Soo tired but worth it!

I'm a tired momma! But that's to be expected I guess! Liam decided he wanted to do 2 hour feedings last night. Amazing how and hour to hour and half makes such a difference with sleep. It seems like a lot has been going on but I think it's because all my days are running together.

We had Liam's 1 month check up. Everything is going well. He's 9lbs 8oz and 23 inches long. He's in the 97th percentile for his height. We are going to start seeing a Urologist because his left testicle hasn't descended yet. It's in the canal and the doctor was able to feel it and grab it (ouch!) but not where it needs to be yet. Hopefully it will descend on its own but if not it will require a small procedure. He had a bad rash and I felt bad when we saw Dr. Bohleber. I thought it was baby acne but come to find out it was a yeast rash. Oops! I'm finding I am not a mom that freaks out about every little thing (surprisingly!) and this was one thing I just wrote off. We got some ointment and he is all cleared up now.

Liam is officially sleeping in his crib. I swore I wasn't going to do the bassinet because our house is so small and he wasn't going to be that far away from us anyways. But when I got home from the hospital my hormones were going crazy and Jay went out and bought us one. I finally decided it was time to move to the crib. As I said he is probably 20 ft (if that) away from us. Also, I was having to get up and take him in his room to nurse because I change his diaper and my rocker is in there. So it really wasn't like him sleeping in our room was allowing me to minimize us moving around. Also, he is starting to make all kinds of noises, especially when he sleeps. And daddy snores...at least I can hit him to stop. There were all kinds of noise going on and I need to get some sleep :)

We've introduced a bottle. I've started pumping in the morning and then if we give him a bottle I'll pump then as well. I wanted to get him use to a bottle in preparation for me going back to work. He didn't like it the first time, but he was overly hungry and just not having it. The second time we tried we made sure to try before his feeding time and he did great! Huge relief for me!! We also introduced the paci. I have mixed emotions on it. I think about all the stories I hear about trying to wean kids off pacifiers and I'd like to avoid it. I may try to take the paci away between 4-6 months and try to get him to use a blanket or something else to sooth himself. 

I'm doing pretty well with this new life. I miss adult interaction though!! Jay has had to work 2 weeks of 2nd/3rd shift and it really kills me. I also miss "me" time. However, I've got a deal with Jay that I get to go shopping Friday afternoon by myself while he takes Liam. I haven't had this opportunity since Liam was born with the exception of running to the doctor or grocery store really quick. I know "me" time isn't something that is going to happen as often but Jay and I are pretty good at recognizing when we both need a break. Also, Jay and I get to go on our first date this weekend. Probably just dinner but I look forward to it. One thing I've always heard is after you have a child is to make sure you put your marriage first. I really appreciate that and want to make sure we do.

We had newborn and family pictures done a couple weekends ago. We had Catchlight photography take the pictures. They came to the house and did them for us. It was a huge help that they came to the house. I'm so happy with the pictures. Liam did pretty good. I got peed on but that's to be expected when you've got a naked boy in your hands! Here's the link to the proofs: http://www.catchlightphotographyonline.com/Client-Proofing/Baby-Liam/17216905_dqvrc5#1306352263_BZ7NfN4

Time for sleep...until Liam wakes for the next feeding :)

Liam is here!

Liam is a month old today! Time really does fly by when you have kids. Time already seemed to be flying by but now it's been sped up by 10! I thought I'd share Liam's birth story. I found strength I never thought I had!

It all started on Saturday, April 16th. I thought I had been leaking amniotic fluid but wasn't really sure. It wasn't like I was having that gushing feeling so I kinda wrote it off that evening and went to bed. I woke up Sunday morning and was eating breakfast, getting ready for church and I was still having that leaking feeling. I woke up Jay and told him (yes, I am bad and didn't tell him the night before). He told me to call the doctor on call and see what they say. I got Dr. Ramsey and she said to be safe I should go to triage and have it checked out. I went to go tell Jay we were going to the hospital and I broke out in sobs of tears. Everything suddenly became reality that this kid was going to come out! He calmed me down and we got our bags and headed to the hospital. They did this first test to see if I was leaking fluid and the nurse said "it's mostly negative" but we'll do another test to make sure. At this point Jay and I think we're going home and started planning our day. Jay was going to play drums and get a fix in :). They did the next test and it was positive! The nurse comes in and says "you're going to have a baby today". WHAT!!?? I just had planned out my day, what do you mean I'm having a baby! I had tested positive for Group B Strep so I immediately got a bag of antibiotics so it would not pass to Liam when he was born. I wasn't having contractions just leaking so I got the dreaded drug pitocin. I really wasn't too excited about this. I wasn't dilated very much and my cervix was still pretty thick. I didn't get contractions until about 3pm and then it sucked! The pitocin made them so strong and back to back. I tried to hold off on and pain med or the epidural as long as I could. I first just took some pain meds but that didn't do anything for me. So about 5pm I got my epidural and then I was great! I got to nap and Jay got to watch the NBA playoffs. At 11pm I was fully dilated and got to start pushing. I pushed until Liam was born at 3:24am on April 18th. He was sunny side up instead of facing down so getting him out was a little bit more difficult. Dr. Ramsey ended up using the vacuum and forceps to help him out. At one point Dr. Ramsey said "you're going to have to push harder than that". Jay immediately started coaching me because he knew I had been pushing for 3 hours at this point and been working my tail off. I think he was afraid I might give her my thoughts in a not so nice way. But it really didn't bother me, it was that final push I needed to give it all I had. Jay was really concerned I was going to end up in a c-section because how long I had pushed. But Dr. Ramsey came in and saw how hard I was trying and tried the forceps instead. I still remember when Liam finally came out they went to show him to me and I had my eyes closed shut! They had to tell me to open them and look at him. I don't know if I was scared to see my new reality or I was just so exhausted from pushing. Liam had a cone head from me pushing on him for 3+ hours. He still has some marks on his head from it. He was 7.5 lbs and 20.5 inches long. Jay has some other funny stories about his birth but I'll let him tell them.

While I was getting stitched and cleaned up, Jay was taking pictures and got to hold him. Liam came out ready to eat! He's like his daddy! He was rooting and looking for some food. Jay was funny and said, "you need to get her cleaned up quick, he's ready to eat!". He is great at breastfeeding! He immediately latched on and went to town. I used the lactation consultants a ton while I was in the hospital. By the time we left I felt really good about it. He's been doing great! He's gaining weight and eats every 2-3 hours. He went through a growth spurt and went from 7lbs 12oz to 8lbs 11oz in less than a week.

It's pretty cool being a mom, exhausting at times but still great. I love seeing how he changes every day. He makes the greatest faces and starting to make funny sounds.I love my little wiggle worm!