This little angel nugget has been with us for a whole month! It's safe to say she's wormed her way into everyone's hearts. And with that face, how could she not? A lot of the things I can say about her apply to babies in general, but here are a few fun facts anyway.
She eats four ounces of formula every three to four hours.
She goes to sleep around 10:00 or 10:30 every night, and depending on when she ate, she'll wake up anytime between 3:00 and 4:00 to eat. Then she'll wake up between 6:30 and 7:30. Not too shabby!
For the first time I'm sleeping in the same room as our baby, so I've gotten to hear all the sounds she makes in her sleep. And man, she's vocal! She grunts in her sleep for awhile after she's been put down. And when she's getting close to waking up, she kind of whines/whimpers for a long time before she'll start to cry. Most of the time, I end up getting her before she ever actually cries. She's such a sweetheart!
She occasionally likes to nap with her head thrown all the way back. It doesn't look comfortable to me, but oh well! It looks cute.
She always startles when I turn on the bathroom faucet and when someone rummages in the ice drawer.
When she's upset (assuming she doesn't need food or a diaper change), it calms her down to just walk around with her. She also loves lying on Mommy and Daddy's bed when she's sad.
As her cry builds in intensity, she starts to snort and/or squeak. I actually call her "squeaky" a lot. She also scratches her face if she's left to cry for too long. Sad!
I think she looks adorable in this photo, like she's desperately holding on to her pacifier and her bow so no one can take them.
One time, as Daniel and I were watching TV on the couch and Clara was lying on my chest facing away from me, she turned her head back towards me and started cooing (for lack of a better word). So I put my face against hers and she started nuzzling me and cooing more! It was the cutest. My heart almost burst.
She has started to clearly enjoy her play mat. The other day I caught her trying to eat the jingling hippo that hangs down low enough to touch her face. It made me laugh, but of course she stopped before I could take a picture.
She has already given for-real smiles. On September 19th, she did a big, genuine smile for me. But then she got hiccups and got sad.
She's had a few real baths now, and she's getting more okay with them. But her first bath definitely had some crying. That didn't happen with either Aubrey or Carter, so I felt really bad. By her fourth bath, there was no crying. Hooray!
She gets hiccups ALL the time. It stinks. They annoy her, and they take forever to go away. She also does a weird gulping sound a lot, as if she's trying to keep stuff down. On the plus side, she rarely spits up.
She gets upset when I put her in the car seat, but she calms down once it starts moving (even if it's just me carrying it). And, of course, she always falls asleep once we drive.
She's definitely more needy than Aubrey and Carter were at this age. She needs to be held more. I love snuggling her, but I do wish I could get more done! Maybe someone is trying to remind me to enjoy this all-too-short stage in her life and my last opportunity to snuggle my own little baby. *sigh*
I introduced her to the as-of-yet unnamed llama that will be her favorite stuffed animal. Pretty cute!
This is my last birth story! 😀Because this is my last baby! 😀😮😕😞ðŸ˜
In case you couldn't tell, I'm a little conflicted about this being our last baby. On one hand, I never, EVER want to be pregnant again, and I never want to go through labor again. But on the other hand, the thought of no more babies makes me really sad. No more toddlers sounds great! But babies? I want them all!
Anyway, the real reason for this blog post--and this whole blog, actually--is the sweet, beautiful, wonderful Miss Clara.
Isn't she an angel? I've been calling her "angel baby" and "angel girl," and now Carter has started to as well. It's adorable.
Okay, so let's get this story going. I have to start by saying that my original due date was August 17th. Then, when I went in for my first ultrasound, they decided to change it to August 23rd because of how she was measuring. I didn't love that (especially because they then spent the next several months telling me she was big).
Anyway, this pregnancy was hard on me. By the end, I was super grumpy and having lots of weird pains and discomforts, like a random shooting pain down the front of my right leg. I was SO ready to be done. I kept thinking I might be starting to have contractions, but it was always a false alarm. For reference, this is how I looked at the end. Kind of scary.
