1 month

Wow. Tank is 4 weeks, 1 month old!! I can’t believe that it was one month that my mom was here and we were doing everything possible to make the baby join the world. He has come so far. He has lost weight, gained weight, been circumcised, exercised, went for walks and met grandparents.

I have done a lot of learning too. I have learned to cope with less sleep, how to sleep with glasses on (too check on baby all the time), and how to be ambidextrous. We don’t have a routine at all. This was the first week that Bronson and I were alone during the day. I have tried to establish some normalcy but of course, Tank dictates the plans for the day so I have learned to let go and not be so rigid. Kris went back to work 2 weeks ago. I don’t think I have ravaged him too much at night and he isn’t a walking zombie. Tank has actually been pretty good in that regard. We try to be in bed by 9:30 and tank has been sleeping until abut 2-3, and then going back to bed (after being up for about an hour) until 6-7. It’s amazing what 4 hours of sleep can do for your body! It’s great (never thought I would say that).

Bronson continues to grow. I have no idea how much he weighs now, but he feels heavier when feeding. He has developed some baby acne which we hopes clear soon, though of course it doesn’t bother him. He is having more alert periods where we lay on the floor and he tracks objects. It’s fun. He also has an uncanny ability to pee on Kris. We haven’t had a full blow out yet either. Bronson has also gained several nicknames. including Goat because he grunts and sounds like billy goat gruff! (tank, bugger, Bronson, stinky to name a few others). The poor kid is never going to learn his name.

Chloe is doing better at adapting to life with a baby and not being the center of attention. She actually acknowledged Bronson for the first time the other day.

Up and coming events:::Not much. We think we might go to the fair on Sunday and on Wednesday football season starts, which will take up a lot of our time. I have a 6 week OB appointment in 2 weeks and Bronson doesn’t go back to the Pediatrician until 2 months of age. I plan on going back to work 1-2 days a week starting Mid-october (too stressful to think about right now). 

his deep sleep pose

stretch out time

he has mommies eArs

my boys!!

2 weeks

Bronson has now passed the two week mark. He is doing great. Grandma and Grandpa Honas are here and have been oohhing and ahhing over Bronson. Karole has been a great help cooking up a storm. So far she has made chili, stew, ribs, brownies, steak, salad and on the list still is broccoli chicken casserole, more brownies, oatmeal cookies and lasagna. We really appreciate the food; our freezer is stocked and I am so pleased to be able to just pull out food and not have to worry about feeding Kris.

As for feeding Tank, he is doing great. He is up to 11lb and 4oz. That is one full pound up from him birthweight and almost 2lbs from his lowest. So he is feeding good which always pleases a mothers soul. Tank is continuing to grow and do new things. I can't believe its two weeks.

Here are some pictures....word to those who are squeamish, there are circumcision pictures.

bronson and daddy

abbey and I at her baby shower

Bronson is all spread out

Grandma Karole holding Bronson

Grandpa Ken getting Bronson to sleep

Poor Bronson strapped down getting ready for his circumcision

use your imagination

11 days

11 days

I don’t know if it seems like an eternity or the fastest whirlwind. Mom left on Tuesday. It was tough. It was the longest time we have been able to spend together in 6 years. It was really nice to have her presence and her help. So Kris and I have been roughing it by ourselves for the last two days. We’ve been doing ok. We actually cooked dinner one night and the house isn’t too much of a disaster. We have made an effort to leave the house every day at least once; car ride or walk. Bronson likes both so we feel pretty confident about leaving, but no so much about being in an establishment. I have yet to breast feed in a public place. I don’t fear feeding in a public place, just the time it will take and the fact that neither Tank or I have mastered nursing without making a mess. We are going to a baby shower for Abbey tomorrow which will go through one of our feedings so we will give it whirl!!

Other big news; Tank lost his umbilical cord finally yesterday. It looks pretty good and so he got a bath today. You will notice the cute shark bathrobe…thanks uncle Kreighton and Lisa!! He has peed on himself twice with diaper changes and on Kris once. I have somehow managed to not have that happen to me. We are still trying to establish a pattern, but yet again the only pattern we know is that he is grumpy from 10pm to about midnight. Once he does fall asleep we get a solid 4 hours, feed, then usually at least another three so I don’t feel too sleep deprived at this point. Kris goes back to work on Monday, which I know he is stressing about. He has really enjoyed being home and bonding with Bronson. I really couldn’t ask for a better daddy. In fact, he wants to do so much that he keeps asking if we can do a bottle so he can feed!! I have so far won this battle but I am sure after a few weeks of doing all the night feeds a bottle feed will be relief so I can sleep.

