Adeline's update- 4 Months

I loved that I kept monthly updates of Eden and Lydia for their first year. They changed so much in that time, and I honestly don't remember most of it! So while it's great having those blog entries to look back on, it also makes me feel sad and guilty that I'm already falling behind on Adeline's updates! I'm the third child and I always gave my mom a hard time that my older siblings have more pictures than me, and their baby books are more finished, and they had fancier birthday cakes when they were little, etc. Now I totally understand it! It just gets really hard to keep up. But I'm going to try my best. I missed Adeline's 2 and 3 month updates and we're closer to 5 months than 4 at this point but I'm going to call this her 4 month update.

After having my twins, I was afraid to have another baby because I just didn't think I could love another one as much. Boy, was I wrong. I LOVE Adeline so much and she has brought such joy to our family! She is constantly smiling and chatting and giggling. She loves watching her older sisters and they love hugging and squishing her! She still likes to be held quite a bit (which I love!) but she's also getting really good at playing by herself on the floor with her toys. She loves her swing and takes most of her naps in their. Her other naps are usually in the carrier or her car seat while we're on the go. She rarely naps in her crib, which may be a problem down the road, but for now this works. At nights, she's been in a Pack N Play in our room, but we've moved her to her crib in her room.Eden and Lydia were only in our room for a few weeks because none of us were getting any sleep! But with Adeline, I've liked having her close by. Also we now live in a two story house, and I haven't wanted to get up in the middle of the night and go up the stairs.  Call me lazy, but it's true! She was doing really great and sleeping through the night quite often, but then we went on a month long vacation that totally threw her off. She now thinks she's a newborn and likes to get up every 3 hours to eat. Hopefully, as we get back into our groove, she'll start sleeping better again.

Loving my cuddle time!

Daddy got his cuddles (and nap) in the foyer at church. 

 We had her checkup earlier this week and she weighed in at 13 lbs 15 oz. I can't remember her length for sure, but I'm thinking it was 25 inches. Whatever it is, she is definitely taller and bigger than my other two were. It's crazy that she is wearing outfits right now that they didn't wear until they were probably 9 months old. She is growing so fast, but I think she is just perfect! Her doctor commented again at how crazy strong she is. She rolls both directions and scoots and rolls herself all around the floor when she plays. She is definitely not safe on the bed or couch and even the bumbo any more. (She just arches her back and practically tips the bumbo over now.)

She doesn't take a bottle which is fine most of the time. I'm pretty much with her 24/7. However, I do go and play soccer once a week and it would be really nice if Nate could give her a bottle while I'm gone, or maybe we could even go on a kid-free date someday, gasp! If anyone has any tips I'd love to hear it. She doesn't take a pacifier either but she's rarely fussy so I'm not that concerned about that.

I can't think of anything else important to update on at the moment. Basically, she is loved so much by us and is just changing so rapidly!

Spring Time Round Up

I was afraid that having a newborn would cause us to miss out on adventures, but she hasn't slowed us down one bit. Adeline is really easy going and adaptable so we've been able to have a great spring.

We've had visits from both sets of grandparents. Our parents are so good to come to Arkansas and our kids absolutely love it! I'm always grateful to have extra hands to play with the girls and we all shed some tears when they have to go back home.

We loved having Nate's parents in town for Easter

With the beautiful weather, comes the itch to be outside as much as possible. We decided to brave a camping trip. We figured bedtime is a nightmare at home so how much worse could it be in the woods? We were pleased to find out it was actually so much better! The girls were super excited to sleep in a tent so they actually put themselves to bed. And by some miracle Adeline seemed to like sleeping in a tent as well and didn't wake up once in the night! We're considering sleeping in a tent every night at home...... We chose a perfect place to camp and had the entire campground all to ourselves, which was good since between us and our Shepherd and Pendleton cousins we had 6 adults, 8 kids, and 3 dogs. Nate got a new tent for his birthday. We went with the "instant tent" which was awesome! I'm all about the 2 minute set up! We also got one that was plenty big so we could fit our air mattress, the girls' cots, and Adeline's pack and play, plus space for Ollie and our stuff. It was perfect. Our girls had a grand time and I was relieved nobody fell in the fire or the pond.

Adeline spent much of the camping trip cuddled up with mom in the carrier

We are frequent attendees of story time at the local libraries. Yes that's plural. We hit up the Bentonville and Rogers library a couple of times a week.  The girls enjoy the fun songs and stories and there is usually a little craft at the end. I love that they get to be creative and I don't have to come up with a craft or gather the supplies!

Stringing beads at the library

Speaking of me not having to gather supplies, I love the Amazeum! It's a children's museum full of hands on activities. We have a family membership and it has been well worth the cost! The girls have a blast every time we go and I love that I don't have to clean up the mess!

