Time for Playgroup

I know it sounds silly, but Charlie and I signed up for playgroup for newborns, which started today. It really is just an expensive way for us new moms to meet other moms and share all of our experiences (good and bad). Jen from school is in the group, so it will be nice to catch up with her and her son every week.

Today we discussed our birth experiences, tummy time (and learned new exercises which Charlie loves!), swaddling (and i bought 2 new blankets to attempt to swaddle him ... something HAS to work to keep him settled at night for more than an hour at a time), and tummy massages. It's nice to hear others' experiences to realize you are not alone and to appreciate some of the things your baby isn't doing!

Charlie has been taking the pacifier a bit more. Granted, mostly for others and not me, but i am glad he has taken it. It really helps him calm down a bit. Hopefully once he is used to it, he'll take it for me also. Of course right now, he knows i have the boob, which is probably mush nicer to suck on than a plastic pacifier.

We also started him on Zantac, poor baby. I don't think he has reflux, but honestly i'll try anything to help with his tummy issues. He gets so stiff, red and screams in such pain after meals. I think it's gas, but it may be a touch of relfux. Hopefully the meds plus swaddling and massages will help reduce the discomfort.

Charlie's 2 week milestone

Today Charlie rolled over. Yup our 2 week old baby decided that he wasn't showing off enough by lifting his head and looking around on day 2... so today he rolled from his belly to his back two times! Of course i missed it, but he did it with steve (and in front of cousin Nicole for proof). What a little over achiever! I hope we can catch it on film tonight or tomorrow. I am such a proud mom!

Today we went down to Mansfield for Steven's surprise 60th bday. Actually today was the day for many events.. we had 3 invites to celebrations! I really wanted to go to CT for Lys' baby shower, but after our crazy weekend last weekend, we thought it would be best to stay local for Charlie. Especially with his crabby moods lately. So we were able to visit with the rest of my dad's cousins. Some weren't at the Labor Day affair last weekend, so there were a few people meeting him for the first time. We also got to see Taylor (1 year) and Mercedes (4 years), who were both so adorable with him. Taylor's dog is also named Charlie, so she was a bit confused at first when we kept asking her where Charlie was. But she is a smart cookie and figured out that the baby was also a Charlie :)

Poor Charlie has been really gassy lately, which has led to tired Mom and Dad. He likes to scream for hours between 7 and 11 pm.. it's exhausting. Hopefully the Mylicon and extra burping during the feeding will provide some relief. But we may be at the Dr on Monday if things don't get better soon. Poor baby looks like he is in pain after eating, and i feel just awful. And it makes us not want to feed the kid. And while screeching, all he tries to do is eat more, which makes it all worse.

Charlie has arrived!

Baby Charles Theodore arrived on Wed at 1:11 pm! He weighed in at 7 lb 11 oz and was 20 inches long. Obviously things have been a bit hectic over here, so i will have to share the birth story another day.

Monday we took Charlie out for the first time. We went to the Dr office... he has gained 5 oz and grew 0.5 inches (probably more measurement error than real growth). It's reassuring that the breastfeeding is going well :) He is in the 25th %tile for his head, 35th for weight and 65th for height. He's long and lean (just like his parents... ha ha).

Everyone always asks how Bailey is adjusting to life as a big sister. She is so proud of her little brother! They get along very well, as you can see from the pictures. Bailey likes to play with Charlie and his toys :)



Charlie is also starting to sleep much better. As most babies do, he had his days and nights all mixed up. He would sleep for hours during the day. He slept so soundly that we couldn't wake him up to eat. So then at night, he'd be up every 45 min to 1 hour for a feeding. But he's already begun to adjust his clock. He is now sleeping for 2-3 hours at a time both in the day and at night, which is a big help. It's helped both of us get a decent amount of sleep (considering we have a newborn)!


And as if we didn't have enough pictures already, we have our photographer coming over tomorrow for our 1st photo shoot. We are splurging and will have her take a series of 3 photoshoots over the 1st year of life -- 2 weeks, 6 months and 1 year. I am excited to have her come to our house, so we can include Bailey in some of the images.

