Little Sister

All of us are getting used to having a new baby in the house. Samuel and Nathan have adjusted really well. I knew Nathan would do fine, but I was a little concerned about Samuel since he is so young. He's had a few moments of jealousy, but really he is doing great with a little sister. They are both really sweet with her.

Nathan just loves her to pieces. He is adorable interacting with her. He never wants to be far away. He dotes on her, kisses her, sings to her, and hugs her. If she's crying, he'll run to her and start singing (usually he sings "I've Been Working on the Railroad). He'll say, "Mommy, I sang to her, and she stopped crying!"

He has been a little confused about how much she sleeps. He asks why her eyes are never open, and if they are, he exclaims, "Her eyes are open!"

Sometimes when she's crying he'll go over to her, and say, "Aww, sweet girl. It's okay. Don't cry. Shh, sweet girl."

Samuel isn't as doting as Nathan is, but he is still a wonderful big brother. Since she's been here, he has learned to say the word bow :). If he sees one of her bows lying around, he'll yell "Uh oh" and run to find her and put it on her head. He won't calm down unless it is actually back on her head.

Samuel also makes sure she always has her pacifiers. They are different than his, and if he finds one, he immediately runs to find her and give it to her. He does the same thing with her bottles. The other day he found a baby doll in his toy box and ran to give it to Elisabeth.

Nathan reads her books and always wants her to watch him dance to songs in his room.

He was so excited to help give her a bath. I'm not sure if he remembers helping bathe Samuel when Samuel was a baby or if he's just seen the pictures of him helping, but if he's home, he won't let me bathe her alone. He always pulls his chair up and has to have his own wash cloth to wash her.

Samuel likes to help too. He has to be involved in anything that involves water!

One day I was changing her diaper, and Nathan saw her cord stump, and ran to me excitedly yelling, "Mommy, mommy, I think her has a penis." Just a little story I don't want to forget :)

Nathan asks me to put Elisabeth on her play mat so he can play with her. He lies down next to her and shakes her toys, sings to her, and talks to her. The other day I heard him explaining to her that when she gets bigger she can go to Grammy's house and take a bath in the hot tub like he does,

When Nathan left to go to Grammy's house last Friday, he went up to her and said, "Aww, her's going to miss me at Grammy's house."

Samuel is excited that Elisabeth sits next to him in the car. Anytime we put him in his car seat he starts pointing to her car seat base to tell us to make sure not to forget her. He pats her when she is crying to try and get her to settle down.

We went to church for the first time with her last Sunday. As we were leaving the house,  Nathan asked if he could take a picture of her to his class to show his friends and teachers. It totally melted my heart. He is so very proud of his little sister.

One of the best things as a mom is watching my children interact with each other and enjoy each other's company. The sweet moments make the fighting over toys worth it.

Going Home

Of course Elisabeth had to get all dolled up to leave the hospital!

Both my boys wore sweet white jammies home from the hospital, so I really wanted to find a white dress for Elisabeth to wear home.

My mom and I went shopping one day and found the perfect dress. It was almost exactly what I was envisioning. I had been staring at it hanging in her room for months, just waiting to dress her up in it!

She's the most beautiful baby girl I've ever seen.

I had a harder time than I thought figuring out how to get the car seat straps around a dress. That's never been an issue before :).

We were so very thankful to be bringing a healthy, beautiful baby girl home. She is such a blessing to our family.

Our Hospital Stay

We had a really special time in the hospital getting to know Elisabeth and introducing her to friends and family.

My parents brought the boys up both mornings we were in the hospital to spend some time with their baby sister. 

Samuel found her piggies!

We had a steady stream of visitors on Sunday afternoon. Elisabeth got to meet her Aunt Becca and Uncle Bryan

and her Granny and Grandaddy. Everyone seemed pretty smitten with her!

Shana has come to the hospital to see all three of my babies. She such a sweet friend.

And Courtney and Krista came to meet her too.

I'm looking forward to watching Elisabeth and Krista become good friends.

The visitors stopped about 6:00 on Sunday evening, and Matt and I had a lazier evening with Elisabeth than we were expecting. It was a nice time to just relax and spend time with her. We love welcoming visitors in the hospital, but a little downtime was nice too.

The boys came back up on Monday morning to see us again and we had a few other visitors throughout the day on Monday

We can always say that Sarah and Elisabeth have been friends since birth!

My brother and sister in law were so sweet to drive to Oklahoma to meet their niece. It was good to see them and introduce Elisabeth. Amelia was really cute with her only girl cousin, and of course Nathan is still talking about the fun time he had playing with Amelia.

