Sweet P

Wow, already one week and one day. We're still alive! And happy! Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from the last couple of days. Love the frog hiney:


And what a sleeping position:

Here are the stats for Parker Jane: She was born at 12:31pm on Friday and was 20" long and 8 pounds, 7 ounces. (Although they said she was probably a few ounces more since they waited a while to weigh her and she had already used the bathroom twice when they did!)

As for my labor story....(don't read if you don't like birth details) I was given pitocin at 6:10am and the doctor came in at 7:30 to break my water. I didn't feel a thing (although I was told my contractions began right away) for another hour. Then they started coming fast. But not hard. Y'all, my contractions were not hurting very badly at all! It was the weirdest thing. They hurt, but they didn't seem to last long. With Jonah, I don't remember ever having "breaks" in between contractions. I knew that breaks in between were how it was supposed to be, but my experience was that it just hurt constantly. It was so totally different this time! It was so bearable being able to breath in between, and most of my labor was back labor which was a little better because I could lift up on the sides of the bed when a contraction came and feel some relief when pressure was taken off my back. That wasn't doable with "front" contraction pain. I was dilated to a 4 whenever the doctor broke my water so I knew I could get an epidural at any point I wanted. But I just didn't think I could have progressed much more due to the low level of pain as compared with my first delivery, so I held off (and they held off increasing my pitocin because they were coming fast but not too painful). I hurt more at a 4 with Jonah than I did at any point this time. But my nurse (who I really want to send a gift to and ask her to be my friend - she was AMAZING) told me that she could tell that we weren't too far from delivering and if I wanted an epidural, I would probably miss my window of opportunity if I didn't go ahead and get one now. So I took her word for it. And I am so glad I did. After getting my epidural (at 11:10am), the couple of contractions I felt before the epidural took effect were much much more painful, so I was really glad I got it when I did. Especially when they checked me a few minutes later and I was dilated to an 8! The rest just happened super fast. By noon, they said she was coming. They could see she had two inches of hair. They called my doctor and said if he wanted to deliver this baby, he'd need to literally run to the hospital. (His office is located on an adjacent corner from the hospital). I wasn't feeling any pain, but I could feel the pressure of her getting close, and they told me not to put my feet in the stirrups yet or she might come out with the next contraction. So my doctor rushed in out of breath, having RUN from his office, and had me push one time and Parker's head was out. He then told me to wait for the next contraction and she would come out on her own with maybe a gentle push. Really, it was weird having him tell me, "Push gently...gentle...more gently...GENTLE!" What doctor says that to a delivering mom?!! It was a bizarre experience, that's for sure. I felt guilty when people told me good job because I really didn't do a thing! Parker just came out on her own! And I am glad she did.

So, yes, it was quite easy. But before you hate me, please remember that I'm a girl who throws up (or has to take anti-throw-up medicine) for over two-thirds of the duration of my pregnancies. Does that make it a little less enviable? And I'm sorry for those who have the throwing up AND the bad deliveries. So so sorry. Tell me about it, and I'll sympathize. And maybe buy you a caramel frappuccino out of guilt.

But I sure liked my labor story this time, I must say!

We've had a great week. Parker really is a different kind of baby than Jonah was. Who Jonah was on his first day of life is who he was at 1 month, 2 months, and so on throughout his infancy. He never ate at anytime other than every three hours, he ate the same duration of time every single time, and filled his diaper ten minutes into feeding every single time. He was quite a man of routine from the very beginning! Parker, on the other hand, keeps us guessing. Which is totally fine. She does not have to have it all figured out yet. I don't mind. There is plenty of time for a schedule later on. But she goes about 3 to 3.5 hours at night between feedings and anywhere from 2 to 3.5 hours during the day. She's had bad diaper rash, and she's had some issues with bad gas and fussiness at night. She had a rough time on Tuesday night, not going to sleep until 3am. We could tell her stomach was hurting her badly, so that was hard to watch. There's so little you can do for them when they have gas. Joel did make a 2:30am drugstore run for Mylicon that night like any superstar-dad would. She had another fussy time last night, although not as long or intense, and didn't go to sleep until after midnight. She's been eating and falling asleep but waking up after being in bed just a few minutes. Usually, the culprit is hiccups. (I can't believe the biggest challenge we're facing is hiccups. They're beating us every time. Is there anything we can do for hiccups?!! They seem to interrupt her beauty sleep, and mine, quite often.) And the most common remedy for her difficulty in falling/staying asleep at night, I must admit, is daddy rocking her or letting her go to sleep on his chest. Great habits to start, I know. But again, there will be time later on to correct that. So, later on when we're working to "correct" that and it's hard and we have attachment issues, remind me that I did ask for a cuddly baby this time. I'm pretty sure she's going to be that type of baby. She LOVES to be held. She'll be screaming her head off and the second you pick her up, she's amazingly calm and quiet. She can turn it on and off so fast! We could count on one hand the number of times Jonah had real tears during the first few months of his life. His cry was just a screaming one. And it wasn't often. Her cries contain immediate, streaming tears. I'm already seeing the emotional differences in a boy and girl! Or at least in my boy and girl. She's far from predictable, but we are learning more and more of who she is every day, and I'm thoroughly loving the process. Seeing God's creativity in His design of individuals is just mesmerizing.

Thanks y'all for your kind words of welcome to our little girl!