Something many of you know about me is that I'm a really happy person most of the time. I don't really understand how people go through life unhappy and down on life. I absolutely live on happiness. I love to be happy myself, but there really is no better way to make myself happy than to make someone else happy.
These last couple weeks have been fun with Kate because all I do is strive to make her happy, and if you have read my blog "laughing" you would know that she is starting to let me know when she is really happy. It makes me happy to know that I can make her happy. I know that for the rest of my life I will try and make her happy, just like my parents have done far too often for me.
I read in someone else's blog today about how a lot of people look at having kids as a burden rather than a blessing and how hurtful she finds that. I could not agree more. There were so many times when I was pregnant that I heard something like "enjoy your time now" or "wait until" this or that happens. People all around me made it sound like such work with little pay off. I have quickly come to find out that all of those people should really take a step back and look at the advice they are giving. I might only be 3 months into being a mom, but I absolutely know that I am looking forward to the future with my daughter. I would gladly have sleepless nights and trying times to have her and make her happy. I can't imagine that people intend the unsolicited advice as hurtful or rude, but in all honesty, it is. I think people should focus on how great the reward of being a parent is. I might not sleep, but in the mean time I get to stare at that precious face. She might hinder our ability to just hop up and go, but I just can't ever imagine Kate being a burden to my life. Yes it might be hard, and yes I might not know what I'm talking about yet, but I know how happy I am because she is here.
-K
Monday, April 23, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
sleeping habits
I have been together with my husband for quite a while now. We will have been together for 7 years on April 25th, We have lived together 3 years, and we have been married for a year and a half in June. Long enough for us to figure out eachother sleeping habits. It took me a while to figure out a good sleeping schedule. We have our "his and her's" side of the bed, (while I was pregnant I convinced myself that I would sleep better if we switched sides... I was wrong, but we have yet to switch back). We have figured out that Jacob is a back/side sleeper and I am for sure a stomach sleeper. We also figured out during pregnancy that when I sleep on my back I snore. A LOT. Jacob doesn't like to sleep without a shower. We both have to go to sleep pretty early because we both wake up pretty early for work. I would like to say I dont have vary many sleep issues but who knows... I'm sleeping. I do know for a fact that Jacob has some sleep issues that freak me out.
Jacob is a sleep talker. He is also a sleep walker.
It took me longer to figure out these interesting things about him. The first weird thing I figured out about him was that he sleeps with his eyes open. It's like he's staring at me. Super weird. Talking in his sleep was the next weird thing. I dont remember a lot of what he says because a lot of times it's unrecognizeable mermers and noises that I can't understand. On the very special occasion that he talks to me in his sleep and I can understand him it always makes me wonder, WHAT THE HECK is he dreaming about?! The most recent event when he was talking in his sleep, the converstation went like this:
Jacob: "Girlfriend" (which by the way yes we still call eachother boyfriend and girlfriend, and yes we will probably do that until we die)
Me: huh?
Jacob: "Girlfriend do you have your earplugs in?"
Me: "Boyfriend you are sleeping"
Jacob: "I am NOT sleeping, do you have your earplugs?"
Me: "no, you are sleeping"
Jacob: " Do whatever you want". He then rolls over and goes back into regular sleep.
I always ask him if he remembers talking to me the night before and he usually remembers talking to me but doesnt remember what happend. This is a very simmilar situation as to when he is sleep walking. His sleep walking in most cases is much less obvious. Most of the time he heads towards the bathroom, but then viers off to some other part of the room. I can usually catch him by saying "boyfriend, what are you doing?". Sometimes he responds still dreaming and it takes a second question, but most of the time it just takes that one for him to wake up and realize he doesn't know what he is doing and goes back to bed. The last time he slept walked was when Kate was about 7 weeks old. Jacob is a super light sleeper so he cant sleep in the same room as her because she is LOUD when she sleeps. She was still sleeping in the living room in a bassinett thing when this happened which is what tipped me off to him sleep walking. He had gotten out of bed and headed for the bathroom, turned around and then headed for the door to the living room. I asked my usual "what are you doing?" and he said "I'm going to sleep on the couch" when I asked why he said " you need to stop rolling around" I told him "I havent moved since I have been asleep" and he says "oh, okay." and comes back to bed.
