1 month photos

Well, he's not waking up, so I quickly grabbed a couple while he was sleeping. Doesn't he look huge?

Posting on consecutive days!

It's a miracle! Not really, Aidans just went to sleep early tonight and I can't sleep, unfortunately. I figured I would give you guys a little treat.

Have I mentioned that Aidan discovered his hands recently? He now puts his hands in his mouth, then makes a panting noise as though he thinks he's about ready to eat. Crazy guy. He also can pull my hair now. Lucky me. Seriously though, he MUST be the cutest baby in the whole world am I right? Today Dan went to hang out with some friends, since we're leaving Killeen on Thursday. I took Aidan to the PX (stands for post exchange, which is basically a Walmart on post, only nicer stuff). Anyway, he didn't like that at all, so we bought diapers, the new Katharine McPhee CD and left ASAP. Then we went to the car wash. Not sure whether it was the cd or the sound of the water, but he went to sleep right away. It was nice because he's been super fusy with this cold he has.

The doctor gave me some nasal spray to put in his nose to clear out his sinuses. Let me tell you he REALLY hates it. He screamed like I've never heard him scream before.

Aidan still hates his bouncy seat. He also hates his bassinette. Basically all the stuff we have he hates. He likes to sleep in my arms, and he likes to sleep in our bed. Go figure. One thing I just discovered today that he likes is his baby carrier. I strapped it to me and put him in and we went for a little walk to get the mail. He seemed pretty excited to be outside. He was turning his head around the entire time to look at anything and everything. It was cold though, so I didn't stay out long. Dan's parents bought him this great snowsuit, so maybe tomorrow I'll put him in that and take him for a walk. I definitely need to get out more. Staying in the house with him all day makes me crazy.

I think my hips are finally re-aligning from giving birth. I was walking pretty strangely for a few weeks....Tanya was making fun of me. Then I read that it's because your hips get out of wack. So, I'm feeling pretty good, almost back to normal. Just need to lose a few pounds, well, ok a lot of pounds. But it was all worth it to have our little angel. I'll try to get some more pictures when he wakes up from his nap. He looks adorable today in little overalls...

Aidan's a month old!

He's growing so fast. We had to take him to the doc today because we gave him a cold. Poor little guy. He's now weighing in at a sturdy 9 pounds. It's amazing how quickly he's gaining weight, especially after having problems those first few days. He's eating constantly, so I guess it's to be expected.

Our internet hasn't been working much, plus Aidan keeps me pretty busy. It's hard to find time to do just about anything these days. Anyone wanna do my laundry? :)

These pics are from last week, but you get the idea. He's growing into a baby, instead of a newborn.

We're trying to get things ready to leave. I'm headed to St. Louis and Dan is headed for Fort Jackson for the time being. Thanks to all the well wishers. We still don't know what his situation will be. Crossing my fingers and saying a prayer.

It's amazing how little sleep you get as a parent. When I was pregnant, especially in the last few weeks, I would wake up every couple hours for no reason. I think it was my body getting ready for Aidan. I usually do ok, but once it's been a few days in a row of insufficient sleep, I get crazy. Dan has been helping out though. He's WONDERFUL with Aidan. I wasn't sure what to expect, especially since he doesn't have any experience with children, but he's learning so quickly. Dan is particularly good at getting the little man to fall asleep. He's even woken up a couple of times in the middle of the night to feed him a bottle so I can get a few hours of consecutive sleep. Now that's a great feeling.

Growing so fast...

Dan and I took Aidan to the hospital yesterday just to be weighed. I was so curious how he was doing. He seems to be growing so fast, he looks bigger every day and his clothes continue to fit better. Anyway, Aidan weighs 7 lbs. 14 oz! Almost a pound bigger in just 3 weeks. The lactation consultant said he's doing really well. His sleep schedule is still insane. Sometimes he does great, and sometimes I get no sleep. 2 nights ago he slept for 6 and a half hours straight. It was amazing. I've updated Aidan photos on the link in the previous post. Check em out if you're bored.

Such a good baby

Sorry I've been about blogging, I know many people look forward to Aidan updates. It's hard for me to get anything done these days, much less get on the internet. Sooooo.....What's new? Aidan is sleeping better, although we're still trying out new methods. We bought one of those sleep positioner things last night and he slept in the bed with us - didn't work too well. We're going to try the bassinette tonight. I'll let ya know how it goes. Yesterday Aidan had his first trip to the mall. Because of the terrible weather we've been having (icy gross wintery weather) I haven't been able to do any walking, we decided to walk around our little mall last night. It felt great to get out of the house, that's not something I do much these days.

Aidan seems like he's growing so quickly. His newborn clothes fit him great now - hard to believe a premie outfit just fit him not too long ago. I now completely understand why people say your children grow up right before your eyes. He tries so hard to hold up his head, then it wobbles to the side. It's amazing how strong he is already. He can grip Dan's finger really tightly and won't let go. It's really sweet. Right now he's having gas problems, so he makes all kinds of strange noises in his sleep.

Dan didn't go to work today. The weather and the roads were so horrible, and people in Texas/military can't drive worth a crap, so he just came home. Not that Aidan and I minded spending the day with Dan.....Friday is his last official day of work. He's going to spend the last two weeks at home spending time with me and Aidan before he leaves for stupid Army stuff. Still no update on that - probably won't know anything until he gets to Fort Jackson.

Dan and I are going to St. Louis around the 1st of Feb. so Aidan and I won't be alone right after Dan leaves. Hopefully this will save my sanity. This is going to be the most difficult thing I've ever had to do, so please forgive me if I act a little crazy. I'll be in Missouri for many weeks. Still working on all the logistics with the Army though...Hopefully many of you will be able to meet the little man when we come for a visit!

Aidan photos

Per my mom's request, I am posting a link to an online album that contains virtually every photo of Aidan that we have at this point. It also offers the option to have prints made, if anyone wants to. The link is:
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/ndpoppe

Aidan likes to go to bed at 5 a.m.

We already knew Aidan had his days and nights mixed up, but 2 nights ago was the worst. He didn't go to bed until 5 a.m. I was so exhausted. I thought things were supposed to get better as they get older - granted he's still not THAT old. Anyway, last night I thought was going to be a repeat of the previous night. I decided not to put him in his bassinette or his crib. This time I slept on the couch and put him in his car seat. That's where he loves to take his naps during the day, so I figured it was worth a shot. Sure enough, we got 4 and a half hours of sleep in a row. That's the most he's ever slept at night. I really think he just likes the feeling of being snuggled closely. His crib and bassinette are just too big and cold. I feel like a bad mom leaving him in his car seat, but it's what he likes.....And I actually got some sleep.

Aidan is almost 2 weeks old

Can you believe it? I can't!

Sorry I've been bad about updating the blog lately, but the little man keeps me pretty busy. Dan's parents left Sunday, his sister left Monday, and my mom and sister left yesterday. It's really quiet here now, just me and Aidan during the day. He still has his days and nights mixed up, but we're managing. I found out last night that he just doesn't like sleeping in his pack n play. He actually seems to prefer his crib, which does make me a little sad because that means he's not in the room with us. At least he's sleeping though.

Aidan already looks a little different to me. He is bigger, and he is filling out his clothes better. Here are a few more recent photos.

Aidan update

Isn't he precious?

My mom finally gets to meet the little guy!

Tanya holds him.
Dan feeding Aidan milk I pumped.


Aidan is doing great. He continues to gain weight at a healthy pace and has turned into a great eater - It runs in the family :) Tanya and my mom finally made it to visit him and love him bunches. He doesn't fit into any of his clothes. The only thing that does fit is a premie outfit. Who would have guessed? So much for thinking he was too big. My swelling is finally starting to go away. I think my feet still have a bit of it though. Hopefully it will go away soon. Here are a few more photographs...

