Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Getting so big
Look at how much Aubrey has grown since the day we brought her home. She takes up almost her entire tub now!
2 months old!
Aubrey is 2 months old! This month she loves:
Mommy
Daddy
Smiling
Starting to giggle (especially in her sleep!)
Studying faces
Tooting
Music
New, dry diapers
Looking in the mirror
She is starting to enjoy bathtime more - yay!
She still HATES tummy time though
Visiting Great Grampa Gort
Last week I took Aubrey to the nursing home to visit my Grampa. He said she' beautiful =)
Moving Aubrey to her crib
Friday night I decided we better move Aubrey from her bassinet in our room to her crib in her room. I go back to work next week and need to try to get more sleep at night. Her little squirms and squeaks were keeping me awake. On that note, there were so many people who told me not to use a bassinet. I am so glad I didn't listen! One of the smartest things I did and will for sure do it with the next baby!
I told Chris that we needed to move her and he told me "Yeah right, you'll never handle not having her in our room". Well....by the looks of the picture he was wrong! In his defense, I spent the night on her floor the next night but he has no picture as blackmail!
I told Chris that we needed to move her and he told me "Yeah right, you'll never handle not having her in our room". Well....by the looks of the picture he was wrong! In his defense, I spent the night on her floor the next night but he has no picture as blackmail!
Saturday, September 3, 2011
One Month Old....
Aubrey is one month old! Here are some things she loves:
- Snuggles
- Mommy
- Daddy
- Cuddles with her Grammas
- Her Woombie (Mommy loves that she loves this too!)
- Making faces
- Holding Mommy's finger when eating
- Scratching Mommy's face
- Tooting
Family pics
Here are some pics we had taken when Aubrey was three weeks old. I am so glad we did this and think they turned out awesome!
Another new job for Chris!
Chris recently started a new job with the Renville County Sheriff's Office. He decided to leave Wright County after Renville offered to activate his police officer license and put him out on patrol after being trained in the jail. It was a no-brainer decision, as pretty much no one is hiring police officers these days and you have to have your license activated within three years of passing your POST test otherwise you have to take it over. Also, his commute was over an hour one way and gas prices were killing us. Not to mention I wanted him closer to home. Wright County was very understanding and the Sheriff even sent him a note and told him to think of them for future employment.
Go get 'em Daddy!!!
Go get 'em Daddy!!!
1st Doctor Appointment
Aubrey had her first doctor appointment when she was one week old. Our doctor wanted to make sure she didn't have jaundice and wanted to check out her hips. After she was born she had to have an ultrasound done to make sure she didn't have hip dysplasia, which apparently is pretty common in babies who were breech. Her hips turned out just fine! Her weight at this check-up was 6lbs 2 oz, not quite up to her birth weight yet but working on it!
Not cut out for childbirth.....
Since the last post was getting so long I decided to write a different post about our hospital stay.
First of all, any person who tells me that having a c-section is the easy way to have a baby, will probably get drop kicked. Sure, the surgery itself isn't so bad. But, the emotional and physical recovery afterwards is definitely no fun.
I remember the day after Aubrey was born I had to get up to shower. But I really couldn't move. I never realized you use your abdominal muscles for pretty much everything. When someone cuts into those muscles, life isn't too easy for a while afterwards. And, apparently there's a way to get out of bed that makes things easier. Not one nurse bothered to tell me this until Aubrey was 3 days old. I guess there was a book in my room from the hospital that tells you how to take care of your baby and yourself. Didn't know that either until a few days later when I noticed it in the corner of my hospital room. Ugh.
The day after she was born I had company. Lots of it. I had to get up to go to the bathroom and the nurse was helping me get up. I started to feel faint and turned as white as a ghost. So, they kicked everyone out (it was Chris' mom and Grandma and I felt so bad) and I took a nice long nap.
Later that same day I was alone in my room. My room was right next to the waiting room. There was a family waiting for a baby to be born and it was getting close. The mom was starting to push. I remember hearing everyone get so excited for this baby coming and they were running down the hallway cheering. I immediately started crying. I didn't get to experience any of that. I didn't get to push my baby out and have her placed on my chest. I didn't get to hold my baby for over an hour after she was born. My doctor, who I absolutely love, didn't get to deliver my baby since I had a c-section. I was so sad because I went through an entire pregnancy with a wonderful doctor and the doctor who delivered Aubrey had no bedside manner and was just plain old. He delivered one of my brothers for crying out out....time to retire!
