Ainsley Update 6 month

Little Miss has been growing so FAST!! Of course, and no matter how hard I try I can not slow it down. She is officially 1/2 way to her first birthday and we just had our 6 month check up. Here is an update on how she is growing!!

Our friend Myk captured this amazing pic!!

Weight: 16lbs 13oz (64%)

Height: 25"

Head: 42.5"

Clothes: 6- 9 month

Diaper: size 2

We started solids at 4 months. I prefer to make my own baby food although it has been a little slow, this making it, due to our busy schedule. So far we have had, banana, avocado (not a fan), sweet potato, butternut squash with a little cinnamon, applesauce (today), and oatmeal cereal. I have in the works to make carrots and beet soon. Also, I have given her puffs, few bites of sister's mac and cheese and bites off my ice cream.

She is a rolling machine and can get anywhere she wants, as long as it is to the right of her. HaHa! For some reason that is the only way she rolls, although she will scoot around until desired object is on the right side of her and then proceed to roll. She also has gotten onto her hands and knees once.

Sleeping through the night is a NO! Although, I do blame myself. Since the 4 of us share a room I was always afraid to let her fuss in fear she would wake up Mackenzie. In the last few months I have learned Mackenzie sleeps like a rock, therefore no need to worry. So, I have started to sleep train with her. I let her fuss for no more than 15 minutes (although this is not a solid cry, more of a whine or talking to get attention) then I give her binky and rub her back for 5 minutes, usually she will go back to sleep. She still scares herself when she rolls over in the middle of the night. I think when we can get her into her crib where she has more room this will solve the problem. Also, she wakes up at 5 am sure thinking she is starving. Goal is to first deal with the 1 am wake up (that is the above routine), then deal with the 5 am feed. Also I am soon to work on putting her in bed not all the way asleep. Girl, loves to be snuggled and cuddled all day, errday. 

Napping is a hit and miss, she is tired every 2 hours and will sometimes sleep 15 min at a time and then take a good 1 to 3 hour nap later in the after noon. I need to work on a schedule but, I find this challenging with a toddler. Mackenzie will go in her room and wake her up or we are out and about and a noise will wake her up.

Our very loose schedule (this happens about 3 days a week. I am hoping to make a consistent one in the next month)

5 am snack and go back to sleep

7-8 am wake up

8 am breakfast (cereal and BF or 4 oz)

930 am nap (15 min or if lucky can get up to 1 hr)

(sometimes a few powernaps and maybe a bottle in between)

12 lunch (just started this, fruit or veggie and BF and 4 oz)

1 pm nap (This one can be up to 2 hours once it was 3!!)

330 pm snack (BF)

5 pm Watches us eat dinner and has a few puffs (if she can get them in her mouth or guilt gramma or gg into feeding her)

7 pm another power nap

730 pm bath (we shoot for T, Th, Sat)

8 pm Dinner ( cereal and veggie, BF or 4 oz)

Get ready for bed

830 - 9 asleep.

1 am wake up (see above notes)

Ainsley is an extremely happy baby! She loves to smile at every one, laughing can be more challenging. She is in love with her older sister and just stares at her all the time. Especially in the car!!! 

To go to sleep she likes her taggie and a blanket no matter the temp! She also must be held to go to sleep. No sleeping while playing!!

Ainsley,

It is a joy and honor to be your mommy! You love to make people smile and always brighten up every room! People love to talk to you! Mommy and Daddy and Sister have always and continue to pray for you! You are a blessing and anointed. I know you will do great and mighty things. Mommy loves you more than cupcakes!

Girl's Update

I haven't posted a girl's update lately so here it is. Actually, can we pause for a moment while I realize that I now have to say girls!!

Okay pause over, OMG I HAVE GIRLS!!!!!!!!

Mackenzie

age: 2 years and 9 months

• Clothing size 2T and some 3T (I like to buy clothes big, especially shirts so I get more wear)
• Shoes 6 but soon a 7
• Diaper size 5 although 4 works and hopefully soon no diapers at all!!

Who needs talking when you can sing EVERYTHING!

This girl loves to sing and it is the cutest thing to listen to. 

Loves her Disney princess, when asked which is her favorites she names all of them!!

Asks to go outside all the time!

Asks to play with play doh on a daily basis (thanks youtube)

Is the best big sister ever!!

She doesn't care what she wears on a daily basis but, lights up if I put her in a dress.

Loves to play with her princess magic clips and make them "new dresses" out of play doh

(again thanks youtube)

We are working on potty training but, she shows little interest in the process.

