Well that time of year has come and gone. Last year our christmas was incomplete. Andy had left for basic training on the 13th and missed Wilson's first Christmas.
Look at baby Wilson. With Callie now here, I still can't believe my Wilson is a big boy, and that our baby days with him are gone. *SNIFF SNIFF*
We got to spend our Christmas with our family complete, but far away from our family back home. It was a bittersweet feeling. Those types of Christmases are the only I've ever known. I always grew up far from my family, and now I see that's how my kids will be.
Since they are still babies, I don't have to worry about doing too many things, set up a tree, stick a few presents under there and VOILA! Christmas is done. But in the not so distant future, I'm going to have to start putting more effort into Christmas so that it's as special for them, even if our family is far away.
First on my list is tracking down a cd or copy of the Disney Christmas Songs I myself used to listen to every Christmas. I want to continue that with my babies.
Baking Christmas cookies together. (I didn't do that this year) My favorite: Jam Kolaches
Donating something to a less fortunate child/family. I want to show my kids that Christmas is also about giving.
Having a yummy Christmas Dinner with fancy china. I loved feeling all elegant drinking my punch from a glass flute when I was a kid.
Watching Christmas movies together and reading a Christmas story together.
I want to get or make an ornanment with both the kids names on it as their "special ornament" that they can put wherever they pick on the Christmas tree.
I'm thinking of letting them open a present on Christmas Eve which will have special Christmas Pajamas that they will wear that night. But I don't know about that one. That kind of depends.
So many things I want to do with my family that I can't wait to do! But really I can because I'm already seeing how fast these babies grow!
Thought it would be fun to track my body and weight after having baby girl. This was taken on Thursday. Exactly 2 weeks after giving birth. I'm probably sucking it in a little but there you go.
Scale is telling me I'm around 120-122 pounds. So if I go by the heaviest then I have about 3 pounds until I would be back to my pre-pregnancy weight.
Doing some breastfeeding (shockingly) my milk came in about 4 days after I gave birth and were super engorged. Then I got sick with either a blocked duct or even mastistis in my right boob and I fell into a coma for a day. Plus I think I was just exhausted.
No exercising, but I have been doing a lot of stair climbing. At least now it's easier! No more big belly!
Sleep is terrible, but it was terrible before baby girl came anyways so it's roughly about the same.
Baby girl is an angel. Sleeps, eats, and is just all around adorable.
Wilson... is a toddler. Throwing tantrums, being sweet, needing naps still. Speaking of. It really is naptime. YAY!
So a week ago I gave birth to a sweet baby girl. Wow. She has been amazing and it's crazy to think how much more relaxed I am.
When I had Wilson, I was not used to the lack of sleep. I think I had a hard time reading those baby signals. Or rather learning them. And the breast feeding issue. Oh the breast feeding. I literally sat there and cried about it when we went to the doctors and they had told us Wilson had lost a whole pound. That and the fact that when he was awake he was literally screaming non stop. When we started supplementing with the formula, he literally sucked it down. Breast feeding can be a beautiful and wonderful thing for others. But my experience with it with Wilson made me feel sad and angry about it.
Callie has gotten mostly formula now. My milk came in on around day 4 and I have been pumping a little to relieve the engorgement.
A little is better than nothing, but I'm not going to put myself through the mental anguish of exclusively trying to breast feed. Once my supply diminishes or disappears then it will be over. And I'm okay with it.
It's crazy how every baby is different and so far either my memory is super fuzzy, or it really is the case, but Callie has been a wonderful newborn. I know I remember Wilson being a little more fussy about things, but Callie is super relaxed and chill. I think she is having more gas problems/pooping problems as that is the only time she really fusses.
My fisher price rock n play seat is a HUGE lifesaver. She hangs out it in and really seems to enjoy it.
Unfortunately so does Wilson. I freaked out because one morning I went to get a bowl of cereal and come back in to find him sitting literally on top of her. Luckily I was in there for literally less than a minute but it's scary. What if I had to use the bathroom!? He would've suffocated his sister and not even realized it.
So now I let him follow me around and get into whatever his little toddler heart desires.
Looks wise the bruising from birth is all gone, but her eyes still have the burst blood vessels. They are going down and I've heard it can take up to or over a month to go away.
