HAPPIEST BABY IN THE 'HOOD

A friend of mine gave great praise to the book/video called "Happiest Baby on the Block".  I joke here, calling it "Happiest Baby in the 'Hood" because of where we live.  Don't get me wrong, we really don't live in "the hood".  But we do live in a rather happening place in the City.  There is a late night restaurant and bar basically in our back yard, so between the two, they generate quite the ambient nighttime noise.  We are also close to a fire station, so fire sirens are the norm around here.  Ah, the sounds of the City!  Travis and I have grown accustomed to it, but now that I'm a new mother, I wake up at the drop of a hat.  So, if it isn't the baby cooing, I'm awakened by bums talking to themselves or people "woo hooing" their way out of the bar.  It turns out the late night shenanigans doesn't bother Rome in the slightest.

This post is to praise Dr. Kamp, the author of Happiest Baby on the Block and his methods for getting a newborn to sleep better.  I wrote previously about not knowing if Rome liked to be swaddled because he liked having his hands.  Well, we Netflixed the video and they say to stick with it no matter what!  They also show you precisely how to get the perfect swaddle.  Watching him do it helped me a ton.  Now I'm a swaddling pro! And Rome has gotten used to it.  He even yawns as soon as I get him tight and swaddled.  We've also tried the side swinging motion with the head jiggle that Dr. Kamp does in the video.  Travis and I call him the "baby whisperer".  I'm not sure how many out takes there were in the video, but this guy can take a screaming baby to sleeping in 2.5 seconds!  It's amazing.  So, needless to say, we are reaping the benefits of this wonderful video as well, and I recommend it to any new parents.  It is a must have!

Even though it may be a bit early, we're trying to begin to implement a bed time routine.  We put Rome down anywhere from 9pm to 11pm and he's been sleeping until 2am (give or take an hour) and then wakes up again at 5am (give or take an hour).  I'm looking forward to the longer spans of sleep.  I've gotten one night with 4 straight hours of sleep and it made all the difference!  Even though the lack of continuous sleep is still hard to handle, I've realized you just get used to it.  Also, short naps during the day really make the difference in my attitude toward the end of the day.  Daddy is a BIG fan of them ;).  He reaps the benefits and so does Rome.  Getting enough sleep throughout the day really determines what kind of Wife and Mother you are at the end of the day...so get your sleep any way you can!

HOPE

There is hope!  Last night was a success, and the results speak for themselves.  Rome is very alert this morning and seems to be learning.  His eyes are following objects and he is concentrating more.  I can just see him thinking already.  I can’t wait (don’t quote me on this) until he starts asking questions!  My production level is better as well.  I took a shower AND I’m baking banana bread.  Two loaves. 

As far as sleep went, it was still a maximum of 2.5 hours at a time for me and Romeo, but without the fussiness in between and the needing to be rocked for 30 to 45 minutes before drifting off was what made the difference.  The first night feeding at 11:30 only lasted an hour from feeding to sleepy eyes!  I was able to swaddle him good and tight and he seemed to like it this time.  This has been an ongoing battle for me.  I’ve heard the praises about swaddling, but can’t figure out if he likes it much.  He uses his hands a lot and seems to love having them around.  Most of the time he holds them both at his chest.  I’m convinced he must have slept like that in the womb.  So, putting them to his sides to sleep at night just makes me think he doesn’t like it.  He usually fusses and stretches until he either gets them out of the swaddle himself, or has me intervene from all the fussing.  But, tonight he seemed to enjoy it.  He was fast asleep!

Thinking...

Following objects

Always using his hands

WHERE IS MY MIND?

As Travis likes to say – there’s one thing about Parenthood that cannot be OVER-hyped, and that is the love and bond you feel with your child the second you meet them.  Everyone tells you how powerful this feeling is, but until you actually feel it for yourself, you can never imagine the grandeur of it. 

I’d like to add another thing about Parenthood that cannot be over-hyped, and that is the psychosis that is caused by lack of sleep in a new Mother.  Wow!  I sort of got sick of hearing the “get all the rest you can now, cause your gonna need it” schpeel.  However, and proven yet again to be true, until you experience if for yourself, you really cannot grasp it. 

Today I was reminded of The Pixies song “Where is My Mind”.  Lyrics include “with my feet in the air and my head on the ground…”.  This is how I felt this morning – upside down!  After practically no sleep, a night full of cluster feeding, sore nipples, and a fussy and crying baby all night and all morning, I was beside myself.  I tried everything.  He was in my arms constantly.  Don’t get me wrong, I still love every second, but my mind needed a time out.  I finally got him to lie down in my bed in the afternoon and I thought I’d try to get some shut-eye.  I found myself dozing off:


Ah, that feels good.  Wait...my arm (which was strategically placed for nursing while laying down) had fallen asleep.  I can’t move!  If I move, he’ll wake up.  So, I sit there and take it.  I’m so uncomfortable, but know from experience that risking even a twitch and I could have a crying baby in my arms again.  I think I managed to wink out a 20 minute nap in 5 minute intervals.  Oh well, laying in that bed watching my little angel sleep was therapeutic enough.  Thankfully we have friends bringing over dinner!  Hoping for better nights ahead.  To those parents with colicky babies - I salute you!

