Bathtime at Grandma's

Look at that thigh! James is gaining weight at a great clip- we weighed him with Tonya's luggage scale and he was 13.4lbs at just under 7 weeks.

Well loved and cushioned.

Proud Grandma and Daddy.

PeaPod

If you are looking for a great alternative to a pack'n play the PeaPod is AWESOME.
We took is on our Christmas trip to NC and it was perfect for night time sleep, naps and general playtime. It is so portable that if we were in the kitchen cooking we could just move it in there and James could watch us and we could chat with him- and basically it moved around the house with us all day long. The air mattress is firm enough to be safe for him, but cushy enough to entice him to sleep quite well at night. It folds up to a very small footprint in the car for traveling and I am planning on packing it in my suitcase for my trip to Hawaii with James in March.

James Cordell, a.k.a....

Jimmybean
turkey burger
booger bean
butter bean
bunga bean
Jamesy
bud
buddy
boog

These are the nicknames or terms of endearment we have called James so far (or at least that I can remember at the moment)- Tim's most common is turkey burger, mine is booger bean- though both of us call him buddy quite a lot.
All James says to us thus far is "nein" (this is what he cries out when he's mad- it totally sounds like he is repeatedly and forcefully say "NO!" over and over in German), and his cooing consists of "gown" and variations thereof, plus varieties of "ahh", "oooh" and "goo".
He has started to smile AT us- not just when he's going to sleep or finishing nursing. He also is fascinated by our dark brown ceiling fans - and these get the most smiles. I am going to try to capture this on film and post it soon- it is incredibly cute. Tim is convinced he'll be a tech nerd because of his early love of machines- we'll see, I'm still hoping for a son who loves to knit!

Handknit love

Sunday Tim took down our front door (I helped a bit) to replace the door sweep in an attempt to keep out some of the winter chill. I put James in the moses basket and put him outside with us so I could keep an eye on him. It was rather chilly so he was able to make use of the handknit sweater and mittens I did and the BEAUTIFUL blanket Christi made for him for Christmas. The blanket is extremely warm and perfect for a chilly day. Thanks, Christi, James loves it!

Perfect morning

or at least practically perfect-would be even better if I was asleep too!

Bathtime!

Despite the look on James' face he really does like getting baths.

G-diapers

When James got his belly button on Thanksgiving he upgraded from just disposable diapers to the g-diaper- he is not quite 3 weeks old in these pictures.

James is one month old!

Last Wednesday James turned one month old- and it was a big day and week for him. Monday we went to his 4 week checkup- he was 22 inches long (down from 23 inches the previous time...those measurements are so inaccurate!), his head circumference increased another half inch to 15.5, and is up to 11 lbs 1oz- that is 28oz gained in two weeks! He also received his first bath done solo by me (my mom stood ready to help but I wanted to practice doing it on my own).
Wednesday night he was having a hard time going to sleep for the night so at 12:15 I decided Tim didn't need to hear James fussing in the bassinet next to the bed so I took him to the nursery and finally got him to sleep but decided to put him to bed in his crib instead of the bassinet...just in case he woke up yet again in just 15 minutes. Miraculously he slept...in the crib...all night...not straight through- but he did sleep almost 4 hours the first stretch then another almost 3 then 2 more...and I made a little pad on the floor and slept next to the crib so that I could let him sleep until he really woke up. I think when he was in the bassinet I was picking him up too soon...when he started grunting and rooting in his sleep but not when he had truly woken up- that's why he "slept" 4 hours in the crib versus 3 in the bassinet...he basically grunted and groaned for 40 minutes in the crib before he actually woke up.
Also on his one month birthday---James began definite social cooing, he had done some before but this was much more consistent and during play time, he also gave me a half smile for the first time (instead of the smile he gave with his eyes closed while nursing or as he was going to sleep).

Victory is ours!

