First time sick

Daisy is only 11 weeks old and is already sick.  My poor baby!  She had a little bit of a fever the other day, but we gave her some infant tylenol and it went away.  But now she has the stuffiest nose.  I've been using the nose bulb on her a lot.  Luckily her snot is runny and not too sticky, it makes them easier to suck out.

I worry about her the most at night.  I haven't been sleeping well because I just want to make sure she is okay. It's so hard for her to breathe and I don't think she is used to breathing through her mouth.  So every now and then I'll hear her sniff in too much snot that she coughs on it.  And the other night it sounded like she was weezy a bit too.

Since she has been sick, she has been sleeping a lot during the day because she doesn't sleep well at night.  Sometimes it's been hard for her to fall asleep in the swing, so I'll just sit on the couch and hold her.

Since her nose is so stuffy, she has been sneezing a lot too.  Every time she sneezes I quickly get the bulb and suck out some of the snot.  It seems to come out a lot better then.  But other times I don't need the bulb because she sneezes out the snot herself (leaving her with a snot face...kind of funny actually)

She is starting to get a little better.  I'm glad she only has a stuffy nose and isn't in any pain.  I know it's hard for her, but it could have been a lot harder.  She is still my happy little baby who loves to play and smile.  Yesterday she even started laughing! It was the best thing ever hearing her laugh!!!  It was the first time I've heard her do it, and I can't wait to hear it some more.  It was simply so precious :) 

Time to switch things out

Daisy is to the point where she doesn't fit in her newborn clothes anymore!!!  I kept trying to put her in them since they are so cute, but it got to the point where they are just too snug on her.

So yesterday I went through all of the clothes we have for her.  I took out all of the newborn ones and boxed them up.  I couldn't believe how much of that size we had!!

So now in her closet I have only clothes 3-6 months in size hanging up.  She has a lot of those clothes too!!   

I'm so thankful for people who have purchased clothes for Daisy.  Matt and I haven't had to get much for her.  We got a few pajamas and some onsies from Spencers, but that's really about it.  So if you are one of those people who have helped by getting her clothes, THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH!!! We really appreciate it :)  

Besides yesterday when I organized all her clothes, I really don't do much during the day.  When Daisy naps I try to clean up the apartment a bit or take a shower. But when she is awake, all I do is play with her! We usually sit on my bed and play with her stuffed animals.  

I talk to her a lot and try to tell her everything I can.  I have a lot of fun trying to teach her all I know.  She is pretty happy when we play with her toys. I'm trying to teach her how to grab things.  She is getting better, but most of the time she has her fists closed tightly.  The easiest toy for her to grab is her key rattle.  

When we aren't playing with her toys, I love to just take her picture.  She is so photogenic!!!! Right now though, it seems like it's the same picture and pose every time, but I just love capturing her smile!  And sometimes I can get a really cute picture.  Here are a few of my favorites from this week: (the first one just cracks me up...)

Daisy turns 2 months!!

2 months ago today, I gave birth to the most special thing in my life.  I can't believe how much Daisy has grown already!!  Here are a few things about her:

She gained her social smile which, might I add, is simply awesome.  I love talking to her and seeing such love and excitement in her face.  She is always so happy!!

She holds her head up really well now.  I don't think it is at full strength, but we do lots of tummy time to keep her getting better at it.

She used to sleep with us in bed, but now she goes to bed around 9pm and sleeps in her swing.  She has been sleeping almost through the night, only waking up once or twice to eat.  I'm glad she likes the swing a lot better than our bed.

She loves her binky, especially when she is tired.

Her hair is growing really fast.  Some people think she looks like a boy, so I have to dress her in pinks and purples now so no one is confused. We think it's the hair....We bought some styling clay for it, so maybe I'll start styling it more for her.

She responds to when you are talking to her.  If I'm not holding her but start talking to her, she will turn her head and look at me.  It's pretty cool.

She babbles a whole lot now.  It's fun having little conversations with her.  It's almost like she understands what we say and responds to it.  I think she is starting to mimic certain things.  If I say "gooo"she will usually repeat a "gooo" or if I stick my tongue out, she sometimes sticks hers out too.

Today she had her 2 month doctor visit and had to get 3 shots and a mouth spray.  She definitely did not like any of those.  But soon afterwards, she was completely passed out in her carseat.  She weighed in at exactly 11 pounds and is 23 1/2 inches long.  She is my big whopper!!

I can't wait to see how she grows up even more!!!  

It's been awhile

Time has flown by!!  I hadn't even realized it's been over a month since my last post.  A lot has happened in that time.

Matt proposed to me on Christmas day!  In front of my whole family too!!! And of course I said yes!  

Daisy has grown a bunch.  She is almost 2 months old now (will be on Thursday) and she already weighs 12 pounds!!!  I can't believe how much she weighs.  She has been eating tons though, so it really shouldn't surprise me.  She gets cuter by the day too.

I'm so glad I get to stay home with her every day.  She has taught me a lot about my life.  Before her, I worried that my life wasn't going the way it should.  I'm only 23 years old (today actually) and I've dropped out of school, been divorced, gone through big rifts with family, and now have a baby.  But having Daisy around makes me feel like it was all meant to be.  I feel like God challenged me for the better.   I've seen the bad of my life, and now I can appreciate the good.  

