2 weeks old already!!??

Where have the past 2 weeks gone? Well let's see probably to eating, sleeping and pooping, but I wouldn't change it for the world! They always say motherhood is a life changing experience, but you truly never know until you experience it. Granted we are sleep deprived and some days are better than others, but life couldn't get much better with sweet Matthew. He is such a blessing!

We had a great first week home. Jason was able to be home the entire week, which made our first week so smooth. He ran errands, went to the grocery store, made dinner for us, anything and everything you could imagine. I couldn't ask for a more amazing husband!

One amazing husband!

Today we had another pediatrician appointment. Matthew weighed 5.9 lbs, so almost back up to his birth weight. When we were discharged from the hospital he weighed 5.3 lbs, then at his first pediatrician appointment he dropped to 5.2 lbs. So our pediatrician recommended I supplement along with breastfeeding and it seems to be doing the trick to put weight on our little guy. We have another appointment in 2 weeks, so I'm hoping we'll be well over the 6 lb mark.

On our way to the pediatrician!
Like I said, it's been a good 2 weeks. Today was the first real day that I finally felt exausted, which I think is pretty good since I'm getting 1.2 - 2 hr blocks of sleep at night. Matthew is so far a really good baby. He's very content, unless you have to change his dirty diaper or I give him a spong bath - he is not a fan!

And lastly, here are some fun pictures we've taken the past 2 weeks!

He's here!

It is truly amazing how your life will change in the blink of an eye. On June 16th our sweet baby boy – Matthew Jonathan – decided he was ready to enter our lives 4 weeks shy of his due date.

On Tuesday evening around 10 pm, I was at home getting ready for bed and while getting into my PJ’s when all the sudden I felt a trickle of sorts and all I could think was "seriously did I just pee myself". I thought here I am 36 weeks pregnant and I just peed myself, lovely. So I checked it out and honestly didn't think anything of it. I really just thought I couldn't control my bladder; I’m not sure which is more embarrassing… Well as I lay back in bed, again wet, this proceeds to happen 2 more times and it was when I felt what I thought was a cramp, and knew something wasn't quite right. Mind you, I'm at home alone. Jason was in Kentucky for work - literally his LAST business trip before Matthew’s arrival. So at this point I call my OB, talk to the nurse and who connects me with the on call doctor. He tells me to come to labor & delivery so they can see what’s going on. For whatever reason I guess I thought, I'd either get sent home or just get put on bed rest – clearly I hadn't read far enough in "What to Expect When You're Expecting" or I ignored the part that says if you're leaking the baby is come soon, so all I took to the hospital was me and my purse... Granted packing my hospital bag was going to happen over the weekend AND I was waiting for my cute monogrammed Land's End bag to arrive - that came while I was in the hospital... Also, if you are following along carefully, I drove myself to the hospital...

So I get to the hospital and checked in, and the nurse takes me back to a room. All awhile, Jason and I are texting and phoning back and forth. Trying to decide how best to get him back to Atlanta in a reasonable amount of time. The nurse confirms that my water did break, and our sweet boy would be here in 24 hrs. However, with no husband they wanted to wait before inducing labor since I wasn't dilated at all. Jason luckily was able to get on a 6 am flight.
During the night, I was able to get a relatively good night sleep, still no major contractions, until 7 am when they give me Cytotec. Jason finally arrived by 9 am and all I can say is what a relief!! At that point the contractions were starting to get a bit more intense, but I could handle them relatively well. Around 10 am, I did give into to some pain relief, not knowing it would only help with nerves more than the contraction pain, but it at least it helped with something.

Here I am checking my blackberry while in labor - what else is there to do :)

By 11 am I was then given Pitocin to really get my labor started. The Cytotec did help; it got me dialated to 2. However the Pitocin is NO JOKE - holy contractions! During all this the doctor told me that my pelvis was small and Matthew's head was down, but somewhat wedged, so it was inevidable he would come out with a cone head - poor buddy! The doctor did say that with the size of my pelvis and he was such an advocate of trying to deliver vaginally before c-section, that we would try what we could to get him out... For whatever reason, this just wasn't appealing at all to me, but I just went with flow.

I continued to contract and held out as long as I could before asking for the epidural, but by 12:30 I said uncle and got the epidural and what sweet relief. The process for the epidural really wasn't too bad, just the combo of contractions AND inserting the epidural wasn't fun, but it worked! At this point the doctor came back into check me and I was dialated to 5. I was pretty proud that I had made it that far. Unfortunately the epidural started to make Matthew's heart rate go down. So the nurses kept coming in to monitor, flipping me over, and putting oxygen on me in hopes it would level out, but it didn't, so the doctor said it was time to go down the c-section route.

This was sometime after 2 pm, and by 3 pm they wheeled me into the OR and by 3:12 pm Matthew was here, weighing 5 lbs 10 oz, 19 1/2 inches long.

Here we are getting ready to go to the OR

One proud Daddy holding his son for the first time!

We are now a family of 3 - what an amazing feeling!

Proud Nana & Papa

Time to eat!

Jason is one heck of a swaddler

Just precious is all I can say!

Ready to go home! We made it home Sunday afternoon and just taking our time getting settled. It has been the most amazing experience having been so blessed with such a beautiful boy!

30 days - seriously!

So today really starts our countdown - 30 days until my official due date. I honestly can't believe it! Today is also Jodi's due date. Jodi is one of my dearest friends and we still can't believe our due dates are 1 month apart to the date! I haven't heard anything yet, so I have to assume her little Reed is still cookin'.

I'm feeling good overall, however this weekend was a hot one! I finally can truly say I understand what everyone means by "at least you won't be pregnant the entire summer"... Boy this heat is really different with a big belly and added weight!

We are doing the finishing touches on Butterbean's room. It's primarily just getting something on the walls. I found a cute sports mobile and crib skirt from Pottery Barn. I didn't get the entire bedding set, but thought I could take pieces and add some personal touches. It's been a lot of fun and can't wait to see everything done.

Otherwise, it's pretty quiet in the Dean household. We are taking our last class next Saturday - Infant CPR & Safety. Then it's just enjoying the last few weeks as the 2 of us. Crazy that in only a few short weeks we will become a family of 3!

34 Week Belly Update

Here we are 34 weeks and the belly just keeps getting bigger and bigger! How is it possible that it will get even bigger by 40 weeks!

We completed the Child Birth class today, an all day class from 9 am to 4 pm. It was interesting to say the least, I'm glad we went (although Jason may disagree), but it was good information to make me feel more prepared for the "big day". However, can you really ever be fully prepared for child birth?? I guess I will soon find out :)

And you may remember from a few posts ago, I mentioned the closet organization project that was next on my "to do" list. Well I officially say it is checked off the list! The shelving system was not created for the remedial handy woman - i.e. Monica. So I hired a handyman who came on Friday to get the job done. I love how it turned out! Everything feels like it's really coming together for Butterbean's arrival!