craft therapy

While my mom and sister were here they jumped in to enjoy some craft therapy with me. Since Aiden likes to be my cuddle bunny nearly all the time, I had to either work with one hand, watch them craft without me, or get Aiden in on the fun! We had a footprint kit with plaster that turned out to be a debacle with a crying baby and a smudge of blurry baby toes. But it spawned the idea of making some cute hand and foot print ornaments with Aiden's hand and foot prints. We ditched the plaster and got some simple sculpy clay that worked out pretty well and he didn't even wake up when we smudged his hand into it... the foot was a different story because we had to unwrap him from his cuddleduds. My mom helped paint out the cute little prints even though it took double coats all around. I can breastfeed and paint at the same time! Here they are - tada Aiden's first craft project:



My folks actually woke up at 5am on Black Friday (my dad won't admit he was part of the loser club) headed over to Linens-n-things and got me an early xmas present - a nice pre-lit fake christmas tree. I was resistant to the idea of a fake tree being our first tree ever, but it made sense because of the brand new carpet, the curious cats, and wanting to have the tree up as long as possible. Aiden's ornaments and some of his little loveys made good first ornaments. Aiden likes to visit the sparkly tree after nap time... he's calling for a visit now. I'll post photos (and maybe even a video) soon...

3 weeks of big days

Aiden's big days in the last three weeks:

Day 5: First doctor's visit - Our little munchkin was on track and even though he hadn't lost as much weight as they said you can expect when leaving the hospital (up to 10%) but they wanted to see him gaining it back so they had us schedule an additional appointment a few days later. He had gone through a pretty big growth spurt and had gained over 8 ounces in five days!

Day 6: Lost umbilical cord - Eeek, it was kinda early to lose it, but everything looked ok and dry. We double checked by calling the warm line to be sure (which is only warm between 9am and 9pm!?). At the next appt, the doctor said to hold off on his first bath under water for a bit, but she said it looked healthy.

Day 14: First trip out - Checked with doctor and she encouraged us as long as we kept him warm. He slept right through mama eating her salad bar (mostly cottage cheese) and stayed away from santa's germy lap.

Day 20: First walk around the block - Slept right through the beautiful 60 degree sunshine and color on the trees (He is pretty much asleep unless he is inside in someone's arms)

Day 20: First pumped breast milk from bottle - Daddy fed him the bottle and he took to it right away (We didn't even need to listen to the crazy rule about mom being 20 feet away). He didn't have any issue latching right back to me to top off the tank.

Day 21: First bubby attempt - Verdict is that he doesn't really like it much... He usually stops fussing after spitting it out. Figured it was worth a try since they say that the sucking is so comforting and there are actual statistics that there are fewer cases of SIDS with pacifier use. At least I know that I'm not the human pacifier.

now I know

My parents just left after spending three weeks helping, giving, and caring more than we could ask. I can only describe the time we spent with them as dreamy. I must have been dreaming while awake since I don't sleep enough to really dream. I can't decide which I appreciate the most, their generosity or their sense of humor. From corporate flimflam grocery checking scanners to startles caused by Aiden's toots, we mostly had fun doing a bunch of nothing. As my mom hugged me goodbye, she said now I must know how much she loves me because it's a parent's love.



Aiden says, "Hey, when ya coming back, Gran and Pop?"

thankful

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm forever thankful. It's so easy to overstate everything that makes me feel thankful, but who cares... I AM overly thankful, so it makes sense that it will sound overstated.

I am particularly thankful, grateful, appreciative (whichever is considered the strongest word) to my parents for being here. For being so excited to welcome Aiden that they drove through the night in a storm... For bringing along hippo welcome gardens, recipes, and scrapbooking... For their energy for crafts, grocery shopping, laundry, and cooking... also, to my sister for coming from so far for the perfectly timed trip... And most of all for making Aiden feel so loved.

I appreciate all my friends and family for listening and giving me the opportunity to listen.

I am grateful for the Thanksgiving parade, even though Mr. Peanut didn't have any stripes.

I am thankful it is nice enough outside to take Aiden for his first walk around the block today.

