1st month of motherhood in review

Tomorrow Trent will be 4 weeks old. How the time flies! Before I know it, he's going to be stealing my car keys, sneaking out while I'm asleep, and boozing with his buddies.

The past 4 weeks have been interesting to say the least. I didn't think I was cut out for motherhood, but I seem to have taken to it pretty easily. There's a resounding sigh of relief among my circle of friends, who also thought I wasn't cut out for motherhood. Now don't get me wrong, this doesn't change the fact that I don't like kids and I have no intention of becoming a "Kid person". I know this kid, and that's all I need to know.

Over the past month I've been puked on, pooped on, farted on, and peed on (no, not by Brian, get your minds out of the gutter!), and yet I'm un-fazed by all of this. I can change a nappy in 20 seconds flat, having puke on my clothes doesn't send me running to change anymore, and I've become quite adept at bathing a slippery, wriggling infant.

Having 8 weeks off seemed like a death sentence when I contemplated it pre-kid, but now I'm thinking that the remaining 4 weeks I have left are not long enough. My days are anything but dull and when The Kid isn't fussing, I really enjoy being around him. Yesterday I went to visit a few daycare centers. Initially, I wanted a nice grandma type to take care of him while I work, but now I'm starting to think that a more formal daycare would be better because they have a real curriculum where he will learn skills daily. In an in-home daycare, you can never really be guaranteed that he's getting the learning and stimulation he needs to be the genius I know he can be. Unfortunately, Austin's day care centers have very long waiting lists, which means that I might have to be a stay at home mum for a little longer than I anticipated.

During the past month, I've watched my husband become a wonderful father, and even better husband. I can't say that I'm all that surprised, though. One of the biggest factors in my decision to have a kid was because I knew Brian's potential to be an amazing father and I wanted to see that potential realized. He is extremely responsive to Trent's needs and has been an amazing support for me when my nerves become frayed from dealing with a screaming baby. And boy can this baby scream! It sounds like you'd imagine some kind of pre-historic bird sounds when he gets going.

Yesterday, for the first time, Trent and I went out with the jogging stroller (thanks Nana and Grandad for the jogger!). We started off walking, but I couldn't resist breaking into a little jog. We run/walked 6K in all and I felt great. My stomach is feeling much better these days and I hardly notice the pain anymore in my lower abdomen. Only 2 more weeks and I can go to the gym and resume my usual routine! yay!

Some of the cool things about Trent:
When he's hungry, he does this really cute head shake with his mouth open
He loves to cuddle
He can fart louder than his Grandad Fred
He smiles when he takes a poop
He spends hours just staring at me
He looks like a little angel when he's sleeping
He has the most awesome hair I've ever seen on a baby
When we're out in public, people fawn all over him
All of our friends love to be around him

In the past month we've seen a marked improvement in motor skills and he becomes more alert with every passing day. He's extremely strong and can already hold his head up, he's very close to being able to roll over, and you can also see the beginnings of crawling motions when he's on his tummy. He's aware of his hands now and can consciously remove his pacifier from his mouth. Though he can't put it back yet.

It's been a rough month, sleep-wise and body-wise, but on the good side, I've lost 34lbs (only 6 more to go) and like I said, life is anything but dull :-)

Baby's day out

On Friday, Trent went to see the doctor for a follow up. He's gained several more ounces, which indicates that his vomiting problem isn't too serious. Though he has produced several more fountains of puke since the initial one. After we left the doctor's office we went home and chilled for a while, then we went to the pharmacy to fill his diaper rash prescription and then Trent took his first trip to the grocery store. It was rather uneventful because he was passed out the whole time. Though he did attract his share of admirers, and I found myself positioning myself between him and the admirer lest they should try to touch him. I kinda felt like a momma bear protecting her young. It wasn't even a conscious reaction, it was just instinctual. Since Trent's first outing he's been to several more, including lunch with Aunt Barbie and Uncle Scott at Waterloo yesterday, and today he went to the gym to say hi to Clint and Chris, then we went to visit Aunt Barbie for an hour before the dishwasher repairman showed up at our house.
Today is Brian's second day back at work, he went back on Friday. Trent and I seem to be doing just fine on our own. We've had a lovely day so far and now that we're getting used to each other, things are getting easier.
I've been taking care of all Trent's needs at night so that Brian can get enough sleep to feel good at work. Today he said he slept really well and felt 100%, which makes me happy. Nights are pretty awful, though. I'd give anything to have a full uninterrupted 8 hours right now.

