Happy Due Date Noah!

Today was Noah's original due date! I can't believe how much our lives have changed in just a matter of days! I never knew I could love someone so much that I only just met.

I'm trying to keep up with the updates, but I just feel like I never have time to blog anymore! And when I do have time, I just want to sleep! But I promise, I'll eventually catch up!

Breastfeeding started out wonderfully. He was a good nurser and we fell into a great pattern. And then the last night we were in the hospital, they checked his weight and he was right on the edge of losing too much weight. He also wanted to nurse for at least 30 minutes on each side, then the nurses wanted me to pump for 15 minutes after that. AND he needed to be nursed every two hours. He was just so hungry and I wasn't producing enough to satisfy him...plus all the feeding/pumping was just overwhelming me. So we started giving him formula and saw an immediate difference. He drank his bottle in 15 minutes, then slept for three hours. It was heaven! Since then, I've pumped a few times and fed him that plus formula but he always spits up a LOT of it. So now we are just giving him formula. I HIGHLY respect any woman who can breastfeed. I wish I could do it. But to me, it was so stressful and emotionally/physically exhausting! We just got back from the doctor to check his weight and he has gained 4 ounces since we left the hospital so I really feel like we made the right decision for Noah.

Recovery for me has been a little more difficult than I expected. You don't realize how you use EVERY muscle in your body to push. And the past few days, I feel like I have just been hit by a truck! My arms are really sore from holding my legs and my entire back just aches and aches. And since I'm not breastfeeding and my milk came in yesterday, my boobs hurt like the DEVIL!! They are so engorged and there is nothing I can do but tough it out until it passes. But you better believe I would do it all again in a heartbeat for my precious baby boy!

I'm working on a picture post from Noah's birthday so stay tuned for that!

Birth details

*Blogger is being STUPID and won't let me upload pictures. They will come, I promise!*

Now that I have my bearings a little bit, I'm going to try to fill you all in on all the details! I'm going to break it down into several posts, because I'm a littttle bit busy these days!

I never thought I would progress as quickly as I did, especially with Noah being my first baby! I truly think that the reason everything went so smoothly was because I was already in very early labor...or at the very least I would have gone into labor within a day or so. The whole labor/delivery was MUCH easier than I thought it would be-NOT that it was easy by any means! But I've heard so many horror stories that I really psyched myself out!

I pushed about 50 minutes. It seemed like only 15 minutes! I started tearing so my doctor gave me an episiotomy....and then I tore some more. It ended up being a 3rd degree tear/episiotomy and I got four stitches. I didn't feel a thing! The only thing that really hurt was my nurse 'massaging' my tummy after I delivered the placenta. I almost came up OFF the bed!

Noah needed to stay under the warmer a lot at first. He was always just shy of being the right temperature. But he got over that quickly. I nursed him soon after he was born. At first he didn't really understand what to do, but he caught on pretty quickly!

That's about all I have time for. More later...right now I have to go feed the cutest little person I've ever seen! I LOVE being a Mom!

Happy Birthday Noah!

Hey hey yall! Labor and delivery went GREAT! More on that later...but just to tie you over until I muster up the energy for a good post.....

The most beautiful baby in the world!

Isn't he gorgeous?!?? I knew all that heartburn was going to good use! He has a head FULL of black hair and looks just like his Daddy!

More coming soon! I promise! Thanks for all the kind words, thoughts and prayers! We are SO in love with our son!

Labor Updates

Update 6:00pm: AUNTIE APRIL here again! Noah has made his grand entrance!! He was born at 4:11pm, weighed 8 pounds and was 20 inches long! He is so beautiful!! Allison is doing great and she is as beautiful as always! :) She'll be on here with pictures and her take on things soon!

Update 2:00pm: April here! My gorgeous sister is 7 cm!!!! We're gettin' this party started!!! We'll update again soon, maybe he'll be here!

Update 11:45am: My contractions only intensified since my last post. I toughed it out until about 10:30am when I got my epidural. And let me just tell you, the epidural was NOTHING!!! It felt like a little ant bite and that was it! I was so scared about the epidural that I was putting off getting it. Next time, I'll be getting that sucker first thing! I'm feeling gooood now! I'm 2 1/4 cm now. Woot woot!

Today's the big day!!

Warning: I am not going to hold back any of the details of today. I love hearing everybody else's labor details and I want to remember everything that happens today. So if you don't want to hear about my bodily functions, please read no further!

So I've been having some pretty strong contractions since yesterday. Last night, I started to lose my mucous plug. And this morning, the rest of it came out. That was probably the most disgusting thing I've ever seen yall!

