Our First Christmas as a Family

The past three weeks have flown by! Colton has had a few outings (but not many at the advice of our pediatrician) and then this past week we celebrated our first Christmas as a family.

Our pediatrician advised us not to take Colton out in big crowds (malls, restaurants, etc) for the first 8 weeks because of cold/flu season and primarily because if he gets a fever in the first 8 weeks he will have to go through a battery of tests including a spinal tap and I'd never forgive myself if I put him through that just to run to the mall! We did manage to get ourselves together to visit The Babies Room and pick up an Ergo. It's a harness/tote that I can use to carry him on my chest around the house. It makes him feel safe and warm and allows me to get housework and other stuff done. He just loves it and so do I! We also had lunch with our friend Katie (who had her baby 12/24, more on that later) and visited Daddy at work. Another time we loaded up and tested out our new stroller when we attended the post partum lunch at the hospital. There were about 15 other moms and babies that were all under 16 weeks of age. I had a major bout of anxiety when we first arrived - funny how being around other moms and feeling like you have NO idea what you're doing can do that to you! It ended up being fine and I was able to get a lot questions answered and get some advice to help with sleeping and feeding. We'll attend every Tuesday while I'm home on maternity leave. Speaking of which, I will be home with Colton until I return to work on Monday, March 1.

Christmas was wonderful! My parents arrived on Thursday morning, Josh's arrived Thursday afternoon and my cousin Kelly came on Friday. While we couldn't do many of the traditions I've come to love at Christmas because Colton is so young, we were able to incorporate a few. The Sunday before we loaded up with our hot cocoa and drove around Gainesville to look at Christmas lights. We had a blast and of course Colton slept for most of it but it was such a treat to get out and feel like a normal family again :-) Christmas Eve morning we normally go out to breakfast but since restaurants are off limits we skipped that. We did however make a trip to the pediatrician. I noticed a bit of white stuff on Colton's tongue and at some point had read that thrush (yeast infection that develops during breastfeeding) caused white stuff on the tongue. I called the doctor and long story short they had us come in that morning. Of course we get there and it's just a little milk, boy did I feel silly. The pediatrician was so nice and said that a good portion of her job is spent reassuring new moms and dads and she didn't mind at all!

The rest of the holiday went much smoother. Caitlin and Mike came over Christmas Eve and we celebrated with them since Caitlin would be with Mike's family on Christmas Day. The next morning we woke up around 7 a.m. and started the coffee and Christmas music. I made an amazing breakfast casserole and mom made sweet rolls. We opened stockings firsts and then spent the next few hours opening presents and playing with Darby and Colton. For dinner Josh made an amazing roast beef. It really was some of the best meat we've ever hard! We had mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, creamed spinach and sweet potato casserole. It wasn't a traditional holiday dinner for us but it was amazing and may just be a new tradition!

Another exciting part of the holidays was the birth of our friends' baby, James Patrick Weitekamp! My friend Katie (she's been in several other posts) was pregnant and due two weeks after me. They had James on 12/24 and would you believe he was 8 lbs, 14 oz and 21 inches just like Colton! He was also born 2 days early, like Colton. Kind of scary!! Brad and Katie are home now with James and we're looking forward to visiting and spending more time with them. James was a surprise (well at least the fact that he was a boy, ha ha) so Colton has shared some of the newborn boy clothes he no longer fits into. He's so excited to have another good buddy, he now has Connor (photos below) and James!! The boys are all looking forward to next years tailgate, it's going to be a blast.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday and that you all have a safe, healthy and happy start to the New Year! 2009 has brought Josh and I so many wonderful blessings and we thank God every day for all that he has provided for us. We hope for the best for each of you in 2010 and we are so thankful for your friendship.

Love always,

Jenny

Surviving Week One

Wow, what a week! We made it through and survived our first week at home with Colton. The first two days were great, we were running on adrenaline and the lack of sleep hadn't really hit us yet. It was Thursday when we finally started to slow down and it started to catch up with us! Colton is a great sleeper, but it's on his terms right now. He's still a little confused about day and night and he has a very hearty appetite so he eats every two hours. We actually had one day where he ate every hour on the hour for four hours (and those are 20 minute feedings). It's called cluster feeding and apparently it's when they're going through a growth spurt. I'm breastfeeding so unfortunately for me I'm the only one who can handle that part, at least for now. We're going to introduce a bottle and I'll start pumping milk in about two more weeks when we've got the breastfeeding well established. At that point things will get a little better because Josh will be able to take some of the feedings so we can alternate sleep. Right now he gets up with me for every single feeding and changing and I know it's killing him. He's already taken on so many things around the house as I recover from the birth. Speaking of, I'm doing much better but it's slow going. I lost quite a bit of blood so I've had to build back up my stamina on top of the just the physical exhaustion from all that my body went through. I made a trip to Lowe's with Josh last Friday and it about killed me so I've been taking it easy since then. Only quick trips to the drugstore or places nearby.

