An Update at Last!

Wow!! It has been a crazy ride for the last 6 and a half weeks. I'm so sorry I haven't had time to update the blog. Jake and I have been readjusting to life with a baby and with family visiting there just wasn't much down time to sit down and compose a blog for you all.

First off, I have to say that our lives have changed for the better ever since Jaxon arrived. I can't imagine life without him anymore. He is what we wake up to every morning and what we go to sleep to at night. He is the most perfect gift God could ever give us and we are so incredibly blessed to be his parents.

When Jaxon was first born, he weighed 9 pounds. *Whew! What a hard time I had during labor!!* For the first three and a half weeks of his life we were struggling to get him back up to his birth weight. He had lost a whole pound before he was even a week old. So the doctor suggested I start supplementing him with extra breastmilk. He slowly started gaining weight and finally reached 9 pounds right before he was 4 weeks old. During this time we discovered one of the reasons for his slow weight gain is due to him having a posterior tongue tie. This explained a lot of what was going on: slow weight gain, poor suction/bad latch, painful nursing, etc... We are currently waiting on the insurance to approve the procedure to clip his tongue. The doctor said she isn't sure if I'll see an improvement in nursing or not, but it is worth a shot. I've also been struggling to keep my milk supply up with his demands lately. I drink a ton of water, nurse often, drink Mother's milk tea and take Fenugreek vitamins daily. I'm hoping eventually I'll feel like I have enough milk to keep up with Jaxon's appetite. He recently went through a growth spurt where he was nursing literally every hour and just never seemed satisfied after eating. Before this growth spurt he'd eat roughly 2.5-3 ounces but now he eats more around 4 ounces each time.

Jaxon is so great during the nights! Little man has slept through the night since we brought him home! Unfortunately I couldn't let him sleep through the night with his weight struggles. I had to wake him up every 2 hours at first then once he hit his birth weight I woke him up every 2-3 hours and now since his growth spurt I let him sleep as long as he wants and I let him wake me up. Usually he goes to sleep around 9-10 and wakes up at 3:30 to eat. One day he even let me sleep until 5am!! He must have had one full belly that night! I never minded getting up multiple times at night to feed him, it was our bonding time (although it was SO hard to keep him awake to eat during the night). He still falls asleep easily at night when he's nursing but I know he eats more before he passes out compared to a few weeks ago. When we first brought him home Jaxon slept in bed with us. It's so weird because while I was pregnant I swore I wouldn't do that, but once he arrived I just knew that is what was best for us at the time. I'm such a light sleeper and having to get up every couple hours to feed him, it just made sense to have him right by my side. He always slept so good when he was next to me, too. He would pass right out without any fussing. Jaxon has now moved into sleeping in his pack 'n' play that's in our bedroom. He sleeps there from bedtime until he wakes up to nurse. Sometimes I bring him back into bed with me after that and other times he'll go back to sleep in his pack 'n' play.

During the day Jaxon and I just hang out together while Daddy is at work. I've been finishing up my online schooling (actually I just finished my last assignment today and all that's left is my final. I will finally be a qualified administrative medical assistant). It is a little hard to get other things done during the day, such as cooking and cleaning. Jaxon is a little fussy during the days if he's not with me. He doesn't have long naps unfortunately, he just sleeps for 15 minutes then I'll try to move him so I can get some work done then he'll wake up and fuss until he's with me again.

Jake and I bought a new fancy camera to take pictures with. We now have a billion pictures of Jaxon we need to upload on the computer. I also forgot to mention that Jaxon rolled over from his belly to his back for the first time at 2 and a half weeks! I even caught it on video!! He has done it a few times since then, too! I will post the link to the video down below. Jaxon seems to enjoy his bathtime, well maybe he doesn't enjoy it but he doesn't cry. We give him baths on Wednesday and Sunday nights. It seems like everyday Jaxon smiles and coo's more often than the day before. I finally captured a big smile on the camera yesterday. I'll try to get a video of him cooing at me!

Jaxon was baptized last Sunday! Jake's Aunt MaDonna and Dad were the proxies for the baptism. His Godparents are my brother-in-law, Alex and his wife Donielle.

