My first month as a new mother

Poe Byron Jones was born October 13, 2009 at 9:19 pm after 22 hours of active labor and one week of inactive labor. He was 6 lbs 8.7 oz and 20.75 inches long. He now weighs in at 7 lbs 7 oz as of one week ago today and is already 4 weeks old. We spent the first week of his life at the hospital with him on antibiotics since he was born with a fever and higher than normal white blood cell count. I think this was due mostly to the cold I had caught a week earlier but wasn't quite over yet. The docs even informed me while I was in labor that I had a fever although I didn't notice it or feel sick from it. All his blood work and cultures came back negative so the docs are feeling bewildered as to why this happened in the first place. We got to bring him though once he was 7 days old and had received what the docs felt was enough antibiotics to be safe to bring him home and not have him become sick. He has been growing like a weed and gaining weight fast, and eating us already out of house and home. So much so, we've had to resolve to supplementing with formula just to keep up with him. He eats twice as much as what the docs say a kid his age should be eating on average. So much for waiting for him to be a teenager first, huh?

We have found he sleeps through anything, and I mean ANYTHING, from TV and the vacuum cleaner, to a video game war zone. Not even the sirens of an ambulance have woken this kid up. But if I set him down for a second lately, instant crying. Hence, I have been up all night with my little one attempting fruitlessly to try and put him to bed. But to no avail. If I'm not holding him, he isn't sleeping tonight. And yes, the pic above is how my son sleeps on a regular basis: head back, mouth open, hands behind head even. He sleeps like his daddy, eats like his daddy, and sleeps through most anything like his daddy. However, he is acting like me so I'm told, by getting upset every time someone sets him down. This kid is good so long as he is being held. My DBF and I are finding ourselves having to take shifts so that each of us can acquire that mystical thing commonly referred to others as 'sleep'.

My nephew is finding himself facing competition for attention at my mom's house for the first time as well. Life is tough as a 6 year old. He got upset for being told not to do something that could result in broken elephants and became more upset that my son was not yelled at alongside him. Well, my son being only 4 weeks old, can't very well start getting into stuff yet so naturally he wasn't in trouble. But then we got the sob story of a lifetime on how we loved the new baby more than him as a result. So we spent the next hour trying to explain to a 6 year old boy about newborn babies and why he got yelled at. This worked out well... sort of. He continued to cry at the dinner table even after we figured this was over. Apparently, we forgot the melodramatic side of the family is also genetic. We had to send him to his room until he was ready to eat dinner with us. And then the wails started. We thought we had a banshee in the house. So we couldn't help but quietly laugh at the attempts for pity all the while trying to make sure he couldn't hear us. He would only have wailed louder I'm sure. After a while of seeing this wasn't working for him, he decided he was ready to eat dinner. Never a dull moment with kids around...

And as for the pets in our house, we have yet to have a single problem with any of them. My cat thinks she can curl up in my son's lap despite the fact that she is bigger than him, and the dog thinks she is still the baby too. Remy checks on our son regularly, gives him lots of kisses, comes to get us if he's crying, and has even cuddled at his feet on the couch to nap with him. So much for Pitbulls being vicious, huh? So far she is only more protective of the house now that we have a baby around. I think she is going to be just fine.

Baby shower, Fall and other lil things

Okay, next time I decide I want a baby shower just smack me. We went through all the trouble of putting one together and my only guests were my mother, my lil sis, my nephew, and my DBF. I know some of you are out of state so you couldn't be here, but some in town who said they wanted to be there all either had prior commitments, or had to work. Talk about convenience. But we did have fun anyways and I got some really cute stuff for Poe including some adorable outfits, a froggy that plays music and lights up, a bath tub, some cute hats, shoes, socks, blankets, hooded towels, mittens, a crocheted teddy that squeaks (Remy thought it was hers so I guess we are going to have to get her a squeaky toy),baby booties, bottles, bottle drying rack, brush cleaners, bath and lotion items, a box of diapers, a package of wipes with a refill, pacifiers, onesies, sleep and play pjs, seat belt strap pads, teether, and a few other small items.