These instances are honestly few and far between but they always make me laugh. They are just really funny. Something we have figured out about Kate is that she is already an expressive sleeper. She dreams like no baby I have ever seen. She looks like she is dreaming of bottles and trying to eat while she is sleeping. she laughs, she cries, she screams, and she smiles all in her sleep. she even sleeps with her eyes open just like Jacob. let's all hope she doesnt grow up to be a sleep talker, but i'm not holding my breath.
-K
Jacob is a sleep talker. He is also a sleep walker.
It took me longer to figure out these interesting things about him. The first weird thing I figured out about him was that he sleeps with his eyes open. It's like he's staring at me. Super weird. Talking in his sleep was the next weird thing. I dont remember a lot of what he says because a lot of times it's unrecognizeable mermers and noises that I can't understand. On the very special occasion that he talks to me in his sleep and I can understand him it always makes me wonder, WHAT THE HECK is he dreaming about?! The most recent event when he was talking in his sleep, the converstation went like this:
Jacob: "Girlfriend" (which by the way yes we still call eachother boyfriend and girlfriend, and yes we will probably do that until we die)
Me: huh?
Jacob: "Girlfriend do you have your earplugs in?"
Me: "Boyfriend you are sleeping"
Jacob: "I am NOT sleeping, do you have your earplugs?"
Me: "no, you are sleeping"
Jacob: " Do whatever you want". He then rolls over and goes back into regular sleep.
I always ask him if he remembers talking to me the night before and he usually remembers talking to me but doesnt remember what happend. This is a very simmilar situation as to when he is sleep walking. His sleep walking in most cases is much less obvious. Most of the time he heads towards the bathroom, but then viers off to some other part of the room. I can usually catch him by saying "boyfriend, what are you doing?". Sometimes he responds still dreaming and it takes a second question, but most of the time it just takes that one for him to wake up and realize he doesn't know what he is doing and goes back to bed. The last time he slept walked was when Kate was about 7 weeks old. Jacob is a super light sleeper so he cant sleep in the same room as her because she is LOUD when she sleeps. She was still sleeping in the living room in a bassinett thing when this happened which is what tipped me off to him sleep walking. He had gotten out of bed and headed for the bathroom, turned around and then headed for the door to the living room. I asked my usual "what are you doing?" and he said "I'm going to sleep on the couch" when I asked why he said " you need to stop rolling around" I told him "I havent moved since I have been asleep" and he says "oh, okay." and comes back to bed.
These instances are honestly few and far between but they always make me laugh. They are just really funny. Something we have figured out about Kate is that she is already an expressive sleeper. She dreams like no baby I have ever seen. She looks like she is dreaming of bottles and trying to eat while she is sleeping. she laughs, she cries, she screams, and she smiles all in her sleep. she even sleeps with her eyes open just like Jacob. let's all hope she doesnt grow up to be a sleep talker, but i'm not holding my breath.
-K
Monday, April 16, 2012
laughing
Kate has started laughing and it is the most wonderful sound in the world. It is so so funny to hear her chuckle. It also makes me feel good that I am getting a reaction from her about all the stupid faces and noises I make to her everyday in hopes that it makes her happy. There is a pin on pinterest I see every once in a while that is a picture of a bunch of women standing around in a circle looking over a baby with googily eyes. I laugh every time I see this picture because it is so true. I feel like a complete dumbass sometimes when i'm standing over Kate sticking my tounge out at her or babbling at her like an idiot, but I now know that my efforts are being recieved and now I am being rewarded. It has been amazing to watch her grow from a tiny little thing that had no facial expression, to a bit bigger tiny thing that smiled at me every once in a while, and now a 14 pound infant that smiles, laughs, and cacks at me because i'm making her happy with my stupid faces and noises.
Her first laugh made me laugh, and almost cry. We were over hanging out with my mother in law and sister in law that day. My mother in law is just a great grandma and is always making Kate smile. She was doing something along the lines of saying "i'm gunna get this baby" and brigning her up and kissing her neck really fast and all of a sudden we hear this "huh huuhhh huuuhhh" noise. It took me a second to realize OH MY GOSH! MY BABY IS LAUGHING! I was a super proud mama.
