Mason sleeping in crib for afternoon nap ...

Surviving the first week

Well, It has officially been one week since our little bundle of joy arrived and we are still here to write about it! We have been trying to get used to this new time table set forth by a 7 pound human being. Mason is enjoying his lazy days resting up for his party nights...his parent's on the other hand would prefer that he would enjoy his sleep at night... although his mother has always been more of a night owl, but she is not taking ownership of this yet. :) We have been enjoying the gas smiles he also gives us. Can't wait until they are in response to something we do or say.

Mia has been getting used to having Mason around. She has made her way into our bedroom at night and doesn't bother Mason at all. She of course is still curious and will be for some time. She usually comes in about the time I am feeding the little guy, jumps on the bed, gives him a sniff, and will either go cuddle with Derek or go by our feet. Here is a funny picture of her from a few days ago...she was so curious about the reflection in the mirror...

"enough with the pictures mom!"

I have a feeling I will get this look a lot as he gets older...

Mason had his first sponge bath at home. Unfortunately, we did not get a lot of pictures from this as we were too involved making sure we were doing it right. He also got another bath a day sooner than expected due to peeing all over himself (and daddy)...guess we need to work on getting those diapers changed a little faster when the "cold" air reaches those parts!

getting all washed up

"thank God that's over!"

getting a bath is tough work, so I think I'll take a nap now...

Of course we have had some first's this week...Our first outing was to see Dr. Shallue to get all checked out. He passed with flying colors. She saw nothing to be noted. He weighed in at 6lbs 13oz. So he has only lost 1 once since leaving the hospital. We made a deal that he would keep his diaper clean until after we saw Dr. Shallue...well, Mason decided to break his end of the deal. Oh well, we got to use the diaper bag goodies for the 1st time! We go back in one week.

Daddy keeping me warm until the Doctor arrives

Mommy changing my diaper because I was just so excited to see Dr. Shallue

Why is it so cold in these Doctor offices!

Weighing in...

After Mason's appointment we decided to brave his first real world outing (the doctor's doesn't count..that's no fun!) As if it would be a big surprise, but his first store visit was to Target! And he loved every minute of it! Well, at least i think he dreamed about it...

Can't you see the excitement on his face!

He really enjoyed his time at Target!

Well, enjoy the next set of random pictures from our first few days at home....

Gotta love my Milk Mustache! Mommy promptly wiped this off after she saw it!

enjoying the bouncer

"future slugger"...in baseball I am hoping

Mason's "go to" spot on mommy and daddy for instant shut eye.

Mason and Mia bonding over sleeping positions..

Daddy got me dressed up for the Packer game on Thursday night, but I peed all over it before the game started...

Speaking of getting peed on...Derek was sitting with Mason in his lap last night and says "i think he just peed because it just got really warm down there." Not 5 min later he lifts him up and I indeed verified he peed...onto Derek's shirt! Nice work Mason!

the evidence

There is a Polar Bear in the Jungle...are we on Lost.

"damn I'm cute!"

Well, until next time!

A new post...

There is a new post if you scroll down two posts on the page. I had started typing it in the hospital and finished yesterday...but it posted it as if i finished it on sat. It has tons of pictures and a story of the day Mason made his way into the world! Enjoy!

P.S. night number three seemed to go a bit better. He slept for longer periods of time before getting fussy in the bassinet. He just doesn't seem to like to sleep anywhere that doesn't involve arms...And he has been sleeping in the bassinet in the living room for the past two hours straight...I may have just jinxed myself...

Mason sleeping in hospital bassinet ...

Mason in hospital bassinete ...

And his name is....Mason!

Well Baby Boy finally has arrived and much to his parent's surprise and excitement a mere 11 days early! He came into this crazy world at 3:27pm weighing in at 7lbs 4oz and 20.5 inches long. So far he has been a very good baby...even during labor the staff said he was making his own way into the world. Somehow i don't forsee this always being the case!

