3 weeks old and a bunch of pictures!

I can't believe that it has been just over 3 weeks since Mason has made his way into the world. I just wish time would just slow down. He is getting bigger and stronger every day. He is holding his head up longer and longer, but he can't hold it up all day on his own. He pushes off whatever he can with his legs, he has gotten out of his sleep positioner in his crib. He is becoming more aware as the days go by. He definitely knows who his mommy is. My mom got Mason a swing to hopefully help him get to sleep in the middle of the night when he tries to be a little rock star. He pretty much likes it, unless he is super cranky. The swing does put him to sleep, until it stops. He than will wake up. It is a nice place to set him down for a quick nap for him, so I can get somethings done, or so we can eat dinner. He is eating and sleeping well. We are still trying to get his days and nights in order, and it has been getting a lot better. His next doctor's appointment is not until the end of September for his 2 month check up, and that is when he will be getting some shots. Besides that we have just been hanging out around the house together. :) Now here are some pictures! :)

He slept as he got changed

Tummy Time

Tummy Time 30 seconds later

The guys watching TV

Sleeping in his car seat at the bank

Mason and his protector Joe

The end of a smile I tried to catch.

You can kind of see his dimples :)

Oooo

  

Sleeping at Quaker Steak and Lube

My Packard guys with a 1937 Packard

Trying out his swing for the first time

Joe sitting by Mason (he's in the pack and play)

Mason was making some fussy noises, and Joe was checking on him :)

That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

A 1st Birthday, 2 Weeks Old, and Browns Practice!

We have had an eventful weekend, 2 weekends ago. I had 2 parties to go to, and Mason turned 2 weeks old! :) He also had his 2 week check up last Monday. :) I first had a Bridal Shower to go to for my friend Donna, who's wedding I will be in at the end of September. Than we had to head over to Lily's (Rob's niece) 1st Birthday Party! :) We also went to the Browns Family Night/Practice on Thursday. We also hung out for a little bit at Rob's cousin Kim's house to see his Aunt and Uncle from Georgia. :)

Lily's 1st Birthday!

Lily turned 1 on Saturday, the 11th! Her party theme was a fish/under the sea theme. It was a great theme and party! :) We got Lily her 1st fish, a baby betta fish, to go with the theme of her party. :) It was a great time! I did start to fade away and get tired towards the end of the party, but I had a great time. Mason was passed around between family, and he stayed quite content. We only had one maybe two fussy moments but he was pretty good. He slept majority of the time, but did open his eyes at times. :)

Lily and Heather checking out Lily's cupcake

Some of the awesome cupcakes!

Candy Sushi!

Lily working on her cupcake :)

Tim and Lily checking out her fish we got her

Cousin Audrey (2 months) and Mason (2 weeks)

2 Weeks Old!

Mason just went for his 2 week check up last Monday. He is now 9 pounds and 9 ounces! We are still working out a schedule, which is kind of hard, when Mason has his days and nights a little mixed up. He stays up pretty late, and than will sleep. We are trying to keep him up more during the day to hopefully start getting his days and nights in order. He gets the hiccups a lot, which causes him to have gas build up, so we are working on helping him with that. Besides those 2 things, he is doing pretty good. We work on some tummy time and let him lay on his play mat and look at the toys hanging above him. 

Play Mat wore him out!

Such a cute little pose

Zoned out

Hanging out at Rob's cousin Kim's House

Rob's mom is on the couch, I am holding Lily, and Rob and Mason

Myself, Kayla, Rob

Lily, Mason

Ella

(L-R, Back to Front)

Browns Family Night/ Practice

Two Thursdays ago, Rob, Mason, Tim, and myself went down to Browns Stadium for the Browns Family Night/ Open Practice. It was a good time, but I do have to say going to Browns practice in Berea is better than at Browns Stadium. In Berea, you are at their level watching them practice. At the stadium, you are in the seats above the players. Yes, it is a cool, free way to check out the stadium if you have never been there, but I like it better when we are at their level watching them practice. Thinking we were not going to be able to bring the stroller in, we tried out our baby carrier (where he is up against my chest). That was an event on its own! It took us a little bit to figure out how to put it on me, and than tighten it up. I felt like I was going to drop him! But I didn't. :) Mason did really good. He would make some faces when it got loud from people cheering or them talking over the loud speaker. But he did pretty good! He did get fussy at the end, but we get up and walk around and he was fine. :)

Sound asleep on Mommy :)

Mason, Rob, and Tim (Mason's godfather)

The Boys again :)

Hospital Visitors, Coming Home, Mason Is A Week Old!

Hospital Visitors!

We want to thank everyone who came to visit us while we were in the hospital. We don't have pictures of everyone with Mason, but here are some of our wonderful visitors! :)

My Dad and Sydney 

Gloriana

My Stepmom Danielle

My Mom

Rob's sister Heather, her husband Tim, and their daughter Lily 

Rob's Aunt JoJo and Uncle Hank

Rob's sister Mallorie got Mason his first birthday cake!

