Happy 2 Months, Victoria!

Today Victoria is officially 2 months old. I can't believe how fast time flies...seems like just yesterday we were watching my belly grow, eagerly anticipating her arrival.

Naturally, we had a "2 month" photo shoot this morning and it went much smoother than the 1 month session. Now that I know what makes Victoria tick - like when she's getting sleepy...when she's hungry, and all that jazz, I made sure to do our photos during the window of opportunity where she is at her best (and smiling!). You'll notice that in this month's picture you see her beautiful smile that makes my heart melt! Next Wednesday we go for her check-up and I'll get the latest on poundage, length, headcircumference, and all that fun stuff. On to the shoot....

close up of her sweet smile!

hey there...

In my opinion, the cutest toes in the world!

 Check out how much she's grown in a month by looking back to her 1 month photo shoot.

xoxo,

A Night to Remember

In honor of being 8 weeks old, Victoria decided it was finally time...to sleep through the night! YAHOOOOOOOO! She did go to bed a little later than usual last night (10:15, after she had her bottle with daddy) but I didn't hear from her again until 6 AM. So if you do the math...that's about 8 hours. Again, YAHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!  Who knows if it will last, but the fact that she made it through the night (in her crib, mind you) even once, makes this momma so happy (because I'm well-rested!). 

We've had a great weekend hanging out as a family and we also started putting Victoria in her crib for all her naps - and she slept great! From what we've read, the more she naps (as she needs it) and the earlier she goes to bed, the better and longer she will sleep at night. The pros are right! She has certainly been napping better during the day and sleeping better at night. We are so glad that we're finally getting into a routine and I feel like I am communicating and understanding V so much better now. We just got "Secrets of a Baby Whisperer" by Tracy Hogg, as recommended by many, and I'm eager to get reading. I'll let you know what I find out! 

chillin' with the queen of good napping!

xoxo, 

She's growing so fast!

Well, as you can see I'm having a hard time finding the time to blog (guess I have a good excuse, with a newborn and all...) but here I am, better late than never. 

Victoria is changing so much, so fast, and I feel like I need to write it all down before it passes me by. She had her 5 week check-up the first week of August and weighed 10 lbs, 9 oz - that's a 3 lb. increase from her 2 week check-up. Way to go, V! The doc was very impressed with her growth and told us to keep it up. She's also gotten taller - she was 19 3/4 inches at birth and was 21 1/2 inches at her appt. Thank you Victoria for having such a healthy appetite and to my milk-producing glands for making so much milk! (yes, I'm finally getting the hang of things and I'm not so overwhelmed by being an overabundant milk-making machine!). 

Victoria at her 5 week check-up

Victoria is almost 2 months old (AH!) and she grows into more of a little person ever day. Teachers go back to work on Monday and I am so thankful I get 5 more weeks at home with her. She loves to make eye contact now and watch your facial expressions as she figures out her own. Check out this smile I captured earlier this week:

so precious!

She is starting to be entertained by little board books that contain bright colors so we read one every morning. I'm learning that her "alert" time is right after her first morning feeding after she wakes up, so I'm taking advantage of that and try to stimulate her little brain as much as I can before she tires out...usually within the hour. Yesterday we tried her play mat for the first time and she was thoroughly interested in the colorful/black & white designs above her. SO cool to watch. She's also started loving the mobiles in her crib & swing which she hadn't noticed until a week or so ago - again, SO cool!

The best news is she's finally starting to get into a sleep routine. Trey feeds her a bottle of expressed breast milk (or formula, if I don't have any back-up milk expressed) to put her to bed around 9:00. She's usually asleep 30 minutes after she finishes eating and Trey puts her in her crib (yes! We've graduated to her crib and she loves it! We love it too because she is the NOISIEST sleeper!).....then (fingers crossed) she will sleep till around 2:00 a.m., when she wakes up hungry. I feed her and then get her back to sleep by 3:00...and then her next waking is still "up in the air" - sometimes she starts feeding every 2 hours after that, but this morning she made it till 7:00! WHOAH! So, she's still making changes, but at least she's not eating EVERY 2 hours throughout the entire day and night like we were during the first four weeks. Mommy is finally getting some sleep! Yay! :) And thank you to Heather Snyder for her advice on a sleep training book. She told us about Dr. Weissbluth's "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" which we have found to be very helpful. Victoria is still young for any official sleep training, but we have been able to start putting healthy sleep practices into place now so we can keep it up as she gets older. 

