All decked out

We're getting out the Christmas decorations here this weekend, and the one above is our favorite. Allie is decked out tonight in her Christmas sleeper that she got from Grandma and Grandpa Durso. Isn't she cute?

A day in the life

Here's what goes on in a typical day for Allie:

She sleeps a lot. But waking up can be a long and hard process.

She eats a lot too. Allie gets to eat whenever she wants and is usually pretty animated during a feeding, when she's not sleeping.

And the rest of the time she gets to just hang out and look cute. Its a tough life, but someone has to live it.

Giving thanks

I've said this many times, but on Thanksgiving its worth saying again. This year would have been totally awful if it weren't for Allie! I am so thankful for Allie and for our whole family.

Today we spent the holiday with my family in Rockton. It was Allie's first road trip and went just fine. Right now she sleeps whenever we put her in the car, so it was really pretty easy.

What's not so easy, however, is leaving the house on time! We were going to leave after her feeding, which we started late anyway because we started her bath late. And then once we were done feeding it still took a few extra minutes to get her in the car seat and out to the car. But we've got the first road trip down and they can only get easier, right?

Hurray!

I am happy to report that it seems breastfeeding is finally working out. Allie and I both seem to be getting the hang of it! The only problem we tend to have is feeding when she's sleepy.

The proof of this statement is in Allie's weight. Last Tuesday she weighed 8 pounds, 15 ounces and today she weighed 9 pounds, 7 ounces. The average weight gain is an ounce a day and she's actually put on a bit more than that.

Of course plenty can still go wrong, as it has anytime I've thought it was going well in the last three weeks, but the fact is Allie is getting the nourishment she needs. So despite the difficulty, we're achieving the goal. I am thrilled!

Allie's birth story

Finally! Three weeks later, I'm posting Allie's birth story. Its still pretty long, but believe it or not, it has been cut down quite a bit...

Around 6 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, I noticed my braxton-hicks contractions were getting more frequent, though still irregular. They would be semi-regular for an hour or so and then stop. I think the only reason I noticed was because I had been up for an hour or so before this because I couldn’t sleep. My back also got extremely sore, worse than it had been in awhile.

This continued throughout the day until the contractions started getting a little painful around 5 p.m. Around 8 p.m. Doug and I decided to call the clinic because the contractions seemed regular enough. When the doctor on call called me back she asked if I could talk through the contractions. I thought I couldn’t, but I probably could have. But since I said I couldn’t she said to come on in to the hospital. Had I said yes, I probably would have stayed home awhile longer.

We got to the hospital around 9:30 where I was checked and only dilated to 2 cm and still about 70 percent effaced. So they sent us home an hour later with a sleeping pill. I cried.

The whole time I was asleep, I was mad that the sleeping pill didn’t seem to be working, but it was. However, I could feel the contractions in my sleep.

Around 2 a.m., I got up and went to the bathroom and noticed I had started losing my mucous plug. The contractions were getting more painful and I couldn’t sleep anymore, I had only slept three hours. We decided to stay home a bit longer so Doug could sleep. I went downstairs and watched some TV and tried to time the contractions. We decided to go back to the hospital around 5 and left the house at 6.

We stopped at McDonalds on the way and got some breakfast. I remembered someone had said you better eat before you go to the hospital and I was so glad I did. I had a McGriddle at about 6:15 and didn’t eat another bite other than ice chips until about 10 p.m. Friday. And the turkey sandwich I had at 10 p.m. Friday was probably the best turkey sandwich ever!

We got to the hospital around 6:30 and by 8 I had progressed enough that they decided to admit me. I had gotten to 4 cm dilated and fully effaced with longer and more frequent contractions.

I had been planning to labor as long as I could without the epidural because I liked the idea of being able to walk around. But before we even got to the hospital I found I didn’t like walking around at all.

Once we got to my room around 10 a.m., I ended up sitting in the whirlpool tub for an hour until the contractions were more intense and I was ready for the pain relief. After I was out of the tub and dressed, I was checked and had progressed to 6 cm.
Soon they came in to start the epidural. The nurse hooked up my IV, and then I had to go to the bathroom, which I had been doing about every 15 minutes because of the pressure. When I came back, as I was sitting on the bed, my water broke.

Getting the epidural in was no picnic. Apparently I don’t have much space in between my vertebrae. That combined with the contractions that made me keep tensing up when I was supposed to be relaxing made the insertion hell. The medical student tried several times to insert the epidural and then the anesthesiologist even had to try several times, missing the spine each time, and the pain was awful when they missed. They even had to take it out and move it down to a different spot before it went where it was supposed to be. All the while I had the water gushing out of me still and I was sobbing and my neck hurt from trying to bend over enough to get this in.

