A few things I love about being Mason’s mommy!

His smile – He is such a happy baby. He is always smiling and has even laughed out loud a couple of times. My favorite smiling faces are first thing in the morning when I get him up for the morning. I go in to his room or to his swing (which is where he has been most mornings thus far) and I say good morning sunshine and his face lights up with the biggest smile you can imagine. Oh how that makes my heart melt! It’s just as powerful every morning as it was the morning before! Another favorite of mine is when I first get home and see him for the first time after being gone all day. I walk in the door and go straight to him and say hello mommy’s honey bunches. His face lights up and again his face is one big smile. I love him so much.

His “conversations” – Mason has become quite the chatterbox lately. He wakes up “talking” and goes to bed “talking”. I think he recently discovered his own voice. He has been making all sorts of sounds lately but it seems that his favorite right now sounds like uh oh, uh oh, uh oh! He likes to say that a lot especially at 3:00am when he is fighting going back to sleep. I can’t help but crack up laughing at him even if it in the middle of the night. He also talks a lot on the way to daycare. He has also been spending lots of time on SKYPE chatting with his GiGi and Nana. I am amazed at how much you talk to someone that can’t really even “talk” back.

His smell – I have always loved the smell of a baby and now that I have one of my own, that smell is even sweeter. I slather him down in baby lotion in the morning and at night so he always smells so good. Well not always. He has the worst gas and poopy diapers of any baby I have ever been around but that is for another post.

Snuggling with him – Mason has always liked to be held really close and really tight. I love that. Having him close to me and being able to look at his cute face and big blue eyes is something that I will never get tired of. Mason is also very attached to being swaddled. We tried a few weeks ago to start putting him down without being swaddled and let’s just say he wasn’t having it. He woke up every hour or so until we swaddled him up and then he slept for 6 hours straight. So for now, he will continue to be swaddled. Hopefully by the time he is rolling over from his back to his tummy, he will be ready to be free of the swaddle!

Oh there is so much more that I love about being a mommy but only have time to list a few for now. So until next time…..

Kim

Anyone want 25 pounds??

Me either but I have it and I can’t seem to get motivated to lose it. I was very happy that I only gained 27 pounds while I was pregnant with Mason and that I have successfully lost that weight BUT had 25 pounds that I needed to lose before I got pregnant. Losing my pregnancy weight was a breeze. I really didn’t even try, it just came off which was awesome. I hoped that the rest would just fall off as well but no such luck. I thought I was ready and had the motivation to get rid of it. I joined Weight Watchers a few weeks ago and started out very well. I lost 4 pounds the first two weeks. Then Thanksgiving came and well I ate everything I could think of which caused me to exceed my maximum number of points each day and successfully gained back 3 of the 4. Uggghhh! Why is it so easy to put it on but is harder than hell to take it off. So, if anyone out there can send some motivation my way, please do so soon. I don’t want to find myself having to lose more than 25!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my 39th birthday! While some people wouldn't be excited to tell everyone about their 39th birthday, I am. The reason for that is this birthday is the first one that I can celebrate as a mommy! For the past 5 years, I have been very sad on my birthday as it was just another birthday without a child in my life. It was just another year that has passed me by still leaving a huge void in my life. I thank God that I didn't have to say that this morning. He has blessed me with a handsome baby boy. While Dawn has always made my birthdays special, today was even more special to be sharing my day with her and our beautiful son. She and Mason hid birthday surprises throughout the house for me to find. Mason was so excited about the presents that he couldn’t keep from waking up several times during the night to tell me about them. He finally won at 5:20am. I went upstairs to get him. I put him in his swing thinking he may go back to sleep for a little bit while I showered but he was too excited. He was “talking” up a storm. He was trying to tell me about all of the cool gifts that I needed to search for. When I went to get him out of the swing, he gave me his usual huge grin and of course I just melted. It was then that I knew that today was going to be the best birthday yet.

Daycare, Returning to Work and Rolling Over

Well last week was probably one of the most difficult weeks I have had in a LONG time. There are a couple reasons for this. (1) Having to leave Mason in daycare for 9 hours each and only getting to spend a couple hours each day with him. (2) Returning to work full time and being given a 5 million dollar budget to decipher with a brand new accounting system that I have never used! My heart and head hurt so badly all week. I really struggled with Mason being in daycare. So much so, I tried to find everything possible wrong with the place that we have him; when in fact, it isn’t a bad place at all. It has many advantages compared to some of the larger centers that we looked at. It is smaller and has less children so Mason really is getting more attention than he would be getting at a larger place. He has done much better than I have with the exception that he hasn’t slept longer than an hour and a half each day which makes for a VERY cranky, sleepy baby in the evenings. Even though he is pitiful in the evenings without much sleep it has had its advantages. He is starting to sleep better at night now! We have even had a couple of 5 – 6 hour stretches the first part of the night! The second half of the night is still a bit inconsistent but things are getting better. Dawn and I have worked out a sleeping / feeding pattern that is working much better for us. She stays up for the first of the night feedings and I take the second. That gives us both 4 – 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep a night. While this doesn’t sound ideal, it is MUCH better than our 1 – 3 hour stretches! Oh how I look forward to the nights when he sleeps ALL night. We really shouldn’t complain. He goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:00 wakes up 2 times to eat which consists of about an hour combined and has been sleeping until 7:00ish so out of 12 hours he is only up an hour! If I wasn’t such a freak-a-zoid , I could be getting more sleep but more on that later!

