Avery is 3 Weeks Old!

It's hard to believe that these 3 weeks have gone faster than that 1 week that I went past my due date! ha. I can't believe she is already 3 weeks old! This time last year I never ever thought I would have another baby EVER... 3 months later this time last year I got the shock of my life when Aunt Flo missed her visit and I had a positive pregnancy test staring me in the face.

At 3 weeks Avery is 10 lbs 6 oz. 21 1/2 inches long with a head circumference of 15 inches. 90 percentile in weight. 75 percentile in height. 90 percentile in head circumference. She's a big girl, but the pediatrician is happy with her growth because she is "following her curve well."

We are slowly getting in a routine. She likes to eat... a lot. She wakes up every 2 hours most of the time. OCCASIONALLY she will wake up every 3 or 4 hours, but more than likely every 2. Looking forward to the longer sleep cycles and hopefully they will occur at night.

I am really starting to stress out about school starting because right now, I am definitely not getting enough sleep. On a good night I get 6 hours and on a not so good night about 3-4 hours. Right now the bad are out weighing the good, but it's been nice that Dave has been on vacation. He has taken "baby duty" for 2 nights... and tonight will make 3 nights. He is sweet, but I am going to be sad when he starts work again.

Well. Here is my chunk of a 3 week old. She's sweet. Sorry it's with my phone.  Somedays I just don't have the time to take pics with my good camera and edit them up... so on those days, the phone will have to do.

The Resolution Post

The New Year is almost here.  2012.  It is sobering to get to my age and realize just how quickly life can pass you by.  I remember being in high school thinking I would never ever graduate, but 1997 rolled around and I did.  I remember thinking it would be FOR EH VER before I would be 21... But the year 2000 came and turned 21.  A marriage, 3 kids, and what seems like a brief blip of time later and here I am wondering why I wished those years by so quickly.  Don't wish your life away.  Now at the age of 32, I look at my 8 year old and shake my head... how could I have been so silly as to say that "I can't wait until she is old enough to do this and that"  How could I?  Now she is 8 and I am wanting time to slow down.  I didn't learn my lesson.  I did the same thing with Brendan... and with my pregnancy with Avery.  I just couldn't wait to not be pregnant anymore.  Why would I want my life to go by any faster than it already is?

I am starting school January 17.  I am scared.  I also find myself wishing that this time in school would go very quickly.  WHY?  Why would I do that?  I will be 35 or 36 by the time I am finished with school.  Why do I want to wish those years to go any faster?

2012 Resolutions

1. To apply myself and do awesome in school

2.  Not let impatience take over.  Take time to enjoy the journey.

3.  Manage to parent, take classes and keep my house clean! ha.

4.  Find a church and get involved... this particular resolution has been on my list for the past 2 years.  Hopefully this time I can knock this one off.

5.  Lose all of my unwanted weight that I have gained with all 3 pregnancies.  I am hovering between 152 and 155 right now... so hopefully by the end of the year I can get down to at least 125, which is still heavier than I would like, but I will take it.
EDIT:  I don't want to offend anyone.  I think I end up doing this when I post weight centered ideas on my blog... I think because I am so candid about the numbers and numbers are relate-able.  I need to learn to just say I want to lose 30 lbs... rather than saying what weight I want to be at.  This is in NO WAY insinuating that 125 lbs is "heavy" but rather 125 lbs is "heavier" than the weight that I eventually want to end with.  Right now I would be happy just to be at my pre-pregnancy Avery weight which was 135... but really I'd like to lose more.  To feel good about myself and to be healthier.  Ya know?  I really am sorry if I offended anyone.  I really didn't mean it to come across that I think 125 is heavy.  It's all relative anyway.  A short girl can weigh 130 and look a little bit on the fluffy side, where as a taller girl can weigh the same and look way too skinny.  It's all relative.  Anyway.  Long story short.  No offense meant.

6.  Cherish my husband more.

7.  Love on my kids more.

8.  Embrace my friends.

9.  Make it through 2012 without drastically cutting my hair.

10. Get Silver Dollar City Season Passes ;)

I hope to get to read a lot of your resolutions.  HERE IS TO 2012!!! Let's make it a good year.  Savor every moment, as cheesey as that sounds!  Don't take life for granted.

School... Feeding Woes... and MORE PICS!

Hi everyone! Ok. Sometime soon I will be going through all of YOUR blogs and commenting. I really have to budget time for this kind of thing, so don't think I have forgotten you, I haven't.

