One Month

I can't believe that our little man is already a month old! But then again, I still have absolutely no concept of time since he was born, so that really shouldn't be surprising. When I think about it, Sam really has changed a great deal already in just his short one month of life. Most noticeably is that he is so much more awake! He likes to look around and just hang out on your lap. I think that he's actually seeing our faces and some other things now, which means he also enjoys spending time on his playmat. No, he can't actually interact with anything yet, but he likes to look at all the brightly colored items. On his back he likes to either lie there and look or kick his legs a bit. He's pretty tolerant of tummy time (he'd love it if we'd let him sleep on his tummy all the time!), during which he squirms his little legs so much that he actually moves himself to the edge of the mat. He can push up on his arms if he's really motivated/mad, and holds his head up for many seconds at a time.

He's still trying to figure out those hands. As much as he loves having them up by his face, he still hasn't been able to separate any fingers to get into his mouth as he so greatly desires. He has, however, figured out how to hold onto Mommy's hair...and a burp cloth. He actually "carried" it with him from my shoulder to his changing table the other day. Now if we could just switch that out for a lovie...

And of course I think he's even cuter than the day he was born. And bigger, too! Everyone keeps telling me how tiny he is, but to me he just looks huge. I can't wait to find out at the doctor tomorrow just how big he really is!

Life With Sam

It feels oddly normal to have Sam around. I thought that it would be really weird to have a baby living with me, but it feels like he belongs. That being said, it doesn't feel like this is forever. I still can't picture him a few years down the road, let alone in high school or anything like that. I sometimes look in his face and try to imagine what his personality will be like when he gets a little older - I can't wait to find out!

Grandma Sivard (my mom) left after her week-long stay on May 9. That means that Sam and I have been on our own for 4.5 full weekdays (soon to be 5.5 at the end of today). Yes, there are periods that are overwhelming, like when he starts crying every time I put him down so I can't get a shower till 3:00. But there are really great times as well, like when he sleeps all warm and cozy on my chest for an hour. That feels good!

For the most part he is doing pretty well at nights. He usually goes back down after I feed him without any effort. His length of sleep is still unpredictable, but I think he actually gets that he belongs in his crib at night time if he's not eating. He's had one stretch of 5.5 hours of sleep, but its looking like that was a fluke.

Speaking of flukes, he did roll over! The very first time I ever put him on his tummy he pushed right up and rolled to his back. I put him back on his tummy and he did it again. It took a week, but he did it again right after lunch today. I mentioned it to the pediatrician at his two-week check up and she said it wasn't a fluke and looked impressed. We'll see if he keeps it up!

Likes and Dislikes

Sam's Likes:
-Pacifier
-Bouncy Seat
-Swing
-Being Swaddled
-Sleeping on Daddy's Chest
-Having his hands by his face


Sam's Dislikes:
-Sponge Baths
-Diaper Changes
-Car Seat (which translates to the stroller as well)
-Burping

Who Do I Look Like?

I look like Daddy. People continue to have a hard time picking which one of us they think he looks like, but when you see Chris's baby picture it becomes quite clear. The two boys look quite similar in their infant state. Here's Chris's baby picture as proof:

Not a whole lot of Mommy in him...except the finger nails. He was born with very long fingernails - they've already been trimmed/filed because he kept scratching his face - just like Mommy's.

Photos

We've added a web album (on the left) for Sam's Pictures. You can click on it to view full size or click here.

Sam's Birth Story

On the afternoon of April 29th I had my 39-week check up with the OB. I was 2cm dilated and 80% effaced. This was virtually no change from the week before, so I left a little disheartened that things might take a while to move along.

Later that night I woke up around 2am with a strange little pain. I thought nothing of it a fell back to sleep. A few minutes later, the same thing. Once this happened a few times, I realized that they might be early contractions, but really I had no idea. When they didn't stop I eventually decided to get out of bed. Chris woke up a little before 3, but I sent him back to bed because I wasn't sure that anything was really happening, and I wasn't really that uncomfortable. I woke him up again around 4:30 when I was sure that these were real contractions, coming at regular intervals, and were more painful than before - he began to time them.

