2 months!

So I'm a little behind. Not at all surprising considering all I want to do is sit and snuggle my baby girl. I just cannot believe how fast time is flying by. I feel like I hardly remember my tiny little newborn.
Freya is such a strong girl who loves to kick and stretch (especially her right leg for some reason).
She giggled at her dad the other day and the sound was pure magic. I cannot wait for her to do it again.
She holds her head up and looks around like a champ. She wants to be held upright so she can see everything that is going on and doesn't like to nap unless we are at home or in the car.
She still loves her baths. My favorite time of day is in the morning after she wakes up and has eaten. She is so happy and snuggly I never want it to end.

1 month old!

Freya turned one month while we were in Prairie du Chien with Justin's family.

Snuggling with Grandma Toni

Playing with Grandpa Gary

Things you love:
*Eating! You weighed 9 pounds, 12 ounces on the 18th.
*Snuggling with Mama and Dad
*Your swing
*Reflections and mirrors - you love to stare at the china cupboard in the living room
*Baths
*Stretching in the morning after you're out of your swaddle

Things you hate:
*Being hungry


Things you can do:
*Track objects with your eyes
*Smile!
*Lift your head and look side to side
*Recognize Mama's and Dad's voices
*Roll from back to side

1 month old!

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Overall Freya is a very happy and content baby. She loves bath time and cuddling. Most of the time she fusses only when she is hungry. Sleeping is getting much better and she has slept for a 5 hour stretch the past few nights. She has started to coo and vocalize a lot more, which is fun. She did well on our first long car trip to Wisconsin and slept for three hours on the way there and back!

We have noticed that she might be sensitive to dairy in my diet so I am eliminating it to see if that helps relieve some of her tummy troubles.

Freya's First Weeks

I should have written this sooner since I feel like the first two weeks home were a big blur of feeding the baby and trying to sleep. I remember that we had lots of visitors and that Freya only slept for 1.5 hours max at a time. Maybe that is why everything is a blur!

The highlight of our first week home was that Megan and Paul came to visit! We were all very excited for them to arrive and meet Freya. We spent lots of time relaxing at home together and we ventured out of the house for a few outings. Megan came with me to Freya's first pediatrician appointment (Justin had to attend class). We went to the outlet mall at Albertville and out to eat. Freya was a very good baby for all of our trips and slept pretty much the whole time. It was such a nice visit and we were so happy they were able to meet Freya when she was still a tiny baby.

Megan meeting Freya at the airport

Megan and Paul with Freya

Freya is wearing a onesie from Megan that says "I love my Irish Aunt"

I feel that no matter how many books you read or how prepared you think you are, nothing can prepare you for the reality of having a newborn. Leaving the hospital knowing we now have responsibility for a tiny, precious life is very overwhelming. For the first few days especially I was so terrified we were going to do something wrong. Luckily Freya has been giving us pretty clear cues as to what she wants and when she wants it and she only cries when she is hungry or overtired. She wants to eat every hour during the day and needs to sleep after being awake for 1.5 hours or she gets too tired to relax herself.
We had some really nice weather during the first couple weeks home so we were able to go outside for walks and just to sit and look around. She loves the fresh air and likes to nap in the stroller. She also likes to be worn in her Moby or Beco and sleeps when she is in those as well.

2 weeks old!

Snuggling in the Moby wrap

Justin giving Freya her first pumped bottle

Freya comes home

We were discharged from the hospital early Sunday afternoon (Sept 18th). Freya was smaller than we thought she'd be so her outfits we brought from home were gigantic on her! Everyone told me not to bother with newborn size clothes because babies are usually too big for them, but not our little Freya.

Way too big outfit!

We had a little trouble getting her into her car seat because she just seemed to tiny and fragile. Once we got her in and the nurses checked to make sure she was buckled in correctly we were on our way home.

Giant outfit, seemingly giant carseat and tiny baby

We're home!

We had a few visitors that day - Charlie, Heather and Ella, Paulette and Byron, and Amanda and Athena. Everyone was very excited to see our little girl.

Ella and Freya

Athena even brought a couple newborn outfits so Freya had some clothes that fit her properly!

We were anxious to introduce Freya to our dogs Cleo and Anna. Both of the dogs were very intrigued and wanted to smell her a bunch. They were both a little scared when she cried for the first time, but so far they are doing really well with her.

Freya's first days

I delivered at the Maple Grove Hospital and I have nothing but positive things to say about my experience and all of the people we interacted with. All of the nurses were fantastic, and I was lucky to have the same nurse on duty every day we were there so we got to know her well. You could tell she really cared about Freya and me and she really helped me be more comfortable with my hospital experience. We even recieved a personalized note from her and one of the other nurses a day after we got home. I was very happy with the care I recieved and would highly recommend the birth center there to anyone! The amenities were great as well. They have room service so I was able to order whatever I wanted to eat whenever I wanted it and there was a couch/bed in the room so Justin was able to stay with us every night.

Since I had a c-section we had a little longer hospital stay. This gave some of our family and friends a chance to come visit us while we were still there.

Grandma Brenda got to hold Freya when she was just an hour old

Grandma Toni and Grandpa Gary visiting Freya

Auntie Amanda with Freya

Auntie Jenna and Auntie Athena

Auntie Heidi

Uncle Ryan and Christie

Clean and happy after her first bath. Her hat was a gift from a knitting group that makes hats and donates them to the hospital.

