I can't believe our Baby Hadley is now two weeks old. I have meant to get on here and write about her birth, but all I really want to do all day is sit and hold her. But, she is sleeping now and it must be written. So....here it is:
Saturday, Nov 5
th was
Jadyn's birthday. We had a full day and by the time I got home that night I was DONE!! We had fun celebrating Jade's birthday and now...it was time to have a baby! I went to Sacrament on Sunday and then came home. I was taking an early leave from Church! :) I spent Sunday afternoon making sure things were packed and the house was picked up. Scott's dad was having everyone over for Thanksgiving dinner that night, and it was nice to have a distraction. We got home around 7:00 and we sat down and talked with the kids and let them know that although things were going to be a little crazy the next week, we loved them very much and were so happy to be their mom and dad! After the kids were in bed I was finishing up a few things when the hospital called. I was supposed to be calling them at 6:30 the next morning to make sure they had room for me, but instead they were calling to tell me that I could just come on in at 6:30.
YAY!!!! I was very happy!
Monday: Nov 7th5:30 a.m.- I didn't get much sleep. I woke up a lot so by 5:30 I was fine to be up for the day. I showered and got ready and kissed the kids goodbye!
6:45 a.m.- We arrived at the hospital and got settled in the room. My nurse,
becky, was fantastic and I liked her from the beginning. She was easy to talk to and sarcastic, so we got a long great! She got right to asking me all the questions and starting my I.V. (although the first time my vein blew. Still have a huge bruise from that!)
7:30 a.m.- We were getting things started. My nurse started the
pitocin. I started to feel some contractions but nothing painful...more like pressure or light cramps. I sent
scott home for my pillow! :) Good thing he was fast
8:00 a.m.- Scott walked in just as the anesthesiologist did. There was no waiting for any major pain for me! Let's get the good stuff hooked up! The anesthesiologist was a great guy as well. Definitely the most personable of the 3 I have had. He had me lie on my side in a ball. The other 2 I was sitting up. Either way, they aren't that painful. I have always said, and the same was true with this one, the pressure and crunching sound is the worst part. I was quickly numb. 8:30 a.m.- Things continued to roll and Dr. England came in to break my water. I was numb, didn't feel a thing. Sweet. They checked me and I was at a 3 and 70%. Good enough
9:00 a.m.- I settled in for a nap. I felt so warm and comfy. Add that to peace and quiet and it was quite nice!
9:30 a.m.- Becky checked me again. Only a 4. Bummer....Our hopes of having a baby by noon seemed slim
11:30 a.m.- After a 2 hour nap Becky checked me again and....I was complete!
Yipee!!! Hadley was still VERY high. She didn't want to come out I guess. She had me start doing a few practice pushes. After the first push I got sick and ended up throwing up a few times. That sucked, I think I held my breath while pushing. Lesson learned. Becky called Dr England to come down to deliver
12:00 p.m.- We start pushing again with Becky and little Hadley didn't like it much. Her heart rate dropped to 70 and Becky quickly called Dr. England again and made it a little more urgent. She remained calm and only later told us she was nervous when that happened! Dr England came in and also mentioned she was high but due to her heart rate if we didn't get her out soon we would have to use the
vacuum. Whatever works, let's just get her here. I seemed to reach in and get her head turned in the right direction and try to pull her down. It was weird because for the 1st time I could actually feel the pressure down there-with the other two I was WAY to numb to feel anything. I think I pushed through 5 or so contractions
12:31 p.m.- Baby Hadley arrives!!!! It will always be the most amazing experience to me to have a baby inside me one second and the next thing you know, after 9 long months, this baby is now on the outside! It is surreal to look at them and think they actually lived inside of me! I was so happy she was here happy and healthy.
Official stats: 8 lbs 7 oz and 20.5 inches long: Perfection!
Right away I knew she was a
spitting image of
Jadyn. It was so crazy! I held her for awhile and after they cleaned her up a bit, and cleaned me up, everyone left the room. Scott, Hadley and I were able to spend the next 30 min alone, just enjoying the moment. I loved it. I was still numb, so I wasn't in any pain and I was so happy to just hold my sweet baby!
1:30 p.m.- We made it to our new room and Scott was able to give Hadley her bath. We also finally text everyone to let them know that Baby Hadley was here, safe and sound! We spent the next few hours with just the 3 of us. I was already starting to cramp and hurt pretty quickly. After getting some pain pills it was a little better.
