10.27.2011

Slacker.

I have been the world's biggest slacker these past many months and I have the cutest little boy to blame for that [well, sort of]. I must admit I am no super mom like I thought I would be. Taking care of a four month old, my husband and my two adorable [yet annoying at the same time] hound dogs is so much work. Notice that I didn't even included all the cleaning, cooking, laundry, errands and the list could go on forever. At this point, I am lucky if I get to shower. BUT I must say that I would not want it any other way. Well maybe more showers but in all honesty, my life has flourished in so many ways. Canaan has brought both Gabe and I so much joy and happiness and all those stresses and worries quickly fade away with one look at our boy.

These last four months which have been Canaan's first four months of life has been full of so many new things. These are the changes that have happened for me....

First of all I am no longer a full time bank teller, which is what I have done for seven years. I have now entered into full time mommy along with part time insurance sales lady. I most definitely enjoy being able to spend countless hours with my son, playing, singing, crying, dancing, laughing, pooping.... but I do miss interacting with people. I am a big social bug or I should say I used to be a big social bug. Now I just chat Canaan's ears off and have come to realize that he is just as chatty as his mom, oops! So adjusting to life with a baby, working from home, dealing with my crazy hound dogs 24/7, I have also had to do a food makeover. It seems that dairy really affects my son's little tummy and causes him terrible pain and chunky spit up [which breaks my heart], so I have had to completely eliminate all dairy from my diet. Do you know how much I LOVE ice cream?! Well, I love my son so much more and will do anything to make him happy and pain free. Since this new elimination of diary, I am actually a pant size smaller than I was before my pregnancy! How fun is that! The only problem is that my clothes look so frumpy on me and I cannot afford to run out and buy a whole new wardrobe. I guess I will just have to pull out my trusty sewing machine and alter my clothes myself. Speaking of sewing, I finally dusted off my machine a few days ago and made Canaan some pants out of Gabe's old t-shirts he no longer wears. Pretty smart, right?! So, that's about it for me. Let's move on to Canaan.

Canaan is now four months old, weighing 15 pounds and is 25 inches long. He has been teething since he was about two months old but we still haven't seen any teeth. We have been working on getting him on a schedule which was working out wonderfully until he got his first cold. Poor baby. Unfortunately there wasn't any cold medicine that he could take because of his age so we just followed the treatment that the pediatrician gave and about two weeks later, zero cold. Praise the Lord. Canaan is such a happy baby who loves attention. He laughs and talks a lot and is holding himself up so good that we think he will roll over soon. He really enjoys his Exersaucer and has very little to do with his swing these days. We were just told that we can start feeding him rice cereal for a week or two and then introduce the veggies! Gabe and I have noticed that Canaan is starting to understand what we are doing when we eat and he actually tries to eat our food. It is the funniest thing ever. He reaches for bowls with his mouth wide open while grunting. I am pretty sure he will love this new food source.

I know how boring blogs can be without pictures, SO here are a few to keep you entertained. Enjoy!









8.25.2011

Oh baby!

On Friday, June 24th at 5:34 am, my husband and I welcomed our sweet baby boy, Canaan Davis Aguilar into this world. I thought it might be fun to give you the full story of his arrival. Sit back and relax because this might take some time...


I had been having contractions pretty often throughout my third trimester but it wasn't until Tuesday, June 21st, that I started noticing how close they were getting. Wednesday morning I had my 37 week appointment and after the doctor checked me, she said that I was dilated to a three and that I was 80% effaced. I took that as good news but she told me that I could go on like that for another week or two and that I should keep track of my contractions because once they were five minutes or less apart, that meant go time. Well, I headed to work and started tracking my contractions and realized that they were about seven minutes apart and getting stronger as the day went on. Gabe decided to let his parent know so they could hit the road, just in case Canaan decided to make his arrival that night. Later that evening I noticed that my contractions were around five to six minutes apart, so around 8:00 we packed up and headed to the hospital.

