1 Month!

Dear Jack,

You are one month old today!

How can this be true?  You can't be one month old already!  Where in the world have the past four weeks gone?  You are changing and growing before our very eyes, giving Mommy something new to cry about on a daily basis.

You are quickly losing that "newborn" look and are looking more and more like a little baby.  While this does make Mommy a bit sad,  she is loving that your cheeks seem to get chubbier by the day and that you have now developed a double chin!  

You weigh 11 pounds and are 22 3/4" long!

Your pediatrician says that your weight gain is "extraordinary"!  You love to eat and are still waking up about every two to three hours to nurse.  You are able to go back and forth between actual breast feeding and a bottle with ease, which is apparently difficult for a lot of babies at this stage.  You have officially outgrown your newborn clothes and diapers are now wearing 0-3 month size clothes and size 1 diapers.

You are a good sleeper from what we've seen so far (thank goodness!)  You are still sleeping in a bassinet in our room, and you don't seem to stir much in between feedings.  We have found that your favorite sleeping position is laying on your stomach on Mommy or Daddy's chest.  We would probably have you sleep like this at night if we thought it was a safe way for you to sleep, because you could literally sleep like this for hours!  You could also sleep for hours in your car seat.   

You are becoming more alert each and every day.  You are staying awake for longer periods during the day and are able to focus in on people and objects much more easily.  It is amazing to your Daddy and I, but you can already hold your head up!  Now it does take quite a bit of effort, but we just think it's the most precious thing ever.  You can push yourself up with your hands and hold your head up while looking around, and you typically do this while laying on Mommy or Daddy.  Your little head is so wobbly, and we can tell that it's very difficult for you, but we just melt every time you do it.

You are really starting to enjoy bath time, which was not the case at first.  You love the warm water running over your little body, and you especially love getting your head scrubbed.  You get the sweetest most relaxed look on your face when we sit you in the Puj tub for bath time.  You have the cutest head-full of spiky hair after bath time, which I have noticed lately is starting to fall out :( 

You have yet to become very interested in any kind of toy.  Mommy has laid you down on your activity mat a couple of times, but you either look away or cry to be picked up - you love to be held.  You will stare at a lamp or any kind of bright light for a pretty good while though.

You are overall a very even-tempered baby, which we are very thankful for.  The only time we really ever get some good crying out of you is if you have gas, and man do you cry!  Mommy's favorite game to play these days is Guess What This Sound Means.  You make a lot of different baby noises and are very good at keeping Mommy guessing. 

Your first month has been a joy, Mr. Jack, and we love you very much! 

Advanced?

So, the jury is still out, however, we feel that Jack may be "advanced". . .

He will be three weeks old tomorrow and with head-control as superior as this, we also think that he may say his first word pretty soon :)

* Mr. Little is still getting used to his iPhone fizzy, so that's why you have to turn your head to view the video *

Jack

Jonathan Randall "Jack" Little, Jr.

October 29, 2012, 11:50 am

7 lbs. 12 oz.

21.5" long

He's here, and we are so in love.

After a long forty weeks and three days of excitement and anticipation, he is here.  We can't believe it!  We are parents!  And to the sweetest little boy I have ever laid eyes on.  

It turned out that the only real exercise (if you can even call it that) I got the entire time I was pregnant was at the very end of my pregnancy and was all I needed to send me into labor.  Contrary to what the doctor will tell you, exercise isn't actually necessary until the very end of pregnancy.  It's true!  When you feel so big and sleep-deprived (at this point you just think you're sleep-deprived) and all you want is to not be pregnant anymore and wear normal clothes, that's when you get out and exercise!  Preferably with a buddy or significant other and not on a busy road during 5 o'clock traffic, BUT you do what you gotta do, and it worked for this pregnant lady!

But, I'll back up a little bit . . .

I had my last and final doctor's appointment on October 25th, one day before my actual due date.  The appointment went well, as they all had, however it appeared that Jack was still not ready to greet the world.  This came as no surprise to me as each visit we came away with the same news, "Still not dilated, but he is head down and very low."  Frustrating news to a full-term pregnant lady, but I knew it wouldn't be long before we would be able to meet our little man.  So as not to go past the forty-one week mark, we scheduled an induction for Monday, October 29th.  Wow!  At that point, it all got very real.  It should have been real way before that, but for some reason, not knowing when or how the actual labor and delivery was going to happen made it somehow not so real.  But now, ready or not, we  were going to meet our sweet Jack no later than Monday, a mere three days away, and we were so ready.  

