Fletcher 1 and 2 Months

I'm sorry, no one told me that time suddenly vanishes after you have a child. Rude. But seriously, where did TWO months go?!? On one hand I feel like Fletcher just got here but on the other I don't even remember what our life was like before him.

MONTH ONE

Basically we had no idea what the hell we were doing. Jared and I read zero baby books in preparation for our boy's arrival. I think in a lot of ways that helped us because we were not overloaded with information and trying to do so many different things, but I also wish we had known just a little more beforehand. The number one thing: newborns can only stay awake for 45-60 minutes MAX. Yes, this is so true and overstimulation is the realest thing ever. This bit of information would've saved us from a lot of guessing in the beginning.

Eating: Luckily we both took to breastfeeding really well and until 3 weeks Fletcher ate every 2.5 hours on the dot. After his 3 week visit he was gaining enough weight so we moved the schedule to every 3 hours. I also started pumping at 3.5 weeks and at first it was just one pump per day with Jared giving him a bottle for his last feeding before bed. But around 4 weeks he started to scream before and just after latching and we never knew if it was going to be a good nursing session or a frightening one. So we switched to the bottle full time and never looked back. He is much happier with the bottle, probably because he gets it faster and at a more consistent rate. We also never did on demand feedings. We tried to stick as close to the schedule as possible. Now, if he were going through a growth spurt or wanted to eat early obviously I fed him. I quickly learned when he was hungry versus tired.

Sleeping: From the beginning Fletcher has been a "good sleeper" (minus the first 2 nights home from the hospital) We attribute his sleep habits to his chunkiness. We moved him into his crib on day 7 and I think that made a world of difference for all of us. Babies are really loud sleepers in case you didn't know. Weeks 2-4 he went down at about 10pm and woke to eat 1:30-2:30 and 4:30-5:30 like clockwork. We tried a lot of different swaddling techniques during the first month. First I thought he didn't like to have his hands swaddled. False, his hands would wake him up from startling. Then we tried the "swaddle me sleeping pod" and that worked well until he started wiggling his arms out. Finally, there was the Halo sleepsack which got us our first 7 hour stretch! We introduced our nighttime routine around 3.5 weeks which consists of bath, food, book or song, then rocking to sleep. Some naps he would do in his crib but it was hit or miss and a lot of them were taken on my chest those first few weeks.

Activity: refer back to the 45-60 minute rule. When he was nursing, which took about 30-40 minutes every 2.5 hours, he was only awake for maybe 10-15 good minutes before getting fussy. Once we switched to the bottle and realized the timing you could set your watch to his schedule. Now if he starts crying everyone will look at the time and can immediately tell what the deal is. In month one he slept (a lot), really just enjoyed being held and would be pretty upset if you tried to put him down for longer than 5 minutes when he was awake.. He loves being outside and going on walks. Around week 4 we started to get our first smiles. They were far and few between but melted my heart every time.
One Month Picture Recap:


came out expecting some answers



mama's push present. Jared's birthstone (garnet) and diamonds. red and white for life ;)

 

stole mom's heart

met the fur brothers

battled some serious baby acne

found out Aunt Jules and Uncle Will are having a BOY aka Fletch's bff!

mastered the stank face in several different forms

 

slept. a lot.

bonded with my best friend, dad

MONTH TWO

Hey, who were those parents that knew absolutely nothing? haha joking, we still know next to nothing. But, we have started to learn what works for us as a family of three. I wish we could say that we are really great new parents and know all the tricks but it is really him who is just that awesome and chill ;) In all seriousness, there are still hard days but those are becoming really infrequent. We have learned a lot of Fletcher's queues and know how to respond (most of the time).

Eating:full-time bottle-eater and exclusive-pumper over here. I pump three times per day and they are my least favorite parts of the day. I just feel so alone when pumping. Its 30 minutes where I am tied to a machine, can't hold Fletcher and then have to do dishes after, not that fun at all. He is taking 4-6oz per bottle and eating every 3-3.5 hours. The boy loves to eat!

