Slings!

So we got a couple of slings in the mail from Xander's Aunt Julie on Friday. I thought it would be a great idea to cut the grass with Xander. I was so excited I couldn't wait. So Amanda tells me I have to use the brown colored sling. Well, I didn't want to because it looked too complicated. I wanted to use the light brown one. Amanda kept telling me it was too big. I didn't care, I was going to try it anyway.

Well, it was just too complicated and I was too excited to be patient to figure it out. So I put Xander in the light brown sling on the couch and then tried to put it on. Well, that didn't work because it wasn't big enough...which Amanda reiterated to me again for the third time howling with laughter.



And of course, she was right. So then she inflated my ego and said, "You know, you look like a Jedi with that other one on." Oh, well the brown one is my favorite sling in the whole world now!

Wee, look at me, I look like a Jedi!


Prepare to die Dooku!



So then after another 10 minutes of trying to get Xander arranged in there we cut the grass.




But only half of the backyard because then I became super paranoid that I was giving him shaken baby syndrome. The nurses at the hospital say "Oh don't worry, baby's don't break." Then they make you watch a shaken baby video with interviews with parents who killed, blinded and gave their kid cerebral palsy because they were shaken.

So the paranoid mom call to the dr only took 10 days to happen.

He's acting normal too so everything is okay.

Diaper Dilemma

One of my bright ideas is that I'd like to use cloth diapers on Xander. Oh, by no means am I under the delusion that I won't ever touch disposables again. However financially and environmentally I would feel better by using cloth diapers at least around the house.

Cloth diapers have come a long way since I was a baby, not that I remember. I do remember my Mom rinsing out the big white rectangles for my youngest brother. I've been looking on the internet and here is what I'm thinking of getting.

There are lots of brands out there, but I'm hearing (well, reading) good things about bumGenius. This one is one-size-fits-all, so they should last a while. They are referred to as pocket diapers because there is an opening for an insert to help absorb.

It feels kind of pricey up front to get a 12 pack of the diapers, but it will save money in the long run. I'm just nervous to order them and there will be some huge glaring error in my plan. Like the diapers turn out to be poorly made and leak a lot (the reviews are really good for these though).

Oh, and they come in different colors!

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I can't believe I just wrote a diaper post.

First Doctor Visit

I found a family doctor the day before I gave birth to Xander. It was a big hoop for me to find someone who was recommended, covered by insurance, taking new patients and local. The doctor who seemed to fit the bill would not take us because I wasn't giving birth at the local hospital (excuse me for moving mid-pregnancy). Finally in a fit of frustration I went through the list of docs covered by insurance until I hit one and the receptionist was really nice so I said 'sign us up'.

At the hospital I was repeatedly asked who the pediatrician was and I could barely remember his name, let alone phone or address. When we got home I did call and make an appointment.

So today I get up and get Xander ready. I had half of a melt down because I didn't get much sleep and then I couldn't find the address. But finally it all worked out and we were there. There was no one waiting which could be a good sign (very efficient) or a bad sign (no one likes the docs at this practice).

So we get in and Xander is weighed (7 lbs 10 oz, he's a growing boy), measured (18.5 inches, he's a shrinking boy) and his head measured (13.5 inches, it's his brain that is growing).

Then we waited for the doctor. It wasn't a long wait, but Xander decided it was his food time and was letting everyone know it. In fact, he leaned his head over and I thought he was resting a moment between screaming but in fact he'd latched onto his own arm and managed to suck hard enough to bruise himself. Bad mom, letting your child get hungry enough to maim himself!

The doctor came in and gave him a quick check - heart, lungs, belly button, circumcision and pronounced him healthy. He also asked the fun questions about what the poop looked like. He patiently answered my paranoid new mom questions (his eye is pussy! his lip is purple! he's only eating for five minutes) and made sure to give me his number to call if more panic ensues.

But the thing that won me over was that he said I could stay and feed Xander there if I wanted. No rush to get me out of there (I could hear other patients coming and going, so I wasn't the only person there after all) and it was much appreciated since I had other errands I wanted to run.

Facts about Xander

Here are some fun facts about Alexander Robert.

He is a Virgo:

Modest and shy, meticulous and reliable, practical and diligent, intelligent and analytical

Fussy and a worrier, overcritical and harsh, perfectionist and conservative

His birthstone is a sapphire

.

He is born during the year of the Pig, according to the Chinese zodiac. I believe it is a very lucky year to be born, but I couldn't find details about it.



