Three Weeks Old....Oh My!

Oh my, I cant believe it has been three weeks already! I can already tell she feels longer, and she is finally an ounce away from being back up to her birth weight. I am labeling her already as a 'snacker' since she loves to eat constantly but falls asleep while eating all the time. She would rather sleep while eating than to take a nap. This is one habit we are working on.

Last Saturday we went to a friends house who has a pool. What a great excuse to put the adorable little swim suit Aunt Crystal gave Annaka on and show off. She did not get in the pool, but did get to feel a little bit of a cannon ball splash! I think she liked it:)


I have also learned a few important things about our little Annaka. She does not like to be hungry...she likes to walk outside with her daddy...she likes to sit in her swing and look at the mobile...she loves staring at the ceiling in the living room...just when we think we are getting on track with somewhat of a schedule she mixes everything up...she has a cute little birthmark on the outside of her right thigh...and she cannot/will not sleep unless her hands are by her face and her feet are free.

If we try to swaddle her, she will wiggle and cry until her hands are free and will kick her feet until you open the bottom so she can move her legs. Enough of this being squished in a little ball.

Sorry for not blogging much right now....I am trying to learn how to balance taking care of her and getting things accomplished. The day our room is clean, laundry put away, and I get a shower before noon there will be quite a celebration!

Here are a few pictures...they were taken on her two week birthday:)

Annaka is 2 weeks old on Sunday!

Our little girl has had quite the two weeks. Sorry, but I took quite a break from the internet the past week and have posted nothing...no pictures or notes. Hopefully this picture post will make up for it:)

To pick up a little where we left off last post, here is the outside of the Birth Center. When a baby is born, they put out a flag. We had Annaka and then a couple, who we met at our birth classes, had a little boy about two hours later.
Nurse Lisa took Annaka's footprints and gave her a bath. We really liked her. We went home about 13 hours after Annaka was born and then, the day after she was born we were told to take off her belly button clamp. I don't think she minded this too much.
On day 2 a nurse from the Birth Center came out to do a home visit. She took Annaka's vitals, did a hearing test, and then had to prick her heel to get a blood sample. She did not cry when she was being poked, but cried when the nurse was messing with her.

She loves her bath time. Annaka does not like to be naked, so she cries when we take her clothes and diaper off, but as soon as we enter the bathroom....she loves it! The nurse who visited told us that newborns like to hear water running because it is a similar noise to what they heard in the womb. She sure loves it! She only starts to cry when she gets cold so we have to have the door shut, fan off and bathe her quick! She loves being wrapped up in her warm towel and snuggled with:) It is quite a gamble to snuggle with her for long since she is wrapped up in a towel with no diaper on yet!


Annaka is not thrilled about much yet, besides eating and sleeping. I keep being afraid she is bored, so one day I laid down on the floor with her on her mat and she stared into nothing land and I talked and sang to her....then she flat out fell asleep! Not to excited about the play mat yet.



Daddy Time! Annaka loves when Daddy comes home from work and spends time with her. He takes her to the hammock...It seems to have the same effect on her as it does on him.....sends them to dream land.

Wait a minute, do we see a trend? How come she sleeps so well for Daddy? I guess he is more comfy than mommy.
This is what she does for mommy between ummm dinner time and midnight. Clint is a great help, but I know he has to work early in the morning....so I have had Grandma here to help so far during the later night. Oh my I'm on my own now!!

Grandma left today. Sad day. Annaka loved having her here....and so did I! I definitely cried on the way home from dropping her off at the airport!

Now the adventure really, fully begins. I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing. How is that? Before Annaka came, I was so confident...I had been around babies before but for some reason when it is me making the decisions its scary! Now its even scarier when my mom, the one with the answers, leaves. Now were on our own. I know we will be fine, but its still a bit frightening!

