Sunday, August 29, 2010

Max's Newborn Pictures

They are ready to be viewed!!!! Here is the link
http://katecrafton.smugmug.com/Portraits/Recent-Sessions/newborn/13473490_rSm6m#981131910_r2hja The password is Lacey


Once I get the disk in the mail I will put up a few pictures :)

Sunday, August 22, 2010

sleep...who needs it


Well this past week has been pretty event less, well other than Max loosing his umbilical cord. I feel like my life revolves in 3 hour segments and every 3 hours everything starts back over again. I have been averaging 4 hours of sleep a night, and that is broke up into 1-1 1/2 hour blocks. Max likes to stay awake after his 3-4am feeding.....this has been very frustrating because at this point I have only had about 1-2 hours of sleep and am super grumpy. Scott is getting a little more sleep than me because I let him sleep while I am feeding Max, and Max usually eats for about 45 minutes. By the time Max has eaten, diaper is changed, he is soothed and basically back asleep it has been about 1 1/2 hours. We then have 1 1/2 hours till he wants to eat again. Another very frustrating part of me breastfeeding him is I can't feed him in the bed. That's all we could do when we came home from the hospital but now neither Max or I can get comfortable in the bed. So needless to say I have to get up and go sit in the living room to feed him. I'm not giving up yet though. Feeding him goes great during the day. Last night I changed up his feedings some by letting him fall asleep eating and not waking him at all and I actually got 6 hours of sleep! I know letting him fall asleep while eating isn't what you are supposed to do but I want some sleep!


As I mentioned Max lost his umbilical cord...well it fell off. Scott went to change his diaper and I hear him yell "Lacey, Lacey..." I go in there and his umbilical cord was laying on the changing table. Scott was grossed out, not really at the cord but what his belly button now looked like. It still had some goo in it. I told him it was normal and we threw away the cord and I cleaned his belly button. His belly button is now crusty and Scott is still a little grossed out but he is surviving :)

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Surprise gift

Friday afternoon when we got back from going to Max's Dr for his circumcision checkup I went to put my PJ top back on. When I moved my shirt there was a special black box under it. In that black box was a wedding band. I already have one band that matches my engagement ring but Scott got me the other band to complete the set! I was truly surprised! Scott has been absolutely wonderful through my pregnancy, labor, and these first few days at home. He is a great daddy and a wonderful husband. I am such a lucky girl! I can't quite wear my rings yet, the swelling isn't completely gone but I can not wait!






Life at home....so far

Well we have been home for 8 days now and have been home by ourselves for 2 nights now. All is good. I am breastfeeding so I feel like my life revolves in 3 hours circuits. Every 3 hours the exact same thing occurs. Scott has been great!! He is taking off this the end of the month and it has been so helpful. I am still not allowed to lift anything heavier then Max, bend and stoop, do many household chores so Scott has been working his butt off. Night time is still an adjustment, I usually go to bed after his evening feeding(anytime from 8:30-10) and Scott stays up and gets him to sleep, then every 3ish hours I get up and feed Max and we take turns getting him back to sleep. Needless to say we are averaging 4-5 hours of sleep a night. We have both tried to get in a nap during the day.

Max has been staying awake more during the day. The morning time he is usually awake the most and he has story time and play time. then for the most part he is usually awake about 20min after eating.

We have been having several visitors which Max loves. He loves to be held so when people come over he usually falls right to sleep and snuggles. Scott and I take advantage of visitors to get on the computer and do little chores so we like them too :) Sorry if you have come to visit and your pic isn't on here...too many visitors to put all the pics up



Before my mom left we did Max's first bath. He is still getting sponge baths because he still has his cord. Well he doesn't like the bath part but does like having his hair washed, so I'm hoping once we can get him in the tub he will enjoy the whole process.

We also had Max's newborn photoshoot on Friday. I am hoping to get a few pic's soon so we can work on announcements but I won't have all the pictures for 4 weeks at the most. As soon as I have any info about them I will update the blog. Kate Crafton took them. Here is a link to her blog http://www.katecraftonblog.com/

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Goodby Grandma :(

My mom lives in Michigan and was able to come down Aug 30th and had to leave to go back home on Thursday. My brother Daniel also took time out of his teenage life to come too :) We had a great visit and she was soooooo helpful with Max, especially that first night at home. Max will miss her bunches! Thanks for coming!


Tramatic Thursday!!

