Thursday, July 22, 2010

my, how he wiggles

In an effort to not get completely overwhelmed by the demands of being a new mom, I am going to try and work a little bit of creativity into each day. And I do mean a little. (By the way, blogging totally counts as a creative activity.)

Yesterday, during one of Jeremiah’s “awake” times (i.e., the 15 minutes between when he finishes nursing and I put him down for a nap), I tried to take some photos of him. One thing I’ve already learned is that even though he isn’t mobile yet, he moves a ton. I could not get a photo of him without his arms and legs failing about.

calendar out takes july 2010

This isn’t exactly what I’m going for. The photographer I took him to earlier this week has the right idea. She pretty much only shoots newborns that are asleep- really asleep. She spent an hour holding him and rocking him until he was completely out. Oh, and her studio was very warm (unlike my house which will never be warmer than 75 degrees in the summer.) Between the temperature, the loud heartbeat sound she had playing, and the rocking, she was able to get him in some really adorable poses.

I, on the other hand, was less successful. This is probably the best shot I got.

July 2010 bw

His arms are doing that crazy thing that reminds me of Wallace and Grommit (“No cheese, Grommit!”) Needless to say,  I will be trying again. I’m not sure how a grown Jeremiah is going to feel about all these baby pictures—I think I should at least try to make him look less silly.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Blurry

I’m having a hard time keeping straight what day it is. This always happens to me in the summer and I usually embrace it as a sign that I have few responsibilities and loads of free time. Who cares if it is Tuesday or Wednesday- all I know is I don’t have deadlines to meet, lessons to plan, or papers to grade.

However, the past 2 and 1/2 weeks have been a blur. Today is Sunday, but it feels like pretty much like every one of the 17 days before it. Since Jeremiah has entered our lives, my days consist of feeding him, changing his diaper (oh, the number of diapers that kid goes through), and listening to him cry as his mean mommy makes him sleep in his crib. He much prefers to sleep cuddled up in my arms (or anyone’s arms, for that matter.) At least he is sleeping and for that I am immensely grateful.

yawning_edited-1

It is starting to sink in that small things—going to the grocery store, meeting a friend for lunch, stopping for Chinese food—are no longer small. Instead, they are events that require a fair amount mental energy and planning. For instance: to go to church we need to be there at 9:30. It’s about a 40 minute drive for us, so that means that we need to leave around 8:45. It is taking Jeremiah a good 45 minutes to nurse and it takes me 15 minutes to change him and get him ready to go. (The math teacher in me is resisting the urge to make this into a word problem.) Anyway, the point is that by the time we get anywhere, he is pretty much ready to eat again and there isn’t much point in actually leaving the house.

Hence, the blurry state of my days.

I’m hopeful that Jeremiah will not always be hungry and eventually there will come a day when I will have more than a few minutes of free time. (Please—if you are getting ready to disabuse me of this notion, I must ask you to refrain. I desperately need to believe this.)  I’m also hopeful that having an incredibly adorable baby around will force me to seize the moment and document his first months and years. I have plans to take photography more seriously (as in actually finding out what all the settings on my camera are for and diving into the world of photoshop.) I’m especially inspired by this idea and plan to steal it immediately. Making things and being creative is something I don’t want to lose—I just have to figure out how to do it in 30 minute chunks of time.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Jeremiah David Holm

On July 1, 2010, at 1:37 am, Jeremiah was born. He has captured our hearts and I know that we will never, ever be the same.

birth

Today Jeremiah is nine days old. The past nine days have been filled with happy moments as Michael and I begin to grow into our role as his parents. Seeing the gentle way Michael holds Jeremiah and the softness in his face as he looks at his son has been especially thrilling for me.

pianoJeremiah is still so new and we are learning more about each other every day. His sweet face is hard to resist and I find myself staring at him, willing him to open his beautiful blue-gray eyes. When I’m not staring, I’m kissing and smelling his sweet skin.

half yawn

He has been incredibly easy to take care of and seems content to eat, sleep, and poop. He is nursing well and sleeping for 3-4 hour stretches at night. All in all, we have been pleasantly surprised at how laid back he seems to be. Of course, all that could change as the newborn sleepiness wears off.

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A few words about his birth. Warning- if you don’t know what dilation or effacement is, you might not want to read any further :)

My water broke around 4:30 Wednesday morning (June 30). I hadn’t had any contractions so our midwife said to try and get some sleep and call back when the contractions were about 10 minutes apart. Within an hour or so I started having regular contractions and they picked up in intensity pretty quickly. By about 10am I was having contractions that were 5 minutes apart and were lasting at least two minutes. We waited a little longer and eventually headed to the Birth Center in Chapel Hill. At around 1:30pm I had dilated to 6cm and was 90% effaced. We were all very encouraged by this and even though I was in a good deal of pain, I felt really positive about how labor was progressing.

Unfortunately, my progress seemed to slow down after that. I was still having intense contractions (many of them double peeked), but my cervix just wasn’t dilating much more. At around 8pm, our midwife decided to help things along a little by slipping the remaining cervix over Jeremiah’s head. She was able to get me to 10cm within about an hour. At around 9pm she said I could start pushing.

And I did. For 4 and 1/2 hours. Little Jeremiah wasn’t face down and so it took a long time to get him rotated around into the correct position. It probably didn’t help that he was 9 lbs, 1 oz. There were times when it was frustrating that things were taking so long, but I’m glad that we were at the Birth Center. I  felt so cared for by the staff; their encouragement and support was absolutely amazing.

I’ll be honest- labor was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Physically and emotionally it was draining. But, I also have to say it was one of the most faith-filled times I’ve ever experienced.  Michael and our doula (a dear, dear friend) were constantly encouraging me with their words and praying for me throughout the night. Michael was so strong and yet incredibly tender; he remains the most amazing person I have ever met. I’m so thankful for my little family and I know that, even when things aren’t as idyllic as they are now, I am blessed beyond measure.

sleepy