4 Months :)

Nathaniel is 4 months! He is currently going through some kind of growth spurt or teething episode that he throws fits and wasn't sleeping at one time. But we're going on day 2 that he's sleeping better at night. I'm also thinking our trip to vegas messed him up a little. There was one night that he woke up 6 times! I was walking like a zombie for one of my vacation days that I turned into a monster! Naty finally got the hint and took his mom and the kids on a lil adventure in vegas as Nate and I took a well deserved needed nap! I think it was like 2 hours but it felt like 8! Nathaniel continues to amaze us daily, esp. when he cries for his ma-ma, yup he said it! I'm pretty sure he does NOT know I'm ma-ma yet BUT he said it and it was so cute! Naty didn't want to admit it to me but when his parents told me he was yelling it when I left him with them one day, Naty confessed that he had said it already the day before. So, life is still a little stressed but wonderful at the same time!

At 4 Months You are:
1) wearing 3-6 months clothes but they're slowing getting shorter and snugger.
2) wearing a size 3 diaper! (wearing the last of your 2's)
3) still Breastfed!! and have the occasional bottle of formula (I think you had (2) 2 ouncers this month)
4) getting little tastes of food here and there (trying to wait till 6 months)
5) possibly teething, you shove your hand in your mouth and love when I rub your gums.
6) shedding! you're losing your baby hair and almost done losing your fur on your ears.
7) grabbing things in front of you and putting things in your mouth.
8) sucking on anything that goes in front of your face.
9) still sleeping with me BUT I decided to move you back to your bassinet cause its hard to sleep with a vampire next to me. Sometimes I wake up and your sucking on my chest or arm.
10) still super attached to me and I'm the only one that can calm you down.
11) so in love with your sister! You get so happy when you see her and as for Bubbs you love him too but I think you'll be the best of buds once you start becoming more fun, you're too boring for him right now! hah!
12) LOVING baths.
13) napping better, before you'd sleep for 5 or 10 minutes and be up looking for me.
14) noticing the TV and it has been your 10 minute babysitter, that's all you'll tolerate but that's all I need sometimes.
15) the same as last month with the swing.
16) Sitting pretty good with my help, I think you'll be sitting on your own by 5 months.

We LOVE YOU!

2.5 Month Appt.

My baby boy is thriving off his mama and that makes me so happy! he's not as big as Bubbs was at this stage but he's still a chunker. At 11 weeks, he weighed in at 12 lbs. 12 oz. and was 24 inches long. Which puts him below average for weight and slightly above average for length.

He's still BF and on occasion he'll get a bottle of formula, mostly when I leave him with Naty (which is rare!) Cause I don't want to hassle him with warming up my BM cause I'm actually afraid of him not getting the temp. right so I don't even worry myself about it. He's been fine with times I've given him formula but no matter what I still need to pump so it's still like he nursed and then I get to save that milk I took out to freeze!

I'm going back to school in January and I'll have to leave BM with my MIL, Nate will be 6 months then so he won't be drinking so many bottles and eating baby food then. I will continue to pump when I get a chance in between classes in my car. I will be needing costco pack batteries to get me through the semester. I don't mind doing this for my chubster.

Overall, life has been a little difficult, we have good and bad days and good days are when he naps and bad days are when he cries and wants me to hold him all day. Other than that we're so in love!

2 Months!

Happy 2 months Nathaniel!

He's been such a joy to our lives and makes life so enjoyable. The kids are always loving on him and wanting to hold him, they thank me all time for having him. It is especially good to have Nathaniel during this difficult time in our lives, when I'm alone without the older kids I have Nathaniel to hold and cry with, I hug him and feel loads better. We lost Boris (our dog) over the weekend and could not find him and unfort. Audrey was the one that found him and thought he was asleep. Poor Audrey, I feel awful about that and feel awful for Boris. We don't know what happened to him but he hid behind the haystacks and died there. There's alot more to the story but I hate reliving it over and over again, I just hope he didn't suffer.

As for Nathaniel, he's getting really big. He has his 2 month appt. tomorrow so I will update again. I'm thinking he weighs a good 12 lbs. He was at 10 lbs. last time. He's a good eater and a good sleeper. Here's a few things he's doing now:

At 2 months old YOU:
1) Smile and Coo at us!
2) love car rides
3) love to take naps on my chest
4) are in a size 2 diaper
5) are wearing 0-3 months clothes but growing out of them
6) are exclusively breastfed! thank you Jesus
7) eat on demand
8) are starting to like your swing a little more
9) are starting to like baths and haven't been crying like you used to
10) don't really like your diaper changed
11) love your new rocker chair
12) you hit the toys in front of you
13) fall sleep around 9-10pm and wake once to feed at around 3:30-4:30am
14) start your days at 7am
15) take little cat naps throughout the day
16) love your sister (I think it's her mouse-y voice)
17) still LOVE to FART!

One Month Old!

