look what santa left in my stocking this year!

4 weeks 1 day old.

it was gas.......

It was gas. Not colic, thank God. (I read that Colic is when a baby cries for 3 hours or more for more than 3 days a week). kaua has never cried for more than 5 minutes. He's just fussy sometimes.

I figured it out that it's gas. I read online that it helps to burp baby (keep him upright) for at least 10-20 minutes after eating, as well as put his mattress at an incline. I did both and they seemed to help. (Sometimes the mattress thing doesn't work, though, its more of a test approach).

What's causing his gas? I'm not sure. I wondered if its something I'm eating? I'm thinking I'm ruling it out though b/c I dont eat gassy foods, and I haven't been eating anything that I didn't eat before. I think its more the way he nurses...Kaua is a noisy nurser. He makes all these loud sucking noises most of the time, and I think that's how the air gets in him. I tried making sure he has a good latch and making sure he's in a good nursing position (what is a good nursing position anyway?), but it doesn't seem to make a difference.

I've resigned myself to believe that Kaua is a gassy boy....like father, like son.

The other thing...Kaua likes to sleep in my arms or on my chest. I'm trying not to spoil him, but many times its the only way he'll stay sleeping. I go to put him down, and in a few seconds he'll get fussy and start crying, then is quite content as soon as I pick him back up. GRRRRRRRRR.. The good news, its not just me, he likes it when anyone picks him up....so if there happens to be a grandma or DH around...then I've got some reprieve. But for the most part, sime I'm a SAHM now, its just lil 'ol me. It's tough to do anything this way. Most of the time, I cant even check email or blog b/c he's in one arm and it's soooooooooo difficult to type with one hand (usually my left one too!).

Anyways, all is well in Kaua land. Just taking it day by day. He's got a cold that he caught from his cousins which adds to the misery sometimes, but overall, he's such a good baby. I really cant complain. =) And tomorrow is his first Christmas!! So exciting!!! With the sale of our home though, mommy and daddy are broke and there's no christmas gifts this year. it's ok, though. The best gift is already here....Kaua. =)


Little Kaua reindeer - enjoying the warmth of the fire!

First rough night

Last night was my first rough night with Kaua. He would not go back to sleep. He got up, I'm guessing around 1:30am, to nurse, which is normal (he gets up 2-3 times a night to nurse). However, after I burped him (or tried to, last night burping wasn't very productive for some reason), when I would go to put him back to bed, he would not stay asleep. Everytime I put him down in his bassinet, he'd get back up in a matter of minutes, squirming, crying and fussing. I know this cry, it means he's got more gas or there's a diaper explosion coming on, so normally, I'd just pick him back up and burp him till one or the other happens. However, nothing would appease him last night. He was just as fussy on my shoulder or wide awake and no burp and no gas and no diaper explosions. Finally, an hour passed of this and I decided to wake DH. He has much better luck with Kaua on his shoulder, I think it's because his shoulder is bigger and less bony and therefore Kaua is more comfortable. DH got him to go to sleep on his shoulder in about 10 minutes, but when he put him down, in a matter of minutes Kaua was back up fussing again. At this point, I told DH to go back to bed b/c he needs his rest for his physical training during the day and I stayed up with Kaua. I swear, I tried nursing him 3 times and burping him and rocking him and all kinds of stuff. Nothing was working. I felt like crying, I was sooo tired and didn't know what to do. Eventually, Kaua did fall back asleep, however he had a mini version of this irratability this morning too. I'm wondering if he has the beginnings of acid reflux or gas? He will be three weeks old tomorrow and I heard this is the time when this kind stuff kicks in.

I'm thinking its not colic because he doesn't really cry. Well, he cries when he's flat on his back. But when we pick him up and put him on our shoulder, he's generally content (doesn't cry, just moves around and fusses once in a while). I hope this doesn't become a trend.

2.5 weeks old

(Kaua in his bouncer for the first time yesterday).

