PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[Lanie]

I'm trying to embed the cutest video of Anderson....let's see if it works.

OK it didn't work. Anderson crawled over to the door stop for the first time this morning and is laughing hysterically...so cute, so I had to share! I hope I'm allowed to do this.

http://youtu.be/hZ3o_asuvQ4

 

[Kunzite]

Okay, little guy is in bed so I have a second to quasi catch up

noel - Glad to hear that you had a good trip, you should fill us in on the details (pictures?)! I'd love to hear about it. Yes, Oliver loves to chew on his fingers and hands. He doesn't really suck his thumb (or a pacifier), just loves to chew. He loves to chew on my hand too! Silly kid.

Skippy - So happy Miles slept for 5 hours for you! O didn't really STTN until around 7 months adjusted. Do the boys wake on the same schedule at night or are you up multiple times?

pup - Hang in there mama, I'm thinking about you. I think guys just process so much differently than we do and I don't think being pregnant is really *real* to them the same way it is for us.

Lanie - Yippy for crawling!! Isn't it so much fun? I love the video of A. I really wish we could embed videos. I would love to share O's amazing personality with the PS ladies, but I don't really want to share all of my videos, you know? Hummmm.

AFU - O is starting to sort of walk along the furniture! This is all happening so fast. He's only been pulling up on the furniture for a short while but now he wants to move even more! He just learned today that he can stand up in his crib too (I don't know why it took so long, maybe the sleep sack made it harder) and I'm so thankful that he can get down without a problem. I've always dreaded him being able to stand up but not get down, but luckily we don't have that problem. He's so cute when he gets down because he's super cautious. He doesn't just fall down, he slowly eases his way down to the floor.

Today's new milestone... with bed head and everything

 

[noelwr]

Lanie - thanks for sharing that video. Anderson's laugh is so adorable!

Kunzite - yay for O standing in his crib. I know what you mean by being cautious... Skye does the same when she goes from standing on her knees back into sitting position.

- - -

so far this potty thing is going really well! of the 4x I put her on it yesterday, she pooed in it 3x within 5 minutes and not at all in her diaper. and again when I put her on it this morning. so if you know your kid's schedule, I can highly recommend this. it is much easier than trying to wipe a butt where the stuff has gotten all squashed against the skin and gotten into the folds. provided they stay on schedule: no more poo poo diapers!

 

[Loves Vintage]

Hello Everyone! Long time no post. We were without power for a week after the hurricane. It was tough after the first few days. We have well water, so we had no running water the whole time!! Let's just say I quickly realized the benefits of disposable diapers and jarred baby food!! There were trees down all around us,on the ground, blocking streets and also hanging on utility wires for days before the utility company could even get to them. There were just so many trees down!!!

I've been reading, but haven't had a chance to post yet. I always want to post replies to everyone, so I have to wait until I have time, and then posts continue, and I never get caught up, so here's my attempt to do so.

Puppmom, I am so sorry for your loss. My heart broke for you. Time heals, so take all the time you need. N sounds like an absolute joy. I'm sure having him around brightens your day, even though I know it is so hard. I love hearing about little N (and all of the other babies and their developments). It gives me a sense of what we have to look forward to!

Laila, Sooooooooo nice to see you here!! We miss you!! Luke is just so super-CUTE! His face is perfect, and he has such warm eyes!! You must feel like life is such a dream with such a sweet boy. Yay for TTC #2!!!

Kunzite, WOW! That's quite the upgrade. Will you start a thread in SMTB?? We did lots of EB's food during our power outage. S LOVES IT! Thanks for the tip on the BPA lid. Ugh. Re: your most recent post -- could O be any cuter?? Seriously. Is that a dwell sleep bag? You always have the cutest stuff.

Lanie, Haha, A is so cute in his video! That is so funny. I am totally not prepared for S to start crawling.

Skippy, Baby Feet!!!!!!!!! Best.picture.ever. Definitely frameworthy!

Noel, I'm glad you were able to take your trip. I'd love to see photos too! How is your DH doing? Glad to hear that potty-learning is going so well and so early.

HH, Happy Birthday to Aidan!

Geri, Haven't seen you in a while. We need an update please!

DCG, Hope you're doing well! Update us when you can.

Dreamer, Ryder is such a cutie. He looks so pensive in that photo.

*********

AFU: Not much new here. S is just the cutest little love and the light of my life. She'll be 8 months in 10 days. She does the backward moving thing, but I don't think she'll be crawling for a while. Does anyone use a jumperoo? The kind that is stationary and allows baby to jump up and down, but doesn't move around like a walker. We just got one of those, in addition to the three exersaucers she has at home! DH thinks she gets bored with them, so he keeps buying more! She's all smiles in the jumperoo, but seems a little lacking in control ATM. I'm setting up a floor space for her, with those foam squares, in the living room. I had been using a blanket. We don't have carpet, so I think those foam squares will help her figure out how to move around. Oh, and I really need to measure her. I put on 12-18 month pants this morning, and they fit perfectly! She's a big baby!!