The balloon bouque stayed in the truck for couple days since we were both space cadets and finally remembered to bring them in before my DBF had to go to work one morning. I set them by the door not thinking twice about them, and went to reading my emails. Our 'vicious' dog, Remy, starts growling and barking as if there is an intruder in my door way. She even backs into the kitchen because the 'intruder' was not backing off. This went on to my bewilderment for about an hour. It wasn't until later when I tried to take her out to go potty that I noticed she wouldn't go any where near the front door because of the balloons. I just started rolling after that. Our dog is afraid of balloons. So I moved them away from the door so I could get her to go out and she had to check me over and make sure I wasn't hurt from my ordeal with the bad balloons.


Shawn spent 2 weekends painting Poe's room to perfection and even ripped out the old beatup carpet that was in there. He even scraped the old paint out of the window and parts of the room where it was peeling and bubbling and fixed a patch in the ceiling so it would be perfect. We ordered new carpet last Friday and I am hoping they call today to schedule the install so we can start putting things together in his room. Our property manager even agreed to reimburse us on the carpet since it's an upgrade to the apartment too (we have awesome management for our property too). I am hoping we can have it all setup by this weekend so I can post pics of his room nearly finished. We will have to wait for a box from his Auntie Heidi who is making his curtains and even picked up a few finishing touches to his room which I will update once she is able to mail it all out to us. She thinks she will be able to send it all out on the first so I will repost pics with the new stuff once it arrives.


We received a box with an adorable blanket hand made by my great aunt on Saturday which is absolutely adorable.

A few of my co-workers mentioned on Thursday about getting something for Poe, they were just waiting for payday so I will put updates as to what and when they are able to get a few things. One of them mentioned maybe throwing a shower after Poe is born too so maybe we can still have a successful 'shower' later. A few of them have already brought me a few things we needed too. So far, a jogging stroller, a swing, clothes, shoes, blankets, burp clothes, bottles, and a few maternity clothes for me. So I can consider myself lucky that I have a few co-workers whom are thoughtful enough to have given us those things. They are definitely going to be a big help.

Now if only I can motivate myself to get that bag packed for the hospital and put into my DBF's truck so I don't forget it by the time I go into labor. But I've been a lil preoccupied with getting this apartment ready that it seems to be taking a backseat.

Fall or Winter, however you would like to look at it, has arrived. The leaves started turning a few weeks ago which is early for our area. A cold front moved in last night and brought plenty of moisture along with it. We had snow and rain simultaneously this morning when my DBF left for work this morning and it's been cold, wet, windy and rainy all day since then. The forecast calls for this to last until about Thursday. So I guess I won't be needing anymore cold showers to stay cool for the remainder of the year. But with the weather being like this, I'll have even more reason to cozy up to my DBF with a blanket and stay there.

My belly has been dropping a lot in recent weeks also. There have been a few occasions when I get out of bed it feels like the baby is smacking my cervix almost or pretty close to it. Everyone is expecting me to go into labor any day now despite my due date is October 29th. We shall see if he is an early bird or if I carry to term. The Braxton Hicks aren't exactly letting up much either.

Some recent events/afterthoughts

We had our Kitchenaid coffee pot drop dead on us a lil over a week ago, we called Kitchenaid about it since it was still under warranty. They are sending us out a new one and want us to send the old one back using the same box and the enclosed return shipping label. We had only bought it last August, so we were surprised it went out so fast. The lady also explained we get a new warranty with the new unit.

