Three Weeks Old?!

How is it possible that my sweet baby girl is already three weeks old tomorrow?! When I think about how slooooooow the last few weeks of my pregnancy went by I am amazed how quickly time is going now that Hazel is here. Before you know it, we will be on our way to Alabama!

I've had several requests for more pictures of Hazel--as if I need an excuse to show my baby off! Haha. But first--a few bullets to discuss what's on my mind and what life with a newborn is like.

• Hazel has changed SO much already. It makes me a little sad, actually. If you compare the pictures I post you will be able to see it too.
• Breastfeeding is going great. It's everything I expected it to be and more. I love our bonding time and I love how she calms down almost instantly when I get her in my arms.  Hazel was back over her birth weight at her 2 week appointment--go boobs! She's starting to find her voice and making all kinds of funny and adorable noises when she nurses. She also pants when she's getting close to the breast--almost like she's excited.
• We are attempting to introduce a bottle (I pump and use breast milk) so that she'll take one in the car during our move if we're unable to stop to nurse (i.e. rush hour city traffic, no where to pull over, etc.) She hated the Avent bottles but chugged down 2 oz. from a TommeeTippee today. Winning.
• I LOVE babywearing. Seriously. I love having my baby close to me when I'm out and about and it's been great at home to have my hands free when I want to get some things done. Hazel loves it too and I've used my ring sling more than once to calm her down. She cuddles with me and goes right to sleep. <3 I have a feeling it's going to come in very handy once Mike goes back to work next week.
• Hot flashes--ugh! No one told me about these. I'm still getting them almost daily but not as often. When they happen I feel like I'm back on fertility drugs!
• On the subject of hot flashes, they really need to make a postpartum deodorant. I smell all the time thanks to these hormones. 
• I am still spotting but my recovery is going pretty well, I think. I still feel swollen in sore if I do too much walking so I'm still taking it relatively easy. My perineum stitches feel all right but my labial stitches are still sore. Sitting on hard surfaces is still very uncomfortable. 
• I love my mama cloth! SO much more comfortable during postpartum recovery and I just wash them with my diapers. 
• Witch hazel pads didn't work for me but I loved Earth Mama Angel Baby's New Mama Bottom Spray. Definitely pack this in your hospital bag!
• I have more stretch marks now than I did when I was pregnant. How is that possible?
• I've lost about half of my pregnancy weight. Hopefully the rest will come off after I'm cleared to start exercising again!
• We are actually getting quite a bit of sleep thanks to bedsharing. She has slept on my chest most of the nights which means I am able to nurse her without her waking up fully and getting all worked up. She nurses in her sleep most of the time and I love cuddling her all night long. She's only going to be this little once, you know? I do have a co-sleeper on my side of the bed that I lay her in when I get up to go to the bathroom or when I'm overly tired and am afraid to sleep with her next to me.
• She sounds like a monkey when she cries.  No long "waaaaaahs" from my little girl. She stutters and sounds like, "ah ah ah ah ah"--a little monkey. I'll try to post a video some time. 
• I.love.cloth.diapering. Even Mike loves cloth diapering! He's commented more than once on how easy it is and how he can't believe that people literally throw money away on disposables. Right now I'm doing laundry every day but I don't really need to. It's really not a big deal and Mike helps me stuff and fold diapers at night. Right now we're using prefolds and Thirsties X-small and Duo covers during the day and some Alva and Knicker Knappies pockets at night. I know it's saving us a ton of money because we will go through at least 10 diapers a day, sometimes more. 
• The movers are coming on the 18th of September. That's....soon.  I am not as excited about the move as I used to be. Now that Hazel and the twins are here I am really sad that they won't grow up together. I'm going to miss having my brother close by too. At least I can talk about moving without crying now though. Thanks Placenta Pills! 

Our first night home. Nana Zero watching over Hazel

Cousins!
Arthur, Hazel and Sadie

 

 

 

Kickin' it old school in my leg warmers

Baby Flash Dance

First trip in the Ergo!

This newborn dress barely fits anymore! No, she can't grow up yet!

The Twins Are Here!!!

 

For those who don't know, my sister-in-law and I had overlapping IVF cycles last November. Last fall, my brother was diagnosed with azoospermia and after testicular mapping it was determined that conception was possible through IVF and sperm extraction. Her egg retrieval was two days after mine and it has been so nice to go through all everything together and at the same time. She knew how scary IVF was and we could commiserate during our pregnancies. God bless Shannon--she carried these beautiful babies to 37w6d!!! They are healthy and beautiful. Mike and I drove up to Seattle today to meet them--they were about 13 hours old by the time we got there. These are the first children for my brother and #3 and #4 for SIL, who has two teenage boys from a previous marriage.

 Arthur_Cormick was born August 4 at 22:40 weighing 6 lbs 9 oz and 19.5".  Sadie_Eliza came at 22:46, 6 lbs 3 oz and 19.5"! Aren't they the sweetest?!
Arthur was SIL's grandpa's name. McCormick was my mom's maiden name. Sadie is just a name SIL loved and Eliza is a tribute to all the Elizabeths in both our families.

Shannon, my sister-in-law, was able to deliver them vaginally with minimal complications! Her water broke about 0430 yesterday morning and because of the increased risk with twins they headed to the hospital right away. Her contractions weren't picking up at all (the nurses eventually decided she had had a premature rupture of membranes and wasn't actually in labor) so they started her on a low dose of pitocin, gradually increasing it over several hours. By 2230 she was fully dilated and ready to push! She delivered in an OR, just in case they needed to do an emergency c-section and get one or both of the babies out quickly. Arthur was out in two contractions (!!!) but Sadie floated to the top of the uterus, was breach and had to be pulled out by her feet, with some difficulty--the OB was elbow deep in Shannon's uterus trying to pull her out--for this reason Shannon, who had hoped for a natural birth, was grateful she elected for a low dose epidural. She couldn't imagine going through all that and feeling everything and I don't blame her.  Sadie gave them quite a scare due to some difficulty breathing at first but once the NICU got her crying, all was well. Both babies are excellent nursers and they are all going home tomorrow! I share this so all of my readers who are mamas of multiples know that vaginal twin deliveries are totally possible! I am so proud of my sister-in-law.


It was so much fun to watch Mike with the twins. It was his first time around newborns and he was just in total amazement. I'm so excited to see how he's going to be with our little girl and both of us are so anxious to meet her now that we've snuggled these cuties.

 Soaking up that intoxicating baby smell....

 

Uncle Mike and Arthur (that's proud big brother in the background)

Sweet Boy

 Sweet Sadie