Life. Better or Worse?

When I was nearing the end of my pregnancy and I would answer people's questions of "how are you" with a lack of my usual peppyness I got a lot of "oh just wait. It gets worse"

J mid-sneeze... he is still congested and sneezes whenever he is awake.  It's cute

It gets worse???!!! Although I didn't always believe this earlier in my pregnancy (no one likes to know when they are miserable that they are on an uphill instead of down). I was truly surprised to hear that after giving birth life would be worse then it was at that moment.

Woody loves his J man. Whenever he is home he loves to hog the baby!

Wasn't it supposed to get better? 
I mean
1. I would have my baby

2. I wouldn't be pregnant 
and

3. I would have my baby!!!

J and his buddies.. 3 stages of wakefulness. falling asleep. asleep. awake.

I'm here to tell you. Life is definitely better. Sure you're in a ton some pain after delivery for a couple days but YOU HAVE YOUR BABY and you're NOT PREGNANT. 

J did great at his first real bath!

I remember when people would say this I promised myself I would remember all the reasons why life was better. 

Here's a small list 

1. I am no longer nauseated!!! Wow I wasn't sure that would actually happen

and you have your baby

2. I don't have to eat every 2 hours! 

and you have your baby

3. I don't have to pee every 5 minutes... which means I no longer plan my life around bathroom breaks, now it's around nursing... give and take

and you have your baby

4. You can lay down anyway you want. Any. Way. You. Want. No pillows needed.... Although sitting is a different story for a couple days

and you have your baby

5. I am no longer dizzy! And my heart no longer races!! Feeling human again :)

and you have your baby

6. Although my belly is not the same size as before, it is no longer GINORMOUS 

and you have your baby



One thing I learned is that every pregnancy is SO DIFFERENT.
So for those of you who thought life was worse after birth I am so sorry! That is so sad to me.
 And for those of you who are pregnant and worried about life after birth, my opinion is it is so much better!

One Whole Month!

Baby J has been with us for one whole month!! Can you believe that? I seriously can't believe it! But seriously.. it's been a month???

Time has flown and it's hard for me to remember everything about it.  How I love this sweet little baby of mine.  This is where most people say "and I can't imagine life without him" or "I can't remember life without him".  NOT TRUE for me... does that make me a bad mom? I love my life WITH him, and I don't want to go back to life without him, but I sure as heck remember it.

I remember when....

my boobs were nearly A not nearly D... too much info? Probably, but too bad
I slept all night long...  All. Night. Long.
my clothes fit
When someone called and wanted to hang out I could leave in five minutes without prior warning
I worked out
my life wasn't planned in 3 hour increments

NOW before you get all worried. I love my Baby J.  I absolutely love my life with my J money. And you couldn't pay me to go back to life without him.  But... I will pay you to take him for a night ;) Eventually.. not yet though, we I aren't ready.

Truly this month has been the best and the hardest month of my life.

For the next time I have a baby (yes even this close to the experience I want to have another) I want to remember a few things:

1. There will come a time when you can go to the store for longer than 10 minutes and not feel like you want to die.. it'll come and it won't even take that long!

2. The bleeding does stop. Right? it does right?

3. Every night is a new night.  So it's OK if you have to stay up for 3 hours rocking him to sleep, or if he stays up until 5 AM.  This doesn't mean it will happen tomorrow! And if he will only sleep if you're holding him, just hold him! Tomorrow you can work on it.

4. Life is hard when Grandma leaves.  But it gets better!! So much better

5. Every day is a new day.  Just because you didn't get dressed one day, doesn't mean that you will never get dressed again!! Enjoy the PJs for a day, there is always tomorrow.

6. Your little baby grows everyday.  Yes it's good to have him be awake during the day, but don't force it on him.  He will grow and he will learn and soon he will want to play during the day and not during the night.

 

7. Ask for help when you need it! Take some time to pump and have your hubby take a feeding at night.  Take a long shower while hubby holds the baby.  Get out of the house! Even if it is just to grab a soda or a snack.

8. If you have a baby boy, go in with him when he gets snipped.. no baby should have to do that without his mommy or his daddy. It's just mean.

