One Month

Just a couple days ago Griffin turned one month old.  Both Dave and I were asking ourselves, "really,  wasn't he just born yesterday?"  Griffin has filled our house with love and joy and really loud noises; and as his mom, I am enjoying every single second of it.

The holiday season is feeling a bit different this year, since we're a party of three now.  Griffin went to pick out his first Christmas tree and his first ornament, to start his collection.  We had a nice time as a family decorating the tree while listening to some old Christmas records that Dave scored a while back.  This is our favorite time of year, and we know that the joy will be increased a thousand fold with Griffin being our most favorite present ever. 

Every day he is breaking out of his "baby shell" as I call it.  I'll catch him making an expression where I swear he doesn't look anything like a baby.  He is also quite a bit more awake and alert during the day.  I absolutely love to watch him wide-eyed, cooing and playing with his hands.  I'm not sure when he's cuter, when he's awake or when he's asleep dreaming.  It really does surprise me how beautiful this little baby is, no matter what he's doing.

Griffin loves getting out of the house and he's a little social butterfly.  He's fast asleep as soon as he gets in the car and usually sleeps for a good while after the car ride.  Griffin met a lot of his family for the first time this Thanksgiving and really seemed to enjoy getting acquainted with everyone.

Today we had Griffin's one month doctor's visit.  He is as healthy as can be, and the doctor told us to keep doing what we're doing.  (Good to hear when you're not sure what you're doing.)  Griffin had been having some belly troubles early on and wasn't gaining weight as fast as he was supposed to.  After taking care of that he has now more than caught up with himself. 

Here's his stats and some mommy info:
22 inches long--75th percentile
9 lb 9 oz--completely average in the 50th percentile (I knew he was feeling heavy.)
He's slowly outgrowing his newborn clothes.  He's still too narrow for his 0-3 month or 3 month clothes. 
He's sleeping from about midnight till 5-5:30ish.  I won't complain about that, but soon we're going to begin the trick that the doctor told us about today.  I wonder how long I can sit still with him crying.....hmmm?

Griffin's First Week in the World

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

This was quite the day for our new little family.  I felt like I was in the most surreal dream.  Griffin entered the world a pretty happy baby.  After his intial "hello" he slept for just about the entire day.  I'm assuming that it will be the only birthday that he sleeps through.


Griffin had lots and lots of visitors, and slept through being passed around.  We even had to take off his clothes and turn on all the lights to get him to eat.  Dave did a pretty good job of "waking the baby." 

We spent almost the entire day just staring at him, trying to soak in the reality of our new journey.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Griffin surprised us by wanting to party all the previous night, so we were pretty tired on day two.  We didn't take advantage of the nursery like we were told; just assumed that we'd need the practice of waking up to a new alarm clock. 

We spent the day getting to know our new son.  We found out that he particularly likes to have his clothes ON and not off, and really likes to be swaddled up real tight.  Dave got pretty good swaddling, which ended up being rather beneficial. 

Griffin recieved his first shot and was quite the little trooper.  After just a couple of seconds of crying, he was back to his old, err...I mean new, self.  It was becoming more and more evident that we had a pretty good kid on our hands.

Friday, October 30, 2009

 Griffin had his hearing test extremely early that morning.  He passed with flying colors.  Then Dr. Brody came  to let us know that I was healing up great, and that we'd be ready to left by lunch time.  We were all really ready to go, as I believe the four walls surrounding us were starting to close in on us.  The pediatrician also came to let us know that Griffin was healthy enough to leave.  In just a few hours we were packing up the car and introducing Griffin to the big wide world outside of the hospital. 

Griffin's first stop was to meet my Nana, his Great Nana.  I promised her that she'd meet him as soon as we possibly could.  My Nana means the world to me, and introducing her to my new world was more precious than I ever could have imagined.

After this we took him home.  What we didn't realize was how we'd be going to a new home too.  The house that we lived in transformed the second that we walked in.  It's hard to describe the feeling that I felt, but it was the most emotional that I had felt through this entire process.  I think it had finally hit me that Griffin was mine.  He wasn't a baby at a hospital, he wasn't a growing fetus in my belly, he was our son.  The house that Dave and I lived in turned into the home for our little family.  And it was time for me to learn to be his mom. 