3:30 p.m.- My mom brought
Jadyn and
Jaxon in. They were both
sooo happy to see Hadley. They loved holding her and just looking at her. It was good to see them! Everyone held her and then my mom took them home and said they would come back later.
The evening: The rest of the day we had quite a few visitors: Megan, my dad, Mike,
Brandee, Roy and Belva, Melissa, and my mom and kids again. It was fun to get to show Hadley off! Everyone commented on how much she looked like
Jadyn!
I was feeling
ok. The after part of pregnancy is definitely not fun. The bathroom trips are awful and the after cramping sucks. I just was uncomfortable. Scott stayed the night. He was asleep by about 9:00 p.m. though! He slept great on that little couch thing they had! I couldn't sleep and Hadley seemed pretty awake as well. Scott watched her when he woke up at 3:00 a.m. and I slept for a little while. I was getting a little stressed that Hadley wanted to sleep way more than she cared about eating, but was trying to not worry too much. And so it begins!
Tues Nov 8th:
Scott had to leave early to pick the kids up from my mom's. My mom is great and already had them dressed and fed by the time Scott got there at 7:30.
Jadyn was upset that they weren't coming to the hospital right away. They went home though and waited from
Brandee to come over and then they came over to the hospital around 10:00. They stayed for about 30 min (and were there when the
pediatrician was checking
hadley out!) and then
Brandee took them to go do some fun things for the day. It was pretty much just a day of hanging out for me and Hadley. I did go to a nursing class in the afternoon and missed Jake and Catrina stop by. Scott was in the room though, so they were still able to see Hadley. Scott picked the kids up from
Brandee around 5:00. He brought the kids over to the hospital and took the kids to eat in the cafeteria and then up to the room. My dad also came by for a visit. My mom stopped by just as Scott was getting ready to go.
Jadyn wanted to stay for a bit so Scott took
Jax home and my mom said she would bring Jade. By this point I was starting to feel overwhelmed and stressed. Hadley had been quite fussy in the afternoon and didn't want to eat. That was starting to get to me as well as everything else....let's blame it on the hormone in balance. I also had probably only slept a total of 8 hours in 2 days. I always say no sleep and pain killers combined are an awful combination. Add in hormone
inbalance and I am a mess!
BRandee and Lewis stopped by for a bit. As I was sitting on my bed, a new nurse walked in and for some reason I just had a melt down. I can't even really explain why, but I started crying. I went in to the bathroom and cried for a minute and then came back out. It was a little
awkward after that point. Lewis and
BRandee left and then my mom made sure I was
ok and then took
Jadyn home. I called Scott crying and telling him I didn't know what was wrong. He felt bad he wasn't there and asked if I wanted him to come back. I told him I would be fine, I just needed to sleep. That night, as I was feeding Hadley and she was actually
eating really well, I had the strongest feeling that there were people praying for me. There are not many times in my life that I can say I actually could "feel" people praying for me, but that night it was very clear to me that Heavenly Father loved me and the prayers from other people were felt and gave me great comfort. It is an experience/feeling I won't forget. I was able to get about 5 hours of sleep that night.Wednesday Nov 9th:
I had started to notice on my early morning feeding that she was starting to look yellow. I knew the signs and knew the result. Scott and I talked about the chances of her having to be on lights before I even had her. AFter Jade and Jax both had it, we figured it would be the same with Hadley. Sure enough, at 7:00 a.m. the nurse came in and let me know she was going to set up the lights for hadley and at least get her started until the Pediatrician could come in and decide if we should go home with lights or just stay at the hospital. She was a very unhappy baby. She hated the lights. I had learned fairly quickly that she did not like being undressed and she liked to be snuggled with her hands by her face. So, the fact that she had to lay in the little bed thing with only a diaper on and no blankets or someone holding her, made her very grumpy. She fussed and cried off and on all day. She would sleep for maybe 10-15 min and then fuss again. The only time she really stopped fussing was when I got her out to feed her. I also let her take brakes every hour and held her for 5-10 min. She would be so happy while I held her and the minute I put that darn eye cover thing back on she was fussy again. I felt so bad for her! My nurse had also checked me that morning and thought she felt my liver enlarged, so she had Dr. England come and check it out. He felt around and said he thought everything was ok. The ped. came in and decided it would be best to keep her there for one more day. She told me she thought I would be able to room in-meaning I would officially be discharged but because Hadley was staying I would be able to stay in the room with her. I was really happy about that and the fact that they could put the lights right in our room. I called Scott to let him know we weren't going to be able to come home. Jade was