While Justin and I think it is absolutely adorable that Lucy is such a cuddle bug that she will only nap either on our chests or in our arms, I have a feeling that the day care workers will not think it's quite as cute. I can't imagine they will react in a "good" way when I tell them they need to spend their entire day with a Baby Bjorn strapped to their chests. Alas, our next challenge.
This week I am trying to train Lucy to nap in her crib. It's day two and the experiment is thus far an utter failure. (She is sleeping in her Baby Bjorn as I type this). Yesterday she was the gassiest baby on the planet and wouldn't sleep anywhere, let alone in her crib. Combine her incessant crying with the fact that I'd been up since 3:30 pm and you get a husband that left work early to care for his wife and child. Such a good man.
Now, day two I'm so afraid of a yesterday repeat that for her two naps so far I've given the experiment about 10 minutes to work. Funny that it's not working. I suppose this week (and likely next week, but hopefully not the week after that) Lucy will be training me just as much as I'm training her. Pray for us both.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
New Diagnosis
It turns out Lucy may have a milk allergy. Or more specifically a cow's milk protein allergy. So...looks like I don't get to have any dairy for 3 weeks to test the theory. No ice cream for me. So sad.
What's in a name
We've had several people ask us where we came up with Lucy's name and how to pronounce it. Its pronounced Lou-See-A. The Italian pronunciation is Lou-Chee-A, but we've chosen the Americanized version. Hopefully it will minimize the number of first-day-of-school mispronunciations. Lord knows she will have to suffer through a life of having her last name mispronounced. Yes...there is a T in the middle of it!!
As for where we came up with it, my maternal grandma suggested it while we were all getting BBQ over Christmas. We liked it immediately and then liked it even more when we did a little research on it.
Justin pushed for Lucy from the very beginning. I, however, felt that Lucy was a nickname, not a proper first name. I therefore challenged Justin to come up with a first name. When grandma suggested Lucia, it was a definite possibility. Then, when we researched it, we found out that St. Lucia is the patron saint of Siracusa, Italy, where the Italian side of my family is from. Even better. Having a family connection to Blueberry's name was important to both of us. So, we settled on Lucia.
We'd already settled on Grace as a middle name. It was my maternal great-grandma's first name and my maternal grandma's middle name. Pairing it with Lucia was perfect!
After Lucy was born, we found out two new family connections. It turns out that my maternal great-great grandma was named Lucia. Plus, Justin's mom (whose middle name is Lucinda) was called Lucy when she was little.
As for where we came up with it, my maternal grandma suggested it while we were all getting BBQ over Christmas. We liked it immediately and then liked it even more when we did a little research on it.
Justin pushed for Lucy from the very beginning. I, however, felt that Lucy was a nickname, not a proper first name. I therefore challenged Justin to come up with a first name. When grandma suggested Lucia, it was a definite possibility. Then, when we researched it, we found out that St. Lucia is the patron saint of Siracusa, Italy, where the Italian side of my family is from. Even better. Having a family connection to Blueberry's name was important to both of us. So, we settled on Lucia.
We'd already settled on Grace as a middle name. It was my maternal great-grandma's first name and my maternal grandma's middle name. Pairing it with Lucia was perfect!
After Lucy was born, we found out two new family connections. It turns out that my maternal great-great grandma was named Lucia. Plus, Justin's mom (whose middle name is Lucinda) was called Lucy when she was little.
Nicknames for Lucia Grace
Lucy -- She looks more like a Lucy than a Lucia. I have a feeling she'll only be called Lucia when she's in trouble.
Luc -- I keep telling Justin that he shouldn't call his daughter Luc in the event she thinks he's saying "loose", which is not what you want your daughter to be.
Lucifer -- When she's screaming her head off
Squeakers -- She squeaks when she dreams. Its hillarious.
