Three months ago today, The Little Critter was born. I can't believe how fast these past months went by. Everyday I smooch my baby and hold him so close to me saying I don't want him to grow up. I want him to stay this age forever!
The things I'll miss that he used to do but doesn't anymore are:
- the uncontrollable movements of his hands. He would spastically reach out with both hands and they'd move as if driving a car. Or he'd shake them as if shaking maracas.
- Sleep grins. The innocent smile that he made in his sleep. He still does it, but not as much.
- While feeding he used to raise his eyebrows while sucking away.
- Hubby used to be able to put him over his arm like a monkey hanging from a tree limb.
My baby is growing up!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Gift Giving
I didn't have a baby shower prior to having Critter because of cultural reasons. Once he was born people came to visit and the gifts started pouring in.
The best gifts to give expectant or new parents:
- Anything off their baby registry. Believe it or not, parents to be spend hours in a Baby Too Much Crap Store, looking at EVERYTHING. Debating, arguing and finally selecting what they'd like.
- Moola. Dinero, Dough, Loot - Cash is King.
- Gift card to a Baby Store. New parents are gonna make lots of trips to 'the store' and will always need things down the road.
- Nursing Pillow - If you know the mother will be nursing, It's a back saver. Without a pillow(s) during nursing, I tend to hunch over and kill my back in the process.
- Diapers, Diapers and more Diapers - This is the last thing new parents want to think about.
- Burp Cloths - You can never have too many. Babies spit up and better on a burp cloth than on a human.
- Cloth Diapers - I use them as burp clothes; they're more absorbent than the cutsie burp cloths. I use them under my babies head so if he spits up it lands on the cloth diaper and not the furniture.
- Medical Kit - with a thermometer, etc. As a never before parent, that thermometer is going to get good usage....and early. The first week Critter was home, I reached for it.
- Grooming Kit - Precious needs to have hair coiffed with a brush and nails manicured with a clipper.
- Swaddler - THE BEST GIFT EVER!!!! For parents that can't manage to wrap a newborn in a blanket tightly like a burrito. And babies LOVE to be wrapped up.
Thank you to my 6yr old nieces and 4yr old nephew for my favorite gift!
(Critter in his Swaddler)
The best gifts to give expectant or new parents:
- Anything off their baby registry. Believe it or not, parents to be spend hours in a Baby Too Much Crap Store, looking at EVERYTHING. Debating, arguing and finally selecting what they'd like.
- Moola. Dinero, Dough, Loot - Cash is King.
- Gift card to a Baby Store. New parents are gonna make lots of trips to 'the store' and will always need things down the road.
- Nursing Pillow - If you know the mother will be nursing, It's a back saver. Without a pillow(s) during nursing, I tend to hunch over and kill my back in the process.
- Diapers, Diapers and more Diapers - This is the last thing new parents want to think about.
- Burp Cloths - You can never have too many. Babies spit up and better on a burp cloth than on a human.
- Cloth Diapers - I use them as burp clothes; they're more absorbent than the cutsie burp cloths. I use them under my babies head so if he spits up it lands on the cloth diaper and not the furniture.
- Medical Kit - with a thermometer, etc. As a never before parent, that thermometer is going to get good usage....and early. The first week Critter was home, I reached for it.
- Grooming Kit - Precious needs to have hair coiffed with a brush and nails manicured with a clipper.
- Swaddler - THE BEST GIFT EVER!!!! For parents that can't manage to wrap a newborn in a blanket tightly like a burrito. And babies LOVE to be wrapped up.
Thank you to my 6yr old nieces and 4yr old nephew for my favorite gift!
(Critter in his Swaddler)Friday, September 17, 2010
We'll be Back on Monday
Next week (Monday) I promise to be back with anecdotes about nursing, presents, diapers, etc.
Until then......
Critter's angry Mommy isn't writing enough about him
(photo taken July 15th, 2010, 3 week old Critter)
Until then......
Critter's angry Mommy isn't writing enough about him(photo taken July 15th, 2010, 3 week old Critter)
Monday, September 13, 2010
Labor of Love
It's been 11 weeks since the birth of The Little Critter.
Over the weekend, I was talking to one of my sister-n-laws about my "birthing" experience and I've come to realize that I was jipped out of having a natural delivery. I was 'induced' and barely. In hindsight, I probably would have gone into labor on my own if I held out a few more days.
On June 23th I went to the hospital to be induced into labor cause The Little Critter was late.
(right before we headed to hospital)
Hubby and I got there at 8am, filled out paperwork, got settled into a labor room and I and my belly were hooked up to monitors and at 11am the induction started. The doctor inserted something [forget the name] into me to help my cervix thin out. I was told they'll do that every four hours until I go into labor and it may take 6 doses. Holy! That could be like 24 hours.
And the wait game started. The next four hours dragged. Hubby and I talked, read magazines, tried to nap, played cards. Nurses came in every so often to check my blood pressure.
The monitor was indicating I was having major contractions, but I didn't feel a thing. Well, I did, but it just felt like critter kicking.
3pm - Nurses came in to administer the next dose of that cervix thinning thing. They consulted the doctor and decided that my contractions were too strong but I'm not dilating and they'll wait a few hours for the next dose.
5pm - Next dose of thinning thing. Waiting some more. Again the monitor is showing I'm having more major contractions. I don't feel a darn thing but cramps. Everyone is amazed at my pain tolerance. Hey, I'm married after all.
