BabyM Update: 6 Months

Can you believe my baby is already six months old?! I sure can't. He's a six month old busy body. I could barely get him to sit still long enough to snap a pic for this post. BabyM is doing well. He's sitting up by himself. He's still trying to balance his head out so sometimes he topples over but he's getting better and better.


He's eating really well and his doctor recommended that I go ahead and start doing three solid food meals a day. She thinks he'll be ready for finger foods soon. So far he's had cereal, apples, peas, carrots and potatoes. He's liked everything except carrots. I don't like carrots either so maybe he got that from me.

Baby M is really good with flipping over and getting from the seated position to his belly or back. He scoots backwards and forward but isn't crawling.


















































































































His absolute favorite thing to do is play with Savannah. They laugh and play almost all day. It's so cute to watch. He thinks she's hilarious and loves to watch her misbehave. It's so weird. He actually knows when she's doing something wrong and he cracks up laughing at her.

Baby M Update: 4 Months

I feel like I just had Baby M like two seconds ago but he's already four months old. This morning we had his four month check up and shots. Things have been going pretty well. He's such a sweet baby. Steals my heart. I can see so much of my husband when I look at him. Sometimes it's frightening.

Baby M smiles, laughs and coos. My favorite thing to do is talk to him. He responds with all his coos and it's the best. He's a pretty good sleeper right now. In the morning he takes a nap for about an hour. Around lunch time he goes down for another two to three hours. At night he goes down at eight sharp (right after his sister) and sleeps until about three before waking up for a feeding. Not too bad, right?

I'm breastfeeding and I pretty much feed him on demand. I started Savannah on cereal and veggies when she was four months old. I plan to start him on solids by the end of the month. I ordered some more freezer trays with lids and they should be here by the end of the week. I'll share more about my baby food making process in another post. We'll more than likely start with peas or green beans. He's ready for food. He's started sitting on his own a little. He stares at us with pure jealousy when we eat and after nursing for a while he still wants more. I've started doing actual feedings and "snacks" via nursing. Cluster feedings I guess. It's time for him to have a little more of something else at least once a day. I'll still continue to breastfeed until he's at least twelve months.

During his appointment his Doctor was very impressed with his strength and how well he moves. She told me that it was time for him to start working out in an exersaucer or standing activity center. I'll be picking up one today. I plan to sell some of the baby gear we have here to a resale store. I can not believe we are already getting rid of baby things! 

I'm feeling so blessed and thankful that our little guy is hitting all of his milestones. When he was born early I was very nervous about how his development would possibly be delayed. Thank God for miracles big and small. Baby M is right where a four month old should be. I guess that means he'll be crawling and getting into everything very soon. Can't wait!

Baby M's Many Faces...

One day I was taking pics of all of Baby M's expressions. I thought it would be fun to make a little something with them. So funny! 

Love all his little faces, haha!!!

Baby Update: Four Weeks Old

Time is flying. I have always said if you want to pass time quickly have a baby. I can not believe my son will be four weeks old tomorrow. Whoa. I thought it would be nice to share how we're doing. I think I am adjusting like any other woman with a newborn. I'm tired and still riding on what little adrenaline I have left. Things have been going pretty smooth for the most part and I am very thankful for that.

Our sleep pattern has been pretty normal. He wakes up about every three hours to eat and be changed. He normally goes right back to sleep after being nursed. We have been doing a mix of co-sleeping and putting him in his crib. It just depends on how tired I am. Please spare me any lectures on co-sleeping. I am not interested in them. Baby M will eventually sleep in his crib every night. When he starts having longer stretches of sleep he'll make a permanent move to his room. He sleeps in his bed during the day for naps so I'm not too concerned about the move. I didn't co-sleep with Savannah but then again I wasn't as tired then as I am now.

Breastfeeding is still going well. Between nursing and pumping I'm a little milk machine. Love that. We've been able to go on a couple play dates and are slowly getting back into the swing of things. I am hoping to get better about taking both of them out by myself. I never knew how much goes in to taking two small children out for errands or an activity. It's been a learning experience. And I am still learning.

I'm going to start working exercise back in to my routine this weekend. I'll keep you posted on how that  goes. I don't own a scale so I'm not sure where I am in terms of weight since giving birth. I'm looking forward to getting in incredible shape. My plan was to be in amazing shape before my thirtieth birthday in February and I plan to accomplish that goal. Watch me work. We'll be talking a lot about fitness in the coming months. 