I was supposed to shut this thing down for a while, but blogging is such therapy for me, I don't know if I could ever. So I guess as long as I have something to say and time to say it, there will be new posts. You will know that if things get silent on here, I am VERY VERY busy.

I scheduled my classes for school. YIKES! I am getting so freaked out. I am taking a remedial math course (I suck at math), a nutrition course, and dun dun dun... Anatomy Physiology. Groan. ha. I am so nervous. I don't even know what I need anymore. Do people just work off laptops now? Or do I need notebook paper and pencils and pens still??? GAH. I don't know!

Anyway. Avery is doing good. WARNING: BREAST FEEDING TALK. We had a little breastfeeding flub up so I have watched my milk supply slowly dwindle away. She is primarily formula fed now. This didn't matter to me with Lindsey or Brendan who were formula fed. For some reason I am taking it harder with this one. Probably because it is my last baby FOR EH VER and I really had high hopes. Lindsey was primarily formula fed after 1 month. Brendan was formula fed as soon as we got him home from the hospital.

I know a lot of women give the excuse of poor supply... but I think mine is hereditary. My mom had issues breastfeeding too. With Avery, I would feed her nearly an hour and she was still acting ravenously hungry afterward, so I would supplement her with an ounce of formula. I have NEVER made an over abundance of milk, and my supply is sensitive. For some reason pumps don't do the trick. So. I am bummed about it but what can I do?

So how did I lose my supply?  Well.  My nipples started bleeding... just from normal breastfeeding.  Avery's latch was fine, I think she was just too eager and with an overbite it probably didn't help matters.  Anyway.  I told my ped that my nipples were bleeding and she told me I needed to pump until the blood was gone.  She told me that babies can't digest blood and it makes them throw up their feedings.  I had noticed that Avery had been spitting up a bit.  So I started pumping.  Well.  My supply just dwindled.  By the next day I could tell that my breasts weren't filling up with milk the same way.   Since she was already having a hard enough time being satisfied by my milk alone, this was worrisome to me.  I finally decided with school coming up, it might be better to just pump a few times a day and breastfeed and formula feed.  Supplement.  Well.  I just wasn't pumping enough to make it worth it so I thought I should just dry up.   However, I just couldn't let myself completely dry up. 

Yesterday I decided to try and see if Avery would cooperate and help me get my supply back, but after days of being used to the bottle... she really doesn't want anything to do with the breast.  I tried at 3 feedings and it just got worse.  She would start fussing after 1 minute... and only even stay there for 4 more.

I have decided that I don't have the time to work my supply back up to a reasonable level... with school starting in January and taking a full load (12 credit hours) I am just looking at the big picture. Maybe it's good to have her already used to formula... since I won't be able to breastfeed her. UGH. So there is my failing moment. I know I don't owe anyone an explanation as to why I am not breastfeeding, but it helps for me to at least vent out that I am frustrated by it.

I wish I was one of those women who could produce milk with ease or have the time and patience to stick with it. If Lindsey and Brendan were to have exhibited bad side effects from being formula fed, I think I would be even more torn up about it, but Lindsey is so smart and loves to learn and rarely ever gets sick. Brendan is so smart too and he never gets sick either... so... I know I am not giving Avery the short end of the stick. I know she will be fine.  END OF BREAST FEEDING TALK

Well, here are some more pictures that I took of my pretty girl.

I asked Dave what his favorite Avery feature was. He told me her eyes. MY favorite Avery feature is this little wrinkle she gets on her forehead when she looks up! I love her hairline. I don't know where she gets it, but I love it. I have a 4 finger forehead and so does Dave... so we don't know where she gets her cute little 3 finger forehead from.



Dave had a hand holding shot with her in the hospital pics so I needed one too.

Hope you all have a fantastic Wednesday. I will be by your blogs soon... as soon as I can scrounge some time.

Avery is 1 Week Old... What's happened in that week?

The exodus of pregnancy hormones. That's what's happening. ha. Losing swelling, which is a good thing... and the shedding of many tears. It never fails I get REALLY weepy the 1st and 2nd weeks. I am bracing myself because I haven't cried yesterday or today, but I don't by any means take it for granted that I am in the clear. ha.

Avery is great. She is proving to be a daddy's girl. I haven't had that extreme connecting bonding moment with her yet... it makes me sound like a horrible mom. I think it has a lot to do with so many changes in my life right now. For the longest time it has been just Bren and I at home. Now it's Avery and Bren... and as horrible as it sounds, I struggle with missing it being just him and me. Some of you may think that sounds horrible... then maybe some of you with more than one child will get exactly what I am saying. I don't get the time to spend with him like I used to. Every waking moment goes to Avery. So far Bren has handled it quite well.

