Welcome Shelby Marie! 6 Weeks Old

Yeah, so somebody doesn't have a computer at home and did not post about our new little arrival! Yeah, that was me, ;)

So here she be!!

Shelby Marie
7lbs 9 oz 21 inches

Yes, she is in a special care bed, I'll get to that later!

After being pregnant for what felt like all of 2013 (and really almost was) she finally made her appearance on December 4th, just a day after her due date! Good girl, hehe. I actually went into labor on the 3rd but she wasn't born until that next afternoon.

So I had been contracting a few days before this off and on with nothing progressing. Then that day at work I was having some more and also happened to think, hey, I haven't felt her move much the day or so. Which they always say is a big red flag. So I thought, well I'll call my dr and see if they can get me in just to make sure she is okay. So turns out my doctor was about to leave to Birmingham for a meeting he could not postpone. Boo. Then they were like well we want you to come into labor and delivery so they can monitor you. WHAT!? I just wanted to see my dr and be done with it! But they insisted and said they were going to call down there and tell them I was on my way. Sigh. I felt like such a dodo head, like one of those first time moms freaking out about nothing.

So I left work kind of wigging out, on the verge of tears. What if there WAS something wrong with her?? I call Lee (who is working an HOUR away of course) and then head to the hospital. I'm sure I'm going to get there and they are going to say your not really having contractions, or, worst of all something is wrong. Well they put me in a room and I have to get all my clothes off yeah, and put that gown on. They hooked me up to the machines and little girl is perfectly fine. She THEN proceeds to start being a wild child in there of course, lol.

The cool thing was the nurse taking care of me was BECKY!! My nurse with Chloe that I was praying I would get again. Thank the Lord! So she went out at one point and came back in with guess who?? My wonderful awesome doctor!! He said he came by to check on me before he left for Birmingham, I thought he was long gone! I love that man! So he looked at my stats and such and started talking about how long they would keep me and observe, etc, then he goes, "well, heck, you aren't leaving here without a baby". Hallelujah! So they then took me and put me in a BRAND new delivery room! I thought I was stuck in the one I was being observed in, it was smaller and had an awful tv in it, lol.

I settled in and made all my calls and here we go! I started having more contractions throughout the night but they would never get real consistent. I wanted to walk but with baby still breech they said I probably shouldn't until the doctor got back from Birmingham, since he is the only one that will deliver me breech.

IV still sucked, but not as bad as last time. That morning early Lee and I started making rounds of labor and delivery. The contractions had pretty much petered to nothing during the night, boo. So walking started them up again but I decided to go ahead with a little bit of pitocin as suggested by my doctor to get things going. That did it! I started getting pretty uncomfy so since I came IN 4 cen I could have my epidural whenever I wanted. I don't remember what I was dilated at that point but I went ahead and got it. I felt it this time! But it really did just feel like a bee sting, which is how she described it. But my contractions never did really 'hurt' they were definitely not fun and uncomfy but nothing awful. After my epidural I felt real itchy and warm, kind of sleepy.

So after that we really were waiting on my water to break. It finally started leaking, but that was it. Doctor didn't want to break it because of her being breech. So they had me sitting on my bottom as far as I could in the bed, that didn't work, then the nurse asked me if I wanted to try turning on my side. Well not long after she left the room Lee's brothers had arrived. They came in to see me and all of a sudden I felt SOMETHING come OUT. I knew it couldn't be her head but I really didn't know what it was!! Mom said she will never forget the look on my face, lol! So I said real fast "something just came out and yall need to leave!!" to his brothers, haha, poor guys.

I frantically pushed the nurse button and here she came running, she checked me and said it was my WATER BAG. What?? Then all of a sudden I had four nurses in there staring at my water bag lying on the bed, lol, so funny. They were all like wow, we've never seen that! Haha. Glad to be your entertainment, ladies! So everything got kind of fast and blurry at this point. The doctor was called (he was in the other building doing his patient appointments) and then all of a sudden her heart rate DROPPED big time and everyone started getting pretty busy. They put a oxygen mask on me and told me to breathe real deep in and out and Becky got on the phone again with the doctor telling him very calmly, for my sake I'm sure, that he really needed to HURRY, lol. As for me I was lying there silently FREAKING OUT and praying. I was so scared she would stop breathing or something and get stuck in there and die, ugh. But her heart rate jumped back up to normal and was fine from then on, thank GOD!

So doctor gets there and here we go. Lee said he finally broke my water, though I don't remember this and I started pushing. And I gave it all I had! I really only pushed like twice and she was out to her head but then I hear people saying she has her arm up in her face, and I can feel him pulling and dong all sorts of stuff down there. Gahhh kid!!! So the doctor had a HECK of a time getting her to move her arm so I could get her out and I was so worried all I knew was I needed to push her out and FAST. At one point the nurse even jumped up on me and was pushing on me to pop her out. I was just about done for when they finally got her out! They laid her on my chest and she is not moving, shes white, all sprawled out and lifeless! But I wasn't worried, I knew they can be stunned sometimes when they come out backwards, I was just so relieved she was out.

