A month full of firsts

Chrisily is now 3 months old! This last month has been filled with 'firsts'. Jacob's cousin, Tim, was getting married in Mississippi so we flew in the the weekend. This was Chrisily's first plane ride, first trip out of state, and her first wedding. She did great with all three. She was a real trooper for the rehearsal and wedding. She didn't cry (much) and looked adorable in her little dresses (see below). This was also her first time staying at KK and Gramps. She got to meet Uncle Luke, Uncle Tim, Aunt Meagan, Aunt Lindsey, Aunt Vicki, mom's friend Jennifer, and dad's friend Darrow, and lots of other people! We had a great trip.

When we returned home we got back into our little routine. Chrisily didn't miss a beat. She continued to sleep through the night throughout all of the traveling (thank goodness!). She is sleeping for about 10-11 hours each night. She is definitely my child- loves to eat and sleep! She has grown so much in the past month. She is now rolling over. About a week and a half ago she rolled from front to back and back to front several times. She took a little break but now she is rolling from back to belly a lot. I finally caught it on video today (you can see it on our shutterfly share site). She also went to church for the first time this past Sunday. This was the first service in the new sanctuary and we thought it was a good time to start attending regularly again.

Ready for Church

Jacob and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary last Friday. It sure doesn't seem like it has been five years. I guess time really does fly when you're having fun! We took a picture of us holding a picture of us on our wedding day. In five years, we will take a picture of us holding this picture. We will do this for every five year anniversary. I thought it was a neat idea.

My good friend Melissa took 3 month pictures of Chrisily last Wednesday. I am still waiting to see all of them but she has posted a few sneak peaks. Here they are:

We took Chrisily to the pumpkin patch on Sunday. She is so small next to those pumpkins!

We have had a great month and we can't wait to see what the next one has in store!

Time Flies...

Chrisily is already 2 months old! She went for her two month well check yesterday and here are her stats: 11 lbs 13 oz (77%), 23.25 inches (83%), and 39.5 cm head (71%). She is growing like a weed! At her 1 month appointment she weighed 8lb 8oz (29%), 22 inches (83%), and her head was 42%. She has definitely made up for being a small baby at birth.

Chrisily- 2 months

This past month has been so nice. I have been healthy the whole time (yeah!!!) and she has grown so much. We are getting many smiles a day from her and she has even started laughing. She loves to laugh at Jacob.. something about her daddy makes her very happy. :-) She loves to play on her play mat. She has started grabbing and holding on to objects. She hangs onto you when you hold her. She is also doing great at tummy time. It isn't her favorite time of day, but she is so strong!

8 weeks old

She loves to eat and sleep (I wonder where she gets that from?). Since starting the Babywise routine (EASY) of eat, awake/play, sleep, you (me time)- she has done great with her sleeping habits. She takes good naps and is sleeping 8+ hours each night. It has been wonderful! She is pretty much on a 4 hour rotating schedule during the day.

grabbing her butterfly on the play mat

We took her to the doctor a couple of weeks ago because she was having some pain during/after eating. She was spitting up a good bit more, too. The doctor checked her out and diagnosed her with a very mild case of reflux. She suggested we add rice cereal to her bottle to help 'weigh down' the formula and to help Chrisily keep it down. So far it has really helped a lot. We are trying to avoid giving her medicine if we can avoid it. However, speaking of medicine, she got her 2 month shots yesterday. It was two shots and an oral solution. She did pretty good but it is so sad to see her in pain. She only cried for a minute, I gave her a bottle, and she drank for a minute and then fell asleep. She slept for most of the remainder of the day. She did have a couple of fussy spells that evening.. we gave her some tylenol and lots of snuggles. It breaks my heart to see her hurt and not be able to make it better. On a happier note (maybe?), the doctor did feel two spots where Chrisily's first two teeth are starting to come in. Yes, you read that right- 2 months old and teething! Wow.

