It's amazing, satisfying, joyful, and so hard!
Nicholas is such a good baby. He doesn't cry much. Of course, he cry's when he's hungry, has a wet diaper, or is bored and wants attention. This is not all the time though. I know every mom and dad says this, but he is the cutest baby I have ever seen. As cute as he is, he still needs me and his daddy all the time.
Even though I've gotten used to breastfeeding, it is so painful. I've cried a few time already, but now that I've started pumping, I think it'll get easier. I had a hard time breastfeeding at first b/c every book and every person will say how to do it, but I still wasn't sure if I was doing it right. Once the baby is on your boob it's hard to adjust anything b/c every move you make hurts, and every feeding hurts more and more. Now that I'm pumping, I can sub one or two feedings with a bottle, and the next time takes to the boob it's not as painful. As much as it hurts, I still find joy in knowing that my baby is eating well.
Diaper changing has become a real event. Especially with a boy b/c you never know if he's gonna give you a little surprise while changing him. I've gotten used to watching his little pee-pee while wiping, but Marcus still gets caught off guard. Sometimes Nicholas will begin peeing all over the changing table or his outfit and now the diaper changing becomes a wardrobe change. He's done this a few time already, and it never stops being funny.
They say that all newborns do is eat sleep and poop, which is some what right. After ten days, Nicholas will stay awake for 30 minutes in the morning and early evening. This is always a great time to talk to him, and even though I don't think he understands yet, he will look at me or Marcus as if he wants to understand.
Taking care of baby is a lot of work, when the doctor says, "Do nothing, but take care of baby for 2 weeks," it's hard to imagine, but it's tiring trying to do anything else. Just cutting veggies for dinner and loading the washer is enough to need a nap afterward. I'm so glad I have a great husband that has taken over the entire house, a mother-in-law that comes to visit and help, and a mom that knows me so well and helps me when I need it.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
He's here
Well, I was planning to post something earlier this week, but Nicholas finally decided to make his debut on Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at 9:22 PM. Here's our story:
TUESDAY
I woke up feeling like crap. There was something different about my body that did not feel good. I had my 39 week appointment and was miserable. Marcus walked into the waiting room and I start crying because I wanted it to be over with already. My entire appointment consisted of me crying and everyone reassuring me that it wouldn't be long. The doc scraped my membrane which most of the time helps speed things up.
I went on with my day with nothing happening. I figured that it didn't work until 9:00PM...I began feeling some contractions, but I waited to see how long it would last as I had already gone through the same feelings the week before for a about 3 hrs. The contractions lasted through the night and were inconsistent.
WEDNESDAY
I hadn't slept all night and decided that I was not going to work b/c the contractions had not gone away and I figured they would continue. So I guess I knew we would be going to the hospital sometime today. As long as the water doesn't break (water breaks on its own only 15% of the time) I would have to wait at home until my contractions were 3 to 5 minutes apart. By 8AM they were at 11 minutes.
I called my mom to tell her we were home and she suggested to take a walk around the neighborhood to help speed things up. We went out and even though it was 15 minutes, I was tired and ended up taking a nap. I thought I had peed a little when I moved. I went to the restroom and more liquid came. My underwear was soked and I yelled at Marcus', "I think we need to go to the hospital b/c I'm sure my water broke." I changed my underwear, got a towel and off we went. By the time we got to the hospital at 11AM my pants were soaked to below my knees.
I was admitted, my contractions were about 4 minutes apart and strong, and I was dilated to 4 cm. I was not progressing enough and the nurse gave me Pitosine (makes contractions more intense) around 5 which made me get to 6 cm. I couldn't stand it anymore and got an Epidural after a short while. The pain before this hurt so much; I never imagined it would be so painful. I though I would be ready for this, but that is something that I was never prepared for. After the Epidural the only thing I felt was pressure which is the same feeling you get when you've been constipated and can finally poop.
The nurse checks me at 830PM and I am at 10cm. She calls the doctor, and waiting for her to come, they prepare the room and me for delivery. Dr, Luethcke gets there at 9PM and I start pushing. My mom counted the number of contractions it took for me to push the baby out...6...only 17 minutes after we started. I was so scared to push, I began wrong. the doctor told me to push from my abdomen and to not make any sound when pushing. The best part was that I could feel everything without the pain. I felt the baby's head pop first. Then I had to wait and push the rest of the baby's body. I was so glad it was over and my baby boy was finally here.
