Category: Jake

5 Months. How?

I mean that very literally.  How has it already been 5 months?

Jake had been home with us for about 3 days.  I told Randy ‘it just feels like he has always been here’.  Randy didn’t quite agree.  But I still feel that way.  He is so little and new, but he just feels like he has always been here. Definitely like he was always meant to be in our family.  Each day I just fall more and more in love with this sweet boy.

At 5 months old Jake you are wearing size 3 diapers (you are a bit thick in the waist like your brother).

You are mainly wearing 6 months clothes, and even some 9 month.

You are finally starting to feel better.  We don’t have to do breathing treatments 6-8 times a day anymore.  We are down to a solid 4.  2 at school and 2 at home.  Praise the Lord!  Since you can breathe again you can also sleep again.  (Double Praise the Lord!)

You usually come home from school and sleep for a few hours.  Then you wake up around the time the big kids go to bed and Dad and I get to play with just you for a bit.  It is a sweet time for all 3 of us and I’m so thankful for it.

You are eating food like a champ.  So far I have been a slacker and haven’t made you a bunch of baby food options.  I promise to get on that very soon.  You can’t get enough of roasted sweet potatoes (this one is even sweeter because the potatoes are from our garden).  You are also eating bananas, applesauce, oatmeal and rice cereal.  You turned your nose up at carrots, but we will try again.

You weigh almost 16 pounds (I can’t remember the exact weight and length…sorry!!!)  You are average in both measurements.

All the stats are out of the way….I just have to say I’m so thankful for you little boy.  You are such a true joy to me.

4 Months!

IMG_0015Oh Jake.  I’m trying so hard to not let all the ‘baby’ milestones pass by without me noticing or writing them down.  It’s hard to juggle all 3 of you.  It’s hard to make sure I notice everything.  But I’m going to keep trying.  I promise!!

I wasn’t able to take you for your 4 month appointment on time because you have been sick.  Really sick.  You turned 4 months while we were on vacation in Colorado.  You picked up some sort of virus that caused you to have trouble breathing.  So you are on breathing treatments.  All.The.Time.  But you are slowly getting better.  Hooray!!

I do know that at 4 months you weighed 15 pounds, 7 ounces.  You are totally out of 3 months clothes and are most comfortable in 9 month clothes.  (Not sure how you skipped over 6 month!)  Your little waist is not so little.  Size 2 diapers are having trouble fitting around your think waist.  It’s awesome.

4 days before your 4 month birthday we gave you a taste of rice cereal.  Your little belly was growling even right after I fed you (and I know for a fact I am giving you plenty of milk).  So we tried cereal.  And you ate it with gusto!  No trouble with the spoon.  No trouble with the taste.  Obviously you were ready for it.  Now you are eating about a tablespoon of cereal for lunch everyday.  It has helped A LOT!  As Rosario says (your caregiver) ‘Now Jake is really going to get fluffy’.  Yes my sweet boy, you are getting fluffy!

Anytime I put you down on your back you immediately flip to your belly.  It’s as though you love that trick, but then you get immediately pissed if that puts you in a corner where you can’t see out.  You love to watch tv from the couch and you love to look around.  But if all you can see is the couch or the bed, you get mad.  Fast.  Just this weekend you started moving your booty like you want to get on your knees and crawl.  Whoa Nelly.  We will not have any of that just yet.  No crawling.  You can’t even sit up yet.

Your brother and sister are still crazy enamored with you.  I literally have to push them off of you on a regular basis.  They love to get right up in your face.  Course you just laugh and  laugh at them.  It’s a match made in heaven for sure.

For the record…you are still the happiest baby ever.

3 Months!

IMG_5841Well.  I’m back at work.  Re-entry into the real world stinks.  I miss that little boy.  But I also just miss the slow pace of our life when I’m a stay at home mom.  I know I wouldn’t be happy staying home in the long run, but it sure was awesome while it lasted.

Jake is up to size 2 diapers and wearing 3 or 6 month clothes. 

