9 Months Old

                                                           Julia is 9 months old!

Weight: 21.8lbs (birth weight 7lbs 11oz)

Height:  29 inches (Birth Height 20.5 inches)

Diapers: Size 3 or size 4 disposable.

Clothes: Mostly 9-12 months or 12months and some 18 month clothes too.

Feeding: Still breast feeds for only about 3-5 minutes at a time and before and after naps.Has 3 meals of baby solid food a day, may have a mum mum as a little snack during the day too.

Nights: She has been doing better with sleeping but still waking up 2 to 3 times a night.

Personality: She is just so amazing still likes to take it all in just watches her surroundings. So loveable 

Loves: To be tickled and be silly

Hates: Still hates tummy time, its really hard to get her to do it! still will just roll over when we put her on her tummy.

8 Months Old

                                                             Julia is 8 months old!

Weight: 20.8lbs (birth weight 7lbs 11oz)

Height:  28 inches (Birth Height 20.5 inches)

Diapers: Size 3 or size 4 disposable.

Clothes: A lot of her 6-12 month clothes are getting kind of snug in the length so she has mostly been wearing clothes that are 9 months to 12 months.

Feeding: Breast feeding for only about 3-5 minutes at a time and before and after naps.She now has 3 meals of baby solid food a day.

Nights: She has been sleeping anywhere between 3-5 hours in a row at night but she has been stirring about an hour after I put her down for bed. Also I have been just putting her down to bed and let her fall asleep on her own now instead of cuddling her to sleep.

Personality: She is such a fun girl, super sweet and loving. I feel like she has become a little bit more independent in a way too.

Loves: To watch all that is around her and play with mom.

Hates: Still hates tummy time, its really hard to get her to do it! She really hates it if we put her on her tummy she just rolls over to her back right away.

7 Months Old

                                                          Julia is 7 months old!

Weight: 20lbs (birth weight 7lbs 11oz)

Height:  27 inches (Birth Height 20.5 inches)

Diapers: Size 3 disposable.

Clothes: She is still wearing anything above 6months to 12 months.

Feeding: Still breast feeding only about 5 minutes at a time and before and after naps. She now has baby solid foods twice a day, breakfast and lunch.

Nights: She has been doing around 3-4 hour stretches it really depends on the night though it can be so different from the previous night.

Personality: She is getting pretty funny and likes to try to copy the sounds you make.

Loves: Playing with her toys and watching your face when you make sounds.

Hates: Still hates tummy time, its really hard to get her to do it!

6 Months Old

                                                             Julia is 6 months old!

Weight: 19lbs (birth weight 7lbs 11oz)

Height:  27 inches (Birth Height 20.5 inches)

Diapers: Size 3 disposable.

Clothes: Some 6 month clothes still fit her but she is mostly wearing 6-12 month clothes

Feeding: Still only about 5 minutes at a time and before and after naps. We have started baby solid foods once a day usually in the morning that way if she has any reaction I can see through out the day instead of worrying about it during the night.

Nights: Still doesn't want to have long stretches of sleep, its amazing how your body just gets used to it but I am hoping she will figure out how to sleep longer soon.

Personality: She is so sweet and really inquisitive just loves to watch what is going on around her.

Loves: The song if your Happy and you know it! Loves to cuddle and playing with her toys.

Hates: Still hates tummy time, its really hard to get her to do it!

5 Months Old

                                                              Julia is 5 months Old!

Weight: 17.6lbs (birth weight 7lbs 11oz)

Height: 26 inches (Birth Height 20.5 inches)

Diapers: Size 3 disposable.

Clothes: any where from 3-6 months to 9 months just depends on the brand of clothes

Feeding: Still only about 5 minutes at a time and before and after naps.

Nights: This month she did not want to have long stretches for sleep. It was back to every three hours. But she did fall asleep quickly after she ate.

Personality: She is so inquisitive just wants to take it all in. Really sweet and just wants to be where the people are.

Loves: The song if your Happy and you know it! Loves to cuddle and playing with her toys.

Hates: Still hates tummy time, its really hard to get her to do it!

4 Months Old

                                                         Julia is 4 months old today!

Weight: 16lbs (birth weight 7lbs 11oz)

Height: 25 inches (Birth Height 20.5 inches)

Diapers: Size 3 disposable. We moved undid a snap on the cloth diapers to make them bigger.

Clothes: 3-6 months mostly and some 6 month items


Feeding: Still the same as last month: Is on demand still, usually when she wakes up is when she wants food, but she also wants to eat before she has a nap. I think its because she only eats for 5 minutes at a time usually.

Nights: Still the same as last month: Usually when she goes to bed (bed time is 8pm, we at least try to stick to that as much as possible) the first time she goes down she will sleep anywhere from 4 to 6 hours, second time 3 hours and then she wakes up for the day about an hour or 2 later.

