HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Bruin was too tiny to fit into any costumes this year, but that's ok we still took some great Halloween pictures..here ya go!

2 month checkup!

Well we had the dreaded two month appointment with our pediatrician. Bruin now weighs 10.3lbs which is a great improvement for us! He is finally fitting into 0-3 month and newborn clothes! His weight went from being in the 2% to 12% so that is great! He is getting stronger every day and holding his head up all the time. Nights are getting better and better too leaving a very happy Mama and Papa Bear! As for the shots, they weren't that terrible. He cried for 5 minutes after and then was fine for the rest of the day. MY BIG BOY.
Ozzy's jealousy is almost non existent now-a days. He is constantly checking on his new best buddy (Sorry Annabelle you're out of the picture...at least until you come to visit again). and even started to bring him toys...Bruin will catch on eventually.

 Things I've been learning so far:

Always point your sons manhood DOWN at all times during a diaper change. It doesn't matter if he has just dirtied a diaper, he WILL pee right on you. 


Don't forget the seal on the bottle. Even if you swear you put it on, if its leaking all over your baby's body chances are it's not there. 


Clean baby outfits don't exist for longer than 20 minutes. 


Babies are strong. I mean much stronger than they look. How is it that I find it almost impossible to bend him over to burp when he is fighting it!?! "JESSICA HE"S JUST A BABY!" 

FUN FACT: it is completely normal for baby to get hiccups! Pay attention, did he get them while he was in the womb? Was is at the same times of day? Bruin does...and apparently so do a lot of babies.

The Art of Breastfeeding

So it has been my motto since the beginning of this journey that I would breastfeed because I couldn't rationalize paying for something my body makes naturally and is so damn good for baby. Since hour one I breastfed Bruin and well to say it was tough it an understatement. On our two day checkup the Pediatrician said everything was great. Bruins weight had dropped down to 6.5 from 6.15 but that was normally and he should be back up to birth weight by the next week. Well, that next week my mom came in and was giving me lots of tips, but it seemed like our beautiful baby was completely miserable. I couldn't put him down for more than 15 minutes without him wailing on and on and he wanted to latch on to feed constantly for hours and hours. I had told my mom and randy that i didn't know how much longer I could do it but my mom told me it would get better and that I should probably make an appointment with Sacred Heart Hospitals lactation consultant to at least have someone to talk to. Two days later i went in to meet with Ms. Karen and possibly rent a pump. To my surprise Bruin had dropped down to 6.2  (when he should have been back up to 6.15) and we was not in the best shape. I had been starving him and she classified him as failure to thrive. As it turned out, Bruin was lazy. He acted like he was eating when in reality he wasn't taking anything in. My milk supply was low, and he was miserable. We weren't even supposed to give him a pacifier because it would burn calories and he needed every calorie he could get. She put us on a crazy routine that consisted of breastfeeding 15 min. on both sides, followed by 2 oz. formula, and then pumping so that on the next feeding i didn't need to supplement in formula, I'd just use the milk i had pumped. That was for EVERY feeding as often as he wanted. Needless to say, nights were long. He was so tiny. He barely fit into anything newborn including diapers and onesies. Gradually, he started to gain weight and finally by the third week of this he was up to 7 lbs. My poor buddy. Last week we went back for our final appointment and he was up to 9 lbs. YAHOOOO!!!! (although im a little bit upset because he doesn't fit into newborn diapers anymore, he's gettin so big!) 

But he is eating so much and i still don't have a great milk supply (even after taking Fenugreek, an herb that is supposed to increase it) So, i'm having to supplement in alot of formula, but he is still getting some breastmilk at every feeding and every little bit helps! 

*FUN FACT... did you know breastmilk has LIVE cells in it. That's some pretty amazing stuff!* 

I think by the end of Nov. he will be on formula completely, but I completely love the bonding breastfeeding give you and your child. If you have the chance and are willing, do it, even if it's for two weeks. I'm not gonna lie, it's tough, inconvenient at times and sometimes painful but you will have a bond that can't be described.

Daddys: I know that it will get frustrating for you. Randy had a break down at probably week 3 or 4 because he literally could do NOTHING to help with the feeding except burp (he's the best burper in history). But reassure yourself that you are still a good dad even if you don't have the groceries!

The pain of Labor!

Well Hello there! 

I've decided to create this blog not only to give me something to write my memories down on and give family a chance to read about our day to day, but also give people an idea of what being a new mom is like for me! (I also don't want to keep bombarding Facebook with every cute picture i take of Bruin!)...So here goes nothing. 

I'd like to start with my labor. I promise I won't get into intense detail. I was due on Randy's birthday 9/1. On Sunday, 8/28 I was minding my own business watching something football while Randy was napping. At 4:30 pm I thought I peed my pants! I sat there for a second and said, "nope, this is it" and went over to wake sleeping beauty. "Hey RANDALL...umm, I think my water broke." My husband, who i believe was in denial that we were having a baby up until this point, asked if I was having any contractions. When my response was no not yet he said, " ok well i'm gonna put in a load of laundry and then we can go."...So, I decided I'd shower while he did his thing. 

Well, we arrived at the hospital at 7:30 pm and still without contractions. (I didn't think I was actually in labor) After the nurse confirmed my water broke and I was at 3 cm, they put us in a room and said we were the only ones on the floor so we had everyones complete attention. My nurse said the midwife wanted me to sleep since I wasn't having contractions so she was giving me a sleeping pill and if contractions didn't start by 4:30am they would give me pitocin. Randy took this as a perfect opportunity to eat so he ran downstairs for some subway. When he came back up I had had my first contraction and they were coming strong and fast. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and said I needed an epidural although i had planned on going all natural (YEAH RIGHT!!!) The nurse said that she had to check my progress before the epidural and said i was 6 cm.WOW!  And they sent randy out of the room because they couldnt do the procedure with him there. Ten minutes later the jerk of a man came and gave me my shot, which took about ten min. and INSTANT relief. AMAZING. The nurse said she had a strange  feeling and wanted to check me again.  Her eyes became HUGE and uttered the words every pregnant chick is waiting for, "YOU'RE READY TO PUSH!"....ummm excuse me? this was at 11:00pm. 3 and a half hours after i arrived! They ran to get the soon to be daddy and my midwife joined in on the fun too. It was really happening. Now let me tell you, that pushing was so easy peasy. I didn't feel a thing. 27 minutes later Bruin Roscoe Arbogast arrived. They immediately placed him on my chest. Papa Bear and I were in pure shock and the only thing i could think to tell this new little guy was, "OH MY GOD YOU LOOK LIKE A LITTLE MONKEY!!" (Randy says that's one of his favorite moments of the entire pregnancy, labor and delivery) Bruin had his cord wrapped around his neck once and body once but we were lucky to have everything go absolutely perfect. 

And like randy says, the pit crew came in next and got everything cleaned up before we even knew what was happening. They let me breastfeed and then took Bruin for a bath a shot and some fun (I'm guessing). That pretty much sums up my labor experience. It was better than i expected ... I was truly terrified about the whole thing during my entire pregnancy.