My little baby isn't so little! She had a check up today at the doctor. She's 21 days old, we were last in at 6 days old. She gained 25oz in 15 days! She's grown 2 1/4" inches since birth! She's now 80th percentile for weight, 95th for length, and 85th for head circumference. This is quite the change from her brother, who (except for his birth weight) has always been below the 50th percentile for weight and up until the last 6 months or so has been 40th percentile for height. My little girl just loves to eat, so I suppose that makes sense, but it's still a shock to me, who is used to having a smaller baby.

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I started having contractions around 5:30pm Monday. I only felt them in my lower back and lower abdomen and they were completely bearable. They felt just like the braxton hicks contractions I had been having for 5+ weeks, only with some lower back tightening. I knew that could mean back labor, so I kept in mind that it could be the real thing, but mostly ignored them.

I started timing contractions around 9:30pm. After an hour, I could see that they were mostly about a minute long but varied in frequency--anywhere from 3-7 minutes apart, bouncing around. During this time, I finished packing what I needed in the hospital bag and made some cookies for the nurses.

I actually called L&D, not to see if I should come in, but if they thought it might be early labor. I figured they'd know! The nurse said that it probably was. I asked her if I should get my son to his grandparents. She said it couldn't hurt, and worst case, I'd sleep all night, wake up and realize it wasn't really labor, and get my son in the morning. So my husband took our son to his parents and I decided to try to sleep. I think this was around 11pm.

Only I couldn't sleep. Which is funny, because I was normally tired all the time. I've heard that women get a burst of energy right before labor. So I had another clue that it might be it. Because of this energy, I wasn't able to get to sleep, even though I could still ignore the contractions.

During the night, they started picking up slightly in intensity, but not really in frequency. Around 1am, I decided that they were strong enough that it was probably the real deal. I wanted to wait a bit, because they were still bearable. Around 1:30 I had one that seemed to meet the "can't walk or talk through it" limit that the doctor told me would signal needing to go in. So I told my husband it was time to go.

Around 2am we arrived at the hospital and I was 6-7cm. I was told that if I wanted an epidural, I had to ask then, because it takes a while to get the IV for fluids placed and get the anesthesiologist there. Since things were completely bearable, despite the fact that I was having back labor, I decided I would go natural.

Around 4am, I was checked and was 8-9cm. Within half an hour, I was exhausted. I hadn't had any sleep that night, and was starting to fall asleep between contractions. I decided to have them break my water so that I could get to pushing before I was too tired. The doctor came and broke my water. There was heavy meconium staining in the water. So there went my plan to catch my baby. With meconium in the water, they want to keep the baby as quiet as possible so that they can suction and check for meconium in the throat before the baby cries and pulls it into her lungs. So the new plan was that she would be placed on my tummy, have her cord clamped right away, brought to the warmer where NICU nurses would suction and check her.

 

My sweet baby girl at home

She was brought to the NICU and tests were run. She had low hemoglobin levels and needed a blood transfusion. As of right now, we don't know why her hemoglobin levels were so low. She had to get 48 hours of antibiotics because of the meconium. Wednesday night she was able to nurse for the first time and has been nursing like a champ. Thursday around noon, she got to come home.

Recovery has been great. Some parts might be better from pushing for only 7 minutes compared to the 2.5 I did with my son. Some might be because of the lack of epidural--at least the immediate recovery. Because of this, I'm not sure if I would get an epidural again or if I would try without again--despite telling my husband that I never wanted to go without one again. Afterall, the 7 minutes of agony were shorter than the bad recovery time that can be blamed on the epidural.

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Just an update that I had my baby girl earlier this week. She had a rough start and had to be in the NICU for two days. But we're home now and baby and I are both doing great!

I'll post more details later, when I'm doing doing a midnight feeding.

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I just realized that it's been forever since I've updated here.

I'm still alive. I'm still pregnant. I'm 39 weeks tomorrow. The end of this pregnancy is much rougher on me than the end of pregnancy with my son. My hips ache in the morning from all the weight on them during the night. My baby is poking something into my back in such a way that I have constant upper back pain. And I've been having contractions for almost three weeks now.

