Tales of Midwest Legers

We're moving!

2009-08-10T12:39:00.005-05:00

In two ways!

We found a bigger place here in Wichita- it's a duplex, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, with a backyard (not fenced in, unfortunately) and a garage (!!!!!!!!!!!). We're signing the lease at the end of this week, and D-husband's parents are coming to help us move.

I also found a new site for us to post updates, photos and videos. It's called Shutterfly, and here's our link:

http://midwestlegers.shutterfly.com/

This site will still be up, of course, but I'll be posting there from now on! Sayonara :)

I'll have whatever you're having.

2009-07-27T21:58:00.001-05:00

H-bear the drool-machine has been super interested in whatever we're eating or drinking, we recently gave her her first taste of rice cereal. She really seems to enjoy it, but still has trouble swallowing any of it. Babies have a very strong reflex to spit things out of their mouths, but eventually she will outgrow that. We've been working on it a little everyday.

The video of that first feeding will be posted soon. We took about 7 minutes of video, and you don't need to watch all of it so we're editting it down a bit.

Like I said, she's also been very curious about things we're drinking. I gave her a cup to play with, which she really enjoyed. Check out the tongue...

A few weeks ago she started rolling over from her tummy to her back. That was pretty easy, and she's gotten pretty quick with that.

She just recently started going from her back to her tummy. That took a little work. The arm kept getting in the way. For a few nights in a row, she woke us up crying and we found her rolled over part-way, and too tired and frustrated to go back to sleep on her own. Within a few days she got the hang of it, and now she is sleeping all night again, and most mornings we find her sleeping on her tummy.

She has come a long way recently in sitting up. She can sit up unassisted now for 20-30 seconds or so before she falls sideways or backward. As long as she has a toy or something in her hands to occupy her attention, she does pretty well.

I gave her a new toothbrush to play with the other day. I'm not sure if she liked it or not.

We bought her first shoes the other day! Two pairs, actually. Before she was born I always thought it would be pointless to buy baby shoes before they can walk. Well, having a baby changes your opinion on a lot of things...and they're so cute!

Not much else is new. She continues to surprise us with her strength and curiousity, and her ability to show preferences for certain things. We'll get that video up soon!

4-month measurements

2009-07-12T12:18:00.006-05:00

Height: 25 inches (75th percentile)
Weight: 14 lbs. 4 oz. (61st percentile)
Head circumference: 17.5 inches (99th percentile!!)

H-bear did very well, and showed Dr. Arensdorf how well she can hold up her head, and bear weight on her legs. Then she got her second round of shots, and didn't like them any better than the first. :(

We got the green light to try some rice cereal, but nothing else until she gets used to swallowing solid (or at least mushy) cereal. So no more peaches for awhile.

4 months and 3 days

2009-07-08T11:05:00.009-05:00

H-bear was so cute this morning. I was in her room refilling the humidifier (she's not coughing anymore, but we're still using it as a preventitive measure) as quietly as I could, and she kind of halfway opened her eyes. I said, "Hello, H-bear! Good morning!" but then her eyes slowly drooped closed again and her mouth curved into a little smile, and she was asleep again.

I was thinking about the first few weeks of her life. When she couldn't do anything but eat and poop, and squint her eyes at the cold air and bright lights. She couldn't smile, or babble to us, or grab a toy and chew on it, or do any of the things that make up her little personality. She was a little stranger who needed every minute of our attention and love. Now she's starting to tell us her likes and dislikes, and show that she wants every bit of independence she can get. It's only been 4 months, but it feels like years. Yikes!

She can grab her feet while laying on her back now...and even get them into her mouth. It's pretty impressive!

She is not sitting up on her own yet, but I got out our high chair the other day, just for fun. She can sit in it by herself by holding onto the bars (with the tray removed). She seemed to like it. :)

We have been letting her sample a little of our food lately. Very carefully, of course. We hold onto it, and make sure she can't chew off little pieces or anything. The first few things, I think they were cucumber and watermelon, which she did not like at all! She gave them both a little lick, and just grimaced. Apple slices she liked a little better, but peaches were the big hit.

Unfortunately she also showed a lot of interest in D-husband's bottle of beer. She could just smell it from the the top of the bottle, and seemed very intrigued (and tried to eat the bottle).

Here are some other new pictures:

Sitting up in the Boppy pillow

Yes, they're baby sunglasses. :)

I tried to get a picture of her yawning, but I just got the very end of it. What a goofy face!

Big smile!

Warning: Sticky subject

2009-07-03T16:01:00.004-05:00

There has been an abrupt change in H-bear's poop habits. She has gone from pooping two or three times per day to pooping every other day. We expected this as a normal part of her developement. Of course, the amount of poo every time she goes has increased significantly. WOW.

In my online wandering I found this remedy for diarrhea that I just wanted to keep for my own future reference:

The "BRATTY" Diet
Bananas
Rice
Applesauce
Toast
Tea
Yogurt

A few quick updates

2009-06-25T11:24:00.009-05:00

H-bear has been changing in quite a few little ways lately...

She is very close to sitting up on her own. We sit her up in her Boppy pillow, and she can now hold up her upper body very well, and just bounces off the sides a little. She also leans forward from this position to look at her feet. She hasn't tried to grab them yet, but she definitely likes to look at them.

I think she really enjoys this, too, but recently she seems to like sitting in her pillow more than sitting in my lap or D-husband's. Whenever we hold her for too long, even with toys or something to entertain her, she whines and squirms until we put her in the pillow or on her tummy. She is so anxious to be mobile!

She is well on her way to crawling. When she's on her tummy she does a sort of "caterpillar crawl" by pulling her legs up under her and scooting her upper body forward. She can't do this while holding her head up though, so she doesn't go too fast. This photo is a little blurry, but you get the idea.

