Tuesday, July 24, 2012
2 Months Old
Posted by Ashley at 10:35 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Newborn Recommendations
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!
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!
Posted by Ashley at 9:03 AM 0 comments
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!!
Posted by Ashley at 8:15 AM 0 comments
37/38 weeks
Posted by Ashley at 7:56 AM 0 comments
Labels: pregnancy
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
36 weeks and holding
Posted by Ashley at 6:43 AM 1 comments
Labels: pregnancy
Catch Up
Posted by Ashley at 6:38 AM 0 comments
Labels: pregnancy
Friday, February 17, 2012
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
Posted by Ashley at 6:14 AM 0 comments
Labels: pregnancy
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
22 Weeks
How far along? 22 weeks and holding
Total weight gain: This was somewhat confusing to me this week. I’m 2 pounds over pre-pregnancy weight. However, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been gaining my required weight. At my first weigh in during pregnancy, I was 10 pounds under my pre-pregnancy weight. So my total weight gain from the first weigh in is 12 pounds. This puts me right on track with expected weight gain.
Maternity clothes? Still a good mix of both
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: I’m having trouble getting comfortable at night and I’m starting to wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Frustrating.
Best moment this week: Being at BOTT with all of our friends! Baby wise, it was when Nate felt “O” move for the first time.
Miss Anything? Bending over
Movement: He is extremely active! Flipping around and punching mom all the time.
Food cravings: It’s been an ice cream week
Anything making you queasy or sick: nothing so far
Gender: Still a boy
Labor Signs: No
Symptoms: Nose bleeds, frequent bathroom trips and loss of balance
Belly Button in or out? Still hanging “in” there
Wedding rings on or off? Still off.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!
Looking forward to: Working on our house, getting it ready to sell. I’ve got a to-do list and I’m ready to see it done. We’re also busy working on O’s bedding and getting everything together for the nursery. I’m excited to see it all coming together!
Posted by Ashley at 3:10 PM 0 comments
Labels: pregnancy
Friday, January 6, 2012
20 weeks
How far along? 20 weeks, although this is up for debate. I’ve always felt like I was further along then we thought, and measurements this week confirmed that. However, we are still holding with our original due date so I don’t risk getting induced prematurely and then a C-section because I’m “overdue”. I’m happy with this decision.
Total weight gain: still 2 pounds under pre-pregnancy weight! My doc is happy with the weight gain so far and I’m still shooting for just 30 pounds max weight gain. Lord let this happen!
Maternity clothes? Still a good mix of both
Stretch marks? Thank God this is still “no”
Sleep: I’ve been sleeping more this week, but I’m pretty sure this is stress related
Best moment this week: Seeing our sweet baby BOY on ultrasound! Baby O is beautiful and healthy! I’m so excited to finally have a name and gender for this sweet baby.
Miss Anything? Being able to do “normal” things without people freaking out about how much I’m lifting, if I fall, etc.
Movement: He is quite active! I drank a caffeinated drink before the US just to get him moving…..and he moved ALL NIGHT LONG! He definitely isn’t used to the caffeine and I wasn’t either. Monday night was a looooooooooonnnng night for both of us.
Food cravings: This week it’s still chocolate
Anything making you queasy or sick: thankfully I’m doing much better
Gender: It’s a BOY!
Labor Signs: No
Symptoms: Nose bleeds. Ugh ugh ugh
Belly Button in or out? still flat, though it’s EXTREMELY shallow. I’m getting nervous!!!!
Wedding rings on or off? Still rocking the fake rings. Waiting to hear back from our jeweler.
Happy or Moody most of the time: This has been an extremely emotional/stressful week and then you add pregnancy hormones to the mix……somebody pray for my poor husband.
Looking forward to: getting my check list done! I’ve got a huge list of nursery projects that I’m tackling. Anxious to see it all come together.
Posted by Ashley at 4:12 PM 0 comments
Labels: pregnancy
Monday, January 2, 2012
19 weeks
How far along? 19 weeks
Total weight gain: only 3 pounds under pre-pregnancy weight this week.
Maternity clothes? Mostly maternity things with a few "regular" pieces thrown in.
Stretch marks? Thank God, NO!
Sleep: I'm still sleeping about 6 hours a night. I have all this energy!
Best moment this week: Being with my mom for the last few days :)
Miss Anything? having a "normal" body. I managed to get a small sinus infection this week. I toughed it out with some OTC meds, but I longed to just grab a z-pack and go.
Movement: All the time! This baby is active.
Food cravings: I had to have El Chico on New Year's Eve. My sweet hubs drove me all the way across town for it!
Anything making you queasy or sick: the smell of urine. Awkward, I know.
Gender: We find out TOMORROW!! Whoo hoo!! I'm praying this little one will be active for the US and we will get a clear shot of everything. Also praying that we find a healthy baby in there!
Labor Signs: No, praise the Lord!
Symptoms: Some indigestion, excessive energy and frequent bathroom trips.
Belly Button in or out? still in
Wedding rings on or off? my real ring is off. However, I found some cheap rings that aren't giving me any problems at all. Planning to take my real ring to the jeweler tomorrow to see if they can coat it in something that I'm not allergic to.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and energetic!
Looking forward to: Tomorrow's US and getting my to-do lists going for this baby!!!
Posted by Ashley at 3:36 PM 0 comments
Labels: pregnancy
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! I love the feeling of a brand new start and I love making changes for the New Year. I actually started my "new year" plans the week after Christmas. That really feels like the beginning of the year for me. I started planning my new habits and routines using this post and personal retreat guide. It really helped me get my priorities straight.
Posted by Ashley at 8:03 AM 0 comments