5 Weeks Old

As everyone told me he will change everyday and man is that true! Each day he is getting more and more fun and his personality is coming through. Cameron is holding his head up very well now and looking all around. He LOVE’S playing under his little play mat and coo’s, smiles and reaches for the toys that are hanging. He is sleeping for 2-4 hour stretches at a time and is awake for 8-10 hours per day on and off.

 

Cameron is still in newborn clothes and diapers. I can tell he will be out of them within the next week or so because they are fitting pretty good and not really loose anymore. I will be exciting when he is in the 3 month clothes because he has a lot more of those…I had to go out and buy newborn clothes and diapers because I was told by so many people that I would not need them. I assumed too that he would be a bigger baby with the size of Charles.

Jessica and Cameron

Last weekend he got to meet his cousin Jensen who is 9 months old. Cameron slept the whole time and Jensen was smiling and on the move the whole time. It was tough to get a photo together.

 

Everyone always asks how Riley is with him and he still thinks that one of these days we are going to let Riley have him as his toy. Little does he know that he will be Cameron’s toy someday. Riley is very concerned all of the time when people are holding Cameron but enjoys all of the visitors because he gets a little extra attention too. Cameron is not phased by Riley’s barking and sleeps right through it...Riley would be in BIG trouble if he ever woke him up. Riley has huge separation anxiety whenever we leave even more so now since Cameron has been born. I’m just not too sure what to do with him.

More Baby Pics!

Here are more of the newborn photos that were taken of Cameron along with some pregnancy photos.

  

 

 

   

 

3 Weeks Old

Cameron finally passed his birth weight! We went back in for a weight check last Thursday and he weighted 7 lbs. 14 oz! The doctor was happy and we do not go back for another visit until July for his 2 month check up. This will be the appointment where he gets all of his vaccinations and it will be safer for him to be out and about in the world.

 

Cameron at 3 weeks                          Uncle Ryan and Cameron

He is really enjoying life now and is starting to be more alert and aware of his surroundings. He loves laying under his play mat and is even reaching for some of the toys. On Saturday he was having some tummy time and actually rolled over onto his back! I think we are going to have a strong and active one on our hands.

 

       Bev & Greg Visiting Cameron                Cameron trying out the moby wrap and loved it!

We have been getting out of the house for walks in the park as well as going to baby class ever Wednesday afternoon. So far we have been to one class and I really enjoyed it. It was very casual and gave me a chance to talk to other new mom’s and get some helpful tips and tricks to parenthood.

 

Olivia and Cameron meeting                           Franklin and Cameron meeting

The smiley baby

Two Weeks Old

Charles and I are having so much fun getting to know Cameron and figuring out parenthood. Today was my first day flying solo because Charles had to go back to work unfortunately. It was very nice having him around to help out and give me breaks for the two weeks he was off! I did survive and even managed to get out of the house and take Riley to the dog park. It was such a nice day here today that I could not resist!

 

Charles and I had our first date without Cameron on Saturday. We went to Barrio in Capital Hill. It was very good! My mom, Megan and Olivia came over to babysit. Secretly I think they loved coming over just as much as we enjoyed the break.

I have been feeling really good and cannot believe how quickly my body is bouncing back in such a short period of time. Again I say the human body is quite AMAZING! This week I am starting a baby support class at Evergreen Hospital. Stefany told me about it! It’s once a week for two hours and free for the first three months of Cameron’s life! It will be nice to chat with other new mommy’s and get advice, tips and tricks.

Cameron has been a pretty good baby overall. His sleep-eat cycle is usually 2.5-3.5 hours. He is sleeping about 16-18 hours per day and is starting to develop a routine. He’s even sleeping in his bedroom in his crib as of the last few days! Hopefully the routine will last and only improve!.He smiles a lot after eating and in his sleep which is soooo cute.

He’s a good eater but still has some catching up to do. At the doctor last week he was 7 lbs. 5 oz. so he lost 1 oz. from his last appointment. We have another weight check this Thursday and the doctor is hoping that he will be back to birth weight. The doctor was not too concerned that he did not make it to his birth weight last week since he lost so much weight initially.