I'm pretty sure it's too early for her to be teething, but she has gotten more interested in putting anything and everything in her mouth. Number one favorite at the moment: mommy and daddy's fingers. Must taste better than her own, though she still loves her thumb. She likes to gnaw on her toys, too, but gets a little frustrated when they don't fit into her mouth.

She is becoming more vocal and making new noises, too. She babbles quite a bit now, especially during diaper changes. Just this morning, actually, she started trying out a new sound. She presses her lips together and says "mmm"...she's still doing it now, in fact! She's really close to laughing, too, which is very cute.

She also just had her first little cold (we think). Sometime last week she started coughing a little- a very dry, raspy cough. It wasn't very often, just a few times a day. We took her temperature evey few hours, and the highest it got was 99.5. She didn't have a runny nose or anything else to be worried about, but after the coughing lasted a few days we decided to call the doctor's office. We spoke with a nurse, who told us that a humidifier in her room should help, and to call back if she got worse, got a runny nose or fever, or refused to eat. We went out and bought a humidifier, but as luck would have it, she stopped coughing that day, so we haven't bothered to use it.

She is doing very well in her crib, sleeping 10 to 12 hours every night....which is wonderful! Still taking a few naps during the day, of course. She is always is such a great mood when she's well-rested. Mornings are the best time of day...she smiles so much!

Here's a few new pictures:

She obviously doesn't need us anymore. :(

Turn up your volume for this video...the audio is essential :)

Trip to LC, the cousins finally meet, and baptism!!

2009-06-16T13:41:00.005-05:00

Our trip to Lake Charles this past weekend was great! What a whirlwind trip.

We arrived Friday night, and H-bear had a really rough time going to sleep. We figured it was a combination of getting up early that morning (to drop D-husband off at work), the two flights, and all the new people waiting at the house. She was pretty wound up, and not happy about it. :(

On Saturday, we had to wait patiently for H-bear and J's awake times to coincide...H-bear woke up just as J was taking her morning nap, and just as she woke up, H-bear decided it was time for hers! Finally they were awake at the same time. J is almost nine months old now, while H-bear is only about three, so the interaction was pretty one-sided. Still very cute to watch though.

We got Darrell's for lunch, and afterward at the house we spent the rest of the afternoon with visitors and family who stopped by. H-bear got a little overwhelmed at times by all the attention and new faces, but mostly she seemed to enjoy it. After Mr. Gatti's pizza for dinner, D-husband and I, and some friends, went to Lauberge casino. Had a great time, but stayed out a little too late.

Sunday afternoon we headed to church for the baptism! We still can't believe how well H-bear did...the whole time the deacon was speaking, she just stared at him, and when he poured the water over the top of her head, she just stuck her thumb in her mouth and looked at something on the ceiling. Lots of friends and family in attendance...so lots of picture-taking afterward!

After that, we all went to D-husband's uncle's house for barbeque. It was nice to see everyone and get a chance to catch up, and let H-bear get passed around a little. It's tough for me not to have her all the time, but she does really well with it, and I'm sure it's good for her.

That evening D-husband and I went to a movie, and then got to eat the top of our wedding cake, which his parents had been saving for us in the freezer! The icing was exactly the same, but the cake was a little dense. Not bad though!

We're back at home now, and once again settling back into our routine. Wichita is getting hot! Three days this week are forecasted over 100 degrees...yuck. More news later!

Trip to PHX, new sleeping arrangements, and 3 months!

2009-06-02T13:23:00.020-05:00

Our trip to Phoenix was great! H-bear did SO well on the plane…slept through take-off and landing, and only fussed a little (when we changed her diaper). It was overcast and rainy when we arrived…perfect AZ weather!

We paid visits to all our favorite restaurants and places: In N Out Burger, Filibertos, Native New Yorker, etc. We rode the lightrail (it opened just a few days after we left last year!), visited my high school band director, went to a game night, and saw Star Trek. H-bear got through all of this very easily. I was initially worried about how she would handle all the new faces, but she seemed to enjoy all the attention so much that by the time we left, I was afraid she’d be bored going back to our old routine in Wichita!

I had also wondered how H-bear and my old dog, Duke, would react to each other. Duke gave her a little sniff the day we arrived, and didn’t pay anymore attention to her after that. H-bear never really noticed him at all. :)

Out of the five nights we spent in Phoenix, we only had to put H-bear to sleep for two of them. We definitely took advantage of the free baby-sitting to spend some evenings with our old friends. Thankfully she didn’t give my mom any trouble, and slept through all five nights without a hitch.

I guess it's kind of old news now...she's been sleeping through the night for almost a month! She figured out how to suck her thumb, and because of that, literally "overnight" she was able to sleep eight hours! Now when she wakes up in the middle of the night she can soothe herself back to sleep without me. For the record, that first night was Friday, May 8th. :)

It was great to see everyone, and seeing all of you again made us feel (more than we did before) that Wichita isn’t the place we want to live permanently. We need to be closer to friends and family, or at least a more familiar place. We’re happy in Wichita for the time being (make that: happy that D-husband has a job!), but we feel a little isolated.

So, now we’re back home. H-bear and I have fallen back into our daily routine, with one exception: she’s sleeping in her own room! So far we have had her in a bassinet next to our bed, but since she has been sleeping through the night for a few weeks now (not to mention she’s out-growing that bassinet), we figured she’s ready to make the big move. So far she’s handling it beautifully. She only had a problem one night…she stuck her foot out through the rails and couldn’t turn it to pull it back through. I felt awful! I was sure she would refuse to sleep in the crib ever again, but she seems to have forgotten the incident.

H-bear will be three months old this week! Since we don't have another doctor's appointment for a while, I took her in to be weighed: 13 lbs, 3 oz!

Here are the latest new photos:

Four generations!

Duke - I miss you!

This is the enormous box the crib came in.

Almost done...

Test drive (we did put an actual sheet on it later, I promise)

I think she likes it!

Tummy time with her new favorite toy.

