Phew! The past week was a bit crazy (but so much fun!). In the last seven days, Fiona has met six great-aunts, three great-uncles, one aunt, one uncle, ten first cousins once removed, and three second cousins (yes, it took a lot of googling to figure that all out). She also took her first vacation to the shore and her first trip to the zoo. I feel as though I need a vacation from the vacation. Kudos to all of you who do this with more than one child!
Here's a quick timeline of how it all went down:
7/20- Ryan's aunts and uncle visit on their way from Rhode Island to Virginia Beach. Try to figure out this whole packing for a trip with an infant thing.
7/21- We head out to Sea Isle City, NJ for a short vacation at my parents' beach house. We left after Fiona's 9:00 AM feeding (we're doing the moms on call schedule), and arrived just in time for her 12:00 PM feeding. I adore this schedule because I know what is coming. She slept almost the entire ride. This is in complete contrast to the story my mom and aunt still tell me about my first trip to Sea Isle when I was 6 weeks old (it was apparently that traumatic). Dear God, please let her stay a great traveler! Love, Katie. Because we got there before the renters were out, we hit up the Cape May Zoo (which is absolutely adorable). Fiona slept the whole time. Of course, that didn't stop us from taking pictures of her in front of the animals.
7/22- Some of mom's side of the family does a Christmas in July family reunion. I believe that there were about 30+ people at the house.
7/23- Relaxed inside. I think I made it down to the shore for a few minutes? Im not positive...it's a bit of a blur. Ryan worked from the house during the day and then left to go home that evening. Contemplate just how much protection will be needed for my fair, red-headed child when she can really go on the beach next year. Decide to invest in sunscreen companies.
7/24- Fiona turns 6 weeks and decides to comprehend the craziness of the last few days. She refuses to nap more than 5 minutes. Thankfully she wasn't cranky or sad, just wide awake...ALL DAY LONG. Because Ryan is home and everyone else is on the beach, I try to MacGyver ways to use the bathroom and eat. Pat myself on the back for not buying the expensive bathing suit to cover my postpartum body, because it obviously is not going to get any use.
7/25- Eat breakfast at Sunset Pier. Take a quick trip to Stone Harbor for some shopping and time with my mom. Drive home alone with Fiona after her 6:00 PM feeding. She starts crying as soon as we pull up in front of our house. Say another prayer of thanks, and then give myself another pat on the back for surviving my first 2 hour trip with her alone.
7/26- Ryan's brother, Kyle, and our sister-in-law, Colleen, come to visit. I adore them both so much and feel beyond blessed to have such a great brother and sister-in-love (she's like the older sister I never got to have!). We wish so much they lived on the east coast so we could see them more often! Oh, in the craziness, we almost forget...it's our 4th anniversary!
7/27- Breakfast with Kyle and Colleen before they leave. Fiona goes on another nap strike. Counting down the minutes till bedtime. Thankfully she's super cute to look at.
And here are some pictures for a visual:
A Papa, A Zebra & A Fiona-phant
My dad likes to ask my daughter if she went to Tony's last night. Tony's, incase you were wondering, is the dive bar he and his friends went to in their 20s. Yup. I decided that making this onsie was an appropriate way to start off vacation. P.S. I love that having a baby makes using puffy paint totally acceptable again.
This was my dad's reaction.
Because, you know, we were at the Jersey Shore.
Second cousins!
Me and my baby at the beach. I hope she learns to love it as much as her Papa and I do.
Beach Kisses.
1st Family Vacation Picture :)
Fiona turns 6 weeks! (weekly block idea from Oh! Apostrophe).
Breakfast at the Pier.
Fiona with her UVA Aunt and Uncle
Ryan and his brother with Fiona. Yes, his brother looks like Ty Burrell.
Ryan- Thanks for four years of awesomeness! Marrying you = best decision ever.
