Sick...

I HATE being sick. I feel like I always get sick at the worst time. For example, I started yoga and now I can't go because I am sick (wasted money). Also, today is Wednesday, the only day of the week, I work the entire day, but since I am sick I had to cancel all of my appointments (wasted money). Good news, baby Audrey does not seem to be getting sick; however, she did not sleep last night, which made me feel bad because my loving husband had to deal with her all night while I was doped up on NyQuil. Audrey is at her grandma's house today (my mother in law watches her on Wednesday), I feel a little bad because I am home, but at the same time it is nice to just lay in bed all day and try to feel better. :(

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year and happy 2 month b-day to Audrey! Yesterday, we celebrated the New Years at my in-laws, we planned to put Audrey down to bed there, but she was not having it. I think she just knew we were trying to have a party without her--needless to say she has been sleeping for most of the day today.

Overall, Audrey is a good baby, she really only gets fussy when she is hungry or when she is tired--she tries soo... hard to stay awake. She sleeps well through the night, usually only waking up one time between 3-5am to feed (this is nice because it usually gives us at least a 5 hour chunk of sleep). I think being on formula helps her sleep, because I can actually see/chart how many oz she eats. At first I was sad I wasn't able to breast feed, after 2.5 week of constant pumping, tube feeding while at the breast, every 2 hours, etc. it just wasn't happening--After some ppd I finally realized it wasn't about me, but it was about what was best for Audrey--not only getting the adequate nutrition, but I was a better mom 'attitude wise', I wasn't upset because I wasn't able to breastfeed. Brandon has been the best dad EVER and helps out all the time. The only downside to not breastfeeding is that I have not been able to lose my pregnancy weight as fast. Last week I finally got the ok to go back to the gym--it has been nice to go back, but I always feel a little guilty because I have to leave Audrey and go. I have decided for the next 6 weeks, I will go to the gym and not feel bad about it (w/ support from Brandon).

New Years Resolution:
--Eat Healthy
--Stay Active
--Get Ready Everyday (I love sweats and not being able to fit into my per-pregnancy clothes, makes me sad, and so I result to sweats and feel like a 'scrub'--I have decided if I take the time to get ready everyday, then I will feel better about myself)

Family Goals:
--Be a good mom
--Food Storage: http://www.provident-living-today.com/Bulk-Food-Storage.html
--Baby 72 hour kit: http://www.wannabecrafty.com/2011/09/infants-72-hr-kit.html
--Take Pictures
--Scrapbook, Journal, and/or Blog (just keeping a personal record)

Church Goals:
--I would like to attend the temple more regularly
--Keep up with the Sunday School Lessons and read ahead of time
--Fast Offerings

Here's to the new year: 25 lbs to lose :/

Stats...

Audrey had her first 'normal' doctor's appointment yesterday and got a clean bill of health. She isn't quite up to birth weight yet, but she had a lot more playing catch up to do. The doctor wasn't worried.

She is still a long a skinny girl: Length: 20 in (50%) Weight: 7 lb 1 oz (20%) Head Circumference: (20%)

I can't believe November is already almost halfway over, it doesn't help either that it's holiday season and Christmas is upon us. My husband and I are going to be boring this year and not decorate (we have no decorations); however, we have a trip to Crate and Barrel planned for the day after Christmas to buy some ornaments--I figured we have to decorate next year with a little one, and why not wait buy stuff 50% off.

Speaking of Christmas, I feel like every year people start decorating earlier and earlier, and the holiday music on the radio starts earlier and earlier. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining, I would never decorate before Thanksgiving, but it does put a smile on my face (I love the holiday season), and so far the weather around here has been wonderful (we are actually getting a 'fall' without a lot of rain). I found this comic the other day and thought it was pretty funny.

I am not a fan of Thanksgiving, I like what the holiday teaches, and I like to think about everything I am thankful for, but as far as the Thanksgiving feast, I do not like it. I am a very 'plain' eater (my husband once criticized me for wanting a piece of boiled chicken). I would be happy with dry turkey and a plain baked potato with some basic steamed veggies. But... of course you add stuffing and gravy and butter and milk to the potatoes and weird stuff to the veggies... GROSS... This is just me, most people love it.

