The Harper Family: February 2013

I can't believe our little girl is 1 month old!!!

This will be another detailed post, so if you don't want to read, we understand :)

UPDATE:
At Lexi's 1 month appt (a week late Jan 26) she weighed 9 lbs 6 oz, she was 20 3/4 inches long and her head was 14.5 inches around

When Lexi was born (Jan 21), she weighed 6 lbs 12 oz. Then, at her first doctor's appointment on January 25, she weighed 6 lbs 2 oz. We found that it was completely normal for her to have dropped weight since her birth but we were very intent on making sure she was back up in weight and we had another quick doctor's appointment on Monday, Jan 28 for a weight check. She had gained 7 oz over the weekend (2 days!) and had gone up to 6 lbs 9 oz. The doctor told me that she wanted to see us again on Feb 4 to make sure she was back up to her birth weight. On her weight check on the 4th she was up to 7 lbs 4 oz. Overachiever. :) With that being said, the girl is a good eater. In my last post I commented on how she latched right away in the hospital and has eaten like a champ ever since. She does like to be a little sleepy so I have to try to keep her awake sometimes, but most of the time there is no problem getting her to eat good. It's very comforting for me to know she's gaining weight since I've heard that can be a worry for breast feeding moms. She eats about every 3 hours, although if it is anytime between 2-4 hours and she is looking hungry I feed her...no really strict schedule.

Homegirl did have a lotttt of gas in her first few weeks. We were a little concerned about it at first but she's really seemed to get used to her bodily functions and had her digestive system mature so it hasn't been nearly as bad recently- whew! She still has gas and we will enjoy us telling stories in her future ;) but it doesn't seem to bother her to where she cries as much now. Yay!

She is still in newborn diapers and we have had to start buying them now since she is small and has gone through more than we (and our gifters) had thought. I don't see her moving to size 1 for a couple more weeks. She is starting to outgrow her newborn outfits (length wise) and we have started moving to some of her 0-3 month clothes. The 3 month is still a bit big- she's kind of in an inbetween size right now.

Sleeping is another story. She does pretty good at sleeping and I was excited once the doctor said that we could not wake her up at night when she was back to her birth weight...however, she still wakes up if it's been about 4-5 hours and she hasn't eaten. It's not bad waking up 2x per night feeding her usually around 2 or 3 a.m. and again at 6 or 7 a.m. and then she usually goes back to sleep until around 9:30. She does like to fight sleep though. She wants to stay awake not to miss anything and she gets a little whiny and then eventually forgets and falls asleep. Right now we are swaddling her at night because she is a wiggler and flails her arms and wakes herself up. Her arms are always up in the air. I never thought I would be one of those rock your baby to sleep moms, but until she's a little older I don't want to let her cry it out yet. I've also heard this young it doesn't benefit the child to do that anyway. Right now, we are picking her up and holding her when she cries and that's ok with us. She might get to one day she doesn't like for us to hold her so I'm cherishing her snuggly demeanor. I told Marshall I was happy she was a cuddler and hopefully she'll be the little girl that wants to crawl into your lap and cuddle. :) But for now she realllllyyyy likes to be held. She is also able to sleep through noise which we wanted to start from the beginning not being quiet and letting her develop that skill. We also love the faces she makes when she is sleeping. She moves her mouth all around and smiles... I know, I know, it's a baby reflex at this age- but it's still cute.

I felt like she has had strong neck muscles since the beginning to be such a little thing. She bobbles a lot but she moves her head from side to side lifting it up. We have also started this week putting noisy toys in front of her face and having her follow them. I've read that babies this age still don't have good vision so we are getting really close to her when we talk so she can see us. We also saw our first real smile this week! She turned 1 month Thursday and we saw smiles on Friday.

She is still not enjoying bath time very much and cries throughout and when we take her out, but we're hoping she will learn to love it once she understands what is going on. We bathe her every 2-3 days right now. We have had some adventures with bath time with her pooping in the water and peeing on mommy twice once she's out and in her towel... so back in the bath she went! She's a little stinker that way!

She is really liking sucking on things these days. She loves her paci and it calms her down most of the time she's fussy- that is if she doesn't knock it out with her hands. And she has recently liked putting her hands in her mouth- which really makes her hands stink. Haha. She also loves to stretch. She will arch her back and stretch out her arms and legs all day long. It's like her favorite thing to do.

