Brock's first two weeks in the world

Brock's first week was a whirlwind. Brock entered the world on January 3rd at 1:29 pm. We spent the first couple days in the hospital. Brock's first couple days in the hospital were filled with visitors and lots of love from the hospital staff. We had a wonderful nurse name Donna who my mom and I spent a ton of time talking to. We spent a couple late nights chatting and getting to know her. She loved our little boy so much and took him to the nursery the first night to give me some sleep. When he arrived back in the morning, I was so relieved to learn that he had wonderful care in the nursery. Phyllis, the wonderful nurse that spent time with me during my c-section spent the night rocking and singing to Brock. I also woke up very rested which was nice. Its amazing when you haven't slept for four days what fours hours of sleep will do for you.

On Thursday January 5th, Brock's results came back from the test we had to do when he was born to test for infection due to my fever. It came back negative and we were released to go home! I couldn't be happier to be heading home. We spent the evening having a nice dinner courtesy of my mom and some relaxation before heading to bed. I was still in really rough shape but managed to take a shower and I had two wonderful nurses ( Matt and my mom) to help me around. We spent the first couple days around the house and sitting under the pergola with Brock. It was really relaxing anf have me some time to heal. On Saturday we brought Brock to the doctor for his wellness check. He was doing great but had lost a couple more ounces than they wanted him to lose so they asked me to supplement an ounce of formula with every nursing session. Nursing was going great with Brock but I was having some production issues due in large part to the extensive medications and trauma of his delivery. After a few days Brock had gained quite a bit of the weight back and I started working with a lactation consultant and between that, fenugreek supplements ( used to help with production), lactation teas, and extremely increases my calories, and just time we are in business. The doctor said at day 8 I was really at a production level of day 4. I guess this can happen when your body goes through what mine did. Regardless, its now going great after tons of work and Brock is growing like crazy.

So, I had no idea that babies go through a initial growth spurt at around 7-10 days but thank goodness someone told me because I wouldn't have know what turned our awesome little sleeping into a crazy man at around day 8 when he went from sleeping for like 3-4 hours and me waking him up to eat to wanting to eat every hour non stop and staying up all night for two days. Holy hell, it was a rough couple nights but we got through them and he is back to normal sleeping last night for 5hrs then 3hrs so I feel so much better and more rested.

On Brock's 7th day, Matt, my mom and I got up around 6am and left the house before 7am to drive to Jacksonville for his newborn pictures. This included 40 minutes of nursing which left me with about 10 minutes of getting ready. Luckily, I am known to be abele to roll out of bed and be in the car in 10 minutes so motherhood has nothing on me :) I was so excited about these pictures. I have been lusting after Stephanie Knowles photography for a couple years now so I was overjoyed that she was doing our pictures. Brock was a champ and she was able to shoot him for about 3 hours. Watching her was like watching an artist in their element. This was no Olan Mills ( no offensive), Stephanie is so talented with infants. The studio was very warm so that the baby stays really sleepy and she understands baby behavior and kinetics like a nurse. She could tell you when Brock was going to smile by the slight rise in his rib cage  and could make his eyes close by massaging his temple and eye brow. It was really incredible to watch and I couldn't be happier with the shots we got.

Overall, here is what I will remember from the first two weeks:

-Visitors- We started having visitors from day one. I know some new parents prefer their alone time in the beginning and I really respect that but that is not us. We are the happiest when we are surrounded by friends and family. Brock has so many Aunties and Uncles and we are so blessed that he is loved by so many people, we couldn't keep him all to ourselves. I can't even list every one here that has come to visit Brock because it would get way too long. He is one lucky and popular little boy.

My brother and Hannah

 Holly and Frank

 Kelly and Eric

Joslyn and Brock

More to come once I upload!

- Sleeping: Besides a couple rough nights, Brock has been a really good sleeper. He likes to sleep for 3-4 hours at a time and seems to be pretty easily soothed at night. We have lucked out with a few nights of 5 hours and would love to replicate this every night.

