Aaron's first doctor's visit

We took Aaron for his first Dr's appt. on Monday. He's doing well, but he is still down in weight, now weighing 8 lbs. 4 oz. The Dr. wants us to come back on Thursday for a weight check. She gave me some breast feeding tips and told me to try and feed him more often during the day. She also said his jandice isn't that bad. I told her we are putting him in the afternoon sun for a few minutes each day and she said that's fine. Nothing to worry about there. I did have a question about his eyes, as he had some awful goop in one of them. I thought I might have pink eye, so I was worried. The Dr. thinks he has some blocked tear ducts, nothing unusual. She told me to massage his eyes a bit, however, this can last in infants for several months. Massaging may push open the ducts a bit, even if temporarily. If we have to, it can be treated.

Here's a pic of Aaron sunbathing.

A baby story

So, to bed I went on April 21, just like every other pregnant night. I woke up April 22 just like every other pregnant morning. NOT! I woke up shortly before 4 AM with what I quickly realized was a contraction. As they continued to come, they were 10 minutes (some less) apart. At 5:10 AM I told J.R. to call his mom. I figured by the time she got up, showered, and drove 3 hours here, I'd be ready for the hospital. Contractions with Ben started much further apart, and my doctor told me this labor would be 1/2 of what Ben's was. I have another friend who recently had a baby and said her doctor said don't wait for 5 minute-apart contractions with baby #2. So, at less than 10 minutes apart at 5 AM, I had to be going soon, right?

Aaron was born at 10:06 PM. Sigh.

Here's the rest...

I thought daycare opened at 6:30 AM, so J.R. dropped off Ben early. I didn't know if I'd still be at home when my mom in law got here. J.R. got to daycare at 6:45 AM and the first teacher got there at 6:50 AM. She was happy to take Ben, even though they didn't open until 7:30 AM. My mom in law got here shortly before 8:30 AM, needless to say I was still at home. I continued to have contractions all day. I learned from my first time around, that when the birthing class teacher said walk - contractions will come faster, she was right, so I started walking around the house. Contractions got as close as 3 minutes apart, but I didn't feel like any progress was being made. I was exhausted, so I laid down for a little while. Contractions went back up to 6-8 minutes apart. It was a long, tiring, painful day, but finally at 8:00 PM I called the hospital. Without hesitation, the doctor told me to come in. We said goodbye to Ben and Grandma and made our way in. I guess we got there about 8:30 PM and it wasn't long after that when I was settled into a delivery room bed.


The big scare this time around was we lost Aaron's heartbeat and the resident doctor who delivered me said we might have to do an emergency C-section if it couldn't be found (he'd want to get the baby out asap if that was the case). I have to admit, I was in so much pain at the time, that I wouldn't have minded the C-section if the result would have been an immediate birth. As much as I wanted the baby to be OK, I wanted the pain gone! I also almost caved to an epidural. I had one contraction and I felt like it wasn't going to be long before I'd be ready to push. The doctor in charge told me NOT TO PUSH and it was too early and I should go a few more contractions before she'd check me. My immediate answer to her - "YOU KEEP SAYING THAT!" She had said it once before. I think she finally got the hint when I contracted again and said to J.R. that I was ready, and made comments about how I wanted it to be over. I also asked the nurse to explain the epidural process to me. Well, when the doctor checked me she whipped everyone into shape and exclaimed, "This baby is ready to come out! Everyone get ready, let's go". Can I say it? I TOLD YOU SO! It was four or five contractions later that Aaron Ronald, all 8 lbs, 13 oz and 22 inches of him was laying on my belly. (Oh my goodness he's a big one, they said. Yeah, I told you he was going to be but you didn't believe me on that either!) There was much relief, let me tell ya! J.R. was very excited to cut the cord - through tears he told me. He wasn't able to with Ben because Ben's cord was wrapped around his neck.

Big brother Ben came to visit us Thursday afternoon. He was very excited to give me flowers when he came in the room and was happy to see Mommy, Daddy and his new brother. With my help, he got to hold Aaron for some pictures, but immediately lost interest when Grandma gave him some cars. Ben can say Aaron's name, it sounds very cute.

We stayed at the hospital until Friday morning. Now we are home and settled in. Ben is doing well with Aaron, so far. Today I was feeding Aaron and Ben came up on the bed with us, looked at Aaron and said his name over and over again. He's enjoying Aaron's company. Hopefully this transition will continue to go well for him.

Due Date!