Last weekend we were supposed to go to Branson with some friends but they had a medical emergency and we had to cancel just a few minutes before we were scheduled to leave. We were bummed to miss the trip but didn't want to let a perfectly good Saturday go to waste so we came up with a plan B. We headed out to the Gentry Wilderness Safari! The girls loved feeding and petting the animals. Well, Eden loved feeding and petting. Lydia is a bit more cautious and loved looking at the animals from a distance. Eden did get bit once by a little pony but after a few tears she declared, "I like to try again!" 

They both said the "Mama" (llama) was their favorite

The girls were very excited to see "Daniel Tiger" 

After a day with the animals, we decided to go to the drive-in movie theater and watch the new Jungle Book movie. We met up with Bryson and Alyssa. The girls thought it was pretty neat to get to watch a movie outside and of course any time spent with their cousins is a good time. The movie didn't start until about 9:00 PM so Lydia actually ended up falling asleep by the end in Nate's lap and Adeline slept in my arms, but Eden held strong until the ride home. 

It's easy to get caught up in the tasks of every day life so I'm so grateful that we've been able to take the time to do these fun things with our children and create such fun memories. Speaking of fun memories (or funny ones) Eden has an aversion to clothes so let me just leave you with this picture.....

Newborn Pictures

I'm finally getting around to posting Adeline's newborn photos.....only 2 months late! My mom did a beautiful job with these pictures. Thank you Mimi!

Our sweet girl turned 2 months old last Sunday. She is such a joy to our family. These first couple of months, I've spent holding her or wearing her in the carrier most of the day because it keeps her happy which keeps me happy! She's really turned a corner recently though and has been much better about lying on the floor or in her swing for periods of time. While it is easier for me to accomplish things, I'm already missing the constant cuddles! Unfortunately, she still hates her carseat. Almost every car ride she screams and cries and works herself into quite the frenzy. By the time we arrive at our destination she is sweaty, red faced, bug eyed, and foaming at the mouth! Hopefully, that improves before we drive out to California in June....

She has become such a smiley little girl which Eden and Lydia love. They constantly tell me, "Look Mommy, she's smiling at me!" 

She's not really on any sort of schedule, but that works for us right now. She's pretty flexible which makes it nice for getting out of the house to take the older girls to the park, playdates, and storytime. She has started sleeping through the night occasionally. It's awesome when it happens but I definitely don't count on it. 

At her 2 month checkup, she weighed in at 10 lbs 9.5 oz. Our doctor was very impressed with her head control and overall strength. I swear she was born being able to hold her head upright. It's so interesting how each of our kids have been so different in size, abilities, and personalities around the same stages. I can't wait to see what little Adeline has in store for us for the future! 

One month update on Adeline

The last month of my pregnancy seemed to drag on but this last month with Adeline has flown by! It's amazing how relative the passing of time feels depending on our situation. Technically, I'm a week late and Miss Adeline is already 5 weeks old!

Adeline is growing like a weed! She is 9 pounds 6.5 oz and 23 inches long. She is a great eater and is already chunking up! The first week of breast feeding was absolutely horrible. I'll tell you what, nursing with blistered, bleeding nipples was way more painful than child birth! Adeline was a chomper and just chewed me up. I met with the lactation specialist a few times and she told me I had perfect technique -thanks to 16 months of nursing twins I'm pretty much an expert :) - and she said there was nothing physically wrong with Adeline so we should be able to nurse succesfully. We couldn't figure out why she was chomping but we adjusted a few things and I said a lot of tear filled prayers that we would be able to make it work. Thankfully, one day it just clicked with her and breastfeeding has been great ever since. (Side note, the lactation specialist recommended coconut oil for helping my nipples heal, and it was a miracle worker for me. I highly recommend it to any breastfeeding Mommas.)

Everyone asks me if having one baby as opposed to twins is easier. And I always answer with a resounding YES! The biggest difference is I'm able to be so much more relaxed with her. With the twins, I constantly had to be worrying about our schedule. I needed both of them to eat at the same time, sleep at the same time, etc. and I always had to remember whose diaper I changed, who ate on what side, who slept 45 minutes, who slept an hour, who pooped, and so on. Our schedule was our lifesaver yet it also drove me crazy trying to keep two very different babies in sync with one another. Plus going out with them was a challenge since I tandem nursed them. I couldn't feed them while on the go. With Adeline, I just go with the flow with what she wants to do. I don't care when she eats or how long she sleeps. I don't have to panic when we're out in public and she gets hungry. I just feed her wherever we are. It is so much more less stress to just have one baby this time. That being said, my other two children haven't disappeared so the challenge is taking care of two toddlers in addition to a newborn this time around.