Baths are an all time favorite! When she is done she will put away her toys, drain the tub and wrap herself in her towel.

In the car she likes to say "Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom!"

When I finally get her to realize I am answering her she replies with "Look!"

I say look at what and she points and says ridiculous things like; "Ice cream cloud, or green dog."

It's quite annoying, obnoxious, cute.

She loves to help give big sister baths or bring her toys or wrap her in blankets.

Ainsley

age: 11 weeks

At her 2 month check up she was 11 lbs and 5oz and 22 inches.

Loves tummy time and really, really, really wants to roll.

Thinks Peek-a-boo is fun and makes the cutest face.

Sleeps 6 hours at night, although on the night's I have to wake up early I think she would sleep longer but, I have to wake her up to feed her.

Likes to cat nap but, will take one really good nap for me daily.

LOVES TO SMILE!

She also loves her sister and will smile like crazy at her.

She tried to laugh earlier in the week and I think her sister will make her laugh first.

I love being a mom to 2 girl's, I want to find them matching pjs, how cute! For mother's day I am so doing co-ordinating outfits!!

Maybe a post on that??

Just Arrived; Ainsley Goe

Ainsley Goe made her appearance in this world 10 am, Tuesday, January 6, 2015.

Here's her story!!

Warning: it's not short!

The Friday before, the doctor scheduled me for an induction Monday January 5th, 7 am. Fridayafternoon he called me back and asked me to reschedule for Tuesday morning at 7 am. I unwillingly obliged, hoping I would go on my own over the weekend. The weekend brought a lot of emotional turmoil as I tried to induce labor on my own, the only thing I didn't try was Castor oil, after some research I deemed it unsafe for me and baby and not worth the risk. Sunday morning I skipped church due to being in such a bad emotional spot. Sunday night I realized I was worrying too much and needed some prayer support from some of my church leadership. I texted 3 people that I needed to go into labor by Monday night to avoid induction. The actual induction didn't scare me, I had to have pitocin with Mackenzie to speed up labor, I just didn't want to be induced and have a long, hard labor. One of the people I texted was our Pastor, Monday afternoon he texted and asked if I had gone into labor yet, I replied "No, but my nails are done." he laughed at that.Monday brought a lot of sitting, hanging out with my family as our last day of 3 and trying to calm my worries. Tuesday at 3 am I woke to contraction pains, I found this odd because even though I had contractions for the past few weeks, they never bothered me at night. I started timing them because they were feeling intense, they were 4 to 5 minutes apart and 45 sec to 1 min long, borderline "go to the hospital," according to google. So I opted to ignore them since I would be there in a few hours anyway. 3:30 am, I couldn't sleep due to the contractions, not the pain, just the annoyance. So I decided to get up and finish packing; standing up made my water break! I woke up Mondo, finished packing and was at the hospital by 4:30 am.

They skipped triage and put me in a room almost right away. I had to wait in the waiting room for 20 or 30 minutes, annoying! They got me set up, asked me all the questions and finally checked me. Shocked to learn I was already at a 6 and handling the pain great. I don't really remember times after this. The contractions were getting closer together and intense, I opted to have an epidural. I got that and felt great, a little TMI on top of the contractions I was having gas cramps, the epidural helped with that too. After the epidural they put in a catheter, and a few minutes after that I heard a pop and a bunch of water rush out. I thought the catheter came out, my nurse said "no, the rest of my water broke." Apparently I have 2 sacks one up top that popped at 3:30 am and second lower one. After that popped the nurse checked me, I was 100% ready to go but, baby was still high. So she told me to sit there and let the contractions "labor down" the baby. This was hard because I did have the urge to push. Finally, she called the resident OB/GYN, baby was coming out at a weird angle so while I pushed the Doctor would turn her. They gave me an oxygen mask because after pushing it would take awhile for Ainsley to recover and her heartbeat come back up. After a few pushes they made me wait again for my doctor to show up. I had to wait for about 3 contractions before I could start pushing again. Once my doctor showed up I pushed through 3 more contractions on the final push of the 3rd contraction, they told me to stop, I was confused (why stop?) and then I saw her! 5 1/2 hours after showing up at the hospital I had a baby. I was warned by my nurse, next time let them know I labor fast.

After labor, I did tear a little so they had to give me some stitches. Then they found some leftover membrane inside me. So for 1 hour after birth, I had to sit there while they dug the rest out. I probably could have gave birth without the epidural but, my doctor said that I definitely should be glad that I had the epidural now. My mom, Mackenzie, and Grandma got to come in and see Ainsley. Mackenzie was super excited. My mom took Mackenzie home and they took me and Ainsley to our new room. After we were settled in our new room, Mondo went home to be with Mackenzie and put her down for a nap. I told him to go, not knowing what was going to happen next.

