Loving You...: Life Post Baby: 3 Weeks Later

(38 weeks on the dot and LAST belly picture...about to head to the hospital)

Well, well, well! What a roller coaster these past 3 weeks have been since I've last updated!

I think the last thing I said in my last post was, "Will I make it to another weekly pregnancy update?? I better!!".....yeah totally jinxed myself on that one haha

To back track a little bit, I'm reminding you that 37 weeks and 2 days was my last post and I was praying baby girl would stay in until AT LEAST Matt got home on the 1st but would have preferred her to come after the 7th when my mom got into town.

Well...she had her own plans, apparently.

I won't go into a detailed birth story post because I want to save that for another day but thankfully she did wait for her daddy to come home..just not her Nana.

I picked Matt up from the airport in the afternoon on the 1st of July and went into labor at 4:30 in the morning on the 2nd. It was completely unexpected since I was only 38 weeks (exactly), 2 weeks early and I had no signs that she wanted to come any time soon.

It was a much longer labor than with Emery... so unfortunately, in my case, not all second time deliveries are faster or easier. I stalled for a few hours after I hit 6 cm, my epidural completely failed so I pretty much went all natural except for 2 hours of relief and instead of pushing for 3 minutes and 3 pushes like I did with Em...I had to labor down for a bit to get baby girl lower into the birth canal before I pushed for 15 mins. It wasn't a horrible experience to be honest. I've heard far worse labor stories. Although mine was longer and more painful than with Emery, this time it really was all normal according to common labor and delivery stories. Emery's birth was just luck of the draw for me as a first time mom.

I decided to go ahead and not really tell anyone I was in labor except for a few close friends and family. No facebook update, no text messages, no nothing. I didn't even reveal the name until after she was born. Of course a few people knew the name but I mean mostly everyone else knew her only as "baby girl".

Then bam. I put up a picture and SURPRISE! :)

I was completely 100% shocked by 2 things when she first came out and they laid her on me to do skin to skin.

1. She had TONS of hair. Like...more than Emery had at 18 months old haha

2. Her hair was not red, not strawberry blonde and not blonde but...BROWN??

Oh yes, definitely a wonderful little surprise she has been ;)

Matt and I decided to introduce her to Emery in the morning since I delivered at night.

I was so excited and so nervous for that moment.

My baby suddenly wasn't a baby anymore but a big sister and my new baby was a real life little sister here to stay.

What would Emery Raine think of her? Would she be jealous? Would she love her? Would she lash out or draw herself in?

Emery Raine absolutely adored her. Love at first sight and it was such a beautiful thing to witness.

The moment came that I had dreamed and prayed for for many, many months and it went exactly as I hoped it would.

My girls were sisters and they loved each other and would grow up having each other to play with.

I was released from the hospital the next night and I was so happy to finally be able to go home.

(going home: 1 day old)

(Do you see all that hair?? Love it)

We spent our first 4th of July at home because unfortunately Emery got sick with the 24 hour flu bug. Poor baby, I felt so bad for her. But she took it like a champ and was better by the next day.

By July 5th, when baby girl was 3 days old she went to her first doctor appt. She did so good. Didn't even cry once.

We did find out that she is gassy and does have a bit of reflux. She can't lay flat on her back for too long before she starts choking on her spit. She also has to burp right away after every feeding because if not then she will spit up and most of the time it comes out in little spurts out her nose. She also takes a LONG time to burp. She doesn't ever cry and she's not colic, thank goodness, but she is noisy with her grunts and groans. I guess I'm also out of luck in the whole "Second babies are much easier" saying too. I'm just glad she doesn't cry non stop. I'll take the grunts over the unconsolable crying any day.

To help with the gas, I've been asked to cut out dairy for a week to see if that helps. Let me tell you how HARD that is for me because I'm such a dairy person. No yogurt? Please help me. No cheese? Dear lord, no.

The only thing I can gladly give up is milk and that's because I drink mostly Almond milk anyway.

But I'm trying and I can't wait until the week is over to see if it's helping. So far...it doesn't seem to help too much but I suppose we'll see soon enough.

(3 days old)

Matt has been home since the 1st and doesn't have to go back into work until the end of July and you have NO IDEA how thankful I am to have him here. My mom has been such a big help as well and I'm also happy that she is staying with me until the beginning of August.

But Matt...let me tell you how much I appreciate him taking on Emery while I rest and recover with the baby. She just has way too much energy that I couldn't help release in the way she wanted me to the first couple weeks after delivery. I was exhausted and sore and had to tend to a newborn all day and night.

Matt went beyond what I expected of him and hasn't disappointed me. He wakes up with her every morning, watches her without a peep if I need or want to go somewhere and plays all day with Emery. He is amazing. Such a wonderful father and I'm so happy when I see them playing together. He takes her mind off me not being able to fully be there for her like I would love to be and she just adores him.

Again, I'm so glad my mom could be here again for me the first month of my new life as a mother..this time of two. Here she is with 4 of the 7 grand daughters (1 grandson) and doesn't she look so happy? They all love their Nana :)

Remember when I said that baby girl had a lot of hair? I wasn't kidding. I'm still amazed by it to this day and she is almost 3 weeks old. Its still a bit weird to me that I actually have to brush her hair or else it gets frizzy. I didn't have to bother with a brush with Emery until just a couple months ago and she's two now haha.

(1 week old)

Although Emery is a GREAT big sister and so loving, she tends to be a bit too motherly. Always wanting to hold her or kiss her or pick her up. She's not as gentle as she likes to think she is so we are always on the watch with her. Well one day I didn't know that Matt had left the living room and I went to help my mom in the kitchen for literally 30 seconds and came back because I heard baby girl making some noise. Emery had somehow picked her up from the swing and moved her around until she was almost halfway off the swing with her butt in the air. Almost gave me a heart attack....and then I laughed. But now I know to NEVER leave Emery alone with her sister.

(8 days old)

(10 days old)

My mom took this cute picture when she was 13 days old. Looks like she is smiling right? I've read that smiles aren't "real" until about one month old but I'm beginning to believe differently. When she was a little over 2 weeks old and opening her eyes more to look at me, I started cooing at her. Suddenly she started lifting her cheeks and opening her mouth a bit and revealed a small smile. She was 16 days old when I saw her first smile that I thought was because I was talking to her and she was focusing on me. The same day I got another little smile. Then a few hours later another. And everyday since then she has been smiling much more. Gas? Maybe. But I seriously think its "real" smiling now JUST because she does it when she's awake, looking straight at me and we are having a moment together.

(13 days old)

(16 days old)

(17 days old)

( 17 days old and just hanging out with Mila Margotta who is a month older and about the same length haha)

Today she is 19 days old and growing bigger every day. At her two week appt she was already 7 lbs 2 oz and 19 inches long. She nurses like a champ and even takes a bottle of pumped breast milk wonderfully which helps me out a lot now that I'm working out every day. Matt nor my mom need to worry about what to feed her or call me home as soon as she wakes.

I love her so much and so happy that she is finally out of my belly and here to hold. I love seeing Matt hold his new baby girl and can't get enough of how much Emery just adores her.

Welcome to the world my sweet angel!