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Griffin's first Halloween.  It wasn't too eventful.  He wore his skeleton costume and got played with by Jack and Lucy.  He doesn't realize how much fun Halloween is going to be next year.  Pops and Nana came over to help us hand out candy to the, oh, six trick-or-treaters.  

*Note: I did not paint Griffin for Halloween; I merely photo-edited his costume to be more elaborate.

Sunday. November 1, 2009

This was more of an eventful day.  Griffin had his first bath and first walk.  I wouldn't say that he necessarily enjoyed his first bath, but he really seemed to like the walk around the neighborhood.   During the walk we stopped by our neighbors Adam and Mandie's house to meet their little Emilie.  I have a feeling that he and Emilie will be playing before I know it.  I should probably add here that not only was this Griffin's first bath, but also Dave and my first time giving a baby a bath.  I think we did alright. 

Monday, November 2, 2009

Griffin had his first doctor's appointment where he met his pediatrician, who told us that Griffin was perfect.  This was obviously what we were hoping to hear.  Griffin weighed 7 lbs even at this appointment, up from 6 lb 6 oz at discharge from the hospital.  On the way to the doctor we learned that Griffin loves to be in his carseat/carrier and falls fast asleep in the car (just like his mom). 

The doctor told us to get lots of tummy time in; so that's exactly what we did when we got home.  Griffin's new best friend, Jack tried to help, but it didn't seem to ease his agony any.  After all the hard work Griffin decided to take a nap with Jack.  Turns out that Jack makes a great pillow.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

We decided to relax after an eventful few days.  Although Griffin did help Dave clean the kitchen.

In just a week's time we watched Griffin go through so many changes.  We watched his eyes change color everyday.  We saw his beautiful eyes open for longer periods of time.  We heard a million different noises, which I'm pretty sure are reminiscent of a baby terodactyl.  We're pretty sure that he likes us already.  And I can guarantee you that we love our little Griffin more and more and more every single day.

G-Day [10.28.09]

It's about time that I got around to writing this before it escapes my memory.  I have obviously been a bad blogger as I have been adjusting to my new-found mommyhood.

As I was getting ready for bed the night before G-Day I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep as much as it would benefit me to do so.  I kept finding one thing after another to do.  Honestly I don't remember much from the night before, but I do remember that our house had quite a calmness to it.

After our four hours of sleep I woke up to shower and get ready to go meet our Griffin.  Sadly I had wanted to actually "get ready," as in fix my hair and apply a little bit of makeup, which would later make me laugh at myself.  Dave made sure that everything was in the car and soon we were on our way to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital at 5 AM, where everything went incredibly smooth which kept the nervousness away.  I tried to keep all expectations out of my head to be able to absorb everything I possibly could.  The c-section was scheduled for 7 AM, so I hung out on a comfy hospital bed hooked up to the monitors that I got to know during my false alarm visit.  I had a few contractions while lying there and Griffin was wiggling around, I think telling me that he was ready.  Dave's parents and my family came early to visit us while we waited, so the time was passed easily.  I believe that this may have helped keep my mind off the potential un-nerving events ahead of us. 

Seven o'clock rolled around rather quickly, so Dave slipped into his bee suit, as he called it, and we headed to the O.R.  There was a shift change at 7 AM so I got a new nurse right before going back who I really really enjoyed.  She was a younger girl and the first thing that she asked me was if I was ready.  I responded saying something like, "Yea, you?  What are we waiting on?" rather nonchalantly.   She made sure to mock my calm state of mind.   I appreciated that she was able to poke fun at me immediately before I was about to experience the most life changing event of my life.

