Jackson Luke: One Month Old

Hello! I should backtrack and say that Jackson Luke was born on June 20, 2018 at 12:02 PM via emergency c-section. Maybe I will share the full birth story someday (Emma is 2 and I still haven't gotten around to writing hers) but the short version is that the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. Every time I pushed, his heart rate went down and after only a few tries, the doctor made the call and rushed me to the OR. I'm so grateful to my doctor for making the call rather quickly and getting this sweet boy out into the world safely.

Jackson Luke Snyder :: June 20, 2018 :: 7 lbs, 9 oz.

Somehow this precious boy has already been part of our world for 1 month! 

THE HIGHLIGHTS

- One month stats: 8 lbs. 12 oz.; 20.5"

- We pushed through some serious challenges (i.e. mastitis) and made it through the first month exclusively breastfeeding

- Jackson gets tons of hugs and kisses from his big sister every day, but also gets poked in the eye and kicked in the head on occasion. There is no doubt he is loved by her, but she hasn't quite grasped how fragile he is yet!

- At one month, he's pretty much outgrown most of his newborn sized clothes and wearing mostly 0-3 months 

- At the end of his first month, Jackson was starting to sleep for longer stretches at night typically going down around 9:30/10 and waking up around 2 or 3 a.m., then waking up again around 6 a.m. Those middle of the night wake ups are totally manageable assuming he nurses for 30 minutes or so and goes back down easily, but that hasn't necessarily been the case every night

- At only about 10 days old, we took Jackson and Emma "away" (not really away, but about a 45 minute drive from us) for a staycation with some of our friends for a weekend. The timing was not ideal and Jonathan ended up taking me to the emergency room that Saturday night to get treated for mastitis, BUT I'm still glad we went! 

- Jackson loves to snuggle and does really well in my Happy Baby wrap. He's started to become more aware of his surroundings and we love to catch him watching me or Jonathan. 

A few snapshots from Jackson's first month:

 Jackson's first month was a serious rollercoaster of emotions, but I think we're all starting to settle into our new normal. We're all incredibly smitten with this sweet boy!

Baby #2: We're in the Home Stretch!

Hello! With less 2 weeks until our due date, I wanted to pop back in here with one final pregnancy update. I can't believe we are so close to meeting this boy!

Pregnancy is so weird. You go nine months counting down and being so ready for the pregnancy part to be over -- the back pain, swelling, heart burn, general discomfort and other unpleasant symptoms. You anxiously count down the weeks because you can't wait for what's next - loving on a sweet, tiny baby. Then as you finally near the end of this journey, you find yourself wanting to savor the being pregnant part because you realize any day now it could be over. There is no feeling like the feeling of a baby moving around inside you and suddenly you realize how much you'll miss those kicks and tumbles. Like I've said before, I don't know what the future holds for our family, but knowing that we could decide we are perfectly happy with two kids has me wanting to soak in these last few weeks even more.

I know my pregnancy updates have been sparse and pretty random this time around, so this post will likely be all over the place, too!

How I'm Feeling
My answer to this typically depends on how well I slept the night before because after a long night of little sleep, my coping skills fly out the window. Aside from sleep issues, I'm still dealing with regular heart burn and serious lower back pain most days, but otherwise I can't really complain.

On My Mind
As we've approached these last few weeks of pregnancy, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't feeling a bit anxious. The general anticipation and excitement is one thing, but I've definitely found myself feeling anxious about labor, breastfeeding, adjusting to life with 2 kids, etc. It's funny because I expected to feel so cool and calm this time around since I've been through it once before, but it's kind of been the opposite. Ignorance is bliss and I think with my first pregnancy, while we took a class at the hospital and did our best to prepare, I still didn't know what to expect so leading up to it all I remember feeling is excitement.

Emma's birth wasn't traumatic in any way, but circumstances like her being posterior, getting stuck on my pubic bone, me pushing for 2.5 hours and her having to spend the first 12 hours of her life in the transition nursery have me wondering how things will be different this time. I wouldn't say I'm worried as much as it just being on my mind a lot, but I'm reminding myself that despite the circumstances that didn't go as I'd hoped with Emma's birth, she is healthy as can be and I would go through it again in a heartbeat. No matter how things go down this time, the end result is all that matters but I definitely wouldn't mind being one of those women who say they pushed twice and boom! baby was here!

One thing that's helping me feel more relaxed as we near the end of pregnancy is Jonathan's schedule. He has more flexibility with work than he ever has before, which has been great in these last few weeks but will be a big deal when we go into labor and then as we settle into a new normal at home. It's easing my mind a lot to know he'll be able to manage his schedule and be available to help more, especially in those first few days home with the baby.

