Growing Jude

Jude is now 2 weeks and 3 days old. Today is Tuesday and Jude still hasn't gotten the hang of Tuesdays. The last two weeks, each Tuesday has been a rough-ish day with an even more rough night. I sure hope that we can avoid a nasty night like the last two weeks!
Unfortunately, gas is Jude's biggest enemy. He is gassy and therefore angry! He can't sleep because he's gassy. He gets tired because he can't sleep. He gets more angry because he's tired. It's a vicious cycle. I feel so bad for him.

However, he is still incredibly cute and has some very picturesque moments :)

First Week at Home

This has been quite the eventful week! We all have so much to learn. I can't imagine being in Jude's spot: a new world where he has to eat, breathe, pee and poo, have gas, feel clothes and diapers and absolutely everything is totally brand new! Ross and I have a lot of learning to do as well. Jude has a fussy time each day and it seems like nothing we try will console him. He seems to be pretty particular about what he likes and doesn't like. So far, this is what I've figured out:
- He doesn't like to have his diaper changed, even if it's the most saturated diaper you've ever seen
- He doesn't like to have his clothes changed until you're pretty much done and he realizes that he's in something comfortable and then understands that it isn't that bad.
- He loves to fall asleep on your chest or in the crook of your arm
- He loves to have baths
- He is an excellent eater! He's gained almost a pound since Friday!
- When he's awake, he is so expressive!
- He is really strong!

More to come, but I thought a quick update was in order. Here are some more pics :)

Our Son Jude

Much of what I say in this post will mirror what Ross already said in the previous one. But I don't know where to begin but the beginning. As I am sure it is apparently clear, I was ready to be done with the pregnancy. I had tried absolutely everything (excluding castor oil) that is thought to induce labor. I had tried everything multiple times!
Friday the 6th was the only day out of the last 4 weeks that I woke up and didn't think "today could be the day." The day before, I had decided that the 6th would be my last day of work before I went on leave. I knew that it'd just be easier as his birth was imminent and I didn't want to have to worry about my work once I went into labor. After I returned my material to my office, I went to the Mills Mall where one lap around the whole thing is a mile. I did 2 1/2 laps and I bounded up and down every stair that would make itself available to me! My mom and I went to lunch and afterwards, went back to the mall and did another 2 laps. I drove home slightly bummed out that I had only one contraction from all that!
I got so sick feeling that night - it reminded me of being back in the 1st trimester! Labor had begun. Less than 12 hours from my very first contraction of labor, Jude joined our family! I could not have made it through the labor if it weren't for Ross and our doula. The support of them is what carried me through. I'm also very pleased that I was able to have the birth that I had wanted; totally drug free and natural! Jude even surprised our midwife and the nurse - they didn't even have their gloves on when he was born! He came out with one of his hands at the top of his head - he was BRACED FOR IMPACT!

I can't remember what my priorities were 6 days ago. Jude has completed our family and we didn't even know it was incomplete before! We've been home for 3 days and 2 nights and it has definitely been challenging. I know that we will find our rhythm and things will get easier with time.

Overall, Jude is a wonderfully tempered baby for a 5 day old. He makes hilarious faces and expressions and each day, I see more and more of each of us in him. He got the intestinal system of his mother (shout out to all my Olaf buddies) so I have been trying some infant massage techniques as well as some baby gas drops to help him out. Tonight, we gave Jude his first sponge bath. He absolutely loved it! Afterwards it was like he was drunk on cleanliness. After he finishes eating, he gets periodic grins accompanied by slight eye-roll; a face I like to call "post milk intoxication". He makes me laugh and is just so amazing to have around.

Ok, enough babbling - on to some more pictures :)

A walk on our first day home

After bath

Drunk on cleanliness

Yep, I know how to stick out my tongue!

The outfit Dad came home from the hospital in

Yes ladies, I'm single...

The story of Jude

To those of you who haven't heard yet, yesterday August 7th at 9:29AM, Heidi and I welcomed baby Jude Tiberius into the world! He was 7 pounds, 11 ounces, 20-1/4" and is without a doubt the most beautiful baby in the world.  Yeah I'm a proud dad...  Mother and baby are both doing great, here's the story of how he was born:

Heidi had not been feeling well on friday night, so when she told me she was nauseous and tired at 8:00 pm, I sort of knew something was up.  I told her to go to bed because her body was telling her something important, but i stayed up.  This ended up being a big mistake because when i came to bed at 10:30, Heidi started contractions, so after a while we started timing them.  What's weird is that she started with contractions less than 5 minutes apart!  I mean, we had no idea what was going on when most books say go to the hospital when contractions are 5 minutes apart, but she was at 2 minutes apart at the most.

