Six weeks flies when you are having fun!

I cannot believe that my baby girl, Sarina Rose, is here AND is 6 weeks old today! Where does the time go? I feel so blessed, I had a wonderful pregnancy, and an equally wonderful delivery! Honest, I would go through that labor and delivery any day. Started the pitocin around 9am, and had it gradually increased every half hour. It took a while to even feel the contractions, and when they started, they weren't that bad. Around 1 pm, they started getting intense. Enough so that I had to stop what I was doing, close my eyes, and breath through it. On a scale of 1-10, they were about a 6.5. I think I could have kept going without any pain meds, but when I was checked, I was only 4cm dilated and I started vommitting a lot. Derick and I had a heart to heart with the nurse and she convinced me that things would go much smoother and faster if I had and epidural. Let me tell you, it was the best decision I have ever made! I was golden with it. Right after the meds were working, my mom came in (she made it from Florida just in time), gave me a kiss and wished me luck. An hour later I started pushing, and 30 minutes of pushing and Sarina was here!!! She was born on 1/22/10 at 3:44pm. She weighed 6 lbs, 8 ounces, was 19.34 inches long, and totally perfect.

She spent the first night in the NICU for observation because she was 4 weeks early and was having difficulty eating. The next morning she was fine, and spent the rest of the stay with Derick and I. Feeding has really been her only difficulty. We have spent 5 weeks with a lactation consultant teaching her how to latch on and feed properly. We went from spending 1.5 hours each feeding (times every 3 hours = 12 hours a day!) with a plastic nipple shield to just this week feeding without the shield and only taking 25 minutes! It has made being a mother MUCH more enjoyable.

Fast forward to today and she is changing every day. She weighs 7lbs 9 ounces! She can lift her head and turn to the other cheek when she is on her tummy. Today, she was able to entertain herself with her toys! She loves a certain toy that has 3 colorful bugs that you attach to a car or bouncy seat. When the bugs move, a pretty rattle sounds. She played with it for over 30 minutes this morning. She was even able to figure out how to reach up and move them to hear the sound! It is the most wonderful feeling to see your own baby learn something new. Derick and I are so in love with her. We shake our heads in disbelief everyday about how perfect she is.

My love for Derick has grown too. I didn't think it possible, but our relationship grew even stronger after the second she was born. He is the best dad, such a natural. He isn't phased by anything, not even a breast pump. (If seeing your wife pump breast milk while telling her she is beautiful, isn't love, I don't know what is) I get teary-eyed just thinking about how lucky we are to have her in our life, and to love each other as much as we do.

Of course, not every day is pink roses and butterflies. Yesterday for example, Sarina and I went to daily mass. Normally she is such a silent angel in church. We were a couple of minutes late (a personal pet peeve of mine) so I quietly find a pew in the back of the church, set her carseat down on the pew, and of course, it slipped a bit, and startled her awake. The next second, there was an ear-piercing scream coming from this angel's tiny mouth. I quickly try to get her out of the seat, which has a five-point harness system (similar to the one Nascar drivers wear I am sure). Whenever I try to do something quickly, it takes 3 times longer, which means her scream gets 3 times louder. So now everyone in the church is looking at me as I try to yank my child out of the seat and RUN to the back of the church. I thought I would die right then and there. It took a good 15 minutes to calm her down. I barely made it back to the pew for the "Our Father..." Tears of frustration were running down my cheek. It took a while for me to realize that this might be the first, but will not be the last time she publicly torments me. It was a patience practice-run for sure. She is worth it.

Enjoy the pictures of the past 6 weeks. If it takes a while for me to update this page, it is because I am enjoying my Daughter!

The Baby is coming! The Baby is coming!

Yesterday I went for my weekly checkup and things looked great. Had my test for the group B strep. It is a test they do around 36 weeks. Being positive means that there is a chance that the baby could get an infection, so they would start me on IV antibiotics when I started to deliver. Nothing else exciting at the visit, Dr. Bannister said it looked good and jokes that this was going to be a big baby! YIKES.

After dinner last night (I had made a taco dip...mmm) Derick, Winston and I were sitting on the couch and I got the sensation that I peed myself, I rushed upstairs so Derick wouldn't know and when I got to the bathroom, my pants were soaked! I went downstairs and told Derick. I could tell he was in shock. He just looked at me. We both dismissed it as being bad bladder control, but Derick suggested I back my bag just in case. As I was packing, the floodgates opened!! I am talking a ton water! I went through 3 pants just while packing. The OB on call, Dr. Weidner, said to come to the hospital and get checked out.

