We took Adelyn in for her 2 week check up yesterday. By the words of the Dr - "She is perfect!" I said, "I'm so glad she's doing good!" He said, " I didn't say good...I said PERFECT!" So there you have it! I'm good with that!
She is now weighing 8 lbs. 4 oz. She was 7 lbs. 15 oz. at birth, and dropped to 7 lbs. 4 oz. when she left the hospital, - so she has caught up and gone over. That gave me such reassurance that things are going well in the area of breastfeeding. This is a whole new ride for me, as with the boys I exclusively pumped and fed them with bottles from the time they were in the NICU. I knew exactly how much I was pumping, exactly how much they were eating, and it was completely calculated and figured out.
With her it's been more of a guessing game. Is she getting enough? Is she getting a full feeding? Is her tummy really full? Am I making enough milk for her? Blah, blah, blah.... So, it was really good to see that she is filling out, having many wet and poopy diapers a day, and all in all just growing up! I'm just trying to let my body do it's thing and not worry about it!
She has been a pretty good sleeper since she's come home for the most part. We're still trying to get to know each other, so I won't say I have her completely figured out yet! As my friend Kristy said, she is still just trying to get to know herself! For the most part though she has been going down around 10:30. I have been waking her up again around 2 to eat, and then I put her back down and wake her up again about 6:30. There has only been one night so far where she has woken up on her own and cried out...the rest have been peaceful. I am completely going to knock on wood on that one because I know we have a LONG way to go yet....but so far so good!
My little boys are doing just fine as well. They are talking up a storm and changing every day. They make us laugh constantly and are the best of little buddies. They have started developing their own language and can communicate together. They have a certain word they use when they want to exchange toys. It sounds kind of like "Mama", but it works for them. One little boy will approach the other with a book or another toy, they will exchange a few words, and then they will switch without a fuss or a whine! They love to do it at the dinner table too and switch their milk cups back and forth throughout the entire meal.
Whenever Grayson sees me breastfeeding Adie I tell him that she's eating. He looks at me and says "No." He thinks I am confused, because we all know we eat at the kitchen table, not hooked on to Mommy!
Another cute story about the boys. The other day they were at MawMaw's again and were going down for their nap. As you can imagine they climbed right on out of those pack and plays within minutes. Chris's mom entered the room and Ethan must have heard her coming. When she opened the door he was desperately trying to climb back in to the crib before he got in trouble! He did not get out again, but his brother on the other hand got out three more times before MawMaw finally told him that she would have to call his Daddy! He didn't get out again after that! I tell you, these boys understand a lot more than we give them credit for sometimes! Little monkeys!
This morning Chris, his parents, and the boys are off to the local tv station kids carnival. There are going to be over 100 vendors with activities, games, free food, etc. It should be a great time for all of them. Adie and I are staying home and having some quiet time together on this cool Saturday morning. I am sitting here in a sweatshirt and jeans! Love this weather!
Life is just rolling right along here in our little home. Chris is off all of this week, so we have just tucked ourselves away and we are getting to know each other as a family of five.
It's a busy home...constantly full of diapers that need changed, mouths that need fed, bodies that need cuddled, boo-boo's that need kissed...
There are moments where I feel overwhelmed. Especially when I think of taking over full time care during the day of all three kids here in a few weeks after Mom leaves. It scares me when I think about meeting all three of their needs and giving each one of them the attention and care they deserve.
I know these feelings are normal as I am hormonal and sleep deprived, as well as just trying to find a groove with our sweet little Adie. I know that it will all fall in to place as it did with the boys and we will find our pattern.
I really am in love with just being home right now. It is okay with me if we just don't go anywhere for awhile. I wish I could just freeze life just like this for a long time to come. It is cozy. It is peaceful. It is where I am the most content.
The boys are still taking amazingly well to Adelyn. I am so thankful for that. Whenever they see her they yell her name "Adie! Adie!" and they come running to see her. They love to touch her, watch her, kiss her. They are sweet brothers to her.
With such a sleepy little newborn I feel like I am still able to have some great one-on-one time with the boys too. Probably more time than I was able to have them during all of bed rest. It has been nice. It's been especially nice to get my body back in some regard! To be able to get on the floor with them, help change them, read to them, help with meals, etc. I'm not pushing it fully yet and can't lift them for another 4 weeks or so - but I am feeling pretty good considering she is only 11 days old.
Well, my time has run out. "Me" time is few and far between these days, and that's alright with me!
Sorry for being so quiet on here the past few days, but we've truly just shut ourselves away and are enjoying this time of getting to know each other as a family of five.
As I write this I am sitting on the couch with my swollen feet up on a chair, Mom and Dad are each drinking a glass of wine, and Chris is snuggling with little Adelyn against his chest before her next feeding.
I am tired, sore, and bloated and yet I have never been this happy or felt this content in all of my life.
