Kiera's first 2 weeks!

Yikes, sorry for the delayed posting!  My how time flies...  I can't believe it has been two weeks already!  Kiera is doing great and Joel and I are just trying to figure her out (and enjoying every minute!)!  : )  We had a dr appt last Wednesday and she had already gained back her birth weight.  She likes to spend her time eating, hanging out in the lambie chair or swing, rocking, being patted on your shoulder, and just looking around.  She also really likes taking baths now; she didn't like the sponge bath so much but loves it now that we started putting her into the tub and just keeping her belly button dry (her cord did fall off but there's still some crusty remnants we need to keep dry).  Grandma Jean was here for the first week to help out and it was so great!  We loved having her here to help with Kiera and she cooked lots of yummy meals for us too!  It was hard when she had to go back home, but we had to get back to reality sometime!  We have had lots of visits from Grandma Barb and Grandpa Peter.  They are really enjoying having a granddaughter so close by. 

She is on a pretty solid 3 hour schedule with some longer stretches at night.  On average I am getting about 4-5 hours of sleep at night and will take a nap during the day if I am really exhausted, although I have had a lot more energy than I thought I would.  I used to be an 8-9 hour a night sleeper!  Since Joel is working and we haven't introduced the bottle yet (with pumped milk) I am doing all of the feedings at this point.  If we want to get out of the house, we generally have a two hour window after she eats to fit in anything we want to do before she needs to eat again.  We have enjoyed outings to lunch, dinner, the mall, and running errands.  We have also taken lots of walks in the stroller; it's nice to get out of the house even if it's only for a short time.  We got the bassinet attachment for the City Select since the carseat adapter is still backordered, and we are so glad we did (we didn't plan to get it initially).  Now that we have it I just think about how much more comfortable she is in the bassinet rather than having to strap her into the carseat anytime we take the stroller out since she isn't supposed to use the seat until ~6 months. 

She is generally great most of the day, but in the evening she gets a little fussy and getting her to go to bed at night is the hardest!  I read Baby Wise and the Secrets of the Baby Whisperer and I completely agree with their ideas... basically that the order of activity should be Eat, Activity, then Sleep, so the baby doesn't get dependent on being fed (among other things) to fall asleep.  But it can be much easier said than done!  During the day she does pretty well with this but we weren't really sure how to get her to fall asleep at night without feeding her, rocking her, etc.  And if we did rock her to sleep she would usually wake up when we put her in the crib.  She is just so small we wanted to do whatever would make her happy!  So we are trying a new, earlier bedtime routine.  We had been staying up until her 10ish feeding to do actually put her down in the crib, but since it takes so long to get her to sleep after that, we are starting the process at the 7-8ish feeding instead.  We are also going to try our letting her have a pacifier to get to sleep for now... something I really didn't plan to do!  But it seems like a better alternative than rocking her (since she can still fall asleep independently this way using the pacifier) or letting her cry and lots of people I have talked to said they did this and their kids just eventually stopped needing it so hopefully that will be the case.  If any moms have advice on getting her to sleep at night, I'm all ears!

Happy Mother's Day!

Kiera Jean Kelly decided to join us two days early in time for Mother's Day... what an amazing gift!  : )  She arrived at 10:58am on 5/9/2010 and was 7 lb 7 oz and 19.5 inches long.  She is absolutely perfect and we are enjoying every minute! 

I lost my mucous plug on Saturday morning, which can mean that labor will start that day, or even in the next couple of weeks... we have learned that everyone's pregnancy and labor is very different!  I started having real contractions (as opposed to the painless Braxton Hicks contractions I've been having for months) at 11:27 on Saturday night, after going to bed at 11:00 and getting all of 27 minutes of sleep.  I tried to sleep through them but they continued to get a little closer together and more intense as the night went on.  Around 1:30 I decided I should probably get the rest of my things packed for the hospital as the contractions were extremely painful and about 6-7 minutes apart, sometimes a little longer, and they tell you to go to the hospital when they are 5 minutes apart and last a minute long for an hour.  Around 2:30 I told Joel we needed to go to the hospital so he should pack a bag.  Joel is generally a little slow moving so he was attempting to pick up the house and do dishes in the meantime!  I let him take a shower (which I regretted during the contractions!) and we finally headed out just before 4am.  In the car the contractions were horrible and coming 4 minutes apart. 

When we arrived at the hospital they checked me in and said I was 3-4 cm dilated.  I let them know I would like an epidural asap (best decision EVER for me) and I got one about 20-30 minutes later.  The process of getting the epidural was very painful for me, but it was well worth it!!  Once I got the epidural I did not feel another ounce of pain throughout the labor or delivery!  I got numb and it was very strange not really being able to move my legs, but I felt so good I decided to try to sleep for a couple hours.  I never fell asleep, probably because the whole thing was too exciting, but I rested for a few hours, and when they came back to check on me I was 8 cm dilated.  She said I would be at 10 cm in the next couple hours and could then start pushing.  My water broke at 6:30am and the nurse said there appeared to be a little bit of meconium (the baby's first bowel movement) in the fluid.  This meant that there would be an additional nurse and respiratory specialist in the delivery room to suction the baby's nose/mouth right away.  If she inhaled any of the meconium there is a risk of pneumonia, which would mean a couple days in the NICU getting antibiotics.  Apparently it is fairly common for full term babies to have meconium in the fluid so the doctor was not concerned. 

I started to feel a little pressure (but no pain) and a little bit like I needed to have a bowel movement, which the nurse said means it's time to push as the babies head is moving through your pelvis.  She checked me again and said I was 10 cm.  I was so surprised that I went from 3-4cm to 10cm in about 5 hours!  I had just envisioned labor lasting so much longer.  I started pushing around 10:30am and it was just Joel and the nurse and I.  It was much more intimate and calm than I had anticipated!  We actually used a mirror at the end of the bed for the beginning of pushing which was really cool so that I could see what was happening and see the baby's head crowning.  Things were progressing quickly and shortly thereafter the doctor and two additional nurses joined us.  The pushing stage was also really easy for me and the nurse and doctor kept saying how amazingly fast it was going.  After about 30 minutes of pushing, Kiera arrived!  The doctor actually had me pull the baby out once her head and shoulders were out (just like in the recent episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians!)!  It was so crazy!  I delivered the placenta and the doctor stitched me up as I tore a little (also did not feel that!).  In the meantime they took a look at Kiera and she was doing great!  There was actually a knot in her umbilical cord, but thankfully it was not tight enough to have caused any problems for her.  She was so active in the womb, no wonder she had a knot!

More pictures to come soon! 

Week 39... almost there! : )

I can't believe it is week 39!  And I feel like the belly is giant!!  We just came from the doctor and she said that I am 75% effaced and 1-2 cm dilated.  She said that the effacement is more important than the dilation and that she is happy with that progress.  If I were not effaced (the cervix was not thinning) at this point a C-section could be more likely.  So, we are just WAITING for something to happen!  It is so hard!  I am definitely trying to enjoy the last of our time as a couple before the craziness begins though.  We went out to a wonderful steak dinner last weekend and I have been having lunch with a few friends and doing lots of reading and walking.  I have been doing lots of organizing too... the nesting instinct they talk about is definitely real! 

I was having contractions last night for about 2 hours or so that were pretty regular and about 7 minutes apart so I thought maybe something was happening, but I didn't really have any pain and they eventually slowed down so still just Braxton Hicks I guess (but at least the uterus is practicing!).  I am sure that when I am actually going into labor it will not feel good and I will know it!  The doctor said that she doesn't want me to go past 41 weeks so we will certainly have a baby by May 18th!  I go in for my 40 week appointment on my due date (the 11th) if I haven't gone into labor by then and the doctor said we will schedule an inducement at that point.  She is on call at the hospital on the 12th (although all the doctors there would be fine to deliver me) we are thinking we will try to schedule it for the 12th if it gets to that point.  She said I would go to the hospital the night before so they could put something (I can't remember what it's called, sorry!) inside me that softens the cervix for 12 hours.  Then they would start the pitocin the next morning which would start the contractions.  She said from there I would most likely deliver by late afternoon and if I haven't delivered later that evening a c-section may be in order.  It feels good to know that there is an end in sight and what to expect at least.  And very exciting that we will definitely meet the baby soon! 

Week 39 update from Babycenter.com:
Your baby's waiting to greet the world! He continues to build a layer of fat to help control his body temperature after birth, but it's likely he already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon. (Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) The outer layers of his skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.