We had to stick around the hospital until late afternoon on Monday to get some bloodwork for Elisabeth completed. That poor girl had to get stuck so many times to make sure she didn't contract an infection. When I saw her little hand all bandaged up, my negative feelings toward that nurse returned briefly. She also had high bilirubin levels so that had to be monitored a couple of times while we were in the hospital too. Our girl was a trooper through all the tests. Finally, about 4:30 that afternoon we got the go ahead to head home.

Our hospital stays with all of our babies have been so special. It's certainly an exciting time welcoming a new baby into the world.

Elisabeth's Birth Story, Part 2

We made it to the hospital about 4:15 and checked in with Labor and Delivery. The secretary at the desk told us that they needed to finish cleaning a room and if we would wait in the waiting room, they would come get us in just a second (just a second is a phrase that took on new meaning for us that afternoon).

Just a second apparently means 50 minutes, since that's how long we waited in the waiting room before someone took us to a room. By that point my contractions were about five minutes apart and definitely picking up in intensity. We were both getting worried, because my labors go quickly and I needed antibiotics and was ready for an epidural, and we were just sitting in a waiting room.

At a little after 5:00, the tech took us back to a room that wasn't even a labor and delivery room. She told me to change into a gown and someone would be right in. I changed and we waited, and waited, and waited. My contractions continued to intensify. Matt went out and asked three times when someone would see us. He was told that everyone was busy and they would get someone as soon as they could. I knew I was in active labor and we needed care. It was the most stressful part for both of us. I was in tears at one point, because we didn't know what to do. No one had even examined me to know what was going on, no one had checked on our daughter to make sure she was okay, and I still had no antibiotics. Matt was really stressed too. We just felt out of control and neglected and worried, all the while my contractions were really picking up in intensity. Finally about 5:45, a nurse came in, hooked me up to monitors and checked me and told me I was dilated to a six. She said she had to go get a room ready and would be right back. At this point I was upset enough to let her know that we had been waiting a long time, and I knew I would deliver soon by the way my last deliveries had gone. She assured me it would be just a minute, but seemed annoyed at me for questioning how long it would take. She did come back quickly and took us to a room a little before 6:00. I asked for an iv for fluids and told her I needed to get antibiotics asap. With my last two deliveries, once I had dilated to a five, my babies were born in less than a couple of hours. Still acting annoyed, she told me there was a process to getting an epidural: that I had to be admitted, gotten lab work done and fluids, and that she had other patients she had to take care of too. Let's just say the nurse and I didn't get along very well that night.

She took us to a room and told us she needed to take care of another patient and would be back. When she came back I guess she could tell that I wasn't far from delivering, because she skipped the admission paperwork and immediately got my iv started about 6:25. My contractions were awful at the point and I was starting to give up hope on getting an epidural. The thing that saved me through the contractions was that they were always relatively short with a break in between where I could regroup. It was a really hard time. I kept telling Matt how this wasn't going the way I had planned and I was worried about Elisabeth.  My water broke a little after 6:30, and the contractions picked up even more.

My doctor came in about 6:45 right as the nurse was checking me and telling me that I was fully dilated. Dr. Sanders told me they were trying to get an epidural, but if I felt like I needed to push, we could just get the baby out. I was not prepared to push a baby out without any pain medication. By that point the epidural had turned into a mental thing. I felt like I needed it for things to be okay. In the past, the epidural was such a turning point in labor. The point where we could relax and be excited, and anticipate the baby. It represented a feeling that everything was good again. I think mentally, I felt that I needed it for everything to be alright.

An anesthesiologist came in while I was talking to Dr. Sanders. He was the best thing I had seen all day. Everyone was telling me that as soon as the epidural was in, the baby would be out, but he worked as fast as he could. I got the best care from him. He was so caring and kind and efficient working with me while I was in so much pain. They hadn't gotten any bloodwork and hardly any fluids, but he still was willing to give me the epidural. He finished a little before 7:00 and told me it would take about 20 minutes to take effect, but that I would feel some relief in eight to ten minutes. I remember asking Matt over and over how many minutes it had been since he said it would take eight minutes. Then I started feeling some pressure to push. Dr. Sanders told me to give a practice push, and told me the baby was coming nicely. The epidural started to help some with the contractions but I was still feeling a lot. I pushed again, and Dr. Sanders told me once I pushed through a contraction, the baby would be here, and she was right, one contraction later, and Elisabeth was out. This might be too much information but I did request a mirror to watch her be born, and I'm glad I did. Since I wasn't numb, I was feeling her as I pushed, and the mirror helped me to focus. I knew that once her head was out, I would feel better, and then again once her shoulders were out, the pain would be over. She came quickly and at 7:09pm on August 9, we met our daughter.