30 lbs in 13 days!

Ok, I'll admit it, I was skeptical. Burning 800 calories a day just by sitting on the couch seems too good to be true. However, after 13 days of feeding a very hungry infant, I was pleasantly surprised to be missing 30lbs of myself!

It's better than gastric bypass surgery!

It's not without its drawback's, though. I'm pretty much chained to the kid because he can't eat without me (you shouldn't introduce a bottle until breast feeding is well established), and of course it hurts like hell. Worse than labour. Though I must admit that it's getting less painful now thanks to Pure Lanolin. No nursing mother should be without this product. Trust me on this.

Trent's been very gassy lately, which probably comes as no surprise to anyone given who his mother is ;-), however, it's painful for him and he's been crying a lot after feedings. A friend at work suggested using Gripe Water, which you can buy at Whole Foods. After one day of using it, it seems to be making him feel better. Yesterday, though, he vomited a LOT after almost every feeding, so we took him to the doctor. We found out that he's got a little acid reflux problem and sitting him upright for 15 mins after meals will help. Today he seems to have puked less, but it's early in the day.

Fountain of Puke

After 10 days of being new parents, Brian and I are getting used to Trent's signals, and he's getting used to us. We're getting the breastfeeding down now and have transitioned from always using the special pillow, to being able to just pop him on wherever. I always said I wouldn't let my kid sleep in the bed with me. Not only is this unsafe for him, but it's also a bad habit that I don't want him getting used to. But I found myself cuddling him till he fell asleep and then putting him in a safe spot in the middle of the bed so I could easily reach him when he made any sounds. It made it easier for me to sleep. Last night, though, he slept in his bassinet all night and did really well. I'm getting about 3 hours of sleep between feeding him, which initially wasn't enough but I'm adapting. Things are getting easier.

Yesterday, Trent had some tummy problems and was laying on my lap snoozing, and all of a sudden I looked down and he was projectile vomiting milk all over me, all over himself, and all over our new couch! This was more puke than you can ever imagine coming out of an 8lb human. Fortunately, Trent is fine and it seemed to make him feel better afterwards. The couch, being made of that fabulous "enduro-suede" cleaned up just fine and there is no stain. The lesson learned here, though is to put an old blanket on the couch where you normally sit with the kid because it's gonna get messy.

A baby story

As most people who read my blog know, I was a reluctant pregnant woman who hated every moment of pregnancy and was completely skeptical that it would be worth the discomfort and pain. In this entry, there might be more info about childbirth, hospital stays and major surgery recovery than you ever wanted to know. So don't say I didn't warn you.

My friend, Castor Oil
On Monday, July 2nd the doctor informed me that no progress had been made regarding dilation and effacement. I was feeling discouraged by this because I really want a July 4th baby for reasons I've gone into before. On Tuesday, July 3rd I took matters into my own hands. I had heard the old wives tales about Castor Oil inducing labour, but the evidence to support a medical theory on this is sketchy at best, when I Googled it. There was a lot of anecdotal evidence, though, and I figured that it was worth a shot. So with gritted teeth and holding my nose to dull the taste, I took 2oz of Castor Oil at 4:30pm. And I waited. It didn't take long for the Castor Oil to go to work for it's intended purpose, which is a stimulant laxative. And the rest of my evening was spent very close to the toilet.
With the pooping came waves of pain, which I attributed to intestinal issues, dismissed it, and went to bed.
Around 3am I woke up in pain, and as the pain came and went I noticed a pattern. I stared at the clock and found that every 6 minutes, I was having pains, and this time it was accompanied by some bleeding. Holy crap! is this labour??? I wasn't sure, so I laid there for another hour and endured the waves of pain, wondering if it would subside. When it didn't, I got up and called the doctor, who promptly returned my call and told me to come in to the hospital.

It's go time!
I woke Brian up at that point with "babe, it's go time!" and he sprung into action. As I gathered the remaining things to pack into my hospital bag, Brian got the car seat and the diaper bag and loaded up the car. And off we went. There's not much traffic at 4:15am so the ride to the hospital was uneventful, unless you count the contractions, now 4 minutes apart, as events. Upon arrival we checked in and I was taken to my room where they assessed me, plugged me into a bunch of monitors, and confirmed that this really was labour. 4cm dilated, contractions every 4 minutes, and not mild ones, either. We called Barbie and told her to make her way to the hospital, and then the nice lady with the epidural showed up. yay!

