Family Visits

The past month has been full of visits. It all started with my parents coming the middle of December to celebrate Christmas and for my dad to see Chloe for the first time. It was a great visit. We had our Christmas and it felt like it really was Christmas even though it was about a week before Christmas. We didn't do a whole lot which worked well for Chloe's schedule since she was just 5 weeks old. During this visit was the first time that Chloe was away from both me and Zach. My mom watched her for a few hours while I was out at the doctor. Of course she did just fine for mom, but I was sure glad to get home back to her. It was great to see mom and dad interact and play with Chloe. We had a great Christmas with them and a great visit!

About 3 weeks after my family left, Zach's family came. The whole kit and kabudal! Ermine, Steve, Jeremy, Mandi and Jeff all made the trip. It was the first time for all of them, except Ermine, to meet Chloe. I don't think Chloe realized what she was getting thrown into as the Batsches are quite the crazy family. We had a great time visiting, taking walks, eating great food and going to the Botanical Garden. All the guys also went and played golf which they had a blast doing. Although, supposedly Zach cheated and tied for first with his dad. Chloe smiled the most at Steve, but she was pretty happy with everyone and everyone saw her smile.

It was a crazy couple of weeks, but we enjoyed every minute of it!

A Month Gone By

I can't believe that it has been a month already. Time has just flown by! Its been a great month and many days it just doesn't seem real. I often ask Zach "Can you believe we are parents" and then I tell Chloe "Can you believe that you lived in my belly for 9 months."

We've actually done a lot this past month since both Zach and I were off work for the majority of November and the weather has been just beautiful. We've been taking walks with Chloe to Subway, she was the hit at my office Christmas party and we've taken her to an outdoor mall for a good shopping trip. It is amazing that my biggest past time seems to just be watching her. I could watch her all day long I'm sure.

Now let me brag about how she's such a good baby. Of course I would never say she was bad, but she eats and sleeps pretty good and doesn't get too fussy. We've been very lucky that she hasn't had any uncontrollable crying episodes. She will cry, but nothing we can't handle. She normally has about 5-6 hours in between her feedings during the night so both Zach and I can get a good 6 hours each night. On Thanksgiving I saw her roll on her side and sleep for a few minutes. I'm not sure if all babies can do that, but I was shocked to see her actually roll herself on her side and keep herself there for a bit before she went back on her back to sleep. She has also started smiling a bit. I'm not too sure if she knows she is smiling, but in my mind she does. She will smile when you tickle her feet or under her arms, sometimes when we are just talking to her and most of the time when we give her raspberries on her cheeks or feet. Zach got her to giggle a bit last week. (or at least what he considers giggle) She had a big smile on her face and made a few little baby noises. She is very alert during her wake times and sometimes in between feedings if we are out on a walk or running errands she doesn't nap much because she is so curious about what is going on around her.

We went to the doctor today for her monthly check up and she is weighing in at 8lbs 12oz which is in the 26th percentile for her age and she is 21 1/2 inches long, which is the 68th percentile. The doctor said that she has a beautiful perfectly shaped head and she couldn't believe how alert she was through the whole appointment. Chloe was just looking around and following the doctor when the doctor was checking Chloe out.

The dogs have also been pretty good with her. They are very curious and Daisy is really protective over her. Daisy does not even want Buster near Chloe. It is quite funny to watch Daisy block out Buster or push him away. Chloe doesn't seem to mind the dogs either. They can bark all they want and it hasn't woken her up from a nap or really scared her at all. Hopefully she will continue to sleep through their barks.

Well I'm sure you've all stopped reading this by now and are just looking at the pics...

First Few Days

Chloe has been wonderful. She's eating regularly every 3-4 hours and sleeps very well. At the hospital she did really well and wasn't fussy after any of her tests or shots. She passed the hearing test very quickly and all the nurses thought she was adorable.

We were released on Friday morning and were a little nervous about how the dogs would take the coming home. We were pleasantly surprised as we knew Daisy would be curious, but she is also very protective over Chloe. Whenever she hears Chloe on the monitor she whimpers and looks at Zach like "aren't you going to get her". Its pretty cute, but the best part is that the barking or noises that the dogs make don't bother Chloe at all!!!

The big day!

Well the big day finally arrived. We had gone to the doctor on Thursday November 4th and set up to be induced on Monday November 8th at 11pm. We had to call an hour before our appointment to make sure there was a bed available for us, and of course there wasn't. They were hoping to have one available early morning, but 6am Tuesday came around and still nothing available. It was a frustrating day as we didn't know when they were going to call or if they were even going to get us in on Tuesday.

Finally around 1:15pm on Tuesday they said they would have a room available for us within an hour and to go ahead and start heading to the hospital. So we packed our bags and headed that way. We thought surely Chloe would arrive Tuesday evening or early Wednesday morning. We didn't realize the long hours we were about to endure. By 3:30pm I was all set up and having contractions 2-3 mins apart, but still not dilated. They gave me some medicine to help with the dilation before they could give me the epidural or the pitocin to really start the dilation. I was to take this every 4 hours for the next 16 hours!!! That is when we knew it may be a long night.