Sleeping: around 5-6 weeks we started getting our first 8 hour stretches at night. The first night he slept through his usual 3am wake up I shot up in shock and checked the monitor to see if he was still breathing. From 6-7 weeks he slept 9:30pm-5am pretty consistently. On week 8 we moved on to the next schedule in our "Moms on Call" book [which is a recommended reading. thank you again Jessie!] so he is now going down between 8/9 and sleeping until 6/6:45. Yes, those are 9 to 10 hour stretches people! There are still some wild nights where he wakes up at 4:30 and wants to eat. Our goal is to get to a 8pm-7am schedule but we aren't trying to push it and are beyond happy with where our almost 9 week old is currently! He takes three 1.5-2 hour naps and one 45 minute catnap before dinner. Napping in the crib the first half of the month was a real struggle but we are happy to report almost all naps are now in the crib! This month we broke down and bought the Ollie swaddle which was a total game changer in the swaddle department. It is made of the softest and most breathable material plus its super stretchy so you can get baby tight, tight, tight! He has only broken out of it a handful of times which were mostly due to my poor securing of it. Finally, we started putting him down in his crib somewhat awake and letting him soothe himself to sleep. It doesn't happen every time and we only do cry it out for about 5 minutes but he is putting himself to sleep and it feels like winning the lottery every time.

Activity: he started cooing and giving us his biggest-gummiest-sweetest smiles around week 6. He has started to enjoy his activity mat which I swore I would never own because they are hideous. Still loves to be outside and has started joining me on my morning runs. I think his favorite part of the day is bath time. He could splash in his little whale tub for hours! He is getting more tolerant of tummy time but still only lasts a couple minutes. He is able to hold his head up really well when being held or sitting in your lap. He gets the cheesiest grin when Jared reads to him at night and it might be the cutest thing I have ever seen. He loves to "talk" to us and wiggles all around.
Two Month Picture Recap:

grew. a lot.

 

attended uncle Michael's graduation

 

twinned with dad

mom's first Mother's Day gift

first trip to the beach

bath time serenade 

grew some more

told mom how much I hate tummy time

 

hung out with dad before work

flirted with the Dr. at my 2 month check up

  

mastered the art of blowouts

Biggest things I learned from my first two months as a parent:
-a good lactation consultant is worth their weight in gold [Raleigh friends, Heather at Pediatric Partners is ahhhmazing]
-having a mom friend who is similar to you is the best thing you could ever ask for [Thank you Jessie times a million! You, my friend, are wonderful]
-babies cry. Sometimes a lot and sometimes for no reason at all.
-finding support in each other even when said baby is screaming in your ear every night for two weeks straight from 7:30pm-9pm [Jared, you are a trooper. Thank you for dealing with me and all my crazy antics and questions about swaddling and scheduling even though we both have no clue what we are doing half the time. There is no one else I'd rather be with in a zombie apocalypse]
-a positive attitude is a saving grace. Yes, some days are wonderful and Fletcher sticks to his schedule to a tee. Other days are shitstorms (literally) where he wants to cry a lot for no good reason and be held all day [luckily these are seldom]. For me it was taking a deep breath, smiling at my sweet sleeping baby (who refused to nap in his crib for the third time that day), knowing dad will be home to help soon, the day will end and we would get to restart in the morning. It is all a season and one day I will want all that craziness to return.
-people tell you about the love you will have for your child but there is nothing that will prepare you for it. It is this amazing, all-consuming, knock-the-breath-right-out-of-you, heart-swelling, gut-busting, every-second-of-every-day, kind of love.

Fletcher James, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. You are truly a blessing to me and your dad. I pray that I am the best mother I can be for you. 

Fletcher's Nursery

The nursery is hands down my favorite room in the house. While we were piecing it together I knew we would be spending a lot of time in there so I wanted to make sure it would be a comfortable space that we all three loved being in. I also knew that this was going to be one of the last times I would get to pick everything that was going into our child's room because in about four years there will be requests for footballs, airplanes, and racecar bed (just like his dad).

Before we knew the gender of our little babe Jared and I discussed what we each had in mind for the nursery. I believe Jared's first pitch was for an NC State theme with a Carter Finely mural on the wall behind the crib. That was quickly shot down by me (sorry hubs). His next suggestion actually stuck. He said we should do themes for boy or girl based on our favorite childhood Disney movies. Jared's is Fox and Hound and mine is The Little Mermaid. Initially I was picturing cartoon characters all over the walls and absolutely hated that idea. But then I realized we could have that theme without it being so "Disney."




