Huck at 2 weeks

Huck was 2 weeks old on Saturday. It feels like he has been here longer than 2 weeks, but maybe that is because I'm tired so the days last forever.

Finley and I took him to the doctor for his 2 week check up yesterday and he is doing great. He weighed 8 lbs 14 ozs and was 21 1/4 inches long. He has to go back in 3 weeks for another check up. Yesterday was also my first outing with just me and the 2 little ones. Finley seems to get older everyday and she did so well yesterday. She held onto to the stroller as we walked in the doctors office and she had to check on Huck the whole time we were there. She really loves him and has not shown any jealousy yet.

Huck is doing well with breastfeeding. The only problem is that he goes to fast and then sucks in a ton of air and then burps and spits up so of the milk. I don't know of a way to get him to slow down, but hopefully as he gets older he will learn that he doesn't have to go as fast. I think him going fast is better than Finley who would nurse for an hour on one side! Even as she got older she would nurse for a while.

He started fighting sleep when he was about a week old and that has been hard. If I don't get him to sleep before he gets over tired he will cry for 2 hours. He can cry really loud for such a little guy! I have no idea how many times he gets up at night because I don't remember in the morning, but I think it is about every two hours. Hopefully that will spread out to 3 hours soon.

Over all things have gone really well. I'm sure I will have days in the future that are horrible, but I have been able to get homework done and dinner cooked every night. A nap every couple of days would be nice, but I'm making it without one so I will continue on!

 Everyone always ask who he looks like and I have no idea. All my kids have the some of the same features, but they all look so different.

This Mobywrap is the best thing that I have bought! Huck sleeps in it for several hours everyday. If he gets fussy, I can put him in it and he will go to sleep usually within a few minutes.

Huck and Fin

Finley has truly amazed me. She has done so well since I had Huck. I was scared, like really, really scared! The first year and half of her life we lived on the other side of the country and the only people she was ever around was me, Jason, Tyler and Bella. She had never been away from me for more than a few hours until I had Huck which was hard on both of us. She is pretty much the biggest mama's girl around and that is why I was so nervous. I didn't want her to feel like we were replacing her or not spending enough time with her.

Last week she was pretty emotional. She is not a big crier, but she would cry about random things that she would never get upset about before. She did have some sort of fever virus for a few days and that did not help any. Jason played mister mom to her last week so I could get some rest and take care of the baby, but he had to go back to work on Monday. By Sunday night I was nervous about Jason going back and being here by myself all day long. Monday started off good, but Finley didn't get a nap and by 4:00 Monday afternoon I was about to get emotional myself. She went to bed at 6:30 that night and slept until 7:00 the next morning. She was still tired when she woke up, but not near as bad. Everyday has gotten better. She has had a nap everyday since Monday. She really loves Huck. When he cries she will come and ask if he is okay. She tells me everyday that Huck is her best friend. When she says that I just want to squeeze her! When he is asleep I spend time with her watching Dora or reading books. Of course, that means that I'm neglecting the house and it is starting to look pretty bad! I'm keeping it picked up, but things like vacuuming and mopping will probably not happen anytime soon.

I can't wait to see what kind of relationship they have as they get older. I really hope they are best friends and will always be close.

                                            Making the same face ;)

                                               Cutest sleep smile ever!

                                              Laying by her best friend!

Huck's birth

Friday, April 6th I woke up 41 weeks pregnant. I was having contractions, but that was nothing new. I actually had Braxton Hicks contractions for the last half of the pregnancy, but on Monday they started to get stronger. They still didn't hurt, but definitely more intense. The kids were out of school for Good Friday and we were pretty much lazy all day. We did go to Target to get a birthday gift because Bella had a spend the night party to go to that night. We dropped her off at the party around 5. I told Jason I should eat something spicy so maybe I would go into labor! We ate Mexican food and then we went by our house to see what all they did during the week. We went to bed around 10:30 and I still had no indication that I was going into labor. If I did I would have went to bed earlier!

I took this picture on Friday with the caption "41 weeks today but it's a full moon tonight so you know what that means...werewolves and babies ;". I had no idea that I would be in labor less than 12 hours after I took the picture!

I woke up around 12:30 and had to pee (of course!). I went right back to sleep and then at 1:08 AM a contraction woke me up. I was thinking great, I'm going to have these for an hour and then they will stop and I'm going to be exhausted tomorrow. About 8 minutes later I had another one. I changed positions and went back to sleep. The next one woke me up again and I decided to time them. Around 2:15 I decided I would take a bath and see if that would make them stop and shave my legs just in case I ended up at the hospital. The bath didn't help and they were getting closer together. Jason woke up around 3:30 and came upstairs to see what was going on. He said he saw the kitchen lights on thought what is Bella doing up and then he remembered that she was at her friends house and he rolled over to ask me why the light was on a realized I wasn't in the bed. I was listening to my Hypnobabies tracks and they truly helped at the beginning. I timed my contractions again around 4:00 and they were 3-4 minutes apart. I called the doctor and he told me to go in and get checked and see what kind of progress I was making. We packed the rest of our stuff, told Tyler we were leaving for the hospital (he was awake playing video games! He said he woke up and couldn't go back to sleep.) and gave him the monitor so he could listen for Finley.

I want to say this about my labor-it is weird! The contractions don't hurt on my stomach or my back, just my pubic bone! I thought maybe that was just with Finley since she was face up, but it was the same with Huck so I guess that is just what my body does. That is why I'm never 100% sure if I'm in labor because I've never ever heard anyone say that all that hurt was their pubic bone. It is just strange.

