Jaxon is a boy of many nicknames. Beyond the obvious one of Jax he is also called Mr. Man Baby, Mr. Poopy Pants, Squawkmeister B, Bubba Boy and Little Buddy by his dad and me. Jaida fondly refers to him as Jaxie or Mr. Baby if that is your real name. :) The poor kid!
Jax continues to be the easiest baby on the planet. He seems to be in the middle of his evening fussy period which supposedly peaks around 6 weeks. It is almost comical ... he has such a hard time crying that he just gets this pained expression on his face as if to say "please don't make me cry" and fusses a little bit. Generally, during this period he will only be soothed by mama ... but at least he is soothable. He continues to sleep through the night. Last week was a little rough as he was going through his 3 week growth spurt and was nursing constantly. I am reasonably sure we stayed connected all night for 3 nights in a row as he was nursing every 30 minutes - hour all night. Luckily, we both slept through it ... he grunted and latched and we both went back to sleep. :) Happily, Jax will also sleep anywhere which allows me a lot more freedom for the time being.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Friday, July 28, 2006
Four Weeks Old
How can that be? Is it possible that time feels like it is passing by even faster this time than it did with Jaida? I can't believe the boy is already a month old!
Jaxon continues to be extremely mellow. Really quite the little sweetheart. He loves to cuddle ... especially with his mama but he gives dad and sister some cuddle time every day also. He finally has adjusted to cold wipes on his hiney and doesn't poop or pee every single time I open his diaper which makes diaper changes much more pleasant for all involved. He also seems much more okay with having a little naked baby time and seems to now be enjoying baths much more since starting to bath with Jaida. Today Jaxon enjoyed his first bottle of EBM. He acted like he has been taking a bottle forever which will give me a little break every now and again plus make sure he can eat when I return to work.
I am really wondering how we ended up with a child with light brown/red hair and blue/green eyes. It is freaking me out a bit. It will be interesting to see how he changes over the coming months.
Here are a few current pictures of the boy ...
Also, here is Jax's birth announcement for those that are not receiving it by snail mail.
http://www.purplestork.com/proofs/17658-jaxon-a.jpg
Jaxon continues to be extremely mellow. Really quite the little sweetheart. He loves to cuddle ... especially with his mama but he gives dad and sister some cuddle time every day also. He finally has adjusted to cold wipes on his hiney and doesn't poop or pee every single time I open his diaper which makes diaper changes much more pleasant for all involved. He also seems much more okay with having a little naked baby time and seems to now be enjoying baths much more since starting to bath with Jaida. Today Jaxon enjoyed his first bottle of EBM. He acted like he has been taking a bottle forever which will give me a little break every now and again plus make sure he can eat when I return to work.
I am really wondering how we ended up with a child with light brown/red hair and blue/green eyes. It is freaking me out a bit. It will be interesting to see how he changes over the coming months.
Here are a few current pictures of the boy ...
Also, here is Jax's birth announcement for those that are not receiving it by snail mail.
http://www.purplestork.com/proofs/17658-jaxon-a.jpg
Friday, July 21, 2006
Three weeks old today
and a mini milestone for Jax. We have noticed over the last few days that Jax's eyes are really starting to track well and focus. When he is looking at us it is really obvious he is looking at us and not just scanning the room. Anyhow, Jax was lounging in his rocking chair which has a toy bar with a couple of colored padded geometric shapes hanging from it. He was focusing on one of the shapes on the end and concentrating so hard and making lots of little grunting sounds. He then picked up his right arm and made a big swipe and made contact with the shape. He did it about 4 more times while sitting in his chair. It was so cute to see him working so hard at this. Jax has also started smiling ... although only at his mama. These were genuine open mouthed grins where I could see he was going to smile by looking at his eyes first not the fleeting sleepy gassy grins from the first few days. He has smiled several times and always in response to me talking and cooing at him. He is going to have the sweetest smile.