Today I am off to write my Christmas list and Audrey's Christmas list (her list is very practical--i.e. a bumbo seat, highchair, jumperoo, etc.). My list is usually very technical, I practically do the shopping for everyone (we decide a budget and I shop for my gifts online and then write where you can get them and for how much); however, this year, I am being a little more spontaneous. This is mainly due to the fact I want/need new clothes, but don't know what size I'll be... Lots of gift cards are on the list. Maybe I should make my list via pinterest...?

I plan on getting Audrey's nursery done this weekend and post pictures (we were just waiting on a picture of her to print on canvas and hang up)

1 Week...

Audrey is 1 week old today, and the time has flown by (I think this is partly due to the fact my days and nights all merge into 1.

Dad went back to work yesterday and was sad to do so (we were sad to see him leave).

Over the past week we have had downs and our ups. We had a few little scares and ended up seeing a doctor or going to the hospital pretty much everyday up until Sunday (including Sunday). We will go again on Thursday, but at least on Thursday it is a 'normal' visit--get her stats, second PKU, etc.

Overall, Audrey is a happy baby--she sleeps fairly well, and I have her on a schedule of eating every 3 hours. We love having her in our lives!

• Grandma (my mom) has come over and turned our house into a photography studio
  
• Audrey met Chase (my dog) and they seemed to hit it off wonderfully
  
• She makes a 'turtle' face--this is our favorite
  
• She gets hiccups all the time. It made me make the connection that she got hiccups all the time while she was in my tummy--I knew she was moving, but it just felt like a constant heartbeat, turns out they were hiccups
  
• She has a smushed nose (but it's getting better)--In every ultrasound picture her hand was in front of her face. Turns out she was sucking on her fist which created a smushed nose and a wrinkle above her eyebrow
  
• I love how good my husband is with her--she sleeps with us right now, but I was going to put her in her crib one night and he said that we should probably wait until at least a week (he secretly likes her in bed) :)
  

I love her so much, and I couldn't be happier! My husband and I were discussing what we thought she would look like before she was born. I was a cute baby, my husband was not--he has really dark hair, but was born blonde, he has really defined features, but was a pretty 'hefty' baby. Overall, I decided I wanted Audrey to have my nose, my shape of eyes, my texture of hair. I wanted her to have my husband's color of eyes (blue), and my husband's color of hair (dark brown). Overall, looking at her, granted she is only a week old, I think we got what we wished for (she has my husbands lips).

I think Audrey is the prettiest baby I've ever seen (which is saying a lot since I'm not a 'baby' person)--but I am partial to her.

Frenemies...

Say 'hello' to my new best friend/worst enemy for the next 6 weeks...
That's right a postpartum girdle.

I would be honest if I were to say I am a little vain. I feel most people are. As much as I have enjoyed these last 3 days of eating anything/everything my hear desires--where my tummy cannot only hold the deliciousness in, but I don't have any side affects or nausea--it is time to get back to the real world and work on getting my body back.

During pregnancy I didn't gain a lot of weight and I have not weighed my post pregnancy self yet (I will do that next week)--No one likes to weigh themselves. For the next 6 weeks I am committing myself to a reasonable diet plan (since I cannot work out). I will be eating 6 small meals a day--Audrey got put on an eating plan yesterday by the doctor, so I am now on an eating plan too (her feeding schedule is convenient for the both of us).

Goals/ Things I Need:
-6 small meals a day (pre-planned)--My lovely husband went grocery shopping for me yesterday :)
-8 Glasses of water a day
-A supportive husband (this one is the hardest--not that my husband isn't supportive, he just doesn't like to see me unhappy and we are a family who thoroughly enjoys going out to eat)--to compromise I am giving myself 1 day off a week--A date night for us to go out and indulge.

The biggest obstacle I face is this runs right into HOLIDAY SEASON (talk about the best 2 months of food choices for the year)...

I have bought myself a pair of these for motivation (let's hope they are still in style when I can actually wear them).

