3 Weeks Old

Barrett is 3 weeks old today! Wow...where has the time gone?? I keep hearing that time will only go faster, so I'm trying to enjoy these moments. Yet, I must say that I jinxed myself last night because I was telling Ben that I'm getting used to getting up at night and it doesn't seem to be interferring too much during the day because Barrett will fall right back to sleep after nursing...BUT last night Barrett refused to sleep so I was awake much of the night...ugh! Just when you get used to something. :) It makes life interesting, right?!?

The picture above represents the place Barrett likes to be in the evenings...right on daddy's chest. I think Barrett gets bored with seeing me all day, because when dad is home he just likes to lay there and stare at him. It is truly adorable! :)

Tonight Ben and I are going out for our first entire evening away from Barrett. We've only left him one other time and that was just for a few hours. Tonight we will miss a feeding (I've introduced Barrett to the bottle already...pumping breastmilk), so Grandma Katrina and Papa will be over feeding and watching Barrett. It will be nice to get out, but I'm sure I'll miss Barrett most of the time. It's just something else to get used to. :) 

First MSU Tailgate

This past weekend we took Barrett to his first MSU tailgate. He looked like such a stud in his t-shirt and jeans! The stormy weather held off all day so I could stay a little longer with him. Everyone seemed to enjoy having him around and some people got to meet him for the first time. It was a busy day (I think I felt the effects more than Barrett) and we were definitely ready to go home when the time came, yet I must say we had a great time at the tailgate! :)

We also had many visitors this weekend, many of which were meeting Barrett for the first time. Ryan, Alissa, and family stopped by, as well as Todd and Erica. Jocelyn, Jacob, and Gwen even drove in from Ann Arbor to spend the day. Jocelyn did a lot of helpful things around the house, too which was nice and Gwen got to meet her cousin for the first time. It was great visiting with everyone!! 

Video Clip of the Roll-Over

Here's a link to the video clip I got of Barrett flipping over last night. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmzqAbkjAk0

Barrett Can Flip Over!!

So last night Ben was giving Barrett some "tummy time" and Barrett flipped over onto his back (several different times!)!! He had been close before, but he actually did it this time! I got some video clips of it (no sound, though), but I'll have to figure out how to share them first. Ben was so excited that he exclaimed "We have a protege!". All this excitement and Barrett is just 2 weeks old today!!

On another note, Barrett slept in his crib the entire night last night and it was wonderful!! He's pretty much clockwork these days, waking up every three hours to feed and get a diaper change. So needless to say I got a few good 2.5 hours of sleep in chunks. It felt so good. It was difficult at first to have him in another room, because I couldn't check on him easily, but it was all of those noises that was keeping me up at night. He was fine and I have to remember that many of his noises don't mean that he needs me at that moment. Overall it was a great night and I hope that most nights are like that one! Hopefully he sleeps longer between feedings soon, too! :) 

U of M's Newest Fan!

Okay, so I'm alittle delayed with this post, but I still wanted to share some photos of Barrett in his U of M gear. Last Saturday we watched U of M play Notre Dame (and U of M just slaughtered them by the way!) and we happened to be watching the first half of the game with two Notre Dame fans, so I needed another U of M fan...I recruited Barrett! It took a lot for Ben (he kept covering up the block M on Barrett's outfit), but Barrett wore the outfit for the entire game! :) Ben said later that Barrett peed on the outfit so he changed it...hmmm. Anyway, it was a fun weekend with friends and football.

On another note, I am proud to announce that Ben and I are proud Aunt and Uncle to Louis Richard Smith. Amanda (Ben's sister) had her son on September 18 at Sparrow and he weighed in at 8 lbs. 11 oz. We went up to visit the new parents and son a few days ago and boy is Louis a cute one!! I can't wait for the two boys to play together and become great buddies! :)

And finally, some of you have been asking about me and how I am doing. Every day gets alittle easier (mainly in part because I am healing more and more each day). Barrett has been struggling to sleep at night. It's not that he cries a lot, he's just a noise maker and is very alert at night time. I usually get a 2 hour chunk of sleep from 11:00pm-1:00am and then I am awake from 1:00-4:30am. I then get to sleep again from 4:30am until about 8:30 am (on a good night). So adding that up, I guess I'd say I get about 6 hours of sleep a night, but I must say that it is not good sleep. Last night I put Barrett in his crib for the first time during the 4-8 block and I slept much better. I think it is crib time from now on. Barrett's been sleeping in a bassinet in our bedroom, but he makes so many normal baby noises (grunts a lot!) that we can't sleep that good. We'll see how the crib things goes. Overall, this whole mother thing seems natural to me. I'm kind of surprised by how normal it all feels (I was expecting it to be different for me). There are some things lthat have made me sad though, like how different Ben and my relationship is. Things are great, just different. We are much closer, but we don't get that great cuddle/loving time that we always got before. We try to take advantage of the moments we have together and live them up! I've already told Ben that we need to start having date nights in a few weeks, just so we can enjoy each other more. People always said that having a baby changes everything and it certainly does (but believe me things are better now than they were before....we have made a great little boy!). 