You are one month old today! It doesn’t quite seem possible that you’ve already been with us for that long, but at the same time, we can’t imagine what life was like without you in it. Before you were born, people would often ask us whether we wanted a baby boy or baby girl. My answer was always, “I don’t care if we have a son or a daughter, as long as he or she has their daddy’s disposition.” From all accounts told to me, I was an awful, colic-y infant…often sleeping only 1 or 2 hours at a time. I was terrified of the potential paybacks! Luckily, my wish has come true, and you have been an unbelievable newborn. I’m not sure if your calm, happy personality is here to stay, but if I could guarantee that all our future children were like this, I’d have 10 more.
Perhaps your personality isn’t just a wish fulfilled, but an answer to prayer. Our first week together was a bit hectic, with two ambulance rides and your mama ending up in the hospital for a scary four-day stay. Being ill and being apart from you was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Thankfully, lots of family members were able to step in to watch over and take care of you. As long as you are fed and loved, you are extremely content.
Speaking of food, it is your number one passion. The only time you cry is when you are hungry. And you definitely let us know when that time is by providing perhaps one or two whimpers before going to full-blown, DEFCON 1 screams. The second you see that bottle though, your eyes light up, your game face is on, and all is well with the world. You even eat with extreme gusto. One of your grandmothers, who raised four kids of her own, says she has never seen anything like it. Due to this, we often refer to you as Francesca when it is feeding time. As in, Francesca, your Italian alter ego.
Once, while trying to entertain you while your bottle warmed up, I found out that you had a particular love for country music…specifically, Kenny Chesney. Literally, you will be bawling your little eyes out, but the second you hear Kenny’s voice you just stop and look around. It was cute and funny at first…I mean, we have all of these wonderful toys, baby books and rattles for you, and the only thing that calms you down is country music. Now, the joke is on us. I can often be found at 3 AM two-stepping across the nursery floor trying to get you to fall asleep. When you are really fussy, your Papa and I are left scrambling for our iPhones and computers trying to get the country music station on as quickly as possible. At this rate, due to the amount of times we say, “Kenny’s coming baby!” or “Don’t worry, Kenny will be on the radio soon!” there is a good chance that your first word will be Kenny instead of Mama or Papa. Besides Kenny Chesney, you also like Tim McGraw, Darius Rucker and the Zac Brown Band. One day we will all laugh about how mommy had to change the lyrics of certain songs to “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sporty” and “Red Plastic Bottle, “ or talk about the time we were left singing “I’ve Got Friends in Low Places,” while trying to calm you down enough to have your newborn pictures taken.
As for other interesting facts:
- - Your first month of life was met with two long heat waves…the second of which was the fourth longest this area has ever seen.
- - You celebrated your first holiday on July 4th! We hope you come to love that day as much as your Momma and Papa do. After all, what can be better than fireworks, family and hot dogs!
- - You are probably a little over 8 pounds now. You still fit into your newborn clothes that don’t have feet (as you are a bit too long for those now). We’ll definitely have to move you over to your 0-3 outfits in a week or two.
- - Your Papa speaks to you exclusively in Spanish. I’m picking up a word or two here and there, so hopefully I'll be able to join in on conversations with you two at some point!
- - Besides Francesca, we can be found calling your Strawberry Shortcake (after your strawberry blonde hair), or Fiona-phant, which came about because of the elephant hat your Uncle Joey bought you.
We love you so much Fiona, and we can’t wait to see what month two has in store for us!
Some of this is going to be a repetition from previous posts, but I want to write Fiona's birth story for my own recollection.
Since Fiona was a breech baby, we had a c-section scheduled for June 14th at 9:30 AM. Obviously, like her mother, she decided to make plans of her own. I always felt that she (although we didn't know she was a she at the time), would come early as that was kind of par for the course in my family. And my intuition was definitely right!
I remember people telling me that they just felt different before they went into labor, and I can definitely say that was true in my case. Up until the day before she was born, I was running around, taking long walks, cleaning the house and trying to stay busy. However, on that Monday, I didn't have the energy to even get off the couch. I literally just laid there all day and read a book. I wasn't my normal happy self, and instead felt really worn down and cranky. I'm fairly certain when Ryan came home from work and walked through the door I just cried. I don't even know why.
