My baby rolled over!!

My Luci just rolled over from her tummy to her back! No crying...just a look of surprise! Although she did start crying when I ran for the camcorder & tried to get her to do it again. She was having none of that...the roll tired her out so much she promptly went right down for a nap!

2 months!!

So close to rolling over...she can get her upper body over, but not those legs!
So exhausting trying to roll over!! Time to rest :)
She likes the lady bug now that we know what she says...buzzz...buzzz...then lands on her nose!
She wants that ladybug!!
Before the doctor this morning...good thing she didn't know what was about to come!

Miss Luci is officially 2 months old today...and went to the doctor accordingly to receive the first dose of vaccines. Poor Luci endured 4 shots and an oral vaccine...her mom felt like crying just as much as she did. Lots of tears were shed & the scared, pained look on her little face just broke my heart. It took about 5 minutes to get her calmed down, and she fell asleep in the car on the way home. We gave her Infant Tylenol so hopefully she won't get to achy, but we are still expecting diarrhea and maybe a fever. Poor Luci.

Our giant baby continues to grow at record pace...weighing in at 13lbs 12oz and stretching 24.5 inches long. She is off the charts huge!! Her head is 16 inches and is in the 90th percentile, so head, height & weight are all proportional. Dr. Bhakta says all looks well!!

Feeling better...I think!

Feeling at least a little better! Feeling not so well...
The morning of the doctor appointment...still a little sluggish...
Talking to her 'friends' yesterday morning!

Well Luci seems to be feeling a bit better, although not 100% based on her diapers & spit up. She is more alert & is getting back to her perky self, although not with the consistency that there was before the virus. Luci's Grandma & Grandpa Pierse are back again while Clay is away for a few days with the Navy. We are very glad they are here!

As predicted, now that Luci is starting to feel better she is not sleeping quite as well at night. She generally is down to one night feeding around 4am or 5am, but often wakes up around 2am or 3am for some paci time. Usually the paci buys me at least 30 minutes and is hopefully teaching her that she doesn't get food every time she wakes up. After the 4/5am feeding she goes back down until 7/8am and then we start our day with another feeding, followed by Luci talking to her 'friends' while I put my contacts in & brush my teeth!

Luci's first virus

She found her fist!! She worked really really hard for days...it took some crossed eyes and bonks to the head, but mission accomplished!! Look at this giant baby! 7 weeks old and filling out this 6M dress!
A little arm chub never hurt anybody...
The ladybug doesn't interest her much...I think it is because I don't know what the ladybug says? Anybody know what the ladybug says?


Miss Luci is a bit under the weather this week...it started on Tuesday and got worse on Wednesday, then stayed kind of the same on Thursday. I think she is on the mend, but based on my description of "she's just not herself" Dr. Brooke thought we should see the doctor and I was relieved for some justification to go. We went to the doctor this morning and he thinks she probably has contracted her first virus. She is basically behaving how I thought she would before I met her...all sleepy & still & quiet. If you've met Miss Luci you know that is not her typical MO. She usually kicks so furiously I ask her if she's riding her bike to town (if you were a 'country kid' from Iowa you'd know what I was talking about ;), and she just has lots of spunk. I told Clay she's been acting like someone took the fight out of her. I miss my spunky Luci! Dr. Bhakta said to keep her comfortable...to let her sleep when she wants to sleep, and to feed her often. So that is what we will do!

That being said, she is a healthy 13lbs and really fills out her 6M gear (see photos). The miracle blanket continues to work miracles...the first two nights she only got up once, and since then she's slept anywhere from 7 to 9 hours straight!! Let's hope it is blanket induced sleep and not virus induced sleep...I'm loving sleeping through the night (with the exception of waking up & checking on her several times, in addition to the 4:30am pump). We've been getting out the door for a 7AM walk most mornings before the heat sets in...it has been lovely!

