Rounding out nicely

Olivia went back to the pediatrician today for a check on her head. The nurse practitioner said her head is rounding out nicely and while it's still a little flat at the back, it's greatly improved from the last visit. I asked again about introducing cereal and was told to wait a couple of weeks, then we could start rice cereal. I think Livvie's going to like eating from a spoon like a big girl. She sits in her BebePod on our dinner table while we are eating, and we have noticed that she's paying a lot more attention to us while we are eating. She will mimic us by opening her mouth as we open our mouths, and she's very interested in what is on our plates. I'm toying with the idea of making my own baby food. I'm not sure if I will end up doing it or not, but I like the idea.

Big Week

This week was a big one for Olivia. On Tuesday, she went to the doctor for her 4-month check up. There we found out that she came in at 15 pounds 10 ounces (84th %) and 26.75 inches (98th %). We also found out that the nurse practitioner was a little concerned with the shape of her head. The back of her head is pretty flat (no surprise since she spent most of her days laying on her back). The NP told us to get her an infant chair that helps her sit up so she's not spending so much time lying on her back. She said that most cases resolve on their own, but the 5-month mark is the time where the decision needs to be made whether or not to treat with a helmet if the shape does not work itself out. So we went out to Babies R Us after the appointment and bought a BebePod; and Olivia LOVES it! She loves sitting up like a big girl and being in the middle of the action. She sits in her chair up to an hour at a time, and loves to play with her toys; mostly she likes throwing the toys off to the side so that Mommy and Daddy have to fetch them for her. She is also spending a lot more time on her tummy.

At her appointment, the NP asked how her sleeping habits were. We told her that up until Christmas, Olivia had been sleeping 8 to 10 hours straight through every night, but since the craziness of the holidays, she had been waking up at least once during the night pretty much every single night. The NP told us it was time to start teaching her to put herself to sleep; that way if she wakes up during the night, she can put herself back to sleep instead of us having to get up and do it. So that night, we decided now was as good a time as any. We went through her usual bedtime routine: jammies, diaper change, one last bottle, bedtime songs; after the songs, she usually gets rocked to sleep, but this time, we put her in her crib while she was still awake, swaddled and kissed her, told her good night, and left the room. It took a few minutes before she realized that we weren't coming back, and the screaming ensued. I was down in the basement doing my run on the treadmill, and David came down and said the screaming was like nothing he'd ever heard before. We went up every 5 minutes to put her pacifier back in and tell her that she was okay. This went on for about an hour and a half before she gave in and went to sleep, and slept the whole night.

The second night, we did the same exact routine, but went up every 10 minutes, and she screamed for about 35 minutes before going to sleep. The third night I had to close the pharmacy, so David was on his own. He said that he increased the time to 15 minutes and only had to go up once before she was asleep. She did wake up during the night, but we did not go into her room and she put herself back to sleep. As I finish this post, I can tell you that we put her in her bed tonight, she whimpered once and went right to sleep. Ferberizing seems to have worked. My project for next week while on vacation is to get her to sleep in her crib during nap-time. She currently will sleep in her bouncer, maybe in her pack 'n play, or on someone's chest, but never in her crib. I want her to associate being in her crib with going to sleep.

Another big milestone this week is that Livvie is really starting to roll from tummy to back with assistance. She needs a little help with positioning her arm and leg, but once that's done she's rolling all by herself. Hopefully by this time next week she'll be doing it all on her own. At that point, we will probably be taking the bumper pads out of her crib.

One Year Ago Tomorrow

One year ago tomorrow, we found out that wishes really do come true. One year ago tomorrow, our prayers were finally answered. One year ago tomorrow, Hope had been restored in our hearts. One year ago tomorrow, we found out Olivia Hope was on her way.

The past year has simultaneously gone so slowly and flown by so fast. The weeks of pregnancy seemed to drag on with the anticipation of meeting our miracle baby. Once she was here, it was like we blinked and four months had flown by. On Friday, Olivia will be four months old. She holds her head up very well and sits up well with support. She is starting to work on rolling, having almost rolled completely over from back to belly (which is backwards, most babies roll from belly to back first -- she may still do this). I have contradicting wishes every day: on the one hand, I cannot wait for her to be able to sit up by herself so she can sit in her high chair while we eat/do chores. On the other hand, I want her to remain a baby for a long time. I'm not ready for her to gain her independence. I'm not ready for her to want to get down and not want me to hold her all the time. I honestly have to make myself stop thinking about it so much because when I stop to think about how it was only a few short months ago that we brought her home from the hospital, or when I have to pack away her baby clothes that she has outgrown, it makes me want to cry. However, when I start to have these thoughts, I try to think about the upcoming summer and her first trip to the beach with her friend Gabe, and her first time in the swimming pool, and I cannot wait to experience these firsts with her.

