July 2013

In ten days Reese will be SEVEN months old! Please, someone, tell me how this has happened!

Reese had her 6 month appointment last week. She is 24 3/4in long and 12lbs 13oz! We are so proud of her weight gain after trying hard for the last two months to get her up! She is in 10th percentile for height and still under the 5th percentile for weight, but I'm not concerned. As my doctor said, she is just a peanut!

She rolls all around the house now and has started getting in to things. We are going to have to babyproof soon! She has started to scoot but isn't very efficient at it yet. She keeps her head on the ground and pushes off with her head. It's really strange. But the last couple of days she has started getting her knees up under her and at the same time pushing up halfway with her arms. So I know before we know it she will be on all fours and crawling! Personally, I wouldn't mind if she stayed rolling for a little bit longer. :)

Her personality is really showing these days. She is a total goof. Whenever she thinks something is funny she smiles and crinkles up her little nose. It's adorable. She is our pride and joy. We love her so much!

 Reese sitting up watching Doc McStuffins!

4.5 months

Holy cow, time has flown! So sorry for no updates or pictures. My little lady is keeping me wonderfully busy!

Reese is 4.5 months old now. At her 4 month check up she weighed in at 10lbs 5oz, and 23 1/4in long. A little on the small side so my doctor and I talked about options to help beef her up a little. She is still thriving, hitting all of her developmental milestones right on time, so we are not worried about her size. She is just a lil' peanut! And SO cute that way!

Reese is a total joy. She is mobile now and rolls all over the place. She loves rolling to the dogs then grabbing their fur. Of course, everything she grabs goes in her mouth. So there have been a few times she will try to eat the dog. We figure living in this house, that's just going to happen! Obviously we try to limit the amount of times she is sucking on dog fur. ;)

She is a happy little girl 98% of the time. She sleeps wonderfully. She does the funniest little giggles, even though she is so serious it is hard to get a giggle out of her. She is shy around other people and if we hand her off to someone else at church or elsewhere, she will let you know she is NOT happy about that! So that is something we will continuously be working on, but I have a feeling it will just get worse until it gets better.

We are going to California next month for my grandpas memorial service. While I am absolutely DREADING the flights (not because of Reese but because I loathe flying), I am so excited to be back in California. It's been two years since we've been back! Reese will get to meet the rest of her cousins and I will get some good family time in. I cannot wait!

6 weeks!

So about three weeks ago I posted a very long update complete with a ton of pictures, only to have blogger fail me and delete it. Even the auto save didn't come through. I was so upset. So here I am, weeks later, writing another update. And it had better stick!

 Reese is WONDERFUL. She is six weeks old today which blows me Away. She is a very easy baby so far. From the very beginning, she only gets up once at night. This past week she has actually been sleeping through the entire night! Jake and I realize how rare this is, so we feel very fortunate and very blessed!

Reese has been sleeping in a bassinet next to our bed, but this past weekend we introduced her to the crib! Just during nap times. She has done well, although it has certainly cut down on the length of time she sleeps. I know she will get better at it though. I think tonight will be her firs might in the crib, and let me tell you I am dreading it! I love having her so close! But since she is not really eating in the middle of the night anymore, there is no reason to keep her so close. Plus, it's easier to transfer her now than in a few months, I am sure!

Reese has started smiling, is a pro at tummy time, and has even rolled over for us a few times! She had her one month check up last week and she looks great. She is now 8lbs 13oz and 21.5in long! She had dropped down to 6lbs 12oz at her four day check up, so she gained two pounds in a month! Proud mommy right here!

Jake and I just love being parents. It's a lot of work but like I said, Reese really is an easy baby. We really haven't had any sleep deprived zombie moments so that is lovely!


I am fully recovered also! I lost twenty pounds in the first week after having her, which leaves me with six pounds till I'm back at my pre-pregnancy weight! I started working out a few weeks ago trying to build back up my muscle, and last week I started running! I hope to be able to keep it up! Gotta get myself ready for this summer!