The little act of laughing or smiling or learning a new sign (which by the way we are totally going to be awesome signing parents) has made me realize how proud I am going to be. I am going to be one of those annoying parents that is proud of any tiny little thing my kids do. I haven't ever had a problem with those kinds of parents before, but I assume I will probably annoy people. I will here by promise to try to keep my proudness undercontrol in public. I just know that I will be so excited when any little accomplishments are made. I know there are kids out there that have parents that are never proud of them and I vowed when Kate was born that I would never be one of those parents. I have a daughter. She laughed and I am proud of her.
-K
Her first laugh made me laugh, and almost cry. We were over hanging out with my mother in law and sister in law that day. My mother in law is just a great grandma and is always making Kate smile. She was doing something along the lines of saying "i'm gunna get this baby" and brigning her up and kissing her neck really fast and all of a sudden we hear this "huh huuhhh huuuhhh" noise. It took me a second to realize OH MY GOSH! MY BABY IS LAUGHING! I was a super proud mama.
The little act of laughing or smiling or learning a new sign (which by the way we are totally going to be awesome signing parents) has made me realize how proud I am going to be. I am going to be one of those annoying parents that is proud of any tiny little thing my kids do. I haven't ever had a problem with those kinds of parents before, but I assume I will probably annoy people. I will here by promise to try to keep my proudness undercontrol in public. I just know that I will be so excited when any little accomplishments are made. I know there are kids out there that have parents that are never proud of them and I vowed when Kate was born that I would never be one of those parents. I have a daughter. She laughed and I am proud of her.
-K
Friday, April 13, 2012
Maternity leave
Yesterday was my last day of maternity leave. Sad face. Happy face.
It ended up being one great day. We got up and snuggled for a little while and then we went and visited Kate's Grandma, Jacob's mom, at her work. There is one thing that I have to say about my family. I have the best family ever. I am so lucky to have amazing parents myself but I am also blessed with having amazing In-Laws. Kate and I love going to visit my mother in law at work. For one I love getting to spend time with her and we have super fun chats about decorating, sign language (I'm sure this topic will soon become it's own post), and all sorts of gossip. I also love that everyone around the office loves to take time out of their day to come see us. It is just a fun place to go have a break. Kate is always so happy to see her grandma :).
After our adventure to visit Misti, we went and visited her other grandma (She she, as we like to call her) for a nice lunch. Now I know I have gloated before about how awesome my mom is, but here we go again. She is awesome. She would do anything in the world for my sister and I, and now she would give up the world for Kate. What else can you ask for in a person? I have no idea. Kate loves her and my dad so much already and she doesn't even know her own name yet. We had a lovely lunch for which Kate slept the entire time. This is a pretty common instance. Besides the poop incident (which you can read about here) Kate has always been so easy to take anywhere. She the majority of the time falls asleep within 30 seconds of being in the car and stays that way until she realizes she is hungry, which these days can be after 4-5 hours of her last meal so it is pretty simple going for her (knock on wood). My mom had gone shopping earlier in the day which resulted in "santa clause" gearing up for christmas this year haha. P.S. did you all know pottery barn kids in Penn is going out of business?! Anyways my mom got the cutest things for her but they are all things she won't be able to use until she is a little bit older. Why not stock up now right? ANYWAYS so after lunch we took a trip to target. If you know me you know how I feel about target. If you don't, I LOVE TARGET!! I will shout it from the roof tops. I buy everything from target. After our Target run we went back to my parent's house and played with She She and Pop's. She always has a good time over there because she is spoiled with love and attention. Which in my opinion is never a bad thing.
Jacob and I had a little fun too. Last night we asked his mom to baby sit Kate for us while we went and had a super fun dinner at the melting pot! I love the melting pot. I know some people don't like it because your paying to cook your own food, but I think it's the atmosphere that does it for us. I love having long dinners with friends where we can just sit and talk and laugh and enjoy each other, good food, and good wine.
