Scott's memory box

As a first-time mom, it was only fitting that I kept approximately 1 million things to commemorate Scott's birth, and I would need something to collect them in.

I looked around for memory boxes at Target and on Amazon, but I didn't see anything I liked so I decided to order one from Etsy.  The box is larger than a legal-sized piece of paper and is wood with decoupage decoration.  Here's the outside.  The text on the bottom says, "baby boy".

Here's the inside of the lid.  The text says "Baby mine" and some other baby-related words and phrases.

And here's the inside of the box.

The contents of the box includes the front page of the newspaper that lists his birth announcement.  It just occurred to me that we didn't get a copy of the paper from the day he was actually born.  Ooops.

His birth announcement is the second item in the center column:

Then we have his footprints taken when he was born and the little card that was in his crib at the hospital plus the booklet where we had to record all his feedings and diaper changes (yeah, I know...).

I also have all his "before birth" photos.  Here's the ultrasound from when I was 8-weeks pregnant with him.  I remember being so so so so happy to see that little flickering heart!

And the 20-week ultrasound.

See any resemblance to the real deal?

Honestly, I don't.  I still think the ultrasound looks like "generic face", but again, I remember how excited I was to see that little generic face (and find out he was a boy).

I also kept his and our hospital bands:

I have all the cards we were given from friends and relatives.

And the book of advice from co-workers.

I also have a baby book for him, which we need to fill out (!!!) but that will be another post.  Everything fits in there neatly with the newspaper on top.

I know I'll go back through everything a million times as he grows up, but I hope that as he gets older, he'll be a little bit interested in it, too.  I mean, little kids love hearing stories about themselves, right?  

Anyway, I love the box idea because it doesn't take much effort (just throw things in there) and allows me to hold onto all his baby stuff indiscriminately without having it be all over or risk it getting ruined.  We'll save that for when he gets a hold of it and decides to go through it all by himself when he's 2. 

Mr. Scott

This has been a much better week as far as sleeping and general fussy/grumpiness.  HOWEVER, Scott hit 6 weeks old today, which seems like it's a notoriously difficult time for both moms and babies (baby is hungry allthetime), so I'm bracing myself for my angel to turn into a gremlin for awhile.

6-weeks old (as of 3:39 this afternoon)!

It's been a big week for us with several new developments:

• His newborn clothes no longer fit.
• I had to buy size 1 disposable diapers because the newborn size we brought home from the hospital no longer fit (Jessica - you are welcome to have our extra diapers for Peyton), and I had to let out his diaper covers so they would be larger
• Scott did his first (and only - so far) baby push-up

• He took his first pumped bottle (bringing the total to 3 now - one each day Friday - Sunday) given by Daddy.  Since he's not been a fan of pacifiers, we weren't sure how it would go, but it turns out that food is always welcome.  Note - Daniel was about to workout when I took this picture, which explains the wardrobe choice.

• I was not there to witness it, but Daniel said that, for the first time, when he had his bath on Saturday he didn't scream bloody murder. 

Sooo... wish us luck as we enter this week - especially because it's super cold and Daniel has the car so we are home-bound.  It's my last full week home with Scott, and I hope I'm able to appreciate our remaining time together as much as it deserves.  I can't believe my tiny baby is not so tiny anymore!

I work out

The rundown:


Sa - 4mi!!!!!! I meant to do 2 x 1.5 mi, but I was feeling great, so I just kept going.
Su - Rest
M - 3mi walk (trying to not let myself get injured by doing too much too soon) + Shred level 1
T - 2mi run
W - Rest from running/walking but I did an upper body P90X workout (thx, Kerri)
R - 4 x 1 mi intervals
F - 3mi walk + upper body P90X workout (???)


All runs/walks were done on the treadmill.  It's not so bad when you have the appropriate entertainment.

I started watching How I Met Your Mother about a year ago (maybe more???) while I was using the treadmill and I'm about the finish the 7th season (the last season on Netflix).  It'll be the end of an era.  Any suggestions for another show with a lot of episodes that's fairly entertaining and easy to follow (sometimes it's hard to actually hear the dialogue)?

What else???