Last Thursday was Colton's pediatrician appointment. We had been referred to Dr. Kathy Sarantos by a friend of mine and trusting his judgement we went ahead and picked her. We had never even met her and although we'd heard great things we were very unsure. She doesn't take new patients anymore but because of my friend she accepted Colton. Let me just say that I am so incredibly thankful! She is wonderful and I am so glad that she's going to be Colton's pediatrician. At his first appointment Colton got the thorough check out. He's in great health, he regained almost all of his birth weight and was 8 lbs 11 oz. We go again next week for another check up and I'm curious to see how much weight he's put on with all this eating.

Here are a few photos from our first week. Josh's parents came back this weekend to help us out and visit. My mom arrives again tomorrow and will be here during the week. Both parents will be back for Colton's first Christmas and we're really looking forward to that.

Colton's First Week

Hope everyone is well!

Love,
Jenny

A Baby Story

Well hopefully by now everyone has heard the news that baby Colton Ray Highlander was born! He arrived at 2:55 p.m. on Sunday, December 6th. He was two days ahead of schedule which thankfully means he takes after his mommy in terms of punctuality.

I'll give you the quick rundown on his arrival. Friday was my last day at work and we had a pretty busy day launching a new web site. When I got home that night I was exhausted and just shortly after 6 p.m. I started noticing some contractions. Nothing horrible, but they were pretty consistent. They continued on through the night but never really got more than 6 to 8 minutes apart. I fell asleep about 4 a.m. and when I woke up they were gone. I decided to go about my day like normal. Josh ran me around town to do all of my errands including getting my hair done and grocery shopping. We had plans to attend our annual Christmas Party with our friends at Katie and Brad's place and I really didn't want to miss that. Contractions started back up during the day but were inconsistent so we packed up our stuff to go. We did decide to bring our hospital bags with us just in case! At the party we watched the Gator game and Josh timed my contractions throughout the game - they were consistently 3 minutes apart but I figured since I wasn't dying just yet I could tough it out to make it to the end of the party. The Gators didn't win this year (that's okay, 22 wins in a row and 2 football national championships in the last three years have made us more than proud!) but despite the loss we had a wonderful time with great friends. It's kind of funny to have labored in the company of my closest friends - I guess that's when you know you have surrounded yourself with wonderful people, when you feel that comfortable with them!!

After we got home from the game the contractions started coming more and more frequently and were getting much more difficult to handle. I still wasn't 2 minutes apart so Josh suggested I get up and walk around. That did the trick! We jumped in the car and off to the hospital we went. I was so nervous when we got there. I was petrified they were going to send me home but I was already 3 1/2 centimeters and 100% effaced so they admitted me and put us into a delivery room. We had such an amazing view of the pond with beautiful Christmas lights and holiday music. From about 12:30 a.m. until about 6 a.m. we just relaxed and rested and waited. The contractions were manageable at that point.

I'm going to summarize the next few hours to save everyone the details. For those that don't know, I was attempting to have a natural, medication free childbirth. By about 10 a.m. I had done very well but had stalled at about 5 centimeters. You can't push until 10 and those last 5 are the hardest to get through. We decided to have the midwife break my water. From that point on labor became the single hardest thing I have ever and probably will ever do in my life! It's certainly not for the faint of heart. I progressed very quickly at that point which can be good and bad. Good because it gets things over quick but bad because that means the pain is that much worse! I did end up asking (more like demanding) some medication but the only thing they would give me at that point was something to relax me between contractions. It wasn't an epidural and it did nothing for the pain... Sigh, I'm hurting just thinking about it! Josh was absolutely amazing though and he deserves a gold star and pat on the back, he was the only reason I made it through. There were many times I just wanted to give up (obviously not going to happen!) or throw things or hurt someone else ;-) Josh was always calm and he talked/rocked/held me through it all.

Finally, at 2:55 p.m. Colton arrived and they immediately put him into my arms. It was the most amazing feeling ever. Josh and I both cried and we both just stared in amazement at our gorgeous little boy! He is such a little miracle and gift from God. We feel so blessed to have been chosen to be his mommy and daddy!!

So that's our "baby story." I am including photos from the first few days of his life. Don't worry, nothing graphic included except you have to excuse my sweaty, icky photos, that was hard work!

Colton Highlander Arrives

Love,
Jenny