Fast forward to that weekend . . .

Here comes the "exercise" I was talking about.  I had attempted several long walks within the past few days to get things going a bit.   With no luck, I continued to "exercise" Friday and on into the weekend.  On Sunday morning at approximately 3:30ish am, we had a bit of excitement when I thought my water had broken.  We immediately hopped in the car and made an unexpected ride over to St. Vincent's only to find out that it, in fact, had not broken and that I was "Still not dilated, but he is head down and very low" (surprise, surprise).  So we headed home a little disappointed knowing that either way we would be back that night to check in for our induction the next day!

  So, I had made it my business to ask every mother I knew, "What do labor contractions feel like?  I mean, how will I know when I'm in labor?"  And to that, everyone responded, "You will just know."  So, I was waiting for that kind of pain, where I just knew it was different from anything I had felt before.  Well, Sunday afternoon, I started to feel that kind of pain.  The take-your-breath-away, can't-talk-through-it kind of pain.  Jonathan and I had walked to Publix to pick up a few last minute items for the hospital and had made it a point to start timing my contractions.  We waited for the standard 30 to 45 seconds, every five minutes, for at least an hour, and once we got there, we knew it was time to head to the hospital!

In a way, it happened exactly how I imagined it would.  We had time to take showers and finish some last minute packing before heading to the hospital a little earlier than expected.  We were originally supposed to check-in at 8:00 pm but got there and checked in around 6:00 pm instead.  Once we arrived, they got us checked into our birthing suite, and from there it was just a waiting game.  The nurse informed me that I had to be at least two centimeters dilated before I could get the epidural . . . the next nine and a half hours were really just a blur.

At around 3:30 am, I was still only one and a half centimeters dilated.  They had given me a small dose of Pitocin, however I still hadn't made much progress.  Fortunately, my sweet, sweet nurse decided it was cruel and inhumane to allow me to continue on in pain, so she called the anesthesiologist to come and administer my epidural.  We had a bit of a scare when after receiving my epidural my blood pressure dropped pretty low and my abdomen started to seize.  Apparently it's pretty common for your blood pressure to drop, however their main concern was for Jack and making sure he was ok.  About thirty minutes later they had things under control, and after that, things progressed pretty quickly!

I was able to get a little rest as Mom and Jonathan camped out in the chair and love seat for a while.  There were nurses in and out all night checking on me, so when I say I got a "little rest", I'm talking maybe two hours.  I believe the only thing that kept us going over the next several hours was pure adrenaline!  We had all of our closest friends and family there anxiously awaiting the arrival of baby Jack!  The nurses would come in every couple of hours to check my progress at which point everyone would leave the room.  Finally, we got the word that I was nine and a half centimeters and almost ready to push!  OMG!  So everyone left the room one final time, and the nurses started preparing the room for delivery.  We knew that Jack was very low, so they said that once I started pushing, I probably wouldn't have to push for very long, which was music to my ears.  Jonathan assumed the position next to my head, and we started pushing at 11:31 am!  After seven pushes and a lot very positive, helpful coaching from Jonathan, Jack Little was born at 11:50 am, the best moment of our lives.                         

God has given us a precious, precious miracle.  There are truly no words to describe the love we have for this little guy, our son.  To become a parent and to be able to embark on this incredible journey with my best friend . . . truly, there are no words.  I already wish that time would slow down.  His umbilical chord came off the other day, and I cried.  The first of many milestones in his life, and I know I'll cry through all of them.  We are so humbled to have been given such a great blessing, and I only pray that we live up to the task.  

Jack, Mommy and Daddy love you very much, and I hope that throughout your life you always know that.  I doubt you can really ever know until you are there yourself, because the love a parent has for their child is almost inconceivable.  I suspect that along the way there will be happy and trying times, however, I hope you know that this is true:  You give meaning to our lives, and we are so happy that you belong to us.