I asked J.R. to take a picture of me tonight, but he didn't. If he had, you'd see me standing there, hair back in a messy ponytail; no make up, bright red nose and tired eyes; a Phish t-shirt and fleece pajama pants; and a big round belly. Yup, a big round belly. Today is "40 weeks and 0 days pregnant" according to the little ticker at the bottom of my blog, and still no baby. I thought 2nd babies weren't usually late, or came earlier than 1st babies?

I still feel good, so I'm OK. I went to the Dr.'s yesterday and I'm 3 cm dilated. The Dr. tried to help me along a little, but I guess it didn't work, or at least not work immediately. She also said she was on-call today and would love to deliver my baby. She's my favorite Dr. at the practice, so I would have loved to have had her deliver. It's 11PM now, and I don't see me having a baby before midnight.

I went to work both yesterday and today and plan to go in tomorrow as long as things haven't started. I've only been going in for 1/2 days. I'm still sleeping like crap, but now it's because of this stupid head cold and coughing fits! Early this morning I ended up sleeping mostly upright on the couch because my cough, J.R.'s cough and J.R.'s snoring kept me awake in the bedroom. I did wake up to the cutest face in the world staring at me with a big smile. I was still tired, but couldn't sleep because Ben wanted to crawl all over me, and when he wasn't, I could hear Ben and J.R. playing. I sat on the couch for a while staring at nothing, and not a lot of energy to do anything around the house. So, I figured I'd go into work. I got a few things done, went to a meeting and felt productive, so I feel I made the right decision. Besides, I'd rather keep going to work and then I have the full 12 weeks after the baby is born to stay home with him. I can stay home for more of the summer as well!

I'm certainly ready now though. I got to go to all the events at school that I wanted to go to this weekend. I have all my work finished in such a way that it's easy for someone to pick up where I left off. At home, the bassinet is up and we bought a plastic chest-of-drawers to put more baby clothes in. My suitcase is not only packed, but it's in the car. Now all I need, is a new baby.

Insomnia has set in

Vomiting by itself, I hate. Now, being nine months pregnant and vomiting....not at all what I wanted to be doing Sunday after Easter dinner. I slept all day Monday, until my doctor's appointment. When I told the doctor my other symptoms, she said it sounded like I had the flu that everyone has right now (she also told me I am 1 cm dilated). Great. Well, after sleeping, comfortably I might add, all day Monday, I haven't been able to sleep since. I've been staying in bed, keeping my eyes closed hoping I'll sleep, but it only half works. At 4:15 AM this morning, I've given up and decided to blog.

Ben isn't sleeping that great either. For the last few nights he's been waking up 3-4 times a night. He falls asleep, so we put him in his crib. He wakes up, he comes back to bed with us, then falls asleep. So we put him in his crib, he wakes up and he comes back to bed with us. Lather, rinse, repeat. J.R. hasn't been able to rock him or soothe him to sleep in the nursery, so he keeps coming in with us. Of course, that's helping me sleep - NOT. At least he's not screaming and crying like he was a few weeks ago.

Another thing with Ben, for the past couple of days in school, he's been crying for me on and off all day. I have a feeling he's figuring out that his world is about ready to be rocked. I don't think he knows how, but he knows. He was very cute the other night when I was sick. I just didn't feel good so I was lying in bed and I was just crying. He crawled up next to me, looked me in the eye to kind of say, what's the matter mommy? and just gave me one of his big cheesy grins. It instantly made me smile. He's been looking at me in the face a lot lately. Just with this big deep stare with those loving eyes and he'll take my face in his hands and lower my head to kiss me on the forehead. Very cute as usual!

Pregnancy wise, I'm feeling great. I just wish I hadn't been so sick these last few weeks. That's what's making me feel so bad. Sunday night was probably the first night I really said - I'm done, I want this baby out. But then I realized, the baby could come, but I'd still be sick. So really, it's the sickness I'm done with. I made it through to the Student Awards tonight, and my big goal is to make it to the Masque's opening night on Friday. After that, I would really like to make it to their senior pinning after the show on Sunday. If I'm still up and around, I think I've decided tonight that I'll take a 1/2 day on Monday. I have a doctor's appointment at 11:30. Then from there... I'm feeling better about leaving work where work stands. I still haven't packed yet (although the baby's clothes are out and I know what pj's I want to bring) and the bassinet isn't up. I'll pack when I get home from work tomorrow (tonight I guess) and J.R. wants to steam clean the bedroom carpet before he puts up the bassinet. I guess if I go before the bassinet goes up, J.R. can put it up while I'm in the hospital. He can't take showers there anyway, so he's going to have to come home every day anyway.