I feel such an incredible sense of completeness and wholeness as I look at this family around me.
I feel blessed beyond words as I hold this little girl against me and study the intricate little parts of her body. Her tiny little fingernails, her curved little knees and sweet little tongue. The smell of her as I hold her up and kiss her cheeks and nuzzle my face against her skin.
What a different experience this is having one baby. It has been incredible. I feel like I can focus my attention solely on her when we have our time together. I don't have to worry about sharing the time equally with another baby, but yet know that at that moment I just need to care for her needs alone.
She is a gift that has brought such healing to me. Healing I didn't even know that I needed. Healing to have a healthy child. To not have to fear birth or prematurity. It has been so healing to look at this daughter of mine, healthy, whole and full term - and just to feel so thankful for that.
Ethan and Grayson are adjusting incredibly well. They have not shown any signs of jealousy, and truthfully I have been able to spend more time with them now than I was able to on bed rest, so I think they're enjoying that. They got to hold their sister for the first time today. It was so great to watch them giggle and smile as they studied her little wiggling body laying there in front of them.
They have been in awe of this new little baby in our house. They love to watch us feed her, change her, and even today they helped me burp her. When they hear her cry they say "baby?baby?" They love going back to her nursery and saying "Adee?Adee?"
I love watching them interact and knowing that I am the mother of these three incredible children.
Thank you all so much for your comments, calls, emails, gifts, meals, etc. We appreciate it SO much more than you'll ever know. I am sorry if I owe you a phone call or an email....I will catch up eventually! Right now it feels like all I'm doing is feeding, changing, resting, and caring as much as I can for two 21 month olds... :)
Ethan (l) and Grayson (r) holding their sister for the first time
At around 4 a.m. Sunday morning I woke up with some pretty impressive contractions and cramping. I checked the timing on them and realized they were about every 7-9 minutes apart at that point. I decided to get up and get a glass of water and a cereal bar to see if that would help calm them back down. I went downstairs and got online for a few minutes to get my mind off of everything. I was still noticing though that they were coming pretty frequently and intense and something just seemed to be happening!
I called my Dr. on call and she told me to try and get a shower. She said if that didn't help then it was time to come on in! I went and got a shower and then laid down next to Chris in bed. We timed 5 minutes between contractions and decided it was time to hit the road!
We called MawMaw (Chris's Mom), to come and care for the boys while we rushed off to the hospital. She got there quickly! We didn't even wait for her to pull in to the drive, but instead met her further up on the block.
My contractions were nowhere near as intense as they were with the boys on the way to the E.R. and so I considered that a good sign. My water hadn't broken this time which I think helped keep things at bay.
We got to the hospital at around 6ish and they checked me in and wheeled me up to the third floor. Nurse Annie (AMAZING woman who brought me such comfort all day long) was there waiting. She hooked me up to a few monitors and we saw that I was indeed contracting every 5-7 minutes or so. She checked on Adelyn and she was remaining perfectly safe and content inside of me so all was good there. At that time I was 3 cm dilated so we were in no huge rush or hurry to have to make things move too quickly.
Because of the couple bites of cereal bar I had eaten a few hours earlier that morning they wanted me to wait as long as possible before doing surgery. Typically they don't want you eating anything up to 8 hours before, but they had me wait about six.
So...we waited.
It was so wonderful. It was wonderful to have that time to know that we would soon meet our daughter, but yet there was no huge emergency or rush to have to get her out right then and there. I didn’t have that with the boys. It was all go, go, go by the time we arrived at the E.R. with them as I was 10 cm dilated and ready to start pushing!
Annie, my nurse, is also the mother of twins. Her twins are one month older than mine and we had the greatest time talking and comparing notes on life with multiples. She was just amazingly sweet and gentle and exactly what I needed during that time.
At around 10 the anesthesiologist came in to the room and talked with me about the c-section. He asked me a bazillion and a half questions and not long after they had me walk down to the O.R. to meet my daughter!
When I walked in to the operating room one of the nurses yelled out “Welcome to the Birthday Room!” There was music playing, people buzzing here and there, and it really did seem like a party was going on! I was so excited knowing that within minutes from that time I would be meeting my daughter face to face.
I was blessed beyond words when I saw that a dear lady who goes to our church, Ann, was going to be in the O.R. during the surgery. She is an amazing RN with over 29 years of experience and it certainly did show. She helped me sit up on the operating table and held my hands and explained to me what they were going to be doing with the spinal and all of that. I was truthfully the most nervous for the spinal above anything else.
While the anesthesiologist was working his magic and doing his thing she stood there right in front of me, allowing me to cling to her hands. At one point I even asked her if her hands were okay because I was squeezing them so tight! It really wasn’t that big of a deal or that painful, it was just the thought of it all that made me a little bit squeamish.
