Caitlyn @ 10 Weeks

She's getting so big and growing so fast it makes me happy and sad at the same time! We took her to her 2 month appt last Monday (Nov 17th). She weighed 11 lbs 7 oz (75th percentile) and is 23 in (50th percentile). She has really bad reflux issues. We had her taking Zantac, but it didn't seem to be making a difference so the pedi switched her to Prevacid. I think it's making a little bit of difference but she still spits up all the time. It doesn't seem to bother her most of the time it's just a huge mess. We keep a bib on her constantly because it's easier to change that then her clothes all the time. She got 3 shots and an oral vaccine while we were there. That was heart breaking. Since I'm still breastfeeding they let me feed her right after the shots and that seems to calm her down pretty quickly.

Milestones:
She's smiling more and more and starting to giggle a little bit too. I love talking to her because she's starting to respond back. When I say hi to her she trys to mimic the sound and say hi back. It's so precious!!! At 9 weeks she finally figured out how to keep her thumb in her mouth! So she's a little better about self soothing. She's still colicy at night but much better during the day. And even though she's colicy at night once we start her bedtime routine she's a happy baby and goes to bed pretty easily and is sleeping through until 5 or later in the morning! For bed time routine we do a bath, I feed her and swaddle her and put her down. Sometimes she'll cry when I lay her down but it never lasts more than 5 min and she's usually out! She'll also stay in her swing for more than 5 min now. She hates tummy time so we don't try that much anymore. She's holding her head up on her own now which is so much better. We can sit her on our laps and play with her. She loves being naked! When I'm dressing her in the morning I take her clothes off and let her lay there as long as she wants naked. She's so happy during this time! I need to write these things down as they happen...I feel like I'm forgetting things!

I go back to work in less than 2 weeks. I'm so sad. I've cried a few times and tried to convince Jared I should stay home. If it wasn't for health insurance I'd be able too...it totally sucks! But I've got to do what I need to for our family. We got into the daycare that we wanted which is by my work so I can go see and feed her over my lunch hour. I'm hoping to continue breastfeeding after I go back to work...we'll see how pumping at work goes. I never expected to enjoy bfing so much. I can't imagine not doing it...it's our bonding time!

Pictures of Caitlyn to follow....

Caitlyn @ 6 Weeks

Caitlyn will be 6 weeks old on Sunday - I can hardly believe it. Time goes by so quickly! And she's changed so much in this time already. She's a very colicky baby and this has made things a little tough for us. It's just so frustrating to have her cry when you've satisfied all of her needs. She's been fed and her diaper is changed and she should be happy - but she's not. She's getting a little better as she gets older. They say this usually passes by the time they are 3 months old. This makes me a little sad as that's when I have to go back to work. So by the time she's no longer fussy I won't get to spend as much time with her. But I'm also glad that I hopefully won't be taking a fussy baby to daycare. It's one thing for me to be frustrated, but I don't want someone else who is watching her to be frustrated since I don't know how they deal with their frustrations.

We took her to see her pediatrician when she was a week old and found out that she was tongue tied. We were referred to an ENT (surprisingly it was Jared's ENT) to have her evaluated. We took her and were told that it was about 2/3's tied so it wasn't totally bad and since I wasn't having problems feeding her we didn't have to get it clipped. But if we waited she could have speech problems later on and if we were to get it clipped when she was older she would have to be put under general anesthesia. So we decided to get it clipped right there in her office. It took about 15 min and Caitlyn slept through the entire procedure!

I've known since the day after she was born that she was going to be a thumb sucker. I thought maybe I could fight this...but it's a losing battle. She's still trying to totally figure out how to get it in her mouth and keep it there...but she's getting better at it with each passing day. I know she'll be a happier baby and will be able to self soothe more once she totally has it figured out so I'm now praying it happens soon. She very rarely takes the pacifier - even though I try each time she's upset.

