Aubrey is One Month old!

I cannot believe that Aubrey is one month old today (well, yesterday since it's after midnight when I finally get this done)! It seems like we just brought her home from the hospital. She is
growing so much!

She's eating 6 oz. and a tsp. of rice cereal every 5-6 hours. She usually sleeps most of the time in between feedings, but she does stay awake for an hour or two. She loves to look at everything around her, no matter where she is. She loves to sit in her swing and listen to the music and watch the birds go around above her (she has the nature swing from Fisher Price). She loves to look at me with her beautiful big blue eyes while I'm feeding her. And she's recently started to grab and hold on to my shirt or hair while she's going to sleep. I'm still trying to get her used to sleeping in her own bed, but she usually sleeps in bed next to me or on my chest (her preferred spot). I secretly enjoy that, but it doesn't make for very restful nights! She smiles a little and is starting to make cute little faces by moving her mouth around while she's awake. We just love to watch her! She is starting to enjoy her baths more, although she doesn't like being naked afterwards. Chad is starting to take a more active role with her. He hasn't changed diapers, but he will feed her sometimes. He'll hold her, but gets frustrated if he can't get her to stop crying. I'm trying to get him to understand the more time he spends with her, the better it will be. She just has to get used to him too. He's so busy with work right now that he doesn't get much time at home with her. It will slow down soon and they'll really have time to bond. He does his best to love on her when he's home and I can tell he loves her more and more each day.

We went to take some family pictures and her one month pictures yesterday. I'm really excited to see how they turn out. She slept almost the whole time, but I think we did get a few with her gorgeous eyes open. I'll post them when I get them. It's amazing to see how big she has gotten in just a month.

I'm enjoying this time with her, but I'm so anxious to see how she grows and develops in the coming months!

--Amy

Update and Dr. visit

It's been busy around here and I don't get to the computer near as often as I'd like to. Aubrey is growing and growing! She stays awake a little more each day and she's wanting to eat more. I've started giving her a little cereal with her bottle at night and it helps. She's been sleeping about 6-8 hours a night.

Her 2-week check-up was last week. She weighed 8 lbs., 10 oz and measured 21 inches. The dr. said she is doing great and progressing just right for her age. My check-up was this week and he says my stitches are healing well. Also, my bloodpressure is back to normal (which is amazing considering I'm trying to work from home too!). So, we shouldn't have to go for any visits for about a month, which will be nice!

We've had family in every weekend since she was born, so this will be our first weekend alone. We are looking forward to getting in a good routine and doing "normal" stuff. We decided to postpone our Arkansas visit until September because Chad is so busy at work right now. I don't think he could get away for 4 or 5 days and I really want him to be able to enjoy his time off.

I hope everyone is doing well!

--Amy

Update

Things are going well here. We've been very busy and are ready to get back to some sort of normalcy. My mom and sister stayed with us about a week to help with Aubrey. It was so nice to have them here and they really helped out! Chad's mom and grandparents have been here the last 2 weekends and I think they are coming back this weekend. Then, maybe we can get back to normal life.

Aubrey is great! She eats every 4 hours and mostly sleeps in between. In fact, we've been sleeping so much that I haven't taken many pictures. I'll have to fix that soon . . . She is starting to wake up more in between feedings, so I'm trying to work and blog and email and post pictures while she's sleeping. It's a little difficult, but I'm trying to keep up.

I took Aubrey to the George Bush Library for her first 4th of July Fireworks. She slept through the whole thing! They were beautiful and it was fun anyway.

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!

--Amy

Aubrey Lynn

Aubrey Arrives!

First, I'm so sorry it took me so long to get this posted. My plan to do it in the hospital was ruined when I couldn't access the internet. And it's been so busy since we got home that I haven't found the time. Anyway, here's the story . . . .