not so happy to hear that! Scott got the kids off to school and then came to the hospital. He stayed for a little while and I was able to finally take a much needed shower. The social worker came in. He was a great guy. Just talked to us about being able to Room in and then also talked for a minute with us about post partum and ways to help it. My sister was nice enough to pick Jax up from school and let him come play at her house. Scott left in the afternoon to get some stuff done at school and he also picked up Jade and took her to Meg's for a bit. They had fun playing there. Scott picked them up, grabbed some dinner and then came to the hospital. It was nice to have the kids just hang out with me. They ate on my bed and then we all watched Rio. While we were watching the movie I asked Jade if Mrs. Cannon had asked her about the baby. She looked at me and then looked away and said "I didn't really want to talk about it" and then she looked at me again and started sobbing. It was so sad! I asked her what was wrong and she said she was just worried about me and Hadley and didn't want to cry at school so she just didn't want to talk about it. It was so sweet! I told her that we were going to be fine and that Hadley would be ok and that I would be home the next day for sure. She was very sad to leave that night and wanted to just stay. It had definitely been a long 3 days for all of us!Thursday November 10th:
When they brought Hadley in for her feeding at 7:00 they told me that they had tested her again and her levels were lower and they had already talked to the pediatrician who said we could take her home today.
YAY!!! I was so happy! I called home and let Scott know we could go. I also talked to Jade who was so excited we would finally be coming home!
Jax got the kids to school again and then came to the hospital. We waited awhile for the pediatrician to come in to make sure she was good and then we were discharged around 11:00. We were so happy to be able to go home! I have to say though, that I had a great experience at the hospital. All of my nurses and the nurses Hadley had the last day, were so great! The food was good too, which is a huge change. I was able to order whatever I wanted for every meal. I was very impressed with the hospital.
We got home and settled in upstairs. The kids loved having Hadley home.
Jadyn was so happy when she got home and came upstairs and held Hadley for quite awhile! It was good to be home, but definitely more crazy than the 3 days I was in the hospital! :)
Jax woke up an hour or so after I put him to bed. He was inconsolable. I took him to the bathroom and back in to his room where he was still crying so loudly and just kept saying "I want mama! Baby Hadley took her! I want Mama!!! Baby Hadley took her!" I was holding him and his eyes were open but he just kept saying it! It probably took him 10 min to settle back down. He didn't remember any of it the next morning. Gee...wonder how he is adjusting! :)
Friday Nov. 11th:
We were getting adjusted and things were a little stressful. Hadley still looked very yellow so we were thinking that once we took her in to get her levels checked we would end up back on lights. She also had pooped about 16 times in 24 hours. It was insane. I also thought it looked like she had blood in her diapers. This is what happened to
Jadyn so we were thinking that she must also be
alerigic, which is why she was having so many dirty diapers. She wasn't eating as well as she should and I was
craked and bleeding and miserable. We were stressed. We dropped
Jax off to my sister and then headed to the
dr. for her
bili and weight check. We were very happy to see that despite all the dirty diapers, she had gained an ounce in the last 24 hours. We had to run to Target to get some things I needed. We ran into Jon and Susie while we were there. It was good to see them! The
dr. called me around 4:00 and said that her
bilirubin was
ok enough to leave her off lights.
Yipee! She also said to check to see where the blood was coming from in her diapers. I did and realized she was
ok. No worries there. We were starting to feel better in those areas.
My sister was nice enough to bring dinner that night...as if she hadn't done enough already! :) My next door neighbor also brought dinner! It was great! Later that night Drew and Sarah came over and
Brandee stopped by as well to visit with us.
Later that night I decided that I was going to stop nursing for a little bit and just pump. I was so sore and miserable. It was just not going well in the nursing department.
Saturday Nov 12th: Hadley has her days and nights turned around. So she sleeps LOTS during the day and is up a lot at night. This has left me VERY tired. Thankfully Scott came up around 6:00 and took Hadley from me. I was able to sleep in until 10:00!!!
YAY! The kids had a fun day. They had a Scales and
Tailes birthday party in the afternoon and they loved it! When it was over Scott took them to see Puss n Boots. They also said the movie was great. My mom had come over just when they were leaving to the show. She held Hadley for awhile and I had to do some stuff for a resume at work. It was so nice to have a quiet afternoon alone with Hadley. Scott seemed to enjoy having a day with the kids as well. He said they were both really good. Shane and Teresa brought dinner that night and stayed for a little bit to chat and hold Hadley.
