Just a few pics...

Bath time! Her faces are priceless...I feel like this first one is one I myself use often...

Today Norah met her great-grandparents and Uncle Hank on Skype! She dressed for the occasion...

peek-a-boo!

One Week Old!

Norah is one week old today! Oh what a week it has been. We are still tired, but getting the hang of it I think! Today we started by going to the pediatrician's office for a follow-up on her jaundice situation. She's looking great...and weighed in at 8lbs! She also had another newborn blood screen (standard), and they had to poke her heel and drop some blood on a card to be sent in to the lab. She was upset of course, but once it was all over she went right back to sleep! We will be going back for our one-month check-up in March! We really like our pediatrician; she is very sweet, and we are able to reach her (or covering doctor) day or night...she even gave us her email address. Turns out, I know her husband as well. He is a cardiothoracic surgeon, and I've at least talked to him over the phone (maybe met him face to face...who knows) about a patient or two of mine at work. We came home for our appointment and hustled to get everything ready to take Norah to her big newborn photo shoot! She did amazing! The photographer keeps her studio really warm for baby (like a sauna for us adults), and we started by feeding her and rocking her to sleep. She stayed asleep the whole time, letting the photographer pose her any which way she wanted. There were a couple of shots where we got to hold her, and she peed all over me! No biggie! I cant believe she didn't pee or poop on anything else! The pictures turned out amazing! She gave us a little preview...

Other than that, it's just business as usual around here. Eat, sleep, poop. She's such a good little girl, and makes us laugh all the time with her faces and noises!

She prefers to be bundled up tight! 

Wrigley is doing well, too! Loves his little sis! 

Month "zero"

We are going to try to keep up with monthly shots to watch her grow! She's so funny!

2/5/13...first doctors visit

We took Norah to the doctor's office this morning to get checked out! We all passed our inspections! She weighed in at 7lb10oz (gained one ounce since birth), and measured 20in long (19.5in at birth). The doctor said she looked more yellow to her, but still wasn't overly concerned. Apparently jaundice peaks at days 4-5, and since she looked so good otherwise, said we just have to go back Friday for another look. She didn't even re-draw any blood to check levels. Norah did so well! Hardly made a fuss when we had to strip her naked...everyone was commenting on how cute she was, saying babies this young usually still look like aliens! She also does well on car rides! That's all we know for now...more updates later!

Next couple are before our first walk outside! Check out Norah's attitude already...flipping off Daddy! 

2/2/13--2/3/13...extra hospital day, and homecoming day!

Made it through the first night, no unexpected complications, and were hoping to go home on 2/2! We got word, however, that due to my lengthy labor and my water being broken for so long, that they wanted to keep baby one more night to monitor for signs of infection. It's a good thing we stayed though, because we ran into breastfeeding complications! The nurses had a lot of good tips, and said Norah was doing everything right...but I guess it doesn't happen overnight! She was very upset and clearly starving...and Daniel and I were SOOO sleep deprived (I only had cat naps since we got to the hospital, and Daniel couldn't have had more than a few interrupted hours), that the night shift nurse suggested we try giving her a little formula to fill her belly so she could sleep...and so could we! Worked like a charm! I got three solid hours, and Daniel got four! I also started pumping that night to try to increase my supply. Didn't exactly go according to plan either, but we are still working on it! It's hard for me to have a plan and goal in mind and then have nothing go according to that plan!! I'm working on that, also! We made it to the morning of homecoming day, and Norah had her bilirubin test done to assess for jaundice. It was elevated, not quite high enough to require her to stay, but elevated nonetheless. It wasn't too alarming since she is primarily a breastfed baby, but in order for her body to clear the bilirubin, she has to poop and pee regularly. So now we are supplementing with formula to ensure she poops and pees on a regular basis, which as of today (2/4) she finally is! We have a pediatrician appointment in the morning and those levels will be rechecked then. Fingers crossed that they have gone down! Now that we are finally home, we are just trying to go with the flow! Daniel is absolutely wonderful at everything, especially keeping me grounded! We are a very tired but happy little family! And Wrigley is being so great too! We brought one of Norah's swaddling blankets and hats home from the hospital so he could get used to her scent, and he's been curled up on them ever since! He is very sweet and gentle and quiet around her. He seems concerned when she cries...he sits right by her changing table to monitor us while we change her diaper, then goes straight back to his bed! I think they'll be the best of friends!

2/1/13...Happy Birthday Norah!

I will spare you all the details, but 27 hours later and after 2 1/2 hours of pushing...Norah finally arrived!!! Our beautiful baby girl was born at 12:18pm, weighed in at 7lb9oz, and was 19.5 inches long! She was having a little difficulty coughing out all the goo, so instead of spending time on my chest, they took her to the warmer for some close attention. They had to stick a little tube down her nose to suction her lungs three times, and tap on her back for a while to get her to cough it all out. That sure did the trick because she had a kung-fu grip on that tubing!

Daniel got to go watch the whole process, and I couldn't see anything! I asked Daniel what she looked like, and he said "Well, have you seen Men in Black?" Joking of course...but the room got a laugh out of it! She sure was a cutie pie from the beginning!

Finally, after being given the "all-clear", I was able to hold my little peanut against my chest for a little while before they took her to the nursery for her assessment and shots. We got a couple family shots before they snatched her up!

They transferred me to the post-partum unit at about 3pm that afternoon. We spent the rest of the day/night trying to feed and change on ANY form of a schedule, holding and cuddling and taking lots of pictures! Daniel was amazing and really stepped up to the plate. I was so sore and my upper legs stayed numb for so long, that I couldn't move myself out of the bed to do ANYTHING! I think he changed every single diaper that first day and night, and did an awesome job I might add! You would think he'd been taking care of babies for years! Mom and baby's vitals were perfect all night...and we planned on leaving the next day! 

1/31/13...40weeks 2days

We woke up early Thursday, January 31st to get to the hospital to have Norah! I started contracting the night before, so I was hoping that would speed up the induction process...boy was I wrong! Although I was having regular contractions, no cervical change was being made. We began the induction process with cervadil, which we were told would be in place for about 12 hours. It really intensified my contractions, but of course, no dilation! We proceeded to pitocin, which made those darn contractions nearly unbearable! And again, no real cervical change! By this point, the night shift nurse was on, and she was awesome! She anticipated all of our needs and made me as comfortable as she could...which was a hard job to handle! The doctor said I could have an epidural once I got to 3cm, but about 12 hours into the induction and I was still only 2cm! The nurse told a little white lie to get me the epidural sooner...I liked the way she worked! That really helped speed up the process (well, sorta)...it allowed me to relax and not tense up with every contraction...and we FINALLY got the show on the road! Daniel got a few hours of sleep...me, not so much! But we made it through the night to Norah's birthday!