Lucy and Leila are both very curios about Jaxon. Leila is such a good girl and watches over him and gives him kisses and lays next to him. Lucy is still trying to learn that she's a lot bigger than he is and that she can't play with him. She likes to lick his face when he's in his swing. We're still trying to work on stopping Lucy from jumping up on us. Lucy will love when Jaxon is a few years older and can finally play with her.

Jake and I have had our families come out and visit us since Jaxon was born. It was so wonderful to have them all here!! I'm so happy all the grandparents could see him while he was still tiny. The next time we'll see everyone will be March or April when Jake, Jaxon and I fly home to visit. That seems soooo far from now!! We miss you all so much!

I tried to keep the updating short and sweet so it didn't take you all day to read. I'll try to stay on top of the blog and keep it updated on a weekly basis like I did during the pregnancy.

We love you all so much and can't wait to see you/for you to meet Jaxon!

Enjoy some pictures and the video of Jaxon rolling over::

Jaxon Rolling Over Video

Holding Jax for the first time

All 9 pounds! My Chubby man!

Daddy holding Jax for the first time

Getting cleaned off 

The very first diaper change and Daddy gets peed on!

Nana and Jax

The special dinner the hospital made us

We're home!

Lucy meeting Jaxon

Leila meeting Jaxon

At the park

Jaxon and his girlfriend, Holleigh. They were both born on 12/14, just a few hours apart.

Sleep when the baby sleeps!

At Jaxon's pediatrician appointment

Christmas morning

Reading Jax a book he got for Christmas

Such a handsome boy!!!

On our anniversary night

Swinging with Mommy

After his first bath

At the hospital. Look how huge he was!!! It almost looks like a different baby!

On his way home from the hospital

Full belly!!

Our Baby Boy is a Week Old

11:39 am on Tuesday, December 14 our lives changed forever for the better. Our sweet little boy Jaxon Adam Lester finally made his appearance into this world. He weighed 9 pounds even and was 19 and a half inches long. We are so blessed that God made us parents to this sweet little boy and we couldn't be any happier than when he's in our arms.


Here's my journey:

As you know, I had a false alarm thinking I was going into labor on Monday so Jake and I went into Labor and Delivery but the nurse told us that it wasn't the real thing and that she thinks she'd see us back in a couple days. She must have been psychic because she was so right! I picked my mom up from the airport on Tuesday night and on the drive home I started have little tiny contractions. They weren't painful, more annoying than anything but they never went away. They grew stronger and stronger throughout the night and got closer together. I didn't want to go to the hospital on another false alarm so I didn't tell Jake how bad they were until he caught me crying in the shower at 2 am. I could never get comfortable and nothing seemed to ease the pain. Finally at 3:45 am I couldn't take it anymore and the contractions were two minutes apart. We arrived at the hospital at 4:04 am and I was rushed into the triage center. Within a minute or two the nurse checked me and I was dilated to 4-5 cm and 100% effaced. Finally, I was real labor and I knew I'd be having our son later that day!! I was taken back into a labor and delivery room where I was hooked up to the machines and they gave me some pain reliever through an IV. Pretty quickly I had already progressed to 7 am and I got an epidural. The shot barely even hurt, it was nothing compared to the contractions and back labor I was having. Luckily for me the epidural worked just as it should have and it took full effect within 15 minutes. The rest of my labor progressed a little more slowly and it wasn't until 9:30 that I started pushing. My dad was on speakerphone the whole time so he could be as much of a part of it as he could be from back home. Both my mom and Jake were able to be in the delivery room also. I pushed for a total of two hours and finally my little man arrived!!! They put him on my chest immediately and Jake cut the cord. Poor little guy had a pretty big cone head at the time but he was still so beautiful. They took him to weigh him and clean him off more. One great thing about the hospital is how much they promote mommy and baby skin to skin contact. So pretty much from the time he was born for another hour or more it was just Jaxon laying on my chest. It was amazing finally having him here. It's so incredible that he was inside my belly then all the sudden he wasn't anymore. Having a child truly makes you believe in love at first sight.

Over the past week Jaxon and I have had a little trouble breastfeeding but we're both starting to get the hang of it now. He is on the borderline of losing too much weight (he weighed 8 pounds even as of yesterday!) so our pediatrician is having us come back on Friday to weigh him again. We may need to supplement with formula if he hasn't gained anything. Jaxon sleeps all the time right now. I have to really try to wake him up in the middle of the night to feed him, but even then he'll only eat for 5 minutes or less before really passing back out again. We also got him circumcised yesterday and he's healing well from that. Our tough little man apparently didn't cry or bleed at all during the procedure.

