Jacob is 38 days old today. That absolutely boggles my mind. I cannot believe how fast his first month flew by (although there were several nights that I thought would never end!). I also cannot believe how fast he has grown and changed in such a short amount of time. He now smiles and coos, responds to our voices, holds his head up, grabs onto things (besides just our fingers), and I have a laundry basket full of clothes that no longer fit him. As much as I treasure that brand-new newborn time, I am really enjoying the smiles, little noises, and funny faces that he now makes. He is becoming such a little man, and it is so much fun to interact with him.
We are working hard on establishing some sort of schedule for the day- both for Jacob's sake, and for our sanity. From the beginning he has been a very good eater, and very quickly established on his own a 2 1/2-3 hour eating schedule during the day. Luckily, he never seemed to confuse his days and nights, and only wakes up once between 10pm and 6:30am for a feeding. Our biggest struggle has been getting him to take naps during the day. He fights sleep like it is his worst enemy. Then, becomes so tired and irritable that falling to sleep becomes impossible. All I can say is, THANK goodness for my Moby wrap and hairdryer. They work like a charm every time! All of this to say, getting things done during the day has been a real challenge. Having my mom here has been fantastic, and it was very sad to see her leave yesterday. Matthew and I have been spoiled rotten by her, and when Matthew goes back to work on Monday, it is going to be a rude awakening to us all!
Jacob and his Maudy.
Here are just a few pictures from the first month to show how much my baby boy has grown!
About an hour old.
2 Days Old
Coming home from the hospital- 3 days old.
6 days old.
11 days old.
25 days old.
27 days old.
29 days old.
One month old!
Did I mention how much I love all of the funny facial expressions Jacob has? One he seems to have come out of the womb with, is straight from his daddy- that would be the worried/furrowed brow look. (although in this picture, it might be because his Aunt Amy had just given him a mohawk!)
Then he has a ton more that are just too cute- but then I might be biased. These are all with his Aunt Amy.
Many, many more pictures to come! But for now, I am headed to bed to get a few hours of sleep before Jacob decides he is hungry again.
I have definitely neglected this blog since Jacob has been born. There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to get anything done, let alone sit down at my laptop and try to sound witty.
Since my last post with the story of Jacob's birth, our lives have been very busy. I don't even know where to begin, or what to write about (that might be because of the sleep deprivation). Since my time is short (Jacob seems to be going through his 6 week growth spurt and wants to feed nonstop), even though he is asleep in his crib at the moment, that moment probably won't last long...
An American friend, Jen, and I hosted our second Cookie Swap party with some friends that we do a 'Ladies' Night Out' dinner with once a month. It was probably crazy of me to offer to host the party at my apartment only 2 weeks after giving birth, but my mom was here and was a HUGE help.
Why is it that everyone always congregates in the kitchen? (even if it is a tiny French kitchen)
Bene and Sawyer (born Oct 3), and Jacob (born Nov. 24) and me.
Party games. I think Jen called this one "Cookies in the Closet", where we wrote something about ourselves on a card, and everyone had to guess which card went with which person. A very entertaining and enlightening game!
When you have no fireplace, you have to rely on a creative husband who downloads a fireplace video, complete with Christmas music, to play on the TV. :)
It has been just over a week since Matthew's and my life changed forever.
Our son, Jacob Matthew Cabe, was born on November 24, 2010 at 4:48 am. He weighed in at 8 lbs 6 oz and was 19.7 inches long.
This is his birth story.
Last Tuesday, I started having very mild contractions about every 20 minutes. Around 11:00am, the intensity of the contractions increased, but they were still only every 20 minutes. By the time Matthew came home from work, the contractions were every 15 minutes, then every 10, then 8... Around 6:30 pm, they had been coming every 5 minutes for an hour, so we headed to the hospital.
