Six Weeks Young

Well I thought I better get this post up since we are past the six week mark with Stitch and inching closer to the seven week mark!

Stitch's Stats at Six Weeks:

Head Circumference: 38.5 inches

Length: 23.5 inches (97 percentile)

Weight: 10 pounds 8.5 ounces (50 percentile)

 (courtesy of her Aunt Em's)

Stitch is a pretty happy girl. She always seems to have a smile on. She is starting to get a little fussier in day and really likes to be held while she sleeps. But I usually just wrap her to me when I'm trying to get stuff done and that solves that problem.

One BIG thing she started doing just this weekend was rolling from tummy to back! That is something babies start doing around 3 plus months! And she has done it 10 plus times since the first time so it isn't some sort of fluke. She has always been really strong. She's always loved standing (with support of course) and I wouldn't be surprised if she hits many milestones early.

Jared doesn't like her moving so fast, but I am torn. I kinda like it in some ways. I love little babies, but it is hard having someone be so completely dependent on you.

And if you are wondering on what ever happened to Magoo when it comes to posts on the blog, well he's around. He will be TWO next month! So you can expect a big post about him coming soon. He really is such a good boy and loves his little sister. He is always very gentle and nice and I am very grateful that I have been blessed with that. Of course he has things that test me, but non that involve his sister, thank goodness! If anything is overdone it's the kisses and being right in her face trying to give them to her, that or butterfly kisses (you know blinking eyelashes together) he thinks its hilarious.

Stay tuned, next post will be all about Stitch on her Blessing Day.

Sibling Comparison.

Thought it would be fun to do a little comparison between Magoo and Stitch. We have been told lots that Stitch is Magoo's double. I do see some similarities, but I also see alot different. Personally I think she looks more like me and Magoo definitely looks more like Jared. But I'll let you decide for your self.

(For all the pictures to come Magoo will be first and Stitch second)

 hours old: eyes open

 hours old: eyes closed

 about 1 week old:

 

a couple weeks old:

Man, Magoo had tons of hair. And stitch has more than it seems, it just is all in the back. ha. 

Heres some differences I've noticed so far.

1. Magoo was an intense cluster feeder, sometimes I would sit there for 2 hours going back and forth trying to satisfy his hunger. Stitch is sometimes good after one side and then will sleep for a couple hours.

2. Magoo cried more, Stitch rarely cries and is pretty easy to calm down.

3. Magoo took to a soother really quickly, Stitch will take one on rare occasions.

4. Magoo is a boy. Stitch is a girl. haha.

5. Stitch has the "Van Bruggen" droopy eye. Magoo doesn't

(See picture below. I took this the other morning. When I'm really tired my one eye is a lot more closed than the other, naturally. My Mom's eyes do the same thing. This is the droopy eye)

6. Overall Stitch is a much more content baby than Magoo was. Hopefully it lasts.

7. Stitch has always loved the bath, even the first bath (at home) was a hit. Magoo took some getting used to the bath before he really enjoyed it. 

8. Magoo rarely puked after feedings. Stitch often pukes, well I guess spits up milk when she burps. 

9. Stitch poos ALOT. I don't honestly remember how much Magoo poo'ed as a baby, but I swear it wasn't this much. She is a super pooper! 

One day she'll really love that last point being all over the internet...

I think that being a second time Mom has it's perks. I am a million times more laid back this time around and it makes such a difference. I think it even effects my milk supply in a positive way. Perhaps thats why Stitch pukes and poops as much as she does, cause I got more than she needs. 

The one thing I can't really compare with my two babies is the love I feel for them. I feel the same intense amount of love for each of them. It is a feeling I cannot put into words. It amazes me. 

One of the best parts about it all is that I better understand the love my own parents have for me, my childhood, my parents strengths and weaknesses, and their relationships with each of their children. And my respect and appreciation has grown for them. So thanks Mom and Dad, I think we'll keep ya around. haha.

I am trying to wrangle up some baby pictures of Jared and I hopefully next post will be a family comparison. Stay tuned!

Into week no.three

I can't believe that my baby girl is already past the two week mark and that on Friday she will have been on the outside of my body for three whole weeks! I feel like it was just the other day I was in the hospital holding her in my arms for the first time.

