Happy Halloween!!

Wordless Wednesday

Life of Cash

Life with Cash is going great.  Mike and I already can't imagine our lives without him.

Cash and I are being lazy today and still in our jammies. Tomorrow is his big day of getting circumcised. I so wished he could of had it done and over with at the hospital. Hopefully my happy little boy will bounce back just fine.

Hard to believe he is already two weeks old. Time already seems to be flying by, yet it seems like he has always been with us.

He loves to look up while being burped most of the time to see who has him. Then just stares in awe and usually get a smile out of him. Rather it's a smile, smile or just passing gas... I will take a smile anyway/anyhow! lol

Daddy has made us sit in the cry room at church the two past Sundays. He's slept through church both times, which I knew he would be a good little boy. Maybe next Sunday we will get to sit in the main area. I told Mike we should enjoy this time getting to sit in the main part of church while he is this little. As this time won't last long and he will be gabbering up a storm before we know it.

We still have to talk to Fr. Ben, but planning to have his baptism on Mike's birthday. Hopefully it will all work out and it will make Mike's birthday even more special to share it with Cash's first big event.

We had pictures taken on Friday. Thank goodness we got some good ones. Little man was not having it. He didn't like being naked or his hands/arms messed with to get good poses.

Here's some pictures to share that I had on my camera...

A week old in this picture. Still sleeping after his first trip to church.

Baseball shoes grandma Elrod has had for at least 10 years in her 'someday' grandchild stash.  

Love this face.  Notice his hair is flipped up in the front... it won't stay down at all.  I think baby boy will have curly hair. 

Basketball shirt with baseball shoes. lol 

Watching grandpa talk. 

Almost asleep on grandma.

Waiting on daddy to get done with his shower to have their usual night of rocking and watching the Cardinals play.

I think he looks like a completely different baby in this pic.

Loves his giraffe that plays music and moves it's head.

Still wore out Friday evening after getting pictures taken. 

A distant cousin made this 'Elrod'  uncle quilt for Cash.

Cash with cousin, Kylie. 

First play date

Cash had his first play date with Miss Abigail. She loved him and gave him lots of kisses. We had a good visit with Abigail and her mommy.

Just born... + 6 days

Start of the monthly pictures! This was the best picture we could get. Maybe next time mommy will wait to change his diaper so he will be more happy. :)

Introducing...

Cash Michael Holtmeyer

Last Thursday, October 10 was my last scheduled doctor's appointment. I wasn't dilated at all, but my blood pressure kept creeping up. Dr. Su felt more comfortable if I went ahead to be induced. So that evening Mike and I arrived at the hospital to start the process. They inserted a strip of medicine called cervidil to help me dilate and thin my cervix. It had to stay in my body for 12 hours. Didn't sleep at all. I was already having contractions before the process even started and didn't know it. By 1a.m. I could feel the contractions. My contractions during the whole labor process was just extreme pressure, no cramping like I was expecting. By 9 a.m. Friday morning, they removed the cervidil to only find out I was just dilated to barely 1cm. Talk about a huge disappointment. With the contractions very close together, I thought for sure we would be welcoming our child by that afternoon. 

Around 2 p.m. my body made no progress so I had to walk around the hospital for two hours. Contractions were getting more intense and were 2-3 minutes apart every time. So I knew we were getting close. After the two hours, still no progress and still just dilated to a 1. 

By 6:30 p.m., Dr. Su came and broke my water. Went from 1 cm to immediately 4 cm dilated. By Saturday at 7:35 a.m. after pushing for about an hour, we welcomed our sweet little boy, Cash Michael Holtmeyer. Cash weighed 7lb 3oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. 

Cash had meconium (his first bowel movement) during delivery; therefore, Mike was unable to cut the umbilical cord as he needed to be rushed to the pediatrician in the room to be cleaned and checked out. He got the clean bill of health and was put on my chest to keep warm. Cash laid there calm as could be and started to fall asleep until he heard his daddy's voice. 

Due to the meconium, they wanted to keep him as a precaution till Monday. Cash had also ran a temperature of 100.4 on Monday and lost 9% of his birth weight. So we had to stay even later. His temperature was normal later. I think the extra swaddling along with blankets the nurses wrapped around him to help with gas made his body temperature go up. Due to the low birth weight, we had to wait on him being circumcised. 

Breast feeding started off very good. By Saturday evening, our little boy was too impatient. Tried working with him on the feeding as well as having the nurses help. They all agreed I was doing everything right and said I just had one stubborn, impatient little boy. Poor guy just screamed and screamed. By Monday, after learning of his low birth weight and still screaming... I asked the nurse to bring a bottle. Very emotional seeing your little boy suffer and there was nothing more to do. After his bottle, we noticed a huge change. Wish the nurses would have just suggest for me to do that on Sunday instead of insisted the breast feeding because it is better for him. Nothing is better if he won't eat.

Daddy feeding Cash his first bottle.

So 'happy' to be leaving the hospital. :) 

First night home, he still had a lot of gas in his system due to screaming his head off at the hospital. Luckily throughout the night, he was up every three hours and the last feeding I had to wake him up to eat so we could see the doctor. Completely different baby on Tuesday. Only cries when he is hungry or getting his dirty diaper changed. 

Plan to still work with him this week on the feeding, so far he is still too impatient. Probably will resort to formula. All we care about is having a happy, healthy, feed baby. So nice to have my sweet baby back that we first met on Saturday. Getting lots of snuggle time in this week. 

Baby Update

Thought I would give a baby update, plus I am bored now that the house is cleaned! :) 

Had my last appointment in Columbia on Wednesday. Everything went really good and there is plenty of amniotic fluid around the baby. Thank goodness!

I plan to breastfeed at first and was given the go ahead by Dr. Grant since my thyroid levels haven't changed at all during the pregnancy.  Depending on how it goes I may just do it while I'm on maternity leave or stick with it.  May also depend if my levels change too much after birth as well with the decision.

Baby measured on the ultrasound around 7lb. 9oz. - Holy cow!!

I'm still not dilated, which I'm not due until the 13th but after hearing the weight I was sure hoping and crossing my fingers I would be at least a little bit.

You can't see the chubby cheeks in the picture since Baby H has his/her little hand pressing against it. You can see hair on top of the head in this picture, which really surprised me since I was a bald baby and Mike didn't have much hair either.

I'm starting to think the baby may be a girl. In the beginning I had a feeling it was a boy. We shall see very soon!

Hopefully my little chunk butt will make his/her appearance very soon. I'm getting antsy and ready to be done with the swelling. :) I think if it wasn't for swelling so bad, it wouldn't bother me to go past my due date or to even be pregnant another month.