Vaccines Today :(

Robby got his first set of vaccines today and it was not an easy thing to go through as a mom. It was so sad! I think I was more scared and upset than Robby. 

He got 4 different vaccines today, one by mouth and the other 3 by shots. He took the one by mouth so well. The nurse said she didn't even need a napkin for his little mouth because he was drinking it like a champ. They gave him the other 3 vaccines in his thighs and he cried like crazy. I was holding him and my cousin Josh came because Rob had work. The nurse did them really quickly and it was over in a second, but it felt like forever. 

As soon as he was done, I tried to calm him down and then gave him a bottle. He was okay and slept the car ride home.

On another note, The rest of his 2 month well appointment went great. He is doing so good and growing so much! His reflexes are great and he has no problems :) He's doing everything a 2 1/2 month old should be doing :) His next appointment is at 4 months. 

We also noticed a little freckle on his back today! His first freckle! Looks like a little mole, similar to mine. 

Anyway.... When we got home, I gave him Tylenol because the doctor said he could get a fever. He slept for a little while and then was just a little fussy here and there. He's been acting a little different too, smiling and cooing like crazy... It's a little nerve wracking but I'm sure he's okay. The scare with vaccines these days gets us thinking the worst. 

Anyway, it's 11pm and he's wide awake which is weird because the past 2 weeks he has been going to sleep at 9-10. A lot of excitement today (not necessarily good excitement, but still excitement).  

He's still a little congested so we will see how his night goes. 

2 Months Old

Robby is 2 months old already!!!! 

Well, posting every week has been something that has not occurred (being a new mom is a challenge in itself, add on the Etsy business, friends and family stopping over, sleeping when I get a chance, and trying to maintain a household), but I'll just update our lives whenever I get the chance, probably every month. 

Right now, Robby finally went to sleep after fussing all day long with an upset tummy (12:15am). I'm so tired that I'm past the point of actually sleeping... So, what better thing to do than blog about how things are going. 

Well, things have been great! I'm finally starting to get the hang of things. Pumping is just part of my life, and I pump every 3-4 hours. I stopped breastfeeding when Robby was only a week old. I was having so many issues with it. I was upset at first because every one talks about breastfeeding being such an amazing thing and so good for the baby bonding aspect of it, but he just didn't like it. He was getting too much milk, chocking, crying, and it just wasn't working out for us. Rob and I probably could of tried a little harder to make it work, but I started pumping and really loved the idea of knowing how much the baby was getting at every feeding and the fact that Rob could feed him whenever he wanted. So, I am officially a pumping exclusive mom, and I am totally okay with it because Robby is still getting the good stuff, just not directly from my boob. 

Anyway, I got cleared 2 weeks ago from the doctor and can start working out again (although, I have not actually done that yet). I'm still in a little bit of pain but nothing major, it just feels like I did 100 sit ups and I'm sore from it. I'm hoping I am fully recovered soon and have no pain. The plan is to start working out next week, after Thanksgiving.  

Updates about Robby 

Robby is such a great baby! He sleeps on and off throughout the day and doesn't really cry unless his stomach hurts (which is almost every day) from gas and trying to poop. I'm hoping this doesn't last much longer. They say up until 4 months, a baby's intestinal track is trying to figure out how to work, so they can have trouble going poop and gas can get stuck in there. He doesn't really burp so I think that might have something to do with it. We try every feeding to burp him but nothing comes up. Usually, about a half hour after he eats, we will pat his back again and he'll burp, but by that time, gas bubbles probably get into his belly and intestinal track. It's a little frustrating but hopefully it won't last much longer. 

Robby eats so much and grows so fast! At his one month well appointment, he weighed 11 pounds and grew and inch, measuring 21.5 inches. His two month well is coming up, I'll add the updates on here when he goes... Got his 2 month stats. Weighs 13.1lbs and is in the 88th percentile. 

He eats 4.5oz every 3-4 hours. He was at 3oz for a while (every 2 to 3 hours). We then gradually started increasing the amount because he would get so hungry so fast and never seem satisfied. He's doing great and loves to eat! 

