Parenthood

Bath time is the best :)

Tucker hated bath time at first. Now he is warming up to it. He peed on us the first time in the bath. 

Tummy time is another story.

Tummy time=torture.

Tucker hates it. He screams and cries and makes me feel like I'm part of the Spanish Inquisition. But now he has learned to be sneaky. Now he either just lays there and looks at us. Or he smirks at me and then just rolls over. And when he does that, I'm proud of him and I pick him up. I'm a pushover. 

Nighttime is still a bit of an adventure. Tucker goes down so well at first. He sleeps from about 9:30 to 1:30. I feed him and he usually is back asleep around 2:15. But then 3:45 am rolls around and it's a whole different story. Tucker wakes up, eats and then decides it is time to take on the day... 

We are trying to figure out a solution for the problem but so far nothing has really worked. 

But at the end of the day, we have such an amazing son. He is happy and smiley and makes my heart melt whenever I hold him. He's my best little friend and I just adore spending my time with him. He literally will be totally perfect once he gets his sleep schedule down :)

A Family of Three

Well I have learned a valuable lesson from blogger... I learned that if you are writing a post on a phone or tablet you have to save it before leaving the app otherwise your post disappears... This is my fourth time writing this post because I just figured this out. 

Well here we go for this big update!

James Tucker Coles was born on July 25th at 2:38 AM. Our little stud muffin was a healthy baby of 8 lbs 4 oz and came in at 21 inches long. I adore this little man. 

Now for the obligatory birth story. Feel free to skip ahead, I don't judge.

Well my due date was July 23rd and nothing happened. So we moved on from that. However on the morning of the 24th, after a night full of contractions, I was determined to get this little man out into the world! So I woke up and went to the gym with Ryan. Thankfully it was a day off from work (thank you pioneers) and I had all day to achieve my goal. So I walked a couple miles, did a little stair master and was thoroughly done. So I waited for Ryan to finish his workout and then we went home. Nothing happened. 

So then we decided to take a walk over to the Pioneer Day festivities across the street and talked with the missionaries that were there for about an hour. I was baked from the heat and finally told Ryan I needed to go home since I was tired and parched. So we came home and got some cold water and a Popsicle. Something happened. 

My contractions started coming along quite nicely. So Ryan and I turned on a movie and decided we were going to wait this one out on the couch. Ryan started timing my contractions to see how frequent they were becoming. It didnt take long for them to be 5 minutes apart. But I still felt fine. I could breathe through them, walk around, talk. So I kept waiting. Then around 6:30 pm some of our neighbors brought over some cookies for us. Perfect timing. As they were standing in our doorway I had a big contraction, followed by a pop, which brought about a huge gush of warm water... All over the couch. 

Well Ryan quickly shoved the girls out the door (sorry) and began to throw everything in the car. I waddled upstairs to clean up and change. And it was then that my brain caught up with reality. I was going to have a baby. Like now! Insane. So after I changed I sat on the bed and tried to convince myself that I didn't need to go to the hospital. I know, weird. But I can't control what my brain in labor thinks. 

So my sweet husband came upstairs and told me it was time to go. I looked at him and told him it wasn't time and that I didn't need to go. He gave me a look of, 'you're beyond retarded but you're in labor so I will listen.' Needless to say we were in the car about 5 minutes later. 

We got to the hospital and they confirmed that my water had broken. So they admitted me and got me in my delivery room. 

Ryan and I turned on the tv and they actually had some excellent movie choices. We got settled and talked with my nurse. She was AMAZING. Totally supportive of me and wanting to go natural. She checked me and told me I was at a 3. That was at around 7:45ish. Then I started having those contractions that make you tell your husband that you will never have another child. The nurse came in again to check me around 9. I was a 5. Moving along nicely. And then the exhaustion hit. I hadn't slept for the past 2 nights and now I was dealing with these contractions that were speeding me along. I was so tired and I knew that I would be up all night again having this baby. So I talked to Ryan and asked him (like he would care) if he would judge me if I got an epidural. I was terrified of the epidural. Not because I hate needles or I was worried about not experiencing birth. I just hate being numb! That's it! 

So I talked with my nurse and told her my worries and thoughts and she told me that ultimately it was my choice but that she thought I would be okay with the numbness since they can give me a low dose. So I said yes and about 30 minutes later the anesthesiologist came in and made me very happy indeed. It was perfect. I couldn't feel pain but I could move my legs around still. I wasn't an invalid. It was perfect for me. After that I was finally able to relax and just enjoy being with Ryan for those last few hours. 

Well about 3 cups of piña colada ice chips later (90 minutes) my nurse came back in right when Skyfall was ending to check me and was shocked when she found out I was a 10! That's right, a 5 to a 10 in 90 minutes. So glad I couldn't feel those monstrous contractions. Well I was in even more shock than her when she said, 'Well are you ready to have a baby?' I thought she was joking. But she wasn't. So she went and called my doctor who was still at home since he thought I wouldn't be ready until about 5 or 6 in the morning. He said to have me start pushing  in about a half hour so that baby would be in a good position when he got there and could just come on out. 

