Here are some pics of baby girl at 6 weeks. Oh, how we love her! She has a much more mellow disposition than little Alex did at this age (she usually calms down immediately when picked up, after a few weak little cries that just melt my heart), AND she is an excellent sleeper (she has slept 7 hours straight on several occasions). This makes for a very happy mommy and daddy. We have never had any bouts of inconsolable crying like we had with little Alex, and we are hoping it stays that way when she won't have 24/7 access to the breast when I have to go back to work.
Speaking of nursing, Mary has not been on formula since she was about 3 weeks old! Yay! We started supplementing in the hospital because they thought she had a poor suck, and it was hard to keep track of wet diapers since she was on an IV for the first 48 hours of her life. I still gave her some formula once we got home, but even then it was only 2 oz/day at most. I eventually got to the point where I just gave her expressed breast milk after she nursed and stopped the formula altogether. Now I am only pumping a few times a day (enough so that I always have a bottle in the fridge if I need to run an errand or take little Alex to an activity) AND I already have a nice little freezer stash! After the breastfeeding problems I had with little Alex, I am thrilled to be providing all the nourishment my baby needs!
Little Alex has been great with her, although I am still a bit nervous that he doesn't quite understand the concept of "gentle". He loves to point out body parts, and sometimes not just on himself, so he will poke her in the eye sometimes when attempting to point it out to us. He gives her lots of kisses and loves to imitate what we do with her. I have a pic below of him and his "baby" in the bouncer. I can't wait to watch them grow up together!
On the way to Old Town Spring with my parents. Love her face!
Tummy time!
I love this picture. It looks like she is staring right at him :)
Her favorite place to sleep...
My baby in the wrap. Just like little Alex did, she falls asleep right when I put her in. One of my most favorite baby items!
I haven't updated in awhile, but I wanted to get Mary's birth story posted before the details get fuzzy, and also post her first pictures.
Starting with an ultrasound pic:
As I lay in bed the night of February 13th (3 weeks til due date) dreaming about becoming a mommy again, I was awakened by a wet sensation. Thinking that my water may have possibly broken, I changed my underwear and went back to bed. When I got up again an hour later, I was definitely leaking. I woke Alex up and we talked about what we were going to do. I didn't want to call in the middle of the night, as I knew I would probably be fine for a little while so I tried to get some sleep and was actually able to get an hour or two or rest. I knew that generally babies need to be delivered within 24 hours after rupture to prevent infection, but we read a bit online (particularly from websites advocating natural birth- which is what I wanted) that most of the time it is safe to wait 48 hours and most of the time women will go in to labor on their own. As I hated the idea of having to be induced, we decided maybe we could wait and see if I would start contracting on my own. We went to the hospital around 8:30 the next morning (Valentines Day!) and confirmed that my water had indeed broken, although the nurse said there was probably just a small tear at the top of the bag as I wasn't loosing very much. After getting to our room, we told the nurses we didn't want to start pitocin yet, and waited for the doctor to come visit us when he made his afternoon rounds. We expected him to tell us that we needed to induce so that the baby would be born by 10 pm that night, but he surprisingly agreed to take a "wait and see" approach and see if I would go into labor on my own. He told us at the 24 hour mark we would start some prophylactic antibiotics and then induce in the morning if things weren't progressing. So I spent the afternoon walking the hospital halls and doing circles in my room trying to get things moving. Around 5 or so they checked me and I was 5 cm dilated, and starting to feel some mild contractions. Alex left to get little Alex to bed, so I just hung out and tried to rest and pray for my little baby. They started the antibiotics around 10, but it was too late as shortly after the nurse told me my temp had spiked to 102 (= infection). She had also been monitoring the baby very closely and said that she was very sleepy, and that her heart rate wasn't fluctuating like it was supposed to. She was frank with me and told me that a C-section might be necessary, as sometimes babies can develop tachycardia (really rapid heart rate) and that their little hearts sometimes can't take it and give out before birth. Of course this sent me into a panic, so I called Alex crying and telling him to get to the hospital right away. The nurse put me on oxygen and had me move around every few minutes to try and wake her up. She called the doc and he advised her to start pitocin and to continue monitoring the baby. Of course I wanted to avoid a C-section, but needed reassurance that the baby wasn't going to be in more danger by waiting. She told me that she is very conservative and cautious about these things and assured me this would be the best approach. I felt a bit better once Alex was there, but then the contractions started becoming much stronger. The contractions were more intense since they were artificially induced (which is what I was afraid of) and I ended up getting an epidural. That was the one thing I wanted to avoid the most, but I think I was so discouraged that my labor wasn't going the way I planned, and felt like I had "failed" by having to be induced that I didn't really care. Plus I was so tense and stressed about what was happening with Mary, and thought it would be best to get the epidural out of the way should things take a turn for the worse and I needed a C-section. With the pain gone, I was able to relax and progressed quickly. The nurse said Mary was starting to perk up so we were very relieved. Once I was at 10 cm, she called the doc. After just 2 pushes I heard the nurse announce, "It's a GIRL!" (Alex was disappointed; he wanted to be the one to announce that :) We we so happy that she arrived safely and I was glad it was over! She was 5 lbs. 15 oz, and 19 in long and born at 4:38 a.m. on February 15th. Little Alex was an angel during the whole thing despite being awakened at 1:00 in the morning to return to the hospital. Because of the infection, we were both put of antibiotics for 48 hours and had to stay an extra night. She was also a bit jaundiced, so they wanted to observe her before we left. All of my nurses were AWESOME and took such good care of me during my stay. We came home on Friday morning, and are adjusting to life as a family of 4! She is such a sweet baby, and Alex and I feel very blessed to have two children to love!