My plan had been to see how long I could last before getting an epidural. Perhaps I could make it without... Nope! When Matthew dropped my mom and I off in front of the hospital, I was hit with another contraction and could barely walk to cross the street. The pain was like nothing I have ever experienced, and it is so hard to describe what it feels like. We checked in, and they hooked me up to the monitors. I was only 3 cm dilated, so the midwife suggested I walk around the hospital for about an hour, then I could come back and soak in the bathtub. That one hour of walking was a roller coaster. A contraction would hit and all I wanted to do was start crying and head back to the delivery room and beg for the epidural. Then the contraction would pass and I would think, "ok, the pain only lasts a short time...you can do this, Kim!". But, about 2 minutes later, another one would hit and all I could think about was the epidural. After an hour, we headed back, and just as we were passing through the waiting room, my water broke. There was a guy sitting in the waiting room and I just happened to look in his direction as my water broke. I can't even imagine the look on my face as we made eye contact. I felt like I had just peed in my pants, but because of my big belly, I couldn't see how wet my pants looked. I was so embarrassed, so I took off at the top waddling speed possible by a pregnant woman down the hall towards my delivery room.
Now, I have to admit- this whole pregnancy has been a little surreal to me. We weren't trying to get pregnant, and no matter how many times I have heard his heartbeat, or seen the ultrasounds, in the back of my mind I kept thinking that somehow this was a big mistake... the doctors were wrong... I wasn't really pregnant... I know it sounds crazy, but throughout the pregnancy, I had to remind myself I was pregnant. And even lying in the delivery room, contractions coming, water broken- I still thought to myself, "This is going to be really embarrassing when they realize there isn't a baby in there..."
After all of the walking and the water breaking, I was still only 4 cm. And I was definitely ready for the epidural. Unfortunately, they made Matthew go out into the hallway during the procedure. The anesthesiologist had a really hard time finding my epidural space. It is such a scary thing having someone poke around near your spinal cord, and for it to take so long, and hurt so bad (all while having very painful contractions, and being barked at- in French- by a very rude nurse), it was horrible! And poor Matthew was on the other side of the door, pacing the hallways, hearing me screaming, and not exactly sure what they were doing to me. Finally, the epidural was in place and within about 30 minutes, I was loving life! I had control over the amount of medicine, but was able to keep it pretty low. I could still feel all of my contractions, and they were still even a little uncomfortable, but the pain was definitely manageable.
From there, it was just a waiting game. My mom and Matthew switched places a few times (only one person was allowed in the delivery room at a time), and the hospital was nice enough to let my mom go ahead and move into my future room, so she was a little more comfortable than sitting in a waiting room chair. I dilated about a centimeter an hour, and around 4:00am, the midwife said it was almost time to push. By 4:15 am, our little team of a midwife, a midwife student, and a nurse were assembled and I started pushing. After about 20 minutes of pushing, the doctor came into check on our progress, and told us that Jacob's heart rate kept dropping more than she liked, so she decided to use the vacuum to help him come out. I felt like a failure, and tried pushing with all my might. At 4:48 am, a little miracle was plopped on my chest.
I can't begin to describe that moment. I don't even think I want to try. There is no way to express in words those feelings, and the tremendous amount of love I felt as Matthew and I cuddled our newborn. Simply amazing.
We stayed in the delivery room for about two hours. Jacob was dried off, checked out, weighed, and measured. I was able to breastfeed, and he ate like a champ! Then I was wheeled to my room where a very anxious 'Maudy' was waiting to hold her grandson.
The rest of the hospital stay was a blur. Normally in France, you stay 5 days, but because this is a brand new hospital, they have had a flood of births (a lot of which would have gone to a private hospital before this amazing, new public hospital opened). Because of the over-crowding, they offered to let me go home after 3 days and would send a midwife to my house and set-up an additional pediatrician appointment. I was more than happy to go home. The hospital was great, and I really liked all of the nurses, midwives, and students (it is a teaching hospital), but it was impossible to get any rest with the endless parade of hospital staff in and out of my room all day long.
Since coming home, we have just been trying to get on some sort of schedule. Incredibly, within the first week, Jacob has fallen into a fairly predictable eating pattern- right at every 3 hours. Except at night, where he has been going 5-6 hours between feedings. I only have had to get up once every night to feed him (usually around 3:30am)! I was really worried that he was sleeping too long, and wasn't getting enough. Both my midwife and pediatrician assured me that he is gaining weight steadily, and it isn't unusual for a baby his size to be able to go 6 hours between feedings during the night. Having my mom here has been a huge help! By the time I finish feeding him around 7am, she is ready to take over the burping and diaper changing and I get to go back to bed! What on earth am I going to do when she goes home???
