Our growing girl!

If I had posted on Wednesday night or even Thursday morning, I would have gone on and on about how much more fun this week has been than last week! She was so good at the beginning of the week - hardly any crying, sleeping so well, etc. Yesterday she kind of reverted back to more crying, although she still had a very decent night which has helped keep me sane. I just hardly know how to deal with her when she's crying and crying and I know I've fed her and changed her and done everything I can to make her happy! She must be going through a growth spurt of some kind because she is eating a ridiculous amount - sometimes I feel like my whole life these days is just feeding her. I wonder if the intense amount of food is making her stomach unsettled or something. Anyway, even at her worst she's still pretty good so I really shouldn't complain. I guess God knew I would never be able to handle a colicky baby so he had mercy on me (and the child!). I got her weighed yesterday (at 2 weeks 5 days) and she weighed 8 lbs 12 oz. That means that in the last two weeks, she has gained 1 lb 3 ozs. I think that's a pretty good pace - as you might be able to see from the pictures, her face is really filling out:).












We took some professional pics at my friend Aileen's last week Tuesday so here are a few of them - they turned out really well!

End of week #2

So tomorrow at 10:01am Lynsey will officially be two weeks old - and I'm still alive and reasonably sane! Since my last post, we've had good days and bad days. She had her first bath at home last Friday - she really liked it! She was so cute - she was pretty sleepy when we put her in the water, but it was clear after Brian squeezed water over her head a few times that she was quite comfortable in the water:).












The last few days have been a bit rough. Wednesday was rough for three reasons: #1: Brian's first day back at work #2: I had several flu symptoms (not sure if it was actually the flu or just a fever) and #3: Lynsey had her first really fussy period that lasted longer than just a few minutes. It was a bad morning, but I think it's because I was sick and making her sick right along with me. I don't know for sure that she wasn't feeling well, but it's the only explanation I had for her crying in the morning. She slept most of the afternoon and evening (must have been worn out) and Thursday was much better. I wasn't really feeling well Thursday again - I'm kind of choked because I never get sick and this is the first year I got the flu shot . . . is it a coincidence?? I tried to decline the shot but my doctor insisted I get it because I was pregnant. A lot of good it did me! I'm no conspiracy theorist, but it's a bit suspicious that someone that never gets sick gets sick after this "vaccination". Anyway, it seems as though I've gotten over it now so I'm doing much better. She normally sleeps quite well at night, although last night when she woke up to eat I had a really hard time getting her back to sleep - she was awake for like two hours and very fidgety and fussy. I suppose I've been spoiled by her good behaviour the first week and now she's just being a normal baby! She really likes the car and going for walks, so I'm really hoping for a lot of chinooks this winter so I can take her out in the stroller lots. Anyway, I'm glad it's the weekend so Brian will be around to help me again - I really missed him the last few days! He actually worked from home today, but since he was working I was trying really hard not to distract him. Tomorrow he's fair game! I've attached some pictures we've taken over the last week.













As you can see, Brian is already trying to turn our little girl into a computer nerd:).

Life with Lynsey!

So Lynsey is now 5 days old and we are just loving her more than ever! She wasn't eating very well for the first few days, and had the medical professionals that followed up with us quite concerned because of it. She didn't want to eat every two to three hours, and apparently there are no exceptions - all babies must eat this often or there's something wrong! She didn't have jaundice (they checked that out), she was pooping and peeing at an acceptable rate (if you never thought you would ever have to closely examine poop you just wait until you have a baby!), she was gaining weight and not being fussy . . . and yet every professional I talked to could not accept the fact that she was only eating every 4 to 5 hours sometimes. I've come to the conclusion at this point that she knows when she wants to eat and knows what to do for that to be offered to her, and I am not going to try and force her to eat when she doesn't want or need to. We found out at the doctor today that she is back up to her birth weight already, which is apparently a very rapid weight gain pace! I think we might have a little chubbers on our hands soon! Anyway, she is eating well now, and I will not be waking her up to eat more often than she needs to just because some public health nurses and doctors think there are no exceptions to the rule. She has slept really well the last few nights, only waking up to eat and then going back to sleep almost right after. She has at least one or two fussy times per day, which is always hard to take because of course we would rather she didn't have any, but all in all I think she is a very good baby. She is so cute when she's all alert and looking at us, checking us out - she has smiled a few times (accidentally I'm sure!) and I'm looking forward to watching her do new things and become more and more aware of her surroundings. Brian and I are actually getting a reasonable amount of sleep considering - obviously I'm not as well rested as I would like to be, but what new mom is! We've had a lot of encouraging phone calls from family and friends and things are going really well. I am recovering very nicely - still a bit sore, but really it's not much considering what my body has gone through! The human body really is an amazing thing! I've posted a few pictures of some cute moments over the last few days - she seems to really like sleeping with her arms above her head, which is kind of funny because her ultrasound showed her like that AND she came out with her arm beside her shoulder, which was the reason for the tearing that I experienced! So we don't swaddle her arms anymore - she needs to be free to flail them about:).

Welcome to the world Lynsey Raeanne Kroeker!

