Lizzy One Month

Our little love is one months old! I can't believe it. It really does go by so quickly. The last month of pregnancy felt like an eternity and the first month of her life felt like a few days!

We affectionately call her Bif! Luke wrote about Lizzy at school right after she was born and spelled her name "Elizabif" and we thought it was so cute that we started calling her "Bif" or "Biffy".

The boys are doing great and love their little sister. There are no jealousy problems. They do have to adjust to me nursing her often in the day and sometimes I can't help them at the exact moment they need me, but they really are doing great. I have o say that I am so so glad it is summer because the kids can play outside and we can take Lizzy on lots of walks and it's sunny and warm! My recovery is going very well. I am pretty much back to normal and hope to start doing light exercise next week!

We are still in the eat, sleep, poop stage with some awake times.

EAT
She is eating every 3 hours in the day right now. She is doing very well with nursing and we really haven't had any problems. I wake her in the day to eat every three hours, but she has very easily fallen into that routine. She spits up maybe a couple times a day, but not very much at all. Luke was my biggest spitter upper.

SLEEP
This baby is a great sleeper at night! The first 3-4 days of her life were SO hard! She wanted to eat every 2-3 hours around the clock and we were dying of sleep deprivation. As soon as my milk really came in (around day 4) she finally had that full tummy and was able to go 4 hours in the night. She is not stretching out her sleeping to 4-5 hours at night. She isn't the greatest napper. She will often wake after 45 minutes, but seems to have one really good 2 hour nap during the day. She has to be way more flexible than my other two since we are on the go a lot more. She sleeps great in the bjorn, but doesn't care much for her car seat. Dan and I have both spent lots of time holding her while she sleeps because we want to cherish every little moment with her. I just pray we aren't creating bad habits! They say you can't spoil a baby so I am just going with it! She sleeps in her crib in her room at night and I leave her door open and have a monitor so I will hear her when she wakes. Her nursing sessions average about 15-20 minutes and with a diaper change and burping it is usually 30 minutes all together. She naps in the bjorn or in her bouncy chair for the most part, but occasionally in her crib.

This is what her schedule looks like:
5/6 AM- a short feeding and then back to bed
8:30 AM- nurse and up for the day, this is when she usually has her most alert and longer awake time
10:00 AM- nap
11:30 AM- nurse and awake time
1:00 PM- nap time (I always want this to be her long nap because James naps at this time and Luke has electronic time, but often she decides to take a 45 minute nap)
2:30 PM- nurse and awake time
3:30/4 PM- nap
5/5:30 PM- nurse and awake. She will often fall asleep from 6-7pm
7:00 PM- bath time and a little bit of awake time
7:30 PM- nurse and then in bed for the night
2/3/4 AM-  wakes up for a feeding and diaper change.


POOP
She is a pooping machine!! I think we are going through about 8-10 diapers a day with at least half of those being poopy. She hasn't had too many tummy troubles. She grew out of the newborn diapers around two weeks and it now in size one. She is also now wearing size 0-3 months clothes around 3/4 weeks old. Some of the 0-3 are still just a little big on her, but the newborn are too small.


When she has her awake time she likes to lay under her play mat, lay in her crib or on the couch and just observe what is going on. She is pretty chill, but I feel like sometimes she has more fussy days and I feel like those are the days when we've been on the go and she is probably just more tired. She loves to be on her tummy and I have a feeling as soon as she can roll she will be a tummy sleeper.

She is a very good baby in general and we are enjoying her so much. She has grown and changed so much in this first month and it makes me sad because I will never have another baby, but it is also so fun to see her change and grow and we can't wait for the smiles and giggles!

Lizzy's Birth

Around 3 AM on Friday May 26, 2017 I woke up. I thought I might be feeling a contraction. I went to the bathroom and tried to go back to sleep, but was wondering if I might be in labor. About 25 minutes later I felt another one and at 3:42 I started timing contractions. They were about 20-30 minutes apart so I knew I would definitely have some time before things got exciting. I tried to sleep, but was excited and I honestly can’t sleep when I am in labor. The contractions were uncomfortable but not super painful. They felt exactly like they did when I was in early labor with the boys so I thought I would definitely have a baby by the end of Friday. They feel like really terrible menstrual cramps to me.

