Tagged

I got tagged on Facebook, and I find it easier to write on my blog so here goes..

1. My brother and sister used to always make me watch Unsolved Mysteries when my Mom and Dad went out for the night, therefore, my biggest fear as a child was getting abducted by aliens.

2. I am constantly thinking of what color I can dye my hair next. I don't know what my natural color is.

3. I have found it is virtually impossible to type on the computer with a 5 week old in your arms. No matter how much I know I can't do it, I still try it almost every day.

4. I am obsessed with chocolate.

5. Chad and I have called each other 'babe' since before I can even remember. If you ever hear us call each other by our first names, we are either ill at each other or trying to get oneanother's attention.

6. Swiss cake rolls must be eaten skin first and then the cake part. It's just not as good if you do it any other way.

7. I love to people watch.

8. I used to pretend that Fraggle Rock was in my bedroom when I was little.

9. I enjoying seeing how tightly balled up I can get a dirty diaper before I shove it into the diaper dispenser.

10. I think it's hilarious that Chad will not touch a tightly balled diaper to push it down into the diaper dispenser, he has to use Carter's baby brush or a wash cloth.

11. I am a germ freak. I have hand sanitizer with me at all times, and a small can of Lysol.

12. I loved every minute of high school and hate thinking about how long ago it was.

13. I knew Carter was a boy from week 8 on. I also knew that Liz was having a girl. Since then my brother has told me that he doesn't believe in my Voo Doo.

14. Growing up, Kerri and I used to always get the exact same stuff for Christmas, just different colors. I would get pink and Kerri would get blue. If either of us got anything different from the other one, we pitched a fit.

15. Kerri and I always do something called "Momisms". It is where we say something that our Mom always says and we try to say it in her voice. We think it is hysterical whenever we do it. We have even gotten Kevin and the other siblings-in-law into it.

16. My Mom has two dogs at the lake that have to have electric collars on because they like to roam and eat my parent's log house. They are awful and my Mom thinks they are angels!

17. I cringe whenever I know baseball season is around the corner...I know then that my husband will be glued to the television for hours at a time watching the Braves.

18. I could not live without DVR.

19. I love making paper airplanes out of any kind of paper...this includes any kind of candy paper.

20. I have pretended to be on my cell phone to avoid an awkward situation.

21. I joined the tennis team in High School because I loved their uniforms. I can't believe I actually made the team, I was terrible and never won a match.

22. I love Marinara sauce. I have been obsessed with it ever since I saw the Saved by the Bell episode where Screech was making his famous spaghetti sauce. It just looked so good!

23. I love Rock City.

24. When I was little I always looked forward to getting a new pair of white Keds every year. I was ecstatic the year my Mom got me the leather ones.

25. I am pumped about losing my Baby weight, I never thought I would be so excited to try to eat healthier and exercise!

1 Month Check up...

Carter had his 1 month check up today and he is a whopping 9lbs. 11oz. and 23 inches long!
Just to give you and idea, when he was born he was 7lbs. 4oz. and 20 inches long...good grief!
He is close to out-growing his cousin Avery who is 8 weeks older than him...he is all boy!

Also, on this visit he got one shot and they pricked his heel to do the PKU test. It was pitiful. When they pricked him, it took him just a second to realize that it hurt and then he screamed! But he didn't mind the prick as much as the squeezing of the foot to get the blood out.
For the shot he did the worst scream of all, it's what I call "the silent scream", which is where they are crying so hard that no sound comes out of their mouth, their face turns blood red and then all of a sudden they take a breath and start whaling. It broke my heart! But once it was over he sucked on his paci as fast as he could and then he was fine :)

