Five Months Old!

Our little bundle is now five months old!  I can't believe it.  The month started out with a trip to Maw Maw and Paw Paw's for Thanksgiving and ended with a trip to Nannie and Paw Paw's for Christmas.  Neither holiday disappointed!  The car rides were just so-so, but at least we made it there and back in one piece (or three).

Felix had been doing so great with sleep, waking only twice per night, for a long while.  Then, we had a glorious few days where he woke only once a night!  We really paid for those because the next 2 1/2 weeks were pure hell.  Well, they could have been worse, but we sure didn't get a whole lot of sleep.  Sleep deprivation is evil.  I see why it is a form of torture.

It all started the night of Sammer's company Christmas party.  Cyndi babysat for us and we had such a great time!  The party was at Antone's with Jesse Dayton and Hayes Carll playing.  I know what you're thinking, must be nice to be able to rent out a bar (or institution in Austin) and have two awesome musicians play.  Yeah, must be.  I'm glad we were able to reap the benefits of Chris's generosity.  Anyway, that night he started his new routine right when I got home at 11:30.  He would sleep 4, 5 hours at the most and then wake every 1 1/2 - 2 hours, beginning at about 11 or so.  Talk about painful. The only way to get him to sleep was to nurse him and sometimes that didn't even work.  There were a few nights where he was up for 2 hours, just smiling and kicking away, wanting to play.  I like to blame teething because he has a couple of chompers ready to come through, but I don't know if that was it.  He has been very fussy and unhappy during the day, drooling like a mad man and chewing on his hands like they had the last traces of breastmilk in the whole world on them.  I see a lot of white on his bottom gums, but no tooth yet.  During this time, I learned to breastfeed him while standing in the dark bathroom with the fan on, bouncing him, swaying back and forth, and singing our bedtime songs all at the same time.  It was hard at first but a breeze now.  He loves that bathroom fan.  I think we've worn out the upstairs one because it is awfully clanky now and just keeps him awake.

The last two nights have been pure bliss.  He usually wakes up an hour or two after he goes down.  I put him to sleep on his side and I think he violently flings himself onto his back and hits his hands on the side of the crib.  Every time I go in there he is on his back and it's like he has forgotten that he is a wiz at rolling from his back to his belly.  BTW, he stopped sleeping on his back right around 3 months.  He wanted to be on his side and he sometimes rolls to his belly.  We don't like it but not much we can do since he can roll there.  He is super strong so we don't worry about him not being able to lift his head from the crib.  Anyway, recent sleep...he's only been waking twice per night for the last two nights.  I know it can go back to crap at any moment, but wow, the last two nights have been so wonderful.  The first night, I was so excited that I stayed awake for 3 hours after his first waking.  Ok, enough sleep talk, let's get to the fun stuff!

Felix has gotten so big and is just a complete joy to be around.  We've moved him to the big boy (umbrella) stroller and he is enjoying daily walks now (it's routinely in the high 60's here right now.  Crazy, I know.).  After the long, excruciating drive home from Tulsa, we immediately put him in the stroller and walked down to Shoal Creek for some oysters and beers.

He got lots and lots of toys for Christmas.  Santa brought him some bibs, books, headphones, and a Laugh and Learn music table.

Yo DJ pump this party!

The table is pretty cool, it has a music or word setting, as well as English and Spanish.  Many times I have gone to work singing the ABC's en Espanol.  It's quite something.  He loves it.  The headphones are noise canceling.  Santa heard that Felix may be making an appearance at some outdoors SXSW shows this Spring and thought these were necessary for his sweet little ears.

Let's see, what else did he get.  Aunt Sammie got him an adorable little pony.  He can't really play with it until he can walk very well, but I can't wait for that.  The pony had to stay in Baton Rouge this time since our car was pretty packed and he can't play with it right now anyway.  Nannie and Paw Paw got him lots of cute clothes, including those awesome baby legs in the picture at the top, books and toys.  Aunt Sissy and Uncle James got him his first pair of  Toms and boy are those things precious!  His cousins Robert and Nathan got him a really cool sports set, it has a basketball goal, a football thing and a bat and ball.  He'll be ready for that in a few months. Mommy and Daddy got him some books and pajamas and a mobile for over his bed.  He hasn't noticed that yet.  Hmm.

His likes right now are kicking (boy, does he LOVE to kick those legs!), his Mozart Music Cube that our friend Shook got him, diaper changes, or anytime when we are standing over him and talking to him really, touching our faces, naked time, the bath (where he also loves to kick and splash), and he's recently found his screeching voice.  It's pretty adorable (of course), we play the repeat game with it a lot.  He screeches and I screech back and on and on.  It's lots of fun for both of us.  He has also started to hold his bottle a little.  I recently bought a bottle with handles that turns into a sippy cup and he's getting the hang of holding it himself.

His only dislike right now is getting dressed.  He loves being nekkie, it's quite precious when he rolls onto his tummy and his cute little butt is up in the air.  So after an enjoyable bathtime of nekkie-ness and a massage, he is none too pleased to be put in pajamas.  We have taken to feeding him a bottle to appease him.  Sammer feeds him while I dress him.  I don't mind doing this because he does seem very hungry, he has always cluster fed at night (eats a lot in a short period of time). 


I don't have any stats for him this month, but I can tell you that two weeks after his 5th month birthday, he weighed 17lb 2oz with fleece PJs and a (not full) diaper.  We had to make an unscheduled visit to the after hours clinic because our little Boo Bear got sick.  Cue sad trombone.  :-(

Click here for a link to his 5th month in pictures.  Some Thanksgiving and Christmas pictures are missing, but I will add them as soon as I find the cord for the camera. Enjoy!

Four Months and a Year Ago

Wow, I cannot believe Mr. Felix is four months old.  This week marks one year since we found out that our lives were going to change forever.  After 16 months, I finally got a positive pregnancy test on the Monday morning after Thanksgiving.  I didn't trust it, of course, so off to Randall's I went at 6:00 in the morning to buy a digital test.  I also bought some mousse, you know, just so I didn't seem totally desperate.  It was like buying tampons when I was 17 all over again.  Anyway, I woke up Sammer, we both cried, and I made a doctor's appointment for later that week.  My regular doctor was out for the rest of the year so I had to see her partner.  Now, my (now previous) doctor wasn't the warmest of women, but I liked her.  Her partner made her look like Miss Warm and Fuzzy.  She didn't know my history so she, rather coldly, blurted out that the test I took at the office was negative.  "Oh, but it's probably just the batch of tests.  Another girl ot a negative last week and turned out she was pregnant."  Yeah, not making me feel better lady.  I immediately went to have my blood drawn and completely broke down on the poor lady who took my blood when she said the doctor didn't order a "stat" so I wouldn't be getting the results until the next day.  She was so sweet, I felt bad.  I started laughing and of course it sounded like I was getting hysterical.  I would see this lady 4 more times over the next couple of weeks, we became semi-friends.  Wow, I remember this all so vividly, like it was yesterday.  Sammer and I wanted a baby so, so badly and it had taken so long for us.  It seemed like everyone else was getting pregnant just by looking at a baby.  Last Fall alone, I had twelve (12!!!) friends who were pregnant at one time.  Anyway, I called Sissy on the way home from work and broke down on her in the HEB parking lot.  Yada, yada, yada....Felix is here, all is happy, enough of this story.  On to the greatness of King Felix!