On Tuesday morning, June 12th, I woke up and still felt pretty exhausted (which wasn't a total surprise seeing as how I hadn't slept for more than 2 hours at a time since December). I decided to continue reading in bed. Ryan had allowed our dog, Bo, to come upstairs that morning, and instead of running around in circles begging to go out or for a walk like he usually does, he just laid calmly by my side. He definitely knew something was happening! Around 8:45 AM, I turned over and felt a bit of a pop. I vividly remember thinking, "hmm that felt really weird...I wonder if my water is going to break...I remember Aliya talking about this happening before her daughter came." Sure enough, I got up to go to the bathroom, and my water started to break. Because it wasn't the huge gush that everyone talks about (it broke gradually throughout the day), I called my doctor for confirmation. She told me, of course, that it was time to get to the hospital. I hung up the phone, called Ryan, and told him to come home because this baby was coming today. Then, because it was obviously the completely logical thing to do, I decided that it was absolutely imperative that I shave my legs. So, instead of running around getting all the bags together, I sat on the edge of the tub and did just that. I may not have been completely rational, but I am still surprised at how calm I was about the whole situation.
When Ryan came home we loaded everything into the car and made our way to the hospital. It was supposed to be an absolutely gorgeous day on the day Fiona was originally due to make her appearance, but on this day we had pouring rain, flooding and thunderstorms. I don't think we turned the radio on in the car at all. We just kept turning to each other saying, "I can't believe we're going to have a baby today." It all seemed so surreal.
We arrived at the hospital, and I remember this guy taking one look at us while we were walking in and saying, "Good Luck!" It made me smile. We checked in and we were taken to a room so I could be examined, and so that they could do another ultrasound and make sure the baby was still breech (she was). After about an hour, we were taken to another room on the floor where they perform the c-sections, and were told that the surgery would take place in about 25 minutes. I was in a bit of shock that it would happen that fast! We quickly met with the anesthesiologist and a bunch of the other doctors that would be in the room during the surgery. Then we were told we would meet the doctor performing the surgery shortly. Since Fiona decided to come early, we ended up with a completely different doctor than the one we had been seeing. So we waited, and waited....and well, waited. A couple of times a nurse would come in and tell us that the surgery would be taking place shortly, but it never happened. I hadn't had anything to drink or eat since the night before, and since I wasn't allowed to have any water (and was almost in tears over this), Ryan would hold up wet paper towels to my lips. I can't even begin to describe how thirsty I was. I also wasn't allowed to leave the bed, since there is a risk of a prolapsed cord with breech babies once the mother's water breaks. This went on for the longest time. It turns out that at the exact moment I was to go into surgery, another one of the doctor's patients was about to have her baby. The doctor was with her while she pushed....for over three full hours (bless that girl's heart!).
During all of this I would get myself mentally prepared for what was going to happen (I had a huge fear of being awake while, you know, they pulled a baby out of me...especially while I was strapped down to a table). The second I would be ok with it, we would find out that the surgery was getting pushed back again. After the doctor finally delivered the other baby, there was an emergency c-section that needed to be preformed. At this point I was starving, thirsty and all sorts of anxious. I guess Ryan felt really bad for me, because he decided it was ok to play the VT football entrance song, "Enter Sandman" on his iPhone. As soon as he started playing it, our baby's heartbeat started matching up with the tune. It was hysterical, and helped us get through the rest of the wait.
You can't really hear the heartbeat, but yup, we tried to take a video!
Finally, around 4:00 PM, we were told that they would definitely be coming to get us for the surgery shortly. Around 4:15 PM, I was taken into the operating room. Ryan had to wait outside while I had the spinal injection done. I was even more nervous at this point, since I had hours to dwell on everything, and I remember being so hot....which was odd since I am normally freezing, and I was in an ice cold operating room. I asked the anesthetist if I could have an ice pack for my forehead. While she went off in search for that, I was prepped for the spinal injection. I was terrified about this part because I knew that one of the side effects can be feeling like you can't breath. For someone who can feel extremely claustrophobic at times, having my arms strapped down while feeling like I can't breath is probably my worst nightmare coming to life. I am beyond thankful that God provided me with an amazing team of doctors at this point. My anesthesiologist kept making jokes about how this wasn't the time to be a yoga student while trying to get me to roll my back enough, and my surgeon held my hands while the injection was done (it wasn't bad at all...and I felt like I could breath!). After that I was quickly placed onto the table for surgery, Ryan was brought back in, and the blue screen went up. The surgeon did a quick time out and went over all of our requests for the birth with the rest of the doctors and nurses in the room.
