Two Weeks Old

Hannah was two weeks old yesterday. She had her two week appointment with the pediatrcian. By the way, we LOVE our pediatrician. We lucked out with her, especially in this town! So anyway, Dr. DeHart said that said that everything is beautiful and that Hannah looks great. She is continuing to gain weight, which she was happy with, although she is still quite skinny. She is in the 60% percentile for her height (where did she get that??) and only 10% for her weight and head measurements. Basically the doctor said she is just long and skinny. She also got her heal pricked for the second round of her newborn tests. Miss overreacter freaked out (I can't blame her for that) and then in her typical, dramatic fashion, cried for about five seconds and then stopped and gave me the head butt (that's where she lifts her head and then flings it back at you, and then totally relaxes). It's pretty cute! So, there's your two week update...enjoy the photos! She may not look comfortable, but she is because she does this all the time.

Is this a great face or what?

It's a little fuzzy, but I had to include it because she is smiling!

I can't explain it, but this (above) might be one of my favorite pictures so far. Maybe its because it's one of the many hilarious faces that she makes.

Just doing her usual...chewing on her hand.

Happy, wide-eyed, and eating.

Top 5 Things that Make Hannah, Hannah

I have always been in the school of thought that says that people have things about them that are both learned from their environment as well as things that are innate. Basically people are influenced both by nature and nurture. Hannah is proving that more and more every day. She has her very own personality and has inherited traits from both Jon and me. It is so fun to observe, so I thought I would share some of those things with you. These are in no particular order, although we notice some a lot more often than others.

1. Hannah HATES all things changing table. This includes but is not limited to diaper changes, clothing changes, preparing for a bath, and getting rubbed down with lotion. Below is holding on to Jon because she is afraid that he is going to put her back on the changing table that he just picked her up from. So cute!

2. Hannah is the ultimate over-reactor. I am pretty sure I know where she gets this trait from (ahem...me), and it just really cracks us up. One second she is mellow and the next she is bright red, crying, and shaking.

3. Hannah is a ravenous eater. The first weekend I was so afraid that she wasn't getting enough to eat because I didn't think that my milk had come in yet. At her doctors appointment the following Monday (so she was 5 days old) morning, we found out that she is just fine. The doctors give babies about two weeks to get back up to their birth weight (they drop weight the first few days), but our little ravenous eater, Hannah, did it in only 3 days. What a champ!

4. Hannah LOVES to cuddle and be held. There have been a few days when she just wants to cuddle and gets upset (see #2) if I put her down. While I love it, it is hard to get things done when she is in a cuddling mood, so today I discovered the genius that is a carrier. Hands free, yet she feels close and cuddly.

5. She is very social. That's what we say anyway. She likes to "go out." Two nights in a row we went out to dinner and she was amazing. I, of course, was worried that she would freak out (see #2), but she didn't. In fact, she was a perfect angel. She slept through both meals, despite Hispanic men singing Happy Birthday at the top of their lungs in Spanish at the table next to us. So we decided that she just enjoys the noise and activity of going out, so therefore she is social. Makes sense, right?

More to come on our little girl and her quirkiness.

Hannah's First Week

And finally what you are all waiting on, pictures. These are just a few of my favorites. Hannah hanging out in her swing. She likes it.
I think this one is my favorite so far. She just finished her worse thing ever, a bath. She is just so relaxed after such a stressful event.

I love brown and pink and I think she pulls it off well.

This is one of Jon's favorites. He got her this monkey and says that the picture is of Hannah and her dad. I think it's just darn cute that she is sticking her tongue out!

First family photo about 15 minutes after she was born.

She's Here!!!

I have to start out by apologizing for the extreme lack of updates! It has taken me now three days to write this post! Needless to say, things have been a little crazy around here! So we had a baby since the last time I posted a blog! First of all, she is amazing. It's hard to believe that a person so little and helpless can bring so much joy to your heart. I am sure there will be MUCH more on that in future posts, but for now I thought I would share all the "gorey" details of how she got here. Okay, so I won't go gorey, but I will tell you all the story!

We had a "false alarm" early Tuesday morning and thought my water had broken. I still don't really know what else could cause a "gush of fluid" but I know now (they actually broke my water in labor) that indeed it was no water breakage. So Jon and I spent Tuesday morning (it was Monday night to me) in the hospital getting checked out, to find out that we were being sent home. So, the next night, when I was pretty sure I was having contractions (which really didn't feel at all like I expected them to) we started timing them to see if there was a pattern. We really didn't want to make another false trip to the hospital. So we timed what I thought might be contractions, and sure enough they were consistent.

So this went on for about 6 hours. You aren't supposed to go to the hospital until the contractions are about 5 minutes apart, but we couldn't wait any longer. We called around 7 minutes and they told us to come on in. By the time we got there and got checked in, I had dilated to 1 1/2 cm. Now for those of you moms out there, that sounds like nothing, but it was huge for me since the night before I still had not dilated at all (maybe a fingertip is what they said). So, I continued laboring through the night with Jon at my side. My doctor was on call that morning so she came in and was so excited to see me there. She was disappointed though, that after being in labor and at the hospital for 5-6 hours, I was still at 1 1/2 cm.

Long story short, I stayed at 1 1/2 cm for another 10 hours, despite the fact that my contractions continued to get more frequent. I had planned on having an epidural if I could, but that couldn't happen until I was at 4 cm. My doctor came in when my contractions were about 1 1/2-2 minutes apart and said that she would do the epidural. She said it wasn't protocol, but that she would do it, give me another hour to make some progress, and if not then she was going to have to do a C-section. She also broke my water at that point. So, in the 30 minutes between when she talked to me and when the epidural was completed, I went from 1 1/2 to 8! The doctor couldn't believe it. Another 20 minutes and I was fully dilated and ready to push.

Hannah, still not keen on the idea of coming into this world, made me push for over 2 1/2 hours but finally graced us with her presence. I kept wanting to go to sleep between contractions and kept telling Jon to wake me up when it was time to push again! It was totally exhausting, but definitely worth it! She had her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck twice and body once, but surprisingly was totally fine! Plus, I am pretty sure that she was trying to come out the wrong way, forehead first. Boy is she a trooper! I guess that's why it took her so long to come out. And just like that our little girl was here and it was love at first sight!