1 month old!

This is a few days late but our little bug turned 1 month old last week! It's crazy that she's been with us this long now and she is changing so much. We attempted a photo shoot but it was not easy to get her to cooperate. We'll give her a break though...she is only 1 month old after all :)


I had Anna weighed last week and while she was a little squirmy on the scale but she was over 8 pounds! She is really filling out her newborn clothes now and we've made the move to size 1 diapers. We could have probably done that a little sooner but we wanted to use up what we had and the smaller size was just a little snug.

I don't think I'd mentioned it previously but Anna was born tongue tied. I never really knew what that meant before but it means her frenulum (skin connecting the tongue to the bottom of the mouth) is short. She couldn't stick her tongue out and it looked heart shaped. In the past this skin was clipped routinely but now most pediatricians don't want to do anything for it unless they are having a problem gaining weight since breastfeeding can sometimes be more challenging for these babies. Breastfeeding and weight gain hasn't been an issue for us but in meeting with a lactation counselor we wanted to talk learn a little more about it and our options. 

We went to a specialist in town and he took a look at her tongue. He said hers was very prominent and she would most likely need it clipped at some point in her life. Being tongue tied can lead to speech issues and/or dental issues down the road. We took our time making the decision but ultimately decided to have the skin clipped now rather than waiting.

The procedure took 5 minutes in the office and wasn't bad at all. The doctor numbed her tongue and then made a snip with some sharp scissors. There was a little blood and some excess saliva (from the numbing). We waited in the office until it was all done and then we went home. It took a day or two for the heart shape to go away but she has enjoyed sticking her tongue out and playing with it. We're happy that we decided to go ahead and do it.

I mentioned before about Anna being a noisy sleeper who grunts a lot. We've discovered this is because she is gassy and has been having trouble passing gas. There has been lots of troubleshooting to help her out so she can get better sleep. While we are still working on it...we've discovered a few things that help including belly massage and what we call "working it out" which is pressing her legs up to her belly to get her to fart. 

Strettttch!

 This picture cracks us up every single time we look at it.

We have Anna's 1 month appointment this week so I'll have another post soon. 

Chirstmas!

While Kevin and I were bummed that we couldn't be with out families this Christmas we were excited that we were able to spend the Holiday with Brian and Moria. Her parents and sister weren't arriving in Ann Arbor until later Christmas Day so we got them for a couple days beforehand!

All of our stockings ready to be stuffed!

 They arrived Sunday evening and we enjoyed catching up and introducing Anna to them. Kevin and I were pretty tired that night and luckily for us, Brian and Moria volunteered to stay up with Anna for a bit so we could get some sleep.  Even though it was only a couple hours for me since I had to feed her it felt AMAZING and we were both extremely grateful. 

Brian and Anna with the incredible
blanket Moria crocheted for Anna!

Kevin had been wanting to see The Hobbit very badly and even though Brian had already seen it he went again with Kevin. Moria and I enjoyed a little Anna time and Moria made pies for our dinner that evening. 

For Christmas Eve dinner we had a ham dinner and the boys enjoyed playing one of Brian's gifts...Lego Hobbit for the Wii.

 

 We began watching It's a Wonderful Life but I suddenly felt exhausted so I went on to bed. I was sad to miss the movie night but excited for the sleep that I traded it in for :) I think everyone else had a great evening though. Before we knew it Christmas morning was upon us. Moria made a lovely french toast and bacon breakfast for us all to eat before opening gifts. 

Stocking time!

 Although Anna will never remember it...her first Christmas was wonderful! And how could it not be when you have a reindeer on your butt?

Brian sporting several of his Christmas gifts simultaneously.

Moria sporting her new pajamas. Anna seems to approve.

 

 Afternoon was upon us much too quickly and it was time for our wonderful guests to hit the road. We did snag a few family shots before they left.

Our first family Christmas

Group Shot!

The rest of our day involved Skype/Face Time with our families as well as a family nap.

 

One of my favorites. Baby is so tired.

Although it was tough not getting to be in Kansas for Christmas we are so thankful that Brian and Moria were with us. We are very lucky to have them in our lives.

3 weeks old!

I can't believe Anna is 3 weeks old already! There have been many 'firsts' over the last few weeks and we've tried our best to chronicle as much as we can.

Anna had her first sponge bath at home. She doesn't really like being undressed so bath time involves a lot of crying. Kevin wanted to make a post about her first real bath after her cord fell off but I'm not sure if he'll get to it. I won't spoil it in case he does get a chance but I will say that that bath was a bit more traumatic for all of us and involved a lot of poop.

