Carrie's 1st bath

So Carrie's umbilical cord fell off, so Rebecca was way excited to give her her first "real" bath. Here is video from it. After she was done, Carrie was so content she peed all over Rebecca. It was priceless. Of course she didn't seem too happy with the bath at the time.

Carrie Ninja skills

Carrie's uncle Jake decided to teach her to be a ninja. Too cute.

Since She Came Home

Like it said in my last post, Carrie is a very pleasant baby and hardly ever cries. If she does, it's usually a little mouse-like squeek whine. The first several days, although she was happy, she was a crummy eater. Now I know it's normal for babies to be tired and take a little while to get used to breastfeeding etc., but Carrie was completely uninterested. Of course, right before we were discharged from the hospital, she ate like a champ, so we didn't have any problems and went on home. She wouldn't wake up or cry to eat, (we had to wake her), wouldn't latch on, and would gulp air and gag like she had some serious heartburn.

Some of you may know, I had severe acid reflux as a baby and taught myself not to eat because of it. I weighed 15 pounds when I was 13 months old. According to my mom, Carrie was doing the exact same things I did when I was sick. She would eat a little bit if we "forced" her to, but was definitely not doing well. On Sunday we got a pump for me because she was doing better from a bottle. We still had to push her pretty hard to get her to take half an ounce at one time.

We were supposed to make a follow-up appointment with a pediatrician for Monday, but the secretary at their office told me because she wasn't added to my insurance (medicaid) yet, we couldn't make an appointment. Trying to add her is its own horrible story and I don't have time to tell it, but lets just say it's crazy and I hate all the hoops we have to jump through. Anyways, on Tuesday, the insurance still hadn't added her and we were worried so we called the hospital. The nurse we talked to on the phone said to bring her to the emergency room to get her checked out. We were there from 11am-3pm. She had blood work and a chest x-ray, which were both normal, and didn't show any signs of dehydration so they said, "Just keep doing what you're doing and try calling the pediatrician again to make an appointment. Carrie should be automatically covered under you (Rebecca) for 30 days."

We called, talked to a different secretary, and got an appoitnment for the next day. Easy as that... At her appointment (yesterday) she weighed 6lbs even and is in the 75th percentile for height, 50th for head and 10th for weight. ... As expected, tall skinny girl ... She got a perscription for Zantac for her acid reflux and has already been doing better and better eating. She is now taking about an ounce and a half each feeding and almost every feeding takes a few milliliters more.

*Our trip to the Emergency Room at 4 days old*

Exciting news, this afternoon, I decided to be brave and try brestfeeding using a sheild. I had pumped about an hour and a half before, so I didn't have so much milk that latching would be difficult. (This had been one of the problems we'd had before). She ate for 15 minutes with no problems at all! Woohoo! This was just a couple hours ago, so we'll see if she keeps it up :) Everyone cross your fingers!

*Her first try at "tummy-time" (Notice the cute "shoes" on her outfit)*


P.S. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to my mom for staying at our house the first three nights and making me and Justin sleep while she took care of Carrie. We were also very happy to have had Justin's parents here for a couple days when she was born. We love all our families and appreciate their love and support :)

Carrie's Story

Well, I know I promised to write on Monday, but hopefully you'll all forgive me. As you might guess, I've been a little preoccupied. :) So here is the story of Carrie's grand entrance.

(There are pictures at the bottom, if you don't want to read the whole story and just want to see how dang cute she is)

We checked into the hospital on Thursday the 22nd at 4:30 in the afternoon for me to be induced. I got into my room, answered all the questions and was waiting to be hooked up to my pitocin to get things going. When I was admitted, I was 3cm dialated. I had never met the doctor who was on call from my office that day (we've only been here a month) and she wrote my orders and ran off to do a surgery. The nurse came back in the room and said "Ok, we're going to start you on some Cytotec (not pitocin) and see if it does anything for you." ... I started to cry. I had spoken with a different doctor in my office and we had decided that Cytotec (a cervical ripening agent, taken orally in pill form) was not the best idea for me. It was "unpredictable", "took longer" and "sometimes didn't do anything to put me in labor at all". I had been set on pitocin and was frustrated that the doctor I'd never even met had changed my "plan".

But since the doctor had gone to do surgery we just had to go with it. The Cytotec actually did give me a little kick start and I started having contractions about every 4 or 5 minutes. after four hours, I was supposed to get another dose, but my contractions were too close together (every 3-4 minutes) and I was still only 3cm. We decided to just sit and wait to see if I did anything on my own. By about 10pm I was having to focus and breath through every contraction even though they weren't too painful yet. At 1am, I was having hard, painul contractions every 2-3 minutes and I was still at 3cm...