Anyway, we got to the hospital around 5:40am this morning. I've gotten a bag of fluids and my nurse, Kacie, started my pitocin on the lowest level. Before she started the pitocin, I was already contracting strongly....like off the paper! I'm a "loose" 1 cm, 80% effaced and Noah is really low at 0 station!

I was really worried about getting the iv because it hurt so bad the last time I got one. But my nurse gave me some numbing medicine so it didn't hurt at all!

My doctor just came in and broke my water! He said that I was 1.5 cm now. And as soon as he broke my water, my contractions immediately started hurting big time!

I'll update as I can!

39 weeks

How far along: 39 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: Up 49 pounds! I'm so glad I stayed under 50!

Maternity clothes: I thought about packing them all up, but then I decided that I'll still be too fat to wear my normal clothes once I get home from the hospital. So the maternity clothes will stay around for just a little longer!

Stretch marks: I noticed a few new ones starting to appear under my belly. Good thing my belly won't stretch much further!

Sleep: I guess my body is preparing for having to wake up a lot in the middle of the night. I seriously get up about 10 times a night to pee. It drives me nuts!

Best moment this week: Finding out we are inducing this Tuesday!!

Movement: Still kicking and squirming.

Food cravings: Jamocha shakes from Arby's

Gender: He better be a boy!

Labor signs: Still having consistent contractions throughout the day.

Belly button in or out: Out!

What I miss: Nothing really (besides my usual Red Bull). I'm trying to soak up my last pregnant days.

What I am looking forward to: TUESDAY!!!!!

Weekly wisdom: My OCD and I LOVE knowing what day Noah will be here.

Milestone: This is my LAST weekly update and picture! YAY!

Bedrest has been going great! I hated it at first, but as the time passed I really enjoyed getting to rest. Plus I feel SO much better than I did while I was working. But I am so ready for Tuesday to get here so I can meet my son!

I am taking my laptop with us to the hospital and I plan on updating throughout the day. I hate having to stalk someone's blog alllll day wondering what's going on with them and their labor so I'm not going to do that to you! Wish us luck!

Doctor's Appointment

Sooooo....

I gained another pound. My blood pressure was normal. Noah's heartrate was 148bpm. AND...

I'm being induced on Tuesday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My doctor said that Noah has dropped down considerably and my cervix is softening and ripening nicely! He said that he wanted to go ahead and induce me because he's afraid the further I go, the more problems I'm going to have with my blood pressure. And he also said that he would go ahead and induce me today, but he thinks if we just wait a few more days I'll have a much smoother and easier labor. That's ok with me!

February 9th it is! YAY NOAH!

Changes

No baby yet.

But I have a feeling it will be sometime soon. I've been experiencing some changes recently that I wanted to share with you. Now, let me preface this post by saying that I completely overanalyze everything when it comes to this pregnancy. So these changes I'm going to tell you about can either be little clues that labor will start within the next few days OR they could mean absolutely nothing!

SO....normally, when I was working, I would experience Braxton-Hicks throughout the day. BUT when I was at home and resting, I wouldn't have them at all. Ever since Saturday, I've been having them like crazy...and I've been doing nothing but resting!

This morning (around 2-3am) I woke up and had a sharp pain shoot from the bottom of my belly to the top of my belly on the right side. The pain was so strong, I couldn't get up and had to just lay there and breathe through the pain until it subsided about 20 seconds later. I was too freaked out and concentrating on breathing to touch my belly to see if it was contracting or not. But I really thought "This is it!!" Then today, I've had two more occurances of this strange sharp pain and both times, it's caught me so off guard that I just concentrated on breathing through it and haven't felt to see if I'm contracting or not.

I also have been peeing like CRAZY. Ask my husband! Last week, I would get up 2-3 times a night to pee, but lately I've been having to get up 5-7 times a night! And allllll throughout the day. And I'm not really drinking any more than I used to so I'm hoping this means that Noah has finally decided to drop!

And finally, all afternoon today I have been having some painful contractions. These are different than any of the other contractions I've had before. These have a sharper pain rather than a dull tugging that I'm used to having. BUT I'm still not convinced they are real contractions. My stomach has been a little out of whack (because I have been eating a lot of spicy food lately) so I think I may be having gas/IBS issues that would normally hurt anyway and it's just making me contract as well.

So there you go. I really feel like it's going to be soon. April originally guessed February 4th for Noah's birthday.....that's also the day I go to the doctor! So we'll see!