Tuesday, September 17, 2013

William Keeping Busy

William is a man on the go, so we try to keep him as busy as possible while trying to keep up with a newborn too. He calls Grace "baby" and knows what her "baby" things are... the paci, the bouncer, the swing, and so on. All those "baby" things need to be tested too. I turn around and there he is giving all these old goodies a whirl... even the pacifier!



 

 
But we do get out of the house and entertain the little guy. Here are a few more William appropriate activities that do not include "baby" things!

Splash pad

Ice cream!

Nothing brings more happiness than the truck
Love that little guy! He's getting so big, so fast! He's almost 20 months old!

Grace's 2 Week Wellness Visit

Another great visit for Grace at Dr. Middleton's office! They hope the baby reaches their birth weight by this appointment, but she exceeded the goal by 1 pound! The 2 weeks stats:

Ooo I weigh nearly 10 pounds already??

Weight: 9 lb. 12 oz. / 94%
Height: 21.25" / 94%


 
No shots at this appointment. Lucky lady! We were in and out very quickly. Next appointment is at 1 month with Dr. Middleton.
 
 
 
Grace is so alert at 2 weeks. She was staring at the bunnies on her mobile when I took this picture. She's following voices and already moving her head left to right when we practice tummy time. Strong lady!
 

Family tummy time!
 
 
Also, here is a little side by side comparison of her and William at the same time. William looks nicely tan in this picture because he was slightly jaundiced at birth. The "tan" disappears beginning at the feet then moving up to his head. So the coloring isn't that fair of a comparison at this point. So cute!!

William - Grace

Grace's 1st Dr. Visit and other firsts

Grace had her first wellness visit with Dr. Middleton on Tuesday, September 3. She checked out great once again. She lost some weight over her hospital stay, but was back at 8 pounds 7 ounces by this first visit. Dr. Middleton was very happy with that and said we could let her sleep as long as she wants at night. She started sleeping 4-5 hour stretches on day 3, which was amazing! Funny how 4-5 hours of sleep seems like a treat! Quick visit and we made our appointment to head back at 2 weeks for the next wellness visit.

Off to her first doctor appointment

Other firsts were - first car ride with all four of us, first Labor Day party plus birthday celebration for Grandma Doreen, Uncle Steve and Grace's birth day, first bath, first brunch and dinner out!

All aboard!

Labor Day with all the cousins


Family of 4
 
First bath
She wasn't too happy about the bath, but it was just a sponge bath. We needed to wait for her cord stump to fall off. A more submerged warm bath sounds much more appealing - I agree with her. Sure do love a freshly cleaned baby though!

First brunch out to Cask & Larder

First dinner out to Armando's

Grace's Birth Day!

Baby Grace is now 2 weeks old and posting till now has been hard to do! When we have a free moment it is spent playing with William or maybe taking a nap ;) I try to type a little in my iPhone during feedings and so I will do my best from here on out to keep posts more timely! Here is my typing from delivery day...
 
It was Friday, August 30 around 6:30p in the evening. I felt uncomfortable standing up and so I told Matt I was going upstairs to lay down - and watch reality TV. Duck Dynasty, Real Housewives of Miami and a few waves of cramps. I really wasn't sold I was feeling anything "real" because the contractions I felt in the hospital with William were more all stomach consuming. These were low and sporadic and not that painful. Matt thought we should go to the hospital and I had no desire to go and be told they were fake contractions. At 8p I told Matt I was going to try to sleep through it. If I couldn't sleep through it then we could go. Suddenly the waves started to hit harder and much closer together and so probably 5 minutes later I told Matt, ok, let's go but first I need to do my makeup. Thankfully I showered and did my hair that afternoon otherwise there would have been no time! Matt had dropped William off at his parents at around 7:30p because we thought worse case scenario if something happens in the middle of the night at least he will be comfortable in bed and we won't have to relocate him. Good thing! By this time I could barely finish my makeup. It hurt pretty good.
 
39 weeks and here we are at Winter Park Memorial!

AHH! Haha!
 
We arrived at the hospital around 9p and I couldn't even stand at the front desk at this point. The contractions hit me like a ton of bricks! So much for waiting and contractions coming closer together in a more timely manner. It was nothing then everything! Matt had to do the talking. I went into an antepartum room and sure enough I was 5 cm, effaced, and my water was ready to break. I was 2 cm and 50% effaced just a few days earlier. The story gets better.
 
I ask who is on call from my practice and of all the possible doctors it's the doctor that "delivered" William. Long story short, she barely made it in time for Williams delivery and she was warned four times by phone. My usual doctor had given me her cell phone number and told me if I was unhappy with the doctor on call to text her, and so Matt texted her and she arrived 10 minutes later to save the day! Next hurdle was the epidural.
 
At this point I'm reeeally feeling the contractions and feeling panicked. Will I even have time to get an epidural assuming my platelets are above 100 and before this baby is born?? I was calculating in my head how long it might take me to make my argument for an epidural while dealing with contractions if my platelets were below 100.... And hallelujah! The platelets were 114!!! A miracle. The first time since very early in my pregnancy. Rodney the nurse anesthetist came in immediately, placed the epidural and I felt relief very quickly. Much quicker than I did with William.
 
 
So at 9:30p I was 5 cm and two hours later at 11:30p I was 10cm. Dr Moore had me give a trial push but decided she hadn't descended as much as she'd like so no reason to waste energy. We decided to raise my back a little and wait 30 minutes for Grace to descend more so. 12p arrived, 3 pushes and Grace was born at 12:26a on Saturday, August 31. She was 8 lb 12 oz! Shocking to all of us. Even my doctor had guessed she would be around the same size as William who was 7 lb 6 oz. Grace was also longer than William at 21" (William was 20.5" long). She hollered and looked perfect! We got to hold her immediately and we just rested in the delivery room until our postpartum room was ready. We couldn't have had a better scenario and were so thankful to Dr. Moore for coming in to make the experience much more pleasant!
 

8 lbs 12 oz of sweetness! Perfect little Grace!

Holding Grace after she had been cleaned up by the nurses

Mama and daughter

Alert little Grace

Dr. Moore delivered Grace
Our stay at Winter Park Memorial was easy and comfortable. Grace checked out perfectly and so we had no worries with her. I was doing very well too. We started our check out on Sunday, September 1 even though we could technically stay another day. We were ready to get home to William and be in our own comfortable bed!
 


William meets Grace for the first time!

Snug as a bug!

Checking out and heading home!
William met Grace briefly in the hospital and wasn't too interested. He seemed a little shy actually. Then he wanted to run the hallways, play with the phone and press the buttons on the bed. As expected! He's a boy on the go, go, go! When we got home he was a little upset by Matt holding Grace in her car seat, but he calmed down and since then he's had his moments - but for the most part he's totally fine with her. He isn't hovering over her at all, which I really appreciate. I hear a lot of moms worry about their toddler smothering the baby and haven't to be constantly worried. So for the time being I am quite happy with him keeping his "distance" and just calling her "baby" from afar. He has no problem with me feeding her and we go into the playroom for his to play during that time. So far, so great!
 
Uh oh some water works, but he got more comfortable :)

An attempt at a kiss - but we will take heads touching! So sweet, William!