Sleeping

I never knew how valued a good, full night of sleep could be!

Up until about a week or so ago, Little Bit was getting up every few hours to eat and get changed. Lately though, she's been sleeping more and more through the night. It's been a pretty crazy journey though.

First we had to convince her that the daytime was for playing while the nighttime was for sleeping. She had this confused for a while.

It took a few sleepless days/nights as I tried to keep her awake during the day by playing with her - which meant I wasn't taking naps either. I tried not to let her sleep longer than a couple of hours at a time during the day, then when she woke up, I would play with her to keep her awake as long as I could until she fell asleep again. Then we'd start over again. Eventually, she got the idea and is getting better with it although occasionally we do have a relapse where we have to re-train again :)

Along with the constant playing, we kept the lights on and curtains open all day long, then at night when we want her to go to sleep, the light go out and the TV gets turned off (or at least down low so even we can barely hear it). It makes since, huh? The problem before was that Hubby works nights so his nights off he was up and awake all night with the lights on, making noise and all, and she was thinking, "YAY! Play with Daddy time!" Now if he has her in the living room with him while he is up, the lights are down low and the TV volume is turned way down, then he puts her in the crib in her room when she falls asleep (when he's not home, she is in the bassinet in our room with me).

I've tried to get a routine set for her bedtime too. We give her a bath (she LOVES the water), put her in her jammies, turn off all the lights, cuddle on the couch and feed her a bottle. She seems to eat more, and thus sleeps better, when she has a bottle than when she is nursed so this is one time that we opt to bottle feed rather than nurse. This way Hubby can feed her sometimes too and it stays consistent...it is always a bottle before bed. We haven't started the self soothing stuff to much quite yet, so she still falls asleep in our arms after the bottle and we gently put her either in her crib or the bassinet.

Most nights I have been able to get her to fall asleep between 9:30 and 10. A few nights she has woken up again around 4 (sometimes she eats and goes right back to sleep and others she is awake and wants to play but still, from 10pm until 4am isn't bad for a 2 month old!). Last night, she didn't drift off until 10:30 but didn't wake me up for a feeding until 6:30...8 full hours!!! WOW!

Hopefully this trend will continue... I'm a much happier mom when I've had sleep!

"ME" time = Wii time?

One thing that I have learned is that no matter how much I love my little girl and want to hold her and be with her all the time, I've got to get out and have some "me" time! However, this isn't always as easy as I once may have thought. I have to make sure I have pumped enough milk for the time I will be gone. I have to make sure that I am either back home in time to nurse/pump so that I don't get engorged or take the pump with me. Finding a place to pump is a whole other issue too! I also have to make sure that her dad can stay with her (at this point we haven't gotten a sitter yet. Other than the nursery at church, she is always with one of us. Even at church, I know that she is only a few feet away and Mrs. Cathy can get to me immediately if needed!).

I have managed to get away twice in six weeks though! :) About a week ago my friend Alexis and I went to get pedicures, lunch, and a quick stop at Target to pick up a few things. I rarely get pedicures, but it was WAY past time to do something about my feet (that I can now see again!)! We didn't go to any fancy, expensive spa, just a local (Vietnamese) Salon but it was still wonderful and relaxing and worth every penny!

Yesterday, my friend Cindy and I went to Panara Bread (YUMMY) and to a movie while our husbands stayed home - probably playing PlayStation - to watch the baby. We went to see New Moon and although it wasn't nearly as good as the book, it was also a very good movie and a welcome day/evening out!

I am still awaiting the "go ahead" to start running again which will be my ultimate "me time" activity, but until then, Cindy and I have decided to try out the jogging stroller by walking the day after Thanksgiving. She lives about 1.5miles from me so I may just walk Reagan over to her house so as to get in a few extra miles - I have some baby fat to work off still!

As for the title of this blog...no, I don't have a Wii to use a my "me time" but I'm hoping perhaps I will have a Wii Fit soon! Rookie Moms, a blog that I follow, is giving away a Fitness Ultimatum 2010 and Wii Fit Plus with a Balance Board. All you have to do is leave a comment telling them what you do for your "me time" as a mom. Wish me luck...