My recovery has been a bit much. You may remember me saying that I was going to get a tubal after Avery came. I followed through on that, and it added a bit of recovery time. I JUST started feeling a bit like my old self 3 days ago. Women who get these during a C section don't tend to notice the recovery from a tubal... but when you have a typical delivery it's an added incision and some added pain and discomfort. It's been a challenge, but I am better... I was actually able to clean my house today. Dave took the kids to see his grandpa and I stayed home and got so much done. I feel so good about it.

Weight. I was really sad because Avery weighed 8lbs 8oz at birth... the rest of the junk that comes out with her weighs about 5 lbs total... I weighed 173 when I went in to deliver her... Got home on the following Sunday made the mistake of weighing myself... 167... yeah... how do you figure that? UGH! However... in between Sunday and today I have shed a lot of water weight because I am currently at 155. Not bad. My stomach is slowly looking less and less pregnant and I hopefully can keep losing. Goal weight is 125. So. Let's see if I can get there. If I have the time between school and baby I will post some on it.

I registered my classes and I am scared out of my wits to start school January 17!

That's about all. Here are some 1 week pictures of my Avery girl.

OH. MY. GOSH! She's HERE!

No matter how many children you have, this never gets to be old hat!  The birth of a child still has this crazy life changing, world flipping effect on you as it does with any children.  Avery Claire has captured all of our hearts.  We are completely in love right now.

The abbreviated birth story is that I went in the morning of Decemeber 9th to be induced since I was a week and 1 day past my due date.  I snapped this picture of myself before leaving for the hospital...

Look how high she is sitting?  She definitely didn't want to come out of there ha.
We got there, got into a room at about 10.  My amazing nurse got me hooked up to the monitors and got my IV put in.  As she walked in the room with the bag of pitocin... MY WATER BROKE! ha ha ha.  Ironic.  I was so in shock.  I convinced them to let me wait to see if labor would begin on it's own.  It didn't so we did end up using pitocin.  They gave me a small dose and increased it gradually, but baby wasn't handling the pitocin very well even in small doses, so we ended up having to shut it off, but it didn't matter.  Labor had picked up.  There was a brief scare where things got really painful for me and could have ended in a C-section... Avery tried to flip transverse breech on us during labor ha.  She ended up re-engaging and everything turned out alright in the end.  Labor started at about 2pm I delivered my healthy 8 lb 8 oz baby girl at 7:44pm.  20.5 inches long... she was my biggest baby yet.  I love her to pieces and can't get enough of looking at her.  She has stolen my heart.  It's amazing to me how even though I have been there done that, the birth of a new baby is still so wondrous and evokes the strongest emotions we are capable of feeling.  This part of having a baby is something I will always treasure.  I know I complain about the rest, but this part... you will get no complaints from me.

So without further ado... I give you the photos that mainly Dave took of our day in Labor and Delivery on the birthday of Avery Claire.

updating the masses of the progress...

looking a little worse for wear ha. Contractions had picked up and the ordeal with trying to figure out if she was transverse or not was PAINFUL... so I may or may not have cried... even sobbed a little... I was making it though.

My AMAZING nurse. She seriously was awesome! All of my nurses were!

Thinking "really Dave, you are taking a picture now?" ha.

Fresh out of the oven... and I am completely in love.

The best Dr. in the WHOLE UNIVERSE! So glad Dave snapped this! :)


Now for the CUTENESS OVERLOAD!!! Dave took all of these too and I LOVE them so much. I need to get some of them framed. So awesome!






This concludes my pregnancy journey.  It's been quite the experience, and I'm so glad to be in the next phase. 

40 Weeks + 6 days (basically 41 weeks)

STILL HERE and pregnant! ha.  Today was an ok day for my temperament.  I cried twice. ha.  I know that I said I wouldn't take anymore pregnancy pictures, but I was just emotional and grumpy.  Here is my 41 week belly.

These are the jeans that I spilled bacon grease on.  FINALLY got the stain out.  I should have figured it would take hot water and stain remover...dur.

Anyway.  I took a 41 week picture because I knew I would be sad if I didn't have a weekly photo to tell the story of how I was pregnant a week longer than I should have been.

I have 32 hours from now to go into labor on my own.  If not I will be induced on Friday.  I don't know if I will update tomorrow or not.  I might... especially if I am really nervous about the induction and if I am wanting to pass the time...

Have a happy Wednesday night and Thursday day.  I will try.