Sunday, October 30, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
One Month Old
Today Lincoln is one month old! Today was also the first time we made it to church with him! Yay! We just went to Sacrament Meeting, but it was still an accomplishment--our church is at 9. :) He did pretty well. He slept most of the time, and then when he woke up he was showing hunger signs so I got to make my first trip to the mothers louge. Not as bad as I thought it would me. I think I might go in there with him just to take naps! :) haha. Anyways, above his him on our bed before church: so cute and cuddly. Then I got him dressed in this little outfit that's a handmedown from my cousin Jonathan--Allyson's son. Such a cute little outfit! Too bad baby clothes only ever get worn for a few months and then they're too small. He looks like such a handsome lil' fella!
Weight Update: 8lbs 2 oz
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
He's grown!
Lincoln has definitely grown! He's 3 and a half weeks old. When he was born he was just so small he seemed to be weightless or something. The last day or two I feel like I'm actually carrying a real baby. I can tell that the next few months will be a lot of fun as we watch him turn into his own little person.
As he gets bigger, Sean and I are just getting progressively more exhausted. The first two weeks Lincoln slept like 3 or 4 hours at a time, so it seemed like we were in baby heaven. Over time he has slowly moved into his current pattern where he sleeps 2 hour straight. So he'll wake up, I'll feed him which might last 45 min or so, then he may be awake for another hour depending on the time of day, and then he'll go back to sleep. This makes for sleep depriving nights because unless I get to sleep like 2 second after him I will barely get 2 hours straight--and that's no way to stay rested! Needless to say I'm getting a little nervous about starting work next week under these conditions. Luckily I'll only be working on Wednesday, so that gives us one more week to hope that Lincoln will sleep longer at night! haha... seems like a long shot, but I'll take anything I can get!
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Taking Care of Babies
Lincoln will be 3 weeks old tomorrow! He finally peed on me while I was changing his diaper this morning! I say finally because everytime I've changed his diaper I've braced myself for him to just let loose at any moment. Then in a moment I wasn't looking all of a sudden I see this stream of water out of the corner of my eye. I was all over the sheets on our bed, all over my lap, and then all over his back--which he wasn't too happy about the second it made him feel cold. It was pretty funny. It's only what's to be expected from a baby boy, and I knew this day would eventually come. :)
These past 10 days or so Lincoln and I have also gotten a lot better at nursing. This might be a bit TMI--or just into the nitty gritty-- but after quite a miserable few days of having extremely painful nursing sessions and even a nipple that bled, I decided I needed to go see the lactation consultants to get some serious help. And to sum it up--we're doing a lot better! But let me tell you: breastfeeding is a serious committment! Holy cow! I don't think I realized the implications of what it really meant to have to feed a baby every 3 hours or so. It takes about an hour to fill his tummy, which means I have a lot of time to just sit and think or watch something on Hulu. It's also not exactly glamorous to smell like sour milk all the time because it ended up being just a little too long between feedings. But, it is all very worth it knowing that this is the best nourishment he could recieve and it's also true that it provides a bond between mother and baby that I think nature sort of intended. I know that for some women breastfeeding doesn't work out for many reasons. I am very grateful that for me it has worked, especially after having a rough start.
Taking care of this brand new baby has also been interesting because it's sort of made me think about where I learned how to do all of this. How to burp, how to change a diaper with legs kicking all over, how to know if he's hungry, how to bathe him, and dress him, and suck the boogers out of his nose etc... It's all because of watching my mom. Since I was the oldest child I watched her take care of 3 little babies. Granted, I was very young when Melissa and Nate were born, but when McKayla was born I was 11 and during these last 3 weeks I have had tons of flashbacks to watching my mom with McKayla as a tiny baby. (I do have a few memories with Nate too--including one where he peed on himself on the changing table). It seems like everything I do is second nature, but as soon as I do it my mind's eye comes up with this memory of watching my mom. My brain has sort of tapped into this vault of memories that I haven't really thought too much about for 13 years. I don't have specific memories of her showing me, but I've realized that she taught me by example how to take care of babies--the one thing she didn't teach me was how to nurse (for obvious reasons), which sort of explains why I needed extra help. In a way, it makes me feel closer to her even though she is gone. And for that, I am grateful. Writing it all down makes it feel even more special.
