Isaac's birth story

On Friday night I started having contractions that felt different, but I had already gotten myself excited once so I just ignored them. By about 3:30 a.m. there was no more ignoring them. I downloaded myself a contraction timing app and began timing. 1 minute long, 7-8 minutes apart. By 9:30 they were getting stronger and closer together so we called the on-call midwife. She had us come in, but I was only dilated to a 3 so she sent us walking to see what happened. An hour later, still only a 3, even though I couldn't walk through the contractions. I was disappointed and discouraged, but she sent us home to rest for a few hours. By about 3:00 I was really starting to dread facing any more contractions in the car. We only live about 20 minutes from the birthing center, but we ended up having to deliver at the South location- about 45 minutes from our house. 45 minutes of contractions every 4 minutes while sitting in the car sounded like torture. Once we were in the car contractions slowed down a little bit, which had me worried that I was once again going to get sent home, but I was hoping it was just God being merciful to me. He was. I was at a 5 once I got there- phew. We let our family know we were "checked in" and we turned off our phones and got to work bringing a baby into the world.

Let me just take a minute to say that my husband is the absolute perfect labor coach for me. There is no way I could birth without him. Unfortunately for him, that means that going to the bathroom and getting a bite to eat is pretty difficult since I didn't want him out of my sight.

I labored on the birth ball against the bed, then in the bed for a while before finally getting into the tub. I felt so much more relaxed once I got in the tub the midwife even commented- the birthing pool is the midwife's epidural. So true. My contractions continued to stay 4-6 minutes apart, which was good in some ways (lots of rest), but I think made labor last longer overall. I was 5 cm at 4:00 and only 8 cm at 8:00. I stayed at 8 cm for about 45 minutes (and if you know anything about 8 cm- that's a long time to not make any progress). The midwife thought it was because my water hadn't broken yet so the baby's head couldn't push down enough to make me dilate. She said she could break my water for me to hopefully speed things up if I was getting impatient, but she warned me that it might not work, but it would definitely make it more painful. What kind of choice is that?! While I was thinking about what to do my water broke. Let me just say- best. feeling. ever. Until she told me that it was meconium stained. Basically Isaac had already pooped. I freaked out a little bit. I know that makes some babies have to go the NICU (and there is no NICU at the birthing center). The midwife reassured me that his heart rate had been good so we had no reason to think he was in distress. I didn't believe her for a while, but after another contraction I could not think of anything else besides getting the baby out one contraction at a time. I'm pretty sure that I went from 8-10 in about 3 more contractions and I was ready to push.

So many people talk about pushing as something that comes naturally and the urge takes over your body. I think I'm broken or something. Because that does not happen to me. I did feel more comfortable this time than I did with Ethan, but it still felt awkward and unproductive. I pushed for about 20 minutes in the tub before Isaac's heart rate started dropping. The midwife said she would let me push one more time and if I didn't make significant progress she wanted me to get on the bed so I could feel contractions a little better. I really wanted to have a water birth, but I knew that she was right. Once I got out of the tub and on to the bed I only had to push a few more times before he was finally here. He cried the tiniest little cry immediately (oh, and pooped ALL over me) and as soon as I started talking to him he quieted down and cuddled up to me. About 3 minutes after he was born I remember saying, "that wasn't that bad." Ha! Talk about endorphins kicking in because I'm pretty sure the 20 minutes before he was born were filled with "I can't do it, I hate it."

So all in all- nearly 12 hours of early labor, followed by 4 hours of active labor, 2 hours of transition, 25 minutes of pushing- got us a 7 lb 9 oz, 21 inch long baby at 10:40 p.m. on April 12, 2014.

He is amazing and all three of us are in love.

My little genius

I recently listened to this podcast, called "Unstoppable Learning." It was full of very interesting information for someone who is a teacher and a the mother of a young child. Listening to the podcast led me to watch this TedTalk by Alison Gopnik about how babies learn. She compares a baby's mind to that of the most brilliant scientist. That perfectly sums up my amazement as I watch Ethan explore his environment. It is amazing to think about how it has only been 9 months since he was just a tiny, scrunched up, eating, sleeping, pooping machine. I feel so blessed to be watching him grow.

Here are a few pictures of my little scientist exploring the backyard. Doesn't he look like he is concentrating and trying to understand? 

3 months and 5 months

You may notice that a month is missing. That's because I'm a bad mom and never took a 4 month picture. The really embarrassing thing is that the reason I never took a 4 month picture is because we didn't have a white shirt, and I wanted it to match. Then, we got white shirts and life got really busy. Maybe I am a little bit OCD. However, there is no shortage of pictures of this little man, so I'll put up one that I think is close to 4 months.

I can't believe my little man is 5 months old. He is learning all kinds of new tricks. He can sit up for a few minutes at a time; he can roll all over the place (especially at night in his crib); he can sleep through the night (not that he does, but he's done it before!); he is full of belly laughs and big grins; he is starting to babble all kinds of sounds and he is trying really hard to crawl. We celebrated his first Christmas and he was baptized (those pics will be a separate post, if I ever get there). Needless to say, we sure do love our little man. It's hard to believe that we ever lived without him in our lives.

2 months

Is it just me or is putting photos into blogger a pain these days!? They are so hard to move around.

Anyway, my little man had his two month birthday so we had a photo shoot. With my iPhone. Because I can not find my camera. It was moved to a location safe from the walking tornado, otherwise known as my niece, Adalee. I forgive her though because she's so darn cute. See?

