Newborn Photoshoot

Sawyer - 2 Weeks Old

Sawyer is now off his biliblankets. He is still a little yellow though and the doctor says it won't completely be gone for another couple of weeks, but his bilirueben levels have been dropping and he looks good.

We had another doctor visit this week to check his weight, because he didn't gain any weight last week. Good news, he is back to his birth weight. We still have to go back to the doctors next week for another weight check though. I think the doctor wants to give me a chance to fatten him up on breast milk alone, without asking me to supplement him with formula. Hopefully, he will gain something soon.

Sawyer's finger nails have grown super fast! I cut them right when we got home from the hospital and they were instantly long again! When I was clipping them this past time, I clipped a bit of his finger though! I felt horrible. He cried and it bled. I could not have felt worse. I think I am going to use those mitts over his hands, because he keeps scratching his face up and now I am scared to trim his nails!

Sawyer had his first real bath this week too! He didn't really like it though. I think I may have made the water a little bit too cold. Hopefully he will grow to like his bath times!

Sawyer is very wiggly in his sleep! He likes to stretch out and puts his hands in the air. He also makes little squeeky noises in his sleep. He is very attached to me at the moment and likes to sleep in my arms or right next to me. At night, he starts out in his bassinet right next to our bed, but is having a hard time going back into it after his feedings. He also does not like waking up! It takes him about 30 minutes to fully wake up. He starts with a few loud squeaks and then some stretches and funny scrunched up faces, then sleeps some more. It just progresses more frequently from there until he starts to fuss to let us know he is awake. It is one of the cutest things I have seen!

We started tummy time this week and he is doing pretty well with it. Tummy time is putting him on his tummy to strengthen his neck muscles for holding his head and eventually for his arm muscles to push up his upper body while laying down. He can only do it for about 5 minutes, before he gets frustrated though.

Sawyer is developing such a personality already! He makes the cutest expressions. He is always raising his eyebrows and scrunching them up. It is funny to watch. He has such a little peanut head, its hard to imagine that he can make these faces!

Sawyer - 1 Week Old

This past week has kind of been a blur.

The hospital stay was pretty nice. I was really impressed with Hoag. I had two nurses who were wonderful and I was so thankful they were so nice and caring. The food people were a little annoying though! They kept bugging me for my menus when I just wanted to rest. The food wasn't bad though. I didn't realize how sore I would be and how hard it would be to move around afterwards though, so that was a shock.

Since I had gestational diabetes, they had to test Sawyer's sugar levels every few hours. They came in our room every few hours and pricked his heel. It made me so sad because he would do that silent scream, where he was crying so hard, barely any noise would escape and his face would turn bright red. He ended up having a few low scores, so we needed to stay an extra day for monitoring. Everything is fine though; it was just precautionary.

My hospital is big on breast feeding, which is great, because I planned on breast feeding. Sawyer decided to refuse my right side though. We had help from the lactation consultants and they ended up saying he just wasn't comfortable on that side, but to keep trying and eventually he would take it. Since we started feeding doing skin to skin, which is his bare skin against mine, he will only eat that way now. He will fuss until I have my belly exposed for his skin to touch me! Hopefully this changes as he gets better at eating.

Our last night at the hospital, Sawyer developed jaundice. This is pretty common in babies period, but more so with breast feeding and gestational diabetes babies. They had to take so much blood from him! We had to return to the hospital on Sunday for more blood work. His pediatrician ended up calling us that day and said he wanted Sawyer to do photo therapy for the jaundice which consisted of being on biliblankets all day. The biliblankets are these two paddle type things that strap around his body; one on his back and one on his belly. They glow a blueish color and give off a little heat, like a heating pad, because he has to be naked under them, except for the diaper. We call him our little glow worm! The lights cause him to have diarrhea, which is how the biliruebens come out, I guess. We had to go to the hospital for blood work each day to check his bilirueben levels and on Thursday, we went to the doctors who informed us that his levels had dropped, so we could stop the photo therapy on Friday! We absolutely love his pediatrician! He has been so friendly and very hands on, making personal calls to us and even on the weekend.

Sawyer has been a pretty good sleeper so far, at least in my opinion. He eats between 11pm and 12pm and then sleeps until about 4am or 5am and then sleeps again until about 7am. This isn't too bad for me, but Ian is having a hard time with it, because he has to wake up at 5am for work and if Sawyer wakes up earlier than that, Ian is up too early and has lost sleep.

We tried taking photos of Sawyer and he has been my hardest baby yet! I like to do them within a few days of birth, because the baby is still curled up and sleeps soundly enough to be moved around without waking up. Well, we got a late start because of he needed to be in the biliblanket and then he got a clogged tear duct and looked like he was in fight! Not pretty for pictures. When we finally tried, he cried because he was cold as soon as we got his clothes off. We ended up needing to use a portable heater to blow warm on him while he was naked! Then he peed all over himself and that would wake him up. When we would finally get him back to sleep, it would start all over until we lost the light and couldn't take pictures anymore. I am hoping he will cooperate soon, because I have so many ideas I want to try out, plus I want some neat photos of my baby!

