Marc's parents in town

We've had a full house this past week and lots and lots of pictures have been taken. Marc's mom has been extremely helpful, like letting me sleep in till 10 and pretty much just holding Caiden all the time while I can do anything I want, well, as long as it doesn't last longer than 3 hours. The minute he realizes he's hungry he lets us all know. A couple times Marc's mom called us, "When are you coming home, he hasn't stopped crying in 20 minutes and he's eating my arm?" Poor Grandma. But we were able to go on our first date night, just the two of us. I was able to get my hair done, all kinds of stuff we're going to miss doing once they leave. Luckily we still have my sister!

His eczema has got so much better. We pretty much lathered his face in Vaseline for 5 days and now you can't even tell. I can't say the thrush has got much better...stay tuned for one more week, if it still hasn't changed then I may try something called gentian violet, it's an over the counter topical antiseptic. A lot of the mommy blogs swear by it, the only problem...it turns EVERYTHING purple that it touches, including his mouth so you have to be very careful you don't get it everywhere.

Somehow whenever he is sleeping on Aunt Sara he is in the cutest positions.

Grandpa Mashhoun and Caiden sleeping. Pretty much the same thing my Dad did with Caiden when he was here...haha.

We were able to go to our yoga class on Tuesday night, the first time back since I gave birth. So many people in the class that I've never talked to remembered me and were asking about the baby.

Doing some stretches with Caiden before class. His face looks so funny in this picture I couldn't help post it.

Grandma and Grandpa Mashhoun

And of course...GO BIG RED! His first Husker game, broke out the red!

He's finally starting to be entertained by his activity gym. Yes, he's asleep here but before he was entertaining himself for a good 30 minutes.

We mailed out his announcements last week and here they are. Marc and Sara took the pictures, amateur hour over here but we just weren't on top of it the first few weeks at home and the last thing I was thinking about was getting his newborn photos taken. I wish we had a photographer friend that lived here, would have made it much easier.

Caiden's 1-month check-up

We had his one month well baby check-up today. We ended up switching pediatricians and offices and we can happily say that we are glad we did. We weren't able to meet with the pediatrician that we picked for him because he didn't have any available appointments this week but the doctor we met with was great. We do get to meet the pediatrician we assigned to him at his 2 month appointment. This was a very eventful appointment, this kid is high maintenance, let me tell you.

First for the fun stuff. He weighed 11 lbs. 7.5 oz. (88th percentile), 22.75 inches long (88th percentile) and his head is in the 76th percentile. He's growing great and a very healthy baby. He did so well through out the entire appointment, until...he got his first shot, only one, right in his thigh and boy did his face turn bright red and he screamed for a good 20 seconds. After that he was all good. I wasn't sure what to expect but they don't waste any time and just stick the needle as fast as they can in his leg, I felt so bad for him. Hopefully he doesn't develop a fever, otherwise we're going to be running to the pharmacy to pick up some baby Tylenol. It's probably a good thing to have on hand so we should pick some up anyway.

In other news, we have thrush. His tongue has had white stuff on it for about a week now and I just thought it was breast milk. Apparently it's pretty common in breast fed babies since it's a type of yeast infection. We have to give him 4 drops a day of a prescription we picked up on his tongue and they also prescribed some cream to put on his butt and that I can put on my nipples (I know, tmi). But my nipples have always been sore and apparently thrush is probably why, I've just been dealing with the pain because I thought it was normal but now that I have this cream I'm really hoping it helps and I'm looking forward to no pain soon. The doctor said it should go away within a week.

We also received a prescription for a vitamin D supplement to give him, once a day on his tongue. I guess breast fed babies don't get enough vitamin D (mainly because they don't see the sun enough). Just another thing to deal with for the next year until he can start drinking cows milk.

So his umbilical cord stump fell off on Friday, but there was still some goop left in there so the pediatrician applied some silver nitrate to the inside and it's supposed to remove all that gunk and help it heal within the next week. She said the side effects are redness to the area but that will eventually go away.

He also has baby eczema. It's pretty bad and covers almost his entire face so now we have to apply some Vaseline or this Aquaphor lotion that we have all the time until it gets better. And another thing to worry about, sigh.