Sqirmy Wormison -- When her acid reflux acts up she sqirms and kicks and flails around. its cute until she starts screaming. (See Lucifer)
Luc -- I keep telling Justin that he shouldn't call his daughter Luc in the event she thinks he's saying "loose", which is not what you want your daughter to be.
Lucifer -- When she's screaming her head off
Squeakers -- She squeaks when she dreams. Its hillarious.
Sqirmy Wormison -- When her acid reflux acts up she sqirms and kicks and flails around. its cute until she starts screaming. (See Lucifer)
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Just the three of us
All help is now gone. My mom left last Monday and Justin's mom left this morning. Its just the three of us from this point forward. Both moms certainly earned their keep.
My mom got the breast feeding problems. Because Lucy was so small, the hospital made us feed her after 6 hours. I wasn't producing anything yet and she needed to eat. The bottle feeding at the hospital led to some latching issues which led to milk production issues. It was a vicious cycle that required us to enlist the help of a lactation consultant who helped out immeasurably. It was a long road full of syringe feedings (shown in the 1 week video Justin made) and a supplemental nursing system that involved tubes taped to certain areas. After several days of this, she began latching and I began producing. All is finally going well on that front.
Justin's mom got acid reflux problems. Since birth, Lucy spit up a lot and on a few occasions threw up everything she'd eaten. It wasn't too much of an issue since she was still gaining weight and it didn't seem to bother her. That was until Sunday night/Monday morning. She threw up massive amounts 3 feedings in a row and became super irritable. She basically hasn't stopped crying since 3:00 am on Monday. She's clearly uncomfortable. So, we got a prescription for Zyntac and started that yesterday. Its supposed to take several days to a week to work. Keep us in your prayers until then.
My mom got the breast feeding problems. Because Lucy was so small, the hospital made us feed her after 6 hours. I wasn't producing anything yet and she needed to eat. The bottle feeding at the hospital led to some latching issues which led to milk production issues. It was a vicious cycle that required us to enlist the help of a lactation consultant who helped out immeasurably. It was a long road full of syringe feedings (shown in the 1 week video Justin made) and a supplemental nursing system that involved tubes taped to certain areas. After several days of this, she began latching and I began producing. All is finally going well on that front.
Justin's mom got acid reflux problems. Since birth, Lucy spit up a lot and on a few occasions threw up everything she'd eaten. It wasn't too much of an issue since she was still gaining weight and it didn't seem to bother her. That was until Sunday night/Monday morning. She threw up massive amounts 3 feedings in a row and became super irritable. She basically hasn't stopped crying since 3:00 am on Monday. She's clearly uncomfortable. So, we got a prescription for Zyntac and started that yesterday. Its supposed to take several days to a week to work. Keep us in your prayers until then.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
The Birth Story
Now that someone else is home holding Lucy, I actually have two free hands to type with. So I figured I would take this time to give the "birth story". I'll try to keep it short and sweet, without the gory details....but some details need to be preserved for posterity.
Around 3:00 pm on Thursday, May 29th, I got offered Cubs tickets by a co-worker for the Thursday night game. We figured...hey...why not. Maybe the walk to and from Wrigley will trigger labor. After all, that is one of the old wives tales and I was 4 days late. So, we accepted the tickets and headed to the game. I don't remember much about the game other than the fact Randy Wells pitched for the Cubs vs. Randy Wolf of the Dodgers, (i.e. battle of the Randys), the seat was uncomfortable (I didn't fit quite right anymore), and we left early because the Cubs were losing. Since we've taken pictures at all of the sporting events I went to pregnant, we decided to take a picture on the way out of Wrigley. (See...the picture of me in the video Justin made). Turns out that picture was taken about an hour and a half before my water broke. Who knew?
After the game, I waddled home and laid on the couch watching the NBA playoff game. I started to fall asleep...and then all of a sudden I felt "something" and literally ran to the bathroom. I made it in time, thank goodness, and yelled to Justin that something wasn't quite right. Let's just say there was a bit of a gush. Then another gush, and another gush. Every time I thought the gushing stopped, I would gush again. Needless to say, we eventually figured out that this was the real thing...my water had broken.