Around 6:30pm on Tuesday my nurse came in and checked my vitals and she noticed that my face was really red. I wasn't hot or anything, but she was nervous I was having some kind of reaction to the medicine. So as a precaution and since my contractions were so close together they decided not to give me any more of the medicine. Around 9pm on Tuesday I was just at 2 cm dilated, but because of my contractions my doctor decided to give some kind of medicine that made me loopy and was a pain medicine so she could try to break my water. That was still really painful so she decided to hold off a bit and see if she could get my epidural early. Around 11pm the anaesthesiologist gave me my epidural. I thought it was going to be so painful, but it wasn't that bad. The numbing needle was worse than the epidural. Because of the loopy medicine and my fear of needles I started to feel a little light headed, which in turn made Zach feel a little woosie as well.

So after the epidural my doctor was able to break my water and boy did it come gushing. It was funny because she would think it was done and then more would just come spilling out. With my water broken and the epidural my doctor was able to put in a different kind of monitor to better show my contractions. Once that monitor was in they realized that my contractions weren't as strong as the belly monitor was showing. Now it was time for pitocin, but there was only one more issue. My oxygen level dropped and my blood pressure dropped and once they were able to get me stable then Chloe's levels started to drop as well. It took another few hours to get both of us stable enough for pitocin. At 4am on Wednesday they gave me my first dose of pitocin. Yay! Now it shouldn't be too much longer.

It was now 11am on Wednesday and I was stuck at 4 cm dilated. My doctor now said that if I didn't start to progress soon that we would need to start talking about a c-section. That must have done the trick because by about 12:30pm I was at a 5 and then around 1:45pm I was at a 9! That is when the anxiety really started to kick in because my nurse started to get the room ready for the doctor and I felt that Chloe was just going to fall out before the doctor was in the room. It wasn't until about 4:15pm on Wednesday that they started having me push because they wanted Chloe to do most of the work. It worked because at 4:28pm on Wednesday November 10th Chloe had arrived to the world. She was 19 1/2 inches long and weighed in at 6lbs and 14 ozs.

I was exhausted and really thirsty, but it was all worth it. I had been in bed for about 26 hours only having ice chips, but once we saw Chloe it was all worth it.

Relax....Breathe...

So I've had this fear or this great worry about contractions. I would ask the doctors and they would all tell me different things or they would say that "you'll just know" when I ask what contractions feel like and what to expect. I've asked pretty much everyone I come in contact with what to expect and everyone has told me differently. I know that all women and pregnancies are different, but I think someone should make a "contraction simulator" so that way they can help show you what to expect. I'm sure Zach is tired of me saying do you think that was a contraction or do you think that if I had pain here and tightness there then that is a contraction.

The good news is that I went to the doctor today and she asked if I was having contractions and I said I think so. I explained to her the feeling I was having and then she said that I was probably have contractions. I felt a little triumphant to know that I was correct in my thinking, but what really just sealed the deal was while she was measuring my belly and taking Chloe's heartbeat she started pressing on my belly and said "Do you think you are having a contraction now?" I told her that I thought I was but it wasn't really painful just a lot of pressure and discomfort and that was what I've been feeling from time to time each day. And then she said it. She said "Yes, that is a contraction". I guess when she was pressing on my belly to measure she noticed how hard my belly was and that I was having a contraction. So now I know what to expect and I know what to look for when they become more regular.

Now don't panic. They are not regular by any means. I had about 4 in a 30 minute period today and then didn't have any for another hour or so, but the doctor said I could go any time. I still didn't have her check to see if I was dilated because I thought that would freak me out even more if I found out I was dilated even though I know you can be dilated for weeks. I can't believe I just have 2 weeks and 2 days left! Let's hope Chloe isn't as stubborn as her mom or she may stay in there forever!

Almost Normal...

Well it's finally back to normal...my love of peanut butter that is. Last week Zach had told me that for lunch he had 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and I thought man he is so lucky to be able to eat them. The next day we were trying to figure out what we wanted for lunch and I just blurted out PB&J. I asked if he would make me one and if I didn't like it I would just let him eat it or let the dogs eat it. So he made me a PB&J, light on the PB though. And it was so yummy! So in the past 7 days since I had that glorious PB&J sandwich I have had 5 more sandwiches for lunch. Oh how I have missed the yummy goodness of PB&J.

Once I realized that I could eat PB&J again I decided to try hamburgers. Now my love of McDonald's hamburgers have never gone away, but the kind that Zach makes I couldn't eat. They were always a bit too thick and a little too greasy for my taste. Zach grilled out some burgers and again I can eat them. Obviously Chloe's taste buds must be maturing to the yummy food that I love. (I don't know if Chloe really has taste buds yet, but I'm still going to use that reasoning.)

On a side note...I have 2 weeks and 5 days until D-day!

The Great Abyss

Well it is official...the great abyss aka my bellybutton is no more. Zach always has said that it is the deepest bellybutton he has ever seen and he calls it an abyss. This weekend it is officially flat. It hasn't started poking out and hopefully it won't at all. Zach said that finally all the lint that has collected for 25 years is now out. He still uses it as a portal to talk to Chloe even though it is flat.

On a side note...we had a great weekend. We went out baby shopping on Friday and finished up Chloe's room. Everything is waiting for her arrival. I also have worked on her baby book and started packing our "go bag". Zach also fired me from making pizza this weekend. He was putting together our little swing for Chloe and I decided to be helpful and make the pizza for lunch, but when the buzzer dinged Zach found a problem. He couldn't cut through the pizza and thought I had forgot to spray the pan, but really I left the cardboard on the bottom and it baked on the pizza. Oops. So he fired me. We were able to get the cardboard off and cook the pizza a bit longer. I thought it was just fine, but if it is fine for me then it's undercooked for Zach. He still ate 3 pieces though so I think it was fine for him too.