Naps...the new Red Bull

ROME'S FIRST FEW DAYS AND FIRST VISITORS

The first few days were mesmerizing.  You slept most of the time and only woke up to feed.  You were doing great at feeding and your Dad and I were still on our “high”.  We would lay in bed with you and just stare at you, sometimes for hours.  We Skyped with Grandma and Grandpa Bostic and Grandma and Grandpa Ferguson and Aunt Misty and Jamie.  Everyone couldn’t wait to see you!  Cousin Ally heard Grandma and Grandpa were coming to visit and she said “awwww, NO FAIR!”

Nollie didn't quite know what to think of you at first.  She became VERY protective and would bark at the slightest noise (she normally doesn't bark at all).  She also showed some jealousy.  She's not used to being #2, but I have to say she's learned her role by now.  She knows that she's your "big sister" and her job is to protect you!

One of your first smiles

Big Sister

 On day two of your life, Daddy started to get anxious.  He wanted to take you on a walk and let you breathe some fresh air.  I thought it would be nice too.  So, we bundled you up, got the stroller and we were on our way.  I didn’t get halfway down the block before I began to think this might not be such a good idea after all.  I was having a hard time breathing as I was still recovering from the delivery.  We had to cross two busy streets to get to the park and I got flustered.  We made it to Cheesman Park and headed straight to a bench to sit down.  And then we came straight back home.  I decided I might just keep you under my wing for a little while longer.

Grandma and Grandpa Ferguson came to visit when you were 4 days old.  They were a big help and we loved having them here.  Grandma ran up the stairs and held you as soon as she got here.  And Grandpa finally got a turn too.  We shared stories with them and talked about how much we love you. 

Day 5 of your life was Mother's Day.  What a great feeling to have a day dedicated to a Mother's love.  Having Mom here to share it with me was awesome!  We gave walking to the park another try.  I felt better this time.

Happy Mother's Day

We gave you your first bath.  You didn't seem to like it much.  Afterwards, we dressed you up in your big Elmo robe.  We called you "Lil' Heff".  It was adorable!

Not so much

Aaaahhhhh

On your one-week birthday, we decided to try a short hike.  I was feeling more ready this time.  We went to Lair ‘O the Bear trail outside of Morrison.  We walked to the castle and back (about 4 miles) and we had a picnic by the river.  It was a beautiful day and you slept through the whole hike!  After the hike, we took Grandpa and Grandma to see Red Rocks.  I can’t wait until we take you to your first concert there!

First Hike

 Our next adventure happened when you were 10 days old.  We went to Canon City, Colorado to ride the Royal Gorge Train.  We had taken Grandma and Grandpa Bostic there before and we thought Grandma and Grandpa Ferguson would like it as well.  Lots of people oowe’d and awe’d at you.  Grandpa loved the train!  He stayed on the outside cart the whole ride and wished it would never end.  You slept through this adventure too!

On the Royal Gorge Train

The Royal Gorge Bridge

On the way home, Daddy (being the adventurer that he is) wanted to take a “scenic” route.  The beginning looked alright and then the road turned into dirt.  Then it got narrower.  Then it turned into switchbacks as we climbed the mountain.  The road had bad washboards and I was afraid you were getting Shaken Baby Syndrome from the rough ride.  In his defense, the ride turned out to be very scenic and Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed it.  We ended up in a small town in the middle of nowhere.  It must have been a booming town back in the day, but now all the brick buildings on “main street” were boarded up and the streets weren’t even paved.  It was like a ghost town!  After that scene, we were finally back on the beaten path and headed home.  What a day!

Rewarded with a View

Over the Moon in Love

MY BIRTH STORY

Throughout the pregnancy, I always assumed you would be early or at least on time (like your Mother likes to be).  I NEVER dreamt you would be LATE!  As the time drew nearer, I began to get anxious.  Your Dad tells me it was your plan all along to begin teaching me patience!  We tried everything to coax you into the world.  We walked and walked and walked until Daddy’s knees hurt!  We ate spicy food, climbed stairs, drank red raspberry leaf tea, took evening primrose oil…you name it, we tried it.  I became a non-believer in the Old Wives Tales.  Jess even came to visit right before your due date and we wished that you would come out while she was here.  We were hoping for her Dad, Ken’s birthday (April 29^th), but no dice.  

