Growing Up

Thought it was time to update my blog. Weston is now almost 15 weeks old and is getting so big. According to the weigh me then weight us together method, he is weighing in at almost 15 lbs. We'll find out for sure on October 31st at his next Dr.'s appointment. At his last doctor's appointment he received four shots. He cried but ultimately took it like a champ! He gets four more at his upcoming appointment. :(

Food & Sleep:

We started giving Weston rice cereal on October 6th. He nurses before and after and only takes a few bites of cereal in between. It has helped him sleep better though. He's been sleeping for 7 hours for the first stretch. Eats. Sleeps for 2 more hours. Eats. Sleeps for about another 1-2 hours. I'm loving it!
Development:

On October 8th, Weston started grabbing for his toys! He loves his infantino rattle! He is still not rolling over in either direction but he does hold his head up better and tolerates tummy time a little better. Due to the major drool and constant hand gnawing, I do believe Weston is in the process of teething.

Other things:

I'm currently babysitting on Mondays and Wednesdays 10-2. I love it. The baby girl that I watch is our youth pastor's daughter and she is so adorable and easy to handle. She has a little brother on the way! Weston really enjoys watching her and she seems to enjoy his company just as much. The best thing is that I can take Weston with me and we can enjoy lunch with daddy every now and then.

Mike and the praise team recently recorded a live album and it is fantastic! If you're interested in obtaining a copy, you should definitely contact the church. My mother-in-law has a solo and she has such an anointed voice! I can't wait to get a copy myself.

That's about all for now. I'm going to attempt to update about once a week for now on, especially since Weston is going to start doing so many new things and I definitely want to have a record of everything! Til then...smile and love Jesus!!!

Annapolis

We took Weston to Annapolis today. It was such a beautiful day and perfect for being out by the water. Mike and I finally bought our sailboat picture we've been looking for, for 2 years! They have great galleries in Annapolis. We also met another baby that was 3 days older than Weston. She was so cute! I love meeting babies around the same age as Weston. It's neat to compare their development! Weston barely slept the whole day which should make for a nice sleep tonight. Here is a wonderful picture of my little angel and his daddy!

Other outtings we've had with Weston:

Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Atlanta, Georgia

Greenville, SC

By the time Weston was 2 1/2 months old, he had been to 7 states!!!!

Update on Weston....two months later (almost)

Life with Weston has been such an amazing ride. I've cried more in the last two months than I have in my entire life. I've cried tears of joy, happiness, exhaustion, frustration and any other emotion you could think of. Mostly tears of joy though. Weston is such an amazing little boy. His smile captures my heart every time even if they are his half asleep smiles he doesn't intend to do. I'm going to go through and try to capture the moments that stick out in my mind over the past 7 weeks so here goes....

The first night home.....(July 2nd)

Every mother's fear...will we last this first night home? Mike and I got home last this night, around 9:00 p.m. When we laid down for the night, I was hesitant of course just because I wanted to make sure Weston was breathing at every second! I drifted off to sleep only to find myself faced with a nightmare of Weston having a seizure and jumped straight out of my sleep only to find my little boy just fine. I stopped and prayed at that very moment that God would take those fears from my mind and vowed to not let the devil overtake my joy with fear. I've never had a nightmare since this night or even thought something would happen to Weston. I just pray that God's angels will be with my little boy and I know they are.

First doctor's visit....(July 3rd)

We had Weston's first doctor's visit when he was just three days old. Dr. Scobie is his pediatrician. He is a great doctor. At this appointment Weston weighed 6 lbs 12 oz meaning he lost some weight since he was born (he was 7 lbs 2 oz) He also had a PKU done and daddy stayed in the room for that. His heart murmur was gone and jaundice almost gone. He was in very good health overall.

Second doctor's visit....(July 10th)

At 10 days old, Weston had his second doctor's visit. His weight was back up to 7 lbs 3 oz meaning he is eating really well. Nothing else really exciting happened. Dr. Scobie said he was so healthy that we didn't have to come back for another 6 weeks.

Feeding.....

Nursing Weston has been the biggest joy, yet frustration of this journey thus far. When Weston had his first growth spurt I didn't think I would make it. Having a baby eat from you every twenty minutes can really take a toll but we made it through and for the most part he does very well nowadays. There was soreness in the beginning a little but not nearly as bad as some woman have explained to me. And I'll admit to the discomfort of sitting in bed nursing while still healing from the delivery.....and the slight inconvenient when we are sitting in the middle of a meal in a restaurant, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. It's created a strong bond between me and my baby boy and it's healthy and free!!!

