5 days old, and I've been initiated

So, yesterday Aftyn went to the doctor for the first time. Good news: She's in the 80th percentile for height, 75th for weight and 55th for her head. She has already managed to gain back her birth weight and then some. Now she weighs 8 lbs 4 oz. I was so happy to hear that!
Bad news: She got her first shot. I had a feeling of dread, only because you never know how a baby will react to shots, and she and I are still getting the hang of each other in a lot of ways. After sleeping solidly for about 5 hrs and then being awake for 2 hrs straight, I thought, gee, this isn't too bad. Last night though when she wouldn't stop fussing AND wouldn't sleep until after her feeding at 3 am, I was scolding myself for being so confident that she would get through it so easily. Luckily this morning, she seems anxious to make up for her lost sleep and is currently still sleeping quite soundly. Hopefully, she's over the worst.

In other baby news, I received a full fledged pooping yesterday. I've learned you really have to have the next diaper RIGHT THERE, otherwise you're risking the perfectly clean clothes that you just put on. (And then I had to stay in them until we went home because it happened while we were over at my in-laws. )

I feel as if I have just dipped my little toe in the sisterhood of being a mother. I'm sure there are much worse things that could and will happen. I'll just wait patiently until I've been "baptized by fire." Or covered in vomit, urine or any other liquid that might find its way out of Aftyn and on to me.
By the by, any good ideas of getting our baby to burp? I have tried the hand under the chin with the tilted forward position, the non tilted forward position, the normal "on your shoulder", the wrestling position - over your shoulder so your shoulder is pushing right into their tummy (I got one burp out of her that way), laying face down on my lap, and probably every other position there is. I've patted soft, hard and medium. I've patted low and high. This sounds like it could be a song. :) Anyway, if you've got a secret burping position or something that I haven't mentioned, please help a tired burper out and share. I will try anything. We are currently using Dimethicone drops and they seem to help a little, but the thing that would REALLY help is if we could get the dang bubbles out with burping.



As promised, here you go. There are more, but most of you will be seeing those pictures in her upcoming photo spread for her baby announcement. Have a fabulous day!

How I wore myself out today . . . . .

Since I don't want to overwhelm you with her cuteness, I'll put up the rest tomorrow. :) Tomorrow I am truly doing nothing, cuz I can't keep wearing myself out like this. Poor Reed is so sweet and takes such good care of Aftyn and me when I get too worn out.

A few days late, but better late than never!

And I'm not talking about Aftyn! For those not in the know yet, we had our little girl Saturday morning at 3 am. She was 8 lbs 2 oz and 21 inches long. Here is the picture they took in the hospital shortly after she was born. She's a little swollen.




For those wanting the whole "birth story", here you go.

I woke up Friday morning, starting at 1 am, with a crampy kind of feeling every hour only lasting a short period of time. I think it was just braxton hicks, but thankfully, over the course of the day, increased to every 20-30 minutes between cramp-like feelings.
Anyhoo, about 8 pm, with Reed over at his parents, house and due to be home any minute, my contractions picked up and were coming faster and getting a little more painful. I called Reed to let him know, and he made it home in record time at about 8:30 pm.
He came home and was literally running around the house, trying to get everything into the car and packed and everything. I kept telling him that he didn't have to hurry, cuz I didn't think I was really in labor or anything. So at the hospital, as we're getting out of the car, I said to Reed, what if it's all in my mind, what if I'm not really having contractions and they send me home? Luckily, that wasn't the case.
They admitted me b/c I was a 3.5 cm, and quickly dilated to a 5.5. And quickly dilated to a 7.5, and then just as quickly was almost completely dilated. Wow, I thought, that was easy without any pain meds. Little did I know what was coming.

At this point, I thought, all right, I just push her out and we're done with all this painful stuff. :) I was so naive.
My bag of water hadn't broken, so the dr. told me I had 2 choices. I assumed they were that she could break my water or we could wait for my water to break on its own. I stopped her before she could tell me what SHE thought my choices were, and told her I wanted my water broken, thinking I was ready to push and be done. So, she broke my water, and then informed me that my bag of water had been holding my cervix open, and now I was back down to 7 cm. I had never heard of this happening before. The Dr also said she hoped that now that my water was broken, she hoped my contractions wouldn't get too painful. What do you mean, MORE painful?!?

