Mom or Dad? You Decide.

So I've gotten a few comments from photos that I've shared that Avery strongly resembles her Dad. We've rustled up a few baby photos of us to get to the bottom of this. First Baby Daddy, then Avery, then me. What do you think? Can we skip our appearance on Jerry Springer?

First Week at Home

We've had a great first week at home! Though we've had a few messes, my favorite was the projectile spit up Avery had on Dad last night. She gets the hiccups a lot, which the Dr. says is very normal as her digestive tracts is still getting the hang of eating. Well, during a hiccup, Avery spewed milk on Dad from both her nose and her mouth. It was just like that baby in the Geico commercials. Dad took it quite well while I had an insatiable giggle fit about it. It was just so funny, especially since it did not happen to me!

We've also discovered that Avery's neck is quite strong. As of yesterday, she can lift and turn her head during tummy time. We are so proud!

Otherwise, Avery liked her little travel swing so much that we decided to splurge on a full size swing, especially since her Great Aunt sent her some spending money. I got this Papasan swing from Your Turn Kids Consignment (awesome!) and Avery absolutely loves it, as you can tell from the photo. She sits in it while Mom and Dad eat dinner, making it worth every penny!

As for me, my feet returned to normal size at the beginning the week, so I can wear my tennis shoes and take her for walks. We've finally figured out the stroller travel system and had an incident free stroller time yesterday. Guess we should've figured out how to work all the baby stuff before putting a baby in it...

Introductions

So far, so good. Chase, Maggey and Baylee are quite curious about the tiny human in the house...and the new "speaker" we have that makes funny or loud noises every once in awhile. After the girls realized she wasn't leaving with Meme and Grandpa, they've been sniffing her out. I predict that once Avery gets to the stage of dropping cheerios on the floor, lasting freindships will be made.

One Week Old!

Avery is officially one week old. She saw her pediatrician yesterday and is doing great. She has gained 4 ounces since she was weighed last Thursday, and is up to 5 lbs. 14 oz. The goal is to get her back up to her birth weight within two weeks. Since she is gaining about an once a day, I think we'll have no problem gaining 5 more ounces in a week. She has an appointment to get weighed again next Monday.

We are still on jaundice watch, though she's much improved. I'm hoping the sun comes out today so we can go for a walk in the park!

Avery has been a real joy so far and we are counting our blessings that we have such a sweet and healthy baby girl! I have some more photos to add and will do that soon!

Figuring Things Out

We've had a few funny moments over the past few days....

My parents came to visit Thursday through Sunday, and were an awesome help cooking meals, helping with laundry, etc. Meme (Grandma has elected the French term for Grandma as Avery's name for her - I told you she was a Francophile) and I even went to Babies R Us on Saturday and picked up two premie outfits for Avery as she is still swimming in all her newborn wear.

Anyway, Meme has had a difficult time to adjusting to 31 years of advancement in baby things. While she struggled with the diapers and car seat (which I'm not supposed to lift) her funniest moment was with the baby monitor. She understood it to be a two way radio and tried talking to me on it from the kitchen while I was in Avery's room....hilarious!

Baby Daddy has experienced a few challenges as well. First, in the hospital, he was changing a wet diaper when Avery decided it was time to poop. Instead of catching it with a diaper, he just stood there, paralyzed, exclaiming, "she's pooping, she's pooping!" while she soiled her outfit. His challenges with diapers continued once we got home. I checked her diaper twice after Dad changed her to find her little butt cheeks sticking out the top of her diaper! Thank goodness we caught that before another poop episode!

Avery's first walk in the park was also not without a few kinks. Grandma, Meme, and Baby Daddy took Avery to the park Friday afternoon while I (and my ham hock feet) rested at home. They couldn't figure out how the car seat/stroller travel system worked as they didn't realize the seat fit in backward facing, so ditched the car seat and just put Avery directly in the stroller. Before taking off, Baby Daddy decided to find out what the big red button on the stroller handle did....and collapsed the stroller with Avery in it. It's a wonder this baby has almost survived her first week with us!

I have one last tidbit to share..... The day Avery was discharged from the hospital, Baby Daddy left our birthing suite in search of breakfast. He opened our door to find a Sheriff's Deputy and a man in an orange jumpsuit with his wrists and ankles shackled. Apparently, this felon was at the hospital to see his new baby rooming across the hall from me. Yikes. Greg decided to forgo breakfast and keep watch over his girls!

I of course have had some moments, but they're not nearly as entertaining as the ones I shared here. Avery is doing great and gets her first sponge bath today before visiting Dr. Cheek at 2pm. Let's hope she's put on a few ounces!

