Adelaide's Fourth Week

Adelaide's fourth week was relatively uneventful. Lots of eating and sleeping....and of course dirty diapers!  ;)  She had an appointment with the pediatrician on the 18th to check her weight. After her hospital stay, her weight gain became a concern since she still hadn't reached her birth weight. Unfortunately on the 18th, at 3.5 weeks old, she still hadn't quite reached her birth weight of 8 lbs 10 ounces. She was getting closer though at 8 lbs 8 ounces. Although our pediatrician indicated she was gaining enough weight and that I could continue to breastfeed her as I had been, Justin and I decided to start supplementing with formula. After only a few days I could tell she was thriving more. She wasn't hungry all the time, and appeared more satiated after feedings. I could also tell she was gaining more weight....when she's heavier she's a bit harder to carry.  ;)  Although I was hoping I wouldn't have to use any formula for the first six months, I know it's what she needed. And this way Justin can help feed her.

We're still catching a few smiles. Some of them seem like they're in response to us...other may just be from gas.  ;)

She's eating about 2-3 ounces per feeding at this point. Love the piggy drunk look....

Addie sleeps most of the day at this point. Luckily she's not much of a crier. She only cries when she's hungry or needs a diaper change. There are the rare occasions when she's fussy and just wants one of us to hold to her. Overall though, she's an amazing baby.

When we go out, she's an angel. She falls asleep in the car seat when we start driving, and often doesn't wake up for hours. We could be at the nosiest restaurant, and she's still fast asleep. She's even slept through a fire engine passing by on the street. I know other parents tell you to go out to dinner when you're pregnant because you won't have that opportunity with a newborn, but we've been extremely lucky with Addie. We've been out numerous times, and even made a shopping trip to the outlet mall for a few hours, and she's been great each time. I'm guessing this means our next one won't be so easy! ;)

She's already a Target girl!

Perhaps she's always so calm because she meditates at home...

Whatever the reason, one thing is for sure.....she is extremely loved by her mommy and daddy. We can't get enough of her. She's so snuggable and kissable! We just want to squeeze her (but not too hard!).  ;)

I'll leave you today with one of my favorite videos of Addie. Love the little sounds she makes, and when she purses her lips like a turtle. So cute  :)

Addie's Third Week

Adelaide's third week started with a visit from my parents. They were thrilled to spend time with Addie and were an amazing help around the house! They even pulled all of our weeds and planted some flowers. Maybe one of these days they'll be able to visit without having to work!  ;)  Addie loved spending time with her grandparents as well.

Here is the McLeod family's first photo. Justin found a great seafood dive on the water - they even had a small beach for the kids.

Unfortunately my parents' visit got cut in half by an overnight trip to the hospital for Addie. We purchased the highest rated baby monitor, which comes with a motion sensor. After 20 seconds of not movement (i.e. breathing), a loud alarm sounds on both the parent unit and the camera in the nursery. It went off about 10-12 times over the course of a week or so. Hearing the alarm go off in the middle of the night is quite scary in itself, but each time I rushed to Addie and put my finger under her nose to see if she was breathing, I didn't feel anything. I'd shake her a bit and she'd take a breath. I wasn't comfortable leaving her there and watching her to see if she'd finally take a breath at second 25 or 30. I know infants have periodic breathing, but they say that the max time between breaths is usually 15 seconds.

When we went to the pediatrician for Addie's two-week check up I brought up my concerns with her pediatrician. She agreed with me that it's better to be safe than sorry, so she suggested we check Addie into the hospital overnight so they could monitor her breathing and other vitals. It was an extremely long night. Although I knew that she was most likely fine, just seeing her in the hospital made me uneasy and a bit upset. They had the smallest hospital gown for her that I've ever seen - she looked so pitiful in it. It even opens on the back like the adult versions! Seeing her hooked up to all of the monitors broke my heart - and made it difficult to feed her throughout the night, since I couldn't go further than a few feet from the monitors.