I'm exhausted. The idea that I might have up to three more weeks of this makes me cry. The fact that I still won't be able to get restful sleep once she's born makes me cry. Everything makes me cry. And the contractions make me feel like I'm hungry for some reason. So I'm eating way too much and gaining about 2 lbs a week.

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Elmo Love

My son loves Elmo (or "MoMo", as he calls him). I don't think it's from watching Sesame Street, because we don't do that too often. I think it's because of that stuffed doll he's holding in the picture on the left.

I decided that because of his love for Elmo, that I should make him some Elmo clothes.

So yesterday I went to the fabric store and got some denim and some Elmo fabric. Yesterday and today, I made some Elmo pants. I did it as jeans with a side stripe partially because I thought pants made entirely out of Sesame Street fabric would be too busy, partially because the denim was cheaper than the Elmo fabric (due to a Memorial Day 60% off coupon that was good on denim but not on juvenile prints).

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I took my son to an indoor play area this weekend. They had a mini "city" set up, with stuff like a pretend grocery store and lots of Little Tykes cars--the kind that the kid powers with their feet. When we first got there, I led my son to one of the cars, and another boy ran up, and pulled the car away, getting in it himself. I told my son that it was okay, that we could get in one of the other cars, and led him to a different car. (The parent of the little boy did scold him for stealing the car from my son.)

Later on, my son was opening the door to one of the cars to get in and the same boy ran up and jumped into the car. What does my son do? He told the little car thief, "Thank you." As the little boy runs away with the car, my son bent over, pointed, and laughed, as if it were the funniest thing to see the little boy going off with the car that he was about to play with.

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My son has been really good about staying in bed until my husband or I get him. But last night, he must have decided he wanted more mom & dad time. My husband and I were watching a movie when my husband paused it to go check on our son, as he thought he heard something through the monitor. He was heading upstairs and found my son halfway down the stairs. So our son slept in his crib last night. I don't think he liked waking up in the middle of the night to find himself in his crib, because he cried a lot last night.

He went almost two weeks before he pulled this, not too bad.

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We got our son a big boy bed last night. He watched us assemble it and as soon as it was together, he tried to climb in--before the mattress was even in. I got the mattress in and he climbed on and laid down. It was his bedtime, so I got him into his jammies. Normally we snuggle and rock for a little bit before he goes to bed, but tonight he jumped right into his new toddler bed. I think he was thrilled to see a bed like Mom and Dad have that was just his size.

He was a good boy and stayed in his bed all night. Although he did prove himself to still be worthy of the nick name "Wiggle Worm". We were woken up several times during the night with loud thumps as he squirmed around the head of his bed, banging himself into the headboard.

I can't believe my little boy is getting so big!

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Every weekday, my son gets oatmeal for breakfast. Every weekday, he sticks his hands into his oatmeal. Every weekday, he then whines that his hands are covered with oatmeal so that I'll give him a washcloth to wipe them off. How come he hasn't figured out that if you stick your hands in your oatmeal, you will get oatmeal all over your hands?

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Storkcraft Rochester

Storkcraft issued a recall of all of their cribs sold between May 2000 through January 2009. The metal support brackets used to support the crib mattress and mattress board can crack and break. When one or more support brackets break, the mattress can collapse and create a dangerous gap between the mattress and crib rails, in which a child can become entrapped and suffocate. There have been 10 incidents of this, with two injuries, and thankfully, no deaths.

CPSC urges parents and caregivers to immediately stop using the recalled cribs and find an alternative, safe sleeping environment for their baby. Consumers should contact Stork Craft to receive a free replacement kit, with new mattress support brackets.

Recall info from CPSC and Storkcraft.

And wouldn't you know it? The crib we use is a Storkcraft crib. Fun. So where can I have my toddler sleep while I wait for replacement parts? He's not ready for a toddler bed--he's too active of a sleeper and would roll out of the bed. And that assumes he'd even be willing to stay in the bed. I have a boy who would most likely get out of bed, go to his toy closet, and get into trouble in there.

*sigh*

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