Gavin 2 months

Holy crap I can't believe my baby is 2 months old! I really need to keep better documentation of our adventures, as it is going to be hard to go back and recap the last month! 

-Gavin is really growing a personality. He loves babbling and cooing at us, especially when he's laying on the changing pad on the pack n play. I could stare at him all day!

-He loves being held while we are standing up. It almost always calms him down. It's so funny, though, because we can continue to hold him the exact same way and try to sit down and he starts crying! He's a tricky little booger.

-Gavin also loves to be bounced up and down. He loves moving his legs, and when we set him in his bouncer, he sits back and watches the tv and kicks away - it's the cutest!

He kicked his pants off while I was in the shower one morning...

-The transition to the crib this past month was a bit of a struggle in the beginning. I wouldn't have pushed it so soon, but he has a crib at daycare and I wanted him to be used to sleeping in something other than his swing and Rock N Play. It took a few attempts each day to get him to take a nap in the crib, but after a week he was doing well so we switched to putting him down to sleep in the crib at night. He goes right to sleep most times and we let him sleep in there until he wakes for his first feeding, which lately has been around 4am (going to bed between 10:00-10:30) so a 5.5-6 hour stretch has been amazing! Once he is a bit more used to the crib we will try getting him to sleep in it all night.

-G man (one of his many nicknames) continues to do well with feedings and is gaining weight at a healthy pace. Breastfeeding has had its ups and downs but I'm sticking with it because I know it's best for him. I'm definitely feeling anxious about going back to work and finding time to pump between meetings and phone calls, but I'm hoping I get the hang of it quickly.

-We took our first trip to the zoo a few weeks ago with Lauren and Adalyn. It was a beautiful day and of course Gavin slept the whole time. Oh well - Adalyn enjoyed herself :)

-Gavin celebrated his first major holiday on Halloween. Gahanna's trick or treat was moved from Thursday to Saturday due to some yucky weather, so we went to the Petruso's for the evening. Adalyn and Gavin looked so cute in their costumes! 

Adalyn decided to climb into Gavin's car seat :)

-The evenings continue to be somewhat rough, and little man has his fussy period almost every night from about 7-10pm. We are getting better at recognizing his cues and hopefully he will grow out of this phase soon. He just loves to be held and doesn't seem to be happy any other way! :)

-He's growing to like bathtime (he didn't at first!) He has peed and pooed in the tub more than a few times which was pretty hysterical. After he's all clean and smelling so yummy it's so nice to snuggle him :)

-His 2 month checkup is tomorrow and he'll be getting his first round of shots. I think it will be harder for me than it is for him. I weighed him at home today and he is 13 lbs! Growing up so fast!

(Please excuse me as I still try to get the hang of my camera!)

Looking forward to savoring every last moment of this last week of my maternity leave :/ I'm gonna miss this little booger!

Gavin 1 month

Well hello! Sorry for being MIA, but being a mommy is kind of exhausting and I'd much rather be snuggling my little man instead of writing!

Gavin had his two week checkup after my last post, on September 17th. His jaundice was no longer a concern {yay!} and his cord stump had already fallen off. They weighed him at 9lbs 3oz, meaning he gained 1lb and 1.5 oz in a week, go Gavin! Other than that, perfectly healthy.  

Matt went back to work on September 23rd, which was a tough day. I'm starting to get the hang of things on my own now, but G and I miss daddy lots! 

These past few weeks we've continued to have lots of visitors. It's definitely tricky to time feedings around visitors, especially because Gavin had been cluster feeding last week (I believe because of a growth spurt). He loves meeting his new friends and family, though!

He is doing so well with tummy time. His neck is so strong already and he is lifting his head with very little effort! 

He loves to smile! He's started to find his voice and loves cooing at us.

I got my breast pump 2 weeks ago and started using it right away. I had to wait to order it until after he was born, as that was my insurance company's policy. He's doing great with bottles (after some practice) and we usually give him 1 a day with about 3.5 oz in it.

Most of the time, he loves sleeping in his car seat and enjoying the vibration of the car ride! He's also been on a few walks and likes to sleep right through those too! :)

Ashley came to visit last weekend to meet Gavin and go to a wedding with us. The two of us went to lunch one afternoon and sat outside - Gavin was great and slept the whole time! We also had a great time at the wedding thanks to my mom - she babysat Gavin so we could enjoy ourselves. I would be lying if I didn't say I thought about Gavin every 5 minutes...

I took my first solo outing with Gavin to Babies R Us on Monday and it was a success! He, yet again, slept the whole time! He's such a good baby :) He's also taken trips to Costco and Easton and was great both times.