And now, moving on to some photos we've taken over the last few days...
These past 10 days or so Lincoln and I have also gotten a lot better at nursing. This might be a bit TMI--or just into the nitty gritty-- but after quite a miserable few days of having extremely painful nursing sessions and even a nipple that bled, I decided I needed to go see the lactation consultants to get some serious help. And to sum it up--we're doing a lot better! But let me tell you: breastfeeding is a serious committment! Holy cow! I don't think I realized the implications of what it really meant to have to feed a baby every 3 hours or so. It takes about an hour to fill his tummy, which means I have a lot of time to just sit and think or watch something on Hulu. It's also not exactly glamorous to smell like sour milk all the time because it ended up being just a little too long between feedings. But, it is all very worth it knowing that this is the best nourishment he could recieve and it's also true that it provides a bond between mother and baby that I think nature sort of intended. I know that for some women breastfeeding doesn't work out for many reasons. I am very grateful that for me it has worked, especially after having a rough start.
Taking care of this brand new baby has also been interesting because it's sort of made me think about where I learned how to do all of this. How to burp, how to change a diaper with legs kicking all over, how to know if he's hungry, how to bathe him, and dress him, and suck the boogers out of his nose etc... It's all because of watching my mom. Since I was the oldest child I watched her take care of 3 little babies. Granted, I was very young when Melissa and Nate were born, but when McKayla was born I was 11 and during these last 3 weeks I have had tons of flashbacks to watching my mom with McKayla as a tiny baby. (I do have a few memories with Nate too--including one where he peed on himself on the changing table). It seems like everything I do is second nature, but as soon as I do it my mind's eye comes up with this memory of watching my mom. My brain has sort of tapped into this vault of memories that I haven't really thought too much about for 13 years. I don't have specific memories of her showing me, but I've realized that she taught me by example how to take care of babies--the one thing she didn't teach me was how to nurse (for obvious reasons), which sort of explains why I needed extra help. In a way, it makes me feel closer to her even though she is gone. And for that, I am grateful. Writing it all down makes it feel even more special.
And now, moving on to some photos we've taken over the last few days...
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| He seems to like water so far. |
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| This poor little guy just got woken up... |
Friday, September 30, 2011
Baby Book Entry
This morning I was thinking about how I needed to be good at recording milestones of my baby's life. Having a baby book that I write in all the time seemed a little too ambitious for me considering that everything is either online or digital--and I'm no scrapbooker! Putting it on the blog seemed like it would work. Let's just hope the internet is still around years from now! ;) So, my posts about Lincoln might not be terribly interesting anyone that reads this, but that's not the only reason to blog, right?
Anyways, Lincoln has been here for 1 week. It has been wonderful! So far he is extremely content. It is very easy to make him happy. He eats very well. He usually nurses for a while and then decides he's done. But 20 minutes later he decides he's still hungry and wants to eat again. After that he's officially done. This is probably the only thing I can complain about because when he started doing this in the middle of the night I would have already laid back down, and then he'd decide he was hungry again so I'd have to get back up and get all ready to feed him. Now I've learned my lesson to just hold him and pat his back for those 20 minutes til he's ready again. He loves to be burped. He must know when he's gassy because even if he hasn't just barely eaten he still calms down when we pat his back. So far he's not too fond of lying flat on his back on either the bed, his pack and play, or in the crib. He likes a little cushion. He seems more content at a slight angle in his swing. And his most favorite is on mine or Sean's chests. Makes sense since I know I'm especially cushy right now! He's also been very good about letting us get decent sleep through the night. Last night Sean fed him around 2 and then he didn't wake up again to eat til almost 7. I have been very impressed. I gave him his first bath yesterday--meaning that I filled up the little pink bin thing the hospital gave me with water and sat his bum in it. He actually liked it.
He seems really happy to be here. Maybe his little spirit was just so anxious to be here finally that's why he decided to come early--but not too early to make sure he would be healthy enough. This could also explain why I got pregnant 2 weeks after stopping birth control pills. Little Lincoln was ready to go! We are so happy he's here! Our home feels even more like heaven now that he is with us.