Hormones really are a crazy thing, for about 3-4 days after giving birth I would feel an immense amount of anxiety at the thought of another baby, labour, contractions, birth, well mostly just the thought of those crazy intense transitional contractions that mean you are near the end. But within in the last week those feelings have disappeared almost completely... you know to that point where you could actually consider doing it all over again (not soon by any means). And it seems crazy.
I was telling my awesome husband that I feel some what cheated out of my fair share of free agency. Maybe, just maybe, I really don't want to go through all that again, maybe I'm worried that if I forget I will someday do it again. I know children are a wonderful thing and that procreation is the biggest reason to be on this earth. But I feel as though those hormones that make us mothers forget the feelings of giving birth clouds over the truth a bit, kinda like being told a little white lie, not having the whole truth and therefore not being able to make a well thought out decision.
Maybe this all seems crazy to some people, but it's how I feel. Perhaps the "forgetful" hormones are actually a blessing and I am seeing this all wrong. And maybe I am not being grateful enough.

Being a Mother is hard, and there are a lot of sacrifices involved. Is it worth it? Absolutely. Without question. Do I have bad days when it is hard to see all the great things that come with being a Mother? Definitely. Some days are so hard to get through, especially living so far from family. I admire my Mom for raising six children and without having her own Mother on this earth to help her out, to give her guidance, to say just the right thing that only a Mother would know to say to a struggling, over tired daughter.

Needless to say I know this stage of my life wont last forever, that these sleepless nights, and hard days will pass quickly and soon enough my babies wont be babies at all, and that thought actually makes me a little sad, and a little happy all at the same time.

I know that one of my biggest downfalls is that I have really high expectations for myself. I tend to let the little things get on my nerves (especially when I am tired) and I push myself way to hard. Here's an example for you:
My sister and her husband came to visit last week. And in the 24 hours before they got here I obsessed about the state of my "dirty" house. I ended up cleaning it. Although this sister could care less about the state of my house, in fact she would be the very last person to judge me if the counters in my bathroom weren't wiped down. I was discussing all this with her when she got here, telling her I couldn't help but clean, and I realized it wasn't for them at all, it was for me. I just like things a certain way and if they go unattended for a bit I can get pretty irritated.

I havent really slowed down since having a baby, if anything I have been feeling a lot better than when I was in my last trimester of pregnancy and have been doing way more in the last two weeks since giving birth than the whole twelve weeks before having her. What can you do, right?

A little fun fact for y'all.
I completely lost all my pregnancy weight only 12 days after giving birth! I only gained 27 pounds, and I had quite a bit of water retention with this pregnancy, plus I am exclusively nursing, so really it was pretty easy. I just hope I can keep it off this time. After I had Magoo I went about 4 pounds under my pre pregnancy weight within a couple weeks, but gained 15 pounds within his first year of his life... this one I hope to get down another 15-25 pounds ideally, within the first year of her life. But I am going to wait a few more weeks before I start exercising again.

Also I have decided on a "blog name' for our newest addition. I know I thought I would go with Miss Molly, but I just couldn't settle with that. And every time I looked into my little girls big open eyes I kept being reminded of a certain character...

... do you see? Seriously we get these huge crazy eyes from her all the time, and every time I am reminded of that crazy, blue, big eyed... thing. haha. So on the blog she will be known as "Stitch", just a much cuter version. 

The Birth Story.

I don't really know where to begin. I guess I should first say that this birth was completely different from my son's and I can't really compare the two. Neither was "better" or "worse" than the other. They were both bitter and sweet. I gave birth, and a beautiful child entered my world. I have to say that I am extremely grateful that neither ended up in a c-section, for that is one of my greatest fears when I have children.

So lets start back at conception...
just kidding. Lets not.

During this pregnancy I was a little more pro-active in trying somethings, some "tricks". Like I drank Red Raspberry Leaf Tea from about 32-38 weeks. I stopped after 38 weeks only cause my body couldn't handle anymore of it and I was throwing it up after I drank it. I also used Evening Primrose Oil, and although I wasn't as active as I was with my first pregnancy I still went for lots of walks, did some awesome prenatal yoga, and I have a almost 2 year old that I had to try to keep up with on a daily basis...

