One-month check-up

Caedon is one-month old!  I can't believe he's already getting so big.  We had his one-month well baby visit this morning and the doctor said he looks great.  She actually said, "Keep doing whatever you're doing because he looks absolutely perfect."  :)  He now weighs 9 lb, 15.5 oz and is 22 1/4 inches long.  And she said he's VERY strong.  Caedon hasn't learned too much new stuff this month but he is definitely growing too fast!  He's started smiling a little bit.  He LOVES to lay on the couch or in our arms and stare at the family pictures on our walls.  He sleeps in his own bed, in his own room at night.  Last night he even let us sleep for 4.5 hours at one time!  Mommy was thrilled!  He's still very much in the eat, awake, sleep phase but during the day he wants to sleep in our arms.  It's sweet but can get a bit frustrating when I have two other kiddos to take care of, too! 

The doctor also mentioned today that at his next check-up he'll be getting shots and then she said, "And we don't recommend giving them tylenol before the shots anymore."  I mentioned that it's funny how many things are different now from when I had my first two.  Like now they tell you not to use alcohol around the umbilical cord stump to dry it out, just leave it alone.  She said, "Yeah, it just shows that it's all just advice and you're not going to mess them up no matter what you choose to do."  LOVE IT!  I love that a doctor admitted that it's perfectly okay to take what they tell you, listen to it and then do with it what you want.  I've always done this anyway because I figure I know my kids about a million times better than a doctor who only sees them for about 10 minutes every month or more but it's lovely to hear it come from a doctor's mouth.  :D

Okay - PICTURE time!

We got home and he was hot and sweaty from being in his carseat so I stripped him down before his nap.  And he slept really good...maybe he's just hot during the day?  Anyway, he looks super cute.  :)

Kyler was trying to take a picture of the whole family.  I like it.  :)

Look at that sweet little smile on Caedon's face as he gazes at his big brother!

Sister loves Caedon!

Three little munchkins ready for bed!

Sleeping in Mommy and Daddy's bed.  Sometimes he wakes up way too early in the morning and at that point it's just easier to bring him to bed with me and see if he'll sleep a bit longer!

They're all way too cute.

Picture taking fun :)

My sweet babies

I LOVE Caedon's face in this picture - it's like he's thinking, "WHAT have you people gotten me into?"

They all did a great job getting their pictures made!

My Mr. Man.

He's adorable.

Love this picture of me and my kiddos!

I love *knowing* my baby.  Caedon is a really good baby and he's pretty much in the routine of eat, sleep, awake time, sleep more, etc.  But the last few days he hasn't wanted to sleep much.  I kept saying that I thought he wanted more to eat.  He wasn't acting like he was starving after finishing his bottle, but when we would try to get him to sleep he would just fuss and cry and doze for a short time.  Today I gave him just an extra half an ounce in his bottles and he's gone back to his 2 1/2 hour naps.  Mommy knew exactly what he needed.  :)  Now if this wonderful sleep will carry over into nighttime tonight, I'll be thrilled.  I need some sleep, too!

Kyler and Melissa are doing pretty well with him.  They really don't pay him all that much attention except on the rare occasion that they'll come over to give a hug or talk about how cute he is.  They are having to learn that they can't YELL in the living room (his room is right off the living room).  I know people say to let them adjust to sleeping through the noise and such, but once he's asleep I want him to stay that way for awhile and their yelling won't accomplish my goal! 

The two big kids were both sick this past week.  I'm pretty sure it's just their allergies acting up, but they both had fevers so they were told to stay away from the baby.  Thankfully it doesn't look like he's picked up any bug they might have been passing around.

I hate Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Brian works until 7:45-ish those nights and the full days of single mommy kill me.  But I'm thankful he's here to help me.  He really is an amazing Daddy!

This morning I'm pretty sure Caedon was trying to give us his first smiles.  His little face lit up and his mouth was turning up a bit at the corners.  I can't wait to see a full blown grin on that adorable face!

Picture time!

Sleepy time with Mommy!

Kisses from sister!

Someone is NOT please with his first bath.

