Week 3…Stepping out August 25, 2009

We heard a quote not too long ago about raising a baby, “The days and nights are long, but the years fly by.” Considering we haven’t even spent a month with Abigail yet, we can’t really vouch for the years flying by, but it’s pretty crazy to think that three weeks have already passed. And at the same time, each day seems really long—not necessarily a bad thing, just a statement of fact. Here’s to savoring every moment!

We’ve had quite a few folks ask us why we chose the name and what we plan on calling our daughter. We fell in love with the name “Abigail” because we like it, honestly. Then we looked up the Hebrew meaning, my father’s joy. How applicable! From the moment there was even a glimmer of hope that we were pregnant, David was overjoyed! We wanted to use one of the fruits of the spirit for her middle name, but ended up deciding on “Grace” as it is thanks to God’s good grace that Abigail made it here safely and healthily. So, Abigail Grace she is!

Annnd, we’re calling her “Abigail”—not “Abby” or “Gracie” or “Abby Grace,” etc. As her personality forms more and more, we may change what we call her, but for now, that’s that. We love her name!

Based on feedback that I’ve received from this blog recently, I feel like I should say that we do not have a perfect baby. Whew! Far from it! I mean, she’s beautiful and perfectly healthy, but we’ve had our fair share of baby meltdowns, mommy meltdowns, being pooped and peed on, etc. I just like to focus on the positive aspects and our parental victories in this blog instead of talking about our struggles. We’re enjoying figuring out our little one on our own. She’s like a puzzle—a 3,000 piece jigsaw puzzle where every piece is the same color. The only way to solve it is trial and error!

In exciting news, we are no longer dealing with an umbilical cord stump. It fell off last Tuesday (after my blog post), and the few remaining scabs are gone now too. It’s so nice to be able to tickle Abigail’s cute little tummy without worrying about messing up the stump. Whew.

We established a new kind of date night last week. We’re hoping it’ll only be this way for another month or two, but I fed Abigail at 6:30pm, then went to pick up food while David hung out with her and put her down for a nap. When I got back, she was asleep in the den, and we were able to eat our meal and hang out in the nursery for a couple of hours. Bliss! We’ve already had quite a few babysitting offers from Savannah friends, and we’ll definitely be taking those folks up on their offers as soon as Abigail’s schedule is better set. We’re pretty close now.

Supposedly all babies have a “fussy time” during the day. We thought hers was in the afternoon (based on last Wednesday), but that ended up just being hunger. She really only gets fussy when she’s hungry or over-tired/over-stimulated and can’t sleep. Does this “fussy time” happen later? Anyone know?

We’ve been avoiding traditional pacifiers, but have figured out a few decent substitutes: walking around with Abigail in a sling, a car ride, and a stroller ride. And since she’s really not fussy when there’s not a reason, we don’t have to resort to those all that often. Love it!

Any other new moms now totally numb to their baby’s body fluids getting all over them? It doesn’t gross me out anymore in the least bit. I guess that’s because I’ve been peed and pooped on while changing her diaper and while bathing her. Both are rather convenient times for it to happen, though. That said, Abigail seems to like to pee on David a heck of a lot more frequently than on me. Perhaps she’s marking her territory? We like to think so. Ha!

Finally got out of the apartment with Abigail again on Thursday. I say “with Abigail” because David’s been awesome about sending me out of the apartment when he gets home so that I can have a few quiet minutes outside. On Thursday, though, Abigail and I went on a trip to CVS (prenatal vitamins) and Walgreens (photo pick up) that would normally take me 15-20 minutes tops. It took us 45! But hey, she slept most of the time and got to get some fresh air. That counts for something, right?

Our little girl loves to eat and is quite the latcher! That said, if she’s hungry, and I’m not moving fast enough, she’ll suck on anything within reach (translation: any part of her body), but she prefers her arm. On Friday, she gave her forearm a hickey. Seriously. And we’re talking about maybe 60 seconds of sucking. Gracious, girl!

