Visitors and Tummy Time and Bath time...oh my!

Lots of visitors over the last couple of weeks! Elissa and Dru came for dinner, Aunt Jenie and Emily came for a while (get ready Jenie...remember...you're having 2!!), Kathy and Robert stopped by, and Nana & Grandpa Lammers came by as well. So many visitors...and nobody volunteered to change a diaper...hmmm.... (kidding!)


Tummy time is still going good! A few pictures to follow. And yes, either spit up or drool seem to be constantly running from his mouth during tummy time.

Last night was bath night. I had planned on giving him one anyway, but after a highly explosive diaper, that pretty much sealed the deal. Luckily, he LOVES baths! He was sound asleep after the visit from Nana & Grandpa but since it was only 8pm and it had been a couple hours since he had eaten, I figured it'd be best to wake him up for his bath rather than waiting it out. With the waking came screaming, however, the bath soothes all! Whew! We really thought he was going to fall asleep right there in the tub. And boy does he like to make bubbles....if you know what I mean!

Overall things are going well though. He loves long walks and cuddling. No intentional smiles or grins yet, but Aaron's still working on that. Oh, and I haven't forgotten about the 1 month pics...they're coming, promise!

1 month...Already?!?!

Reece turned 1 month old last Friday, the 15th. I'll admit it..I cried a little...ok, a bit more than a little. He seems to be growing up so fast! He's almost outgrown all of his newborn clothes and, as of his birthday, has now outgrown all the newborn diapers...Huggies included. He's hovering right around 10lbs now. He's changing so much and has now learned to stick out his tongue when he's hungry. He's doing great on holding up his head and loves his tummy time (it also helps him get out some excess gas...which, there's always excess!). He does like to be held a lot, which I don't mind, other than it does make it hard to get some things done sometimes. And it probably does spoil him a little. But that's ok, I'm his mom, I can spoil him, we'll just deal with the consequences later.

Last night he did put himself to sleep for the first time. Ok, so Aaron was still holding him. But we gave him a bath, lotioned him up, fixed a bottle and was ready to rock him to sleep. He didn't seem interested in the bottle and was very content just sitting with Aaron on the couch, so we let him. He looked around for a little bit, then the next thing we knew, he was sound asleep. We put him in his crib around 9pm and he slept until 1am, not too bad for him! He hadn't eaten since about 7:00pm, so there may be a light at the end of the tunnel for some extra hours of sleep at night.

We did get 1 month pictures taken on Sunday. I'll post those a bit later. I've seen some of them, they look fantastic so far!

Well, I'm off to change a diaper, feed someone, then maybe go out for a little walk today.

First...but certainly not the last

I scheduled Reece's 1-month photoshoot for this Sunday. As if right on cue, while peacefully napping, a little someone gives himself his first noticeable self-induced battle wound under his right eye. Drew blood even. The nails have now been trimmed.

And Reece makes 5!

Reece got to meet his Great Grandma & Grandpa Ellett yesterday. Taking a quick tally, it was realized that Reece is great grandson #5. The great grandsons are outnumbering the great granddaughters 5-2. Maybe our next bundle will help even out the odds a little. (wishful thinking)

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was good. Aaron took the night feedings so I could sleep (THANK YOU!), fixed breakfast, then changed a grossly explosive diaper (not sure if this was part of the Mother's Day gift...but I'll take it!). We went over to Great Grandma & Grandpa Skelton's in the afternoon, where we met Mamaw & Papaw and Aunt Mandy & Kloie. I knew I'd have to hand over my kid to be adored by everyone else, but I didn't know my Mom was going to meet me at the car to take him. Great Grandma Skelton (Gigi) tried to snatch Reece away as much as she could, but his Mamaw wasn't letting go so easily. Great Grandpa Skelton, decided that Reece wasn't too fragile to hold anymore. And Reece, in typical fashion, spent most of the time sleeping, as did his Papaw. The Klo-Meister met the Reecer...the jury's still out on if it will be a lasting friendship. We were able to capture 4 generations in one photo and Aaron, Reece, and I had our first family photo. All in all, not a bad day I'd say.

RIP Duckies

I knew this day would come, but today it's official. Reece has officially outgrown my favorite outfit thus far...his duck sleeper. Granted, it was a newborn outfit and I did have him in it whenever it was clean, but this just means he's getting bigger. He'll officially be a month old this Friday. I was ready for the baby part, but I'm not sure if I'm ready for the growing up part.