 

[Skippy123]

NOEL, I think Jas put her son on the potty early? cute pics!

LANIE, awwww, Andreson cracked me up!!! I love that little guy!!! awww, thanks for sharing!

KUNZITE, that is so awesome about Oliver!!! YAY YAY YAY!! Your little guy is adorable!!! Yes Miles is sleeping 5 hours; Evan is hit and miss but it is starting, woot! thank goodness because it is getting cooler out here and getting up several times in the wee hours of the morning is tough! Oh they aren't on the same schedule, I wish! That is awesome he was STTN at 7 mo adjusted!!! How long was STTN? Yay for him almost walking and pulling up, awesome!

LV, I am sorry!!! That is awful!!! My heart goes out to you dealing with that!!! When will thinks come back up and running? Happy 8 mo!!! thanks about my boys!!

AFM, the boys are now approx 24 lbs! Evan is 11 lbs 11.5 ozs and Miles is 12 lbs 4.5 ozs.

 

[Loves Vintage]

Skippy - I think I spoke too soon! That may be the best picture ever. I very nearly cried! I am so emotional, it's crazy. They are so sweet, and it's so nice to think of them always having each other while growing up.

Oh, and we are all back to normal in terms of power. It was a long time to go without power and just makes us more thankful for it. It's something you don't really think about, until it's gone!

 

[Skippy123]

Skippy - I think I spoke too soon! That may be the best picture ever. I very nearly cried! I am so emotional, it's crazy. They are so sweet, and it's so nice to think of them always having each other while growing up.

Oh, and we are all back to normal in terms of power. It was a long time to go without power and just makes us more thankful for it. It's something you don't really think about, until it's gone!

aw, thanks Momma! aw, your sweet words have me all teary! I think things we take for granted and then are gone make us realize how lucky we are to have them. I am sorry you went through that; I am glad your power is back on and hope that doesn't happen again. huge hugs!

 

[Lanie]

Fly by post...but wanted to comment before I forgot!

Skippy -- what a cute picture!!! One has his arm around the other! I laughed at your 24 pounds comment!

LV -- yay for power! After Hurricane Ike, we didn't have power for about a week. It was miserable. I often wonder what mommas who were pumping did. I guess they just let it go, so thank God you didn't have that to deal with. I think no power is just harder when you have little ones. So am I reading correctly that you now have 4 big things for S to play with?!?!? A LOVES his jumperoo. Maybe she's not used to it moving, so that's why she's a little shaky.

Kunzite -- yay for little O cruising!!! A is starting to crawl on his feet and not on his knees anymore, but he hasn't figured out the pull up thing yet. That's the beginning of walking though! Do you have a push toy thing for him? That will be my next purchase for A. And I love his old man faces...meant to say that in my last post.

noel -- that's so interesting about potty training. And you made the comment about 1.5 years or maybe 2 years being kind of older to be potty trained (I think it was you). I think in the states it must be a little older than you guys over there. A 2 year old that isn't potty trained here isn't that big of a deal. What's the norm over there? I saw little potties similar to yours at Ikea, and I won't lie, that kind of grosses me out, but I guess I need to get over it. I was looking through DH's baby book, and his pedi told his mom to start putting him on the potty at 11 months old, and I thought that was so early. He was fully trained by 2.5 I think. That seems like a world away for me. I don't even know how to begin to teach a little boy to pee standing up! Love her potty pics!

OK off to make dinner!!!

 

[Loves Vintage]

Lanie - The medela PIS comes with a battery pack that you can use instead of plugging into the wall. I actually tried to use it once, months ago, during a short power outage and was baffled as to why it didn't work! I called medela a few days before this storm, to ask for a new one, and they kindly informed me that it takes 8 batteries, not just the 4 I put in. It has a cover on both sides, so I didn't realize that. It was funny because I was like "ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, that was easy", but it sounds like they get asked that question a few times a day! So, yes, I am still pumping! I hate it. 4X day. My supply seems to go down 1.5 ounces each time AF arrives, which has been a few times already. Every month, I say I am going to stop next month. I don't think I will make it to 12 months, but maybe 9? I'm pumping 18-19 oz per day now, so it's still more than half of what she takes for milk/formula per day. Ok, back to the batteries. So, they started to run out after a few days. Pump still operated, but supply was way down. I guess batteries can still give power, but not full power, when they are dying. Never knew that. So, my dh had put some power adapter thing in his car's cigarette lighter, and then ran an extension cord into the house, just to run lights or to charge our phones. I wound up using that to power my pump!! It was mighty inconvenient!

Yes, we now have 3 exersaucers and 1 jumperoo. I got the jumperoo and 1 exersaucer this weekend. We get them at a resale shop, so at least they aren't full price!! We have one in our room, and three in the family room. I'll have to take pictures of her in each one this week. haha. Yeah, she doesn't quite have the hang of the jumperoo. She had a HUGE smile, but was also so unsteady. She'll figure it out.

We have a walker, though we're a ways away from needing it yet. I tried to find it on Amazon, but can't. I posted it on here once before so will have to search for it. It seems really neat because it can be used as a little sit on bike. But, when I was searching for it, I noticed a lot of them are multi-use. So many products! It never ends!

