Tuesday: more pictures

This morning Isaac slept until a little after nine, so I actually got up about ten minutes before he did...and it was wonderful. I was able to get dressed (at least as much as i "get dressed" these days) and get some breakfast together.

Isaac slept better in the swing this morning so I was able to do some light housework.

This afternoon we had our first official tummy time. (he's had unofficial tummy time on our chests.). Since he was awake I tried to get some of his facial expressions...it's amazing how many he can make in a short time.

He also took a nap on the floor. Flurry watched.

Monday: home alone

Today was our first day home alone. It went fine...not great but not terrible either. Isaac was a bit fussy so I held him more than I expected too. (although I'm sure I could have tried a little harder to get him to sleep somewhere else...but why would I want to? He's so small and cuddly.)

Sunday: another laid back day

Today was another easy day, although Isaac was awake a bit more today. He took an awesome nap on Ben's lap while Flurry slept next to me.

Dad and Pat came over for a little bit this afternoon and watched Isaac while Ben and I took a nap.

Saturday: laid back day

Today was a pretty laid back day. Isaac slept a ton.

At one point Ben was in the middle of changing a diaper when Isaac feuded he needed to urinate again. He pretty much completely missed his goal (Ben) and instead got himself in the face instead.

Friday: busy day

Today was a busy day, as we had another home visit from the nurse and newborn pictures.

Since there were pictures, we started the day with a bath.

"help! Im being eaten by the monster shark."

The nurse said everything is still looking great.

Isaac did a great job with the pictures. He was man-handled for three hours but only started getting fussy at the end. He didn't always do exactly what the photographer wanted, but at least he wasn't mad.

The photographs, of course, threw off any schedule that he might have and so he slept soundly for the rest of the evening.

Thursday: super Dad

So, continuing from last night. Around 1:30 I had no clue what to do. Laying him down didn't work, holding him didn't work because he would just root around, and feeding didn't work because he stopped to quickly. So Ben took over and managed to get him to sleep. And didthe same thing a few more times at night.

We have noticed that Isaac will more easily calm down in Ben's arms. He seems to have a magic touch.

The day again went pretty quickly, although not much of note happened. Yesterday I realized that I hadn't taken many pictures, so today I tried to remedy that.

This is the quilt I'm making him. It isn't quite finished, but enough for pictures.

This one is my favorite.

Wednesday: unpredictable

Last night continued to be better. I only had to get up three times during the night, which was awesome. (we'll note that they way we figured out the actual count was the swaddling blankets...the first time was monkeys, the second time I didn't get a diaper on fast enough so we ended up with plain white, and the third time there were other fluid problems so we ended up with lions.)

Isaac continued this great trend throughout the day, sleeping for rather long periods.

Ben's brother and sister in law brought over an excellent dinner and we played some games with them. Half way through games he wanted to eat. No problem. But then he wanted to eat again ten minutes later. And again ten minutes later.

This trend continued, with one or two slightly longer breaks...until midnight. What happens after midnight? You'll just have to wait for the next installment of "new parents living with a new born."

Tuesday: four days old

Last night went pretty well. Isaac still fed more often than I hoped, but the swaddling and bouncy seat meant that it was easy to put him back to sleep in between.

It was a morning of firsts. Isaac was dressed in his first cloth diaper. I was happily surprised at how easy they were and how well the plastic thing kept everything dry. Maybe surprised is the wrong word since no one would be using them if that were the case, but surprised that my first try worked so well.

Isaac was awake, so we read our first book together. However, I didn't explain to him what a book was, so he kept looking to the side of the book.

I then needed the use of my whole body, so he got his first swing ride.

Dad came to help out after that and Ben was able to come home early, so most of the rest of the morning/afternoon passed by as normal.

We were getting ready to go to the doctor when we got a call saying Isaac's great-grandmother was coming over with dinner. We felt bad that it would have to be a really short visit, but were glad she was coming and were keeping an eye out for her. Then Ben said "someone's in the driveway" as I saw a pair of legs fall to the ground. My heart raced. But on further inspection it was only the neighbor kids having a snowball fight. Phew.

