The Janes' have made it a month Y'all!

As I sit here (in the bath... thank you to my marvelous husband who is lovingly caring for our sometimes crying child) I think about this past month. It has been the most challenging, exhausting, educating, amazing, marvelous, spectacular, surreal, wild ride of our lives! I could keep going, but I will spare you, you get the picture! Harrison has made it a month in the care of these two brand new parents. Phew, that feels good! It seems so silly, a month is just a blip in time. It went so fast. We were tired most of it. I cried a few times. But we watched this incredible little human change some everyday. It is amazing how much love you can have for something so small!! I cant even explain it.

Harrison has been a joy to watch and love. Even when he is fussy (between 630-730pm), or wont go back to sleep without waking up a few times and having to be loved back to sleep (2/3/4am) we just love him so much. We spent the first two weeks with help from our parents and could not be more grateful for them. Then we were on our own, and I do believe we have done a great job. We have tried and bought about ten thousand different "swaddles" hoping for one to be "the one." I am beginning to think there is no perfect swaddle. He either HATES them, like hates them. Or he tolerates them, but they don't make a life altering difference in his sleep. We have tried:

- swaddle me

- wombie

- hospital blanket swaddle

- miracle blanket

- sleep sack

- aiden & anais swaddle blanket

- halo sleep sack

He went a few nights in each, except for the swaddle me and woombie. He lasted all of 2 seconds. He either gets out of it or gives you the look of death while screaming bloody murder. We have learned he does not care for his arms to be restricted but still be able to move them. So far the miracle blanket is the only one he tolerates. We are considering trying Merlins Magical Suit next. He likes the sleep sack, but then we are faced with the whole waking himself up when he flails his arms situation.

His favorite things these days seem to be:

-being held (24/7 if you let him). I wear him a lot. Sakura Bloom ring sling when out of the house and Solly Wrap when home. He is happiest there and our pedi says all is fine for now. I do try to put him in his crib, bouncer seat, and swing. Sometimes he goes for it, other times not. He will be content there for 5 minutes or 20. And other times he touches it and he disagrees. We had a few day stretch where he napped for 30min-2hr in his crib. That was nice.

- his fur sister. She loves him too so everyone wins here!

- nursing/eating... until this last week every few feeds he is fussy. We aren't sure what that's about, we may go to a lactation consultant for an opinion. He clearly is not lacking food though. See his one month check up report below.

- He enjoys the car once you first put him in and when you get moving. But if you wait too long between the two he lets you know he does not agree! The only place he will take a paci is the car. Which is fine, we offer and let him choose what he wants.

- The blow dryer. He has a pretty nasty diaper rash a few weeks back (when I was on antibiotics). So we would make sure his bottom was nice and dry. Man did the blow dryer change diaper changing. You start that thing blowing on him and he is a happy boy.

- Smiles in his sleep. so cute!

Things we have noticed:

- The saddest thing ever: he has tears when he cries. Breaks my heart!

- He has started talking to us. He says "ohh" or what sounds like it.

- He loves to look around and give you smiles

- He likes his butt washed nightly but does not care for baths in his bathtub. He enjoyed his shower with me though.

- He successfully took a bottle for the first time. On 10.15 at 430pm. He ate 2.5 oz and his daddy fed him! We thought he may want more after, but he did not. He happily fell asleep!

- He seems to like his daily book read. He has yet to actually look at the book, but since he doesn't scream his head off when we read I consider that a win!

One Month Check-Up stats:

- 12lbs 3oz

- 23 inches long

- 15.5 inches head circumference

First date! With Sofia

One month morning photoshoot

Wearing his first mono outfit from aunt Al and uncle Per! And his daddies gown. We also believe this gown was worn by his great uncle Timmy!

First bottle for Harrison and Chris

Success on all accounts

Harrison's First Two Weeks

Lets begin where we left off after his birth... The Recovery Room.

