Three Weeks

I know that I need to post more updates, but I have hardly taken any pictures of baby June to post! We are unfortunately suffering from second-child laziness syndrome which is mainly characterized by not freaking out if the baby is crying and/or deviates from her schedule and being really bad at catching her very sweet face on camera.

June was three weeks yesterday and has the double chin and chubby cheeks to prove it! She is still small, but to me she actually seems quite big. I think I'm unfortunately treating her like she is a month or six weeks old because she just seems so big. I think she is longer than Willa, so maybe that's the issue. At her two week appointment she was measuring 21 inches long, which is two inches longer than when she was born. Did she grow two inches or was there a faulty measurement? I don't really know and it doesn't really matter. It's not worth it to me to conduct my own measurement. She is definitely too big for the premie clothes I brought to the hospital and is stretching out of a lot of newborn things that seemed to fit Willa for much longer. My memory is hazy, though. The beginning with Willa seemed very long, but time now is flying by. The second one is so much easier mentally and physically for me. Is she crying? I'm sure it's okay. Is she latching on? Good enough, just make sure she can take that pacifier! I used to feel so panicked with Willa that I wouldn't know how to calm her, or what to do if I ate something that didn't agree with her, or if we deviated from her babywise schedule. I'm still a little paranoid now, but so much more relaxed. We have a life now and can't freeze everything until June is sleeping through the night and taking three regular naps a day. For now, she'll have to sometimes nap in the car, stroller, or baby bjorn when we are out and about. I'm sure she will survive :).

Willa fascinated with all the baby gear:

Her main form of affection has been to pet June's hair or brush it. She is very good at this and likes to help.

She is most affectionate and cute when I lay June down. She likes to come sit by her and show her toys.

Going in for a kiss.

Chubby cheeks and greasy hair!

Willa has been fine with June the baby, but she has been a little naughty for me and I feel badly that I haven't been as patient as I need to be. Any advice? She is very good until I need to hold or feed June and then she often just starts crying and screaming and sometimes hitting me. Hitting me is a big thing for her right now. I'm not sure if it's best to ignore it (I think she's acting out mainly because of all the changes going on) or just not to tolerate it. I've been trying both methods and neither is succeeding. I don't want her to think it's okay to hit, so sometimes she goes straight to time-out after the first hit. But then, I don't like her to be in time-out several times a day, AND I'm not at my best either so sometimes instead of calmly disciplining, I put her in time-out with a lot of anger on my end. Advice on being a more patient and loving mother? I spend a lot of one-on-one time while June is sleeping, and even when she is awake I sit on the floor and hold her while I play with Willa. The good thing is that in a few years she won't remember being so displaced.

I did want to add this two-week photo of June. Look at those high-water sleepers - is there a flood around here?

Today is our first day on our own. Ryan's mom was here about ten days and it was so nice! Since she was here when June was born, it was so nice to be able to leave Willa and not worry about her at all while I was in the hospital.

Aunt Rebecca came out the day after Melinda left and stayed for a very fun week. She is June's middle namesake and we love her so much. She hasn't seen Willa since she was a baby, so they had a lot of catching up to do. Aunt Becca knows how to win Willa over - lots of trips to parks, treats, and presents!She left last night and we already miss her so much.

 I wanted to get a quick new family picture of the four  of us. Not perfect, but I think we're doing well. It's amazing to see my two little girls and realize that there are TWO of them and that we are a family of FOUR. I love it!

Lastly, if anyone doesn't already love Chik Fil-A, here is another reason. They have a program called Cow Cares. You go in and sign up before you give birth, then once you get home from the hospital you phone them. They deliver to your doorstep this giant platter of chicken strips, brownies, salad, and a gallon of lemonade - all for free! Unfortunately, I had to eat the brownies sparingly because chocolate and nursing does not a happy baby make (for me), but it was all so delicious!

The Birth

It's not too exciting of a birth story, but I will record it for inquiring minds and for posterity. June basically decided to take her time with every aspect involved in getting here.  She was born on Tuesday morning so I was just over 39 weeks.

The Friday before her birth, I woke up feeling great. I went running and ran faster and further than I had in months and I still had lots of energy for the rest of the day. This is exactly what happened when I had Willa, so I thought for sure that June was going to be born the very next day. I had a doctor's appointment Friday afternoon and found out I was almost dilated to a three. It was a sign! The doctor said he would be on call at the hospital on Sunday, if I had the baby then. In my mind I was like, "Hah, Sunday! Yeah right, this baby isn't waiting until then!" Poor little me, I had no idea. I woke up Saturday feeling completely normal, no contractions, no water breaking, nothing. It was a big disappointment. The reason we still wanted to have this baby soon was because Ryan's mom was out here to help and we didn't want her to have to change her flight if the baby hadn't been born. A reason of lesser importance was we figured that if we had her on the weekend, or close to it, then Ryan would have an appropriate excuse to get out of his morning meetings on Sunday.