Morning nap in the swing

Well, it's breakfast time (again) for Victoria - I'll post a 2 month picture in the next couple days!

xoxo, 

1 Month Old!

Sweet Victoria was born at 10:24 p.m. four weeks ago from today.

Happy 1 Month Birthday, V!

After 20 "takes"...we got a good one!

Dancing with her daddy

Amazing how fast time flies when you're having the time of your life with the ones you love most. 

Victoria's Birth Story

I'm finally getting the chance to share the story of the day Victoria came into this world...and I better do it quick before it's time for her next feeding :) 

On Saturday, June 30, I woke up early in the morning, around 2 a.m., and thought my water might have broken, but I wasn't sure. It certainly wasn't the huge breaking of water I'd expected. I'd had many false labor contractions (Braxton Hicks, as they call them) prior to this day and every time it had turned out to be exactly that: false. So I figured it was another false alarm and I'd wait it out. Let me also preface by saying that I was already almost 4 cm dilated and 80% effaced at this point and was getting really anxious about her arrival!

Not much was happening by late morning, but Trey and I decided I should call the doctor around noon to let her know and to get her opinion. So we had a nice relaxing morning where Trey watched t.v. and I worked on my scrapbook. We ate hotdogs for lunch and casually lingered about the house. At 1:30 I called Dr. M (my OB who had given me her cell in case I thought I was ever going into labor) and told her what was going on. She agreed - she, too, wasn't sure, but said it was better to be safe than sorry. If your water does break and you don't go into labor within a certain amount of time, infection can set in and things can take a turn for the worse. 

So we put Dean in his doggy pen with a treat, loaded the car with my labor bags and pillows, grabbed the baby seat, and headed for the hospital. I made calls to family along the way letting them know we were going in to have a few tests done to see if my water had broken, but told them it was probably nothing. 

It was much less dramatic than I had imagined, as we casually parked the car and walked into the front of the hospital together. We headed for the labor & delivery area that we'd been shown during our "Confident Childbirth" class weeks earlier.  They were expecting me and got me set up in a room to do the tests. There were two tests - one of them being a little more detailed in case the first one came out negative. And the first one did come out negative so I thought for sure we were headed home. The second one, as you may have guessed it, was positive, and I recall the nurse saying, "Looks like you're here to stay!".  The next emotions I felt were unexpected. I had been so confident and laid back about it all, and suddenly I felt nervous and anxious about how I would get through it. I couldn't believe it was time and deep down I was scared, but I smiled anyway. 

This was our "we're having a baby!" picture -  taken right after I was admitted

I was officially admitted to the hospital at 2:45 p.m. and because we thought my water had broken in the night and labor had not started on its own, I was put on Pitocin (a drug to induce contractions). They had to put an iv in my arm, which, if you know me and my fear of needles, was not pleasant. The nurse was thoughtful enough to wrap gauze around it so I would get over it faster (I couldn't even look at my left arm without feeling queasy- hah!) and it actually helped! I know - pathetic, huh? 

Every hour the nurse would increase my dosage of Pitocin, and although my contractions were becoming stronger and lasting longer, my pain was not increasing. I was still smiling and chatting happily and the nurses were a bit confused. At 6:00 p.m. Dr. M (my OB) came in and told me she thought perhaps part of my water bag was not completely broken, which would explain why I wasn't feeling an increase in pain. So she had to use her handy dandy water breaking tool and break my water again - this time I felt it for sure because I could feel this huge gush of HOT water leave my body. Almost immediately after it broke, I started feeling the contractions in a way I had NEVER felt them before. My contractions now felt the way I had expected them to feel - which was incredibly intense and overwhelming and certainly the most pain I had ever felt in my life. I remember Dr. M standing back and watching my face scrunch up in pain and she said, "Now that is what you should have been feeling." The part of the water bag that had not broken was still providing comfort...but that was no longer! 

