - trying NOT to panic. My doc was amazing - moved the cord to the space between his ear and shoulder and then turned on pitocin. She was concerned that if I didn't dilate quickly at that point, the cord would just come right back to where it had been. I was a "stretchy 6" at that point, but his head was still not coming down very far.

From there, Jack took his time. It was another five hours before I was complete, and that last lip of cervix took an hour and a half to get thinned out and out of the way. We were all amazed at how this labor was so unique. (And impressed that Jack already knew how to get the attention of all the ladies - we had 7 nurses in the station watching his strips and popping their heads in to check on us).

I pushed through four contractions and out he came. His cheeks took a push of their own, they were so chubby. He passed meconium as he was coming out, but thankfully after his head and chest were delivered. He must've been laying on his right arm or somehow strained it because he wasn't using it for about the first hour after delivery - but we were all relieved to see that he started moving it normally shortly thereafter. He wasn't too sure what to do with that nipple in his mouth for the first five minutes, then latched on and is nursing like a champ.

Making it official - he's ours!


His first bath - they were kind enough to oblige our request to admit him in our room and the nurse brought everything down from the nursery (check out those curls!)



Sunday we had a little setback in my recovery when I developed a spinal headache/neckache. They think it will resolve itself, so I am limited in how much time I can spend vertical. It's much better when I'm lying down. Jack also seems to have pretty bad reflux - in fact, worse than any of the girls. He aspirates and chokes and then screams. It's a heart-wrenching sound and nothing helps (it even happens when he's almost entirely upright). We'll need to follow-up with our doc and probably a GI doc very shortly (as soon as I can be upright enough to ride in the car comfortably).

So, all is fairly well. I'm so glad John is home to take care of everything. I'm back off to bed.

Oh - Jack was 9lbs, 1 oz and 22 1/4 inches long.


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Phase II of my recovery coming soon...

Sweet dreams

Could it be that a week has already gone by since this sweet boy came into our lives?
Here he dreams of happy things...

Jackson - one week old

Self-soothing already