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| 6 Week Riley - She had just started smiling. |
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| Shouldn't I be sleeping right now? |
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| That's more like it. |
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| Winston says, "What is going on?" |
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| Mommy Love |
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| Daddy Love |
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| Precious Riley |
Thursday, August 23, 2012
6 Week Pictures
I'm catching up! Here's sweet Riley at 6 weeks. Thank you Meghan Shaw for taking pictures for us. They are fabulous!
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Favorite Things at 3 Months!
Little Miss Riley has so much personality. These are a few of her favorite things at 3 months! Wow, the last 3 months flew by!
She still likes pink, so people don't have to ask Mom if she's a girl or a boy.
She likes highways where I don't have to stop the car. I just have to hope that I don't hit traffic! Fast is Good, Stopping is Bad!!!! I've been known to run quite a few yellow lights and I take curves faster than I used to...she likes it.
When she is in her stroller she likes it fast and bumpy as well. So I'm sometimes forced to run when I would rather be taking a leisurely stroll. Or I have to go off road to make it more bumpy and exciting. She likes going to the dog park where there's lots of gravel and its extra bumpy!
She likes white noise when sleeping. (At least I think she does...I guess it could be totally annoying, but she can't tell me different.)
Until recently she liked to be swaddled. It used to always calm her down. But now my strong girl is breaking out whenever she can. So we're trying to get her used to not being swaddled.
She likes to sleep at night only. She used to nap well during the day too, but now she doesn't. We're trying to correct this by letting her cry when she wakes up after just 30 minutes. But she is a persistent little booger and has not gone back to sleep yet.
She likes to eat, but apparently has her Dads metabolism. She's 12 weeks and still under 10 pounds. Some babies come out as big as she is!
She likes Winston. Well she likes to look at him. He is still not so sure about her. He mostly ignores her and when she is crying he looks at me like, "Can't you do something about this?" he likes her blankets and thinks they should be his. Usually if I lay her down beside him, he'll get up and move. But on this day he stayed put.
She is a great kicker. We put ankle rattles on her and she will just kick and kick. She has the biggest smile on her face when she's kicking..
She loves bath time. She loves to kick in the water and she has loved having her head scrubbed since the moment they first washed it in the hospital. It will always calm her down. I've also started rubbing her head a few times when I put her down to sleep if she's crying.
She likes to suck. It used to be the paci or dad's finger. Sometimes she would need a little assistance. But now she has discovered her own fingers and they are always in her mouth. I think this plays into not wanting to be swaddled anymore.
She loves her gym. At first I think she liked the animals googly eyes. But now she likes to bat at and kick the toys that make noise. She plays with this every day, but she doesn't seem to get tired of it.
She still likes attention and she still uses that pouty lip to get attention. I think she got that from me. :)
And, of course she likes Mom & Dad! She never cries when we're holding her...that's how much she loves us! ;)
A few things she's not so sure about...
Books. I think they are a little over stimulating for her right now. We'll keep working on this.
Her Momaroo swing. I don't think it goes fast enough for my adrenaline junkie!
Tummy Time. Of course I've been assured that no baby likes tummy time.
She still likes pink, so people don't have to ask Mom if she's a girl or a boy.
She likes highways where I don't have to stop the car. I just have to hope that I don't hit traffic! Fast is Good, Stopping is Bad!!!! I've been known to run quite a few yellow lights and I take curves faster than I used to...she likes it.
When she is in her stroller she likes it fast and bumpy as well. So I'm sometimes forced to run when I would rather be taking a leisurely stroll. Or I have to go off road to make it more bumpy and exciting. She likes going to the dog park where there's lots of gravel and its extra bumpy!
She likes white noise when sleeping. (At least I think she does...I guess it could be totally annoying, but she can't tell me different.)
Until recently she liked to be swaddled. It used to always calm her down. But now my strong girl is breaking out whenever she can. So we're trying to get her used to not being swaddled.
