Thank you Aunt Lew Lew

Thank you, Aunt Lew, for the adorable crab polo onesie from Janie and Jack. It's still a little big but at the rate he is eating, he should fit in it soon. He looked quite dapper in it, I must say.

Happy One Week Birthday!

Ha! James is one week old today. We've already been to the pediatrician twice, the lactation consultant once, and changed about 100 diapers. Now that nursing has really picked up, James eats about once every two hours and you can definitely hear when he poops! Ha!

I mentioned in an earlier post that James had lost some weight due to my milk not being in yet. Well, the milk man came (as my friend Amy would say) and James has been making up for lost time. Good grief. So, he was born at 8lbs on Friday...by Monday, he was down to 7 lbs 4.25 oz. After we supplemented with formula for a day, he weighed 7 lbs 6.25 oz on Tuesday! The nurse could not believe he had put on 4 ozs in a single day. Yesterday, we weighed him again at the lacation appointment and he weighs... 7 lbs 13 oz!!! Apparently, babies lose some of their birth weight at first but are back to their initial birth weight 2 weeks after birth! James is nearly back at his birth weight after 1 week! Now, do you understand what I have been doing for the last few days? Feeding this starving kid!

James doesn't really sleep too much which is really hard for me. Steve went back to work yesterday so THANK GOD my mom is still here. She has been so helpful and I cant imagine not having her here to help.

I thought that babies ate, slept, and pooped but mine actually eats, eats, and poops. He forgets that he needs to sleep more than an hour at a time!

The above picture is of James during a rare moment when he is sleeping. He had just had a bath and eaten.

James with a guest appearance by Mr. Roll

James' first film

Here's James...This is what happens with him right after nursing. Most babies fall straight to sleep and wake up after poopin'. Not James. He just sits there and scans the room...checking out all the sights.

A good report

James lost a little bit of weight after we got home from the hospital but we got a good report from the doctor today. He gained 4 ounces back in about a day of supplimenting with formula. He is sleeping better now and seems much more content. I'm so SO happy and relieved. Being a parent is very emotional!
Picture 1: James and his Uncle Mike

Picture 2: James with his big brother, Eggroll

Picture 3: Mommy, James, and Eggroll

First 24 Hours

The first 24 hours went great. The nurse told us that James was always the most well behaved baby in the nursery. I guess he was really tired.

In the first picture, Aunt Beatrice and Uncle Buford (aka: John and Cristin) were holding him and it looks like James has his hands folded for a little prayer.

Towards the end of the day, he got a little more cranky. His Uncle Garrett and Aunt Andrea came to visit him and he was a bit fussy. It's so sad to see lil bambinos get so worked up.

Hail James!

Wow! What a day! Master James Patrick Lee graced the world with his arrival on April 16, 2010! James weighs 8 lbs and is 19 1/2 inches long. He has quite a bit of dark hair on his head which made Steve a bit curious. Ha! After about 12 hours of labor and 14 minutes of pushing, James made his debut. He did great and Steve and I are already so proud of him.

The day started for me at about 1a when I was awoken by a painful contraction. I was able to go back to sleep but woke up about once an hour with pain. By 4a, I was so annoyed that I went on the couch to relax (I was annoyed because about a week ago, I had some contractions that turned out to be a big tease). Anyway, the contractions were not regular but were VERY painful and kept increasing in intensity. I went to wake my mom up at about 5a to tell her that I thought I needed to go to the hospital or the doctor to see if I was in real labor or not. We all got up and started getting ready and thats when things got intense. My contractions started coming regularly and were so painful, they would make me nauseous. I knew that I was either in labor or dying of something very serious.

The drive to the hospital was pretty painful though I was so glad traffic was light (thank you God!). As soon as I got to the hospital, they took me to triage, told me I was 4 cm dilated and 100% effaced and admitted me. In about an hour, I was 6 cm and they were hooking me up to my epidural. I could write a whole other post on the epidural and how it saved my life but I will digress.

Things were progressing pretty quickly and my nurse kept praising me for the quick progress. Steve, my mom, Katie, Mrs. Julie, and me had a great time talking and laughing while waiting for the time to push. My dad (Pops) wasn't able to make it and he was REALLY missed. He would have added lots of fun to the long day.

Finally, at about 7p, I was ready to go. Another nurse came in and I started pushing. After the third contraction of pushing, she called the doctor in and I knew it was go time. A few more pushes and out came James! Amazing!!

I cried like a baby when they plopped this beautiful baby on my belly. He was screaming and was just perfect. I was flooded with emotion and couldn't believe that I was lucky enough to have been blessed with something so awesome.

He has been doing great and we are enjoying every second with him! Thank you to everyone that sent us warm wishes!

We will be sure to take more pictures today since we will be rested and i will be able to wear real clothes again (instead of this bariatric hospital gown).

Easter 2010

We had Steve's family over for Easter this year. We were able to use our new dining room table that we bought with some of our tax refund. It came out really pretty and dinner was great!

Katie and Maggie spent the night with us the night before and the Easter bunny came for all of us!

These pictures are from after we got back from church. As you can see, I am at full term in this picture and patiently waiting for my baby to arrive...it will be nice to see him AND not have kankles any longer.