Life without gramma

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Vanessa's mom headed back to Fresno today. She has been staying with us and helping with Jonah for his entire life (all 13 days of it). Jonah loved being held by his gramma and I'm pretty sure gramma loved it as well.



Vanessa's mom has been a tremendous help during the past two weeks; I'm not sure how we would have done it without her. Needless to say, we are so thankful she was willing and able to spend so much time with us. Fortunately for us, my parents just got into town to take over for Vanessa's mom. Jonah is so lucky to have two sets of grandparents who can help us figure out how to become parents.







Our Chunky Monkey

Tuesday, June 23, 2009


Jonah had his first doctor's appointment today and everything looks great. In fact, he is gaining weight at an exceptional rate! Jonah was born weighing in at 8 lbs. 4 oz. As most babies do, he lost a little weight and was down to 7 lbs. 13 oz. the day after he was born. Today, at 9 days old, he weighed in as 9 lbs. 5 ounces! He has gained over a pound in only a few days. The doctors and nurses were quite impressed. We certainly have a (not so) little overachiever on our hands.

Father's Day

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Clever title for this posting I know, but clever quips are not really my forte' these days. I think you need sleep for wit to be effective, something we are desperately low on around here. That being said; it's Father's Day!



Andrew is getting to have his first Father's Day ever, and it is a glorious thing. Besides that fact that I desperately hoped I would not be overdue with Jonah, I equally hoped that he would be here in time for Andrew to celebrate this day. Since Jonah is just a week old, we were not afforded the luxury of much of a celebration but the fact that he is here at all is certainly celebration enough. He blessed us with a slightly more restful night last night and we were all able to make our first outing into the world. We went out to lunch and Jonah slept through the whole thing. A peaceful meal out with the living. Ahhh.




We are also very lucky because we are getting to celebrate Father's Day with my dad too; Jonah's Pop- Pop. (We are trying the name on for size. ) Daddy flew into Iowa yesterday afternoon and leaves Monday. It is a quick trip but an important one since Jonah is the first grandchild on my side of the family. It was extra special that Daddy was able to meet his grandson on Father's Day weekend. We tried to get pictures to commemorate the occasion but found that Jonah was not really into a photo shoot at the time. We managed to get a few, and that was just enough!

Jonah's new trick

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Jonah is 6 days old today and he's doing great. With his grandma's (Vanessa's mom) help, we are slowly figuring out how to care for our little man. Most days, he will have a 10-15 minute fussy period, but that's about it. Most importantly, he is eating well. Because he is eating well, he is also excelling at other tasks. His wet diapers are spread out pretty evenly throughout the day, but he likes to save up his "solids" and get it all out at once. (As an aside, we called the nurses to make sure this was normal. They laughed, quickly realizing we were first time parents, and assured us it was perfectly fine.) At first, we thought it was convenient that he only had 1-2 poopy diapers a day. That was until he learned his new trick.

Jonah's new trick is to have a poopy diaper, wait until we are almost finished changing him, and then go again. The first time it happened, it caught me completely off guard. I had removed his old diaper from underneath him but hadn't yet put the new one under there. Fortunately, I had a baby wipe in my hand so I was able to catch everything before it landed on the changing pad. Vanessa and her mom thought it was hysterical, but I was getting nervous because my hand was almost full and he was still going. Jonah "ran out" before any overflow occurred so I was able to keep everything contained. The second and third time Jonah waited until he had no diapers on to start pooping, I was ready for him so we didn't have any mishaps. The fourth time, however, he added a fun little twist to his new trick.

As before, I was changing Jonah's diaper and right when I took his old one off, he gave the "warning" that he needed to get more out. I quickly moved the new diaper in place to catch Jonah's little gift. This time, Jonah was a bit more explosive than usual. The diaper caught almost everything, but, because I didn't have time to secure it, Jonah sprayed his blanket, my hand, and his changing pad. Fun times!

So far, I've gotten peed on a couple times. From the stories I had heard, I knew that would happen. I didn't know that I would be pooped on--especially when Jonah was less than a week old. Who knew?!?


All in all, Vanessa and I are getting more comfortable with this whole parenting thing. We knew it would be a lot of work and, sure enough, it is. We are so lucky to have Vanessa's mom here helping us out. Without her, we wouldn't be getting as much sleep, our place would be more of a mess than it is, and I wouldn't be eating homemade chocolate chip cookies. It will be a sad day when she leaves.