Now on to the second reason why last week was such a tough week. Returning to work was more difficult than I anticipated. I guess I didn’t prepare myself for things “feeling” so different. I told several people that I just felt like a fish out of water; like a stranger in a place that I have been for 14 years. It is hard to explain. Anyway, I know it is just me so things will get better soon. Everyone was glad to have me back and I guess I feel a little guilty that I wasn’t glad to be back! I also quickly realized that it was so much easier functioning on 4-5 hours of sleep when I was home all day than it is trying to work and actually having to “think”. Not that I didn’t have to think while I was at home. It was a different type of thought process. Entertaining an infant takes much less brain cells than does trying to figure out our association’s budget. I thanked my boss daily for dumping everything in my lap on my first day back. Nothing like hitting the ground running.

Now on to one of the positive things from last week, Mason has started to roll over. On Tuesday, I laid him on his activity mat while I was getting his bottle ready and when I went to walk away he flipped right over from his tummy to his back. I thought it was an accident so I flipped him back over and he did it again. Of course, I was so excited and couldn’t wait to tell someone. The first people I saw that morning was his daycare teachers and when I told her she said yeah, he did that yesterday for us too. Can you say my balloon was a little bit deflated! Over the weekend, we watched him try really hard to flip from his back to his tummy and he couldn’t ever quite get it. This morning when I took him to daycare, his teacher proceeds to tell me that he flipped from his back to his tummy for them on Friday. Ugggh! Another reason why I miss being away from him so much. Someone else is going to see many of his “first” milestones before we get to see them. Yes, I am selfish like that!

Thanks to everyone that sent me well wishes on my return to work. They made my return a bit more pleasurable. I know it will get easier and better so until then I will pout and whine about it for as long as I can.

Until next time…..

Kim

The end is near :-(

I am sad to say that my maternity leave is quickly coming to an end. I return to work on November 2. That will most likely be the saddest day that I have had in a long time. That day means that I will no longer be at home all day every day with my little man. That day means there is an end to lying around all day in my pajamas. That day means that I will have to do more to my hair than let it air dry. That day means that there is an end to watching Dr. Oz, Rachel Ray, The Price is Right, Ellen and Oprah. That day means I will return to the real world of working parents. That day means that I will actually have to “work”. Now don’t get me wrong, I have “worked” for the past 12 weeks but it has been mommy work. That day I will hopefully have had at least 4 hours of sleep so I can hit the ground running. That day means that I will have to leave Mason in the care of someone that is practically a stranger to me. Oh that is the one that hurts the most. That day I will have to let go of some of my fears and anxiety and will have to trust that everything will be OK. That day is coming all too soon. Oh, how sad that makes me. For those of you few people that happen to be following this blog, feel free to call me and offer me your ear as I whine loudly about having to return to work and leave my precious baby. I will need your support.

Dear Mason,

Today while you were sleeping, I spent some time reflecting upon the past two and a half months that we have spent together. I thought about the moment that Dr. Gunter laid you on my chest and I saw you for the first time. I began to cry. Not because I was sad but because my dream of becoming a mommy had finally come true. They were tears of happiness. As I looked into your big blue eyes, I just melted. You were absolutely beautiful; perfect in every way. I also thought about how excited Mi Mi and Gi Gi were to see you for the first time. They helped mommy bring you in to this world. You put up such a fight getting here. We were all exhausted.

I thought about the very first time that I got to feed you. Learning how to eat was new for you and learning how to breast feed you was new to me. Your first night in this world went pretty smooth. It was the second night that you gave us such a fit. I remember being scared because you were crying so much. Mommy and the nurse tried to get you calmed down but nothing would work. Mi Mi got you and held you close and you immediately calmed down. I guess you were just wanting some bonding time with your Mi Mi.

I remember leaving the hospital with you. You were so tiny in your large car seat. We had to put blankets in the seat so your little head wouldn’t flop around. I thought about what I said to MiMi as we were leaving the hospital with you. I said this is finally real. Our dream of becoming mommies has finally come true. I cried again. Yes, mommy is a cryer.

I thought about bringing you in to your house for the first time. Gi Gi, Aunt Stacey, Uncle Eric and your cousin, Joshua were at our house to welcome you home. I remember how excited Joshua was to see you and hold you again. Your first night at home went well. You ate, pooped, slept, ate, pooped, slept for the first couple of weeks. Somewhere in there you decided that sleeping wasn’t fun so you decided that you would skip out on that as much as possible. Even at almost 3 months old, you STILL do not like to sleep very much. We have been lucky to get one, yes you read that correctly, one, four hour stretch out of you.

As I sit and think about returning to work next week and sending you to daycare, it makes me sad. Yes, I have even cried. I am so sad that my maternity leave is almost over and sad that I will have very little time with you during the week.

Being able to spend all day, every day with you has been the most incredible time that I have ever spent with anyone. I have really enjoyed watching you grow and change right before my very eyes. Seeing you smile for the first time, listening to you coo and try to “talk” to me has touched me in ways that you will not understand until you have your very own child. We have spent time reading books, playing on your play mat, doing exercises on the bed, having tummy time on the floor, taking walks around the neighborhood and just cuddling in the recliner. It has been AMAZING! You have brought me so much joy and happiness and I love you more and more every day. I am in awe at how someone so small can make such an impact on someone.
While we will not have the opportunity to be together 24 hours a day, 7 days a week like we have for the past 12 weeks, I promise you that I will spend as much time as possible with you. I can assure you that Mommy and Mi Mi will always be there for you no matter what.

