2 months

 

Two months old already! She is growing and learning so fast!

Here's what Molly has been up to this month:

•  Now weighs 11lbs 4oz (40th percentile) and is 24.5 inches long (99th percentile) and has a head circumference of 39.9 cm
• Smiles and coos. Though I have a hard time getting is on camera, she is smiling like crazy! She also is starting to make cute sounds like "Ga" and "Oh".  She really likes is when we say "YAY!" or "Good Morning"
• Is wearing mostly 0-3 month clothes and some 3-6 month, and size 1 diapers
• Is sleeping like a champ. She sleeps for a 5-7 hour stretch at night so Momma is feeling much more refreshed these days
• Loves her playmats/mobiles.  She getting super excited and kicks her arms and legs when she under them.  She also loves staring at the bulletin board in our kitchen and looking at magazines.
• Can grasp things really tight in her hand and loves to hold my finger with a death grip while nursing
• Still love being swaddled to sleep, but has just moved to sleeping in her crib.  She sleeps in the bathroom with the fan on for naps (I know, weird.. but it's the only way she'll sleep longer than 20 mins)
• Is a champion at flipping from her tummy to back.  She will do it as soon as we put her on her tummy so it's hard to get a lot of tummy time
• Has been REALLY fussy during eating times, especially when we give her a bottle. The Dr. just gave us some acid meds so hopefully we'll see some improvement soon!
• Is getting quite a bit of hair in the back so it looks like she growing a baby mullet

More pictures from this month:
 

 

Definition of Productive

Being a mom is not necessarily harder than I thought it would be, but it's definitely much busier! I feel like I have very little time to do the things that need to be done, and so no time to do the things I'd like to do. I've always been a productive person. I like to get things done, and I like lists.  This has been one of the hardest transitions I've made in my short time as a parent.

So.. my definition of productive has changed.  I now consider my day productive if:

• I've eaten two meals
• I've taken a shower
• I've gotten one small chore done

Pre-baby, this list would have been much longer! I also love multitasking which is almost impossible with a baby.  I can read, watch TV, or listen to talk while nursing.  But when I'm walking in circles around my house trying to soothe my baby,  there's not much getting done.

I've gotten into a routine now, and luckily Molly is napping on a pretty consistent schedule.  She takes two 40 minute naps and one hour and a half nap a day. This is all thanks to her sleeping the dark bathroom with the fan on :).  So I come to a dilemma every day: what to do with nap time?! Boy, it's a hard decision and maybe I'll get better at it as time goes on, but right now... eating and sleeping (and writing the occasional blog post) are pretty much the most productive things I can do.

And here's some adorable sleeping pictures:

Blessing Day

Molly has such an awesome father who gave her a blessing last week. In our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints) it's customary to give a baby a name and a blessing during sacrament meeting in front of the congregation. Matt gave a beautiful blessing, and I am so glad that I have this gospel in my life and the eternal perspective that it gives me.  It was fun to have both sets of grandparents and Aunt Sandy there with us.

To read more about baby blessings go here: baby blessings

Happy Halloween!

I know it's little late.. but Molly enjoyed her first Halloween. She let me take lots of photos of her and she got to see both sets of Grandparents!

One Month

Molly is now 1 month old! Time is flying and she's already grown so much! Isn't she just adorable!

What has she been up to this month?

- Now weighs 9 lbs, 6 oz, 23 1/4 in long, and 38.8 cm head circumference.  The doctor re-mesured her to make sure she was actually that long! Haha.
- Gets the hiccups at least once a day, and she HATES them.
- Is officially too big for newborn clothes.  She wears 0-3 month clothes and has even grown out of a couple of them.
- Sleeps GREAT at night, but just doesn't like to nap. It's a miracle I'm able to blog today! She will go 4-7 hours at night, but sleeps a total of about 2 hours during the day.
- She loves tummy time and has flipped to her back 3 times! I love putting her on her tummy because that's when she talks the most.
- She is a bobble-head. Her neck is getting stronger, but she thinks she stronger than she is.
- Went on a road trip to St. George, UT (10 hour drive that took us 16 hours and 2 days), and she did pretty good.  Slept most of the way, but got a horrible diaper rash on the way home. She wasn't able to meet her great-grandpa, but she got to meet her great-grandmas!
- Is very fussy from the hours of about 1pm-5pm.
- Loves to be swaddled and won't sleep without it.  She also love white noise and being bounced around in my arms. She knows when I sit down, and won't let me!
- She smiles in her sleep and when she passes gas
- Loves to stare at the ceiling above our couch, and at the picture frame above our bed.

