Joshua at One Month

Oh blogging.....I need to get it together.

I've been meaning to get Joshua's one month post up for well, over 2 weeks now. The time is flying by fast, much faster than it did the first time. I need to do these monthly posts more often, or I quickly forget what was even going on!

It's been a great first month for Joshua-he's eating and sleeping well, enjoyed time with grandparents, and is being a great little brother for Paige. We went to the doctor at two weeks and again at four weeks for check ups. The only issue is that his umbilical cord still hasn't fallen off yet. And honestly, it doesn't even look close. The doctors don't seem concerned, but I am really ready for it to come off so he can have a real bath. 

He does okay with his sponge baths and doesn't seem to mind the water, but hates the time right after until we can get him dressed again. We've been bathing him at night and it seems to help settle him down for the night.

His first outing was at 10 days old. We had to go to the US Embassy to apply for his passport. It was his first time in a taxi.

This is how we usually get around. He does great in the stroller and has taken many many naps in it. 

Here are his one month stats:

Weight: 8.2 lbs (he was 6.6 at birth)
Length: 20 inches
Size Diaper: Newborn
Size Clothes: Newborn-poor thing is still so tiny hardly anything fits
Sleep: I haven't really put him on a schedule yet, but we do Babywise, so we try to have close to an hour of wake time after a feeding before he takes a nap. At one month, his longest stretch of sleep was 3-4 hours. We struggled through some reflux his first month, which always seemed to be worse at night. I even went off dairy to see if it would help. His reflux is almost completely gone now, and I'm back on dairy (praise the LORD!). He does really good in the swaddle and sleeping in his crib. Right now, we still have him in our room but will be moving him to his nursery in about two weeks.
Feedings: He eats about every 3 hours, sometimes less, sometimes more. Nursing is going great-he's a very fast eater! I'm SO thankful nursing has gone so well! I know that every child is different, and nursing with Paige went so well I didn't want to take that for granted or assume it would the second time around, but it has been so easy.

We thought Paige was an easy baby. Joshua is more so, if that's even possible. He doesn't even have a witching hour or regular fussy time (knock on wood!). He does fuss every so often, but it's pretty rare. I remember Paige cried a lot during her first few weeks, but Joshua is pretty laid back. He fusses right before naptime and sometimes with gas.

Daniel gave Joshua his first bottle when he was exactly one month old. It's always weird to see someone else feeding your child when you are nursing, but it's also really nice to have freedom to go out once in a while too!

Joshua loves being on his tummy and being held. 

Joshua looks so much like Paige did when she was a baby-it's crazy!

The two month post will have a lot-it has been a busy second month for Joshua-including his first airplane ride and international trip!

That's our little Joshie at one month!

Joshua's Birth Day Story

My due date with Joshua was March 4th. I did several prenatal appointments in the States before we came back to East Asia last October. The doctor in the States told me that since I would be redoing a repeat c-section, I shouldn't go past 39 weeks. My local doctor here also confirmed this, so we scheduled the c-section for Tuesday, the 24th.

Here in EA, things are very different. I had to check into the hospital the night before so they could do a blood test. I had to fast for 6 hours before coming in-so at 10 am I stuffed myself with food and drank about a gallon of water. My mom and I went to the hospital at 4pm for the bloodwork. However, they lost my chart and my room wasn't ready, so things took much longer than I had planned.

Eventually they took my blood, I had an ultrasound, and they prepped me for surgery the next day. There are some more details to that, but it's tmi and more of a girls-only convo. But let's just say I deserved a pat on the back after some of my experiences.

I finally checked into my room, then we left to go meet my dad, Daniel, and Paige for dinner. I had a huge cheeseburger and a chocolate mint milkshake. After dinner, Daniel and I went back to the hospital to get ready for the next day. My doctor came by that night to talk about the surgery and let me having a sleeping pill too. I never really felt the pill take effect, so it wasn't too strong. But I did sleep pretty good, so I was thankful for that! They also came in about 8pm or so and did fetal monitoring for about 30 minutes. Then the nurse said she would come in at 1 and 5 am to check the baby again. You can imagine how thrilled I was at being woken up.