Around 5 AM I decided to get up and shower and get ready so at least I would be clean and ready to start packing when the time came. Dan had been sleeping on the couch because I wake up about a thousand times in the night when I was pregnant. He came upstairs when he heard me showering and asked if I was in labor. I told him probably! He wanted to start packing and head to Hillsboro, but I was adamant that we don’t do that yet because the contractions were still pretty far apart. We decided to send Luke to school and Dan decided to stay home from work because we didn’t know when we would need to leave and I hadn’t really slept that night and if things got going quickly it would be hard for him to leave work and get home quickly to help me.

After we got Luke off to school the contractions really tapered off and were super irregular and I even stopped timing them. We decided to try every trick we knew to get labor going. As soon as James got up we walked a mile to the park and I walked around the park while Dan played with James and then we walked home. Then we drove down to St. Paul to pick strawberries. On the way home we stopped at Wendy’s to get a spicy chicken sandwich! All this walking and moving and spicy food was sure to kick labor in to gear! I was so tired at this point (I had been up since 3 AM). I was looking forward to going home and taking a little afternoon nap. I was frustrated that labor wasn’t starting back up and that Dan had stayed home and nothing was happening, but we had tried everything. 

Picking strawberries! 

A little before 2 PM we all laid down for a nap. Of course, the contractions decided to start again so I couldn’t sleep! They were about 25 minutes apart again, but definitely felt like real labor. So, Luke came home from school and I think I tried to rest and we just hung out at home that afternoon. We made dinner around 5 PM and just did our normal nightly ritual with the kids. While Dan was bathing the kids I decided to call the labor and delivery advice nurse. We had about a 45 minute drive to Hillsboro and we would have to stop at my sister’s house and drop off the kids and dog before we could go to the hospital, so we were just debating should we go spend the night out there or should we just ride it out at home and hope we don’t have to wake the kids in the middle of the night. The advice nurse said once the contractions start to get very painful or more close together I should come in. They were starting to get a bit more painful, but nothing I couldn’t handle yet.

Around 9:30 I used the restroom and when I wiped there was the tiniest bit of blood. I think that blood was actually from a hemorrhoid, but it kind of freaked me out and I decided we needed to head to Hillsboro. I told Dan it was time to go and we finished packing all the last minute items and got everything in the car and then we woke up the kiddos and put them in the car. They were both pretty out of it on our drive to the Daley’s. I had a few pretty painful contractions on the way out and they were starting to get closer together. We called my sister and told her we were on the way and so they got beds ready for the boys. By the time we got there it was around 11 PM and they helped get the boys situated and back to sleep. We chatted until about midnight and we told Marci we would call her when/if we left for the hospital. The contractions were about 15 minutes apart now and definitely getting more painful. We laid down on the couches. I tried to rest, but it is almost impossible when every 10/15 minutes you have a severe pain in your lower abdomen! Dan probably slept for about an hour and then around 1 my contractions were getting SUPER painful. I would have to stand up and pace and act like an idiot because they hurt so badly. Around 2 am they were about 10 minutes apart and I couldn’t take the pain anymore so I said it was time to go to the hospital.

In the garage loading up the car to go to Hillsboro

We arrived at the hospital around 2 AM and you have to check in at the Emergency department and then they send someone down from Labor and Delivery to get you. The poor lady at the ER desk was new and was having a hard time checking me in. I was pacing around like a basket case and she finally had to call someone out to help her. We got all checked in with our bracelets and paper work and a few minutes later someone came down from L&D to take us upstairs. They took us right to a labor room. I was in so much pain. I just wanted that epidural!

I had tested positive for Group Strep B at 37 weeks so during labor they want to give the mom two doses of penicillin four hours apart to kill that GSB so baby doesn’t inhale it as they exit. It is a normal bacteria to be found in the genitals but can be very bad if a baby gets it in their lungs or respiratory track. If you don’t get the two doses of penicillin they will want you to stay the full 48 hours in the hospital so they can monitor baby for any possible symptoms.

At about 3 AM they finally got me in the bed and checked me. I was dilated to 7 cm and fully effaced. This freaked me out because I really wanted that epidural and I was afraid I was going to go to quickly and have to deliver the baby without any meds. It was so awful to have to lie in the bed and endure the contractions. I had to be hooked to the monitors and get an IV of saline and get the IV penicillin so I was stuck in bed in pain until I got the epidural. They moved as quickly as they could and the anesthesiologist came in and went over everything about the epidural. She could see I was in a lot of pain so they gave me some Fentanyl until I could get the epidural. That was very very strange. It made me feel kind of dizzy and nauseated, but it did take the edge of the pain and made holding still for the epidural bearable. I do have to say that I never want to take Fentanyl again. It was not a good feeling at all. At 4 AM I got the epidural and it gave me immediate relief. I was then a happy camper and could talk to people.