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| Snug as a bug! |
She likes to eat, but apparently has her Dads metabolism. She's 12 weeks and still under 10 pounds. Some babies come out as big as she is!
She likes Winston. Well she likes to look at him. He is still not so sure about her. He mostly ignores her and when she is crying he looks at me like, "Can't you do something about this?" he likes her blankets and thinks they should be his. Usually if I lay her down beside him, he'll get up and move. But on this day he stayed put.
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| Riley learns to share. |
She loves bath time. She loves to kick in the water and she has loved having her head scrubbed since the moment they first washed it in the hospital. It will always calm her down. I've also started rubbing her head a few times when I put her down to sleep if she's crying.
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| See she liked it from the beginning. |
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| Mom, a little help please... |
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| Kick, kick, kick! |
And, of course she likes Mom & Dad! She never cries when we're holding her...that's how much she loves us! ;)
A few things she's not so sure about...
Books. I think they are a little over stimulating for her right now. We'll keep working on this.
Her Momaroo swing. I don't think it goes fast enough for my adrenaline junkie!
Tummy Time. Of course I've been assured that no baby likes tummy time.
A Baby Story
Before I forget, which I've been assured that I will, I want to write down how little Miss Riley came into this world!
Riley's due date was May 20th. She was still snug as a bug that day, so she decided to stay in. All day I kept waiting because I was a little attached to that due date, since that's what I had been telling people for 9 months. But nothing. Then I went to the doctor on Monday and we were still 2 cm dialated and 80% effaced. This is where I was 2 weeks before, so I was a little bummed after that visit. They set my induction date for the following Sunday, but I was determined to not be induced and if she hadn't come out by then I would have pushed it back. I think Justin was a little bummed too, because he was really ready to have a week off from school...and to meet his baby!
On Tuesday morning I started to feel some stronger contractions when I was hanging out with my Mom and Justin's Mom. We were doing some things for the nursery. They just felt stronger and a little more frequent, but no where near regular. My Mom and Pam were so excited, they were little children in a candy store. But by 3:00 that afternoon they stopped and never started back that day.
On Wednesday morning they started back and were 10 minutes apart, but still weren't super strong. But stronger than Braxton Hick's. This continued until about 4:00 and then they stopped again. It started raining/storming that afternoon. So Justin told me to walk the stairs in the house, but that is so boring. So we went for a walk in the rain and thunderstorm, I was desperate. We took Winston with us and at first he was looking at us like ,"are you serious?" Needless to say we were the only people out, so we let him off leash and that won him over. He was as happy as could be after that. We walked a couple miles, but the contractions didn't start back. I was a little disappointed and didn't want to have to start all over the next morning.
I talked to my friend Kim, who is a doula, she said to have sex. :) Something about the sperm naturally inducing me. Which was something that was a little hard to do 40+ weeks pregnant, but we persevered and I know Justin didn't mind. :) I then took a warm bath and went to bed about 11:30 PM. At 12:30 something woke me up from a dream and I went to the bathroom. My back hurt so bad that I thought I was going to get sick on the toilet. It didn't dawn on me that I was in labor, I was still half asleep. I went to bed and told Justin, "that I didn't know why I hurt so bad." He was a little more with it and said, "You're probably in labor." I was like, "Oh, yeah." Duh. So then we started timing them and they were a whole 3 minutes apart, but were only lasting 45 seconds. We were totally confused. We were waiting for the 5 minutes apart, lasting for a minute, for an hour. But I skipped right over all of that. We called the hospital and she told us that the baby wouldn't just fall out, but that I could come in or labor at home for a little while. So we labored at home. (Looking back, I don't know why!) I was having a lot of back labor pain and my contractions were so close together I couldn't get a break. The only thing that felt ok was to sit on the toilet, so that's what I did. The labor ball hurt like H3LL and I couldn't lie down without writhing in pain. I didn't want to drink water, which is what Justin kept telling me to do. Finally we went to the hospital!