We got to the hospital around 5:15 and you know it takes a year for them to get you checked in and ask the 1000 questions that they ask, but when all that was done and I was checked I was 5 centimeters so halfway there. I think I was a little disappointed because I was thinking it was going to take forever and I just wanted it to be fast. I had signed the papers for a water birth so they moved me to the room with the tub and filled it up so I could get in when I was ready. I wanted to wait until the pain got bad so I used the birthing ball and walked around for a bit. At about 6:45 the nurse wanted to monitor the baby for a few minutes to make sure his heart rate was still where it should be. She noticed some changes so she asked to check me because she thought they were from head compressions so he had probably moved down into the birth canal. I was 8-9 centimeters and I was ready to get in the water. The nurse called the doctor and told him how far I was. It was now 7:10 AM and as I sat up my water broke and then I stood up and had a huge contraction! The nurse called the doctor again and told him my water just broke and that he needed to hurry. The nurse said I don't think you can make it into the water and then I had to climb back into the bed. She checked me again and he was coming out. She called the doctor again and said she needed him now. I had to breathe through a few contractions while waiting on the doctor and they were STRONG! It's amazing what a difference the bag of water makes. When the doctor finally got there my body was going to push no matter what anyone said. I remember the doctor saying that I was going to have to push through the burn (the dreaded Ring of Fire!) but I didn't even feel it, all I felt was that if I didn't push I was going to explode. I pushed ONE time and he was out at 7:24! What is so weird was that my body was doing the pushing. It was totally different than when I had an epidural. 

Huxley Ronin Carter was born on April 7, 2012 at 7:24 AM. He weighed 8 pounds and was 21 inches long. His head was 14 1/8 inches. He has brown hair, but I can see some blond in there and right now his eyes are gray. He is just perfect and beautiful!

My labor was just a little over 6 hours from start to finish. It was a lot like Finley's, but with her I had some indications during the day that it was close. I had none of those with Huck.

My labor and delivery nurses at Brookwood were awesome! I can't say enough about how nice and supportive they were through out my labor. The postpartum nurses were great too. I'm still not 100% sure about the group of doctors I went with. There are a few I really liked and a couple I didn't. Of course, one of the ones I didn't really like ended up being there for my delivery and it was fine, but he is just not the one I would have chosen to be there.

Hypnobabies definitely helped while I was in labor. While I was still at home and listening to the tracks I can honestly say that I had very little pain. It's different when you get to the hospital, but I was more relaxed and able to breathe through the contractions and not tense up. Everything happened so fast at the end that I did tense up and I forgot to breathe, but luckily it was fast!

I can honestly say that labor was really not that bad until my water broke. Thank God my body kept the bag in tact until he was ready to make his appearance. After my water broke it was intense. I feel like I handled it pretty well, although I did yell out once when I pushed. I did have to get one stitch, but it was not bad at all. I was really sore the day I had him, but I felt much better the next day.

The only thing I regret is that since everything happened so fast we didn't get to video or take any pictures during his birth.

Over the last two years I have read and researched and read some more on birth. I decided to go natural because it is best for me and the baby and because that is what my body was made to do so I knew I could. I've had 3 epidurals and I know how great they are, I remember thinking about 3 minutes before I had Huck how nice one would have been at that moment. The biggest perk I can say for going drug free (besides the ones stated above) is the "Natural Birth High". I don't remember with Tyler, but I know with Bella and Finley I had postpartum blues for several days. I have felt great this time and just because of that I would try and go natural again if we have another baby.

I'm not sure if it was the full moon, sitting on the birthing ball most of the day, or eating Mexican food that started my labor or maybe he was just ready to come. I guess it could have been a combination of all four ;)

                                  You can't really see it here, but I was sweating like crazy!

                                                    Little Huck :)

                                            Bella holding Huck for the first time

                                                                   My girl :)

                                     Tyler holding Huck before his soccer game.

                                                Aunt Meggie

                                      The rooms at Brookwood are beautiful!

 

                                                     Huck and Daddy

                                         Our room number, I'm not sure what the star means.

                                                    Going home from the hospital

Lately

Bella had her first soccer game Thursday night. It ended in a draw, but her team looked great! It is an all girls team and they played an all boys team. She also had a game Saturday, but had to miss that one because she was in Atlanta for a birthday party. Tyler also had a game Saturday and they lost 2-1.
 
I got Finley's birthday picture disk on Saturday. Here are a few of my favorites.

 She refused to smile, but I still love them!

These were taken on Thursday and they did a lot on Friday so it already looks different than it did in these pictures. Hopefully they will get the roof on today or tomorrow, they started on the duct work and the plumbing and I have to meet the electrician tomorrow morning.

Yesterday was Bella's 8th birthday. Since we already had her party in March we told her we can go eat wherever she wanted. She picked P. F. Changs and then wanted Pinkberry for dessert. There was a Pinkberry right down the street from our house in California and that was Bella's favorite so she was super excited when the one opened up at the Summit.

                                        Dinner at P.F. Changs

                                             Original with strawberries

 

                               This might be the last picture just the three of them!

My due date has come and gone and still no baby! I sort of begged him to wait until after Bella's birthday and he did, so now he can come whenever he is ready. Well, as long as it's before next Friday because I DO NOT want to be induced. I go back to the doctor on Wednesday and then I will have to go twice next week for some testing if I am still pregnant. I have never been 40 weeks and 3 days pregnant before, but his due date was calculated by the 1st ultrasound so it could be off by a week or more. I feel like I am prepared for labor, but I am getting really nervous about it. I'm still practicing Hypnobabies everyday (even though it puts me to sleep within the first 30 seconds!) and I kind of know what to expect so I hope when it is time I stay really calm and focused. I welcome any prayers or good vibes you want to send my way!

                                             40 week 3 day belly shot