Adilyn's first Easter

I have about a million and 1 things I have to get done this morning before my students arrive.  So, I will add captions to all of the pictures later.  But, these are for you, mom!  :)

                                                                       Mid-Sneeze, SO CUTE

                                                              The next 2 are my favorites :)

And how's mommy?

This is a post by me, about me. 
Today is my first day back to work.  I'm doing great.  But, lets rewind a little...

After Bailey was born, I had HORRIBLE PPD (post pardum depression).  I never got to the point that I wanted to end my life or end my baby's life.  But I was constantly crying and depressed.  It was a horrible time in my life.  And, it lasted OVER a year!  I called the doctor several times.  I finally changed doctors and she did put me on an anti-depressant.  My OB with Bailey refused to give me medicine and kept saying "if it continues, call me back."  After 6 months, I was beginning to wonder how much longer it needed to go on.  I had a new doctor this time.  I told her about my depression with Bailey and she started me on meds at 28 weeks pregnant.  However, I was a little worried about taking it so I didn't start it until 34 weeks.  It has been a LIFE-SAVER! 

Breast-feeding has been an issue.  Part of my problem with Bailey was that when I would breastfeed I would get ridiculously depressed.  Later, I discovered that this is a newly discovered disorder.  Some women release a hormone that causes severe depression while breast-feeding.  This, combined with the fact that I had no medication, was a HORRIBLE combination.  Also, I don't produce much milk.  Even now, with Adilyn, I only pump about an ounce per day.  When Adi was about 2 weeks old, I called the doctor and had her up my dose of anti-depressants b/c I was starting to feel panic attacks when I would breast-feed and was feeling violated.  However, things are great now.

Breast-feeding is great for 2 reasons.  1. it benefits my baby.  2. I have dropped 41 pounds since Adilyn was born.  I only gained 7 while pregnant which means I'm 34 pounds lighter than I was when I GOT pregnant!  It's an awesome feeling and most of my pre-preg clothes are loose!  I will continue to pump before work and after work as long as I can.  I'm on supplements and I've been trying to exercise but I just don't have a lot of milk.  I wanted to share this because I know that PPD is something so many women go through and you should not feel bad or guilty if you have to be put on medication!

That's all for now.  I'm doing well and think I am going to enjoy being back at work.  I have a great job that allows me to be home during the summer with my kiddos.  I feel like I have the best of both worlds :)

2,3,4 weeks and a birthday

I'm really behind on blogging.  I basically keep up with our life happenings on facebook.  This isn't actually a good idea because things are impossible to find on there after your page gets full.  Anyway, here are Adilyn's 2,3, and 4 week photos.

2 Weeks

3 weeks

4 weeks

She is really growing and changing.  We are SO in love with her!  She went to the doctor last Monday and weighed 9 pounds 3 oz.  She goes back on Monday so I will know how much she weighs again then.

Today is Zach's 32nd birthday. He was 25 when we got married and I can't believe he is 32 now and I am 30 and we have 2 beautiful little girls.  I love him so much and appreciate how much he has helped me with Adilyn.

Here are some pics I snapped of the girls last night and today :)

 Helping daddy blow out his birthday candles



 Loving her baby sister. 



1 week old

So far, this has been he easiest week with a newborn that I ever thought possible.  God really knows that this mama had enough stress with the pregnancy.  Adilyn is the best baby ever.  I was thinking this morning that I'm sure there will be days when she is not perfect but she and Bailey both have been SO SO wonderful the past week.  Memaw found out that Adilyn had no newborn dresses and fixed that!  Here is her 1 week pictures (or the 2 I have taken so far) :)

I would also like to say that as of this morning I am 24 pounds UNDER where I started when I GOT pregnant!  That is SUPER crazy to me but the weight just keeps falling off.  I know this is due to breastfeeding and the fact that I was SUPER swollen.  And I STILL can't get my wedding rings on :(  I'm really missing them since I had to stop wearing them at about 13 weeks due to swelling.  Same thing happened with Bailey.  However, take a look at my all-back-to-normal ankles!  I love my tiny ankles!

So happy for the first week with our little miracle.  For those of you who may not know, the doctor told me to abort her at about 6 weeks.  She said my pregnancy wasn't viable.  Can you imagine had I listened to her?  I am so so so very thankful for Adilyn Cate!