My time off has been so amazing. I have gotten to watch my little girl grow so fast. She has reached so many milestones and I know that she is in good hands to continue that growth. I am so lucky that we have found such a great baby school for Kate to attend while we are at work.
It's been sweet but I am happy to be back at work. I am really loving my job right now and I can't wait to see where it is going to take me.
-K
It ended up being one great day. We got up and snuggled for a little while and then we went and visited Kate's Grandma, Jacob's mom, at her work. There is one thing that I have to say about my family. I have the best family ever. I am so lucky to have amazing parents myself but I am also blessed with having amazing In-Laws. Kate and I love going to visit my mother in law at work. For one I love getting to spend time with her and we have super fun chats about decorating, sign language (I'm sure this topic will soon become it's own post), and all sorts of gossip. I also love that everyone around the office loves to take time out of their day to come see us. It is just a fun place to go have a break. Kate is always so happy to see her grandma :).
After our adventure to visit Misti, we went and visited her other grandma (She she, as we like to call her) for a nice lunch. Now I know I have gloated before about how awesome my mom is, but here we go again. She is awesome. She would do anything in the world for my sister and I, and now she would give up the world for Kate. What else can you ask for in a person? I have no idea. Kate loves her and my dad so much already and she doesn't even know her own name yet. We had a lovely lunch for which Kate slept the entire time. This is a pretty common instance. Besides the poop incident (which you can read about here) Kate has always been so easy to take anywhere. She the majority of the time falls asleep within 30 seconds of being in the car and stays that way until she realizes she is hungry, which these days can be after 4-5 hours of her last meal so it is pretty simple going for her (knock on wood). My mom had gone shopping earlier in the day which resulted in "santa clause" gearing up for christmas this year haha. P.S. did you all know pottery barn kids in Penn is going out of business?! Anyways my mom got the cutest things for her but they are all things she won't be able to use until she is a little bit older. Why not stock up now right? ANYWAYS so after lunch we took a trip to target. If you know me you know how I feel about target. If you don't, I LOVE TARGET!! I will shout it from the roof tops. I buy everything from target. After our Target run we went back to my parent's house and played with She She and Pop's. She always has a good time over there because she is spoiled with love and attention. Which in my opinion is never a bad thing.
Jacob and I had a little fun too. Last night we asked his mom to baby sit Kate for us while we went and had a super fun dinner at the melting pot! I love the melting pot. I know some people don't like it because your paying to cook your own food, but I think it's the atmosphere that does it for us. I love having long dinners with friends where we can just sit and talk and laugh and enjoy each other, good food, and good wine.
My time off has been so amazing. I have gotten to watch my little girl grow so fast. She has reached so many milestones and I know that she is in good hands to continue that growth. I am so lucky that we have found such a great baby school for Kate to attend while we are at work.
It's been sweet but I am happy to be back at work. I am really loving my job right now and I can't wait to see where it is going to take me.
-K
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
By request... Poop (this is gross)
be advised that this post is gross. if you can't handle talking about poop don't read this.
I had a specific request for a blog, which doesn't happen normally, to blog about Kate's wonderful first time to hideaway pizza. All I can say is Poop. Poop EVERYWHERE! So for all of you parents out there you know that when your child is first born they poop. for the non parents... they poop. A lot. Kate in particular had really disgusting breast fed baby poop (i'll spare you the details). So you can see where this story is going.
It was a lovely afternoon. Kate was about 4 weeks old and my mom and I had decided to have lunch at hideaway that day. Hideaway is not far from my good friend Jessica's work so I give her a shout to see if she want's to come and meet us for lunch. She agreed and we all met at lunchtime. I had started bringing Kate into public when she was about a week old. She was always sleeping and we never had a problem bringing her anywhere so I didn't think too much about bringing her out. I always feel prepared when we go out for any situation because I have an amazing diaper bag that is stuffed full with all the stuff I could ever need. We have our diapers, wipes, burp rags, bottles, milk, and secondary outfits if needed all in this awesome back pack. I am absolutely prepared for any situation that would occur right? Wrong.
