Week 7

April 22-28

Jack with Mommy and Holly

Jack with Gigi, Mommy, & Mimi

This was a great week for the family! Our great friend Holly (Jack's Godmother) came to visit from Wisconsin. We had a lot of fun hanging out around the house, going shopping, and stopping by the beach. On Friday we got up early and started Jack's first long road trip to Columbia, SC for his baby shower that Great Aunt Ruthann and Great Aunt Joan planned for him. It was a little sad because Daddy couldn't come (he had to work). It was his first time away from Jack and he missed him terribly. :(

Jack was sooooo well behaved. He slept all morning and woke up to eat. We got back on the road and he was awake, but content. Holly sat in the back with him and talked to him. Luckily he loves his carseat so he was very good. We stopped again to eat and then made it to Columbia. Friday night Jack got to meet his Great Grandma (Gigi), Uncle Andy and Aunt Caroline for the first time. They were so excited to see him!

Meeting Aunt Caroline

Saturday morning we got up and relaxed for awhile, then got ready to go to Aunt Ruthann's for the big baby shower. When we got there it was so BEAUTIFUL. Aunt Ruthann and Aunt Joan had a spread of delicious hors doeuvres and gorgeous flowers. Here are some pictures of the shower...

Jack ready to go to the shower!

Pretty little cakes with booties!!

The gorgeous spread with fresh flowers!!

Everybody talking

Aunt Amanda holding Jack for the first time!!

Lauren holding Jack!

This is a portrait of Jack for his nursery from Grandma!

Everybody mingling

Opening presents!

The shower was a whole lot of fun! Lots of family and friends came and it was so nice visiting with everyone! Jack loved getting to meet everyone. He got so many nice things, I think he may have more clothes than me now! :) I will post more pictures as I get them from people!

Jack with his stool that Holly's mom made for him!

Week 5

April 8-14

This week Jack had a doctor's appointment where he got a shot in his little leg. :( He cried for a minute, but when I picked him up and hugged him he was over it. I was very proud of him for being so brave! Poor little guy. He now weighs 9 lbs. 6 oz. (25% for his age)...but he gained some height and is now almost 23 inches tall (75% for his age). The doctor said not to worry about his weight, babies can fluctuate.

Sunday was Jack's first Easter!! :) He had a great day. The Easter Bunny brought him a little basket with goodies. He got a stuffed lambie and a book from GiGi. He got another book from his Godmother, Holly. He absolutely loves books and gets really quiet when we read to him. He went to church and slept through the entire service. We went to the beach and took some pictures on the beach.

Week 4

April 1-7

Baby Jack is almost 1 month old!! This week his umbilical cord stump finally fell off!! Yay! We had it on the coffee table while we changed his diaper, Ed wanted to save it to put in the baby book (ick!). A few minutes later I noticed Hope crunching on something. I knew we hadn't left any food out because I had just cleaned up the living room. I looked over and the cord was GONE! The dog ate it! Oh well!

On Sunday we went to church for our Baptism class. We earned our certificate and can now have Baby Jack baptised in the Catholic church. We are planning on Sunday, May 31st in Sumter, SC. It's Memorial Day weekend so hopefully people will have the next day off.

Here are some videos from this week!

Week 3

March 25-31

I can't believe it's been 3 weeks already! This week has been pretty uneventful. We have mostly just been hanging out around the house enjoying our little family. Jack has gotten better at breastfeeding. He has been sleeping pretty well during the night. He loves to play and interact.

Playing with Daddy

Here is a video of Jack blowing bubbles.

Week 2

March 18-24

Week 2 was spent getting used to the crazy new schedule. For the first part of the week Ed had off work which was awesome. Luckily we had some help with his mom (Grandma) and my mom (Mimi) staying with us. It was definitely awesome to be able to skip a feed here and there and get a couple hours of sleep. It was tough because I had been pumping every 2 hours when Jack was in the NICU the week before. He got everything I pumped (thank goodness), but still required formula to maintain good blood sugars. The second week my milk had come in, but since he had been taking bottles for a whole week he wasn't used to breastfeeding. I'm not going to lie, it was quite challenging and frustrating, but eventually we got the hang of it. By week 2 Jack didn't have anymore formula.

Jack's activities at this point pretty much include sleeping, being held, eating, peeing/pooping, and sitting in his swing or vibrating chair. Here are some pictures of his favorite things to do:

Jack in his vibrating chair...he loves it b/c it is very comfy!

Enjoying his swing. This is great to get him to sleep!

Sleeps with his arms like this.

This week Baby Jack had some of his first visitors to the house. Our neighbors Andrea, Randy, and Madilynn came. Also our very good friends Tyson and Marcus stopped in. Here are some pictures.

Week 1 (continued)

Coming Home!!

We finally got word from the nurse that we were being discharged home! Ed & I couldn't wait to have Jack all to ourselves. We would finally get to introduce him to Hope, show him his house and his room, and hold him whenever we wanted! It was the best feeling. We got him dressed and strapped him in his carseat for his first ride.

Daddy dressing Jack to go home!

3 generations

First car ride!

Baby Jack slept the whole way home. The first thing he did was meet his puppy, Hope. She loved him from the start and was very gentle and careful around him. We walked him around the house and showed him all of his things. The rest of the day was spent relaxing.

The next day Jack had his first appointment with his pediatrician. He was very well behaved and checked out with a clean bill of health!

The day after that was St. Patrick's Day. Baby Jack had 2 new outfits to wear for the occasion. One was from his Godmother, Holly and the other was from Samantha. Both outfits were ADORABLE!

Week 1

March 11-17

The first half of the first week of Jack's life was spent in the NICU. I would have to say this whole experience was probably one of the worst things we have ever gone through. After Jack was born they took him to the nursery to clean him up and take his blood sugar. Because I had gestational diabetes I knew he was at risk for having low blood sugars shortly after birth.

Daddy holding Jack in NICU

Basically what happens with these babies is their body gets used to producing a high amount of insulin because they are constantly getting sugar and nutrients through their umbilical cord the entire time they are in the womb. When they are born, suddenly that supply is cut off. Unfortunately, their body doesn't realize it has been cut off and it is still making the same amount of insulin as it was before. Insulin eats up excess sugars and carbs, so without that supply they were previously getting from the umbilical cord the insulin depletes the sugar level and the baby bottoms out.

Mommy holding Jack in NICU

So when they took him to the nursery I passed out after all of the hard work of being in labor. Around 4:00 am a nurse came into my room with Jack and handed him to me. I was half asleep and I just thought that she was bringing him back. She handed him over and said that his sugars were low and that they had to take him to the NICU so I only had a couple of minutes to see him. Suddenly someone else ran into the room and said, "we have to take him right now." Of course Ed and I were both freaking out. Poor baby was very lethargic and I started crying when I looked at him. The nurse said "he's fine, don't worry." I was like, "he doesn't look fine to me." She gave us a number to call the NICU and said we could see him later.

Grandma holding Jack in NICU

When we finally got to go see him he had an IV in his head and was hooked up to a sugar drip to keep his blood sugars up.

Baby Jack's scalp IV

So to make a long story short he had to stay in the NICU until he could slowly be weaned off the sugar drip and maintain good blood glucose readings on his own. He finally got discharged on Sunday, March 15. It was the best day ever!! :)