Baby watch day 2

Our due date came and went rather uneventfully... so now we are on heightened baby watch. I definitely have been feeling more uncomfortable and feel like things are happening, but the process is going very slowly. At the Dr office, i wasn't quite 2 cm dilated and the bay is only 50% effaced. Bc of the BP scares, the Dr are not comfortable with me going beyond 41 weeks, so i think i will be induced if this baby doesn't decide to come on it's own. The pressure of an induction plus the anticipation of meeting our little one makes it very hard to relax, which I know is what I need to do!

But at the Dr, you would have thought i was a week late, the way they have already jumped on the induction path... it has me feeling like i am late, and due date was only yesterday.

We saw the baby on the u/s yesterday and it was totally just chillin inside me, hanging out. It looked WAY too comfy for 40 weeks... i guess it's stubborn like its mom... and enjoying it while it can. But I guess who wouldn't want to hang out in there, enjoying all of those sundaes at Cabot's.

I am also avoiding my phone, so if anyone wants to call, i really don't feel like talking... i know everyone means well and just wants to check in, but i keep telling the same stories over and over.

Right now, I am just really crampy during the day, with occasional contractions. Although last night, they started coming 20 min apart and i was hoping they were just going to get more frequent. I even stayed home today hoping i was going to continue to progress.

Tomorrow is another day. Hopefully we'll have some news soon!

39 weeks...

Wow it's been a while since my last post... hopefully I'll get better at this when the baby is born!! Lots has happened these past few weeks. Some highlights:

-- The nursery is mostly set up. We got the furniture delivered and the bedding is on the crib, changer on the dresser and diaper depot ready to organize! This past weekend, steve's parents came to visit and his mom and I went shopping and got most everything we needed. I really like how the nursery has come out, considering we haven't really done much decorating yet. But we figure even though the goal was to make a gender neutral nursery (to use again in the future), we can buy some decorations for the wall after the baby is born that are gender specific.

-- put together the stroller last night... those were officially the WORST directions I have ever seen. They would tell us to attach something to a part of the stroller, but gave no diagram of the stroller parts. SO we had no idea where anything went. Then it was accompanied by a picture, but the pictures were either too close up or too far away, so you couldn't see where anything went! Luckily we were able to figure it out ourselves and didn't even get into a fight! That may have been the first time...

-- started to put together the pack n play, but realize we have NO place to put it. So i guess for now we'll save it for traveling. And once the baby is out of the cradle, we can use that space for the PNP. But it seems rather easy to assemble, so that is good!

-- The cradle... man what a pain! I guess most cradles now are made a bit bigger, so we are having a hard time finding cradle sheets that fit the mattress. and what's weird is the BRU sells the mattress in the size we need (33x15) but no sheets that size. I found some online, so hopefully they arrive before we get home with the baby! Or I guess we'll be using the PNP after all.

-- Crazy week on Monday. I'm sure most have heard the story by now, but I was almost induced on Monday! My regular Dr (Cindy) is on vacation, so this week i had an appt with the nurses. They measured the baby (estimated at 6lb 10oz +/- 1 lb) and did the u/s, and put me on the monitor and everything was normal. Then they took my BP which was slightly high (120/95) and i guess 95 is a bit too high. Now i told them i had to do a tv interview that day so i was a bit anxious, but the back up Dr did NOT like the BP reading. I always have high BP with him... i never do with Cindy. But bc i have had slightly high BP before, he decided to do bloodwork to test for pre-eclampsia. And if it was positive, then i'd have to deliver.

Luckily everything was fine at the hospital... my BP was normal, all tests were negative for pre-eclampsia and i was sent home (in time to do my TV interview... talk about flustered!). But i don't understand why he had to jump the gun... i mean i would have expected them to take my BP a few more times first, as that was the first time my DBP was that high... it usually was in the 70s and low 80s. Even the nurses at the hospital said the same thing. But he is used to dealing with high risk patients, so i guess when his patients have a bad BP reading, it's usually more than just a bit of anxiety. He is such a nice guy, but man does he stress me out.. i have to go back on Thursday... i hope i can stay calm enough to get a good reading. I really want to wait until the baby is ready on it's own or Cindy is back in the office!!

