Saturday, September 29, 2012

Weeks 1-5


I would like to get caught up with all of Keigan's happenings up until now so this could be a fairly long post. I will apologize in advance.

Week 1:
I was so excited to get home from the hospital but was so scared because we didn't have our wonderful nurses there to help or answer any questions that I had! Night one was completely exhausting for this momma. I had said before she was born that she would sleep in her crib from the beginning so that she didn't get used to sleeping in our room with us but after the first night of not sleeping that whole idea got tossed out the window. The second night home was the best sleep I had in 5 days and it felt like heaven even after having to wake up every 3 hours to feed Keigan. We had Keigan's first doctor appointment on Monday the 20th and she weighed 5lb 7oz, 19 inches. Her doctor wanted me to go back in 2 days to get her re-weighed just to make sure she was gaining her weight back. My wonderful mom took the day off of work to go with me since I wasn't able to drive yet. She weighed in at 5lbs 9oz! What a little porker ;)



 You hear that most moms have postpartum depression after you have your baby but you don't think it will happen to you... Well that's what I thought at least. I wouldn't say that I had it bad but there was definitely crying going on. The second night we were home, I went to bed shaking uncontrollably. There was nothing I could do to make it stop but I just thought it was from being exhausted but then I would look at Keigan and just start crying because she was so beautiful. Every time I would nurse her, I would start crying because I couldn't believe that I made such a beautiful baby. This went on for a good 5 days. I'm sure Dave was ready for my crying fits to be over because he didn't know why I was crying  or what was wrong with me! He would just come over, rub my back and tell me what a good job I was doing with her, then I would start crying all over again! Damn hormones.. By the second week I was back to my normal self again, thank goodness!




Week 2: 
We started to get our little routine down by the second week and I was finally getting caught up on sleep! We had to go back for yet another weight check and she weighed in at 5lb 15oz! The doctor was pleased with that much of a weight gain in one week (6 oz)!!! We started to go for walks in the stroller around the neighborhood and Keigan loved it! She would fall asleep as soon as we got started and would be out until we got back, what a good little walker :) 

Keigan is such a good eater that she was eating about every 1-2 hours. Since I am breastfeeding her, I felt like that is all I would do throughout the day was feed her! I didn't complain one time because I knew that she was growing and I loved our intimate bonding experience! 


Week 3:
I started to get out of the house more on the third week because I was getting cabin fever being in the house all day every day! We would make trips to Target (mommy's favorite) a couple times a week. Keigan is such a good little shopper, you don't hear a peep out of her the entire time! 


We had our first restaurant outing with her because I was able to start pumping and giving it to her in a bottle. We went to a local bar/restaurant with the family on Friday and Keigan took her first bottle like a champ! High five Keigan! 

This is where I found an issue with my milk supply. I was trying to pump once a day, usually after her morning feeding and was only getting 1oz of milk after pumping for 15 minutes! At first I thought it was my pump ( it was a cheap brand) so I went out and got the Medela pump ( which I LOVE!). The pump wasn't the issue because I was still only getting 1-1.5 oz each time but it was less painful than my other pump. So I called my lactation consultant so see if she knew what was going on. She thought I would be making more but just keep pumping at least 5 minutes after she was done eating to make more milk. Now Keigan was acting like she was hungry ALL day long and I couldn't get anything done after I would feed her and pump. Luckily I went to my doctor that week and she told me that birth control decreases milk supply. Well, they prescribed me birth control while I was in the hospital so I was taking it for about 2 weeks and that's when I noticed my supply went down so my doctor told me to stop taking the birth control and see if that increases me supply at all. Wouldn't you know it, my supply shot back up and I finally felt full again! Thank goodness! Now when I pump I can get between 3-3.5 oz in 10 minutes! Yay! Well, enough about my milk.. Here is a picture of my sweet babe :)



Week 4
I can't believe how much Keigan has grown in just 4 weeks! Her looks have changed, she's getting stronger each day (she wants to hold that head up so bad!), she is more alert and awake longer through the day. I started to notice that the nights we didn't give her a bath were the nights she wanted to be a night owl and stay up and party! Dave and I started to give her baths every night and now she will sleep from about 10pm until 4 or 5am! Keigan does not mind getting baths unless she's cold, and she let's us know if that's the case! Keigan loves to be carried around in her baby carrier, she falls asleep instantly. She hates to lay on her back and will cry until we pick her up. She likes tummy time for about 5 minutes, then she's over it and wants to be on her back so she can see what's going on. 



Week 5:
I was dreading this week for awhile because I had to go to work for a couple of days to fill in for someone that was having surgery. The thoughts of leaving her made me want to cry! Dave's mom was going to watch her which made me feel a little better about the situation since I knew she would bring her down to me whenever I wanted and I would get lots of pictures and updates. Getting myself, Keigan and Sadie ready in the morning is work in itself! When I went to drop her off I balled like a baby. I absolutley did NOT want to leave her! The work day dragged but I did get pictures that made my day a little better. Tuesday wasn't any better but I got through it and getting to hug and kiss her after you haven't seen her in 4 hours is the BEST feeling ever!

We had her one month check up this week. Keigan weighs 7.06 lbs and is 20 inches long! She's a growing girl but she is still so small and petite. This week she gave me a real smile as I was changing her diaper. It was the most beautiful smile I have ever seen. It gave me goosebumps and again I cried! Wow, motherhood sure is emotional!