I am so grateful to J for being who he is. For being so comforting for me and Aiden... For saying Wow as Aiden was born and at those really pooey diapers... For being enthusiastic to rub my feet and to hug me straight on without a belly in the way... For being so passionate about his career but still prioritizing his family... For being my husband and creating our family.

I am thankful for Aiden for everything he is and will be.

worthy expectations

I've always wanted to be a mom. I had high expectations. Seriously high. These past two weeks have exceeded my expectations in every possible way. I love him more than I expected. Aiden is worth every stitch, every heavy eyelid, every bit of uncomfortable I've experienced in the past few weeks. I did not expect that when I came home from the hospital my body would still be completely out of wack. Thanks to peri bottles, sitz baths, and witch hazel I'm getting back to normal. I still have an outie belly button, but the baby fort has almost deflated completely. For the first few days, I thought that Aiden was keeping his vacation home in tact in case he wanted to go back in to take a break from all the cuddling. It was either that or the doctor hadn't delivered his twin yet. There is a lot you don't hear about when it comes to "the after labor", but it's worth it.

alleged due date

Today was my official due date. I think the over 8 lb baby born 2 weeks ago proves that due date wasn't correct. I feel like celebrating first that it's Aiden's two week birthday, but most of all that I was not pregnant up to this alleged due date. I'm cringe thinking how pointy the molding on this poor babies' head would've been by then since he was so wedged into the birth canal I'm surprised I could get my knees together. Instead his little cone head at birth is normal now (the doctor joked with us at first that it wasn't even that molded, but you don't see people walking around with cone heads so it will resolve itself)...

He has changed so much in two short weeks. I've absorbed his little face expressions and I can recognize the waspy talky cry as hungry. He isn't a fussy baby, but he has his moments. J was changing him earlier this week and he was fussing. J joked with him, "Oh, it's not so bad baby, I really think you're overreacting..." He replied with the biggest scream I've heard from him, as if to say I'll show you overreacting. Just made the rest of us laugh.

This little super pooper has poop fireworks that sound like distant pops you hear off and on the evening of the 4th of July. My dad was holding him and he was cooing and acting really calm. Without any gas pain superhero looks or cringing, the pop pop pop exploded, making his grandpa jump. He did his little lip pursing smile as the rest of us laughed.

A friend of ours sent us the Happiest Baby on the Block DVD which has me convinced we have the best little self soother. The swadling without access to his little hands doesn't seem to cut it and he will allow you to calm him like that and then he'll proceed to work his little arm out of even the tightest swaddle. It's as if he calms down so you'll leave him alone so he can concentrate on squeezing his little arm out (mainly so he can wack himself in the face with it). The shushing straight in his ear makes sense, but again I think he only calms down so you will stop doing it. J and my folks are more sold on it than I am, but we'll see if he gets fussier as he gets older if it will help, but seriously up to this point he really doesn't fuss too often.

He's really only fussing if he's hungry or he wants to play around and do his "num num goofball" routine. Num nums is my goofball name for breast milk, because it's just not fun to ask a baby if he'd like some breast milk - but isn't it fun to say "who wants some num nums?" yea, I can't help myself. His goofball routine when it comes to nums nums is similar to a crazy baby bird screeching, shaking his head, and smaking his lips before he finally decides to latch on. If I don't loose a nipple in this routine I will be amazed.

Breastfeeding has been going really well, but I clearly understand now that it takes serious commitment and sleep deprivation. He has been a latching superstar with what the nurse called perfect lips for latching. The doctor tested him last time to see how much he was getting. They weighed him, then had me feed him to weigh how much he was taking in. As he ate I had doubts that the scale was really going to pick up the difference. I asked how much more he was supposed to weigh after he ate and they said 1 or 2 ounces. Turns out he'd taken in 3 ounces from only one side and he'd just eaten less than an hour earlier. It was reassuring and I was glad he decided to show off for the doctor. He also exploded out of his diaper for the first and only time just as we'd arrived to the apppointment. Oh, what a proud moment. Seriously though, I am proud of his poos. I will spare you the details, although I am tempted to give you a rundown his poo/pee chart and recite the color changes for you.