On our way to the hospital, I noticed that my contractions started to slow down a bit, but we still went just to be sure. Once we got there, they got me set up to monitor my baby's heartbeat and my contractions and they told me that I was dilated to a four but still 80% effaced. After two hours they sent me home because my contractions were not progressing. This was a little upsetting but I figured it would be better for me to be home as long as I could before the baby came.

The next morning I woke up to hardly any contractions, which was so frustrating because all I wanted was to have my baby here with us. Gabe and I decided to take a really long walk to hopefully get things moving along and it actually helped. My contractions started coming about every six to seven minutes and boy, were they stronger than the day before. Gabe decided to go into work since it didn't look like we were going to be having a baby any time soon and I ran around town with my in-laws, laboring my day away. Finally, around 7:30 we decided to head to the hospital because by this point, I was having strong contractions every three to four minutes. I was a little hesitant to go back to the hospital because the last thing I wanted them to do was send me home again but I just knew this was the real deal.

When we arrived, they sent me to triage and got me settled. The nurse I had the night before was fabulous, but this new lady was not the friendliest. She acted almost as if I wasn't in labor or as if I was just another false labor patient. While I was lying there having terribly painful, very low contractions, Canaan's heart rate was at the lowest 175 and at the highest 195! The average heart rate is 150. Each time I had a contractions, his little heart rate would increase to about 180-195 and it hardly ever dropped below 175 the entire time. After about two hours, the nurse came in to check me and said that I was not dilating but that I was about 100% effaced and that she was planning on sending me home once Canaan's heart rate dropped. I was very concerned about his heart rate being so high and when I asked her about it she said I must have a happy baby....lame answer. My thought was that if I just had a happy baby, why aren't you sending me home now and why are you having to wait until his heart rate drops?

After another hour of monitoring, the nurse gave me the discharge papers and sent me home, again. This was heartbreaking for me because I was following all the labor signs and at this point I didn't know what to do anymore. I tried so hard to not let the not-so-friendly nurse see me cry and as soon as we left the room, I broke into tears. I felt like a failure and I remember telling Gabe that this was my walk of shame, as we headed down the long hallway back to the car.

At this point all our family thought we were in the hospital laboring our (my) way to having our baby. So as we drove home (me - a complete mess of tears and boogers) I called my mom to tell her the sad news. She was so wonderful and covered us with pray and gave me encouraging words which brought me peace. I finished my phone call and as we pulled into the driveway I got a really strong contraction. I asked Gabe to keep the car running because I needed the AC since this contraction was so intense. I pushed myself back into the seat and all of a sudden I heard a "pop" and felt a warm mess in my pants.

SERIOUSLY?! Did my water bag just break?

I cannot even explain to you how much pressure was relieved once my water broke. I looked over at Gabe and told him that I thought my water just broke. I kid you not, he had just put the car in park, the clock struck midnight and my contraction hit (which caused my water bag to break) and this all happened at the same time!! I got out of the car and stood up to see if it was really my water breaking and not just pee, and sure enough, the fluid leaked out and I had no control of it. Gabe grabbed the towel that I had in the car for this very reason and we headed back to the hospital.

By this point my contractions were SO intense that I thought I was going to have our baby in the car on the way to the hospital. I remember telling Gabe to drive faster because we were not going to make it. When we got to the hospital (mind you, I am soaked from my water breaking...so gross) they rushed me in and check me to be sure I had ruptured. Sure enough I did and I was already dilated to a 6.5 at this point. They went and found a room for me and not even ten minutes later, once I was in my room, they checked me again and I was already dilated to an 8! I kept telling the nurses that I felt like I was going to poop and they just kept telling me that it was the pressure of my baby's head. I made sure they knew I wanted an epidural and was hoping that I could still get one since I was dilating so quickly. While I was lying there on they bed, I started to feel faint and told the nurse that I was going to pass out. Well, it turns out that I needed to throw up instead.