Belly button....

So for some reason Weston's cord stump took forever to fall off. We ended up going to the doctor for two doses of silver nitrate and after the second treatment it finally fell off. The cord feel off around 2:45 a.m. on Wednesday, August 6th. It was promptly thrown away the next morning. There will be no scrapbooking of the stump. Also, at his appointment on the 5th, Weston weighed 9 lbs 10 oz. He is a growing boy!!!

Sleep....

We started a bedtime routine on Monday, August 11th. We start around 10 p.m. and do a bath, eat and then bedtime story. I'm reading him the Chronicles of Narnia and usually by the time I am done a chapter he is out! We are now on the second week and he is usually asleep by 10:30 p.m. and doesn't wake up to eat again until 4:30 a.m. This is amazing and greatly appreciated by me!!! After he eats at 4:30 a.m. he goes back down again until 7:30-8:00 a.m. and then my happy morning baby wakes up for the day! During the day he take a few cat naps and about two good naps but they are not structured as of yet.

Other random things....

Weston started smiling around 5 weeks of age. I didn't note the exact day but it was around then. Also last week (at 6 weeks) he started to find his hands. He hasn't found them completely but twice I've caught him somewhat playing with them! He also does very good with lifting his head up during tummy time and when he is up on someones chest. He is also doing well with following objects with eyes and bearing some weight on his legs. He loves to kick his little feet and I wouldn't be surprised if he starts crawling at an early age.

That's about all for now.....sorry for the abundance of information in this blog but I just wanted to take the time to document some of the events that have occurred recently.

Delivery

So here goes...the story of my little one's arrival to the world....this will be lengthy but I'm mostly writing for my own records!

June 30, 2008....

I woke up around 5:30 a.m. to use the bathroom (not unusual); however, after I finished peeing I felt some more stuff coming out....(very unusual). It was more than just the general discharge that goes along with being pregnant but less than a gush of amniotic fluid. Nonetheless, I was pretty sure it was amniotic fluid leaking so I woke Mike up to warn him that we were going to have a baby on this day. I told him I wasn't going to call the doctor yet, that I would go back to sleep for a few hours and call when the office was open. I didn't want to call the emergency line and have my doctor woken up for no reason since it was a little leak. Of course, I couldn't sleep so I came downstairs and got on the computer to check email, myspace, etc. Once I was up and about the leaking just became continuous so around 6:00 a.m. I called the emergency line and had my doctor paged. I was told to call back if I didn't hear from Dr. Phillips within 20 minutes. Well 20 minutes came and went and I didn't call back. I figured she would get back to me eventually. (I didn't want to have her woken up on my account..haha) Around 6:45 a.m. I figured I would get a shower and we would head to the hospital whether I heard from the doctor or not. The slow leaking had now become more than just a drippy faucet and I was starting to get really anxious. I woke Mike up and told him to pack his bag, that I was getting a shower then he could get one and then we would head to the hospital. Of course as soon as I got in the shower my cell phone rang and it was Dr. Phillips. She told me to take a shower (done!), get some breakfast and then head to the hospital. So around 7:30 a.m. Mike and I were in the car heading towards Mercy Medical Center (in rush hour traffic...go figure) We got to the hospital around 8:30 a.m. and got checked in and given a room by 9:00 a.m. The soon to be grandparents started showing up around 9:30 a.m. ready for action! Because my contractions had not started and I was Group B Strep positive, they had to induce with Pitocin. I did NOT want this to happen but I wasn't up for a fight and I surely did not want to expose my son to the GBS anymore than needed. So I was started on Pitocin and antibiotics and the waiting game began. For the next three hours, the dose of Pitocin went up and down and up and down as they tried to find the right amount that would keep me in labor but also keep the baby healthy. Finally around 12:00 p.m. my contractions started. Not so bad at first....:) My goal to have Weston was 5:00 p.m. because that's when my doctor was leaving and none of the other three doctors in the practice was on call so they had a visiting doctor on call for them. I would have rather had a doctor that I knew deliver me but 5:00 p.m. came and went and no baby. I think at 4:30 p.m. I was still about 3-4 cm dialated...sucky! Around 6:00 p.m. I was around 6 cm dialated and everything whirlwinded from there. Between 6:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. I went from 6 cm to 10 cm! Ouch! I had opted for no pain medication so this was pretty much the worst part of it. I thought I'd reached my max when they finally said I could push and so I did...with everything in me...I pushed! Weston was having a hard time coming out and his heart rate had been fluxuating for about 20 minutes so Dr. Jones (the visiting doctor) said they needed to start breaking my bed down to take me to the Operating Room for an emergency C-Section...my worst fear! I begged and begged for her to let me push some more, and she did. Then with a little help of Dr. Jones (she cut me) I pushed really hard and out came flying this amazing baby boy!!! He didn't even stop at the neck like they like....he just came out finally! They wisked him away to check everything out. His apgar was 7 and he was crying but apparently he was also grunting which is a sign that something is wrong. Of course, I'm still being worked on and have no idea what is going on with my baby.....I'm freaking out! Finally someone told me that he was going to be taken to the NICU to have the grunting thing worked out. They let me hold him for about 45 seconds before taking him away. At this point I had agreed to get something for the pain of the episiotomy and before I knew it I was in LaLa Land....but I'm told they worked on me for 2 hours getting everything back to "normal". I lost a lot of blood and for a while everyone was scared....not me, I was out of it! Haha. I pulled through without having to get a blood transfusion! Meanwhile, Weston was doing a lot better in the NICU. He apparently had pheumothorax (sp?) which is a air socket in the lung. It worked itself out though! He stayed in NICU for 24 hours and then was able to come spend time with mommy and daddy. We both left the hospital on Wednesday night. Weston had an appointment with his pediatrician the next day to have a few things checked out, including a heart murmur (apparently common in a lot of babies) and his jaundice. Thursday's appointment proved that God is awesome, the murmur was gone and jaundice almost non-existent! I'm just praying now for a complete healing for myself, and I know that is coming also!

