Potpourri from Our Journeying

It may not seem like a big milestone to you the reader, but for me the mother, it’s a HUGE deal: Isaac put himself to sleep in his own crib! I’m free! I have about an extra 40 minutes to an hour added to my day and I don’t know what to do with myself! I should be sleeping, I really should be… but I’m so excited I can’t! I have lived with this little guy long enough to know that just because he’s sleeping now in this fashion may not mean the next time he’s tired he still won’t need one of us to rock him; but for this moment in our day and in our learning to live as a little family I am quite smitten and in awe of how much he changes everyday!

His last two nights have been wonderful. I should say wonderful in the sense that they have been good for him, still not so much for us. He seems to have a preferred eating pattern, which isn’t a pattern all the time really! Haha. Just when he seems consistent he throws us for a loop, which is fine for us too. I guess I should say Stephen and I are becoming better “Isaac readers,” which is a great thing for all three of us. Isaac is learning to figure out his parents and new home too, I’m sure.

Another milestone for the day was our second week check-up for Isaac at the pediatrician’s. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 12 ounces. That’s 10 ounces he’s gained in one week. Dr. Baker was impressed and says that he’s doing great! His umbilical cord fell off about five days ago. He and I both finally have our belly buttons.

Which leads me to the third and final milestone of the day: I put on a pre-maternity outfit today! I thought I’d give it a try since my maternity clothes are looking really strange on me the last few days. I look lost in them and really “frumpy” as I like to say (which every time I say it Stephen asks me to give a definition. My definition is always: ‘Look at me!’). So that was very nice too. Surprising, and nice.

I’ve typed so much I worked myself into a calmer mindset, so I think I will try to go relax and rest. Just had to share since I had the extra time!

Here’s the little man catching a few winks of sleep in his patriotic outfit…

Sleeping in the Crib

This picture was a natural pose by Isaac (we didn’t prop his hands into this position). Sometimes he strikes some interesting poses when he’s asleep!

Classic Sleeping Isaac Pose

Thankfully, Isaac doesn’t mind baths too much (will that continue through middle school?!!) At this point it’s still a sponge-bath (no immersion in water), but he doesn’t cry, even when water is poured over his head to wash the shampoo out…

Bathtime

He doesn’t like getting too cold (wait until he experiences his first Chicago winter!) and sometimes his little chin quivers. Thus, the full-body towel to keep him warm.

Warming Up after the Bath

I have to say first of all that everyone who knew we were pregnant and getting close to our due date always told us to enjoy our sleep. Even the doctor warned us. Every time we went in to see her the final month, part of her “prescription” was for Stephen and I to take a date, watch a movie, and sleep, sleep, sleep! We were warned, but I can’t say we were prepared for how MUCH sleep we would be missing. It’s unbelievable! No amount of warning is enough for this strange phenomenon. Of course it’s perfectly explainable: a little newborn boy is depending on us for every possible need he has.

Two really unusual things have happened to me that make me realize how unprepared I was. We both have started doing strange things that never in our wildest dreams we would have suspected ourselves of doing! One of which was the time during a 2 a.m. feeding when I asked Stephen to hand me the pacifier for Isaac. When he handed it to me I stuck it in MY mouth. We both just looked at each other and realized it was pretty late. The second funniest incident would have to be the morning of my second shower here at home. I don’t know what I was thinking or if I was in some kind of hurry. But Stephen cracked the door to see if I needed help since my incision was still bothering me. I told him no, I was drying off. I just stopped and realized I had my towel in my hands and was drying off…but had NOT turned the shower water off. Now Stephen on the other hand will have to share his own stories about what the lack of sleep does to him. Let me just say for myself though that I have never had to repeat so many things to him before or ask him where he put something quite as much as I do now.

That’s the lighter side of our lack of sleep. It’s amazing!

From Stephen: “Strange things? Hmmm…buying a pack of 92 diapers at one time was not something I ever envisioned doing. They should last the little guy about a week or so! I do distinctly remember sometime in the middle of one sleepless night when I started a sentence to tell Jessica something and then realized halfway through the sentence that it didn’t make sense and I wasn’t even sure what I was trying to say. I think I finally gave up and just laid there…”

 Isaac in a “Moses Basket” and his mother trying to get some sleep

Two Smiths and a Basket

Does this picture even need a caption?!!!

A New Father

Our posts have been sparse, we know. We are thinking that you understand though. Our lives have completely changed, and go by an entirely new schedule! Schedule isn’t the right word because that insinuates that there are things that occur at predictable and regular intervals… that’s not our case. It’s been quite the opposite here! But we are enjoying life with our new little boy and are learning new things everyday. It even seems like he changes everyday!

Last Tuesday we took him to his first doctor’s appointment. His birth weight was 8 lbs. 3 oz. which we almost gained back by our visit, weighing in at 8 lbs. 2 oz. He also measured 20 inches long, so either he grew an inch in one week or his birth length was incorrect. We’re going with the incorrect birth length. Growing an inch a week would not work for his new little wardrobe folded in the closest!

We just wanted to write a quick post with a few more pictures to let you know what’s going on. There are of course a few more things we want to type and send pictures of, but they’ll come at another time.

