A Bathtime Story

Dad, do you think this bathtub makes me look fat?

Jake LOVES his baths. He HATES the getting out process of being cold in his towel and then having to endure lotion and getting dressed. Bathtime always starts with smiles and about 2/3 of the time ends with tears. He is too cute!

Sweet Pics...Just Because!

Jake is growing so fast...he now weighs in at 11lbs!

The Hard Life...

Today was Jake's first day on his play mat. It was really hard work, as you can see.

So observant. He was knocking around the attachments. I was surprised that he actually interacted with it and knew what to do!

Tummy time. He can keep his head up for quite a while. (I just noticed it looks like he's resting it on his left hand, but it's just the angle of the pic)

He's done. :)

He fell asleep in my arms after that and I transferred him to the swing where he then slept for about an hour. I'm so glad he's learing to entertain himself and will let me get a few things done. I thought those pics were too cute not to post. I love seeing him learn and grow even though it's also sad how fast he's changing.

Jake's Best Bud is here!

Laughing at something Jess said... :)

Jess and all of her "rubbers." Let's just say she likes to be pampered while she's laboring. :)

Hey...she didn't have an epidural and was in tons of pain so that's why we were there!

Jake is so excited that Jaxon is finally here. Jaxon has kicked him several times as Jake has sat on top of him while Jess was holding him. Jake's excited to have his buddy finally outside where he can see him!

He's so cute and we're so happy for Ryan, Jess, and Kinley.

S

Currently, in our house, 'S' stands for SMILE, SERIOUS, and SLEEP. You see, Jake is usually doing one of these three things. If he's not smiling, he's being very serious, studying his surroundings. If he's neither of these things, he must be sleeping! :-)

If possible, he gets cuter everyday and I love that he's now been smiling for two weeks. It is SO easy to get him to smile now! I had been worried he was going to be so serious, but he's really lightened up! I know he is my sunshine and makes me smile all the time. I'm so proud of him and LOVE spending my days with him. I am so thankful for our decision for me to stay home with him. Now's not the easiest time to switch from two incomes to one (Believe me!) but it is most definitely worth the sacrifice.

Above and below are pics of one of my daily conversations with Jake. He LOVES to talk and is a great listener! He is the sweetest!

listening so intently!

If he's awake...this is probably the look on his face. Sooo serious! :-)

Catching some Sunday afternoon zzz's with Daddy

'Moose' is back! :-) (notice his sleeper)

Sleeping on Lissa on Valentine's Day :-) He's looking very long lately!

Sleeping in the swing. Super sweet! I feel so lucky to get to look at this every day! I know he's growing so fast and that he will not stay my baby forever, so I'm soaking it up for now and trying to cherish it.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Recent Happenings...

Just waking up in his car seat after Matt's game

At Matt's game last Tues night with the Colemans (Jaxon will be here in one week!!)

Jake's Great Granny Jimmy was sick when he was born and for a couple of weeks afterwards. She didn't meet him during that time since she didn't want to get him sick. Below is her meeting him for the first time! :) (She is Jeremy's dad's mother)

I love him in his lil jeans and converse

I love his feet crossed- and sticking out. :-)

starting to really enjoy bath time! :)

ONE MONTH...and a birth story!

I CANNOT believe my baby boy is one month old. For some reason I find this very sad! He is so sweet and no matter how frustrated I get at times, he is the greatest blessing I could have ever hoped for and time is passing way too quickly! I know that his Daddy feels the exact same way...we are so in love.

In honor of Jake's one month birthday I thought that I would finally post his birth story and some pics from during that time. It was such a hard and special day.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

6:30 am: Arrive at Memorial Hermann the Woodlands to be induced @ 41wks 2days pregnant

7:00 am- Get checked into room, fill out paper work, iv fluids started

8 am- Nurse begins pitocin in my iv

8:24am- Dr. Crowder stops by and tells me that I am dilated to 2 and breaks my water (weird feeling but does not hurt) After my water was broken I had hard contractions every 1-2 minutes

11:17am- Nurse lets me know that I am dilated to a 4

11:35am- I am progressing so quickly that they bring in the bassinet and blankets and warm them! Haha!