If you have pictures of when you were visiting us, please send them our way and we can add them! Here is everyone else who visited us!

Rob's Parents

Vanessa (Rob's twin and Mason's godmother) and Mallorie (Rob's oldest sister)

Tim (Mason's godfather), Adam, Lianna, JZ, and Snjezana

Amanda and Jessie

Aunt Mary and Uncle Ken

Nick and Shauna

Mary

Amanda, Phil, and Charlie

Thank you everyone! :)

Coming Home

We finally were able to come home Wednesday, August 1. :) I was ready to go home on Tuesday. But I am glad we got to come home Wednesday.

Mason's Coming Home Outfit

When we got home we had someone waiting very patiently to meet Mason. Joe Boxer. :) He was quite excited that we were home and he got to meet his new buddy. 

Joe waiting to meet Mason

Joe getting a better look at Mason

I have to say I am very proud of Joe on how well he listens to us, and how gentle he is with Mason. He sniffs his feet, and sometimes sneaks a lick in. He has to know where Mason is. He is protective of Mason in the sense that he has to know where he is and to make sure he is okay. Joe is okay with other people holding him. He loves his new buddy! :)

I can't say we had a good day coming home, because we had some bumps in the road, but all in all we were happy that we were home. For those wondering about the bumps in the road, we weren't sure if we were able to go because the doctors became super concerned about Mason because he was slightly jaundiced. Come to find out his levels were still the same as they had been, on the low side of the spectrum where we didn't have to worry. We just had to keep an eye on him just in case he got worse, which he hasn't. I had to get my 16 staples removed from my incision before we could leave. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. There were only 2 staples that hurt a little coming out. Than we ended up having an issue getting my pain med prescription filled because there were 2 pieces of information either missing, or filled out incorrectly and they couldn't get a hold of the doctor who wrote it. I made sure when we left the hospital one of the last things I did, was get my next dose of meds to last me while we traveled home and filled the prescriptions and to get home. In the hospital there was a lapse in time where I didn't get my meds early in the morning, and it became an issue when I couldn't get up because I was in pain. We all learned to keep me on a strict med schedule so it didn't happen again. That was the one thing we tried to avoid, which is why I took my last dose at the hospital at 130. I should of had my next dose at 530, well we still didn't have it and I didn't end up getting it until, I believe, 930. After my mom called and talked with labor and delivery. They didn't realize the situation going on, until my mom informed them, and they were not to happy that it happened. They wrote me a new script and Rob drove back to hospital to pick it up and go fill it. I am so grateful that labor and delivery took care of the situation right away, and that Rob was able to go pick it up and fill it for me. Yes, this should of never happened where I had to wait this long, but I am grateful that labor and delivery didn't give us an issue when they were informed of what was going on. But like I said, we were happy we were home finally, even with the bumps in the road.

Mason Is A Week Old!

The day after we came home, Mason had his first doctor's appointment outside of the hospital. He is doing great! They were still concerned about him look jaundiced and sent us over for some blood work to be done. He weighs 8 pounds 11 ounces. Just 1 ounce down from his birth weight. He did drop down to 8 pounds 5 ounces in the hospital but we are working in the right direction! :) He was such a trooper getting his blood drawn. He slept through it all, getting his foot pricked and squeezed. I don't think we will have to worry at his appointments where he gets his shots (knock on wood!!). Besides that, he is eating every 2-3 hours. He is doing great!

"What? You talking to me?"

Sleepy Mason :)

"And... Stretch!"

Yes, I know when this is posted he is 2 weeks old. Hopefully after his doctor's appointment today, I can get on and do another update. We are really starting to get a routine down, so hopefully I will be able to stay on top of updating the blog on time! :)

Mason's Long Awaited Arrival!

Mason has finally arrived! Sorry for the delay in his arrival story, we have been trying to get settled in a routine with our little man.


Well to start off everything, Mason Kye Packard has finally made his entrance into the world! He was born via c-section on July 29 at 9:17 am. He was 8 pounds 12 ounces, and 22 inches long. He is a healthy little boy. :) We are so excited that he has finally made his arrival. 


For his birth story, I will fill in what I can but there are parts that I do not remember.


My water broke about midnight, Friday going into Saturday. Friday was my original due date. At first I wasn't sure if it had broken for sure, because I only experienced a little trickle. I thought maybe it was the 2 glasses of Sprite I had drank at Buffalo Wild Wings earlier that night. I walked around for a few minutes, than I went and laid back down for about 15 minutes. Got back up, and started to feel the trickle I couldn't control. I had a really good feeling, that my water broke. I called labor and delivery just to see what they would say, and they said come on in. I wasn't having any contractions that I noticed. I let my mom know to get ready, and I got in the shower. I figured I would be nice give Bobby a small heads up and let him sleep while I was in the shower. Before I jumped in the shower, I bent down and grabbed my phone charger, so I could charge my phone in the bathroom while I was taking a shower, and that is when I got the big gush, that sent me running to the bathroom with my legs crossed. I didn't get it on anything. :) When I got out of the shower and got changed, I woke him and said let's go. I was pretty sure my water was broken. We finished packing our things, and headed to the hospital with my mom.