First Bath

A few nights ago Ben and I gave Barrett his first bath. Barrett was a little squirmy and very slippery, so it was definitely a two person job! I wasn't able to take too many pictures, yet the few I got are precious! Enjoy! 

Barrett Benjamin Spitzley

Barrett Benjamin Spitzley
Born: Sept. 8, 2006 at 2:38 pm
Weight: 8 lbs. 7 oz.
Length: 21 inches

Barrett Benjamin Spitzley is Here!!

Okay, okay so I know many of you have been patiently waiting for a post... First let me explain the pictures. The first one is me squatting outside under a full moon (as many of you suggested I do), of course I didn't really do squats, but it was all in good fun. This was around 10 pm. Low and behold at 2 am I woke up with painful contractions. Does the full moon really cause women to go into labor?!? I was due any second, but there was a full moon...hmm.... :) Anyway, the next pictures are right after delivery and in the recovery room. I'll post pictures of just Barrett in another post (I can only post so many pictures at one time).

So here's how it all happened. I woke up at 2 am with painful contractions. Yet, I have been stuck timing contractions before so I tried waiting these out in bed. They were so painful though that laying down was not a relief. I read somewhere that if you're laying down, get up and walk around. If the contractions go away then they are false labor pains. So I got up, got a drink of water and they were still there. So I showered and blow dried my hair (yet all the while these contractions were very painful). After that I decided to start timing them (it was now 3:15 am or so). The contractions ranged anywhere from 2-5 minutes and lasted about 60 seconds each time. After an hour I got tired of timing them and decided that I should wake Ben up so he could get ready to go to the hospital (on the way to the bedroom I had to stop walking during a contraction and knew it was the real deal). So around 4:30 am I woke Ben up. I was scheduled for an appointment at 10 am that day so Ben's first response to being woken up was "Can't it wait until your appointment?". Granted he was partially asleep, but I replied "Um, no". After all of our discussions about feeling like we were going to be pregnant forever and wouldn't it be nice if I had to wake Ben up to go the hospital, the day had finally arrived and it seemed surreal. I decided that I should call Jocelyn (at 4:30 am)also since she would be my second coach (she wanted me to call when we were thinking we needed to head to the hospital so that she could get things arranged at home with Gwen and other things). Anyway, Ben and I loaded up and headed to the hospital. We arrived around 6 am and that had me gown up and wait in a Triage room. They examined me and found that I was only 3 cm dilated. They decided to wait an hour and check me again to see if I had dilated anymore. So again they examined me and I was in their words "alittle more than 3" the next time. So they kept me hooked up to a machine that watched the contractions and they seemed to want to keep us waiting. I guess there was discussion about whether or not to admit us. 3 cm is borderline for admittance, yet I was overdue so they thought they shoudl admit me...they debated for a long time. During this time was when my water broke (9:30 am). Luckily I was in a hospital gown on a hospital bed (meaning no mess at my house!). That whole process is weird and very gross, but it is all natural so you have to deal with it, right?!? It felt like a balloon popping inside and then a lot of water came pouring out. After this we called in a nurse. She was so casual about the whole thing, checked that it was clear fluid (which it was) and examined me again. Her response was "Well, now that your water has broken, the contractions will become more uncomfortable". Mind you that I was already having a difficult time with each on, so this was not good news for me. Boy was she right, because no sooner were her words out of her mouth and I had another contraction. It was 1,000 times worse than the ones I had before that. They seemed to happen one on top of another and they are so indescribably painful!!! They had to admit us now (they won't let you leave once your water has broken) and I was only at 3 cm dilated. They quickly had me get onto a wheel chair so they could take us to our delivery room. At this point I was asking for the epidural like crazy and saying that I was "in hell". I literally felt like I was losing my mind. Come to find out later that my contractions were long meaning they built slowly and came down slowly after peaking (meaning they were painful for longer). Each second felt like an eternity and the epidural was heaven. Although I thought that the epidural was immediate (it's not), they said that I would have to go through a few more contractions with pain (AHGGG!). I somehow got through those and was finally able to feel "normal" again. About this time Jocelyn arrived (11 am-ish) and the doctors examined me again. They said that I was now 6-7 cm dilated. I was happy to hear that, yet I was thinking about how fast that seemed to be. Around 9:30 am when my water broke I was only 3 cm and now I was 6-7 cm. Wow! After that Ben went and got himself and Jocelyn lunch and they casually ate while thinking that they would have a long day of waiting. Boy were they wrong...soon after they finished lunch (around 1 pm) the nurse examined me again and asked "Are you ready to have a baby?". I said "wait, what did you say?" and Ben and Joss looked shocked! Ben came over to me and was very emotional and sweet. He just kept saying how much he loved me and giving me kisses on the cheek. It was a special moment. Meanwhile, the nurse was setting everything up and getting ready to go. Soon after, I started the whole pushing process. No one really ever told me about this part. There is a lot of pushing hard and waiting for contractions to build. So you push maybe three times during a contraction and then wait a few minutes for the next one, then you do it again. It felt like I was doing a lot of work for nothing, but soon enough the nurse pulled out a mirror for me to watch delivery with and we all began to see the first signs of the head. This gave me motivation with each push and really helped with the delivery. I did keep asking "how much longer" and "is it working". It was so exhausting. With every waiting period, I woudld watch the head reverse and it got frustrating. When the head was in the pelvic area, there was so much pressure and pain that I felt like I couldn't do it any longer. I know that there is no choice in that matter, but I really felt like I had to quit...it was so hard. About this time was when the doctor arrived (it had been about an hour and a half) and the head was almost out. At this point was when I pushed a lot more with each contraction because I didn't want to wait for another one. I remember pushing with all my might and watching the head come out. The doctor suctioned the nose and mouth and then asked me to give her another push. So I did and then I felt sort of a plopping/slipping out of the baby. It was a weird but wonderful feeling. Then they just put him on my belly and wiped him off. They left him there for quite a while (which was wonderful) while the doctor worked on stitching me up (I tore a little bit). The nurse then took the baby to stamp his feet and hands and do other newborn tests. We shortly after got him back and got to stare at his new eyes. It was a wonderful moment.