It seems like the difference between three and four months is the biggest one yet.  Felix smiles so much now.  He babbles a lot.  He grabs for his toys and puts everything (EVERYTHING) into his mouth.  He loves, loves, loves sucking on his little paws.  He is actually kind of on a bit of a schedule.  He goes to bed at 7:15 and gets up between 5:00 and 6:00, much to Sammer's chagrin.  He used to wake up about 6:30, but then Daylight Savings came along.  Curse you DST!  His limit for being awake is two hours.  He will always take a nap two hours after waking up in the morning and is good for 1 1/2 - 2 hours during the day.  I come home from work at 4:00, nurse him and let him nap on me for a bit.  It doesn't matter if he wakes up at 5:00 or 6:30, at 7:15 he is out.  We asked the doctor about his naps and awake time, supposedly he should be awake for 3-4 hours at a time.  Felix naps for only 30-45 minutes, sometimes longer but that rarely happens.  Doc says that's fine and that it sounds like we have a social baby.  He is sleeping about 3-4 hours total during the day and 10 or so at night.  He still wakes up at least twice during the night.  I don't really mind, it's nice to snuggle with him, but I wouldn't turn down extra sleep if it was offered.  :-)  He wakes up anytime between midnight and 2am, then again 3 hours later or at 4:30, whichever comes first, then up again about 5:30.  When he wakes up at night, as soon as he sees me he is all smiles and wants to play.  Between me and Sammer, it makes sense that we would have a snuggling social butterfly on our hands.  :-)

Felix just took his first road trip!  We went to Baton Rouge for Thanksgiving.  The ride there took 11 hours, but a lot of that was because of traffic.  We stopped just past Lafayette and ran into a full on traffic stop.  We took an alternate route, where we again ran into another traffic stop.  Awesome.  Felix slept for the last hour and a half, so we totally could have made it to Baton Rouge, but instead with the runaround he woke up about 20 minutes before reaching our destination.  It was a wonderful holiday, Felix got to be loved on by his Maw Maw and Paw Paw, and met his Aunt Sammie for the first time.  I think he had a great time!  It was fun seeing how much he is loved by his family that doesn't get to see him everyday.

Now for the big four month stats:

15lb 4oz, 50th percentile
25 inches long, 50-75th percentile
75-90th percentile (for his big brain, just like Daddy's!)

Here is another link to Felix's fourth month of life in pictures.

Well, I never got around to finishing this post and Felix is now almost 5 months old.  So we'll call it a day and have another post in a few days. :-)

An update on all things Brammerlix

Did you like how I just updated our name?  Let's see, what's been going on in our world.  Well, after the two glorious days of 7+ hour sleep stretches, there was a major regression.  Mr. Felix refused to be put down.  He would be sleeping for an hour and we'd go to lay him in his crib (or anywhere) and WAH!!!  This lasted for three days.  Three long, grueling, exhausting days.  Being the sweetheart that he is, on Sunday night he finally let us put him down and went back to giving us a good 4 hour or so stretch.  I would love to have our 5+ hour stretches back, but anything is an improvement over the last weekend.  I even scratched another "I'll never" off of my list - I brought him into the bed with me.  We were in the guest room and I just needed to lay down.  I was so afraid of falling asleep while holding him in the glider and he would fall or something.  (My first "I'll never" broken was putting him to sleep in our room.  I was so naive before he was born.)

Monday was Halloween and Felix went as his alternate persona, SuperBaby.  I wasn't going to dress him up b/c I figured everything would be too hot or annoying for him.  But of course, as the day got closer I really just had to have something for him.  I found this "costume" at Old Navy on Friday night after work.  It's a little small for him, but the 3-6 month size was HUGE.  He is right in the middle of the size ranges - 0-3 months is 7-12 lbs and 3-6 months is 12-19 lbs.  He is about 12 lbs.  Anyway, he rocked the costume. 

Suuuper-Baby!

 

 

 Isn't he adorable?  The back of the costume had a little cape painted on it, I will have to find a picture of it.  We went up to my work for the Trail of Treats.  Let's face it, I really just wanted to spend time with him and show him off.  It's not like he was getting any candy or anything.  There was another awesome meltdown on the way home.  I stopped in the parking lot of Chinatown and nursed him for about 20 minutes, until he fell asleep.  As soon as I pull onto the Mopac access road, WAAAAAH!  Poor baby.  Mopac was especially parking lot-like that day, too.  My gosh, it was just awful.  He pretty much passed out as soon as I picked him up out of the car seat.

What else is new...there is a different person who watches him on Thursday, Matilde.  Today she said that he grew a lot since she saw him last.  Maybe this is why his sleep was so whacked out last week.  Felix will smile at me when I come up to him after work and that just makes my whole day.  He will let me hold/play with him for about 5 minutes before he has worked his way down to the breast.  He's never hungry, but he always wants to nurse as soon as I get home.  It's very sweet, he misses Mama and this is how we snuggle.  Oh, I love him so much.  I am doing the "take one look at him and cry because I love him so much" thing again.  He is just the most precious thing in the world to Sammer and me. 

He is smiling a ton and we think he may have found his feet.  He's getting better and reaching for things but still isn't doing it a whole lot first.  We can see the wheels turning but he's just not there yet.  Since we received the big rainfall last month there have been a plethora of mosquitoes around.  Even in our house.  Boo Boo has a lot of mosquito bites and it is breaking my heart.  3 on his face and 3 more on his tiny little foot!  This is where Mommy goes "WAH". 

Felix is 3 months, 1 week old

3 Months

Boo!

Wow.  I can't believe our little Boo Boo Bear is 3 months old already!  Time really does fly.  What to say about Felix....well for starters he slept 7.5 hours straight two nights ago and 7 hours last night. STRAIGHT!  This is amazing.  He went from giving us one 4-5 hour stretch to this wonderful bliss.  I'm afraid it's a fluke, but who knows.  I guess we'll see.  The bad part about him sleeping so much is that he was still asleep when I left for work.  That made me very sad because I didn't get to nurse him before I left.  I try to get to work at 7 so I can leave at 4.  No more OT for me!  I would have stuck around in the morning, but who knew when he was going to wake up.  Of course, he woke up right after I left.  :-(  I really love nursing Felix, I am already dreading the day I have to wean him.  Or he has to wean me, I should say.  It is just so beautiful to watch him and have those snuggles that are all mine.  Growing him in my womb and giving him life was amazing, but I think being able to sustain him and watch him grow from the food that only I can supply is even better.

