Bath Time

Here's a little video of baby Emmet taking a bath yesterday. My mom is slightly obsessed with giving him a bath whenever he comes over. Don't get me wrong, I'm very appreciative. I'm scared to give him a bath by myself. He looks really slippery and I don't want to drop him.
She is very thorough with the cleaning. You'll see when you see the video. lol.

Family visit

Emmet had a lot of family visit him this past week. Grandma and grandpa Brown, Uncle Cormac, and his gf Jen. He really liked spending time with family. He was so alert and even smiling at times.

The navy blue stripe outfit is from Kirsten, Peter's sister. Unfortunately, she couldn't come this time but we hope she will come visit us soon!

 Emmet and grandma Brown! Granpa Brown on the bottom left and Uncle Cormac on the bottom right.

Photo shoot

Emmet had his first photo shoot last Friday. He was such a good boy after I fed him a ton. We took the photos in our attic where it's the warmest so we could keep him in just a diaper. I got the newborn photo props Etsy. I found the photographer on Craigslist. She was aiming to build up her portfolio so the photo shoot was only $120. I love what she did and Emmet was a great model.

Hiccups

I get hiccups all the time. I also like to kick my legs vigorously. That's mommy pumping her breastmilk in the background.

My French Onesies

New gift from Naga yesterday. Thanks Naga. It fits him perfectly right now!!
I need to try on all the cute newborn clothes he received. He is growing up sooo fast.

He soiled the stripe one immediately after I put it on him so I had to switch him into the blue onesies. 

Gifts in the post

I've been housebound since the baby arrived. I try to get out at least once a day but it takes a lot of planning around his feedings and I usually need to rush back home in 30min. I did venture out to Original Pancake House with mom and Peter the other day though because I was craving it for so long. Because of my gestational diabetes, I had to avoid that place. I love that place.
I also realized today that I've neglected checking the mail for the last few days. To my surprise, the locker box was full of gifts for Emmet. Thank you Jane, Naga, and Helga and Jerry!

Happy weight gain

I dreaded stepping on the scale during my prenatal visits. But all I've been thinking about the last few days has been weight gain. Not mine, Emmet's.
After taking him to the pediatrician last Thursday and being warned about his lack of weight gain, I've been making every effort to satisfy his endless pit of a stomach. I really want to Breastfeed so when I supplement with formula occasionally, I have to use this tube that extends to my nipple so he will get the same sensation as Breastfeeding. This weekend, I Breastfed him like clockwork..... Every two hours and also pumped between feeds to keep my milk supply up. I used the pumped milk as supplement as well.
We went in to the pediatrician this morning and he's gained 1lb in 3 days! That doesn't seem much for adults but for a newborn baby, it's a visible difference. His face is rounder and his whole body feels pudgier.
It looks like the Breastfeeding frenzy has paid off. I am so relieved!
He has this crazy rash all over his body but doc says it will go away naturally.

Nursing

I'm not going to lie, breastfeeding has been a serious challenge. I've heard of many women who couldn't breastfeed and always wondered why. Now, I know how easy it is to turn to formula right away. I really want to breastfeed exclusively and truly admire people that can pull it off naturally. I do hope I will get there one day but at this moment, I'm slightly discouraged.

Emmet is a pretty big boy. He weighed 8 lbs 7oz when he was born. 7.5 lbs is the average birth weight for newborns in the US. So he eats A LOT. He seems to always be hungry. The doctor told me I should supplement his feedings with formula for a few days after birth. I did that for a few days but started trying to wean him off of it. He became more hungry and agitated. The pediatrician weigh in didn't go well. At Day 8, he still weighs the same as Day 5. They told me if I'm not producing enough, I need to keep supplementing with formula. I need to go back for another weigh in on Monday.

The visit made me discouraged. Everywhere I read, it says formula ends up decreasing milk supply because the baby will demand less milk from you. So I really want to avoid it to make sure I have enough milk flow but I also don't want to starve my baby. The lactation experts seem to agree that formula is no good but the pediatrician is worried about his health... so am I. 

