One Month

Our Precious Kristina is now 1 month old. She's been a source of joy and many sleepless nights. She is just beginning to learn to sleep through the night. We have had a few nights where she has "slept through the night". Meaning she has slept 6-8 hours straight. Twice I've been able to catch that same 6-8 hours with her. It's been fabulous. I don't mind waking up with her especially when I get to cuddle with her while we nurse and she goes right back to sleep. She's been a good little baby and we're starting to figure things out. I love the handful of smiles she has given me thus far in the last few days. (These were smiles, not air)

Here she is the day she was born on our way home from the Birthing Center.

Here she is March 1st, her one month Birthday, in the same outfit. She fits in it much better.

Kristina, we love having you in our family.

Precious

Kristina slept through the night for the first time. I whole 7 hours which I, for the most part, was able to sleep as well.

Things are slowly, but surely, getting back to "normal". I've reached the point where I have to tell myself "it's alright". "It's alright" if the girls are up a little past their bedtime because I can't quite get them down on time. It's ok that the house is less than perfect or in fact is a disaster at times. It's ok to sit here and enjoy this fresh, new, perfect baby girl when there is a sinkful of dishes, because the dishes will always be there when I'm done and a newborn baby will not wait. By the time I'm done she'll be a whole hour older! (Sure, laugh if you must, but really they change THAT fast.) And when I finally put the baby down, it's ok to just sit down and enjoy my little girls. There will be time for dishes and housecleaning after they're all out of the house.

Pink, Pink, Pink and....

My Announcement

Wrapped Around Her Little Finger

This little baby girl must know she's got me wrapped around her little finger.

I can't believe she's 4 months old already!

A Coat?

Who would wear a coat when it is 100 degrees outside?
Miss Meredith, I love you.
Even if my kitchen looks like a wreck from you helping yourself.
Or the fact that you love to pull everything out of the drawers and get out ALL of the toys.
Or even if you help yourself to all of the band-aids and the living room is strewn with books.
All of this you do in seconds flat. It tries my patience, but I think it's worth it.

*To the person or peoples reading this. No, I will NOT post the pictures of my home right now.

After Meredith ditched the coat, Emily tucked it around Rebecca. She really loves the baby. All babies really. But especially "her" baby.

My sweet, beautiful baby.

Smiles for Mommy

I love little baby smiles. They totally brighten my day and can bring me out of the darkest moods.

Dressed Up

The first Sunday after I had Rebecca the girls walked in the door from church and said, "Where's the baby?" Yes, girls, I love you too. :) Our second Sunday we were at Grandma's house. So, I dressed Rebecca up so she could take pictures with her sisters when they got home. This is a little dress I wore as a baby. I love cute little baby bonnets.

Baby yawns, sneezes and hiccups are so cute.

The most cooperative picture I got from the 3 sisters.

My Sleeper

Rebecca has been a fairly good sleeper. We've had a couple of not so good nights since we've gotten home. One was after our trip home from my parents' house. She slept fairly well in the car. (Not good to sleep for such long periods of time in the day if you want them to sleep at night.) The second one was the after they'd done the 2nd newborn screening. She was so mad that she ate and slept soundly after that. I hadn't the heart to wake her. I paid for it with a child who decided that 4am was a good time to wake up.

Last night though, was great! She went to bed at 7 and woke up twice for a 2 min snack and went right back to sleep until 7am. My 10lb babies have been my best sleepers. This is what we did at 7:15 this morning when we were the only ones awake. :)

Sisters

I took sister pictures when Meredith was born and let's just say it was a LOT easier. Emily just loved Meredith and Emily was a cooperative child. She still is pretty cooperative. Meredith on the other hand has a mind of her own. So, trying to get all 3 girls to do what I wanted was fairly impossible.

