...we all need reminders of how blessed we are sometimes. Its easy to forget when it seems like there is so much that overwhelms me and so much that I can complain and worry about. However, when it all comes down to it- God has blessed me with 2 healthy little girls, a faithful and helpful husband who is a wonderful father and I am healthy and happy. Life isn't smiles and sunshine all the time- but whose is? Most of my days are full of smiles and my house is filled with the sound of a toddler's laughter and a healthy baby's cries. Some people don't have that. I am definately beyond blessed and have alot to thank God for.
We had a great Christmas. Sophie got a ton of gifts (the girls are blessed with Grandparents that buy them TOO much! haha), so I went through all the old toys and we got rid of more than half of them that Sophie never plays with, but I did keep a few small toys for when Alaina reaches about 4 or 5 mos. I'm not going to be one of those Moms who lets the kids toys take over the house.
On Tuesday (Dec 22nd), we went to our friends house and had a non-traditional Christmas dinner with Anthony, Audrey, Skylar, Haley, J, Melane, Jada, and Jacob. We ate a ton of food (Audrey made twice baked potatoes, fried chicken, rolls, deviled eggs, and a couple other things that I can't remember right now. Melane made Asian food, and I made a vegetable appetizer pizza, fudge, and haystacks). The food was delicious. I probably gained 5 lbs that night alone. After we ate, we opened gifts and did karaoke. We had so much fun. It was a wonderful fun filled night. We got home around 11:45pm.
On Christmas Eve, we went to my Gramma's house and had dinner- Roast beef with Au Jus, Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli, ColeSlaw, Jello Mold, and iced tea. Very very good. Gramma outdid herself once again. The we went to my parents house and made cookies and chocolate dipped pretzel logs with sprinkles. mmm mmm mmmm....good stuff. Mom and Dad kept Sophie that night (We opened gifts with Sophie earlier that day because Michael had to work on Christmas Day). Michael, Alaina, and I got home around 11pm.
On Christmas Day, I woke up and got Alaina and I ready to go and we went to visit Michael at work and take a basket filled with cookies, fudge, and chocolatedipped pretzels to him and his coworkers. So we did that and then went to Erwin. Sophie, Alaina, and I all took about a 2 1/2 hour nap from 11:00am-1:30pm. It was so nice! We went to my Grammas for Christmas dinner at around 3 and ate around 4. We then cleaned up and played games. At 7pm, I left Erwin and went to my Mother-in-laws house for another Christmas dinner. Michael met us there about 8pm. We ate and then exchanged gifts and played dirty Santa. We got home around 10:30pm and put the girls to bed and then got in bed ourselves.
So we had a busy holiday, but it was so much fun.
This week is going to be busy as well. Michael is working Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. And while he is working tomorrow, I've gotta take the girls to the store and buy some groceries to make the stuff for our New Years Eve party with Anthony, Audrey, Melane, J, Richelle, Rob, TJ, Amber, and all the kids. Its going to be so much fun. I'm excited about it. Then on Tuesday I'm going to put away all the Christmas decor. On Wednesday, I'm going to clean the apartment really well and then cook a little on Thursday. Everyone is supposed to be over around 8pm, so Michael will have a few minutes after he gets home from work to take a shower before people start getting here.
So I've written quite a bit already and really haven't written too much about the girls and how they are doing- Sophie is wonderful. She just started saying all of her uncles' names- Josh, David, and Adam. She says "Mom-Mom" and "love" and "Happy" also. She still points and grunts alot though. She recently had her 18 month check-up. She weighed 27lbs 60z and was 33 1/2 inches tall. And although her head circumference was only in the 50th percentile, she still looks like her head is about 2 sizes too large for her body :).
And now Alaina- she's great. Growing and finally starting to fill out a little. She's a month old now and still in newborn clothes, but I have a feeling that she'll outgrow them within another week. She sleeps through the night most nights already. That's definately nice. But she goes to bed pretty late and gets up early...but I'm used to it now.
So we are all pretty well adjusted to Alaina's presence in the family and we are enjoying life.
