Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Party animal...

When I met (and then married) BJ, I knew he was a party animal.  He loves catching up with friends or family over drinks or dinner.  He is a very social person which helps him in his job as a salesman.  Apparently even when he was a baby he always wanted to the centre of attention and never wanted to go to bed.  Unfortunately it seems his son is the same way. 

Over the past couple of weeks James has not wanted to go to sleep after his bedtime feed.  Since we brought him home, we have used a bedtime routine where he has a bath/shower, a feed and a book then bed.  Now after his feed, he just wants to play or be held, sometimes not going to bed until an hour and a half after his 'dinner'.  During the day he is fine, I can usually read his tired signs and get him down for a nap. But this not wanting to go to sleep at night is, surprisingly, making me really stressed.  This isn’t good for anyone.

I didn't realise how hard or stressful it would be to get him to sleep. I don't mind him being up and I love spending time with him, but I also don't want to get into the habit of having to rock him to sleep or have him cry to sleep (why is this always the advice from Grandparents or older people???).   But he makes it up to me by (once he is asleep) sleeping until 6am!

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Two months...

The one thing people told me over and over again during my pregnancy was, "Time will fly".  And it sure has!  I can't believe James is already two months old!  He has nearly doubled his weight since birth and therefore already grown out of his newborn/0000 clothes, which I thought was a little bit sad.

He has been sleeping from 7pm until around 4am for the past week, which I've been grateful for.  Sometimes after his 6pm feed he fights sleep which is frustrating because you know he is tired but I can't complain too much.  James loves his hands and is consistently putting them in his mouth, even while I try to burp him or he is on is tummy.

James is more active now, legs and arms are always flying around, and he has started making some cute "talking" noises.  He can hold his head up while on his tummy for ages (which is probably really only 30 seconds) and has a good look around.  He loves bath time and taking showers with BJ.  He loves the feeling of the water while taking a shower.  No matter what mood he is in, once he is in the shower and feels the water, his whole face lights up.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Frostie is here...

I'll start off by apologising for not posting sooner but, as many new mothers can agree, motherhood comes with a huge learning curve so I haven't had time to post about Frostie's arrival until now.  But I have been following your stories (usually while nursing in the middle of the night!) and I'm so glad to hear about some of the terrific arrivals and BFPs during late 2011! 

And without further ado I'm pleased to announce the arrival of James Nicholas!!!


Every time I look at him, I count my lucky stars that we have him.  It still seems surreal and especially for the first couple of weeks, it felt like we were babysitting someone else’s baby and I would wake up and it would all be a dream.  But now, almost ten weeks down, it feels like he's always been here.

As you would have read, I was booked in for a c-section on the 31st October due to Placenta Previa, but James decided to come a little early.  On Thursday 27th October, I had cleaned the bathroom and decided to rest my inflated ankles by watching some TV.  At 11:00am I went to the toilet and found out that I had started bleeding.  I called the hospital and they said to come in straight away.  I called BJ so he could pick me up and put the last few things into my hospital bag.  At that stage we thought I would just go in for monitoring and since the bleeding wasn't too bad and just stay in hospital until the 31st. 

Once we got to the hospital they set me up in a birth suite with monitors so they could keep an eye on Frostie's heartbeat and any contractions I was having.  My bleeding had stopped but they still called my OB and he said to keep monitoring me for an hour.  So BJ and I sat there talking with the midwife giving her a run down on our past and how Frostie was "conceived in October 2010 and was being born in October 2011"!

The monitors were showing very mild contractions about ten minutes apart that I couldn't even feel but Frostie's heartbeat was still very good.  My OB called back and advised that he was 99% sure we were going to go ahead with the c-section today but would come a see me before making a decision.  So I started to get ready for the c-section around 1pm, thinking it would take place around 5pm that afternoon.  Nope, I had just finished my shower and worked out how to put on the lovely hospital gown when my OB turned up.  Frostie was going to make his/her arrival now!  A quick blood test and discussion with the anesthesiologist later and I was on the move to theatre.  Poor BJ, still in his work clothes, had to call both our mum's to give them the heads up.  It was only as I was speaking with the anesthesiologist that the midwives realised BJ didn't have a theatre gown or scrubs so a set had to be quickly found.  And then as I'm being wheeled out of the room BJ was still trying to get the scrubs and booties on before chasing after us!

The nurses and staff were terrific while I was getting the spinal, as I was a bit worried and I think it showed on my face.  I was glad when BJ could come into the room once the spinal was done and the screen had been put up.  The nurses kept us informed of what was going on so I wouldn't freak out when I felt the pushing and pulling.  It felt like a lifetime before we were finally told our baby was coming out.  At 2:26pm on Thursday 27th October 2011, James was born.  BJ jumped up so he could see over the curtain and he was the one to announce, "It's a boy!" even before our OB could!  We were both crying over the arrival of our little man, the poor nurses thought something was wrong!  I also had a quick peek at our boy before he was taken away with BJ so they could warm him up. 

This was the nervous part, if I started to bleed too much I would put to sleep and I have to require a hysterectomy to stop the bleeding.  Another lifetime later, my OB told me everything went well and they were finishing up.  BJ and James were allowed to come back in and I could finally see our little boy! 



This is what we had been waiting, praying, longing for the past three years.  All the anger, tears, hopes and dreams had brought us our little boy and we are over the moon about him!!!