So there we were, delirious, excited, and more than a little confused and trying to get to the hospital in the quickest and safest way possible.  Heidi started calling family between contractions, and notified our Doula so she could meet us at the hospital.  We arrived at about 2:30, and were met by Heidi's mom Veronica and our Doula Geneva.  After the nurse tried a couple times to get contraction readings and Jude's heartbeat, they decided that we were officially in labor and would be staying.  I know that Heidi was nervous, but she was in great spirits because she was so excited to meet Jude!  Veronica stayed around for the first few hours to support Heidi, and it was great to have her there.

Geneva, our Doula ended up being wonderful!  I'm so glad we decided to hire her, it really helped me calm down and be as supportive of Heidi as possible.  She says i did a great job, but i think that's just because i did a decent job pretending i wasn't about to pass out.

Heidi really wanted to labor without pain medication, and also without Pitocin.  I knew she'd be able to do it, and with some encouragement from Geneva and I, she did!  I'm in awe of how tough she is!  On the other hand, I've never felt more terrified and helpless in my life.  It's tough to watch someone you love be in so much pain and not be able to do anything about it.  She handled it like a pro though, all the nurses were so impressed by how well she did throughout the entire process.

At 9:29, Jude was finally born, and I have never seen anything so amazing in my whole life.  They say it's a miracle, and prior to yesterday i just nodded like i knew what they were talking about, but now I fully understand.  Watching a new life coming into the world has got to be the most amazing thing anyone can experience.  I almost fainted.  Seriously my hands started tingling and i got these red and green splotches in my eyes, but thankfully i kept my dignity and stayed vertical.

After he was born, Heidi needed a fair number of stitches, and she managed getting those like a champ while i tended to Jude with the nurses.  About an hour after he was born Heidi finally got to feed him, and after that our families got a to come in and see him for the first time.  It was pretty much unanimous that he's the cutest baby the world has ever seen.  That's not just me talking, we took a vote.

He has been feeding without any issues at all, and sleeping very soundly, but everyone is impressed by how alert and awake he has been.  He has the brightest eyes you've ever seen.  I think his nose is an exact mix between Heidi's and mine.  Speaking of, you'll probably want to see some pictures!! Check these out:

I've been learning how to change diapers and swaddle and it's been extremely fun! I can't wait to get this big guy home.

And as a side note, here's what i love about his name (besides it's general awesomeness): you either love or hate the name, but you just can't ignore it.

We'll be heading home tomorrow, and I'm sure we'll post more pictures as we take them, but for now thank you for all the well wishes, we will get back to all of you individually as soon as we can!  As a side note, we're always accepting food deliveries to our house... :) or come over to see him (and erase a chore from our chore board) but please give us a call first... We might be a little exhausted the next few weeks.

Reasons Still Being Pregnant is Good

Since I am feeling tortured over the fact that I'm still pregnant, I thought it'd be a good idea to make a list of things which are positive about still being pregnant. Don't fool yourselves though, I'm doing this only to convince myself, not other still-pregnant women :)

- I can take reeeeaaaalllly loooong hot showers and I don't have to worry about a baby waiting for me on the other side of cleanliness.

-While it may be incredibly uncomfortable at this point, I am able to sleep in. This is not to be confused with sleeping through the night because that hasn't happened for me in a few months now. While I do awake every hour on the hour to pee, I can still go back to bed as many times as I want.

-I can text my friends all day long no matter what I'm doing during the day.

-There are only a few precious days left for me to eat whatever I want with the excuse that I'm pregnant. Example: I walked to King Soopers tonight to get donuts because I wanted them and ate 2...yes, 2!!!

-I can enjoy the fact that my belly is supposed to be big and not feel self conscious about it one. little. bit!

-People are incredibly nice to me and are very smily when they see me. They open doors and offer to do very simple tasks on my behalf.

-It's a great excuse to get another pedicure!

-I think no one I know ignores my phone calls right now because everyone thinks that "this could be it!" HAHAHAHAHA!

-I can indulge myself in the excessive need for things to be cleaned - I still have time to sweep the kitchen floor 3 times a day.

-My husband seems much more willing to watch all of those chick flicks again

-While I enjoy eating out, it is not MY body that is the restaurant...yet

-If I need to run to store real quick, I can do just that. Run to the store, REAL QUICK.

-Once I've gone to the store REAL QUICK, I can pretty much carry everything into the house in 1 trip. I do not see this happening once Baby arrives.

-I can hold my baby and still have both hands free to do whatever!!

-My distracted driving level peaks at cell phone usage. I imagine it'll soon peak at desired cell phone usage, baby watching, etc.

-While my entire repertoire of things to talk about currently consists only of baby and impending labor, I still am able (mostly) to manage having conversations about regular, everyday, adult things. Don't get me wrong I'm looking forward to only being capable of talking about how amazing my baby is, but at least I haven't lost all semblance of adult conversation-ability yet...

-(this one is for Ross)-Video games are still regularly played

-if I slip and say a "not-so-pretty" word, it's ok

-I think my phone rings off the hook now...

I could probably come up with more, but I think that's a good start! I hope that I've succeeded in convincing myself and staying positive!!! Wish me luck :)