Life with Brayden

Brayden will be 1 week old at 12:22 :-/ I'm having mixed feelings about it. I'm not ready for my baby to grow up! I want him to stay my baby forever. Our time with him has flown by.

At the hospital he slept great because he was so worn out from delivery. We were supposed to stay 48 hours since my water had been broken over 24 hours before he was delivered and because I had a fever during delivery as well. Luckily, the doctor gave us the OK to leave a day early so we could come home.

The first night we brought him home I probably got 2-3 hours of sleep, he had his days and nights confused and was wide awake all night long except when he was nursing. Blake and I really didn't know what to do but now we have a few tricks up our sleeve and have learned what he does and doesn't like.

Does like: EATING, cuddling, pooping, peeing on mommy, having his hands up by his face, being warm and wrapped up in a blanket, falling asleep in his carseat, having his eyebrows rubbed (weird, right?), peeing and pooping out his diaper
Does NOT like: Having his arms swaddled, diaper changes, clothing changes, getting bathed, getting his feet tickled

Each night had progresively gotten better as he has transitioned to the right schedule. Last night Brayden slept 8 hours in his bassinet and only woke up once to eat and poop. I have been pumping to try to get my supply up because this child can eat. He woke up and nursed for about 45 minutes, then took 3 oz that I had pumped, pooped his pants and went back to bed for 5 hours. Normally I would be worried about him sleeping that long but the doctor said since he had gained weight that it's fine.

At his doctors appointment he had gained 5 ounces (I told you he ate alot!) and the doctor said he was doing great. I forgot to mention in my last post that he had his hearing test done in 3 minutes and it normally takes around 15 (said the nurse) and he passed with flying colors and got a certificate to prove it, sorry little bragging moment.

Today  he had his newborn photo shoot and rocked it. We got there and he was wide awake and would look right at the camera while letting her pose him. The photographer said Brayden looks JUST like his daddy, and it's true. Blake's baby pictures and Brayden's are really similar, but he has more of my temperment. I had pumped 5 oz before we left thinking that I would have at least 2 oz left over... he ate all 5 oz and then nursed. I seriously don't know how he has room for all of this food! She said he was the best baby she had ever photographed because he never cried and let her pose him however she liked. It was so cute watching him, I am so proud of my little man! We couldn't have gotten a better baby and we are so blessed.

While we were taking our family pictures holding our naked little baby he peed ALL OVER me. He had a steady stream going for about 8 seconds and it was just puddling up in my arm and soaked my shirt. Good thing I didn't bring an extra shirt so I was covered in pee haha. It's funny because I thought things like that would bother me, but his pee and poop doesn't gross me out in the least. Everything he does is so cute! When he is hungry he makes monkey noises and it cracks Blake and I up, he's our little monkey.

He is really good at holding his head up and likes to look at whoever is holding him. Last night when Blake and I were putting him to bed I said "I love you Brayden" and he smiled at me! I thought it was just a fluke thing but I said it two more times and he smiled both of those times too!! I can't wait until I get a picture of his smile so you all can see it, it's adorable!

I have lost 35 pounds so far, almost all my water weight is gone except in my thighs and butt (oh yeah, it's cute). Can't wait for this weight to be gone so I can wear normal clothes again! I'm feeling much better, the only thing hurting pretty badly is my back. I feel very blessed that things are going so smoothly for us, prayers are definitely being answered. Having a baby is the most amazing thing in the whole world even though pregnancy sucks. I'd totally do it again because the end result is truly amazing.

He's finally here!!

Tuesday October 2^nd I was 41 weeks pregnant and woke up to contractions that were about ten minutes apart. They started around 6:50. I didn’t think anything of it until my water broke at 9:30. At first I didn’t know what happened, I coughed and then it felt like I peed my pants! Luckily I didn’t pee my pants and it kept coming out, not the most comfortable feeling in the world haha. Blake and I were jumping for joy that something was FINALLY happening and we were going to meet our son soon… well, kinda soon.

We got all checked in and they put in my IV to start me on Pitocin. They checked me and I was only a fingertip dilated and a little effaced, so it wasn’t looking like I would be having him anytime soon. The contractions started getting pretty painful pretty fast and I was huffing and puffing through them. I got in the Jacuzzi which felt AMAZING and was able to hold off on the epidural for another couple hours. Then the contractions started getting way too painful that I couldn’t take the pain anymore and asked for some pain meds. The nurse put me on some narcotic that lasted an hour and I could take 3 doses of. It really only helped with the pain for the first 30 minutes and then the next 30 minutes was spent in pain waiting on the next dose. After the narcotics I was ready for the epidural. The anesthesiologist came in and quickly became my best friend haha. They checked me after being in labor for 24 hours and I was a 3. I stayed that way for awhile and it was looking like a c-section might be in my future. Brayden’s heartrate was slowing down and the nurses were pretty concerned so they stopped the Pitocin and gave me a thing that filled me back up with water so that Brayden was able to move if he needed. After a couple of hours they started me back on the Pitocin and things weren’t progressing for a long time. A doctor came in to talk to me about how much longer I wanted to wait before I gave in to a C-section. I told them I really didn’t want a c-section and I have made progress since getting there so I would wait as long as it took for a normal delivery unless it takes too long and becomes dangerous for Brayden. An hour after they came in the nurse checked me and I had dilated to a 5! This was such exciting news after being told I probably wouldn’t be able to delivery vaginally. Then my epideral started not working in one spot that was VERY uncomfortable and so I had to get a second epidural. They checked me again about 50 minutes after and I was an 8! Shortly after I told them it felt like I needed to push and was in a lot of pain. The epidural still wasn’t getting everything numb, but it was too late now. Around 11 pm on October 3^rd I started pushing. Not to toot my own horn, but the nurses and doctor said they haven’t seen such a good pusher in a long time J After being in labor so long, people telling me that made me feel a lot better. The contractions had actually slowed down from being every 2 minutes to every 4 minutes during the delivery, and waiting was not easy because I was so ready to meet my baby! An hour and 22 minutes later, at 12:22 am on October 4^th Brayden was born! 7 pounds 12 ounces and 21.5 inches long. The umbilical cord had been wrapped around his neck twice so he was pretty purple and had a definite conehead! Words cannot describe the happiness that overcame me when I got to hold my precious little angel for the first time. He was absolutely perfect in every way. He was wide awake and we just looked into each others eyes for a few minutes. It was such a long wait, but SO worth the wait. I’ve already forgotten about how hard it was to be in labor for 30 hours because I got a beautiful baby boy in the end, the rest doesn’t matter.  He hardly cried at all and was more interested in looking around. The nurses kept saying how funny it was that he was already so awake, he stayed awake for a few hours after being born and loved looking at mommy and daddy.

Since I was in labor over 24 hours after my water had broken, they had to run more tests on Brayden and I. Poor Brayden had a low blood sugar test result for one of the pricks so he had to be pricked 5 more times L So hard to watch! That’s not including the other 4 or 5 pricks he had to get anyways. He only cried during 2 of the pricks! Mommy’s little tough guy. He started out nursing like a champ and still is! Such a blessing for me, so much stress is taken off of me because he’s such a good eater. The next day he got circumsized and didn’t even cry! The doctor said that he was one of the best babies they had ever seen during that procedure, Blake and I were so proud! He is such a good baby and we are so blessed to have him!