He has slept for 10 hours at a time a few times and it has been wonderful.  He is still 100% BF and it’s all going really well. 

He (legit) rolled over for the first time on September 8th.  He has rolled over before, but I didn’t count it because he was on the bed next to me and it could have just been gravity.  This time was definitely legit.  Now we have to start being more careful where we lay him down.  Darn.

We are going to do a better job of real ‘Jake’ pictures starting this month.  For real.

Back to School

First of all.  Veto.  I veto all of this ‘getting bigger’ nonsense.  I used to hate it when mom’s were always griping about how sad they were about kids growing up.  I seriously used to roll my eyes so hard at all that silly talk.  I.Take.It.All.Back.

Alison and Reed both moved up classes today.  Ali jumped ahead a room and she is now on the preschool side and not the day care side.  I can’t believe my tiny little 2 year old is in preschool.  I wasn’t prepared for that one.

Reed also moved up and he is now in the kinder prep class.  I had no idea, but this is a legit kinder prep class.  They have workbooks.  They do math.  And science.  And reading.  And homework!!!  They even get to go on field trips!!!  I am so, so thankful for all the kinder prep Reed will get this year.  He is so stubborn and resistant to change.  I think this will make all the difference for him.  I think he will have a much easier transition into kinder after being in the class he’s in this year.  I hate that I was so clueless about the changes that were coming, but I am so thankful for the kids school.  When I’m sad about working, I remind myself of the fantastic instruction they are getting each day.  Makes it a whole lot easier to run the rat race everyday.

There isn’t just one picture from this morning.  You have to see all of them to understand their sweet little personalities.  Gosh I love them all so stinking much.  Thank you Lord for entrusting these little souls in our care.  I couldn’t ask for anything more!!!

(Jake doesn’t start day care until Sept. 3.  I still get 3 more days at home with him!!!)

Jake at 2 months

IMG_5746This might get redundant…best baby ever.  Jake is a good sleeper, a good eater, and a sweet and smiley little boy.  The only area that could be improved is the spit up.  He definitely likes to throw up after a meal.  I think he just gorges himself and then spits the excess up on me.  I would like for that to stop!

Jake weighted 12.5 pounds and was 23.5 inches.  He was about 60-70th percentile for all his measurements.  he is meeting his milestones and the doctor was happy with his progress.

He’s wearing size 1-2 diapers and mostly 3-6 month clothes.  He can still squeeze into some 3 month things, but it’s mostly the 3-6 month outfits.  I’m pretty sure this is going to be the fastest year of my life!!

This boy is so smiley!  No belly laughs just yet, but he is definitely a smiley one.  So happy all the time.  It must be from all the love he gets around here.  He gets A LOT!

I sure am going to miss this boy when I go back to work in 2 short weeks.  I have LOVED being home with him this summer.  Pretty much the happiest time of my life so far.

Jake at 1 Month

Jake is such a sweet baby!  Who knows if this will stick, but for right now he is a dream.

His unofficial weight is 11 pounds 3 ounces.  He is one solid chunk of sweet baby.

He is out of newborn diapers already, and out of newborn clothes.  Boo.  (Which means he is wearing size 1-2 diapers and size 0-3 month clothes).

Other than that I don’t have much to report.  He is sleeping like a champ and only wakes me up twice each night.  The best part is that he goes right back to sleep after he wakes up.  Like I say, heaven.

He is sleeping in his crib most of the night but usually sleeps one portion in the swing. 

Love you sweet boy!!

Jake David Baldwin

It’s a boy!!! The waiting and speculation is finally over. Jake was born at 12:28pm, weighing 8lbs, 14oz and coming in at 21.5″.

Scheduled c-section babies do not typically have much of a birth story, as was our experience with Alison. This time we changed it up and opted to NOT find out the sex of the baby. We were set up for either scenario, so why not spice it up a little? (For the record, I always said boy).