We went for my check-up on Monday morning. Ironically, on the way to the dr. office my husband said he was ready for this to be over 'cause he's tired of going to the dr. twice a week. ME TOO! So they check my blood pressure and after five days of bedrest, it's not any better. Dr. says to go home and get my stuff because he's checking me into the hospital today and inducing that afternoon. We were both surprised! And a little unprepared. I hadn't had many contractions recently, so we thought he would wait until Wednesday. We had planned work and chores for Monday and Tuesday in order to be prepared for Wednesday.

We checked into the hospital around 11 am, they poke me with all kinds of needles, and finally start the induction about 4:30 pm. But it didn't really start working until about 9 pm. We were sure it would be sometime late Tuesday morning before she would be here. Wrong again! My water broke on its own at 12:30 am, I had an epidural at around 1:30 am and at 3:40 the nurse said I was 5 cm and I'd probably deliver around 6 am. However, I was on my 3rd dose of epidural and it wasn't working as well as it was in the beginning. As soon as she left the room, my contractions changed and I felt a lot of pressure. I waited 20 min. to call her again. She said I was 9 cm! Call the dr. cause this baby was coming now and I was feeling everything. She called him at 4 am. He arrived at 4:15 am (I think that was the longest 15 min of my life!) and Aubrey arrived at 4:30 am.

We came home on Thursday afternoon and she's been great! We are really enjoying spending time with her and with family and friends who visit. We did have a very restful day today and are all feeling much better. I think I cry every time I see Chad holding Aubrey. They are so cute together and she is already Daddy's girl. I'll post pictures next. Thanks to all for the emails and messages. We really appreciate everyone's love and support!

--Amy

Baby Update

Well, it's been an interesting week or so. Last Wednesday, I was about a cm dilated and the doctor thought I'd have her within a week. All day Friday I had contractions in 2-3 hour blocks. Some of them more painful than others, but nothing steady. In fact, they would come all at once and I was having trouble timing them because it felt like one looooong contraction. I was sure that I'd be 3 cm at my Monday check-up. Nope! Just over 1 cm, but thinning more. So I'm progressing, but not as fast as we originally thought. And the contractions slowed down over the last few days.

On Monday, he said that he couldn't do anything "electively" until 38 weeks (next week), but if I had contractions, went to the hospital and they documented them then they wouldn't send me home. He said to walk to try to get the contractions going again. Well, we tried that and it seemed they were slowing down instead of speeding up! I swear, my child is hard-headed even from the womb!

So, we go back today for an ultrasound to check her size, because I am HUGE. Her movements are not as frequent as usual, so this morning I'm really scared. But, everything was fine. She's dropping more each check-up and they measured her at 7 1/2 to 8 lbs. Her heartbeat is strong, she's just running out of room to move. However, my blood pressure is up and I am as swollen as humanly possible. They had me lay on my left side and took my blood pressure 3 times. This also brought the contractions back. He said I'm almost 2 cm and still progressing. Then, he put me on bedrest with limited activity, but it's ok to work from home. It's more because of my swelling and the heat than it is from stress. I'm finding this difficult, but expect it to be better after tomorrow when my wireless network is hooked up and they give me access to my work files from home. He also said that my progression is good and I should have her naturally in the next week, but if not, he would induce me on Wednesday or Thursday.

YAY!! Hopefully by this time next week my little baby girl will be here and I'll be posting pictures of her. I'm so excited and nervous! And ready for this to be over. I'll update more after my appointment on Monday.

--Amy

Our Pregnancy Story

Since I'm coming to the end of my pregnancy, I wanted to put our journey in writing. We started trying to get pregnant about five months after we got married. We'd been together for a little over four years and, since I wasn't getting any younger, I wanted to start a family. Chad was a little skeptical, but when I explained to him that it would take a few months and then we'd have 9 more months, he agreed. Well, it took longer than we thought. We tried to concieve for a year. A very frustrating year. The doctor kept saying there's nothing wrong with me and we shouldn't have any problems, but still nothing. I was very frustrated and upset because I didn't know what was wrong. I didn't understand why! Well, hindsight is 20/20 because looking back on it now, God had a plan. We weren't ready! Especially financially. We were buying whatever we wanted and almost all our paychecks went to bills and groceries. How would we have ever afforded a child?! Since I've been pregnant, my husband has gotten a raise and will get a promotion and another raise in August! Plus, he's working an extra weekend job to help put some money back (and because the cost of gas and groceries is outrageous these days!). In fact, it may now be possible for me to work part-time and stay home with Aubrey. That is something I always wished for, but never dreamed would come to fruition!