Jax's eyes are also starting to change color ... although it is not clear what color they are going to be. His eyes will most definitely be more like mine in color where Jaida's are more like Joe's (super dark chocolate brown). Jax looks like he will have brown eyes but with some green and amber flecks like his mama's. Also, his hair is quite light in color ... sort of a light brown with a lot of red. It is also going to be curly. The long part on the top of his head is already starting to pouf up and has a bit of wave to it. So cute!!
Jax's eyes are also starting to change color ... although it is not clear what color they are going to be. His eyes will most definitely be more like mine in color where Jaida's are more like Joe's (super dark chocolate brown). Jax looks like he will have brown eyes but with some green and amber flecks like his mama's. Also, his hair is quite light in color ... sort of a light brown with a lot of red. It is also going to be curly. The long part on the top of his head is already starting to pouf up and has a bit of wave to it. So cute!!
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Jaxon's Two week Pediatrician Appointment
I took Jax to his pediatrician appointment. He was pronounced in excellent health and a beautiful baby. The pediatrician commented on how long his arms and legs are and how big his hands and feet are. She said he is definitely going to be a big guy. His stats are 9 pounds 2 ounces and 21.5 inches long. He is tracking right along where Jaida was at this point ... she was 9 pounds 4 ounces and 22 inches at her 2 week appointment. He had blood drawn for his second PKU test and was not amused even slightly. The boy can definitely scream when he wants to.
Friday, July 14, 2006
Poop R' Us
Jaxon is 2 weeks old today. He is doing really well and already is changing so much. He has definitely held onto the newborn infant look much longer than Jaida did. I think because Jaida had so much hair she always looked older than she was. Jax still looks very much like a newborn. Right now Jax pretty much nurses, sleeps and poops a lot and that is pretty much it. He hardly ever cries (usually involves a diaper change when he is sleepy or a bath again when he is sleepy). He is very mellow and sleeps easily anywhere but especially loves to sleep in his mama's arms. He is generally sleeping through the night ... goes down at 11 p.m. and sleeps straight through to 5 a.m. or so and nurses and then back to sleep after minor grunting for another few hours. He is a very civilized baby with a very lucky mama. :)
Diaper changes have become a major source of entertainment around here. My reflexes are not quick enough for boy diaper changing which leads to much pee and poop being sprayed everywhere. Jaida thinks this is amazingly disgusting and absolutely hillarious all at the same time. Everytime I need to change Jax it means I go through three clean diapers in the process and usually end up with either pee or poop on myself. The boy is some kind of freaky poop making machine.
Diaper changes have become a major source of entertainment around here. My reflexes are not quick enough for boy diaper changing which leads to much pee and poop being sprayed everywhere. Jaida thinks this is amazingly disgusting and absolutely hillarious all at the same time. Everytime I need to change Jax it means I go through three clean diapers in the process and usually end up with either pee or poop on myself. The boy is some kind of freaky poop making machine.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Jaxon's Birth Story
On June 26 I started feeling what I thought were contractions although they were not painful at all. I really just felt a tightening across my lower abdomen that was slightly annoying. At Joe's urging I started timing them and realized they were coming at 3 minutes apart for about 30 -45 seconds. This persisted for the next 3 days with the only change being the length of the contractions (stretched out to 45 to 60 seconds). I really felt like all the contractions were just my body preparing itself but after a couple of days I really started to doubt myself. Everyone was telling me that I was going to go into labor any minute but I just didn't feel like labor was eminent. I woke up on Thursday June 29th feeling well rested after getting about 10 hours of sleep. It was the best I slept in ages. I just had a feeling that morning that labor was going to happen soon but I wasn't going to sit around and wait for it to happen. I took the day off work and met up with a friend for a haircut and then we all headed to the pool for the day. That afternoon Jaida and I came home from the pool and took a short nap and then this insane nesting urge set in. Joe and I buzzed around and cleaned the house up, did a couple of loads of laundry and made dinner. Around 5:00 p.m. I called my doula (Mary), birth assistant (Gwen) and sister (Noa) to update them and let them know that nothing (other than the usual contractions) was going on. Around 7:00 p.m. Jaida wanted me to come out onto the porch to see something. I stood up and made it half way to the front door when I heard a pop and then felt a small gush. There was no mistaking it ... my membranes had ruptured. I went into the bathroom and sure enough clear amniotic fluid and bloody show. I then called everyone back (including the midwife, Regina) and let everyone know they should head to our house ASAP. Mostly because everyone except Gwen was coming from Virginia and it was rush hour.
