Month Three

Lily is loving 2012, she just keeps getting more and more fun!  The holidays are over and Mommy finally gets some time to just hang out with Lily at home.  I have started back in the gym, trying to get my pre-baby look back.  I still have a ways to go, but staying active has kept me feeling good.  We also made some good progress on finishing painting our kitchen.  (Refer to Birth Story and late nesting to see when we started.)  Some exciting things have happened this month for me.  One night I woke up to Lily who was ready to eat.  I fed her and then handed her to Daddy so he could burp her while I used the restroom.  When I walked back into the room, Lily gave me the biggest smile and coo.  It was so amazing, and the first time I really realized that she does know me!  I knew that at that point she should recognize me, but that little extra confirmation of it just melted my heart.

Another exciting moment for me is that she is getting more attached to me.  Being born during the holidays she has had no shortage of getting passed from loving arms to loving arms.  Lately, when she is being held by someone else and sees me she gets a little grumpy to realize that someone else is holding her.  Being the trooper that she is the moment quickly passes, but that little look of indignation warms her Mommy’s heart.

I am heading back to work now that Lily is almost 11 weeks old.  I am really nervous about leaving her, since 5 hours is the longest amount of time that I have been away from her since she was born. It will be good to get back to work and see my kids, but I am still sad to not have her with me.  Luckily, we have a friend that will be taking care of her for us.  It is nice to know and trust the person that will be spending so much time with my little baby.

Rob is going on shift for the next couple of months.  This means that he will work 48 hours and then be off for 96 hours.  We will only have to have Lily looked after for at most 2 ½ days a week!  Daddy will get the chance to be home with Lily for the rest of the days.  Daddy is excited to get all that bonding time, and Mommy is excited for Daddy to find out how much work a baby really is.  With our current set-up I know Lily will be well looked after while I am at work.

Lily loves her jungle, a mat with animals, flashing lights, and music over head.  She loves to spend some time kicking and cooing in her jungle every day.  I have heard these play mats referred to as a baby amusement park!

Big Developments in Lily this month:  Increase cooing and smiling.  Just a little love and attention go far in getting a good reaction from her.  She loves to stand and kick and is getting stronger everyday.  Many people are amazed at the strength in her neck muscles.  She usually spends some time each day sitting in the boppy (round pillow) and has started to use her stomach muscles to pull her up into more of a sitting position.  She can’t quite do it yet, but is making some progress in strengthening up those little abs.  She has also had an amazing increase in the amount of drool that she has.  (Teething might be coming soon!)

Daddy spent some time with Lily while Mommy was out with some friends.  While I was away Rob taught Lily how to blow bubbles.  She has become an expert spit bubble blower!!  She loves to show off her new talent to people!

She has also been experimenting with her hands.  She has been trying to grab onto more and more things.  She loves to hold onto her monkey during naked time.  She also was holding some little stackable cups, playing is not that far off.  Another thing her Mommy loves is that she is starting to hold onto my shirt while she nurses.  Sometimes when being held she also grabs onto you to feel more secure, sometimes it is shirts she grabs and sometimes it is hair.  Hopefully, I don’t miss too many milestones while at work, but I look forward to having her show me all of her new tricks.

Month Two

Rob’s parents have come out and are ready to see their first little grandbaby.  Lily has a lot of fun entertaining and being entertained by her grandparents, Busia (Rob’s Mom) and Dza Dza (Rob’s Dad).  Rob’s brother, Timmy, also comes to meet Lily and I.  She is spoiled rotten the entire time they are out here!!

We decided to have an action packed week while the grandparents are visiting.  One thing we thought that was important to do while they were out was to get Lily baptized.  Our friends and family filled up one whole section of the church.  It was very special to have everyone there.  Lily slept through the whole thing, even the water on her forehead!  My mom gave me my baptism dress for Lily to wear and she looked so beautiful in it!  We also got to tell Mike and Christine that we would like them to be Lily’s godparents.  What a wonderful day it was.

Lily has gotten some really bad diaper rash.  To try and rid her of the discomfort, we do naked time during the day to get some air to her little bum.  She loves being naked, so this is a really fun time to interact with her.  She loves to talk and smile at whoever will pay her attention, and Busia loves to entertain her during this time!

This month also brings us Christmas!  We go down to Littleton to spend it with the family.  Lily and I go down a week early because Grammie and Pa Pa are really missing her.  Daddy has a tough time being away from his little Lily for so long.  Luckily, he had work to keep him busy.