Personality: Still really focused I can't help but wonder if she is starting to remember things when she see them again or if it is like a brand new surprise again.


Loves: Cuddles and blowing bubbles, still likes to chat it up and kicking up a storm. She just started to like her swing she has actually fallen asleep in it a couple of times (the swing is more sit upright then lay down, so when she was smaller she didn't like it at all). Oh and she loves her stuffed animal/chew toy butterfly.


Hates: Tummy time, its really hard to get her to do it!

3 Months Old

                                                        Julia is 3 months old today!

Weight: 14lbs (birth weight 7lbs 11oz)

Height: 24 inches (Birth Height 20.5 inches)

Diapers: Size 2

Clothes: 3-6 months most of the 3 month are getting too short.

Feeding: Is on demand still, usually when she wakes up is when she wants food, but she also wants to eat before she has a nap. I think its because she only eats for 5 minutes at a time usually.

Nights: Usually when she goes to bed (bed time is 8pm, we at least try to stick to that as much as possible) the first time she goes down she will sleep anywhere from 4 to 6 hours, second time 3 hours and then she wakes up for the day about an hour or 2 later.

Personality: So curious, she seems to be really focusing on what your saying and doing, super cute!

Loves: Cuddles and blowing bubbles, still likes to chat it up.


Hates: Tummy time, its really hard to get her to do it!

2 Months Old

                                                          Julia is 2 months old today!

Weight: 12lbs 7ozs (birth weight 7lbs 11oz)


Height: 23 inches (Birth Height 20.5 inches)


Diapers: Size 2 we just changed into size 2 disposables during the month as size ones were getting way too small. We also use cloth diapers too mix it up here and there. Basically when I run out of cloth diapers and need a new one for her then we go to disposable.

Clothes: 0-3 months and 3 month clothes. The 0-3 are getting small so only some of them fit.


Feeding: We feed on demand, so it can be any where ranging from 1 to 4 hours.


Nights: She knows her nights for sure now which is great! It really depends on the night for how long she will sleep. It ranges from 3 to 5 hours most of the time. She did do a 7 hour once, mommy didn't sleep a straight 7 though I kept waking up.


Personality: Loves to have chats with people, still likes to have her time to herself.


Loves: Cuddles and being swaddled. She loves to have a clean bum and will let you know as soon as it is dirty. She loves to lay on a blanket and have a conversation with you. Loves her new play mat with the toys hanging over and it plays music. Love to listen to music.


Hates: Tummy time in general now, I feel so bad forcing her.Still gas of course.

Refections of the First Month with Julia

             We have been so happy to have our precious little girl. This first month with Julia has been so amazing and hard all at the same time. It has been so amazing because we finally have our little girl when it has taken us over 18 months to conceive her. During those 18 months we had gone to see our family doctor, fertility specialist, blood testing, other tests for both of us and had to go through a miscarriage. All the while, friends and family around us were  getting pregnant and having babies. It was really hard because we were happy for them but so incredibly sad for ourselves that we haven't been able to experience this kind of joy. But now that she is here and we are over the moon ecstatic to have her in our lives.
             This month has also had big challenges for us. When Julia was born she had a bit of a tongue tie which is where the frenum that is under the tongue was closer to the tip of her tongue which prevented her from being able to stick out her tongue. This caused her to not be able to latch onto the breast to eat. If this has never happened to you with your baby, count your blessings, it definitely  doesn't allow for a less bumpy ride into motherhood. So since Julia was not able to latch we stayed in the hospital for three days to wait for a doctor that could snip the frenum (supposedly there is no nerve endings so it doesn't hurt her) While in the hospital I still had colostrum because your milk supply doesn't usually start to show up until the third to fifth day after baby is born. This meant I had to hand express my colostrum to feed it to Julia, that meant every three hours I would have to hand express ( this could take me 30 to 60 minutes to try and get as much as I could out). I was also starting to try to use the hospital grade medela pump except they didn't have the right size shield for me so that wasn't working so great. However in between all of this I got to have the best cuddles of my life with her.
             Once we got home the craziness only continued. Matt was able to rent a hospital grade pump for me to help get my milk supply up and be able to express my milk easily to feed her in a bottle since latching was still something we were working on. This is how it went for the first week,
I would pump before Julia was ready to eat for 10 minutes on each side, collect as much milk as I could from that and then when it was time to feed her. I would first feed Julia what I had pumped then supplement the rest with formula. Then after seeing the Lactation Consultant Nurses during the first and second week, we tried to get the latching on the breast down but couldn't do it bare breast so we introduced the nipple shield (finicky little buggers). At first Julia was not so keen on them but we worked at it and eventually she did latch. We still didn't have her fully breast fed yet even with the shield. We also were still on the every three hour feeds even through the night. That meant that I would try to feed Julia on the breast with the nipple shield first, see if she would latch properly and for how long before she got frustrated. Then we would switch to what I had pumped out earlier, if that wasn't enough we would supplement with formula. During the third week we no longer had to do feedings every three hours since Julia had gained a pound in a week and this was mostly all with just breast milk (some of the breast milk was fed through bottle) the odd time we did have to top you up with a little bit of formula. This week too was when I was told I can stop pumping now because I would pump for only 2 minutes on each side and get any where from 150ml to 200ml. So my milk supply was definitely in.
             The fourth week well we were all breast fed now but still using the shield for most feeds there were a few times a day where we were able to do a fed or two with no shield at all. Yay progress. However one night we had to give Julia formula again because I just ran out of milk. Also  we were not using a pacifier at this time either because I really wanted to make sure breast feeding was down pat. So as the weeks had gone on in this month I was slowly starting to get a little bit more sleep. For me I really did not get much sleep at the beginning as you could imagine with the pumping and different steps with trying to feed. But it was well worth it, I said to myself at the beginning if I had to pump in order to feed Julia breast milk I would do it with out a doubt, I would not give up. But ideally I wanted to be able to breast feed her not only for the convenience but for that special connection and bond with her.
              Your whole world truly does change when you have a baby but it changes for the absolute best. Even when she cries and your trying to figure out what it is, I love it and I am so happy to have my baby girl!