One thing that was funny/annoying, is as soon as we checked into my room I tried to figure out how to lower and raise the bed. I knew I wouldn't be able really move after surgery so I wanted to be prepared. However, my hospital bed had a crank at the end of it to raise or lower the bed manually. So EVERY time I needed to lay down or raise my bed, someone had to turn the crank at the end of the bed to move me.

Please notice the crank at the very end of the bed.

Anyways......here is my last belly pic!

They told me my surgery would be at 8:10, and they would come get me at 7. After the nurse came in at 5 to check me, I got up and showered and got ready. My mom came to the hospital a little after 7. So I was dressed in my comfy clothes because I assumed they would have me change into a gown. But they came in and told me to get into the hospital issued pajamas. Ya'll-I totally made fun of them at first. But they were SO comfy and I brought home 2 pairs to wear, ha!

I changed, then I walked into the operating room and sat on the table. They started my IV of antibiotics-which I don't remember having with Paige. It instantly made me sick. I thought I was going to throw up and faint immediately. I asked them if it was supposed to do that (cos I was worried they were putting me out!), and they said no. But after about 7 minutes it settled down and I felt okay.

The hospital provided me a translator for all of my prenatal appointments and for my labor and delivery. (even though my doctor did speak english), However, I was in the operating room for about 30 minutes operating in my second language by myself. Language and miscommunication was a barrier during my hospital stay. More on that later. They also don't allow anyone in the operating room, so Daniel and my mom waited outside.

Anyways.....on with my long story getting even longer. They put my epidural in and I felt that bad boy kick in! My doctor came in and they started the surgery about 8. Just to compare birth experiences-with Paige they tied my arms down and I was shaking the whole time. They didn't tie me down this time and I didn't shake very much at all.

At 8:16, I heard Joshua's little cry!!! I started crying-it was the best sound to hear!!!! And my favorite part-the table where they cleaned him up was just to my right, so I was able to see him the whole time! After they cleaned him they swaddled him and left him on the table, so the whole time they were stitching me up, I was able to just stare at him. It was the biggest blessing that I'm SO thankful for!

Joshua weighed 6 pounds 6 ounces and was almost 19 inches long. Paige was 8 pounds when she was born, so I was shocked at how tiny Joshua was!!! He doesn't fit into any of his newborn clothes, they completely drown him. We all think Joshua looks exactly like Paige did when she was born. Sometimes I accidentally call him Paige because of how much he looks like her. I'm interested to see if he favors her as he gets bigger.

Anyways, right after we got back to our room they let me do skin to skin. Honestly I don't really remember much right after the surgery. I think they took him in for tests and stuff.

I was hooked up to several iv's. One huge cultural difference is that they wanted me to lay down and rest in bed for several days here. With Paige, I was pretty much forced to get out of bed that day and walk around and shower as soon as I was up for it. Here, I was hooked up to fluids for 3 days and was told not to shower for 2 weeks. But as soon as that last iv came out, I was in the shower and walking around (doctor approved of course!).

Tuesday afternoon my parents brought Paige to meet Joshua. It was SO sweet and funny! She sat next to me and held him for about 2 seconds, then said "All done!"

But Paige has been super sweet with Joshua. Every time she came to visit us she would come in and look for Baby Joshie and make sure he was okay. If he cried she would go to him, pat him, and say "he okay, he okay." 

I'm not sure if having a previous c-section helped or hurt me. I had certain expectations based on how my c-section went with Paige. But I was in America. Having a c-section in East Asia was just so different. I think if I didn't have anything to compare it to I would've just accepted the differences and not known any different.

Wednesday was a pretty emotional day. Some of the cultural differences got to me and there were tears. But Wednesday afternoon was better after we made some adjustments.