Sunday, I woke up feeling really tight in my stomach. Something must be happening! I was positive we would be on our way to the hospital in an hour or two, that Ryan could would have to miss his meetings, that the baby could be born while my doctor was on call instead of someone else from the practice. Imagine my surprise when nothing happened. Ryan showered and left. I shockingly found that I had time to shower, get ready, and get to church to play for choir practice. Not only that, but I was even able to attend the entire three hour block of church! My stomach was really tight and uncomfortable the entire day, something was different, but I was not having this baby.

Monday morning I woke up with contractions and the same tight stomach. This was it! Ryan shouldn't go into work, he might not be able to get home in time for the birth if I really went into labor. Of course, by now I had swallowed the bitter pill and despite the irregular contractions and extreme uncomfortableness, I went running, got showered, babysat Bridgett and Abby, and basically planned that this baby was going nowhere soon. I was definitely in early labor, but that type of stuff can last for days.

Finally, Monday evening came and about 8:30 pm I felt something. Sorry if this gets gross, but I went to the bathroom and it was definitely bloody show time. We packed up and headed for the hospital. I was pretty sure it was labor, but I was also a little scared my placenta had detached because there was a LOT more blood than when it happened with Willa. They had to hook up the monitors to determine whether it was just labor or something more serious, and thankfully it was labor! By then, my contractions had definitely become intense and regular. Since Willa had come so fast, I thought it prudent to ask for my epidural as soon as they admitted me. It was evening, but Ryan and I honestly thought and hoped that the baby would be born that night - which was his mom's birthday.

Well, this is where things get interesting (or boring, depending on your perspective - or perhaps you're already bored? No pressure to keep reading). I got my epidural and the doctor promised I'd still be able to feel the pressure and contractions. That was true for about 30 minutes, but whatever he gave me would have knocked out an elephant. Pretty soon I could not feel ANYTHING, I was like Jabba the Hut or a beached whale. Plus, my contractions had stopped! It is actually extremely uncomfortable to not feel anything and I kept calling the nurse and telling her to please turn down the medication. She said she wasn't allowed to and kept saying that it would get better. She also had the gall to tell me that I wasn't in real labor since my contractions had stopped and that at 5 a.m. she would check me and they would give me some pitocin. I was really annoyed at all of this - it was the middle of the night, I'd just been hit by a tranquilizer gun, she didn't have the time or whatever to check me until 5 a.m., and to make matters worse - since it was so late and I was trying to sleep, the blood pressure cuff kept going off. My blood pressure is really low normally, but in that hazy, sleep-induced state, it kept making the alarm go off. It took my blood pressure every 15 minutes and every time the alarm would go off and Ryan would have to get up, walk across the room to shut it down. I ended up doing crunches in my bed and moving my arms a lot whenever I felt the cuff start to tighten. It was a game of trying to get my heart rate up high enough to satisfy the machine.

Finally, around 3 a.m. the nurse said that she could turn the epidural off completely, and if I started feeling a lot of pain then the doctor could come back in and start it up again. Ah, sweet relief! It still took about 90 minutes until I could feel anything or move my legs, and it took over 3 hours before I felt any contractions. They said that maybe I'm more sensitive to the medication, but it just seemed crazy that it affected me so much even if I was a little sensitive to it. She also was nice enough (insert sarcasm) to check me at 5 a.m. and low and behold, I was at an 8. Honestly, I was just annoyed by this point. I had expected to wrap this thing up several hours ago, but I think the epidural just shut everything down. It was annoying that the nurse was never there and that it really hadn't occurred to her that the epidural was the issue and not that this wasn't real labor. Once the contractions started up again, things went quickly. The anesthesiologist came in about 15-20 minutes before I needed to push. The contractions had finally become painful again (painful, but nowhere near what I imagined they should have been since I was at a 9 then). He started the drip, at 7 a.m. I started pushing for about three contractions, and baby June was born at 7:06 a.m.

Let me say, that I LOVED feeling my legs and the pressure. It was a LOT of pressure and very difficult, but it was so much better than being completely dead and not feeling anything like last time. I don't think the epidural masked everything completely because I could definitely feel pinching when the doctor sewed me up, but I felt like I could get up and walk around just as soon as she was born. So, that was the good part about the epidural drama. Still, with all that drama I can't say that I'm ready to go au naturelle without any pain meds. It has made me think a little more about it, but I am just a wimp.