It all started on 8.25.10 (wed). I had a busy day with taking Mia to the vet for her yearly checkup...she is doing great by the way...weighing in at 14.2 pounds...she makes Mason feel real light! I had ran some other errands and spent about 2.5 hours at the grocery store stocking up for when Mason would arrive. We joked about how we had hoped not the have to go grocery shopping until after his arrival and that because of how i had not really been progressing i would most likely be induced in Sept. Then Derek took a picture of me for the "38 week post" (which i was going to post on Thursday) and made the comment that I really looked like i had dropped. Here I am at 38 weeks and 2 days @ 10:30pm...

Well exactly 15 min later I was on the computer just checking a few things before heading to bed when I felt and heard something very strange from down below, like pop, but it was painful. I honestly thought at first he had developed the ability to punch my pubic bone...then i realized that my water had broken in a very big way! I ran to the bathroom yelling that I think my water just broke and was in amazement how much there was and was still coming! So we called the doctor and off to the hospital we went!...Good thing Derek had finished packing his hospital bag the night before!

one last picture before we head to the hospital!

Feeling good on adrenaline at 12:30am at Triage at WMH...if only i could hold that face the whole time!

at 10cm and waiting for the doctor to arrive.

After we got through traige to confirm that all this fluid really was my water breaking (like there was another option?!?!) we got settled into a room. I walked the halls for about 30 min and then got set up with an IV drip for fluids. I was at a "tight 1.5cm". I must say i never really thought i was having contractions until this point. They actually became pretty regualar pretty quickly, coming every 2-3 min lasting from anywhere from 20sec to a min. I could not sit in the bed or lay in the bed, it was far too painful when a contraction came. So i resorted to stading a lot, sitting on the birthing ball, taking a jacuzzi tub bath, having lavender smelling oils available, and swaying my hips. Derek was a HUGE trooper though all of this, getting me anything i needed and quickly. It was kinda comical to me to realize everytime he went to sit down i started to have another and he would jump up and start massaging my lower back...At 5:30am they started a low dose of Pitocin to kick the dilation train into a higher gear because i was not moving to quickly. Around 7:30AM i asked for some IV pain meds and loved those...it really took the edge off so that i could get about an hour's worth of sleep..not quality sleep but some. About an hour and half later i asked for some more hoping to be able to get as far as i could without an epidural...Well this round of pain meds did nothing and my anxiety started to get the best of me. I started to lose focus and all i wanted was the epidural. The epidural for me was probably the most frightning part of this whole experince. But with Derek and the most amazing labor nurse i could have asked for i got through it tears and all...to be honest not sure how their hands were not broken as i had to stay still during a contraction. As i think every woman says about the epidural man...I loved him and even verbalized this to him and apparently made his day. The epidural kicked in right away and it allowed me to sleep for the majority of the next 4 hours. During those 4 hours i was able to dilate from 3cm to 10cm! I had to call the nurse in just before 2pm to let her know that i was contracting and thinking that i was, how shall we say, expelling some bum matter...well that had her running into the room immediately because she thought Mason's head might be coming out! Thankfully it was not, but it was GO TIME! We waited for Dr. Young to get there so we could get down to work. Started pushing at 2:30pm and Mason joined the big bad world at 3:27pm. I was amazingly surprised at how focused i could get to relax in between contractions...and a big thanks to my "ice chip man" Derek would was so ever supportive.

Mason's very first picture taken!

please feel free to hover your eyes over the baby

Thanks Dr. Young!

My very first bath!

Hi Great Auntie Kris!

Meeting Grandma and Grandpa Umnus

We got married when the Packer's were on, why not have a baby when the Packer's are on!

our little angel

sleepy time

put up your duke's!

Mommy and Me!

his first sucking the thumb experience (that we witnessed)...and Derek could not be prouder that he did it left handed! :)...and also giving us the middle finger...hmm not our child!?

We came home on Saturday around 5:30pm after waiting all day for the baby doctor to come discharge Mason. Oh well we got an extra meal out of the deal i guess! Mason is doing great so far. He is healthy with no issues. He was slow to start breast feeding, but doing much better now. He was doing a lot of spitting up and vomiting those first few days. So much that they even had to suction the little guy! It has continued but to a lesser extent now. The doctors feel that he just wasn't able to expel enough of the amniotic fluid at birth. He for the most part is a content baby, but last night gave us a run for our money. Every time we went to lay him down in the bassinet, he would wake up in a tizzy...let's just say the sunrise was nice! Oh well, I am hoping that this will not turn into a nightly ritual...Well off to tend to the little one...enjoy the pictures below.

