New Year's Eve...

Wow...what a year 2009 has been...

Yesterday, we enjoyed sleeping in and having family cuddle time in bed. B was up at 5 and I brought her into bed when she was up at 8. Erik was working while I was visiting the day care again. I just straightened up the house and organized the items for the Secretary desk which is arriving tomorrow. We ventured to Levin to check out a bedroom set we liked but even with their great "sales" the price isn't that much different than it had been and we still haven't found a set we absolutely love enough to justify the price tag (I like the Bassett West End but they don't carry it anymore so Levin's French Quarters was close enough).

We said from the beginning we were going to do a low key NYE and eat in and watch a movie and ball drop with Crosby and Brooklyn and reflect on all the great things in our life. Well, we then decided we were going to do a variety of appetizers so we stopped at Giant Eagle in Wexford and got a large antipasto tray (seriously, like 5.4 lbs of food for $20) with dolmades, sun dried tomatoes, mozzarella, prosciutto stuffed peppers, capelloni onions, artichokes, etc and then paired it with some popcorn chicken, cheddar and jalopeno bites, along with a meat/cheese/cracker tray. We had our bellini's all night and watched Angels and Demons and reminisced of our trip to Italy. Seriously, it has been an awesome New Year's Eve and now with just minutes to go before the ball drop.....I can't wait to see what 2010 brings for us as it surely will bring a lot of firsts in our house.

2009 truly was a great year for us (probably one of the best ever) and we are so lucky to be at this position in our lives. I looked down on the sleeping Brooklyn in my arms and the sleeping Crosby between Erik and I and I just want to cry thinking about how perfect our life is right now (granted, there are plenty of things I would love to add to it but we are so happy as a family right now).

A review of the Decade:
2000: survived Y2K, finished my freshman year of college, was supposed to go to Greece but the trip was canceled because Bill Clinton cancelled his trip back in November 1999
2001: spent the summer doing research at Penn State in Hershey and working at the Hersey Grill; 9/11; turned 21, traveled to England with Erin and Kisa, Traveled to Cali and Chicago with Erin for American Chemical Society trips
2002: did my Senior Honors Thesis after a summer and fall of research on the tobacco hornworm; New Year's Eve in Times Square; med school interviews and accepted to my first med school (huge relief), Traveled to Orlando with Erin and Kerry for ACS
2003: $200,000 scholarship for med school (which made me change my plans from going to Pitt to leaving the state given the terms of the scholarship); graduated from college; cruise with my Erik, moved to Virginia; met Susan; kinda "separated" from the BF/now DH
2004: Traveled (Dominican Republic, spent the summer in Europe, traveled a few places in the US for conferences); reunited with Erik
2005: Vacay to SoCal with Erik, got engaged, decided I did not want to be a surgeon anymore, moved into townhouse with Erik
2006: decided my career field (dermatology vs anesthesiology), got married, honeymooned in Jamaica and traveled for conferences
2007: found out I matched to Pitt for residency and disappointed (blessing in disguise as we never would have realized that we could have bought our current house had this not occurred) in where I would spend internship; graduated from medical school, traveled for weddings and pleasure
2008: 10 year dating anniversary, bought our house; moved; finished internship and left Virginia; started residency; got Crosby (LOTS OF CHANGE this year), and had our big trip to Italy, Bought the Mercedes (accomplished Erik's goal of owning a BMW/Benz/Lexus before age 30).
2009: Got pregnant, Lauren got married, had Brooklyn, Steelers Superbowl, Pens Cup (which Erik was fortunate enough to be able to actually go to the game), Erik wins his 2 FF leagues (they were his first wins ever and he's been in the leagues for 10 and 7 years so his wins are like my wins), limited travel this year :(

A review of the Year:
January: Chronic Pain rotation, an extremely cold January with lots of snow (almost the entire month), almost lost Crosby as she took off (unleashed) through 18 inches of snow running down the road at mom and dad's, Ski weekend at Decker's, Steelers Superbowl, did well on my AKTs
February: PACU rotation and a week on pain service (really like Regional), found out we were pregnant February 13th and cleaned out Babies R Us of all 0-3 month Christmas items at 88% off and bought the "I'm the Big Sister" shirt for Crosby, told Erik on February 14th using said shirt
March: Magee ORs, really liked my limited OB experience, told Lauren of the news, went to conference in DC, did well on my ITE, Lauren's Bachelorette Party Weekend at the house
April: Presby, Easter, saw the peanut on US on 4/9, told the parents on 4/10 when we came home for Easter using said shirt, had a week off where we landscaped and cleaned the house, Erica's Bridal Shower
May: Magee OB, trying my first stint of maternity clothes and loving the stretchiness, BBQs, Doug's wedding, Lauren's and Erin's Bridal Showers, watching Pens playoffs seemingly every night I was on call, finding out that our little Peanut was a girl
June: Magee OB, 10-year HS graduation anniversary, Lauren's wedding, Penguins Cup, Going to Game 4, Erik going to Game 7 (seriously, Game 7...how fricken' awesome), watched all of the games essentially of the playoffs, Erin's wedding, finished the ceiling
July: ICU hell...seriously 30-hr call shifts almost every 3rd or 4th night...ugh...Gary and Erica's wedding, painted the basement and got furniture, painted the nursery and bought furniture
August: ICU hell, Lauren came out to visit, finished nursery, our 3rd anniversary
September: Neuro, starting to get more difficult to move, FF party out here and home to NC for FF Draft #2, our big Garage Sale, Baby Shower here and Baby Shower in NC
October: Southside Regional (absolutely loved this), home for Katie's baby shower, my birthday weekend with the parents out here while we all decorated for fall, PSA meeting in Harrisburg, B's arrival on October 23rd after lengthly debate about induction, Halloween
November: spending time with our Brooklyn, home to meet the family, 10-year high school reunion, Thanksgiving with the family
December: home for dad's birthday, Christmas, baptism....December was quite the blur

Best of 2009 series of questions:
December 31 Resolution you wish you'd stuck with. (You know, there's always next year...)
I really didn't have resolutions, but rather goals for the year. I wish I had been better in keeping the house more organized and cleaned more frequently (yes, I have been told many times that our house is always so organized, put together, clean, etc but in my mind, it's not). I really would rather have quality time with Erik, Crosby, or now Brooklyn than worry about the last the hardwood floors had been hand scrubbed as I'd rather just run the Dyson over them.

Another 2009 in Review

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?
We had a baby =)

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Yes and no, I didn't quite accomplish all of them (such as losing weight but I had a wonderful excuse), but we stuck pretty well to the everything has a place organization of our house and our goals to be more green. I would like to lose that extra baby weight and then lose some that extra post-marriage weight.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, our friends Melanie, Rachael, and of course moi

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No one close but my great aunt did pass away

5. What states/countries did you visit?
For the first time in about 10 years, I did not leave the country...in fact, with baby on the way, we didn't travel much. I did visit Ohio, Virginia, Maryland, and DC...holy heck was this overall a boring travel year.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
Aside from extra money to work on some of the projects that we would like to do (it's not that we don't have the money...we just don't like to spend it)

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
January 31st-February 1st - a very important weekend (do the math), the ski weekend and the Steelers Superbowl
February 13th - the day I found out I was pregnant
February 14th - the day I told Erik
April 9th - the day we first saw the peanut on US and she actually looked like a baby
May 29th - when we found out our peanut was a girl
June 6th - Lauren's wedding
June 12th - Penguins win the Cup and Erik is there to see it (I felt like I had just accomplished my lifelong goal knowing he was there to see it)
July and August - 2 months of hell in the ICU
October 23rd - Brooklyn Sydney changed our lives
November 28th - our first Thanksgiving here
December 25th - Brooklyn's first Christmas
December 26th - Brooklyn's Baptism

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Becoming a mommy

9. What was your biggest failure?
Realizing it's almost impossible to keep an impeccably clean house anymore

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nope...except for being in the hospital for the first time overnight when I had Brooklyn

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Our Nikon D60 and the theater room

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Don't really know how to answer this one...probably Erik's for being an awesome dad and Crosby's for being a wonderful big sister and getting along with B so well

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
No one's really...except maybe Tiger Woods and another person in my life disappointed me more than anything else.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Bills and my 8 page American Express Credit Card Statements

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Brooklyn and when we first saw her smiles and coos

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
Probably "My Daughter's Eyes" by Martina McBride or "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? happier
b) thinner or fatter? slightly fatter - I just had a baby
c) richer or poorer? richer (in love)

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Relaxing, appreciating all the blessings we have in our life (we do this all the time but really, we are so lucky, fortunate, and blessed to be in the position in life we are now)

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Housework, worrying, and stressing over little things

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Christmas Eve by driving into NC, spending time with my grandparents then Erik's grandparents then home to change and off to church, then off to Erik's mom's then home for opening gifts at my parents then waking up Christmas morning and having our family dinner then spending time with relatives

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?
Yes, on Friday, October 23rd

22. What was your favorite TV program?
I really liked Glee ;) Top Chef, Next Iron Chef, Next Food Network Star and a few other Food Network and Bravo shows have always been my favorites.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I don't have time to hate people

24. What was the best book you read?
Since I didn't do much pleasure reading since I have a pile of textbooks to read, I would say Happiest Baby on the Block since it saved our sanity the first week home

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I guess Glee and probably realizing that B loves music

26. What did you want and get?
My camera and a healthy pregnancy

27. What did you want and not get?
I didn't get my house completely finished with the basement bar or the outside patio

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
I think we watched Marley and Me this year...I also really liked Up

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 29 and was 38 weeks pregnant. I worked, then came home and napped. Yep, that about sums it up! However, the day before, my parents, Erik and I went to the Springfield for my birthday brunch while the waitress looked at me with evil eyes while I drank my glass of champagne

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Pretty much nothing (except maybe winning the lottery) as 2009 probably was our best year ever

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
Scrubs :) My favorite....I have no fashion concept. My husband picks out my clothes on the rack in the store and then I just find the size to fit. I admit I have no style and wish someone would nominate me for What Not To Wear as I would rather wear jeans and a casual shirt, scrubs, maternity clothes (at the time and even for the first 6 weeks or so because I loved the loose fit and elastic waistbands until I was forced by he-who-shall-remain-nameless to buy new jeans)

32. What kept you sane?
Given the 2 ICU months, probably milkshakes and chocolate =) and in reality, Erik who managed to keep me sane and grounded

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Sidney Crosby

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Health care

35. Who did you miss?
Some of my old friends from MCV that I've not seen in over a year

36. Who was the best new person you met?
New person...besides Brooklyn, I feel like I just formed better relationships with the people I already know

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.
Live in the moment and cherish each fleeting second because they will be gone before you know it. My little B is growing and changing each and every day and I won't get a second chance at these moments with her

38. What was the single best thing that happened this year?
Brooklyn's birth

39. What was the single most challenging thing that happened?
Finding a balance between wife, mother, doctor, sister, daughter, friend and all the other hats I wear.

