one month...

i can't believe Olivia is already 4 weeks old! the time has flown by so fast and we are enjoying getting to know this new little person that has completely taken over our lives and our hearts.

i am not going to lie- it has been challenging. the late night feedings have definately been my biggest obstacle and i am so happy to say they seem to be on their way out! the last 4 nights Livi has pretty much slept through the night- there have been a few little wake-ups but we were able to get her back to sleep quickly or she was able to soothe herself back to sleep. i honestly didn't expect her to start sleeping through the night this quickly but after all of our feeding issues our pediatrician suggested we try a new formula so she is now bottle-fed as of last week so we made it to 3 weeks but she just wasn't getting what she needed and it was really painful for me so we decided after a good hard try that formula was a better fit for us. anyway, this new formula was created for babies who tend to spit up, she isn't collic but was just experiencing some stomach issues and this new formula has been awesome! although it is for newborns and infants it has rice cereal in it so that it solidifies in the stomach making it easier for her to keep it down. another plus- it is more filling so she is sleeping through the night! getting 6 hours of sleep as opposed to 30min-1.5 hours at a time is pretty amazing.

Olivia is so much fun- she is really expressive, smiles alot and has started to make little "cooing" noises. When she likes something or is excited she does this little kicking thing with her legs that is really sweet. She also has to have her left arm out at night so when we swaddle her she immediately pulls her arm out, sometimes when we check on her it's above her head or extended to the side- pretty funny! here is a picture of her from yesterday:

The last 4 weeks of my life have been great but also completely different from anything i have experienced. i am not really even sure how to describe being a mom. it's humbling, exciting, scary, fun, exhausting and most importantly- life changing. i really do feel like a different person than i did a month ago. parenting really puts life into perspective and has made me learn so much about myself and made me even more thankful for my amazing parents and all the sacrifices they made for me. the moment i held Olivia in my arms nothing else mattered except our family.

i have to admit that i am just now starting to relax a little bit- for the last few weeks when Olivia slept i would clean or do laundry etc. because i felt like i wouldn't have time to do everything if i didn't. i honestly ran myself ragged trying to do it all because when you don't sleep at night and are up all day it starts to take it's toll. don't get me wrong- ryan has been a huge help and my mom has helped us so much we will forever be in debt to her but when it's just the two of us my busy-body self takes over. now i am just focused on slepding time with Olivia. the dishes and laundry can wait- i will never get this time back with her and if i am exhausted i wont even remember much so we are currently cuddling on the couch and enjoying this rainy day.

everyone has been asking how i feel- i am honestly still in alot of pain but i am thankful to say that i lost all of the baby weight almost immediately, i am now 4 lbs under my pre-preggo weight and although my body isn't the same and my clothes still aren't fitting how i would like i can wear my pre-preggo jeans and everything else so that has been relief! i want to loose about 25 more lbs and can't wait to get the clearing to work out- hopefully i will get that at 6 weeks. we just heard some popping during delivery and there is a chance that i did some damage so if the pain hasn't gone away by my 6 wk appt i will need to get xrays and all of that- we are just hoping it is really bad bruising so please pray it is not anything too serious!

here is a picture of Olivia that I took today, one of my besties from college made her shirts to wear for each month, such a cute idea!! thanks again hannah!

Olivia has arrived and I have been living under a rock ever since :-)

As most of you already know our sweet baby girl Olivia arrived 2 weeks ago and we could not love her more! Her arrival took quite a while, on Wednesday- June 12 at 4am I started having contractions that were 3-7 minutes apart so we headed to the hospital at 6:30ish only to be told a few hours later that I would need to leave triage and home labor until I was a tad bit further along.... Unhappy we went back home where I had to deal with my own contractions for hours- 15 to be exact....

Then the electricity went out. There was a horrible storm that night so we headed back to the hospital because my contractions were now 4 minutes apart and I could barely walk or talk when they would hit. We were then told to walk the hospital for an hour because I was so close... we are talking less than a centimeter from where they wanted me to be- I was in tears and couldnt really walk! It was the most painful hour of my life, hands down. After our nice stroll I was admitted and swiftly taken to my room.

I immediately got the epidural which made all my problems go away- SERIOUSLY! I am going to give any preggo people out there a piece of advice- get the epidural and get it as soon as you can! It is just not worth waiting for, the girl next store to me decided to wait until she aws 9.5 centimeters and then started screaming for it- she sounded crazy and I felt awful for her so don't wait.

Anyway, after the glorious epidural I spent the rest of the night trying to get rest in between all the nurses and vistors coming to check on me and kept thinking I would deliver that night but was totally fine with going past midnight because I really wanted my doctor to deliver me and she wasn't going to be on call until Wednesday morning- well I got my wish! After some time with an oxygen mask and alot of contractions I was told it was time to start pushing at 1:25PM, they told me it could take a few hours- I looked at the clock and said "No, she will be out by 2PM."

Who did I think I was to decide this? Pretty sure I got my confidence from the epidural or something but God decided to humor me and she started screaming and was out at exactly 2PM!! 35 minutes, after 15 home labor hours and 16 spent at the hospital our girl had arrived!

Ryan and my Mom and I were all crying looing at her and couldn't believe she had finally arrived.

The Memorial Herman staff was absolutely AMAZING! Grantit I was totally spoiled because we are good friends with 2 night shift nurses and the head nurse during the day so they made sure we were well taken care of which I couldn't be more thankful for. I love my doctor and I think she was the reason I was pretty calm once it was time to get Ms.Olivia out- I just never doubted she would do all she could and I really trust her. If you need a new doctor you seriously need to consider mine!

Our days at the hospital were a huge blur along with the last 2 weeks, I was so blessed to have Ryan home with me, he got 2 weeks off and I am pretty sure I couldn't have survived without him- he is the best husband. Seriously. I knew it before but seeing him with Livi, the support and help he has given me and he has still found a way to make me laugh and feel loved despite the sleep deprevity and stress!

Poor Olivia has had some difficulty feeding, we have had to switch to bottles which is totally fine if it means she does better but now she is spilling milk out of her mouth even with the slow flow bottles so we are going to talk to our pediatrician about it this week because there has been alot of spitting up and most recently she threw up which totally freaked us out. Please keep her sweet self in your prayers and that we can quickly find out a good solution for her!

Other than the sleep loss and feeding difficulty everything has been really great! She is such a good baby and we feel completely blessed beyond what we deserve having her and just being a family of 4- don't forget about Scout! Speaking of, he has been so great with Livi so far! He is super protective and so affectionate, when she is asleep on her little boppy lounger he cuddles up next to her and when she cries he immediately runs to us and wants us to make it stop- it's so adorable! We were worried he would be jealous but he just isn't. Grantit we have been walking everyday and giving him as much attention as we can because we want him to know that we love him just as much as we did before the baby.

So, about the rock I have been living under- we don't know what is going on in the world. I had no idea anything happened in CO and just heard about the healthcare fiasco yesterday- I guess when you can barely find time to eat and sleep the news just ends up way in the back seat. Please let me know if there is anything else major that has happened in the last 2.5 weeks! I promise to post more pics in my next post but here she is!!