The Monday before I gave birth I got an awesome massage gifted to me from a friend, at that point I was 5 days over due and needed one so desperately. Although she had nothing to do with me going into labour, she didn't rub any "special" pressure points to induce labour, I meant to ask her to and the time passed a lot quicker than I realized and she was done before I ever asked.

Wednesday I was 41 weeks and had a doctors appointment. 2 1/2cm dilated and 25% effaced, and she stripped my membranes. We also set my induction date for Saturday, Sept 1. Although she said that there was a good chance I wouldn't be called till Sunday or Monday because of the craziness of women having babies here (stayed tuned, its also the reason I practically got kicked out of the hospital).

That brings us to Thursday. I woke up around 3am, had to pee, but also felt something... I told myself it was nothing. Then another. I had about 4-5 "feelings" between 3am and 4:30am. I called them funny cramps with tightening... ya I was TOTALLY in denial that I could actually be experiencing contractions on my own.
Mr. Magoo and I went on a really long walk that morning, almost 2 hours. I was pooped. But the whole time I kept having contractions (at the time I was still not calling them that) and they were ranging between 8-13 minutes apart. Magoo and I would go on to take 2 more, much shorter, walks that day. When Jared got home he took us all for a walk to go get ice-cream, and my Mom arrived just as we got home from that!
Of course right around dinner time my contractions petered off, and that when I was convinced I was experiencing a whole lot of nothing all day and that I would definitely have to be induced. I just would not let my hopes get up, I totally had no faith in my own body although it was like the one thing I desired so dearly was to be able to experience labour how its meant to be, natural. Little did I know I had been experiencing the beginnings of it all day!
We went to bed at 9pm, my Mom sleeping on our couch, although I totally offered her an air mattress she turned it down. I had been having really light cramps and tightenings, but thought I would be able to sleep through them. Well Jared fell asleep in his normal fashion: 2 seconds flat. I kid you not, my husband is a pro when it comes to falling asleep.
So I lay there 41 weeks and 1 day pregnant, trying to get comfortable, thinking, willing my body to sleep. At 10 contractions picked up and I knew I wouldn't be able to fall to sleep after that, although believe it or not I STILL refused to believe that I could be in any type of labour that would make me have a baby before I had to be induced... haha.

Are you getting tired of the play-by-play yet? haha. Feel free to fast forward, or to just stop reading.

By 11pm I was bored and tired of not being able to sleep, so I went and got my ipad so that I could read some blogs I had been wanting to catch up on. Well I took me about an hour to get through just one post of my friend who had a baby this summer as well and had been having quite the time adjusting to having 3 boys (you know who you are...haha. ps I LOVE your blog) She is pretty awesome, but there I was typing out a comment to her post, all the while my contractions had been picking up. 4 mins apart, lasting a minute, and it was around midnight I thought "hmmm I could be in REAL labour!" these have been going on a whole hour when all of the sudden I HAD to go to the bathroom, nothing substantial happened, although I had a crazy intense contraction, like made my body shake and all I could think was "just get through this then go wake up Jared, it's time to get to the hospital. NOW!" My brain finally caught up with my body and I was now on the same page.

I woke up Jared around 12:20am on the Friday morning, we gathered my hospital stuff that was already pretty much together, woke my Mom and told her we were headed to the hospital. The drive to the hospital was pretty smooth going, I did have to remind Jared NOT to speed (and anyone who knows Jared knows that usually you are wishing he would speed up a little, he will not even go 10km over in town. Ever). I also had to ask him to stop driving at one point while we were in the residential areas while I was having a contraction, the roads here suck so bad, and are so bumpy I could not handle them while my body was having a contraction. Jared dropped me off at the Emergency door and meet me in there once the car was parked.

I was up in the assessment area and getting checked by 1am, we also had a doula join us for this birth, her name is Val Sali, and she was so great for me! I would not have changed that decision ever, and I hope that she forgives me for snapping at her a couple times in the last hour of my labour...
Anyways, assessment, the nurse told be I was dilated to a 4 1/2, but really a stretchy 5cm. Which was fine with me (remember I didn't think I was having contractions all day, so really I didn't expect a ton to have happened by the time I got to the hospital).