Our First Few Days

The first couple days of little Avery’s little life have been a whirlwind! Her birth, though only days ago, is becoming a distant memory. We spent the night of her birth and two additional nights in the hospital because of what turned out to be a minor breathing condition. Minutes after her birth, she was diagnosed with rapid breathing. This was caused by excessive fluid in her lungs, a condition called TNN that makes her take over 100 breaths per minutes vs. 60, which is normal for a newborn. As a precaution, the pediatrician checked for lung abnormalities to rule those out, so did chest x-rays and put her on antibiotic intravenously. She was also fed intravenously for the first 12 hours of her life as the rapid breathing interfered with her ability to eat normally.

These extra precautions really concerned Baby Daddy, who didn’t sleep a wink the first night, instead checking on Avery hourly while she was housed and monitored in the nursery. As for me, I lost 2 pints of blood during delivery due to a hemorrhage, so was already weak from that. A Percoset finished me off and put me out for a few hours. I knew Avery was getting some extra care, but figured the hospital and Baby Daddy would take good care of her! I was right.

Avery’s breathing condition improved considerably in the next 24 hours, and I was able to nurse her the next day. Despite some supply issues resulting from the hemorrhage I suffered (my body was busy replacing my blood so delayed milk production), nursing has been going very well. Avery got a good latch from the beginning and is a champion sucker!

Because my milk has taken so long coming in and because Avery couldn’t eat for the first 12+ hours of her life, she lost 9 ounces in the first two days, which was more weight loss than her Dr. wanted to see (weight loss is normal, concern begins around the 10% range). She also had some high jaundice scores, so was subject to frequent testing via a heel stick to draw blood. He recommended that I still breast feed but that we also supplement with formula. We’ve been doing that since Thursday and have seen some great results. Let’s just say I’ve never been so excited to change a poopy diaper in my life! If you’re not a parent yet, the significance of a poopy diaper is that baby’s first bowel movements serve as the mechanism to express meconium built up in their systems. The presence of meconium in the body causes the jaundice, so it’s essential to get the baby’s digestive systems function to get the meconium flushed out.

Grandma and I took Avery to get a follow-up jaundice test Friday morning, and her score was so much improved that we don’t need to do any more testing, which we are excited about. Her little heels can’t fit any more Hello Kitty Band-Aids!

As for me, I’m still very sore from the delivery, and have some really bad swelling in my feet and calves, which I’m told is a result of hormonal changes. I basically have Honey Baked Hams for feet and it’s quite uncomfortable, and it goes without saying that I can’t wear shoes. The nurse said this could last 2-4 weeks. Yikes. Otherwise, Baby Daddy and I have had an average of 3-4 hours of sleep each in the last two nights at home, but sleep deprivation is a small price to pay for our sweet little gift!

Thanks for all your messages and phone calls over the past few days. My parents are visiting until Sunday, so it’s taking me longer to return calls. If I haven’t talked to you yet, I promise I will soon!

The Gory Details

I guess it’s true that the best laid plans often go awry. That being said, the only elements I had in my “birth plan” were to get an epidural and to shoot Panda out my vag. I figured that was pretty simple and attainable, right? Well, I guess one out of two isn't bad...

Finally, Monday night, though the contractions I’d been having all day long never got 5 minutes apart for an hour, they did pick up in both frequency and intensity around 7pm. From there, things happened very quickly. Around 8pm, my water broke at home while I was having a contraction. We quickly headed to the hospital.

After getting checked in and upstairs to labor and delivery, I was checked by a nurse and determined to be 5-6cm dilated. Immediately, I became concerned that I would not get my precious epidural, and my concern was well justified. Apparently, it takes about 30 minutes to get the paper and blood work done to get the green light to receive the epidural, which is usually administered at 4cm of dilation. Maybe there was still hope....

Once I had signed the papers and just before the nurse was to draw blood, she checked my cervix again to find I was fully dilated and ready to push, thus no time for an epidural…my worst birthing nightmare! I didn’t think things could get any worse, but they did. My Dr. was still on his way to the hospital and was 15-20 minutes away. The nurse asked if I could wait to push until he arrived. Oh sure! No problem! I was in intense pain, on oxygen, having contractions every 2 minutes, but I was cool to ride it out another 15. Or 20.

Somehow, though all I wanted to do every time I had a contraction was push, I was able to wait until Dr. Litrel got there at 10pm. He took a quick look and told me when I was ready, I could push. Avery was born at 10:08. She really did shoot out of my vag. Somewhere in there, Dr. Litrel gave me an episiotomy and Greg cut the cord.

I really can’t describe the intensity of the pain, but can say it’s the worst pain I’ve ever been in. Slow, steady breaths during the contractions did help, as did thinking that it would all be over soon. Ironically too, I felt like the half marathon training I’d done also offered some “I can do this” positivity to my thinking. All I can say it though it was awful while I was enduring it, I can hardly remember it now that my beautiful, sweet daughter is here.