Within minutes he was done and they helped me lift my ever-getting-heavier legs on to the table. Pretty soon I tried to lift them and it was just completely dead weight. They placed warm blankets over the top part of my body and it felt like I was seriously at the spa!
They hung up the famous blue sheet in front of my face and then they went to get Chris. He came and joined me and it was so good to see him and have him there. He stood, holding my hand, for the entire procedure and wanted to see every step in the arrival of our daughter coming in to the world. I am so glad he did because he was able to get some amazing pictures, as well as tell me later about the whole experience.
Ann came over to me just as they were starting the surgery and she prayed with me over the arrival of our baby. It was the most incredible gift that I could have ever been given at that time. It also, as you can imagine, made me even more emotional and touched me at such a deep level. I just felt such complete and absolute peace over the entire situation. She will never know how much that meant to me and how I will never forget it.
It wasn’t too long after they started when they told announced “Here she comes!” At that moment the song “Isn’t She Lovely” by Stevie Wonder came on! Her little head came popping on out and I heard her first little cry. After a little more work the rest of her followed and the doctor held her up for me to get my first look at her. She was big and plump and beautiful! I just sobbed and sobbed, so overcome with emotion at the sight of my daughter.
She was born at 11:24 a.m.
Chris was able at that point to go with them to the other side of the O.R. and help them clean and wrap her up. He then carried her over to me and we snuggled and kissed all over her. Amazing. She was able to stay there with us for about 10 minutes before she went to the nursery to get warm, weighed, and cleaned.
Her official weight was 7 pounds, 15.3 ounces. She was 20 inches long.
It wasn’t long after and they were wheeling me in to the recovery room. Chris was able to join me in there, and within about 10 minutes after that Adelyn joined us as well. I was able at that time to breastfeed her and she latched on right away!
We were able to spend almost that entire first day together getting to know each other, cuddling, breastfeeding, and just giving me time to soak in this new miracle that was now in my arms. This experience of having a healthy, full term baby has been SO incredibly healing for me. I don’t think I knew or understood the depths of how much healing it would bring me to be able to have her nestled up next to me without any machines, tubes, or wires getting in the way. It was weeks before I was able to see my little boy’s entire faces free and clear of any tubes…and I was just amazed by the sight of her chubby little cheeks, little button nose, and pouty little lips!
Yesterday morning Ethan and Grayson came to meet their sister for the first time. I was so excited to see their reaction and see my entire family of five in one room together. Below is a video of them seeing her. Priceless.
Today I will be going home WITH my daughter to join the rest of our family. I know much lies ahead as our family gets acquainted with each other and we fall in to a groove. I am so looking forward to it.
I feel blessed. Blessed beyond words at the way my life has turned out this far. I feel undeserving, in awe, overwhelmed at the incredible responsibility that now lays before us as we raise up these three incredible children of ours.
Waiting for everything to begin!
Can you say McSteamy? :)
Chris checking out his daughter
Chris and I kissing her for the first time
10 little fingers, 10 little toes...the total package!
Ethan and Grayson meeting Adelyn for the first time!
UPDATE: For some reason the video of the boys meeting their sister doesn't seem to be working. I will work on this more later when I get home!
The 10 day countdown is on until our daughter arrives!! This morning I woke up at 4:30 for the restroom (a common occurrence these nights), and couldn't get my mind to turn off to fall back asleep.
Chris woke up at 5:30 and I decided to go ahead and get up with him. Now it's 10:00 and I'm exhausted and ready for a nap!
No nap right now for me though as I have accepted the help of my amazing mother-in-law and father-in-law today so that I can finally finish tackling this meal planning project. I now 8 weeks of meals planned and need to finish up the grocery lists to accompany them. We have been using them for a few weeks now and I am loving it! It has helped us a lot to know what to pull out of the freezer a couple days in advance, what produce we need to buy, etc.
The Internet is such an amazing tool when trying to tackle projects like this. There are so many amazing blogs out there chalk full of recipes that I am dying to try!
Thanks to all of you who sent me links, emails, and recipes to help fill my menu up. Yum!
In other news...
Life is good...just full!
The boys are doing great. Changing every day it seems. Their personalities are really starting to develop and they are alike in many ways, but in other ways they are different as night and day! We are really working with them on their sharing! Grayson has a tendency to take things away from his brother whenever the desire arises. Ethan doesn't put up a fight usually, but just walks away and finds something else!
So far they are staying put in their cribs. The other day we put Ethan in his and he kept saying "Down, down, down" and trying to lift his little feet up and over the side of his crib!
In baby news the Dr. thinks that our little girl is probably at least 7 1/2 pounds already...so if she makes it til the 2nd we will have close to a 9 pounder on our hands possibly! My goodness she will feel big in my arms compared to those little 5 pound boys I gave birth to! We are so thankful for a big ole chunky baby!
