A few more pictures of our new little one:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jharrell528
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
10lb baby
Went to the doctor this morning (Friday) and Peyton already weighs 10lbs!!
By the way, Patrick got peed on.
By the way, Patrick got peed on.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Week 1
I'm not going to lie. This is hard. I had no idea. Patrick says they lied to us. Each day actually gets a little better, but the breast-feeding has been way more challenging than I had anticipated. My milk had a hard time coming in, so Peyton really wasn't getting enough to eat. Finally between day 5 and day 6, my milk came in, although I never really did get that engorged feeling or anything. Hopefully I'll keep producing more and more, because this is one heck of a hungry boy. Night before last, he ate, pooped, and screamed pretty much non-stop between 10pm and 2am. My mom and I were on duty and by poop number 6, all we could do was laugh. Thank goodness my mom is here. I don't know what I would do without her. She's been such a big help. She's not sleeping either, but somehow she's managing to keep up with the laundry, keeping me fed, burping Peyton, changing his diaper, etc.
Last night, my mom and Patrick took turns sleeping downstairs with Peyton and just brought him to me to be fed. That way, I could get a little bit of sleep. Up until then I had been trying to have him sleep in the cradle next to me and every little noise he made, I would jump up and see what he was doing or what he needed, so I wasn't sleeping at all. I feel a lot better today. Its amazing what some sleep can do for you.
So, we're adjusting. Still getting used to each other. But now I know he cries for two reasons: he needs to eat, or he needs to poop. He's got terrible gas. After the 6th poop in a row the other night, I knew he was a Harrell! His daddy is so proud!
Patrick says I had such an easy pregnancy, I had to pay for it somehow. And between the labor and this first week at home, I feel like I've paid my dues. The delivery was a lot more difficult than I had anticipated. My labor started about 3am. I had gotten up to use the bathroom and noticed a little blood, so I was hoping that meant things were starting. I got back in bed and woke Patrick up. He asked if we could sleep just a little longer, but within just a few minutes, I had a contraction. Then I had another one. Yep, I was in labor. I called my mom and told her to get on the next plane. I got in the bathtub to get ready to go to the hospital, thinking we still had a few hours before we needed to do that. Then we started counting the contraction length and frequency and realized that they were between 3 and 5 minutes apart and lasting between 45 and 70 seconds. The doctor had told me I should go to the hospital once they were 5 minutes apart and lasting for a minute and this had gone on for an hour. At that point Patrick realized that he really needed to pack, walk Nellie, and get ready to go. I've never seen him move that fast. We left the house a little after 6am, stopped at church and said a prayer, then arrived at the hospital. They wheeled me up to the labor and delivery floor, checked to see if I was dilated and I was already between 4 and 5cm, so they gave me a labor room. I opted for the epidural right away - I was pretty uncomfortable. I stopped feeling my contractions in my abdomen, but was really feeling them in my back. I think Peyton was right up against my tailbone. By 10am, I was 8cm. My mom's plane was getting ready to take off and she was nervous that she wouldn't make it in time. But at this point, things kind of slowed down. They ended up breaking my water sometime around noon if I remember correctly (things are kind of hazy). After another hour or so, I was still only 8cm, so they started me on pitocin (sp?). My mom arrived at this point, relieved that she made it in time. Around 3:30pm I was 10cm and started pushing. Wow. I wasn't prepared for this part at all. The midwife asked me if I had taken the childbirth class and I said yes, and she said ok, good, so you know how to push. I looked at Patrick and he had a blank look on his face too, so I turned to her and asked if we could go over that part. You know, no one said a word in our childbirth class about pushing. I hadn't even realized it until that exact moment. But looking back, how do you complete a childbirth class without having covered pushing??? As prepared as I was for everything else, and as much as I had read about everything, I was clueless about pushing. But we went over what to do and I proceeded to push for 3 freakin' hours. I had not realized how difficult this part was going to be. At this point, I had no idea that I was about to push out an almost 10 lb baby either, but that may explain why it was so hard to get him out. Once he was born, my placenta wouldn't deliver on its own so they had to manually remove it. That was fun. But there he was, born at 6:42PM weighing in at 9lbs, 13oz and he was just beautiful.