We debated for awhile on which hospital to go to before I went into labor. We decided on St. Joes, which was the furthest away from me...but the best. So I knew beforehand that that ride was going to be horrible. I thought I would maybe have 8-9 contractions on the way, but since my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart at that point I had A LOT more than that. But Justin drove really fast to try to get me there. The whole way there I was in a lot of pain and was telling Justin that it was coming too fast. I was afraid that I was going to deliver in the car or that I was going to be too late for an epidural. (I was totally freaked out by that thought.)
When we arrived someone brought a wheelchair out and they realized that I was really really in labor, so they took me into a room to check how dialated I was. She told me I was already at 7 cm. When she said 7 cm several things went through my head. 1. I want/need drugs. 2. See I really was in a lot of pain, I'm not a wimp. 3. I was supposed to have an epidural long before now. 4. Is it too late? I'd had several friends who had babies within weeks of me and I asked them at what point they got their epidural and they all said they were about 5 cm.
They took me right up stairs at that point and started hooking me up to machines. The nurse told me that I had to have a bag of fluids in me before I could have the epidural and the thought of that sounded horrible. I could only think of how many contractions I was going to have before that bag drip, drip, dripped into me. They were still coming really fast and strong. She asked me if I wanted a narcotic to take the edge off and I said, "yes please!" I hadn't really worked on any breathing techniques, because I had planned on having the epidural before we got to the really strong stage. So with every contraction I thought I was going to hyperventilate. But once I got the narcotic in me the contractions were a lot more manageable while I waited for the fluid bag to do its thing. In the meantime the nurse asked me a bunch of questions and checked my dialation. At this point I was an 8.
Finally it was time for the epidural. So they asked the moms and Ashley to step out into the hall. The anesthesiologist put the epidural in and he asked me if, "I knew that I had scoliosis?" I said, "No." Apparently I have a curve in my spine right where they needed to give me the epidural. He got it in and said we'd wait a couple contractions to make sure it worked. I waited and waited, but could still feel every contraction and they were still really strong. So he called his supervisor in. They pulled the first epidural out and put in a second. I could feel them moving around my spine. It didn't really hurt, just felt weird. This epidural worked and the doctors left. We kind of forgot about the others in the hall and they were very worried when they came in. I guess it had taken about an hour and they were worried when people kept coming in and out. Oops.
The nurse came back and checked me again. I was still an 8. My water was leaking on one side, but wasn't completely broken. So the nurse officially broke my water while she was checking me to speed things up a little. Then she told me I could take a nap. Finally this was music to my ears! But her shift was ending and another nurse was coming on. The new nurse came in and started asking me all the same questions again. How was I supposed to nap???
In the meantime I started feeling pain on the left side of my back with each contraction. I was thinking, oh crap. I told the nurse and she said I was going to feel some pain and that if I can deal with it that would be better. At the time I said I could deal with it. She then checked me again and I was at a 10. She said they were going to let the baby move into the birth canal for about an hour. So I should just nap. Finally!
But the epidural continued to fade (or it moved in the curve) and the pain was getting stronger and stronger. I think the narcotic was wearing off as well. So I asked (begged) for the Anesthesiologist to come back. Either he was in a surgery or this lady didn't believe me. She kept telling me that their would be some pain. This was not some pain, I could feel everything and it hurt really bad! The only thing that I couldn't feel too much was the hole. Thank you Lord! So instead of waiting the hour, she said we were going to start pushing. I was thinking, but what about my nap? I was not ready to push. But I may have never been ready, it felt very real at that point. I was about to have a baby.