40. What was an unexpected joy this past year?
Kinda an expected joy but having a daughter and realizing how much I love seeing her smile and laugh

41. What was an unexpected obstacle?

42. What was your biggest personal change from January to December of 2009?
Starting 2009 hoping to become a mother by year's end and ending the year as a mommy

43. In what ways did you grow,
emotionally? Having a deeper understanding of love
spiritually? Having a connection far beyond this physical world
physically? More like increased size, like about 15 pounds more

44. In what ways did you grow in your relationship with others?
Most importantly, I grew more in love with my husband by seeing him as a father

45. With whom were your most valuable relationships?
Definitely with Erik and now with Brooklyn....having a better relationship with my parents knowing what they went through in raising baby

46. Who did you miss?
I miss some of my girlfriends and other friends who I haven't seen in a long time...

47. Who was the best new person you met?
Um, Brooklyn ;)

48. What was the most enjoyable area of managing your home?
I'd say this year it was landscaping the outside and finishing the theater room

49. What was your most challenging area of home management?
I'd say it's probably putting away the clothes and keeping our breakfast table clutterfree as that's where mail and everything accumulate....I did make great strides in keeping the counters clear and hopefully the secretary desk will help with the breakfast table.

50. What was your single biggest time waster in your life this year?
I would say Facebook and the Nest have to be a tie.

2009 Goals in Review...

Last New Year's Day, I made a list of my 2009 goals to accomplish....

Thpost from last year....the italicized posts are the items we were able to check off this year!!

2009 is here...it's my last year in my 20s...it's the last year of the decade...hopefully it holds great things for us!

We have a long list of stuff to do to enhance the house or other goals for our life...some are extensive (hmm, basement ceiling and others are quick like caulking the bathroom)...

Just a "short" list:
Living Room:
-Finish shelf for Audio Tower with basket organization: completed in January with 2008 Christmas gift from Heidi that we put together
-Wire living room for final surround sound speakers: done in January during one of the snowy weekends

Main Level:
-Get Secretary desk with central organization area for mail, stamps, etc: um, we finally got on that and to make my life easier, we asked mom and dad this for Christmas and it was finished on Christmas Eve but they're bringing it down tomorrow for New Year's Day since we didn't have enough room
-Paint Power Room: um, not enough time...on the 2010 list

Upstairs:
-Tags for linen closet baskets: thanks for reminding me...printed today ;)
-Reading nook with rocker and table: we brought back the wood rocker we received as a wedding gift and set it up with a nice blanket on the landing

Master Bedroom/Bathroom:
-Apply silicone to bathroom seals: was the first task completed in 2009
-Paint Master Bathroom
-Paint Master Bedroom: done in May when I went home for L's bridal shower so I wouldn't be exposed to the fumes
-Organize jewelry armoire: will complete this this weekend...it's on my list (I swear)
-Go through clothes and throw out old clothes (including all clothes in guest bedroom closet and dressers): we did this in late January but I need to do it again post-ba

Office:

-Finish the craft room, including desk, craft organization: done earlier this month with the assistance from mom watching B

-Organize my medical-related stuff, including articles (maybe even the 4GB jump drive from Staples on Sunday to store my articles and presentations): slowly done but not yet complete...have the jump drive started and working on the articles to cut down in the filing cabinet

-Organize bills, receipts, statements, tax info, etc in the filing cabinet: NYE through this weekend project

Basement:

-Sell extra med books on Amazon or to PittMed: or more like donate since they're old
-Go through boxes and get rid of stuff: this is semi-done...we had the great yard sale of 2009 to get rid of a ton of stuff, we just have a lot of stuff to get rid of and sort through

-Start and finish ceiling: thanks to the great Paul Glasgow and a hefty check, this was done in June

-Paint: this was done in July

-Finish baseboards: we didn't really get to this until August but it was done!

-Redo windows: along with the basement renovation but we still have to paint the window frames but at least the windows are now glass block

-Reseal door/window frames: done with the basement redo

-Create bar area: on the 2010 list...bar area may go by the wayside in favor of kick ass play area (since we didn't really have that in mind last year)

-Create entertainment area: aka our new Theater Room....we bought the furniture in July after the ceiling and renovations were done and then the Pioneer Kuro in September along with the audio system

-Create Wine Cellar: eh, Erik wasn't too fond of this idea

Outside:

-Landscape outside and remulch: done in April

-Plant around electric boxes: done in April

-Redo stairs off deck: deferred to 2010 where we focus on this area

-Sand and restain deck: done in June

-Enclose under deck either with structure shed or built shed: deferred until 2010...we thought about putting in a hot tub or enclosing but we'll probably just pour concrete and use as a play area and BBQ area

-Create patio area outside back door: see above

Garage:

-Paint bookshelf and convert bookshelf to shoe/winter storage: decided to use shelf as it is

-Bring back Craftsman tool storage thing and redo tool storage: done in January

-Create workbench area and additional enclosed storage: done in October

-Hang a second hanging rack: done in April

-Paint wood in color scheme: eh, simple task to finish

-Storage above garage doors: deferred

Nursery:

-Go through boxes and get rid of stuff: slowly over the past few months

-Hopefully decorate, hehe!: Yay...our biggest accomplishment of 2009

The New Computer...

You may have noticed a blog post today....yeah, that's because after 6.5 years with my handy dandy computer, I have finally retired her in favor of the my new love, Hamlet. Yes, I named my computer Hamlet and well, I probably would've been more productive during the past 9.5 weeks of my maternity leave if Hamlet had joined my life sooner. The screen, the speed, everything just makes my heart sing. I've been more productive today than I have been all week b/c I HATE SLOW COMPUTERS. So, expect me to finally catch up on the 30 blog posts I have waiting to finish for the past month.

Anyway, since Monday night failed miserably at trying to recreate the luxurious sleep we had over our Christmas break at my parents' house and we didn't get B to bed last night until 9:15 after feeding her at 8:45 since we were out restocking the shelves, we didn't do a dream feed last night and well, I'll be, she slept until 3:15 (are you following? That's 6+ hours!!!). I can handle that! Then, she was up again at 7:30 and we brought her into bed with us for our cuddle time and pillow talk. I'll refrain from commenting on what time we eventually got out of bed out of fear of jealously when I reread this blog in the future.

I spent some time catching up on some things that were due while Old Faithful (my nickname for my old computer) was under the weather. Finally, we got ready for the day and after some play time and Bumbo time, we headed out the door.

B had her 2 month visit today (she's officially 9.5 weeks old or 2 months and 5 days old).

She weighed in at................drumroll..............
2 month stats: 10lbs, 12 oz, 22 3/4 inches

For the recap:
1 month stats: 8lbs, 1 oz, 21 1/4 inches
Birth stats: 7lbs, 1 oz, 19 3/4 inches

Needless to say, the peanut has become a little lug. She finally has filled out the baby fat and she's growing well. The pedi addressed all of our concerns and pretty much reassured me that we are not sending B down a pathway toward lifelong psychotherapy for not meeting her every need. She kinda laughed when I said about her 10 minutes of fussing here and there, mainly before feeding and said that they really don't get concerned at her age until that's about an hour or more. Um, yeah, we're lucky. I did ask about Gripe Water and Mylicon and as I suspected, she supported my decision in that there are no studies that show any benefit (although there is one that suggests Gripe Water may help). I think we'll stick with what's working and getting us through the day. She was impressed at the production of 30-ish ounces of milk per day. As long as I can maintain the 3-4 pumping sessions a day, I hope I can still provide the sole source of nutrition for at least the next 2 months until we introduce cereal and given B's successful weight gain the past month, she appears to getting more than adequate nutritional intake despite her shrieking cries at the end of every bottle.

What was hilarious was that B was smiley, giggly, and so happy while it was just she and I in the room. Even when the doctor walked in, she still was happy and laughing at herself in the mirror. As soon as she sat down next to her and B took one look at the doctor, she had the biggest pout and then started crying. It was as if she knew the doctor was the bearer of impending doom.

B then proceeded to fuss until I fed her. She checked out well except for some rashes under her arms and around her baby fat of her neck. Dr. J recommended using Lotrimin as this looked a little yeast like (but her diaper area looks great) and since I was on dicloxacillin for mastitis earlier in the month, it's better to just treat for yeast than let it continue (cue the: I-feel-like-a-crappy-mother feeling....do you know how hard it is to keep an infant dry when they're constantly spitting up and it settling into the folds of baby fat???)

After Dr. J left, in walked the nurse. She got her oral polio vaccine and then her shots for DTaP, Pneumococcal, and Rotavirus. She turned a deep shade of purple and let out a shriek. Then after some shushing, cuddling and singing, she quickly calmed down and was asleep by the time we got to the car.

I then finally picked up What to Expect the First Year and bought some baby signing books as that will be on the horizon before we know it. We picked up some Lotrimin at Target and got a Godfather sub from DiBella's on the way home.

We spent the evening cuddling downstairs as a family with daddy and Roo Roo (aka Crosby). We watched the Pens unfortunately lose to NJ and then watched the Truman Show. I think she is feeling a little sick from the shots as she's just not interested in eating much and spit up what I would call most of the bottle from earlier in the evening. While we like to put her down so she can play in her bouncer or on her mat, I gave her a reprieve tonight because of the shots and just laid here with her.

