Life as a new “old” mom

So, when life gives you lemons you make lemonade.  When life throws you a baby at 40 you get back into the swing of changing diapers and breastfeeding!

I think I am almost there.  I have learned many things have changed since having my other children 17 years ago.  With my oldest I was told she was to be put to bed on her tummy only…no exceptions.  With the next two I was to put them on their sides with blankets on front and back to keep them there…no exceptions. With Aiden he is to sleep on his back “no exceptions”.  Hello… does this make sense…. once they learn to roll they end up where ever they want anyways and there is nothing I can do about it. (am I supposed to tie him down?  maybe I should have asked the doctor that?)

I have also discovered they get WAY too many shots these days.  They wanted to give him five.  I stopped them at four and an oral one.  I should have only let them do one.  Next time I think I will.  He was fussy for four days.  No fever just fussy… and since he have five vaccinations how do I know which one he was reacting to?  Doctor’s go to school for years in order to loose all common sense.

Wow, this post is turning into a rant…huh?

I was also told that my son is “short”.  Well hello… his parents are NOT andre the giant… you expected something different?  Again… loss of all common sense. 

My youngest daughter, Emily, who is 17 was given a horse.  Ironically the horses’ name is “free”.  Why that is her name is beyond me.  She will more than likely change it.  I suggested Avalon.  I think it’s pretty as the horse is pretty.

She is keeping the horse up the road at some friends’ house and is paying for the horse feed and hay.  So far she isn’t whining about that but I am waiting…

new arrivals

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

As my lil man grows

I had my first child at the age of 19.  I had married at 18 and wanted to start my family young.  I did that.  By the time I was 24 I had all of my children and was a stressed mom of three.  I couldn't wait to see each new thing each child did, each new milestone they reached.  A new grade, a new friend, a new talent.

My youngest child was born a month after I hit the big 4 - 0.  I am savoring every single second.  I know he will have all the firsts and has had some already.  He has already had the first smile.  He has rolled over for the first time.  With him though, I find myself not rushing to the next first but enjoying every second of each day with him.

Last week he was all content in his swing.  Smiling and happy to be watching the bright colored animals on the mobile above circle around him.  I watched him for awhile and got up and turned off the swing and went to pick him up.  My husband, who believes I shall spoil him and create a condition he refers to as "lap colic", said "what are you doing?  he is perfectly happy in there."  To which I replied:  "I am picking him up and holding him.  I am cuddling him because next week he will be 17 and won't let me do this."

You see, I know now how quickly the years pass.  I know that one day I put my daughter on the school bus to kindergarten then followed the bus to school to make sure she was safe and a week later I was setting in the bleachers at her graduation wondering "how in the world did this happen so quickly?"

Enjoy every single second of each day with your loved ones.

Superboy!

My daughter comes and spends the weekend at least a couple times a month.  With her comes my adorable grandson.  Now, all of the sudden, his Nana has a baby of her own to take care of.  The first couple of weeks it broke my heart (and his a bit I believe) that Nana couldn't pick him up.  Now I am feeling much better and getting my hugs and kisses and playtime.  However, Nana's lil man is a wee bit jealous of the new baby in her life. 

Yesterday when I was nursing Aiden Colby would come and try and yank his blanket off.  I fixed him by taking a recieving blanket and putting it around his neck like a cape.  (don't worry there were MANY adults supervising him and it wasn't tight...totally safe).  My older son took some pictures that are priceless.

Since I have this "magic" cape on maybe I can get into the cupboards without Papa catching me.  (you know, if Papa would put the safety latches on Nana bought MONTHS ago he wouldn't have to come after me....)

Trying to liftoff..

All serious...

 

Don't worry, Man, Nana will always love you buckets and buckets...

 

After all... who COULDN'T love that big ole' cheesy smile?

