Almost 4 months?!?! Where did time go?

Here I sit writing for the first time in weeks because well I have an infant and life that keep me pretty busy. Hannah is now 16 weeks and 5 days old. Shes growing like a weed. Shes about 12lbs now and last she was measured she was 21 inches long. Though she is growing she is still quite petite. She can still fit some newborn clothes but mostly wears 0-3 months stuff. I put her in 3 months stuff every now and then but they really are too big for her. I kept making the joke that her feet haven't grown since birth; well i compared her feet to her hospital prints and they've maybe grown 1/4 of an inch. Strangers are often shocked to find out shes nearly 2 to 3 months older than they guessed.
Hannah has discovered how to make noises. She loves to laugh at her daddy every morning. She never fails us by waking up with a huge smile and lots of giggles. You cant get upset about early mornings when you're greeted by such excitement for a new day. Hannah was fussing for food every hour to hour and a half so we decided it was time to supplement her diet with rice cereal. She doesn't get much but every morning and some evenings she gets her cereal; often mixed with a little homemade applesauce. She has learned that the high chair means food. If we don't move quick enough making her cereal or feeding her she sure lets us know. Hannah still hates tummy time but is getting much better at lifting her head and even rolling to her side from her stomach. She has decided her favorite color is teal. Anything she sees that is teal (toys, clothes, ect) attract and keep her attention. I would say that overall Hannah is developing and growing well. Shes becoming a joy to spend time with and such a sweet addition to our lives.
As far as myself, I am doing well. I am often hungry because we have discovered Hannah has a dairy allergy and instead of switching her over to formula I have decided to adapt my diet to meet her needs. I never knew how much dairy filled you up. I feel like I eat non-stop but according to my doctor at this past weeks appointment I am still not getting enough calories. He was concerned that my weight has dropped too much since her birth. He told me over and over not to lose anymore weight. I don't think he understands that for the first time in my life I have not really tried to drop the pounds... they just fell off and probably will continue to since I don't plan to stop nursing anytime soon. I am learning that some people (including doctors) have some advice and comments about parenting that are unrealistic. Is it necessary to tell me that my child is too attached to me because she soothes better to mom than anyone else? I honestly don't believe it is possible for a child to be too attached to her mother at 3.5 months of age. I am learning to put a filter on what I listen to as well as what I react to. I know that I am not producing a terror of a child that is over attached to her mom. I know that I am 23 years old and plenty old enough to have a child. I know that being 3 lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight and 1 lb over my ideal body weight (according to doctors) is not going to kill me or harm my child. I know that I would do anything in the world for my munchkin and that she is not mistreated or lacking care therefore I have nothing to worry about. My sister-in-law gave Hannah a onsie that reads "My mommy doesn't want your advice". I may need to buy this onsie in every size. You're probably thinking, "wow shes bitter". Am I though? I wouldn't say bitter but simply learning that not everyone's experience is the same therefore their experience is not always right for me. Parenting is teaching me patience, understanding, and tolerance for differences.

Hannah and Cousin Tabathas cow, Ferdinan
(a few days shy of 3 months)

Hannah and Mom at Nana and Papas house
Sept. 2, 2011

Good morning!
3.5 months

Beautiful girl!
Oct. 6, 2011

Poop This... Poop That... Poop Poop Poop.

So Hannah is now almost 9 weeks and 4 days old. She had her two month appointment yesterday and weighed in at 10lbs and 3 ounces and is 22 inches long. My girl is growing like a weed. She ranked in the 40th percentile for both her height and weight. For awhile I had been worried that Hannah was not getting all the nutrients she needs from me but after seeing her consistently grow I will never doubt again. She also got her two month vaccinations at yesterdays appointment and handled really well. She of course did not like them. All she wanted was to be held and loved on by her Momma and she was just fine. Into the evening she seemed to become more fussy and uncomfortable. She ran a low grade fever and her little thighs began to swell some but once she got a dose of Tylenol in she seemed to sooth really well and slept for a good while.

I talked to her doctor again about an issue the poor girl has been having for awhile. She will love me for this one day but its true my daughter doesn't seem to know how to pass gas or poop properly. When she was brand new this was not an issue for her at all. I mean afterall, we made jokes about being able to use her as a human whoopie cushion and how she had "the incident" with her dad but this has now changed for sure.  For awhile now we thought she had a stomach virus because her poop was.... well you don't really care to know what it looked like but it just didn't look right and she was so extremely fussy. I have noticed that poop has been the topic of my conversation with just about anyone and everyone lately. I think its official I am just like every other Momma in the world and find it to be totally ok to make bodily functions a regular discussion. Last time I took Hannah to the doctor to address this issue that I believed was causing her to scream non-stop they suggested that she may have reflux so they put her on zantac. She may have a reflux issue but on top of that I am convinced she has a stomach issue. Her poop seems to be looking more normal now but she sure struggles to pass it. The doctor told me yesterday that we may just have to wait it out until it she hopefully grows out of this phase. Both Tim and I look forward to that day.