The Amazing Miracle Blanket

Per my sweet husband and my longtime roommate Jen, I am THE person infomercials are made for. I want to buy pretty much anything they are selling on those stinkin shows...good thing we have DVR now so I'm never at a loss for something to watch. So you might be thinking...The Amazing Miracle Blanket? Sounds like a scam. As Clay keeps telling me...the secret to happy children and good parenting will not be found in a 'thing'. BUT...I am always looking for some 'thing' to make my life easier and to make Luci happier.

So last Wednesday we were telling my wonderful friend Amanda about how Luci doesn't sleep more than 3 hours ever, and we were thinking that perhaps it is because she startles herself & kicks out of the swaddle. At that point she told us about 'The Amazing Miracle Blanket'...the what we said? We were skeptical...so she pulled out her PC and showed us the website. Sure enough...infomercial baby was happy as a clam at the end of the product demo video...happy enough I ran home & ordered one (okay, two...what if she spits up on one at night?) . It arrived on Saturday, but I didn't get the mail until Sunday. So I tried it last night...and sure enough...she slept from 9:30p to 3:00a!! And she wasn't even totally up at 3a, but I woke up & realized it was 3a and I was super worried because we normally get up between 12:45a and 1:30a. I ran right in & saw that she was squirming a bit so I just woke her up to eat. Woohoo!! Then she slept from 4:00a to 7:10a!!! That is the most consecutive sleep I've gotten since she was born! So...I'm praying this wasn't a one night fluke...I'm praying this truly is The Amazing Miracle Blanket...

I'll try to add a photo of her in the blanket tonight...in the meantime if you are curious....
http://www.miracleblanket.com/instructions.htm

A routine...but not a schedule

Look at this crazy hair!! This is during the battle of the burp...poor little strained face...
Playtime in the chair...
Playtime on the play mat!

So (knock on wood) I think we are getting to be on a bit of a routine finally! It can be a 2.5 or 3.5 hour routine depending on the length of her nap. It starts with each feeding...which can take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour depending on the burp beast. Then we do a little playtime...she might hang out on the play mat, or in her chair, or on my knees, or in her boppy (but never in the swing...she's not into it so far), and then she starts to get fussy. Once the fussiness hits she gets swaddled up and the paci goes in the mouth. Usually she fusses for a bit longer, and before you know it the eyes are half mast and the sleeping with one eye open begins. The girl thinks her parents are pretty interesting because she fights sleep the whole way...she must think she'll miss out on something! After 10 - 30 minutes of this half masting she finally gives in and sleeps anywhere from 30 minutes to 2.5 hours. Once she's up we change the diaper and the the cycle begins again with a feeding as long as it has been at least 2.5 hours since she last started eating...which is almost always the case.

Now a schedule would be great because then I'd know she wakes up every morning at 7am, and is in bed by 9pm, or something like that. Then Amanda & I would be on our way to Old Town Spring at the moment because I'd know when she eats & we'd have planned accordingly. Instead we had planned to go at 1:30...assuming Luci would eat at 1pm...but she's still sleeping! Which is a blessing...I certainly can't complain about her sleeping...so for now I'm just going to be thankful for a somewhat more predictable routine!

Things to remember at 5 1/2 weeks

Look at this nose...look familiar Aunt Brooke & Uncle Ben??
What a sweet face...
Soooo sweet....

Luci's nicknames include Luci Bird, Luci Belle (per Grandma Rosonke), Sweet Baby (per Grandma Pierse), Luci Pea, Squirmy Wormy, Squirmis Von Wormis (can you guess who came up with that one?) and LRPy...(per Great Grandpa Halvorson...her initials + y). **And I forgot two of the favorites! Monkey toes & froggy feet!!

The sound of a hungry/mad cry is something like...elllaaaaaa....elllaaaaaaa....elllaaaaaa...

When she is in pain she clenches her fists, kicks like it is her job, and her poor little face turns bright red. Tears are often shed.

