1 month

I can't believe Jacob is already a month old!  His first month has gone by so quickly.  He is still doing very well and gaining more weight.  We will go back this week for another weight check, so I will post an update then.  He is still sleeping well and really loves his bath now.  This past week, Jacob took his first road trip and did fairly well.  After about 6 hours, he was ready to get out of his car seat, but who wouldn't be?!  He is also staying awake more everyday, so I should have cute new pictures to post quite often! 

Jacob's first Thanksgiving

Jacob had an exciting first Thanksgiving!

  

He spent time with Mia...

and Teddy Bear...

and Annie.

He relaxed while watching the parade.

He met lots of new friends.

And played with Oscar.

He took a few family pictures.

And he watched the Bulldogs win the Egg Bowl!  

We have so many reasons to be thankful!



(almost) 4 weeks

Wow, its really hard to believe Jacob has been here for almost 4 weeks!  We went in for another weight check yesterday and he is finally back to birth weight! Yay! Now we just have to catch up a little more.  This also means I can start feeding him every four hours instead of two to three, another Yay!  I really miss sleeping. 

We are busy packing this morning to leave for Thanksgiving.  This will be Jacob's first road trip - wish us luck.  I will post more and lots of cute pictures when we get back next week.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A few more pictures and 3 week update

We went back for a 3 week weight check today and Jacob is back up to 7 lbs, 2 oz.  He is gaining, but not fast enough.  To try to speed him up, we are supplementing formula for the next week.  Hopefully this will help him put on weight quickly.  Our goal right now is to make it back to his birth weight.  Other than that, everything is still going extremely well!

These pictures are too cute!

Our first few weeks

Our first few weeks have been great.  I have to say, Jacob has been an easy-going baby so far.(its strange not calling him Baby T!)  At our first check-up, he had lost a little more weight than he should, so we have been on a fairly strict feeding schedule, every 2 to 3 hours, and he has been putting the weight back on quickly.  I usually have to wake him to feed him, and he sleeps well at night.  I really can't complain!

At 2 1/2 weeks, Jacob...
- is staying awake more and more everyday
- doesn't hate his bath quite as much as he did at first
- weighed 6 lbs 15 oz and was 20 1/2 inches at last week's weight check
- likes spending time on his tummy during the day
- is absolutely adorable! (see below!)

Shutterfly Holiday Cards

I am so excited about this promotion!  Shutterfly is offering 50 free holiday cards to bloggers!  We will definitely be sending out some cute cards this year, with our new addition to show off and Shutterfly has some of the cutest cards I've seen!  If you don't believe me, just look at all these choices! We are actually having a hard time deciding which one we like best.  I've narrowed it down to this one or that one. You'll just have to wait to see which one comes in the mail...

We will also be getting several of our Christmas gifts from Shutterfly this year.  I can't decide what would be better, a new mug with a picture of Jacob or a canvas of one of his first pictures! I'm sure anything we find on Shutterfly's site will be just great.  Shutterfly also has tons of other cute products and great prices on prints! I have already ordered tons of prints from Jacob's first few days! 

Use this link to sign up for your own free holiday cards!

Picture from our first week

Friends already!

My one and only attempt at getting a good picture for announcements.  Jacob doesn't really like pictures so much!

Deep thought...

Jacob is finally opening his eyes more and more everyday.  He's precious! 

Jacob's arrival

I know it's taken me a while to get around to blogging again, but I've had a lot going on!  I am slowly learning to survive on sleep that only comes in 2 hour intervals and still spend a decent amount of time awake each day.  That has been a challenge, but my mom has been here all week and she has helped SO MUCH!  I don't know if I could have made it without her.  She has cooked, cleaned, taken care of laundry, grocery shopped, and taken care of Jacob when he just wouldn't sleep at 3 AM.  I am a little nervous about trying to take care of all this by myself next week, but I'm sure I'll make it somehow (I hope!). 

Now for anyone who cares to know the details of Jacob's arrival...

I went to sleep last Tuesday night feeling tired and sore like every other night.  A and I actually had a short - we never know when this is going to happen - conversation before going to sleep.  I woke up early Wednesday morning (27th), about 3:15 with contractions, but they weren't too bad and about 10 minutes apart.  I watched the clock through a few of them and then tried to go back to sleep.  I had contractions like these the week before for about 2 hours and they had just gone away, so I wasn't very concerned.  I slept on and off until about 5:30 when they started to come about every 7 minutes and were a little more intense.  At this point, I woke A a little bit and told him what was going on.  He asked if we needed to go anywhere and I said no, so he went back to sleep. By then, I really wasn't sleeping but just kinda dozing in between.  By 9 AM, they were more painful than uncomfortable and closer to 5 minutes apart.  I knew my doctor's office was up and running, so I called and asked the nurse if I should do anything.  She said that if the contractions were gaining intensity, I should go in just to get checked out.  This got A moving!  I got dressed and packed a few last minute items while A moved faster than I've ever seen him move in the morning.  I did laugh at him a little in between contractions! 

By the time we made it to the hospital, the contractions were about 3 minutes apart and pretty painful.  I couldn't walk during, so the trek into labor and delivery took a few minutes.  I got checked in and on the first check, I was only 2 cm dilated.  I was a little disappointed because I thought they would send us back home and I was terribly uncomfortable by this point.  The nurse sent us to walk the halls for an hour and said if I had any change, the doctor would tell me to stay.  We walked the halls and at the next check, I was 3 cm so we were staying.  It was about 12:00 and we called to let everyone know what was going on. 

The next five hours were tough.  I was trying to last as long as I could without an epidural, partly because I wanted to be able to move as much as I wanted and I knew an epidural would confine me to the bed and partly because I am simply terrified of needles, especially big ones in my back!  I walked, or stood mostly and leaned on A during contractions for a few hours.  This was painful, but better than just laying down.  I finally got in the tub around 3:30.  This helped so much! I could only stay for an hour and then I had to get back on the monitors for at least thirty minutes.  After I finally got out of the tub (tougher than you would think while in labor!) I knew I couldn't make it back in and out again, so I gave in.  By this point, I had been in labor for about 13 hours and was only at 5 cm.  I called for the epidural and tried not to have an anxiety attack between contractions while waiting.  I have to say, it was not as bad as I thought.  I did have one contraction during the procedure, which was tough, but other than that, it was okay.  After the epidural kicked in, I was a much happier person. 

My parents arrived about an hour later.  The doctor has asked for pitocin to be started, as I was progressing so slowly.  I had originally not wanted this at all, but with the epidural, I did not feel the effects at all.  I also knew things needed to speed up.  By 9:00 I was 7 cm and at 9:30, 9 1/2 cm.  The pitocin was definitely working for me.  By 10:00 PM, I was 10 cm and my nurse (Janice, who was amazing!) said it was time to push.  We thought Jacob would be arriving any minute.  Boy, were we wrong!  For the next 2 1/2 hours, I pushed.  Yes, 2 1/2 hours!  Jacob finally made his arrival at 12:29 AM on the 28th.  For anyone keeping count, that's about 21 hours of labor.  It was definitely a long night and we were all exhausted, but so glad Jacob had arrived healthy. 

A few pictures of his first few hours...

And of course, Daddy's first diaper change! 

I have MANY more pictures to come soon!