Freya has been a fairly calm and content baby since she was born. The first few days in the hospital she barely cried and I had to wake her up to feed her. She did get kicked out of the nursery one night at around 3am because she didn't want to sleep. At first I was hesitant to have her taken to the nursery, but I needed at least a couple hours of sleep each night and the nurses were great about bringing her back to the room if she fussed at all and she never went more than 2 hours without being in my room with us.
Next up - coming home!

Freya's arrival

Freya decided that she was quite comfortable where she was and didn't want to come out. My doctor didn't want me to go too far past 41 weeks, so we checked into Maple Grove hospital on September 14 to start my induction. I got all set up in their amazingly huge labor/delivery room and they started the induction process. They told me to get plenty of rest. Yeah, right! I don't think I slept for more than 10 minutes that night. The next morning at 9am they started me on Pitocin to bring on my contractions. The contractions started almost immediately and came every 3-4 minutes for the rest of the morning, afternoon and evening. Even with all my contractions I hadn't progressed at all since the night before.

Around 6:30pm I decided to get an epidural in hopes that it would help me relax enough to make more progress. After they placed the epidural (holy crap, was that painful) I tried to rest a little, but the fetal heart rate monitor they had on Freya kept going off. During every contraction I had her heart rate was dropping very low. They had increased my pitocin in hopes of helping me progress, but it wasn't working and Freya wasn't handling it well. At 8:00pm my doctor came and talked to me about having a C-section because of the stress on the baby. I freaked out because I didn't want surgery and was terrified that something would go wrong, but she assured me that it was better to have her come now before it turned into an emergency situation. I felt so disappointed in my body but I knew I had to do what was best for the baby.

The process was very quick since I already had the epidural in place. They wheeled me in to the operating room around 8:30pm and little Freya arrived at 8:40pm. Justin was right by my side the whole time and watched when they pulled her out. Turns out that she was stuck in a sideways position in my pelvis and had one of her feet stuck in my ribcage. She weighed 7 pounds, 1 ounce and was 20 inches long. I'll never forget the sounds of her little squawks that quickly turned into a full-blown cry. Justin cut her cord and held her hand as she got wrapped up and cleaned up, then they brought her over to me and we had our first moments together as a new family of three.

Full term!

37 weeks today. I can't believe she can come any day now. We're ready - or as ready as we'll ever be, I guess. I'm trying not to get too excited because I feel like time will slow down too much. I just can't wait for the day I can hold my little girl in my arms. Something tells me it might be even better than feeling her little feet in my ribs!

36 weeks 6 days

The last few weeks have been pretty busy. We've mostly been taking care of little details - laundry, cleaning, and organizing. After a marathon two-hour trip to Target I think we've got everything we need for the first couple weeks at least. Her room is all set except for that pesky shelf that Justin needs to put on the wall. 
We were very lucky to have some wonderful showers thrown for us by very generous family and friends. It's obvious that our little one is very well-loved already. For some reason (mostly being that I hate pictures of myself right now) I didn't take many pictures at any of them.

Delicious cupcakes courtesy of Jenna!

Another exciting accomplishment is that we purchased all of the diapers. I'm sure some people will call us crazy hippies, but we decided we wanted to use cloth diapers. So much has changed with them in recent years that the process is very simple. We used a handy calculator online that compares the costs of cloth diapering (materials, washing, detergent, etc) with that of disposables and figured out that after our initial investment we'll break even after 7 weeks. Pretty good deal considering she'll be in diapers for much longer than that! For those that are familiar with cloth diapers, we're doing a combination of pre-folds, fitteds, and pockets. No wet pails or rubber pants for us!

L-R, Pocket diaper, fitted diaper, cover, and pre-fold

How cute is that purple one with the flowers?! I just love it. We mostly picked diapers that are adjustable in size so they will last longer. Most of the ones we have go from 8 or 10 pounds through 35 pounds. We got a couple smaller ones for when she's brand new. For anyone who lives in the Twin Cities, definitely go check out Peapods on Como Avenue in St. Paul. It's a great store and they are super helpful. We're planning on heading back once the little one is a few weeks old to pick out a baby carrier (most likely an Ergo or Beco).

Now we just try to relax and enjoy the last couple weeks of pre-baby life.

A blog! Finally!

Well, I suppose it's time to start one of these. In just a few short weeks we'll have something more exciting to talk about than what the dogs did today. Since not many of our family members live in the immediate area, we wanted to have somewhere to show off pictures, tell stories, and give updates on our baby girl.

On January 2, 2011 we found out the baby was on the way. 

Commence lots of shocked expressions followed by loads of excitement.

Along the way we shared the happy news with friends and family. 

Doctor appointments, ultrasounds, and all-day sickness followed. Justin and I were both really excited when the baby started looking like a little person rather than a gummy bear.

We started the process of making the office/workout room/junk room into a nursery.

Room before/during

Three visits to Ikea, two trips to Home Depot, and a few meltdowns later, the nursery is nearly complete! We just need to find some art or pictures for the walls, hang a shelf, and organize her wardrobe.

The giraffe on the dresser inspired the wall color and curtains

 

 

 

At about 18 weeks we found out we're expecting a girl. Justin is officially outnumbered (two boy cats and two girl dogs were leveling things out). 

Finally, even though I hate pictures of myself, I will share a couple belly pictures. 

24 weeks

 

 

 

33 weeks 3 days