Adjusting

I really don't want to jinx it, but things are going smoothly! Laurel has been over the moon about her little sister, we just have to be vigilant in keeping that excitement contained and Greta safe from the exuberance. We've been extremely fortunate to have lots of help from my mom and mother-in-law in trying to keep Laurel on her normal schedule, especially with her afternoon nap.

Now, I sincerely don't think there is such a thing as a "bad" baby but Greta is absolutely wonderful. Tim and I laugh about it, but you seriously don't realize she's in the room most of the time unless she needs to eat. She is very contented and sleeps wonderfully! She loves to snuggle up on mine or Tim's chest and at night she will usually sleep for three to four hours at a time, wake up to eat and then go back to sleep within 20-30 minutes.

I keep asking myself if Laurel was that much more difficult or if I just feel a lot more prepared this time around. My mom says it is primarily just knowing what to expect (and that Laurel was also a very easy, laid-back baby). Also, Laurel and I had lots of breastfeeding problems at first (including double mastitis) and I had tons of tail bone pain for months after her delivery. All those things combined to make the first few weeks after her birth quite difficult. This time around we had a little bit of a bump in the road with nursing but after a day of moping that I was going to have to pump for a couple weeks I got some perspective that we'd have months, if not years, to have a great breastfeeding relationship.

One of the hardest things is not letting my temper get away from me when Laurel does act out. We're trying to make lots of special time for Laurel so that she doesn't start getting resentful of Greta, but it's really hard to carve out much extra time right now. Today was our first all-girl outing as I took Laurel and Greta to the playground. It went really well and I'm sure it's just the first of many, many outings!

Pictures from Greta's Birth Day

Laurel was so excited to get to come see her baby sissy in the "pital." Her Nanny and Papaw bought her a special baby doll so that she could introduce us to her baby and her to our baby.
This is my incredible doula, Angie. She was incredible during the delivery.
Here's the first kiss between sisters. Laurel is crazy about Baby "Geta."
And finally here's a very tired but proud mama with her new baby girl.

Greta's Birth Story

Tim and I stayed up until about 1 a.m. early Wednesday morning watching an incredible thunderstorm spread out around our house. Shortly after I fell asleep, I was woken up with my first contraction at 2 a.m. and it was definitely different than anything I'd felt before. It spread into my back and the tops of my legs and was very low in my belly. I got up and went to the computer to use a contraction counter so that I didn't have to wake Tim up and they were very consistently 45 seconds long and 6 minutes apart. The only thing changing was the intensity. By 3:30 I woke Tim up and told him we might want to get packed and ready to go. I called my doula, Angie, shortly after 4 and she agreed that it sounded like this was for real. We decided it would be best to meet at the hospital.

At 4:30 my water broke and almost instantly the intensity and frequency of the contractions went through the roof. I endured a very difficult 30 minute car ride to the hospital (which I later found out must have been my transition phase.) They were coming every 2 to 3 minutes and I really had to moan to deal with them. Poor Laurel was in the backseat, but she was a real trooper. She kept asking, “Mommy, belly hurt?” My parents met us at the hospital and took Laurel home with them. Angie was also waiting for me and helped me get into triage where the nurse exclaimed "I can't find a cervix. Get the doctor here immediately!" I was completely dilated and starting to feel the urge to push.

They rushed me into a room and called in a resident physician from another group who was there for another labor. She and Angie (who is also a certified midwife) were getting a game plan together to deliver me while I stood up beside the bed. (I refused to lie down in the bed because it was just too painful to move anywhere.) I leaned over the bed and tried a few pushing contractions standing up but I could never really find a comfortable place or a way to relax between pushes. At that point I decided the bed looked a whole lot better and I sat down. Luckily our regular OB arrived just in time and jumped into the action.

Tim had gowned and gloved up and the OB was teaching him how to catch the baby! At this point I was scared out of my mind to push for fear of the pain. Angie stood beside my head the whole time and talked to me about why I did, in fact, have to push and push past the point where my mind told my body to quit. I "sat out" several contractions while I worked up the courage to do it and then she said the magical words, "Your baby really needs you to push.” I had heard them mention that there was “light meconium” showing up in my fluid and that the baby’s heart rate was starting to show a little distress so I closed my eyes, drew in my legs to my chest and pushed as hard as I could. Feeling her head move down and then crown was the most intense/painful/incredible feeling. With one more push her head was out I felt relief. The next push to get her shoulders out was just as intense but the fear was gone because I knew I had already done it once.

Tim caught her and put her on my chest. No one had told us that our baby was a girl (and Tim didn’t even think to look) so immediately I moved the cord to see her. I got the privilege of telling everyone that we had a little girl! It was awesome.

I had a 2nd degree tear that went into the muscle so the repair work was fairly uncomfortable but I was finally holding my little girl so it was all alright. The hospital staff was awesome and I held her on my chest for about 2 hours. They did her Apgar checks, her Vitamin K shot and her eye ointment all while I held her and let her start nursing. There was no pressure to bath her or measure her and they just told me to let them know when I wanted to get those things done.

Greta May was born at 6:20 a.m. on Wednesday, May 11, 2011. She weighed 8 pounds and measured 19.5 inches.

From our frantic 5 a.m. arrival until our discharge, we were only in the hospital for 32 hours. Now we are back home and enjoying seeing our two girls get acquainted.


Greta Has Arrived!

