Miracle Worker

After two terrible nights with an extremely fussy baby we have finally figured out solutions! We took her to the doctor yesterday and she has been diagnosed with Acid Reflux.  She's now on baby Prevacid.  I am so thankful to finally have some answers and relief.  I know all moms go through hard nights but I honestly think I was reaching the end of my rope.  God has given us relief and I'm so grateful.  On those long, sleepless nights I would just cry wishing there was SOMETHING I could do to take her pain away and now I can.  Along with the acid reflux medication I have found another miracle product.  Last night she was extremely upset.  I mean, uncontrollably crying, turning red, bloodshot eyes, shaking her whole body UPSET.  I told Dustin there was no way I could handle another night with no sleep and that until this acid reflux medicine gets in her system we have to do something.  At midnight we put her in her car seat and took her for a little drive and BAM! calmed her down immediately, but knowing as soon as we took her out of the car she would start crying again we decided to head to Wal-mart and buy what many parents call a "miracle worker".  This is the best stuff ever...



 

 

 

 

 

A word of advice to all expecting moms and new moms.  Stock up on this stuff! I don't know why we didn't buy it earlier.  It's all natural and helps relieve colic symptoms.  Now, we have only given it to Emma one night so I'm hoping it wasn't just a fluke that she just decided to sleep well on her own and the water did nothing.  I really think it had an effect though.  We should really be able to tell in the days to come.  I am just really thankful that we got some great sleep last night, because I was really about to lose my darn mind!! I'm sure Emma is happy as well because she would prefer a SANE mother.

Oh and by the way my baby is for sure a chunk.  She gained 2.5 lbs in three weeks! She's 9.15! The doctor even asked how many ounces she was taking at her feedings and when I told him 4 ounces he seemed surprised that she's eating that much.  She is also in 0-3 month clothes now and SIZE ONE diapers.  My baby is growing up too fast....

Growing so fast...

Today my sweet Emma or Baby Goose as we like to call her is three weeks old.  I can't believe she's already been here for 21 days.  If time moves this fast all the time she'll be dating and getting her driver's license before I know it.  I am cherishing every single moment with her but it's so sad to think that they aren't small for long.  When I was pregnant I rushed her out and now I'm wanting to slow time down, GO FIGURE! We as humans are so needy.  Things are finally starting to settle into place around here.  We have a routine (if that's what you want to call it) now.

PAUSE! So as I'm typing this post I looked up and a MOUSE just ran across my living room floor and then under the couch that I'M SITTING ON! I am freaking out just a little bit and refuse to get off the couch until Dustin gets home, which should be any minute.  Glad Emma is laying right here beside me so if she cries I don't have to get up! WOW, anyway back to what I was saying...If I can even concentrate now.

Where were we....Oh yes.  Routines.

As for night-time she is doing pretty good.  I wish I could say great but it seems like every other night she is extremely fussy, throws up all her milk, refuses to go to sleep and very gasy (even with Mylicon gas drops).  So far what I have read is that we have a somewhat Colicy baby on our hands.  It makes no sense to me though because she is fine all day long and as soon as the clock strikes ten at night and she has a feeding she starts her colic like symptoms.

PAUSE-My phone (which is in the kitchen) totally just rang and I refuse to get up and answer it.  Darn this stupid mouse! It's probably Dustin with a question about the grocery store items I asked for.  If my husband would let me have a cat we wouldn't have a mouse running around in our living room.  We have two dogs and all they wanna do is lay on their bed.  Useless! Oh well, I still refuse to get off this couch until he gets here!

Again, where were we? Oh yeah, Colicy babies.

I have tried everything, as has Dustin.  I massage her little belly, lift her legs up as I hold her on my chest to help relieve gas, rock her, sing to her, change her diaper, talk sweetly to her...finally around one or two in the morning she calms down, well until her next feeding that night and then the process starts all over.  Is it just all babies that are like this or is it just her? I'm breastfeeding so I never know exactly how much she's getting so it's possible she could just be overeating at night.  It is a bit frustrating but I know in the next several weeks as her belly adjusts she will get better.  Any advice for gasy babies besides what I've already tried? Any advice is much appreciated by two very sleepy parents!

[caption id="attachment_248" align="alignleft" width="576" caption="Baby Goose!"][/caption]

 

Getting anxious!