Speaking of Avery, she's starting to fuss, so I'll update more when I can on what we've been doing the past couple days!

She's Here!!!!

Avery Elizabeth arrived at 10:08pm on Monday, January 19. She's 6lbs, 3 oz, and 20.5 inches long. Both of us are doing well. Our crazy birth story will follow at some point....the highlights: no epidural and the fastest vaginal birth my Dr. had ever been part of.

Get Out Your Stopwatch and Keep it Out

It's been a frustrating 17 hours....I woke up at 1am last night with labor contractions and have been having several an hour since. And yes, it's now about 6:30pm. As per all the advice books, I tried to "sleep" through them. Ha! Though I was able to rest some, I definitely didn't sleep since both my uterus and back felt like they were in a vice grip. How does one snooze through that? I tossed and turned, read a little, and finally gave up around 6:30am.

Since the contractions weren't coming regularly or lasting for more than 30 seconds, I waited it out until my Dr. apptmt. at 10am. The nurse put me on the fetal monitor for about 30 minutes and confirmed that I was in early labor, contracting anywhere from 6-10 minutes apart. Unfortunately for me, though I was 80% effaced, I was only 1cm dilated. For those of you that don't know, you don't get to have drugs until you are 4cm dilated, and you don't start pushing until 10cm. So I had a long way to go as of this morning. And, as of right now, still have a long way to go.

I haven't stopped contracting since the pains started. I tried cleaning and staying on my feet to get things going, but all that did was bring on shorter, more frequent pains. So, I've been trying to rest for the past few hours. And for the last few hours, the contractions have settled in at about 10 minutes apart and just under a minute long. We'll make the trek to the hospital when I have contractions lasting 1 minute that are 5 minutes apart for an hour....or when my water breaks.

So, the Dr. said it could be tonight. It could be tomorrow. It could be a week. As long as the contractions continue, I'm optimistic that things will happen sooner or later. For now, I'm doing my best to relax and cope with the pain and discomfort. So much for an easy, quick birth! Please cross your fingers for me that these contractions pick up and we get to go to the hospital soon! PLEASE!

They Just Don’t Make Booths Like They Used To

Today, I indulged a pizza craving and went to lunch at Vinny’s Pizzeria with a co-worker. Like on usual trips to Vinny’s, the hostess showed us to what resembled a spacious booth. However, upon attempting to slide into the booth, I realized it was not as spacious as it appeared. At 39 weeks pregnant, I was unable to fit without pushing the table several inches towards my lunching companion. Yikes. That makes a girl feel really good about going halfsies on a pie.

Luckily, I did not need the Jaws of Life to pry my pregnant body from the evil booth after enjoying my pizza pie. Lesson learned. I’ll request a table if there’s a next time.

I Can See My Breath…In My House

Panda’s welcome mat was temporarily rolled up for about 12 hours when Greg and I got home from work last night and discovered we had no heat. Well, actually I didn’t realize it at first. I’ve finally been running hot and was cooking dinner, so didn’t even notice it was only 55 degrees in the house. Greg walked in the door and immediately noticed the frigid temperature. Leave it to the guy from Wisconsin!

After realizing there was nothing he could do to get the beastly furnace going, Baylee, Maggey, Chase, Greg and I piled into our bed with the one space heater we own programmed to high. It actually didn’t get unbearably cold in the bedroom last night, but did get down to 49 degrees in the rest of the house. Yikes! I have actually never been so glad to get in the car and drive to the office…

Luckily, today was a work-from-home day for Baby Daddy, so Green Heating and Air came to the rescue early this morning to replace a faulty igniter. Later in the day, Baby Daddy emailed that he was basking in 68 degree heat, as he was treating himself to an extra 4 degrees since we/I typically keep the heat on 64. I say go for it!

As for Panda, I wanted her to stay in the warmth of my womb until we had the heat situation resolved, so she was temporarily unwelcome to make her debut, especially since the low gets down to 13 this weekend. The welcome mat is officially back out, so we’ll see if she takes her cue in the next few days as we're now 8 days from her due date!

The Waiting Game

The waiting game is on. I’ll be 39 weeks Thursday, and I’ve showed absolutely no signs of imminent labor. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. I saw the Dr. this morning and everything, from my blood pressure to Panda’s heart beat, checked out normally. She basically said, see you next Monday! I guess Panda is just being a typical girl and taking her time making her big debut!

