Me and little man

Last week was my first week by myself with our little man and I survived.  I'm enjoying being a stay at home mom.  I don't think I would trade it for anything.  Even though I enjoyed my office job I would rather stay home and raise Jaxon.  We had a great week at home.  Jaxon let me clean and do laundry.  We also got out for the first time by ourselves and ran some errands.  Even though I don't want to rush him growing up sometimes I find myself looking forward to him walking and talking. 

We went to the mall and walked around with a friend and her little boy.  Can't wait for Jaxon to be able to play with some friends.  So thankful for some mommy friends who have babies Jaxon's age.

Wonderful friends brought us dinner....Which has been the biggest help ever.

getting some practice before baby Joseph arrives

Mrs. Smith also enjoyed meeting Jaxon

Family picture at the grandparents house

Jaxon went to church Sunday and lasted about 30 minutes before he got fussy and needed to eat again.   Jaxon even dressed for the occasion, thanks to a friend who gave him his first tie.

We snuck up to sit in the balcony with our friend Eric

Went out to eat with some friends from our small group and enjoyed some yogurt at Red Mango.
Some fun pictures of Jaxon and his many faces and poses.

I'm thinking that's a little smile

his favorite sleeping position

So thankful for a long weekend where Brian has a day off.  Planning to take it easy and enjoy some family time.

More visitors

We had a great visit with my sister, brother in law, and niece last weekend.  My aunt and uncle also came to meet him.

MG loved to hold Jaxon.  She would carry the boppy over to the coach and point to the boppy for us to put Jaxon on on her lap.  It was so cute.  Can't believe MG is almost 2.

MG with the boppy waiting for cousin Jaxon

Uncle Michael

Aunt Meredith

MG with her cousin

I had a great Mother's Day.  Jaxon was so creative and made me something.  He painted me a stepping stone to put outside.  My mom and my sister were here to celebrate but then all the family left after breakfast.  I am so thankful for my parents that were able to stay and help out for the past several weeks.  They helped clean, organize, and make more room for Jaxon.  Then they were here as we welcomed him into the world.  Wish they could have stayed longer, but I guess sooner or later we needed to do things on our own.

 The family before they had to leave :(

 
This week was Brian's last week off from work.  Its been so nice to have him home to help out around the house and with Jaxon.  He's great at burping him and changing his diapers.  A couple of times that Brian has burped him Jaxon has covered him in spit up.  He thinks Jaxon just was trying to tell him to go take a shower.

We went to go visit Jaxon's great grandmother.  She hadn't met Jaxon yet because she lives out of town.  She really enjoyed meeting him and he was wide awake for her.  We made it home just in time for Jaxon's newborn photo shoot.  He did so good.  He was wide awake and was not fussy.  We can't wait to see how the pictures turned out.

 Great Grandma holding her great grandson

 I was by myself one morning this week while Brian went to go help a friend out of town.  We managed just fine.  Then we took Jaxon to our favorite Thai restaurant for lunch.  It was nice to get out of the house. Jaxon slept through lunch guess he didn't want Thai food.

We've had such great weather this week. We took advantage of it and went for a long walk with Jaxon. Again Jaxon slept through it.  But we were glad to get out and get our exercise.

Jaxon and I spent time with grandma and grandpa for part of the day at their house while Brian mowed some yards, then we went by my office so my coworkers could meet him.  They loved him.

We have had awesome friends from church to bring us dinner.  We are so thankful for our church family for helping us out.
 

Parents to be getting some practice

Parents to be getting some practice

Jaxon's latest developments
He now weighs 9lbs
His neck muscles are getting stronger and he's really trying to hold his head up
He hiccups all the time and I wish I could figure out how to get rid of them for him. 
For at least 2 nights he has let us sleep longer and hadn't needed to be fed in the middle of the night

Some cute pictures of our little man with his eyes open.

Next week... Brian is back at work. My new adventure begins of being a stay at home mom.  Looking forward to taking care of our little man.

Surviving the first week with our precious gift

We were able to stay at the hospital for 2 nights.  We had a great experience at the hospital.  The nurses were very attentive and gave us lots of information all throughout the day, which was kind of overwhelming.  Thankfully they gave it to us in writing.  All the doctors and nurses loved Jaxon.  The nurse gave him his first bath before we left the hospital.  He had visits from from friends and family.

 Beth

Mimmie

Pop Pop

Kristen

 Grandpa and Grandma

His pediatrician came to visit to check on him.  We were able to get some rest at the hospital except when the nurses came in to make their rounds and to give me pain meds or to check vital signs.  Jaxon didn't get too fussy except when he was hungry or when his clothes were off.  He loves to sleep even while trying to feed him.  We've found the only way to wake him up is to take his clothes off.  He gave us several poopie diapers and Brian learned really quickly how to change him.  We thought the nurses would take care of that, but apparently that wasn't in their job description.

Labor and delivery nurse

another nurse

So tired

Dr. T.

one of the nurses

We were released from the hospital on Sunday around lunch time.  I was ready for a shower and ready to be in my own bed.  We are still amazed that this little person belongs to us and what an awesome responsibility that God has given us to be his parents.  It was hard for us to believe that we get to take this little guy home with us with no manual.  So thankful for our church, friends, and family for their support as we go through this exciting time and transition.

getting ready to go home

Its been hard to be home and not able to do much since I'm still healing and experiencing some pain.  Brian and my parents have been great to help out.  I feel all I do is feed Jaxon and lay on the couch.  I've been told that that is ok, that is my job right now and to take advantage of the extra hands.  Its just in my nature to be independent and its hard to ask for help.  But God is teaching me.