On Thursday, day 3, I finally was free of my iv's! It was so great to be able to get up and move around and to finally change clothes! I felt so much better after a shower and doing my hair and make up.

We tried taking a few family pictures, but Paige was not having it. This was the best one we could get, after we let her hold on to her babydoll.

I was a little concerned about the pain management, because I kept asking what was available, and was told that after 3 days I wouldn't need any pain medicine. Ha. Ha. Ha.

With Paige, I took hydrocodone and Motrin for 10 straight days afterward. After several hours of going back and forth between my translator and several doctors, I was able to have motrin. But here's the weird thing-I haven't really used it. I think the main reason is because with Paige I only wore the binder on my stomach for a few days. With Joshua, I wore it almost 2 weeks. I think wearing the binder longer gave me a lot of support and helped with the pain. Because I was shocked when I realized that I didn't really need it.

Now there have been a few days that I walked too far or too long and I can tell I overdid it. Those days I do need a little something to take the edge off. I am trying to be more careful though and take it easy when I can.

I can't believe Joshua is over 3 weeks old already!! I need to get ready to do his one month post. But life with 2 kiddos is much busier, so blogging has taken a back seat to naps :)

Hello Joshua!

Joshua Odell was born Tuesday morning at 8:16-he weighed 6 lbs 6 ounces and is 19 inches long. He's soo tiny even his newborn clothes are all too big!

The c section went really well! Giving birth in an Asian country was an experience! I'll share his birth story and details later. 

Look out world-she's 2!

Our little Paigers turned 2 this past Thursday. My mom has been in town almost two weeks helping me get ready for Baby Joshua, and my dad flew in on Thursday night. It was so special to have my parents here!

We had her party on Friday, so Thursday we mostly celebrated at home. We started with Mickey Mouse m&m pancakes on her new Mickey plate. I'm not really into character themes, but Paige loves Mickey Mouse, and I was able to buy all the supplies here in our city, so I figured why not.

Paige got to blow out candles several times-I believe in celebrating your birthday as much as possible, which includes blowing out candles for all your meals and dessert! 

Since we had her party the next day, we didn't have any cake for her to have on her actual birthday. But I refuse to not let her have some type of dessert to eat on her actual birthday with a candle-so we grabbed a piece of peanut butter fudge (my mom made and brought us a few pounds of it!!) and went with it. We accidentally put one candle on her peanut butter fudge and realized it halfway through singing, so we had to stop and start over!

Paige was pretty excited!!

Paige got a lot of presents this year from friends and family, so we tried to spread them out over Thursday and Friday. She loved everything!!!

We've been baking lots of cookies the past few days!

Friday we kept the celebration going with cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We played with lots of toys and got ready for our Mickey Mouse party that afternoon. My mom has almost every cake pan imaginable and is gifted at decorating cakes. So I was pretty excited she was here to make Paige's birthday cake!

We were in the States last year and had a big party, so this year we had a really simple party-just a few friends. But we had a lot of fun and Paige had a blast!

Paige wasn't too much into the cake, she was just all about the icing! 

After the party we went to KFC for dinner. It's a big holiday week here, so almost everything is closed-except KFC that is.

I almost can't believe I have a 2 year old. When she turned 1 last year I just couldn't believe it. That first year went SO fast. But this last year, so much has happened so even though I can't believe she's 2, this year didn't seem to pass nearly as fast as her first year did. 

If you stalk my blog, you might realize Paige is wearing almost the exact same outfit as her birthday last year. I love a good cupcake outfit, so when I found the same outfit in 2T last year, I couldn't resist.

Here she is last year!

And now!

Can I just say it is almost impossible to get a good picture of this girl. She is constantly moving!

I'll do a separate post to recap her stats and everything our little 2 year old has been getting into lately!

Happy Birthday Paige!!!!

