Tuesday, February 24, 2009

1 Month and Counting!

Charlotte is a month old! I cannot believe it! This tiny little baby is growing up so fast. We had her 1 month checkup and she is weighing in at 7 lbs 13 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. Again, I cannot believe it - 2 pounds in a month. We could see her little cheeks filling out and her fingers getting longer, but I had no clue she had grown that much. The doctor was thrilled with her progress and even says she is holding her head up and starting push up and try to roll over early. What a special girl! She is getting so much more alert and has great awake times - I love having this time with her. Her blue eyes just melt me!

Over the past month Jeff and I have been able to take some time to get away on our own - it is hard being away from her, but I think it is great for us to have at least a bit of time just us. She has been "baby-sat" by my mom, Jeff's parents, my grandparents, and Jeff's brother and sister-in-law. We took this time to get coffee, see a movie, buy a car, and get some work done. We feel very comfortable getting out with her and so she has been to church, small group, target, out to dinner, Apple, NorthStar, and various friends and familes houses. It already feels normal having her with us and so far, she is pretty easy to tote around!

Well that is the update for now! I keep meaning to update our blog, but of course I am a bit busy lately ;) The most daunting thing was getting caught up on everything, so now that I am caught up, I should be much better about being able to sit down and write a quick post about what Charlotte did that day. Keep an eye out on facebook and gallery.houseoflyons.net to see new photos of our Charlotte Bug!







Goodbye Jeep...

For those of you that know Jeff, know him also by his Jeep.  His yellow Jeep was always a dream of his and he was able to fulfill this dream soon after we were married.  We have 3 years of memories - trips, off roading, and summer nights with the top down driving along the country side. 

As wonderful as the Jeep has been, we knew its time was coming to a close.  Jeff's commute is 45 minutes and a soft top Jeep on the interstate makes it feel even longer.  The cold and the hot, the noise, and of course, the gas! As wonderful as the jeep is for fun, it is not as wonderful for a daily commute.  Now you add in Charlotte and you realize that this is no longer the vehicle for us. :(

So new car time!!  Jeff has had his eye on the Dodge Magnum for years - I cannot tell you how many of these cars we have test drove!  It is the perfect combination of family car and vroom-vroom.   Jeff found a 2008 White Magnum at Beaman Dodge in Murfreesboro, so off we go.  Mom watched Charlotte - her first babysitter!  It was strange being away from her, but it was good getting away from a couple hours. 

I have to admit, I shed a few tears for the ol' Jeep.  It has been so special to us and it was always a dream for him to have, it was tough to see it go.  But in with the new!  It was wonderful driving off in our new car!  It was so comfortable and has soooo much room.  I am able to sit in the back with Charlotte if I need to but we still have perfect foot room up front too.  It may seem like a little thing, but it is great for me!  And Jeff's favorite part.... an Aux input!  He is able to plug his iPhone in right into the stereo system and play away.  I love the peace and quiet of the car too - he can actually call me on the phone on the way home from work and have a conversation.  Beautiful!

 

 magnum-2

Our First Days as a New Family

Charlotte is here! What an amazing feeling it was to be able to announce her arrival to the world. She was born on Friday and we were in the hospital until Monday. We had wonderful visits from family and friends and our church. Everyone loved how tiny and perfect she was!

It was a very surreal time being in the hospital. I felt like she was mine and was so proud to show her off, but at the same time, I was not able to be me. I was bound to my bed until late Saturday night and even then it was slow going! I wouldn't say I was in pain, I had too much pain medication to be able to make that claim! It was just uncomfortable and I was not able to stand up straight or even shift myself in bed without a ton of effort. We were also moved from our large wonderful room to a tiny impersonal room at 11pm on Saturday night - and then moved again! So by Sunday we were getting a little stir crazy and ready to get out of there!

Charlotte did wonderful her first few days. She was so tiny that the clothes and diapers they had from the nursery were way to big and she was just falling out of them. Even though she was so small she was in perfect help and didn't need any additional help breathing or keeping her temperature up. The only issue we had was that she was so small she didn't have the strength to nurser properly. By Monday she had lost weight down to 4 lbs 14 oz, so we had to suppliment with formula. This was not something we had wanted to do, but of course we would do anything she needed.