We've been doing pretty good about getting up in the morning.  Scott has been pretty reliable about getting up once after 3.5 - 4 hours so it's been working out to go to bed about 8 - 9 hours before we want to get up and working out after I give him his first morning feeding.

My weight was up slightly this week (133 lbs) but I actually blame it on starting to workout again.  I've noticed I usually lose a pound or so of water weight when I take a break from exercising so I'm not surprised it went the other way.  In a victory for self-control, I didn't eat any junk food yesterday.  YAY!

Well, the babe is stirring.  Gotta run!

Three things Thursday

1. I'm planning to drop in on the Titus mom's group at church today.  Because it's been so cold and Daniel has been taking the car to work most days, we haven't been getting out much (at least compared to my old BS - before Scott- life).  It will be nice to get out of the house for awhile, do some socializing, and have a "pretending I'm a stay-at-home-mom" experience.  

2. Last night I put Scott down to sleep and he was soooooo quiet.  I went back to my own room and then had to get up and check to make sure he was still breathing... twice.  And then I had Daniel check on him a third time when he got home.

Except for Saturday night/Sunday morning he's been going to sleep fairly easily and sleeping really well through the night with one wake-up (knock on wood).  Unfortunately we've had a couple big spit ups on my side of the bed, and we've realized that the white box on the changing table would be more functional if it were baby poop yellow.

3. I'm officially on junk food detox.  Seriously.  For real this time.  I keep making excuses like, "After all the Christmas candy is gone, etc." but I need to stop the madness.  Last night I had too much sugar/caffeine (I was eating Hershey Kisses), and I had a hard time sleeping.  Not being able to sleep while the baby is sleeping is unacceptable.  Plus, I just started wearing my regular pants again this week and going crazy on the candy isn't doing me any favors.  If I want something sweet, I still have plenty of the world's most delicious oranges (thanks again, Mom and Dad) to snack on.  I know, moderation, blah blah blah, but I think I need to just shut it down for a little while.  No more junk food until... I decide otherwise.

Going under the knife

Cloth diapers; baby wearing; breastfeeding; skin to skin contact; laboring in water.  "Back to nature" is very "in" right now when it comes to childbirth and baby care.  But nothing beats holy grail of good motherhood: natural birth*.  While no one doubts the necessity of medical intervention in some pregnancies - childbearing used to be a risky business - there's still a stigma attached to having a C-section - especially a planned one.  If you're not already familiar, a simple Google search will bring up all the issues behind the high C-section rate in the US and the various people and things that are blamed (lazy women, lazy doctors, evil insurance companies, etc.).  I'm not going to get into the various merits and demerits of these arguments, but all of these thing weighed on my mind when, in the later weeks of pregnancy, because Scott was breech and because of IUGR concerns, it became clear that the most likely scenario was that I would not go into labor at all but have a C-section to deliver him.

It wasn't what I wanted, and I was afraid of having the surgery (because who wants to have abdominal surgery?), but that was the way it was going to be.  Part of my fear stemmed from the fact that all of my girlfriends delivered their babies the old fashioned way, and I didn't know anyone (well) who had delivered via C-section since we partied like it was 1999.  Despite having one lucid dream about the operation, I really didn't know what it would be like.  Now, looking back on the event several weeks later, here are 5 things that surprised me about having a C-section.

1. It was worse than I thought it would be.  For the first 36 hours especially and then for about a week after that.  I thought the pain would be like a sports injury - that the affected part would hurt, but the rest of my body would feel totally fine.  Not so.  I was completely exhausted after the procedure and had no energy or appetite for about a week.  There were a few moments that were very painful (although the nurses did their best to prevent that from happening), and I felt completely helpless for the first 36 hours.  The second night I walked down part of the hospital corridor, and it was one of the most physically difficult things I'd ever done.

2. It was not as bad as I thought it would be.  I felt better pretty fast.  After about 10 days I was ready to start walking (like on the treadmill for exercise) again.  Even the night of the operation I was able to get up and go to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth (actually going to the bathroom would have to wait another day).  Two days later I was ready to get OUT of the hospital.  Now at 5-weeks later, I don't think I'm in any worse shape than I'd have been if I'd had a normal delivery.

