3 weeks old

My little baby is three weeks old already! I can't believe how fast time is going by - the weeks and each day! Every day seems to slip by me so quickly! Especially when I spend most of each day just staring at Jacob. Watching him sleep. Watching him during play time. Watching him watch me. I love to just watch him. 

But a lot has happened in the past couple of weeks. Other than the fact that our little man continues to grow and change every day! Just after my last blog post, Austin left us for a few days. He headed over to Dike where he joined other teachers and administrators from D-NH to go to a conference in the Cities. He left on a Saturday and didn't return home until late Wednesday night. We've been apart before so this was nothing new, but this was the first time we'd be apart with Jacob around. And I have to say it was really hard to say good bye to him. Although I'm sure my extra hormones didn't help anything! I wasn't worried about having help with Jacob because my family was coming down to help. But it wasn't the same without Austin around. I didn't know how much I loved having him around and helping with Jacob until he was gone. Plus, I didn't want him to miss having that time with Jacob. If you were to ask him, he would probably tell you that it was hard for him too. Although it was good for him to go and meet some of the new staff he would be working with and conferences are always good for professional development, but we sure missed him around the house. We did skype every night so he could still see Jacob and so Jacob could hear Austin's voice. And we were glad to have him home again! 

Once Austin was home again, Jacob and I each had our two week check-ups at the doctor. Jacob's appointment was first and he did great! Unfortunately his appointment was right around feeding time so he got a little fussy towards the end but it wasn't too bad. He's continuing to gain weight and was up to 9lbs 3oz! The doctor said he looked good and didn't have any concerns about anything! His next appointment won't be until 2 months and by that time we'll be over in the Cedar Valley so we're currently in the process of looking for a new pediatrician over there. 

My appointment also went great, although Jacob kept stealing all the attention of the nurses and Dr. Platt! :) I was told I was looking good as well and was given permission to start lifting some heavier things, but not to over do it. After my c-section, Dr. Platt sent part of my placenta to get tested to see if it was infected and at my appointment we were told that the results had come back and it was infected. This would explain why Jacob had a fever when he was first born. It also means it was a very good thing we had the c-section and we did it when we did. Although this wasn't at all what I wanted, I couldn't be happier with Dr. Platt and we completely trust her judgement. She made sure that Jacob and I were both safe. 

One of the things I was so nervous about having a c-section was the recovery time. But I believe that Dr. Platt did such a great job and because of this, my recovery has been easier than I expected. I have to remind myself that I did have major abdominal surgery! I would completely forget because I felt so great. I think it also helped that I had such amazing family and friends helping me out from the beginning, including Austin of course! I still get a little sore sometimes, but overall, feeling great! I also have to laugh because back in March when my dad broke his foot, I remember telling him to listen to the doctor and just take it easy! Stay off your foot, let other people help you out, etc. Well it turns out I am more like my father than I thought. :) I would try to do a lot of things around the house when we first got home and Austin had to "yell" at me and tell me to take it easy! I'm lucky to have a man who cares about me so much! 

Jacob is now three weeks old. Every day he's growing and changing so much! And overall, he's been an amazing baby. We really have been blessed! His feeding schedule has been pretty consistent as well, which has been good. However, he's hit his three week growth spurt and has had some cluster feedings - where he'll get hungry every hour, hour and half. And he'll feed for a lot longer as well. I have to tell you, this has been exhausting for me. And it also makes me so grateful for his normal feeding schedule! He also seems to be a little more fussy during this growth spurt. Normally he's such a good baby that only cries when he's hungry, needs his diaper changed or has a bubble or something. But right now he's been harder to calm down. I'm hoping this will end with his cluster feedings! But even his fussy times now are nothing compared to what it could be, and for that I'm thankful. It does test your patience though! :) Last night was pretty great though as Jacob slept for six hours! Austin rocked him after I got done feeding and put him down so I could go to sleep and then was blessed with six hours of sleep! During a normal night, he'll feed two, maybe three times. As much as I loved getting those uninterrupted hours of sleep, I'm not sure I want that to continue every night. I think because of our time in the hospital with Jacob's low blood sugar, I get nervous if he goes too long without eating. I'd rather wake him up and feed him so I know he's getting food! Plus I'm afraid if Jacob doesn't feed more at night that it could affect my milk supply. If Jacob continues to sleep well at night, I'll probably try to get up at least once to pump to help my supply. 