Now this is crazy. We've noticed a little bump on his left clavicle, aka collarbone, and the pediatrician thinks that during delivery he broke his clavicle. I did some research on this once we got home and clavicle fractures are the most frequently encountered birth injury, especially with larger babies (and ones that were in the birth canal for 2 hours being pushed and pushed). I really can't believe none of the doctors caught this at the hospital but it's not a big deal as it heals really quick in newborns and there won't be any problems as he grows older. The pediatrician said we could have an x-ray done just to confirm that's what it is but there is nothing they would do for it at this point since it's already healed. We decided not to do the x-ray.

So like I said, high maintenance. I'm actually really happy with how the appointment went and all of these things are so minor in the grand scheme of things that I'm not worried about anything, just glad we're getting them taken care of. Hopefully his 2 month appointment is less eventful, besides the shots he's going to have to get.

Getting his temp taken

How tall are you baby boy?

Weight taken. Yes, it says 11.8 oz., but the nurse clocked him at 11 lbs 7.5 oz. so that's what we're going with.

1 Month

Caiden Max is 1 MONTH.  I can’t believe we’ve had a baby now for an entire month. Life is definitely getting easier, just as everyone said it would.

So what has he been up to? Well, he’s really cute almost 100% of the time…unless it’s 2am and he’s up and fussy and takes an hour to get back down to sleep…and then wakes up again at 4am. We are trying to get him on a sleep schedule. It means feeding him around 6pm, putting him down at 7pm then dream feeding him at 10pm. This dream feed is what takes some finesse. You pretty much have to feed him and burp him while he's sleeping and hope he doesn't wake up. We've got some work to do on that one. Then he’ll wake up around 2/2:30am to eat again then again around 5:30am. They say that eventually the 2/2:30 feeding will move to later in the night (errr, earlier in the morning, however you look at it) and then disappear all together…I.CAN.NOT.WAIT for that.

His umbilical cord stump finally fell off on Friday; I’ve been waiting and waiting so that we can give him a normal bath instead of just a sponge bath. I really dreaded doing the sponge baths because it was just such a pain trying not to get water on the belly button area. I would get water everywhere; all over me, the floor, the counter, it was just such a pain. I let Aunt Sara take on this task almost every time he needed bathed. On Friday night Marc got in the tub with him and washed him, it was so much easier and we were able to clean him so much better.

I am still only breast feeding him. We haven’t introduced the bottle yet mainly just because there really isn’t a need. I have been pumping about once a day after one of his feedings where he doesn’t eat as much so we have frozen milk to use when we want to start. Everyone keeps telling me that it would be easier if I let someone else do one or two of the feedings each day with a bottle, but I would still have to pump so to me it would not be any easier. I could use some advice on this, anyone have suggestions on if someone else did do one of the feedings how I get away with my breasts not getting so engorged that I want to cry and I have to end up pumping anyway?  I really can’t let them go longer than 3 or 4 hours otherwise they hurt so bad so I really don’t see any advantage in giving him a bottle for one of the feedings. And the night time feedings is where I would really love to have someone step in but I’m not going to make Marc get up in the middle of the night when he has to get up at 6am to go to work. Anyway, any advice would be helpful.

We moved him to his crib in his room at 3 weeks. I know this seems early but it was the best decision we made. His room is right next to ours and we have the monitor on him so we can see and hear everything. But I also don’t have to listen to the little grunts and spastic movements he makes in the bassinet that keep me up all night. I’m actually getting 2-3 consecutive hours of sleep a couple of times a night! Plus now I’m feeding him in his room for all the night feedings which help Marc sleep through the night. All in all it was earlier than we expected to move him but it really does help all of us. Happy mommy and daddy = happy baby, right?!?!

He just looks so big in this picture

Look at all his hair flowing in the water!

