4 Months

Even though he is only 4 months, I cannot get over how fast it has flown by. I feel like this month brought on some changes (only big in my eyes...hahaha). He is holding his head up pretty well, but not as well as I would like him to. We just started him on rice cereal two nights ago. The first night was a big flop because I didn't mix it thick enough and it just fell out of his mouth. I took him to his 4 month check-up and the doc said everything looks great. He is 25" long and weighs just under 15 lbs. He's right at the 50th percentile, but his head is in the 75th. She said he should be rolling over at 6 months and I hope he does. I don't think he's anywhere close.

We tried rice cereal again last night and below is what happened. Keep in mind, this shot is just of him closing his eyes. He was awake during this picture. He sat sideways the entire time I fed him and it was quite entertaining...

We tried putting him in the jumper, but when he only kicks his head sideways and can't hold it up, nevertheless jump, it didn't work too well. He doesn't scream when we put him in the Bumbo, so I guess that's progress?

The women at daycare love him, even though, like every baby, he has his fussy days.

I have to say, just supplementing the rice cereal for one feeding is a huge load off my back. I nurse for a little bit, and then feed him the rice cereal, and so far so good. Then, around 9:00 or 10:00 I give him a formula bottle for his dream feed. He seems to be sleeping better, considering he's been very stopped up for the past week. I hope it keeps up. Doc said that we can start him on baby food after a few days, so I'm really excited to see what he takes to.

Update

Things have been crazy around the Tidwell household, but I've never been happier. Trip has been a dream every since he started day care. We used to have a battle every single night between 6-9 to get him down, but he's been so active at day care, he goes down without a problem between 7 and 8 every night. I can't believe how much he's grown and how much of a personality he has developed just within the last month. He smiles all the time and the only time he cries is when he's fussy or has a bad diaper (knock on wood). I've toyed with the idea of weening him off breast feeding, but then I get on the scale and I've dropped more weight. It's frustrating at times because I do have to plan everything around his feedings and/or pumping. But, at the same time, we're tied together and it really is a special thing to be able to continue doing. I think once he drops the 3:00 a.m. feeding I may reconsider.

I'm happy to say that I have gotten back to my pre-pregnancy weight, but I was at my heaviest when I got pregnant. I still want to lose at least 15 more lbs, but it's a good feeling to get back into my old clothes. I must have lost the weight in different areas, or my hips have gotten wider since I had him. Most of my pants still don't quite fit right.

I have also started working from home and it's amazing! In the mornings, I wake up around 6:00 to feed him. He is absolutely at his cutest in the morning time! While Michael is getting ready, I spend that time playing with Trip in the living room and getting in some good snuggle time. After I get them out the door, I get ready for the day. I actually get a ton more work done at home because I don't have the distractions. I've been picking up Trip around 4:00 in the afternoons. The extra time with him makes going back to work that much easier.

First Day Back

Today was Trip's first day of daycare and my first day back at work. I'm not going to lie, I cried. It's just so emotional having a baby, getting to spend every waking moment together (and most naps together) and then having to go back to work. Now, I'm not going to lie, there have been some days where I have been beyond the point of frustrated, but of course this morning he was an angel. Of course! He was so snuggly after I fed him and then he was all smiles and giggles when I was getting him dressed. For some idiotic reason, I thought I could wake up at 6:15 with a baby and still get out of the house at 7:15...ha! But, the rush helped me not to dwell on what today really meant.

Michael took him to daycare and I was proud of myself for only calling one time to check on him. He did great (of course). He ate every three hours, had play time, and took a few short naps. I have been giving him at least one bottle a day so he doesn't forget, but we are still purely breast feeding. Pumping at work is weird. I don't like it.

When I got to work I was somewhat overwhelmed with everything I needed to take care of. I am taking this week to work in the office and as of Monday, I will be a contract employee and only working from home. I'm so very grateful I get to do this, plus I am now working on Cooking with Paula Deen and Southern Lady magazines. This is more responsibility, but I'm really excited about the new challenge. I had a conference call right out of the gate, and it went really well! I haven't lost my touch :)

Since I was so busy, Michael picked Trip up and brought him home. When he walked in the door, someone was in the floor playing with Trip and that made me feel at ease. I jumped out of the house when I heard him pull in and ran to get him out of the back seat. He was super sweet and we bathed him, and not 30 minutes later he was dead asleep. I just don't know how I feel about this! He has not been going to sleep until 9:00 at night and he gets so much stimulation at daycare that he falls asleep an hour and 15 minutes after he's home? That's just not enough time!! I'm so excited to be able to work from home, so I can get a little extra time with him for that exact reason.

