We put Dean in shoes for the first time last night. I had to get a picture of his cute outfit. :)
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Shoes
We put Dean in shoes for the first time last night. I had to get a picture of his cute outfit. :)
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Doctor Appointment
When Dean was born his foot seemed a bit crooked so we made an appointment for him to see an orthopedic doctor.
This last week we've also noticed that he doesn't really turn his head to his left. I planned to make another appointment with his pediatrician.
At his orthopedic appointment today the doctor said his foot seemed just fine. We should exercise it regularly to make sure it has full range of motion, but this is very common for babies that were a bit squished in the uterus.
He then asked if he was having any trouble turning his head - weird! I asked how he knew and he said they are related when a baby is squished. He checked out Dean's neck and said we need to start making him work to turn his head the other way. We are going to put him the opposite way in his crib and talk to him from the other side so he has to stretch to see what is happening on his bad side. The doctor thought he might actually need a bit of physical therapy, or at least have us get some training on how to gently turn his head to work on stretching his neck muscles. I'm hoping his neck will be fine after awhile for him to get things worked out. Poor little Dean must have been really smashed. We joke about how he didn't want to come out of me, but maybe he was just stuck/wedged in there and couldn't get out. :)
Anyway, things seem good so far. Looks like it's time to do some neck exercises.
This last week we've also noticed that he doesn't really turn his head to his left. I planned to make another appointment with his pediatrician.
At his orthopedic appointment today the doctor said his foot seemed just fine. We should exercise it regularly to make sure it has full range of motion, but this is very common for babies that were a bit squished in the uterus.
He then asked if he was having any trouble turning his head - weird! I asked how he knew and he said they are related when a baby is squished. He checked out Dean's neck and said we need to start making him work to turn his head the other way. We are going to put him the opposite way in his crib and talk to him from the other side so he has to stretch to see what is happening on his bad side. The doctor thought he might actually need a bit of physical therapy, or at least have us get some training on how to gently turn his head to work on stretching his neck muscles. I'm hoping his neck will be fine after awhile for him to get things worked out. Poor little Dean must have been really smashed. We joke about how he didn't want to come out of me, but maybe he was just stuck/wedged in there and couldn't get out. :)
Anyway, things seem good so far. Looks like it's time to do some neck exercises.
Blanket and Onesies
Sarah recently sent Dean a blanket. It's very cute and even has his name on it. The pictures above do not do it justice since they were taken under florescent light with my cell phone. Thank you Sarah!
I should also take this moment to mention that Wendy made some onesies for Dean with his name on them. They are adorable and we use them all the time. They say "Dean Jacob", "Buddy", and "DJ". I don't remember what the last one says. There is a picture below of one of the shirts. It's the one where he is crying. Thank you Wendy!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Weekend in Big Bear
Last weekend we went to Big Bear for Jake's family get together for his grandmother's 80th birthday. Everyone was really excited to see the baby. Unfortunately Jake's mom couldn't make it so she still hasn't met Dean.
The only reason we were able to go is because Mom and Jim let us stay at their place on Saturday night. There was no way we were going to go camping which is what most of Jake's family did. It worked really well to be able to hang out a little bit with Mom and Jim and to visit Jake's family at other times.
Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures. My mind has been on other things lately. Oh well. :(
The only reason we were able to go is because Mom and Jim let us stay at their place on Saturday night. There was no way we were going to go camping which is what most of Jake's family did. It worked really well to be able to hang out a little bit with Mom and Jim and to visit Jake's family at other times.
Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures. My mind has been on other things lately. Oh well. :(
Currently Dean's Favorite Toy
This is currently Dean's favorite toy. He lays there for quite awhile looking in the mirror, waving his arms, and hitting the hanging toys. He really seems to like it. Thanks for letting us borrow it Aunt Wendy. :)
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Monday, June 09, 2008
Pictures
Wendy, regarding your comment/demand for more pictures... I keep meaning to get pictures from Jake since he has them all but it's hard to remember when I feel like there is so much to do. I did take a couple with my cell phone, but I know they aren't really very good. I'll try to post better ones later. The last two are from yesterday, so they're more what he looks like right now.