She's already outgrown her newborn clothes and has moved into size 1 diapers. They're still a little big for her but she's too long for the newborn clothes. At least she'll be able to wear this size a little longer. She didn't even get to wear some of her newborn outfits. And she won't get to wear some of her 3 month clothes because they're summer clothes and it's too cold for those now.

I go to a breastfeeding support group every Wednesday and get her weighed and as of last Wednesday she weighs 10 pounds 6 oz. We don't go to the pedi again until 2 months so I like knowing that she is gaining well since I don't know exactly how much she's getting with each feeding. I love going to this group as it gets me out of the house and talking with other new mothers. Listening to them I know that Caitlyn and I are normal with the things we go through.

I'm hoping to post more often with news of Caitlyn and how she's changing and growing! I'll be posting new pictures soon - I just need to get them downloaded to the computer!

Introducing....

P

Birth Story

Saturday night, September 13th I started having contractions at about 5pm. We were going over to Jared's aunt Charlotte's house for Italian night. I kind of felt like my water was leaking, but wasn't sure if it was that or just me leaking more pee than normal. We went to Charlotte's and my contractions got closer from 20 min to about 10 min apart by 9:30pm. On the way home I called the hospital and because I thought my water had maybe broken and I had tested positive for strep b they wanted me to come in right away. I went home and took a shower and headed to the hospital. Turns out that my water had not broken. They had me walk around the labor and delivery floor for about an hour to see if we could make anything happen...but I stayed at 2cm. The contractions were getting stronger and I was feeling them both in the front and in my back. The back contractions were HORRIBLE! They said the reason I was feeling back contractions was because she was laying face up instead of down. So her spine was aligned with my spine and this was causing the back contractions. I labored all night and finally gave in and got the epi at about 5am. Jared tried to be there for me while they put the epi in...but he almost passed out and they had to have him lay down while the anesthesiologist finished. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. The Dr. came in to check me at about 8am and broke my water and they decided to give me pitocin in my IV at that time as well. The epi was wonderful when it worked. I got to 4 cm by about 11am and then didn't dilate at all until about 3pm. Then I went from 4 to 8 in about half an hour. I finally got to 9 1/2 cm at about 4pm but stalled out there. During this time my epi wore off twice. They gave me a button to push every 5 min for the pain...but this didn't do anything to alleviate the back contractions I was feeling when the epi wore off. She wasn't moving down and I had just a lip around my cervix that the Dr. thought was too much to push through and the baby's heart rate was dropping with each contraction. At about 6 he started talking about c-section. I freaked out a little bit at this point. I cried. I had labored for over 24 hours and I really wanted a vaginal birth. They talked about the pros and cons and left for Jared and I to discuss. The most important thing was for us to have a healthy baby. So we decided the c-section was the best way to go. They got me all prepped and took me in at about 7pm. Jared was wonderful through all of this. He doesn't do well with blood and needles, but he was a real trooper. He even held my barf bag as I got sick. Caitlyn Anita Darling was born at 7:34pm on September 14th, 2008. She weighed 8lbs 11oz and was 19 1/2 in long.



Recovering from the c-section has not been fun....but it's totally worth it! I love our little girl more than I could have imagined possible. We waited so long for this and it was worth every minute!

Over Due....

This title fits for a few reasons. First I haven't updated this blog for 2 weeks. I've just been so tired that when I get home from work I don't want to do anything! Second - I was due on Tuesday and am STILL pregnant!

When I last posted my blood pressure was pretty high. It was high that whole week. My first appt was on Monday, and I had made a follow up appt for Friday. Well Thursday afternoon I wasn't feeling well so I called and they had me come right in. My blood pressure was actually better than on Monday, but still high. So they had me come back for my appt on Friday morning. Still high, but again not as bad as it had been on Monday. I was told to take it easy over the weekend and had another appt scheduled for Tuesday. The only problem was that my family reunion was that weekend and I was hosting at my house on Saturday. I did pretty good letting others take over and help out - but felt tremendously guilty about it and had a couple of crying melt downs in the process. But I got through it and had a great time with my family!