He was born on a Tuesday: Tuesday's Child is full of grace

He shares his first name with several saints: St. Alexander, St. Alexander Nevsky, Pope Alexander, and so on.

His middle name is after Chris's maternal grandfather (so Xander's great-grandpa).

He has Chris's crazy pinky toe. And Chris's eye shape, nose, ears, shoulders. I'm beginning to question if he's mine at all.

Future bodybuilder?




All is well around here. Xander is nursing for longer amounts of time each feeding so that is good. We (I) are (am) looking forward to our first trip to church tomorrow!

All of the details

Details can mean Too Much Information, so this is not for the faint of heart.

So some of you may have heard that Monday (Sept. 17) was a little rougher than usual for me. I had cramps all day, plus a few other things that really only reminded me of having my period. But I had a good day, went to Molly Woo's for dinner with Ikkin (there is something about the Pineapple Chicken) and my parents stopped by for a few minutes while in town. Within an hour Sarah, Mandy and Lori had all called me and left messages checking how I was. Verrrrry ominous. But I had a headache that became a migraine that kept me up half of the night, which is another precursor of the dreaded period.

So Tuesday (Sept. 18) I skip the usual breakfast with Chris and lay in bed for a while. When he's ready to leave for work I get up to give him a hug, but halfway there I feel a gush. So I say 'hang on' and hurry to the bathroom where stuff is running down my legs. I hurry up and sit down and think 'Gee, I've never had this much trouble with my bladder before' and wait for the gush to stop. It does not, it just becomes a trickle. Chris finally says 'I'm going to be late, love you, see you later!' Meanwhile every time I try to stand the gushing starts again. Finally I notice that it is a nasty green color. Hmmm, this could be my water breaking. Finally after 20 minutes and two clothes changes I can leave the bathroom.

Side note: I was told that about 11% of pregnant women have their water break and that it smells like cleaner or bleach. And it's usually only a trickle. Since I'm a math person, I figured the odds were against me and there was no smell, bleach or otherwise. So I was just confused. Also, everything had been going so smoothly with the pregnancy I really believed I'd be late and giving birth to a 10 pounder.

So I grab my phone and call the doctor to ask. The receptionist said she'd talk to a nurse and call me right back. After 5 minutes I figure I can at least Google it, so I jump on the internet and can't find much about my situation. Meanwhile, every time I lean forward there is a little gush.

The receptionist calls back after 15 or 20 minutes and says to come on down to the doctor's office. I have a 5:30 appointment, but that is waiting too long obviously. So I call Chris and tell him not to freak out and that my water may have broken. We discuss strategy (meet here, there, where?) and he finally tells me I'm babbling and to go take a shower and get the bags.

By 9:30 he is home and we hit the road with the hospital bags and wondering if this was IT. Duhn-duhn-DUHN! The nurse practitioner saw us pretty quickly and did two tests that said yes, my water did break. So we were told to head to the hospital pronto. But I made Chris stop at a CVS to get snacks and we stopped at an ATM for some money.

Meanwhile, while I had been on the internet I felt those pesky cramps again. But they were sharper and were getting my attention. Huh, so those were contractions! When we left I grabbed paper and pen and tracked them. By the time we were on the way to the hospital they were roughly five minutes apart and lasting 30 seconds to a minute. Labor must have started because every time I would write down a time Chris asked if that was a contraction and I had to fight the urge to jab him with the pen.

When we arrived at the hospital I expected to be stuck in a room with monitors for an hour and then told to suck it up and go home for a while. Instead I was stuck talking to the financial lady because the pre-registration I did online last week had not gone through yet. She was nice, but would have definitely gotten jabbed except that Chris had the pen at that point.

We were then shown to our labor and delivery room and told we were straight up being admitted since my water broke. So I got changed and the contractions kicked up a notch. I sat on a birth ball (a regular exercise ball) and tried to breath. Chris was a champ and totally supportive even when I was snapping at him to "Stop HOVERING", "Stop TALKING" or "Stop BREATHING".

Then they wanted to give me Pitocin to help me along, which I did not want. But the doctor was concerned that there was meconium in the fluid and it could cause an infection in the baby. So I received the hormone and my contractions kicked way up, which was supposed to help me get dilated since I was still only 2 cm.

They offered to give me a narcotic to help deal with the pain, because curling up in a fetal position whimpering is not very ladylike. I declined because I'm stubborn but Chris prodded me in the other direction and I had some hooked up to the IV. Pretty soon I was as high as a kite and 4 cm. I still had pain, but I breathed with Chris's help and then just shut my eyes in between contractions. But at this point I did have the shakes really, really bad. None of the books mentioned that!