Jake went back to work today. I hope it's not too difficult to take care of Dean by myself.
Yesterday was not a good day. I think I might have mastitis and I had a temperature of 103.3. I felt horrible but luckily Jake was awesome and took care of Dean all day. I got some antibiotics that are supposed to fix the problem, but i still have to go see the doctor tomorrow to have things checked out.
Dean was fussy for a long time last night when we were trying to go to bed. I hate hearing him cry and not being able to make him feel better. Hopefully it will be easier to put him to bed tonight.
Yesterday was not a good day. I think I might have mastitis and I had a temperature of 103.3. I felt horrible but luckily Jake was awesome and took care of Dean all day. I got some antibiotics that are supposed to fix the problem, but i still have to go see the doctor tomorrow to have things checked out.
Dean was fussy for a long time last night when we were trying to go to bed. I hate hearing him cry and not being able to make him feel better. Hopefully it will be easier to put him to bed tonight.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Update
Ok, a few updates on what's been going on....
First, I have had almost no time to do anything with all of the visitors coming and going. I've loved having people over, but I'm hoping that this week I'll start to get some stuff accomplished since it's bound to get a bit quieter.
On the diaper changing subject, since my last post, Jake was changing Dean's diaper on the floor in the living room sitting with Dean's bum facing him and made sure to keep him covered the whole time until the diaper switch. Well, guess what Dean was waiting for - that exact instant to let loose with another explosive poo. This time Jake himself (jeans and t-shirt) were poo splattered. Dean is sharing the love. We now are EXTREMELY careful at every diaper changing and although he often poops during the change, we've been able to catch them all since we've been more aware. Additionally, he pees at almost every changing and we are going through changing pads and clothes like crazy.
So far Dean is a very good sleeper and I have to wake him up at night to eat. I've been letting him go for at least four hours, sometimes five if I wake up too late, so Jake and I have been able to get a pretty good amount of sleep although I'm still pretty tired most of the time. It's a lot of work always thinking about what Dean might need, although I think I'm finally starting to get into the grove. I actually feel like I accomplished some things this morning. Of course, Jake was helping by holding Dean. I don't know what I'm going to do when Jake goes back to work. It's nice to have someone else here to help out.
I'll try to keep posting, but I'm going to get really busy when Jake goes back to work. I'm also starting a class today which takes a lot of time.
Here is one of my current favorite pictures of Dean...
First, I have had almost no time to do anything with all of the visitors coming and going. I've loved having people over, but I'm hoping that this week I'll start to get some stuff accomplished since it's bound to get a bit quieter.
On the diaper changing subject, since my last post, Jake was changing Dean's diaper on the floor in the living room sitting with Dean's bum facing him and made sure to keep him covered the whole time until the diaper switch. Well, guess what Dean was waiting for - that exact instant to let loose with another explosive poo. This time Jake himself (jeans and t-shirt) were poo splattered. Dean is sharing the love. We now are EXTREMELY careful at every diaper changing and although he often poops during the change, we've been able to catch them all since we've been more aware. Additionally, he pees at almost every changing and we are going through changing pads and clothes like crazy.
So far Dean is a very good sleeper and I have to wake him up at night to eat. I've been letting him go for at least four hours, sometimes five if I wake up too late, so Jake and I have been able to get a pretty good amount of sleep although I'm still pretty tired most of the time. It's a lot of work always thinking about what Dean might need, although I think I'm finally starting to get into the grove. I actually feel like I accomplished some things this morning. Of course, Jake was helping by holding Dean. I don't know what I'm going to do when Jake goes back to work. It's nice to have someone else here to help out.
I'll try to keep posting, but I'm going to get really busy when Jake goes back to work. I'm also starting a class today which takes a lot of time.
Here is one of my current favorite pictures of Dean...
