The Jones Journal: August 2013

31 August 2013

Dear Winslow

Dear baby boy,

It's been two weeks since you decided to make your appearance. Man, I can't believe how fast these weeks have gone by. It seems like when you were in my belly, the days would drag by because I wanted you here so badly, but now that you ARE here, the days go by too quickly. I already wish I could slow down time.

A lot has happened these past two weeks! Let's talk about your favorite things so far and your not-so-favorite things!

You love to be held (as most babies do) but I also make sure to sit you in the boppy pillow or in your swing during the day so you can look around. You are fascinated with the ceiling fan. You will stare at it for a long while. You also make the most adorable sounds when you sleep and when you nurse. It makes my heart want to explode. You are nursing great and have come such a long way in just two weeks. Sometimes it takes you a while to latch, but I am trying my absolute best to be patient with you and with me! It's a lot to learn for your little bitty self, W. I love nursing though. Sometimes I'll just look down at you and say a little prayer of thankfulness.

The other day you were lying in your crib asleep, and I knelt beside you and just cried. I cried tears of happiness, of joy. I am so blessed that the Lord gave you to me. I was so happy and couldn't contain my tears. I just said "thank you" over and over to the Lord. I am so lucky to be your mom, Winslow. I don't even remember what life was like before you. (Okay, I do..but it's sure more sweet with you in it)

You sleep anywhere from 2.5-4 hours at night. Last night was the first night you slept about 4.25 hours and man was it glorious. I even had to wake you up to nurse because I didn't want your little tummy to be empty! During the day, you get a few minutes of tummy time on your playmat and you don't mind it at all. You even lifted your head A LOT today. It was awesome!

You also can follow my voice when I talk to you. You are already learning and taking in so much- it's crazy how fast and smart you are becoming. I already think you'll be the Valedictorian of your class, of course. ;)

Grandma (she is still deciding on her name) is in love with you and it's been WONDERFUL to have here here helping me. I would probably go insane if she wasn't here. I am soooo sad we only have two more days with her, but we will make it. Hopefully we'll come visit soon because she wants to see you as much as possible! She has the magic tough to make you stop crying or to make you fall asleep. I hope she'll give it to me. She's been so full of advice for me, and I know that I would not have made it as good as I have without her here. She's taught me a lot and boy does she LOVE you to death.

Your daddy is also smitten with you. He is such a wonderful father and I cannot wait to see y'all together in a few months. He loves you so much and is doing everything he can to make sure you have all you need. He also helps me at night (like last night around 4am, he got up just to kill a bug that kept flying near you).

I am so lucky to be your mom, W. You are so wonderful and we all love you so.

Well buddy, it's dinner time for you! I love you so much.

Love,

Your Mommy

2 Weeks

2 Weeks Old!

Poppin' my collar ;)

After bathtime. He didn't like his first bath, but liked his second bath.

My brother came to visit with my dad! W loves his Uncle Grant!

Our little family <3 br="">

Dad came to visit Winslow from Texas.

My dad and I.
Stats: We do not go to the doctor for his 2 week appointment until Friday (he will be almost 3 weeks, but that's the only appointment my pediatrician had) so I am hoping for some good weight gain and some growth! He had an appointment the day after we got discharged from the hospital, and the doc said everything was looking good. He hadn't lost anymore weight.
Sleep: Little man is sleeping good so far! A couple nights have been rough since we've been home, but that's expected. Last night he slept over 4 hours and that was GLORIOUS! He usually sleeps around 3 hours or so and then I feed him, burp him, and put him back down. I'm usually awake for 45 minutes from the time I start nursing to the time he's back asleep. Not too bad...Some nights he only goes 2.5 hours but that's okay. Each day he goes a little longer. He is so noisy though! He grunts, coos, and talks in his sleep. It's so cute, but sometimes it keeps me awake because I think he's uncomfortable.
Eating: He eats every 3 hours or so. He's gone a few four hour stretches during the day too, but mostly he likes to eat after 2.5-3. We introduced the PACIFIER this week and he's not too sure about it. Sometimes he loves it for about 20 minutes or so and then he spits it out and wants the real deal, but he's learning!
Diapering: Still in NB diapers. We are using Pampers and Target brand. The Target brand is a little bigger but he fits in both fine. The only thing that is really interesting is that EVERY night, he always wets through his diaper, swaddle, and clothes...any tips on how to prevent that, if I even can? He never does it in the day..only at night. Can he really pee that much in 3-4 hours that it soaks through his diaper? Haha...it's just funny because every single time I feed him at night, we have to do a wardrobe change.

