Scrub a Dub Dub Ian's First time in the Tub

Ian's first tub bath:

We took advantage of Ian's wide awake period this afternoon and decided to give him his fist official tub bath and he loved it!! Not one peep out of him until we took him out of the tub. Of course the bath was not without incident. First order of business once we put him in the tub? To pee in the clean bath water, on the bathroom counter including the cute decorative clock, and mirror. Surprised momma didn't see that one coming! After the bath I had my sweet baby all nice and clean and smelling good with a nice clean diaper, clean cute outfit, lotion applied, and set to go. Next order of business? Load up our clean diaper. Sweet. Not only did we load up our clean diaper but we also decided to go on our changing pad cover and nice clean outfit before momma could get the new clean diaper on. I think he was having fun with me at this point. Another change of outfit later and he was down for the count. What a night!!

Down for the count after our "eventful evening":

One week old today

Our sweet baby boy is one whole week old today. I have to admit that this makes me a little sad as it seems that time is now flying by. If only I could do something to slow things down..... We got home from the hospital last Wednesday and luckily for me both my mom and mother in law were here to see us through it. Suzanne was such a big help preparing us meals, getting us groceries, and doing some things around the house. We were exhausted from our stay in the hospital and appreciated all the help we could get. Wednesday night and Thursday were definitely trying to say the least. Ian was fussy since he was hungry and we were having breastfeeding issues. I was a mess and luckily for me as soon as I had a crying conversation with my mom she and my dad came to the rescue with baby assistance and dinner! I swear those first couple of days home I felt like the new baby trying to care for the new baby. Things are better now though. My biggest challenge so far has been, believe it or not, with breastfeeding. We are trying to hang in there and stick it out but it has definitely been trying at times. I now see why so many women give up on the whole breastfeeding thing within the first couple of weeks. I don't know what women did back in the days of no breast pumps or lactation consultants.

Kirk has been a tremendous help this past week and I am so grateful for the time he has been able to take off work to spend time with the new baby/ look after and help me. He has been wonderful with Ian and I love to see them together. His patience with him has truly amazed me. I don't know how I would have kept my sanity or made it without him and again this whole experience has made me wonder just how single parents do it.

Here are some pictures from Ian's first week of life.

Meeting mommy for the first time:

One week ago today....

I'm an aunt again!! Congratulations to Suellen and Todd on the arrival of their baby girl this Saturday. We can't wait to meet and hold our new niece and to introduce you to your new nephew. Wild that the cousins will have birthdays 5 whole days apart!! Gotta love those November babies.

Thinking back to last week I wanted to post Ian's birth story while it's still fresh on my mind. Last I posted before Ian's arrival Kirk and I were awaiting our scheduled induction. Little did we know that Ian would have other plans. He still arrived on Monday 11/10 as had been set up but turns out that no induction was necessary. Sunday morning 11/9 I woke up around 5:45 am with lower back and abdominal pains. They weren't terrible just noticeable. I got up, piddled around, and then headed back to bed where I noticed the pains were coming somewhat frequently. I went back to sleep but woke up each time I had a pain to see how far apart they were. Between 8-9 am we were up to 5 minutes apart for an hour. At this point I started to wonder if we would have to head to the hospital that morning. I got up and did a few things and noticed that the pains were starting to come less frequently and not regularly anymore and I was convinced that something was definitely going on but we would probably still be heading to the hospital the next morning as scheduled. Kirk and I had planned to go to the mall and do some last minute errands but I decided I didn't really feel up to it and started doing laundry and household chores like a mad woman. Fast forward to Sunday afternoon with most of the laundry and chores now done I was convinced that I felt better and was now ready to head to the mall so off we went to Williams Somoma. We then went to Zaxby's for what would be our last dinner as a childless couple, fancy I know, and headed home to watch a movie and spend one last quiet night before our induction. All throughout the movie I noticed the aches and pains I had been having off and on all day were now coming rather frequently. At this point I started logging all of the times I would feel something and noted that while they were frequent they were not coming at regular intervals. At this point it was late so I headed upstairs to get ready for bed. As time passed I noticed I was getting a bit more uncomfortable. I started paying attention to the times again and noted that from 10-10:30 I was consistently noticing something every 5 minutes. It was at this point I told Kirk we needed to start writing down times. Over the next hour the pains were consistently 5 minutes apart for an and while I was getting a bit more uncomfortable I still wasn't convinced that we should head to the hospital, after all we were going to be there at 6 am the next morning anyway and I was determined to just wait it out. I got into the bath for awhile which was fabulous and really helped me to relax then decided it was time to head to bed since we would need to be up really early the next morning for our induction. I headed to bed and quickly determined that rest was so not happening for me that night and the pains were now coming rather predictably anywhere from 3-5 minutes apart, it was at this time Kirk and I decided that maybe we should just go ahead and get to the hospital, I was still worried that I was going in too soon but we rationalized that we were going to have to be there in a few hours anyway so off we went.