The doctor's visit was pretty uneventful. We got a few more questions answered, and found out that Isaac is back over his birth weight already at 7lb, 2oz. (they like to have babies hit that mark by two weeks.). Three cheers for Isaac! But then we told him that maybe now it would be ok to not eat so often.

Monday: nurse visit

Last night went better than the previous night. Still a lot of room for improvement though, but we'll be trying more different things tonight.

Isaac's appetite was still voracious, so a lot of the day was spent feeding.

A nurse came by to check everyone at home today. We got this because we could have spent another night in the hospital but chose not to. (Our first night there didn't count as a night since Isaac wasn't born until the a.m.). Anyway, she was very happy with how Isaac is doing. His bilirubin number is low, he is strong, alert, and nursing well and he gained a tad bit of weight since being discharged (now at 6lb, 13oz). The only thing she didn't like was the lack of diaper changes needed and the stool color.

So tonight Isaac worked on increasing that number. Significantly. He also managed to get the right stool color.

Can you tell we're proud parents?

We haven't forgotten about Flurry. Mom brought over some catnip toys with dinner and she loved them.

This evening we're trying two different things with sleeping. 1) We're putting a bouncy seat in the bassinet to help him feel more confined. 2) Mom brought over some actual swaddling blankets. After Ben looked up how to swaddle last night, I was rather disappointed in what the birthing class had taught us. They just used receiving blankets (not large enough) and the technique wasn't quite the same.

P.s. To whoever cleared our driveway from snow, thank you so much. It was an awesome surprise

Sunday: hunger

The theme of today was hunger. Isaac was hungry pretty much all day. It often felt like he finished nursing just to start again 15 minutes later. Luckily, he liked being held by grandparents, so we did get a few breaks in the day.

The other thing we found out is that Isaac doesn't like the bassinet. We aren't really sure what to do about this since he is too young to just leave in it. We'll ask the nurse who comes tomorrow and have a few other things to try.

There were several fun things that happened today too...

Isaac had woken up and was wide-eyed, so both Ben and i were looking at him. He discreetly looked at Ben's face, then my face, then Ben's again.

Ben showed him, by example, how to sleep on his back.

We started to wrap Christmas gifts.

My family came over with a delicious dinner and we opened presents.

Dad found a picture of me as a baby...I look a lot like Isaac.


We decided that Isaac might become an escape artist after he repeatedly escaped from the swaddling sleep sack, in spite of Ben's best efforts to put him there very tightly.

Dec 31: coming home

To begin with, i'm happy to report that Isaac seemed to figure out how to latch on after we sent him to the nursery last night. Maybe there was a class they didn't tell us about, but we've barely had any problems today.

Therefore, Today we came home from the hospital. The day was much more relaxed than yesterday. Not as many random people, more sleep at night, etc.

So here's Isaac, ready to go home.

Oops...he had a small blowout. Back to yesterday's outfit.

Amy and Brian stopped by on their way north. They weren't able to stay for long because Isaac got hungry, but it was still nice to see them for a little bit.

Then my family stopped by after dinner. While it is always nice to see them, it was especially nice this time because they did some laundry. I hadn't washed much of the newborn clothes since I was expecting a larger baby, so I wasn't really sure what Isaac was going to wear tomorrow. Instill don't have an answer to that, but at least there are possibilities.

I was going to post this tomorrow, but this child won't stop eating. I'll think hes done because he is almost asleep and not responding to stimulus to keep eating, but then he says he's sill hungry.

Friday: first day of life

Today brought a few challenges, lots of holding, and lots of visitors.

For example, it currently takes two of us to clothe Isaac. And since he liked to sleep, we had to unclothe (and then reclothe) to make him wake up for feedings. There was also a struggle to make him nurse on the right side...he won once, but we won most of the time. Of course, after the time he won he was hungry soon after, so I'm not sirens really won.

But besides that, we just spent a nice day with him and with visitors, getting to know him as he mostly slept. (there were lots of pictures with family and I'm not going to post, along with some cute ones taken on phones that I can't post right now.). Oh, he also had his first pee, which was expected. Unfortunately, I also got peed on. While I'm sure it is the first of many, I was hoping it would be longer.

Here we all are!

Isaac. The hat kept falling off, but his temp was on the cool side so we were trying to keep it on.

Isaac's celebratory dinner...that he didn't get to eat.