It was a complete whirlwind from about 6:45 on. People kept coming in and out of the room wheeling things in, leaving and coming back.  I never signed consent forms until hours after she was born. Matt and I got our id bracelets the next day. It was wild, but once she was here, everything was just fine. In the moment her birth was stressful and painful, but in hindsight, it was perfect, and none of the drama or stress mattered (even though I still have pretty negative feelings toward that nurse. Thankfully her shift ended right before Elisabeth was born, and a new nurse took over. She must have known we were unhappy with her to send in a replacement).

It was such a crazy, fast delivery that I never had the chance to really process that we were meeting our daughter then. She was lying on my chest after she was born and I kept saying over and over how I couldn't believe she was here. It took a few hours to really sink in that our daughter was with us. I didn't come close to getting the antibiotics I needed for the group B strep, but thankfully, even though she had to have blood drawn more than we would have liked to test for infection, she is just fine.

We snuggled, loved on her, fed her, and then welcomed visitors to meet her. It was past the boys' bedtime, but they were still so sweet with their sister, especially Nathan. We cleared out the room around 10:00 and had some alone time with our sweet girl. Apparently Labor and Delivery that night was crazy busy, and it was after midnight before someone had a chance to bathe her. They kept apologizing for us waiting so long to get her bathed, and I kept telling them, how I didn't care about waiting for a bath. I cared a whole lot more about having to wait for an epidural :).

 Some of the absolute best moments of my life happened on the third floor of St. Francis South, and Elisabeth's birth is certainly one of the them.

Elisabeth's Birth Story, Part 1

The day our sweet Elisabeth joined our family will certainly be a day we all remember forever. Ever since I saw those two pink lines eight months ago, that little girl has been surprising us, and she kept it up on the day she was born and arrived in dramatic style, as any first daughter should!

We had prepared ourselves for an induction on Tuesday, the 12th. Both our boys were late, and we expected this pregnancy would be similar. Although I would have preferred to go into labor on my own, I also had realized that inducing had some advantages (especially for a person who likes control!), and since my labors had gone quickly and easily previously, I didn't anticipate any problems. I expected a long (but not super long) day, with an epidural and a snuggly baby at the end of it, but Elisabeth had her own agenda.

I had been feeling some cramping and inconsistent contractions for a couple of weeks, but the week before she was born, everything stopped, and I hadn't felt anything remotely like labor in several days...until early Saturday morning.

I woke up around 4:30am Saturday morning to go to the bathroom and noticed I was feeling some contractions. I didn't think much of them, but I also couldn't get back to sleep, so I started timing them and noticed they were consistently coming about every six minutes. Around 6:15, when they hadn't let up, I woke up Matt and let him know that I was having contractions, but I wasn't sure if it was real labor yet. After that neither of us could sleep, and in anticipation of possibly needing to head to the hospital, we got up and around (the boys had spent the night with my parents, so we were alone). We showered, finished packing our bags, straightened the house, mopped the floor (you know, because everyone does that when they're in labor). Actually, I had redeemed a coupon Matt had given me for Christmas for a kitchen and bathrooms cleaning, and he had planned to clean on Saturday morning, so the kitchen and bathrooms were pretty dirty. I had kept up with the rest of the house cleaning/laundry, so we would be ready for Tuesday, but the hormonal, nesting momma in me wanted everything ready before bringing a baby home. Matt was sweet to do anything I asked, even though I'm sure he thought I was crazy. By 8:00 everything was ready, in case we needed to head to the hospital. I was still having contractions consistently every six to seven minutes, but they weren't intensifying or giving me a clear sign I was in labor.

We decided to go ahead and load the car and run a couple of errands and see where we stood after that. We ran to Lowe's, the library, and to breakfast. After breakfast, we were in the same spot. I was still having contractions, but nothing else was changing. They were still the same distance apart, the same length, and not getting more painful. I told Matt I really didn't know what to do. He had a work issue looming over his head that I knew he wanted to get taken care of, and he suggested stopping by his work and letting him fix the issue while I sat and read a book, and then we could reevaluate. I thought it was a great plan. He was at work for about an hour, and during that time, my contractions basically stopped. I was having one every 45 minutes or so. I told him we should just go home. I had gotten excited about having a baby that day, but we went home to see what happened.