By this time in Kate's life she had developed a habit to where she was only pooping once a day or so. you always hear before you child is born that you need to watch out for the "blowouts", but you also think, nooo not my precious baby girl, she is to pretty to poop like that. well that was a freaking fantasy that I made up in my head because guess what? It happened. It happened right there in the middle of Hideaway.
My mom was holding her and she made her face like she was about to make a mess. and sure enough she did. all over. all over the table, all over my mom, all over her clothes, all over the floor, all over. Jessica is a weak stomach and just about puked all over the table. she couldn't get out of there fast enough. I think she realized how embarrassed I was because she felt bad that she gagged. I don't blame her at all, it was gross. let alone did Jess have to witness this mess but our waiter was standing RIGHT THERE! He totally witnessed the whole event and didn't even say a word. I commend him for keeping a straight face in front of me. I think if he would have said something I might have cried. I was trying to be as discrete about the situation as possible but that is kind of impossible when there is shit flinging across the table and onto the floor. gross.
I am mortified.
I had a specific request for a blog, which doesn't happen normally, to blog about Kate's wonderful first time to hideaway pizza. All I can say is Poop. Poop EVERYWHERE! So for all of you parents out there you know that when your child is first born they poop. for the non parents... they poop. A lot. Kate in particular had really disgusting breast fed baby poop (i'll spare you the details). So you can see where this story is going.
It was a lovely afternoon. Kate was about 4 weeks old and my mom and I had decided to have lunch at hideaway that day. Hideaway is not far from my good friend Jessica's work so I give her a shout to see if she want's to come and meet us for lunch. She agreed and we all met at lunchtime. I had started bringing Kate into public when she was about a week old. She was always sleeping and we never had a problem bringing her anywhere so I didn't think too much about bringing her out. I always feel prepared when we go out for any situation because I have an amazing diaper bag that is stuffed full with all the stuff I could ever need. We have our diapers, wipes, burp rags, bottles, milk, and secondary outfits if needed all in this awesome back pack. I am absolutely prepared for any situation that would occur right? Wrong.
By this time in Kate's life she had developed a habit to where she was only pooping once a day or so. you always hear before you child is born that you need to watch out for the "blowouts", but you also think, nooo not my precious baby girl, she is to pretty to poop like that. well that was a freaking fantasy that I made up in my head because guess what? It happened. It happened right there in the middle of Hideaway.
My mom was holding her and she made her face like she was about to make a mess. and sure enough she did. all over. all over the table, all over my mom, all over her clothes, all over the floor, all over. Jessica is a weak stomach and just about puked all over the table. she couldn't get out of there fast enough. I think she realized how embarrassed I was because she felt bad that she gagged. I don't blame her at all, it was gross. let alone did Jess have to witness this mess but our waiter was standing RIGHT THERE! He totally witnessed the whole event and didn't even say a word. I commend him for keeping a straight face in front of me. I think if he would have said something I might have cried. I was trying to be as discrete about the situation as possible but that is kind of impossible when there is shit flinging across the table and onto the floor. gross.
I am mortified.
So my mom and I flee into action and wrap kate up in a burp cloth we had, clean up the table, luckily I carry lysol wipes and could disinfect everything. okay maybe i'm over exaggerating and it didn't really get on the table, but it did for sure get on the floor. We go to the bathroom and everything just got worse. She got poop on every part of her. I don't even know how that was possible, but it was. I have to strip her down, give her a makeshift sponge bath right there in the hideaway bathroom, and change her diaper and her clothes. It was a huge task. I am still bright red with embarrassment, she has no more diapers so she better not go again, and she was out of our travel outfits that are clean. I was not prepared.
I don't think i will ever be allowed back in hideaway nor do I really want to show my face there but I am just glad I survived the day.
So Jess, this ones for you.
That's the life of Kate's mom
-K
How I became Kate's Mom...
well you already know how I became her mom but here is the part you might not know...
Cry, eat, sleep, poop, cry, eat, sleep, poop.... sometimes.