Mom and Isaac. We had both managed to get dressed.

Thursday: happy birth day

2:30am (Thursday): Amanda's dream about what a bad basketball player she is gets interrupted by contractions. For some reason she keeps going back to sleep even though it is a dumb dream.

3:00am: amanda gets up to see if they are real.

3:30am: Ben gets up. They play a few games while timing contractions. Things seem to be progressing and they call the doctor's office and plan to go the hospital around 7am

6am: they take a quick stop at Burger King

7am: Contractions are spreading out, but taking longer. They decide to wait to go to the hospital.

12pm: Contractions are close to 5 minutes. They hope to go to the hospital after lunch.

1pm: Contractions spread out again.

3pm: Contractions start to really hurt.

4pm: Amanda calls the doctor to see what is going on and if they should go in, even though contractions are not constant and range between 5-10 minutes.

5pm: the doctor says that it is Braxton Hicks and that I don't need to go to the hospital. Amanda pretty much cries for the next hour. How is she supposed to go through real labor if fake labor hurts so much? How is she supposed to sleep? How is she going to last through the night with the pain before her doctor comes on call?

6:30pm Amanda calls the doctor again, And this time talks to the doctor on-call (vs through the nurse). He says that Amanda is not in labor because those contractions are two to four minutes apart. And while I could go get checked, there isn't a good reason.

7pm: Amanda throws up her dinner.

9:30: after trying to sleep and completely not succeeding because of contractions, Amanda gets up and thinks her water broke. After looking all night for an excuse, she declares it is time to go to the hospital, even if they send every one back home. Ben quickly gets the last things together in case they get to stay.

10:00: Amanda is dilated to an eight! She doesn't have to leave! The baby is coming! Amanda asks for an epidural, even though the nurse says it is almost time and she could probably make it without one. (Did we mention even walking was getting painful?). A few contractions occur before the drugs can be administered and Amanda almost squeezes Ben's fingers off. Ben proceeds to only touch the top of Amanda's hand and Amanda squeezes the bedrail. The anastesiaiogist shows up promptly and administers wonderful drugs.

10:10: Everyone is happier once the epidural kicks in.

10:30: Amanda is dilated to 10!

11:45: Amanda starts pushing. (the doctor finished another delivery and so while he isn't there he is available.

12:00am: a mirror is brought into the room. Amanda enjoys watching the head crown, even though she wasn't sure she would.

12:15: the doctor is called in because the baby's heart rate was slightly in distress.

12:57: Isaac Bruce is born!

Tuesday: 39 weeks

It's that time of week again! Doctor appointment time!

I'm dilated to a 2-3, 90% effaced, and the baby's head is still low and facing the correct direction. The OB also stripped the membranes, which is supposed to help if you're close to going into labor but not really do anything if you're not.

Stay tuned.

Monday: no work

Yay, we didn't have to work today. We took it pretty easy, putting some stuff away and going to see the mission impossible movie.

Saturday: high school

Some friends from high school got together for breakfast this morning.  It was really nice to talk with them again.  I haven't seen some of them for...probably seven to ten years.  So we all got caught up.  I was taking the recycle out to the garage just as they were starting to arrive and reflected on how weird it is that we're adults now.  It might not seem that way to us, but we really are.  We are in charge of bringing the recycle out to the garage.  (And lots of other things too :) ) 

Thursday: done

Hurray!  We're done with work for a long weekend.  And I got to leave early, which was awesome.

Tonight Ben and I went to play Hand and Foot with his grandparents.  We did really, really well the first hand but decided they must have just been being nice to us.  By the last hand, we were way behind.

Wednesday: conversation

Amanda: I feel like I've been having little contractions all night.
Ben: do they hurt?
Amanda: no.(sigh)
Ben: (laughs) this is the only time that we want pain.

Tuesday: 38 weeks

Today was a doctor's appointment! They're fun.

I'm dilated to 2, 70% effaced, and the head is "very low". Progress!

Due to various things though, it would be nice if he would wait to start contractions until noon on Saturday. Or do it tonight. But I'd like to be out of the hospital Friday and Saturday. It probably means that's when he'll come.

Monday: dropped

Apparently the baby dropped a lot over the weekend.  "Everyone" at work mentioned it when they saw me today.

