My little Noe turned 2 months on May 18th.
Weight: 17.5 lbs
Height: 25.5 in (He’s 2′1!)
Important Milestones:
Bouncy things to gentle swings, my dear Noah has them all. Aside from my recent splurge on a new camera and the monthly bills, my paycheck is handed over to him in the currency of baby food and tinkering toys. I was surprised to find that many of the things I got from Babies R Us is actually much cheaper from Target.
I’m going to take time to review some of my son’s “things” over the next few months. First, I’m gonna start with the Fisher Price My Little Lamb Infant Chair. Wooeeii!
This chair is cute if you have a boy or girl. Some night it’s the only thing my son will sleep in. If you have a chubby baby (like mine), it gives them enough room for freedom yet still cuddles them. The vibration is very soothing, but this little chair eats the batteries like it’s nobody’s business. You might be pulling a Samantha Jones (Sex & the City) if your baby won’t stop crying and no batteries are in plain view.
There are optional straps (no thanks) and a very annoying dangly lamb from a detachable arm on the chair. There’s a rounded mirror that hangs above if your child likes to look into reflective surfaces. I know Noah can’t get enough of himself, and smiles whenever he catches a glimpse.
It’s not heavy, so it’s very easy to carry around with baby inside (not to disturb him), though probably not recommended. Just saying.
Noah loves his chair to pieces, it’s a nice easy place to set him in when I have to put him down and I’m not near his crib. It’s machine washable but like hell I’ve washed it yet until he’s done some real business on it.
Buy it from Fisher Price for $60, also offered at Toys R Us and Target for a penny less. I think Noah would give it 4/5 paci’s, but honestly I don’t know what the hell I’d do without this thing.
Happy Mother’s Day to all you Moms out there! I’m working today, then I’m going to be taking Mom & Grandma out for dinner, with little man in tote. I hope he behaves, sometimes he can be a real cry baby in public if he doesn’t like the atmosphere. I got my Mother and Grandmother gift cards, and I’m waiting on this a Rembrandt Charm I ordered for my Mom’s charm bracelet. These make really good gifts, I ordered her a very nice, heavy chain and two charms in Sterling Silver for about $100 from Reeds Jewelers.
I know my Mom got me a gift “from Noah”, that I’m going to open when I get home later. I’m just happy to be off tonight to spend time with him. Yesterday was a HUGE surprise. My parent’s house had been without power for 7 hours, and then a big truck is parked across the street, and someone is at our door. I was holding Noah, bouncing him after his bath in just his little robe. I stood up and my mind immediately when to the worst possible scenario when I saw the truck. Noah’s father.
Wouldn’t you know it, I’m paranoid. My boyfriend sent me flowers for my first Mother’s Day. This man is just incredible, I love him so much, I never actually stopped but I needed to grow up before I could really commit to him. I always knew he was the one I wanted for keeps, but at 21, I wasn’t ready to be tied down. I wanted to live a little, and our situation was so difficult, that I couldn’t help but break his heart. He had moved across country, without a job, so we could have a “real” relationship without 5 hour flights every other month. We realize now it was a reckless move, but kids who are young and in love do stupid things. We live, we learn, and we grow up. One year, and baby later, Josh & I are only two states apart and working on building trust for one another and a strong relationship.
I get to see Josh again at Noah’s baptism in June. He really connected with Noah when they met, which really surprised me. I had been dating a guy during my second trimester .. Oh I promise to write a blog about dating while you’re knocked up sometime – it happens, and it’s way different than dating as a non-pregnant woman. The guy was awful antsy about being a father figure to my son, but I really don’t think he knew what he was getting into. Sure, he was a nice guy, and he did a lot of favors, but something just wasn’t right between us, I think he just wanted a girlfriend, and I just wanted comfort.
When the guy said, “In a few months I’m going to become a third wheel to my own relationship”, you better believe I was out like a light. This is one of the things you need to consider when dating someone, how do they feel about your kid? Because that child is part of you. That’s why I was worried Josh wouldn’t like Noah in the slightest, but I was wrong. I’d never seen him so connected to anything before in the three years we’ve known each other. Josh kept wanting to hold Noah, and just snuggle up with him. It was so wonderful to see the man I love connecting with my child. I could not ask for a better partner or little boy.
Noah started smiling last week, like for real smiles, not the, well he curled his lip on accident kind. When we were on Skype with Josh, Noah actually smiled at him. My baby boy already realizes that it’s people on the screen. (Yes, I let my son watch television. Phewy if you think that’s bad parenting. He loves laying on his tummy looking up on Grandma’s flat screen, and anything with lots of music.) He smiles and makes little happy noises the most when he sees himself in the mirror, I don’t think he knows that’s him. I think that he may think it’s another baby or something, which thrills me to no end. Jasenka and I are supposed to take our babies to the mall, and I’m curious to see how Noah reacts to her daughter, Ami, who is a month younger than Noah.