We got away from his foostinky and food chart and the boppy for a couple hours today. He power fed back and forth for over two hours, so we all spontaneously decided to celebrate his two week birthday with a trip to the Ruby Tuesday's Garden Fresh bar (my favorite!). We tucked Aiden into the end of the booth in his seat. I was keeping a close eye on him just expecting my little power feeder to wake up and give me the baby bird routine. He was sleeping really soundly and at one point I looked over and there as a big spider hanging over his face. J reached over me to rescue him from the killer spider with his napkin. Phew, but just when I thought the furry spider that was about to grow teeth was no longer going to attack my precious baby, the ickiness showed up in my water! Oh, I have settled down, but that's a lot of over stimulation for someone that sits around cuddling a baby 24 hours a day.

Turns out that the mall connected to the restaurant was welcoming Santa today. Aiden essentially slept through all the hustle and bustle, and was completely unimpressed by the guy walking on stilts or the balloon making clown. Somehow Santa also brought the circus to the mall. It was a nice first family outing.

coming home montage

Another video time capsule welcoming Aiden home:

It's coming up as no longer available from this embedded link sometimes, but it's available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMAIMnz13W0

heapy dumpy

The nicknames are already flowing... My mom likes to call him heapy dumpy since he balls up like a little rump roast. My grammy used to call me the same... so glad he takes after me in his sleepy cuddle mode. My uncle (the family nicknamer who stuck me with my kiddie nickname, Peep) calls him Baby AB ay-bee.

I like to call him my little baby bird. His little neck stretches to yawn and when he's ready to nurse. Sometimes he squaks. Sometime he tweets. His wild hair looks like ruffled feathers, but even softer.

I also like to call him the gas pain super hero. He fights off those gas pains and you should see the fierce little face expressions he makes. He raises his arms and as if he's imitating a super hero, he punches away.

more photos

That baby fit in that tummy!
I keep adding photos to this link also:
http://www.flickr.com/gp/94324507@N00/HGe2e9

coming home

We were ready to come home. The hospital stay was breezy, but any longer and we would've been really stir crazy. I literally did not walk out of the room for over 50 hours. We were really ready by the time the construction on the room across from us started at 7am on Monday morning - They were cutting tiles! The room service good food could not outweigh the screeching. We had a gigantic wagon full of stuff and my mom had already taken a batch for us the night before. Dad took trips down to the car as I signed all of the discharge paperwork and got Aiden dressed. He liked wearing pants for the first time. He was also excited that his mom liked to wear pants too. The nurse gave us our discharge ticket, which we exchanged for Aiden's "I'm a superstar" sticker after they checked him out in his car seat.

I waddled after J carrying Aiden in the car seat suddenly realizing how sore I was. The bumpy car ride home was not something to look forward to, but the minute that Aiden's cheeks started to wiggle I was smitten and distracted. He slept all the way home. I called my folks to let them know we were on our way, and as we turned on to our street I saw them waiting in our hippo welcome garden. (Hippos my sister had created to help my mom celebrate her retirement now had a new job to hip-hippo-hurray to welcome Aiden home) Tears were brimming up and I was so happy my parents were there to welcome us. Aiden woke up enough to give Grammy and PopPop a little gas bubble smile to say hey thanks for making my mom and dad so happy. Then we introduced him to the cat who still thinks he is some sort of remote control device and looks to me like I must be making that move. Aiden may have been lulled to sleep by the car ride, but Mommy knew it was time to eat. He had his first meal at home and I suddenly realized how nice remote control beds are.

There are so many more tidbits and memories we've made, but it is somehow difficult to give the full picture. This week has exceeded my expectations. Aiden is exceeding the doctor's expectations - He doubled his pooping goal twice this week! - Oh, the excitement. I can hardly keep up with all the memories we've made in one short week.

happy birthday

Happy week birth day Aiden!