Other than her stomach struggles my girl is doing great. I am amazed at how much something so little can change your life.Waking up in the morning doesn't seem so bad when I am greeted with a gorgeous smile. Everything I do seems so much better when I hear her giggle or coo at the simplest of things. She has pretty much transformed both Tim and me but I wouldn't change it for the world. As much as he hates to admit it, Tim and I both are wrapped around her little finger already. I am so excited to see how much life is going to continue to change and grow with our June Bug a part of our lives. I love this new adventure we are on.

Amos and Hannah hanging out together. They will be best friends. 

The most precious face in the world.

Hanging out with Mom at work and babbling away. 

Sweet Sweet Baby.

Many of those who read my blog have brought it to my attention that I have not posted in entirely too long. Don't be mistaken... I am well aware of this fact but simply have been a tad bit busy with a new baby, tons of visitors, traveling, and going back to work. My blogs may be few and far between but I promise to continue to post. 

So lets see, what has happened since my last posting? Oh my goodness, a ton! Hannah is now 4 weeks and 5 days old. Time is going by entirely too fast with her. Her day is not the most exciting. She wakes every3 hours (give or take a bit) for a feeding diaper change and an hour or so of "play time" which typically consists of staring at the ceiling or her dad and me. It was difficult to get her on a schedule with family in town for the first 3 weeks of her life and then traveling to my parents house last weekend. Now that we have been home alone for a few days we have been able to get things into somewhat of a normal schedule.

The beginning of the week was tough on all three of us because Hannah was completely out of sorts. She did nothing but cry and eat. She hardly ever slept and when she did her naps were no more than 45 minutes long. Tim and I were both so frustrated with why she was so upset and totally confused as to what happened to our completely content baby. It didn't take long to realize Hannah was experiencing some discomfort with her left eye. She began developing a nasty crust over her eye on a regular basis and was constantly rubbing it. I had pretty much figured out the girl had a blocked tear duct so I tried home remedies. We applied warm compresses all day long and even went to the extreme to take the crazy advice of putting breast milk in her eye to try to heal any infection going on. By Wednesday I gave up hope on the natural treatment and had completely become frustrated with the constant screaming my child was doing so I called her doctor. They had me bring her right in, massaged (aka pushed as hard as they could) around her eye to release the infection which was absolutely repulsive and gave me a prescription for a cream to apply three times a day. I experienced the mamma syndrome that so many moms tell you about but you can never truly understand until you experience it. It literally broke my heart to see her doctor push on my babies eye and make her cry to hard. Every time we applied her meds or massaged her eye at home Tim and I both cringed at the thought of possibly putting her through discomfort or pain. We have learned that if you do the treatment while she is eating or sleeping she doesn't seem to get quite as upset so its not as bad anymore but boy was it painful to watch my innocent sweet sweet baby hurt so bad. Today her eye is looking so much better and she seems to be in a much better mood. I think she is catching up on some sleep from the past few days because the girl seems to be sleeping all day today.  I am thrilled to be getting my happy, very content child back.

So much has changed in just a 4 week period of time for Hannah. The doctor called her a little cow. At 3 days old Hannah weighed 5lbs 12oz. At her appointment this past Wednesday (4 weeks 3 days old) Hannah weighed 8lbs 4oz with her clothes on. My peanut is filling out. She is still itty bitty but boy has she grown. She is almost completely out of her newborn diapers and into size 1. She has outgrown almost all of her preemie clothes and now fits into some newborn clothes. She is still pretty skinny so some newborn pieces are a bit big but her length makes it nearly impossible to fit her into the preemie things. She still cannot fit any newborn socks or shoes but we will get there eventually. I do not want to rush it... I love her petite-ness and want to hang on to these days as long as they will allow me. 

I am still so amazed by how perfect my child is. I know that sounds so self consumed and ridiculous but I cant help it. I know every mom says that about her baby but its not just me. Everyone keeps telling us how she looks like a baby doll and is easily mistaken for being fake because she is so perfect. I cannot help but stare at her and get wrapped up in every little detail of her. Tim and I are both just amazed at what we have been blessed with. She makes us proud in ways we never thought we would be. I just love that sweet sweet baby. 