I resorted to pushing him around our house in his stroller to get him to sleep

He has this serious face on him all the time

My muscle man

3 weeks

This week sounds more like, "I can't believe it has only been 3 weeks", haha. It's getting easier, but I think only because I'm getting the hang of it a little more. He's a pistol at night which makes it more difficult. This past week during the night feedings all he wants to do is poop. He sits on my lap and pushes and cry's/screams and will only eat on one side, not conducive to me sleeping comfortably to say the least. Feeding him in bed is uncomfortable but I really don't want to come downstairs to sit on the couch. I can't wait until the rocker comes in, I know I say that every time. Oh, and I called again earlier this week...won't be here for at least 2 weeks. But I think that's when we'll try to move him to his crib. He'll be a month old by then and a lot of my friends said that is when they moved their kid. He sleeps in his crib during the day so I'm not sure it will really be an issue.

Aunt Sara has been a lifesaver, she has come over after work almost every day which allows me to a get a few hours of personal stuff done; shower, work, eat, clean. Whatever is most pressing that day.

He loves to fall asleep like this

I'm 3 weeks old today.
Not sure this Moses basket that the Santoro's let us borrow will work for naps much longer.

We went to Fanuel Park at the Bay with the Coleman's on Sunday. Landon is one month older than Caiden but they are about the same size.

Caiden's birth story

This is going to be pretty cut and dry, not too much fluff as I just don’t have the energy ;) But it is long, sorry about that. More than anything I want to remember this in a few years when we talk about having another one...haha.

Tuesday night, July 24, Marc and I went to our regular yoga class at 7:30. We’ve been going to this class for at least a year now and I was determined to keep going up until I gave birth. I was 40 weeks and 6 days pregnant and still feeling pretty good and was still mobile to do almost the entire class. At about 10pm we had finished up dinner and watching Game of Thrones when I felt a little something in my back, I stood up and sat on the yoga ball we had in the living room. We purchased it a few weeks before in anticipation of me using it during labor. About 20 minutes later I felt the same thing, but I still wasn’t convinced it was anything. Then 15 minutes later, again. I looked at Marc and said, “I think I’m having contractions!” He got all excited but I told him to chill because I still wasn’t convinced it was anything. I was sure I’d be pregnant up until 42 weeks and my doctor would have to induce labor. I jumped in the shower around 11:30 and we went to bed. I didn’t sleep a wink and at about 3am Marc woke up and we started timing my contractions. They were about 30 seconds long and measured anywhere from 7-12 minutes apart. After an hour Marc went back to bed and I tried to take little rests between each contraction. At 6am Marc woke up, made breakfast and decided he'd be staying home from work that day. At this point we were convinced we’d be heading to the hospital early in the afternoon.  

At 8am we went for a walk around the bay, we made it to Fanuel Park and came back. During the walk my contractions were on average 45 seconds long and about 8 minutes apart. At the time it felt like things were happening pretty fast, but as I look back, it really took awhile for me to progress. The rule of thumb we were going by was the 5-1-1 rule; contractions that are 5 minutes apart that last for at least 1 minute in length and continue for 1 hour.

I was pretty exhausted because I hadn’t slept the night before so I laid on the couch and as each contraction came Marc would massage my back and I would try to rest in between them.  Unfortunately they were more intense when I wasn’t walking or bouncing on the yoga ball so getting rest in between them was a challenge. Marc made us lunch then I took a bath. It really wasn’t that comfortable so I only lasted about 10 minutes. Marc took a 30 minute nap. That afternoon we took another walk around the neighborhood and my contractions started following the 5-1-1 rule! We were getting somewhere! But I still wanted to wait as long as possible before going to the hospital for fears that they would turn me away because I was only 1 centimeter. We ate dinner and around 7pm tried to go for another walk but we only made it down the block and turned back. We decided we’d start packing for the hospital as the contractions had been holding up for a couple hours at the 5-1-1 rule.

We got to the hospital and at 10pm the nurse checked me and guess what?!?!?! Fully effaced but only 1-2 centimeters. L I was totally bummed; I thought for sure I was further along. The doctor on call recommended we start pitocin to speed things up since I was already 1 week past my due date but I really wasn’t comfortable with that because my body was obviously going into labor on its own and doing what it was supposed to be doing. We decided to leave and continue to labor at home instead of walking around a hospital in a hospital gown and being under the pressure of the hospital staff. Although we were a bit confused because we followed the 5-1-1 rule before going to the hospital and now we had no rule to go by. The nurse told us, “You will know” when it’s time to come back. Okay, great advice…NOT. We got home and by then it was Wednesday night, I was officially still pregnant at 41 weeks…it was time to take a belly photo. So here it is. Yes, I look a little frazzled, but I had been up for 24 hours at that point, so no judging.