This week has gone beyond our expectations. I am such a cornball, and I can't stop replaying that Sarah McLachlan Ice Cream song in my head:
Your love is better than ice cream
better than anything else that I've tried
and your love is better than ice cream...
Your love is better than chocolate
better than anything else that I've tried
oh love is better than chocolate
everyone here knows how to cry

It's his birthday and he'll cry if he wants to...
P.S. Grammy and Auntie get all the credit for the hats and cupcakes...Aiden says Thanks!

photos

Pictures are worth a 1,000 words right? I hope so because plucking these keys with one hand while constantly nursing is slooow.

We want to thank everyone for reaching out to connect. We are surrounded by your good cheer and pretty flowers ;) The visitors (my folks, J's brother, sister-in-law, and nana) who drove through a tropical storm to visit us in the hospital. You made our day. We love you. I also can barely express how grateful I am to my parents (more to come once I can get a coming home story together) for being here to help... Aiden is so lucky to have such great family!

"Good" photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/gp/94324507@N00/HGe2e9

Aiden's first photo - ready to eat, eh? I love my baby bird...aw.

Our stork dinner - fancy schmancy

birth story cliff notes

This edition of Aiden's Birth is brought to you in cliff notes due to baby priorities.

SYNOPSIS: Labor begins in a very similar way to the false labor episodes that we had timed at least 7 other times to no avail. The disbelief that labor has really started leads into disbelief that we will have a baby soon. Labor in hospital progresses in less than 6 and half hours. The mood is much calmer than expected. The baby arrives and is able to stay in our arms in his most alert, new moments.

TIMELINE:
Labor begins after dinner time.
8:00pm - Timing gets close together
9:00pm - Still irregular contractions, then starts to really kick it up and become radiating
10:15pm - Contractions get close together to almost meet the every 5 minutes for over an hour goal
10:30 - Water gushed as I left bathroom. We don't believe it.
10:45pm - We call hospital to tell them to expect us.
11:00pm - We get to hospital triage. There isn't anyone waiting, but there is also no one to welcome us at admitting. Uh. Someone appears and says we can sit down and they'll be right with us. I refuse to sit, but move off to the side to wait somewhat patiently.
11:05pm - They move us into triage within a few minutes. Doctor checks and I'm still 2-3cm, but she confirms my water did break. I don't have to prove anything more. Orders are written up and I'm sitting in a wheelchair on my way up to my birth suite.
12:00am - Rapid gushing, birth ball action, leaning over back of bed, constant husband massage... asked about epidural and keep answering that I don't have a plan, but maybe...
2:30am - Contractions stop letting up in between... asked about epidural and without hesitation I say yes please...but I want to be sure I've progressed far enough. Checked and I'm only at 4cm - crap. Maybe I should not do epidural - ask doctor if I will slow labor and screw thing up - She assures me no.
2:45am - Epidural preparation and three insane awful shots.
3:30am - Epidural still not working. Extreme left leg pains, cannot feel left foot. Dose is increased. Then cannot feel right hand or right eye, but pain is gone.
4:45am - Start pushing while winking at everyone since right eye is down for the count.
5:40am - We have a family.

THEMES/NOTES:
- Superstar common thread... Doc calls mom a superstar in her dilation progress. Baby nurse calls Aiden a superstar nurser. Hospital protocol is to check baby out and your tag to the parking area is a superstar sticker.

- Water can break in many different ways. Babies head can seal off the gush. This story included more than 20 major gushes. I, for some reason, felt compelled to apologize after each gush.

- Using the restroom brings on the most productive labor. As our birth instructor insisted, "you must honor your blatter" - I believe this is what causes the story to progress so quickly.

- Epidurals are extreme. This story includes an epidural that was extremely painful going in and did NOT work for over an hour. They upped my dose and I lost feeling in my right hand and right eye. I winked my way through the rest of the labor.

- My doctor came by during our hospital stay and couldn't get over my "drive by delivery." I couldn't stop thanking her for being a membrane rock star.

CHARACTERS:
Dr. Vrees, the best doctor: Positive, encouraging, consistent. It was her first night back from maternity leave, so I promised to be good. She brought us a baby book of her daughter Jordan to inspire me. She was the sweetest, calmest dream doctor. She called me a superstar when she checked my dilation and I'd progressed from 4 to 9 in the time it took for the epidural (that didn't want to work).