Hannahs long but joyous entrance

So how it all happened... Saturday evening on the way home from the ordination service at the district center I started to notice my contractions were becoming more regular and a bit stronger but after nearly 3 weeks of  false labor I was ignoring them and telling myself it was just more false labor. We came home around 8:45pm to find that our well pump had sprung a leak and had soaked a good area of our basement. My mind was a bit preoccupied with that to even concentrate on the contractions. About 11:30 after things with the water mess had called down I decided to tell Tim we better start timing these contractions because they were growing stronger and much more regular but still really not painful. After timing them for over an hour at about 5-6 minutes apart lasting 1 to 1.5 minutes long Tim convinced me to call the after hours line at the hospital and see what they said. I was a bit hesitant because I didn't want to hear "Its just false labor... wait it out". Much to my surprise the on call doctor told me to head to the hospital to be checked out. We packed up and off we went. Keep in mind it is now 2am and Tim and I are both tired from a long weekend with district assembly and everything going on. When we got here I was 2 centimeters and 80% effaced (exactly what I was at my last OB appointment on Thursday). They wanted to monitor the contractions for awhile and thought maybe I would progress since I was contracting so regularly. After two hours of monitoring I had made little to no progress but my contractions were down to 4 minutes apart so the triage doctor did not want to send me home just yet. They sent me walking the hospital for nearly two more hours and then checked me again. At that point I had dilated to 3 centimeters which really didn't seem like much to me. I still was in no pain just simply uncomfortable. I was totally frustrated with being cooped up in this little triage room with an extremely uncomfortable bed and no place for Tim to even try to get remotely comfortable. Suddenly my blood pressure sky rocketed which basically got me an automatic admission to the hospital. After monitoring me for a bit and watching my contractions grow closer together, now 3 minutes apart lasting almost 2 minutes long and my blood pressuring maintaining around 170/85 they decided to send me to Labor and delivery to break my water and get things moving with this baby. I was not sure if I was happy or scared at that point. I wanted to be done but the reality of things really sunk in then. By the time they transported me to Labor and delivery I was 4 centimeter dilated. My doctor broke my water at 10:30am and within in 30 minutes everything started to move along as planned. My blood pressure dropped back down to what is normal for me at 110/60 within minutes of having my water break. My contractions picked up to about every other minute and became more intense but honestly I cannot say they hurt really bad. They were much more uncomfortable than before. Honestly, I remember thinking this labor thing is a piece of cake and I can handle this any day. Tim and I had a discussion about how easy it was and how I would be totally fine with having another baby in no time despite the fact that neither of us really want that. At about 3:30pm I decided to retract that statement because these contractions were actually starting to hurt. They were not unbearable but they hurt. Around 4pm they finally checked me again and said I was nearing 9 centimeters but not quite there yet.  I was not only starting to really hurt and feel like I needed to push but the ac in my room had gone out hours before and I was sweating excessively. Tim was at my beck and call feeding me ice chips, water, and packing on the ice cold wash clothes to try to cool me down and keep me calm. About 15 minutes later I told Tim he had to call the doctor back because there was no way I couldn't push with every contraction. They came rushing back to see that I was a full 10 centimeters dilated and it was time to get this baby out. During the last stages of labor, she decided to roll over and instead of having her face toward my back she was looking up toward my stomach which is not ideal for delivery. I had to push for a substantial period of time just to get her to corkscrew back into the right position before I could actually deliver her. I pushed for about an hour total and finally she came.  Tim did great the entire time. He managed to support and encourage me the entire time and never passed out. The worst of the whole ordeal was the delivery. I can still say labor was pretty easy right up until the end. I am now fairly sore but not in nearly as much pain as others have warned me I would be.
At one point I thought Tim, the doctors, and nurses were just being nice when they told me I have a pain tolerance unlike most but after some observation I am thinking they may be right. The doctor who delivered Hannah said I was the first in the last 60 births he has delivered to go completely natural. When they asked if I wanted drugs I refused almost every last one would make a comment like they didn't think I would last without them. Tim saw a girl out in the hall who was not nearly as close to delivery crying and moaning in pain while I was in my labor and delivery room breathing through each contraction fairly calmly. The other thing that really has confirmed my pain tolerance is the fact that they wrote me a script for Vicodin to help with pain after delivery. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? VICODIN?!?! Yeah, I will just stick with the 600mg Motrin every 6 hours or so. Not to brag but I am not a wimp... I can handle some discomfort. Nobody promised having babies would be pain free before during or after. Pain or not my perfect little girl makes it all worth while.

Hello Hannah!

