It's Happening Too Fast

Juliet is 5 weeks old now and I just packed up a bunch of newborn clothes.  The clothes are most likely gone for good, I don't think I will ever put them on another baby and that makes me a bit sad.  Sure I will pass them down to others if a friend of family member has a girl and the clothes will live on, but probably not on a baby of mine. 

I feel like it is happening so much quicker with Juliet than it did with Ellie.  Granted Ellie was smaller so she was in newborn clothes longer, but life is so crazy right now that it feels like time is going by so quickly.  

It is such a weird time - I love holding Juliet and how small she is and how she falls asleep on me but at the same time I think to myself "it will be great when she can sit up on her own."  I just don't want to wish away this time because I will miss it when it is gone!

Juliet is 1 Month!

General 
Juliet is a little lovey!  She is just the cutest squeakiest baby.  I love the baby falling asleep on my feeling, so warm and cuddly.  She has brown hair but it is starting to fall out (Ellie's did the same thing then took a LONG time to grow back, but grew back lighter).  Her eyes are the typical newborn grey/blue color and I look forward to seeing what color the end up! Sometimes I forget that she isn't the same baby as Ellie, but I get such deja vu!  She looks a lot like Ellie and wears the same clothes so I forget she is her own person!

Feeding/Sleeping
Juliet is doing pretty well for a newbie!  We usually put her down at around 9/9:30 pm and she wakes up for the first time around 1 am.  It takes a while to settle her down and get her back to sleep after nursing (she seems to get very burpy/gassy) so the whole feeding/rocking process takes about an hour +.  She wakes up again usually around 5 am.  If I am lucky I can feed her and get her back to sleep and grab a little more shut eye before Ellie wakes up between 6-6:30 am.  We moved her out of our room (aka the dining room) this past week and put her in the living room because, similar to Ellie, she makes noises in her sleep all night long and it keeps us up! So we have the monitor on her and we can hear when she REALLY wakes up instead of every squeak, and this has improved our sleep a little. So sleep is ok but not great!  Brian tries to go up and get Ellie in the morning but sometimes she wants to come downstairs and see mommy so that means I get up too. 

She nurses a lot during the day and I tend to feed her whenever she fusses to make sure I am filling her up during the day instead of at night.  She does pretty well during the day with nursing, I honestly don't know how often she feeds because I will nurse her a lot during the day.  She has a couple of witching hours between 5-8ish at night which makes the whole routine of getting Ellie's dinner and putting her to bed a challenge if I am the only one home.  It has been a life saver having my mom here because most night's Brian doesn't get home until after Ellie goes to bed.  

I have been pumping usually around 1 time a day on 1 side to get about 4 oz just to get a stash going but we haven't introduced a bottle yet, but probably will in the next week or two to get her used to it.  We bought a big freezer chest because freezer space in my mom's refrigerator is at a minimum.  I am overly excited about the freezer because 1) I can start a major stash of breastmilk in there and 2) I love to have frozen meals/bread on hand!  Right now the freezer is at our house but we need to move it to my mom's in case the builders decide to turn off the electricity during construction at our house (in which case I would lose my stash and be so sad).  


2 Under 2 
Ellie is doing pretty well with the adjustment of having a sibling.  She loves to give Juliet kisses (which she does about 20 times a day) but she is struggling with her gentle touches a bit.  Sometimes she throws some tantrums if I am holding Juliet and she wants to be picked up.  She does like to help out with diaper changes and other baby things! There is a constant struggle of feeling like I am not giving my full attention to either child...it is so hard to hold Juliet when she needs to be held (which feels like all the time) but also tend to Ellie!

Ellie was cutting some teeth for a while there so that was pretty rough and the tantrums picked up but right now she is doing pretty well.  We have started to do more "Time out" sort of discipline which she is somewhat responsive to.  Some days when she doesn't get a long enough nap or doesn't sleep well at night she can be quite a screamy mess and she sure does know how to push my buttons!  I can tell the terrible twos are coming if they haven't started already!  She is generally pretty good when we are out of the house and I think she gets fussy when we are cooped up inside too much.  Hopefully the winter won't be too bad with us having to be indoors more.  

Recovery
I loved being pregnant but here are some things I don't miss:

*feeling like i have to pee every 10 minutes.  Seriously I now can go hours without peeing, imagine that!  I can't believe how often I used to have to go while pregnant.