Jaxon is truly the best thing to ever happen to Jake and I. He is definitely his father's son and looks a lot like Jake. Jax has big blue eyes and dark blonde hair. Words can't describe how beautiful he is. Every once in a while he'll crack a little smile while he's asleep and it makes you just fall in love all over again. We can't wait for everyone to meet him and fall in love too.

We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas. I know Jake and I got everything we could have ever wanted or dreamed for this year. I'll continue to keep you all updated as often as I can with pictures and stories of Jaxon.

Next post I'll upload a ton of pictures for you all to "ohh" and "ahh" over.   :)

Love,
Mommy, Daddy and Baby Jaxon

MY SON IS SUCH A TEASE!!!!

So Jake and I were convinced that yesterday was Jaxon's big day! Around 10am I started having the most painful cramps ever that were radiating from my back to my front. There was a constant pain but there'd be waves of just extra stabbing pain. I started timing the contractions and they were about 5 minutes apart by the time we left for the hospital. We got there a couple hours after my contractions started. They sent me to the triage center and I was put on two different monitors, one for Jax's heart rate and another to track my contractions. They got closer together at the hospital, about two minutes apart but there wasn't a clear pattern to them. The contractions also weren't changing my cervix any so after 3-4 hours of being in the hospital they said since I wasn't progressing that they were going to send me home. The nurse thinks I'm in early early labor and all I need is just one little push and I'll be in active labor quickly. I was dilated about the same when I got checked. She said I was at 3 cm, so I guess that's better than 2-3 cm. I was a little disappointed to go to the hospital this late in the pregnancy and not come home with my baby boy.

My mom flies in tonight!! So I told her that once she's here we're doing everything possible to get this baby out. I think Jaxon has been waiting for Nana to get here to make his appearance so now he can come on out.

Jake is once again on swing crew this week so he leaves for work at 10 am and comes home around 11. It'd be great if I went into labor at night so we don't have to worry about Jake getting off work and sitting in traffic to come to the house to take me to the hospital.

On the plus side, we've got everything ready for our little boy. My bags are packed, his bags are packed, his carseat is in place, and everything else imaginable is all set.

I have an OB appointment tomorrow. I'm going to ask her to sweep my membranes to help me get this show on the road to just give Jax his lil push he needs.

I thought I'd update you all in case I go into labor before Friday! We're soooo close to meeting lil man!!!


Love
Mommy, Daddy and baby J

38 Weeks

Well, Jaxon is still baking in my belly. Our lil man is such a tease!!! He gives Momma contractions that come every 3 minutes for a couple hours then stops. He also makes Momma think she's going to have him really early since I was already dilated to 2-3 at 36w6d. But even after all the contractions I had this week I made no progress at my doctor's appointment I had yesterday. I was really disappointed. My OB checked me and said that I was measuring the same as last week, so I'm still sitting at 2-3 cm and 70% effaced. I know things can change quickly, but I was really hoping for some type of progress.

I was also supposed to have an ultrasound yesterday to see if Jaxon is still measuring big, but I had to cancel it because the doctor's office didn't put in the referral to my insurance company. Hopefully today I'll hear back from my doctor and she'll tell me whether or not they think I'll be able to get my ultrasound done in time. I've only seen two out of the three doctors in the practice, but the one doctor I had yesterday I'm not all that fond of. This was only the second time I've seen her. The first time she told me that Jaxon's measurements from his first ultrasound weren't big even though he was measuring two and half weeks ahead and then this time she gave me some terrible advice that I don't think is accurate at all! I told her that Jaxon has been moving a lot less and there was one day I was really worried about it. She told me that as long as he moves 6 times in one hour within 24 hours then it's nothing to worry about. So basically as long as I feel 6 kicks, punches or rolls in 24 hours then he's okay. I don't think that is safe at all. When Jake and I left the appointment we both agreed that if I only felt 6 movements within like 3 or 4 hours I'd be worried. Hopefully that is the last time I have to see her and I pray she isn't the doctor on call at the hospital when Jax decides to arrive.