I will skip that part, and only include one word: Ouch. Really. Ending with the fact that I finally asked the nurse if there wasn't ANYTHING I could take to help with the pain, and so I got some Steidol, which only helps relax you, it doesn't numb the contractions, so I felt the contractions but was so relaxed in between and through the contractions that it was bearable. And about 30 minutes after I got that, I was ready to push. Thankfully, my body was ready, Oh and I forgot to mention Aftyn was posterior around the time I found out I was back to a 7. Posterior meaning she was literally facing the wrong way, and boy was that a fun one to fix. It was probably a lot of my OUCH problem.
So, out she came after about 30 minutes of pushing, and she was cute, and didn't want to cry. It was 3 am and poor Reed couldn't keep his eyes open. He zonked out pretty fast, while I waited for Aftyn to get done with her first bath and checking her vitals and all that stuff.
Everything went well, we were both in excellent health, so we left the hospital on Sunday about 2 pm. And have enjoyed being at home, sleeping in our own beds, eating our own food, and learning about our little Aftyn girl.

Babies are amazing creatures. I can't believe how much love I have for this little girl. I bravely tried to clip one of her fingernails today, and thought I had possibly cut her little fingertip.I promptly burst into tears at the thought that I had possibly hurt her. I don't know what to blame that on - hormones or too much love for my sweet, helpless dughter. Either way, there's a reason women are mothers because they are nurturers and have an inordinate amount of love to give. I'm grateful for that.

It's about time . . .

that I get on here and update our blog with something new! Ha ha ha I'm so mean, I made you think we were having a baby, huh?
Well, I only wish I had that to write. But I don't.

In the meantime, let me share some of the funnies of our lives. Evidently, men in the general public aren't used to seeing women whose babies are nearly due. I have had more stares in the last 1-2 weeks from them than I can ever remember getting when I was not pregnant and probably looked more cute!

I have heard of women whose ankles were so swollen you could push in on them and the pressure from the pushing would actually leave a dent. Never thought I would experience that, but my ankles have been especially swollen this week, so I tried it. And, really, it's gross but interesting in the way that you can actually leave dents in skin swollen with water. I'm looking forward to the 15 lbs in water weight I will be losing when I have this baby.

Reed's knees are still scabby and gross, but thankfully not as painful as they were. He is so busy with all the things he's involved with, and having a baby, and helping me around the house. This week, he finally told me that he thought he had put too much on his plate. I started laughing. Poor guy, ever the optimist, that had to be hard for him to admit. But, as he usually does, he told me that it just meant he would have to organize his time better. His persistence is definitely one of the qualities I love about him.

Well, that's our mini update. Tomorrow is my last day at work. I was going to work until the day I had this baby, but when I go to work, I don't feel productive because I feel so slow and sluggish. I feel good that, essentially, I will have worked up to my due date.
Hope everyone has a fabulous and fun Memorial Day Weekend!

Visiting Teaching Companion Saves Waddling Pregnant Woman at Walmart !

That would have been the headline if it had made it to the papers.

Yesterday, I ran to Walmart to buy a couple of things. Literally, 4 insignificant things I felt were important enough to drive about 4 miles down the road for. As I drove there, I turned a corner and overturned my purse, knocking a lot of things out of my purse, most importantly my keys. (Our ignition key is stuck in the ignition, and our door key is a separate key. It's a long story, and I don't know why our ignition key sticks, but it does.) Anyway.

I get out at Walmart, after sticking what I THOUGHT was everything into my purse, including Reed's phone which he had just recently left in our car. Obviously, minus my keys. I do my shopping at Walmart, and walk out to my car, finally noticing that I have no keys in my purse. I begin to panic, because it's hot and Reed needs the car ASAP, and if you remember, we're still sharing one car.

I start to think, who can I call? Long story short, I'm talking to one of my sisters on the phone, trying to figure out what to do, when my visiting teaching companion calls, needing the primary book I still hadn't returned to her. She lives close to my house, so I ask her if she would mind going to my house, asking Reed for HIS set of keys, and then coming to Walmart where I could return her primary book which happened to be locked in the car with my keys. And she did all that for me! Can you believe that?! I have to say, I would do absolutely anything for this very kind sweet woman now. I feel eternally indebted to her.

I was seriously in a panic, b/c of course I'm thinking that I could go into labor any moment, and I had no way of calling Reed b/c I had his phone. I could call an ambulance, but then we'd have to swing by the house and pick up my husband. Wouldn't that make for an interesting story? :) Anyway,it all ended well, and the whole problem was fixed about 30 minutes after I had originally found out I locked my keys in the car. What a blessing!

It's a Contest of Wills

I'm convinced this little stinker inside me is just trying to prove that she can be more stubborn than me. And honestly, I'd tell her she's right if she'd just come out so I could tell her. I have my next Dr's appt on Monday, but instead of seeing my Dr at the Dr's office, I'd like to see my Dr at the hospital sometime in the next 3 days. Oh well. If not, I'll still be here, letting Aftyn make her point, that she is truly more stubborn than me.

The Biggest Loser Finale . . .

I just gotta say it - I'm so glad Mike didn't win! Way to come out of nowhere Helen, and blow all the competition out of the water! No one even thought Helen had a chance of winning. Way to be an underdog, and show the rest of us how to handle it humbly. Thank you and goodnight.