A place for all things I love...

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Baby progress

Oh how time flies when your in love..
or maybe just sleep deprived. ha
Either way our little Kingsley is a couple days away from being a month old! I can't believe we have had him this long, seems like only yesterday he was born. Anyways I better back track to his two week appointment just for the records.
TWO WEEK STATS:

head: 53rd%
height: 22 inches @ 89%
weight: 8 pounds 5 ounces @ 35%

Now I'm sure you don't remember, but when he was born he weighed 8 pounds 11 ounces. When he left the hospital he weighed 8 pounds 6 ounces. Now if you have had a child you may see the problem.. Babies typically lose weight after they are born due to your milk not being in yet & such but are supposed to have gained it back by the time you go in for your two week appointment. Since Kingsley had not gained back his weight our doctor was concerned. I was worried as a first time mom that things weren't going "normally". How did I not know I was starving my baby? He just seemed so happy & content. The concern was that I was not producing enough milk. Since I have never breast fed a baby before I had no clue what it was supposed to feel like when my milk came in or know how much I was producing. All I knew is I was constantly feeding him even though it was super painful since my nipples were cracked & bleeding. (Sorry if that's an over-share) Anyways so our doctor told me to continue nursing him but then to pump after to help produce more milk as well as give him bottles after every feeding to make sure he was getting enough. I did not realize how hard, painful and overwhelming breast feeding would be. That week until our next check up was so rough. I felt like my day was consumed with feeding him & pumping all the while stressing that I may not be able to nurse him due to lack of milk. I broke down a time or two feeling like I have no clue what I'm doing! Not trying to complain, but I want to warn you soon to be mothers so you can be better prepared than I was. So we anxiously went into our next appointment at his three week mark to see if he was gaining weight.
Three Week Stats:

weight: 8 pounds 15 ounces, 43rd%

We were so relieved that he had gained weight and that everything was fine! Kingsley has turned out to be such and easy and happy baby. (In our opinion at least) He honestly only cries if he is hungry or needs a diaper change. He of courses likes to be held but doesn't require it at all as we often can set him down or let him relax on his own. Probably the thing I'm happiest about is his sleep schedule. He will go a 5-6 hour stretch when I put him down at night, eats and then immediately goes back to bed which I am super grateful for. He will totally smile at us when we talk to him which is my favorite. It is also super nice that he loves his binkie & will take a bottle. His only flaw is that he is a diaper killing machine, I swear this kid goes through a million diapers a day! 
He just melts our hearts. :)
 In some ways he may be a little too easy since Jeremy thinks we should have another one quickly so they are a year apart like he and his brother were... Ya he is crazy!! For now I am going to soak in just having one. :)
Jeremy & Kingsley on fathers day.
XOXO

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Teddy & his scooter

Last week we got the chance to hang out with our nephew Teddy while he was being babysat by Jeremy's parents. He is so fun and totally adores Jeremy. Look how striking his light blue eyes are??
So Teddy is kind of amazing in the fact that he isn't even two yet and can ride a scooter like a pro! Seriously it is so funny to watch.
Jeremy would have to chase after him because he would get going so fast.
Too cute these buddies :) It was so fun to hang out with Teddy, I won't be surprised when he becomes a professional stunt man when he is older because he definitely is a dare devil!