TUESDAY
I woke up feeling like crap. There was something different about my body that did not feel good. I had my 39 week appointment and was miserable. Marcus walked into the waiting room and I start crying because I wanted it to be over with already. My entire appointment consisted of me crying and everyone reassuring me that it wouldn't be long. The doc scraped my membrane which most of the time helps speed things up.
I went on with my day with nothing happening. I figured that it didn't work until 9:00PM...I began feeling some contractions, but I waited to see how long it would last as I had already gone through the same feelings the week before for a about 3 hrs. The contractions lasted through the night and were inconsistent.
WEDNESDAY
I hadn't slept all night and decided that I was not going to work b/c the contractions had not gone away and I figured they would continue. So I guess I knew we would be going to the hospital sometime today. As long as the water doesn't break (water breaks on its own only 15% of the time) I would have to wait at home until my contractions were 3 to 5 minutes apart. By 8AM they were at 11 minutes.
I called my mom to tell her we were home and she suggested to take a walk around the neighborhood to help speed things up. We went out and even though it was 15 minutes, I was tired and ended up taking a nap. I thought I had peed a little when I moved. I went to the restroom and more liquid came. My underwear was soked and I yelled at Marcus', "I think we need to go to the hospital b/c I'm sure my water broke." I changed my underwear, got a towel and off we went. By the time we got to the hospital at 11AM my pants were soaked to below my knees.
I was admitted, my contractions were about 4 minutes apart and strong, and I was dilated to 4 cm. I was not progressing enough and the nurse gave me Pitosine (makes contractions more intense) around 5 which made me get to 6 cm. I couldn't stand it anymore and got an Epidural after a short while. The pain before this hurt so much; I never imagined it would be so painful. I though I would be ready for this, but that is something that I was never prepared for. After the Epidural the only thing I felt was pressure which is the same feeling you get when you've been constipated and can finally poop.
The nurse checks me at 830PM and I am at 10cm. She calls the doctor, and waiting for her to come, they prepare the room and me for delivery. Dr, Luethcke gets there at 9PM and I start pushing. My mom counted the number of contractions it took for me to push the baby out...6...only 17 minutes after we started. I was so scared to push, I began wrong. the doctor told me to push from my abdomen and to not make any sound when pushing. The best part was that I could feel everything without the pain. I felt the baby's head pop first. Then I had to wait and push the rest of the baby's body. I was so glad it was over and my baby boy was finally here.
My Favorite
The Family
Thursday, January 14, 2010
I'm back
Marcus has been out of town for a week and a half so I was staying at my mom's and I wasn't able to update my blog. I forgot what it was like to be "the girls." My mom's going to be an awesome grandmother and my sister is going to be the typical younger aunt. My kid's going to be so spoiled.
We are rushing to hurry and get everything ready b/c this baby's going to come any day. I know I have 13 days left until my due date, but I think he's gonna bust out of jail early. My mom finished the mural, I washed clothes and finally put all the gifts away, we've thrown away all the boxes all that stuff came into, and little by little the house is getting cleaned. Marcus still needs to put up the ceiling fan, put in the car seats, put in the bathroom cabinet... a ton manly things to do. I need to finally finish the thank you cards, buy the remaining baby stuff, clean house, and push this baby out when the time comes.
All the signs are pointing to go go go. I feel sleepy tired, but at the same time I feel like I have so much energy. Contractions are starting, but they don't stick and they're too far apart to be anything significant. I've definitely dropped; if I drop anymore the baby will just fall out. I haven't gained any wait since my last appointment; I think I actually lost 1/2 a lb, and I've been going crazy with the food.
I guess I'm going to have to start doing all those silly home remedies. And have Marcus help me with a few of them ...
We are rushing to hurry and get everything ready b/c this baby's going to come any day. I know I have 13 days left until my due date, but I think he's gonna bust out of jail early. My mom finished the mural, I washed clothes and finally put all the gifts away, we've thrown away all the boxes all that stuff came into, and little by little the house is getting cleaned. Marcus still needs to put up the ceiling fan, put in the car seats, put in the bathroom cabinet... a ton manly things to do. I need to finally finish the thank you cards, buy the remaining baby stuff, clean house, and push this baby out when the time comes.
All the signs are pointing to go go go. I feel sleepy tired, but at the same time I feel like I have so much energy. Contractions are starting, but they don't stick and they're too far apart to be anything significant. I've definitely dropped; if I drop anymore the baby will just fall out. I haven't gained any wait since my last appointment; I think I actually lost 1/2 a lb, and I've been going crazy with the food.