You are starting to wake up now so I guess mommy will end this letter to you now. I love you Mason now and forever.

Love,
Mommy

Growing, Growing, Growing

Look at my baby. I cannot believe
how much he has grown in the past couple of days. About the time he gets to the point that he can fit into all of the cute 0 -3 month shorts outfits that we have hanging in his closet, mother nature decides she wants to give us nice cool days. Yes, I know that it is Fall and time for the nice cool days but it is rare that Summer decides to leave us on schedule. It usually sticks around for much longer than we want but so far not this year. Guess there will be some lucky little boy out there that will get lots of clothes that have never been worn! :-(

This past week has been a big week for us. Mason has been sleeping in a bassinet since he was born. He started out in our room then we moved him in to the den and now he is in his big baby crib. The transition did not go that well. While he has not been a great sleeper overall, we had finally gotten up to 3.5 hour stretches. Once we moved him to his crib, he started waking up every 45 minutes to an hour. Ouch. This went on for 3 days and as you can imagine Mommy was exhausted. I think I got 6 hours of sleep over those 3 days. I am happy to say things are getting better. We are back up to 3 to 3.5 hour stretches. We hope he will continue to get more comfortable and will stretch that to 4 - 5 hours at a time. Pray for us that this happens sooner than later as I go back to work on November 2.

Speaking of going back to work. Part of me is looking forward to returning and part of me is dreading that day. While it has been quite an experience being a stay at home mom, it is something that I know I could never do forever. Don't get me wrong, I have LOVED the time that I have had with Mason. Watching him grow and change daily right before my very eyes has been wonderful and something I am sure to miss when I return to work BUT I have never been a homebody. I like to be around people and like to go more than is possible with an infant. My hat goes off to all of you that are stay at home moms. You are awesome and have one of the toughest jobs EvEr! Of course, the reality of returning to work means that Mason has to go to daycare. We are registered and signed up to send him to a small daycare that is close to our house. Just talking about having to send him to daycare makes me teary eyed. More on that later in another post.

Until next time.

Mason Parker Grooms

Smiling, Cooing and Losing His Hair!

I cannot believe that our little guy is almost 6 weeks old. Where does the time go? For the most part, everything has been wonderful. Thankfully, we have had more good days than not so good. After getting off to a rocky start, it seems as if we are finally getting the hang of things. We have had to switch formulas yet again but think that soy formula is going to be what works best for Mason. He has been on it for 5 days now and I can see a huge difference in him. I never imagined it would be such a guessing game with so many things. I have learned something new everyday!

Mason has been changing so much over the past couple of weeks. He has lost almost all of his hair on the top of his head. He still has most of the hair he was born with on the sides and now looks like a little old man. He's just giving us a glimpse of what he will look like when he gets older and starts getting a receeding hairline!

A few days ago, he smiled for the first time. Yes, we have been getting the "gassy" smiles since birth but this one was a "real" smile. He was waking up from his morning nap so I picked him up and gave him a big hug and said good morning sunshine. He responded with a big melt your heart smile. It was so sweet. Later that day, he smiled again for one of our neighbors so I have proof that he is actually smiling.

He has also started cooing and grunting more over the past couple of days. I spend quite a bit of time talking to him and watching his response. He loves to be talked to and tries really hard to "talk" to me as well. I think it is funny watching his little mouth move and nothing really come out. I know he is thinking to himself, "Mommy you just wait. I'll be talking before you know it and then you will be wishing I'd be quiet!

Mason is waking up so gotta run for now. Until next time....

Formula Feeding, Acid Reflux and Constipation

Not sure I will make it through this post without crying so forgive me if I ramble and this makes no sense to you! Unfortunately, I was not able to continue to breastfeed Mason. After getting off to a rocky start, I thought things were going to work out but after 3 weeks of feeding Mason every hour and a half, we (the lactation consultant and I) decided that my body was not producing enough milk to keep Mason satisfied. He had lost weight in the beginning so we had already started supplementing with formula but just a week or so ago, we had to go completely to formula. We started out on Enfamil Premium Lipil and it seemed to agree with Mason. Things were going along pretty good then we started noticing Mason gagging every time we laid him down. We thought it was happening when he wouldn't burp very well so we spent more time burping him during feedings and at the end of the feeding to see if that made a difference. It really didn't so we kept him upright longer before putting him down to sleep. This added 30 - 45 minutes to the feedings but you do what you have to do, right?

Well, then things got worse. At 3:00am, I fed Mason, burped him, rocked / held him for 45 minutes or so then went to put him in his bassinet. I walked out of the room to turn off the kitchen light, then went back in to go to sleep. I heard him making funny noises so I grabbed the flash light and shined it on his face. That is when I discovered that he was choking. I quickly grabbed him up and rushed into the den where there was more light. His face was bright red and his mouth was wide open but nothing was coming out. He could not catch his breath. I turned him upside down and hit him on his back a couple of times and he finally cried out and caught his breath. Oh, my God I thought. What is going on here? I got myself together and rocked Mason back to sleep. There was no way I was putting him down or going back to sleep so I sat with him in the recliner for the rest of the night. We monitored him the next day to be sure there were no other incidents of choking. Things went pretty good for the next couple of days then it happened again. This time it was during the daylight and at a time when our pediatrician's office was open. I called them and explained what had been going on. They suggested that I bring him in to be checked. So I gladly took him in. The Dr. detemined that it was acid reflux and suggested that we switch his formula to Enfamil AR (Acid reflux). After a few days of being on that, the gagging / choking was much better.