First bath at home

 Anna has been putting on weight really well. At 6 days old she weighed 6lbs 1oz which put her in the 7th percentile. (Anna was 6lbs 3oz at birth and 5lbs 12oz at discharge). They measured her length at 18.25 inches. It's doubtful she grew 1.25 inches in 6 days but her legs are straightening out after months of being bent in half inside of me! By 16 days she weighed in at 6lbs 15oz which is the 12th percentile and measured 19in long! We're so happy that she's putting on weight and catching up a little bit from the growth restriction. She's filling out more everyday and while her newborn clothes are still big on her we're slowly expanding her wardrobe. I'm excited for her to fit into 0-3 month outfits because we have a ton of cute stuff.

1 week check up

 Our little cutie.

After getting situated with the pump Kevin was able to feed Anna for the first time. They are so sweet together.

First bottle from Daddy

 Anna prefers to nap being held and how can we resist when she looks like this?

We got out and about to go to a baby shower and that was also Anna's first snow. It didn't stick around for more than a few days but it was beautiful!

Baby's First Snow!

 I'd been dreading having to deal with Anna's nails so we'd been mostly keeping them covered up. I ended up just filing them and it wasn't traumatic at all. The longer I can put off having to use clippers the better!

First manicure

 One of my favorite pictures. I love having my phone handy for moments like this. Anna loves having her hands up by her face.

We've had several people ask us how we came up with Anna's name. Her middle name, Rae, is a name I've always loved. It is my Mom's middle name and she was named after my grandfather, Raymond. I've also always thought the name Anna is pretty. Kevin liked it because it is very close to his Mom's middle name, Ann. Luckily they go together well (at least we think so). 

Getting ready for bed!

Our pretty girl!

We've been putting Anna in a bassinet in our room over the last few weeks but that hasn't been allowing me to get much sleep. Anna makes grunting noises on and off in her sleep and it is really loud for such a tiny creature. We got our monitor set up and put her in her crib last night and I got a really good block of sleep which was AMAZING! Kevin also slept better and we're hoping that nights like that happen more often. There are much fewer tears shed at 5am when you've had more than an hour or two of sleep all night long!

Daddy's turn in the hospital

This week came with a new set of challenges. Sunday evening Kevin started having some stomach pain. He tried to sleep but was having a hard time which is extremely unusual for Kevin. I was up feeding Anna and he was saying the pain was getting worse. By around 2:30am we decided he had better go into the hospital in case it was his appendix.

Kevin wanted me to try and get a little sleep but that was pretty much impossible. We texted back and forth about what tests they were running and going over what they had said to him. They were thinking it was his appendix but obviously they had to do many things to confirm. During this time Kevin was experiencing more and more pain. Sometime around 6am they confirmed that it was indeed appendicitis and Kevin would need surgery that day.

Anna and I had a little time to get cleaned up and get things ready to head to the hospital. By the time we got there Kevin had been given some morphine and was ready to get it all over with.

A little pre-op cuddle

The surgery went well and didn't really take too long. After I spoke with the surgeon we got to go back to Kevin's room and wait for him to come out of recovery. This was around 1pm and we all spent the rest of the day in the room snoozing on and off. It was actually fairly comfortable considering we were at the hospital. We enjoyed the nurses and I think she enjoyed us too. She laughed at us when we were comparing what pain meds and stool softeners we were given to take post op.

We got Kevin home later that night but we've been sort of a pathetic bunch since then. Kevin feels like he's done a million sit ups and got a fever the other night. He went into the doctor and he thought one of the incisions looked a little infected. He's on antibiotics now so hopefully he'll feel better soon. Luckily I'm over two weeks out of surgery now so I'm able to do a little more around the house. We're all just pretty tired but we've had friends bringing over food so we haven't had to worry about cooking much at all. 

Anna is doing well and putting on weight. I have more pictures to load and then I'll get all her stats up. Stay tuned!!

Anna pictures!

Before I get to Anna's official update I wanted to post some pictures with Grandpa Kevin and Grandma Patti. I think I mentioned before but it was absolutely wonderful having them here for Anna's birth and her first days coming home.

Before surgery

Kevin fixed the chandelier we put up in Anna's room. At it's shortest length it was a little long but Kevin found a way to shorten it further so there will be no head collisions. (Very important in the middle of the night when you're already super tired)

Pretty in Pink

Patti had a little photo shoot with Anna in this adorable gown. This picture happened by accident but it is a favorite now.

Patti and Kevin went shopping and got us all loaded up on essentials from sandwich meat to baby wipes. Patti also did a bunch of cooking and not only did we eat great every night but there were plenty of leftovers that lasted us quite some time. 

