The first weeks at home

We have been very busy, not to mention that we have already made three out of town trips. I know most people are not suprised as people say we never sit still, but at least for now Allison loves car rides so we are able to do it. The first week home was interesting as I was going through so much anxiety. Not sure if it was no sleep, scared that I was doing everything wrong, out of whack hormones, but I will say I was quite anxious. We went to the peditrician on that Thursday the 8th and Allison had gained all her weight back plus three ounces. The first night home was interesting, we ended up bringing the swing into the room and putting her in it as we hadnt gotten any sleep. She slept good in it and I was scared that our baby was going to have to live in that swing for her first year of life. I believe the second night we put her in bed with us on the sleep positioner. It worked for an hour or so.... although the doc said she wanted her to learn to sleep in her bassinett and fall asleep on her own. We are definitely still working on that, but will say the swing has stayed in the living room. Miss Allison is 4 weeks old!! Crazy that this time has already gone by. At this 1 month mark, Allison is definitely not on a schedule, some days she is really active in that she wont go to sleep so mommy thinks she is always hungry. And other days she sleeps during the day and will eat 2 1/2- 3 hours. I will say at night Allison does pretty good. Knock on wood, but it seems like she will go down and sleep the entire 2.5-3 hours and then go back down relatively easy. She has started gazing back at people and she will grab on to your clothes or will's chest hair :) She has so much better head control, she can lift her head up for a couple of minutes if she is on her tummy. She also can control her head for a little while if she is sitting on your lap. She is definitely a grunter, my nickname for her is my little goat, not sure if its gas or just her finding her voice. She makes all sorts of noises lately. She doesnt seem to like being swaddled, so we dont do it at night. Of course I wonder if we should and maybe she could sleep longer. Who knows?!?! She has had 3 nights where she slept 5 hours straight, although I had to wake her to eat. I didnt want to wake her but I knew she wasnt at her 10 pound mark and she isnt supposed to go longer than 6 hours until she is 10 pounds. All the rules!!!! The third week was good in that the second week was hard for me so anything was better. I wasnt as hormonal, not really anxious, got used to Allison, and probably more confident in myself to know what to do if she was upset. The second week Iwas anxious, she was sporadic in eating, I was still getting used to breastfeeding, and we made our first car trip. HOW I did it I dont know, but Allison did well in the car. I cant believe this child is 1 month old and she has made 3 trips, Longview, Crockett, and Wimberly. Go Allison.

Things to Remember:
Gripe Water- we use it often as it seems like Allison gets in pain from gas or what not
Mylicon drops- again gas drops- seems to help
Pumping/Breastfeeding every 2.5-3 hours often 2-2.5 hours
Grunting noises
Sweet smiles after feedings-not on purpose but you can tell she is content
Grabbing onto shirts
Head control, she can lift her head for many minutes especially if she is on your chest. Although she is still our "bobble head" she is gaining much more strength as she can sit on your lap without her head falling over.

And then there were three plus a yorkie :)

