sleepy

we do a lot of this around here...

that is your favorite way to sleep. its your little compfy spot. 

xoxo

the mom

bathtime!

your very first bath. 

mommom (your great-grandmother) came over the second day you were home and helped me give you a bath. you were still too small for the whale tub and had not lost your cord yet so it was just a sponge bath. you did well though, you did not pee on me nor did you scream. you just laid there, cute as can be! 

xoxo

the mom

growing

i cant believe how much you have grown in just a few weeks. when you were born you weighed 5lb 3oz. by a week old you were already up to 5lb 11oz. you just keep growing and changing. i just can't believe how fast its happening. you are fitting into your clothes better, and your carseat. 

4 days old versus 2 weeks old. 

its just amazing the rate you are changing. i love it. but don't grow up too fast on my little peanut!


xoxo
the mom

our first day

The first week you were in the hospital, then we brought you home and we had visitors coming constantly. Daddy had the week off from work so i was never alone. Then when he went back to work the next week you and i spent it down the shore with grandma so i would have some help. Saturday we came home from the shore and then today your dad had to go back to work. So it was just you me and the dogs. 


We napped a bit in the morning then i got some stuff done around the house while you were sleeping. I gave you your first bath all by myself. I think i did pretty well, there was no screaming or crying. You looked cute as a button all wrapped up in your towel, i was so worried you were going to pee on me before i was able to get your diaper on. 

ET or baby Grayson?

Then auntie came over and we took a trip to target. You did very well, good thing auntie was with though because we needed to take a bottle break. 

Overall the day was not so bad. I managed to bath you, feed you, and keep it all together. I did discover though that you make it very hard to get things done (this short post alone took two days to write). There always seem to be bottles that need washing, and things that need straightening. Forget trying to make myself a meal. You need constant attention when you are awake (which surprisingly is most of the day). You want to either be held or bounced in your chair. This is a habit we will need to work on breaking. 

It's tough being home alone with an infant. I have a totally new respect for stay at home moms. Its wonderful being able to spend time with you but it is exhausting and a bit lonely as well. I know i am very lucky to be able to do it though and when things get tough i will just try and remind myself of that. 

Mommy baby snuggle time is great!

xoxo

the mom

the many faces of grayson

you are the most expressive baby, always with the crazy faces. 


xoxo
the mom

moving?

no, were not relocating our home, just possibly our blog. i created this as a way to document my pregnancy and keep people up to date with what was going on. now that july came, and so did you, i am no longer waiting. just enjoying. 


which made me think i should possibly say goodbye to this blog and move onto another so that i can keep people up to date with how you are growing. what do you think?


xoxo
the mom

teanie tiny baby

look at that face. such concern. 

xoxo

the mom

adjusting

There are a million books and websites to get you through your pregnancy and labor but not much mention of once its all over. Any difficulty in pregnancy is nothing compared to the difficulty of caring for a newborn. 


It's pretty overwhelming, the second day we were home i cried for two hours straight. Not because i was unhappy, just because i was exhausted and so unprepared. This little life that totally relies on you. I have no idea if i am doing things right or not, i worry constantly that i am screwing it up. 


I think it took a couple days for me to realize, hello- yes this child is mine. Even the moment you were born and i saw them take you there was this thought that came over me and i said to myself, he is mine- all mine, i actually get to keep him? I was sort of in shock i think. The first week was crazy. We spent so much time in the hospital then we came home and the first couple days was a constant flow of people coming and going. 


I think i am finally starting to get a grip on things. Although its a false sense of reality. Your dad is coming home late every day this week so we are down the shore with grandma so mommy is not alone all day and all night without help. She is a huge help, giving you baths, feeding you, taking you so i can nap in the morning. Next week will be tough when it is my first week alone while daddy is at work. I think this week is kind of like training though. That first week was way too crazy to learn anything so this second week i've got my training wheels on while grandma helps us then next week i should be ready to go. 


