Adelyn's Furry Friends

For nine months Tim and I wondered how our first "babies" were going to deal with our new addition.  Were Izzie and Lily going to behave with Adelyn?  Was their barking going to disturb her?

Of course, all of our worrying seems to be for nothing.  At first the dogs were ambivalent to her, and slowly the have come to realize Adelyn is here to stay. They even like cuddling with her and Daddy.

Izzie has already started protecting her little sister while she sleeps.  And no, I wasn't too far away.

And when Addie is getting her diaper changed, Izzie and Lily are playing under the crib. 

I can't wait to see how our puppies do once Addie is moving!

Firsts

Adelyn is going to have lots of firsts over the next couple of years.  Over the last week, she has already had a couple.

In the hospital, Adelyn got her first binky. 

A little big, but a lifesaver the first day and night in the hospital.  We have now moved onto smaller binkies that our dog, Lily love to chew up.

In the hospital, Adelyn also had her first bath.  She did not like it one bit!

Who are you?  And what are you doing to me?

Leaving the hospital, we also had our first car ride as a family.

 

There are a lot more firsts, but this is what I will leave you with today.  Hope you enjoyed!

The wait is over...

Miss Adelyn Kay is here!

I have been thinking all week to figure out what I am going to write in this blog.  I have been trying to think how I could possibly explain the day that forever changed my life or how to summarize everything I have felt over the last seven days, and I have decided I can't, but I will try really hard.  I am also going to break it up, because honestly, there is just too much to say all in one post.

Thursday, February 18th, I had a doctor's appointment.  My doctor checked my cervix and gave me the great news that I was a good 2-3 centimeters dilated and 80% effaced.  Great news for a woman who was VERY ready to have her baby.  We then did our normal amnio ultrasound and NST to check everything out.  I guess I was having some pretty good contractions then (I couldn't feel them) but I left thinking I would hold out till the weekend.

Friday, I got up ready for my last day of work.  I was STARVING, so I made myself breakfast (very unusual for a work day). I only ate a few bites before I felt completely nauseous. I was taking the dogs to my mom's for their weekly visit and I told my mom that I was feeling really horrible and didn't know how long I would last at work.  I made it through one class period.  I started having contractions and they came on pretty fast.  I started timing them towards the end of the period and they were about 5-6 minutes apart.  So, I called the office and left for home.  No worries though, my kids did not have a clue.  I hid it well :-)

Tim met me at home and I labored here for a bit on my "birthing ball" (aka exercise ball) while Tim got some food. We ended up at the hospital around 11 am and I was 5 centimeters and 80% effaced.  For the next few hours, the pains increased and it got to the point where I had not really talked to anyone for a couple of hours and I couldn't even laugh when my nurse launched some of my puke at Tim.  It was then that we decided I needed some help with the pain.  I had made it to 7 centimeters and everyone thought that was a good point for an epidural.

The epidural made the world right again,  I started talking again and caught up on some "Friends" episodes. Eventually I needed some pitocin to keep the labor going and by 8 pm (after Mom, Tim & I played Jeopardy against each other) I was fully dilated and ready to have our little girl.

I pushed for 2 hours with some good progress, but when my doctor checked in on me, she informed that she thought Adelyn was "sunny side up" (face up), which makes for a more difficult delivery.  She gave me one more hour before we would have to have a c-section.  I guess all I needed was a deadline (I have always been a procrastinator) and before an hour was up I was ready to deliver.  In the end, Adelyn came so fast that the midwife on call delivered our little bundle joy.

A lot smaller than Mommy thought I was going to be!

I am in love.

And so is Daddy.

Scripps hospitals in San Diego currently have a VERY strict visitor policy (with security guards at the door and everything).  We were only allowed 1 visitor per day, TOTAL.  My mom was our visitor for the day, so everyone else had to wait downstairs in the main lobby to hear the news.  My nurse was really great though, and after the doctors and nurses were done with me and Adelyn, we were able to have Alison, Carol, Dennis, & Colleen sneak up for a visit. 

Grandma Patty & Auntie Alison

Auntie Colleen, Grandpa Dennis, & Grandma Carolyn

Overall the day was great.  Thinking back now, I can't even remember the pain or anything negative about my experience.  Our nurses at the hospital made our stay really great and we will be forever thankful for their hospitality and patience.

Are we ready yet??

This week has been full of getting ready for Adelyn and I must say, I think we accomplished a lot.  On Sunday I guilt-tripped my littlest sister, Mandy, to come down and help me finish Adelyn's room.  She also brought with her my mom and Alison, so between the four of us we were able to get everything accomplished except hanging two shelves.  We hung pictures, put up decals, and hung the diaper holder.  Of course it took a little while because wouldn't you know that 4 women would all have different opinions on where to put stuff? :-) It was great to finish the room with my family.  I know they are just as excited (and ready) as I am to meet my little girl.  Thanks to both of our families for all of their help putting Adelyn's room together!  It was definitely a family affair!

This is walking in the doorway

And on the left wall is the crib & dresser/changing table

Better view of the dresser, diaper holder (we are still waiting for our cloth diapers), &

clothes hamper

Lastly, the closet.

I know you are all probably tired of seeing pictures of the room but right now it is the only exciting baby "thing" we have. Hopefully we will soon have pictures of the baby!

On Thursday, Tim & I went for my weekly appointment.  My doctor was on call, so we had to go to Scripps La Jolla (where I will be delivering) to have my NST & ultrasound.  Due to H1N1, we hadn't been able to take a tour of the L & D department, so it was nice to have an appointment and figure out where we will be going soon.  The nurses were nice and I had a comfortable experience.  We did find out that I am low on amniotic fluid during the ultrasound, so I will be going back to the doctor's office on Tuesday for an extra NST & ultrasound to see how my fluid levels are doing.  

Here is a picture of the hospital

The last thing we really needed to do before Adelyn gets here is to install the car seat.  I thought this was going to be a long and difficult process, so about an hour and a half before Tim had to start getting ready for work yesterday, I asked him to help me put in the car seat.  Who knew that it isn't really that hard??  15 minutes later, we had the car seat installed!  Hopefully we did it right. I feel a little funny driving around with an empty car seat (I guess I could take the seat out and just leave the base), but soon enough I will have a little one riding around with me.

Last item on Tim's list, a new TV.  I will make you wait till next week to see if we get one or not and how in the world it will fit into our quaint little house. :-)  Have a great week!  And go Saints!