Transition

I am about to transition back into a working mommy in T minus 2 days.  Saturday at 5 I step back into the real world.  We are sure to be very busy and I am sure I will be very rusty, so hopefully I won't have too much time to dwell on how much I miss my peanut.  I'm doing a short night and will be home by 10:30 so hopefully my boobs don't explode during that time.  I've gone for longer periods before but always while sleeping.  I have a feeling that running around at work the entire time is going to feel a little different that laying in bed exhausted and comatose.  I went and got measured for comfy nursing bras (you don't want to know what size they put me in, which turns out is one size too small after a few hours with a sleeping baby) so that should help out. 

Grandma will be driving from Orlando every Saturday to stay with my angel, which is quite the hike for her, but I think she is so excited to spend time with her first granddaughter that she would drive to California and back to do it.  And words can't express how thankful I am to have someone Amelia and I both love and trust to take care of her!  THANK YOU GRANDMA! 

While I transition back to work my girl has a transition of her own to make.  Up until this week she has been sleeping in her bouncer seat every night.  I've tried to put her in her crib or bassinet but she will only tolerate them for short naps during the day.  At night she is not a fan of laying flat on her back.  And she rejects the swaddle like I reject poached eggs so that's no help.  But a few days ago I woke up to this.

I don't know how to post the video without making it a link.

So it is time for my big girl to learn how to sleep on her back.   A couple of baby steps later and I am ecstatic to announce that I have a back napper!!!

Now I need to transition to becoming a better picture adder because there is too much cuteness to fit into such a small picture but I can't figure out how to make the iphone pic bigger on here. 

A Day in the Life of a New Mom

This might be fun to look back at in a few months to see how life changes. 

At 7 am I hear sweet little noises coming from the nursery so I crawl out of bed and sneak in.  I pick her up out of her bouncer and nurse her for about 15 minutes, burp her, and tuck her back in.  I head out to the living room, have a glass of water and hop on the computer and chat with my brother in NY about how I managed to get her to sleep last night by driving her all over town in the truck.   Then I decide to go lay back down in bed but I hear more sweet noises so I go get her and bring her to bed with me and we snuggle and she nurses again for about 10 minutes and we both doze off until hubbys alarm goes off at 10.  He's got to go to work because it's Valentines Day and it's the most important day of the year at the Cheesecake Factory!  So we go into her room and I pump 5 ounces while holding the sleeping baby and playing Scramble With Friends on my iPhone.  Hubby comes in and kisses us goodbye (what a sight he sees here).  Once done with the pumping I put her back in her bouncer to doze off and I go label and freeze the milk, wash the pump parts, and put dinner in the crock pot.  Slow Cooker Pepper Steak ,  (I'll let you know how it turns out).  Get the kitchen cleaned up and sanitized and go peek at the baby.  She's content.  OK good, I have time to go to the bathroom.  I pee, wipe the sink free of hubby's shaving remnants, straighten up the bed, pick up the clothes off the floor and bring them to the garage where our washer and dryer are.  Peek at the sleeping baby.  Then out to the living room to pick up our glasses and blankets and things from last night. Peek at the baby.  She's asleep.  It's noon.  I snap a picture.  I will blog for a few minutes, hop in the shower, throw clothes on and put hair in a ponytail and feed and change the starving baby.  We'll put on her Valentines Day outfit and hop over to CVS to print out dad a surprise Valentines Day card (shhh!  Don't tell!).  Then we'll come home, she'll have some milk, I'll have some pepper steak, and we will dance around the living room and play and wait for dad to come home and hang out with us.  Bedtime is unpredictable still so I will leave that part blank.  Right now I'm at the part where I hop in the shower.  Happy Valentines Day from me and my beautiful sleepy baby girl :)

Bathtime!!

Amelia had a bath today and as promised, here is a blog post devoted to my little sweetheart.

And no one wants a cold peanut after a bath so she asked if she could wear her cute hat to keep her warm.  Of course I said yes!

Baby's First Day!

It's a Girl!!  Amelia Quinn, 7 lbs  7 ounces, 20.5 inches

My baby is 2 weeks old today and I'm going to start her birth story today.  It might be a few months before I finish it though, because time has taken a different dimension now that my little milk drinker is here. 

