The Blackburn Family

Well, Graham weighed 8 pounds 3 ounces at his 2 week appointment last week! He is getting so big already. I don’t really notice it, but his clothes are getting smaller and he fits much better in his car seat. It makes me sad that I am already packing up some of his clothes. At the same time I am excited for him to get a bit bigger in the hopes he will sleep for longer stretches. I am currently sleeping for about an hour at a time. It really is not fun especially at night and in the mornings. I try to take a nap in the afternoons when he is sleeping. I don’t sleep every time he sleeps b/c I do have to do other things like eat! I don’t really worry much with the cleaning and Casey is doing a great job at helping out around the house and letting me rest. I do need to try to get to bed earlier though. There are just so many things I want to get done and I am not used to not doing things.

Graham is still struggling some with gas issues or what appears to be gas issues. We give him drops and it helps a little. I try to burp him a lot, but sometimes no matter what I do he won’t burp. He seems to have the most trouble at night (of course). He starts screaming in his sleep and seems to be in so much pain. Red faced, tense, back arched and screaming like someone is killing him. Sometimes he will drift back off to sleep and others he wakes himself up and we have to start all over. I wish I knew how to help him. Hopefully it will pass soon. I may need to cut dairy out of my diet to see if it helps. Of course dairy is probably 75% of my diet so that will be really hard for me to do! We are going to the chiropractor today so maybe that will help…..

I posted a ton of pictures on flickr this week. I haven’t taken many lately because he won’t cooperate for me. I hope to get some more shots later this week for his one month photos. Already a month old! The time is flying by…. maybe it is the lack of sleep.

Graham’s Album on Flickr

I need to add the pictures from out Charlotte shower and Casey zip line in the mountains. It is on the long list of things to do. Maybe I will get them posted before the fall.

My favorite pictures from the birth – look at the relief on dad’s face!!

Here is a picture of the rabbits. How cute are they? They are so in love.

Okay, this is the toned down, child and man friendly version of events. I will hopefully have the full thing ready to post soon and it will be on a separate page so you don’t have to read it if it is too much. I also will upload a few pictures. Still working on getting those uploaded.

I woke up Friday morning June 4th around 3:30 which was pretty typical for me. I got up, used the bathroom, but when I got back to bed I was getting some painful contractions. Just enough to keep me awake, but nothing horrible. I laid in bed until around 6:30 trying to decide if this was labor or just painful Braxton Hicks. Until that point I had several Baxton Hicks, but none hurt so I thought maybe this was it. I debated on whether I should try to work and something told me it was probably not a good idea. I emailed my boss at 6:30 saying I would not be for the day. I took a Tylenol PM so I could get a bit more sleep and was able to sleep until about 9:30. I got up and looked over all my labor paperwork. I decided to go up to Wal-Mart for a few last minute things and to see if the contractions went away when I walked around. I check out at 11:12 and I still have the receipt. When I got home I decided to time the contractions and they were about 8 minutes about, very short and I was able to continue doing things through them. We learned in our class that early labor should be ignored. Casey took that as ignore me. He was home working and I had to remind him to ignore labor and not me! He started training a co-worker to do a task he was supposed to do that night since the contractions appeared to be getting regular. I worked in the nursery, took pictures of it and some last minute belly shots with Casey’s hands on my belly. The contractions were getting a bit stronger and closer together so at 3:23 I called the birth center. When they called back I talked to Maureen and she thought it was false labor. She suggested sitting in the tub and taking a nap. I called our doula, Michelle at 4:11 to let her know I was having contractions. She also thought it was false labor which was very discouraging for me! How could this not be the real thing!

I got in the tub and tried to lay down, but the pain was too much. The contractions were about 4 minutes apart an getting stronger and longer. I was on the floor crying from the pain. I told Casey to get the doula over here!! He called her at 5:15. When she arrived she was able to calm me down and got me focused. By 7 the contractions were 2 minutes apart and very painful. I felt like I had no break. I could not have done it without Michelle’s help!! At 7:10 UPS delivered our new camcorder and we packed up the car. The drive to Chapel Hill is a blur to me. I was in the back, seat belt on, making tons of grunting noises and gripping anything in site. This was the point I told Casey I couldn’t do it, give me the epidural, I am never doing this again, etc.

We arrived at the birth center a little before 8pm. Maureen checked me expecting me to be about 4cm and to everyone’s surprise I was 10cm, no cervix and the little guy was right there ready to come out! Thank God because I couldn’t take much more!! They started putting water in the tub for me and I jumped in! It was nice and relaxing. Michelle told me to push if I felt the urge and I did. I will leave out the details here since this is the PG version. Graham made his appearance at 10:16pm in the water. It was wonderful and amazing to finally see him. I didn’t have time to get the IV antibiotics since he was born 2 hours after we arrived. I needed 2 doses 4 hours apart. Luckily he was fine and screamed as soon as he was born and for awhile after.