They checked us in, sure enough, my water had broke (not that I was doubting at this point). We decided not to do anything that night and just get some sleep. They did have to start me on the IV antibiotics, because the results of yesterday's test wasn't back yet. Getting the IV in was NOT fun. Took 4 tries and an anesthesiologist to get one in my hand! YUCK. Derick was very supportive because he knows how much I dislike IV.

We both slept well (with a little help from Ambien), woke up had some breakfast, took showers (Derick washed my hair like a pro). The doctor on today, Dr.Albushies (LOVE HER) and said that we would start on the pitocin to help the contractions along. So far we are going at a very low dose and will continue to increase. Going slow is good for two reasons:
1. It will give me a chance to start managing the pain gradually (still trying to go without the epi) and
2. My mom is in Florida to visit my grandparents. She just got there on Wednesday, and today had to turn around and come back. She should be here by 2pm, so here's hoping that she makes it.

Will try and keep you all updated! Love you!

The Nursery is almost done!

I think the nesting instincts are starting to come to me. I couldn't take the nursery being unfinished. There was stuff here and there, without a rhyme or reason, things were still in boxes, and there was a random mattress in the middle of the room. Derick and my mom graciously helped me. I think they were extra patient with me because they knew I was in "the zone" and wouldn't stop til I was satisfied.

Now the room is not 100% complete, I am waiting for the window valance to arrive in the mail, Derick is finishing the ceiling light, and we still need wall decor. But if the baby was born tomorrow, we would be ready (well, maybe not mentally, but the nursery would be ready).

In other baby news, we had an ultrasound on Wednesday. It showed that the baby has some water on the kidneys or "fetal pylecticis". It could be a sign that the urethra might have a slight blockage, and down the road, the baby would have difficulty going to the bathroom. The good news is that, this usually resolves on its own, and we wouldn't have normally even been aware of it. But now that we are aware of it, the pediatrician will probably do an ultrasound on the baby after birth just to be sure. It is nothing that we are worried about, just gave us another chance to see our baby.

This last u/s was probably our favorite because the baby was really moving and grooving! At first, they were covering their face with their hands, and then we could see them open their mouth, stick out their tongue and lick their fists! We were laughing hysterically, even the U/S tech got a kick out of it.

I will try to post those u/s pics in a couple of days. For your viewing pleasure, I have added a video of the nursery. It is courtesy of my Mother-In-Law, Karen, who graciously gave me a flip video camera. Look out, it is so easy to use, that there will be lots more videos to come!

Getting even closer!

64 days left!! Holy Moly!

The nursery has made some huge steps towards completion. The hardwood floors are DONE! and look amazing. Derick and Kevin really worked hard, and had sore backs to prove it. Now we are just waiting for the furniture to come in. The crib, changing table and chest are slated to come this week. I can't wait to put them all together. Once the nursery is done, I think I will be 'ready' for this baby.









Derick and I had our one-day birthing class this past Saturday. The strange thing is that I didn't really learn anything new, but I really liked hearing it again. The more I hear the options, the more open minded I am becoming on going with the flow. Although ideally I would like to go IV-free (epidural included), I know I can't control this, and as long as I have a happy, healthy baby, I don't care how the baby gets out!

Also, I have included a couple of my favorite maternity photos. A friend of ours, Sarah Swan took them, I love how they came out. Just one more way for Derick and I to be together and get mentally prepared for this baby!

Making Progress!

Now I am nearly 27 weeks along, which means only 94 days left to go!!! We have kicked the nursery room planning up a couple of notches. The hardest part by far was cleaning out all the STUFF we had in that room. Four years in this house, and we have accumulated a lot. Some of the boxes were from moves over 10 years ago. It was kinda fun going down memory lane, but after a while it gets overwhelming. We moved Derick's office into our bedroom for now because we have a pretty big room and I didn't want to lose the guest room for when we have visitors. The plan is that we will permanently move the office to the basement, when we finish. (No real start date on that, just "someday")

My inspiration for the nursery came from the movie, "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium". I thought it would be really cool to have a Toy store themed nursery. I like the idea of not having the room too matchy-matchy, and toys can be girl or boy. We have start acquiring fun things to go in the nursery like a sock monkey, kids books, and lots of firetrucks from Derick's old collection. So I thought yellow was a good gender-neutral color, and the stripes were fun.

