Long time no updates...

Sorry everyone, things have been quite hectic around here, with going back to work and everything.  Jackson is doing AWESOME.  He is growing like a weed, learning new tricks everyday, and becoming more of a little man.

It's been a busy few months.  Jackson has gone to Mammoth, to Disneyland, Fresno, all sorts of places!!  He is a great traveler.  He is exclusively formula fed now, much to my dismay.  Things just didn't work for us, but he is much happier this way, and that makes all of us much happier.  He can roll from tummy to back, and back to side now.  He is chewing on his hands ALL the time, and this week has been especially fussy, which leads us to believe he will be getting some teeth very soon.  He talks all day long, cooing and babbling about everything.  He likes Boneyard on Sirius/XM radio, and does not like talk radio.  He has slept through the night twice, not consecutively, and usually goes to bed between 5:30 and 7.  Last doctors appointment he was 25.5" and 14 pounds.  He is in the 75% for height and 25% for weight.

Now about the rest of us, going back to work was VERY hard on me, especially with my long commute.  I was pretty depressed for awhile there, and not a happy person to be around.  I unexpectedly got a job offer close to home, and we decided to take it.  My last day at my current job is next friday, and I started training at my new job this week.  This is very bittersweet for me, I love my current employer, and everyone that works there.  It was my first real grown up job, and I have grown so much there, and they have seen the most important parts of my life happen.  But I am also very excited to start a new job with more flexible hours, and be so close to home, so when I leave work it is minutes until I get home not over an hour.  It will be a new challenge for me and our family, and I am looking so forward to it.

Kevin and I also became an aunt and uncle again last weekend.  Doug and Angela gave birth to Roland Matthew, 10 days early and perfect.  I am so excited for them, and can not wait to meet him, and for the dyas when he and Jackson get into all sorts of trouble together.

That's all the time we have now, he is sleeping, which means I should be sleeping.  So excited for the holidays with our son.  Love you all!!

Two Months!

My how time has flown, I can't believe it has been a month since I have posted, nor can I believe my little man is two months old!!  He is becoming more and more of a little person everyday, and it is just amazing to watch.

Here he is on Monday celebrating his 2 month birthday.  He's so freaking cute I can't even stand it!

Let's see, this month Jackson and I took a road trip to Fresno to visit some friends.  He did AMAZINGLY well.  He slept pretty much the whole car ride, woke once to eat, and was excellent while Kelly and I were running around everywhere, perfectly happy to just go along for the ride!  But boy was Mama exhausted after that trip, it is hard to do things without Daddy!!

We also got our first cold, that spread through the household.  Poor guy was so stuff he had trouble sleeping at night (poor Mama!).  So he had his first does of antibiotics.  He recovered in a little less than a week, must faster than I did!  He also has his first round of shots, which he took like a champ! Very little crying, and he didn't seem to have any major adverse effects of it all.

I have also gotten very into Babywearing with him.  Being home alone during the day, it is a great way to get things done while still giving him the attention he deserves.  Yesterday I also discovered it was the only way I can make him nap during the day.  Up until now we had been having LOTS of trouble getting him to sleep during the day, from a bunch of factors, and I think we finally figured out the formula yesterday!

Happy babywearing!!

Jackson has gotten more and more vocal as well, and it getting better coordination with his arms, being able to hit the toys on his activity mat with purpose now!
Here is a video of it

He is also cracking himself up during the day, we get smiles all around.  No laughs yet, but I think they're coming!!

That's pretty much the update of the month.  I'm looking forward to October, we have lots of fun things going on, and Halloween!!!

1 Month

So our little man hit 1 month last Thursday, and I just can't believe it. We're figuring things out. We had some trouble learning to take naps during the day, but in this last week he seems to have realized they are a good thing, and he is happier when he sleeps. Amazing, huh? We also figured out he doesn't like when Mama has dairy. I don't think he has an allergy exactly, but certainly a sensitivity. Since I've cut that out (he REALLY doesn't want me to have ice cream, between this and the gestational diabetes!!) he has been a much happier guy. He is also learning the difference between night and day, at night we're getting one stretch between 4 and 5 and a half hours between feedings, otherwise he is averaging between an hour and a half and three hours. We're not on a schedule, since he is a lazy nurser and sometimes just can't seem to muster up the energy to fill his belly before snoozing, so those times he obviously needs to eat earlier.