There are lots more pictures to come, but I know this post has gotten really long as it is! Thank you to everyone for all of the wonderful emails, comments on Matthew's 'guest blog post', and messages on Facebook. We just wish we were closer to all of our friends and family in the US so we could share this precious baby with everyone.
So today I'm filling in for my favorite blogger. She is at the hospital taking care of our new addition. Yep, Jacob Matthew Cabe finally decided to make an appearance this morning at 4:48 AM. I am in no way as talented or skilled as Kim so I'm not even going to try. I will leave it up to her to fill in the details of the last 24 hrs, but I thought I would at least post a few pictures for everyone to see. With the promise that there will be many many more to follow.
The most important point is that Kim and Jacob are doing fantastic. Everyone is healthy and feeling well, with the exception of a little sleep deprivation. Jacob weighed in at a whopping 3.795 kg (8lbs 6 oz.) and 50cm (20 in) long. He has beautiful blue eyes and a head full of dark curly hair. I have truly been blessed with a wonderful wife and a beautiful son, what more can a man ask for on Thanksgiving.
Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers. They are greatly appreciated.
(or at least I was 2 cm dilated yesterday morning at my midwife appointment. But she also said it could be 4-5 more days!)
Dear Jacob,
You have been a model citizen of my uterus over the last 40 Weeks (well 38, since you didn't exist for the first 2) and 5 days. You didn't give me morning sickness, stretch marks, crazy food cravings, or (many) hormonal break downs. You listened to me when I asked that you not come while your daddy was in China. And, after he came home, you obeyed and waited a little while longer until your grandmother could get here from the US. You even did as you were told when your daddy asked that you not come on Saturday night during the Clemson game. You have been a very good boy. But now it is time to come out and meet everyone. Please.
Your dad and I have tried every trick in the book to coax you out, but you seem to be taking your sweet time.
So, desperate times call for desperate measures. I read on some new-age/touchy-feely website that perhaps you are receiving negative vibes from the outside world, or perhaps you are fearful of the birth process (and truthfully, I am too...). If this happens to be the case, let me assure you there is nothing to fear out here. There are only a bunch of people who already love you a lot and just want to meet you. And I promise, I forgive you for all the middle of the night bathroom trips, the way that you are able to simultaneously ram my bladder with your head and jab your feet into my ribs (you must be tall like your dad), and the seemingly endless hiccups that, without fail, always start around 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning. All's forgiven. You can come out now. We love you. And your daddy really, really wants to meet you.
Where did this whole "pregnant for nine months" come from? Everyone always refers to nine months when talking about the length of a pregnancy. There is even a movie starring Hugh Grant called Nine Months. I don't know how math works in Hollywood, but if you take 40 weeks and divide by 4 weeks per month, I get 10 months. How about you? And even if you take the 2 weeks of pregnancy where you aren't really pregnant, that is still 38 weeks. My math still gives me 9 and a HALF months. Just ask any woman who has gone past 36 weeks, believe me, Weeks 37 and 38 definitely deserved to be mentioned! AND considering that a lot of women go all the way to 42 weeks, that is TEN AND A HALF MONTHS. Even if you take off the 2 weeks at the beginning, we are back to 40 weeks- still 10 months. Where did nine months come from???
And lets go back to the 2 weeks of pregnancy/but not pregnant. If the doctors aren't counting those 2 weeks, then why are we still counting them? Think of that poor high school girl who gets knocked-up the first time she has sex. For the first two weeks of her pregnancy, she was a virgin??? Does this make sense to you?
Like I said, it must have been a man who came up with all of this pregnancy math.
Now that I have ranted, let me say that I am so incredibly thankful for a full-term, healthy pregnancy. As long as Jacob is healthy and continuing to thrive, he is welcome to stay a few more days. But, it just seems like a cruel joke that for most of your life, you hear that a woman is pregnant for 9 months. And even when you realize that it really is 40 weeks, when you hit that nine month mark you feel like you should be finished. But you still have a month to go. And then when you go past 40 weeks you start to go a little crazy (see ranting above...). All of the over analyzing of every little stomach twitch and gas bubble that you feel, wondering if THIS is the start of labor. It is mentally exhausting! Add this to the lack of sleep and hormone overload....let's just say that is a volatile cocktail. Ooooh, a cocktail....
