First Days at Home

When we got home from the hospital, my brother and his wife and son were there and they had made us dinner! It was so nice! My grandmother (Braden's "Gigi") was there to meet Landri for the first time, too.

 

First 2am Feeding @ Home

Time w/Nana

The gorgeous blanket you see was just part of the big purchase I made from a girl (Leslie Bradberry) I played basketball with in high school who does custom embroidery, headbands, tutus, etc. Her shop is called JD's Chic Bowtique and I would HIGHLY recommend her! You'll see lots more of her products in post to come. 

The headband she is wearing below was actually the first gift I received for Landri and it was from one of my students. Her mom made it for her when she heard I was having a little girl. So sweet!

Mommy's Little Angel

2nd 2am Feeding @ Home

One thing I found in the first week after she was born, was that my excitement over having her was like caffeine to my system and I was able to stay awake nearly all night. I didn't want to go to sleep, I just wanted to hold her and looked forward to her waking up in the middle of the night so I could hold her......but that wore off by the third night at home ;-)

On the 27th, we took her to her very first pediatrician appointment.

In The Waiting Room

We saw Dr. Stiles who we had not met before and she was very sweet with her. Landri was still way under her birth weight though at 7lbs 2oz and had somehow shrunk down to 19.5in? Who knows how that happened! Since Landri was still jaundiced looking, the doctor made me increase her formula to 1oz for every 2oz of breastmilk because apparently breastmilk increases red blood cells or something which is hard for the liver to break down and keeps the bilirubin levels high....whatever. All I know is it meant, simply breastfeeding looked like it would never be an option for me. Plus, it meant we had to take her to a facility to get her bloodwork done right then and we had another appt in a few days. If you've never had the pleasure of getting a newborn's blood taken, then let me fill you in: you hold your child down while the nurse holds Landri's heel and pricks and squeezes as hard as she can while the baby screams bloody murder. And it doesn't last just about 10 seconds, no, no, no it's a good minute because she has to fill up multiple test tubes. I made Jay do it because I was bawling just from listening to her suffer and think that no one was going to save her. Plus, we knew that if her levels didn't improve, then we would be going through this all over again in a few days.

We were told that phototherapy at home would help, too. They said to take her outside in the sun with nothing but her diaper on for 20 minutes/3 times day.

Fun in the Sun

Back indoors, we tried out the swing for the first time. Big brother Braden was quite curious about why there was a playground indoors...and why he didn't have one LOL

After a long day, they had some down time with Nana who was staying with us for the next few days.

Landri's First Days @ MCA

So far, this birth experience was very different than the one I had with Braden. For instance, I was on maternity leave and missing work. It was weird to think that my students were sitting in my classroom, and here I was about to be cut open with a new life taken out of my body. I also did not want to hurry home like I did with Braden (I was out of the hospital w/in 45 hours of having a C-Section), and was in fact very nervous to go home at all. Plus, I was having lots of mommy-daughter bonding moments that were melting my heart.

I chose to breastfeed, but she was losing a lot of weight and so after the first 48 hours they forced (yes, FORCED against my will...I told them I wouldn't allow it and they said I had no choice because she had lost 10% of her body weight) me to give her formula as well. She went from 7lb 12oz to 6lb 14oz in the first two days. That was kind of an emotional blow, but I wanted her to be healthy so I just did what they said.

Since she was born on a Thursday, I took Braden to daycare that morning and Mom picked him up around 5 to bring him to the hospital. We had him in his "Big Brother" shirt and I had my nice camera there to snap photos of his first moments with her...but he wanted NOTHING to do with her. It was really disappointing, but he did think the hospital was cool (especially the buttons on my bed). It was his first time being in one since he had surgery at 3 months old.

My mom being in town was such a blessing because Jay would take Braden and Mom back to our house to stay the night and then come back to spend the night at the hospital. We were able to really bond with her during these hours, and it was the first time we'd had as a couple in months. He would go grab a dinner snack for us and then we would watch rerun TV (I finally got to watch Big Bang Theory and really like it now!).

The next day, they picked Braden up from daycare again and we tried to get him a little nearer to her. And it was slightly better, but not much. LOL

On Saturday, since we couldn't take Braden to daycare, Mom took Braden to the mall to ride the carousel (Braden's favorite!) and get Bevo repaired (his seam had burst on his back) at Build-A-Bear Workshop.

My cousin, Jaclyn and her roomie Marisol came all the way out to visit us and I was so glad to see her. Somehow, though, I don't have any photos of her being there! Poo :( 

My BFF, Ashley (who was due to have a little boy at the same hospital in the next few weeks) came out to see me also. It was so nice to be around adults again as I had been cooped up with no one but Braden for weeks HaHa.