Mama and Dad are learning how to function outside of the house with a baby, we were scared to take him anywhere for the first several weeks, but have started doing errands and things with him this last week and a half or so. He does pretty good in the car as long as it is daytime and we are moving. He doesn't seem to enjoy traveling at night at all. He has slept almost the entire time at the three or four dining establishments we've gone to, only waking at the end to be held or fed.

Overall we seem to have a pretty good baby. He loves his pacifier (one of those things you say you aren't going to use for several weeks...and then it is the only thing that soothes him besides nursing...), loves being held and swaddled. He always rolls onto his side when he is set down, I think he is weighted to the left. His torticollis in his neck seems to be improving, he doesn't have movement restrictions, but certainly prefers tilting his head to the left. We finally figured out a way to keep his head from turning all crazy in the carseat (thank you Marilyn!!) so now I feel safe driving with him on my own, that he isn't going to cut off his own airway.

Kevin goes back to work Wednesday, so that is our new adventure, see how I manage during the days and nights on my own!!

I took 1 month photos of Jackson Thursday, and got a really cute one, he smiled for me!!


And this one is just for size comparison monthly:

And a close up of that cute little man!!

 

Yoti's Photo Sessions

So a good friend of ours is an amazing local photographer.  He offered to gift us some sessions as a welcoming for Jackson.  We got the images back from our Maternity and Newborn sessions yesterday, and I am in LOVE with them.  I've already posted them all over Facebook, but might as well post the slideshow here too.

All photos copyright Yoti Telio scphotostudio.com

First Week Home

We've been home for a week now, and it's flown by.  We are slowly figuring things out, learning about Jackson and what he likes and dislikes, and how to work that into our lives.

When people tell you you'll be exhausted, you don't believe them.  And then you're up at 10pm, 1am, 4am, 7am, and then it is the daytime again.  And usually at least one of those breaks involves little to no sleep.  It does amazing things to your brain.  Breastfeeding is hard.  I'm the only one who can give him what he needs, and he needs it at least every three hours, around the clock.  That means I have to be awake and able to provide every three hours, around the clock.  I'm very proud that we are now exclusively breastfeeding after starting in the hospital supplementing (re: feeding entirely) with formula.  We worked hard to make it this way, and it is finally working out.  He seems to be cluster feeding today, which could be a soothing thing, or could be a growth spurt thing.  Let's hope it doesn't last long.

The nights are getting better.  We discovered on night one that he does not care for his bassinet yet, I think it is too big, personally.  He likes being enveloped, even while also swaddled.  He loves the bouncer, enjoys the swing, though usually does not sleep in it (but right this minute he's in it and fighting sleep mighty hard, I think sleep just won) and a little cradle thing that Diana gave us finally let me put him down in the bedroom last night and Kevin and I got sleep, simultaneously, in our bed.  Up until now it has been one of us, or Grandma Leslie (who went home Wednesday) up with him in the living room.  Hopefully he can go longer and longer in our room sleeping.  The hard part has been getting his clock right, babies are generally nocturnal creatures, since being in the belly during the day, all mom's movement puts them to sleep, and while mom is still at night, that is awake time.  So we've been working on that, and he is doing better being up for longer and longer periods during the day.

We've had a fairly busy week, lots of visitors, a few outings, it feels like we've had something going on every day.  We're ready for an off day, which I think will be tomorrow.

In other news, I'm down 12lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight already.  I didn't gain hardly anything during the pregnancy, and breastfeeding is awesome, so I've lost it all, plus some, in 10 days.  Yay.  Hopefully it keeps going in that direction.  Kevin also shaved his head today.  It has been something he has been mulling over for a long while, and finally decided to pull the trigger while he is home on leave with us.  He looks different, but I like it.  He's enjoying the ease of it already.

