Happy Girls

Morghan enjoys every breath this baby makes! From the moment she wakes up until its time for bed Morghan is constantly asking if she can hold Grace or help feed her. If she knows I'm about to change her diaper, Morghan races ahead of me to pull a diaper out and hand it to me followed by opening the wipes warmer for me. She is a great little helper.

So we recently learned from the Pediatrician that Grace has a clogged tear duct. Its nothing serious, and will resolve itself over time. Basically we just have to keep tissues on hand for when she wakes up because she will have an overflow of tears and eye gunk that we need to gently wipe away. She is back at her birth weigh only because we were having to supplement one bottle of formula each day. I'm thrilled however that we no longer need to do that as it makes nursing more difficult.

It amazes me how different my two girls are. As a baby ...

Morghan was so easily bored with things and smiles were hard to come by with her, even giggles were rare.
Gracie however smiles at me all the time when I blow on her belly or kiss her neck.I know they say babies don't give "social smiles" until at least 4 weeks but I currently disagree!

Morghan was a tummy sleeper from the time she was 2 weeks old.
Grace would rather lay on her side and in fact kicks herself over to her side no matter which way you lay her down.

Morghan LOVED to swing and hated being in her bouncer.
Grace is the complete opposite... I am now in search of a bouncer seat!

Morghan was an incredibly quiet baby, except when it came to crying!
Gracie has been so incredibly vocal from the day she was born. She "talks" constantly through diaper/clothing changes and after feedings. For the most part she has only really cried two times when we were in the car and I couldn't feed her right then.

Morghan didn't sleep through the night once until she was around 6 weeks old.
Grace has pulled off 2 all-nighters so far, generally around the time I think I'm going to go crazy from lack of sleep! (Maybe she senses my distress-lol)

As for now, Grace appears to have hit a growth spurt that is utterly exhausting.
I think nap time is in order for Mommy since both girls have finally drifted off to sleep! :)

Rise and Shine, Sweet Valentines!

We don't do much in the way of Valentine's Day around here. In fact when we got married I specifically asked Chase to never buy me roses or chocolates. (Shocked?) I've never been that type of girl, and I think he likes that he doesn't have to stress over it. The way we see it, our love should be celebrated everyday, not just on a Hallmark holiday. Tonight we will do as we always do... we will make a nice dinner together (with or without a baby attached) and then watch a movie together. Its what we do. No need for a fancy restaurant and pretty things with bows.

Its gorgeous outside today. Finally enough to leave the back door open and let Morghan play outside. I was able to snap a few shots before my camera battery died!

My Sweet Valentines:

Sleepy Head

So Grace has had a rather "regular" night time schedule when it comes to sleep. She is usually awake from around 5oopm-10pm each night, rather content until towards the end when she gets a bit fussy. She eats one last time, we swaddle her and she will often be asleep within a few minutes. From that point she generally sleeps for about 5 hours before waking up to eat. Once she wakes up she usually eats, we change her diaper, and she's back asleep within the hour. She then sleeps for another 5 hour stretch.

Last night... Everything was going as usual and she was asleep by 10pm. I carried her in to our room and placed her in our bed. Around 3am I heard her fuss a bit, but she was still asleep. I waited for her to wake up -- not realizing how long I would wait! I fell asleep again and at 4am she was still asleep (back to sleep) at 5am she was still asleep (back to sleep) ... finally at 630 this morning she began to stir and wake up. I could not believe that she slept over 8 hours! If only I had managed to sleep uninterrupted for 8 hours we'd be good! At 730am she was back asleep and stayed that way until 10am.

Wonder if she will do that again tonight?! HA!

How's Everyone Doing?

GRACE:
So on the day we were scheduled to leave the hospital we had to stay a bit longer. They took Grace around 3am that morning to do her bilirubin count. 10 minutes after they brought her back to me the nurse came and told me her levels were pretty high and she needed to go be under the lights. We didn't know she would need to be there all day! After a second count that afternoon they let us go home and we made an appt with her pediatrician for the next day. Thankfully he didn't poke her foot and make her scream for 10 minutes like the phlebotomist did the day before. Watching that lady squeeze her foot over and over again made me want to punch her in the face. The pediatrician simply drew blood from her arm in less than 10 seconds and Grace didn't even flinch! (this made me more angry with the lady the previous day) Her levels were still elevated but not enough to have to admit her to the hospital , thank God! The pediatrician told us that her levels were likely elevated due to the large amount of bruising she had when she was born, and he wasn't too concerned about it. At her appt today he said that she looks great! She eats... A LOT! I was worried she was eating too much (around 6 oz at a feeding) but her Pedi said that's great and that if she was still hungry after wards to supplement with formula as long as she isn't spitting up. Her weight is down to 8lb 13oz but he said that's not too bad as she still has time to catch up. (Supposed to be back at or above birth weight by 2 weeks - Monday)

MORGHAN:
WOW! What can I say?! She has been everywhere Gracie is, almost as a second shadow. She is incredibly attached to her. The day Gracie was born she got so upset when the nurse had to give Gracie the Vitamin K shot, and then she cried when she saw the band aids on Gracie's feet from where the lady took blood, and she got upset again when the Dr drew blood from her arm. She can't stand anything hurting "her baby." She has been a little grumpy as she refuses to take naps lately. She says she shouldn't have to sleep in her bed if Gracie doesn't have to sleep in hers. We've tried to many times to explain why Grace is in our room, Morghan is just stubborn!

