Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Four Generations
Me, Amaia, Great Grandma Mildred, Grandma Jeanette, Aunt Jessica
Last weekend we took our first roadtrip as a family of three to celebrate my grandma's (Amaia's great grandma) 90th birthday. I heard someone say that it might not be the best idea to have a surprise party for a 90 year old, but the party was a big success! She had no idea and as she arrived she gave little screams of excitement with each new person she saw - priceless! She said she would never trust my mom (the party planner) again :) It was really neat to see the legacy she is leaving in the form of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and then to look over at Amaia and know that she is the start of my legacy.
I wasn't sure how Amaia would do on her first roadtrip, but she was great! I could not have asked for her to be any better. She did poop twice and pee once mid-diaper change as we were preparing to leave, but I guess she was just getting it all out of her system :) She was barely fussy for the entire trip and she even slept great at the hotel. We even got to go out to a couple nice meals and Amaia slept soundly through both. She was a trooper and a cutie all weekend long.
I leave you by the cutest moment of the weekend that I captured on camera...daddy/daughter naptime...so precious!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Amaia's Birth Day
This post is a little over due, but then again so was Amaia :) I am very, very thankful to say that Amaia's birth story is fairly uneventful, but I still want to remember the details, so here we go....
My due date was Thursday, February 10th, and by the time my due date had passed my doctors suggested that we induce labor. I was really hoping to have her naturally if possible, so I asked that we wait a little longer before inducing. I ended up going into labor naturally just one day after they had wanted to induce me! So our story really starts on Friday, February 18th. Every day this week I woke up disappointed that I had not gone into labor the night before and my efforts of trying to induce labor myself were in full force. I ate spicy foods, I ate eggplant and went on a walk every day after work, but nothing seemed to work. On Friday I worked all day, but I was feeling a little different. I had a pain in my back and lower abdomen than I hadn't experienced before. I thought it could be the start of labor, but I also thought maybe my jeans were just getting to tight and I basically just didn't want to get my hopes up. After work I went on a another walk and decided to stay in for the night since I wasn't feeling the greatest. I had always heard that when you are in labor you will just know....but I didn't know until I was checked into the hospital. I even talked to Adam on the phone and told him that I wasn't sure what was going on and he didn't need to come home, but he did anyways - good thing he didn't listen to me :) Shortly after my walk the pain started getting to the point where I had to stand up or get in different positions to work through it. I started recording my contractions....Adam grilled us a steak and brought home ice cream...and I got onto all fours every 5 minutes or so to work through a contraction. It seems silly to me now, but I still wasn't sure if I was in labor or not. Around 10pm Adam called the hospital to explain to them what I was experiencing and they told us to come on down. The drive to the hospital was the worst! And I was so worried that we were going to get there and they were going to tell me that I was big wimp and that I needed to go home and work through this on my own for awhile longer. We got checked in and I was so excited to learn that I was already dilated between 6 and 7 cm and we were going to having a baby tonight.
Adam and I got our music set up in the room and we walked the hallways and talked, during contractions he reminded me to breathe and rubbed my back or hugged me, he basically did whatever I wanted at the time....he was a rockstar. The nurses were very impressed with my breathing techniques. Our nurse even said that she thought that I should teach classes - ha! We thought this was pretty funny considering that we spent about 20 minutes on breathing in one of our labor classes. I went from 7 cm to 9 cm pretty quickly, but then my whole body began shaking, which is apparently normal. The bad part about this is that the nurse then wanted me to stay in bed and my progress stalled. I ended up having a little pitocin at this point to get my contractions going again and to be honest from this point on everything is a a blur to me...mostly because I was in a lot more pain from this point on. I know that the doctor came in a broke my water and Adam tells me that I pushed for about 2 hours. To me, pushing was the hardest part, it seemed like it would never be over, but Amaia made her appearance at 5:43am. I predicted that Adam would cry when she was born, but I was the one who cried. They put her on my chest and it was a overwhelming and emotional and wonderful moment...I finally got to meet and see my little girl. I'm sure every mom thinks this, but she was so much more beautiful that I even anticipated.
I, however don't look super beautiful in this picture, but I had a busy night :)
My due date was Thursday, February 10th, and by the time my due date had passed my doctors suggested that we induce labor. I was really hoping to have her naturally if possible, so I asked that we wait a little longer before inducing. I ended up going into labor naturally just one day after they had wanted to induce me! So our story really starts on Friday, February 18th. Every day this week I woke up disappointed that I had not gone into labor the night before and my efforts of trying to induce labor myself were in full force. I ate spicy foods, I ate eggplant and went on a walk every day after work, but nothing seemed to work. On Friday I worked all day, but I was feeling a little different. I had a pain in my back and lower abdomen than I hadn't experienced before. I thought it could be the start of labor, but I also thought maybe my jeans were just getting to tight and I basically just didn't want to get my hopes up. After work I went on a another walk and decided to stay in for the night since I wasn't feeling the greatest. I had always heard that when you are in labor you will just know....but I didn't know until I was checked into the hospital. I even talked to Adam on the phone and told him that I wasn't sure what was going on and he didn't need to come home, but he did anyways - good thing he didn't listen to me :) Shortly after my walk the pain started getting to the point where I had to stand up or get in different positions to work through it. I started recording my contractions....Adam grilled us a steak and brought home ice cream...and I got onto all fours every 5 minutes or so to work through a contraction. It seems silly to me now, but I still wasn't sure if I was in labor or not. Around 10pm Adam called the hospital to explain to them what I was experiencing and they told us to come on down. The drive to the hospital was the worst! And I was so worried that we were going to get there and they were going to tell me that I was big wimp and that I needed to go home and work through this on my own for awhile longer. We got checked in and I was so excited to learn that I was already dilated between 6 and 7 cm and we were going to having a baby tonight.
