Family Comparison

Whenever a couple has a baby everyone says "Oh he looks just like his dad" or "She looks like her mom". So I sat down and decided to compare baby pictures for our little family. It is surprising how little we all look alike. Some families the similarity is striking - but for us I don't see it! Let me know if you do. You can click on any collage of pictures to view them larger.

Here are a series of comparisons (ages are unknown for mine and Alan's pictures):

First is Adeline's baby picture compared to Alan and I:

Then comparing Abel to the same pictures of us:

So what do you all think? Who do Adeline and Abel look more like as babies? I think they both have my baby cheeks!

This past week Abel turned a month old! So here is a comparison picture of Abel and Adeline at a month old. It is crazy how big of a difference there is between the two! Adeline was still wearing Newborn (and it was big on her!), Abel is wearing 0-3.

I went ahead and looked forward to Adeline's 2nd Month picture and it is a better picture to look at to compare how close they look alike since Adeline didn't start filling out until then.

Then for the comparison that I promised on Facebook a couple days ago that got this blog post in motion. Alan and Abel both wearing the same outfit. The funny part is that Alan is 3 months old when this picture was taken, and Abel was only 1 month old!

Abel is One Month Old

This week we celebrated Abel being a month old! Time is already flying by and I can't believe it's already been a month. He has changed so much in that month.

Abel still does not like getting his diaper changed and cries through most. But when he doesn't he looks all around and is very observant. He loves looking at the ceiling fans in the house (what baby doesn't??) and at the big windows in our living room.

Abel is so different than Adeline at this age. Adeline was an easy baby, Abel is also an easy baby - just not as easy as Adeline! Or it could just be that now we have two, who knows? Abel typically sleeps ok his first stretch at night 3-4 hours then the rest of the night he's up about every 2 hours. I've really stopped keeping track. I am still dealing with pelvic and hip pain that I had during pregnancy so I cannot get up/down all night long with him, so after Abel wakes the first time from his crib in the nursery Alan brings him to our room and after Abel is done nursing he sleeps in a crib next to the bed. This is not what I wanted at all, but hopefully soon we can get him to sleep 100% in his room!

Abel only wore Newborn clothes for about a week, mostly because he lost a pound after birth (which is normal at the weight he was born at). But as soon as my milk came in he started gaining at a great pace! At 3 weeks old he weight 10 lbs 5 oz and was 21.5 inches tall. Most of his 0-3 clothes don't fit as they are hand-me-downs that are shrunk - so he can wear new 0-3 and used 3-6. He doesn't look like a big baby to me, but no one believes me that he's only 4 weeks!

So far Abel hasn't been out that many places. But he's been to Sugar Hollow Park, Steele Creek Park, Academy to see his dads old co-workers, Bass Pro for dads current co-workers, an attempted Target trip that failed miserably, O'Charlies, and Cracker Barrel. We spent our days at home right now with big sister, Adeline, either sleeping or eating and taking Adeline outside to play. We hope to head towards where the rest of our family is soon so that the extended family gets to meet Abel in person as well. That is one of the downfalls of living a bit over 2 hours away, but since it's still FLU season - it may be a good thing as well since his visitors have been limited.

Adeline is in love with her baby brother, Abel. She constantly wants to know what he is doing and loves to give him hugs and kisses. She has been a great help and is handling being a big sister great. She has had a bit of an attitude and acting up to get more attention, but that was to be expected. This weekend she's at my parents getting a break from having to share the spotlight, hopefully the break does her good. She loves visiting her grandparents (both sides), that will be her escape from her little brother for awhile until he gets big enough to go as well.

Alan and I are excited to see Abel grow up and see what personality he is going to have. Adeline is such a mix of the two of us, it's interesting to see what she gets from both of us.

Abel Jackson's Birth Story

**This is a birth story, all the details as I can remember it!**

Thursday February 18, 2016

Before Alan and I went to sleep on Wednesday I told Abel that Thursday would be a great day to be born as his big sister, Adeline, was away at her Grandparents and his daddy had the day off work already. Well at 1:30am on Thursday I woke to a sharp sudden pain but it passed quickly and I decided to get up to use the bathroom. Once I stood up water gushed out and continued to do so for a bit, but no contractions had started. We decided to go back to bed to get rest until they started.

About 2:15am I started feeling contractions and kept a general timing of them and after a little while of them feeling fairly consistent I couldn’t sleep and decided would be best if Alan and I get up and go ahead and finish getting the hospital stuff together to see how contractions do then. After packing I wanted to eat as I knew once I got to the hospital that was no-go. I had a bowl of Oatmeal and bacon with Orange Juice then settled on the couch to watch a movie. Contractions kept intensifying and consistent. At 4:15am I called the Doula to give her heads up and to see if she had recommendations on getting through the contractions. Torey thought it sounded like still in early labor and to rest and to call her when I thought I needed her to come.

Then at 5:30am I called the Doula back and said probably a good idea for her to come as the contractions were getting harder to deal with. Then not even 20 min later I was calling her back as I was starting to bleed and we decided I better head into the hospital and she would meet us there.

On the way to Labor & Delivery we called the grandparents to let them know and that we would update them once got checked out by the doctor. In L&D they got me into triage pretty quickly and checked. Turned out that my water hadn’t completely ruptured and was still intact but I was dilated 5-6cm already and in obvious active labor by that point. I then was placed in a room and it took a while to get situated and the wireless monitors started.

Once I was able to move about I tried laboring on the birth ball, couch, standing, etc. It was getting pretty intense and contractions very close together, about 1.5 min. apart. Alan and I then talked and I decided it was time for some relief and decided to get an epidural and Pitocin. Getting an epidural between contractions that are 1.5 minutes apart is no fun! I didn’t ask but it seemed like the first person who tried the epidural couldn’t get it and had to get the other. I did not want to know but it took forever and they had no comprehension that when I was in a contraction their instructions meant NOTHING to me. But once that epidural was in I could finally relax and actually slept.

I was checked around 3-4pm by a resident and baby was still high and waters intact. While he was checking my water broke so he checked to make sure the cord wouldn’t come out and prolapse. It didn’t so they let me continue to labor. After a little bit the doctor came in (Dr. Harmon) and said that baby heart rate was dropping after contractions so we might be looking at a C-section. But decided to see how well he did at pushing at he was down far enough now.

I’m not entirely sure how long I pushed, maybe 30 min or so? Alan was beside me, Torey helped with my left leg and my nurse for the day, Debbie, had my right. Debbie was timing my pushes and Torey helped with encouragement. Alan gave me bits of ice between pushes. Abel was handling the pushing ok so there wasn’t any more talk of a C-section.

After a few sets of pushes the doctor told me to stop as they had to get ready for the delivery. UH really? Guess they didn’t think I could do it. But once they came back after a few pushes I felt his head then the body come out. I don’t remember feeling that with Adeline, it was a very unique feeling.

Once he was out and suctioned they laid him on my chest but he wasn’t “pinking” up as fast as the pediatrician liked so he asked if he could take and look him over – I agreed as his cries were a bit off I thought. But once they had him he started crying more and pinked up perfectly and his 2^nd Apgar score was a 9! His first was a 7.

Thirty minutes after being born and enjoying holding him I attempted to breastfeed. He latched on wonderfully and fed for quite a while from both sides. Then we got all situated and invited in the family to see and hold Abel.