To My Beautiful Daughter,

I love you so much. Now that you are here I could not imagine life without you. You are the highlight of  my day, afternoon, evening, night (until bed time when you cry)… I get tears in my eye when I think about how God has placed you specifically in our lives, what a marvelous gift! I enjoy watching you grow everyday, learning new things, experiencing each new day… I am sad that you are growing up because in no time at all you will be a mean teenager, off to college and married away yet I can’t wait to experience all of those things with you (Lord willing).

When I was starring at you on the changing table right now I started feeling a bit sentimental, which is why I had to come and write you this letter. Not that you will actually ever read it but since you don’t really grasp conversation yet, I just wanted you to know how much I love you, more than I could have ever thought. I almost love you more than ice cream… kidding. You bring so much joy to my life and you have only been here for 6 weeks. True, you have been around for a few months but no offense, they weren’t the most enjoyable… however, they were all worth it.

Having you has made me truly realize the Love that God has for all of His people, including us. He sent His only son to die for us so that we might live. I have to be honest, I  love you way too much to give you up for people who I don’t even know. I know God loved Jesus much more (sorry, it is the truth, His love is perfect and well, your Mother is not), yet he still sent him to the corss…just something I have been thinking about.

 You are so cute, funny, you smell good, you sleep well, you dress well… I can’t wait to hear you sing because I know you are going have a good voice judging by the tone of your crying…

Love you with all of my heart,

Your Mom.

Lucy had her 6 week apt and it was all good news!

Weight: 9lbs 11oz… she gained 2lbs since her last apt!!!

Height:  21  1/2 inches

Other Notes: Really good head control, average head circumference and she has baby acne, nothing I can do about.. will just go away on it’s own.

I absolutely LOVE being a mother. I adore my daughter and I could not imagine life without her. What a stinkin’ princess. I know, I called her a princess… uh-oh.

I love watching her with her Daddy, they are so cute together. Last night, Ryan was teaching Lucy advanced math problems… she is going to be a genius! Ha-Ha 

We had our first playdate today with baby Ella and baby Rachel, they were all born within three days of each other… I will post a picture of that once I upload the pictures. It was really fun to put them all together. Really, it was just three moms that needed to get our of the house , they didn’t really pay attention to each other.

We had to start sleep training Lucy. Some of you may say… you haven’t done that yet? Well, Lucy is a really good sleeper, had a pretty good night schedule going but the Holidays really screwed her up so a once pretty scheduled baby is now very sporadic. We moved her to her crib (which she loves) and  put her down around 9:00/ 9:30… she cried until about 11:30 the first night and so did Mommy… it was so sad. One minute she is smiling away being cute in our arms and the next she is screaming bloody murder… it is getting better now… she only cried for 15 minutes last night. Yahoo. I think she is getting it!!  

I am seriously obsessed with he TV show Clean House (I know, random). Have you ever watched it? I used to watch it on my lunch breaks at work in the exercise room but now we get the channel on our new TV… I can’t get enough of it. It kind of makes me want to make my house messy so that I can apply but I could never actually do it. There is a family from Baltimore whose house is up for “Messiest House in the Country”, I don’t think they are going to win. We will see.

Lucy is one whole month old today! I can’t believe it. Can you? Gosh, time flies.

Being a Mom is not as hard as I had anticipated. I am not saying that it is easy, but I am not pulling my hair out everyday. God has definitely blessed me with a wonderful, beautiful, content child. Honestly, recovering from the C-section has been far more challenging than having a new-born.  

She is a good sleeper- thank you! She is a good eater as long as I got the goods to feed her- still working on that. I have been having to supplement her in the evenings because after all day of feeding my supply is pretty low, I need to keep myself better hydrated and then we will probably be on the right track.

I had my OB follow-up today, Doc says I am recovering quickly and that in a few more weeks I will be jumping up and down like nothing ever happened. That is good, I feel like I am not going to be able to do anything ever again. I can’t wait to dance, run up the steps when I am scared in the basement, take Lucy out in her car seat, walk around the grocery store without feeling winded… things like that.

So, I still have my baby pooch. It is shrinking, but it is pretty weird. It reminds me of one of those swollen Ethiopian bellies.  Actually, I don’t think it is a pooch anymore, I think it is a Christmas Cookie belly. Ha-Ha. I am almost serious. I am however back to my pre baby weight already- totally surprised about that one- guess I should lay off the cookies while I can. 

Here are some snapshots from our first month together…

While looking through my camera I noticed that Ryan had a little photo op with the little one… here are some of his shots… darn cute!

