The sleeping baby trap

E is starting to out grow her newborn comatose-ness.  It's very fun to have a few hours each day to play.  We do tummy time, play in her activity gym, explore the spice cabinet, play with stuffed toys and in general I try to give her as much stimulation as I can. 

A zonked baby is a beautiful thing!  
Especially when it takes 7 tries to get her there!

However E has gotten to a phase where she only likes to sleep when being held.  I'm pretty sure this is normal, at least the 1845+ websites I've referenced and cross-referenced say it is.  She's a devious little trickster about it though.  She will completely zonk out in our arms.  Arm-flopping, head lolling, quiet baby snoring (so cute!) zonk out and will remain zonked as we move and even when put into her crib or changing pad.  Then anywhere between 1-5 minutes later it's wide eyed sad baby crying.  "How DARE you leave me in this crib all alone! Where did you go?!?!"  And we repeat sometimes in excess of 10 times. 

Yesterday on a walk E was happily zonked in her stroller only to awak and become inconsolable about halfway through the walk.  Red-faced, angry screaming.  Now granted she was hungry, but there was no convient place to feed her as we were walking the nature trails. But the only way she would desist on screaming bloody murder is if she was being held cradle style in Ken or my arms.  Talk about a shoulder burner!  Personal trainers should have their clients cradle a 10lb weight and walk around!  Eventually we found a parkbench and I akwardly nursed her while leaning against the stroller, hiding under her fleecy blanket in the 70+ weather. We both emerged sweaty but much more content and were able to finish the walk without screaming.


E sleeping on her Ojiisan....and maybe Ojiisan sleeping too!

At home when E starts in on the fussypants cycle if it's night time we insist she sleep in the crib because Ken and I are both big people and sound sleepers and it would not be good to co-sleep.  So at bedtime we persist and eventually E will sleep zonked out in the crib.  During the day sometimes we persist and she'll sleep in the crib or (usually) on her changing pad in the living room, other times we give in and let her sleep on us...because I highly doubt there will come a time when I think to myself...'gosh I wish I'd held my baby less when she was an infant.'   Sometimes we even nap with her, it's a light sleep, but it's slightly more restful than staring at her bleary eyed.

Now I know proper sleep patterns need to be established and Ken and I are on-board for Ferbering her but not until she's 6 months because the 1834+ websites that I've referenced and cross-referenced say you can't spoil a baby in the first 6 months, you can't hold them too much or snuggle them too much or talk to them too much or any of that.  So....somtimes E we'll let you get away with sleeping on mom and dad...because in secret though our shoulders may hurt or our hands may fall asleep and we can't stop thinking about all the other things we need to be doing...we really, really, really love just holding you even if it's just to watch you sleep.

Week 6...

Daddy's first trip away
Ken is away from E at night for the first time.  It's hard with him away, I miss him a lot and E seems a bit more fussy than normal so I'm going to say she misses him too.  We've been Skyping and she stares at the screen intently from time to time.  I like to think that she's staring at daddy, of course we'll never know if she actually recognizes him but I will say she does.  We are looking forward for him to get home in two days.

We miss you Daddy! come home soon!

 

Thumbsucker inbound
I sucked my fingers as a child for a long time.  Thankfully it didn't affect my teeth and I never needed braces or a retainer....E is working very, very hard at being a finger or thumb sucker.  I'm going to have to deal with the trauma of breaking that habit just like my mom had to do for me.  Part of me wonders if it would be better to give a paci than let her thumbsuck...I may offier her a paci at 6 weeks, we will see.
Yesterday E got her thumb sucessfully into her mouth for the first time!  Her hand was completely open with her thumb in her mouth.  she frantically started sucking on it and was very happy for the few moments she sucessfully sucked her thumb and then she flailed her arms in her baby way and pulled her thumb out of her mouth.  Unfortunately I didn't have the camera with me at the time so there is no photo proof...yet.

 

but she's really trying....

The nose knows
I've been playing with E in the spice cabinet occasionally.  I'll hold up food under her nose and watch her face for a reaction.  So far her reactions are:
chocolate - eyes wide, big stare
cinnamon - eyes wide, mouth pursed
ginger - eyes wide, smacking lips, trying to smile
watermellon - calm (like stops her from fussing somtimes) and eyes wide
mint extract - yoda face! crying and incessant drooling

Part of me wants to try the mint again to see if she reacts the same but her reaction was so strong it seems little mean.

Tummy time!
E is rocking out the tummy time.  She's getting her head up really high and holding it well.  She tracks and turns her head for her little black and white panda rattle.  She loves her piano toy that the Snows sent us.  She will stare at it and move her hands around.  Earlier this week she frogged her legs so much that she tipped over the front of the boppy and landed with her head on the piano...then proceeded to "play" the piano with her head.

First month milestones

We brougt E home on 12/17. 

to be continued...

The birth story

Not complet yet.....

The lead up

At my doctors appointment on 11/27 the doctor checked me for the first time and I was already 3 cm dialated!  I  lost my mucus plug over the course of the next few days so I was getting very excited but nothing was happening.

