3 Weeks Old

Well, Kalaya is 3 weeks old and growing fast! We continue to fall more in love with her every day and are enjoying every aspect of being parents! She is getting more alert and is focusing on more things. She has started watching things like toys and her mobile above her swing. She focuses on faces so well and stays awake for longer periods of time. She is starting to fit into 0-3 month clothes, especially because she is officially a cloth diaper baby now and they make her bum bigger! Our cloth wipes are working great and so far the diapers are working too! We're going to continue disposable at night, due to a tip from other friends whose baby developed a rash from cloth diapers at night. Maybe this will change in the future, but we don't want this to happen yet!

Kalaya's belly button has completely healed, so we have taken some baths. So far she is not thrilled with it, but we'll keep trying! She had a visit this week from her great-aunt Patti from Wyoming, which was special. She also went to Salem for the first time to visit her paternal grandparents and other family members for a Memorial Day BBQ. She attended her first softball game and did great at everything! Big week!

My recovery continues to go well. I am still sore at my incision, but am off all pain killers. I have taken some walks, but have ended up sore afterwards, so I'm really trying to still take it easy. I'm hoping to feel better soon, poor Pippy is feeling neglected from not getting to take our walks anymore! Nursing is still going great, now we're attempting to introduce a bottle as well. So far, Kalaya is furious about it, but we'll keep trying. She has taken the Soothie a couple of times, so there's hope. It's not a HUGE priority for us, just more for convenience, since I won't be having to go back to work or anything. I just may want to go to the movies or something some day. Plus, I know Nelson would like to be able to feed her once in a while. Her sleeping habits are getting fairly regular, still waking to feed everything 3 hours, but we had one night where she slept for 5 hours and one where she slept for 7!! We've had a few tough crying times where she was so over-the-top exhausted that it took a long time of screaming to get her to sleep, but all in all, a very happy, pleasant baby!

2 weeks old

Today was Kalaya's 2 week appointment. Despite the fact that she cried almost the whole time (she was hungry!), everything went great! She has already gained a whole pound since her last appointment! She is 8 lbs, 4 oz and is now 21 inches long. She is in the 75th percentile for length and 55th percentile for height. Doctor says she looks great and must be a good eater, which we knew! She's now big enough to fit in the Bijorn and her cloth diapers, which we will start soon. (we're waiting for her belly button to completely heal, which it almost has) She still fits comfortably in Newborn sizes, but I'm starting to try some 0-3 month outfits, most of which have still been too big. I'm not in a hurry. She also had to have some lab work done, which meant a poke in the foot to draw some blood. She screamed the entire time, and I got choked up. Nelson was the one that held her down, I don't think I could have done that. However, the lab attendant said that we were, "The best parents he'd ever had" when doing lab work with a newborn. I guess he has a lot of people who really break down and can't handle it! I just kept telling her, "This is to make sure you're healthy, it's to help you!", although I think I was saying it more to myself than to her! The doctor also prescribed some vitamin drops for her, since apparently breast milk needs vitamin D supplemented. All in all, excellent appointment!

We've started to adjust to her eating and sleeping routine. She continues to sleep best on a body, but will also sleep well on her positioner, bouncer or, most recently, her swing. We continue to co-sleep, with her between us on her positioner, so she stays in place and on her back. I look at my nights as a 12 hour stretch and my days as the same. We spend about 12 hours in bed, waking to eat every 3 hours or so, then dressed and around the house the other 12 hours of the day, usually eating every 2-3 hours (although I often nap with her at least one time during the day). She is getting more alert and focused when she's awake. She likes having some tummy time and holds her head up longer and longer. Her eyes are focusing on more objects as well. She enjoys being read to, sung to, riding in the car, looking at faces, feeling breezes on her face, swinging and snuggling. She is a pretty easy going baby and only cries when she's hungry or getting really tired. She has pretty much stopped crying during time on the changing table, unless she is also tired or hungry. I am starting to try pumping, for comfort reasons, and also because the doctor said she should be ready to go ahead and try a bottle, as well as pacifiers. We have tried the soothies a few times, but so far she's not too interested. We just want to be able to use them when she's overly tired. She nurses for comfort when she's tired, but isn't hungry and has ended up spitting up, due to being over fed. We're still experimenting!