=0)

So, I wish I had time to really blog right now. I have so many thoughts and stories that would be great reading material, however, I just do not have the time or energy to do it right now. I have to feed in exactly 37 minutes and lots of things to squeeze in before then. I would really like to procrastinate on that little task… ouchie! Man, it hurts.

So, real quick…

Did I do it? Did I go natural?

 NOPE! Couldn’t do it.

After about 12 hours of labor the real pains kicked in and I had THE WORST back labor… for one whole hour, 1 to 2 minutes apart while Ryan trying to apply counter pressure to relieve some of the pain… it just got worse and Ryan was getting weaker. So, I gave in and got an Epidural. Best decision ever!!! It was just enough that I could still feel everything while having about 90% less pain. It was great.

Only  another 10 hours or so until eventually it was time to push and after an hour an a half of pushing, Lucy was not budging. The little chunker was just too big to make her way out so we went in for a C-section… lots of good stories surrounding this topic but I will save them for another time.

At 4:33am on November 28th, Lucy was born. Weighing in at a whopping 8.94lbs and 20 inches short.

She is the cutest darn thing in the world and I just love her.

One thing I will really miss about being pregnant…

prime parking.

Though, I did just notice it says ” and mothers with infants” so I guess I won’t miss it yet. =0)

For those of you who have not heard the news, I am due to be induced on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.

 The reason for this is that Lucy is too big and I am too small. Trust me, we have done lots of praying and sought out lots of counsel before making this decision (an induction is an option, not a request) and it seems as though this is where the Lord is leading us. It is NOT at all what I had hoped for, Ryan either, but it looks like this will be the best thing for our baby at this time and the best thing to prevent a possible C-Section.

 You may be wondering “how big”? Well, at my Sonogram on Friday she was measuring in at a whopping 8lbs 10oz. Now, I know that these are not exact, give or take a pound, but my doctor and I had the discussion early on that he thinks the best way for me to deliver Va…. is to have a 7 or 8 lb baby. After Thanksgiving, she may be 10lbs! haha… Larger babies run higher risks at delivery than average babies and my insides are a bit small to handle anything bigger.

 I am dilated, almost two centimeters so it is possible that I go naturally before Friday (my Dr thinks it is a slight possibility). We are hoping and praying that this is what happens but if not, we are trusting that this is Gods plan and whatever happens, happens.

 We will be delivering at GBMC. There will be no visitors allowed (at all) due to the Flu season so you will have to wait until we get home to come and visit us.

 Some of you may have questions and thoughts about this and we welcome your questions and concerns. I will not be offended by anyone’s opinion or desire to serve us. But, please know that we are seeking and trusting God during this time and believe that this is where he has us.  

 Ways that you can be praying:

•  Despite the induction, I still plan to try and deliver without any other medical aids. This will be especially challenging because the Patocin strengthens labor pains. Please pray that this will be possible and that I will not be relying on my own strength to do it.
• Pray for Ryan. He is so excited but is a little worried about the induction.
• Pray that I go into labor naturally before Friday, Ryan would say Thursday night after dinner .
• Pray that the delivery will not end with a C-Section.
• Pray that it will be a miracle birth- no pain, no sweat, in and out. Ha-Ha… ask and you shall receive right?!

 

My Head hurts, I have had a migraine for about 3 days now. Tylenol is not really working.  

My shoulders hurt from sleeping on them the past 5 months.

My back hurts.

My legs hurt because they are supporting the weight of a giant bowling ball.

My feet hurt because they are supporting the legs that are supporting the giant bowling ball.

My stomach is so stretched out that I can barely tell I am touching it. It’s numb.

Have you ever gotten sun spots in your eyes? You know when you look into the sun or a bright camera flash… you get those spots in your eyes? Well, I get them ALLLLL of the time, at least once a day and because your eyes are more sensitive when you are pregnant, like everything else, they last at least an hour (for me). I am not exaggerating. I have gotten them everyday and they stay for a long time and it is very difficult to work. gr.

I am adding the note that I am going for an all natural child birth to the “ouch” category. Though it does not hurt now, within the next few weeks I can guarantee you that I will be screaming “ouch” and every time I think about it (which is often because I am due soon) I get really nervous. Obviously.

*******************************************************************

Doctor Apt. Follow Up…

Gained two pounds, weighing in at 152.

“Half Way Thinned Out”, this means my Uterus, at the bottom, is half the size is was. Not dilated but half way closer to being dilated.

Next apt (since I am going weekly now) is tomorrow (Wednesday). I will get my blood results back to see if I will be in need of an iron infusions- let’s hope not.

Sonogram to check baby weight, position and fluids is on Friday morning.

 

*Lucy’s Nursery is almost complete… it is so cute. When I find my camera I am going to post a picture… hopefully soon.