So this is where it got the most intense and how you would picture it on t.v. with people all around the pregnant lady, trying to get her comfortable, the husband saying calming things and squeezing her hand, and the pregnant lady grunting and screaming and yelling. Within five minutes after Dr. M had broken my water for the second time, I had gone from almost 4 cm to 6 cm and the baby dropped from where she had been at -2 station to 0 station (those of you familiar with labor know what in the world I'm talking about). Basically she was dropping and making her way down. Oh - and I had been 100% effaced since around the time they put me on Pitocen. So basically...a few more centimeters and it would be go time! 

But back to my dramatic, painful moment, which I really don't remember the fine details of (probably because my eyes were closed and I was trying to remember how to breathe!). All I know is that the contractions were really bad (transition stage) and I knew right then that it was time for the epidural. It was actually past the time that I would have asked for it but because I hadn't been feeling the pain, I didn't know it. I was proud of myself for getting to actually feel what it feels like without an epidural (something I hadn't intended on!). Like with needles, I don't handle pain well, and I knew from the start that in no way, shape, or form, would I be having a baby without an epidural (if I could help it). I certainly had no intentions to prove to the world that I could do it without it....because I don't think I could! Kudos to those who do it naturally, because my 10 minutes of "natural" labor during the transition stage was about all I could take. 

So my nurse went out to ask for the epidural, which they tell you usually takes 30-45 minutes to get because you have to wait on the anesthesiologist to get there. A little angel must have been watching over me and knew I couldn't make it that long because within 5 minutes the head anesthesiologist of the hospital came in my room (the nurses had told him it was extremely urgent and he listened!) and got me set up. That was another thing I had been really scared about (epidural = HUGE NEEDLE! IN MY BACK!) but I was so distracted by my natural pain that all I could think about was the relief I would soon feel. I honestly didn't even see his face because they had me on my side, my eyes were closed for the most part, and I had my nurse, Dr. M, and Trey reminding me how to breathe, holding my hand, rubbing my legs, and who knows what else. I had an awesome support team! It took him what felt like a couple minutes to give me the epidural and a couple more minutes for the relief to set in. Here is what I looked like after the epidural:

I was feeling gooood...and loving the popsicles!

That was honestly the most eventful part of my labor experience (other than baby's actual arrival) because after that, the rest was a breeze. By 6:45 I was comfortable and hanging out. My contractions now just felt like a lot of pressure down below, but nothing painful. At 8:30 Dr. M checked on me again to see if I was ready to push. I was 9.5 cm and at 1 station - almost time! She said she'd be back in an hour and that it would probably be time. I tried to fall asleep until then but was really excited, so I just rested quietly. 

At 9:30 p.m. my nurse came in and started setting up. It was time to push. Dr. M wasn't there at first - I guess she let's the process get started and then comes once the baby is getting close to crowning. So I had my nurse holding one leg and Trey holding the other and the three of us pushed for a while...but it wasn't painful. With an epidural you really don't feel much, so I just did what the nurse told me and would push as hard as I could, holding my breath for 10 seconds, 3 times in a row. Then we would take a minute to get my strength back up and we'd do it again. At some point Dr. M came in and set up down below. The next thing I knew Trey was saying he could see her head. I was like, "What?! Does she have hair? What color is it?" and he responded, "Umm...it looks kind of gray." - LOL - which I guess was due to the goo that the baby is covered in until they get wiped off. Funny moments in the delivery room!

So I pushed and pushed and pushed some more, and within the hour, baby Victoria was born! It was amazing - and I can't believe I actually did it. What a surreal experience. I will say I am so glad I had such a positive labor with her. I had expected it to be absolutely terrible after the stories I had heard - but somehow, mine seemed to go much better than I could have ever planned. Even my 10 minutes of intense pain didn't seem so awful once they were over. 

Victoria was born at 10:24 p.m. with her eyes wide open, taking in the world around her. She is more precious than I could have ever imagined and the love I feel for her grows every day. 