My doctor had told us that for a first baby, she liked to see 2 hours of contractions that were 5 minutes apart or less before coming to the hospital. From the time we started timing them, my contractions were lasting a minute each and were between 2-4 minutes apart. So we let that go on for 2 hours, after which time we called the doctor and Chris started getting things ready to go. By that point in the game I wasn't much help in getting anything ready - the contractions had started to get pretty intense. It still hadn't been that long since my first one though - maybe 5 hours by the time we packed up the car - so I started to really judge myself for how badly I was handling them. I was sure that I'd get to the hospital and be about 3cm.

I was wrong. By the time we got to the hospital my contractions were VERY intense - not helped by the fact that once you're at the hospital they make you stay in that stupid bed. Not very comfortable! But the admitting nurse finally got around to checking me and declared that I was 8cm dilated and fully effaced. I was ecstatic, and Chris told me later that he was relieved that I wasn't going to have to endure it for that much longer.

From that point on it was a huge whirlwind. The labor and delivery unit was completely full when we arrived, so they put us in a c-section pre-op room. It was about the size of a prison cell, and they had to keep telling Chris to "go stand over there" while they tried to arrange things. There just wasn't room! When they realized how far along I was they began running around collecting things to turn it into a labor and delivery room - things like a baby warmer, stool for dr. to sit on, and stirrups. And they called the anesthesiologist :-) Because it was a full house he was already on the floor. If he hadn't been, I don't think I would have gotten my drugs. When he got to my room he said, "I saw you coming in and I knew we'd be meeting up soon!" He put in something that works faster than the normal epidural drug, but only lasts for 45 minutes. He promised to return with the normal drug before the first one wore off. My OB had arrived at that point and told him that we'd probably be done before this first drug wore off.

By the time I got the epidural I was 9cm and my doctor said we could go ahead and start pushing. After one of the contractions the doctor said, "well he's got some dark hair!" I think that's when my brain finally wrapped itself around the concept of what we were all doing there - waiting to meet a new person! It was all happening so quickly that I really didn't have time to stop and think about what was about to happen! I have no concept of time, but Chris guesses that I pushed for somewhere between 15-30 minutes before Sam was born at 9:47, only an hour and 45 minutes after we walked in the hospital doors.

I guess I'd had my eyes closed during most of the time I'd been pushing. I didn't look at anything until he was half way out. Looking down and seeing his head and shoulders coming up towards me was perhaps the most surreal moment of my life. I noticed that he had the cord wrapped around his neck, but apparently Chris noticed more and told me later that it scared him - it didn't seem to bother Sam. Chris surprised me but cutting the cord (I really thought that would make him faint!) and Sam began to display his strong set of lungs. They put him on my stomach to wipe him down, then put him skin to skin with me for a few minutes. He got 9's on both of his APGAR tests. After cleaning him up a bit better under the warmer, he successfully breastfed for a few minutes before leaving his footprints. Chris carried him down to the nursery, where he stayed for a few hours while they did a full evaluation of him.

The list of attendees of Sam's birth is proof that God does answer prayer. Long story short, there was much drama in my last trimester relating to which doctor would be able to attend my delivery given my own doctor's own maternity leave. I was quite upset about the way it was all playing out, which lead many friends to begin praying not only that a good doctor would show up, but that I would be provided with an excellent labor and delivery nurse to make the experience as positive as possible. Well, my doctor returned from maternity leave on April 27 and was able to be there for Sam's birth. And because the unit was completely full when we arrived, the only nurse available for me was the Charge Nurse, who is in charge of the entire unit, usually isn't assigned to a specific patient but oversees the care of all, and who has an incredible amount of experience. She was amazing. I would have taken either/or, but we got both!

The rest of the day flew by just as quickly. Part of that could have been because of the nice pain killers they gave me when my short-term epidural wore off, but I think most of it was because I was so content just to hold my little man. We had several visitors in the evening - it was fun to show him off, and Sam got to meet his first playmate. He's pretty good at breastfeeding, but finds it a little too comforting sometimes and needs to be reminded that this is an "awake" activity, not naptime. But he has been very well-behaved and we are loving every minute with him.