Once I was put into a labour room I went pretty much right into the bath, and Val sprayed my lower back with the shower head. And Jared played music from my phone, we started with a "hypno" playlist I had, mostly classical music I had meditated to during my pregnancy. But it wasn't cutting it for me, so I had him switch to my favourite artist these days "Purity Ring" (or this if you just wanna go and buy it for yourself...) that did it for me, at least while I was in the tub. I got out of the tub because thing were getting intense and I really couldn't take all the noise of the water, and music, and when anyone talked. I just needed to focus on getting through the next contraction.

I got out of the tub, Val says around 2:45am, but I feel it was more like 2:30am as it felt like the next phase lasted way longer than it actually did. It felt like it was never going to end... haha. Once I was out of the tub I knew I would NOT lay on my back, I was already experiencing back labour and I did NOT want it to get any worse! So I knelt on the bed and draped my chest over a birthing ball (that was also on the bed). Val wrapped her rebozo around my belly and crossed it around my back, then every time I would have a contractions (which felt like All The Time!) Val and Jared would each pull on an end, tightening it around my body, squeezing my hips and helping squeeze my belly. My contractions were so intense. There were many times I lost my focus, and Val would help me bring it back... mostly. Although not every time was I able to refocus and I really struggled. But luckily all contractions end at some point.

Around 3am I was checked again and was told I was 7cm, with bulging membranes. My only thought was "I need this to end soon, I cannot physically or mentally do this anymore. please" and all I said was "next time I wanna be a boy, okay!?" haha. seriously though.
Then things happened very fast, the nurse was by the door (out or in the room I'm not sure) and all of the sudden there was a loud "POP- Gush"and the nurse asking "was that her waters!?" and then a whole ton of commotion. At this point I go very much into my own world, my own body, only listening to a very few select voices. Immediately after my waters broke I had absolutely no control over what my body did next, the pressure, was so intense. I could feel my baby crowning instantly and my body bearing down without my thinking about it.
According to Jared the resident Doctor just barely made it on time, the OB-GYN on call was busy delivering someone elses baby.

I don't want to scare anyone, however I must say that when the baby crowns and you do not have an epidural there is a very real feeling to "the ring of fire", it is quick and at that point you can know that you are pretty well done.

Once that momnent was over I took a second to refocus and breath, listening only to my doctor "small pushes, your doing great, nice small pushes".  I remember feeling her moving through me thinking "is her head out?", "whoa, there is a lot of movement...", "was that her head?", and then there is was the sweet relief of her body moving through me, the end, 3:14am. She was here.

Apparently after the initial breaking of my water, with the following contractions more fluid came out, but it didn't just come out, it more like sprayed out. Jared described it as this "not like the stream of a super soaker, but more like a garden hose with a sprayer attachment, and about the length of my forearm". That length also happened to be enough to soak the delivering doctor. haha. ya I found it quite comical. He had to go change his scrubs they were so wet.

So I did tear a little, but not in the usual tear area, I wont specify to much other than that. The resident Doc said that he thought I needed stitches, but he wanted to check with the OB, so I had to lay there, waiting... for an hour! That's right not aloud to shower, or clean up in any way, with a sponge hanging out of me to soak up the blood. Totally not cool! And then once the OB finally got there (she was stitching up someone who had given birth about the same time I did) she said that while we waited the tear clotted and that she didn't think I needed stitches anymore.

During that hour I was able to bond and nurse my little girl, she latched like a champ. Jared and I fell in Love instantly.

Once clean and clothed we were informed that the Mother Baby unit was beyond full and that they would be keeping us in the very room I delivered in until they figured something out. We also found out that we were birth #358 of that month for that hospital! The baby born about the same time down the hall was #359... crazy right!?