So I was really happy when I woke up at 3:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 21st to use the bathroom and then started having what I knew were contractions (because they felt like cramps and kept coming every 20 or so minutes).
At 4:00, Daniel popped his head off his pillow to look at the clock on our dresser, at which point I said, "By the way, I'm in labor. Just thought you should know." He responded, "Well I can't go back to sleep now!" So he got on the school district website and requested a substitute for the day. He also made a PowerPoint slide for Parent/Teacher night (which happened to be that very night) that said, "My wife is having a baby!" and included an ultrasound photo of her.
As he did this and sent emails to his colleagues, I just lay there waiting for the contractions to get closer together. Daniel timed them for me, and at around 6:30ish, they were coming 10 minutes apart. Then they started getting stronger. We made bets as to when she would be born. I said 11:45, and Daniel said noon.
I decided to shower (the warm water helps ease the pain of the contractions) and wash my hair (which was definitely due for washing at the time), and while I was in the shower the contractions started getting closer and closer. Things definitely progressed quickly after that. I struggled to get dressed, brush my teeth, pull my hair back into braids, and gather my last few hospital bag items. I kept flinging myself on the bed when a contraction hit, and Daniel started telling me with some urgency that we needed to leave. Just before we did, Aubrey gave Daniel his daily Morse Code message. (It says, "I love the baby." Swoon!)
We got in the car and started driving, and about five or ten minutes into our drive, I yelled at Daniel to pull over so I could throw up. I proceeded to do that repeatedly, expelling nothing but gross, yellow bile and then dry heaving for a couple of minutes. That was fun.
We hit the morning traffic on the freeway, and Daniel asked if I could wait through the slowdown. I told him to take the shoulder, haha. Only one person honked at us! I was struck by how much more painful the contractions were than during either of my other drives to the hospital.
When we got to the hospital entrance, the valet parking guy said he'd get a wheelchair for me. But then there wasn't one (Helpful!), so Daniel walked me to the second floor (via the elevator, obviously). Then they got me a wheelchair, at which point Daniel left to park the car.
They quickly got me into a delivery room, stripped me down, and put a hospital gown on me. Then they put in an IV (took two tries... ugh) and checked my progress. The nurse said, "All right, you're at about a nine." I was shocked. So I said, "Seriously?" and she responded, "Well, maybe eight." Then it all made sense why my contractions had felt so painful! I was ecstatic to be that far along and started wondering if I'd even get an epidural.
But the anesthesiologist was very quick, and he was in there right away. I didn't mind that one bit, haha. He took a long time to get the catheter thing in; my scoliosis was a concern, especially after my experience with Aubrey. But he did finally finish, and my contractions went from strong to light to non-existent. Weirdly, however, I could still feel and move my legs like normal. I wasn't concerned about that though, because the contractions were gone. I figured that was enough. I'd later discover it wasn't.
But for awhile I was fine, so I started texting my family and a couple of friends around 9:50. Then the nurse put in a catheter, and it was all downhill from there. I wasn't numb past my stomach, so I felt the whole thing. And when she was done, it just burned. I couldn't even enjoy the lack of contractions because the burning was so bad. I thought it was the catheter, but it soon became clear that it was pressure from the baby's head. It was AWFUL.
It felt like a needed to both pee and poo (sorry, everyone) the most I've ever had to, but I wasn't able to do either one. And unlike with contractions, there was no rest from it. That's when I started feeling the contractions, too. I seriously wanted to die. I was clutching the arm rail of the bed and crying and saying I couldn't do it. It was not a proud moment for me. I suck at pain.
The wonderful anesthesiologist was ever-near (bless him), so he came in and asked what hurt. I explained, and he rubbed a wet wipe over my thigh and asked if I could feel it. I said yes. He asked what it felt like, and I said, "Cold and wet." Then he did the same thing on my stomach and asked the same questions. I gave the same answers. He looked concerned and then told me to roll onto my side. He adjusted the epidural by pulling the catheter an inch or so back, and I soon(ish) started to feel less and less burning/pressure and contractions.
