I'm loving this little girl!

I'm about half way through my maternity leave and I feel the time slipping away. I'm also enjoying every moment with my daughter. I couldn't imagine having to go back to work two weeks ago. I'm thankful I have a job that will allow me so much time to take.

Trinity is growing. Her legs are getting plump. Her fingers and hands are filling in and her head is growing. It's getting harder to slip those onesies around her head. Also she's ready to fit into all those outfits she got during the baby showers. She's quite cute these days too. I know that sounds very boastful, but I'd gotta admit, she's a looker baby.

She's sleeping longer at night and I'm not as sleep deprived as the first month. I was clearly a walking zombie sometimes and at times I chose not to answer the phone (sorry folks). She's loving her baths thank goodness. It's my favorite time with her. Changing her diaper is quite an adventure. Sometimes I think she just like to pee on the changing table to show us who's really in charge. The pampers is just there for show sometimes I swear. She's funny like that and her father is learning that all the time. What can I can, expect the unexpected. She might just poop in between changes too, now that's really fun.

These days we're getting a little more spit up these days too and she drooling. But the cooing.. I love, love, love the cooing she's doing these days. I feel like she's talking to me and responding in kind to my crazy questions like "how is your morning" and "what you doing this morning"? She even laughed in her sleep. I met a woman the other day that says when babies smile in their sleep it means angels are talking to them and that was the most comforting thought. My grandparents, her deceased paternal grandfather and aunts and uncles would get such a kick out of her and I hope if they are talking to her that they are proud.

Next week, she's got to get her series of booster shots and she's gotta take some Tylenol before hand to offset the pain of the shots. I'm trying to prepare for it mentally, but Trinity will probably be more ready for it than I am. I'll report back to see if my worries were unnecessary.

Six Weeks In

Well it's been a month and as I don't have as much time to post as I did before, there isn't a lot to report other than the routine of changebaby-feedbaby-burpbaby-playwithbaby-putbabybacktosleep. Then I just watch her sleep when I'm not sleeping myself. It's no surprise, but of course I'm exhausted some days and mostly it's at night. But I'm in love and that conquers all, well it is now anyway. James is so smitten, he can't readily admit how much, but I've never seen him so tender, that's all I can say.

The breastfeeding is getting better. I must admit that a few weeks ago I didn't know how long I could do it. The sore nipples, the leaking, the trying to remember which breast you fed the child on last. I hope I can keep this together when I go back to work. I've got a month and a half now and I'm looking forward to returning to work a little, but I'm dreading possibly missing something that she does for the first time while I'm at work.

This month my baby has her second set of shots at the end of this month. I hope my husband and I will be okay with all the shots they have to give her. I'm dreading that doctor's appointment. She is gaining weight well though. I believe she's about 8 pounds at this point. I think she's gaining weight pretty steadily now. I can't wait to see how far she's come at the end of this month.

Week One Post Pardum

I've been home with my child for a week now and it feels like a month. The little ups and downs are:

• Realizing she likes to hold her poops and chooses to do one whopping one every few days. When it happens, it scary (my husband is still traumatized).
• She is still adorable. Her appetite has increased, which is good.
• I've lost almost 30 pounds since giving birth. I have weighed in so low since in the last four years since my last surgery. It's the breastfeeding, I know, but I just didn't know it would be so fast.
• I'm starting to recognize my ankles again! Yay!!!!!

• I'm getting a little cabin feverish. I plan on buying my Mother's Day cards today and send them out. I've gotten a few of them and it's so weird to me.

I know I'm a mother now and do motherly things, but it still feels strange to call myself a mother. I don't have a problems saying, " my daughter, my child, my baby, my baby girl..." I guess once I hear her call out "Mommy" I'll get the shivers and it will feel real.

Four Days and a Baby

Well as the three followers that I have already know. I gave birth to my little angel Trinity Elizabeth on April 27, 2009 at 11:37 pm. I was scheduled to be induced on the 24th which I was feeling incredibly apprehensive about. One doctor in the practice was insisting on an Amniocentesis prior to induction which I thought was ridiculous and we ended up forgoing it anyway, but the induction was still on since my blood pressure had all of a sudden risen and hadn't decreased in the last week. I didn't have Pre-eclampsia, but the hypertension topped with the diabetes was putting me in a better category to have the baby early and avoid in complications closer to my due date only a week away.

