hospital pics

Our "professional snapshots" from the hospital are up on the photographer's website. There are so many little moments that I want to remember that I'm going to have trouble choosing! The only ones that make me cringe a little are the ones that show my 24 hour post baby tummy! I guess that's just part of it though. Today they told me they could make it into a photo storybookI'll call to get more information on that tomorrow- sounds nice! We had a more formal sitting at their studio today. Marion was asleep through most of it, but since they were more formal pics, all I really need is one great one. We'll see, they should be up in about a week.

Click here to see the gallery.

The password is "marion".

adjusting...

Baby Marion has brought so much joy to our home... along with a little jealousy and confusion for Big Sister Grace. There are a few things Grace doesn't understand...

Why does Marion sleep in your room? Marion needs to sleep in her room!

Why is Marion still awake? Marion needs to go to bed too.

What is Marion doing with your boobie?

It really sunk in for me yesterday morning. We were still exhausted from getting up with Marion over night. Grace came in our room to wake us up but didn't climb into bed as usual. She then left and went into the kitchen. After a few minutes, Jeremy went into the kitchen to find Grace sitting at the kitchen table feeling down. She told him that she thought we didn't love her anymore because we hadn't gotten out of bed. I was absolutely crushed... talk about breaking a mommy's heart!
Since then I've been trying my hardest to give Grace lots of individual attention and to do things just for her.
Yesterday we had a "fancy lunch." Jeremy and I wore our Snow White and Prince Charming costumes from Halloweens past. We had lots of Grace's favorite foods and drank real tea from her new tea set. I've also been leaving Marion at home with Jeremy and picking Grace up from school.
Surely this will pass and soon Grace won't even remember life as an only child. ;)

the first 5 days

Our little Marion is five days old! Marion was in the newborn stupor the first 24 hours... all she really did was sleep. Of course, I had to have something to worry about... she had a couple of low blood sugars. We were told that it could be due to stress from the quick delivery or an infection. Marion was given 2 bottles of sugar water and after a while she maintained a normal level on her own. I wasn't thrilled that she had to have the bottles. Grace never nursed and I always attributed it to nipple confusion from the bottle. That led to 4 months of pumping... I don't want to go down that road again!
Marion wasn't a natural nurser, but with the help of a wonderful lactation nurse we did get her latched on and sucking... at least a few times.
As Marion awoke from the sleepy just-born stage, she realized she was hungry! She latched on okay during the day on Friday, but by Friday night we were really having trouble. Unfortunately, the wonderful lactation nurse was off Saturday through Monday and the other nurses just couldn't work the magic she had. She did call and check on me though and sent me a "nipple shield" to use as a last resort if I still couldn't get her feeding over the weekend.
Marion got hungrier and hungrier, crankier and crankier. We had long nights where she slept for only 45 minutes at a time, with long periods of holding in between. Poor baby was hungry. Sunday afternoon I broke down and tried the shield. It was pretty much an instant success. She began nursing well and transformed into a happier, easier baby. Since then her eating has picked up more and more, and she's sleeping for longer stretches. At night, she's been sleeping for periods of 2 to 4 hours at a time. She wakes up to eat but usually goes back to sleep easily. A few rough days but its gotten much easier!

while mom was away...

the Big Sister and Nana played!

Grace playing in the fountain outside the hospital.

They even went to a "Fancy Nancy" party! Grace was instructed to put together her fanciest ensemble...

Grace was so sad to see her Nana go... she had a mini-vacation while we were away! Thanks Nana!

a birth story

So with each baby you go a little faster...

I checked into my hospital room at about 6:00 a.m. on Thursday. I started at 3cm, a relief since at my last check 8 days before I was still at 1cm. The nurses started my IV and the pitocin at around 7:00a.m.. My doctor came in and explained that he had a hysterectomy to perform that morning and he would be out of commission for about 2 hours. He decided to wait until he was out of his surgery to break my water.

When he returned, I had progressed to 5cm. My doctor gave me the epidural and broke my water. It was 10:48 a.m. That's when it really got wild... I started having really strong contractions back to back... ouch!! I began to feel pressure and let the nurse know. She checked me again and I was dilated to 9+... ready to start pushing. The epidural had made me feel a good bit better but it surely wasn't the total relief I had with Grace... definitely a good bit of pain! The nurse started taking about trying to do a "block" to tone down the pain, but the doctor thought "the best thing to do at this point is to just get it over with!"

I pushed though 2 short contractions that were back to back and then rested. The next contraction pushed Marion out without assistance from me... yes, they were that strong!

Marion was born at 11:19a.m., just 31 minutes after he broke my water at 5cm. It was all over so fast and then I was holding my beautiful new baby girl. My nurse told me that I would have been in big trouble had my water broken at home... scary thought! I'm so thankful for a fast and complication free delivery.

it's official!

Our 2nd Pouty Princess has arrived! Marion Blythe was born at 11:19 a.m. on January 22, 2009. She was 6 pounds and 13 ounces at birth and 20 inches long. We are still at the hospital and plan on going home tomorrow after lunch. Her birth went very well and was very quick! I'll post more as I have time! :)

marion's birthday

It's finally here! We arrived at the hospital at 5:45 this morning. I was dilated to 3cm on arrival, so I feel like I'm "ready to go." So far, my IV is in and the pitocin is running... the needles are the worst part of the whole experience for me, so I've already got some of the worst over!
Thanks to some mommy friends from dance and gym, I've got the biggest room in the house! I've been asked by several people here how I managed to snag the nicest room :)

a little bit longer...