Anyway, exactly a year after we started trying, I noticed that my boobs hurt. I mean HURT! I would scream when the dogs climbed on me or if I laid on my tummy. Then, one day I left my wallet outside in the shopping cart at the grocery store. Just pushed the cart to the proper area, got in my car and drove away. I was all the way across town when I started looking for my wallet to get something to eat. It was nowhere in my car. I panicked, drove all the way back to the store, and, luckily, someone had turned it in to the office. Everything was still in it! I was so embarrassed and confused. I have never done anything like that before. Later that day, I opened a bag of treats for the dogs. I almost threw up from the smell. One of our friends was at the house and he was like the smell is not that bad. What's with you? Well, I had my suspicions, but I was too afraid to tell even Chad. I didn't want to jinx it. Plus, I'd taken tests before and they were always negative. It's just too disappointing after awhile. I waited another week or so, and finally admitted to my friend Ashleigh that I thought maybe I was pregnant. She was thrilled! She called me the next morning and insisted I buy a pregnancy test and come to her office. So I did. I go in the stall while she waits outside. I hand her the test without even looking at it. She immediately freaks out! She said that is the most positive test she's ever seen (she has 2 kids). I am thrilled, nervous, and trying to figure out how to tell Chad. Finally, I go to his office that afternoon and tell him. He thinks I'm lying, but eventually believes me. We are finally going to be a family!

Now, as far as my actual pregnancy goes, well that is another story. I guess you can never be prepared for the toll it takes on your body. Two of my best friends had babies last year and, as I watched them go through it, I thought I was ready. Boy, was I WRONG! This has been the hardest thing I have ever done. I think I've had every symptom possible. Just when I thought I was going to get through it without morning sickness, here it comes. I was nauseous morning, noon and night. And TIRED! I came home every day and went straight to bed. Then the heartburn kicked in. I'd never had heartburn before. It was awful (and still is!). I have sciatica (which I discovered runs in my family), so I've had horrible, persistent lower back pain since about month 2. There have been times when it hurt so bad I couldn't lift my leg. I also have some skin discoloration on my face. It's known as the mask of pregnancy, but I only have it on either side of my nose. And it covers pretty good with make-up, so that's not bad. My skin has been broken out since day one and I can't find a thing to clear it up. I get hungry about 2 am each night. Hungry enough to wake me from sleep and force me to go eat something, or I'll never be able to get back to sleep. I think I can now pee on command. I have developed carpal tunnel in my hands and arms. My fingers are constantly tingling and numb and pain shoots up my arms. My hands are swollen and I've lost the ability to open things. Sometimes the smallest tasks are difficult. Also, since we are having one of the hottest summers on record, I am swollen. I am retaining water like you wouldn't believe. My feet pretty much stay as swollen as my skin will allow. I have to sleep sitting up because of the heartburn and my feet must be propped up due to the swelling. It's not the easiest position to sleep in. Now that I'm in my final month, I'm so big I can't really bend over. I can't touch my feet, shave my legs or do much of anything. I can barely dress myself! The good news is that I have made it with only a few small stretch marks on my sides. And, it's almost over.

Please don't misunderstand me. This was difficult, but I wanted this pregnancy and I am so thrilled to be bringing a little girl into the world. I can hardly wait to meet her! I've been planning and buying stuff for her from the moment we found out it was girl. I can't wait until we can go get pedicures together or go to Disney World or take her to Texans and Astros games. I think I am most excited to see how Chad reacts to her and how much he loves her. I'm pretty sure he has no idea what's in store for him. She is destined to be daddy's spoiled little girl. And both grandma's have offered to do their share of spoiling as well! The happiest day of our lives is right around the corner and I am so very excited!

--Amy