I also have to say that even though I wanted to be done a lot quicker (and I'm slightly embarrassed to have had such a long labor) it was very nice going into the recovery at the beginning of the day instead of the middle of the night. I had SUCH amazing nurses in the recovery and I'm so grateful to them. I didn't have to get a catheter, which I completely attribute to my awesome nurse and her trick of lots of orange juice with lots of added extra sugar (which is disgusting to drink, but very effective!). Also, since I didn't have June until 7 a.m. on Tuesday, the hospital has a 48 hour recovery period. So, I wasn't released until Thursday! Since I went in on Monday night, it was a long time in the hospital, and I was originally going to leave on Wednesday because I was feeling fine, but I am glad I had some extra time to recover before I had to go home to a very clingy toddler. This birth and recovery have been way easier than with Willa, I feel really good and I didn't realize how tired and uncomfortable the pregnancy was.

June has been a doll. She's nine days old today and still not fussy at all. She will just lay and look around. She is a champion nurser and sometimes gets a lot of bubbles because of her enthusiasm, but after about five or ten minutes of getting burps out she is a very calm and happy camper again. I'm crossing my finger that it lasts! The nurses loved June. Two different times they took her away to weigh her. The first time, I walked out of my room a few minutes later and found that they were passing her around the nurses station! The second time was in the middle of the night. They said she would only be gone about 30 minutes (I had told them she needed to eat in about an hour). Well, 2 1/2 hours later I called my nurse to ask if she could check on June. She brought her back and said the nurses in the nursery had just been fighting over her and taking turns holding her the whole time! It might just be flattery, but I'm the mom and I accept that my baby might just be completely sweet and adorable.

Visiting in the hospital:

 When I wasn't looking, Willa brought her Minnie Mouse over to show June:

Such a sleepy head! I think her face looks more like Ryan's family than Willa's did - but that hair is the exact same:

I just love her sleepy limbs and fuzzy head:

Baby June

I will probably post more details later, but I needed to officially announce our sweet baby June! We love her so much and are so grateful that she got here safe and sound.

 

June Rebecca Daniels

Born Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 7:06 a.m.

6 lbs, 11 oz, 19 inches

39 Weeks - Uncharted Territory

This past week of pregnancy has been uncharted territory for me. Tomorrow I will be 39 weeks and I honestly can't believe that I'm not even overdue yet!

Willa at 39 Weeks, one week old:

Baby #2 at 39 Weeks:

With Willa, I had the mindset from the beginning that I would probably go full-term and even be overdue because she was my first baby. It was very hard this time around not to have the mindset that I would go two weeks early again! Definitely a fail for me because I found myself hesitating to make plans past week 38, and then being shocked that I was still able to carry out the plans when I hadn't birthed yet. Who knows if I'm more uncomfortable this week than I was before, or if it's just a psychosomatic symptom of being surprised to still be pregnant. I'm still running and had a surprisingly great run today, but most days it's pretty slow. I think it makes me more tired at first, but better overall - if that makes any sense.

There was a teeny added stress of having the baby early because we found out that Medicaid would cover us, then they wouldn't, but we were still covered until February 28th (long story). So of course, I needed to birth in February to save us thousands of dollars! I talked to the doctor about an induction, and he was game except Medicaid won't cover it if you are induced more than one week before your due date, which is March 9. Today being March 1, and me still being pregnant is a bit of a failure, but we were resigned to it and it's not too big of a deal. We budgeted for this baby, it was just an unexpected treat for a few days to think that we might not have to pay after all.

My visiting teachers came yesterday and one of them offered to massage a spot on my ankles that is supposed to put people into labor. She claims to have put three people into labor doing it. No labor here, but definitely sore ankles now - one of the few places where I wasn't sore before :)! Still, it would have been great to go into labor if only to have a good story to tell. I promised her that if I had the baby yesterday then I would write the story up and send it to the Ensign about a great visiting teacher.

Ryan's mom flew in on Wednesday and it has been SO nice having her here. I'm already less tired because she has helped so much with Willa and keeping things clean. Her visit has definitely made the past few days easier and I'm now hoping to have the baby before she has to change her return flight! Willa was so excited to see her Grandma Daniels (we Skype every week so she recognized her) that she started running around like a crazy child and showed more hyperactivity than Ryan or I had ever seen before. It was very, very adorable!

Willa

Two more pictures from Jayden's party. I need a nice camera like theirs!

