Olivia Part 2

So I kind of ended that last post abruptly, but I knew I wouldn't get it finished all in one sitting. So here are my other ramblings.
Olivia loves bath time. We gave her her first one after almost 3 weeks, because it took that long for her belly button to fall off. She never cries. She loves the water being poured on her and she sits there very content.
Last night was our best night sleeping. I think I mentioned that I started off by having her sleep in bed with us. I knew that couldn't go on for long, because I am not a fan of the "family bed" and I don't think it provides good sleep for anyone, baby included. I wanted her sleeping in her crib. We've been working on it for over a week and she is doing very well. Last night she went to bed around 10pm and fussed for a while. Brent went in and rocked her a couple of times. She fell asleep around 11pm, and didn't wake up for food until 4am. I fed her, rocked her for a couple of minutes and then put her back in the crib. I only had to go in once to put her binky back in, and she went back to sleep. I actually had to go in and wake her up at 7:30am. Not too bad for 5 weeks old. The other night I out her to bed around 9:30pm, she woke up at 1:30am and was wide awake. It took me almost 2 hrs to get her back to sleep, and then she went until 7am. I keep the lights off, and don't talk to her. After eating I put her back in the crib and put her mobile on. I go back to my room, and if she fusses I let her go for a few minutes before going back in. When I do go back in, I just put her binky back and rub her head or pat her belly. Then I walk back out. If it goes on too long I might pick her up and rock her a bit again. During the day, Olivia spends most of the morning napping, and spends a lot of awake time in the afternoon. That just seems to be her normal pattern. Car rides make her fall asleep.
Ava is an amazing big sister. She adores Olivia, and kisses her almost too much. She is very helpful, I call her my "Diaper fairy" because whenever I need to change Olivia Ava runs in and puts a diaper on the changing table. I pretend I don't see her do it, and it's like the Diaper fairy put it there for me. She has not shown any signs of jealousy. She understands that babies cry a lot of have a lot of needs, and it doesn't phase her. I knew she would be great.

Olivia - 1 month

I don't have much time to write with a 4 year old and a newborn, and I won't be paying attention to grammer and spelling, but I wanted to write about baby Olivia. This blog has been invaluable in the past few weeks, as I went back to the beginning to refresh my memory about what you do with a baby. For some reason, I glossed over the not so fun parts of having Ava, and only remembered the good stuff.
In these first few weeks of getting to know Olivia, I would have described her as very tempermental, a bit ornery, and "fussy." I hate calling a baby fussy, because what does that mean exactly? She cried a lot, and only wanted to sleep at night with me, in our bed. That describes most newborns, right? I attempted to breast-feed, and even though I had tried and failed with Ava, I was determined that this time it would work. It lasted all of 3 weeks. I gave it everything I had, talked to lactation nurses, my obgyn, pediatrician, other moms, etc. I pumped and got nothing. Once again, I beat myself up over it, but we ended up going to formula. I think that is the hardest part about having a baby. She spits up a ton, which bothers me and makes me feel guilty for bottle feeding. The pediatrician didn't seem to concerned, didn't think she has reflux, just thinks the bottle makes her eat too fast. hopefully she will outgrow it.
Olivia is a big baby. She was 8 lbs 15oz and 22 inches long when she was born. That lead to me having to have an unplanned & unwanted C section. I went in to natural labor early Saturday morning. Contractions started around 5:30am, and by 7am we were in the car on the way to the hospital, 45 mins away. When I got there I was a good 6 cms. They figured I would have the baby within and hour or 2. I tried to go all natural, figuring if I didn't have an epidural with Ava I could do it again. After 2 hours, the pain was so intense I couldn't take it anymore. Sweet sweet epidural. I never experienced pain like that and don't want to ever again. Also, the Olivia was face up, giving me back labor, and also halting labor. At 8 cms I stopped dialating, and instead my cervix started swelling. They gave me pitocin, had me change positions, but nothing was happening. THe doctor said C section and I started crying. I didn't want it at all, but the chance that I could rupture my cervix, or have to use forceps to get her out made it necessary. All in all, it wasn't horrible. My recovery wasn't too bad. I do wish I had stayed in the hospital that extra day though. Instead I had her on Saturday and went home on Monday.
As is to be expected, the first few weeks were rough. Brent and I were thinking that Olivia seemed extremely fussy and cried more than usual. However, I went back in this blog to the very beginning and saw that everything we were saying about Olivia, we had said about Ava too. Ava seemed fussy in the beginning. That made me feel much better and let me know that it is just normal newborn behavior and it would get better with time! Now that Olivia is a month old, she is starting to spend more time alert and calm. I read the book "On Becoming Baby Wise" and that helped me get her on somewhat of a schedule. She is eating about 4 oz every 3 hours, and naps 3 or 4 times a day. We don't really have a schedule for nightime. If I put her to bed at 9 or 10 pm, she will wake up twice. Last night I put her to bed around midnight and she woke up once at 3:30, ate, and then woke up at 7am. Ava started sleeping through the night around 8 or 9 weeks, so we are hoping that Olivia follows that too. If we could be so lucky! My biggest thing was getting Olivia to sleep in the crib. Ava took to the crib pretty easily, but Olivia did not like it at first. There have been a couple of nights I have had to let her cry for a while and it kills me. She liked to sleep in our bed right up next to me. It is a bad nthing that I started when I was trying to nurse. It was just easier and we both got sleep. Now I am determined to not let it get worse, and that she only sleep in the crib. If I let it go on any longer it will only be harder to break her of it. Might as well start early.

Update

This year is just flying by. I know everyone says that, but really – it is! I’ve been on here so sporadically that I don’t really know how to start.

July 4th
We took Ava to a minor league baseball game because they were doing fire works after the game. It is a brand new stadium very close to our house, and you can buy really cheap tickets to sit in the grass along the field. We bring a blanket and just park it and Ava can play in the grass and hang out. I think it’s better than sitting in a seat because who wants to have a toddler sit in a seat for 3 hours surrounded be people? We went out to the parking lot during the 8th inning, and we did sparklers and watched the fireworks from the comfort of our air-conditioned car.

Ava is now officially swimming! Not bad for only being 3 ½. Both sets of grandparents have pools with no kid-fences around them, so I wanted her swimming as soon as possible. She is still hesitant sometimes, but once she gets in the water, she will go, and the more she does it the more confident she gets. Brent gets most of the credit for this, because he has been working with her for weeks. He is strict but it is working. Once he took away the arm floaties, there was no more and he didn’t back down. This past weekend we went over to my parent’s house to swim, and she was jumping in to us and swimming from person to person. Good stuff!

We are very excited to be going to New Jersey soon. We haven’t been up there in about 2 years. Ava was only 1 ½ so of course she doesn’t remember. The plane ride will be exciting because she doesn’t remember the other 2, so it’s like her first time. She thinks NJ sounds like a pretty magical place, and it’s true…it is.  It will be our only family vacation this year since I just finished school and Brent is starting fire school in August. The rest of the year will be spent getting ready for baby!

I still don’t know what I’m having yet. We should find out shortly after we come back from our trip. I am really looking forward to having the ultrasound. I have been pretty anxious most of this pregnancy. I guess that’s one of the side-effects of miscarriage – you are always preparing for the worst. I think I have felt the baby move this week, but it is really hard to say. I felt it 2 times yesterday, but I haven’t felt it again so I start to second-guess myself.

Well, I will have some pictures posted soon.

12 Weeks down...

and I am exhausted! I have no motivation, other than to eat.

Here's a picture party of Ava, in no particular order, since I've neglected for the past few months.