Dr. Webster was awesome, as usual. She said his growth and weight gain looked good and she said that he was a very handsome little man and had great color and complexion (sp?) :)
She asked if we had any questions and my answer was "OH yeah". Basically we told her about how he has been screaming bloody murder whenever he takes a bottle and it has been getting progressively worse over the past week. I told her that I was at my wits end this morning and I broke out a sample of Similac Sensitive (we had been on Similac Advanced-a non-sensitive formula), and when I gave him his bottle I didn't know if it was a coincidence, but he didn't fuss during or after the bottle, and he went right to sleep. She said she was pretty sure he didn't have an extreme case of reflux, and that it was basically a tummy ache due to gas. She told us we could start him on the sensitive brand or the soy (which is Isomil). We said that we would probably start him on which ever one they had at Sam's. Right after the appointment we went to Sam's and they only had the Isomil, so that is what we bought. When we got home, I gave him his first bottle of Soy milk (which stinks horribly by the way) and he was so relaxed when he was taking it that he kept falling asleep. Normally he is kicking, arching his back, and straightening out his legs, so I will take a sleepy baby over that! He did wonderful and he is still asleep right now at 9:15 pm and he took his bottle at 5:45- Praise Jesus!

That was about the extent of the appointment. We go back in a month and he will get 4 shots and an oral vaccine. I told Chad that he is going with me to that one too! He will definitely be taking some Tyelenol before that fun little trip. Chad didn't seem to mind going though, he is very attentive to little Carter. He calls multiple times a day to check up on us and see how he is doing. He is pretty protective...I thought I would be the only one worried about germs in the Doctor's office, but he is as bad as me! The other day he even asked me if he needed to Germ-x his hands...and let me tell you, before we had Carter I couldn't even get him to touch a Germ-x bottle! He has turned out to be a great Dad- I mean not that I didn't think he would be, but you know what I mean!

Oh, and I had my Doctor appointment this morning. Everything went well, my incision is healing perfectly. The only sad thing is that I found out my doctor that delivered Carter is leaving in May and moving out of state to be closer to her family : (
So she won't be delivering any more of my babies. So sad! She is an amazing doctor.

I think I am going to try to take some pictures of Carter here at the house tomorrow if he cooperates, so I will post them if they turn out cute.

The calm after the storm...

Lately Carter has been SUPER fussy. If he is awake, he is usually fussing. We try everything...diaper, feeding, bouncing, burping, rocking, gas drops, tummy time...you name it, we've tried it. Eventually, as in 30 minutes later, we can usually get him to sleep. The two pictures below are what I call "the calm after the storm", after he has had a fit and has finally fallen fast asleep. He looks so peaceful, right? Don't let him fool you!

I'm not really sure what is going on with him. Colic? Well symptoms of colic include inconsolible crying for more than 3 hours a day for at least 3 days a week for at least 3 weeks. I don't think he's quite there yet. The fussing usually starts during feeding, so of course I've thought of reflux, gas, constipation, ect. Frankly, it could be any of these but it's just hard to figure out. We have our 1 month check up tomorrow with Dr. Webster, so we will ask her and see what she says. I kind of hope that we don't have to change his formula because we just got a ton of free samples from a lady at Chad's work, and I would hate to have to waste those.

I really don't think our issue is constipation anymore because we are doing a teaspoon of Karo in every bottle...and he goes about once a day or once every other day.

The next picture below is pretty funny. Here Carter is sleeping in his swing. I had been cleaning the bathrooms and I swept and brought in the dust buster to clean up what I swept and as soon as I turn it on this picture below is what I see! It was so funny, one minute his hands are at his sides and the next minute I turn around his arms are up like this, still fast asleep! I know it's that startle reflex in infants, but I think it is so funny and cute! Any time we make a loud noise we get some kind of pose like this : )

