Wednesday, February 25, 2015

First Week on Our Own

Our sweet baby boy and I have survived a few days on our own.  Our favorite dad was very sad to return to work (and very sick on top of it) but it was inevitable.  So I am home with a baby and a doggie and so far we're okay.  W spends his days eating (about every hour so so!), sleeping and going potty.  The excitement around our house is when we do tummy time or take a sponge bath.  I am trying to remember to enjoy this time while he is so tiny, as I know he'll grow so fast.  I'm sure I'll be able to nap one day.  Maybe when he leaves for college.  Luckily he is so cute he makes it worth it!

Friday, February 20, 2015

WZD


Our sweet little man arrived!  And is ten days old!  This picture was taken after he was just a few minutes old and had been cleaned in the hospital.  Look how ready he was to enter our world!

As most of you know, I was induced on Sunday the 8th around 9pm.  This little man finally came out almost 30 hours later, in the wee hours of Tuesday the 10th.  Even with the epidural, it was pretty painful.  He just didn't want to come out and my body did not know how to get him out.  I received hormones, had my water broken by the doctor, and did all I could.  Around midnight on Tuesday, I started pushing and could not get him out on my own, so the last hour of pushing he was vacuumed out.  Did I mention he was a back labor?  It was pretty stressful for Jim and me, as after 50 minutes or so with the vacuum, if it does not work, the next step is a C section.  I was a mess, but we got him out and the only harm was a circular wound on his head, that has almost healed.  Most people say that you forget about how hard labor is when you meet your baby.  I haven't forgotten.  But he was obviously worth every minute.

We came home last Wednesday and have been lucky enough to have Jim home with us.  He is so helpful.  He makes all of my meals, gets me water, and keeps the house straightened up while I feed the little dude.  This little sweet potato likes to eat every 1-3 hours.  Most nights we sleep 1-2 hours at a time and then eat and eat.  (His birth weight was 8 lbs 1 oz, went down to 7 lbs 9 oz, and as of yesterday was back up to 8 lbs 6 oz!)  He is exclusively breast fed, so I am a milking machine right now.  Hopefully in a few weeks I can pump into bottles so that I can actually leave the house without him for longer than 10 minutes.

We love this little dude so much!

Friday, February 6, 2015

Staycation

I have enjoyed having a week to myself before our lives totally change in a few days.  I am lucky enough to be able to be home for a little while, and although I like working and would have been happy to work right up until the little one arrives, it is helpful to rest and relax.  Our other concern was me being stuck at work when labor started and having to get back to our hospital, especially if we had any bad weather.  Instead I have been able to be home with my best puppy friend and watch reruns of Gilmore Girl on Netflix.

I have also been enjoying some time in the kitchen.  When we both worked late all week, a few days a week were either foods I made ahead of time, like soup, or frozen Trader Joe's meals.  (Which are always good, but it is nice to make homemade foods with less sodium and ingredients.  But believe me, we will probably be eating some of those frozen foods again our first few weeks home from the hospital!)

The other night I made Heidi Swanson's Green Lentil Soup.  This is a really good winter soup and is dairy free if you replace the butter.  Yesterday I also prepped her baked oatmeal for breakfast this morning.  You could also make this dairy free.  I omitted the sugar and/or maple syrup, but did drizzle some honey over the top after it cooled for a few minutes.  I just threw it in the fridge and microwaved a piece for a minute this morning.  It was really yummy!  I also made a batch of 100 Days of Real Food (love the cookbook I was given for Christmas!) Pumpkin Muffins for the freezer for snacks when we get home next week.  And all of these recipes have been Jim approved!

Unless I go into labor on my own before, I check into the hospital Sunday evening for induction (or unless they are sold out, then we reschedule!)  Sunday night will be spent dilating and induction will start Monday, so we should have a little one here by Monday or Tuesday, and be home by Wednesday or Thursday at the latest.  I am going to ask for no Facebook statuses during the process until the baby is out and healthy and happy.  And no pictures until Mom and Dad approve, especially none of me in a hospital gown.  Jim will let all of you know when the whole horrifying process is over.  I mean, miracle?

Monday, February 2, 2015

Maternity Time

Well, maternity time has started but no baby to speak of.  Due to my neuroses, it is hard for me to sit still, so I am looking forward to keeping myself busy during my time off.  One of my goals is to look for new, inexpensive recipes that will help reduce our grocery costs.  I recently bought a lovely veggie cookbooks, Super Natural Every Day, and tonight I am trying this mushroom casserole for dinner.  It looks like it will be a yummy dinner on a cold day.  Any other suggestions of cheap but healthy recipes are always appreciated!

I am also working on new ways to clean without harsh chemicals and cleaning products.  When I can, I purchase Green Works or Seventh Generation, but these can be expensive.  The only chemical ridden cleaner I can't seem to get rid of is dishwasher detergent.  I have tried the all natural ones and they just don't clean our dishes.  Someone in our house also still likes to use bleach on his whites, but I have been able to convert him to Green Works Chlorine free bleach.  Otherwise, for our bathrooms and kitchen counters, we use a mix of half apple cider vinegar, half water.  I also read that some people use white vinegar and water and either let lemons soak in the mix for a few hours or add drops of citrus oil.  My bathroom does generally smell like a giant salad after I clean, but it's better than breathing in weird chemicals.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Have You Heard of Podcasts?

Around Thanksgiving, we upgraded our phones from the iPhone 3G to the iPhone 6.  It was to the point where my old phone wouldn't update or open apps and was pretty much just a non-smart phone, so it was very exciting to be able to use apps and other things.  One of the most fun things has been rediscovering podcasts, especially when I was commuting every day.  I would come home really excited to tell Jim about a podcast I was listening to, only to find that he had been listening to the podcast for months or years.  "Did you know that America's Test Kitchen has a podcast?!"  Was met with, "Duh."

I blew through Serial in a few days (did Adnan do it?) and am enjoying WTF but usually like to fast-forward through the intro and get to the interview.  I'm also into Invisiblia and Here's the Thing with Alec Baldwin. And of course there are the classics such as Fresh Air and This American Life.  If anyone out there has some fun podcasts to suggest, I'd love to hear about them!

We are enjoying a fun snow day at home.  We haven't had much snow this winter and it makes all the difference if it snows on a Sunday that you can be home and not have to drive if you don't want to.  We made Trooper go on a walk this morning and he's spent the rest of the day dramatically pouting on the couch after that.  Otherwise we're doing things like sharpening our knives (Jim), watching the blizzard blow by (Trooper), putting lullabies on my phone (also Jim), cleaning and lounging.  Later Jim is making us carnitas.  As most of you know, I dislike football, but I like football foods.

No baby news yet!  Whatever happens, this baby may be evicted by the middle of next week.