Here are the 2 month pictures. Sorry they are blurry. I did manage to crop my toes out of the aerial view one though. We just got back from his 2 month check up and he's doing great! He's gained almost 6 pounds since he was born, putting him up to 12 pounds 3 ounces. He is 23 inches long. Both are exactly average for baby boys (50th percentile). He also had to get three shots and oral drops. It was probably more traumatic for Mom and Dad than for him, although he did let out some pretty healthy screams and has been sleeping ever since.

Two month milestones:

• He has great head control and is starting to push all the way up when we do tummy time- he's so strong! 
• He smiles and coos lots!
• He got to meet his Aunt Alaura, Uncle Brian, cousin Adalee and G.G. (great grandma) this month.
• He wore his first cloth diapers this month.
• He slept in his crib for the first time (we usually make it at least half the night in the crib- I think he still prefers to sleep on an incline in his bassinet).

I sure do love this little guy! 

Cloth Diapers, here we come!

I admit, my first desires to cloth diaper came from the little bit of hipster in me desiring to be in on the latest trend. I did a lot of research and scoured all kinds of blogs and asked all kinds of advice from people who cloth diaper. The more I researched, the more cloth seemed do-able. When it came down to it, I convinced Andy to cloth diaper after reading this article about the cost of cloth vs. disposable. Our conversation went something like this:

Me: According to this article, even if we choose the most expensive diaper option, we will save $1,000 on diapers until the baby is potty trained. Even including laundry.

Andy: Okay then, let's do it. 

What can I say? Money talks. 

After 8 weeks of using disposables, and cringing every time we had to drop another $30 on a box of diapers, we are finally in transition to all cloth. I bought 6 BumGenius One-size, All-In-One (AIO) diapers from kellyscloset.com and they came in the mail a couple of days ago. AIOs are supposed to fit Ethan from birth (I don't think they would have fit until 4-5 weeks, he was a little guy) to potty training. They are the most like disposable diapers. You just put them on, take them off and wash them. 

After one night of cloth diapering, here are my opinions so far:

1. Cloth diapers just look so darn cute it's all I want to dress him in.

2. His diaper area looks so much better. We don't have problems with rashes (*knock on wood*), but he was always red and had big indents around his legs with the disposables. After just a few hours of his first cloth diaper, everything looked better. 

3. The AIOs are really bulky because they have two really thick flap inserts. I'm a little worried about some of his clothes fitting over them. I also don't know how many can fit in the diaper bag when we are out and about!

4. Since the AIOs are all sewed together, they are supposed to be line dried. This took 4-5 hours outside yesterday when it was 90 degrees. I can see this being a problem once I start back at work and don't start the laundry until 4 or 5 p.m.

5. We need WAY more diapers! We put the first one on him after dinner last night and I am down to two clean diapers already this morning. I knew this going in, but I wanted to try out a couple of different styles before going all in and purchasing a whole set. 

Now, we need to decide if we are going to stick with the AIOs or try a different kind of system (like these ones). I also need to get and/or make some cloth wipes. It's a big pain to have disposable wipes and cloth diapers and remember not to throw the wipes into the wet bag with the diapers. 

All in all, so far so good.

And because who doesn't love pictures of babies in cloth diapers...

One month!

Me: Can you believe Ethan is one month old?
Andy: It feels like he's always been with us.

That conversation pretty much sums up my feelings about the last month. Some days feel like they last years and some days are over before I've even showered. Okay, lots of days are over before I've even showered, not necessarily because the day goes quickly.

We've had lots of visitors and lots of help, for which we are very grateful. Ethan got to meet all his grandparents this month. He's been to church several times (and consistently cries only during the quiet parts). We are starting to be able to get out and about more, he even visited the capitol building (which echos baby screams quite nicely). He watched his first Alabama football game and he is growing like a weed.

Here are some one month pictures and info:

Likes: laying on the floor, watching the fan

Dislikes: this one is still a mystery to us...

Milestones: He is starting to focus on our faces more, and we are getting a few smiles and coos out of him. He's also pretty good at holding up his head!

Ethan's first few weeks

Gathering pictures from two phones and a camera has been difficult while having a newborn. I know pictures are in high demand, so here are a few of my favorites from the last couple of weeks.

Sleeping on Daddy's chest- 3 weeks

Soo much milk.

Sleep smile. So sweet.

After his first bath, which he loved.

Tummy time.

Having a newborn has been a much different experience than I thought it would be. It is much harder in different ways than I thought it would be. Going without sleep seems like it will be hard, but it's really not that bad. I sleep about the same amount as I used to, it's just spread out over 12 hours instead of all condensed. Once you get used to that it's not so bad! 

We have struggled a bit with breastfeeding. This Mama is in pain when the baby eats! We have good days and bad days, but we have lots of support from experienced lactation consultants, so we're working it out. 

The most exhausting part of having a newborn (maybe this gets better with the second?) is constantly second guessing everything. Should he be sleeping now? Should I wake him up to feed him? Did he eat enough? Does he want to be held? What about the swing? Can we give him a pacifier? Can he take a bottle? He only pooped three times today, is that enough? He pooped 12 times today, is that too much? Is his poop the right color? 

So. Many. Questions. 

When it comes down to it, we tell ourselves- God already created this incredible miracle. He will give us the wisdom that we need to take care of him and help him grow. Lord, grant us wisdom as we raise Ethan to grow into a God-fearing, loving man.