Gwen was the first to arrive and she immediately started setting up the master bedroom for the birth. She started pulling out all of our birth supplies as well as her own. She started the crock pot with the cloths for perinneal compresses. She warmed up all the baby blankets and baby hats using a heating pad. Joe and I continued folding laundry, sending out some emails and then ate dinner. We told Jaida what was happening and she ran around the house yelling my brother is coming soon. She was so excited. Next to arrive was Regina and my sister. Regina sort of interviewed me to find out exactly where I was at. Since I wasn't having painful contractions yet she returned some phone calls and wrote out some notes. Mary was the last to arrive and by then the contractions were getting to the point where they were slightly more uncomfortable. As I was talking I noticed that I would easily lose my train of thought during a contraction.
About 10:00 p.m. we decided Jaida needed to get some sleep in case it was a long labor. I went into her room with her and tried to lay on her little bed with her to get her to sleep. At that point the contractions really started to increase in intensity and I was quite uncomfortable. At 10:30
p.m. I went into our bedroom and rested on my right side. At 11:00 p.m. I got up and sat on the birth ball while sort of leaning forward onto Joe's lap. Mary the doula spent the next several hours rubbing my back and applying counter-pressure during the contractions. At this point I started having hot flashes and then I would suddenly get cold and was feeling a bit shaky and nauseous. Around midnight I was sitting on the birth ball and was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. I got up and went to the bathroom and then stood while Joe supported my weight. Around 12:30 a.m. I suddenly felt VERY nauseous and ended up vomiting. This scared me a little bit as I started having flash backs to my labor with Jaida when I was so nauseous and dehydrated from all the vomiting. Regina assurred me that this was a very different labor and vomiting is very normal and just my body clearing itself out. At this point I could feel the baby shifting postiions and he suddenly felt very heavy and I felt a lot of pressure.
At 1:00 a.m. I clearly think I was going through transition as I remember thinking there was no way I could do this any longer and that the baby was never going to come out. Joe, Mary and Gwen were all giving me tons of support. I remember my cat Percy laying on the corner of the bed. She has HUGE owl eyes and I remember just simply staring into her eyes as I was trying to get through each contraction since they were doubling up on each other. It really gave me something outside of myself to focus on. I got up and went into the bathroom to pee and while sitting on the toilet I suddenly became totally convinced baby boy was going to be born while I was sitting on the toilet. I suddenly felt tons of pressure and a strong urge to bear down. Joe told Regina that I was wanting to push and she brought some chux pads into the bathroom and put them on the bath mat just in case. I made it back into the bedroom and Regina suggested I lay on the bed on my right side. As soon as my body hit the bed I felt my body bear down and the rest of the amiotic fluid came gushing out. Regina warned me that the fluid was padding the baby and now that it was gone I was going to really feel a strong urge to push and a lot of pressure since the water was holding the baby back from really moving down into the birth canal. No more than she got the words out of her mouth I felt the most uncontrollable urge to push. It was incredible. The contractions were there but they didn't hurt any longer and the pushing felt so good and productive. I felt like I could push so hard I would rip in half. Regina reminded me that I needed to make small controlled pushes to help avoid a nasty tear like I had with Jaida. So I tried my hardest to make several small very controlled pushes through each contraction. I think it was possibly the hardest thing I have ever done seeing as how I wanted to just push hard and get it over with. Regina applied warm compresses to perineum to help it stretch and also did a massage with olive oil to help as his head was coming out.