The transition to formula

Well, we made the tough decision yesterday to switch to formula. In the beginning of breastfeeding, I loved it. Then, not so much. I won't go into the long, drawn out details, but I think this decision is a good one for us. I did have some initial feelings of failure, but Reece has actually responded to the formula really well and, surprisingly, hasn't been quite as gassy, at least so far. Yesterday was the first day that I was able to sit and enjoy him again, instead of dreading the next marathon feeding. So, all in all, I do not regret my decision as I think I can bond with him better now that I can enjoy him again. And now for some pictures.

Birth Story

Going completely backwards, but figured I would go ahead and post Reece's birth story.

I was scheduled for an induction on 4/15/09 because of my high blood pressure and Reece's increasing growth (7lbs as of 36 weeks). I checked into the hospital the evening of 4/14/09 to start the Cervadil. During the night Reece wasn't responding well to my blood pressure meds, so they started some IV fluid, which seemed to do the trick. Started Pitocin at 7am morning of the 15th. Contractions weren't really that bad at this point. My dr. came in at 9am and I was dilated to almost a 2, so she went ahead and broke my water. Weirdest feeling ever. After that, my contractions really picked up, as did the pain. By 10am, contractions were getting stronger, but I didn't think I needed pain meds yet. By 10:30, the contractions were 1.5 mins apart and very strong. The nurse checked me....still at a 2. The contractions were so close together that my blood pressure was shooting up, despite the meds so they decided to go ahead and give me the epidural to hopefully lower my blood pressure. Epidural took about 15 mins to work, but wow! I was feeling pretty good after that. I was no longer digging my nails into Aaron's palms or the side of the bed at this point. The day progressed, as did I....slowly. I couldn't eat anything other than some ice chips and popsicles. Around 7pm, I could feel that Reece was dropping low in my pelvis. The nurse checked me again, I was about a 7 and Reece was pretty low, so much so that they could feel his little cone head. The hours passed, the pressure got worse, so they gave me the epidural button for extra relief. Throughout the day, they kept me on blood pressure meds to ensure it stayed down. Well, apparently Reece didn't like it being so low because I had to continuously lay on my side and occassionally get oxygen to keep his heartrate up. I was checked again several times...7.5, not much progression. Aaron and I decided to try and nap for a bit, since it had been a long day and was showing to be a long night as well. At 11pm, the nurse, Kristen, rushed in to turn me onto my other side because Reece had turned over onto his cord and his heartrate was dropping. Another nurse came in and by this time I was panicking. Luckily, flipping sides helped as his heartrate came back up. Kristen then left, so Aaron and I fell back asleep. 30 mins later, at 11:30pm, Kristen came back in with a set of scrubs and said that she had talked to my dr. and since I was not progressing past a 7.5, they were going to go ahead and do a c-section. Aaron, up until she uttered the word c-section, had been asleep. He was given his wonderful hospital scrubs, which we neglected to get a picture of, went and told the grandparents who were still sitting in the waiting room what was going on while Kristen unhooked me from all the monitors I had been hooked up to. I was soon being wheeled down to the OR and knew that the end was finally near. They moved me to the operating bed, positioned Aaron at my head, put up the lovely blue curtain in front of me and began to get my abdomen numb...which took several tries. Soon, they told me that the surgery had begun. I felt some pushing and tugging and it really felt like an eternity was passing. Then, they said I should feel some strong tugging. And let me say...they weren't lying! Reece had gotten so far into my pelvis that he was stuck a bit, so there was that pulling, but he also seemed to really like his legs in my ribs because I could literally feel them being pulled out. A few moments passed and we heard the most wonderful sound...his cry. The entire surgery, we had been taking bets on how much he would weigh. I said 7.5lbs, my dr. said 8lbs. I won...Reece was born at 11:53pm weighing in at 7lb 5.4oz and 19 inches long. Stitching me back together took longer than getting Reece out did, and I was very groggy because of all the meds but the nurse handed Reece to Aaron after he was cleaned up and we finally got to meet our little Reece. He was beautiful. A little cone-headed, but beautiful. After my insides had been returned to me, we were wheeled back to our room so Reece could get his first bath and I could get cleaned up and prepare to be moved to my post-partum room. Reece wouldn't eat a lot of first, and we thought we were going to have to supplement with formula, but luckily, he came around. The next couple days in the hospital were rough, and I was so swollen because of all the fluids, but I wouldn't trade them for anything. Aaron stayed at the hospital with me the entire time and would get up with me in the middle of the night to burp Reece after he fed. He was wonderful and I really couldn't have gotten through it without him.