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Diaper Changing
Before Dean came along I think I only changed one diaper in my entire life. And for the first few days of Dean's life, Jake was on diaper duty while I was recovering. But eventually it was time for me to learn and I've found that it's true that my own baby's diaper changes are much different than changing someone else's baby. I know this is true because I wasn't too grossed out by the following events:
For Dean's first diaper that I changed, Jake went in with me to instruct and explain what I should be doing. Dean peed on me in the middle of the diaper change and Jake was shocked and said he'd never done that to him before. He also assured me that this was not the norm.
The second diaper change he peed on me again. Jake assured me that this is not the norm. Uh huh.
The third diaper change he pooped when I put down the new diaper. Jake assured me that this doesn't happen often.
The fourth and fifth I came away unscathed. I'm getting comfortable and thinking that maybe the previous instances really are odd.
The next time Jake wasn't home when this happened. I went to change Dean's diaper which was only pee and as I lifted his legs to put the new diaper down, he let loose with a bowel movement. I don't even know how to explain what happened. Poop went shooting out of his bum, flying across the room splattering everything in it's path. I swear the wall five feet away was hit with runny poo. I put his bottom down as quickly as possible and A LOT more came out. Needless to say, runny poo was on everything. Next I tried to move Dean so that poo didn't get all over him and he started to pee which went the opposite way than his poo had. It got on my sweater as well as everything that he hadn't been able to get his poo on.
Jake now firmly believes that Dean knows it's me and will do this again. He had me wake him up tonight to change Dean before I fed him because he didn't want any messes in the middle of the night. So far Jake has not been peed or pooed on even once. Dean has been saving these special gifts just for me. :)
For Dean's first diaper that I changed, Jake went in with me to instruct and explain what I should be doing. Dean peed on me in the middle of the diaper change and Jake was shocked and said he'd never done that to him before. He also assured me that this was not the norm.
The second diaper change he peed on me again. Jake assured me that this is not the norm. Uh huh.
The third diaper change he pooped when I put down the new diaper. Jake assured me that this doesn't happen often.
The fourth and fifth I came away unscathed. I'm getting comfortable and thinking that maybe the previous instances really are odd.
The next time Jake wasn't home when this happened. I went to change Dean's diaper which was only pee and as I lifted his legs to put the new diaper down, he let loose with a bowel movement. I don't even know how to explain what happened. Poop went shooting out of his bum, flying across the room splattering everything in it's path. I swear the wall five feet away was hit with runny poo. I put his bottom down as quickly as possible and A LOT more came out. Needless to say, runny poo was on everything. Next I tried to move Dean so that poo didn't get all over him and he started to pee which went the opposite way than his poo had. It got on my sweater as well as everything that he hadn't been able to get his poo on.
Jake now firmly believes that Dean knows it's me and will do this again. He had me wake him up tonight to change Dean before I fed him because he didn't want any messes in the middle of the night. So far Jake has not been peed or pooed on even once. Dean has been saving these special gifts just for me. :)
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Labor Experience
On Wednesday, May 21st at about 10am I started having some pretty regular contractions about 10 minutes apart. I called Jake who came home, but the contractions never really changed and weren't very painful, so we decided to just wait until the next day since we were being induced anyway. On the way to the hospital the next morning, the contractions started getting a little painful, but again, didn't really get very bad.
We got to the hospital at 6am on Thursday, May 22nd and they induced labor at 8am. They began increasing the amounts of pitosin and the contractions began to get very painful. Sometime later, I began having extreme back pain and it turned out that it was back labor since he was facing the wrong way. They let me have an epidural at only 3 cm because of this.
After a little while, Dean's heartbeat was dropping during the contractions, so they took me off the pitosin and waited for two hours, then began again to see if it would help. This time things worked a bit better, but Dean still took forever to slowly work his way down. Eventually I was at 10 cm, but my water hadn't broken yet so a doctor came in to do it without waiting for it to break on it's own.