About the time that I am starting to feel better about him not getting choked, we discovered that he is now constipated. If it isn't one thing, it is another I thought. What next? After an entire day of watching him strain and hearing him scream in pain, I called the pediatrician again. They are probably going to change their phone number so I can't call them so often. Of course, our Dr. wasn't in that day so the nurse suggested giving him an ounce of water tohelp put so fluid in him bowels. Well, that didn't work so what's next? I felt completely helpless and was so distraught because there was nothing I could do to help him pass his stool. By this time, I was so beside myself that all I could do was hold him close and cry. His little shirt was soaked with my tears. While I was having my meltdown, my lovely sister called to check on us. I answered the phone and the conversation went something like this:

Stacey - Hey what are you doing?
Me - I am sitting here crying (like she couldn't tell)
Stacey - what's wrong?
Me - I cannot seem to get anything right with this baby.
Stacey - what's going on?
Me - the new formula has him constipated and he is in so much pain. I called the pediatrician and all they told me was to give him an ounce of water. That has not helped and I don't know what to do. I am a bad momma and can't do anything right it seems.
Stacey - that's not true. It isn't anything that you are doing. These things happen.
Me - sobbing, jerking, crying more by this time. If I could have been able to breastfeed him, these things wouldn't be happening. I still feel so guilty that I could not breastfeed him.

The conversation continued for a little while longer with her then suggesting that I call our mom to find out the Karo syrup concoction. I told her I couldn't call mom because she would think that all I did was cry all day. For those of you that are concerned, I do not cry all day every day. I will admit that I do cry here and there but it is usually in the afternoons when I am so sleepy my hormones seem to be in overdrive. I will be so glad when they finally get straightened out.
I called mom and the crying and sobbing continued with her. After spending about an hour crying, I felt better but my baby still was in pain. Dawn finally got home and she took over to give me a break. Needless to say, we had a rough night until Mason was finally able to have a bowel movement. Today, he has been a different child. Not sure if he will go through the same thing next time he has to poop, but for now things seem better. He has been an angel all day today so maybe we won't experience that again for awhile.

Oh the joys of motherhood! I know there are many more things that we will endure. I know that I need to toughen up and not let things get to me so easily. I know that I am a good mom. I know that I have a healthy baby and things like constipation are going to happen to him. I know that I should relax and not be such a nervous nelly. I also know that I love this little guy more and more everyday and am so thankful that he is in our lives.

Until next time.....

Remnants from Dawn's double shift

As one would expect, I am not getting much sleep these days so Dawn was a sweetheart and took a double shift on Friday night. Since I am only averaging about 2 hours a sleep between feedings, I went to bed at 8:30pm and left her to do the 9:00pm and 12:00am feedings for our little buddy. While I probably only slept for about 4 hours during that stretch, it was definitely much better than the 2 that I had been getting. When I got up on Saturday morning and looked in the sink this is what I found. I laughed out loud and asked Dawn if she had a rough night with him. She said, "No, why?" I said, I was just wondering given the remnants in the sink! She said if she had had a bad night she could assure me there would have been more cans than bottles! Guess you do what you have to do to get through! All joking aside, Mason is really a good baby. Other than lack of sleep, things are going great.

Mason's 2nd Bath

You may have noticed the title said Mason's 2nd bath. Well, the reason I didn't post something about his first bath is because I was too nervous to let Dawn leave my side long enough to get the camera to take pictures of him! I was afraid I would drop him or that he would slide in the water. I am a bit embarrassed to say that my knees were actually weak when we finished! Mason on the otherhand did not know that I was freaking out. He LOVED the warm water and did great. So far he loves getting a bath. I hope that doesn't change for a long time. For now, I have decided that Dawn can do the bathing and I will do the drying. Sounds like a great plan to me! Until next time....

I have been Ms. Betty Crocker this week!

Most of you know that I am not the one who cooks in our house. That is Dawn's "job". She is a great cook and can create a meal out of just about anything. Me on the other hand, not so much. When it is necessary for me to cook, I usually either grill chicken and put something with it or put on a meal in a bag and that is the extent of it. However, for the past week or so I have felt a little guilty about being at home all day and Dawn being at work and her having to come home to fix dinner. Now we all know that I am not home alone doing absolutely nothing but I still feel a bit guilty so I decided to search out recipes to attempt to make. Many of my facebook friends emailed me some awesome recipes that I am sure to try one day soon but the first recipe I tried came from the Kraft Food & Family magazine that I get in the mail. The recipe is Velveeta tex-mex beef and potatoes. It doesn't look all that great in the picture but tasted wonderful. If you are interested the ingredients are as follows:

1 lb ground beef
1 red pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 pkg. (1 1/4 oz) Taco Seasoning Mix
1/2 cup water
4 cups frozen cubed southern style hash browns
1 pkg. (10oz) frozen corn
1/2 lb (80z) Velveeta Cheese cut into cubes

Heat oven to 350. Brown meat with peppers and onions in large skillet; drain. Return to skillet. Stir in taco mix and water. Add potatoes, corn and Velveeta; mix well. Spoon into 13X9 baking dish; cover. Bake 20 min; stir. Bake uncovered for additional 15 min or until heated through.