First family picture:
Right after getting cleaned up. Not a happy girl.
Sleeping peacefully:
She had an IV in her foot, but something happened with it and it had to be replaced. They said she had good veins in her head so that is why they put it there. Poor thing!
We sold my car in July, so it is nice to have two cars again! We hope to be blessed with more than two children, and figured we would need something bigger than a car if/when that time comes. We bought a 2009 Kia Sedona and love it so far! I feel safe and secure sitting up so high, and Alex loves the electric doors. We also purchased a new convertible car seat for little Alex and sold our front-facing one after reading that it is much safer it is to keep children rear-facing as long as possible. He seems happy with his new seat and last weekend we installed the infant one, so we are all set for baby to arrive! Here are a few pics:
We have decided to venture into the world of cloth diapering, and I just received my first order in the mail! So excited to try them out! I was a bit hesitant at first but really wanted to save money since we will have two in diapers soon. I started researching and became so overwhelmed with all the choices out there, so I was thrilled to find that many online companies offer cloth diaper trials at a very reasonable price so you can figure out what you like the best. I was able to try several kinds/brands for a few weeks for only $10. Even though they are the most expensive, I decided the one-size pocket diapers would work best for us, having already experienced the convenience of disposables. Plus, I could not get the pre-folds to fit tightly enough on little Alex. I know I must having been doing something wrong, and I know if probably just takes practice so I may try them in the future. I think we will start little Alex in the cloth (since the one sizes may be too big for the new one for a few months) and start the new baby in cloth and slowly build our stash. It’s funny, I spent WAY more time researching cloth diapers than I did for the new car we just got (pictures to come). I have to remind my self that they are only poop catchers before I become one of those cloth diaper-obsessed moms! I will post some pics after I wash them. They are definitely cuter than disposables and maybe some day I’ll get some with fun prints! Hope they work out!
Little Alex had his worst cold ever last week and was miserable for several days. The first night he probably slept an hour total and was fussing all night. He had a slight fever and runny nose so we just tried to keep him as comfortable as possible. I hate when my baby is sick, but am also very grateful that he doesn’t have any serious health problems. I know a lot of people have it much worse, so I try to remember to pray for them when we are dealing with minor illnesses. I gave him lots of baths while he was sick, and here are a few picks I took during the peak of it. Poor baby!
I am counting down the days (28 or less!) until we meet our 2nd precious baby. The baby has gotten a lot stronger and is making his/her presence known with sometimes slightly painful jabs all day long. As much as I want the exciting day to come, I am really going to miss being pregnant and being able to have the baby with me everywhere I go. Still feeling good and enjoying the last few weeks on uninterrupted sleep!
We had a wonderful advent season as we anticipated celebrating the birth of Christ and little Alex’s 2nd Christmas! I really enjoyed having the time off from work to spend with the family. On Christmas Eve we went to Lupe Tortilla (fajitas...yum) for an early lunch and then put Little Alex down for his name before Mass. We were a bit disappointed that we didn’t go to Midnight Mass (especially since the 4pm one was extremely chaotic), but wanted to keep little Alex on a good sleep schedule. It went well though and it was fun to dress little Alex up in his cute little suit:
Christmas morning was a lot of fun when little Alex woke up (yes, we are very lucky to have a baby that wakes up AFTER we do). He got up and demanded that we turn the tree lights on, as he did every morning that the tree was up. He still didn’t understand the concept of opening gifts, so it took a lot of prompting to get him to start tearing the paper.
We had pancakes and eggs for breakfast and spend the rest of day playing with little Alex and showing him how his new toys work. He loved exploring them all and still plays with most of them equally still.
And here is a picture from the Christmas parade we went to:
