Sarah is two weeks old today! She's grown so much already, and we officially can't remember what it feels like to be rested or have free time. ;)
Sarah had her 2 week check up yesterday. Her head has grown from 14" to 14.25" which puts it at the 80 percentile. Her weight is up to 9 pounds 4 ounces which is at 86%. The big one: her height is 21.75" which puts her at 99%. We're hoping my tall genes dominated! The doctor was pleased with her exam, and says the umbilical cord will fall of any day now. Looking forward to that so we can give her a normal bath and don't have to be as careful changing diapers. She'll go back at 2 months to get lots of shots. So pitiful!
Sarah is rocking it in the sleep department these days! We feed her every 2.5 hours during the day, and we'd been feeding her every 3-4 hours at night, but yesterday the doctor gave us the go ahead to wait 4-5 hours at night. We just have to get in 8 feedings a day with a goal of 24 ounces of milk per day. Usually, 3-5 minutes before we're planning to feed her she waits us and fusses or just gets alert. Robert changes her diaper while I get the bottle and pump parts ready. Then he feeds her the bottle while I pump. It's a little bit harder and more drawn out in the day when I'm by myself. Speaking of which, Monday was my first full day on my own with Sarah, and we all survived!
Hoping for a 4th generation Bearcat!
Parenting initiation: A dirty diaper that resulted in my having to change my whole outfit in addition to Sarah's. First projectile vomit. Poop that landed on the carpet. Fun stuff!
Sarah Elizabeth came into our lives on Wednesday, August 5 at 9:24am, weighing in at 9lbs 2.5oz and 21 1/4" long with a 14" head. I started pre-labor contractions on Sunday night. I didn't really know about pre-labor and we thought this might be the real thing. I had contractions off and on Sunday night, all day Monday, and all day Tuesday. It was kind of awful because we kept on wondering if this was it. Contractions came irregularly - some times 5 minutes apart, 45, 3, 25. They were pretty much always 30 seconds - a minute and a half long. Over these days Robert and I got approximately 3 hours of sleep total. We didn't really tell anybody that this was going on because we had no idea how long it would last and didn't want people waiting on us for hours/days. My parents came to Springfield on Tuesday night to see us for a bit, and I ended up having my mom spend the night. We said good night to her around 10:00, and from the moment on the contractions came consistently. We followed the 5:1:1 rule (contractions 5 minutes apart, 1 minute long, for an hour) and decided to go to the hospital at about 11:00. We had a 10 minute drive in the rain, and I was hoping so desperately that this was it and I wouldn't be sent home.
30 minutes later we were checked in and admitted. I was dilated for 4cm. I had always thought it was strange when ladies had anyone other than their husband in the labor and delivery room, but immediately we knew we needed my mom there, so we called her and she was there within about 30 minutes. By 11:30 I was dilated to 7cm and super pumped that it only took an hour to progress 3cm. Nurse Amber offered to get me in different positions, but honestly nothing felt good except to walk and stand and go to the bathroom after nearly every contraction. I had a mobile telemetry monitor which made moving around easier.
Things majorly slowed down, and at 6:00am I was finally dilated to 8cm. We had the hospitalist break my water which didn't hurt one bit, and they started pitocin. At 7:00am the nurses switched and Danielle started assisting me. She didn't let me call the shots like Amber did, and she made me get in some uncomfortable positions to keep labor progressing. At 7:30 she had my get on my right side for two contractions, and it hurt like nobody's business. Next, she had me get on all fours, and after just 1 minute I sprung out because it just wasn't going to happen. But when I stood up I knew that something had changed. Danielle thought surely not since she had just checked me and I was maybe at 8.5cm. However, I got her to check me again, and sure enough I was fully dilated 10cm and it was time to push.
Dr. Graves came in at about 8:30. Since Sarah had waited until normal business hours, Dr. Graves was able to deliver her instead of having the doctor on call. I think I did a pretty good job pushing. I was pleasantly surprised, because I had heard people talk about how they didn't know how to push, but I really didn't have that problem. I pushed through 4 contractions, and 20 minutes later Sarah was here. Robert was able to cut the umbilical cord, and we had some skin to skin time.