9. He will never be this small again.  So hold him and snuggle him and love him and take a lot of pictures!

AND... in case you wanted some fun facts about J:

- diaper changes go much better these days!
- he has started to make noises with me while we talk :)
- he smiles all the time, yeah I know it's because he's just working his face muscles, but I still love it
- he is beginning to transition from newborn clothes to 0-3 months
- it takes him a while to wake up sometimes he will grunt and stretch and grunt and peek his eyes open then go back to sleep haha

I peed my pants!! Or did I?

Little j made his appearance on Friday, February 28, 2014

Woody was right.., we had a February baby. 

On Wednesday of that week I took my kids on a mini field trip down to out jr high. It's about a 10 minute walk downhill and then uphill. 

That morning I jokingly texted Woody "I'm going to walk this baby out today".

I was sort of right. 

After the hike I felt like I was leaking..., to keep thing on the non awkward side I'll skip the rest and tell you..

My water broke at school! I was right to fear that. 

But don't worry it was a trickle not a gush (oh shoot sorry went back to awkward). 

I called the doc and moved up my appointment from Thursday afternoon to morning. The nurse tried to get me to go into labor and delivery but I kept thinking "what if I had just peed my pants a little?" (That happens when you're pregnant I guess)

So I went. I measured really small so we did an uls. Poor baby only had one little pocket left of fluid! So I hadn't peed my pants phew! Neither of us really guessed that one... we were in denial

The doctor gave me two choices. We could leave the baby in and check on him again on Monday or we could be induced. He said if it were his wife he'd induce. I was far enough along that baby would come out healthy but if I kept baby in there were more possibilities of something bad happening. 

I felt so overwhelmed with this decision. I called woody and he said we could do whatever I felt was right. I so appreciated that he let me make the decision. So I said let's get induced and woody said "oh good I think so too". Bless him

So I told the doctor and he looked seriously relieved that I said ok.

After I went home, got some lunch, finished packing our bag and waited for woody. 

Woody got what he wanted in 2 ways:

1. He wanted to leave work saying he was having a baby! And he did get to

2. He wanted me to go into labor on a Wednesday or Thursday so it'd be over the weekend and he would miss less work. And I did!

Once we got to the hospital we played the waiting game in more ways then one

1. We had to wait for a room which actually took a while

2. We had to wait for me to dilate and wait and wait

3. We had to wait much longer than I enjoyed for the epidural 

4. After the epidural we waited again for me to dilate wait wait wait. But I didn't mind with the epidural I just slept.

Woody was the best. He was by my side the whole time. I have never felt more love from him than I did during my labor. He is my rock. 

After all of our waiting, it was time! We pushed for about 45 minutes and then we had a little man!!!

Joseph Albright Palmer was born at 1:47 PM. He weighed 7 lbs 4 oz and was 20 inches long. He was perfect.

I loved seeing j and holding him. And I loved seeing woody with him.  I couldn't have asked for a more perfect little family.

Week 2 of mommyhood

Week 2 of mommyhood

J is a man of many faces

But this is his most common face: 

I ...

Am Better at not sleeping, sometimes. 

Am Getting a smaller belly, but my thighs seem to be sticking around. I blame the Oreos. 

Am Really good at taking afternoon naps

Miss woody like crazy during the days- visitors welcome!

Have the best snuggle buddies around

Woody....

Is exhausted. I guess waking up for work gets harder with a baby. 

Sleeps through baby j crying, that's an art. 

Loves his little man and is always excited to see him

Takes really good care of me and is very understanding of the fact that I'm learning how to be a mommy... Slowly learning 

J....

Loves to sleep during the day

Has a party all night long

Has some serious congestion. Now he requires a humidifier and I have to squirt saline stuff up his nose for every feeding. Poor mommy. I mean poor baby.

Snorts all the time

Is getting chunkier! His little cheeks are starting to fill out. 

Continues to pee and poop on mommy but daddy seems to fare better.

Does really well at the doctors... Weird.  

J baby is Two weeks today:

He likes to pose

He's a pretty cute skinny little man 

One week old

J is one week old today! He woke up on time to snuggle daddy before he left for work.  He had a very alert afternoon today but is sleeping it off a little earlier than I wanted.