Felix is just amazing and is really starting to show his personality.  He is happiest in the mornings (he definitely does not get this from his father).  He will give us lots and lots of smiles and coos then.  Sammer gets up with him  during the week, which is a lot earlier than his usual wake up time, and gets to spend some quality Daddy/Felix time.  He says he doesn't mind getting up early.  I have a feeling this is probably the highlight of his day.  :-)  I love that they get this bonding time together.  Sammer loves his little boy so much, and I love watching them together.  They have their own little routine where Sammer feeds and changes him, they play a little, and he "watches" Sammer get ready for work.  It should also be noted that Sammer is an amazing husband and gets up with Felix at least one day on the weekend so that I can sleep in a little.  Have I said lately how much I love that man?

So Felix is smiling a lot, I think his favorite thing is getting his diaper changed.  He will smile, smile, smile during and after.  There is a little jacket hanging above the changing table and he loves looking at it, he even reached for it this morning.  He seems to be getting more comfortable in the bath.  He's always kind of liked it but now he just looks more at ease and less tense.  We have yet to get a smile during bath time, but I know it is coming soon.  I was so close to getting one tonight.  We can tell that he is trying to talk so hard but only gets out a sound every once in a while.  It's adorable, of course.  The same thing can be said for reaching for/grabbing toys.  He is thinking so hard about it but doesn't actually get his hand up there very often.  He did grab the rattle last week when my parents were here though, that was so cool!  He sits in the bumbo every few days but he can't hold his head up for too long so he doesn't stay there much.

Poor Elvia was initiated with not only one but two big poops.  I can't believe he pooped (big!) twice in one week.  Yesterday it was all over both of them, Elvia was cleaning herself off when I came home.  I should have known it was coming, he was letting out some major man sized toots when I left him in the morning.  Good thing he is so cute!

We don't have another doc appointment until 4 months so I don't have any stats to share this month.  Rest assured that he is growing like a weed and getting cuter every day!  Here is a link to his 3rd month in pictures.  I am particularly partial to the pictures in the froggie pajamas.  Seriously cute.  Check out the difference between the first and last pictures. 

Felix's likes are smiling at Mommy and Daddy, diaper changes, the octopus on his play mat, the baby in the mirror (oh yeah!  He is starting to notice himself in the mirror and it is just precious!), snuggling of course, standing on us and stretching his legs, watching the fishies (this is sometimes the only thing that will calm him down - thanks to Nannie for figuring that one out) and sucking on his fists, particularly the left one.  Oh and drooling.  He drools like a champ!  He also likes hanging out with his buddies Quinn, Amelia, and Sophie.  Ok, Mommy likes hanging out with their mommies.  :-)  We all met up with them and their daddies at the NXNW Oktoberfest last weekend, it was a lot of fun and aside from the car ride Felix was a dream!

Carolyn & Amelia, Anne & Sophie, Lauren & Quinn, Mommy & Felix

The car seat is really his only dislike.  There are two very long 8 hour (at least) road trips in our near future so I really hope he starts disliking it a little less soon.  Sammer finally experienced a meltdown of epic proportions the other day and I think he now realizes that I wasn't lying all of this time.  I wish I had been, I hate it when he is sad.  He has even begun arching his back when I start putting him in the seat.  :-(  Elvia took him for a long walk in it the other day so maybe things are looking up!

Felix is 3 months old, and as precious as ever.

Oh, and a big, fat DUH.

Felix is sleeping in his crib at night!  He has been napping in there off and on for a few weeks but Sunday night was the first night in the crib.  It's funny, he looks like Andre the Giant in the bassinet but a little bitty munchkin in the crib.  Even though the crib is exactly 11 steps from our bed, I still use the monitor.  Sammer thinks this is silly but I'm so afraid that I won't hear him cry for some reason.  I'm sure we'll be able to ditch it soon, but I really don't care about being overly cautious right now. 

I miss having him in our room, but at the same time it is really nice to have our space back.  Now we don't have to worry so much about getting ready for bed or leaving the lights on to read, or the loudness of toons on the laptop.  I guess this means he is growing up though.  SOB.  He is really getting big, more on that in a couple of days.  He is almost 3 months old, ya know. 

He took to the crib just fine, I think.  No problems at all on Sunday night.  Last night he was a little difficult to get to sleep.  That started from the beginning of bedtime though, so not sure it is crib related.  It could be separation related since yesterday was the first day with the nanny.  Who knows.  He finally went down at 9:00, which really isn't too unusual, then up at 9:30, we thought down at 10:00 but really he didn't go down for real until 11:00.  The silver lining?  He only woke up once, at 3am, then he was up for the day at 6:45. 

I am working from home today and Thursday.  It's so hard to hear him cry in another room without going in there.  He wasn't even really crying, just fussing because he was hungry.  But, Elvia is great.  He seems to really like her so that is good.  I notice that she doesn't have to hold him all of the time like we sometimes do.  Hmm. 

I can't say goodbye without a picture.  Here he is in the awesome outfit that our friend Katie made for him.

Pacman!

 

 Felix is 12 weeks, 6 days old.

A job ain't nothin' but work

Well the day came and I went back to work on Thursday, October 20th.  It wasn't so bad, not as bad as I was expecting anyway.  That's because my sister was here and she watched him for the first two days.  That made me feel very at ease, I knew I could call her 100, OK 1,000, times and she wouldn't care and wouldn't think I was (too) crazy.  It was really special that Sissy watched Felix.  Seeing her with Felix just made my heart happy.  I love to see how much our families love him.  

 

 

 

We interrupt this blog for a cute little froggie.  Are these not the cutest pajamas ever?

The first day of work actually wasn't that bad, I'm sure because Sissy was here.  Felix decided that he didn't want to sleep Wednesday or Thursday night though, so that sucked.  I essentially got 45 minutes of sleep on Wednesday and 1 1/2 hours on Thursday.  Fantastic.  I think he knew I was going back to work because he just wanted to be held.  Back to work...it was kind of nice to use my brain for something other than trying to figure out how to make Felix sleep or poop.  Plus I didn't do a whole lot.  I pumped about an hour after getting there, then visited, then went to the benefits fair, then visited, pumped, had lunch, deleted some of the 14,899 emails that I received while out (no exaggeration), pumped, and went home.  Of course, I got there as early as possible so that I could leave as early as possible.  I was fine until I drove into our neighborhood.  I think I was just overwhelmed by the thought of seeing him soon.  There are a couple of pluses about going back to work.  1) It is easier to organize life with Outlook at my fingertips, easier to run errands and "research" on the internet, and 2) I can drive with the windows down and the radio up.  That is a glorious luxury that I have missed since Mr. Felix came along.

Today was the first day that the nanny, Elvia, came.  I was a little more nervous today.  Of course everything went just fine.  Elvia came before Sammer left for work and he said everything was peachy when he left.  Then he came home for lunch and Felix was fine until he picked him up, then he started crying.  It didn't last long though.  Felix initiated Elvia with a good poop.  Poor lady.  He only poops once a week and she got it.  I knew he would poop today, the toots and spit up have been coming on strong the last couple of days.  I have been sleeping with a little bunny lovey so that Felix could be comforted by my smell when I wasn't around.  Elvia said that he loved it.  I hope so, because when I came home it was on his face while he was sleeping in the bouncy chair.  hmm...we will have a chat about that in the morning. 

