Stumped

When Charlotte was born, they told us it would take between 2 and 21 days for her cord stump to fall off. I was starting to wonder when the dang thing would come off and told Ben I'd call her pediatrician if it wasn't off by Monday (Day 22). Well, right on time, it fell off on Sunday! Look at my girl's beautiful belly button!

I've also started putting Charlotte down on her tummy a couple of times each day. She likes to lay on her tummy on people and will pick her head up and move it around, so I figured I'd see how she'd do on the floor on her own... not the same! She'll put up with it for about 5 minutes, but then she gets frustrated. She does appreciate the change in perspective... it's like seeing everything from the cats' point-of-view! 

Things are going really well at the 3-week mark! I wouldn't call it perfect at all, but we've made improvements in the nighttime sleeping situation. I understand why some people warn against offering bottles to breastfed babies, but let me tell you how it works for us... 

In the evenings, I pump about 4-6 oz for a "relief bottle" (that's what our pediatrician's office calls it). It relieves me of feeding duties for 6+ hours, and it fills her belly at night so she's able to sleep for longer periods of time. Ben feeds her half of the bottle at bedtime (sometime between 9 and 10 right now) while I read books to her. Then Ben takes over getting her to sleep while I get some "time off" (last night I took a shower and flossed my teeth!!). The second half of the bottle is given at her first wake-up. You can tell when Charlotte is hungry, because she tries to eat her hands (or her arms, or other people's arms!) 

Sometimes it's enough to satisfy her and she goes back to sleep, sometimes it's not. She usually wakes up between 12:30 and 2:30, then sleeps again until 4:30 - 5:30... after that, I have a really hard time putting her back down. We usually end up snuggling in bed (and dozing on and off) until 8 or 9.

Those first 3 or 4 hours that she sleeps are awesome! After that, she's up for changing and feeding for anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours... Of course the 2 hour awake sessions in the middle of the night are not my favorite. If any of you mommy readers have tips for helping extend her nighttime sleeps (or at least shorten her nighttime wakes), I'm all ears!  

The best part of the "relief bottle" is the special bonding time Ben gets with Charlotte. Our bedtime routine is my favorite time of day! 

My Little Ladybug

While we didn't go to the pool or soak our feet in the surf, we did try on this adorable swimsuit outfit our friend Anna Jacobs got for Charlotte. I wanted to get a picture of her in it before she outgrows it - - I know! Can you believe she's starting to outgrow her newborn clothes already??? The good news is, this outfit is still roomy on Charlotte, so we still have time to enjoy it! We got all dressed up and spent some time hanging out under a shade tree in the front yard. I love maternity leave! :o)

Baby Got Back

We took Charlotte for her 2-week check up (a couple days early) and got some good news!

She now weighs 7 lbs, 11 oz (an 11 oz increase from last week, 3 oz past her birth weight).

She is now 21 inches long (3/4 inch increase from last week, 1 full inch past her birth height).

This puts her in the 50th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height! 

We discussed some ways to help the sleep situation (remember that one time when I bragged about how well she slept? BAHAHAHA). One of the things the pediatrician suggested might help her get into regular human-beings-sleep-at-night-and-play-or-work-during-the-day routine is to limit her daytime napping. One of Charlotte's favorite things to do is take marathon naps on Grandma Val (this is one of Grandma Val's favorite things, too).  Sorry kiddo, we're gonna keep an eye out for these!! 

Along with naps on Grandma (well, naps on lots of people...), Charlotte also enjoys: 

*smacking her lips

*sucking on her hands & arms

*sucking on other people's hands & arms

*staring at things

*sneezing

*eating

*staying up REALLY late 

*saving up for a big ol' blow-out... giving mommy the perfect excuse for adorable bath time! 

Silly Faces

I'm not sure if newborns are supposed to be as expressive as Charlotte is...

When she's awake, she will stare at you and just make the cutest faces. Some are serious, some are inquisitive, some are silly. Today, I have just two of the many faces of Ms. Charlotte.

This is her "singing face." For now, she sings silently. Eventually, I'm sure there will be a long, beautiful note that accompanies this face.  Some people may think she's howling...

Do you think she's somewhat annoyed by my camera in her face? 

She slept for 6 hours last night!!! I even changed her and made an attempt at feeding, but she was out cold! She woke up twice for diaper and food for about 40 minutes each, but slept another 2.5 or 3 hour chunks in between! To top it off, she took an incredible 2.5 hour nap this afternoon!! I got to shower, wash dishes, run & fold laundry, clean a couple of rooms, and I even vacuumed the whole house! Ahhh... it's amazing what some good sleep will do for you - and for baby! :o) 

Scrub a Dub Dub

Charlotte's first bath at home went pretty well! We only had some minor whimpering, which was totally understandable because I'm sure it took us about 3x as long to do it as it should have.

