Monday, April 28, 2014

Two Weeks Old and Breastfeeding Troubles

I can't say there is a lot of new stuff going on around here, just lots of snuggles and late night feedings. Ellie is looking at us now and keeping her eyes open when we feed her. I feel pretty bad that I haven't been breast feeding and I've only been using the pump. It just hurts way too much! She really chewed me up and made me bleed, which the pediatrician says is bad news and can cause an infection. I figured that since I'll have to pump when I return to work I might as well start now instead of trying so hard to make breastfeeding work out, only to have to stop in a few weeks. It makes me sad because I really wanted it to work out. When it doesn't hurt so badly I really like it, but so far I can only stand maybe once a day.

There is so much pressure to breastfeed that I was really stressed out about it and felt like I failed her. I also felt like I couldn't give her enough milk since she seemed to freak out and still be hungry after she nursed. Not to mention Ellie decided that she would refuse to nurse off the right side! I feel a little better now, since Joe and I decided on a plan. We are feeding her formula at night and pumping every time she wakes up, saving the breast milk for the day and freezing the extra. So far we have had plenty of milk for her and I'm able to freeze some for when I go back to work, where I don't think I'll be allowed to pump. 

As long as she grows up healthy that's all I care about! 












Thursday, April 24, 2014

Proud Papa


I don't know how this guy does it, but he always knows how to calm Ellie down when she is having a crying fit. I also can't get her to have tummy time on my chest, but when she lays on Dads chest she is out like a light! Before we had her he was afraid he wouldn't be able to hold her without her crying. I tried to reassure him that other peoples babies may have cried when he held them but Ellie will know who her Papa is by recognizing his voice. Needless to say he was really proud when he realized she loved being held by him.

I love how she recognizes the songs he plays on his guitar from when she was in my belly. He starts playing a Paul Gilbert song and she looks in his direction and gets quiet. It's pretty sweet.



He is already excited to have another baby and so am I. I know he is happy to have a daughter, but I hope he gets the son he wants too, other wise we might end up with a whole house of girls!

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Weekend Nails #16

Somehow, in between feedings and diaper changes, I was able to paint my nails. It took two days to finish but I did it! I took the design from a pin on Pinterest. 

Essie - Turquoise & Caicos
Essie - Chinchilly
Essie - Butler Please
Maybelline Express Finish - Onyx Rush
L.A. Girl - Hot Pink
Colorstay Revlon - Always On Sealant


We took Ellie out on a pretty long car trip yesterday. It was pretty taking a newborn around! I wanted to go to Babies R Us in a town that is about an hour and fifteen minutes away and Joe wanted to go to the skatepark there. Ellie was pretty good the whole ride, sleeping most of the time, but when we got to the skatepark I realized she had wet herself through her clothes! I started to change her on the back seat of the car and it turns out she completely blew out her whole diaper! Poo was e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. Poor baby! It was quite the adventure.


The Babies R Us is really just a Toys R Us with a few aisles of baby stuff. We were looking for a bouncy chair and stuff for breastfeeding. Holy moley, let me say the breastfeeding is no joke! All the literature says it's not supposed to hurt... yeah. That's if you get it down perfectly from the beginning! If you happen to let the baby chew on you a few times you are pretty much screwed into being in excruciating pain every time they get hungry, which is pretty much all the time. But I won't go into anymore on that. Maybe one day I can write a post on how I triumphed over the challenge of breastfeeding.

My favorite part of the trip was carrying Ellie around in my woven wrap. She really loves it and sleeps the whole time. Everyone was asking me how old she was and commenting on how cute and tiny she was, and how she has so much hair. I don't think we will be making another big trip like that for a while though. By the time we got home and situated ourselves it was already 1 in the morning. 

We ended up picking out a 4moms Rock-a-Roo at Target and I am SO EXCITED about it! I had been looking at the 4moms baby gear for a while but it was all out of my price range. Lucky for us my mom agreed to split the cost with me. I think I may write a separate review for it once we've had it for a little while.


Monday, April 21, 2014

Bringing Baby Home



I'm sure most people remember the day they brought their baby home as a little scary. I know when my Dad brought me home from the hospital he was worried about the other cars on the road. Some people also say they are intimidated that there will be no more helpful nurses and doctors in case something goes wrong. However, our story is completely different. I wasn't scared to leave the nurses and I wasn't afraid of Joe's driving. I had been anxious to get back to comfort of home and away from hospital gowns and random people coming in and out of my room. The big scary part came about ten minutes after we got to the house. My mom had been at the house taking care of the Murray and Mrs. Peacock while we were gone. As soon as we got home my mom started feeling chest pain. We immediately all thought it might be a heart attack and so Joe called 911 while I tried looking for aspirin. I practically tore the house apart looking for it, dumping out my mother purse onto the floor and emptying her suitcase. Eventually I found the box and mom chewed up an aspirin. She started to feel better by the time the ambulance came but they took her and kept her overnight anyway. Joe went with her to the hospital and I stayed home.