But once the epidural was in and they got it all started I quickly got some relief. I wasn’t upset to be numb from the waist down at this point. I still felt the tightening of the contractions, but not the pain.

I had progressed to 8 cm by about 3:30 p.m. and was told it might only be an hour and a half until it would be time to push. But the contractions died down in intensity and frequency. The said it could have been because of the epidural just the fact I had been laboring so long already as well as Allie’s position. Upon checking, Allie was “sunnyside up,” with her face to my stomach instead of my back.

To get the contractions moving again, I was started on pitocin around 4:30. They said if I didn’t progress beyond 8 cm within about two hours, then Allie probably wouldn’t be able to be delivered vaginally and we’d have to talk c-section. The pitocin really did intensify the contractions and I was starting to feel the pain again. I had a button to press for some extra epidural and I used it as often as they’d let me.

By the time I was checked around 6:45 p.m., she had turned! I had been feeling the urge to push for awhile so we decided to go for it.

As I started pushing, the doctor started seeing Allie’s heart rate dropping and then spiking. She told me later Allie’s heart rate was dropping because of a possible pinch in the umbilical cord; she thought maybe the cord could have been around Allie’s neck (it wasn’t). Allie’s heart rate was spiking likely because an infection went into my uterus after my water broke.

My doctor didn’t like the heart rate readings and started to talk to me about a c-section or using forceps to get Allie out quicker. Someone even came in and took some blood and put another bracelet on me to prepare. I was close to saying yes on the c-section, but then my doctor saw some change on the readings and said we could keep going!

Allie was born at 8:22 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30, 2009, after about an hour and a half of pushing. Everyone was really impressed because they had told me it could be three hours! She weighed 8 pounds and 13 ounces and was 20 inches long, with a full head of brown hair that has since lightened.

When Allie came out she had a hard time breathing because of meconium. There were so many people in the room and about six of them were pediatricians. I had no idea at the time that they had to hook Allie up to oxygen and she had low apgar scores to start. All I remember is my doctor saying over and over again “Its normal, its normal.” I was yelling at Doug to get the camera while he was worried our baby wasn’t going to make it! I was so out of it, I didn’t even realize at first they hadn’t brought her up to my chest and I had to ask later if it was normal to have that many pediatricians in the room.

But it all ended happily. So many things were trying to go wrong, but corrected themselves just in time. It hurt like hell, even with the epidural, but it was so totally worth it. We are in love. I never comprehended the love a mother has for her child until I actually had one.

We love being parents. Doug is a great daddy and he has been so supportive, throughout pregnancy, labor and beyond. I don't know what we'd do without him.

Bath time

See? Allie does have a mommy! Its just that mommy is usually the one taking the pictures.

Allie had her first tub bath last night. She wasn't too impressed. But doesn't she look cute here in her hooded towel? Why don't they make hooded towels for grownups?

She didn't seem to dislike the tub bath as much as the sponge baths, since she didn't start crying until later in the process. I think the more we do it, the more she will like it. She really didn't seem to mind having her feet in the water, or the water being poured over her when we washed her hair. She did, however, have a lot to say about being otherwise manhandled.

Allie's bath tub is state of the art. Its got a whirlpool and a shower attachment! The shower won't be used until later, but the whirlpool will be used once we get batteries for it.

Hopefully now that we've gotten past the hump of the first bath, bath time will become more pleasant, or at least not as awkward. And we'll take some pictures! You have to take a picture of every baby in the bath!

Something's wrong with this picture...

Daddy got a little confused when he was getting Allie dressed after a feeding last night. He put her arm in the sleeper where the foot should go!

Allie had two awake times yesterday. She was awake for three hours in the morning, and then she was awake for about three hours in the evening too. Look how alert she is!

We've been having lots of tummy time whenever Allie is awake. She's getting pretty good at lifting her head, but she gets impatient sometimes. Last night she seemed more interested in lifting her butt and crawling! Impatient overachiever... I wonder how well that will work out?

Look who's awake!

This morning we had the treat of our Allie being awake for a couple hours! She's finally started waking up for feedings and after the one at 7 this morning, she decided to stay awake. Daddy really enjoyed it because he got to hang with her for a few minutes before he had to go to work. It was fun seeing her awake in the morning, when I'm not trying to get to sleep!