Nursery Progress
We just put the finishing touches on this in the last few days and I'm so happy with this space! It could maybe use a few more things on the walls, but I don't love to buy things for the sake of filling space, so if I come across something later on that I like, we could always add to it.

Final Prep

My hospital bag is about 90% packed aside from a few last minute things I'll throw in when it's time to go. I took a day last week and cooked a few freezer meals to have on hand. I spent an entire afternoon cooking and really only ended up with maybe 6 dinners but even if it gets us through the first few days back at home, I know it will be helpful. 

I need to get a bag together for Emma since she'll be with her grandparents while we are in the hospital. Speaking of Emma, I'm also working on putting together a little basket of fun toys for her that I can take out when I'm nursing to keep her entertained. She's been loving stickers lately and has started to get into coloring, too so I think a few fun things like this and maybe a puzzle will be perfect for this. I've heard this tip from a lot of moms and I think it might help especially in those first few weeks.

Other than those things, we are ready to rock and roll. In the meantime, I'm trying to stay on top of the work I do for Jonathan so that whenever the time comes, things don't fall too behind on that end. We're also hosting Jonathan's 30th birthday party (an old school field day with water balloon toss, dodgeball and other fun games) at our house this weekend and even though in a way, I felt like we overcommitted a bit planning this 10 days before our due date, preparing for this and having a few things on my to do list to get ready will be good for me this week. We also have so many people helping out so that I really don't have to do much so I'm thankful for that!

Right now I'm really trying to relax and enjoy this last bit of time before the baby arrives. I've heard from so many moms that the hardest part of transitioning from one to two kids is just missing that one-on-one time with their first born. Needless to say, I've been really trying to soak up this time with Emma before we add her baby brother into the mix. I know things are going to be fine and we'll have a new normal here very soon that we'll love just the same, but I'm certainly a little emotional about the changes coming our way.

Emotions are high right now and allll over the place, but I'm feeling so grateful for a healthy pregnancy, our beautiful little family and a husband who is all in 100% of the time. Emma is going to be the sweetest big sister and I'm anxious to finally lay eyes on our sweet boy any day now. 

The Scoop on Baby #2: Part 2

Is anyone surprised that it took me 6 weeks to get back here for the second part of this post? I'm not, but I'm glad to have some time to write today. My sister texted me late in the day yesterday offering to take Emma for the day so I could have some time to myself. I took her up on it knowing I could get in a few errands and squeeze in some writing time. 

I'm already in my 30th week of pregnancy, so if I don't get this post out now this baby boy will be here before I ever get back again! This pregnancy continues to fly by which is obviously great because we can't wait to meet this baby, but I'm also trying to soak up this time. I don't know what the future holds for us, but there is definitely a possibility that this could be my last pregnancy. That and knowing Emma's time as an only child is coming to an end have me wishing time would slow down so I can truly enjoy these last several weeks. 

I've obviously been horrible about documenting this pregnancy, so I guess I have a lot to share. 

It makes to sense to start with the question pregnant people get asked the most, "How are you feeling?" I'm feeling pretty good! At 30 weeks, my biggest complaints are lower back pain, crappy sleep and severe discomfort thanks to my boobs being monstrous (literally). Wearing a bra is torture lately, so much that we left a wedding fairly early in the evening recently because I literally could not keep my bra on another minute. 

I was dealing with some serious heartburn, but I adjusted a few things in my diet and it seems to be helping (with sleep, too!). I considered myself so lucky with my first pregnancy in that I didn't experience morning sickness at all and thankfully, this time around has been similar. I'd say the only big difference this time around has been the exhaustion and emotions being a little more intense, but I'm also spending my days with a busy, energetic toddler so I'm sure that's a huge factor. 

Is Emma excited to be a big sister? Well, I can't say she really understands what is happening. At 20-months-old, she's known the word "baby" since we found out we were pregnant and she's also happened to take more interest in her baby doll over the last few months. Whenever she takes her baby doll out, I've tried to encourage her to love on her baby and she will hold it up to her face and snuggle with it. When we see a baby out in public, she excitedly shouts "baby!" and is so eager to walk up to see up close. I'm encouraged by all of this, but as far as understanding that we're going to have a baby in our house soon that she'll have to share attention with...I don't think she's there yet and that's okay! 