So we were rolled into recovery, limp legs and all. My right more than my left, the feeling was coming back in my left leg. We just hung out and got monitored, mine was constant, Harrison's was random. We began to try breastfeeding and learned that the little stinker is a biter. Fortunately we got rid of that habit within the first day. Harrison was not very interested in eating, so we just did skin to skin and sat in awe of this little tiny human that we made. Christopher wore his hospital scrub shirt proudly with Harrison's feet prints on his chest.

Right around 2pm we were moved into our postpartum room and I was shifted onto my bed for the next few days. Man I could not WAIT to get all these wires off of me! Our family was able to come in and love on Harrison for a little while. Christopher got to introduce his son and finally reveal his name. It was a great time. They raided the gift shop and Harrison was given all sorts of goodies!! Then on we go into our first night as a family of three! Did I mention the wires I had: an epidural, an IV, two circulation things on my calf, a catheter, & a monitor on my big toe. They told me I had to keep the epidural, and then all the goodies as a result until the next day. So I did. But I made the nurse promise to take it out asap. She promised she would first thing in the am. I never pushed the "gimmie more epidural button" as I wanted my legs back 100%! As promised she came and unhooked everything first thing in the am. She wouldn't do the IV until I peed twice. Peeing has never been an issue for me, so we got that done real quick! Needless to say my first night was restless. Christopher and I were both SO tired from being up since 530 am Monday morning and we couldn't wait to sleep. However there were other plans for us. Christopher's "daddy bed" was incredibly uncomfy, he tried his hardest to sleep well, but it was not the best digs. Bless his heart for sucking that up for days. And little Harrison man had to spend the night in the nursery. There is a rule that if your baby was a c section one parent must be awake with him at all times and the lights on. Well as you can imagine neither of us were in any position to do that so we had to ship him to the nursery and his nurse for the night, Kerry (our fav) would bring him back every few hours for feedings. I cried and felt like a horrible mom, but turns out it was for the best bc he did in fact spit up/choke on the amniotic fluid in his lungs. And I am so glad that happened on the professionals time and not ours! It was a good first night all in all. Harrison would feed on my colostrum and breastfeeding seemed to be going great!

Wednesday we just hung out and discussed going home. My doctor basically said I was a freak of nature and was crazy c section lady as I didn't seem to be affected at all. He was ready to discharge us to come home on Wednesday. Harrison still needed to be seen by his pedi and then we would go from there. I was staring lovingly at Christopher while he held Harrison and they loved on each other. I told Christopher I thought Harrison looked a little jaundice, but I wasn't sure if it was the light or the couch. When Dr. Oved came and checked him out I expressed my concerns (jaundice & swelling on his head). The swelling was due to a very long and hard labor (see my birth story if you want the gory details) and that they were superficial and would go away within days to a month. The jaundice concern he had as well and said that when they whisked him away for his circumcision they would test his billiruben levels. Everyone came and saw him for a bit then they went home to pack for the airport, AJ, Ruth, & Little Titine had a flight that afternoon. Patrick left Tuesday night and Big Titine stayed here to take care of Liuzza. Harrison was taken for his circumcision and then we were told his levels were high and they wanted to start him right away on the billi light. It would be 3 hours on and 30 minutes off. In those 30 minutes they would bring him to me to nurse and then they would give him formula when he went back. I cried again. My baby who I never wanted to have formula was getting formula in his first few days. I cried more. My baby would be away from me for 3 hours and I only got him for 30 minutes. I cried. Needless to say I cried allot. Chris had to run home with everyone to see Liuzza and I called him, crying of course, when he was on his way back, almost there, so that made me feel a lot better. I knew that he needed the light and I knew he needed the formula, my milk wouldn't come in for days and he needed the good stuff to flush him out. I was lucky enough to be able to supply colostrum and then pump so we had more colostrum for his next feed. One cool thing was that Christopher got to feed Harrison, which many dads don't get to do in the first few days. It was with a syringe and amount changes depending on the pumping,  but I was fortunate to get to still feed my baby and pump for him.