He still has a clogged tear duct. He's had this for about a month and a half now. His tears don't drain into his eye so he always has crusties around his eye. I'm always cleaning his eyes and massaging his tear duct. It's his right eye. His eyes are still blue but sometimes I see hints of brown. I think they will be all brown soon enough, which l'm happy with because maybe he will look more like me :) 

He gets baths about 3 times a week and loves them! The warm water probably feels like his old home (inside my belly). The only part he hates is getting out of the tub because it's so cold! I wrap him up right away and try to bundle him against my body for warmth. 

He had baby acne for about a month. It started a month ago and is finally starting to clear up. Today, his face was so smooth! 

He was sleeping in his Rock and Play every night up until about a week ago when we decided to put him in his crib. He sleeps on his belly now, which is wonderful because he will sleep about 5-6 hours through the night now. He sleeps so good on his belly because he can't startle himself from that startle reflex that Babies have. It's a little scary to have him on his belly because of all the SIDS stuff, but he loves it and sleeps so good that way. I just keep and eye on him and check the monitor throughout the night. Also, his head is so strong so I have no doubts that he will be able to turn and lift his head and not suffocate or anything like that. 

Robby rarely ever spits up. In fact, I think he has spit up a total of 5 times. He threw up twice (once all over the place in his swing and another time a little bit on the couch--must of been something I ate that got in the milk and made him sick.)  Rob and I depend on the famous gas drops. These help him so much when he has gas which is pretty much every day. 

He loves riding in the car and never cries in there. He loves stroller rides but now it's getting too cold to go outside. He loves being held and will fall asleep on his dad almost every night. 

He smiles constantly! And I take a million pictures and videos! He loves to look at the wall and ceiling. Sometimes, he follows the wall as if his Angel is moving around watching him. He even laughs and smiles out of nowhere when he's looking up there. I think it's definitely his angel looking out for him and protecting him. I love the thought of that :) 

We just started to try and get Robby into a nighttime routine so his daddy and I can get to bed earlier and make it work when we both start working again. 

Instead of letting him fall asleep downstairs or in our arms and then transferring him to his crib, we want him to be awake when he goes into his crib and then let him fall asleep on his own. This way, he can associate the crib with bedtime. We also want to give him a bottle, then a bath right before bedtime. They say certain cues will signal that it's bedtime, which is a bottle and a bath. We will see! Tonight was the first night we tried it and he went to sleep in his crib after laying there for about 20 minutes. So far so good! 

All in all, things have been great! There are good days and bad days but I love every second of it and wouldn't trade it for anything. He is such a joy in my life and I can't get over the love I have for him! He does new things every day, makes new noises every day, and just makes me fall in love with him more and more each day! I'm so happy I am a mommy! 

Here's some recent pictures of Robby :) 

3 Weeks Old... Time is Flying

Tomorrow, Robby is going to be 3 weeks old already! Where does the time go? I here moms say this quite often, and I never really took too much care or notice to it until I started to experience it myself. 

Thank God for cameras because if I didn't snap a picture or video every day, I would have little memory of the past 3 weeks. The long days and nights with minimum sleep could be the cause of the memory loss. The first few weeks with a newborn are difficult to say the least. Rob and I have been adjusting as best as we can but it is definitely a huge adjustment. Worth every sleepless night but still a big adjustment. 

The first week was really hard and the first 2 nights home were INSANELY hard! There's so much that people don't really warn you about, mainly the new mom and dad jitters and the thoughts of SIDS filling your head. 

We thought our first night home would be so awesome considering we weren't in the hospital anymore and we could finally just relax and enjoy our new baby. Well, we hadn't slept good in the hospital and I think I was literally going on 48 hours with no sleep. Rob was so tired, that around 10 o'clock he passed out. I had the baby next to me and I was so tired too but nothing I did would get the fear of the baby choking or suffocating himself out of my head. I prayed and prayed but the fear would just not leave my mind. I tried every bassinet and sleeper in the house and no matter what I did  with the baby, I kept thinking that he would die in his sleep. Thinking about it now makes me laugh a little because he is perfectly okay when he sleeps. I was just so beyond tired and so overwhelmed with the fact that I was now responsible for a precious little life. 