Once we knew we were having a little boy I got to planning the Fox and Hound theme sans cartoon characters. I knew I wanted earthy tones with a woodland feel. I based the room around these prints:

 

They were all found on Etsy from various sellers. The large white distressed frames are from a clearance sale at a furniture store last year. We just held on to them waiting for the perfect use :) The rest of the frames are from Homegoods of course.

The changing table is actually a hand-me-down from my best friend, Caitlin. Her mom used it for her and her older sister when they were little which makes the dresser almost 32 years old and that much more special to have! I just repainted it white and changed out the knobs, which are actually sticks from out backyard cut down to drawer-pull-size. I almost passed out when I saw that bear hamper in Homegoods. I had been looking for weeks for the perfect hamper for his room when I stumbled upon that gem.  

Since I was planning to breastfeed I knew I need a comfortable glider for nursing Fletcher throughout the day and in the wee hours of the morning. We searched high and low for a reasonably priced, comfortable, functional, and attractive glider. However, that does not exist and the one I fell in love with was way out of our price range. Jared suggested we just recover the old recliner we had sitting in the guest room unused. I was against it at first, naturally, but this is by far the most comfortable chair. All it took was a navy slipcover from Amazon to make mama happy.

The curtain rods are one of my favorite things in the room. They are just sanded down tree branches from the woods in our backyard. I will never forget being huge pregnant walking back there with Jared and Maverick looking for the perfect stick/tree/branch for my insane idea for a curtain rod. I love the way they turned out! 

I picked up this side table at the Restore for $15! I painted it and added drawer pulls to match the changing table/dresser.

The jar on the table is a gift my mom gave me at my baby shower. It is filled with pearls. There is a card attached that gives instructions to remove a pearl from the jar once a week, every week, until Fletcher is 18 years old. It is to remind me to cherish the time I have with my boy each week.

 The closet doors in this room are straight from the 70's. So I jazzed them up a little by painting them a greenish-grey color and framing the doors with wood that I stained and distressed.

The bookshelves turned out just how I had pictured them. I stained and painted the wood to match the wood around the closet and Jared put them together for me. I think we are going to need to add some more shelving because baby boy already has an insane amount of books! 

I had to point out a few of my favorite things on the shelves, the monogrammed wooden rattle and the "Go Wolfpack Go" book. The rattle was a gift from our friend Emily. She knows us so well! The Wolfpack book is from our friend Alyson and will be my new go-to shower gift for our fellow expectant NC State mamas. It is an interactive book that follows Mr and Ms Wuf around campus and Raleigh. It is just too cute! 

The initial letters were one of my other Etsy splurges. Each letter is handmade from driftwood found on the beaches of Rhode Island.

The final piece in the nursery was this cross-stich made by a friend. It is a play on the song "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys." Jared's idea of course. Gotta start em' young ;)

Other miscellaneous things in the nursery:

Target: rug and pouf

Homegoods: toy chest, baskets, lamp, and curtains

Pottery Barn Kids: crib

Then here is a picture of our updated master. This was a surprise facelift for our room in conjunction with the nursery.

And...what is a blog post without pictures of Fletcher?



this was the very first onesie we purchased after finding out we were going to have a baby!

intentional smiling just melts my heart every.single.time.

first trip on to the beach. he loved it!

 

Fletcher James Rice--Birth Story

I can't believe Jared and I have been parents for a little over two weeks now. People always said having a child would change everything, but I don't think anyone could have prepared me for the feelings we have for this boy. Love is an understatement. He is perfect in every single way and I feel incredibly blessed to be his mother.

Fletcher James Rice was born March 28, 2016 at 10:32 pm. This is his birth story.

My due date, March 25, came and passed. I worked late that day to get a few things finished at the office in case I happened to deliver over the weekend even though I was fully convinced I would be back at work on Monday. After work I went to have my eyebrows done. The lady asked, "twins?" I felt like crying right there in her chair. No, not twins, I am just massive!