I am contemplating buying a nice SLR camera, instead of taking all of Noah’s pictures on my iPhone. The quality is superior to other camera phones, but it’s just not how I want to remember my babe. I don’t know much about cameras, to even know where to start and I don’t want to get ripped off or buy something with more features than I’ll actually use. I would just like some really clear pictures to capture the special moments. If anyone has any great recommendations, please send them my way. I have about a $1,000 budget for a camera.
So I thought it might be good to give a brief run though of who is involved in Noah’s life as family. Noah is the first grandchild for my Mom & Dad. Noah took my last name since his biological father isn’t involved in his life, nor is he listed on any documentation or paying child support (my choice to not chase him down for it). So by default, Noah is a Madsen until the fateful day I get married, and we become a whole new family. Until this entry, I’ve been hesitant to mention my boyfriend (who is not Noah’s father) and I getting back together for a lot of reasons. Everything is turning out wonderfully though, which makes me less hesitant to let him into Noah’s life.
Mom (Me) aka Lyndsay
New Mom of Baby Noah.
I’m a Full Time College Student and I work and Full Time Employee. However I am FULLY committed to my son and boyfriend. My family means everything to me. You can read more about me here .. I don’t want to ramble on.
Grandma (My Mama)
A Foxy Grandma and Mother of Two.
The best Mom in the world, and I’m her young apprentice. Noah & I live with her and Grandpa (My Dad). She likes to garden and collect crystals. She works full time in a Real Estate Office as a Secretary. She was the first person I whipped my pregnancy test out at after I received a positive. She cut Noah’s umbilical cord and was my coach in labor and my inspiration when times were hard during my pregnancy.
Grandpa (My Dad)
I know he looks young, but he is a Grandpa.
Wherever we go, people have been known to assume he is Noah’s father because of his youthful appearance. My father has been married to my mother for over 27 years. He is very thoughtful and kind, and at times very wacky. My Dad is an amazing role model for his grandson. When he’s off from work, he rotates the “overnight shift” of watching Noah with me.
Gram (My Grandmother)
“Great” is for more than generation purposes.
Gram watches Noah during the day while I’m at work. She’s known for her love of babies, her Christmas cut-outs, and other cooking. She also likes gardening and is a perfectionist with laundry. Gram is a breast-feeding pro after two of her own kids. She’s been married to my grandfather for over 50 years.
Grandpa Be (My Grandfather)
Mr. Fix It.
Be is short for BeBop, yes, like the Ninja Turtles supporting antagonist. I’m pretty sure my brother started this outrage when we were children. He is the handyman of the family, who wants to teach Noah how to wield the wrench and hammer. He loves cutting his lawn, which is why Noah will most likely own the John Deer Power Wheel before he’s even taken his first steps.
Uncle Steve (My Brother)/God Father
“Let me tell you about manliness.”
My only brother, and sports enthusiast wants to get Noah into our hometown Sports teams, the Buffalo Sabres and the Buffalo Bills. Steve works as a store manager for a Tops Super Markets. Aside from sports, Uncle Steve likes to go fishing and grilling. He constantly teases me about feeding Noah meat, haha, not funny Steven -_- .. (We’re vegetarians.)
Aunt Melissa (My Brother’s Fiance)/God Mama
Auntie Melissa!
Engaged to marry my big brother, April 2011. They recently bought a home in South Buffalo so they will be around to visit Noah and make cousins for him. Yay! Melissa loves to hold Noah, and play with him. She was one of the two of my family to witness Noah’s birth, and was the key photographer during his birth. Melissa “does hair” and will be the one to give Noah his first hair cut.
Josh (The Boyfriend)
The Big Teddy Bear.
Josh & I dated from Winter 2007 – Spring 2009. We split up just before I got pregnant with Noah, and we started talking again a few weeks before Noah came into the world. Josh moved to Ohio after our breakup in 2009, and we carry on a long-distance relationship. You might see me write about the hardships of long distance love from time to time. We live a 6-hour drive apart from each other. Josh loves little Noah like he’s his own, which causes quite the controversy for those who can’t accept our relationship.
Holy crap, I took maternity leave from this blog it seems. It wasn’t intended however, things just got so busy. Especially since he was the “I’ll sleep during the day and keep you up all night” type .. Party Animal. Here I am though, back to work and back to classes, missing my little boy. I often find myself flipping through his pictures on my iPhone and FaceBook page.