There is much more to share, yet I feel like I've written enough for one day. I'll quickly post more pictures of Barrett and then I'll be off for the day. 

Full Moon

Well, as Monica mentioned there is a full moon tonight. I have heard from several people that the full moon can actually cause a woman to go into labor. I looked into it a little more and this is what I found out:

"The theory is that the moon's gravitational pull effects the amniotic fluid in much the same way as it effects the water in the sea, rivers and even the water that's otherwise found in our bodies.
As a woman's body prepares for natural childbirth, the amniotic sac becomes distended so the point where it will easily burst if put under pressure. Under normal circumstances, the pressure of labor contractions bursts the sac. During a full moon, the pressure caused by the moon's effect on the water inside the sac can cause the same things to happen, but without the accompanying contractions.
When this happens, natural childbirth doesn't always move forward and with no other signs of labor present, the obstetrician may decide to induce the birth. During my own study of this phenomenon I found that of 8 women whose births started with the water breaking at full moon, 5 of them had no accompanying contractions." - http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Moons-Effect-on-Natural-Childbirth&id=70253

Yet other references say that this is all a myth and that there is actually no connection between the two (labor and full moon). So I guess that means that we'll just have to wait and see. My next doctor's appointment is tomorrow. I will be completing a stress test and checking to see that the baby is still doing okay. I'm pretty sure that I will set up an induction date tomorrow if I have yet to go into labor. I'll post as soon as I know anything.

Today's my due date...

but I guess it's not in the plans for me to have this baby today. I've read that only 5 % of women actually have their babies on their due dates anyway, so I shouldn't get too down on myself. I really thought that I would have this baby early, especially after all the days of contractions and cramping. It gets so hard day after day of pain with no results. Yesterday I spent much of the day in pain, yet nothing happened in the end. I cried. My instincts are telling me that the day is coming (well, obviously, right?!?) based on pains and aches that I am feeling. At this point the baby is ready to go. It just keeps adding weight (and adding stretch marks to my belly!), so the sooner this baby arrives the better! :) The stretch marks aren't that big of deal, really, since it will all be worth it in the end, it's just something I'm dealing with. I even have stretch marks around my belly button! :( Overall, I'm feeling okay. I am extremely uncomfortable (as many of you already know), so I have been staying in a lot and not wanting visitors. I've been a recluse and waiting for this baby to get here so I can finally feel normal again and see visitors. It will be an exciting time!