One month!!

Our baby is one month!  It's going by so fast!  It's been a great month.  AJ is def getting bigger.  His newborn outfits are getting tight.  I put on a bigger onesie today and it actually fit him pretty well. They used to sag on him.  

Unfortunately he caught Steve's cold.  Has a stuffy nose.  Started using saline and sucking out his nose but he sure did not like that!   Poor baby.  

We started a bottle with him this week.  Since we will have to take him to daycare we knew we needed to start a bottle.  They suggest starting it at 4 weeks.  I had to pump in the hospital so I was already familiar with it.   We had Steve start the bottle.  Good news was he took it right away!!!  He was a little sloppy at first but getting better each day.  Steve was eager to help more so he started offering him the bottle around the 5 am shift whenever he wakes up hungry.  It's helped me get a little more sleep!  AJ didn't have the best week.  Very restless at night.  As soon as we would set him down he would start squirming with grunting, groaning, and crying noises.  Lately he's up till 1 am then up at 3 and takes almost 2 hours to go back to sleep.   Rough!!  So having Steve help a little has been really nice.  I am lucky to have such a wonderful husband.  Steve has been great.  He really wanted to feed the bottle.  I am just glad AJ started to learn how.  

3 weeks

Starting yesterday it is now just Steve and I.  We have had family here for the last 3 weeks.  I feel so lucky to have the family I do.  Not only did we have help in person, but I also got help from my sisters-in-law from afar.  We were lucky enough to have my mom here for about 2 weeks to help out.  It was nice to have the company since Steve went back to work the week after AJ was born.  She helped with laundry, cooking, shopping and of course the baby!   Steve's family came down this week to stay.    They also helped us around the house and spent lots of time cuddling with AJ.  I have had some issues with breastfeeding so I have reached out to my sisters-in-law for advice.  They both have beautiful children.  They have been a HUGE help.  It's nice to reach out to people who have been there before.  

I am on leave until Oct 21st.  I feel like my leave is already flying by.  Which is scary and sad.  We are going to take a trip north to visit our families at the end of September.  It's not easy for everyone to get down here to see us, so we wanted to make sure we took AJ to meet them.  He will get to meet his aunts, uncles, cousins and great grandmother.   My great grandma can't travel any more, so we really wanted to make sure we got up to VA to have her meet AJ.    We are going to visit while on my leave since I won't have much time off after I return to work.  

AJ is 3 1/2 weeks now.  He is getting bigger and stronger.  Yesterday he rolled onto his stomach on his own.  Very scary and crazy!   But don't really want him to do that just yet.  We have started tummy time, doing just a few minutes for now each day.  He can lift his legs and hips up.  I think once he does start moving, he is never going to stop.  I am trying to enjoy the sleepy, not moving baby for now.  :)  

I will have to get used to having a messy house now.  I am very used to cleaning a lot!  So now that our help has left, I have to come to terms with things not being in their proper place.  That's not going to be easy for me.   But I am sure I will adjust!

We took AJ out for his first big adventure today.  Steve ran in a 5k at the zoo.   It ended up being about 2 1/2 hours, and he did great!    He slept the whole time.  He got a little fussy on the way home but overall was great!  I was very nervous to take him out.  But luckily Steve runs fast so we didn't have to be there long.   It was nice to get out of the house for a little bit.  It's been really hot here, so we can't go out very much.  Luckily the race was at 7:30 so it wasn't too hot yet.  Minus being super tired, we had a nice time.   We just came home and took a long nap!  Also something I am getting more used to taking!

2 weeks

Still hard to believe he's mine.  Another week has gone by.  So crazy!!   

I had a lactation consultant come to the house Monday.  She showed me some tips to have him latch better.  She said I was already doing pretty good but showed me a couple other things.  Unfortunately she helped us determine that he has thrush.    I quickly made an appt at the dr so we could get him on meds.    She said that's probably not helping my pain when I nurse.   It's been about a week he's been on meds.  He looks a lot better.  He gave it to me though.  Fingers crossed that once we clear this up then breastfeeding will go better.    