Dr. J did give us the reassurance that for now, while she's still doing 3-4 naps per day, that we don't have to have her in bed at 8pm. If we kept her up until 9 or 10 or even later at this point, then maybe she'll go back to those 7 hour nights like she did at home over Christmas.


December 30 Ad. What advertisement made you think this year?
2 of them...the one I liked the best I don't think ever was on TV...it was the T-Mobile Dance in the metro station where one person danced then slowly everyone else joined in. It made me think of how one person can make a change in a lot of people, how one's actions may affect dozens or hundreds down the line....it's the snowball effect

The other ad that makes me cry every time I see it is for the Animal Rescue where they show all of these sick dogs and cats that need adopted and I just want to bring all of them home. I know how much we love Crosby and how she is such a part of our family and I just don't know why some people don't care for their dogs or bring too many pets haphazardly into life. Then, it makes me think of all the unloved pets out there and then all the unwanted children and it just brings me to tears thinking about Crosby and Brooklyn and how much we love them and they are a part of our family. I can't believe how much these 2 beings have transformed our lives completely over the past 18 months...they've taught us such a deep understanding and form of love. Wow...it's powerful.

Ah...to wake up in our bed

It was so nice to wake up in bed this morning. I'm so glad we decided to venture back through the snow instead of staying another night. Today was a pretty lazy day but filled with lots of tasks...

The morning was full of unpacking and washing and putting away the 3 loads of laundry. We put the Christmas gifts under the tree (must take pictures....yet another epic mothering failure of not taking pictures with the child and her presents). I had my eye appointment this afternoon. Then Erik made a wonderful Mango Pork Stirfry.

We then headed out to do a big restocking grocery trip at Target, Walmart and Costco and put all of the groceries away. Man, it was COLD today...like 16-20 degrees.

December 29 Laugh. What was your biggest belly laugh of the year?
Anytime I can hear Brooklyn poop or fart or burp from the other room. Seriously, baby body noises are so loud they rival any adults. Brooklyn just cracks me up with her laughs and big gummy smiles. I love (and purposefully sometimes) bumping her and seeing her go into her thriller pose with her hands. God love the Moro Reflex! She'll hate me one day.

Oh Xanax, Xanax, where are you when I need you...

Based on Wednesday's post about Crosby eating my jeans, I needed to face the music and get something age appropriate that actually fits and was not from a maternity line (the elastic waist bands were so forgiving and so comfortable). I woke up today in a panic knowing we were going shopping and wondering what the size would be (I was always a 10...heck, I even think I was a size 10 when I weighed 117 pounds in 9th grade and then since the wedding slowly crept to a 12 and damn, I'm probably a 16-18 or something now).

Anyways, we were out of the house around 10:30 and swung by Rahal's for their Holiday event. We picked up our free gift and we chose a nice set of Christmas bulbs decorated with Mercedes themes. I also wanted to pick up the hat Erik wanted and was going to give it to him as a gift from Brooklyn. Well, the case was locked and no one had the key because it's kept by the parts department and they were closed on Saturday....um, hello, you have your big event today...you would think people might be stopping in and buying things. Anyway, the girl told us they would just mail the hat. I asked about whether they would also mail the bill and she said that they would just mail it for free. Sweet...score a $35 hat for free!

Before we left, I grabbed some snacks and we headed to the mall. Store after store filled me with disappointment. We ordered an ottoman for the basement. We were going to just have the sleeper sofa, loveseat, chair and 1 ottoman but Erik would sit in the chair with the ottoman and I'd be sprawled on the couch and we realized we'd rather have 2 ottomans than a coffee table so we swung by Penney's first (did I mention I swear everyone was out shopping...it was SO CROWDED!) and ordered the ottoman.

We also ventured out to get our Holiday outfits (and outfits for our 10-year reunion next weekend) since we have B's Christmas dress already. I love the Sweater dress style as it seems to be very forgiving. After trying on the 10 sweater dresses and other dresses I picked out on my own and being highly disappointed, I tried on the one Erik found and of course, it was exactly what I wanted (a little more expensive than what I wanted to pay because we missed the doorbuster by 30 minutes....yet, my husband was able to assuage the female clerk in the men's department to ring up all of his purchases at the doorbuster prices....ugh!). I hate how my husband shops for clothes and has better style than I do. I also found a great new pair of knee high black boots in a more feminine style than the ones I already have (that have also served me well since 2000...holy crap, I had those boots since late 2000, fall of my sophomore year because I took them to England with me and I remember in the Euston metro station, the scary metro guy commenting "damn, girl, you have beautiful legs" in his British accent and watching Erin try to walk in them the night she borrowed them....um, yeah, I think I'm due for a new pair).

I love the pair I got...They are very similar to my old ones just with a nicer heel. They're still like 3-4 inches in height and they're the stretchy fabric that conforms to the calf to give that contoured look. I got them for a great price too (hey, I'm all about the sale and never pay full price and usually don't pay less than 50%).

Then we were on the quest for a thick belt and tights (which to me, is more like nylons but apparently Erik had leggings in mind). After refusing to pay $50 for a belt and $24 for leggings at Express, I found a fabulous pair of leggings at Forever 21 for $5 and a wide belt for $4...sweet!

We also bought the Hallmark Snowman/woman/baby ornament to symbolize 2009 for us and the Crosby ornament this year. I also bought 2 pairs of jeans today that fit.

We then went to Burlington and I bought a great knee length charcoal peacoat (I have a black butt length one but I wanted a longer one) and Erik bought a wool coat for himself. So, our Christmas outfits were officially complete! I can't wait to look like a family at church and over the holidays!

I went across the parking lot to Michaels and bought the wall gallery frames for mom for the living room. I also had my first experience with pumping in the car (twice!), once with batteries and once with the car charger that I bought at Burlington on sale. B slept well in the stroller while we were at the mall and had bottles throughout the day mainly because we were on an agenda to get stuff done. We got home around 9pm so it was a long day out and B got all bottles today. Needless to say, she hated nursing tonight and I fought with her for an hour. Um, I think I made a mistake by giving her bottles all day.

Um, yeah...long night for our FOUR WEEK OLD

So, we put B down to sleep at 11 last night and from midnight to 2, it was definitely a trying time. She was up every 10 minutes...she nursed from both breasts, had about 2 ounces from a bottle, was burped, changed, cleaned, rocked, bounced, swaddled, shushed, etc and yet still continued to scream despite my best attempts. Then, I think she finally fell asleep after I fed her again (she had to have had 6-8+ ounces over the multiple feedings). She was up again at 4 for a quick nurse and then up at 6:30 for another feeding. I brought her into bed with us on the Boppy Lounger where we both woke up at 9:30. My Facebook quote this morning was "Some kid out there who wanted a little sister for Christmas almost got their wish when I was ready to put her in a box and ship her to the North Pole at 2 am after two hours of B's desire to cry and not sleep." That about summarized how I felt this morning!

I was exhausted so I didn't get very far off the couch after nursing. I took a nap from 11:30 to 12:30 and B had a bottle for that feeding. Andrea left during this time...it was nice that she spent yesterday cleaning...actually quite nice b/c it's one less thing to worry about with the needs of a demanding four week old. Did I just say that? FOUR WEEKS! Oh my, what a pleasure it has been.

I finally made it to the shower at 2 and headed to our Homeowner's Association Board Meeting at 2:30 with B. I did catch Oprah at 4 and watched her bid her farewell when she ends her show in 2011. B napped on my chest and I just watched her for what seemed like an hour...I watched her different facial expressions while she slept...she smiles, curls her lip, frowns, furrows her brow, moves her eyes, winks, etc all while sleeping and it's just precious. We all have come so far in the past 28 days, 4 weeks. 4 weeks ago, we had this tiny little fragile being and now we have this still tiny, not quite as fragile baby that has more of a personality. Her eyes will focus on us and she stares intently while studying our faces. Every once in a while, we get a smile when we smile and always, you'll get a yawn from us when she yawns. She's just so precious and we are so fortunate, blessed and happy to have her in our lives!

Erik learned an invaluable lesson today about burp cloths and their purpose as he had a significant amount of spitup on his shirt and B, being the multi-talented infant that she is, was able to burp, spit up, hiccup and poop at the same time. Unfortunately, given Erik's position and B's already full diaper, we had some leakage which was also quite evident on his shirt....he looked like the classic dad and would not let me take a picture!

Tonight, I must share two Crosby stories (no, she's not the red-headed stepchild...she still sleeps with us and gets her fair share of cuddling...she just is over this whole B crying thing so just stays asleep whenever she fusses). The past few days, B's spitup has been more frequent and with increased quantities...Crosby takes it upon herself to clean up our burp cloths by licking up her spitup. I think she might gain a few pounds this year from all of her extra snacking. Then, Erik was doing some work tonight and I hadn't seen Crosby for about an hour...I go upstairs to change into PJs and I see a lump in the bed...yep, sure enough Crosby put herself to bed underneath the covers...oh, she never ceases to make us smile.

I'll close B's FOUR WEEK (can I say that enough!?!?) post by saying how much more I love Erik every time I look at B and see him in her and every time I see Erik holding her, I fall in love with him all over again!

Clean House...

A little rough last night...we put her in the crib at 11:30 and we went to bed. She woke up at 12:30pm to eat and I gave her a bottle. She was up at 4 and nursed for a bit and went straight to sleep after I put her down. She woke up again at 6:30 and then she had two reawakenings so I just brought her to our bed with the boppy where we slept in until 9. She ate and was so messy that she got a bath which she enjoyed once I filled her tub up with water. I took a bath and then gave Crosby a bath. By this point, it's 11:30 and I attempt to straighten up the bedroom and put away the huge pile of clothes.

While B has been more alert and interactive, she's also been more fussy. After her 9am feeding, she had a significant spit up. She nursed at 11 and then spit up a ton that I don't know how she had nything left in her. After her 2pm feeding, I swear she spit up half her bottle. I just don't know what a normal spitup level is...is this too much???

Andrea cleaned the house today which was greatly appreciated. She took a little break in the afternoon and did some B holding while I finished up the house stuff.