Who farted??
The epidural lady hooked me up with some pain relief. The epidural wasn't painful, but it was not easy to sit still while having contractions, and add to that the fact that it took 2 attempts to get the thing into my spine. After about15 minutes, though, it was in and I was starting to feel better. Labour progressed relatively pain free from here on out, and every hour or so the nurse came in to check progress, monitor the baby, and hook me up to more things. An IV, an internal monitor for the baby, an internal monitor for contractions, an oxygen mask because the baby was going into distress. I laid there oblivious to any pain and joked with Brian and Barbie as we waited for the "pushing phase" to start. Periodically, I heard someone fart in the room and I'd look at Brian and Barbie with an accusatory look, then I realized that it was me! of course it was me. I had no feeling from my waist down. I was like my auntie Minnie! just tooting away, willy nilly, even once while the nurse was checking me! We cracked up quite a bit about that. As most people know, I'm highly amused by farting.

No exit!
Around 11am the nurse consulted the doctor on call and they monitored my progress. After about 15 minutes she informed me that I had a choice to make: Labour had stalled at 6cm and the baby was in distress. They could try to induce laboour with Pitosin and see if that would start the contractions again, or I could do a C-section and get him out. A tough choice. A sobering choice. I asked the doctor what was best for the baby. Of course it was the least appealing of the options, the C-section. So with as much calm as I could muster, and with a quick look over at the concerned faces of Brian and Barbie to reassure them that I would be ok, I said "let's do it".

Let's get this party started
My room became a hive of activity as people came in and out to administer things through IVs and inform me of what would happen next. Then Brian was "Suited up" and I was wheeled off to the operating room. Whatever Dr. Dave put in my IV started working immediately, and I could feel absolutely nothing below the chest. As I laid there on the operating table they prepped me, draped me, and Dr. Dave reassured me and kept me appraised of the situation. Brian came into the room and the operation began. I held Brian's hand and tried to keep myself calm by imagining being on a warm beach. The bright lights of the operating room was the sun warming my face, the floaty feeling was not from the cocktail of drugs in my IV, but from the several shots of tequila I imagined I'd just done. The voices of the doctors and nurses were those of other people on the beach, laughing and splashing in the surf. The suction machine that was probably now vacuuming up all the blood that was gushing out was providing the surf sound. And Dr. Dave said that I was the most calm person to have a C-section he'd ever seen. After what seemed like only a moment I heard the sound of a baby crying. Perhaps someone's child on the beach? and then I crashed back down to reality and realized that the baby crying was my kid! "THE kid"!

Who's your daddy?
After my realization my first question to Brian was "does it look like Jay?" - because it's been a standing joke in our circle of friends that Jay's the baby-daddy... Brian laughed and said he didn't. Then they showed him to me. He was all pink with a ton of black hair and my first comment was "ooh he's CUUUTE! he doesn't look anything like Winston Churchill!". That got a laugh from everyone in the operating room. They took the baby and Brian away and put me back together while discussing every day things like what they saw on TV last night, and the latest celebrity gossip. I heard the doctor say "let's get those abs back in place, she's worked really hard on them", and I thanked her for noticing. And the final step... replace my belly button ring, which they had taken out for the surgery. They put it back in for me while I was in the operating room! What service.

Hello world
Trent Aston came into the world on July 4th, at 11:33am, kicking and screaming, much like how his mum had gone into pregnancy. It seems like the whole world (at least MY world) was waiting with baited breath to meet him. Aunt Barbie was the first to meet him, followed by uncle Scott. I spent some time in the recovery room and they brought him to me. Here the details start to get a little sketchy. I assume because of the drugs and I recall being wheeled to my post partum room where Brian, Trent and I would spend the next 3 days. Trent's grandparents, Keith and Joan, showed up pretty soon after his grand entrance and were so excited to see the little guy. And as my epidural and drugs wore off and my visitors disappeared, the nice nurse lady came and took Trent to the nursery so that I could get some sleep.

Happily ever after
There were many unpleasant experiences that followed the birth of Trent, many of which made the labour and major surgery experience pale in comparison. The 3 days following the birth were the most challenging of our entire lives. Sleep deprivation, pain, and being cooped up in a tiny hospital room with people poking and prodding at me and Trent every few hours made those few days feel like several weeks. And I was so ready to come home on Saturday. My doctor cleared us to stay until Sunday, but I just couldn't do it. And that night, Saturday, our first night home with the baby, Brian and I didn't sleep a wink, were totally clueless, and made it up as we went along. Thank heavens for Grandpa and Grandma! Without them, this would have been so much more difficult.