I do have to admit he has his fussy periods, mostly in the evenings. He calms down eventually after some rocking and trying different positions and feeding, etc. He usually takes about 15-20 minutes to go down to sleep (which is usually around 10pm) and will sleep until about 2 (yay!). I feed him and then he will sleep again til 5 or 6 and I can usually feed him and sleep again another 2 hours, but sometimes he is up for good at that point. I nap during his morning nap and after that I'm feeling pretty refreshed. I always time my shower around his second morning nap and set him in the Rock N Play in the bathroom while I take what is possibly the fastest shower ever, haha! I take my long showers on the weekends when Matt is home. :)

Speaking of the Rock N Play, I couldn't live without that thing! It's great to have next to our bed at night and to be able to rock him to sleep. I also couldn't live without his Fisher Price swing (lets us eat dinner together) and Baby Bjorn. He loves being attached to me and I wouldn't be able to accomplish anything when I'm home alone without it! 

We are putting him in his crib once a day to nap to introduce it slowly. So far it's going okay. Baby steps :)

I weighed him today, his one month birthday, at 10 lbs 15 oz. He also slept a 5 hour stretch last night which was marvelous! Maybe that will continue? :)

Gavin's birth story and first week at home

Wow! What a week it has been. Let me start off with Gavin's birth story... sorry for the extreme detail :)

Thursday night (9/5/13), I started getting what I thought were Braxton Hicks contractions {AGAIN!}, but they felt a bit more painful this time. I just had this feeling, "this could be it", so I called my mom and told her to maybe be prepared for a call in the middle of the night, shaved my legs, and went to bed. I woke back up around 1am and felt like I was having strong period cramps every several minutes. I started timing them on my phone and they were infrequent - every 7 minutes, every 5 minutes, every 9 minutes... but definitely kept getting stronger and always about 1 minute long. I tried to sleep through them knowing the next 24 hours could be extremely tiring, but couldn't sleep! 

I showered around 6am and made sure everything was packed then called the on-call doctor. She said since the contractions were infrequent and not yet close to 3-4 minutes apart, to try and wait things out a bit longer. I woke Matt up and he got showered and ready and we waited around a few more hours. The contractions started to get pretty painful and a lot closer to 4-5 minutes apart so I called the doctor again and they told me to go into the hospital.

We got to the hospital around 11:15am, checked in and got into the triage room to be checked out. The attending doctor found me at only 1 cm dilated but 80% effaced. I was very surprised I was only 1 cm, because at this point I thought I was in a good amount of pain. The doctor instructed us that we would wait in the room an hour and she would check me again. If my cervix had progress we would be admitted, if not, sent home :(. The doctor checked again and wouldn't you know it, still 1 cm dilated! I was disappointed and ready to leave, but she made a call to my doctor who told her since I was almost a week past my due date to go ahead and induce me with pitocin. I was a bit scared of being induced, but the contractions were getting more and more painful and I didn't want to go home to suffer through the pain. It took foreeeever for them to get us a delivery room, but we were finally admitted and in our room around 3:30pm. The labor nurse checked my cervix and I was closer to 3 cm at this point - much better! She started the pitocin and gave me a pain reliever through an IV. My mom came in at this point, which was good, because the contractions were so strong I needed to hold her hand and Matt's to get through them. At this point I was trying to hold off from getting the epidural, but the pain was INTENSE so around 4 cm I ordered the epidural. It felt like it took an eternity for the anesthesiologist to get in the room. The contractions at this point were taking over my whole body and I didn't know whether to scream or cry or punch Matt in the face! The epidural took about 15 mintues to go into effect but after it did I was SOOO happy. I didn't feel a thing! It was close to 6:30pm and I was about 6 cm dilated. The nurse told me it might be a good idea for me to take a nap, as I probably had another 4 hours to go. Matt's parents and my sister in law Lynette got to the hospital at this point, and they all decided to go down to the cafeteria for some food while I napped. The nurse woke me up around 7:40pm and checked my cervix - I was 10cm plus two! Her and the doctor told me it was time to push so I called Matt and had everyone except for him leave the room. This was getting more and more surreal!

Right around 8:00pm I started pushing. For some reason I had this idea in my head that I would push 3-4 times and he'd just pop out. Boy was I wrong! I pushed for almost an hour and a half. I thought he was never coming out! Matt was so wonderful - he was super encouraging and watched the whole thing, so told me what he was seeing - lots of hair! :) The last push, the doctor said "stop!" and pulled him out. I wish I could remember this moment more clearly, and I am even starting to cry thinking about it {thank you hormones}... the doctor had Gavin in her hands and I looked at him in disbelief... that is my son! I made him! He is finally here! She placed him on my belly and I just couldn't stop smiling and crying. Matt was in tears too (and wouldn't like that I told you this!)... Gavin was beautiful and just absolutely perfect. All the pain I went through disappeared from my mind... he is here and I am so in love with him! They cleaned him off and Matt cut the umbilical cord. They weighed him at 8 lbs 6 oz, 20.5 inches long and he was born at 9:42pm on Friday, September 6th, 2013. I wanted to try and breastfeed him right away, but little man was just not hungry. Matt called in our families, and they all got to meet and hold Gavin. We spent some time in the room while the rest of delivery was finished and everyone was cleaned up (I won't share these details - you are welcome :) ). Our families said goodbye around 11:30pm and we were transferred to our recovery room. 