Here are some pictures of Julia in her first month of life (outside the womb that is)

               

Julia at One Month

                                                      Today Julia is one month old already!

What a month it has been! I will get into that in my next post, but here are her stats:

Weight: 10lbs 4ozs (birth weight 7lbs 11oz)

Height: 22 inches (Birth Height 20.5 inches)

Diapers: Size 1

Clothes: 0-3 months all her new born clothes are way too small

Feeding: Every three hours for the first 3 weeks then she had gained a pound in a week and the nurse said we can just feed on cue now, thank goodness.

Nights: Oh it can vary, at the beginning I was waking her every three hours to eat. Also in the first two weeks her days and nights were kind of mixed up, so there would be some nights where she just wanted to sit up and talk with mom, mom wasn't having any of it. But eventually in this month she knew what nights were, sleepy time.

Personality: Really sweet, she is just so loveable. She likes to have her own space but loves to cuddle too. Loves to talk, she is already all about the stories. She is a happy baby but likes to be serious too.

Loves: Cuddles and being swaddled. She loves to do tummy time on some one. She loves to have a clean bum and will let you know as soon as it is dirty. She loves to lay on a blanket and have a conversation with you.

Hates: Tummy time by herself, and gas but what person enjoys gas?

The Arrival of Julia

Tuesday March 27 2012

Today at 10:35am I have a doctor`s appointment to see my obsterician to check out our baby. She had said at the last appoinmtnet that she would maybe rim my cervix or aggitate it at this appoinmtent. So Matt came with me which was really great because it has been said sometimes that you could go into labor after they rim your cervix and well I would want Matt to be there if that were to happen.
Well of course they were running behind so we didnt get in there until about an hour later. So we did the usual checks, my heart rate (which was a bit higher then normal), measurments of my stomach(right on track), and listen to the baby`s heart beat(it was perfect). My Doctor wanted me to get a blood test done just to check things out since my heart rate was a bit higher. She also wrote us a referral to get an ultra sound done since we hadn`t had one done since the one around 19 weeks (for tomorrow). Then she checked my cervix and to my surprise I was already 3cm dialated yay! But of course that could mean still a few days out though too. She aggitated my cervix, not really sure what that means but she said that this will hopefully help with the process.

After the doctor`s appointment we went back home and Matt went to work. I decided to do a few small errands as I was worried I was going to have my water break on me while I was out (that did not happen though) I went and did some grocery shopping as my one friend said that with all her kids that is what she did and then by the next day they were born. So I figured I would give it a shot.

Around 3pm after shopping I got home and went to the bathroom to find that I had some pinkish color to my stuff as the doctor had said this could happen. So I thought ok good at least i know what this means and I dont really have to worry about it. At this point I have now had a few cramps kind of like menstral cramps but they didn`t really hurt.

As the evening continued I did have more of these cramps but they weren't in any sort of pattern. So I made dinner and after that around 7pm is when I started to have more cramps that were a bit more uncomfortable so I started timing them on my phone thank goodness there was an app for that. Both Matt and I thought well maybe this could be it and maybe I should go lie down to see if I could get a bit of rest. Well rest did not happen for me, you can`t really sleep through contractions. I continued to lie there and time my contractions. Matt kept coming into the room to check on me and would ask me when do I want to go to the hospital.

