Caroline Rose - 2 weeks old

Doctor Appointments

Yesterday Mom drove Caroline and I to her weight check appointment, where the doctor verified that she is still gaining weight nicely -- up to 8 lbs 11 oz, from 8 lbs 3 oz a week ago. She also has grown 3/4 of an inch already! I wonder if she is going to be a tall one like Ben?? Her next appointment is her one month checkup, not until January 17. (That seems really far away right now, but I'm sure it will be here before I know it).

After that appointment, we went to an appointment with a lactation consultant, who was so horrified at my chewed-up nipples that she wouldn't even attempt to let Caroline nurse, instead saying I need to continue pumping/ supplementing with formula until Friday or Monday, at which point once I am all healed I can come back in and we will work on the whole latch thing, which apparently Caroline has been doing horribly wrong.

So, I am fine with that. Especially considering that she is starting to take 4 ounces per feeding, and last night she ate a total of 12 ounces between 7pm and 11pm, and there is no way on Earth I could have supplied that much milk, sore boobs or not! (After that binge, she slept for 5 hours straight, but of course I could not take advantage of the rest myself since I am on a 3 hour around the clock pumping schedule ... boo...)

Today I am feeling a bit better and planning to venture out with Mom for a couple errands/ lunch -- my first time going out for something other than a doctor appointment since I came home from the hospital!! Yay me!!

What's New

Sorry for the lack of blogging the last few days. Joel returned to work on Saturday to cover the inpatient service over the Christmas holiday. We called in some favors from friends and family to help with Ben and Rebecca, since I am still feeling less than stellar. The kids spent Saturday morning at the home of some friends, Sunday out with nanny and papa to see a movie and go to lunch, and today Ben had camp and Rebecca was babysat by her favorite teacher Lindsay, and arrived home moments before my Mom arrived. Mom is staying until Friday, and I had BETTER BE FEELING BETTER BY THEN!

The c-section recovery is still going slowly, but has taken a back-seat to breast-feeding issues, among them a burning pain that the doctor now thinks may be a yeast infection of the milk ducts, so I am now on medicine for that, as well as instructions to pump and bottle feed instead of direct breast feeding for the time being, to ease the pain. Since I am only about to get about 2 ounces out at a time with the pump, I've been mixing an ounce of formula to bring the total amount to 3 ounces every 3 hours. This seems to make Caroline a lot happier, she spends a lot more time sleeping and is a lot less fussy than she has been the last couple of days.

Having not left the house since coming home from the hospital, my goal is to be up and about by the end of the week!!

Chanukah Night 3

Night 3 of Chanukah was largely courtesy of Uncle Mike and Aunt Kathleen, who sent each of the kids a pile of presents. Ben received some Eagles merchandise including the jersey pictured above, and Rebecca received several Princess-themed items, as well as a bunch of lip balms, which she was very happy to see. Caroline even got in on the action, getting some adorable baby clothes. Thanks guys!!

The kids opened their presents early and then Joel dropped them off at a friend's house where they'd been invited for a strategically-timed dinner / playdate. Meanwhile, our neighbors brought over a delicious dinner of lasagna, salad, bread and cinnamon rolls. So Joel and I had a yummy PEACEFUL dinner which Caroline thoughtfully slept through. The kids are on their way home from their play date now, and hopefully going straight to bed... so a relaxing evening for Mom and Dad!

Chanukah Night 2

The kids got their "big" presents from us tonight, iPods. Becca took hers and started playing a Dora game right away, dispelling any concern that she might be too young for it. We loaded them with games and music we thought they'd each like before we gave it to them.

Peaceful

Our newest family member sleeping peacefully :)

Push Present

Props to Joel for picking out this pretty blue topaz ring for my "push present" (scalpel present?) It is Caroline's birth stone, and I think it is really, really pretty!

