2 Weeks 6 Days

It's almost Halloween and almost Noah's 3rd week! It's hard to believe he's only been with us that long, I feel like he's always been here, which is kind of weird cause he's monopolized my time and my life's nothing like it was...

We went to the pediatrician yesterday and Noah has moved up to 7lbs11ounces! At his week appointment, he was at 6lbs 13ounces and when he came home he was only 6lbs 8 ounces, so even though he remains the worlds skinniest baby, he's growing!

Rudy and I carved our pumpkin Wednesday night and Noah was even awake for a little bit of it and got to "help". I don't know what our plans for Halloween are, if we do anything.

Noah is very alert right now and hes looking all over the room and at me as I write this. He's kicking his legs to lift himself up higher on his boppy (which is not really proving successful) so he can look around more. Our pediatrician said he seemed very mature and alert for his age. I'm so glad he's done so well after such a rough delivery!

Sleeping at night has gone a little better. The baby Einstein CD really helped I think. I've still wanted to sleep all week, luckily I've been able to without a whole lot of trouble.

2 Weeks

We're back! We didn't have Internet this week so I wasn't able to update. I'm not sure I would've found the time anyway, it was a very long and pretty busy week for us!

My mom moved this weekend to my dads house, and while I was pretty much off the hook on moving day itself (I can't lift over 10 lbs) I was out there several days sorting and packing. Friday night Noah hardly slept at all, so when I had to get up at 7am on Saturday to get ready to head out to my moms, I was not in the best shape. I was sore from helping Ben clean out the garage the day before and exhausted from being up with Noah. After most of the moving was done, I went trick or treating at the zoo with Yeska, Isabella, Noah and Rudy. It was supposed to be with KAC, but we showed up late and everyone else had already about finished the walk. It was really cute and fun, we can't wait to go next year, when Noah will have some clue about his surroundings (he slept through the entire thing).

I just downloaded a baby Einstein album on itunes that's supposed to be great for getting babies really asleep. Hopefully, it'll help Noah and I out at night. I think he's got his days and nights confused and I unfortunately wasn't able to sleep when he slept this week as much as I really needed to. I will definitely do my best to catch up this week!

Not much else has really gone on this week. We got a pumpkin today to carve sometime this week for Noah's first Halloween. I'll be sure to take pictures.

One week old and "perfect" :)

Noah had his first doctors appointment yesterday and it went very well. The pediatrician is a really nice guy and he seems to really care about his patients and their parents.

He said he looked great and was perfectly healthy and was impressed that he's only 3 ounces from his birth weight. Apparently babies tend to gain an average of an ounce a day and breast fed babies typically take 2-3 weeks to get to their birth weight again, so Noah is ahead of schedule. I had told him I was concerned that he may be eating too much and he said that there's basically no such thing at his age and that I should continue to feed him on demand. He encouraged me, if Noah continued to have trouble breast feeding, to supplement with formula or pumped breast milk if I needed. He said it shouldn't cause too much nipple confusion as long as it's no more than once a day and that I needed to be sane. It was great news for me because there are times I spend an hour just trying to feed him for 45 minutes and then I have to turn around and do it again in an hour and a half or two hours. He did do very well yesterday with breast feeding though.

We're expecting a heavy flow of visitors today. Rudy's brother and sister are coming over along with Novie, Auntie Lita and one of the uncles. My parents are planning on coming sometime too! Noah is a very loved baby!

Overall, things have been going very well. Noah is adorable and we've been able to manage things pretty well so far. My recovery has definately been more painful and longer than I anticipated, but it is improving. :)

You can now view videos of Noah on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8FmIMVJBMY

6 days old!

After a few days at home we are beginning to get used to this whole parenting thing. I've really enjoyed having Rudy home all day and I don't really think I would be doing so well if he'd been working! I am still the main caretaker for the baby but it's been a huge help to have him cooking our meals and getting things for me so I don't have to get up, which is still really difficult because of my incisions. The staples are being removed tomorrow, so I'm hoping that will help, but I'm not really sure it will make any difference at all. Either way, I'm on the road to recovery.

Noah has been adjusting pretty well too. He's been sleeping in his crib with no problem and even slept 3 1/2 hours without waking up last night. The first night he slept in his crib i had an alarm set for 2 hours later each time i put him back to sleep which was completely unnecessary because he always woke up about 10-15 minutes before the alarm went off.

We've been doing a little better with breastfeeding but it's still kind of inconsistent. Several feedings in a row will be perfectly fine, but then he'll pull another frantic feeding and he ends up spending much more time screaming than eating and it's frustrating for both of us. Today he also fed for nearly two hours once...it was ridiculous and became pretty painful by the time he was finished. I'm beginning to think he just enjoys the closeness of breastfeeding and wants it when he's not even hungry. Everything I've read about breastfeeding insists that i feed him on demand though, especially till my milk comes in, which should happen soon.

All in all, everything is going pretty well. I'm not looking forward to Rudy returning to work Monday, but there's no way around that. Noah has proven to be a wonderful addition to our family and I can't wait to see how his personality develops!

What a wild ride!

