2 for 2

Well, we have been home from the hospital for 2 weeks now, and I think I am starting to get this baby thing down. Don't get me wrong, it's hard as all get out, but it is definitely getting easier. Plus, it doesn't hurt when you have Mimi and Nannie to help out. My mom is back in Mississippi now, and Mimi has been here during the day to help and let me get sleep. But she has been cutting back her hours each day. It has been nice to slowly easy into the role of mom and being on my own with Rebecca.

Rebecca is staying awake more between her feedings which is a lot of fun. She loves to walk outside. She loves to look out windows. She likes her Baby Einstein play mat. She hates tummy time. But her most favorite thing to do is to sit in her vibrating chair and watch the lights blink and listen to the music. Her eyes get so big. If she could smile and laugh, I know she would be doing so when she is in her chair.

The most exciting news is that she is now sleeping in her crib in her very own room. This was a big step for me. I loved having her sleep in her Moses Basket right by my bed. It was a comfort to be able to look over and see her breathing. However, Rebecca is the loudest sleeper I know. She has nothing on the snorers in my family (sorry Daddy). John and I were getting no sleep because "Squirmy" was making so much noise. So we decided to move her to her room two nights ago. The first night she went down about 10:30 and woke up at 2:00 and 6:00. She got a lot more sleep than I did because everytime I woke up I ran to her room to check on her. Last night, she went down about 11:00 and woke up at 2:30 and 5:00. Plus, she usually will go back to sleep after the early morning feeding until about 8 or 9. She loves her big bed (crib), and John and I are actually able to sleep. I did much better last night and actually got some sleep. Here is a picture of her sleeping in her crib.

I went to the doctor today so he could check my incision. Everything looks great and is healing nicely. He said I can slowly resume my normal activities. I can not wait to take a bubble bath!

Ch, ch, ch, changes

I can not stand when someone comes to see Rebecca and says how much she has grown or how much she has changed. I especially hate when someone says "She's gotten so big!" It breaks my heart. She is not even two weeks old, and I am not ready to think about her growing up. I know that it is inevitable; it has to happen, but I do not have to like it. Time seems like it is going by too fast. I really try to enjoy every minute I have with my baby girl, even when it is two in the morning and I am dead tired. My favorite time with her is right after she has eaten. She puts her head on my chest and sleeps. It feels like heaven. I also love when she is nursing sometimes and she takes a break. She will pull her head away from me and look up towards my face. She can make the cutest faces, especially with her lips. In case you can not tell, I love being a mother. I tell Rebecca that I have waited for her for 27 years. I have wanted to be a mom since I was 3 years old.

This past weekend was pretty low key. Rebecca had her first real bath on Saturday. I love to take a bath. It is my favorite thing to do besides sleep. So, of course, I thought that Rebecca would love to take a bath as well. That could not be farther from the truth. As you can tell from the picture, she hated it.

After her bath we got her all dressed up to watch LSU football. LSU played against South Carolina. It was a great game. Nannie (my mom), John and I were really into it. Rebecca, on the other hand, could have cared less. At least she looked good.

As I stated in my last blog, Nannie has been in Atlanta since early September. She left today to head to Charleston to see my sister, Laura. It was really sad to see her go, but I know that it was time. Luckily, Mimi (John's mom) is going to come over during the day to help out. John and I will be on our own at night, but since the pediatrician told us to let Rebecca sleep at night until she wakes up, she has done really well. She still wakes up every 3 to 4 hours, but she goes right back to sleep after she eats. Let's all say a prayer that this continues.

Sleep?

It has been a week since we have been home from the hospital, I can can honestly say, there is no way I would have survived this week without our family. My mom, Nannie, has practically moved to Atlanta. She has been here since Sept. 3, and she is staying until Sept. 26, if not longer. She has been doing everything around here from cleaning, to cooking, to taking late night shifts, and everything in between. I am not sure how Rebecca, John, and I will survive once she travels back to Mississippi. Fortunately, we have John's parents here, Mimi and Papa R. They have been great making sure we do not run out of food. Plus, when my mom does leave, they are ready to take up the slack. I kind of think they are ready for Nannie to leave so they will have more of a reason to come by, even though we have told them they can come anytime to get their Rebecca fix. Here are a couple of pictures of Rebecca with her grandparents. My dad, Papa J, was here for the delivery, but because it is cotton picking time, he had to head back to MS early.

I have always heard that the first week home from the hospital was "special." Ain't that the truth! You never realize how much you love to sleep until you no longer get enough of it. And the funny thing is, is that no matter how tired I am, when I am able to get in bed, I can't go to sleep. Hopefully that will pass. Since Rebecca had slight Jaundice when she was born, we are having to wake her up every 3 hours to feed her. So by the time I wake her up, get her fed, change her diaper, and get her back to sleep, I am lucky if I have 2 hours until the next feeding. I am even more lucky if I am able to sleep at least an hour of those two hours. Needless to say, I am tired. But no matter how tired I am, if I hear my baby cry, I am by her side in a second. I guess that is just part of being a mom.