My little pumpkin goes to the pumpkin patch

We took Reagan to the pumpkin patch at my church the other day. Most of the pumpkins were rotten due to the extreme heat we are having lately, but this little pumpkin was the sweetest one of all! :)

My husband is WONDERFUL, yet makes me sick...literally!

My poor husband has been amazing through the entire birth/recoup phase of this baby-thing (as he call this time in our lives). During labor, he was right in my face helping me breath and stroking my back and face to help me feel better. Now that the baby is here, he jumps to help me get something, brings me whatever I need, and lets me sleep as much as I can. He even offers to change dirty diapers!

Unfortunately...he let me sleep too long.

Yes, it is possible.

He didn't realize that as a breast-feeding mother, I have to empty on a regular basis or I will become engorged and HURT! Since we were having to supplement with formula due to the Jaundice, he decided one night to let me get a good night's sleep and he would stay up all night and just bottle feed her when she got hungry rather than waking me up.

I woke up in PAIN!!

I tried to nurse but my breasts were too full and hard that Reagan had a hard time latching on. I tried to hand express it and finally made Hubby go get me a breast pump that we had seen on Craig's list (The hospital gave me all the tubing I would need already so all I needed was the actual pump.)

I pumped and it felt better but since then one breast has been really really tender and I think the other is a little clogged.

Today, Hubby was sleeping and I was watching Reagan. I got a cramp in the area near my ovaries. It didn't go away and seemed to be getting worse so I got up and took some Motrin. As I got to the kitchen, I doubled over in pain and had to yell to Hubby to wake him up. He helped me to bed and when I said I was freezing, he looked at me funny.

"It's 77 degrees in here! You can't be cold!"

But I was shivering. He fetched a thermometer and sure enough, I had a temp of 101.3 so he called my OB for me.

She had me go get lab work done and then come into her office immediately. She put the lab work in as stat so she had the results pretty quick and diagnosed me as having mastitis...a breast infection caused by being engorged.

Apparently the skin stretches to accommodate the extra milk and allows bacteria and an infection in. So my well-meaning husband caused me to have an infection.

I nearly didn't tell him what it was, I know he would feel awful, but I also knew if I didn't tell him he would get aggravated as he was so worried about me.

I still have a slight fever but I have my antibiotics so hopefully I should be feeling better soon! I can still breast feed as the infection is in my breast tissue, not in the milk. In fact, she said it would be worse if I didn't nurse or pump.

Now my wonderful husband is setting an alarm to remember to wake me up ever 2 hours (the suggested time set by my doctor - no matter if she wants to eat or not) to feed or pump so this doesn't happen again!

I love him...I really do!!

Reagan's first visit with the pediatrician

Yesterday Reagan had her very firs doctor's appointment and other than peeing all over daddy in the family bathroom as he tried to change her (I was filling out all the paperwork), she did fantastically! She whimpered when we had to undress her to get on the scale (she's gained another 2 oz!), but other than that, she was as perfect as always :)

The doctor was great and answered all of our questions, no matter how small or silly, and the staff seemed really nice as well. Overall, we are very happy with our doctor and the visit. We have another one in a week.

Welcome to the world Baby Reagan!!

Reagan was born on Monday, October 12th. She is a healthy, happy BEAUTIFUL baby girl!

She is also independent and is going to do things HER way and on HER timetable!

I had no need to worry about being induced. Reagan and God both decided that it wasn't necessary for me to be induced at all. Sunday night,the night before I was to be induced, my water broke so we ended up at the hospital earlier than planned. However, I wasn't have notable contractions (the only reason I knew I was having them at all was because I was hooked up to a machine that told me I was. I couldn't feel a thing!). This lasted all night.

My doctor came in the next morning and discovered I had a fore bag of water than hadn't broken yet so she went ahead and broke it for me...

OUCH!!!!!!!