Chanukah Video

Chanukah 2011

Nanny and Papa brought over an awesome Chanukah spread last night... suffice it to say that under the current circumstances our first night of Chanukah would have consisted of chicken nuggets and tater tots, otherwise ;) The kids were delighted and spoiled by multiple gifts from Nanny and Papa! Thanks so much guys, you are awesome!! Below are some pictures, I have a video also if I can manage to get it uploaded...

Caroline in Pictures

Home with Caroline

Thanks for being patient with me in the blogging department ;) Caroline and I came home from the hospital on Sunday, and the last couple of days have been a blur of narcotics and sleep-deprivation ;) The c-section recovery is slow, and I am trying to breast-feed through massively engorged boobs which really at this point is bothering me more than the c-section pain. Joel has been great, taking care of the kids, dog, laundry, food shopping etc etc while i do things like try to poop for the first time in six days, breastfeed with boobs the size of watermelons, and watch endless hours of Investgation Discovery Channel with a newborn on my lap while wearing nothing but a large undershirt of Joel's because not a single piece of my own clothing will fit over my watermelon boobs.

Caroline is awesome, totally adorable and often blissfully peaceful, with a face that reminds me SO MUCH of Ben when he was a baby except I think if anything Caroline's complexion may even be darker than his.

Ben and Rebecca have been keeping busy with winter break camp/preschool, some well-timed dinner invitations / birthday parties, and Chanukah, which starts tonight. As a result I haven't gotten to see them much, but they seem to be adjusting pretty well so far and getting lots of attention (just not from me :)

Pictures of Caroline, and of the first night of Chanukah, coming up soon...

Meeting Caroline

Introducing Caroline Rose

Again defying mommy's expectations by being a) a girl and b) over a pound heavier than either of my other two kids at birth.... 8 pounds 14 ounces!!!! Welcome, Caroline, we are so happy to meet you!

To-Do List Revisted

1. put together / organize baby stuff / move furniture around

2. get oil changed / tire pressure checked (WAY over due)

3. do all the Hanukkah shopping (partially completed - will finish tomorrow)

4. get my hair done

5. buy new car charger for GPS (have not managed to do this yet)

6. schedule/attend conference with Ben’s teacher (scheduled for tomorrow)

7. pick my sister up from the airport (tomorrow)

8. write out instructions for babysitter/ dog sitter

9. take Ben to the dentist (will be done as of later this afternoon)

10. Pack hospital bag

11. HAVE A BABY

Baby Prep

The weekend activities included a large amount of baby prep that was assisted by Joel (putting together bassinet, baby swing, bringing Rebecca's old baby dresser/changing station down from an upstairs closet, etc) and my mother in law (who took me shopping for remaining baby items - diapers, wipes, diaper genie, diaper bag etc - THANK YOU!). Somewhere in there I also got my hair done, went out to dinner with friends, bought Ben a winter coat, picked up a few things at the grocery store, and did some laundry. Joel and his dad took Ben to his first NFL game yesterday - Panthers v. Falcons - which Ben thoroughly enjoyed.

On the to-do list for today (my first official day of maternity leave) is to get my car's oil changed and pick up a couple of the kids' smaller Hannukah gifts. I'm trying to take it easy, though Joel I think would prefer I spontaneously go into labor instead of waiting till Thursday, so he can skip his last couple days of work before his scheduled time off ;)

Clara - 3 months

Wait a Minute.....

Is someone having a baby or something?!

38 Week OB Appointment / Last Day of Work

Yesterday I had my 38 week OB appointment. The only significant part of the visit was that I had to bring Ben with me, because I wasn't able to schedule this visit for while he was at school. Without thinking too much about it I bought him a brownie and a hot chocolate at the Starbucks inside the medical center building on our way up to my appointment, and then realized I had a very goofy, sugared-up 7 year old to deal with in a gynecologist's office. He was far too observant of his surroundings in the exam room ("What's this light for? This is a funny place to have a light... Hey is this to look at your privates with?!") and just generally extremely hyper. Fortunately the doctor opted not to check my cervix, much to Ben's dismay (even though I told him he might have to wait outside in the hall for part of the visit he still thought this was hysterically funny even though I did not tell him exactly why he might have to wait outside - he had enough of an idea I guess to dissolve into hysterical fits of laughter). Aside from Ben's company, the visit (my last before D-Day or should I say B-Day I guess) was uneventful.