Well, it's been a little over two weeks since Kaua made his entrance into this world. So far, motherhood has been pretty good. I'm sure most mothers think this way, but Kaua is a super good baby. Pretty mellow, pretty easy. He basically cries when he's hungry, when he has gas, or when he's hot and sooo over his car seat! (Note to all soon-to-be-mommies, the graco snug ride 32 carseat is uber duber hot. I read this in the reivews of the product but didn't really pay attention to it, now I wish I did. Kaua gets over heated quickly in the carseat and thus, hates being in it for any length of time. grrr...... oh well, at least it looks nice, right?)

Yesterday we had our first pediatrician appointment. Kaua is now 8lbs. 10 ounces, which is awesome! (my they grow so fast!!!) The peditrician, we'll call her Dr. H, said they just like to see that baby has regained his birth weight, but since Kaua was 7lbs 2 ounces at birth, he's surpassed that. He also measures in at 21.25" and we're hoping that this growing continues. He has almost outgrown all of his newborn outfits, and thankfully, we didn't have very many. That makes me excited, because we have a lot more and a lot more cuter 3 month old outfits for him. However, they need to be shipped here along with the rest of our stuff......

which leads me to my next update. DH, myself and I are now residents of the County of ___. We had to move back to my old hometown quickly because DH got a last minute call from work saying that he had to attend a mandatory training class from Dec. 14 - Jan. 22. That totally screwed up DH's plans to have a 1 month paternity leave and our plans to take our time moving out of our home. (grrrr to the ---- county!) Escrow on our home closes on Dec. 22, so we had originally planned on moving then. But due to DH's work, we decided it best that all three of us move together on Dec. 13th...so we packed everything up in a matter of 1 week, put a ton of boxes in our garage and flew out. We'll have to fly back to our home for one day on Dec. 23 to ship our items. This will be a tough day for me, because I will be officially resigning from work as well. We're also planning on leaving kaua with my grandparents, in order to avoid lugging him around airports and such. This will be my first time away from him for so long and I'm soooooooooooo not looking forward to this. I need to start breast pumping right away so that he'll have a supply of milk while I'm gone. I'm also worried he may not take to the bottle, since I've been reading that other new mommies have had trouble with their little ones. Yikes!!!

Well, I've got 1 week to get him acustomed to the bottle (either that or bring him with me?) I know, super selfish, but I cant fathom the thought of being away from him for so long.

The challeges of new motherhood

Breastfeeding is sore. I've got the latch down ok. Not the greatest, but ok. My areola are kinda huge, so Kaua cant get his mouth around the whole thing, but we try to get as much as we can in him. Sometimes he slips though, and then ouchie city! Because of this, I dont want to move around too much and cause him to slip, so I'm pretty much confined to my position when he starts. This is causing me to be uber prepared before starting, and grateful for DH to hand me water, the burp cloth, or other necessities. Also, sometimes, well often times, he'll fall asleep while breast feeding, even after only a few minutes. But the real pain of breast feeding? The engorgement when my milk came in. Wooooweee, now that was sore (of course, not anywhere near as sore as those early labor contractions), but sore nonetheless. My milk came in 4 days after birth and man, were my BBs so full and tender. I felt like a play boy bunny, they had grown so big. I tried pumping a little, but I'm so reluctant to pump because 1) I dont like doing it, dont know why, I have an excellent pump, and 2) I dont want my BBs tricked into thinking they should be making more milk, instead of less. So it's a constant challenge to figure out how much I should be pumping to alleviate the pain from engorgement, while still not taking too much out to cause an uneven supply and demand. The engorgement lasted for about 2-3 days, but its still there if one BB hasn't been fed upon in over 3-4 hours....this happens often as Kaua tends to only get one BB finished per feeding (he takes an average of 10-15 minutes on the BB the is asleep and usually wont get back up for the 2nd...even after burping and changing his diaper).

The other challenge, which is kinda funny, is deciding when to change Kaua's diaper. I swear, as soon as we change one, he's pooping or peeing in the next one. lol. He goes through diapers like crazy that boy. I think this is a good thing though because it means he's getting his nourishment. We've already had two instances of him peeing on us while we change him and one instance of doodoo coming out while we're changing him. It's quite funny. The other thing we're learning is that not all diapers are created equal. Some diapers (namley the Huggies natural we were given) leak. We'll find that most of Kaua's pee is on his clothes rather than in his diaper. The best diaper for us...Pampers swaddlers. We really love that yellow line down the middle of the diaper that changes to blue when its wet. Super helpful!!! And we've had less leaks with this diaper. We have had a couple of diaper explosions though. But I think that's to be expected. And Kaua's bowel movements...man those are loud. His farts rival those of his fathers...it's super funny.