But that whole experience really was a wake up call for me. Now i realize that in the very near future i will be in labor and have a baby. But I guess it just hasn't seemed real at all. I called steve and was a complete wreck at the thought of going into the hospital and having the baby... but now i think i am starting to get excited for this all to happen. I have heard so many women tell me that as soon as labor started or their Dr said they would be induced, they felt completely unprepared and not at all ready to have the baby. Which is exactly how I felt on Monday. But then last night, i was having mild cramping and thought, well if this is the start, now i think i am ready. We'll see if that is the case when it is time!

Steve doesn't understand why i am nervous or not ready. He is so matter of fact about it. But I also think that when i was being sent to the hospital, all i could think of was i am having a baby today and it freaked me out. Steve probably assumed it was nothing and i would be sent home. I wonder if when this all actually happens and it really is time, if it'll affect his differently. Not that he'll ever tell me, but i wonder if he'll have any reservations in his mind. Maybe, maybe not. we'll know soon enough!

Full term!

Wow we have made it to 37 weeks and the baby is now officially full term. Amazing! Some days I feel like this pregnancy flew by and other days I definitely feel like it was 9 months... but it's coming to an end and we are preparing to start the next chapter in our lives as parents, yikes!

Had our baby shower this weekend. My mom and sister did an amazing job decorating the place and coming up with some fun games. The centerpieces were stuffed animals which were all super cute :) and the baby won a cow (my favorite non-dog animal!). My mom also did a great job with the diaper cake. And i got my Konditormeister cake! I went with lemon and it was so yummy! I was very happy with my choice :)

Overall it was so much fun and much less overwhelming than my bridal shower. I think it really helped that I got there early and could greet everyone. Gave me extra time to socialize and i didn't feel so rushed.

We got so much stuff, i haven't even gone through it all yet. Half of it is still at my aunt's house. We got a lot of cute clothes, but between what I have bought already and everything we have received, i think i will put some aside and exchange them for gender specific things once the little one arrives. We also received almost everything we needed from the registry. We just need to go through the stuff to make sure we have those last few items we need for when the baby first comes home. The only thing i thing we have way too many of are blankets. So we can return those to get some of the little things we still need.

Had a Dr appt yesterday... nothing exciting to report. Still barely dilated and the baby has to drop a lot more. So it doesn't sound like it's in a rush to be born. Which is good, because we need a bit more time! But then again, it can all happen so quickly, so we need to be prepared just in case!

We get the furniture delivered this weekend, and then I think we'll feel much more ready. Right now stuff is just everywhere. Once the furniture is here and we start to get organized, I think it'll make a big difference. We also bought Dreft, so i can start washing all of the baby clothes.

This weekend we plan on having one last "hurrah".. going "out" in town with some friends one last time before the little one gets here. So excited that we will have visitors! It gets so hard having such great friends in CT... we never get to just hang out. I am so excited that Alexis is coming up! And I am dying to have others visit for the weekend also (some of whom read this blog... you know who you are!). We will go out on Sat and then Sunday I think Steve will cook us brunch and maybe go up to my aunt's pool (probably should see if they are around!) if it is nice out. Can't wait!!

Busy weekend!

Steve and I are half way through our busy weekend...

Yesterday, we made more progress on the apt, unpacking and organizing. We have to finish cleaning out the baby's room, to make room for the furniture that will be delivered next weekend. Plus we have to make the spare room functional. Starting next weekend with Alexis and Manny, we will be having lots of overnight guests, especially once the baby arrives. So we really no longer have any "spare room". The last 2 apt, we have always had that extra room, for "everything else". With the baby arriving, we really won't have that any more.

Then we met with Lily, our doula, to discuss the birth plan and all of our roles during the birth. I guess up until now, this whole process has been very abstract and it was just something that was going to happen one day. But now that we are a few weeks away, i can't believe everything that will happen. I am REALLY glad we have found a doula. I think it will be the extra support person that I will need during the labor.

Today we have my shower. Yay! Steve and I have to go pick up the cake at Konditermeister. With my desire (ok demand) to have a cake from that bakery, we got put on cake duty. I don't mind bc it will be SO worth it! I am SO excited!! Then we are off to Nashua. I am excited to see what my mom has been working so hard on for the past few weeks.