I guess you could say Adeline is a "needy" baby in the fact that she loves to be held all the time. But for now, I don't really view it as a problem. I'm enjoying all the snuggle time. I feel like I missed out on that somewhat with my twins because I couldn't hold them both and when I was holding one the other one wanted me too and there wasn't a lot of leisurely cuddle time. Eventually, Adeline will have to learn to be content on her own so I can actually get something done, but I'm happy to hold her and relish in her sweetness and I honestly don't believe you can spoil a newborn!

Sleep is hit and miss which I'm sure is typical of most newborns. Sometimes she only gets up once in the night. Sometimes she's up every two hours! On days that I'm lucky, all three of the girls will nap at the same time which means I can too. I also am able to sleep in just a little bit because Nate will get the girls up before he goes to work. He'll put an episode on for them buying me 30 more minutes of  glorious sleep!

Eden and Lydia have been so good with Adeline. I was really worried about jealousy, and they do act out a bit more seeking attention, but overall they've done really well. They like to be big helpers and pick out her pajamas, throw her diapers away, get her blankets, rub her lotion on, etc. They really love her and I love having these three beautiful, wonderful girls to call mine!

Adeline's Birth Story

When people hear I was in labor for 21 hours, their immediate response is something like, "Oh no! That is awful! That must have been so miserable." And if you would have told me ahead of time that is was going to be so long, I probably would have said, "Never mind, forget the VBAC! Let's just do a c-section again." However, I can honestly say my labor was really not bad at all. I felt each stage was very manageable and I was pleasantly surprised with how well it all went. Having never experienced a vaginal birth, I really didn't know what to expect. Hollywood depicts it as this big dramatic event and everyone likes to tell you their horror stories, but giving birth for me was nothing like that.

My due date was the 24th but I had decided a few weeks ago, that Friday the 19th would be a great day to go into labor. I did everything I could do mentally and physically to prepare myself for that day. I even went in to the doctor that morning and got my membranes swept. That night I started having contractions and thought, hey this power of the mind thing might actually work. I may actually be in labor! But alas, they stopped after a couple hours and I did not have the baby on the 19th. I did however, keep having contractions off and on all weekend long. I kept getting my hopes up, but the contractions would always gradually fade away.

Monday morning I had a doctor's appointment and I hoped that with all those contractions I would have at least dilated and progressed further that when I was last there on Friday. I was so disappointed that I was still only dilated to 2.5 cm which is exactly where I was on Friday. But my doctor did a membrane sweep again and said she felt confident the baby would come soon because I was very soft and stretchy. Once again, I had a bunch of contractions that night but nothing came of it.

Last belly shot the day before Adeline was born

On Tuesday, my girls were at their cousins' house all day, so I decided to do all the last minute things before the baby came. I mopped, vacuumed, did laundry, got a pedicure, went grocery shopping all while having contractions off and on throughout the day. I started to notice a change in pain and intensity and began to have an inkling that this time it was the real deal. My mom flew into town that night around 7:00 PM. While we were waiting for her at the airport, things transitioned and I knew I was in labor. I had some pretty intense contractions and I'm sure the airport employees started getting nervous I was going to give birth right there as I swayed and breathed my way through each of them. After a less than enjoyable car ride home, I decided to start timing my contractions. They were about 5 minutes apart. I was relieved when we got the girls to bed so I could focus and try to relax. We pretty much spent the rest of the evening binge watching Project Runway while I paced around the living room. I found the best way to relieve the pain during contractions was to lean over the back of the couch, sway my hips, and focus on my breathing. They were definitely painful but I told myself it would only last a minute or so and I could do anything for a minute. Gradually they started lasting longer and coming about every 3 minutes. Around midnight I finished my season of the show and decided to hop in the tub for a bit to see if it would help me relax. It did feel really good actually especially with a jet pointed at my lower back. After I got out and got dressed I decided it was time to head to the hospital. This was just before 2:00 AM. Thank goodness we only live 5 minutes from the hospital so I only had to have a couple contractions in the car because that was miserable! I feel sorry for anyone that lives further than that from a hospital. Car contractions are the worst!