Clothes: All NB. Most are fitting fine. A few are too big still. I can tell he's starting to fill out quick though, so we'll be moving to 0-3 mos here pretty soon!
Social: He likes to lay on his play mat for 20 or so minutes a day and he is also awake a lot more during the day. He loves to sit in his boppy and just look around. His favorite things are the ceiling fan, and looking at his momma. :) We also put him in his monkey seat and that's how I shower in the morning. I wanted to try it out before my mom left to see if I could take a shower by myself and he sat there happy as a lark for two days straight. Score!

Mama: doing really well! I have no more pain at all except a tiny bit in the evening. I think it's from being so active during the day, walking up the stairs, and just more activity that normal. I sometimes take one motrin before I go to bed, but that's it. I am almost fully recovered, I would say. I've also lost almost all my baby weight (thank you breastfeeding!) but my body is still not like it was before I got pregnant (of course). That will get taken care of LATER. I'm not worried about it now. I am going to mow the yard today, and I could not be more excited! It's one of those things that I used to love to do before getting pregnant and now I can do it!

My beautiful mom and sweet W. She is a wonderful grandmother.

26 August 2013

Winslow's arrival: a birth story.

Here is Winslow's birth story. I hope you enjoy.

Winslow's due date of August 9, 2013 came and went. With each day that passed, I would get a little more anxious. Seven days passed and still no baby boy...I stayed at work until I was 40 Weeks and 6 days pregnant and lord was that challenging. I heard so many people say "WHY are you still here" or "You're STILL pregnant??" (Well, duh..if I'm at work, I am still pregnant).

So Saturday, August 17th, I woke up and didn't feel any different. I had not had any Braxton Hicks or anything and at my 41 week appointment, I was still at 3cm and 70% effaced. No change really...everything checked out well with the NST test and the fluid levels, so we kept the induction date of August 20th. My mom had come in that Thursday (the day before I was 41 weeks) and so we just waited and waited for either my induction date (which I prayed and prayed that I wouldn't see that day) or for me to go in labor on my own.

We went to a couple garage sales, and cleaned up around the house..did some front porch swinging..and around 7pm we ate dinner. Then I started to feel a little different...I was having contractions but they did not hurt really. They felt different than Braxton Hicks, but I wasn't sure if they were real contractions. My mom kept telling me to time them just to see, but I didn't want to get my hopes up so I didn't do that right away. After an hour, they started to strengthen a little and I started timing them. They continued for around 2.5 hours and were between 5-6 minutes apart...around 10 o clock, they started to taper off to around 10 minutes apart. I was so bummed out because I thought it was all false labor. Then like that, NO contractions at all. We decided to go to bed around 11pm and I was very discouraged. I layed in bed just praying "Please let this be real, Lord. Please. I am so ready to meet my son." He was still kicking me every now and then and I went to the bathroom like I always do in the middle of the night. Once I got back in bed (this was around 12:15am) I layed down and felt a POP in my stomach. It felt like a balloon being popped with a needle. It didn't hurt and I wasn't sure what had happened. Once I started to get out of bed, TONS of water started gushing all over the sheets..I woke up hubby quickly and had him wake my mom while I went to the restroom. I KNEW this was it! I was so excited and a little nervous. I called my dad (who is a former OB doctor) and told him and he confirmed, yes, your water broke and that we needed to head to the hospital. I quickly hopped in the shower to clean up.

Less than fifteen minutes after, the contractions started back and they were PAINFUL and CLOSE together. I could barely move when one would come. It was time to GO.

(Right before we left for the hospital with contractions 2 minutes apart!)

We left the house around 1:30 and I thought we would NEVER EVER make it to the hospital. I was in so much pain and was not good at breathing through the contractions. We had practiced it beforehand, but when it was real, I didn't know what to do. I kept telling hubby to please hurry please hurry and with every contraction, more of my water would come..that means it got all over the seat, all over my dress...everywhere. (Had i thought more in advance, I would have sat on a trashbag!) I was embarrassed that my dress was wet, but thankfully there was no one waiting to have a baby at that hour and no one saw me! haha. Funny thing is, like an hour later, around 6 more ladies came to be admitted. It got pretty busy and my nurse told me if I had waited any longer, it would have taken a lot longer (like over an hour) for the anesthesiologist to come because he was so busy. Boy, was God looking out for me because even though I knew I could have made it through, at the time, I wanted to die! ;)

We parked the car, and we walked into the check-in area. We waited around ten minutes to be admitted and I though I would die. I tried to make hubby go tell the nurse I was about to have the baby on the floor if she didn't hurry, but finally they admitted me to my L&D room. This was around 2am.