36-38 Week Recap

This time next week I will be checked into the hospital and getting ready for my c-section. I check in the day before at 4pm, then I should have little Joshua about 9am next Tuesday! How crazy is that?!!? Daniel keeps saying how this is the last week of our lives that we will only have one child. It sounds so strange saying that and I can't believe how quickly our lives are going to be changing.

37 Weeks

38 Weeks

I went to the doctor today. It was weird knowing that this was my last appointment and ultrasound before meeting our new little baby. Everything looks good and not shockingly, it doesn't look like I would go into labor anytime soon on my own. Since Paige was 2 weeks overdue, I'm assuming Joshua would be the same if we weren't doing the c-section.

My doctor did give me some antibiotics today. I've had a bad cough for over a month that will not go away. I feel fine and went to the doctor 2 weeks ago, and they said there isn't any infection and gave me cough medicine. But the medicine didn't really help and my cough is still here. My ribs are hurting from coughing so much and I know after the c-section coughing is pretty brutal. So I'm really hoping this cough will finally go away before next week.

Here are the stats:

How Far Along: 38 weeks on Wednesday

Size of Baby: Winter Melon- about 7 lbs and 20 inches long

Weight Gain: 30-31 lbs

Gender: Boy, Joshua O'Dell

Movement: He seems to be slowing down a bit. I don't feel him all day long anymore, so I think he's sleeping and getting into more of a routine. 

Sleep: Pretty good! With Paige I slept really bad and was always having pains, but other than the mid-night potty breaks, I'm sleeping really well. I've only had a couple of leg cramps with this pregnancy, and I'm so thankful!

Maternity Clothes: Of course! Still wear my old t shirts around the house, but no matter what I wear now, hardly anything covers up this big belly!

Symptoms: Lots of Braxton-Hicks and feeling pretty worn out and always thirsty!

Aversions: Not much of anything

Cravings: Not much, I think my appetite has slowed down a little. 

What I miss: Sleeping on my back and stomach

What I'm Looking Forward to: Paige's birthday is thursday and my dad flies in that day too!

Best Moment this Week: My mom came in last week and has been so helpful! We have gotten so much stuff done around the house, and it's been great to have an extra set of hands to help with Paige. 

Live and Learn

We turned Paige's crib into a toddler bed the first part of November. It went extremely well.

She never got out of bed early. She would lay in bed even if she was awake and wait for us to come get her. After almost 2 months of being in the toddler bed, she started getting out of bed in the morning and knocking on the door. But she was still sleeping till at least 7:30 in the morning, which is her normal wake up time. I was waking her up every morning at 7:45, because she would sleep till 8:30 some days. 

The first part of January, 2 months after being in the toddler bed, we switched to a big girl bed. 

For about 3 weeks, she did perfectly! She stayed in bed almost every morning and naptime until we came to get her. We didn't ever teach her this, she just naturally did it. Looking back, I realize we could've done more training so she understood she needed to stay in bed until we came in to get her. 

A little over a week ago, Paige started getting up during naptime and laying by her bedroom door. She also started doing it in the mornings. After a few days of that, she started getting out of bed earlier each day, at about 6 am. She also started getting out of bed less than halfway into naptime. 

We tried EVERYTHING to get her to go back to bed in the mornings and for naptime. It was getting to where she was barely napping 20-30 minutes, instead of her normal 1 1/2 hours, and waking up so exhausted. No matter what we did, Paige continued to get up earlier each day and almost not even napping. 

We were both tired and losing our patience with trying to get her to stay in bed. And let me tell you, there is a HUGE behavioral difference between a well rested child and an exhausted one. She was having multiple meltdowns a day, throwing fits, disobeying almost everything we said and crying a lot. 

Daniel and I talked about it, and I was feeling so stressed knowing Joshua was going to be here in 2 weeks-then I would be extra sleep deprived and dealing with a toddler who wouldn't stay in bed and was constantly tired.

Yesterday we put her in the pack and play in her room. 