So our next 36 hours consisted of setting an alarm for 5 minutes until he was set to arrive, feeding via boob and syringe & cuddling for 30 minutes. It ended up being 36 hours because his levels had only gone down from 12.5 to 10.2 to 9.1 to 8-something then finally 7.2! Dr. O wanted them between 8 & 9 to let us free!

We were finally told we can go home Friday! So Christopher and I enjoyed our celebration dinner of steak and lobster and just hung out anticipating what home life will be like. Harrison spent his last night continuing to get a suntan and we continued with the 3hr/30 min schedule. However, the night nurse was amazing and let us have wiggle room with him. More like 45 mins because he was looking so amazing and his levels were great. It was really just a "because you are here one more night" precaution. So we woke up Friday morning and began to talk about going home. My discharge papers were signed and I was allowed to walk. All we needed was Harrison to get his papers and Dr. O to come and speak with us. We packed up and got dressed, Christopher loaded the car and brought up Harrison's car seat. Harrison was released from the billilight/sun tan central and told he can stay with us! It was so exciting! So we began our life as a family of three! Our first "we shoulda read the manual" moment occurred! Wellll we shoulda read the car seat manual, Christopher spent a good 15 or 20 minutes adjusting and playing with the seat. I am pretty sure the nurses were just watching and laughing at us. Oh you silly first time parents! Any way we eventually got it figured out and were ready to go! Dr. O came and spoke with us and gave the all clear so off we went... Harrison is his car seat, me in my wheelchair, and Christopher walking! The Janes family now begins their life outside the hospital! Did I mention we were all decked out in Saints and LSU stuff so naturally took a family picture!



Now at home we really begin life. Big Titine (Cheech) and AJ (Chong) stayed through the weekend and my mom (Raine) came Sunday. Raine stayed until Thursday and Cheech came back Friday. Christopher left for Amsterdam on Friday and will be back Thursday. Man that is lots of coming and going! We are so lucky that we have such supportive parents and a helpful family!!! Friday (Halloween) starts our first days on our own!

Now back to Harrison! When we went for his one week check up, really 6 days, Harrison was a stud muffin! He had already surpassed his birth weight!! He was born at 8lbs 6oz, dropped to 8lbs even at the hospital, then left the hospital at 8lbs 3oz. Welllll drumroll please he was 8lbs 9.5oz!!! Go head little haus! I was so proud of him! What an amazing feeling to know that I did that, well we did that! Harrison and I worked together to feed him and help him grow. What an incredible thing to know! Did I mention that when we took Harrison's diaper off to weigh him he had a super dirty diaper. So being the amazingly considerate mom I am, I cleaned him and picked him up so that I could get all the caked on poop. Well sweet little Harrison chose that as an opportunity to pee on mommy. Yes sir, all over mommies belly! Good thing he is cute. I overlooked the fact that we were going to run errands after his appointment.

Today (10/28) We go to the doctor for his two week check up! I will report back with an update!

wearing his daddies coming home outfit

family snuggles

Daddies first diaper changer. ever!

Harrison Edmund Janes Has Arrived (Birth Story)

Alrighty, here goes Harrison's birth story. I am writing this off of memory and the documented timeline Christopher kept throughout the 18 hours we labored!  So please bear with me, well as far as the "my memory part" we all know Christopher's notes are perfect! See photo below to view the first page of his notes.

notebook

Monday morning October 13th

I spent the whole weekend trying various ways to naturally induce labor -- Clary Sage, Evening Primrose Oil, Red Raspberry Leaf, running/walking up the stairs, walking the dog, relaxation, reiki, etc... Well clearly no baby came so we went to my scheduled 1030 apt to see what was up. I was still (and had been for 3 weeks) -1 station, 50-70% effaced (depending on when you asked), and a new development I was 1cm dilated So basically I had not even begun to labor and Baby J was not anywhere near to making his appearance. So here I sit 41 weeks and 1 day and Dr. Jacoby says (what we knew was coming) "lets talk about induction, I am gonna give you time to talk, Ill be back." Well we knew this was what we would be faced with if he hadn't come by Monday, so yes it stunk but we were prepared. Chris had his briefcase and was ready to take his leave starting right then. We would rather get things going now than wait any longer. Chris was leaving for Amsterdam that next Thursday and we were both already very mixed about him leaving. So Dr. J comes back and asks if we are good to go, we answer yes, he steps back out to call the hospital to see about us getting in that day. Turns out they have room, yay! Butttt being the pumpkin obsessed woman I am I had just eaten a pumpkin bagel with pumpkin cream cheese. And if you know anything about hospitals, that is a huge no-no. So Dr. J talks them into letting us come at 3. I am still going as natural as I can, so I am not having an epidural and they have nothing to worry about. Well they listened and we were scheduled to check in at 3. Off we go to have our last few hours with our furbaby. We went home and walked Liuzza, showered, loaded the car, and set off!