Ian has been so awesome this week. I couldn't have asked for a better husband and father for Sawyer. He helps as much as he possibly can and hasn't complained once! He offers to change diapers and actually wants to. He is so sweet and talks to Sawyer whenever he is holding him. He always wants to feed Sawyer from a bottle too, so that he can do it. He has been the one to worry though, which is so cute! He is always worried about if the baby is breathing or what each cry means. He is going to be such a great dad and I can't wait to watch him grow as a dad!

Some cute things that I want to remember:

• Sawyer's loose skin all over his body - we call it puppy skin, because it is wrinkly and loose just like puppies!


• When he gets frustrated, he shows his top gum and throws a quick huffy puffy fit.


• He really likes the green hospital pacifier and throws a fit without it, but looses it quite often.


• Likes to have his hands up by face when he sleeps.


• Also grabs his face when he throws a fit, which has resulted in many scratches.


• He has a bald spot on his right temple area that has no hair; it may be a birth mark.


• He is a wiggle worm, just like when he was in my belly.


• He has milk breath and it is such a precious smell.


• And of course, his ultra soft skin and hair.

My Birth Story

Sawyer came two weeks early! My doctor was going to schedule an induction for the following week, because of my gestational diabetes and I was measuring large. She even thought I might have to have a c-section. I had also been dilated 2cm and 70% effaced for about 2 weeks before.

My water broke at 5:30pm while I was getting ready to leave work on Wednesday, August 12th. It was a huge gush and I looked like I peed my pants! I drove home and we called the doctor, who told us to come in when we were ready. We straightened the house and got all our stuff ready. My Motsy met us at the house, since she was just leaving work. Ian had dinner already made and I knew I wouldn't be able to eat, so we ate dinner as well; yummy fajita tacos! We got to the hospital about 7:30pm and my mom met us there at the entrance. Since my water was still gushing, I decided to use a wheel chair, so that I was less embarrassed about leaking fluid all over.

My contractions weren't getting stronger, so they started pitocin at about 9pm. My contractions slowly got stronger after that. My Motsy sat and watched the monitor screen and would tell me when I was getting a contraction. Eventually, they were getting worse and I had to stop talking because they hurt and she would tell me I was having a contraction and I was like 'no crap'. I had to ask for something for the pain, but I wasn't ready for the epidural yet. They gave me something and it made my head completely loopy feeling. I didn't like it and it didn't last long, because they kept upping the pitocin every half hour, so my contractions just kept getting worse. I eventually got the epidural at about 1am and I was dilated 5 cm and 90% effaced. Luckily, I was in so much pain from the contractions, I didn't feel the epidural at all. I had two contractions back to back and I all I remember was staring at Ian's face as he held my hands and it was over in about 5 minutes.

During the night, the baby's heart rate dropped a few times, so I was given oxygen. They also put in internal heart monitor into hi scalp to monitor it better. I slept off and on the rest of the morning, being interrupted by the blood pressure machine and my nurse checking me every hour. My mom and Motsy tried to get some sleep in the waiting room and Ian slept on the couch in my room.

I was ready to start pushing around 6am, but shift change was at 7am and my nurse didn't want to start me, plus I would have had the on call doctor. So, we waited for my doctor to come on at 7am, however, everyone lagged a bit and I didn't start actually pushing until about 8am. I was so numb from the epidural, I couldn't feel anything! I couldn't hold my own legs, because they were just dead weight and felt like tree stumps! Ian held one leg and my mom held the other. At one point, Ian put my leg down and kind of pushed it a little and it just fell over like a falling tree and I couldn't move it without help! I just pushed like I had been taught and heard to do and it worked, obviously. They never had to turn my epidural off. It was relatively easy and I watched the morning news in between contractions.

I was ready to start pushing around 6am, but shift change was at 7am and my nurse didn't want to start me, plus I would have had the on call doctor. So, we waited for my doctor to come on at 7am, however, everyone lagged a bit and I didn't start actually pushing until about 8am. I was so numb from the epidural, I couldn't feel anything! I couldn't hold my own legs, because they were just dead weight and felt like tree stumps! Ian held one leg and my mom held the other. At one point, Ian put my leg down and kind of pushed it a little and it just fell over like a falling tree and I couldn't move it without help! I just pushed like I had been taught and heard to do and it worked, obviously. They never had to turn my epidural off. It was relatively easy and I watched the morning news in between contractions.

When the nurse called for my doctor, my doctor lagged getting in there and I sat with the baby crowned for about a half an hour! The nurse kept saying don't do anything; don't even sneeze! The doctor came in and took one look and said I need to be cut towards the front to avoid a tear into my urethra. I also got a cut towards the back. Half a push later and he was out! They plopped him on my belly and I started crying. I wasn't sure what to do, so I just stared at him. Ian cut his cord, which took a couple of tries because it was slippery. My mom made a comment about how tiny he was and they took him to wipe him off and weigh him and all that. He only weighed 6 pounds 10.5 ounces! We couldn't believe how tiny he was after there was so much concern over him being large!

They gave him back to me and everyone left the room except Ian. He was laid naked on my bare skin and we tried breast feeding for the first time. He latched on right away. We spent about an hour just staring at our new baby in amazement! It was such an experience and thankfully not traumatic! We are so blessed and can't believe Sawyer is here!