I called my mom at 4am and she came over to be with the baby. I didn't want to wake Rob up because I knew he needed sleep. Thank God for my mom because she calmed me down and made me feel better. I was a mess when she got here, crying my eyes out, in so much pain from surgery, and just so overwhelmed. Such a terrible memory and not how I pictured my first night home with my amazing little baby. 

Anyway, night one was over and my mom took off work the entire week. The next few nights went much better. I took my sister's advice and propped towels under his rock and play, this way he was propped up higher and couldn't turn his head into the side of the Rock and play. I felt so much better and could finally sleep  so much soundly. That and we decided to put the baby on Rob's side of the bed so I wouldn't hear every sound that the baby made. 

Anyway, My mom helped us out and cooked for us every day, all day, it was so nice to have her here with us. We really needed the help. She was so amazing. I don't know what I would do without her. 

So, here we are, 3 weeks in. Rob and I are still adjusting and trying to figure out our sleep schedules. The baby is up every 3 hours to eat and likes to stay awake when we are ready for bed. Tonight is the first night that we are in bed together at the same time while the baby is sleeping. Every other night up to this point, Rob has been staying up with the baby all night until about 4-5am and then I would get up around 7 and be with him all day while Rob got sleep. Such a stinky schedule because Rob wouldn't get any day time to get things done and I wouldn't be able to enjoy my days with our baby and each other. Very stressful. 

I will say that I am so glad that we have such a good baby. He rarely cries and he is just so good! He's up every few hours, eats then goes back to sleep. Yeah he's up at night more than the day, but if that's the only hard part, we are very lucky. 

Some great things happened in such a short time. Robby smiles all the time and he is just so cute when he does. We have him his first bath around 2 weeks and he liked it for the most part. He was crying until we put the warm water on him and then he was okay. His umbilical cord fell off at 18 days and we were so happy because it smelled so bad! His belly button is so cute too! It looks like an outie right now but it's still healing. He's eating about 3 1/2 ounces right now which is really good. He rarely burps and almost never spits up. I think he has only spit up like 5 times and it's such a little amount (except one time when he threw up all over his swing-such a messy situation that was--I think the vitamin D made him sick). 

Anyway, I am starting to feel better. This week, I started to drive and just started feeling better all around. I even took Robby to bsbiesrus for the first time by myself. 

I take Motrin here and there but only when I'm feeling more pain than normal from doing too much. My incision still hurts and the numbness and pain when I touch the surrounding skin is a little annoying but just hoping that it eventually goes away. I still have a few more weeks of healing left so we will see. 

Anyway, time to get some sleep. It's 10pm and Robby should be awake around 12 to eat again. We are exhausted, but what else is new. It's so worth every sleepless hour. 

At least he gets good sleep! 

Robby's Birth Story

Robby is one week old already! Man, people aren't joking when they say time flies by and enjoy it because in the blink of an eye, he will be all grown. 

I am going to set aside some time each week to weekly post about everything that's going on in our lives. Looking back on this blog, when Robby is older one day, it  will be pretty cool to see how his parents' lives were and how his life was... Especially when he has a family (or is starting a family) of his own one day.

Anyway ... Let's start with Robby's Birth Story. (No detail will be left out, sorry if it's a little descriptive in some areas). 

On September 25th 2015, which was one week ago from this exact moment, my water broke at 5:05 in the morning. Prior to that, around 4:30, I got up to pee (because thats what I did every half hour of my life being 38 weeks and 2 days pregnant--which by the way, I think my due date was wrong and I was really 40 weeks and 2 days pregnant-- and then went back to bed. About 15-20 minutes later, it felt like I was peeing again while I was in bed. I got annoyed because I had to get up again, but I just thought it was Robby pushing on my bladder and making the pee come out stronger than normal. Well, I got up and it started to flow out of me so I hurried to the bathroom (which is right next to our bed). As soon as I stepped foot on my bathroom floor, it gushed out of me, so I pulled down my underwear and sat right on the toilet. I noticed that my mucus plug fell right out on my underwear (I know, gross... But true). On the toilet, it poured out of me again.. And at the moment, I knew and said out loud to myself "my water just broke, definitely had to be my water." I sat there for a minute and collected my thoughts then got up and called Rob (he was downstairs from the night before watching his shows). He answered and I said "I think my water broke!." He said "no way!" He was up here within seconds. 