As predicted Lily is spoiled again, she gets many cute new outfits, and fun toys.  She is also working on starting her college fund and is getting a good amount!  Thank you to everyone who got her all of the fun presents.

           

Lily had her 2-month checkup and is looking good; she is gaining weight well, but has not added as many inches as they thought she would.  It is also time to get her first round of vaccinations. 

On a similar note, I am finally starting to feel better.  I am able to walk around for longer periods of time.  I went in for my 6-week check up and I am looking good!  This baby making process sure takes its toll and I am glad that I am coming out of it!  I have already lost half of what I gained with her.

Big developments in Lily this month: She is starting to talk to us.  Mommy loves to have conversations with her and listen to all her cute little coos.  She also smiles with a purpose now, and especially loves to give Pa Pa smiles.  Talking to her is way more fun with the payout of a big smile!  She is getting slightly more coordinated and has learned to suck on her 2 middle fingers.  She also likes to rub her eyes when she is tired.  We are looking forward to the progress another month will bring her.

First Parent Freak Out

         Lily is such an easy, happy-go-lucky baby that when she gets fussy Rob and I get worried. One night Lily was crying and inconsolable for a good length of time, much longer than she ever has been before. Rob and I worry and take her temperature. It is higher than normal for her at 98.6, so we start researching. We read that when taking her temperature under her arm 98.6 is a fever. We are still unsure what to do, so we decide to take it in a couple of minutes and find that it has risen to 98.8. At this point we decide to take her to the emergency room. Luckily, the hospital is down the alley from our house. Right before we leave Lily spits up huge all over Mommy. She then falls asleep in her car seat.

We get to the empty ER, you gotta love Kremmling. The nurse takes her temperature, rectally. As she is lying on the table Lily is cooing and smiling like crazy. Rob and I are starting to feel a little stupid at this point. Her temperature comes out 98.4, and Rob and I really start to feel stupid. The nurse lets us know that she can call a doctor down and get blood work, but that Lily looks like a really healthy baby with a healthy temperature and she would not suggest that. Rob and I realize that we completely panicked for no reason.

It turns out Lily just probably had some gas and she was totally fine. She repeated this evening crying several other times all of which ended with the passing of gas from both ends. The nurse was very understanding and didn’t charge us anything (again you gotta love Kremmling.) She also told us that several years and kids down the line we would look back at this experience and laugh.

Month One

We finally got home from the hospital and my Dad was there to meet us. Mom and Rob put our house back together (from our belated nesting, weekend before she was born). We still have a lot of work to do, but it is livable. We enjoy spending time together and watching Lily’s grandparents fawn over our darling girl. Who would have known that Pa Pa was the biggest baby hog!!

The first night Rob hears her spit up in her sleep and chokes on it a little. He springs out of bed to her rescue! Our hero! We did not get much sleep because we were nervous parents, not because Lily was crying. The doctors have me completely paranoid about feeding her enough, so I end up setting my alarm to go off every 3 hours during the night to feed her. Rob was increasingly less likely to get up with us and encouraged me to stop waking her up. By the end of the month, I have given up and let her wake me up when she is hungry.

We had several visitors over the next few weeks. Christine and Mike come up and visit, Mike is fascinated by how cute her cry is, so he keeps making her mad just to hear it. Tara and her mom also come up to see our little Lily. They love holding her and snuggling her.

A special shout out to Jenna. She came up and helped us out for a week. She cooked for us, and also gave us several frozen dinners that we could have when she is gone. They were mostly made of noodles and cheese in various different forms; it’s almost like she knows what I like to eat! She also helped by doing dishes and entertaining Lily so that Rob could finish the dog room, and Ali could use the restroom and shower. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful group of family and friends to help us out!

At 2 weeks old it is time to celebrate Thanksgiving. We make our yearly trip to a cabin in Estes Park. We have a great time seeing family and showing Lily off to those that haven’t met her yet.

The night after Thanksgiving Lily gets mucousy and is having a hard time breathing. I feed her and it gets a little better. I was terrified that she would have trouble breathing in the middle of the night and I wouldn’t know about it, so I want her in the bed with us, but Rob refuses to have her sleep in the bed. He didn’t want to start any bad habits. So we took turns staying up and holding her. He finally gave in around 3am when his next “shift” was supposed to start. We wake up the next morning and Lily seems to be fine now, however almost everyone else is sick as a dog. We decided that for Lily’s sake we were going to leave early.