*Not being able to tie my shoes without groaning.  I also like that I can pick up Ellie and carry her much easier than I could while pregnant.  

*Not being able to each much at a time.  I feel like I am twice as hungry now that there isn't a baby crowding my stomach.  And nursing ups my appetite dramatically.  

*Wine!  I haven't enjoyed a full glass yet because I am breastfeeding quite frequently, but I enjoy a half glass or so most nights!  Once Juliet is more predictable with feedings I will feel more comfortable with a full glass. 

I am currently about 2+ lbs from my pre pregnancy weight, so that is good.  I still have a bit of a pudgy belly, but hopefully that will go down over the coming months.  I am back in my normal clothes which is nice! 

House
The house is moving along well.  It was going pretty slow there for a few weeks but Brian basically started yelling at our builder to hurry things up and they have put more people on the job so that is good.  We have interior walls up which makes it seem a lot more real!  Hopefully the plastering will be done in a few days and then a week after that Brian and I will get in there to do some painting before all the interior trim goes up! 

A couple of newborn pics

I don't have much time to write at the moment but I wanted to share a couple of pictures from our newborn photo session last week. We don't have the full set of pictures back yet, but here are some "sneak peaks.l

Juliet's First Week

I thought I might get to write this post from my computer, but due to the fact that I am like this most of the time (when not chasing around Elllie)

Means I will probably be writing it on my phone and it may be a bit piecemeal! 

Feeding
Juliet was discharged from the hospital weighing 5 lbs 13 oz (so down 6% from birth weight which is within an acceptable range) and the next day she was back  up to 5 lbs 15 oz so it is good she is starting to catch up.  We will go for a weight check at the doctors this week to make sure she is above her birth weight. 

My milk started to come in Wednesday, which was awesome because I had her on Monday night.  I was relieved that my milk came in quickly and I didn't have to worry about her getting enough nutrition.  Nursing the first few days in the hospital went pretty good - some nipple discomfort but nothing too major.  I had about 2 days of engorgement when my milk came in but things are settling down now.  I still leak quite a bit especially at night, but I think my body will regulate after a few days.  I started pumping once per day and only on one side to relieve some of the fullness.  I get about 4 oz which is a good bottle size.  Since the freezer at my mom's house is pretty packed we bought a freezer for our house's basement and Brian does "milk runs" on when he goes to our house to check on progress and drops the milk off in the freezer.  We put a note on the electrical box that says to call us if the electricity needs to be off for any amount of time.  I would be heartbroken if we lost a big stash of milk.  

Juliet seems to have 2 sessions of cluster feeding during the day - one in the early afternoon and one from 6-8pm.  I think the last cluster feeding is what is allowing her to get some pretty good stretches in at night.  Most nights she goes down at 10 pm and wakes up around 1:30/2 and then again at 5 am.  The 2 wake ups is very doable, although it takes about an hour to feed her and diaper her and get her back to sleep so I still don't feel very well rested, but overall I am happy with her sleeping because I remember Ellie was up every 2 hours at this age! 

Recovery
My recovery is going well - still bleeding but not as heavily as the first week.  
I am putting this out there because I want a record of it, even though putting my weight on the internet freaks me out a bit :)

Starting Weight: 131
Weight before Birth: 153
Total Weight gain: 22 lbs (which is funny because my mom gained the same amount with her first and second pregnancy as I did)
Weight right after giving birth:146
Weight 1 week after baby: 141

So the weight is coming off pretty well - I am down 12 lbs and have about 10 more to go before I am back at my starting weight.  I still have the post pregnancy belly but it goes down a bit every day as my uterus shrinks back to normal size. They say that by the end of the second week your uterus should be contained entirely in your pelvis - so I guess that will mean any left over belly is truly mine :)

2 Under 2
So I will technically only have 2 under 2 for about 2 months, but it is no joke.  Ellie wants to touch and see her little sister but isn't always the most gentle with her touching ( she gets a bit excited) and she loves to try to put stuffed animals in the rock n play with Juliet so we have try to prevent her from being smothered. Ellie does get a bit jealous of the attention Juliet is getting at times and will often "fake cry" when hears Juliet crying in the hopes we will pick her up instead. We try to give Ellie as much attention as possible but it seems it is never enough attention for an almost 2 year old! 

Brian has been home all last week and this week so he has been taking her to different activities to keep her occupied. 

I think it may be a little easier when Juliet becomes a little less fragile, but I can definitely see a lot of sister love in the future and that warms my heart.