Thank God for Breast Feeding

I'm back in size 10 jeans!!! I'm fully aware that is not a small size, but this is HUGE for my ego right now. I had my doubts about breast feeding burning a lot of calories and if it was going to help, but it really has. I was over 200 lbs when I went into the hospital and I'm happy to report that I'm around 10 lbs away from my pre-pregnancy weight.

Lately, Trip has been a little "off" with his schedule, so I'm not sure if that had something to do with being in Decatur for the holidays. He was so exhausted while we were home from all the attention, so he slept 8 hours all three nights. Last night, however, he was up practically all day long and still woke up at 2:00, 4:00, and 6:00 this morning. Just when you think you have things under control, we will have a night like last night.

Christmas was great and Trip got a ton of great stuff and it was such a special holiday. What a year this has been. This time last year, we weren't even really thinking about having a baby and then...bam! I'm so completely obsessed with him and I'm super bummed I only have a week and a half left of maternity leave. The good news is that I can work from home. He will still definitely have to go to daycare, but not full time. I'm so very blessed and cannot believe how wonderful a life I have! I'm looking forward to 2012 and what it will bring!!!

Best baby...ever

Last night I came to the realization that Trip is probably the best baby ever. He was officially 8 weeks yesterday and he slept 8 hours in a row. Now, I don't want to jinx anything, but I've been thinking he was close to dropping the 2/3:00 feeding for a couple of nights now. He slept from 9:30 and didn't wake up again until 5:15. I fed him for 10 minutes, put him back down and slept until 8:00!!

Yesterday I took him walking with a friend at Brookwood mall and ended up doing most of my Christmas shopping the rest of the day. Trip did great. He slept the whole time and everyone commented on how obviously cute he is :) I tried to push the limits and stop by the office afterwards and he got fussy. Maybe I just wore him out and this 8 hour sleep is just temporary but my fingers are crossed! Either way, he has been in a great routine ever since Thanksgiving. He had that growth spurt last week but that only last two days and we were back to normal.

I can't get over how much I love him and how I'm going to HATE going back to work. I have talked with my boss about possibly working from home, but I'm not sure its a possibility. I've become quite comfortable on maternity leave. Plus, having him in October was perfect. Once I got past the first 4 weeks where I was going cross-eyed, the holidays showed up and I can get out and do shopping to avoid the crowds and its soooo much fun decorating for Christmas! Plus, since he's such a good sleeper, its easy to take him around for all the holiday festivities. If I go missing again...Merry Christmas!!!

Bad blogger...bad!

Okay, so I haven't posted since probably a week after I got home from the hospital so I'm a terrible blogger! A lot has been happening and I'm getting quite comfortable on maternity leave. Even though I'm completely exhausted, I'm in love with Trip. I cannot believe he is already almost two months old!

The first week was great. I was getting up for every feeding even before he started crying, I was on a high, and I thought "oh yeah...I can totally do this". Well, then the second week came and he hit a growth spurt and my hormones crashed. Dear God, I never thought I would sleep again. He was getting up to eat every other hour around the clock. I kept reminding myself that Robyn from work said the exact same thing happened to her and that it was just a phase. I held on to my sanity, and we got through it.

At first, I was only pumping because I thought that might be easier for some reason. Well, I was wrong. Getting up to him crying, warming a bottle, feeding him, changing him, then pumping again, and washing all the pumping equipment just about killed me. About the third week after talking to some friends, they told me not to give up on nursing. So, we tried it again and he latched. Ever since then, we've been getting in some sort of a routine and I feel much better about breast feeding.

