Poop and other things

So every now and then I check this blog that chronicles inappropriate facebook posts parents make about their babies. I do that partly because it's hilarious, and partly because I fear I might make it on there someday.

One of the things that you aren't supposed to talk about on facebook is poop. I get that. It's gross. But guess what? This is my blog, and this poop story is hilarious. Don't worry though-I won't post the pictures :)

So Jordan, Daisy and I went to my parents house for Christmas. I was in the kitchen making caramel, and Jordan was in the guest room changing Daisy's diaper. All of a sudden, I hear Jordan frantically yelling my name. I run into the room, thinking that something has gone terribly wrong (I am super paranoid all the time now, so of course my first thought was that Daisy was seizing or something like that) and I look at Daisy on our bed. She was just kicking her feet, looking around and being altogether cute. I asked Jordan what the problem was, and he replied with: "Look at me!" So I give Jordan a once over and then I really start to see what the problem was. Poop. Everywhere. There was a spray pattern all across his shirt-up into his beard!-across the wall, all over the bedside lamp....it was everywhere. Now, I should have rushed to his aid right then, but first I called my mom down so she could take pictures...poor guy.

I just remembered that story the other day and had to share it.

Daisy is starting to get a more normal schedule. We are still working on naps though. She is supposed to be asleep right now-I just fed her, got her to sleep, and placed her gently in her crib. The baby monitor is right next to me, and it sounds like Daisy has just woken up and is cooing and sneezing and making adorable sounds. I know I shouldn't go in and see if she will fall back asleep on her own...but I don't know how long I'll last. She is pretty great to cuddle with.

My mom and I have started to do craft fairs. We have only done one, but I got enough to get an iphone, so we are optimistic. We are applying for another one this month. My mom makes these beautiful quilts, and I think for this next one I might make a coordinating set of crib bedding. I made Daisy's, and I think it would be fun to make some to match her quilts.

We have an etsy shop, but I won't even post the link yet-we haven't uploaded any pictures of our products yet. But when we do, I will. My older sister is apart of this too, she also makes great quilts. Here is one she recently made for my grandma:



This weekend Daisy and I are going to join Jordan in New Orleans. I am real excited. Jordan has to travel a lot for his job. It isn't nearly as bad as families in the military, but it still can be a downer. But! I get to spend my birthday with my husband and my baby in a city I've never been to.

K, Daisy is refusing to go to sleep. I guess if she just insists I can watch LOTR and cuddle with her. AGAIN. What a needy girl ;)

Where to begin?

So I haven't blogged since I popped Daisy out. Sorry about that. Having a baby around takes a while to get used to. Because I don't have a ton of time before I need to get back on tap (feed Daisy) I'll make this list more efficient with some lists.

What I wish I had known about having a newborn:

-It's okay if bonding doesn't happen right away. I probably won't tell her this, but I didn't feel like I had bonded with Daisy until weeks 3 or 4. Bonding is hard to describe, but I knew it hadn't happened yet. When I was left alone with her for the first time, I really did not like it. I was so tired, I didn't know what I was doing, and I felt so frustrated. I really resented taking care of her, and I hated feeling that way. When it happened, though...it was wonderful. Every baby book I had said what I went though (baby blues) are totally normal, I just never expected to not instantly fall in love with my sweet little baby. Don't worry-I can't get enough of her now.

-Breastfeeding is hard. It took 4 days for my milk to come in. I expected it to happen after 1 or 2. That was super frustrating, because I really wanted to feed my baby. Also, for the first month or so...it really hurts, and can take a long time. Lanolin and gel pads saved my life.

-You're not a bad mom if you give your baby formula. I wish I would have given her formula the first couple days as we were waiting for my milk to come in. She was fine, (newborns don't need a ton of food) it was her jaundice that the formula could have helped with. The type of jaundice she had gets better when breastmilk (or formula) flush it out of the baby's system. Since I didn't have any milk, I wish I would have given her formula. Her jaundice wouldn't have gotten as bad as it did, and Jordan and I would have felt so much less stressed. Not going to lie-we were freaking out a little bit. Also, every so often (If I have had a rough night) Jordan will let me sleep and give her a bottle. Daisy still latches on to me, my supply is still fine, Jordan gets some bonding time with Daisy, and I get some sleep. We all win.

-Be prepared to be paranoid for life. Maybe it's just me, but I now feel ultra aware of anything that could ever go wrong with, or happen to Daisy. It can be stressful.

-Little babies do great in movie theatres. Date night doesn't have to end! Daisy sleeps right through movies.