We've been so blessed to have my parents stay with us for a few weeks to help with the transition and to help around the house.  My mom is a nurse and works at a pediatric office so I'm very thankful that we have her to go to.

Since we've been home Jaxon:
loves to sleep all the time
will open his eyes so we can look at him
loves his swing
will sleep in the cutest positions with his arms up
has found his hand and thumb to suck on
loves to sleep on his daddy's chest

Jaxon had his first dr appointment on May 8,  He passed with flying colors.  Since we left the hospital he has maintained his weight at 8lbs 3 oz.  The dr. said "looks like he has been getting good groceries"
His other grandparents came to visit and brought dinner that night.

Dr. A.

On May 9 he had a visit from a nurse that makes home visits.  She works for a program that is funded through a grant to provide a FREE service for the county.  She provides extra support for new moms.  She checked Jaxon's weight and vital signs.  She also checked to make sure I was transitioning and healing ok. We will see her again next week.

Jaxon got his first bath tonight and didn't really like it.

Thursday May 10, I was finally feeling better and since it was a nice day we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood. Jaxon slept through it all.

We are excited to have some visitors this weekend.  My sister, brother in law, and our 1 1/2 year old niece, MG. We skyped them the other night and we got to hear MG (my niece) say Jaxon.  Can't wait for them to meet him.

Jaxon Wayne is here

Our precious bundle of joy is finally here.
Just wanted to share about the day of his arrival...
Jaxon decided he didn't want to come on his due date.  Apparently no one informed him.  When we went to the doctor on May 2 we scheduled the induction since nothing had changed and he was overdue.  It was scheduled for Friday May 4 and we had to be at the hospital at 6:15am. My parents had been here for the past week and a half awaiting his arrival.  Since they got here we have been cleaning and organizing the house getting ready for him.

Brian surprised me and took me to Village Tavern for dinner. One last time just the two of us.

 Yummy key lime pie

We woke up bright and early Friday morning.  I decided to take shower I know crazy right? I couldn't have a bad hair day on the day I met our little guy.  But don't worry I didn't put on any makeup. Nobody really got any sleep that night. I was feeling nervous and excited.  Of course I was up making frequent trips to the bathroom. It was still hard to believe we were going to meet our little guy really soon.  At least finally we had a date and we weren't just waiting around wondering when my water was going to break and when we were going to have to make a mad dash to the hospital.  We had been prepared for the past several weeks.  Every time we left the house our bags were packed and in the car just in case.

All along I was leaving our birth plan open.  I had wanted to go all natural but I would do drugs if absolutely necessary.  We had learned about the pros and cons about different ways to deliver.  I wasn't too crazy about being numbed up.  We knew people that had had some side effects with the epidural.  I wanted some options during labor and wanted the freedom to move around.  Also we wouldn't have an anesthesiologist bill. Call me crazy but I wanted to know what it felt like and wanted to be alert during the delivery.

Ok so at 6:15 a.m. we arrived at the hospital.  My parents, Brian's parents, Brian's aunt were there as well.  There was no one else in the waiting room and they took me back fairly quickly.  They hooked me up to an IV, monitor, and asked me a bunch of questions. It was amazing that the heart monitor tracked the baby's heart beat and my contractions.  The doctor came in and checked me and I was still dilated at 2cm, so he wasn't ready to break my water just yet.  While waiting for things to progress I was making frequent trips to the bathroom.

Around 8am they started the pitocin to help get things along.  Over the next couple of hours I had some cramping but nothing had really changed.  The doctor came to check me around noon and then finally was able to do something at 2:30.  I had dilated to 2.5 cm and he broke my water.  My contractions started soon after that.  I could really feel them at that point.  I was practicing my breathing that we learned at our birthing classes and that really helped.  I was ready to get out of the bed to try different things to manage the pain since the hospital bed was not very comfortable.  At this point the contractions were manageable. There was a glider in the room that I used during contractions.   I also used the exercise ball to rock back and forth which helped.  The contractions got stronger and I ended up throwing up 2x.  Brian was a really good coach and massaged my back to help get me through the contractions.  He even took bites of his barbeque sandwich in between contractions.  He felt bad for eating in front of me.  The monitor I was wearing was able to track when the contractions were coming on and reaching their peak and then when it went back down.  The monitor helped prepare me, but the way the contractions were going I didn't have much of a break between them. The whole time I tried to focus on Phil 4:13- "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me."

Around 4:30pm I had already dilated to 4cm.  The nurses suggested I try a different position and lay on either side in the bed.  I wasn't too thrilled to get in the bed, but it really helped.  The problem I was having was that Jaxon wasn't dropping anymore.  While I was laying in the bed I was hugging the side rails when the contractions came on- I told Brian and the nurse I didn't think I could do it anymore.  They both were great coaches and told me I could do it.  The contractions became stronger and I could feel a lot of pressure.  I'm so glad that I kept going because it didn't take too much longer before I heard the nurses say, "ok lets prepare for delivery."  We couldn't believe it was time.

The doctor that had been working with me all day had an emergency at another hospital so I had another doctor to do the delivery,  Dr. M.  He was a great coach as well.  At that point I didn't mind who did the delivery as long as it happened soon.
I pushed for like 30 minutes and  
Jaxon Wayne Jordan which means "God has been gracious" 
was born at 10:14pm on Friday May 4 weighing 8lbs 12oz, 21 1/4 in. in length

It was an amazing experience.  What a miracle to know that God created little Jaxon inside of me.  At the end of it all I'm glad we did it natural.  I knew it would be worth it in the end because we would receive a precious gift.