Nap time

2 month update

2009-05-08T07:23:00.001-05:00

We (just H-bear and I) went in for her first round of immunizations yesterday afternoon! Wow. After we saw the doctor, two nurses came in and gave all three injections at the same time- two in the left leg and one in the right. H-bear has never screamed like that before...it was awful! :(

Here are her updated measurements:

12 lbs., 5 oz.

22 and 1/2 inches

H-bear has really been working on getting her hands into her mouth. At this point she can keep them there for a few seconds and suck like crazy, but then she always loses control of them. I also tried putting up the mobile in her bassinet the other day, and she actually looked at the animals, and eventually reached up at one of them! She couldn't close her hand on it though. She just batted it with her fingertips, and mostly just stared at it. Awesome!

Just in the past couple weeks or so she has started vocalizing a little. She makes little goohs and gaahs, usually accompanied by smiles...it's really cool!

Another new developement- she has gotten used to sleeping in the carseat even when she's not in the car. It's nice because we can take her into church or the grocery store in the carseat and she will just stay asleep in it. Sometimes even when she wakes up she just looks around and doesn't seem to mind.

Her acne has cleared up completely, but she still has patches of dry skin on her arms and legs. I had been using Johnson's baby lotion on her, but it's not making much of a difference, so Dr. Arensdorf recommended some other brands that I can try: Lubriderm and Aquaphor.

She sleeping patterns have been changing quite a bit. Right around six or seven weeks she had trouble sleeping for a few nights in a row, and we figured it was a growth spurt. Then for the next few nights, she slept for a full six hours! It was quite a treat for me, but unfortunately it didn't last. She went back to waking up every 2 or 3 hours, and just the past few nights she has gotten up to 4 or 5.

She has moved up a size in her clothes! Or rather skipped a few. We decided her clothes were fitting her a little tight, so I went out and bought a pack of 3-6 month size onesies. We tried them on her at home, and they were too small! We figured the brand just ran small, so I took her with me and went out again. We found that, depending on the brand, she currently fits in clothes sized for 6-9 months and even 9-12 months. Oh baby!

Here's some pictures:

I love this picture, but I have a feeling she won't like it when she's older.

This is how she turns her head to watch TV while I'm holding her.

And again!

All smiles!

2009-04-17T16:27:00.003-05:00

We took H-bear in for her check-up at 6 weeks, and she now weighs 11 lbs., 1 oz. and is 22 inches. Everything still looks great! She's got a little baby acne but its completely normal. It just looks like regular adult acne but it's all over her face, chest, and a little on her head as well. Her skin is also a little dry, especially on the tops of her hands and feet. Doc said we can put a little baby lotion on it. None of this seems to bother her, thankfully.

She is still sleeping very well at night, waking up on her own about every 4 hours. However, last night she slept about 5 1/2 at one time! She will still occasionally stay asleep all day and then have trouble staying asleep that night, but that's getting less frequent...maybe once a week. She seems to sleep pretty well after we bathe her...another reason to look forward to bath nights. She has also gotten very good at getting back to sleep all on her own after a noise or bright light wakes her up. I've heard a lot of babies struggle with this, so we consider ourselves VERY lucky!

Her sight is definitely developing. She is not cross-eyed at all anymore (for the first few weeks she could only focus on things up close), and she is able to focus on our faces much better. I've tried showing her a few little toys, and she'll glance at them, but she's not interested yet. She's still only doing a few minutes of tummy-time, but we'll keep at it. She's slowly getting stronger in her arms and legs.

But the best part is...she's smiling! We're pretty sure they're not just gas, too.

More miscellaneous pictures...

2009-04-13T12:32:00.009-05:00

This is me sleeping on the changing table.

This is me getting my very first bottle!

This is me deciding if I like the carseat or not. (Not)

This is me sleeping in the Boppy pillow.

This is me with a onesie on my head.

This is my focused face.

This is my suspicous face.

Yaaaaawn...

Easter 2009

2009-04-13T12:16:00.013-05:00

Sorry it’s been so long! We have had a great Easter weekend.

Earlier last week, D-husband’s mom gave me a call. She said that they would like to come up and spend Easter with us, but that we should keep it a secret from D-husband until they arrived. I kept the secret from D-husband all week, and decided to make some plans for us to go out by ourselves while we left the grandparents home to babysit. I wanted us to go to the Old Town Warren, a really cool movie theater downtown where you eat dinner while you watch your movie. Unfortunately I had to buy the tickets in person, and this meant I had to take the car one evening without being able to tell D-husband where I was going! D-husband hates secrets and surprises, so this was pretty frustrating for him.

Then D-husband suggested that we dye Easter eggs on Saturday night. At that point I had to tell him that we would be busy, and we better do the eggs Saturday afternoon instead. Now that he knew we were going somewhere, he asked if H-bear would be coming with us, or if I was planning on leaving her with someone. I didn’t answer, so he got pretty nervous and wanted to know who was going to be taking care of her. I didn’t give him any answers, just told him to trust me, but I think that just made him more upset. He really doesn’t like this sort of thing, and I felt bad but I really didn’t have a choice.

The Legers were going to be arriving in Wichita on Saturday evening, and the plan was for us to make a run the grocery store and just run into them there. But then at the last minute D-husband said he would just go to the store by himself, because we just needed a few things, and there was no reason for all of us to go. He was already in a bad mood, so I just let him go. Unfortunately the Legers’ drive took longer than they thought, so D-husband was already home before they got into town.

We had just finished putting away the groceries when they knocked on the door. I told D-husband it was probably the babysitter. He went to the door and looked through the peephole, but they had covered it up. He ran around to look through the bedroom window, and I heard him yell “No way!”

He was really happy (and surprised!) and forgave me for keeping secrets. We went out to the theater (we saw “I Love You Man”) and had a great time.

The next morning we went to church, and as soon as we got home we started cooking. We had a ham, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, and rice dressing, and it all turned out great. H-bear even obliged us by sleeping through dinner sitting in her Boppy pillow.