OH MY GOSH, I cannot describe the emotions, experience, and life transformation that has happened within the last couple of weeks. Miss Allison Nicole Driskell made her debut on July 4th, 2010. I am so excited she came on the fourth, at first I didnt want her to have that birthday but now I am so glad she does. So the plan was for us to be admitted to the hospital on Monday evening to start the induction process and I would be induced on July 6th, 2010. So on Saturday night we had people over to the house to cook fajitas and go watch fireworks. I even made an apple pie from scratch and went to the grocery store etc. I was having contractions but they were irregular so I didnt think too much about it. We went and watched fireworks with the Brynes and the Vinsons until about 1145 at night. We got home and I just couldnt sleep so I was watching tv until about 145 when I felt a pop in my belly and felt a gush of fluid coming out. It was the strangest feeling ever and I immediately knew that my water had broken. Will was still up celebrating the fourth of July as he wasnt going to celebrate any of the other days so that he felt good for the events we thought were coming up that monday and tuesday. So when my water broke I called out to Will and we called the doctor. Dr. Harms was not on call so we were told to go to labor and delivery. We hopped in the car while grabbing my bag that I had mainly packed but we hadnt packed anything else like the car seat etc. haha, I remember yelling to Will grab the car seat.... I was sooooo scared b/c I thought I had two more days to get ready. We got to the hospital around 230 and were admitted into a labor room. I had already called mom, natalie, and dad and they were on their way. They also had celebrated the night before :) Will called Jim and Sabrina and his parents. I also called Lynne. Once admitted my contractions were irregular and causing Allison's heart beat to go really low. They firgured out that when I was on my back while I was having a contraction it was causing Allison's to be in distress. It was sooo scary as I didnt know what was going on. They immediately put me on oxygen and started the pitocin. They came in an did an epidural, which hurt but was okay. They put in a catheter and had everything ready in case I needed to have a csection since Allison wasnt at first handling all the contractions. I was so scared and just didnt know how I was going to make it through the entire process. I prayed and prayed and was defintely given strength to get through it all. Lynne and Jody got to the hospital around 6am and then mom and natalie got there about 7am. The Driskells got there around 8 and dad and Sherry got there around 1030am. The doctor thought it was going to take me 8 or more hours to get to 10cm but around 930 the nurse realized I was at a 7 and we were going to get ready for delivery. Although they had to come in and put another epidural as the first one didnt take on my left side. I will say contractions hurt like crazy but I have had cramps that bad before. I am just glad the other epidural took before I had to start pushing. I started pushing around 1030 and she was born at 11:08am. WHAT an amazing experience... when she came out they put her immediadetly on my stomach, I remember thinking oh my gosh its really a baby, :) not that I didnt think it would be but it was so serreal I couldnt believe she had actually come from inside me. Will and I both cried as we couldnt believe this experience had just happened. They cleaned her off and handed her to Will and I. We immediately tried nursing and she did wonderful. We then had everyone come in and meet Allison. When I first saw mom and natalie we all started crying as we were all in disbelief that all of this had just happened and little Allison was in our lives. After we introduced Allison to everyone they took her to the nursery to get her vitals and weight. She weighed 6lbs 9oz and was 19inches long. They then took me to our room and I recovered from labor. Will and I still hadnt slept from the night before but with so much going on we just pushed through. Everyone was so tired that mom and natalie left and went to frisco to nap around 4pm. So did dad and sherry. The driskells came back up to the hospital and we all hung out until about 7pm. We had Allison in the room most of the evening but then tried to get some sleep so the nursery would bring her in when it was time to nurse. That evening/morning is when it truly became more real that she was indeed ours. What an experience. We discharged from the hospital on Tuesday July 6th, Will was so ready to leave that he had everything in the car ready to go at like 9 that morning. Of course I had to meet with the lactation consultant again and go over nursing one more time as I was so anxious. This is truly an event in our lives that we will never forget. The first moment you see her is so serreal you think you are dreaming. Birth of a child is truly a miracle. She is a precious little girl and is loved by many already.

I will post later about the last 2 weeks as these are more new experiences for Will and I. :)

Almost Here

Well these last few weeks have flown by, I stopped working this past monday so I have had all week to get things ready and hang out. Last Tuesday June 22nd, we did our NST test and another sonogram. They stated everything looked great with Allison. The doctor didnt seem nearly as worried but still told me to get my 10 kicks per hour in one day. And wouldnt you know baby Allison was pretty active on our appointment day :). But again we went through the next couple of days barely getting our kicks/movements. I was definitely still re-assured when dr.harmes said we were looking good. They think she was about 6lbs 10 oz on Tuesday the 22nd, so by now she maybe be another pound bigger. She was gaining about a pound a week. Me on the other hand stopped gaining weight so far, dont want to rejoice just yet. But I was about the same at the doc, so I am about 20 pounds heavier. Anywho, I cant tell you how excited I am to be able to see and hold Allison. Although I will admit I am completely nervous as I dont know what to expect and I keep thinking bad thoughts like something bad might happen between then. But I am praying and thinking positively just waiting to get to Tuesday. :) I am so excited I just cant believe its almost here. We are being admitted on Monday night so they can begin the induction process. I am only dilated to 1 1/2 at this point but am having many contractions. Each time I go into a contraction I keep thinking maybe I will start having them every five minutes and she will be here sooner. I would love to go into labor now so I can meet her and start this journey. This week has been nice to be off work, I got a lot of errands done and took some stuff back to the baby store. I also got my hair done as well as manicure and pedicure. I have also managed to have naps and go out to eat a lot. :) I cant believe I will get to hold her and meet her in about five days. WOW!!! how exciting.