Thursday, Aunt Natalie came to visit. She will stay until Tuesday. Aunt Natalie has been very ancy to come see her little niece...and Annaka is glad Natalie is here. She loves to meet new people who pay so much attention to her:)

Already getting along great huh? Too comfy!

The end for now!

Introducing Annaka

Introducing Annaka Zayn Bauman

Weighing in at 9lb 1oz she is 21.5 inches long and is already amazing us!
















For those of you who want the story...here you go...the semi-short version...

After passing our estimated due date, the midwives would normally wait until two weeks after before considering the big "I" word...but because of the 4th of July holiday the hospital wanted to schedule an induction for the 1st...Tuesday!

Reeeeally not wanting to go to the hospital, we began talking to the midwives about non medical ways to induce labor. Acupressure, spicy food, etc, etc, etc...we tried everything. The midwives eventually gave me castor oil to try.

(Note to self, when not eating sugar for months because of gestational diabetes, dont take castor oil with a vanilla milkshake! That first time around made me miserable because of the sugar. OJ was much better to mix it with on the second go around.)

I got up Saturday (28th) morning, took a dose of castor oil and expected the world to come crashing down with the natural effects of the castor oil and then with labor beginning. I waited and waited and waited and nothing happened! Second dose was at about 4:15pm.

(4:30pm taking my second dose of Castor oil...waiting)

Nothing again...until dinner time. About 6:30 we sat down for dinner and I started having mild contractions. I did not want to get my hopes up seeing as several times the past two weeks these contractions had started for an hour (or four) and never progressed. After an hour or so I went upstairs to the third floor. As soon as I got to the top of the stairs (the same ones I climb several times each day) something changed and suddenly my contractions were 200x worse! We immediately called the midwife on call and our Doula and headed to the birth center.

The Birth Center is ...on a great day with no traffic at all...45 minutes away yet Clint got us there in 30 minutes flat. As we were going inside I was having contractions that were very close together and had double peaks. I still felt like I could handle them though so I was afraid they would tell me to go home and labor some more or that I was just not far enough to stay...I didnt even want to take off my flip flops until they told me I was ready to stay there. Jamacina (our midwife) commented on how close together the contractions were and wanted to check to see how far along I was. I was shocked when she said I was already 7cm. Within 30 minutes I was pushing. Clint asked Jamacina if she thought Annaka would be born quickly or if it would be early the next morning. She looked at him and said "Are you kidding, she will be here within the next 30 minutes." Little did we know that 'little' Annaka had a hand up against her head which made the whole birthing process a little more difficult.

So, one hour of labor at home, a 30 minute drive to the Birth Center, and then after 4 hours of pushing... Annaka was born!

1:47am Sunday morning (June 29th)
9 pounds 1 ounce
21.5 inches long.

Yes, she was born head and hand first! That "30 minute" estimate Jamacina said would have been great and right on if her little hand was not in the wrong position:)

(Here are the culprit hands:) Sooo cute!)

As soon as she was born, Jamacina put Annaka on my tummy and that little girl used her legs to push her body up in the air and lifted her head up! I was shocked thinking they did not do that for a few weeks! She also started feeding right away which was great! I was pretty much in unbelief that our little girl was actually here!

The policy at The Birth Center is that you have to stay at least 4 hours and can stay up to 12 hours. We were wanting to go home, but the midwife asked us to stay the full 12 being that I lost so much blood. They gave me a shot to stop the bleeding and just wanted to check up on me for the full 12 hours.


I look back and realize how often I said I could feel her fingers moving. In our 2 ultrasounds she was sucking her thumb and had her hands by her face. It is amazing to see how much more comforted she is when her hands are free and by her face now as well. At the other end...she does not like to be scrunched up. She keeps her legs completely strait most of the time. I remember trying to figure out what she was doing in the womb when I could tell her head was nice and low...could feel her back...but did not know why there was a weird shape where her legs should be scrunched up. It was because they were not as scrunched as we thought!

Everything turned our great and we have a beautiful little girl! We are still in awe of her and how the Lord has created her so perfectly!