Here are a few pictures…

I don't know how the Desitin got in this one...

Pocking eggs! (sp?)

Snow

2009-03-29T16:37:00.013-05:00

We got a few inches of the white stuff here in Wichita yesterday. It started sometime Friday night and came down for a several hours non-stop. We sat inside Saturday morning and just watched. It was extremely gusty...that snow was coming down sideways the entire time! It stopped around 1:00 Saturday afternoon, the sun came out, and the snow immediately started melting, but we went out to have some fun. We made 2 snowmen, one miniature and one bigger (who also turned out to be an ASU fan), and we bundled H-bear up and took her out just long enough to take a picture.

Not so little

2009-03-24T15:26:00.009-05:00

Our "little girl" is not so little anymore! H-bear had her 2 week check-up last Friday, and she weighed 8 lbs, 15 oz! When she was born, they told us that initally she will lose about 10% of her body weight, and should get back up to her birth weight within 2 weeks. Well, it looks like she regained the weight, and then some! She also grew a little over an inch in length. Her eyes, ears, hip movement, and reflexes all looked fine, so she is a very healthy baby!

She is changing so much, right before our eyes! She doesn’t seem to have much control of her head, but she is definitely strengthening her neck muscles. If you hold her up against your shoulder, she will push away from you, holding up her head! She bobbles a little, so we are sure to keep a hand behind her head just in case. She is nowhere near holding her head up from a stomach-lying position though. We’ve tried some tummy time, and she really doesn’t like it. We’ll get there someday.

She is also getting a little more control of her hands. She grips our fingers stronger than she did early on, and she has just recently started grabbing my shirt and sometimes my hair (ouch).

Sleeping better these days, too. She’s been sleeping pretty consistently from about 9pm to midnight, and 1am to 4am. After that she is wide awake and usually won’t sleep again until about 9 or 10am, and takes several naps throughout the day.

Her umbilical cord stump fell out a few days ago, too. I saved it. I don’t know what I’ll do with it, but I can’t just throw it away! Anyway, this means she was able to get her first real bath. Until now we could only give her sponge baths with just water. Well, since she is so fond of peeing and pooping during baths, we didn’t want to sit her in a tub of water just yet. We have this mesh table thing that sits in the tub, so we laid her on that, used a soapy wash cloth, and poured water over her to rinse. I didn’t take any pictures, because we were having too much fun, but I will take some next time. She seemed to enjoy it! It was nice to finally wash her with some soap…I feel like she’s really clean now.

All the grandparents are gone! My mom was here for the first week after she was born, and D-husband’s parents were here the week after that. They left last Saturday, so it has been just the three of us the past few days! Actually, since D-husband is back at work full-time, it has been just me and H-bear yesterday and today! We’re doing just fine. I’ve really had to slow down…if I get one load of laundry done and get dinner started, it’s been a pretty productive day! We have fun though. She is such a happy baby.

We got her a swing a few days ago! She seems to like it for about 10 or 15 minutes, and then she's had enough of it. Here's a picture:

One night at a time...

2009-03-17T15:27:00.003-05:00

The first night home from the hospital was great. H-bear slept like a champ; we had to wake her up to feed her, otherwise she would have slept straight through the night. We were pretty excited about it, and wondered who all these people are who talk about being kept up all night with their fussy newborns?

The next night set us straight. She cried and cried and just wouldn’t settle down. We passed her back and forth between us and took turns trying to get some sleep.

The days have been fun. It’s amazing to see her learn to stretch out her arms and legs. She makes new faces and noises everyday, too. She can open her eyes real wide, and recently we’ve noticed that she seems transfixed by bright lights, and especially the TV. She can’t focus on anything more than about a foot away, but she can definitely see the bright flashing light on the screen.

We’ve learned that she only likes to poop in clean diapers (right after bring changed). She also likes to poop during baths.

I’ve successfully clipped her fingernails twice so far, which has prevented any more self-inflicted scratches.

On Monday, the 9th, we took her to her first doctor’s appointment with Dr. Arensdorf. She did great, and we go back this Friday for her 2-week check-up. This was her first time out of the apartment! Her first “real” outing was on the 13th (8 days old) when my mom and I took her to the grocery store. She slept in her sling that goes around my shoulders, and probably hardly noticed where she was. She's also been to church, as well.

We have had a few good night like that first one, and several bad ones where none of us get a wink. Most nights are somewhere in the middle, where she’ll be fussy on and off, with a good 4-hour nap somewhere in the middle. Her cries aren’t too loud, fortunately for our neighbors, but she just fidgets and flails and refuses to settle down enough to fall asleep. We’ve tried swaddling but she frees herself very easily. We just do our best, and nap during the day. She’s only 12 days old, so it’s a bit too much to expect much consistency yet.

D-husband has gone back to work full-time now, so I get H-bear all to myself during the nights. It’s not easy, but I’m still loving it. It’s frustrating when I know her belly is full and her diaper is empty, and she still won’t sleep, but I stay up with her as long as she needs me to. We just take it one night at a time, enjoy the good nights when she sleeps, and try to remember that the day is coming when she will sleep all the way through the night, every night.

New pictures!

2009-03-17T13:55:00.000-05:00

In the hospital

2009-03-15T20:57:00.002-05:00

The first night in the hospital we didn’t get much sleep. We were both tired, but too preoccupied with figuring out how to hold, feed, and change her. The nurses didn’t tell us how to do anything without us asking first, and they were very helpful whenever we had questions. The next day (March 6th) flew by, with doctors and nurses coming to check on us, as well as visits from a lactation consultant and the hospital photographer. H-bear slept a lot, which we knew would not last, but it was nice for the time being.

The second night she kept us awake quite a bit. I stayed up with her for most of it, because I wasn’t sure what time we might be going home the next day, and I didn’t want D-husband to be too tired to drive. I was enjoying every minute with her, anyways.

