3 Weeks

Hard to believe our sweet Harlow is already 3 weeks old!!

And this one feels like she has grown 5 years older in the past 3 weeks.  :(

Harlow's Birth Story

Harlow Noelle made her long awaited entrance on Friday, December 6th.

She weighed 8lbs, 4oz and was 20.25 inches of beautiful, pink baby.

But let me back-up a little. This birth was so much different than Blair's - despite both being "planned." The night prior, Blair spent the night with her Gammy and Da. Surprisingly, Travis and I slept pretty well and didn't wake until my alarm went off. We got ready, packed a few last minute items into my overnight bag and headed out.

We got checked into the hospital and were given a triage room (on Methodist's L&D floor). Since there were a lot of babies being born and they were short on rooms. I was prepped, signed all waivers and consents, and was debriefed on how the surgery would go. My surgery time was at Noon - but that came and went. We were told that my doctor was unexpectedly delivering another baby. So we waited a little longer while trying to maintain our excitement and mild nerves. Even though this was our second baby, I still found the same nervousness and excitement that we had with Blair. I had a rough delivery the first time and had prayed that Harlow's delivery would be different.

About 10 mins until 1pm, we were ready to go and I was brought into the operating room. Travis had to wait outside the room while I was being prepped. My anesthesiologist was there, explaining how they would be doing my anesthesia (he called it a "spinal") and how it differed from an epidural. Once he gave me the anesthesia, my legs began to tingle and I was laid down on the operating table. They explained that I would feel touch - but not pain. Weird.

Travis was soon brought in and everything began. I remember taking deep breaths and focusing on our sweet baby girl. At 1:17pm, Harlow Noelle was born. She was screaming and pink and perfect. I was able to watch them clean her off and check her out on the tv screen above my head. She weighed 8lbs, 4oz and was 20.25" long (just in case you were wondering, Blair was 6lbs, 12.5oz and 20" long). She was healthy and perfect and HERE!

Once she was cleaned up, Travis brought her over to see me while I was getting stitched up. Everything was going perfect. Travis and the baby nurse took Harlow back to our triage room and waited for me to come out of surgery. About 10 minutes later, we were all back in the same room. I was completely coherent (much different from last time) and aware of everything going on. No blood pressure problems. I felt good and watched Harlow warm under the little baby heat lamp. I was completely in love.

Baby girl was hungry - and less than an hour into the world, she was ready to eat! I laugh because I am sure she was not happy about not getting to eat since the night before. :)

Blair was the very first person back to see Harlow. She wanted to hold her right away, so we got her set up in the rocking chair with a pillow and put Harlow in her lap (with Travis holding H's neck). About 10 seconds in, Harlow let out a baby screech and poor Blair - her face dropped and she immediately put her hands over her ears. That was that.

Gramma Ancy came in to love on baby girl, followed by Gammy and Da. All of my family was out of town, so they were unable to be there. By 4:30pm, our room was ready, Harlow had been given her good scrub-down bath and I was ready to eat!! I was feeling really good - and hungry. Our room was a pretty good sized room with windows overlooking the freeway and also the beautiful main foyer that was decorated for Christmas.

I was finally given the green light to have clear liquids so I "ate" while Travis ran home to let out Raleigh and grab some things to spend the night at the hospital with me. We took turns holding and loving on Harlow. It was blissful. We missed our Blair Bug very much, but knew she was having a good time and it was giving us a great chance to spend some good time with our sweet girl.

On Saturday, I was woken up nice and early at 6:30am to start walking. I did a pretty good job and had minimal pain. I was very excited to be given the green light to eat solid foods. Yay! We took it nice and easy all Saturday with some family visits and another big sister visit. Trav and I had been missing her so much - it was so great to spend some time together as our sweet family of four.

By Sunday morning, we were hoping to go home. I was feeling really well and had been up and moving around and not having any pain. Once Harlow had her newborn hearing screen and bilirubin test, her pedi-doctor gave us the ok to be released. Once they found out that Harlow was our second baby, they were all about it. I asked how much weight she had lost since her birth and unlike most babies that loose around 10% of their birth rate, baby H had only lost 3%!

We were home by 4:30pm or 5pm on Sunday with Blair shortly behind. It was surreal to be home with our newest family member!

We had a shaky first couple of days - with Harlow's days and nights being switched (but now getting better) and a few minor complications from her delivery. First I found out that I was allergic to the dermabond adhesive used to seal up my incision. Blisters on sensitive skin was not fun, but could've been worse. My doctor simply removed the adhesive (like pulling off a Band-Aid). I had also begun having headaches at different points of the day. The headaches were pretty intense and only got better after laying down. I called my doctor and they suggested that I cut back on my pain meds - by Wednesday I realized that this wasn't due to dehydration or any pain meds. It turned out I was having spinal headaches caused by some leaking spinal fluid from the anesthesia. My doctor told me to go to the ER and after about 4 1/2 hours of waiting and extreme pain (I had gone to lay down in my Dad's car to help relieve the pain) - I finally got a room and they confirmed that they would need to perform a blood patch. A blood patch is where they inject contrast into the spine fluid to determine where the leak is, then they immediately draw blood from my arm and inject it into the spinal fluid so that it clots in the hole. Sounds kind of weird, but I think it is pretty common. And after about an hour and a half after the quick procedure, I was finally allowed to go home. I had to lie on my back and rest for 12 hours, but was feeling much better this morning. Relief from the headaches!