That's when the anesthesiologist decided to talk to me about getting an epidural, when I couldn't focus on anything. Thanks. She basically said an epidural would be best since there was the entirely small chance I'd need an emergency Cesarean section and I couldn't do general anesthesia due to my malignant hypothermia. I declined. However, after more shaking and pain Chris said some magic words to me (heck if I know, I'm still gliding on the high kite) and I agree to get one. So I found myself bent over and controlling my shaking long enough to get a huge needle shoveled into my spine.

I've always heard how epidurals go wrong and don't work or half work. It worked perfectly for me. I didn't feel any more contractions but could still move my legs. Then I get a visitor! My little brother Lee heard I was in labor and stops in to chat. That gives Chris a quick break to get food. Lee even helps him bring in the rest of our bags while I found out I was suddenly at 8 cm.

Lee headed out of there and we sit around watching the machine tell me I'm having contractions. Then the nurse tells me I'm ready to push. Huh? It's only 3:30 or so, the sun is shining. Shouldn't I be in labor for 10 more hours? Nope, pushing it is. Meanwhile, Chris gets to see what is happening and gets this wide-eyed amazed look at what he sees. And somehow the nurse talks me into putting down the mirror so I can see too. Too many drugs, I tell you. But we stop pushing because the baby's heart beat keeps slowing down whenever I push.

The doctor and a plethora of nurses come in, forceps are used, and Xander is born. He's quiet at first and that worried me because meconium might have gotten into his lungs. But soon he was howling away and getting all of his measurements. The highlight was when the doctor says "Hey, look at this umbilical cord, it's so long!" and he holds it out and the nurses all 'ooooh' astonishingly. I guess the cord was wrapped around Xander's neck twice, which was causing the problems with his heart beat when I pushed.

But he's a healthy boy, I've recovered with little damage (darn them, I said I didn't want an episiotomy) and Chris was the best supportive husband ever. And that is how Xander was born!

here he is...

Here is our Xander!

7 lbs 8 oz
19.2"

9/18/07 4:27pm

(editted, the correct date is the 18, NOT the 17, Chris was loopy with happiness when he typed that)

I lost the bet...

Well, good thing I didn't put any money down on the bet whether or not Amanda would progress from Dr. appointment last week. In case I didn't call you already, she (we) had the baby!

Cliffnotes version:
She was feeling crampy yesterday and last night, but didn't realize that contractions felt just like cramps. So this morning I go off to work and she gets out of bed and there is a gush. Oh yea, her water broke alright. So after a series of phone calls to the dr, me and the dr again I end up coming home from work and driving us to the dr's office. The dr confirmed that it was amniotic fluid and told us to go to the hospital. So we get to the hospital by 11am.

The contractions started getting hot and heavy and they gave her some drugs. A bit later she got an epidural, then about 4pm the nurse checked on her and whoa, the baby is right there and you need to push.

Wait a sec, that's it? We've only been here for 5 hours! I thought this would take days! I'm not ready for this yet!

So after 3 or 4 sets of good pushing a healthy baby boy popped out, 7 lbs 8oz and 19 inches. We named him Alexander Robert, for short we will call him Xander. I liked just Xander, but Amanda vetoed that because later in life he might want to be called something else and Alexander is a Saint's name as well. The middle name is from my maternal grandfather.

Xander.

So I'm stopping at home now to make sure the cats are fed and headed back to the hospital to sleep on the pullout couch.

I'll try and put up some pictures tomorrow.

bets?

Anyone willing to wager any bets as to Amanda status at her Dr tomorrow? Do you think she'll be:

A: same as last week. 2cm dialated 50% effaced
B: further dilation and effaction

I betcha it'll be A.

week 37

Here we are, week 37.


I put the car seat in the car this weekend. Just to get used to the idea...and I don't know where else to put it in the house. I think she's got her bags packed for the hospital.

Amanda is now able to balance bowls and cups on her belly while she is sitting.

And here is some of the finished room. That's the dresser I've been yapping about for the past 2 months; finally complete and serving as a changing table.

side note

I posted about the baby shower, but it's further down the blog (September 4th).

I (THINK we) are ready

Peanut's room is done. The dresser is finished and has drawer liners. Most of the clothes are washed. The crib has cushions in it and blankets are ready for it. Glider is bought and assembled. We have a car seat and it's installed. Amanda's bags are somewhat packed.

Amanda has some other details to finish up, but I'm finished preparing for Peanut.