We feel like her looks have pretty much stayed the same- just filled out a little. Her hair looks like it has gotten a little lighter and her eyebrows are definitely blonde. So we wonder if her hair will continue to get even lighter. Although, I have blonde streaks in my hair and the front of my hair is light. From the beginning I said she looked like Marshall and some pictures still do but I think she has started to look a little more like me recently.

We had newborn pictures taken of her and she did not want to cooperate for most of the pictures but we did get some good ones. I found out first hand how hard it is to take a good picture of a newborn baby who likes to wiggle... these are some out takes of her wiggling on Valentine's Day where I was trying to get a good shot. P.S. I think she looks like me in the last one ;)

These were some of my attempts for her 1 month shot... she's not too sure what I'm doing.

A shot I got of her sleeping this week. Precious.

This is when she decided she had had enough. Not happy.

I also managed to catch a yawn :)

She thinks she's a model.

A lot of the pictures that I took look like this. Tongue out. That is a popular thing for her these days.

Evidence of her not loving bath time. This was before her stump fell off and we are now putting her in the bath without the newborn mesh. Needless to say this was the only picture I took until she likes the bath :)

I'll leave you with another happy shot I got of her.

Sidenote: The quilt underneath her was a quilt my aunt Nancy made for her. I told her I loved chevron pattern and yellow and gray and this is what she made. The other side is a pink and gray pattern. I am so in love with this quilt I can't even tell you. She did a fabulous job and I can't get over how beautiful it is. Lexi seems to like it too :)

WARNING! Very long and detailed post!

Lexi Kate Harper
Born January 21, 2013
7:54 a.m.
6 lbs 12 oz

As those of you know who read my last blog, I ended up having a scheduled C-Section because Lexi was breech. I was super nervous because I've never had anything that I had to be hospitalized for. The biggest medical events that have happened was having my wisdom teeth out and breaking my middle finger. I had sought out some wisdom from other people who had been through C-Sections on what to expect since it was such a last minute surprise to have the procedure done.

We were scheduled to have the C-Section at Carolinas Hospital at 7:30 Monday, January 21, 2013. Dr. Rainwater was going to be performing the procedure and since it was in Florence we had to be at the hospital 2 hours early to get everything ready. That meant we had to leave our house at 4:30 and I wanted to get up and shower before we left so that meant getting up at 3:30. Wow. I knew I wasn't going to be sleeping well anyway so that was actually ok with me to be getting up that early. I knew I had a lot of people praying for peace and a good night sleep on Sunday night and as we went to bed I thought I would have a hard time going to sleep. The next thing I knew my alarm was going off and it was 3:30! I couldn't believe that I had fallen asleep so quickly and been able to sleep until 3:30. I took a long shower and checked my bag that I had packed and made sure I had everything I wanted to take. Again. It's funny because I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything after midnight and that morning I think because I knew I couldn't eat or drink I was incredibly thirsty. Marshall grabbed a vanilla Starbucks Frappuccino in a glass bottle and an apple and I was so jealous. I wanted a big glass of water, a coffee and a nice big breakfast. None for me. I told Marshall that morning I actually felt pretty calm. My mom had also come to spend the night and go with us that morning and stay through Saturday. I can't tell you how amazing it is to have your mom with you when you are worried, hurting, nervous, etc. There is just something so calming about having Mom with you when you need something. I am so thankful she had planned to be there with us that week and help us through the recovery time because goodness I don't know how we would have done it without her. It had been really warm the few days before but it had cooled off that day and that early in the morning it was in the 30's.

When we got to the hospital all the nurses were waiting and asked if I was the one they were waiting for- and I said hopefully yes! They were very cheerful and friendly and took me to a room where they were going to ask me a billion questions and then start the IV and give the epidural. They told me to strip down and put the gown on and go ahead and lay in the bed. They hooked me up to the monitor to hear Lexi's heartbeat and the nurse who first looked at my belly said oh yeah, she's breech alright- that's definitely the head up at the top. The IV hurt like crazy going in my hand and was very uncomfortable. The nurse said I was actually having some small contractions as well- who knew! The anesthesiologist came into the room and asked me some questions and talked to me about the epidural. This was the first part that I was dreading. I told him when he shook my hand that I was sorry I was super nervous and so my hands felt sweaty. The nurse that was in the room for the epidural was so helpful I can't even tell you. She put her hands on my shoulders and told me to relax them and was face to face with me the entire time and just talked me through everything. I don't know why but I couldn't stop shaking. After the epidural went in it was a really strange feeling. They unfortunately told me I was only allowed 1 person in the operating room with me so my mom had to wait outside. They wheeled me off and I was moved onto the table and the sheet was put up in front of me. They had me lay both of my hands out to the side and I felt so ridiculous because I still could not stop shaking. They assured me that this was normal and I tried to take deep breaths to calm down and Marshall held my hand and told me everything was going to be ok.