~month and a half

A couple of weeks ago we had a visit from KK (Kathy, Jacob's mom). She flew in a Thursday and stayed until Monday morning. Chrisily and I went with Jacob to suprise her at the airport. I'm not sure who was happier- Chrisily or KK. Chrisily couldn't stop smiling at KK. I know she missed her. We had a nice visit while she was here. We took Chrisily shopping for a dress to wear to her Uncle Tim's wedding. It was sad to say goodbye but we knew we would see her again in about 3 weeks.
As for me and Jacob, we are both doing well. Jacob has been busy at work this past week with the Sept. 15th deadline coming up. We are flying out the evening of the 15th to MS. Tim (Jacob's cousin but is like a brother) is getting married on the 17th. This will be Chrisily's first plane ride and first big trip out of NC. We are excited to see everyone and for the rest of Jacob's family to meet our sweet girl.
I am enjoying this stay at home mom gig. All of my friends are back at work and I couldn't be happier to be home with my little girl. I feel so very blessed to be able to spend this time with her and watch her grow.. because she is growing and changing so fast!

Until next time,

Truly Blessed

It has been a while since I last wrote and a lot has happened. As you can imagine, life with a newborn is pretty busy on its own but we had sickness thrown in the mix as well. On Monday after Jacob's family left, Jacob had to return to work. I would have loved for him to be able to take another week but he needed to get back since he is taking a lot of vacation time throughout the rest of the year. He left for work and sometime after that I woke up to feed Chrisily. I was a little chilled and kind of achey. As the morning went on I noticed other symptoms that encouraged me to call my OB- like a fever, sore breast, etc. I had read about mastitis and self diagnosed myself before ever talking to the dr. but I knew I needed to be seen. Mom was coming over later that day to help me with Chrisily because we had to take her to get her weight checkec, etc. The doctor squeezed me in that afternoon and I was correct- mastitis on the right side and developing on the left. He gave me an antibiotic and sent me on my way. I also got a call from Chrisily's doctor that morning, he wanted her to have one more set of blood work done just to confirm that her bilirubin levels had come down. So even though I was feeling horrible, mom drove us to have Chrisily's weight checked and her blood drawn. Have I mentioned that it is horrible to watch your little girl be stuck with a needle and then squeezed for blood?? We did this four times and I was so glad when they said she was cleared for good! It broke my heart to watch her scream. After taking my antibiotic, getting lots of rest, and my mom and Jacob picking up my slack with Chrisily, I began to feel much better. I finished my antibiotic a week after starting it. I was starting to get the hang of this mom thing. I was feeling more confident and we had a good routine in place. Wednesday of that week Chrisily and I went to have lunch with Jacob and show her off to his coworkers. They ooooh'd and ahhhh'd over her and Jacob enjoyed seeing us during the day. He is an amazing dad and I love to watch him light up when he sees Chrisily after being at work. The next morning I woke up and noticed a rash across my arms and chest... I went in to see the doctor. We thought it was an allergy to a new detergent I had used (the baby one for Chrisily's clothes). She gave me a cream and a steroid to help calm it down. The next morning (Friday) when I woke up I was chilled and achey again. I attempted to feed Chrisily but it was too painful. I somehow convinced Jacob that I was fine and he could go to work... I just need to get some more sleep I told him. He reluctantly left and Chrisily and I headed downstairs to nap on the couch. Within an hour my fever spiked and I was miserable. I texted Jacob and told him he needed to come home. I was pretty pitiful when he got home. The doctor wanted to see me again so I had an appointment at 12:30. We went in and discovered that my mastitis had returned. I was given another antibiotic (a different, stronger one) and told that I would feel much better in a couple of days. Again, after a lot of rest, taking my medicine, and Jacob and mom helping, I started feeling better (not great, but a little better). I was still really tired but I thought it was just my body fighting the infection. On Tuesday, I went to the doctor to have cultures done and to check on my progress because I was still in a lot of pain. They scheduled ultrasounds to rule out an abscess and we did the cultures to rule out MRSA. At this time I had stopped nursing and was pumping and giving Chrisily bottles of breastmilk. I was afraid that if it was MRSA that she shouldn't be getting my milk.  