Once we got to the hospital and got all checked in we were settled in L&D room 9. It was huge and at the end of the hallway, so we were feeling pretty fabulous. They immediately check me and get me hooked up on the monitors. I requested the telemetry monitor so that I could continue to be mobile as my labor progressed. Jenn had to keep adjusting the monitor because Baby J kept moving. I told them he wouldn't stop bc he was hungry and we hadn't eaten... Jenn tried twice to get my IV in and had trouble so she called Meg who got it on one shot. At 415 they began the IV fluids. at 453 they started the pitocin. 505 they began the antibiotics for GBS. At 520 I had my first popsicle! They also upped my pitocin to 4. Patrick got their right about 540. Apparently my contractions were rocking and rolling but I felt nothing so they upped pitocin to 6. My contractions were about 2-3 minutes apart but I was still feeling nothing. The nurses seemed surprised. They continued  to have to adjust the baby monitor because he continued the moving. At 7pm Jenn & Meg's shift ended and Ashley came on. PJ goes to get him and Christopher dinner around 8. Man it smelled good, I enjoyed my second popsicle. They upped pitocin to 8 and continued to adjust the baby monitor. At 9 they gave the second round of antibiotics. Patrick, Christopher, and I were just hanging out watching football! Thank heavens for MNF - San Francisco 49ers Vs. St. Louis Rams.

Dr. Jacoby comes around 920 to break my water. It was not incredibly exciting. I could feel him grabbing the bag of water twice and it slowly began to leak. Then I had a small gush of sorts. But don't be fooled once it is broken it does not all come out. Every time I stood up I had water come on out... sooooo fun and I am sure paints a great picture for you readers! Around 1030 I think I feel a contraction, it felt like gas. Again around 1120 I think I feel something in my back.