Jess trying to squeeze the baby out ;)

A few major media events happened right before your were born.  On April 29^th, Prince William and Kate got married.  Almost half the world watched on TV or the internet.  Jess and I taped the wedding and woke up and had tea while we watched (so very British of us).  Your due date, April 30^th, came and went.  On May 1^st, our 1-year Anniversary, Travis and I celebrated with a tribute to our honeymoon.  Travis surprised me with a Turkish lunch and a Greek dinner!  We also went house hunting looking for the perfect future home for our family (just dreaming, really).  Also on May 1^st, Osama bin Laden was killed by US soldiers in a covert operation almost 10 years after 9-11-01.

On Monday, May 2^nd, I decided to get on with life and quit worrying about when you would make your entrance.  I had a doctor’s appointment and the midwife stripped my membranes, basically separating the bag of waters (your home) from my cervix, to see if she could help things along.  I went home and started on some chores.  That night, after we went to bed, I could NOT get comfortable.  I tossed and turned until 3am.  I finally went into the bathroom and cried.  I had “hit my wall”.  I just couldn’t do it anymore!  I got myself together and started feeling crampy, which was not unusual (I had Braxton Hicks contractions for a month before you were born).  I didn’t think anything of it, but I couldn’t sleep, so I went out to the living room and lied on the couch and watched TV.  The crampiness continued and then measurable contractions 5 to 8 minutes apart kept coming.  A little stronger, a little stronger.  Around 6am I decided this might be the real thing.  I woke up Travis and started some bath water.  Travis woke up and came in to help me time contractions.  They got closer and closer together, some around 3 minutes apart.  I got out of the bath and they got even stronger.  2 minutes apart!  Then I felt my water begin to leak.  Time to get to the hospital!  We threw together our bags, loaded the truck and went to the hospital around 8:15am.

When we pulled into the Labor and Delivery drop-off, my water broke even more.  I got out of the car and was walking toward the entrance and Cassie (my friend/coworker) was on her way to work and saw us pull in.  I was in a zone, so I couldn’t talk, but she gave me a big “you can do it” (she was one of my natural childbirth inspirations and advice givers throughout my pregnancy).  We got into the triage unit and they checked me and found that I was 3.5 cm dilated and clearly in active labor.  They sent us upstairs and got us into our own delivery room.  The nurse came in who was a tiny little Asian lady.  She was a little hard to understand, but very nice.  We forgot the birth plan in the truck, so we just told the nurse and doctor that we were going to do a natural childbirth without medication and that I wanted to be active and use the Jacuzzi tub.  They hooked me up to measure my contractions externally.  Around 9:30am, the doctor came in and checked me again.  Still 3.5 cm dilated.  They started a Jacuzzi tub for me and I got in.  I remember the contractions coming so strong and then in between them I was able to fall asleep.  I read that this might be possible.  It was only for a couple minutes, but the rest in between contractions was great.  I stayed in for about 45 minutes and then got out to walk around and sit on the birthing ball.  They hooked me up again to measure contractions and they were so strong this time that I was having trouble breathing.  I was hyperventilating.  Travis and the nurse were coaching me through the breathing and got me to calm down.  At this time, though, your heart rate dropped and they had to put me on oxygen to help you regain strength.  It helped and they kept me on oxygen for the remainder of the labor.

Me in labor

Somewhere around Noon the doctor came back in and asked if I’d like to be checked.  I felt desperate to know after the nurse had told me that the average time is an hour per centimeter once you hit 4cm.  I didn’t know how much longer I could take the pain.  They checked me and the doctor said “oh my, you’re at a 9…we’re gonna have a baby soon”!  I remember asking “about what time, do you think”?  She said she would be surprised if we didn’t have a baby by 3pm.  I thought to myself “OK, I can do this for another 3 hours if I have to”.  My Mind is My Power - that was my mantra.  So, the contractions continued and I decided to stay in bed because they were so strong.  Around 1:45pm, the nurse began to ask if I was ready to push.  I really didn’t know.  And almost immediately, I felt the pressure.  I said yes, I was ready shortly after that and I began pushing through the contractions.  It helped.  It was much better than sitting through the grueling pain of contractions.  It was the greatest pain I could ever imagine.  Those first pushes were mind numbing.  But, I couldn’t wait to meet you.  I remember thinking of all the things in my life I’ve gone through and all the decisions I’ve made, there’s always been a chance to back out if I wanted.  THIS was NOT one of those times.  It was the only thing I’ve ever experienced where I could not back out.  That thought drove me further.  I pushed with all my might.  Finally, Travis looked at me and said “he’s coming, he’s almost here”.  More motivation!  I pushed some more and could hear them talking about you crowning.  So close!  Finally, the last push was so awesome.  You came out all at once, it seemed.  I saw a glimpse of a tiny purple body and the nurses and doctors were saying how big you were.