 






     


Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Hello Baby Keigan!!

I am brand new at the blogging world but I am a new momma and want to be able to track baby Keigan's milestones so I figured this would be the perfect place!

Let us backtrack to when baby Keigan decided to make her grand entrance shall we.
August 15:
 Dave had a hockey game and it was way too hot for me to be sitting out in the heat ( being I was 37 weeks pregnant) so I stayed home and tried to relax. Dave called me on his way home from his game and asked if I had our baby yet and sadly, I hadn't. Dave then said that I could have her anytime now because we were both SO ready to meet her! Well I think she heard us because that night about 1am it all started...
August 16th:
 I got up to pee around 1am, crawled back in bed and felt like I was still peeing so I got back up, changed my underwear and tried to pee before laying back down. Well, this happened about 10 more times throughout the night. I finally woke Dave up around 3:30 and told him what was happening. He told me that we should just wait until morning to see if it kept happening and we could call the hospital to tell them what was going on. Of course I didn't take his suggestion and called my mom. Now, I knew she would freak out but I needed her advice!! She told me that her water broke slowly and that is what sounded like mine was doing and that I needed to get to the hospital. I finished packing all the little stuff (toothbrush, makeup, hair brush..) and off we went. I was freaking out and shaking the entire way to the hospital but was so hoping that we would get to meet our sweet girl that day!
When we showed up to labor and delivery, they had me change into a gown and the nurses came in to ask about a million questions and the whole time I wanted to scream "Just tell me if my water broke!!!!!!" Finally, a PA came in to check and she told me I was 2cm dilated and about 80% thinned out. She checked to see if my water broke and low and behold, IT WAS!! Holy shit, I was getting transferred over to my birthing room and would be having a baby today! Ahhhh! Dave was in charge of letting our families know it was go time! It was now 6am and they had called my Dr. To let her know what was going on and she told them to start me on pitocin. Dr. Came in at 7:30 to check on me and I was still 2cm and 80%. Bummer. At 8:30, they checked me again and this time I was 6-7 cm and 100% thinned out,  woah baby! Dr. Said that I should get the epidural soon because the anesthesiologist had a lot of c-sections to go to and if I don't get it now, there's a good chance that I wouldn't be able to get one because of how fast I was progressing. This is where I had my little meltdown. They told Dave he had to go stand in the hallway for 30 minutes while they put it in! I needed him there to hold my hand and they were sending him out of the room because it was hospital policy. I started balling and shaking but my sweet nurse came over and gave me a big hug and told me she would be there and it wouldn't hurt as bad as my IV did. Well, she was right but boy was it hard to stay still when someone is sticking a needle in your spine. By the time the epidural was in, it was now 9:30 and my nurse checked me and told me I would be having a baby by 10:30! What?! Really?! I was getting so excited/ nervous! At this point I couldn't feel anything besides a ton of pressure and I kept thinking I was going to have a BM (sorry if that made anyone sick, pregnancy is so classy ;) ) right on the bed! My mom went to get the nurse to tell her and she told me that is what I should be feeling and that it is just baby's head coming down causing that kind of pressure. Well, my dr. Came in around 10:10 and told me I was ready to go and we would start pushing on my next contraction. I kicked my mom out at this time because I had thought I wanted just Dave in there with me. Dr. Asked if I had someone to take pictures since Dave would be helping hold one of my legs. I asked if it was too late to go grab my mom so she could take pictures! Dave ran down to the waiting room, pointed to mom and told her to follow him. My grandma was getting off the elevator when they were running by and she asked what was going on, Dave replied with " we are going to pull out a baby!" Nice, huh?! Saying my mom was excited was an understatement! Well, we didn't waste anytime and I started pushing with my next contraction. I had 3 contractions and out was baby Keigan at 10:24am!!! I was completely amazed at how quick it all went down and was in shock how beautiful my baby was! The room was full of happy tears & then I hear someone hyperventilating  behind me and I turn around, it's my mom balling and saying that that was the most beautiful thing  she ever experienced! I'm so glad I brought her back in to be there!
After I delivered her and the placenta, the dr was trying to get me all put back together but I was
bleeding a good bit and couldn't find if there was a tear in my uterus so they wanted to take me to the OR where the lights were better to see if there was a tear. They wheeled me off to the operating room while Dave and my mom hugged and kissed baby Keigan (I was totally jealous). After they checked for a tear, my bleeding started to get under control and sent me back to my delivery room where I finally got to hold Keigan for a few short minutes. They had to take her to the nursery to get weighed, measured and bathed. I can't even tell you how tired I was after they took Keigan out of the room. My 
eyelids felt like they weighed 10lbs and it was so hard to keep them open but I had visitors so I tried to be a trooper and visit with them. Around 6 that evening is when I hit an emotional wall and just started crying with about 15 people in the room. I hadn't got to hold Keigan and as happy as I was that all of her family were there to see and love on her, I also wanted to love on her so I had a little meltdown and everyone left for the evening so that I could rest. Everyone tried to tell me to sleep but it is so hard to sleep in the hospital, especially when you have a brand new baby that you don't want to take your eyes off of!
After being in the hospital for 2 days, I was so ready to go home! I was so anxious to see how Sadie would be with Keigan!      

      How beautiful is she?! 

     Keigan Layne- 6.0 lbs 19 inches of absolute cuteness :)



 Daddy holding Keigan for the first time! 


All ready to go home!