Life at Day 9

After I peed out my diaper on myself and Mommy, I got my first bath at home.

Noah cries when we put him in his car seat, but falls asleep almost every time we drive in the car.  (Hallelujah.)

I love his squishy face.

Noah's favorite place to sleep is curled up in a tiny ball on my chest.  I regularly have a big drool spot right in the middle of my shirt.  This is how I like to spend my days (and nights) too.

I am still completely head over heels for this boy.  I'm in love.  He is not an easy baby, though.  Noah has been struggling with breastfeeding (I guess that's just how my kids roll), but we're getting through it.  He has a pretty weak latch and suck, making it difficult for him to eat with any kind of efficiency.  He is gaining weight just fine, though, so I know that we're doing something right.  It just takes him at least an hour (1 1/2 hours) to empty both sides.  I anticipate this improving, I just wish it would happen sooner.  At this point, it's very hard to leave the house for any amount of time because he eats for an hour every 2 hours.  That means that I spend at least 10-12 hours a day breastfeeding.  That doesn't leave much time for anything else (Nate and Abbie, swimming lessons, sleep, grocery shopping, dishes, meals, cleaning, etc.).  I wish I could say that Alan has had days off for helping out, but he hasn't.  He's been working a lot.  I guess that it's forced me to figure out this single parent of three thing a lot faster.  That's good, right?

Noah is a snuggler.  He refuses to sleep for any real amount of time unless he's snuggled on top of someone.  Sometimes during the day, I can get a half an hour out of him if I swaddle him really tight and put him in the swing, but at night, all bets are off.  This boy will cry the entire night long unless he's nursing or sleeping on somebody's chest.  I am sure I'm going to hear lots of advice about how this a bad habit to get into, I should definitely make him sleep in his bassinet, etc. But I can't bring myself to hear him cry like that, knowing that all he wants is for me to hold him.  So we're tired and my back hurts--At least I get to spend a good part of the day and night with a tiny baby snuggled against me.  There are worse things than that.

Enough complaining, though.  The good thing about your third is that you know this won't last forever.  Nate and Abbie both started out has horrible breastfeeders, but they both figured it out.  The lack of sleep may continue for a while, but I know that at some point, he'll have to sleep more than an hour or two at a time.  Alan is off next week (hopefully he'll actually stay out of the office), so I will finally have some backup at home.  More importantly, though, I have a healthy growing baby.  Despite being a little challenging, he is incredibly sweet.  Every time that Noah first latches on to eat, he looks up at me with this determined little face that says, "Don't you dare try to stop me.  This is mine."  I love it.  He has a ridiculously active rooting reflex that leaves him shaking his head, trying to eat his own shoulder and shirt, and bobbing his head all over the place.  It's endearing to watch.  Noah has tons of hair in the back, less on the sides and not much on the top.  I love to stroke his hair while he eats.  He also has a little dimple on his left ear that I have to write about so that I don't forget it was there.  His tiny chicken legs are very strong--He periodically hold them up himself while I'm changing his diaper.  The best part of all of this is the little bond that we've already formed.  Noah calms when I hold him, he looks for me when he hears my voice.  It's amazing how much I love him, even at only a week old.  Although I guess that I was getting to know him for quite a while before that...

Our New Little Man

Noah Samuel Dimond

June 21, 2011 7:59 PM

7 lbs 3 oz

20 in

Noah's entrance into the world was swift and the easiest of my three.  I progressed from five to ten centimeters in about 45 minutes, then pushed for just six minutes before Noah was born.  I give full credit to my epidural for the quick progression.  Going from three to five centimeters took me several hours.  I had wanted to go without the epidural but the pain in my back was unrelenting, not even abating between contractions.  The anesthesiologist spent 40 (painful) minutes trying to place the epidural at three different levels before she finally got it in.  She said that I was "challenging" and that the anatomy in my lower lumbar levels was completely abnormal.  Thank you back surgery.  After the epidural was placed, though, I was able to relax finally.  In 20 minutes I started to feel some pressure and had already progressed from five to seven centimeters.  About 20 minutes after that I felt like I needed to push, so they checked me and I was complete.  AMAZING.  I had a hot spot in my epidural in exactly the right (wrong) spot to feel everything except the pain from the contractions-Just tons of pressure and a very strong urge to push.  I think that the hot spot is probably the reason that I got him out so fast.  That was seriously uncomfortable!  Everything went unbelievably well.  I couldn't be happier with my labor and delivery experience.

