Xmas

I see a cry face coming on... so this post may be choppy and short!

We had a great holiday! We spent it in Wilmington with Justin's family. Dexter was a hit at every family gathering we attended.  He got 5 different "Babies First Christmas" outfits, but he's still kinda tiny and they were all too big. 

On the 22nd he had a check up and he was up to 7 lbs 15 oz! I'm sure he's a little heavier by now, a week later. 

I'm finally getting used to the lack of sleep. He eats every three hrs like clockwork. 

We have man more pics from Xmas, but they're on Justin's camera and I don't feel like bugging him to resize and email them to me.

No Time To Blog...

Today Dexter is three weeks old!

I've been wanting to do an update since last Monday, but I have not had any spare time to do anything.  Dexter is keeping me very busy. 

So here's what happened last week... On Saturday December 12th Dexter's belly button stump fell off. The next day his circumcision ring fell off. It was kinda scary cleaning around it, so I was very happy when it fell off.  On Monday the 14th he had his first real bath! He didn't start crying until halfway through.  Hopefully he'll enjoy bath time a little more as he gets older.

Dexter is already pretty strong, he's always lifting his head.  He's got such a little personality. He smiles, makes funny faces, and sometimes he even looks like he's laughing.

This photo is from this past Saturday morning. Justin let me sleep all night and he slept with Dexter in the other room. Of course Dexter slept in because he was with Daddy!

We had two play dates this past week. This is Dexter and Sofia. Sofia is eight weeks old. They had a hard time sitting up for the pic :)

Here is Dexter and Rachel. She is three months old. They ate and slept. It was a good first play date :)

It's come to my attention that my blog has not been working correctly. For some reason people, or myself, can't post comments. And some of my pics won't enlarge. Justin looked at it and couldn't figure out what's wrong, so it's just going to be broken, ha.

2 Weeks Old!

Tomorrow Dexter will be 2 weeks old.  I can't believe how fast the time is passing. He already looks bigger and is getting chubby cheeks :)

He's also starting to make funny faces.  He is a really good eater and sleeps pretty well at night. 

Although, I'm still trying to get used to not getting enough sleep. He doesn't nap much during the day, so I can't really catch a nap either.

He is still too small for a lot of his newborn sized clothes. I'm sure within a few weeks he'll be able to fit into some of them.  

Bateman has done really well with the new addition to our family. He's very protective of Dexter. One day they'll be best friends!

                                                                           

Dexter Ruggles

Dexter was born a week ago today, on his due date. November 30th at 6:52pm. He weighed 6 lbs 3 oz and was 21 inches long.

Last Sunday night we decorated the Xmas tree. I was trying to move around a lot to try to get labor started. It felt like it was never going to happen. I went to sleep around midnight. Around 3:30am I woke up with contractions. I wasn't sure if it was just BH contractions like I had been having for weeks. Justin was downstairs on the computer and my Mom was sleeping. I laid there and timed the contractions for about an hour before going to get Justin. Then we timed them together for about an hr then called the doctor. He said I was in early labor and that I should come in. My contractions were about 5 minutes apart, one minute long. My Mom woke up and we all headed to the hospital. We were nervous and it still didn't seem real.

When I got to the hospital I was still only 2-3 cm dilated. But then the contractions started coming faster and stronger.  They got me into a room, hooked me up and started monitoring my contractions.  By the time I got to 4-5 cm dilated the pain was really intense. I always said I would just decide about the epidural once I was in the pain. I always thought that I would be able to just breath through it, but when the time came they were just too much. I got the epidural and it was great... for a while. 

Around 3pm or so I was 9-10 cm dilated and it was time to push. The epidural did not help for this. Our nurse was a neighbor of ours, which was weird and uncomfortable. We had never met her, she just told us we live on the same street. She has seen more of me than I would like a neighbor to see.

I pushed for 3 hrs. The last 2 hours the nurses and Justin kept saying "We see him, just one more push"! No matter how hard, or which way they turned me, he would just not come out. The doc came in and said they either had to vacuum or do a c-section. But after looking at what was going on, she said that vacuum was not an option and that we had to go with a c-section. They thought maybe he was too big.

The feeling of absolute defeat came over me. I never thought I would be having a c-section. I felt like I just wasn't strong enough or that there was something wrong with me.

They wheeled me off to the surgery room and got to work. I remember them saying he was out and shortly after hearing him cry. Justin was beside me the whole time. Dexter's head was turned a weird way and his cord was wrapped around him a couple times and that's why I couldn't push him out.

I had an infection from having my water broken and then not having him til hrs later. So, Dexter and I got antibiotics. The pic of him with a paddle on his arm is the IV for the antibiotics. Besides that we were both doing well.

The first couple days in the hospital were complete bliss. We we're so happy! Dexter was feeding and sleeping and we just couldn't believe we created such a perfect little guy! Since I had the c-section I couldn't move around much. Justin is the best husband, he did everything! They look so much alike :)

Towards the end of the third day things started to get rough. Dexter did not want to feed anymore. He screamed and pulled away. He cried constantly unless he had the binky in his mouth. We had 8-9 different nurses throughout the 3 1/2 days there and they all had different opinions and it got to be really confusing. 

We went home on Thursday and things were still really hard. He would not stop crying! Long story short, Friday morning I called the prediatrcian to ask her what to do. We found out we were not feeding him nearly enough and he was screaming and not sleeping cuz he was so hungry :( We were feeding him the amount one of the nurses told us to feed him.

Now everything is great! 

I have to go feed him now. More posts and pics to come :) He's keeping me so busy!

Ready for Baby!

I have 5 days left till my due date!

This past weekend was awful! Friday night I started getting a sore throat and stuffed up nose. I woke up Saturday morning with 

a full blown terrible cold. So, my 

weekend was spent trying to rest, just staying in the house. Today I'm finally feeling better.