On the way to my follow up appointment on 12/4 about 5 minutes from the doctor's office I got rearended.   The car hit me so hard that I was forced into the car in front of me and she was forced inot the car in front of her.  We'd all been stopped at a light and the lady behind me just didn't stop.  We had to go to the Labor and Delivery center in the woodlands to have the baby monitored to make sure she was okay.  Ken called everyone under the sun an eventually three of our friends showed up to take me to the L&D.  All was good and it was just an hour in the triage room listening to her heartbeat. 
Had the actual follow up appointment on december 11th.  At that point I was 4 cm dialated and the doctor decided to strip my membranes.  She was pretty sure I'd be in labor any time, possibly even that night. I'd been having periodic contractions so  I was super excited because I really wanted the baby to be born on 12/12/12.  But 12/12/12 came and went with no baby, not even a contraction once I left the doctors office. I was really sad and at that point hit the 'this baby is never going to come out' point.
At the school's winter program practice on 12/13 I had some fluid leakage but it stopped,I wasn't having discernable contractions and wasn't a big gush so I didn't go in.  On 12/14, my last day of work I kept feeling some very small amounts of leakage periodically throughout the day but still no contractions at all.  I called into the nurses line and they recommended I go into the L&D and be checked in case it was a slow leak of amniotic fluid.

Ken and I packed up our bags and drove up to the L&D. The whole time I was complaining to him that this was silly and they were just going to send us back.  This was to preserve my own sanity.  I'd gotten so wound up about 12-12-12 that I just didn't want to be dissapointed again. They put me on the monitor and checked me.  I was 4-5 cm dialated and was contracting sporadiacally but the amniotic sac was still in tact.  They monitored me for an hour and it didn't really progress.  So they had me walk around the hospital ward for an hour.  While I walked Ken got some food and brought some of my Christmas fudge to the nurses.  The nurses loved it and it was really funny to see them all sugared up.  As I was walking I started to feel the contractions a little but but not much. 

After an hour they put me back on the monitors and checked me again, I was about 5 and contracting about every 4 minutes.  So they decided to admit me!! We were having a baby!


The Labor

Early labor was (and I hate to say it for fear of attracting the wrath of women kind) easy.  I barely felt any contractions I was happy and comfortable.  At that point I was thinking to myself...if this is labor I'm going to do just fine!  The only real annoyance was the IV.  The triage nurse blew two veins in my arm while trying to place the IV.  The on call nurse finally managed to get a vein in my other hand. 

They'd admitted me around 6pm.  Around 11pm the contractions started for real.  And they hurt.  A lot.  But, I figured I would try them out for a  while and see how much I progressed.  They checked me after an hour and I hadn't progressed.  And it still hurt.  A lot.  And I was so tired but couln't sleep because it hurt.

So...I opted for the epidural.  Part of me felt a little bad, like I was giving up or taking the easy way out...but there is no prize other than a healthy baby and you still get that even if you have an epidural.  So eipdural it was.  Poor Ken had to leave the room while the set the needle in my spine.  I'm not sure who that was harder on.  Once the medication was flowing life was awesome.  I could still feel the tightening of the contraction but there was no pain.  Of course I was then restrained to the bed as my legs no longer functioned.  The left leg was not getting quite as much medication so I still had some control over it while I practically had to move my right leg with my hands.

Ken came back in and we were both able to get some sleep, well, interrupted sleep as they check on you every hour, but it was better than the constant pain.  Around 4 am they checked me again and found that I was fully dialated!   They brought in all the crazy scary looking tools and sterile drapes, changed the bed to the delivery bed and called the doctor in.

At 430 we were ready to go and I was starting to feel the urge to push.  The doctor broke the amniotic sac and it was go time!  Labor went smoothly.  I needed some oxygen to keep the baby's heart rate up and the mask made my nose stuffy when I pushed.  Finding the right way to push was a little odd but once we figured it out we were rolling!  I pushed for an hour and then at 5:29 E was born!

The doctor even remarked on theh smoothness of my labor.  She said "see, unassisted deliveries do happen!"  to her support nurse.

E's cord was super short.  They couldn't put her up onto my chest because it was so short.  They had to cut it very quickly to move her out of the way.  Ken cut her cord and then they finally brought her up to my chest and I got to hold my beautiful little girl.  The first thing everyone said about her was all about the cheeks and the hair. 

The in utero memories

I will come back and add thing to this post as I think of things I don't want to forget. 

Havoc from the start
E made her presence known on March 28th at about 3 am.  I had a blinding ache in my lower right abdomen.  I thought I was having appendicitis.  I almost woke Ken up because it hurt so much.  But then it subsided so I went back to bed.

Then the pain returned during the day.  At one point I was laying on the floor of my classroom with my feet up on a chair trying to make the pain go away.  I took a pregnancy test just to see and it was negative. 

The pain came and went for about a week before I finally went to the doctor.  The night before going to the doctor I took another pregnancy test this time it was positive!  I walked into Ken's office and said "it's not appendicitis..." and then showed him the test.  Now I was afraid that it was an ectopic pregnancy because it was causing so much pain.  The doctor was just the urgent care clinic so they couldn't do an ultrasound but they did confirm the pregnancy.

I got the official ultrasound on April 27th.  E was a tiny grain of rice on the ultrasound but she was in the right place.  She'd also been causing havoc on my body.  The pain flickered every so often and food became gross.  I didn't feel sick I just didn't want to eat anything.  Leftovers became the grossest thing on the face of the planet.  At one point beef was super unpalatable.  No sickness, just Havoc!

Outdoor girl
Over summer break Ken and I decided to go backpacking in Yosemite.  This was our babymoon.  We only did a few miles each day but it was still an awesome trip.  Havoc seemed to enjoy the outdoors, or at least didn't complain about it.  She did not like the backpack hip strap as it pressed against her and she squirmed quite a bit while it was buckled.
to be continued...