Welcoming Baby Abigail

Here I am finally with another update.  We've had some complications arise with the house, so we're saving pictures of it for another update.  Besides, we know you're more interested in finding about our new baby.  : )  First things first, pictures (pictures from Christmas and this Spring will be in the next update)...


April 5th, 2013, a few minutes after her birth



 

 



"Look at her little fingers!"



Singing "Truly Scrumptious" from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to Abi 

 

Hannah

- We celebrated Hannah's "5th" birthday on 2/23 (she's a Leap Day baby so no real b-day this year).  Both sets of grandparents were able to come up for the weekend, and she really enjoyed having them here.  We were also priveledged to have two sets of friends come over for the celebration too!  I find it hard to believe at times that 5 years have gone by since we welcomed her into the world.

- For those who remember her heart surgery, she has had no further issues with reflux or gagging, therefore we're believing she'll be good for life, but we'll keep monitoring.

- Favorite Activities:  Crafts, Reading (especially with the special reading pens that read the stories or words to her)

- Favorite Animal:  Hippos

- Favorite Color:  Pink (sometimes Purple too)

- Clothing Size:  5 for tops, 4 for bottoms

- Weight:  31.6 lbs at her 5 year check-up (Has to be 40 pounds before we can move her into a booster rather than a harness carseat)

- Height: 40 inches

- School Progress:  (Despite that my efforts have been hit and miss, she has learned a lot):  Can write the majority of the alphabet, is reading short sentences, knows many Bible stories and verses, knows her full name and address... The list goes on...

 

Kaitlyn

- Age: 2 1/2

- Favorite Activies:  Puzzles, Reading

- Favorite Animal:  Monkey

- Favorite Color: Sometimes Purple, Sometimes blue

- Clothing Size: 3T (pants are a touch long but not much!)

- Weight: 31 lbs. (at Hannah's 5-year check-up)

- Height: 35.5"

- School Progress:  Recites her alphabet, can identify some letters and numbers, can count to 10, knows her colors and shapes, knows several Bible verses, knows her first and middle name... and more!

 

Abigail Rose

- Born April 5th at 6:25 p.m., 6 lbs. 15 oz., 19 in long, 13.5 in head

- At 2-week Check-Up: 7 lbs. 5 oz., 20 in long, 13.8 head

- Complications:  None!  : )  Has had no signs of major reflux, nor jaundice -- Yay!

 

- Is sensitive to caffeine and has been gassy but otherwise she is doing great!

 

- Feeding Frequency:  Every 2.5-3 hours, except a 4.5-5 hour stretch at night.  She wakes for most of her feedings.

 

- Is definitely a screamer.  Right before she was born, we heard a newborn crying in the hall, and commented that the baby was rather loud for a newborn.  Well then Abi was born, and she screamed, yes screamed in a very high pitched loud screech.  She now has more variety in her cries, but still goes from 0 to 90 decibels in an instant.  Luckily, I have learned that she usually grunts or squeaks as she's about to wake, and so try to grab her before she wakes up and cries.

 

 

First Few Weeks with Abigail...

 

- Abigail and Mommy stayed one night in the hospital after her birth, and then went home as there were no complications.

 

- Our first two nights at home, included the whole family plus Josh's parents.  Then Josh's parents took Hannah and Kaitlyn for a 9-day vacation at their house, so Josh and I could rest and get to know Abigail.  (Totally stole the idea from another mom whose blog I read, it was too good of an idea to pass up).  Conequently, week two and three have not been the typical sleep deprivation dazedness it could have been.

 

- Late on her 11th day, Hannah and Kaitlyn returned home and have loved being able to cuddle with Abi on a daily basis.  Kaitlyn does not like for Abi to cry so will run and get me if I'm not in the room to console Abi.  Kaity also helps by getting diapers, burp cloths, etc when needed.  Hannah is good at consoling Abi and also helps bring things when needed.

 

- So far everything is going great, adding one more little one to the mix has not "rocked the boat" but perhaps that will change as she gets bigger

 

 

Pregnancy, Labor, Delivery, and Recovery...

 

Pregnancy:  My OBGYN commented about week 37 that I had had a "model pregnancy".  Unlike previous pregnancies, I never had issues with my blood pressure.  The only complication I had was that my asthma symptoms were worse, but my asthma was far better this pregnancy than during the prior one.  I did have morning sickness more this time than previously, and at any point during the pregnancy, I would get nauseated if there was pressure on my belly.  Everything else was within normal parameters, so other than more asthma meds I never needed additional prescriptions.  Due to my asthma, my doctor was not going to allow me to go past my due date (12th), however he also did not want to deliver me prior 39 weeks in an effort to try and avoid jaundice.

 

Labor and Delivery:  My water broke prematurely at about 9:15 p.m. on the 4th (8 days before my due date).  When I arrived at the hospital, they said that I was maybe 1 cm dialated but otherwise my body had not changed in preparation for delivery.  So I was hooked up to monitors and thus forced to sit or lay in bed through the labor.  At 9 a.m., I had not progressed despite having regularly spaced contractions 3-3.5 minutes apart for 45min-1 hour sessions, on and off all night.  This was about the time we also learned that my labor stalling was a typical complication of one's water breaking prematurely and that usually pitocin was needed.  As I was unaware of this complication, although I had been offered pitocin during the night, I had refused wanting to go through labor naturally.  So at about 9, they started me on pitocin, steadily increasing it every 30 minutes.  By noon, my contractions were so strong that I felt that surely I was almost ready to push.  Unfortunately, I had progressed to only 2 cm, however the contractions were as forceful and frequent as those last ones before the pushing stage.  My will and energy had depleted and I asked for my first ever epideral, and hour later it was in and running.  Ironically, while sitting on the edge of the bed for the epideral, I progressed from 2 to 7 cm.  I did not lose complete feeling and about 6 I had finally progressed to 10 cm, and about ten minutes later was feeling the urge to push.  After the doctor arrived and everything was setup, I went through three rounds of pushing through contractions, then partway through the beginning of the fourth, she was here. 

 

Recovery: I have had no complications from the epideral.  I did note a bit of tenderness at first, and it did take a few hours to fully regain feeling in my legs however I never completely loss feeling and could still feel contractions.  (I do not regret getting the epideral because I know that I could not have endured five more hours of contractions at that force and frequency, thus my dislike of pitocin, a sometimes necessary evil).  The only pain meds I had after the epideral, were ibuprofen pills.  I stopped using ibuprofen after that first week.