Go Hawks!

Build me this!

Matt and his dad are a very handy bunch. We will probably be building a playset for Charlie as opposed to buying one. I love this playset, I want them to build this. Just need a side bar to hang swings on and it's perfect!

Chalie's O face

I don't know why I find this so funny. This is a hilarious face he makes over and over again. I love it.

First Bath

Chalie wasn't pooping as much as we would have liked. He was getting fussy and we thought he may be having tummy issues. We gave him a little molassas in his bottle to help the issue. Well, it worked and it worked WELL.

He had the blowout of the century. Down my leg, up his back, it was bad. He finally lost his umbilical cord (took us 3 days to find it- ewww) so I was able to actually give him a bath.

Plopped him down in the warm water and he LOVED it. It was so fun! He was sliding all over the place. I got soap in his eyes, water all over his face and he didn't even care, he ate it up! I'm so glad bath time is going to be easy!

2 weeks!

We had our 2 week checkup 7-19-10 (a little behind schedule because we had been to the doctor so often)

Vitals:

21" (back up to his original length after losing his 1 1/2" conehead) 49 percentile
9 lbs 12.5 oz (woo-hoo! Now that he is officially eating!) 71 percentile - my big boy!
14 1/4" head- 23 percentile

The first week- more breatfeeding issues

We were finally home. Charlie was amazing, he slept and he slept and he slept. He was sleeping 20 hours a day if not more and feeding every 4 hours. I thought he was easy! I had no idea what was really going on. My milk came in late Saturday. He would feed and it would take forever, usually upwards of about an hour between the fussing and the actual eating. But he was latching, so I assumed he was getting milk.

We went to the Doctor on Tuesday and he was down in weight. This is normal, they lose weight at first, but he had lost more than normal. They wanted him back Friday for another weigh in. I was annoyed, I knew he was eating and there goes ANOTHER copay check out the door.

We brought him in Friday and thought nothing of it. He was down another half a pound. I was so confused! He was eating and eating and eating. I was a little confused why he went 4 hours, but I thought I was lucky! The pediatrician proceeded to tell me, he's latching and suckling, but basically not getting anything. That's why he fusses and feeds so long. He finally gives up and sleeps it off. She told me that I needed to start bottle feeding immediately. I needed to feed him every two hours or he was going to have to be put in the hospital for dehydration.

I flipping lost it. How has he not been getting food and I didn't know it? I felt like the worst mother ever. The pediatrician was very sweet. She said this isn't uncommon, especially for first time mothers and that she's never given this speech where the mom didn't cry.

I started pumping like crazy and feeding every 2 hours. He was an absolute different baby after that. He was awake more during the day, he was more lively and interactive. I didn't even need to wake him up. Once he started eating, he would wake up to feed. He became my little hungry hungry hippo. I was mortified that I had been starving my precious little man. We brought him in on Monday and he had gained a significant amount of weight. The doctor was happy and we were good until his 2 week checkup (which was 2 days away- another copay out the door).

The hospital stay and breast feeding- how can something so natural be so hard!

The hospital stay was....annoying. Everyone says, stay as long as you can! You'll never want to leave!! Well, if it wasn't for the pain, I would have wanted to go home the first night. Charlie was born at 9 pm, we finally got to our room about 1 in the morning. Matt ran home (thankfully we live about 7 minutes from where I delivered) and let the dogs out and got some things for himself. They never remind you to pack things for your husband, we had nothing for him! I sent Charlie to the nursery that first night. I've always heard other moms say, send them to the nursery, you'll need the sleep. They brought him back about 4:30 in the morning to feed and he stayed with me from then on. Matt later told me he walked by the nursery and it was full of screaming babies. Poor Charlie, I never sent him back to the nursery again after that.

