Friday, July 25, 2014

2 weeks/15 months

Miles,
You are 15 months old. You are more fun by the day. You love to copy whatever we are doing.  You will try to mimic sounds/words and pretty much every action. The funny thing is, you don't forget and we catch you doing some of the silly things days after we showed you.  You also like to observe before you try yourself. I can almost see your little brain working.  It's so much fun to be your mom.  You are 24lbs according to your last doctor's appointment. Your head is still huge. Your eyes are still big and blue, and your hair is still barely there. Your Auntie Tai helped me out and trimmed it over your ears because it was starting to grow over them. You still aren't walking, but I think you will soon. We love you.
 
 
Hazel,
You are 2 weeks old. You weigh right at 8lbs.  You've gained a whole pound since you went to your 2 day old appointment! You certainly can eat.  Some nights you sleep 2 hours at a time, some nights you sleep 4 hours at a time.  You are staying awake longer and longer each day.  You still like to try to lift your own head and turn it to look at things.  You are a strong baby! I have no doubt you will be mobile long before your brother was.  You like to swing and lounge on the boppy.  I know it will not be long until you have your own opinion about things.  You had about 3 nights were you were fussy from 5-7pm but you've been doing better at crying less.  I'm sure all our neighbors are thrilled, I know we are!
 

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Hazel: 1 week

Okay, so I'm a little late with the update.  All I can say is Hazel better just get used to reading about her progress in past tense. I'm pretty sure it comes with the second child territory.  I've seen my baby records compared to my brothers, and he got the short end of the stick too.  Below is my favorite picture of me with both Miles and Hazel.  I didn't post it on facebook because I happen to be feeding Hazel at the moment when Miles wanted to climb into my lap. (Trevor lifted him up there mom, no I'm not picking him up).  He is so sweet to her and I love that she is a champ eater! 
 
 
This is my favorite picture of Trevor with the kids. He has been such a great help with Miles the last month or so as I got too pregnant to get up and down off the floor easily.  We are so blessed he gets to spend this time at home before his rotations start August first. Miles is going to miss him big time when he's gone during the day.  

 
Uncle Travis came to visit and Miles enjoyed seeing him.  I get asked a lot if Miles is  confused around Travis, since he looks sort of similar to his dad. I can't tell that he does, I think it might come when he's a little older. Right now, as long as someone is playing with him, he doesn't really care who it is.  It was great to see Travis for a bit as he was driving through.  My kids sure were blessed with some great uncles! 

 
This is Hazel at exactly one week old. She has plenty of dark hair in the back, but is sort of rocking the receding hairline on the top. She is waking up twice during the night to eat (1ish and 4ish). She usually goes back to sleep right after. I've been pumping to feed her bottles in the evening and at night.  I like to know she is getting a few ounces in her, so she stays asleep longer. I'm convinced she would just snack all day if I would let her. 

 
This is a typical scene in our house. Miles loves to pull up and look at whatever Hazel is doing.  He then will hand her whatever he has or thinks she needs. He doesn't really want to touch her, just give her things.  He has touched her foot before, but he starts wigging out if you try to let him 'hold' her.



My silly boy.  He's been teething and puts his binky in like this because he can chew on it where his upper tooth is coming in. He makes me smile countless times a day. 

This is what his sister looks like most of the day. I love her double chin.
 
 
Hazel had her first at home bath today.  Her umbilical cord stump fell off sometime last night. I still haven't found it.  She seemed to enjoy her bath, after she pooped in it and had to get the water changed. 

 
So far adjusting to two kids has been about what I thought it would be. I wouldn't call Hazel an easy baby but she's not exactly hard or fussy either.  It is practically impossible to leave the house when both kids are rested and fed. We've ventured out to the grocery store and today we spent an hour walking around a flea market, just to practice.  We love our girl and think can't wait until she's out of the floppy fish phase! (just keeping it real here)


Saturday, July 12, 2014

Hazel's Birth Story

At this time last week I was having contractions. Today, I'm sitting on my couch while Miles plays in the floor and his sister sleeps in the swing.  I've been meaning to sit down and write Hazel's birth story for the last few days, but naps win over blogging every single time.