At my 39 week appt on Tuesday my blood pressure was back to normal! There was no change in my cervix...still only 50% effaced and no dilation. He had me come in for another bp check on Thursday and again it was normal. Yippee!

At my 40 week appt my bp was normal and I had progressed a little bit! I'm now 1 1/2 cm dilated and about 60% effaced. I know it could still stay this way for awhile, but it gives me hope that maybe she'll come on her own before my induction date on the 15th. Early Monday morning I was feeling a few contractions...this got me very excited. Only they stopped and I haven't felt anything since. I have also been losing my mucus plug slowly but surely this week. Yuck!

My last day of work was yesterday, so I'm home relaxing and getting ready for the arrival of our little girl! I'll try to have Jared take one more belly pic before we go to the hospital. There has been great debate at work all week regarding whether it looks like I've "dropped" at all or not. I think I have a little bit as the pelvic pain has gotten better...but the back pain has increased.
Soon there will be pictures to share of Caitlyn....I can't wait!!!

38 Week Appt

My appt yesterday was not a very good one. My blood pressure was really high. I think it was 179 over 142. The nurse took it twice, then had me lay on my left side for a few min and took it again. It went down a little bit when I laid down. So the Dr. wants me to go back on Friday morning for just a bp check to see how I'm doing. My bp was a little high at my 37 week appt - but the Dr. didn't seem concerned at that point. This week was quite a bit higher. Still nothing going on down below. Still not dilated at all and still about 50% effaced. If she doesn't come out on her own by Sept 15th we'll be induced that day. Hopefully it doesn't come to that...I really want her to come on her own! If my bp stays high they may induce me earlier. So we're just waiting....

I'm training my replacement at work and she's picking up really quick! I'm so thankful that she has some background. It makes the training so much easier!


We did a maternity photo shoot tonight. It was a lot of fun! Some of the poses and outfits she had me do I wasn't prepared for, but I kept an open mind and figure I don't have to share anything that I don't want to! I can't wait to see them. She said it would be a couple of weeks before she sent me the link.
I'll update again after my next appt.

Fred Flintstone's Feet & 37 Week Appt

I didn't come up with this term on my own...but that is exactly what my feet look like when they are swollen! At first the swelling didn't bother me so much because I couldn't feel it. But now my feet are sore because they swell throughout the day and then go down at night. It's really taking a toll on my poor little feet. Sometimes they go all the way down at night while I'm sleeping and other times I wake up and they are still slightly swollen. It really depends on how hot and humid it is outside. I wish it would just cool down and stay cool...this would make me very happy for several reasons. Then I could walk at night with the dog. And everyone else wouldn't think I'm crazy when they are freezing in the air conditioning and I'm still sweating. Jared sleeps with 2 blankets and a sheet while I sleep with barely the sheet draped over me and the fan going! Plus the swelling wouldn't be as bad and maybe my feet and fingers wouldn't hurt near as much.

I'm also dealing with extreme pelvic pain, whenever I sit or lay down for too long. This is a huge problem while sleeping at night. I'm getting up about every hour to hour and a half to go to the bathroom and it is extremely painful to get in and out of bed. It's a good thing Jared is such a sound sleeper - so he doesn't wake up every time with my whining and moaning! I know this will all be over very soon and as soon as I see our little girl I'll forget all the pain that this 3rd trimester has brought to me. I can't wait for that day to be here!!! I try to picture what she looks like and dream about holding her and taking her home. That time is almost here!

Nothing much happened at my 37 week appt. I did have another internal exam and I'm still not dilating. He stated that my cervix is starting to soften and that I'm about 50% effaced. So a little more progress than last week...but not much. It was a very short appt. In and out in 15 min! Next appt is on Monday the 25th.

Counting down...only 2 1/2 weeks to go if she comes on time!