In other news, Charlotte had her first visit with the pediatrician on Friday afternoon. She had gained 6 oz back from leaving the hospital and had grown 1/4 inch. That puts her at 7 lbs (50th percentile) and 20.25 inches (90th percentile). Growing like a weed already!

Introducing Charlotte Grace Stiers

It's taken me a week to get back to the blog, but that's because Charlotte's here!! 

Let me start at the beginning...

Last Saturday (Aug 6) I woke up to fairly regular cramps (I thought they might be contractions). I hung out at home all day, waiting for something to get exciting. But then, around noon, the cramping went away. I did what someone with any medical condition should never do, and turned to Google for answers. In a "better-safe-than-sorry" move, I called the 24 hour nurse hotline through my insurance company (since I couldn't get ahold of my doctor). They advised me to go to Labor & Delivery to be checked out. So Ben and I drove to the hospital, only to sit around for 4 hours or so and then be sent home in "early labor." We got home around midnight and I insisted on finishing the project I had been working on (because, as you'll remember from my last post, the baby wouldn't come if it wasn't finished). 

Letter blocks to match her hanging name letters

 I fell asleep around 1:30 and woke up just a couple hours later to roll over in bed. Yes, when you're 9 months pregnant, you must be fully conscious before rolling over in bed. Well, my water broke when I rolled over. At 3:45. I woke up Ben, called the nurse from L&D that had seen us just a few hours earlier to tell her we'd be on our way. We both showered, put our bags back into the car, made sure the cats had plenty of food & water, and made our way to the hospital. It was very quiet and dark when we left, but the sun was just starting to come up on our baby's birthday.

Your water breaking in the wee hours of the morning means you'll get a wheelchair escort from the ER to L&D. The nurse, Susan, who I'd seen the night before was ready and waiting for us with a smile. She took us to the delivery room we'd have for the day and made sure we had everything we needed. At 7:00, Susan wished us luck and said she couldn't wait to meet our little girl when she came back for her next shift. Our daytime nurse, Lori came in and was just as helpful and caring as Susan. Lori was with us almost constantly all day, doing everything she could to make both of us comfortable. 

In a nutshell... I labored in all sorts of ways (in bed, on a ball, walking the halls, in a rocking chair...) for several hours - all morning. Early in the afternoon, Lori reminded me of my option for an epidural and I decided to take her up on that offer. I was in a lot of pain, exhausted from 2 nights of just a couple hours of sleep, and thought I may be able to enjoy the birth of my daughter if I had a little pain management. Except it was Sunday and the anesthesiologist had to come from home to do the epidural - so I continued to wait. When he finally arrived, Ben and the nurses helped keep me calm and as still as possible while he did the procedure. It was not easy handling contractions every 3 minutes with a huge needle in my back! Right afterward, they administered Pitocin through my IV to help regulate the contractions. They also checked my progress - 6 cm & 100% effaced. I felt better for a little while, and my mom even came briefly to check on me. But shortly after she got there, the pain came back in huge waves. She left to wait for the baby with my dad and the nurse checked me again - fully dilated!! In about an hour???

The bad news is that my doctor was at another hospital across town delivering another patient's baby. I had to wait - ready to push - for over an hour. The good news is they gave me some medication to help make the wait more bearable. The wait was probably the most pain-free part of the whole day. When the doc was on her way, she gave the OK for me to do a few practice pushes, which Ben and Lori (the nurse) helped with. But then I was told to hold off (again) and wait. The epidural was wearing off rather rapidly and I had lots of feeling when it was time to push. I don't know if I felt everything, but I felt enough!!! After just 10 or 15 minutes of pushing, baby Charlotte was here!!!! 

She was alert and pink and healthy!! She scored 9/9 on the Apgar scale. The nurses cleaned her up and measured her. 7 pounds, 8 ounces and 20 inches long - just perfect!! 

The next 24 hours were a whirlwind of complications and very little sleep. Luckily, Charlotte was perfect and really did not need any medical attention. And although I suffered some minor complications, nothing was severe or life-threatening and eventually the doctors and nurses were able to get everything under control. Monday afternoon I felt soooo much better and welcomed lots of visitors. 

By Tuesday afternoon, we were ready to go home! Charlotte looks so tiny in her car seat, but I'm sure she'll fill it up before I know it! 

It seems like our entire small town was awaiting the arrival of our precious baby girl! We can't express how grateful we are to have such thoughtful and caring friends and family around while we welcome Charlotte into our lives.