Then I got ready to head to WPSA tonight. It was nice seeing everyone and having an intellectual interaction. B slept the entire time and as I was walking in the house, she was having a bottle...then, she went into a hissy fit where she was clean, fed, held and yet still continued to scream for 10 minutes. She nursed but didn't eat and just had comfort sucking. She's been asleep since then so hopefully she's down for a bit longer.

It's so good...

to be home...after being in NC since Wednesday, it was great waking up in our own bed and having B in another room! Finally, at least some peace and quiet...even if it came in 2-3 hour blocks. She went down last night around midnight when we went to bed. She was up at 3 and 6 and again at 9 for the day. I nursed her at 6 and 9 but thank goodness Erik gave her the 3am bottle so I could sleep a bit.

I couldn't wait to weigh her (since I had the scare 2 weeks ago with her barely getting back to birth weight by 2 weeks) and she came in at 7lbs, 11oz on the kitchen scale this morning. Yay! 10 oz in 14 days so I feel relieved. I was so worried she wasn't getting enough milk breastfeeding (b/c she nurses for 30-40 minutes at a time and sometimes I swear I don't hear much swallowing).

She was up for about an hour at 9 and went back down to sleep. She's getting so much better with her head control. I'm so excited and sad at the same time. She's getting so big and she's so long and lean. She doesn't have a baby roll on her! Her cheeks are filling out a bit but nothing I would call baby fat. She's also stretching out more. She doesn't like to stay curled in a ball very long and this morning I found her arms hanging out of the swaddle. I would abandon the swaddle but I think the swaddle keeps her controlled and keeps her from waking when she flails about.

This afternoon, I thought I saw a smile on her when she saw me but it very well could have been gas. We just had a relaxing day at home today and enjoyed our own TV.

On a sad, sad, sad, very sad note and it's all my fault but I left my jeans sitting on the floor last night. I was downstairs with B this morning and came upstairs to put on jeans to go to Giant Eagle and found the crotch eaten from them. These were my favorite maternity jeans, the ones that fit the best, the ones I loved, essentially one of the 3 pairs of pants I have been wearing lately. Thus, this has now forced Erik to force me to go shopping on Saturday for jeans and pants that actually fit. I'm quite depressed about this. I am just going to tell Erik to grab things he thinks will fit and hand them to me and I'll try them...not caring what the sizes are and hoping and praying that the number will go down in the next few months (I also weighed myself this morning and well, I still have 20+ pounds to go to get back to pre-baby weight).

Andrea came this evening and she'll be staying until Friday to spend some B time and clean tomorrow. It stinks sometimes having so many people here but at the same time, it gives our family time with her and it gives us some time to do things around the house.

Anyways, it's a Top Chef night today and I'm super stoked!

Home Sweet Home...

B had a good night last night...she went to bed at 11:30, up at 2, up at 5:30 then up for the day at 8:30. I didn't mind waking up a little earlier than I had been b/c I got B fed and then we gave her a bath (boy, she's a messy eater...milk dried in her hair, in her little skin folds, EVERYWHERE). I took a shower and got ready and then I went through mom and dad's house packing us up to head back to Mars.

We were ready to leave at 11:30 and we headed to Big Lots, then went to BBB, TJ Maxx, and Ross's (I was on a quest to find some new clothes given the new, um, look to my body after having B...I was also on a quest to find newborn/size 0 patent leather black shoes for B's Christmas outfit). Then we were off to Michaels and then went to the mall. My quest in store after store came up empty for the shoes but I did find some clothes that I'd like to revisit this weekend with Erik to come up with some outfits for our reunion and Christmas.

Mom took me to Erin's for 4:15 and we got settled with her car seat, diaper bag and cameras (after we had loaded everything we needed for the house into his car at work). Kisa got there around 4:30. We had a great Steak Tips dinner and then just spent time enjoying each other's company. Erik came around 6:30 and we got B packed up and started to head out a little before 7. We picked up Crosby in Nicktown and headed back to Mars. B had a little meltdown just outside of Sarver so we had to pull over and feed her. We got back around 9:30 and unloaded the car....really, we're quite pooped right now and heading to bed!

We were in NC since Wednesday afternoon and we were ready to head back to our home.

Not at MiCasa...

Since we've been at my mom and dad's since Wednesday, I don't have photos ready for MiCasa Monday...alas, till next week again.


Last night, I fed B around 10:30-11:15, she slept until 2. We nursed until 2:30 and she was up at 3:30 and Erik gave her a bottle. She woke up again around 7:30 just as Erik was going to work. I brought her into bed with me (don't yell at me, she was swaddled, in a boppy with no chance of suffocation) where she slept next to me and Crosby slept cuddled into my back until 10:30 when we woke up for the day. She got milk everywhere so she got a bath this morning and was all clean and fresh smelling (I'm still trying to remember that unadulterated smell of the newborn as it's been replaced by milk and lotions). After her bath, she was all smiles for about an hour. Then she was all cuddles with grandma while I caught up on more emails.

I spent all afternoon just cuddling with B. She still seems so tiny and her weight gain had been slow early on. I can't wait to get back to the house on Wednesday to weigh her on the kitchen scale. Actually, while I enjoy being home and relaxing and spending time with the parents, I miss our house...I totally miss our king bed and having B in her own room. I love our house so much as it's perfect and we're almost to the point where it's exactly how we want it. We have a king bed and it's about the right size for E, Croz and me; at my parents' house, we sleep in a full bed (I don't know how any couple could sleep in a full bed). We also have been sleeping with B in a PNP in the room and I really can't wait until she goes back to the crib at the house b/c everytime she's up or squeaks or makes any noise or even screams during a diaper change, both of us are up with her. While I think cosleeping may be good for some people, B screams until she's changed for night feedings so I wouldn't be able to just reach over to a co-sleeper to get her and we've both failed at side nursing.

We had our baptismal session with Deacon Bern tonight. Heidi came down with pneumonia so she wasn't coming in tonight for it. Lauren, Erik and I went and it was about an hour. We still have to call to set the date but at least the prep stuff is done. We had to take a test and the three of us and our fierce competitiveness came out with having the loser buy ice cream at DQ (uh hem, Erik) and of course, Crosby got her kid-size vanilla. I started organizing items so that tomorrow morning, I wouldn't have too much to pack.

Three weeks old!

Wow...time is flying by...every day I see B changing so much. She's now spending much more time in this "quiet alertness" stage where she's awake for about an hour or so after feeding. I'm not arguing with this as I love having my conversations with her and watching her explore her surroundings. She loves looking at faces (as she can probably only relatively clearly see 8-12 inches in front of her so that's why she prefers faces since they're in that range). She's also getting much stronger with her head control and when burping, she'll hold her head up 10+ seconds. We're also doing a bit of tummy time and she's doing alright with holding her head up during that time but she definitely enjoys it more and does better when she's on her stomach on the Boppy.

She's still a petite, skinny mini who barely fits into newborn clothes but I think she's starting to fill out a bit more in her face. Her eyelashes are growing as they're now visible (compared to the barely 1mm eyelashes when she was born). We are going through diapers like it's our job and today, we changed 3 times in 15 minutes as she wanted changed before feeding b/c she was wet (again, the child who refuses to eat if she has one drop of pee in her diaper until she's dry...however, she'll sit in poop for an hour before deciding she wants to be changed).

At 3 weeks of age....
Estimated Diapers: 170
Estimated Wipes: 120
Estimated Feeds: 146
Estimated Bottles: 22
1 bout of mastitis
Feeding amount: 2.5 ounces

We've also done our first load of laundry at my mom's....Erik and I used to go every 3 weeks before we had to do laundry (we had enough clothes, underwear, etc and I wear scrubs for work so we didn't really need to do laundry that often) and now we're doing laundry like twice a week since she's been home from the hospital because she spits up, pees while I'm changing a diaper, etc. Her hair is filling in a bit on top...she's my little peachfuzz!

I still continue to find amazement with how much gas this little girl can pass....5-10 times during any given feeding with about 2-4 different bouts of poop while she's eating. She's definitely a 5+ dirty diaper and 8+ wet diaper girl per day.

I remember her first bottle at 5 days of age was 1.5 ounces and she spit up a good bit of it and we both think her stomach was still expanding to hold that amount. Right now, she's up to 2-2.5 ounces when she takes a bottle. She is starting to have a bit more spit up during breastfeeding than she's had in the past but I'm also producing more milk than I have in the past (in 1 pump session, I usually get around 4 ounces or 2 ounces after nursing). We just love her. I spent a good 30 minutes or so today just looking at her hands, feet, back, hair, fingers, toes, butt...just all of her parts as she's going to be getting so big so quickly and I want to make sure I remember these days as best as I can. She's also starting to become more of a messy feeder and we have to wipe her down practically after every feed since there's milk in her hair, ear, arm, chin (I love when there's a little bit of dried milk in the little triple chin she has going on), chest, etc...and this is despite a bib!.

I think Erik and I both agree that we just love being parents...we love seeing B develop and go through her stages. I think it's safe to assume we're out of the newborn stage and working toward the infant stage.

On another note, this morning I finished catching up on school stuff and benefits info and finishing up everything that I needed to for leave. Around 2, I went over to Cambrian Hills to meet up with family at Aunt Nancy's funeral dinner. After that, I was able to get the 4-generation photos with Baba/Pop-pop, mom, me and B. We then went over to Aunt Louise and Aunt Helen's to visit. After dinner, we visited with Ed and Joann and came home and were ready for bed.

On a happy note...two of my friends announced their pregnancies today...I'm so happy for both of them and so excited to hear of their good news!

Meet the Great-Grandparents...

This morning, B had a rougher night....nursed at 11 to 12, then took a bit to get down, then slept until 4, then 6, then 8:30. We were up and going by 10:30 (hey, that's early for us...considering by the time B wakes up, nurses for 30 minutes, gets a wipe down with warm water to get all the milk stickies off, gets dressed and I have breakfast, get showered and ready...it ends up being a 2-hr process give or take).