Since I was so paranoid about having her early, I’ve done just about everything I can do to have things ready for her arrival, and did most of those things over a month ago. All her clothes and linens are washed and folded; the car seat has been set up since 1/1. I’ve read baby books, sterilized bottles, bought diapers, pads of all sizes, toilet paper, and breast pads (thanks, Katie!). Now I’m into freezing meals. The great thing about cooking is that for some reason, it really gets the Braxton Hicks going. While that doesn’t indicate that true labor is imminent, it does help to thin the cervix, which is certainly a step in the right direction. I think Panda is already a foodie like her mom!

If you think making ahead and freezing sounds like a good idea, you may be wondering what, other than soups and stews, freezes well? Well, lots of things! I’ve made calzones, enchiladas, mac and cheese casserole, meatloaf muffins, tamale pie, and more. The Bayer family certainly won’t be relying on Baby Daddy's cooking (no offense!) or take out menus for at least the first month after Panda is born.

Here are a two of favorite make-ahead recipes to get you started!

Macaroni and Cheese Casserole
-I divide this into two 8x8 dishes, bake one for dinner and freeze the other.
http://food.realsimple.com/realsimple/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1123185

Tamale Pie
-Same as above, I divide this into two 8x8 dishes, bake one for dinner and freeze the other. Leave the cornbread topping off the one you freeze, and just make and pour that over the thawed casserole before you bake it. Yum!
http://projects.eveningedge.com/recipes/tamale-pie/

Enjoy!

I Want An Eggplant Baby!

Well, we’re 38 weeks along now, and though I’m not getting absolutely desperate to deliver at this point, I am drafting my list of activities to try in order to induce labor. I heard several years ago about an Atlanta restaurant that basically guaranteed you’d go into labor after eating their eggplant parmesan. I did some google research, and found that the Italian restaurant, Scalini’s, is just down the road in Marietta. To date, more than 300 of the pregnant customers who ordered the eggplant have given birth within 48 hours to "eggplant babies." If it doesn't work in two days, the moms-to-be get a gift certificate for another meal. Now this I’m willing to try. I’ve got 1/19 penciled in on the calendar for a dinner date….now I really want an eggplant baby!

More on the legend here, as well as a link to the eggplant baby wall of fame:
http://www.scalinis.com/Bambino.htm

Pregnancy Brain Strikes Again

So, this morning, I received the following email from Baby Daddy, “So, I threw some jeans in the laundry this morning. Did you accidentally buy a small jug of Publix laundry detergent thinking it was softener????? I noticed it was open ... did you use it thinking it was softener?”

Whoops. At least our clothes are really, really clean.

17 Days and Counting

Well, here's the belly at 37.5 weeks, and it's still growing. I visited the Dr. this morning and displayed no signs of imminent labor. In fact, the Dr. predicted that I'd get to my due date or past...so we'll see! Though I'm uncomfortable, I can take a few more weeks of pregnancy to put the finishing touches on our baby girl!

While we're waiting for Panda to arrive, we've been busy experimenting with our new Nikon D40. We'd been talking about getting a digital SLR for months, and with all the great Christmas sales, found a deal we couldn't pass up. Plus, now Greg can brag that he did indeed buy me a "push present." We are thrilled with the camera so far and can't wait to take lots of pictures of Panda when she arrives.

Speaking of baby photos, since I haven't loved the way photos post on the blog (example above), I've set up a photo share site on Shutterfly. http://thebayerfamily.shutterfly.com/
When the time comes, I'll post Panda's pictures to the Shutterfly site, which I've linked to the blog in the site list on the right. I do intend to keep up the blog as I'm sure your day won't be complete without hearing about baby Panda and her clueless, sleep deprived new parents!

Yeah! It's January!!!!!!

Happy January 1, the month of Panda's arrival! I am so happy it's January for many reasons, but mainly because I really wanted Panda to be born in 2009 after the holidays, and we made it! While it was odd not binge drinking at the cabin on New Year's Eve for the first time in many years, I did enjoy a few sips of champagne. Over Christmas, my Francofile mother informed me that pregnant French women regularly drink champagne as they believe it's good for the baby. Works for me!

Though we enjoyed some delicious cheese and chocolate fondue with our friends Chris and Danielle, our New Year's Eve wasn't without a sad occurance. Greg was outside with a few of his bird dogs exercising them in the afternoon, when Cricket took off up the yard towards the road. He suspects she chased after a stray cat that's appeared a few times in our yard. He called and went after her, but it was too late.....she was hit in the road by a gas truck. She was still conscious and breathing, so he rushed her to the emergency vet, where they made sure she wasn't in pain, stabalized her and did ex-rays. Though she had no broken bones, one of her lungs filled with blood and failed, and she didn't make it. Greg was able to say goodbye to her and tell her what a good hunting buddy she'd been on many trips to Wisconsin, Iowa and South Dakota. Greg brought Cricket home and buried her today. We are all sad to have lost a sweet companion and hope she points lots of game birds for her new master in doggie heaven!