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has called, texted, sent cards & gifts, brought over food, and even just came to cuddle her! We're so happy that you all love her just as much as we do!  Please feel free to stop by - we can't promise we'll look pretty, but Charlotte always does!! :o)

Slightly Crazy Behavior

I spent a large portion of today swiftly moving about the house, bouncing from one thing to the next because (get this) "that's why the baby isn't coming yet." Here is a short list of my ridiculous reasons why the baby isn't here yet...

- The rugs in the kitchen needed to be shaken and vacuumed.
- The floors had to be swept and Swiffered.
- The toilets needed to be scrubbed.
- The laundry needed to be put away.
- The carpet needed to be vacuumed (I've probably already vacuumed this house more times in a month than I vacuumed our old place in an entire year).
- The dishes needed to be run & then put away.
- The car seat needed a protector under it.
- Black-out curtains had to be hung in the nursery.
- The litter needed to be scooped.
- The counters had to be scrubbed.
- I had to write checks & prepare bills to be mailed for August 20th!
- The stroller needed to be moved out of the nursery.
- Ben hadn't eaten lunch yet!!

I think you get the picture. And then, Marie is being super clingy... is it because she knows the baby is coming?? Donny's been hiding out in the closet all day... is it because he knows the baby is coming??

I'm driving myself (and Ben) crazy, people!! After being ridiculous around the house for several hours, I drove to Peoria to buy supplies for a craft project. The cashier lady decided to ask a pretty personal question about my pregnancy, so I decided to up the ante and divulge more information than she was expecting to hear. Apparently she didn't know that I'm queen of the One Up Game! Anyway, I got all the way home and realized I FORGOT THE MOD PODGE!! So I texted every person I could think of in the area who might have the stuff at home... no one did. And I called the IGA, but they don't carry it.
"Don't worry. We can pick some up in Bloomington when we go to the fair later," Ben says.

Ooh! The Fair!! Maybe Charlotte hasn't come yet because she knows I'd be bummed if I missed the fair! So off we went in search of carnies, 4-H exhibits, adorable animals, and carnival food! Bunnies, chickens, cattle, pigs, goats, horses, and even a goose, tractors and rock collections, baked goods and wood working, corn dogs, lemonade shake-ups, and funnel cake... we walked around for only an hour or 90 minutes, but that was enough! My feet and legs started to swell so bad my skin hurt, so we made our way back to the car. Just as we're making our way home, I remember the Mod Podge. Ben made a pretty fabulous U-turn - - he really knows how to save the day!

I'm sitting here in my recliner with my legs propped up on two pillows, but the swelling is stubborn. I don't think I'll get to finish my project tonight, but I'll post a picture when I get it done! ...On second thought, maybe I'll stay up late to get it done. After all, that could be the reason the baby's not here yet! :o)

Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock

I feel like I'm a baby time bomb waiting to go off at any minute. 3 weeks ago, my doctor made it sound like I probably wouldn't see my due date. And I suppose the baby still has 5 or 6 days until her due date, but so far, I feel no closer to having a baby than I did 3 weeks ago!

39 Weeks

I feel bigger and heavier, and even my maternity clothes refuse to fit. But, the baby continues to gain weight and all of her organs and systems are using these last few weeks & days to mature! 

I had a check-up on Monday, August 1st. She said I was juuuuuust about 2 cm dilated... not much different than the last check-up. I'm a little worried about using up precious maternity leave w/o a baby! Everything is ready - car seat, nursery, clothes are washed (some of them 2 or 3 times!), house is clean, car is clean, diapers, swing, bags are packed....... just waiting on the baby! 

After my appointment, my lovely friend Carlea invited me over for a swim. Ok - it was more of a float. But the water felt AMAZING! Although, I should have applied sunscreen twice - I got a little burned. Ben ran out to run some errands and came back with this beauty!! 

He did good!! I love love love sapphires and this is my first one! :o)

Ben's family came over for dinner. He grilled again, this time grilling some pineapple, too. Did you know pineapple is said to induce labor? His grandma brought deviled eggs and baked beans and his mom brought green bean casserole and CAKE! We also had salad and chips. Everything was delicious! Here is the gang, minus Jim & Ben.

(Yeah, that's probably the only non-belly-documenting photo you'll see of me until this baby is out - I'm enormous!)

Oh - I almost forgot to mention - my sister called from Mumbai to say Happy Birthday!! It was a great surprise to hear from her! She's working on getting her apartment all set up and getting ready for school to start in a few days. Congratulations, Bobbi Jo, you were the only sibling to call and you're on the other side of the planet!! :o) 

Today has been a real lazy day. Slept in, played altogether way too much Mario Kart, and got a birthday pedicure! 

I hope all of my teacher friends are soaking up every last drop of summer vacation! I'm thinking of you as you set up your rooms and get your new rosters!