What was your first month like after baby? Is it all a big blur?

Baby Boy's Birth Story Part III

I feel like it's been forever since I've done a new post. It's been a very busy couple weeks. If you've had a baby you know what I'm talking about. Between the not sleeping, breastfeeding, pumping and trying to find a new rhythm it's been crazy. Luckily, my Mom was able to come spend a couple weeks with us and my husband was on paternity leave so it wasn't too bad. I'm hoping to get back to posting regularly in the coming week. 

Our first couple weeks have been pretty great. Baby M is such a good baby. Like most newborns all he does is eat and sleep. We've been able to go on several family outings which has kept Savannah's life very normal. Baby M's newborn and two week check up both went very well. He's gained weight and is growing so fast. He looks so different now. It's amazing how fast they change and grow.

I know I mentioned on the blog before that I was a little nervous about breastfeeding this time around. My milk supply with Sav was never enough to feed and pump to build a stash for the freezer. This time around I have more than enough milk. I could probably feed my baby and a few others. My husband jokes that we should stop buying milk and the whole family should switch to breast milk to save a few bucks. He's funny. I don't know if I'd actually do that but at least Baby M has plenty of milk ready when he needs it. I'm just so happy that I'm having a better experience with my supply this time around. Praise God from whom all breast milk flows!

Sleeping has been a little tough. Due to all the cuddling he got while everyone was here I believe he's already figured out that he doesn't want to sleep in his own bed. Y'all already know how I feel about the sleeping situation. I will start sleep training as soon as my husband permanently goes back to work. I'm not too concerned about training him since he's still so new to the world. 

I haven't done an outing by myself with both kids yet but I'll be sure to let you all know how that works out for me. I'm sure it will be entertaining if nothing else. I haven't started doing any serious exercising yet. I'm waiting until I've been officially cleared by the doctor. My appointment is in August. Until then I plan to go for walks when I can and stay as active as possible. It's so important to keep moving after a C-Section. I hope everyone is enjoying their Independence Day! 

Baby Boy's Birth Story Part II

After spending two hours in recovery my nurse took us to our room where we'd spend the rest of our time at the hospital. I hate that I didn't take any pics of how nice the room was. I was very impressed. There was plenty of space and my room had an amazing view. 

As you know when you're in the hospital you get very little rest. Nurses and Doctors come in to check on you and the baby the entire time. When Baby M was born his initial blood sugar was low. They checked him after every feeding for three consecutive feedings. His blood sugar was normal after every check and we were able to get some good sleep in the wee hours of Friday night. 

After a c-section it is very important to get up and walk as much as possible. Once the feeling returned in my legs I walked a little in my room. I felt perfectly fine until I sat back down in bed. I got the worst motion sickness from my little stroll. I started throwing up which hurts like crap right after you've been cut open. I had had enough walking after that and decided to try again after some sleep. The downside to my motion sickness was being put on a light diet until I could walk without getting sick. 

Saturday was probably the most important day of our time at the hospital. After a c-section the hospital staff wants to make sure that your body is returning to normal. You will be asked to pee in a white measuring cup looking thing. When I had Savannah they actually measured my urine. This time they just wanted to make sure I could go. It wasn't easy. I know I shouldn't compare pregnancies or recoveries because no two are alike but I was able to pee and poop right after having Sav. This time was completely different. 

After lots and lots of trying I was finally able to pee. Once your catheter is removed they like for you to pee within a certain amount of time. I was able to finally go with ten minutes left running on my clock. If you're not able to go within your time slot they put the catheter back in. Yikes. There was no parts of me that wanted to go through that without being numb. I was very happy that I was able to go.

I hate to keep bringing up poop on this blog but it is a part of life and a big part of recovery. Pooping after a c-section is not the most fun you'll have. It will hurt. I was a stickler about taking my stool softeners so it wasn't so bad, but I still felt lots of soreness at my incision. It took me a full week after delivery to finally poop. Not the best week of my life but if you follow this blog then you know this is one of my better poop stories. 

Okay. Back to the baby. He took right to breastfeeding. The lactation consultant said that babies born early normally start out as strong feeders. She said that they may begin to have some difficulties after a few weeks. This made me nervous. Since he was doing so well there was little advice she could offer me. I think she was surprised at how well he was doing. I wasn't. Breastfeeding is all about a positive attitude. I didn't want to allow the statistics to get me all worried.

