2 months!

Emilia is 2 months old today! It has been a really rough month due to some serious growth spurts, but also wonderful. Emilia spends a lot more time awake now. A lot of that time is spent crying, which is frustrating because sometimes she just can't be calmed down. It hurts my heart to hear her cry and I try everything I can to calm her down, but sometimes she just needs to cry. She is also starting to be way more fun. She smiles a lot now and seems to really enjoy interacting with us. And she is so cute! Random people are always stopping us to get a look at her. She is very popular!

Likes:
Baby squats
Ah Boom game
Soothie Binkies
Baths
Being held
Lights
Being outside

Dislikes:
Getting dressed (especially sleeves)
Being put down

2 months

1 month

1 month!

Emilia is one month old today! The time has gone by so fast.

Likes:

Mom and Dad

Being held. All. The. Time

Riding in the car

Her bouncy seat

Binkies

Being swaddled

The who's that baby song

The bounce bounce baby song

Dislikes:

Her stroller

Being naked

Getting dressed

headbands

Emilia

Tomorrow, Emilia will be one month old so I figured I should post her birth story so I can start posting her month pictures.

This is long and full of TMI as these usually are :)

 I was scheduled to be induced due to high blood pressure on Friday April 19. I had been dilated 1 cm for two weeks and off and on crampy, but nothing ever turned timeable. On Monday the 15, I woke up and started reading my e-mail and fb in bed. The baby was kicking and it seemed like a normal morning. Joe had just gotten in the shower and I felt a little pop and fluid started gushing out (luckily, we had just put a plastic liner on the bed). I called to Joe that we needed to go to the hospital because my water had broken.

The hospital is an hour away, but I was feeling fine with just a couple painless contractions on the way. They checked me in and did a swab to make sure it was fluid, but the nurse laughed as she was doing it because it was so obvious. They admitted me even though I wasn't in active labor because she needed to be out within 24 hours and I was GBS positive so they wanted to get antibiotics started. 

My body wasn't going into labor on its own so a couple of hours later, they started pitocin. The contractions didn't hurt so I was going to wait a bit for my epidural. After the pitocin was turned up, Emilia had a heart deceleration so they turned me on my side, gave me a shot to stop contractions and put an oxygen mask on me. It was so scary, but her heart rate came back up.

They decided to put in internal monitors to keep a closer eye on her heart rate and they really hurt going in because I was still only 2 cm.  After that, I got my epidural and that was awesome! 

The rest of labor kept being scary. They would turn up the pitocin and Emila would have a deceleration and they would stop it and give me a shot. I had to have 3 shots and ended up wearing an oxygen mask the whole time. (The shot they give you makes you shake really badly so that was fun too).

Just when I was ready to beg for a c-section, they said I was fully dilated (from 3 cm to 10 cm in only 2 hours). I sat up straight in bed to do "rest and descend" and let Emilia get a little lower. Then it was time to push! They had my Dr. come in early because of Emilia's position and that ended up being a really good thing because I only pushed for about 20 minutes. My Dr. and the nurses were making bets on how much cord would be wrapped around her because of the decels, but she ended up not being wrapped in it at all. They said she must have just been pinching it a little. She was born at 5:06 am on April 16 at 38w5d.

They had called the special nursery team in because of the decels. The Dr. said that when they see those, half the time the baby comes out screaming and half the time they need a little help. I didn't get to hold her right away because she needed to be checked out, but she came out screaming! Everyone was laughing at how dramatic she was being. She weighed in at only 5 lbs 10 oz, but was a good 20 inches long. I got her after about 10 minutes. My labor was really scary, but I felt almost no pain through the whole thing and I actually really enjoyed pushing. 

She had to have extra blood sugar tests throughout the day, but she never had to have any special care or spend any time away from us. We are supplementing with formula because she is so small, but breastfeeding is going pretty well too. She is such a sweet, wonderful, beautiful, delicate baby and I love her to pieces.

Our first picture together

Emilia Rose

Christmas Day

Christmas morning started really early at our house. "Santa" had filled the stockings and the pets got theirs right away. They all got toys and treats, but the cats really enjoyed playing with the wrapping paper. As usual, Joe's stocking was filled with little games and mine had jewelry, baby bows, a game, and some other little things.







After stockings, we opened presents. I gave Joe the first season of Game of Thrones, a book about being a dad, and a baby blanket. He gave me a stuffed "smug pig" from Angry Birds, beautiful pearl earrings, and a baby sling.

Then we headed to my mom's house. She was upset because she thought the breakfast casserole got ruined. It turned out to be the yummiest ever and everyone ate a lot, along with fruit and pastries. Stockings came next and were full of tons of candy. The girls got pretty necklaces and the guys got fancy salts.

Presents were wonderful as always and I got a ton of surprises this year. My mom knows that I love foxes and found a super soft fox for me. I got the Kitchenaid ice cream maker that I had wanted and a very generous and unexpected gift certificate to Blue Nile jewelry. Joe got another guitar- a really nice electric one that he had been wanting.

Ethan, Jessica, James, and Juliet came over for more presents and ham dinner.

It was a perfect day!


Mom's tree

Pre Christmas 2012

December is a pretty busy month for us. We have St. Nicholas Day tea, cookie day, Christmas Eve dinner, and two family Christmases.
One of my favorite things about December is picking out our Christmas tree. They don't have any lots where we live now so we drove 30 minutes to a tree lot in a bigger city. The Christmas tree has to be a real tree. Our cats also love the Christmas tree. They love to drink the water, sleep under the branches, and bat at the ornaments.


Mogget loves the ornaments


Bo with the stockings

For the last couple of years, Joe's family has come to Utah for an early Christmas. This year, we hosted it at our house and it was really fun. We had eggnog french toast for breakfast, opened presents, relaxed, had a turkey dinner, and played a fun game.


Orange glazed turkey




S family (minus Joe's mom who was taking the picture and his sister who couldn't make it this year)

Pregnancy Quiz 20 weeks

How far along: 20 weeks and 2 days

Sleep: Pretty darn terrible. Honestly, my sleep has been terrible since about 16 weeks. My hips hurt and I toss and turn all night. 

Weight Gain/Loss: Up 7 pounds. I had lost about 5 in the first trimester so not much net gain yet.

Belly button in or out: In, but noticeably more shallow. 

Movement: I felt the first movements around 18 weeks, but I wasn't convinced that they were the baby. Now I know for sure. Some days I get kicked a lot all day and some days she is quieter and only kicks now and then.

Size of Baby: About 6.5 inches and 10.6 oz. 

Pregnancy Symptoms: I'm still pretty tired all the time. I pee a lot. 

Maternity clothes: Yes, tops and bottoms.

Gender: Baby girl!

Labor Signs: None! Stay that way for a long time!

Food Cravings: I don't have a lot of particular cravings, but I am hungry all the time which is nice because I hardly ate anything during the first trimester. Last week I was craving cucumbers. Baby girl, on the other hand, loves nothing more than fry sauce. 

What I miss: Not much. I do miss my weekend glasses of wine with dinner. 

What I am looking forward to: Christmas and viability day (which is January 3rd).

Weekly Wisdom: One day at a time. 

Best moment this week: Seeing baby girl at my anatomy scan on Friday.

Milestones: I'm half baked!

Girl

The old wive's tales and the poll were correct. Two ultrasounds have shown us our baby girl!