AH...the first 4 weeks!

I have a blog? LOL! It's been so busy here for the last 4 weeks...I'm surprised the house is still standing! We are all adjusting, but I think we're all doing pretty well. Poor Honey is still pretty down and out wondering who is this little being that's taking all of our attention. She's warming up to Morgan...she gave her kisses today..and that's pretty huge. I'm being kind of hard on the dog...she's alway the first one to run into the nursery at night when Morgan wakes up crying...

Crying, crying, crying... it seems to be a constant noise here at the Taylor household. We're starting to get it under control. As the pediatrician said, we have a high maintenance baby with some good vocal chords. Chris says she's going to be a singer just like her mommy! By high maintenance, I mean that when she's awake, she's normally only happy when she's being worn in the baby carrier and mommy (or daddy) are bouncing on the large exercise ball. Without these two tools, she's normally crying! The nights are normally not too bad. She's sleeping 2.5-3 hours between feedings...and for the most part goes back to sleep after each feeding! For the most part... Caffeine has been my very best friend since I've stopped nursing. I didn't WANT to stop nursing...but even after working with the lactation consultants, my milk never came in. The pediatrician classified Morgan as "failing to thrive" and we had to supplement every feeding with formula. At that point, formula became the easier and lower stress option for us. I'm glad we eventually made that decision...because even after we stopped nursing....no milk ever came. No engorgement, no leaking, nada. Poor Morgan would have been a hungry little girl waiting for mom's milk.

Morgan's had a rough first four weeks. The first being the failing to thrive...can you imagine being hungry like that??? Poor baby! She had a pretty nasty diaper rash right around 2 weeks old. And then the poor girl was constipated this weekend. Luckily, we've gotten all three things under control so far. :o) Chris is traveling out of town next week for work and my mom flew back to Nebraska Saturday morning...so it's just me and Morgan (plus the dog and cat) Monday - Thursday. Pray for us! :o) John and Melissa fly in on Friday for the long Labor Day weekend. I don't think they've spent much time around babies...so this will be interesting! :o) I'm looking forward to them being here though!

Other than that...here's some pics!

Welcome Morgan!

Although my last post made well-knowing mothers nod their heads that labor was right around the corner, I'm still shocked as all get out that Morgan arrived 9 days early! I truly thought she was going to be a late baby! We had a special function at work with a Michael Jackson theme on Friday afternoon, and I had to show off my "Thriller" moves... Maybe that kick-started the labor! Ha! Anyhow, while Morgan and Daddy are sleeping, here's our labor story:

After my last post on Sunday morning, the contractions stopped around 10 AM. Thinking that they were just Braxton-Hicks, we went on with our normal day. We didn't go to church that morning because of the contractions (I was not in the mood to put on a dress and do my hair, etc); however, we did go to one of our favorite pizza places for lunch and enjoyed a scrumptious meal! We ran to the dollar theater to check out Transformers 2 (I didn't like it....liked the 1st...but not the sequel), and skipped dinner (we were still so stuffed from the pizza). Around 9:30 PM, we went to bed, setting our alarms for work the next day. My contractions started at 10:20 PM. Again, I thought they were just Braxton-Hicks, but they were now coming every 5 minutes. I got out of bed (I felt bad because I thought I was keeping Chris awake, and I thought, "This can't be the real thing!"). We went for a walk around 11:00 PM because it was driving me crazy to sit at home and feel these pains every 10 minutes! Finally around midnight, I told Chris I was tired of these every 5 minutes, I can't sleep...I think we should head to the hospital to see what they say!