I am working from home on Tuesday and Thursday this week, just to ease back into it all.  It will be interesting being here while someone else (not named Sammer) is taking care of him.  I'm afraid we may have another night like Wednesday or Thursday...Felix will not sleep.  He went down about 9:00 and woke up 30 minutes later.  It's now almost 10:30 and we cannot get him back down.  He needs and wants to be swaddled, but he is fighting it because he wants his hands to munch on.  Well, his arms flail and wake him up.  Should be a fun night!  Here are some pictures to help us get through it.

First time in the bumbo

Super happy baby!

Last day at home together

Felix is 12 weeks, 5 days old (Do I have to start saying this in months?  If so, he is 2 months, 4 weeks and 5 days old.  That's not much better.)

Our baby is sick

Cue major sad face here.  :-(

Poor baby, we (the nurse, Sammer and I) think he has a cold.  He is super sniffly, runny nose, sneezing and coughing.  It started day before yesterday, he had a runny nose at night and a sort of tough time sleeping.  You could tell he didn't feel good and it's like his nose would drain and that would make him cough when he was lying down.  Yesterday it got a lot worse so I called the pediatrician.  There really isn't anything they can do, it just has to run the course.  The nurse told me to get some saline to spray in his nose before using the aspirator.  His nose is pretty runny and he's sneezing more.  Last night Sammer stayed up with him until about 1:00 while he slept in the Snuggle Lamb (thanks, Mike and Jenn!).  Then I fed him and stayed up with him until about 3:00.  I decided I probably needed to get some sleep so I could be on top of my game to take care of him today.  He woke up about 4:30 and I fed him and held him for another hour.  I got a little weepy and every time I would sniffle it would wake him up, so back to bed we went.  He slept until 8:00!  That is unreal, folks.  Usually he would have gotten up once, maybe twice by 8:00.  He was up for about an hour or so and is sleeping again.  He has lots and lots of snot coming out.  That's good, but I'm sure he's making more as we speak.  His temp was 99.8, getting close to calling the pedi time again.  Poor baby, I just hate this for him.

The good thing is he seems pretty happy.  He's given me lots of smiles and laughs today, between the sadness of having his nose sucked for the umpteenth time.  He doesn't hate it too much, he's a good sport, but he lets me know when we're done with it.  We're having a pajama day and I've read him lots of stories and shared lots of cuddles.  It just breaks my heart that he doesn't feel good.  I thought I knew what love was when I fell in love with Sammer, and don't get me wrong, I love him more than anything.  But Felix...wow, the love just jumps to a whole new level with your child.  There is nothing that would stop me from taking care of him, providing for him, being with him, doing anything for him.  Earthquake?  No.  Tsunami?  No.  Nuclear war?  No way, Jose.  He is my baby.  I would sell all of my possessions and live in a cardboard box if I had to.  And I know Sammer would do the same.  We love our little Boo Boo more than we ever could have imagined.

Extreeeeme close up!

I now understand even more why my parents had picked up my sister and were on their way down here less than an hour after hearing that I had an emergency C-section.  All of those times that they've told me how much they love me and how they would do absolutely anything for me, Sissy, and Bobby really sink in now.  I guess before it was kind of, "Yeah, yeah, I know you love me and I love you, too," but now I get it.  I didn't think it was possible, but having a child makes me love my parents even more.

This is my last week of maternity leave, I go back to work next Thursday.  BOO!!!  We're trying to make the most of it...Monday we met Lauren, Quinn, Carolyn, and Amelia for a walk in Hyde Park (which was lovely), yesterday we went to Baby Day at the Alamo with Lauren and Quinn and saw 50/50.  (Oh, and let me just tell you that Mr. Felix did not make a peep in  the car all the way up to the Lakeline Alamo!   That is FAR people! He slept in the sling through the entire movie, cried a little on the way out of the parking lot and then fell asleep for the ride home.  Oh my gosh, it was heaven!  Last time we went somewhere, he got so upset he made himself sick and puked on the car seat.)  Today we were heading for yoga but looks like only snuggles in our future instead.  In the movie, the main character has cancer (with a 50/50 chance of surviving).  He isn't close to his mother because she is a little coo-koo and overbearing.  Of course when it comes down to surgery time, she is there for him and he is grateful.  She meets his therapist and immediately says, "I want you to know I smother him because I love him."  I know I will continue to smother Felix, I just hope I can find that right balance of smothering and giving him freedom when he gets older.  Right now, of course it is my job to smother him.  And I love every minute of it.

Felix is 11 weeks old today (2 months and 15 days)

PS - Today is Daddy's birthday, as well as Felix's cousin Robert's birthday.  Happy Birthday to Daddy and Robert!!  

Sleep? We don't need no stinkin' sleep!

Oh man.  Since his shots last week, we've had two nights of waking up every two hours.  Except for last night, when he decided to wake up every two hours for a while and then went to every hour.  That was fun.  Poor baby.  The nurse said the rotovirus vaccine could cause an upset tummy for up to two weeks.  I've made a pot of mint tea so that should help if it is his tummy.  I hope it was just a fluke, although he did seem a little sad.  Molds are really high here right now (you know, from all of the rain we've been getting....) and he had a bit of a snotty nose last night, too.  I can't seem to get anything out with the aspirator. I'm tempted to buy one of these.  Maybe that's what was bothering him.  Of course, he will sleep for hours if one of us is holding him.  Mommy is not down with that at night though.  When that happens, I don't get sleep.  If I don't get sleep, it's difficult to function and make sound decisions in taking care of Mr. Felix.  Sigh.  I know he needs to sleep more, I just wish he could.

I forgot to post pictures from his one month photo shoot.  Here he is at one month.

I didn't think he had grown much until I saw the pacifier in his mouth.  That sucker is huge!  The t-shirt he is wearing was given to us by our sweet neighbors, The Sullivans (Jake, Paula, Jarrett, Brian, and Clayton).  Paula was very sick with cancer and they went on one last family vacation to Port Aransas just after Felix was born.  She was so sweet to think of Felix and brought him this cute little shirt.  Sadly, Miss Paula passed away on August 25th.  Her son, Brian, brought the shirt over to us and said how appropriate it was that Felix's first outing (aside from doctor visits) was the morning she passed.  We saw Brian that morning as he was on his way to be with his mother.  Paula is certainly missed by everyone who had the pleasure of knowing her. 

Felix is 9 weeks, 5 days old

Two Months!

Excuse the blurry photo, he doesn't yet get the "please be still and look at Mommy" command.

Happy 2 Month Birthday, Felix!  As I read the last post, I kind of chuckled.  I think everyone was right, 6-8 weeks was the peak.  I never thought he would have awake time where he was actually happy.  Now he is much, much "better" (not that he was ever bad, but he is less fussy) and his tummy troubles have just about completely disappeared.  It is absolutely wonderful.  I do wish that he would nap longer than 30 minutes when not in the sling, but beggars can't be choosers, right?