We had newborn pictures taken of her yesterday. A woman that friends of ours recommended came out to the house to do it, so we didn't have to go somewhere, which was really nice. We should have a link to the pictures in the next few days. Kalaya was not crazy about getting the pictures done, but we think we got some cute pictures.

We feel like we're slightly starting to figure out a routine and that we've adjusted to waking up every few hours. Nelson will go back to work half time on Tuesday and then full time in mid-June. We're grateful he has time at home and have enjoyed the special time the 3 of us have had getting to know each other as a family. We are totally in love with our little girl and can't believe 2 weeks have already flown by!

Week 1 (slightly late, almost to 2 weeks!)

(I put her back in the belly cast and she still fits! 1 week old)

Well, the first 1/2 of the first week of Kalaya's life was, of course, spent at the hospital. Everything went really well and I started recovering quickly. We stayed until Saturday afternoon. (4 days) We considered staying another day, only because it was so convenient to have food on demand and any help we needed. However, by the time Saturday came around, we were ready to go home. My pain levels weren't too bad. There was one time the nurses let me sleep instead of waking me up for my meds; BIG MISTAKE! I was in a lot of pain and didn't realize it until I had started getting up to try walking and ended up crying and in a LOT of pain. The nurses didn't seem to realize that it was higher pain than when my meds were working and tried to get me to keep going and OUCH. Other than that, my pain was managed very well. All of the nurses were great! They were so helpful and friendly. Kalaya got to stay in the room with us the whole time other than once each every evening when she was weighed. She dropped a few ounces (I think she was at 6 lbs 11 oz at her lowest), but we expected that. She did GREAT with nursing and as a result, my milk came in after only 2 days. And, luckily for Nelson, the muconium (sp?) poops went away quickly as a result! She slept pretty well at the hospital too, we co-slept with her. I loved waking up and having her next to me in my bed. The nurses were very supportive of her sleeping with me, it made nursing easier and kept her really warm! We had some visitors in the hospital, but not too many, which was perfect. We got a lot of time just the 3 of us, which was what we wanted.

Kalaya came home on Saturday, May 9th. My parents met us at our apartment, along with Pippy. We had sent home a blanket with them, from the hospital, so Pippy could smell Kalaya, but she apparently wasn't too interested. She sniffed Kalaya and didn't react much, but at least she wasn't mad! She acted a little worried about Kalaya's cries the first day, but after that has done great! She likes to give Kalaya kisses.

Being at home has been a special time for all of us. My recovery gets better every day and I feel more active as time goes on. We went for our 2 day Mommy/Baby check-up on Monday and Kalaya had already gained back her lost ounces and a little more! (7 lbs, 4 1/2 oz) The nurse said she must be eating well and to keep it up! She raved about how well she and I were doing. (Nelson too of course!) She acted really surprised that my milk had fully come in and that Kalaya's digestive system was on track already. Kalaya tested slightly jaundice, but the number was low enough that there's nothing extra we need to do. All in all, healthy baby, healthy mama!

As far as sleep goes, she's doing alright. She sleeps longer if she's on one of us, like we did in the hospital. We continue to co-sleep with the 3 of us in our bed and wouldn't have it any other way! It's wonderful to wake up to her little noises in the night, no matter how tired we are. Nelson has been great about changing diapers, doing laundry, cleaning and preparing food, as it is still hard for me to move around and get up and down. Kalaya eats often and therefore needs to be changed often, which means she is healthy! She only really cries when she's hungry or getting changed, there's not much guessing with her. We can sometimes get 3 hours at a time of sleep, so we're trying to take everyone's advice and sleep when she sleeps. We've had some visitors, but haven't been overwhelmed, which is good. She is wearing only Newborn size clothes, everything else I've tried is too big! We are thankful everything is going well and glad to be home together as a family!

