Evan is 2 Months Old!

Evan is two months old now and getting huge! At his two month app he was 12lbs even and 24in long. He's getting so long! He's definitely not the little peanut that Lexi was. He's growing to quickly he's already getting into 6 month clothes. I bought a bunch of 6 and 9m cloth on clearance for him last fall, but they're all summer clothes. Short sleeves and shorts. Definitely not appropriate for March in Pennsylvania! I hope his growth slows down a little bit, just until it gets to be yard sale season at least, so I don't have to drop a bunch of money on clothes that he'll grow right out of. Come on spring!!

Little brother in the laundry basket

First baby smiles!

Evan caught his first cold at 6 weeks. KJ caught a cold from work, the next week Lexi and I caught it, and then a few days later Evan got it. I was really trying to avoid him getting sick. We haven't gone anywhere in eight weeks because I didn't want to take him out and get him sick. I'm so annoyed that he still got sick staying home all the time. It was pretty unavoidable once Lexi got, though. She was coughing and spreading her germs everywhere. Toddlers are seriously gross sometimes! It was a rough week and a half, but we are all healthy again, Evan included. I really hope that's the only cold he gets this year. 

Sister and brother in their matching rockers

Evan is such a happy boy! He loves to smile. It doesn't matter what time of day or night, he just smiles away. It's hard to be mad at him for getting up for the third time in a night when he's giving me that big gummy Evan smile :)

Birth announcement
 

Sleeping...
 

Lots of Love, 

KJsbabe

Newborn Pictures!

We had newborn pictures taken when Evan was three weeks old. We just got them back!

All pictures taken by the talented Carrie Harris Photography

















Lots of Love,
KJsbabe

Evan is 1 Month!

This month flew by! My squishy boy is already a month old! He's grown a lot! His birth wight was 8lbs 13oz, he lost over a pound by the time we left the hospital on day three because my milk didn't come in until day four. But since then he's gained like crazy. At his two week app he was back up to 9lbs even. Today, at four weeks, he's 11lbs 3oz. My little chunker! He spent about 2 1/2 weeks in new born clothes and is now in 3 months. The hospital gave us a nice fleece Halo sleep sack with the swaddle attached in size NB. He's already growing out of it, so I'm having to buy a 3-6m one with the swaddle now. The ones we already have don't have the swaddle and it really helps him sleep.

The end of our first and going into our second week was kind of rough. Evan had his new born doctor app at 5 days old. He looked fine, except for his circ. Our doctor wasn't available to do it at the hospital, so the NP in the nursery did it... And didn't do it well. It kept spotting at every diaper change while we were at the hospital, and while the NP said a little spotting was normal, it seemed like a lot to me. I kept telling the nurses about it and asking if it was normal and none of them really gave me a straight answer. So, at his app our doctor didn't like the way it was looking. The NP used the Plastibell method and didn't tie the string tight enough so the blood supply was not fully cut off on one part, so it wasn't falling off like it should. She told us to come back in a couple days to see how it was doing. We went back on day 8 and it was still the same, so our doctor had to fix it and remove it herself... That was fun. Obviously he was bleeding from the procedure, but he was clotting up pretty well by the time we left the office. She told us to leave his diaper alone for a few hours so he could clot well. I gave him about three hours and in that time I heard him poop twice (he's a really loud pooper!) so I figured I had better take care of it. I opened up his diaper and it was soaked with blood... I freaked out. That's definitely not a sight you ever want to see! He was actively bleeding so I had KJ call the doctor and see what to do, while I tried to clean him up. She had us run to the hospital to get this special clotting gauze called surgicel. She had looked for some at the office originally but was out of it. Once we got the gauze wrapped around the bleeding stopped   instantly. Thank goodness!! It took about three days for it to heal up completely after that. I was so glad when it was over!

Since the whole circ ordeal, though, things have been pretty smooth sailing. It's been really dry in our house so Evan's gotten pretty dried out and stuffed up from time to time. I've been using saline drops and that's really been helping to get the boogies out. He hates it, but he needs it.