It's too long of a story to tell, but my evening nursing was absolutely horrible and kept telling me to wait an hour, then another hour, then another and so on until I finally couldn't take it anymore and told her to call the doctor to see if there was anything we could do that didn't require waiting for hours without anything happening. An example of my nurse's stellar abilities came sometime that evening when I told her that I would like to get more epidural because I was feeling pain. I could even move my legs a little bit and was starting to feel my lower body. She didn't really want to, but finally called the anestisiologist who told the nurse that when one of the lights was red, that meant the epidural had stopped and that she should call him. My epidural had been off for at least an hour or two. I was not impressed with her abilities or her attitude.
Another nurse came in to help out sometime later since nothing was happening and my nurse was not helping very much. She had me try to push to see what would happen. Dean's heartbeat would drop each time I pushed, so the doctor decided to come in at that point.
The doctor told us that she wanted to see if we could get Dean out in three contractions (three pushes per contraction) using a vacuum pump to help get him out. If that didn't work, we would need to have a c-section. The vacuum slipped off his head a few times. The last time, his head was part way out already and Dean's heartbeat was dropping, so she gave me an episiotomy (a pretty bad one) to get him the rest of way out. Poor Dean was born with a big lump of spongy blood under his scalp because of the vacuum. It will get hard and then slowly dissolve over the next year.
Otherwise, Dean is beautiful and a very good baby. I have some time to blog right now because he is sleeping. :) I'll add more if I can think of anything else.
We got to the hospital at 6am on Thursday, May 22nd and they induced labor at 8am. They began increasing the amounts of pitosin and the contractions began to get very painful. Sometime later, I began having extreme back pain and it turned out that it was back labor since he was facing the wrong way. They let me have an epidural at only 3 cm because of this.
After a little while, Dean's heartbeat was dropping during the contractions, so they took me off the pitosin and waited for two hours, then began again to see if it would help. This time things worked a bit better, but Dean still took forever to slowly work his way down. Eventually I was at 10 cm, but my water hadn't broken yet so a doctor came in to do it without waiting for it to break on it's own.
It's too long of a story to tell, but my evening nursing was absolutely horrible and kept telling me to wait an hour, then another hour, then another and so on until I finally couldn't take it anymore and told her to call the doctor to see if there was anything we could do that didn't require waiting for hours without anything happening. An example of my nurse's stellar abilities came sometime that evening when I told her that I would like to get more epidural because I was feeling pain. I could even move my legs a little bit and was starting to feel my lower body. She didn't really want to, but finally called the anestisiologist who told the nurse that when one of the lights was red, that meant the epidural had stopped and that she should call him. My epidural had been off for at least an hour or two. I was not impressed with her abilities or her attitude.
Another nurse came in to help out sometime later since nothing was happening and my nurse was not helping very much. She had me try to push to see what would happen. Dean's heartbeat would drop each time I pushed, so the doctor decided to come in at that point.
The doctor told us that she wanted to see if we could get Dean out in three contractions (three pushes per contraction) using a vacuum pump to help get him out. If that didn't work, we would need to have a c-section. The vacuum slipped off his head a few times. The last time, his head was part way out already and Dean's heartbeat was dropping, so she gave me an episiotomy (a pretty bad one) to get him the rest of way out. Poor Dean was born with a big lump of spongy blood under his scalp because of the vacuum. It will get hard and then slowly dissolve over the next year.
Otherwise, Dean is beautiful and a very good baby. I have some time to blog right now because he is sleeping. :) I'll add more if I can think of anything else.
Dean Jacob Hester
I feel very guilty about waiting this long to post some pictures, but I've been super busy, as you can imagine. :)
This is going to be short. I'll try to post more later....
Dean Jacob Hester was born on Friday, May 23rd at 3:27am. He was 7 pounds, 9 ounces and was 21 inches long.
This is going to be short. I'll try to post more later....
Dean Jacob Hester was born on Friday, May 23rd at 3:27am. He was 7 pounds, 9 ounces and was 21 inches long.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Labor Will Be Induced on Thursday, May 22nd
Jake and I went to the doctor this morning and have set up an appointment to have labor induced on Thursday morning (May 22nd) at 6am. Yuck, is the sun even out at that time?
We also confirmed that Baby Hester is indeed a boy. We got a good ultrasound view of that important part of his anatomy.
I'll keep everyone posted.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
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