Amazon Baby

Aisling has officially outgrown her newborn clothes and her newborn diapers. She is dangerously close to outgrowing her cosleeper as well. She looks so huge now compared to when we brought her home. She is definitely going to be a tall girl that is for sure. I can't wait to go to the Dr. in 2 weeks to get her new stats.

She is one month old tomorrow which is so amazing. The last four weeks have flown by. Brian has to go back to work tomorrow which makes me so sad. It has been great having him here. He has been the biggest help. She had colic the last few nights, I think I ate too much chocolate, and he stayed up with her and got her and Mom as well to sleep. He really is the best Dad and I am so lucky. She is still loving her bippy (pacifier) and she has discovered a cute little baby in the mirror of her play gym. She is getting so strong now and likes to try and stand when we hold her. She is grasping onto things now too and has found that Mommy has long hair that is great to pull. Time for a haircut for me.

We also had a big week this week as we had two outings. We went to Mother's Haven and the market. We both even put on real clothes, the first time for me in a month, granted they were maternity clothes, but beggars can't be choosers. We even took a picture, as seen above, as proof that my legs are not made of sweat pant material. She did really well at Mother's Haven and slept through the whole thing. At the market she was really good too. She loved looking up at the big lights on the ceiling.

Miracle Invention

So as you can see from the picture I gave in, or more like it Aisling gave in and finally took the pacifier, which we call the Bippy. She loves it and so do we. Now the fingerprints on our fingers can regrow and baby can get some of that suck time she obviously so desperately loves. She has been a lot less fussy with her bippy in tow and we are all a lot happier. Of course, she is obsessed with it now and I feel we have created a bippy monster, but she is still nursing like a champ and that was my biggest fear with the pacifier thing.

She is also 3 weeks old today and is smiling more and more. I think it is more than gas or sleep grins too. She is really seeming to respond to us and our playing. It is so cute. Last night she got some good sleep too. Well, she was up from 3 am to 5, but had slept from 7pm till 3 and went back down at around 5:30 to 8. She likes to sleep and is pretty easy to put down at this point. She grumbles and squirms, but manages to keep her peepers shut.

Baby Fintan Visit

Fintan (Aisling's future beau) and his mommy came to visit us yesterday. It was so much fun to see both our babies out and in the real world. Fintan is so cute, Aisling was particularly impressed by how well he held his head up. It is cool to see him grow and to think that in 2 moths Aisling will be doing the things he is doing. It was great to see my "twin" Ingrid too. I am so glad we got to experience the pregnancy thing together and now we are learning the mom thing together. I know our kids will be great buddies and I can't wait to see them grow up together.

What a night

We had our first run in with a horrible night that all the veteran parent's warned us about. It started with a midnight feeding which went as normal. Then it took about an hour for Aisling to go to sleep only to wake up at 2 am bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to play. I took her downstairs and she played a bit while Mom tried not to pass out. She finally conked out about 4:30 am. Then I noticed that her diaper was leaking a ridiculous amount of poopoo. So not only did I have to wake her up, I had to change her outfit which she can't stand and her zipper got stuck to boot. So after the screaming subsided I nursed her and actually managed to get her to sleep around 5 am or so. She did sleep till about 8. But to put a cap on the night fun she peed all over herself at her morning diaper change. I just had to laugh at that point Here is hoping that tonight she sleeps better cause Mommy is super tired.

2 weeks old

It is hard to believe that only 2 weeks ago I was in labor and about to have our little munchkin. Time sure is flying. We had our 2 week checkup last Thursday since we were at the Dr. for a jaundice checkup. The jaundice by the way is almost completely gone. As of Thursday she weighed 8 pounds 15 ounces, and was 20 1/2 inches. I am sure she is over the 9 pound mark by now. She sure loves to eat, when I can wake her up. She likes to dose just about the time I am supposed to feed her.

Here are a few more things she likes:
1. Milk
2, Lying on her changing table and kicking her legs
3. Bobo the bear
4. Sleeping on daddy or mommy's shoulder
5. Peeing and or pooping as soon as her diaper is off or as soon as a clean one has been put on
6. Her Yoga song, "Long Time Sun"
7. Sucking her finger or mommy or daddies

And here are some things she doesn't like:
1. Changing her clothes
2. BATH TIME!!!
3. Gas bubbles in her tummy
4. Extended diaper changes when she is sleepy
5. Being in the same position for too long

So she is definitely developing her personality. We still love her to pieces even when she is Ms. Fussy pants. The time is going so quickly and we are trying to savor every last second of it.

Easter

Here is a picture of Aisling in her Easter dress. The dress was only on for about 30 minutes till she started protesting. Seems like her mom she isn't into the frilly side of things, well at least she isn't yet.

Aisling celebrated her first Easter this weekend. Ok so it was technically one day early, but we weren't up to braving the drive to Riverside and the OC so we had the grandparents out on Saturday to celebrate. She racked in the bunny loot too. Lots of animals, books and candies, which will be eaten by her parents.

Her first friend

I just had to share this picture of Aisling holding her new friend bobo the bear.

One week old

I can't believe a week has gone by so fast. Things have been really good. We are settling into being parents and Aisling is settling into the world in general. She is a really good baby. She mostly only cries when we change her clothes and occasionally her diaper. She was a bit fussy yesterday, I think she was overstimulated from all her visitors over the weekend. We couldn't get her to stop crying and then I put on this song that they play a the end of every Yoga class I went to when I was pregnant with her and she settled down instantly. She seems to remember it from the womb. It was really amazing and of course, made me tear up, which isn't hard to do these days. I am still post-partum. I feel much better and am speeding through recover, but I am still al little slow and emotional, but very happy.

