My Big Girl!

Well, still shy of 7lbs, "big" is maybe just in the eye of the beholder. But, Charlotte weighed in at 6 13.5lbs today which is over her birth weight of 6 11.5lbs. And it was right before her next meal. Her first appointment was 6.6lbs so she is moving up in the world:)

Also, we can walk again! Today we got the BOB Double car seat adapter.

My little bird showing off her cloth diaper

Oopsie, Someone ended up in our bed this morning...

And here Big Brother joined the party

Home SWEET home!

Tomorrow Charlotte will be a week old and she could not have been on better behavior so far. As far as I'm concerned and with a little bias, she is the perfect baby;). Everyone seems to be adjusting well.

Trevor seeks out Charlotte when he's awake and loves to love on her. We tell him to go "kiss" Charlotte and he nestles into her which is one of the sweetest things I've seen. I tried to capture it this morning while Charlotte was minding her business in the swing.

Also Charlotte had her first doctors appointment- her weight at birth was 6.12, leaving the hospital was 6.4. Before feeding her at the doctors, she was 6.6 and after feeding her she was 6.12lb. So she is definitely on the right track. Everything else looks normal so she is not due back until her one month appointment.

And.. A HUGE thank you to family and friends who have been bringing us food, flowers, and help with Trevor now that Alec has gone back to work!

A Birthday and Wet Lungs (long post)

Well as we suspected, November 9th was indeed a great day for the birth of our second little angel, Charlotte Hazel.  We were able to keep the first name a secret, well I was, Daddy had some issues.  And although we do have a Charlotte and  a Hazel in our family trees, we really just chose both of the names randomly.

We arrived at the hospital 15 minutes late at 6:15 am for my scheduled c section at 7:30am.  They took me right back and started prepping me.  That was a very quick hour.  At 7:15, they wheeled me into the OR and got started.  I was much more nervous this time.  I guess because I had more time to think about what was actually about to happen.  All of the OR staff were amazing!  They treated me like I was their scared daughter and reminded me that even though the surgery was a big deal to me, it was pretty mundane to them.  I also had snuck in a few sips of water before the hospital which was not a good idea.  Immediately after the spinal, I became nauseous and did not feel better until those few drops were out.  It was a pretty bad feeling, but luckily it stopped after only a few minutes and the rest of the surgery went smoothly..

Charlotte's little cries could be heard right away which was a great relief.  They took her away with Alec to clean her off and then brought her back to me to kiss and take some photos.  However when she came back to me, her coloring was not good.  She looked pretty blue/white.  So after a few kopics, they took her back to be worked on more and realized that she had some long fancy name problem (wet lungs) where she had fluid in her lungs so she couldn't properly breathe until that was cleared out.  Luckily they took her straight to the nursery and not to the NICU.  (a step down). 

While I was taken to recovery and waiting for a permanent room, we got news that she was going to be put under an oxygen hood and her lungs would be suctioned out until she could process room oxygen levels appropriately.  Even though they reassured me that this is not uncommon for c section babies, I still didn't want to hear that my baby was having to be observed for a minimum of 4 hours instead of in my arms.  Once we were able to get a room in the hospital, the nurses arranged for me to be pushed into the nursery in my stretcher to see Charlotte.  I thought it was so nice of them to arrange for me to see her for a few minutes.  And once we were in our room, my parents brought Trevor which was a good distraction.  Finally we got news at 1:00 that Charlotte was on no more oxygen, but that they wanted her to be observed for an hour longer in normal conditions.  So FINALLY, at 2:00p.m., Alec went to go pick up our baby girl and bring her back to us. Also, the pediatrician, who I love assured us that once this problem clears itself up, it should never be an issue again. Phew.

Charlotte is only 3 days old, but she has been amazing so far.  She loves to sleep and cuddle and she is tiny!  She was born weighing 6.12lbs.  When we left the hospital, she had gone down to 6.4lbs. Hopefully by her appointment tomorrow, she will have gained back some of that weight.   I don't think Trevor has even realized he is sharing his parents with another sibling yet because she requires so little attention.  However, I would not be surprised if Trevor can tell that I am not the same.  After the surgery, I felt like I had just completed a marathon.  Actually the thought of a marathon sounds easier to me than what we did Friday morning.  I really never thought a c section would be that difficult.  We decided to leave the hospital a day early and had a much better night of sleep at home last night without the constant nurse interruptions. 

So far and knock on wood, but life hasn't been that overwhelming.   I'm definitely ready to feel back to 100% normal.  Or to the point that I feel comfortable picking up Trevor.  It has been so nice to have Alec here and I'm not looking forward to him going back to work on Wednesday.  Alec is on Trevor duty:)

 And here are some of our pics starting with the evening before Charlotte's birth.