Our 70 lb baby, gave us up for pizza last night. And she crawled between me and my DBF to cuddle after we had passed out. He froze the rest of the night since she was laying on his part of the blankets. She cries and whines everytime he steps out for anything if he doesn't take her with. I've already told him, she's your dog. She follows him everywhere all day when he is home. I told him I'm not letting her sleep on the bed when the baby gets here, or taking her out every few minutes. I'll be getting up every few hours just to take care of the baby so I am hoping that the weather is good and we've since moved to a place that has a fenced in yard so I can put her outside on the nice days. It's not that I don't like her being in the house, but I don't want to listen to her whine for attention all day when I will be completely exhausted already. And the fresh air won't hurt one bit.

On the plus side, I can eat parmesan again. I had no trouble eating my share of the breadsticks last night. Also, morning sickness seems to be subsiding for sure this time, as long as my sinuses are in check anyway. All the excess phelgm seems to be what grosses out my stomach as of late.

Remy

About two weeks ago, we went out and adopted a dog from the local animal shelter because my DBF has been really wanting to get a dog. We looked online at the pets available locally for adoption as well as each dog's profile. I can't explain what it was that made us fall for Remy, but the sad look on her face in her picture only tugged at out hearts further. We went that afternoon down to the shelter to meet her and see if she would be a good fit into our now ever changing lives. We learned from the shelter employees what a wonderful dog she truly is. She loves children, is very mellow, submissive, does well with other dogs, and she passed with flying colors the temperment tests and the kitty test. When she was brought into the meeting room, she ignored us at first, sniffing all the smells of other pets and people that had been there before. She looked around out the windows at all the people and animals passing in the hallway with excitement and wonder in her eyes. She first paid the most attention to the young girl who brought her in being very playful, and laying on the kisses as if she hadn't seen the girl yet that day. We were told about how sweet she is, and how she was a favorite of the staff that worked there. We learned she had been brought to the animal shelter three times, but not once due to her own fault. The owners all (talk about bad luck for a dog) had to move to a place that would not allow them to take a pitbull mix with them to their new home and were truly heart broken by it. She did eventually start sniffing us, learning our smells. Then we were flooded with kisses once we were deemed to be ok in her book accompanied by a wagging tail. We were floored and impressed by her all in those few minutes. She was even house trained, a bonus for us. We called our landlord just to learn that the rental insurance company they went through did not permit pitbulls, and a number of other large breed dogs, many of which are actually big babies, nothing more, on the property. They were unjustly labeled as "vicious dogs." This broke our hearts as we bid goodbye to Remy.

Over the weekend, we did extensive research on the whole extensive list of why insurance companies practice "breed discrimination." Which I will get full into on another day, but we ultimately learned that the majority of bites that are reported, are due to one of three things (and I don't care if this pisses you off or not, truth hurts here): Irrisponsible parents, bad owners, and unruly kids. If you are truly responsible with your pets and your kids, dog bites are nothing more than a rumor. The general exception being the royal idiot who tresspasses on a dog owner's property. They deserve what they get every time and have no right to act surprised when it does happen. If you aren't tresspassing, you have nothing to worry about.

We learned of overpriced dog insurance for dogs on the "vicious dogs" list despite that statistically, there's no justification for this list whatsoever. It' s a corporate money making scheme from what we've seen of the real numbers. We only agreed to buy some of this liability insurance so that the landlord would not have a problem with us bring home a very sweet and loving dog. Her days here since then have only reinforced why there should be a class action lawsuit against insurance companies nationwide for breed discrimination.

Since she has been home, and as she has been getting more comfortable, her biggest crime is wanting to be part of your daily routine. She follows us around the house due to what we believe a little insecurity from being brought to the shelter three times prior, cuddles with us when she can, and gives lots of kisses and love. There isn't a vicious bone in this dog's body. Not one. Well, maybe if you're the intruder. She also has a submissive smile she does that looks like she would be growling but all she is doing is trying to smile. She even prances on her front feet and wags her tail excitedly to go outside for anything. She would walk all over town with you if we let her. Here are a couple videos of her reaction to going outside:


Remy Prancing from Lynnette Spittler on Vimeo.


Remy wants me to take her out again from Lynnette Spittler
on Vimeo.