The dogs have adjusted very well to having a baby in the house. Fall acts as if Reese doesn't exist. At first, Finnick was pretty jealous. Now he is just his crazy, exuberant, seven month old self. He seems to really like Reese, but he needs to learn how to be careful around her! He is very clumsy, and at about 50lbs, it's not always comfortable being laid/sat/stepped on! But we are working on it.

All in all, things are great! My sister and her family came to visit about a month ago, and my mom was just here. My dad will be out here in April! We love seeing our family.

I will try to be better about updating!

Okay I guess I can't post pictures from my iPad. I'll do a pic post later!

She's here!!

Reese Elizabeth was born December 31st at 3:09am. She weighed 7lbs 10oz and is 20.5in long!

Sunday, December 30th I woke up at 12:30am with uncomfortable contractions. I figured they were just my regular BH and I would be able to fall back asleep. They continued to get a little stronger but no closer together. Around 2:30 I started bleeding, so I knew it was going to be soon! By 6am I was having strong and painful contractions 3 minutes apart with HORRIBLE back pain, so my doctor sent us to the hospital. When we got there I was only 2.5cm dilated and 80% effaced. I was kept for about four hours and I did a lot of walking, ball bouncing, and squatting to try and get some progress. After four hours I was checked again and still no progress, so I was sent home. At home the pain got even worse and the contractions were about a minute apart. At around 2:30pm we headed back to the hospital just be to 2.5cm again. I was so frustrated! We waited an hour to be checked. My doctor said if there was any progress I would be staying, but if not I'd be sent home.  As soon as I saw the nurses smile on her face, I knew I had progressed! I was at a 3 and I could stay! They hooked me up to an epidural when I was 5cm, and it didn't hurt at all. I felt immediate relief except for a little pocket right above my right hip. They said hopefully that pain pocket will close, but sometimes it'll just spread.

Jake's mom showed up around that time to help us out. My doctor came in and broke my water, and explained I may need Pitocin to help speed up contractions because an epi can slow them down, and my water not breaking on it's own. But when I was checked next I was already at 7cm. We were all so surprised!

It was right around 7cm that my epidural wore off. It started just on my right side/back then traveled to my left side also. My left leg stayed numb but that was about it. We upped my dosage but it didn't work, so they upped it again. Still no luck. I resigned myself to just having to get through labor without a full epidural. Definitely NOT my birth plan, but that's okay, we knew things may not go as wanted. :)

By then it was around 10pm and I was exhausted from the pain, and from being up so early. I tried sleeping between contractions but it was always such a brutal wake up call when I woke up to a contraction. I had never been so tired. Finally I was checked again and my dr announced I basically had no more cervix, and we were going to try some practice pushes!

Practice pushing turned in to intense pushing, which turned in to even MORE intense pushing. I couldn't get the baby down so I laid on my side and pushed that way. It worked SO much better. The baby's little head was quickly coming down, so the nurse got my doctor.

4 hours or so later, Reese was born! She had her hand and arm up against her head, which made it very hard for me to push her past my pubic bone. I was soooo exhausted from pushing for so long that everything was kind of a blur. I remember everyone in the room going "PUSH PUSH PUSH PUSH PUSH" and the next thing I knew I felt complete relief and my baby girl was with me! She started crying quickly (although to me it felt like a lifetime) then they took her and weighed her, measured her, did all those fun things. Everyone, even my dr, was shocked to see how much she weighed. They assumed she'd be high 6s, low 7s because of how small I was. I certainly did not care at that point! After her testing they gave her back to me and I got to hold her for about 15 minutes, when she was taken again for another test. After that I got to breastfeed her.

A few hours later we were moved to the post partum ward and Reese went off to the nursery for a few more tests.

So that's the story! It was about a 30 hour labor from start to finish, and much different than I thought it would be. But I'm SO happy with the end result! Jake and I are so, so in love. To us she is the most beautiful, perfect baby in the world. :)

I'll do my best keeping this blog updated with pics and stories, but you know how I am! Here are some more pictures for now!