So the pushing began. Justin was on one side and Ashley was on the other holding my legs. (Between the contraction pain and the birth I may have completely freaked Ashley out. I didn't scream or anything like that. It's just something you can't prepare for.) With each contraction I had to push. The pushing part felt good. But after the push as I laid back down my lower abdominal muscles hurt so bad! I'm not sure what was actually hurting, but I had a hard time breathing regular and continued to feel like I was going to hyperventilate. That's when Justin came to the rescue. He had to tell me everything to do. When to take a deep breathe, when to push, when to stop pushing and rest. He told me if I wasn't pushing well and told me when he could start to see the baby. When the head was coming out, they let me feel it. That was cool and weird all at the same time. I pushed for an hour total and finally I could feel the baby come out. I heard Justin say, "Its a girl!" Then I heard her first cry, this is now a very familiar cry that I can pick out in any room anywhere. Just before she cried she had pouty lip and Justin said, "She gets that from her Mom." (It's probably true.) And then I had tears and I was trying to breathe normal again. Finally I wasn't in pain & I had a baby girl! ( I had hoped for a girl, but had also convinced myself I was having a boy...so I wouldn't be disappointed.) They put her on my chest, while I got stitched up. I was so exhausted I think I just held her and tried to keep breathing. Justin asked me if I had looked at her and I said no. So he picked her up, so I could get a good look at our daughter. She was very swollen, but oh so adorable to me. They tried to get her to feed and she wasn't quite ready for that. At some point we kicked everyone out again to decide on her name. Justin really really really liked Riley, so that became her name. I liked that name too and we probably would have named her that anyway, because I was too exhausted and out of it to argue for the other name or to think of anything else. I was so so tired. The parents came back in and we told them her name was Riley Elizabeth. Then they started calling people and taking pictures. We were in that room a little longer and I was able to eat breakfast and everyone got to hold her, although I had to make myself share. I just wanted my time with her, after all she had been in my stomach for 40+ weeks!
We were moved to our recovery room & this is where the fun began (I say this very sarcastically). The nurses told me I had to pee. Simple enough, right? At this point I was still really swollen and couldn't feel much because of all the ice in my pants. Now, some people know that until about 6 years ago I hadn't even peed outside, Justin says I have a "shy bladder". I tried and tried to pee all afternoon, until the point where I really needed to go and the nurses were threatening me with a catheter. If I didn't pee, my uterus couldn't continue to constrict. So I sat on that toilet all afternoon while Riley slept and Justin talked to me to try to get me to relax. I tried warm water in a squirt bottle, they brought me cotton balls with something like eucalyptus to put under me (supposedly it helps to relax the urethra), the nurses brought me tea. Finally I got in the shower, hoping I could just go in there with the warm water on me. That didn't work either. Of course I was just getting more and more anxious. They even brought the catheter into my room. When I got out of the shower the cold air made me feel like I could go, so I sat on the toilet and I FINALLY went! Hallelujah!!! The nurses were satisfied and I could finally get into bed and rest. I was still waiting for this nap that I was promised so early this morning.
Nurses continued to come and go to check on both Riley and I. I didn't realize how sore I would be afterwards. I don't know why this hadn't occurred to me!?! No one mentioned this. In addition, I still hadn't really managed to nurse Riley. She kept getting her tongue in the way, but the nurses didn't seem to concerned. They just let her sleep. Our family had left after the birth to go take naps and they came back to visit that evening. As well as some friends. That night Riley's temperature was low, so they had us skin to skin under the bed covers to warm her up. The nurse brought in some warm towels too and we hung out like that all evening, it was great! That is my favorite memory of that day. I had a baby girl and we were continent to just be with each other.
Riley went to the nursery that night, so Mom and Dad could get some sleep. At that point it had been about 48 hours. They brought her back about 5:00, because she was fussy. I didn't know what to do with her and I was still tired, so we disobeyed the rules and I put her on my chest swaddled and we slept a couple more hours. Every time a nurse came in I pretended to be awake holding her. You aren't supposed to have them in bed with you. I think my heartbeat was familiar to her, so I just held her tight and we cat napped.