I had to wake her up at 7:45 this morning, and she took a 2 hour nap today. She hasn't slept that long in several days (since the whole getting out of bed thing started). Today is the second night for her to be back in the pack and play, and I could tell a huge difference in her already. She was so much more agreeable and happier. 

I remember reading in Babywise when we first had Paige, that you can tell a difference in behavior between a tired child and one who is getting adequate sleep. After the last several days of seeing my daughter constantly exhausted, I wholeheartedly agree.

The whole situation reminds me of when we tried to potty train a few months ago....we gave it a few days and tried to make it work, but in the end she just wasn't ready. We could have kept going until she got it and make it forced, but it would not have been a good situation. I think the same applies here....once she realized she could get out of bed, she did. I'm not sure how long we will keep her in the pack and play/crib, but I have a feeling when she is a little older and we try the big bed again, she will do much better (I can only hope!!).

It's important to me to give Paige the rest she needs and for her to obey our words-when that is really the only thing that will keep her in bed. 

The past several days have been so hard. I was so stressed and felt so clueless and helpless about what to do. Last night, I went to bed feeling so much more relaxed, knowing Paige would be in bed and be able to sleep. I know I can't force her to sleep, but anything I can do to help is worth it!

It did feel like we were backtracking a little bit or that we had made the wrong decision about putting her in a big girl bed. But I do feel this is the best decision for all of us........so we will Live and Learn!

January Life

Here's a post just to catch up on everything that's been going on here lately. I take a lot of pictures then hardly get around to posting them.

We celebrated my birthday in January...and really celebrated for several days...it was the best!! On my actual birthday we went out to breakfast at my favorite place to get french toast. My favorite thing is to go out for breakfast!

So I should've blogged sooner because now I don't really remember much of the day. I think we ate lunch at home??? That night we went out with some friends at a western restaurant in town, then I went to a ladies fellowship afterwards and stayed out way too late. 

When Daniel and I were brainstorming about how to celebrate my birthday this year, I had a GREAT idea.....I wanted a girls sleepover at our house! With life here things are busy and especially moms with little ones, so it's rare to get good quality time with girl friends. 

So I talked to my friends and they were all on board! Daniel made my favorite cake-White Almond Wedding Cake. We decided to make it a bundt cause I didn't have the round cake pans, and it was seriously the best looking and tasting cake ever!!

One of my friends also made me a cookie cake-so you can imagine I'm not having any trouble putting on a little extra baby weight! But since I only have 3 weeks left, I figure I need to seize the day!

My friends came over, we ordered pizza, got in our pj's, had some girl talk, watched the Miss USA pageant from last year (none of us had seen it), ate cake, played games and had the best time!!!! I'm thinking of making it an annual tradition. 

That same week a friend of a friend brought back some avocados from when he traveled to a nearby country. Avocados are VERY hard to come by here and if you find them they can be almost $10 each, so they are a big treat! But I got several for about $1 a piece!!!!! Look how massive they are!!! 

One day Paige and I were in my room while I was putting things away and I couldn't find her. Then I see these little pj feet sticking out of my closet and her little voice saying "where's Paige? where's Paige?" Too cute that girl!!!

Last week we were buying fruit at the market and Paige decided to take a little rest on a stool next to the eggs. 

Paige does blanket time almost every morning for about 40 minutes. It's a great time for me to work on email, do dishes and get a few things done. She always does the cutest things during this time.

The last two days she's been playing with this box nonstop. 

We went to the doctor's this morning and scheduled the c-section for the 24th....just 3 weeks away!!! The way things are done are a little different so I have to check in at 4pm the day before....which I'm not a fan of....but I'm working on my attitude about it :)  But in good news, the baby isn't breeched anymore!

My mom gets here in one week.....I can't wait!!! I have a long list of things for us to do-prep some freezer meals and bread, get the nursery ready, clean up some mold (i know, but just being honest...it's a problem in our city), and try to make sure everything is ready before little Joshua comes.