 

[Kunzite]

LV - I can't believe you have three exersaucers! That's crazy lady. Do they put S in the jumperoo at daycare? We started putting O in his jumperoo around 7 months old and it took him a few weeks to figure it out. At first he would just sit there and rock. Once he got the hang of it he loved it! Just let her keep trying it. I thought the little toys on it would be useless too, like why would a baby want to play with those, but O loved each and every toy on it too!! Now he's far too interested in exploring so I guess the jumperoo is headed for CL. (Unless you want another one ) Do you have a rug on your floors? We don't use a blanket or a mat for O, we just started him on the area rug and he was fine. Now he's all over the rest of the hard floors but doesn't seem to notice (except yesterday when he went head first off the landing of the stairs, so much for my cautious baby!!). His sleep sack is A+A, A+A Sleep Sack. We just got the owl one too and it's super cute. I'm happy your power is back and you were able to pump while it was out. I'm down to two days worth of milk in the freezer and then I think I'm done. I'm still only averaging 6 ounces a day which just isn't worth it

Skippy - That has to be the BEST picture ever!! Seriously. ADORABLE!!! When O started STTN he would sleep between 10-11 hours a night.

Lanie - You know what's funny, O still doesn't crawl with his knees. We joke that he's never going to! He still does this army crawl with help from his toes!! I guess he doesn't really need to do it properly. No, we don't have a walker. As of now we don't plan to get one. Our pedi office recommends against them because of the injuries and on top of that I haven't seen one with soft wheels (the hard plastic wheels would just eat away at our bamboo floors)... so for now we're going to hold out and not get one. As with all other baby gear we didn't buy at first and later ended up needing, I reserve the right to change my mind

 

[Loves Vintage]

Kunzite, It is crazy, I know. I told my DH that, but he keeps buying them. Every time I go to that store, he's like, "oh, get another Baby Einstein (that's what we call our exersaucers) if they have one we don't have." I'm like, "stop it, you're crazy!" But, I can't really argue because I don't want to hear it when I want to buy stuff, mostly clothes is my thing right now. Anyway, so on Friday, I got two of them to highlight the crazy. He was so happy! (There was another one, if I'm being perfectly honest!!!! She didn't take to it as much as the others, so we returned it on Saturday!) I don't think they have a jumperoo at daycare, but they do have an exersaucer! She loves it, must feel like home. We do not have an area rug. We did, but it's just easier to clean without it. It's like a little zoo in my house with the 2 dogs/2 cats. S LOVES them though. It is precious. They don't feel the same way. Well, the dog in my avatar is very taken with her, but is hesitant around her because she's so unpredictable and grabby. The cats keep a safe distance since she grabs a handful of fur and pulls! Each and every time she sees one though, biggest.smile.ever. Like this , except without teeth. Haha.

Sorry that your supply didn't increase again. You had a good run and should be very proud of yourself. It's a lot of effort! I hope you are feeling a sense of relief. I am SURE I will after I stop. What formula did you decide on?

 

[Lanie]

LV -- were you the one that posted that really cute bug thing? I know it's not a walker, but I can't remember who posted it, and it is so cute! I might get one for when he turns one. Here it is! http://www.amazon.com/Prince-Lionheart-Wheely-Bug-Small/dp/B000GX0B3M/ref=cm_cmu_pg__header And I keep meaning to ask you...how is the sleeping going?

Kunzite -- that's interesting about the walker thing. I thought I would get one so he'd learn to walk, but I bet they learn just fine without them??? I never thought about the injuries they could cause! I could see them getting carried away and then it slips out from them. Now I don't know what I want to do! Sorry to hear about your supply. I was about to where you are (maybe making a bottle a day) when I quit. I felt really guilty/bad/sad at first, but quickly got over it when I suddenly had free time and less to deal with. I hope you find the transition easy and not sad! You did a great job!!!!

 

[noelwr]

Skippy - that photo is so fantastic with their arms around each other like best of friends!

Lanie - I think the average age for potty training here is also 2 years old. but everyone in my parents' generation keeps saying how all their kids were potty trained by 1. ??? I know that I'm not really potty training Skye because she can't tell me that she needs to go, she still pees in her diaper and I just happen to know her schedule, but since Friday evening I have not had to clean one poo poo diaper. you can also buy those seats for on the toilet if a potty grosses you out. I just think it's less gross to empty it out in the toilet and clean with soap and a brush than to actually have to wipe a kid's butt with millions of wet wipes to get the poo off. no more stinky diapers in the pail either. and I noticed that her diaper rash was gone in one day! yah, I was saying to DH that I wouldn't know where to start teaching a boy to pee standing up.

LV - I spoke to the pedi about helping teach Skye how to stand and walk. she said not to. baby must do it on her own. they also don't recommend jumperoos and stuff like that because baby is sitting for a long time with legs hanging and weight around pelvic area which isn't good for body development. that is what they say here. I am sure they have different opinions on it all over the world. you must do what you feel is right. wow, S is a tall baby!