Right now I am sitting in my recovery room at the hospital with my perfect family.  Our daughter was born last evening, June 12, 2011 at 5:13pm weighing in at 6lbs 7oz. 19 inches long. We named her Hannah June (Hannah is simply a biblical name that we both really liked and June is Tim's Grammy's name). Nothing makes me happier than to see my husband resting with our beautiful little Hannah.Tim is such a wonderful dad! I have no doubt when it comes to how he cares for our little girl that it is not the best she can receive. He not only is great with her but also with me. When I was in labor Tim cared for me better than anyone could have. He was so incredibly patient and gentle with me. I have no question as to why I love this man so much. He makes me so incredibly happy. I will post all the details later but for now I want to go enjoy some time with my perfect family.

38 weeks

As of today I am 10 days away from my due date. I went to the doctor yesterday after a very long night on Wednesday night of being extremely uncomfortable and experiencing sharp shooting round ligament pains. When I got the to doctor things had kind of slacked off some but I was still pretty uncomfortable. I found out that I am now 2 cm dilated, still 80% effaced, and a -2 labor station. "It's just a matter of time" is what my doctor told me over and over again. He assured me that baby girl is in a head down position and he doesn't believe shes going to be a big baby. He actually guessed she would be pretty close to 7lbs. I am hoping hes pretty accurate. He had me schedule an appointment for next Thursday but then told me that he would be shocked if I made it to that appointment. Again, I hope he is right. He told me I really should try to stay close to home and not be going out alone a whole heck of a lot until she is born. With still working that makes things difficult but I am trying to do most work from home.

Tim and I have been walking the railroad tracks that have been converted into biking/walking/ horseback riding paths known as rails to trails a lot lately. We walked for pretty close to probably a mile out yesterday and a mile back. I had contractions the entire time we were walking, a few of which were fairly strong but after getting home and sitting for a bit they backed off again. This whole process is starting to wear on me. I am so ready to just be done. I think Tim would agree with me. I notice hes not sleeping well and he tells me its because he is so ready to hear me wake him and tell him its time to head to the hospital that he simply cannot sleep. Hopefully he tires out and sleeps well tonight.

We have district assembly this weekend which means busy busy busy for me. Tonight I have NYI convention, tomorrow is district convention followed by Merge in the evening, Sunday we have regular Sunday school at church and then off to the district center for the district service immediately followed by Danny and Donnies graduation party and then back to the district center for more assembly festivities. My hope is all this activity will put me into true labor. Guess we will just have to wait and see.

38 weeks 1 day

37 weeks

As of today I am 37 weeks 4 days pregnant and I have officially reached the point of wanting to be done. I am hoping she is coming soon... at least within the next week or so.

Two nights ago I began having contractions that were fairly uncomfortable. I don't want to say they hurt terribly but they kept me up and definitely were not pleasant. They actually were getting me to a point where I was very nauseous. Throughout the day yesterday I had mild contractions but continued with my day. Last evening just about the time youth group was supposed to start I got this shooting pain in my back. It went from a dull ache to a intense pain. I literally felt like someone tied a string around all my back muscles and was pulling them toward the front of my stomach as hard as they could. This then moved down to my lower abdomen and began to really bother me. I began to time the intense times of these pains and they were about 9 minutes apart. By the time church was over I was so ready to get home and lay down. I got home and continued to time the contractions. They got to the point they were about 7 minutes apart and lasting about 2 and a half minutes long. They eased up after about an hour and a half so I took advantage of the intensity decrease and went to bed. I had a few contractions throughout the night that woke me up but managed to catch a little sleep. I woke up pretty early (about 6:30) and decided that I guess that meant I was done sleeping. I have been getting up really early every day lately. I am typically up around 7:15 every morning which is sickening to me on my day off but guess good preparation for a child.

I had an appointment today and found out some news. I actually tested positive to the Group B Strep test I had last week. Group B strep is a bacteria that one in four women carry and often don't know about until tested for it during pregnancy. It often does no harm to the woman but can cause serious illness in babies if not detected and treated properly. I was so disappointed when I heard him say it came back positive. It scares me a bit because I don't want to expose my baby girl to anything that might harm her. I will be put on an IV antibiotic when I go into labor. I am not thrilled about this especially with all my antibiotic allergies but we will see how it goes. To be honest I am more upset about the fact that she will be put on antibiotics immediately after birth. The last thing I want is for her to be over exposed to antibiotics like I was as a child. Many doctors have told me some of my allergies are a result of over exposer so young. I sure hope she has a stronger immune system than I do. I found out that I am now a full centimeter dilated, 70% effaced, and at a  -3 labor station. I have progressed 1/2 centimeter since last Thursday which is not much but its progress and am 10% more effaced than last week. I have had continued contractions today but nothing too strong. My back still aches but again nothing like last night. I am hoping things continue to move along and maybe a little bit more by my appointment next Thursday.