So we hung out there, my Mom and Mr. Magoo came to visit around 8:30am, Magoo did really well. He gave her lots of kisses, and was mostly just curious about all the buttons on the bed. I really hadn't gotten much sleep in the past 24 hours so that visit didn't last long. We also had to go down to Mother-Baby to have her assessed and bathed. My regular OB-Gyn told us that we had two options we could either get a room at Mother-Baby at 9pm, or we could be discharged. We decided that since Magoo would be asleep that we would just go home. I was a little nervous not to have more time to get some sleep and "alone" time (as much as you can get in a hospital) before going back home. But I knew my Mom was there to help and that made me more confident. Funny thing about our discharge, we had to go down to the Mother-Baby Unit and sit in an empty room and get checked by nurses we had never meet before... so silly.

Our Baby Girl

20 1/2 inches long

8 pounds 7 ounces

Also in the birth announcement I sent out to family I totally put the wrong weight on it (I put Magoo's birth weight on it) the above weight is the correct one.

Our newest addition.

This is going to be a quick post with not too much detail, but a lot of pictures. My next post will be the birth story, but I just don't have time right now. 

On August 31 we added a little girl to our family and we couldn't be more in love. Once again I will not be putting her name up on this blog but will have a nickname for her, I am thinking Miss Molly (feel free to comment and leave thoughts/suggestions on that one) but don't feel completely settled on it so perhaps by the next post I will have a for sure "blog name" for her.

Born: August 31 at 3:14am

Weight: 8 pounds 7 ounces

Length: 20 1/2 inches

She had passed meconium in the womb so she came out looking a little green, especially her hair...yum.

Our first meeting.

Daddy's first meeting.

so happy... it's over! haha.

 Their first meeting.

Kisses. which would become more and more kisses.

this is good.

first family of 4 picture (sorry Jared). Not the best but it's all we got. Next week we will have a professional taking some.

do you see that nail!? she had others like it. How did she not claw her way out earlier?

after her bath. I think she looks so long. 

My other baby (Mr.Magoo) was only 18 inches long, I didn't think it would make such a difference.

Going home, we only stayed at the hospital for about 20 hours. That includes assessment and labour.

Magoo woke up and wasn't so sure about her anymore. We are only having minor jealousy issues.

Flowers from my Babies Daddy.

So she does have hair... she just likes the mullet look. I can just about get that thing in a ponytail!

I'm just gonna say right here that he is TOTALLY in love with this girl. They already have a special bond that can only be had between a girl and her Daddy.

She loved her first bath, until I took her out.

Did I mention the love? He has a claim on her and the day any boy can convince him to let it go a little would be a huge miracle, good thing for now that is a long, long way down the road.  

My Mom is here for the week, which I am so grateful for. The first couple nights were pretty rough and I really only got 3-4 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period. But last night she woke up only every couple hours and even had a 3 hours stretch in there, so I am feeling pretty good, for now. Although I wouldn't pass up an opportunity to nap! 

She is nursing like a champ, this being my second baby and knowing a little more what I need to do and look out for is really helping with that. And since my milk has come in she is also pooping like a champ, I forgot how much newborns poop...

and not that this will matter to too many people I just feel like pumping my self up a little. but I gained around 27 pounds this pregnancy and it hasn't even been a week and I am already down 20! I give the credit to nursing, it's awesome. Although I should say too that I have a lot more than just 7 pounds to get down to my preMagoo baby weight, but I wont tell you how much. haha.

There you have it, Birth story will be sometime in the future...

Not your typical roommate.

I decided that this blog was in serious need of a post of a different topic! So I thought I would introduce you to some friends that we've made since living here in Regina. And as weird as this may sound they have actually been living with us...

The first time I ever met them was one evening in our old apartment as I was getting dinner ready, and if I can remember right we were feeding the missionaries that night as well. 

Well the recipe I was making called for cornstarch, so I opened by box of cornstarch and to my surprise saw a bunch of little bugs, a bit smaller than an ant with little dark red shells. Well I am not one to care about that kind of thing too much, to me insects are like whatever. So being in the crunch I was in and didn't have time to make something else or go buy more cornstarch I just picked them out as much as possible then used what I needed and threw the rest out. Although I am positive a few ended up in the food, I didn't tell the missionaries and I only told Jared after we ate... haha, and yes I did eat the food myself. I saw it as a little more protein.