I have finally hit that stage in the pregnancy where I can not get comfortable for the life of me! My tummy is always tight, Jax still likes to kick in my ribs every once in a while, ,my hips and pelvis are always hurting, and so much more. But no matter how uncomfortable I am I know I have a beautiful blessing growing inside of me so it makes it all worth it. The things mommies go through for their children...  ;)

I'm hoping today is the last day of Jake working longer hours/nights. I see him for probably for a total of two awake hours every day. He also has 24 hour duty starting Sunday morning so that'll be another whole day of not seeing him. Man, I'm complaining an awful lot this post, sorry!!

On a better note, my mom will be here Tuesday and that's also Jake's guess as to when Jax will arrive. Maybe little man knows that's when Nana will be here so he's waiting for her. I really hope if he does decide to come that day he at least waits til we're all back at the house because since we moved we live about 70 minutes from the airport, not to mention my hospital is another 15 on top of that. Jake and I hope I don't go into labor between 3-8 pm because the traffic gets pretty bad from our house to the hospital and I don't think there's a back way.

I haven't taken a picture yet today because I've been nesting like crazy. I think I'll wait until Jake is home because he's only been in a couple of my belly shots. But I'm off to go clean some more and scare Lucy Goosey with the vacuum cleaner.  :)

P.S.- Lucy eats the Christmas presents and ornaments. She's such an idiot sometimes... okay... all the time.

Love you all,
Mommy, Daddy and Baby J

37 Weeks= Full Term!!

The past 37 weeks have flown by and I am officially considered full term. That means that Jaxon could be born any day now and not be considered a premie. His lungs are mature enough to breathe on their own after his big debut, along with his other organs and organ systems.

I think Jaxon knew the exact day he was considered full term because he's been extremely anxious about wanting to come out. On Wednesday, November 30, I had contractions for a few hours. They felt more like period cramps but they started in my back then radiated towards my belly. They were not very pleasant to say the least, but they finally calmed down enough for me to be able to fall asleep. The next morning I had a doctor's appointment where my OB checked my progress. As of then I was 2-3 cm dilated and 70% effaced already! She said if I continued like this there's no way I'll make it to my due date. The next day was Friday and I was considered full term.

Fast forward to last night and I thought I was for sure going to be going into labor! I was up in the kitchen for about an hour making dinner and desserts and I could tell I was having contractions again. The same way the other ones felt just a few nights prior. They weren't unbearable though. I went to take a shower to see if that would stop them and even after I got out they were still coming pretty frequently. So I finally decided to sit down and start timing them and they were 3 minutes apart!!! I have an app on my phone that's a contraction timer and it said I was having them about 3 minutes apart and they'd last on average 45 seconds. This continued on for another hour or two. I didn't go into labor and delivery because they weren't getting any worse in pain, and I didn't want to go up there just to be sent home without a baby. Eventually they stopped coming and all was well. I have another appointment on Thursday again so I'll be anxious to see if last night's episodes dilated me anymore. I also have an ultrasound right before my appointment to see if Jax is still measuring large. I'm thinking I might be correct on my guess that he'll be here on the 10th which is a full moon. I really really doubt I'm going to make it to my due date at this point, but we'll see. All I know is that Mommy and Daddy are very ready to have Jaxon arrive and to finally hold our son!

Jake is working "swing crew" this week which means he goes into work at noon and doesn't get off until ten pm. They're doing a lot of night flights this week, so that's why his schedule has changed.

Lucy is getting a tiny bit more well behaved since beginning her classes. She still jumps up, but she's slowly learning she has to sit to be greeted. It's hard to get her to listen if you don't have a treat though, that's the hardest part. She's just so stubborn and high energy! Jake and I joke that she's either 0% energy or 150%- there's no in between. Her last training class is on Saturday and there's a test she has to pass. We did the "pre-test" at our last class and she passed it so we're sure she'll graduate.  :)  She definitely still has her moments though.

I just wanted to update you all right quick. After Jaxon is born it'll probably be a while before I update the blog again, but we do plan on keeping it updated even after he's born. In case for some reason he decides to come before next Friday then we love you all and you'll be hearing from us soon!  :)

big ol' belly

Love,
Mommy, Daddy and Jaxon