Well Thursday was Max's big day at the Dr's. He was getting his circumcision. Appointment went well. Max is now 6lb's 13oz's. His leaving hospital weight, the Dr was very happy about this. They go over all the risks of the circumcision before doing it and Scott signed the consent(I will always remind Max of this). One risk is bleeding, but with Max not having jaundice anymore no need to worry about this one. Well Dr Bigham uses the ring(the foreskin is cut and a ring with a string is left on and will eventually fall off). We had to wait about 30 min after the procedure because Max had a little bleeding, nothing major. The Dr said that if it did more then ooze call back. Well 3 hours later(4:45) I was pumping and Scott came in to change Max's diaper. I got up because I knew where the old blood was and wanted to see if there was any new blood. Well Scott opened the diaper and it was full of blood! He tried to wipe some of it up but said "I'm gonna pass out", so I quickly stopped pumping and told him to go sit down and I took over. As I cleaned more blood was coming out. Needless to say I called the office hoping someone would still be there, a few minute later I talked to the Dr and he said come on in. So we loaded up(Scott was a little slow and pale). I was going to drive even though I'm not supposed to but Scott said he could do it. We made it to the office and the Dr let me come in the room with them as they examined Max. The Dr ended up removing the ring and string from earlier so he could see where the bleeding was coming from. Once the source was found poor Max got the area cauterized with a stick and then gauze wrapped around his weewee. He did good during the whole thing(the sugar water helped), but his weewee looked pitiful. Scott did not join us for this, thats a good thing because it was pretty rough. I did diaper duty needless to say.

We went back to the Dr on Friday and they said everything looked good and he was healing well. No problems should occur...we will see. The Dr said in the last 13 years Max is only the 2nd baby to have had this problem. Well 2 is our magic number so it figures.

Max's 1st Doctor appointment





Monday was Max's 1st time to the Dr. I was very curious to see if his jaundice was gone and what he was weighing. Also it was going to be our first tome meeting Max's Dr. The Dr we had in the hospital wasn't going to be Max's because his office is in Franklin and we wanted a Dr closer to home. After asking around we decided on Dr Bigham at Murfreesboro Medical Clinic. Scott and I really like him! Max didn't seem to mind him either ;) Max weighed 6lb's 8oz.....sad face. He was 6 13 when we left the hospital so he lost even more weight, over a pound. The Dr said Max looked great and checked another bilirubin level which came back normal so no more jaundice worries but he wanted to see us back on Thursday for a weight check and for Max's circumcision. His circumcision wasn't done in the hospital because he had jaundice and that can cause him to bleed easily. All in all today's adventure was a good one, oh and Max now loves his car seat and car rides!!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Our hospital stay

I am slowly but steadily trying to keep the blog updated. It's much harder to do now that Max is here :)

As previously blogged Max got here at 9:35 Tuesday night(Aug 3rd). We didn't come home from the hospital till Sat afternoon. We were there forever, plus add in I was there Mon night also. Everything went well in the hospital, I was up and moving(still quite sore though), breastfeeding going well, Max doing great and we were both going to be discharged on Friday. Friday morning when the pediatrician came in I mentioned to him that I thought Max looked a tad orange, he didn't really think so but was going to check his bilirubin levels anyways. About 45 minutes later the Dr called and said he was very surprised but Max did have jaundice and was going to be put under the lights. The next hour was crazy! The nursery nurse(who we did not like) came in to set up the lights and give all these rules. Basically the only time he could be out from under the lights was when he was eating and even then a light blanket had to be wrapped around him(which made feeding him really hard) and she wanted his light goggles to stay on him. Then the lactation lady came in and wanted me to start pumping after I fed Max and argued with the nursery nurse about the goggles. Then my nurse came in to do discharge teaching. So in a matter of an hour with all the teaching, Max crying from being tied down to the bili light blanket, and Scott and I unable to do anything to make him happy I had a break down. Those post pregnancy hormones sure will get you fast. Scott had to be a bit stern to the nursery nurse but Max ended up in the nursery under the lights and just came to the room to eat. That worked much better and I was able to collect myself. Sat afternoon Max's levels were good so we got to come home!!!

Max did not like his car seat and after about 15 minutes of driving he calmed down some but we did have to pull over to pull out a trusty medical glove for me to put on so Max would suck on my pinkie. That's the only way we had found to calm him down. We made it home safe and sound.






Monday, August 9, 2010

Happy Birthday MAX!!!

Max William Bolden entered this world at 9:35pm on August 3rd 2010 at 7lb's 9oz's and 19 1/2 inches. He is a pure joy and we are in absolute love with him!! His entry into this world was a long one but so worth it!

I was given medicine to get my cervix to dilate Monday night and at 6am they started me on a pitocin IV to get my contractions started. I was still only dilated to a 1-2. I was feeling good no problems with the pitocin. Around noon Dr P came in and wanted to break my water because I wasn't really having any good contractions and this would help to progress labor. Well I hadn't had any pain med's yet and due to my anatomy this was not sucessful because I was screaming in pain. After that I was give some IV Stadol(a older pain medication) and boy oh boy did that mess me up! Everyone in the room was cracking up saying was sooo loopy! After that they wanted to do my epidural so Dr P could come back to break my water again. After 2 attempts the epidural was in place. It was not this horrible scary experience that people say it is. Just a little burn when they numbed me. My epidural was fine, I could move my legs and my right one was a little numb, but the nurses were not concerned about my legs :) Because I got a epidural I had to get a catheter, after 2 attempts at that it was in place...yeah 2 attempts for my medical friends, I mean come on! Dr. P came back in at 4 and broke my water, still hurt but tolerable. That is an odd feeling and at one point I felt like it was shooting up on my leg by where Scott was standing. Now for those who know Scott he does not handle any thing medical well so I said watch out Scott! If it would have got on him it would have been over, he would be puking or on the floor :) After my water was broke Dr P put in an internal contraction monitor to get a better reading of my contractions. By breaking my water that would allow Max to slide down further and put pressure on my cervix to get it to dilate more. I was also on the max dose of pitocin now.