I began to learn how breastfeeding really works- I had no idea that your milk doesn't come in for 3-5 days. I breastfed and I breastfed and I breastfed. The lactation nazi from hell came and tried to help, I decided that she was never allowed near Charlie again. When I politely told the nurse that I would prefer she didn't help me anymore she had a look like 'yeah, we get that a lot'. So confusing how someone that crazy is supposed to help. I learned more from my little 25 year old nurse about better ways to breastfeed than I did from any other staffer the entire time I was there. He just didn't seem to be satisfied, he fussed and fussed, he was so hungry! So we hooked up this tube and taped it to my breast and began supplementing a little formula to satisfy him. This helped immensely.
Melinda came down on Friday and I am so glad she did. Melinda whipped the nurses into shape when it came to breastfeeding. She asked 'did they offer this?' and 'did they offer that?' Nope- she got a breast pump in for me and we were able to make a lot more progress in a very short amount of time. My milk still hadn't come in, but he was getting more of the beginners stuff he so desperately needed. She also talked me out of just feeding him with a syringe, it was so easy and got him happy fast, but she was right, don't do it, or he'll never go back to the breast. My sister- my awesome sister. She means more to me now that she ever has, and I didn't think that was possible.

There were many tears of frustration when it came to breastfeeding, he just was so hungry and I couldn't do it right to help. But, we kept at it, supplementing when necessary and he was on my breast every hour. I thought my nipples were going to fall off.

The most annoying part of the stay? Someone walking in your room every 20 minutes for this or that. Does my trash need to be emptied 3 times a day? Plus, I was still a little feverish so they were taking my vitals and temp what felt like every hour. I was sore, and tired, but ready to go home. Because of my c-section, I had to stay until Saturday. We got everything in order early in the morning so when my discharge came through, we could get out of there. I was so sick of being in that room and sick of being in bed.

We finally got to go home about 2 on Saturday. Charlie was still a little jaundiced so we had to come back the next morning (ugh) and do another bili-reuben test. He passed.

Catching up- The labor

Well, even though I'm home with Charlie, it has obviously been a busy time because I haven't posted anything. First time mom, who never had younger siblings, didn't really baby sit much- there has been a bit of a learning curve. I'm getting the hang of it all. He's fat and healthy, that's all that matters. I want to recap some of the events of the last two weeks. If it's too much information- I apologize. I will be graphic and use words like 'cervix'- if you don't like it, you have been warned. This is more for me to remember what happened in the blur that was the first couple of weeks than an actual sharing of info, but to those who are reading, you are welcome to do so.

The Labor- oooohhhhhh the labor....

I wasn't due until July 7th, but my amazing doctor, Dr. Lemberger, decided that I was getting too big ( I was a house- see pics above) and that it was time to induce. She was on call Wednesday evenings, so she told me to report to the hospital Tuesday night at 6 to get a cervadil (sp?) put in which softens the cervix and basically makes you contract all night and that they would induce Wednesday morning. Matt cooked me a steak dinner and we headed off to the hospital. They hooked me up to everything, put my IV in (which hurt probably more than anything!) and asked me 2 million questions. I proceeded to lay in bed and watch TV. We don't have TV at the house. We just can't justify $60 a month for cable, most shows I watch I can watch online anyway. I was rather happy to sit and watch TV all night. Matt even left for a while to watch Ethan's baseball game. He came back with grilled cheese and ice cream from sonic around 11- it was the last time I could eat for a long time, they cut me off at midnight. I was lucky that the cervidil didn't make me contract- I was just bored more than anything. Went to sleep, Matt slept on the little pull out chair and looked so uncomfortable! Poor thing was frozen all night, I meanwhile had barely a sheet on I was so hot.

