sleeping

First, .... I really need to get some new pictures up of Davis and second I need to loosen up a bit and start trying to get Davis to sleep without me. I go back to work in may and while I have a month in a half to get him sleeping in his bassinet i feel like it might take that long. He just loves snuggling with his mama :) It works right now because I'm not working but when I have to be at work at 8 am I have a feeling it wont be as wonderful. I'm so torn with going back to work and this just adds to my anxiety about it. As i type he is asleep,...tummy down in his moses basket next to me on the couch. He sleeps great like this but he still can't do it without me watching him, making sure he is breathing. I have had many moms tell me just to put him on his stomach at night but I just cant. The risk is just to much. I'm thinking I'm going to get one of those angel care monitors. Have you heard of them? It's a monitor that you put under there mattress that picks up even the slightest movement, ie-newborn breathing. If the infant does not move after 15 seconds the alarm beeps once giving you a warning if they don't breath for another 5 seconds the alarm sounds. Ive talked to a few moms that have them and they say they don't know how they ever slept without one. It's great piece of mind and I have two moms I know that use it because their babies like to sleep tummy down. I plan on ordering one here soon,... I think it will help me with getting him sleeping without me. I pray every night that God will keep my sweet baby safe, we always say our prayers before snuggling down for the night. I'm worried now that something will happen to him and he's sleeping on me! Can you imagine how spastic I'll be when I got to put him in his bed?! ugh! I'm pretty sure if I wasn't going back to work that we might be sleeping together for awhile. If anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears!! Gotta go... little love is stirring and I'm sure he would like to eat :)

Tummy Time

sigh..... ladies and gentleman we have figured out the sleeping issue, drum roll please....... Davis is a tummy sleeper. insert frustration here. As most of you with children hopefully know babies can't sleep on there stomach's until they have head control, which at 5 weeks Davis does not. He took an hour nap earlier on his stomach(under my watchful eye) and as I type he is asleep tummy down next to me on the couch. Last night while I cooked AND ate dinner he slept in his moses basket, so very very nice. Unfortunately he can only take naps like this where I can check on him, so until he gets good head control, 3 to 4 months, we will keep trying things at night but I have to say I have a feeling that he will be with me until I can put him on his tummy. I'm hoping that taking naps during the day not on me will help with him getting used to his bassinet. Wish us luck!

I'm back

Hello blog world! Its been awhile since I posted but i've been extra busy taking care of sweet baby Davis! He really is the sweetest thing.... he has the best temperament. He really only cries when he has gas(which here lately has been more than I like) but as soon as he... well toots he's back to being happy! ha ha! Poor thing.

Mr. Man is starting to wake up for longer and longer everyday. His big awake time is after his first morning feeding and then again in the late afternoon. He of course is awake in between those times but he stays awake for the longest at those two times. I'm starting to think about a routine with him for bed... I'm thinking bath, nurse, bed? What do you think? It for some reason is overwhelming to me to think about getting him on a schedule and what schedule I want him on. Right now he goes to bed around 10:00(or there abouts depending on when he eats) sleeps for about 3 hours wakes up to eat and then sleeps for about another 4 to 5 before he wakes to eat again. Depending on the time he might sleep for another 2 or so hours after that. I want to bump up his bed time to about 8:30 but I dont want that to mess up the rest of the night.... maybe I'm over thinking this! any suggestions are welcomed!

he weighs about 8lbs now......still a little thing but is eating every two hours so I'm sure that will change :)

On another note, my dad's best friend Hamp passed away last Thursday from ALS. I have known this man my entire life, he was like another dad. it was very hard to say goodbye, especially for my dad. Bless his heart, its hard to see your dad cry. I know hamp is hunting in heaven right now and i take peace in knowing that he is no longer suffering. Please say a prayer for Hamps family and my dad right now.

