Friday, April 22, 2011

A Whole Month!

Paxton had his one month check-up today!  Dr. Campbell said everything looked great.  He weighs 11 pounds and 4 ounces and is 23 inches long.  He was in the 90th percentile for weight, the 95th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for head size.  He is gaining weight at a great rate. 

Paxton and I went downtown today to eat lunch with Daddy.  We tried Sauced in the Paseo district and really liked it!  And of course while we were there Paxton got lots of compliments. 

Aunt Teighynne made him a bear for his nursery and we decided that every month we are going to take a picture of Paxton and his bear to show how big he is getting.  So here is his ONE MONTH BEAR PICTURE:

Tomorrow we get to pick up his newborn pictures that we had taken at JC Penney's.  They turned out really sweet and I can't wait to get them!  I think while we're at the mall we are going to get Paxton's picture taken with the Easter bunny.


Here's Paxton having a fit.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

4 Weeks!

 Well, we're parents!  Jared has officially gone back to work and I am on my own as a stay-at-home mom.  I'm loving it!!  What is better than spending all day taking care of such a sweet little boy?  We definitely miss having Jared around, but at least he loves his job too. 

Paxton is 4 weeks old now.  He has his one month check-up on Friday so we'll see how big he has gotten.  At his 2 week appointment he weighed 10 pounds 5 ounces.  The doctor was impressed with how well he is growing.  He's a great eater! 

Lately he has been going longer between feedings: usually at least 3 hours during the day and up to 6 hours at night.  I have been loving that because I am able to get some sleep.  Since Jared is back at work, I have taken over all the night feedings....which was awfully tough when he wanted to eat every two hours.

Here is Paxton on his first night home:
 He looks so tiny in his crib!

A few days old:


Daddy strapping him in for his first outing:

We went to Target to get Gramsy a birthday present and then to Ted's with my family for her birthday!

Here is Gramsy blowing out her birthday candles! 

We were so glad we were able to get out and celebrate her birthday with her.  Paxton slept through the whole thing....even the part where he peed all over his outfit and blanket.

Mommy and Pax:


Family Picture!

One week old!

 Tummy Time!  3 Weeks old:



Proud daddy because Paxton is holding his own bottle:

Daddy and Paxton:

Taking a nap with Daddy:

Playing on his frog mat:

After a bath at 4 weeks:
Jared and I are so lucky to have such a sweet, healthy, happy little baby.  We can't wait to see who he looks like and what kind of personality he develops!

~Caitlynne

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

He's Here!!!

Well....life with a baby is crazy, so we haven't had a chance to update since the big day.  Paxton is here!  He was born on March 22nd at 7:17 p.m.  He was 9 pounds and 21 inches and he is the sweetest little boy ever.

Here I am at 40 weeks pregnant....


 Here is sweet little Paxton at his first photo shoot:

Here is he when he was first born:

And this is him with his momma:
 
So we were scheduled to go in on Sunday night (the 20th) to start being induced...which would have meant that he was born on his due date.  But my doctor, who had been on vacation for 2 weeks came back on Friday evening and wanted to see me before we made a decision.  So we went in to his office on Monday morning and had an appointment to be induced that night at 9:00.  We were nervous that we would go in on Monday morning and I wouldn't have progressed enough to be induced that night, but things were fine.  He confirmed that we would be coming in that night at 9:00 to start the induction.  He also guessed that Paxton would weigh about 7 pounds 7 ounces. 

We spent the rest of the day running some last minute errands and trying to stay distracted.  We were supposed to call the hospital at 8:00 and make sure they had a bed, so I called and they said that they were full and would call back in about an hour and tell us when we could come.  We ended up not being able to go in until about 10:15.  Those last few hours were rough....we were so anxious.  When we got there, I changed into my gown and things got started right away.  They gave me a pill to start the labor and also a sleeping pill since this would be my last night of sleep.  The next morning, my doctor came in at 6:00 and started the pitocin and broke my water.  He said that I couldn't have an epidural until I started making some progress and got to a 3 or 4.  I knew that the pitocin would start the contractions, but I was expecting them to start out easy and pretty far apart....that's not what happened.  They started immediately and they were strong!  I was definitely in pain.  Jared's mom came around that time and it was hard to talk to her without showing my pain.  Finally at 8:30 the doctor came back and said that I had progressed enough for the epidural.  I was a little nervous because I had heard that the epidural hurt pretty bad.  That was not my experience.  The epidural felt like a little pinch and then immediate relief.  After that I was fine.  My mom and sisters came and both the moms and all the sisters stayed all day.  Granny Pat was also able to stop by since she had a doctor's appointment at the hospital.  All of the company definitely made the day go by faster.