As difficult as this is though, between the tired eyes and constant annoyance of pumping, i am enjoying it more and more every day. You are a huge reward. 

xoxo
the mom

our first night home

The night you were born i got no sleep, and not because of you. You were born at 8:56 and i was in a room before midnight. All i wanted was to see you but they took you away to the nursery then they brought you in to me for about a half hour and had to take you away again. Then an hour later they brought you back but just long enough for me to kiss you goodnight. Then another hour later the doctor came in to tell me you were being admitted to the nicu. I was worried, plus they came in every hour to take my blood pressure. 


They submitted you to the nicu because your blood sugar levels were not stable, then you developed jaundice. It was heartbreaking seeing you hooked up to all of the monitors. And they had to stick your little foot to draw blood every three hours. I really only saw you when it was time to feed. The first day i got to hang out and hold you all day but you were a bit overwhelmed with all the visitors and the nurses suggested we give you a little recovery time. I would come in every three to four hours to feed you and during the night i would skip the 3am feeding so i could get some sleep. I could sleep easy though because i knew you were being monitored constantly. I was not worried. 


Finally though you got to come home Monday night. We took you right from the hospital over to grandma and opa joes house. The dogs were there so we had to pick them up and we wanted you to meet them in a neutral place, we thought it would help. Then we headed home, all five of us. I could not sleep at all that night though. I decided to put you in the pac n play in our room instead of your crib. I laid you in there all swaddled up and five minutes later i saw you on your side and panicked, you have to sleep on your back, they told us that many times at the hospital. I tried to reposition you but it did not work so i ended up calling grandma in the middle of the night and she told me to bolster blankets on either side of you, and that worked. I was still worried though so i kept checking every few minutes. 


Plus you are a stinker and have your days and nights mixed up. You fussed all night and would not sleep. Therefore i did not sleep. It was a bit rough. I was exhausted the next day and I have a hard time taking naps, especially with you around. I feel like i need to be there for you instead of napping. 


The second night went much better though. I slept more confidently that you would not roll over and suffocate or something and you seemed to understand that you were supposed to sleep. I did not get a ton of sleep but it was better. 


It's hard, its only day two but its very hard. I know that I have lots of help and support and that it will only get better though. 

A cute picture of my little turtle! 

xoxo
the mom

The day you were born...

For the record- July 8th was my guess, although i never thought i would be right!


People kept asking me "have you been having contractions?". All i could say was that i wasn't sure. It's hard to say you have or haven't when it's nothing i've ever actually experienced before. Around 4 in the morning on thursday though up until 530ish i could say for sure i was. They weren't horrible, just cramps that would come and go every few minutes. They got stronger and made sleeping not so easy.


The plan for Thursday was to go to the dr, come home and get some stuff done, pick up emily and grace to go walk around cherry hill mall (i figured walking would be good for me and it was too hot to do it outside so why not go shopping while i walk!), then go to the grocery store and come home to get some cleaning done. Very busy day.


9am rolled around and i gave the dogs a treat and told them i would be right back. I went to the dr, was so distracted that i forgot to pee in the actual cup, so i then had to drink lots of water and try again later at the end of the apt. The midwife did an exam and said i was already 3cm and 75% effaced. Part of me was totally shocked but the other part of me expected it since i've been taking the oils, walking, doing everything i naturally could to move things along.


I took a picture in the bathroom while i waited to have to pee again. Lovely i know! (but im glad i took it! ended up being my last one)

Blood pressure was way high (which since may it randomly has been here and there) and the midwife was not happy about that. She also suspected my water had broken and that there might not be any fluid so i needed to go get an ultrasound. She seemed concerned with everything, which concerned me! Then when i finally did pee in that cup (i remembered to hold the cup under this time!) my protein was also high so she said "yup, you're having a baby today. head to the hospital"


Ummm, what! Excuse me. Come again!?


I really was not prepared for that. The poor secretary at the desk when i was checking out asked when my next apt needed to be and i said i was headed to he hospital to have a baby and totally lost it. Sobbing. She probably thought i was insane.


