The O'Neal Family: October 2009

Monday, October 26, 2009

Can't forget Gus

Jared has certainly turned our lives upside down and taken up a lot of our time, but we are trying to still spend some good quality time with our 4-legged friend Gus. He got a bath this weekend and then Daddy trimmed his nails. Gus HATES having his nails trimmed. Jon literally has to sit on top of him, sometimes even more than in the picture, to get Gus to cooperate. I was amused from the living room as Jon struggled with Gus, but eventually he succeeded!

More Visitors, etc.

We've had quite a few visitors, family and friends, and more to come. We are looking forward to Kate's mom visiting for more than a week. Here are some more pictures from some recent visits. Jared is about 2 weeks old in most of the pictures.

Nana and Jared

Grandma and Jared

Grumpy Grandpa with Jared

Aunt Betsy cuddling with Jared (we all enjoyed her 5 day visit so much, but it went way too fast!!)

Jared in his swing (which he hasn't tolerated for more than a few minutes so far before he starts screaming!)

Daddy after a long day at home with Jared

Thursday, October 22, 2009

First Weeks at Home

Well we are happy to report that mommy and baby Jared are still doing great. We are both getting used to erratic sleeping though! Jared had his 2 week appointment with the pediatrician on Monday, and he's already gained a pound more than birthweight, 8 lb 4 oz! Usually the pediatrician wants babies to be back to their birthweight, so he was pleased that Jared is already gaining. Jared has a pretty good 3-hour feeding/awake/sleeping schedule, but he likes to stay awake for long periods at a time. This makes him fussy after awhile, and it certainly is not convenient when he decides to stay away for a couple hours right in the middle of the night! We are working through this, and hope he'll be awake more frequently and less in duration to space things out better. If any of you moms out there have any ideas, please let me know! Enjoy the pictures =)

First shot at the pediatrician's office

Mommy consoling Jared after his shot =(

Uncle Daniel and Aunt Misty

Awake time with Mommy

Mommy and Daddy on the way to get newborn pics with Jared

Jared in his carseat

Uncle Matthew (Sarah snuck out of the picture)

Aunt Betsy visits!!

Back to October 3rd...

Well we are sure that many of our family and friends who are not near us are looking for more pictures of our sweet baby boy! Finally I have enough energy today to get some up on our blog. These are all from our 2 day hospital stay. We are so grateful for our gracious God who protected both me and Jared throughout a long and difficult labor. Even though I had a fever again through labor God protected Jared and quickly healed me! I was on antibiotics for 24 hours after delivery, but have not had any problems. All of Jared's bloodwork came back negative for any infection, etc. so that is a huge praise!

For those who are curious the basics of our labor story are...
Labor began at 1:30 am on October 3, with contractions about 8 minutes apart. I labored at home walking around the house breathing through contractions until about 4:30 am when they were about 4-5 minutes apart. We called the doctor who sent us to the hospital. We arrived at approximately 5 am. After being hooked up to the monitors and have an exam I was 3 cm dilated. The nurse said I must progress 1 cm an hour to be considered in active labor. I did not progress in the time frame because contractions slowed down, so we went back home around 7 am. I continued to labor at home all morning while Jon worked on the crib. By 2:30 I felt I must have progressed some and my contractions had picked back up to about 4-5 minutes apart. We went back to the hospital and this time I was 4 cm dilated. The doctor decided to admit me and augment labor with pitocin. I was told a dulah (labor coach) was on her way, but she never did make it, not sure what happened with her. A few hours later my doctor broke my water and things really started to pick up pace. At 8 cm dilated I spiked a temperature of over 101, so more antibiotics were pumped into me. (It was also time for a little pain relief) Luckily things really did progress quickly from there and I only had to push for about 35 minutes before our sweet Jared Devin was born at 9:50 pm. Jon was a great help during the labor, and went with Jared to watch his bath, etc. Jon's parents and Misty were able to come to the hospital and wait, and see him shortly after he was born. We are just so thankful that everything went so smoothly, praise our awesome Lord!