After two days of trying to get used to each other and our surroundings, things are finally starting to fall into place. I'd say Rudy and I have already learned tons in our 2 1/2 days of parenthood!

Noah and I have had a terrible time breastfeeding and after spending an entire night up out of bed with a starving, screaming baby I was beginning to feel like we wouldn't be able to breast feed at all and I was very upset. We finally got some sleep after he had some formula i had the nurses fetch because I knew he really really needed to eat and I also knew there was no chance of either of us getting any sleep till he wasn't on an empty stomach. Noah has very little patience and since all my milk hasn't come in yet, he doesn't get any food quite as quickly as he'd prefer, which frustrates him and turns into him crying, causing him to not even notice that all he has left to do is suck. After a while of this, it can become a bit frustrating to both parties, although mostly I just feel bad because my baby isn't getting enough to eat! I have been very careful today to not let him go more than 2 hours without feeding him even though they say he could go up to about 3 hours because I think it helps a little bit if we try before he's already hungry and desperate. It has helped a little, but we're still having some issues with feeding, but I've been assured by nurses that it will probably resolve itself in time, especially when I'm really producing milk.

Because of his not so great eating habits, Noah has developed a little bit of jaundice, which isn't a huge deal but I felt a little guilty. Apparently, his case is pretty mild though.

We've had lots of visitors every day we've been here and Noah is definitely a very loved baby! It's been nice that so many people have been able to meet him and some people who wouldn't normally be around, were in town to meet him which is pretty nice. Luckily, Noah loves being held and he doesn't really seem to get tired of attention, so I think he liked the visitors too! Right now, he's sitting in my lap "helping" me update everyone on our lives. He says "hello, out there!"

We're pretty excited to return home tomorrow and sort of get into a routine. I'm also very excited to get that crib some use since it was so much trouble to get!

getting to know Noah

I'm pretty sure everyone who reads this already knows, but just in case, Noah was born October 10th at 11:07am. He weighed 7lbs and he's 20 inches long, he's very well proportioned :)

The last two and a half days have been absolutely exhausting, but also very very exciting! I was scheduled to have my regular weekly doctors appointment Friday and after the exam, the doctor told me I was only about 1/2 a centimeter dilated (basically nothing) and so I accepted, though i was disappointed, that Noah would still be a few days later. The doctor then asked if I'd had any recent ultrasounds and I told her it had been about 10 weeks so she decided we should go ahead and get scheduled for one just to check on things. Then it occurred to her that they might be able to work me in that day and I'm SO thankful they did!

I was pretty excited to get the ultrasound because i was SOOO nosy to see how big Noah had gotten! The ultra sound tech told us everything looked great as far as his measurements but then informed us that the fluid levels were low and we'd need to go back across the hall to see the dr again. She also said she was pretty sure we'd be going downstairs. It took me a second to realize that by downstairs, she meant labor and delivery. I was completely unprepared and it took me longer than it took rudy to adjust from not having him really soon to inducing today. I was pretty excited to get to meet him soon, but I was also nervous and disappointed that I didn't get a chance so tidy up the apt, get everything i needed from home, and most importantly, I didn't get to EAT!

I was in labor from about 4-5pm until he was born at 11 the next morning so I was pretty exhausted just from that. I spent 7 hours of labor dilated at 6cm which is why they decided I needed a C-section. I knew that I didn't want to stay in labor any longer but I was absolutely terrified of having surgery and i pretty much just tried to not even think about it while they were prepping me (pretty much impossible to not think about, by the way). They explained that it wouldn't hurt, I would just feel pressure, and thought I believed them, I was still very very nervous. I was so anxious that I was shaking all over and I got so nauseous from the anesthesia that i threw up several times right before they started cutting away. I was so glad Rudy was there though, he was very supportive and kept telling me I was doing a good job, even though I wasn't really doing anything.

It didn't take long at all for Noah to be born and I cried the instant I heard his crying. I was so happy and overwhelmed I couldn't say a word, plus they still had to put me back together which took probably 3 times as long as it did to cut me open!

After they were finished though, they rolled us to recovery where I sat in basically excruciating pain from the incisions and staples. They started me on pain medicine, but i took a while till it kicked in, and even then if still hurt. On the plus side, i did finally get to hold Noah before we left recovery and I got to see how adorable he is. We were both soo proud!

On our way to our mommy/baby room we passed several families members and friends waiting to see us and meet Noah and I sort of felt like i was in a parade being rolled around in that hospital bed. They took Noah to the nursery to get bathed and I went to our room to get a little situated before people started showing up. I couldn't wait to see Noah again!

We had many visitors throughout the day and it was a lot of fun seeing everyone react to him. I was really tired and had trouble keeping my eyes open at times, but i didn't seem to bother anyone.

Rudy and I have really enjoyed getting to know Noah the last two days and Rudy has turned out to be an adorable father! I can tell he really gets a kick out of watching him and seeing all his friends and family come dote on his son! I think Rudy will continue to be an amazing father!

More to come soon!

At Last!

After 17 hours of labor, ending with a c-section, we are happy to annouce :

Noah Vincent Bamba

10/10/09

11:07 am

7.7lbs 20 inches

:)