Life With A Little

Brody has been a part of our lives for three weeks and I think it's safe to say that we're in love. In the words of his Nana, "he is the best newborn I've ever seen.". He is an extremely good and very chill baby. I am trying not to take this for granted because I know it could change at a moments notice. But so far Brody really only cries (which is hardly ever) when he's hungry or over tired.  Take care of the problem and he's a happy camper.  You can bath him, change his diaper and clothes and he might make a few grunts, but no cries. Speaking of grunts, Brody is a very noisy little man. I've compared his many different noises to sea creatures such as dolphins and sea lions. He's also barked like a dog (also totally shakes his leg like a dog), mewed like a lamb and has even sounded like a pterodactyl. His faces are also pretty awesome (especially when he is trying to wake up. Several people think he is a serious baby. I don't know if I fully agree with this. I mean are there babies out there cracking jokes? I just think he likes to save his smiles for his mommy in the middle of the night. We've been trying to do baby wise and get little man on a schedule so we wake him up to feed him every two and a half to three hours during the day and stretch his night time feeding out about four and a half hours. He had not gotten the breast feeding thing down, so I'd been pumping and bottle feeding. I had a lactation consultant come out and she helped little man learn how to do it (thankfully because I was close to my breaking point). I've had a lot of friends warn me about the challenges of breast feeding and so far those warnings have been warranted. Let's just say, we're very grateful that we're making progress! We've had no bottles for a few days now, so I think we're in the clear. Either way, he is getting what he needs because at his two week appointment he weighed 9 lbs. 3 oz. and had grown 1/2 an inch. One thing that is breaking my heart is little man has clogged tear ducts which basically means that his eyes get very goopy. It started in one eye on Sunday morning and is now in both eyes. Right now the only thing to do is massage the (very) small space between the corner of his eye and his nose to try to clear the duct and then wipe his eyes often. I'm pretty sure this bothers me way more than it does him. I'm hoping it clears up quickly because it makes me so sad to look at his sad little eyes. My days are passing so quickly and I try to take in as much baby love as possible. I love my little man so much and it already makes me sad that he won't be little forever. Here are some pics from his first several weeks of life.

 

Cutest.Face.Ever

A great dad.

First bath.

Nana and Poppy



Nanny and Paw Paw

Four generations of Kraus men.

Granna and Grandad

FSU bound (with Grayson as his room-mate).

Love my little man.

Seriously?  Precious!

Thanks, Nana.  I love my outfit!

An actual picture with his eyes open.  He already loves playing with Mortimer.

 

He Looks Like a Brody

I woke at 6:15 on Tuesday, August 7, 2012 with a trickle.  During the last month or so of pregnancy it had been taking me several minutes to lug my big belly over the side of our bed and stand up. However, on this particular occasion, I moved faster than I had in weeks and rushed to the toilet in time for the trickle to turn to a gush of fluid. My initial thought (after being woken from a deep sleep) was that I had almost just peed all over myself and that the last two weeks of pregnancy was going to be interesting and require me to shop in the adult diaper section of Walmart. Greg, who was still in bed asked me if everything was ok (apparently it sounded like I had gotten sick). I told him I thought my water just broke and before I knew it he was in the bathroom in a flash looking a little shocked and was literally jumping from side to side in the bathroom. Then it hit me that it was my older sister Sarah's birthday and there was a very real possibility that my son was going to be born on her big day (considering my water in fact did break and I had not almost just wet the bed). I called Dr. P and explained what happened and she thought it did in fact sound like my water broke, but that I was not in labor because I was not having contractions. She suggested that we get our stuff together, eat breakfast and meet her at her office. She said we could go straight to the hospital, but I figured that if someone was going to tell me that I had peed on myself, I would rather it be Dr. P instead of some random hospital worker. So, we did what she said and took showers, ate breakfast, packed our bags and met Dr. P at the office around 8:45. The whole morning while getting ready, I kept leaking fluid, making me feel like I wasn't crazy and that it was "go time" (a person seriously couldn't pee this much). The minute Dr. P saw me, she knew my water broke. As an added bonus, I had already lost five pounds of fluid...yea!  Dr. P did a quick exam in the clinic and sent us on our way to the hospital.  Since I wasn't in labor, it was a very calm and yet surreal ride from Dr. P's office to the hospital. Greg had not eaten breakfast and needed deodorant, so we calmly stopped and took care of said errands while I called my family.  I had already called my parents to give them the heads up since they would be driving from Pensacola (an eight hour drive).  I got a hold of my sister Audra, but Sarah was in an all day training (that I wasn't aware of until later).  Anyway, still continuing to leak my lovely fluid (apparently this can happen and is considered normal)  we got checked in to our room and started the pitocin to start labor around 10:00. My nurse told me to tell her at least a few minutes before I absolutely had to have my epidural.  I went in knowing I would want the drugs and so I lasted about four hours and got an epidural around 2:00 pm. I was feeling good...could feel absolutely nothing. Dr. P had come up to check me around 1:00 and I was a four. So feeling like I was making progress and feeling no pain, life was good. I was able to talk to my parents who were driving from Pensacola and Sarah (who I had finally gotten a hold of) was driving down from Dallas. Then, I started feeling my legs and could feel contractions in one spot on my right side. I called in my sweet nurse (seriously, she was AMAZING) and told her what was going on and she said sometimes "hot spots" can occur. She said I could get another epidural, but I was hesitant to get another one because of how squirmy I was the first time around (apparently very jumpy and tickilish on my back). We decided to try stronger doses of medicine using my first epidural. It did n.o.t.h.i.n.g! Sarah got to the hospital around 5:00 and my parents at 7:00.  I could still feel the hot spot, the contractions were getting worse and I was still at a 4.  At this point things were looking bleak.  After several attempts of a higher dosage of medicine, I decided to get another epidural at 7:30. Thankfully, this one took and I started feeling good again, but since I wasn't making any progress (still at a four), they decided to change my position and start a fresh bag of pitocin. Dr. P came back to check me at 9 and much to our shock and surprise, I was at a 10! Dr. P said Brody looked like he was doing great, so we were going to just let my body keep working for a little bit without me having to do anything. I started pushing about an hour later around 10 and Brody was born at 11:06. 8 lbs. 4 oz 20.5 inches long. When they first put him on my chest I said...