Here are some pictures from Noah's first days of life:

39 and 1 weeks

That was ridiculous!

Looking just like Abbie

Really? A bath right now?

Meeting big sister

I have three kids!

Look at all that dark hair!

 
I have to admit that I am completely in love.  Smitten.  In heaven.  Noah is perfect.  Yes, he cries from sun-down to sun-up (seriously, it doesn't stop).  Yes, he nurses for an hour every hour and a half.  Yes, I'm completely exhausted.  But I can't not smile when I look at him.  My heart is full.  No, not full, it's overflowing.  We waited so long for this little boy, went through so much before he was ready to come to our family.  Now, looking at his angelic face and snuggling his tiny body against my chest, I can honestly say that I would do it all again knowing that he would be waiting for me at the end of the journey.

Preschool Graduation

Abbie finished preschool a couple of weeks ago.  I should probably document all of my feelings about this, but I just can't.  She's five and a half, has lost two teeth and starts kindergarten in a few months.  That's enough to make any mommy cry.  Suffice it to say that this baby is coming at just the right time...

What's That Sound?

Mother's Day 2011

The Arboretum 

 Wrapping Paper

Happy Day!

Baby's placenta moved!  It's now just barely over 2 cm from my cervix, just where it needs to be to not be considered low lying anymore.  We were also able to see that he has a good amount of hair on his head (hopefully curly!) and is already rocking a double chin.  I can't wait to meet this little boy.

To Remember (34 Weeks)

There are just a few things about this pregnancy that I don't want to forget.  Actually, maybe I do want to forget them, but they seem noteworthy, so I'll write them down anyway.  This post is mostly for me, so don't feel obligated to read it...

