After the Hospital

A good chunck of the hospital visit is a blur to me now, about three months later....sorry. I remember getting the epidural, shaking from being very cold, sleeping then pushing...a lot. Ladies, you don't realize how much you actually have to push when you muscles hurt the following day.

Either way, I turned out to be more of a worrisome mother than I ever thought possible, so many things I said I wouldn't do; i.e. co-sleeping. I was, partially still am, worried about SIDS I thought co-sleeping was a horrible idea. However, when your baby cries sleeping next to her is a fantastic way to get them to finally go to sleep. And breastfeeding, much more of a time consuming task then what I expected. Not only did I have the pain of a brand new mother never nursed a baby before, but they eat every 2-3 hours!!!!!!! Two to three hours.........that is all I can really say, it kinda explains itself. But, I know that breast milk is better for her in the long run. At least the pain only lasted the first couple of weeks or so.

Then we had the fun of acid reflux = much crying at night, many sleepless nights the first couple of weeks. Her having acid reflux meant we had to incline her sleeping apparatus and hold her upright after each feeding for another 45 minutes. This I really didn't mind doing because it got the crying to stop for the most part.

The first week I really believe that having a baby tests your marriage, it tests how you communicate, how you cope with each other and how you each handle an extremely stressful situation. Those first couple of weeks Preston and I were fighting a lot more than we have, we were not used to it and were not used to each other as parents not just spouses. For the most part I believe we have come thought it knowing each other better, communicating a little more and definitely happier than we were. So, since you really don't care much about my talking, I will show you pictures of our fantastic and adorable little 3 month old Alana!!!!!!

From the beginning

I am going to try and start this story from the beginning, since Alana is finally calmed down a little.

I wish to start by saying that Preston works 4 ten hour days instead of 5 eight hour days, therefore he gets Fridays off...yeah!!! Also, if you didn't already know we are both into the on-line game work of warcraft. Anyway, Friday Feb 27th early morning around 5 am I started feeling pains in my back. I wasn't quite sure what these pains were, the Brackston-Hicks contractions I had been feeling were a more tightening of my abdomen, not really pains...so I brushed them off.

Later that morning I discovered what "they" call show and started worrying a little. I mean she just became 37 weeks yesterday (Feb 26th) and is now officially full-term; so technically I know it is possible, but my mind started freaking out anyway. So, I finally decided to call the pains contractions and realized they were completely random; they were going from 8 min to 10 min to 5 min. The day went on and the pain didn't really progress much, which I was a little confused/ worried. My momma lives about 6 hours away and I wanted her to be there for the birth, so I wasn't sure of when to tell her to start driving.

The afternoon came and the contractions started to become more predictable....a solid 10 min apart from eachother. (The doctor told us to go to the hospital when contractions become 5 min. apart.) When contractions finally became about 5 min. apart I was worried that my momma wasn't going to make it in time and worried about what exactly is going to happen in the delivery room. At least, by going to the hospital when contractions were 5 min apart I thought I would have enough time to start to relax and get mentally ready to have a baby....silly me.

When we arrived the contractions continually became more painful, and I am honsetly considering an epidural. We got checked in and wheeled up to the apporpiatly floor and brought into a delivery room. One of the nurses checked me and said "she is 100% and about 7 cm". At this point I really start to freak out, not only do I not have time to mentally adjust and think about what I have to do but now I am even more worried that my momma won't make it.

So why am i aggravated so easily today? It seems as though, throughout the day that people seem to do nothing but complain about something. There are so many things that I have to think about, is it selfish of me to not want everyone around me to complain? I just feel as though I need to find something to make me happy, I am not sure of what that is anymore. I want to be creative, but there are so many things (projects) that I want to start, it is hard to pick one and focus on it.

I would like to start sewing again. It would be nice to learn to knit (yes I am starting to become a complete home body). I bought some fabric paints and wanted to create fantastic curtains for the living room. I want to start the scrapbook for Alana before she comes! I have some fun ideas to keep all of old and new cooking recipes. I want to find some upholstery fabric and re-cover the kitchen chairs (this will be even more fun because I get to play with a staple gun!!!) Unfortunately, all of these things cost some amount of money, and I have a tenancy to not spend any money on myself.

I am trying not to watch too much TV during the day, and I know that I am doing well at not playing the game (WoW) at all during the day. The game is becoming much more un-fun anyway. I feel as though I am in a rut, any ideas on how to get out of it????

Adjusting

So I have been off of work for almost a week now, and unfortunately some time of it has been spent not feeling well. I think I pinned it down to some ice cream I bought so trying to stay away from that hopefully the rest of the week will go well. I partially blame myself for this as well, I have known that my body doesn't react well when there is a major change in my routine (part of the reason I wanted time off before the baby came). Just about every time I got off of school for the summer or was starting school from summer my body reacted by becoming ill, not quite sure why, just attributed it to a routine change. Either way hopefully it goes away soon so i can start to actually get the house and myself ready for a brand new baby!!