Our dog, Chloe, doesn’t care for Bronson very much. She hasn’t done anything bad, but ignores him and leaves the room when we enter the room. We put Bronson down on the floor next to chloe and she turns her head and refuses to look at Bronson. She’s not our number one priority anymore and she is not happy about it!!

Our next set of grandparents come up Saturday. Ken and Karole will be here to celebrate tanks 2^nd week birthday and his circumcision!!! Woo hoo. They will be able to spend a week watching Tank grow.

Until the next post, which in all honestly, who knows when that will be!!

out for a walk with the ERGO baby. Tank likes it. Sleeps like a champ

last walk with mom

vandal socks!

no more belly button clamp

First real bath

Shark week

Thanks Uncle Kreighton and Lisa for such a cute robe!

Daddy holding a clean baby

the aftermath of bath; a cute clean baby!

5 days old

5 days old and already posing for the ladies. My friend Liz is an awesome photographer and we scheduled a photo shoot today. Here are a few that I took with my camera. She has an awesome camera that is made for close ups so I am sure that hers are going to be great. We took a varied amount of poses including football, fishing, and cuteness. So, I did not know this but apparently there was  70’s TV star, Charles Bronson, who was a real bad ass. Kris’s co-workers bought him a nice bottle of whiskey and cleverly pasted a photo of Charles Bronson, see picture ;).

We are seeming to manage around here. Everything is new and of course we worry. Is that sound right? Did he feed enough? What is that spot? We have yet to come into a routine except his “grumpy” time which is about 10-11pm. Having mom around has been great. She is keeping us fed and the house clean, her help is greatly appreciated!!

Mom leaves on the 14^th, Kris’s parents come on the 17^th. Family is most certainly welcome anytime!

Till the next free 30 minutes!

The final act

almost 7 am...contractions are real. Tank is so contorted in my belling

contraction

the first and last of 40 weeks

and another contraction

its all done!!

kris cutting the cord

thats a big baby..was the quote from the nurse 10lb 40z

Kris's true friends smuggled him in a congratulatory beer

The Birth of Bronson

Well as you all know, Tank was late, 5 days. His due date was July 31^st and we worked to get him out but he was on his own schedule. On August 5^th at 3 am I awoke with my first contraction. I was totally convinced it was the real deal so I laid in bed counting and waiting. At 4 am they were about 7-10 min apart. Just to make sure I got up and peed and they continued. I woke Kris up at 4 am and told him I thought I was having contractions. They weren’t too close or too severe so I let kris sleep until 5:30. I on the other hand could not go back to sleep. Anxiety and excitement. I got up and showered and prepared myself for the long day of labor (cause everyone says that labor takes forever on your first one. Hair done, some waterproof mascara, bags packed and checked. At 7:08 I bent over to try to grab something and OOPPSS, there goes my water. Time to call Abbey. My one goal was to have a glass of champagne while I was in labor. I don’t know why, it was just something that I had fixated on. At 8 am I had my one glass of champagne and was still smiley between contractions, which varied from 4-7 minutes. We hung around the house for about another 2 hours, chatting, trying to be social and waste time. At about 10 the contractions significantly intensified and started coming very rhythmically at 2-3 minutes. Kris drove very safe to the hospital (thank god). I got to OB triage and they checked me out. 4 cm dilated, confirmed my water had broke. I am not going to lie, at this point in time, contractions hurt. I asked for pain medicine, thinking that I had to endure this for another 15 hours, and to have a little pain relief before an epidural that   would wear off before birth sounded good to  me. The nurse told me that they would give it to me in L&D….so I waited. At about 11:15 I moved over to L&D. The nurse was very adamant that I should get into the shower for an hour. Again, I asked for pain meds, she said she would have to call the OB on call and that I should get into the shower for now. So I obliged. What was really nice is that we planned on this and Kris got on his swim trunks and headed into the shower with me. I am so glad that I have a tall, strong man because for most of my contractions I hung from his neck and squatted. Somewhere in the shower my contractions intensified and changed. They went from, these really suck to a more guttural pushing may help, but whatever is going on I need out of this shower and I need some pain meds, because, there is no way that I can stand this pain for another 7 hours!

So I got out of the shower. The nurses were there to help me. I asked to be checked before they did anything else. To everyone surprise, I was 9cm! They sent everyone in a scramble. One nurse got me hooked up to the monitor, another was sent to call the OB on call. Too late for an epidural. At this point, they told me I could push really soon and I knew I didn’t want systemic narcotics at this stage in the game so we just had to go on.  I started pushing around 1:20ish.