It also meant that I had to go to the bathroom any time I walked for more than 50 feet.

Sunday: Christmas

Today was Christmas with one of Ben's extended families.  We brought banana pudding.  Below is a picture of it being made to make Dusty jealous.  We had a lot left over, so if any one wants some, come on by.  I'd also like to say that I have an awesome husband who got some puzzles in the gift exchange because I wanted them.

Flurry is also enjoying hanging out under the Christmas tree.  Her white fur does make her seem like the perfect accessory for the tree.

Saturday: pep talk

Jess asked what I'm telling Baby to convince him to come out...

*It will be more fun to be out.
*You can see Dad (and other relatives)
*Christmas is a fun time...you don't want to miss it.
*There's more room to move.
*You have a name
*We have everything that you'll need for the first little bit...and most of it is set up.
*It works with scheduling better if you come sooner.

What I'm not telling him...
*It will be cold
*it's hard work to communicate
*Going through the birth canal is traumatic.

Friday: It's time!

It's time to meet the muppets! (Did I trick anyone? Please?). Ben and I went to see the Muppet Movie. It was good. A bit more singing than I expected, but a ton of cameos.

Wednesday: Christmas party

Today we had a work Christmas party.  It was pretty fun.  There was a ton of delicious food and we did a white elephant exchange.  We did the stealing game, but didn't unwrap the presents first.  That made it a little weird, but it went a lot faster.  Someone (easily) managed to convince someone that is scared of critters that something was moving in the box she had.  It was fun to see her proceed to hold it as far away from herself as possible.  In the end, it was a kazoo.

We also submitted Christmas child pictures.  Here's mine.

Tuesday: 37 weeks

Today we hit the 37 week mark, which means Baby is full term and can come whenever he wants.  I've started giving him pep talks on why he should come sooner rather than later.

I went to the doctor and am a "true 1" dilated and 50% effaced.  So at least there is progress.  The last day or so has also had an increase in cramps, but nothing that hurts.  On the weird side of things, I've felt better the last week or two than I have for a majority of the pregnancy.  I am still pretty tired, but nothing else is really wrong. And I can deal with being tired.

Monday: phone

Work gives their employees cell phones.  Pretty nice, right?

Except that mine won't do an audible ring.  I know it can make noise because I can hear what different ring tones sound like, but it won't ring when someone calls.  It will vibrate, but I take it out of my pocket often, and then it really needs an audible sound.

And the volume is all the way up.  And I tried setting a ring tone in case the "default" was silent.  So now I am going to bring it over to tech support.  Bah.

One more reason to not like phones.

Sunday: easy

Today was a rather easy day.  The house had gotten cleaned Friday night, so there were just a few things to do this weekend.  So Flurry and I spent quite a bit of the day on the couch...napping, watching TV, and writing emails.  The first round of quilting is also done on the quilt, next I'll have to decide if I want to do a second round or not.

Saturday: stuff

Baby's stuff is taking over our house and he's not here yet and not all the large items are set up.

We had a delicious dinner with Dad and Pat.

Friday: first snow

Today I woke up to about two inches of snow on the ground. For the first time ever, I had really conflicted feelings about it. I love snow and the first snow is always fun, but we don't have a garage, we do have a long driveway, and we have two people that don't want or can't shovel. The plan, as time goes by, is to park closer to the street so t least there is less to shovel.

We didn't shovel this time; it will probably melt in a few days.

Tuesday: more baby

I had another OB appointment today.  Today we found out that he probably has a long torso.  The head is down and it took her a while to find the heartbeat because it was higher up (on me) then expected.  I'm not dilated, but that is normal I guess.

The glider also came today!  It got here super fast...I ordered it Sunday night.  And it is tall enough.  Phew.

Monday: flowers

Ben brought me some flowers a few days ago.  The pine in the arrangement smells wonderful and the lilies are beautifully opening up.

Sunday: one month

There's only a month left until this baby is due!  Hooray!

In honor of that, we're having a baby post today.

Shower

Ben and I had a shower on Friday night for the baby.  I again don't have any pictures, but it was a lot of fun.  We got several things that we need (or think we need) and had a wonderful dinner.  It was fun to have both guys and girls at the party...it's interesting to see how both sides think.