Sleeping oh-so-sweetly in his carseat

Big brother helping feed Caedon before school one morning

Melissa, Grandma, Caedon and Kyler

He is way too cute

Naptime in his crib

Caedon's story

At 2:58 pm this afternoon my baby boy will be one week old.  Time to get his birth story down on paper.  Well, at least in words on the computer.  :) 

I went to bed Saturday night and woke up at 1:10 am on Sunday, August 28th with a very odd feeling.  That's when I realized that my water had broken.  I had told Brian the day before that I kinda hoped my water would break because it had never broken on its own before.  This is an example of "be careful what you wish for."  I called my midwife, Tina, and she asked if I was having any contractions.  I said no and she said to go back to bed and try to sleep because when the water breaks early in labor it often means it will be a slower labor.  I tried, but I didn't get much more sleep that night.  By Sunday, late morning, my contractions still hadn't started so I met Tina at the birthing center so she could check me and she gave me some herbs and such to try to get my contractions started.  I spent the rest of the afternoon taking red raspberry capsules, drinking castor oil (that stuff is NASTY, btw) and black and blue cohash.  Can I tell you that being induced with these things is much nastier than being induced medically?  Regardless, none of it worked.  I did briefly have contractions, for about 2 hours, pretty consistently.  But then they just stopped.  Tina told me to go to bed and sleep while I could but that if my labor hadn't gotten started by morning we'd have to discuss a new plan - meaning that I would be headed to the hospital for a medical induction. 

At 7 am Tina called and told me to get things ready and head to the hospital because my water had been broken for 30 hours at that point and the longer it's broken without baby coming, the more chance there is for infection for me and baby.  She called ahead to Baylor Dallas to have them prepare for me to transfer there.  We arrived at the hospital around 9 am, I think, and got settled into a room and they gave me an IV and hooked me up to all the monitors.  I was dilated to a 3.  By 10 am or so I had pitocin working and I started having contractions.  We started noticing that Caedon's heart rate was slowing every time that my contractions would peak and it bothered us.  Obviously it bothered the staff, as well, because they started coming in and asking me to switch positions and trying to figure out if he was laying on his cord, causing the dips in heart rate during contractions.  They also started an amnio infusion - putting liquid back into my uterus to try to cushion the cord and baby.  None of it worked.  They turned off the pitocin around noon.  I continued to contract and his heart rate continued to dip with every one.  The doctor came in around 2 pm and explained that during the hours of contractions I had only dilated about one more centimeter and his heart rate was taking longer to come back up after each dip.  If I had been alot further along in my labor this wouldn't have been as much of a problem because he would have been almost born and the dips wouldn't have affected him as much.  But I still had a long way to go and he could not tolerate hours more of labor.  The safest option was a c-section.  And by this point I'd already given up my hopes for a homebirth, obviously, and all that mattered was getting my sweet Caedon here safely.  I quickly agreed to the c-section and they started making all of the arrangements.

In labor - shortly before deciding to do the c-section.  They had me on oxygen to help with Caedon's oxygen level.

Right before the c-section started.  That blanket over my top half was soooo warm.  It was freezing in the OR and I was shaking because of nerves so it was wonderful when they put the blanket over me.

I was taken to the OR soon after and given the epidural and prepped for surgery.  Before surgery started Tina arrived and was allowed to be in the OR with me and Brian.  Being fully awake during a surgery was such an odd sensation.  I knew they were cutting me open on the other side of the curtain but I couldn't see anything and could feel very little.  Very soon I heard a precious little cry and my boy was here!  He had the cord wrapped tightly around his neck twice, which was causing the cord compression and heart rate dips.  I am so thankful that he was safely delivered!  He is healthy and beautiful and such a wonderful baby!  He was born August 29, 2011 at 2:58 pm.  He was 7 lbs, 6 oz and 20.5 inches long.

New little man - getting cleaned up!

Tina sitting with me while we watched them clean Caedon up.

He's a handsome little boy!

He was never taken out of my sight - they cleaned him up where I was able to see him and then he was swaddled and given to Brian.  He brought him to me and we admired our Caedon while I got stitched up and ready for the recovery room.

