Yawn.

So it's 3:52 a.m., and I am sleepily typing this in the dark, with Jamie sleeping on my chest. I just fed and changed him, and I'm giving the little tyke a few more minutes to get into really deep sleep before I put him back in his bed and then go to pump (BOO).

A few catch-up pics for you:

Our camera is totally lame, so I take almost all pics w/ my phone --> usually close-ups.

He hasn't been feeling well. On the day before Valentine's, he developed a cold, with mostly congestion, so even though Jason's mom and sister were visiting and willing to baby-sit, we didn't do anything on Valentine's Day. :( Oh well, anywhere we went would have been crowded to the max, anyway, and I always know Jason loves me. Anyway, after over a week of saline nose drops, aspirating (using the suction bulb, which babies hate, with mine as no exception), Vicks BabyRub, and the humidifier, his congestion finally seems to be gone. However, last Wednesday, we found out he has a urinary tract infection! :S Our poor baby. So he's on antibiotics, Tylenol, and occasional Pedialite for that. Mostly, he's been a trooper.



Like I mentioned, Jason's mom, Cheryl, spent a few days with us before and during President's Day, and his sister, Janelle, came for that weekend. Cheryl was SUCH a help! Not only with the baby, but man, I really wish I had money for a housekeeper now that I know what it's like to find your laundry done, your house cleaned and meals made, after you're married :) And she was so awesome about taking the baby any time so we could sleep or go to Wal-Mart or whatever. Just like my mom. Man, it's hard not having family close.



Big news: Jamie SMILED at me for the first time on the 18th! It was so precious!






Look at that face! He does it every once in awhile now, and I can't believe how much it warms my heart when he does. (The first picture is going to be the main one on his birth announcement. Sorry to spoil it for you. :))


On Saturday we took Jamie out in public for the first time--and he also turned one month old! It's gone by so fast...and yet seemed slow at times. Anyway, we went out to dinner for Jason's birthday in Idaho Falls with our friends Jordan and Callie. We were so excited to go to the new Red Robin there, but I was freaking out after a bit, thinking we'd made a huge mistake. It was SO LOUD, and the waiters screaming (literally, to be funny) birthday songs to customers every ten minutes didn't help. Plus we were under really bright lights, so I thought my poor baby would be traumatized. But he actually loved it, and had a ball looking all around once we brought him out of his car seat!


He especially loved some neon lights across the room.



Aren't my men adorable?

EUREKA!

I know I just wrote yesterday, but I had to post the good news: thanks to an extremely wonderful, patient daddy, a BYU-I radio station the baby likes that plays soothing, spiritual music (he seems, like me, to prefer the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, especially rebroadcasts of their weekly program "Music and the Spoken Word") and a "breathe easy" baby positioner to keep him in place and feeling more secure, lent to us by our sweet neighbor, Jamie has been

SLEEPING IN HIS BASSINET!!

It's not perfect yet--he was still fussy some last night--but before, he just wouldn't do it. And, it must be admitted, we weren't trying very hard to get him to, because it was easier to just give him what he wanted.

So, maybe now I'll at least usually get to go to bed in my own bed (not the LaZBoy, nice as it is--I HATE not sleeping flat, and it's not safe for Jamie), at the same time as my husband, instead of being separated all the time, taking shifts! That is seriously the pits.

So, one more hurdle is hopefully behind us. Each one is encouraging.

May I offer a bit of advice to new-moms-to-be? I just figured this out: since my mom and then my dad and brother were around so much and, understandably, wanted to spend as much time with Jamie as possible before they left, I kind of got the fuzzy end of the lollipop. (Name that movie.) I would feed him, and it would hurt like the devil. Then I'd change him, hand him off to someone to be burped and lulled to sleep, and go try to sleep more or shower or whatever. It didn't help my postpartum blues to not spend enough special time with my baby; I think he became a bit of a monster in my mind, just wanting to feed off me, which was usually difficult and almost always pretty painful. (Unfortunately, I've had to go to pumping, which sucks, but I'm not living in fear of feedings, or glued to the heating pad anymore.) I'm not sure if that makes sense, but my advice is, don't hand him off too much; take advantage of help and extra sleep, but be sure you get your nice mommy time in, too.

Wondering how I'm back to my verbose self again, with the baby supposedly keeping me so busy? I fed him in the computer room to let Jason sleep more and treated myself to finally reading about baby Chloe, and Jamie is sleeping on my chest like a handsome little angel, so I have both hands free to type and not much desire to move. :)

I'll get a picture of him sleeping in the bassinet and add it to this post when I get a chance. Count your many blessings, be they great or small!!

The Story, and a few more pictures

I'm giving you the abbreviated version. (My last entry was the super abbreviated version. :))



I checked into the hospital at 11 a.m. on the 21st, got an IV put in (ouch!), got all hooked up, etc. My doctor came by at around 12:45 and broke my water, and apparently it had meconium, or baby poo, in it, which is not a great thing. So they said that they'd be aspirating Jamie as soon as his head came out, trying to do it before he took his first breath so he wouldn't inhale any of it. Or something like that. I didn't really understand completely.



Like I said, I was induced, but got that magic epidural as soon as my contractions were regular. So it did hurt for awhile, but after the epidural, I was able to relax and almost enjoy the whole thing. I really am so grateful for modern medicine!



My mom, Jason, and I passed the afternoon by watching TV and DVDs. One nurse predicted that the baby would be born around 10 p.m., and she was nearly spot-on. I was instructed to start pushing at around 9:50, and after only half an hour, Jamie was born at 10:20 p.m., January 21, 2009.

He did end up inhaling too soon, so the respiratory therapist and peds nurse who were on-hand had to work on him for a few minutes, but he turned out just fine. I was jealous of my mom and Jason, because they got to go look at him and talk to him in the warmer across the room while my doctor and a nurse stitched me up and tried to make small talk. I was like, "Huh? Oh, yeah, uh-huh..." All distracted, trying to catch a glimpse of the baby I had just delivered! :)

We were in the hospital for a couple of days and went home that Friday, the 23rd. It's been a challenge having Jamie home, mostly because he very much prefers to sleep on someone's chest, doesn't really matter who. But at the second pediatrician appt today, the doctor said we should put him in his bassinet and let him fuss himself to sleep, and hang the whole "you can't spoil a newborn" thing. I'm not looking forward to listening to my poor baby cry, but I agree that safety is the first issue, and we do have to sleep sometime. He still gets plenty of love and contact during the day.

first bath

All in all, I'm not going to lie and say it's all been perfect or easy, but we love our little guy. I never realized just how hard it would be to adjust to being a new mom, and I've had some pretty down times, but I'm getting through it with my wonderful husband's help. We don't know what we would have done without my mom here to help at first, and then my dad and brother joining her later. They left yesterday. So yeah, any girls out there who read this and think, "Wow, I feel the same way, but I thought I was terrible for not just being plain ecstatic!", you're so not alone. It's dang hard, and I'm okay with admitting it! It's a HUGE adjustment! But worth it, of course. How could this little face not be worth it?

Isn't this one a crack-up?

Thanks so much, again, for all the comments and good wishes. I wish I could answer everyone personally, but I just honestly haven't had time to update until now, and now I can't do all I wanted because I need to go feed the baby. They really do take up so much time! But he is cute as the dickens :) (And of course pictures don't nearly do him justice.)