Look at that face!!

What can I say that I haven't said already? Charlotte is just adorable!!! I can't stop looking at her and telling her how sweet and precious she is to us. Her Daddy and I are so in love with this baby and we couldn't imagine our life without her. Earlier this week we went to her 1 month well visit and couldn't believe how much she's grown already. She's grown a half an inch from 21 1/2 inches long to 22 and went from 9 pounds 2 ounces to 10 pounds and 14 ounces!!! She's our little chubbas! ; ) One of the major adjustments to having a child is the lack of sleep I get. Since we've decided that breastfeeding is the best for our daughter I'm essentially the only one that can feed her. So that means I'm up nursing every time she's hungry. 'Feed on demand' they say, which means every 2 to 3 hours. Needless to say I don't get much sleep unless I pump and have Gene take a shift for me to allow me to get some more Zzzz's. So I totally look forward to the weekends when he can do that for me. ; ) Eventually, as she gets a little older she'll sleep a little longer, but I don't want to rush her life away. I try to nap when she does and look forward to those late night moments when she stares at my eyes and gives me the most precious smile in the world. It's as if she's telling me that she loves me which is more precious than all the money or gold in the world. I LOVE THIS BABY!!!!!

Daddy's Little Girl

Couldn't resist posting this adorable video of Charlotte with her Dad - who is AMAZING!!! Gene is sooo good with her and just adores his little girl. Charlotte and I are both so very lucky to have him in our lives. I can't wait to see how their relationship grows!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oL9I8yn9Gc

Charlotte's first trip out, aside from leaving the hospital, was on Monday, September 28th to go to the pediatrician. Dr. Nassim is a super sweet lady that owns her own practice and just had the sweetest, most gentle touch. She said Charlotte is super healthy and very beautiful. I couldn't agree more! ; ) When Charlotte & I were discharged from the hospital her weight had dropped from 9.2 pounds to 8.6, which is normal. Babies tend to lose about 10% of their body weight within the first few days. Most of the time they regain their birth weight within 2 weeks from birth. Just a few days of being discharged she already gained about 6 ounces now at 8.12 pounds. She's almost at her birth weight & doesn't have far to go by her next appointment on Tuesday. After that we only have to go for monthly visits instead of weekly.

Charlotte is really a great baby. Aside from the normal peeing, pooping, sleeping and eating she's really an exceptional baby. She's already responding to our voices, focusing on our faces, smiles alot and holds her head up pretty well and she's only 8 days old!! They weren't kidding when they said breastfed babies are pretty intelligent! Of course, she's my baby so I'm going to assume and believe that she's meant for great things. ; )

I LOVE THIS GIRL!!!!!!!!!

She's here!!

I know this is overdue, but it's been a busy week for us. A week ago today, Charlotte Louise Folger was born on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 7:17am weighing in at 9.2 pounds and 21 1/2 inches long. At my 40 week appointment the day before, my Dr. says to me that I'm not even close. My cervix isn't even close to being ripe and I could potentially go another 2 more weeks. Dr. Mahan felt my stomach and said that the baby seemed pretty big so we did an ultrasound to double check. She was so big that the tech couldn't get her measurements to fit on the screen. They were estimating that she was about 9 - 11 pounds. 2 more weeks and Charlotte would have been HUGE! The Dr. said if we had induced it would've taken about 3 days and if I had any difficulties delivering we may have had an emergency c-section. So instead of putting me and the baby at risk, we scheduled a c-section for the next available appointment which was September 23rd. Ironically enough, it was (Grandpa) Mr. Pete's birthday, my Granny's partner of 30 years. When my mother called to give him the news, he was thrilled. ; )

We had to be at the hospital at 5:30am for the 7am surgery so needless to say I didn't get much sleep the night before. All I could think about was meeting my daughter for the first time - holding her, kissing her and hugging her. Once we got to the hospital, things started rolling along as planned. The only thing I wish I had known more about was the difference between an epidural and a spinal block, which I will explain later. The anesthesiologist asked me which one I wanted and since he said I wouldn't feel a thing, as far as the incision goes and all the tugging and pulling with the spinal block, I chose that instead. He was right, I didn't feel a thing (from the waste down) while they were performing the c-section. Once they pulled Charlotte out and we heard her crying, Gene and I just sat there (well. . . I laid there), he holding my hand and telling me that he loves me, we cried. We cried and cried while they cleaned her up and put her over the curtain long enough to see our precious baby. The most surreal moment in my entire life. That euphoric feeling that I wish I could bottle up and take on a daily basis. My precious baby was born. My wonderful husband and I created her together. Words simply cannot explain what I was feeling.