This has been a big week for Felix.  On Monday, we went to the mall and I got to walk around for about 45 minutes without any breakdowns.  This made for a very happy mommy.  I really, really miss exercising.  If not for his extreme distaste for the car seat and the 100 degree temps, we'd be walking around the hood everyday.  Tuesday we met our friends Lauren and Quinn for Baby Day at the Alamo.  What a treat!  We saw "I Don't Know How She Does It," which was good, and Quinn and Felix were dreams.  The theater was pretty empty and other babies cried, too.  Felix spent the entire time in the sling, with the exception of the first 10 minutes where he had a little snack.  He let out a few cries every once in a while, but quickly quieted down when I got up and walked around.  I had left the car seat in the car because he was having an epic meltdown when we got there so I just put him right in the sling.  Well, of course it's still 400 degrees here so in the middle of the movie I went to the car to get the seat so it wouldn't be hot.  That's right, I walked around the Alamo and outside to my car while wearing My Brest Friend.  I love that thing.  I don't know how I will part with  it when I have to go back to work. 

Yesterday we had his two month appointment and he got shots.  pee pee, doo doo!!  I know it is good for him and this little setback is way, WAY better than getting any of these illnesses, but the last day and a half have been rough.  He got two pricks and a vaccine by mouth.  I nursed him through the shots and he did so well.  There was some bottom lip action, which killed me, and he turned bright purple and let out a scream, but really I think I cried more than he did (and that goes for the whole day, I was a complete wreck).  He promptly fell asleep and slept until we got home (thank goodness).  I nursed him and then he took an hour and a half nap.  This was not the 3 hour nap I was promised by everyone, but it was 3 times longer than his usual morning nap so I'll take it.  Then all hell broke loose.  He was F-U-S-S-Y.  His poor little leg was so swollen (and still is) and he had a fever.  I nursed him and while this usually calms him down and makes everything right in his world, it was not working.  He was crying, horrible, horrible tears (actual real tears!!! Oh my gosh!!) and I could tell it was definitely an "I am in pain, what the hell have you done to me" cry.  Oh my goodness.  He had a fever so I gave him some Tylenol.  Thirty minutes later he was out.  He slept most of the day, in my arms of course.  I was not letting him go, he needed lots of snuggles after that traumatizing day.  Wow, it is just about the most awful thing ever when your baby is hurting.  Totally heartbreaking.  Daddy came home a little early and took over in the snuggle department.  Felix got two more doses of Tylenol throughout the night for his fever and he seems to be much better today.  Still clingy with a swollen leg and a little warm, but we actually got to play today and he smiled at me many times.  :-)  He also had a massive poop today, which makes me almost as happy as when he smiles.  He was grunting around and tooting up a storm this morning so I figured it was coming. 

His poor little leg was so swollen

Look what I found on my belly after our 3 hour snuggle session.  That is My Brest Friend at the bottom of the picture.

It feels like he is trying to get on a schedule, at least at night.  We bathe him at 7:00 or so and he is out by 8:30 or 9:00.  He'll sleep until sometime in the 1:00 hour, then wake up around 3:30 and again around 5:30.  This stinks because I pump after the 3:30 feeding so by the time I get to bed, I get about 30 minutes of sleep.  Not cool.  Last night he only woke up at 1:45 and 5:45.  Let's hope this is a trend that stays!  It is getting tougher to get him back to sleep after eating at night which I do not like.  He will eat for about 45 minutes at the first waking then it takes him at least that long to go back to sleep (even though he was  just fast asleep at the breast).  The next feeding will take about 10-15 minutes and he goes down better this time, then he's up again in about an hour or so.  Lately he's woken up about 6:30 or 7 and just wants to be rocked and held.  I love rocking and holding him, but it would be super nice if he'd push that waking back an hour. Mommy needs sleep!

Here are his 2 month stats:

11 lb 13 oz (25-50%)
23 inches long (50%)
39.4 cm head circumference (50-75%)

Of course the doctor says he is absolutely perfect.  Duh.  Felix has graduated from the "stork entrance" for newborns and infants so the next time we go back we have to go in through the big boy door like everyone else. We don't go again until his 4 month check up.  I couldn't make it one month without seeing the doctor, I don't know how I'm going to make it two!

His likes right now are eating, snuggling with Mommy in the sling, cuddles with Daddy, his pediatrician Dr. Owens, the turtle friends hanging above the changing table, kicking his legs, his music cube, Polly the Peacock, and the porch swing (looooves this!).  Every time we go to the doctor's office he is a perfect angel.  Not that he isn't an angel all other times, but I mean he is p-e-r-f-e-c-t.  Whatever was wrong with him suddenly disappears.  Yesterday he didn't even make a peep on the way there.  This is unreal!!  I am going to tell him we're going to visit Dr. Owens every time we get in the car.  He is starting to smile and coo more.  It's hard to tell if he is really smiling at us, but we'll just pretend like he is.  I think he is.  Here is his first smile.  Daddy was playing with him on the bed one Sunday morning and he just started smiling, it was precious!

His dislikes are the car seat, naps longer than 30 minutes unless he is in the sling, and waking up from naps.  And being put down.  Sometimes he really does not want to be put down.  We wanted a snuggler and boy did we get one!  That's OK though, there are plenty of snuggles to go around in this family. 

Felix is 9 weeks and 1 day old (or 2 months and 2 days)

Sleep and Other Stuff

Last night Sammer and I were the recipients of a 6 hour block of sleep.  Yes, 6 whole hours!!!!  Felix fell asleep on Daddy at about 9:30 and Sammer put him down about 10:00.  He did wake up around midnight, but was just a little fussy (gassy, I'm sure).  Sammer soothed him and he was out until 3:30.  Wow, it was amazing.  Of course, he woke up again at 5:45 and 8:00, but whatever.  We got 6 hours of sleep last night! Woo-hoo!

When I was pregnant, I was fortunate to meet some very nice gals in my prenatal yoga class.  We've met up with these girls and their sweet little ones a couple of times to walk at the mall.  The babies were all born within two weeks of each other, so we're all going through the same fun things at the same time.  I hate that they are going through the same things as us, but iIt is SO NICE to know that we aren't alone.  Felix isn't the only gassy baby in the whole world.  Who knew?!?  Everything I read says that 6-8 weeks are the height of the fussy/gassy stage.  He started at 5 weeks and will be 8 weeks tomorrow, so things better start looking up!

We went to Whole Foods this morning and he was very good.  Of course as soon as we stepped in the store and I was grabbing apples, he let out a big scream and started crying.  I know he wasn't hungry because I had just stuffed him with milk in the car. This is the only way to get him to calm down in the car seat lately.  I picked him up and he was fine.  I forgot my sling at home so I just carried him around the store.  It was kind of fun, I love snuggling with him.  We're hitting up HEB tomorrow and I will definitely remember the sling for that. We're also going to try out postnatal yoga tomorrow.  I am sick of sitting in the house and the weather is starting to get so nice (we have the windows open right now!) that I am bound and determined to get out of the house.  We cannot sit inside any longer! 