My little boy is one month old today!
We had a photo session (LOL) this morning and he was loving it. It was the first time in his crib too.
At one month, YOU:
1) lift your head at any chance you get to look all around the room.
2) love your mama and only want me! When other people hold you, you start to cry and once I get you you're ok :-)
3) drink 3oz of milk right now, 1.5oz of formula and 1.5oz of my milk.
4) you're growing out of your newborn clothes and fitting in 0-3 months with room to grow.
5) had a doctor's appointment about a week ago and you were weighing 10lbs. 1oz. I'm pretty sure you've gained more since then.
6) are 21 inches long.
7) sleep with your mama every night and Daddy sleeps in Audrey's room, LOL.
8) wear a size 1 diaper.
9) nurse on occasion (when I'm not pumping!) and love to be close to your mama.
10) stopped waking up in the night at 2.5 weeks, you sleep till around 5:30-7am every morning.
11) really don't like the swing which hurts my feelings cause it was so expensive!
12) love the bouncy seat for a short nap but I probably put you in it about 2 times a day.
13) LOVE car rides! you usually fall asleep or sit in there quietly while we get to grandma's house.
14) go to grandma and grandpa's new house everyday, you usually sleep the whole time.
15) smile alot more now and love when we talk to you.
16) fart alot! always farting, which is good for you but not for us! ;-)

Fussy Boy

This boy just wants his mama! (picture above)this is what happens when I put him down. I usually give in with the first peep (sucker) and have him on me till he's in a deep sleep then I get a "small break" to cook and clean. It's funny cause the other day I attempted to make dinner and it took me 2 days to make it! hahahaha I have so much to do that by the time I get to dinner its late and naty is almost home and besides, now that his parents are close by we've been eating there (BBQ). They tell me not to cook and to go over and eat with them, no need to ask me twice. But then I thought, its time, time to make my own dinner. I've been doing it all but it seems dinner is what I'm still struggling with. But anyway, thats life with 3 kids!

Life with Baby

Life was very tiring and hard after about 3 days from coming out of the hospital because of the stress from Breastfeeding and just caring for a baby. The first 3 days were pretty easy because he slept alot but after those 3 days he started crying alot and having gas problems. I really forgot how hard it is and I had a hard time adjusting to our new life, I was making it harder on myself by holding him constantly and jumping for every movement or noise he made. Naty did tell me that I didn't have to jump for every noise or haul him all around the house with me so I started to back off and take it easy and my life has gotten so much easier.

In addition, I had my wonderful mother in law here helping me with the household duties and the older kids. She was cooking and cleaning and giving the older kids attention that they needed. I'm so thankful for her and her kindness, she's amazing!

As for breastfeeding, I started wondering if my medication was messing up the baby's stomach cause he was super fussy so we decided to switch to formula, I was upset but once I gave him the formula he was fine. Well I wasn't satisfied with stopping so after feeding him only formula for a couple of days I went back to breastfeeding and he's fine now. I actually do both formula and breastfeed. I'm hoping to get an electrical pump so that I can see how much he's eating cause he never seems satisfied after nursing so I usually give him 1-2oz. after. Right now I manually pump here and there and add it to his bottle of formula or I put him directly on the breast and he's thriving!

Going HOME!

We got to leave on Day 4 (Aug. 6th) from the hospital since my bleeding slowed down, I felt great with the transfusion and Naty took another day off work and I love him for that! I was still having lots of pain but did NOT want to mention that to anyone cause I wanted OUT! Naty and I were so antsy to leave that we started taking stuff to the car and cleaning our room. We were just waiting for Dr. Tsai to come in and give me the OK to leave and he wasn't coming so I jumped in the shower really fast, when I was getting out of the shower I heard his voice in the room so I ran out of the shower and didn't even dry myself cause I didn't want to wait again for him, LOL! He checked me and gave me the boot! woooooooo hoooooo! so I continued getting ready and waited, and waited, and waited some more and finally called the nurse to see what was taking them! They said we had to wait for the nurse practioner to come check the baby, dammit! So once she came in she said Nathaniel's murmur had gone away and he was PERFECT! So again we waited and waited for our discharge and my nurse came in and helped me put a band around my belly and it felt so good, I felt alot more stable and able to walk a lot better. Then it was time to go!! One of the nurses came and wheeled me away, I can't think of his name right now but he was the nicest man ever! He helped alot during my stay and would bring me juice and water and even changed my bed, lol, he was amazing, here he is:

Naty packed us in the car and we were on our merry way home:


We got home and the kids and in laws were waiting for us outside, the kids were so excited to see the baby, Audrey was even trying to get his carseat out of the car, lol. I had to yell at the poor guy a couple of times but I understood that she was just excited to have her little brother home.

Our Delivery Story (4)

Somewhere in between all this mess, Nathaniel was taken by the nurse practioner and had his tongue tie problem fixed, they cut the little string under his tongue cause it was stuck and it would be best to do it for breastfeeding and talking purposes. He didn't cry and did great.