Sunday Nov 13th: I woke up knowing that I needed to try nursing
Hads again. I didn't want to keep pumping and knew if I kept her on the bottle too long she wouldn't nurse. So, we had a little battle first thing in the morning. She was ticked. She wanted the bottle. I had everyone got out of the room and I just kept working with her. After putting up a good fight, she gave in and finally nursed. It was an effort but well worth it! I also realized she much prefers to have it nice and quiet while she nurses and even seems to like music on. The t.v. on or kids around and she gets upset and distracted. Scott took the kids to Church and Hadley and I stayed home and rested. Scott also took the kids to my mom's house for dinner that night. By the time he got home I think he was DONE and I joked with him that I was sure he was VERY ready to go back to work! :) He didn't disagree!
And so ended the first week. It was long. We were so happy to have Hadley here. I was also remembering why I don't love the first few weeks after having a baby. I LOVE snuggling and loving on Hadley, but it is not easy to adjust to everything else and have my entire body hurt. My back had hurt so bad all week, on top of everything else. I was just a mess!
Monday Nov 14th:
Picture day! Call me crazy, but I booked pics of the kids. I knew about it a few weeks prior, so I asked my mom if she could take the day off and come with us. Luckily for me (and the kids really), she said yes! She came early, knowing I was going to need some help getting the 3 kids ready and out the door. We made it to the car only 10 min. behind schedule! Success! The kids actually did really well with pictures. I had them do the 3 together first and then let
jax go. My mom took him over to
Kohls (where he preceded to hide from here when she wouldn't buy him an expensive toy! My mom said there were at least 6 moms yelling out "
Jaxon!
Jaxon!" looking for him. For the love....). Jade had fun getting more pictures taken and
hadley was an angel as they took more of her! While we waited for the pics to be edited we took the kids to eat and play. The pictures turned out so great! I was so happy with them! We finally made it home around 1:30 and my mom took my kids to play at a park and at her house so Hadley and I were able to relax for awhile. My mom brought the kids back and then was nice enough to take Jade to dance. I was so grateful she took the day off to help me. I couldn't have made it through the day without her. When she left, I had a small meltdown. I just felt bad she, and others, were doing so much to help us and I was worried about Hadley (not sure why) and worried about the other kids (not sure why) and just feeling very overwhelmed. I hate feeling out of control of my emotions, but have come to take it as part of me having babies. Luckily, that has been my only meltdown so far. :)
The rest of last week consisted a whole lot of us staying home and hanging out. We had dinner brought in Tues from Drew and Sarah and Wed by my YW. It has been super nice to just relax at home.
We LOVE having baby Hadley.
Jadyn LOVES to hold her. If
Jadyn is home, she wants to be holding her. If
Jax is around her, he wants to be giving her loves, kissing her head, holding her hands. We constantly tell him to "leave her alone", "Be soft", and "Did you wash your hands?" I love that they both love her though, and really hope they continue to enjoy her. The first day we had
Hads home
Jax was in her face and Hadley moved her hands and
Jax said "Hey! Baby Hadley hit me!" :) Can't say I blame her as he likes to get in her face!
I am so sad that she is already 2 weeks old. fast and this stage where they are so
snuggly and don't mind being held tight, goes way too fast! I try not to think about the fact that I have to go back to work. I wish financially I didn't have to. That being said, I am grateful I have a job and one that lets me stay home and see the kids more than I would if I was still working in the office. We are 99.9999% sure we are done having kids (unless the lord creates a miracle). I am trying to savor every minute that I can. I hold Hadley a lot. I know, after having two kids, that they grow up too fast and that the time where they like to be held close and are super snuggly does not last long at all. That being said, being 2 weeks post delivery is ok with me. I am feeling much better physically. I weighed myself this morning and I have lost 21 of the 32 pounds I gained. Can't complain about that. Nursing is going so much better and the past 2 nights Hadley has gone back to sleep after she has eaten in the middle of the night, which has been so nice.
I have much to be grateful for after the past two weeks. Being that it is the week of Thanksgiving and I have not posted my regular daily things of Thanks, I will write a separate post of things I am thankful for-especially after the past 2 weeks!