Yes, the day has come for Brian and I to be parents! If you're not interested in the labour story and just want to see pictures, scroll down to the bottom of this post. They are the same pictures I put on Facebook, to those of you who have looked at those already. Now, for those of you who are interested in how this all happened, read on.

Allow me to continue the thought from my previous blog post from Friday night (please scroll down for that). At the time I was writing that post, I thought I was experiencing really painful contractions. Haha - if only I knew how much worse it could and would get! So naive I was:). I called the Healthlink line right after I wrote that because I just wasn't sure if we should go in - I knew the contractions weren't close enough together, but I just had an uneasy feeling that this really was the real thing and should get checked out. The nurse told me to go to the hospital, although for the reason that I hadn't felt the baby move in the last half hour (although I did tell her she often doesn't move for an hour at a time and it's never been a concern before). So, we got the hospital around 1:30am and got hooked up to a fetal monitor - turns out the baby was just being lazy and started moving again a half hour later, nothing to be concerned about. At 2 they checked me and I was 2cm dilated and the head was still quite high. So, they told me I was in early labour so I should just go home and either the contractions would just stop or they would eventually get stronger and closer together and I should come back. Well I was of the opinion that they were strong enough so they offered to give me some morphine so I could at the very least "get some sleep" through them. So we went home and I anxiously awaited the drugs kicking in. We got home around 3am and it wasn't long before I started feeling really drowsy. Unfortunately, they hadn't given me enough morphine and the contractions were still way too painful to sleep through, so I was basically hopelessly drowsy but unable to sleep. I think it might have helped just relax my body though, because as the night wore on, I got better at breathing through them and coping. I wasn't really paying attention to how close together they were at this point, although I checked a few times and they still seemed to be quite far apart. Well, at 8:15 or so, I got a whole new feeling - a new level of pain that I've never quite experienced before. I was thinking, wow that was a strong one, and when the next one came like 5 minutes later feeling the same or worse, I thought, hmmm maybe this is intensifying. On the third one I decided it was time to get in the shower (everyone told me that having a shower while in labour is very relaxing and helpful so I was willing to try anything). Please at this point remember that all accounts I've ever heard of first deliveries is that you have plenty of time to get to the hospital because they are never really that quick, so you should take your time and make sure it's time to go. So I get into the bathroom and I hadn't even gotten into the shower yet when I had the most painful contraction ever and at this point, I was no longer bearing them in relative silence. Brian heard me (how could he not) and got up, realizing that I wasn't messing around so we had a shower (which in hindsight we really didn't have time for) and booted it over to the hospital. The contractions were at this point 2 - 3 minutes apart and wayyyy too painful to walk through, so this was slowing us down in even getting to the car. We got to the hospital at 9:20am and they checked me - lo and behold, I was fully dilated and ready to go to the delivery room. Any woman that has had a baby and is reading this will understand that it usually takes much longer to get to this point. You'll recall previous posts first where I talked about trying to do things naturally without drugs, and then last night me recanting and saying to heck with natural bring on the drugs. Well the FIRST thing I asked for when I got there was drugs and of course because I was getting ready to push it was too late for an epidural, so all I got was a bit of laughing gas. It helped a bit, but really wasn't much of a pain reliever. Kind of ironic how I got my wish of a natural birth without really wanting it at all! Anyway, I got to the pushing part of labour (oh and I'm sorry if you're queasy and really think this all too much information, but it IS a labour story so I have to give some details!) at about 9:30am. Apparently the average pushing time, especially for a first baby, is 2 hours. Half an hour later at 10:01am, November 3rd, 2007, Lynsey Raeanne Kroeker entered the world at 7 lbs, 9 ounces and 20.5 inches long. She just didn't see the need to prolong things and I can respect that! She is a beautiful, healthy baby girl with no major issues to speak of - she was awake for the first two hours of her life and then basically slept the rest of the day and night away (apparently she didn't really like what she saw when she first came out - I imagine it would be a letdown if you were looking forward to it for nine months!). We are at home now (it's Sunday evening) and we are doing great so far - I am tired as I didn't really sleep for the last two nights, but physically I am doing really well and so far, still running on adrenaline! Brian is able to stay at home with me for at least the first week and a half, so that will be a big help to me. Thank goodness for the nesting I went through before I gave birth because I feel like everything in the house is as orderly as it possibly could be and I feel very relaxed even with the new sense of responsibility. Anyway, this needs to come to an end now so I will just let you enjoy the pics of Lynsey's first few days in the world. More to come soon I'm sure so stay tuned! Our blog will become updated much more frequently from now on now that there is a more interesting person in our house:).

Has the time finally come?

It is 12:27 am and I am officially unable to sleep because of contractions. They started this evening, but were so mild - mostly just a tight sort of feeling. Ten minutes apart and not that painful - doesn't necessarily mean it's time, right? Well, we went to bed and lo and behold, they started becoming more and more painful. Still only 10 minutes apart though. So instead of writhing in pain beside Brian, I decided to come downstairs, sit on my exercise ball and write a blog post. Oh, here comes another one. Okay all this talk about foregoing an epidural is starting to sound like crazy talk - yikes this sucks! Okay now that its over, I feel like I can conquer the world again:). Ohh it's going to be a long night. I think I'll be seeing the Peter Lougheed by sunrise.