So I was ready for labor. I had a birthplan, I had a homemade gown, we brought games and snacks. Needless to say, the birthplan, gown, snacks, never made it out of the bag. The doctor on call, Dr. Kim, I had seen once in the office. I don’t even know why they have dedicated OB doctors because the chance of you getting your own seems slim to none. He did not speak much English but we all knew the basics. I was somewhat confused though because I was waiting for the stirrups…no stirrups. I was flat on my back and had to use my own hands to pull my legs back. My mom and a nurse helped with my legs too and Kris was at my head encouraging me and comforting me. I was happy to be pushing. The actual pushing felt good, it gave relief to the contractions and meant that my baby would be here soon. 3 pushes with each contraction. I guess there was a point where Tanks head was doing the turtle head, where it would start to crown and then go back, in and out in and out. The doctor tried to do his magic and stretch my perineum over his head (lovely). That didn’t work so the next option was an episiotomy. I say option, but there was no discussion. I heard him ask for lidocaine and a blade. I looked at my mom, I knew what this meant and she at least confirmed that it apparently looked necessary. I am not an OB but there is some literature that says that tearing is better than episiotomies are better because your body repairs it faster. I am still somewhat conflicted because as far as I knew Bronson wasn’t in distress, I was just in pain. Oh well. So after the episiotomy he was able to crown and push his head out all the way. At this point, the doctor asked me NOT TO PUSH…what a joke. After you deliver the head and you have pain and then relief and then the urge to push again…you have momentum…you don’t ask a semi to stop when going down hill!! So I tried to stop pushing before his shoulders were birthed but I don’t think I did it well enough because about 2 seconds later out came Bronson in total! So, the whole conflicting feelings about an episiotomy didn’t even matter because I then tore down the episiotomy line. HORAY. I was done though. The first thought was, oh that feels so much better! The second thought was…why isn’t my baby crying!!! Of course, like a nanosecond had passed and before I knew it Bronson in his crying, bloody glory was on my chest. I had initially wanted to try to breast feed that moment but I was so shaky and flat on my back I was scared I would drop him! So they continued to do his apgars which were 9/9, kris was able to cut the cord and participate in all the firsts. My mom was on picture duty.

The birth of the placenta was a piece of cake, I had to get sutured. I really enjoyed watching Kris get to be a daddy. It was great. I couldn’t believe how shaky I remained for a good 2-3 hours after birth. I suppose it’s the adrenaline, pain, and hormone release. All in all it took about 11 hours from start to finish. Yes, I gave birth to a 10lb 40z baby without drugs by accident J.

The birth experience was overall good. Painful yes but good. Bronson was healthy and labor itself was relatively easy (I say that with a grain of salt). No big obstacles, no fetal or maternal distress. I was in the hospital for 26 hours after birth. I had an excellent support crew. Kris was amazing. I am so lucky to have him as my partner, husband, and now daddy to our baby. There is now way I could have done it without him. Now onto adventures in parenthood!!

40+........

Well the due date has come and gone. In reality, who expected my first baby to come on the due date? The lovely necklace that Stephanie gave me that said, "due in July" must have some secret way to switch months.

My mom got here last friday, one week ago. Although we are anxiously awaiting Tank, it has been really nice to have her company, and help. She helped clean the house and we have kept active doing everything from shopping, working out, taking chloe for walks, arts and crafts and a lot of olympic watching. The thought of perhaps going back to work for a day did cross my mind for about an hour....then I came to my senses.

We've tried a few things on the promote labor list including: Raspberry tea, lots of exercise, reflexology, some spicy food, bumpy car rides and a few other devilish moves. On Tuesday at my OB appointment she "stripped my membranes" meaning that she was able to fit a finger inside my cervix and stimulate it a little bit. I am at least happy to report that there is some sort of progress...though there has been no contractions yet, I did have my "bloody show" yesterday. All day I was sure that meant that Tank would be here within 24 hours but no such luck. Hence why I am up at 6:20 August 3rd, blogging. Doing some reading it sounds like it should be within 48 hours of losing your "show" (again, sorry if this is Too Much INFORMATION) you should start having contractions. So on the menu today....lots of walks. A spontaneous water break would be nice.

My thoughts on why Tank is late all put the blame on Kris. I think not only is Tank the spitting image of his father but has his work ethic too. Tank wouldn't dream of making Kris miss work just for his birth! Also, i've claimed from the beginning that Tank will make his debut on Kris's and My 6th year wedding anniversary (August 5th). The traditional gift is iron or candy, but i guess a baby will do.

So as long as Tank is healthy I can't complain. I would like to have him before he's 12lbs though. That would be nice. Here are a few pics of what we've been doing.

Working on a sun tan

bouncing on the birthing ball

oh yeah, working on a name

arts and crafts