Kalaya's Birth Story

I was scheduled for my cesarean birth at 6:00am on Wednesday, May 6th, 2009. Nelson and I went out to dinner at Red Lobster the night before, which is one of our favorite places. We celebrated that we were about to become parents! I had a hard time sleeping Tuesday night and only got a couple of hours. We got up at 4:45, showered, finished last minute packing and left for the hospital. We arrived right around 6 and checked in. Megan, our doula was there to greet us. My mom arrived shortly after we checked in. We were admitted to a room and Nelson, Mom and Megan went with us. Nelson scrubbed up and mom was given scrubs to stand by, just incase baby and Nelson had to leave me after delivery. The procedure was explained to us and we met with the anesthesiologist, who was very kind and comforting. We also got the nurse I had requested ahead of time, Julie!! I was so happy when she walked in, I started crying. She has just wonderful, positive energy and I knew she would help us to have the birth experience we desired. We checked baby's position one more time on the ultrasound and sure enough, she was still head up. At that point, I didn't care, I was so ready to have her be born and meet her, I couldn't wait! We went over my birth plan and we were told that everything about it could be done, which we were so grateful for!! We filled out paperwork, shaved me, and Julie got my IV started. We were basically waiting for Dr. Coranado to come by and give us the go that she was ready to get started. I started feeling really anxious, so Julie prayed with us and I cried a little. Then Nelson and I read baby her "in utero" Dr. Seuss book one last time and took some final pictures with my belly:




Then, it was time to get started! I walked down to the recovery room, peed one last time (I knew I was NOT going to miss having to go to the bathroom every 5 minutes!!!) and was walked into the operating room. Nelson had to wait until after I was prepped, so I went in with only the doctor's and nurses, which I hadn't realized would happen. I started getting really freaked out, especially when I sat down on the operating table, but the nurses were so kind and the anethesiologist was so nice and reassuring. He administered the spinal, which wasn't painful, just weird. He gave me a shot to numb me before the spinal, which hurt quite a bit, but was over quickly. My body responded fast and well to the meds and they laid me down and started getting everything ready. During this time the anesthesiologist was right by my side, saying so many positive things and telling me how well I was doing. The drape went up and Nelson came in. After that, I was ready! Everything happened REALLY fast after that. I didn't feel any pain, but I was aware of everything going on behind the drape and they let us know everything that was happening. The next thing I knew, they said they were going to cut open my uterus, push on my tummy and she'd be here! They said, "Yup, she is a breech baby, I see her buttocks!!" and the next thing we knew, we heard a big beautiful strong cry and Kalaya had arrived! They brought her around the drape to show her to me and then took her to the warmer. She looked so big and round and red to me and so beautiful! Nelson and I were crying and just so happy. She kept crying and it was so strong! They also told us that my uterus was healthy and that I would likely be able to have a VBAC in the future. Kalaya knew what she was doing staying breech; the cord was wrapped around her neck twice and turning would have made for a harder delivery, with a cesarean likely anyway. Nelson went over to see her, take pictures and cut the cord:














She was swaddled, given a hat and went right over to me. I was able to touch her and kiss her and have her up on my shoulder the whole time they were finishing up. They weighed her, 7 lbs, 3 oz. Then I was wheeled into recovery, where Nelson was able to have her skin-to-skin, until my body had calmed a bit (I was really shaking) and until I was hooked up to everything:




























Then, I was able to hold her skin to skin and she immediately latched on and started to nurse like a champ! She had tried to nurse on Nelson, unsuccessfully! She nursed for a good long time and then had her exam with the nurse. Her Apgar score was a 9 and she was 20 1/2 inches long. She had her first pee on the scale and then Nelson got to help give her a bath:

I got to continue to hold her and spend time with her, while eating ice chips and while the feeling started returning to my toes. We were all taken to our room and then all of our family came to visit. Our time in the hospital was great, I recovered very quickly and was able to go home on Saturday, as hoped. I had some very minor complications with pain meds and then needed some extra help with nursing, but other than that (and pain from my incision) everything was wonderful! Nelson got lots of practice changing diapers. He did an amazing job with me during my recovery and with Kalaya. He is already a fantastic father and I have fallen in love with him all over again. You start to learn the true meaning of romance when your husband has to help you do everything, most of which are very personal. Kalaya is beautiful, healthy and wonderful and I wouldn't change anything about our experience. We are so, so happy and honestly don't know how life was before she arrived! Thank you to all of our visitors, friends and family who came to see us in the hospital! We love you!

Last Blog Before Baby!

Well, it's late in the evening of the night before I become a mom. Baby, I can't wait to meet you and Daddy and I could not be more excited!! We had a special night out with yummy food and special times to celebrate you coming into this world tomorrow!! I am treasuring the last few hours that I have with you inside me....I will miss feeling you kick and move! I pray that everything goes safe and well for you and I tomorrow and I will see you soon! I'm off to try and get some sleep, but I may be too excited! I love you so much already and HERE YOU COME!!!