Thoughts...

I have one more week left of work, and trying to decide whether I should take a week off or get down to cleaning my house as much as I can. Only a couple of things at work that I need to wrap up DNA testing and basically making my notes coherent for the person who gets to replace me.

I actually broke down and spent some money last weekend, bought some baby books for Ali!! I hope she likes them, and they were all 40% off. Nothing particularly special to report, the childbirth classes have been helpful. Learning breathing techniques, pain reliving positions, what an epidural actually is etc... I still would rather not have one. Now I am just trying to think of who I can call to take me to the hospital if Preston is at work?? And I need to make my list of people to call. The main thing I am thinking of is my best friend E.

E...I am not sure of what to say to you, I cannot even comprehend what you may be feeling or going through. I just want you to know that Preston and I love both of you and are here for whatever you may need. You are stronger than I could ever be and I am still praying for you (yes.....praying, me) I'm not quite sure if it is helping but I am doing it non-the-less. I know of no two people more deserving and ready to become parents than you two and I know that you will make fantastic parents!!!!! Love you sweetie, and stay strong.

Yea for Indiana weather

For thoes who are not expierencing our fantastic Indiana weather right now let me give you an idea. During the day it is just warm enough for an exciting rainy/ snowy mix, but of course it starts to freeze over at night! So, when you wake up in the morning not only is the road and your car encased in a glittery icy sheen, but your drive way and walk is slippery fun!

But I do have completely unrelated news!! Not only can I feel the baby move but I can now visually see her cute little squirmy body move around!! It is a new and interesting aspect of being pregnant. First came the sickness, of which I wish upon no one. No individual should have to experience four months of nausea, and the sad part is I know I did not get the worst of the morning sickness, so to all who had worse than I; I am truly sorry. Then came the portion of "is that the baby moving, I can't really tell, but it is a weird feeling". Next came the extremely strong kicking and moving of which Preston could feel and is also not terribly fun when you are trying to fall asleep. Finally I am at the point where I can feel her and see my skin move!! It brings a whole new aspect of anticipation. It seems as though I am more excited than ever to see her and be able to hold her and take care of her!

Either way, this is a busy month for Preston and I, we have all of our classes (i.e. childbirth, newborn basics, breastfeeding and newborn first aid) to go to. This is also the last month of me being a sequence analyst for Purdue! So many changes, so many things to learn and retain.....I will try and keep everyone posted.

And try and get some pictures up.....sorry

We finally have agreed on a name!!!

Anyway onto the name for our baby girl. And coming to this name has been a very long, progressive and interesting journey. I have already had names that I liked for a girl and since my name is fairly unique I wanted to stay with something fairly unique. My initial name options were Alexia (Alex for short) and Kaylin....there was a third but cannot remember it at the moment. Preston almost immediately shot down Kaylin and I think the only reason he kept Alexia on the table was because he knew I really loved it. And of course it took him a while to pitch in a name that he liked. However, pulling teeth and constantly dodging his attempts of silly names such as 2 X 4 and beefowitz (thanks kyle), I got him to say the name April.

Now, I like the name April, even though it does remind me of the Teenage Muntant Ninja Turtles and it is the name of a month I didn't say no because it was the only name he had pittched, and doing so would shut him down from pitching others and thinking I was closed minded. Meanwhile, I kept looking at other girl names from infinate lists and lists of baby girl names.

There were days where I would come home with a post-it note with names for him to hear or sometimes I would just e-mail him. Names such as Kira, Alana, Isabella, Taylor... I can't remember them all now but you get the picture. So, when he didn't shoot down a name and showed some interest in it, such as Kira, I would spend prescious time on thinking of a good middle name for it. Middle names are important to me, I don't want any words made from initals and I want the whole name to have a good general flow when it is said alowd.

In keeping with my inital name I came up with Alexia Lorraine (which is a family name for him) and Kira Belle, but he didn't seem to like anything. After general frustration because I am 7 months now and she is coming soon he told me that he really didn't like Alexia and didn't like the flow of Kira Belle. I asked him why he didn't like Alexia; he basically didn't see his daughter when he heard that name, which is something that I can understand perfectly he needs to be happy with the name as well. At least now I can let go of thinking of middle names for it.

But then something unexpected happened, he told me he like the name Alana, a good name and something I really liked as well. With renewed hope I started to think of good middle names for Alana. I tried to incorperate family names:

Alana Lorraine
Alana Kay
etc...

All of which I liked but didn't have a flow I could get used to and Preston wasn't too happy with either. Finally we decided and agreed on a middle name of which I love personally and I think flows well with Alana

Alana Laine

It is a cute and fairly short name, and I can call her Ali because I think it is cute!!

So that is the general story of how we agreed on a name for our first baby, it of course is subject to change because when she comes out she may not look like an Alana but I don't see that actually happening, I really love that name!!