Agnes, the nurse: Cool, calm, collected. Her job is to type all details into computer and monitor rapid fire gushing. She held the shakey legs for me and made sure pushing wasn't in my legs.

Sue, the baby nurse: Peppy, personable, and prepared. She makes her first appearance as break relief for Agnes. I move from the birth ball into total birth delirium within minutes of her arrival. I think Agnes might have gotten off easy with me since poor Sue took me through the transition. Sue was back in full effect to help with Aiden's stats immediately after his birth. He was her little superstar. You'll see that this hospital likes the superstar status.

Dr. Epidural - Professional, disconnected. Name is not given or discarded after she explains gymnastics routine she would like me to complete while having never ending contractions, the shakes, and a huge belly. She is insistent that I have my feet on one end of the bed and my bottom on the other end creating a 45 degree angle across the bed - just like you are touching your toes (yep, can't do that normally!). AND she claims that this must be done while being completely still - for how long I ask - "a few minutes" is the response - uh, tears overflow because "I'm really sorry, I can't do that" - Well, I did it, buut it didn't work for over an hour. When it did finally work, it turned me into a winker (see above).

Anne, the best postpartum nurse: Informative, interested. After a dream two hours with my baby that only left my arms for J's arms or to be weighed, I move up to the postpartum room to be greeted with a barage of information. She took really good care to make sure we were completely in the know.

Acknowledgements: (This is a very sophisticated version of cliff notes)
Thank you to everyone for all your support and good wishes the past few weeks. We feel your warmth and we hope that you feel our gratitude.

We promise photos soon.

internet announcement

Something?

Lauren will be taking a break from blogging for the next few days. At least, in the next five minutes, we will be going to the hospital in the hopes of taking such a hiatus. Cheers, J.

simple snippets

Oooh, here are some snippets in between my somewhat unimpressive contractions today. I don't know what I was expecting, but I'm ready for these stripped membranes to kick it up a notch. Guess it's not that simple. When he's ready, he's ready. My friend and her adorable 5 month old came over for lunch today. I thought for sure once I started making plans to hang out with people, I'd go into labor, but it hasn't worked twice now. She brought me some soup, cake (spoiled again!) and the industrial electric breast pump I plan to use. I plan to nurse as much as possible and pump to store up extra milk. She helped me get it all hooked up with my personalized attachments and figure out how to use it. It didn't seem like that much suction against my hand, but I figured it must work. After she left I decided to give it a little test drive. Literally 10 seconds after it started suctioning I started collecting! Uh, weird, done with that for now - I stopped right away because I need to save that stuff for Aiden ;) Let's hope it's that simple to get him nursing. Somehow I'm guessing that's not that simple...

I can't remember what brought this up... but some where along the way during our doctor's appt today, she commented that her job is simple. She said that she could train for her most of her job through a correspondence course. It's the high risk and trouble cases that required her to get all the medical school training. Glad to hear that it's that simple.

baby sitcom premieres soon

We are "becoming a sitcom" according to our almost giddy happy doctor. She came in laughing at my blood pressure. Which is "better than hers ever is" now that I'm beyond full term and there is nothing to worry about. She was very reassuring and joking with us. She asked how I was doing and guessed that I qualify as a SOP - sick of pregnancy. That would be a big yes - check box double check (even though I swear there was a time that I liked being pregnant so much I thought I'd be sad for it to end). She said that she almost killed someone when she was sick of being pregnant. Uh, not quite there yet. She was mad at her OB because they had to strip her membranes over and over again. She glances over her glasses and asks me if I'd like her to try that because she's good at it... My response was an immediate, "yep, let's do it, can you do it repeatedly?!" Now I had researched this pretty extensively, so I knew it was safe and most assuredly painful (the short explanation of what it is: pushing the amniotic sac away from where it has attached to the cervix - if you google it you need to take in the real research and less discussion board crap on people's opinions). As she leaves for me to get undressed, she tells J to be ready to hold my hand. As I get ready, J asks me if I'm sure I know what she's about to do. For sure, this is the best reaction I can imagine from my doctor. I guessed she was going to declare nothing had changed and I was going to get a lecture on patience as pregnant virtue or some other eh-whatever-that's-normal head shaking routine.