 I need to write some details about Willa before the new baby comes and steals the excitement!
Willa is TWO years old and she is becoming so fun and so much more challenging all at the same time! I think I've got the mindset that if I let her play or do something that she wants to do for long enough, that after a while she will get it out of her system and then come do what I ask (like get her hair done or get dressed). I'm learning that that is not the case. Most of the time, she just wants to do MORE of what she has been doing. She is very independent and likes to shriek "mine, mine!" if I try to help her put on socks or shoes or other similar tasks. Ryan taught her how to squirt the squirt bottle that I use for her hair, so now she always wants to do that instead of letting me do it. She especially likes to sit on the bathroom counter squirting it all over the mirror as she yells "a mess, a mess!"

She is an awesome sleeper and takes two hour naps each day and sleeps about eleven hours each night. We read books, she gets two pacifiers, and then I just plunk her in her crib and she goes down without a fuss each time. When I tell her it is time for a nap or night night, she puts her hand over her mouth and gives a big, fake yawn.

She is talking so much and constantly surprising me by the words she knows and how well she is stringing some of them together. I love to hear her little voice chatter. My very favorite is to hear her say "mommy" while she comes running over to me. She is getting more and more loving towards Ryan these days now that she realizes that he is a lot more fun to play with than me. She likes to run after him on her tiptoes saying "daddy, daddy."

Her favorite activities are: running around the house naked, jumping and climbing on couches or beds (all the more fun if she can do this naked), playing outside, going to the park, playing at Bridgett's house, dancing to music in a very silly manner, tucking her babies into bed and giving them kisses, pretending to jump like a frog, "helping" mommy with every task, playing and banging on pretend drums, and of course, watching t.v. She is still very much enamored with Caillou, but thanks to a little boy I babysat a few weeks ago, she has branched out to enjoy the occasional Diego episode.

She often plays the "drums" and then after says, "Thank you, Thank you!" and takes what looks to be a bow. I was kind of surprised when I first saw her do it. A week later, there was an episode of Caillou on (which she had seen before), where Caillou is imagining himself as a drummer and does the exact same thing. It was hilarious and shocking, I guess these shows really are influencing her! I also think she got her frog imitation from watching Caillou. I surely didn't teach it to her, she just came to me one day and say, "Mommy, mommy, frog" as she started hopping. I need to be more vigilant about Caillou because not all she learns from him is so innocuous. For example, there is a song completely about machines and the chorus goes, "Machines save all of us." This is very strange and worrisome. Is Caillou a cartoon from a future ruled only by robots who have come back in time to try to indoctrinate us early about their dominance? Very troubling.

I hope I'm not complaining too much about her. Most of the time even her naughtiness is very hilarious, but as I reach the end of the pregnancy my patience wears a little thin. Sometimes she'll have been running around at the park for over two hours with Bridgett and there will still be a large tantrum when it's time to go. I've been trying to help her close out her play by giving a lot of warnings that it is time to stop a particular task. It helps, but she's not a perfect child. She's pretty nearly there, though, and I love her.

37 Weeks

Yesterday was my 37 week mark. I'm officially full term! My stomach has pretty much doubled in size recently. Ryan looked at me the other day and said, "Huh, I must not have looked at you much recently because you suddenly seem a lot bigger." I'm starting to feel the aches and pains of being nine months pregnant, which is probably good because the excitement to have the baby begins to overpower the fear (at least for me).

My friend Shelley once talked about savoring the status quo towards the last weeks of pregnancy. I'm trying to think about that. I've felt badly and been frustrated with myself because I have a really hard time keeping the clutter from building up while Willa is awake, and when she naps, I basically have to just lay down too so that I can keep up with her in the afternoon. I've had a goal to pack the hospital bag every day this week, but it still hasn't happened yet because I just can't get myself to do anything! Not huge complaints in the scheme of life, just the reality of what's going on here.

But back to savoring - Ryan and I went out on a date this weekend. I'm trying to get lots of snuggle time in with Willa while she is still my best little buddy. I want to savor going on an errand with just one child. I also want to do little things that make her so excited while I still can - lots of park visits, letting her run around the house naked (though, I suppose this one can still be done with a baby), playing outside, taking time to let her help me with daily tasks. I know the baby will be an adjustment for her, but I'm feeling a little positive right now. We were at a swimming pool earlier this week and two little six-month old babies were sitting in the wading area. She was extremely interested in them and wanted to sit next to them and show them how to splash in the little fountains.

I just wanted to add this sweet little photo of Willa from yesterday. Our sweet little friend Jayden turned two years old and they had the funnest birthday party. There was a little bouncy house with slide, and then my friend Lisa had set up little kids stations all around the backyard. There were so many activities set up that there was almost no fighting. If a toddler had gotten to a favorite toy first, there were plenty of other fun and interesting things close by for others to play with. We had a great time and are so grateful for good friends. It was a little funny to us as Mormons, because there was an open bar for the adults, but hey - everyone had a good time and the hot dogs were delicious!