Motherhood

Being a mother is most definitely MORE than a full-time job. A full-time job requires one to work a schedule similar to 8 hours a day, 40 days a week. I spend my ENTIRE day being a mom. From cleaning, to cooking, to feeding, burping, consoling, and changing a baby, my work never ends. Thankfully, I've had my most amazing husband home with me for the past 10 days, and I'll have him home with me for 2 more days before he goes back to work. I don't know what I'll do when he leaves us those 4 long days out of the week.

James Noah Johnson was born Friday, January 13, 2012 at 4:24 PM. He was 6 lbs, 15 oz., and 19 3/4" long. He has a head full of dark hair, and beautiful baby blue eyes. It's not hard to look at him and tell that he looks like his father. I only see myself in him when he makes certain facial expressions (like when he's crying). Other people see that they can see me in him too, but I just don't see it right now. Maybe as he gets older I'll start to see more of myself, but I hope for the most part that he remains similar to his daddy.

At my last doctor's appointment on January 12, I was told that I had the option to induce early due to severe pain in my hips and pelvic area. Dustin and I hadn't planned on inducing until January 18 (2 days before Noah's due date), but I thought that the pain was so bad that I was ready to have Noah here with us. So I called Dustin at work around 3:00 to ask him what he wanted to do. He seemed nervous, but he agreed that we should go ahead and induce early. I didn't realize at that time that my doctor wanted to begin my induction 3 hours later, at 6 PM. Dustin had to leave work early to get home in time for us to get ready to go to the hospital.

At first, I was extremely excited and ready to see my baby boy. But then reality began to set in, and I began to regret opting to be induced early. To me, that meant that Dustin and I wouldn't have any more time together for a REALLY long time (and by "time together" I mean date nights, going shopping together, or just leaving the house to grab a bite to eat, etc). I guess that's just the baby blues talking, as I cry when I think about it. But then, I thought about how being induced early meant that Dustin would be with us for 12 whole days rather than only 6, and that made me really happy. Plus, I could not wait to meet my son, the little baby who had been living inside of me for 39 weeks.

My entire labor process took about 21 hours. Once I arrived at the hospital at 6 PM, it took about an hour and a half for the nurses to prep me for induction. The first step was to give me a pill to make me dilate, so that they could start the pitocin (induction) drip. They checked on me after 4 hours, and the pill hadn't worked. So they gave me another pill and said that they would be back to check on me in another 4 hours. I was having contractions, but they weren't bad enough to need any medication until about 1 AM, at which time I opted for a shot rather than an epidural (because I wanted to try to give birth without one). When they checked on me again at 4 AM, the second pill had not worked either, so they told me that I would now have to wait to see if there was any change without medication. At about 6 AM, I began to have REALLY bad contractions in the lower right side of my back. The contraction itself lasted about 5 whole minutes, with an intensity which reached the maximum peak of the contraction monitor and stayed there more than 50% of the time. Sadly, I went ahead and opted for the epidural. I'm still proud of myself that I lasted 12 hours without one. After the epidural, the dilation process went by very quickly and smoothly. At about 8 AM the doctor came and broke my water, and after about 9 hours, I had dilated 9 centimeters and was ready to begin pushing. I pushed for about 40 minutes, and little Noah was here! I can honestly say that nothing about the entire labor process was excruciating. It's actually been everything postpartum that has been the most painful. 8 days later, I'm still having some pain.

We had LOTS of visitors at the hospital. I even had friends and family who came BEFORE Noah arrived who stayed with us for a while. Some friends and family came and saw us 2-3 days in a row. It was really nice to see how much love and support we had from those around us.

These past 6 days since being home from the hospital really have been quite the experience. I'm getting used to not sleeping through the night now. If I get 5-6 hours of sleep, then I count my blessings. Dustin and I try to take turns as much as possible getting up with Noah, and I try to let Dustin get out of the house when he feels the need so that he doesn't get baby blues too. My hands are severely chapped from washing them and sanitizing them so much. When I'm not feeding Noah, changing his diaper, changing his clothes, or rocking him to sleep, I have a 1.5 to 2 hour gap to wash bottles, do other household chores, take a shower, use the bathroom, or do whatever else I need to do before he wakes up and we start the process all over again.

I am a paranoid mom at the moment. Every little sound that Noah makes, I want to interpret as a sound indicative of something being wrong with him. I check on him every 5 minutes to make sure he is breathing while he sleeps. I watch people when they hold him to make sure they are holding him properly and aren't kissing him in the face, giving him germs, etc. I look forward to his doctor's appointments because I want to know if he is okay. I hate leaving him in a room alone, and if I do, I have monitors in every other room so that I can hear the faintest wimper if he needs me.