**Mommy breakthrough** on Friday, I finally learned how to properly swaddle our growing girl. Sure I learned in the hospital, but at that point, Abigail was pretty weak and couldn’t kick anything off of her. Now, though, she’s super strong (in comparison), and all week up to that point, she woke herself up from naps when her arms flailed in her sleep and hit her face. Ugh. But…::triumphant sound:: we’ve now figured it out, and she’s napping like a champ!
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All snuggled up in her crib
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Remember how I worked out during pregnancy? The past two weeks of not working out have about killed me. Well, I will say that the first three to four days after Abigail was born, I couldn’t imagine working out. Ever. But the soreness faded, and I started craving the gym. I haven’t gone back yet, but I have started doing abs, push ups, lunges, and squats at the apartment. It feels so great to be exercising again. I even ventured out with the stroller for the first time on Saturday. I went walking around the YMCA with Missy, Princess, George’s mom, and Ms. Patricia. We did two whole miles! David was working, else he would have gone too.
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Can’t wait for winter! We went walking at 7:30am, and were soaked with sweat by the end of two miles. Geez!
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On Sunday, we kept the weekend strolls alive by going as a family to Daffin Park for a 30 minute stroller walk. I will say that it felt pretty incredible to be out with David and Abigail in the sun walking around…just existing as a family. David said that it felt weird to be pushing a stroller (I agree!) but I’m sure we’ll both get used to it in no time.
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David looking like a daddy
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Abigail sleeping through the walk—don’t worry, we had the dual canopy shades over her so she didn’t get scorched by the sun!
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Amy and Joe came by later on Sunday afternoon and brought a delicious pasta dinner (thanks so much, guys!) that we plan to make last until Wednesday. Thanks to the generosity of friends and family, we haven’t prepared a dinner since Abigail was born. How awesome is that? We are so blessed and so thankful!

Sunday was the first day since Abigail was born and since I’ve been back up to speed that David’s been off work and we haven’t had family in town. It was pretty cool to work together to take care of Abigail; teamwork is where it’s at, folks! David gets four days off for labor day, and we can’t wait!

Fun tidbit and some fun pictures: babies cry more in the first three months of life than any other time (from BabyCenter.com).
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“Excuse me, I have a question!”
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“Why does Daddy insist on making me sit upright as much as possible? Aren’t I growing up fast enough? And it looks like I have no neck. Most unfortunate.”
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Abigail’s happy place (picture taken after David calmed her down after many many minutes of crying. Go Daddy, go!)
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“I’m naked and cold. Why the camera?” Taken right after bath time on Sunday night.
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“Do I really have to get up to eat right now? And could I maybe wear an outfit that fits me?” Taken around 6:15am on Monday morning. Breakfast is at 6:30am, dear.
Amusingly enough, we were told she’d be a nine-pound baby, so all the clothes we bought were size 3 months and up. And while this sleeper is big, she’ll grow into it soon enough. For now, it’s a source of amusement for me and David.
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And for my pregnant friends, a post-baby-body update. I am now back to my pre-pregnancy weight and am in my pre-pregnancy jeans. I owe it all to breastfeeding because I’ve only “worked out” for a little bit each day for a few days and only did moderate exercises. I weighed at the YMCA on Sunday. It feels pretty incredible to be back! Now, don’t get me wrong…just because I’m back in my jeans and the scale says a certain weight doesn’t mean that my tummy is all firmed up. Still have a bit to go on that front as it’s just excess skin. I’m hoping that by eating well and working out, it draws back in. Check back in a few months!

Week 2…new skills August 18, 2009

This post marks the end of family visits for a while. Don’t get me wrong, David and I love hanging out with our families, and it’s been a ton of fun to see our parents enter their new roles as grandparents and our brothers as uncles! That said, though, we’re pretty excited about having some time to establish our little family of three; today is day two.

Ok, so babies really do grow and change extremely fast. Abigail is already doing things I thought it’d take weeks for her to master. For example, on Tuesday of last week, I sat down to feed her. I placed her on the boppy prepared to latch her on, but she took the initiative and did it herself. What? I mean, awesome, but at one week old? Go baby go!

My mom stayed in town through Thursday morning and was a huge help—plus great company! She sent me out on my first away-from-baby errand by treating me to a pedicure (felt SO good) while she stayed with Abigail. Was it tough to be away from my daughter? Yes! Was it a good thing, though? Yes. Not to mention the fact that my toes looked fabulous for date night that night; yes, my mom watched our little one so we could go eat dinner and maintain our weekly tradition.
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Right before leaving for date night
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Was that tough? Oh yeah. I was 20 minutes away instead of three (for the pedicure), but it was so nice to spend time solo with David even if it was only a little over an hour. We’re trying to sort out the details of date night now that our parents are out of town. We’ll probably take Abigail with us for a month or two until she’s on a more predictable schedule. Then we’ll hopefully be able to find some friends willing to watch her for an hour while we go out. We’re certain it’ll all work out!

On Wednesday after Abigail’s morning feeding, Mom and I headed out on some errands. I wanted to make sure that I had the hang of the car seat/carrier and sling before flying solo. Our little one slept right through the whole ordeal making life super easy on both my mom and I. How crazy would it be if we could sleep as deeply as an infant? It’s so hard to wake them up!