So until Monday, I'm trying to feed him much more frequently. I've been trying to stick to 2 hour intervals start to start. He seems much happier today and less agitated. This is a photo of him this morning 'milk drunk'.
I hope to see more faces like this, less frequency, and faster nursing sessions. At the moment, it takes forever... especially when I'm using the supplementation system which is a tube that goes to your nipple so he can suck on it and still rely on you for nutrition. 

Did any mommies out there have similar issues? 
How long did it take for your milk supply to catch up with hungry baby demands?

Nursery Decor

Peter and I bought our condo last December and the small room next to the master bd was a perfect room for the nursery. The two bedrooms are downstairs, away from the living room and the guest room/office. Great set up when we have guests over so they are not woken up by baby cries at 3am. 

I spent a few weeks decorating the nursery. We haven't really used it yet aside from nursing him once in a while since Emmet sleeps with us in our room right now. But I like the way it's turned out so far. 

Here's a before photo of the nursery room. A blank slate!

We hired a painter since I wasn't allowed to paint while I was pregnant. Peter and the painter painted 2 rooms plus a bathroom in a day. All turned out pretty nice. I might upload photos of the other rooms they painted. I thought the paint came out darker than what I had intended but still looks pretty nice.

The nursery doesn't get much sunlight compared to the other rooms so it may look pretty dark in the photos.

And the after photos....

I reupholstered the brown polka dot glider in this photo. After looking around, I really didn't like the look of most affordable gliders and "designers" ones were ridiculously expensive. So I DIY-ed it. I bought a $75 glider from a Craigslist posting and took off all the covers really carefully with a seam ripper, then cut up some fabric using the old fabric as a template, and put it all together.

The dresser and matching nightstand are from a vintage furniture place in North Park. I wanted this room to have a hint of mid century modern. Our master bdrm and living room are more French shabby chic-ish and I wanted a little variety. The dresser will become a changing station once we use this room more frequently. 

I also made a matching garland with some left over fabric.  

The curtains are from IKEA but after I put it up, I realized how light and see through they were. So I purchased blackout fabric and lined the curtains. They look real bulky but they do the job. The blackout fabric was pretty expensive at $20/ yard! But I know it will be worth it when Emmet needs to take a nap during the day. 

Many of the items on this photo are from IKEA except for the bookshelf, balance ball, and the rocking horse. Kirsten, Peter's sister, bought us the cute Teddy and the blanky on top of the IKEA toy storage shelf. The rug is from Urban Outfitters. 

I'm thinking of putting up Emmet's newborn photo up on the wall with the frame without the print. The prints are from a store on Zulily. They actually were delivered all wrinkled from the post so I asked Zulily for a refund. They don't ask you to return the items since they are just like FAB and only have certain items in stock while it's on sale. So I decided to put it up anyway. The idea for this side of the room is to have very low furniture so it's on eye level with the baby. Apparently, it's good for their development if they are not totally dependent on you for everything. 

Here is an absolutely gorgeous crib that Peter's parents bought for us. I really love it. It's a Bloom Alma Crib and much skinnier/smaller than traditional cribs for urban spaces. It has rollers so I can roll it from our master bdrm to the nursery. At the moment, Emmet sleeps in this crib inside a bassinet in our bedroom. He loves it too. (I think...)

The only downside to this crib is that since the size is not standard, you have to get the sheets and mattress cover from Bloom which Peter's parents were nice enough to buy for us. I'm totally happy with this. The thing hanging on the crib is Cloud B Sheep Sleep sound maker. It's cute and works great. Emmet seems to like the noises it makes when he sleeps. 

Last but not least, the nursery closet! We already accumulated so many things for Emmet and I really wanted to organize everything the right way before he came. So I bought a few things for this including a nursery closet organizer kit and closet shelves at Walmart. 

I labeled everything so Peter can find them. 

The closet organizer kits from Walmart came with handy rings with labels for sorting the clothes by the sizes. 

So that's it. Emmet's nursery.

I hope once we really start to use it, he'll love it. 

