2 Months Old

My sweet O,

It's hard to find time to capture these beautiful moments of your life, but I am determined to do it! 

You are two months old and the joy of our lives! It's entertaining and bittersweet to watch you grow and change every single day. 

Vital Stats:

-You are 12lbs 13oz and 24 inches long

-You can hold your head up great! Occasionally, you lose control and head butt whoever is holding you.

-You are still nursing exclusively and doing so good!

-We do a combination of cloth diapers and regular diapers. We're working out what's best for us! 

-You have discovered your voice and love to talk to anyone who will listen. It's completely adorable.

-You love trying to stand up on your little legs and your muscles are getting so strong. 

-You wear 0-3 month and 3 month clothing for the most part. You have definitely grown out of all your newborn things. 

You love....

-Ceiling fans

-Bright lights

-Your Baby Einstein playmat

-Maggie & Ian. Especially when Ian sings his songs for you!

-Your mommy and daddy. Your face lights up when you hear our voices and you turn your head to find us if we aren't holding you!

-Music. It doesn't matter if we are playing Hillsong, Bethal, John Mayer, Adele or Baby Einstein. Your little legs and arms start waving around and you really concentrate on what you're hearing. 

-Marty, your soothie buddy. You have several soothie paci's, and they'll work in a pinch, but Marty is definitely your favorite. 

Our day....

-You usually wake up around 5-6 each morning, but you take your paci and are content to sleep for a little while longer. 

-Around 6-7 we usually get up and do our first nursing session of the day. You are such a combination of excited and impatient before you eat. You will smile at mommy and pump your legs until you start eating.

-We take Bella outside after this and you love looking around at all the trees and animals. 

-We usually wake daddy up after that and you play with him for a little while before going back to sleep.

-The rest of the day, you stay on a consistent 3 hour schedule of eat, play & sleep. You are a good baby and you are content to do whatever we have planned for the day.

-During play time we: listen to music, do our silly dances, chill in the swing, play on the Baby Einstein mat, sit in the Boppy and look at lights, read books and talk to each other. 

-After your late afternoon feeding, we do more playing with daddy and mommy, then you sleep while we cook and eat supper. 

-After supper, we usually take a family walk down our street with Bella. You sit in your stroller and love to look at all the street lights as we pass by. 

-You usually have your last feeding of the night between 10-12. After you eat, mommy and daddy give you a bath in your blue whale tub. You LOVE bath time and start kicking as soon as we sit you in the tub. You also make some pretty funny faces in the bath tub. We use our lavender wash and Baby Magic lotion every single time. If you don't get a bedtime bath, you usually don't sleep very well.

-After bath time: you go into your pj's, are swaddled by daddy, go into the nap nappy, and listen to your sound machine. You go to sleep very soon and stay asleep throughout the night. 

Some things we've done....

-We've made several trips over the summer including: Memphis, Jonesboro, Little Rock and Redfield. You do great riding in the car and being in new environments. 

-Rhea Lana. You were such a trooper during this six hour event. Mommy racked up on some cool clothes for this winter and some fun baby gear like a stationary jumper and a jogging stroller. 

-Spent the night with Noni, the Mixons and Nona and Bop (of course Mommy was always with you!)

-We did two weeks of camps with junior high and high school students and one week of family camp. We were pooped after all that!

-Your two month shots. This was so rough on all of us. It's the first time we've ever seen you cry big tears! Mommy is used to being the "mean" nurse giving shots, not the parent on the other end consoling a child. It was so hard!

-You shared your first stomach virus with mommy and daddy. It was a "fun" weekend with all of us being sick. I definitely think your poor daddy had the worst round of it. 

You have....

-Discovered your hands. They are your new favorite toy and you love to put them in your mouth.

-Always favored your right side and continue to do so. We are working on making you turn your head to the left so you don't end up with a crazy shaped head!

-Finally caught daddy off guard and peed on him. 

Sometimes I find myself wishing you were older and could do more "things" with us. I am excited for the day that we can take you fun places and you actually know what's going on around you. However, I remind myself continually to take the time to enjoy these precious moments while you are still a baby. I treasure every single second that I'm with you, even when you're screaming and I have no idea why. You are our sweet baby boy, and I'm so glad God gave you to us!