Here are a few of the pictures from Cameron’s photo shoot. A friend from high school took these pictures. If you are interested, her business is called Click and Tell Photography. She did a great job! Once I get more photos back I’ll post.

 

Week 1

Things are going fairly well the first week. Charles and I are both pretty tired but our bodies are adjusting amazingly. The human body is really quite incredible! We had a lot of visitors the first week which was nice because they took good care of the three of us and we did not have to worry about much other than feeding Cameron whenever he was hungry.

Cameron is eating every 2-3 hours and sleeping about 20-21 hours per day anywhere from 1.5-4 hour stretches. I cannot wait for the day when I get 5 hours of sleep consistently and my boob is not out, which feels like 24/7.

Cameron lost about 9% of his body weight within the first week of life. The doctors are ok with 3-7% body weight loss, so because Cameron lost more than that I had to supplement his feedings with formula for a few days until my milk fully came in. My milk did not come in until day 5, so he was just getting the colostrum. We went back to the doctors two days later to do a weight check and he had already gained back 7 oz. in two days! He is such a good eater.

 

Birth weight – 7 lbs. 9.5 oz.

Weight on 5/29 – 6 lbs. 15 oz.

Weight on 5/31 – 7 lbs. 6 oz.

Cameron also had his first bath on June 1st! His umbilical cord fell off in the middle of the night on May 30th. He LOVED his bath!!! Hopefully his love of bath time continues. He was so relaxed the whole time and did not cry at all.

 

Lastly, Cameron had another photo shoot. A friend from high school is getting into the photography business and offered to do a full year of photos for him! We should get those pictures back later this week or early next week and then I will post. They were pretty cute and I cannot wait to see the finished product!

 

First Photo Shoot at 12 Hours Old

The hospital offers photo shoots in the rooms. Cameron was no more than 12 hours old when the photographer came into our room and shot these precious photos.

  

Welcoming Cameron Jonathan Harris

Here is how his journey into this world began. On Thursday, May 24th at 4:30am I got up to go to the bathroom as usual however, little did I know that today would be the day my water broke. It worked out well as far as cleanliness goes since my water broke in the toilet! When I sat down I was still half asleep and I greeted Charles as he was getting ready for work. I got done peeing but the fluid kept flowing and I told Charles I thought my water just broke. His response, “ are you sure?” I am pretty sure that I do not have that my pee in me and it just keeps flowing! Immediately we both got very excited but nervous at the same time since our big day finally arrived. Charles continued to get ready for work as he said, “the process is going to take awhile, I think I have time.” I decided to go back to bed and try and relax but of course that was very hard since my emotions were going a million miles an hour. I finally got up out of bed around 6am and took a shower and continued to time my contractions. They were pretty inconsistent from 2 minutes to 20 minutes apart.

 

10am, Last photo of my belly before leaving the house

Charles came home from work by 9am and got the last few things together. He asked if I had called the doctor and I said no because they told us not to call until our contractions were 3-4 minutes apart. He encouraged me to call anyways and I am glad he did. The doctor said that because my water broke I should have called right away because they wanted to see me. We got to our doctors office by 10:30am and got examined, however the doctor was not able to check my cervix at that time because there was so much fluid and they wanted to be extra careful not to do too much since there is a high risk of infection once the water does break. She immediately sent us over to the hospital and we were sent to triage for Labor and Delivery. They hooked me up to a monitor to measure the babies heart beat and my contractions for about 30 minutes. At that point since my contractions still were inconsistent, they set us out for 2 hours to walk around to see if we could get the process started again naturally. It was the most boring 2 hours!

At 2pm we got back from our long and boring walk and got admitted to our labor and delivery room. Of course they hooked me back up to more monitors to measure the babies heart rate and my contractions. We reviewed our birthing plan with our nurse but told her that we wanted to be flexible and do what was best for the baby and me. The doctor warned us in the morning that if the process was not speeding up by early afternoon that she wanted to start me on Pitocin. Around 5pm the nurse hooked me up to the IV’s and started me on Pitocin. This was an incredibly painful process because the nurse started me out slow and just kept increasing the dosage little by little.