Yeah. Take all of the above, and subtract the ability to sip on a nice cocktail to calm your nerves, for the past nine (TEN!) months...
Today, Matthew, Mom, and I headed to a local park that is located on a hill overlooking the city. There are lots of hills and stairs winding in and out of the landscaping. That and eating spicy food has amounted to a whole lot of nothing- except for sore legs and heartburn. I have a midwife appointment tomorrow morning at 8:30, so we will shall see! I really want this to happen naturally and without having to be induced, so everyone think nice, cervix-thinning thoughts, please. I know, I know, TMI. Blame it on the crazy pregnancy hormones. It affects my censoring abilities.
Today is my official due date. And this due date did not pass without a trip to the hospital. Although, not exactly for the reason I was hoping for!
Last night, I was up all night, going from feeling extremely nauseous to becoming sick as a dog! I had read several places that some women experience this type of thing of a day or so before labor begins. Kind of like the body purging everything before, well, purging the baby! However, this is France and the number of gastro bugs that go around is insane. And, it really worried me when I could not even keep down a single cracker or sips of water. I was afraid I would become dehydrated, and didn't even want to think about the repercussions for Baby Jacob. AND, I felt so incredibly weak, the thought of going into labor already exhausted?!? I honestly didn't know if I would even have the energy to push!
My loving husband emailed our wonderful doctor, who told us to come in and he would see us. (Did I mention our doctor is the chef of the department? ie the head honcho. And he worked us into his busy schedule instead of sending us to a midwife). They monitored Jacob's heart rate and checked for contractions for about an hour. As well as checking my blood pressure and temperature. The doctor did an ultrasound to check and make sure everything was okay with Jacob. He looks great! The doctor estimates that he is 3.4 kg/7 1/2 lbs and 52 cm/20.5 in. Next, he took a blood and urine sample to rule out food poisoning or some other type of infection.
All the results have come back normal, so for now I am just trying to keep down some fluids and rebuild my strength. Now is the time that it is really nice to have my mommy here! :) She has already made me chicken broth and jello and is at my beckon call. Between that and the back rubs from Matthew, if I wasn't feeling so crappy, I would feel like a princess!
Based on the very low-registering contractions, it seems Jacob isn't going to make his entrance into the world anytime soon. Which is fine by me until I start to feel better/stronger. Thank you to everyone for the sweet messages on Facbook/texts/emails/etc. I promise to do my best to keep everyone updated on our progress.
For now I leave you with a picture my mom took. When she took it, we weren't sure if it would be my 40-week picture, or our 'leaving for the hospital to have a baby' picture. As it ends up, just the 40 week picture (please excuse the bags under my eyes!)
It is hard to believe that my due date is tomorrow! I feel like a yo-yo, going back and forth between being SO ready to meet, hold, kiss, cuddle, and simply stare at this baby... and then I have moments of total fear, "I don't think I am ready to be a parent" "I am not ready to give up my free time" "My life is never going to be the same, and I really love my life right now"...
BUT, ready or not, here he comes!
My mom flew in on Sunday night, and I am so excited that she will be here for the big day. We did find out that only Matthew is allowed in the delivery room, but knowing she is at the hospital will be such a relief. Another great thing about her coming is that she brought all of the nursery bedding from Pottery Barn. Finally! You might remember my earlier post about starting Jacob's nursery. His nursery also serves as our guest room (aka my mom's room for the next 7 weeks), our home office, and our general junk room. It is definitely not what I envisioned as the nursery for my first born. We will only be here for about a year more, so I shouldn't complain. It serves its purpose, and I guess it could always be worse.
I have been working on some little arts and crafts projects (mostly to keep me busy while Matthew was in China for those 5 weeks in September and October). It was nice to finally be able to put his bedding on the crib and see (almost) everything put together.