41 weeks

At midnight we went to bed. Well, Marc went to bed. We decided again, that it would be a good idea if he got a few hours of sleep so we both weren't completely delirious. This is when my contractions started getting really intense. I thought they were bad before, well now they were really bad. For the next 4 hours there was no relief, even between contractions. I was slithering around on the floor trying to find comfortable positions. I was bouncing on the yoga ball. I was walking around trying not to make too much noise while Marc was sleeping. When Marc woke up around 4am he could totally tell that something in me had changed. This must be what the nurse was talking about…the whole, “You will know”, comment. Marc made the decision that we should go back to the hospital, I was a little worried because it had only been 5 hours and not enough time for things to progress enough but we went anyway. We left for the hospital at 5:30am on Thursday morning, checked in and at 6am and the same nurse, Brooke, checked me and I was at 6 centimeters! Hallelujah! Time for the epidural please. By 7am the epidural came and I was in no pain…WOW, what a relief.  

My sister showed up around 10am and stayed for the entire thing, she was a great coach and held my left leg and pushed me on during every contraction. Dr. Riley came to the hospital to check me at 10:30am and I was at 9 centimeters…holy crap things were moving fast. I thought for sure I’d be having a baby in the next hour. Well, Dr. Riley had 2 surgeries at a different hospital he had to attend to and said he’d be back around noon. My water hadn’t broken yet so they kept it in tact until Dr. Riley could come back. He came back around 1:30 and I was 9.5 centimeters and then he broke my water. He left again to finish up his appointments for the day at his office which was just down the street and said he’d be back in a few hours. The nurse checked me a bit after he left and said I was a full 10 centimeters! She said I could start pushing but I wanted to wait until I felt the urge to push so that I wasn’t just pushing to push. That happened around 3pm and I started pushing during each contraction, I was a little worried because Dr. Riley wasn't there, but the nurse didn't seem worried about it. I thought after a few pushes he would be out...haha, NOT. Now I understand why they weren't in a hurry for Dr. Riley to get there, it took me 2 hours of pushing before Caiden came out. I had had the epidural now for 8 hours but couldn’t sleep through it because I had this muscle in my back that was hurting and preventing me from getting comfortable. So being up for a few days was already draining and now pushing during each contraction for 2 hours was definitely hardcore physical exhaustion. Dr. Riley showed up at around 4pm, the last hour of pushing. During the last hour I could really feel when each contraction was coming and knew when to push. During the last 15 minutes came so much pain I couldn’t believe it. I could have pushed the epidural button but I think I just totally forgot about it during the moment. Seriously, I thought I was going to give birth to my entire insides, the pressure was so intense I thought I would pass out at some points. Finally at 5:16pm out came Caiden and my doctor had me pull all 8 pounds 15 ounces of him onto my chest.

The amazing Dr. Riley and the nurse who was there "pushing" me on.

8 pounds 15.2 ounces

After a few minutes of skin to skin the nursery nurse took him to the warmer table to check all his vitals, weigh him, etc. I was so delirious at this point it didn’t really all click for a few more hours what was about to happen. He was running a fever when they first checked him, around 100.3 or so, I don't recall exactly. But the nurse did everything else then checked him again and it had increased to 100.5 or so. They told us they had to take him to the NICU to be monitored for 6 hours. They weren't admitting him, but they had to take him and if all was good after 6 hours they would bring him to my room. After a few hours they took me to my recovery room and Marc and I tried to get some sleep. At 1:30am a NICU nurse came to our room and said that they were admitting him to the NICU because he had stopped breathing a couple times. He always came back on his own when they would stimulate him, with no additional oxygen, but it wasn’t normal and he would need to be monitored 24/7 for at least 48 hours before they would release him. I hadn’t seen him since they took him off my chest after he was born so Marc wheeled me down to the NICU. It was so sad to see him in there, hooked up to all the monitors and an IV in his little hand. They suspected he had an infection so they started antibiotics on him. He would continue to get antibiotics every 12 hours until he was released. It just didn’t seem right that such a big boy would be in the NICU.