(P.S. her hands and feet are HUGE! She will have to grow into them like a little puppy!)

Pictures

One more note tonight....for those of you who dont have facebook, here are links to two photo albums...

This one is a collection of photos from almost each week:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2132878&l=6c8db&id=55704549

This one is a collection of photos our friend Jonathan Durling took of us toward the middle of our pregnancy:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2141373&l=b2340&id=55704549

Due Date come and gone....40 Weeks

Our due date has now come and gone.....and still we have no baby in our arms. I find it funny how I make up excuses about why she should come the following day. I said she might come the 17th because "No one guessed that day...she wants her own guess"....Errrrr wrong....Yesterday I was saying "Maybe she is more obedient that we give her credit for and will actually come on our due date" Errrrrr wrong again. A lady today told me that this is the first way a child tries to tell parents that they want to be in charge.

I think she is entirely too big and strong to still be scrunched in that small space. When laying down the other day I felt her forcefully extend her leg...and even kicked my bone. When there was no more room she kicked and did it again harder. That should not be happening. I told her there is much more room out here to stretch her legs!

I am realizing that some of the lessons I learned during the first trimester are returning. I am seeing Clint have patience with my crazy emotions and random crying about nothing....and I am learning all over again how to deal with peoples pointless comments. I was grocery shopping on Monday and had three employees come tell me that I needed to hurry up and get out of their store because they did not want me having my baby while there. Again, I know they meant no harm, but come on now....what good does that comment do? Its not encouraging or something I like to hear over and over and over again. If I have learned anything from dumb comments, I have learned how to be sensitive to pregnant people when I see them.

So what did I do....sat in my car and cried.....then went home and made a lemon aid pie, quiche, and stuffed peppers. I was about to fall over of exhaustion and back pain but for some reason HAD to make those things right then! We pulled out the quiche to eat for dinner tonight and after the frozen beast was in the oven at 350 degrees for an hour and was still frozen, we decided to cut it and microwave the pieces. How gormet huh.



We had quite an eventful day yesterday (Wednesday) thinking it was going to be 'the day'. I woke up feeling horrible. I had been up for quite a while the night before in pain and then was having some not so fun, inconsistent contractions that morning/afternoon. I hung out at home, took a nap and got a foot rub from Clint. We really thought we would be calling the birth center that night and thought Annaka would be joining us soon...Errrrr wrong yet again.

The events of Wednesday sent me into tears on Thursday (today) as it is our actual due date and I was not even having the same contractions or feelings I was having the day before. I ended up going to get a pedicure. This turned into quite an event when they found out today was my due date. It was a cool spa that is near our house. I felt like I was in Steel Magnolias or another play of some sorts as everyone talked with each other, commenting on whatever conversation was going on. It did not matter if they were involved or not, no conversation was off limits. I was going to put a photo of my freshly painted toes, but somehow in the past two days, my ankles have disappeared.



I guess all we can do now is wait.

Tiny little feet so cute you can eat them...39 Weeks

This is my bag. It is packed. It is waiting to go to the birth center to welcome Annaka. Notice some books waiting on the ottoman. Ok, those are not really there on purpose for Annaka but are there only because we had friends over for dinner who have two little ones...but it adds to the meaning of the photo I guess.


This past week has been an emotional roller coaster! We really thought Annaka would be in our arms by now. I realized that I had set my mind to her coming early because that is what everyone was saying....the midwives...everyone. I had things planned up through Wednesday. To do lists written, even the order of everywhere I needed to go when running errands. For some reason all of my planning came to a complete halt after Wednesday. I had not really even planned on being at our small group Bible study that night. Thursday and Friday I did not really know what to do with myself. It was like my brain and my whole body just tuned off. It turned me into an emotional mess. (poor Clint has had to put up with crazy me lately)

Today I woke up and really wanted to make cookies and use our new cookie cutter that is in the shape of baby feet. So, that is exactly what I did...at 9am.