(monitor indicating contractions)
9pm - They decide that my contractions are too strong but I haven't dilated so they don't give me another dose of Thin Thing. Instead, with all the medical technology out there they revert to the old method of having me walk. That's right, I'm told to walk. So Hubby and I walked; up and down the halls of the maternity ward. We passed labor rooms and heard screaming women. How I envied them. I wanted to be going through that. Back in our room, I did squats. We walked some more.
10pm - they hooked me back up on the monitors. I was dilated one centimeter. One efing centimeter! How long is this gonna take??
Midnight - I was dilated 3 centimeters. I was told to walk some more. We walked the halls of the labor ward. Back and forth. Smiling each time we passed the nurses station. Hubby and I decided to walk to the nursery and look at the babies in the window. We walked quickly hoping I'd go into labor along the way and we can just drop Critter into a waiting plexi basket.We looked at the babies. Awwwww, how cute but ours will be the cutest, if it ever comes out. We kept walking. Going from one end of the hospital to the other. I was determined to walk this baby out.
2am - after walking for two hours I was still only 3 centimeters dilated and I was hooked back onto the monitors.
Starting at about 4am, my water broke and contractions started happening. I can feel them this time! They felt like major cramps.
6am - Contractions becoming stronger and more frequent. I was 5 centimeters. They offered me an epidural. I jumped on it as the pain was becoming stronger, but not yet unbearable.
6:30am - The bells and whistles sound on the monitors. So many nurses and my doctor come rushing in. Critter is in distress; heart rate dropped to 60. My doctor says he needs to get Critter out NOW. I'm wheeled to the OR in tears. Hubby is confused. So much mayhem, Hubby is left behind. NO, he wasn't in the OR room with me.
I was so dazed from lack of sleep, it's almost been 24 hours. I don't remember much of the procedure. I remember staring up at the blaring lights. I felt tugging and pulling. Nurses were talking. And then I heard "It's a boy."
It's not the way I imagined my childbirth experience to be. I had wanted a natural delivery. I wanted to know what it felt like as a woman to bring a child into this world. I wanted a story of labor to recant. Not just, I got sliced open. I wanted to feel the pain, the joy. I wanted to scream and yell at my husband as I was hurting. I wanted to see the joy on Hubby's face as Critter first came out.
Over the weekend, I was talking to one of my sister-n-laws about my "birthing" experience and I've come to realize that I was jipped out of having a natural delivery. I was 'induced' and barely. In hindsight, I probably would have gone into labor on my own if I held out a few more days.
On June 23th I went to the hospital to be induced into labor cause The Little Critter was late.
(right before we headed to hospital) Hubby and I got there at 8am, filled out paperwork, got settled into a labor room and I and my belly were hooked up to monitors and at 11am the induction started. The doctor inserted something [forget the name] into me to help my cervix thin out. I was told they'll do that every four hours until I go into labor and it may take 6 doses. Holy! That could be like 24 hours.
And the wait game started. The next four hours dragged. Hubby and I talked, read magazines, tried to nap, played cards. Nurses came in every so often to check my blood pressure.
The monitor was indicating I was having major contractions, but I didn't feel a thing. Well, I did, but it just felt like critter kicking.
3pm - Nurses came in to administer the next dose of that cervix thinning thing. They consulted the doctor and decided that my contractions were too strong but I'm not dilating and they'll wait a few hours for the next dose.
5pm - Next dose of thinning thing. Waiting some more. Again the monitor is showing I'm having more major contractions. I don't feel a darn thing but cramps. Everyone is amazed at my pain tolerance. Hey, I'm married after all.
(monitor indicating contractions)9pm - They decide that my contractions are too strong but I haven't dilated so they don't give me another dose of Thin Thing. Instead, with all the medical technology out there they revert to the old method of having me walk. That's right, I'm told to walk. So Hubby and I walked; up and down the halls of the maternity ward. We passed labor rooms and heard screaming women. How I envied them. I wanted to be going through that. Back in our room, I did squats. We walked some more.
10pm - they hooked me back up on the monitors. I was dilated one centimeter. One efing centimeter! How long is this gonna take??
Midnight - I was dilated 3 centimeters. I was told to walk some more. We walked the halls of the labor ward. Back and forth. Smiling each time we passed the nurses station. Hubby and I decided to walk to the nursery and look at the babies in the window. We walked quickly hoping I'd go into labor along the way and we can just drop Critter into a waiting plexi basket.We looked at the babies. Awwwww, how cute but ours will be the cutest, if it ever comes out. We kept walking. Going from one end of the hospital to the other. I was determined to walk this baby out.
2am - after walking for two hours I was still only 3 centimeters dilated and I was hooked back onto the monitors.
Starting at about 4am, my water broke and contractions started happening. I can feel them this time! They felt like major cramps.
6am - Contractions becoming stronger and more frequent. I was 5 centimeters. They offered me an epidural. I jumped on it as the pain was becoming stronger, but not yet unbearable.
6:30am - The bells and whistles sound on the monitors. So many nurses and my doctor come rushing in. Critter is in distress; heart rate dropped to 60. My doctor says he needs to get Critter out NOW. I'm wheeled to the OR in tears. Hubby is confused. So much mayhem, Hubby is left behind. NO, he wasn't in the OR room with me.
I was so dazed from lack of sleep, it's almost been 24 hours. I don't remember much of the procedure. I remember staring up at the blaring lights. I felt tugging and pulling. Nurses were talking. And then I heard "It's a boy."
It's not the way I imagined my childbirth experience to be. I had wanted a natural delivery. I wanted to know what it felt like as a woman to bring a child into this world. I wanted a story of labor to recant. Not just, I got sliced open. I wanted to feel the pain, the joy. I wanted to scream and yell at my husband as I was hurting. I wanted to see the joy on Hubby's face as Critter first came out.
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