The doctor told me yesterday that I needed to start giving Brenden some tummy time. So I laid him on his tummy this morning and he actually lifted his big head up. Of course he let out a few cries of protested but it was still cute.

I just had to take a picture of his little onesie - Mommy's new man!

This is Brenden in his Peanut Shell sling. I got it because I knew I'd need the hands free, but I didn't realize how much he'd love it. Look at how relaxed the sweet pea is!

And another shot of him sleeping peacefully. He looks like a little angel! Check out the dimple in his elbow. The little guy is finally growing some body fat!

One month old

I can't believe my sweet little peanut is a month old already! Today was his one month appointment and he's up to 7lb 10oz and is 19.5 inches long. My little baby is growing up!


Here's some pictures I took of him today just to capture his sweet little one month image before he grows up.









His room is an ocean/sea turtle theme so I figured these would be good to hang in his room. Not bad for pictures I took with a regular point n shoot camera, a desk lamp, and a bed sheet as a background!







He's a really good baby most of the time. I can't complain. He's so wide-eyed now. I can't wait until he smiles at me for the first time. I feel like it will be soon.





He's still sleeping in the bed, but who wouldn't want to wake up to this beside her every morning?




Once he can sleep longer than 3 hours at a time I'll try moving him to a pack n' play that I have in the bedroom and from there to the crib. Right now its just so much easier for him to be in bed with me when I'm nursing him so often. Not to mention he's just so darned cuddly :)

3 weeks old

I cannot believe he's 3 weeks old already.

Here's another one of his premie outfits. Makes him look like a normal sized baby



He likes to play in his carseat in the morning. He almost looks like he is smiling here.


His other favorite activity is his mobile in the crib. Here are some pictures of that "play" time



I'd love to post more, but I have a crying baby that I must tend to!

Brenden's first bath

Brenden's last checkup went well. He's gained 12 oz since birth and I no longer have to feed him every 2 hours. I'm allowed to let him go up to 4 hours between feedings which means we can finally get a little sleep at night.. not a lot, but a little sleep is better than NO sleep!

His cord stump finally fell off so he got his first bath. He SCREAMED the whole time! The pictures say it all!




Doesn't he look so much better now that he is all snuggled up in his towel?


Every day is an adventure with this little guy. Most days he's a wonderful baby, but he has his bad moments every now and then too. I'm still trying to learn how to read his cries and figure out what he needs. He's still just a perfect little angel to me and I continue to feel blessed every time I look at him! He definitely completes me!

Brenden is 2 weeks old now!

Wow the time sure does fly! Brenden is 2 weeks old now and looks so different to me already. He's definitely starting to fatten up little by little. He has his 2 week appointment today and hopefully he's big enough that I can let him sleep more at night rather than having to feed him every 2 hours.

Here's a picture of him with a newborn jacket on over his premie outfit. The jacket is so tiny yet it swallows him up. The jacket was a gift from my good friend Kathleen. It has pants that go with it - hopefully he grows into it soon! I love how he's trying to eat the zipper.



I love this picture, he's wearing a newborn t-shirt, but it looks like a gown on him!


Wearing my new premie outfit Grandma got me. Aren't I cute????


Here's my other new premie outfit from Grandma. I am yawning , not crying !

Brenden Joseph is here!!

Oh I've been such the terrible blogger lately! My life has been a crazy whirlwind for the past week. Here's what's happened:

Tuesday 1/15 I was told I was to have another amnio on 1/16 to test the lung maturity again to try to nail down a c-section date. I was NOT happy about doing a second test when the first went so badly. I woke up at 12:30 a.m. on 1/16 and went to the bathroom and had a large amount of blood come out. I paged the nurse and the decision was made.. baby was coming out NOW.

It all happened so fast. A rush of nurses flooded the room and the panic set in that I was definitely having the baby shortly. They rushed me to the operating room and Brenden Joseph was born at 1:15 a.m. The spinal block was pretty painless - I was surprised by this, but I had some pain during the c-section and we thought I would have to go completely under. I didn't want this.. I wanted to hear my baby's first cry. They suspected the spinal medication had not evenly distributed in my spinal space so they tilted my bed slightly and soon the pain I was experiencing subsided. I loved hearing his first cry.. and of course I cried. We had kept his name a secret and when the dr's and nurses asked me what his name was I couldn't stop crying and laughing to tell them. The nurse said I was making her cry too.

He was about 35 and a half weeks so just about a month premature. His lungs were JUST FINE as he cried the entire time they stitched me up. It was music to my ears. I was terrified in the first part of the surgery, but once he was out I could have cared less what was going on in the room. He was 5lbs 0.4 oz and 17.5 inches long. He's a tiny thing, but doesn't seem to know it. He eats like a champ and had no issues after he was born so he was allowed to stay in the room with me at the hospital the whole time.

We have been home for a few days now. Recovering from the C-section was harder than I thought. I exclusively breastfeed Brenden so sitting up and laying down was really tough and made the pain a little more intense. But its all worth it when I look at his cute little face. His nickname seems to be "peanut" since he's so small. All the nurses in the hospital kept calling him that and I kept thinking the same.. he looks like a little peanut!

His biliruben levels were high at his first pediatrician checkup so we were admitted to the children's hospital last night to put him under the flourescent biliruben lights and to monitor his feeding for about 24 hours. His levels came down and we are home again. I'm quite tired as I am now needing to feed him every 2 hours to "flush" out his system. It seems to be working though - we're getting lots of poopie diapers which is what passes the bilirubens out of his system

I couldn't be a happier mother - even with the surgery, soreness from feedings, sleepless nights, etc.. its tough but worth every precious second. I cannot believe he's a week old already. He's going to grow up too fast!

Looks like another week at the hospital for me

Well its now day 6 of my hospital life. I can't believe I've been here this long, but then again at times it seems like I've been here forever.

Yesterday the nurse told me the fetal medicine specialist decided to wait until next Wednesday to do another amnio and test the lung development again. Baby Pray will be close to 36 weeks and they say they usually see healthy strong babies at that point anyway. I'm okay with waiting, I want him to be strong enough to stay with me in my room and not have to be in the NICU.

So looks like I'm here for another week at least. Of course if I have any labor, bleeding, etc.. they will do an emergency c-section at that time to prevent any serious placental bleeding.
I'm dreading doing another amnio, but I keep trying to convince myself that there's no way the second one will be as bad as the first, and it was just bad the first time because the baby didn't like his space being invaded. I guess he felt a little territorial with his amniotic fluid.
I have not had as many contractions as when I first got here. I had one day where they were coming 6 minutes apart and I started breaking a sweat, but since then I haven't had another "episode." I still have about 3-4 Braxton Hicks contractions in an hour, but that is considered normal for this stage of my pregnancy.

Baby Pray is doing excellent. He's a squirmy wormy and always makes his presence know. Yesterday the nurse couldn't get a baseline heart rate because in a 40 minute stretch of time he wouldn't stay still for 2 solid minutes. When he'd move we'd lose the heartbeat for a split second and then they'd have to start all over. At this exact moment I can feel him rolling around in my tummy. I guess since I'm not up and walking around there is no rocking motion to lull him to sleep. He's going to be wore out when he's finally born.

I have mixed emotions about the time that lies ahead. On the one hand the thought of another full week in this place seems a little depressing. On the other hand I'm not mentally ready (not that I'll ever be) to have the c-section and putting it off a few more days seems fine by me. Plus, I want him to have time to gain more weight. He was under 5 lbs by their estimation a few days ago.. I'd like to see him just a little chubbier! He seems to have a big head (= Sean's ) and a skinny body ( = Amy's). It will be fun getting to see him take on each of our features after he is born.