My mom left Wednesday.  It was very nice having her here to help us.  I liked having the company too because Steve went back to work almost 2 weeks ago.   

I'm getting used to the long hours.  Sometimes AJ eats all day and other times he rests longer.  The toughest part is getting him to go back to sleep sometimes after eating in the middle of the night.  He is a night owl.  He's always wide awake from 10 pm till 1 am.   That's probably the hardest part.  Right when I'm exhausted he's wide awake.  

Overall things are great.  I love being a mom.   

The first week

Time is flying.  Of course.  That's how it always goes.   AJ is already 11 days old today.  It's been wonderful, challenging and tiring.   We ended up spending 3 days in the hospital.   The first day was tough.  He wouldn't latch on to me for the first day or so.  It was very frustrating.  He was just super super sleepy.   Because he wouldn't latch on I had to pump to make sure I was keeping my body in track to have my milk come in.   I kept trying him every 2 hours. The nurse that night wasn't my favorite.  She made me feel like I was doing something wrong and really worried me.  She said he would have to go on formula if he didn't eat.  So of course I cried.  I knew I wanted to breastfeed .  No one really warns you that it might not come easily and that your baby may have a hard time latching on.   It has been beyond hard.  So the nurse went and got the nurse practitioner.  She was much nicer.  She said not to worry.  Babies are often very sleepy after birth.  Don't do formula, just keep trying.  Phew!!  What a relief.  The next day my nurse Keisha was so much better.  She said "we will get your baby to latch today".  And guess what?!  He finally did.  Still not consistent but at least he could.  They were supposed to do his circumcision that day but since he hadn't nursed well they wanted to hold off.  They said babies are usually really sleepy after circumcisions and since he already had been they wanted to wait.  So he had his procedure Friday morning.  But he couldn't go home till he peed.  So we waited, waited, waited.   By 8pm he hadn't peed.  We really wanted to go home.   But even by then we were starting to worry.   The nurse said they had a couple tricks they could try.  First was putting him on the scale.  Babies almost always pee on the scale.  No luck.   She said we could try a smidge of formula.  So we said ok.  I gave him a couple gulps of it.  An hour later, we checked.  No luck.  By now it was 930.  We figured we would stay one more night.  But just as the nurse changed his diaper, he peed!!!  We were thrilled!  So we left the hospital at 1030 at night.  It was really nice to go home.   Mom and dad were here visiting so mom helped us get him out to the car.

Steve's parents, MJ and Mike, came on Saturday afternoon.  We had a very full house !  It was nice to have all the help and also overwhelming.  I had a couple of break down moments that Steve helped me through.  It's true that you do get the baby blues.  Stupid hormones!!  By Saturday night though we wasn't latching again.  I wrote to my wonderful sisters-in-law for advice.  Thank goodness for them.  Their advice helped me get through the night.   I was and still am having pain when I nurse.  Not just a little but ALOT !   Toe curling, crying pain. I know they say it can take a while to get used to things but I knew this wasn't right.  Otherwise women would never breastfeed.  So I called a lactation consultant who gave me more advice on how to have him latch on better.  It's been helping but not great.  I am going to have a home lactation consultant come to the house to help me.  I want to breastfeed as long as I can.  At this rate, I wouldn't make it very long.  Hopefully she can help me.  

AJ is doing great though.  He's nursing anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours.  I'm getting used to nights.  He's super active from 10pm till 1am of course!!   My mom is still here helping.   She's doing our laundry and cooking meals.   I'm learning to take naps during the day.   We usually sleep in till 11.   As in were up at 5 am, 7am, 9am for eating and sleep in between feedings.   He's peeing and pooping consistently now too.  We call him double tap because he always poops twice.  But usually right after we change him of course!  

Being a mom is awesome!  He makes me so happy.  

Dreams come true!!

Aaron James Michael Lippincott was born 7:28am on July 30.   6 lbs 10 oz &  20 1/2 inches.  He is perfection.