Lengthwise her 3 month sleepers are to small...she fills out the legs in the 6 month sleepers already...I think I'm going to have to look for some long/tall sleepers! The 3 month pants are more like capri pants/bermuda shorts.

She loves the mobile (thank you Lawrence family) over her crib...I ask her if she wants to look at her friends and then I put her in the crib. She'll often hang out & kick for 30 minutes or more!

She likes the pacifier, but still has trouble keeping it in her mouth. When she finds her fingers or arms she sucks on them.

The hair on the top of her head is falling out...she has the old man bald on top, but hair in a ring around her head look going on. It is still pretty dark, but some days looks a bit red. I have no idea how the color of hair can change, but it does seem to.

Her eyelashes are getting darker & more noticeable.

She still has a little patch of hair on the side of each ear. Like the same hair that is on top of her head!

She knows her mama. On Saturday Clay, Nigel (he was in town for the day!) & I hung out at our friends' house while my mom watched Luci. She cried and cried until I came home & held her, and then she was content. Then I'd give her back to my mom & she'd cry again. So she either knows her mama or she can smell milk & she likes it!

She startles very easily. If the sticky part of the diaper is ripped to quickly (& loudly) she cries.

She loves white noise...the noise maker from Grandpa Pierse & the Sleep Sheep from Erica & Michael are our two most helpful baby gear items.

She also really enjoys the bouncy chair that vibrates, and her Baby Einstein play mat from Jen & Paul. She loves to look at the star with lights on the play mat. BTW - all of this gear requires a TON of batteries...we've spent more on batteries in the last month than I have in the last 10 years.

She is NOT a big fan of the Maya Sling...maybe I just don't know how to put her in there so she's comfortable?

She often sucks down milk so fast that she chokes...at which point I ask her if there are bones in her milk, and then proceed to tell her that Milkbones are for dogs! She's not nearly as amused as I am...you have to do things to keep yourself amused at 4am...

One Month!

Miss Luci hit the one month milestone on Saturday! Somehow this has been the quickest but longest month of my life...maybe it is the lack of sleep? On a good night she sleeps about 3 to 3.5 hours...maybe 4 hours at a time, and on a bad night she is up every few hours. We have started taking a bath every other night, and after the initial scare of being naked in some strange substance she actually calms down & likes it! Then we put on baby lotion & a little sleeper, eat & then go to sleep. On a bath night we start the process sometime around 8:30p and on a non-bath night somewhere between 9p and 9:30p. Then I run to bed & try to get to sleep as quickly as possible before she wakes up! Some mornings she's up after the 5a or 6a feeding, and some mornings I can get her to sleep until 8a or so. I think she's going to be a morning person...usually we only see the smiles first thing in the morning. These particular smiles were for Grandma Rosonke...I had the camera out & kept asking her to smile at the camera for Grandma Rosonke (Grandma Pierse was here at the time) & she obliged!

Clay is on vacation this week and Luci & I are delighted to have him around for 7 days straight! He's started getting up at night with us at least once just to hang out & keep me company. It helps the time go a little more quickly as I battle the burp beast! Our little one has some serious trouble burping...she is in pain until she gets it out, and then is in pain for a bit afterwards...not so fun at anytime, but especially not fun in the middle of the night. If we don't win the battle of the burp she might sleep for an hour, but when she wakes up it will be twice the battle it was before she fell asleep. I've tried all of the burping positions (high on the shoulder, across the knees, sitting & holding her chin in my hand, and one I invented that is sort of sitting, leaning over the arm position), I've tried a gentle pat & a firm pat, with a cupped hand and with a flat hand...and nothing seems to work consistently. If anyone has a secret weapon out there I'd much appreciate the advice! My forearms are seriously exhausted from all of this attempted burping!!