Mason is 3 weeks old today!

It is hard to believe that Mason is already 3 weeks old. My where does the time go. Everyone told me that the time would fly by and to enjoy every minute with him.

Today, I put Mason down on his activity mat. He loved it. He laid there looking around at all of the fun things hanging over his head. He would occasionally pull at them but for the most part just laid there content for about 20 minutes. He would have laid there longer but got the dreaded hiccups. He seems to get those all of the time. I should be used to him having them since he had them in utereo 3 times a day without fail.

Mason is sleeping right now. I should be napping but have not mastered sleeping during the day yet. I am very tired and sleepy but when I lay down, I cannot fall asleep. It is so annoying so I decided to take a few minutes to update this blog and put some new pictures on Facebook. We have taken so many pictures of him. It is hard for me to decide what pictures to post. He is so darn cute. I want to post them all for everyone to see. He is waking up so I need to get ready to feed him. Until next time....

Mi Mi and Mason

Dawn (Mi Mi) had to return to work earlier this week so she has missed Mason a lot during the day. We have truly missed her as well. When she gets home, she tries to spend as much time with Mason as possible. Tonight, she read the Smithsonian magazine to him. As you can see, he wasn't very interested so decided he would sleep instead. Can't say I blame him. I usually read those kinds of magazines to make me fall asleep as well.

Dawn has been awesome with him and with me over the past couple of weeks. My harmones are still raging so there have been some emotional moments in our house lately. I know she hates to see me cry so I try not to let her see my tears but there have been times that I couldn't help myself. I sure hope the crazy things with my harmones straighten out sometime real soon! I am so lucky to have such a wonderful partner. She puts balance in our relationship when it is needed. And the past couple of days, I have definitely needed her!

Gi Gi had to go home

Today was a sad day. My mom (Gi Gi) had to leave today to go home. She has been with us for Mason's first week of life. Having her here was quite the security blanket for us. While I have spent a lot of time caring for children, there was something overwhelming about the thought of us being on our own to care for Mason. I don't think Dawn was as scared as I was which is usually the case. I am happy to say that our first night without her was fine. It ended up not being as scary as I thought. Mason had a good night so he must have known mommy was worried about how things would go without Gi Gi. Mom, we miss you and cannot wait to see you!

Mason's Birth Story

On Wednesday, August 5, I went to the doctor for a follow up visit to find out about the protein levels from my 24 hour collection and the status of my blood pressure. At that visit, it was confirmed that I had developed preeclampsia and would need to be induced sooner than later. The doctor did not waste any time making arrangements with the doctor on call and sending me to the hospital. He told me to go straight home, get my things together, get Dawn and go to the hospital. Talk about a major rush of adrenalin. I was immediately filled with all sorts of emotions. They ranged from “oh my God” this is the big day to “is something is going to be wrong with the baby due to the issues with the preeclampsia”. I called Dawn and told her to get home as soon as possible that it was time. I also made all of the calls that I was supposed to make to our families while I was driving home.

When I arrived at home, I could tell that Dawn was really nervous. It was funny that she was more nervous than I was. Well truthfully, I was nervous but was on a mission to get our things together and get to the hospital. It took us about 20 minutes to get everything together and we were off to the hospital. We got to the hospital around 5:30pm and we checked in and taken to a room within 15 minutes. Once in our room, the nurses checked all of my vitals and got everything entered in to the computer. Once that was over the waiting began. We waited on Dr. Chappell to come by to decide whether she would begin the induction that evening or if my they would just monitor my blood pressure. She came by around 8:30 and decided to start me on Pitocin to get the contractions going. I anticipated that things would begin to happen sometime within the next couple of hours. Unfortunately that was not the case.

Mom and Dad arrived at 9:30 that evening hoping that their grandson would be born within the next couple of hours. Now we all just sit and wait for things to begin happening. Annie, my nurse, continued to increase the Pitocin every 30 minutes hoping to get the right dosage to cause some significant contractions. Still nothing happening after 4 hours, so the waiting continues. We tried to get some sleep but with my dad snoring loud enough for our neighbors to hear and the fact that someone came in to the room every half hour to check my vitals, sleeping was almost impossible.

After a couple more hours of receiving the Pitocin, we got a bit of a scare when Mason’s heart rate dropped significantly. Annie came in and had me move to my right side, then to my left side then back to the right again. At first she didn’t tell me what she was doing. Once she saw Mason’s heart rate recover, she told me what was happening. I asked what could be the cause and she said he could have been laying on his umbilical cord and could have just pressed it the wrong way. Of course, this scared the crap out of all of us. They had to decrease the Pitocin to allow time for Mason to fully recover. What that meant, was basically starting the entire induction process all over again. We continued through the entire night with not much happening with the contractions.