My oh my...so much gas!

I seriously never thought one kid could have so much gas. I mean, yeah, my mom always said that they would have to beat me to get me to burp, but I always thought that was an exaggeration. After almost 3 weeks, I can see that it was indeed true, and one of the few qualities that Reece seems to have gotten from me, is just that....the unwillingness to burp. He just doesn't seem to want to do it, so we spend hours trying to get him to and/or dealing w/ the consequences of a fussy baby. Normally he's so good, but lately, the gas has possessed him.

Sleeping is going...well, same as before, still trying to get the hang of it. Same with breastfeeding. Some days are good, others not so much. I'll probably be contacting our local lactation consultant soon, just for some pointers hopefully. I do get frustrated because I don't know how much he's eating. With a bottle, you can see. Unfortunately there's not a gauge on the side of each breast letting me know how much he's eaten.

Aaron's really doing great with him. Although he does get frustrated because Reece can't talk yet to tell him what's wrong. He'll get the hang of it soon I'm sure. Or Reece will just get old enough to start telling him what's wrong.

I really can't believe how much he's grown so far! His feet are so big he can't wear newborn socks anymore and some of his newborn onesies are getting too small as well.

Sounds like I've got to cut this short as someone's hungry...again!

Ok, just getting the hang of this...the last post was as of Wed, Reece's 2-week bday.

Updates since then...
Pediatrician's appt went well. We were hoping for an additional 2 oz to get him back up to birth weight and we got 12oz instead! Little overachiever! At least I know that feeling liking nothing more than a meal ticket day-in and day-out isn't for nothing. The nurse said we could cut back on feedings...if he'd let us. We're struggling w/ the if he'll let us part right now...

Last night, as Aaron put it, we finally feel like maybe we can do this. Reece gave us our first 4 hour stretch between feedings. Yay! This, by no means, meant that we got 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep. By the time he was fed, diaper changed, burped, and we got back to bed, it was 2.5 hours of uninterrupted sleep, but it felt great!

We also went for our 2nd walk yesterday. Reece slept most of the way, but it was nice to get out of the house.

I'll post pics and more updates later. Apparently the short nap is over.

The first 2 weeks

I'm still alive...sleep deprived, but alive. I really can't decide if it seems like yesterday I was in the hospital or an eternity ago. Regardless, Reece seems to be changing every day.

The first couple weeks have definitely had its ups and downs. The first night I was initiated and was pooped on, peed on, and I'm not sure I slept more than 30 minutes (Aaron has had his initiation as well, so Reece isn't showing any favoritism...yet). I was up constantly checking to make sure he was still breathing, if he was warm enough, but not too warm, and if his diaper was in need of changing. Finally, at around 7am, the 3 of us were sleeping decent...well sort of.

We're still working on our sleep patterns, but I'm not constantly holding a mirror under his nose or feeling his chest to make sure everything's ok still....ok, so sometimes, but I've definitely gotten better. Last night he actually went about 3 hours between feedings, so I was able to get some much needed rest! I'm not holding my breath that this is the start of a wonderful sleeping pattern, but I'll take what I can get at this point.

Reece goes to the pediatrician today for a weight check. Last week he was 7lb 3oz, so almost back up to birth weight (7lb 5oz), so we're hoping that this week he'll have surpassed that. With as much as he's been eating, I certainly hope so! He seriously ate 16 times in a single 24 hour period...and had equally as many diapers!

I am happy to report that his jaundice does seem to have gotten better. He definitely doesn't look quite as yellow. Whew!

Reece has already watched his first Wizards game and the first round of the NFL draft w/ Aaron. Not sure he learned much since he was napping through both, but that didn't stop Aaron from explaining everything to him. Aaron did go back to work on Monday and my mom (who's been here since last Sunday) goes home tomorrow so it will just be me and the munchkin here at the house. Eek!