Otherwise we are all doing well, enjoying our family time for sure.  Hopefully next week will be a little less hectic, and we will all settle more into a rhythm.

Welcoming Jackson Ellwood Blunden

Here we go.  This is a long one, I wanted to get it all out before I forgot any of it, since it was such a whirlwind 5 days.

Monday July 23, 2012

11am - Some contractions start, nothing major, nothing real regular.  I go walking, nothing really makes them stronger or faster.

7:30pm - Tell Kevin to call his Mom, think this is it, regular and strong, but not really painful yet. 

8:15pm - Leave for the hospital

10:30pm - Admitted to the hospital for delivery, we're going to have him!!  Nothing really painful, but certainly uncomfortable

Tuesday July 24, 2012

1am-5:30am - Contractions getting stronger and stronger, dilated to about 6cm, my Mom, Skip, and Leslie are with Kevin and I in the hospital.  We are all pretty tired.  Nurse says my water broke somewhere in the early morning. I decide at 4am that I can no longer handle the pain without medications, it is much stronger and sharper than I anticipated it being.  We're having issues measuring the contractions, and Jackson likes to hide from the fetal HR monitor.  Epidural given at 5:30am.

8am-ish - Dr. Lantry comes in, we insert an internal contraction monitor for my contractions, since the external monitor isn't picking up anything strong or regular.  Discussions about Pitocin happen, which was really, really hard for me, because I knew the epidural to pit to c-section connection.  Little did I know what the rest of the day would hold.  Dr. Lantry gave me an hour of monitoring to see if I was contracting on my own or not, if I was, I was failing to progress, if I wasn't, we needed to start the Pit.  Found out my water had not actually broken, I must have had a leak in it.  Dr. Lantry broke my water, and there was Meconium in it (which means Jackson had a bowel movement while in utero.  Not uncommon). This means NICU had to be in the delivery room, and I would not get my skin to skin immediately following birth.  Things slowly going down the drain from my plan.

9am - Contractions were not regular enough, so we started the Pit.  Jackson did NOT like this, and his heart rate plummeted really, really low (85 bpm at some points).  Very scary couple of minutes, I had to then stay on my left or right side the entire time, and we stopped the pitocin. I continued to contract on my own. C-Section looms if I do not progress.

1pm - Checked again, about a 9 or 10, some debate on that.  Temp has spiked to over 100, which means I'm getting an infection.  We called in Dr. Lantry to check.

2pm (ish?) - Dr. Lantry checks me and says I'm a 10 and I can try to push, we do a few practices.  After that she decides that the risks are too great from my failure to progress (his head was still pretty high up), and she said she thought I was developing a serious infection that put Jackson at risk.  She made the call to do the c-section, too many risk factors going on for her liking.  I kinda suspected this was coming since the morning, and was ok with it, let's just go get my baby.  I'm rolled into surgery, and given the spinal block through the epidural tube.  This numbed everything from the chest down.  This was a very scary feeling, I had to think to breathe, couldn't feel my arms.  Kevin comes in to sit with me.  They start the procedure, and I feel them pull Jackson out, I feel the release of pressure.  And then I hear....nothing....and more nothing...and still more nothing.  I look at Kevin, and wait for someone to say SOMETHING...I ask about him, the doctor says "he's having some trouble breathing, but he's ok" (or something to that effect).  FINALLY, I hear a little squeak of a cry, and the tears start flowing.  They tell me he is having trouble, and take Kevin over to see him.  After what feels like forever they bring him to me, and I see his sweet little face.  They say they have to take him to NICU since he was grunting instead of really breathing.  Kevin goes with him.  Birth time 2:43pm.  1 minute APGAR of 2.