At 7:30am, Thursday, August 6 Dr. Chappell was finishing up her shift so she came in to tell me that Dr. Gunter would be coming on and they had discussed my status and that he would be in to see me within the hour. Dr. Gunter came in around 9:30am and asked if I was ready for him to break my water. I said, yes. Let’s get things moving. I was not sure what to expect but let’s just say it wasn’t bad at all. Within an hour of breaking my water, I finally started feeling contractions. A lot took place between 9:30 and 11:30. Wow, this is really happening now. My contractions were pretty significant at this point and I was dilated to a 6. At 11:45, Val, my nurse for this shift, came in and asked if I was ready for my epidural. I told her I would wait a little longer. Boy was that a big mistake. Within 15 minutes, I was begging for the anesthesiologist to get to my room. As my luck would have it, the anesthesiologist was busy with the 4 other women in active labor on the OB floor. I was begging for someone to get to my soon. I was dilated to a 9 at this point and in pretty significant pain. FINALLY the anesthesiologist got to me and administered the epidural at 1:00pm. Within 15 minutes, my pain had pretty much had gone away. Love the drugs! For all of those women that delivered their babies without drugs, you deserve a medal. I do not know how you did it but more power to you!

My contractions continued to get stronger and closer together so we were thinking it would soon be show time. Well, Mason obviously wasn’t in any hurry to get here so we waited another 2 hours hoping things would happen soon. At 3:30, Val and Dr. Gunter came in to check my progress and decided that it was time for me to start pushing. Dawn and my mom were my leg holders during this process. My legs were completely numb so they had to lift them and hand them to me in order for me to push. I pushed and pushed and pushed for an hour and the little booger was still not ready to come out. Dr. Gunter checked to see where Mason was located and determined that his head was turned slightly to the right which was part of the reason he was having difficulty moving further down. He suggested that I lay on my right side to see if he would turn on his own. After 30 minutes of laying still, Mason didn’t turn enough to make a difference. It was at this point that Dr. Gunter said he would suggest a forceps delivery. I asked him if it would hurt Mason in any way. He responded by saying not on my watch! Dr. Gunter then left to go check on other patients. He returned in a few minutes and said he had to go do an emergency c-section on another patient and that I would need to labor down for the next hour until he could return. They turned the Pitocin down and we waited. While this was a bit discouraging, it was good for me to rest. I was completely exhausted.

At 6:00pm, Dr. Gunter came back in my room and asked if I was ready to have my baby. I said, YES, let’s get him out. I pushed for another 30 minutes and at that time, Dr. Gunter said in order to avoid a c-section, he would suggest that I stop pushing and let him deliver Mason via forceps. I told him to do whatever he needed to do to get Mason out. I was ready to meet him. As Dr. Gunter got everything together, I was pretty anxious at this point. I was really worried that the forceps would hurt my baby. The nurse told me that if I had to choose a Dr. to do the forceps delivery, that Dr. Gunter was the best there was at that hospital. This of course made me feel better.

After 3 tugs with the forceps, Mason was delivered. His cord was wrapped around his neck so Dr. Gunter had to take care of that before putting Mason on my chest. As soon as Mason was placed on my chest, I began to cry. I was crying so hard I couldn’t see him. I said can someone get me a tissue, I can’t see my baby. Val wiped my eyes and I got to see my little Mason for the first time. Words cannot express the feelings that I felt at that time. He was absolutely perfect. Dawn cut the umbilical cord and they took Mason over to get him cleaned up.
Mason Parker Grooms came in to this world weighing 7lbs 12ozs and was 21 inches long. He was healthy and passed all of his first tests. After he was all cleaned up, the nurse gave him to his GiGi (his gradmother). GiGi held him for a few minutes then gave him to his MiMi (Dawn). After Dr. Gunter was finished fixing me up, I was able to hold Mason. It was the most amazing time ever. He was just adorable! The nurses came to get him to take him to the nursery to give him his first bath and check him over again. It took about an hour for them to do their thing before they brought him back to me. As soon as he was returned to us, I was able to feed him. He did great for his first time breastfeeding.

We were then transferred to another room for the remainder of our stay in the hospital. Mason stayed with us for a little while then went to the nursery so we could get a couple hours of sleep before it was time for him to eat again. Those few hours of sleep were needed and were just enough to get us through the night.

On Friday, August 7 Mason got to meet his Aunt Stacey, Uncle Eric and cousin, Joshua. Joshua was so cute with him. Several other visitors came throughout the day to meet Mason. It was a great day. Friday night was a bit rough. Mason cried a lot and seemed to have gas or was it pain from his circumcision. Not sure but he was not a happy camper. We finally got him settled down enough to eat and he went to the nursery for a few hours so his mommies could get a couple hours of sleep.

On Saturday, August 8 we were all ready to go home. The pediatrician came in to check Mason out and gave him a great report and released him to go home. Dr. Miller came in to check me and gave me a good report to go home. We were all excited to leave and get home. As we got in the car and was leaving the hospital, I was overwhelmed with emotions. I began to cry and said to Dawn that the realization had just set in. Again, words cannot describe how I was feeling at that time.

Meeting Mason

I am so excited that it is only a matter of days before we finally get to meet our son, Mason. That is all I have been thinking about for the past couple of days. I am sure the mommies out there can relate to what I am saying. Over the past couple of weeks, I have had very vivid dreams about what he will look like. While many couples have an idea of what their newborn will look like, we only have half of an idea. We do know the characteristics of our donor which are blonde hair, blue eyes, olive complexion and so forth but have no idea about his facial features and such. UNC did photo matching for us and matched us with someone that closely resembled both Dawn and I so I am sure he will be adorable. While there is some uncertainty about he will look like, there is no uncertainty about how much we already love him.

