Archive for February, 2007

Father’s POV, Day 3

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So I’ve gotten some sleep, Ian is finally eating, and we’re all feeling a bit better. I don’t regret what I said in the first one, because it was all true, but things have changed. He’s now crying when he wants something, rather than to inform us the sky is blue. He’s eating so Jackie’s feeling better, and most importantly it’s quiet around here.

Tip to new fathers- don’t let the in-laws stick around the first 2 days in the hospital- they can’t help, all they’ll do is get the kid sick. That’s why they have nurses. Sorry [people who don’t want to be named]- I know you guys wanna see him, but having you here was as much a stress as everything else.

So I sat down and talked with jackie about the stress that caused that last tirade-

  • too many people
  • not enough sleep
  • not enough showers
  • bad back/bed combination
  • forgot my back meds
  • not eating good (mcdonalds and burger king in 12 hours)
  • the constant screaming and general difficulty of Ian

Right now Ian is sleeping on jackie’s chest after feeding for a solid 30 minutes, and she’s just as zonked out as him. So yeah, while I don’t regret the previous post, things have changed. It’s important to me to document the whole story, not just the good.

a pic a pic

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There you all go.

Father’s POV

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wtf did I do?

Hold him, he cues that he’s hungry, you try to feed him, he sceams. The stupid lamaz class didn’t cover that. How about this- Jackie’s boobs are the wrong shape. wtf does that mean? They’re not square, they look like boobs to me. Ian screams. STOP SCREAMING. Not eating, but crapping like crazy- I don’t know how he ISN’T losing weight.

ugh. Slept on fugly chair now by back is all messed up. Ian slept in the other room. I was woken up by jackie trying to feed him, and of course him refusing to eat and screaming that bloodcurdling scream.

Please stop screaming.

He’s finally feeding, but who knows. Whether or not it’ll keep up is unknown. He’s sleeping now- thank god he’s sleeping. Ian, you are not starting out on the right foot.

-Jesse

Happy Birthday Ian!!!

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Ian Hawthorn was born on Feb. 26, 2007 @ 5:02am!!!! He was 7lbs and 15oz and I was only in labor for about 6.5 hours. Mama is hurting, but doing well. Papa did great. Ian has been sleeping most of the day, but his blue eyes are hard to miss when they are open. We’ll see if they stay blue. He also came out with a head full of hair. Once I get home, I’ll get some pictures up.

2007.02.26-Ian.04.jpg

Everything is Fine

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Ian is still doing good, hospital approved. I was a little concerned today since he wasn’t as active as he has been and I’ve just been feeling really good. Why I don’t start from the beginning.

I woke up earlier this morning (during the night) and realized I was sleeping on my stomach. I’m not suppose to be lying on my back for long periods of time and it kind of freaked me out because I couldn’t remember rolling onto my back. Either way, I got to my side and went back to sleep. This morning, after taking my shower and eating breakfast, I started realizing that Ian wasn’t as active as he normally is. Since it was early, I didn’t want to worry Jesse about it in case Ian was just sleeping, so I didn’t say much. Later in the morning, I emailed Jesse saying I haven’t been feeling Ian that much today and he suggested I have some caffeine to see if that’ll activate him. At lunch, we talked about it and we thought that since we were told that Ian had dropped into position on Monday, that maybe his feet weren’t facing a direction where I would feel the kicks as much. Either way, we decided that once I had the caffeine in me and Ian was still not moving as much, I would call Doc Z.

Well, at 3pm, I hadn’t felt him move like he has been, so I called Doc Z who had me go to the hospital and take a stress test. Thankfully, there is only good news. Ian was doing fine. They monitored his heart rate for about 20 minutes and then sent me home. Granted, his heart rate was jumping between 118 and 164 beats per minute, but he was sticking pretty close to the 130 range for the most part. The nurses said that a baby’s heart rate will start to decrease the closer he is to delivery, so even though Ian has been in the mid-high 140s for most of the last 9 months, him dropping like this wasn’t a bad thing. However, since I went in for a stress test today, Doc Z (and I want to say hospital procedure) want me to come back every 3-4 days to have another one until I go into labor.