Last night we got in a car accident on our way home from Denver.  It was pretty scary.  I was sitting in the back seat with Daisy while Matt was driving.  Luckily we didn't hit any cars as we spun out, or no one hit us!  The rest of the way home all I could do was thank God.  Our car is a little damaged, but nothing serious.  If anything would have happened to Matt or Daisy, I would be devastated. 

Well, Daisy just woke up so I have to cut this short. But I will make it an effort to write more often!!!!  

Her first few days

Daisy is already 12 days old and growing like a weed!  Well, she hasn't gained back her birth weight yet, but I feel like she is so much bigger now than she was when she was born. 

I just can't believe how adorable she is. 

Her jaundice still hasn't gone down to a healthy level.  Yesterday they called me and said it was at 14.9.  Poor baby girl has to get her foot pricked all the time to check her levels.  The doctor said they tested her blood and said it was NOT a problem with her liver (thank you God) but instead a problem with my breast milk.  So every day we have to give her at least one bottle of formula to help flush out the bilirubin.  The doctor also said it is NOT due to an under functioning thyroid gland.  She was on phototherapy for awhile.  It was actually pretty cute.  It is this suitcase with bright blue lights in it, almost like a tanning bed.  Here's what she looked like in the bed:

Thankfully she doesn't have to use the bed anymore.  I pray her bilirubin levels keep going down.  It would break my heart to see her jaundice get worse. 

Anyway, her cord finally fell out on Sunday so we gave her a nice bath on Monday. 

She didn't cry during it, but we couldn't tell if she liked it or not.  She had such a stern face the whole time!! 

I caught a great smile from her when we were waiting for Matt in the car. 

She is such a happy baby!!!  I love it :) 

Pushing Daisy

Daisy was born last Saturday, the 19th of November.  I started having contractions at 3am on Friday morning, but wasn't admitted to the hospital until 6pm that night when I was finally 4cm dilated.  After 2 hours of really painful contractions, the doctors gave me an epidural.  Once that kicked in, I actually fell asleep!!!  I could still feel the contractions, but they were much easier to deal with.  I was in and out of sleep until about 4:30 am when the midwife gave me some petocin.  She said Daisy was close to crowning on her own, but my contractions needed to be closer together to push her out.  When I finally started pushing, it only took about 15 minutes for her to come out. 


It was amazing finally seeing Daisy.  I couldn't believe how beautiful she was.  She weighed 8 lbs and 10 ounces.  Since she was so big, they had to check her glucose levels to make sure she was a "healthy big".  And she was :) 

About 2 hours after Daisy came out, Matt noticed my skin was really pale.  So we called the nurse and she saw that I was bleeding a lot more than I should be.  When she pushed on my abdomen, a huge blood clot came out, and I felt a lot worse.  I don't remember much of this point, but I do remember them giving me a pain medicine that made me feel really drunk.  I could hear a lot of nurses and doctors in my room, rushing around.  Someone ended up giving me stitches, but I felt every little prick.  I remember hearing Matt's voice, saying that everything was going to be okay and that I was strong and could do it.  The commotion died down, and I opened my eyes again.  The doctor told the nurse to watch me carefully and that I may need to go into the OR.  It was all pretty scary.  Thankfully my mom was there to hold Daisy and Matt was there to hold my hand and kiss my forehead.  But I got better and wasn't hemorrhaging anymore. 

I'm glad that Daisy is finally here though.  She is simply amazing, and I love her so much.  And seeing Matt with her is great.  He is such a good dad already. 

A great contribution

Today I had another doctor appointment.  The doctor did all the normal things like blood pressure, fundal height check, and fetal heart rate.  They also did a strep test.  Nothing too dangerous, but then again nothing good for the baby to get.  So if I run positive for the test they will give me medications during labor to help prevent passing it to the baby.  And the last test they did was check my cervix.  I am already 1cm dilated!!! 

The doctor said that it's good I'm already dilating.  Most first time mom, he said, don't start this early and it's harder for them when it comes to labor.  But he told me that since I am dilating already I need to be more prepared for signs of labor. 

The other day Matt's mom sent us a box of mail, and in it she had a flier for cord blood banking with a little note saying "might be something good to look into."  So I asked my doctor about it this morning and he said they don't have the equipment to do it at the hospital on base, but I could contact the cord center and they would send the equipment to the hospital. 

I got home and researched it a little more.  I found a few great informational sites.  There have been cases where families have helped treat their child's leukemia.  It's amazing to me how something so natural in life, usually wasted, can save a little kids life from some diseases.  However, I don't think I can save my baby's cord blood.  It is just too expensive....

One company, the cheapest I found, starts at 20 years for $1900 and then $100 a year after that.  I wish we had the money to do it.

But I did find out that I can donate the cord blood, just like you can donate regular blood.  I think this is what I am going to do.  It would bring me so much happiness knowing that instead of wasting the cord blood, I could be saving another kids life.  So first thing Monday morning, I am going to call a donation center and get the equipment sent to my hospital.  I think it'll be such a great contribution :)