3. It was not as scary as I thought it would be.  Or maybe it was more scary.  I thought the idea of knowing I was being sliced open would make me freak out or pass out, but I was actually very calm during the procedure.  For one, the operating room is really cold so it's hard to faint.  Two, everything happens so fast that you don't have much time to think about what's going on.  Three, there are so many people in the room who are doing things to you in a business-like way, the natural inclination is to lay back and let it all just happen.  I was able to feel a little tugging at the top of my rib cage, but I don't remember feeling uncomfortable pressure or nausea.  Nothing that made me think, "OMG - my abdomen is sliced open right now."

4. Having the staples removed was not painful.  Seriously.  I was terrified that I was going to be able to feel them being yanked out one by one.  The staple remover was not like one of those mean things with fangs they sell at Office Depot.  It looked more like the thing they use to trim hang nails at the salon.  I barely felt a thing.  And my scar is small and not scary looking at all. It wouldn't even be visible in a bathing suit.

5. I didn't get to be the first person to hold my baby.  And it was okay.  In our modern times, at an uncomplicated natural birth, the baby is immediately placed on mom's chest while the doctors attend to the baby so the maximum amount of bonding can take place.  In my case, I had a glimpse of a very blue Scott being whisked away to be examined but then had to wait until he was all cleaned up and checked out before I got to hold him, and even then he was all wrapped up so I could only see his little eyes.

Does it freak you out to know that, at the moment this
picture was taken, my abdomen was being sown shut?

But the thing is, that's the only way I've ever given birth, so I don't know if I'm missing something by not having that initial time together.  I'm inclined to say no.  There's never been a moment in our relationship thus far when I said, "If only he hadn't spend the first 20 minutes of his life with the medical staff..."

Did anything surprise you about the childbirth process?  Or if you've never had a baby, is there something that you fear or wonder about giving birth?
 

*I'm not going to write about the whole "epidural vs. no epidural" debate because I don't have any actual experience with labor or labor pain.

Nursery 2.0

It's been awhile since I posted any nursery pictures!  Last week I did some more sorting and archiving with some new storage bins from Ikea and here's the result:

Here's the view when you walk into the room.  We've still got him in a swing we borrowed from friends for sleeping.

Under the crib are two boxes - one with extra blankets and one with clothes that are currently too big or out of season.

Here's the view rotating counterclockwise.  The shelf with the sock monkey (made by Scott's great great grandma) is still the only wall decoration we have right now.

On the wall near the door is the changing table/dresser plus the diaper and regular trash cans and the laundry basket.

The box on top contains all the diaper essentials.  Although last weekend - after a particularly massive 2 am poop explosion - we decided it might not be a good idea to have a white box on the business end of a changing table.

Right by the door we have a basket with his stuffed toys and his activity mat (folded up behind).

And all the updating in the room didn't even come at too great an expense to the "closet of no return" in the back.

All this organizing is hard work!

Edited to add: We had a much better night last night.

Plus a couple more random pictures I couldn't resist adding.

5-weeks old and all bundled up to go outside on a cold day:

Baby feet:

The Baby Scott Review

It's been an exciting week.

Scott turned 1 month old: 

He did some scholarly reading (I was amazed, but he really did seem to be looking at the pictures in the book):

He got his first piece of mail:

We took advantage of the warm weather to bundle up and take a walk:

And he discovered that the pacifier *might* be his friend (jury is still out).

He's been cluster feeding in the evening, which worried me for a little while (I was concerned my milk supply was too low) until I read that it was normal at his age, and I'll tentatively say he's going for longer periods of time between meals at night.  He's also mastered latching on quickly when he wakes up at night so we've been experimenting with nursing laying on our sides.  I don't actually mind feeding him at night that much, but having to sit up to do it feels like torture.  I mean, if you described nursing at night - someone comes into your room in the middle of the night and screams for you to wake up, then makes you sit in a crouched over position while they suction your chest for a 1/2 hour - it sounds like a violation of the Geneva Convention.

Edited to add: I spoke too soon.  Last night was one of his worst on record.  No amount of feeding, diaper changing, soothing, or pacifier insertion on the part of either one of us could calm him down last night.  As far as I could tell the thing he really wanted was to come sleep in our bed with us.  And I let him.  Please don't report me to the authorities.

On the agenda for this coming week is to experiment with taking a bottle!