3 Weeks already

Well, as of yesterday, Isabella is 3 weeks old! I can't believe it! I still remember waking up with contractions. It really does go so fast! I feel like she has already changed so much. She is awake so much more during the day. She loves to watch tv. She actually does not hate having her diaper changed anymore. It is crazy.

After the last post about the doctor wanting us to start supplementing with formula we had another appointment. They just wanted to see her to check her weight after supplementing for a few days. So, tuesday we started to give her formula right after I breast feed her. That day she only weighed 7 pounds 2 oz. Then when we took her back to the doctor on friday she was already up to weighing 7 pounds 13 oz!!!! They were very impressed with her progress. We dont have to take her back to the doctor until her 2 month check up. It is like we have a different baby now. It is hard not to feel bad since I was not feeding her enough. But with breast feeding, you never know how much they are really getting. Also, I did not know how much she should be getting. So, that was why she cried all the time. Now, it is pretty rare that she will scream. She whimpers to tell you she is hungry or wants her diaper changed but that is it really. Needless to say, this makes it much easier on Byron and I. It also makes it much more enjoyable.

She is so calm now that we actually took her to church for the first time today. She was so good. She slept through praise and worship. Then only made little noises when the preaching started. So I picked her up and she went right to sleep. I was so proud of her. So, everyone got to see her and stare at her for a few minutes. I didn't let anyone hold her, I am still not ready for that. But it was so great to introduce her to all the people who had been following the pregnancy so closely and praying for her during the whole 9 months.

So, I would say things are going great here. I LOVE being a mom. It is interesting to me all the instincts that kicked in when I had her. My body physically responds to her crying. I can tell a tired cry from a "I just want some attention" cry. It is a huge responsibility to be a parent. But all I can do is trust that the Lord chose Byron and I to be the perfect parents for Isabella. I have to trust that He gave me the instincts I need in order to care for her like He would. Basically, I am learning to trust God even more and I am gaining new perspective of God. This journey has been a hard one already, but the most amazing journey I have ever set out on.

2 weeks old already!

So, Isabella is 2 weeks old now! It is hard to believe. I feel like i just had her yesterday. She had her one week appointment on August 26th. They said she was right on target. Her weight was still low but she looked great.

I then had to take her to her two week appointment on September 8th. They said she was looking great but her weight was still down 5% of her birth weight. So they said I need to supplement with formula. So now, I breast feed her then offer her a bottle. She is no longer fussy and sleeps much better during the night. She is like a different baby now. So, now that the fussiness is so reduced, motherhood is much more enjoyable.

Last night was the first night that she slept in her bassinet between each feeding. Usually she will only sleep while being held. Needless to say, that was a big deal for mommy. It was the most restful sleep I have had since she was born.

From the day we brought her home until 5 days later, she had not had a dirty diaper, only wet ones. The lactation consultants were not concerned but we could not have it last much longer. So once she finally did poop, we were so excited that Byron opened the bedroom door and announced it to my parents. Ever since that day she has been having them more frequently. The pictures below are an example of one that was VERY bad. She started out all cute in the pretty outfit you see in the above pictures. We then put her in her swing and she was so quiet. Byron went to get her out of it and he said "man, she is sweating!" He looked down in the swing and realized it was not sweat, but instead, it was poop. It was everywhere! It was up to her arm pits! Byron calmly changed her and took care of the mess all before I even got out of the shower.

Things otherwise are going great! My parents have been here for two weeks to help us out. It has been such a blessing. Mom does laundry, cooking, cleaning and calming of the baby. It gives me time to sleep and take care of myself. They are leaving tomorrow and I am sad. But I also know that I need to get on with this motherhood stuff and learn to do this on my own. I am nervous but excited to get on with it.

She is here!!

