One Month

One Week Old

Saturday Leland was one month old. This month is probably the fastest month of my life. I honestly do not know where time went and I just can't believe that my sweet baby boy is already a month old. This has probably been the best/hardest month of my life. Leland has grown so much and has made me laugh every single day. But I had no idea how hard motherhood really is. Firstly because postpartum depression has been kicking my trash this month. I cry every single day and am basically an emotional wreck, so that's fun. Also because I get absolutely no sleep whatsoever. For the first three weeks of Leland's life he ate every 2 1/2 hours- which didn't leave a lot of time for sleep. But it's more than those things. Motherhood has required me to learn new things every single day. It has been a month of never ending questions for the doctors, my mom, and google. It has also been a month of trial and error. Not to mention the constant worry I feel that I am not doing it right or that I am in some way a bad mother. It's seriously the most stressful yet rewarding thing I have ever done in my life. I didn't know it was possible to love something as much as I love my little guy. There have been times when I have sent him off with one of his grandma's so that I could take an uninterrupted nap and I wake up missing him. And as strange as this is going to sound, there are also times when my arms feel empty because he is not in them. He is pretty much my entire world now. I can't get enough of him!

Here are some of my favorite stories about Leland from this month:

-- After Leland's two week doctor appointment I was studiously taking off the band aid from his foot. I was focusing so hard on taking it off and not ripping off any skin with it that I failed to notice that our dog Zorro was licking Leland's face over and over and over again. That was my very first bad mom moment- which I can now laugh at thank goodness.

-- One day Justin was changing Leland's diaper after he thought he was done pooping. He wasn't done. Justin had a hold of Leland's feet with his bum sticking in the air, he was trying to put the new diaper on, when all of a sudden Leland shot out poop like a rocket and it went all over our carpet. So as Justin is trying to deal with the poop that is now all over, Leland then proceeds to pee, and it arcs up and lands in his own face. I had a pretty good view of all of this mayhem and I was laughing so hard I started crying. We got the carpet cleaner out and threw babes in the bath and laughed that we now had a good story to tell.

Okay, so here are some facts about my little man: (for journaling purposes)

--Leland is very long. He would probably still fit in newborn footie pajamas but he is too long for them so we had to switch to the the 3 month size so that he could stretch out.

--When he wants food he wants it NOW! He makes the cutest snorting pig sound when he is hungry. When you start to feed him he clenches his fists really tightly by his face so it is sometimes hard to get the bottle in around his hands. By the time you are done feeding him however, he is spread eagle with open palms.

--Leland loves his swing. He usually falls asleep pretty fast in it but will wake up if it stops. He also loves his car seat and car rides.

-- He is very alert when he is awake and loves to stare at things. He also makes the funniest facial expressions. My favorite is when he stretches and scrunches his forehead. It's pretty much adorable.

--I was worried that Zorro's constant barking would wake up Leland when he was sleeping, but Zorro can bark and bark and make all the annoying noises he wants to and Leland won't even flinch. I'm guessing its because he was already used to Zorro from inside the womb.

--When he was three weeks old he started not liking the bassinet next to my bed so much. We put him in his own room in the crib and voila! Everyone started sleeping better! I have an independent kid on my hands I think.

-- Leland is strong! Like seriously strong! He has the tightest grip and if he doesn't want to move his arms or legs it is pretty much impossible to move them. He is also picking up his head pretty well and sometimes even tries to sit up. (I know, I know, my kid is a genius!)

--In certain lighting he has a strawberry blonde tint to his hair. I sometimes wonder if I am going to be raising a ginger. I think I am alright with a little Weasley running around.

-- Leland hates, and I mean HATES, the blanket covering his feet. He kicks and kicks and kicks his little legs until that blanket is off. I am fighting a never ending battle to keep those toes warm because he somehow even manages to kick off his socks. Footie pajamas are my best friend but during the day is a struggle haha.

-- When we made the switch from the hospital pacifier to the regular pacifier it was like a dream come true. He was able to keep it in his mouth much better and he likes it a lot more.

-- When Leland first gets into the bath he is not a very happy camper. Then as the bath goes on he gets happier and happier. His favorite is when I use the hose to wash the shampoo out of his hair. I think he likes the head massage. And then when we get him out he is not very happy either. I don't think he likes to be naked very much.

-- I have a feeling that he is going to be a big boy. At his two week appointment the doctor said that babies are usually just barely getting back to their birth weight at two weeks. Our son however, had gained an entire pound in that two weeks. Then, when we went back three days later, he had gained another nine ounces! In three days! He is a very good eater!

Okay well that is all I can think of for now. Thanks for reading if you made it this far! ;)

Welcome to the world Leland

In case you haven’t heard the news, there is a new addition to the Palmer family. His name is Leland Justin Palmer and he was born on July 27 at 1:21 am. Leland weighed 8 pounds and 3 ounces and was 20 inches long. I was both happy and surprised that he came out weighing what he did for coming to this world a whole two weeks early. But he had absolutely no problems and is a super healthy little boy. Here is the quick version of his birth story:

On Friday July 26 I went in to my regular weekly doctor’s appointment. For the first time my whole pregnancy my blood pressure was high which meant that I had toxemia. My doctor had me go up to labor and delivery after my appointment to get a stress test done- which basically means that they monitor the babies heart rate and do a whole bunch of blood work on me. All of the labs came back great and Leland’s heart was perfect, but I did have a really bad headache that they were concerned about. I told them that I was hypoglycemic and that I might just be hungry. So they gave me a sandwich, crackers, and some Tylenol. If the headache went away in one hour than I was good to go home, if it didn’t they would most likely induce labor. Well as you can guess, the headache didn’t go away and so I was induced.

They put me on a magnesium IV to prevent seizures because of my toxemia that made me really sick. I threw up about eight times during labor, but other than that things were progressing really well and I was doing great. I was surprisingly tired and slept a ton while I was in labor. After the doctor broke my water my contractions got way worse and more frequent so it was time to order the epidural. The epidural doctor was a freaking idiot- worst bedside manners EVER- and he missed the first time hitting a blood vessel. Getting an epidural once is bad enough but having to do it twice is pure hell! Thank heavens for Justin- he is the only thing that kept me sane through that whole thing.

After the epidural was in I was feeling pretty happy about life. I couldn’t feel any of my contractions and went back to basically just sleeping and waking up every so often to vomit. Around 11:30 pm I was finally dilated to a 10 and at 12:30 I began pushing. So to sum things up I was in labor for about ten hours and only had to push for about 50 minutes. Everyone was kind of shocked that it went so fast for a first baby. I feel extremely lucky that it went so well!

July 26’th was my Grandma Paulsen’s birthday. I was kind of bummed that I didn’t have him on her birthday, but I honestly feel like that was a present from her. That entire day I just knew that she was in my corner cheering me on. I can’t even begin to describe how grateful I am for this precious little boy. He has turned our world upside down and I love him a little bit more every day. He is absolutely perfect. No really, he is! I know that he was a gift from God. The first time after his birth that Justin and I prayed together I made him say it because I knew there was no way I would be able to get through that prayer. As I listened to my husband thank our Heavenly Father for this amazing baby tears just poured down my cheeks. My heart is so full. Sometimes when I am feeding him in the middle of the night I sing primary songs to him. Last night I  was singing ‘A Child’s Prayer’ to him and when I got to the lines “You are his child. His love will surround you” I completely lost it and started bawling my eyes out. I literally could feel the love that Heavenly Father has for this little guy fill the room in that moment. I am completely grateful, and overwhelmed, that He would entrust him to me. I am just so, so blessed!!