More of My Little Man

It's amazing to me how fast my little buddy is changing.  It seems like every day there is some new development (although sleeping longer at night does not happen to be one of them...)  It is so cool to see how fast he's growing and adapting to his new little body!  He had a doctor appointment a week and a half ago and everything went great.  He is one the bigger end of the scale for both height and weight and the doctor said he was growing up just fine!  I felt a little dumb at the appointment because I had about a million questions I asked and the answer to every single one of them was "Oh yeah, that's completely normal.  Nothing to worry about!"  I'm glad there was nothing wrong, but I felt like such a hypochondriac!  We are just very new to the whole parenting thing and have no idea what we're doing.  Good thing we have such a good doctor that is very patient with us! 

This last week has been a little...difficult.  Asher does not like to burp after eating.  We will spend about 15 minutes trying everything to get him to burp, have googled the best way to do it, and I've asked for the expertise of my amazing mother.  About half the time we'll get a burp, but the other half we usually give up.  Because of that, he gets lots of air bubbles in his little tummy and it makes him super uncomfortable.  It makes me so sad because I can give him medicine and try to help work those air bubbles out, but I can tell he is still hurting and it makes me sad!  I'm very glad I have my mom here because she's been an amazing help on telling us different things we can do to help with that.  (Thanks again Mom!)  I don't know how well this child would turn out if we didn't have the help of lots of family! 

Some things to remember:

-He is such a cuddle bear.  I think he would be so happy if someone held him every time he had to sleep!  And he's getting all the cute little fat rolls and chubby cheeks, and those make him even more cuddly!
-He makes all sorts of noises while he sleeps.  It is very funny, kind of like a little puppy!
-I love all of his facial expressions.  David says that he has more facial expressions that most adults.  It's the funniest to watch when he's first waking up.
-He is very strong, or at least I think so.  Especially when he's mad.  He almost kicked himself from his stomach to his back during tummy time yesterday, won't let you move his limbs if he doesn't want them moved, and almost gives me a bloody nose every time I try to burp him because he whips his head around so hard.
-He loves playing with his daddy.  I think it's going to be fun to watch them over the years.  Hopefully they stay such good buddies!

I love my little man!  He tries my patience a lot, but one little smile (whether real or just gas...) always makes me feel better!  I'm not the biggest fan of the newborn phase...probably just because of the lack of sleep.  But even that isn't too bad.  I listen to an audiobook while I feed him so that keeps me awake and entertained!  Now all we need is for the whole Clay clan to come out and meet him! We're very happy that Brian and Brittany came and excited to see Julianne and her family tomorrow!  Anyways, here are a few more pictures (and a video!) of my growing boy:

He sleeps in all sorts of positions.  This is a favorite.

This is how he sleeps when he's being held.  It kind of cracks me up!

I have a lot of pictures of him sleeping...but when he's awake it's a lot harder to take pictures of him when he's not crying!  I think this is a pretty good picture that shows his chubby cheeks!  He's kind of a hefty boy now.

The other day I was holding him when he fell asleep.  He was doing this for about 15 minutes!  It was hard not to laugh so I wouldn't wake him up!

My baby's getting bigger!

Well, we made it through the first 2 1/2 weeks!  I don't know if other women feel the same way, but I think there's a pretty steep learning curve with having a baby!  I think (hope) I picked up on it pretty quickly.  There are some things I learned that I kind of feel like people don't really talk about, though. 

The first is, having a new baby is hard!  I love Asher to death and am very glad he's with us, but sometimes I get really frustrated and tired and feel like I just can't do all the diapers and feeding and burping and cleaning.  I've heard this saying before, but I read it again yesterday and I think of that every time I feel overwhelmed: Parenting is a marathon, not a sprint.  You have to go through all the mundane, not so fun tasks, but in the end, it's worth it!  And if you mess up and get mad, you can start over again.  We had a girl bring over dinner last night and she had a baby about 2 months ago.  She made me feel a lot better because she admitted that having a newborn is hard!  You just have to do the best you can.

Second, don't feel bad about getting an epidural.  It's kind of a trend in our ward for all the new mothers to want to do everything naturally.  I admire their courage, but I know I would not have been able to enjoy Asher's first little bit if I didn't get the epidural.  That same girl that brought us dinner did her whole labor naturally, and she said she wished she would've gotten an epidural!  She said she was so exhausted and tired that she couldn't enjoy the moment at all.  That was the first time I ever had someone who went natural admit that.  This girl made me feel so much better about things!  I don't regret getting the epidural one little bit.