I told Rob exactly what happened. I then got back on the toilet and called my OBGYN. I told her what happened, she told me to breathe, calm down, and get my thoughts and stuff together, and head to the hospital. 

I didn't feel any contractions or any pain, so I knew I had some time. I started thinking about everything I would need that wasn't in my hospital bag yet (charger, maternity paper insurance card, etc.). I then went downstairs to get some laundry and some clothes. Rob was a little nervous and asking me what the heck I was doing and kept saying "Let's go!" We finally left about 20 minutes later. 

During the car ride, I started to feel a little bit of pressure but all I kept saying was that I had to poop (that's all it felt like the entire time). We called my mom and Rob's mom and let them know and we called Jess marchese (because that's what she did to me at 4:30am when violet was born). I then just sent out a group text to everyone to let them know our situation. 

We arrived at Virtua around 5:45am. Documenting every step of this event. 

We were told to go right to C (Labor & Delivery). Rob dropped me right off out front and I walked in to get the process going while he parked. Robby was still breech at this point so I knew I was still going to have to get a c-section. 

I filled out the necessary paperwork and answered some minor questions (Thank God I pre registered with Virtua 2 nights prior or this would of taken much longer.)

Anyway, there wasn't a single person in the waiting room, which made things super fast and super easy.  As soon as Rob got back from parking, they were ready to take us right back to triage. They had to check me and make sure it was actually my water that broke and not a false alarm. At this point, I was feeling poop pressure and slight to non-existent pressure pains that came on here and there. 

When we got back to triage, they hooked a monitor up to my stomach to look for the baby's heartbeat and to monitor my heart beat. Everything was fine with the baby and me (I kept saying I had to poop but they wouldn't let me). They then checked my cervix to make sure I was dilated. They also took a small sample of the fluid in my cervix to make sure my water actually broke (if it broke, under a microscope, they would be able to see the amniotic fluid cells--so cool). After she checked my cervix, she told me I was 3cm dilated. I asked if I could go to the bathroom but she told me that there was no poop in my intestinal track and the pressure I was feeling was actually a contraction. I didn't feel any pain with the contractions, just pressure. 

Right after they assured us that I was in labor, they hooked an IV of fluids up to me and shortly moved me into another room. I had to get about 2.5 bags of IV before they could start anything (they do this for everyone for hydration purposes). I was starting to get a little nervous but I was so excited I was going to meet Robby soon. Rob was given his scrubs and hospital gear and I was given a cap as well. The time was getting close. 

As we were waiting, we were keeping in contact with everyone. I also had to sign consent forms for the c-section and anesthesia. It was getting so real! 

About an hour or so later, around 7:30am. I was wheeled into the operating room. Rob wasn't aloud back at first because they had to prep me for surgery and it's a sterile environment. This was also the time for the anesthesiologist to start with the spinal anesthetic. 

The operating room was so cool looking! It was so bright and so clean and SO cold! I was hot and nervous so it felt really good to be in there. I was just amazing by all the medical equipment and the way the entire room was set up. Right away, they had me lean forward on the table in an upright position to get the spinal anesthesia. It didn't really hurt and felt like a pinch. I then felt my legs get hot and it was a weird sensation in the lower half of my body. They then helped me lay down and moved my legs onto the table. I was starting to get numb, but could feel everything still. 

It took about a half hour for the anesthesia to work fully. They had me on an intense incline with my head facing down and my legs facing up to disperse the medicine in my body. They had to check me non stop by pinching me and poking me with sharp objects to make sure I didn't feel any pain. I could feel every touch just not the pain with it. Pretty soon, I was unable to move my toes and I felt zero pain. That's when rob was aloud in and the curtain went up between me and my belly. I asked when everything was going to start and the doctor said "Sweetie, they already started, you're cut open." I was in shock because I felt nothing except for light touches on my belly. Rob wasn't aloud to watch yet, he was just down by me and holding my hand and keeping me calm. I wanted the entire procedure videotaped so I kept asking when he was aloud to start videotaping. 