Recovery - I'm in recovery, feeling VERY VERY sleepy and woozy, and when I start to fall asleep, my breathing gets slow and shallow since I can't feel my chest still. Scary feelings and thoughts arise in my brain, being alone and without support during this time.  I also had a referred pain in my should, which is apparently common after a c-section, but was scary until I asked out it (why don't they tell you these things?!?!?) Waiting to hear news on anything from anyone...finally Kevin gets into recovery, and tells me Jackson is doing OK, better than he was, but still having trouble breathing.  My parents are with him now.

4:20pm - I'm released from recovery and get transferred to my room, a few minutes later everyone comes to the room.  Lots of info on Jackson, but it is all pretty much the same, he is doing ok but not breathing great.  They tell me it will be 6-8 hours from surgery until I can go see him.  This 8 hour stretch was undoubtedly the hardest part of all of this.  I started out the day a pregnant woman, and have now delivered my baby, but am sitting in my room having only laid eyes on him for 30 seconds.  I can't touch him, I can't ear him, I can't see him.  Everyone else goes to visit him, and Kevin brings me back this photo, which honestly got me through the next several hours.

I stared at this photo for pretty much the rest of the night, there is my little boy.  We had some visitors to see me, and that was great, but all I really wanted to do was go see him.  I had him to myself for his whole life, and now, suddenly and unexpectedly, I had to share him with the rest of the world and I wasn't able to see him, touch him, or talk to him.  I'm all he knew, and now he was cold, and uncomfortable, and alone.  I know Kevin and the grandparents were with him, and thank God for that, because he knew their voices too.  Everyone left around 8pm, and then it was just Kevin and I.  We tried to get some sleep, but it was quite fitful.

NICU took a bunch of photos for us, here are some of them from that first afternoon.

11pm - I can finally go see Jackson.  I get out of bed and get wheeled down to the NICU,  which thank goodness was only down the hallway.  And there he was, my boy.

We visited with him for a little bit, but then had to go back to our room and get some rest.

The following days were full of visits to the NICU every three hours to help Jackson feed.  They wanted to bottle feed him formula, but I was very hesitant about that.  I want to exclusively breastfeed.  I knew he needed his strength, so I had to compromise on the formula if I wanted him out of NICU as fast as possible, but asked if we could supplemental feed through a tube while he was latched on to the breast, both teaching him breastfeeding and helping my milk supply come in.  They reluctantly agreed, I know I was being difficult, but felt this was one thing I had control over in all of this, and wanted to try and keep it that way, as long as it didn't compromise his health.  We only did one bottle feeding while he was in NICU, and that was simply because I was too exhausted and sore to get to him for one 6am feeding after doing the midnight and 3am ones, and knew I needed some rest for my health too.  Thankfully, he does not seem to be suffering from nipple confusion, though I am wearing a shield, which I hope to wean off of in the next couple of weeks.

 Getting some skin to skin after a feeding

Daddy's first time holding Jackson

So, after lots of things that I can't possibly remember, slow removal of interventions, starting with his nasal cannula and pulse oximeter, ending with his IV, Jackson was finally ready to be released to us from NICU.  They did such a wonderful job with him, and we will forever be thankful for the care he recieved while he was there.

We had him in our room, all to ourselves!!  This was about 4pm on Thursday, July 26.  We all enjoyed just having him, being able to hold him without worry of his IV line, or his EKG wires, or any of that.  Now I finally felt like a parent, with a baby that Kevin and I alone were responsible for.  And that night, he let us have it.  We spent the night walking him around the room, soothing him, because he did NOT want to be set down (something we are still working on, as I have been up since 4am with him, and Kevin up from Midnight to 3am before that).

We got released 5pm on Friday, after lots of firmness and pushing on our parts to get it done as quickly and expediently as possible, we wanted to bring him home!!

After two nights of being home we are still figuring things out.  I'm almost exclusively breastfeeding at this point, we just started that last night, so we will see how the day goes with that.  Might have to supplement a little bit, which I am still OK with, as long as we are moving in the right direction.  I see how so many moms fail at breastfeeding though, at 3am when all you want is sleep, it would be so much easier to slap a nipple on a bottle of formula and feed him and put him back to be instead of taking the 40 minutes to feed...nevermind the feed/supplement/pump cycle I've been on since he was born, I've felt like nothing but a food machine.