There's a little yellowing but her jaundice is practically all gone. Another nice thing we aren't having to deal with this time around. We had to use a special light blanket for almost 2 weeks and go to the hospital lab like every day and get blood drawn. Callie hasn't had any issues so we aren't having to do all that this time. Yay. Can't believe that a week has passed.
So I have been home for a couple days and am now sitting down getting ready to type out Callie's birth story. She has been an amazing little newborn so far and we are all just in love with her. Wilson is slowly getting used to her. He comes up and will look at her and pat her on the head. I think that's about as good as it is going to get for now. I think he is still too young to understand what is going on. But anyways onto birth story!
We went to Willis-Knighton Medical Plaza at Midnight on December 1, 2011. I had preregistered so I had to go through the ER entrance and get checked in.
By 1 am we were in our delivery room 8 on the second floor, and we had nurse Stephanie and she let us get settled in and took care of little things and at 3 am I had my iv put in and a pitocin drip started.
It caused regular but not painful contractions. When I got checked I had only progressed to 3 cm dilation and still 50% effaced. I was a little disappointed that the pitocin hadn't progressed my labor a little more.
So from there we slept and being a hospital would get randomnly woken up.
At 7:00 am, my ob Dr. Gina Gomez came in and with one swift jab with what I call the "knitting needle" broke my water.
Contractions at this point were extremely painful and strong. They came in at less than 3 minutes apart and after the first couple contractions I was READY for that epidural!
I had a new nurse now, her name was Tracy and she told me I had to wait until I was at least 4 cm, so she would check on me in an hour.
Well she made me wait a little longer than an hour but I tried to endure. Finally at 8:30 she came in, and checked me and I was at 5 cm dilated and 90% effaced. FINALLY!
She went and started prepping for the epidural for me and in about 15 minutes, the anesthesiologist came in and popped that sucker in quick! With Wilson I had to wait a long time for the dr. to get the needle and all that in place and this dr. had it done in less than 15 minutes!
My contractions started feeling less painful and by the normal 15-20 minutes all I could feel was some pressure every time a contraction came up. THANK YOU MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY!
I was worried I might have complications from the epidural, as you know things can always go wrong or not work right, but this epidural experience was amazing. I got a different type of drug this time though, where I actually had the ability to feel my legs and move them.
I don't think I would've been able to walk around but at least I wasn't just completely useless from the waist down.
A friend had come and offered to take pictures of the birth for us, so she had come and she, Andy, and I sat around and chatted until 10:30 am.
Nurse Tracy came back in to check me and realized that Callie was ready to come out. Like her head was already in the birth canal. She immediately started getting everything ready and Dr. Gomez notified.
By 11:00 am, everyone was all situated and ready to go. I was ready to push.
I had to wait for that first contraction to start pushing and from the first, I could see a headful of dark dark hair. (I had requested a mirror to be able to see.)
I was so excited and by the 4th contraction had my daughter out!
Callie Joy Kirk was born on December 1, 2011 at 11:25 am.
She weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz and was 20.5 inches long.
She literally was almost the exact weight as Wilson, but Wilson was an inch longer.
She looked very tiny compared to my memory of Wilson. I think it may be because of the head shape. Wilson had the very cone-shaped head where Callie's head didn't look like it got misshapen in the birth canal at all.
She had facial bruising and swelling and burst some blood vessels in her eyes from having such a fast delivery. She cried for a little while, but finally calmed down and was now being the typical sleepy newborn.
I am amazed at how much faster and easier her birth went. I am thankful for having a healthy baby girl and that everything so far has went well. She hasn't had any of the issues that Wilson did. And I will have another blog post about my decision to bottle feed instead of trying breastfeeding again. But I won't make that long. I am at peace with my decision, and no one can make me feel guilty about it.
How far along? 40 weeks and we are all done cooking in there baby! Weight gain/loss: 142.8 now up to 27.3 pounds from my first weigh in.A huge difference from the 60+ pounds I gained with Wilson! Maternity clothes? Definitely! but I can still fit into my tank tops! Love those Jersey Old Navy Tank tops! Seriously they are the best! Stretch marks? I *THINK* I may be getting some on the bottom of my stomach. I can't see that area very well though and they aren't like deep red lines but it's either that or scratch marks from Wilson. He can't get enough lifting my shirt up and playing with my belly. Sleep? I'm super anxious thinking I'm literally going into labor with any twinge. So sleep hasn't been very good. Best moment this week? Black friday shopping at 39 weeks pregnant. Pretty crazy but I'm still glad I went. Even if I was waddling all around. Food cravings: Fruit. Again. I keep seeing delicious fruit recipes and fresh fruit. Gender: Girl!! Belly button in or out? Super out and just all around weird looking. Movement? She's getting really cramped in there but still able to give me lots of elbows/knees. Oy. What I miss? Sleeping on my belly! Not feeling so huge! Being able to see my feet! What I'm looking forward to: Thursday! I get to meet my daughter!