Meeting my baby boy - outside of the womb.  :)

Headed to the recovery room with my baby boy

The hospital experience was not bad.  I was treated very well - one of the reasons Tina had me go to Baylor Dallas.  The hospitals around Rockwall are not really fans of the birthing center here and don't tend to be very welcoming of homebirth transfer moms - and would not have allowed Tina to be with me for the delivery.  I can say that I did enjoy having meals show up on a tray for me every day.  I miss that... :) 

Ready to go home from the hospital!

Putting Caedon in his carseat.

We're home!

We came home on Thursday afternoon and while it's been somewhat overwhelming to have three kiddos and deal with my hormones going crazy, along with Brian's restrictions, we're adjusting.  Caedon is a very calm, mellow baby and he's pretty easy.  He's already sleeping wonderfully at night - waking twice to eat and going back to sleep.  And the last two mornings he's woken up around 5:30 am and since it was still 2 hours until time for him to eat again, I've brought him to snuggle with me in bed and we've both gone back to sleep.  It's odd - I've never been able to sleep with one of them in bed with me or even in a separate bed in our room, but he's just not a wiggly baby and he doesn't keep me awake at all.

I am recovering well physically.  Not nearly as quickly as after Melissa's birth, but it's actually been an easier recovery than after Kyler.  Emotionally, I'm a mess!  My hormones are going crazy on top of the mild depression I've been dealing with for the last few months, so I tend to cry very easily.  I've told Brian to keep an eye on me because I'm aware that with this baby I know developing postpartum depression is very possible.  I didn't struggle with it at all with the other two but Caedon's pregnancy and birth have been such a roller coaster ride.

And now I have three VERY different birth stories to share.  Hospital, epidural, vaginal delivery - with a 4th degree tear and blood transfusion - with Kyler, home waterbirth, no tears, perfect textbook delivery with Melissa, and attempted homebirth that turned into a c-section delivery at the hospital with Caedon.  I said I should just be a doctor.  I know it all now.  :)

My three sweet kiddos - I don't know how I got blessed with three such awesome little people!  I love them!

My family of five.  We have our struggles but I am blessed every day to get to see their sweet faces!

Premonition or Mother's Intuition?

I'm up waiting for Caedon to go back to sleep after a bottle.  We're doing cry-it-out tonight and so far it's worked great.  I've done it with both of my other kids and I'm definitely a fan!  Earlier we put him in his pack-n-play about 7:30 and by 8 he was sound asleep.  An accomplishment since he's pretty much been sleeping in our arms since we came home.  His first night he and I ended up sleeping in the glider for 4 hours.  That's not something I can keep up on a nightly basis so I tend to try to get my kids sleeping in their own beds quickly!

Anyway, I will soon do a blog post with Caedon's birth story but tonight I'm just thinking about the pregnancy in general.  I think Brian was the only person who knew that from the beginning this pregnancy felt "off."  I don't know if it was that it took me longer to get pregnant than I expected so it started me off thinking something was wrong or what, but through the entire pregnancy I just expected problems.  I even from the beginning considered delivering at the birthing center because it was closer to the hospital even though I really preferred to do it at home.  But once I got past the awful sickness in the beginning, things were great.  I felt better during this pregnancy, gained less weight, had less swelling and no night-time leg cramping.  But I still couldn't shake the feeling that something would go wrong.

When life went crazy our whole situation I wondered if my feelings had more to do with that than with Caedon but the feelings didn't go away.  Then at 36 weeks I found out he was breech and I thought, "Yep, here we go, this is what I've been feeling!"  But then he turned.  I was thrilled, of course, and assumed we'd continue with the homebirth plan.  After he turned, though, I felt even more unsettled.  I started picturing awful scenarios and felt so unsure about the entire thing.  Suffice it to say, when I ended up in the hospital and then in the operating room for a c-section, I was not entirely surprised.  There was something telling me the entire time that I wasn't going to get the perfect birth I wanted.  But I did get to come home with the perfect baby that I adore, so I am praising God for a plan that was so much better than my own!