Early Morning Bedtimes

My son is continuing his pattern he set before he even entered this world.  His "awake" time is from around 11:30 pm till around 2 or 3 a.m.  Once he finally goes to sleep he will sleep for about six hours or so, get up and nurse and sleep another two or three hours.  This is great that I can sleep IF I have nothing else to do in the a.m.  The next three weeks, however, I have to be up and driving my daughter to school to take a driver's ed class.  We have to leave no later than 7:30 a.m.  It is now 2 a.m.   I just got Aiden into his crib and am praying he stays asleep.   I usually give him a few minutes before I go crawl into my bed because I hate nothing more than getting comfy and cozy and having to get back up, I'd rather stay up. 

If anyone knows any tricks on getting kids to change their patterns when they have their days and nights mixed up...please, by all means, share your wisdom.  I might even be willing to pay!

He's so darn cute I can't complain!  :)   This was taken the day he turned six weeks old.

 

Here is one of him and his niece who is now only two weeks old.  Kiarra Amaya.  Her tiny lil self makes my six week old look six months old! 

One Tired Mama

Unlike the song by Trace Atkins I am not "one hot mama" (well in the sense of literal heat... I am b/c it's hell season here in FL) but I am truly "one tired mama". Aiden sleeps through the night which should be great, except his idea of bed time is sometime between 1:30 a.m. and 3 a.m. Once he is down he stays asleep till around 8 usually.

I am not quite back up to my normal self and am still anemic. That adds to my exhaustion. I can not wait until Aiden and I figure out some kind of rhythm and get some kind of schedule down that works for both of us.

Breast feeding is going well. It was off to a rough start the first couple of days but once he got the hang of it he does great. I am now remembering how time consuming breast feeding is. ALL feedings are up to me and it forces a new mom to slow down, relax and enjoy the baby. This is a good thing. My husband, whose two children from his first marriage were not breast fed did as me a curious question last night. He asked "so, how long does one do this?" I told him it depends on the mom some do it for a couple years, some for a year, some for a few months. He said "well, how long do YOU do this?" I told him it was different with all three of my kids b/c they were all different. With the first it was about six months. With Lew it was only about three b/c I couldn't keep up with his demand and with Emma it was only about three months because with two other toddlers in the house setting to feed her was near impossible. I asked him why he asked that question and he said "just wondering is all" make me wonder WHY he is wondering. If maybe he is having some jealousy of the bond formed between mom and and breast feeding baby.... maybe I'll incorporate a nightly bottle feeding that can be all his...

Our Newest Family Member

Wow!  I have really been lax and not even updated as to our son's arrival into our family.

 

On May 21st I went into labor... while my van was having new tires installed my contractions started 3 min apart and we were two hours from the hospital.  Not to fear though, as Aiden did not really want to arrive.

 

I spent about 33 hours in labor before doc decided a c section the best route to take.  Aiden would not drop down into the birth canal and when my contractions would get intense he was showing signs of stress.  The whole c section was scary as I have never had one before and I endured a lot of blood loss.  My son was large so my incision had to be cut larger.  It's a long story and I am not up to writing it all out yet but here are his stats and some photos:

 

May 22, 2009 @ 9:05 pm we welcomed 10 lb 3 1/4 ounce Aiden Wyatt.  He was 21 inches long and his head and chest both measured 15 inches!  The nurse thought the head measurement had to be wrong and did it three times to be sure!

 

 

 

 

Here is Aiden taken last week when we were headed for his older brother's high school graduation.  Yup, I've had a new son and a son graduate all with in two weeks.  It has been busy at our house.

 

I know, he looks much older.  In this pic he was not even a full two weeks old yet! 

It's raining, it's pouring

Technorati Tags: baby

My old man isn't snoring.  :)

He was rained out yesterday only got 2 hours rain time paid.  Today he might get a couple of hours work in before he gets rained out again.  He is working a bit further south from where we live and there is a bit of a break in the rain down there.  Here it is still pouring rain.  We have a flood watch and an additional 4-6 inches of rain expected.  We have needed rain for so long.  It's been so dry and living where we do in the Ocala National Forest when it gets so dry there is such a high danger of forest fires.     