This has been my life for the past two and a half months. I became forever known as "Kate's mom" two and a half wonderful months ago. I thought the previous nine months were the best and worst months of my life, but as it turns out, actually having a physical live human being to take care of is actually more challenging than tilted sore hips and gaining a bunch of weight, but it is also the best thing that has ever happened to me. On January 19th 2012 at 6:31pm my baby girl Katherine Kay was born. She is my sunshine on any day and I can't even remember what life was like before she was here. I have no need to. It is really amazing what the process of pregnancy and childbirth will do to a person. It is fun, scary, painful, emotional, and absolutely terrifyingly amazing.
It was this time last year we found out that Kate was on her way. It was a wonderfully planned surprise. What I mean by that was we had started talking about expanding our family and we were in the processes of getting ready physically and finically so that when the time came we could get right too it. Well I guess fate had another plan and BAM there she was. The best planned surprise ever. We had a relatively smooth pregnancy, pretty much textbook for normal, and then our induction date finally was here. I opted for an induction on January 19th 2012 and it is a good thing I did. The last week I was pregnant Kate started running out of room in there and it was non stress tests every other day that week. We got checked in the hospital at midnight on the 19th and they got the ball rolling. I started on the dilation drug at around one o'clock am and *tried* to get some sleep that night. well turns out sleeping in the hospital when your so anxious leads to no sleep what so ever. I had my blood pressure taken every 30 minutes and the nurses came and checked my vitals every hour so there was just no sleep going on. Luckily I had a TV and my iPad to be able to Pinterest all night. At 7 am my doctor came and broke my water and an hour later started me on the meds that make your labor start. I was already having some contractions by that time so it didn't take long for the contractions to start coming on fast and strong. I made it until 10:30am to get my epidural and what a great decision that was. (If you know me, you know why it was a normal decision to have an epidural :) ). and THANK THE LORD for epidurals. I wasn't afraid of getting an epidural like most people are, I have seen them done multiple times and the needle didn't freak me out at all, but I will not lie to you and tell you that this was the only part of my entire labour experience that I used the words "shit" and "damn". It might have just been me and my intolerance for shots and pain, but dang did that first shot to numb the area hurt. It might have hurt but it was ONE HUNDRED and FIFTY percent worth it. After I had that kick in it was pretty much smooth sailing... sort of. the rest of that day went by pretty slow. I progressed pretty normally though out the day, going from a 1 to a 3 then to a 5,7, and then the magic number for me... an 8. At 4:00pm I had made it to an 8. Then things began to get funky. My contractions had changed from a beautiful perfectly timed pattern to some seriously wonky un-coordinated pattern, Kate's heart rate was spiking higher, and she decided that she did not want to come down any further. So at this point it wasn't an emergency, but something to watch. I was warned at this point that if she doesn't come down in a couple of hours we will need to do a C-Section. I didn't particularly want a C-Section but if that is what needed to happen then I would deal with it. so they check again at 5:00 pm and no progress... well shit. At this point a section was looking more likely, but they wanted to give me until 6 to see if any progress could be made. I was kind of ready for them to just take me... I had been in the hospital for 17 hours and in labor for 11 of those 17 hours. I was checked out and wanted to get the show on the road. At 5:45 they come in and tell me that kate is stressing out in there and we need to go ahead with the C-Section. I think two things at the same time, WOO HOO! and OH SHIT! . I was super excited for her to finally be here but I was also nervous. I have never in my life had any kind of surgery before. I have watched surgery A LOT so I knew the procedure but it was still weird being the girl on the table. So when they told us we were headed out, they gave Jacob some scrubs to wear into the OR (funny side note: he didn't think he got to go in, and so when they brought him his scrubs he was super excited.) he changed really quickly and away we go, saying our goodbyes to my amazing family who all were in the hospital ALL DAY waiting for miss Kate. We get in the OR and literally like 5 minutes later she was here. Kate was born at 6:31 pm and was 19.5 inches long and weighed 7 pounds 9 ounces.After the first few minutes of her being in Jacobs arms things start to go really fast. I don't remember much from the time she was born to when I woke up in our recovery room, but I do remember I was shaking uncontrollably and I was exhausted.