December 27 2011.  We arrived at the hospital as scheduled at 6 a.m. freshly showered and well rested (well me anyway...Brian woke up around 1 a.m. and couldn't fall back to sleep.  I managed to get a good nap that afternoon and still sleep right through until my alarm clock went off at 4:30 a.m.)
**I guess I should preface this by explaining why the scheduled birth.  At 30 weeks we found out the baby was in frank breech position.  Mom (me) was disappointed because I was looking forward to the excitement of going into labor, timing the contractions, driving to the hospital, swearing at Brian, delivering naturally, tears of joy, instant skin to skin with my girl, you know... the ideal baby story.  I found a great chiropractor and had her perform the Webster Technique on my 4 times.  I tried different yoga positions, inversion board, frozen peas and hot compresses.  This baby didn't want to flip, as was determined at our 36 week sonogram.  So we scheduled our date, at 39 1/2 weeks, and I came to grips with it.  Come to find out, as you will read, not so bad after all.  I have a beautiful healthy perfectly happy baby with personality, and I was up and moving 12 hours later.  Not the terrible painful experience I expected. 

So we got to the hospital and checked in at the information desk.  They gave us a cell phone and sent us to admissions.  We filled out our paperwork and chatted with the admissions clerk.  We found out that she also had a breech baby 4 years ago.  She tried manual inversion with her Dr at 37 weeks and it was successful, but baby flipped back during labor and she ended up with a c section anyway.  Also, the day before we were there, a woman with a breech baby arrived for her cesarean section and found out her baby positioned itself properly and she was sent home to go into labor naturally.  I wondered if that would be good news at that point, I was so uncomfortable and psyched to meet my little one.  I wanted to keep her in to thrive as long as possible, but that morning in particular she was beating me up, and I was ready to pop! 

Brian and I went to the lobby after we were all checked in and waited.  We saw my Dr walking in and she saw us and waved and asked if we were ready and I felt at ease as soon as I saw her there.  She is my favorite Doctor, I've seen her for 11 years and have a very trusting relationship with her.  One good thing about the scheduled section is I got Dr B for my delivery.  I would have been sad to have someone else, especially for the surgery.  Not long after Dr arrived they came and got me for prep and told H that when they were ready for him the phone would ring.  So I gave him a smooch and off I went. 
The nurse told me to go in the bathroom and empty my bladder and go back to curtain #1, take off everything, put on the gown, opening in the back, and lay down on my fancy cot.  Then she came in put on my bracelets and started my IV fluids.  She explained every step.  Then the anesthesiologist Grace came in and explained everything she would be doing.  Basically she was my wing man.  She would be with me every second until I was well into recovery, and by the time the delivery was over I loved her so much that I briefly considered  changing Amelia's name to Grace.  So after I got 2 bags of IV fluids they wheeled me into the operating room.  There were what seemed like dozens of people and everyone introduced themselves and told me what part they would be taking.  Everyone was really nice and comforting.  The baby nurse explained what would happen with baby after delivery so I knew exactly what to expect and wouldn't be upset when they took her to check her out. 
The Dr started the spinal which was what I was the most nervous about.  I told everyone I was nervous for that part so I had about 3 or 4 people to support me through it.  The Dr behind me explained that there would be a small pinch from the lidocane injection.  It zinged a little up my spine but it was instantly over and I was relieved that the worst of what I would feel was behind me.  He told me not to move and I've never sat so still in all my life.  I didn't feel a thing when he injected the spinal.  As soon as that was done, everyone went seriously to work. They laid me down, started shaving my nether regions, and did some tests to make sure I was numb.  Once the answer was yes they put up the sheets and I started panicking about when they were going to bring Brian in.  I asked for him and Grace said she was just about to ask me if I had someone waiting.  I was getting very anxious.  I remember saying "he's really exited, he really wants to be here" and next thing I knew, there he was in his scrubs with cap and face mask and I hardly recognized him, but was instantly at ease and ready to go.  He sat down and looked into my eyes and asked how I was feeling and I said "weird".  They called the time and it was 8:12.  Next thing we knew they held a baby up over the curtain and we were parents!  They called the time again and it was 8:20.  It took 8 quick minutes to get my beautiful baby out for me!  I heard a little cry and I instantly knew she was healthy and the baby Dr took her over to her station and took Brian with her to check her out, like they told me it would happen.  Then Brian carried her over to me and put her in my arms and took a few pics.  He took her back and gave Grace our camera and she took some shots of the 3 of us together in our first few minutes, and then the baby Dr took Brian and Amelia to the nursery and left me and Dr B to stitch me up.  This is when the very uncomfortable pressure on my chest started happening like they told me it would.  I started feeling a little nauseous and Grace put a cold towel on my forehead and blocked the bright lights for me so I could concentrate on breathing through this uncomfortable part  It wasn't long before it was over and they were wheeling me to recovery.  Whatever medicine they put in my spinal was pretty good because this part was kind of blurry, but with Brian's texts we are able to trace back that when they finally brought her to me and we got skin to skin and I got to feed her it was 9:55 am and we were in our room around 11.  A nurse was there in recovery to assist us with the initial latch and we both picked it up pretty quickly.  In recovery I kept asking for a drink.  I don't like to ask for things, I'm usually pretty easy going, but I was THIRSTY!!!  I kept imagining chugging a liter of Gatorade.  The nurse assured me I could have ice chips soon and they finally gave me some when we got to our Mother/Baby room.  Best.Ice.Chips.EVER. 