So I love those little tickers that I have on the left hand side of my blog.
But the one about my pregnancy... that one tells me I have 3 days before I am "supposed" to give birth.
UHHHHH WHHHAAAATTT??!?!?!!?
Okay so I know that this baby girl is coming. And could come any minute. My water could break as I type this.
But I am seriously like.... it can't be this soon already! Wasn't I just in denial and taking like 8 pregnancy tests just yesterday?
As I look down at my belly and chew on my tums I know it's going to be happening here soon. I go to the Dr. on Monday and we will probably schedule my induction for sometime that week.
Still crossing my fingers for Thursday. I hope it will happen! But she still could come any time from now until then.
I have pretty much everything kind of ready. Diapers washed and ready to go. Although I'll probably be doing some disposables for a couple weeks with both babies.
I have my overnight bag somewhat packed. I still need to pack Wilson his bag for when he goes to stay with our friends the Stewarts, while we are in the hospital.
But other than that, I'm pretty much just winging it.
I'm not overtly stressed out about it, but I am. I guess I would like to be more organized about everything in general, but by the time I get a mommy break. I just want to relax. I don't want to work on something else.
The bed is calling me now though. Wilson had his first oreo cookie today and I think the sugar made him extra hyper. He did not want to go to bed. So I had to stay up with him and try to get him to go to sleep.
Boy I hope he is ready! He has no idea what's about to happen!
Okay so I'm too lazy to take any picture or do the actual fill out, but starting tomorrow I will be in my 39th week of pregnancy! Everyone has said "Oh your second/third always comes earlier." But so far that doesn't look like it's happening. The signs are good though!
So far, I am 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. But I've been like this the past 2 times I visited the dr. so no actual progress.
Next monday I will go in and we will probably get an induction scheduled. I'm crossing my fingers for Thursday, December 1st.
I had Wilson on a Thursday so it would be sweet if I could have Callie on a Thursday too.
Thanksgiving is coming up and while I'm sad we won't get to spend it with our family, we are doing a little dinner with our friends. I'm doing the sides and they will be doing the Turkey, Ham and pie.
I will be doing sides and here's what I plan on making!
and last but I should've done it first: Deviled Eggs
If I haven't gone into labor on my own I MAY attempt to try to do some Black Friday Shopping. I wouldn't go by myself but it's up in the air. It will all depend on how I'm feeling, if I ate too much, if I'm already tired. ETC ETC ETC.
But hopefully these next couple days go by fast and I can enjoy spending time with my soon to be family of four! AHHH!!!
How far along? 38 weeks today! Weight gain/loss: 141.6
now up to 26.1 pounds from my first weigh in. Maternity clothes? Definitely! but I can still fit into my tank tops! Love those Jersey Old Navy Tank tops! Seriously they are the best! Stretch marks? Still none! Whoo hoo. Sleep? Bleeeehhh... between hiccups, tons of nudging and sharp elbows and knees and the whole peeing every couple hours. It's the best it's gonna be. Best moment this week? Going out for dinner for my birthday! Food cravings: Anything that looks delicious! Gender: Girl!! Belly button in or out? Super out now. I would say my belly button timer has definitely "popped" Movement? Lots of nudges and elbows and hiccups :) What I miss? Being able to do stuff! What I'm looking forward to:Having my baby! Thanksgiving! Not being hugely pregnant anymore! Alcohol!
I will have a new video to share. Someone totally new in my life and I just cannot wait to meet her. Someone who I feel constantly elbowing me, kicking me, hanging out in my ribs, having hiccups when I'm trying to fall asleep. I don't want to say any day now but wow, it literally could be ANY day now, I will be welcoming my daughter. I'll of course upload it and share it. Not only for friends and family, but for me. So when I have some quiet time and peace, I can go and look and remember once upon a time, I was meeting someone I had never met before but loved from the very beginning.
