8 Weeks Old!

Wow...time goes so fast when you have a newborn! The holiday season didn't help my schedule any either. It has already been 8 weeks since Quinn was born. I know he has gotten big - he has been wearing 3 month clothes for a couple of weeks now. I'm not sure of his exact weight - he goes in for his 2 month visit next week - but I bet he has doubled his birth weight.

Hadley is loving being a big sister. She wants to hold him and touch him and kiss him all the time. She is still learning to be gentler and not tackle him and push on him and rock him too fast. She finally gave up her crib after about a month of sleeping in her toddler bed every night and at naps. For awhile she kept saying "own bed" meaning that Quinn has his own bed (a travel crib). Finally on New Year's Day we asked her again for about the hundredth time if she would give her crib to Quinn and she said yes. She hasn't even missed having it in her room.

Quinn is a rather fussy baby and even though he sleeps great in his room at night, he almost never sleeps during the day unless he is being held. That makes for a long day for me when I am home alone with the two kids. He doesn't enjoy playing on the floor, or the swing, or pretty much anything that doesn't involve someone holding him. I am hoping he outgrows that in the next month or daycare will be a rude awakening.

Speaking of daycare, we are still looking for the right one. It is very hard to find a competent provider that will take our kids at a part-time rate. The full-time rates are $225 - 260 a week and that would eat the majority of my take home pay since I only work 3 days a week. I haven't given up yet, but I took the last couple of weeks off the search due to the holidays and illness.

The kids and I all had a cold just after Christmas - Quinn's first. We are all still getting over it. Hadley told me her nose is broken. I love that!

Quinn still gets up one or two times a night to eat, but he is eating 7 or 8 times in 24 hours, so it is better than the 10 to 12 times he was a few weeks ago. I am not as exhausted as I was at first.

I have lost about 30 lbs so far but I'm not weighing myself very often (the number is too depressing). I gained about 75 lbs this pregnancy so I still have a long way to go. I am getting on my elliptical 5 days a week for 30 minutes, but I'm not dieting due to nursing (I don't want my milk to dry up).

Before Christmas, I had to go out and buy some clothes because the only thing in my closet that sort of fit was maternity clothes, and they look ridiculous when you're not pregnant. I am two sizes bigger than the biggest clothes in my closet and about 20 lbs heavier than I ever got from the PCOS.

I had my post pregnancy testing for diabetes and my results were elevated but not diabetic. I am supposed to lose weight and come back in 6 months for a retest. I am dreading it because it is the one where you fast and then drink the disgusting sugary crap and then sit in the lab for 2 hours. I just did it last week - what a drag.

Right now I cannot picture having another child until Hadley is in school because I have no idea how we would afford daycare for three kids. However, I don't want to wait too long because I already have fertility issues and I don't want to throw age-related fertility problems into the mix. Even though I HATE being pregnant, I am willing to do it at least one more time. The timing will have to be right, though.

I have no idea when I will get to post again, it will just depend on how busy my life stays. I'll try to keep the updates coming.

Sooooo tired!

Okay, so I know I said I would post again on Saturday, but I didn't realize how busy it can be at the hospital. When I had Hadley, she was in the NICU so I had a lot of time in my room to do things like email and stuff. With Quinn, he was wanting to eat every 1-2 hours sometimes and there was CONSTANTLY someone in my room wanting to bug me or him. I don't mean visitors but nurses and PCAs and stuff.

My recovery in the hospital went well. It was pretty painful at times, and breastfeeding was causing bleeding and pain, but we got through it. Quinn was circumcised on Saturday, and he is recovering from that. Sunday night he was down to 6 lbs 10 oz so they made me supplement with formula. Not what you want to hear at 1 AM when you're exhausted. We used a syringe and tube to supplement at the breast. I had never done that before, but it was easy enough.

The pediatric nurse practitioner told me Monday morning to supplement until my milk came in. It came in around lunch time that day, and I met with a lactation consultant during a feeding right before I left. She said my milk was there and that Quinn was getting plenty now. The nurse still sent me home with formula and stuff and she strongly recommended that I supplement until we brought him in on Tuesday to have his weight checked.

I really didn't want to have to mess with that stinky crap when we got home, so I woke Quinn up really often overnight and made sure he ate. When I brought him in Tuesday morning at 9 AM he was up to 7 lbs 5 oz! Nearly up to his birth weight. Usually babies reach their birth weight around 2 weeks, so he is ahead of the game. What a difference 33 hours can make!

I have been crying at least once a day over something irrational. I am hormonal and sleep deprived, and I remember crying after Hadley was born, too. The longest stretch of sleep I have had since Quinn arrived was 4 hours on Saturday night. Needless to say it is starting to catch up with me. I'm just exhausted...in fact I should be napping now, but I really wanted to update.

Oh, and my feet are about twice their regular size. VERY swollen. I am hoping they will go down by the end of the week. If they don't, I might call my doc to make sure this is normal. My wrist also hurts from my IV, but that's nothing unusual.