Time to feed Alaina before she goes down for the night...Goodnight faithful blog readers. Sorry I haven't been so faithful in updating!
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
My baby story (and more).
Its 5:15 am. And I'm not very tired anymore. I'm getting used to being up early already. I guess thats good that I'm adjusting quickly to the baby.
Okay, so I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on November 25th (which makes her almost 2 1/2 weeks old now, by the way). Let me give you a run-down of my labor and delivery experience:
I arrived at the hospital on 11/25 at 6am. They checked me into my room and got my chart together and I had to sign a ton of papers and all that good stuff. About 7am, they started an IV in my hand (yay for the nurse who got it on the first try!), and hooked me up to the fetal monitor. At 7:45am, they started the Petocin. Everything was fine and dandy until about 10am. Mom and Dad arrived with Scrabble at 9am and we all sat around talking. About 10am, my contractions started to hurt. By 10:30am, they were horrible and I wanted the drugs. Actually, let me be more specific- I wanted the EPIDURAL- STAT. So I asked for it (I was 4cms dialated at this point). After about 45 minutes of waiting and some crying and anger, I was finally given the epidural (SWEET RELIEF). When the nurse checked my cervix at 11:15am, I was 6 cms dialated. So after the epidural took effect, my parents and michael and I played Scrabble until about 12:15pm. At that time, I was getting tired and so was Michael. We figured we had at LEAST 4 hours left to rest, so we did. Michael fell asleep and I just sat and talked to my parents as they continued to play Scrabble. Now this is when things got a little exciting.
About 12:45pm, the baby's heartrate went from the 150's all the way down to the 70's. It continued to do this for 15 minutes and Mom & I were getting worried. The nurse came in at 1pm to see what was going on. She checked my cervix and looked up at me and said "You're going to have a baby". Um...DUH. I KNOW I'm going to have a baby. I have a belly that sticks out a mile and I'm in the hospital being induced. I think I know that I'm going to have a baby. Little did I know that she meant RIGHT then. She told me that she could see the baby's head and all I would have to do is give one good push and she'd be out. I could hardly believe it. In less than 2 hours, I dialated 4 cms?? I was a little skeptical. Well she called my doctor and he arrived at about 1:10pm. As he was getting his gloves on and the nurses were coming in, he looks down (my legs had just been placed in the stir-ups) and his eyes got huge and he says "Uh uh uh uh uh uh....CONNIE! The head!" So I'm thinking "whats going on" and Michael looks down and his eyes got huge and I asked him what was wrong. He told me the baby was halfway out. Dr. Hinton looks at me and says "don't push". Well...I hadnt pushed...she just kinda continued to slip out. It was the EASIEST delivery ever. Piece of cake.
So Alaina Julianne Edens arrived at 1:17pm, weighing 7lbs 2 oz and was 20 inches long. So tiny compared to Sophie (8lbs 6 oz).
We went home on Black Friday, Nov 27th.
So, 2 1/2 weeks later....Alaina is doing great. Still itty bitty in my opinion. She weighed 7lbs 10 oz on Wednesday at her 2 week check-up. She's a great little baby though. Already sleeps through the night most nights (although sometimes she gets up once, around 3am). I'm exclusively breastfeeding (well...when I'm in school, Michael gives her a bottle, but its still breastmilk) and I love it. It didn't go well with Sophie, so I'm just SO glad and thankful that its going well and that Alaina and I are both enjoying it.
And Sophie? She's adjusting very well to her sister being here. She likes to give Alaina hugs and "love" on her. Its really cute. We just have to watch her really closely...she's used to playing with older kids and she can be a little too rough. She does well being "gentle" though. I'm so proud of her. The only thing that she's having a hard time with is sleep. I have no idea how many times she wakes up during the night total, but I hear her rustling around in her crib often. She went from having 1 nap a day, to now having 2 or 3 naps because she's so tired. Thank goodness, this week she seems to be doing better. Its just taking her a little while to adjust and get back on schedule.
Wish me luck and say a prayer or two for me this next week! I have finals on Monday, Tues, and Thursday next week. I'm excited to get this semester over with!