Jonah is nocturnal

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Apparently Vanessa gave birth to a nocturnal child. Jonah loves to keep us up at night and sleep through the day. Last night he ate at midnight, 1:30am, 2:30am, and 3:30am. After his 3:30 feeding he was wide awake and happy as a clam. Vanessa and I took turns holding him as he looked around and made some awesome (and hysterical) faces. Around 4 he went to sleep and didn't wake up until 7:30, which means we got 3 and a half hours of glorious sleep. During the day, his feedings are generally 3-4 hours apart, but at night, they are more like 1-1.5 hours apart. Based on the books we've read and the advice we've gotten, we aren't going to worry too much about Jonah's schedule for a few days. Then, Vanessa and I will try to get him onto a more consistent schedule with his feedings spread 2.5-3 hours apart throughout the day (rather than being clustered at night). I'm sure the process of getting him onto a schedule will be quite an adventure.


One thing I forgot to mention yesterday was that Jonah's "coming-home" outfit was the same outfit I wore when I came home from the hospital 31 years ago. My dad picked out the outfit for me, so Vanessa and I thought it would be nice for Jonah to wear on his first road-trip. The pictures I posted yesterday don't show the outfit all that well, so here are a couple more. The above picture is of me struggling to put him into his clothes. Vanessa was trying to help out (while laughing), but it still took me a while to get him dressed. The picture below is of Jonah looking cute in the hospital before we came home.


Well, I think it is time to join Vanessa and Jonah and take a nap. As always, thanks for all the support (and comments). We certainly appreciate it.

We're Home!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Vanessa, Jonah, and I are finally home after a few rough nights at the hospital. The first night was hard because the doctors and nurses kept dropping by. During the second night, Jonah was not a happy man. We got into a bad cycle where we would feed, burp, and change him, but he would still not be fully content. He would generally sleep for 30 minutes or so after feeding, but would then wake up crying loudly being virtually inconsolable. During this time, we would do everything we could think of to calm him down. Unfortunately for Jonah (and his parents), nothing would calm him down. During a few of these bouts, we called nurses in to see if they had any suggestions. Their suggestions were fairly helpful, but nothing seemed to prevent Jonah from going into his crying fits. He was feeding well, so the nurses figured he wasn't hungry. He would generally cry for a little over an hour, eventually wearing himself out and falling to sleep. Needless to say, Vanessa and I were not doing well when Jonah would cry and cry. We were very nervous because his crying during his fits was so frantic--much different from his normal cry.

Yesterday morning we were getting everything ready to head home. Terri, the nurse who was checking us out, happened to be there when Jonah became inconsolable. She jumped right in to try to help calm Jonah down. After trying a few things, she had the idea that, while he is feeding well, perhaps he's not getting enough food. Vanessa's milk hasn't come in yet so Jonah was only getting colostrum (this is all new to me). Terri suggested that we give Jonah a supplement of formula after he breastfeeds. Sure enough, this totally calmed Jonah down and he has not had a crying fit since. Vanessa and I just about cried when we saw how content our little man was after getting some more food. Even though Jonah was breastfeeding well, he was still hungry. Poor little guy.


Supplementing with formula is interesting because the preferred method is not to use a bottle, but to use a syringe (with no needle) and a finger. I stick my finger in Jonah's mouth and then slowly deliver the formula into the side of his mouth. From Jonah's perspective, apparently this feels much like breastfeeding so he shouldn't have any problems primarily getting breastfed but also getting formula supplements.

You will all be happy to know that last night (our first night back at home) Jonah did MUCH better. His sleep pattern is still quite erratic (he'll nap for 3 hours, then 1 hour, then 2 hours, etc.), but he was much happier than during his first two nights. He would cry, of course, but he was never as frantic as he had been during his previous fits. Thank God for that, because I'm not sure how much more mom and dad could have handled.


Both Jonah and mom are sleeping soundly right now. I'm sure we'll have much more to post soon, but for now, we are simply trying to figure out how to keep our little man happy. Thanks everyone for the prayers and words of encouragement. We sure need them!

It's a boy!

Monday, June 15, 2009

Jonah Elijah Smith was delivered at 7:43 on June 14th. He weighs 8 lbs. 4 oz. and is 20 inches long.

The whole day was a blur, but I'll try to recap everything to the best of my memory. Vanessa's induction started at 8:15 am and went quite fast. She was fully dilated by 4 pm and started to push at 5:30 pm. Apparently Jonah was very comfortable because he didn't want to come out. Finally, after Vanessa pushed for over 2 hours, Jonah joined us "on the outside."