Anyways, Lincoln has been here for 1 week. It has been wonderful! So far he is extremely content. It is very easy to make him happy. He eats very well. He usually nurses for a while and then decides he's done. But 20 minutes later he decides he's still hungry and wants to eat again. After that he's officially done. This is probably the only thing I can complain about because when he started doing this in the middle of the night I would have already laid back down, and then he'd decide he was hungry again so I'd have to get back up and get all ready to feed him. Now I've learned my lesson to just hold him and pat his back for those 20 minutes til he's ready again. He loves to be burped. He must know when he's gassy because even if he hasn't just barely eaten he still calms down when we pat his back. So far he's not too fond of lying flat on his back on either the bed, his pack and play, or in the crib. He likes a little cushion. He seems more content at a slight angle in his swing. And his most favorite is on mine or Sean's chests. Makes sense since I know I'm especially cushy right now! He's also been very good about letting us get decent sleep through the night. Last night Sean fed him around 2 and then he didn't wake up again to eat til almost 7. I have been very impressed. I gave him his first bath yesterday--meaning that I filled up the little pink bin thing the hospital gave me with water and sat his bum in it. He actually liked it.
He seems really happy to be here. Maybe his little spirit was just so anxious to be here finally that's why he decided to come early--but not too early to make sure he would be healthy enough. This could also explain why I got pregnant 2 weeks after stopping birth control pills. Little Lincoln was ready to go! We are so happy he's here! Our home feels even more like heaven now that he is with us.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
BABY LINCOLN
LINCOLN HAWKE MCWHORTER was born Friday, September 23rd 2011 at 6:24pm. He came two weeks early! Surprise! He weighed 6lbs 3oz and was 18 inches long. He has light brown hair and dark blue/gray eyes for now.
I wrote the following to my sister Melissa, who is in the MTC. It's my story of going into labor and giving birth. I thought I would just copy it because re-writing it seemed like a hassle. :)
Thursday all day I was totally miserable. I woke up and my lower abdomen was in a ton of pain. I could hardly lift my legs to even walk, let along get in and out of bed. I slept for a few hours and then got up and Sean and I went to the post office to mail you that little package and we went to Target and then ate at Texas Roadhouse. Luckily Sean wasn't working that night so we just came home and relaxed and then I went to bed. Of course I woke up like every 2 hours to pee during the night, and when I got up around 7am I realized that I was having contractions. It was fairly subtle though because they actually just feel like menstrual cramps that come and go in little waves. It would just get real painful for like 15 seconds, and then taper off. Then 5 min later it started again. They were already 5 minutes apart when I had a chance to start timing them. I told Sean and we just layed there and waited to see how long they would last. I went for about an ho
ur, no change. I got up, changed positions, no change. I already had an appointment with the Dr scheduled that afternoon, so I called them to see if there was a way I could come in the morning so they could check me and see what they thought was going on. We packed our bags for the hospital, got all the baby stuff, showered, and then headed to AF. I was still having contractions the whole time and they were only getting stronger. We got there and when the Dr examined me he realized I was almost 5cm dilated. You push at 10cm. So i was half way there! He decided to send me to the hospital! I was havin the baby!! It was kinda surreal when we got there cuz I was surprised to be going into labor 2 weeks early... but I knew that I couldn't be in pain like i was the day before for 2 weeks either so having the baby seemed like the better option!
We got to the room and they got me all hooked up to the IV etc by about 11am. I waited and labored without pain meds til 2pm when they gave me the epidural. That was amazing! It made me feel like I was more relaxed than I've ever been in my life. All the while my contractions were getting stronger---I just couldn't feel it. At 3 they broke my water, and then the contractions were even stronger. I was dilated to a 6 and they had me roll over on my side. Within 1 hour i was dilated to a 10. The nurse checked and said, "You're a 10! Do you want to push now, or wait a little bit?" haha... I was surprised, so I decided to wait about 30 minutes to mentally prepare myself to push this little guy out. I knew I could potentially be in the pushing stage for a few hours, so I was actually pretty nervous. She came back and I just decided to give it a go. So just with the nurse and Sean we waited for a contraction, they held my legs up and then I pushed with all my might 3 times each contraction. Surprisingly I was making progress really fast! The Dr came in and realized that his head was really close. I only pushed for about 45 minutes and then all of a sudden he popped right out! haha. I don't know exactly what happened... I mean I pushed real hard, but his head just came out like very suddenly. Sean and the Dr were both pretty surprised! haha. It was crazy to see him and realize that he was in my tummy. Of course he was covered in gunk... but having him out and finishing the labor process was really awesome! I felt a lot of love and just excitement/happiness to be able to see him finally.