The time we were in the hospital, Thursday to Sunday, was really nice. we had sooo many amazing family and friends come visit us. I am absolutely humbled and grateful that we have so many amazing people to surround Kate with during her life. It made me so happy that Kate got to meet some of my best friends and family that were from out of town. We had pretty good nights sleep because we sent miss Kate to the nursery at night and they just brought her to me when she needed to eat. This was a godsend because I was so tired those few nights it let me rest up for when the actual work started when we got home. During the days in the hospital we all just sat and stared at her. who knew you could love something so much. (I know, I know, super cheesy, but you will understand one day).
The next three weeks were a pretty eye opening experience. I have never known what tired was until now. I have never known what emotional was until now. I have never known what people mean when they say "i feel like a feeding machine" until now. I was literally crying everyday for 3 weeks. I felt so over my head it wasn't even funny. I was freaking out... but all the while I loved that little girl and would do anything to make her happy, even if that includes no sleep and limited showers. I had loads of help those first three weeks and I am beyond grateful for that. Thank goodness for Jacob and his natural ability to take care of babies and take care of me. I love him for his ability to take care of me, among other wonderful qualities. I also have to say thank goodness for my parents and mother in law. My mom came and helped me every day for almost three weeks straight. Love you mom. I can't imagine how people can make it through those first three weeks with no help. Thank goodness I won't have to find out how they do it. When Kate was about one month old things started getting much easier. I will say, we were lucky from the start. She is one of the sleepiest babies I have ever seen. She sleeps all day and all night now.
I can't believe how these two months have flown by. I am back to work and really loving the adult interaction, but I miss my little miss Kate all day. I am excited to be getting back in my workout routine which i'm sure is what I will end up crying, yelling, and wining about on this blog but it should make for pretty great entertainment for anyone that decides they want to read it! I want to try and keep an up to date profile of what is going on in my life and my families life so here it is. Welcome to the life of Kate's Mom.
-K
UPDATE: I totally forgot to post a picture. yea yea most of you have seen her pictures a million times but hey, it's my blog and I do what I want ;)
One week old
Two and a Half months old
Cry, eat, sleep, poop, cry, eat, sleep, poop.... sometimes.
This has been my life for the past two and a half months. I became forever known as "Kate's mom" two and a half wonderful months ago. I thought the previous nine months were the best and worst months of my life, but as it turns out, actually having a physical live human being to take care of is actually more challenging than tilted sore hips and gaining a bunch of weight, but it is also the best thing that has ever happened to me. On January 19th 2012 at 6:31pm my baby girl Katherine Kay was born. She is my sunshine on any day and I can't even remember what life was like before she was here. I have no need to. It is really amazing what the process of pregnancy and childbirth will do to a person. It is fun, scary, painful, emotional, and absolutely terrifyingly amazing.
It was this time last year we found out that Kate was on her way. It was a wonderfully planned surprise. What I mean by that was we had started talking about expanding our family and we were in the processes of getting ready physically and finically so that when the time came we could get right too it. Well I guess fate had another plan and BAM there she was. The best planned surprise ever. We had a relatively smooth pregnancy, pretty much textbook for normal, and then our induction date finally was here. I opted for an induction on January 19th 2012 and it is a good thing I did. The last week I was pregnant Kate started running out of room in there and it was non stress tests every other day that week. We got checked in the hospital at midnight on the 19th and they got the ball rolling. I started on the dilation drug at around one o'clock am and *tried* to get some sleep that night. well turns out sleeping in the hospital when your so anxious leads to no sleep what so ever. I had my blood pressure taken every 30 minutes and the nurses came and checked my vitals every hour so there was just no sleep going on. Luckily I had a TV and my iPad to be able to Pinterest all night. At 7 am my doctor came and broke my water and an hour later started me on the meds that make your labor start. I was already having some contractions by that time so it didn't take long for the contractions to start coming on fast and strong. I made it until 10:30am to get my epidural and what a great decision that was. (If you know me, you know why it was a normal decision to have an epidural :) ). and THANK THE LORD for epidurals. I wasn't afraid of getting an epidural like most people are, I have seen them done multiple times and the needle didn't freak me out at all, but I will not lie to