I'm 2 weeks old!

Today you are two weeks old! It's hard to imagine...but even harder to believe that in the coming months the little person you are will change so much.


It's been hard trying to figure out your schedule and really just trying to get the hang of the whole parenting thing. My mom and I took Cayden last week to Calotype Photography to have newborn pictures made. The goal is to feed your baby so he becomes really sleepy and you can mold him in different ways. Not my child. He was fed, and cuddled, and rocked, and walked, and swayed...and really he didn't want to sleep. I was a little nervous to see how the pictures came out, but I think she did a great job. We had some taken outdoors, where it was 100 degrees, and as soon as I stepped outside with him, he fell asleep, and was exactly what we wanted!

Below is just a sample of the pictures she took.





Since the beginning, sleeping at night has been a little precarious. At first he wanted to sleep in your arms, or on your chest. He is getting better. Now he will sleep in a bassinet type thing, and he will sleep in his crib for short periods of time. There is nothing more scary than trying to sleep in a chair with a baby on your chest at 3 am, and worry that you too will fall asleep and drop him!


He still likes to cuddle on your chest at times, and it is hard to not want to sit there with him for hours, so I snuggle for a bit, and then put him in his bed. Isn't he the cutest?

This week, we also had our first "tummy time." He kind of pushed around, and looked off into the distance. We'll keep going though. He is pretty good at holding his head up for a few seconds.

There aren't too many statistics to post yet. He seems to feed well, although our fussy time is getting a little out of control. We have a doctor's appt Monday to ask the pediatrician all sorts of questions. As of Monday, he was up to 7lbs 14oz. He isn't quite up to his birth weight yet, but we are working on it. He feeds most days every 2-2.5 hours, and usually takes a nap for an hour or more. Each day can be surprisingly different, so it's hard to say if he actually has a pattern yet.

I'll post pictures of our house in a few days. It is really starting to come along! We went by yesterday and they were in the process of putting brick up and the dry wall is in! It's crazy how much it has changed!

One Week Old!

Oh my. Has it really been a week? Cayden has survived our care for one week! Maybe the hospital wasn't crazy by letting us take him home.

Because Cayden was born later in the evening last Thursday, we had to stay until Saturday. It was nice because every question that came to our minds, we could ask the nurses, but bad because we were in the hospital. It's never fun there. Heath had to sleep on an uncomfortable pull-out, and I was exhausted but uncomfortable in my bed, and a little nervous because of the new life sleeping in our room. By Saturday, we were ready to leave.

My mom has been with us since early last week, so she was excited when we finally made it to the house. It was wonderful having her here. She would cook, and clean, and hold Cayden, and help us get through the sleepless nights with him. I don't know how we would be functioning if she hadn't been here.

We made an early visit to the doctor on Monday to have them check out his circumcision; it was bleeding a little and we were concerned. The doctor quickly reassured us. They did a weight check and he was down to 7.5lbs. Yikes! I have been breastfeeding and thinking that it was going okay, really just waiting for my milk to come in. They had us come back in for another weight check on Thursday and he had gained 6oz~ At least I know he isn't starving!



I'll leave you with this picture. I love the ones of he face close up. He is so sweet and overall a good baby. That doesn't mean he isn't giving us a run for our money at night. He obviously has his days and nights mixed up, so we are working on fixing that, and for him to sleep only in is crib. He likes to sleep on our chests at night.

Cayden's Big Day

As most of you know, the first couple of days last week were kind of crazy. Was I in labor? Was I having contractions? After our doctor's appointment on Wednesday it was decided that I would be induced on the 14th...the NEXT day.

July 14th - We woke up around 3:30 am, in order to be at the hospital at 5. They had told us beforehand that we needed to call to make sure that 5 was still a good time. Of course we call, and everybody has decided to go into labor. So they said call back at 6...at this point they give us the go ahead to come in at 8. Already our day was long.

At 8 we walk into the hospital, ready to meet Cayden! IV in. Check. Backless Gown on. Check. Nerves. Check. By 9 they had begun the Pitocin, and I could feel more contractions, but they weren't painful. Within the hour, I also had my Epidural. Fan-tastic! I know I was nervous as they were administering the giant needle, but the doctor was great and I really didn't feel anything. Heath was there to hold my hand and to keep me calm. Let the waiting begin.

Contractions were more consistent, and a little stronger, but still no change in dilation. By noon, I was still at a 4, maybe a 4.5. It was time to break the bag of waters. We kept waiting, because really, what else was there to do. People were in and out. My mom, Heath's mom, dad, and aunt. I am sure everyone was bored. The epidural made me a little sleepy, so I wasn't much fun or good for entertainment. Around 4 the nurse and a resident came in. They checked me and disagreed on my progress. The resident thought I was a 5, the nurse thought I was a 9. It was finally decided that I was a 9. Yippee! I was certain we were to meet Cayden within the hour, two at the most.