Adilyn's birth story

This is mostly for me, but I like reading birth stories so maybe someone else out there does too.  On Thursday morning, I woke up at 2 to go to the bathroom.  My stomach was really tight but I thought nothing of it because I'd been having contractions for 3 weeks.  But, when I sat on the toilet and after I finished going, I felt this HUGE gush of water.  I immediately knew what had just happened.  Thank goodness I took my cell phone to the bathroom with me because it wouldn't stop.  When my water broke with Bailey (also in the middle of the night) it was just a trickle and I didn't leak a lot until I got to the hospital.  Anyway, I picked up my phone to call my husband who was asleep in the bedroom but he didn't answer.  So, I immediately picked up the phone and called my mother-in-law to let her know she needed to come over, and fast!  As much water as I was losing, I thought for sure Adi was coming VERY soon!  Then, I'm still sitting on the toilet leaking water and grabbed an old towel from under the bathroom sink, stuck it between my legs, and waddled into the bedroom to wake Zach up.  I'm sure it was a beautiful sight!  Zach got in the shower (b/c his mom lives 25 minutes away) and I wandered around wondering how I was going to get clothes on?  I finally decided I was just going to have to put clothes on and sit on the towel until we got to the hospital.  When Zach's mom was almost here I told him I was going to the car, but alas, I had to walk out to the driveway first to vomit everywhere.  (By the way, it feels so good to not be throwing up every morning anymore:))  When we got to the hospital about 2:40 I had started having a  few contractions but nothing new to what I had been feeling.  They tried to put me in an exam room just to make sure it really was my water that broke.  Then, when the nurse realized I was soaking a towel she decided they would just admit me.  DUH!  Anyway, about 3:00 I told them I HAD to have some food.  Even if it was crackers.  They checked my blood sugar and it was a little high from vomiting and not eating so they did bring me 4 saltines... WOW!  HAHA.  Then, it was time to get an IV.  IV's are my worst nightmare.  I am more worried about them then the actual delivery.  This definitely was a nightmarish experience also. The nurse came in and assured me that IV's are her "thing" and I would be fine.  She grabs the biggest needle I have ever seen ... NO LIE and started trying to find a vein.  Then, she lost the vein, and had to start over.  It hurt SO bad.  So, the 2nd time she actually gets in the vein then blows it (I am still sporting a HUGE bruise from it) and had to pull it out. SO, she moved to my right arm (which I told her to use in the first place) and tried again with no luck.  I was REALLY in pain at this point.  So, she found the house supervisor and she came and put the IV right where I originally asked and we had no problems from then on.  They checked my cervix and I was still at a 3.  She said they would start pitocin closer to the time for the doctor to arrive.  So, I tried to rest but I had too much adrenaline.  They let me take some nausea medicine and I felt better.  At 6:30 they started me on a VERY slow drip of Pitocin.  About 7 I was in MAJOR pain. SUPER hard contractions and dilating fast.  The doctor came in and said I was at a 5.  I asked for some IV pain meds and it helped with the pain a little.  A few minutes later they checked me and I was a 6.  I received 2 doses of pain meds in my IV between 7 and 9 am.  She said once I got to an 8 I couldn't have any more.  At 9:45 the nurse checked me one last time and I screamed as she moved the last little lip of my cervix around Adi's head.  Then, I started pushing.  25 minutes later, I was holding an 8 pound 8 ounce little girl.  I will not lie, it was excruciating, but she was well worth it, born at 37 weeks 4 days.  We are so in love with her.  Bailey thinks she is just wonderful as well!

Par-Tay

Saturday we had my birthday party.  It was really fun.  It's very hard to find a Mario cake!  I wound up going to one of those video game stores close to our house and found the cake toppers.   They are not actually cake toppers but they worked just as well.  I spent too much money but it was worth it.  Then, I went to wa.l.m.art and found a plain cake and just had them write happy 30th birthday on it.  I know you are wondering why I bought my own cake... My husband was really sick.  He hardly got off the couch until about 4:30 (right before everyone showed up for the party).  Anyway, I took Bailey and we picked out the cake stuff.  The mushroom and ? box had candies in them so I let Bailey put some of them on the cake.  The figurines were 22 dollars!  (More than the cake, ha).  Here are some pictures.

                                                   We should have waited until I fixed my hair to take this.  Oh well!

Bailey and baby update

Bailey does NOT have a UTI.  I'm very glad but very irritated that I spent the money for a pointless doctor visit.  She loves to go to the doctor.  So, when she says she needs to go, we don't know if it's for real or not.  Next time she goes, she is getting 3 shots for school.  So... I don't think she will love it so much after that!

Now for an update on baby sister.  I had my last ultrasound yesterday.  I'm dilated to a 3 and thinning out.  The doctor said she is glad she's on call this weekend becuase she thinks she is going to see us.  So far, not much going on in the way of contractions.  I've even looked online to see how to induce labor safely, haha.  However, I'm not really willing to try any of those things.  Also, something fun, the doctor could see lots of hair on little sister's head yesterday.  I'm hoping for a curly blonde (like Zach and I were when we were little).  How Bailey wound up with dark straight hair, I don't know!  I guess it's not a huge surprise, Zach and I are both dark headed now but mine is WAY curly.  Adilyn weighed 6 pounds 10 oz at yesterday's ultrasound.  But, they say that can be a pound either way.  However, she weighed an estimated 5 pounds 2 oz at the last ultrasound so I do know she has gained at least 1 pound 8 oz over the past week and a half.  Hopefully she is born soon!  I am BEYOND ready!