Lily seems to have made it without getting super sick. She has had a bit of a stuffy nose ever since. She goes back and forth on her feelings about snot sucking, but seems to becoming a little less opposed.

Big developments in Lily this month: she is starting to focus more on people and things. It is absolutely awesome to have her look right at you!! She is really good at holding her head up, so strong already! She has lots of smiles, everyone says they are just from gas, but Mommy knows that she is just really happy!

Skeptical Lily is quite skeptical!

Lily’s Birth Story

It’s Monday, November 7^th, Lily’s due date, and another prenatal appointment.  Today is my first day of maternity leave, due to my high blood pressure at the end.  I am supposed to be on bed rest, although I have taken some breaks from lying around.  My mom is staying with me since Rob will be at work and we are worried I will go into labor and not have anyone to drive the hour and a half to the hospital.  Mom and I wake up and have a nice breakfast; she does a little more painting in our dog room.  (Rob and I decided to nest dangerously close to the end.)  I work on showering and getting ready.  We leave the house looking like a work zone because I do not believe that Lily is coming today.  Which means our kitchen is in our dining room and we have plastic and painting supplies littering the house.  Mom and I make our way over to Eagle County and decide to do a bit of pampering before my appointment.  We end up getting pedicures together and I paint my toe nails bright pink, in honor of my little girl.

We pick Rob up from work and all head over to my appointment together, the weather is starting to get a little snowy.  My blood pressure has risen even higher and the doctor is worried.  She orders us to go up and get the fetal heart rate monitored to check on the baby.  Lily’s heart rate is good, but with the weather, the fact we live so far away, and my high blood pressure the doctor decides to keep us and induce me.  None of us wanted something to go wrong and us be so far away from the hospital.

We had our lovely delivery nurse, Lindsey, start explaining what our procedure was going to be for the next couple of days.  Rob goes to get me my last meal, Fatbutt.  Fatbutt is a delicious combo of spaghetti sauce and alfredo.  The nurses get my IV put in.  It is around 7:30 and I get one more bathroom break before they start the process of inducing my labor.  I am not allowed out of bed now and am just supposed to rest up for my day tomorrow.  Easier said than done, I am very nervous and excited about what tomorrow will bring.  I am excited to meet my little Lily, but am terrified about the process that will bring her to me. 

Throughout all of this we are talking with Jenna, and she is deciding if she is going to come up tonight or if she will wait until tomorrow morning.  We have finally decided she should come up tonight and then stay in a hotel in case I go into labor that night.  She picks up Shannon and Blaine and they come visit me before going to the hotel.  Mom stays with me in the hospital.  She gets to sleep on the couch and they roll a cot in for Rob.  The cot is extremely uncomfortable so I invite Rob to lay in the bed with me.  It is a tight fit but we manage to get a little sleep before our big day.

Tuesday November 8, 2011

We wake up around 6am and they start the final steps to induce labor.  The contractions are slow at first and then they start getting a little more painful.  I try to play a card game with Jenna, Rob, and Mom.  This lasts one round and then I get a contraction that ends the game.  We decide that I should go for a walk to see if this will help it along and get Lily moving down into the birth canal.  I do not get very far before I get another contraction, that hurts, a lot.  I decide that I am ready for my epidural.  Once I get the epidural I am stuck in bed, because my legs won’t work properly, one last bathroom trip and back into bed.

I get the epidural and relish the pain relief in my stomach.  I get to relax for a little while.  At one point the doctor uses a hook to try and break my water, it doesn’t work.  I spend a little time enjoying my relief, then I start feeling the urge to push a couple of times, but not every time I have a contraction.  The doctor comes up to talk to me, and suggests I start trying to push, this is around 1pm.

Jenny has made it up from Denver to be there for the birth and I am glad to have such a large support party.  Jenna is on video and Jenny is on pictures, of course they have a lot of work to do before the big moment.  Rob, Mom, Jenna, Shannon, and Jenny take turns holding my legs up, getting me cold wash cloths for my forehead, and counting when I push.  The room felt like a million degrees to me so the wet washcloth was integral in keeping me more comfortable.  I tried many different positions, squatting on the bed, on my side, using a bar with a towel wrapped around it to help pull me up, and the regular on my back, like you see in all the movies.  This helped to keep it interesting, but also ensured that when it was all said and done my ENTIRE body hurt.

