Father’s Day 2011

We’ve been busy, and Jackson is growing and changing like crazy! I’ll post more soon, but today’s post is all about the special man in Jackson’s (and my) life!

Ryan and I were teenagers when we fell in love, and in our early 20′s when we got married. Honestly, I never really thought about what kind of father he would be back then, because it seemed so far from our reality. I just picked Ryan to be my husband, not the father of my children…at least in my much younger brain! Well, all I can say is that I’m one blessed woman. I have a baby boy who lights up my life and a wonderful husband who is the greatest father anyone could ask for!

Jackson loves his daddy SO much. It makes my heart swell when I see how happy he is when Ryan walks in the front door from work. Ryan can make him laugh so hard he can barely breathe (mommy can make him giggle, but nothing like daddy!) They have gotten to spend lots of time together, as Ryan worked from home on the days that I taught voice lessons this past spring, and I love how much they enjoy being around each other.

In the 6 months that Jackson has been alive, I’ve only had to give Jackson 1 or 2 baths by myself. Ryan wakes up in the night or morning when Jackson wakes up and brings him to me to nurse. He has changed more than his fair share of diapers, and dealt with all the spit up as well! He gives bottles, plays peek-a-boo, and sings and dances with our boy! He is a more involved daddy than I could have hoped for or dreamed, when I first fell in love with him 12 years ago. And for that I am so so thankful. Ryan is a great man, who is showing God’s love and grace to me and our son daily. Happy first father’s day babe…I wouldn’t want to do this with anyone else!

Happy Father's Day 2011

You are my BEST daddy!

These days…they are flying by! (A Jackson: Month 4 recap)

We’ve been so busy this past month, so I thought I’d write a little recap. I’m pretty certain that we don’t have any readers other than our moms, but these sweet days are going by so quickly that I want to record them for myself, so I remember them forever!

Jackson has become such a big boy, with so much personality in this last month. He smiles, laughs, sings (really! He is *this* close to matching pitch!) shrieks, plays with his feet, rolls (from tummy to back- but to the left or right.) He prefers to sit and stand with just a little bit of help…and he has us pretty convinced that he could very well be an early walker.

Jackson LOVES being around people. We tried to have a dinner party a couple of weeks ago, and decided to invite people over after I put him down for bed. Our bedtime routine progressed as usual, until I laid him down in his crib and he heard the first people come in the door. His little eyes popped open and any chance of him sleeping was GONE! So Jackson had dinner with us, and smiled and flirted all night long. He finally went to bed about 3 hours later than normal…he just couldn’t stand to miss anything!

Jackson also loves going places, I think he prefers to go anywhere, rather than stay home with me ALL day. He’s become really good about riding in his carseat (although I become increasingly less able to carry him in said carseat, because Jackson is one chubby baby!) and when we go shopping he loves to ride in his stroller or in my moby wrap or ergobaby carrier.

He likes to chew on his hands, his paci, his Sophie the giraffe, or basically anything he can get his hands on! We are going to be in trouble one Jackson starts moving. Sometimes I think he might be teething, even though there aren’t any teeth poking through yet. We still have the unfortunate spit-up problem, and are looking forward to the day he outgrows it. I’m so thankful it doesn’t seem to hurt his tummy though!

Jackson sleeps 8-10 hours most nights, and has been doing that for almost 2 months! What a blessing!!! He woke up a number of times during the night a couple of weeks ago, and Ryan and I were walking zombies. However, Jackson doesn’t like to nap during the day…I actually think part of the reason he doesn’t like to nap has to do with his “afraid to miss anything” syndrome. Most days he might take a couple of 30-45 minute cat naps, or fall asleep in his carseat while we are running errands, but that’s it! He *might* take a good two hour nap once or twice a week. I certainly will take sleeping through the night over napping…however it would be incredible if he did both! I may start researching books on the whole sleep subject, but would love any ideas or advice.

All in all- Jackson is an amazing boy. When I think enough about it, I am practically moved to tears that God has entrusted the care of this precious baby to us. I pray that Jackson will learn to know and love God, and that Ryan and I show Him in our lives as an example to our son. Happy 4 Months to us!

Jackson discovers his feet

Sophie the magical giraffe teether

Our little man

Jackson’s Birth Story, Part 3

We were (and still are) so overwhelmed at how God blessed us with such an amazing baby boy. For us to experience the loss of a little life that we so desired, to conceiving and delivering a healthy full term baby in the span of a year was incredibly emotional. Our birth plan for Jackson didn’t go exactly the way we had planned, but God’s plans were, in fact, perfect! Now looking back on the birth, I am so thankful to have no regrets, and to have such a peace about the way everything happened. That is a big deal for someone like me, who REALLY LIKES to make plans, is a perfectionist, and who holds herself to the highest standard!

I had SO not wanted to be in the hospital over Christmas, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had feared. By the time we got to our postpartum room it was early Christmas morning. Ryan and Jackson went off to the nursery so he could be measured. When they came back was wearing a little Christmas shirt, and a hat knitted by a little old church lady. His bed was loaded with presents…a big stuffed bear, teethers, books, etc.