Either way, Ian is doing fine and Jesse & I got out of work 2 hours earlier than normal. Jesse did end up with a souvenir – the nurse gave him a portion of the graph results from Ian’s heart rate being monitored. He says he got it for me so I can put it in the baby book, but I know the truth – he was fascinated by the technology. I hadn’t even thought of asking for a copy.

That is the news today. I’m actually feeling really good; not like I have been all week. Most everything I’ve been feeling this past week wasn’t there today – I think that added to my worries over Ian this morning. Either way, we have another appointment on Monday with the Doc and now a stress test, so we’ll see how Ian is progressing then. Who knows, Ian could come sometime next week.

Soon…..So Soon

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Don’t get me wrong, I am excited about Ian being born soon; however, I am starting to get even more excited about not being pregnant.

Pregancy is a wonderful thing, until you get down to the final days. I can’t get comfortable, my hips ache from the adjusting, and my butt is sore because Ian is sitting on my tailbone (which is good since it means he’s getting into position). Not only that, but I can’t sit down for long periods of time anymore. I have to lounge, lay flat, or stand up. Ian doesn’t like being cramped, upside down, and in my pelvic bone – and he lets me know it when I’ve been sitting too long. That’s when he really starts getting active. It kind of feels like he’s banging on the cell doors yelling “let me out! let me out!”. Granted, I would do that in a heartbeat, but he has to figure out how to get out on his own. I’m just the tool that helps him escape.

So I’m doing a lot of reclining at the moment. Of course, once I’m down, it takes a bit for me to get back up again. I think I’ve actually forgotten what it felt like to be skinny (not that I was really skinny in the first place). Either way, you see the countdown on the side – it won’t be long now until it’s sleepless nights due to feeding Ian and not because I can’t get comfortable.

And trust me when I say this, the feeling that I can’t get comfortable has been messing with my hormones. Jesse can attest to that.

4th Birthing Class

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Last night was the final birthing class, which made Jesse ecstatic. While the classes were informative, they were really long and tedious – 3 hour blocks was just too long.

Anyway, we did learn some interesting things. The first one being that we’ll probably end up putting Ian in with us for the first couple of weeks. Newborns want to be fed 8-12 times within a 24 hour time period. That means about every 2 hours, including at night. While that doesn’t sound bad during the day, that’s going to get old at night if I have to wake up, go into the office and get him, spend the 20-40 minutes feeding him, and then try and go back to sleep. By the time I get to sleep, he’ll want to be fed again. So, we’re looking at getting either a bassinette/cradle or a playard for the bedroom.

We went over a lot of “changes” – in Ian’s appearance, our daily lives, and other general stuff. Talked about some comfort techniques we could use when Ian cries and the possible meanings behind his cries (i.e. I’m hungry, I’m dirty, I want to play). We also found out that when a baby is alert and watchful, they want to play. We practiced changing a diaper and swaddling babies, but didn’t spend too much time on that.

One thing we did cover was the postpartum period. It’s been great not having my period for 9 months, but during this 6 weeks, it gets made up. Plus there is mastitis, lochia, constipation, and hemorrhoids that could happen. We also learned that if there is a history of depression in your family, then you are more susceptible to postpartum depression. That is something that Jesse and I will be keeping a look out for. Especially since it is very common and approximately 85% of women suffer from it.

So that was the last birthing class. Any questions?

37 Week Update – Almost there

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I want to say it’s time to start the clocks, but I don’t know where to start them at. Either way, it’s getting closer to the time when Jesse and I will no longer be on our own. It really hit me this past week. It’s only been the two of us for so long, that it’s hard to imagine that there’ll be someone else with us at all times. That wherever we go, it won’t be just the two of us. I don’t know why, but the thought scared me.

Anyway, enough of that. Doc Z said the baby dropped. I have heard that once Ian drops, it’ll be two weeks until delivery; well, I asked the doc about this and he said not necessarily. It’s a good sign, but it doesn’t give a time line. Especially since my cervix is still closed. However, at 37 weeks, Ian’s lungs are fully developed so even if he was to be born this week, he should be perfectly healthy.

