One month old

Look at those pretty blue eyes.

First smile at mommy! This is her big smile! Today she gave me a little smirk when I was talking to her....oh so precious.

Yesterday Abigail turned one month old! All I can say is....we survived. :)

I have started to learn her cries and know when she is tired, hungry, or just bored. The first two weeks were scary, plus when your hormones are all crazy that does not help. But, from then on I have had the chance to figure things out on my since my mom went back to Mo. Abigail and I have lots of fun together during the day. Most people would say you can't do much with a newborn. I disagree. You can interact with them by talking, cuddling, feeding, watching mobiles... Yesterday she smiled at me for the first time, it truly melted my heart. She did it again today when we were having mommy/daughter talk time on the couch. She is so cute!

I have finally come to realize that mommyhood takes a lot of sacrifice--for one sacrificing sleep! But, everytime I hear her cry in the middle of the night I enjoy the moment I am feeding her and then burping to rocking her. There are many mundane things with raising a baby, but I look at it as sheer blessing and a gift. I cherish every moment with her, she will only be tiny for so long. I already got sad when I was looking at pictures of her from her first week of life, she has changed so much already! She is getting so long and filling out. Right now she is going through an acne phase, hopefully it will clear up before Saturday. We are having our first family photos taken together. Her dress is adorable! I will post those pictures later...well, if they give us a CD. They will give a website I am sure, so I will post that next week.

I have also learned that when a new life comes into your home you have to adjust quality time with your spouse. There are many times when I am up in the middle of the night feeding thinking... I can't wait to get back into bed so I can cuddle with my hubby. It seems like night time is our only alone time, and he is asleep! :( I know things will change once she starts sleeping through the night and gets a little bit older.

A funny thing about Abigail is that she is a sucker, no problem with her latching on. The funny thing is the other night Justin had her up on his shoulder, he heard her sucking but thought she was sucking on her hand...well, when I was feeding her later that night I saw what looked like a bruise on her arm, come to find out....SHE GAVE HERSELF A HICKEY!

The many faces of Abigail

Yesterday I was able to catch all these expressions in the matter of 5 minutes. She is quite expressive, so fun! The one by the hairy arm is Justin holding her-- I thought it was pretty impressive she was blowing bubbles. :)

Nap time

What is your approach to nap time and putting your baby/child to bed? Why did you take this approach--what worked, what did not work?I have been rocking Abigail to sleep every night and putting her in her crib asleep. She wakes up shortly after crying not unless she is super tired. During the day I have been letting her sleep in my arms, swing...etc. Today I decided to start some sort of routine. I have a feeding schedule but that is about it. Today I fed-then played-then tryed putting her down in her crib awake but pretty tired. Well, to say the least I could not stand hearing my baby girl cry bloody murder. I tried comforting her by patting her and rubbing her face gently and that would work until I left the room again. To say the least, I failed at my task and picked her up because she was shaking from being so scared. She fell asleep in my arms instantly and I held her tightly feeling like a horrible mother. So, once again I am asking for stories and experiences. I am new at this and trying to do the best for Abigail.

She is growing fast

Our little Abigail is growing like a weed. We went to the doctor on the 3rd and she had already grew 3 inches and weighed 8 pds 15 ounces. The doctor said he would have been happy if she was back up to her birth weight which was 8 pds. 3 ounces but she had far exceeded that. It gave me much relief to know she is getting enough milk. It is hard knowing when you are breastfeeding, when you give a bottle it tells you how many ounces.
Last night was one of those nights you look forward to every night. I put Abigail down at 8:45 and she did not stir to eat until 11:20. She ate, I put her back down then she did not wake back up until 2:30, same routine then back up around 5:20 then next feeding at 7:15. So, I was able to get some good sleep last night. It was hard falling asleep the first round because I thought something was wrong because she had not woke up sooner. She is sleeping sound right now and I have been able to read a little bit for class. She must be growing! :) She is such a twig, she gains weight but then gets longer and makes her look skinny all over again.
Yesterday I put her on a mat similar to a baby einstein and she rolled over on her side, she already can lift her head up pretty good. She is a very strong and active baby.