Around 4:00 the nurse came in and asked everyone to leave so that I could rest for a little while.  I took a little nap and when I woke up, I could feel a small window of pain in my lower stomach.  I told the nurse and the anesthesiologist came back in and gave me some more medicine.  When she next checked me, I was at an 8.  She let me push a few times and I quickly went to a 10.  At that point, I thought that things would happen pretty fast...but they didn't.  That nurse's shift ended and the next nurse came in...she wasn't as good.  She told me that I could push each time I felt a contraction, but she was on the other side of the room.  I was nervous to push in case the baby was born and nobody was watching.  Apparently there were a lot of babies being born right then because the nurse kept disappearing and not coming back when she said she would.  Finally my doctor came in and said that Paxton was face up when he should have been face down.  He said that it would be much harder to deliver him like that and that he wanted me to push him down far enough for him to be able to use the forceps to flip Paxton.  Then he went home to eat dinner.  Another nurse came in and was helping me push for awhile.  I got Paxton down far enough and the doctor came back from dinner.  After that, things happened fast.  A flood of nurses came in with tons of tools and equipment.  The doctor flipped Paxton and then two pushes later he was born!  They put him on my chest and Jared cut the cord.

Then they took Paxton over to the warmer while they finished up with me.  It seemed like there was a lot of activity over there and I heard one of the nurses make a phone call to the NICU and ask someone to come over.  I saw them put tubes in Paxton's throat and I started worrying.  Jared was over there with him watching it all happen so I kept trying to ask him what was happening.  He just kept telling me that Paxton was fine because that's what they were telling him....but I could tell that something was wrong.  After several minutes, they got his breathing under control and nurses started leaving.  They gave him his sponge bath and that made him scream which I guess was exactly what he needed to start breathing correctly.  Finally, one of the nurses told us that he had a really tough delivery and he was just stressed.  They gave him to me which they said calmed him down.  We knew that our families were still in the waiting room and didn't even know that Paxton had been born, so Jared went out to tell them.  The nurse said that it would be best if people came in a few at a time and stayed pretty quiet.  Also, nobody was supposed to hold him except Jared and I.  So a few at a time our family came in and looked at him and took pictures.  It was great that everyone had hung around so long, but it was really nice when the room emptied and Jared and I could just be alone with our new baby.

That night was one of the easiest nights of being a parent.  He slept all night.  We had to wake him up every two hours to nurse and after he was done he would go right back to sleep.  There were nurses in and out all night to check on me and to check on Paxton.  We didn't get much sleep....

The next morning, we got to move to a new room.  Paxton got his newborn pictures taken and had his hearing checked.  He also had lots of blood sugar tests.  Apparently most babies that are born big like him have trouble metabolizing sugar.  A couple of times his sugar was really low so we had to supplement with formula.  After more visitors:









it was time for night #2.  It was just as easy as the first night until about 5:00 a.m.  At that point, Paxton got tired of sleeping and just wanted to eat.  Every time we tried to put him in bed, he would start crying.  Finally, he got choked and spit up and I got worried.  The nurse was a relative of Jared's so I called her and she came in.  She reassured me that Paxton was fine and she took him to the nursery since his surgery was only an hour and a half away.  While he was in surgery, my doctor came in and told me that he was discharging me that day.  Then Paxton's pediatrician came in and said that Paxton would be discharged that day too.  We were expecting to be able to stay til afternoon, so we ordered some breakfast and were just taking it easy.  The nurse came in and said that the volunteers were on the way up with a wheelchair to take us down.  We were panicking because we hadn't packed, Paxton needed to eat and he wasn't dressed yet.  We asked for some more time and the nurse said that the volunteers didn't like to wait.  Another nurse came in and said that we could take our time and just call when we were ready. 

Here is Paxton on the way home:

Since we got home, things have been great!  Jared went back to work this week which has been a little harder...and hard on him.  We are loving being a family of three!!

~Caitlynne