So excited to be having a baby tonight!!
Adam and I got our music set up in the room and we walked the hallways and talked, during contractions he reminded me to breathe and rubbed my back or hugged me, he basically did whatever I wanted at the time....he was a rockstar. The nurses were very impressed with my breathing techniques. Our nurse even said that she thought that I should teach classes - ha! We thought this was pretty funny considering that we spent about 20 minutes on breathing in one of our labor classes. I went from 7 cm to 9 cm pretty quickly, but then my whole body began shaking, which is apparently normal. The bad part about this is that the nurse then wanted me to stay in bed and my progress stalled. I ended up having a little pitocin at this point to get my contractions going again and to be honest from this point on everything is a a blur to me...mostly because I was in a lot more pain from this point on. I know that the doctor came in a broke my water and Adam tells me that I pushed for about 2 hours. To me, pushing was the hardest part, it seemed like it would never be over, but Amaia made her appearance at 5:43am. I predicted that Adam would cry when she was born, but I was the one who cried. They put her on my chest and it was a overwhelming and emotional and wonderful moment...I finally got to meet and see my little girl. I'm sure every mom thinks this, but she was so much more beautiful that I even anticipated.
I, however don't look super beautiful in this picture, but I had a busy night :)
Sunday, March 20, 2011
1 Month
I have a 1 month old now - wow! Our little gal is already growing up. Dare I say it...I think that she is getting better at sleeping at night. We are still up several times in the night to eat, but I think she is learning that the night time is for sleeping and not for partying :) I have also learned that she likes to have her hair brushed and her back rubbed, just like her mom. Our days still mostly consist of sleeping and eating, but we are getting out more and more. We have gone on a few walks this week, which mommy really enjoyed! Amaia cried through the first 10 minutes of our first walk, but slept through the majority of our other walks, so I think she is warming up to it. We even went on our first shopping trip this weekend. I think Amaia is going to be a great shopping buddy - she was awake but very content the entire time!
Our little girl is growing!
Isn't she a cutie in her little hoodie!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Firsts
Amaia is having a lot of "firsts" lately.
Amaia also had her first social outings this week to bible study and church this week. She slept through the entirety of both, which was really nice for mommy :) We are hoping to have out first walk this week if the weather cooperates!
First time learning to stick out her tongue from Aunt Jessica
First playdate with Oscar
Cuddling with Grandma while Mom and Dad have their first coffee date without her
Amaia also had her first social outings this week to bible study and church this week. She slept through the entirety of both, which was really nice for mommy :) We are hoping to have out first walk this week if the weather cooperates!
Friday, March 4, 2011
2 weeks!!
Adam has been such a big help. I can't even imagine doing this without him. For a guy who has never changed a diaper two weeks ago, he is very experienced now. I did not even change a single diaper the first few days. I can already tell that Amaia loves her daddy :) Of course, she doesn't "play" too much yet, but I really do feel like she lights up a bit more when they play together.
We went to the pediatrician today for her two week check up and she weighed 7 lbs 10 oz and has gained about an inch in length since her birth. She is not quite back to her birth weight, but the past week she has been gaining the right amount of weight per day - yea, yea, yea!! Seeing her weight gain really lifted a weight off my shoulders. Breastfeeding has been much more stressful than I ever imagined. I just thought that such a natural process wouldn't require such hard work and perseverance, but it seems like what we have been doing is working and I think that she catching on more and more. The doctor seemed happy with her weight gain and thought she looked great and I can now start letting her sleep for 4 hours at night, which means an extra hour of sleep for mom - woo hoo!!
I attempted to take some pictures of her by myself today, but it wasn't the easiest. I think she will be much easier to take pictures of when she can hold her head up by herself.
We spend a lot of time together in this chair in the middle of the night.
Amaia waves "bye bye" to everyone!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Pictures of Amaia
Funny Face
Sleeping Beauty
Just a real quick update on our little girl. I can't believe she will be two weeks old in just a few days. The days go by so quickly!! We are all doing well and getting to know one another. Our main goal right now is getting Amaia to be a good eater and put some weight on. She needs to learn that to be a part of our family means you like to eat :) She was slow to catch on to feeding well and I think she is doing better now, but I am eager and a little nervous to go to the pediatrician tomorrow. You can be praying for that! I will write more of an update soon, but I wanted to share a few quick pictures. Our good friends Justin and Allison also came over and took some wonderful pictures of her. They are much better than any pictures I can take :)
If you are interested: http://justinsalemmeyer.zenfolio.com/p350747807
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