Baby Lily

Hard to believe Lily is nearly 6 weeks old already!  The last month has been a bit of a blur with school starting, Kate's birthday, piano, soccer, back to school nights, Jake going out of town, oh and the fact that we have a newborn and we aren't getting a lot of sleep :)

So, first the story (for those interested)...when I was 39 weeks I had a doctor appointment and he told me I was welcome to come in to the hospital the next day to get induced.  I'm not a fan of pitocin and I wanted her to come when she was ready, but it was tempting to have her come before Kate's birthday and the first day of school.  It was a hard decision!  After a lot of deep contemplation I felt better about waiting.  But I didn't have to wait long.  The next night after I went to bed I started having really bad constant lower back pain.  And then contractions started later.  I've never had to play the guessing game.  My contractions were all over the place, but I had a good stint where they were every 2-4 minutes.  So I called the doctor and he said to come in, I woke Jake, and called our middle of the night go to.  On the way to the hospital the contractions spread out and I felt so bad thinking I would probably be sent home.  They monitored me for a while and the nurse said she thought I should labor at home and come back when they get more consistent, but when my doctor came to see me he told me I should stay saying that I could go in a snap, and even living just a few minutes away I may not make it.

They put me on a low dose of pitocin to get things regular, broke my water around 8 or 9 and she was born at 11:17am.  I did get an epidural, which worked for maybe an hour.  It wore off on my left side and completely when it came time to push.  (So not worth the $$$$!)  Jake says I reached my pinnacle of pain.  Though I only pushed about 3 times in a matter of a few minutes, they were a crazy intense few minutes!!  I'm not sure what I was saying, but I know I was screaming.  I tuned out all voices except for one nurse.  I think she was the pediatric nurse.  Her soft, reassuring voice saying, "you're almost there" was what kept me going.  The first few minutes she was born was hard to enjoy as I felt every poke and tug of my stitches.  Then came huge relief, overwhelming fatigue, and crazy hunger. They let me hold her right away and let me have her and feed her for quite a while before they washed her up. 

The first thing we noticed about Lily was her big kissable cheeks.  Then how much she looks like Rachel.  She slept hard those first 24 hours in the hospital and then was pretty wakeful the second day.

 The big kids were passed between a few different families that day, but I knew they were in good hands and surely having fun.  Jake picked them up that afternoon and they were very excited to meet her!  Kate was saying, "welcome to the family" Tommy said she was the "cutest baby in the whole world" and Rachel kept saying, "how do I love her?"  She was surprised how she could instantly love someone.  They sang her happy birthday and fought over who to hold her next.

Grandma made it in town just in time.  She arrived that evening.

Another visit the next day

Family of 6.  Holy cow that is big!

Such a sweet thing

We had to stay a little longer in the hospital because I ran a fever the last hour of labor and they had to do some extra tests on Lily.  I didn't mind too much.  I knew things would just get crazy at home.  The nurses did not bother me during the night and the food was fantastic.

It's been a while since we had a car seat baby.  (Since Tommy 5 years ago...we bypassed it with Kate being in NYC).  I'm not a fan really.  They're so stinkin' heavy!

My favorite things ever!

A few shots from the phone, that I don't feel like moving around

Each day at 3:00 they had ice cream at the hospital.  The kids loved that!!

Those cheeks!!

I don't know if I could classify her as a "good" baby.  I would say she's a typical baby, and I'm happy with that.  She does cry (not a lot), eats every two hours, and does NOT like to be put down.  I've enjoyed holding her and I'm trying to soak in every second of her newborness.  But life still needs to happen.  The only way I can get anything done is to put her in the sling (guess where she is now).  The swing has worked a few times.  She's different than my other babies in that she likes the smaller, subtle bounces and rocking.  Rachel put her to sleep once just singing to her.  She'll take a binki but I don't prefer it with her.  It's nice for car rides (which so far aren't her favorite) but it doesn't really soothe her to sleep.  She settles and dozes easier without it.  The other nice thing is that she only poops once every other day.  Doctor says although not typical, it is still normal.  I say, "awesome!"  We've only had one blow out so far.

Within a day of school starting Rachel picked up a cold and passed it to Lily.  We had some pretty long nights with her congestion, but at least that's all it was.  Just in the past few nights we've started to see some longer stretches...4 hours.  Amazing how good that feels when you're used to next to nothing :)

Four kids has been tough.  The hardest part being when the kids aren't getting along, or when I hear "Mommy can you...?  Mommy I need..." a million times a day and I just simply "can't."  I kind of wish we had full day Kindergarten.  After school/dinner hour/bedtime is insane!  Thankfully I've had a lot of help with dinners, but even when I haven't needed to cook it is still CRAZY!

It has been fun too.  My favorite thing has been how much the kids love her, especially Tommy.  He can't get enough of her, is constantly giving her kisses, telling her how cute she is and according to his teacher, can't stop talking about her and all of his writing is about her.  So adorable.

I love snuggling her and listening to her breathe, her little squeaks and grunts, her funny sleep faces, her frowns and quivering chin, her yarns and stretches, and just recently her smiles...I too could just kiss her all day!  Even with how hard they are, I LOVE LOVE LOVE babies!

Now I've got a birthday, baptism, and Halloween to prepare for.  Maybe in November I'll be able to breathe again :)