CHASE:
A great help! Every time baby girl wakes up at night to feed he gets up with me. (This was not the case with Morghan!) He can't feed her since I'm nursing, but he still sits up and keeps me company, then takes her to change her diaper when she's all done. He's even learned how to swaddle her! :)

MYSELF:
Things were going great until Saturday. That evening I started shaking uncontrollably and was running a fever. I was achy all over from the shaking, which also make me exhausted once it stopped. This went on all night, and all day/night Sunday progressively getting worse. I woke up Monday around 2 am just crying because I thought I had come down with the flu, even though I didn't have any other symptoms. Chase got me some medicine and I fell back asleep. First thing in the morning I called my OB and was told to come in to be evaluated, as I might have developed and infection. Sure enough, she diagnosed me with Mastitis. Mastitis is an infection I developed from nursing but luckily I was able to continue to do so. She just had me pump for 24 hours. A few days later, here I am doing MUCH better. I haven't had the chills/fever since yesterday morning and the pain has subsided some.

Grace

Sweet Gracie

Where to begin?!

Sunday PM - my parents arrived in SC, we made dinner and got them checked in to the hotel on base and said goodnight to Morghan. I managed to get about 3 hours of sleep.

Monday- We woke up to a very rainy, dark morning and made our way to Labor and Delivery. The whole thing seemed surreal. I got checked in, spoke with the Dr. and he started me on Cytotec to help my cervix efface and dilate. The most depressing part of the morning was learning that my cervix actually went from 2cm to 1cm... rare, but not unheard of. One pill, every 4 hours. After 12 hours they checked my cervix and I was so disappointed to hear that there had been no change. Despite painful contractions, I was simply not progressing and she was still VERY high. Dr decided to do one more dose before starting Pitocin. Around 10pm he prescribed me some Ambien so that I could get some rest. I had never taken this before and was not prepared for how I would feel. I managed to fall asleep around 1030-45 and slept until 130am. I was apparently telling Chase I was high, among other things lol. Chase found it funny that I slept through the nurse coming in at midnight to start the pitocin and take my blood pressure three times. (I'd been having problems with my BP dropping low. At one point I was down to 90/47! --my normal throughout pregnancy has been 135/75 ish--

Tuesday
Around 230AM my contractions were getting pretty painful at this point. Much more painful that I had with Morghan. The nurse told me that Pitocin was notorious for causing contractions to be much more intense. She gave me something to help me relax, though I don't remember the name exactly. IT DEFINITLY WORKED to say the LEAST! Apparently I told Chase I felt like a piece of paper and the pain was little black markings. LMAO! I was soo loopy. Basically, I was able to tell him later that in reality the medicine made me feel essentially paralyzed, but I could still feel the pain. It kept me calm so that I could focus through the pain. By 430am it had worn off and they gave me another dose... this time it didn't work as well. By 630 I was in tears and trying so hard to make it through each contraction. Before one could end, another would start up. I did however finally progress to 3cm so I no longer had to be worried about a C-section. On top of that I was exhausted from lack of sleep since Saturday and my body was worn out from all the pain. I told Chase I needed the epidural. I was so disappointed in myself but after 30 hours I just couldn't do it anymore. He just kept telling me that it was okay to get the pain med, no one was going to be upset or disappointed in me. At one point alarms were going off because my pulse was racing at 150+ and they had to track down the anestesioligist quickly because I was starting to hyperventilate. Even after getting the epi I noticed it wasn't quite working right as only the LEFT side of my body was numb. My contractions however were significantly less painful, just minor cramping on the right side. I was now at 9cm but it was another hour before I convinced the nurse to check me again because I felt like pushing with each contraction. Very quickly my epidural began to wear off. I was feeling the contractions enough that I was having to breathe through them. Then it was time to push and I couldn't help but scream as she began to rapidly descend with each push. She was actually stuck at first, sunny side up which made it difficult to push. In the end I would say I got my drug free delivery only because when she was delivered I was out of the epidural! I won't lie... it hurt like hell. I knew that it would and in the end I was glad that the epi wore off so that I could experience it the way I wanted to. Nothing went the way I had wanted to, but it all worked out in the end and I couldn't be happier. Recovery was definitly quicker since I didn't have to wait for the drugs to wear off. The one downside it that I appear to have done something to my tailbone. Nurse says the Dr will examine in the morning and may order an xray to make sure its not fractured. For now I get to sit on pillows and lay on my side. Getting up to use the bathroom is about a 10 minute ordeal because it is so painful.

She was born February 1st, 2011 at 11:49M 9lb 3oz, 20.5 inches long... a big girl, without tearing! Because she had gotten stuck face up in my pelvis her poor face is all bruised up, but she looks better every hour. We are so blessed, and so happy that its all over. Chase was so awesome during the whole thing. He was incredibly supportive when it came time to push. He really helped me keep going to get her out despite my pain. I couldn't have asked for anything more from him. He's been great at taking care of me and coaching me through everything.

Morghan is so in love with Gracie. She is very concerned about every little whimper. She even started crying when she saw that the nurse was about to give Grace her Vitamin K shot. She was so upset that Gracie was going to cry. When it came time for her and my parents to leave she was so upset. She did not want to leave baby Grace's side. She cried for the longest time because she was so upset. She was thrilled when she got to hold her and didn't want to let her go. She is going to be a fantastic big sister... no doubt!

Our family is complete.
I will post pictures soon, as I'm writing this from the hospital on the laptop.
For now I will try to finally get some sleep as I've only had a little over 7 hours since waking up Saturday morning. Luckily Gracie has just been nursed, changed and getting sleepy!

Sorry this was so long! :)