End of week 1

Well, tomorrow my little baby is going to be a week old. Hard to imagine. Aidan is doing very well...He originally had lost a lot of weight, too much weight at his 2 day appointment. We've had 2 appointments since then. At the first, he gained 5 oz. in a day. At the second, he gained 3 oz. They say he's doing great now. He was just having a few problems nursing, but we've solved those issues.

I think he gets a little cuter everyday. His cheeks are getting chubbier...I love him more than I ever imagined I could. It's a cliche I know - but so completely true. Dan and I went to WalMart tonight while John and Heleena watched Aidan. We were only gone an hour, but it was rough. I just thought about him the entire time, and I know Dan did to. I'll post more pics of the little angel tomorrow. Did I mention he's a wonderful baby? He is, he is usually calm and very laid back. Hope he stays that way.

A few Aidan pics

Aidan's birth story

Well, I've finally rested enough to write about Aidan's birth story, so here goes....

I worked a full day on Wednesday, went home, ate dinner and then Dan and I watched Invincible (a great movie by the way). At about 9:30 Dan left to give a friend a ride home from work. I went to the bathroom and that's when my water broke. I couldn't believe it, but there was no doubt it was my water breaking. I immediately called Dan to come home. Then I called my mom and told her what was going on. So Dan came home and was kind of freaking out, running around the house asking what needed to be done. I had previously packed Aidan's bag, but I hadn't yet packed my bag, so that was a disaster. I knew we needed to get to the hospital. We ended up hauling three bags of stuff to the hospital. I called Labor and Delivery to tell them we were on our way. Dan was so flustered that he ended up taking the VERY long way to the hospital. Eventually we got there, went up to triage were they tested the fluid to ensure it was my water that had broken. Once it was confirmed, they immediately took us to a birthing room where they hooked me up with an IV. Though my water had broken, I wasn't having very strong contractions at that point, so they began putting potocin into my IV every half hour to speed things along. And it sure worked. I was about 3 centimeters dialated, 50% effaced at that point, about 11:30. A couple hours later, the contractions were becoming really strong and frequent. My blood pressure became dangerously high, so they gave me some sort of pain meds through my IV. It made me really loopy. It took the edge of the contractions, but by no means took away the pain. My blood pressure did go back down to safer levels though, which was good. That didn't last very long, because the pain became really overwhelming.

At around 3 a.m., I finally had enough and told them to bring on the epidural. They came in at about 3:30 to put it in. Things felt like heaven neary instantly. They asked me how the contractions were feeling. My response? What contractions. Highy recommend the epi. Anyway...Two hours later, after a little nap, they came back to check on me. I was 5 centimeters, 90% effaced then. My regular doctor was scheduled to come in at 7 a.m., so they told me he would be coming in to check me at that time. So around 7:15 he came in and said I was ready to go, but Aidan was still a little far up the birth canal, so we were going to wait about an hour to start pushing.

At 8:20, the nurse came in and said we were ready to begin. Ten minutes into some mild pushing, I asked how long she thought it would take. She said at east an hour. Well, I wasn't up for that. I really just wanted things to be over, so I gave it everything I had. Obviously his head was the most difficult part. Because I hadn't slept at all, I was soo exhausted. Everytime I pushed I saw stars and little spots. I thought I was going to pass out. They gave me some oxygen, Dan fed me some more ice chips and rubbed my head. It only took a half an hour after that, and little Aidan John Welch was born at 9:03 a.m. I had to have stitches because of some tearing.

He weighed just 6 pounds, 13 ounces and was 21 1/4 inches. He's very long and lanky. Crazy long legs, cute round face and chubby cheeks. He has a large mark on the back of his head. They weren't sure if it was a birth mark, or a bruise from the birth, but it seems to be going away - so they think it's a bruise. He is the most perfect baby, and he looks like a little angel. Don't you think? I'll post more soon.