-Nursing: A lot of work for me and pretty exhausting at first but Brock was a natural and didn't give me any trouble as long as I nurse him whenever he wants. The lactation consultant helped me a ton and just realizing that not every person follows the same formula for production etc. Also, finding the right doctors to support you helps a ton. I even went and saw my OB GY, Tracey, because she missed us ( or so I hope :)) and she have me so much real life advice from her own experiences with her four kids.

- Personality- Brock is pretty laid back, like his daddy, but defiantly has my fiery personality which contributes to his complete meltdowns during diaper changes. I know its funny to talk about a newborns personality but trust me you start to see if very soon.

-Outings- After a few days of recovering at home, my body has really bounced back really quick. I attribute this to my fitness regime during pregnancy and hours of spinning on the bike. This has enabled me to be able to get around very well and we try to go for a walk in Brock's pram every afternoon. He loves the fresh air and really seems to enjoy the walks. It makes me feel good also. We have also ventured to Jax for the pictures and afterwards my mom and I spent the afternoon at the town center. We had a lovely lunch outside at PF Changs. I had a delicious glass of wine and tons of food. Have to get those calories! We then walked around a ton and I bought Brock a cute pair of dark washed jeans. What newborn doesn't need stylish jeans?! Besides this, going to doctor appointments, we have made a couple trips to the grocery store and we even ventured to the mall for a quick stroll. Brock stayed in his pram all covered up but it let us get out of the house some. We also started going to the post partum lunches at the hospital, I really enjoyed meeting other mommies of similar age with babies around Brock's age. It seems to be a great network and I look forward to going to more of them.

-Looks- Brock has tons of hair, I think thats the first thing most people say when they see him. His hair color is a beautiful strawberry blonde color, exactly like mine when I was born. He has long limbs. We call his legs chicken legs because they are long and lean. He has really long fingers that look like they are meant to learn the piano, or be a football receiver, depending on who you ask:) Brock's eyes are still a dark blue color so we won't know the permanent color for quite some time but with my blue eyes and Matt's green eye's, my bet is on light blue. His complexion is somewhat between mine and Matt's, not too fair but not too olive. He has a cute little button nose and tiny little ears.

On Brock's two week checkup with Dr. Mary Grooms, he measured in right at 9lbs, 21.25 inches long, 15 inch head. We found out his head at birth was over 90 percentile, hence the lovely long labor and c-section. His head and height is now in the 75 percentile. We really enjoyed Dr. Grooms. I know her from the Junior League and what a fantastic doctor she is. I loved that she sat down and just talked to us like we were having lunch together. So friendly and easy to get along with. I am really glad to have her as his doctor.

Ok, I think that is all for now. Its been an amazing two weeks and I really want to slow down time. I know Brock will only be this small for so long and I really want to cherish this time and not rush it. I could do without the late night feedings but I know there will be a time when I miss these times so I try not to take them too seriously. One of my best friends gave me a great piece of advice before I had Brock and that was if you ever get too anxious, or overwhelmed in these early days, just remember this time will pass. Its a very short amount of time and it will be over in the blink of an eye. So don't get too worked up about any of it. Enjoy the ride. I have taken this to heart and really am working to be as patient as I can with him and enjoy this time. Some days I wonder what the heck I did all day. I am so used to running on high speed with everything, that this has taught me to just relax and enjoy it because it will all pass and you will miss the time.

Thanks for reading.

Christy

Welcome to the world, Brock Harrison! Labor and beyond...

Well, here I sit, one week after Brock entered the world and I am blown away by how fast it has gone by, yet, how much has happened in the past week.  Matt and I were able to stay connected with our friends and family throughout the whole labor and delivery 'event' through Facebook but we were a bit hesitant to write too much because we didn't want to alarm anyone and a lot was going on at the time to keep up with everything.

