Baby’s Here!!

Please join Nate and I in welcoming our brand new baby boy! He was born last week a couple days before his due date, and was clearly in some sort of hurry. I was in labor for just 7 hours total and ended up barely making it to the hospital in time!

Baby's Grand Entrance
Nate and I were at home watching Cheers (our nightlife consisted primarily of Netflix during that last month) when I went into labor. I hung around home for a few hours in early labor when all of the sudden, my contractions went from 8 minutes to 3 minutes apart out of nowhere and my water broke. We immediately rushed out the door but EVERY single exit within 5 miles of the hospital was closed for some sort of construction or something, so we had to go ridiculously far out of the way. By the time I got there I was 10cm dilated and he showed up in no time.

Some Boy
He was born 8 lbs, 7 oz and 20 inches long. We'll be referring to him as “Some Boy” here on the blog. We've decided not to share his real name online for privacy reasons, but will be posting pics of him – at least as long as he's a baby and isn't particularly recognizable or potential prey for strangers since, well, we never let him out of our sight. Definitely first-time, slightly overprotective parents here! Nate and I share a LOT of our own lives, but really want to safeguard the privacy of our little guy. So far, Some Boy sleeps like a champ and rarely cries. He does, however, make THE most adorable little cooing noises.

Surprises
There were a couple things I was surprised about after delivery. I was so caught up in getting through the pregnancy that there were some things afterward I hadn't really thought about. Like feeding him. I thought it would come naturally. Boob fills with milk, baby drinks it. Seems easy enough, right? Wrong. Breastfeeding has been a real struggle for me. Some Boy wouldn't latch on during feedings at first. When I finally managed to get him positioned right, he kept falling asleep! So he was hardly getting any nutrition for awhile. When Nate saw how frustrated I was getting, he had a lactation consultant called in who really helped us turn things around. Serious points for the husband! I would highly, highly recommend a lactation consultant for any new mom.

Another thing that surprised me was the fact that breastfeeding or pumping causes uterine contractions. It's the body's way of getting the uterus to shrink back up and is very normal and healthy, but I wasn't expecting it so my reaction was sheer panic as I had flashbacks to labor. I remember very well what contractions lead to! So that's another thing I would definitely make future mothers aware of.

We'll be laying low at home enjoying time with Some Boy for the next few weeks, but I will be posting regular updates and have all sorts of nursery pictures, crafty tutorials and awesome recipes lined up…plus a few really great giveaways. Stay tuned!