Bath time

Michael has come a long way from screaming through his first bath. After the first couple baths he seemed fairly ambivalent about bath time for a while - it was neither good nor bad, it just was. But then came the discovery of splashing. And it didn't take long after this discovery for Mama and Daddy to decide to move bath time from the kitchen sink to the bathtub. Now it's just bath time for Michael and not for the kitchen floor every night!

3 months!

Michael turned three months old on Tuesday.  He is getting so big.  His new favorite game is bouncing in his jumperoo, and he has started responding with occasional laughter to some tickling and some of Mama's funny faces, although he won't consistently laugh at the same things yet (tickling still gets a "what are you doing, you crazy person?" look more often than a laugh).  He is still much to busy to be bothered napping for more than 30 minutes at a time, and our spurt of nights spent sleeping for five and a half hours at a time during our visit to Nebraska has regressed back to two hours at a time.  Alex and I are just trying to hang in there and make it until summer.  Everyone tells us his sleeping will get better... my response (sometimes verbal sometimes not) is a pleading "When?!"  I suppose it's not likely to get worse than one and a half to two hours at a time, but it is discouraging to be sleeping no better at three months than we were at three weeks.

This Lent has been hard - when it's going on 9pm and we've been trying for an hour to get Michael to go to sleep and stay asleep and he wakes up yelling for the third time and I'm trying to nurse him back to sleep but can't stop thinking about the papers waiting for me to grade... all I want is chocolate.  Chocolate and sleep.  Chocolate and sleep and a quiet hour to relax with Alex without anxiously waiting for Michael to wake up yet again.  But through it all I am continually reminded that Michael is our path to sanctification.  I'm not always in a very reasonable frame of mind to appreciate this, but it helps to remember it all the same!

A day of firsts

Today was a day of firsts.  I got to watch Alex coach for the first time, and Michael went to his first soccer game ever.  I got my first taste of being a soccer mom (even though mine is several years from playing yet!).  Michael was a big hit with the moms of both teams and flirted outrageously with several new friends.  The girls were victorious, making the outing just about perfect.  I, however, lost yet another match with the Colorado sun. It was cool and cloudy when we left this morning, but I should know better than to trust that - it ended up being sunny and quite warm for the entire game.  Very pleasant weather with some not-so-pleasant consequences.  Thankfully Michael escaped unscathed.  I shared my hat with him (wish I had my camera!) and used my nursing cover to provide him with some shade when he got tired of the hat falling over his entire face.

After the game all three of us got to take a nap together - another first, and something I hope will reoccur often.  It wasn't a very long nap (Michael's naps never are) but it was much-needed by all three of us.

And finally, Alex beat me in Battleship for the first time ever.  He is quite pleased with himself and I must say I am extraordinarily proud of him.  I knew something was going to be different when he found my patrol boat midway through the game - another first :)  Michael cooperated by going down by 7:45 and only waking up twice afterwards.  I have high hopes for a better night than last night... but then again almost anything is better than being up almost every hour and a half!

And now it looks like Alex and I will be able to get to bed by ten - not truly a first, but the first time in the last several nights :)

Four weeks

Michael is four weeks old today.  I can't believe it - can't believe he is already four weeks old, and can't believe he is only four weeks old.  It seems like we just came home from the hospital; when he is inconsolable at 11:30pm and all I can think about is how much I want to be asleep I certainly don't feel like I've had a whole four weeks of experience.  But on the other hand I feel like I can barely remember a time before our lives revolved around this little person.  Nothing that I read, heard, or dreamed about prepared me for the extremes of motherhood - the extreme joy of cuddling my little boy; the extreme wonder at God allowing Alex and I to participate in creation in such a way; the extreme inadequacy at the responsibility of being entrusted with this new life; the extreme exhaustion of getting up for the fifth time in as many hours to nurse and change a diaper.

Michael Alexander!

Michael was born yesterday morning, January 12 at 7:35. He was 7 lb 3 oz and 19 inches long. By 6:30 on the evening of the 11th I was having fairly uncomfortable contractions about 20 minutes apart, and by 11:30pm contractions had been averaging 4-5 minutes apart for about an hour and we headed for the hospital. I was 5cm/90% effaced upon arrival around 12:30am(and thrilled to be that far along!). Things progressed smoothly (albeit uncomfortably) until 2:30am when I was 7cm and having what felt like a completely overwhelming desire to push - I stayed there for the next couple hours and those were by far the hardest hours of labor. Alex and I were both exhausted and with almost every contraction I was trying to keep my body from pushing - but Alex was amazing and kept me calm and focused :)

My water broke when I was 9cm dilated (hurray protein) and by about 6:30 we were finally at 10cm. Our nurse (who was incredible!) helped maneuver Michael past the lip of my cervix which hadn't quite gone away yet and we were pushing. I pushed for an hour and Michael was born at 7:35!

We did end up with an internal fetal monitor for the last 45 minutes or so because they were concerned about his heart rate as we were pushing and the external monitor would not keep a continuous track on him. They also gave me oxygen for most of pushing to help his heart rate. Turns out the cord was wrapped around his neck twice, but it was a long cord and didn't cause any problems.

The ob and nurse had me pushing hard and fast for the whole hour because of the concerns over his heart rate - and I was in no mood to argue because they had made it clear that he needed to get out quickly or else they would help. I started to tear and they suggested a small episiotomy (to control it? I don't know) but I said no. I ended up with a 2nd degree laceration, but got him out without any further interventions, so we think it is well worth it! I was bleeding more than they wanted, so they did some aggressive fundal massage to get the placenta out immediately and then put me on pitocin to help my uterus contract and slow the bleeding. We weren't able to breastfeed immediately because he had already passed meconium in utero (not surprising, as we were at 41w 3d) so the NICU team was there to suppress his breathing immediately after delivery and do some deeper suctioning to prevent him from drawing it into his lungs. It was all in the same room so he didn't leave my site - one of my worst birth fears avoided! As a result his first Apgar was 4, but at 5 minutes it was 8. After they were done I finally got to hold him :)

Everyone who has visited us - nurses, family and friends - has commented on how incredibly alert Michael is and they are very impressed. We attribute this to an answer to our prayers for a strong, healthy baby and a result of being able to give him the gift of a natural birth.