At 1:58 a.m. Jaxon was born and it was the most amazing feeling in the world. Regina told me exactly what I was feeling as he came out. Head crowning (the burning gave this away), his forehead, brow bone, nose, chin, neck, first shoulder, second shoulder and then body. I felt everything. As soon as Jax was most of the way out our doula woke Noa and Jaida and asked them to come in. Jaxon latched on and started nursing about ten minutes later and then when the umbilical cord stopped pulsing and turned white/gray in color the midwife clamped it and Joe and Jaida cut it. We all laid on the bed staring at this new little human being in awe. Jaida was totally amazed at all of it. A few minutes later out came the placenta. We all inspected it and then Regina repaired a minor tear for me. No sponge bath for Jaxon ... he was covered in vernix (looked like a coating of felt) and we just vigorously rubbed it into his skin and that is where it stayed for the first three days of his life. We did not give him the Vitamin K injection and also did not put the antibiotic ointment in his eyes. It was so amazing seeing this little person just gazing at everyone in the room and knowing that his vision wasn't clouded (any more than normal) by the ointment. At 3:00 a.m. Joe brought me a sandwich, fruit and some OJ with an iron supplement in it. At 4:00 a.m. after the midwife, et al. finished their reports, cleaned up the room, started a load of laundry and checked on me they headed out and left our little family on its own. Simply perfect.
Jaxon had apgars of 8 and 9 ... he scored perfectly except on color ... it took him a bit to completely pink up. I have a feeling this is because the room was so cold ... I was a bit hot during labor. He weighed 8 pounds even 19 inches long and was born exactly a week before his edd. The birth experience was exactly like I imagined it should be. We had the lights dimmed and nice Native American flute music playing softly. Everyone stayed mostly silent but when talking happened it was in very hushed tones. Jaxon's birth was amazingly peaceful and I think it has carried over into every aspect of his early life. He is the most mellow and relaxed little guy. He rarely gets upset and peacefully nurses for prolonged periods of time. Just simply perfect in every way.
Gwen was the first to arrive and she immediately started setting up the master bedroom for the birth. She started pulling out all of our birth supplies as well as her own. She started the crock pot with the cloths for perinneal compresses. She warmed up all the baby blankets and baby hats using a heating pad. Joe and I continued folding laundry, sending out some emails and then ate dinner. We told Jaida what was happening and she ran around the house yelling my brother is coming soon. She was so excited. Next to arrive was Regina and my sister. Regina sort of interviewed me to find out exactly where I was at. Since I wasn't having painful contractions yet she returned some phone calls and wrote out some notes. Mary was the last to arrive and by then the contractions were getting to the point where they were slightly more uncomfortable. As I was talking I noticed that I would easily lose my train of thought during a contraction.
About 10:00 p.m. we decided Jaida needed to get some sleep in case it was a long labor. I went into her room with her and tried to lay on her little bed with her to get her to sleep. At that point the contractions really started to increase in intensity and I was quite uncomfortable. At 10:30
p.m. I went into our bedroom and rested on my right side. At 11:00 p.m. I got up and sat on the birth ball while sort of leaning forward onto Joe's lap. Mary the doula spent the next several hours rubbing my back and applying counter-pressure during the contractions. At this point I started having hot flashes and then I would suddenly get cold and was feeling a bit shaky and nauseous. Around midnight I was sitting on the birth ball and was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. I got up and went to the bathroom and then stood while Joe supported my weight. Around 12:30 a.m. I suddenly felt VERY nauseous and ended up vomiting. This scared me a little bit as I started having flash backs to my labor with Jaida when I was so nauseous and dehydrated from all the vomiting. Regina assurred me that this was a very different labor and vomiting is very normal and just my body clearing itself out. At this point I could feel the baby shifting postiions and he suddenly felt very heavy and I felt a lot of pressure.