As I write this, Allie is asleep. She was stirring but apparently changed her mind about waking up.

Solo mommyhood

Doug went back to work yesterday :-( Allie and I miss him, but doing the solo mommy thing is going pretty well. Since Allie still sleeps more than she's awake, all I have to do is coordinate feedings, which isn't proving too difficult, especially since I've stopped giving her the bottle.

We've had a couple days where we didn't leave the house and now I'm ready to move. Luckily its Tuesday, which is Mother Baby Hour day. Plus tonight is pilates. Since daddy misses Allie during the day, he doesn't mind one bit watching her by himself while I go to pilates.

I reached another postpartum milestone today: For the first time in months, I am wearing my wedding ring on my finger instead of a necklace! It feels really weird, like maybe it still doesn't fit. But I'm able to pull it off easily, so I guess it just feels weird since I haven't worn it in months. Maybe it felt like this when I first put it on two and a half years ago. At any rate, I'm glad to be wearing it again!

Off to feed Allie!

Go Colts!

We're getting ready for the big game tonight between the Colts and Patriots. As you can see here, Mommy and Allie's allegiance is with the Colts! Daddy even wants to Colts to win tonight. We've also been practicing the touchdown signal. I think she's got it!

Hello normal-size feet, good to see you again

For the first time in several months, my feet are back to their normal size! I think their length may have grown a bit, but with the swelling finally gone, they look so skinny!

I wore normal shoes today for the first time in at least three weeks, maybe more. I wore them to the gym, where I was so excited to do pilates class this morning. I felt like a dork walking into the gym with a big smile on my face, but I was that excited. Now that normal shoes fit, I can start going to the gym and walking on the treadmill. I'll stick with pilates and walking for a week or two and see when I feel like I can do more. I'm really looking forward to running again, but in talking to running mommy friends, I may have to wait until about 8 weeks postpartum before I can really try.

But at least I can exercise again! Pilates went really well today. I was surprised that I could do most of the core work, more than I ever could while pregnant. I guess I still have some fitness, even in my core. I got a little fatigued in the last 15 minutes, but I did more than I expected. It felt so good to properly stretch, I can't remember the last time I could do that. The best part was that my gym clothes fit. In the last few weeks of pregnancy, I felt so silly walking into the gym... I had to tug my shirt down and my pants up!

I've now lost one-third of my pregnancy weight, 22 out of 65 pounds. I did the math, from what I could remember at least, and I've lost about the last two months worth of pregnancy weight in the last two weeks. Though breast feeding has been tough, I'm eating whatever I want and still losing the weight! I don't know how long that will last, but I'm going to enjoy it while I can. Its so nice to finally get started on some of my goals.

Two weeks already

I could use the same title every week: (Number of) weeks already! I can't believe how quickly the time flies by. I feel like I just gave birth to Allie yesterday and she's already 2 weeks old.

I am still amazed that Doug and I made this little girl, she's ours!

She had her 2-week check up today and all is going great. She's not quite back up to her birth weight just yet, but really close at 8 pounds and 11.5 ounces. She's grown half an inch for a length of 20.5 inches and her head circumfrance is 36.5 inches. That puts her in the 50th percentile for weight and 30th for length and head size. What we learned today is that she is short just like her mommy!

I love being a mommy so far. Allie was up until 2 this morning and I was up with her and I didn't mind one bit. I'm really loving spending time with her when she's awake. She's seeing a focusing more every day. I can't wait to see the new things she does each day!

Breast feeding continues to improve. Its still not perfect, not even close really, but its way better than it was at its worst last weekend. I am sure that we will figure this out.

Its been a busy two weeks and Doug and I are looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend before he goes back to work on Monday. While I'm nervous about taking care of Allie by myself, I know I can do it. I'm looking forward to it. It will be nice to get some quality girl time with my baby. Feedings will take longer without Daddy there to help, but I'll have to figure it out eventually!

Seems like a really common phrase for us lately is "figure it out." I wonder when we will figure it out? Probably never! We'll figure out one thing and then tackle the next. It will be an adventure, one I'm looking forward to.

A weekend with Grandma and Grandpa

Allie's Grandma and Grandpa Durso and her Aunt Julie visited last weekend to meet their new granddaughter. It was great to see them as we haven't seen Doug's parents since Christmas, and its been even longer since we saw Julie.

Unfortunately, as shown in the pictures, Allie slept almost the entire time!

Here's Allie with Aunt Julie.

And Allie with Grandma and Grandpa.