Getting ready to go home...and we thought the outfit would be too small! HA!

Bye Bye Waukesha Memorial room 3708!

So tiny!

Mia and Mason meeting for the first time...he's not to interested it seems.

his first diaper change at home!

Our Little Cutie

Meeting Grandma Pam

all smiles

The Dinner Club all came over on Sunday night to welcome Mr. Mason and we got a picture of all 6 of the Dinner Club Kids...Thanks for all the well wishes guys!

Nursery decor update...

So this was supposed to be posted on Thursday 8.26.10 in preparation for Mason's arrival....little did we know he was arriving within 24 hours of filming this...

Mason in hospital warmer bed ...

Nursery so far...

37 weeks going on 39.5 weeks....

Let me start by explaining the title above. I had my 37 week appointment today and i got some good news and some not so exciting news. We will start with the not so exciting news first...I gained some more weight which i tried to explain by all the food i ate the weekend at the family gathering, but she so graciously stated that the extra weight was surely water weight and baby weight. I sure do LOVE my doctor! My blood pressure was elevated today to 138/76 which she was not happy to see. Even when she had me lie on my side for a few min to have the nurse retake the blood pressure it only dropped some. All along i have been steady in the 110/60 range. She also noticed that I was swelling this morning, something that usually doesn't happen for me until later in the day. So needless to say i am now restricted to only working 4 hours a day and to "take it easy" the rest of the day. Then came the lovely internal exam. Good Lord, there must be a better/more comfortable way of performing those things after all these years of women giving birth! I waited for those magical words of "your dilated to..", but still nothing. No dilation but the cervix is starting to "soften"

Now onto the good stuff...I am currently 37 weeks but today the measurement was 39.5 weeks! YIKES! She estimates that this baby is about 7- 7.5 pounds right now. YIKES again! All i am thinking is if he is possibly this big now...what will he be in three weeks (of course if it takes that long). His heartbeat was strong in the 140's. She is not sure if he is still head down yet or not because she couldn't feel his head as she tried to poke a finger through the cervix opening. (perhaps that is why it felt so wonderful). She stated that If there is not more dilation next week so will most likely do an ultrasound so see how he is positioned, to get a more accurate weight measurement, and to make sure things overall are looking good. When she said that i must admit I did tell myself that i didn't want to dilate so we could get another u/s....but i think i wold rather just hold him in my arms instead! As for the Group B Strep Test that was performed last week, it was negative so no antibiotics for me! YEA!!!

Here I am at 35.5 weeks

Here I am at 37 weeks

In other exciting news....the long overdue, anxiously awaited upon dresser had been delivered in tip top shape today! Now i just need to fill it up with all baby boy's goodies...I'm letting it air out a bit as it has that new from the factory smell. Not so excited about the placement of the lamp , so we might be putting it on a small side table next to the chair so it's not blocking the window.

We also had a busy week last week...we went to breastfeeding class on Monday night, Tuesday night we had family from North Carolina visit at our house, Thursday night we visited with the Molle's, Friday night into all day Sat we had our Birthing classes, and Sunday we partied in Union Grove with the North Carolina folk! Perhaps this why my blood pressure is up. We learned some at the classes, for me much of it was just affirmation of what i had read, but was really nice to hear it instead of read it. Here is a 2010 hot off the camera picture of the Umnus Clan! We had joked that maybe we could have gotten one at the hospital but soon enough we will!

I will say that overall I have been feeling pretty good. Over the past week I wake up about every hour and use the restroom, so my sleep isn't really that great but that is why I'll take a nap when i get home! The other strange thing is that every night between 10pm and midnight I have to vomit. not sure what that is all about. We are getting very excited to meet this little guy and take in all the fun he has to bring. Still feels a little surreal, but soon enough life will have changed for the better and forever. Well...off to pack my hospital bag...i keep talking about doing it, i suppose i probably should! Until the next post!