At 1:00 a.m. I clearly think I was going through transition as I remember thinking there was no way I could do this any longer and that the baby was never going to come out. Joe, Mary and Gwen were all giving me tons of support. I remember my cat Percy laying on the corner of the bed. She has HUGE owl eyes and I remember just simply staring into her eyes as I was trying to get through each contraction since they were doubling up on each other. It really gave me something outside of myself to focus on. I got up and went into the bathroom to pee and while sitting on the toilet I suddenly became totally convinced baby boy was going to be born while I was sitting on the toilet. I suddenly felt tons of pressure and a strong urge to bear down. Joe told Regina that I was wanting to push and she brought some chux pads into the bathroom and put them on the bath mat just in case. I made it back into the bedroom and Regina suggested I lay on the bed on my right side. As soon as my body hit the bed I felt my body bear down and the rest of the amiotic fluid came gushing out. Regina warned me that the fluid was padding the baby and now that it was gone I was going to really feel a strong urge to push and a lot of pressure since the water was holding the baby back from really moving down into the birth canal. No more than she got the words out of her mouth I felt the most uncontrollable urge to push. It was incredible. The contractions were there but they didn't hurt any longer and the pushing felt so good and productive. I felt like I could push so hard I would rip in half. Regina reminded me that I needed to make small controlled pushes to help avoid a nasty tear like I had with Jaida. So I tried my hardest to make several small very controlled pushes through each contraction. I think it was possibly the hardest thing I have ever done seeing as how I wanted to just push hard and get it over with. Regina applied warm compresses to perineum to help it stretch and also did a massage with olive oil to help as his head was coming out.
At 1:58 a.m. Jaxon was born and it was the most amazing feeling in the world. Regina told me exactly what I was feeling as he came out. Head crowning (the burning gave this away), his forehead, brow bone, nose, chin, neck, first shoulder, second shoulder and then body. I felt everything. As soon as Jax was most of the way out our doula woke Noa and Jaida and asked them to come in. Jaxon latched on and started nursing about ten minutes later and then when the umbilical cord stopped pulsing and turned white/gray in color the midwife clamped it and Joe and Jaida cut it. We all laid on the bed staring at this new little human being in awe. Jaida was totally amazed at all of it. A few minutes later out came the placenta. We all inspected it and then Regina repaired a minor tear for me. No sponge bath for Jaxon ... he was covered in vernix (looked like a coating of felt) and we just vigorously rubbed it into his skin and that is where it stayed for the first three days of his life. We did not give him the Vitamin K injection and also did not put the antibiotic ointment in his eyes. It was so amazing seeing this little person just gazing at everyone in the room and knowing that his vision wasn't clouded (any more than normal) by the ointment. At 3:00 a.m. Joe brought me a sandwich, fruit and some OJ with an iron supplement in it. At 4:00 a.m. after the midwife, et al. finished their reports, cleaned up the room, started a load of laundry and checked on me they headed out and left our little family on its own. Simply perfect.
Jaxon had apgars of 8 and 9 ... he scored perfectly except on color ... it took him a bit to completely pink up. I have a feeling this is because the room was so cold ... I was a bit hot during labor. He weighed 8 pounds even 19 inches long and was born exactly a week before his edd. The birth experience was exactly like I imagined it should be. We had the lights dimmed and nice Native American flute music playing softly. Everyone stayed mostly silent but when talking happened it was in very hushed tones. Jaxon's birth was amazingly peaceful and I think it has carried over into every aspect of his early life. He is the most mellow and relaxed little guy. He rarely gets upset and peacefully nurses for prolonged periods of time. Just simply perfect in every way.
Friday, July 07, 2006
One Week Old
Jaxon is one week old today. Well, technically at 1:58 this morning.
He is doing wonderfully. He is a very sleepy baby but does have nice periods of quiet alert time where he just sits back and takes it all in. He looks all around and is especially drawn to his sister's voice. He sleeps in th emorning and usually has a short period of awake time right around lunch time and then eventually falls back to sleep and stays that way most of the afternoon. He has quite a bit of awake time in the evening while he cluster feeds. He usually falls back to sleep around 8:30 or so. I force a dream-feed on him around 10:30 or 11:00 p.m. and then he sleeps until 4:45 or so. He then has a quick feed and I pump what is remaining and he goes back to sleep until 8:30 or 9:00 a.m. We have only heard him cry a handful of times ... once right after birth, a couple of times during diaper changes and during his only 2 sponge baths. Jax really is the sweetest little guy. He is so relaxed which often makes me wonder if he actually has a central nervous system. :) He has very relaxed arms, legs and hands and rarely displays the falling/startle reflex. So different from Jaida. He sleeps in the bed with Joe and I and we are enjoying every single minute of it. He is such a snuggle bug.
