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Sunday, November 29, 2009

One Month Old Today!

We survived the first month!

I don't have any updates, we go to the pedi tomorrow, so I'll update weight stats then. For Wyatt anyway. All I know is he is still in NB size clothes (Carter's sizing, of course). Oh, and still in disposable diapers, as his little heiney is still too small. I'll be sure and post when we switch to cloth!

We are still BFing, although there have 3 occasions we needed to give him a bottle. But he has never had formula! I feel like we are off to a great start! I really wanted to wait until 6 weeks to give him a bottle, but life doesn't always work the way we think it will. But so far we haven't had any issues with confusion between the bottle and the breast. Hopefully this means we will have a very easy transition to mainly bottle when he goes to daycare.

He is no where near sleeping through the night, but we are starting to get 3 hours in between feedings, and he just gets easier and easier to put back to sleep!

We are starting Tummy Time this week. I asked his Dr when he reccommends starting, and he said to wait until 4-5 weeks since they have so little awake time in the early days. My goal is to get him down on his tummy for 5 minutes each hour that he is awake. We'll see how well it goes!

Things we can't live without:

  • Carters receiving blankets - I like the size of these better than the other brands.
  • Pack N Play with newbord napper - we haven't used the bassinet part yet, but it seems like he sleeps better in the napper than he does anywhere else (except on us, of course!)
  • Cradle - he sleeps in his cradle in our room for now. The "plan" is to transition him to his crib (upstairs) when he's down to one or two feedings per night. Theres too many stairs to move him now.
  • Boppy - I only really use it at night, but I love this thing! I use it not only to position him, but I can balance my sudoku book on it too!
  • Mei Tai/Moby - I am not comfortable walking the dogs while carrying him, and its just too much work to get out his stroller everytime I need to walk them. Wearing him is a perfect solution! I am excited for when he gets a little older and I can wear him when I go out places too. Right now he sleeps too much, and I don't want to wake him just to wear him when I can carry his carseat.
  • Swing - We don't use it too much (I don't like the idea of just parking him somewhere), but in reality dishes and laundry need to get done, and dinner needs to be made. Wyatt likes it, but I try and do these things while he's sleeping. And honestly, its a safe place to set him down if I need two hands.

Waste of my money (won't get next time)

  • Itzbeen - I don't know if I'm just an idiot, but it was too tricky for me to figure out how to use it efficiently. I keep a notebook by the side of my bed, and track it that way. It works well for me, but I only log at night. I'm too tired to try and remember all that.
  • Mittens - We never used them. We just try and keep his hands away from his face. So far its been working. He really only scratched himself the first couple days.

Things I wish I had:

  • Graco Snap N Go - I wish I had one. Almost everyday that we go out, I miss this thing. I find myself carrying the carseat more often than not, since my travel system is huge, and not conducive to trips to the County Recorders office for his birthcertificate or to using in a restaurant instead of setting him in the booth (which by the way, are never quite wide enough).

I actually think thats it. If I think of anything else I'll let you know!

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Friday, November 27, 2009

101 in 1001 - Goal #25 Complete


Goal #25 - Host Thanksgiving!

We had a few good friends over for Thanksgiving dinner last night. We had a blast!
The turkey came out perfectly! I cannot express how amazingly good and easy it was! We are going to make it every year from now on. Scott was saying that we should make turkey all the time now, just because. In case you missed it, we made the Roast Turkey from Good Eats by Alton Brown.

I also made Tylers Mashed Potatoes. These were literally the best potatoes I have ever eaten, and they were insanely easy!

All in all, I think it was a huge success!! Pin It

Thursday, November 26, 2009

101 in 1001 - Goal #17 in Progress


#17 - Have family pictures taken for Christmas Cards (1/2)


11/16/09 We took Wyatt to get his newborn pictures taken. While we were there we took a few of all three of us for our Christmas cards! This is the one we ended up choosing. Thanks Kacy!




Jamie designed our cards for us.

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4 Weeks

Its hard to believe my little man is already a month old! Its even weirder to think that 4 weeks and 1 day ago, we were still a couple, now we are a family. And two weeks ago, I was still supposed to be pregnant.

I'll post a better update on the 29th.

Happy Thanksgiving! Pin It

Friday, November 20, 2009

Thanksgiving!

Scott and I decided that since our families are doing Thanksgiving a whole week early, that we would have a mini-thanksgiving of our own! So we put the invite out on facebook, and we are expecting to have about 10 of us here! I'm so excited!