She has a new friend too. Her Uncle Mike brought her a stuffed bear rattle and she just loves it. She even holds onto it and tries to eat his little bear head. We are calling him Bobo bear and she is so into him. It is adorable. She is also gaining weight at an incredible speed. At the doctor's yesterday she had gained 9 ounces in 3 days. She is only supposed to gain about an ounce a day, so they were very pleased and amazed. We are still watching her jaundice, but she looks so much better.

Well, better go feed our super baby. I love this mom thing. We are one big happy family.

More cuteness

I can't believe she is ours and is amost one week old. I am sooooooo happy!!!!

Isn't she cute

Here are some pictures of our little angel. I will try to add more of them every so often. Things are a bit busy these days so I am sure everyone understands that this blog may not be updated as much. I will do my best. Brian has some pictures on photobucket.com too. You can go to the site and search for bk421 and you should find our photo album.

Ahhh she is so cute!!!!!

She's here

We finally have a baby.

Aisling Erin was born last Monday 4-3-06 at 8:23 pm. She weighed 8 pounds 8 ounces and was 19 inches long. She is gorgeous and healthy and has made mom and dad so happy.

We went into the hospital on Sunday night around 8 pm to start the induction process. It was pretty exciting, stressful, and scary all at once. We didn't get much sleep, if any on Sunday night. I had nurses coming and going, Dr’s giving me Miso something or other every 4 hours, and the bed was really uncomfy and I was strapped to a fetal monitor, which kept falling off. Nothing too big happened during the night but by 5:30 am I was really starting to feel the contractions. We moved into LDR room #3 around 10 am or so and this is where I spent the rest of labor. Susan our midwife kept checking in on us throughout the day. It was pretty slow going for most of it. Susan was awesome though; she kept me from having to be on the monitors all day and really kept our options open. I was really worried about the pitocin thing, but it turns out I never needed it. I kept progressing and my body took over. They had a shower in the room, which was awesome, the water felt so good during the contractions. It was after my second shower around 6:30 pm that things really started to get going. I was getting really emotional and the pain was so intense, turns out I was in transition, which let me tell you is the worst part of labor. I was in so much pain and I was throwing up and hyperventilating on top of it. It came on so fast and strong, I don’t think any of us were prepared for it. Brian, Susan and the other nurses really kept it together and helped me through it. I don’t think I opened my eyes for the last two hours of delivery. When it came to the pushing it was pretty hard too, I must admit to screaming too. I never thought I would, but when it came down to it, I had no control over myself. I was tired and it really hurt, but she came after only 30 minutes or so of pushing, which is good because Susan thought it would be closer to 2 hours.

It was amazing when they put her on my chest. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Brian and I were both sobbing. All the pain of the delivery was gone and I was absolutely euphoric. She was perfect and she was here. I will never forget how good it felt to hold her. She was totally awake and looking at everything. She fed really quickly too. They did all her tests after she was done feeding and never left my sight. She did so good during all of it.

I am really proud of how we all did. I stuck with it and managed to do it without an epidural or any pain medication. It was hard, but totally worth it. Brian was great all day and I had my buffalo totem that Ingrid made for me clutched in my hand for most of labor. I am so grateful for our awesome midwife. She really guided s through it all. My mom was there for the delivery too which was pretty cool and both sets of grandparents got to meet her that night, once things were cleaned up a bit of course. It was just a wonderful birth experience.

The recovery is going well too. I was pretty sore the first few days and it was hard to be in the hospital. Luckily we got a private room and Brian and I got to stay together with Aisling. It was really great to have his help, as it was really hard to stand up and he was always there for physical or emotional support. My back was in a million knots and everything was pretty tender. I am doing better now though. I feel I have turned the corner and should be back to normal soon. I am still a bit slow and tired of course, but feeling better.

As for Aisling, she is doing great. She has a bit of jaundice, but is feeding well and we are giving her lots of light, which should clear it up. We have another dr. appointment on Monday to make sure it is gone. She is the sweetest little thing. She is a good eater during the day, but a little too sleepy at night to get a lot of food. She loves to kick and stretch when we lay her on the changing table. She has even rolled on to her side from her back twice now. She isn’t supposed to do that until she is 3 months old. We got to watch her so she doesn’t roll off anything. I was hoping to not have that worry for a while. She also sucks her finger from time to time and she makes the cutest faces. She is just perfect. I love being her mom and her dad is so proud and happy too. It really is the best thing in the world. I am so happy and so in love with her.

Ready or Not

Well, this is it. We are just spending the last few hours at home before we head to the hospital and this little one gets her walking papers. It is pretty surreal knowing that the next time I come home I will have a baby. It is a little daunting really. I had totally prepared myself mentally for going into and through labor, but now that the plan has changed and I am being induced, I don't know what to make of it. I know it will turn out fine and at the end I will have my little girl, but I am still a wee bit nervous. I was really hoping she would kick off her own labor, but it doesn't seem to be the case. So we are just hanging on for the ride.

Ah well, at least Brian and I had one last weekend together to veg on the couch and sleep in. I know next week will be very different for us and we will look back on the quite times fondly. By tomorrow this time I will probably have my daughter in my arms and that is the most important and exciting thing.

Next time I write in this blog, I will have a whole new person with me and hopefully lots of pictures. So keep your fingers crossed for us and thanks again for all the love and support.