I even got to eat a few because I used a recipe I found online that is low carb/low sugar.


The most exciting things lately would probably have to be the most disappointing also. We have had a lot of 'practice' labor....to the point of having contractions 6 minutes apart for a few hours...that eventually just went away. They are not supposed to do that!

I know we still have a few days until our actual due date (Thursday, the 19th). All but one persons guess as to when Annaka would arrive has already passed. (Jess' guess is Friday) I know its slim chances, but I am still hoping for tomorrow....on Fathers day. What a fun first Fathers day for Clint:)

For now....heres to 39 weeks....

Thoughts...

Whew, I dont really know where to begin. I am very excited for little Annaka to arrive and have had a few important realizations this past week.

1. We were sitting at our breastfeeding class and something hit me. Holding that practice doll that is supposed to be the weight of a 'typical' newborn....but is only typical if a newborn baby's head weighs 6.5 lbs and the rest of the body weighs .5 ounces and is about the size of a three month old. Holding that little thing so close and looking down at the eyes (painted on) made me realize that we are really going to have a little girl to hold and bring home. I will be looking into her eyes like that often and will be able to touch her little fingers and toes.

I guess so much preparation for having a baby really makes you focus on the here and now and not really what is to come. I pray the Lord gives Clint and I the wisdom we need as we need it! I am sure glad babies are born so small and sleepy so we can get used to them. If they came out 8 months old and needed entertaining all the time I dont know what I would do!

2. I am nixing the food list. I have had this list of food for Clint to be sure to have when the baby is born. I guess that was still a bit of self pity for not being able to eat much of what I really want these past few months. I dont want to be so focused on getting apple juice and apple pie and cinnamon rolls and other specific things right after the birth that I loose focus on what the Lord is blessing us with. Food is not my focus. It is a minor thing to give up my 'right' or 'freedom' to eat what I want so our little daughter is healthy. I will definitely get my apple juice and all the good bread items in time, but dont need to cause stress by demanding others to get it for me at the birth. A bowl of cereal and ordering pizza will be fine, will be easy and will not send others waiting on me hand and foot. I thank the Lord for what I have learned through this. I have learned that 4% of all pregnant women struggle with gestational diabetes....that a growing part of that 4% are South Asian Indian women...and I have learned that I can be content in the Lord and not have self pity because of what I can and can not eat....even when seeing others eat it. It is not important. Doing my best to help my daughter be healthy is important. Focusing on the Lord rather than myself.

3. I am very impatient! I want her to come right now! Saturday night I was woken up every hour and a half or so by contractions! I thought for sure she would come on Sunday....then on Monday...now at midnight Monday night/Tuesday morning as much as I would LOVE to say she will come today I need to be patient. Maybe take a 3 hour walk in the 100 degree weather and do a few jumping jacks. I can see my body preparing itself...I have already started dilating and are showing other minor signs.....please come soon Annaka:)

Sorry, no pictures this time. Maybe tomorrow.

38 Weeks

38 weeks...still trying to jump out my belly button...



Now my bag are packed for real.....our birth plan is written....and clint has a list of food I want to eat after Annaka is born:)

I have successfully cleaned out our file cabinet and other odd things are completed that have nothing to do with having a baby but, nonetheless, are they finished now and we are all that much more ready for Annaka to join us!

Today Clint put together our stroller...




It hit me on Thursday night when we were at our breastfeeding class that we are going to have a real little girl. (What a concept, I know) Holding that doll that weighs the same as a 'typical' newborn yet is the size of a five month old as we learn how to breastfeed, made me realize how her eyes will be so close to mine and how great it will be to be able to talk to her and look at her eyes and fingers and toes.



and this is what happens when I try to see my feet. If I lean wayyyy over or use a full length mirror it is possible to see the toes. I have said I am going to get a pedicure because I cant even reach my little toe very well...but we will see if there is time for that.

I will post more often these last few days...