The nurse came in at 5:30 to remove the cervadil and they told me to go to the bathroom, shower if I wanted and clean up. I wasn't going to shower, I showered (even shaved my legs believe it or not!) right before we came the night before. I got on the tile in the bathroom and completely peed myself. I whined to the nurses- 'ummm...I think I just peed myself!' I felt bad, I knew someone was going to have to clean it up. It just kept coming and coming and coming, I stepped in the shower. Nurses told me 'Honey, you're water just broke' I was covered in fluid, so yes, I think I'll shower. It was the weirdest sensation- it feels like you are peeing, but you have no control over it, and there is a LOT. So, no induction necessary, I was in labor! I got to 2 cm and I'm humming through the contractions, rolling my head back and forth, they aren't too bad at this point, but I don't know any different, so they are pretty bad to me. They asked me if I wanted an epidural and I said sure! There were 7 women in labor that morning, they said I was lucky, I was the first to get an epidural, so no waiting. Woo hoo! The epidural has always been one of the things I was most terrified about- I mean it's pretty much a spinal tap right? Easy peasy- so not painful and the relief was amazing. But it was probably about 7 in the morning and I was bed bound from then on which kinda sucked. Labor, labor, labor, can't feel much, but I'm noticing that my right side isn't numb, only my left. They rolled me over on my side but eventually had to bring 'Rick' the pain master back to fix my epidural. Still didn't work. By this time all the other 7 women were laboring, there were c-sections happening and Rick got very busy. This is when labor SUCKED. I was having full blown contractions and there was no relief- they were right on top of each other. I was yelping. Matt was a rock star- stood by me and let me crush his hands- no stool, no seat, just stood with me for like an hour and a half until Rick could get back to me. They redid my epidural completely- while I was having full contractions, I was in so much pain. I don't know how in the world anyone does this without drugs. This is about 1 in the afternoon. The epidural worked perfectly this time and I was a new woman.

Charlie break! Okay- fed and back to sleep. My sleepy baby- can't even get through a feeding without passing out!

S0- epidural is working and has turned my bottom half into concrete. Dr Lemberger said- take a nap, you need to rest. So Matt and I passed out and slept until about 4. At this point my beloved Doctor came in to tell me that her mother was just taken to the hospital with a possible heart attack and she wasn't going to be the one to deliver me- I was heartbroken. I was 6 cm at this point and now it was just a waiting game with many people sticking their hands up to me to check my progress, a weird feeling, not that I could feel anything down there at this point. They game me a drip with a button to use at my discretion and to say I took advantage would be an understatement. And we waited and we waited and we waited. My nurses went home at 7, I was now on my 3rd shift of nurses. All the women that had come in to deliver had their babies, I was the last one. Of course. I was at 9 cm though, and they got me up into position to push. There was so much pressure down there, at some point the medicine can't help you. Dr Caffrey and the nurse were talking and checking and talking and checking. They told me that the cervix wouldn't go over the babies head and that if something didn't happen they were going to have to go to c-section. I was devastated. I had been in labor for 13 hours at this point and I was exhausted. All this and we are going c-section?? They said they'd give it another hour. I was in freak out mode. The idea of being awake while they cut you open scares me to no end. We all decided that it was the best option, and they prepped me for surgery. I just wanted this baby out at this point- it was time! I got through surgery- the pulling, the tugging, the weird conversations the doctor has with the nurse and you can't see what they are talking about. I was shaking and my teeth were chattering so bad my jaw was about to turn to hamburger meat. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it sucked, don't get me wrong.

Dr Caffrey finally said 'Dad, do you want to look over here and tell your wife what you had?' I loved that Matt told me it was a little boy. I'm tearing up right now just thinking of the moment. And he was out! I just stared at him while they stitched me up and cleaned him off. I have a child...this is what other people do, not me. It was a moment I'll never forget.

Post op, shots for Charlie, mess with Charlie, poor crying Charlie. We finally got to a recovery room at about 1 in the morning. I was running a pretty good fever at this point and so they were freaking out about that. It ended up being a really good thing I went c-section. First- he was face up, the doctor cut me open and he was looking at him. Second- the head was just too big and even if I got his head out, his shoulders would have torn me in two. So it was for the best. Matt went home to deal with dogs and get some flipping clothes, he had been freezing all day. And that was that- we had our little Charlie. 21" 9 lbs 10 oz born at 9:09 pm-15 1/2 hours from when my water broke.

This has been more a journal for me- I apologize if it's a little stream of consciousness.

Presenting....Charlie William

**Wink Wink** Charlie's first bath, had his first blowout shortly after, so it was pretty pointless, but oh well. He had poop all over himself, including his hair. It would have been gross had Matt and I not been laughing so hard


The outfit from Grandma & Grandpa McAuley- our little firecracker

Big brother Ethan and big sister Bridgette

So, this is why I've been a little MIA lately. Things have gotten crazy wonderful down here. Plus, after 15 hours of labor, they took me c-section, so I have that on top of everything.

Will post more soon!