Weekend Pics

We went to a BBQ last night and hung out with a bunch of great friends. Here are a few pics...Abbie of course, but also Gentry and Keaton, whom I have neglected to post pictures of since our little one has arrived!! But it doesn't make me love them any less! Gentry kept me company last night while I fed Abbie, and even helped me burp her. What a little sweetheart!

One of the few times I got to hold Abbie last night!! She is saying the pledge of allegiance in her sleep! ( :

Wednesday happenings!

First, I want to congratulate my dear friend Shanna Riggsbee on the birth of her baby girl Avery today!! Shanna is my hero - she had Avery all natural, after 17 hours of labor, and she weighed in at 9lbs 14 oz!! After only having contractions for a couple hours and being dilated 1.5 cm, I thought I was in pain, but wow. Seriously, wow. Shanna and I met at WCU - we were suite mates our freshman semester and became friends instantly. We lost touch for a while but actually became reacquainted through myspace! This is Shanna's second little girl, so congrats to her and her family!!

Abbie and I went to the mall today so I could find some jeans. You know, jeans that are non-maternity, and fit my post-pregnancy size, which is a couple sizes up from my pre-pregnancy size! Anyways, I ended up at Buckle because they have a fabulous selection of denim, but my real reason for telling you about our trip to the mall was that I re-discovered a store I had not been in for a while. At Bunco the other night one of my friends was talking about New York and Co. so I thought I might go in there today. As Misty would say, they have it going on!! I swear I could have bought the entire store. They have great summer clothes, from short shorts to bermudas, capris to track suits, not to mention the selection of work clothes! And they have pants in long!! I ended up getting only a top today, after all I have bills (namely hospital bills!) to pay, and of course my main reason for the trip was to get jeans, which I accomplished, but I just had to give kudos to NY and Co, and for those of you who haven't been in there lately, GO! I always have a hard time finding clothes, especially at the mall, that fit my style. It seems they are either too old or too young. The GAP is my main staple and always will be, but I will definitely be venturing into NY and Co much more!!

In Abbie news, she is doing great. She has kept me up a few nights lately, just for a couple hours at a time, with a belly ache. I am going to cut milk and chocolate out of my diet and see what happens. Those two foods are what I am eating the most of, so hopefully it will be an easy fix. Fingers crossed! But most of the time, if her belly doesn't hurt, she goes 3 hours at night, and usually the first interval 4 hours. I am HOPING sleeping through the night isn't too far off!! We went to see Wes at work today so he could show her off to everyone, and got to have lunch with him too. Everyone said she was so beautiful, which we already knew!! It is rainy and cold here today (which is why I needed jeans) and doesn't even feel like June! But it was great to get out for several hours with her. Everyone keeps saying how alert she is, so I wanted to show you pictures of her sleeping so you can see she DOES sleep, a lot actually, I just like taking pictures of her awake!!

See her crooked little smile here???!!!

Abbie Grace made her debut at church yesterday. Of course she was very popular! I am sure you can see why....

OK, I will post more later this week. Wes's parents left this morning and we are back to just us until my aunt and grandma come to town next week. Right now it's naptime....

2 Weeks Old!!

Our little sweet pea is 2 weeks old today! I can't believe how quickly it has passed! We went to the doctor this morning for her check-up and she is back to her birth weight - yippee!! And everything else checked out wonderfully too. How thankful and blessed we are to have a healthy little girl. I just took some pictures of Abbie a minute ago in hopes of using them for a birth announcement. We'll see how quickly we get those out!! ( :

Today was also the first time Abbie and I have ventured out in the car together - alone! We went to the doctor, then to the Chick-Fil-A drive thru so Mommy could get some lunch, then to the grocery store. She did great, and I felt pretty good about it too! It was such a feeling of independence to be out and about with our little one!

She is eating well and sleeping pretty good too, sometimes going 4 hours at night! She gets a little fussy in the afternoons/evenings, and we just have to figure out creative ways to entertain her - like the video shown in the previous post! We are using the Mylicon about 3-4 times a day, and I think it helps her. She doesn't get fussy at night at all, so even if she is awake for a little while I still don't feel like I am going to go crazy. Anyways, here are the 2-week pictures. Enjoy!!

C'mon Shake your Body Baby....

This is really cute...Abbie was fussy last night so Wes danced and sang to her....

We did it!