Around 5:45 it was time. The doctor came in, and it was down to business. Surely, this won't take long?

*Note: About an hour before pushing, they had turned off my Pitocin, in order to slow down contractions, so that the doctor could make it to Cayden's arrival. It was a busy day in L & D and the doctor was busy with other patients. Cayden would have to wait a little longer.

Time to push! I give it my best shot. And then wait. Wait. Still waiting. Five minutes go by, and no contraction. Now is a good time to turn the Pitocin back on! Then the hardest 1 hour and 45 minutes of my life began. Modesty out the window, there were nurses in and out of the room, and it was not the time to be shy. I pushed, and pushed. The nurse pulled out a towel, in order to give me some traction. Our nurse, Mandy, was really great, but my super human strength was too much for her. They used a resident doctor. At least 6ft tall, and a good 240lbs. We spent the rest of the time playing tug-o-war, trying to help Cayden make his arrival, but I was getting tired. I was starting to doubt whether I could deliver our baby. Heath was really great during the whole delivery. Any time he noticed that I was getting down, or starting to doubt myself, he was right there to encourage me and let me know that we just had a little further to go. Yeah, right. He went into the delivery not really wanting to look "down there" to see the action. I was fine with that, but as I said before modestly went out the window. As soon as the doctor mentioned that Cayden had hair, Heath was intrigued.

At 7:33pm, Cayden Rhys Cruikshank, coming in at 8.2lbs and 21 inches long, came into the world. They put him on my belly, and the tears started falling. Here he was, finally. My world had just turned upside down, and I was relieved and excited and happy and overwhelmed all at once. Heath made sure I was okay, and went off to be with our son; taking pictures and doing what every new dad does...revel in the joy of the moment.

Heath and I took the next 45 minutes to get acquainted with our baby. We cuddled him, stared at him, and took in the miracle that we had just witnessed. Cayden was perfect. Apgar score of 8-9. A good set of lungs, and a lovely head of hair. He was more than what we hoped for and dreamed of!

Our new family! I love this picture because of Heath and Cayden. Heath's face says everything that I am feeling...This is the greatest day of our lives!

Doctor Update

We went to the doctor this morning, and there really was little change. My BP is in the normal range (thank goodness) and I was still having contractions every 10 minutes or so. After he did his check, I had at least progressed to a 4. Heath asked him how engaged the baby was and our humorous doctor replied, "He's not only engaged, he's at the altar." So my body is ready to have a baby, the contractions just aren't cooperating. He decided that based on effacement, dilation, and engagement, that with some help, I would have this baby. So, unless I go into labor today, we are scheduled to be induced in the morning!

It's all a little surreal. It's weird knowing that tomorrow is the big day, but I am glad that we are finally moving out of the "pregnancy" stage into the "here is my baby-isn't he cute" stage.

We will try to update the blog as quickly as we can!

Thanks to everyone for their prayers and well wishes!

No baby....yet.

The past two days have been pretty interesting. I woke up Monday morning about 1:45, just not feeling right. I was crampy and was thinking that it might, just possibly be something to pay attention to. Cayden felt that this was a good time to get the hiccups, as well as have a party in my belly, and at that point I had to get out of bed. It was getting too uncomfortable.
With my handy-dandy Contraction Tracker App (thanks to my husband) I began tracking. They averaged about 6-7 minutes, but they weren't very strong. Just uncomfortable.
After about an hour, we got up and took showers (still tracking) and hung out. The morning came, and we both knew that it wasn't time to rush to the hospital. Coincidentally, our regular appt was scheduled for 215, so we decided just to wait until then.

Like every appointment, it begins with a blood pressure check. Throughout this whole thing, my BP has been pretty good. 110/70. Well, not today. After three tries, and my arm being squeezed off, they said that it was 148/94. I went into a mild panic. It's NEVER been that high. Once in the room I had to lay on the table, on my left side so that they could check it again. 133/88. At least it was a little better. I knew at this point that they were leaning towards pre-eclampsia. Still in slight panic mode, the doctor told me that she wanted me to go down to triage (ER) and be put on a monitor. Great. They thought my blood pressure was high to begin with...now I am starting to get worried.

Long story short (kind of) I was put on a BP monitor, a contraction monitor (can I get a home version), and a heartbeat monitor for Cayden. Blood was taken, and time was spent waiting. And waiting. After three hours, they determined I was healthy, Cayden was fine, and I could go home!