I know, if he finds out I'm writing about all of this when he's older he's going to be so embarrassed. So I guess we'll leave it at that.

The other question...he's still got dry skin. We have bathed him twice in the week and 1 day that he's been home, and I'm thinking I may cut that down too. We're not using soap, just water, but it still dries his skin out...everywhere. I dont think this bothers him though, it just looks funky. Other than the above, baby is doing A-OK, which is what I'm most grateful for.

Crazy news on the home front, but I dont wanna focus on that now. Suffice it to say that we're forced to move everything in 1 and a half weeks, and we still dont know if the escrow will actually go through. grrrrr.

Kaua's birth story

Ok here it is. I tried to keep it brief, but as most of my fellow bloggy buddies who have recently given birth realized, it's tough to keep the story of one of the most amazing days of your life short. =) (Hey bloggy buddies, most of us have kids that are just days apart!)

It all started Thankgsgiving day. My mom was here visiting and that morning, as I went to the bathroom and wiped, I noticed a good amount of mucus on the toilet paper. You know, the kind you get when you're ovulating and it means it's a green light for BD. I knew instantly that I was beginning to lose my mucus plug. I continued to lose my mucus plug throughout the day. Nothing like huge globs of it, like I've heard from others, but just pretty much, wipe and there it was kinda thing. I also noticed that I had 3-4 bowel movements that day, and I remember reading that this could also be a sign of early labor. I told my mom, but she still thought that didn't mean antyhing and that baby would come sometime around my due date. She even convinced my DH to plan to fly out to work Saturday night because she thought baby wouldn't come before he came back (Wed, Dec. 2..thank God this didn't happen!).

We went to DH's family's house for dinner around 4pm. Dinner was delicious. After dinner my mom and I went for a short walk. We were claiming it was to help labor along, but we both knew, (or believed) that labor was not even anywhere near imminent, and used the time to try to burn off some of that turkey dinner calories. I had been feeling pretty comfortable throughout the day (I mean as comfortable as I could be at 38 and half weeks pregnant).

Around 7ish, I started to feel slightly uncomfortable. Nothing big, just wanted to sit on a couch and lounge around rather than in an upright chair. So I went into the house and left DH and mom and family outside to continue talking. As I was lying there, watching TV, I started to notice light contractions. Nothing big, but just something I began to notice. Coupling this with the mucus plug loss, I decided to pay attention to them. By 9pm I realized they were coming about 10 - 15 minutes apart regularly. By this time, I was a little sore, but just crampy sore. DH came in the house to check on me around 10pm and asked how I was doing. I said I was feeling uncomfortable so he suggested we head home.

When we got home and around 10:30pm I went to the bathroom and saw what's been known as "the bloody show." The mucus was now bright red bloody looking, but from WTE, I had read that this is just a sign of the vessels in the cervix rupturing as the cervix dialates more. I was getting pretty excited at this point. My contractions were coming on stronger now. They were fairly noticable but still only about 10 minutes apart. I told my mom and she said to try and stay busy, sleep or watch a movie. She admitted that it was possible he was coming soon, but wanted me to labor at home as much as I could b/c she thought I'd be more comfortable there.

I tried to do as she suggested but by 12am, I was having no luck. The contractions were coming on very strong now. I was having a hard time concentrating on staying busy or the tv when the contractions came. I also struggled with the breathing. Where was DH through this all? Out cold sleeping!!! He had had several beers during TG dinner and even went across the street to drink more with our neighbor before I made him come in (b/c I had a feeling baby was coming). So I made him hit the shower and get some sleep because heaven forbid the baby come that night and he's drunk through it all!! Anyways, by 12, I woke my mom up and said that I was in terrible pain and asked her to help me time the contractions. (We had only DH's cell phone to time the contractions....note to self - get a stop watch for the next time). The contractions were still only about 8 -10 mins apart. But because I was in so much pain, I called the hospital for advice. I couldn't believe that I could be in so much pain and still be in early labor. (Even though I knew I shouldn't even come in till the contractions were 5 minutes apart regularly).