Reflection....

Today was a very relaxing day for Dawn and I. As we sat around doing absolutely nothing on a rainy, Sunday afternoon it gave me an opportunity to reflect on the last 8.5 years that we have been together. It is hard to believe that we have already been together that long. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that it has been a long 8.5 years, it actually feels like it was just yesterday that we first met. The way we met is a very interesting one but one that I will not share at this time. Within months of meeting each other, our friendship turned into a wonderful relationship. We have so much in common yet we also have our own hobbies and interests. I am pretty sure this is the main reason we were so drawn to each other and why we get along so great. Life as just the two of us has been wonderful and I will cherish each day that we have spent together as a gift. As we count down the days until the next chapter in our lives begins, I wanted to be sure to remind Dawn how much I love her and how much she means to me. She is not only my life partner; she is also my best friend. She is the person that I have always dreamed about spending my life with and raising a family with. We are proof that dreams definitely do come true.

In less than 15 days, our son will arrive in this world and will transform our family of two into a family of three. While words cannot explain how excited I am, I have to admit I am also quite scared. I am full of questions that can only be answered with time. One thing that I am sure of is even though I will have a new little son to love, I will continue to love Dawn more and more every day. I promise her that she will always have my heart and that I will always value our life together. I know she will be a wonderful mommy to Mason and will continue to be a wonderful partner to me.

Until next time….

20 days and counting!

I have been a terrible blogger. It has been over 3 months since I have last posted. Guess it is good that not a lot of people know about my blog. I promise to do better once little Mason is born and there is more to “talk” about. Speaking of little Mason, it is hard to believe that we have only 20 days left. Maybe a little less if we are lucky! I am amazed at how fast my pregnancy has flown by; seems like just yesterday Dawn and I were anxiously awaiting the results of the pregnancy test. Now here were are counting down the last 20 days. I am very thankful that I was blessed with an easy pregnancy. It has been pretty uneventful for the past 37 weeks. Now the past two days have been a bit more eventful. Yesterday, I went for my 37 week visit and was told that my blood pressure was elevated. I had to lay on my side for 30 minutes to be monitored. Thankfully it came down and the Dr. let me leave but told me to check it periodically throughout the day for the rest of this week. I was fine with that and things were “normal” for the rest of the day. Today on the other hand, it has been all over the charts. The highest was 157/107 and it fluctuated all day so the Dr. wanted me to come in for a biophysical profile ultrasound. I was hoping for another ultrasound before birth but would have rather it been just because and not because there were problems. As the ultrasound technician started her routine, the first couple screen shots looked good then she nonchalantly said well he’s not breathing. I immediately said WHAT in a panicked tone of voice? She then says well babies only practice breathe, they don’t really breathe you do the breathing for the baby. I was ok with her answer for a while but had every intention of asking her more questions once she finished all of her test. She continued her tests and showed us his hands, feet, spine, heart, lungs and his precious little face. She said everything looked good and he was measuring around 6lbs 10oz. She then said in order for him to pass the test completely she had to see him “practice breathe” at least once in a 30 minute period. Well, we watched and waited and watched and waited and the 30 minute period came and went and as my luck would have it, he did not breathe so he did not pass that part of the test. Now it is off to the next part of the appointment to determine what is next. After talking to the doctor and him evaluating the results of the entire BPP he did not seem the least bit concerned that he did not practice breathe during the test. I asked a bunch of questions and he reassured me that everything was fine and not to be concerned. Of course, I am still a little worried but am trying not to get too stressed out about it. I keep telling myself that everything else looked great and my Dr. knows his stuff so just relax and keep dreaming about meeting him and seeing him for the first time. 20 days and counting…..Until next time.

Registering, Shopping, Spring Cleaning and Preparing the Baby's Room!

Wow, what a week. Dawn and I were supposed to be on vacation this week but it turned into a week of "work". We spent the first part of the week registering and shopping for all of the fun stuff that we want for our son. It took us a couple of hours to register at Babies R Us and Target. While I thought this was loads of fun, Dawn was not as thrilled. I thought I was prepared as I had done tons of research on all sorts of baby products for the past couple of months but quickly found out that I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was. Oh, well, it is done for the most part. My sisters are going to review our registries to let us know what we missed!
Now on to our spring cleaning. We cleaned out closets, moved furniture, washed windows, hung blinds and cleaned base boards. All necessary projects in order for us to prepare the baby's room. Sounds like fun, huh. For the past eight years we have been able to use all three closets in the house for our "stuff"; however, since our son will be here before we know it, we had to clean out his closet to get it ready for all of his stuff. In doing so, it was time to part with clothes that we thought we would wear again and "things" that we have kept thinking we would eventually use someday. After taking 4 bags of clothes, 3 CD stands, a bag of books and several boxes of odds and ends, we have managed to consolidate two closets into one.
Then we were off to Babies R Us to pick up the baby's furniture. There was a bit of a snafu and the furitnure was delivered to the store in Raleigh as opposed to the one in Durham where we ordered everything from! After an hour on the phone with several managers, the best they could do was give us $75 credit on our invoice so we were off to Raleigh in Dawn's little pickup truck. I was a bit skeptical whether or not the 4 huge boxes would fit but she was determined to make it work. After tying everything down really well, we were headed home. We looked like the Clampets; all we needed was Granny in the rocking chair on top and it would have been perfect! We finally made it home safely!
Dawn spent the afternoon putting the crib together, hanging the wall decorations and the curtains and now the baby's room is complete. It looks awesome if I must say so myself.