you and tell you that this was the only part of my entire labour experience that I used the words "shit" and "damn". It might have just been me and my intolerance for shots and pain, but dang did that first shot to numb the area hurt. It might have hurt but it was ONE HUNDRED and FIFTY percent worth it. After I had that kick in it was pretty much smooth sailing... sort of. the rest of that day went by pretty slow. I progressed pretty normally though out the day, going from a 1 to a 3 then to a 5,7, and then the magic number for me... an 8. At 4:00pm I had made it to an 8. Then things began to get funky. My contractions had changed from a beautiful perfectly timed pattern to some seriously wonky un-coordinated pattern, Kate's heart rate was spiking higher, and she decided that she did not want to come down any further. So at this point it wasn't an emergency, but something to watch. I was warned at this point that if she doesn't come down in a couple of hours we will need to do a C-Section. I didn't particularly want a C-Section but if that is what needed to happen then I would deal with it. so they check again at 5:00 pm and no progress... well shit. At this point a section was looking more likely, but they wanted to give me until 6 to see if any progress could be made. I was kind of ready for them to just take me... I had been in the hospital for 17 hours and in labor for 11 of those 17 hours. I was checked out and wanted to get the show on the road. At 5:45 they come in and tell me that kate is stressing out in there and we need to go ahead with the C-Section. I think two things at the same time, WOO HOO! and OH SHIT! . I was super excited for her to finally be here but I was also nervous. I have never in my life had any kind of surgery before. I have watched surgery A LOT so I knew the procedure but it was still weird being the girl on the table. So when they told us we were headed out, they gave Jacob some scrubs to wear into the OR (funny side note: he didn't think he got to go in, and so when they brought him his scrubs he was super excited.) he changed really quickly and away we go, saying our goodbyes to my amazing family who all were in the hospital ALL DAY waiting for miss Kate. We get in the OR and literally like 5 minutes later she was here. Kate was born at 6:31 pm and was 19.5 inches long and weighed 7 pounds 9 ounces.After the first few minutes of her being in Jacobs arms things start to go really fast. I don't remember much from the time she was born to when I woke up in our recovery room, but I do remember I was shaking uncontrollably and I was exhausted.
The time we were in the hospital, Thursday to Sunday, was really nice. we had sooo many amazing family and friends come visit us. I am absolutely humbled and grateful that we have so many amazing people to surround Kate with during her life. It made me so happy that Kate got to meet some of my best friends and family that were from out of town. We had pretty good nights sleep because we sent miss Kate to the nursery at night and they just brought her to me when she needed to eat. This was a godsend because I was so tired those few nights it let me rest up for when the actual work started when we got home. During the days in the hospital we all just sat and stared at her. who knew you could love something so much. (I know, I know, super cheesy, but you will understand one day).
The next three weeks were a pretty eye opening experience. I have never known what tired was until now. I have never known what emotional was until now. I have never known what people mean when they say "i feel like a feeding machine" until now. I was literally crying everyday for 3 weeks. I felt so over my head it wasn't even funny. I was freaking out... but all the while I loved that little girl and would do anything to make her happy, even if that includes no sleep and limited showers. I had loads of help those first three weeks and I am beyond grateful for that. Thank goodness for Jacob and his natural ability to take care of babies and take care of me. I love him for his ability to take care of me, among other wonderful qualities. I also have to say thank goodness for my parents and mother in law. My mom came and helped me every day for almost three weeks straight. Love you mom. I can't imagine how people can make it through those first three weeks with no help. Thank goodness I won't have to find out how they do it. When Kate was about one month old things started getting much easier. I will say, we were lucky from the start. She is one of the sleepiest babies I have ever seen. She sleeps all day and all night now.
I can't believe how these two months have flown by. I am back to work and really loving the adult interaction, but I miss my little miss Kate all day. I am excited to be getting back in my workout routine which i'm sure is what I will end up crying, yelling, and wining about on this blog but it should make for pretty great entertainment for anyone that decides they want to read it! I want to try and keep an up to date profile of what is going on in my life and my families life so here it is. Welcome to the life of Kate's Mom.
-K
UPDATE: I totally forgot to post a picture. yea yea most of you have seen her pictures a million times but hey, it's my blog and I do what I want ;)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