I was in a really good place with my health/fitness when we found out we were pregnant. The timing is actually really funny because I had just made it back down to a smaller size in jeans, which I had ordered online and was so excited to actually need to buy a smaller size. Ironically, these jeans came in the mail just a few days after finding out I was pregnant. I joked with Jonathan that I'd be wearing them every day until I couldn't fit into them so I could enjoy them even for a short time. 

But seriously, I had come a long way in getting back to a happy weight and fitness level for myself. I've been pregnant and now seen that I can (maybe not super quickly) get my body back to (or better) than before, but I also knew I wanted to try to maintain healthier habits this pregnancy. With Emma, I I exercised here and there through my 1st trimester and it seriously tapered off after that. I'd recently realized how much better I felt when I was staying active, so I promised myself I'd try harder this time. 

I was able to keep up my routine of working out 4-5 times a week through my 9th week of pregnancy. I was doing an hour of barre and 30 minutes of spin once a week, running a few miles once or twice a week and mixing in some strength and cardio work throughout. From weeks 9 to about 20, I was still trying to get 2-3 workouts in a week and sometimes that just didn't happen and I did't get too worked up when a whole week went by with nothing. The last 10 weeks have been a little more sporadic. Some weeks I'm motivated and energized to at least get a walk in and other weeks, I've had zero motivation to exercise. I'm not overthinking it and certainly not beating myself up when I have those down weeks. My philosophy right now is exercise of any kind, at any frequency is better than nothing. Either way, I'm really happy with how I've done thus far staying fairly active through this pregnancy. 

As far as preparations for baby go, we have a name we are pretty committed to, but not quite ready to share with the world yet. In the last few weeks, we've made some major progress on the nursery, which used to be Jonathan's office. Once we cleared out the room, we painted and got the crib put together (I don't know why I'm saying we...this was all Jonathan. Last weekend, we got the dresser put together and I've added a few details here and there like a changing pad, toy bin and even picked up some wall decor. We'll be moving the rocker from Emma's room into the nursery and probably getting her a play table to put in that space, but I'm not ready to make that move yet. It may sound silly, but I'm not emotionally ready to move the rocker out of her room yet and we obviously don't need to do that until we're a little closer. 

I found so much joy getting Emma's nursery planned out and organized and I've been loving every second of it this time around. Folding itty bitty baby clothes and organizing toys and things really puts me in my happy place. Knowing in just weeks we'll have a sweet boy in this house is so surreal and I love anticipating it all. 

Things I'm looking forward to:

• After debating back and forth for a while, we decided on planning a short babymoon for Jonathan and I. I kept convincing myself that we didn't need to spend the money on a trip for us with everything going on, but in the end I'm so glad we planned something. We're headed to Jensen Beach in early May for a weekend getaway and I'm seriously looking forward to some downtime and sunbathing with my man.
• My sweet friend Jesse insisted on planning some sort of celebration for baby boy. I really didn't want a huge production seeing how we have most of what we need this time around and it's a huge undertaking to host a shower and deal with all the details of that. She suggested we plan on doing brunch at a fun place with a small group of ladies to celebrate and that sounded pretty perfect to me. It doesn't require a ton of coordination on her end and I'm really looking forward to a casual celebration with some special ladies. 
• We'll have one more ultrasound around 34 weeks. I always look forward to these! At my appointment last week, my doctor actually confirmed that baby is already head down, which was so good to hear. I remember Emma turned really early too and it's just nice to know baby is getting prepared! 

Memorable moments:

• My favorite part of this pregnancy has been the last hour or so of sleep in the morning when Jonathan inevitably finds his way to me in bed and lays his hand over my belly. This baby becomes so active as soon as Jonathan's hands are there and it's so so special. I love laying with him still half asleep as we both soak in these baby movements together. In the chaos of our day-to-day, I truly treasure these quiet moments just the two of us basking in the joys of pregnancy together. 
• Emma woke up from a nap last week and when I went to her crib to pick her up, she leaned over and hugged my belly. It was the first time it seemed like she maybe understood her baby brother is in there and it may have just been a coincidence, but it was so sweet!

Phew. I feel like that kind of covers it. I still feel so overwhelmed and grateful that we get to do this again. I'm so excited to add a little boy to our family. Jonathan has been pretty outnumbered thus far -- girl baby, girl dog and girl cat! 

Pregnancy is kind of a roller coaster - one minute you're up at 3 a.m. uncomfortable, having to pee... again, wondering how you're going to make it two more months and the next minute, your sitting on the floor playing with your toddler and the baby in your belly is bouncing around and you're wanting to bask in the joy of that moment. Emotions are high, to say the least!