I'm so greatful for everyone who was there to support me: My Dad, Stepmom, Mom, Mother-in-Law, Maria, Pastor Dave, Ms. Debbie, and of course my most amazing husband, Mike! I don't know why God had me go through so much to end up with my beautiful baby boy, but I'm not bitter or angry, just greatful that He pulled me through. Sometimes, I think we just through things to learn to depend on God. I can't tell you how much this experience has touched my spirit and made me rely on God over all. I thank God for his gift everyday and pray His angels keep watch over my little one especially in the wee hours of the night. Weston has such a calling on his life and I can't wait to watch it pan out! I'm just greatful that God has given me a place in His child's life and that I can be a facilitator to the grand destiny God has in store for Weston! It's an honor that God trusts me to bring up His child in this world and I can only pray daily that God gives me the ability to do so. It's scary thinking about the years ahead but I'm ready for the challenges knowing that God is the real parent here! Thanks Father!!! :)

Still working on it...

Saw Dr. Hoffman again today. I gained one pound and blood pressure wasn't horrible. I dialated another centimeter so a total of 2 now! Also I am now 70% effaced. So I am making progress but still have a little while to go. Dr. Hoffman stripped my membrane which, if my body is ready, can put me into labor within the next few days! Yay!! (I am really hoping this works!) So at this point I am just waiting and waiting. Starting to get a little frustrated and inpatient but Weston will come when he is ready I suppose. Meanwhile, I'm doing what I can at home to speed things up. Until next time...

Sonogram

I got another sonogram today. Didn't get to take any home but you really couldn't tell what was what anyway because he's bigger now! As a matter of fact, he is weighing in at around 6 lbs 15 oz! That means he will definitely be 7 lbs within the next few days and ready to come out into the world!!! (cross your fingers, pray, wish on a star...whatever!!)

Progress still...

Had another doctors appointment today with Dr. Hoffman. Blood pressure is still looking alright and I lost the pound I had gained on Monday (my last appointment). I'm still 1 1/2 cm dialated but about 50% effaced now! Last Thursday I wasn't really effaced at all so I made pretty good progress in that area! The baby's heartbeat is nice and strong which is definitely comforting and I never get tired of hearing it! Dr. Hoffman said she doesn't think I'll hold little Weston in until July 16th. Basically if I don't go into labor myself, they will help me out depending on my blood pressure! So exciting! I'm really hoping within the next week and a half! For now, I go for a sonogram on Monday and another exam on Thursday! Shooting for at least 3-4 cm by then so cross your fingers!!! :)