20 hours of labor

Okay, I am finally finding the time while daddy is holding Abigail to write my birthing story. To all my friends that wanted to know if I made it all natural.......Beginning on August 14th and 15th I was having sporatic contractions through out the day. I knew the day was approaching, and I was hoping so before the following Monday because my doctor was going to induce me. On the morning of the 16th I started having contractions that were closer together and more consistent. My husband and I decided to go for a walk because that determines if the contractions are real and it helps the process. They began to be around 8 minutes apart. My body felt different and I knew we were going to be having a baby that day. (hopeful thinking, she decided to not come until the early morning of the 17th). Anyways...Justin and I decided to play some Yahtzee to pass the time, let me just say when a contraction comes on you lose all your train of thought...every time I had one we forget whos turn it was or how many times one of us had rolled the dice. To say the least, we did not finish one round. Justin began packing up the car and cleaning up around the house. We planned to stay at the house as long as I could take it. Around 1 in the afternoon I decided we should go to the hospital because the contractions were only 2-3 minutes apart. The pain was still tolerable. We get to the hospital, they check to see how far I had dilated. I was only had a stinkin 2! That was not good progress, but since I was overdue my doctor had me stay. When I put on the hospital gown I thought this is so crazy...I am going to birth our child today! I am going to be a parent. The whole process was nothing that I ever imagined. Majority of the time it was just Justin and I in the room. Every hour the nurse would come check me and that was about it. As the hours went by the pain became stronger, I tryed different sitting, standing, walking, and even a hot bath. I recommend a hot bath if you do not take an epidural. That is the advantage of going natural, you can walk around. The contractions became very exhausting, I eventually stopped talking to Justin and had my eyes clothes most of the time. The contractions moved into my back and that is when the pain became something I had never experienced before. Everytime it hit into my back I felt as if I was trying to crawl away from the pain but there was no where to go and any position I tryed did not help. When I decided to take the hot bath it relaxed me for a little bit until I threw up. After that I knew I was about done. It was around 11 pm at this time and this is when I started talking to Justin... :) He kept telling me I was doing great...over and over again..eventually I told him, "think of something new to say"....he told me later he was dumbfounded and did not know what else to say, then he came up with, "I am proud of you"...I told him, " I do not care if you are proud of me." haha...I told him from the beginning to not take anything personal during my labor. Also, when he kept telling me to breathe...oh buddy, that is when flames were coming out of my mouth and repeated back to him, "I AM BREATHING!" Anyways..like I said it was around 11 pm going on midnight when I said I am done, I could not bare the back pain no longer and I wanted the epidural. I was exhausted and I was stuck at an 8, who knew how long it was giong to take to get to a 10 and then I still had to push. I went in strong knowing I was not going to have a huge needle put into my spine, but once the contractions moved into my back it changed everything. Front labor is definately doable without an epidural. The docs came in I did not think twice about what they were doing, and then they had the edacity to ask me stupid questions. I could barely talk at this piont. My nurse told me I could hold onto her as tight as I needed to, and I did! They said it would only take 80-90% of the pain away...well, I believe it took 98% of the pain away. They had to tell me when a contraction was taking place, it was amazing! From then on I was able to enjoy the rest of my delivery process. My husband said he was happy because I finally was talking to him again. My doctor broke my water and just let my body work until I was to a 10. Once I was there, I FINALLY WAS ABLE TO START PUSHING!! It was around 2:00 am now. I pushed a little less than an hour. I pushed every time a contraction came on. They were going crazy when they could see all her hair. The doctor actually made a mohawk with her hair when she started coming out. haha. Once I saw her crowning all that energy I did not have came back full force for me to start pushing as hard as I could. I could not wait any longer to hold my little girl! Once I pushed her out after 20 hours of long labor they put her on my chest to hold and to feed for the first time. It truly was amazing and breathtaking. She knew exactly what to do. God is so good.
Now we are a happy family of 3, learning new things every day.

Family

Chillin with daddy

She is out!

Loving her stroller ride!

I never realized how much I could miss my family until now. It was so hard when my family left when they came to see Abigail. Everyday I think about how I can't wait for my bub to come back and visit his niece. I want Abigail to know her family--but I know it will be hard since we are in Texas. I hope we will all be able to take trips to see one another. It's amazing what a little life can change. I always miss my family, but now I miss them in a different way. Family is important to me, and I want Abigail to know her Nana, Papa, uncles, aunts, and cousins.

I have come to realize each night is a different adventure. Two nights ago Abigail did not sleep for an hour in a half solid until 3:30 am. Last night after each feeding she went right back to sleep for 2 to 3 hours. It is so funny trying to keep her awake while feeding, she starts off strong then starts slipping off to sleep. Then her whole body becomes limp. It is quite funny! Justin and I have a little routine. If Abigail is not going to sleep right after I feed her he will come hold her so I can sleep until the next feeding. He usually will change the diapers at night to help out too. Today is the first day Abigail and I are home alone together. My mom had been here the first two weeks and then yesterday Justin was off work for Labor Day. So far so good--she has been sleeping a lot this morning. So, I am trying to get a lot of school work done and catching up on here. :) I am tempted to wake her up so she will sleep tonight, but I have to realize she is going to sleep no matter how hard I try to keep her up. I read newborns sleep 14-20 hrs a day anyway. So, I will let her sleep and I will take advantage of my free time.

I look forward to being able to exercise again. I want to take Abigail for strolls in the morning and in the evenings with Justin. We took a few laps around our apartment complex the other night. She loved it as you can tell by the picture.

got to go-- she is waking up!