(And for those of you who are worrying about my mom's ability to sleep sharing a room with a newborn, have no fear. He will be sleeping in our room in a cradle while she is here.)
I also had a doctor's appointment Monday afternoon. Everything still looks great, but he thinks it could be next week before I deliver. He went ahead and scheduled an appointment for next Monday morning, so we will see if I make it to that appointment or not. I feel much better than I thought I would at the end of a pregnancy. I haven't gotten any stretch marks, my belly button hasn't popped out (yet?), and except for the ridiculous swelling in my ankles and feet that make it so that only my tennis shoes fit, I really don't have any complaints. I have actually really enjoyed being pregnant. I thought at this point that, if it was offered, I would jump at the chance to be induced. However, for now, I am quite content to stay pregnant and enjoy feeling his kicks, movements, and hiccups. But, ask me next week and you might get a different answer!
So, for now, Mom and I are just trying to stay busy and enjoy our time together.
I have been blogging for over 2 years now, and I love when complete strangers write comments on my blog entries. How they find my blog, boggles my mind, but I love it. I also find it completely astonishing when I see the map widget on my blog that shows where my readers are from. I have had visitors from all over the world. Amazing!
Now, I am extremely proud to announce that I have won my first blogging award. I know! So exciting!
Keith over at A Taste of Garlic bestowed upon my blog the very prestigious "It’s really hard to reach my feet Award" for my entry last week about my hormonal breakdown at the medical lab.
I would first like to thank baby Jacob for causing these insane hormones that reduced me to tears in the middle of French medical lab. But most importantly, I would like to thank my husband. After all, without him, none of this would be possible. ;)
I would also like to thank Piglet over at Piglet in France for visiting my blog and leaving a comment that told me I had won this award!
On a day-to-day basis, my horrible French isn't really a problem. It can be frustrating or embarrassing at times, but it isn't the end of the world. I will say that since I have been pregnant, my French has gotten worse. Mostly because not having French classes and 'pregnancy brain', is a very bad combination when trying to learn a language!
Yesterday afternoon I headed out to the medical lab by our house. Each month during this pregnancy, I have to go to this lab for urine and blood tests. Today I took with me an extra prescription from the anesthesiologist. During our appointment with her back in September, she told me I would have to get this test to see if I had an infection, because if so, I wouldn't be able to get an epidural. So, just like for the last 8 months, I went into the lab with my prescription and my little vial of urine (lovely, I know). I was prepared for all the of the normal questions I have struggled with for the last 8 visits. This time however, the girl starts trying to tell me/ask me something. And no matter how many times she repeated it, I could. not. understand. her.
Then the pregnancy hormones kicked in. I could feel myself start tearing up. By this point, she had completely given up trying to get me to understand, so she just told me to have a seat in the waiting room. I tried to calm myself down, hoping that whatever she tried to tell me wasn't that important.
A few minutes later, a young guy comes and leads me to a back room to draw my blood. He starts to tell me something, and I pick up on some of the same words that the receptionist was saying to me. And I still can't understand what he is saying! So, here come the tears again. I am trying so hard not to cry, and I am frustrated and embarrassed, so I start sweating. It was horrible, I know I looked like a mess. I am telling myself over and over again that it is just the hormones, "Pull it together, Kim. You are fine. This is not THAT big of a deal." etc, etc. Doesn't work. He finishes drawing blood and takes me next door to another room with a table that has stirrups. Up to this point, I have only had blood drawn, or the one visit where I did the glucose test for gestational diabetes. Nothing that involved a table and stirrups! Then he says something else (that, yet again, I didn't understand) and leaves.
At this point I am a complete wreck. So I call Matthew. Luckily, he answered the phone and when the guy came back I just handed him the phone. And, of course, as soon as he starts explaining the situation to Matthew on the phone, suddenly I can understand what he (and the receptionist) has been trying to tell me. Basically, part of the prescription was for a vaginal exam to test for Group B strep. He was the only one that was there at that moment to give the exam, but if I wanted to come back tomorrow, there would be a female nurse that could administer the exam. At that point, even though now I understood what was going on, I was so embarrassed by the not understanding, and the crying, and the sweating... I just wanted to be finished. And I definitely did not want to come back tomorrow and go through all this again! The guy was so nice to me, even though I am sure he didn't know what to do with this blubbering, sweating, almost 39 week pregnant woman! With the exam finished, I couldn't get out of there fast enough!