Over the next 2 days the NICU nurses would call my room every couple of hours or anytime he really wouldn’t stop crying to have me come down and feed him. Trying to breastfeed while he was in the NICU was the hardest thing ever. I’m really glad I stuck with it, but looking back I’m not sure how I did it. If he would have been in our room it would have been a whole different story. But I would have to get dressed, go all the way across the hospital, sit in a big, bright room with everyone and their mom watching and try to nurse while he was hooked up to all these monitors that were beeping every second. It's a good thing they had me on some good pain killers at that point.

Aunt Sara holding Caiden for the first time in the NICU.

On Saturday I was set to be released from the hospital however Caiden wasn’t going to be leaving the NICU for at least another 24 hours. It was such a horrible feeling to think that we would be leaving the hospital without our baby. However the hospital came through in the end, they have a couple of free rooms available for mothers who have been discharged and whose baby’s are in the NICU and they give priority to those who are nursing. Fortunately one of the rooms opened up on Saturday morning so I was able to stay at the hospital until he got released. Marc on the other hand was dying to get home and sleep in our bed. There was only one bed in this room, unlike the postpartum rooms which had two beds, so he went home and slept Saturday night.

On Sunday morning Marc came back up to the hospital early in the morning after getting a good night sleep. I, on the other hand, was going to the NICU every 2 hours and was still so exhausted. I don’t think I had slept for longer than 2 hours since Tuesday night at this point. We weren’t sure yet if Caiden would be coming home that afternoon or if we had to wait until Monday to bring him home. The blood work they did on him the day before showed that his white blood count was high, which meant he was fighting off an infection, so it’s good they had him on antibiotics. But at the same time he hadn't had any other problems and didn't have any other problems breathing after those first few hours of life. The NICU doctor came to do his rounds that morning and cleared him to be discharged that afternoon! It was the best news ever! We came home on Sunday night around 5pm and spent the first night alone with our baby. 

Leaving the NICU on Sunday afternoon

Changing him into his going home outfit.

Getting ready for the car ride home!

The entire experience was crazy, I still can't believe I had almost a nine pound baby inside me and how the heck I pushed him out. We think he's the cutest thing ever and are pretty sure everyone else thinks the same thing...haha, biased much?!?

2 weeks!

Where has the time gone?!? I can't believe he's already 2 weeks old, I know everyone says that, but seriously, I feel like my days fly by. By the time I change him, feed him, change him again, feed myself, try to swoosh him to sleep for an hour I do it all again and then it's time for Marc to get home. It's so funny, Marc made a comment this week, "Now I understand why all our friends go to bed at 8pm." We are also trying to get on that schedule, but it just feels like we have so much to talk about and so much to do when he gets home from work that by the time we look at the clock its midnight all over again.

Caiden is eating like a champ. I took him to his 2 week check-up yesterday and he weighs 9 pounds  5 ounces! He's already 6 ounces past his birth weight at only 2 weeks, I couldn't believe it. They say he should be at his birth weight by 2 weeks so he passed with flying colors. And I was successful in taking him to his appointment all by myself. This was the first time I've left the house with him by myself so I was nervous. And our pediatrician's office is the worst. You have to park in this HUGE, hot, underground garage, walk forever to the elevator, go to the 6th floor then sit in a waiting room with a bunch of toddlers playing with loud toys until they call me 20 minutes past my appointment time. Needless to say I dislike our pediatrician and the office and we are switching before his 1-month well baby check-up. Anyway, all went smooth and the minute you get that kid in the car he falls asleep and stays asleep until you take him out of his car seat and put him on the exam table. I was able to lug him all around the office with the diaper bag all by myself...what an accomplishment, haha.