That morning a nurse came in and asked if we had successfully nursed yet and I said no. She sat down and helped Riley and I nurse. Riley's tongue was still getting in the way. So she had me pump and then feed her with a syringe, she was starving. We had her suck my finger while the nurse squirted the colostrum in. We did this a couple times until she thought she might have the hang of it. Then we tried nursing for real and eventually we were successful! The Grandmas and Auntie Ashley came back to visit that afternoon. Riley slept all day, which seemed fine at the time. The nurses said she had been through a lot the day before. But then that evening right when we were ready to go to bed, Riley was wide awake. I stayed up with her until about 1:00, because she waned to eat and eat and eat. But it felt like there was nothing in there to come out, so I sent her to the nursery for a few hours to hangout and sleep in a swing. They brought her back about 4 this time and we broke the rules again and slept together in the bed and pretended to be awake when the doctors and nurses came in. :)
We left the hospital that day. I had picked out clothes for Riley to wear home back in February. They were very big on my little peanut, at that point she had dropped down to 6lbs. 4 oz. The dress swallowed her whole and Justin and I couldn't help but giggle at her. We'd only seen her in the hospitals t-shirts. We made it home and Justin and I were still tired. We were lucky to have the Grandmas there, so we could take a nap! The rest of the weekend we continued working on nursing, I attempted to walk to the end of the road and back (that was tough), and we just loved on our Riley Girl!
It took about a week before I felt like I could walk and sit somewhat normally. About 2 weeks and I could run a little. Sometimes even 12 weeks later it still hurts to pee, but I wouldn't change anything! We're still figuring out day to day life, but there's no doubt I love my sweet Riley!
Riley's due date was May 20th. She was still snug as a bug that day, so she decided to stay in. All day I kept waiting because I was a little attached to that due date, since that's what I had been telling people for 9 months. But nothing. Then I went to the doctor on Monday and we were still 2 cm dialated and 80% effaced. This is where I was 2 weeks before, so I was a little bummed after that visit. They set my induction date for the following Sunday, but I was determined to not be induced and if she hadn't come out by then I would have pushed it back. I think Justin was a little bummed too, because he was really ready to have a week off from school...and to meet his baby!
On Tuesday morning I started to feel some stronger contractions when I was hanging out with my Mom and Justin's Mom. We were doing some things for the nursery. They just felt stronger and a little more frequent, but no where near regular. My Mom and Pam were so excited, they were little children in a candy store. But by 3:00 that afternoon they stopped and never started back that day.
On Wednesday morning they started back and were 10 minutes apart, but still weren't super strong. But stronger than Braxton Hick's. This continued until about 4:00 and then they stopped again. It started raining/storming that afternoon. So Justin told me to walk the stairs in the house, but that is so boring. So we went for a walk in the rain and thunderstorm, I was desperate. We took Winston with us and at first he was looking at us like ,"are you serious?" Needless to say we were the only people out, so we let him off leash and that won him over. He was as happy as could be after that. We walked a couple miles, but the contractions didn't start back. I was a little disappointed and didn't want to have to start all over the next morning.
I talked to my friend Kim, who is a doula, she said to have sex. :) Something about the sperm naturally inducing me. Which was something that was a little hard to do 40+ weeks pregnant, but we persevered and I know Justin didn't mind. :) I then took a warm bath and went to bed about 11:30 PM. At 12:30 something woke me up from a dream and I went to the bathroom. My back hurt so bad that I thought I was going to get sick on the toilet. It didn't dawn on me that I was in labor, I was still half asleep. I went to bed and told Justin, "that I didn't know why I hurt so bad." He was a little more with it and said, "You're probably in labor." I was like, "Oh, yeah." Duh. So then we started timing them and they were a whole 3 minutes apart, but were only lasting 45 seconds. We were totally confused. We were waiting for the 5 minutes apart, lasting for a minute, for an hour. But I skipped right over all of that. We called the hospital and she told us that the baby wouldn't just fall out, but that I could come in or labor at home for a little while. So we labored at home. (Looking back, I don't know why!) I was having a lot of back labor pain and my contractions were so close together I couldn't get a break. The only thing that felt ok was to sit on the toilet, so that's what I did. The labor ball hurt like H3LL and I couldn't lie down without writhing in pain. I didn't want to drink water, which is what Justin kept telling me to do. Finally we went to the hospital!