And now for pictures!

Three days old


Showing some Steelers love
 

Lexi and I taking care of our babies


Trying out the pouch sling


First cloth diaper at 3 weeks. We had to wait to start them because of the whole circ ordeal.


Lexi cuddling Evan


Sister and brother <3


Floor time


Big yawn!


And asleep...


Napping on the quilt Grammie made.


Lots of Love,

KJsbabe

Evan Wesley's Birth Story

Short version: Evan Wesley was born Thursday, January 8, 2015 at 9:26am via repeat c-section, weighting 8lbs 13oz and 21in long. 

Long version: KJ and I arrived at the hospital at 5am Thursday morning. They got me admitted and in a bed to prep me for the c/s. When the nurse hooked me up to the monitor she asked of I was feeling the any of the contractions I was having. Honestly I wasn't! I had been getting a crampy AF feeling on and off for the two days prior, and figured it might be the very beginning stage of labor. Sometimes I would get a BH along with it, but since it didn't hurt I didn't think it was the real thing. Apparently it was! 

As I sat and waited for my c/s the contractions did start to get more uncomfortable and painful. By the time we were ready to go in they were 4 minuets apart. I'm pretty sure we would have been having a baby that day even with out the c/s! 

I had to wait much longer than anticipated for my c/s. We were supposed to start at 7am, but my doctor was late getting there. By the time he arrived we lost the anesthesiologist and had to wait for his next opening, which was 9am. So all the while I sat in an uncomfortable hospital bed, having real contractions, with a catheter in that hurt, in an insanely hot room. I got so warm at one point that DH opened the window for me. It was 15 degrees out and snowing, and felt great!

But once we actually got started, things went very smoothly. Evan Wesley was born at 9:26am weighing 8lbs 13oz and 21in long. He has strawberry blond hair, which was a bit of a surprise! Recovery has been up and down. The first day I felt like I had a major hang over. I was tired from getting up at 4am, dizzy all day from the meds (I couldn't see or think straight), and nauseous from the meds (I couldn't keep anything down). I did feel good enough to get out of bed and stand for a few minuets at the end of the day, though. Day two I felt much better. I had great pain killers, so no pain from the c/s. I did develop major swelling in my legs, though. I had compression stockings on my calves, but as soon as they came off my legs just ballooned. If you had looked at me from the thighs down you would have thought I weighted 500lbs! It was ridiculous! It was harder to move around because of my elephant legs than it was because of my c/s. Thankfully they have since started to deflate. I'm a week out now and they are pretty much back to normal. Other than that, I've been feeling good. My incision was sore for a few days, but I'm really feeling good now. 

Breastfeeding went really well the first day, Evan's a total natural. On day two he developed his super suck, though, and OMG it hurt!! My nipples quickly got very sore, and were cracked and bleeding. That's been something we've really had to work through. On day three my milk still hadn't come in and all he wanted to do was eat. He got very frustrated each time because he wasn't getting a lot, which made him suck even harder. Ouch!! But on day four my milk came in and things have improved a lot. Even though I'm completely engorged, he's much more satisfied. When he's happy, I'm happy. 

Lexi adores her baby brother! She's always wanting to help hold him or hug and kiss him. It warms my heart to see how much she has accepted him into our family and how excited she's been to meet him. I forgot how tiny new borns are! It's amazing that she started out that small and is now such a big girl! 

I'm just so happy our little boy is finally here and in my arms! 

Evan and proud big sister Lexi!

Mr Bright Eyes

Going home outfit

Momma and Evan

Big sister, Daddy, and Evan

Home at last

Finally home and comfy

Lots of Love, 

KJsbabe

My Boy is Here!

Introducing Evan Wesley Jackson! He was born at 9:26 this morning. He's 8lbs 13oz and 21in long. He has strawberry blond hair and is pretty perfect. He has KJ's nose and looks a lot like his big sister. 