It was such a surreal experience. It was just me and Ryan and our nurse in the room. They got me set up to start pushing and it was very quiet and intimate. Of course, none of us thought to turn off Avengers which was playing right in front of me. I felt like the Hulk when I was pushing. I will never see that movie the same way again. 

Ryan was absolutely the greatest man in those hours at the hospital. When I was pushing he was coaching me along. I'm sure I looked like a buffoon and considering how water logged I was at the time (think hippo/water buffalo) he still told me I was beautiful and that he loved me. This is also after he witnessed me puke all over myself since the epidural made me a bit nauseous. That was quite a funny moment looking back on it all.

Well I pushed for about 20 minutes sporadically with the nurse and Ryan. Then my OB got to the hospital and then it was time for the big show. The room filled up with nurses and gear and doctors. Ryan held my hand because he knew I was nervous. And Dr. Thorpe told me it was time once he was all ready to go.It didn't take long. About 10 more minutes of pushing and Tucker was out! It was so fast and so 'easy' that I still am having a hard time believing it. I keep telling myself that I must just be blocking some horrible memories or something. But, knock on wood, I am really hoping the rest of our kids come along as easily.

Well I can't even describe how incredible the whole experience was for us. We are so happy and blessed to have our son in our lives. 

And now, what you really want to see, the pictures. I don't have many from the hospital. But I have many more from home. So look forward to another post later today or tomorrow! :)

Little man in his cute hat

My big baby that I still can't believe weighed that much

I hate this picture of me. But it is the first time I got to hold him so I guess the magic of the moment makes up for the lack of prettiness. 

Sleepy baby boy at 12 hours old :)

Learning Curve

Well I know that my son is now three weeks old and I am finally getting around to putting up things on the blog. But I couldn't help it.

It has been a madhouse! We had family in town right off the bat once Tucker was born. That was great! However, being the OCD weirdo that I am I felt the need to cook and clean and show everyone that I could do it all. This is on top of just getting out of the hospital and recovering and not sleeping and all that typical post birth jazz. I know, I am bizarre. 

So yes, it was crazy hectic and Tucker didn't get too much of a break either. We had Ryan's family in town first. It was great to have my mother in law here to help me with the baby when I would concede that I needed help. She was very loving and patient with my stubborn self. 

Tucker had a traumatic experience of getting circumcised at the doctor's office. It was so sad to send him into that forbidding room. Luckily Ryan was there though to be with him. Along with his uncle and grandpa. It was a big family affair. But we couldn't have asked for a healthier baby boy and I am so grateful for that.

My parents got into town a week later and they were so overjoyed to meet their first little grandson. They too were a big help while they were in town. They stocked our kitchen to the brim and took care of Tucker so I could do little things like shower or sleep. 

It was awesome to have everyone in town for Tucker's blessing. We had to do it pretty much right away because it is so hard to coordinate trips where families from two coasts have to come into town.  But it worked out perfectly. Tucker wore his little gallibea that Ryan got him in Cairo and we had all our family and friends come to the church for the blessing. Ryan gave him such a powerful blessing that I was just blown away. I really have such an amazing husband. 

Well after that, Ryan's family headed back home to Cali and my family stayed for another week. Like I said, we had people here non-stop. Ryan also had to head out because he had to go to Montana for a quick research trip for work. He went and partied on the Cheyenne Indian reservation there for a few days. It was so cute to FaceTime with him at night and see how much he missed us. Needless to say, I am not looking forward to him going to Italy at the end of the month. 

But other than that, I think Ryan and I are adjusting to this parenthood thing pretty well. My physical recovery has been so fast and easy. I feel great and I am just excited to be able to go to the gym again and get back into shape. I have this odd flap of skin where my abdominals should be that needs to secede from the union. 

Tucker nurses like a champ. He caught on so fast. He doesn't fuss unless there is something wrong. And he makes the cutest noises and faces that his dad and I just adore. We are all getting better at sleeping. Tucker for a while was only waking up once at night which was amazing. Now he is a little bit confused still about the purpose of nighttime but we are working on it. I am learning how to be at home full-time. It is awesome and wonderful, I just know that once Tucker and I have a routine, it will be a lot easier. It is hot though. Which means I don't like taking Tucker out in his stroller for walks during the day because of the heat. I usually have to wait til nighttime to do that when it's cooler. 

I do know though that there is nothing greater than being a mom. I absolutely love being with my son and taking care of him. And even though sometimes I feel like an idiot because I can't seem to calm him down or get him to sleep when I need to take care of things, I can't help but love the fact that he loves being with me. He loves being held and falling asleep on me. I know this won't last forever. He is almost a month old already for goodness sake. And that's why, in those moments, I have learned to forget about folding the laundry or doing the dishes. He is so much more special and important than any of those things. I utterly adore him and I know Ryan does too. Our little family feels so much bigger and yet closer now that he is here with us.