Hustle and Bustle takes on a whole new meaning with a newborn in tow

Livvie's first Christmas was so much fun, but we always seem to spend the great majority of our holiday on the road. We started the weekend festivities with Christmas Eve at our house with the Spauldings. Livvie got her first baby doll from Nana and a Violet from her cousins; we have to return the Violet because her friend Gabe already gave her one when she was born. Christmas morning, we did our own little family's Christmas. Santa was very good to Livvie; she got several toys that she will love in the next few months. Then we went to my parents' house for breakfast with the Grandparents and Uncle Jay and Aunt Missy. Livvie got her first hard hat and workbench from her Uncle Jay (who is in construction). After a short nap, it was back on the road to Uncle Tony and Aunt Janet's house for Christmas lunch. Our last trip of the day was up to West Chester to see the Enderle's. It's a long drive, but none of my Dad's relatives had met Liv yet so that stop was a must.

My birthday is the day after Christmas, so more family celebration followed. The last three days have really taken their toll on my poor baby girl. I have come to realize that this baby relies heavily on her routine. You mess with her routine and she becomes a mess. The last three nights, she has woken up at 1 a.m. (she has not done this in at least 6 to 8 weeks). I hope that once we get back to our normal daily routine, she'll sleep through the night again; I don't know how to fix it otherwise -- we didn't do anything special to get her to sleep through the night in the first place, so we're not quite sure how to get her back to doing it if she's still waking up after everything's back to normal.

The First Three Months -- and all the "firsts" that go with it

Olivia's first three months have been nothing short of completely wonderful. She helped hand out candy at her first Halloween, watched Mommy and Daddy eat turkey for her first Thanksgiving, and we are now in the middle of celebrating her first Christmas.

David and I are settling in to our new parenting roles pretty well; we have figured out Livvie's signals: we know when she's hungry, when she needs a change, and when she's done with the stimulation and needs some quiet and a nap. She sleeps an average of 8 to 10 hours a night every night, going down between 9 and 10:30 and sleeping until 7 a.m.; as we understand, she is WAY ahead of the curve on this milestone. There have been some bumps in the road since making the final decision to exclusively feed formula; while she was on Similac Advance, Livvie seemed to have a lot of trouble with spit up. It didn't matter how much or little she ate, whether she was famished or just getting hungry, or how often we burped her, she spent a lot of time spitting up. We asked the doctors about it at a couple of her check ups, but they didn't have any suggestions for us to try because we were already doing what they would suggest. They didn't think it was GERD because she was not uncomfortable during or after eating, there was no projectile vomiting. She was just going through bibs and burp cloths like nobody's business. David was sharing his woes with some of the guys on his gaming forum, and one of them said each of his kids had the same problem until they tried Similac Sensitive for spit up. We gave it a try and were amazed with the results. Livvie can wear the same bib for the whole day and can even go without a bib for a good portion of the day (bibs have been a staple of her wardrobe pretty much since we came home from the hospital).

In all, the first three months have gone as smoothly as we can expect as brand new parents and we can't wait to see what the next three months bring.

One Week Old -- Time Flies!

This last week since Livvie was born could go down in history as the fastest week on record. I feel like we just brought her home yesterday, when in fact it was a week ago today. This week has not been without its bumps in the road.

Olivia HATES nursing. I bring her to my breast and it doesn't matter if she's slightly hungry or starving, she will scream bloody murder, arch her back and push herself away from me. She will not even try to latch on. So I pumped every 3 hours while David fed the expressed breast milk to her at the same time so we could be on the same schedule in the event that we worked out the latching thing. We also supplemented with formula.

I went to visit with a Lactation Consultant on Tuesday and she was wonderful. She got Livvie to latch on with the help of a nipple shield and she actually nursed for 20 minutes. She gave us a bunch of "homework" to do and made a follow up visit for Friday. Yesterday we worked on our homework. She latched on and nursed for 25 minutes or so in the morning. Yesterday afternoon we tried again, but it started to feel like she was biting. I noticed that the shield wasn't drawing enough of the nipple forward so she was getting a bad latch. We tried several more times, but each time it felt like a bunch of tiny knives stabbing me. I continued pumping until last night when I noticed a few little drops of blood on the flange of the breast pump. Then I was done. My mom had called as I was cleaning up, and I talked to her about it. As it turns out, she quit breastfeeding me early for the same reasons: poor latching, pain, bleeding. I felt much better finally making the decision that David and I had been discussing for the past couple of days: I'm no longer going to nurse. Olivia does just fine on formula and it makes all three of us happy. Finding out that I was formula-fed made me feel much better. I never had any major health problems to speak of in childhood, and I was in the top of my class all through school, so I know that formula vs. breast milk doesn't have any major effects on brain development (at least in my case).

