~Adventures in mommy land~ The baby’s first tub bath
Several days ago Alyssa finally lost her cord stump. I figured this was a good time to give her a real bath.
It started out ok. She had just eaten and was in her calm happy place. I put her down and went to get all the washing tools. You know, the washcloths, towel, soap, ect. I filled up the tub with warm water and undressed Alyssa. I put her very slowly into the water, so I could see how she would react to it, and wet this terry cloth fish that keeps her warm while in the water. She didn’t seem to mind it at all. Then came the washcloth with the soap on it. I moves the fish to wash her, thinking that she would still be happy. I was wrong. She screamed the second the fish left her body. I washed her as quickly as I could, and pulled her out of the tub, only for the towel to fall off the counter. I set her back into the tub to fetch the towel and finally dried her off. She was still crying. After about five minutes of her frantically sucking on my finger, she finally fell asleep.
Mastering the bath is going to be harder than I thought. Maybe if I’m lucky the next bath will be easier on me and more relaxing for Alyssa.
~Adventures in mommy land~ Cleaning the house
Before Alyssa was born cleaning the house was an hour long task on most days. It consisted of the usual vacuuming, doing dishes, cleaning the bathroom. You know. The normal stuff.
Cleaning is now an adventure in itself. Just yesterday I decided to take on this task. Alyssa was asleep so I did the dishes and made a pizza for Ben when he came home for lunch. After Ben left, Alyssa woke up. While I held her, I started to pull up the kitchen mat so I could mop the floor. That was when the maintance man showed up to put in a new AC, after two weeks of trying to cool the appartment down with the AC in our bedroom. When they left, I put Alyssas in the baby sling (an amazing invention. It’s a tube of fabric that folds in half so you can hold the baby hands free.) so I could mop finally. After mopping the floor, I went on to vacuum. By this time Alyssa was falling asleep in the sling, which I didn’t notice until I had finished vacuuming the living/dining room. I CAREFULLY took Alyssa out of the sling and put her in the pack-and play in the living room. I went and cleaned off the dining room table and went to do the same with the coffee table. Thats when Alyssa woke up again wanting to eat.
This is where my two hour “break” came in. I fed Alyssa, which usually takes about 40 minutes, and proceeded to rock her back to sleep. She wouldn’t have it. She was awake but content, so I tried to put her back down. Again, she wouldn’t have it. I ended up holding her until Ben came home from work.
I never did finish cleaning the rest of the appartment up. Something about cleaning the bathrooms while holding a baby in a sling just didn’t seem like a good idea. Maybe I’ll try to get those done when Alyssa goes back to sleep. (she just woke up after her extremely long half hour nap.)
Well, I’m off to play mommy again!
No more newborn!
Alyssa is offically out of newborn diapers!!!! She is still in newborn clothes, but some of the onesies are starting to get a little snug length wise. She’s also getting her chunky thighs and arms now too. No belly button yet, her cord stump is holding on for dear life! She is gaining more control of her neck now and LOVES to look around whenever she can!
My baby is getting so big already!
My man
Almost everyday this week, Ben would come home from work, give Alyssa and me a kiss and go play his guitar for a couple of hours. On Wednesday, I decided I was going to watch Because I Said So while he was playing. About 20 minutes into it, he came out got something to drink and watched the movie with me.
I was in awe, but he made my day by watching a chick flick with me. God I love him!!!!
2 weeks: Diaper blowouts and lots of love
Today Alyssa is 2 weeks old. She had her 2 week checkup today as well. As of today she is 7lbs 4oz, 22 and 1/4 inches long, and has a head that is almost 13 inches around. She is getting baby chunk now too. She is eating well and even gave me her first diaper blowout today. I honestly prefer when she covers herself in spitup. Her clothes are easier to change that way, but what can I do?
As for the love part, I’ve learned that I don’t really care that I smell a bit like sour milk, or that I look like I haven’t slept in weeks (which is kinda true). I never knew that a love like that could exist.
I’ve also got a funny story from today. I had fed Alyssa before the appointment, knowing we would be gone for an hour or so. Well, the appointment ran late and Alyssa got hungry. Her doctor, who breastfed her kids, told me to go ahead and feed her while she finished putting info into the computer. So I did. The doctor left to go to her next patient and left the little light on the door on so no one would come in while I finished feeding Alyssa. One of the nurses didn’t see the light on. She walked in and turned BRIGHT RED. She started apologizing over and over again until she walked out of the room. I was covered the entire time, so she didn’t even see anything. I couldn’t help but laugh after she left.
I had to post more pics. I’m a proud mama and had to show off the baby.
Happy she is healthy
I heard from my friend Jordanna last night that she had her little boy. Wyatt was born on May 2nd, three months early, by an Emergency C-section. Both mom and baby are doing fine, bot Wyatt will be in the NICU for quite a while. Please pray for Jordanna, Greg (the father), and Baby Wyatt.
Just hearing that news makes me want to cry. I look at Alyssa and I thank God that she is healthy. I can’t begin to imagine what it’s like to not get to hold your baby, or to not know for sure if they are going to make it.