First Pictures

Carter was 4 weeks old as of Tuesday of this week. I can't believe it's already been 4 weeks! He is growing and changing every day and even starting to give us a few smiles :)
Today, we had an appointment to get our first pictures done at Portrait Innovations...thank the Lord for the $9.99 special, or we would be taking out own pictures at home ; )
Anyways, our appointment was at 10:40, and have I mentioned this is the first time we have been 'scheduled' to be somewhere at a certain time and Mommy is all by herself to get she and Carter ready? Huge disaster.
Well first of all, Carter gets up once in the middle of the night and once early in the morning. I had "planned" on staying up after his early morning feeding to get myself ready so all I would have to do is get Carter ready and fed once he wakes up.
He woke up at about 6:00 AM and took his bottle and I put him back in bed, and of course I talk myself into going back to sleep for ONLY an hour. I thought, I won't set an alarm because he will wake me up...no sir. Not this time. Every other morning the little booger is ready to get up again by 7am or so, but not this morning. I am suddenly awoken at 8:30...crap! As soon as I get out of bed and run to the shower I hear Carter starting to stir, so I take the quickest shower in history (I haven't had more than a 5 minute shower in 4 weeks mind you). I am out just in time to grab him up and shove a bottle in his mouth...then he takes 45 minutes to eat (this could be a whole other blog post in itself, but due to times sake I will hold off...). After he eats, it is 9:30. I have wet hair, no make up, and both Carter and I are still in our PJ's. WE MUST leave the house by 10:20 to get there on time. I lay him down in his boppy so I can attempt to blow dry my hair and put on some makeup...he seems content for the moment, so I bring all my stuff in the living room because if I am gone too long he will fuss if he can't see me. We make it through 15 minutes of Fraiser and my make up and blow dry...then the fussing begins. He is tired of being in his boppy and wants to be held. I need 4 arms apparently.
So I run around the house, baby in tow, trying finding to find what I'm going to wear (note that I haven't quite gotten into most of my old clothes yet, so this is a task in itself).
I lay him on my bed, he cries.
I lay him back in his boppy, he cries.
I lay him in the floor, he cries.
By this time it is about 10:00, I still need to straighten my hair, dress myself, pack Carter's bag, change his diaper, put on his outfit, pack extra outfits just in case, and load him up in his carseat.
Aunt KK is supposed to come to my house to help and she is still no where in sight...by the time I straighten my hair, it is 10:10, and Carter is still in his night attire...where the heck is Aunt KK?!
By 10:15, I am dressed (somehow, don't quite remember how I did it), and Aunt KK is walking in the door...I am changing Carter. I give him to her and pack his bag, throw in the first outfits I see, and strap his fussy self into the carseat...mission accomplished! It is now about 10:22 and we are out the door.
We get to Portrait Innovations right on time and I give them my name...and of course they don't have me in the computer. By this time I am sweating, my incision hurts from moving around so much, and I am pretty ill.
LUCKILY, they aren't crowded and just tell me that they will be with me in a minute, thank goodness! That is really about the worst of it. Apparently, I have to allot myself more than an hour and a half to get both of us ready and somewhere on time...lesson learned.
As for the pictures, they went pretty well. Other than him falling asleep, we got a really cute pose of him pretty alert. And you'll notice that he is naked in the picture, that's the only way we could get him to open his eyes :D
Although, I am some what of a germ freak and putting him on all the blankets and props that 10,000 other children have been on made me want to take out the lysol that I had in my purse and spray everything down he touched...but I restrained myself somehow.
So, without further delay, here is the first professional picture of my sweet baby:

WHEW!

So, this is truly the first time I have had time to actually post again since Carter's birth almost 4 weeks ago!
We are doing well, but still adjusting to this new little person in our lives. We are exhausted!
Carter is sleeping pretty good, we put him down at 10:30 and he wakes up at 2:30 and about 6:00 or 6:30 to eat. Both times he goes back to sleep (with the exception of about 20 seconds of fussing). Right now he is in his crib taking a nap. I had to learn that I could put him down during the day...I can't hold him 24-7! The day I held him all day, Chad came home and I was in the floor in tears because I didn't get a thing done and I don't think I even got a shower...I felt like a complete slob and wreck! So from then on, I have been getting him to sleep and letting him nap in his crib so I can actually get some work done around the house! In my head I have set 3 minimal goals to meet each day around the house, and if I get those done then I am pleased...those goals are as follows:

1. Get a shower, and put on make-up
2. Have all bottles washed by the time Chad gets home
3. Make up our bed

Okay, so being a Mom stuff is HARD, the hardest job I have ever had, but I know it will be very rewarding. Sometimes I think it is so hard because with my last job I only worked 9 hours a day, but now I work 24 hours a day, I think that's the difference....oh and the fact that I am caring for another human being and trying to figure out what he wants when he can't talk ; )

We are just now getting to where we are getting out of the house some with him and it is wonderful!! I love getting him out in his stroller, it really makes me feel like a Mom. Plus he sleeps the whole time because he loves the car and the car seat, so who could ask for more?

