Milestone

Since I started EC with Gracie, I would try to spring out of bed and take her to the potty as soon as I heard her starting to wake up. But now we've moved her from our room into her own room. She's been doing so well in there too, she sleeps all night! It's wonderful. Since she's in her own room I don't hear her rustling around. Skylar wakes up before me and now just brings her to me and I feed her in bed, play with her, then change her diaper. I figured if I didn't take her immediately after pulling her out of bed then its probably to late anyway. This morning when I got around to the diaper change, I noticed her diaper was still dry! Yes, dry, after a 9 hour sleep, after eating and playing a little. I plopped her on her potty and WAMO, she did the biggest poop and pee she ever has. She was totally holding it until I took her potty. Bless her little heart, explains why she was so wiggly at the breast this morning. Sorry Gracie, mommy's still learning with you.

EC

(ps that's not a bruise on her bottom, it's a birth mark)

In an effort to minimize laundry, I decided to start holding Gracie on a little potty when I changed her diaper. She was regularly peeing or pooping as soon as the diaper came off, and her poops are major projectile! Then I remembered a friend of mine told me about elimination communication. Gracie was already successfully peeing in the potty at diaper changes, so I decided to take the next step and learn her "I have to go potty" cues. About 1 week into it and we're catching about 5 or 6 pees a day and usually 1 or 2 poops.
For those who have never heard of elimination communication (EC) it's simply learning a baby's cues and helping them eliminate in a more sanitary way than in a diaper. Humans and animals are born understanding that it's gross and uncomfortable to soil themselves. Humans teach their babies to eliminate in a diaper. Before a baby has learned that the diaper is her toilet, she often waits until the diaper is off to "go potty." It's not just because the cold hits the little fanny, it's because she knows her waste isn't going to be trapped against her skin. All babies have some kind of potty cue, the trick is to figure it out. So we're in that process. I have noticed that if Gracie suddenly goes from happy to fussy, it's because she's gotta go, also, when nursing if she starts to get aggravated, it's usually because she has to pee.
I never thought that "peeing" my baby would be so fun, I'm so proud of her every time.

I'm sure many people think that I'm crazy, and I understand that this probably doesn't work for many parents, but it works for me and Gracie.

Big girl

Congratulations Gracie, you turned 2 months old! And to celebrate your first 2 months of life, mom is going to take you to a cold doctor's office, take off your adorable clothes, make you lay on a cold metal scale with a thin piece of paper covering it, and then make you drink something weird and let a strange lady stick 3 sharp needles into your legs. Do you believe me now that I love you?


Stats: 9 lbs 1 oz - 24th percentile
19 inches - 50th percentile


P.S. Gracie, I want you to know that the shots were for your own good, to prevent you from getting horrible illness that will make you cry much longer than the few minutes you screamed about the sharp needles. You were so brave after the initial shock of pain. And, by the way, you liked the weird drink thing. Then later that night, you got baby tylenol, and you loved it so much you smiled after a long sad day.
You're our precious angel.

poop

Gracie didn't poop for over 12 hours. That's a first for her.
I pride myself in having a baby who has a healthy digestive system, so no poop all night and all morning got me a little worried. Then she regulated around hour 16 and I was very happy to see that sticky yellow mustard poop coat her clothe diaper, and then again and again every 2 hours afterward. Maybe I should give it 24 hours before I bother worrying the next time.

For daddy!

Skylar, Gracie misses you so she wanted to make a few videos for you, but then she got camera shy and forgot what she wanted to say.

But, she told me beforehand, and she just wants you to know she loves you.

Accomplishments!

Gracie slept all night! It was lovely.
Of course, on normal nights she's not bad, she sleeps 4-5 hours, I change her diaper, feed her, and she goes back to sleep. So I usually only wake up once anyway. But it was really nice to sleep the whole night.
Also, I didn't even have to put her to sleep, I just laid her in her bed after she ate and she quietly babbled herself to sleep. I love my little girl. She's so awesome.