How Hazel got here:

I knew I didn't want a 4th of July baby, I didn't want her to have to share her special day with a holiday every year.  That being said, I was ready to be finished being pregnant. Some women love being pregnant..I'm not in that camp. So on the 5th, I told Trevor whatever needs to be done to get her on her way into the world, we will be doing.

Around 3:00pm I started having contractions.  I knew immediately what they were and was a bit hesitant to be excited. I realized at 4:00 I was still having them.  I told Trevor maybe we should go to the grocery store so we would have food he could fix if I did have this baby.  We went to Aldi's and picked up food for him and Miles that he could throw together. My contractions were steady still.  At 5:00  we told our parents, that I was having contractions, but not to head this way yet. They were three minutes apart, but not lasting a minutes each. They honestly didn't hurt very bad I was walking around and talking through them.  At 6 my mom told me under no certain conditions that they were head this direction to eat dinner and I should go to the hospital and get checked out.

We arrived at the hospital, I didn't want to be 'that pregnant girl' who went to labor and delivery every time she felt a weird twinge.   By 6:45 I was admitted and surprised to find out I as dilated to a 4/5! So we told our parents to come on!

My labor was steady until around 9:00pm when our parents showed up. Our dads took Miles back to our townhouse to sleep and the moms stayed and prepared for a baby that night. Well, Hazel didn't get this memo because as much as I was dilating, she wasn't coming down.  I started telling the nurse around 11 that my water was going to probably have to be broken. She kept telling me I was progressing. I tried two different birthing balls, hot compresses, different positions, walking the halls everything to try to get her to move. She wasn't having it.  It was super frustrating to be dilated to a 9 and be not in pain from contractions.

They started me on Pitocin to give her a 'push' at 6:55 am.  I chilled while we waited for the Pitocin to kick in.  I finally started feeling weak contractions around 7:30.  My doctor showed up at 8:00 to break my water. After that things got painful quick.  It was too late for any sort of pain medication because I was fully dilated and just waiting for her to descend.  Natural birth is no joke. I think it was around 9:15 I started pushing.  I pushed through 3 different contractions, three times each.  The pushing was actually a welcome relief after all the contractions, I guess it gave me something else to focus on.  The only part that hurt was when the doctor rotated her because she was face up instead of face down.  After that I couldn't even feel the contractions because pain was just pulsing through my body. They had to tell me when I was having my next contraction and out she came! I pushed less than 15 minutes, and I didn't tear! 

I was up and at them soon after and just felt tired from not sleeping the night before. After I moved to my postpartum room, I had some trouble with blood clotting and they had to 'massage my uterus' quite a bit more and give me two shots in my leg.  After that was over I was good as new.

I haven't had much trouble recovering at home, the only thing is I can't lift Miles which makes me sad.  I miss putting him to bed and getting him up and just generally walking around holding him.  So far he loves his sister.

 
Hazel Lane Howard
7lbs 6oz
7/6/2014
20 1/4 inches long
9:33 am

Thursday, July 3, 2014

38 weeks

I'm sitting in my townhouse listening to the kids play outside. Currently they are 'ordering from McDonalds' right outside my door. It's pretty hilarious to listen to what they are ordering, and how much the other kid playing the cashier is charging them.  It's surprisingly accurate!

Miles is upstairs taking a short nap so he can see Trevor after work tonight. So Hazel and I are sitting downstairs trying to do my homework.  I say trying, because it's not getting done very quickly. I've never been 38 weeks pregnant before.  At 37 weeks when I had Miles I thought I was going to combust. Maybe it was because I was teaching full time, or maybe the high blood pressure did have an effect on the way I felt.  This go-round I don't feel as uncomfortable. My only complaint is the pelvic pain I've had the entire second half of this pregnancy. I've self-diagnosed it as Symphysis Pubic Dysfunction because it is word-for-word what the internet says that feels like. Maybe I'm just a wimp, who knows.

We've been getting to see Miss Hazel via ultrasound every Wednesday, thank you very much high glucose numbers. It's neat to get to watch her breathe and move around in there. She is pretty cute up there on the screen. I can't really tell how close I'm getting to labor. The ultrasound tech tells me I'm measuring ahead. The  doctor says my cervix is still long.  He always ends my visits with: see you in a week....or before in labor and delivery! Babies are unpredictable.

Here's to hoping she decides she'd like to be like her mom: early or on time.