We called the doctor who told us to head to the hospital due to my strep B status. But, she advised me to eat eat eat before we came in since I wouldn't be allowed to eat until after I gave birth. The ironic thing is that we'd eaten my "labor" mac & cheese stash (we'd set it aside for this very purpose) the night before. So, I sent Justin to the store at 11:30 pm to buy some more! Poor Justin, at the Jewel, with the drunk Cubs game crowd, buying mac & cheese and red bull. I sat at on the toilet the whole time. Sexy.
After eating, we headed to the hospital. Contractions started in the car ride, around midnight. They weren't bad at all. We checked in and after about 2 hours finally got sent to a labor room. Then the contractions started getting worse. They still weren't too bad though. The anesthesiologist came in and gave her epidural speech. I listened and told her that I hoped to never see her again. HA! Little did I know.
Due to my Strep B status, the protocol for the hospital is to have the baby born within 24 hours of my water breaking. This damatically reduces the chance of infection. Because of that, they started me on Pitocin. We were able to starve it off until 7:30 am, but that was it. Before then, I was having very irregular contractions. They would come every 4 minutes, then every 6, then not for 10. There was no rhyme or reason. The idea behind the Pitocin was to get my body into active labor. Let's just say it worked. Very soon thereafter I was having "productive" contractions. They lasted about 2 minutes, came every 30 to 90 seconds and hurt like hell. They were coming so fast that my body didn't have time to recover so it felt like one long contraction. I was so exhausted that I kept passing out. It was not a pleasant scene.
At noon, I had them check to see where I was at. I was 6 cm. I tried for another half hour, had a contraction that lasted 4 minutes, and shortly thereafter threw in the towel. The anesthesiologist was called in and I got my epidural. It was a godsend. Modern medicine is awesome. After 25 minutes, a very large needle and some heavy drugs, I didn't feel any pain. I even got to take a nap!
Around 3:00 pm we had a baby heartbeat scare (i.e. her heartbeat wasn't recovering after contractions and a million doctors and nurses were called into the room. Ask Justin about it. Some day maybe he'll think it is a funny story). The doctors all determined that I was ready to push. Pushing was easy. The most difficult thing was the waiting. They only let me push during a contraction. Ironically, I didn't think they were coming often enough! Then...at 4:38 pm ...we met Lucia!!!
It was an amazing experience. Even though I didn't end up having a natural birth (hopefully I will for baby #2), the natural birth classes were all worth it because they desensitized Justin to the birth process and he watched the whole thing! He got to tell me that Lucy was a girl and got to cut the cord. Then he told the grandparents that Blueberry was a girl. I got to tell them her name.
It was all very surreal and the coolest thing that has every happened to me.
Around 3:00 pm on Thursday, May 29th, I got offered Cubs tickets by a co-worker for the Thursday night game. We figured...hey...why not. Maybe the walk to and from Wrigley will trigger labor. After all, that is one of the old wives tales and I was 4 days late. So, we accepted the tickets and headed to the game. I don't remember much about the game other than the fact Randy Wells pitched for the Cubs vs. Randy Wolf of the Dodgers, (i.e. battle of the Randys), the seat was uncomfortable (I didn't fit quite right anymore), and we left early because the Cubs were losing. Since we've taken pictures at all of the sporting events I went to pregnant, we decided to take a picture on the way out of Wrigley. (See...the picture of me in the video Justin made). Turns out that picture was taken about an hour and a half before my water broke. Who knew?
After the game, I waddled home and laid on the couch watching the NBA playoff game. I started to fall asleep...and then all of a sudden I felt "something" and literally ran to the bathroom. I made it in time, thank goodness, and yelled to Justin that something wasn't quite right. Let's just say there was a bit of a gush. Then another gush, and another gush. Every time I thought the gushing stopped, I would gush again. Needless to say, we eventually figured out that this was the real thing...my water had broken.