Also, Gracie peed in the potty! haha
I bought a little potty for Gracie yesterday, because, why not? She pees or poops on me probably 50% of the time that I change her, so I decided that I'm going to start putting her on her potty every time I change her diaper so that she'll get used to it and the idea is that when she is ready to be potty trained she'll already be used to it.

I love my Gracie girl.

Newborn Pictures

They took some pictures of Gracie in the hospital. I just realized that I could save them to my computer.
Here they are!

Gracie snuggles

Again, Gracie is so completely our daughter. She loves to snuggle. And while I am not very surprised that she likes to cuddle, as both her parents love a good snuggle, I still melt every time that she whines just because she wants to be loved on.

One day I had put her in the baby swing, which she also seems to enjoy, and she started to get whiney. She had a clean diaper, a full belly, and seemed comfortable enough. I picked her up, she smelled me a bit and nestled into my arms, gave me a big smile and then just laid contentedly in my arms.

Words cannot express how much I love this little girl. She is truly an angel, and she reminds me of that every day. I am so grateful that I get to be her mom.

100 points goes to Gracie Faye de Jong for being the most absolutely, undeniably perfect baby.

Gracie smiles

Gracie has the best smile! I haven't been able to catch a picture of her yet, but I will as I think I've figured out that she almost always smiles right after she eats. She gives me a big grin, it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my 27 years of life.

Gracie is most definitely Skylar's and my daughter, as she is the only baby I have ever known or even heard of who actually laughs in her sleep. As I an often known for my laugh, Gracie must have learned it while in the womb. It's adorable. Again, I wish I had a video of it, but that one I can't predict as well.

Perfect baby, 10 more points given.

Gracie sleeps

At two and a half weeks, I think I probably can't complain much about our sleeping situation. Gracie wakes up probably only twice a night, and we're up for about 30 minutes to 1 hour each time she wakes. So all in all, I'm only missing two hours of sleep at night, then we make up for it together during the day (sometimes).

Of course, when I'm actually in the middle of feeding Gracie at 4:00 am, and she's fussing for 5 or 10 minutes, I feel like we've been up all night and I catch myself feeling bad for myself and a little frustrated that she won't just close her eyes and zip it (rude, I know). So I mostly have to write this to remind myself that Gracie is still the perfect baby, and being up for a little time to give her some food and love is really the least I can do to reward her.

Hurray for the perfect baby. 5 points given.

Gracie eats

When we were in the hospital and I only had colostrum, Gracie had a hard time eating. While in the belly, she developed a habit of sucking on her tongue, which prevented her from latching on correctly and persuading the food to come out of mommy. She also bites, and she bites hard.

We had to see the lactation specialist a coupe times and she taught us how we can train our baby to suck correctly by having her suck on our finger and pushing her tongue down when she sucked badly, and giving her a reward when she sucked correctly. Since most of the time she was not sucking right, she wasn't getting much food from me, so the lactation specialist set up an eating plan that I had to try to breastfeed for at least 15 minutes, then pump for 15 minutes, then feed her from a bottle whatever I pumped, plus formula, if I didn't pump enough. The whole ordeal actually took a lot longer than it sounds, and by the time I was done feeding her, it'd be time to start over again almost right when I was finished. Needless to say, I was a very frustrated new mommy.

The good news though is that my milk did start flowing in an abundant supply. Gracie still bites, but she's learned to suck and definitely gets her fill, we can tell from all of her lovely yellow poops that she's practically floating in.

I'm still trying to figure out how to teach her not to bite me, I'm really just hoping that she quits before she gets any teeth, otherwise we'll probably have to stop the nursing sooner than I would like to.

All in all though, Gracie is a great eater. Two more points toward the perfect baby.

Gracie poops

My little Gracie has very loose bowels, she also seems to have a great sense of humor. Almost never fails, at least once a day, she waits for her diaper to be off before she lets the poop loose and gets it all over her changing pad, and her mom or dad. We've also discovered that she likes to poop after she eats. Skylar held her over the toilet one day after her feeding, and just as we predicted, she pooped. So, she's already practically potty trained! (jk)

Ever since my milk came in, and Gracie started to eat well, I don't think I've ever changed a diaper that was just wet, they're always poopy.