I have been scouring foodnetwork.com for yummy recipes, and this is what I have so far:

Good Eats Turkey

Mashed Potatoes from Tyler at food 911

Paula Deen Pumpkin Pie

Other than this, I don't even know what to serve! I know that it is not enough, and I'll probably do corn too. These are the only things I eat at Thanksgiving, so I'm lost!

What are your favorite things to eat at the Holidays? Pin It

Thursday, November 19, 2009

3 Weeks

Things are going well!

I was having a kind of hard time with the seclusion part of maternity leave. For the past 6 months or so I have been so exhausted because of being pregnant that I have been doing nothing during the week but come straight home from work, eat dinner. play online and go to bed. So my social life has suffered. The last three weeks have brought back my energy, but now I am home all. day. long. It goes against my nature to sit at home and do nothing. And it was starting to drive me slowly insane.

So this week, I threw it out the window. Webster and I have been all over town! I took him to my nail appointment Monday afternoon and we went over to Kacy's for his newborn pictures (more about that later!). We had lunch with Jamie on Tuesday and Lisa on Wednesday. We got his birth certificate and hung out with my parents. Today we had lunch with Scott and said hi to all the people in his office (sorry we missed you Stephanie!) and then I took him to meet the people at my work too! He has been fantastic, and I have to say that I have been very impressed with the restraint all these people have shown! I haven't had to remind ANYONE about hand sanitizer, and everyone has been pretty content to just look at him!

I started pumping yesterday! I don't want to give him a bottle until he's closer to 6 weeks, but I thought it might be a good idea to have some milk to put into those bottles. It makes me ridiculously proud to say that there are 4 ozs in my freezer! So far I'm just pumping the opposite side at a few feedings during the day. Pretty much only when it's convienient for me. Since we have so much time before we will be relying on my stash, I'm trying not to stress about it too much!

Oh, and still 11 pounds to go. I'm finding (cold) comfort in the fact that at least I'm not gaining anymore. And I'll try (and probably fail... again) to get a more updated post partum picture. :) Pin It

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

101 in 1001 Goal 15 - More Progress!

I went to lunch with Lisa, and tried a new restaurant!

Review and details are here. Pin It

Sunday, November 15, 2009

101 in 1001 - Goal #22 In Progress


Goal #22 - Take the dogs to the park once a month (weather permitting)
11/14/09 - We met Scotts parents at one of our favorite dog parks. They brought 3 of their dogs, and we all had a great time! Wyatt slept through the whole experiance, which is to be expected!
Usually when we go to the dog park, Kissa is making rounds at the perimeter, and Socks is attached to our heels. Ever since we brought Wyatt home, Socks' personality has changed (mellowed?) drastically. Yesterday he was running everywhere, making friends with all the new dogs! It was awesome. We def need to do this more often!
12/27/09 - We went to our usual spot with Scotts parents again. Wyatt managed to stay awake this time, and he was even smiling at his Grandma!
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101 in 1001 - Goal #94 In Progress

Goal #94 - Take Webster to 10 different parks in AZ.

Yesterday we had lunch at Devonshire park, in central Phoenix. It wasn't anything super special, but there were lots of trees and a frisbee golf course (which Scott was super excited about). Wyatt wasn't super impressed (he ate or slept the whole time) but we were at the park! We even took the dogs!
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Saturday, November 14, 2009

Since I'm a Slacker...

Can I make up for it with pictures?
















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Thursday, November 12, 2009

2 Weeks

Well, today we hit two weeks! Very exciting stuff going on! We both had our 2 week check ups yesterday, and it was good news all around! (I will add pics as soon as I can take some!)

First, Wyatt:
  • Weight - 7 lbs 10 oz, which means he has passed his birthweight (7lbs6oz)! Which is fantastic, especially since we're exclusively breastfeeding (from here on out, thats what EBF means. way too much to type!!)
  • His cord has fallen of, and just in time too! Newborn photos with Kacy are on Monday, and I'd rather he look as much like a human (not an alien) as possible.
  • Dr.S says his circ looks perfect, and not to worry about it!
And Me.