She wanted me to head right across the street to the hospital, not to stop home first. I was not at all ready for this so i had to call your dad, tell him what was going on. He freaked out and ended up hanging up on me! Then called back a minute later realizing he hung up on me. I sent him a text with all the stuff to pack, because naturally i had not finished getting it all done. Then i called grandma and told her to get her butt home from the shore (we had just gotten home ourselves the night before!). Called sarah, who had just gotten off an evening shift at the hospital and was about to go to sleep, told her what was going on and asked if she could take care of the poor dogs who i had told i would be right back to!


The labor floor was busy and I had a million different staff coming in and out, none of which were consistent because everyone was so busy and they kept telling me I was headed home soon. "No Diane said we were having the baby today" i told al of them and I just kept getting the same response. Probably not, we will see, doesn't look that way.


Wonderful, I had gathered all the troops, collected myself, come to terms with what was going on, and now they tell me this probably won't happen!? It was a little frustrating. I sat there from about 10 till 3ish waiting to hear what was going on. Your dad and grandma had made it there, Sarah was there and already called out of work for that night, everyone had been expecting to see a baby.


My pressure was good but your heart rate was not, there were dips and no real jumps. Which apparently is not good. So despite the hospital nurse and attending objections my midwife said "we are definitely having this baby- you don't mind do you?". So things were back on again.


Pitocin was started around around 4:30. I was petrified. I have heard horrible things about that drug. It meant hard fast contractions were on their way. I waited and waited but no horror. Contractions were very manageable, not much worse then gas pains. They were getting a little more intense so i decided to get IV meds to help relax me a bit, maybe i could sleep. As with anything in the hospital it takes forever so i just said lets do the epi while we still can. They checked and i was  4cm, -1 station, 90% effaced at that point.


Around 6:30 i got the epi, which was scary, but not bad. It was more uncomfortable then anything else. The most painful part of labor though came when the anesthesiologist had the needle in my back and a contraction came on. I was bent over, which was not comfortable, could not move, and trying to work through it. Once it was in and the contraction was over though it was totally fine. I could still move my legs around and feel them, they just felt heavy. About 20 minutes later I couldn't even tell I was having contractions, it was pretty amazing. 

I just hung out for a while. By 7:30 i had already moved to 6-7cm. Because the transition from 4 to 7 was so fast you dropped down quickly which messed with your heart rate. This got everyone worried because you were in distress. They decided to break my water to see if you pooed. It appeared you had not which was good but they still started setting up for a C-section because of your stress level. I was not happy about this at all. I did not want a c-section! 


Everyone started heading to the hospital, anticipating a very long night of waiting for you to come. We figured at that point you would probably have a Friday birthday rather then a Thursday one. 


One of my favorite shows in the summer is Big Brother, the premier was that night at 8pm so the plan was to watch it. Since i was not in pain i figured that would be no problem at all, it would help pass the time. Grandpa joe set it up for me so i could watch the live streaming on the laptop because the tv in the room was terrible. I saw maybe two minutes of it before I started feeling something strange. Pressure, like I could feel you moving. I mentioned it but no one seemed concerned because they said there was no way it was time to push. WRONG! There you were. I was at 10cm and ready to go. 


Everyone started rushing around getting ready. They reminded me that pushing can take a couple hours. Nope, wrong again. Three pushes later and you had arrived! Turns out my water had not totally broken, they broke the remaining bag and it turns out you had in fact pooed so they had to rush you away. This was disappointing because i was hoping to wait and cut the cord after it was done pulsating. But nothing i had hoped for went my way so why should that have! 


4 hours of labor, 3 pushes. 7/8/10. 8:56pm. 5lb 3oz. 19". Perfect and beautiful. 

Holding daddy's hand. 

Mommy holding you for the first time.

Look at that face!

Daddy holding you for the first time.

Grandma and Grandpa joe.

xoxo
the mom

Welcome Baby Boy!