About 2 am, we got to the hospital and walked up to labor and delivery. I was sent to the triage area so they could check me, and see what was going on. Indeed, I my water had broken, and I was being kept. I was having contractions that I could not feel, but the monitors were able to pick them up. They moved me to the room I would be in for labor and delivery, admitted me, and I was settled in by 4 am. We walked the halls, (not much to look at or walk around), and bounced on the birth ball to help move things around. I knew we were on a time limit to get our little man out because of the risk of infection from my water breaking. I was made aware this, and it is usually 24 hours after your water breaks when the risk of infection gets to be a huge concern. At 8:37 am (I remember them from saying) they inserted a balloon into my cervix and blew it up. Part of it was on the inside, and the other on the out so it could put pressure on my cervix to help dilate me. When I was checked, when I got there they said I was only a finger tip dilated and still kind of thick, which was weird to me, for the fact that at my appointment on Wednesday I was 1 1/2 to 2 cm dilated and 75% effaced. The balloon should help me dilate to 3 1/2 to 4 cm, and fall out on it's own, if not 12 hours later they were to remove it and start me on pitocin. I was hoping it would dilate me and get me to progress so I would not have to wait those 12 hours, for the fact my water had already broken. Immediately I started to feel the pressure and contractions. I did what I could for an hour and a half before I was begging for Nubain, which is pain medication, which would take my mind off of the contractions. It was administered through my IV and it did not make me numb. I didn't want to have to get the Nubain, but when I was not getting a break from the contractions to relax and focus getting through the one, at all, I knew I needed to get it to relax my body. Come to find out I would peak at a contraction, start to come down from it, and peak again, and repeat. If it wasn't the contractions, he was moving and putting the pressure on the balloons down there. If anything I was getting a quick break every, I would say at least 15 minutes, for maybe 30 seconds. That's what it seemed like to me.


The nubain made it kind of out of it, which I was warned would happened. I was able to take naps and relax. I couldn't feel the contractions. From here it does it kind of blurry, I knew I could still eat food because they hadn't started the pitocin. I remember ordering my last meal to eat about 630-7 pm. I think it was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Than they took the balloon out and started the pitocin. I remembering have really bad back pains, getting the epidural, and than hearing I was fully dilated, but still had a "lip". Than they came back in and let me push. I started pushing I believe about 5-6 am. I pushed for about 2 1/2- 3 hours, in 3-4 different positions. Yeah there are apparently different positions to push in. I made no progress after all that pushing. He was stuck at my pelvis bone. The doctors kept checking and weren't for sure which way he was facing, face up or down or to the side, besides that he was head first. They tried turning him because they thought his head was turned just to the side. What they didn't realize he had been trying to come out face up, he needed to be face down. Well, after pushing for so long, I just stopped and gave up. I had no energy left, I hadn't made any progress, I was quite upset. They told me I needed to stop crying and to relax and they were going to give me some rest time as they were getting ready to switch shifts. Well I think it was a half hour later, the new doctor came in. He checked me and said I hadn't made any progress so we should do a c-section. We talked about it, and said let's do this. I am so glad I chose the c-section because no matter how long I would have pushed more, Mason probably wouldn't of come out. Thankfully through all of that, Mason did not go into distress at all. He was fine through it all. We called my mom up just to let her know what was happening so she could let everyone know what was going on. They than gave Rob stuff to put on over his clothes, so he could come into the operating room with me. They took me to the operating room, got everything ready, and than brought Rob in. Not long after, at 917 am, Mason Kye Packard was born. They than brought Rob over to Mason so he could see him while they cleaned him up. Rob came over to me and said something along the lines of "I know why he wouldn't come out. He is 8 pounds 12 ounces and 22 inches long." I was like, "You just said what?" Yes, Mason was 8 pounds 12 ounces and 22 inches long. My doctor was thinking he would be between 7 and 8 pounds, not almost 9. I was thinking he maybe long because at the ultrasound at 20 weeks, it looked like he was going to have some long legs. Once they had Mason all cleaned up and wrapped up, Rob held on to him the whole rest of the surgery. :)


I did have the shakes pretty bad, on the table, which is apparently normal with the epidural. I also ended up with hives on my thighs near my knees and on the back of my arms, and a scratched up face, because my face itched like crazy. We don't know what caused the hives, but the itchiness is another side effect of the epidural. I also kept dozing off on the table, and felt pretty nauseous.


We are very thankful, and grateful that Mason is healthy and everything worked out in the end. :)

Mason Kye

The screen behind him does say 8 lbs 12 oz

Our 1st Family Photo (in recovery) 

Mason Kye

You can see the bruise on his forehead and head from trying to push him out.

Mason Kye :)

Top View of the bruises

Look for our next blog! Coming home and Mason is a week old! :)