Since we don't know if we'll be able to travel to see them for Christmas, Grandma and Grandpa brought Allie her Christmas presents early. She got a Christmas ornament, her first doll and some cute Christmas outfits.

While Grandma, Grandpa and Julie were here, we took Allie on her first non-doctor's office outings. It was fun even though she slept the whole time! We took a walk by Lake Monona on Saturday and we went to West Towne Mall and later to Biaggi's for dinner on Sunday. This picture is from our walk by the lake, also the first time we took the stroller out. It was so nice on Saturday and it felt good to get out and walk around. The stroller is pretty handy because even though we brought the stroller and car seat separately, the car seat carrier actually snaps into the stroller.

Unfortunately the weekend came to an end and Grandma, Grandpa and Julie had to go home. It stinks to live so far away from family. Hopefully we can come and visit you guys soon!

Crazy how fast time flies

I can't believe its already early Thursday morning! I keep meaning to post more pictures or even just write a quick update, but the time just gets away from me too fast. Our lives are starting to become more normal though. I cleaned the kitchen this afternoon and actually liked it.

Feeding Allie is getting better and better. We're seeing the lactation consultant again tomorrow and I'm really interested to find out Allie's weight. She's really started chunking out over the course of today. I'm interested too in finding out how much milk she's getting from me now. All of the sudden tonight she started breast feeding really well, looking like she's done it her whole life!

The swelling in my feet is finally going down. Thats been the worst part of this post partum time for me. They're still a little puffy but they look so skinny! My face is less swollen too and I'm hoping to start wearing my wedding ring again soon. I excited to report that I've now lost 19 pounds. Hopefully soon I can put on normal shoes again, and then I can start walking and working toward exercising and losing the rest of that weight.

Doug and I have a tentative plan for nighttime feedings once he goes back to work. We're trying it the rest of his vacation to see how well it works out.

Like I said before, the days just blow by. I really want to get working on Allie's baby book before too much time goes by. I also really want to post more pictures. Lots of people are asking for them... they're coming soon, I swear!

Getting settled

We had a rough couple of days with breast feeding, but it appears the tide really is turning now. We saw the lactation consultant yesterday and got some good advice and made a plan to make breast feeding work. So far everything is getting better every time we try!

Allie has continued gaining weight and was up to 8 pounds, 7 ounces at the doctor's office yesterday, from her low of 7 pounds, 15 ounces. We've finally graduated from daily pediatrician visits and don't need to go back until Friday for her two-week check up. Newborns usually are back up to their birth weight within two weeks and its starting to look like Allie will be there by that time too, even though she had a late start.

Allie has also started to wake up on her own for the occasional feeding, instead of us waking her up.

Life is starting to slow down a little for us now. We've really enjoyed some family bonding time since yesterday. Allie and I are doing some more skin-to-skin time, which I really like. I love the feeling of her breathing on my chest. And from how she sleeps there, she must like the feeling she gets from me too.

Mommy and daddy are doing well. We're just a little sleep deprived, and a little frazzled at times. But we're enjoying getting to know our little one.

I'm feeling pretty close to recovered, physically, except for some stuff that I'm told lasts awhile. My feet have been incredibly swollen, even more than in pregnancy. Its making some things, like wearing shoes, difficult. My fingers are still swollen too. But I'm able to get up and move again and I'm really enjoying sleeping on my back. The swelling in my feet is finally going down too. Once that goes down all the way and I can wear normal shoes again, I'm looking forward to getting out and walking more. The weather this week is supposed to stay really nice.

Grandma and Grandpa Durso and Aunt Julie were here this weekend and we had a lot of fun getting Allie out of the house for her first non-doctor's office outings, which were to Lake Monona, West Towne Mall and Biaggi's. I think she slept the whole time every time we went out. Anyway, we had a lot of fun during their visit and were sad to see them go.

I'm still taking plenty of pictures of Allie and I'm hoping to take some time to post some as well as writing Allie's birth story and work on Allie's baby book. We've also got a lot of house stuff that has been neglected the past few weeks. We're settling into a bit of a routine.

Maybe not

Friday I thought things were starting to turn around with breast feeding, but it turns out they haven't. So we're doing what we can this weekend and seeing a consultant on Monday. I've been assured there are still things we can do to get Allie to breast feed. I don't want to give up on this!

Despite the problems, we are making progress every day. Allie woke up on her own twice last night to feed! And she stayed up a little longer before bed too. Its amazing to see the changes, both big and small, that she's showing each day. Time is flying so quickly and I don't want it to because soon she will be big!