Around 11:20 I texted my family to tell them about the epidural mishap. By then I was fully numb from the waist down, and all was well with the world. Unfortunately, they had checked me when I was in all the pain, and they said my cervix wasn't cooperating. (The nurse called it "stubborn.") They said something about a "lip," which I now know means one side of the cervix wouldn't fully dilate. It stayed at a nine forever.
So that was discouraging, but I was just happy to not be in pain anymore. At this point, they decided to break my water in hopes that it would get me to dilate the rest of the way. It didn't really work though, so then they started me on pitocin. And at some point thereafter, I threw up again. But since the epidural was working, I had no pain and was actually able to fall asleep and get some rest! It was wonderful.
After awhile, they came in and woke me up from my nap to check me. And I was finally ready to push! The nurse helped me get my legs up into the stirrups (they were so numb that I couldn't do it myself) while we waited for the doctor to come in. I'm pretty sure I threw up again then. I just know I barfed a whole lot during this labor.
Anyway, with my legs in the stirrups, I coughed (I had had a big cough for weeks, and it was still there throughout the whole delivery). When I did, the nurse responded urgently, "Wait! Don't move." Then she told Daniel to run and get the doctor, while she pushed against Clara's head--which had started to come out. So yeah, I coughed her head out.
The doctor hurried in and got all ready while the nurse continued to hold Clara's head in. When everyone was ready, the doctor told me to pull legs up to my chest. When I did, Clara just kind of slid out. I think I may have started to push, but I don't remember. If I did, it was for just a second.
When she came out, they immediately put her on my chest, and I noticed she had poop on her arm. She had pooped on her way out. Ew. But she barely cried! And she was beautiful. They let me hold her for a good while before taking her to be weighed and such.
Then I noticed a sense of urgency in the doctor. She wasn't rushing or anything, but she got very focused and serious. She told me the placenta had detached from the umbilical cord. And then she went in to get it.
Y'all, she had her arm up me all the way to her elbow. I felt like a birthing cow. I could see everything reflected in the light on the ceiling above me. It was disturbing. She kept reaching in there and pulling chunks out, because apparently the placenta had just fallen apart. She also used a long metal thing to scrape around inside. At this point, I was very grateful for the epidural. I had told the nurse we could turn it off when I was about to push, but she said I should keep it. So glad I did.
After lots of scraping, the doctor brought in an ultrasound machine and another doctor to make sure they didn't see any more placenta pieces left inside. A little more scraping happened, and then she sewed up my first-degree tear. After everything, it looked like a crime scene. I had lost a lot of blood. She said it was the highest level of blood loss that can be considered normal/safe. So I just missed needing a transfusion. They also gave me antibiotics to prevent infection after all that scraping.
Did I mention I'm glad I live in this day and age?
After all was said and done, I got the crazy shakes. I had to not talk because I was afraid I'd bite my tongue. I also finally ordered lunch, and when I sat up to eat it, I threw up again. It was the most horrific, dark, disgusting bile that came up. Way too much of it, too. But after drinking some water, I was able to eat. And it was the best sandwich, carrots, and cookie ever. (It really wasn't, because I ordered the same thing the next day and was disappointed. But when you've just given birth, I guess everything tastes amazing.)
Anyway, after lunch we hung out and enjoyed little Miss Clara, and we noticed she was super vocal. She just made the cutest sounds all the time! So I got this video of her.
Daniel read a book and I dozed for awhile, and then my mom brought Aubrey and Carter to meet their new little sister. We debated not having them come to the hospital since we were leaving the next day, but I felt like we had to let them come and see her. And I'm glad we did. They were so cute!
Anyway, that is the story of how our last little baby joined our family. Heaven help her. 😆