We had H-bear’s hearing tested, which she passed, and also took her to the nursery to have some blood taken for routine newborn tests. They had to prick her heel again to take the blood, and this time she really didn’t enjoy it at all. Pretty traumatic!

I had blood drawn twice a day while we were there. During labor, some routine blood work on me showed that my platelet levels were dropping. The tests during the first day showed no improvement, and they told me that if the levels still didn’t come up the next day, they would need to keep me an extra night. Luckily, they did increase and we were able to come home the evening of March 7th.

Getting into the car seat was another traumatic experience. While we tried to get the straps over her arms, she got a big scratch on her face from one of her sharp little fingernails. Once the car started moving though, she fell fast asleep. This has been the case every time we put her in the car!

Stories about life at home coming next…

Birth Story (warning- don't start unless you have a lot of time to kill...)

2009-03-12T17:32:00.003-05:00

The day is pretty much a blur, and I’m not sure of the times that everything happened but I’m pretty sure of the order.

We went to the hospital at 5:30 on the morning of the 5th to be induced, because I had not gone into labor on my own. By 7:30 I was in a gown with the IV hooked up to my arm, and they started giving me Pitocin, a medication that would be given continuously to cause contractions for me. I was also hooked up to a external fetal monitor just like the one used in the NST, to monitor the contractions and the baby’s heart rate.

It took awhile for it to kick in, so I tried to relax as much as possible in the meantime. Finally I started feeling slight tightening in my lower belly that would slowly get higher and higher, up to the top, and then fade. Sorry, I can’t remember how long they lasted or how far apart they were. D-husband and I had fun watching them come and go on the monitor. They slowly got stronger and stronger, and I was nervous but so excited to finally be feeling something!

My OB, Dr. Arensdorf, stopped by to check on me a few times, but the doctor spending the most time with me was Dr. Fast, a resident. He and all the nurses were absolutely awesome. I couldn’t have asked for better people taking care of me.

An internal exam showed that I was 4 cm dilated, and another hour or two (really can’t remember), there was no change. Dr. Fast suggested that we break my water to help keep things moving. It was painless, but the contractions intensified a little after that. My blood pressure started getting pretty high, which concerned the doctor but he thought it might just be because of the pain.

One thing that they found interesting was that my contractions were not coming spaced at regular intervals. They were almost two at a time- two very close together and then a long gap before the next two. They had gotten pretty unbearable, bad enough that I couldn’t talk through them.

At this point I had not gotten out of bed at all, because I was tired from being up so early, and felt like I should save my energy. When another internal exam showed I was at 6 cm, I figured it was time for me to get up and help things move along. The contractions were getting incredibly uncomfortable, and I was able to breathe through them with D-husband there with me, but I knew moving around even a little could help too. I couldn’t leave the room with the monitor, so I sat on a birthing ball and rested my upper body on the bed.

The change in position on its own felt good, but the contractions were still pretty intense. Before they had started my labor the anesthesiologist had come in to tell me what pain management options were available, and all the risks, just in case I ended up using them. I remembered that she had told me about IV medication that would still allow me to feel the contractions, but would take the edge off. After I had been using the ball for awhile, I felt like I was reaching the limit of my ability to work through the contractions, so I asked for that medication, called Nubain.

The Nubain made the room spin a little a first, and though it did help the contractions were still putting me at my wit’s end. I stuck it out awhile longer, had another internal check, and I was between 8 and 9 cm! This was great news, but unfortunately the baby was still floating pretty high in my belly. Dr. Fast told me that being nearly completely dilated was great, but that there was no way of knowing how long it would take for the baby to move down into position, and the contractions were going to stay the same, if not get even more intense. At this point I think they had stopped the Pitocin, and I was contracting all on my own.

I can’t remember what time this was, probably mid- to late-afternoon, so I was feeling pretty beat. I was relaxing completely between contractions in order to save energy, but I was still getting physically, and mentally, exhausted. During one of those breaks I took a minute to clear my head, take stock of what the doctor had just told me, ask myself honestly how much more of this I could do, and decided it was time for an epidural. My main concern was having zero energy when it was finally time to push.

The anesthesiologist came in, and I sat on the edge of the bed for her to put the catheter into my back. It’s a gigantic needle, which tends to freak people out, but they numb your back first so you don't feel a thing. The hardest part was sitting perfectly still while she did it. I only had one contraction while she was working, but it took every bit of focus not to move.

After this I had to stay in bed of course, as I lost all feeling below the catheter site. The relief was incredible, I just took deep breaths and enjoyed it. I think I even dozed for a few minutes.

Later Dr. Fast came back to check me again. I was completely dilated and he told me it was time to push! Unfortunately the baby had not descended much at all, but pushing would help that along. By this point the epidural had started to wear off slightly, and I could just feel the peak of every contraction, which were still coming two at a time.

Dr. Fast directed me through the pushes, and it was very weird not being able to feel them for the most part. However, the epidural continued to lose effect, and soon I could feel the full force of each contraction, but only on the left side of my body! This is not unusual, from what I understand. I’m actually really glad I got that feeling back, because I knew when to push, and it gave me greater focus. Not having feeling on my right side kept me from getting completely wiped out, so the fact that the epidural was partially ineffective turned out to be a great thing for me.

Once I started feeling those contractions, pushing felt really good! When I focused and put every ounce of energy into it, I couldn’t feel the pain anymore. I focused on getting a good breath before each push, keeping my arms, legs, and face relaxed (to avoid wasting energy), and directing all my energy downward through my belly. I started out doing 3 pushes per contraction, with the nurses and Daniel counting to 10 for me through each one. I told them I thought I could do 4 per contraction, and we tried it, but I couldn’t do it so we went back to 3.