Finally the anesthesiologist showed up and got me set up. Man, those epidurals are AMAZING! I kept on thanking the doctor for giving me the magic drug. Literally, that epidural was a life saver. Women that have babies without any drugs are troopers. Once the epidural was in place the nurse checked me again and I was dilated to a 9! They told me that I was so close to having to birth my baby without any drugs because of how quickly I labored. I went from a 4 to 9 in about an hour and a half. The nurse was so proud of me and said I pretty much labored the entire thing without any drugs.

After the epideral was in place and doing it's thing, I rested for about two hours or so. I must say that I have an amazing husband. He was incredibly supportive throughout the entire process and did a great job at keep me calm. After my resting time, my nurse (her name was Ashley) came in and checked me one last time. She said that Canaan was sitting really low and that it was time to push. I got this rush of energy and was ready to push so we could finally meet our little guy.

Pushing was actually the easiest part of the entire labor process. Ashley sat at the foot of my bed and Gabe was off to my left. The lights were dim and the room was so peaceful. She gave me all the tips I needed to help make this a quick and smooth process and then it was push time. It didn't take too long before Gabe and Ashley could see the top of Canaan's head. After a few more pushes, Ashley called in the doctor so we could finally deliver Canaan and that's when everything got real. I was going to be holding my baby soon. MY baby. Well, our baby.

What will he look like? How big will he be? Will he be healthy and whole? Will he know my voice?

I had so many things going through my head at this point. Oh, I forgot to mention that Canaan had pooped inside the uterus, so NICU nurses were in the room to do whatever it is they do. Another crazy thing, the doctor and nurse who delivered our baby were wearing face shields! That was a little strange to me. Thankfully none of my bodily fluids splattered on their face masks. Oh and the room was full of people and they brought in a big table loaded with medical tools. Okay so back to the story....

The doctor was ready and so was I. I wanted Canaan out SO badly to see and to hold and to love. I pushed and pushed some more and the doctor snipped and snipped some more...eek! I was really hoping to avoid getting an episiotomy but that didn't happen. I guess that is much better than tearing or having a c-section, right? So finally with a few more pushes, out came Canaan!!! I wasn't able to get a good look at him because they had to suction his mouth and nose and then immediately gave him to the NICU nurses. Gabe was able to stay by Canaan's side the entire time he was being treated and finally after about an hour (okay more like 15 minutes) I got to get a quick glimps of my son. My heart melted and I just wanted to keep him all to myself, forever. Once they measured and weighed him (6 pounds, 5 ounces and 17 inches long) they finally handed him over to me.

I did it. We did it. We brought our beautiful baby boy into this world and everything was so perfect. Everything is so perfect.




6.15.2011

Paternity Photos

I just wanted to share a few pictures of my baby daddy with you all. He is super handsome and charming. His talent is post climbing in TOMS and I'd say he is pretty dang good at it. I am really hoping that our little guy takes after his dad, not only his talents but his looks as well. Enjoy!





6.14.2011

Eight

While we were in New Mexico visiting family and friends, Gabe and I decided to go out and snap a few maternity pictures. We went out at about six in the morning for great light and cool weather and I was very pleased with the outcome. Here are a few pictures from out photo shoot but to see more check out our photo blog at The Photo Affair.



4.21.2011

Seven

That's right, I have made it to month seven of my pregnancy. To be more specific I am actually 29 weeks, so just a little more than seven months. That means that Gabe and I have 11 more weeks until our sweet, little Canaan makes his appearance. At my last appointment, I was told that Canaan is measuring a week and a half ahead of his gestational size, so when I said "our sweet, little Canaan..." I should have put "our sweet, healthy Canaan."

Anyways, as Gabe and I were out and about we stopped by this church's baby consignment sale to see what good deals we could score. There really wasn't much to my liking but we were able to get a few outfits and some lovely maternity photos out of it. Here is a sneak peek of the photo shoot Gabe took of me and Canaan. Enjoy!