For the first 3 weeks of James' life he "wouldn't" sleep on his own...looking back it that probably was just as much my fault as his...he hadn't figured out night and day properly, often waking up for long periods (up to 3 hours) at night to be alert and totally wide awake. And if we put him in his bassinet he would only sleep a max of 40minutes before waking up and getting out of sorts and crying himself to an even more awake state, but more often is was only 15-20 minutes of sleep before this happened. However, if I nursed him to sleep and then just moved him onto my chest he'd sleep for up to 3 hours straight...so he pretty much slept on me for the past 3 weeks straight...which I am sure did not give me great sleep but at least whatever sleep I was getting was longer than 15 minute increments. (Tim had James sleep on him a few times until our 1-week checkup when Dr. Owen told us a story about her brother-in-law having his newborn sleep on his chest and having a dream that a wolverine was attacking him and he woke up to find himself throwing the baby off him- Tim didn't have James sleep on him again.)
Then this past Monday night James slept in his bassinet all night! And again Tuesday...and again last night! We had been trying to swaddle him thinking he was waking himself up with his flailing arms, but James DOES NOT like to be swaddled. So we just put him in a sleep sack, used a heating pad to warm up his sheets so the cold sheets wouldn't wake him up when we put him down and he's been sleeping quite well AND SO HAVE I. I'm sure we'll have our setbacks--last night James was awake from 1:20-3:00, but in general I think we now have a baby free bed.
On another front, James took his first bottle on Monday night with no fuss (unlike my attempts at pumping which are super frustrating) and again tonight. I guess food is food and he doesn't really care at this point how he's getting it.
So victory with bed and bottles...awesome.

One day shy of 3 weeks...

Wearing the outfit I knit for him to come home from the hospital but hadn't quite (still haven't) finished- but fits for at least this week.

More Firsts..

First 'ride' in the sling- on his first fishing trip to the Toccoa River

First diaper change in the car

Not a raisin

but sure does look like one...

...after 17 days James finally has a belly button-- an eventful first Thanksgiving

Not the best picture of his Thanksgiving Day outfit--his shirt say "I'm Stuffed" with a Turkey.

2 weeks old!

Today James had his second bath (Tim said he was starting to smell ripe..."like a box of cereal") probably he could have stood to have one sooner but I think he survived the week between just fine. His umbilical stump still hasn't fallen off but is definitely looking worse for the wear--though Dr. Owen said it looks just fine. At his 2-week checkup he measured 23in...though, again as said last checkup post, this measurement is highly inaccurate. And he weighed in at...9lbs. 5oz! He's already gained 12oz since birth...which I am glad to hear since I feel like I am nursing non-stop around the clock he'd better be gaining some weight!
He's still sleeping on my chest at night and the doctor assures me he can't be spoiled at this point and if he and I are both getting more sleep with this arrangement, that it will be fine for a while longer.
Will try to post some 2-week photos later today.

James

2 days old

Oh my sweet baby boy 4 days old

Two of a kind

Every once in a while James makes a face that brings out his - not sure what to call them, they aren't quite dimples but more like smilelines - this is the best I've captured so far. When you see this picture and compare it to Tim's there is no mistaking it is his sweet boy (he's much older in that picture so I will revisit it in a few months to check out of the resemblance at similar ages).

Cooking for two?

Tim is enjoying being home on paternity leave through Christmas (enjoying it but it is also exhausting since he's doing all the cleaning, cooking, shopping and taking care of me and James- thank you to those of you bringing us meals it is a real blessing to both of us!) Tim loves to cook so on evenings when we need to fend for ourselves he's been finding a recipe he hasn't made before...this is his version of cooking for two...1lb pasta with a hearty meat "sauce" with ribs, sausage and huge meatballs...it was delicious and was intended to help me get over the postpartum anemia.

Jimmybean is one week old

As requested by mom- a picture with his eyes open- 4 days old

One week old and first bath!

My little bean turned one week old today and we celebrated by giving him his first sponge bath and then going in for his one week check-up. We took video of Tim giving him his bath- which he didn't seem to mind but we need to edit it before we can post it.
As for his check up, everything looked great: good muscle tone (he had a lot of practice in the womb!); good color (no signs of jaundice); ears & eyes looked good; heart & lungs sounded great; hip joints good (didn't pee on Dr. Owen when he was diaperless, thank goodness!); head still at 14.5 in; length was 21.5 (but taking this measurement sure isn't an exact science...she just made a mark on the paper covering the exam table by his head then sort of stretched him out and made another mark by hit feet and measured the distance between the two- Tim said the measurement at the hospital was made in the same manner so there is no wonder there is a difference); and he had actually gained an ounce from his birth weight of 8lbs 9oz to 8lbs 10oz! I guess my milk coming in after only 2 days and his seemingly CONSTANT nursing are doing their jobs.
Other firsts this week are: James' taking two naps in his swing and one short night sleep as well in the swing; me forgetting to put something over him while changing his diaper and he peed just then and got it everywhere including his ear and hair (not so bad since I was actually just changing him out of a poopy diaper in order for him to have that first sponge bath).