Friday, June 14th finally arrived!!  We were finally going to meet the newest member of our family.

Praise the Lord, this was another uneventful birth story.  Randy and I dropped the big kids off at school and headed for the hospital.  As soon as I walked in those familiar doors I could feel myself relax.  This was it.

We got checked in and all of my fears started to ease.  IV went great (last time it was a nightmare and almost the most painful thing).  I spoke to the anesthesiologist and when I told him about my reaction to the medication given to me with Ali’s birth he knew exactly what happened and what medicine caused the reaction.  (For the record, “Reglan”.  Reglan is the medication given to me last time that made me so miserable).  All of the doctors, nurses and staff were amazing.  And let me just brag on my doctor.  She was amazing.  She was in the O/R early and when they put in the spinal anesthesia she talked to me and held my hands since Randy isn’t allowed in until after that point.  We talked about her upcoming wedding and her fiance.  It was just so personal and nice.

Then it was finally time.  Praise the Lord for the right mix of medication.  No anxiety, no heart burning, no stress…just waiting.  I remember how bright the lights felt.  How exposed I felt laid out on the table.  How I had never really noticed these things before because with Reed I was a little drugged up and with Alison I felt so anxious and had the burning all up and down my arms. How thankful I was to have Randy by my side.  I have never relied on him as much as I did the last 8 weeks of this pregnancy.  I was just so thankful that he is my husband and dad to these kids. 

The plan was for Dr. Brozena to pull the baby out, hand him/her to the nurse, and they would come show me if it was a boy or a girl.  No one would say anything first.  I would get to see first hand.  And friends, that’s exactly what happened.  They brought my sweet baby to me and it was a huge sweet boy.  I obviously cried intense tears of joy.  I could barely breathe because it just felt so good.  He was here, he was safe, and he was perfect. 

There was still a tiny bit of drama.  It took forever for her to sew me up.  As Dr. Brozena was leaving the O/R she stopped and told me that we needed to talk.  She had trouble sewing me up and she was a little concerned.  I’m not going to lie…I heard her, but I couldn’t have cared less at that moment.  I had my boy and we were both just fine.

The next morning when she came to check on me she told me more details.  I had been contracting for 3 or 4 weeks.  The contractions were so real that I started timing them on several occasions.  And what happens when you start contracting…your uterus thins.  When she went to open up my uterus it split open like a grape.  The tissue was so thin that it opened on contact.  Then, when she went to sew it up it kept tearing.  Yeah.  Tearing. That doesn’t sound or feel good.  She wasn’t able to sew it up correctly.  She had to take tissue from my upper uterus and attach it to my bladder in order to sew me up.  She said she is still ok with us having a 4th baby, but I can’t get pregnant for an entire year and if I start to have contractions we will deliver at 37 weeks to make sure I am safe.  Randy isn’t such a fan of this situation (and neither am I).  Luckily, we have a whole year to enjoy the babies we have and not worry about whether or not we will add one final baby to the Baldwin clan.

Welcome to the family Jake!!!  I already love you so much.

Week 38

I was put on ‘modified’ bedrest at my doctor’s appointment on June 4th.  My blood pressure was high and Dr. Brozena mentioned that I needed to slow down.  Obviously I couldn’t slow down much at home with my two crazy big kids, so that meant working from home would be a good option.  Luckily, my bosses were accommodating and from that day on I didn’t have to work from the office. (Sadly, I still had to work from home…and our company made a huge asset purchase effective June 1st, so there was a ton of work to be done)

June 10th was my next appointment and by this day I.was.totally.over.being.pregnant.  Seriously.  Get this child out of me!!  I actually cried in the exam room because I still was only dilated to a 1, my blood pressure was back to normal, and there was zero reason to deliver baby #3 any earlier than we had planned.  My sweet doctor was so compassionate and had the scheduler check right then and there to see if there was an opening for c-section delivery on Friday instead of Monday.  Praise the Lord there was!!!  (She was on-call that weekend too.  It was meant to be).