Tuesday October 14th, 2014
Continue from above. PJ goes out to meet everyone around 12 when they get there. I begin to feel contractions in the uncomfortable way. Not awful, but I can see how they could become bad. Everyone comes back in twos and says hi. They change my IV at 1227. Around 1am everyone heads home to get some sleep before the big labor gets going. Apparently I begin to shiver and we are not sure why! Ashley continues to make me get back in bed and try and find the babies heart rate. I continue to tell her he is going to keep moving because I am hungry! She did not seem very amused. They give me my third round of antibiotics. Around 2am I throw up. What I throw up or why I have no idea... Poor Christopher had stepped out to get water and I felt the urge to throw up. Bless his heart, I know that he was so upset for not being there for me. I break out the essential oils at this point because things are hurting and Ashley keeps making me get back in bed. I kept trying to labor on the ball or the toilet, anywhere but the bed! Everything gets worse on the bed! I could have sworn I was in transition... Ashley checks me at 245 and I was only 3cm dilated, 95% effaced and still -1 station. To say I felt defeated was an understatement. I was in awful pain. Pain that was not natural and came at the result of drugs. Drugs I did not want and never planned to have. I cried. Chris and I are both emotional at this point and discuss pain options. We decided to go with NuBain a pain med that would take the edge off. It did not feel like it helped any with contractions, but it did make me sleepy between them, which helped with the whole relaxing thing. Chris was incredible. He worked with me through every contraction. He was using counter pressure with tennis balls and anything else that we found to work. I would not, could not, no way have made it through a second of any laboring without him. Everyone says that labor brings you closer and lets you learn more about each other. It was an amazing experience to go through together and I will always be grateful for it. No matter how it panned out! At 510 I got the 4th round of antibiotics and a 2nd round of NuBain. Ashley checked me at 525 and I was 5cm, 100% effaced, and -1 station. Christopher's work alarm went off at 530 and we got a good laugh about that one. We had officially been awake for 24 hours! Come on Baby J we wanna meet you and then sleep for days! :) Around 6 I felt the need to push and told Ashley, she did not check me again and she told me not to push. Looking back I am super upset about that. I felt like I went from 5cm to 9 very quickly and had she checked me I would have been ready. Turns out it was for the best bc our favorite girlies - Meg & Jenn came back at 7. And we would not have been able to have done all that we did with out them! Jenn held the monitor on me and allowed me to move as I needed too, I could not have been more grateful because it helped contractions not be miserable. I told them I felt like I needed to push, they immediately checked me and said I was 9cm, 100%, & -1! Call Dr. Jacoby, we are gonna have this baby!!! I could not tell you how amazing those words were! Dr. Jacoby shows up at 735 straight from the gym, sweaty clothes and all, it made me love him even more! So for two hours I push and push. I push in every position I can. Baby J's head is right there but keeps going right back in. Dr. Jacoby says I am doing amazing and couldn't be better at pushing. Something is keeping him from coming out, because I would have been able to push him out in 3 pushes if not. Dr. J doesn't know if it is the babies head, my bones, or the way the baby is positioned. I have  a feeling it is not his position because he has been soooo good & in the perfect position for so long. Dr. J cant check the position without an epidural because it would be too painful, and the baby's head is too swollen to see his ears and tell if his chin is down or up. So after 2 hours I have never felt so physically exhausted. Dr. J mentions an epidural. He will be able to go in and feel the baby and possibly help him out. He also says he thinks it will relax things a little and maybe give the baby a little more help on the way out. So once again we are faced with another thing we did not want in our labor and delivery. We decide it is the next best thing before a c section and go with it. Chris says looking back he is pretty sure Dr. Jacoby knew that I would need a c section, but he also knew how strong willed I was and that I wasn't going to consent until I had gotten to try everything possible! I am again eternally grateful to him for the constant support.

Well, Dr. J goes home to shower and the anesthesiologist comes into to get the leg numbing drugs going. Before they get things going I ask if I can brush my teeth and wash my face. They let me do all of the things I want before I am stuck in bed for the foreseeable future. An hour passes and Dr. J comes back. He checks me and says everything is perfect and the baby has been in the perfect position the whole time. It is in fact my pelvis that is keeping him from coming out... My body. MY amazing body is what is not allowing my sweet baby boy out of me. I could have chosen to feel betrayed, but I decided that will do nothing good. So we push for another 40 mins and nothing has changed. I had to have oxygen and sit out a few contractions because his oxygen was not as good as they wanted. He was never actually in distress, just getting pretty exhausted. Mommy feels your pain buddy boy. It has been a long day. So the dreaded end game that we all knew was a possibility is thrown on the table. It is time for a c-section. Everyone could not be more amazing, they kept reminding me that this is not a failure. I have been strong, I have done everything I could. And I need to be okay with this. Chris and I both cry, then I enter a stage of surrealness - numbness even. I knew that at the end of this I would have my baby and he would be okay, I knew that I really did do everything I could, I knew that my doctor and nurses were incredible and let me do whatever I wanted, and I knew I had the most incredible support system in my husband. But I still went into a state of  this is what is happening, this is what I didn't want, but I need to be okay with it.

Off to the OR we go. I am shaking, they it is the epidural. My teeth are clattering insanely. Chris had to spend the whole time massaging my jaw because it hurt so bad. Even as I sit here at my kitchen table and my baby sleeps in his bouncer seat I can instantly feel the pain in my jaw.

