1 Month Old

Our girl is already a month old. I can't believe how fast the time goes by. It's amazing to think I have a two and half year old and a one month old. Two kids! And they bring Blake and I so much joy. I'm so thankful.

I'm not gonna lie, those first few days and weeks were definitely tough. Things now are by no means easy but we seem to have adjusted to our new family size. And can I just say I have the best family and friends.  The first three weeks after we got home from the hospital I think we had to supply dinner for ourselves twice. As any new mom knows, a hot meal for your family is so appreciated when you aren't up to preparing or have the time to do it yourself.

Preston has done very well with his new little sister. He truly loves her so much. Sometimes I have to tell him to wait on something while I'm nursing Ella or changing her, etc. and he usually very patient to wait. And if he does get huffy about waiting he never blames or takes it out on her. He will walk up to her at the same time and give her a kiss on the head. He's such a sweetheart.

Ella is such a precious baby. She nursed well from the very beginning and is still doing great. The first few weeks she slept almost all the time but she is definitely more alert now and more aware of the world. I remember Preston never wanted to be put down in the bouncy seat or swing but Ella is a big fan of her swing and takes most of her daytime naps in there. She will hang around in the bouncy a few minutes too but not for a really long period of time.

The last two weeks or so she seemed to have developed some colic. It's not nearly as bad as Preston's but we have been working to see what helps her. Her doctor recommended a probiotic called BioGaia and she has been on it for 4 days. It says it takes about a week to see a difference. I was worried about my diet affecting her tummy so I have been doing my best to avoid the most common culprits to cause gassy/fussy babies. I knew dairy, especially milk, caused gas but I have been researching the last few days and it seems milk is probably the worst for causing colicky babies. I am a big milk fan. I eat cereal every morning and love milk with all sorts of stuff. So off to the grocery store I went and bought some soymilk. It's really pretty good! I didn't have any milk yesterday and Ella did very well last night. She normally gets fussy in the evenings. She fussed a little bit but not nearly as much as normal. Hopefully it will continue to improve!

Nighttime sleep is different each night. Most nights she will sleep about 3 hours at a time but for a while it was every hour she would wake and fuss. I'm hoping the dairy I am cutting out will help with it now.

As for more detailed stats, we went for her one month check up yesterday and she weighs 11 lbs 12 oz. and measured 22.25 inches. Big girl! She has the cutest fat rolls on her arms and legs. I love chubby babies :) She is in the 95th percentile for weight and 93rd for length. Preston at 4 weeks was 9 lbs 15 oz and 21.75 inches long. But he was also a full pound less than Ella at birth and was 3 weeks early. I'm curious to see how they compare as she grows.

On a more fun side of things, she just started smiling! It's so precious. I caught a picture of her smiling on her one month birthday :)

More posts to come soon...as long as I get both kids to sleep at the same time :)

Ella Reeves Mosley

I know this post is way over due but I have been a little ticked off at my blog. I actually typed up this post two weeks ago and due to a bad internet connection, lost the entire post because it wasn't saved yet. I was so upset and haven't even attempted to re-do it until now. But my girl deserves her post so here we go again!

Let's start with the birth story.

We went in for my induction at 5:00 a.m. on Thursday morning, April 19th. My parents came over to our house at 4:00 that morning to stay with Preston until he woke up.

Once we arrived at the hospital we were ushered to my room and got settled. After the initial q & a paperwork from the nurse, she checked me and I was still 3 cm dilated (same as my appt. the week before).

I was already having irregular contractions but that was old news. They were the same ones I had been having for weeks.

The doctor came in to break my water around 6:30 and they gave me Pitocin to start my labor right afterward. My nurse told me that since I was already at 3 cm I could have my epidural at any point. I decided to hold off as long as I could for fear that my epidural would wear off by the time I needed to push (like it did with Preston).

But by 7:30 contractions were very intense and painful so we put in the order for the epidural ASAP.

They checked me at 8:00 and I was 5 cm and then I got my epidural. It helped for a while...I felt numb but still had feeling in my legs, sort of like they were just asleep. I didn't worry about it since I couldn't feel my contractions and that was obviously the most important. Around 8:30 they checked me again and I was 6 cm dilated.

About an hour after I received my epidural I started feeling my contractions and they got really intense. I could not believe it. I started crying...partly for the pain I was in and partly for fear of the pain I knew I would be in when it came time to push and deliver the baby.

The nurse called the anesthesiologist in to give me a boost and then checked me again. I was 10 cm! The nurse thinks since I progressed so quickly that my epidural simply could not keep up and that's why I was in so much pain. Who knows?

But anyway, the doc gave me the highest boost and things quickly started going numb. And I mean numb. They started prepping everything for me to push and in the meantime things went from numb to dead. I literally could not feel a thing from the waist down. I couldn't move my legs at all. It was bliss.

Now during all of this I had a terrible pain in one of my ribs. It felt bruised or broken and I had no idea why. The doctor had me lay on my left side to see if that would take some pressure off from the baby.

So when it was time to push I was still on my left side and had to have help moving to my back since I was basically paralyzed at this point. They rolled me over and my stomach stayed to the left. It was a bit shocking to look at. The baby had apparently wedged herself up under a rib on the left side and was causing all that pain. When I started to push I literally was shoving (gently) her back towards the middle of my belly to get her on the right path.

And 9 pushes and 14 minutes later our girl arrived!

She weighed in at 8 lbs 14 oz and measured 21.25 inches long. She was beautiful, healthy and perfect and had a head full of black hair.

It's amazing how quickly you can fall in love with your baby and how you instantly get those protective instincts. I absolutely love being a mother and I'm so thankful to be entrusted to take care of these precious babies.

Preston immediately took to his baby sister. He was so excited to see her at the hospital. He stayed with my parents while we were in the hospital and that first night he kept asking for Mama/Daddy/Baby Sister. Mom said he was already including her with us. It's like he knew she was part of the family now.

Our sweet girl is almost a month old now so I will be posting soon about how she has changed since her birthday and how we are adjusting to life as a family of four.

Here are a few pictures from our Ella's big day!