On Wednesday, mom and I were out running errands and doing some shopping. I was feeling pretty good... until I got home that evening. I was wiped out and thought I just needed to take a nap.. then the chills and aches came. My fever spiked to 103 and I was having horrible pain in my left breast. Mom came over to take care of Chrisily and Jacob took me to the ER. I was there for most of the night. They ended up diagnosing me with acute mastitis (duh!) and starting an IV of antibiotics. My rash that I had a week and half prior had also returned. We came to the conclusion that I was allergic to the first two antibiotics (one of which I was still taking). I was discharged at 3am and sent home with pain meds and a new antibiotic... I was very sick. I could barely walk. I couldn't stay awake for very long. I was in pain. I just didn't feel good. When I got home I went straight to bed and that is where I stayed for the next two days. My mom stayed at night to relieve Jacob so that he could get some rest. Jacob was beyond awesome and took care of both Chrisily and myself. It took a few days but by Sunday I was feeling a good bit better. I was still very weak and tired but I felt way better than I had Weds. night. Mom was a huge help with Chrisily during the day and Jacob took over the nights so that I could get a good rest each night. By this time we had switched Chrisily to formula because of all of the medicines I was on (the OB added a second antibiotic on Friday after my trip to the ER). Those antibiotics were strong and Chrisily didn't need to be exposed to them. I was also over the whole breastfeeding thing- I was tired of hurting and being sick. I wanted to enjoy my daughter not be laid up in bed for the first month of her life. Thankfully those last two antibiotics knocked out the infections. It turns out that I had 4 different bacteria to fight off. I am so thankful that I am finally healthy and back to my old self.
Long before Chrisily was even born Jacob and I had decided to take a small beach trip in early August. This had been up in the air since I had been so sick but since I was feeling much better (probably 95% better), and the doctor okay'd it- we went. Mom, Jared, Chrisily, and I went down on Weds. and then Jacob and my dad came on Thursday after work. We knew it wouldn't be a 'relaxing' trip but we wanted a change of scenary and to at least pretend that we had a vacation this summer. :-) Chrisily did pretty well with traveling- especially being so young. We had a good a time and enjoyed getting away. We only went to the beach once the whole trip (Wed-Sun) but that was okay with us. Although we had a good time, we were ready to get home and back into our routine. It took us a couple of days to get Chrisily back into her routine but we managed it. We got home on Sunday and my friend Christina and her boyfriend were flying in on Thursday for the weekend. We were excited about their visit (me especially since we hadn't seen them since Oct. when we went to Savannah with them). They arrived Thursday afternoon and were leaving on Sunday. While they were here we went to dinner, had family over for dinner, and we even went to a Carolina Panthers game. Jacob got tickets from one of the partners at his work and they were great seats- 18 rows up on the 50 yard line. We had a great time with them and it was good to spend some time with them. After they left Sunday we enjoyed a lazy day. Jacob was back to work on Monday and it was just Chrisily and myself at home. I started reading Babywise on Sunday and we began to tweak our routine a little to make it more like what Babywise suggests. Monday (yesterday) was the first day of doing so and last night Chrisily slept from 10:30-6:15am without waking up. Incredible! Jacob woke me up this morning and said, "what time did you get up with her?" and I said, "I didn't." That is when we both realized she had slept through the night. We are on day two and we will see how tonight goes. I must say that I am not being super strict with the schedule/routine.. afterall, she is a baby and there needs to be some wiggle room. It also wasn't very different from what we were already doing, so it is good to know that we were on the right track. We have a week and a half before Jacob's mom comes to visit- maybe Chrisily will be able to show her what a big girl she is and how she can sleep through the night on a consistent basis. :-)
I must say that being a mom is the best job in the whole world. All of my friends are preparing for school to start back. They have workshops and open houses and a lot of work to do in their classrooms. I am so glad that I do not have to put Chrisily in daycare when she is 6 weeks old and return to work. It would be incredibly difficult anyway but after being sick off and on for the last 4 weeks, I just don't think I could do it. I am soaking up every minute of this time I have with my sweet girl. Everyone tells me that time will fly and to treasure these moments with her. I am doing just that. Jacob and I are beyond blessed to have been given this precious child from God to raise. I am also blessed to have such a wonderful and loving husband. He hasn't complained once throughout any of this. I know he loves Chrisily and I so very much. She is one lucky little girl to have such a loving and caring dad that can't wait to interact and play with her. We are all three very lucky to have each other.

Here are some pictures from the last 5 weeks.

Picture Perfect

Newborn pictures were taken by Melissa Lynn Hunt Photography

Best. Week. Ever.

