Finally, Feeling Like "Mommy"

For a long time, I did not feel like a mom. I was in "survival mode" - trying to get the basics down, and not really getting to enjoy things. Seth has finally started becoming more of a little person - cooing, smiling, and "talking" in baby talk. Yesterday, as I had my hands full - lugging the baby carrier, diaper bag, camera, and purse I saw my shadow and it really dawned on me that I am a mom. I think the reason it took so long was that I had waited so long for this...seven years - through which there were many ups and downs, disappointments, as well as the loss of our first child. It was hard to believe that my dream finally did come true. I'm very blessed. There is no better feeling in the world then knowing that not only do I help sustain my little guy by feeding him and meeting his basic needs, but I love that he looks for me when I leave the room and seems to genuinely miss me. As the intern at his doctor's office noted yesterday "this baby sure likes to look at his mommy!" Yes, that would be me. =)

Settling In

Baby holding up his head
5 Week Picture

Life as a mom has now started to settle down. It is very true that your first month with baby goes by as sort of a blur because it's nothing more than survival mode - feed baby, change diapers, get baby to stop being fussy...all the while trying to remember to eat, comb your hair, and shower. These are the days of living in pajamas, avoiding the scale, and at least two loads of laundry daily. There are also a lot of rewards - getting your first smile from baby, watching him sleep (sometimes laughing while sleeping), see baby go from fussy to cooing, watching baby get big chubby cheeks and knowing that I had something to do with it. Some things I have learned the past 4 weeks:
1) Schedules - seems no matter how hard we try to get baby on a schedule he has his own...life became much easier when we just let him have his way on this
2) Nursing - a nightmare at first, very time consuming, but I know it's what is best for him, and how could I feel like a better mom then when I'm nursing?
3) Cluster feeding - something I wish I had known about before, last week he did this and I had no clue what was going on. Basically he was hungry all the time at night, no matter how much I nursed him. He seemed to want to nurse for two hours straight. Turns out he was trying to "stock up" so he could sleep longer at night - a very good thing. When I started feeding him instead of giving him his Nuk out of frusteration, or thinking I wasn't giving him enough milk he ended up sleeping 4-5 hours straight. He's been doing this pretty consistently the past few nights, nursing for a long time and then only getting up twice to feed. Pretty nice!

More of Our Favorite Picts

Our Favorite Picts

My, How Seth Has Grown!

Week 4
Week 3
Week 2
Week 1
It is hard to believe that a month has passed since we welcomed Seth into this world. I'm sorry I've been slow to update the blog, but newborns are a handful! Above is four pictures, taken at the beginning of the week to show his growth. As you can see he has grown substantially!

Announcing Baby Seth!

Seth was born at 1:35am on March 2nd, 2009. His whole birth was another answer to prayer, God came through in every way for this baby! I had false labor the week prior and on Sunday felt many of the same type of contractions. At 2pm I had the "bloody show" which usually indicates that labor is hours to days away. At that point contractions started getting stronger, but they weren't very consistent. By 9pm, the contractions were about 3-5 minutes apart and lasting about a minute. I figured I was in enough pain that we needed to call the doctor to see if I had dialated to 4cm so I could get the epidural. The doctor was skeptical but said we could head over to the hospital. When I got there I told the receptionists that I thought I was in labor. They exchanged glances and asked if I was a first time mom. I said yes and they exchange more glances and said they would check me out. When the nurse checked me out she exclaimed that I was almost fully dialated. I was shocked. I was at 8cm and they admitted me right away. From the birth DVDs that we watched I knew that "transition" was from 7-10cm and was a very short time, about an hour out of your life as they put it. The pain at that point was a 7 out of 10 and was tolerable so I figured why get an epidural if I was almost done anyway. I soaked in the hot tub for an hour, used the birthing ball, and quickly dialated. I started pushing shortly after 1am and they had to call the doctor and oncall doc right away because the baby was coming so fast. The doctor arrived just in time and Seth was born after about 25 mins of pushing. He was a healthy baby with a good set of lungs. I am so thankful that the birth experience was not the horror I was expecting and I have greatly enjoyed the past two weeks with our new baby boy. I'll keep everyone updated as I have time, but just wanted to share his birth story while it was still fresh in my mind.

Anxiously awaiting baby!

One week and four days left to my due date, and I'm sincerely hoping baby will be here early. I just got over a week of the nastiest flu ever and am ready to take the next step into motherhood! Baby teased us on Sunday as I was having many contractions, but it was false labor. What a bummer! I'm currently still only a fingertip dialated and 60% effaced. I forgot to ask the doc what head station baby is in, as a week ago he was a -2, but I can tell he's a lot lower now. I have a very hard time moving around now as he is so low, and it is beginning to get uncomfortable to even sit in a chair, or on a couch...or just about anything.

There are bets flying on when this baby will arrive - Luke's work even has a pool going on now. My bet is still that I'll give birth on Fri, and Luke was betting on today so we'll see what happens. I so want a February baby!

I normally wouldn't mind a week off to enjoy the last few moments of "alone time" I'll get in many years, but with how uncomfortable I am, there is not much I can do that would be productive. I'm ready to be done with all of this so I can shower baby with kisses and change poopy diapers. If baby is still incubating this weekend I hope to finally finish cleaning house, but I'd rather have a messy house and a happy baby in my arms, then a clean house and still be waiting...and waiting... Lord willing, my next post will be a birth announcement!