Today is my last day of work until March 19, though I am trying not too be too excited about it, considering that I know from past experience that most of it will go by in a sleep-deprived blur ;)

To Do List

So far the to-do list for the next week includes:

1. put together / organize baby stuff / move furniture around

2. get oil changed / tire pressure checked (WAY over due)

3. do all the Hanukkah shopping

4. get my hair done

5. buy new car charger for GPS

6. schedule/attend conference with Ben's teacher

7. pick my sister up from the airport

8. write out instructions for babysitter/ dog sitter

9. take Ben to the dentist

10. Pack hospital bag

11. HAVE A BABY

Am I forgetting anything? I feel like I might be forgetting something. In addition to the "to do list" above, the next few days include a lunch date, a dinner date/play date, Joel and Ben are going to the Panthers game on Sunday, Hebrew school for Ben, etc.... AAAHHHHH!!!!!

Updates

Clara's vet appointment - this went fine - Clara weighs 21 pounds now and got her 3rd (and next to last) installment of puppy shots - the only problem was the harness I had bought to transport her in the car... I guess I put it a little too loose because as I was driving home from the vet she somehow slipped out of it. There wasn't much I could do about it, since I was driving, and I *thought* she was not getting into any trouble, but when I got home I realized that she had been quietly chewing through the charger for my GPS during the car ride : ( So add something to next week's to-do list- buy new GPS car charger.

Refinance - we managed to close on our refinance yesterday afternoon. There was a slight scramble because no one told us that we weren't supposed to pay December's mortgage, so we needed to scramble yesterday morning to make sure the lawyer could get the updated payoff amount /redo the settlement statement in time for the closing. The other slight issue was that the lawyer had scheduled us to close at 4pm yesterday but until I called yesterday morning about the payoff amount, no one had bothered to tell us that closing was actually scheduled, much less for that afternoon. Fortunately Joel and I were both able to get there, though we had to bring Ben with us since he doesn't go to J Team on Tuesday afternoons. Ben was very impressed with the lawyer's office, primarily because the lobby contained a coffee vending machine that also dispensed hot chocolate. So Ben treated himself to two cups of hot chocolate and played his DS while remarking that he wished Daddy were a lawyer so he could have a coffee machine at his office too.

Joel and I closed on a 7/1 ARM at 3.25 percent, the beauty of which is that a) it lowers our monthly mortgage payment by over $700 a month and b) even after the rate is allowed to adjust 7 years from now, by the time it would be able to hit its cap of 8.25% the payment then would STILL BE LESS than what we were paying before (because we paid down the mortgage a little bit with this refinance and also since we'll be paying more principal with the lower interest rate, 7 years from now the payment on 8.25% of the remaining principal would still be less than what we were paying on 6.5% previously). It will only take us 5 months to break even on the closing costs, so the only question we have been asking ourselves is why didn't we do this sooner??? Also, the timing allows us to skip January's mortgage payment, which is cool because I'll be on maternity leave, so the decreased expenses that month will be appreciated.

However, Ben did not find any of this exciting, only the coffee machine.

Last Week of Work

For a while, anyway (until March 19). Among the things I am attempting to juggle this week (in addition to finishing up work stuff while going on 38 weeks pregnant) are a vet appointment for Clara, and OB appointment for me (which looks like I'll have to bring Ben to because of the scheduling), Bagels & Blocks at Rebecca's school, and trying to get everything finished/scheduled to close on our home refinance sometime this week. Wish me luck :)

Pretty Haircut

Usurped

This is what I found when I came to bed last night...