This time last week my anxiety was high and I was on edge... We had an appointment to start the induction process at 5pm on Sunday, July 3rd. Let me rewind a little bit. Last time I wrote, we were playing the waiting game. I was making plans with friends and going to the mall to walk during the day. Each night Jacob and I would take a nice long walk to try to encourage Chrisily to make her appearance. I had another doctor's appointment at 39 weeks 6 days. Nothing had changed as far as my progress and since my due date was the next day, we scheduled an induction for Sunday night. We were sad that there hadn't been any progress but glad to know that Chrisily and I were both doing well. We held out hope that she would decide to come on her own between Tuesday and Sunday but we knew we would be meeting her by Monday either way. Needless to say, the next few days seemed to drag by... Jacob's family came in town on Saturday so that they could be here for the entire process. We enjoyed some time with our families before expanding from a family of 2 to a family of 3.
So, Sunday arrived and we went to have breakfast at The Parkway House with Jacob's family and my mom. I wasn't very hungry.. my mind was on the upcoming excitement. We came home and  us girls were relaxing and taking it easy while the guys put up ceiling fans in the upstairs rooms. After sitting around for a little while, the girls decided we needed to get out and stay busy until time for dinner so that I wouldn't sit around all day watching the clock until time to go to the hospital. Kathy, Mamaw, and I went to pick up some stuff and run some errands. Before I knew it, it was time for dinner and then to go to the hospital. Both mine and Jacob's family went to have dinner at the K & W cafeteria since this was going to be my last meal until we met Chrisily.
5 o'clock on Sunday came (finally!) and we headed to the hospital. We got checked in and settled into a room. I needed to be checked again by the doctor before we knew how to proceed. I had made a little progress but not enough to skip the cervadil (I was 75% effaced and 1 cm). The cervadil is a medicine to help my cervix prepare for labor and delivery.  We started the cervadil around 6pm and it had to stay in until 5am the next morning. The goal was to begin the labor process... and it worked! I had been having contractions but they weren't strong enough to feel. Within an hour or two, they were getting stronger and I could definitely tell when one began and when it ended. The night was otherwise pretty uneventful. The hospital bed was uncomfortable and Jacob and I were both anxious to move the process along and meet our little girl. Monday morning finally arrived and at 5am we took out the cervadil, I got a shower, then we started pitocin to strengthen the contractions. By 6am they were coming pretty steadily and I was definitely uncomfortable. They gave me an epidural around 6:45 and Dr. Barefoot came in at 7 to break my water. I was still only 1 cm when he came in but I was 100% effaced. Once I had the epidural, I was resting much more comfortably and just visiting with family. They came in around 10 and I was 2 cm. They came back a couple hours later and I was 2-3cm. Dr. Barefoot decided to use an IUPC to monitor the contractions internally to make sure they were strong enough to dilate my cervix. After monitoring them for a while, we saw that they were. The next time they checked me I was 4-5 cm, and then the next time I was 7cm. A short hour and a half later I was at 10cm. This was around 5:30. Things started moving along after that. I began to push around 6pm and Chrisily Rose was born at 7:48pm on Monday, July 4th. The cord was around her neck when she came out so they had to take her over to the warmer to check her and suction her out. She was very quiet for a long time... Jacob went with her to make sure she was okay. The nurses continued to reassure us that she was okay. After they got her cleaned up and bundled up, Jacob brought her over to me. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. She was  6lbs 15 oz and 21 inches long. We had a few minutes of bonding time and I was able to feed her for the first time before Jacob went to get the family. He went out and got everyone to come meet Chrisily. For the next 45 mins. the hospital room was a flurry of excitement, ooohhhs and ahhss, and a lot of flashes/picture taking. We were moved to the Mother/Baby unit upstairs and left to enjoy our new addition. Neither Jacob or myself slept much that first night.. we were too busy just watching/staring at our little girl. We had family and friends come to visit on Tuesday to meet Chrisily. We didn't get much sleep on Tuesday night either. I am starting to see a trend here... :-) The majority of Weds. morning / early afternoon was spent getting everything together and being discharged from the hospital. We were so excited (and ready!) to be coming home. We devised a plan on the way home of how to introduce Chrisily to Chester and Sophie. Although I wasn't worried about how they would react, it was important that Jacob and I were on the same page and knew exactly what we were going to do. We spent a good hour introducing the pups to Chrisily... I must say that we have been extremely pleased with how they have reacted. That night we had both families over for dinner. Kathy made a beef brisket.. it was delicious. That evening we didn't get much sleep either. Since we were in a new place, we had to figure a new routine and how everything was going to work. That has pretty much been our lives since we got home... figuring out and settling into routines. It has gone smoothly for the most part. It was a huge help to have Jacob's family here. They were a big help with chores around the house and helping with Chrisily so we could get a couple of hour of sleep. Friday was Chrisily's first doctor's appointment. Everything went really well, except that she looked a little jaundiced. Dr. Morgann wanted us to go have labs done to check her levels to see what we would do about it. The levels came back a little elevated so he ordered a Bili-blanket for us to use on Chrisily for the night and then we had to take her to get more blood work on Sat. morning. Those levels came back the same as Fridays, so we had to continue using the Bili-Blanket for another 24 hours and then take her this morning for more bloodwork. The blanket is great for reducing the bilirubin levels but it limits her mobility and makes everything a little more difficult. It has been a little harder when she has had to be on it, but I would much rather her be on it here at home where we can hold her, etc then her be in the hospital. We are currently waiting on the results from today's blood work.
Yesterday after getting the labs done, Melissa came to take newborn pictures of Chrisily. She spent several hours here and was wonderful with Chrisily. She put up a few sneak peak pictures and they are gorgeous. I will post some pictures in another blog post.
Jacob's family left this morning to go home so it is just us three at home today. We hated to see them go but we are excited to get into our own routine and have some family time. Jacob and I are beyond in love with this precious girl. She has stolen our hearts. We are so blessed and we thank all of you for your love, support, and prayers.