It is January and I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of a sweet baby girl named Emma.  It's so hard to believe that almost ten months ago we were blessed by the grace of the Lord with this pregnancy.  I am still in amazement of how God is all-knowing.  After five years of marriage and some pretty rocky times through our relationship we were finally able to truly find each other and connect on the deepest level possible and through that we were blessed with a growing baby in my belly.  It's so exciting to see how anxious even Dustin is.  He's been excited but quiet through this whole pregnancy but here towards the end he's almost giddy.  He asks me everyday is she's coming and my same answer is "in her own time".  I think he's as "ready" as I am.  We have been trying our best to keep busy until the big day.  We aren't home much because we can't stand just sitting here waiting and wishing she was home already.  We have been spending a lot of time at my parents house, playing games, dinner, visiting with family, staying up late, sleeping late and cuddling.  We know that all those things will be a distant memory for quite a while once she arrives.  Everything has been marked off our TO DO LIST.  We met with a pediatrician today and just loved him.  We are so thankful that we found somebody that we like.  I bought a bookshelf today for the nursery (the last item for her room!).  Now we just need to assemble it and put all her books, picture frames and toys on it.  I finished packing the hospital bag this afternoon.  I can't wait to be putting the bag, diaper bag and pillow in the car and head to the hospital! I also bought my breast pump.  I set it all up and I really like it.  Seems comfortable and easy to use.  I went with the Avent Breast Pump.  We are using Avent bottles so this just seemed like the perfect fit.  Has anyone used this pump before and do you have any good or bad comments about it?

I have truly enjoyed this pregnancy even though it is an absolute emotional roller coaster.  I've been blessed with a healthy pregnancy and I am praying for a healthy baby to arrive.  I will probably post once more before Emma arrives.  Tomorrow we have a doctor's appointment where hopefully we will get lots of information on potential induction, progress in dilation (crossing my fingers!) and he's also supposed to strip my membranes to get things a moving.  Who knows, after that maybe I will just go on into labor! I can only hope right? After that post, I may be MIA for a while until I can get home with baby and get settled.  I just can't believe we are at the end....or should I say the beginning now.  The beginning of a new life as a family of three! Soon soon soon! :)

Boo to the Sniffles

I unfortunately have a pretty rotten cold right now, which is not making the end of pregnancy any more fun than it already was.  I somehow seem to catch any bug my two-year old nephew gets.  I even avoided kisses and still got it.  I thought pregnant women were supposed to have superhuman immunities to block sickness? Obviously not.  Besides the horrible cold things are progressing nicely with this pregnancy.  I'm 36 weeks 2 days today but feeling more like 40 weeks.  I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and in bullet point fashion this is how things are going:

• I gained 2 pounds.  Definitely not the 1 I was wanting to see but oh well.  I'm almost to the end and am tired and grumpy and don't care too much :)


• My blood pressure was 118/72.  Perfect.  Has been the whole time.


• Belly is measuring about 37 weeks.


• Baby's heartbeat was 144 bpm.  Nice and strong.


• Baby girl is LOW LOW LOW.  I'm dilated to 1 and 70% effaced.  He was able to touch her head yesterday which blows my mind.  I knew there was a reason I feel like I have a bowling ball in between my legs! He also in so many words said I have good hips...guess that's a good thing for giving birth!


• I am hoping she comes on her own but if not we are talking about inducing on 1-11-11 (pretty cool birthday right?).  He seems fine with it which I'm excited about.  Having a set day is great for me since I'm a bit OCD anyway.  However, as low as she is maybe she will come sooner than that!


• I'm OVER pregnancy.  I'm sure I've mentioned that before but I need to say it again.  Over it.  Sleep was excellent last week and now sleep doesn't exist.  I can't get comfy, my brain will not shut off, I am peeing more this week, I'm crampy and she likes to keep me awake all night and I am having hot flashes at night again.  Crazy how it can change so much just in a week!


• I'm noticing more contractions.  Nothing back to back but she's definitely working her way out slowly but surely.  Yesterday after being checked for dilation, I'm pretty sore today.  Add that to my cold and you can imagine what kind of mood I'm in today.

It's just hard to believe that this LONG journey is almost over.  I am not even scared of labor at this point.  I'm excited and READY for it.  I know the day of delivery I will be extremely nervous but BRING IT ON.  This girl is ready for motherhood :)

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone has safe travels and has a wonderful spent with loved ones.  Let us not forget what the real reason for Christmas is! So thankful for the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.  What a wonderful gift to celebrate at Christmas.

To be honest...

This pregnancy is beginning to wear on me.  I never intended for this blog to become my pregnancy/baby outlet but I don't do anything but sit at home these days and dwell on baby clothes, baby room, baby cuteness, baby weight, baby hormones and baby's arrival.  I guess I just can't help it, plus this baby is the biggest part of who I am right now which results in baby posts.  I never wanted this blog to bore people but honestly it's just the biggest part of what's happening in my life right now so until baby arrives these will be my main posts.  Then I suppose it will be posts about baby is crying constantly and I'm exhausted, baby cuteness, baby's first bath, baby rolls over...somewhere in there I will just have to make time for posts about other things.  Plus as long as I'm doing this for me as an outlet it doesn't really matter, right?