I remember the anesthetist standing at my head holding the icepack to my forehead, and telling me she would give me a play by play of what was happening. I, of course, was fairly adamant that I did not want a play by play. She explained that she would just tell me what I would be feeling as it was happening. At this point, I just started to cry. There wasn't an exact reason other than it was an emotionally draining morning, and I was just done. I remember the nurse asking me what was wrong, and I just said, "I spent all day trying not to be super anxious about the surgery, and now I'm here and, well, now I feel like I can cry about it (hello, hormones)." So I cried, and the doctors tugged and pulled (which I vividly remember...I did not like this part one bit). I felt like they were performing the surgery for about a half hour, when in reality, it was more like 15 minutes. Finally, someone said, "Ok, dad, get ready...we're going to lower the screen in a second so you can see if you have a son or a daughter." Then, at 4:33 PM, there was a wailing baby. The screen was lowered, and I waited for Ryan to tell me if we had a little boy or little girl. It was probably about 10 seconds, but it felt like a lifetime (apparently the umbilical cord was in the way, and Ryan couldn't tell right away). Finally, he said, "It's a girl...we have a daughter!" I will remember this moment for the rest of my life. Of course, I started crying even more (out of happiness this time!). The doctors kept saying, "Oh, she is just beautiful!" and, "Oh my goodness, she has red hair!"
So there I was, crying my eyes out on the operating table wondering how in the heck we ended up with a red-haired child. We joked the entire pregnancy that we were going to have a baby with a huge mop of dark hair. And then we ended up with a fair redhead. I think I'll forever be amused by that.
Our daughter was then taken to the other side of the room to be cleaned up, weighed and measured while the doctors finished up the surgery on me (I have no recollection of this part of the surgery). Ryan went with her, and apparently they even left the cord long enough so he could do the official "cut" at this point. Since I was a crying, blubbering mess, I had no idea that he had even done this until he told me two weeks later. Our little baby came in at 6.8 pounds and 19 inches, and scored a 9 both times on her Apgar test.
Fiona's 1st official picture
Finally, finally, finally, Ryan brought her over to me. I just remember staring into her eyes and feeling so overwhelmed, happy, thankful and blessed. My arms were unstrapped and I was able to touch and hold our baby girl. They asked us what her name was, and we said, "Fiona." So there we were...Ryan, me and our little Fiona...officially a family of three.
I originally wrote this post about the book below, but then I went out to get the mail and received another awesome personalized baby gift, so I just had to write about that too!
Last week Fiona received her first piece of mail from her wonderful Aunt, Uncle & cousins in Indiana. Since she is our first child (and I'm going stir crazy from being trapped inside due to the heat waves), I took a picture to document the occasion (plus her first piece of mail was much more exciting than her second...her social security card):
Inside the package was the most adorable book, called "My Very Own Name" by I See Me Inc:
The book is personalized with her birthdate, and it tells the story of how the woodland creatures went about choosing the letters to make her perfect name (first and last). Here are some pictures from her book (you can also take a tour of a sample book layout here):
I am seriously obsessed with this book and read it to her about once a day!
I am also completely in love with this gift which was sent to Fiona from my friend Ashley and her family:
Seriously, how adorable is this little block?! We had to push back her newborn pictures until early next week, so I'm hoping this gift makes it into a few shots :)
P.S. I don't have any affiliations with I See Me Inc. or craftefamily.com; nor was I reimbursed for these reviews. I just love these products a bunch, and thought they may be a great idea for any of you out there that have a new baby or need a new baby gift.