Kunzite - again no surprise: Skye also still crawls on her tummy using her hands and toes! she gets to everywhere she wants to go, so I call it crawling.

 

[geri]

Hi LV - thanks for thinking of me. I lurk regularly but just haven't had time to keep up with everyone's posts! You always sound so in love with being a mum, it is so sweet! I can't believe how long S is. We are only just out of 3-6 month clothes!

Pupp - I'm so sorry for your loss. It is just an awful thing to go through. Sending healing vibes your way.

Kunzite - yeah for standing io and sitting down again. He is such a cutie!

Lanie - the video of Anderson is too cute. It is so sweet how they find the littlest things so funny!

Noelwr - I know it was a little while ago, but congrats on finishing the chemotherapy. I hope you go from strength to strength from here on. And I love all your photos of Skye - she seems like such a little character!

Skippy - that pic just makes me teary. You must get so much joy from watching those gorgeous boys together!

HH - congratulatons on 1 year!

Ice kid - love the pic with the tongue poking out. And those eyes, ahhhh!

Allie - what lovely family photos. Charlie is just adorable.

DCG - I'm so excited to see you in here now that little Sophia is here. I hope it is going well for you!

And welcome to Dreamer and Basil - the litlle newbies are just too precious!

AFM, Claudia is 7.5 months now and rolling everywhere. She is rocking back and forth on hands and knees but not crawling yet - will be interesting to see how long it takes her to work it out. It is very cute watching her try as she is incredibly persistent! I finally started back at work a couple of weeks ago and am slowly adjusting to not being with her all day. Unfortunately she has stopped sleeping through the night and is waking up to 4 times a night. I don't know how you mums who went back after about 3 months did it! I'm hoping it's just a phase and she gets over it soon. Otherwise, she is just a lot of fun, happy and laughing most of the time. This is a great age!

 

[Loves Vintage]

Geri!!!! Yay, so happy to see an update from you. Is C in daycare while you work? How has the transition gone? Pictures are always welcome too!

Noel, That's interesting about the jumperoos/activity centers. It must certainly be a different philosophy here, because the activity centers are marketed as helping baby strengthen her legs. I don't really see them as helping her learn to stand or walk. The purpose, for us, initially was to keep her off her back. She always hated tummy time. But now, it's just something for her to play with during the day. Despite having so many, she really doesn't spend all that much time in them. Also, her legs reach the bottom!! So, there's never been a dangling baby concern here! But, it IS interesting to see how these toys are perceived differently in different countries. I'll definitely mention it to my pedi next visit as I trust his wisdom and thoughts on lots of baby stuff. By our next apptmt though, she may be totally over the activity center.

Lanie, Ahhhhhhh. Sleep. It's a lot better than it was. We finally realized that having a routine before bedtime works. DUH! Not sure what took us so long to get that. So, we no longer do naps after daycare. She has dinner, then a bath, then a book, then a bottle, then night night! That works, for the most part, so we don't have these long drawn out situations before sleep. She will generally fall asleep quickly, but she still requires cuddling/patting to fall asleep, but we're ok with this. That is a major improvement right there! She does wake up most nights, once, and then earlier than I'd like in the morning. Still working that out with no real plan ATM. Her crib is side-carred to the bed, and we'd like eventually to get the fourth side on the crib and move her away from the bed, and then to her own room. Baby steps . . . .

This is the walker that we got and that I linked to previously: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004EIS6EQ/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_4?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

****************

Baby was sick with a cold and fever, and now mama is sick too! Hoping for an easy day with some rest today, but I think S may have different plans now that she is on the mend!!

 

[Kunzite]

re: jumperoos and the like, they actually don't recommend them here either. It's just one of those things that they don't talk about much. I think the main reason is just that people (and babies) love how easy life is with a jumperoo/exersaucer around. Oliver's PT told us the same thing about not having anything that kept weight on the pelvis/spine. Basically anything that keeps the baby dangling (I'm looking at you Bjorn!!). That's one of the reasons we got a Mei Tai because the baby is in a sitting position as opposed to dangling. It's just not good for their development. Obviously we have a jumperoo though because at some point it saved our sanity .... .... we just try to only let him stay in for a short amount of time.

 

[Puppmom]

LV, I'm cracking up that your hubby is an exersaucer-aholic! I have a feeling that S will have her daddy wrapped around her little finger!

Kunzite, O is so dang handsome! I'm so amazed at his development since he didn't get the privilege of baking for 40 weeks! He's doing far more than my lazy boy was a few months ago. N has definitely taught me that all kids develop at a different pace. It's crazy to think that, up until the day before his first birthday, he was barely mobile and not even crawling. Then, a week later, he was walking. Now, we can't get this kid to sit still. He just runs around the house talking and waving his hands.

Allie, those are fantastic pics! We have to get more pics with family and N. We try to get a lot of pics but they're mostly of N alone. How's the transition back to work after summer break going?

HH, I totally see your DH in A now that I see them together. Maybe it's the eyes? I hope you enjoyed A's birthday.