With that said, I'm still having contractions about every 10 minutes, and they are fairly mild. I have an appointment tomorrow to check progress, and to discuss a possible induction. Unless these contractions get stronger, and closer together, of course.

Let's just call it 39 weeks

To say that I am a little late with this post would be an understatement, so let's say that I am early with the 39 week post! Obviously I am still pregnant. We went to the doctor last Friday and I am dilated to 3. Not a huge improvement over the week before. The doctor was even a little surprised that I hadn't had Cayden by now. I would say that we are officially in the waiting period, and that he could come at any moment. We had a brief discussion with the doctor about inducing if I made it to my due date, which I think will probably happen.

I did make it to my week of professional development, so I have accomplished that goal. Now I can sit around, twiddle my thumbs, stare at baby stuff, read books, swim in my cousin's new pool, drive by our house, answer texts messages about how I am feeling, etc. Really the options are endless.

Here I am, in alllll my glory! I generally ask the doctor every week how big Cayden is going to be. I use the terms "giant baby" or "monster" to inquire about his size. Of course they won't give me any official numbers, but we are thinking between 7-9.

Cayden's future best friend and girl friend was born on Wednesday! She is so precious, and small and sweet, and I know they will be great friends once he gets here.

Update on the house: We have been busy trying to pick out all of the things that will go in there. The list is pretty long, but we have been able to make decisions on several fronts. I think that the builder knows I might not be in a position to pick out paint colors in a week or so. We also met with the cabinet guy, and I after talking with him, I can actually "see" what our kitchen might look like. I'm pretty excited about it.

This is our front door. It's nice. It will be nicer when they have stained it.

I mentioned in my last post that I have been feeling crafty. I have worked on a couple of different projects that are really imitations of things I have seen and wanted to duplicate. I am in no way a painter, or artist, but my brain gets really excited and thinks that I'm Picasso, and then tries do crazy stuff. This is one project. It's not quite complete. I like it the way it is, but the "original" is more filled in. I have no clue where I would put this because it really goes against our usual traditional style. But there was something that drew me to this picture and I had to make it.


This I saw in a store. I LOVE the quote and I can picture this in my bedroom. While professing my love for Heath with a giant painting may seem a little outlandish, I like the idea of waking up to it every morning. I am working on some Hog picture frames, but my creative time was taken up by education time this week. I am thinking that while waiting for Cayden to arrive, I can get that project wrapped up too!

How much longer?

My post is just a little late, but really at this point...what's the difference between 37 weeks, and 37 weeks and two days? I went to the doctor last Thursday and everything seems to be going well. They want me to keep measuring my blood sugar levels, but I don't have to see that doctor anymore, and I don't have to go through any more glucose testing...YIPPEE. They said everything looks good with the weight gain, and blood pressure, and Cayden's heartbeat. I survived my second "checking" and it seems that I am dilated to 2.5. When he said this I was like, OMG..I am going to have this baby today! But he said that he doesn't think I will go too early, that I should be about on time. Now, these could be famous last words, or they could ring true. Honestly, I am hoping for the latter. Much to the chagrin of family and friends, I really want to go to a Professional Development workshop at the beginning of July. If I can get through that, bring it on!

As this pregnancy is coming to a close, I'm starting to think about how I really feel about it. There are those women who LOVE being pregnant, and there are those who hate it, and I think there are those like me who are undecided. I HATED being nauseous during the first trimester, I hated not liking meat anymore, and I didn't appreciate the kidney stone, or gestational diabetes. I did like being comfortable enough with my baby belly to wear skin tight t-shirts. (I probably won't be doing that afterwards...Yikes!) I liked that I was able to stay healthy, and maintain a healthy weight. I liked that even with the excuse of being pregnant, I ate what I wanted, and most of the time it was fruit. So, I guess my feelings will be that of Love/Hate. Will I do it again...hmmm...let's try this first one out and see how it goes.

Progress on the house! As of today the windows have been delivered, and we went through and discussed lighting and outlets with the electrician. Exciting right? It is starting to feel more real, and I am anxious to move in! Heath's favorite room right now is the back porch. It is large, and covered, and will make a great entertaining area, or just a great place to hang out. I don't really have a favorite right now. Maybe the living room, or the idea of the living room. I just want something that is light and airy.

Could it be nesting? I read somewhere that nesting wasn't just about cleaning, but also about completing projects. I think that is where I am. I want to craft! To the point of waking in the middle of the night and thinking of nothing else. It is crazy.

After a whirlwind trip to Tulsa, and swearing to never shop at Babies R Us again, I think we actually have all of the "supplies" we need. Needless to say, baby land has taken over the apartment.