Other than that, we are just soaking up our time with our girls and loving every (sleepless) minute. Harlow is such a little darling, but has a big set of lungs on her, trust me. I am just so proud of our little family and love the time we are having bonding. Blair loves her little sister and is often repeating the soothing words that she hears from us, to Harlow and ever-so-gently kisses Harlow on the head. She is getting used to Harlow's cries (which usually occur upon waking up if we don't have a bottle ready fast enough!) and has been a big helper.

Some of these first few pictures were taken from cell phones...

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Harlow Noelle!

Waiting for Harlow... 38 weeks

Yesterday was my 38 week check-up with Dr. Schmidt.  After two previous, uneventful check-ups (cervix closed), I wasn't expecting much of a change. At 38 weeks with Blair, I was 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced.  Well, wouldn't you know... Dr. Schmidt confirmed I was 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced!! I was so surprised, because I figured that Harlow was going to stay put for as long as possible and hold out for her scheduled c- section date of the 9th. Dr. Schmidt was not confident I would make it to the 9th, so we moved the date up to this Friday, the 6th. I've been feeling contractions, but nothing strong enough or frequent enough to head to the hospital. I am working all this week, but only going into the office in the mornings and working from home in the afternoons. I think this is my best chance of getting to Friday.  Hey, one can hope, right?

We are all very excited and are anxiously awaiting Harlow's arrival. I can't wait for our two sweet girls to meet each other.

Pregnancy with Blair (@38 weeks)

Weight Gain - 25-30lbs

Waist in Inches - 38"

 

Pregnancy with Harlow (@38 weeks)

Weight Gain - 25-30lbs

Waist in Inches - 41"

36 Weeks - Harlow

Well, this week I am at 36 weeks. It’s funny how your first pregnancy seems to pass SO slowly – but with your second (and I imagine any thereafter!), it goes by pretty quickly. It is surreal to know that in 3 weeks, or less, our sweet baby girl will be here. We’ve been talking about Harlow for months now, so I know that Blair is anxious to see what this little sister is all about. I know that she certainly grasps the concept and understands, but I know that in a few weeks, the reality will set in. She tells me how she is going to help feed, bathe and play with Harlow. And how she is going to teach her to go potty (ha!). I honestly believe that she is going to do so well in this role as big sister and I cannot wait to watch the bond form between the two of these girls!

Yesterday I had my 36 week check-up and ultrasound. Everything is looking great, plenty of amniotic fluid, great heartbeat, etc. I was shocked when the ultrasound tech told Travis and I that Harlow was measuring 7lbs, 6oz already! Blair was born at 6lbs, 12.5oz at 39 weeks! It looks like we have a little “Benson” baby on our hands (all of the girls on Travis’ mother’s side were born big). I feel like Harlow could come early – but I think I also thought that with Blair and she stayed put until 39 weeks. I guess we will see!

In the meantime, we have been working on getting the house ready for Christmas (yes, the Christmas tree went up last weekend) and Harlow’s arrival. As usual, Travis is still the MVP in keeping operations running and making things happen (under “management’s” supervision, of course). I don’t know what I would do without him. He still rubs my back every single night before bed. That may be the one pregnancy perk that I am going to miss (heartburn, indigestion and insomnia – not so much). And I am really looking forward to being able to sleep on my back and stomach.

My Dad will be home on Friday – and we all could not be more excited. It has been nearly 15 months since he left for Kuwait – and far too long. It has definitely been the longest period I have gone without seeing one of my parents. Although we Skype every week, it’s certainly not the same. I know Blair is excited to see Pops!!

Girlfriend wanted her nails painted yesterday. Love my girly girl!!

Halloween 2013

Well, 3rd time was a charm... we finally made it out to trick-or-treat! Blair Wendy Darling had SO much fun and was a champ ringing the doorbells and yelling "Trick-or-treat!!!" We even got her to say 'thank you' amidst the excitement. I am pretty sure she is a fan of Halloween now.

 

Little Wendy Darling from Peter Pan. I asked Blair if she'd like to be Tinkerbell and she said, "No, Tinkerbell isn't nice to Wendy. I want to be Wendy!" Love her and her sweet heart.

Cousin Love!

Kisses for the little black kitty

Halloween Barbies from Gramma Ancy

Sweet Zoey

 

Trick-or-treating time!

 

Hitting the houses in the neighborhood

Getting some help from Tia

 



So fun!

 

Wendy and Daddy

 

Blair had so much fun riding on T's shoulders!

Goodbye hug for Tia

 

Me and Zoey

 

Me and my Wendy

 

Checking out Blair's haul  :)

 

Halloween 2013 : Success

 

Tiny Dancers

Blair and Zoey are still loving their ballet class! There have been a few more little girls join the class. There is one in particular that doesn't really participate and just runs around doing whatever she wants. It can be distracting for the other girls, so I am hoping that she will "get with the program" soon.  :)  Blair is doing much better with following instructions and paying attention to Ms. Tiffany and I am so glad that she is still enjoying it!

 

Pumpkin Patch Fun

So, we finally made it to the pumpkin patch - the last weekend before Halloween. I took over 250 pictures, so here are just a few. My little photogenic baby girl would run around saying, "Cheese! Cheese!" And then she'd run and sit on a pumpkin and say, "Cheese!" It was hilarious. Love this sweet girl so much.

 

 

 

My two (of three) most favorite people.