We debated for awhile on which hospital to go to before I went into labor. We decided on St. Joes, which was the furthest away from me...but the best. So I knew beforehand that that ride was going to be horrible. I thought I would maybe have 8-9 contractions on the way, but since my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart at that point I had A LOT more than that. But Justin drove really fast to try to get me there. The whole way there I was in a lot of pain and was telling Justin that it was coming too fast. I was afraid that I was going to deliver in the car or that I was going to be too late for an epidural. (I was totally freaked out by that thought.)
When we arrived someone brought a wheelchair out and they realized that I was really really in labor, so they took me into a room to check how dialated I was. She told me I was already at 7 cm. When she said 7 cm several things went through my head. 1. I want/need drugs. 2. See I really was in a lot of pain, I'm not a wimp. 3. I was supposed to have an epidural long before now. 4. Is it too late? I'd had several friends who had babies within weeks of me and I asked them at what point they got their epidural and they all said they were about 5 cm.
They took me right up stairs at that point and started hooking me up to machines. The nurse told me that I had to have a bag of fluids in me before I could have the epidural and the thought of that sounded horrible. I could only think of how many contractions I was going to have before that bag drip, drip, dripped into me. They were still coming really fast and strong. She asked me if I wanted a narcotic to take the edge off and I said, "yes please!" I hadn't really worked on any breathing techniques, because I had planned on having the epidural before we got to the really strong stage. So with every contraction I thought I was going to hyperventilate. But once I got the narcotic in me the contractions were a lot more manageable while I waited for the fluid bag to do its thing. In the meantime the nurse asked me a bunch of questions and checked my dialation. At this point I was an 8.
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| Justin Watching My Contractions |
The nurse came back and checked me again. I was still an 8. My water was leaking on one side, but wasn't completely broken. So the nurse officially broke my water while she was checking me to speed things up a little. Then she told me I could take a nap. Finally this was music to my ears! But her shift was ending and another nurse was coming on. The new nurse came in and started asking me all the same questions again. How was I supposed to nap???
In the meantime I started feeling pain on the left side of my back with each contraction. I was thinking, oh crap. I told the nurse and she said I was going to feel some pain and that if I can deal with it that would be better. At the time I said I could deal with it. She then checked me again and I was at a 10. She said they were going to let the baby move into the birth canal for about an hour. So I should just nap. Finally!
But the epidural continued to fade (or it moved in the curve) and the pain was getting stronger and stronger. I think the narcotic was wearing off as well. So I asked (begged) for the Anesthesiologist to come back. Either he was in a surgery or this lady didn't believe me. She kept telling me that their would be some pain. This was not some pain, I could feel everything and it hurt really bad! The only thing that I couldn't feel too much was the hole. Thank you Lord! So instead of waiting the hour, she said we were going to start pushing. I was thinking, but what about my nap? I was not ready to push. But I may have never been ready, it felt very real at that point. I was about to have a baby.