I spent most of the night feeding her in a rocking chair because she was so fussy. I think the change of environment upset her as well. She didn't sleep most of the night, which of course defeats the purpose of doing a sleep study at the hospital.  ;)  We brought our motion sensor from home to check it against the hospital's in case it went off, which of course it didn't. The one time we actually want it to go off.....

I'm happy to say that Addie is healthy. Her vitals were strong and she didn't have any sleep apnea episodes while at the hospital. Since then, I've increased the sensitivity on our monitor at home and haven't had any more alarms. Everyone tells me not to use it at all, but it gives me a sense of security that she's still breathing, so I don't have to keep checking on her in her crib just to make sure. I'd say a few false alarms are worth it.

We've seen Addie sneak a few smiles here and there. She also likes to peer out at us with one eye...

This is one of my favorite outfits on her - thanks to her Mimi for finding it! She looks very prim and proper in this one.

How could you not love those turtle lips?!?! Gets me every time!

She looks so small on Justin. I feel like she's already grown so much in the past few weeks since this was taken. It's flying by so quickly!

Addie's First Photo Shoot - Rustic Wood, Vintage, Neutral

Although she wasn't too happy about it, I got some great photos of Addie in her first photo shoot. I purchased a few vinyl backdrops from Etsy that look like wood. You can find them here, at SwankyPrints. I also got an adorable Petti Romper from ChicBabyRose, and a newborn headband that I absolutely love from ButtercupsBows. It was the perfect size for little Adelaide.

I also used a few vintage style props I'd gotten from various places such as Michaels and Hobby Lobby. I love the basket with the "No 1" on it since she's our first baby.  ;)

She cooperated for about five minutes at a time, before she'd start fussing...which inevitably would lead to all-out crying. Luckily I was able to take a few good shots before that happened.

I think this one is my favorite, with the slight smile on her face...

I also ordered some cheese cloth in various colors from That Unique Bowtique. I've seen so many cute pictures on Etsy of newborns wrapped in such cloth like a cocoon - unfortunately I wasn't quite sure how to mimic that look. For those that are interested, my dad recently sent me a link to this blog, Newborn Posing, on which you can purchase a video tutorial showing how to get the desired look. Although I didn't have this beforehand, I got one decent photo by just wrapping it around her body.

Lastly, I got a beautiful fur prop in an ivory color to match the rest of the neutral color scheme from EcoStreet. Addie was a little more interested in eating the fur than posing for her mama.  ;)

I took a few more photos on our couch using a blanket my mom recently gave us. It is incredibly soft and comfy - definitely my new favorite blanket to curl up with. I love how Addie's hands frame her face in these - she looks angelic. Our sweet little angel. 

Sweet baby toes!!

I love the rustic, neutral colors in these. I'm happy with the way they turned out. And the great thing is, I have all of the props and backdrops for future photo shoots of our pretty little Addie.  :)

Baby Addie's Second Week

Baby Addie's second week flew by quickly. Justin was home to help thankfully. We started to get the hang of things at this point. They say you can differentiate between their cries, and surprisingly I can. She has a grunting/coughing cry when she needs her diaper changed, and a pitiful whining cry when she's hungry. Pretty crazy how you can learn to pick up on the subtle differences.

Here's Addie at exactly one week old, on the morning of the 31st.

This is her favorite sleeping position....unfortunately she never stays on her back like she's supposed to. The minute you put her down on her back, she rolls to her side. I actually found her twice on her stomach in the first week! She's not supposed to be able to roll onto her stomach for a few months! She's one strong little girl. 

This is her "I'm really unhappy" pose....

Here she is with daddy's favorite hat on...with the bear ears. As he says, how can you not smile?

Addie's first field trip was to Barnes & Noble...seems fitting considering that's where her mommy and daddy met. ;)

Here she is wrapped up in her cocoon for a walk. Nice and snug  ;)

Lastly, a few more photos of sweet Adelaide from her second week...