We got back from errands, and I started trying to figure out the Baby K’Tan sling that Kacie gave us. I had been using an Eddie Bauer sling that we received as a gift, and while it worked fine, it left all of Abigail’s weight on one of my shoulders. The Baby K’Tan boasts an even distribution of weight. Anyhow, I finally figured out how to get Abigail into it snugly, and now I’m in love! It’s super comfy, and it’ll keep prying hands away from baby.

Once David got home from work, we were having one of Savannah’s constant summer thunderstorms, and he insisted on taking Abigail out to experience lightning and rain! Too cute. David loves a good storm, and I’m sure our little one will adopt that same mentality.

Who wouldn’t be a fan of diaper changes? Abigail loves them, but apparently felt that David and I were taking too long to get a clean diaper fastened on her. She took matters into her own legs on Thursday, and realized that if she kicked them straight out and held them there, we’d be able to finish super quickly. “Hey mom, let me help you with that diaper!” Now she does it consistently, and it makes changing time so much easier. No more wrestling with bent legs!

Another milestone was reached on Thursday; Abigail and I took our first solo errands trip to Publix and Hallmark. Again, she slept through the whole thing. As nice as it is to be able to take her along with me, it’s also a bit stressful. I mean, I’m pretty much guaranteed 2.5 hours between feedings to take care of things, but sometimes, I just want a nap or just want to hang out with my baby if she’s alert and awake. I’m thinking that errands will be held off until the weekends for a while. That way, David can hang out with her while I head out. We’ll see how it goes; everything is trial and error at this point!

David’s parents flew in Thursday night, and we surprised them at the airport. It was the longest Abigail had been in a car (30 minutes one-way), but as you may have guessed, she stayed asleep the whole time! We had a great time hanging out, and Abigail seemed to enjoy all the attention during her wake time.
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Grandma Mertens with Abigail
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Meeting Grandpa Mertens
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…annnnd Uncle Kevin!
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We had other visitors over the weekend, but I forgot to take a picture of them with Abigail. Kristy and Travis came to town from their new home in Chapel Hill, NC and took the time to stop by. It was great to get caught up with them, and Travis (a radiologist) couldn’t get over how “Awesome!” the framed ultrasound photos were in our nursery. Only a radiologist…

We’re still waiting for that pesky umbilical cord to fall off, so bath time has been interesting to say the least. The cord stump isn’t supposed to get wet, so sponge baths are in order. Abigail gets chilly pretty quickly, so the first bath at home was one filled with crying and shaking on her part. As the week went on, though, and two baths later (one every other day), we’ve figured out how to keep her as cozy as she can be while giving her a quick rub down. Little victories, folks, little victories!
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Toweling off after bath time
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In other news, we’ve been working over the past few days to get Abigail started on a more consistent schedule. She was eating every 2-4 hours on her own and sleeping 4-5 hours at a time at night before waking up, but there was no real consistency to anything. David and I are planners and schedulers and feel that Abigail can absolutely learn to be one too! We’re going by the principles in Babywise, and have been pleasantly surprised so far. Of course just as it takes us grown-ups two weeks to form a new habit, it’ll take her a while to get the hang of things, but it’ll be worth it!

That said, we established a first feeding for 6:30am, and she eats every three hours on the hour after that. Following each feeding, we try to keep her awake and alert for a little while, then put her down for a nap while she’s drowsy, but not asleep. That way, she has to put herself to sleep instead of relying on us rocking her or singing to her or whatever. Her last feeding is at 9:30pm, then we let her sleep until she wakes up (or five hours, whichever comes first) for another meal. Then we try to stretch her to 6:30am again. So far, it’s going pretty well. We’ll have a better idea in a few weeks, though. And no, she doesn’t follow it perfectly, and she’ll get hungry a little early or still be asleep when it’s time to eat, but so long as she’s pseudo predictable, we’re happy! Otherwise, we’ll never be able to plan to do anything longer than an hour or so. No fun!

I sort of messed her up yesterday, because I slept through her first feeding. Oops! “I’ll just take a quick nap on the couch…whoa! It’s 7:00am!” By 9:30am, though, we were back on schedule, and she ate every three hours on the hour (even through the night). Woo!

So, all in all, a good week! Hope the photo below makes you grin; she’s definitely my daughter as neither of us are fans of dresses—or bloomers, for that matter!
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Don’t worry, we changed her out of the dress right afterward.

