Week 1

Hayden is 1 week old today. Man, time really does fly. Before you know it, he'll be off to Kindergarten (*tear*). We're truly taking things one day at a time. This first week has been a roller coaster. And I'm happy to report, we are doing really great today. Hayden is nursing really well and seems to be a very happy, healthy baby now.

Last night was a perfect model for a sleep/feed schedule and we hope to re-create it all again tonight. I fed him around 10:00pm and Phil swaddled him nice and tight and put him in his bassinet sound asleep. I think Phil has a magic swaddle! Phil and I slept from 10:30 until 12:30am. Hayden woke up with just little fussing/smacking noises 2 minutes before my cell phone alarm I had set in case he didn't wake up on his own after 2 hours. Phil changed him, then and I nursed him, then Phil burped him and topped him off with a small bottle of breastmilk while I pumped for 15 minutes. We went back to bed at 1:30am, and I set the alarm for 4:30am (newborns can go one stretch of 4 hours between feedings - start-to-start). At about 4:20am, Hayden awoke gently fussing again, so we did the same process and we all were back to sleep by 5:15am. My alarm went off at 7:00am and we woke Hayden for his morning breakfast feeding. So in total, Phil and I got over 6 hours of sleep. Granted, not uninterrupted, but I'm pretty pleased and have felt great all day. I took a nap from 4-5pm and that was nice. If we can keep this up, we will be golden!

Hayden sleeps a lot, loves his swing, loves to cuddle, and is even not too cranky when we change his diaper. And BOY, have there been a lot of diapers! Yay! I never thought I'd be so excited to talk about wet/poopy diapers. But to know that all means he is being nourished and his digestive system is working great, is a huge relief!

Our precious angel

Leaving the Hospital:
Coming Home:
Phil's new napping buddy:

Hayden Douglas Lott

Born May 20, 2007 @ 1:11pm
8 lbs, 7 oz
21 inches long
Beautiful and Healthy

I am exhausted. It will be a while before I blog again... sorry!

Still waiting for Baby Lott to arrive

Phil and I have been patiently waiting for Baby Lott to make his appearance. I am a little worried whether I will know when I'm truly in labor. Sometimes the Braxton Hicks contractions can be strong! But according to my doctor, they have to get increasingly stronger, longer and closer together for it to be true labor.

Our plan for notifying people when Baby Lott arrives is to call close friends and family once we have been transferred from the delivery room to the Mother/Baby recovery suite. This will be 1-2 hours after he is born, as long as we are both stable, and it's a reasonable time of day. We will also send out a mass email to everyone in our address book who might want to know the news (Overlake has wireless Internet!).

Close family will be invited to visit in the hospital, but we anticipate wanting time to recover and bond with the baby, so we are asking that friends wait until we are home from the hospital to meet Baby Lott. Even then, we will probably set up "visiting hours" or something so we can rest and have some privacy with our new family. Please also keep in mind newborns are very susceptible to germs, and Phil and I will be taking every precaution to ensure anyone who visits is healthy - no cough, cold, fever, etc.

Note: This is all just what we are thinking right now. Since we haven't experienced anything like this before, we don't know all the factors! We know people are excited to meet Baby Lott, so we appreciate everyone's support, flexibility and understanding.

Last Day at Gravity

Today is my last day of work! My co-worker Jen made cupcakes decorated in the colors of our nursery decor and we are having a music theme day: Work songs!

I'm going to miss this place, but I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow! Did you hear that, Baby Lott?! Let Mommy sleep in at least ONE day! ;)

"How are you feeling?" Part 2

At the risk of sounding rude, I feel like getting a T-Shirt made that says:

DUE MAY 21
IT'S A BOY
OUR FIRST
NO NAME YET
I FEEL FINE!

But I know people are STILL going to keep asking...

Maternity Portraits

We had our awesome photographer friend John Keatley take some portraits of us and my belly. Here are a few. Check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/64674298@N00/sets/72157600229569144/show/ for more.

"How are you feeling?*"

• I'm still getting over this cold. I have a lingering cough/congestion that is just annoying at this point. My doc says Phil and baby should be in the clear and I'm not contagious now. Good news!


• We have everything we "need" ready for the baby. The Pack n' Play is set up in our bedroom so we have a place for him to sleep and change him, and my sister-in-law Katie helped us install our car seat. I'm a little disappointed that the nursery won't be all ready since the bedding and changing table/dresser are both on back-order, but oh well.


• Believe it or not, I actually still enjoy being pregnant and I'm not in any big hurry to get him out! I want to work up until May 15 and then have at least a few days to have some rest and get stuff done before he arrives. I'm really not all that uncomfortable (yet!) and my only complaint is my lower back pain. Sleeping is fine, only have to get up to go to the bathroom maybe once in the night.


• I fortunately haven't had any more bleeding since March 17. I didn't have to do the Fetal Non-stess Test this time because they've all looked so good, his heartbeat is still great and he's still moving a lot (and the doctor's office was over-booked and short-staffed today). Sometimes I think I might be having a Braxton Hicks contraction, but I'm not really sure if it's just the baby changing positions.


• As of my doctor appointment today, my cervix is already 1cm dialated, 80% effaced, and he's at -1 station (he's dropped, but not yet engaged in the pelvis), and his head is still down. Which all basically means my uterus is doing what it's supposed to (and those probably have been Braxton Hicks contractions), but labor could still be weeks away.

*Thought I'd save you from being the one-hundredth person to ask me that. ;)