Pros and Cons of a C-section

(I still look many months pregnant but have already lost around 17lbs! I think the angle of the picture is accentuating the belly.)

Epidural needed before c-section can take place (there is that statistic that can be interpreted that getting an epidural leads to a higher c-section rate- and that is probably true to some degree-but for me a long labor, a baby who was looking the wrong direction and a tired uterus due to 27 hours of natural labor lead to the need for an epidural for relief for me and the c-section was needed because of my poor tuckered out uterus and James determinedly looking for a way to stay in his cozy home rather than coming out into a cold, bright fall day):

• Cons: great BIG needle and chance that it won't work or will cause long-term complications
• Pro: ahhhh, sweet relief!

Major Surgery:

• Cons: all the risks associated with any major surgery; plus the fear that I wouldn't have the opportunity to immediately bond with my baby; long recovery; unexpected uber-itchy reactions to povidone iodine- see picture (and it looks a heck of a lot better in this photo than it has over the past few days)
  
• Pros: Tim got to bond with James right away; he came out! (in other eras in the US and even now in developing countries the outcome could have been much different); prescribed laziness for 3 weeks at least

The other upsides to having a c-section- no hemorrhoids, tearing, or incontinence!

29.5 hours of labor and a c-section later...updated

At hospital around 6pm Sunday after going into labor that morning at 3am- 15 hours in...using the birthing egg (oblong exercise ball) to try to alleviate the intense pain in my hip joints. 4cm

Trying to breathe through them...decided the jacuzzi tub sounded nice - and it WAS!

Still able to smile between contractions- post jacuzzi tub...around 5cm around 10:30pm-19.5 hours in labor.

Post-breakdown, post IV with drugs (which didn't do a dang thing for excruciating pain in my hips joints and lower back) and finally on the epidural(put in around 6am after 27 hours in labor)- 7cm (after an hour and a half on pitocin to see if baby's lack of decent was due to a tired uterus and poor contractions or if he was too big to get through...it was determined that it was his position, his head was facing my right hip instead of the back-preventing him from decending- basically the pain I was feeling was his skull grinding against my hip bones and he wasn't tolerating the pitocin contractions well so we decided it was time to just get him out )- 7:39am- c-section scheduled.

Tim putting on a brave and encouraging face for me.

Man was it cold in there! They were very kind and wrapped my head and arms in warmed blankets but between the anxiety of surgery and the drugs I was shivering like crazy.

Hard to tell, but that is James' head coming out.

Tada! 8:32am- I was so proud of Tim looking and taking pictures- he hates blood and all things medical but was excited to see his son and get some pictures for me to see later. Look at that big noggin! The doctor had to extend his original incision and use the vacuum something or other to pull that head out. Plus, the midwife practically used her entire weight with her elbows just under my sternum to push from above. Almost made me panic to not be able to take a full breath while that process was going on. Tim was horrified at how...brutal...the process was.

This is what Tim could see, I had a more restricted view from below the drape and pretty much just saw James' upper face, but even from just that he looked so like Tim.

And I was thrilled.

Our little Sharpee (or however you spell the name of that dog breed that is so adorably wrinkly).

Tim got to watch all the bathing, assessments and got to bring him over to me to introduce us. Tim, who hasn't had very much experience with babies at all, looked completely as ease holding him and I think was surprised by how he immediately fell in love with this tiny little guy. It actually worked out well that Tim got all the firsts with James- if it had been a vaginal delivery all the first would have been directed towards me, with me, focused on the mother-baby bond...but this was a perfect way for our family to begin.

8lbs 9oz! The midwives had guessed that it was probably a 7pounder...maybe an 8, but my long torso was hiding quite the surprise.

My parents and Tim's mom got to see James' wheeled from the recovery room to the nursery and then watched him get his first bath through the window.

Not a happy camper.

But Tim definitely was a happy and proud papa.

Amazing how James looked at me in the recovery room (not a picture that can be posted publicly- as it was our first nursing session which he took to quite readily) and how he seemed to gaze up in recognition at me.

After my first shower- 24 hours after surgery- felt great but oh-so-tired.

And he knows his daddy.

Chatting with Tonya (Tim's sister lives in Botswana) via Skype.

Two days old.