We headed home on Monday about noon. It was so exciting to be able to take her home! It was so funny seeing this tiny little baby in this huge car seat! And not only was her car seat too big, so were her clothes that we had brought. Poor kid! But she is still the most beautiful baby in the world of course! Overall, our experience was a wonderful one. We had our ups and downs with the hospital and staff, but in the end we have a healthy baby girl and nothing else matters. Now we were home on our own and the adventure begins!







Charlotte's Birth Story

As you can see from Jeff's beautiful video posted below, Charlotte's birth was an amazing experience for us all. Here is her birth story in words!

The last time I posted was on Thursday January 22nd while we were sitting in the hospital waiting room to be admitted. Once we were in and situated Thursday night, they started my Cervidil. This medication helped prepare my cervix for labor and would work over night while I tried to get a good nights sleep. We were up the next morning at about 5:30 to get the latest set of vitals done before starting the pitocin.

7:13 am the pitocin was started and we were officially in labor! At this point I began to feel some minor contractions that slowly but surely kept increasing due to the pitocin. At 8:02 we had already gotten to 3 cm! We were moving along so well, that Dr. Rupe went ahead and broke my water to move labor along even quicker. 11:28 brought us to 4 cm and the pain had increased to a point where we decided to go ahead and place the epidural. This was not nearly as painful as I had imagined. It was uncomfortable and there were moments that had some sharp pain that ran into my lower back and legs, but overall it was an okay experience. Once the epidural was in I started getting numb from my belly down. I describe it best as the feeling you get when your legs fall asleep and start waking up again. Just that uncomfortable tingling that hurts when you move or it gets touched. It took about an hour to get fully numbed and comfortable and I was able to take that time to rest.

This brings us to 6 cm! We crossed over the halfway point and were thrilled. This happened at 1:12 and then 2 hours later we had only moved 1 cm more... by 5 that evening we were still at 7. About 6 Dr. Rupe came in and explained that our progress had halted for some unknown reason. Me and the baby were doing fine and could continue in labor if we chose, however, Dr Rupe told us that we were at a less than 10 percent chance that we would be able to deliver naturally. It was up to us if we wanted to give it another hour of labor, but we decided that the chances were too slim and we were ready to meet our daughter!

At 6:32 they were prepping me for a C-section! It was a non-emergency c-section but it was amazing how quickly they moved! I was in the OR in under 15 minutes and had gotten further doses of the epidural to completely numb me so I wouldn't feel anything except a bit of pressure. It was a little strange to have to just lay there, not being able to move with even my arms strapped down to the table. Dr. Rupe was great and came over and helped me focus and just helped me stay calm. Then the blue sheet went up and they brought Jeff in and away we go! Jeff did an amazing job to help me stay calm. We talked about Lost - even Dr. Rupe joined in! I could feel some pressure mostly up at my lungs and under my ribs, but I felt nothing else. The next thing we know it was 7:03 and Dr. Rupe told Jeff to stand up and take a peek at his daughter being born!!

I cannot describe what an amazing sound it was to hear her cry for the first time. Such a sweet cry! I was able to get a peek of her across the room being cleaned up by the nurses and I sent Jeff over to get pictures of his daughter. I missed the chance of seeing her and holding her immediately like you would with a normal delivery but I was thrilled that Jeff was able to stay with her and follow her to the nursery to get cleaned and checked. I of course had to stay behind and get put back together. Jeff was able to really bond with her for the first hour after her birth and be present for her being weighed and measured. He got priceless photos and video. We found out that the reason I had stopped dialating and she had not moved down any longer - the umbilical cord was wrapped around her left ankle 3 times! We have a little bungee jumper on our hands. After hearing this news we knew we made the right decision on going forward with the c-section when we did, there was no way she was coming out the old fashioned way! And, it makes for a fun birth story to remember for years to come.

It was an hour later once we were together as a family. I finally got to hold this little wonder! They brought her in from the nursery as soon as I had gotten back in our room and we got our first taste of life as a family of three. After we had a few minutes to ourselves and then we brought our family in and introduced our daughter:

Charlotte Anne Lyons

5 lbs. 9 0z, 19 inches long, born January 23, 2009 at 7:03 pm.