I was running a fever and my blood pressure was high almost the entire time I was in the hospital. On that Thursday, the doctor came in and told me my hemoglobin was low. Normal is about 12, and I think he said mine was 9. If it didn't get better by Friday, I couldn't go home. Good Lord. The next day there was no change so not only could I not go home, I had to have a blood transfusion. Double Ugh. Then a couple hours later the nurse told us that even though I wasn't being discharged Aubrey was because she was healthy. She wanted us to know that most insurances won't pay for babies staying in the hospital if they are healthy, even though the mom is not. So, we had no choice but to keep Aubrey in our room that night and take care of her ourselves. That was fine, but Aubrey literally hadn't eaten because I had no milk yet and nursing wasn't going so well. So she screamed that night. For hours. I finally gave in and gave her a little formula just to get her to sleep.
Nursing did not go as planned. My milk never did come in and I tried everything. Aubrey had an appointment when she was a week old so I asked my doctor about it. He said it was probably because of the stress on my body with the c-section, fever, high blood pressure and blood transfusion. He said I could keep trying but if it hadn't come in after a week it probably wouldn't. He reassured me that Aubrey would be fine. He even said is oldest child was a formula baby and she is probably the smartest of the three. That made me feel better. Formula feeding it is then. At least I didn't have to deal with the drying up part!
When Aubrey was two weeks old, I sneezed and felt a pop. Later I noticed my incision from the c-section was open a bit and starting to bleed a little. Called the OB doctor (the one I don't care for) and he said as long as I wasn't running a fever it was fine. So I left it. The next day it was literally dripping blood and was open even more. I called the doctor again and he told me to come in. He looked at it for about 10 seconds and said it was normal and sent me on my way. Wonder how much he charged for that appointment. Jeez.
A week later, I noticed there was flesh or something coming out of the incision area. I called the OB doctor again but luckily he wasn't there. The on-call doctor agreed to see me so I went in. He was so nice. He said this was normal - not common- but nothing to worry about. He did do a culture of it and put me on antibiotics just in case. He said it could leak/bleed for a few more weeks. To this day (Aubrey is almost 6 weeks old) the incision is still open and leaking. I have been living in yoga pants because any pressure on that area makes it leak more and it ruins my clothes. I am so sick of feeling like a slob!
So, there's the story of our hospital stay in a nutshell. I am slowly forgetting just how horrible I felt afterwards. Guess it really is true that eventually you forget everything and that is when you want another baby =)
First of all, any person who tells me that having a c-section is the easy way to have a baby, will probably get drop kicked. Sure, the surgery itself isn't so bad. But, the emotional and physical recovery afterwards is definitely no fun.
I remember the day after Aubrey was born I had to get up to shower. But I really couldn't move. I never realized you use your abdominal muscles for pretty much everything. When someone cuts into those muscles, life isn't too easy for a while afterwards. And, apparently there's a way to get out of bed that makes things easier. Not one nurse bothered to tell me this until Aubrey was 3 days old. I guess there was a book in my room from the hospital that tells you how to take care of your baby and yourself. Didn't know that either until a few days later when I noticed it in the corner of my hospital room. Ugh.
The day after she was born I had company. Lots of it. I had to get up to go to the bathroom and the nurse was helping me get up. I started to feel faint and turned as white as a ghost. So, they kicked everyone out (it was Chris' mom and Grandma and I felt so bad) and I took a nice long nap.
Later that same day I was alone in my room. My room was right next to the waiting room. There was a family waiting for a baby to be born and it was getting close. The mom was starting to push. I remember hearing everyone get so excited for this baby coming and they were running down the hallway cheering. I immediately started crying. I didn't get to experience any of that. I didn't get to push my baby out and have her placed on my chest. I didn't get to hold my baby for over an hour after she was born. My doctor, who I absolutely love, didn't get to deliver my baby since I had a c-section. I was so sad because I went through an entire pregnancy with a wonderful doctor and the doctor who delivered Aubrey had no bedside manner and was just plain old. He delivered one of my brothers for crying out out....time to retire!
