Soup of the day

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Innocence, frustrations and disappointments


Where I found C when I walked in the house


Well, I'll start with the cute stuff. The other night we took the girls to Diebert park to feed the turtles and fish. Will wasn't exactly jumping for joy to go because it is such an ordeal now with 2 kids. He would have been happy just walking down the street but I insisted. Anything to get out of the house these days. He admitted later that he had a lot more fun than he expected to have. This picture is of her feeding the turtles some bread. She loved it too!
Here is a picture I took of the girls Sunday morning before me and Callan left for church. It is hard to get a good picture of the two of them because I don't trust Callan to hold Lizzie and so I have to prop her up on the boppy pillow which means that Callan can't get very close. Callan looks scared to even look at Lizzie.




The frustrations that I was going to blog about have turned into blessings. As you faithful readers all know Callan has been a slow grower during her short 18 months and we had several tests done and different doctors check her out just to make sure there wasn't anything wrong. Well Lizzie comes in the world at a whopping 8 lbs 9 oz so we just knew that she was going to be different than her older sister. When she left the hospital she was 8 lbs. 1 oz. At her one week checkup she had only gained 2 ounces so she was 8 lbs. 3 oz. Then at her 2 week checkup she lost an ounce putting her down to 8 lbs. 2 oz. I was really bummed feeling like we were on track to have the same issues that we've always had with Callan. Dr. Hamilton wasn't really concerned that she wasn't at her birth weight but he didn't like that she had dropped so he wanted us to come in 5 days later for a weight check. In the meantime I made sure to wake Lizzie up by putting a wet wash cloth on her skin to make her mad so that she would eat really good. I took her in yesterday to see how much she weighed and she had gained 12 ounces in those 5 days!!! She now weighs 8 lbs. 14 ounces. We were so shocked but excited!! (It takes Callan about 2 months to gain that much) Dr. Hamilton called me yesterday afternoon and he was so sweet. He was so excited about her progress that he doesn't want to wait to see her. He wants to bring her in again this Friday and again next Friday to make sure we are on the uphill climb. It wasn't exactly easy. I have had to pump most everytime before I fed her and then struggle to get her awake enough to eat but it is totally worth it. I would do just about anything to nurse her and not have to start out with formula. So I'll keep you updated but we are praising God and praying that she will continue to grow on a normal schedule. If she grows that much from here on out she'll be bigger than Callan in just a few months.

This last paragraph is a confession and why I am so disappointed. Yesterday morning I had a dentist appointment and I was told that I had a cavity. I know you are thinking this isn't a huge deal but let me tell you that I have never EVER in my entire life had a cavity. I was so bummed! I am so disappointed in myself for not flossing like I should (does anybody?). I hated to hear that but more than that I hated to pay for it. I've got to go back in a month to have Dr. Wilson use the laser on me but I'm so bummed because I can't say that I've never had a cavity anymore and I feel like I need to take out a loan to pay for this thing. It isn't cheap! Which is why I will leave you with this advice. Brush and floss daily! I know I will be!!

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Lizzie Ruth Bridges

Warning: lots of pictures


Lizzie Ruth Bridges


The family present at her birth


She hated her bath!


Callan is a proud big sister


The family hospital photo


Callan wore her big sister shirt to church


Callan waking up after a nap with me and Lizzie


She was glad to be done with her bath at home too!

Sleeping in the swing

Well, I am going to attempt to blog about Lizzie's birth tonight while I'm sitting at home. I am really missing Peak of the Week at church. I don't miss church much at all. I think I've been sick once in about a year and other than that unless I'm out of town I go. I love CrossPoint! But this is the life I have to continue for a few more weeks because of a new baby. I can't wait until she is old enough to get out and go places. I'm getting a little tired of being at home (I know it's only been a week). Anyway, here is the story.

I was a week overdue and was scheduled to be induced Wednesday, August 26th at 5:30 if I didn't go before. I had lots of contractions on Monday and Tuesday and ended up calling Queen Kathleen at the hospital to find out if I should go in earlier than Wednesday. She should if I could stand the contractions she would wait because it would only help me to labor more on my own at home. So I sat around all day Monday and Tuesday trying to take it easy. Callan spent the night with Will's parents Tuesday night so that she didn't have to get up early. We arrived at the hospital and Kathleen hooked me up to the monitors and asked me the million questions they have to ask. She checked me about an hour later and I was at 3cm. She started the pitocin on the lowest level because my contractions were already 4 minutes apart. At 8:45 they were bad enough to get my epidural. I was 4cm by now. By the way because of the contractions I think I would have been in labor on that day anyway so I wasn't as worried about having to be induced. At 10:00 I was at 6cm and still waiting on the doctors to break my water. I don't exactly know what took so long but they just weren't in a hurry. I was under the impression it wasn't going to be broken between 7-8 that morning but oh well. At 10:45 (only 45 minutes later) I was 9 cm. At 10:58 I was 10cm (water still not broken-funny story there if you want to know but can't post it b/c it isn't appropriate for the guys to read). Dr. Woodford finally came in at 11:05 and broke my water and Lizzie arrived at 11:11. I might have pushed 6 times. I laughed half of the time because of all the hair this crazy kid has. She came into the world weighing 8 lbs. 9 oz and 21 3/4 inches long. I was so shocked at how much she weighed and at the amount of black hair she had. Callan was only 7 lbs 3 oz and had just a little light brown hair. Of course now Callan's is blonde so I'm curious what Lizzie's will do.

Labor was great this second go around. Much quicker, calmer, easier. My recovery has seemed to be quicker as well. I have felt better physically but also mentally. So far she has been a great baby except for the sleeping at night part. She sleeps so much during the day and then at night she seems to have a harder time. She has had a hard time going to the bathroom as well (go figure if you've ever met my other child) so she seems to hurt more at night (don't know if this is possible or not). We went in this morning for her 1 week checkup and she weighed 8 lbs 3 oz. She left the hospital weighing 8 lbs 1 oz so she only gained 2 more ounces in a week. I was kind of surprised but I'm hoping once her potty issues get resolved she will eat even better and put the weight back on. Just an FYI we weighed Callan this morning too and she weighed 17 lbs 13 oz (at 17 1/2 months). She is still so small although she seems huge to us now that we have a new baby. She is healthy as far as we know and is eating SOOOOOOOOOO much better than she did about a month ago. I'm interested to see if Lizzie follows the weight pattern Callan did or if she will be bigger quicker since she started out so much bigger.

We are all adjusting well. Callan likes to pretend cry when Lizzie cries. I haven't decided if she is really upset and needing attention or just warning us that Lizzie is crying. She loves to touch her hair and also to hold her paci. She has never put it in her mouth though which is good. She also loves to look down in the sling when I'm "wearing" Lizzie and squeal when she sees her. Quite funny to watch! Will and I are both somewhat exhausted. My mom was here from Friday until Tuesday and I don't think I realized how much she did for us until she left. We both crashed today since we had the girls by ourselves and Lizzie slept the whole day so I didn't even really have to mess with her. Oh well, I guess we'll adjust just like everyone else does. We are just glad to be blessed with 2 beautifully healthy baby girls. I'll try to update more often but I don't get on here near as much as I did a week ago! Hope to see you all soon!
Cozy in the cradle
The girls in their cadillac going for a ride on the golf course!