Lots of Pictures

Two bits of good news first-
1. Kaden nursed without the shield yesterday and has done so every feeding since then! Yay for breastfeeding going much better than it was! He's being a little "hog-jaws" (His daddy gave him that nickname) lately, but I'm pretty sure he's going through his 2 week growth spurt. He's changing so much every day.
2. I wore a pair of pre-pregnancy jeans the other night out to dinner-YAY! Hopefully the pounds keep falling off.
Now for the pics. I've become a little picture obsessive-everything he does makes me grab the camera and try to snap a quick picture.


In his bili-bed. Thank God he only had to be in it for 24 hours.
Zoey was being his guard dog.
Ahh....this is the life!
He doesn't look too happy.
Peering-he does this a LOT. Is it worth opening both eyes to see what's going on?

Zoey's getting used to him-she's even starting to kinda like him.
Mommy and the little man.
Showing off a cute outfit.

He is definitely his daddy's mini-me.
First trip to Olive Garden!
Funny faces.
Daddy and his little man.
He's prepared for the cold weather with his snowmen hat and booties.

Hanging out in the swing.
Up close.
Getting ready for a diaper change (definitely not his favorite time)
I see eyeballs!
With the only pacifier he likes (which is depressing-he won't take his personalized ones and they're SO cute!)

Introducing.....

Our little man is here! He’s actually a week old today but it’s been a busy, sometimes overwhelming week, so we haven’t gotten around to updating.

We had to go to the hospital on Tuesday, February 3^rd at 6 pm to get the Cervadil inserted. It was used to “ripen” my cervix and get it ready to be induced the next morning. Neither of us got very much sleep last night. I could not get comfortable in my bed and every time I would move, it would move the monitors and the nurse would have to come readjust them. One was monitoring contractions and one was monitoring Kaden’s heart beat. Joe’s “bed” was a chair which pulled out (but we didn’t figure that out until half way through the night). Soon enough, it was 6:30 am and the nurses came in, took the cervadil out and started pitocin. The doctor came in at 7 and tried breaking my water, but wasn’t able to. She thought she had “scratched” it enough that it would break on it’s own with contractions and said she’d be back during lunch to check on us.

At this point, the contractions were about 2-3 minutes apart but they weren’t too uncomfortable (especially compared to what was to come). Throughout the morning, Joe and I did sudokus and watched tv. I even got about an hours worth of a nap in. Around 11:30, the doctor came back in and was finally able to break my water, which was not very comfortable. Then the contractions started to intensify. Joe and I tried to work through them using the breathing techniques we learned in childbirth classes, but they became hard to breathe through. I also got on the birthing ball which was amazing at first but then the contractions just got worse. Joe’s grandma, Nick and Leah showed up and I tried to keep fighting through the pain and pressure but finally caved and asked for an epidural. It seems like as soon as I asked for that, the contractions intensified again! The problem was that the pitocin was causing my contractions to be too close together but not strong enough to make progress. It was disappointing to fight through the pain another hour, just to hear that I was “still 2 cm, maybe 2 cm and a wiggle”. So, my nurse went to get the anesthesiologist to get the epidural. She got in there and told me to tell her when one contraction ended so she could get it in place. The problem was, there were no breaks between them at this point. One would start to come down and another would start before the first one ended. She was finally able to get it in place around 2:30 and I instantly felt better. After about 15 minutes, I could no longer feel the contractions and I was kicking myself for not getting an epidural sooner.

My parents and sister showed up. It was really kind of boring just laying there (I was allowed out of bed since I had gotten the epidural). Joe’s parents showed up then. The doctor came in and checked me every hour and I was averaging about a cm every hour and a half. It was taking FOREVER. At 8:30 I was at 5-6 cm and close to being completely effaced. Around 9:30, I started getting sharp pains in the right side of my back with every contraction and felt EXTREME pressure with each one as well. I knew I was getting close. The doctor came in at 9:45 and said I was complete and told the nurses to get everything ready to start pushing. I started pushing at 10 pm. I got really hot and was nauseated during that phase. It was extremely exhausting. At 11:17 pm, Kaden Joseph made his grand entrance. I was worried at first that he wasn’t crying (the nurse was suctioning his mouth and nose) and as soon as I heard him scream, I laid back on the bed. The nurses got him cleaned up and everyone got to come in and see him. We got moved to our postpartum room around 3 am but weren’t able to go to sleep right away because we wanted to hold our little guy.

He’s absolutely perfect and we both love him so much.

He did give us a little scare with jaundice but that’s getting better now. When we were discharged from the hospital, his bilirubin levels were 8. We had to take him to his pediatrician on Saturday and his levels were 15. Then on Monday, they were 18.9, so the doctor ordered him to be put in a bili-bed and he was only allowed to be taken out to eat. The way the nurse told me everything was very overwhelming and she said if his levels didn’t go back down, he’d have to be put back in the hospital. Long story short, he hated the bed and screamed most of the night but it paid off, because on Tuesday his levels were back down to 13. The doctor had us get the test again yesterday just to see and they had gone down to a 12, so hopefully they continue to go down. He doesn’t have to go back to the doctor until next Wednesday for his two week appointment.

The doctor had us switch to formula with his bilirubin levels rising so fast (that’s what concerned them more-the rate they were rising, rather than how high they were) so nursing is not going well at all now. I’ve been pumping and we give him the breast milk and then supplement with formula when it’s not enough, but he absolutely will not latch on. It’s disappointing because I was really looking forward to breast feeding but we haven’t given up yet. We still try but, at this point, it might take a small miracle for him to take to the breast because the bottle is much easier and he’s used to it now. It’s also exhausting to feed him, then pump, especially at night when he wants to eat every 2 hours and the whole process can take 45 minutes to an hour, but we’re not giving up yet.

And now for some pictures....