Unfortunately for all of us, the little bugger swallowed a lot of fluid during delivery so he was not breathing as well as the doctors would have liked. After briefly saying hello to our new son, Vanessa had to say goodbye as he was taken away to the NICU for evaluation.



I followed Jonah on his journey and tried to keep Vanessa up to date on his status. The doctors suctioned Jonah's lungs (a procedure he did not like) and he started to breathe much better. Jonah was evaluated by a number of doctors and he passed all his tests with flying colors. At around 10:30 pm, Jonah and Vanessa were reunited. Our first night together was a rough one as we were interrupted every hour so the doctors and nurses could check on baby and momma.



Today we are all a bit tired, but quite happy that Jonah is with us. Fortunately for us, Vanessa's mom is here to help figure out how to keep our little man happy. As you can see, Jonah is super cute. All parents think their kid is a cutie, but it is nice knowing that ours really is.

Big Weekend

Saturday, June 13, 2009

It is gonna be a big weekend for the Iowa Smiths.

Yesterday we had a routine doctors appointment that quickly took a turn, for the better. Everything with me and the little guy looks really good. So good in fact that there really isn't any reason for him to camp out anymore! He is big and healthy and my doctor doesn't see any reason to push the envelope and risk him going overdue. Also, my doctor is leaving for 2 weeks come Monday and we would ALL prefer that she was here for his delivery. So at the appointment we did another preparatory procedure to ready me and tonight we will begin some induction methods. We will start with a pretty non-complicated one and if it doesn't take over night then when we go to the hospital in the morning we will up the auntie a bit. No matter what we are planning on meeting Jonah on Sunday, Monday at the latest!! Very weird to have the waiting turn into a reality.

As a huge bonus, my mom arrives here in Iowa this afternoon so she will be here in time for all of the proceedings! What a blessing that she isn't going to miss a bit even though she lives 2,000 miles away. God is gracious. We covet your prayers over the weekend and will of course keep everyone updated.

Still waiting...

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Not much has changed during the past few days. Vanessa and I are still anxiously awaiting Jonah's arrival. It has been strange to plan out my day each morning. My day will consist of either 1) work on a paper, read some articles, develop experiments to be run, or 2) help Vanessa deliver a baby. Those two options are very different from each other. Planning for one consists of very different things than planning for the other. I can't imagine what it must be like for Vanessa...1) clean up the house a bit, do some laundry, play with our cats, or 2) get Jonah from the inside to the outside. Amazing!

In preparation for Jonah's arrival, we went to a birthing class a few weeks ago. At the end of the class, the instructor showed an old (1983) clip from Bill Cosby's stand-up routine. We all got a kick out of it, so I thought I would share it with you. I'm sure many of you have already seen it, but it is certainly worth another viewing.

Waiting Game

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Tick-Tock. Tick-Tock.

That about sums up our life right now. We are officially in the waiting game. My last day at work was Friday the 29th and it couldn't have come soon enough. I knew that once I left there would be a lot of twiddling my thumbs, but at least I wouldn't have to be on my feet as much and could be on my own schedule. Since then I have worked my way down our checklist of things to do before Jonahs arrival. (I use "I" loosely since a lot of the stuff I can't physically do on my own anymore and in turn Andrew's honey-do list has seen it's fair share of additions.) Here are a few examples.

Bag packed? Check. Jonah's coming home outfit ready? Check. Birth plan written? Check. Grocery store stock up done? Check. Clothes ready for when I am no longer pregnant, but NOT my old size either? Check. Various other things done that have nothing to do with Jonah's arrival and are altogether not really necessary? Check. Looks about right to me!

Sidenote: We had a procedure done on Friday the 5th to kind of "prep" everything to move in the direction of labor. It was not an induction method, but more of a preventative one trying to lessen the chances of him going overdue or needing a C-section. Time will tell if it worked!

Hot Mama!

Monday, June 1, 2009

Vanessa and I recently realized that we don't have many pictures of her cute, pregnant belly. To fix this, we went on a little photo shoot the other day. Fortunately, North Liberty has no shortage of lush areas to choose from.

Before our outing, I read up on some tips for taking pregnancy pictures. One of the tips that almost everyone gave was to try to take the pictures during the 7th or 8th month. There are two reasons for this: 1) the baby might make an early entrance and there may be no 9th month, and 2) the mom is usually much less mobile and more uncomfortable during the 9th month. Unfortunately for us, we are now in the 9th month. That being said, Vanessa was a trooper and didn't complain, even as our photo shoot spanned two different locations. And most importantly, as you can see from the photos, Vanessa looks as beautiful as ever.


Note: You can see a larger version of the photos by clicking on them.