I called the advice nurses and they agreed. I was still too early to come in. I asked if it was common for someone to be in early labor with so much pain - (I couldn't even talk at some points of the phone conversation while the contractions came on...I had to give the phone to my mom and just focus on breathing). But the nurse, and my mom both said that yes, it was common and that it was very possible that I could go like this for hours, days or even weeks! Boy was that frustrating to hear. I was like, there is no way I can even last through the night with this kind of pain.

I was kind of surprised at how much pain I felt. I always believed that I had a high pain tolerance, but these contractions put me to shame. I struggled big time. I remember saying that I would never get pregnant again, and that I couldn't believe women did this all the time. I would never wish this pain on my worst enemy. The pain was indescribable.

By 2 am, I had had enough. I was tired!! I was in pain!! and I was over it. I woke my mom up and said, let's go to the hospital. I dont care what they tell me, I'm demanding drugs. My mom said that when she heard me say this, she knew there was no way she was going to talk me out of it. So we woke up DH and we piled into the car.

The drive to the hospital was uneventful. I remember DH dropped us off at the entrance while he parked the car. I remember that during the walk up to the L&D wing I had to stop 3 times due to the pain from the contractions. I remember checking in and seeing my doctor there. They checked me, and lo and behold, I was still only 1 centimeter dilated and 50% effaced!!! Talk about frustration!! I could not believe how much pain I was in to be just 1 cm dilated. There was talk about the possibility of sending me back home, but my doctor knew me and knew I wasn't making up the pain...so he said that while it was still too early for an epidural, they'd keep me over night, give me morphine to take the edge of the pain away and see if I progressed on my own. If I did, they'd know I was going into labor.

So I got a morphine butt shot at 4am and tried to sleep some. The pain was still as intense as ever, but with the morphine, I got groggy and tried to sleep in between contractions. I was so out of it and sore at this point that I couldn't talk sometimes. I remember the nurse would come ask me questions and sometimes I'd just ignore her, I was in so much pain. I would tell my husband to squeeze my arm hard just so that I'd have other pain to focus on when the contractions cames.

Thankfully, the morning rolled around and they checked me again at 7am. I was making progress, slowly. I was now 2-3 cm dilated and 80% effaced. The doctor said that while it was still early, I could opt for the epidural if I wanted. I was like heck yeah, give me the drugs. My mom wanted me to try walking around first to speed up the progress, but there was no way I could walk at that point, I was in so much pain and exhausted from basically being up most of the night. They brought breakfast in for me, but I was in too much pain to eat it.

At 9am the anesthesiologist gave me the epidural and let me tell you, I was a WHOLE new woman. It was like NIGHT and DAY! I could talk, I could open my eyes, I could focus, I was pain free, I was a happy camper!!! Let me tell you, I have no idea how women can stand the pain or labor without epidurals. I'm a total advocate for those things. =)

They let me hang out and checked me again at 11am. I had progressed to about 3-4 cm and 90% effaced. Things were moving real slowly for me so they asked if I wanted pitocin. Again, I was like yes, anything to get this show on the road. My contractions were still irregular...like they would come every 5 minutes, then every 2 minutes, then one after 7 minutes etc. They were hoping the pitocin would help make them more regular. They started me off at a low dose, but about every hour, they'd come, see that my contractions still weren't as ideal as they'd like and up the dose.

By 4pm they checked me again and I was 7-8 CM and 90% effaced. They upped the pitocin again. By 6pm they checked and I was ready!!! 10CM and 99% effaced. The very nice young doctor (I think she was a resident because the older OB would come in and watch her) said there was just a teeny tiny bit of cervix around the edge of his head, but that it would soon disappear. They gave me about 30 more minutes, then by 7pm the young doctor, the old doctor and a bunch of nurses all came into the room. It was time to push!!!

