3 Weeks Old Today! Julian is such a good baby. He wakes up only about once a night. Sometimes twice, if I don't feed him before I go to bed. I learned this trick... I feed him as late as possible (unless he gets hungry) before I go to bed, because then he will only wake up one time during the night to eat. Then he'll wake up between 6-7 in the morning, but then by that time I'll just stay awake with him. He eats between 4-6 ounces a feeding! I think I'm going to try to start him on cereal this week. Hopefully he'll take to it pretty good. My family was telling me how they started us kids on cereal at a couple weeks old too, and we turned out fine! Hehe! Julian is constipated right now, so he is a little fussy. He's on formula with iron and on vitamins with extra iron. The visiting nurse is coming here tomorrow, so I'm going to see what I can do about his constipation. Maybe I can change him to just regular vitamins. I've had so many appointments for him since he's been home. He went to the doctor last Tuesday (May 6th), he just got looked at. He gets his first set of shots on May 30th. I'm not ready for that! I don't want to see him cry. I hope he does good. I had a WIC appointment today for him. I'd be lost without WIC and food stamps because his little piggy goes through so much formula. I just got an increase in food stamps since he was born. I get $298 a month now! But if I run out of WIC checks during the month, formula IS covered by food stamps I just found out last week. Im stressing out about getting on this waiting list for title 20. I'm still waiting for my work to give me back these papers they needed to sign for it. I want to send everything in ASAP so I can get on this waiting list, because childcare is so so so expensive! My mom is going to have to help us pay for daycare until I get approved for titile 20. It's $165 a week! But that's about how much it is everywhere. The lowest fee I came across was $145. Well I was weighed today at Julian's WIC appointment. I weight 163lbs with clothes on. So I'm about 7-10lbs away from my pre-pregnancy weight. I weighed 183lbs at my highest weight during my pregnancy. With is good, since I gained a total of 28lbs. Well I'm going to go lay down with my baby. I love cuddling with him and just lay holding him. He makes such cute noises and faces. He makes so much noise when he eats. It's funny. He's a really gassy baby, he also burps really good during feedings. Noel is doing so good with him. He has so much patience with him. I can tell how much he loves him, just by watching him with Julian. Oh I almost forgot.... Julian's umbilical cord fell off last Tuesday (May 6th) so I gave him his first bath on the 8th. He did so good with it. He didn't cry at all. I think he likes the water. I didn't even hold him in his baby tub. I just laid him in the net while I washed him and he didn't even fuss or move around. I'm so lucky to have such a good baby. I just hope it lasts as the time goes by. I'm so happy that I have him, he really did change my life. I get a little fusterated at times, but i can't be away from him! I don't even want his father to take him anywhere without me! I have to go back to work on June 2nd, so I want to spend as much time with him as possible. It's going to be hard to go back to work :(
2008-05-06 (baby has arrived)
Finally home Julian came home on Sunday, May 4th, 2008. He's such a good baby. He barely cries and sleeps so good at night. I wouldn't be surprised if he starts sleeping through the night real soon. I took him to the doctor today. He just got looked over at this appointment. At the end of the month is when he gets his shots. I'm not ready for that yet! I'm going to cry if he cries :( But anyway... I've been so busy these past 2 days... making and going to appointments, with phones calls, getting papers filled out... the joys of parenthood. I do love it tho. I feel complete now that I have him home. He really did fill a spot in my heart and soul. He's getting so big. He weighs 9 lbs. 2 oz. already! He's 21 inches, so he lost a half an inch. Probably because his head is normal now. It was long! Hehe:)
2008-04-29 (baby has arrived)
I Finally had my Baby Boy! Sunday, April 20th, I was scheduled to be induced at midnight. Well Sunday morning when I got home from church, I started bleeding a little and I was having some cramping. It didn't get any stronger by the time I go to the hospital that night, but it was the start of labor. I was about 2 cm dilated and having mild contractions, so the nurses decided not to give me the Cytotec and started me right on the Pitocin. Within a half an hour, my contractions were getting stronger. After 5 hours, I needed an epidural! So at 5:30 a.m. the anesthesiologist came up to start my epidural. I was fine after that. But I was nauseous through my whole labor. I couldn't even keep down ice chips. My epidural wore off twice and I had to get more medicine. Then it wore off for the third time and I waiting about an hour and a half for the doctor to come and check to see how dilated I was before they gave me more pain medication. When he checked me, he said it was time to have the baby! This was around 2-2:30 p.m. As soon as he told me that it was time to push, I nearly cried! Because I was sitting there for like an hour and a half in terrible pain. And I knew once I started pushing, the pain would get worse. My boyfriend, Noel, and my mom were holding each one of my legs. I started pushing for a little bit and I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere! I kept saying that I give up! I honestly felt like I was pushing for no reason. Everyone kept saying I was doing good, but I didn't believe them. Then the nurse told me to reach down and feel my baby's head. It was just the top, but I was like oh no! He's coming! Then I started feeling his head slide outwards, so that gave me the confidence to push. I just closed me eyes and kept pushing as head as I could. Then when his whole head was out, I was told to stop pushing. The umbilical cord was wrapped around my baby's neck. So they cut that and told me to give small pushes. I felt them pulling and turning the baby. It was so awesome because at this time I wasn't pushing really hard and the pain wasn't as bad. Noel was only supposed to take still pictures doing the labor, but once the baby's head was out, he started video taping it. So I have on video from the head sticking out to the rest of the birth. I gave a few more pushes and out he came! My stomach felt like it just sucked back in! That was a weird feeling! They laid him on my stomach for a few seconds, but then they had to take him away to stimulate his breathing because of the umbilical cord being around his neck. He didn't really cry once they had him breathing good, he just sort of let out a little wail and then stopped. The nurses cleaned him up and then gave him back to me. I think the first thing I said to him was... "So you're the one that was causing me all this pain" Haha! I needed 2 or 3 stitches. It took the nurse a little while to deliver my placenta. But everything went so well. I'm so happy with the way it went and the outcome. Julian is still in the hospital though. He's still being monitored. Hopefully he will be home soon. Because he is starting to get big and I want him home with me so bad. I miss him so much when I have to leave the hospital. It's so hard. But he's starting to do a lot better. I'm praying that he has another good night tonight, because it will be one step closer until he comes home.
2008-04-14 (40 weeks)
Another Doctor Appointment Well I went to the doctor again today... i'm still 1-1.5 cm dilated but I am a little more effaced then on Thursday. They hooked me up to that machine that monitors movements and contractions and i'm having regular contractions, they just are that strong yet. Which is why i'm not feeling them. Hopefully now that they started, they will get stronger soon! I'm going to go out for another walk. Hopefully my walking and exercising does something now. So i'm seeing a little progress.