He's got to be one of the luckiest little boys in the world. Between Patrick and my families, he has 12 grandparents or great grandparents. Somehow, we managed to find unique names for all of them. Here they are:
My family:
My mom - Lollie
My stepdad - Pops
My dad - Gramps
My mom's mom - Grandma
My mom's dad - Paw-Paw
My dad's mom - Granny
My stepdad's mom - Mimi
Patrick's family:
His mom - Lulu
His dad - Papa
His mom's mom - MawMaw
His dad's mom - Big Mama
His dad's dad - Big Daddy
I will eventually try to post more pictures. Peyton keeps me pretty busy, but I will try to post some things periodically between feedings and poopy diapers.
Last night, my mom and Patrick took turns sleeping downstairs with Peyton and just brought him to me to be fed. That way, I could get a little bit of sleep. Up until then I had been trying to have him sleep in the cradle next to me and every little noise he made, I would jump up and see what he was doing or what he needed, so I wasn't sleeping at all. I feel a lot better today. Its amazing what some sleep can do for you.
So, we're adjusting. Still getting used to each other. But now I know he cries for two reasons: he needs to eat, or he needs to poop. He's got terrible gas. After the 6th poop in a row the other night, I knew he was a Harrell! His daddy is so proud!
Patrick says I had such an easy pregnancy, I had to pay for it somehow. And between the labor and this first week at home, I feel like I've paid my dues. The delivery was a lot more difficult than I had anticipated. My labor started about 3am. I had gotten up to use the bathroom and noticed a little blood, so I was hoping that meant things were starting. I got back in bed and woke Patrick up. He asked if we could sleep just a little longer, but within just a few minutes, I had a contraction. Then I had another one. Yep, I was in labor. I called my mom and told her to get on the next plane. I got in the bathtub to get ready to go to the hospital, thinking we still had a few hours before we needed to do that. Then we started counting the contraction length and frequency and realized that they were between 3 and 5 minutes apart and lasting between 45 and 70 seconds. The doctor had told me I should go to the hospital once they were 5 minutes apart and lasting for a minute and this had gone on for an hour. At that point Patrick realized that he really needed to pack, walk Nellie, and get ready to go. I've never seen him move that fast. We left the house a little after 6am, stopped at church and said a prayer, then arrived at the hospital. They wheeled me up to the labor and delivery floor, checked to see if I was dilated and I was already between 4 and 5cm, so they gave me a labor room. I opted for the epidural right away - I was pretty uncomfortable. I stopped feeling my contractions in my abdomen, but was really feeling them in my back. I think Peyton was right up against my tailbone. By 10am, I was 8cm. My mom's plane was getting ready to take off and she was nervous that she wouldn't make it in time. But at this point, things kind of slowed down. They ended up breaking my water sometime around noon if I remember correctly (things are kind of hazy). After another hour or so, I was still only 8cm, so they started me on pitocin (sp?). My mom arrived at this point, relieved that she made it in time. Around 3:30pm I was 10cm and started pushing. Wow. I wasn't prepared for this part at all. The midwife asked me if I had taken the childbirth class and I said yes, and she said ok, good, so you know how to push. I looked at Patrick and he had a blank look on his face too, so I turned to her and asked if we could go over that part. You know, no one said a word in our childbirth class about pushing. I hadn't even realized it until that exact moment. But looking back, how do you complete a childbirth class without having covered pushing??? As prepared as I was for everything else, and as much as I had read about everything, I was clueless about pushing. But we went over what to do and I proceeded to push for 3 freakin' hours. I had not realized how difficult this part was going to be. At this point, I had no idea that I was about to push out an almost 10 lb baby either, but that may explain why it was so hard to get him out. Once he was born, my placenta wouldn't deliver on its own so they had to manually remove it. That was fun. But there he was, born at 6:42PM weighing in at 9lbs, 13oz and he was just beautiful.
He's got to be one of the luckiest little boys in the world. Between Patrick and my families, he has 12 grandparents or great grandparents. Somehow, we managed to find unique names for all of them. Here they are:
My family:
My mom - Lollie
My stepdad - Pops
My dad - Gramps
My mom's mom - Grandma
My mom's dad - Paw-Paw
My dad's mom - Granny
My stepdad's mom - Mimi
Patrick's family:
His mom - Lulu
His dad - Papa
His mom's mom - MawMaw
His dad's mom - Big Mama
His dad's dad - Big Daddy
I will eventually try to post more pictures. Peyton keeps me pretty busy, but I will try to post some things periodically between feedings and poopy diapers.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Peyton's first bath .... 12:45pm
Jessica got peed on and Chris (Jessica's mom) got pooped on. I just laughed.
-Patrick
-Patrick
Photos!
Here are some pictures of Peyton's first few days. Enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/jharrell528/PeytonPhotos
http://picasaweb.google.com/jharrell528/PeytonPhotos
Saturday, April 5, 2008
What's in a Name?
We had told everyone that the baby was a boy, so we figured something should be a surprise, which is why we decided to keep the name a secret. But as you now know, his name is Peyton Christopher Harrell. According to our baby name book, Peyton is a variant of the name Patrick, Latin for the Roman Patricians, or nobles and aristocrats (the Irish association comes from St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland). We didn't want the baby to be Patrick Jr., so we thought Peyton was the next best thing. Christopher, the middle name, is a family name on my mom's side of the family. My great grandfather was Christopher, my grandmother's brother was Christopher, and my mom is Christine (and everyone calls her Chris) so we thought it would be appropriate to keep the Christopher name in the family!
We're all doing pretty well. We came home from the hospital yesterday afternoon (Friday), and we had a very very rough night. Peyton screamed at the top of his lungs for pretty much the whole night. His cry is now very hoarse. Luckily, we had an appointment with the pediatrician this morning. He asked me some questions about my milk, and he said that Peyton is probably still hungry after feedings because he's not getting enough since my milk hasn't come in yet. I've still just got colostrum and its not enough to keep him satisfied. He said that until it does, we should supplement him with just a little formula after he's finished breast feeding. We've tried that a few times today and he definitely seems to settle down quite a bit more if we give him the little bit of extra. I've been pumping a little bit too so we give him that instead of the formula if we have enough. I'm concerned about the whole bottle vs. breast and formula vs. breast milk thing because I want the breast feeding to work and I don't want him to prefer the bottle over the breast. But the doctor assured us that all bets are off as long as my milk is not in yet. So, we're still waiting for that, but in the meantime we're hoping that things will go a bit better tonight and we can all get a little bit of rest.
Patrick and my mom have been great. I don't know would I would do without either one of them. Patrick has this dad thing down pretty darn good - I'm pretty lucky.
We've taken lots of pictures and will work on getting them posted so that everyone can see them soon.
We're all doing pretty well. We came home from the hospital yesterday afternoon (Friday), and we had a very very rough night. Peyton screamed at the top of his lungs for pretty much the whole night. His cry is now very hoarse. Luckily, we had an appointment with the pediatrician this morning. He asked me some questions about my milk, and he said that Peyton is probably still hungry after feedings because he's not getting enough since my milk hasn't come in yet. I've still just got colostrum and its not enough to keep him satisfied. He said that until it does, we should supplement him with just a little formula after he's finished breast feeding. We've tried that a few times today and he definitely seems to settle down quite a bit more if we give him the little bit of extra. I've been pumping a little bit too so we give him that instead of the formula if we have enough. I'm concerned about the whole bottle vs. breast and formula vs. breast milk thing because I want the breast feeding to work and I don't want him to prefer the bottle over the breast. But the doctor assured us that all bets are off as long as my milk is not in yet. So, we're still waiting for that, but in the meantime we're hoping that things will go a bit better tonight and we can all get a little bit of rest.
Patrick and my mom have been great. I don't know would I would do without either one of them. Patrick has this dad thing down pretty darn good - I'm pretty lucky.