Every time I had a contraction I had to push for the count of 10 and I had to do it 3 times.  Everyone took turns counting out loud for me.  There was a lapse in diligence at times with the counting and this is when my crazy, angry pregnant lady personality came out!  I needed someone to count for me, EVERY SINGLE TIME.  Luckily, my huge support group, and Lindsey, my delivery nurse, were able to remember most times, and the rest of the times I yelled until they counted.  Lindsey was confident Lily would come out knowing how to count to 10!  I had to push for about 3 hours, which completely exhausted me.  I tried to take mini naps in between each contraction, but they come about every 2-3 minutes, so the rest was short lived.  As we got closer they called for another shot of the epidural to help me to push the rest of the way, not sure that it really worked.

As Lily came down into the birth canal the pain increased, I have a feeling that the epidural did not work down where I needed it most.  Finally, after 3 hours of pushing Lily was crowning.  My support group had grown exponentially, the doctor was back, a nurse for Lily was there and several other nurses were also there!  Rob was going to catch so they had to get him suited up.  He was released from the duty of holding my leg, so he could get ready!  I now had Mom and Shannon holding my legs up, I had no strength left for that at this point, Jenny and Jenna were ready with the cameras!

A few more pushes and Lily joined us sharing her voice with us right away.   Rob did a wonderful job catching our little angel.  He was so excited and amazed at how beautiful she was.  Rob cut the cord and put that beautiful little baby on my chest. 



Lily was born at 4:11pm, she weighed in at 7lbs, 5oz.  She was 20 inches long, and her head was 13 cm around.  It was a long journey but well worth the struggle to have our little Lily out in the world.  It was a very surreal feeling seeing her and knowing that she had been living and growing inside my belly for the past 10 months.

Here are some things I didn’t know was happening, but found out about later.  When she came out there was some staining aka she pooped on the way out.  This is a scary situation because babies can inhale some of this poop, called merconium, and cause infections in their lungs.  Lily cried right away when she came out, but somehow managed to avoid inhaling any merconium.  When the doctor went to take out my placenta she pulled on the umbilical cord and it broke.  While this was happening Jenna had to sit down because it made her so nauseous, glad I was in the dark about what was happening at the time!

All mothers believe that their baby is advanced, well I am a lucky mom and got confirmation that Lily is actually advanced… at pooping.  While Lily is lying on my chest she poops all over me.  Also, her poop starts changing to the yellow color much sooner than expected.  Daddy got to put on her first diaper, he tried backwards first, but has since learned how to expertly change diapers. She has not disappointed and has kept up her wonderful pooing skills and kept Mommy and Daddy busy changing her diapers.

It seems like forever, but they finally have me feed her.  Lindsey warned me that this time would be pretty easy, but it will be harder the next time. Lily and I needed a little help getting the hang of it, but the first time was pretty easy.  I also seemed to be making an extraordinary amount of milk called, colostrum.  Colostrum is known as liquid gold because it is so nutrient rich and also has a goldish color. 

I finally get to eat again.  Macaroni and cheese and pudding is the first meal I eat as a Mommy.  I realize that I am really hungry after working so hard and not eating for so long.  Around 7 my support group heads back home, and it is just my Mom, Rob and I.  Mom decides to go sleep at the hotel to give us some time alone and so she can get some good sleep.

There was a huge amount of babies born in the few days that we were at the hospital.  That night I hear a mom, who decided to go without the epidural at all.  She is loud and it makes me very happy that I am already done with my experience so that I am not even more terrified after hearing her.

Rob sleeps on the couch and we put the bassinet in between us so that either one of us can help Lily if we need to.  The nurse insists that I feed her every 3 hours, so I need to tell her how long she ate or she will come in and wake me up. 

We spend the next day getting checked out by multiple doctors and nurses.  We also get visit from the lactation consultant to help us be successful.  Grandma, Aunt Debbie, Uncle Bob and Christie come up to visit and see little Lily.  It is nice to have visitors who are showering Lily with love and attention.

Thursday we finally get to leave, although it takes forever to get us out of there.  Lily and I both have to be cleared to leave and they have to teach someone new how to do the paperwork to get us out of there.  So, I knew not to expect to wear my old clothes back home, however I was hoping to wear my maternity pants home.  I was still hugely swollen and was wearing an ice pack.  My pants did not fit, and I was not happy. 


When asked during labor if I was going to have more kids, I said no.  Word to the wise, DO NOT ask a women while she is pushing if she is willing to do this again, you probably will not like the answer.  However, after getting to enjoy Lily and having some time to forget the pain, I have gone back to the original plan and Rob and I will be having another baby.  Don’t get too excited we are going to wait a year or two and really spend the time enjoying our little Lily!