To make this really short since I was there for 3 nights, I ended up having a bad reaction to the spinal block. Some people develop a spinal headache which can feel like 1,000 migraines built into one. The only relief I got was by laying flat on my back and not moving at all. That made it almost impossible to nurse Charlotte or get my body moving around to speed up the recovery process. The only thing that cures a spinal headache is a blood patch and that's where they insert your blood back into the spine to clot the excessive space built up around the nerve due to the excessive spinal fluid. Basically, I had too much space in my spine that caused the severe headache. 95% of the time doing a blood patch works. Well it did - for a day. That next day it was back and more powerful than ever, so we did another one and while the anesthesiologist was doing it so much spinal fluid came out that the blood he took from me clotted and he had to redo it. A spinal block isn't a walk in the park either. They insert this LONG needle into your spine, after numbing it of course which seems like it takes forever to do. With all the needles and blood drawn, I look like a heroine addict. I almost want to wear a sign explaining my situation if I have to leave the house. It's really almost comical. Then after getting home I woke up the next day with another headache. The chances of them doing a third one was probably pretty slim and I was super eager to recover quickly so that I could care for my daughter. Besides, poor Gene was doing sooo much I just didn't feel good about him having to work extra hard. He's been helping so much around the house, then nursing me back to health and caring for Charlotte and trying to maintain his job, I needed to get relief and fast! So, I called my Mum-n-law for some serious prayers. Thanks be to God because late Sunday night I started to feel back to normal. I seriously love my mum-n-law for running down to her church to get a group to pray me to recovery and God because he hears our prayers!!!

So. . . so much for my 'long story short' explanation. So, even after all that, the rest of the recovery process went well and still is. My incision only occasionally hurts and is healing nicely. I'm trying to stay away from the Percoset b/c it makes me feel really loopy and I'm just sticking to the Motrin. Charlotte's got the hang of nursing and we're trying to get adjusted to her feeding and sleeping schedule. As challenging as that may be trying to function with little to no sleep I wouldn't trade it in for the world. My beautiful baby girl has arrived and I can't wait to watch her grow!

40 weeks & (sigh) still pregnant.

So, my due date was yesterday and Charlotte's still enjoying the warm comforts of being in the womb. I was sooo convinced that she'd be early based upon stories that I heard about first time babies. I guess I should've listen to the other stories that I also heard about first time babies being 2 weeks over due. I guess I was hoping that she wouldn't wait that long in fear that she'll be as big as I was when I was born (about 10 days late at 9.9 lbs). But like my Dr. said it isn't an exact science and there are no guarantees. I guess I'm feeling a little anxious because I'm getting more and more uncomfortable by the day from really bad lower back pain to trying to find a good sitting and sleeping position. However, I'm really grateful that her heartbeat remains strong & she's still moving around more so than ever.

I have another appointment tomorrow so we'll see what the Dr. says. Whether we induce next week or she comes on her own, at least I know that I'll have a sweet little (or big) baby in my arms in less than 2 weeks. ; )

9 months and counting. . .

As I approach 38 weeks (this week), I realized that I failed to post this picture from 2 weeks ago. I'm quite sure that I've grown since then because everyone from work keeps telling me that I look like I'm ready to pop. (Can you hear the sarcasm??) And not just my co-workers, it's people I've NEVER met. People in the elevator, grocery store, my church and customers in line behind me at Kohl's. You know. . . everyone's a friggin expert. I should've hired everyone else instead of my OB to tell me when I was ready to deliver. For the last 9 months I've haven't been moody at all, but I'm about ready to explode on some people. I mean do I need to write a friggin book about "What Not to Say to a Pregnant Lady"???!?!?!?!?!? It's like telling a pregnant woman that she's HUGE! I mean seriously. . . . RUDE. . . . NASTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eh-hem. . . excuse me. Sorry about that, I had a little moment there. I just needed to get that out of my system. I just don't understand people. I don't think I'm expecting too much, am I????? And maybe I am, but come on!

Anywhoo. . . . my appointment last week went well. I heard the heartbeat again which is always so soothing. It's just one little thing that I look forward to at every visit. They also checked to see if I've dilated yet and she says that I'm not even close - which I suspected. Typically a pregnancy is about 40 weeks, but they consider anything over 37 to be full term and usually they'll induce if you start approaching 42 weeks. So, right now I'm in good shape.

I'll be sure to keep everyone posted. I guess everyone's just as excited about Charlotte's arrival as I am and can't wait for her to get here. ; )

I have a feeling I'm getting pretty close, not only because I'm going to be 37 weeks tomorrow, but because my body definitely feels different. I'm having a lot of lower back pain and more pelvic pressure than usual and noticeably more after I've been sleeping or sitting for an extended period of time. Sleeping has been a struggle lately since I can't quite get comfortable and by the time I do get situated I either have to get up to pee or roll over b/c I'm snoring in Gene's ear and/or my body is going numb. BUT - what I do love is feeling Charlotte move around pivoting from side to side and poking me with her foot. She rumbles in the morning around 5 to give me love bumps, again after I've had my fruit for breakfast and then later in the afternoon after a long nap. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that feeling, which is why I'm not quite ready for her to make her grand appearance. I do have an appointment tomorrow and the nurse practitioner will check to see if I've dilated so we'll have a rough estimate on where we stand for Charlotte's arrival. So, I'll keep you all posted!!!