I wrote most of this blog yesterday, but waited to post it because I was having a total pity party for myself. I was feeling so alone and far away from family and friends. But, today is a new day. The experience yesterday does make me SO incredibly thankful that this baby didn't decide to come early while Matthew was in China. If I couldn't even get through a 30 minute ordeal at the lab, I don't think I would have survived a who-knows-how-long labor and delivery at the hospital by myself. Speaking of being thankful, I have been blessed with a normal, healthy pregnancy. And, although far from family and US friends, I am surrounded by a wonderful group of friends here, who are constantly offering to help with whatever I need. And, my mom arrives on Sunday! Hopefully, Jacob decides to hang out until his 'Maudy' gets here. I am also extremely thankful for a wonderful husband, who gives me back rubs every night, and who (even though he laughs at me) puts on my socks and shoes for me because it is really hard to reach my feet! Matthew and I are trying to enjoy every last minute we have that is just the two of us. We have had lunch dates and dinner dates, and lots of lazy, cuddle time on the couch. Although, I have to say, I am really looking forward to cuddle time with both my boys. Soon, very soon...
***Don't get too excited. Jacob has not arrived early. And if he has listened at all to me, he knows that he is not allowed to make an appearance until his daddy gets home from China next Saturday!***
Okay, back to the precious baby boy this blog IS about! (and hang on to your hats, this is a long post...not a lot of reading, but A LOT of pictures!)
After having 3 beautiful daughters, Scott and Bene welcomed a handsome little boy to their family on October 3. Sawyer did not wait long once he decided what his birthday should be. At the point Bene told Scott she thought they should go to the hospital, it was a mere 45 minutes later and they were holding their newest bundle of joy! Thank goodness they live close to the hospital!!!
Thursday, Jen and I drove to Bene's house so Jen could visit with Bene, and I could take newborn photos of little Sawyer.
By the way, you might remember my post last February with newborn photos of Sawyer's big sister, Thais. Thais was my very first newborn to photograph. She is the reason I fell in love with newborn photography, and the reason I am going to give this whole photography business a go when we move home at the end of next year. (so Dad, you can blame Thais for me throwing away my 4-year college education in elementary education to become a photographer. Ok?) :)
It seems like forever ago that I took pictures of Thais. And I have learned SO much since then! I also have better equipment (thanks Dad!), which does help a lot when shooting with natural light. So, before showing you some of my favorites of Sawyer. Let's take a quick trip down memory lane....
Thais was about 3 weeks old when we did her session. Typically, newborn photography is best when done in the first two weeks. The sooner, the better, because the babies sleep a lot and are still all curled up and bendy. Sawyer was 12 days old when these pictures were taken, and he did NOT want to go to sleep! He fought it for as long as he could. And, just as I thought he was finally asleep and I could start positioning him, one eye would shoot open. He also told me exactly what he thought of the whole process as he peed on one of my blankets, and pooped on me! (forget photography, this was probably a great training exercise to get me ready for Jacob!) In the end, he finally succumbed to sleep and I was able to do a few different positions with him. He definitely did not like being naked either, so my cocoons and stork pouches came in handy (they were also handy in covering up the diaper because I didn't want to risk any more accidents!).
I think I was a little obsessed with his perfect little feet.
The cocoon in this photo was knitted for me by Matthew's grandmother last Christmas. This was the first time I have had an opportunity to use it. Sawyer seemed to like it!
Bene's house is so beautiful with tons of huge wooden windows and doors, so Sawyer and I took a little field trip around the house finding spots to take pictures. I could have stayed another few hours rearranging Bene's house to take pictures. She has all kinds of 'flea market finds' that she has re-painted and made really beautiful. But by the end, Sawyer was tired, and so was I!
I know this has been a long post, but here is a side-by-side of Thais and Sawyer.
Thanks again Bene and Scott, for trusting a complete rookie a year and a half ago with Thais. AND, letting me come back for round two with Sawyer. Congratulations on this newest, perfect addition to your family!