I'm grateful that Gracie doesn't have problems with her bowel movements, I think it makes her a more content baby.

Go Gracie! One more point towards you being the perfect baby!!

Video

Success!!!

I have to start by saying, I loved loved loved my nurse. She was wonderful.
After the doctor's came in and briefed us on the possibility of the C-section, my nurse avoided checking on me until the last possible moment, reason being, if she checked me and I was still a 7, they would have had to admit me to the OR. Instead, she gave us some time and thank heavens for that! When she checked me again, I was at a 10!! and Gracie had finally dropped like she was supposed to! (THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR PRAYERS)
I complained a little about the pain, and she told me that I should start pushing. She and Skylar held my legs and coached me, and 40 minutes later, Gracie was born.
I am truly amazed how much easier it was than I expected. I thought I'd be pushing for hours with little progress, but we could see her head already after the first round of pushes, which was very encouraging.
I did not get an episiotomy, not by choice though, only because they didn't do it, and the pushing went so fast I don't think they even thought to check if I would need one. I did tear a bit and had to get stitches, I don't know the implications yet.
She came out beautiful and healthy. We love our little Gracie and are so excited she has joined our family.

These are in backwards order. I'm too tired to fix them.

continuation of labor

5 hours later, I'm still 7 centimeters and 90% effaced. Gracie isn't dropping, which is a problem. If she doesn't move like she's supposed to, they're going to have to cut her out of me.

Prayers are appreciated.

Labor, so far

Story time
I had my 40 week appointment at 3:15 on 8/25. Skylar called me right before I left to pick him up and go and told me to pack the car seat and our hospital bag. I was hesitant because I didn't want to just set myself up for disappointment, but did it anyway.
We met with the doctor, and talked about the risks of induction. However, he also said that since I was at 40 weeks, and hadn't felt any contractions yet it was likely that in a week they would still have to induce. The good news though was that I was at a 3, which was a good sign that the induction would be successful and not lead to a C-section.
Then he measured me, and I was measuring smaller than I had last week.He decided to do an ultrasound to see if the fluids were low or if Gracie had just dropped and was hiding in my pelvis.Results: Fluids were below normal, placenta had calcified considerable, and Gracie was measuring the same as she had almost 3 weeks ago at our last ultrasound. She wasn't growing. That was concern enough for them to admit me immediately instead of waiting a few days for the next open induction slot date.
He gave us some paper work and we just walked on up to labor and delivery.
It certainly was not the experience that I had imagined checking in would be like. No wheel chair, no labor pains, no feeling of urgency.After undressing and mooning my nurse several times, I got an IV and hooked up to a bunch of tubes and monitors. The nurse kept asking me, "how's that contraction feel" and my response was, "what contraction??" So apparently I have been having contractions, I just couldn't feel them/didn't know what I was looking for. SO, for all you who told me that I'd know it when it happens, I'm sorry to say you were most certainly wrong.

All wired up and ready to go

They started the Pitocin around 5:30, I think it took a couple hours before I started to feel anything.
By 2:00am the contractions were moderately high and only giving me about a 30 second-1minute break in between and I was still only around a 5.
It's true what they say about induction and Pitocin, it's a horrible painful drug.
Throughout my whole pregnancy I have been studying about natural labor and had really set my mind that I could do it naturally. I was also terrified of the epidural's side effects. But, I have also never felt so defeated in my life.
Nothing about this pregnancy has been natural. I couldn't get pregnant naturally, I always felt too good and didn't feel many of the natural pregnancy signs (which was wonderful), and I wasn't laboring naturally, so I surrendered to the trend.

Feeling miserable, the breaking point.

I got an epidural.


So, here I am now, 7:00, almost 14 hours in labor, feeling great and anxious to meet my daughter. I'm currently 7 centimeters dialated and about 90% thinned.
Gracie isn't dropping so I have to sit up straight now and can't sleep anymore. to be continued.