First Bath!

BRR!

The Birth Story

Well, I've finally made time to blog about Molly's birth and all the gory details. As a first time Mom I had no idea what to expect, but the overall experience wasn't too bad. Here it goes:

Last Date Night Before Baby (Sept 16)

Wednesday Sept. 17:
I was 3 days overdue and feeling super crampy.  I was hoping that this was a good sign since I had yet to feel a contraction. Sure enough that afternoon I started contracting. We started timing them around 9:00pm because they were becoming painful and regular.  By 1:00am they had been coming every 4 minutes and I had to breathe through them so we headed to the hospital.

Hospital Trip #1:
We got to the hospital and I was wheeled up to the L&D floor. They checked my cervix and I was only dilated to a 1 (which was some progress since 3 days before I was completely closed). They had me walk around for an hour and come back.  No progress, so I was sent home.

Worst Night Ever:
When I got home my contractions were still coming every 4 minutes.  I literally laid on the couch and slept for 2 minutes, moan through contraction, sleep for 2 minutes, moan through contraction and repeat until it was 9:00am and I was in so much pain that I had to go back. I was praying that I had made some progress so that I could stay in the hospital and get some meds!

Hospital Trip #2
Back in the triage room, I had another nurse that was SOOO much nicer than the first one. She checked me and I was at 3 cm.  Again, they wanted to make sure I was progressing so they waited about 45 minutes and came back to check me again.  I was semi-embarrassed because I was breathing quite heavily though my contractions (which were so bad by this point!) with just a curtain between me and some lady who was being monitored, but not in labor.  Well, when the nurse came back, I was at a 6 so they finally gave me a room.

Thursday Sept. 18:
I got into the room and was shaking like crazy.  I could barely fill out the forms they gave me.  After I signed for the epidural they called the anesthesiologist. I was worried he would take forever, but he came pretty quickly.  It was hard to get situated for the epidural because of my crazy shakes, but I didn't feel a thing when he put it in, and it was AMAZING once it kicked in about 10 minutes later.

I was still shaking uncontrollably, but tried to get some sleep since I hadn't slept all night. (Why, oh why did I not take a nap the day before??) I finally got a little sleep and the nurses came to check me again around 1:00pm.  I was at 8/9cm (one side was dilating faster than the other) so the nurse put me in some weird position on my side. Matt was starving and asked the nurse about how long until delivery.. she said a couple hours, so Matt left to go get himself a sandwich.  About 10 minutes after he left, I felt the urge to push.  I called the nurse and she checked me and I was almost fully dilated. So she left to get the student nurse and we'd start pushing soon.  I called Matt and told him to get his butt back ASAP.  He had been back for about 20 minutes when I started pushing.

I pushed for about 2 hours before the baby's head started to come out.  They called the Doctor and I pushed for about 30 more minutes before she was born.  I threw up three times during the delivery, but other than that it wasn't horrible. (Though it was quite a workout)!

 I started crying when they put Molly on my chest, and I was still shaking. She was beautiful! She had a very loud cry and immediately pooped on me.  I won't ever let her forget that! Haha. I held her for a over an hour there on my chest while they sewed me up... yes, it took over an hour to sew up my 4 tears! (Ouch)

I fed her soon after that and gave her to her proud Daddy to hold for a while. I ate like a ravenous wolf since it had been about 24 hours since I'd eaten. We stayed in the hospital with Molly in our room until Saturday morning when we left with a nice lasagna from the hospital! We love our beautiful little girl, even though we are so exhausted! She is now the center of my life and my life will never be the same.

First day home!

Molly Jade

I'm finally announcing the birth of our little girl, Molly Jade Abel. 

Born at 4:24pm

Thursday, September 18

8lbs 2oz , 21 inches long

We love her so much and can't imagine life without her! 

(Birth story to come)

Thanks to Christine Martin for these beautiful photos.