This morning at 6:20 a.m. Miss Greta May joined our family. The birth story is a whirlwind, but everything went wonderfully and so far both she and myself are doing very well. She's been nursing like a champ so far and I've been feeling pretty good after a completely natural birth. I'll try to get pictures and the full story posted soon.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Adjusting

I really don't want to jinx it, but things are going smoothly! Laurel has been over the moon about her little sister, we just have to be vigilant in keeping that excitement contained and Greta safe from the exuberance. We've been extremely fortunate to have lots of help from my mom and mother-in-law in trying to keep Laurel on her normal schedule, especially with her afternoon nap.

Now, I sincerely don't think there is such a thing as a "bad" baby but Greta is absolutely wonderful. Tim and I laugh about it, but you seriously don't realize she's in the room most of the time unless she needs to eat. She is very contented and sleeps wonderfully! She loves to snuggle up on mine or Tim's chest and at night she will usually sleep for three to four hours at a time, wake up to eat and then go back to sleep within 20-30 minutes.

I keep asking myself if Laurel was that much more difficult or if I just feel a lot more prepared this time around. My mom says it is primarily just knowing what to expect (and that Laurel was also a very easy, laid-back baby). Also, Laurel and I had lots of breastfeeding problems at first (including double mastitis) and I had tons of tail bone pain for months after her delivery. All those things combined to make the first few weeks after her birth quite difficult. This time around we had a little bit of a bump in the road with nursing but after a day of moping that I was going to have to pump for a couple weeks I got some perspective that we'd have months, if not years, to have a great breastfeeding relationship.

One of the hardest things is not letting my temper get away from me when Laurel does act out. We're trying to make lots of special time for Laurel so that she doesn't start getting resentful of Greta, but it's really hard to carve out much extra time right now. Today was our first all-girl outing as I took Laurel and Greta to the playground. It went really well and I'm sure it's just the first of many, many outings!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Pictures from Greta's Birth Day

Laurel was so excited to get to come see her baby sissy in the "pital." Her Nanny and Papaw bought her a special baby doll so that she could introduce us to her baby and her to our baby.
This is my incredible doula, Angie. She was incredible during the delivery.
Here's the first kiss between sisters. Laurel is crazy about Baby "Geta."
And finally here's a very tired but proud mama with her new baby girl.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Greta's Birth Story

Tim and I stayed up until about 1 a.m. early Wednesday morning watching an incredible thunderstorm spread out around our house. Shortly after I fell asleep, I was woken up with my first contraction at 2 a.m. and it was definitely different than anything I'd felt before. It spread into my back and the tops of my legs and was very low in my belly. I got up and went to the computer to use a contraction counter so that I didn't have to wake Tim up and they were very consistently 45 seconds long and 6 minutes apart. The only thing changing was the intensity. By 3:30 I woke Tim up and told him we might want to get packed and ready to go. I called my doula, Angie, shortly after 4 and she agreed that it sounded like this was for real. We decided it would be best to meet at the hospital.

At 4:30 my water broke and almost instantly the intensity and frequency of the contractions went through the roof. I endured a very difficult 30 minute car ride to the hospital (which I later found out must have been my transition phase.) They were coming every 2 to 3 minutes and I really had to moan to deal with them. Poor Laurel was in the backseat, but she was a real trooper. She kept asking, “Mommy, belly hurt?” My parents met us at the hospital and took Laurel home with them. Angie was also waiting for me and helped me get into triage where the nurse exclaimed "I can't find a cervix. Get the doctor here immediately!" I was completely dilated and starting to feel the urge to push.

They rushed me into a room and called in a resident physician from another group who was there for another labor. She and Angie (who is also a certified midwife) were getting a game plan together to deliver me while I stood up beside the bed. (I refused to lie down in the bed because it was just too painful to move anywhere.) I leaned over the bed and tried a few pushing contractions standing up but I could never really find a comfortable place or a way to relax between pushes. At that point I decided the bed looked a whole lot better and I sat down. Luckily our regular OB arrived just in time and jumped into the action.

Tim had gowned and gloved up and the OB was teaching him how to catch the baby! At this point I was scared out of my mind to push for fear of the pain. Angie stood beside my head the whole time and talked to me about why I did, in fact, have to push and push past the point where my mind told my body to quit. I "sat out" several contractions while I worked up the courage to do it and then she said the magical words, "Your baby really needs you to push.” I had heard them mention that there was “light meconium” showing up in my fluid and that the baby’s heart rate was starting to show a little distress so I closed my eyes, drew in my legs to my chest and pushed as hard as I could. Feeling her head move down and then crown was the most intense/painful/incredible feeling. With one more push her head was out I felt relief. The next push to get her shoulders out was just as intense but the fear was gone because I knew I had already done it once.

Tim caught her and put her on my chest. No one had told us that our baby was a girl (and Tim didn’t even think to look) so immediately I moved the cord to see her. I got the privilege of telling everyone that we had a little girl! It was awesome.

I had a 2nd degree tear that went into the muscle so the repair work was fairly uncomfortable but I was finally holding my little girl so it was all alright. The hospital staff was awesome and I held her on my chest for about 2 hours. They did her Apgar checks, her Vitamin K shot and her eye ointment all while I held her and let her start nursing. There was no pressure to bath her or measure her and they just told me to let them know when I wanted to get those things done.

Greta May was born at 6:20 a.m. on Wednesday, May 11, 2011. She weighed 8 pounds and measured 19.5 inches.

From our frantic 5 a.m. arrival until our discharge, we were only in the hospital for 32 hours. Now we are back home and enjoying seeing our two girls get acquainted.


Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Greta Has Arrived!

This morning at 6:20 a.m. Miss Greta May joined our family. The birth story is a whirlwind, but everything went wonderfully and so far both she and myself are doing very well. She's been nursing like a champ so far and I've been feeling pretty good after a completely natural birth. I'll try to get pictures and the full story posted soon.
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