He had his first pediatrician appointment on Monday morning. He was pronounced perfect but then again we already knew that. He doesn't have any jaundice or other strange newborn issues. His umbilical stump was looking a bit funky ... not infected just a little funky. So the pediatrician painted it with silver nitrate to help speed along the drying process and asked us to put alcohol on it at every diaper change. It fell off Wednesday night and I found it in our bed Thursday morning. I don't think it was quite dry yet though as his actual belly button is still a tad bit oozy but hopefully it will dry up soon. Otherwise he is doing wonderfully. At birth we declined the Vitamin K injection and also declined the eye goop. We also decided not to circumcize. So he is a 100% organic baby boy. ;) At the pediatrician we also are delaying all vaccinations for at least several months. So short of taking a tiny bit of blood out of his body for a metabolic screening nothing has been put into his little body. We delayed the vax's with Jaida also and she was still fully vaxed by her 2nd birthday so it is completely doable and just seems to make sense to us to let him get some meat on his bones before we start pumping him full of stuff. My milk came in on Monday morning and I can tell he is definitely already heavier. At his pediatrician appointment he was 7 pounds 14 ounces so he only lost 2 ounces of his birth weight which is amazing since babies can lose up to 10% of their birthweight in the first week.
We are all falling madly in love with little Jax. He is such a joy to be around already. Did I mention that he smells so good? His natural smell is so sweet. Who knew I missed having a tiny baby around so much.
He is doing wonderfully. He is a very sleepy baby but does have nice periods of quiet alert time where he just sits back and takes it all in. He looks all around and is especially drawn to his sister's voice. He sleeps in th emorning and usually has a short period of awake time right around lunch time and then eventually falls back to sleep and stays that way most of the afternoon. He has quite a bit of awake time in the evening while he cluster feeds. He usually falls back to sleep around 8:30 or so. I force a dream-feed on him around 10:30 or 11:00 p.m. and then he sleeps until 4:45 or so. He then has a quick feed and I pump what is remaining and he goes back to sleep until 8:30 or 9:00 a.m. We have only heard him cry a handful of times ... once right after birth, a couple of times during diaper changes and during his only 2 sponge baths. Jax really is the sweetest little guy. He is so relaxed which often makes me wonder if he actually has a central nervous system. :) He has very relaxed arms, legs and hands and rarely displays the falling/startle reflex. So different from Jaida. He sleeps in the bed with Joe and I and we are enjoying every single minute of it. He is such a snuggle bug.
He had his first pediatrician appointment on Monday morning. He was pronounced perfect but then again we already knew that. He doesn't have any jaundice or other strange newborn issues. His umbilical stump was looking a bit funky ... not infected just a little funky. So the pediatrician painted it with silver nitrate to help speed along the drying process and asked us to put alcohol on it at every diaper change. It fell off Wednesday night and I found it in our bed Thursday morning. I don't think it was quite dry yet though as his actual belly button is still a tad bit oozy but hopefully it will dry up soon. Otherwise he is doing wonderfully. At birth we declined the Vitamin K injection and also declined the eye goop. We also decided not to circumcize. So he is a 100% organic baby boy. ;) At the pediatrician we also are delaying all vaccinations for at least several months. So short of taking a tiny bit of blood out of his body for a metabolic screening nothing has been put into his little body. We delayed the vax's with Jaida also and she was still fully vaxed by her 2nd birthday so it is completely doable and just seems to make sense to us to let him get some meat on his bones before we start pumping him full of stuff. My milk came in on Monday morning and I can tell he is definitely already heavier. At his pediatrician appointment he was 7 pounds 14 ounces so he only lost 2 ounces of his birth weight which is amazing since babies can lose up to 10% of their birthweight in the first week.
We are all falling madly in love with little Jax. He is such a joy to be around already. Did I mention that he smells so good? His natural smell is so sweet. Who knew I missed having a tiny baby around so much.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
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