Much love,

Mommy

Newborn Recommendations

It's hard to believe that my little man is already 3 weeks old! Soon he will no longer be considered a newborn. Sad day for this mommy's heart! I've been asked several times about what products I would recommend for newborns, and here they are:

Aden and Anais Swaddle Blankets. These are a must have for all newborns. As a pediatric nurse, I consider myself a professional "swaddler". Oden sleeps so much better when he's swaddled and these blankets make it so easy to do. O also does better when his daddy swaddles him. Somehow, Nate always gets it just "right". You can get these blankets at Target or Gap. Love the Gap prints!







Soothies/Wubba Nubba. We tried every pacifier we could find before I decided to revert back to my pediatric roots and try a Soothie. These are the paci's we use in the hospital, and I have never had a baby turn one down. Of course, Oden loved it! So we invested in some Soothies and then I found the Wubba Nubba on Amazon. It's great for helping to keep the paci in. Love it!

California Baby Products. I love, love, love these products! They are all natural and smell so wonderful. My favorite products are the calming lavender/tea tree oil body wash and the calming diaper spray. I also have the sunscreen and bug spray, but we haven't used them yet. You can find these gems at Target!

Baby Swing. This has been a life saver for us. Baby O loves to be in his swing! We swaddle him up, strap him in and let him sleep away. Definitely would recommend it for a newborn. Baby swings can be expensive, check on Craigslist and consignment sales like Rhea Lana. That's where we got ours.

Boppy & My Breastfriend pillow. I love these pillows! They are great for propping your baby up and for feeding time. The boppy tends to "wander" away when feeding, so I prefer the breastfriend pillow during feeding time. It straps to you and has great back support!

Sound machine. We have this sound machine from Target by Homemedics. It is wonderful for putting your baby to sleep! It plays several sounds including rain, heartbeat, ocean and lullabies. You can place the sounds on a timer or let them run continuously. There is also a projection system with several different discs to put stuff on the wall! That's probably my favorite part, although little man can't see that far yet :)

Itzbeen timer. I managed to stumble on one of these at RheaLana and I immediately scooped it up for us. It is perfect for sleep deprived parents to keep track of all the important things your baby is doing! The timer has 4 separate timers, and can count time between events or you can set it to go off at certain times. It is backlit for nighttime feedings and has an optional flashlight at the top. It also has a Left/Right switch at the bottom for breast feeding moms. Extremely helpful when you can't remember which side to start on! You can get these at Babies R Us or download a similar app on your iphone/ipad.

Milk Band. Again, these bands are great for breast feeding moms. You can keep track of how long your baby is feeding and which side to start on. They look like the rubber bands that you wear for a "cause" and come in all kinds of awesome colors. They can be purchased at milkbands.com








The two books I would recommend for a newborn are :

Happiest Baby on the Block. Now, I haven't read this book all the way through. But I would swear by his soothing techniques! If nothing else, look up the 5 S's for soothing a crying baby. They work every. single. time.

BabyWise. There's a lot of controversy about placing your newborn on scheduled feedings, I know. However, this book was recommended to me by several moms and I am already in love with it. I have read, reread and reread this book so many times. I have pages and pages of notes and handouts from it. Baby O is on a consistent 3 hour schedule and sleeps beautifully (most of the time). He also is starting to transition himself off of nighttime feedings. If you want to help schedule your baby's feed/wake/sleep cycle, this is the book I would recommend to do it!

Birth Story

We went for our 37/38 wk appt on Monday (5/7) and had our first official "check" to see how progressed I was. Absolutely nothing was happening. So we were settling in for a long wait and expecting a Memorial Day baby. Also, my doctor was leaving town for a little while, so I wanted to hold off labor/delivery until she came back.

That entire week, I felt very tired but continued to work and see patients. Friday, I overworked a little bit, saw a lot of patients and was exhausted by the end of the day. Saturday, we drove an hour to watch my mom graduate and then Sunday we celebrated Mother's Day. Sunday night, I was completely exhausted, but counted it up as a long weekend.

I woke up off and on throughout the night just feeling "odd", but I felt like it was all pregnancy related. I really wasn't in active labor, this was all the "early stages" in my mind.

I finally woke up again at 5:30am, and felt some pretty regular contractions. I also thought my "water" may have broken. I got in the shower and worked through some contractions and they just kept coming. So I decided to start timing them before freaking out. Nate downloaded the Contraction app on my phone and started timing at 5-7 mins apart. I was set for an appointment with my doctor's partner later that day, so we decided to get ready and we would call when they opened to see if we could come in early to be checked.

We let our families know that we might be laboring, but nothing too intense, no need to worry or start heading to the hospital.

We called the office at 8:30a, talked to the nurses, and they told us to go on over to L&D to get "checked" since I was having contractions that close together. They were also concerned since my water may have broken. 