We called the doctor who told us to head to the hospital due to my strep B status. But, she advised me to eat eat eat before we came in since I wouldn't be allowed to eat until after I gave birth. The ironic thing is that we'd eaten my "labor" mac & cheese stash (we'd set it aside for this very purpose) the night before. So, I sent Justin to the store at 11:30 pm to buy some more! Poor Justin, at the Jewel, with the drunk Cubs game crowd, buying mac & cheese and red bull. I sat at on the toilet the whole time. Sexy.
After eating, we headed to the hospital. Contractions started in the car ride, around midnight. They weren't bad at all. We checked in and after about 2 hours finally got sent to a labor room. Then the contractions started getting worse. They still weren't too bad though. The anesthesiologist came in and gave her epidural speech. I listened and told her that I hoped to never see her again. HA! Little did I know.
Due to my Strep B status, the protocol for the hospital is to have the baby born within 24 hours of my water breaking. This damatically reduces the chance of infection. Because of that, they started me on Pitocin. We were able to starve it off until 7:30 am, but that was it. Before then, I was having very irregular contractions. They would come every 4 minutes, then every 6, then not for 10. There was no rhyme or reason. The idea behind the Pitocin was to get my body into active labor. Let's just say it worked. Very soon thereafter I was having "productive" contractions. They lasted about 2 minutes, came every 30 to 90 seconds and hurt like hell. They were coming so fast that my body didn't have time to recover so it felt like one long contraction. I was so exhausted that I kept passing out. It was not a pleasant scene.
At noon, I had them check to see where I was at. I was 6 cm. I tried for another half hour, had a contraction that lasted 4 minutes, and shortly thereafter threw in the towel. The anesthesiologist was called in and I got my epidural. It was a godsend. Modern medicine is awesome. After 25 minutes, a very large needle and some heavy drugs, I didn't feel any pain. I even got to take a nap!
Around 3:00 pm we had a baby heartbeat scare (i.e. her heartbeat wasn't recovering after contractions and a million doctors and nurses were called into the room. Ask Justin about it. Some day maybe he'll think it is a funny story). The doctors all determined that I was ready to push. Pushing was easy. The most difficult thing was the waiting. They only let me push during a contraction. Ironically, I didn't think they were coming often enough! Then...at 4:38 pm ...we met Lucia!!!
It was an amazing experience. Even though I didn't end up having a natural birth (hopefully I will for baby #2), the natural birth classes were all worth it because they desensitized Justin to the birth process and he watched the whole thing! He got to tell me that Lucy was a girl and got to cut the cord. Then he told the grandparents that Blueberry was a girl. I got to tell them her name.
It was all very surreal and the coolest thing that has every happened to me.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Lucy's First Week
Here's a video recap of Lucy's First Week.
There's a bit of a story behind the song. It's called "My Eyes" by Travis (who as many of you likely know, is my favorite band). Anyway, when we saw them in concert about a month ago, the lead singer, Fran Healey talked about how he wrote this song when he found out his wife was pregnant and dedicated it to the pregnant women in the audience. It's been on repeat on my MP3 player ever since....
There's a bit of a story behind the song. It's called "My Eyes" by Travis (who as many of you likely know, is my favorite band). Anyway, when we saw them in concert about a month ago, the lead singer, Fran Healey talked about how he wrote this song when he found out his wife was pregnant and dedicated it to the pregnant women in the audience. It's been on repeat on my MP3 player ever since....
Thursday, June 4, 2009
The Newborn Lounger
As many of you are aware, there was probably nothing I was more excited to do with my child than to stick him or her in their Newborn Lounger. Due in large part to the extremely cute picture on the box. So, I thought I would share the culmination of that dream with everyone. It's exactly what wanted...
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