Well, I will post pictures soon, but I really don't feel like it now. I'm going to go lay back down with Alaina and enjoy the quiet before Sophie wakes up.
Okay, so I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on November 25th (which makes her almost 2 1/2 weeks old now, by the way). Let me give you a run-down of my labor and delivery experience:
I arrived at the hospital on 11/25 at 6am. They checked me into my room and got my chart together and I had to sign a ton of papers and all that good stuff. About 7am, they started an IV in my hand (yay for the nurse who got it on the first try!), and hooked me up to the fetal monitor. At 7:45am, they started the Petocin. Everything was fine and dandy until about 10am. Mom and Dad arrived with Scrabble at 9am and we all sat around talking. About 10am, my contractions started to hurt. By 10:30am, they were horrible and I wanted the drugs. Actually, let me be more specific- I wanted the EPIDURAL- STAT. So I asked for it (I was 4cms dialated at this point). After about 45 minutes of waiting and some crying and anger, I was finally given the epidural (SWEET RELIEF). When the nurse checked my cervix at 11:15am, I was 6 cms dialated. So after the epidural took effect, my parents and michael and I played Scrabble until about 12:15pm. At that time, I was getting tired and so was Michael. We figured we had at LEAST 4 hours left to rest, so we did. Michael fell asleep and I just sat and talked to my parents as they continued to play Scrabble. Now this is when things got a little exciting.
About 12:45pm, the baby's heartrate went from the 150's all the way down to the 70's. It continued to do this for 15 minutes and Mom & I were getting worried. The nurse came in at 1pm to see what was going on. She checked my cervix and looked up at me and said "You're going to have a baby". Um...DUH. I KNOW I'm going to have a baby. I have a belly that sticks out a mile and I'm in the hospital being induced. I think I know that I'm going to have a baby. Little did I know that she meant RIGHT then. She told me that she could see the baby's head and all I would have to do is give one good push and she'd be out. I could hardly believe it. In less than 2 hours, I dialated 4 cms?? I was a little skeptical. Well she called my doctor and he arrived at about 1:10pm. As he was getting his gloves on and the nurses were coming in, he looks down (my legs had just been placed in the stir-ups) and his eyes got huge and he says "Uh uh uh uh uh uh....CONNIE! The head!" So I'm thinking "whats going on" and Michael looks down and his eyes got huge and I asked him what was wrong. He told me the baby was halfway out. Dr. Hinton looks at me and says "don't push". Well...I hadnt pushed...she just kinda continued to slip out. It was the EASIEST delivery ever. Piece of cake.
So Alaina Julianne Edens arrived at 1:17pm, weighing 7lbs 2 oz and was 20 inches long. So tiny compared to Sophie (8lbs 6 oz).
We went home on Black Friday, Nov 27th.
So, 2 1/2 weeks later....Alaina is doing great. Still itty bitty in my opinion. She weighed 7lbs 10 oz on Wednesday at her 2 week check-up. She's a great little baby though. Already sleeps through the night most nights (although sometimes she gets up once, around 3am). I'm exclusively breastfeeding (well...when I'm in school, Michael gives her a bottle, but its still breastmilk) and I love it. It didn't go well with Sophie, so I'm just SO glad and thankful that its going well and that Alaina and I are both enjoying it.
And Sophie? She's adjusting very well to her sister being here. She likes to give Alaina hugs and "love" on her. Its really cute. We just have to watch her really closely...she's used to playing with older kids and she can be a little too rough. She does well being "gentle" though. I'm so proud of her. The only thing that she's having a hard time with is sleep. I have no idea how many times she wakes up during the night total, but I hear her rustling around in her crib often. She went from having 1 nap a day, to now having 2 or 3 naps because she's so tired. Thank goodness, this week she seems to be doing better. Its just taking her a little while to adjust and get back on schedule.
Wish me luck and say a prayer or two for me this next week! I have finals on Monday, Tues, and Thursday next week. I'm excited to get this semester over with!
Well, I will post pictures soon, but I really don't feel like it now. I'm going to go lay back down with Alaina and enjoy the quiet before Sophie wakes up.
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