I have a doc appointment in the morning with my regular doctor.  I had my daughter take some belly pictures to show just how big this baby is!  Technically I have only gained four pounds since I lost quite a few due to lack of appetite.        

Baby Update

Still no baby.... not even many contractions today. I am just feeling VERY ...what's the word... I guess awkward would cover it. My belly is out so far it hits the counters and stove when I try to cook. Getting up and down is a chore and rolling over... ha.. that's a joke!

Going to get another belly pic for family that is out of town and want to see how much more I have grown in five weeks...

I did manage to get an appt. on Thurs. with my regular doc hopefully she will do something..whether it be to induce me or schedule the c section.

What a Monday!!!!

 

Started off leaving house at 7:40 for my appt at the doc's office to see the GYN there.  Contractions were at about 5 min apart and hurting.  Got there they put me on the monitor.  They were all shocked that I hadn't delivered over the weekend.  She checked me and I was still at one and she said "i can not believe with all the contractions you are having you are still at one!"

She decided to call Dr. Pillow which is the one on call and see if he would schedule a c section for the next day (now today).  He asked for me to come to his office to be evaluated.  He did the same stuff including another internal and P test.  He said he thought I had a bladder infection and that was why I was in pain.  I think he was shying away from doing the c section due to my medical directive but of course I can not be sure of this...he may have just had a golf game planned for today.  So, he prescribed an antibiotic and told me to go back to labor and delivery at 2 pm to be reevaluated and see if I dilated anymore.

This was @ 11 a.m.  So we walked around wally world till my prescription was ready (an hour and a half if you can believe it!!) then grabbed a sub for lunch and killed the next hour visiting with Hullon's brother and his wife. (she is designing our nieces wedding cake for next month so she welcomed the break).  We went in at 2 and they hooked me to the monitors.  The contractions were closer and stronger.

Hullon and Lew took off to find a drink which took them 45 minutes. (i was not too happy about that).  In that 45 min. they did a quick ultrasound and found Aiden's head is not resting on my right hip (which explains the pain there when I tried to lay on that side yesterday).  So,they had doc Manos which is the one with no bedside manner come in to verify since he was in the next room with a regular patient of his.  He check said "yup that's a head"...  I asked him "since his head is in the right direction can you PLEASE induce me before he decides to flip again.  I really do NOT want a c section."   He actually grinned (didn't know he had it in him) and said "I don't see why we couldn't try starting some pit and just see what happens but I have to verify with Pillow as he is on call".   Since I am writing this you know what the valuable Dr. Pillow said... so, with my contractions at four minutes apart they sent me home. (since they had me off the contraction monitor for 30 min after the ultrasound and then said -- o you are not contracting even though they had put me back on for 15 min and saw them every 4 min... ugh)  They also informed me before I left that Dr. Pillow had been wrong and I DID NOT have a bladder infection but to take ONE MORE dose of the antibiotic and then quit!  Now, why would I need just one more dose..????  UGH.

We walked at Big Lots for a bit close to the hospital just to make sure they didn't get any closer then got home around 6 or so.  Contractions lasted a few more hours and I was asleep by about 11:30.  I never even woke up last night to P or even turned over!  I guess I was totally exhausted. 

I am calling my doc's office this a.m. to let them know I didn't get scheduled and to see if they will squeeze me in with her on Thurs. a.m. (she is due back Thurs according to her voice mail).  Not sure if she will try to induce or just do a c section... who knows how BIG Aiden is by now!  I know I feel like a whale now!  I am hoping that he will drop the rest of the way down and things will kick into high gear...

Just figured I'd give you the full update.

Daughters

My youngest daughter received her first paycheck last week and look what she brought me!  Isn't it nice that she thought of her mother?  I took photos of my beautiful roses to preserve them forever!