We loaded up our car (with help from our sweet neighbor), told the family we were headed in, but to wait until we knew this was the "real deal" before coming.

By this time, contractions were every 3-5 mins and getting pretty intense. But I was breathing through them and rocking back and forth to help with labor. We did the classic drive to the hospital: flashers on, 85mph.....for the entire 1.5hr drive. It was an experience! By this time, I told my mom to go ahead and start driving towards the hospital (she was 2 hours away).

We got to the hospital and checked in. I shared my story with the nurse, got a "tub room" to labor in and we started the admission/lab work process. It took a little while to get a positive reading, but we finally determined that my water had broken and my nurse checked me for the first time. I didn't expect to be very progressed considering my last check, but I came out with a good 4-5cm at that point. She started my IV (the scariest part of labor for me), drew labs, put me on the monitor and then checked me again, just to see how well my contractions were progressing me. I was at a 6 by then.

I started laboring pretty intensely with contractions every 2-4mins at that point. Every hour the nurse checked me I dilated an additional cm. By 2:30pm, I had reached an 8. My husband, my best friend Chastity and my mom were helping me work through my contractions with counter pressure, fans, ice, lip gloss application and just encouraging me by helping me breathe and count through each contractions.

The pain was pretty excruciating by the time I was at an 8 and I was completely exhausted. So I asked the nurse for half a dose of Stadol. This helped tremendously and within the next hour I was at a 9 and was able to sleep between contractions. I then decided to take the second half dose of the Stadol.

The next 3 hours were the longest & hardest. I stayed at a 9 the entire 3 hours. Finally, around 5:45 they called the in the doctor. Our doctor was still on vacation, but her partner came in to deliver and I couldn't have asked for a better replacement.

At this point, I couldn't have any more IV meds. I told myself "theres only one way out of this" & so I went to work. I pushed every 2-3 minutes for roughly an hour. I quickly learned the difference between pushing the right way & the wrong way. Who knew there was a difference?

At 6:44pm I made my last big push & our son, Oden James Smith, entered the world & went straight into my arms. It was an incredible experience. Oden stayed in my arms for an entire hour following delivery. I was able to feed him and we loved on him while they finished delivering and cleaning us up.

Giving birth was the most incredible experience of my life. I couldn't be more happy with our birth experience and would do it all again in a heartbeat!!

37/38 weeks

How far along? 37/38 weeks

Total weight gain: 27 pounds

Maternity clothes? All maternity at this point

Stretch marks? Keep the Palmer’s coming

Sleep: Very little at this point

Best moment this week: Baby ultrasound! Loved seeing our sweet boy again!!!

Miss Anything? Everything about my “normal” body

Movement: Little man has settled down as he’s getting ready to come into the world

Food cravings: Really nothing right now. Food in general makes me sick

Anything making you queasy or sick: Everything, especially Mexican. Talk about killing a girl’s dream.

Gender: Boy

Labor Signs: I’ve got regular contractions, but no other changes at this point.

Symptoms: everything hurts. I’m pretty sure that’s normal for now

Belly Button in or out? Actually in. How did that happen?

Wedding rings on or off? Off

Happy or Moody most of the time: Tired describes my general attitude  

Looking forward to: Having this baby!! But according to my doctor, we are still a few weeks away from that happening. 

36 weeks and holding

How far along? “36” weeks

Total weight gain: 25 pounds

Maternity clothes? Mostly maternity, with a few regular pieces thrown in

Stretch marks? Oh yeah. But thank God for Maderma and Palmer’s. They are my friends!

Sleep: I sleep great for about 2 hours at a time. My body is already transitioning to baby time.

Best moment this week: Opening our mail! We’ve got so much stuff coming in as we get all of O’s last minute things ordered. It’s fun coming home every day to see what we’ve got. 

Miss Anything? My normal body and energy level. It’s a humbling experience when you can no longer see your feet, knees, etc. and require assistance to literally do every single thing in your life.  This majorly cuts into my independent streak.

Movement: We have a soccer player on our hands. He loves to jab mom’s ribs with his practice kicks. We’ve already had some serious discussions on where it’s appropriate to practice soccer moves, and where it’s not appropriate. He’s having trouble hearing me, I think.

Food cravings: Mexican food, banana pudding milkshakes and chocolate sno-cones. But separate. No mixing of weird foods.  

Anything making you queasy or sick: Not really

Gender: Boy

Labor Signs: Yes. A lot of contractions as my body is warming up for the big day. We’re still in a pre-labor stage though. Nothing too exciting yet.