Hadley is doing great with Quinn. She asks to hold him and wants to kiss him and is always concerned about where he is. I am struggling with finding time to spend with her, though. Breastfeeding is taking up my entire day and night and I miss her so much. I cannot find much time to spend with her. It doesn't help that I cannot lift her or get down to play with her yet. Hopefully in another couple of days I will be more recovered from my surgery. She is still adjusting to not having the rocking chair in her room anymore. Her nap and bedtime routine are off because I always read and rocked her in her room before she went down. The chair is in Quinn's room now and I'm not always there to tuck her in. I think it is hard on her, but she is surviving just like the rest of us.

Ben is off this week and my Mom is here until tomorrow, so I have had some help these first few days at home. That's great because I would not even have time to feed and bathe Hadley or feed myself for that matter. I forgot how much work a newborn can be. At least he is a very good baby and really only cries about hunger and over having his diaper changed. Well, so far anyway.

I know that Quinn was not one of our main choices, but in the end it was what we both liked best. It really does fit him.

Well, I'm going to try and rest some more. I'll post again when I can. Thanks to all for their good wishes.

Quinn's Birthday!

He's here! Quinn West was born at 11:18 AM today. He weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long.

I came to the hospital this morning for an amniocentesis and the ultrasound tech couldn't find a good pocket of fluid for the doc to place the needle. Then doc asked for an AFI (amniotic fluid index). It was 3.6! Crazy - I was just checked by ultrasound on Tuesday this week and my fluid was fine.

So...we went ahead with the c-section because of low fluid - the same reason I had one with Hadley. Luckily my placenta made it 4 weeks longer than the last.

Things are going well. Quinn finally latched on well about an hour ago and fed. The first couple of attempts were not that successful, but that's pretty normal.

We've got visitors here so I'll post again tomorrow.

37 Weeks 4 Days

No change at the doc today. Baby is still head down and everything looked great on ultrasound. I am still only 50 % effaced and I am not dilated at all. My doc said we will certainly see Friday. So it looks like a c-section unless something drastically changes. I don't really care what happens as long as baby and I both come out okay. Doc said she thinks he might be 9 lbs. Holy crap!

37 Weeks 3 Days

I am ready to be done with this! I am so tired and uncomfortable and in pain. It is hard for me to put on socks and shoes - and pants for that matter. I have a bad pain in my pelvic / groin area on the right that makes me want to cry when I turn over at night. My back and feet ache constantly and my left knee hurts sometimes. I am still having reflux about 2 nights a week where I wake up coughing and choking on vomit/stomach acid. I only sleep for a couple of hours at a time before I wake up from reflux or hip pain or a full bladder. I weigh a ton and have new stretch marks. I am very swollen, especially in the hands and feet. I now have to eat 7 times a day at specific times, check my blood sugar 7 times a day, and give myself 5 shots a day. I have 3 to 4 tests and doctor appointments a week. I cannot pick up Hadley as much as I want to or get on the floor to play with her. All in all, I've had enough! Sorry about the complaining, but pregnancy kind of sucks right now.

I am still having contractions that go away when I rest and none that are regular. I have them more often when I am working. Work was long today and I still have Weds and Thurs to go before I am done. I did a bunch of stuff around the house this weekend, so of course I didn't rest as much as I should have. I am really looking forward to Friday.

I have an ultrasound tomorrow and I see the doc after - I will post more after that.

36 Weeks 6 Days

I had a ton of contractions at work yesterday but they slowed down in the evening. They are more frequent when I'm active and slow down when I rest. They are still probably doing some pre-labor work, but are no reason to head to the hospital.

I had my last pre-delivery appt with the endocrinologist's office today. I am glad those are done - what a pain they were! I brought Hadley with me and she was very good. She was a little wild, but not naughty.

I am going to rest and drink tons of water this weekend in case labor does happen - I want to be well-rested and hydrated. I am feeling like I will not go before the c-section date, but you never know. He might decide to come on his own time. I don't really care what kind of delivery I have as long as we are both healthy and safe.

I'm going to try to post frequently until I deliver since this is the last leg of the pregnancy. I want to remember it!

36 Weeks 5 Days

I saw the doctor yesterday and I'm not dilated even one bit - no change from last week. Baby did well on his BP again. I am still measuring at 38 weeks (same as last week). She said that's probably because he has dropped further into my pelvis. Nothing else to really report there.

I woke up twice last night to go to the bathroom and once or twice from contractions. They seem to be more intense the last day or so, but still not regular. They don't really "hurt" but I know sitting at work my face gets flush and I feel hot and then sure enough my belly is tight. It seems like my whole uterus is contracting now instead of just one side of my belly. I have had more discharge in the last week, too, but it seems normal for now.

I think we have picked a name - Ben finally gave me a list of five names he likes and I picked the one I liked the best. We may still change our minds, but as of right now we're going with Quinn.

I have this feeling that I won't go into labor and that I will end up with a c-section on the 14th as planned, but I haven't been this far in pregnancy before and have nothing with which I can compare this. I will just update as I can and we'll see what happens next!