I was running a fever and my blood pressure was high almost the entire time I was in the hospital. On that Thursday, the doctor came in and told me my hemoglobin was low. Normal is about 12, and I think he said mine was 9. If it didn't get better by Friday, I couldn't go home. Good Lord. The next day there was no change so not only could I not go home, I had to have a blood transfusion. Double Ugh. Then a couple hours later the nurse told us that even though I wasn't being discharged Aubrey was because she was healthy. She wanted us to know that most insurances won't pay for babies staying in the hospital if they are healthy, even though the mom is not. So, we had no choice but to keep Aubrey in our room that night and take care of her ourselves. That was fine, but Aubrey literally hadn't eaten because I had no milk yet and nursing wasn't going so well. So she screamed that night. For hours. I finally gave in and gave her a little formula just to get her to sleep.
Nursing did not go as planned. My milk never did come in and I tried everything. Aubrey had an appointment when she was a week old so I asked my doctor about it. He said it was probably because of the stress on my body with the c-section, fever, high blood pressure and blood transfusion. He said I could keep trying but if it hadn't come in after a week it probably wouldn't. He reassured me that Aubrey would be fine. He even said is oldest child was a formula baby and she is probably the smartest of the three. That made me feel better. Formula feeding it is then. At least I didn't have to deal with the drying up part!
When Aubrey was two weeks old, I sneezed and felt a pop. Later I noticed my incision from the c-section was open a bit and starting to bleed a little. Called the OB doctor (the one I don't care for) and he said as long as I wasn't running a fever it was fine. So I left it. The next day it was literally dripping blood and was open even more. I called the doctor again and he told me to come in. He looked at it for about 10 seconds and said it was normal and sent me on my way. Wonder how much he charged for that appointment. Jeez.
A week later, I noticed there was flesh or something coming out of the incision area. I called the OB doctor again but luckily he wasn't there. The on-call doctor agreed to see me so I went in. He was so nice. He said this was normal - not common- but nothing to worry about. He did do a culture of it and put me on antibiotics just in case. He said it could leak/bleed for a few more weeks. To this day (Aubrey is almost 6 weeks old) the incision is still open and leaking. I have been living in yoga pants because any pressure on that area makes it leak more and it ruins my clothes. I am so sick of feeling like a slob!
So, there's the story of our hospital stay in a nutshell. I am slowly forgetting just how horrible I felt afterwards. Guess it really is true that eventually you forget everything and that is when you want another baby =)
Friday, September 2, 2011
It's a GIRL!!!
Chris and I are so excited to welcome Aubrey Christine to our lives! She was born 7/26/11 at 8:31 p.m. She weighed 6 lbs 12 oz and was 20 inches long...just a little peanut! I know this post is sooo late, but her birth story is a long one and quite honestly I haven't had alot of time in the past month! I've been too busy cuddling with my little girl. Here goes...
On 7/26 I woke up with a killer migraine so I called in sick to work that day. I dealt with a lot of headaches throughout my pregnancy. Some people puke, I had headaches. Headaches that made me puke. Ish.
I had a doctor's appointment anyway that morning, so off we went. At my appointment, everything looked good. Baby was head down, I was dilated to 4 cm and was 80% effaced. He said I would probably go into labor within the next couple days. I told him about my headache and since my blood pressure was a little high, he decided to send us to the hospital for non-stress tests. Great. Off to the triage room we went for monitoring and fluids and the Tylenol III and Zofran that came in handy quite a few times throughout this pregnancy. My doctor came up to the hospital during his lunch break and said I was looking good and ready to go home. I sent Chris to work....(remember he worked in Wright County at the time, over an hour drive away) and went home to sleep the afternoon away.