Saturday, March 26, still pregnant, Jared and I decided to take the dogs for a long 3 mile walk that morning to see if we could get things moving. During the walk I had a few intense Braxton Hicks contractions but nothing more. We went for our usual bagels, hopeful I would have my water break at our favorite bagel spot, but no such luck. Then we decided donuts were a good idea because if I was going to go past my due date, I was going to make it worth it. Side note, all the hype about Duck Donuts is for real, that place is ahhh-mazing. We thought maybe a movie would help. So we went to see Superman vs Batman. We joked before the movie about how inconvenient it would be to go into labor during a movie. Well, I started to have (what I thought at the time) contractions. They were 5 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute, throughout the two hour movie. This is when I started to get excited. I called the on call service and spoke to the doctor on call. She, however, was not excited and said it sounded like false labor and was probably the weather (there was a storm coming that night). She told me to drink plenty of fluids and get some rest (HA!). I was a little discouraged and decided the baby was never coming. We finished out the day with Five Guys and another walk around the neighborhood. After over 13,000 steps that day, we went to bed with still no baby in sight.

Sunday, March 27, Easter Sunday, we went to church as usual and prayed for baby boy to make his appearance soon. I felt huge and my swelling was out of control. After church we took the dogs around the neighborhood for a walk. About halfway through the walk Jared farted and I laughed so hard I thought I peed myself because that is totally something my pregnant self would do. Jared thought this was hilarious and tried to scare me which only made me laugh harder and thus, more pee. I cleaned myself up and we decided to have a lazy restful Sunday, baby would come when he was ready. Throughout the rest of the day I noticed some "abnormal leakage" everytime I got up from the couch or went to the bathroom. Around 9pm it occurred to me that it could of been my water breaking and not pee. So I called the doctor on call fully expecting her to think I was crazy. However, the opposite happened. She talked to me for about 15 minutes and told me she was unsure if it was my water or not and there was no way to tell without a test. She gave me the option to come to the hospital that night or to wait until 8 am the next day. Since I wasn't having contractions I decided to stay home.

 

Monday, March 28, I woke to zero contractions. I felt like I would be going to work that morning after my appointment. I texted my boss and team to let them know I would be in later after my doctor checked me. Jared and I left the house with our work bags but also packed our hospital bags just in case they found something. We drove separate cars, stopped a chik-fil-a for breakfast because Jared insisted if we were staying we should eat something. I was still convinced I was going to be at work in a few hours. We arrived at the doctors office promptly at 8am. When we checked in the nurse asked why we were there. I said "Either my water broke or I peed myself yesterday, we aren't sure." They laughed but then got serious. The doctor had told them about me and were expecting me. My doctor examined me, which was super uncomfortable, took a sample of the fluid, said my bag looked intact and checked my dilation, only 3 cm (ugh!). She sent one sample to the lab before doing an ultrasound to check the fluid around the baby. Everything looked great to her and she confirmed we were in fact having a boy. She chalked everything up to "mystery fluid," told me to get dressed, and gave me the OK to go back to work. The nurse called in and said we needed to wait for the results from the lab. So we waited and I sent a couple emails. Then the doctor came back in with a very different demeanor. She said the fern test was positive, which meant it was amniotic fluid leaking. She suspected it was a high slow leak but since it had been close to 24 hours since my "peeing incident" they were worried about infection to the baby. She said I would need to go check into labor and delivery and possibly be induced. I immediately felt sick. I did not want to be induced. I wanted to have a completely natural birth. I wanted labor to start on its own. This was not my plan. She talked me through the process and the pros and cons which was somewhat reassuring. I still left in tears and in panic. I was going to have a baby today, but this was not the way I had planned. I called my mom in tears and told her to come even though I had no idea how long it would actually take.

We headed across the parking deck to the Women's Center and checked in at 9:15. The triage lady said, "man, that is a belly!" Yes, lady, I am very pregnant, thank you for noticing. We waited in this awkward area with several other pregnant women until they took me back at about 10:15. I got undressed and the nurse hooked me up to the monitors. She got all my information and asked me about my birth plan. I said, "not this." She laughed but I told her my intention was to go as natural as possible and wanted no interventions unless necessary, but understood that there were some circumstances that would warrant the need. At 12:00 the doctor came in and we discussed the plan. She manually broke my water which was the most interesting experience. It was in fact a huge gush of warm fluid all over the place. At the time of the break she said I was measuring about 4 cm. Mild contractions started shortly after. Jared left to get lunch and I did some work.