China, it was so sweet of you to check in on me. Things have improved. Physically, I still feel great. Emotionally, I am better. I still feel so so sad to have lost a baby. Sometimes, I look at N and tear up because there won't be another. BUT, going on vacation did help improve my mood. I also think that my hormones are settling down because my thoughts are less scrambled and much more rational.

SS, can you share some new pics of Lily? Pretty please?

Geri, I hope things get easier with being back to work and C starts STTN again!

Lanie and Noel, are kids seriously potty trained that early? I thought it was at least 3. I'm all about being done with diapers sooner rather than later but I'm not exactly inclined to put any work into potty training at this point.

...to ALL OF YOU. Thank you so much for thinking of me and for your kind words. They have helped me more than you can imagine. One of the hardest things to do with in all of this is feeling alone. Your words have been of great comfort to me.

AFU, we took N to the beach over the weekend and he loved it. He ate sand and jumped waves with Daddy. He chased sea gulls and stared in awe at the lights on the boardwalk. He was an angel the entire trip. He slept both ways for almost the entire 2 hour drive (yippee!).

This kid is hilarious. He talks CONSTANTLY but it's like he's speaking a foreign language. He loves to play peek a boo and share his food and toys with us. He loves to chase the dog - the dog does NOT love to be chased. I still can't get him to drink out of the dang sippy cup. Oh, and he loves to read. He walks over to his books, plops his butt on the floor and *reads*. It's so cute - ok, EVERYTHING he does is cute!

 

[somethingshiny]

Hello, all! So glad to see that all of you are doing so well! YAY for sleeping, going to the beach, playing games, vacations, laughs and all other cutie baby stuff! And, hope the sick babies and mamas feel better soon!

I'm sorry I don't have time to catch up individually! But, all of you are doing a great job.

Pupp~ Thanks for asking about my monkey.

Lily turned 14 months yesterday. The last couple weeks have been difficult because she is cutting a whole bunch of teeth at once. They've all popped through now and my little smiler has 10 tiny teeth. She ground her teeth yesterday for the first, and hopefully last, time. She thought it was the neatest noise and she kept doing it. I stuck my finger in her mouth to make her stop and she bit it, of course. Those little chompers are sharp!

Lily is very very dramatic about everything. I've said before how she squeals like she's won the lottery when she sees her daddy and she crumples in a heap when she doesn't get her way. Well, her new thing is tears of frustration. She's trying so hard to stand on her own and walk, but when she loses balance, she just screams and bawls. Poor little girl. JT would just get back up and try again, but Lily needs soothed before she'll move. It's like she's giving up on the world for those few seconds.



Trying to attach a couple pics. I had to get a new camera card. For some reason my other one quit working and I lost all the pics off of it. Luckily I do download them every couple weeks to my computer so we didn't lose too many.

Here's Lily playing with her kitty, or antagonizing her anyway. Lily's first fingerpainting, which she loved! And, just a little snap of pancake night. We have breakfast for supper once a week and both the kids love it. It's one night where I don't have to encourage either of them to eat.

 

[bubbly1126]

Hello ladies! I'm so happy to finally be joining you all over here. I just love reading about and seeing pictures of your little ones.

My son, Liam Hudson, was born on Friday, September 9th at 9:16am. The total birth was about 19 hours from start to finish. Here is my birth story and some pictures of my little bundle of pure joy.

It started Thursday, September 8th at about 1:45pm. I had woken up that day with menstrual like cramps that came and went all throughout the day. At about 1:45pm, I started having regular, timeable contractions. They would start at the bottom of the uterus and then tighten and ride my stomach up like a wave. I remember thinking "Oh, this isn't bad! I can deal with this!" Haha. Little did I know. So I labored at home until about 9. At this time I thought it was time to call the mid wife on duty and let her know what was going on. My contractions were coming 6-7 minutes apart and I also had begun to have lower back and hip pain, almost like menstrual cramps, but times 1,000. (Or probably more, haha!) The midwife advised me to call back when they were a steady 5 minutes apart as she felt I was still in very early labor as I was still able to talk through the contractions. So I hung up with her and literally not 5 minutes later my contractions began to come at a steady 2 minutes apart. The intensity picked up drastically and I remember telling my husband I must be timing them wrong because there was no way they would be coming that quickly already. I labored through them for about another hour and then finally called the midwife back and she advised me to go to labor and delivery.

Once in labor and delivery, the nurse checked me and said I was about 2cm and they would monitor me for an hour and see if I make any progress. She could clearly see on the machine that I was indeed contacting every 2 minutes and they were very strong. So we waited out the hour and I hadn't made any progress so she suggested sending me home with medication for the pain. I immediately started to cry thinking there was no way I could handle this pain at home. I just felt more comfortable there. I think it was nerves and the fact that this was my first baby and had no ideas what to expect so I really wanted to stay. They agreed to admit me and gave me Nubain for the pain. The nurse said it would “take the edge off”... well, it did nothing of the sort! It didn't help at all but within the hour I had dilated to a 4 and so the nurse admitted it was definitely a good idea that I stayed as my labor was progressing much faster than they originally anticipated. At this point, I asked for the intrathecal (like an epidural but a one time shot to the spine, no catheter) but the nurse was putting me off, telling me I should try other things before just jumping to medication. (Which annoyed me as I have made it clear from the beginning that I was not trying to go natural and when I said I wanted the medication, that I expected it be given to me... provided I was far enough along, of course, which I was.)