Last, it really takes more than 2 meals from the ward to make you feel like you're being taken care of!  I'm so glad my family is here because we were brought a lot of meals from them.  And the girl who brought us dinner last night, that was a bonus dinner because she said she hated that they only got 2 meals when their boy was born, so she was amazingly nice and brought us lots of food!

Now, on to things about Asher!  He really is a pretty good baby.  He has started to fight off sleep, even when he's really tired, something I'm not too happy about because I know he'd be much happier if he's close those cute little eyes of his!  He love looking at faces.  I think it's because David and I have dark hair and pale faces, so he just likes looking at the contrast, but I like to think he likes looking at us!  He also smiles all the time.  I know it's probably just gas, but when I'm tired and frustrated, I like to think he's smiling at me and it makes everything all better!  He still has a full head of hair.  Someday I'll post a picture of me as a baby and you can see where that came from.  He grunts a lot.  I don't think it will take him long to start babbling and making all sorts of baby noises.  Even when he sleeps, he still whimpers and grunts!  And he does sleep with his mouth open, just like his daddy.  David and I think he's going through a growth spurt right now.  He eats ALL THE TIME and sleeps a lot, and we are both sure that he has gotten a lot bigger since his birth.  I'm very happy about this because it means that hopefully soon he'll sleep for 4 hour chunks at night!  It's fun to see him grow up, even with the short time we've had him.  Here are a few pictures and a video!

Aunt Lisa made this awhile ago to use for a prop for newborn pictures.  Asher fits in it a little better than cousin Ledger!

David's brother and his wife came up to visit us after Asher was born.  It was fun having them here!  Brittany took this pic of Dad playing with his little buddy.

We think that as soon as he gets a little more control over his limbs, he'll be sucking on that thumb a lot!  My mom said some babies like flesh and some like rubber (like pacifiers).  We definitely got a baby that likes flesh!

We think that when he opens his mouth really wide like that, it's just him trying to figure out laughing.  David does this with him all the time and I think he loves playing with his daddy! 

Family Photo!

We have a baby!

It's been quite the eventful week around here and I'm still recovering and getting used to our new lives, but I'll try to do a quick post about our little man. 

On Monday morning, I woke up at about 4:30 and jumped out of bed and into the bathroom.  I was about 95% sure that my water had broken.  I had asked my mom a little earlier what it felt like and she said it was like a water balloon popping.  She was very right.  It was very wet and sticky!  Not quite like how I imagined it would be.  David woke up with me telling him my water broke and he immediately jumped out of bed, took the sheets off, and started getting dressed.  I was very glad that he jumped to action so fast even though I knew he had a hard time getting to sleep that night.  So David called my mom, told her what had happened and she told us to head to the hospital.  We packed up and headed out - we were almost parents!

We got to the hospital and I started feeling some slight contractions.  Nothing too bad.  They checked us in and wheeled me up to labor and delivery.  I changed into their gown, got into bed, and we waited.  The nurses were in and out asking all sorts of questions and getting all my vitals, and then they wanted to check to make sure my water really had broken.  They did a litmus paper test....and it came back negative.  I was very confused.  They said it's really common for women to think their water broke when it was probably just my bladder losing control or something like that.  I tried to tell them that I know what pee looks and smells like and that was not it.  And there was so much fluid that I knew my bladder couldn't hold that much (especially at this point).  They redid the test a couple more times and each time it came back negative.  David said the first time they did it the paper did turn color a little bit, but they didn't say anything.  So they called my doctor and he said to send us home but for me to come in to his office later in the morning. 

I was pretty frustrated at this point.  I knew what had happened and David said that if he had to catch the baby in the car, he was going to be pretty angry.  We went home and the contractions kept getting worse and worse.  David fell asleep on the couch while I watched Tron and tried to get in a comfortable position.  I didn't blame him for falling asleep and there wasn't anything he could do anyways.  We looked up the doctors office and saw it didn't open until 8, so we just had to wait to call and make an appointment then.  When we did call, they said the doctor wouldn't be in until 9 and we could just come in then. 

I must admit, that was not fun just sitting around waiting.  I was confused because I was positive I was in labor, but had the nurses from earlier telling me I wasn't.  And I was worried that if I wasn't in labor, there was really something wrong because the contractions were fairly regular and getting worse (I was passing the time by timing the contractions, they were about 7-10 minutes apart and lasted about 30-45 seconds for a good hour, but kept getting closer and closer together). 

When we got to the doctor and the nurse took us back, she asked how things were going and we told her that we were pretty sure my water broke.  She said "Really?  You should've gone to the hospital!" "We did.  They sent us home."  "Serious?  Well let's just take you right back to see the doctor."  So we went back and he came in to check what was going on.  He did the same litmus paper test they did at the hospital and (in his words) said he came within 6 inches of the fluid and the paper was already turning colors.  There was no doubt my water had broken.  I could tell he was agitated and said he was going to call the hospital right then while I was getting my clothes back on.  When he came back he said he had words with them and let them know that he wasn't happy with what had happened and for us to head straight up to the hospital, and they should roll out the red carpet for us!