I decided to take a walk around the unit around 2pm to see if that would help get things moving a little faster. My mom arrived around 2:30 and we walked down to the gift shop to get my mind somewhere else. The contractions were increasing in intensity but still irregular intervals. At 4pm the doctor came back to check my progress. She sadly told me we were going to have to start Pitocin to get the labor moving because of the infection risk to baby. Around 4:30, after starting the Pitocin, I thought to myself, "oh, so this is real labor." The contractions were strong and consistent intervals. Jared was watching the monitor and quickly learned to not tell me when contractions were coming. We tried to use some of our distraction techniques we learned in class and turned on an episode of House of Cards. That lasted all of 20 minutes before I needed silence in the room during contractions. At 6:30 the doctor came back for another check. I had only dilated to just over 6 cm. She decided the Pitocin needed to be increased. I decided I wanted to try the nitrous oxide. The purpose is to take your mind off the pain so you don't really care. The nurse hooked me up and I tried several times, but it did not seem to work and actually messed up my concentration.

Around 7:30 the contractions were very intense. Sometimes they would couple on top of each other and I wouldn't get the break that I was looking for between them. I started to get the urge to push and the nurse wanted to check me to see if I was ready. Unfortunately I was only about 7 cm dilated but baby was at +1 station. Baby was engaged and my body thought it was ready to go but my cervix was just not ready. The nurse told me that I would need to combat the urge to push. This was the most painful and most difficult part of the labor. This went on for two more hours. The contractions would come strong and sometimes three on top of each other with no break and then I would get about 4 minutes of rest. My mom and Jared said that between contractions I would zone out and looked like I was very "zen." I have no idea where I went but I knew the pain was worth it and would be over soon. I lived for the breaks between contractions.

At 9:30 the urge to push was unbearable. The nurse checked me again and said I was just over 9cm and a few more contractions I would be ready to push. At 9:40 she said I was ready to start pushing. Jared had one leg and my mom had the other. The nurse did a couple of pushes with me and then had the doctor called into the room. The doctor was concerned because with every push the baby's heart rate would drop. They gave me a non-rebreather mask to get oxygen to me and the baby between pushes. The doctor said the cord was wrapped around his neck but she remained calm. Jared was amazing and watched the whole thing. He coached me through each push and gave me water between pushes. He was so excited when I started crowning and said "Lauren, he has blonde hair!" I began to feel very tired and felt like I wouldn't be able to push any longer. The doctor had me reached down and feel the baby's head. This was just the motivation I needed. A few strong pushes later and out came my sweet boy at 10:32pm! Jared said he watched the doctor un-lasso the cord from around his neck the second he came out. They placed him on my belly and the room went silent for just a brief second. The doctor exclaimed, "oh my gosh, he is a big baby." They brought him up to my chest for skin to skin while the placenta was delivered and the doctor stitched up my very minor first degree tear. A few minutes later they took our sweet boy to the scale to be weighed. Everyone was guessing around 9 pounds. Everyone in the room watched as the numbers on the scale began to climb and then quickly passed 9 then settled at 10 pounds 3.8 ounces! I cried out, "it was all the frosty's!"

The feelings that came over me cannot be explained. It was something I would do again and again. There is nothing more magical than seeing and holding your child for the first time. Just when I thought it couldn't get any sweeter I saw my husband hold our boy for the first time. My heart exploded. I thought I loved him before but this was no comparison. It doesn't help that our boy is literally the spitting image of his father.

My brothers came and brought me my post-push meal, Wendy's, of course. I enjoyed my spicy chicken sandwich and frosty while we drooled over how perfect Fletcher is before being brought to the mother-baby unit. We didn't sleep much in the hospital like we should have, as in I think I got maybe 6 hours of sleep in 3 days, but I couldn't stop staring and holding our precious gift.

We have been home with him for exactly two weeks and it still sometimes doesn't feel real. How did I get blessed with such a perfect baby? He is nothing like I thought having a newborn would be like. Everyone says his size helps with that. He is chunky and I love it. He sleeps and eats great! He is now starting to become more alert and finding his voice which means more crying than the first week but he is easy to soothe and remains a very chill, snuggly, sweet, squishy baby. He is changing everyday and time seems to be passing all too quickly.

Fletcher James, we love you so much.