Monday, February 28, 2011

Three weeks

Our little man is three weeks old today!  It's amazing, really, that we have been home for so long and that we have been on our own without Mom and Mike helping out for almost a week!

Colin is growing well.  I can't be certain but based on my non-medical grade scale, he is right at 8 pounds and I can definitely see a difference when I look at him.  He is awake much more than he has been and at the end of the afternoon today I realized that he really was awake for more than he was asleep.  The naps he did take today were quickly interrupted by his desire to eat - the 3 week growth spurt is real!  He has been eating more and more over the past couple of days and I know that I'll make it through this then I'm hoping for more long-term periods of sleep (hey, I'd even be happy with three hours at one stretch at night).

I'm not doing as well as I should be with sleeping when he sleeps during the day mostly because I don't feel hugely tired until 3 or 4 in the afternoon.  Right now, for instance, I'm dragging.  But it's already after 6:00 so I'm not going to take a nap now - I'll eat dinner and get to bed early.  Only, that doesn't mean sleep, it means bits and pieces of rest (today it's been no more than 2 hours without eating at a time).

Our glider got her on Saturday and I love it!  It's so much nicer than nursing in bed.  That said, I'm attempting to convince Colin to sleep in his crib.  I lasted a short 2 hours last night, most of which I was asleep in the glider in his room, before bringing him back to his bassinet.  I did however have him sleep in his bassinet rather than in our bed for the majority of the night.  Maybe tonight will be more successful!  I think the crib is so big to him that he feels like he needs to move around so much and ends up waking himself up.  He also makes lots of noises while he sleeps and if he is in the nursery I have no idea if he's awake and upset or asleep just making noises (since he still isn't much of a crier).

We have more pictures, not uploaded yet.  Most of them are on my phone so I'll work to get those uploaded in the next couple of days.  If you are on Facebook, feel free to look me up; I can upload pictures from my phone directly to Facebook so I don't have to have them downloaded here first.

There is really nothing big to report - and I guess that is good, right?  We are loving having Colin at home and once we make it through this growth spurt, maybe we'll all get more rest??  Well, I guess the baby and the daddy get decent rest, it's just mommy right now that doesn't.  All in good time, though, I'm sure!

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Colin Michael

About 24 hours old
On February 7th at 8:17 AM, we welcomed Colin Michael, less than 7 hours after we got to the hospital.  He was 6 pounds 11 ounces and 19.5 inches, smaller than the 7.5-8 pound baby I was expecting.

I started having contractions that felt a little different than the Braxton Hicks I had been having overnight Saturday-Sunday morning.  They woke me up periodically, but nothing too bad.  I called work to see if they were going to be cost containing that day (too many nurses, not enough patients) and went ahead and was cost contained rather than going to work (even if they hadn't been cost containing, I probably would have called in sick; I knew I wasn't feeling right).  I went about my day pretty normally - ran some errands, went to the grocery store, hung out at home - but when it came time to go to the Super Bowl party that night I told Mike to go without me; I'd rather sit at home and watch the game and see if these contractions were the real thing.  Even when I told Mike earlier in the day that this may be the real deal, he still didn't believe me.

By mid-way through the game I was starting to feel a little more uncomfortable.  I was sitting on my birth ball and  rocking through most of the contractions but it still wasn't anything hugely painful.  I tried to sit on the couch to eat a bowl of cereal and immediately had to move back to the ball because it was the most comfortable place to be.  Mike got home and I told him that things were more intense than they had been but I'd let him know if I thought we needed to call the doctor or go to the hospital.  He went to bed around 11 PM and by midnight or so I realized we should call the doctor.

We called the doctor and he said to come in so off we went to the hospital.  I think we got there around 1:30 or 2 AM and once they got me all settled and on the monitor for a few minutes and were able to check me, I was 4 cm.  Mike was great through the whole thing, I couldn't have made it through without him.  I spent some time in the shower then most of the rest of the time moving around and sitting on the ball.  By 6:30 or so it was pretty intense and I had them check me again to see where I was.  I decided that if I had only gone 1 or 2 cm, I would really have to think about pain control because I didn't know how much longer I could do it.  Amazingly, I had dilated to 8-9 cm.  I kept on with the same methods of getting through the contractions as I had been doing and when the doctor came in just after 7 AM, I was complete.

Around that time I decided I needed a little pain control so got one dose of fentanyl right before they broke my water.  It helped me rest for a few minutes and also helped with the change in contractions after my water was broken - they were much more intense.  Right after the doctor broke my water, I started pushing.  The doctor kept saying that I was doing good and we'd have a baby after a few more pushes... little did I know, 20 minutes after I started pushing, Colin would be born, staring right at me looking dazed.

After his first bath


We stayed at the hospital for just over 24 hours.  Since Colin was a bit smaller than I anticipated, his going home clothes were a little big for him...
His old man jeans
My mom and stepdad came in to town but were not able to get to our house on Monday night because of a storm that kept them staying at the airport.  So they were able to make it to the hospital on Tuesday and have been here helping out since then.  It's been such a big help to have them around and I'm sure that we wouldn't have been able to make it through the first two weeks without them!

It's been an eventful 2 weeks and I'll add more over the next few days.  But needless to say, we are thrilled with our perfect little one and are so excited to see what the next days, weeks, and months hold for us!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

38 weeks...

I know, this blog has just turned in to a countdown, but I can't help it.  It's what is on my mind these days so what else is there to talk about?  That's not true, I talk about other things, too, but I have to admit that most of my thoughts are focused on this little being inside and what he or she will look like, if it will move around as much once it's out of that tiny space, if it's a boy or a girl?!?

I had a doctor's appointment today and nothing big to update.  We did a size ultrasound and he pointed out a lot throughout.  He said that I have a good amount of amniotic fluid, the baby is practicing breathing all the time (which when they are stressed that is the first thing to go, so the baby is tolerating the Braxton Hicks contractions well), and by measurements it is probably about 7 pounds in there, too.  I asked him how far off that can be and he said half a pound either way...  I was hoping for at least a pound or two either way, but I guess I just have big babies (as does everyone in my family).  He said it will probably be overall around 7.5 lbs when it's born.

I have been having TONS of contractions at work.  But I have been off for the past 3 days so they have settled down immensely.  My friend, Allison, and I went walking at the mall the other day and I was having them there, too, but just sitting down and drinking some water makes them go away.  I am back to work tomorrow and Friday then also on Sunday so hopefully the day of rest on Saturday will make Sunday more bearable.  Then after that I only have two more shifts!!  I really can't believe it's finally time to meet Baby Naughton - and I'm sure you all feel the same way.

The house is almost put together and our chair should be here in another 2-3 weeks (I'll just have to make do until it gets here if baby gets here before the chair).  Well, when I say the house is put together, that's not completely true.  For some reason I feel the need to get everything except the nursery done - that is, everything outside of the nursery needs to look good and organized and clean before I finish the nursery.  I don't know why that's so important to me but it could have something to do with the fact that I have no idea what area rug I want for the nursery and the trim on the closet hasn't been installed yet.  So the nursery is still a mini-repository for all things baby until I make my way in there - which is soon, I promise!

I have had lots of energy the past few days so I don't know if it's nesting or just finally feeling a little rested after working this weekend... only time will tell.  I'll keep you updated!!