Stinkin Castor Oil

Yes, I have become so desperate that I tried the castor oil. I did a lot of research, thought it all through, and even prayed about it. I feel like really good about giving it a shot, and it was the last thing that I knew about that I could do to help this baby come that I haven't already tried.
10 oz of orange juice
2 oz of castor oil
tsp of vanilla
little bit of salt
and NOTHING!
Skylar and I stayed home from a party we had been invited to (80s party, sounded totally fun) as we fully expected me to be toilet bound, which would lead to contractions.
We were fooled.
I spent the rest of the evening feeling normal, just waiting and waiting to get sick.
[TMI Alert] I got the runs, but not the horrible-can't-wait-to-get-to-the-bathroom kind, just whenever I had to go number 1, some number 2s came with it.
I went to bed at a normal hour and slept great.
Worst night ever! Not because it was uncomfortable, gross, or sick, but because it was so disappointing. I was so optimistic that this would finally get something to happen.
Nothing is happening still. Never a single cramp or contraction.
Poo on that.

Finally, some progress!

I had my 39 week doctor visit yesterday. To be honest, I wasn't really looking forward to it because I was afraid it would just be the same nothing news: that I'm still not dialated and a baby is still far away from being in my arms instead of my belly. But to both my and my doctor's surprise, I went from barely 1/2 a centimeter to almost 3.5 centimeters! I was delighted.

I've been working hard, walking a lot, bouncing on the exercise ball and some other stuff...

Looks like it's paying off. Of course, I know many people can sit at 4 centimeters for weeks and have nothing happen, so I have to keep reminding myself I still might never go into labor. lol

When I told Skylar, he was happy, then reality hit him that he really might miss one of his first days of law school. I'm sorry honey. Of course, he's more excited for the baby than he's nervous about school, so ultimately he's fine with getting a call at any time of the day and dropping whatever he's doing to take us to the hospital.

Come on baby!! Get out of my belly!! We love you and want to kiss and hug you!

Frustration

We were really hoping that Gracie would arrive before Skylar started school, but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen as he starts on Monday. In fact, it's looking more and more like she's just going to be late.
I haven't progressed at all, my cervix is still closed, I've never had any cramping or braxton-hicks contractions. I'm unfortunately still very comfortable. How awful is that? I'm such a brat, I really do feel great, but I'm so pissed about it! I want to have labor pains already!
I've been trying to walk about an hour a day, maybe that's not enough, but it's stinkin hot outside. I sit on an exercise ball as often as I can instead of a chair or the couch, I don't know if that makes any difference.
I do feel like I've dropped a little bit, but I only get that impression because all of a sudden I got a ton of stretch marks (which do burn) when I've gone so long without them, and I'm not measuring any bigger than I was before the stretch marks, so I'm just guessing that there's more pressure on my lower belly than there was before.
So, I'm just being a whiny pregnant woman when I should really just be grateful that I've had a blissful pregnancy, I'm carrying a healthy baby and I have a wonderfully supportive husband.
I am grateful that we have the opportunity to be parents. I just want that to happen now :(
I'm ok with not having her come early, but I really would like this little child of ours to at least arrive no later than 1 day past her due date because I've got my mom coming, and I don't want my mom's visit to be a waste, I need her help with a newborn, not with the final week of pregnancy, I think I've got the pregnancy thing pretty down pat. Plus, mom doesn't want to see me, she wants to see her grandchild!
So if anyone has any sympathy for me (and I don't blame you if you don't, because I know that I really don't have it bad) please pray that I'll go into labor by or before August 25th.
Thanks.

Still a girl

We got an ultrasound today because Ohio doesn't trust the one we got in Utah. jk, I don't really know the reason, but when they said they wanted another ultrasound we didn't complain about it, we love seeing our baby.
Looks like everything is still going well, she's developing just as she should, and they double checked for us and Gracie is still a girl (thank goodness!)
After taking some measurements it was determined that she is approximately 5 lbs 15 oz, give or take 13 oz (lol).
We're getting a little trunky and ready to have a baby in our arms.