-This baby is still incredibly active.  He's also very strong.  I keep wondering how it's possible for him to gain so much momentum before hitting/kicking me in that tight little space.  I'm still measuring big, so theoretically he shouldn't have a ton of room anymore...  And yet if he were born with a baseball bat, I wouldn't be surprised.  He spends a lot of time beating the crap out of my left hip bone, something I don't remember from Nate or Abbie, but is always very uncomfortable.  The other day while I was fixing dinner, I had my belly against the counter and he jabbed something out so hard that he physically pushed me away from the counter.  He also seems to enjoy raking knees/elbows/feet across the entire length of my uterus.  That hurts.  The most uncomfortable thing he does is use my bladder as a punching bag.  I don't remember ever feeling physical pain upon impact with my bladder before, but those hits are enough to make me gasp.  He moves all day and all night, leaving me slightly concerned for when he's actually going to sleep after being born.  I keep reading about these less active sleep periods and remembering them from my other kids, but this little guy just isn't following the manual.  Despite all of that, I still really love to watch my belly move from the outside.  His hiccups are big enough to watch from the outside and the kids get a big kick out of that (about 20 times per day).  I've also gotten really good at determining which little body part is poking out where.  He doesn't really like it when I shove his feet back in.
-Insomnia has been horrible.  I've had insomnia for this entire pregnancy, but it's gotten much worse over the last few weeks.  I haven't slept past 5AM since probably October, but lately it's turned into 2AM.  Between Monday and Friday of last week, I got a whopping 10 hours of sleep.  I seem to be able to fall asleep ok, but then I wake up at 2 or 3 and can never fall back to sleep.  After the 10 hour week, and feeling like I was driving drunk, I called my doctor and got a script for Ambien.  I don't like taking it, but I was no longer able to function.  Now I can get about 5-6 hours total per night, not uninterrupted, but at least I can fall back asleep after I wake up to pee, at least until about 5AM.  I don't know what it is about that number, but I can't ever sleep after that.
-Contractions are manageable.  With Abbie, I contracted all day every day from 31 weeks on.  At this point I seem to contract regularly some time every day, but nothing like before.  I'll just go for an hour or two and then things will end on their own.  My cervix was still the same 2 weeks ago (I have another appt. tomorrow), so I'm now "allowed" to do more during the day.  I'm not really doing the whole bed rest thing--I'm just laying down when I start contracting, instead of spending all day in bed.  It's much more manageable, although it's a bit difficult to plan when I will be able to do things.  I'm trying not to be on my feet for more than an hour at a time, although I'm still doing my prenatal yoga for an hour every day and rarely end up contracting after that.  If it weren't for the whole low placenta thing, I wouldn't be surprised if I had to be induced at 42 wks.
-My appetite is mostly gone at this point.  Up until a few weeks ago, I would wake up starving in the middle of the night and need to eat every few hours during the day.  I guess he's crammed up near my stomach, though, because I rarely feel hungry at all.  I am eating much smaller portion sizes now and sometimes have to force myself to eat a meal.  I haven't gained any weight in the last couple of weeks, so I'm trying to make sure that I'm eating enough.
-Cravings: Bacon, bacon, bacon.  Normally I'm not a big meat eater, but I could eat a BLT every single day.  Watermelon.  Lots of watermelon.  Popsicles.  Only the red, white, and blue ones, though.  Apple slices.  Cantaloupe.  Pineapple.
-Even though I'm measuring big, I don't feel huge like I did with Abbie.  I knew that she was going to be big, but I'm not sure about this baby's size.  He's definitely up in my ribs (and has been for at least a month), but I don't feel like my belly is huge like it was with Abbie.  Some of the maternity shirts that I wore with Abbie seem to be too short now, though, so I'm not sure what that means.  I'm definitely curious to know what size this boy's going to be.

Tomorrow I'll talk to my doctor about scheduling a C/S vs. attempting a vaginal delivery.  With the placenta so low, I'm not quite sure what to do.  I really don't want to end up hemorrhaging and under general anesthesia, but I would obviously prefer the vaginal delivery for many reasons.  Here's to a miraculous placental migration...

May the Fourth Be With You

In honor of Star Wars Day, I made a Star Wars meal for dinner.  (Can you tell that Star Wars is big at our house right now?)

Bubble City Jello Mold (Bubble City is where the Gungans live)

Double Lightsabers (Darth Maul's)

I must confess that it took some convincing to post this next picture.  I attempted to create a cake with Darth Maul's face on it.  I'm utterly embarrassed by how it turned out.  Can you say Cake Wreck?

Darth Maul Cake

Despite the hideousness of the cake and the poor nutritional content of the meal, the kids were in heaven.  We might have to make this a tradition.  Minus the cake...

Pityriasis Rosea

Poor Abbie has developed quite the rash.  It started about three weeks ago and after a week of just getting worse, I finally took her in to see the pediatrician.  The verdict?  Pityriasis Rosea.  This rash is fairly uncommon in children, but also very benign.  For Abbie, there's no itching and it's not contagious (THANK GOODNESS!), just a really horrible looking rash.  It started on her neck and torso, but has now spread to her entire body.  It doesn't bother her at all, but I have to explain a lot that she's seen a doctor, it's not contagious, she's really okay to be at preschool and ballet, etc.  The good news is that it goes away on its own.  The bad news is that it can take up to 8 weeks to heal.  Poor girl!  I'm hoping that it will be gone in time for the pool opening which happens in three weeks...

She thought it was hilarious that the rash was in her armpit.

Eastern Bluebird

Nate spotted this bird outside our window last week.  We did some research and discovered that it's an Eastern Bluebird.  Apparently they're fairly common in WI.