We get to the hospital and enter through the ER. Thankfully, I had preregistered online, so we only had to answer a few questions. The L&D nurse came with a wheel chair, and we were taken to the Triage room. From there, we found out I was about 4 cm, and the contractions (about 4-5 minutes apart) were not as strong or as close together as they would have liked, so they sent me home. I was so confused on the drive home, because we were told during our birthing classes that it was time to go to the hospital if the contractions were 5 minutes apart, one minute in length for one hour. Mine had been 4-5 minutes apart for over 2 hours at that point...but they were only about 30-45 seconds. We got home around 2:30 AM and Chris hops in bed and falls asleep. My contractions just kept coming....and coming...and coming.... still about 4-5 minutes apart. I took a hot shower (and just sat in the shower for 45 minutes), a warm bath (for about 30 minutes). I tried to lay back down...but couldn't relax. I went downstairs and spent another 2 hours trying to decide if I just had a really low tolerance for pain because these contractions were killing me (I was moaning and crying with each one). Finally at 6:00 AM, I woke Chris up and started crying that we had to go back because I was too tired (I had been up for 24 hours at this point). Chris showered and we left for the ER again. This time in triage, my contractions were still 4-5 minutes apart, but I was dilated to 6 cm....time to admit me! Yay!

First thing on the list: epidural. Oh...sweet, sweet epidural. I was her first patient of the day, and I was SO happy to see her. That process took longer than I thought, but the outcome was definitely worth it! I never lost the use of my legs (they had the pins and needles feeling), but I never felt a contraction after that! Around 10 AM, they came to check my progress, and I was still at 6 cm, so they broke my water. At 11 AM, I was STILL at 6 cm, so they added Pitocin to my IV line. At about 1:00 PM, I had progressed to 8 cm. I still couldn't sleep through this process because of all the beeps and noises from the machine, but Chris was able to get a few good naps in during this time. At 3 PM, I was at the full 10 cm and able to push! 45 minutes of pushing (which is some hard work!!!!) - and out comes Morgan weighing 7 lbs 5 oz and 20.5 inches long. Whoo! I did have to have an episiotimy, so hopefully it heals well.

Morgan is a screamer - that's for sure! I think she screamed for her first 12 hours. Not crying....screaming. This was so hard for me to handle... I was tired (didn't sleep for about 40 hours straight) and my body hurt....and I couldn't figure out why my new daughter was SO upset. I think I just shut down at that point (I think I scared Chris)...I just stared at her and had a hard time making the connection that this was my new daughter. After feeding her at 8 PM and 11 PM, we did send her to the nursery, and I got about 3 hours of sleep. When they brought her back into our room for her 3 AM feeding, I felt like a completely different person! This is my daughter! Breastfeeding now became much easier, and we've been doing well ever since! We still send her to the nursery when we want to sleep (every coo, sneeze, or sucking noise wakes me up)....but she's my baby, and I absolutely love her.

We are being discharged tomorrow morning, and I'm a little nervous about handling all of this without any nurses to help! Pray for us! I know we'll be ok...but...did I mention she's a screamer??? LOL!

Welcome, Morgan!

Not for the squemish....TMI? Probably - but I need the help of ladies who have been in labor!

Some odd things happening physically... Ladies who have been through labor before....need your thoughts on what's going on...

Symptom #1:
I use the restroom probably 3 times a night. Well on one of the trips last night, I thought I heard a little splash.... kind of odd because I was just peeing...but I was half asleep and didn't think twice about it. When I woke up in the morning...I remember the "splash" and thought...huh...I wonder if that was my mucous plug????

Symptom #2:
This morning I wake up and notice a pink stain on the undies... I am still spotting 3 hours later. If this was right after the internal exam, I would have blamed it on that...but that was on Friday and I was completely fine on Saturday. Plus this is quite a bit more than what I was experiencing after the appointment...

Symptom #3:
I am getting really, really bad menstrual type pain very low in the abdomen. It woke me up a few times...and I was timing them for a while and they were about 9 minutes apart...but have kind of slowed down. When I do get them though, they are pretty, pretty painful. Not like to the point where they are in the shows and movies screaming...but they make me stop talking or moving until it passes.... Are these just Braxton-Hicks? Or is this the beginning stage of labor?

Are we thinking a baby soon? Or are we thinking...Diane - hold your britches sweetie...we got a ways go go....that's called false labor....