Noah is already smiling and laughing and I’ve already stuffed my $400 Medela breast pump in my closet, committing, “next time I’ll actually stick with it”. I’ve been contemplating how the hell to get off the rest of the baby weight as I pack the baby in the backseat and guzzle down Starbucks the next minute. How life has changed.
My little Noah loves mirrors and reflective surfaces. He loves apple sauce, and snuggling his Mommy. Noah likes to sleep on his tummy, though never unattended. Walks in his stroller, warm baths and passing out on Grandma. Mommy loves playing paparazzi with her iPhone.
Above all things, I love being a Mom.
Woo, I actually found time to write, because I’m pumping as I do. I don’t directly breastfeed Noah, I haven’t since my 2nd day home from the hospital, I’ll explain why in a later entry. No one tells you how friggin hard breastfeeding actually is, or that your son might have a bubble palate that will cause you to bleed.. Sorry for the graphic visualization there. Hulk like grip on the boob, is not a fun time for Mom, but I still want him to get all of the great stuff that’s in breast milk, so I pump and bottle feed my little guy. Noah is 10 days old today.
So I stopped last entry at going in for my induction, I went to work that morning. My co-workers got me a big cake welcoming Baby Noah, and one of those really delicious fruit baskets by edible arrangements. After leaving work, I had a light dinner, then fidgeted around the house until my Dad drove me to the hospital.
I saw the really cool tub with whirlie jets in it, and was like.. “SCORE!”. Well NOT score, because if you’re getting induced, you can’t go in the whirlpool tub. If you’re getting induced you stay strapped to these annoying monitors the entire time. The nurse was really nice getting me set up, and I had a monitor to watch and see if I was having contractions, but the monitor can’t tell the difference between Braxton Hicks and a real contraction .. so another useless device in my room, great.
The midwife came in, and inserted the Cervadil around 8:30, which felt like a really unpleasant tampon experience. Have you ever used an OB tampon? You know the cheapest ones on the shelf (but they’re great for the environment) because they don’t have an applicator. It was like that, but way the frig up there. Then I was thinking, holy crap, Noah has to come down that same way, except he’s way bigger than a mutant tampon.. I sat there with the tv off, and just tried to relax until my Mom came to stay with me in the room after her class.
The nurse came in around midnight to give me sleeping pills, because they wanted me to have a good night’s rest before they started the pitocin drip in the morning. I was on Skype at the time, talking to some people while I was in the room, and the Nurse apparently had never seen anyone video chat from their hospital bed in Labor & Delivery before. Well count me in for being the techie exception.
Next came the “Ambien challenge“. They had given me two doses of Ambien, which was supposed to knock me out. Guess what? I was awake the entire night, saying goofy things to my Mom and unplugging the fetal monitoring system at least ten times so I could constantly go to the bathroom. I didn’t sleep at all, instead I was wide awake with my head pounding. When they came in to start the pitocin drip at 8:30, I was anything but rested.
Now as if it wasn’t bad enough to be hooked up to a monitor, I was now strung up to an IV of pitocin and the Nurse who wanted to draw blood had pricked me in three different places before she found a good vein. This was ten days ago, and my right arm is still extremely bruised. Then, they put the blood pressure cuff of death on my upper right arm, but when it was idle, it would slide down. When I heard it start to tighten up, I’d have about five seconds to slide it up my arm so that it wasn’t pressing directly against the spot of the bad draw. Mistakes happen, I wasn’t pissed off at anyone, just uncomfortable.
Two hours had passed of watching Court TV, which was ironically about paternity/dna testing. Some of these women exploiting themselves on television, making fools of themselves, I couldn’t help but think .. if he doesn’t want you or your child, why the hell do you want him? I had switched from bouncing on the “birthing ball” to sitting in a chair to back in bed to walking the four step circumference I could without the fetal monitoring system needing to be unplugged. The new midwife stepped in, talk about the most discouraging woman I have ever met .. it would definitely be this lady.
It was as if she took joy in bringing others misery, she walked in with my file. “You know this isn’t a sure thing right?”
“What?” I said lightly, a little caught off guard by what the heck she meant.
“Your doctor told you this might not work, right? That this might not bring on labor.” She confirmed.
“No, he didn’t tell me that.” I replied.
“You might get sent home for a week.” She stated, closing the file up and getting ready to walk out.
I had only been on the pitocin for two hours at this point. I felt so discouraged, and at a loss. I wasn’t having any contractions. Maybe I would have to go home for a week. Maybe I wouldn’t be holding my little boy tonight. The tears started, and I couldn’t help but feel defeated now that she had spoken those words.