Once there the nurse was concerned about Ainsley breathing very fast, she called in a resident pediatrician who thought that maybe due to the fast labor and the fact that the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck, which was the cause of the slow heart rate return during labor, she might have some fluid still in her lungs. So, the doctor ordered chest xrays and extra labs. Then the nurse checked on me. I was bleeding way too much and had huge clots on top of it. During pregnancy I had developed a fibroid on my uterus. This was causing my uterus to not close up properly and for the clots to get stuck inside me. So they moved me and Ainsley closer to the nurse's station for constant observation. Both, the pediatrician and my doctor said this wasn't anything to be extremely worried about, just cause for extra concern. The resident OB/GYN spent some time "digging" inside me to get all the clots out and check my uterus. My uterus should have been closed up but, there was still room for 2 fingers. So, they put me on pitocin to cause contractions to close that up. With out the epidural any more, the "digging" hurt like no other. At this time I texted the same 3 people to ask for prayer again. I was simply too weak to pray on my own, I knew Mondo was praying too as I had called him to fill him in. They also gave me a shot for the bleeding, pain medicine because it was bad, extra fluid due to the amount of blood loss, and antibiotic for my positive Group Strep B and how long after birth I had been "left open". Under doctor orders every hour a nurse had to come in and push HARD, very very HARD on my uterus to get it to move down and to get the blood clots out. Ainsley had her extra labs done and they came in our room to do the chest x-rays. One nurse suggested lots of skin on skin contact with Ainsley to help us both recover and I must say it did. That evening, friends and family came to visit and I felt like a zombie. I could barely walk to the bathroom on my own. That night Mondo went home to be with Mackenzie and I was on my own to take care of Ainsley, I was thankful for the nurses. Ainsley also chose to feed all night long!!

Our view Tuesday morning

The next morning Ainsley and I both got a clean bill of health. Although, we would still have to stay for another 24 hours due to the Group Strep B and lack of anitbiotics during the quick delivery. Ainsley did have fluid in her lungs but, she worked them out on her own. I no longer had people pushing on my stomach every hour. Mondo and Mackenzie came in the morning with Cinnabon, and we got some family photos taken, our hospital has a photographer come around the rooms for a complimentary photo shoot. Although I had managed to put on makeup for the photos, I couldn't move from the bed, I hurt so bad. The rest of the day went by uneventful, Mondo and Mackenzie went home for nap, Mondo came back just him in the evening and that night Ainsley fed all night long.

Thursday morning we were discharged early and sent home. I got to take an actual nap, and spend time with Mackenzie. Although I was still in HIGH amounts of pain and my feet had swollen bigger than ever. I was told my swollen feet was due to the meds and the extra fluid they had given me. One week later and my feet are almost normal size. That evening we went as a family to Old Spaghetti Factory for a celebratory/ birthday dinner for Ainsley.  

This is my complete labor story. As I look back I realize how scary in the moment it was, I never did feel scared or worried though, that would be the peace that passes all understanding!

Mondo was my rock during this time. How he stepped up and cared for his 3 girls is beyond belief to me. I barely had to move a finger which I believe helped me recover so quick. He made sure I got lots of rest when I got home and spoiled Mackenzie so she would know just how loved she is! Words don't cover the amount of love and gratitude I have for all he has done for me and his 2 daughters the past few days.

Mackenzie is completely smitten by her little sister. You can see signs of jealousy every once in awhile during this adjustment process. Actually, I wouldn't say it's jealousy it's more of not understanding, why baby sister gets so much attention, why mom can't pay as much attention to her, and why baby sister has stuff she can't use or that she has to share.

Ainsley came home with newborn rash, most of that is gone. She was low risk for jaundice and I still haven't seen a sign of it. She eats like cray cray, doesn't like her bassinet and still has her day and night backwards. I am sure at her doctor appointment tonight we will find out that she is back to birth weight. She was 8.5 lbs at birth 21" long. When we checked out she was 7.11 lbs. Just like her sister she pictures big but, she is very tiny. We had to go buy newborn clothes just so she would have some. All I could find of Mackenzie's was 0-3 months and those swim on her.

Me, I am glad to finally be returning to myself. I have survived my first day at home by myself with the 2 girls and am looking forward to getting back into some sort of routine.

Thank you for giving me some time enjoy my new little girl and adjust to my new role as a mom of 2. I do have some more posts planned and hope to get those out soon.


Until then,
Dorinda