39 weeks

Well, this is about to no longer be a pregnancy blog, it's about to be a new baby blog! 2 more days until she is scheduled to come out! I have not given up hope on the idea of her turning, she could still surprise us, but I've pretty much accepted the fact that Wednesday, we will celebrate a birth!

Not that she hasn't made an effort to turn. We've done moxibustion, the version and all those helpful home-remedy ideas and it definitely gets her going. I really feel her start to move and turn, especially in the last week. She shifts a lot when I lay in certain positions, but then it's like she isn't able to turn past a certain point. So, despite all of the helpful people who say things about her being "so stubborn" and "so much fun" and "good luck with THAT personality" (what good can possibly come from these comments??), she has made a heck of a try. She still has about 48 hours, so who knows? Again, I'm ready for the cesarian and will be happy with the outcome!

However, it's starting to hit me that this pregnancy is almost over and honestly, there are times when it breaks my heart. I can't wait to meet her and I know it will be absolutley wonderful and special. But, right now, she's all mine, I don't have to share her and I know everything she does. I am going to miss feeling her move inside me soooooo much. This pregnancy has been so enjoyable and I really haven't got to the point where I'm "dying for her to come out", like so many mothers do toward the end of pregnancy. Sure, I'm sore and tired and achy, but this pregnancy has been great. Poor Nelson. He thinks that 2 is it for us, which we have agreed on for our "life plans", but I can totally see myself wanting to be pregnant a 3rd time.....a 4th time....we'll see! : ) (Don't worry, I'm not going to turn into a Michelle Duggar or anything!)

So, the plan is to be at the hospital at 6am on Wednesday, and if everything goes as planned, she should be born by 8:30 or so. We will send out pictures, texts and such as soon as we can! The doctor said we should be at the hospital at least until Saturday, if not longer, to make sure I am well and okay after surgery. We are happy to have visitors in the hospital, we just want people to call ahead and probably not on Wed. Wait until Thurs or Fri. And, we probably are thinking only 20-30 min visits or so. Don't want to wear ourselves out before we even get home! Pretty soon I'll be posting pictures of our new family!!!

38 Weeks/9 Months

We are in the home stretch folks!! WOW!! I look back over the last 9 months, since we first saw that positive pregnancy test and it has flown by! And, it's only going to go into warp drive once baby gets here! We are so excited, but honestly, I still don't know if it's hitting me that a baby is about to come out of me! Yes, we have everything set up and there's evidence of baby all around our house, ready to go, but really?? A baby?? Nelson and I are becoming PARENTS?? That is a crazy concept. You would think after 9 months of preparing (not to mention 26 and 1/2 years....) that I would be as ready as I could be, which I think I am, but ready or not, here she comes!

Well, if I had any doubts that I had a baby growing inside me, this last week it has REALLY become obvious. She is BIG. We haven't had estimations on her size or anything, it's just that I can't really get into any type of comfortable position these days and she has gotten heavy on my pelvis. I am very, very lucky that I really haven't had this kind of discomfort until now. I feel SO sorry for women who have these struggles in earlier months. Sleep is a new experience too, there is officially no comfortable position, unless she shifts by pure luck. I have to get up every 3 hours to pee anyway, so I start the whole process of getting comfortable all over again! Pillows are the single greatest invention, especially my body pillow.

I had my last official day of work this week, little Marlee is off to day care! Hopefully I can resume this job in the fall, because it really has been the perfect working situation for me. As long as I can handle 2 babies, we'll be okay!! I do miss her already though!

Baby is still breech, but I've pretty much accepted that fact. So many of our friends and family members have been so sweet and supportive, understanding that this has been a hard reality for me to face and I appreciate it so much! We are focusing on the positive aspects of the cesarian birth and are just getting excited to see her! She will be making her debut to the world on Wednesday! (6 days!!!!!!) We met our OB on Monday and she was very nice and sounded very ready to let us have the birth experience we desire, with the new circumstances factored in. It sounds like baby and Nelson can stay in the operating room the whole time and that we will all go to recovery together, which is wonderful! We should be at the hospital until Saturday or Sunday, so we should all be home together for Mother's Day and Nelson's birthday! Thank you so much to everyone for your prayers, love and support! We can't wait for everyone to see her and meet her! AND, we know everyone is excited to learn her name!! (only 2 people have guessed correctly, way to go Sarah and Joel!)