You know, I say that he is fussy a lot, but really he is a good baby.  I just get sad and frustrated when he is upset and I can't help him.  Plus, the sleep deprivation is not fun.  Look at this, how sweet is he?  Can I stay here forever?

While we're at it, here is a smile and some baby feet.

 

I don't know how to get those pictures side by side.  One day I might figure it out. 

Felix is 7 weeks, 6 days old

Felix's First Concert! And a poop!

Sammer and I decided to sell our ACL wristbands this year since Mr. Felix is so new. I was really (irrationally) upset about this at first, and as I sit on my back porch overhearing ACL right now, I still am. Just a little. I mean, let's face it, I can't even go to Target alone without rushing home because I missed little Boo Boo. But we have been to every single ACL, except for when we were traveling, and this is the 10 year anniversary and hello, STEVIE WONDER is playing! Felix is way better than Stevie though.

So this morning KUT had a benefit for something or other at The Four Seasons and we actually got to go! We got there for the last band, North Mississippi All Stars, and Felix was a dream. He was a dream because he pooped this morning! And also, my friend KK gave me some wise advice - if I'm about to go somewhere and he is falling asleep or it is nap time, put him in the car seat to nap. I did, and he napped for a long time. Success! (He has decided that he is not really a fan of the car seat these days. Sad face from Mom.)

We met up with the Pudd's (Katie, Corey and Darcy), Katie's friend Jenny and her family, and Jonathan and Laura. It was so fun! After the show it started raining (gasp!) and we headed to Daddy's work to show off. Here he is at his first concert. As you can tell, he gets his giant hands from me.


And now for the poop....I swear he knows when I am going to stick something in his butt. This is good! I was preparing the poop station this morning - our least favorite hospital blanket on the changing pad, old apron on me, 5 billion wipes and two wet washcloths at the ready, cloth diapers under the blanket for when the blanket got too disgusting, thermometer and Vaseline ready to go. Oh plus a new diaper. I bring him over and put him on the changing pad and smell poo. Well his toots smell like this, too, so I just figured he tooted since he hasn't pooped in a full week. Then I pulled up his nightgown and saw a huge, bulging diaper. He pooped! It was everywhere, even on his tummy, but I could care less. He could have pooped all over me, as long as he pooped. He's napped nicely and been an absolute dream all day. Here's hoping he sleeps for a couple of decent time blocks tonight! Ha ha ha ha.

Felix is 7 weeks, 2 days old

A Few Pictures

He went from this on July 27th...

To this on September 7th...



He's getting so big, he's a 10 pounder now! He did so much better yesterday, two long(ish) naps and no fussing for no reason. Woo-hoo!!! You cannot imagine how happy that made Sammer and me. It feels like we're starting to get our happy boy back.

I'll try to add more pictures soon, but I don't have a lot of free time just yet these days. I've forgotten most of the shortcuts of blogging and so that means it takes a decent amount of time to do any sort of substantial blogging. Here is a link to his album on Picasa. Felix's First Month in Pictures

More on the blog soon.

Felix is 6 weeks 4 days old

Whoa!

Said in my best Joey Lawrence voice

I just got another Explanation of Benefits from my insurance for my hospital visit. Guess how much it cost. Are you sitting down? $34,635.25. WHAT?? And guess how much the negotiated rate for my insurance was...$6,919.00. Thank you, Chuck, for offering such great insurance that we only paid $250 for labor, delivery, room and board. Speaking of room and board, Felix was charged over $5,000 for room and board. Ok, he spent a total of less than 3 hours in the nursery and had way less than one bottle of formula. How does that "cost" $5,000? Anyway...

We've been having a rough go of it lately. I guess Felix is in the middle of his 6 week growth spurt, although he is past 6 weeks now so maybe that's not it. Last week he stopped pooping everyday so I thought that was his problem. He strains a lot and I can tell the poor little boy is uncomfortable. It makes us so sad! He does go every few days, which is totally normal for a breastfed baby. This poop strike coincided with a nap strike that started last Wednesday. Boy, Mommy does not like this at all. Not that I napped when he did because I am not a napper (I try, I promise, so please don't get on my case about it. I occasionally could nap for 15 minutes or so around Jeopardy! time), but he only wants the breast and this makes for a mentally, physically, and emotionally tired Mommy. He will nurse for 10-15 minutes, fall asleep, I'll try to put him down after 5 minutes or so of sleeping, he'll sleep for 10, 20 minutes max and wake up and want to nurse. Talk about tiring! Luckily, he is still a rockstar at night and sleeps normal hours. He did have one night of waking every two hours, but other than that it is 3-4 hour spans, with even a 5 hour one thrown in the other day! :knocks hard on biggest piece of wood around:

Everything we read says that 6-8 weeks is the peak of fussiness for babies. I am hoping that we can go from birth and not due date on that, because 3 more weeks of this might just send me screaming from the house one day. The fussing started at 5 weeks, so hopefully he is ahead of the game on this one. Maybe he will be perpetually early for everything. We can hope. I would be OK if he didn't take great naps during the day. I could learn to live with that. I just wish he would be happy when he is awake. It breaks my heart that he is so sad all of the time lately (unless eating). Yesterday we did get in a good 20 minutes or so of tummy time and playing throughout the day and it was wonderful. I love our little boy so much. Right now he has been asleep for an hour and a half. Thank goodness! The worst part is that I can see how tired he is, but he just won't sleep. We are trying something new this weekend by putting him down in his bed for naps. He used to be able to sleep in the snuggle lamb wherever we were, but he is more tuned in to noises these days so we're trying this out. Sammer also mentioned that maybe he needs it dark since he sleeps so well at night. This seems to be working so far. We'll see how today goes.

Alright, he is up! At least he got in a good amount of sleep this morning, much better than his recent 20 minute naps.

Felix is 6 weeks, 3 days old

Dear Boo Boo

I love you so much that sometimes I just burst into tears when looking at you. Some would say this is probably really due to postpartum hormones or lack of sleep, but I don't think so. When I put you on my shoulder to burp you and you are still hungry, you will come at my cheek with an open mouth. I pretend you are kissing me and I kiss you right back. It's a fun game I like to play with you. I hope you like kisses, because you sure get a lot of them, and I don't see that trend stopping anytime soon.

Love,
Mommy
xoxo

Felix is 5 weeks, 1 day old

And on the 70th day...

Our power went out. Boo! We broke a record yesterday, 70 days over 100 degrees. It has not been a fun summer, I feel like I missed out on it because it was just too damn hot to ever go outside. First the A/C breaks the day after we get home from the hospital, when Felix is a mere 5 days old, and now this. Apparently someone had a wreck and hit a transformer. We spent a couple of hours in the car while I fed Felix and then pumped to pass the time. Just when we decide to call on Hotel Gravois, the power comes back on. I am ready for winter. I say winter because we all know there is no Fall in central Texas.