We stayed in the hospital until Sunday at 2:00pm. During our stay, we bonded with Gavin and I got the hang of breastfeeding with the help of the amazing nurses at OSU. We even facetimed with uncle Brian!

Gavin came down with jaundice, (as all babies do) and they wanted to "nib it in the bud" so to say, so Saturday night he spent in the nursery under the lights. Sunday morning he was doing great and they had no problem releasing us all from the hospital.

OSU has a newborn photography service by Bella Baby and we had some photos taken of him Sunday morning before we left. They are sooooo cute and I can't wait to order his birth announcement!

So... to recap the past week at home. We are definitely exhausted but so unbelievably happy. Gavin, as I said, is perfect :) Breastfeeding is going really well and he is sleeping better and better every night. We've had lots of visitors and his mood is different with every one - it depends on when he ate and how tired he is!  We just love watching his expressions and staring at him when he is alert. He loves his swing and loves to be rocked to sleep. He's only peed on two of our visitors and Matt, so I guess that's pretty good for a week's time?? :) He had his pediatrician appt on Tuesday and is down to 8 lbs 1.5 oz but that's normal as babies lose 10% of their birthweight after they leave the hospital. His jaundice is getting even better and the doctor said he is perfectly healthy!

I'm waiting for everything to hit me and to have a meltdown at some point, but I can honestly say that Gavin is a very good baby and we haven't had any major issues yet (*knock on wood*).  We can't wait to see him develop and grow! We've had a whirlwind of a week but are just so happy he's finally here!

40 weeks

Ohh heyyyy August 31st! I thought we'd never meet! I cannot believe it's finally here. I know I feel like I've been pregnant for 934039 years... but it truly feels like December 15th was just yesterday and I was taking my pregnancy test! I will say, this last month has dragged but the rest of the time really feels like it just flew by.

Now.... let's talk about Mr. Tardy For the Party. I should've known - I was born close to 2 weeks late and Matt was about a week late. Plus, most first babies are late. I guess I'd rather he be late than super early... I know he will be nice and healthy and plump. :) Hopefully not too plump though! As of right now, bets are on for giving birth today (Sunday), Monday (Labor Day, ha ha ha) and Wednesday (our Anniversary!).... we will see!

I went to the doctor on Friday and everything is still the same down there... no effacement or dilation and still posterior. My induction is still set for Sunday, September 8th and I have another follow up appointment scheduled for this Friday. As much as I'd love for him to come on his own, I'm really getting more irritable when I'm around people and I don't know how I'm going to make it another week at work. Sorry in advance to anyone who comes in contact with me over the next 7 days!

I told you last week I had a pretty rough few days at work this past week. Our event went well, but I had a 10 hour day Monday and a 12 hour day Wednesday and did A LOT of walking, so I was exhausted by Thursday and ready for the week to be over.

I'm trying my hardest to rest when I can but I'm still in nesting mode and can't sit still for very long. I'm constantly cleaning, I've re-packed my hospital bag and even got into some crafting this weekend (instructions here).

Not really liking the grey bow, think I need a red one for OSU :)

I think I've mentioned already that we cancelled cable in order to be more productive with our time and to save money for daycare. We've mostly been fine with it, but yesterday they decided to play the OSU game on ESPN 2 which was NOT OKAY! Normally we'd be on campus or a bar watching the game but a) I'm 9 months pregnant and am not stepping foot in a bar and b) Matt was feeling under the weather yesterday so we had to think fast and somehow came across a website that streams the games. It wouldn't play on the iPad though so here we were watching football on my laptop, haha!

I'm feeling pretty good considering I'm overdue at this point. I've pretty much turned into a hermit though since it's been super hot outside and as I previously mentioned, people annoy me. Baby is estimated to be between 7 to 9 pounds and from the cervix pain I've been feeling he's down pretty low. I've been feeling more and more Braxton Hicks contractions and am hoping that means he is coming soon?? We will see.

How far along? 40 weeks
Maternity clothes? Almost everything is maternity but I get excited when I wear a non-maternity top
Stretch marks? Yep, we're going to call them "love marks" instead
Sleep: Restless - I keep waking up to my own snoring!
Best moment of the week: Hitting the due date!
Miss anything? Beer again. Football season is here!
Movement: Yep, he's supposedly cramped but I still see and feel him moving a lot
Food cravings: Pasta lately
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope
Have you started to show yet: Yep, it's pretty obvious
Gender prediction: It's a boy!
Labor signs: Braxton hicks here and there, cervix has softened
Belly button in our out? It's poking out a bit
Rings on or off? Off
Looking forward to: Relaxing until his arrival

FINGERS CROSSED I won't have a 41 week update and my next post will be the birth story :)