At some point during the pushing, the baby’s heart rate started to drop during each contraction, and although it would always come back up after the contraction was over, it was still a concern. They decided I needed an internal fetal monitor to keep a closer eye on the baby’s well-being. I think this was when I met Dr. Voth, the hospital OB. Dr. Arensdorf is primarily a family practice doctor, so she can do normal, routine deliveries, but when something doesn’t look right, the staff OB at the hospital steps in.

The internal monitor got hooked up, and then after several more pushes a few things happened. I had what you would call a “monster” contraction, or pair of contractions in my case, and the baby’s heart rate got low, and stayed low for a little too long before coming back up. Dr. Voth explained to me that the baby’s head was still behind my pubic bone. To be able to come out, the head would need to slide underneath it, with one big push from me. With every push I was coming close, but every time the baby’s head would slip back behind the bone.

He asked if I would like him to use forceps to help the head along. They are not used to pull the head, only to direct it properly. He was worried about the baby’s low heart rate, and also reminded me that I could exhaust myself trying to push past this bone, and that when I run out of energy the only remaining option in a c-section. At this point I had been pushing for about an hour and a half. I told him it was fine to use the forceps.

Because I had regained some feeling, they had to give me another epidural before they could use the forceps. He got them in place, told me to push with everything I had, and I felt the head slide under the pubic bone, just like he had said! It was incredible.

Within 2 or 3 pushes she was out! While D-husband cut the cord, they held her up for me to see her before taking her away (they needed to examine her right away because of her low heart rate, and because it turns out the cord had been wrapped around her body). It was just a brief glimpse, and I remember that she was covered in blood, smaller than I had imagined, and in general I was just surprised that she was real. That sounds crazy, but I just couldn’t believe that this was the baby that had been inside me for 9 months!

I’m not disappointed that I didn’t get to hold her right away. I was completely exhausted. All I remember from the first few minutes after the birth was trying to catch my breath and waiting to hear her cry, which didn’t take more than a minute, I think. I think I was probably too tired to hold her even if they had given her to me.

In the meantime, D-husband took some video and some photos of H-bear being cleaned up, weighed, and measured. They put ointment in her eyes, and pricked her heel to get blood for some test (she didn’t make a peep), and then brought her to me. I don’t think I was quite ready, because as they put her in my arms I started to feel sick. D-husband was standing right there, and the nurse practically threw H-bear into his arms so she could give me a tray to throw up into. It was a bizarre moment- D-husband was totally unprepared, and I felt horrible because by that point I had been looking forward to holding her.

The hospital policy is that as soon as you can pee, you can go to your recovery room, where you spend the next two days. That was going to be more difficult for me because having just had another epidural, I had no feeling in my legs, and therefore couldn’t walk to the bathroom. I spent several hours slapping on my legs (I’m not sure that made a difference), and gradually I was able to wiggle my toes, then roll my ankles, and so on. I also finally got to hold H-bear and got a chance to start feeding her. The nurse asked if I could lift my leg straight up off the bed without bending my knee, and as soon as I could do that, she and D-husband helped me walk to the bathroom. It took awhile (my bladder was pretty traumatized, as you can imagine), and long story short: we made it to our recovery room just before 2 in the morning.

In the recovery room we had a full-size bed, TV, chairs and table, and a bassinet so we could keep her in our room all the time. It was a great set-up, and in my next post I’ll tell you about our two days in the hospital!

To be continued...

Introducing...

2009-03-12T11:22:00.001-05:00

Our daughter, H-bear Leger, was born March 5th at 7:01pm. She weighed 7 lbs. 10 oz., and was 20 inches. Sorry for the delay...we have had our hands full the past week!

Of course, her name is not really H-bear. We're not actually sure where the nickname came from, in fact. Anyways, that will be her name on this site, in order to deter all you creepers out there who would love nothing more than to know the full name of our newborn daughter. Shame.

We are all healthy and very happy- more details to come, but for now I know what you really want...

Pictures!

NST and BPP

2009-03-02T15:22:00.001-06:00

This morning we went to the hospital for two tests, just to make sure everything is still okay in there.

The first was a non-stress test. It was basically two flat disks strapped to my belly, one to monitor contractions, and one to monitor the baby's heart rate. I'm not sure about this, but I think if the heart rate gets too low during a contraction, that indicates a problem. They let it run for about 20 minutes. D-husband and I watched the monitors the whole time, even though we really weren't sure what any of the numbers meant. It was pretty easy to see which monitor was which though, and at one point the contraction monitor really spiked! I didn't feel a thing, but when we felt my belly it was very firm. As it went down, my belly got softer. It was so weird! The heart rate went up just a little bit, actually, but of course, I'm not the doctor so I tried not to worry about any of it. Didn't have another contraction the rest of the time we were in there.

The next test was a biophysical profile. It's an ultrasound, and looks for a few specific things like amniotic fluid volume, fetal movement, and a few other things. It was nice to see her again, even though she's so big that it was tough to distinguish body parts. The tech didn't really tell us anything. She did give us a few pictures, so here they are, but like I said she's so big that they don't look like much.

We grabbed some lunch before D-husband went back to work, and shortly after I got home I got a call from Dr. Arensdorf, our OB. She had already received the test results, and said everything looks "perfect". Woo hoo!! At our last appointment we had talked about inducing labor this Friday if I hadn't had the baby by then, but she said that unfortunately she has a meeting on Friday, so if we need to induce she would like to do it Thursday morning rather than wait until Monday. I told her I was a little confused about how to interpret the test results...I would have thought that if everything looked fine, we should wait longer. She said that's not necessarily always the case, and in any case she doesn't like to let anyone go past 41 weeks. I decided it would be fine to do it Thursday (she's the doc, after all, and I trust her), so she went ahead and put us on the schedule for Thursday morning!

Still hoping we won't get that far, of course... :)

Light at the end of the tunnel!

2009-02-26T19:35:00.001-06:00

We went to see Dr. Arensdorf again this afternoon, and we have made a little more progress:

-3.5 cm dilation
-50% effacement

The due date is this Saturday! We talked about inducing sometime late next week...if we get there.