I pushed for 1 hour and 25 minutes. It took a while because my contractions were still regularly irregular (so they called it). I'd push, then have to wait 2-5 minutes for the next contraction to push again. They put a mirror up for me to watch, but in the beginning I was getting discouraged because although they were very encouraging and told me I was making progress with practically every push, I could see nothing happening down there. My DH even said that sometimes he'd say I was doing good, but only because the nurses and doctor were saying so, because like me, he'd see no real progress either. It was kinda funny, because football was on tv, and during the breaks, DH would be watching tv, the nurses would be chitchatting, my mom would be talking with DH's mom, and I would be watching the monitor, waiting for another contraction to register (I could feel the contractions coming, but it was easier to see them coming on the monitor).

Then finally, his head was showing!!! It still took a while for it to come out. Everytime I'd push him a little further out, but then he'd slip back in. Finally, I stopped watching the mirror (partly b/c the doctor sat infront of me and blocked it) and just concentrated on pushing. I guess his head finally came out b/c in the middle of a push, the doctor said, stop pushing and I could feel his body just slip out (which surprised me, I had always thought the shoulders were the hardest part to get out, not in my case I guess). The umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck once, but it was very lose and we weren't alarmed. His heart rate had been fairly steady throughout the pushing. He was out!!!! He didn't cry until they clamped his umbilical cord for DH to cut, then he let out his first scream. It was wonderful!!

DH cut the cord, then they put him in a blanket and placed him on my chest. I was like whoa, this is my kid!! This was what was in me the whole time. I was amazed to see that he was like a little person...full head of black hair and huge dark eyes. Super cute. I didn't feel any rush of strong emotions though, which is what I had anticipated. I felt more awkward and I was shaking uncontrollably at this point due to the adrenaline and I remember saying that he's got his own vibrating chair on me. They let him stay on me for quite some time while I delivered the placenta and partially while she sewed me up. (I had 1 2nd degree tear...small she claimed).

Eventually they took him, cleaned him up, weighed him and measured him. 7lbs 2.3 ounces and 19.5 inches long (though we think that was a mistake b/c 3 days later he measured 21 inches). He was such a good baby!! Not much crying at all. He even ate about 2 hours after his birth for two whole hours! 1 hour on each boob(I think part of the length was because it took a while for him to get colostrum out of me).

They waited for some feeling to come back to my legs and transferred us to our postpartum room where we would stay for the next two days. What a wonderful exhausting day!!

Now Kaua is 1 week old and we swear he's grown more already. He was super skinny at birth (long arms, legs, fingers and toes). Now it looks like he's got more fat on him. Still skinny though. (Both DH and I were scrawning kids, so it looks like Kaua may be skinny as well). More pictures to come.....

Kaua sneezing at 5 days old.

We're about to leave the house to go get our newborn photos taken at the hospital, so not much time to write (we couldn't get them taken at the hospital when we were there b/c he got circumsized the day we were planning to do it and I felt so bad about making him so uncomfortable that I didn't want to put him through anymore stress. I cried when they brought him back to the room and you could tell from his cries that he was sooooo mad and in pain from the procedure. It breaks your heart to know that your child is in pain and there's nothing you can do to make it better. I completely understand that feeling that mothers go through. Thankfully, his penis is healing and he's a happy camper.) Here's a video of Kaua sneezing. I think it's so adorable.

Kaua is HERE!!!

Hey guys, not much time to write, but wanted to update everyone and to thank you for your comments on my last post. I guess the little guy decided to cut mommy some slack b/c he came on black friday - November 27, 2009 at 8:25pm. Guess all my sniveling about being 1 cm dilated and no effacement didn't matter much huh?

Kaua is a happy and healthy little guy. He was 7lbs 2.3 ounces and 19.5" long. He was a little lighter than we expected, but I guess it makes sense since he was 1 week and 2 days early. We had our first follow up appt yesterday (our first day home) and he already grew to 21"!!! Crazy how fast they grow.

I'll post again in the next few days to share his birth story and hopefully some pictures!!

B MoM over and out -- and finally a mother!!!! God is sooooooooooo good!