I'm 37 weeks and 2 days, and today I had my final appointment with my doctor. First I had an ultrasound. Baby Marion looks good, although she is slightly smaller than we expected. Based on the ultrasound measurements, she is estimated to be 6 pounds, 6 ounces right now. I am dilated to a "loose 1" and about 50% effaced. We decided to move the date for the induction 4 days back to the 22nd. I will be 38 and a half weeks along then. I won't be going in for any more appointments; my next place to be is at the hospital at 5:30a.m. on the 22nd.

We had initially planned on the 18th because Jeremy was scheduled to leave for Singapore on the 20th. We got some great news last night though. Jeremy is going to start working in Brazil for a while in order to get DP certified (dynamic positioning). He started the last phase of his Brazillian work visa today and it should take at least 10 days to be complete... so we're expecting him to be home for at least a couple weeks now! Not only will he be home for a while once Marion is born, but we aren't as rushed to get her out. My doctor says he is thrilled for the extra 4 days and feels much more comfortable about her lung development since she'll be past the 38 week mark.

So here I am, huge and pregnant until a week from tomorrow... unless she decides to come sooner on her own! :)

zoo with friends

After another late night Saturday, we promised to take the kids to the zoo on Sunday. We got off to a late start when the boy kiddo did some "work" on the dvd player in Heather's van. We tried for a while to fix it, but ultimately were unsuccessful.

We hadn't totally anticipated how terribly freezing the weather had turned over night. We tried to talk the kids out of the zoo the whole way there... once again, unsuccessful.

We did have fun once we got there...

Grace, Madeline and Nathan on the train

We were there right before feeding time and the animals were all on their best behavior. The jaguar was acting like a big housecat begging for food- pawing at the glass, giving high fives, and licking the kids' faces through the glass. Grace thought it was hysterical! We have visited many times and he has never acted like that at all before.

grace's 3rd birthday party

The weekend is over and I'm relieved to say that although I am still exhausted, it all went very well and we had a great time. Heather, Madeline, Nathan and Camille arrived from Auburn on Friday and it was a nonstop party through Sunday night.

Friday night something in my already delirious mind thought it would be a good idea to let Grace and Madeline have a slumber party in Grace's bed. Fun for them, yes... for me and Heather, no. After many threats and dirty looks, we resorted to Heather sitting on the floor in the room until they finally went to sleep at 10:30. Incredibly, the kids were ready to go again early Saturday morning.

The weather for Saturday's party had been iffy all week and on Friday the chance of rain jumped from 40% to 80%. The fear of rain had consumed me all week to the point where I really went nuts. Now 9 months pregnant, I'm already up all night visiting the potty... there's just no room left in my bladder! I couldn't resist the urge to check the weather on my Crackberry each time I woke up... yeah, I told you, cra-zy! I ran around town on Friday and planned some indoor activities for the kids to do in case of bad weather. Heather, Jeremy and I stayed up until 3:00a.m... Heather and I made princess cookies for the kids to decorate and Jeremy was in charge of making sheets of craft foam into crowns for them to decorate.

Saturday moring the rain started early, but thankfully stopped for most of Grace's party. We had a great time! Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate and made Grace's day so special!

Admiring her cake before the party... for Grace, the cake IS the party. She remembers parties by what kind of cake they had and when she asks what kind of party someone is having, what she means is... "what's the cake going to look like?"

Grace in the princess jumpy

Eating a cookie she decorated

Chandler and Grace in the crowns they decorated

Madeline swinging at the pinata


Grace and her friends waiting for cake

doctors, play equipment, party planning and redecorating...

These are some of my many excuses for not blogging over the last week.

doctors... Today I saw two. First, Dr.Drake. I am still at one centimeter and Marion is high. I am measuring right on for where I should be. I have an appointment next Wednesday with an ultrasound and really hope to have made some progress by then so that I'll be "ready" to be induced on the 18th as planned. Next, I visited the dentist. I swear, the angle on those chairs is not for those who are hugely preggo. I could barely breathe... but no cavities, so at least it's out of the way for a while.

play equipment... our backyard now looks like this:

so now we're up to a playhouse, a trampoline and a swingset. tacky? yes. fun? YES!

After keeping Grace out of the backyard for a month to hide the playhouse from her, and the recent addition of the trampoline, we're out there all the time... yes, even despite the massive rainfall we've had lately...

notice the fierce watchdog in the house!

party planning... Saturday is Grace's 3rd birthday party. I've planned an outdoor party and have been obsessively checking the weather. I'm just not sure how I'll entertain the kiddos if it's raining. The good news is, it's looking fairly good at this point. The weather channel is calling for a 40% chance of showers and accuweather says mostly sunny and breezy... chances could definitely be worse! I spent last night couped up in my sewing room working on Grace's dress for her party. I wanted to applique one princess, she wanted them ALL. I am compromising by doing 3 of them across the bottom. I will post pictures once I'm done... you know I'm proud (think 1 hour per princess applique)!


redecorating... So last week I tagged along with a friend who was doing some house shopping. I LOVE to look at houses (but no, we're not moving anytime soon!). A couple of the houses were really well done and made me feel like my house could use some freshening up. So now my house looks like this...

ahhh! it's a BIG mess!

the dining room is done but is now the catch all for all else :/

Jeremy has been working on repainting. Yes, we painted it all a year ago, but it needed it again! I'm looking forward to getting the house back in order soon! At least before my weekend company arrives on Friday!

here's Jeremy at about 1:00a.m., still hard at work!

so why was I still awake at 1:00am to take all of these dark, midnight shots of the house.... I don't know, but I'm so tired now!