One Month Pictures :)

I cannot believe how quickly Elizabeth is growing!

She already has a lot of personality...

beautiful girl...

long-legged lady...

looking little in her glider :)

One Month!

My favorite photo captured this week...

We have such a beautiful baby girl!

I cannot believe Elizabeth is already one month old! Part of me can't imagine our life before her but then I also feel like it was just last week that we had her. The month has flown by and she's growing like a weed! 

Daddy had a rough night this week with Elizabeth. They had their first daddy-daughter date while I attended a girls' night. Spending short amounts of time away I figure is the best way to prevent myself from being TOO attached or making the first long stint even harder. She's been eating about every four hours, up until Tuesday. At about three hours on the dot, Steve called me and I could immediately hear her hungry cry in the background. I immediately headed home and found Steve almost in tears with a screaming, hungry baby girl. Knowing what your baby needs and not being able to give it to her has got to be a horrible feeling. I felt terribly for him :(

This prompted the decision to introduce the bottle. We made our first attempt on Wednesday. I poured about 1.5 ounces into a bottle then proceeded to warm the rest in a bowl of warm water............and accidentally tipped the bottle and got water in it......2.5 ounces of liquid gold down the drain! I learned my lesson the hard way! We were able to salvage the 1.5 so while Steve warmed that I started to breastfeed. When she took her burp break, Steve took over with the bottle, which she downed like nothing, then finished breastfeeding again. She had no problem going from one to the other---thrilled! The only challenge now is knowing how warm to get the bottle and how much she needs. Just like everything else, it's a learning process......

Yesterday was a little rough and I almost had my first real breakdown. My amazing husband scooped Elizabeth up right before I did---so thankful for him. With more awake time lately, we're experimenting with a new eating schedule. It started every four, now it's often every three hours. But last night required some research. After some reading, I'm fairly certain Miss Elizabeth is going through a growth spurt. I read that when breastfed babies go through a growth spurt they abandon the schedule they are typically on and begin eating sometimes every 1-2 hours, can't seem to get enough, get frustrated while eating, sleep much less and are restless---we've encountered all these. It's so hard as a breastfeeding mom to hear your baby cry (especially since the only time she really cries is when she's hungry) and feel as though you have no more milk to give, not to mention being incredibly sore from continued 'use'. 

Nights are still going great though! After our restless evening last night, she slept for 6.5 hours straight! She only woke up when I got nervous and woke her up to eat. We've been getting around 5 hours straight many nights but 6.5 was amazing! Many nights when we put her in the rock n play, even if she's still in and out, she falls asleep on her own! We're very grateful for this and really hoping this sticks.

Tummy time is going great so far! Ellie actually seems to enjoy it. We've had her activity mat a few times but her favorite is in the evenings when she lies on her daddy's chest. This has got to be one of the most precious pictures...

This weekend we're lucky to have Steve's cousins as house guests....not so lucky for them to witness Ellie's fussy evening yesterday. :(  On the agenda with them today is to enjoy Ellie's first walk in the stroller and to take her one month pictures (to be posted later)! This is one we captured this morning during her nap :)

She's growing too quickly!

2 Weeks Old!

Two weeks old already! Miss Elizabeth has been very kind to us with only a few sleepless nights. I actually told Steve the other day that I felt like we're getting too much sleep for the parents of a newborn! I'm counting my blessings though and hoping it sticks!

Exciting for me this week---I'm down 27 lbs! Breastfeeding has been very kind to me and I'm only 12 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight, only two weeks out!

Our last week was quite the whirlwind! We were able to move into our new house over the weekend! We are certainly blessed with amazing family and friends who spent Friday and most of Saturday helping us move! We'd initially planned to only move half but had so much help that it all got done! The guys did the heavy lifting and my mom and two of my amazing girlfriends helped put everything in place : )

I got in trouble for lifting basically anything so mostly supervised and our angel slept through most of it!

The last week has been spent (with a lot of help from my amazing parents) unpacking and organizing. They're good at holding Ellie while we get stuff done.....as are a lot of our visitors! I'm not sure we've had a day without a visitor yet! That does amazing things for our stocked refrigerator and freezer! We're so thankful to have friends and family bringing us so many delicious meals and treats! Each day a new box gets tackled. We begin hosting our small group next Thursday so we're hopeful to have most of it pulled together by then.

The most exciting part of moving in was daddy putting together Elizabeth's crib : )

My day is spent debating whether I should put my baby girl down to tackle a box or work item and the evenings are filled with Steve staring at our precious angel. We are so in love. 

Miss Ellie

I cannot believe our precious Elizabeth is already one week old!

We've been flooded with love and support since Ellie's arrival! Our family and friends seem just as in love with her as we are. I've attached below some photos of her taken this week so you all can see how easy it is to love such a precious baby.

This is the outfit she wore home from the hospital. She's wearing the same bonnet her mommy wore home from the hospital and booties her Uncle Scott gave her from Italy.

Daddy's little lady

Nights were a little rough in the hospital and our first night home. Since, she's been incredible! We've been going to bed around 11/12 most nights as we sit in the evening and stare at the most beautiful sight we've ever seen. I feed her right before bed as it tends to put her to sleep. She typically wakes between 2-3 then again around 5, about the time Steve gets up for work. It works perfectly that I can feed her then he holds and burps her before leaving for work. After he leaves, we nap together until about 8ish when she's ready to eat again!