Here's to the next 6 weeks--wish me luck :)

She Came...

Let me introduce you to Audrey Elizabeth

Stats:
11.1.11 3:06 pm
7 lb 4 oz (a lot smaller than originally thought, thank goodness) 21 inches
(long and skinny)
Photo courtesy of Grandma (my mom loves to take pictures)

Birth Story:

I hadn't really experience any contractions before giving birth, no BH, nothing... My mom had c-sections and so she never experienced them either and so she couldn't explain them to me. Since I hadn't had any, I was really hoping my water would break and that was what would send me into the hospital (I was GBS positive, so if it broke, the hospital had to keep me)--however, having your water break before contractions start isn't a high percent.

Halloween night, I was planning on trick-or-treating with a friend of mine, my sister, and her son (just to get out of the house), my husband had school that night and was going to be home late. It ended up being too cold for my sister, so I was just going to go over to my parents house, walk my dog, and watch a movie with my mom and my sister. Later in the evening, I felt some 'leaking' but didn't think much of it--I feel when you are super preggo you constantly leak pee whether you want to or not. It seemed a little bit more than usual, but nothing big, every time I would go and 'check' to see if it was my 'water' or urine, I would naturally pee anyways (natural affect of a pea sized bladder). I just finished hanging out with them, went home, put pjs on and went to bed. At about 1 am I woke up, again feeling 'wet', but I also woke up sweating (another 'perk' of being preggo), again, went to the bathroom to 'check' but again, it wasn't a lot and I couldn't tell (I think these emotions were a mix of being paranoid about GBS and being anxious to get the baby out). I didn't want to wake up my husband, so I did some research on the internet to see if your water could 'leak' out, and not just 'gush' break. According to the internet this was possible--I got completely dry and changed and sat in bed, awake for 3o minutes to see if I was indeed leaking. After about 40 minutes, I decided I might be, woke up husband and called the hosiptal. They said to come in and they would test--I took a shower, and got cleaned up, etc. at about 3 am we showed up at the hospital. Good news, my water had ruptured, they had to keep me. Bad news, no contractions-- this equaled an anticipated longer stay in the hospital (they were thinking a 11.2.11 baby). My dr. was on call that night, but not the next day (she stopped by to say 'hi' before she left) :) and told me who was on call the next day :(

*When she said the name of the dr. I felt sad. When I had originally gotten preggo they wanted me to use that dr. but after looking at her picture, I judged her and felt she was too young, and wanted someone with more experience--my dr. was full, but with a little begging/pleading, she took me on as a patient.

Bad news: they couldn't start pitocin (there wasn't enough nursing staff--apparently it was SUPER busy that day). Good news: Still no contractions.

Shift change: 7 am--I meet my nurse, SUPER nice, she said they can start pitocin but have to wait, since I hadn't had really any contractions, they had to get some of the other patients up and running first. No big deal, I just slept...

I started feeling contractions around 8 am. Nothing big, and still pretty far apart. Mom and dad came to hang out. The new dr. came in to say 'hi'. Dad and husband went out for breakfast. Mom stayed with me. I started getting stronger contractions. My nurse stepped out of the room and I threw up while she was gone. When she came back I told her and she said it was a good thing, my body was responding. Dad and husband come back, contractions started around 10 am (my dad has to leave because he doesn't like to see me in pain and not be able to do anything about it).

The nurse checks me and I'm at a 5! (When I came in I was at a 3 and 70%)

The nurse goes on a 30 min. break at 11:30, asks me if I want an epidural request before she goes, I tell her 'no' but will let her know when she comes back. Her replacement nurse comes in and checks me at about 11:45 (I'm at a 7--WHAT!? but really feeling it). My nurse comes back, I ask for an epidural and she calls one in. Bad new: 2 back to back c-sections, it'll be like an hour.

Options: Hold out or systemic medication. My birth plan said no systemic medication, so I decided to hold out. The issue was between each contraction now, I wasn't getting a 'break'. My contraction would decrease, but never go away. After about 15 min. I caved in. They shot me with just 50 of the 100 dose of the medication (since I had an epidural coming). BANG--boy did just that little bit hit me. I had to close my eyes. I was glad I got it, it helped a lot, but it was a good thing they didn't give me a lot.