Diapers

Ben and I are probably going to go with a cloth diaper service.  In case you wanted to see the breakdown, I included a picture of the spreadsheet and some of my assumptions below.  Beware though: I only spent about 30 minutes getting some of the numbers so they might not be completely accurate.

*77 diapers/week  (this might be on the high end, but some forums had really high numbers)
*disposable diapers were assumed to be $0.25 per piece
*the diaper service gives free diapers if the child isn't potty trained by 2.5 years.
*transportation impact was not included in environmental impact
*initial cloth diaper cost was estimated based on some Amazon numbers...but still an estimate

Laundry
I did my first load of baby laundry today.  Aww.  Probably the first of a million loads though.

Packed
I also packed for the hospital.  (Which is one reason I did some baby laundry.)  The problem is that I need a lot of the stuff yet.  I only have so many pants that I fit into.  And I still am using the electronics and toiletries.  So by the bag there will be list of last minute things to stick in.

Clothes
I'd like to complain that only half the maternity clothes still fit.  It is a little annoying to put on a shirt that covered my belly fine last week only to have an inch of skin show this week.  (Although I'll admit, some of this has to do with which pants I'm wearing.)  However, it made it easier to pack shirts for the hospital.

(ok, ok, it isn't a maternity shirt.  But it still seemed to fit well in the section.)

Glider
We also decided to purchase a glider on-line without having tried it out.  This is a little nerve racking, as most of the gliders that we sat in where too short to rest our heads against.  But the reviews for this say that tall people can rest their heads against this one.  And this way it is in the budget to get a footstool too.


Day care

I visited a day care near where I work this past week.  It's gotten very high recommendations from some of the people I work with and it is Christian-based, so unless I saw something that really scared me I was planning on using them.  Everything seemed fine.  And it is about five minutes from work so I'm planning on going over there to nurse at lunch.  (At least, that is the plan.)  I'm hoping that will take away some of the angst I might have about leaving him.

Nine month picture

Since there are so many other pictures in this post, I thought I'd add one more of how I'm looking today.

Saturday: today

Today was a very nice day.  I got to see a lot of people.  I took a nap.  I worked on the quilt.

:)

Thursday: off to bed

It's bed time again!  Hurray!  It's one of my favorite times of the day.  I love the going to sleep part, but even the relaxing in bed before sleep is really nice.

However, at the rate I'm going there is no way I'm going to finish my son's quilt before he gets here.  I finally managed to get it all pinned, but I've only done about one quilt seam in the last week.  Oh well.  It would be nice to finish it, but I think sleep is more important.

I realized the other day that it's been a while since five question Friday.  And since I'm tired and want to pretend that I can't think straight, it seemed easier than coming up with my own post.

1. Have you ever testified in court? For what?

No.

2. Do you still have your wedding dress?

Yes.  Although it's in the storage building.

3. Is there a special place you like to go when you're happy, sad, stressed, etc.?

Those are all so different.  I'm not sure there's a place I go when happy.  When I'm sad or stressed I like to go under a blanket.  Preferably somewhere I can sleep too.

4. If you have kids, do they sleep with you? If you don't have kids...will you let your kids sleep with you when/if you have them?

Probably not.  Flurry takes up too much of the bed as is.

5. Do you watch late night TV?

No, mainly because we don't have cable.  When I'm in a bedroom that has a TV in it I'll often watch something before bed, but then when I get to engrossed in it I'm glad that I don't do it often.

Tuesday: baby update

Today I was in for another OB appointment. Im still measuring a week large and the baby still has a heartbeat (although I forgot what the number was). Baby's head is also pointed the correct direction too. I still have a hard time feeling how the baby is pointing...I might be able to guess from where I feel kicks, but it would still only be a guess. She can do it from the outside! I suppose that comes with practice.

I also got to briefly see Betsy and Bryan in the waiting room, so that was a fun surprise.

Sunday: tester

Flurry is about the same size as a baby.  So we've made her try out several of our new baby items in advance of the baby.

The monster-shark didn't fit her very well, although she did have good teeth for it.

We've also put her in the stroller.  It doesn't keep cats in very securely...she kept jumping out.