Lily is almost 3 weeks

So they say you quickly forget the pains of childbirth once you see that beautiful face and things settle down. Do I believe it? I actually do! As a friend and neighbor pointed out today (Kelly), you just hope for the best and that the next one is quicker and less pain haha. While the pain of delivery and the illness later is still fresh in my mind, I keep thinking how much we want another child. Although I have always had a bit of anxiety, I have to say having a baby increases anxiety! There has been several days or nights I have caught myself thinking about baby #2 having complications or what I would do if something happens to Lily or JF. I know that already this anxiety has gotten better with time, but it is a bit heartbreaking at times! I guess this is the trials and tribulations of being a mom!? Remember as kids or even now thinking "my gosh, Mom needs to loosen up, she is always so worried about stuff"? Well, I am sorry Mom because I now totally understand how you feel!! :)

Lily had a great experience at her Great-Aunt Faye's house for Jeff & Tracy's birthday party. For probably the first time ever we were the first to leave, but Lily was on her best behavior and it was a great time to relax and hang out with everyone. Last weekend we also took a weekend trip to Jacksonville for everyone to meet Lily. Lily slept the whole way in the car rides and loved every bit of meeting her family! Considering we were joking about having a sign up sheet for how long everyone could hold Lily, I would say her family was just as excited to meet her as she was them. :)

We got Lily's newborn pics and some family pics done last week. You have probably seen some sneak peeks as the photographer has posted them. We are so excited to see all of them. If you are in the South Florida area, I would so recommend Stinkerbug Photography. Mary Anne was great with Lily and has the patience of a Saint! Even Gracie participated a bit and got in on the picture taking.

Lily isn't too big on swaddling anymore, she likes to move around. Although the swaddling kept her still and from waking herself up, I think most the time it just pissed her off more that she couldn't move freely. Because she moves around and makes noises a bit in her sleep and I always jump right up to ix it, JF keeps trying to talk me into putting her into her crib at night. I mean we have a video monitor, but I guess I am just having some separation anxiety haha. Maybe I can try it in the next week or so. With as strong as Lily is, I shouldn't be worried because I know she can move her head pretty freely. One adorable thing she has started doing is sucking her thumb. At first it was just her whole fist, but she has managed a few times to actually get just the thumb in there. I tried to get a picture (took today), ignore the fact she looks mad in the picture haha.

Her baby acne is clearing up a little, we are trying to wipe her face often to help it. It really helps that she loves baths. We try to give her one every night right before bed. Grandmama, Grandpapa and Julie got to see how happy baths make Lily the other night when we Skyped with them while bathing her. It was precious! I also attached a video of us trying to wake her up. The moment she hits "the boob" she passes out haha. It is a constant struggle to keep her awake the whole time she eats.

I got the Baptism invites ordered and hope to have them in a week or two to send out. Just a heads up to those who aren't aware yet, it is Mother's Day (May 11). The Baptism takes place after the 10:30 am mass (around 11:30) and we are having a lunch at our house afterwards. We picked that day because JF's parents and brother will be here. We can't wait for them to meet her!!! Julie can't get out of school, but will be down to visit later that summer. I can't wait until the end of the year for Lily to go to Ohio and Montreal to meet the rest of her family! :)

I hope everyone has a great week!

Lily is 6 days old!

Well especially since I gave up facebook for Lent, I thought I would sit down and do a little updating now that I am feeling better and we have gotten into the groove of things.  Although most of you have seen the photos that I am going to post, others have given up Facebook for Lent also, so this is for them! :)