Night before birth

Charlotte looking a lil blue

First pic with Charlotte

Here is the oxygen hood, looked like a cake topper over her little head

This is when they wheeled me into the nursery to get a "viewing" of Charlotte during the oxygen treatment

Trevor giving his mommy a rose!

We may have had to bribe Trevor with our iphone, but this is one of our first family photos

Charlotte with Mimi

Charlotte with Doña

 

Time to go home!

 

Finally- Nursery pics!

Labor Checklist

Let me preface, by saying that this check list is not set in any particular order, but with only one full day to actually go into spontaneous labor, I wanted to mention a few things that we have either gotten done or still need to accomplish...

1. Update Blog with some recent pics since I'm sure the next posts are to be covered with our newest addition:)  Phew, this post checks item 1 off the list.

Trying to snuggle my little Giraffe

Well since, my first word was "truck" I guess it's appropriate that I take some pictures with them.  Speaking of words.. I do have a small update-  I was evaluated again and they are not recommending that I start any speech therapy.  I've picked up a few more words and LOTS more babbling sounds. - Give me a break mom, I've got other important things to accomplish- Trev

Hey, where is dad?  I think the grass needs to be mowed again

Hopefully this will be the only cop car that Trevor ever rides in

Trying to attempt a group shot on Halloween.. trying and attempt are key words

2. Nursery Completion... Almost done, just need a few final touches that my mom has to help with and she doesn't get back into town until tomorrow.  But I got my art work from Alyson and I LOVE it.  And then I can't wait to post some pictures

3. Get dressed up and go out for some date nights before my schedule is controlled by feedings- Check, Check, and almost Check...
 
Last week I had a girl's night with Kelly at the March of Dimes fundraiser where we sampled amazing cuisines.  (Thank goodness for Junior League the past few months which has kept me actually showering and dressing up on a somewhat often basis:))

I was very tempted to crop this pic completely to the neck up, but wasn't really fair to skinny Kelly.  39 weeks here....

Then Saturday,  Alec and I had a great night out with friends and I've been promised a surprise "last supper" with just Alec for tomorrow before our world changes for the better!   My parents will have Trevor b/c it's off to the hospital at 6am Friday.

4. Try and LOVE on my sweet first baby as much as possible despite the recent cold weather, a lil exhaustion, and those fun sporadic toddler tantrums.  Trevor has been EVERYTHING I could have wanted and so much more in a child and I know a sibling will be a blessing, but it is sad to think that I may have to divert a little bit of my attention away from him so soon.

Not one for cold weather, I've been motivated to get out just to see him smile and run around.  I am getting a little nervous about Trevor and I becoming stir crazy once the baby comes if it's too cold to go outside at first.  For Trevor as a newborn (born in June), outdoor walks were part of our daily routine.  Well, we will get through it obviously and luckily we have some great friends and great indoor resources/motivators to help counter the cold weather and help with new baby adjustment.

Brrrrr, it has gotten so cold! Trevor does not seem phased or interested in keeping his mittens on!

Saturday Fun at Safari Nation with Max and Claire!  Wow, this place was tiring and No, bounce house's apparently do not bring on labor.

This pic is so blurry, but I love Trevor's excited face as Claire enters the bounce house!

Finding new things to play with at the children's museum

Trevor and I exploring the tractors and golf carts at the farm

And at the end of each day, I tell Trevor, "Go to the window to wait for daddy!" and here is where Trevor waits!

5. Nesting?  Hmm, I never really went through this with Trevor.  Maybe because I never have gone into labor on my own, so my body doesn't know it's time to get ready:)  Or maybe because I hate to clean!  So far I think that my forms of "nesting" have been in the way of determining items we don't have and that we need!  Among these items, we just got a REAL camera, well "real" in the sense that it actually has a big lens on it and is not attached to a cell phone.  I ordered a new diaper bag that I'm very excited about.  And clearly topping the importance list, I ordered a sign from ETSY.com that states to please not ring the door bell because we have baby's sleeping!:)  I should have added to the sign, Mommy's also sleeping. 

Diaper Bag- It comes with all of this and I wanted something to kind of double as a nice purse.  I did the colorful diaper bag last time and didn't get much wear out of it so I'm hoping this one will be different!

6.  Pack our bags!  Alec is the only one with his hospital bag packed.  I still need to work on mine and Trevor's weekend bag.  Guess I'll have to get on that one tomorrow....


So that ends my list for tonight..  Tomorrow, Trevor will go to school in the morning and I will run around trying to complete some last minute errands and hopefully have a nice lunch out with some other mommy's.

And for once, I am kind of hoping Trevor wakes me up tonight so we can snuggle some!  Wow, it's been such a great and fast 17 months, Can't wait for the next 17 YEARS with my favorite little boy.