I occupied myself by taking selfies and sending pictures to my brother and father.


I sent this picture to Joe as he was on the way to the hospital with my mom. Everytime I see this photo I will think of this crazy day.
On the way to the hospital he actually got lost while trying to follow the ambulance. He eventually found the where they took her to and he stayed with her until she got a room. On top of that, my Dad was flying in to an airport about an hour away and Joe was supposed to pick him up. I had to try to contact my Dad in between flights and let him know what was going on. Lucky for us my Dad was a good sport and decided to rent a car and drive down himself that night.


I'm super happy to say that my mom is fine and it was not a heart attack. It was just a side effect of a medication she had been taking and so my dad went to pick her up the next afternoon.
Needless to say, it was a pretty exhausting day. It didn't help that the two nights before had been our first with our newborn, which means no sleep! Things have gotten much easier since then though. Our first day home was pretty memorable!

Sunday, April 20, 2014

One Week Old

Yesterday was Ellie's first full week outside of my belly! I still can't believe this little girl was in my tummy for so long. Her face has changed so much in just seven days. You can tell where her face has rounded out and become a little chubbier. When she left the hospital she dropped down to 5 lbs 14 oz, but now she is only two ounces away from her birth weight.
Everyone is having a great time snuggling with her and watching her make silly faces. I'm so glad she got to see my parents during her first week!








Saturday, April 19, 2014

Ellie's Birth Story



I'm so happy to announce that Ellie Nova is here!

My mom was on her way down from New York on Friday, the same day I started labor. She had been driving since Thursday afternoon and I sent her a message saying that I had woken up with cramps at about three in the morning. She told me it might be early labor, but I shrugged it off thinking it was probably nothing since I have had cramps during the night in the past. Later that day we went to my last prenatal appointment. The doctor told me I would deliver anytime now, maybe even that night. Right after the appointment I had a feeling that my mom was right and it was going to be soon. Only a couple of hours later I started to feel uncomfortable pressure that came and went every 15 minutes. I was apprehensive about telling Joe how I was feeling. I think I didn't want to scare him. I also didn't want to scare myself, which means if I told Joe how I felt it would make it real and I would start to get anxious. I also didn't want to be one of the people that ended up going to the hospital too soon and getting sent home.

The thing about contractions is that no one really tells you what they are supposed to feel like. They tell you what Braxton Hicks feels like (which never happened to me) and they tell you not to get overly excited about early labor. They say not to go to the hospital too early and to ignore the mild contractions. Between you and me, what the heck is a mild contraction? I had never done this before and quite frankly I heard that labor HURTS, so "mild" seems like a relative term here. When I started to feel pressure come and go I didn't know what it was. It came quickly and soon it was coming every 10 minutes, but it didn't hurt. I looked through all my books and googled everything about early labor and prelabor, but I swear that by the time I had read enough about it to determine that I was actually feeling contractions I was already in full blown labor! 

Around 10 PM I started timing the contractions on my iPhone. They were already about 5 minutes apart and 30 seconds long. I really wanted my mom to make it in time, but I had already told her it was okay to take a break and stay at a hotel. Honestly I thought labor for a first time mom was supposed to last a long time and I would be okay until the next morning. Turns out I was wrong! My mom was about a four hour drive away and at 1:30 in the morning I sent her a screenshot of the contraction timer. She immediately got up and started driving. At this point I was barely getting a break in between contractions and I was having a really hard time. I'm pretty sure all the neighbors could tell I was in labor!

When I think about how long the labor lasted before we went to the hospital it seems like a really short time. I would think that being in pain would make time go by very slow but it really seemed to fly by. Joe was holding my hand and rubbing my back (when I would let him.) Let me tell you, the best thing when you are in labor is a hot bath! My contractions really shortened in length after I got into the hot water. I tried out the birth ball but it didn't help that much. I really preferred laying on my side and spent the last hour or so before leaving for the hospital laying in bed. I don't know why, but I kept timing the contractions up until 5 AM, even though it was pretty obvious it was time to go to the hospital. I think it was just a good distraction for me to tell Joe to start and stop the timer.

We headed to the hospital at 5 in the morning and my mom showed up at 6, just before I was given the epidural. I had been going back and forth deciding whether or not to get pain medication, but after the labor I went through at home I was ready for some sleep! I was concerned the shot in my spine would be painful but I didn't feel a thing. The relief was amazing and I was able to get some energy to push once the time came. 

