Christopher is 4 weeks old today!  I can't believe it!  We have discovered that he really enjoys tummy time and prefers to be on his belly much more than his back.  I am afraid to let him sleep on his belly but I am sure that he would be easier to put down if I would let him.  During his first bath we turned him over on his belly to wash off his back and the boy fell asleep in the tub while the warm water was being poured on him!!  He is changing every day and becoming more aware of his surroundings.  He is still nursing very well and I am curious to see how much he weighs at his 1 month well visit on Tuesday the 25th.  I am tired most of the time but I am thoroughly enjoying my new role as mom to a newborn!

Chris had his first play date yesterday at my good friend Carrie's house.  Carrie, Kim and I went to high school together and cheered together.  Carrie has a son Cal that is 8 months old and Kim has a son Gavin that is 4 months old.  So we decided to get together for the first time in years!  It was so great to catch up with them.  We kept talking about how funny it was that we were now at a point in our lives where we were sitting around talking about breast feeding and pumping and baby sleeping habits as opposed to boys or whatever else that we talked about 15 years ago as freshman at CHHS.  I look forward to many more play dates with them!

Here are  pictures of us as freshman in high school and them from yesterday!

Christopher is 2 weeks old today!  This means it has been 2 weeks since I had my c-section.  I had an appointment today for Dr. Henley to check my incision.  It was a brief appointment and everything checked out well.  The incision is healing well and I am on the road to recovery!  After only 2 weeks, I have lost 40lbs and am below my starting weight before I got pregnant!!!!  THANK GOODNESS!!  Now don't confuse this wonderful news as me saying that my body is back in perfect shape.  It is by no means even close, however I am still very excited that all of the pregnancy weight and swelling is gone!  Now I must work hard (when I get clearance) to tighten back up my jiggly belly from where they moved all of my abdominal muscles out of the way to get to my uterus.  I have been nursing since day 1 and it is going really well.  Chris eats like a champ.  This has no doubt contributed to the weight loss!  My next appointment is in 4 weeks and hopefully I'll be able to start going to the gym after this appointment.

Chris sleeps very well..........during the day...........and wants to play all night long.  During the day I have to wake him up to nurse him but at night he wants to eat like every 2 hours!!!  Half the time when I am nursing duing the night he could go on forever and I feel like I am about to fall over holding him.  Thank goodness for the boppy!  We have tried to put him in the crib but he hates it.  He can be knocked out in my arms or against my chest and the minute I put him down, he screams at the top of his lungs!  I can't stand it.  I refuse to put him in the bed with me so I have been "sleeping" on the couch while he is in either the swing, or the bouncy seat or his car seat (he loves the car seat) or against one of our chests.  I think that he is just so small that he still wants to be cuddled and feel skin contact.  We'll keep working on the crib....but honestly I can't wait to get back in my bed!!!

Chris was born on Thursday night and we left the hospital on Sunday afternoon.  We were greeted at the house by my parents and TJ.  My mom had cleaned up the house some and they had cooked us some food and stocke our fridge.  That sure was nice!  Ed and I hadn't gotten any real sleep at the hospital since the nurses come in ever 5 seconds for various reasons so we both took naps while mom watched the baby.

Luckily Ed was off the entire week and it was so nice to have him there!  Chris had his first doctor's appointment on Tuesday so off we went.  It was my first time meeting the pediatrician and I like him.  We were told at the hospital that Chris had a touch of jaundice (his levels were 9.5) but we were really given any instructions about what to do or that we should panic.  The level was low and typical of a lot of newborns sowe didn't think too much of it.  By his doctor's appt on Tuesday his levels had shot up to 19.5.  So the doctor ordered two billi lights be hooked up to Chris for 23 hours a day.  So a home health care company came by Tuesday night and brought the lights.  Ed called them Chris' meteoroid suit since it lit him up neon green.  A nurse came out to the house every day to monitor his weight and prick his heel to measure his jaundice levels.  By Friday, the levels came back down to a 9 so we were able to take him off the lights, thank goodness!  We could finally leave the house!!!

Other than that, everything has been going well.  I have ben breastfeeding and he is a natural.  I have had no problems with it, except that he eats like a champ and sometimes wants to eat every hour!!!  He doesn't much like his crib yet so sleep at night has been challenging.  He will fall right to sleep if I am holding him but the second I put him down (even if he was knocked out) he is awake and whining.  So we are working on figuring this sleep thing out.

TJ had a basketball tournament this weekend so I took Chris to "see" him play (he slept the whole time) for one game both Saturday and Sunday.  It was really nice to get him out of the house.  Ed was back to work today and I am pretty bummed about it.  I have really enjoyed having him at home with me.  Oh, if we could just win the lottery.....

I am sorry this is so late.  I have been a little preoccupied lately and finding the time to sit down and blog is something I will have to learn how to do!