Monday, June 11, 2012

Kingsley's Newborns

I decided that since the last batch of newborns I took turned out so well, I would just take Kingsley's myself. Plus Jeremy didn't want to shell out the money to have someone else take them. This turned out to be far more difficult than I expected. First off Kingsley is such a well behaved easy baby, but for some reason every time I started snapping some shots the little guy would suddenly be wide awake flailing around every where. I learned early on not to even attempt to take his diaper off because this kid poops & pees a million times a day. The other thing that was hard is I would take a bunch of pictures one day but then want to redo them the next because this kid gets more & more handsome each day! He looked so chubby in the beginning with nothing but cheeks where as time went on he slimmed down, but as you pass the 10 day old mark newborns are more awake making it a lot harder for you to position them & get the shots that you want. I'm sure I am being a lot more picky too being that it is my own son. Anyways I will definitely be paying someone else to take newborns next time around!
None the less here is what I got of my sweet boy :)
I made this crown myself using lace, fabric stiffener, & paint. I will post a tutorial later when I get around to it..
Such a little chubs in the beginning :)
Do you see any resemblance? I always love to hear peoples opinion on who he looks like.
All my boys.
This series turned out the best, so I had a hard time narrowing them down
Love this little ones head of hair.
I unfortunately over exposed a ton of the pictures but sad fully I couldn't tell on my camera screen so I just had to lean on photoshop to fix them.
I painted these blocks to match Kingsley's nursery. 
He obviously wasn't happy about this..
These pictures are horribly over exposed, but they make me laugh so I had to post them
Kingsley must have had gas because he was all smiles 
Diesel is uninterested in the new addition to our family, he totally just ignores him.
If we don't have him swaddled he loves to sleep with his arms up like this :)
My best attempt of showing how long this kid is
So nice that this kid loves his binkie.
Happy as a clam this one, hope he stays this way.
Can't get enough of this little guy, I'm sure pictures of him will take over our blog from now on :)