I took B to Baba and Pop-pops so B could meet them. Pop-pop was so cute holding B like she was this fragile thing and Baba also very gingerly held B. I wanted to get the 4 generation pic but we'll have to delay until tomorrow when mom's here. Grandma wasn't feeling well after her trip to Rivers so we didn't venture down there so I used the afternoon to catch up on school work and take care of benefits and other leave items. While B was down for the count, I also swung by the funeral home for Aunt Nancy...at 95, she looked the same as I always remembered her over the past 25+ years...

Erik made homemade pumpkin pies (yummy!) and we headed over to Lauren and Nate's for dinner (pizza and wings!!) and to watch the Pens game. It's a late night but B's ready to party (or at least nurse a while)...

Happy Veterans' Day! Welcome to the NC!

Happy Veterans' Day! More importantly, thank you to all the veterans to have served in our armed forces for the sacrifices they have made for our country.

This day started off with a lazy sleep-in morning (and a decent night last night...B slept from 12-3, then 4-7 and 7-9 when we woke her up to eat). Dad and E waved off the outdoors today in favor of house projects (like finishing our workbenches for the garage). B & I were a little slow getting going and I spent most of the morning trying to figure out what we would need for the next 6 days...diapers, clothes, pump parts, burp cloths, etc and trying to figure out what we wanted to take home to keep there (wash cloths, ducky towels and robe, shampoo, receiving blankets, blankets, baby wash, desitin, wipes, etc) since we'll be back and forth for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

She was a bit sticky after eating this morning so B got her second bath today and it went much better than her first bath. First off, I filled up her tub with about 6 inches of water (there were 2 of us there...don't yell at me for being a bad mom...there was no possible way of her drowning in that tub) which kept her covered and warm. We kept a wash cloth on her at all times and she was actually all smiles and enjoyed her bath. She was a clean, fresh smelling baby after her bath!

Mom and dad went to Springfield for lunch while E & I had some leftovers. We got on the road around 1:30pm. We had a good drive home and it was the first time all 4 of us were in the car...Crosby got shotgun with her car seat and I was in the backseat with B. B made it the whole way home and started fussing in Nicktown. Needless to say, as soon as we got home, I fed B to keep from total meltdown and Erik went out to the woods. Also, I think it's safe to say that we are looking forward to a few years from now when I buy a GL with the 3 rows of seating...we had room in the Benz for the essentials but I hope we have small-in-size Christmas gifts as we didn't have a ton of room leftover.

Crosby showed B all the sights of NC and grandmamma J and Pap's house...Crosby just cracks me up as as soon as we got home, she was all excited and went running through the house looking for them (even though they were just pulling in behind us in the driveway). Cracks.me.up! She'll go from room to room with her tail wagging and full of excitement looking for mom and dad and has a look of pure disappointment if they aren't home.

We got Chinese for dinner and just relaxed a bit and set up the pack and play, put out the play mat, nd trying to semi-organize since we'll be here until Tuesday. Mary Lou, Melissa and Steve stopped up to visit with B for a bit this evening. It's time for Top Chef (I keep hoping this is Robin's week to pack her knives)...

A Relaxing Day...

Erik and I took the opportunity to sleep in...B slept from 12 to 4 then again at 7 and 10 (though Erik had to get up a few times to do some work for a person who's on travel and had to help him out)...needless to say, we were thrilled with sleeping in until 10 and the 2 times she got up in that time period. We had hamburgers for lunch and took a nice walk through the neighborhood. I ran into Julie and Sebi so we walked through Columbia Court and also met up with Sara and Roxy...it was a nice stroll on a beautiful day (and I ditched my long sleeve shirt right after that). B seemed to enjoy the fresh air as she slept for 3 hours after we got home.

While I was strolling with the girls, Erik and Crosby went down into the woods chasing and scouting out some deer. When we got home, we took a short nap and then watched some football. Dad came out around 4pm and we just relaxed. Dad is so funny with B in his arms...it's like he's carrying a fragile glass and always holds her with 2 hands and is so dainty with her I just have to smile.

For dinner, we had Italian sausages and just settled in for the night and watched football.

Busy day...

So, lots of action in HC last night....as I was feeding B around 11:30, we heard this thumping followed immediately by police sirens. Then a minute later, the Mars Fire Sirens were going off and then lots more police sirens. We found out today from Bob since Brandon is a fireman that there was a high speed chase last night and the car blew out its tire on 228 and turned into our plan to take Crider toward Myoma. The cops coming from the other direction turned down Myoma and cut off Crider at the top of the zigzag hill by our house. When the car apparently saw that he was blocked in, he wrecked on the zigzag. Even though I couldn't see anything from the glider, Erik saw the flashing lights from our bedroom. So we saw at least a dozen police cars, a few fire trucks, and ambulance. Then around midnight, there was just a few police cars and the fire trucks with their crash lighting out. Good thing the car didn't keep going down HC drive...it could've caused a major accident.

B had a good night last night....B slept from 12:00 until 3 and then was up at 5 and 6:30 to eat (then I got about a 30 minutes nap before I woke up at 7:45). As I may have mentioned before, I was supposed to go to Houston this weekend for the AMA meeting...however, given our bilirubin and poor nursing issues in the few days after B was born (and my feeling way more sore than I imagined), I decided to do what's best and just call in to the meeting. I was up at 7:45 this morning and on the conference call to Houston from 8 until 10am. In the interim, Erik so kindly brought me breakfast and drinks and I nursed B when she woke up. Then, I started some more laundry and put away clothes in between the sessions. I picked the call back up at noon until 2:15ish and then woke B up to eat.

We all headed out to Ross Park Mall and went to JC Penney to order the ottoman and get a few things for B. We had a few gift cards to use, including one very generous one from the Erik's group. We walked the mall but didn't really find anything. We then swung by the store to pick up a matt to put under Crosby's food and water bowls, something we should've gotten a year ago but kept delaying. B started to have a meltdown in the store so we tried to keep her calm as we headed home and I fed her as soon as we got in the door.

We settled into the theater room and watched Pirates of the Caribbean 2 (but I fell asleep before it was over...go figure!). I'm just writing a quick post after putting B down for the night.

Two Weeks Old!!!

We have a 2 week old....Yikes! Time is flying by and we can see her changing already. She definitely has more periods of quiet alertness or quiet wondering where she's just looking around and taking everything in. Fortunately, she's still that squishy little newborn that fits all folded up into our forearms.

Last night, we had some good sleep from around 11pm to 3am to nurse then we had some difficulty in getting her to go back to sleep. Mom helped out in getting her to lay down and finally around 5, she had to get a BM bottle. She fussed a bit more after and I guess mom took her to the couch to sleep a bit. I got up at 8 and she ate then. I didn't know where time went b/c I'm finally getting around to a shower around 10. The one thing I've realized is how hard it is to get everyone up, fed, changed, clothed and ready in the morning.

We did a photo shoot this morning/afternoon in the foyer and got some adorable photos in her tutu and laying on the lounger. However, it didn't come without a problem as of course, B decided to poop while diaperless on my white fuzzy photo prop blanket (however, a little oxyclean, dreft stain remover, and slight addition of bleach to the soak removed all traces of the stain). We interupted a bit for some feedings and cuddle time. Mom did leave around 1:30 to head home but we'll see her soon! It is getting dark so early anymore that it makes our photo shoots fairly limited to the morning as by 4pm the sun is already setting! I promise pix to shutterfly will be posted soon....

As for weight (see next paragraph), I'm about 22lbs above my pre-pregnancy weight but I see it slowly coming off...I gained about 40 pounds during the pregnancy...oh, about an ounce for each milkshake, cupcake, moment of weakness I had during the 279 days I was pregnant...now that I'm feeling better and not quite so sore, I'm eager to ease my way back into walking. Today, I put her all bundled up into the sling and we went for a walk with Crosby through the neighborhood to blowoff some stink. Erik mentioned "walk" to Crosby and she was like crazy, mad dog whining and running back and forth between the front window and the door to the garage wanting to go on her walk so we had to cave and go for a walk a bit earlier than I wanted (that was our first disruption to the photo shoot).

We ventured to Target in the evening to pick up some totes as one of those 4 loads of laundry was my summer and dress maternity clothes that I want to put away so I can regain some of my closet back (I'm still keeping my stretchy type fabric long sleeve shirts and pants b/c well, the shirts are easy with nice stretch for nursing so I don't stretch out my non-maternity long-sleeve shirts and my pants, well, let's just say have a nice elastic waist band as I'm not ready yet to face my pre-pregnancy pants).

We also picked up groceries at Giant Eagle and came home and made mushroom swiss burgers...they were so juicy and so yummy! 85% lean is the key to good hamburgers...less fat and too dry, more fat and not as healthy and way more grease. We then settled into the theater room for the night and watched Pirates 1 on BluRay while I finished prepping for my conference call tomorrow morning.

I had to make my decision last week about going to Houston b/c I had to book my airfare and after the bilirubin and nursing issues and the fact that I was sore, really sore, I decided it was in our best interest not to go....however, since Wednesday, I probably could have gone but I did what was best for our new family. So, tomorrow I have a conf call from 8-10 and 12-2 with my WPC cronies at the AMA meeting.

We have gotten a ton of cards and well wishes this week....everyone has been so kind and generous to us. We appreciate everything that has been done to welcome B into the world!

Lots of Firsts today...

We had a good night last night...B slept from 11 to 3 then woke at 5 and 8:00 so we were up an fed for the day around 9. After a relaxing bath, we were ready around 11:30 (yes, you heard that...even though B was up and fed by 9, we weren't ready until 11:30...considering that 2 weeks ago, 11:30 was nearing the end of lunch and the almost end of my workday, it is disconcerting that we don't load up into the car until that time.)

Where were we going? Nope, not to a doctor's appointment or hospital. Well, first off, B had her first outing to a non-hospital or doctor's office today. We went to Target (B got her First Christmas bib), Bed Bath and Beyond, Michaels, and Joanns. At Michaels, I got some Delight modeling clay so this weekend, we can have arts and crafts time and make some handprint and footprint ornaments and frames before these feet go from 2.5 inches to size 9s.

We got Chick Fil A for lunch, including a peppermint chocolate chip milkshake....so good!! The weather was beautiful so we went for a long walk when we got home. We straightened up the house a bit and then for dinner, we had leftovers and then just relaxed with some TV and Top Chef All-Stars before bed.