I'm getting used to Noah's schedule and knowing what he needs and when he needs it. I'm not looking forward to him getting sick, because I know that during that time I won't have a clue what to do for him besides console him and try to make him feel better. For now, even though it's very time consuming, it's fairly easy taking care of Noah. But then again, I do have Dustin here with me for the moment, so that makes things exponentially easier. I'm sure next week I won't have any time to update this blog or take a shower for that matter. I'll do what I can to keep everyone updated on my journey through motherhood and Noah's journey through life. Feeding time now, pictures to come.

20 days to go. . .

I have spent the past few weeks trying to prepare for our Little One's arrival. Our first week of Christmas Break, I got a stomach virus so bad that I had to spend 20 hours in the hospital taking in fluids and medication, so that knocked me flat for a few days. Then we spent Christmas in Winnfield, so I couldn't get anything done then either. Christmas was very nice by the way, it was wonderful to spend time with my in-laws. Once we got back home Sunday afternoon, we got to work in the nursery. We had to assemble a crib, dresser, playpen, stroller, and carseat; wash baby blankets, burpcloths, and bibs; wash 10 loads of baby clothes; drive to Bossier City to buy a changing table and then assemble it; and then work out all of the decoration details. Little One's bag is packed and ready for him, but I have yet to pack my own hospital bag. I plan to start on that soon. Needless to say, it has been a LONG week, and now that I have accomplished what I needed to accomplish, I'm only left with a few actual vacation days, and I have things to do then as well. Maternity Leave is starting to look very good from here. . . only 20 days (or less) until our Little One arrives!

Little One at 30 Weeks

This is our Little One at 30 Weeks. You can already tell he looks just like his Daddy.

Pregnancy Progression

From Week 8 to Week 34, slightly hard to see. . .

In individual form:

Getting Closer to the End. . .

Well, I am only 6 weeks away from meeting my baby boy! Once again I apologize for creating so much space between posts. Dustin's schedule and my own make it very difficult to find any time to post or to take/upload pictures. We use most of our time working, doing homework, doing housework, and traveling. We visit family as much as we can during this time so we can share this special time with them. For Thanksgiving we visited my brother Travis and sister Jessica in Virginia, and we had a wonderful time. I'm sad that they don't get to be here with me while I'm pregnant, and that they won't get to be here when he is born. I think that they may have to wait until June 2012 to meet him, when Dustin and I make our way back to VA for Jessica's high school graduation. :(

I've had 2 small baby showers so far, and we have gotten some really nice things for the baby. We appreciate everyone's love and support during this time! I am having one last very small baby shower tomorrow, then Dustin and I will be on our own to fill in the gaps of things we need for the baby. But, those gaps are VERY small. We are so very blessed to have people in our lives who are so willing to help us provide things for our Little One.

These are photos from our Winnfield Shower:

These are photos from our West Monroe Shower:

My stomach keeps growing and growing, and now you can notice substantial growth from week to week! I am at 34 weeks today! My due date is January 20, but if Little One has not made his entrance before the 18th of January, he will be induced. So technically, I only have 5 weeks and 5 days left!

I had a dream last night that I had him early. He looked just like his daddy, which I don't mind at all! He was very cute and I loved holding him. When I woke up and realized it was just a dream, I was sad that I couldn't really hold him yet. Won't be long, though!

I am finding that it is getting more and more difficult to bend, roll over, or make any movements other than sitting or standing up (which becomes difficult if a seat is too soft or deep). I'm not in any kind of pain, except for when Little One decides to do Zumba all day long in my stomach. I haven't gained much weight, only about 12 pounds. As of right now, I haven't experienced any swelling of any kind either. I do get really bad indigestion and leg cramps still come and go, but I really don't have any complaints! Pregnancy really is an enjoyable experience.

I have a "Christmas Elf" at my work who has been leaving gifts for Little One and myself in my box at school. He/She will be revealing himself/herself next week, and I can't wait to see/thank whoever has been leaving mystery gifts! It really makes me appreciate my job. Sorry that the photos are so grainy, my phone isn't the greatest camera ever.

My students aren't looking forward to me taking leave. I'm hoping that my last day will get to be January 6, so that I can get my students ready for the substitute. I'm sad that I have to leave them for 6-8 weeks, but I can't wait to have my son and spend some time getting to know him before I have to abandon him at daycare.

I have been doing some work in the baby's room, but it's a slow process. We have a ton of things for the baby, but we don't have any furniture or decorations. We used our debit card rewards points to finally buy a crib, and we plan on putting it together tonight, since we have no plans. I plan on taking pictures of that experience and posting them as soon as possible!

That's really all that's going on for now. . . I have my next appointment on December 20. Hoping that all is well when I go!