It's so nice to finally have him here! Our little family of four is complete <3

Lots of Love, 

KJsbabe

Joanna Rose

Today I am heartbroken. A very dear friend of mine lost her baby over the weekend. She was 26w and had just had an app last Monday. Her baby seemed to be healthy and growing then. The last time she felt the baby kick was Christmas morning so she went to the ER to get checked out on Saturday. She texted me Sunday morning to tell me the sad news. 

I'm just so heartbroken for my friend. This is the same friend who had a miscarriage in April right before I got pregnant. She got pregnant again in July and everything seemed to be going well. She had good betas and a great early ultrasound. The baby was growing right on track... And now they're not. Just like that, her baby is gone. This is so unfair. 

My dear sweet friend is the best person I know. She is sweet, loving, kind, and generous. She loves The Lord with all of her heart. How could He let this happen to her? She's always wanted to be a mom. Even as kids growing up, she always loved babies (even when they grossed me out) and would talk about having a whole bunch of them when she grew up. She was meant to be a mother. She is the last person on Earth that this should have happened to. 

Joanna Rose was born sleeping at 8:07 tonight. Rest in peace, sweet girl.

Photo by Carlie Marie The Seashore of Remembrance

Lots of Love,

KJsbabe

8 Months - 32 Weeks!

Another month down! We are getting there! 

Ugh, not that I've had a lot of energy to begin with the entire pregnancy, but third tri fatigue has hit me hard. I'm so freaking tired all the time. More than once I've fallen asleep on the couch while Lexi watched Frozen. She's such a sweet girl. She puts a blanket on me, whispers "night-night mommy", and kisses me on the cheek. 

30 weeks

Another awesome thing I've been dealing with is being insanely warm all the time. It's 20 degrees outside and I'm wearing a tank top! Mornings are the worst. I get out of the shower, get dressed, and I can't cool off for the life of me. I usually have to stand out side for a minuet to feel better. I also can't drink hot tea, coffee, or hot chocolate because it makes me too hot. For once I've been really grateful for the cold weather!

The third tri aches and pains have set in. My belly gets sore a lot. It's uncomfortable to lay, sit, stand, everything. I'm so, so grateful for this healthy baby boy, but I'm looking forward to being done. Truthfully, I'm looking forward to be done with TTC, trying to stay pregnant, and the aches and pains of pregnancy. I'm looking forward to completing our family. I'm looking forward to closing this chapter of my life and moving on and just enjoying our little family of four. 

My apps have been going well. I'm going every two weeks now. Nothing really exciting to report. Baby boy seems to be doing well. I haven't been doing actual kick counts, but he moves a lot throughout the day. Some days are slower than others, but I always feel him here and there. My only concern is that at my past couple apps his heart rate has been around 130. I feel like that's low. Lexi always stayed around 150. On my Doppler at home some days he's 130 and other he's 150.

32 week comparison - Lexi in pink and baby boy in blue

How far along? 32 weeks

Total weight gain: 28lbs... I don't want to talk about it...

Maternity clothes? Yes. I still hate my pants. And now my favorite yoga pants are getting tight...

Stretch marks? Nope

Sleep: Most nights are ok, but I'm still dealing with the once or twice a week insomnia. Either I can't fall asleep to begin with, or I wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep.

Best moment this month: Feeling lots of movement. Baby boy is definitely a mover!

Miss Anything? Not having heartburn every night.

Movement: Most days he moves a lot, but every couple days he'll have a quiet day and it'll freak me out.

Food cravings: Fruit and yogurt Special K cereal

Anything making you queasy or sick: Not really

Gender prediction: Still boy :)

Labor Signs: none

Symptoms: heart burn, swelling, 

Belly Button in or out? Out. Way, way out.

Wedding rings on or off? Off. I made it to 31weeks and then my fingers started to swell a lot. They're just not comfortable any more. I broke out my fake ring I wore last time, but it turns my finger green.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy, but tired

Looking forward to:  Being done

Next app: November 21 and December 1

Lots of Love,

KJsbabe