From here I labored the majority of the time in the shower. My husband and mom would take turns spraying the hot water on my hips and back, as that is where most of my pain was. After a while, they checked me and said I was 4-5 cm. At this point the contractions were very intense and I just begged and begged for the medication. I finally got the intrathecal and man, it was heaven! I labored for another 3 hours and got to 7cm and this is where it got very bad. The medication wore off and I was in the most excruciating pain I have EVER felt in my life. I asked for the medication to be given again and it took FOREVER for them to get someone there. While I was waiting, the midwife came in and said I was running a fever, was still 7cm and that the baby's head had not engaged in my pelvis so she wanted to make sure it was in fact a head down there and did a quick ultrasound. It revealed that the baby's head had in fact not engaged yet and still had a ways to go. The midwife was afraid to break my water at this point due to the fact that the head wasn't engaged. She explained it could lead to a prolapsed cord and such but after consulting with my Doctor, she decided it was best to break the water and hopefully kick start the labor again. So they broke my water and immediately saw that there was meconium. At this point, she left to consult with my Doctor and before I knew it, the Doctor was in my room. He explained he felt it was best for me to have a c-section at this point due to my high fever, the baby not engaging and now showing signs of distress with the meconium. He explained it was entirely up to me... I could keep laboring and hope the baby dropped soon or he could do the c-section right then and I'd have my baby in less than a half hour.

At this time, I still hadn't had my second intrathecal so I'm in excruciating pain and I was just beyond upset at the thought I would be having a c-section. I cried. Hysterically. DH and I talked it through for a moment and felt it was better to just go ahead with the c-section as there was just too many “what if's” and unknowns that went along with waiting it out.

So at 9:16am, 9/9/11, my baby was born via c-section. He was 8lbs 9oz and 20 inches long. And the reason for all my back labor, he was sunny side up! After the Doctor showed him to me, he simply stated, “You made a very wise choice with the c-section as this baby never would have fit through your pelvis.”

I immediately felt better knowing I had done what was the absolute best for my child and myself. I feel cheated slightly, since I went through all of that just to end up with something I did not want at all... but I also got something I've waited my entire life for, my amazing son. I love him beyond comprehension and would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

 

[noelwr]

welcome Liam Hudson! you gave your Mommy quite a tough time, but she's so happy you are here and we are happy to be kept updated about your 1st year.

shiny - thanks for sharing those pics of Lily. she is quite the artist!

puppmom - yikes, potty training at 3! thinking of a 3 yr old in dirty diapers grosses me out as much as looking at a potty does Lanie. anyway, it's to each parent/child when they think is best.

LV - hope you're getting better.

geri - can't believe C is 7.5 mos already. pictures please. we are in the same boat with Skye waking up in the middle of the night.

- - -

Skye is now at the point where she cries at our feet to get picked up. and she doesn't do the whimpering with no tears which I thought they do when they want something but aren't really sad... she wails bloody murder with huge tears. DH was home yesterday and she pulled the phone off the table (which I told her not to) and she got a fright and cried and I told DH not to pick her up because she doesn't get a reward cuddle for doing something naughty and he was just looking at me with puppy dog eyes and a pouty lip because he felt so bad for her. I've got two to train! she also wakes up a lot at night for her pacifier, even though I put 3 in her crib. and sometimes she's so hungry I have to give her a bottle in the middle of the night. BUT, other than that she is really fun now because she loves me to sit/lie on the floor next to her when she's playing so that she can crawl and drool over my legs.

she's still putting everything in her mouth...


and if it doesn't fit in her mouth, it doesn't stop her from having a taste...


AFM, the trip to Germany really helped destress me. I'm still tired as heck, but I feel so much less stressed. I went to a castle, looked at old Roman ruins, did some shopping, visited Luxembourg (which I found boring), relaxed at a day spa, read my photo manual and actually read a whole book since Skye was born. I spoke to the company doctor and our goal is to get me back to the office in November, starting 2 days a week and I'm only allowed to do stuff that has no deadlines and doesn't involve me working together with other colleagues (for them to pressure me to meet a deadline). anyway, here's a photo of my German hotel room (the one with the red flower balcony) for Kunzite.

 

[basil]

Hi All!

Geez, life with a newborn is tough!

I'll do my best to catch up.

Noel - Skye is so beautiful! I'm jealous of your trip away...sounds great. I'm glad you are feeling more refreshed and I hope your husband and mom are feeling better too.

IHA - congratulations! Liam is the perfect name for your litttle bundle. Was the red hair a surprise or do you or your DH have red hair? My brother had/has red hair and it was a total surprise since mom, dad, and me are brunettes. Sorry your birth experience isn't quite what you wanted but you have a great attitude that the most important thing is a healthy baby/momma at the end.