We were told that we have to start watching for contractions and for my water to break. That I should be experiencing the Branson-Hicks contractions any time now. Granted, that doesn’t mean I’ll be in labor, just that my body is starting to get ready for actual labor. Of course, we were also told that I may not have any at all. It all depends on the person.

I did lose a half a pound from last week, which is good for me. Doc Z says that a lot of mothers will begin losing weight the last few weeks of pregnancy, so this isn’t a bad thing. Ian is growing about an ounce a day and we heard he was 5.5 lbs about a week or so ago. That’ll put him about 6 lbs now. He still has three weeks left, so hopefully, he’ll be in the 8-9 lb range. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. He is still only measuring about 35 inches and his heart rate was at 138 this week. He’s been bouncing on the scale but they say that is normal. So for now, everything is going perfect fine.

3rd Birthing Class & Breastfeeding

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Finally, the week is over and the crazy schedule is done. Originally, Jesse and I had three birth classes to go to this week – Tuesday would have been our 4th birthing class, but was canceled due to the weather; Wednesday was our make-up class since we missed one due to the accident; and last night was our Breastfeeding class. As you can imagine, Jesse is a bit cranky now. Each class was three hours long and we haven’t done that since college (even then, I don’t think Jesse did that).

Where to begin? Let’s start with the birthing class. I actually learned some things that have changed my outlook on the whole labor/delivery aspect. I never realized that an epidural could also be a bad thing. For instance, there are some studies that say an epidural will increase your chance of a c-section; while at the same time there are studies that refute that claim. There can also be some short term side effects to the baby. The more we learned about the epidural on Tuesday, the more I’m thinking I’m going to stick with the drugs. I know I’m going to be in pain, but just take the edge off, it doesn’t have to disappear all together. Of course, ask me again once I’m actually in labor – I may change my mind. Of course, once if I do get the epidural, that means I won’t be able to walk around and will be confine to the bed. Not sure if I like that.

During the class, we were also taught some comfort positions that will help alleviate the pain of contractions. Most of them seemed to include a lot of massage and either sitting or bending over. I’m hoping that Jesse and I’ll be able to distract myself enough that I won’t need anything stronger than an epidural, but we’ll see. I want to say those were the main topics for the 3rd class.

As for the breastfeeding class, I found that one to be a bit more informative. The instructor didn’t so much as go over techniques, but also gave us some generalized information. I knew that breastfeeding a child helped the baby gain immunities to viruses and it helped mama lose weight; but what I didn’t know is it can also reduce the risk of pre-menstrual breast cancer, certain stages of childhood leukemia, can stimulate the development of the baby’s vision, and a bunch of other stuff. I also found this article, which gives more reasons to breastfeed to. This class just reaffirmed the decision that I was going to breastfeed.

Something else I learned, I can start pumping my milk and giving it to Ian after 2 weeks. Something else the instructor said was the longer you wait to get the baby accustomed to the bottle, the harder it’ll be. She assured us that as long as we’re breastfeeding more than bottle-feeding, than baby shouldn’t get confused. I want to start bottle feeding Ian as soon as I can; not because I don’t want to breastfeed, but I want to give Jesse the chance to have some bonding time as well. So the goal is, once the two weeks are up, than I’ll start pumping milk so Jesse can do at least one feeding a day. He needs some bonding time to.

We also learned about different positions that can be used to breastfeed and some other stuff, but this was the most important in my mind.

36 Week Update – 4 More Left!

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And the weekly appointments continue. Ian is still going strong. His heart rate was 147 beats per minute. I am not dilated, but Doc Z was able to feel Ian’s head. Whether that means he’ll be here sooner or not, I’m not sure; but it definitely means that he is getting into position. Jesse and I think he’s in the first position (he’s facing my side with his head down near my pelvic region) and I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t get into second position (facing my back in my pelvic region) by next weeks appointment.

He was pretty active last night (and this morning), so he is definitely getting impatient. Jesse and I finally got everything ready with the crib yesterday. We’ve had the crib for about a week (assembled and everything), but we just got the mattress, so I’m starting to put things away. Still trying to find a dresser, though. That’s it for this week.

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