Taken a few minutes after her birth, the first moment I held her

Tomorrow V will be 1 month old! How time flies...trying to hold on to each and every dear moment!

xoxo,

Victoria is here!

I have had the intention of writing V's birth story for a week. I really had no idea how time consuming and exhausting the first couple weeks of life with a newborn really are! I texted to my mother-in-law, "I feel like I'm just a milk machine." Her response? "You are one for now." (And she only speaks the truth...)


For any woman who has breastfed her child(ren), I have complete and utter (no pun intended) respect for your hard work! Not only do the parents of a newborn have to adapt their sleeping schedule (a few hours here or there, which really feels like no sleep at all), and momma has to recover from labor (ouch!), but while doing so, must learn how to feed her young cow-style every couple hours of the day. This means all you do is milk (can take anywhere from 30 min-1 hour if baby has trouble latching or keeps falling asleep), burp baby, change diapers, go to the bathroom yourself & maybe eat a snack if you're quick, then start again. EXHAUSTING!! But don't get me wrong, that new life in your arms is worth every moment (just don't ask me that when I'm having a "baby blues" hormonal moment, or when I'm hungry, or tired, etc.).


So now that I've shared my main gripe of motherhood, let me say that I am so in love. A different kind of love than I have for Trey...a more protective kind of love. When I look at Victoria I am filled with so much happiness I could burst. I am reminded of how much I love her father (which by the way, is more than I could ever have imagined - it just grows and grows). I am also aware that I would do whatever it takes to protect her for the rest of my life, like a mother lion. It's the most amazing feeling and I am sure other momma's know exactly what I'm talking about. Her innocence is so sweet and heartwarming - part of me wants to keep her just as she is forever! At the same time, I can't wait to watch her grow...


Well now that I've shared all that, I'm too tired to even type her birth story! Typical! Be ready for it in my next entry. In the meantime, here are some pictures and birth info to hold you over....

Victoria, 6 lbs. 12 oz., born at 10:24 p.m. on June 30, 2012

Victoria with her Aunt Natalie (my big sis) - love her sweet 1 day old face!

Victoria - 1 week old...I adore everything about her sweet face, especially those eyes!

xoxo, 

Baby's Bathroom

Preparing for baby has been so much fun. As you know, I went all out on her sweet little nursery (you can read on that here and here ).  I intended to stop there, but my creative instincts wouldn't let me. Why not make the guest bathroom/baby bathroom fun too? I went with a different theme for the bathroom so that it was more "kid friendly" (and not so baby) and would last through her childhood. I also tried to pick a theme which a little boy would be ok with - of course, we are hoping for one of those one day! You'll notice that not only is pink a main color, but also yellow, green, and brown. I didn't paint the walls since we're not sure how much longer we'll be in the this house and after having painted all the other bathrooms in this house, I've decided they are my least favorite rooms to paint! (painting behind a toilet? NOT fun!).

I'll let the pictures show you the details. My initial inspiration came from a line through Target called "Love 'n Nature" by Circo with the main character being a cute little owl!

Looking from the doorway

      Shower Curtain : Love 'n Nature from Target

LOVE these little owls! (see them on the poster?)

Owl hand towel : Love 'n Nature from Target

"V" poster: ETSY through Rock Paper Prints

Victorian frame: TJ Maxx

Had to show the little owl goodies on the sink!

Pink Victorian frame: TJ Maxx

Orange owl note/picture holder: Jo Ann's Fabrics 

Owl toothbrush holder: Love 'n Nature from Target

Owl-shaped bubble bath: Jo Ann's Fabrics

"Little owls always brush their teeth"

 (Thought this to be appropriate since V's dad is going to be a dentist!

It hangs right above the cute owl toothbrush holder) 

Poster: ETSY through Rock Paper Prints

White frame: TJ Maxx

The wall across from the sink - view from inside tub

Striped towel - Love 'n Nature from Target

Owl towel rack - ETSY through The Wooden Owl 

Where we'll hang V's little hooded towels! So cute!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many thanks to Target and ETSY for the great owl finds - I am in love with this bathroom for Victoria! :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the way, I am still a madre in waiting and so very anxious! Trying to hang in there for these last couple weeks...

xoxo,