After I almost passed out, the nurses told my doctor that I was changing color and very weak, once I hit the bed I felt wasted, like I had the life sucked out of me. That is when they told me I would need the blood transfusion ASAP, so I agreed and signed away. Before the big blood transfusion I was waiting for the kids to show up with the in laws, they never came so the nurse gives me benadryl right before she starts the transfusion and that made me super loopy, I was slowly falling into a deep sleep and thats when the kids came in, poor things, I wish they didn't see me like this. I can remember some things while I was slowly drifting away, (I really think this is what dying feels like), my in laws were just staring at me and OUT I went. The benadryl was used to avoid any reactions to the blood. So I wake up who knows how long later and the room is empty and dark. I kept looking around and see a bag of blood connected to me, then I hear a little noise and realize my mother in law was sitting by my side the whole time, she was holding Nathaniel while I was knocked out and everyone else was in the cafeteria. The nurse came and put a whole new bag of blood to connect me to. This is when I had horrible pain in my hand, it was a nasty burning pain that was KILLING ME, so I called the nurse right back and wanted to rip the IV out of me, she came right away and tried to get the blood going but it wasn't budging and was burning me so bad. She decided to pull my IV out for me and had to start a new one (this was the 3rd one to go bad on me by now). She said I was probably having pain the whole time I was asleep but obviously didn't feel it. I was already feeling a lot better and had a lot more color in my face, I was glad I got the transfusion.

The rest of this day was spent resting and loving on our boy, I took lots of pics of him from my bed, here's one...LOL

Our Delivery Story

**I get in deep detail here, not to bore you BUT to remember these days in the future and to have this to look back on.**

First of all, this might take me a while to write because a lot went on during those four days in the hospital. Despite it ALL I'm still very thankful and blessed to have had an experience where God gave me the ability to have another child. I would do it all over again.

The two days before the big day we were in East LA while Naty helped his dad prepare one of their rental properties for new renters. I was exhausted sitting there and was officially DONE and OVER IT. We left the kids with my in laws and I was so afraid that I would never see them again. At that point I was starting to get scared and was thinking maybe I'm not ready, LOL! I begged Naty to leave that Sunday cause I wanted to have our final meal, lol but he ended up there late and we ended up at Olive Garden right before they closed. I stuffed myself with fettuccine alfredo before a major surgery, Gross! It was all worth it though ;-)

It all started at 7am that Monday, August 3rd I woke up to Naty detailing my car and just getting things done before our 9am arrival. I quickly cleaned up some of the mess we had laying around the house and dyed my hair. We started running late and got to the hospital at 9:10AM. We were greeted by this perky man that was trying to crack jokes with us while we waited for the nurse to come get us. Then finally a nurse came and just started getting down to business, she was putting a hair net on me, slapped the wristband on me, took me to my room and said get naked, we're having a baby.

The nurse tried to get an IV in me but was unsuccessful and it hurt! she then got another lady to do another one and that one wasn't painful at all. They started the antibiotics and made me drink that nasty buffer stuff to settle the acid in my stomach. While we waited, Naty and I just chatted and talked about how we could NOT believe that the day had finally come. That's when the nurse came in and said we were on schedule and almost ready to go in. I honestly don't remember the time but when I got to the OR, people were chatting about their weekend and listening to music while they prepared everything. Then a young guy comes up to me and says he'll be puncturing my spine! WTH!!! uuuhhhhhh......YOU? he was so nice (and HOT) that I went with the flow, well....that nice and HOT guy pricked my spine 3 times with numbing medicine and about 5 times with the spinal needle and by that time I wanted the OLD man touching me! So the old real doctor came shoved it in and in one shot it was in. The good thing is that the needles didn't hurt that bad but it was uncomfortable arching my back with a big belly in front of me. Then thats when I felt the warmness hit my feet, aaaaahhh soothing, it felt odd and good at the same time. Before you know it Naty walked and was freaked out, he kept asking me if I was ok cause I felt like barfing but they gave me something through my IV to take that feeling away, which worked instantly. I just laid there while the doctor tugged, pulled, cut, and again, over and over till it became an hour and longer....I was just waiting to see my baby that I lost track of time and started worrying about the medication. I asked them if it would wear off while being open on the operating table, they said if it did they would put me under. OMG! I got scared and prayed they'd hurry up. Meanwhile, I hear my doctor call for another doctor for a second opinion, huh?? so the doctor comes in and all I remember hearing my doctor say is, "is this her uterus or bladder?", that just freaked me out, I guess I had so much scar tissue that it made it impossible for them to distinguish what was what.

Then I hear the doctor announce that he's making the incision to my uterus at such and such time and then I hear the most wonderful sound....WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH, little Nate screaming his head off. I immediately fell in love and it reminded me of Audrey, she cried and cried for hours after being born. And to top it off, he looked exactly like Audrey. All the nurses and doctors where saying how big and cute he was then they weighed him and were shocked to see 7lbs 14oz., they weren't convinced.

TO BE CONTINUED....

Welcome Nathaniel!

Nathaniel Soto
Born August 3rd, 2009
At 12:10am
Weighing in at 8 lbs. 9 oz., 20 inches long
Proud Big Brother Naty and Big Sister Audrey