This post has taken me a week to do so I am going to end it now and move on to our wonderful lives together.  My baby girl likes to move which is odd since she wouldn't budge from 30 weeks on in my belly, so I spend a lot of time carrying her around and don't get to type much on here.  BUT last night we got her a swing and she is so happy in it!!  So now I blog :)  For now, until next time, enjoy a few pics of Amelia's first week!

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Here's mom ready for surgery.  No make up, no deodorant, no jewelry.  No more room in the belly:)

Here's the beautiful girl just as she was sitting in mommy's belly.  Oh my can you believe she fit in me???

Our first family picture!

Here is the beautiful girl after her Mommy was able to feed her and be properly introduced, sleeping soundly, getting ready to receive so much love that her heart will be full forever, just like her mom and dads are now thanks to her. (silly cell phone pic, but you get the idea of how beautiful she is!) 

Baby Shower Surprise

The best times you have are usually the times you are having too much fun to take pictures.  This was the case with our baby shower.  So I borrowed the pics from others, and if anyone else has any, we would love love love them!  I don't ever want to forget a single detail from this very special day!

It was December 3rd, 2011, and Brian and I spent the Saturday afternoon together.  I was 36 weeks pregnant with our first baby.  Around 3 or 3:30 we drove the Xterra to Lisa's house in Brandon that I haven't seen yet and when we got there we saw lots of cars besides Lisas that I have seen many times before.  The Reids van, Paxtons Bronco, Aly's Philliphied Honda, and lots more.  We were so excited we left the camera in the truck and started up her walkway to the entrance of her home.  There were squares of different colored glittery steps lining the walkway, and candy canes on either side.  Brian asked me "do you know what it is?" and I immediately said "Candy Land!!!!".  Then I looked up and saw my niece Molly and remembered the million games of Candy Land her and I played when she was a lot smaller.  Entering Lisa's home we were greeted by many friends, balloons, and a large display of candy of all shapes sizes and colors, and cupcakes!!!  The theme was very clear then.  "Sara Land". 

It took us a little while to get all the way through the house because we were so surprised to see our friends and family all standing around and snacking, drinking Sangria and beer, and waiting patiently to greet us!  Lisa and her husband Carl welcomed us all to their home and showed us where to help ourselves to food.  Besides the several veggie trays and cheese platters, Lisa made huge platters of chicken marsala, a vegetarian pasta, a gigantic Caesar salad, and bread.  I feasted on pasta, then moved on to cupcakes and Lemonheads, and after everyone left I definitely pigged out on lots of chicken marsala, YUM! 

There was a beautiful diaper cake from Grandma, at the shower it was wrapped up with a Gund teddy bear hugging it.  As soon as I got it home I unwrapped the tulle off it and took off the teddy bear so I could use it to practice with my Moby Wrap from Carolyn.  I left the diapers and goodies attached because it was too sweet to take apart, but last night I finally went for it and stocked up her diaper drawer with well over 100 diapers from the cake!

At the shower wrapped...

At home, minus the bear...

And it's so sad, but here is the after effect of my nesting episode from last night...

Lisa and my cousin Molly ran the games, and my cousin Wyatt was in charge of the timer.  We played the most difficult game ever where you find safety pins in a bowl of rice.  We played the "dirty" diaper game with different melted candy bars in diapers.  I think I guessed one correctly.  Brian did well.

By the looks of us in this picture you would think I would be the one who is good at distinguishing different candy bars :)

We played the spoon the cotton balls from a bowl to a plate and Brian was amazing at that one (not really...haha!!)

Then we moved on to gifts.  We are blessed (and spoiled)

The Aftermath...

We received many thoughtful, practical, extravagant, and generous gifts.  In fact we are still receiving gifts in the mail every day.  We officially have everything we need for this little girls arrival to the world, as well as all the cherished memories of the friends and loved ones who shared the celebration with us! 

As we left Lisa gave us the last of our souveneirs which was one of my most favorites, Amelia'a first Candy Land game!  We are going to have so much fun!