Swaddling

Babies love being swaddled and Emmet also loves it. We wrap him up snugly in an Annais swaddle blanket at night. I love these blankets because they are really big for a tight swaddle and material is thin enough that he won't suffocate. An awesome purchase.
His favorite swaddle so far is done by mommy with the Happiest Baby on the Block swaddle. Even better than the swaddles all the nurses and doctors did at the hospital. Once he gets a full tummy and a tight swaddle, he'll fall asleep for 3plus hours. Mommy wakes him up at 3hours to feed him so her milk supply will keep up.
He spits up a lot still even after a good burp (notice the yellow stains on the sheet). Anyone know any awesome burping techniques? I try the over the shoulder but it takes a while and he might have a few more air bubbles left in his tummy.

Baby Emmet Birth Story

Baby Emmet Patrick Brown was born on 2/27 Wed at UCSD in Hillcrest San Diego. He was 8lbs 7 ounces, much larger than we had expected. (Midwife told me he would be about 7 lbs). It could be because he was 2 weeks over due or my gestational diabetes. 

I'm still in a bit of a shock regarding the turn of events on the day of delivery.

Emmet was way 'overdue' and I had been pressured into scheduling an induction on Friday 3/1. In order to avoid it, I took 2 tblspns of Castor Oil around 1pm as a last ditch effort despite the mixed reviews about it . I tried everything from drinking raspberry leaf tea, climbing stairs, eating spicey food, etc. 

Around 3:30pm, I started to feel mild cramps and thought they were Braxton Hicks or false labor. Then at 5:00pm, I started having surges that became really intense suddenly. They were nearly 1min apart and lasting 1min each. We called the doula at 6:30pm and she told me she'll come in 2hrs, but after Peter told her about the intensity and the fact that I started grunting already, she headed over to our direction.

My husband called UCSD at 6:30pm and after hearing my moans and grunts in the background, they told him to bring me in. At this point, I was gushing water during every contraction but I thought that I was peeing : / This stage is perhaps where my hypnobirthing practice came in handy. I really tried to breathe through my contractions and make low noises instead of high pitched ones. The low noises help vibrate the uterus and make the muscles relax so the contractions will be more effective. 

We went to UCSD at 7pm and eventhough the ride was 5min, it felt like an eternity. I was so vocal that people on the street were staring at me and Peter. I didn't care though.

I brought a cute robe, lavender spray, led candles, etc to help 'prep' the room for delivery. According to hypnobirthing, making the hospital room feel at home and cozy makes the labor faster. But in my case, there was absolutely no time for any of that. 

After I got on my bed and they checked me, I was fully dilated and ready to push (hence the grunting). I thought I was near the end so I agreed to proceed. I was pushing in various positions and using birth breathing for 2 hours until 9:00pm but baby couldn't get past a certain spot in my birth path. The midwife thought he was Occipital Posterior (faced up) and the OB confirmed. I was so shocked because a few days before that, he was in a perfect anterior position (faced down - the optimal position for birth) according to the ultrasound. The really intense sudden set of contractions may have turned him the wrong way (according to the midwife).

The OB came in and told me if I needed help getting him out, we could use forceps and an epidural. He told me about all the risks of using forceps for me and the baby (including bruising of the baby's head and tearing of my rectum!) and I really didn't know what to do. Plus, I was delirious from the pain in the pelvis and all the pushing. Then Peter stepped in to ask if we could try pushing for a little longer. The OB said he'll be back later.  

I started pushing even harder and the baby started coming down. He came down far enough and baby Emmetturned himself so that he could come out. Smart baby! He came out a little after 10pm looking white covered with vernix and crying. The OB came in the room ready to pull him out but baby came in the knick of time! Since he was overdue, he pooed meconium in the womb so we had to cut his cord right away and the pediatrician looked at him. Unfortunately, we couldn't delay the cord clamping. 

It was a really short labor at 5hrs but very dramatic and so much pushing! The nurses and midwives at UCSD were amazingly supportive of me wanting to do a natural birth and I really couldn't have done this without Peter and the doula. I feel bad but I asked my mom to wait in the waiting room during the pushing since it was so chaotic in there. But she came in and held my hand while they sewed me up and stopped the bleeding in my uterus by sticking their hand in there (that was ridiculously painful).

That's my very long birth story of baby Emmet Patrick Brown. 

Mom thought she was taking  photos but she was actually videotaping. There's her voice in the background and Emmet after his goopy eye drops. Also a beautiful shot of me at the end looking very confused and delirious.