I look at him most days in shock that I grew him and somehow managed to get him out! It really is a miracle. I am very proud of myself for doing it drug free! It was not easy and as of now he will be an only child. I am sure I will eventually forget and want another one….

I wish I could say week two was as wonderful as week one, but I guess they can’t all be great! Sunday of week two (6/13) I woke up with a lot of pelvic pain and by noon I had a fever. I took a nap and woke up with a fever of 101.8. I was concerned since I also had the pelvic pain so I called the birth center and they went ahead and prescribed an antibiotic for me to start taking. We had to make another trip out there Monday morning so the midwife could examine me and determine what type of infection I had managed to get. It was a mild uterine infection and she said it was fairly common. In addition to being on the medication Graham started becoming very gassy (or perhaps because of the medication). The nights became harder since he refused to sleep in the co-sleeper and would wake up with gas pains often. We started giving him some Little Tummies which didn’t seem to do much good, but helps a bit. By Friday I was so exhausted from getting no sleep, getting nothing done during the day since Casey was back at work and would break down in tears almost daily. The weekend was such a blessing because Casey could take Graham for 2-3 hours and I could sleep!! Who would have thought 2 hours of sleep would be so nice. I currently sleep in 15-45 minute intervals depending on the gas situation. Graham also refuses to stay asleep in anything so he ends up next to me most of the time. Casey worries about him being in the bed and so do I, but it is the only way I can get even a little bit of sleep. He can be out cold, in a nice deep sleep and 15 minutes after he is in the co-sleeper he wakes himself up. Every single time! I have tried swaddling, sleep sacks and just about every combination of outfits. We use the sleep sheep, rocker, and swing. He does great until he is left alone with no movement.

If you didn’t get an announcement don’t fret, I had to order more because I ran out so hopefully the next batch will be going out in the next few days. I really hope to get them done tomorrow, but who knows. I also plan to take some more pictures and will hopefully get more posted on flickr soon. The announcements and napping during the day have been taking priority lately. I sleep so much better during the day!! Maybe I should not even go to bed and just live the nights like I live the days!

Here are a couple pictures for you guys until I can get more posted soon.

Well, I wrote this Friday night, but apparently it never got posted so here you go….

One week ago tonight I was working on pushing out baby Graham. Hard to believe it has already been a week. I am in much less pain tonight! I am hoping to work on the birth story tomorrow so I can post it. I will have a nice “edited” version for the front page and all the details for those interested on a separate page. Our doula came by yesterday for our postpartum visit and we were able to talk with her some about the birth and she brought us the CD of pictures she took. I am debating about posting a few of the PG pictures, but not sure yet. It was really nice for me to see them and to hear her talk some about the birth since there is a lot that I don’t really remember or can’t remember the details. When I look back the day went by really quickly. The week has also flown by and I am a little sad that our first week is over. It was so nice just hanging out with Graham and Casey all day. Watching him sleep and make little faces. I was hoping to practice a few newborn pictures, but I haven’t had time to get them done. I am hoping to try a few tomorrow.

I am starting to get a bit more tired as the adrenaline wears off and I get less and less sleep at night. Even still I am so happy and just love being a mom. I adore newborns. I know a lot of people are uncomfortable with the little ones, but they are my absolute favorites. I could just look at him all day which is probably why I get nothing done.

JD is adjusting to Graham. The first two days he protested and spent all his time downstairs as far away from us as possible. Eventually he started coming around us again, but would leave anytime Graham started crying. Now he sticks around even when he cries. He still doesn’t really like Graham and doesn’t want to get too close to him. The bunnies have the most unusual reaction to him. Ever since we brought Graham home the rabbits have been extra friendly. Even Moose who is generally not very nice to us has let us pet her much more. Tuscan craves attention from me. I was finally ready to get on the floor and pet him the other day and he let me pet him forever, even let me touch his feet and belly. Anytime I come over to him he is so excited to get some love and affection. In addition to being extra friendly they have been licking the couches like crazy. Licking just about anything and sniffing at everything. They must be picking up on a scent or something. I got a few pictures of them the other night when they were walking all around and on Casey while cleaning the couches.

Here is Graham’s one week picture. Make sure to check out his collection on flickr – Graham’s Flickr Collection

Sleeping on daddy today. For some reason daddy is much more tired than mommy! Not sure what is up with that. We are doing great. The birth center sent the RN out yesterday for our home visit. Graham was 6lb 6 oz yesterday when she weighed him and had gained an ounce today. He is a bit jaundice so we go back on Wednesday for another check. The jaundice was already a bit better today so it should be an issue. He had some issues nursing the first day and a half, but is doing really well now.

Well, there won’t be a 39 week post or picture this week!! Graham Matthew Blackburn decided to show up a bit early. I will post the birth story sometime this week, but wanted to post a few pictures.

While in labor on Friday I took some pictures of the nursery and a few more of the belly. I was hoping for more belly shots, but these were the last ones. Taken between contractions!!

The nursery. We need to hang the initials on the wall, but otherwise pretty much done.

Graham’s pictures on Flickr click HERE!!!