Updates!

Ok ok... I've sucked big time at keeping updates going. Things have been going well. There was some concern about me developing preeclampsia/toximia because of how badly my ankles and feet were swelling - it was gross how puffy they were. Thankfully I wasn't preeclamptic, but the lab tests showed me as borderline. To be on the safe side the doc put me on moderate bedrest. Basically - just work from home on my laptop and stay off my feet as much as possible. At first I wasn't very happy about that but to be honest after a few days I felt so much better... I was getting really really tired. So this is all happening about three or four weeks ago. At my 37 week dr appt the doc decided to see how far/if I had progressed at all. I was at 2cm dilated but cervix wasn't effaced at all. So she decided to strip my membranes. It didn't hurt perse but was uncomfortable.. Kindof freaked me and hubby out because we didn't expect her to do that and when they did that to my sister-in-law she delivered 24 hours later. Also had an ultrasound that day and he was measuring in at full term (40 weeks) in size and they were guesstimating 9lbs. There was alot of talk that at my 38 week appt the next week that we would possibly induce later in the week to avoid him being too big for me to deliver if we went full term.

Moving forward about five days...

Langdon Paul decided to arrive on his own terms and joined us at 10:24pm on Saturday 10/24. He arrived exactly two weeks before his due date, weighing in at 7lbs 13oz and 20" long.

Friday night after hubby got home from work we went for a short walk (probably shouldn't have, oops!). Around 8pm I started having contractions that were about 20 minutes apart. They seemed to stop so just chalked it up to Braxton Hicks and went to sleep. Didn't sleep very well but figured that was because of my size (belly was huuuge!) and Braxton Hicks (had been having them more and more often).

Got up at 4am and started timing the contractions and found that they were regular, coming every 4 minutes and about 1 minute long. Woke hubby up at 5am and we decided to call the hospital to find out what to do. They told me to drink some water, take a bath and lay down to see if they would stop. And that if they got to 2-3 minutes apart and really intense that I should come in. So went back to sleep until about 9am. Until about 11:30 they were tolerable but then they started to get much stronger and longer - about 3 1/2 minutes apart and 2 min long. Decided that it was time to go at around 12:45. Once we got there they got me all hooked up to the monitors and within an hour of being there my water broke on its own - at 2pm. I was only at 2cm but was 80% effaced.

Finally got some pain medication at around 3pm and epidural at 4pm. Once that happened it was so much better. I think the worst part of the pain was that it never fully stopped - the contractions felt so close together that my body never fully relaxed from the previous contraction. that was also preventing from my cervix progressing further. Once the epidural was in I went from 2cm to 7cm dialated in under an hour. I hit 10 cm by 6:30pm. We tried to push at 7:30 but he was still sitting pretty high in my pelvis so instead of making me push for two hours the doc decided to give me some pitocin to make the contractions stronger and more regular to move him down lower. We hung out until about 9:45 and then got ready to push. Worked for about thirty minutes and then he arrived!

Here's the first picture of him!

So happy that he's here. Today was his due date and he is two weeks old.

Here's another picture of him. He has a full head of dark brown hair. I was born that way too so most likely its from me. We can't quite decide who he looks like more right now although alot of people are saying he looks more like me. I'm sure as he gets older he'll look more and more like dad.

Its been a crazy two weeks. The first week was challenging to say the least and there were a few times where I wished we could go back to the hospital and they could help us out. We were up every hour or so for feedings and there were a couple of delerious moments where I couldn't remember if I put him back in his bed or not. This past week has been better - we are for the most part on a 2 1/2 or 3 hour cycle. So we sleep for at least two hours at a time which is fantastic.

Hubby has been great. He can tell when I'm getting frustrated or just am exhausted and he'll take Langdon in the other room and work on rocking him to sleep when I can't do it. I'm breastfeeding but yesterday we decided to introduce a bottle - so I'm starting to pump in addition to nursing. That has been wonderful, not only can hubby bond with Langdon by feeding him but it gives me a little more freedom. I love being a mom but I think anybody who has done this can understand. It let us go out yesterday too. Because he takes a bottle now I can get out of the house and not have to worry about getting back home in time for feedings, etc. :D