Thursday, July 29, 2010

Dear Grant



Dear Grant,

Wow, I'm already getting behind. You are almost six weeks old and I'm just now doing your one month post. These first few weeks have been great with you. Although we've had some long nights and evenings and some adjusting to us being a family of four. But I couldn't be happier and I truly feel content and complete with our family of four.



Jenna loves you so much, she is so good with you. She's been a great helper and just an amazing big sister. Yesterday in the car you were screaming and Jenna asked me how she could calm you down. When you kept crying she finally sighed and said, "This is TERRIBLE!" It was so funny.



You are much more alert now and make the cutest big eyed faces when you are looking around or when we make funny noises. You usually like car rides, sometimes like stroller rides, and always like to be held. You're doing pretty good at night, with stretches of sleep anywhere from 3 - 6 hours, we prefer the six hour stretches in case you were wondering.



You are chugging your bottles, sometimes we joke (hopefully) that you have a tape worm, you're eating more than the doctor said most babies your age eat. We just assume you are growing!

STATS

At your one month appt. you weighed 9 lbs. 3 oz. and were 21.5 inches long.
You are now wearing size 1 pampers diapers.
You are eating anywhere from 4-6 oz. at a time.

You are a joy and we are so happy to welcome you to our family!
Love always,
Your Mommy

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

"Someday"


"Someday, he'll be a big-time movie star or a fifth-grade English teacher.

Someday, he'll marry, have a few kids. Maybe he won't.

Someday, he'll change the world as we know it.

Or maybe he'll travel, send postcards from China, phone you from Paris.

Someday, he's going to be a big, strong man able to carry you in his arms.

One day, he'll have his own hopes and dreams, not knowing that once upon a quiet time, you closed your eyes and made a wish to one day have him in your life."

*a poem on a card we received when Grant was born

Friday, July 16, 2010

CUTE PICTURES

I'm going to share some proofs from the photo session we just had. I think they are great. I may be biased, but my kids are pretty cute! Now how will I ever decide which ones to order??? Here are a few from the day.
















Tuesday, July 13, 2010

My Birth Story

I wanted to get this down in writing before I start to forget some of the details and pain!

We went in on Saturday, June 19 at about 8:30 am. We went in for a scheduled induction due to low amniotic fluid. By the time we got all the paperwork and questions answered, and got hooked up to the monitors, got the IV in (My hand and then arm weren't cooperating for that), it was about 10:15 am before they actually started the pitocin. At that point I was about 60% effaced and 1.5-2 centimeters dilated.

It was a slow start, the Dr. didn't want to break my water right away due to the low fluid, we didn't want to cause any stress to the baby. So, from about 10:30 to 3:00 it was fairly slow. Not a ton of change and progress. I was having regular contractions about 2-3 minutes apart but they were fairly easy to get through, just uncomfortable. They kept increasing my pitocin every half an hour.

At 3:30 to doctor came in to break my water, I was about 3-4 cm at this time. I also ended up getting my epidural at this time. I was in pain, and the anesthesiologist was already there for another lady so I didn't want him to have to be called back in. I'm not sure what happened, but the epidural didn't quite work right. We didn't' know this right away at the time though. It did make my whole left leg really numb and not as much my belly or the pain. The pain was still bearable so I didn't let it bother me, but I knew right away it felt different than I felt going through this with Jenna.

The meds in the epidural caused my blood pressure to go really really low. The nurses were worried and they had the cuff checking my blood pressure every 5 minutes. They said if I were to get out of bed I would most likely just pass out. It was low, like 79/39 low. It wasn't getting better despite trying different positions, pumping a TON of fluid into me, and giving me meds to raise it. Luckily the baby was looking great through all of this and didn't react to my body being stressed.

So, eventually my blood pressure started going up and my pain was going up. I called the nurse in and told her I was feeling way more pain than I knew I should be feeling with the epidural. She checked me and I was 6 cm. She said she thought I would go really fast now and since the meds made my blood pressure so low they couldn't do more or change anything, so pretty much, deal with it. I literally had tears running down my face, and I felt like I was never going to get to 10!

The nurse called the doctor and told her it would be soon and started to get my room ready for delivery. The doctor came in and was prepping to deliver the lady in the room next to us. Of course, two of us start going into active labor at the same time. I was in so much pain and felt so bad that it actually made me throw up. I gave Erik just enough notice to throw a pan under my mouth. The nurse was happy saying it was a good sign of transition into pushing.

Meanwhile, Erik was trying to do anything he could to help, which wasn't much. He got me ice chips, chapstick, and letting me break his hand while I held it during contractions. At this point the nurse was right, things were going fast (thank God) and I was at an 8 and the baby was really low. I was crying, couldn't talk, felt like I was going to pass out from the pain. I KNOW I was not supposed to be feeling like this but it was too late to do anything now. It was the point of no return. Erik said it was the first time he heard me say that I couldn't do something. How dumb, I remember saying, "I can't do this." Yeah, like I had a choice!

The nurse came in and said, "You're at a 10, you're complete." She tried to get the doctor in and the doctor was still delivering the other lady's baby. The nurse then said to us, "don't worry, I've delivered babies before." This made me cry even more, our doctor is our friend and I really wanted her to deliver this baby. The nurse said the baby was right there and at that moment the doctor came running in, got ready and told me to push. I was in so much pain and felt like I couldn't do it, and she told me what I needed to hear. She said he was so low and so right there that she thought I could do it in one good push. She was right, I did!!!! Grant came out after one long push. It hurt so bad and the pressure in unbelievable, it's also the weirdest feeling, a baby coming out of you. I didn't feel all that with Jenna due to the epidural, I felt pain with her but NOTHING like this.

I remember Erik and the doctor yelling at me to open my eyes and then Grant was laying on my chest! I was so relieved he was okay and he was out of me! It's the most pain I've ever been in but he was worth it!

After he came out, I'll spare you the details, but we had the same problems that we did with Jenna with my placenta. So, after that ordeal was over, all was good!

I started pitocin at 10:15 am
They broke my water at 3:30 pm (this is when they technically say labor starts)
Grant was born at 10:21 pm.

It truly is an unbelievable experience and looking back at it now, I'm kinda glad I felt the pain, it makes me feel so strong and amazed at what our bodies can do. Okay, now I'm getting all teary eyed. I want to remember this feeling since it's most likely our last baby.

I know forever have the memories and experience of laboring and birthing my two kids. I have the flabby belly and stretch marks to prove it and I couldn't be happier with my family!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Introducing Baby Boy...

Introducing Baby Boy Grant Byron! Grant was born on Saturday, June 19, at 10:21 pm. He weighed 6 lbs. 15 oz. and was 18.5 inches long. My labor was much worse than with Jenna but luckily he is so cute and cuddly, I got over it once he came out in one push!


Before we left for the hospital, our last picture as a family of three!



Baby Grant!



So cute and cuddly!




A proud big sister and her little baby brother! I am SO lucky and blessed.

Stay tuned for more stories and pictures to come! It's a little busy around here lately with not too much sleep happening.