Hey Grandma!

Just loved this profile picture. We love her little lips.  

Nose Nuzzle!

We had to stay up for the Stanford game. It got late though and when we thought it might go to overtime we were ready to call it a night! (The next night was the KSU game and we did have to hit the sack early...we were way too tired!)

Let's go Stanford!

Grandpa must be pretty boring.
:) 

It was so hard saying goodbye. The week went by way too quickly but we are so grateful for the time we did have. We love you guys!

 

Anna's Birth Story

As Kevin already posted, our Anna made her grand entrance on November 27th. We are so absolutely, completely, utterly in love with our daughter. It was such a stressful third trimester and to finally have her here safe and healthy is incredible. Time is already flying by so fast so I figured I'd better get to blogging! (I started this post days ago...it takes much longer with a baby!)

Kevin's parents were able to make the drive up and arrived the day before the surgery. We were so happy to have them there for support since we were pretty anxious about everything. We'd been moved to a later time slot so luckily I didn't have to start fasting until after midnight (instead of 8pm as it was previously) allowing us time to get dinner and catch up before attempting to get some sleep.

Finally it was time to head to the hospital but we needed one last pregnancy picture just one day shy of 38 weeks.

We arrived at the hospital at 11am and things happened quickly after that. After changing into my gown they got me started on an I.V. so they could get me pumped with fluid before the procedure. This was one of the worst parts because I got extrememly light headed and felt like I was going to pass out. They turned me on my side, had me sniff some ammonia stuff, and fanned me off until I felt better. They had me sign a bunch of papers, washed my stomach, and went over how things were going to proceed. The two hours flew by pretty quickly considering and once the doctor arrived they had Kevin get suited up before wheeling me into the operating room.

Kevin had to wait outside the doors while I was receiving the spinal. It took him a little bit to get the needle in the right spot (felt like forever because everyone was really really quiet the entire time)and while it was not pleasant it wasn't horrible. The anxiety was worse than anything. Once the meds had been administered I immediately felt first my right leg going numb followed by everything else from the waist down. Then things really got going Everyone was moving quickly...putting in the catheter, prepping my stomach with iodine, marking the incision area, and probably many other things as well. Kevin was finally allowed back and I was extremely happy to see him (I think he was just as happy to see me too).

At one point I got really nauseous. When I told the anesthesiologist tech he got me a basin to vomit in and he told me he'd give me something as soon as they got the baby out. Only problem, every time I heaved my uterus contracted and my doctor had to stop. I ended up getting something and I immediately felt better so things could go on. Kevin was brave and actually watched the doctor pulling Anna out. Shortly afterward we got to hear her cry. Beautiful sweet music to our ears. Kevin was then back and forth between me and the baby telling me about her full head of hair and how beautiful she was. Finally they brought her over to me and we got to be together as a family for the first time. We only had a little bit before they had to go and take her to the nursery and Kevin went with her. It felt like forever before they were done stitching me back up. Finally it was time to wheel me back to my room so that I could hold our little girl for the first time.

We had some time together before a nurse came in and reminded us that Kevin and Patti were waiting to hear how things went. Things had been so crazy we'd completely forgotten! Shortly thereafter they were able to come back and see and hold Anna for the first time.

  

Proud Daddy!

 The rest of the day involved feeling slowly coming back to my legs. They'd have me move my foot and it would surprise me when it actually twitched or moved. At around 10:30pm I got up for the first time and was able to get ready for bed. The next morning they took out the catheter and I was able to take a shower which felt pretty amazing. It felt like people were in and out of the room the rest of the day checking my vitals, Anna's vitals, giving me my meds, visits from my doctor, Anna's doctor. etc. 

One of my many favorites.

The next day was discharge day! I had to have my staples removed, sign paperwork, and final visits from the doctors. We were excited to finally get to bring Anna home!

Kevin and Patti had been busy the last few days stocking our fridge, cooking for us, fixing a few things around our place, and getting ready for us to bring Anna home. It was so wonderful having them there and helping us make the day special. 

I have many many more pictures...including those with Grandpa Kevin and Grandma Patti. I decided to make a separate post with other pictures along with details of our first week at home. Hopefully I can get to that soon...probably with less detail than this post. 

We are thrilled with how well everything worked out. It's such relief to have her here safe and healthy. The doctor was really happy that she got her out when she did. I had very little amniotic fluid left making it difficult to make the incision leading to a small nick on Anna's hip from the scalpel. The cut is already healed and not noticeable.

Thanks again for all your thoughts, prayers, and well wishes over the last few months. It has been difficult but we couldn't have asked for a better outcome. We love our little Anna Rae!