It's funny how the little things you do with a newborn take SO much time. Today Abbie and I went on our first walk, just the two of us. It took me over an hour to get myself dressed, get her dressed, and get the stroller down the stairs. Not to mention getting her in the carseat and getting the carseat in the stroller! She pretty much screamed the whole hour it took to get going, but once we started walking she fell asleep. So I consider it a success! Surprisingly I don't have any newborn pants, so I had to put her in some size 3 months, and they swallowed her. I thought she looked like a little rapper (dressed in all pink) with her hooded sweatshirt and big pants!

She is sleeping pretty good and eating well for the most part. I think she might have some gas every now and then because she will cry for no reason sometimes. I have been told those little tablets for colic tend to work well. I have also heard the drops help. If any of you Mom's have input on that let me know.

Overall we think she is doing pretty good. Wes and I are realizing how overrated sleep is, for sure!! I am looking forward to the long weekend and having Daddy home for a few days!

1 week old!!

Today Abbie Grace is 1 week old and what a wonderful whirlwind this week has been! From giving birth (see story below) to visitors to sleep deprivation and learning what it means to be a parent, there is so much I want to share. This morning as Abbie napped for almost 3 hours, I missed her. I wanted her to wake up so I could hold her and just be close to her. Now she is sleeping soundly again on my chest as I type this, her belly full of milk.

So here are a few things we have discovered this week about Abbie - She loves to be swaddled, she hates baths and being naked (Wes told her he hoped she'd ALWAYS be like that!), she is getting better about having her diaper changed, she is obsessed with her hands and they are constantly in her face, she tends to get the hiccups after I feed her, and she likes to be held upright on your shoulder. I could go on and on...She is amazing. We are in awe that we created this gift and are so thankful that she is healthy. She had her 1 week check up yesterday and she checked out perfectly!

So here is the delivery story....

About 2am on Tuesday, May 13 I started having contractions. I stayed awake and started timing them. They were about 30 minutes apart, and mostly in my back. By 4am I was pretty sure something was happening, so I woke Wes up and told him I was going to take a shower because I thought we needed to go to the hospital. By 7am they were about 3-5 minutes apart, so we left for the hospital. We got there and they checked me for dilation. I was only 1cm!! Unbelievable, considering I could barely stand through the contractions I was having. So I was told to walk. So we walked the halls for about an hour, got checked again, and I was 1.5cm. I was a little upset and afraid they would send me home. But Dr. Barney decided since I was overdue already I might as well stay and get started on pitocin. Phew! This was it! So at around 11:30 they did the epidurral and started the IV. An hour later I was at 4cm, then I progressed to 6, then 8, then 10, in a matter of a few hours. It went really quickly and I wasn't feeling a thing. There was one problem happening though. Our little girls heartbeat was only strong in one position, and that was when I was on my right side. If I rolled over onto my back or onto my other side, it would drop way below 100 bpm. They said the cord may be getting squished or something when I rolled over. So once I was fully dilated, the doctor wanted me to wait about an hour before I started pushing so we could give the baby some time to recover. I was nervous, and there was an instant when I almost lost it, but my doctor stayed calm and that helped me. The nurses did tell me not to be upset if they had to do an emergency c-section, but that didn't seem to ever be Dr. Barney's plan. So at about 5:30 I began pushing. They also inserted a small screw in Abbie's head for a more accurate heart reading. I had read about this so I wasn't too worried, and it did what it was supposed to. Pushing was hard because I could not feel what I was doing at first, but after about an hour the epidurral began to wear off just enough for me to push, but without pain. Abbie was descending, but her head got stuck behind my pubic bone and I couldn't push enough to get it out. Dr. Barney said he might have to use forceps, and would have to do an episiotomy in order to get her out. Her heart was still having trouble and it was just time. As soon as he did the episiotomy, I pushed once and she was out. It was 7:32pm. Wes cut the cord and she was on my chest. It literally took my breath away. I was half laughing and half crying. And Wes just looked at me with biggest smile I have ever seen. She was finally here and real and wonderfully beautiful. Wes was the most supportive husband I could have asked for throughout it all. And I can honestly say that my labor and delivery was a great experience. Recovery hasn't even been that bad. Of course the first couple days were kind of rough moving around, but the day after we got home I was already feeling like myself again. I am not going to overdo it, but I am anxious already to get back to some exercise. We have been taking nightly strolls around the block. I always said throughout my pregnancy that if my labor and delivery were half as easy as being pregnant was on me, I would be thrilled, and it was. Abbie Grace has been so good to me for the last 9 months, and now it is our turn to be good to her and love her and be the best parents we can be. I can't wait to share her life with you through this blog!!