I can't believe that it's already been a month!!! Wow, how time flies. Jonah is getting better and better about sleeping at night - still only in 2 to 4 hour stretches, but that's an improvement - at least Daddy and I are getting SOME sleep now.
Jonah is still as sweet as ever and he's becoming more aware of his surroundings by the day. He loves the ceiling fan and now he'll turn his head to follow Mommy or Daddy around the room. It's so cute!
Not much else to update about right now. I added a few more pictures, so enjoy!
Love,
Mandy, Jared, and Jonah
2006-06-15 (baby has arrived)
Getting better
Jonah is 2 weeks old today and the nights are getting better. He's starting to sleep in longer stretches and staying awake at more "reasonable" times. The nights are still rough, but not as bad as even a few days ago. I think he's slowly getting onto a better schedule, thank goodness.
Today was Jonah's 2 week checkup and he's doing GREAT!!! I was hoping that he would be back up to his birth weight by now (8 pounds, 4 1/2 ounces). Well, he far exceeded that expectation. At today's appointment, he weighed 9 pounds, 7 ounces. He's put on a whole pound and a half since his first doctor's appointment. I knew he was eating well, but WOW!!! He's also grown another 1/4 of an inch. He's now 22 1/4 inches long and growing in leaps and bounds.
That's about all I have to update for now. I added a lot more pictures to my photo album, so check 'em out when you get a chance!
2006-06-12 (baby has arrived)
Exhausted at 11 days
Jonah is 11 days old today and I am absolutely exhausted! Who knew the first few weeks would be THIS hard?
Jonah really is a good baby. He almost never cries, but he gets really squirmy when he's awake...which is most often in the middle of the night. It's almost like he's just bored and doesn't know what to do with himself if he's not sleeping.
I'm kind of at a loss for what to do. The sleepless nights are catching up with me and I just don't know what to do to entertain him when he's awake. Any suggestions???
2006-06-05 (baby has arrived)
Jonah's birth
As promised, I have finally added some pictures of Jonah. He's 4 days old as of today, and currently sleeping like a log (which he does quite a bit of).
The labor and delivery did not go AT ALL the way I had planned, but everything worked out in the end, so I'm okay with it. Long story short - I had intended on doing it med-free, but nature didn't cooperate.
Because I was 8 days overdue, the doctor broke my water Thursday morning at about 7:45 am. I had been dilated 5 cm since the Saturday before, so they were hoping that would help my labor to progress. Not a whole lot happened for most of the day. Around 2 pm, I started having REALLY bad contractions. Unfortunately they weren't doing a whole lot to help me dilate. Pretty soon the pain became absolutely unbearable and after a lot of debate, I decided to get an epidural. Within about 20 minutes, all my pain was gone - I have to admit, it was such a relief!
After the epidural, I still was progressing VERY slowly, so they decided to give me pitocin, since I wouldn't feel the pain anyway. That did help things to move along a little, but it had been so long since my water was broken that I starting getting a fever. They had to give me antibiotics to keep away any infection and protect Jonah. After about an hour, my blood pressure dropped and Jonah gave us one good scare when his heart rate dropped into the 70s. They put an internal monitor on him and made me lay on my side. Thankfully, he recovered pretty quickly and his heart rate went back to normal.
After that, labor went really fast. My epidural started to wear off and I was feeling a lot of pressure. Then I started feeling pain again. The anesthesiologist gave me a tiny syringe more of the epidural and the pain went away. From there I went from 7 to 9 in about half an hour and about 15 minutes later, they had me start pushing. It was probably the hardest thing I've ever done. I could feel the pressure of each contraction, but when I pushed it felt like I was accomplishing nothing. I really wanted to give up. Finally after about 30 minutes, Jonah was born.
Besides the change in plans, my actual labor and delivery were not that bad. What made the whole experience a bit of a downer for me was the care we received from the nurses and my doctor. We had an AWESOME nurse all day Thursday, but a really AWFUL one during the evening. Unfortunately, the bad one was there for the delivery.
I won't go into all the details, but this girl did not know what she was doing, she ignored everything I asked or told her and did whatever the heck she wanted. It was really upsetting. (This was the same nurse we'd had when I went into false labor the Saturday before - and she was horrid then, too). Before delivery, we even told the doctor that we did not want that nurse anywhere near me, and she still ended up helping deliver. I was so mad! To top it off, during the delivery the doctor gave me an episiotomy without even asking. I know that several aspects of our original birth plan had changed, but it still bothered me that she did that without even checking with me first.
Back to the positive stuff - We got to come home on Saturday and today Jonah had his first doctor's visit. It was a great first doctor's visit and Jonah is right on track with everything.
I know that I may be a little biased, but he is a perfect little baby. The only time he cries is when we have to change his diaper - he hates wet wipes! Otherwise, he is a happy little camper, a big eater, and a good sleeper. I couldn't be happier.
Well, I guess that's enough for now. Little man seems to be waking up and I know he'll want to eat soon. I hope all you other mommies are doing well. God bless!