He's sleeping right next to me right now, I should try and put him down in his bed and see if I can get a few hours of sleep, we're having more family over for breakfast in the morning.  Here's to another day.  As exhausting as it is, there is no better feeling in the world than holding my baby in my arms.

Full Term

Well, today is the magic day.  It's Jackson's due date.  I honestly didn't think I would still be pregnant at this point, and let me tell you, it is quite frustrating.  According to the doc things are progressing, which gave me hope for him to be moving along by now, but no suck luck.  Had a couple days of false labor, yesterday I had about 6 hours of it, then it decided to stop.  That was probably the most frustrating.  Now today, a whole bunch of nothing so far.  Kevin and I are going to go walk around today (inside, because it is about a billion degrees outside) in hopes to get things going, but after trying just about everything yesterday, I think he's stubborn and is just going to wait until he is good and ready.

My doc says she doesn't let women go past 41 weeks anymore (I guess most Los Angeles area docs don't), so I'm assuming at our appointment Thursday, if we make it there, we'll do an induction.  Which I REALLY don't want, so I'm thinking we might try some more conservative induction methods before going to Pitocin...but hopefully he'll come before then and we won't have to make those decisions.  Fingers crossed!

Here is what I look like this morning, at 40 weeks.  He is sitting really really low (and doesn't it feel like it!).  Just waiting and waiting at this point.  And I'm not a patient person, nor do I like not being in control, so this is really hard for me.  Plus having everyone just waiting for me to say "Ok, it's time" is pretty stressful, since I've never done this before and don't know when it will be time.

So, everyone think labor thoughts for me!!!

Maternity Photos!

So we got our maternity photos back from one of our photographers and decided on our 4 favorites to get digital copies of, and here they are!

We absolutely love them!  Still waiting on our other photographer to get us our images back, but that's ok, we can be patient!

In other news, things are progressing with the pregnancy, we are now 6 days away from his due date, so it is a bunch of hurry up and wait right now.  Everything is ready, we are ready (or as ready as we're going to be!) and it is just a waiting game, which is the worst.  The first 6 weeks and last 2 weeks of pregnancy are the most nerve wracking times!!!

I'll keep everyone updated on our progress, and we hope to meet this little guy soon!

Guess when jackson will arrive!

Guess when Baby Jackson will arrive! I'll have a prize for the winner (yet to be decided)!

Being off work is hard work!!

So this marks my first week of being off work, yay!!  And it was BUSY!!  No relaxing for this mama.  Monday I spent the day washing all of Jackson's newborn and 0-3 clothes, all his sheets, towels, blankets, etc etc and generally organizing his nursery.  Tuesday I had a doctors appointment so I carpooled in with the hubby and spent the day with Allison.  Wednesday was the 4th, so Kevin was home.  We visited a new brewery that had it's grand opening that day, and relaxed at home, and enjoyed a wonderful dinner outside.  Yesterday my Mom, Skip, Kaitlyn and myself went to Drytown waterpark, a local place, and spent the day floating away in the lazy river, it was delightful.

Today I had a list I needed to get done for my sanity.  I hadn't packed a bag, I needed to clean out a corner of our bedroom so a chest that was in Jackson's room could move to our bedroom until Grandma Leslie takes it home, I wanted to get Jackson's room as close to done as it could be, and there were some other misc house chores I needed to do.  So hours later and lots of sweat, and a day spent doing things I probably shouldn't be doing, I'm done with all of those things on my list!

Bags are packed, Carseat ready, Baby book and LML book ready for footprints, misc other items in the pile ready to go, labor playlist made (our neighbors are going to hate us, and I have the most eclectic taste ever)

Jackson's door

 View from the doorway

 His crib and sign from Aunt Heather and Uncle Chris

 Changing table and rocker, the letters on his changing table will be painted and hung on the wall above the table, and the mickey up there was drawn by Grandma Leslie!