Its already been a week!

I can't believe we've already had our Allie for a whole week!!

Allie and I have had some issues getting set up with breast feeding, but they are really improving now. Problem is she wasn't sucking well enough to stimulate my production. So as a result we've been into the pediatrician's office all week for weight checks and to figure out how to fix it. But it appears we have!

I've had to use the breast pump, which is not my favorite activity at all. At the same time we've been supplementing Allie with some formula as well as pumped breast milk. But it seems like both have worked. Allie has finally pooped, which is a sign that she's getting enough to eat. But now that she's pooped, we're going to miss the time when she didn't! The other big progress is that it seems my milk supply might finally be in and getting close to meeting her needs.

So now Allie is back up to 8 pounds 3 ounces from a low of 7 pounds 15 ounces. She's still sleeping a lot, but thats totally expected. We have to go back to the pediatrician's office for one more weight check on Monday, but we're expecting everything to keep working well. In fact, depending on how the weekend goes, we may be able to decrease the amount of supplement we give her. I think I might also be able to decrease the frequency of pumping as well.

Today we're having a lazy family day at home until Doug's parents and sister get here to visit for the weekend. It will be nice to try and rest and get some stuff done too, now that we're pretty well settled in.

Daddy is awesome

I wrote a lot about Allie and me in my last post. But I really need to send some love Daddy's way too! I don't know how we could do any of this without him.

He's been such a champ and cheerleader. He's cleaned up the entire house and taken over the laundry duty. He's gone to Target for one thing or another almost every day. He's working really hard to clean the carpets from when Monk was alone in the house for two days!

Everytime one of us is frustrated, the other is able to keep a level head and we can work through it. We had a hard time getting Allie to bed last night. I worked about an hour and a half and she wouldn't sleep. Daddy took her downstairs for awhile to let me sleep. We finally decided to put Allie in the bouncy chair next to the bed and she slept and we did. Thats just the first of many challenges ahead!

We're both suffering the lack of sleep, but Daddy still gets up with us in the middle of the night. He's great with getting Allie to burp too. And, as evidenced above, he gives lots of kisses and has a great chest for sleeping on.

What would we do without Daddy? I have no idea.

We're doing great

Life is pretty awesome now. We're all doing great in the 24 hours since we've been home. Allie is still sleeping a lot and Doug and I have slept so much better at home than we did in the hospital.

Allie saw the pediatrician for the first time today. It was so weird writing her name on all the forms! She's lost almost a pound off her birth weight, which is normal. We'll be going in again tomorrow for a weight check. I guess its normal for babies to lose about 10 percent of their birth weight before mom's milk comes in and they really start eating. She lost the weight as she's gotten rid of all the mucous and yucky stuff that was left in her body after she was born. If her weight goes down too much more, we may have to supplement with a little formula until she really starts eating.

Breastfeeding has been a little tough for me, but its getting better everytime we've tried. A big problem is just trying to keep Allie awake to eat! Its kinda crazy because they said the reason she's so sleepy is because she's not getting a ton of nourishment just yet, which is normal. But she can't seem to stay awake to eat and get that nourishment! We saw a lactation consultant while we were at the doctor and she really helped give me some good tips to improve the feeding. She did also give us a little formula to give Allie this evening just to get a little energy boost and see if that will get her to stay more awake for feedings.

I am feeling really good. I must be recovering well because I had several people at the doctor's office tell me today that I looked great and they wouldn't know I gave birth three days ago! I'm sure my exercising made all the difference. It didn't keep the weight off, but I'd say I'm definitely reaping the benefits now.

Even though I'm feeling good, I still need to try not to do too much. I am still plenty tired and sore. I'm looking forward to getting back to the gym and wearing non-maternity clothes again, but I know that could be awhile. I'm making myself wait at least one week before trying on any non-maternity pants. Its kinda funny though because while I still have a bit of the belly, my pants are falling down now!

My bed is so comfortable. Its been such a long time since I was comfortable in bed, and especially after spending two days in the uncomfortable hospital bed, my bed was heavenly last night. Throughout the night I slowly removed pillows from the fortress and now the only pillows remaining are the ones for my head.

Things are definitely still busy here. It takes a long time to get things done sometimes. I took some time to write down the details of Allie's birth while I was still in the hospital before I could forget anything. Hopefully soon I can write her birth story and get it posted here soon. I will also post some more pictures. But it can't be done on my schedule anymore!