not sure when it happened, but sometime in the last month my new normal became much different than it use to be.
*I walk around with spit up on my shirt all day (not having realized it) and don't even care
*Its a good day if i don't get peed on
*Its a great day if i don't get poop on my finger (Yes i have stuck my finger in Brayden's poop more than once, while checking to see if his diaper needs to be changed)
*i can go days on end without showering and don't care if i smell
*spending a hour playing with Brayden the "so big game" (just raising his hands above his head)
*being able to function when only getting to sleep for 3 hours at a time
*being in my PJ's until noon, when John comes home for lunch and i finally get dressed
*going to target and being super excited to go to the baby clothes section instead of shopping for myself
*walking around "jiggling" a 10 pound weight for hours on end (yes it does get exhausting
*going to see family and no one could care if I'm actually there, I believe they think I'm just Brayden's driver
*having someone scream in my ear for a few hours each night
these are just some of the crazy things that i get to enjoy each and every day. This is my new normal and oddly enough i actually love each and every moment of it (poop on my finger included)
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
The First Month
Its hard to believe that just a month ago, we were basking in the gift of parenthood and enjoying the lack of sleep that came with it. I can say that although we definitely enjoy parenthood, the lack of sleep gets old pretty fast. Its scary how quickly the first month has gone, as it seems like just yesterday we were wondering if this boy would ever be born after being so stubborn past his predicted April 14th arrival.
Brayden Roarke White, lets talk about that name a little bit. It is a combination of two of our top names, both that had their own middle name. Brayden Matthew vs Roarke Alexander is what it came down to in the hospital that day after welcoming baby white. The issue was that he didn’t look like a Roarke, at least not fully, so it became a choice of Brayden Roarke or Brayden Matthew. In the end the choice was his own, as we recited both names and he keep smiling whenever we said Brayden Roarke to him. Brayden means Brave and Roarke means champion, which is extremely fitting with everything that we went through to get him, and everything he went through to get to us, he is definitely our Brave little Champion.
The first month has had its ups and downs as I'm sure every new parent experiences. The hospital was excellent for so many reasons, but the most was a readily accessible team of people to answer your questions and give you helpful hints. Once you leave you still have people that are ready to give you hints, but not all hints and tricks are ones that you asked to get. Not to say that everyone gives you bad suggestions, but the reality is that we as parents are different then they were, so their choices may not align with our choices.
Arriving home for the first time was surreal, and really didn’t seem like it was anything more then playing house. Buddy was at Kristy’s parents, to avoid an extra focus for that first few days, and the cats, well they are and continue to be cats that most often could care less what was happening around them. I’m sure that will change when Brayden begins to crawl and grab hold of them.
The first non-hospital diaper change fully welcomed us to parent hood as not only did he pee during the change, he peed twice, and the second time all over himself (even a little in his mouth). I guess its good to start off rough, as its only going to get easier right … right? Having both of us off work for two weeks was helpful as we had time to figure out a sleep schedule. When we started, we attempted to share the duties, but both of us would be up, to keep the other company. I’ll admit that its very different now, with Kristy taking the first section of the night, as she is a better late night owl, and John getting the morning shift as he can get up at 4 and be functioning throughout the day.
We got a scare in the hospital, and ironically made our hearts skip a beat. Brayden was born with two small heart defects. When they tell you that your one day old has heart defects, there are no words that could summarize your feelings of despair and worry. I guess that’s best summarized to welcome to parenthood and let the worrying begin. Baby Bray had to have an Echo of his heart performed to see where the defects were, and how large or small they were as well. The test was not invasive at all, and we are told he slept through it all without any issue. The end result was finding out that he had two, one small, and one moderate. We were told to schedule an appointment with children’s hospital to have a neonatal cardiologist do further testing and they would be able to tell us what it meant for Brayden’s future. We got into Childrens the first week after and were blessed with the fact that the location and size were something that was so minor that we would never need surgery or drugs or anything. In fact even in that week, it looked like they were starting to heal and go away. The only follow up is to check back in six months to see if they are still present at all. There is no bigger relief then that moment when the Dr said, “your son is a healthy baby and you will never need to worry about his heart”.