About 5 minutes in, they let him start taping. He watched the entire thing and I was so proud of him because he said he wasn't going to be able to do it. I felt all the tugging and pulling but felt no pain. It was such a cool feeling and definitely an indescribable feeling. It didn't hurt at all, it just felt like a baby was being taken out of my belly (like I said, indescribable and incomparable to any other feeling). It took about 90 seconds for them to get Robby out. As soon as he was out, they cut the cord, wiped him down, wrapped him up, and let me see him. I saw him for about 5 seconds, then they took him to the bassinet and cleaned him, foot printed him, weighed him, and all that other good stuff. As soon as I saw him, I cried my eyes out and fell in love right away. I was dying to see him and hold him but I had to get stitched up, which felt like an eternity, but actually took about 15 minutes (still to long for a new mother awaiting to hold her baby). Before I was even finished, Rob and Robby went to the recovery room. I couldn't wait to see them. 

When I got to the recovery room, Rob was standing there holding Robby. It was such a surreal moment and I couldn't believe he was finally here! I could cry now just thinking about it. He was so perfect and so beautiful. I was obsessed right away and just SO Inlove! They say some mothers don't feel that instant love or connection.. Well, I have no idea how they don't feel that because from the second I layed eyes on him, it was a love that I had never experienced before. 

This was the first picture we ever took of him together. 

We spent an hour in the recovery room. I got to feed him and hold him and just stare at him. Our parents and friends were dying to come see us. 

As soon as we got to the regular hospital room, we were okay to have visitors. My parents came, Rob's mom came, and so did our other friends and family members (aunt Jenn, uncle Mark, the girls, josh, heather, Erica, Jess, jess marchese, Joe, Danyele, Dan, Brittany, and Sal).

We spent 4 days in the hospital. We couldn't wait to get home! Sleeping was next to impossible because a nurse or doctor or someone would come in every hour to check on things plus the baby was eating every 2-3 hours. Plus... The hospital bed and couch we had to sleep on was terrible. Plus... I was in so much pain from surgery. Plus, we were new parents. 

As soon as we were clear to check out, we packed little guy up and headed home. I was still in so much pain but I took it easy and walked really slow. I wasn't able to carry anything so Rob took a few trips to the car (we had so much stuff!) 

Robby's ready to get home! 

Such an incredible journey! I will say that I was never upset about having a c-section, I just went with the flow and it was the way it had to be. Recovery has been really hard but it was so worth it and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Thought I was in Labor... I think

Tonight, I awoke an hour ago (around 3am) to such intense pain in my entire abdominal area. 

I couldn't tell if it was gas related or pregnancy/labor related. There was so much pressure and nothing was relieving it. I tried getting on all fours, downward dog, standing straight, leaning over on the bed, sitting on the toilet, rocking back and forth, and of course, just pushing on my stomach all over. No luck. 

I started to freak out a little since I didn't feel the baby move at all. I then felt my entire stomach and the whole thing was hard. So my first thought, is this a contraction? Braxton hicks? Labor? Orrrrr, just gas pain. Is the baby okay? Should I go to the hospital? Maybe fetal distress? 

The thoughts that run through your mind are endless. 

I just sat, breathed and prayed. Prayed for the baby to be okay no matter what. I said to myself, I will go through any amount of pain, as long as I know you are okay. And sure enough, it subsided a little and I went to lay back down. He began a little movement and now he is moving all over. Thank God! 

The power of prayer is so amazing and God is always looking over me and this baby. God is good, God is great, God is simply amazing. 

Thank you God. 

My prayer: "Lord, watch over this baby with all your heart and soul. Protect him from the world and may he always be a child of yours. Let him grow and love and be a follower of Christ. Let him show the world the power of God and be a spreader of the word. Let his heart always be filled with your love. Amen."

Robby's Room is Complete!

Nursery is finished and I am obsessed!