Sunday, August 28, 2011

Baby Sleeping





I just can't get over how much this girl sleeps. She eats so well and sleeps great too! I am so blessed with a fantastic baby. I'm just hoping that she lives up to her brother's example and proves everyone wrong... everyone warned me that this baby would be a terror since Hayes was so perfect! So far so good! We are hoping that she keeps it up!

Family Photo


We had one picture made as a family when Elizabeth had her newborn photos made. She's so precious and we are so glad to have a fantastic photographer/best friend, Denise! We love having pictures made and we love Denise!

Hands and Feet





Baby hands and feet are my favorite.

Coming Home






We arrived home on Saturday, after delivery on Wednesday...and believe me, I was THRILLED to be HOME. No middle of the night and all hours of the day blood pressure and temp checks. Nobody cramming meds down my throat and no more hospital meals on a tray! I loved my hospital staff and the time I was there was needed, but I was really happy to be home with my boy and my baby and most importantly, my BED.

**Side note**
Northside Hospital (commonly known as the 'baby factory' here in metro atl) is ranked the number one maternity hospital in the COUNTRY. Not to mention that it is awesome and I love it... they are ranked the best!

Hayes loves his sister. Curiosity and admiration just oooze out of him every time he sees her and spends time loving on her.

Catching Up





Sweet girl was born on August 10, 2011 at 10:11 a.m. She weighed 8 lbs and 14 oz at birth. We went to the pediatrician on Tuesday August 16th and I was concerned about her weight. I was nursing her and was very worried that she wouldn't have gained back up to birth weight or that we would have to supplement with some formula because nursing wasn't going as well as I thought it should be...

Little did I know that I was raising Miss Piggy. She weight 8 lbs and 13 oz and some change at the doctor that morning! I told Dr Wynn that she was sleeping 4-5 hours at night and she said it was fine for us not to wake her up to feed her during the night. I am still diligent about waking her during the day to feed her, and trust me, she doesn't miss a meal! She is just precious and we are loving having her in our family. I didn't think I could love anything as much as I love my Hayes. I am so glad that God gives mother's a big heart because you have to make room for all those babies and the love that they bring.

I think my favorite thing about Hayes was his visit to the hospital. He came running into my room and just about jumped up on the hospital bed with me! It just melted my heart to see him so happy to see me. I hadn't seen him for almost 3 days at that time and he was so excited to see me that I just cried! He was quite fascinated with the hospital bed and the gadgets... and buttons.... and the dinner he ate. Hayes paid little to no attention to the bundle of baby his daddy was holding that day. He showed much more interest once that bundle arrived at his house on Saturday. He calls her 'baby' and is very curious about what she does.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Finally....





After a few hours getting her lungs all cleaned out I finally got to meet her. Elizabeth also got to meet Ellie and Jeff that evening.

She's HERE! Finally.






We left home about 6:45 Wednesday morning. After a sleepless and hungry night, we were VERY anxious to meet our girl! I wasn't supposed to eat after midnight, so I loaded up on cereal at about 11:30 pm the night before. I also had vanilla wafers and water on my way to the hospital. And then I lied to the nurse about it. I'm a rebel like that. I was STARVING and thirsty and I knew they would make me wait at least 12 hours after surgery to eat. Don't tell. We arrived, got checked in, and situated in our room. Daryk discovered that the hospital offers interpreters if you need them. Vietnamese, Russian, Portugese, and Spanish.... we decided we should have asked for a Russian interpreter just to laugh at.
We were scheduled at 9:45 and the anesthesiologist came in about 9:10 to get started. Last time I had one of these epidural things it took all of 3 minutes from start to finish and then I was numb in about 3 minutes. This time it took about 9 million minutes to get it in the right place in my back.... and then about 15 minutes before I was numb! It felt like forever, but Daryk said it was only about 15 minutes total from start to finish. Finally it took and we were off to surgery. My doctor was awesome and talked me through the whole procedure and the nurse anesthetician, Scott, was teaching another CRNA (Natalie--who only had 4 weeks left in school) and he was hysterical. He and Daryk had a great banter back and forth and kept us laughing the whole time. I love my delivery stories and I love that we had fun. :)
10:03 was surgery start time. Elizabeth James was born at 10:11 am on August 10, 2011. She came out screaming and according to Dr. Grogan had her feet/toes latched on to something inside that she did NOT want to let go of. She had to pry those toes off of something before she could get her out of my belly. I got to hold her once she was wrapped up and checked out. She got very quiet when I talked to her, which made me cry like a new mom. She was whisked away for clean up and such. The entire family got to watch her in the nursery and they all love that! According to my mommy Daryk and Sean AND Jeff all were very emotional with each other once they were together after she was in the nursery and they all saw her. I'm sure they will deny it... but they all cried. Mom saw them. Write it down.
Her lungs still had some fluid in them and she was grunting instead of breathing so they took her up to the 'transition nursery' to get that sorted out. She stayed there for about 2-3 hours. I learned last time that 'recovery' from a c-section meant I had to be able to wiggle my toes and move my knees before I got to leave. I was trying to move and wiggle as soon as I knew I was all closed up. PS--hearing your dr say 'okay, we're putting your uterus back in' is just bizarre. I sat in recovery until noon and then got a room upstairs. After visiting with the entire family and finally getting to see my girl I was exhausted. Visitors came in and out all day long. Jeff and Ellie wrapped up our day and left about 10-11 that night.

She's here and pink and healthy and a GREAT eater. She's been sleeping great and we are all in love.

39 Weeks






Well, I made it that far. I didn't think I would, honestly, I hoped I wouldn't. But I did. 39 weeks and 4 days to be exact. We took one last trip to gymnastics as a family of 3 the night before Elizabeth was born. We had a BLAST and enjoyed some time in the ball pit before we left the gym. Our last night as a family of 3 was filled with fun and lots of laughs. Hayes was the ONLY one in class that night, so we got a private lesson from Miss Melissa! :)

Photo shoot with Jano and Laan





We tried.... it didn't work so well...for some reason we couldn't coordinate everyone looking at the camera and smiling. :)

Playing on the couch and in the chair






Hayes has learned that he can make a running start and throw himself onto the furniture in the living room. It goes really well until he falls backwards off the furniture into the floor. He had his first BIG boo boo this summer at home. He was running (shock) through the house to go show his daddy his new book and he took one glance back at me.... BAM! He ran face first into the corner of the wall. Needless to say we got a fat lip and an ice pack. I think we were more upset than he was! He was bleeding and I didn't even notice until Daryk pointed it out. He's a trooper. After a few minutes of snuggling and some ice pack time, he was good to go. :)