  • Weight: No change (still 123) this week. Which makes sense as I have replaced my neverending thirst for water with the Pepsi I was denied for 9 months. I think that will be weightloss trick #1 - No More Soda!!!
  • The lab results came in from the blood work they did on my placenta (to figure out why I had such a high fever) and it came back positive for chorioamnionitis. Which I guess doesn't really mean anything. I asked if it was something I would need to be concerned about for future pregnancies, and Dr. D said no. Only if I develop a fever during labor again, then I can tell them I have had chorio in the past. but basically its just a random infection.
  • My stitches look great. I had been worried, since I wasn't doing the sitz baths as directed, and then when I did do them, my downstairs hurt more than when I didn't! So much for the promised relief! So of course I haven't been doing them (I am a firm believer in if it hurts, don't do it!), and I was nervous that it was going to have a negative impact on my stitches. But Dr. D said to just forget about it! So no more sitz baths for me!
I'm starting to be a little stir crazy around the house. I am not a home body. I like to be out, getting things done! Scott has been fantastic about giving me some "me" time out of the house (in 2 hour increments, of course) on the weekends, but that still leaves me with 5 days of nothing but sitting at home! I'm giving this 2 more week of seclusion, and then I am done! I can't take it! I don't feel like me. I certainly don't want to put Wyatt at risk for anything, but I feel like I will explode if I do this for very much longer!

I am also starting to think about pumping to build a stash of breastmilk (BM) for later use. There are some events coming up in another month or so (mainly Christmas parties) that I would like to attend and possibly even drink at. If we were able to give Wyatt to a grandparent for the evening with a supply of BM to bottle feed, that woud be perfect! He'll be right about 6 weeks old, so I don't think it'll be too soon to start introducing a bottle, do you? I also have to be aware that I will be heading back to work, and I really want to continue to EBF. My ultimate goal is 12 months nursing, then finishing off the frozen supply. I haven't decided if I still want to pump and only bottle feed, or just switch to cows milk at that point. Either way, I will need a pretty decent supply of BM frozen in case I can't maintain my active supply through pumping at work. Did any of you EBF and pump? Any suggestions for me?

While we're at it, lets talk about fitness. I feel like I am SOCLOSE to losing all the weight I gained during the pregnancy, but I am not happy with the way it all fits together now. I would love to tighten my tummy back up, and my thighs and rear end could use a trim down as well. I was planning on getting the 30 Day Shred (and its still on my short list) but I'm wondering what everyone else is doing to keep their body trim and bikini ready? Pin It

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

H1N1 Vaccine

I know there is a lot of controversy around this, and everyone has their own opinion.

For me, and my family, we chose to get vaccinated. With a newborn in the house, the risks of NOT getting it were far scarier to me. Actually getting it, however, is an entirely different story, since no one has it. Or if they do have it, they only carry the nasal mist, which has a live virus, and not safe for pregnant women or nursing mothers. Finding the shot was next to impossible.

Until I got a call this morning from Lisa saying that she found the vaccine! So I am happy to say that I got my shot this morning, and Scott will be getting his sometime this week.

So if you are in the Phoenix area, and are looking for the H1N1 Shot, send me an email (or leave a comment) and I'll send you the name/address of the OBs that are offering them. No insurance is accepted, and its $25 each. Pin It

Monday, November 9, 2009

Websters Big Debut!

Yesterday was Lisa's baby shower! Now if you follow her blog, you'll know that getting to this point was quite a journey. She and her husband struggled with infertility for almost 2 years before finally getting pregnant. I am soo happy that we were able to share our pregnancies!


Needless to say, I wouldn't have missed this shower for the world! So Wyatt and I gathered up everything I thought we could possibly need, and braved the big bad world for the first time. I am not the only person who felt that way!! The Latte girls were well represented!

From L to R Chelz, Kim, Lindsay, Me and Wyatt (Nursing in Public for the first time!!!), Kirstin, Lisa, Jaye, Susie, Katie, Jenni (thanks for the photos!) and Jamie (in the blue).

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Sunday, November 8, 2009

Can I say something random?

I hate cancer. Pin It

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Happy Birthday to me!

Well, it kinda got lost in the shuffle, but my birthday was last week, just one day after Webster's (yes, I may still call him Webster, it's his internet handle lol)! So the big 2-8 came and went with little fuss. I think I may still do something (dinner with friends - sushi, anyone?) in a couple weeks, but for now, Webster is enough. Plus, all my paperwork says 27, not 28 lol.

The hospital staff was great, and they gave me a little cake with my birthday dinner (steak and mashed potatoes, not too shabby if you ask me!)! They were so sweet!

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101 in 1001 - Goal # 42 Completed!


Goal # 42 - Set up a Roth IRA

I officially am an investor! I got in touch with the company that runs Scotts IRA through work, and I am happy to say that It was a little easier than I thought it would be!