Birth story

I cant believe it has been almost two weeks since our little bundle of love came into this world. It makes me a little sad to think that time is already going by so quickly.....any who on to the birth story! we went in Sunday Jan 31st for a scheduled c-section because of our little ones cord issue. we arrived and got all settled in and visited with family until it was time to go to the operating room. I'll tell you one thing, things got real real quick when I walked into that operating room! No turning back now! They gave me a spinal and got me all set up before they let Gary come back to be with me. My sweet friend Sybil who is also a labor and delivery nurse came up to be with me through out the procedure and also was able to film the entire thing. We would not trade this video for the world, it is such a cool thing to have. They brought Gary in and said it would be about 5 minutes and they would have him out. They had already begun the section when he came back, kinda gross but he said he could smell the burnt flesh from where they had cartirized(spl?) my skin, umm eww!! Moving on... our little one made his debut at 9:24 am January 31st, 2010 weighing in at 6lbs 7oz 20inches long. He started to cry before they even got his body out! haha

Now onto the more scary part.... he came out crying and screaming and was pink as could be we thought we were in the clear! The nicu doctors were on stand by to access him. they worked on him and worked on him and worked on him some more. All I kept asking was "Is he ok??" the nurses kept saying oh yes he's fine they are just getting the fluid out of his lungs. But the NICu drs would not answer me. they just kept suctioning and pounding on his back. Mind you through all of this he was still pink and still crying at times. The problem was he would stop crying and make little grunting coughing noises. All of the sudden the doctors said ok we are going to take him. umm excuse me take him where?! They let Gary hold him and let me see him real quick, then off he went to the NICU. They asked Gary if he wanted to carry him down there and I told him to go. I know this was one of the hardest things he's every had to do. Take his 15 minute old son to the nicu and leave his wife on an operating table. I dont think he knew which way to turn, he was very overwhelmed, but handled it great.
I was in recovery for the mandatory hour and then off to the nicu i went to go hold my son for the first time and to hear what the doctors had to say. We went in and they had him hooked up to oxygen and iv's, it was hard to see. they explained that they were testing for pneumonia amongst other things. They also explained to us that he would be there with them for at least 24 hours. I was so sad that I would not have my precious baby with me but on the other hand I was glad he was being so closely monitored. His test for pneumonia and all the other test they ran on him came back negative so that was awesome news. It turned out that he just could not get that fluid up out of his lungs, poor little guy. they said this was due to the nuchal cord, the csection and the fact that he was three weeks early. He was on oxygen, and antibiotics for 36 hours before he got to come to the room with me. I was so happy to have him with me, they were hard pressed to get him away from me!

we are all home now and doing wonderful! He is the sweetest most mild mannered baby I've ever been around. He just eats and sleeps! I have to set my alarm in the middle of the night to wake him up to eat! Breastfeeding got off to a rocky start but is going great now thanks to Molly at best beginnings(she is the BEST!)

Our sweet boy with the IV in his head :( first night in the room with mommy

Davis Craig Smith

HE'S HERE! and he's wonderfully made!! we could not love him more and he has brought Gary and I's relationship to a completely new level. Not only do we love our sweet Davis more than life itself but we have a new love for each other! more on the birth later.....little boy is ready to eat :)

Sunday Funday!

well we are still in the hospital just waiting on Davis! All the results came back from the amnio saying that his lungs as of last friday are not quite ready so we wont be doing anything until this coming weekend, which is when they say his lungs should be right where they are supposed to be! Sooooo long story short Sunday Jan. 31st Davis will make his debut, via C-section. Not completely thrilled about the csection but it is what is best for Davis so thats what we are doing. I would do anything for this sweet baby to be healthy and happy, so out the window goes my birth plan! I think this is Gods way of telling me that I'm not in control! We are so excited to meet our little man!

Hospital

Well we are in the hospital again and it looks like we are staying here until I have him! We went in Thursday to see Dr. Willis(high risk dr.) and have another scan done to see what the cord looked liked. Well it didn't look so great.... it is around his neck three times and is very tight. when we were in the hospital last week it had loosened up a little, now its back to being very tight. It had what they call "notching" which basically means that there was some decreased blood flow in one of the loops. The blood flow would return to normal once it passed the part where it was the tightest but it was still cause for concern. They decided that it was best to admit me and monitor his heart rate. He has dips in his heart rate but recovers from them quickly, as long as he bounces back they aren't ready to just pull him out. They did an amniocentesis yesterday to see if his lungs were mature enough to go ahead and get the process of delivery going now but the numbers came back that his lungs are just not there yet. We were really hoping that it was going to come back that his lungs looked good and he was ready but that just isnt the case. They sent the amniotic fluid off for a more extensive test to see exactly where his lungs are. Sometimes the preliminary test results can give a false negative, meaning it can say the lungs are not ready when they actually are. So this is why they have sent the fluid off to be tested further. So now its a wait and see, we will know a lot more Monday! Thank you all for your continued prayers.