I felt pretty pleased with myself for how I handled laboring at home and hoped I didn't have too much longer before the baby was born. I was devastated when the nurse checked me and I was only dilated to a 3. Are you kidding me!?!?!?! I began to really worry that I would be one of those people who couldn't dilate on their own and I was going to end up having a c-section again. Of course once I was hooked up to the monitor and lying in the hospital bed, my contractions slowed way down. I'm sure the staff thought I was being dramatic and wasn't really in labor since I was hardly dilated and my contractions were pretty spaced out. They said they would monitor me for an hour. If I progressed they would admit me and if not they would send me home. I just prayed that I would dilate because going home was not an option! Thankfully, when the nurse came back I was at a 4! Hooray, we could stay. I was so relieved that my body was doing what it was supposed to do. They called my doctor and by the time she got there I was at a 5. Finally, things were moving along. This was sometime between 5:00-6:00 AM. My doctor said my bag of waters was bulging and she could go ahead and break my water if I wanted. She said that would really speed things up and I would probably deliver soon after. I was all for speeding up my labor but wanted to make sure I had time to get an epidural first. They hadn't gotten my labwork back yet nor had they given me a bag of iv fluids so it was still a ways off before I could get the epidural so we decided to hold off breaking the water. Also, at this point I wasn't in very much pain as my contractions were really spaced out, so I wasn't that concerned about getting the epidural ASAP. When I say spaced out, I'm talking like 10 minutes apart and not very intense. Honestly, I thought it was a miracle I was progressing because nothing seemed to be going on. Around 8:00 AM the nurse came in and told me there was a scheduled c-section at 9:00 AM so if I wanted an epidural it was somewhat of a now or never situation. I felt almost silly getting an epidural when I wasn't even in pain at this point, but I knew that I wanted one and didn't want to miss my chance so we went ahead and decided to do it then. With my c-section I had a pretty strong reaction to the spinal block with uncontrollable shakes and vomiting so I was worried the epidural would have a similar effect, but it was uneventful. Once the epidural was in place, my doctor came in to break my water around 9:15. I was already at a 7 so we figured it wouldn't be long before the baby came. The contractions came back with a vengeance after my water broke. They were only a minute or two apart and quite painful. How would I know they were painful, you ask? Because my epidural was only working on one side! It was a bizarre feeling. The nurse had me turn to my side to see if it would help the medicine flow to that side. Thankfully, that did the trick and I really didn't feel much after that point.

Once the epidural was fully working, we basically just waited. After being up all night, it was nice to relax and take a little nap! I had the initial surge of contractions for about an hour after my water broke, but then they faded away again. I stayed at 8 cm for hours. Here is where I have to give a shout out to my doctor. She knew I really wanted to have a VBAC and she was totally on board with that. With my progress being so slow, some doctors would have suggested (or threatened) a c-section, but it never even came up. She said my body was doing what it was supposed to and there was no reason to not let things happen in their own time. I actually switched doctors at 32 weeks pregnant and am so grateful that I did. She was awesome!

I continued to labor throughout the day. Although my contractions were few and far between, they were apparently effective because I  was finally dilated to 10 cm and ready to push by 3:00 PM. I feel like I could have managed the whole labor experience without the epidural but I am so grateful to have had it for the pushing part! Maybe it wouldn't have been as bad as I imagine it would be, but I was OK not feeling a baby emerge from my body. I did feel a bit ridiculous "pushing" when I couldn't feel a thing and had no idea if I was even doing it right. In between contractions we just chatted with the doctor and the nurses. It was all very relaxed and very not what I pictured. No screaming or gasping for breath, no nurse yelling in my face, no swearing at Nathan for impregnating me. Just taking deep breaths and pushing whenever the nurse told me to and then pleasantly laughing and conversing while waiting until she told me to do it again. I tell you what, modern medicine is amazing! There was a light above me that was turned off that I could see my reflection in so I was actually able to watch and see the baby's head coming out. So weird! After 21 hours of labor, little Adeline Jane was born on her due date at 3:43 PM! She weighed in at 8 pounds 3 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. Practically perfect in every way!

Afterwards, the doctor immediately laid Adeline on my chest and we had some good bonding while I was stitched up from some minor tearing. That was a new experience for me as my twins had been whisked away, and I hadn't held them for a couple hours after they were born.

Eden and Lydia meet their baby sister!

Very curious about her.....

But not so sure about keeping her...

Mimi and her girls

First family photo

After the epidural finally wore off, the nurses had me try to get up and walk to the bathroom. That didn't go so well......I passed out! Luckily, I felt it coming on and the nurses were able to help me sit on the floor right before I blacked out! I think it happened because I had lost a lot of blood. When they tested my hemoglobin level it was 5.9 and it's supposed to be above 12! Needless to say, I was very weak and tired. I ended up getting a blood transfusion the next day. The rest of the hospital stay was uneventful and we were discharged Friday morning. I've been amazed at how quickly my body has recovered in the last week. Obviously I'm nowhere near 100% but it's definitely been an easier recovery than my c-section. Overall, I'm very pleased with how my labor, delivery, and recovery played out.

Adeline is so long and loves to stretch out! 

Since coming home, my parents have been in town. They were such a big help especially with the twins. I'm so grateful they could be here. They just left last night so today is our first day on our own. I'm a little nervous! I can't believe Adeline is one week old today. We feel so incredibly blessed to have her as a part of our family now. Eden and Lydia have done really well with her and absolutely love her. We are excited, anxious, scared, and eager for this next chapter in our family to begin!

Waking up is hard to do!