my how life has changed.

It is amazing how different my life is today compared to 2 weeks ago. 2 weeks ago exactly I was just now getting to the hospital wondering if I was in actual labor...praying that I was! These are the things I've learned in the past 2 weeks:

• I despise throw up. Ben has always been the dog throw-up cleaner-upper. I gag when I look at it. Who would have thought that I could handle having nasty milk spit-up all over me & not even care? Guess it helps that the person projectile vomiting on me has some serious cuteness going on.
• My child is like a pee pee houdini with his diaper. No matter how tight we get his diaper, Grayson leaks everywhere. I thought I would be changing his clothes a lot because it's fun to play dress-up with babies...not because he pees on 5 outfits a day. We are getting a lot of use out of all our clothes!
• I will never make fun of anybody who does laundry everyday again. My name is Laura and I wash baby laundry and our clothes everyday. This 9 pounder goes through a ridiculous amount of clothing/burp cloths/blankets/etc!
• The middle of the night feedings aren't that bad. I like that quiet bonding time I get with my blonde baby:)
• I am a terrible napper. I don't sleep when Grayson sleeps during the day. Ben is a professional napper. I'm jealous.
• I love this little boy more than anything in the world. I knew that I would fall in love with him the moment that I saw him...I just didn't realize how intense it would be! He is so perfect & I can't imagine our life without him.

there's a first time for everything...

...and last night was Grayson's first bath.

Can you tell how he felt about it?
Poor little guy hated it!

He used his really strong lungs to tell us just how angry he was.

But there is nothing that a snuggly towel can't fix...

...and having naked baby time:)

i'm a list person.

• I love this whole "mama" thing. I am convinced I have the sweetest baby in the whole world..we got lucky!
• Grayson is sleeping two 4 hour stretches at night...it's lovely.

• The dogs are doing surprisingly well. I'm pretty impressed with how well my furbabies are adjusting. Hudson gets very concerned when Grayson cries and wants to give him kisses so bad. Ellie is absolutely exhausted because she thinks she needs to help me out with the middle of the night feedings/diaper changes. Jack ignores. It's what he does best.

• Watching Ben with our sweet boy makes my heart melt.
  
  

• I never mentioned in the "birth story" post about a few teensy issues I had. I suppose a darn near perfect pregnancy means you have to have a few setbacks with the actual delivery, right? One issue is that I lost complete feeling in my right leg. Apparently, while I pushed for 2 long hours, I pinched a nerve and I literally had a "dead leg" while I was in the hospital. While trying to move hospital rooms (seriously, who makes the gimp girl move rooms?) I fell and sprained my ankle. SOOOO I came home with a walker, knee stabilizer brace, and an ankle brace. I aged 50 years with this birth-ha! I have most feeling back in my leg now & don't need my walker. However, it is so frustrating not being able to go up and down the stairs with my baby. I'm hoping by the weekend I will be normal again.

• Grayson is apparently ready for the clubs...looks like he is about to fist pump like The Situation! That's my boy:)

G + Sock Monkey

Grayson took his first picture with the giant sock monkey today. He was pretty fired up about it. Here is our little man posing for his first monthly picture:)

Giving me his Popeye look!

I think he and his sock monkeys will be great friends!

oh, and Huddy too.

the story of Grayson

Our little family of 3 is now home and settled! I thought that before I forget all the details of my labor/delivery, I better share them! So sit back & relax, here is the story of how we met the most handsome little boy in the world...

Grayson must have known how impatient I was being. He was PROMPT! I did my 40 week post on Saturday afternoon & only a few hours later my water broke in our kitchen! Ben was working until 10 that night so I sent him a "911" text and he scurried on home. By the way, your water breaking? ew.

The picture above is my last picture at our house before we left for the hospital. I was READY!! We got to the hospital at 7:30 & went straight upstairs. I explained what had happened (ya know...gigantic gush of water soaking my kitchen floor) and do you know what the test results were?? negative. Seriously?! They said it was possible that I had 2 sacks of water and that only the first one had broken. My awesome nurse knew I was ready to have that baby & convinced the doctor to let me stay overnight to see what would happen.
I got an ambien to sleep (yay!) and got up around 1 in the morning to use the bathroom and of course water #2 broke. Enter contractions & a fuzzy recollection of actual events thanks to the ambien. Contractions were not horrible and neither was the epidural. Go time!
I was in labor all night & started pushing at 10 am on Sunday. I was already exhausted before I started pushing...like falling-asleep-in-the-midst-of-labor tired. I pushed for 2 solid hours with zero progress and finally told my nurse "no, thank you." He was too big and was not going to come out of there on his own! C-Section it was....followed by a 10 minute panic attack/tearfest because I was so mad I couldn't have my baby my way.

The C-section was not as bad as I thought it would be. I remember being deliriously tired & it did not hit me that I would meet our little man in the next few minutes.

The second I heard that little scream I started crying. I remember everyone talking about what a big baby he was. He had big lungs, too:) I love this picture of my little bird screaming his head off...really shows what a long day we had already had! Ha!

Most favorite moment of my life was meeting Grayson. He was absolutely perfect. Love at first sight.

A very proud daddy!

our BIG boy weighed 9lbs 1 oz and was 21 inches long..no wonder he wouldn't fit!

Grayson is beautiful with dark blue eyes and blonde hair...little surfer baby!

Our new family of 3 (or 6 if you include the pups!)

We are so happy to be home & out of that hospital. We are busy enjoying our baby & learning all about him. He is doing wonderful...he weighed 8lbs 5 oz today at his first pediatrician visit & has NO jaundice-yay! Thanks for all of your sweet words & encouragement...we really appreciate it! Hard to believe that this baby is finally here!

introducing...

Grayson Benjamin

Born September 19, 2010

9lbs 1oz

21 inches long

Absolutely perfect! :)

40 weeks: done and done!

Today is D-Day. My "What to Expect" app on my phone practically shouted to me this morning: "TODAY IS THE BIG DAY!!!" Oh really, What to Expect?? My other phone app declares that I am 100% through with this pregnancy. I don't think I'll open that app tomorrow. It is so strange knowing that I am sitting on my computer right now...and perhaps this time tomorrow I could have a new baby. Surreal.

If I look exhausted in my picture, it's because I am. Mother Nature is funny. The past 4 nights in a row I have been up in the middle of the night. 3 of those nights the dogs wanted to go outside & one night I was sick. Preparing me for what's to come? I think so.

*How far along?: 40 weeks
*How big is your baby?: still a large watermelon! ...weighing well over 7lbs most likely

*Total weight gain?: lost 2lbs this week...24 total!
*Sex: BOY! Grayson Benjamin:)

*Maternity clothes: First of all, I want to be like a woman of the 70's. Except, I will not burn my bras (Lord knows I need those) but burn my maternity clothes. I am SO ready to have a waist again! I'm pulling my pants up all day long...super annoying.

*Stretch marks: 2 tiny ones on each side...not too shabby. I only used my mama mio cream on my stomach for most of the time...lesson learned?
*Movement: He is so out of room that I can see specific body parts when he is moving...I grabbed his teensy leg this week a few times!

*Sleep: This week was a nightmare for sleep.

*Best moment this week: I am officially on maternity leave for 12 weeks!

*Food cravings: my stomach has no room for food.
*Labor signs: no real contractions...still 50% effaced & 1cm dilated. He feels a smidge lower. I go back on Monday to see how we've progressed/schedule an induction if he doesn't come on his own!
*Belly button in or out: reaches to China!

*What I miss: being comfortable

*What I'm looking forward to: holding a newborn...it WILL happen within the next week:)