While Dr. Graves was finishing up everything with me, I started feeling pretty anxious and panicky with some shaking which they said is normal, but I just didn't feel right. At 10:30 I told Danielle I was feeling very dizzy and having a hard time hearing. She started getting concerned and called in reinforcement. We had about 8 nurses in there, and Dr. Graves was called back to returned. Nurse Mary came in to press on my uterus and pushed out a hemorrhage the size of Sarah. Thankfully, I didn't see it because I was already on my back with an oxygen mask, but Robert saw it and was horrified. The gave me a shot of Hemabate to help the uterus contract better as the hemorrhages were caused by the uterus not contracting and bleeding too much. They also inserted a catheter which was a new experience. The nurse suggested that Robert get a support person back here. My mom had left for delivery. Robert gave a nurse his phone, and she called my mom to return so she could support Robert. I held Robert's hand the whole time, and they sent Sarah up to the nursery. That was pretty heartbreaking to know that she was with somebody else for the first 7 hours of her life. I ended up losing 2200cc of blood which Dr. Graves said is half of a person's blood supply. I received two blood transfusions, and after all that (about an hour) I started to be able to talk and interact a bit more. During that time, they had been pressing on my uterus a lot and very forcefully - so hard that they popped my back through my stomach three times! This time was scary for me of course, but I know it was also so hard for Robert and Mom to watch. They drew my blood, and the hemoglobin levels were still too low, so they did a third transfusion. After the third transfusion they sent in another phlebotomist to draw my blood to test again. He took about 45 minutes and had to poke me twice. It was awful and annoying. A nurse came back half an hour later and said he'd taken too long to bring the blood back to the lab and it had coagulated and couldn't be used, so they sent in another person to do it. It took a long time again but not quite as bad. I got to eat some food, and Robert and I just sat around waiting. This experience made me so thankful for blood donors! Finally, the hemoglobin was high enough, and I was able to be transferred to the maternity wing at 5:00pm.
Mom, Dad, Serina, Ray, Memaw, and Pepaw came up to meet Sarah shortly after that. They didn't know the name, so it was fun to finally reveal it!
I stayed Wednesday and Thursday night in the hospital. I was so unbelievably exhausted after getting 3 hours of sleep in 4 days. My body was very sore from all of the pushing. I was weak from the blood transfusions. Even going to the bathroom was an ordeal. My tail bone was numb. Everything hurt. I by no means feel like I'm back to 100%, but each day I feel a little bit better.
Because of the blood loss, my colostrum didn't come in like it normally would have, and the whole breastfeeding thing got delayed by about a day. I never planned on Sarah having formula, but that's just what had to be done in the hospital. Thankfully, we haven't had to use formula since coming home. However, Sarah was having the hardest time latching and sucking. We have a friend/church member who is a speech and language pathologist and she came over to look at Sarah, and discovered she's lip tied. We were able to take her to an pediatric orthodontist yesterday to get the lip tie clipped with a laser. It was very sad to see her cry, but thankfully she stopped as soon as it was over. We can already tell she's latching better, and we have an appointment with the lactation consultant this afternoon to re-start breastfeeding now that her lip is fixed.
Snuggling with Aunt Taylor and Uncle Jim
Bible time with Grandpa and Dad
Post-delivery was the scariest experience of my life. At one point I literally thought, "If I die, someone will help Robert raise Sarah." However, during pre-labor God had given me two words for Robert and me to continually repeat: Strength and Peace. God provided those two things abundantly. He gave me strength to deliver a 9+ pound baby without an epidural or other pains meds. He gave Robert and Mom strength to help me through labor. He gave us supernatural peace in the unknown moments of catastrophe. Here's a song to sum up our thoughts about God's provision for this time:
Thank You for the wilderness
Where I learned to thirst for Your presence
If I'd never known that place
How could I have known You are better?
Thank You for the lonely times
When I learned to live in the silence
As the other voices fade
I can hear You calling me, Jesus
And it's worth it all just to know You more
You've done great things
Jesus, Your love never fails me
My soul will sing you have done great things
Thank You for the scars I bear
They declare that You are my healer
How could I have seen your strength
If You never showed me my weakness?