SS - Lily is a little artist!

Pupp - thanks for the advice re: breastfeeding...I feel like things are already getting a little better now that I'm not in such pain anymore. It sounds like your trip was great! I'm glad you're feeling better. Do you have any vacation pics to share?

LV - I hope you feel better soon! So funny about having so many exersaucers. Is it bad I had to look up what that was? I think we have one sitting in our attic that my cousin gave us, but no idea what is on it.

Geri - thanks for the welcome! I think I am looking forward to that age..

Skippy - I love your photos! Twin photos are just the cutest.

Kunzite - O is so cute. Love his little smile!

DC - where'd you go, preggo-twin? How is Sophia doing?

Charbie - pre-emptive welcome! Congratulations on the birth of little Aubrey, she is beautiful!

Anyway, Hayden turned 6 weeks on Wednesday. I think I have a Jekyll and Hyde baby. Wednesday he nearly drove me crazy...it was 12 hours of constant crying/screaming aside from periods of nursing. And sometimes even nursing was interspersed with crying. *suck suck swallow cryyyyyyy, suck suck swallow cryyyyy* I could not for the life of me figure out what was wrong and nothing worked. He would only fall asleep for 10 minute spurts then wake up screaming again. Course about 10 minutes before DH got home, he fell asleep and slept aside from nursing for the next 18 hours. Then yesterday he was like a different baby. We ran errands in the Ergo and he was in and out of the car and the carrier just looking around or napping quietly.

Nights are actually going surprisingly well - I generally put him in his bassinet around 11:30-12 and he sleeps til 4:30-5. Then nurses and falls back asleep until 8-8:30 or so. Which leaves me getting a pretty good 8 hours of sleep with only one interruption. And we are getting better at nursing lying down which has made a big difference too.

ETA: a new sparkly anniversary/push present arrived this morning from GOG. Waiting til Tuesday (our real anniversary) top open though...it's going to be a tough wait!

Here are his 6 week pictures. Amazing difference in just 2 weeks!

I'm gonna stomp you:


Hey you!

 

[geri]

LV - We have a nanny for C at the moment. It is hurting financially but DH and I both work long hours so daycare was going to be really hard for us. When she is a bit older and hopefully going to bed a little later, we will gradually move her into daycare.

Noel - That photo of Germany is amazing! I'm so glad you got to relax on your trip. It's great that work is really trying to help you to ease back in. Hopefully 2 days a week at first will make the transition a little easier. I'm interested that Skye is waking up hungry in the night. I was thinking that it wasn't hunger and would resettle C only for her to wake every hour or so through till morning. We started giving her a feed because it was the quickest way to get her back to sleep and she would then sleep till morning. I thought we were just being lazy and maybe creating a bad habit but maybe she really is hungry?

Basil- It sounds like you are doing really well. Little bubs often have bad days where they are difficult for no apparent reason, especially those days where they are on a feeding frenzy that seems to never end. I know this is easy for me to say with hindsight but I would try not to worry too much about it although if it happens regularly I would try to work out if there is something more to it. Is Hayden a long baby or does it just look that way in the photos?

IHA - Congrats on the arrival of Liam. He is so sweet. No wonder you are in love!

SS - Lily just looks like such a little bundle of joy!

Here is a recent pic of C. She was looking up, all innocent, as if to say I'm not going for the chocolate, I promise!

 

[somethingshiny]

These babies~! I just want to love on them all. Such personalities! How did we all get so lucky?

I spent some time with my 5.5 week old nephew yesterday. He made all those newborn coos and it was soo sweet. He cuddled right into my chest and fell asleep. I was able to smother him with kisses because he couldn't escape me. lol. Lily started puckering up yesterday instead of the big open slobbery kiss.

So having a big kid in school sucks. JT has come down with something that looks to be strep. Why can't germy little kids wash?? Praying that he doesn't give it to the rest of us, although I woke up with one heckuva sore throat today.

RE: night time feedings. Lily would go through spurts when she'd wake and insist on a bottle before she'd go back to sleep. This never lasted more than 2-3 nights at a stretch and I think she was really hungry. When I'd go back through what she ate for the day, it was always on a day when she didn't have as much carbs. And of course when she was younger it fell in line with her growth spurts.

RE: crazy days. Your baby will start showing his/her REAL personality at around 3 months. So you mamas with newborns, just take it one day at a time. It'll get better. I know it's overwhelming at times.

Inhisarms~ I don't think I ever officially congratulated you! So, Congratulations and welcome to the Mama thread! Please feel free to share or ask anything. These moms are a fantastic resource.

Well, I should go. Everytime I think I have a minute to catch up, DH starts house cleaning or something and I feel like I need to join in.

 

[Skippy123]

agh, I need to catch up!!! I am so behind!