Grandma Pierse left on Saturday and Aunt Brooke came back Sunday night. She stays until Thursday and then Grandma Rosonke arrives on Friday. Clay & I feel incredibly blessed to have such strong support from our families...thank you families...you are the best!

Happy Birthday Grandma Pierse

Grandma Pierse is this week's hero...and Luci is so glad she was able to spend her Grandma's birthday with her yesterday. Happy Birthday Grandma Pierse!!

Luci's reflux seems to be improving. Each day is a little different (some better than others), but I think overall things are looking up. She is back to eating on a 3 hour schedule during the day - which is much easier for me than the 2 hour schedule. Last night she slept 4 hours at a time so I'm feeling pretty refreshed - for awhile there she was up every 1 1/2 to 2 hours...that was rough...thank goodness I had Harry Potter during those wee hours to keep me awake & going. I now only read it at night when I'm up with Luci...I'm determined to make it last as long as I can! I'm so sad the saga is coming to an end!

The first family photos...

Reflux it is...but still growing like a champ!

Miss Luci was diagnosed with GER (Gastroesophageal Reflux) this morning by Dr. Bhakta. He gave us a few suggestions that Dr. Brooke had already given us (smaller but more frequent feedings, good burps and keeping her elevated 30 minutes after eating), in addition to prescribing Zantac & another antacid. Hopefully they'll work and provide her (and her parents) with a bit of much needed relief.

The good news is that despite this reflux the kid is "growing like a champ" per Dr. Bhakta! She weighed in at a whopping 10 lbs, 2 oz this morning! That is up over 2 lbs in 10 days! Poor thing...she must have my metabolism...

I think she looks more & more like her daddy everyday...even the nurse this morning thought so! This is Dad's favorite little sleeper from the Oswicks - he calls it her "Dr. Seuss Sleeper." Something to do with the stripes?!?!

Luci gives a shout out today to Aunt Jen & Uncle Paul. She can't wait to meet them...she told me herself. She loves her lemon outfit & sweetpea boppy from them! Happy Anniversary Aunt Jen & Uncle Paul!

Thanks to Miss Amanda...

who was last nights savior; she came over and soothed Luci so I could get a few hours of much needed sleep. Amanda definitely has the mommy touch - Luci calmed right down the minute Amanda started talking to her. With her mommy skills it is no wonder Clara is the happiest little girl ever!

Luci had a great weekend and was sleeping well...then all of the sudden on Monday afternoon something changed and she became the baby who wouldn't sleep! She's spitting up a lot & maybe having a bit of reflux (we head to the dr. tomorrow for a reflux screening) that is interfering with her sleep. The worst part is listening to hear wrenching screams and body wriggles without being able to comfort her. Usually she gets very fussy, her face gets red, she's inconsolable...and then all is relieved with either a little toot, big spit up or a burp. It is heartbreaking to watch & I'm hoping I can get some solid advice from Dr. Bahkta tomorrow.

The little one is up...I'll try to post some more photos later today!

Aunt Brooke

is this weeks lifesaver...she watched Luci last night after the 9pm and 12am feedings so this new mom could get some sleep. And Miss Luci cooperated by sleeping from 3am to 6am! Then she slept from 6:30 to 7:30 before fussing. Brooke leaves tomorrow and now I'm dreading that, but Dad will be home shortly after she leaves so we should be all right. I feel very blessed to have had all of this help, and we are looking forward to Grandma Pierse returning when it is time for Dad to leave. Luci sends her thanks & love to Grandma Rosonke, Aunt Brooke & Grandma Pierse!

