Life With Baby

Grayson is a little over a month old now and I wanted to give a few updates on how things are going. People have asked if it was what I was expecting. This is hard to answer because I feel like in some ways yes and some ways no. I have lots of nieces and nephews so I had some idea of what it would be like, but at the same time it's so different with your own.

I thought I would be much more nervous and scattered than I am. I feel surprisingly calm most of the time. Don't get me wrong, I have had my teary and frustrated moments but then have gotten over it. Having Joe home at first was a big help. He was off work for three weeks. It was also such a help to have him to do the dishes and make me food etc. We are also blessed with lots of family and friends that brought us meals so it was one less thing to worry about.

When we first brought him home he screamed bloody murder every time he got his diaper changed. All I would have to do was lay him on the changing table and he would start as if he know what was coming. This was the most frustrating thing for me because he is also very squirmy. It was almost a two person job just to change him. It was a battle every time just to get the new diaper on. Thankfully he's gotten better at this. Now he only cries 90% of the time that he gets changed and he doesn't squirm quite as much. Taking a bath is still quite the struggle though. The worst part being when he gets his hair washed. I really need to get it on film to capture the madness. If you just heard the audio I'm sure most people would think we were abusing him.

I'm also quite spoiled that I don't get up with him at night. Joe gets off work at 9:30 pm so when he comes home he stays up late with him. I just have to get up early with him. He usually wakes up around 3:30-4 am. (usually not long after Joe goes to bed) He doesn't always get up at this time but he is awake at 6 am everyday. Sometimes he will go right back to sleep but most of the time he's up. If I feed him first he usually poops while he's eating. So I usually feed him before I change him. A few people have also told me that talking about bodily functions will be normal after having a baby. Well I already talked about poop before so there's no change there.

I couldn't tell what color his eyes were going to be as they seemed to change everyday. One day they looked blue, the next brown. But I'm hoping they will be blue. The last few days they have stayed blue so let's hope they stay that way. I was really hoping he would have blue eyes like Joe.

 Since I've made you wait long enough for nursery pics here they are. Here are some before pics

This pic above is Joe's DVD and CD shelves being packed up. Yes, that shelf to the right was packed full of DVDs. And not just any movies but all b movies. If you don't know what a b movie is it's basically a cheap crap movie. They now sit in boxes in the closet. And Joe has quite the attachment to them. It was a sad for him I could tell.

Another shot of crap in the room. I had a few more but can't find them. This room was basically the junk/hoarders room.

Lisa hiding under an empty box.

This godzilla was on top of the bookshelf. Mona and him are good friends. The after pics I'm sure some of you have seen before but here they are again. I had a scary pic of the room before of right when you opened the door and am quite upset I can't find it. Oh well. Enjoy!

I'm enjoying being home right now and not looking forward to going back to work. Even in a month I can tell he's already grown and changed so much. He's starting to stay awake longer and is so alert. He stares at our engagement pictures on the wall all the time. He will lay on the floor and just hang out. After a while he wants up but he will lay there without fussing. At about two weeks old he rolled from his belly to his back. I was totally shocked when he did it as it seemed so soon. He tries sometimes to roll from his back but only gets his legs turned and half his body.

That's about all the updates for now.  I didn't expect to love him so much and not be grossed out by gross things like diapers and boogers. I may change my mind once he starts eating food but for now they aren't that bad. Before I go I will leave you with a picture of him actually awake. This is a picture my friend took. It's one of my faves!

My Grayson

So as you may know Grayson finally made his entrance into the world on April 29, 2012. Days before he got here I had the feeling that he would be here soon but felt like he never was going to. I'll try to leave out gross details but I make no promises as I tend to be blunt in my writing.

I'll start at the beginning. I came home from work around 6:30 in the morning (it was a Saturday). I went to bed and woke up around 9ish to use the bathroom. I realized that my mucus plug broke. I looked up online what exactly this meant. What I found out was that it means labor could be hours, days, or weeks away. Which was not helpful at all so I went back to sleep. Or tried to anyway but had a hard time. I think I ended up getting up around 10:30 and got ready for the day. I had plans to go shopping with my friend Krystal.

Once we were shopping I started having contractions but didn't think anything of it as I had been having braxton hicks contractions for a couple weeks. But they started to get progressively stronger as the day went on. When we were at the mall they were anywhere form 7-12 minutes apart. Getting anxious me and Krystal parted ways and I went home. I called my mom and decided to go over to her house so she could take me to the hospital if needed. But once I got there my contractions seemed to just stop. As you can imagine I was extremely irritated by this. I had some while I was there they weren't close together at all. So after about an hour or so I went home feeling defeated. I tried to take a nap as I only had a few hours of sleep. I slept for maybe an hour and a half before waking up in pain. I was having more contractions but they weren't close together. I would have maybe two or three that were about 12 minutes apart but then nothing for half an hour or more. This went on pretty much the rest of the night. I made laps around my living room and went up and down the stairs hope to get things moving.

Joe finally came home from work around 11:30 pm. By this time I was having more pain but didn't think we should go to the hospital since they weren't close together. We left the house about 12:30 am and as we were getting on the freeway Joe said, "Oh shit I don't remember if I locked the door. Should I go back?" To which I said, *sigh* "Yes, we can't just leave the door unlocked." So we did only to find out the door was locked the entire time. Fast forward to getting to the hospital and getting checked in. When the nurse checked me I was at 3 centimeters. She had us walk around for an hour before checking again. After the hour I was at a 4. I was on the fence about getting an epidural as I hate needles and having a giant one put in my spine just freaked me out. But the decision was an easy one as that was the worst pain ever. Most of the pain was in my back which is supposed to be worse but I don't know that for a fact.

So fast forwarding through all the boring stuff. I slept most of my labor anyway so there's not much to tell there. At 10:30 am it was time to push. According to the nurse I was an expert pusher. So I figured that within the hour I would be holding my baby. But that didn't happen. Two hours later still no baby and my epidural was wearing off and I had the worst pain of my life and felt like I was going to die. I was also put on oxygen at this point and had been on it for awhile. The doctor said my choices were to try and keep pushing, try the vacuum or just get the c section. But if the first two didn't work we would have to do a c section anyway. I got emotional and started crying as I really didn't want the c section but it seemed like the best option.

Cut to being numbed up again and on the operating table. First off being awake for any surgery is totally creepy. You can feel them touching you but it doesn't hurt. I just found it creepy knowing they were cutting me open. I was also a little loopy from the medication. I think I asked a hundred times if they were almost done and told them it felt weird several times. I also threw up during it. Not a good time. After what felt like forever I heard a nurse say, "Oh hi cutie." Followed by him crying. There were more tears at this point as I couldn't believe he was finally out. I was also upset that I didn't get to hold him right away. Not that I would have been able to. I started shivering and had the shakes something fierce.

I don't really know how to explain what it was like when I first saw him. The first part of him I saw was his feet and genitals across the room. But finally seeing his face was different. I just thought he was beautiful. Totally cliche I know. And I couldn't believe he was mine. I finally got to hold him in the recovery room. He weighed 8 pounds 10 ounces and was 22 inches long so he was a big boy. And his birth time was 1:46 pm. We spent three nights at the hospital before coming home.

 Above is some pictures taken at the hospital minus the last one which was taken at home. The first pic of me and Grayson is pretty rough as I was just wheeled into the recovery room. So far having him home has been great as we all try and get to know each other. It's hard for me to not do too much as I'm still recovering but overall I feel fine. He's already changed so much since these pictures were taken. But we're just enjoying him and falling more in love everyday. <3.