I didn't talk to much about my birth plans prior to the actual birth, because I didn't want to jinx anything (turns out I was a bit jinxed for a while, but c'est la vie). When I thought about bringing our baby into this world, I really wanted the experience to be the same as so many other aspects of my life...as completely natural as possible (specifically a hypnobirthing/waterbirth).
When I found out I was pregnant, I immediately set up my first appointment with The Birth Center. The experience there was absolutely amazing. You get to meet with all of the midwives during your pregnancy, and the appointments are pretty much run by the patients (besides the tests and measurements and such). Each appointment was scheduled for an hour, which I found to be wonderful. For some of my appointments, I really didn't have too many questions and was in and out the door. But for those days when I was anxious, or confused, or had a gazillion and one questions, those hour long appointment slots were a God-send. I really bonded with the staff (my awesome aunt is even one of the nurses!), the classes offered were fantastic, and I loved that I felt really supported in all of my pregnancy decisions.
But, my natural birth was not to be. I kind of had an inkling that our little one wasn't exactly in the right position when everyone else was talking about rib-cage kicks, and I was getting karate chopped in the cervix (which fyi is just as painful as it sounds). I noticed this trend super early, and it never really changed. As my due date got closer, and our baby was still breech, I upped the "lets get this turning show on the road" ante and added in moxibustion at my acupuncture appointments, and began seeing a chiropractor who specialized in the webster technique three times a week. Because mcnugget had been in an incorrect position for so long, I decided against trying an external cephalic version. In my gut I just felt that it wasn't the right option for our situation...I honestly believe she was positioned where she was for a reason, and the risks outweighed the rewards this time.
Eventually, I let myself come to terms with the fact that I would be ok with a c-section if I did everything within my control (that I was comfortable with) to get this baby to flip. If mcnugget decided not to do so, I would trust her instincts, and be at peace with what would happen. I definitely believe I gave it my all...I even had to call my chiropractor on the way to the hospital to cancel my appointment for that afternoon when my water broke on its own!
At my 37 week appointment, it was determined that I had to switch over to a doctor who could preform a c-section (the midwives do not do this). I was seen fairly quickly that week, as I was 37 weeks pregnant after all. While I had come to terms with being ok with a possible c-section, I quickly learned that I would have a very hard time saying good-bye to my birth center. The doctor and I just did not click (almost all of my requests were met with a "no," and I was actually referred to as being a part of a "different birthing community"). The atmosphere was also very different...instead of the warm welcoming rooms with comfy, worn furniture, everything in the office was sterile and much more clinical. Needless to say, I walked out of the appointment and just broke down. (I want to note here that this reaction is based on my feelings, expectations and experiences with ONE doctor...everyone has different preferences and expectations, and you need to receive your care where you feel most comfortable and happy!).
So, in true type-A fashion, I calmed myself down by trying to figure out everything I could control about the situation. I came up with a c-section birth plan, which I went over in detail with my husband as soon as it was finished (it went over medicine allergies, baby vaccine/shot preferences, husband's desire to announce the gender, etc.). Just doing this made me feel as though I had some control over the situation, and it really helped Ryan be my advocate while I was in the hospital (when you have major surgery, and you are experiencing the"oh my goodness I'm having a baby" freakout/excitement...you NEED someone else to be your advocate). The c-section plan was a huge blessing because we were able to speak clearly and ask questions about our preferences with all of the staff (it was extra helpful too because I had TWO shift changes before the surgery). Right before the surgery was to take place (I was strapped on the table at this point and Ryan was in the room), the head surgeon even took a time-out to clearly state all of our expectations with every other staff person in the room. That alone was awesome, and it really helped me calm down.