No one cares if your dishes don't get done. You just had a baby. You get to do whatever you want.

Recovery takes a lot longer than you think it will. I thought I felt fine, so I started walking all over the place and cleaning the kitchen floor (wtf, Jessica). But then, the drugs wore off. I felt like recovery was worse than labor and delivery. Next time I'm not doing anything. I'm taking all the offers people give to come over and cook, clean, and do whatever else I need.

-Be prepared to turn into a facebook mom. I didn't think I'd be exclusively posting about Daisy every day....can't help it.

Now for some stats on Daisy:

-She is 11.5 weeks old!

-At her 2 month appointment, she weighed 11lbs 9 oz, and was 23 inches long. Thats about a 3 lb and 3 inch gain from her birth stats!

-She is so calm and happy. She rarely cries. Most of the time when she wants something, she just lets out a cute little noise. I feel really grateful that she is so calm.

-The first time she smiled at me I died. Not literally.

-She loves hearing her momma and poppa's voices. She always turns her head towards us and smiles.

-She loves "You Are My Sunshine". It regularly calms her down and puts her to sleep.

-She is starting to fall asleep without my help. She still won't sleep for very long during the day if not being held, but we are working on that. She now has one long stretch of sleep during the night, thank goodness.

-She is starting to discover her hands. She sucks on them all the time, and I catch her studying them too. Last week she was able to reach for a toy and grab onto it. It doesn't happen often, but it's a skill she is developing.

-Daisy is hilarious during tummy time. She lifts her head and shoulders for a while, but usually tummy time ends with her lying with her face on her side, cooing, and licking the blanket.

-She loves bath time and getting her diaper changed.


Her blessing was this past weekend. It was a wonderful experience. My parents and Jordan's parents were able to come visit, and it was really great having all of them here. Daisy was treated like such a princess by the grandparents-plenty of new clothes :) My mom made her beautiful dress, and Jordan's mom gave Daisy a very pretty pearl bracelet. Jordan did a fantastic job with her blessing-he came back with sweat all over his face, poor guy was so nervous. His blessing for Daisy was perfect.

K, this is a super long post. I'll catch up on more later. I've been cooking a lot more vegetarian meals lately, so I'd like to share about that. Jordan and I have weight loss goals and we are trying to work on that together-maybe if I blog about it, I'll be more diligent?

K. Now pictures of the best baby ever.


Blowing milk bubbles bores Daisy I guess?

Daisy with my dad

OMNOMNOM

Nakey time is her favorite time.

All the gory details

Here is the birth story, for any interested parties.

WARNING: It might be gross


Sunday morning (my due date) I was lying in bed, about to get up and get ready for church. Jordan and I had spent some time after we woke up talking to my belly, giving baby girl a pep talk. I had just said to Jordan: "This day owes me a baby" when I felt a particularly strong kick, and heard a pop. I thought that was kind of weird, so I got up to go to the bathroom and make sure everything was normal. As soon as I was on my feet, I realized that I was doing some serious leaking, and it hit me that my water had broken. I had to tell Jordan about three times, he kept saying "what?!, wait, what?!"

Panic mode.

I had no idea what to do, so I stood in the bathtub to keep the floors clean while Jordan ran to grab my pregnancy reference book. The book said to call my Dr., so I made a call to my clinic and talked to a nurse. She confirmed that my water had broken, and told me to make my way to the hospital, and that she would contact my doctors and let the hospital know I was on the way.

While I was taking a shower to clean myself off (it was sticky, gross) Jordan was running around the apartment freaking out. It was pretty funny, that adorable man. I could hear him running around and just yelling-not saying anything, just shouting "aaaahhhhh!". We got ready as fast as we could, and made our way to the hospital.

Once there, we checked in and got a small triage room. They tested the leaking fluid to make sure it was amniotic fluid. The test came back positive, so they led me to my giant labor and delivery room. Seriously, this room was giant. There was a sitting area with a couch, coffee table, and chairs, the bathroom had a big whirlpool tub, and there was a ton of room for me to walk around while contracting.

Up to that point, I hadn't really had consistent contractions. They were small, and 15 minutes apart. They decided to put me on a very small dose of pitocin to help speed things along. As soon as the iv was in, I felt like the contractions started to come really strong and really close together. This was at 2:00 pm- I did the whole "natural labor" thing for about three hours before deciding that I didn't want to feel that anymore. The contractions hurt like crazy, so I asked for an epidural.