My doctor came in and checked me and I was 4 cm and of course ruptured. Little Winslow had already had a bowel movement inside of me, so they talked with me a little about what that meant. (He would be wisked away to the special care nurse so he wouldn't breathe any meconium in his lungs.) I was a little sad because I would not get to see or hold him right after he was born, but I would rather him be safe and healthy.

They took my blood for the epidural because I kept asking when I could get one. I'm sure the nurse was so annoyed with me. Poor girl. She was AWESOME, and I mean AWESOME though. She had to look at me and say "Kaitlin, you are wasting entirely too much energy moaning and groaning. When you get a contraction, BREATHE through them and you will save your energy." I apologized and then started breathing through them. It helped a lot.

(Fake smile signing papers to get the epidural. I couldn't even write I was in so much pain. I don't see how they thought I could be able to. haha)

FINALLY, the anesthesiologist came and I was SO happy to see him. He started the process of the epidural and I knew something didn't feel right. He started to put in the catheter and I could literally feel him going down my spine. It was the WORST feeling in the universe and I kept arching my back (I couldn't help it, it was like a reflex!) which we know is not good when your'e getting an epi. With each cartilage he went in, I could feel it and I kept yelling, I can feel that! So he took it out and REDID it another time in a different spot. So really I got two epidurals. Joy Joy.

(Both the grandmas after my epidural was administered. I was much better)

Around 3:30, the epidural was finally working and I felt good. I could still feel when I had a contraction, which I liked, I just couldn't feel pain. I liked being able to feel the pressure because then I could know when to push.

I just ate ice chips and talked with hubby and the nurse. I loved my nurse. She was so great. Hubby and I listened to my birthing playlist and shared a few smooches. We sang a little and just chatted.
About 1.5 hours went by and I started to feel a lot of pressure down there and would tell the nurse that. She said she would check me around 5:00am or so and then around 5:30, she checked me and I was already 10cm! I couldn't believe I had dilated that quickly. She couldn't either. She told me it was time to push and I was so nervous and excited. I was prepared to push for 1-3 hours like she told me and so I was very focused on getting this babe out. Hubby was such a WONDERFUL support. He would tell me after each push that I was doing a wonderful job, that we were almost there, and would feed me ice chips in between pushes.

(This was already in the L&D room. I loved it.)

40 minutes went by and it was time! His head was almost out and so she called my doctor and the special team of nurses in! Wow, I was so excited that he was almost here.

My doctor came in, sat on a stool, told me to push once and his head was out! He then told me to push one more time, and he was here at 6:20am! He started crying and the doctor did put him on me for a brief moment while Seth cut the cord. I was so happy and crying and overwhelmed with love. They took him away for a few minutes and did his Apgar test. He got an 8 on his one minute Apgar and a 9 on his 5 minute Apgar. Then they brought him back to me and I just cried tears of joy. Hubby did too. It was such a special moment.

Doctor delivered the placenta, stitched me up (which was worse than labor!) because the epidural was turned off and it was not pleasant. Man, I couldn't believe he was here. After waiting 9 LONG days, he was here. I was so happy.

The doctors and nurses were all amazed at how short my labor was for a first time mom. From the time my water broke to the time he was here was a total of 6 hours. I'll take it!

I didn't really have a birth plan or how I wanted it to go because I just didn't know what to expect but I am very happy with Winslow's story. I am so blessed that the Lord kept us both safe, that he is healthy and that I recovered fairly easily. I still have a tiny bit of pain, but I am doing great otherwise.

And that is how my firstborn son was born.

25 August 2013

Winslow's First Week

I cannot believe it's been a week. When I was pregnant (which I can't even remember what that was like really!) each day would pass by so slow it seemed. I was constantly in "go-mode" hoping our little one would come. Now that he's here, I want time to slow down, as most parents say.

Here's a recap in photos of Winslow's first week!

This photo was my last bump photo. 41 Weeks 2 Days and in between contractions that were less than 2 minutes apart! Yikes. I'd like to NOT relive that pain just yet.