As for the surgery itself, I'm not going to lie...I was completely freaked out. I tend to get a bit claustrophobic, and was really panicked about being strapped down on a table. I also wasn't a huge fan of having a massive needle stuck in my back (I had a spinal not an epidural), while my husband was outside of the room. It was also exceptionally hard to mentally prepare myself for the surgery FOUR times before it actually happened. And I'm not going to lie...c-section surgery is no freaking joke. I think because it is so common, people forget that it is still major surgery. You may not feel pain, but you feel everything else, and it is NOT pleasant at all. Oh and you are AWAKE. It is by no means the easy way out, and it comes with it's own set of unpleasantries. Somehow I pulled myself together and got through it (I was actually a bit concerned that I would pass out...I was super hot throughout the entire procedure and requested an ice pack for my forehead...and I'm pretty sure the temperature was actually at about umm freezing in the room).
I will also be forever thankful that Fiona decided to pick her own birthday. Because of this, we ended up with a completely different doctor. She, along with all of the other staff in the room, were fantastic. The surgeon held my hands while the spinal was administered, the anesthesiologist was cracking hysterical jokes (your baby has red hair, an full Irish name and her daddy speaks SPANISH to her?!?) , the anesthetist held the ice pack on my forehead the entire time and walked me through everything, and everyone was in a great mood. It was an unbelievable answer to prayer. All in all, the surgery itself was definitely the best situation it possibly could have been.
As for the future, we'll take it as it comes. I'll be joining the new mom's group at the Birth Center as soon as I can drive and handle stairs, and I'm super excited to meet some moms going through the same things. When the time is right, I would love to try for a VBAC for mcnugget number 2 (which will have to be at a hospital). Thankfully, there are a lot of doctors in the area that are supportive of this, and I will still be able to go to the Birth Center up until week 28. But we'll handle that when the time comes! Right now I just want to enjoy every second with my baby girl.
We have a DAUGHTER! Fiona Kathleen joined our family last Tuesday. She was due to be born by scheduled c-section the morning of June 14th, due to being breech (despite trying a gazillion different types of methods to get her to flip). Then, like everything else in this pregnancy, she let me know that she is in charge (and will be for the rest of my life!). My water broke at 8:45 AM on Tuesday, June 12th. I felt a bit of a pop (it was never a huge gush), and I tried to convince myself that it was all in my head. After all, I was going to finish running errands that day and meet my mom and sister for lunch on Wednesday. I called the doctor and was promptly told to get to the hospital...this baby was coming today. Husband came home from work and we headed on over. At 4:33 PM, our little girl was born. Ryan was able to look over the screen and announce to me that we had a daughter. It was an unbelievably amazing moment. She weighed 6.8 oz and was 19 inches long. The first words out of the doctor's mouth were, "Oh my goodness...she has red hair!" Umm what?!? Husband and I both have naturally very dark hair (mine is obviously dyed a very unnatural blonde), so that took us for a bit of a surprise. But then we realized that I had reddish hair when I was born, and Ryan actually has red highlights in his hair...so this little strawberry shortcake is definitely ours! She has my eyes and ears and her daddy's mouth and hairline. We're enjoying every minute with her, so expect a bit of a delay in posts for a week or two while we take in our newborn....
One last pregnancy picture before we left for the hospital. This is my "oh my goodness we're having a baby TODAY" face.
My c-section was pushed back for 7 hours, and I couldn't leave the bed (breech babies have a risk of prolapsed cord after your water breaks). Ryan lightened the mood by playing Enter Sandman for me (the VT football team entrance song). The hysterical part was that her heartbeat on the monitor would match up with the beat of the song when it was playing.
Love my little girl
Already wrapped around her daddy's finger
Love
Strawberry shortcake baby...she already has very strong facial expressions ;)
Here are some pictures of the nursery! It was a bit of a challenge doing a gender neutral room in a 170 year old house (especially since all the walls are uneven, and almost all furniture has to come un-assembled just to get it upstairs and into the room), but I think we made it work. It is crazy to think that there will be a baby to go with this room in just about 2 weeks!
Curtains- World Market Natural Crinkle Voile Curtain Panel, blackout roller shades from JC Penney's underneath and driftwood branches from the river next to my house (classy...fyi we did clean them before hanging!)
Pillow- Target (available in stores)
Woven Baskets & Changing Table Baskets- Target (available in stores)
Dresser- Ryan's from when he was a child, painted a few years ago (I can't remember what color we used)