Like I said, pregnancy wise, I feel great and I'd still like to make it to my due date. I really wish everyone would stop rushing me and telling me they want the baby now, or the sickness I'm feeling is my body getting ready, or telling me I must be anxious, etc. I am perfectly fine! Remember, this is the lady who LOVES being pregnant, and honestly, is going to be very sad when this week is over (no more babies for us).

Teacher's Pet

I had another doctor's appointment yesterday. I didn't have her check to me to see how far along I am - I'm not sure I want to know how close, or how far, I am. I measured at 38 which is perfect, and my blood pressure was great. So...I'm healthy :) My next appointment is Monday.

We had a parent teacher conference today with Ben's daycare teacher. She said to us, "Don't tell anyone, but Ben is my favorite". Of course, I'm telling everyone :) She says she loves Ben because he loves to learn from her and is good at taking direction, although he also likes to see what he can get away with, and that makes her laugh. She says he is very good when she tries to get him to stop doing something he shouldn't - like if he has something he's not supposed to have. She'll just say his name and tell him he's not supposed to have something or to bring it back and he just kind of looks at her like, "are you for real...oh, alright" and does whatever she says. They interact well together it sounds like. We, both J.R. and I and school, are going to continue working on colors and numbers with him. We all know he recognizes the color blue, but I'm concerned he's not picking up the rest. And numbers...he's been counting along for a long time now, especially because they count at school when they wash their hands, and Ben LOVES to wash his hands. However, he hasn't ever really said the numbers. Now he does say "two" and "nine". J.R. and I want him to be able to say 1-10 for right now. The only bad report the teacher gave us was that he pushes. However, she didn't really bring it up as a bad thing - she didn't seem concerned. I certainly don't want him to push though. She says he'll do it when one girl, in particular, tries to hug him. He doesn't want it so he pushes her away. The teacher says he'll also push sometimes just to get attention. I guess it is age appropriate but I still don't like it.

One thing we really notice Ben is starting to do is actually sing songs. He's been "singing" songs for a while now, but it's really been more motions then him actually saying anything. He's verbalizing a lot more now. Most of it we can only understand because we know what he's trying to sing, but, that makes it even more cute. Last night, he came into the bedroom and started twirling around then said "down" and fell to the ground. He was playing "Ring Around the Rosie". Of course he got J.R. and I to play with him after awhile. Here's some video of him doing it. I tried not to sing to much, because I wanted to capture him singing, but he wouldn't really do anything unless I sang.

We also went to the "Please Touch" museum last week. Here are some pictures from that.

Easter Eggs and Updates

Wow, it's been awhile. So ok, here goes.

I guess we'll start with our illnesses. Ben was sick about two weeks ago (Grammie jinxed us - he was fine until she flew out for the weekend. Poor Ben is always sick when Grammie's here). He had a bad cold and a small ear infection. He passed on his cold to us. J.R. has a little coughing thing going on, but I got it bad. I had an awful cold for the first week that grew into a sinus infection during the second week. The whole right side of my side was hurting. At my last dr's appointment I was given two perscriptions, and finally I feel them working.

Because Ben was sick, it totally messed up his sleep habits. He was finally doing great...falling asleep fairly well, and sleeping through the night. While sick, we was waking up during the night and SCREAMING for up to 2 hours at a time. Then it would take forever to get him to fall back asleep. There were several nights where he only got about 4 hours of sleep. It was awful. Nothing would satisfy him. He's falling asleep much easier now, but still waking up in the middle of the night. At least now, we can bring him into bed with us and he goes right back to sleep. We'll do this for a little while then hopefully we'll be able to get him to stay in his crib all night again.

Pregnancy wise, I'm doing well. Officially tomorrow I'll be "in the window" - two weeks left. At my last appointment I was 50% effaced, and I was barely "a fingertip" dialated. I was so nervous when the dr. was checking me - with Ben I was told I was barely a fingertip, then she said she'd get me started. Yeah, started with three days of contractions! I have my next appointment tomorrow, I'm weekly now.

Here's a pic of me and my boys.

This past weekend, we went to the Easter Eggstravaganza at our old church. Ben was so excited to get three eggs in his basket. He walked around showing everyone. Then he got two more inside where all the activties were. Here are some pictures of that.