12:43pm- Dr Crowder examined me and I was a 7! Super quick for induction of a first baby, and the contractions were hard but I was handling them.

See the bed and blankets warming...and notice the time. Ha!

2:20pm-Nurse said I was still a 7!!!! I was a little discouraged and she had been encouraging an epidural. I was feeling nauseous with each contraction and asked for nausea meds instead of an epidural. The nurse also pointed out that she was amazed at how much Jake was moving during my labor.

2:45pm- Nubane administered (nausea meds). I think I ended up getting two doses.



3:00pm- Turned off pitocin- contractions were too strong, too close together and the baby was not tolerating them well. His heart rate was dropping too low.

4:04pm- Dr said I was 9.5 cm and would be pushing in 30 mins! I said, "I am happy!" And he told my family that he'd never had someone that far into labor without an epidural say that.

Courtney and Haley "fanning" me

6:09pm-nurse lets me know she thinks the Dr was wrong and that I hadn't changed since noon when I was a 7. They began the pitocin again and the pain was incredible. They hoped this would help me dilate 3 more cm so that we could get him out! Also, I had been complaining all day that I needed to pee but couldn't! And with all the contractions, him moving like crazy, and needing to pee I'd never felt more miserable in my life.


8:00pm- The Dr tells me that an epidural is now my only choice, and that I was getting it anyway because I was going to have a C-section since I hadn't dilated more that 7 in eight hours. He says that I could have 45 minutes after I got it (9pm) to dilate from 7-10 and if I didn't dilate, we would be going for a c-section at 9pm. I remember being so sad and discouraged. I didn't want an epidural and I sure didn't want a c-section. I hate needles and had managed the pain for so long on my own.

Jess, Haley, and Rachel trying to freshen me up in case I was going to have a c-section. They wanted me to look good in pics :) But I ended up pushing for almost 2 hours after they put on my makeup. Haha!

9:00pm- After being dilated to 7 for almost 9 hours the Dr checked me and I was a 10! Everyone was shocked (me, my family and the Dr himself) and so happy that a c-section was not needed. The Dr said that I was not out of the woods yet, but would let me try to push first. The nurse had me turn over several times on each side during that 45 minutes and also was amazed that my catheter filled up so fast. She said it filled up literally right when she put it in. She is probably the reason I didn't have to have a c-section. She did everything in her power to get me to a 10. Looking back, everyone said that I was too tense with my full bladder, baby Jake moving like crazy, and the crazy contractions that I'd been having.

9:15pm- Began pushing...Jake was on his way! Jeremy, my Mom, Haley, and Jess were all there supporting us and helping me get Jake out. During this time I developed a fever of over 103. After delivery I immediately began IV antibiotics.

10:57pm- Jake arrived! Almost 2 hours of pushing was rough, and you could tell by looking at me! Jake was huge. The first thing I said when Dr Crowder held him up was, "He is big!!" Dr Crowder said, "He IS big!" I wouldn't know his weight for several minutes because...I also noticed that he was quite blue and not crying. Jeremy saw my nurse turn around and use her cell phone to call the NICU. Within minutes the NICU nurses were in the room examining Jake (He had contracted whatever it was that had given me a fever and was then treated with antibiotics every 12 hours in the NICU until Tuesday when we left the hospital).

Finally I heard..."9lbs 7oz!!!" and was shocked. I knew he'd be big but I thought wow- THAT just came out of ME! Amazing! He was a chunk and had arm rolls! So cute! His head was also so long! Beyond cone head long. I guess because he was so low in the birth canal for so long and I pushed for so long on top of that. Poor guy had as hard of a day as I did! I should add that his head is perfect now! :)

At some point around midnight the rest of the family was allowed back into the room and everyone got to hold Jake. Some of the pics are below! :)

And, on an ironic side note...Jake reached his birth weight today... at exactly one month old. Wohoo!!

I hope you all enjoyed the story of what was probably the best day of our entire life thus far! :-)