But of course I can't forget my first. My first video of meeting someone for the first time. Seeing that precious little face. My little man. I had photos taken today mostly of me and some with Andy and Wilson, and I just could NOT stop looking at my little boy. How he was just so adorable running around. How fast he grew and changed in looks. Hopefully there are couple pictures of me actually looking at the camera but if I post any of me not looking, you'll know who I was looking at.
You know how in all those baby manuals and websites they talk about the
checklist for when you go to deliver? A little like this checklist.
It
talks about comfy clothes, pillows, a going home outfit for your baby,
snacks. Well my friends. No one told you about the after-birth
checklist. In fact unless you have that really good friend that tells
you what your body is like after giving birth and it's your first. You
have no idea!
I had one friend tell me that after she gave birth
her body felt like sh*t. We didn't go into specifics. I hadn't had any
kids yet. But I can now say after having one of my own. It is indeed
true.
So here is my real mommy after birth checklist.
Duh
of course you are going to bring clothes, and a pillow, and the stuff
for the baby. That's a given. That's on every checklist. Here are the
things you will want immediately after you have the baby.
The
hospital is going to supply you with these crazy big and gross pads.
They don't absorb very well and you will have to wear a mesh diaper
cover over it. It sucks. Bring your own pads. The overnight ones while
still huge and bulky will at least absorb a little better. You'll want a
pack for at home too or just buy one big box.
Unless
you happened to take the biggest poo ever before you gave birth, or if
you are really lucky, while you were pushing your little bundle of joy
out. You are going to be pretty constipated. You just pushed a 6-9 pound
baby out of your lady parts and well... everything down there is pretty
tired and stretched out. You will want to take this so that when you
finally do have a bowel movement after birth you don't rip anything and
don't strain your bottom. You'll be needing this for the next couple
days as well, because it's all going to be sore.
These may or may not be a necessity depending on you. Almost
everyone I have ever had the courage to bring up about is in the same
predicament as me. All that pushing... well it does something not only
to your lady parts but to your bottom as well. Welcome to the Hemorrhoids
club mommy! When you are in the hospital you may get special medicated
wipes that essentially do the same thing. When you get home you will
want your own soothing relief from the mess that is going on down
below.
Okay
this goes along with everything else in the bottoms department. You
will have this in your bathroom in the hospital (I hope. If not you are
in a crappy hospital for sure!) Every time you now pee/poop you will
have to rinse your parts with some room temp. water. These things aren't
necessarily the easiest to use but you will want it. Remember to take
it home with you. Or if you are sure you will forget, buy one before and
have it ready in the bathroom.
This is also something you may want for at home if you pushed a baby
out. While at the hospital they give you this wonderful but very small
bottle of numbing foam. It's amazing. You wonder why they don't give you
a whole bunch? Every time I look for this in the store I have only
found the Red can which is essentially the same as the blue except it
has antibacterial properties in it.
I don't know if because of the antibac stuff in it, but when you first
initially spray down there, it will sting. I want to buy the blue one to
see if that would also sting but instead of buying it online I just buy
the red can at the store. If you tore or had stitches or are just
plain sore down there. This does bring you some relief! Minus the
initial burn at first. Ouch.
This is purely for vanity. I don't think it will magically make you get
your pre-pregnancy body back. BUT it will have that flabby belly that
for some reason you thought would just disappear after you pushed your
little bundle out. Well unless you are amazing (I will hate you if you
say you were one of these people) you now have a what could be 5-6 month
post pregnancy belly that is now all deflated because there is no baby
in there anymore! When you have your new baby appointments, put this on
under your clothes. It will make you feel better about your body. You
will LOOK skinnier even though it's just an illusion. Of course you
could buy any type of corset type thing to essentially do the same thing
but this is the "namebrand" one so it's the one I used.
7. Food
If you are lucky enough to have good friends and family. Ask them if
they will cook you a meal that can be frozen so when you are in your
baby haze for that first month, you won't have to have a mental
breakdown worrying about what to eat. Speaking of. Crap. I have less
than 3 weeks and I haven't even thought about this! WHOOPS!
But this is amazing. When I gave birth to Wilson I was lucky enough to
have family and friends who brought us meals and made sure we ate. It
was amazing!
I'm sure there are more things I could add to this post. I feel like
like these things specifically are usually not on checklists so I would
blog about them. I hope if any other mommies read this they might be
able to add in their own "must haves" for post pregnancy!