She comes back in and examines me (a bit over 2 cm- bleh), comments that Aiden is really low and she can feel hair! Then she goes to work. She explains as she's doing it that it's like separating two pieces of cellophane. She said that it may lead to my water breaking and going into labor within 48 hours...oh the fantasy! I get the best compliment yet, and she says that I'm tough because I took that pretty well. She ought to feel the pains I've been having for three weeks. I'll show her tough! She then monitors the baby and comments on my rock solid belly (which wasn't even as hard as it gets). She says she probably will not see me for my next appt, and she is laughing as she bounces out the door.

I can't imagine anything more anti-climactic at this point. Yep, same old contractions. Yep, same old so far. I am laying on top of my waterproof sheet not watching any bad sitcoms or baby shows... I'm just hoping that we make our own baby show sooooon.

best rest yet

Last night I slept for nearly 5 hours straight. This was after almost a full day of inconsistent CRAP (you know what that stands for). I can hardly believe I slept so well. I'm usually up in fits and spurts and then I get tired during the day. I can hardly believe that he is not here yet. I can feel him getting bigger and dropping lower. I think his little thigh grew into pinchable range from last week to this week. I'm back to the doctor this morning. I don't think I quite comprehend that it's been another week. I want to meet him and spend time with him. I can relax and really feel him especially since he's getting big and his movements are less pronounced now that he has less room to shift. I really appreciate this time with him.

I am not sure how to cope if I'm not further dilated or something today. J was trying to help me reframe it ahead of time so I don't get frustrated. The idea is that I should just think about how quickly some women dilate. It isn't about how much more I'm dilated but instead that my body is more prepared when that time does come. I still am not sure I will believe it if these contractions really aren't doing anything to change things. I was literally looking up how they can really know how many centimeters you are by feeling around with their fingertips. Doesn't that just seem crazy? How is it possible that people are consistent? I guess they use rings to learn and it becomes part of their muscle memory. Uh yeah, ok. So I have two coping strategies: "eventually it will happen and I will be ready" and "it's hard to really know, so it could have happened a little bit". I know there goes the crazy again. At least I have a bunch of good rest to keep me feeling fresh.

techy talk

I knew it would happen. The cable went out for over three hours this morning during prime tivo time. It missed picking up all my baby shows. Maybe that means it's time for me to have my own baby show. I turned to sew up J's jacket pockets and button. Consuming time the good old fashioned way. Next time I'm going to churn my own butter.

In other techy talk, J got us on board with the new Mac Leopard system. It rocks when it comes to previewing photos, so I am happy. We also hooked into the iChat for the first time. Instead of our typical phone calls, we have the video chat in full effect. It even let's you play with the video effects from Photobooth. We will be able to blab with the baby from a distance when he's out of town or even just at work. But for now he just gets to see my tired bloat ;)

this day in history

The history behind a birthday is fun to think about. What people may associate with an individual day can range from significant to mundane. The History Channel online has a "This Day in History" series that is highlighted online: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do

There is another quirky site, http://bornonthisday.info, that has bits of random day celebrations:
Today is French Fried Clam Day, tomorrow is Piggy Bank Day, the 3rd is Sandwich Day, the 4th is King Tut Day, the 5th is National Doughnut Day, the 6th is I Love Nachos Day, the 7th is National Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds Day, the 8th is National Cappuccino Day, the 9th is National Scrapple Day, the 10th is Marine Corp Birthday, the 11th is Ones Day, the 12th is Chicken Soup for the Soul Day, the 13th is Start A Rumor Day, the 14th is National Guacamole Day, the 15th is America Recycles Day, the 16th is Birth Of The Blues Day, the 17th is Take A Hike Day.

And if this baby is still cooking on the 17th, you better believe I will be hiking until he gets moving!