Tucker: 1 month old! September 28th

This month has just flown by! 

What little man is up to this month:

I am a great sleeper

I love to snuggle

I am an efficient eater (my mom says) just like my brother was when he was my age

I like be held upright so I can look around

Some of my favorite things to look at are:

my family's faces, the black picture frames on the walls, outside, my dad's hair

and my mom's glasses

I am very sweet

I don't cry a whole lot (I just don't need to)

My mom and dad tell me all the time how hard

 it is to change my diaper because I am so strong

I can hold my head up for good chunks of time,

 I started doing this at 2 days old

I am now wearing size 1 diapers and I have 

just about grown out of my newborn clothes

At my 2 week appointment I weighed 8lbs6oz 

but we think I've grown quite a bit since then

I love baths and water

AND

I have a brand new baby cousin that I can't wait to meet!

I love to snuggle and sleep with my mom

My mom says I am sooooo cute!

This is my mom's favorite onesie

My grandma got me a new silly binki

My big brother LOVES to hold me and kiss me

and he is always telling my mom that he needs to check on

me to see if I am okay

He's the best big brother!

As for mom....

One month postpartum.

I've tried going to the gym and just doing the treadmill but my broken tailbone really didn't like that so... I am just going to take it easy until it heals up a bit more. Trying to find exercises that don't irritate the injury.

(Oh yeah, found out my tailbone is broken! So that has been the most difficult thing since delivery. I sort of think without it though everything would have just been too easy. Still, hoping it heals up soon!)

Last time I weighed myself I was down 12 pounds so that leaves 16 more to go until I am at pre pregnancy weight. I have a feeling that number would be a lot smaller if I could just stop stuffing my face with junk food! All the Halloween candy being out in stores is not helping with my willpower issues... oh well.

Breastfeeding is going very well!

My brain fog seems to have lifted over the last week. Before that I was really having a hard time remembering anything for any length of time. I had to resort to writing on my hand or arms to remind myself to do things. So glad to be getting back to my regular forgetful self.

I LOVE being a mommy for a 3rd time! I've heard that going from 2 -3 is the hardest transition BUT Jason and Ava are so much older that this has been the easiest transition for me. Tucker is such a good baby. We see Matt more than we did when he was in the Airforce. We are closer to home so we have been blessed with quite a few visitors this month, which makes me sooo happy! The kids are in school for a couple hours a day 4-5 days a week. I also just feel more comfortable as a mom, I can see Matt is more comfortable as a dad too. We kind of know what to expect, we are more relaxed about things that we would stress out about with Ava and Jason as newborns. I just know that I am doing what I am meant to be doing by being a mommy and it makes me soooo happy! 

LOVE love LOVE having a little baby in the house again!

Now if we could just make time slow down so I could enjoy this time a bit longer!!

Tucker's Birth Story August 28th 2015

I thought I better it get out before that mom amnesia kicks in that God blesses us women with.

Hmmm, let's see... Well it'll all started about 9ish months ago with a happy announcement that we were expecting our 3rd child. Fast forward to August 27th 2015, I had my Doctor appointment that morning where we discussed my induction date (the following morning) and my Doctor striped my membranes to help get my labor going (I was 39 weeks along to the day). Later that day I got a call from the hospital letting me know that they needed to reschedule the induction for Sunday. I was super bummed especially since grandma Julie and Grandpa Mike were already here and ready to help when the baby came.

After the Doc striped my membranes that morning I had a few random contractions but didn't think much of them since I had been having them for a while at that point. Around 2 am I woke up with consistent contractions about 2 and 1/2 minutes apart. This had happened to me before several weeks earlier so I downloaded an app on my phone to help keep track of how frequent and long the contractions were. Matt got up then and packed a hospital bag for us just in case (since I never actually got around to packing a bag for myself).  

I decided to try and go back to bed and rest in between contractions just in case this really was labor, I wanted to be as rested as possible. At some point, before or after I tried to go back to bed, I took a warm bath. My lower back started hurting more and more. Eventually I couldn't stay in bed anymore and my contractions had actually spread out to almost 7-10 minutes apart BUT they were soooooo much more intense, around 5:00-5:30am I actually started to cry through each contraction. Something that didn't happen with my last two labors. I think I was experiencing back labor this time around. Once the tears started I figured it was probably time to go into the hospital. So I woke Matt up and let him know it was time to go!

He had to actually help dress me and we had to stop every couple of minutes on our way to the car and into the hospital for each contraction. They were getting so strong.

Once we got to labor and delivery Matt had to kind of get us checked in  because I wasn't have much fun, didn't want to talk and was still crying through each contraction. The nurse got me all set up in our room and did a quick check, I was already at 5 cm dilated (earlier that day I had been 2 &1/2 cm and 80 % effaced). So that was a nice surprise. She asked what my pain management plan was. I didn't really have one this time around. With Ava and Jason I had wanted to go all natural but ended up being induced both times, I had pitocin, a fully bulb etc... Held out as long as I could but ended up getting epidurals right before it was time to deliver. So this time, being in so much pain already (I never cried during labor with Ava and Jason) I decided I wanted the epidural and I didn't want to have to wait long so she called in the anesthesiologist.

(Before the epidural the back labor was so bad I was thinking I never want to do this again. As soon as I got the epidural I was thinking, I could do this all day long. I believe I told the guy that I loved him...)

The anesthesiologist got there pretty quickly, probably around 6 or 6:30 and gave me the epidural. I could still feel my legs but I had almost instant relief. After that it was all fun and games. My doctor checked me and I was already at and 8, broke my water right then and immediately progressed to a 9 &1/2. So then we just waited until I felt the urge to push... which didn't really happen so after a bit my Doc checked me again and gave me the go ahead to start pushing.  Keeping with tradition, it didn't take many pushes until little man made his grand entrance at 8:16 am August 28th 2015. The Doctor and nurses were laughing at how smooth and easy it was all went. Dad cut the cord and that was that.

It all would have been a dream except that I had a very bad cough and, at this point I believe, a bruised tailbone (17 days later it still hurts so bad to sit and get up from a seated position). But Tucker is a perfect little baby. He's probably cried altogether since his birth, for about an hour total, if that. He sleeps and eats very well at night, makes all the wet and poopie diapers he's supposed to and is very happy to snuggle with me whenever I want!

We have already had quite a few visitors which we all love! Grandma Julie and Grandpa Mike were here for the birth. Soon after we got a visit from Grandma LaVonna, Grandpa Rick and Grandma Heidi and this past weekend we got a visit from Grandpa Dave!

Ava and Jason LOVE their little brother!

Ava and Jason 2011 on the left Ava and Tucker 2015 on the right

Today, September 14th!

Meeting their brother for the first time!!

Last preggo pic

Several hours before I went into labor

39 weeks (that Thursday)

Gave birth at 39 weeks and 1 day

Dad changing the first poopie diaper

Looking at Tucker through Google Glass

...ya know, cause dad is a nerd *smiles*

He's so cute when he cries

Wasn't sure how it was going to go...

Shopping with all 3 kids by myself today.

We survived!

Only because little man does so well on outings. I am constantly panicking thinking I've left him somewhere, even when he is right in front of me because he never stirs when we are out and about. (Just like big brother Jason when he was a baby)

The other two did pretty good too I suppose *wink*

I know, if I feed and change him before we leave, that I have about 4 good hours to get done whatever I need to. He'll just sleep or sit in his car seat happy and content while we run errands.