A couple cell phone shots. More to come...

Grayson Brady. 19in. 5lbs 3oz. 

xoxo

the mom

baby bump turned pillow

i'm pretty sure once you are here the dogs are going to miss you being where you were for a couple reasons. one- there will be a loss of attention on them which they will not be okay with. two- you make a pretty compfy pillow. 

xoxo

the mom

Blue Rasberry

If too much time goes by without me feeling a squirm and squiggle i have discovered blue raspberry waterice will do the trick! Makes for a very crazy baby boy!


xoxo
the mom

Oh Hello!

It's just us...your parents....waiting for you to come!

We are getting a bit bored. And silly. 

Are you hear yet?

4th of July!

We spent 4th of July down the shore as usual. I hate parades but I found out about a doggie 4th of July parade and decided we must go! So pancake and cherrio got decked out. Cherrio in a sparkly bowtie and pancake in a red dress with blue ribbons, which she kept shaking out. Here they are while we waited for the parade to begin.

There were some serious dog floats (yes i said floats!) in the parade. One included a giant black pot with fire painted around it and it had three dogs dressed as lobsters sitting in the pot. The owner was wearing a chefs hat and had on a lobster bib. Adorable.


We already decided next year you will be the focal of our float, sitting in a lifeguard stand with all the doggies in bikinis around you in the sand. Yes, we are that awesome! 


The rest of the day was spent napping and partaking in our usual shore activity, floating in the bay!

The rocking of the waves usually puts you to sleep, and we just lay there in the raft for hours. I think this may be part of the reason you are still in there instead of out here with us! I don't blame you, it is nice. 


Speaking of which its time for a little chart updating! We have knocked a few contenders out. 

You are free to come whenever. 

xoxo

the mom

Really!?

The dad: I think thats what Im the most afraid of.  Poopie diapers.


I wish that was all i had to be scared of! Must be nice. 

No more pencils no more books no more teacher's dirty looks....

Okay so I have been done school for many years now but it kind of feels like the last day of school. My last day of work was supposed to be July 9th but it got bumped up, and because of the long weekend, it is now today! Horray, horray! I have off until October, so it's kind of like summer vacation as a kid. Only instead of slumber parties and popsicles it will be sleepless nights and dirty diapers!

That is okay though because there will be lots of time down the shore and lots of time spent playing and I am looking forward to all of it. 

I have a zillion billion things i want to get done so maybe now they will actually get crossed off that every growing list of mine! And there will be time for those afternoon naps i crave so badly. The question though is how many of these days will i get? One, two, fourteen!? 

It will certainly be strange getting up next week and not going into work. Not really having a plan at all. I think i should cherish that feeling though because I doubt i will have a "hmm what should i do, nothing on the agenda" kind of day for a long while. 

The thought keeps running through my head as I am sitting on the couch doing nothing, or just hanging out with your dad and the dogs, or out shopping...enjoy it because this probably won't be possible soon. How many more mornings of laying in bed and getting up to a free schedule are there. Are the evenings of lounging on the couch channel surfing gone? Will that trip to target to browse around really be worth it once i am hauling a million things with me? 

It's going to be a whole new world. I know that. I just wonder if i really know how new it will be...

xoxo

the mom

Waiting waiting waiting...

I am getting serious heat from everyone because you are still comfy cozy in place. You are not due to arrive for 10 more days but no one can seem to wait! I get texts emails all day long asking for you to come out. Grandma has even started threatening to take away christmas presents for every day you make her wait! 


I am doing all i can on my part. I'm taking the primrose oil, walking, your dad is rubbing my feet and pressing down on labor inducing pressure points (according to the internet anyway...), i've done the pineapple thing. I am running out of ideas here to force you out. If you are anything like me though you hate being told what to do and you will come late just to spite us all! 


Do your mom a favor though and make a nice early appearance. Simply so everyone stops bugging me! There are lots of people waiting to meet you...


xoxo
the mom