1 month old...

My baby is one month old.  How did that happen?!  Time has gone by so too fast.  It's amazing how much he has changed in just a month.  It feels like I was just going to the hospital to have him, but it also feels like I've known him forever.  I guess in a way, I have.  I've been dreaming of him my whole life.  I never could have imagined a love this deep.  Having a baby completely changes everything about you.  Life is no longer about you.  In an instant, it becomes about that precious life that is yours to protect, love, and guide.  I never knew exactly what being "selfless" felt like.  Now I do.  I would do anything for this sweet baby boy.

Here are a few things about his first month...

He gets cuter every day.

He smiles and laughs in his sleep.

He follows our voices.

He throws both arms up when he sneezes.

He sticks his tongue out when he coughs.

He gets the hiccups pretty much every time he eats.

He usually burps the second you sit him up.

He looks like an old man.  He has lost all the hair on the top of his head...but not the sides.

He likes when I dance around to country music with him.

He likes to look at bright lights.

He goes to sleep the second the car (or stroller) starts moving.

He hates when the sun shines on him in his car seat.  He squints his little eyes.

He doesn't like when we stop at red lights.  He starts squirming around.

When we go under a bridge and it gets darker, he opens his eyes up really wide.

He had his first snow day when he was only 15 days old and another one when he was just shy of a month old.

He only goes to sleep when he is being rocked...oops.

He moans and groans when he is full.

His eyes are still blue and his hair is still reddish-blondish-brown.  No clue what color either will end up.

Sometimes he sleeps 4-5 hours at night, but usually 3.

He always squeezes my arm with both his arms when I am holding his paci in his mouth.

He has me wrapped around his little finger.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of him from the past month...

         

Love you, little man!

Welcome to the World, Baby Boy...Part 2

On Tuesday, the day after Brooks was born, I woke up feeling a little sore.  By noon, after a dose of toradol, I was up walking around and feeling great.  Judging by the amount of swelling in my legs and feet, I might should have taken it easy and stayed in bed.  They were HUGE.  I had no swelling my entire pregnancy so I was very surprised when I looked down and realized my legs looked like sausages and I had cankles.  Gross.  Luckily, the swelling went down by the time I went home on Thursday afternoon.  

On Tuesday, my two nieces were able to come up to the floor and see Brooks through the nursery window.  Unfortunately, they weren't allowed to come to our room to see him.  We weren't supposed to take pictures because of the other babies in the nursery, but since there weren't any babies by the window, we were sneaky and took a few anyway.   

These are some of the pictures I took of him on Tuesday, the morning after he was born. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday, some of my sweet friends from school came to visit Brooks!  Scott, a friend of Clay's from work, and his wife also came to visit.  Katie and Keely came too, but I didn't have their picture on my camera. :)  

We were really hoping to be able to go home on Thursday, but my blood pressure kept getting higher and higher.  In the middle of the night, I had several high readings in a row so the nurse called my midwife and she prescribed a blood pressure medicine.  Luckily, my blood pressure reading was just below what they consider high and we were still able to go home on Thursday.

Wednesday night, I started to get a really bad headache.  I thought it was just my high blood pressure causing it.  I had ringing in my ears and my head felt like there was a ton of pressure.  The next morning, I took a percocet, but didn't have anything on my stomach so I threw up several times, which doesn't feel so great when you've just had a c-section.  Luckily, my nurse gave me zofran before I left so I was able to make it home without getting sick in the car.

 Clay loading up all of our stuff

Me feeling like my head was going to explode

Brooks wasn't a fan of his new going home outfit

Family photo on the way out

First family photo at home

All day Thursday, I laid around with a horrible headache.  Thank goodness my mom and Clay were there to pick up my slack and take care of Brooks.  I literally couldn't get off the couch or sit up without my head feeling like it was going to explode.  I stayed like this for 3 days before I couldn't take it anymore.  I did some research and diagnosed myself with a spinal headache.  Turns out I had spinal fluid leaking from my epidural site which caused the pressure in my head to be thrown off.  Laying flat is the only relief you can get from it.  I had heard from several people that they went back to the hospital and got a blood patch to seal the leak so I called my doctor and he told me to come in.  He wanted to make sure it wasn't high blood pressure causing the headache.  Once I got to the hospital on Sunday afternoon, I got lab work done which came back fine.  I talked to the anesthesiologist and we decided that I did have a spinal headache and that we should do the blood patch.  About 10 minutes later, I had the procedure done, which is basically another epidural, but this time they injected blood into my back.  It was definitely not fun having 2 IVs and 2 epidurals within a week, but it made my headache go away!  I did have a bad backache for about 2 weeks, but it was much better than being stuck on the couch with a headache.  My blood pressure kept creeping up so I ended up staying at the hospital another 4 hours after the blood patch was done.  We finally got home around midnight.  I am so thankful for mom, Coley, and Clay taking such good care of Brooks those few days!!    

Brooks will be 1 month old tomorrow!!  Where has the time gone?!