It's now a week and one day since Trent's birth. I've been in more pain than I could even imagine over the past week, with the C-section recovery and pain of breast feeding, which you can't ever fully understand until you feel it. I haven't slept more than 4 hours at a time in over a week, I haven't put on make up or fixed my hair in over a week, not because I don't have time, but because it's not important.

So the question question remains: was it worth it?

You'll be surprised by the answer. It was so worth it. I'm not saying I'd do this again. But I'm happy that I did it. Nothing can prepare you for how your own baby worms his way into your heart, no matter how much kid-proofing you have done to it. Last night I spent hours just staring into Trent's eyes, even though I was dead tired, because I just couldn't take my eyes off him. Surprised? nobody's more so than I am!

Proud Aunt Barbie

I can't say she's been very patient, but she's been the most excited person about meeting Trent. Here you can see him just a day old with his favourite aunt and un-godly mother ;-)\\

Introducing...
Trent Aston

Born on July 4th, 2007 at 11.33am
weighing 7lbs 13oz, and measuring 20 inches tall.

We are so happy to meet our beautiful little boy, and can't wait to introduce him to all of his amazing honorary aunts and uncles here in Texas and around the world!

A big thank you to all the well-wishers who have e-mailed, called, and sent flowers... we truly appreciate all of your support! And most of all, a big thank you to Aunt Barbie - we just can't tell you how much your help means to us. You've been our rock :-)

More details surrounding the birth to come as I find time to update - Life is very crazy right now, and many phone calls are going unreturned, so please be patient and rest assured that we will be in contact just as soon as we return to a state of sanity. Thanks, everyone, for your patience.

update on The Kid

...or lack of update, I should say.
Yesterday's appointment went well. The doc did a membrane sweep, which should help get things started. However, all that's happened so far is some cramping. I'm feeling very discouraged and every day that goes by now is causing me to get a bad attitude. It's almost like a deflated/defeated feeling. I think it's because I so desperately want to be in control of this situation and I can't be. It's not too much to ask to be in control of your own body, is it???
Tomorrow is July 4th. His actual due date. In preparation, and so I can feel like I have at least a small amount of influence over the situation (if not control), I'm going to pick up a bottle of Castor Oil.
Message to The Kid: I'm your mother. You had better get used to doing what I tell you to do, starting now. So be a good boy and make your exit! I don't like children, and I was hoping that you could help change my mind about that. But you're off to a rocky start. Now MOVE IT!

Final weekend as DINKs?

This weekend I tried to do things that I won't have much opportunity to do over the next several months. On Friday we had Barbie, Scott, Michelle & Brian over for dinner. We just ordered out so that I wouldn't have to do a whole bunch of cooking. Michelle and I spent some time relaxing on the trampoline. I saw a satellite pass over head.

Saturday during the day was spent doing house work (and yard work for Brian), followed by a fun evening downtown with Nick, Kitty, Mike & Tara. We got scammed at the parking lot on 7th street. We parked and the attendant was nowhere to be found, then this homeless looking guy came out from between some cars and charged us $7 to park, which we handed over, but then when he didn't give us a receipt I questioned him. He made a grand show of going over to the adjacent parking lot to get us a ticket, but came back without one. At this point I was sick of waiting and just said "whatever". When we got back to our car, thankfully it had not been towed, but the REAL parking attendant asked us to pay! we told him we paid the homeless guy, and he then informed us we got scammed. So lesson learned. ALL of the parking lot attendants at the pay parking lots downtown wear shirts with the parking lot logo on them, and they ALWAYS give you a ticket for your dash.

Sunday was spent doing more things around the house, and mostly relaxing for me. I did clean out the refrigerator in the garage, which had started to grow black spores from being left unplugged with the doors closed. We had to replace a breaker so that we could run the fridge but now we have a beer fridge and overflow freezer, which is a good thing since Costco is keeping our regular freezer stuffed to the gills!

Sunday night I left Brian to watch the DVR loaded with bass fishing and racing shows and I headed downtown to see Brian Lee in his new cover band "Suede" at Cedar Street. Barbie, Michelle, Andi & Mike were there, too. It was an awesome show and we couldn't believe how many people showed up on a Sunday night. I got home a little after 1am.

In all, it was a great weekend, only momentarily punctuated by my frustrations about being pregnant and ready to get this thing over with!