4 Weeks

Thanks to Lisa and Lindsey for telling us to go get pics of Baylee. These were taken on Memorial Day--her 4 week bday!

Cute Pictures Ahead...

Can you see what her bib says?

Don't mind the hairy fingers...


She's sticking her tongue out at me!!




Baylee's 1st real bath (her umbilical cord came off this morning...finally!)


click on the pic with she and I to enlarge...you have to see her face!

Look-A-Like

This is a picture of Sarah (my little brother Jimbo's daughter)...I think Baylee looks like her here. Cutie-patootie!

This past week my sister Jenn and her little boy Reilly came to visit us. Here's a few pics...

















Last Wed. my cousin Ann passed away after a 13 year battle with breast cancer. She was such a strength and inspiration to everyone who knew her. Lui was able to get a few days off from work so we traveled down to Gilbert for the services. Her 5 boys gave the life sketch and talked about some wonderful memories of their mom. There was beautiful music and the Spirit was very strong. I'm sure she has had some wonderful reunions on the other side with loved ones that have already passed on. She was buried about 2 rows away from my mom, so it was neat to be able to visit her as well.


This is my dad--he is such a rock and I'm so grateful for his strength and love.






















Here are a few recent pics of Baylee...

This one was from this morning. She was hungry and was able to find some solace in her 2 middle fingers. It wasn't too long before she realized nothing was coming out!



This is her hiccup face...

Never Had These Before

These pictures may not do them justice, but hopefully you can see how long my nails are. I have NEVER had nails like this in my life. You see, I'm a nail biter. WAS a nail biter. I guess it's due to the pre-natal pills I'm taking. Not sure, but whatever it is, it's working! It feels weird to have them, but cool at the same time. (Lui likes them too--for back scratching!)

The Longest Day of My Life...

Warning...really long post ahead...

BEFORE...




Well, I guess it's been long enough that I can talk about how it went on the day I was induced. I think I needed some time to get over it a little. We went in at 6:30am on Sun. April 27th.


The nurses asked me if I was feeling any contractions and I told them no-i hadn't felt anything. They hooked me up to the monitors and lo and behold I was contracting. I just couldn't feel it. So, around 9am the doc came in and checked me to see if I was dilated any further. I was at a 3, so he broke my water. Weird...that's pretty much all i can say about how that felt. The nurse, Roberta, was an older woman, and she wasn't my favorite nurse. She explained to me the different options of pain meds (epidural, statol in the IV) and told me to tell her whenever I felt I needed something. She made sure I knew also that the anesthesiologist was on call and that he would have to come from home or wherever he was to administer the epidural. He wasn't at the hospital. So...around noon I started feeling the contractions stronger, so I told Roberta to call him up--let's do it. Around 1pm he got there and explained to me the procedure. He said he wanted to start it with me lying down. So, I was on my left side, and he started poking around in my back. He had to work in between contractions, yet he couldn't seem to get it in the right spot. At one point I felt a shooting electrical impulse down my entire right leg, and when I told him this, he was like, "oh, well, we might have hit a nerve there." DUH! So after 3 attempts with me laying on my side, he sat me up to start the whole thing over again. By this time I'm really feeling the contractions, and it's not feeling so great. In order to start the process over, he had to take the tape off my back from the first 3 attempts. I was sitting up, holding on to Lui when he literally tore the tape off. It hurt so bad--I lost it. With the contractions and now this, I just started bawling. Lui actually started to cry also seeing me in so much pain. It was pretty bad. So he did it again, got it in, and I was really praying for some relief at this point. But none came. I think I was out of it for about 20 minutes, but then bam--right back to feeling the contractions. Roberta kept messing with the drip to my side and I remember her saying, "Oh, I hope this works." Why should she have to "hope" it works??? Around 3pm there happened to be another anesthesiologist there so they got them to come in and perform another epidural. I didn't even know what the man looked like cause I hadn't opened my eyes since the first one. He did it, first try with me sitting up, but once again--no relief. So at this point, I'm thinking, "ok, so what's the point of these freaking things anyway??" So the rest of the night was pretty much hell. I felt everything. I don't know when exactly I started screaming and crying during the contractions, but I do know that it lasted quite a while. I remember my throat being so dry--Janie and Lui kept giving me ice to suck on, but I had to be careful cause when I had it in my mouth and a contr. started I had to spit it out so I didn't choke. Around 11pm the doc came in and told me that the screaming wouldn't help...thanks doc. Why don't we switch places and you tell me how it feels. He also told me that he had an emergency surgery he had to perform on a patient that was internally bleeding. He asked me if I wanted to start pushing and I said yes, cause anything was better than just lying there feeling what I was feeling. So we started pushing, and he eventually had to leave for surgery. But I kept it up with the nurses, Jessica and Kathy (I thought that was interesting, her name being Kathy). They were great, Janie was by my side helping count and helping me breathe, and Lui was my "leg helper." My legs were so tired from being in the stirrups for so long I had to stretch them, so Lui would hold my heels so I could straighten them out in between pushes. I remember Jessica saying that she had never "caught a baby" before, but at this point, I couldn't care less who caught her...just as long as she came out soon! So for the next 1 1/2 hours, I heard, "1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10...good job...you're doing so good." and "look at all that hair!" and "push! push!" And alas at 12:38am Mon morn she arrived. Kathy coached Jessica along, and they both did great. That's right, the doc didn't even make it back in time...Jessica delivered Baylee. They put her on my tummy, Lui cut the cord, and then they took her over to continue cleaning her off and to weigh her.