Luci Bird

Well everyday gets better, but each night seems to be two steps forward and one step back. Aunt Brookie Nae & Sunidh watched Luci this morning so I could go back to sleep...it is amazing what a little sleep does for my attitude and general physical well being. Not getting more than 2.5 hours of sleep at any one time for weeks is much harder than I anticipated. The lack of sleep combined with the spinal headache made the last few weeks really tough, but the good news is that the headache is finally getting better. As for Luci, she may be a bit tongue tied (yes, it is an actual condition) and while it shouldn't prevent her from speaking correctly, it is making nursing a bit more difficult. She sucks & sucks but doesn't get as much bang for her buck as someone without this condition would. Lucky for us Amanda hooked us up with a speech pathologist who specializes in infant feeding, so tomorrow we go see her & a lactation consultant at the same time. I'm really hoping they can give us some suggestions to make the nursing go a little better. As I was warned, it is hard...really hard. I just didn't quite comprehend how hard - which maybe was a good thing. She'd much rather just hang out & sleep than eat...until I take her off...at which point she starts behaving like a little starving bird...mouth open, tongue searching, eyes wide, head bobbing around wildly...thus earning her the nickname of Luci Bird.

The first doctor visit was yesterday and all looks well. She's not quite back at her birth weight - she's at 8lbs .6oz vs. 8lbs 2oz, but Dr. Bahkta said she looks great. We need to keep a close eye on her until we get this feeding trouble resolved, but hopefully the appointment tomorrow will help with that. As for her long self, the girl is already up 1/2 inch to 23 inches!! Our newborn is almost 2 feet tall! The worst part of the whole appointment was that her newbie parents forgot the diaper bag...so when she peed, pooped and threw up all over the scale at the doctors office we looked like the new parents we are as we had to ask for wipes & diapers. All the while I kept promising her we'd get better at this parenting thing...let's hope I honor my promise!

Luci sends a shout out to her Uncle Ben who turns 22 today. Happy Birthday Uncle Ben!! Aunt Brooke says we should have some rice in your honor...

We're alive!

My apologies to all of you well meaning callers...I've been avoiding the phone for almost a month now! There are just so many changes I'm coming to terms with that I can't seem to muster the energy for a simple conversation.

Obviously we made it through the birth, despite it going in a completely different direction than we had intended. I had the epidural, and boy was I ready for it by the time we relented. Unfortunately it ended up being a 'bad epidural' (Woodlands Mom lingo) and I started the Friday after Luci's birth with the worst headache I'd ever had in my life. A chat with an anesthesiologist confirmed it was indeed a spinal headache - a headache caused by a poke in the spine that causes spinal fluid to leak out...resulting in the worst headache ever. Fortunately you can get relief from the headache by lying flat on your back. This would be a perfect solution after giving birth, as I was exhausted, but it certainly made it difficult, if not impossible to care for our newborn. Luckily there is a fix (a blood patch), but it involves another needle in your back & a great deal of blood drawn...but I managed through it despite the nurse passing out (Clay had to help her sit down while holding Luci...it was quite an event). I felt great Friday & Saturday, but the headache came back Saturday night.

More to come later...the posts might be a bit choppy for awhile as I blog in between caring for Luci. Clay is on a trip & my mom went out for a walk so I'm on my own. Mom leaves tomorrow & I'll admit I'm a bit terrified to be responsible for this tiny blessing without her. She's been an unbelievable help & I hope someday I can do for Luci what mom has done for me.

Gotta go.

Home again

We got back from the hospital on Friday, and are slowly adjusting to our crazy new life. Having friends and family here to help out has been a life saver. My parents just left on Saturday afternoon, but Britt's mom is still here and will hopefully be able to stay through the end of this week.

A Navy pilot friend of mine once described caring for a newborn as "Not very intuitive. Even the intake and exhaust operations aren't as simple as you'd think." That pretty much sums it up -despite all the books we've read and classes we took, there is still a lot of trial and error. Once again, thank goodness for having family and friends to help keep us on track.

My apologies for not getting pics out any sooner, so without further ado, here is our Miss Luci!




On the way to the hospital.




About 30 minutes old!



Super cute!

Look at her long legs.

All dressed up.

Here she is!