1 week old…what a whirlwind! August 11, 2009

Can’t believe that our first week with Abigail has already flown by. I can see now what other parents meant by “they grow up so fast!” We truly see changes in her every single day and know that she’ll grow much faster than we’re ready for. That said, we’re trying to soak up every moment!

A brief post about our first week broken up by days. I’ve only got a little bit before it’s time to feed my precious baby again:

Tuesday – She was born! See my previous birth story post for all the details. We didn’t get a lot of sleep that night since hospital staff members were in and out of our room just about every hour to get vitals on me and on the baby. Plus the bed I was on was an air bed that was constantly refilling itself as I shifted my weight. Annoying!

Wednesday – We spent the majority of this day in the hospital. Dr. Tucker came by in the morning to check out my healing progress; all good! Later on, Dr. Mozer (pediatrician) came by to check out our daughter. He seemed amazed that she wasn’t jaundiced since she’s exclusively breastfed, so apparently I was doing something right. He didn’t want us to leave that evening, but eventually caved. I assured him we’d be at his office first thing Thursday morning so that he could check back in on us, but that there was no way we’d be able to get any rest if we stayed at the hospital another night.

Poor Abigail had to undergo all sorts of stuff on this day—heel pricks, the hepatitis b vaccine, a hearing test, her first bath, me working with a lactation consultant, etc. She was a trooper, though, and kept her fussing and crying to a minimum.

We were discharged at 6pm and were thrilled to be at home! Our night was tough, but good. We had a little party thrown by Abigail in the middle of the night and took as much advantage of it as possible to spend time with her.
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During our middle of the night disco party!
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Thursday – Our pediatrician appointment was first thing in the morning, and it went really, really well. Abigail was down 6oz—to be expected—but still had great coloring. I’m telling you, the doctor must be expecting a mustard-yellow baby or something. She’s fine, doc!

My dad and brother came down that afternoon to join my mom, and we all hung out. It was a lot of fun for Abigail to meet one set of grandparents and one of her two uncles. Pretty neat to see the joy on everyone’s face as they got to hold her for the first time!
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Dad with Abigail
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With mom and Abigail
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With Greg and Abigail
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Friday – David and I took this day to just relax, nap when possible, and take care of one major errand (our first family outing!)—heading back to the hospital to work a little more with the lactation consultants. My milk came in over night, and Abigail wasn’t sure what to make of the change. After a couple of hours with the consultants, though, we had it down and haven’t looked back since.
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Saturday – Another day for relaxing. We did go on a family errand trip, though. A quick stop at the grocery store, Walgreen’s and George and Princess’ house. We kept Abigail in one of her slings the entire time (except at the Winfrey’s house), and I felt pretty good about how it kept people from wanting to put their hands all over her. I’m still waiting to use my Baby K’tan sling but have a feeling it’s going to work great!

Visiting with George and Princess was awesome. Just like old times! Nah, it just felt great to be around friends for a little bit.
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Dads weren’t meant to nurse, but David sure tried!
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Sunday – We briefly stopped by Sunday school in the morning to thank them for our prayers and give them a peek at Abigail’s face—still in the sling. I only had a 30 minute window before she needed to eat, though, so we headed right back home.

A little while later, I went to the YMCA—no, not to work out. I wanted to weigh myself and see just how much I had lost since having Abigail. I definitely felt lighter, but wasn’t sure about the numbers. Well, I’ve lost nearly 15 pounds already with just seven to go until my pre-pregnancy weight. I have a feeling that breastfeeding will eliminate the rest of the pounds. If not, I’ll be able to knock them off once I’m able to work out again. Can’t wait!
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Monday – Back to the pediatrician again (don’t have to return until mid September—woo hoo!) and found out that our little one is up to 8lbs and 21 inches long (19 inches at birth). Milk does her body good! While waiting in our room for Dr. Mozer, David changed Abigail’s diaper. In the process, she did what we both thought only little boys did—she peed all over the place. Too funny!

After the appointment, David went to work. It was a weird moment for me after he left realizing that yes, I am now a full-time stay-at-home-mom. I’m really excited about it!

That afternoon, my mom came back into town to stay for a few days and help as I finish my recovery. What a blessing! She made a fabulous dinner for us and gave me the option to sleep whenever I needed to. Thank you so, so much!

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And in honor of all my pregnant friends who are wondering if you ever get your body back. Check out the photos below. From top to bottom: 41 weeks pregnant before going in to the doctor, the day after delivery, one week after delivery. Have no fear, my friends! You’ll get back in shape in no time; just be sure to take care of yourself during pregnancy!
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