About 10 minutes after the birth, Dr. Taylor came running in and the look on his face was priceless. He had missed it all. He was very apologetic and sad that he had missed it. They gave her to me one more time and then took her to the nursery.

AFTER...

Lui went with her, and in the mean time, Dr. T took about 45 minutes to stitch me up. I tore pretty bad. The nurse came back about 1/2 hour later and told me that Baylee had a temp of 103 and that she was experiencing some respiratory distress. They sent some blood work to the lab to make sure everything was fine. For some reason, this didn't alarm me---I somehow knew she would be ok. After all was said and done, it was time to move me to my post par tum room. On the way we stopped at the nursery and I got to see her again. Lui was still there with her, just staring and caressing her little hand. A proud papa for sure. She had to stay in the nursery so they could continue to monitor her. The nurse said her O2 levels were good, and that the lab work came back good as well. Her fever was going down and she was breathing well on her own. We were off to the room, yet we had to leave her there. Lui, once again, stayed there with her. I got to my new room and was tired, hungry, thirsty, hurting--what else? Thanks to whoever it was that told me to bring snacks cause it was at this point Janie busted them out. I inhaled several packs of fruit snacks, a granola bar, some crackers, and Jessica even brought me a box lunch. About an hour later, they brought my baby in and I was able to feed her. She was beautiful. So small. A miracle.

It's now almost 2 weeks later, and I'm pretty worried about my legs. Both of my thighs are still numb, and I still feel shooting electrical impulses in my right leg. I'm sure it's from the 1st epidural when the doc couldn't figure out what he was doing.

Needless to say, it was a rough day. But our little angel made it safe, and that's all that matters. At some point after the delivery Lui asked me, "Do you still want to have 5???" I couldn't give him a straight answer...

Lui's Family

From L to R: Leticia, Jalim (Teresa's little boy), grandma Lupita with Baylee, and Teresa.


Uncle Lui!

This was quite the task - Baylee was just chillin but we had to keep Jalim from scratching/hitting her. He wasn't doing it on purpose of course-he just wanted to play with his new little cousin!

Grandma loves to hold Baylee in the glider.


It was fun to have Lui's family here. His sisters Leticia and Teresa were here just for the day, but his mom is staying until the end of the week. What do you think? Does Lui look like anyone in his family?

Much Better Last Night...