So, Friday August 21st was my birthday. Byron and I got up early that morning, we took our car to be worked on then had breakfast at Ihop. Afterward, we stopped by walmart to pick up the baby's crib being sent by some friends. Then we headed to BJ's Wholesale (like Sam's Club) to do my final shopping trip for the church and to do our big shopping for home. We then managed to have a date night. We went to eat at California Pizza Kitchen and watched District 9. It was probably one of our best days together. We were VERY productive and very cooperative with each other even though it was such a long day.

Byron was supposed to do a 15 mile run saturday morning with a guy from his ship. We were going to host him for lunch after. Byron had looked up 3 different recipes for grilled burgers. We went out at 10pm and got the rest of the ingredients for this meal. We stayed up until 2am just doing the prep work for this lunch.

At 5am I woke up not feeling very well. I felt very nauseous and just sick. After wondering why my stomach hurt so bad, I finally woke Byron up around 5:30 and told him I thought I was having contractions. He asked how sure I was. I told him that I did not have anything to compare it to but I was pretty sure. At our last doctor appointment, they told me I need to come in when the contractions are 10 minutes apart. And they were just under 10 minutes apart at this point. So at 6am we were heading to the hospital. We got there and they checked me and said I was only 2 cm dilated. They talked like I would not have her before my next doctor appointment which was wednesday and sent us home. We got home and the contractions just kept coming steady and becoming more intense. At around 3 we decided I should call my mom and see what she thought since my contractions had been under 5 minutes for about 2 hours. My mom said she would recommend me calling the labor and delivery number and asking them if we should come in. I called and they told me not to come in until the contractions were 2-3 minutes for 2 hours. So since they had already been that for one hour we decided to keep track of them for another hour. Sure enough, they were staying under three minutes apart and some as close as a minute and a half! This is not the time from when one stops until the next starts. It is from the beginning of one to the beginning of the next. So as you can tell, I was not getting much of a break in between. So a little before 4pm we went back to the hospital. They checked me and said I was still only 3-4 cm dilated. This was hard to hear since I felt like I was in a lot of pain and already fighting the urge to push. They said to walk around for 2 hours and come back up at 6 to be checked. So at 6pm, we got back upstairs to be checked and I told the nurse that she may be surprised at how far along I was. She said "oh, well I hope so too." Then she checked me and said "oh, wow...ok, I will be right back." She went out into the hallway and got the doctors and said that the head was coming. So they quickly came in and began wheeling me to delivery. As we are going, they are shouting numbers to the desks, reading me the medical waiver, and setting things up. We get to the delivery room and people are running around. They are begging me not to push. There is a man trying to put an iv in but I am moving too much. So the doc checks me again and tells the guy with the iv to forget it because it was time for me to push. So the broke the bed down and I began pushing. She was then born at 6:12 pm. Mind you, we came up to be checked at 6 pm. So actual time pushing was maybe 5 minutes. I got to go natural like I wanted, not even an iv for delivery. I also got to put her strait to my chest to warm her up instead of putting her under the warmer. It was a very emotional moment for us. I always wondered how I would feel at that moment. I always wondered if i would cry. Well, I did. She was perfect. This little person that had been formed in my womb for the last 34 and a half weeks was now laying on my stomach and looking right up at me. It was amazing!

The healing process is going great. I am in very minimal pain and breast feeding is getting easier every day. It is hard work to have a newborn who is SO dependent on you for everything and cries through the night. But then I look at her and she is beautiful and a part of me and the

man I love so much and it is worth every sleepless night.

She has arrived...

38 Weeks along...

Only 14 days until Isabella's due date. It is hard to believe we are so far along in this journey already. Nesting has started. I have been washing her clothes, organizing them by size. I have organized her diapers by size, and organized all the bath stuff by type and bottle size. This would be great but it is alternating with times of complete fatigue. I go from having energy and cleaning up the baby's area of our room and setting up her stroller/car seat, to just wanting to lay on my left side and do nothing. I am still working. I started to train my replacement this week. We are on a tight schedule and trying to finish all the training by thursday because she is going out of town. The ironic thing is that she will be out of town until my due date. So if I am too uncomfortable to keep working or if Isabella makes an early appearance then yet another person will have to fill in for me. I know God will make it all work out though.