They cleaned him up and then let me hold him. Sean got to hold him too obviously. Dad and Nate and McKayla and Sean's parents were all waiting outside. They left to grab food like right before I found out I had dilated to a 10 and by the time they came back he was born like 15 minutes later! It seemed real quick!
Sean went to the nursery with him and they got him all cleaned up and examined while the Dr's and nurses cleaned me up in the delivery room. Then everyone got to come in and meet him. McKayla was very excited obviously! Nate was funny cuz he wasn't sure he wanted to hold him, but I made him do it! :)
The first night he slept quite a bit. I was a little out of it from being tired and also being really sore, so I didn't end up sleeping too much. he had a hard time nursing at first too. Especially cuz there's not really much to get out anyways, so each day he's been getting better at eating as my milk is coming in. Sean had to finger feed him a lot the first 24 hours or so just with a little seringe. Saturday was a great day! We had visitors and just spent time with our little guy. The next day he already looked older! We just started to fall in love with him. We love his cute little cry and laugh at him cuz he's just so droopy and tired all the time!
We left the hospital Sunday late morning. We got home, got cleaned up, and then just rested for a bit until about 4 when we went back up to Highland to see the families. Last night he did pretty good. Slept quite a bit, but also got a little gassy and was awake and crying. But he's a good boy. He doesn't cry unless he's hungry, gassy, or getting his diaper changed. So far it's easy to make him happy.
Today was good too. I got about 4 hours of sleep straight from 5-9am while he slept and Sean stayed in his room with him. Sean's mom came over today to help clean up, do the laundry, and make us lunch. That was a lifesaver because I had obviously missed doing all the laundry over the weekend, and the downstairs was a little messy. She also watched him for a little over an hour while we took another nap--just prepping for tonight and getting less sleep possibly...
I'm loving it though! He is such a little sweetie. I think he kinda looks like us 4 as babies, but we'll see. I'll have to give him a couple months to decide who we think he's gonna look like. We're still not sure what color of eye's he will have--right now they are super dark grey/blue and apparently that color at birth can change to either brown or green or grey... or blue, but its less likely. I'm excited to see!
Anyways, that was a long story! :) Thanks for listening! :)
I wrote the following to my sister Melissa, who is in the MTC. It's my story of going into labor and giving birth. I thought I would just copy it because re-writing it seemed like a hassle. :)
Thursday all day I was totally miserable. I woke up and my lower abdomen was in a ton of pain. I could hardly lift my legs to even walk, let along get in and out of bed. I slept for a few hours and then got up and Sean and I went to the post office to mail you that little package and we went to Target and then ate at Texas Roadhouse. Luckily Sean wasn't working that night so we just came home and relaxed and then I went to bed. Of course I woke up like every 2 hours to pee during the night, and when I got up around 7am I realized that I was having contractions. It was fairly subtle though because they actually just feel like menstrual cramps that come and go in little waves. It would just get real painful for like 15 seconds, and then taper off. Then 5 min later it started again. They were already 5 minutes apart when I had a chance to start timing them. I told Sean and we just layed there and waited to see how long they would last. I went for about an ho
ur, no change. I got up, changed positions, no change. I already had an appointment with the Dr scheduled that afternoon, so I called them to see if there was a way I could come in the morning so they could check me and see what they thought was going on. We packed our bags for the hospital, got all the baby stuff, showered, and then headed to AF. I was still having contractions the whole time and they were only getting stronger. We got there and when the Dr examined me he realized I was almost 5cm dilated. You push at 10cm. So i was half way there! He decided to send me to the hospital! I was havin the baby!! It was kinda surreal when we got there cuz I was surprised to be going into labor 2 weeks early... but I knew that I couldn't be in pain like i was the day before for 2 weeks either so having the baby seemed like the better option!
We got to the room and they got me all hooked up to the IV etc by about 11am. I waited and labored without pain meds til 2pm when they gave me the epidural. That was amazing! It made me feel like I was more relaxed than I've ever been in my life. All the while my contractions were getting stronger---I just couldn't feel it. At 3 they broke my water, and then the contractions were even stronger. I was dilated to a 6 and they had me roll over on my side. Within 1 hour i was dilated to a 10. The nurse checked and said, "You're a 10! Do you want to push now, or wait a little bit?" haha... I was surprised, so I decided to wait about 30 minutes to mentally prepare myself to push this little guy out. I knew I could potentially be in the pushing stage for a few hours, so I was actually pretty nervous. She came back and I just decided to give it a go. So just with the nurse and Sean we waited for a contraction, they held my legs up and then I pushed with all my might 3 times each contraction. Surprisingly I was making progress really fast! The Dr came in and realized that his head was really close. I only pushed for about 45 minutes and then all of a sudden he popped right out! haha. I don't know exactly what happened... I mean I pushed real hard, but his head just came out like very suddenly. Sean and the Dr were both pretty surprised! haha. It was crazy to see him and realize that he was in my tummy. Of course he was covered in gunk... but having him out and finishing the labor process was really awesome! I felt a lot of love and just excitement/happiness to be able to see him finally.
They cleaned him up and then let me hold him. Sean got to hold him too obviously. Dad and Nate and McKayla and Sean's parents were all waiting outside. They left to grab food like right before I found out I had dilated to a 10 and by the time they came back he was born like 15 minutes later! It seemed real quick!
Sean went to the nursery with him and they got him all cleaned up and examined while the Dr's and nurses cleaned me up in the delivery room. Then everyone got to come in and meet him. McKayla was very excited obviously! Nate was funny cuz he wasn't sure he wanted to hold him, but I made him do it! :)
The first night he slept quite a bit. I was a little out of it from being tired and also being really sore, so I didn't end up sleeping too much. he had a hard time nursing at first too. Especially cuz there's not really much to get out anyways, so each day he's been getting better at eating as my milk is coming in. Sean had to finger feed him a lot the first 24 hours or so just with a little seringe. Saturday was a great day! We had visitors and just spent time with our little guy. The next day he already looked older! We just started to fall in love with him. We love his cute little cry and laugh at him cuz he's just so droopy and tired all the time!
We left the hospital Sunday late morning. We got home, got cleaned up, and then just rested for a bit until about 4 when we went back up to Highland to see the families. Last night he did pretty good. Slept quite a bit, but also got a little gassy and was awake and crying. But he's a good boy. He doesn't cry unless he's hungry, gassy, or getting his diaper changed. So far it's easy to make him happy.
Today was good too. I got about 4 hours of sleep straight from 5-9am while he slept and Sean stayed in his room with him. Sean's mom came over today to help clean up, do the laundry, and make us lunch. That was a lifesaver because I had obviously missed doing all the laundry over the weekend, and the downstairs was a little messy. She also watched him for a little over an hour while we took another nap--just prepping for tonight and getting less sleep possibly...
I'm loving it though! He is such a little sweetie. I think he kinda looks like us 4 as babies, but we'll see. I'll have to give him a couple months to decide who we think he's gonna look like. We're still not sure what color of eye's he will have--right now they are super dark grey/blue and apparently that color at birth can change to either brown or green or grey... or blue, but its less likely. I'm excited to see!
Anyways, that was a long story! :) Thanks for listening! :)
Sunday, September 18, 2011
37 weeks
I went to the doctor on Friday. We discovered that I am already 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced. This all happened without contractions--unless they are extremely mild, cuz I haven't felt anything significant. I was completely shocked. The doctor said he would see me next week--if I'm still pregnant! I don't want to get to psyhed out though... I hear about women walking around for weeks 3 cm dilated, so I'm not gonna get too anxious yet. So far it's working... but Sean isn't helping. He wants to get the baby out as soon as possible! So we'll see! I didn't even consider the option of him being born even a day early, so now it seems like this game has sped up significantly! Wish me luck!
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