At the hospital, after I dropped off Rebecca at the nursery, they were wheeling me to my room as the nurse is saying, "did they explain the rooming situation to you." I'm thinking, "please, oh please, be JOKING!" Oh no, my friend, they were not. So, after Nathan and my Mom made sure I was ok they left and I waited for my roommate to appear. The next bed was unmade but I really didn't see anything. But I waited and she never did show. I spent the next day wondering if they'd bring in a roommate for me, but no. Then, on my second night at 5am, they made the other bed and told me they expected someone to be in that room soon. I was glad that I would be gone fairly soon. The doctors had told me they would arrive to check us out of the hospital that morning. My doctor came first, I got my bags ready and went for Rebecca and I met her doctor in the nursery. When I was dressed and ready to go around 9 (Nathan still hadn't arrived yet from dropping off Emily at preschool) they brought in a roommate. So, in walks one of the nurses with a $100 gift card to the gift shop and apologized for the inconvenience. They were remodeling (the rooms will be fantastic once they are finished.) Anyhow, I picked up these sister shirts and the adorable headband. (Definitely on my craft list to make some matching ones for the girls.)

She's adorable! I love this little headband.

Emily and Meredith both love their little sister. Emily is the one to ask to hold the baby. Meredith will just come and look and give her hugs and kisses. So far, they seem to be doing well with the newest addition to the family.

Rebecca

Rebecca was born on June 30 at 6:15pm. She was 10lb 3oz. (It was quite the surprise.) Already she is a champion nurser and a very laid back, happy baby. She hardly cried when she was born. She has a LOT of hair. All of those cute little hair bands I have...I don't really need them. :)

Rebecca, just after she was born. My mom was the photographer with her camera, so I should have some better pictures after I get them from her. (As well as pics of Meredith's b-day.)

We got to the hospital at 6:30 only to find that the doctor on call that day was the doctor who really wanted me to have a c-section. (Yes, I was nervous.) We waited for the nurse midwife to finish with a birth at the birth center to get the pitocin. They started me on that at 10 or so. I made it without pain medication till I was dilated to an 8 and couldn't keep up with my breathing. The pit was cranked to 14. Once I got the epidural it was an hour till Rebecca was born. It was a fabulous epidural, best I've had. I had to have a stronger dose. I had both Nathan and my Mom there to help me. They were wonderful. I loved my CNM and the L&D nurse. The CNM that delivered the baby really fought hard for me to make sure I could have the birthing experience I wanted. I think she's just wonderful.

The Canceled Cancellation

So, I went for my appointment and the test went well. The nurse midwife thinks the baby may be a 9lb baby and definitely not as big as the ultrasound was showing. (Thank heavens someone agrees with me!) She sent me right to see the doctor for the consult. I didn't have time to go get Nathan and the consult was at the hospital. He gave the go ahead. I'm headed for an induction, hopefully, at 6:30am. The same time I fall back asleep since being up at 3. Yet another baby who has decided that would be a great time to be awake.

Update

I went to my appointment this morning with the nurse-midwife. The first thing she told me is that they do NOT want to give me a c-section and basically we're going to do everything we can to make sure that a c-section doesn't happen. So, I'll end up doing my non-stress test with them versus going to the doctor's office which I'm thrilled about. It means I won't make Nathan come. After being at the doctors office on Friday there is almost NO way they could get me in there without him. If all goes well with that test, which I have no reason to believe it would not, I will just have my consult on Wednesday with the doctor. Nathan, of course, has to go to that one. It even sounds like I have an appointment with the doctor who is most likely to let me have an induction. If something is wrong with the test there is a 30% chance that the results are wrong (Not very comforting.) and then I'd have to have a contraction stress test that has to be done at the Doctor's office. They'd give me an IV with a little bit of pitocin just to see how the baby reacts to the contractions. I'm not planning on having to do that. So basically, lots of good news this time around. Keep your fingers crossed for me for tomorrow.

In the meantime...the nurse midwives gave me a list of different herbal stuff to try to just go into labor naturally. Wouldn't that be great.