In addition to lots of dr’s appointments, we also got to schedule and go to our newborn photoshoot. It was amazing to see the pictures and the photographer had a way with baby Bray that she was able to calm him instantly and pose him so many ways. It was fun to watch her work, and even gave us a few tips to go with.
Brayden has grown so much, as when he was born, he was 7 lbs. 9 ozs. He left the hospital at 6 lbs. 13ozs, and at his one month appointment was up to 9 lbs. 11 ozs. His pediatrician calls Brayden a little chow hound, but I think that’s a good thing as its better then not thriving. We have had our share of changes to the diet he got, as he was always hungry, so we had to supplement formula with the breast milk from the start. After a couple of weeks we had to change to purely formula as he was rejecting the breast, and even the formula we had to switch to a sensitive variety due to lots of painful gas and fussiness. We just recently change to soy formal as its supposed to be the easiest on the tummy, and so far its seeming to help his mood. Bray is definitely a boy however as with each loud, I mean truly loud, fart comes a goofy grin and look of joy.
Bray Bray’s growth has caused some interesting problems. He isn’t a fat baby, at least not universally. His head is large, lots of brains they say. And he is a long baby. So his onesies and shirts look very funny. For example his 0 to 3 months oneies are already something he barely fits into based on length, and is is only one month old. His shirts look more like belly shirts if we put him in the size he should be in. But when we attempt to use the 0 to 3 month pants, its like we could fit two of him in them and they fall right off. So I guess it will be interesting making an outfit out of newborn pants with 3-6 months shirts.
Brayden is gowning up so fast. We can already see a personality being to develop and we are definitely in for a handful. When he is hungry, he will let you know and moves his little arms and legs to ensure you pay attention to the flailing baby. When he sleeps, he prefers to be on his tummy, and watch out as he is a drool-er. He likes to be sung to, as well as being outside. He does not like to be on the floor aka not in someone’s arms, and most often will tell you all about it if you even try. He has super strong legs so if you put him on tummy time, he can flip himself over and show you who’s boss. His tear’s have come in and let me tell you its one thing to resist a crying baby, but to see a baby with alligator tears is twice as hard. He can scream so hard that he doesn’t breath, for what as parents seems like a lifetime, but in the end he will take a breath, so don’t worry too much. He likes the mobile in his crib, but since it is on a wind up motor, your stuck there for at least 10 minutes if your trying to use it as entertainment. He still hasn’t mastered what is night and day, but one thing he does know, is that no matter what time of the day, its always Brayden time.
The first month has been an amazing ride, and we are ready for month 2 and beyond. Our miracle has become a reality, even if sometimes we feel like babysitters waiting for some invisible parents to come home.
Brayden Roarke White, lets talk about that name a little bit. It is a combination of two of our top names, both that had their own middle name. Brayden Matthew vs Roarke Alexander is what it came down to in the hospital that day after welcoming baby white. The issue was that he didn’t look like a Roarke, at least not fully, so it became a choice of Brayden Roarke or Brayden Matthew. In the end the choice was his own, as we recited both names and he keep smiling whenever we said Brayden Roarke to him. Brayden means Brave and Roarke means champion, which is extremely fitting with everything that we went through to get him, and everything he went through to get to us, he is definitely our Brave little Champion.
The first month has had its ups and downs as I'm sure every new parent experiences. The hospital was excellent for so many reasons, but the most was a readily accessible team of people to answer your questions and give you helpful hints. Once you leave you still have people that are ready to give you hints, but not all hints and tricks are ones that you asked to get. Not to say that everyone gives you bad suggestions, but the reality is that we as parents are different then they were, so their choices may not align with our choices.
Arriving home for the first time was surreal, and really didn’t seem like it was anything more then playing house. Buddy was at Kristy’s parents, to avoid an extra focus for that first few days, and the cats, well they are and continue to be cats that most often could care less what was happening around them. I’m sure that will change when Brayden begins to crawl and grab hold of them.