Felix is 4 weeks, 1 day old.

The Stats

Alright, we are going to keep up with this blog if it kills us. I can't say that I'll try, but I'll try to try and post at least a couple times a week. Here are Felix's stats so far:

BIRTH -
6lb 14oz
20in long and gorgeous

2 WEEKS -
7lb 3 oz (50%)
20 1/4in, and still perfect (25%)
35 1/2 cm head circumference (50%)

4 WEEKS -
8lb 10oz (50-75%)
21 1/2in and beefcake! (25-50%)
37 1/2cm head circumference (50-75%...will he have a big head like Daddy?)

Between birth and 2 weeks, he was gaining weight a little too slowly and was a tiny bit jaundiced. We had to wake him every 3 hours to eat (exhausting!) and give him bottles of expressed breast milk after nursing. Turns out, I am snuggly and he likes to snooze when near me. He's getting better at staying awake now but we are still giving him bottles after nursing. He's taking less and less in the bottle though, so I have hopes that we can stop that soon.

His likes right now are sleeping, eating, tummy time, sleeping on Daddy's chest and snuggling in the sling next to mommy. He dislikes getting his diaper changed before eating.

Felix is 4 weeks old today.

Felix's Birth - The Brooke Version

Hello internets! Well we didn't finish blogging about our trip and since it was 3 years ago now, looks like we probably won't get around to it. So sorry Austria, Munich, Paris, England, Scotland and Ireland. We had fun, and I was really looking forward to Sammer describing the scene in Salzburg, but there are more important things now. Like a baby! I know Sammer already gave the rundown on Felix's birth, but I wanted to write out the (extremely) long-winded Brooke version for posterity sake. As I sit with the little man snuggled up and sleeping in the sling on my chest, I still cannot believe that he is finally here. Grab a coffee and let's go!

On Tuesday, July 26th, I was exactly 38 weeks pregnant. I went swimming at Northwest Pool after work as I always do on Tuesdays. Milissa was leaving in a couple of days on vacation so she couldn't meet me there. I remember telling her that day that I totally wouldn't mind going to my due date. I was feeling great and even though it was hotter than Hades, I wasn't yet uncomfortable. I attribute this all to swimming and yoga. I also remember thinking it was a lot harder to get my 9 month pregnant body in and out of the swimsuit that day.

So anyway, I go swimming and get home about 7:00. Sammer and I sit on the couch for a few minutes while dinner finishes up and I was having a lot of Braxton Hicks (practice) contractions. Felix was moving around a lot, too. The BH contractions were nothing new, but he usually moved the most in the mornings and when we went to bed so I guess that was a little different. About 7:30 we're getting ready to eat so I go to the bathroom first, because I always have to go to the bathroom. I felt the distinct "pop" twice but was able to stop the flow so I thought I was just peeing. I did think it was odd, but there was no way my water had broken. I mean, this only happens to about 15% of women and I wasn't due for two more weeks. I go to the living room, sit down and eat dinner. About 8:00, I told Sammer I felt weird and went to the bathroom. My pants were all wet, how did I not notice this? It must have been that slow trickle I've read so much about. I called out, "Um, I think maybe my water broke." Sammer snaps into action but I am still in disbelief. I feel fine, no contractions at all so how could this be? He goes up to the computer to see what Dr. Google has to say, all the while saying I should call my doctor. One site said to lie down for half an hour if you weren't sure if your water broke. So I did that and called my doctor's office. The doctor on call, Dr. Swenson, called back immediately. She asked when I was last at the office (Wednesday, the 20th), my stats at that appointment (almost 4 cm and more than 80% effaced), and if it was still leaking. I stood up to go to the bathroom to check and the water came out. Not really a gush, but it was obvious that my water had broken. She said to come to the hospital, sounds like my membranes had ruptured. By this time, Sammer pretty much had the car packed and ready to go. I told her I had been swimming and asked to take a shower first. I had chlorine hair and my legs were hairy (I didn't mention that last part). No problem, have at the shower. Sammer is calm but definitely moving quickly and with way more urgency than me. By this time, I had one continuous long cramp. I had no idea this is what contractions (sort of) felt like.

We get to the hospital and Sammer drops me at the ER and goes to park the car. They send me up to Labor & Delivery and say they'll show Sammer the way. He comes up while I am getting admitted. It's about 9:30pm at this point. We didn't call our parents because We both still half expected to be sent home. I get in my room, #262, and meet my nurse, Kelly. She was a hippy chick with her nose pierced and was very laid back and awesome. She was very excited that we didn't know the sex and that we wanted to go without drugs. Kelly checked me to to see my progress and I was at 4 cm and completely effaced. The Charge Nurse came in to do something with the speculum to see if my water had indeed broken. She got ready to examine me and didn't have to do a thing, there was enough water present for the pH test. Yep, water had broken. Holy crap, we are here to stay.

Dr. Swenson came in at some point and discussed the plan. She was previously the head of OB at Seton Main, which is pretty cool. Dr. Swenson said that she loved hypnobirthing, her daughter had two boys using this method, and thought it was a great way to birth as long as both the woman and partner are prepared. We had a great class so we felt as prepared as first timers could be. The Dr. said that she wanted to see that labor had started in earnest by about 2:00am. If it hadn't, then she wanted to give me a touch of pitocin to kick start it. I was definitely not interested in this so I chose not to think about it (for awhile anyway). She said I'd probably just need a "whiff" since I was so far along already. It's about 11:30pm at this point so we call our parents. I have no idea what was said, I was starting to have contractions at this point.

Contractions felt like really bad menstrual cramps that just kept getting worse. It was gradual and I don't think I realized what was happening until the nurse asked if I was having a contraction. I kept calm using the breathing I learned in my hypnobirthing class and yoga, remembering to keep my face relaxed, jaw open and tongue at the roof of my mouth. It really wasn't that bad, not nearly like I expected it to be (yet). I just kept thinking "blue satin ribbons, blue satin ribbons". I labored on my side at first, then on the toilet since I had to pee 5,000 freaking times. We sat up the back of the bed and I laid over that while on my knees. Somewhere in between all of this I vomited three times. I should say that I am a pretty modest person but all that went out the door about 2 minutes after I got into the room. They finally found the wireless monitors and hooked me up to those. I moved to the shower, which was definitely modeled after a European hostel shower. Not the tiny one in Cordoba, but still very small. I laughed at the thought of Sammer getting in there with me to comfort me, there was no room. But he did because he is the best husband ever. Standing up was kind of hard so I went back to the bed on my hands and knees. Contractions were getting really hard and uncomfortable at this point.