I bought a new box of cornstarch, dumped it into a ziploc to have it all sealed from these pests and only ever saw one or two in the cupboard for the duration of our life in that apartment.

Fast forward to our new, much more awesome apartment...

Remember last month when my sister came to visit me, right around my birthday. Well we happened to once again be making dinner, which included rice. Well I discovered these little bugs again, although definitely DID NOT tell Emily about the discovery until AFTER she ate dinner (she has a thing about bugs...). Well after she left I started discovering them in more places, like my flour, and oatmeal. Well we decided it was all a little much and there is a point when you draw a line and you don't cross it. 

So we threw out the little bits of flour and rice we had left, bought new stuff but this time put them into buckets (in hopes to keep out the bugs). Well apparently I didn't buy buckets that sealed tight enough cause we found them...again... all over the place... and I finally lost it! 

I was finally getting the creepy crawlies from seeing these things all.over.my.food. plus the thought that we would be welcoming a new baby into the house soon and I couldn't take it. So I called out rental management people and told them I had a bug problem and needed them. asap.

The maintenance guy came over, took a look and told me they were "cereal bugs" and that they were totally normal, and fine to share your home with!!!! 

WHAT!? NO! this is totally NOT normal or okay I reassured him, although he refused to do ANYTHING about it! He even claimed that these bugs live in every bag/box of flour/rice/cereal (really anything made from flour products) that you buy from the store... 

so not true, to me he just made himself look like a big idiot and made me feel really annoyed.

Bah.

So I looked them up myself: Cereal Bug, Googled (we have the first one listed)

And basically I have to clean out my pantry and throw out anything that has these bugs in it, then wash my cupboard really well, hello raid! and then buy all new food, plus containers for it and we should be in the clear...

So basically waste a bunch of food, spend a bunch of money, and then spend some more money... fun times.

Good thing I will have my Mom here in like no more than 10 days, and she has already volunteered to help this poor student family out. Cause I just can't take living with these little critters anymore. They have crossed the line! 

And with that being said. We Love visitors, so come visit anytime!

Also I would just like to say to my bro Riley, who I know frequents this blog, that even though you live and eat bugs while you are in Madagascar, it doesn't make me a wimp, or this situation any less gross...

still here... 39 weeks

Sorry for the lapse in posts, especially being this far along.
But we are all here, just playing the waiting game. I've not had much to post about as we really haven't had the most eventful summer. And I'm pretty sure I am determined not to be pregnant next summer (or any summer ever again if I can help it) for sure because this one has been the pits to say the least. I have missed our usual camping, hiking, travelling, biking, swimming, ect. Perhaps pregnancy is a poor excuse for not being able to do these things, but it's my excuse so whatever...

So here I am at 39 weeks.

         with Magoo.      

with baby no.2 

Not too much difference if you ask me. Even my hair color is pretty much the same... how boring am I!

But I did have a docs appointment on Tuesday and I was measuring around the 37 week mark for fundal height, which really I wasn't worried about because 1) it's just an estimate 2) I didn't get much bigger than the 37 week measurement with Magoo... 

anyways my doc decided she wanted to check the fluid levels anyways so she sent me for an ultrasound Wednesday morning. Of course I never mind taking a peek inside at me little baby so I was in! 

Even though we didn't get a good look at her face or really anything, and it was pretty quick, it was the best ultrasound I've had. The reason why we didn't get a good look at her features was because she is so big in there and her head is in my pelvis so it's hard to see anything overly specific.

But there was a tv on the wall that I could seeA that showed the tech's screen the whole time! Normally I don't get to see whats going on until the tech has checked the important stuff and then they let you see the face, and whatever else. Plus this tech was super about giving information, she told me how they check fluid levels, and what important things they check for in the baby (like the motion of breathing) and she was just super duper, my kinda ultrasound tech. 

And the ultrasound was just the pick-me-up I needed to help me get through the next 1-2 weeks... or atleast the next week, after that who knows what kinda preggo beast I'm going to become...haha. Let's just hope I have a good docs appt next week, cause this past one was a downer as far as progression goes. 

Who knows maybe the next time I post I'll have a new baby to show y'all...