Other Things
Winnie has been funny with her walks since the baby got home.  She will either not let you take her out or she will go out, poop, then sit down until you turn around and take her home.  Yesterday we took our first "full family walk" and Winnie finally got a good walk in.

I have been switching over Ellie's summer clothes to fall winter clothes and it is nice to know that in 2 years I can pull out these bins and Juliet will get to wear the clothes. I remember being so sad when putting away Ellie's newborn and 0-3 month clothes and other early clothes not knowing if I would get to put them on another baby.  I can't believe how lucky we got with these two girls. Life sure is crazy right now but I wouldn't have it any other way!

Birth Story!

I was all set up to go in Tuesday morning to be induced...but I guess nobody tells Miss Juliet what to do :). 

Brian and I went out to dinner Sunday night because both our birthdays and our anniversary are during the same week. I put the following picture up on Facebook and called it birthday/anniversary/birthday/"the last supper" which is humorous now because it really was my last supper before I gave birth :)

That night during dinner and after I felt a lot of kicking - more than I ever had and I commented to Brian that she was super active.  The next morning, Monday, I felt a little crampy when I woke up.  Since Monday was my last day of work and I had an OB appointment at 10:30 I went in to work.  The cramps weren't close, strong or timeable so I didn't really think they were contractions - I thought "oh these must be those braxton hicks things people keep talking about."  

I got to work and the contractions picked up a little but nothing concerning.  I went to my OB appointment and they hooked me up to the monitors and things looked good with the baby.  I mentioned to them that I was having light contractions that lasted around 20 seconds long and they asked if I wanted them to check my cervix and I said yes.  On Friday I was 1.5 cm and 30% effaced.  When they checked me at around 11:30 on Monday I was 2-3 cm and 60% effaced.  The nurse practitioner said she wouldn't be surprised if I went in to labor on my own that day.  She asked if I was working and I said yes and she said I might want to wrap things up and go home and put my feet up and time the contractions to see where I was at.  

So I went back to work, got some lunch and wrapped things up and left around 1:30. I was a little uncomfortable driving home so I called Brian and told him to take the next train home just in case anything picked up.  When I got home I told my mom I was having contractions and was going to time them.  I laid down on the bed and took out my phone and used a contraction app to time things.  I first started timing at around 3pm and the contractions seemed to be around 5 minutes apart, but only lasted around 40 seconds each.  My doctor had said to call the office when they were 5 minutes apart for 1 minute long, timing them for an hour.  So I kept timing them and by 4pm they were more like 4 minutes apart and still around 45 seconds long.  I called my OB at 4 and told them what was up and they said I should probably head to the hospital.  So when Brian got home shortly after 4 he packed his bag and we headed in.  The hospital drive was about 30 minutes and it didn't feel super great because by this time my contractions had picked up in intensity and frequency.  By the time we got to the hospital the contractions were about 3:30 apart and I had trouble talking through them when they were registering me (I had to stop when one kicked in).  

When I got up to the labor and delivery room they had me change and checked me - I was 3.5 cm and 90% effaced so they said I would stay - this was about 5:30pm.  The nurse came in and introduced herself and the doctor (not my doctor) came in and introduced herself - they were both really nice.  My contractions really kicked in over the next hour and I tried walking around, bending over the bed and some other things to ease the pain a bit.  By this point I was trying some breathing techniques and really squeezing Brian's hand to make it through the contractions.  It felt like things were really progressing.  My nurse came in and said "I don't want to pressure you either way, but if you want an epidural we can do it now or else you will have to wait an hour".  I had them check my cervix and I was at 5 cm. I told her that I would see how I felt after the next contraction, and so the next contraction came and I said to myself "well I could probably make it through without an epidural, but I would prefer to get some relief and enjoy bringing this baby into the world a lot more" so I told the nurse that I wanted the epidural, also the thought of having to wait another hour to get one totally freaked me out.  

The anesthesiologist came in within 10-15 minutes and they started the process.  I was in much better shape getting it this time around rather than my last labor because last time I was having back labor and that seemed to make the process worse.  Getting the epidural really wasn't bad at all - It was in around 7:30 pm.  I just kept thinking to myself "this is going to make me feel so much better" and when it kicked in it really did make me feel so much better.  They checked me again after the epidural was in and I was at 6 cm and I believe fully effaced.  Over the next 2 hours I was really relaxed and able to joke with Brian and honestly, enjoy myself!  I could sort of feel when contractions were happening but only like 5% of what I was feeling before.  I just kept thinking to myself "wow this is so much better than contractions, I can talk and be present."  