We had a couple of rough nights these past few days because little man has been constipated :( Poor guy just screams bloody murder because he is trying to push it out and it isn't budging...we have been doing the Karo syrup for 2 days now and this afternoon we had success! It was a pretty big blowout and he went straight to sleep afterwards :)

As for Chad and I, we have become closer than we have ever been. We are really working as a team and I think we have realized just how much we love eachother and NEED each other. We were both really overwhelmed at first and now we are somewhat getting the hang of things, but I couldn't have done any of this without him! He has been amazing, he is a great Daddy.

Well, that is about it for now, Carter is STILL asleep :) so I am going to go and watch TV and relax for a few minutes...hopefully my next update won't be too far away!

Carter's Birth Story

So we arrive at the hospital last Monday night at about 10pm. At about 3am they give me the medicine that will cause me to dilate and efface. When Dr. Maddox came in the next morning to break my water I was at 2cm and 90%. I had already been started on the medicine to make me contract, so as soon as my water was broken I wanted my epidural. As we were watching all the monitors we were noticing Carter's heartrate was dropping, so they put me on oxygen. Also, my blood pressure readings were high, so Dr. Maddox ordered me to be put on some medicine during labor and 24 hours after labor. By about 2:00, I still had not made any kind of progress and my uterus was in a constant state of contraction plus the baby had his first bowel movement inside of me, and this was a sign of distress. Dr. Maddox then came in and talked to me and said it didn't look like I was going to progress anymore and the baby needed to come out immediately. Of course I agree to this and within about 15 minutes I am on the operating table having a c-section. Carter's head was so far down into the birth canal that they had to tug really hard to get him out...so hard they were putting so much pressure on my ribs that it made me nauseous and I had to throw up right there on the operating table :(

Carter comes out finally, and I see the sweet little thing I have been carrying for 9 months and he is beautiful and looks exactly like his Daddy.

The next few days were pretty rough, I was on the morphine pump and the blood pressure medicine for 24 hours which made me completely out of it and I don't even remember holding Carter for the first time. I was also in a lot of pain because of the surgery and because they had to tug so hard to get him out.

Once we were able to get moved into a normal room a day later, one of the doctors who assisted in the c-section came in to let me know what had happened and why the labor didn't go as planned. Since my blood pressure was so high during labor, it caused me to have a little bit of preclampsia, and when they opened my uterus there was blood inside because my placenta had started separating itself from my uterine wall.

I have prayed so hard about this birth and Carter's safety and my own and God was totally in control of the whole situation. He provided me with nurses and doctors that knew what they were doing and knew when Carter needed to come out. He got him here healthy and safe and for that I praise Him and I am forever grateful. I come even fuller to the realization that the Lord hears His children's prayers. Although the birth was nothing that I expected it to be, God knew all along and was there from the beginning of it all. When I first found out I was pregnant, I was extremely nervous and anxious about everything...when I cried out to God and I just asked Him "What do I do?!" The words "Trust Me" radiated through my whole being. That is one of the only times the Lord has talked to me like that, and I will remember it forever. My trust in Him brought me through the whole pregnancy and birth and I relied on those words the whole 9 months.

Now we are just adjusting to this whole new life!

Baby Tomorrow!

I went in for my check up today and at the appointment when Dr. Maddox listened to his heartbeat on the Doppler, she said it sounded a little slow. That prompted her to send me over to labor and delivery and have it monitored for a little while and to do a stress test to see how he reacted under contractions. After a few minutes of monitoring him, his heartbeat was perfect and he did great under the stress test.
Dr. Maddox went ahead and ordered us to come back at 10:00pm tonight and spend the night...we are going to do the pill that they insert in you to have you dilate a little more, and then I will be induced in the morning! She will probably be in about 7:30 to break my water and we will go from there.
When she checked me today he had dropped and I was 1 1/2 and 60%. I think she wants to get me to 2 by in the morning so it will be more favorable for induction.
Pray that he doesn't act up anymore, he is being bad (just kidding of course), but he gave me a little scare this afternoon.
We will have a laptop at the hospital, so hopefully I will be able to update :)
I'm excited, let's get this baby here safe and sound Lord!