I had a funny realization this morning. We have been so anxious to have this little girl, but you know, when she gets here she'll be here for a loooong time! I guess I made a conscious decision to enjoy the rest of the time D-husband and I have together, just us, and that's a good feeling.

Impatient!

2009-02-25T14:45:00.001-06:00

Well, almost another week here and gone...and still no baby. I just feel more and more uncomfortable everyday: taking shoes on and off, getting in and out of the car, picking things up off the floor...you get the idea! My belly just seems to be in the way of anything I want to do.

Baby seems to want out as well! Sometimes I'll feel her head down low and her feet in my ribs, like she's having a nice big stretch. It's incredible!

I know all the signs of labor- all my doctors and all my books have made sure of that- and it's frustrating to be so close to my due date and not feel anything remotely resembling labor, even the things you're supposed to feel a week or more in advance. It's cool to know that I'm effaced/dilated, but I just can't wait to feel something except huge! I'm definitely getting that classic, irrational fear of being pregnant forever...

I think I'll go walking again today. It's been chilly out, so I go to the fitness center here at the apartment and use the treadmill. I've been doing about 1 to 1.5 miles (over about 30 min), 2 or 3 times a week for the last few weeks. That's about as much as I can handle these days! It feels good though, and hopefully it will help the baby drop a little.

We have another appointment tomorrow afternoon...we're keeping our fingers crossed for more "baby steps"!

Here's me, at 39 weeks!

Update

2009-02-20T12:14:00.001-06:00

At the doctor's appointment yesterday we found out I am now:

-A full 3 cm dilated
-40% effaced

Small steps, but progress none the less!

Another story...

2009-02-19T12:53:00.001-06:00

Just in case you haven't heard this story yet...

D-husband accepted a job with Cessna in Wichita, KS, back in September 2008, and set his starting date for January 12th. We finished our last semester at ASU while finding an apartment, getting all packed and ready to move, etc.

Then...on December 17th, Cessna called and retracted their job offer. I didn't know they could do that after we had officially accepted the job, but apparently they can! I guess it's just kind of like getting fired, before you even start! They told us they were retracting offers for all 8 of their new hires, obviously as a result of the recent economic downturn.

So we had a little freak-out moment, to say the least! D-husband called Navair, in North Carolina- they had also offered him a job over the summer, which he had turned down. They told him they might still have an opening for him, and would know for sure after New Years.

The next day, we get a call from Spirit Aerosystems in Wichita. As it turns out, Cessna gave all the names and resumes of the 8 retracted offers to other companies in the area (so they're not complete jerks, after all). Spirit said they might have an opening, and we would hear from them after New Years. We had already booked one-way tickets to Louisiana to see D-husband's parents for Christmas before moving up to Kansas, so we spent several weeks in Lake Charles waiting...and waiting...and waiting! Not to mention brainstorming crazy ideas of what we could do if nothing came through. Finally, during the first week of January, we got calls from Navair and Spirit...and BOTH offered D-husband a job! Talk about the emotional rollercoaster of a lifetime. We obviously decided to take the job in Wichita, and immediately began a crazy last-minute online apartment search. D-husband's job title is: Structural Design Engineer Level 1 (ooooh), and he started on January 30th.

Whew!!! What a story to tell our kid(s) someday.

I don't know if you've seen in the news- since last December Cessna and many other companies have laid off thousands of employees. It's a rough time for the whole industry, but Spirit seems to have a unique niche that has allowed them to keep bringing in business. We're thankful things have worked out for us so far, and we hope they continue this way.

Post #1: Hello!

2009-02-19T09:48:00.001-06:00

Thought this would be a great way to keep a record of our life in Kansas with the new job, new apartment, and new baby (pending)! Should have started this earlier...

To recap the pregnancy in a nutshell:

The first trimester was pretty rough, but most of it was over before school started last fall. My morning sickness was bad, and after I lost some weight my doctor prescribed an anti-nausea medication (Phenergan). Didn't work! It would knock me out cold for about 6 hours, but when I woke up I was still nauseous...and it was time for another dose! Next we tried Zofran, which worked like a charm and allowed me to finally catch up to the weight I was supposed to have gained by that point.

We had our first ultrasound, which determined our gestational age to be 7 weeks, and our due date was set for February 28th, 2009. We immediately looked at the calendar...2009 is not a leap year, WHEW! The baby just looked like a little blob. A cute blob, of course. :)

The things I'll remember most about the first trimester are:
-daily nausea (despite the medication)
-fatigue
-cravings! (Buffalo wings, mostly. Also- In n Out Burger and potato chips with ridges)
-crazy sense of smell (it's true!)

-that awful metallic taste

The start of school coincided with the beginning of my second trimester. Within a few weeks I felt comfortable stopping the Zofran. The nausea became limited to early mornings, and I only had an early class once a week, so it wasn't too bad. I kept some on hand for those mornings and the occasional bad days, too.

I was putting on weight pretty slowly...about 1 pound per month, which is what's recommended for the first trimester. My clothes still fit and I was told that it was impossible to tell I was pregnant if you didn't know already. I was happy that my weight gain was on track, but I was still anxious for it to become physically obvious, so I could finally "feel" pregnant.

What I was feeling mostly was...exhausted. I was in school full-time, with a part-time job, and I made a great effort to pace myself: small snacks all day, napping in the library between classes, getting to campus early to avoid running to class, and in general taking every opportunity to get off my feet. Despite all this, I was tired all day...from the time I woke up to the time I went to sleep I had no excess energy. Just enough to get me through the day, and no more. I knew it was totally normal and expected: at that point the baby is growing at an incredible rate, and the placenta is being formed, both of which take LOTS of energy. It was such a frustrating, debilitating feeling, and I really hated it. D-husband had to help me realize that I needed to just accept it, and know it was okay to ask for help.