Since making this decision last night, we have all been able to sleep better. I enjoy feeding my daughter now; I had gotten to the point that I absolutely dreaded feeding time. I think Livvie can sense my new found sense of calm because she's much calmer at feeding time too. It is the best decision for both of us. Who knows, I may try nursing again with a future baby; or maybe not. Only time will tell.

She's Here!!

Olivia Hope Spaulding was born 9/21/10 at 10:41 am. She was 8 pounds, 4.6 ounces and 21 inches long.

David and I went to bed Monday night after we finished watching House. It was pointless for me because all I did was toss and turn until 1:45 am when I finally gave up and got up to go to the hospital. I slept for maybe 30 minutes. We left for the hospital around 2:10 am and got there at 2:40. We parked in the lot and were getting bags and pillows out of the car when I had a contraction. I didn't think anything of it; I had been having contractions for the last two weeks or better (all Braxton Hicks).

We went up to the LDR floor to check in for the induction. There was another woman there who was being registered, so the nurses at the desk asked us to have a seat in the waiting room and they would call us when they were ready. At 2:50, I got up to use the restroom. I went into the bathroom and felt another contraction. It felt like the first one, and a little different from the Braxton Hicks contractions I had been having up until then. These two were lower and started in the back, radiating around to the front and down my legs. I thought, "these are the real deal". I came back out into the waiting room and sat down next to David and said, "I think I'm having real contractions." Sure enough, I had another one while I was signing the paperwork for the induction. That one actually made me stop writing for a split second. I had another contraction while walking down the hall to the LDR unit.

The nurse brought us in and got me set up with a hospital gown, had me go to the bathroom (I wish I had known, I would've waited!!), and started my IV. I let her know I had had a couple of contractions that started just a few minutes ago, and they were about 8-10 minutes apart. She said okay, and then proceeded to explain the chain of events. I had to be on the fetal heart monitor for 30 minutes before they could start the Pitocin. During that time, my contractions started coming with increasing regularity and strength every 5 to 6 minutes. The nurse came back in at one point and told me that they weren't super excited about the baby's heart rate on the monitor (it was holding in the 120s to 140s, but not staying up in the 140s to 150s long enough for their liking), so they called the doctor who said to hold the Pitocin for 2 more hours. I remember looking at David after the nurse walked out and saying, "You watch, I won't even end up needing that Pitocin." I was right.

The contractions were steadily coming every five minutes; then they started coming faster. After one particularly strong one (whereupon I wound up banging my fist against the side rail of the bed), I called the nurse and asked if I could have something to take the edge off the pain. She left the room and called the doctor, and then came back and asked if I wanted my epidural -- I wanted to weep with relief. The anesthesiologist was in the room in a matter of minutes, and I didn't feel anything after the first pinch when he injected the numbing medication. I felt a small pop when he entered the epidural space in my back, but that was it. In no time, I felt a warming sensation spread down my legs, and the pain of the contractions subsided. My anesthesiologist was great; I felt no pain, but I still was aware that I was having contractions. After the epidural took effect, the nurse checked my progress: I went from 3cm at admission to 6-7 cm 3 hours later. Not bad for a first-time labor.

I drifted in and out of sleep for the next 2 hours or so, and then I started to feel some pressure. The next time the nurse came in to check on me, I mentioned the pressure to her, so she checked again. At this point she looks at me and says, "Are you sure this is your first baby?" What? Yeah -- I'm sure. I think I would've remembered if I had another kid or two at home. She tells me that I'm fully dilated at 10 cm, and she can feel the baby's head right against the cervix -- time to start pushing. One drawback though: my doctor was in the OR at the moment with another patient doing a C-section. I had to wait to start pushing until she was finished. An hour and a half later, she was still in the OR with this patient, so they called another one of the doctors in the practice who came in to deliver me.

I pushed for about an hour before Livvie was born. Once her head was out, it took just one more push for the rest of her to come out. When she was born, they put her up on my chest and the first thing I said was, "Oh my God she looks exactly like me!" And she does; she's my "Mini Me". The nurses took her over and weighed and cleaned her up, and David took pictures. I had to have an episiotomy, so the doctor had to make that repair. All in all, I was very pleased with the relative ease and quickness of this labor and delivery. I made the joke to David that for the next baby, we're going to have to camp out at the hospital starting at week 38. It occurred to me that if this labor had started at home and we waited for the contractions to come every 5 minutes for one hour before calling the doctor and going to the hospital like they want you to, we may not have made it.