Below you can see the start to finish progress of the painting. I had the best helpers for the painting, Mom and Whitney. Dad, Jonathan, and Derick also provided the 'muscle work' when we needed it. I am so thrilled with the end result, but I doubt Whitney will ever opt for painted stripes in her own home! The chair rail is a basket weave, and was stained to match the baseboard and window trim. You may notice that we put Koda and Winston's paw prints on the wall as well so the baby can know how excited the dogs are to meet him/her.

BEFORE:



DURING:









AFTER:



Derick and i are going out in search of flooring today. I think we decided on a dark bamboo floor. The room is so big, and the color is bright so I think it will work out great. Once the flooring is in, we can order the furniture and wait til we have a precious baby to use the room!!!

Whenever I think of how many days are left, I keep singing, "99 bottles" song. Except this time it will be "99 bottles of MILK on the wall...."

Week of the Carrot

Weeks seems to keep flying by! 21.5 weeks this is really happening. I sometimes want to pinch myself because I can't believe it. I still feel great. I am starting to feel the baby. I am not talking about feeling it move, but actually can feel the baby's weight resting on my organs. Sometimes it is uncomfortable, especially after a 2 mile walk, but most of the time it is a cool feeling.

Because we just bought the store, we don't have the oppurtunity to go on a real babymoon. So instead of taking a week to go somewhere "one last time" we are trying to take a few weekends to do fun things. This last weekend, we went to Mohegan Sun for business and pleasure. The New England Pharmacists held a continuing education program so we were able to get the rest of our required CE for the year, and we were able to dabble in the slots. Derick and I broke even, but Courtney won over $100! Yeah Courtney. It was great seeing her and Neal. We are psyched that their pharmacy is doing well also. Just a bunch of pharmacy geeks.



I am especially excited for this weekend because Derick and I are going to Babies R U to register! Mixture of all my favorite things; being with Derick by ourselves, getting excited for the baby and most importantly...SHOPPING! I think this might be an overwhelming task for even me, but I am ready for the challenge. :)

Two last thoughts...
1. My roomate Em is doing the Ironman this weekend in Kona, HI! For those of you that are not familiar with triathalons, this is like the biggest and best of them all. Can you imagine doing an 2.4 mile swin, 112 mile back, followed by a full marathon??!! Nope neither can I, makes me tired just thinking about it. But Em is doing it and I am so proud of her. Not only did she spend the last year training for this, she also put her life on hold to care for her brother. She is such an inspiration...GO EM! You can follow her progress this Saturday at : www.ironman.com her bib # is 1763.




2. Derick and I are blessed to have such wonderful parents. They have all been more than generous, helping out in ways that only they can do. Even though we are "grownup" we still depend on them. I hope we can be as great at parenting as they are.

Halfway there!

I can't believe I am already posting that I am 20 weeks! Time has flown by. I still feel amazing. Aside from becoming a hefflelump, I wouldn't really know that I was pregnant. :) Every week brings new things. I am really feeling the baby move around a lot, it is one of my favorite things. We were all in the car yesterday and baby was moving. Derick likes to think it was because the baby has good taste in music...he was listening to Metallica! As I mentioned my body is definitely changing. I started to notice a bump around 16 weeks, but now you can really tell. I do like the changes, but I must admit, I didn't realize how emotional I would be about it. I feel like I am active and eating well (or at least better than before pregnancy), but gaining a lot of weight. I know it is for the good of the baby, so I try not to worry to much about it.

On the way to work two weeks ago, I was hit by another car. I went straight to the hospital to get checked out. Baby looked perfect, we even got a shot of the baby sucking its thumb. It is my mom's favorite picture yet.

So now that this pregnancy is "really real", Derick and I are starting to make way for the baby. We will be changing our office into the nursery. When I say office I mean "room with a desk, computer, and LOTS OF JUNK." Right now it is where something goes when we don't know where else to put it. So today is going to be the first of many days working to clean it up and prepare the space. Neither of us are too excited about this step, but it has to be done. It will be interesting to see what we find. Some boxes have been in the room untouched since the day we moved in.

Since we are not finding out the sex or sharing baby names, I will try to update the blog on other things. Especially the nursery. The inspiration for the room is the movie ' Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium'. I want it to be a fun room filled with classic toys and colors. The current idea for the walls is a solid sunbeam yellow on top, and a yellow striped bottom half with chair rail separating the two. I think it should look nice. More to come.