The day I came home from the hospital, I had some problems. I had extreme nausea and shortness of breath. Because of the symptoms, I didn't eat or sleep more than 4 hours or so in almost 3 days. After a trip to the ER and then a follow-up to my doctor on Monday, I found out I have a UTI and they are screening me for preeclampsia. My blood pressure is high and it has been controlled throughout my pregnancy, so it is something they are just checking on. Thank goodness my doctor also suggested a sleeping aid. After taking it for the past two nights, I can thankfully say I am feeling a bit better! I am able to eat pretty normal again and am getting tons of sleep. Although there were a few times JF had to give Lily formula because I was so sick and she took it well, I started pumping so she could have breastmilk at night when she wakes up until the Ambien is out of my system in the morning. Luckily the mg of this sleep aid leaves your system within 8 hours. My back pain is getting better everyday also, my doctor said I just have to keep taking it easy.
Lily is doing wonderful too! She eats well, maybe too well ;) She really dislikes lying flat on her back. Luckily for now she fits in this sleeper function to our play yard, so it cuddles her on her back and she seems to like that. During the day since we are watching her, we are able to give her a bit of a side sleep that she loves. She has been following pretty well for two days now a 3 hour schedule. Now that I am feeling better, it is easier to keep her on a schedule. At night we don't wake her up after three hours, we allow her to sleep as long as she wants (will let us sleep haha). She slept for 12 hours last night, only waking up twice to eat and a diaper change (which only lasted about 25 minutes)! JF and I also slept that long :)
I have had several people ask me about the birth. Although the outcome is a miracle because we have Lily, I can honestly say it was not what I was expecting and rather horrible. After giving me the Cervidil at 7 pm Wednesday, they broke my water the next morning around 7:30 and started the Pitocin. I was only dilated at 2 at this point. Later that morning I was dilated to 4 and the nurse suggested I grab the anesthesiologist before he went into several back-to-back c-sections. This went well and shortly after the monitor showed my contractions getting much stronger, but thankfully I couldn't feel a thing :) Around 2:30 I started feeling quite a bit of pain. I was confused because up to this point, I just felt minimal pressure or nothing at all. The nurse confirmed I was 8 centimeters and kept checking on me because she could see I was extremely uncomfortable. All of my pain was in my back. At this point I was in pain to the point of tears so she called the anesthesiologist back in to give me a second shot in my epidural. Unfortunately for me, that didn't work. I started pushing around 3:15 pm, but Lily wasn't born until 5:16. I didn't think labor would be a breeze by any means, but I did not think I would be pleading with the midwife to let me stop lol. I am not sure what I thought the alternative was, but obviously that isn't an option. My nurse and midwife were great. I couldn't imagine going through that without JF or my mom either. They both had a hold of a leg that I literally screamed at them if they even thought about letting it rest on the bed. They both continuously told me how amazing I was doing and that I was "almost there" (which they also got an earful at some point for telling me that over and over with no result yet haha). I hadn't really planned on my mom being in there during delivery and I envisioned JF up at my head holding my hand. Well they both got down and dirty and were there for every scream, cry, and plea. Remembering it now is bringing me to tears because I could not have done it without the two of them.
Once Lily came out, I briefly remember seeing her little body and being rushed over to the heater in the room (at my hospital you labor, deliver and recover all in one room). The nurse told me they would take her over to the heater immediately to suction her because there was meconium (her first bowel movement) in my water when they broke it. Everyone yelled out she was here and started crying. My midwife came over and told me what a great job I did and that she too pushed over two hours. She told me that while it isn't too common for epidurals to stop working, that is what happened to me. Lily was face up, rather than face down like she should be so they had me rolling from side to side during my deliver to try to turn her naturally. While this could have moved my epidural, she said the more possible reason was just my size. She told me I had small hips and although Lily wasn't big, the fact she was so tight to come out and I had what is referred to as "back labor" it could have cut off the epidural to my back. Once she was out, it was amazing how quickly I felt better and seeing this amazing baby girl made me forget everything in the world. Seeing my mom and my husband in tears at how amazing the whole situation was put me in such a blissful state.
Of course Dad and Stacey came the next day. Before he even touched her, Dad of course started crying. This isn't surprising considering the day before when JF called him to say Lily was here, neither of them could understand what the other were saying because they were both blubbering so much ;) (JF might kill me for that comment hehe). Now that everything has passed, I can say Lily is one lucky girl. She has tons of great family she has already met and so many more to see shortly. We are so thrilled to have her here and are thankful or everyday when we wake up and see her gorgeous face. It is still a bit too early to know if she will have a sibling. I was set on yet, but that birth really opened my eyes to wait labor #2 may be...
Now for some fun stuff! Pictures! Hope everyone is having a great week and I will keep you updated on test results!

 Right after Daddy cut the cord!

 Moments after she was born :)

 All hooked up for her hearing test that she aced :)

 Day 2

Lily's ride home!

 Gracie checking on Lily

Daddy & Lily getting some snuggle time

 First bath at home

 I don't have the video on here, but check out facebook for a video of Lily turning from her tummy to her back for the first time :)

 Taken just today after she ate

Like always, she rolls to her side every chance we give her :)

38 weeks, 6 days

Can I just call it 39 weeks at this point?!? :) Well as I announced on Facebook, I am going in to the hospital Wednesday evening to be induced. The doctor told me with having gestational diabetes, they don't like me to go over my due date. Unfortunately even though it seems like Lily is constantly trying to find the exit in there ;), I am not thinning out or dilating at all yet. Worst case scenario on Thursday would probably be if the cervidil doesn't do its job Wednesday night/Thursday morning, they would take her c-section.

Dogs never seem to amaze me because Gracie seems to be acting stranger and stranger. Not only is she now guarding me (or Lily) even when JF comes in the room, she has been getting up on the couch with me and gently laying over my lap. It is very strange how dogs sense that kind of stuff!

I added some pics of our project this week lol... never a dull moment for poor JF. For those of you who have been to our home, all the walls and ceilings are painted an off white color from when we moved in. Because we haven't wanted to tackle painting all the ceilings white, we have only painted "focal walls" here and there. This week I decided to tackle one room, the half-bath. We now have one white ceiling...and a blue room lol. I took some before and afters below. While JF painted most of the bathroom, my idea was to sit on the floor to paint around the trim, behind the toilet and sink, etc. I was hoping this activity would get a little something going on for Lily. No luck haha. I hope everyone has a great week and I will post when Lily gets here :)

 We also changed out the light fixture. Although I am not a fan of the "hollywood" light fixture, they put out a great amount of light. So we went with a similar model, just more modern that hides the bulbs. Every time we buy lights for this house and we see how cheap the light is they put in the house, it makes me angry haha. Some of the finishes in our house are so nice and high end, then we have a $4 outside light or a $10 bathroom light fixture lol.