My days look like this so far: Feed Caiden anytime between 6 and 8 in the morning (whenever he feels like getting up), try to be as quiet and make slow movements as possible so that he'll go back to sleep for a couple hours, and so I can go to sleep for a couple more hours. During the day he's eating about every 3 hours so when he wakes up usually feed him again. He typically doesn't like to sleep again after this feeding unless I put him in the stroller and go for a walk (and I've only done that once) so usually I'm just trying to talk to him or hold some colorful toys in front of him to get his attention. If I'm not holding him or giving him attention he'll usually cry. He doesn't like to just be left alone. Oh, and did I mention I've probably changed his diaper about 8 times by 8 am. He hates being in a wet or poopy diaper and he pees ALL the time. I swear I go through like 20 diapers in a day, I've been wanting to count but just don't have the energy for it.
After playing for a while it's time for him to eat again, and he'll let me know it. After this feeding I try to get him to take a decent nap so I can eat lunch, shower (if I'm lucky) and get some work done around the house, or try to take a nap myself (again...if I'm lucky). Then he's up again after 3 or so hours and it's time to eat again. This breastfeeding thing is exhausting, if he wasn't latching so great or if my milk wasn't so full then I would seriously think about formula. I always kind of thought I'd breastfeed for a year, but every three hours is so crazy right now. Everyone says it gets better but right now my head is spinning.
So I try to feed him right before Marc gets home so that he's nice and happy for him and then maybe he'll go down for a little nap while we eat dinner. That's always the plan, sometimes it works and sometimes we have a screaming baby in the background while one of us shovels down our dinner so we can go relieve the piercing noise. Around 9 or so I feed him again and our plan every night is to put him down in his bassinet right after that feeding and for us to go to bed. The past few nights we've been successful at attempting to go to bed but he doesn't want to cooperate. He will be wide awake and if you even think about putting him in his bassinet he will scream and cry. I try to walk and sway him back and forth as long as I can before my back wants to give in, give him a pacifier (which I HATE doing this early, but sometimes it's the only thing to calm him down) and when he's finally dozed off, as slow as a turtle, lay him in his bassinet and hold my breath that he doesn't move. Unfortunately this is usually 2 hours after he's last ate and he's going to be up again in an hour to eat again. So much for going to sleep right after the 9pm feeding. There have been a few nights where he has gone 4 or 5 hours in the middle of the night without waking up, which have been amazing. The pediatrician said it's okay to let him go that long at night but during the day you should feed him at least every 3 hours. So depending on how long he stays asleep we start that whole routine over in the morning.

Overall I think he's a pretty good newborn, despite the times when he's fussy right before it's time to go to bed he's pretty chill. My Mom and Dad left on Tuesday and we've been trying to adjust without them. It was a godsend they came when they did (2 days after we got home from the hospital and Marc had to go back to work), my Mom would pretty much take him after each feeding and burp him and coo him back to sleep in her arms and it gave me a chance to nap or shower. I was so sleep deprived for so many days after his birth that I didn't know whether I was coming or going half the time. Oh, and I'm almost done with his birth story, just a few missing details I need to get from Marc and it should be posted by this weekend. And we are still waiting for the rocker from Pottery Barn to complete the nursery. You don't know how ready I am for that thing, I'm so sick of sitting in bed and wrecking my back every night during the feedings. The chair should be in by the end of next week or so, then I'll take some pictures of the nursery.

Here are some pics from this week.

This is my hospital picture. He definitely has my chin.

This is the first toy I introduced, the ring o' links. He will watch them as I fiddle with them in front of his face. He's tried grabbing them a few times.

First sponge bath with mommy. Despite the look on his face he really loves it when you bathe him.

Grandpa and Caiden taking a nap

This is how happy he is in his car seat ;)

Grandma and Caiden

First walk around the Bay

Baby boy is 1 week old!

I can't believe it's been a week. Baby boy (I guess I should start calling him by his name now that we have one), Caiden Max, came into this world on Thursday, July 26, 2012, at 5:16pm, weighing 8 pounds 15 ounces and 22 inches long. He was born at 41 weeks and 1 day. I will post his full birth story once I get a chance to sit down and write it up. It was long and eventful, almost a full 48 hours of labor so there is a lot to remember.

Thank you for all the support and love everyone has been sending our way. I'm slowly starting to come out of my sleep deprived hole and complete exhaustion so I'll be in touch with everyone soon! In the meantime here are a few pictures from the past week.