Symptoms: Indigestion and fatigue. 

Belly Button in or out? Flat

Wedding rings on or off? Off. My ring will go on, but it’s iffy coming off. So for now, it’s resting in a safe place.

Happy or Moody most of the time: All over the place. My emotions are a source of surprise for everyone these days, including myself.  

Looking forward to: The weekend. My mom and I are going into serious work mode to try and get my house completely unpacked, O’s room set up, his clothes and diapers washed, hospital bags packed, etc. A girl can dream, right?

Catch Up

So….I have been absent from the weekly blog/pregnancy posts for a while now. Let’s play catch up.

Week 26

Our house in Little Rock goes on the market. Talk about having a cleaning frenzy to get ready for this big occasion! At this point, Nate is still preaching out every weekend, I’m going with him when I can but still having to work some weekends in Little Rock.

Week 27

This turns out to be a busy week for us. We start our Thursday night birthing classes at Birth Works (another post in itself), Nate’s cousin gets married and he performs the ceremony while my sister and I do music. We officially start our new position as Staff Pastor at Connect.Point Church and I also start getting sick this week.

Week 28

We enter allergy season in the great state of Arkansas. I’ve never dealt with severe allergies until pregnancy and then it hit me HARD. Sinus infections, multiple problems and several days off work. Talk about miserable. This lead to major stress on my body, complications and some scary moments for all of us.

Week 29

This week was full of doctor’s appointments, tests, bed rest and medications. Thankfully the Lord intervened and I’m now okay and med-free. Our little man was a champ through it all and never was affected by all my problems.

Week 30

This was my birthday week. I was able to spend a few days in Eureka Springs with my two favorite ladies (my mom and sister) relaxing, exploring, pampering and having a wonderful time on our last “girls only” trip before O gets here. I also got a surprise baby shower from the sweet ladies at my work!

  

Week 31

We had two baby showers during this week. The first one was from our family and friends in NE Arkansas, and then the second one from our new church family at Connect.Point. Mom and I had a power “sewing” weekend and worked hard on getting O’s bedding ready to go.

Week 32

My last weekend to work! It was a crazy weekend too. I scared everyone, including myself, by deciding to have some serious labor moments. Thank God we were able to slow things down. My little guy is already showing his impatience!

Week 33

We celebrated Easter with our Connect.Point family! It was a nice, relaxing weekend to prelude our next few weeks of craziness.

Week 34

AKA the craziest week of my life. Our sweet friends and family came down and helped us pack up our entire house in 2 days. Friday, we spent all day packing our UHAUL and then drove it to our new house (through the rain and terrible road construction, I might add). Saturday, we unpacked. Sunday, church. Sunday night we drive 3 hours to my in-laws. Monday morning we get up at 4am, drive 6 hours to Dallas, spend several hours at IKEA buying furniture for our new house, then drive 6 hours back to my in-laws. Tuesday, we drive 3 hours home, unload our truck, then 3 hours back to my in-laws. Wednesday, we drive to Little Rock, we work a full day, see our doctor and then drive 2 hours home. A few words: crazy, exhausted, and swollen ankles. I never thought we would live through it.

Week 35

We closed on our house in Little Rock! We also started the daily commute back and forth from our home to Little Rock for work. The commute itself isn’t bad, until you add one-lane road construction. We’ve seen some pretty hairy stuff during our travels. I’m so thankful for the Lord’s protection through it all!

And now here we are. All caught up. I realize that this post has been more about our life over the last few months than my pregnancy, per say. But that’s what our blog is for. A place for us to capture the journey of life.   

24 & 25 Weeks

How far along? 24/25 weeks

Total weight gain: 13 pounds

Maternity clothes? Mix

Stretch marks? No. But I’m about to go invest in some Palmer’s Cocoa Butter!

Sleep: Off and on. I sleep GREAT when I’m completely exhausted. Otherwise, it’s a give and take. I now sleep with a cocoon of pillows to get comfy!

Best moment this week: First baby shower, first Rhea Lana experience and a birthday weekend with my mom!!

Miss Anything? Bending over

Movement: Extremely active. Our doctor has a hard time finding his heartbeat because he won’t sit still long enough to get a reading (and I’m caffeine free too!)

Food cravings: Fried pickles, McAllister’s, ice cream and Mexican food

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing

Gender: Boy

Labor Signs: No

Symptoms: Indigestion, sore muscles

Belly Button in or out? It’s flat :(

Wedding rings on or off? Off

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!

Looking forward to: Getting things moved and organized