Lucia Rosonke Pierse made her debut July 25, 2007 at 9:11 pm. She weighs 8 lbs 2 oz, and is 22 1/2 inches tall. She has big blue eyes and quite a bit of curly sandy blond hair. She is very alert and seems to respond with familiarity to the sounds of our voices.

It's been quite a day! Britt was fully dilated by about 5:30 pm and Dr Beena came in and said it was time to start pushing. Britt pushed for a few minutes, but Luci wouldn't budge, so Dr Beena decided to let Britt rest for about 90 minutes, to see if her natural contractions would get things going.

Britt started feeling the urge to push around 7:00 and that's when it started to get really tough for her. She had near-continuous contractions for about two hours as Luci slowly made her way down the tunnel. By 9:00, Britt was getting really tired and frustrated, but Beena was able to get the suction on Luci's head and help pull her out the rest of the way.

I could go into further detail of what happened over the next few minutes, but this is a G-rated website. So - for my dad and for Liz Jobe and for anyone else who appreciates brevity over detail in this instance, suffice to say that Britt and Luci made it just fine and both are resting quietly. Actually, there are little snores coming from each of them, but both are resting peacefully! :)

- Clay

At the hospital

Britt and I arrived at the hospital last night and all is well; no baby just yet, but we're making good progress!

We got in around 8:00pm and met with Dr Beena shortly afterwards. A quick check showed that Britt's dilation hadn't progressed beyond 1.5 cm - where it's been for a week - so the doctor gave her Cytotec, a cervical "ripening" agent.

We were both able to get some sleep last night, even though Britt was still having regular, if somewhat unproductive contractions. Our nurse started the induction process - with Pitocin - around 5:00 this morning.

By 9:00 this morning, Britt was dilated around 3-4 cm and started having regular, increasingly painful contractions. The Pitocin-induced contractions were really brutal, however, and after about 45 minutes of continuous pain, we decided to get the epidural.

Now - at 3:00 pm, she's dilated to 5 cm and feeling better than she has in months, if a little nauseous. Britt just told me that she finally feels that Luci is ready to come out, and Dr Beena told me earlier she is confident Luci will be born today!

So - my apologies for keeping most of you in suspense today, but it took me a little while to figure out how to connect my Jurassic era computer to the hospital's LAN.

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers; I'll write again when we have more news!

-Clay

Type A

Well, no news today. I am still 1.5 cm dilated and my contractions were not very strong or regular this morning. As of now we are scheduled to start the induction process at 8pm tomorrow (Tuesday) night. We'll check into the hospital and be monitored for about an hour to make sure all is well. Once we've established Luci is still happy, we'll soon disrupt her world as she knows it and start the eviction.

As you may or may not realize, we really have had very lofty goals of a completely un-medicated child birth. Given we are starting the entire process with meds, clearly things are not going to go as we had hoped. Being SO type A, and having spent soo much time learning as much as we can about natural child birth, clearly this is not how we envisioned bringing our daughter into the world. That being said, we have the utmost faith in our child care provider, and at this point she feels this course of action will provide the best possible outcome. All of the reading in the world cannot compare with her experience, medical knowledge and judgement. We can only put our faith in her and in God that this is how it is all supposed to go. We all share the goal of a healthy mom & healthy baby, and we are trying to stay focused on the sweet baby girl we'll soon be holding... please keep us all in your thoughts & prayers tomorrow night and Wednesday.

Patience

No news...I'll post again after our 10am doctor appointment tomorrow. Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

Still no news

We went to visit Dr. Johnson again this morning - no news to report. I'm still 1.5 cm dilated, and still having contractions. Luci's heartbeat looked great & the ultrasound estimated her weight at 8 lbs, 7 ounces with an error rate of + or - 10%....so yes, we could be looking at a big baby girl. We go to see Dr. Johnson again on Monday morning. If Luci is still camped out as of Tuesday night we'll be admitted to the hospital to get the induction moving. We are praying she decides to come on her own before then...