Birthday Fun

This year my birthday was low key compared to past, but having a 2 week old had a little to do with it :). There was no fancy dinner, but we got to celebrate with Al's mom and went to lunch at Cuvee which was on my list of restaurants to try:)

I've been bugging Al for 2 years for a Mac Book Pro and he finally listened to me. I love it and still have a lot to learn since I was strictly a PC user.

Later that afternoon we took Alex to his first movie, Soul Surfer. He listened to mom and slept through the entire movie while I enjoyed my popcorn with extra butter. I've been scared to drink caffeine ever since I started breast feeding, so I had to settle for Sprite. PS I loved the movie
On Saturday morning we met up with my Aunt Mary and Uncle Rolf and cute little Blake for breakfast at the Sugar Shack in Huntington Beach. Too bad I didn't remember that 90% of their seating is outside and it was a bit chilly that morning. Great Cousin Blake holding Alex. and one of all of us. Miss you guys!
and some more pics of Alex because he's so cute and changes so much everyday.

The only birthday present that was better than my Mac is this cute chubby face below. Happy 28th Birthday to me!!

Universal Studios

I'm sure some of you will think we are crazy after you read this post. While Shelly was here visiting we decided to go to Universal Studios for a few hours. Alex was 11 days old and loved it.

Measuring him for the rides

Al being a good dad and blocking the sun off his perfect baby skin.

We were there for about 3 hours and it felt like 12 by the time we were done. I had to feed him in Terminator 3-D which was so awful and loud and I also had to feed him and change his diaper on the tram ride tour. It was quite the adventure. Luckily I had my Hooter Hider and we were sitting on the last row.

Aren't we so funny....everyone around us was watching. Me, Alex, and Hop

and last but not least Dora. Danielle if you're reading this, I took this pic for you and Sienna!!

>

Private Tour

When Alex was 1 week old we got a private tour of the Private Practice set. We are cool like that thanks to Al. Here is V and VI in one of the operating rooms. I've actually never watched the show, so I don't really know names of the actors, but this is one of their beach houses.

I do know that Addison used to be on Greys and she left to go to Private Practice. Here is her office.

This is the heart throbs office. I don't remember his name, helpful I know :)

and McDreamy's sister's office We caught Alex sucking his thumb!! He loved his private tour of Private Practice.

3 Weeks Old

Yesterday Alex had his 2 week appointment which would put him at 12 days old. He weighed 8lbs 1 oz at his last appointment when he was 4 days old, so in 8 days he gained almost 2lbs. I'm not really sure what's in my milk, but let's just say he's not starving. He's in 75th percentile for weight and the his head (at least it's not 95th anymore), and 95th percentile for heighth (Go Alex), excepct some 0-3 month clothes are almost too short for him. We were nervous about keeping his diaper off for too long because once that air hits you know what he pees and it's usually on us. Sure enough he got Al and it was a perfect stream down the front of his leg!!

Alex's Favorite Things At 3 Weeks

He loves to stare at his mobile that plays Mozart & Bach in the mornings

He loves to take naps in his swing (lifesaver)

He loves his play gym

He loves to poop in clean diapers

He loves to look around in the middle of the night during his feedings

He loves to ride in the car

and He loves his blanket Grandma Cameron made him

We are still trying to figure out who he looks like. I'm not sure where he got his blonde hair, but I love it!! Sometimes I look at him and I totally see me as a baby, but then I see traits of Al too. He's half me and half Al, it's the best. and he loves to fold his arms in his car seat like he's praying.

Life With A Baby

I finally have someone to take pictures of that doesn't care . Isn't he the cutest?This picture was taken after our first night at home. Can you tell that Al has insomnia?

Those first few nights were rough. Everyone warns you about getting no sleep, but you don't really understand until it happens to you.

Alex's first sponge bath and I'm pretty sure he peed on us.

His favorite toy. It entertains him for a least 30 minutes!! The stuffed animal I'm going to take his weekly or monthly picture by to show his progression. Our first time out to eat with Grandma Ranes. Let me just say going places with a child slows you down a lot. I can only imagine when I have 2 or 3, but first I have to forget that 41 weeks of pregnancy and 13 hours of labor. Best picture of the week with his cute blanket from his Great Grandma White. Shelly came to help us for a week and we got to celebrate her birthday with her. Yay for Aries and April Birthdays!!