Dave had to hang out outside of the O.R. while I was receiving the spinal.  I didn't realize this till the day before, but when having a c-section you are given a spinal instead of an epidural.  Basically the difference is that a spinal is a smaller needle that is inserted into the spine one time with enough meds to get the job done; and an epidural inserts a catheter into your spine and continues to dispense the meds as you need them.  I was told by the anathesiologist that there was actually a lower risk of complications with a spinal and I should only feel a minimal amount of pain as the little needle was inserted.  I was so ready to meet my son that I really didn't care what they were going to be doing to me, as long as he wasn't negatively affected.  I sat on the bed of the O.R. with my spine curled out toward the CNA and my head laying in the chest of my new nurse friend ready to get this part over with.  However this took about 20 minutes, instead of the five-ish that it should have.  I started to feel my nerves creep in and make my knees knock, and for a split second I really thought that it just wasn't going to work.  The CNA tried three times to find the "sweet spot" in my spine, while navigating the needle around inside of me.  This was insanely uncomfortable, to say the least.  This is where I laughed at myself for fixing myself up.  I had a hair net around my shiny straight locks of hair, and during this intense 20 minutes I happened to sweat like CRAZY.  My hair turned fizzy and the little bit of makeup was wiped away as I tried to clean off my face.  I learned my lesson.

Things were a piece of cake after the drugs finally found where they needed to go in me; and my nerves went back to normal as Dave entered the room.  (I believe his did too)  Dave and I have a trust for Dr. B and knew that he'd do the best job possible with me, so we knew there was nothing to worry about him cutting on me.  In just a matter of a few minutes we were hearing the first cries of our Griffin.  At 7:43 I was hearing the most beautiful baby cry ever.  A cry that glued a giant smile on my face, a cry that filled my eyes with tears and, a cry that filled my heart with pride and joy.

As Griffin exited my body the drape in front of my face was dropped and I got to see what would change my life forever.  I literally couldn't wait to hold my screaming baby in my arms.  Once Griffin was completely out Dave was able to leave my side to watch all the fun stuff.  He watched the nurses clean him off, take his footprints, take his vitals, swaddle him up, etc.  Then he brought him over to meet me.  I couldn't believe that this was our child and I couldn't believe how incredibly beautiful this little boy was.  The nurses told me that he was 7 lb 4 oz.  Woah!  That was bigger than we were expecting, but boy was this baby long.  He certainly didn't get his length from his Mom.

I was back in the recovery room in no time, sitting beside myself in the bed.  I just couldn't wrap my head around everything that had taken place in just a matter of 30 or so minutes.  There was a little time that passed before I got to see and hold my Griffin while he was in the nursery, but that time was occupied by visiting with our family that came to see him.  Ahh!  Then my sweet nurse friend brought my baby to me and laid him in my arms.  He was the most peaceful little baby that I'd ever laid eyes on, and he was mine :)  Dave and I enjoyed sharing the awesomeness of our son with our visiting family, while Griffin just slept through the all the commotion.

Griffin was taken back to the nursery again and I was rolled to our "Mother Baby" room, where I would spend the next 2 nights.  In this room we were allowed to have as many guests as we wanted so I wasn't worrying about breaking any rules with our vast entourage.  The staff had been very accommodating to not point out our rule breaking in the previous rooms.  I believe that we took a short nap when we got to Mother/Baby while Griffin was being poked in the nursery.  Then just a little later our little son was brought back to get acquainted with his Daddy and I, and we all cherished ever single second of the beginnings of our new journey together.

38 weeks

Ahh...

On Tuesday I went in for my scheduled appointment with Dr. B to make sure that I was making the right decision to go ahead with my scheduled c-section.  He told me as my OB he felt that it was right for me; and that's all he really needed to say.  So I left the appointment knowing that I'd be meeting my little Bean Sprout in just a matter of hours.

Dave and I managed to remain absolutely calm that afternoon and evening.  I had several things to run around and get done Tuesday afternoon, so I came home to make sure that everything was packed and together. It rained the entire day, which was quite annoying, but sun was in the forecast for Wednesday.

The feeling of knowing the time that I'd be meeting my son was real surreal.  At first I sort of felt a bit of guilt that I was scheduling something that was suppose to happen naturally, but after talking with Dr. B and several people who had experienced c-sections I knew that Griffin and I would be fine.


The belly growing is done now (at least I hope so!).  So, here's the progression of Griffin growing from the inside.