We drove right up there and everyone was taking us a lot more seriously.  I was taken right up and hooked up to an IV and was given Pitocin.  The Pitocin was used to help my contractions get more regular, not so much that I was having problems having contractions. Unfortunately, a side effect of Pitocin is that it makes your contractions much worse.  I could feel it as soon as she started me on the drip.  I wanted to hold out on the epidural as long as I could because I didn't want to seem like the wimp that couldn't handle it (the doctor had said I could have an epidural as soon as I asked for it), but it was very long before David talked me into it (not that it was very hard because of how much pain I was in).  I had to wait awhile before I could get the epidural so I could get a whole bag of fluid in my system and it was a very hard wait.  Before long, though, I finally got the epidural and it was amazing!  David kept trying to scare me saying that there was a huge horse needle they had to put in your back, but it wasn't nearly as bad as he made it out to be.

After that, we were both able to sleep a little bit which was very nice.  My family came to see me and they were all very supportive.  I was progressing well and not in pain.  Labor after the epidural was so much better!  The only thing was I had to keep turning on my side and repositioning because the baby's heart rate kept dropping a little, something they said was very normal after an epidural.  At about 4, the baby's heart rate kept dropping and not really coming back up even though the nurse was doing everything she could.  She said that sometimes the baby's heart rate does that if you're dilating so she wanted to check to see how progressed I was. 

When she checked me, she got a really confused look on her face.  About an hour earlier she said I was at a 6 and said that at 9.5 they would have me push a little with the nurses (to get the baby over the pelvic bone) and then they would have the doctor come and we'd push for real.  Well, she asked me if my mom progressed through delivery pretty fast.  I told her that after she got to a 5, she didn't take long to get to a 10.  The nurse said "I think you inherited that gene!  You're at a 10!"  I was a little shocked because it was happening so fast.  She took apart the bed and got me in position and had me push once.  While I was pushing, the doctor came in just to check up, saw where I was at, and asked how long I was pushing.  The nurse told him that was my first push and he said he'd be right back and ran out of the room to get cleaned up because he could see the head.  The nurse started getting everything ready and David asked if I should keep pushing.  She turned and said "No!  I don't want to deliver this baby!"

It wasn't long before the doctor was back and had me pushing.  It was weird trying to push without being able to feel hardly anything from my stomach down, but I did the best I could!  Then the baby's heart rate started dropping a lot.  The doctor got very urgent and told me I had to push as hard as I could.  I was doing the best I could, but the baby just wasn't coming out fast enough.  They ended up having to use the vacuum to get him out. When the doctor got the baby out, the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck, which is why his heart rate was so low.  But everything else went fine!  Asher David was born at 5:37 pm on August 5, at 8lbs and 21 inches.  I didn't think I'd be very emotional when I saw him, but I really did almost start crying because of how happy I was to see him.

David got to cut the umbilical cord and they took Asher over to clean him up and get all the blood flowing.  They had a little trouble getting enough oxygen in his system because he had a lot of fluid in his lungs, but they mostly just let him cry it out and said that feeding him would help clear things out too.  The whole time I was getting stitched back up (ouchy) David was with Asher taking pictures and taking in being a new dad!  After all was said and done, we were taken to a recovery room where we laid around a lot and tried to figure out how to take care of our little guy.

I think we got pretty lucky with our man.  He sleeps pretty well and took to breastfeeding really fast.  He hardly ever cries and it doesn't take much to calm him down.  I really hope that lasts!  He's such a sweetheart and we can't get enough of him! 

David is an amazing dad.  Maybe a little over-protective, but that's just because he loves Asher so much!  He told me last night that he is winning on how many kisses he gives Asher.  It's so sweet to see them together.  Sorry this was such a long post, and it's about to get a lot longer because here comes a lot of pictures!

Me at 38 weeks, the day before I delivered!

The only good use for my tummy, to hold things I was eating or drinking.  Man am I glad I'm not pregnant anymore!

I look beautiful...but hey, I just had a baby!  You don't have to look glamorous!

First family picture!

I've been wearing my wedding ring on a necklace the last few months because of all the swelling in my hands.  When they put Asher on me he grabbed right onto it.  I thought it was sweet!

David is very excited to finally see his buddy!

I took a shower and came out to see this.  It was a long day!

This is one of my most favorite pictures of all time.  David is so excited to have his buddy here!