Your move Peanut.

weekend recap

So we had this baby class over the weekend on birthing babies. It was quite useful since "...I don't know nothin' 'bout birthing babies." It was a good class, we went over breathing techniques and got to watch a birth video.

They also had some goofy acronyms that they told us. There was PAIN for contractions (purposeful, anticipated, intermittent and normal), COAT for when the water breaks (color, odor, amount and time) and 5 1 1 for contractions (5 minutes apart, 1 minute in duration and 1 lasting 1 hour --that means go to the hospital).

We also had fun trying to read the greek letters on the instructors inner left foot below her ankle. To me it looked like alpha xi delta and a rose, but it was hard to tell because tattoos hold their beauty with age.

Oh, and are you ready for real scary news? Amanda went to the doctor today and she is 2 cm dilated and 50-60% effaced. Oh sh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!t was my reaction. I needed a shot of vodka after hearing that, but since I was at work that really wouldn't work out. The doctor also said that anytime now within the next 2 weeks.

Right now I still have the deer in the headlights scared feeling. Good thing we bought the stroller and car seat yesterday. I guess I better pay attention in the "First 3 months" class tomorrow on how to change a diaper.

week 36

Ta da!



Week 36...is great! We had our birth class this past weekend and spent alot of money at babys r us this past weekend. I'll try and fill in more details tommorrow on those, but right now I need to get to bed and give up the computer to Amanda.

The Baby Shower

My baby shower was great! Here's a little recap of what went down.

It started at 2 with food. Sarah and Nikki had a great spread of wraps, sandwiches, veggies, fruit, brownies and lemon squares. Oh, and punch (I couldn't get enough of that), lemonade and fancy mint-lemon water to drink. People kept arriving and I got the chance to get around to everyone and say hey.
Then came the games. First was a game to embarrass me - everyone had to cut the length of string they thought it would take to go around my big belly. I must look huge because almost everyone had one too long. The winner was my mom, probably because she's given me so many hugs. There was still talk of a conspiracy though.

Next was the dirty diaper game. I've heard of it, but never seen it played. It is at the same time gross but oh so entertaining to watch. They took 10 diapers and melted a different candy bar in each. So the guests had to guess which diaper had which candy bar by passing it around and smelling it and looking at it. I tried to get some people to taste, but there were no takers.

Finally was the name game. I pulled a letter out of a bag and everyone had to make a list of names starting with that letter. We did this twice, once with B and once with N. It was funny how some people just would go totally blank under pressure (my sister's friend is Brittany and she totally forgot until the end) and others were getting all sorts of names (like Bentley).

Then came the cakes I made, everyone seemed to enjoy them and there was enough leftover for Chris to take into work. And of course, the presents. Wow, it's so great to be so loved and everyone to be so excited for us. Now we have pretty much everything we need to welcome the little one home!
A big thanks to everyone who made it that day, I hope you had as much fun as I did!

A huge thanks again to Sarah and Nikki for organizing this for me!!

One Month To Go

I feel a little pale and clammy when I think too hard on that fact. One month. Maybe less (maybe more). I just try to stay focused and not get sick.

At the Labor Day party, people were so great and helped out and asked if I was doing ok. I did great all day, I was kind of proud of myself. I thought for sure I'd need to just lay down for a while. The hardest part was playing Cornhole and having to pick up the bags. I did really feel it on Sunday morning though. Tired, sore back, achey, bleh. It's a good thing Chris is so wonderful and didn't bug me about cleaning up after the party.

Several people have commented about how I was still wearing my rings. I leave them on all of the time, so it doesn't occur to me that they might be too snug. I gave that up after this weekend. It was a great weather and it still hurt to try to turn them around, so I'm wearing them on a necklace now.

The baby classes start this week! Chris will miss the first two, but should be back for the important one on Saturday, "Labor and Delivery". Today I have "The First 3 Months" which will continue next week. Since we have no friends nearby with kids and no close relatives with kids, we need this just to cover 'common sense' things and what to expect and hopefully how to diaper the little guy. Later this week will be the breastfeeding class. Most of the books I've looked at cover this, but I feel like this is an area where I'll need something more than illustrations in a book. I hear there are a lot of great resources out there for breastfeeding, so hopefully I'll get lots of pamphlets at the class.

week 35

Week 35:


We were at the movies friday night and Peanut's heel or some other pointy appendage was poking out of Amanda's belly. It looked like she was starting to grow an antler right out of the middle of her belly. But then he moved and it was only there for 10 seconds or so, but it was really funny.