To say that the whole process of having a c-section was wild, well it was wild. Surreal, unbelievable, dreamlike, not-real... I can go on and on of just how it felt and never really be able to communicate how I felt laying there being cut into. Then hearing my baby cry. I cant see him. But I can hear him. I couldn't feel him come out of my body, but I knew it happened (in 7 short minutes). It was not the birth that I imagined. All I could think was I don't want him to be alone. I wanted Chris to stay with him the whole time. Chris came back to me to show me pictures he had taken on his phone, I couldn't look, I just wanted him to be with Harrison, to make sure that Harrison knew he was safe. That I was so sorry they were sticking things down his throat and up his nose. That is no way to come into the world. I am so grateful that he wont have any memory of his first days because they were traumatic to say the least. So as I lay there, still shaking, I knew I had a baby but I didn't feel like I had a baby. That may or may not make sense. I think because we had been planning for this natural birth with no medicine it felt more dreamlike to have all the medicine flowing through me and not be allowed a vaginal birth. We did do what we knew was best with a c-section - double suture for future vaginal success and having Harrison brought to me as soon as possible. Fortunately he never had to leave the room. So as far as a c-section goes everything went great. However Dr. J did inform me afterwards that he did double suture as I requested, but that the chances of my being able to have future vaginal births is slim. Because I pushed so hard and so long I ended up with two tears in my uterus. He repaired them both but if I were to try and push for future births there is a very large chance my uterus will rupture. He also said he is pretty positive my pelvis is not going to allow for a vaginal birth. It happens, not often, but every once in a while a body comes along that just cant accommodate having a baby vaginally. I wonder if it has anything to do with my hip and hip surgery. I am not sure that we will ever find an answer to that. But as Dr. Jacoby said we will cross that bridge when we get there for the next one. I was also told that Meg had to go in vaginally and push Harrison out. He had no interest in entering the world. I am pretty sure he'd stay inside me forever. My sweet little stubborn mamas boy!

Off to the recovery room we go! You can pick up where we left off in the next post.


So there is my birth story. I hope it wasn't too gruesome or detailed for you the readers. I do not know that I can really put into words how it felt to labor for 18 hours and actually have a baby. It was an amazing experience that I will forever be grateful for. I know that I had a "vision" of Harrison's birth and that it would go a certain way. Well it didn't. And that's okay. I am okay with it. I always will know that I did everything I could and tried as hard as I could. I will always be thankful for the team we had and the experience that it gave Chris and I. And I will forever be in awe of this amazing little life that we created. I look at him often (now for example as he sleeps in my Solly Wrap) and just think wow. That is it, wow.

Here he is!!!!

before leaving for the hospital

Harrison's Many Firsts

Here are a list of the things Harrison has accomplished in his first few weeks of life!!


10/25/14- First trip to Target!
10/28/14 - Moves into size 1 diapers! We alternate Honest and Pampers Swaddlers. Honest during the day Swaddlers at night.
10/28/14 - First time reaching 10 lbs! He was officially 10lbs 2oz at his two week checkup! Little man is a growing boy! Here is the weight gain/loss of Harrison: Born at 8.6, got down to 8 at the hospital, left the hospital at 8.3. And then he was 8.9 1/2 at his one week checkup!
10/29/14 - Moves up a spot in his carseat shoulder holes. He started on the 2nd one and is now on the third.
10/29/14- Harrison's first lunch & mall outing. He did great! Slept the whole time in his Sakura. Cheech, Harrison, and I went to Bistro N and then Janie & Jack in Northpark. He was rewarded with three new outfits... mommy couldnt resist!
10/29/14 - First diaper change in the trunk of the car. Followed by first feeding in the car!
10/31/14 - First Halloween!
11/1/14- First time he went 4 hours between feeds during the night. He has been doing at least one 4 hour stretch during the day for the last few days.

I know that he will have many more firsts! But these were just the ones that I could spit out quickly and off the top of my sleep deprived head!

Side Note:
- Sorry there is no fun font on this post...
- Sorry there are no pictures on this post
- Birth Story and First Two Weeks coming soon!! I just need to finish them!