At around 9:20 pm the nurse came in and said that I had been having some pretty intense contractions on the monitor and they wanted to check me again.  She said my water must have broken at some point (I never felt it because I was numb from the waist down) and I was now fully dilated and ready to push!  I honestly couldn't believe I was ready to push. The doctor came in and a few other nurses and they had me do a practice push and said the baby is right there.  So during the next contraction they had me push 2 times and said she was almost out.  During the next contraction they had me do a 50% push then a full push and she was out!  During that last push the doctor said I could reach down and feel the head, but then was like "oh wait the baby's head is already out."  So after about 5 minutes of pushing she came out at 9:37 pm, I again could not believe how quick and easy it was.  I didn't tear at all also which is awesome.  

Once she was out they immediately put her on me and she started to cry.  it was amazing.  They let me keep her on me for quite a while and then eventually took her briefly to clean her a little, weight her and take her footprints, etc.  I was able to nurse her a little about 30 minutes after she came out.  It always amazes me how the little being inside of me, kicking me for several months is now looking me straight in the eyes...it just boggles my mind.  

Sorry if this picture grosses anyone out...I just love it because we are both looking at each other for the first time and she is holding my finger.  

Overall I would say that this birth experience was overwhelmingly different and better than my first labor.  First time around I was induced and it took over 2 days, this time I was only at the hospital 4 hours before she came out.  I feel so lucky that I was able to go into labor before they induced me - I really didn't think I would have the chance to experience what it was like. 

My physical recovery from the birth has been surprisingly easy - since I didn't tear I feel much better "down there" and also not having to stay overnight in the hospital for 2 days before having her has made me feel a lot fresher going in to labor.  Since we had Juliet late on Monday night they wanted us to stay in the hospital until Thursday, but luckily they let us leave on Wednesday since we were both doing so well.  I even let Brian go home the second night to be with Ellie since I was able to get up to get Juliet quite easily.  The one thing I hate about being in the hospital is how they come into your room almost every hour to check the baby or you and it is so disruptive!  Not sure if all hospitals are like this.  

Sorry for the super long post!  I hope to do another post soon about bringing Juliet home and life with 2 under 2!  

She's Here!

She's here! Juliet Rose 6 lbs 3 oz, arrived September 21st at 9:37 pm!  I will type up her birth story later but long story short she was supposed to be induced Tuesday but decided to come early and arrived Monday! I was very happy not to be induced and labor went very smoothly and quick!

IUGR...here we go again

I had my MFM ultrasound this morning and then my OB appointment midday.  The results of the ultrasound are that baby's weight has dropped to the 3rd percentile (it was at the 21% at 34 weeks, 4 weeks ago).  This makes the baby Intrauterine Growth Restricted because she is under the 10%, but like Ellie was.  
I knew heading into my OB appointment that she was going to say induction at 39 weeks and that is exactly what she said so no big surprise there.  She did a cervical check and I am 1.5 cm and 30% effaced, not super great heading into an induction but she said usually second babies go quicker.  I will be 39 weeks next Tuesday (aka my 34th birthday!) and that is when she scheduled the induction to start because she is on call at the hospital Tuesday night and all day Wednesday.  

So it has been a whirlwind day but I am in a much better place heading into an induction this time around versus when I had my first with Ellie.  Knowing when things will happen is a lot easier to time things with child care coverage and work schedules.  Now we know we have to set all the baby stuff up this weekend!  We are also going to go out to dinner on Sunday night just Brian and I to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary, so that will be nice! 

I am feeling this overwhelming sense of needing to spend every last moment with Ellie as an only child.  Things will be so different for everyone when the baby comes home and I just want to savor the last remaining moments where all my attention can be on her.  

I asked my OB what could be the cause of the IUGR in both Ellie and this baby and she said for me she really doesn't know since I don't have any of the normal things (smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes).  I also asked her if there was anything we could do to get things moving over the weekend and she said the typical stuff (sex, spice food, raspberry tea, walking, etc).  We shall see if I get to any of those!  

I have an OB appointment on Monday to do a non stress test and that will also be my last day in the office for work (Wednesday was supposed to be my last day in the office).  I will need to go in and wrap up a few things!