Tummy Time

He isn't a pro at yet, but he is working on holding his head up a bit better.  He can even scoot a bit, too. 

James Everett Pollard II

Baby Love

 Aunt B and Uncle Wayne came over to see Jett and got a double case of Baby Love, when Lily James was over here.  Uncle Wayne is really good with baby girls.  Just like Daisy Kent, Lily James just loved being held by him.

 Sadie comes over every afternoon after work to make sure I'm okay and don't need anything and usually she watches him while I shower, or take a nap.

Mimi came by to bring dinner and hold the sweet baby boy.  She brought me grape salad and I fought the urge to sit with the bowl of grape salad in my lap and eat the entire thing without getting up.  We are so lucky to have so many people to love on him.

Evolution of a Breakdown

Because I don't won't anyone to think, he sleeps, he eats, and he is happy all the time.  Oh no, on this particular day, I would say these faces made more than one appearance.  I like to call this sequence "Evolution of a Breakdown."

Bath Time Break Down

This is how Jett feels about bath time.  I knew it wasn't going to be pretty, because let's be honest, who likes a sponge bath, it is cold and awkward.  So I begged my mom into helping out, she secretly loved it.  Jett not so much.  

That gumless jaw gets to quivering and it doesn't stop until he is clothed again, picked up, and loved on.  If this post had a sound effect it would start with a little hoarse whimper that quickly moves into a full out alarm and it stays at the max decibel until the loving on ensues.  

One Week

 Woo Hoo, one week old.  We went back today for Jett to have his jaundice level checked. He weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz.  His level was good, so we were released.  When we got home, Cullen went back to work and I called Leslie so we could get pictures made with Mr. Trent.

Two Day Check Up

So here we are after our first two nights at home.  Taking our little man back to the doctor. 

 This is how he tells the news after his heel was stuck for his jaundice blood work.

This is our little glow worm chilling on his Billy Blanket.  He was a champ. We kept him on the blanket as much as possible and went back the next day.  In one day he gained six ounces.  His level had dropped from High Risk to Intermediate, they took us off the blanket and we went back two days later.  On his one week birthday he was released and weighed above his birth weight at 8lbs. 3 oz.  He is an eating machine.

Cousins

Ellie has been super excited to meet James Everett as she calls him.  She has loved reading his books and being sweet with them, and she was very concerned with being his ONLY cousin.  

 Henry was less impressed to meet baby boy.  I know in the future they will have so much fun getting into things together being close in age, but for now Henry's world revolves around Henry.

 Ellie was super sweet with baby boy.  She held his hand and kissed his forehead, and made very sure not to touch his face too much.

 She even wanted to help me feed Jett, which was really funny.  I will say she was great at bringing me burp cloths, the remote, and anything else that was just out of my reach.

She even wanted to pretend to be the baby.  She didn't want to pose for this picture, but we talked her into it, every time we would go to take it she would jump up.  The highlight of her weekend was when Jett accidentally tee teed on her.  She was super excited.
These little babies are growing up.  Henry spent all weekend pushing that yellow toy around the house.  He even through quite a fit when he was told no no.  Ellie is as grown as ever.  She is happy eating sweets, watching t.v., playing hide and seek, and writing her letters.  It is amazing how time has flown by these last few years.

At Home with Jett

When we got home from our visit to the well baby check, Ashley was at the house with breakfast foods for us to enjoy.

Kala, Christy, and PK came by to hold baby boy as well. 

And just after they left Meagan and Jules came by to see the sweet boy.  

Excuse this next picture, but Lily James came by to meet her new best friend for the first time.  Leslie gave me hope that I could look like myself again some day.

And finally Jett met the original Jet, my dad on Sunday.  When they met Jett was super alert and was a good baby even though he was really hungry.

Sadie Love

Three Generations of Pollard Men

Glow Worm

Coming Home

I was super excited about Jett's outfit for coming home.  He wasn't so excited.  Cullen wasn't so excited, wondering why I would put a dress on a boy.   I told him it was a gown and he would be wearing it.

 When I look at this picture I think I did a pathetic job of trying to look normal.  The old saying, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear...comes to mind...And then I think that not even 48 hours prior to this photo, I was pregnant.

 He may have been a little too bundled up for the ride home, but I wanted to make sure he was snug.

Here we are, our family of three getting ready to make our way home.

Visiting

Our first visitor of the day was Brother Ken.  He came by bright and early to see baby Jett and pray with us.

 Darla came by when she had a break from work to hold him, and to see her newest cousin.

 Uncle Dave and Aunt Faren, drove over from the Delta to see little man.

 Ms. Kyle, my fourth grade teacher, and dear friend, had to drop by and see the baby boy, too.

 As the afternoon rocked on, Uncle Wayne came by to visit again and hold the newest addition.

 Aunt Kathy and Uncle Brett drove up from Jackson to spend a few minutes with their first nephew.

 Poppa came by to see the new baby, too.  Mr. Tommy is really what I call him, but he is my cousin, Anna's grandpa, so I've kinda always known him as Poppa.

 Carrie came by to see and hold the first boy of our friends besides her own.  Finally Rhett will have someone to play with.

 Ms. Babb, Kim, and Tanya drove over from Oxford to see Baby Jett.  As you can tell the day had worn on me and I was a bit sleep deprived.