We finally started pitocin at 1am hoping it would help me progress. for the next 6 hours every contraction was ridiculous, and Justin was at my side reminding me how to breath. At 7am, the doctor came in to check me and I WAS STILL AT 3CM!! Needless to say, I cried again. She broke my water (weird feeling) and said I could have my epidural even though I was only a 3.

My nurse called the anesthesiologist and around 8, he poked his head in the room and said, "I have to go to surgery, the patient is in the OR and they're waiting for me." My amazing nurse said "Oh no!, she is not waiting an hour, she needs her epidural now. They can wait for you." He left the room and both my mom and the nurse followed him to make sure he wasn't leaving. He was just grabbing his cart from the hall and he came and gave me my epidural. !!! [Insert Hallelujah Chorus Here] !!!

In an hour, I was at 5cm, two more hours and I was at 9cm. Apparently, I just needed to relax. Around 12:30 I started pushing and after a few contractions, the nurse told me to stop because we needed the doctor there (she was out to lunch...) About 12:50, the doctor got there and after only 5 or 6 contractions worth of pushing, Carrie arrived at 1:07pm!

They put her up on my belly and I immediately got "made fun of" for drying her off. I guess you can take the mom out of the NICU but you can't take the NICU out of the mom. She weighed 6lbs, 4oz and was 20 1/4 inches long.

Since I've written a book now, I'll write more about since we've been home in a later post. She is a wonderfully pleasant baby and we're enjoying having her home with us.

Me covered with cold washcloths (I was burning up, everyone else was freezing)

She's here! She's here!

6lbs, 4oz, 20 1/4 inches long

Proud Daddy

Happy Family

A Couple Quick Pictures

OK, I promise I'll write (a lot) more tomorrow, but I just wanted to post these couple pictures real quick. Enjoy!!

CARRIE HAS ARRIVED!

Just a quick note to all, Carrie Elizabeth Greer arrived January 23rd, 2009 at 1:07 p.m. She weighs 6 lbs 4 oz and was 20 inches long. Here are a few quick pictures of her as well. Both mom and baby are doing GREAT!!! And we are all so very happy and blessed to have her here with us.

Foot picture

Just thought I'd post this cute picture of Carrie's foot that we got today. :)

Still waiting, but only 8 more days!

At my doctor's appointment yeaterday we checked the fluid level (which is low, but low-normal) and had a non-stress test. Everything still looks good, so the plan is inducing me next Thursday the 22nd.

8 more days!!! Yeah!

We're all ready for her at home (clothes and crib wise at least) and are very anxious to meet her! Especially because I now have doctor's orders to "take it easy". I basically have "be lazy" orders. I'm not on bedrest, but I'm not allowed to lift anything, clean anything or make much more than sandwiches for dinner. Luckily Carrie will be here soon and I don't have to feel bad about being lazy. We might get one more post in before she's born, but if not, everyone be ready to see pictures of our gorgeous little girl next week!

Two weeks to go... ish... maybe

At my doctor's appointment today I had a non-stress test (where they hook me up and monitor contractions and Carrie's heartrate, and I push a little button every time I feel her move). Everything looked good, so the plan for now is non-stress tests and ultrasounds to check amniotic fluid volume twice a week. As long as she "behaves" they'll wait until 39 weeks to induce. If she's actually born at 39 weeks it will be January 22nd. In case anyone wants to play our little game, go to www.expectnet.com and type "Carrie" as the name of the game to vote on what you think will be her birthday, weight and length. I'll keep updating when we know more :)

Tall Skinny Girl

According to the high-risk doctor we went to today, Carrie is developing properly, she just doesn't weigh as much as average. We won't have a roly-poly baby for sure. She weighs 5 lbs 8 oz which is fabulous weight gain from last week. Their recommendations to my "normal" OB doc is to keep a close eye on Carrie (monitoring once or twice a week) and probably inducing me sometime during my 38th week. I'll write more later when my normal doctor makes more decisions.

We got our first 3D picture of her today, so that was exciting for us. Justin says she looks just like me. I think she looks a little annoyed, probably bcause we kept poking at her and wiggling to try to get a clear view. :) The picture looks a little funny because she kind of has her face pressed up against me (so the smushy looking thing on the right side is uterus, not part of her face.) I'm excited to get to see her in person soon :)