We made it back home about 10:30. We left the bags in the car in case we needed to go to the hospital later and went for a walk to hopefully get labor moving along some if I was in early labor. Then we came home and finished a movie we had started the night before. My contractions were still basically gone. I would notice one every 30-45 minutes, but that was it. My parents brought the boys by for us to feed them and put them down for naps, so they could run some errands in case we did end up going to the hospital. I let Nathan nap in bed with me, to get some snuggles in. I couldn't nap and around 2:00 or so, my contractions came back again occurring every 5-6 minutes. When I was still having them at 3:30, I told Matt we should go to the hospital. I was positive for group B strep again, so I didn't want to wait too long to head in because I needed antibiotics, and I was pretty sure something was happening. My parents came back over to get the boys, and Matt and I left for the hospital a little before 4:00.

Last picture of her in my belly!

17 Months Old

Samuel,
You are 17 months old! It's been an exciting month for you, Big Brother!

 

You're getting good at your animal sounds. You know the sounds of a dog, cow, duck, dinosaur (and anything else that resembles a roar... lion, etc), and sheep.


*I've never really gotten into the baby sign language, but you spent the evening with one of Grammy's friends and she taught you to sign "more" and "candy"
*Whenever we say "Shh" to you, you always touch your nose (I guess that's what you think we're doing) and make a snorting noise. Adorable.

You are saying new words ALL THE TIME. I think you are more verbal than your brother was at this age. There's no way I could record everything you say. Most of it is pretty unclear, but with the context of the situation, we know what you are saying. Some new words you started saying this month are diaper (I-pa), apple (up-pa), cookie, cracker, cheese (chh), walk, coke (Mom of the year, right here, folks), bus, milk (uck), railroad (ra-ro), fire (i-a) and tractor. You also say "hot" all the time.

Lately, you've been coming up to me and grabbing my hand and saying, "walk, walk." Usually, it's when you want help climbing up and down the stairs. You insist on walking like a big boy, standing up and holding onto the banister which requires an adult's help.

You really like to listen to music, especially, "I've Been Working on the Railroad." You point to the CD player and say "railroad" over and over until I turn it on for you. Then the minute it is over, you repeat the process. It's the only song you ever want to listen to, it seems.

You sort of just weaned yourself from your bottle about 3 weeks ago. I had noticed that you hadn't really been interested in it, and were more interested in playing with it (and spilling your milk everywhere), instead of drinking it, so I just stopped one night, and you didn't seem to care. You've asked for one once or twice since then (and I give it to you), but you haven't had a bottle in about 2 weeks. That was easier than I thought. I was afraid you were getting pretty attached to it, but I guess not. You get a sippy cup of milk with meals and at bedtime and water or diluted apple juice the rest of the day.

You are still taking a morning nap if we are home, but you usually do just fine if you miss it, which is nice. We've even been able to keep you awake on the way home from church on Sundays when you've missed a nap. That's a sign to me that you are starting to outgrow a morning nap. You used to fall asleep before we got out of the parking lot, after missing that morning nap. You consistently take a 1.5-2 hour afternoon nap and sleep from 8:00-8:30 to 7:00. Daddy always gets you up before he leaves for work. It saves me a trip up the stairs to get you and gives Daddy a chance to see you before he goes to work. You've been sleeping pretty soundly lately. It's rare if we hear you in the middle of the night. Thank you! Just in time for Baby Sister's arrival!

You are becoming more interested in TV, and your favorite show is Bubble Guppies. You point to the TV and ask to watch it all the time. You say "bup bup bup" over and over until I turn it on.

We make you keep your pacifiers in your crib now. You are great at putting them down when we get you out of bed. You're also great at sneaking in while you're playing and grabbing one or two. You always obey when we tell you to put them back (probably because you know you have easy access to them).

Your favorite activity is still reading. If anyone is sitting down while you are playing, you grab a book and plop down in their lap and hand it to them to read it to you. You never seem to get tired of books. We still read several at a time throughout the day. You also like to play kitchen- washing your hands in the play sink and pouring drinks, and pushing buttons on the microwave.

I had moved a few of Nathan's books to your room because they were more age appropriate for you. One day, I saw you running out of your room carrying one of the them yelling, "Uh-oh, uh-oh" as you ran to put it back on Nathan's bookshelf. Silly boy!

You are wearing 18month and 18-24month clothes and are just about to transition to a size 5 diaper as soon as we use up the last of the size 4's that we have.