And it's worth it all, just to know You more
You've done great things
Jesus, Your love never fails me
My soul will sing You have done great things
You've done great things
In weakness, You are my victory
My soul will sing You have done great things
Through the fire and the flood You have never let me go
And my soul sing You have done great things
I am weak, You are strong
You will always be my hope
And my soul will sing You have done great things
Through the fire and the flood You have never let me go
And my soul will sing You have done great things
I am weak, You are strong
You will always be my hope
And my soul will sing You have done great things
You've done great things
Jesus, Your love never fails me
My soul will sing You have done great things
You've done great things
In weakness, You are my victory
My soul will sing You have done great things
What do you know, July was another busy month. It's been a packed month, and I can kind of understand how people say the school year is less busy because we've just been so busy with fun things lately! We went to Bolivar one day and made a whole day of it. We started out with breakfast at Brenda's Cafe with Tiffani. There is no other friend who makes me laugh more. Robert likes hanging with us because we turn into giggle monsters for no reason and just can't stop. Everybody needs a friend like that! The only non-fun part of the day was our 6 month trip to the dentist. No cavities for me! Robert...well, you can ask him. ;) Next was lunch with Memaw and Pepaw, followed by a traditional foot massage by Memaw. She's the best masseuse around! We followed that up with a trip to Sonic with Emily, Elise, and Leigha. These girls are great! We hadn't seen Emily in so long, and it was great to squeeze in a quick visit before her trip to China and before she starts her last year of pharmacy school. Elise lived in various countries while we lived in North Carolina, and our trips back to Bolivar overlapped only a couple of times. We're so happy that she's going to be a Spanish teacher at BHS so we can see her more now! And Leigha was able to swing by after work to meet us at Sonic. Elise and Leigha are duplex roommates now, and I'm looking forward to seeing their place soon. Then we went to Jim and Taylor's house and met the newest addition to their family - Harvey the dog. He's very cute and lovable. Our day wrapped up with dinner with Mom and Dad. Could you ask for a more fun day?
Harvey
Serina made a quick visit to Springfield to stay the night with us. Her trip included getting a pedicure, so that's never a bad thing. She was also able to come to church with us and made the youth some homemade cinnamon rolls. Robert did a duet special in the service, and it was nice that she got to hear that, too. Serina left shortly after lunch on Sunday, I took a quick nap, and then girls' day at the lake commenced! This was a very fun afternoon and evening, but I'm not sure that I'll be volunteering to take a dozen teenagers to the lake in July when I'm 37 weeks pregnant ever again. ;) For the record, no, I did not go tubing! I manned the picnic area and watched the swimmers.
Just a couple of days later we had a lock in for the youth. I only stayed until about 9:30. Then I went home and reappeared at the church for breakfast the next morning. It was a success, as proven by the fact that it took Robert two days to recover! They went to a trampoline/gymnastics place, had lots of good food, played games, and enjoyed running around the church in the dark.
Robert had the opportunity to officiate his first wedding this month. The wedding was for a former SBU roommate of his, and the wedding occurred at the Elfindale Chapel. Robert did a great job, and the wedding was very nice!
I've traditionally suffered from migraines. It's been so bad on a consistent basis. Before becoming pregnant I was on a daily preventative migraine medicine and also had an "emergency" as needed medicine. Unfortunately, those medicines constrict your blood vessels, so I had to wean off of them when Baby V came on the scene. Thankfully, my migraines have been pretty under control without medicine over the past several months. Anyway, when I do feel one coming on I can only take Tylenol which basically doesn't do anything. Unfortunately, I had a doozy of a migraine the other day. It lasted roughly 24 hours and included all of my normal, horrible side effects - pain around my eyeballs, sweating, nausea, sensitivity to light and sound, inability to fall asleep, and unbelievably uncomfortable. It was the worst. Fellow migraine sufferers, you have my empathy. The one bright side of this day was that Memaw came to visit! She made us lunch and dinner, hung out with me, and provided another great foot massage. I even gave her a summer pedicure!
Robert and I went and saw Pitch Perfect 2 at The Palace. It was good and only $3.50/person!
We had another fun summertime activity last Sunday night - Slip n Slide! Again, I obviously didn't slip or slide, but I was the water sprayer, and it was a lot of fun!
On Thursday Memaw and Pepaw were in town and they met up with Robert and me for lunch at Lola's. Jim called at the perfect time to see what I was up to, and he was able to join us for lunch as well. Things like this make living in MO again so fun! (Side note to NC friends: We miss you guys!!!) We went to Bolivar that night to go to Kelsey's baby shower. I must confess that I had hoped I might not be able to go because I'd be in labor or have a newborn in my arms, but it was great to see Lance and Kelsey and other friends.
On Friday we had what we had hoped would be our final OBGYN appointment. I guess it still could be, but when we left we had to make another appointment for this Friday, August 7. Baby and I are still doing well, and things are progressing as they should. She'll be here when she wants! We also sneaked in one more date - A lunch at Casper's and a walk through the Japanese Stroll Garden.
Ray got here on Saturday. He's staying at a local RV park in preparation for Baby V's arrival. The park is only about 10 minutes from our townhouse and also quite close to the hospital, so it's a good location for him.
School will start back up in just about a week and a half. What are you doing with your last bit of summer break?
Lastly, here's some Mittens cuteness to end your day well.