Braden also had a couple of more hours to bond with her at the hospital.

And he got to have some fun in the bed since I was sick of being in it.

As you can see in the photos, she began to get more yellow and her Biliruben blood test kept getting higher numbers. Thankfully by Sunday, when we left, the levels weren't bad enough to keep her hospitalized and her weight had stopped dropping.

We were finally ready to go home!

Dressing Her for the First Time!

Going Home Outfit

And Her Way-Too-Big Hat :)

Riding Down in the Elevator

Bon Voyage!

The Arrival of Landri Elizabeth Harvill

The C-Section was scheduled for 12:30pm on March 22nd at Medical Center of Arlington. (FYI, the original due date was April 2nd)

The prep was as terrifying as the first time, only this time I remembered what the first time was like so that just added to my anxiety. Good stuff. The worst part was the IV, and yes it hurt just as bad as last time. In fact, it might have been worse because she hit a nerve (and it still hurts to touch the insertion point scar on my wrist...awesome). But at least it only took her one time :) Also, I was very frustrated that Twilight was on the hospital TV but there was no sound...some might look at that as a good thing, but when you are trying to zone out and not think about the fact that your intestines are about to be plopped on a table, a little sound wouldn't hurt. O-Kay?

I was very thankful that my sister had driven my mom up from San Antonio to be with us for the week. Sooooooo thankful! If she hadn't been there to help with Braden so Jay and I could enjoy our time with Landri, I can't imagine how much that would've just flat out sucked!

Anyways, a little after 12pm, I was walked down to the OR which was blissfully cold (couldn't remember the last time I hadn't been hot, lol). When I had Braden, I was induced, had 14 hours of labor, never got past 1cm, and my blood pressure was spiking, and Braden's was starting to as well. So, because of that, by the time I had my spinal block I had already had an epidural and lots of good stuff and never felt it. Plus my anesthesiologist was AMAZING. This time? This time, not so much. He was good, but I was so pissed when I actually FELT the epidural. WHAT? Why did that happen? But, it happened and about 10 seconds later it didn't matter because I was numb.

About 30 minutes later, they were ready to slice and dice, and so that's when they brought Jay in. For some reason, with this C-section I remembered and was aware of SO much more than I was with Braden. First off, they played music. COUNTRY music. Ick ick ick. But, hey, if it helps the doc to do a fine job, who am I to try and mess with that? Second, even though Jay was trying to distract me with conversation, I heard my doctor's instructions to his staff and felt a lot more tugging and pressing than I did with Braden's.

Sidenote: When I had Braden, Jay distracted by talking about how blessed we were to be having this child, to be together, to make a lifetime of memories as a family. It was awesome, good stuff. This time, that stuff ran out pretty quick because they were having trouble getting her out, and so what did he turn to? Our newest TV obsession: The Walking Dead. That's not the sad part. The sad part is that I actually participated and it actually worked! LOL!

And finally, at 12:36pm, they pulled her free (it took about 30 infinitely long seconds for her to finally cry, though nothing was wrong with her) and my sweet Landri was here!

7lbs 12oz. 20inches

Bed Rest

On February 28th, after several doctor visits the week before that visit, my blood pressure at the doctor's office was too high to allow me to continue working. 

That's right, I was placed on bed rest.

The problem with all that was that not only did I have a three-year-old at home but my husband is in Midland for 23 days of the month. My mom is living in San Antonio. My grandmother is disabled. And I live 45 minutes from Braden's daycare and all my friends.

Dr. Seligman said if I didn't take it easy, I definitely wouldn't make it through the next week without having to be hospitalized. And since I wasn't even 36 weeks yet, that thought was terrifying.

So, I took Braden 2-3 days a week to daycare to at least give me kind of a break. When he was at home, there was a lot of bonding time.

Braden Covers Me

With Tissue Paper 

As A Blanket

I Taught Him How

To Use The Mouse!

Wearing Daddy's

Hard Hat

 

And, when Jay was home, I made him do EVERYthing (lol).

And I made it past my goal of not having the baby before St. Patrick's Day! At all the non-stress tests (where I got to listen to her heartbeat for 20 minutes in time with her movements being recorded) and biophysical sonograms (where she was tested on 8 different thing), she did amazing! And just three days before she was born, she finally was turned enough so that I could so her sweet face in the sonogram!

They estimated that she would be over 20 inches long and over 8 and a half pounds. Were they right?