 And finally just before visiting hours ended, Mary Leighton's mom and dad came to visit and check out sweet baby Jett.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Okay, without being too graphic and giving too much away, I want to document the time leading up to Baby Boy's arrival.
It started Monday night, Cullen and I checked into the Women's Hospital just before 8 to begin induction.  After answering a gazillion questions I took half of a pill that would help me begin my labor.  I took it at 8, 12, and a last dose at 4.  At about 9 that night they gave me my IV, which was the most painful one I have ever had put in.  I'm not sure why, but for about 6 hours I could feel that IV in my vein.  I guess after that, I just got use to the feeling.
By seven the next morning they were changing me to another room so that could pull my vital signs, apparently they were having computer issues.
At 8 Tuesday morning, they began my Pitocin drip.  At 9:30 my water spontaneously broke.  I was a little fearful that the contractions were going to get bad quickly but they were pretty manageable until about 2:00.
 Now I also had a game plan for how the day was to go.  I had gone over my goals with Cullen time and time again.
 -One goal- no Stadol, because I had heard it made you loopy (like that was a bad thing).
 -Next goal- no epidural until at least 4 cm.
-Final goal- NO C-section.
At 2:00, I was slowly coming unglued.  They offered me my epidural, but I was not anywhere near my goal, and so I was in a sad state.  I opted for the stadol.  Yes, almost instantly I felt loopy.  I couldn't hold my eyes open and they assured me the effects would only last about an hour, and at least I would be able to get some rest.  Apparently rest is what I needed, because within the hour I was making progress, all while I slept through it.
After waking up, I remember people coming in an out, and I remember that my contractions once again began to hurt, and they progressively got worse...worse because while I was under the spell of stadol....they bumped my pitocin up in increments.
By 4:00 again, they were talking epidural.  And I was about to give in, Cullen came back in to the room and quickly said, no way.  If they could hurt worse then you can wait.  I was so glad I made him promise me he would help me keep my goals.  So as I thought I was close to death, but telling myself that they could be worse, they checked me and told me I was where I had wanted to be.  I told them...bring on the epidural. Yeah, that meant, bring on the bag of fluid that takes forever to run through, before they attempt to give you an epidural.  That waiting period was awful.  I remember telling the nurse, I thought I was about to get sick and she said that if I did it was no big deal.  I remember thinking...you haven't seen me get sick...it is not pretty...and also I thought...she could get me some meds to prevent it...right?
Okay so the next 30 minutes were absolutely awful, but Cullen was there the whole time being supportive.  I only remember snapping at him once.  He was trying to divert my attention and give me some gum.  As he was trying to help me breath through the pain, I told him he was gonna have to spit his gum out or I was gonna vomit on him.  He instantly swallowed his gum and never checked up.  It didn't work, I got sick and it was not pretty.  So then the man with the medicine came in and asked me 342 questions.  One being how much I weighed.  Why must they ask that question in front of my husband.  I answered him in a snap with "a WHOLE bunch" and the nurse pointed to the screen and he  copied the number from the screen.
He then came back in made me sign stuff and then started giving me directions like move to the left, scoot forward and try to sit up more.  I told him he would have to scoot me, pull me, or push me, because I could no longer think clearly about directions.  Cullen had to leave the room and my main concern was sitting still between contractions, and getting sick.  Thankfully, my nurse was precious.  After the initial medicine took effect, I was still hurting, but I remember telling the anesthesiologist, I was normally a more delightful person.  He giggled, but I was serious.
I writhed around a bit more and they wound up giving me more meds to "top me off" they said.  Then I was back to my normal self...KINDA. Right after Cullen was able to come back into the room and my mom was there, too.  Somewhere around the time I was feeling relief, several nurses rush in, sit me up, prop me on my side and put me on oxygen.  The baby's heart rate had dropped, but in my state of stadol hangover and epidural glee, I don't remember a whole bunch of this.
 Leslie came in and reapplied my makeup, we took pictures, and I visited with the visitors who had been sitting patiently in the waiting room.  The oxygen came off.

When they told me I was complete and ready to go, Meagan took her place as the photographer, Cullen took his place by my side and the pushing began.  About an hour into pushing, I heard them say the baby was turned.  I also remember thinking, I kinda feel the contractions.  Then it wasn't kinda, it was like yeah, I feel that for real.  So they top me off again and then give me another something.  The next couple of hours was a  blur.  I remember there being lots of whispers and several nurses in an out and of course the pushing.  I kept hearing them say section, and even Cullen leaned down and said, okay we may need to be thinking about a section.  I glared at him and said, we will NOT do that.  He stepped back and again he was back on the delivery boat.

 My next snap at him came when as I labored I looked over and he was texting on his phone...I told him to put it up and not think about getting the cell phone back out until we had a baby.  I also remember telling him to stay at the top of the bed.  None of our conversations were in any coherent pattern as I recall it was just like snippets of information, affirmation, and concern.
After the break from pushing and then beginning again, the time was rocking on toward 9:30.  Dr. Young came in and said we might use the vacuum.  I talked percentages of success. Once he said 90% I was all on board.  Just before it things got moving, I asked if we could all just stop and let Meagan lead us in a prayer.  I can say now, it was the sweetest most heart felt prayer Cullen and I have ever heard.  We were both in tears, nurses were snubbing and Dr. Young was ready to work.
At 10:05 Baby Boy Pollard came into this world.  I was a little horrified at his cone head, but can say now after about a day and half it rounded out nicely.  I had a plan for how things were going to go even after his arrival.  After about an hour of picture taking and loving on our sweet baby boy, we let my mom come back and then Cullen's parents and after they had their time we let the waiting room come on in.  In my mind it was about 7 at night, looking back it was almost midnight and my sweet friends had stayed the course and had waited to see and love on Baby Jett.  It was a surreal moment, and one I'm so grateful I got to experience surrounded by friends and family.

James Everett Pollard II
8 pounds
20.25 inches long