That Christmas morning, as I held my son, I was overwhelmed with such a sense of wonder and awe. I had felt that way throughout my whole pregnancy…but was especially moved thinking about Mary holding her baby boy Jesus for the first time, just like me. What a way to celebrate Christmas morning!

My family drove to Nashville from Delaware, through the night on Christmas Eve, after the services at the church where my dad is the worship pastor. I think that knowing that Jackson was in the world especially helped my mom (who did most of the driving) stay awake. They showed up at the hospital on Christmas morning right after visiting hours started! While they were there a nurse brought in a Target gift card from Tim McGraw and Faith Hill- we were a little puzzled to say the least! Ryan said “there must be a mistake, we don’t know them.” The nurse explained that they give gifts to all the babies who are at Vanderbilt over Christmas every year. How Nashville is it that Jackson’s first Christmas gift came from Tim and Faith?!?!

All of the hospital staff was so kind to us, and rejoiced with us over Jackson. Before we were discharched, we were visited by both the midwife and nurse who labored with us for 12 hours, only to have their shifts end about two hours before Jackson was born. They wanted to meet our stuborn little booger!

Those first days in the hospital were oh so sweet. We loved getting to know our baby boy. What a miracle new life is! We could SEE our “outside” baby Jackson stretch and move in ways that I had only FELT him move when he was inside my belly. His head of dark hair was exactly the way I had dreamed it! As tired as I was, I would stay awake just to watch him sleep. God created our boy in His image and we were (and still are) AMAZED.

Jackson’s Birth Day(s) Story. Part 2 (labor at hospital)

When my contractions FINALLY reached 3-1-1, we called our midwife and they told us we could come on in. It was about 6:30 in the morning on December 24th (Christmas Eve!) It had been a terribly long night and we were both already exhausted beyond belief. After we got all checked and I was wheeled up to our birthing suite, our wonderful midwife Allison came in and checked me and we found out I was only 3 cm dilated. I’m pretty certain I started crying…after all that intense laboring, I wasn’t even in active labor yet!!! We even talked about the possibility of me having to go home if I failed to progress very quickly. I’m pretty certain I started crying again…I was SO ready to meet our boy and he was just taking his sweet time coming into the world.

Allison and Ryan both practiced different massage techniques to help with my back labor, and I kept practicing and listening to my hypno-babies tracks. We met our nurse, Jerri, who was the absolute best ever! Ryan had brought his laptop and it was loaded with all my favorite music, movies, and wonderful pictures of us throughout our years together. We did our best to try to pass the time! However, around 2 pm, I had hardly progressed, was in a lot of pain, and my resolve to have a completely natural childbirth was greatly weakened. So much so, that when the anesthesiologist came in to talk about a possible epidural, I was pretty ready to listen. The combination of over 3o hours of back labor AND no sleep did me in. That was SO not what I had planned (like I really thought I could PLAN this thing!?!?) So after talking with Ryan, our midwife, and the anesthesiologist, I decided to take the epidural. I was horribly dissapointed in myself, but knew that I needed some rest if I was going to be able to push our little boy out!!!

The epidural didn’t hurt, and quickly gave me some relief. I still felt all of my contractions but they weren’t as strong and I finally dozed off for a couple of hours- the most sleep I had gotten in two days! When I woke up, we found out I had progressed to 5 cm. Seriously?!?! So up next was some pitocin to help move my labor along. I was beginning to think Jackson was never going to be born, and that maybe NOBODY had ever been in labor as long as I had

The shifts for both our midwife and nurse ended at 7pm and Jackson was still an inside baby. They were pretty bummed that they had spent 12 hours laboring with us (there were very few labor and delivery patients that day) and then didn’t get to deliver our baby. We understood, though…it was Christmas Eve evening! We met our new midwife, Linda, and our new nurse, Penny, who were both amazing. I had progressed to a 7 and my water sac was still intact. Ryan and I were starting to think that this baby wasn’t going to come into the world before Christmas! I was checked around 9:30pm and was finally fully dilated. They broke my water and we learned that there was meconium in the water (baby’s first bowel movement.) They called in a NICU team, who would be ready to suction Jackson when he came out so none of the meconium would get into his lungs. And then we were finally ready to push- after almost 40 hours of labor!

Thankfully the pushing went quickly- less than a half and hour. It was a little bit scary as I had to keep moving from side to side between pushes because Jackson kept trying to get tangled in his umbilical cord. When he came out, Linda laid him on me, cut his cord, and then the NICU team took him across the room to take care of him. They suctioned him out quickly and he started crying (the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard!) Ryan then went over to see him promptly pee on all three of the people taking care of him!!! Never had there been a prouder dad! He was brought back over to us and we were able to bond as a little family. Seriously, the BEST. DAY. EVER.

Jackson Bennett Mitchell was born at 10:30pm on 12/24/10. He weighed 8lbs 2ozs, 21 inches long. He had a full head of dark hair, and was (still is!) perfect!

There will be one more post to come…we’ve got some sweet stories about being in the hospital over Christmas!