I guess I'm going to have to start doing all those silly home remedies. And have Marcus help me with a few of them ...
Friday, January 1, 2010
Goodbye 2009
What a year? Newlyweds, homeowners, and...parents?
When we set our New Year's resolutions last year, it was the usual; get in shape, pay off debt, save money for a house, blah blah blah. We never anticipated the life changing events 2009 would bring us.
We began the year paying some credit cards, paying more than just the minimum on credit cards. There was money starting to accumulate in our savings, including the tax return from 2008. The $8,000 stimulus came a long and instead of waiting for the end of the year to find a house, we decided to look and get the first house we looked into in April.
As we were getting ready to move into our new home Marcus' car floods in rain that no one saw coming for Jersey Village (the rest of the city, a tiny bit of raining). So, now a new car. A car that we could afford, was 2 years old, was on Marcus' list of dream cars, and we knew would take more to maintain than a non-sports car. We were fine; the monthly payments were even less than the other car.
Probably about a month after moving in and getting a new car, we find out we're having a baby. We never planned to get pregnant, and at first there was worry and anxiety. What would we do with a child when we don't have any saving b/c we used it for the down payment, the stimulus money would be used for furniture we really, really needed, and even though we had money left at the end of the money we knew it would be used on household items? Lawn mower, vacuum, fixing the a/c unit, any other things that came up as home owners, and now medical bills.
At least we had 8 more months to get used to the idea and adjust to having a little one to take care of.
Meanwhile, no stimulus money until mid-September b/c of the dumb post office. Oy, the government has red tape. No savings being accumulated b/c it's being spent on the house and on me. Insurance is crap once you actually use it and find out that even though you make monthly payments that end up being around $3,000 by the end of the year, there is still a $1,000 copay for 2, you still have to pay 20% of all the crazy blood work you get when you're pregnant, and 10% of any other procedures that insurance partially covers. A lot of talks of how our future will change with a baby coming. Through the year we talked a lot of speeding up our professional goals, decided on how we would raise our child since we come from different cultures and were raised differently (not too different; thank goodness), and adjusting our budget.
Now we are a little less overwhelmed with the idea being homeowners and becoming parents. Since we married at the end of 2008, we've also had to adjust to married life, and this has been difficult but wonderful.
I love my husband, I love my baby, I love my life, and I love where our future is going.
When we set our New Year's resolutions last year, it was the usual; get in shape, pay off debt, save money for a house, blah blah blah. We never anticipated the life changing events 2009 would bring us.
We began the year paying some credit cards, paying more than just the minimum on credit cards. There was money starting to accumulate in our savings, including the tax return from 2008. The $8,000 stimulus came a long and instead of waiting for the end of the year to find a house, we decided to look and get the first house we looked into in April.
As we were getting ready to move into our new home Marcus' car floods in rain that no one saw coming for Jersey Village (the rest of the city, a tiny bit of raining). So, now a new car. A car that we could afford, was 2 years old, was on Marcus' list of dream cars, and we knew would take more to maintain than a non-sports car. We were fine; the monthly payments were even less than the other car.
Probably about a month after moving in and getting a new car, we find out we're having a baby. We never planned to get pregnant, and at first there was worry and anxiety. What would we do with a child when we don't have any saving b/c we used it for the down payment, the stimulus money would be used for furniture we really, really needed, and even though we had money left at the end of the money we knew it would be used on household items? Lawn mower, vacuum, fixing the a/c unit, any other things that came up as home owners, and now medical bills.
At least we had 8 more months to get used to the idea and adjust to having a little one to take care of.
Meanwhile, no stimulus money until mid-September b/c of the dumb post office. Oy, the government has red tape. No savings being accumulated b/c it's being spent on the house and on me. Insurance is crap once you actually use it and find out that even though you make monthly payments that end up being around $3,000 by the end of the year, there is still a $1,000 copay for 2, you still have to pay 20% of all the crazy blood work you get when you're pregnant, and 10% of any other procedures that insurance partially covers. A lot of talks of how our future will change with a baby coming. Through the year we talked a lot of speeding up our professional goals, decided on how we would raise our child since we come from different cultures and were raised differently (not too different; thank goodness), and adjusting our budget.
Now we are a little less overwhelmed with the idea being homeowners and becoming parents. Since we married at the end of 2008, we've also had to adjust to married life, and this has been difficult but wonderful.
I love my husband, I love my baby, I love my life, and I love where our future is going.
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