Baby blogs and photographs have a new home

If you're like me and you can't get enough of our little boy, have no fear. You can find photographs, stories and videos of his little life at:

RockfordWeber.com


That's right. The boy has his own website.

Please note:
Some of the pages/posts will be password protected. So please let me know if you'd like the password. You only need one, it won't change from page to page or post to post, so let me know by emailing or leaving me a comment on this post with your contact info.

Commencing countdown

We had a tough couple of days this past week. I cried. Kind of a lot. At least for me.

The boy is growing, and thus, eating...every hour on the hour, for 30 to 45 minutes each time and then dozing for 15-20 before waking, with a dry diaper and crying until the next feeding started - meaning until I could whip it out and stick it in.

And then relief hit. Friday was a great day. He nursed for a good 20-25 minutes on each side and then slept...for real amounts of time - at least an hour, and then woke up happy, or slightly irritated cause of a wet diaper, he was awake and alert, nursed again like he'd done before and then hit dreamland. I felt spoiled.

Then last night he slept for just under 6 hours. The only trouble was it started right before 9pm, so we stayed up - obviously- and waiting for him to wake in a couple of hours before hitting dreamland ourselves. But time wore on and he didn't stir. I can't say I regret it though. I haven't cuddled with my husband on the couch without "something" between us in a really long time. I even fell asleep in his arms. A moment I will cherish as they are few and far between.

The tough times are only tough in the moment, and when they're over we're over it and on to the next moment. We're learning and adapting and hopefully becoming better parents every day. Rockford is amazing. We are so in love and blessed to have him in our care.

I can't believe he's been alive less than two weeks. He really is super.

Ch ch ch changes...

Things sure are changing around here, and we couldn't be happier.


The office has now become the Man Cave, since both the boy and the man of the house have furniture and fart in here.

Our seating has changed too, and if I'm at home, you can be sure the boppie and a burp cloth are near by. That thing is genius and even though we haven't had a need for the burp cloth yet, I can bet that the day I don't have it near will be the first day he spits up all over me.

And of course, here's an adorable photo of the boy.

The story goes, he woke up fussing, way too early for his nap to be over, so my mom took him in to change his diaper - typically a wet diaper is the ONLY thing that will wake him from a nap early. She set him on the changing table, in the warm sun and he stretched out and fell back asleep. I just happened to capture him mid dream smile.

Sometimes he likes to be bundled up, sometimes he'd rather stretch out and relax in the sun. He's a boy of many moods.

A short introduction to our Boy

April 5th first day home

The Basics:

Rockford Judah Weber

Born April 5th, 2010
1:14 am
8 lbs. 4 oz.
22 1/2 inches long

A short and sweet version of the labor story:
We labored at home Sunday afternoon from about 3pm - 6pm, and made our way to the Birth Center, where the midwife checked me at around 6:30pm and we were between 1-2cmm dialted. We started off in the room, standing and squatting, but decided pretty early on to get in the tub. Marianne arrived shortly after, and Andy and her were with me through every contraction (except as I recall one, and I didn't like doing it alone at all). The placed pressure on my hips and sacrem to releave the pain and ease the boy down into my pelvis. We labored in the big tub for some time and then transitioned to laying on my side on the bed, where the midwife checked me again. This time, we were all shocked to hear I was dialted to 8cmm, and getting very close to 9cmm. So, I moved off the bed to let gravity help me achieve the next stages. After dialating to 10cmm, my waters broke and I made my way back to the bed to lay on my back for push labor. Less than an hour later, our boy had arrived.

The umbilical cord was so long and had wrapped around his neck once, then around his body and under his arm, but the second after his head was born, the midwife moved the cord off and he wasn't in any danger. In seconds, the rest of his body had delivered and I opened my eyes for the first time all hour and looked directly into his wide open eyes. He laid on the bed looking up at us, reached out his arms and grasped his hands toward us. Andy reached out and picked him up and we both brought his warm body to my chest. He didn't cry. He just curled into my arms and cooed.

Then Andy and I were left alone with our boy. One midwife remained in the room, but at a distance, it was an amazing time for the three of us.
Five hours after he had arrived, Andy cut his umbilical cord and the midwives completed his exam. Then they left us alone again, checking in to check our vitals every so often, and the three of us slept. We left the birth center that evening and spent his first night at home.

We are in awe and completely in love with him.

A little talk about induction

Now for the word on everyone's mind: INDUCTION

A few things for everyone to remember:

1. We didn't have an ultrasound to determine a due date until well after the 12-14 week cut off - but for reference, the ultrasound due date was March 22nd

2. Based on my cycle, which I charted for almost 2 years prior to getting pregnant, I don't have a typical 28 day cycle, which is how they determine a due date when basing it on the first day of your last period.

So here's the deal.

The first day of my last period - based on a 28 day cycle - would have landed us at a March 24th due date. BUT, because my cycles are longer than 28 days, we have to add 5-7 days to that date - make sense? This puts our due date between March 29th and March 31st.

Which means that since it's now April 3rd, we are most likely only 3 days past due.

During our first BPP ultrasound, Friday March 26th the baby's head measured at 39 weeks, 3 days - which would also align with the late March due date.

There have been no signs of fetal distress, low levels of amniotic fluid, or any placenta degradation.

For us, we are focused on educating ourselves before being scared into doing something that isn't necessary for our son, and at this stage, there isn't any medical reason to induce labor.

As I mentioned in the last post, we had another BPP yesterday and saw more improvement on his position and no signs of anything to cause concern. Next week we're potentially going to go see an obgyn with our midwife and he will conduct a stress test to provide us with more information on the boy.

But until then, we're readjusting our thoughts and resting in the peace of the knowledge that he is healthy and thriving and it's just not his birth day yet.

April 3rd Pregnant and Updating

It's been a few days, and frankly the reason there's been no updates is cause there's been nothing to update. Really. Nothing. No contractions, no news. Just a whole lot of nothing.

Alright, technically we've been kind of busy...it just hasn't affected labor or anything.

After last friday's BPP and the knowledge that the boys head was down and engaged, but facing out to the right, we scheduled time with Anita to do some baby adjusting.

Basically, she pushed his head out of the pelvis and then we used gravity and some soft rocking of his body to help re-engage him...and it worked, pretty quickly too.

Then yesterday, Friday April 2nd, we went in for another BPP. This time the technician didn't exactly inspire confidence in any of us...for one she said she measured the baby's head smaller that it measured last week, and put his weight around 7 lbs...totally not possible at this stage. And don't worry, it's not as though he is shrinking, these ultrasounds are not accurate in anyone's book, the technicians make disclaimers throughout the exam about how it isn't accurate for determining gestation, weight or size in any way. But it left us with a few good bits of information.

1. He remains in a head down, engaged position
2. He is now facing my spine - a perfect birthing position
3. He passed the test's requirements for healthy and thriving
4. His heartbeat is strong
5. Amniotic fluid is at good levels

He didn't really move a ton for her, it was 8am and I was squishing him with a bladder full of 40 ounces of water so I don't blame him, but he's moving and shakin for me all the time so there's that.

We've done a lot of walking, up hills, around bends and in the pouring rain. I've tried to stay busy, which sometimes means taking naps and other times means going into work and gettin things done. The past 3 days I've actually felt really good, physically and emotionally. He will arrive when he's ready and it will be glorious and I will be awesome at it.

Stay tuned: Next up, a talk about INDUCTION