Quite a relaxing day...

10 on Tuesday...Week 2 of Being a Family

1. I never imagined that something so little and so dainty and so fragile could fart so loud and poop so viciously that you can feel the rumble sitting a foot away on the couch and hear it 30 feet away in the kitchen...yep, she'll hate me one day when she's older and I share this story.
2. Breastfeeding is definitely a great experience when it's done the right way and after "healing." I went back to BFing today after realizing that pumping wasn't a long term solution.
3. Baby wearing...yep, we enjoyed doing housework with B in the sling today and hopefully this will be a way of both Erik and I having 2 hands free to get work done.
4. B survived her first shopping trip today...she kept asking me with her puppy pleading eyes for some new bibs and of course, grandma and I couldn't resist and bought a few for her.
5. Even though we have 10 pacifiers floating around the house, when there is a screaming baby, there's not one to be found except in Crosby's mouth (and yes, I took it out of her mouth and washed it off with soap and water before giving it to B).
6. Then, 10 minutes later, you count 5 pacifiers sitting around in the living room (pack n play, end table, coffee table-2 of them, ottoman). They are bright green/aqua Soothies...they're not that hard to miss...the shrill must distract the eye from processing what it sees.
7. B has 3 different level of cries: this sad, pathetic whimper that's like "please give me a paci or milk or fill in some blank." The pathetic whimpers then escalate into the crying that's like "I want it now...you're not listening to me so I have to be louder than my whimpy sniffles." Then, there's the run-around-and-find-whatever-screaming-child-wants-to-stop-the-ear-piercing-shrill screams. Oh dear...this child will turn beet red and you know it's coming because you have the crying then there's the silence for 5 seconds while she takes 3 deep breaths then, wham, the screaming shrill is let out of that tiny little being. Usually for us, this occurs during a diaper change when screaming infant wants to eat but refuses (see #8) to eat b/c she has 1 drop of pee in her diaper.
8. Yes, our child will refuse to touch a nipple until her diaper is changed if there is 1 single, solitary drop of pee. However, given her avid gastrocolic reflex (pretty much, upon the first drops of milk getting into the stomach that the reflex signals her colon to empty so that it can make room for the new meal), she will poop, usually in bursts of 3, thigh rumbling, Boppy rumbling, heard across the room poops. When she poops, she relaxes her whole body and this look of peace comes across her face like she just solved the world's problems. Then, she continues eating...sometimes for 30 minutes with poop in her pants. Yet, pee, one drop sends her in a tizzy.
9. Since nursing has taken a turn for the positive, I've been feeling the best today that I've felt since she came home. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I am so so so so happy! Erik loves being a daddy and I just love being a mommy. Crosby loves the opportunity for extra calories (see #10). Life is great for us right now. We couldn't be happier and more blessed to have such a healthy daughter and wonderful life at home.
10. Crosby loves to sniff B and lick her toes (and maybe some milk drippings off her face or fingers). She just lays on the couch with B and won't move if B is even touching her...it's so precious and I just hope that B and Crosby have that loving, playful relationship with each other.

Such a refreshing day and MiCasa deferred again

Given my lackluster, general feeling of crapiness yesterday, I barely had enough energy to get off the couch to go to the bathroom so no MiCasa post today...

However, on the bright side, my fever broke overnight and was 99.1 this morning...I was going to call the OB but fevers, headache, chills, malaise and "other" issues appeared to resolve so I don't think that I needed antibiotics and to run in for an appointment today. I actually felt the best I had in a few days and at least the most rested than I had over the past few days.

Thanks to my mom being here, I was able to get a great night's sleep and sleep in until 9:15 this morning. Cross our fingers, but we may have also found a solution to B's more frequent awakenings at night...yesterday, after adopting the exclusive pumping until we cross the hurdles, we fed her at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 last night. So our feeding B every 2 hours yesterday worked like a charm overnight because after her 10pm feeding, she didn't wake up to eat until 1:15am, then 4am, then 6:30am and when we woke up somewhere around 9:15am. Since we were giving the bottle, it was a quick feed, change, and back to sleep until the hour + marathons of nursing that I had gone through last week (but mom took all the feedings which was awesome and so helpful for me).

It felt great to be refreshed but I was truly grateful to have my mom out here as she let me just sleep, recover, eat, drink and pump yesterday, all from the couch and took care of everything else in the house and everything with B so I could focus on myself.

After lunch today, Mom, B, Croz and I went for a walk to Columbia Court b/c it was a beautiful day and the rest of the week looked pretty crappy. It was nice to get out of the house for a bit.

Our neighbor, Sarah, brought over dinner for us tonight. This is one of the reasons I love our neighborhood...our neighbors have been awesome since we moved in. We love the diversity of the neighborhood: younger/older couples with or without children, single folks, etc. In the single family homes, Erik and I are one of the youngest couples at 28 and 29 (we were both 27 when we moved in) but it allows us to see different families at different stages of their lives (and so we can see what we have to look forward to: playdates, MOMS groups, school pickups/dropoffs, etc).

Then, this evening, we just veged on the couch. We missed Erik today...he went back to work today but we'll see him soon.

Day 9 and already setbacks...

After a generally good night where B got a bottle at 1 and 3 (but with the fall back time change, I don't know whether that was pre or post time change) and then slept until 6:30 when we were getting up to get ready.

We had our appointment with the lactation consultant (LC) at 8:30 and had definitely made progress by the end of the appointment. Our solution came with using shields which made everything go more smoothly and painfree. Pretty much, both B & I are doing everything right except the damage had been done by her chomping early on that thus propagated pain and more pain and her petite size made it hard for her to get everything in her mouth that she needed. At the appointment, I also had a lot of redness and firmness but I had not fever or other symptoms so there wasn't a concern for mastitis at that time.

Then, we get home...Heidi was still here so she got a bit of B time while I took a nap. Of course, as irony would have it (as irony seems to be the theme of our lives), I wake up from the nap with a fever to 101.4, chills, malaise, headache...all the classic "flu-like" symptoms of mastitis. After calling the LC, I just pumped every 30 minutes. Through this, we were to continue to nurse; however, breastfeeding has been causing me so much stress, pain, lack of sleep, frustration, etc that I decided to take a hiatus until everything has healed and will be exclusively pumping in the interim.

We're hoping this is a good decision...of course, I feel horrible about it as I feel like I've failed at it but at this point, it's something I need to do (and hopefully with my mom here, it will allow me to just rest and recooperate a bit).

We also wanted to try to feed her every 2 hours during the day to try to fill her up on calories so she would sleep maybe the 3 hour stretches at night (previously, she had been sleeping 3+ hours straight during the day but waking every 2-ish at night). She ate at 2, 4, 6, 8 (we put on her sleeping gown and began swaddling), and 10 (we put her in the crib and now we're heading to bed). So, hopefully things work out

With mom here, Erik headed back home today. He and dad set up the TV and dad was basking in HD and digital cable glory with all of its 50 inches of plasmaness....I think he just found Earth's equivalent of heaven.

Someone has an innie...

And it's the cutest thing ever! But since Erik is getting ready to leave, we're still going to continue the wipe downs until B gets her first bath Tuesday night! Ugh, my baby is growing up too quickly! Can she stay 9 days old forever?

The Little Pumpkin

What a great Halloween for B! We started off the morning (after a decent night...a hard time getting her down with Erik taking the bottle feeds at 12 and 2 and me having a fight to nurse at 4:30 and up again at 7:25) with a visit to the pedi's office at 8:30 in their new office. Since we were the only ones there (they were only seeing weight checks and sick kids since they still had a ton of unpacking and finishing up they were doing) at that time, I think B was their first patient in the new office! Heidi joined me at the appt so Erik could sleep in a bit (he was going to go hunting but rain and exhaustion thwarted his plans). B weighed in at 6'15" so she gained an ounce per day (typically 1/2 - 1 ounce/day so this was great) exactly since Tuesday and is almost back to birthweight at 8 days so we got clearance from the pedi to not come back until 1 month unless we were having issues. In addition, Dr. C also evaluated our nursing and she thought we were doing everything right but encouraged us to go through with our lactation consultant appointment tomorrow.

When we got home, Lauren worked with Erik to redo the office decor (as Erik had purged several of my books from the bookshelves so they'll be up in the attic as I haven't yet come to terms with parting with my Bio 101 or Chem 105 books and the like just quite yet). Haley and Alex came to visit and I just took a quick nap.

In the afternoon, we tried to do a photo session but B wasn't drunk on milk and was wide awake and crying most of the time so we got a few photos in, but nothing spectacular. Both Erik and Heidi stepped out to run some errands so I was able to get some of the photos with the bear and pottery barn chair done and dressed B up in her little pumpkin costume to take some more photos.

Trick or Treat started at 6 and Heidi handed out candy while we took B over to Irene's and Sara's. If I haven't mentioned it already, I love our neighborhood...all the trick-or-treaters were so polite..."trick-or-treat" followed by a "thank you" came from almost everyone. Erik was half tempted to dress up as one of our neighbors was giving out Yuengling to parents taking their kids around....that's awesome! Maybe next year, we'll be that house that gives our glasses of wine!

Afterwards, we were all pretty tired so we just settled in for the night with the Pens game (again, another great performance).

We took a bunch of pictures so hopefully we'll be able to add few here to the blog in a bit (yeah, I have way less time than I anticipated!)

Happy 1 Week Birthday!

It's so hard to believe that our baby is 1 week old. Time has flown by. This week has been a week of discovery, some occasional trying times, and realizing that there's so much room in your heart to love another humn being. You can never do too much holding, cuddling, loving, singing, dancing you can do with a newborn.

Last night, we fed her around 10:30pm and, after her slew of diaper changes, she went down at 11:30pm in the crib. Then, between 12-2, it was definitely a trying time of figuring out pacifier and feeding (she did get a bottle of BM). She went down again after feeding around 2:30, then up at 4:00 until 4:45, then up 6:30-7:15, then we all were up 10:15 for the day. After feeding, Erik had her for the morning while I got a chance to shower, shave and be a normal person. I did manage to get some laundry done. I also had the opportunity to just have a day where I didn't have anything to do (not that I don't have a list of 100 things to do but I just chose to not do any of them today). It was so nice to not have to deal with the bili lights today. Her coloring looks a lot better today.