12 pm: Epidural comes :) They give it to me--it's not the best feeling in the world and by 12:30 it's in. NOT WORKING :(, shorter contractions? yes, a little. Less painful? no. Starts actually working at about 1:15.

1:30 Dr. comes in and tells me this is going to be a vaginal birth, there is no plan b (it was really busy that day). She obviously was joking. Checks me, I'm at a 9 but there is one more sack which needs to be opened--she breaks it, tells the nurse to check again in an hour and let her know. Funny story: I tried to help them check me by opening my legs; however, they were completely 'numb' and the nurse and the dr. had to run to catch them. Whoops.

At this point we are looking at pushing possibly around 3 and having a 6 pm baby (since I was on an epidural, pushing takes a little longer)! Husband calls his family to let them know.

2:30--Nurse checks me, I cannot feel ANYTHING (epidural is definitely working now) and pitocin was turned down to a super low dose (my body was taking over), she is very surprised, I'm well at a 10 and at a +3 (which doesn't really exist, just her way of letting me know, it was getting time to push). She has me do a 'pretend' push, to see how far back the baby really is and quickly tells me to STOP (she can see the baby's head and hair and needs to call the dr. ASAP).

2:45--Dr. comes in, says she's happy I stuck with plan A and was so efficient about it. We talk about my pushing and how to do it-I was still on 100% epidural (they had no time to turn it down). The first contraction comes and I push (not able to feel a thing, or know if I am even actually pushing or just sounding/looking like a fool). She says that was great, but if I hold my breath the pushes will be stronger. Next contraction--I push and hold my breath. 'STOP, SLOW DOWN'--the dr. tells me, the baby is coming too fast... I have no idea how to 'slow down' so I just stop holding my breath. She then pulls the baby out and Audrey arrived at 3:06. Dr. tells me I should be in the baby birthing business--I felt bad for judging her, I actually REALLY liked her and would have her as my dr. if I give birth again.

To top it off and as a treat to myself, I had my first deli meat sandwich in 9 months from Jimmy Johns :)

Happy Halloween and Baby Story...

I went to target this past Halloween season and was looking at all of the fun Halloween candy, hoping to pick up some of my favorite holiday treats. I was looking for these...

Only come to find out they don't make them anymore... WHAT!? Who doesn't love a good York patty and you can't help but enjoy the bright orange filling. I searched online and found them on Amazon for $30 for 3 bags. Yeah right, I am not going to pay $10 a bag... :(

Oh well, starting tomorrow the Christmas Candy comes out and that means....

* (last year for my bday my husband bought me an entire 12 pack box of these--this is how much I love them/him)

Baby News--nothing to report. My appointment is in 2 days, I tried calling today to get it changed to tomorrow, but my doctor is out :(...

How we came to a decision to start a family...

My husband and I were never ones who wanted to start a family right away... There is a funny story attached to this... Then, as our marriage progressed we started thinking about it more and more. We both had steady jobs, we had just bought a house, etc. I always wanted to be a 'younger mom' (stop having kids by the time I'm 30), but only want 2 kids, so not in a huge rush. We just randomly decided to 'try' and see how it went. Everyone we had talked to said it took them 6 months to a year to even get pregnant--we had planned on an April baby (perfect time to have a kid for a teacher); however, those plans did not work out. I think I got preggo like the first day... Whoops...

I remember waking up to go to the gym in the morning (I used to go before work), but was a feeling a little tired/lazy. I had bought a pregnancy test, because I was a little late, but this was the first month off BC, so I didn't worry about it too much (my body getting used to a 'typical' cycle). I somewhat jokingly told my husband I'm taking a test, if it's positive I'm not going to the gym and sleeping in. Well, what do you know, I came back into bed, told my husband and got about 2 more hours of sleep that morning.

So basically, I shouldn't be that upset about the baby being 'late', technically she is about 6 months early! :)