So, take us back to New Years weekend, Matt and I knew I was going to be induced on Sunday night so we had a wonderful New Years Eve celebrating with some friends and then spent the next couple days doing some last minute pick up around the house, preparing for the little man and trying not to go insane. Sunday was a little scary waiting around for the inevitable. I took a nice long nap, Matt was supposed to join me but he was so anxious, his nesting instinct was in high gear and he spent 4 hours vacuuming every room, dusting, mopping etc. It was pretty hilarious that I was sound asleep, no instinct here but Matt was working like a mad man. Yes, I realize he is pretty amazing. We will keep him :) So after I woke from my nap, we went for a long walk, I had officially given up on inducing laboring naturally since I literally tried every single thing, minus Castor oil ( sorry, that's just gross!) and Brock was just not ready to make this easy. Matt and I went to North Florida around 7:45 pm on Sunday, January 1st. We checked into our suite, it was pretty much like checking into any normal hotel room and then we got ready to get things rolling. I was started with a cervical insert gel that is a more natural medication that slowly starts the induction. Throughout the night I started having pretty significant contractions and by morning I was started on Pitocin. They started me at the normal 10mL of Pitocin then worked its way up to 20 mL. They told me within a half hour I would be in intense pain and I could have an epidural at any point. Well... that's when things got really interesting, hours into Pitocin and I barely felt anything. I was having strong contractions on the monitor but really felt barely any pain. This sounds awesome but they wanted me to start experiencing pretty intense active labor and I was far from it. I was laughing with my parents, watching football and having out. Finally after hours of 20mL they authorized me to go up to 30 mL which I guess they rarely do but they couldn't figure out what was going on. So I went up to 30mL and hours went by and still barely any major pain. After internal exam after exam and rupturing my membranes I was getting into a very uncomfortable place. That's when they decided to go ahead and break my water and I decided pain or no pain I was getting an epidural for that process and boy, oh boy, I made the right decision. The first ( yes, first epidural) was uneventful and really wasn't very painful. Breaking my water was another thing. WOW is all I can say, it was quite the process. After the water broke, they expected Brock to slow down some but heck no, he was like a crazy person kicking and flipping around. He kept kicking his monitor off my tummy and that would sent off an alarm and the nurses would come in to fix it. This happened about 10,000 times. I also started developing a slight fever at this point which worried everyone to death and they started me on antibiotics for precautionary measures.

Its funny how much time past with me in labor but it went by fairly quickly considering it was two days. After my water was broken my progression was going really well. I went from 2cm to 4 then 7 then 8.5 then 9.5. Progression was great but the pain was unbearable. Everyone speaks of the epidural like its this miracle drug that takes away all the pain. Well.... I defiantly did not get the miracle drop. Similar to Pitocin my body started metabolizing the epidural in around an hour. In one hour, I would go from being okay, some pain to severe all out pain, with no relief. On top of that they kept me on 30mL of Pitocin for two days. The combination was pretty awful. They said this was a VERY strange reaction but had a lot to do with the fact that I work out pretty heavily and my body just metabolizing drugs like they are nothing. The doctors started to worry that they would reach a toxic level of the medication so they started making me 'special concoctions' of other drugs. Some worked, some did absolutely nothing. After around 40 hours, my doctor came in and checked me and I was almost 10 cm dilated ( yah!). Problem was Brock just would not drop down into my birth canal, we tried everything but they started to worry that his head and shoulders were going to be too big. They were afraid if they were able to get his head out they would have to break his collar bone and my pelvis bone ( say what?!)... so at that point they recommended a c-section. I was really upset about working so hard for so long at delivering him naturally only to end in a c-section. It really just didn't seem fair at all.

After the decision was made, it was like a whirlwind, I was prepped for surgery in about 15 minutes. I was pretty upset about the whole thing mixed with complete exhaustion, oh and the epidural didn't work at all so I was having horrible contractions. I had defiantly hit my limit. Matt was sweet enough to see this and decided it was time to brighten the day with my beautiful 'push present', gorgeous David Yurman diamond and stone earrings. They are so pretty and a great little gem to remember Brock's birth. This gave me enough motivation to pull myself together and even put some lip stick on.