At about 5:00, I got up to go to the bathroom. I felt a pop. Hmmm. At the time I was peeing, so I really wasn't sure if that was my water breaking or what. It wasn't a huge gush or anything like that. And then....a huge contraction. I went and sat in the recliner for a little bit and then had another contraction. I decided I better call my mom to come into town to stay with me and keep me company until it was time to go to the hospital. Of course the one day my mom doesn't come stay with me (she had been staying with us while Chris was working since he was far away) I go into labor. Then, I called my friend Heather to ask her what it was like when your water breaks. Had a couple contractions on the phone with her. I remember thinking the whole time that these seemed stronger than I thought they would be. At first they were 12 minutes apart, then 8 minutes, then 5 minutes. Oh boy. I called Chris' work and told him he should probably come home. But I told him to take his time, drive slow. We had plenty of time of course, this was our first baby! I'm glad he didn't listen =)
My mom showed up and we started timing the contractions. All I remember is that I couldn't time them. They were too close together and hurt way too much. At one point I was doubled over our steps in pain. I thought I was being a wuss...but now I know why. Things were moving along way too fast! We decided we better get to the hospital so off we went. We got to the hospital at about 6:30.
We got to the hospital and up to OB we went. But, there were no rooms ready for me. Turns out Aubrey was the 8th baby born that day. So I had to wait in the waiting room....seriously! They then got me into the triage room and one of the nurses decided to check me. Then she said she would be right back. She had to go find another nurse to check me. What the heck? She couldn't figure it out on her own? The second nurse came in and checked me. The first nurse said all she felt was labia. Good thing I wasn't paying that much attention....I figured she was talking about me, but she was talking about Aubrey! Chris and I did not find out the sex of the baby ahead of time and she just gave it away! Again, good thing I didn't catch on....she would have gotten a stern talking to. Turns out, Aubrey was breech and probably had been the entire time. AND, I was also already dilated to between 7-8 cm. Holy crap, no WONDER I was in so much pain! So, I had to have an emergency c-section and they had to get her out fast.
At that point I freaked. Chris wasn't there yet and the stupid nurse told me he probably wouldn't make it on time. Not a good thing to tell a first-time mom who just wanted her husband to be there. My mom called him to tell him to hurry and luckily he was already in Kandiyohi. She must have also called my dad and Heather because they both showed up. I also remember seeing Eric (Chris' brother) and Chris' mom. It's all such a blur. To this day I don't remember how I got into my hospital gown or who even took care of all that stuff. I was crying because I was sooo scared and wow I was in so much pain. Kudos to the women who don't get epidurals. I was dying for one but couldn't get one until we got to the operating room.
Chris finally arrived at about 7:30. Thank God! After that, I don't remember alot, just waiting and waiting because I had to have an ultrasound to confirm that Aubrey was breech. Yep, she still was.
Finally, it was time! I remember my mom telling me she loved me and remember seeing Heather as I was being wheeled to the operating room. Not sure what they did with Chris, but they were going to get him after they prepped me for surgery.
Got to the operating room and finally the epidural. Not fun getting one of those in the middle of a contraction, but I didn't care. After that I was good to go. Didn't feel any pain so it was all good =)
Chris came in and it was time to meet our baby! The c-section itself is not so bad, there's lots of tugging and pulling but not alot of pain. Didn't take too long and one of the doctor's said "It's a girl!" WHAT?? I honestly didn't have much of a reaction because I was SO shocked. We decided to keep everyone in suspense and have them wait until I was all done in surgery before Chris told them what our little bundle was. I think they were dying out there =)
After a while it was time to go to my own room. Everyone was waiting and Chris introduced everyone to our Aubrey!
Finally it was my turn to hold my baby! There's so many things that totally suck about having a c-section and one of them is that everyone else holds your baby before you! I was dying to have her in my arms.
I will have another post about our actual hospital stay (because that is an entire story in itself) but for now here are some pictures of Miss Aubrey after she was born. We are so blessed and she is a beauty!
On 7/26 I woke up with a killer migraine so I called in sick to work that day. I dealt with a lot of headaches throughout my pregnancy. Some people puke, I had headaches. Headaches that made me puke. Ish.
I had a doctor's appointment anyway that morning, so off we went. At my appointment, everything looked good. Baby was head down, I was dilated to 4 cm and was 80% effaced. He said I would probably go into labor within the next couple days. I told him about my headache and since my blood pressure was a little high, he decided to send us to the hospital for non-stress tests. Great. Off to the triage room we went for monitoring and fluids and the Tylenol III and Zofran that came in handy quite a few times throughout this pregnancy. My doctor came up to the hospital during his lunch break and said I was looking good and ready to go home. I sent Chris to work....(remember he worked in Wright County at the time, over an hour drive away) and went home to sleep the afternoon away.