Kelly walked in and asked me how I was doing. My response was "talk to me about the epidural." It was about 1:00am and I was terrified that the doctor was going to come in an hour to check me and tell me I was only at a 5. I wanted to know what I needed to know in order to decide if I REALLY wanted the epidural and I wanted time to think about it. No one had checked me since I first arrived and I had no idea how close, or far apart, my contractions were. I just wanted an idea if I had one or two more hours of this, or 10 more hours. If 10, no way would I make it, especially with pitocin. I don't know what they said, but along came another contraction and thoughts of the epidural went out the window. Kelly and Sammer are rubbing my back, HARD, and that really felt good and helped tremendously with the pain.

I started hearing all of this commotion in the room and noticed that lots of people were coming in and out, getting the little baby bed warmer ready and setting up. Looks like I am like my mom and Sissy after all with a quick labor because we are close! Next thing I know, Dr. Swenson is at my side telling me that Felix's heart rate keeps dropping and they need to get me on my back so I can push. She said, "I know this isn't how you prepared for birth and I'm so sorry, but you HAVE to push." I had already pushed a few times by then, but now it was on for real and time to get the baby out. Sammer and Kelly held my legs back while I tried to push. It is a lot more difficult than I thought. I was pushing so hard but I swear nothing was happening. The doc said she was giving me "a little local" because she was going to use the forceps, I had to get him out quickly. She told me to hold my legs and I kept saying, "but they have my legs!" I had a death grip on the bed and did not want to let go. I couldn't figure out why I had to hold my legs when people were doing it for me. I held my legs as best I could, tucked my chin and tried as hard as I could to push for 10 long, excruciating seconds. The forceps were used. Holy mother of God. I screamed. Felix wasn't down far enough for the forceps to be useful. I had to get him down with the next push or they were going to have to do an emergency c-section. Well, I didn't get him down and so they had to wheel me off.

When I got to the OR, a nurse asked me if it was OK for her to cut my bra. Oh hell no! This was my good bra, you're not cutting it, lady! She was annoyed but complied and unhooked it. Since I didn't have an epidural, I had to be put under. Sammer had to wait outside. The anesthesiologist asked all about my history with surgeries while yelling at people in the room to stop walking off and do what he asks them to do when he asks it. He was very calm but clearly not happy with some in the room. Next thing I remember, Sammer is showing me our beautiful baby boy. All I could say was, "he's so beautiful!" I was in a haze for quite a while. I remember asking what time it was but have no clue of the answer. I don't know how long we were in the recovery room. It felt like forever and just a few minutes all at the same time. Right now I am choosing not to think about all of the bonding time we missed out on, or the fact that neither Sammer nor I got to see him as soon as he was born. I'll try to process that later, after the postpartum hormones have slowed down a bit and I don't cry at every single thing.

Quite a scary story, but Felix, Sammer and I all survived and are all healthy with no complications so it is what it is. From the time Dr. Swenson said we have to go to surgery to the time Felix was born (at 3:49 am), was 12 minutes. Amazing. There are some very skilled people at Seton Hospital and I thank God for them every time I look at my baby boy. I thought I knew what love was, but I had no idea. Sammer and I are so in love with our new little man.

Please Welcome Felix Andrew Salman into the world

Today our baby boy Felix Andrew was born into the world. He was a little early (he certainly doesn't get that from me) since he was supposed to be born on the 9th. I guess he couldn't wait to meet us.

Things were going well last night, I made dinner and after we finished eating Brooke felt baby moving around a bit more than usual. After a bit she thought her water might have broken and we called the nurse on duty just to be safe and she told us to come on in to the hospital. We arrived around 9:15pm and a couple of tests confirmed that the membranes were ruptured and we were here for the real deal. Labor progressed naturally and pretty steadily throughout the night as contractions got closer and more intense. The nurse was an absolute rockstar and was very helpful and encouraging of a natural birth. She helped to rub Brooke's back and was helpful at every turn. Brooke asked about an epidural late into the labor but the nurse and I knew she was close and pretty much talked her out of it.

Around 2:30 I could tell that the birth was getting close because the level of activity around the room was increasing. Then everything fell to shit and was a blur of movement and emotion.

Now, if I may digress for a moment... I hate to make a fishing analogy here but it is the only life experience I have that has some parallel, if not emotionally at least physically. You head out on a boat on a nice day and head to deep water for a couple of hours. Soon you start seeing the birds, then the baitfish they are fishing for then a pod of dolphins starts doing barrel rolls and then the tuna and amber jack start schooling and darting around the water and the sea starts to bubble with activity and then 'rrrzzzz' a line hits; the guides spring into action yelling in a language you don't understand and everything is a blur of motion and you sit around basically powerless to help .

So.. The doctor walks into the office and is concerned by the babies erratic and sometimes very low heartbeat. I blink and somehow 20 people are in the room ready to go. The baby is in danger and needs to get out now. Things seem all too real now and the air is tense, one nurse is even standing there with her hands in the prayer position, which does not fill me with confidence. The doctor was calm but direct and stated that Brooke needs to forget everything she learned in class about giving birth and grit her teeth and push. The main nurse and I pin Brooke's legs back and the doc tells her to push with all her might because the baby has to be out in the next 10 minutes. Brooke is pushing like a champ and starting to really be in pain. She screams a bit but is doing as best as she can. I am a bit nervous now but trying not to show it because I don't want to scare Brooke who is doing so well. Then a local anhestetic is applied because forceps are going to be used. Things are even more tense now. For the next couple of contractions the doctor is trying to pull the baby out with the forceps. The forceps are a positveley medeievel looking instrument and they are kind of scary. Baby isn't low enough yet and the forceps don't work so they rush Brooke off to an emergency C-section.

Everyone clears the room except for one nurse who's job it is to babysit me. She gets me into some gear so that I can enter the surgery section of the hospital. I am pretty much a blubbering mess by this point. My wife has left the room with only a pool of blood on the floor and the fate of my unborn child uncertain. Since Brooke didn't have an epidural and there is no time for her to get one, they have to put her under general anesthesia. Because she is knocked out, I can't be in the operating room with her. They put me in the same area but around a corner. Now this corner is filled with prayers that may be comforting to some, but they send my mind to a bad place. They are all something like 'pray for the life of my child'. Now this upsets me even more because now I wonder if baby is going to live or if maybe the oxygen to his brain is getting cut off. The same babysitter nurse keeps me up to date with what is going on. I am pretty stressed out, but it really isn't long to wait. After a few minutes I hear a little cry and I get all choked up. I ask somebody if that is my baby and they say yes. It sounds like a boy, but I can't be sure. After a minute they bring him around the corner and I hold my baby boy for the first time.

Since Brooke is still knocked out, Felix and I go to the nursery to get him cleaned up and ready to meet mama. I film his bath so mama can see and am just amazed at how much I love this little guy. I am still kindof in shock after the emotional roller coaster ride I have been on. A few minutes before I didn't know what the hell was going to happen and now I have a beautiful little baby boy that I just adore.

Little 'Lix is clean so we go to see mama. Brooke has just woken up and I bring her little baby boy to her for the first time. She is just blown away by him and after all her work her little reward is finally here and our little family is finally all together.

We stay in the recovery room for an hour or so and then move off to our room where we will be for the next few days. The adventure has begun.