Twenty minutes later, my doctor walked in the room, and said, “We will see what happens today, okay?” I just nodded at him. I didn’t know it then, but I wouldn’t see my doctor again until after Noah’s cord had been cut and he had been freshly placed in my arms right after being delivered.
Hours passed, and I was switching still between all the places I could, trying to do squats, and nothing was happening. The Nurse had my drip up to 20 which was the maximum my doctor would allow. Around 4 o’clock, I looked at my Mom and said, “Can you help me get back on the ball? Maybe that will do something.” She smiled at me, but also realizing as the hours passed, she might not meet her grandson today, or until next week.
I stood up from the chair, and felt the warm gush down my legs. “I just peed myself.” I said embarrassed, I wanted to cry. I wouldn’t have my son today and now I was peeing myself without even knowing it? What the hell was I going to do with myself? I looked down at the liquid on the floor to see that it wasn’t pee. It had blood in it, and it continued to leak out, my water had just broke.
Finally a moment of peace, my brother and his fiance have taken Noah so I can get a little shut eye before our “up all night” adventure. Last night entailed watching Beauty and the Beast (there’s quite the story behind who got me this DVD, but that is for another day), trying to type up a research paper with only one hand (Noah cries as soon as I set him down), and tons of dancing around and kisses to get him to calm down for me!
Things I know about Noah’s sleep habits so far:
Tomorrow will be our One Week mark together, and it’s just crazy to think how much I already love this little boy and we’ve only been able to look into one anothers eyes for a week now. Fortunately, I am off from work for maternity leave, but I’m still going to school full time, and I got severely backed up spending four days in the hospital. I realize that I haven’t written in a while, my last posts were about how bored I was with being overdue, and some little graphics I made for fun in photoshop to pass the time, and BAM! Here’s a picture of my adorable son, look! So let me recap how this all happened.
The 16th, was my checkup with my doctor, and usually I leave there disappointed, distraught and feeling like, “Oi, I’m going to be pregnant forever, aren’t I?”. Especially after having a bout of false labor the Friday before, I was extremely unhappy about going in. I walk in the office, and psycho nurse who usually treats me like white trash (see previous entry here), was super nice saying, “We really thought you were ready to go last week!”. The receptionist’s eyes followed my ginormous baby belly before she said, “I can’t believe you’re still here…” Thanks for your encouragement guys!
At last when I seen my doctor, I come to find out I was still only a “fingertip” dilated, or about 1/2 cm. At this point, I’m thinking, okay, what the hell is wrong with my vagina? Then the magical words of induction come out from his lips.. and I feel as though I may be in heaven.
“Wednesday Night at 7, okay for you? I’ll have to call to make sure they have a room available.”
I agreed, then realized tomorrow was Wednesday. I could have my baby as early as Wednesday night, (though it was unlikely since induction was a 2-step process).
I was ecstatic I would finally have my baby, and a little frightened that the whole thing hadn’t come about naturally. Why didn’t Noah want to come out, he still kicked as much as he ever did before, had hiccups several times a day, and gave me menstrual like cramps. Was he not ready to live outside Mommy’s belly? I could hardly sleep that night wondering if this induction was the right choice, I had heard stories of how the pitocin stressed the baby out to the point the cord wrapped around the neck and suffocated the baby. My mother who was induced into labor with me back in 1988, had told me how “the pit” made labor contractions much more severe and painful – I had planned a natural childbirth (with the lack of pain medication), would I be able to handle these contractions? Could I even handle normal contractions?
St. Patricks day arrived, and I went to work that morning not able to even fathom that it would be my last for the next few weeks. I went about my day as if I’d be showing up to my desk tomorrow, logging in to my workstation and phone, and going about my duties. But I wouldn’t be. I would be strapped to a fetal monitor and an IV of pitocin while my chair would sit empty. I would wait for labor to start, and prepare myself to give birth to the most beautiful little baby boy, Noah Benjamin.
Sorry I haven’t written in the past week, so much has happened, including Noah making his arrival!
Mom, I See You!
I’m trying to keep from making myself a bowl of Mac & Cheese, because right now that is what I’m craving more than anything. I don’t know yet if little man is going to be a Pisces or Aries, and I wanted to make something cute for his Zodiac symbol. I made one of each, and just in case your little babe is February – April baby too and not a boy, I made female versions of each too.
Little man has been making a lot of movement today, but no signs that he wants to take center stage yet. Some of his movements actually hurt, and I’m starting to question just how big he’s going to be before he makes his appearance. I see the doctor tomorrow, maybe he can give me a guesstimate of just how big Noah is now.
Honestly, Graphic Design is the only thing that will keep me busy enough to stay away from the kitchen. Enjoy xoxo.
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