Tomorrow’s day four and we get to go home! I am ready to be home. We have had visitors just about every day now. And one thing everyone anticipates is for Isaac to open his eyes. He always does it for Stephen and me, but not so much for other people. Today, one of our nurses helped us discover why: she asked me when during my pregnancy I noticed Isaac moved around the most. Without a doubt I knew it was after five o’clock in the evening. He was SOOOO squirmy and wiggly! I couldn’t have a “quiet” moment all evening long. If I was eating, he was flipping. If I was sitting in a chair, he was kicking. She then commented that those same hours will be when he is the most hungry for us and the most alert. And as we look back on this week with him we realize she is exactly right!

So today I grabbed the camera and tried to capture those times we get to have with Isaac during his awake moments in the evening. Last night it lasted till midnight; thankfully tonight it was over by eight or nine. But there are still a couple hours I guess for him to become alert and finish the night with a bang! He’s so cute. And we love talking to him. Tonight we just all three climbed on my bed and had our first family moment. I think he liked it.

This is my (Jessica’s) first time to post since being a new mom! The C-Section was a surprise, but the extra time in the hospital has been nice. I have really enjoyed the nurses and the other helpful advice that thrives in the hospital. After 3 days of it now though I have come to the conclusion that every person has their own opinion! I was trying to feed Isaac the exact way his first nurse showed us how… and the next nurse said, “See… that’s exactly what you don’t want to do.” So Isaac and I have our own rhythm now and we tell them what exactly we want to do and they are more than welcome to keep their own personal preferences.

I was just getting vitals done again and hobbling around the room a bit when I decided to pick up the camera for this photo op. I just cannot describe how much I love these two guys! Stephen has just amazed me! During labor, delivery, and now recovery he has just loved Isaac and me so much! I praise the Lord that He’s provided Stephen with strength and grace to be the one to take care of us. It’s so hard! I was so sad my first day of recovery to have to watch Stephen change the first “tar” diaper without me! But he did it so well!!! Now, thankfully, he can catch up on his sleep. And now too, Isaac is getting into more of a rhythm and we’re still figuring each other out. It’s a lot of learning and I have the two best guys to learn with. Stephen is extremely helpful, hands-on, and patient! And Isaac is really patient for a baby temperament too. He gets really upset, but is so easy to calm down right now. He’s very gracious to his two new parents.

It’s about time now for me to start walking around again and try to get ready to go home tomorrow! We are excited to be home together and show Isaac around our little place. We think he’ll like it! I have already decided though that one of my first tasks will have to be to go through his clothes and replace the newborn outfits. They are too small for him… thankfully from all our great showers we’ve got lots of others to replace them. Actually I have them out with the newborn things because I just thought this might happen! He’s the bestest little boy in the world. He coos, wiggles, is sooooo soft, and smells so great! We’re definitely going to keep him.

Here are some pictures of Isaac and his family. He is doing great and his mother is recovering nicely as well. She got up today and walked a very short distance. They have now removed her IV. Isaac loves to snuggle with his Mommy! This picture was taken while the doctors were finishing sewing Jessica up after her C-Section…

This is a picture of Isaac just minutes after he was born. The official time of birth is 10:32 PM.

Here’s Isaac after he’s had a chance to get cleaned up a bit.

And finally, here’s the little man getting a kiss from Mom.

Thanks again for all your prayers!

Isaac Stephen Smith was born sometime around 11 PM on June 30, 2008 (I’ll post the exact time later). He is 19 inches long and weighs 8 pounds 3 ounces. He has light-colored hair. He is quite healthy (his Apgar score was 8.9) and the medical people think he looks like his mother–which means he is a good-looking kid

I brought him over to where Jessica was after the medical people where done checking him out, and he opened his eyes for the first time (as far as I know) when she began talking to him. They put ink on his feet in order to make footprints and then placed his inked feet onto a baseball cap which they then gave me to wear.

Jessica is recovering well from the C-Section. I’m spending the night in a reclining chair in her room, while Isaac is in the nursery right now. They gave him a bath, and I was able to check on him by watching him through the window as he warmed up afterwards. We can go and get him and bring him back to our room whenever we’re ready in the morning. Hopefully his mother (and I) can get some rest tonight!

Today (July 1) is Jessica’s birthday, and Isaac was born just about an hour or so before it. He was born on his Grandpa Smith’s birthday (June 30), which also happens to be the day that Mom and Dad Smith got married in 1979.

They’re taking Jessica in for a C-Section since she stayed dilated at 6 for about 4 hours. She’s fine and Isaac is fine. Thanks for your prayers…

Jessica is still only dilated to about 6, but we are praying that will continue to change. We want her to get to 10 as quickly as possible so that we can be done. She has still not taken any pain meds, and is doing very well, breathing during the contractions and making it through them.

The doctor is happy about the strength of her contractions and Isaac is doing fine (his heartbeat is very healthy). The only concern is that Jessica not “get stuck” at 6; please pray that she will continue to dilate and God will give her the strength she needs. We have been blessed with two great nurses. The one we have right now (Marilyn) is especially attentive and caring…