Last night I couldn't sleep. I had cramps and really bad lower back pain, so hopefully that means he's going to be here soon :)

There are a few other items that we plan to add to his walls but here's what we have so far!  

Waiting.....

This morning I had a doc appt. Still just one cm dilated. I have contractions pretty much everyday and feel like crap. Luckily, today is my last day working (well, before I have to come back in 3 months).
I'm frustrated because I can't really do stuff that I want to do, like cleaning and grocery shopping. I have to walk super slow and I get shooting cramps.
Just a few random updates... My belly button is still an iny. We still have to hang the wall stuff in the baby room. My hospital bag is packed. I'm looking super bloated!

Bateman is ready to meet his little brother! Although, the past few days he's been extra hyper and not listening what-so-ever. I hope he is good and somewhat calm when the baby arrives!

New Items in the Nursery

I'm down to the last few weeks! I'm still hoping for Thanksgiving week. I feel awful... My lower back hurts constantly, I've been having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions, and my belly feels so heavy, like it might fall off.
I had my 37 week doc appt a couple days ago. I am now 1 cm dilated. The baby's heart rate was in the 150s.
We still have a few things left to add to the nursery. Here are a few pics of some gifts for the baby room that we've recently received.
Justin's Mom, Robin, made us this stain-glass lamp. We love it! The shades of green and the tree branch base really go with the room.
This giraffe lamp is from Justin's Dad and Renee. It's adorable. The pic I took with the lights off didn't come out too well, but you get the
idea :)







Oh, and, I'm not moving my blog to Word Press... I'm leaving it here.

36 Weeks!

Today I'm 36 1/2 weeks. Almost there! I don't think my 36 week pic looks much different from my 30 week pic, but I'm def bigger and belly has dropped.
I had a doc appt today. He is head down, super low. I'm not dilated yet, but I am 75% effaced. The doc said he feels like the perfect size for my body. I really wish they could tell me approximatly when I'll go into labor, ha. I know that's impossible, but I really want him to stay in there until the week of Thanksgiving. I'm def done being pregnant, it's become pretty damn uncomfortable, but my Mom won't here until the 23rd! That is exactly a week before my due date. So, I guess all we can do is wait and see. I've been feeling crampy and my lower back hurts most of the time.
I am an obsessive planner so this waiting and not knowing is killing me!
Now that my pregnancy is coming to an end I would like to note the things I have enjoyed about being pregnant.
-My hair is very soft and thick
-My skin is clear
-I can eat much spicier foods than ever before and it's delicious!
-Feeling and seeing him move has been really cool
Beyond those things I am not someone that "loves being pregnant".

I hoping to have a couple more blog posts before the little guy arrives. I'm switching my blog to Word Press. Justin thinks that it'll be so much better. So, once I transfer all of my archives I'll post my new blog address.

Time to fold baby clothes!

Under Construction

I wasn't really feeling the look of my blog, so I picked this templet just until I do something different to it. Justin wants to help me make it look better. 

The Nursery

We went to a "Taking Care of Baby" class at the hospital this week. They taught infant CPR, changing the baby, and safe sleep practices. We had fun. The pic at the top is what Justin did with his baby mannequin :)
The nursery is almost finished. It looks a little blah right now because we haven't done any decorating yet. We have plans for some wall hangings and some other things to add. I've got all of his clothes and toys organized, but I still need to wash his clothes, blankets and such.
Bateman hangs out with me while I work in the baby room. He really wants a baby toy to destroy bad! He's stolen a couple blankets and some clothes (for the tags), but I got to him before he could do any damage. He favorite thing to do is chewing things up, so we're gonna have to really watch him.
This past week I had some cramping. The doc says they were braxon hicks, but they felt a little different than what I've read about braxon hicks. None the less, the doc told me on Wednesday that I'm measuring right at 34 weeks, so that was good. I really don't want him to come too early. I hope he holds out til the week of Thanksgiving.
I've always been a list maker, but lately it's all I've been doing! Yesterday my list actually had listed to make 2 other sub lists to the main list..crazy. But, with persistent nagging and list making we've been able to get most of the stuff prepared in the time frame I was hoping for.
In two weeks I'll be 36 weeks and I start going to the doc once a week!

Baby Shower #3!

This past weekend my friends, Sara and Tara, threw me a baby shower. It was a few friends, good food, and some babies :)

My mother-in-law, Robin, supplied this cute cake!  Sara made these favors, which included a tiny baby floating in the water.

I'm giant.

Yay for Fall & Halloween!

This is the absolute, best time of the year! I'm so happy that I made it through the rough summer and that my last few months are in the fall.
These are pictures of our Halloween village. We started it 4 years ago, when we got in engaged and every year we add something. This year we added the "Halloween Pet Costume Contest". We are dorks.
I've been going to the doctor every two weeks now. Everything looks good. He's "head down". He feels super heavy and I'm afraid I may pee my pants.
The nursery is coming along. We're are waiting on one piece of furniture and then we should be set, besides maybe some wall items. I can't wait to meet our little guy :)

30 Weeks!

I passed the sugar test! I have my next doc appt tomorrow.  The baby has been moving like crazy! I have yet to see an actual foot, but I see my him moving in my stomach all of the time.  

Sleeping has become a major issue for me now. I can't get comfortable no matter how many pillows I use.  My hips hurt and I have to get up to pee a lot!  

All of those little complaints are really nothing. I'm very thankful that I have not had any complications or issues during my pregnancy so far.

My belly button has become quite strange.  It's still an iny, a very tiny one. I have a mole that I never knew I had that was inside my belly button that is now on the outside of my belly. And, where my navel piercing now looks like another belly button hole. It's so weird looking!