I've been reading Happiest Baby on the Block and I must say, the swaddle, side, shhhing, swinging, and sucking have been working for us. With the bili lights, it was hard to do swaddling with her but today we tried to swaddle quite a bit and it worked well today. She's been spacing her feedings today about every 2.5-3 hours.

Our nicknames for her:
Yoda (the furrow in her brow and that round/oval head...yep, Yoda)
Pebbles (enough said....this may be our family Halloween costume next year)
Poopshitz (b/c her gastrocolic reflex is in full activity...you can almost guarantee a diaper change before feeding b/c the child refuses to touch a nipple with a drop of urine in her diaper and then is the loudest child on the face of the planet with poop letdown occuring over a period of 5 minutes then changing her before she finally eats......we've probably wasted about 20 diapers just b/c we changed her then tried to feed her and had a poop letdown)
Sweet Pea
Brookie
Brookie Bear
These are the ones that we use most frequently, but I'm sure we'll come up with a few more.

Erik and I just love smelling her....it's pure, unadulterated, perfume-free, au naturelle smell and it's so wonderful...I can't get enough of it b/c sure enough we'll be having a new smell once we start bath times. I just spent time today feeling and touching everything on her...her soft hair, her knobby knees, her wrinkled feet, her button nose with tiny milia, her soft as silk skin, her mullet-esque babyfine hair with receding hairline, her fingers with wragged nails, her flat butt with lack of a gluteus maximus, her spread eagle long-as-her-fingers toes....she's just so precious!

Tonight, Heidi, Lauren, and Nate came over tonight to watch the Pens game and they get some Brookie time. We got General Tso's from China House in Mars and are having a relaxing evening. Tomorrow morning, we have a weight check and jaundice check and hopefully our bili lights get-up can be sent back.

Lots of posts!

I have a lot of posts waiting to be finished (birth story, hospital experience, our first days home)....they should be finished tomorrow...I just needed to find a few moments! So, definitely check back through posts b/c they'll be dated the day I started the post!

MiCasa Monday: Deferred...

For obvious reasons, I haven't had time to do this post. I hope you understand! The post for next Monday is already in the works!

Our Pumpkin's Arrival...the rest of the story!

Yeah, so let me just say I totally planned to nest, facebook, catch up on blogs, etc the entire day while I labored b/c I figured a first time baby after SROM at 5am wouldn't be born until at least 5-8pm...we were even guessing when during the Pens game she'd be born (though what we thought were conservative guesses was 4pm by Erik and 4:16pm by me)...

So, needless to say, right after I posted my last update around 12:45, Dr. S walked in around 12:45pm while he was up on L&D and just wanted to check to see how far I had progressed (I had been on pit for about 5 hours by this point and granted, with contractions, I was feeling a little pressure but nothing outstanding or severe or even minor that I would call. With a few pushes of the PCEA button, any wince of pain had gone away). We were guessing I'd be maybe 5cm by this point (or at least hoping). I wanted to call our birth photographer after being checked b/c I didn't want her sitting around all day so we figured around noon would be a good time b/c I estimated being around 5-6cm which would give her enough time to get some of the casual labor shots and give me some time to get ready (mainly put in contacts...I actually wanted to see the babe when she was born!). Likewise, we figured our family was all at our house by this point so we could call to give them an update.

Needless to say, I was completely taken aback, shocked, etc when he said "oh, you're ready to push when you want to or you can labor down a bit...you're complete, complete and +2 and the head's right here." As I already mentioned, this was not something I was expecting, he was expecting, or that we were ready for. So, I hurried up and called our birth photographer and told her to RUSH in b/c we were ready to push. I asked Dr. S to let me labor down a bit and give me about 30 minutes so I could mentally get ready for this, let the photographer here and call our parents since I knew they were at lunch.

The photographer got here in about 20 minutes (as for the photographer, this was something that, based on my Nesting and some blogs I follow (lifeinmotionphotography.com), I loved the idea of birth photography and to give Erik a chance to relax and enjoy and to not worry about taking pictures. Through the Nest, I found our photographer. I saw something on her blog about her doing birth photography so after some emails back and forth, this was something she really wanted to do but had a hard time finding interested people b/c a lot of people have misconceptions thinking she'd be "right there" taking pictures...whereas, I have seen other photographer's examples where you pretty much capture the first breath, those first few moments as a family, the experience of the birth, and the fun stuff like foot prints so I knew what I wanted from the photographer. When I discussed this concept and overall style with her, we were an instant mesh in what we both wanted....we were going to be her first birth photography experience and we were getting a totally great deal instead of paying $1000+ just for the shooting based on what I researched from other photographers. I was excited for her enthusiasm to do this since I had a difficult time finding other pro photographers who wanted to do this style.).

I was disappointed I didn't get a ton of laboring pix but considering that when she got here, I was literally at +3 with little time left b/c she was having a dip here and there with contractions so I had to start pushing. Brooklyn was coming sooner than anyone expected. I started pushing at 1:40pm...20 minutes of pushing (like 8 sets of 3 pushes b/c my ctx weren't picking up on the monitor so we were relying on my feeling worsening pressure) and her head was pretty much out. This may be TMI but I had the mirrors down so I could watch. I was having a hard time figuring out how I needed to push so by watching the mirror, I could see what worked and waht didn't work based on how I was moving her. This allowed me just a few sets of pushes to get her from not going back in. She was stable about an inch or so out and Kelly called Dr. S. We waited a few minutes and every set of contractions, she inched (okay, millimetered) herself out a bit more so she called the charge nurse, Jane, to come in just in case. I'm talking up a storm to Erik, the photographer, the nurses, etc about every random thing I could think of to keep from pushing. After about 5 minutes of waiting for Dr. S, we had to turn off the pitocin...it was so hard not to subconsciously push with the contractions so by shutting it off, it at least made her progress slow down.

There was literally one fibrous band holding her back during this time. Finally, 15 minutes later around 2:15 or so, he arrived in the room (he was doing a procedure...in the meantime, that little fibrous band held her back b/c literally one more strong push and she would've been out). When Dr. S came in and saw her, he said "Signal fair catch...everyone step back...don't touch her or we'll have a baby right there." He got dressed and they took down the bed. That fibrous band was the only thing holding her in and after one little snip of the band, she pretty much came out and a small push brought the rest of her head out. I remember looking up and seeing her hand come out with her head...it was right up there by her face. She was born at 2:25pm. She went straight to my stomach/chest. I was in awe looking at this little precious creature on my stomach...all gooey, bloody and not as bad of a conehead as I imagined! Erik cut the cord and she stayed on my belly about 10-15 minutes while I delivered the placenta and he checked everything out.

When I was being sewed, she went over to the warmer and was cleaned up. Erik went over to see her too and then, yes, I updated FB (hey, there's not a lot to do when you're laying there with someone sewing you up). The epidural was awesome as I didn't feel a thing...I gave myself an extra few pushes of the PCEA and just laid there watching and taking everything in. My daughter was there...crying away! It was funny...right as she was coming out, I heard the text sounds and Lauren texted that they just arrived. Dr. S took the pumpkin back to the clinic...he was so excited to get candy from a patient!

Then, we had some time with just us and some photos....then we had the family come back slowly to meet her. Mom and dad, then dad sent back Andrea, then Lauren and Heidi and then they all were in the room. Lauren brought a basket with snacks and I started devouring Swedish fish and sixlets (and started on a mountain dew because I was starving!). The newborn nurses swung by and checked her out. We were in the LDR until about 5:30pm and then I was wheeled to post-partum. I ordered food the moment I got to the room (2704) so it was ready by the time we got settled :) Mom, dad, Andrea, Lauren and Heidi stuck around for a little while until around 7:00 or so and then they left to go home to get Primanti's for dinner. I must say we saw our nurse for 5 minutes to check us in, bring me an ibuprofen and that's about it...then it took like an hour for the nurse to bring me a percocet when I realized ibuprofen wasn't cutting it if I wanted to get out of bed. Let's just hope the nurse on tonight is a little responsive to when I need something.

It was just the 3 of us and we were scared to death that it was just us and our daughter. We watched the Pens game (they won!!) and around 10pm or so, a beautiful, 20-minute++ fireworks show was right outside the window in Oakland (I think it was Pitt homecoming...you could see the Cathedral of Learning in the background...we tried to get pix but we just got a reflection). It was so beautiful and we kept saying how it just capped off a perfect day.

I went into today without a birth plan (I had a general idea of what I wanted but I didn't want to be one of those people who had a detailed birth plan such that I'd be disappointed if it wasn't followed exactly) b/c I understand as well as anyone that the best laid birth plans will just go to rest and the day will turn out to be the exact opposite of the birth plan. Even though I didn't have a birth plan, the past 24 hours was exactly how I would've wanted my birth plan to read. Today was simply flawless...everything was remarkable and we have our baby, Brooklyn Sydney (yep, it was a pretty easy decision to go with Sydney), sitting here in our arms...life is perfect...our family is complete!

Brooklyn Sydney Ligda

Brooklyn Sydney Ligda arrived at 2:25pm today! She was 7lbs, 1 oz and 19 3/4 inches long. We're all doing well and we'll be posting pictures soon (probably posting them all the shutterfly then adding them to the blog next week sometime!)

An Awesome Morning...

So, I think I mentioned some of this earlier, but I'll reiterate...

We came in around 6am to the room (LDR 3), got checked in, had the IV started (on the second try), drew blood with a butterfly since the IV wouldn't draw back, etc. We started pitocin around 7am since I already had orders from the induction aspect and my ctx were only every 2-3-7 min and not regular.

Erik and I brought in those plastic jack o'lanterns for our nurses, my anesthesia peeps, the residents, the office staff (for Dr. S to take down when he remembered), and one for our post-partum nurses. They were definitely appreciated and everyone commented on them. Hey, I've been there, done that and love when patients would bring in cookies or candy for the team taking care of them.