At about 5:00, I got up to go to the bathroom. I felt a pop. Hmmm. At the time I was peeing, so I really wasn't sure if that was my water breaking or what. It wasn't a huge gush or anything like that. And then....a huge contraction. I went and sat in the recliner for a little bit and then had another contraction. I decided I better call my mom to come into town to stay with me and keep me company until it was time to go to the hospital. Of course the one day my mom doesn't come stay with me (she had been staying with us while Chris was working since he was far away) I go into labor. Then, I called my friend Heather to ask her what it was like when your water breaks. Had a couple contractions on the phone with her. I remember thinking the whole time that these seemed stronger than I thought they would be. At first they were 12 minutes apart, then 8 minutes, then 5 minutes. Oh boy. I called Chris' work and told him he should probably come home. But I told him to take his time, drive slow. We had plenty of time of course, this was our first baby! I'm glad he didn't listen =)
My mom showed up and we started timing the contractions. All I remember is that I couldn't time them. They were too close together and hurt way too much. At one point I was doubled over our steps in pain. I thought I was being a wuss...but now I know why. Things were moving along way too fast! We decided we better get to the hospital so off we went. We got to the hospital at about 6:30.
We got to the hospital and up to OB we went. But, there were no rooms ready for me. Turns out Aubrey was the 8th baby born that day. So I had to wait in the waiting room....seriously! They then got me into the triage room and one of the nurses decided to check me. Then she said she would be right back. She had to go find another nurse to check me. What the heck? She couldn't figure it out on her own? The second nurse came in and checked me. The first nurse said all she felt was labia. Good thing I wasn't paying that much attention....I figured she was talking about me, but she was talking about Aubrey! Chris and I did not find out the sex of the baby ahead of time and she just gave it away! Again, good thing I didn't catch on....she would have gotten a stern talking to. Turns out, Aubrey was breech and probably had been the entire time. AND, I was also already dilated to between 7-8 cm. Holy crap, no WONDER I was in so much pain! So, I had to have an emergency c-section and they had to get her out fast.
At that point I freaked. Chris wasn't there yet and the stupid nurse told me he probably wouldn't make it on time. Not a good thing to tell a first-time mom who just wanted her husband to be there. My mom called him to tell him to hurry and luckily he was already in Kandiyohi. She must have also called my dad and Heather because they both showed up. I also remember seeing Eric (Chris' brother) and Chris' mom. It's all such a blur. To this day I don't remember how I got into my hospital gown or who even took care of all that stuff. I was crying because I was sooo scared and wow I was in so much pain. Kudos to the women who don't get epidurals. I was dying for one but couldn't get one until we got to the operating room.
Chris finally arrived at about 7:30. Thank God! After that, I don't remember alot, just waiting and waiting because I had to have an ultrasound to confirm that Aubrey was breech. Yep, she still was.
Finally, it was time! I remember my mom telling me she loved me and remember seeing Heather as I was being wheeled to the operating room. Not sure what they did with Chris, but they were going to get him after they prepped me for surgery.
Got to the operating room and finally the epidural. Not fun getting one of those in the middle of a contraction, but I didn't care. After that I was good to go. Didn't feel any pain so it was all good =)
Chris came in and it was time to meet our baby! The c-section itself is not so bad, there's lots of tugging and pulling but not alot of pain. Didn't take too long and one of the doctor's said "It's a girl!" WHAT?? I honestly didn't have much of a reaction because I was SO shocked. We decided to keep everyone in suspense and have them wait until I was all done in surgery before Chris told them what our little bundle was. I think they were dying out there =)
After a while it was time to go to my own room. Everyone was waiting and Chris introduced everyone to our Aubrey!
Finally it was my turn to hold my baby! There's so many things that totally suck about having a c-section and one of them is that everyone else holds your baby before you! I was dying to have her in my arms.
I will have another post about our actual hospital stay (because that is an entire story in itself) but for now here are some pictures of Miss Aubrey after she was born. We are so blessed and she is a beauty!
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