 

2pm, just after being admitted to our labor and delivery room

I started the day saying I wanted no drugs but as time passed and I had tried out the natural methods (bath tub, rocking in a chair, walking, laying down, etc.) I could not take it anymore and was exhausted. The nurse offered me fentanyl, which was supposed to relax me so I could get some rest in between contractions but it was not helping since they were coming every 1-2 minutes. The fentanyl did not help ease the contraction pains. By 9pm, my nurse check my cervix and I was at 5cm, I knew I had a long ways to go still so I asked my nurse more about the epidural and decided to go that route.

The anesthesiologist came within 5-10 minutes of me asking for the epidural. He was great at explaining the process to me and walking me through the whole thing. It was tough though because I had two contractions as he was giving me the epidural and I had to be very still since the needle is injected into the spine. Charles was a great help in keeping me focused though the contractions! Within 10 minutes I began to feel immediate relief from the contractions and from the waist down I was pretty much numb. At this point I tried to close my eyes and rest for a bit and the nurse told Charles the process would start to slow down now so if he was hungry to go ahead and take the opportunity to get a break. Charles took the advice and was gone for about 30-45 minutes. While he was out the nurse checked my cervix again and I was now at a 10! She said that my body responded well to the epidural and relaxed enough to fully dilate. She said does your husband have a cell phone? We need to call him so that you can start pushing. I called him and he was back within 10 minutes.

 

10pm, After getting the epidural

10:45pm, nurse just told us that we were going to start pushing

It was now 10pm, our nurse called the doctor and updated her on my progress and she said that I would have to wait because she was in the middle of another delivery. Each time I had a contraction, I could feel the babies head in the birth canal and I had the urge to push but I had to wait. This was the best part about the epidural that I did not loose all sensation and I could still feel the babies head waiting to come out. By 11pm the nurse had me start practicing pushing and coached Charles and I through the whole process. She truly was AMAZING! The doctor came in around 11:30pm and could see the babies head crowning so she got all of her stuff prepared for delivery. Earlier I had told our nurse the significance of the day, how it was my parents 32nd wedding anniversary and what would have been my Nana and Papa’s 60th wedding anniversary (who’s house we live in). So she was really helping to get him out before midnight as well as the doctor. At 11:50pm, the babies head was 1/2 way out and I got to feel it with my hand which was very cool and we were waiting for the next contraction to get him the rest of the way out. We waited and waited and waited. Finally the doctor said, lets just try pushing without the contraction and see what happens. So I pushed and he came out by 11:56pm!!!

 

12am, Right after birth

 

Proud Papa and practicing his swaddling

The doctor placed him on my chest immediately and Charles cut the cord. As he was on my chest the nurse wiped him off. This process helps the baby regulate their temperature and heart rate as well as help my milk supply come in. He was on my chest for 20-30 minutes before they examined him. While he was on my chest, I asked him what he wanted his name to be. By this time Charles and I narrowed our list of 5 or 6 names down to two. The two choices were Kellen or Cameron and “he” chose Cameron Jonathan Harris. I also started breast feeding right away, even before they examined him.

He weighed 7 lbs 9.5 oz and was 20.5 inches long.

I cannot say enough great things about our labor and delivery nurse, Richelle. We had one to one nursing care from her and she really never left our side unless she went for a break and at that point someone else relieved her, so we never were alone. It was so nice having her because she just too charge and coached both Charles and I through the whole process. She was great about saying, please tell me if you want me to stop telling you what to do but both of us never found her pushy. She was also the one who took us downstairs to our postpartum room around 2am and introduced us to our new nurse and gave her an update on Cameron and I. The nursing staff in the postpartum unit were great as well and let Charles and I rest. If they noticed we were sleeping they would try their best to come back later to check vitals or give medicine. All of the staff were very helpful with teaching me how to breastfeed and offering different tips and tricks.

 

2am, on our way to the postpartum room

 

Charles and Cameron bonding and changing his first poopy diaper

We had lots of visitors on Friday between family, nurses and doctors. Yet at the same time we were able to rest because Cameron pretty much slept for the first 24 hours. So he only woke up to eat every 2-3 hours. Saturday we were finally discharged around noon and got to go home!!! We had several visitors waiting for us at home to meet Cameron and take care of Charles and I. Overall, we are all doing great and I will keep posting updates as the weeks go by.

 

5/26, First car ride! Get to go home.