Baby Wise November 16, 2008

During my pregnancy, a good friend of mine told me about the book Baby Wise. She had used it with her first son and was very successful so she was starting it with her newborn. I bought the book and tried to read it while I was pregnant but I just couldn’t get into it. I didn’t know what to expect once Cameron was here so the book was kind of pointless. When we brought Cameron home, like most new parents, we had no idea what our night time routine would be. We set up a pack and play in our room and every time he cried we picked him up and held/rocked him until he fell asleep or I fed him. Needless to say, it’s only been 2 weeks but we quickly saw that this was not working. By last night Cam had gotten to the point that if he wasn’t being held he was screaming his head off. So last night Michael was staying up with him in the living room so I could get some sleep for a few hours. Around midnight I came out to the living room to find Cameron screaming his head off and Mike reading Baby Wise. He said that he had just picked it up to read the chapter about what to do when your baby cries since Cam was refusing to stop. He ended up reading the entire book in about an hour and a half. When I got up he said that he thought we should try it.

For those of you that don’t know, the main idea of Baby Wise is to get your child on a eating/waking/sleeping schedule. You are supposed to feed him every 2 1/2 – 3 hours. After you feed him for 30 minutes you are supposed to keep him awake for about an hour and then you are supposed to put them down for an hour nap, then repeat. The key is to put the baby down for the nap when they are awake so he learns to put himself to sleep. Now the hard part of this is that if the baby cries once in bed you just ignore it. You hope and pray that it won’t last long and that he will cry himself to sleep. Now according to the book, this is worth it because in just a few weeks we should be able to put Cameron down without a peep, which will lead to a much better rested and happier baby in the long run.

So we decided to go for it last night. At about 12:30 we put Cameron in his bed (the first time by the way) and shut the door. Needless to say, he was not happy. He would cry for about 25 minutes straight, rest for 5 – 10 minutes and then start crying again. It was SO HARD to stay in my room and let him do this. Everything in me wanted to run in there and hold him really tight until he calmed down. I was strong however and stayed in my bed. I fed him again at around 4:00 and did the whole routine again. This time he only cried for about 15 minutes and then he went to sleep until 7:30 this morning. Right now he is taking a nap. I was able to put him down on his own and he fell asleep without crying at all.

I can see where this is going to be successful but it’s just so hard to let him cry like that. Hopefully my smart little man will catch on fast and we won’t have to go through too many nights of him screaming his lungs out.

Some Success… November 8, 2008

Everything is continuing to go pretty well. My parents left Wednesday and Michael’s parents left today, so we are officially on our own. I’m still pretty sore from the c-section but I feel a little better each day.

Our exciting news is that Cameron and I are successfully nuring again!! YAY!!! He ended up only being on formula for about a day. Then I was able to pump and use a bottle and then by Thursday evening he was right back to nursing the way he should. I am doing better this time. It feels more like what people have described this time. Please pray that we are able to continue.

Our struggle now is still that he doesn’t like sleeping in his bed. He only likes to sleep if we are holding him. I know that we will at some point just have to put him in his bed and let him cry it out until he falls asleep. I’m not quite ready to do that yet. At this point I’m hoping for a miracle.

I know this is a short post, the next will be longer!

We’re Home November 4, 2008

Well, real life (or at least a resemblance of it) has begun. They discharged me from the hospital on Sunday afternoon. Our first night home was a little rough. Cameron refused to sleep unless he was in our arms. So Michael and I spent the entire night taking turns holding him in between feedings.

I’ll try not to be too graphic or give too much information on our biggest struggle. Cameron and I are struggling with him nursing. We had some help in the hospital and they were encouraging saying that he was doing well with it. I kept telling them that it hurt pretty bad but they would say a little pain is normal and that I just needed to keep trying and they watched him and said that he was seeming to latch correctly. So I just kept going through the pain and what I thought was right, though now I know was obviously wrong. By Monday afternoon I has big gashes that had become infected making it impossible for me to keep going. Now to those of you who have known me for a long time and know how I used to feel about breastfeeding will be shocked to hear that this has really been difficult for me. So we started formula Monday evening however, as soon I heal, I am going to try again. I have a friend here who is a lactation consultant and she is going to come work with me until it all works. Please just be praying that we can make it work and that I will heal quickly so he doesn’t have to be on formula for too long. Sorry if this was all too much information for some of you reading. I will say though that now that his belly is full he has slept much better and has even made it in his crib by himself for a little over an hour.

Our families are here until Wednesday and Saturday. After that, REAL life begins. That’s a scary thought but I’m excited. I am so grateful that the Lord has blessed us with such a BEAUTIFUL healthy little boy.

Cameron is here! November 1, 2008

Well, as I write this I am sitting in the hospital room looking at my son. This has been a trying but wonderful experience. Let me fill you in on the details.
Mike and I got home from church Wednesday night and were just chilling out watching the World Series. I had one big contraction and Mike noted the time just in case there were more. Over an hour went by and nothing else happened so we decided it was a false alarm. We started talking about what would happen if my water broke and got on the computer and found out that it only happens to 13% of women. So I sat down and had a sharp pain and the next thing I knew I was soaking wet. We jumped up real fast and within 10 minutes we were on our way to the hospital.
We got here and they immediately put me on Pitocin to start my contractions. By 3:30 I was feeling contractions regularly so they gave me my epidural (greatest thing ever invented!). Well we kept waiting and waiting and I just wasn’t progressing. Finally at around 5:00 on Thursday (that’s right, 19 hours later) they determined that my pelvis was just too small and we would have to do a c-section.
Most people know that this was the LAST thing that I wanted. However, we are now able to look at this and see God’s provision. Cameron’s cord was wrapped around his neck twice and his legs once. This would have been very dangerous in a vaginal delivery.
So, all in all we are doing very well. I am still recovering and am in quite a lot of pain, but he’s worth it.