Fast forward to Thursday night.  All I wanted was to have a nice relaxing night at home.  Give the big kids their baths, read stories, put them to bed.  You know, like a fairytale.  That is NOT what happened.  I had to cover west coast pricing for my boss.  Usually that means I work from home until 7 or so.  Oh, but not that night.  That night we had one problem after another.  It ended with me sobbing and still working on technical issues at 9pm.  That’s right, 9pm.  Randy put the kids to bed while I was on the phone with IT, my boss and the field reps because SAP wasn’t working and price changes weren’t posted.  I’m pretty sure that isn’t what my doctor had in mind when she put me on modified bed rest.  I’m pretty sure that was terrible for my blood pressure.  I fell asleep that night feeling totally defeated, pissed off and also sad.  Pitiful.  Just pitiful.

Baby Update

Yesterday was the sonogram and check up I have been a little anxious about. All is well with baby and with me. I am in the middle of my 33rd week and baby is measuring anywhere from 34 1/2 weeks to 35 weeks, so yes. This will probably be a big baby (no surprise there). They estimated that baby weighs around 5 pounds 4 ounces.

I didn’t know this until last week, but apparently there is a new medical rule that you can not schedule a c-section prior to 39 weeks without a medical reason or the medical board will ding the doctor’s record. I’m not saying I don’t understand the rule, too many people schedule c-sections really early just because it’s convenient or because they are tired of being pregnant. I get why that is wrong…but I really don’t want to still be pregnant at the end of June. I was hoping for the beginning of June.
Anyhow, the doctor said that with this new rule they are doing more unscheduled c-sections because (shocker) women go into labor before 39 weeks. We will see how things go for me. As of now, my belly is still measuring 2 weeks big. But my blood pressure is good, weight gain is good, and I still feel great.
The biggest surprise for me at this sonogram was getting to look at baby’s face. I haven’t had a sonogram this late before and I loved seeing a chubby little baby face instead of a skeleton looking face. One look at that baby and we all think it looks just like Alison. Makes me wonder if it’s a girl. That sweet face looks like a girl. But I will still guess that it’s a boy. In 5 weeks (or less) we will know for sure!!!

32 Weeks…or is it 34?

I went in for my 32 week checkup earlier this week. And it turned a little traumatic. First of all I have been battling an upper respiratory infection so we had to discuss that and get some antibiotics prescribed. Then we talked about baby’s movement. I mentioned baby hasn’t been moving quite as much as usual. Not a huge deal, but worth mentioning.

Dr. Brozena measured my belly and got a strange look on her face. She measured again and told me although I’m baerly 32 weeks, I’m measuring at 34 weeks. Then we decide we should do another sonogram at my next appointment to get a reading on baby’s size (woohoo!!!) Then…she goes to listen to baby’s heartbeat and can’t find it. Um. Can you say PANIC!! First I say baby isn’t moving as much, then I’m measuring pretty big, then we can’t find the heartbeat????? Luckily my sweet doctor is awesome and she (I swear) ran to get the sonogram machine. She was able to find baby and the heartbeat very quickly with the sonogram machine. Heart was beating away, she just couldn’t find it because baby is laying transverse on the top of my uterus.  Silly child.  She said baby is curled up in a super tiny ball at the top of my uterus.  Interesting.

Praise the Lord all is well. I have been on antibiotics and am getting better. Baby is moving a lot again. Sonogram is scheduled for next Monday (May 6th). I’m anxious to see how big baby is. As of now c-section is scheduled for June 17th, but I would have NO problem with moving that date up a week or two 🙂

 

**As an update.  On Sunday baby noticably dropped.  Again, kind of freaked me out since I’m only in my 33rd week.  Next Monday can’t get here soon enough! 

***I think I might be done working out too.  I’m so sad about this latest development, but I went to the gym this afternoon and it was very hard on me.  So sad.  I have finally gotten into a good routine and now I have to stop for a while.  Oh well…