1. "I'm sure every mother says this, but he really is the cutest baby I've ever seen."
2. "And he totally looks like a Brody."

Here are a few of the "must have" hospital pics that capture the first moments of my little Brody's life in the real world.  I love him more than words can express and am beyond grateful everyday that he's here and healthy.

My eyes look closed in all these pictures due to my naturally
squinty eyes and that I was SO tired (but SO happy) by this point.  I like
how Brody looks like he's looking up at Greg.

Aunt Sarah...finally an aunt!

Proud Granna.

A boy for the Tallman side!

All clean and getting warm.

Daddy lovin' the Brody.

Yea...we get to go home!

Cute little man ready for the car ride.

Our Precious Little Miracle

Happy Birth Day to our little Brody James born August 7, 2012. 8 lbs. 4 oz. 20 1/2 inches long. He decided to enter the world two weeks early on his Aunt Sarah's birthday. The full birth story coming soon.

All Things Baby

We are still feeling the effects of not having our precious furry girl in our lives, but are looking forward to the joy that we know is coming with Brody's arrival.  Now that we are in the "it could technically happen any day now" mode it should seem very real, but it still seems totally surreal.  We've had nine months (plus two years) to prepare for this and it still is hard to believe that we will have a son so soon.  We have been totally focused on all things baby.  We have also been crazy spoiled by our friends and family.  I have had two amazing showers.  The first one was hosted on July 21st by my accountability girls for my Sunday School (yes, I'm old school and call it Sunday School).  The theme was "Cute As a Button".

Food...delish!

It's hard to tell, but there are button in the bottom of the flower vase
and on the picture frames...so cute!



Marianne is master of the cakes!  Of course it
had to have buttons!



Praying for Baby Brody.

The sweet hostesses.



Brody's amazing goodies!

My second shower was the following weekend, July 28th and was as lovely and perfect as the first.  It was hosted by two of my dear friends, my sister-in-law and my mom-in-law.  My sweet sister made the terribly boring drive from Dallas to be there for the shower and was able to stay for the weekend.

If you can't tell...there is a donut hole tree in the center of the
table.  How awesome is that?!

The sweet ladies that attended brought books
 instead of cards.

Sad that I did not get a picture with all the hostesses, but two
of the four are on the outsides of this picture.

My sweet sis!



The Kraus Women
 (Kraus Hostesses on the left)

After the first shower (a few days before my second shower), we had my 36 week appointment.  We found out that Brody was still Breech and my doctor recommended (since we were hoping to not have a c-section) for an inversion.  She had mentioned this at previous appointments since Brody had been breech for awhile, but I did not realize everything that an inversion entailed.  Come to find out, it is done at the hospital in case the inversion either breaks your water or the baby does not respond well.  Either case could call for an emergency c-section.  Yikes!  So, after the appointment and hearing this news (we could potentially have a baby in a matter of days) we high tailed it home and got the nursery completely put together.  So, I can now reveal the pictures (even though I don't think the pictures do it justice).  It is such a sweet and calm room which is exactly what I wanted.  I took a few at night and in the morning, so you can see it both ways.

"Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward
from him." Psalm 127:3 (Verse in the picture frame)

36 Weeks

We had the inversion on Monday (July 30th).  It was painful, but successful.  I lived to tell about it and Brody is now head down!  We had our 37 week appointment today and I am grateful to say that he is still head down!  Dr. P does not think he will flip back at this point which is great news.  So, now we are seriously ready for the arrival of our precious baby Brody and we can not wait to meet him!