I now wake up each day wondering if this will be the day that we get to meet our little girl. It is

a weird feeling knowing that something is coming but having no clue what it will be like. I am

SO excited!!

37 weeks and counting!

Well, freak out mode is officially in full effect. It is like I woke up Tuesday morning and realized Isabella is literally going to come any day now, and I then realized how much I need to do before she does. I am one of those people who kind of avoids or ignores a stressful situation until it is on the brink of happening, then I freak out and make it even more stressful than it had to be. I first realized this about myself when Byron left for his first deployment. We knew about it for months yet I chose to pretend it was not happening and just went about life as usual. Then the last few days before he left I started to realize how close it was and it felt overwhelming. I think I have done this with the pregnancy too. In the beginning, it felt like it was dragging on so slowly that there was no reason to hurry anything, there was plenty of time. Now all the sudden, I am three weeks away from my due date, and if I had her any day after today she would be considered full term. So I could literally have her any day now. That really made me wake up. I still have to install the car seat, pack my hospital bag, pack Byron's hospital bag, pack things for Isabella including her coming home and picture outfit, make sure there is enough cat food and litter to last until after the due date, train my replacement at work, find a replacement for the youth group, all while growing a baby. This baby that is growing inside me happens to be making me extra tired at the moment and at the same time keeping me from getting sleep at night.

Things are falling into place though. The baby items are almost all bought (just need to be set up). I have started on the hospital bag. I have papers everywhere with Byron's contact information should I go into labor while he is at work. I have been washing baby clothes like it is my job. I have been relaxing and reading books about labor while holding my stomach. Things are going well for us. There is just still so much to do before our little girl meets us for the first time.

With only 3 weeks to go, I would say I am blessed to be stressed. At least I am thinking of these things now instead of when it is definitely too late to do anything about them.

Latest doctor appointment

We had a doctor appointment this past friday. Everything went well. They said i had gained the right amount of weight. Her heart rate was 152, which is well in the normal range. She measured at 39 which is big but nothing to be worried about. I have been aching in my lower abdomen and i told them about it. They just said it was my body getting ready for the baby. They could not tell for sure by feeling around on my stomach as to how she was turned. So they used the bedside ultrasound machine. She is head down (thank goodness). This will make labor much easier. They did not show us the screen as they did it or even take any pictures, but we now know what the lumps are so we forgave them. They did not check for dilation or anything like that. I thought they would, but i am not having any signs of labor so maybe they are not worried about it. We dropped off the pre-admission forms so i am set to go into labor at any time. Now begins the waiting game...

36 Weeks...WOO HOO!!!

We have done it again! We made it another week without Isabella making her appearance. That is a good thing for her because that means another week of her growing and gaining strength. It is a hard thing for me though. It means less room to breath and a harder time getting up after sitting. As the birth gets closer, I am finding myself getting somewhat nervous. I am not scared at all, i know i can do this. But i am nervous like a person is on their first day of college. You know you are capable, but it is a completely new experience. My plan is to go natural. I get a lot of mixed reactions when i tell people this. I know many people who have done this and have been very successful. Knowing this is very encouraging. I know that God made my body to do this. I have done a lot of research and read books on this and am preparing my body even now for this big event. I know this is the right choice for me and my family and our new baby.

My next doctor appointment is this friday. I only have one more scheduled appointment after this one. That is so crazy!! I look around my house and there is hints of baby stuff everywhere. It still comes as a shock when i think about us being parents sometime between now and September first! I am so excited! Byron will be such a great dad! He is sitting here next to me singing along to songs that he does not know all of the words to. He makes his own words up instead. So, he is dancing in his seat and lip syncing and then adding his own words too. Isabella is going to enjoy goofing off with him and dancing with him. He can be serious when he needs to be but can really loosen up too. He is great and i cant wait for Isabella to meet him.

I cant wait for our family to be complete. We were so happy with just the two of us, i cant imagine how much more happiness she will bring into our family!