 His closet doors, pictures from Terra, poster from Grammy

 His crib, all made up.  Eeyore and the Pooh ball (this thing is so fun!) are gifts from Stacey, the pillow is from Candi

 His bookshelves, all stocked with books, blankets, burp cloths and toys

I just have a few more things left on my lists to do, and then we're really really ready.  I can't believe we are going to get to meet him in a couple weeks (or so!).  I can't wait to hold him in my arms.

36 weeks - Random thoughts

Next week I'm considered full term, yippee!! 

One more week of work, I can't wait to give up that commute for 4 months!!  My car and my checkbook are thanking me already.

I'm feeling very very pregnant at this point, which is a good thing I guess.

Jackson had the hiccups for FOREVER this morning, Kevin got to feel those, which was cool.  He's been pretty active these past few days, I think he's ready to stretch his legs out.

My doc is going out of town next week, so I see her Monday and not again until second week of July.  Which should be fine, he just need to hold out until my birthday at the earliest!

Funny how my birthday doesn't seem important to me this year, it's just a 10 day marker until my due date.  Sneaking up rather quickly too!!

Having trouble not making a list of things to do while I'm on leave....I'm trying to leave making a list as one of the things to keep me busy, followed by completing everything on the list.  We'll see if I make is through this week without starting the list...

Waiting rather impatiently for the proofs from both maternity sessions to come back, very excited to see what both photographers got.  Two completely different sessions, which is cool.  It will be fun to see how they each capture Jackson as he is growing as well. Sneak Peek from our Believe in Dreams session:

I think that's it for now...I'll update everyone when I get my photos in!

35 weeks!!

So things are just moving along over here.  Seems like time is creeping by, but also when I think about it it has gone by so fast!  I know I'm going to miss having him with me all the time when he is born, but I just can't wait to meet him!

So work threw me a shower a couple weeks ago, everyone was so very generous!

They collectively got me one of our carseats, yay!  And some gift cards and other things from individual coworkers.

The Hand Therapy department is famous for their arts and crafts skills, they made me a diaper cake, LOTS of diapers, some washcloths, towels, and toys. So fun!

All other things baby-wise are just moving along, two more weeks of work, I'm saving up things to do while I'm off work, so its kinda driving me crazy right now not doing anything, but I know soon enough Ill have plenty to do! We had the car seats inspected by CHP this week, they gave us some good advice on installation, glad we went.  Breastfeeding class this week.

I also took some maternity photos on Friday with a friend of ours, I'm so excited to get those back.  I also have another session with our "official" photographer this evening, excited about those too.

So for Fathers Day I took Kevin on a beer tour of Southern California, we visited 4 small craft breweries.  Had a good time!

 Anacapa Brewing, kevs first sampler flight of the day.

Teriyaki Salmon Salad - so good!!

The Scorcher - beer battered fried jalepenos on the burger

Surf City Brewery, stop two.  I love little places like this, no food, just beer.  Everyone was totally nice here.

Preggo beverage of choice, diet Root Beer and water

Hang Ten sampler, everything they have on tap

 

Next stop, The LAB Brewing Co. - this is Kevs first 4 sampler flight

Some more grub to soak up all that beer

Second flight, he had all 8 house beers on tap.

Ladyface Alehouse was next, this is the Blind Ghost, their Belgian Amber with Bhut Jolokia Ghost Peppers added in.  Kevin said it burned his lips, it was so spicy.

We both enjoyed the Ladyface Burger, it was SO GOOD.  Like one of the best burgers ever.  I had mine on the pretzel roll, yum!  Kev had it on a brioche bun, he said that was also tasty.

I collect pint glasses from every brewery we visit, our spoils for the day.

We have a busy couple of weeks ahead of us, getting everything done before the little guy shows up, appointments galore!  I'm getting an ultrasound at this next visit just to see him again, I'll post whatever photos we get of him next time!