Happy Keester - I mean Easter!

EVERYTHING I LEARNED ABOUT LIFE, I LEARNED FROM THE EASTER BUNNY

Don't put all of your eggs in one basket

Walk softly and carry a big carrot

Everyone needs a friend who is all ears

There's no such thing as too much candy

All work and no play can make you a basket case

A cute little tail attracts a lot of attention

Everyone is entitled to a bad hare day

Let happy thoughts multiply like rabbits

Some body parts should be floppy

Keep your paws off other people's jellybeans

Good things come in small sugarcoated packages

The grass is always greener in someone else's basket

An Easter bonnet can tame even the wildest hare

To show your true colors you have to come out of your shell

The best things in life are still sweet and gooey

Froggy Tales - Our Nursery Theme

We had an exciting weekend that was filled with all sorts of baby purchases. We ordered our crib, two dressers and all the bedding and room accessories. For the most part, things went well with the exception there was almost a catastrophe which I am certain would have led to having an emotional pregnant woman on site in Babies R Us. I will explain. Dawn and I choose our nursery theme several months ago and were both in love with the pattern that we chose. However, we decided to wait until I was about 20 weeks along before we purchased anything; almost a BIG mistake. We woke up on Saturday morning and ventured to Babies R Us to order our furniture and buy the accessories for the room. Of course, I am really excited as I have wanted to decorate the room for weeks now. So, we are off to Babies R Us.
As soon as we got close enough to the bedding area, I noticed they were completely out of our “froggy tales” set. Then we noticed all of the red stickers that said CLEARANCE! Normally clearance items make us excited but not this time. I hurried to the first salesperson I could find to inquire about this. As our luck would have it, they did not have any more in the back and politely informed us they were discontinuing that specific pattern. Before the tears became rolling, I asked if there was any way for them to call others store to find out what they still had left. For once, lady luck was on our side and a store 40 miles from where we were had the bedding set and several other pieces still in stock. The salesperson asked what items we wanted and I responded by telling her to hold one of everything she had left in that pattern and that we would be there in less than an hour to get all of it.
Thankfully it all worked out in the end and we were able to get the pattern that we wanted. As soon as our furniture comes in, it will be time to decorate! More on that coming soon.

Reconnecting with old friends

Over the past 6 months, I have reconnected with a bunch of friends from high school and college using Facebook. While many people are opposed to the use of social media sites such as FB, I absolutely love it. It has become rather addicting. I found a high school friend that I have not seen nor spoken to in 15 years. We were able to get together for dinner this past weekend and it was great. She has recently gotten married so I was able to meet her new husband and she was able to meet Dawn. We had a wonderful time catching up. I was also able to locate another high school friend of mine that happens to live 3 hours away in Wilmington. She has been living in NC for the past two years and neither of us had any idea we were living that close to each other. We get to Wilmington every couple of months to visit Dawn’s mom. Our next visit will be in a couple of weeks so, Dawn and I plan to have dinner with her and her partner.
It is always interesting to reconnect with old friends. It is amazing when you find the ones you haven’t talked to in 15+ years and yet it feels like yesterday when you see them. Your friendship bond is still there. I have discovered that we all just got caught up in living life and time just passed us by. If you haven’t reconnected with anyone from your past lately, Search the internet Facebook or MySpace perhaps, pick up the phone or write a letter. You will be glad you did.

Is it a boy or a girl?

Tomorrow is the big day. We go for our Level II ultrasound and hope to find out at this time what we are having. It really doesn’t matter to me what it is as long as it is healthy. Dawn is hoping for a girl. Either way we are almost half way to the day we meet our little one for the first time. Seems like a long time from now but if the last half of the pregnancy goes by as fast as the first half, it will be here before we know it.

God's Plan

Many of you know about the long journey that we have been on for the past 5 years. For those of you that do not, it has been the journey towards having / adopting a child. I won’t go through the years of details but the abridged version is we tried for almost a year to get pregnant with no luck. That disappointment led us to adoption and while that was promising in the beginning that too turned out to be quite the disappointment. Father time really wasn’t on our side as each year passed, we got a year older. With that constant reminder and the fact that I could not accept the fact that we would not have a child, we decided to try a fertility specialist. Dawn agreed to 6 times and that was it. After that, I would need to accept the fact that we would be a family of two. While things were a lot like a roller coaster ride for most of our baby journey, I now see that God had a plan for us and his plan was to happen on his time. After two attempts, I am happy to say that I am 18 weeks pregnant and am due August 17. We are so excited. This has been a long road but one I wouldn’t change for anything in the world.

I caved!

Ok so I have finally caved into the "blog" world. I am a fan of reading other's blogs but never thought I would have the desire to do my own. Guess I have never felt comfortable enough with my own "writing" and I often wondered what I would write about. Who would read it? Would it have purpose or meaning? These are the things that have discouraged me from creating one up until this point. I am going to give it a shot and see what happens. Until next time....