I love the newborn pictures and seeing the ones that were newborns! These babies grow so FAST!!! Ugh, I was so bummed out that I never video taped Miles making this funny wood pecker sound he use to make! hubby is bummed too so mommas w/the newborns make sure to capture those moments as they grow so fast!!! Thanks about my boys!!! they now weigh 12 lbs 3 ozs and 12 lbs 9 ozs!!! CRAZY how they are getting chubby. I love their little fat rolls!!! hahaha


INHISARMS congrats, beautiful!!!!

BASIL, oh my gosh, I am seriously jealous of the 8 hours sleep!!! How did you do that?? Please come train mine! lol aw, he is precious!!!

SS, beautiful

GERI, beautiful!

NOEL she cracks me up how she loves to put things in her mouth!!! I freak when they put things in their mouth but I think I am going to have to leave my germ phobia behind because I see babies do it alllllllll the time! Wow, Germany is gorgeous! That is interesting on Luxenburg; I grew up with a girl from there or I would have never thought twice about that country!

KUNZITE and LV, I have the Einstein Jumper and the Rainforest one. Oh, I didn't know that about them!

 

[Kunzite]

I'll be back soon to catch up, but.......


We have a case of Pertussis in our infant room at daycare!!! We had to start O on antibiotics as a precaution. It sucks too because the first symptoms are running nose and cold like cough which O and I have both had for over two weeks. Makes me paranoid but DH is being the voice of reason and says we really have colds. I know he's right, but ugh! Babies don't really have full (and I say that loosely) immunity until the fourth shot in the series, so basically all of the babies are at risk. Dust for all of the babies!!

 

[somethingshiny]

Kunzite~ I hate to hear about pertussis being in a daycare. I wish people would just realize how easy it is to get vaccinated and actually DO it. Hope O just has a bit of a sniffle.

Skippy~ I just wanted to say you're doing a great job. You are a fantastic mother!

 

[basil]

Kunzite - oh no! Pertussis is scary! I hope little O and the other babies are all ok.

Skippy - I know what you mean by trying to remember to record the memories. I wish I had taken more of Hayden his first few days, I didn't expect him to change so quickly! Yeay for both boys gaining weight so well! I wish I could give you advice on sleeping, but I think it must be so much harder with two. I hope they are able to stretch out their feedings pretty soon.

SS - even though I love how Hayden is so little and cute now, I am looking forward to when his personality comes out a bit more!

Geri - he is tall! he's like 23.5 inches...it's funny cause DH and I are average height, 5'5" and 5'10". He's skinny for his height too, which he gets from his dad. LOL at C going for the Toblerone...though can't say I blame her!

Anyway, the early fall weather here has been gorgeous so we went for a walk today with the Bumbleride in the park. I got a little discouraged that it took me a good 1.5 hours to get out the door with the baby and the dog, then had to cut the walk short because Hayden started screaming. Turns out that sound really carries in the woods and I was so embarrassed to be pushing a stroller with a screaming baby. I feel like people think I'm torturing him and I feel like I have to tell everyone I pass, "I swear he's fed and has a clean diaper and is appropriately dressed. I'm not a bad mom." DH has been on call this week so leaving at 6 am and not home til 8 or 9 and it's tough that long alone with a baby. Im so looking forward to my mom coming on Monday - it seems like an extra set of hands makes a huge difference!

 

[Skippy123]

KUNZITE, aww bless your little family; I will keep you all in my thoughts you don't get hooping cough. hugs momma!

SS, oh no to strep! I hope the whole family stays healthy.

BASIL, don't feel bad! I totally know the feeling! I am so impressed by his sleeping! awesome! Are you back at work? I forgot was it you that had the good maternity leave or was that ICEKID? Hopefully your lo will get use to the walks and fall asleep! eta: wow, your lo is tall, my guys are 24 inches! I am 5'4 and hubby is 6 feet.

 

[moxie.moo]

Basil: I'm more of a lurker than a regular poster. I was in the TTC thread for a while, but then I couldn't keep up once I got pregnant and was racing to finish my master's and doctoral qualifying exam pre-baby. Anyhow, I had my daughter Lucy on 8/2 so she is almost 7 weeks and I am in the same boat--I thought I'd just let you know I'm going through it too, since I was so relieved when I read your post and thought, okay maybe this is normal! My husband is also a doc and I just survived "my" first 24 hour call without him (plus the 12 hours beforehand since he was sleeping to gear up for the shift!) OMG it's exhausting being alone that much and trying to just pass the time. Plus I know he's tired when he gets home so it's not like he jumps into baby duty. Lucy is pretty similar to Hayden--one day a little angel, sleeping and eating on a regular and predictable schedule, and the next she is totally unpredictable and often inconsolable, waking after twenty minutes, and eating really frequently but fitfully. I feel like I'm on a roller coaster. I'm also not so great with babies as it turns out (great planning there!) so I'm so slow to leave the house, get the hang of things, etc. Lucy has one extra feeding overnight, but I'm exclusively pumping (ugh... long story) so maybe she's not getting enough at her last pre-bed feeding... Regardless, I just wanted to say and let you know you're not alone in the least! Good luck to you from here!

 

[Puppmom]

Just popping in to share some seashore pics. The Eagles game is on so back to the TV for me!