13 Hours Later

I've been meaning to write this post for the last week, but life with a newborn and planning your life around feedings gets a little crazy. First I want to start off by saying my labor and birth teacher was right "labor is WORK." Every woman that has given birth to a baby deserves a huge hug and I would personally give you all one!! On March 24th around 12:30am I started getting really bad cramps and I thought hmmmm I haven't felt this for 9 months. I took a hot bath to help relax my stomach and went back to bed. Around 2am I would wake up every 20-30 minutes with bad cramps for about 20 seconds and at that moment I knew that was what a contraction felt like. So glad I never had Braxton Hicks or anything like that throughout my pregnancy. I tried to sleep until 9 or so, but I woke up every time they happened. I downloaded a contraction app for my iPhone and started timing them throughout the day hoping they would last longer. Al came home around lunch and walked 3 miles with me around the community college track. We ate at Subway around 4 which little did I know would be my last meal until 4pm the next day. Around 8pm I went down to our exercise room and walked 2 more miles on the treadmill. After that I took a hot bath which was amazing....I can totally see why women give birth in baths now. The contractions still weren't getting to where I needed them to be so I sat on the exercise ball and suffered through what seemed like 100 more contractions. Finally around 11PM the contractions were about 5 minutes apart and were lasting about a minute each, so I looked at Al and said I think we need to go to the hospital. This was it!! We grabbed the bags I had packed for over a month and drove to the hospital in the pouring rain. They checked me into Triage to make sure I was really in labor and sure enough I was dilated 2-3cm....HOORAY!! They put us into a labor and delivery room to monitor the baby and check my contractions. After about 30 minutes (who really knows how long it was) the nurse told us we could go walk around the hospital to help me dilate more. From our room I could hear a lady screaming bloody murder that was obviously having a baby and I think my face went 3 shades whiter because Al said something like we don't need to listen to that, lets go walk around. It was great because there was no one else walking around the hospital at 2am. We walked in circles for about an hour and that's when those awful back labor pains I heard about started. I can't even explain how painful and tiring they were every few minutes.

After our hour long walk I bounced on the exercise ball and laid in my bed until I couldn't handle it anymore. I got an epidural around 4am and finally felt relief as you can see in the picture below.

We both tried to sleep and got about an hour which was not enough for the next 7 hours. We had great nurses and one in particular that was Mormon. She came in and was like you guys are my people...lol My Doctor came around 8am to break my water and right after she snapped those gloves on her hands and was about to lift up my gown I was like Uhhhh I think my water just broke. They thought I was joking, but sure enough it had just broke and I'm so glad that didn't happen in public because it was a lot of water!! My Doctor had the nurses give me some Pitocin to help speed up the process and increase those contractions which thankfully I was not feeling thanks to that amazing epidural. Around 9:30am I started feeling a ton of pressure in my lower back and butt. It was just as awful as a contraction and the nurse said it was because the baby was getting ready to drop. Around 10:30am when I was in tears and complaining about the pain the nurse said "ok you're ready to start pushing." I was like huh, already, what? They had an anesthesiologist come in and give me more pain medicine which I don't think really helped. At this point I was thinking all those girls that said you don't feel a thing after an epidural are full of it. If you're reading this and really didn't feel anything after an epidural than I'm jealous and you're lucky. I pushed for 2 hours and hopefully burned like 10,000 calories. It was painful, tiring, and emotional. Al stood by my side the entire time and coached me through everything. I seriously couldn't have done it without him.

At 12:41pm sweet little (8lbs 5oz little) Baby Alex was born. The moment they put him in my arms was unexplainable. I've never felt so much love as I looked at him and Al and realized how lucky I am.

Inititally his transition breathing was worrisome to the Doctor because it lasted longer than normal. As it turns out he is just fine and had some extra fluid in his lungs from the stress of the birth, so they had to monitor him for a few hours at the nursery until he could come to our room. The hospital staff was great, we loved the facility and were impressed with everyone there. I had one favorite nurse named Utah. She was from Africa and would come in with cranberry juice and apple juice and say hey I brought you a cocktail. She would bring me those hot underwear they make you wear and say I have some sexy panties for you...hahahAlex is 2 weeks old tomorrow and everything is going great. We are excited to be starting our own little family. He is the sweetest baby and we can't get enough of him. Thanks to all of you for your love and support. It has been an incredible expericence and we are glad to share it with so many great people

Albert Alexander Cameron VI

He's finally here!! Alex was born March 25th at 12:41PM. He weighed 8lbs 5oz and was 20 inches long. More pictures and details to come later.