You were placed immediately on my chest and I was hooked.  The love I’ve never felt, but longed for, was finally happening.  Words will never explain how powerful that feeling is.  I looked at Travis with tears in his eyes and it was as if time had stopped.  We did it!

The love I speak of...

The nurses left us alone for some family time and we stared in awe at you.  We just kept saying how “perfect” you were.  You also latched on to nurse right away and I felt like we were one again.  Suddenly, all the pain I experienced was forgotten.  I would do it again in a heartbeat.  That feeling is a powerful drug and I never wanted it to end. 

Big Boy!

The nurse came back in to check on us and she did a routine checking of my uterus to see if it was clamping back down.  Unfortunately, I had abnormal blood clotting.  They panicked a little and the doctor had to come back in to scrape my uterus.  More pain!  Ugh, I thought it was over!  I was just glad that the complication was with me and not you.  Daddy held you while they worked on me some more.  Finally, we were able to move into our new room. 

Proud Daddy!

Proud Mama!

BIG hands and feet

Our little "Bubby Boy" (your nickname while you were in my belly)

Our Happy Family

We got into the new room and stayed there for the night.  The next day we decided we’d like to go home if possible.  The nurses made all the arrangements and we were home within 24 hours of you being born! 

MY PREGNANCY

Well, here we are at your 2-week birthday and I’m finally sitting down to start your journal.  I had great intentions of writing in a journal every week of the pregnancy so that you could look back on it someday.  I promise I’m going to try really hard to keep this journal up so I can document all of your achievements.  I don’t ever want to forget the feelings you’ve given me!

This has been the best year of my life.  Your Dad and I got married on May 1, 2010.  It was one of the happiest moments of my life.  After the wedding, we traveled to Turkey and Greece for our honeymoon.  I still daydream daily about that awesome trip.  We love to travel, so get ready!  We hope to take you on lots of adventures!  Last summer, on August 22^nd, I took a pregnancy test and found out that we were pregnant!  We were so happy.  We went straight to the bookstore to get books on pregnancy because I had no idea what to expect.  We found out at our first appointment that your due date was April 30^th, one day before our 1^st Anniversary!

I probably read 8 books cover to cover on pregnancy and giving birth.  I’m a “planner”, you see.  I wanted to be good and ready to bring you into this world.  Ironically, all of the symptoms of pregnancy I read about really didn’t apply to me.  I’ve never felt better in my life than when you were inside of me.  I didn’t get sick.  I didn’t have cravings.  I wasn’t emotional.  I DID have some aches and pains toward the end, but other than that, we were a solid team.  You traveled a lot in utero. We climbed a Colorado 14er (Mt. Sunshine).  That was before I knew I was pregnant!  We went to Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico for a music festival.  We went to Pasadena and Los Angeles, California and Portland, Oregon for work. We went on a cruise for Todd and Courtney’s wedding to the Grand Caymans, Belize, Cozumel and Honduras!  And we went back to Illinois for your cousin Ashley’s wedding.  I waited to tell all of my family that I was pregnant until we got there because I wanted to see their reaction in person.  I was 10 weeks pregnant, so I had already gotten an ultrasound.  I acted like I had a really great picture of the wedding that no one had seen yet, and when I brought out the picture frame, it was the ultrasound picture of YOU!  Grandma Joni, Aunt Misty, Aunt Jamie, Aunt Logan and all of your cousins gathered round.  They all did double-takes, and then pure hysteria arose.  Aunt Misty screamed so loud that she made Griffen start crying.  Grandma, Jamie and Logan followed suit with loud screams and crying.  Grandpa came in and said “What’s going on in here?”.  He’s always the last to find things out L.  We all jumped up and down and laughed and cried.  It was a memory I will never forget for as long as I live! 

The next 9 months were full of happiness for your Dad and me.  We were so excited to be getting a baby.  We were more than ready to start a family and the next chapter of our lives.  We immediately started discussing names.  We went on a walk to Cheesman Park and we both started thinking about names that reminded us of Italy since that is where we fell in love.  Rome was the first name that came up.  We lived in Rome, so it only made sense.  I said “Rome would make a cool boy name” and Travis agreed.  He said he had a friend named Rome growing up.  We kept that name in our back pocket all along.  We knew we wanted your name to mean something.  We thought about old family names like Ellis (my great-grandpa Boewe’s name) and Ryce (a Bostic family name).  We discussed Siena (Italy) if you were a girl and Nevie, from Nieve, which means “snow” in Spanish.  Other girl names that I liked were Lucy and Lily.  Your Dad and I could never fully agree on girl names, so we waited until the ultrasound at 18 weeks to see what you were going to be.  It’s a BOY!  We quickly ran through all of our boy names and decided that we both loved Rome too much.  That would be your name!  Your middle name, Robert, is named after BOTH of your Grandfathers!  How lucky!