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Labor & Delivery

On Tuesday the 22nd of May I woke up at 4am with stomach cramps & contractions. I waited a couple hours and timed them before I woke up Jeremy. The thing is my contractions were not super painful, just a consistent tightening of my stomach. I was thinking man I must be lucky these don't hurt that bad or I just have a super high pain tolerance! (I would find out later I wasn't that lucky) Since we already had a doctors appointment that day, we just bumped it up to that morning so we could see what was going on. Unfortunately even though I was thinned out I was not dilated at all. So Jeremy headed off to work & I went about my day. Jeremy came home early & we went golfing. I just sat in the cart, hoping the bumpy ride would induce labor. We ate dinner with my parents in Farmington at a Mexican restaurant & then headed over to our neighbors with Brooke & Vaughn to hang out. It was there that I started having painful contractions and headed home. That night from around 8:00pm- midnight I felt the real pain of contractions. Man it's so hard to describe how bad contractions feel, but it definitely takes your breath away each time. I found I had to pace around during them. Jeremy meticulously timed my contractions until they were about 3 minutes apart and we headed to the Davis hospital in Layton.
We had no clue where we were going since we never did the hospital tour like I had planned but eventually made it to the emergency room to check in. As Jeremy was checking us in he ran into someone he knew that was there with his wife who was also in labor. We couldn't have been more opposite as I was in Jeremys basketball shorts & a T-shirt, no make up & the look of death on my face.. She on the other hand was decked out with full make up on, hair curled & a really cute outfit with a smile on her face. Mind you it was midnight so I have no clue why anyone would need to be ready at that time of night. She started making cheery small talk with me in the middle of one of my contractions and I swear I almost kicked her in the face! 
Anyways we finally got checked in and up in our room where we found out I was dilated to a 2. I was so happy when they called my doctor and admitted me, because I was really horrified of getting sent home at that point. Within about 30 minutes a Dr. named Wally who looked like a old school cowboy came in and gave me my epidural. I thought epidurals numbed the pain, I didn't realize they totally numb your entire body from the waist down to the point where you can't move them at all or feel anything. Felt sorta creepy like I was trapped in my body. I was super glad to not feel my contractions anymore but unfortunately I don't think my body responds well to strong medicine because I felt nauseous on and off up until the time I delivered :( Jeremy got to sleep on the couch, and was glad he got some rest. At one point they gave me pitocin to speed up the process, but quickly took me off it when the baby & I didn't respond well. Thankfully I continued to dilate steadily. At about 5 in the morning my doctor Duane arrived and broke my water. We called my mom at around 7am to tell her I was in labor & to head over to the hospital. Randomly my little sister Prezley showed up around 9am figuring she wanted to watch me have my baby. Bless her heart.. I was too distracted to really care & in the end it was fine she was there. Sure it was a good learning experience for her.. haha So finally after patiently waiting & wanting to throw up all night I was dilated to a 10 at about 10am. I started pushing with my nurse Julie at about 11am. Side note: I absolutely adored all of my nurses. They were so sweet and helpful, and made me feel as comfortable as possible. I actually went thru 3 nurses until I actually delivered. I panicked when the first nurse told me her shift was over & another nurse would be replacing her. I was like you can't just leave me I need you!?
 Anyways when I started pushing at 11am I was going on 31 hours without sleep but figured it would all be over soon. This is where things took a turn for the worse. After pushing with the nurse for about 30 minutes, Duane came in and right away I knew there was a problem. He was disappointed that I hadn't made any progress with the nurse and after checking me told me it was going to be difficult getting this baby out since I apparently have a bent tailbone (probably from being dropped one too many times in cheer ) which didn't leave a large opening for the baby to come out. I felt very discouraged at this point knowing a C-section was looming over my head. I really didn't want to have a C-section and was determined to push him out naturally. As I spent more & more time exhaustingly pushing i could see in their faces things weren't getting better even with their encouraging words and smiles on their faces. I would have to say I would take 2 hours off contractions over the two hours I spent pushing. It was just the most tiring, stressful thing I have ever experienced. I hadn't expected this part of the labor to be so hard, I thought I was out of the woods after the epidural, but I was wrong. As we were nearing 1:00 I had no more energy & could feel my body & mind were giving up. I could hardly push for 5 seconds let alone the ten I was supposed to be pushing until. That's when it happened, after nearly 2 hours of pushing we all heard a large pop! (this is probably the reason I still cannot sit 2 weeks later from a cracked/bruised tailbone :() That is when Kingsley's head broke past my tailbone. Duane had turned his head sideways to get him out. At that point it was only about 5 more pushes and my little man finally came out at 12:52pm! 
I am so thankful to have had Duane as my doctor & that he stuck in there and made it possible for me to have Kingsley vaginally when I know a lot of doctors would have given up and just made me have a C-section. 
When Kingsley was finally out we found out he weighed a whopping 8 pounds 11 ounces!! Which of course is another reason he was so difficult to get out. Seriously we were all shocked he was so big, especially since Jeremy & I were both 6 pound babies. Also everyone was enamored with all of his cute dark hair. Weird he already has more hair than his dad :)
As everyone was ecstatic about the arrival of our little man I finally broke down in tears. Probably from a combination of exhaustion, and medication. I had no feelings toward this little baby that I had just about died getting out. (dramatic? maybe a little) I felt sad that I didn't feel joy for this baby but depressed for the pain and recovery my body was going to go thru. They placed Kingsley in my arms & I immediately wanted Jeremy to take him, feeling like my arms were going to fall off. My sweet nurse must have sensed how I felt when she said "now don't worry if you feel strange, everyone bonds differently with their baby & it just takes some time." It did take me a couple days to grasp the concept that this sweet little boy was mine. Interesting to me that Jeremy had a different experience and immediately felt love and bonded to Kingsley the second he came out.
 I was actually concerned how Jeremy was going to be throughout the whole delivery process, but I have to say he was amazing. He couldn't have been more comforting and supportive to me. He even was mature about all the "gross stuff" and even cut the cord. :) He is and will be the best dad! He even changed all Kingsley's diapers at the hospital since I could hardly get in & out of bed.
Below my sweet nurse Julie. Sad I don't have a picture of Duane but I will for sure get one with the next baby! Yes it's nice how much you forget after some time, because I would have sworn to you after those first coupe days that I wouldn't have anymore children!
First family photo :)
Potter Grandparents
Kemp Grandparents
Although I loved all the nurses & sweet people at the hospital it was so nice to bring Kingsley home & sleep in our own bed.
I don't know why he looks so huge in these picture, because he is really long and slender in real life. Babies always look cuter in person I guess.
Sleeping boys :) We find ourselves calling him King E Lee ever since my nephew Atlas called him that & it seems to fit his asian look :)
Well there you have it, my detailed delivery story. I just don't want to forget anything because it is probably the most monumental experience of my life so far. Can't believe it has come and gone, man life is crazy!