On a side note, can you believe how bare the trees look for early May?!

Nate's Baptism

April 16th marked a very special day for Nate; he was baptized.  In our church, children aren't baptized until they're eight years old.  This allows them to understand the commitment they're making and make the choice for themselves.  Nate has been excited for months about his baptism.  We made it clear that this was his choice, but he made it clear that he wanted nothing more than to be baptized.  Alan performed the baptism and confirmation, and we were joined by many wonderful friends and family.  It was a wonderful day for our family.

Nate's 8th Birthday

On April 14th, Nate turned eight!  (I still can't believe he's that old.)  Nate decided that he didn't want to have a party this year, opting instead to head to the Dells for a day to play at an arcade, rock out some laser tag, and drive go-carts.  His birthday happened to coincide with a pizza party that his class earned for everybody getting 100% on their spelling tests.  Nate asked if I would make Star Wars cupcakes for his class to eat during the party.  After a little negotiating (he wanted me to decorate the top of each cupcake with a character's face using frosting), we settled on these cupcake toppers I made using stickers:

Bad guys in red

Good guys in blue

Nate's "Unkie Mikey," Alan's youngest brother, flew into town from BYU on the 14th and was able to come to pick Nate up from school with Abbie and me.  We brought Nate a bunch of Star Wars balloons (are you seeing the theme here?)--He was happily surprised to see his uncle and all of those balloons.

For dinner, Nate chose to head to Outback Steakhouse.  This is a restaurant that we don't really go to ($$$), but Nate loves his steak so off we went.  My parents flew into town on the 14th as well, so they met us at dinner.  Alan's parents, his brother, and two nephews joined us for the big eat.  Nate wolfed down a salad, baked sweet potato, and adult size steak.  If you know Nate, you understand what an accomplishment that is.  (The kid doesn't eat much...)  After dinner, we headed to Alan's parents house to do cake and presents.  Nate requested the same cake as last year, chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting.  (This year, thanks to this over-eager baby, he got a cake made from a box mix.  I did make the buttercream from scratch!)

The little stinker tried to blow out the candles with his nose.

I honestly can't believe this little boy is eight.  He adds so much to our lives every single day.  Nate is still the most sensitive kid I know, always looking out for how other people are feeling.  He doesn't leave for school in the morning without giving me a hug and blowing kisses as I drive away.  He reads Star Wars books to Abbie after school and rides his bike up and down the block with her almost every day so that she'll be happy.  Nate knows more about Star Wars than anyone I know, sometimes producing facts that seem so obscure I'm sure he's made them up, until he finds a Lego or book to show me the proof.  Nate is one of the best readers in his class, testing at a middle school level.  He has his addition down pat, but hates subtraction with regrouping (borrowing), though he's still very good at it.  He's learning to write in cursive, something I'm relearning with him... Nate still hates homework and does just about anything he can to get out of it.  He's not very organized and drives me insane bringing his homework folder home every single day with all of his papers shoved haphazardly into his backpack.  I shudder to think of what his desk looks like...  Nate sleeps in a pair of camouflage fleece pajamas every single night, despite getting so hot that he ends up taking them off every single night.  He has some strange attachment to his socks, which forces me to throw away the holy ones without him knowing it--He can't stand it when I rip up his socks.  Nate still prefers fruits and vegetables to any other foods.  When there's cantaloupe in the house, there's little to no chance of getting him to eat anything else.  He's such a funny kid, full of joy and life.  I absolutely love my little Nate-Nate. 

Parmesan Accident

Alan was a bit overzealous in shaking the Parmesan cheese, especially since the lid wasn't closed all the way.  His hair, clothes, the floor and table were covered.  Oops.

First Backyard Fire of 2011

It seems a bit ironic to be blogging about the warm weather that allowed for our first backyard smores of the year during this ridiculous April snow shower... We had a great time roasting marshmallows, playing in the backyard, and reading our bedtime story next to the fire.

I'm pretty sure I told Nate not to feed Kai.