Oh, that epidural. Getting it put in was the worst. I was still contracting, and Jordan accidentally let me know how big the needle was before they stuck it in my back. Once it kicked in though...bliss. It was such a nice relief to not be feeling those contractions anymore. This was 5:30 pm. I couldn't walk around after the epidural, so I had to hang out on the bed for the rest of labor.

It wasn't until 11:30 pm that I had dilated enough to begin pushing. This part was really hard. It seemed like no matter how hard I pushed, I never got any closer to delivering a baby. With each contraction, I would push as hard as I could, and then wait for the next one. This lasted for so so so long. I was so thirsty, but every time I would try and drink water I would start throwing up. Also, the epidural kept me from feeling the contractions, but I still felt all the pressure of a human slowing moving down the birth canal. I tried as hard as I could to not think of that pressure as pain, but it was a pretty fine line. I only looked at the clock a couple times, always surprised at how long it had been.

After four hours of pushing, the doctors starting to talk to me about using a vacuum, and if that didn't work forceps, and if that didn't work a c-section. I knew I wanted to avoid the vacuum and forceps, and Jordan and I both felt hugely against a c-section. Thankfully, her heartbeat was good despite the time spent in the birth canal, so they let me opt to keep pushing. This was the point where I feel like I was outside my body. I was just so exhausted, and I could feel baby girl's head move forward with each push, and then move back. I felt like everything in my body was turned of,f and I was just watching myself push and push and push, take a break waiting for the next contraction, throw up, and then start again.

Finally, her head got out. She had been looking sideways, so her head was getting stuck. The poor girl, her head was so bruised and so swollen. There were a couple sores where blisters had formed and ruptured. I didn't see them pull her out of me, I was so tired and was so in the mindset that I had to keep pushing that I didn't even realize she was out until Jordan told me to look. I saw her just as they were lifting her up, and placing her on my chest. I couldn't believe it! They gave me a baby! It was over! She was finally born at 5:03 am after fourteen hours of labor (from the time my water broke) and five and a half hours of pushing. Jordan and I just held her little hands, counted her fingers and toes, and laughed. It was awesome. I was so glad that it was over, and so glad that our baby was there. We knew looking at her that she was Daisy.

After Jordan cut the cord, he and the nurses took Daisy away to clean her up, weigh and measure her (7 lbs 10 oz, 20 in), and do all the security measures. Her footprints were recorded on a sheet with my finger prints, a tag was attached to her umbilical cord stub that has a chip in it to shut down elevators and stairwells so no one could take her, and matching wrist tags for all three of us. Meanwhile, the doctors were attending to me. Thankfully, I barely tore-just one stitch. I pushed out the placenta, and they carried it over to me to show it to me. It was super gross and pretty fascinating. They lifted up the opening for me to see where Daisy and floated around for nine months, and it was hard to believe that it held my baby. It looked so thin! I can't believe it didn't pop before then.

We were taken to our recovery room, which was super nice-a HUGE shower-and promptly passed out.

We are so glad to be home with our Daisy, and so in love with her. She is just super adorable.

Fighting Pickles

So the elevator in our building smells EXACTLY like the elevator in the dorm I lived in at art school.

I was just looking at some pictures from back then, watching my giant baby belly move, and thought to myself: "Wow. Aren't things different now?" It's been so long (5 years? 6 years?) that I don't really think about it that often...that is until I finally made the connection between the elevator smells. Weird sentence, I know, but it was only last week that I realized where I knew that smell from, and felt like I was right back on the third floor.

I definitely miss parts of it. I miss working long hours with really talented people. I miss being able to focus all my time on art stuff. I miss the novelty of living away from home for the first time. I miss the friends I made.

Our lives are all so different now, and even though I occasionally indulge in daydreams of me living lives like them-living in a big city, working as an artist...I'm happy with the choices I made. I'm glad I left art school for BYU, glad I got married, and real glad to be expecting a baby. I still paint. Not as often as I would like, but I still do. I hope I always will.

Jordan is really supportive of me making art. He never wants that part of me to become less of a priority. What a gem.

Anyways, tomorrow is my due date. Tomorrow owes me a baby.

Packed bags

I'm starting to get nervous.

Before now, I knew I wasn't going into labor anytime soon because I couldn't go into labor while Jordan was on his business trip. He got home Thursday night, and since then I've been using other things I've been putting off to mentally delay the thought of going into labor. Here are some examples"

I can't go into labor until I have the apartment really really clean.

I can't go into labor until I have my bag packed.

I can't go into labor until we unpack and set up the car seat, stroller, and bassinet.

I can't go into labor until I finish all the headbands and clips for the craft fair.