These last 5 days have been the most challenging, wonderful, exciting days ever.  

 Labor Day.  

I officially was 39 weeks on Tuesday July 29.  I had some cramping that morning when I woke up and knew things were starting to change.   I went to Target to get a few staple items.   Steve brought me some lunch around 330.  He brought me a burrito from Chiptole cus I love Mexican food.  During this whole pregnancy I loved Mexican food!  Steve and I were lounging around that afternoon and then started having cramping.   It started out subtle and then started to get worse.  I wasn't comfortable sitting or lying down.  I called the nurse and she said it could be the beginnings of labor.  If it gets worse then I should call again.  She said I could take some tylenol.  We were out so we ran to Target cus we were out of it.   The pains were getting worse.    I tried taking a bath to with the pains.  That didn't help.  At this point the pains were coming every 3 mins.  I tried taking the tylenol.  That didn't help.  Steve was cute and was trying to get me to eat incase I was actually in labor.  He knew that if I was in labor I wouldn't be able to drink or eat once at the hospital.   By 1030 I was in falling down on the floor in agony.  That was the last straw for Steve.  So I called the nurse again and she said I should go in.  So we grabbed our bags and had a nice moment where we knew it would be the last of just Steve and Molly.  The hospital is only 10 mins down the road, so we left at 11:00 and were there at 11:11.  In fact we drove by a sign that said the sign and it said 11:11 and I said to make a wish!!  Of course I wished for a quick labor!  Once we got the hospital they put is in a small room where they basically hook you up the monitors to check what's going on.  The nurse, named Jo, said yep you are having contractions.  They were coming every 3 mins.  She checked me and I was at 2 cm.   So she called my doctor and they said to wait for 2 hours to see if progress.  She said I could either walk around to help with labor or try some morphine.  So I said morphine.  She thought it might help with the pain and usually if you aren't in real labor it will help and you can relax.  Guess what?  It didn't help at all!!!!  I was in agony times 10!  I just squeezed Steve's hand alot.  I tended to hold by breath when the contractions were coming.  So he helped me breath through them.  By 2:00 I was struggling.  I even vomited.  Luckily, the nurse came to check me and I was at 3 and she could feel by water bag.  They decided to admit me!  No turning back now.  Steve and  I then knew were going to have a baby soon.  They took me across the hall to a labor room.  Once they admitted me I could get the epidural.  That hour of waiting was the hardest of the whole labor.  I was balling through each of the contractions.  At 3:15 I got my epidural.  HOORAY!  That was so awesome.   I don't know how women go without one.  More power to them.  I was finally able to relax.  I never got to sleep because the nurses kept coming in to check my monitors every 20 mins.  They were having trouble finding the contractions.  When they could, his heart rate would drop after the contractions.  They don't like that so they put me on oxygen to help it.  Steve tried to sleep a little.  At 5:20 the nurse checked me again and I was 5 cm and my water broke!  So exciting.  At 7:00 the doctor came.  She went over how all of it would go.  She said she had C-sections at 7:30 so she better check me again before those.  When she checked me I was at 10cm + 2 cm.  GO TIME!  They gave me instructions on pushing.  I started pushing at 7:17.  He was out at 7:28!!!!  Steve and I were crying messes!  Happiest moment of my life.  Steve cut the cord (took him a couple tries) and they placed him on me.  So cute!  After a few minutes they took him to get checked out across the room.  Steve went with him.    All looked great!  Unfortunately I tore a little so they had to stitch me up.  But then they brought him over to me again.   Steve and I are so happy!  He is so amazing.  Perfect!!  Tons of hair too.

They helped to try to get him to latch on to me.  We tried for about 20 mins and then he finally latched a bit.  Pretty cool feeling.  After that I rested a bit and Steve held him.  It's kind of a blur.  Those 2 hours went by so fast.  Steve started making phone calls to family and friends.  Around 10:30 they took me upstairs to mom/baby.

The rest of the adventure....to be continued.