2 Weeks Old!

HBH | born 3/11 @ 7:06pm | 7 lbs 11 oz | 21 inches long

Definitely my favorite picture of him so far

Name: Hart Barnett Heeter

Hart - We found Hart on my dad's family tree. It is our little Hart's great-great-great-great Uncle on my grandpa's side. We thought Hart Heeter had a great ring to it. It's a unique name, but also classic. The whole pregnancy, we steered toward surnames as first names, and this one was always top of the list.

Barnett - My mom's maiden name! My mom has one brother who had all daughters, so we wanted to keep the Barnett line going! Jon thought "Hart Barnett" sounded like a movie star, so what could be better?

How old: 2 weeks tomorrow :)

Hart's weight: 8 lbs 0.5 oz! He was 7 lbs 1 oz last week, and the doctor was really happy that he's been gaining about 2 oz a day rather than the typical 1 oz a day. What a champ!

Sleep: Hart is getting on a schedule already at 2 weeks! He eats every 3 hours, and naps 1.5 hours after each feeding. He's very active and alert right after he eats, and prefers a pacifier after he's been awake for 1.5 hours to soothe himself into a nap. At night, he has longer stretches anywhere from 2-3.5 hours. He's currently sleeping in a bassinet next to our bed because he never really cries, only whines. We weren't sure we would be able to hear him from the nursery, but have plans of moving him over around 1-2 months. I'm laying him in his crib for naps during the day to get him used to sleeping in the nursery. 

Hart usually wakes up and babbles/grunts to himself for 10-30 minutes before really wanting to be picked up or fed. He's already a self-sufficient little guy! 

Best moment this week: I think the weekend was the best. Since Jon was off work, we got to sleep in and hang out in bed until late morning as a family of four. Jon's family was here this weekend and part of this past week, and we did a lot! Hart went out for dinner in the city with a stop at Little Man after, a fancy dinner at Seasons 52, visited Jon at work, the Breckenridge Brewery in Littleton, Snooze for breakfast, and to Daniel's Park. 

We were here when I was 7 weeks pregnant, 36 weeks pregnant, and when Hart was 9 days old! Definitely one of our favorite look out spots :)

We are so thrilled that he is doing well when we go out and about! That was a huge thing for us, getting him out and acclimated to noise and being in different environments. 

Reading Harry Potter with dad

Happy is OBSESSED with his baby. These two are going to be best buddies.

Worst moment this week: I may have cried on our way home from the city Sunday night because Jon had to go back to work. Hart is a super easy and relaxed baby, so I'm not very overwhelmed during the day, but I just love having Jon around. Luckily, he worked from home Tuesday (while Hart, Happy, and I took an afternoon siesta) and a half day Wednesday so that was awesome.

Eating: Hart is eating like a champ! He's not shy about latching on, and even takes a bottle already. Anything for that milk! He is VERY hard to wake up when he's sleeping, so sometimes he'll go a little long between feedings. I usually pump and then feed him a bottle when that happens, which is probably every other day at most. The doctor encouraged us to do one bottle a day to make sure he's able to take a bottle and nurse. I'm hoping to transition to bottles for night feeds in the next few weeks. He eats a bottle so much faster than he nurses. He likes to eat a little, snooze a little, chomp a little, so I'm excited at the idea that night feedings might go a little quicker.

Looking forward to: My parents come to meet Hart on Sunday night! I'm very excited for them to meet him, and be able to do some fun stuff while they're in town. We don't have any solid plans, but it's nice knowing Hart is able to go out and just hang easily. I think we'll meet up with Jon in the city for lunch one day, maybe go to Daniel's Park again or Lookout Mountain, and I'm even entertaining the idea of a Breckenridge trip (we'll see in grandpa is up for the higher altitude)!

Our relationship: Everyone told me that after baby Jon and I would fight and be at each other throats and that I would love Hart more than Jon. While I DO love Hart, the love I have for him doesn't surpass what I feel for Jon. It definitely helps that Jon is the best. He's always changing diapers (I probably change 1 to every 4 he changes), asking if I need anything, and offering to hold a fussy HBH while I shut my eyes for a few minutes or shower. We were talking before bed how we both are sharing the duties that go with taking care of a newborn, so there's no feeling jealous that he's sleeping all night while I do it all, or feeling frustrated that he won't help more. Jon's mom asked if we've ever loved anything more than Hart, and I said Jon. And it's true. Without him, Hart wouldn't even be here. Seeing how loving he is as a husband and father makes my heart swell. I guess all this to say, don't expect your relationship to struggle after the baby. Talk about what might make your relationship harder BEFORE little one arrives, and hold yourself to changing those things after he/she shows up. Marriage first.

Labor & Delivery: I had probably the easiest first time labor and delivery ever. This was very exciting because my whole pregnancy was spent with people telling me their delivery horror stories. I was totally mentally prepared to be rushed into an emergency c-section just in case something dramatic happened. 

I'm not entirely surprised Hart is so chill, because delivery was too! We thought I would be induced right when we got there, but they needed me to be on 2-3 hours of medicine (for Strep B) before inducing. Luckily that meant some room service before getting things going!

They started me on Pitocin around 11:30, and I was very vocal about my reservations of being on the drug, so they started me at the lowest dose and contractions started right away. They only upped the dose twice (from 2-6, usually women don't start contractions until a 20), and then turned it down once. I was never on a lot of it, just enough to give my body the signal that it was time for a baby.

Unfortunately, I didn't progress much further from just the Pitocin and my doctor broke my water around 2:00. This was probably the most painful part of the whole labor process, which is funny because everyone told me they didn't feel a thing when the doctor broke their water. It was miserable, and I was crying a lot after that. However, that got things moving FAST. I tried a few contractions with nitrous oxide, but I think at that point I was already at the worst of the contractions, and it just made me nauseous. 

At 4:00, I shamelessly asked for an epidural. The hardest part was staying still during the worst contractions while they inserted the needle. I was nervous about getting an epidural until I felt the pain. I probably would have done anything to get rid of it!

45 minutes later, I was 6cm dilated and 90% effaced - active labor! I felt pretty good because of the epidural, minus my right leg going completely numb. I could still feel mild contractions, but I could breathe through them.

Our nurse joked that she got off work at 7, so we had to have the baby before then, so I asked to be checked again at 6:30, and I was 10cm dilated and 100% effaced (along with my nurse saying "OH! There's the baby!")! Our nurse had me push once, and immediately told me to stop so they could call the doctor. 

Our doctor showed up around 6:50, they got the room ready, and three pushes later, Hart Barnett was born at 7:06pm!

One thing I loved about delivery was that our doctor never announced the gender, he just held up our baby so we could see ourselves. Another thing I loved was that while I was in active labor and pushing, it was just Jon, our doctor, and the nurse who started the day with us. The delivery nurses came in after, and they said they had a list of all the women who were in labor and I was at the bottom of the list. They said this would be a delivery to remember :) 

Jon and I peeked at the list of names we had brought with us to the hospital, but I think we both were pretty set on Hart Barnett once meeting him.

Just a few hours old

About a week old <3