I feel like a much more responsible person, and I am glad to be taking the steps to ensure that my (and Websters) futures are that much more stable. :) Pin It

Friday, November 6, 2009

One Week (yes, I'm late - cut me some slack)

So here we are at one week old. I'll give some updates on the Little Prince first, then we can talk about recovery.

We had our first pediatrician appt yesterday, and it went really well! I didn't get all the numbers, but he weighed in at 7 lbs 2 ozs. His circ looks perfect, and the dr was impressed with his head control. His cord looks like its healing really well also. So yay for healthy babies!

Breastfeeding is going well. His latch improves a little everyday, and while I have to admit that yes, it is painful, it really only lasts a second. Once he gets latched on correctly, it doesn't hurt anymore. My milk came in a couple days a go, and that has made a big difference! So for those of you reading who are apprehensive about trying to breastfeed, I think its totally worth it. Especially on nights like last night. Wyatt was up almost every hour "hungry". He would latch, eat for 5 minutes and fall asleep. Every time I would put him back down, he would wake and fuss. Yes, it would be awesome to trade feedings with Scott, but I cannot imagine having to actually get up and make a bottle every few hours. Talk about easy!

And now, what you really want to hear about. Recovery. Or not. If not, now would be a good time to hit that "back" button. :) I debated about posting my weight (rather than +/- numbers) and I decided that this blog is also to help me document this whole experience. So my weight will be included. No snide remarks, thank you.

Weight Loss:
PrePregnancy weight - 111

38 weeks - 141 (total gain of 30 lbs even)


1 week post partum - 122
(photo was taken at the hospital at discharge. when Scott gets home tonight, I'll have him take an updated pic.)


Left to lose: 11 pounds

Overall, I feel pretty good. My main complaint is that I think I bruised my tailbone while pushing. Which makes sitting, leaning, laying down etc very interesting. It gets a little better everyday, but not by much. I have a feeling that this will be the longest lasting effect of delivery.

I had a second degree tear that needed stitches. I asked how many and she said she doesn't count, and its a running stitch. So there you go. There is definately still pain in that area. Its worse at night, but nothing unbearable. I was on hydrocodone every four hours in the hospital, and I switched to Motrin when I got home. They gave me a prescription for more Lortab (which I filled, just in case) but it sits unopened on my nightstand. I figure if I tear a stitch or something I'll be glad I filled it!

Other than that, things are looking up! If I left anything out, ask a question in a comment, and I'll update the post with the answer!
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Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Birth Story

Short Version:

Wyatt Emerson was born at 6:50 pm October 29th, 2009 7.6 lbs 20.25 inches long after over 28 hours of active labor and 3 hours of pushing.


Long Version:

It all started after this post.

My ctxs continued to get worse, and we were timing them at 4 minutes apart (roughly). scott was making fun of me for not wanting to go to L&D yet. I kept telling him that I didn't want to get sent home. Then all of a sudden they were 2 minutes apart. Scott kept saying we were going to have the baby in the bathroom. So we headed to the hospital around 6 pm. After checking in at admitting we got settled into Triage for monitoring. It was neat being able to watch the cxts on the graph, but we could tell they were starting to space out. After 20 minutes on the monitors, they checked and I was 3 cm. Bummer. So we went to walk to halls for an hour. Can I just say that "walking the halls" is easier said than done? I was at the end of my pregnancy, and can't even begin to GUESS the last time I walked for more than 10 minutes, let alone an hour! Anyway, after our trek around L&D we were checked again - still a measly 3 cm. Our triage nurse, Pauline I think, was awesome, and let us hang out in Triage to see if we could get anymore dilated. The goal was 4. If I could get to 4 cm, I could get admitted. At last check at 10 pm we were 3 cm. Again. Still. FOR-Ev-VER. Next time around, if I could skip 3 cm completely, that would be great.

So we got sent home (insert small I told you so here). And yes, I cried.

We labored at home for a few more hours. Which was possibly the worst thing I have ever endured. Intellectually we knew that something had to be happening down there. Ctx were consistently 2-3 min apart and very painful. So we called our Triage nurse back, and she said we should just come back on in. ::sigh::. I told Scott that if we got sent home again, that I was quitting. And we just weren't going to have a baby after all. At 3:00 am, triage passed the good news - we had finally hit 4 cm! Progress! I would have danced for joy, had I not been having a contraction. Then, I got the most exciting news in our whole pregnancy - my Dr. said I could be admitted AND GET MY EPIDURAL!!!!