Since everything was going so well. We were discharged from the hospital at exactly forty eight hours after my delivery. Everyone was so nice. Good nurses are everything. I hate that I didn't have my nurses gifts ready for them. I was pretty bummed about that. I had a great experience at the military hospital where I delivered. I wouldn't change anything about it. The food was actually good and my husband and I watched the Food Network the entire time we were there. I was happy to get home to Savannah. She has been an incredible big sister. (she LOVED her big sister backpack)

Part three to his birth story will be about our first week at home, breastfeeding and what my recovery has been like without all the help at the hospital. I hope you all have been enjoying hearing about our new addition.

Baby Boy's Birth Story Part I

Now that I've had a week to let everything sink in I thought today would be a great day to share baby M's birth story. On June 14 I went in to the hospital for one of my Non Stress Test. After my testing time was up I was given a BPP (bio physical profile) which was completely normal for me. A BPP is an ultrasound where the tech or doctor looks for different movements, breathing activity and measures  your fluid. Since I had gotten lots of these done during my pregnancy I was just going through the motions like I always do. 

Savannah and I were discussing what we were going to eat for lunch after I was done at the hospital. She had decided that she wanted Chick Fil-A. It wasn't until my actual Doctor came in the room that things started to concern me a little. She rarely ever comes in to speak to me after I've had a BPP. I figured since we were so close to my c-section date that maybe she was going to tell me I could skip testing next week. I was wrong. 

My Doctor was coming in to tell me that my fluid was extremely low. I had just had my fluid checked on that Tuesday (three days before) and everything was perfect. Apparently your fluid can leak and you  wouldn't necessarily know. I had no idea. And of course since I was already high risk with a septum in my uterus and a sensitive area from a previous ectopic pregnancy the only safe choice for the baby was to deliver him early. I was bummed and terrified. My Doctor told me that once your fluid leaks that it could do damage to your umbilical cord and could bring about a host of other problems. 

It was about two o' clock in the afternoon when I called my husband at work to give him the news. I'm pretty sure he flew to the hospital because he got there so fast. He took Sav to lunch and home to pack an overnight bag for her. My family wasn't scheduled to be in town until baby M's original birth date. We had to find someone to watch Savannah for the night. Luckily, all of my early planning paid off and everything for my husband and I was ready to go.

The hospital thought it would be a good idea to have someone from the NICU come in to speak with me because I was delivering early. Babies born at about thirty five weeks normally spend some time in the NICU. The Doctor said that breathing for these babies can be tough. This scared the crap out of me. I did NOT want him to go to the NICU. Then again, I didn't want him being born early. It was all happening very fast. It was very overwhelming. 

As soon as my husband got back to the hospital he scrubbed up. We went back into the operating room a little after four o' clock. The anesthesiologist did my spinal block/epidural. The room was freezing. My blood pressure kept rising and I was offered something to help with the anxiety. I passed on that offering. After everything was numb and I was in position the entire OR staff entered the room along with my husband. 

It is a very weird experience being cut open while still being awake. You can feel them pulling and tugging. There's lots of pressure on your chest and abdomen. During my c-section with Savannah the Doctors told me what was going on step by step. The set of Doctors I had this go around decided to discuss current events. I was cool with that. My husband was holding my hand and talking to me the whole time. At exactly five o' five I gave birth to a handsome little boy that looks just like his Dad.  C-sections are quick. If there are no complications you get in and out of there in no time.

Baby M's cry was so strong. After a few minutes the NICU Doctor came over to me and said, "We're sending your baby to your room. His breathing is strong. He's perfect." Music to my ears. Isn't God incredible? I may not have a normal size uterus. I may only have one fallopian tube. I may have had a previous ectopic pregnancy. Despite all of those things I have still been able to bring two very healthy babies in to this world. My tiny little ones remind me that anything is possible and that all of our steps have already been ordered. Our paths may not be what we'd like and we will definitely meet our share of challenges but if we are faithful every thing will work out for our good. 

We were wheeled into the recovery room where we spent the next two hours. I love it that your baby stays with you through out the entire birth experience now. I will share more on our hospital stay, coming home and getting started with breastfeeding later. Thank you for all of the well wishes!