Today I need to vent.  Lately, I have been feeling really guilty because I'm not enjoying this pregnancy as much as I should.  When I was young, my dream and ultimate goal in life was to be a wife and mother.  I couldn't wait to be pregnant.  I would play house and have a big pillow under my shirt pretending I was pregnant.  I can now say that it's definitely not what my 10-year-old mind thought it would be.  When I found out I was pregnant I was immediately over the moon happy.  I started thinking about what it was going to be like and if it would be anything like what I'd dreamed it to be.  It didn't take long to realize I would be wrong.  I have no reason to feel this way which makes it even harder to understand.  I have had the EASIEST pregnancy of all time.  No sickness whatsoever, no medical issues and a very healthy and perfect baby growing inside me.  I do not take that for granted and am so thankful for it but I just wanted to be this jolly and glowing pregnant lady.  It has literally made me feel like a completely different person.  Almost like I don't even know who I am sometimes.  I look in the mirror and don't even recognize myself.  The weight gain is a part of this, I know that, but it's hard for me to accept.  I've never been a small girl anyway and adding an extra 25 to 40 pounds is a lot for me to carry.  Rolling over that 200 pound mark really hit me hard and made me feel even worse about myself.  I have not one single stretch mark on my stomach, which is awesome, right? Well, the ones on my legs and sides make up for it and it's just so frustrating.  Stretch marks and I go way back so it's not like they are a shock to me.  When I hit my senior year of highschool I started to get them on my inner thighs and a few on my sides but I was still in shape.  I assume I got them from playing soccer but they have caused me to be self conscious ever since.  Now they are triple what they were and it makes my hate for them even stronger.  I look at pictures of just a year ago and thing I wasn't skinny but I felt good and thought that Hey! I'm pretty in that picture, but now ugly is not even the word for what I feel.  I just feel like if I can't change my thinking and attitude that these last nine weeks are going to drag and I'm going to be miserable.  I have heard of women that absolutely love being pregnant and that is what I always wanted.

Along with image issues, I'm starting to get nervous about birth, breastfeeding and everything that comes with parenting.  With her arrival coming up fast I realize that she has to COME OUT.  I really am praying hard for a smooth labor.  I do not want a c-section.  I would just be so disappointed if that happened.  Surgery does not sound like any fun so I'm hoping that I can push this baby out on my own.  I also plan on breastfeeding but am worried I won't be able to do it.  My mother did not breastfeed and my older sister only did it for a short time before switching to formula and I really want to be able to do it.  It's so much better for her and cheaper so I'm really praying that I am able to bear the initial pain of it and become a pro.

One last thing to discuss is probably just a woman topic but my libido is at a negative 10 and has been since the beginning of this pregnancy.  I've read books and talked to other woman and I know each pregnancy is different and that some women are extremely active intimately and others could care less.  I'm the later of the two and man does it make me feel guilty.  It's not even that I don't want to it's more that I can't without wanting to cry because it's painful.  I can't even imagine having to get a baby out at this point.  I'm even nervous for my 36 week appointment for when they start checking me for dilation.  I feel totally and completely sorry for my husband.  I feel like I'm a terrible wife for being so distant but it's not on purpose! I just keep reminding myself that it's only nine more weeks and that this will all be over in the blink of an eye.  I am trying my hardest to enjoy these last weeks but it's really not easy.  I am definitely ready to meet this baby and finally start feeling normal again.  I need to give this to the Lord and trust in him.  I know he will get me through this and that I will look back on it and wonder what I was so worked up about when I'm staring at a beautiful baby girl.  Faith and belief that it will all be ok is what I need to focus on and not all these petty things.

Does anybody else out there feel this way or did you feel this way when you were pregnant? I feel alone in this.  Like an alien has taken over my body.  If you have any advice or support it would be great!  Also, prayers would be very much appreciated.

And just to make 31 weeks official here's a belly pic...



 

Convo with the hubby.

Last night, laying in bed, as Dustin is telling the baby goodnight.

Me: Why in creation would God make pregnancy 40 weeks out of 52? I know he has his reasons for everything but it just seems cruel.  I want to meet this baby!

Dustin: Well he could have made it 52, but what if he made you pregnant like 60 weeks!?

Me: Because he loves us and would never do that to us!

Dustin: Actually, God loves a woman to bear children so why wouldn't he have made pregnancy like THREE DAYS! (as he laughs an evil laugh and tells me how funny he is) That way you could have lots and lots of babies.

Me: Because that's not physically possible and he loves us.  He knew what he was doing I guess...

After that conversation, I'm totally cool with 40 weeks! haha