Well...Jordan started to notice I was putting some of this off. So unfortunately for my sanity, the apartment is nearly spotless (just bathrooms left), the baby gear is out of the boxes and set up, my bag is packed, and I am nearly done with all the hair clips.

I know last post I was all "GET THIS BABY OUT OF ME", but now that it is getting closer, it's starting me make me really nervous. Really, I know I still have two weeks. My due date is six days away, but it is pretty likely that I'll be late. My doctor will induce me after going a week or so over...but that doesn't stop me from obsessing over every braxton hicks contraction, or thinking to myself every morning: "Is this the day?"

It's okay though. We have a ton of ice cream in the freezer now. So. That makes me feel better.

It also makes me feel better knowing that we have so many people around us that care and want to help out. Our families have been sending us stuff non stop, and have been calling me almost every day to see how I'm doing. A friend in my ward threw me a surprise baby shower (I thought I was going to be babysitting her baby, so I showed up in stretchy pants and one of Jordan's shirts-wear what fits, right?-still embarrassing), which was such a nice surprise. I feel like I've made some real nice friends here.

Anyways, I'm starting to get real nervous about labor, but it's okay. I know it will be just fine, and our baby will come out all normal and healthy and stuff. One of the things I am the most excited for is to see Jordan hold her for the first time. This is going to be really sappy, so I'm sorry...but it just melts my heart anytime he talks about her, and I can't wait to see him be a dad. He is going to be so great.

We have been having a real nice fall-apple orchards, pumpkin patches, corn mazes, donuts, costumes, etc. We don't take any pictures ever. We need to get better about this when our baby comes.

I'll keep everyone posted, I promise.

Gross

My feet are so swollen, my toes are sticking out at weird angles.


Two weeks.


Jordan is out of town until Thursday night. Friday commences the nightly walks, trampoline jumping, and spicy food eating frenzy.

GET THIS BABY OUT OF ME.

Fulfilling promises

So I thought we would have Babygirls room done by now, but it isn't. It's close though! So here are some in progress pictures:

Here is the crib. In front of it is a sheep skin rug my Dad got while he was on his mission in New Zealand.

This is a shot of the bedding. The crib skirt and sheet are from sheets found at a thrift store (and washed real well, don't worry). unfortunately, I didn't have enough of the yellow floral material to make a ruffled crib skirt so it is just boring straight panels. The outside of the bumper is from fabric I got at Joanns (but don't worry! I used a coupon!) and the inside is fabric my Mom sent me.


That cute elephant was given to us by my Aunt Jennifer. Isn't it awesome?



These are going to be hung over the crib. Jordan picked out the lanterns-they light up! He was pretty cute when he found them. I love how excited he is about this little girl.

A cool mirror I found at a thrift store and repainted. Also a small piece of the curtains-the color isn't the best in the picture of the curtains, they are greener than they seem.

I have two pieces of this fabric, and I love it so much I can't bear to cut into it. So I am going to use a spray adhesive and stick it onto two small canvases to hang on the wall. I love it when my Mom sends me her left over fabric!

K, ignore the obvious need for another coat of yellow paint. I just wanted to show you this great lamp. Another thrift store find, and I recovered the shade with fabric from an old dress that needed too many modesty modifications to make it worth it. I have more of that material, and I will probably make something cute for Babygirl (once I get better at sewing. It's happening!)

Not my favorite chair, but it is going to be great for nursing. It is real comfy, and it was super on sale.

Side table we are repainting to have next to the glider. The recovered lamp will go there.

Not pictured are some more stuff for the walls-I can't paint the walls, so I want to have plenty of stuff up to make the room more exciting than it is. I have some cool old platters, some more fabric to affix to canvases, and a couple watercolors of giraffes and hot air balloons and stuff. I also want to get/make some letters and put her name on the wall. Won't be doing that until after she is born, because although we are 98% certain about her name, we aren't telling just in case we decide we need to change it. It's pretty dang cute though.

Here are some pictures of the headbands I am making for the craft fair with my Mom, and for mah baybee.

These take forever, but I really love them. They are going on headbands like this:



These are all on alligator clips, but I am making more that will go onto elastic.

Specifically this elastic, which I just got off etsy. It was incredibly cheap, which I am always real happy about.

I love this one.

I need to make more of these.

Aaaaannndd a belleh shot.

This is 36 weeks 1 day. That's right. Her due date is in 27 days. We are anticipating she will be late, but still. 27 days!

She is more than welcome to come anytime (save for Jordan's business trips). I am super uncomfortable and ready to get her off my spine :)