Dr. S came in around 7:30am to check me (right after the last post) and I was 75%/2/0 and let me just say that he had to change his scrubs after....oh dear, he tried to assess whether the back of her head was in the front or back and that little bit of manipulation sent a geyser in his direction.

I noticed the ctx were way more painful after pit (I'd say 1/10 pre-pit and 3/10 post-pit in pain levels thinking of 10/10 being those women I've heard screaming their heads off). I held out until 8:30am (mainly b/c I knew there was shift change for anesthesia and also I wanted to see what ctx really felt like and tried to imagine them getting worse) and then I requested my epidural. I figure I was definitely getting one so the moment I started to feel mildly uncomfortable, I called uncle and it was the best decision ever.

Mike Maromonte had done my epidural. I definitely felt comfortable with him since he was one of the fellows when I was on my rotation and I knew that he wouldn't make me nervous. It was so weird to experience everything I've explained to my patients before...I was like, "oh, that's what that part feels like."

For the lidocaine, it truly does burn. It definitely surprised me! As for the Tuohy needle, it does feel like a pressure in your back and I really could feel him walking off bone and when he was a little to the left. It seemed like it was taking longer than usual b/c well, you're sitting there all vulnerable but it probably took about 4 minutes for him to get it. All the while, Erik is sitting there on the chair watching and Patty is helping to keep me in position. It's hard to stay in the curled shrimp or cat arching its back position and I had to reposition in the middle to help open my spaces. I couldn't feel the thread of the catheter but I did feel the bolus of lido/epi as it did feel like a small pressure in my back.

It was an awesome insertion and awesome epidural. I truly felt my legs get numb and heavy and I figured that I had a T9 level. It was really an out-of-body type experience b/c I could move and feel my legs but they felt so weird. I started on my right side and took a short nap with Erik and sure enough about an hour later when my BP cuff went up, my right leg was numb and I had to flip over. Kelly, my nurse, had to help move me b/c, while I could move my left leg, my right was really numb and hard to move. So, I flipped to the left and napped again. I kept flipping about every hour or so. I did do the PCEA and didn't really need it until maybe 11am or so. Katie stopped by to visit and likewise, Mike and Giorgio stopped in to see how things were doing.

I was lucky to have been able to nap, send emails and do stuff on the computer on and off since like 9:30 after the epidural went in. Around 11, I noticed when I was on my right side that I felt a ctx on the left side of my abdomen. I pushed the button and switched the left (while dragging my right leg with me!) and within 5 minutes, my pain was gone. Until now, I pushed the button 3 times I think.

My pitocin was adjusted quite a bit and I think I'm at 10 now but my ctx definitely have regulated themselves now at about every 1-2 minutes. I don't feel them one bit but I have noticed that I'm starting to feel some pressure with the contractions. I'm hoping Dr. S comes in to check me soon. Erik and I are having a birth photographer so that Erik didn't feel like he needed to take a bunch of pictures...we wanted him to enjoy this moment but both MB and I didn't want her sitting around the whole day.

Erik is calling 4pm as birth time but my vote is 4:16pm. I think we're both pretty conservative on this. Erik and I have just been enjoying talking about things. We spent this morning napping, on the computer, or just chatting...it's been really special. I did send him out around 11-11:30 to go grab lunch and he just got back a few minutes ago. He went to Quaker Steak for wings and fries. I told him that he could bring it back but out of respect for my ice chip status, he ate there.

It's so nice that it's just the 2 of us. Our family arrived at the house and are getting lunch and taking care of Crosby. We just wanted labor to be about us and not have family there while I labored. We plan to call them when I start to push so that they'll be here for after she's born and after I'm cleaned, they can come back to meet her. We were very happy that our family supported this decision but know they're chomping at the bit for the call to come down (heck, it wouldn't surprise me if they were sitting downstairs in the cafeteria or something).

At this point, I'm pretty numb and I don't feel any part of the contractions. I'm super comfortable and DH and I are just chatting and relaxing. We chose not to have anyone in the room until after she's born (minus the photographer person who is coming in a bit) so that we could enjoy these last few moments as us. I hope this continues b/c this would be like the best labor ever.

Really, I have utmost respect for anyone who does this without an epidural b/c after just a few minor pitocin contractions, I was immediately thinking that this was for the birds and no way I was going to be uncomfortable for God-only-knows how long b/c I'd rather be sleeping, relaxing, etc that tired from pain and not sleeping. I even had a fear as Mike was doing the epidural that he wouldn't be able to get it and I'd have to go au naturelle and that thought just scared me. I actually thought "I would never have gotten pregnant if I had to do this without an epi...that wasn't part of my plan"....hehe!

I must say I was GBS positive so I had to get penicillin at 8am and again at noon and damn, that burns, hurts, etc....my whole arm, elbow joint, hand...EVERYTHING just hurt and ached. When she slowed down the rate, it still hurt so I just asked her both times to run it as fast as it would go to get it over with! They have been having a hard time keeping the contraction monitor on so Kelly or Jane keep coming in to readjust and her heartbeat has dropped even lower in my abdomen so she's definitely descending...so much so that I have to keep my legs straight to keep the monitor on!

And Dr. S just walked in the room....so hopefully we've made progress (hopefully about 5cm or so) so I can call MB to come in....

The Irony...

So, we had been debating for a while about elective induction vs. letting Brooklyn choose her appearance. We were supposed to go in last night to start the induction process so by morning, Dr. S could break my water and then deliver, ideally, in the afternoon. Well, it's midnight and they still hadn't called and I heard from my sources that Magee was busy so we went to bed. I fell asleep on the couch at like 10:40 and Erik was a bit nervous and stayed up until midnight in case we got the call. At midnight, we both ventured up to bed. We had washed everything and changed the sheets b/c my parents were going to be coming in and staying in our room while we were at the hospital...but, at the last minute after I had already gotten into bed, I decided to put the blanket and chux pad on the bed, just in case.

I woke up around 3am with my regular alarm and figured since they hadn't called yet, that there was no reason to have people come to the house for 10am. I actually called the parents, sister, sister-in-law, etc around 3am to let them know to reschedule their plans/sick days since we didn't know if they'd even bring us in at that point and that she wouldn't be born anytime in the near future so they all could go to work. I actually decided that I was going to go into work this morning unless we had been called in before 6am. I figured they weren't going to bring us in, so we'd go to work and I'd call at 8am when the office opened and then we'd just wait until we had more updates.

Anyway, at 4:30, the phone rings and they give us the green light to come in. Erik and I decide to sleep in another 30 minutes then head in around 5:30 or so. This may be too much information but I noticed it felt a little "wet" but didn't think anything of it since I was sweating and feeling quite warm and cozy since Crosby and I were cuddling. Then, about 10 minutes later I go to roll over and, wham, like a gushing faucet. My water had broken! I woke Erik up with the news! I think he was a little annoyed at this tidbit of info...not realizing the implication of this moment! At that point, I felt instant relief about the induction vs. Brooklyn arriving on her own! I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulder and I was so calm yet excited at the same time!

We take our time to get up and get ready. Apparently, it's true what they say about towels after your water breaks! Erik was taking his time and I was like a kid on Christmas! Crosby had to have sensed that something was different....usually, when Erik and I are both up to go to work, Crosby is such a little zombie dog that you have to carry her downstairs in the morning to go potty then she practically drunk walks back up the stairs, goes straight to the couch or our bed and is asleep within minutes until like noon, if not 2 or 3 in the afternoon....um, not this morning! From the moment we got out of bed, she was this excited little jumpy dog with her tail wagging and she just followed us around the house whining and crying. She had no problems going potty and just had such high energy the entire time. She did her excited howls when we were going to the garage...something she NEVER does at 5am and something she usually never does before noon. She had to know or sense that something was up!

On the way in, we called the family and let them know to reschedule their plans back to the original, though they didn't "need" to be at the house first thing in the morning. Erik and I just talked the entire way about how exciting this was going to be.

We got to the hospital at 5:45am and since I was scheduled for elective induction, they already had our room ready and registration was already done so we just had to sign a few papers and they took us right back to LDR 3. It was a little while until the nurse came in but she was entering all the pitocin orders since they were already here. Since I was already scheduled, everything was filled out so we got the ball rolling early. I had still been feeling those contractions every 2-10 minutes, very irregular, and definitely not painful...I wouldn't have even noticed them if I wasn't feeling my belly.

The nurse came in around 6:15am and got me connected to the contraction monitor and fetal heart rate monitor. Another huge weight was lifted off my shoulder hearing her heart beat around 150s. Sometimes, being in medicine creates too much stress b/c you know too much...I kept thinking that I hope we didn't have a prolapsed cord when my water broke...that really was a thought that crossed through my mind so hearing her heartbeat was a relief. I asked to turn the machine up so I could hear the heartbeat the entire time. Amanda also went through the paperwork list and started my IV (she did miss the first one but got the second one....I was only going to give her 2 tries before I asked for one of my anesthesia peeps to do it but thank goodness she got it on the second one....there should've been no reason to miss my veins, there were like 8 that were like 14 gauge pipes just in my hands. The charge nurse came in to draw my blood to save some time since the IV wouldn't draw blood.

I did ask to not have any med students or interns...yes, I know it's a teaching hospital but for the med students, I may have them on a rotation some day and for the interns, well, I was an intern once too. I didn't care if a resident checked me or whatnot but I didn't know where the interns were on their rotation block.

They just started the pitocin around 7am at a level of 2 and I can definitely feel the contractions a bit more. Maybe 1-2/10 at this point. The contractions were irregular, about every 2-6 minutes on the monitor.

I'm just waiting to be checked at this point and to see where things go. I'm just super excited that Brooklyn had the chance to make her own arrival. Huge weight lifted off my shoulders! Thus, we'd be in the same boat regardless of what decision we had made (induction vs. letting her decide her arrival). Sometimes, I think God just wants to mess with my brain a little bit to keep me on my toes. So, it looks like we'll have our Mole Day (a mole is 6.02 times 10 to the 23 atoms or molecules of a substance...I know, I'm a chemistry nerd...I even have a Mole stuffed animal from the American Chemical Society) baby after all!