Then they started the procedure. Marshall told me afterward that Dr. Rainwater told him she wouldn't call for any of her instruments because it made the patient nervous. She said that they would be talking about normal, everyday things during the procedure. In all honesty, the procedure is kind of a blur to me now. Marshall said that during the procedure my face looked crazy. In total shock. He continued to reassure me that everything would be fine. I could feel the pressure of them pulling and tugging on my stomach but it didn't hurt at all. It was just a weird feeling. When they were getting ready to pull Lexi out they told Marshall he could stand up to look over the curtain. He said that Lexi was stuck in my stomach and Dr. Rainwater had to reach inside my stomach to get her out. Crazy. Lexi also started crying before she was fully out and Dr. Rainwater told her she couldn't cry yet. Once she was out and they showed her to me we took a few pictures and Marshall went with her to the nursery. It was then that I really started feeling nauseous. I told the anesthesiologist that I wasn't feeling good and he said he would put something in my IV and I knew that wasn't going to work fast enough. I told him I was going to throw up and he brought a bag to the side of my face and I turned and threw up a couple times. He thought I was done so he pulled it away and then I started throwing up again and he just brought a towel beside me to throw up on. It was miserable. My hands were by my side and I couldn't do anything. I felt helpless and gross because I'd thrown up on the side of my face. I was exhausted from the meds. I asked if Marshall was going to come back in and they told me he wasn't allowed to come back in. I sure wish I would have known that before he left to go with Lexi to the nursery! To get Lexi out it took probably less than 15 minutes. The rest of the time was just closing me up.

Marshall and my mom joined me in the recovery room and I was in there for about 30 minutes. As soon as they wheeled me out of the recovery room they brought Lexi in and we took some pictures and then I fed her for the first time. Everyone was amazed that the very first time I tried to feed her she latched right away. The nurses said that rarely happens and that I was very fortunate that she seemed to know what she was doing! I had been told that whenever I was allowed meds (percocet and motrin) to take them. I was sure poppin those pills and watching the clock to see when I could take the next dose! I was in a lot of pain and by far the worst pain was on Monday night's sleep (or early Tuesday morning) after they had stopped the epidural where I could push the button for an extra dose I was coming down off of everything and in the middle of the night I got the shakes and was in a lot of pain. Marshall came over and held my hand and tried to comfort me but I was so exhausted. Tuesday was a pretty rough day as well. They didn't want me standing up for 24 hours so Tuesday was the first time I stood up. The nurse warned me that when I stood up it would feel like my stomach was on fire. Oh.my.goodness. Ouch. Boy did she describe it exactly right. They wanted me to stand up as straight as possible and make it to the bathroom. I knew I had a long way to go to feel normal.

We had several visitors throughout my stay. Each morning Mom would come in with Starbucks coffee and breakfast for us. It was such a nice treat each morning to have that to look forward to! Wednesday was my first shower since early Monday morning and it felt really good- I felt more normal and tried to be up and sit in the chair beside the bed some. I was starting to feel extremely sore from laying in the bed. My butt and back were so painful! I tried some different positions but they tell you not to use your abs at all... try pulling your legs onto the bed not using your abs- not so easy my friends! I would have Marshall and my mom lift my legs to get me back in the bed so I wouldn't use those muscles. I don't think before Thursday I would have been ready to go home! Luckily I had been prepared to go home and took it slow and had a cute new maxi dress to wear as to not touch my incision. Mom had gone to the grocery store and was ready for us when we got home and stayed through Sunday to help us out. Our first week with our little girl was sleep deprived- haha- but amazing. We love her so much and are so thankful to have her in our lives now! Here are some pictures to document our time at the hospital.

Me in the O.R. on the table.

We think this picture is hilarious because this is so typical for her- hands up like that- she's such a wiggle worm! Side note- whenever we put her on the changing table she puts her hands up like that- fingers all spread out! It's so cute!