About this time, I received my second epidural since they thought maybe the first wasn't put in correctly. This really didn't make any difference but was worth a try. Around 12:15 I was wheeled into the OR and prepped for surgery. It was a crazy experience and one that I had not mentally prepared myself for. The staff was absolutely amazing. They knew this was not what I wanted and they respected me a lot for trying so hard so they did their very best to make it a good experience. I will never forget the kindness that I felt from everyone around me. I will never forget Julie, the wonderful nurse practitioner who held my hand until Matt came back or Phyllis the British woman who rubbed my head and sang to me, or my angel of a nurse Ginny, who stood by my side through everything or Dr Marichal who walked in and said 'well, looked who got all dolled up'. I told him I may feel like shit but I was not looking like shit in all my pictures. He thought this was hilarious so everyone preceded to create red lipsticks on their masks in the operating room. It made for a great laugh. Dr Marichal was amazing. My doctor, Dr. Botha, had just worked 26 hours straight and supported me until the bitter end. I absolutely love my doctor, she is so kind and down to earth and I was sad that she wasn't the one that delivered Brock but she was there through all of it and I am so happy to have had her as a doctor. I am actually sad in a way to not see her every week. You get so close to someone when you go through this journey together.

Dr Marichal and Brock

Ok, back to the timeline...

When Matt came into the OR they played our Jack Johnson mix and at 1:29 pm our beautiful baby born entered the world to the tune of Jack Johnson's song, "If I had eyes in the back of my head". It was such an amazing experience to hear his little cry for the first time. I will never forget it. Realizing that he was ours. Matt said he looked down at me and saw one little tear strolling down my check and he said it was the sweetest moment of his life.

( my absolute favorite picture captured by my favorite nurse, if you look at the clock it's the exact minute he was born, having this picture means so much to me because I wasn't able see him being born.)

Brock was wrapped up and weighed in at 8.8 pds, 22 inches with a head circumference of 15 inches aka the equivalent of a baby over 10 pounds. I will be hopeful and attribute this to his large, smart brain :) Brock was so sweet from the moment they handed him to us.

He kept looking around and was so incredibly loving. Because of my fever during labor he had to be taken to the NICU to stand a preventative treatment of antibiotics until his cultures could clear, and they did, 48 hours labor with my infection. I was given a sedative to relax and was sent back to my room for recovery. I was really out of it and kept calling out for him because all I could remember was that I was suppose to be bonding with him and feeding him. Ginny, my amazing nurse sat with me for hours, reassuring me that everything was okay and he would be there very soon. A couple hours later Brock arrived and It was amazing. I loved him so much from the moment I saw him. I love his spiky strawberry blonde hair, his button nose that looks like his daddy's, his long skinny legs and his chubby cheeks. He was so laid back from day one, just like Matt, and would just sit with me and look around at everything around him.

 Looking rough but so happy to have my baby boy with me

 Best nurse in the world, Ginny

 Love at first sight

Our angel

Labor and delivery was not easy, it was hard, really hard, but it was so worth it and I would do it over and over again to have him.

Day one, me and my little boy

He is such a perfect combination of Matt and I and its really amazing to just sit and look at all his little features to see which parts are 'us'. After delivery, we stayed in the hospital for 2 more days. Recovery was rough. My body had been through so much and it showed. My legs and feet swelled really bad but I bounced back pretty quickly. By the next day, I was able to start walking around and this helped with recovering.

On Thursday, my mom, Matt and I made the venture home and had a great time introducing Brock to our fur baby Zeke. Zeke took to Brock really easily and still doesn't seem to mind him at all. Zeke just wants to be right in the middle of anything that involves the baby. Sometimes it makes me sad that I haven't been able to give him as much attention but he gets so much love from everyone that I quickly forget about it.

 Introducing Zeke to Brock

Things that I will try in always remember from Brock's birth is the kindness of the nurses and doctors at North Florida, Brock's first cry, the song that was playing when he was born, Dr Marichal's sweet blessing he gave Brock, Brock's spiky hair, inquisitive eyes, Matt's partnership and sensitivity through everything, my mom's unfaltering support through every moment, sleep deprived or not, who never left us through everything and all the love and friendship of our friends and families who called, sent texts, prayed, brought food, sent cards/flowers/cookies and support. We are forever grateful to you. You have made the experience so much more than we every thought it would be. We hope to share in Brock's life with each of you.

More to come on Brock's first week home... stay tuned!

Love,
Christy

A few more pictures...

 Coming home!

Gigi, aka Grandma