We had a great Thanksgiving in Decatur and my Dad is completely obsessed with Trip. It's the cutest thing!! He literally swatted people away to get to Trip. It was great seeing the family and letting Trip meet everyone! Plus, he slept great in the pack n' play which I was really worried about. Actually, he started sleeping six hour stretches while we were in Decatur over the holiday. I would feed him at 10:00 and he wouldn't wake up again until 4:00...it was the most glorious thing I've ever experienced. I was a new person!

Since then, we have been getting out more and more during the day. I'm actually showering before noon :)

The past few nights he started picking up the 2:00 feeding again, so I'm hoping this is just another growth spurt. For some reason he will get up at 2:00 and then wake up every two hours until about 8:00 in the morning.

All in all, he's a great baby, loves to snuggle, has the cutest damn smile I've ever seen, and loves to be rocked. I don't want to wish his life away, but I can't wait for him to start being able to play and and be more active. Although...it sure is nice to pop him in a swing and let him be for awhile.

Below are some recent pics...

6 weeks old!

one month old!!!

Off to run errands!

One of my absolute favorite sleeping pictures

Cutest pumpkin outfit made by Susan Ozier!

Right before our first doctor visit (2 weeks)

Oopsie, they are in reverse chronological order :)

He's Here!

We're in love with our new baby boy!! We got to the hospital at 6:30 Tuesday morning and the doctor broke my water at 7:00. That hurt like hell. I started having contractions the night before, but they were never consistent. By 8:30 the contractions were around 3 minutes apart and getting more and more painful. I thought that an epidural wore off, so that's why they wanted you to wait to get one. That's not the case. It's on a drip, so once I realized that, we called the doctor to hook me up. The epidural is very uncomfortable, but I didn't think it was painful. It was a welcomed relief. After that, it was a waiting game. I knew going in that getting induced was going to call for a long day and I may end up having a c-section.

We did have one scare during labor where Trip's heartbeat dropped down below 70, so they had to put me on oxygen. I absolutely loved my first nurse, but the only complaint is that she didn't walk us through what was going on when the scare did happen.

I was only progressing about 1/2 cm at a time and was showing some effacement throughout the day, but he never dropped. The actual labor part was a lot of sitting and waiting around and chewing on ice chips. The not eating part kinda sucks. Once I hit 5 cm, I stayed there for well over three hours and then the pressure started. Apparently there is nothing the epidural can do about pressure, so it was constant pain. I thought for sure that meant he had dropped and I was going to progress significantly. That was not the case. The second nurse was not helpful at all and just kinda shrugged and told me that he was doing okay. I could have punched her in the face.

By about an hour and a half of constant pain and pressure, the doctor came down to check me again. She said I was still at 5cm. Poor Michael. That hour and a half he was great, but I knew he was freaking out. I just had tears running down my face and couldn't get any relief. The doctor said we had two options. The first was a c-section because there was a good chance we might be trying "to fit a square peg in a round hole" and so he might not drop and he might not fit in the canal. The second was waiting it out another hour or so to see if he did progress. I couldn't do it anymore. I'm glad we went ahead with the c-section, because once they got in there, he hadn't even turned to the right position to drop and he was stuck.

Once they prepped me for surgery, it was a welcomed relief. I was just ready to get this show on the road. Michael, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck. They wheeled me in, drugged me up, and I was ready to go. They actually began the c-section before they brought Michael back there. It was very quick and Trip was born not 5 minutes later. I was so weak, so hungry, and so loopy from the pain meds, I was very nervous I might drop him once they handed him over. Once I heard that first cry, I was so relieved and so happy. I could see him on the monitor and he looked perfect! He was born at 7:46 (yes, 13.5 hours of labor), weighed 7 lbs 8 oz, and was 19 inches long.

I don't respond well to pain medication, so I threw up a few times during labor and a few times in recovery since I was on a morphine pump. I was on a liquid diet in recovery until the following day around lunch. That was awful! Trip slept in the room with us and pretty much slept the entire night. We were both pooped :) Breast feeding started out slow and could be very frustrating at times, but I think we've gotten the hang of it. We are home now, in love with Trip, and as happy as ever. He sleeps most of the day and has a lot of "activity" at night. Everyone is healthy, so life is good!!

Here are a few pics...

Trip and his momma

Proud papa

Hello world!

Beautiful baby boy

One happy family :)