We arrived at the hospital between 12 and 1:00 am. At this point I was uncomfortable when a contraction would hit but was able to easily breathe through it, as long as I could stand up during the pains I was okay. Sitting during a contraction at this point was just not super pleasant. Once we got to the hospital they got us back to an L&D room rather quickly and hooked me up to monitors for contractions and the baby's heart rate. Contractions were coming every three minutes at this point and I was 5-6 centimeters. This is when I realized that perhaps it was a good thing we went ahead and arrived at the hospital when we did. I did after all want the epidural and had I waited much longer to get to the hospital I may have found myself in the situation of not being able to get one. My L&D nurse was great and worked me up quickly and pretty much immediately got me hooked up with an epidural which was fabulous. After the epidural nothing much happened until my OB/GYN came in around 7/8am, broke my water, and started me on pitocin to get the contractions going again. This was the downside of the epidural as it noticeably slowed down my labor. Finally around 11:30ish my nurse came in and informed me it was time to push and at 12:37 pm little Ian arrived. After Ian's arrival my Ob GYN informed me that Ian's cord was wrapped around his neck once and he had a "true knot" in his umbilical cord which luckily wasn't tight and never caused his heart rate to drop during his delivery. He also presented Occiput Posterior, meaning face up. Our Dr. told us that many times when a baby presents this way it winds up having to be delivered via C section so, all told seems that we were very lucky to have had such a good delivery. As someone who was absolutely terrified of labor I was pleasantly surprised that every bit of it was very manageable. I had heard all of the horror stories during my pregnancy and all the details of women being in horrible pain but can honestly say that this was not my experience at all. Yes the contractions hurt but they were only for a short period of time and once they were over I was okay. Once I got the epidural there was absolutely no pain. I could still feel some contractions but nothing I would call painful. I had the most fabulous labor and delivery nurses who really put me at ease and best of all my regular OB/GYN was able to deliver Ian.

It's surreal to think that just a week ago today Kirk and I experienced one of the most amazing moments of our lives when we welcomed our son. At long last he is here and we are just trying to take it all in and enjoy every minute we can with our sweet little baby. My days are now filled with changing diapers and feedings around the clock and while it is exhausting and overwhelming at times when you are lying there cuddling your sweet baby against your chest and watching him sleep you know that it is all worth it.....

He's arrived!!

Our sweet baby boy Ian Malcolm Williams arrived on Monday 11/10 at 12:37pm weighing in at 8 lbs 2 ounces and 21 inches long. We are now back at home and attempting to get all settled in. So far motherhood has been a challenging, exhausting, and amazing experience. We are very much in love with our little one and still can't believe that he's finally here!


"Before you were concieved I wanted you. Before you were born I loved you. Before you were here and hour I would die for you. This is the miracle of Love" Maureen Hawkins

4 More days

Only four days max until Baby Williams will arrive!! Had my trial run at L&D today for my NST. Baby's HR was in the 130's and all looks well so we will continue to hang in there until Monday. The test provided me with enough peaceful time to reflect that apparently I drifted off and didn't wake up until the nurse came back in the room to tell me I could go. Too bad we can't get a nap break at work everyday, I could definitely get used to that. It was strange being on the opposite end of the spectrum today as I was the one wearing the hospital name band and lying in the bed hooked up to a machine. Being a patient is going to be a whole new kind of interesting experience for me, perhaps it will make me better at my job. Everyone at work is shocked beyond belief that I'm still there as they were convinced I would deliver early. I am basically the only nurse who's worked there and carried full term. They have all informed me that apparently my child is going to be very stubborn. Gee, wonder where he would get that from......

40 weeks!!

Happy Due date to us! That's right today I am officially 4o weeks pregnant. How did I celebrate this momentous occasion one might ask. Why, by going to work as usual of course. I have to admit at this point it's getting downright amusing to answer the question when is your baby due? When I answer "today" I can tell by the look on the other person's face that they now view me as nothing more than a ticking time bomb.

Obviously there will be no baby today. Since our due date is about to be behind us I will now start a new countdown: T minus 5 days and counting until we meet our baby boy! Two work days down and only two more to go until I start my new 12 week job of stay at home mom, can't wait!

Happy Election Day!!

Voting today was surprisingly easy. Kirk and I walked in, went right up to the counter, voted, and were back in the car leaving the polling place all within about 10 minutes maximum. Not too shabby considering we figured it would be an hour wait just to vote since this is such a historic election and all. I don't know if we just really lucked out or if the people with last names at the end of the alphabet just weren't voting but we were very pleasantly surprised. This is the one thing I wanted to do before the baby arrived so he now has my permission to show up whenever he wants!! I hope everyone else was able to get out and vote today. If an almost 40 weeks pregnant lady can make it out anyone can, no excuses people. Don't know about the rest of you but I am just so glad that the election mania will be winding down soon. Things I am looking forward to the most now that this election is almost over: one by one the campaign signs will start coming down, the Newsweek magazines might finally have something on the cover besides Election 08' stuff, No more automated phone calls encouraging you to elect whatever candidate they're calling about, and last but not least no more campaign ad commercials with candidates smearing each other. I have decided Baby W is waiting until after the election to arrive so he can prepare himself for the kind of world he will be born into. :)

Kirk and I went to our last prenatal appointment today. We are at a standstill as No change has occurred since we last went 5 days ago. Something tells me our little boy will not be showing up for his due date. I'm actually expecting to go all the way until Monday when our induction is scheduled to take place. I'm a little disappointed as I was hoping to avoid the whole induction/pitocin thing but have to admit that within the last few days I have officially entered that period everyone told me would come where I am just ready to get this kid out and quite frankly will be fine with whatever method it takes to do just that. We have been instructed to show up to labor and delivery at 6:00 am on Monday morning 11/10 for the induction. I will also be making a trial run to L&D this Thursday as I have been ordered to go for a Non Stress Test just to make sure everything is good with the baby's heart rate. The Dr wants this done just as a precaution to make sure it will be okay to wait until Monday to deliver him. Everything looked great today at our appointment so we just continue to wait...... As usual we'll keep everyone posted as things unfold.