I kind of figured that I was still doing ok at home and the last thing that I would want is for them to send us home because I wasn`t far enough along what a pain that would be. I continued to go through the contractions mostly in bed because I felt comfortable there. Matt asked if I wanted a bath because some people like that when they are going through their contractions. Well I got in the tub and in about 5 minutes came out again because I was not comfortable and felt like the contractions hurt more in there.

Around 11pm I started to get my hospital bag closed up after I had found my comfy pants in there because the other stretchy pants I had weren`t stretchy enough. So by about 11:30pm we got things in the truck and off to the hospital went. I had a few contractions on the way to the hospital, they weren't too bad as I had heard laboring in the car is awful, it wasn't that bad. We parked the truck and started walking to the emergency doors since the doors to get to labor and delivery are locked at this time of day. Again I had more contractions as we were walking. Once we got inside we looked to see how to get to the other side of the hospital. Luckily there was a nurse that noticed I was in labor and said to follow him for a short cut to get to the other side. We went up the elevator once we were there to the sixth floor which is labor and delivery. Matt had to hold the door open since I was having a contraction and couldn't move until it was done. We then walked over to the triage counter and they got us signed in. Once we got into our triage room the nurse came in and we told her how the contractions were. She said that looking at me I looked like I was handling it really well and that I might get sent home. I told her that in the morning I was already 3cm dialated at my doctor's office. She said she will get the resident in to have a look.

So around 12:00 am the resident came in and checked me, I was 4cm dilated so yay no going home. How ever the nurse came back and said ok go walk the hall for a couple of hours. I thought there is no way I am going to walk around the halls for a couple of hours. But we got up and walked up and down the hall once. I had about 5 contractions while we were walking and I had told Matt if I have to labor for a really long time I may need the epidural. We went back to our triage room and I sat in the chair as I didn't feel like getting back on the bed. The nurse came back around 2:30am and said that we are going to move to the labor and delivery room. Once we got there and settled it was about around 2:45 that the resident came back in and checked my cervix again, this time I was already 8cm. So that made me happy to hear. I kept going through my contractions by breathing through them and I was lying on my side on the bed, I felt the most comfortable like this. Our nurse that we had was awesome! It was funny because she was looking at Matt and said shouldn't you be helping her out? But Matt knows me too well that if I need to focus on something just let me do it myself. He did put his hand on me once and I told him to get his hand off me because he was too hot. The nurse also had the AC cranked because I was sooo hot, Matt actually had to put his sweater on he was so cold.

I'm not totally sure what time it was but they checked me again and I was 9 1/2 cm dilated. My water still hadn't broke on its own so they asked me if I wanted them to break if for me or just wait for it to break on its own. If they broke it it would take less time for our baby to be born if we waited there is no telling how much longer it would have taken. I told them to break it. Once my water was broken I felt the urge to push so bad. They started to get everything ready for the doctor and then he came in and got all ready. I was pushing the whole time not intentionally but you can't really stop your self at this point. Right at the end here I did have laughing gas to try and use, but really it didn't do anything except it made me kind of distracted because I was trying to put the mask up to my mouth. I don't really know how many pushed I did but I remember the doctor saying at one point to do 3 small pushes and then a big push and then Julia was born at 4:57am. Time went by really quickly during the whole laboring process I couldn't have asked for anything better. I am so happy that I was able to go through labor and delivery with no medication that was my goal when I started and I was able to achieve that.

Our Precious little Girl Arrived

On Wednesday March 28 2012 at 4:57am our little sweet girl arrived. She came into this world weighing 7lbs 11oz and 20 1/2"long.
We are over the moon to finally be able to meet her.

Nursery Reveal

So finally the nursery is ready which is good because baby is due in 3 days. Well the nursery was finished a little while ago except Matt had to fix one part on the chair in the room. So here it is:

This is what you see from the door way

                       Here is the crib and our rocking chair (the chair and ottoman we got for free!)

 The dresser (the teddy bear lamp used to be mine when I was younger, my mom painted it to match the colors in the nursery), and the change table.

 It took me so long to find baskets that fit in these openings. I wanted something that was deep enough and tall enough so it could actually hold things. And these are perfect!

 Baby's closet (we don't have closet doors yet and probably wont until I go back to work, or win the lottery which ever happens first) and behind the door just have a little extra organizing spot.

                                                                    Baby's bedding set

                                                                   Picture and deciles.

This is a cover that my mom sewed to cover the chair that way if anything spills or is spit up its easier to clean a cover then a suede chair.

 This is our bassinet, its in our room right now against the closet (it wont be against the closet once baby comes but just for now it is squished there) this is actually what my mom used for both my brother and I.

                                                     Here it is again just from one of the sides.

More Maternity Photos

Here are more maternity photos that we took. I did get the CD a while ago but just didn't post it yet.There are a lot of photos its hard to pick only a few.