PORCH!

When last I updated you on the porch, only the first pour had been completed. A lot happened while I was in the hospital and while I was sleep-walking my way through Gray's first few weeks of life. ;) Since then, the sidewalk and patio have been poured, the concrete has been sealed, and posts have been put up.

Here's what it's looking like now:

Next week there will be a few things put up here and there (soffits and what-not) and then that's it for the year. It's getting too cold for anything else!! The rest of this project will be completed next spring - with the exception of house numbers, that I hope to get up here very soon. In the meantime, our front porch is finally use-able!! And that's all that really matters when you have a newborn. ;)

Until next time!!

Grayson's First Few Weeks Home

HOME! :)

Grayson's first week was pretty hard. He woke a lot to feed, and I felt like I was a walking zombie! Poor Nora wasn't sure what the heck was going on, and to top it all off, my milk came in which means one thing - TEARS! I have learned that my milk coming in just makes me feel like I have to cry for no reason. Ugh, it's so embarrassing!

For Grayson, life "on the outside" was a lot of sleeping and streeeeetching and eating! His signature look? Mouth open! At his two week check-up he was already up to 10 pounds, 4 ounces. So he lost an entire pound in the first few days after birth, and then gained it back, with interest! The kid loves to eat - he was in newborn clothes and diapers for about a week. He's since moved on to 0-3 month wear and size 1 diapers!

Grayson's first two weeks of sleep were typical newborn-style: awake half the night, sleeping half the day. However, a few nights ago Grayson started sleeping at night, waking every 3-4 hours to feed, and then going right back to sleep. He's even given me a few great naps to boot! So sleep-wise I really can't complain too much. He likes to sleep in his rock-n-play right now, but I am hoping I can switch him to his cradle and/or crib pretty soon. We are practicing napping in there right now, but he's not totally loving it just yet.

A few days ago he started to play a little! He loves to lay by the mirror on the floor and try to eat the legs of the lion hanging down. :) He cracks me up - he's so alert and determined to get them in his mouth. He will play for about 15 or 20 minutes at a time, then he's usually ready to eat again. ;)

Nora has adjusted to being a big sister much better in the last week or so. She loves to help change diapers and give baths, and has gotten to give Gray a few bottles too. She's not showing signs of jealousy (though she is probably feeling it), but is instead acting very proud of "her baby". She just loves to show him off - it's VERY sweet. :)

Speaking of sweet, Gray sure is! He does cry a LOT though. I am thinking he's having some tummy/gas issues, and I am hoping they will resolve themselves in the next month, with the help of lots of burping and Mylicon. However, when he's awake, fed, and not too sleepy, he's SO sweet. He likes to cuddle, and listen to people talk. He studies big sister Nora with lots of interest, and watches overhead lights and ceiling fans. He's so alert! If only we could figure out this crabbiness. ;)

Personally, I am doing pretty well. I am down about 40 pounds since Gray was born, and I am starting to get back some energy - as long as I get some decent sleep that is! I am a lot less emotional than I was with Nora at this point, so that's great. I am hanging in there alright most of the time - mostly when Cory is home and the kids are not ganging up on us. ;)

That's about it! Until next time . . .

Welcome Baby Grayson!

It's a . . . BOY!

World, this is baby Grayson Michael! He was born at 9:37 a.m. on October 29th, and weighed in at a whopping 9 pounds, 12 ounces. He was 20.5 inches long.

I have been trying to write this post a little at a time over the past two weeks, so it's a bit long! But I wanted to make sure I documented Grayson's birth story as best I could. So - here it is!:

His birth was a planned c-section. We got there at 7 a.m. and the nurses loaded me up with a few bags of fluids. Cory and I chatted nervously while we waited, and each took one final guess: boy or girl? (We both said boy.) I was wheeled into surgery a little late, and very nervous/excited. They put in my spinal, and it went very well for me - it hardly hurt! Soon after I was numb from ribs-down. The spinal made me nauseated, but my anesthesiologist Bryce was FANTASTIC and made sure I didn't throw up once (even though I thought I would and told him that about 10 times in a half hour.) He was so on top of things - each time I said I thought I would throw up, he was injecting me with something so that I wouldn't - and I was very impressed with his overall demeanor and service. Cory came in the OR soon after I was numb to hold my hand, and surgery began.

Surgery took longer than I remember from before. I could not see anything going on, however after they cut me open and began I was wide awake and aware of everything going on, while at the same time feeling nothing that was going on. I felt a LOT of pressure when two nurses got on top of me and started to push baby out. It felt like they were going to break my sternum, and I could hardly breathe! We had to take breathing breaks, which was a little scary for me. Grayson was stuck up in my abdomen, so it took a lot of pushing and pulling to get him out.

And then . . . he was out! Dr. Dalla-Riva said "It's a boy!" and I was so shocked and happy. My first thought upon looking at Grayson was "Is that one mine?" :) The reason why I thought this: he was very red, bruised, and had a lot of DARK (almost black) hair! That was unprecedented - no one in our families has had hair as dark as Grayson's, so we were very surprised. I then became overcome by what a miracle he is, and I started to tear up. Then I started to laugh when I heard him cry - it was definitely a cry that reminded me of Nora.

They put him on the scale and told us his weight and I was SHOCKED! I knew baby was big, but I thought to myself there is no way this child is bigger than Nora's weight of 9 pounds, 1 ounce. WRONG! It was so shocking, I could only lay there shaking my head.

I was in recovery for nearly two hours before I got to see him again. That was the longest two hours ever and I got pretty antsy while they checked and re-checked me, and asked me about my pain levels. (Side note: I was feeling no pain at this point.) However, they did eventually bring him in, and I did get to breastfeed him as soon as I saw him, which was what I wanted. We later learned that there were a lot of babies born that day, and most were C-Sections so everyone was very busy!

Grayson was very bruised after he came out, and he looked like he had been squished into every crevice inside me. His poor arms and face were black and blue, and it was obvious to me that he was very sore for the first few days of his life (and on day two, they circumcised him!) He cried a lot in the hospital. Right away the pediatrician informed me he was "LGA" - Large for Gestational Age". (Um, duh.) He also had a weird bump on his lip, that first was classified as a skin tag, then later called a "mucous retention cyst". I don't know what it was exactly, but it has completely shrunk down to nothing since he's been home. I do think it interfered with breastfeeding originally - Grayson was a very shallow latcher at first. We have since corrected that, but DANG. That was very painful for me.

His first day of life he got to meet his big sister Nora. She came up in the evening with most of our family to meet Grayson. She was so very excited, it was so cute. :) She had a little gift for Gray, and mommy, daddy, and Gray had little gifts for her too - a Thomas the Train book, and a REAL kid's digital camera.

On Grayson's third day of life, I was alone with him for most of the day. He cried and cried, and I nursed him repeatedly to no avail (my milk was still not in.) I noticed that his mouth was dry and he wasn't wetting his diaper, so I asked the nurses for formula supplements. That's a hard decision to make (it felt like a mom-failure to me) but it ended up being the right decision. The very next day I was ordered by the pediatrician to supplement Grayson with formula until his one-week check-up. He had lost 10 percent of his body weight in the hospital, which is the maximum he can safely lose. It's amazing to me that I felt like such a failure giving him formula, and it ended up being exactly what he needed to have.

The last day in the hospital went just fine and Grayson got to add his footprint to the wall just prior to leaving. His reaction was the same as his sister's. :)

So, he's here! :) He's been such a little joy, but life sure has been a LOT different for all of us! I certainly forgot how tough having a newborn is. I will post again in a few days with an update on how his first two weeks at home were. ;)

Until next time . . .