Lord, Please protect little Wyatt. Keep him strong and thriving. Show Jordanna and Greg that You are there protecting their little baby. Let them know that You will take care of them, and provide for them. Keep their family strong as they go through this difficult time, and keep them safe and healthy. Amen
My first mommies day
As a kid mother’s day never really had any meaning. It was just a a day that we made cards for during art class. I never understood why moms had their own day. As I got older, I started to realize just how much my mom did for me.
She took care of me when I was sick, came running when I had a bad dream, was ready with a bandaid when I needed it, supported me when I tried something new, Praised me when I suceeded, encuraged me when I failed. She punished me if I did something wrong, instilled her good values in me, told me about her mistakes so I could learn from them, and let me learn from my own. Most of all, she loved me.
Because of that love, we have many great memories together. We played with playdough and legos when I was little, watched old movies and made my prom dress in high school, and recently planned my wedding. We even share the memmoy of Alyssa’s birth. She cut the cord.
Now I know that love. I can’t wait to have those memories with Alyssa. I can’t wait to make new memories with my mom. I’m looking forward to seeing the memories Alyssa makes with her grandma. I love you mom! I hope to be as great of a mommie as you are!
What I’ve learned over this past week
Over this past week I have realized that being a mom demands way more than I thought.
Everyone told me that I would be tired and sore for a few weeks. Same with how it would breastfeeding would be a bit difficult at first. Everyone left out the extent of how tired/sore and frusterated I would be. Breastfeeding has gotten easier over the last week (YEA!) and the frusteration from getting the hang of it is going away. As for being tired, I feel like I haven’t slept in weeks, which makes me feel more sore than I really am.
I also have gone from having a baby in me to having a baby attached to me. I swear that Alyssa NEVER wants to be put down. Half of the naps during the day are spent on my chest. A while back there was an ad on TV for some baby product where the mom would try to put the baby down only for the baby to start screaming. She’d pick the baby up and it would stop crying. Alyssa does that. I usually have to hold her for a good half hour after she falls asleep before I can put her down or else she screams. Need I saw that the couch and I have become really good friends this week.
This is a little off topic, but I thought it was funny. I actually had to go get more newborn size diapers for Alyssa. She is just so tiny that size one diapers are way too big on her. We’ll see how long they last.
Only a week late
I know my parents kept everyone posted on how I was while I was in labor, but I figured I’d tell the story myself and post some pics at the same time.
On April 28th I posted about how I had been getting contractions every morning only for them to stop by noon. Well, that did me in. I kept getting them every half hour until about 7pm before they stopped. I cryed. Literally. Ben and I went to bed at around 10pm only for my to get up 45 minutes later because my contractions had started up again. I timed them for an hour only for them to get stronger and closer. It was time. I woke Ben up, called Kaiser (thats a story in itself) and finished packing for the hospital. I called Mom and Dad on the way there to tell them what was up.
By this point it’s 1am on the 29th. I got hooked up to the machines to measure the contractions and Alyssa’s heartbeat. I was 2cm and 60% thinned. I prayed they wouldn’t send me home. The contractions were regular, so they said that they would watch me for a couple of hours to see if I progressed. We walked, A LOT.
At 3am I was hooked up again. Still regular contractions and still sounded good heartbeat wise. Thye nurse was able to “strech me” to 4cm and I was still about 60% thinned. I was told I could go home and wait it out for a couple of hours and come back or I could stay for a while longer to see if I made anymore progress again. I stayed. I didn’t want to go home only to have to turn around and head back.
At 6am I was finally admitted. I was 4m dialated (without streching) and 70% thinned. I thanked God! I called my Mom and Dad again (for the third time) and told them that today was the day. Ben and I walked around and called his parents to tell them the news.
Now we skip forward to 3pm. I was still 4cm dialated. I caould wait it out or have my water broken. I had my water broken. My contractions really picked up at that point. All I really remember from then was that the contractions were on top of eachother and I wanted drugs BAD! I was given something through my IV that lasted an hour. Twice. It made me sick to my stomach and really sleepy. At that point I gave in and got an epidural. I had hoped to avoid it, but I was in so much pain I didn’t care anymore. I became so much happier.
By 9pm, I had regained an idea of what time it was and still hadn’t really progressed. I was given Pitocin to hopefully speed things up a little. An hour later I was 8cm dialated. By 10:45, 24 hours after I had started labor, I had finally made some progress.
Midnight. I was fully dialated and was ready to push. For 2 hours. It flew by though. It wasn’t until I was told to stop pushing so they could get the doctor that time slowed down. Time crawled. When her head was finally out, I could have sworn that I had a good two or three minute break before her shoulders. I guess it was only a couple of seconds.
At 1:59am on April 30th, Alyssa was born. She weighed 6lbs 13oz, was 21 and a half inches long, and very healthy. The 27 hours of labor I went through was worth it in the end. Now I have a healthy little girl to show for it!!!!
The pics of her on the green background and the one of her sleeping on the teddy bear sheets were taken today.