In the middle of the second trimester, we got another ultrasound. I wasn't sure I wanted to find out the sex, but when the tech asked, I caved, and we found out we were having a girl! I don't regret finding out. It's kind of nice to know. She was actually turned with her little butt toward the front, so we could not get a good view of her head! Camera-shy, probably. :)

I don't know if you can tell, but the little caption says: "GIRL"

"FEET"

Of course, it's important to make sure everything is anatomically correct, so in two weeks we went back again, and everything was looked fine. In fact, we could see her moving around, even though I couldn't feel it! Bizarre. She was quite a little acrobat...she put both elbows up by her ears with her hands behind her head, and even got one of her feet up by her face! The 3D shots turned out great...

There's her little face!

Nice profile.

Elbows up by her head! This one's a little tough to see. Look for her nose right in the middle- she's looking slightly to the right.

My favorite! You can see the leg and foot pretty clearly on the right, and the forearm straight up and down in the middle, over her head. She's crazy!

Somewhere toward the end of the fifth month, a lot changed. I started getting some energy back (which was AMAZING), my belly started to show a little (also cool), and the heartburn really got going (not cool). I definitely slept sitting up a few nights (somehow this was not enough to come between me and my buffalo wing cravings, though). It was great to finally have a little belly! I was carrying high enough that I could still wear my usual pants, but I did go shopping for some looser-fitting shirts.

I also started feeling some movement! At first it just felt like a tiny muscle twitch, and they quickly got stronger and stronger. It wasn't long before D-husband could feel them.

I think it was right around the end of the second trimester that I finally had to go shopping for some maternity clothes. My pants were getting snug around the hips, and I was limited to my big t-shirts. The maternity clothes fit, but were a bit loose...it's a awkward time, being a little too big for your regular clothes and a little too small for maternity! I used a trick to keep wearing my old pants: I zipped them up but instead of buttoning the top, I put a rubber band around the button, through the loop, and around the button again. Worked great, and no one ever noticed!

At about 32 weeks I was tested for gestational diabetes. I drank a sugary orange drink, waited an hour, and then had blood drawn. My glucose levels were a little too high, so the next week I had to go back for a three-hour test, which is more accurate. This time they drew blood first, then I had the sugary drink, and an hour later they drew blood, and again after another hour, and another hour. This time all the levels were normal. Whew!

The beginning of the third trimester was pretty crazy. We moved out of our house on campus and said goodbye to ASU, our friends, and my family. We also said goodbye to D-husband's job offer with Cessna, but that's another story. In Louisiana we had few weeks to relax and watch my belly grow. Around this time I started walking differently, felt out of breath a little faster, and my appetite started picking up the pace. The baby's movement reached a new level, as well. The kicks and punches were very strong...enough to wake me up in the morning, and make me remarkably uncomfortable when she got the right spot, like my bladder or the bottom of my ribs.

My belly grew a LOT during this time. I definitely spent most of the pregnancy pretty small, but getting closer to the end I am feeling bigger and bigger everyday, following the recommended weight gain of 1 pound per week!

In order to stay up-to-date with my OB visits, I saw Dr. McAlpine for two appointments while we were in Lake Charles. At the first, he did an ultrasound to check the baby's size, anatomy, etc. Everything looked fine, she kicked a little while he did it, and as an added bonus her head was already down! This is great news because obviously a feet-first (breech) birth is not ideal, and at this point babies are almost too big to turn over completely. So it was great to know she was already there, and not likely to move. Two weeks later we saw him again, this time knowing that we were headed for Kansas within a few days. He checked my belly, recommended some books, and made sure I knew the signs of pre-term labor...just in case. I told him that so far I had not felt any Braxton-Hicks contractions, and he told me that I was definitely having them, whether or not they were noticeable. He showed me that if I felt my belly periodically I would find that it was either rigid or soft...it was awesome!

On the drive up to Wichita we saw some crazy weather, but thankfully no pre-term labor. We worked on getting settled in, and I went to see my new OB, Dr. Arensdorf. At this point I was about 36 and 1/2 weeks pregnant...full-term. She checked my cervix and found that I was 30% effaced and 2 to 3 cm dilated! I guess those contractions can work even if I can't feel them! She also did a test for Group B strep, for which it turns out I am positive. About half of all women have it, and it really doesn't mean much for me, except that it can make the babies really sick after they're born. This is prevented by giving me IV antibiotics during the birth.

We took some classes at the hospital: a Baby Care Seminar where we learned all about, well, how to take care of babies, and I attended a nursing class that was very valuable and solved a lot of nursing mysteries for me. We are also taking a 4-week Childbirth Prep class. We have just had the third class, and so far we have focused on what is happening in each stage of labor and what we need to be prepared for at the hospital. We've also learned some pain-relieving positions and stretches.

At our next appointment with Dr. Arensdorf, we found that there was no change in my cervix, and the baby has not dropped at all yet. Kind of disappointing, but really pretty normal. She told me I could stay at 2-3 cm for quite awhile. Of course, I could go into labor tomorrow, so you never know.

Well, this turned out to be quite a nutshell, but that is everything up to this point! I am READY to have this baby. She feels huge, and when she kicks hard I feel like she's trying to get out. I wake up about every 2 hours at night to go to the bathroom, and my appetite is absolutely enormous. I'm hungry ALL the time. I'm starting to notice my feet are a little swollen toward the end of the day, and for about the last week my wedding ring has been leaving a little groove in my finger.

Also, up until about a month ago I didn't have a single stretch mark on my belly. Then I finally noticed a tiny dark mark below my belly button. I prayed there wouldn't be any more, but soon enough...bam, overnight, there they were. Now my lower belly looks like a roadmap. Oh well! A badge of motherhood!

So, the carseat is in the car, the pre-admission form has been mailed to the hospital, the bag is (almost) packed, and the baby's room is (almost) ready...let's do this!!!