Christopher was born on April 22nd at 11:23pm.  It all started Wednesday night the 21st at about 10pm.  I had two contractions (that I didn't know were contractions) and I told Ed that my stomach felt a little weird.  He asked me if I was in labor but I just laughed at him and told him no.  We went to bed and I woke up at 4am with some serious cramps.  I thought maybe I just had to go to the bathroom so I did and the cramps didn't go away.  It basically felt like menstrual cramps (which I never get) so I just went in the living room and watched tv.  Ed got up for work at about 7am and I told him that I thought I had been having contractions for about 3 hours and they were about 20 minutes apart.  He couldn't believe that I didn't wake him up.  I convinced him to go to work and that it could take hours if it was even the real thing.  After all, I still had 2 and a half weeks until my due date.  So he went on to work and I labored at home by myself for awhile.  After I pulled out my "Guide to Labor & Delivery" book from our birthing class, I had convinced myself that I was truly in labor.  We had our hospital bags pretty much packed but I spent the morning trying to get everything finished up and the house slightly clean for visitors...just in case!  With every contraction I had to stop what I was doing and breathe through each one.  I had been vomitting and having diarrhea all morning so I had called the doctor and told them I was concerned.  They told me not to worry about eating but if I couldn't keep any water down then I needed to call back.  At about 12pm I called the doctor back and told them I couldn't hold down any water and that the contractions were about 5 minutes apart and had been for about an hour.  They told me the doctor on call was heading over to the hospital and for me to meet him there.  So we hung up and I called Ed and told him he needed to come home and get me.  Of course when he was on the way home, there was construction that he got stuck in (just like they had warned us to be prepared for in birthing class, lol) and he was frustrated so he called me and walked me through all of my contractions until he got to the house.

When he finally got home I was trying to be calm and not panic while we loaded up the car.  Ed on the other hand was running around like a mad man.  I think he moved his hospital bag about 3 times and couldn't find it each time so I had to keep telling him where he put it.  It was quite comical.  But we finally got out of the house and on the road.  We made it to the hospital and after they checked me in to triage, I was about 2cm dilated at about 1:30pm.  They decided that they would keep me in triage for about and hour to see how I progressed and then would make a decision about whether to send me home or admit me.  I told Ed that if I had to go home and continue those contractions like I was, I was going to hit somebody.  We called our parents and my sister and they were on the way to Greensboro.  Ed was so wonderful about breathing with me and I was impressed by all of the information he had retained from our birthing class.  There were moments where I was on the verge of tears from the pain and he kept me calm and focused.  After an hour, I had dilated to 4cm and was competely effaced so they decided to admit me to the birthing suite.

My mom had arrived at this point which was a nice relief for Ed.  She brought him some much needed lunch since he hadn't eaten all day and I could tell she was excited that the time had arrived.  At about 3pm they wheeled me to my birthing suite and got me hooked up to IV's for some much needed fluid since I was so dehydrated.  I asked the nurse to let me know when the last possible time for an epidural was because I still hadn't made up my mind about whether or not I wanted one.  She told be that about 6-7cm was probably the latest that I needed to wait.  So after about another hour of contractions and serious back labor I told her to bring on the epidural.  It took the anastesiologist so long to get to me and I was progressing so fast that by about 6pm I was already 8cm.  But he finally got there and I felt so much better after the epidural.  By 7:45pm I was fully dilated and ready to begin pushing.  The doctor forewarned me that he would give me 3 hours to push and if I was unsuccessful after 3 hours it would be time to talk c-section.

So I pushed, and pushed, and PUSHED for 3 hours and got no where.  By 10:45 it was time for a c-section.  I was pretty upset and tired by that point but what could I do?  I had pushed enough to where Chris was too low for the c-section and too high for a vaginal birth.  So, during the c-section the nurse was going to have to push him back up in to my uterus so that they could get him out.  I was nervous and you know they make the husband wait a while before they allow him in to the operating room.  It took them forever to get me completely numb and they kept pricking me and saying "can you feel that?"  I was violently shaking and couldn't stop and I kept throwing up in to one of those little pan things next to my head so I had puke running down my face.  Ed comes in right as I am puking and I am thinking to myself, how glamorous...  I was freezing and they had wrapped my entire head in warm towels and had a dryer thing blowing hot air on to my face.  None of which prevented me from shaking.  But by 11:23 Christopher was out and after a few minutes I finally heard him cry.  I myself started crying and was so excited.  Ed got up to go over with the nurses to check him out and at that point I don't remember much.  Except that I continued to dry heave every 5 seconds.  One of the nurses came and told me that instead of Chris being face down toward my tailbone, he was face up towards my stomach (hence the serious back labor) and that's why I could not push him out.  And since I had pushed so hard and long, his poor little head was bruised pretty badly so they didn't want me to be alarmed.  Ed was finally able to bring him over for me to see him briefly and then they wheeled him to the nursery while they stitched and stapled me together.  It all happened so fast that I couldn't believe it had all actually happened.

After a couple of hours in the recovery room, I was wheeled to my regular room.  They brought Chris in about an hour later and I was finally able to hold my baby for the first time.  The whole process was the most amazing experience that I have ever been a part of.  I look at him now and still can't believe that I was a part of creating such a wonderful miracle.

Chris' birth stats: 7lbs 1oz, 22 inches long (not so much the chunky money we thought he was going to be!)

I am so thankful to my sister, my mom & stepdad, my dad, Ed's parents and all of our friends that came to the hospital to support us and make this exciting time so memorable for us.