First of all, thanks for all your comments and suggestions. I'll take anything! So last night I fed her at 6ish and then handed her off to Grandma Lupita (Lui's mom). She rocked her to sleep and put her in her crib and she slept for a couple hours-which is what I did too. Then around 9 I fed her again and then off to Grandma she went and off to bed I went. It worked out good cause Lui and his mom were still up visiting, so they put her to bed. Then Lui took the midnight feeding with a bottle of my milk. He put her down around 1 and about 1:30 she started fussing. He thought she was still hungry so he gave her 1 more ounce (after she had already drank 3)... he figured out she wasn't still hungry when she threw it up all over him! Her little tummy was already full. So her changed her diaper and pj and put her down to sleep around 2:30. Guess what time she woke up....6!! So we both got some good shut eye! So I fed her again and had to put her in pj #3 cause she spit up on pj #2. 3 pj's in 1 night! Goodness little girl! Around 7 grandma woke up, so now she's rocking her in her room with some lullabies playing. And guess where I'm going.....back to bed!!!

Sleepless Nights

Ok, so my little girl isn't letting me get any sleep...I know this comes as no surprise to the many of you who already have kids. It's 1:20 in the am and I just fed her. I just changed her. She'll sleep for about 20-30 minutes, then she'll be awake again. It's not like she cries and cries-she just fusses. So I'll go in to check on her and she'll be eating her fists and licking her lips as if she hasn't eaten since she's come out of the womb. Am I missing something? So right now I have her pacifier in and the music playing from the mobile on her crib. Is she still awake??? She sure is. K, so now it's 1:40 and I just got finished rocking her to sleep. I come in here to the computer, sit down and hear her making noises. Awake again. Suggestions anyone????

This is what I want her to look like....asleep :)

Janie's Photo Shoot

Last night Janie wanted to set up a photo shoot in Baylee's crib...it was getting dark, so the lighting isn't good on a lot of the pics. But these are a few of the ones I liked.

Janie left today :( But tomorrow Lui's mom and sisters are coming. Lupita (my mother-in-law) is going to stay for the week, but not sure about his sisters.

It seems like I do a load of laundry a day just for Baylee. I'm sure it only gets worse, huh? This afternoon Lui and I had a fun diaper changing experience. Changed her once, then she pooped. Changed her again, then she peed. Changed her a 3rd time, and she was good to go. And we had to change her outfit, cause when she peed she got it all over the one she was wearing. Gotta love it. :)

She is so fun to take pictures of...






So, I've always wondered if I would ever feel the "baby blues"/ppd-whatever you want to call it. The answer is yes, I'm feeling it. It's so wierd cause I will suddenly get the urge to cry and I'm thinking to myself, "what are you crying for?" But there's no real good answer. It's crazy how much your hormones and body changes during this whole birthing process. I just have to thank Lui for being patient with me. Thanks baby.

I'll be honest...the 1st night home was rough. Only 1 1/2 hours of sleep total. We had our first pediat appt Thurs. morn so I wanted to get up early enough to give us enough time to get everything ready. Turns out I didn't need to "get up", cause I was already up... And we still barely made it at 9am. They weighed her and told us she had lost a few ounces, which is normal, but doc said she had lost a few more than he would have liked to see-but that she was still ok. She's feeding much better now and will hopefully start putting some back on.

Night #2 was much better...I decided to put her in her crib, instead of the pack and play in our bedroom. It was fantastic. I could hear here when she was fussing and ready to eat, but didn't hear all the other little noises babies make. Plus, she couldn't hear us moving around, turning over, etc. So I'm pretty sure that's how we're going to do it from now on. She fed about every 3 hours which gave me a chance to sleep in between. I can handle that. It's what we went through the first night that I couldn't continue to do.

I do have to say tho that this week would have been much more difficult if it wasn't for my Aunt Janie. She flew out from Illinois early Sun morn before we went to the hospital, and has been with me every step of the way. It's nice cause she has 4 kids of her own and lots of experience. And with her being my mom's sister, it really helped me to feel more of mom here with me. She has been such a help to us this week and I'm so sad to see her go tomorrow. Thanks to my little bro Jimbo for giving her a pass on Southwest to come out here. I love you guys.