One Month

When the first pediatrician came to see us in the hospital, she told me my only job for the next few weeks was to eat, sleep and feed my baby. Nothing else. Luckily, my mom, sister and Justin were around to do everything else because that's all I did, but not always in that order.

It's been a learning experience for all of us. I CAN function on just a few hours of sleep. Do I prefer it? No, nope, no way. He's so cute and sweet I'll stay up rocking him until he's out even if I've only slept an hour. People say it goes by fast and I 100% agree with that statement. He's up to 10 pounds now and has outgrown his newborn onesies and diapers. But he's still little enough to cuddle up like he did when he was first born.



He loves his bouncy seat and the swing.



Although Scully doesn't like it when he starts screaming, he's very interested in her.


And unless he's sleeping, he's hard to take a photo of.







Happy one month birthday my baby Jules.

84 Diapers

We went through a box of 84 newborn diapers in about 10 days. 84 diapers people! He's three weeks old. And that doesn't count the 2 smaller packages we went through first. Luckily, I didn't buy any of them but now I have to. Here's the problem: I got another box of size ones as a gift but he doesn't quite fit in them yet. I have enough cloth diapers for one day (still trying them out before I purchase a few days worth) so do I buy just one more smaller package of newborn size or just wash cloth diapers every day?

Anyway, Jules is three weeks old. He's getting stronger, louder, and more demanding of boob time.

People have been asking about Scully. She's doing ok. If one of us is holding the baby, she's sitting or being held by the other. She likes to smell and lick Jules but once he starts crying, she's either leaving the room or trying to jump on him. We haven't figured out why. She's weird.

The chair for his room STILL isn't here. Once it's here I'll share photos of his room.


(Jules sporting a cloth diaper)

My cute, little family.

His Good Side

Catching a baby on camera can be fun. You never know the faces you'll get. These are some of my favorites so far.


No gas involved.



Look at those cheeks! All boob fed!



If anyone knows Justin well, you'll see why this photo is funny. If his arm was just a little big longer - like father, like son.

2 weeks out and Jules is now 8 lbs. 2 oz. and is up to 20 inches long. My big boy!

1st Drum Corps Show

We took Jules to the Stillwater show last weekend. Honestly, we thought we wouldn't make it to any shows this year because of when he was due. But, we made it to Stillwater. Turns out it was the first show of the season because the night before was rained out.



Regiment horn arc during warm-up. Seven days out and I'm still a little swollen in the face. Plus, it was HOT!




Hot baby.



"I think I'll wake up for finals."

Jules was awesome during the show. Until Cavaliers came on the field. Jules we know and it's ok to cry, but they really did sound good.

His Name

It took a long time for us to come up with a girl's name, but when it came to selecting a boy's, it wasn't hard. We knew we wanted to keep the J.R.F thing going especially if he was a boy. Justin is more into traditional names and I wanted something unique without being so unique that people would think we were crazy.

I mentioned the name Jules in passing and Justin liked it. The reason? Pulp Fiction.

"Jules is a badass," he said.

We covered all of our bases with his middle name, Robert, after my Grandpa, Justin's dad (middle name), and Justin's favorite Great-Uncle, Uncle Bob.




Now tell me, is this the face of a badass or what?

Jules

So that last post? Yeah, little did I know it was my last day of being pregnant.

My water broke early Friday morning, but with everything else going on (too many gross details to explain), I didn't really realize what it was. At my Doctor's appointment that afternoon, she confirmed they did and that I was "gonna have a baby this weekend!"

"Oh crap!"


On our way!

After frantically packing and throwing the car seat base in the silly car, we headed to the hospital. They let me walk around and much as possible to see if things would just start on their own since I wanted to do things as "natural" as possible. No dice. So around 7pm, pitocin was started and I was somewhat tied down. I did well until around 5am when the back labor was killing me and I opted for the epidural. I was only at a 4 and everything else we had wanted to do was out the window, so why not?

It was somewhat relieving, but also caused things to progress slowly. I did get a little sleep, but not much. The back labor never really went away and I had to get a second dose of the epidural.

Hours, hours, and hours later (and being confined to one side because baby's heart rate would decrease when I'd roll over), I was finally ready to push. I'm pretty sure I yelled at the nurse because was no way a baby would come out in the position I was in. Don't you want gravity to work for you and not against you? At least that was my reasoning to the nurse. I'm pretty sure she thought I was crazy because, well, I was. I also yelled at her to call the Doctor NOW because he might get called into yet another C-Section and won't be able to help me. She assured me that "no, he'll be here when I call."

He was. And so was a team of nurses. Justin was great. Except the counting thing. I had to tell him to stop because it was annoying. I wanted to push as long as I wanted too. So, with a little "help" and 2 hours of pushing (GAHHHH!), we got this:



Jules Robert Foell
Saturday, June 13th 4:54pm
7lbs. 1 oz. 19 1/2 inches long

We're still trying to figure out who he looks like but either way, he's cute and we like him.

Still Here, Still Pregnant

But Justin seems to think today will be the day based on all the "early signs" I've been having. I've been home pretty much all week from work, but still working from home. Which is good and bad.

Good: I get a lot of shows and work done.

Bad: I can nap at any time - which I've been doing because oh man, I'm exhausted!

I have a Doctor's appointment today. We'll see what's new.