I definitely started feeling the contractions after that! I went from 3cm dilated to 9 cm in about an hour, and was beyond ready to meet Mr Epidural Man (who by the way was a very nice, funny man. If he can make me laugh while I'm being stuck by a needle in my back AND having a contraction at the same time...he's OK in my book!)

Reagan was born only 3 hours and 20 minutes after my 2nd bag of water was broken, but I had been in the hospital for over 19 hours at that time. Luckily I was actually asleep during most of the first part ha ha :)

She was a very relaxed and easy going baby. She didn't cry too much and slept well. However, on the day that we were supposed to go home, the doctor decided to keep her because she was borderline Jaundiced. The second time they checked her she had increased so they had to take her from me (yes, I cried), to give her treatments under the lights. I only got to see her 20 minutes at a time so that I could nurse her every 2-3 hours or so.

Finally around 1am they brought her back to me and said she had decreased and I could keep her in the room with me, but that I had to continue to nurse her more often and supplement with some formula as well. By 10am the next morning she was down even more and they decided to let us go home!

Before we left, we opted to have her get a Hepititis B vaccine. Afraid she was really going to cry and wail, I held her while the nurse gave it to her. She did cry and scream as she was being stuck and injected,however once it was all over, she was perfectly fine. She even fell right back asleep.

Whaaaa.....Whaaaaaa....Whaaaaaaaaaa...... Zzzzzzzzzzz :)

She is still pretty easy going and calm most of the time. We are having some issues with nursing though. I think it is partly to do with the Jaundice and having to supplement with the formula as well as having to feed her more often than usual. We are working on it though!

She is sleeping peacefully in her swing so I think I am going to join her in a nap while I can!

Sunday's To-Do list

OK, so it isn't so much MY to-do list as my husband's. I love him dearly but he is the definition of the word PROCRASTINATION! Many of these things I have been asking him to do for a while (because I simply can't for one reason or another) so now he has to do them all today before we go to the hospital tomorrow...

1. Clear out the guest room for his mom. When we cleaned out the old guest room to make the baby's room, most of the stuff in there went into the office (now the office/guest room). However, it didn't really get put away, just laid about. It is heavy boxes and mainly his military gear so it isn't something I can do by myself... or much at all other than supervise.
2. Pack the overnight bag for the hospital. Yes, I could do this, but I would do it wrong haha. Hubby is the master packer so even if I did pack the bag,he wouldn't like it and would re-do it so I may as well save myself the energy and not pack. I have however already laid out everything that I need in it.
3. Put the car seat in my Jeep. I might be able to do this, but Hubby doesn't want me pulling and tugging on things so he keeps saying he is going to do it.
4. Make the bed in the guest room. I washed the sheets yesterday, I just need help putting them back on - the bed is more so a mattress on the floor so putting the sheets back on involves a lot of crawling around haha. I need help since I can't pull the mattress out away from the wall and/or crawl around too much.
5. He wants to mow/weed-eat before his mom gets here. This one isn't a "gotta-get-done-before-the-baby-gets-here" type of chore, just one that he wants to do so his mom doesn't think he's a slacker hahaha :)
6. We also need to do some general shopping so we don't have to do it with a newborn. This I can do, although Hubby wants to go on base to get everything (that's a 45 minute drive or so when Publix is right around the corner!). Technically, I can goon base without him, but if I'm going solo, I'm not going to drive that far. We need things like milk, easy-to-make food for those nights we have no energy, and some stuff we have just run out of like paper towels. Publix here I come...

Looks like Hubby is going to have a busy day!

Monday is D Day!

D for delivery of course! ... well at least we hope....

At my Dr's appointment Thursday, my doctor decided that I should be induced a little early and let Reagan come into this world ahead of schedule. The biggest factor was my blood pressure. It's been a little high for most of the pregnancy so it was controlled by a low dose HBP medication. It had been perfect, but this time it was slightly high again (I do have to admit though, that it was a VERY hectic day at work).