Austin and I are also both learning what Jacob wants. We're learning what different cries mean, if he's just fussing or if he's really hungry. When he really gets to crying really hard, it has this quiver to it. Austin hates hearing it and wants to do whatever it takes to make it stop. I, on the other hand, find it a little amusing because Jacob just likes to be dramatic. :) It mostly happens during bath time which Jacob doesn't like. We're still doing sponge baths right now so maybe once we actually give him a bath where he can sit in water, it might be different! 

Jacob's also getting stronger every day! He does great at holding his head up by himself at times and is able to do it longer and longer. We've also been doing tummy time, which he's awesome at! He does best at lifting his head when we have him propped up on the boppy or a pillow. He's even been able to lift and turn his head from one side to the other to follow our voices sometimes. When we put him on his tummy flat on the ground, he doesn't do the best at lifting his head, instead he tries to roll over! And I think he's going to do it before long! He can roll his top half to his side but he hasn't gotten his bottom half to do the same. But he's moving those legs so I know it won't be long! We've also been doing a lot of play time on a play mat that we have and he's starting to focus on some of the toys that are hanging in front of him. Or at least it looks like he is! He's also been really finding his voice these past couple of days. He likes to grunt and almost growl sometimes! But he's making other vocal noises as well and it's so fun to listen to! He also makes the best faces - both while he's awake and sleeping! I can't help but laugh at them sometimes, they're so adorable and funny! 

In other non-Jacob news, we finally have a place to live! We found a cute and small two bedroom house in Reinbeck, Iowa which is just 10 minutes south of Dike. It's a very small town so we'll do most of our major shopping and stuff in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area but the price was right for a house! We're planning on moving the first weekend in August so if you're available, you can definitely come help us! :) Once we get over there and settled some, I'm going to start looking for jobs again. Although, if we could manage it, I'd love to just stay home with Jacob but we need the money! Austin starts school on August 15th with students starting the 21st. I think he's anxious and excited all at the same time! 

Overall, I think we're falling into a great routine as a family. And we couldn't be happier. It has been a transition and we're still learning and still gaining patience every day. But we also couldn't be anymore in love with Jacob or with this new life. I love being the wife of an amazing father to my son and I love being a mother to the most perfect son! :) 

Our Birth Story

Monday, June 24^th, 2013

June 23^rd was my estimated due date and it was also the day of the largest full moon of the year. Unfortunately, this didn’t help jump start my labor. So one day past my due date, June 24^th, we had a doctor’s appointment. I was still progressing but fairly slow, not much progress from our last appointment the week before. Dr. Platt decided to do a membrane sweep to see if that would help get things moving. We scheduled an induction for Thursday, June 27^th if Baby Z didn’t decide to come earlier.

After the doctor’s appointment, I was feeling pretty crampy and I started to feel some pretty irregular contractions. These were the first contractions that I had really felt. I wasn’t really feeling any Braxton Hicks or anything before then. These irregular contractions continued throughout the evening and night.

Tuesday, June 25^th, 2013

At about 1:00am, I started to feel some regular contractions. They were lasting anywhere between 30 seconds and a minute and half, happening every 4-6 minutes. We had been told at our appointment that baby was most likely sunny side up, so facing the wrong way. Because of this, all of my contractions were being felt in my lower back. After about an hour of contractions, Austin called the hospital to tell them what was going on and they suggested that we head on in. We were able to watch a really sweet lightning show on the drive in. Although I don’t think I was able to enjoy it as much as normal since I was breathing through contractions every couple of minutes.

We arrived at the hospital at about 3:30amand right away I was hooked up to monitors to watch contractions and check the baby’s heartbeat. The heartbeat was great and the contractions were still regular. I was still slowly progressing at this point. I did spend some time off the monitors which meant I was able to walk around but I was feeling some pretty intense back labor. Around 5am, Dr. Marshall (the other doctor in our office and the one on-call that night) was called and told about where I was at. He gave the go ahead to let us stay at the hospital. It was official – we were going to have a baby! This was a relief but also a little scary that after nine months of carrying this baby inside, we were going to be meeting him/her soon! It was go time!