So they took her over pretty quickly to the warming place and worked on her there getting her to breathe and cleaning her up, checking her out. And as they are doing that the doctor is delivering the placenta and checking me out and he says, "now I heard her arm pop when she came out, she might have a broken arm or shoulder." WHA....WAIT WHAT?! Then he starts saying but that will heal, its no big deal, yada yada. And I'm laying there thinking, I should have just gotten a c-section!! Then my baby wouldn't have a broken arm!

They brought her over to me so I could see her, but I really just wanted them to go ahead and take her for xrays! They thought she was probably okay because she had started moving it and wasn't crying when they messed with it. But I was so afraid to touch her if it was broken! They took her pretty quick after that and I rested and ate some food. I was starving! Hadn't ate since lunch the day before and it was late afternoon the next day.

Everything turned out great, God is so good. She was completely healthy and the xrays came out normal. So thankful! The family got to see her through the nursery window while Lee was back there with her, and then they came in after I had nursed her the first time. We had Chloe came in first and it was so sweet. She kept saying, shes so beautiful! :) Love that girl.

So! We are nearly 2 months old now! 7 weeks. Overall impression is she likes to eat A LOT, not a calm baby unfortunately. She likes her schedule, 9:00 is bed time and she will not sway from it! (found that out a few times the hard way!) She was nursing nearly every hour the first two weeks, lol, still every 2 hours now unless she is sleeping. She started smiling about 3 weeks, so sweet! And a bit after that with coos and such. If you get her in just the right spot in front of you she will smile and talk at you for the longest time. She really loves talking to her daddy and papa Mickle. The best thing ever is she SLEEPS ALL NIGHT! She will sleep from 10 or so all the way to 6 or 7 in the morning. No joke. THANK GOD! I love it! She is in a co sleeper next to my bed, the one my sister in law used which is my other sister in laws, lol. We swaddled her for about a month or so and then she started busting her arms out of it so now she is swaddled in it below her arms to keep her warm. But this week she has started busting out of it too! So I may have to do a blanket soon, boo.

She sleeps a lot still. I started back to work this past week and she usually eats before work, sleeps a bit after we get  here, eats around lunch time again, and then sleeps nearly until time to go home at four. Pretty easy! Sometimes she is awake when we get here and fusses until I feed her around 11:30. Then sleeps the afternoon away.

OH! I forgot another awesome thing, she drinks a bottle! Hallelujah! We have her on a Avent natural and she does great with it. I am able to pump about 5 or 6 ounces every other day or two or so and have been freezing it. I don't have enough to leave her all day but plenty for an occasional bottle while we are out, or for date nights. She also takes a paci at times, but not easily.

So Chloe is a GREAT big sister! She is so helpful fetching things for me or the baby, gives her kisses all the time, etc. She loves her. She isn't really jealous too much, but sometimes she wants us to hold her TOO. Or she wants a blanket too, etc. Its been a bit hard at bed times sometimes, when Shelby wants to eat NOW and Chloe wants me to put her to bed, etc. Like last night she was screaming wanting to eat and Chloe wanted me, and I hadn't been able to put her to bed for quite a few days so I went ahead and put her to bed. When I walked into the bedroom this is what I saw, lol:

Such a good daddy! He has been great helping with Chloe and the new baby. She can get pretty fussy at times so its nice to have someone to hand her off to. She likes the big swing Chloe loved too thank goodness so she sleeps in it a lot at home. I also have a rock n play she likes pretty good. And a bouncer, she likes movement!

Here are a few pics of sweet Shelby:

Sweet babies!

First day back to work!

2 Weeks old! Just before Christmas

One month old!

Well in other news my husbands childhood home burnt the ground two weeks ago. It was awful. Thankfully they were all gone on vacation. I still feel awful I didn't see it. I was home the whole time and never even knew until I saw a car go by the road really fast and I jumped up to see where it went and saw flames coming out of every window. The really bad thing is they only have insurance enough to cover paying off the loan on the property. But not to build again. So they still really don't know what they are going to do.

So right now they are living with us, yeah, 5 extra people in our 1300 sqft house, heh. His mom and dad are sleeping in the fifth wheel and his two brothers are in our workout room and his sister in Chloes room. We moved her back into the nursery, took the front off the crib to make it a big girl bed. She is cool with it! So we are just in a holding pattern right now! It was a bit rough to begin with but I'm okay with it right now. Hopefully I will stay that way!

Bout all right now, till later, tata!