Introducing....Adelaide Maureen McLeod

It's a GIRL! A beautiful baby girl.  :)  Fortunately Justin was right, and I was wrong. I was absolutely convinced it was a boy....guess my maternal instincts didn't kick in until after birth.  ;)

Baby Adelaide came one week early. My OB determined I had preeclampsia when I went in for my normal appointment on August 23rd, so she sent us straight to the hospital to be induced. My feet had been swollen for the past few weeks, but it had spread to my legs a day or two before. It looked like I had elephantitis. Another clear indicator was my extremely high blood pressure - up in the 190s. Since I was obviously sick, and getting sicker by the day, she told us we'd be having a baby within the day.

I was already 4cm at that point, and had been having contractions for the previous hour. What the OB didn't tell me at the time was that she separated my membrane....this later explained why the contractions started to get much closer together and stronger when we arrived at the hospital. They hadn't even induced me yet and I was already progressing.

We arrived at the hospital at around 5pm. They gave us the suite right next to the nurses station, which luckily was about 3 times the size of the other rooms. We definitely lucked out!

The OB broke my water at about 6:30pm, and they started the epidural shortly after that. Unfortunately it didn't take the first time. After about an hour of horrible pain, I asked if the epidural should have kicked in by then....it should have. The anesthesiologist came in and repositioned it, and within five minutes I could feel it in my toes. I didn't feel much pain until the next morning. They started me on pitocin at around 11pm because I wasn't progressing as quickly as needed.

The epidural started to wear off in the early morning hours, so I had to keep self-administering more. At around 7am the OB came in and said it was time to push. I had been lulled into thinking labor wouldn't be too bad considering I hadn't been in pain all night....the last 2.5 hours of labor were excruciating. Every time I pushed the OB and nurse said you're almost there, we can see the head. That went on for two hours! Adelaide was crowned for an hour. She was a little too large to make it out on her own, so the doctor used the vacuum to help her out. To add to that, the epidural ran out towards the beginning of this phase...so I could feel everything - including the cut the OB had to make. Although it was a horrible few hours, it was entirely worth it.

Baby Adelaide was finally born at 9:31am on Saturday, August 24th. All in all, labor was about 17 hours long. When she made it out, the OB handed her to Justin so he could put her on my chest and tell me if she was a girl or boy. He was about to pass out at that point, but luckily held it together. ;)  We were both incredibly emotional when he called out that it was a girl. We'd both wanted a girl for our first so badly, and she had finally arrived.

Justin got an amazing video of Addie's first minutes of life as they were cleaning her off and checking her reflexes. He was able to hold her soon after.

He's one proud papa!  :)   

Unfortunately the magnesium sulfate they'd given me for the preeclampsia made me feel horrible after her birth. I was extremely weak and couldn't see very well because my vision was really blurry. This meant that I couldn't hold or feed her, which really upset me. It also made me crash twice in the hours after labor. My blood pressure plummeted and my whole body started to shake. I think that may have been more scary than the labor process. Luckily after taking me off of the magnesium sulfate I started to level off again. I was finally able to hold and feed her later that afternoon, at around 4pm. Being able to finally hold her and see her was the most amazing feeling - I'll never forget that moment.

She was born at 8 pounds, 10 ounces, and 19.75 inches in length. The doctors and nurses said her umbilical cord was the largest (in diameter) they'd ever seen. She was definitely a healthy baby! Thank goodness I didn't go another week or she really would have been a 10-pound baby. I would have needed a c-section at that point.

We were both discharged on Monday the 26th at around noon, just in time for lunch. Here's sweet Addie and I right before we left the hospital.

Here she is on her way home. She look so tiny in her car seat.   ;)

And lastly, a few photos from her first few days at home.

 

I'll try to post pictures more frequently. We have a ton already! This girl's entire life will be documented!  ;)