So I'm starting Friday night with a closed cervix shut tighter than a Chick-Fil-A on Sunday and I was Misoprostol to get the ball rolling and to soften the cervix. Six hours later, nothing. The contractions might as well have been hunger pangs because I wasn't feeling a thing and the cervix was still at about a one. Saturday I'm given the old reliable Pitosin. This does nothing as well all day Saturday and I'm getting tired of sitting in bed and tired of having my blood sugar checked every two hours. My poor fingers were running out of room to get stuck.

Later that evening they try a Foley Bulb to try and open the cervix some more which is uncomfortable and causes cramping and only gets me to about three centimeters. :-(
At this point I ask for a little pain medication and am introduced to Stadol. Ohh joy. This was perhaps the closest I have ever gotten or will ever get to being high. It's the bestest of the best buzz you've ever had without feeling nauseated. Still no movement on the cervix. Sunday I get a bit of a rest to start fresh on Monday.

Then Monday morning the drama builds. My water is broken (an entirely weird and warm experience) and with a little Pitosin the contractions, "the real-deal Hollyfield" contractions begin and I start the huffing and puffing and breathing through them like a champ. By he evening I'm getting low on stamina and patience being so long in the induction process. I can't hold out any longer and go for the epidural, which makes labor easier no doubt and I get a few internal monitors placed while I'm numb "down there." After about thirty minutes, my OB notices a dramatic and prolonged drop in the heart rate of the baby during contractions and concludes that six more hours of this with me at about on four cm dilated isn't good for the baby and I'm whisked off to the OR for a C-Section.

In like twenty minutes the baby is delivered. I was awake the entire time and my husband was doing all he could to keep me calm because I was shaking like a leaf. The anesthesiologist keeps me posted on everything that's happening and I when I finally hear her cry and I am so relieved. She's here, finally. They show her to me with her eyes wide open and mine filled with tears. I'm taken to recovery for an hour and its the middle of the night by now on early Tuesday morning and it still hasn't sunken in yet that I'm a mother.

A week later it still isn't really real, until I got my first Mother's Day card today and I couldn't feel more lucky and blessed.

Countdown to Baby

1. Currently at 37 weeks, three to go.

2. Ankles still look like Chocolate Eclairs, but I'm dealing.

3. Have Crib (still not assembled)

4. Breastfeeding Class this weekend

5. Weight-gain at 16 pounds.

6. Somehow, I'm sleeping better at night.

7. Trinity is gaining momentum. I think he's given up the fight.

8. Can't forget to have my weekly Avocado Turkey Burger and Broccoli from Ruby Tuesday's this week.

9. Packing Overnight Bag this week.

10. Praying every night for my little one.

Bodily Changes Update

I really don't have a lot to complain about, but the last baby shower brought the onset of puff pasty ankles. They baked in the oven that was my shoe and have not come down. I know if normal for the last trimester and few months, but they just look so bad. I am keeping them elevated to the point where I'm considering sleeping in a L-shape at night, but so far they go down when I go down and get up when get up.

Okay complaint time over.


Note: I did not get horns waggled with the furniture. It arrived within a week's time and if only my spouse would get his lazy tail together to put it up I'd be a happier camper.

Baby Shower #2

Okay, so this was the official one thrown for me by my mother and sister. It was such a cool day. My aunts, cousins and friends from school were there. My mother fixed these programs with my baby picture on them, oh so cute. It was a bit cloudy and rainy throughout the afternoon, but when I arrived at the very church and in the very sanctuary where we got married seven years ago, the emotions were running rampant. There were lovely gifts, a fantabulous (new word) spread of food and drink and games ready to be played. There was a PowerPoint presentation in the back with pics of James and myself as a child. He was a cute baby, I must admit. My mother-in-law and I were both given sashes to wear at the shower. Mine read "Mother-to Be" and hers "Grandmother-to-Be." She loved it.

So we played games and eat and since the weather wasn't the best went straight into opening gifts and my friends quickly got an assembly line going. It all seemed to happen so fast and I tried to savour every moment, but I swear it took me a while to take it all in.

Pictures will come later, but I loved that so many relatives who drove from Virginia and Maryland to see me were there that I felt so honored and blessed. I could barely contain myself when it came time for me to say a few words. And after a few hours it was over, kind of like the wedding. I got some great gifts from friends, my mother's co-workers, cousins, godmothers, and James and I were able to take a picture with the Reverend that married us. He just happened to be there that day and the feeling that things were coming full circle was apparent.

I cannot express how loved and blessed I felt that day. I felt lucky to have so many care about me and the baby and show it with their time and attention. It's not often I get that kind of attention as I tend to shy away from it most of the time, but I welcomed it that day and I am forever truly grateful.

PS.
This may sound ungrateful, but okay so folks, I need diapers. Diapers are good.