In addition to the blood pressure, I was already about 2cm dilated, 50% effaced, and my cervix is really really low. Combine that with the fact that my biological grandmother, mother, and sister all had pretty quick births.... and my doctor wanted to go ahead and "get this show on the road" even though it will be a little more than a week before my due date.

So I am to go into the hospital at 7am on Monday.

Part of me is really happy about this. There is no surprise "OH MY GOD... My water just broke!" at 3am while my husband is at work. He is able to plan his days off to be sure to be able to be with me. I am able to tell family and friends so that if they want to come they can rearrange their schedule to be there. Most of both mine and Chris's family lives about 2.5 - 3 hours away so they can allow themselves drive time and not feel rushed.

But part of me really isn't sure. I've always believed that God knows better than we do. Wouldn't God's timetable be better for both Reagan and myself than mans timetable? Isn't there a reason that a pregnancy is 40 weeks long? Doesn't the baby need the extra week to fully develop? I know some people go into labor (naturally) early, but again, that is God's timetable. He said "Time's up!" not the doctor.

I just have to trust that He is working through my doctor to know what is best.

I'm excited. I'm nervous too, but overall I'm excited. I'm not so much nervous about the labor and delivery part (I figure if I can survive though 3 marathons in the CA and FL sun, I can manage labor in an AC'ed hospital - not that it will be a walk in the park!), but I'm a little nervous about leaving the hospital. I was only 3 when my mom and dad adopted my brother. I don't remember much about his care. When I met my biological siblings, they were already 6 and 7 years old. Defiantly not babies! I've never had to really care for a baby. Not that little anyway without someone else there who knew what they were doing!

I mean, I've babysat infants before...but this will be a teeny tiny precious gift that depends completely on ME (OK..and my husband too...but mostly ME). That's more than a little intimidating!

Breathe Nicole...just breathe...

Is THAT what's in there?

Being that it is the first day o October...and my due-date-month... I wore a special shirt today. "Yes, I swallowed a pumpkin!" While walking my kindergarten group to my room for group, one of them asked me what it said, so I told him.

A confused look came across his tiny face as he looked up at me (he happened to be holding my hand at the time) and said, "Is THAT what's in there? It's not a baby??"

I giggled and told him that it was just a silly shirt,and that yes, a baby was in there.

"Is it moving around?"

"Sometimes"

"Now?"

"No,right now she is being still."

"Oh ok. How did she get up there? Who put her there?"

...

...

Hmmm...how to answer that one?

...

...

All I could think of to say was, "I think God helped her get there," which satisfied him just fine :)

Sweet (?) Dreams

I've had some weird pregnancy dreams before, but last night takes the cake. I had two weird pregnancy dreams that I actually remember.

The first one, I dreamt that Chris and I were in bed about to go to sleep when...ahem..well... Chris wanted to... well... start something. However, the baby was starting to crown yet I hadn't had any contractions or signs of labor! We decided that we needed to get to the hospital, but as we haven't yet packed a "hospital bag," we started trying to gather the things we would need and throw them into a bag. We couldn't find what we wanted and started arguing over what was needed and what wasn't. All of a sudden, without any further warning, the baby was born! We never made it to the hospital!

Needless to say..I made a list of things to get/pack and will be packing a bag in the next couple of days! (anyone have any "couldn't live without" tips for what I will need?)

The second one pertained to a real event that happened today. I had a doctor's appointment this morning. In real life, I went to work, had a meeting, and left right after to get to my appointment. In my dream however, my car broke down which made me miss work all together and made me late to my appointment. Once I got to the appointment, they told me that had filled my slot, I could no longer see the doctor, and I had to go to "Building O" to see some other guy. I don't know what the deal was with the new doctor or the building, but it terrified me and I didn't want to go. When I argued it, however, I was threatened with, "Do we need to send you to Building X?" which scared me even more! What are these crazy buildings and why were they so mean to me? haha

Again... needless to say...I showed up 20 minutes EARLY to my appointment today!

On a side note, the doctor said everything looked great, "beautiful" even. My blood pressure has been great, the baby's heartbeat was nice and strong, and I am measuring at 35 weeks which is exactly where I am :)