One Month

Parker is now a month old! Wow-how time flies! Darrin and I cannot believe how quickly he's growing and that it's already been a whole month. He was born at 8 lbs. 10 oz. And at his two week appointment he weighed in at 9 lbs. 12 oz.! He had also grown an inch since birth at his two week appointment. I'm excited to see how much he's grown at his next appointment which is his 2 month.

He's so fun to hold, cuddle with and watch gaze up at his toys, ceiling or outside. He is now very much more aware and he's growing stronger and stronger by the day. He's so strong in his legs and neck now!

We're still waiting for the day that he gives us a "real" smile but we SO SO SO enjoy his random smiles and laughs. It's my very favorite thing in the world at the moment when he laughs in his sleep!! SO adorable!

He LOVES to be held (thank goodness for the baby bjorn!), he likes car rides (when the car is moving), he likes to be sung to, he likes to stick out his tongue, grunt, and kick his legs. We've also found that his back is ticklish! Cute to watch him squirm while we tickle it (is that mean? sorry little man! We just love to see you react to things-it's pretty much adorable :))

This last weekend for the 24th, we went to Idaho with my family. We had a lot of fun and were able to go boating, see all my uncles animals (he pretty much has a farm) and chill with the fam. Parker did really well on this first long road trip. Way to go Parker!

Darrin and I have also been trying to finish our basement apartment that we tore up months ago. It's been a little tricky with a baby but we've managed trading off watching him in between naps to work on it. We're SO close to being finished-I can't WAIT until we're done and I can't wait to post pictures when we're done!

Parker's baby blessing will be this coming Sunday, August 1st and I've excited about it! I'm SO excited to finally go to church again and to see everyone there!

Here are some pictures of our little man who's growing up so fast:

Introducing...

Introducing Parker Kayde Simon
Weight: 8 lbs. 10 oz.
Length: 21 inches
Cuteness scale (1-10): 100 +!!!
Birthday: June 24, 2010
Birth Time: 8:55pm

Well, as most know, I was induced on June 24th. I was told to call at 6:30am that morning to see when I could come in. Let me ask a question here: how on earth is a woman supposed to sleep the night before she knows she's going to have a baby?!? Strangest feeling ever. So, unfortunately I only got a few hours of sleep and woke up at 4am SO excited that I just couldn't sleep a minute longer! The minute it turned 6:30 I called and they said, "Well, were kinda busy so call back at 7:30. We might not be able to get you in until 11.". WHAT?! I wasn't supposed to eat or drink starting at midnight the night before, so I was starving and ANXIOUS to the max! I made it to 7:30 and called. They said to come on in!! So, I went and jumped on the bed to wake Darrin up and tell him it was time to go to the hospital!!! I had been waiting oh so long to say those words :)!

They started the pitocin at 9:30 am and turned it up about every half hour. It brought my contractions closer together but they stayed about as painful as I had been having for the last 7 weeks. My OB came in at 12:30 pm to break my water. Wow-that was quite an interesting experience:).

They gave me the option of getting the epideral before they broke my water. I said no because I really wanted to go through some of labor and do as much as I could without the epideral. So, I went on. Once they broke my water things got pretty dang intense! The nurse told us that I was having what they call "piggy back contractions" meaning that it would go contraction, contraction, break...contraction, contraction, break...etc. This was an indicator that he was faced posterior. Posterior meaning that is head was faced toward the front rather than the back. She said that the posterior position is no good and we needed to get him turned. So, she suggested that I get up and walk, sway, and move as much as I could to see if he would turn.

So, I did just that. Darrin was right along side me helping me through these contractions that were unbelievably painful. I made it two hours before I just couldn't take it anymore. The anisthesiologist was in a c-section when I wanted the epideral. Figures. They offered to give me pain meds through my IV but I really didn't want to be foggy in my head from those. I just wanted to be numbed. So I said no to those drugs. In the end, it was 3 hours until I got my epideral. Can I just say "WAY TO GO!!" to all those brave women out there who go all natural?! WOW.

The first time they did the epideral it only numbed my left side. Which does absolutely no good (besides me not being able to move my left leg whatsoever :)). So, they had to re-do the epideral. This time it worked. What a difference! It was INCREDIBLE!!! I could hardly feel a thing...it was heavenly.

Things progressed quickly after I got the epideral. I went from a 5 1/2 to a 10 within 2 and a half hours. But by the time I was about a nine, I started to regain feeling- I had what they called a "hot spot" where the epideral was no longer working and so I became extremely uncomfortable. They had to re-inject the epideral medicine three more times before I became numb enough to push but I could still feel quite a bit.

Parker was still posterior and I had been at a 10 for over two hours trying to get the epideral to work again. Well, my doctor said that most posterior babies end up coming c-section because they're too hard to get out. But I wanted to give it my best. An hour and 15 minutes later of pushing, little Parker arrived!!! The doc said if he was facing the right direction that he would have been out in 10 minutes for me :(. BUT, nonetheless he is here!! YAY!!!! So amazing.

Then came a whole other adventure. He took about 3 minutes to take a breath. SO terrifying for me who was just watching them shake him and try to get him to breath for what seemed like an eternity! But he FINALLY cried the tiniest cry I've ever heard. He had a fever and was breathing fast so they gave me about 5 minutes with him and then whisked him away. Fortunately, Darrin was able to stay with Parker while he was brought to the nursery for further tests. I can't explain the feelings and emotions I went through at this time. I had him at 8:55pm and didn't get to see him again until 12:45am. But his fever went down and by about 1:00am his breathing was back to normal. What a miracle!

I was FINALLY able to feed him for the first time at 1:30am. It has been an incredible, miraculous journey. He is my angel. I can't explain my emotions that go through me when I look at him and think of where he just came from. When I think of how blessed I am to have this tiny, perfect human being in my arms I can't help but cry a river of joy. Wow. God loves us.

Darrin is SUCH a good and proud daddy. I love to watch him with Parker. I love my boys so much! Darrin was also so great during all of labor-there for me every single step of the way. Thank you sweetheart!

I also had the privelege of having my three sisters and mom there for the labor and birth. They were such a great support team and I love that I was able to share the experience with them!

I am full of joy! Full of gratitude, wonderment and amazement! I am loving life! It's amazing how sleep deprived and sick (yes, I got a cold the day after I gave birth) I can be but yet be so happy.

Sorry the pictures are in backwords order so you'll have to look from bottom to top: