Love my kids! but I am not sure how you go shopping with a newborn and a toddler.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
A Scale... yuck...
Now that baby girl is here, I have been trying to figure out how I can be more successful about loosing baby weight and just plain improving my health. It is a difficult task in general, but a unique challenge when breast feeding because I really should not be dieting. I assure you in general I am not a "dieter" I believe most of them are bad for your body and do not have the long term success that I am looking for.
So for me this is just a continuation of a lifestyle change. We are eating more whole foods, and have cut out a bunch of excess meats. I still have a long way to go, however my son loves veggies and fruit so we are doing something right so far.
I found a website called babyfit, they have a meal planner/food journal, exercise, and weight tracker among many other helpful things to motivate and inspire success and the big bonus is that it is FREE! They help make sure you are getting enough calories in the right area to stay healthy and make sure baby is getting what she needs also. This way I will not worry that I am hurting my body with the weight I loose, I will know that I am getting what I need to BF.
So I guess I am going to have to break down and go buy a scale. I have refused to buy one since I moved out of my parents house, so the only place I ever get weighed is at the doctors. However I think it may help motivate me to exercise regularly, and to take better care of myself. I will also have to be brave and take a before picture, and I might try to take monthly pictures so that I can see progress being made as I go.
I still have recovery time from baby girl (she is not even 2 weeks old yet), and a move coming up, but just about the time we are leaving Pullman I will be able to start exercising (more than just walking) however, I can start the food makeover now. I do believe the best way to take off weight and be healthy is through lifestyle change, it needs to be change that can be maintained and become normal. Slow and steady change lasts longer.
So for me this is just a continuation of a lifestyle change. We are eating more whole foods, and have cut out a bunch of excess meats. I still have a long way to go, however my son loves veggies and fruit so we are doing something right so far.
I found a website called babyfit, they have a meal planner/food journal, exercise, and weight tracker among many other helpful things to motivate and inspire success and the big bonus is that it is FREE! They help make sure you are getting enough calories in the right area to stay healthy and make sure baby is getting what she needs also. This way I will not worry that I am hurting my body with the weight I loose, I will know that I am getting what I need to BF.
So I guess I am going to have to break down and go buy a scale. I have refused to buy one since I moved out of my parents house, so the only place I ever get weighed is at the doctors. However I think it may help motivate me to exercise regularly, and to take better care of myself. I will also have to be brave and take a before picture, and I might try to take monthly pictures so that I can see progress being made as I go.
I still have recovery time from baby girl (she is not even 2 weeks old yet), and a move coming up, but just about the time we are leaving Pullman I will be able to start exercising (more than just walking) however, I can start the food makeover now. I do believe the best way to take off weight and be healthy is through lifestyle change, it needs to be change that can be maintained and become normal. Slow and steady change lasts longer.
Monday, April 23, 2012
My Cute Kids :)
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| My Sweet Emma Lee: 10 Days Old |
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| Matthew looking at his sister, wondering how she sleeps so much I'm sure. |
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| He is such a good big brother, he always comes in and gently pats her, or brings her a binky. |
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| The heat made her even sleepier, I didn't think that could happen. |
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| Love this boy |
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| After playing in the sunshine all day he is one happy boy. |
Friday, April 20, 2012
Our first Week
Just a quick post because it is nap time for me :)
1. Emma is a sleepy girl, she spent most of this last week sleeping on me.
2. We left the hospital on Saturday Morning, and came home and spent the day with Grandma Julie, Grandpa Mark, Liz and her kids also.
3. Her umbilical cord fell off Sunday night, I was shocked when I took her Pajamas off and it was gone.
4. At her 3 day doctors appointment she was 7 lbs 6oz
5. At her 7 day follow-up at the hospital she was 7lbs 11oz, already back to her birth weight.
6. I got 2 Medela breast pumps this week, a manual from WIC (while I was waiting for my electric to come in) and a nice Medela electric pump, it doesn't hurt like my old pump used to, and should help me to keep infections away and be able to BF longer than I was able to with Matthew.
1. Emma is a sleepy girl, she spent most of this last week sleeping on me.
2. We left the hospital on Saturday Morning, and came home and spent the day with Grandma Julie, Grandpa Mark, Liz and her kids also.
3. Her umbilical cord fell off Sunday night, I was shocked when I took her Pajamas off and it was gone.
4. At her 3 day doctors appointment she was 7 lbs 6oz
5. At her 7 day follow-up at the hospital she was 7lbs 11oz, already back to her birth weight.
6. I got 2 Medela breast pumps this week, a manual from WIC (while I was waiting for my electric to come in) and a nice Medela electric pump, it doesn't hurt like my old pump used to, and should help me to keep infections away and be able to BF longer than I was able to with Matthew.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Emma's Birth Story
So I know that I eagerly await hearing birth stories after a sweet baby comes. I am not sure why they are so exciting to read, but they are, and I wanted to share my sweet Emma Lee's birth story.
The adventure began Tuesday April 10th in the afternoon I started getting really bad cramping and an upset tummy, not fun but didn't think too much of it. Well around 10:30 it changed from cramping to contractions, very distinct, and rather strong. So we waited, moved around, timed them. By 12:30 they had been coming solid strong and about 2-4 minutes apart and lasting about 45 seconds each. We waited another half hour and they were still coming strong so we called my friend Liz in Spokane and she loaded up her two kiddo's in the car and drove to Pullman. When she arrived we called my Doctor and gave him an update of what had been going on. He said it sounded like it was time to head to the hospital and have a baby. I was so excited she was going to come on her due date, also so excited that she was coming naturally and I was not going to have to be induced.
We arrived at the hospital they hooked me up to monitors and then watched them for about 45 minutes before they came to check me. They came in and said contractions looked good, baby looked good, now we just needed to see if I was making good progress. They were busy so if I was still pretty early in the process they were going to send me home for a few hours. Well they checked and I was only at a 2 and not even close to being ready. With the contractions coming how they were they wanted to monitor for another couple hours and see how fast we were progressing. After 2 hours I was about a 3 but not much closer to ready. The doctor stripped my membranes sent me home and said to call or come back when things picked up.
However they never picked up they stayed constant and non productive, yet enough to make me uncomfortable and unable to sleep or relax for long. I had a doctors appointment that afternoon at 3:30 so I went to that and he checked me again and there was maybe a half a centimeter. He did his best to irritate things and hopefully get things to jumpstart. However he also said that it looked to him like this was going to continue at this pace for a few days to weeks so it may be a long time before we make enough progress to have the baby. That was really not what I wanted to hear, which he knew, but he also had a plan. He was going to call the hospital and get me in and they would augment my labor enough to get my body to take over and then take me off the pitocen. I was alright with this plan because I really did not want to be laboring for days up to a couple of weeks, sleep and rest are important to me. So we left his office and were waiting on the hospital who said we should be able to come in around 9:30 that night (the 11th).
The hospital called at 8:00pm and said that we couldn't come in that night and to call at 6:00am and we should be able to come in at 7:00am. They then called at midnight and told us to call at 8:30am and they would let us know when we could come in. I called at 8:30am after another restless night of contractions and they told me that they might be able to get me in that evening but possibly not until Friday morning. Lets just say I was not dealing well with that being the answer, I really thought it was ridiculous that they could not get me into the hospital to be on pitocen for a few hours for days and days. Plus I was already getting so exhausted from not be able to rest that I worried about how well I would be able to handle labor if we had to wait till Friday to go in. I also wondered if I really wanted to go to a hospital that was short staffed and full of exhausted nurses.
Chris called Dr. Adkins and gave him an update and told him that something needed to be figured out. Dr. Adkins asked us to come in that morning. He checked me again I was at about a 3.5 but still had a long way to go on every other front. We talked about options, we told him we had called Gritman and they had room and could get me in there, but we didn't want to have to switch doctors because we really really liked and trusted Dr. Adkins. He then said there was another option, we could go to the hospital in Colfax because he already had rights there. So we agreed and he said he would have his nurse call and set everything up. They called us an hour later and told us it was all set and we should be at the hospital at 1pm. So Thursday the 12th we headed to Whitman Hospital and Medical Center in Colfax to have my labor augmented, I was so relived and ready to kick start this process.
They started the Pitocen just after 1pm at the amazing hospital in Colfax. It was beautiful, the nurses and staff were great, and we were completely spoiled our whole stay. After a few hours of Pitocen I was in active labor again I progressed to a little more than a five and the doctor broke my water. Things were going really well and it looked like baby was going to come by 8:30 or 9 at the latest. So they started to back off the pitocen and my contractions stayed strong and regular so they kept the pitocen off. Well the contractions slowed a little bit a couple hours later but it didn't seem to be an issue. I started to feel lots of pressure and like it was time to get baby out. So they checked again and I was dilating really abnormally because side to side one way I was ready to go, but the other way I was only at a 6 or 7, not what I wanted to hear. Waiting to push is the worst part of labor for me, it is definitely the most painful part. So I go back up and we worked through the contractions which were getting worse and worse but still pretty far apart. After another little while they checked again and not much progress was being made. The doctor suggested that we turn the pitocen back on, I was not really happy about that suggestion because it meant the contractions would hurt more and I was having a hard time with the contractions already. He waited a few minutes and talked to Chris about it again and Chris told him to do it.
Finally at about 10:00pm I started throwing up and the nurses were so happy about it, my Mom was ready to hit them all I think at that point, she really didn't like that they were so happy about that. At 10:10 or 10:15 we were close enough that I was allowed to push. What a relief pushing is, however still pretty painful this time. I was so exhausted from all the hours of labor and hours of being stuck in transition. However at 10:30 on the nose I heard my sweet baby girl cry for the first time, they put her on my tummy and cleaned her up. They left her on me and did all the checks they could while she was on me. Chris stayed with me while we delivered the placenta and I got a few stitches, he was so distracted by Matthew last time that he left me while they were finishing everything else, he felt so bad because he realized afterwards that there is still some painful steps before I can relax after the baby is born.
She was beautiful, 7 lbs 11oz 21 inches long, lots of dark hair. Completely healthy and I felt so blessed to have another beautiful healthy baby. I made it through without any medications again although I was pretty sure I couldn't do it in the middle of the 1.5 hours I was stuck in transition.
We can't say enough good about Dr. Adkins or Whitman Hospital in Colfax. We were completely happy and well taken care of, in fact we left feeling rested and spoiled. If I had a choice in the future between going to Pullman Regional or Whitman Hospital I would choose Whitman Hospital. I might have to write another post just to talk about the Doctor and nurses who took care of us, and my wonderful hospital experience. There you have it my sweet Emma Lee's birth story in all its glory :)
The adventure began Tuesday April 10th in the afternoon I started getting really bad cramping and an upset tummy, not fun but didn't think too much of it. Well around 10:30 it changed from cramping to contractions, very distinct, and rather strong. So we waited, moved around, timed them. By 12:30 they had been coming solid strong and about 2-4 minutes apart and lasting about 45 seconds each. We waited another half hour and they were still coming strong so we called my friend Liz in Spokane and she loaded up her two kiddo's in the car and drove to Pullman. When she arrived we called my Doctor and gave him an update of what had been going on. He said it sounded like it was time to head to the hospital and have a baby. I was so excited she was going to come on her due date, also so excited that she was coming naturally and I was not going to have to be induced.
We arrived at the hospital they hooked me up to monitors and then watched them for about 45 minutes before they came to check me. They came in and said contractions looked good, baby looked good, now we just needed to see if I was making good progress. They were busy so if I was still pretty early in the process they were going to send me home for a few hours. Well they checked and I was only at a 2 and not even close to being ready. With the contractions coming how they were they wanted to monitor for another couple hours and see how fast we were progressing. After 2 hours I was about a 3 but not much closer to ready. The doctor stripped my membranes sent me home and said to call or come back when things picked up.
However they never picked up they stayed constant and non productive, yet enough to make me uncomfortable and unable to sleep or relax for long. I had a doctors appointment that afternoon at 3:30 so I went to that and he checked me again and there was maybe a half a centimeter. He did his best to irritate things and hopefully get things to jumpstart. However he also said that it looked to him like this was going to continue at this pace for a few days to weeks so it may be a long time before we make enough progress to have the baby. That was really not what I wanted to hear, which he knew, but he also had a plan. He was going to call the hospital and get me in and they would augment my labor enough to get my body to take over and then take me off the pitocen. I was alright with this plan because I really did not want to be laboring for days up to a couple of weeks, sleep and rest are important to me. So we left his office and were waiting on the hospital who said we should be able to come in around 9:30 that night (the 11th).
The hospital called at 8:00pm and said that we couldn't come in that night and to call at 6:00am and we should be able to come in at 7:00am. They then called at midnight and told us to call at 8:30am and they would let us know when we could come in. I called at 8:30am after another restless night of contractions and they told me that they might be able to get me in that evening but possibly not until Friday morning. Lets just say I was not dealing well with that being the answer, I really thought it was ridiculous that they could not get me into the hospital to be on pitocen for a few hours for days and days. Plus I was already getting so exhausted from not be able to rest that I worried about how well I would be able to handle labor if we had to wait till Friday to go in. I also wondered if I really wanted to go to a hospital that was short staffed and full of exhausted nurses.
Chris called Dr. Adkins and gave him an update and told him that something needed to be figured out. Dr. Adkins asked us to come in that morning. He checked me again I was at about a 3.5 but still had a long way to go on every other front. We talked about options, we told him we had called Gritman and they had room and could get me in there, but we didn't want to have to switch doctors because we really really liked and trusted Dr. Adkins. He then said there was another option, we could go to the hospital in Colfax because he already had rights there. So we agreed and he said he would have his nurse call and set everything up. They called us an hour later and told us it was all set and we should be at the hospital at 1pm. So Thursday the 12th we headed to Whitman Hospital and Medical Center in Colfax to have my labor augmented, I was so relived and ready to kick start this process.
They started the Pitocen just after 1pm at the amazing hospital in Colfax. It was beautiful, the nurses and staff were great, and we were completely spoiled our whole stay. After a few hours of Pitocen I was in active labor again I progressed to a little more than a five and the doctor broke my water. Things were going really well and it looked like baby was going to come by 8:30 or 9 at the latest. So they started to back off the pitocen and my contractions stayed strong and regular so they kept the pitocen off. Well the contractions slowed a little bit a couple hours later but it didn't seem to be an issue. I started to feel lots of pressure and like it was time to get baby out. So they checked again and I was dilating really abnormally because side to side one way I was ready to go, but the other way I was only at a 6 or 7, not what I wanted to hear. Waiting to push is the worst part of labor for me, it is definitely the most painful part. So I go back up and we worked through the contractions which were getting worse and worse but still pretty far apart. After another little while they checked again and not much progress was being made. The doctor suggested that we turn the pitocen back on, I was not really happy about that suggestion because it meant the contractions would hurt more and I was having a hard time with the contractions already. He waited a few minutes and talked to Chris about it again and Chris told him to do it.
Finally at about 10:00pm I started throwing up and the nurses were so happy about it, my Mom was ready to hit them all I think at that point, she really didn't like that they were so happy about that. At 10:10 or 10:15 we were close enough that I was allowed to push. What a relief pushing is, however still pretty painful this time. I was so exhausted from all the hours of labor and hours of being stuck in transition. However at 10:30 on the nose I heard my sweet baby girl cry for the first time, they put her on my tummy and cleaned her up. They left her on me and did all the checks they could while she was on me. Chris stayed with me while we delivered the placenta and I got a few stitches, he was so distracted by Matthew last time that he left me while they were finishing everything else, he felt so bad because he realized afterwards that there is still some painful steps before I can relax after the baby is born.
She was beautiful, 7 lbs 11oz 21 inches long, lots of dark hair. Completely healthy and I felt so blessed to have another beautiful healthy baby. I made it through without any medications again although I was pretty sure I couldn't do it in the middle of the 1.5 hours I was stuck in transition.
We can't say enough good about Dr. Adkins or Whitman Hospital in Colfax. We were completely happy and well taken care of, in fact we left feeling rested and spoiled. If I had a choice in the future between going to Pullman Regional or Whitman Hospital I would choose Whitman Hospital. I might have to write another post just to talk about the Doctor and nurses who took care of us, and my wonderful hospital experience. There you have it my sweet Emma Lee's birth story in all its glory :)
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Monday, April 09, 2012
Cloth
I was sitting in the library at church yesterday and there was a box that used to hold Luv's Diapers in it. I sat there staring and it hit me, we have not had to buy diapers in what feels like forever! It is so nice to not have to spend so much money every month on them anymore. I then made the comment to Chris that I don't understand why I didn't do this sooner, and I also don't understand why more people do not cloth diaper.
His response was pretty simple, because it seems daunting and intimidating. It was at first, I did a lot of research and talked to a lot of people about the different ways to cloth diaper, there are so many choices out there. But now, now that I figured it out, I think everyone should try it! Especially on a tight budget or if you have multiple kids in diapers.
We have settled into a nice little routine, we use cloth wipes, I do diaper laundry every other day which has actually helped me keep up on all our other laundry. This would however be impossible without your own washer and dryer. Seriously though, if you are reading this, and want any information about cloth diapering I think I have been bitten by the cloth diaper bug. I would love to help you, I now understand why this becomes such an exciting thing to share. It is because it is not that hard, and it is super duper helpful budget wise.
His response was pretty simple, because it seems daunting and intimidating. It was at first, I did a lot of research and talked to a lot of people about the different ways to cloth diaper, there are so many choices out there. But now, now that I figured it out, I think everyone should try it! Especially on a tight budget or if you have multiple kids in diapers.
We have settled into a nice little routine, we use cloth wipes, I do diaper laundry every other day which has actually helped me keep up on all our other laundry. This would however be impossible without your own washer and dryer. Seriously though, if you are reading this, and want any information about cloth diapering I think I have been bitten by the cloth diaper bug. I would love to help you, I now understand why this becomes such an exciting thing to share. It is because it is not that hard, and it is super duper helpful budget wise.
Sunday, April 08, 2012
A Family Picture
We went to the park today after Matthew did his Easter egg hunt at home. I have wanted to get a picture of us as a family of three before baby girl came, so I used this outing as an opportunity. We propped the camera up on a little wall at the park and set the timer and we took 2 pictures, this one turned out really well and I love it.
Monday, April 02, 2012
Monday
So I keep putting off blogging because I was going to take some pictures and post them, like maybe a belly shot since I have not taken any of this pregnancy (the camera is not my friend), and maybe some of Matthew doing something fun. I should have had the camera with me this morning so I could have taken a picture of him covered in SAND from head to toe. I guess this means bath tonight :) Hopefully I will get some pictures up soon.
Other than that we are just trying to slowly accomplish tasks off the list of things to do before baby comes. It is very cool to think that my due date is next Wednesday! I ordered her a blessing dress on Saturday since we are going to bless her the day after Chris's graduation from WSU, I figured I should probably find one. Everywhere that I was looking the dresses were crazy expensive though (and by crazy I mean $50+ which I know is not crazy for everyone, but for us it is tooo much). Then I happened upon the Children's Place website and did you know what they have blessing outfits at affordable prices! They only have them online and not in their store (which is okay because we are not close to a Children's Place). I was excited to be able to order her a dress that is going to be so pretty and won't completely break the bank. Now I just need to get my behind in gear and get her white blanket done. I am almost done with the pink blanket (about 10 more rows and then just finishing the edges).
Other than that we are just trying to slowly accomplish tasks off the list of things to do before baby comes. It is very cool to think that my due date is next Wednesday! I ordered her a blessing dress on Saturday since we are going to bless her the day after Chris's graduation from WSU, I figured I should probably find one. Everywhere that I was looking the dresses were crazy expensive though (and by crazy I mean $50+ which I know is not crazy for everyone, but for us it is tooo much). Then I happened upon the Children's Place website and did you know what they have blessing outfits at affordable prices! They only have them online and not in their store (which is okay because we are not close to a Children's Place). I was excited to be able to order her a dress that is going to be so pretty and won't completely break the bank. Now I just need to get my behind in gear and get her white blanket done. I am almost done with the pink blanket (about 10 more rows and then just finishing the edges).
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| This is the dress Chris and I both liked, it is not the traditional super long blessing dress, however it is very pretty and more our style anyways. They had another one on there that I really liked but the smallest size was 3-6 months and there is no way that is going to fit in the beginning of May. |
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