The pushing was the most exciting part. Joe had fallen asleep and when we woke him to let him know it was time to push he came to my bed and started to cry. It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen. He rubbed my shoulders and counted to ten as I pushed. A couple times he had a hard time counting all the way because he was getting choked up. Thank goodness for the epidural because I wouldn't have been able to push so strongly if I hadn't gotten it. The only problem was my legs were like huge heavy logs and the nurses kept telling me to hold them up. Dead weight is really heavy! After about ten pushes Ellie was born. It was a pretty crazy feeling to feel her head and her body pulled from me. It was even crazier to hear her cry and have her put in my arms. She was all gooey and wiggly. I was amazed at her face. I had been wondering what she would look like for so long that it was surreal to finally look at her.



Ellie is a tiny little baby and weighed 6 lbs 4 oz and 19 inches long. For some reason one of the nurses asked me if I had been smoking during my pregnancy because she is so small... I didn't know if I should be offended or sad since it appears this is a common occurrence.   ...and no, I didn't smoke. 


This past week has been truly amazing. We have had some rough nights and some easy nights. Even when I'm so exhausted that I involuntarily doze off while feeding her I still don't want to stop snuggling her. Joe absolutely adores her and it melts my heart to see how proud he is to be a papa.  



I love this little baby girl! 

Friday, April 11, 2014

Baby Bump - 39 Weeks!


Here it is, the final countdown! I wrote a short draft of this post about two days ago, but it seems like Ellie is on her way already! 
Not only will we have Mrs. Peacock and Murray to look after, but a little bear cub too! There are so few moments in life where you think, "after this, nothing will ever be the same" ...and this is one of them! It's all pretty exciting. 

By the end of this weekend I expect Ellie will have arrived. My mom is on her way and should be here tomorrow morning. 

That's all for now! 

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Day at the Bark Park

Murray was pretty anxious to go do something fun today so we went to the Bark Park down our street. It was a perfect 70 degrees with lots of sunshine and just enough of a breeze to cool off. The last time we went to the park a giant chow chow kept trying to hump Murray and a little brown dog peed on my skirt! There were tons of dogs there last time too, so I was happy today when we had the park all to ourselves. Joe finally got to run around with him and try out playing fetch. He didn't quite get it at the beginning and kept running past the ball and the frisbee, but eventually he got the concept. 






Shameless selfie! What can I say, I put makeup on today and didn't want to waste it without a photo. 

Monday, April 7, 2014

Lately in Instagram


(1) Murray is the biggest baby and he loves his dad. 
(2) Nice new nail color from my mom! 
(3) Kitty shaming! We had a LONG night last night cleaning up after this stinky girl. She left poop stains all over the house at 1 a.m. and we had to run her butt under the tub faucet to clean her off! Ugh. Baby training I guess? 
(4) Hanging out on the windowsill while I crochet.
(5) We got these awesome wine glasses as gifts. They have a hand painted bear family! So cute!! 
(6) Murray seems to know we think it's cute when he hides behind the curtain.
(7) Look at that face... so innocent. So stinky.
(8) We have been taking Murray to the dog park and he has so much fun. This giant fluffy chow chow kept trying to hump him. It was pretty funny!

Friday, April 4, 2014

Baby Bump: 38 Weeks!




Weight Gain: 22 lbs

Belly Button? Innie and no stretch marks! Sweet! 

Feeling: Very happy! I'm on leave now, at least until the 15th. Hopefully she arrives on time! My brother and I both decided to arrive on our due dates so maybe she will be the same. 

Food I'm Missing: Wine. We just got some really nice handpainted wine glasses as a gift and I can't wait to use them.

Listening to: Songza Playlists, mostly mellow and indie stuff. I'm in love with that app and I think I will be using it in the hospital instead of making a playlist from my iTunes. I'm too lazy to find new music these days. 

Movement: She stuck her little foot out last night and it was pretty weird feeling!

Looking Forward to: My mom getting here! She is driving down next week and staying for a while to help out. I haven't seen her in over a year and a half.

We stopped at the War Memorial Park today because Joe wanted to check out the tanks. It's been nice and warm lately, almost hot, and I'm loving it. It's been so long since I lived in a warm place!

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Crochet Veggies!

I practically gave myself carpal tunnel with all the crocheting I've been doing the last few days. I was inspired by Skunkboy Blog's planter but decided to crochet the vegetables instead of sewing them. After I started I couldn't stop! I'm almost running out of veggies! Last night I made a mushroom and I plan on making broccoli, cauliflower, habaneros, and a bok choy. I plan on getting a wooden bin to put all the veggies in and possibly making the "dirt" that they can be planted in like the tutorial. I don't know though, I may end up crocheting every food I can think of and just using it for the play kitchen I've been planning. 

I know, I know, I'm getting ahead of myself! Ellie isn't even born yet and she already has toddler toys! 








Here are the links to the patterns I used, though most of them I altered for one reason or another. The cabbage I just made up as I went along and the corn and eggplant are on the Lionbrand website that you have to register for to see, otherwise I would have linked them.
BeetRadishCarrotsOnion, Eggplant, Corn, Cabbage, Leek, and Bell Pepper.

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