Shortly after 7am I decided to start some IV pain meds, after six hours of back labor. I really don’ handle pain well so I was pretty proud of myself for lasting that long. I received that every one hour for three hours. During those three hours I was able to get some sleep but towards the end of each hour, I would feel the pain getting intense again. Around 11:00am, I decided to go for the epidural – something I was always open to having. :) So the anesthesiologist came up to set the epidural. She also put a new IV in my right hand because the one on my left had fallen out. I have to admit that getting the IV put in my hand hurt worse than getting the epidural. I had progress a little bit more at this point but still fairly slow. Once the epidural set it, my contractions were reduced to barely noticeable. I started to feel more pressure in my lower abdomen at this point, but nothing painful. I was also able to take some longer naps now, which was great! I was mostly being woken up by the nurses to check on things. My contractions and the baby’s heartbeat were still doing great.

Around 1:00pm, Dr. Platt came in to check on us. She decided to break my waters to help things keep progressing. She said everything was looking good and that hopefully I would start progressing a little bit more quickly now. After a couple of hours however, my contractions started to slow to about 5 minutes apart, so pitocin was ordered to help. I was given the lowest dose to start out and see what would happen. My contractions started to get a little closer together but the pitocin dose was upped by one around 5:45pm.

Around 7:00pm I started to feel more pressure with each contraction. There was no pain, just the pressure. At 9:30pm, Dr. Platt came back in to check on me and wasn’t too impressed with my progression. She decided to switch to an internal monitor to help gauge the strength of each contraction and to help determine if more medicine is needed. At 11pm, I had progressed, but very little.

Wednesday, June 26^th, 2013

At 12:00am, we did another check and I had progressed a little more. I asked for a boost in my epidural because I was starting to feel some sharp pains in my lower back again. At 12:50am, Dr. Platt came in and told us that it was time to start pushing! After about 30 minutes of pushing, I was able to take a break. What I didn’t know until hours later was that during the pushing, the baby’s heartbeat had dropped to the 80’s. Luckily, Austin knew better than to tell me this at the time it was happening because it definitely would have made me stressed and anxious.

At 1:45am, Dr. Platt came in to inform us about her concerns for the baby and mom. I had actually fallen asleep for a bit so I was a little bit shocked because I didn’t know that anything was wrong. But after I got done pushing, baby’s heartbeat shot up to the 180’s/170’s. Baby also wasn’t descending properly and was still not in the best position. Baby was getting stressed during the pushing and from the medicine. So Dr. Platt recommended that we move forward with a c-section and because we didn’t want to take any risks for myself or the baby, we agreed. A c-section was definitely the last thing that I wanted. Not only because I wanted to experience the miracle of birth, but because I was scared of the procedure and the recovery. But Dr. Platt was great about walking through each of my concerns with the procedure. Austin was also great about helping me stay calm throughout this time.

We decided to call our parents at this point to let them know we’d be heading in for the c-section. We definitely thought the extra prayers would be helpful and help calm me down!

Around 2:15am I was taken back to get prepped for surgery. Austin was allowed to come back for the procedure and sat by my head the entire time, keeping me distracted from what was happening. Having him talk to me the whole time was exactly what I needed.

At 2:48am, Jacob Alan Zaruba was born into this world at 8lb 6oz, 20 ½ inches long. Austin was actually able to take a look over the curtain and he was the one to tell me it was a boy! I love that he was the one to tell me that news! A few seconds later, we heard Jacob cry for the first time. I think it was at that time, it became real. Our baby was here. And his cry was an amazing sound. Austin went to Jacob as they did their tests and he was able to cut the umbilical cord. After he got done with that, he turned to look at me and even through his mask, I could see the smile on his face! What a proud dad! Austin left with Jacob to go to the nursery as they finished their tests on him while surgery was finished with me. Finally, around 3:15am, Jacob and Austin came back to the room where we were able to be a family for the very first time! It was love at first sight. It’s hard to believe that in a matter of minutes, our entire lives had changed. Our focus had shifted to this tiny baby, who we were now responsible for. What a whirlwind of emotion!

Looking back, the rest of the day was a blur. It was in all honesty, the longest but most rewarding day of my life. I had been in labor for about 26 hours. But at the end, I was awarded the most beautiful baby boy. And I could not have done it without Austin. He was by my side the entire time. And even while I was sleeping, he was awake, too anxious and excited to sleep. He was supportive in all the right ways, getting me everything I needed and encouraged me when things got hard. I am so proud of the man he was that day. He could not have been a better husband to me.  And now everyday I’m falling more and more in love with these two amazing men in my life.