We've taken lots of pictures and will work on getting them posted so that everyone can see them soon.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
1st Contraction-3am!
Jessica started with her first contractions at about 3am this morning.
Says Jessica, "This %@&&% hurts!"
-Patrick
Says Jessica, "This %@&&% hurts!"
-Patrick
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Still Waiting
We went to the doctor again today - weekly visits now. No new news.
I told her I was having sharp pains in my lower abdomen area when I walk - they aren't contractions because its only when I'm walking and they don't last long. She said, sounds normal. Everything is loosening up in order for me to give birth. She asked how I was feeling otherwise? Grouchy and ready for this baby to come out. Again she said, sounds normal. She also said the baby won't come unless I make peace with the situation and get over being grouchy. (I think that was for Patrick's benefit). She asked, any fluid retention? Yes, my hands hurt at night and my feel hurt during the day. She said, sounds normal. She asked, are you having any contractions? No. Ok, see you next week.
She said its really anyone's guess as to when he's going to arrive. It could be anytime now. Even though I'm not having any contractions, I could start any moment. She is on call on Sunday and that's really my only chance of actually having her deliver the baby. She said sometimes her patients have a way of willing their babies out when she's on call. I asked for a prediction on the size of the baby and she says 7 1/2 lbs but she says that for the most part, its a guess. Personally, I think he's over 8lbs.
Here are everyone else's predictions so far for when the baby is coming - feel free to add your prediction! I like Aunt Dede's suggestion - the one closest gets to hold him first when he visits!
Aunt Debbie - April 15th, 7.5 lbs, 22in
Aunt Donna - April 14th, 9 lbs 7 oz, 21.5in
Aunt Dede - April 7th, 8lbs 3oz, 20in
Mom - April 9th, 8lbs 4oz, 21.5in
Heather - April 12, 7lbs 2oz, 20in
Erin - April 12th, 8lbs, 21in
Granny - April 15th, 7lbs 2oz
P.S. Patrick wants me to mention what a good husband he has been. He massages my hands in the morning and he tries to be as accommodating and helpful as possible. He's been trying very hard to be nurturing, so he wants everyone to stop reminding him that he has to be nice to me.
I told her I was having sharp pains in my lower abdomen area when I walk - they aren't contractions because its only when I'm walking and they don't last long. She said, sounds normal. Everything is loosening up in order for me to give birth. She asked how I was feeling otherwise? Grouchy and ready for this baby to come out. Again she said, sounds normal. She also said the baby won't come unless I make peace with the situation and get over being grouchy. (I think that was for Patrick's benefit). She asked, any fluid retention? Yes, my hands hurt at night and my feel hurt during the day. She said, sounds normal. She asked, are you having any contractions? No. Ok, see you next week.
She said its really anyone's guess as to when he's going to arrive. It could be anytime now. Even though I'm not having any contractions, I could start any moment. She is on call on Sunday and that's really my only chance of actually having her deliver the baby. She said sometimes her patients have a way of willing their babies out when she's on call. I asked for a prediction on the size of the baby and she says 7 1/2 lbs but she says that for the most part, its a guess. Personally, I think he's over 8lbs.
Here are everyone else's predictions so far for when the baby is coming - feel free to add your prediction! I like Aunt Dede's suggestion - the one closest gets to hold him first when he visits!
Aunt Debbie - April 15th, 7.5 lbs, 22in
Aunt Donna - April 14th, 9 lbs 7 oz, 21.5in
Aunt Dede - April 7th, 8lbs 3oz, 20in
Mom - April 9th, 8lbs 4oz, 21.5in
Heather - April 12, 7lbs 2oz, 20in
Erin - April 12th, 8lbs, 21in
Granny - April 15th, 7lbs 2oz
P.S. Patrick wants me to mention what a good husband he has been. He massages my hands in the morning and he tries to be as accommodating and helpful as possible. He's been trying very hard to be nurturing, so he wants everyone to stop reminding him that he has to be nice to me.
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