Belly Pictures

More 37 week info

Well, let's see.....we are getting into the home stretch and are finalizing everything around the house to be ready when baby comes home. Our bags for the hospital are packed and ready to go. The nursery is basically done, at least enough-so that we have everything we will need for baby once she gets here. We haven't done anything too elaborate, since we're in a rental apartment. We're saving big decorating things for when we eventually move, which is likely to happen this summer. We are hoping to buy a house, but we want to be sure we're ready to settle for a few years, since although it is a great time to buy, it is an awful time to sell! Anyway, I have also been cooking, cooking, cooking to get ready for the first few weeks of exhaustion! I have double batches of soups, chili, spaghetti sauce, sauce for homemade mac and cheese, and breads waiting in the fridge. I've stocked up on a bunch of quick-cook stuff, like soups, pasta and frozen stuff, which I normally try to avoid, but it will make life a lot easier for Nelson and I! We have lots of people who are willing to help out around the house, but I think I'm going to be very selfish about our time at home with just us. Nelson has 2 weeks (vacation) with us and then will work half-time for another 3 weeks (sick leave) before having to go back full time. We know those weeks will fly by and we want to have as much bonding time with her as possible. We are thinking of having an "open house" one weekend in May or June, so that people can come and visit us and meet baby. We just don't want to get overwhelmed with people, even though we know everyone has the best intentions! : ) We just know it's going to go so fast!!

For those of you who don't know, we are starting to think ahead to her baptism, which will be a double-special event, because Nelson and her will be baptized together! They are going to baptized in the church where we were married, which is the church we currently attend. This will likely be some time in June, when the great-grandparents are visiting. We would love if Uncle Colin and Aunt Carrie were back from Afghanistan to attend too, but it sounds like they won't be here until July, which is coming up soon, so we are thankful! Uncle Theo (Nelson's brother) will be the godfather.

I have to say that one of the positive things about having this breech baby experience is the love and support that has shown up in the last few weeks! Good old facebook! So many people are supporting us in this pregnancy, so many kind words of encouragement and helpful advice! So many people are praying for us and our baby, it's wonderful! It's very humbling to feel so loved!

Nelson and I decided to preserve the belly forever by creating a "belly cast", so we did that Tuesday evening. It's big! I haven't decided how I'm going to decorate it yet, probably paint with her name a "birth stats", or some kind of collage, we'll see. It was fun to do, Nelson did the whole thing! We were warned to use a LOT of vaseline, which we did, so much so it was challenging to get it off!! It took almost 20 min of scrubbing in the shower!! Here are some pics of it:



Wow, I look tired, but it took longer than we thought and this picture was taken at about 11pm. Worth it though!

37 weeks

Happy Earth Day!!

Well, we are getting down to crunch time, getting closer by the day!! So, today was our a version and baby decided she is not ready to turn head down. We tried 5 times to turn her and she was just not having it! If I had to choose a word to describe the process, I would say intense! Our nurse and doctor were wonderful and made a gallant effort, but I have a "toned and muscular daughter". They would push on her and she'd start to turn, realize what was happening and decide she didn't want to! So, I have an independent daughter with a mind of her own, which is a good thing! She'll know when she's ready. And, hey, she may know more about my uterus than I do. Maybe her cord length is not ideal to turn or my uterus is shaped the wrong way for head down. We don't know, but baby knows! Anyway, the procedure was painful, but it was great practice for labor. I was able to breathe, focus and relax through the pain more than I knew I would be able to, which was very empowering for me. And, Nelson was.....amazing. I can't even describe how lucky I felt looking in his eyes during the whole thing. He was so calming, loving and supporting. I in no way felt tension or stress from him, he was GREAT! The thing that threw me off was not the pain, it was the way my body reacted! I started shaking uncontrollably, which is normal, but it was stressful. It was like the room had just plunged to minus 2 degrees, I just couldn't stop shivering! It was all the adrenaline, I guess.

So, the moral of this story is that we now know the day we will become parents, unless our daughter changes her mind! She is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday, May 6th! Only 2 weeks! However, she can still change her mind, turn and we'll do this on her schedule! (and you know what, that would not surprise me at all) We are going to continue to make efforts for her to turn, but I'm not going to stress over it. If she turns, she turns, if not, I've mentally prepared myself for a Cesarean. No matter what, we'll see her in 2 weeks or less! : ) CRAZY