The first non-hospital diaper change fully welcomed us to parent hood as not only did he pee during the change, he peed twice, and the second time all over himself (even a little in his mouth). I guess its good to start off rough, as its only going to get easier right … right? Having both of us off work for two weeks was helpful as we had time to figure out a sleep schedule. When we started, we attempted to share the duties, but both of us would be up, to keep the other company. I’ll admit that its very different now, with Kristy taking the first section of the night, as she is a better late night owl, and John getting the morning shift as he can get up at 4 and be functioning throughout the day.
We got a scare in the hospital, and ironically made our hearts skip a beat. Brayden was born with two small heart defects. When they tell you that your one day old has heart defects, there are no words that could summarize your feelings of despair and worry. I guess that’s best summarized to welcome to parenthood and let the worrying begin. Baby Bray had to have an Echo of his heart performed to see where the defects were, and how large or small they were as well. The test was not invasive at all, and we are told he slept through it all without any issue. The end result was finding out that he had two, one small, and one moderate. We were told to schedule an appointment with children’s hospital to have a neonatal cardiologist do further testing and they would be able to tell us what it meant for Brayden’s future. We got into Childrens the first week after and were blessed with the fact that the location and size were something that was so minor that we would never need surgery or drugs or anything. In fact even in that week, it looked like they were starting to heal and go away. The only follow up is to check back in six months to see if they are still present at all. There is no bigger relief then that moment when the Dr said, “your son is a healthy baby and you will never need to worry about his heart”.
In addition to lots of dr’s appointments, we also got to schedule and go to our newborn photoshoot. It was amazing to see the pictures and the photographer had a way with baby Bray that she was able to calm him instantly and pose him so many ways. It was fun to watch her work, and even gave us a few tips to go with.
Brayden has grown so much, as when he was born, he was 7 lbs. 9 ozs. He left the hospital at 6 lbs. 13ozs, and at his one month appointment was up to 9 lbs. 11 ozs. His pediatrician calls Brayden a little chow hound, but I think that’s a good thing as its better then not thriving. We have had our share of changes to the diet he got, as he was always hungry, so we had to supplement formula with the breast milk from the start. After a couple of weeks we had to change to purely formula as he was rejecting the breast, and even the formula we had to switch to a sensitive variety due to lots of painful gas and fussiness. We just recently change to soy formal as its supposed to be the easiest on the tummy, and so far its seeming to help his mood. Bray is definitely a boy however as with each loud, I mean truly loud, fart comes a goofy grin and look of joy.
Bray Bray’s growth has caused some interesting problems. He isn’t a fat baby, at least not universally. His head is large, lots of brains they say. And he is a long baby. So his onesies and shirts look very funny. For example his 0 to 3 months oneies are already something he barely fits into based on length, and is is only one month old. His shirts look more like belly shirts if we put him in the size he should be in. But when we attempt to use the 0 to 3 month pants, its like we could fit two of him in them and they fall right off. So I guess it will be interesting making an outfit out of newborn pants with 3-6 months shirts.
Brayden is gowning up so fast. We can already see a personality being to develop and we are definitely in for a handful. When he is hungry, he will let you know and moves his little arms and legs to ensure you pay attention to the flailing baby. When he sleeps, he prefers to be on his tummy, and watch out as he is a drool-er. He likes to be sung to, as well as being outside. He does not like to be on the floor aka not in someone’s arms, and most often will tell you all about it if you even try. He has super strong legs so if you put him on tummy time, he can flip himself over and show you who’s boss. His tear’s have come in and let me tell you its one thing to resist a crying baby, but to see a baby with alligator tears is twice as hard. He can scream so hard that he doesn’t breath, for what as parents seems like a lifetime, but in the end he will take a breath, so don’t worry too much. He likes the mobile in his crib, but since it is on a wind up motor, your stuck there for at least 10 minutes if your trying to use it as entertainment. He still hasn’t mastered what is night and day, but one thing he does know, is that no matter what time of the day, its always Brayden time.
The first month has been an amazing ride, and we are ready for month 2 and beyond. Our miracle has become a reality, even if sometimes we feel like babysitters waiting for some invisible parents to come home.
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