And the waiting began.....Everyone kept going up to the contraction monitor and discussing how big my contractions were....I didn't feel a single one. At about 7:30 I convinced everyone to go get dinner and at 8:15 the nurse came back in to check me, we were hoping for a dilation of 4-6....I was a 2!! At this point I was tired and my body apparently was not wanting to cooperate so I said to the nurse if the dr is ready for a c-section so am I. I was prepared for a section because the Dr had warned me I had a narrow pelvis and a c-section was a high probability. The nurse came back in at 8:30 and said c-section at 9pm! Scott got right on the phone and called everyone to come back. We pulled out our camera's and low and behold both cameras had dead batteries!!! Ahh that horrible number 2! Scott ran out to the waiting room and got aunt Jackies camera, dressed in his paper outfit and off we went to the OR. Scott had to wait in a chair outside the room until they were ready for him, he said it was like Grey's Anatomy out there with people scrubbing up, he got a kick out of it. While this was going on I was getting strapped to the table and loaded up on medicine for my epidural. Once Scott was in the room they began and Scott leaned over to me and said "it smells in here", I then proceeded to tell him that was "my burning flesh" he said "oh"...good thing he was sitting down. A little while later we heard that sweet cry of our little boy and got to meet him for the first time :)
Scott went with the nurse to the nursery where Max got weighed, measured, bathed, and his first shots. Max had quite an audience for this- My mom, dad, and Vicki, my brothers Jimmy and Daniel, Scott's dad, brother Josh, Aunt Jackie. I was wheeled back to my room and the family came in and all told me how beautiful Max was and trickled out for the night, it was getting late. I got to see Max about 10:30. The first thing I said was "oh my he looks just like my dad"!! Scott and I loved all over him and then I tried to feed him for the first time. He latched right on and did great! We did send him to the nursery (I was still a bit drugged up) and they brought him to me every few hours to feed him. It was a very emotional night, I was so in love with him, we both are!







Monday, August 2, 2010

Is today the day??????

Well today we were off to see Dr P. We were fully prepared to go from the dr office to the hospital to start a possible induction. Before the appointment I wanted to have a good breakfast so it was off to cracker barrel. I had mine and Max's fav breakfast from there- Mama's french toast breakfast. Then off to the Dr's. Dr. P checked me and I was still dilated at a 1 even after the cervix stimulation from Thursday, however I had protein in my urine(which has not happened yet in the office) and my amniotic fluid level had gone down from Thursday so Dr P said it's time to have this baby!! However because of my yummy breakfast I had to go home and nothing more to eat and report back to the hospital at 4:30. Tonight they are going to soften and hopefully dilate my cervix more using a medication called cytotech. Staring pitocin in the morning to help stimulate those contractions!!! Max should be here tomorrow!!

Before heading to the hospital

Real news!!!

Well today we got some real you can really believe it news. Max should be here by tomorrow!! I have been monitoring my blood pressure the last few days and it has been up quite a few times and then yesterday I started having contractions. The contractions were about every 15-20-30 minutes. Real irregular but there. I called Dr P last night and she said if they get to be every 10 min for 2 hours straight to go to hospital, if not see her as scheduled in the morning. I actually slept through the night and only woke up 4 times hurting with contractions.

Well I wanted a good breakfast this morning so we went to Cracker Barrel and I filled up on a great breakfast! Then off to the DR. Well my urine dip in the office today showed a lot of protein, it hasn't showed any protein yet in the office just my 24 hour urine. Dr. P also checked my amniotic fluid levels and they have decreased, meaning my blood pressure is effecting Max and putting him in some stress. I am dilated to a 1 but not where we were hoping to be. Well Dr P said the time has come. Now that Max is showing some signs of stress it is time for him to come. Dr P has me at 38 weeks and 4 days today.

So this is the plan. Because I ate my my great breakfast we are now home. I have to have noting to eat for 6 hours before going into the hospital. So we will be admitted at 4:30 this afternoon and they will apply cytotec to my cervix to ripen it and dilate it more. In the morning they will start pitocin to induce my labor. If my blood pressure stays in the 90's while in labor(the bottom number) Dr P will have to put me on Magnesium which will help lower my BP and hopefully prevent me from having severe complications related to high blood pressure(such as seizures). However Magnesium kinda counteracts the pitocin and if she has to start Magnesium she said I will end up with a c-section and my labor will not be fun. So lets hope my BP stays ok.

So basically until 4:30 I am not allowed to eat and am just hanging out at the house. I plan on attempting to take a nap- if I can't eat I might as well try to sleep :)

Oh and I lost another pound....leave fluid leave!!