So the pushing began. Justin was on one side and Ashley was on the other holding my legs. (Between the contraction pain and the birth I may have completely freaked Ashley out. I didn't scream or anything like that. It's just something you can't prepare for.) With each contraction I had to push. The pushing part felt good. But after the push as I laid back down my lower abdominal muscles hurt so bad! I'm not sure what was actually hurting, but I had a hard time breathing regular and continued to feel like I was going to hyperventilate. That's when Justin came to the rescue. He had to tell me everything to do. When to take a deep breathe, when to push, when to stop pushing and rest. He told me if I wasn't pushing well and told me when he could start to see the baby. When the head was coming out, they let me feel it. That was cool and weird all at the same time. I pushed for an hour total and finally I could feel the baby come out. I heard Justin say, "Its a girl!" Then I heard her first cry, this is now a very familiar cry that I can pick out in any room anywhere. Just before she cried she had pouty lip and Justin said, "She gets that from her Mom." (It's probably true.) And then I had tears and I was trying to breathe normal again. Finally I wasn't in pain & I had a baby girl! ( I had hoped for a girl, but had also convinced myself I was having a boy...so I wouldn't be disappointed.) They put her on my chest, while I got stitched up. I was so exhausted I think I just held her and tried to keep breathing. Justin asked me if I had looked at her and I said no. So he picked her up, so I could get a good look at our daughter. She was very swollen, but oh so adorable to me. They tried to get her to feed and she wasn't quite ready for that. At some point we kicked everyone out again to decide on her name. Justin really really really liked Riley, so that became her name. I liked that name too and we probably would have named her that anyway, because I was too exhausted and out of it to argue for the other name or to think of anything else. I was so so tired. The parents came back in and we told them her name was Riley Elizabeth. Then they started calling people and taking pictures. We were in that room a little longer and I was able to eat breakfast and everyone got to hold her, although I had to make myself share. I just wanted my time with her, after all she had been in my stomach for 40+ weeks!
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| Sweet Riley |
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| Holding My Baby Girl |
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| First Cuddle with Daddy |
Nurses continued to come and go to check on both Riley and I. I didn't realize how sore I would be afterwards. I don't know why this hadn't occurred to me!?! No one mentioned this. In addition, I still hadn't really managed to nurse Riley. She kept getting her tongue in the way, but the nurses didn't seem to concerned. They just let her sleep. Our family had left after the birth to go take naps and they came back to visit that evening. As well as some friends. That night Riley's temperature was low, so they had us skin to skin under the bed covers to warm her up. The nurse brought in some warm towels too and we hung out like that all evening, it was great! That is my favorite memory of that day. I had a baby girl and we were continent to just be with each other.
Riley went to the nursery that night, so Mom and Dad could get some sleep. At that point it had been about 48 hours. They brought her back about 5:00, because she was fussy. I didn't know what to do with her and I was still tired, so we disobeyed the rules and I put her on my chest swaddled and we slept a couple more hours. Every time a nurse came in I pretended to be awake holding her. You aren't supposed to have them in bed with you. I think my heartbeat was familiar to her, so I just held her tight and we cat napped.
That morning a nurse came in and asked if we had successfully nursed yet and I said no. She sat down and helped Riley and I nurse. Riley's tongue was still getting in the way. So she had me pump and then feed her with a syringe, she was starving. We had her suck my finger while the nurse squirted the colostrum in. We did this a couple times until she thought she might have the hang of it. Then we tried nursing for real and eventually we were successful! The Grandmas and Auntie Ashley came back to visit that afternoon. Riley slept all day, which seemed fine at the time. The nurses said she had been through a lot the day before. But then that evening right when we were ready to go to bed, Riley was wide awake. I stayed up with her until about 1:00, because she waned to eat and eat and eat. But it felt like there was nothing in there to come out, so I sent her to the nursery for a few hours to hangout and sleep in a swing. They brought her back about 4 this time and we broke the rules again and slept together in the bed and pretended to be awake when the doctors and nurses came in. :)
We left the hospital that day. I had picked out clothes for Riley to wear home back in February. They were very big on my little peanut, at that point she had dropped down to 6lbs. 4 oz. The dress swallowed her whole and Justin and I couldn't help but giggle at her. We'd only seen her in the hospitals t-shirts. We made it home and Justin and I were still tired. We were lucky to have the Grandmas there, so we could take a nap! The rest of the weekend we continued working on nursing, I attempted to walk to the end of the road and back (that was tough), and we just loved on our Riley Girl!
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| It had been such a long wait. My heart is full! |
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| Heading Home |
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| Yard Decorations |
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| Someone crashed Mommy's nap time...it was time to eat. :) |
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