Conner Shay Doran- Welcome to the world!

Conner Shay DoranBorn July 26th 2012
9lbs 6oz (Yes, You read that right!)
21 inches long

Alot has happen that's kept me from blogging since the little man was born, but before I loose site of blogging completley I wanted to finish out my pregnancy blog incase there is anything I can help out a new mama with or somethign I'd like to remember next time around :) Here is a blog template I found and loved the questions so I'll fill it out....but with my expierence :)

Childbirth:
Conner was delivered emergency C-section. I was induced and my water broke within three hours. Contractions were really painful with him and luckily the epidural cured everything up untiil the very end. I pushed for a few hours before they turned off the epidural and made me do a bunch of excercises to get him out. Nothinggggg was getting this little boy to drop any further and by turning off my epidural (in hopes it would help Conner move on out...) I was in a lot of pain and feeling every bit of my contractions so I was too distraught to push anymore. When the nurse came back and saw me ... she basically called the doctor right away and we prepared for the C-Section.

If I could give any advice to a mama to be it would be: Just enjoy every bit of it and mentally prepare yourself for everything. My whole pregnancy I ignored the thoguht of labor and C-Section because it scared the crap out of me, but I was hit with ALOT after having Conner and I wish I would have prepared a little more. Also, After the C-Section it can be kind of depressing because everyone is overwhelmed with joy for the new bundle and forget you are recovering from surgery. I wish instead of being sad in the recorvy room waiting to be released (only for about two hours), I would have just asked someone to stay with me instead of having visitors in and our for about five minutes.

The NICU:
Conner was in the NICU for a month because of pyloric stenosis. I can't front like the NICU wasn't a long, exhausting and depressing time...every bit of it sucked, and I like to not think of it but for any mama out there..just know it WILL come to an end and one day you will have your little munchkin home.

If I could give any advice to a mama to be it would be: I heard form alot of people "he's in the best place for him..." but towards the middle of this expierence I was having a really hard time with the nurses and didn't trust in what they were doing. After Conner's surgery, they were basically taking it day by day instead of actually working on him like a top-priority case. Every child needs to be treated like that and they tend to forget this untill they had me and Jeff in their face. They actually would go days without even filling in the parents on what was going on. The nurses were good, but they switch every three days so I met alottttttt alot alot of nurses. Many were good, just as many were bad. You can request a nurse! So if you like one, take the time to request her/him back...don't feel like your being needy. I did, and wish from day one I would've been aggresive. Watch them like hawks. They aren't always what they seem.

The first few weeks home:

Conner's first few weeks home were a little delayed obviouslly, but he was still a little guy when he came home and required alot of TLC. The hardest part was we got back into our sleeping schedule and were not prepared to be up every few hours.

If I could give any advice to a mama to be it would be: Take baby duty shifts night-by-night. I'm sure you will try out lots of techniques that work, but from what I hear and what works best for us is to do it night by night so atleast one person is getting some sleep every once in a while. MOMMA's:  With me and my expierence Jeffrey loves his sleep. He's not the easiest person to nudge to get out of bath so sometimes I would take mroe shifts than him, or fix up Conner's baths but I read in my parenting book and started to realize it takes away THEIR bonding time. Try to make sure the Dad is getting to indulge in JUST as many activities with the newborn as you are...baths, play-time, diaper changes, feedings, pictures etc.

I could honestly sit here and blog about my baby for a million days so it's hard to make this "Short" haha.

Here are five random facts "Vvery mom should know"

1. Babies sleep better with some sort of "white noise." I personally don't like the idea of having the TV on for noise because than I could hear people talking on the baby monitor when I'd leave the room haha, so I bought a Cold Air Ventilator to clean up the air in the bedroom, it helped alot when he was sick and helped him get to sleep!
2. Warming up the bottles at night time helps Conner sleep longer.
3. Keep the bib on your baby even in car rides. That seems to be the time Conner spits up and ruins his outfits.
4. Get something for stuffy noses. A lot of mom's get something called "Little Noses" from Walmart and its saline drops with a small nose suction.
5. I hate any diaper besides pampers. I know people say it doesn't matter, but Conner's exploded almost everytime we've steered away from there. They are totally worth the money to me and even more important than diapers are the diaper wipes. Walmart's wipes are the worst texture, they are so rough. Pay attention to the texture!