Its now about 3:30 and my epi is in place. After what felt like a millisecond, but was probably more like 5-10 minutes, I was in pain free bliss. We slept through the next 4-4.5 hours or so, until the OB and new nurse showed up after shift change at 7. I was checked (5 cm), they set up internal monitors for both me and Wyatt (they kept losing us on the external kind) and I was started on pitocin since I was progressing so slowly. We hung out (read: slept some more) for a little while until our parents came later that morning. They kept fiddling with my pitocin dose, and after seeing the monitor, I was VERY glad to have the epi. There was no way I would have been able to handle those contractions!

At about 12 I was checked again. I thought to myself, "If I am at a 6 I am going to freak out right now! PLEASE let me at least be a 7! I can't handle this 1 cm every 4 hours crap anymore!" Lo and behold - 9.5!! I was exstatic! I couldn't believe it! I looked at Scott and said "We're going to have a baby today!" lol Duh! So they plan was to keep resting and let him labor down on his own to avoid hours of pushing for me.

Now its 3 pm, and my Dr is back. Time to push! ... I'm going to be honest. I really sucked at pushing. I could see it in her face, and the multiple "Push harder, he's right there!" comments with no one at the warming station. After about 15 minutes I asked if we shouldn't call the newborn team. She told me that they would call when he was about to come out. What happened to he's right there? After pushing for about 15-20 minutes another nurse popped in to ask the Dr about another patient who was going to need a c-section. My Dr told the nurse something along the lines of, "I need to stay here, since if we don't get this baby out in the next 20 minutes, she going to need one too. The other one can wait." HOLD THE FREAKIN PHONE. Who needs a cs? I asked why, and they said that Wyatt's heartrate was in the 170s, so we need to get him out. My first ultimatum of the day. 20 minutes later (since I suck at pushing) and still no baby. His heart rate had recovered a little, so I got a reprieve from the cesarean. So they turned down the pitocin, since they were pretty sure that’s what was causing it, and had me rest for a little while first. Then, it would be back to the grindstone.

After about an hour of resting, and lower pitocin, we were off! During this time I was shaking uncontrollably. I could not get warm. And they wouldn't let me have more blankets, since I already had a fever. At this point I could tell that my epi was starting to fade. I didn’t think too much of it (all the “he’s right there!!!”s I think… and p.s. still no newborn team) since I figured we’d be done shortly. After pushing for another hour, I was beginning to regret that decision. Those contractions hurt. I was still shaking, and demanding ice as often as possible, and all I could concentrate on was the damn blood pressure cuff taking its reading every 15 minutes. I swear I was more pissed off at the cuff than I was at the prospect of the c/s I think. There was even a moment (just one, I swear it) that I thought to myself “If they tell me they’ll take the cuff off, they can do a c/s. I just want this thing off me now!” I didn’t vocalize it, but I certainly thought it. My fever was starting to really worry the Dr, so she said we were going to break for a while and get some anti-biotics in me. I mentioned the epi failing, and they called the magic man back in for me. Ah… bliss again.

So we rested again in the hopes that the iv would bring my fever down, and let the epi do its job. I was warned (yet again) that if the iv didn’t bring my fever down, that we’d be headed to a c/s. Luckily, everything followed the plan and we were back to pushing. It’s now 6:00pm. And we’re pushing, and pushing and pushing for what seems like forever. I was on oxygen to help keep Wyatt’s heart rate stable through contractions, and demanding ice chips like I was stranded in the desert! At 6:30, I noticed that my epi had stalled yet again. At 6: 45 I was told you have to get this baby out before 7, or we are going in for c-section. No more messing around. Scott said something along the lines of “Don’t be disappointed, at some point we need to think about what is best for the both of you.” I looked at him and said, I’m not disappointed, I’m pissed. We were looking at 28 hours of labor, and three hours of hard pushing, for a cesarean?! I think not.

Wyatt was born via 2nd degree tear at 6:50 pm. With no newborn team at the warmer. 7 lbs 6 oz, 20.25 inches long. He is breastfeeding like a champ, and does nothing but sleep and look cute. I can’t believe how much I love this little person already! Pin It

Sunday, November 1, 2009

home.

That word has a new meaning to me. Here I sit, cuddled on the couch with my husband, my dogs and my newborn son. And I have never felt more at home.

Especially now that I have gotten a shower. :) Pin It