Marci came over soon after we arrived and Kelsey came probably around 3:30 AM. They were out of the room for the epidural  and then came back in afterward. Kelsey laid on the little couch in the room to get some sleep until it was time to push. We finally convinced Dan to lay in the reclining chair to get an hour or so of sleep as well. Marci was scrunched up in a normal chair. I tried to sleep, but I just couldn’t. I was feeling no pain at all at this point, but couldn’t sleep even though I had been up for 24 hours at this point.  I was so hungry. The last food I had eaten was at 5:00 pm on Friday.

Smiling after I got the epidural!

Everyone trying to get some rest before I start pushing. 

The midwife/OB/nurses told me that around 7:30/8:00 AM I would finish the second dose of penicillin and then we could start pushing. I get the shakes really badly from the epidural and I am very hot during labor. I was also going crazy from the monitor around my belly. It was super super itchy. The nurses changed shifts at 7:15 AM and then the new midwife/OB team came on at 8:00. I finished up the penicillin around 8 and the midwife/OB came in at 8:30 to check me. I was fully dilated and the baby was at +2 station and they said I could start pushing!!!

The first push didn’t do much, but push number two brought the head to crowning! I was so excited to meet this baby!!!! I had like three more big pushes and the head was out. The midwife told me to reach down and to take tiny small little pushes and grab my baby. I was actually laughing a little and that pushed her right out! There she was born at 8:58 AM after 18 hours of labor and 40 weeks and 5 days of pregnancy. She was perfect! She looked so much like my boys and I was just so happy to hold her and have her out of me. I have instant euphoria after birth! I am so happy to not be pregnant and to hold that sweet baby next to my skin. I nursed her a little bit during that first hour and she had already passed some meconium right after she was born. I had about an hour of skin to skin time and then Daddy held her and Marci held her. I ordered a giant breakfast when Daddy was holding her and gobbled it up so fast. I think I ate it too quickly because I felt really nauseous for a couple hours. I think it was a combination of eating a bunch of food quickly, coming off the epidural, giving birth and lack of sleep!

After a hour or so they came in and did all the measurements. She weighed in at 7 lbs 16.9 ounces, 20.5 inches tall and 13.5 inch head. We rounded up to 8 pounds when announcing her weight because it was .1 ounce away from 8 pounds. My postpartum nurse came in a little while later and wanted me to stand up and use the restroom and get ready to move to the postpartum room. I was feeling pretty yucky and one of my legs was still pretty numb, but I was able to get to the bathroom with help and we moved to room 356.

 I really just wanted to sleep for about 24 hours, but that doesn’t happen when you have a tiny newborn depending on you for food and you have nurses and doctors coming in and out of your room. We got settled in the room and I think I did take a short nap before we had our first interruption from the pediatrician. She checked out little Lizzy and said that she looked wonderful. I started to come out of the nausea and ordered lunch and a snack at some point. Dan and I were both so so tired.  That first day is really a blur. The nice thing was that I was feeling very little to almost no pain. I was having some cramping of the uterus while nursing and lots of bleeding, but I was actually feeling really really good. I just needed some sleep!

The Daley’s brought the boys over that evening so they could meet their baby sister. They were excited and a little shy and little crazy. They warmed up to her pretty quickly and it was so fun to have them all there together. When they left we got ready for bed. We were both hoping to get some sleep that night, but Miss Lizzy had different plans. She wanted to eat about every 1-2 hours and it was a long long night. Dan held her for an hour and a half so I could finally get a little sleep.

We wanted to check out and go home that next day and everything was going really well (except for the lack of sleep) so we got things moving and we were able to check out of the hospital around 11:30 AM on Sunday morning. We went to the Daley’s and napped on their couch while they were all at church. We then stayed and had dinner with them before taking home our 3 kids and 1 dog!!

It was so nice to be home! Dan got the little boys to bed and I was really hoping for sleep on this night. My milk was starting to come in, but Lizzy still wanted to eat about every 1-2 hours in the night. Dan went and held her again for a long time so I could get a little stretch of sleep. Monday I was still feeling like a zombie, but on Monday night she slept like a champion!! She slept for like a 4 hour and a 3 hour stretch and I felt like a new person. She has pretty much kept up that pattern over the first two weeks and I am feeling great. We love this precious little girl so much and she completes our family perfectly