Today we had our first week doctors appointment. I was really nervous about this trip, but not because of the actual appointment. I was more anxious about the car ride to the clinic. Last Friday on our trip home from the hospital, Rebecca wailed the whole way home. By the time we got home, I was walling. But today she was an angel in the car. She just looked around the whole time, and then on the way home she slept. God answered my prayers. Here is a picture of Rebecca on the way home from the hospital.

The doctor's appointment went great. My baby, who came into this world at 8lbs. 5 oz., and left the hospital just one week ago at 7lbs. 12 0z, weighed in today at 8 lbs. 11 oz. That's right, in one week she gain almost a pound. Probably because we are feeding her every 3 hours. I am not just nursing her, we are having to supplement her with 1-2oz. of formula after every meal. She has what we call the Ambrose Stomach, which means she loves to eat and eat and eat. But because she has gained so much weight, the doctor told me that during the day we only have to feed her every 3-4 hours, and at night we feed her when she wakes up. i could have kissed the doctor when she said this. Tonight though, I am sure she will want to be feed every 2 hours just because she knows I could get some sleep. The doctor said that everything else looked fine. AND her umbilical cord finally fell off this morning, so we get to give her a bath tomorrow. I am still not sure if she is going to have an inny or and outty. I will keep you posted.

Well, this blog has kind of been all over the place. I am going to try to blog more often, since I am able to get around a little better now and hopefully get more sleet at night. I will end this entry with a few of my favorite pictures from the week.

Worth It All

First I want to apologize for ever criticizing my blogging friends for not blogging everyday. It is hard when all you want to do in your "free" time is sleep.

This past week has been a world wind. For those that do not know, last Monday my water broke around 10am. My parents were in town on baby watch, and since I was showing no signs of going into labor anytime soon, we were getting ready to go the the aquarium. Needless to say, we never made it. Instead, John was called home from work and we were on our way to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital around 12:30 pm. We got checked in, put in a room, got an IV, and eventually got an epidural. Things were going great. I was progressing quickly. Everyone thought that the baby would be born before 6:00pm. We watched a movie and friends and family came to visit. I felt great and super excited knowing that it was only going to be a few hours until I met my baby girl. Well, at 6:00 the baby still had not made it far enough down into the birth canal to start pushing. That did not happen until 8:30pm.

Everyone was sent from the room except John, of course, and the pushing began. And I pushed and pushed and pushed. At this point we knew that the baby was what they call sunny-side up. This means that she was facing towards my belly. Now babies can be born in this sunny-side up position, but it is just a little harder and more painful. (Thank goodness for the epidural.) Normally, as the mom pushes, the sunny-side baby will turn to face down. However, my stubborn little girl would not budge, and because of the sunny-side position every time I pushed the baby would barely move. In fact, in my 4 hours of pushing, she barely move half an inch.

John and I are sure that after 2 hours of pushing, the doctor new that this baby was not coming out vaginally without help. But she let me rest in different positions to try to get the baby to move. Nothing worked. At 12:30, Dr. McKinney said that it was not safe to continue to push. We had two options. First we could try to vacuum the baby out (which sounds horrible), or we could do a c-section. I was crushed. The last thing I wanted to do was to have to have a c-section. I had this great picture in my head of having the baby, her being placed on my chest, and listening to her first cries. I knew with a c-section, this would not be the case.

Dr. McKinney said that if we tried the vacuum, she would not be very aggressive at it. It was more of a tool to go along with my pushing. We decided to go this route and do everything we could to stay out of the operating room.

We tried, and we failed. The baby would not even move with the help of the vacuum. I was going to have to have a c-section. I was incredibly upset, but at this point we had tried everything we could. I knew that it was best for the baby to go ahead with the surgery.

At this point, John was getting suited up for the OR. Our parents came in to get my things and to say good luck. Being wheeled to the OR was kind of a blur. I knew my parents and John were following me. There were a bunch of people talking to each other and to me. I have no idea what they were saying. Once we reached the OR, they made John wait outside so they could prep me. I kept asking, "When is John coming?" Luckily, the anesthesiologist was super nice. He kept talking to me, trying to calm me down, telling me what was happening. Finally John was allowed in the room, and the surgery began. All I remember is staring at John the whole time.

After what seemed like forever, I heard the sweetest sound I ever heard. My baby's cry. Dr. McKinney said, "John, look over hear and get a picture of your daughter."

Earlier, I had told John to not worry about me. Once the baby was born, I did not want him to let her out of his sight. He followed the baby to the other side of the room to take pictures. I kept saying, "John bring me the camera, I want to see the pictures." He said back, "If you hold on a second, I will bring the baby to you." He brought her over for what seemed like a nanosecond before he went with her to the recovery room while the doctors were finishing up on me. Luckily, my friend the anesthesiologist, gave me a little something to help me relax, so it seemed like no time at all before I was reunited with my little family.

We had to stay in recovery for an hour and a half, or until I could wiggle my toes. Finally around 3:30am, we were wheeled into my hospital room where our parents had been waiting patiently. There we finally revealed her name, Rebecca Haws Kimball. Rebecca is my mother's middle name; Haws is John's mother's middle name. She was born September 11th and 1:25am. She weighed 8lbs. 5oz. She was 20 3/4 inches long. Her daddy and I think that she is the most perfect thing every created. Everything we went through, was worth it.

There is much more to tell, but it will have to wait for another day. It is now feeding time.