Until next time...

(Chrisily's mom)

The Waiting Game...

Schools out for summer! And that means that I have absolutely nothing to fill my days with since I did such a great job of nesting while working... the nursery is complete, baby items are assembled, I even have the changing table area down stairs stocked with diapers, wipes, burp cloths, extra onesies, etc. I was hoping for a few days to rest between work and meeting our sweet girl. Well, we're going on a week of resting. Don't get me wrong, I like to rest and be lazy... but I am also a 'do-er'. I like to have projects, I like to be actively doing something, so this waiting game is killing me! And yes, I know she will come when she is ready... but that doesn't mean I can't walk a little more or try to convince her that life on the outside will be just as good (if not better) than life in the womb. :-)
Last week at my doctor's appointment we had another ultrasound. I had measured a 1 1/2-2 weeks ahead at my 37 weeks appoinment and the doctor wanted to check fluid levels and get a weight estimate. I had been measuring right on up until then. The doctor wasn't concerned about it and I sure wasn't going to complain about getting another sneak peak at our little one. Jacob went with me to this appointment. We had the ultrasound and then saw the doctor. Everything was great with the ultrasound. My fluid levels were good and Chrisily was measuring good. They estimated her weight at 7lbs 6 oz. Whoa babies!! The ultrasound tech also said she had long legs. She must get that trait from her Uncle Luke or Aunt Briana. :-)  During my appointment I had a little bit of protein in my urine but my blood pressure was perfect. I have also had minimal swelling in my feet so they weren't too concerned about the protein (at least, not yet). We finished up the appointment and I scheduled another one for a week later. That appointment is tomorrow morning and we are hoping to have some new information and my progress and hopefully when to expect Chrisily. However, those of you that have been through this know that we might get some useful information and we might not... it all depends. Below are the ultrasound pictures and a 38 week belly picture.

This is a profile shot..

This is a head on view.. You can see her little eyes, nose, and it looks like her mouth is open

38 weeks

Right before school got out, some of the parents in my class through a baby shower/end of the year party for me (and the kids). They had the kids do a diaper relay race (who could clean, powder, and diaper the fastest) and they had to guess how big around my belly was with toilet paper. They actually did pretty well with the guessing game! Several of them were perfect. The parents were very generous and I left with a trunk full of gifts for Chrisily. Below are some pictures of me opening the presents.

It was a great way to end a wonderful year! The kids are very excited to meet Chrisily. I promised I would bring her up to the school next year to visit.

Still waiting,