Last night, she slept for 4.5 hours straight! I woke up several times to be sure she wasn't ready to eat and to be honest, to be sure she was still alive! Yes, I'm one of those psycho moms that needs to check every so often to be sure she's still breathing! I even put her in the rock n' play in the bathroom while I shower and check on her about 50 times while I'm showering.

The only time she really cries is when she's hungry but we're learning her hungry cues pretty well so far. The rest of the time, she's a very happy baby! We are very blessed : )

Breastfeeding--- Since my near-breakdown in the hospital, feedings are going increasingly better. She eats every 3-4 hours. The only issue we're facing now is that she keeps drifting off to sleep when she eats. I try to change her diaper between sides to wake her up some. I was also advised to undress her to her diaper to wake her or even use a cold cloth on her feet or back but this just feels mean. Whatever works I guess! I've been trying to just be patient with her or rub her back and tickle along her neck. Her feedings have been anywhere from a quick 20 minutes to an hour if she falls asleep. My milk is certainly in. I'm full and incredibly sore. I chugging through it and hoping it gets easier. I'm told it's typically about a month to get to that point. Here's hoping!

Labor of Love

Our beautiful baby girl is finally here! She sure did come in her own time too :)

Wednesday morning, the day of my induction, my water ruptured (which of course I didn't know until I was well into labor. Like many of you I'm sure, I thought when my water broke it would be a gush of fluid. However, I woke up at 4 am and thought I'd peed my pants. It didn't look or smell like urine but what other explanation did I have? I wasn't having contractions (that I was aware of) and it really was only a trickle so I essentially ignored it. We arrived at the hospital a little after 7am and got checked in and ready to begin the induction process. 

Shortly after arriving, the nurses wanted to get my IV started for the pitocin and to draw some blood. I warned them that I do not do well with these and often pass out when I give blood---good thing they were prepared! I quickly started to feel dizzy and broke out into a dead sweat as both my blood pressure (got down to about 60/30!) and heart-rate slowed. Due to this, Baby Ellie's heart-rate decreased as well. In a matter of seconds, there were about six nurses surrounding me, turning me from side to side and eventually on all fours to get Ellie's heart-rate back up. I ended up meeting the house doctor in this manner---talk about a first impression! Poor Steve was forced out of the way and left helpless. I can only imagine the fear and anxiety he must have been experiencing. They left the oxygen mask on me for several minutes and eventually things returned to normal. When they administered the epidural, my blood pressure and heart-rate did the same yet again! The epidural was horrible to be honest. I was uncomfortable, feeling lightheaded and in pain. Once the epidural set in though, I felt basically nothing. 

Once the doctor examined me, he determined my water had ruptured and could tell I'd been having contractions for some time. Later, they determined once Ellie's head had dropped more that more of the water needed to be broken to speed things along. Doing so, caused an increase in dilation from 5 to 8 in a matter of an hour and a half! 

Finally, at 9:30 pm it was time to start pushing! After about two hours---I had no idea time had passed this quickly! You may laugh and think there's no way two hours of pushing could pass quickly but it certainly did! Every time I'd push, she'd make her way out, then as I stopped contracting, she'd slide right back up. It seemed like an uphill battle but they assured me I was progressing! About 11:30 my doctor reminded me that if Ellie didn't make it by midnight, I'd have to stay in the hospital until Saturday but if she cooperated, we'd be released on Friday. Apparently Ellie didn't want to stay until Saturday and as we'd learned, life is on Ellie's time now :)

At 11:56, we welcomed our beautiful angel into the world! Through tears, I stared down at the beautiful miracle Steve and I had created. She is perfect in every way. 

Through it all, Steve was absolutely incredible. He continued to encourage me as I pushed and also, stared in amazement at our angel as he kissed me and told me how great I did and how beautiful she is. After the nurses took her to be tested across the room, Steve was clearly torn over who to be with. I quickly encouraged him to be with our little girl and he helped me feel as if I were standing there with him---telling me every measurement and update the nurses gave him and every toe and finger count, continually telling me how perfect she is.

Ellie was perfect and healthy--- 8 lbs, 4 ounces; 20.5 inches long. 

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Our time in the hospital was wonderful and I'm so thankful we chose DePaul hospital and Dr. Lieberman as our OB. The nursing staff was amazing. They were sure to check in on Ellie and I often and more than willing to help with anything I needed. Everyone was so kind and the accommodations were great. 

With a healthy baby and an anxious mommy, the staff helped me get started with breastfeeding right away. Lucky for us, Ellie latched on like a champ! The only hiccup we encountered was that she was so soothed by it that she ended up wanting to eat constantly---eat or just suck that is. On Thursday night, she was nursing for over an hour and a half before I finally had Steve bring in someone from the nursery. Prior to this, I was anti-pacifier for the beginning at least. I'd been told they could confuse a nursing baby and deter her from returning to breast. After a near emotional breakdown, we decided to try the pacifier for the night and if it affected the next feeding, we'd abandon it. Well, our perfect baby had no problems and the pacifier did nothing but help soothe her. Thank goodness! She's since nursed like a pro!

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We are so incredibly blessed by our beautiful and perfect baby girl :)