Just the 4 of us

We were so lucky (aka spoiled) to have my mom with us for 12 days and my sister, Paige, in town for a week. They both left Tuesday afternoon and so it's  been a week with just the four of us! (well and since Tyler has been busy working and taking finals, just the three of us lots of the time!)

I was pretty nervous how I'd do on my own but really things have been great. Our church has helped us out by bringing in meals after my mom left. We had tons left over from what my mom made the first couple nights. And then staring Thursday, we had amazing 3 course meals each night of pasta, enchiladas, and last night my friend had us over for Greek food. (She knows I'm obsessed and planned this perfect meal for us) We still have two more meals being brought in tonight and tomorrow and honestly feel kinda guilty about how nice people are being! I'm starting to feel almost back to normal physically but I guess I'll allow them to serve me a little longer!

 Abbie has been doing great. She really is on a great schedule and is pretty content sleeping in her crib, pack'n'play, bouncer, swing, or car seat. I really loved being able to have Jackson sleep anywhere, so I'm glad Abbie has been doing well too. Of course she sleeps the best when she is in our arms, but she's pretty easy going which is a great quality for a younger sister of Jackson. She has been nursing great too, after that scare last week, she has now gone back to normal and does great every time - i am so grateful. She also takes a bottle from Tyler at night too, so we are so blessed at how easy going she is!

We haven't left the house much this week and I'm still a little scared to take both kids to run errands! I've gone out with just Abbie and Tyler has taken Jackson out, but never just me in the car with the 2 kids. Hopefully I'll get there soon :) This morning we went on a walk to the park just the three of us and it went great! Sometimes Jackson has a hard time leaving the park but luckily today he didn't fuss or cry once. Abbie just slept in her car seat the whole time so it couldn't have gone better.

Abbie and I went to the doctor on Thursday for her 2 week check up. She weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce at birth and then got down to 7 lb 11 oz at her 4-day check up. At this visit she weighed 8 pounds 3 ounces so we were glad to see she's been gaining about an ounce a day since then. Also, at both doctor's visits they've measured her at 21 1/2 inches long, but when she was born they had her at 20 inches. I really don't know what to believe but I'm more leaning toward the 21 1/2 measurement since they did it twice? Who knows... but either way she seems so tiny to me. And all of a sudden Jackson seems like a huge man-child. When did he get so heavy?? Seriously picking him up is a challenge for me now! I don't know if its because I got weaker during delivery or just I'm used to Abbie all the time but wow the 30 pound toddler is getting a little heavy for me. And seriously his hands and feet - huge! I'm realizing my "baby boy" grew up at some point and I'm not sure when that was...

Jackson has still been really good and cute with his sister. He doesn't mind at all that I have to hold her all the time, and has totally gotten used to her being around. He loves helping out and giving her a binky.


He now loves holding her! At first I was nervous to even ask him to hold her because I didn't want him to freak out about it. So I waited a couple weeks and then one day it just kinda happened. He was sitting next to me on the couch and I just talked to him about it and then put her on his lap.

In this first picture he is a little concerned and looking down at her because she was wiggling around

But once she got comfortable on his lap, he got calmer and looked down at her smiling saying "baby" in his sweet little voice. Honestly, every time he says "baby" it's in the cutest little voice with a smile on his face.

 

Here he is saying "cheeeese" but of course not looking at the camera :) 

 He is really protective of his red chair and doesn't like it if I sit in it and got mad when my mom would even lean on it. But one day I had to set Abbie down for a minute and I put her in the chair. I was anxious to see what Jackson did... Once he noticed her there he stopped playing and stared at her ... but then turned and looked at me and said "baby chair" in his cute voice and then kept playing. He really loves his little sister and I am so grateful! Today when I was putting him down for a nap he kept asking for Abbie to sit in his chair with him. It was a tight squeeze with her head a bit too floppy for my liking but he loved sitting with her.

Jackson definitly has his moments of terrible two year old, but I feel like when Abbie is around, and especially if Abbie is fussy or crying - he knows he needs to be better. All in all this first week alone has gone pretty well. There have been some crazy times with me holding Abbie while trying to get Jackson out of his high chair or into his crib. There have been some nights with Abbie where she won't sleep unless we're holding her. There have been some days with Jackson screaming when we tell him he needs to stop playing and take a nap. But there have been even more moments with Jackson kissing Abbie, Tyler running around laughing with Jackson while I hold Abbie, and the four of us cuddling together that make it all so much better. We know too well that this little newborn won't stay little for long so we are trying to enjoy this time. I am so blessed with my amazing family :)

More of Abbie's First Week

First Walk

First bath

Hanging with the girls

Since we've been home

The first few days...










Honestly, I have the most amazing children.

Abbie has been so great, such an easy baby. Yes there have been some hard times, but overall she's been a dream. She nursed great in the hospital - never once had a problem. When we got home she was also doing well, but then after a couple days she would not do it. We had to give her a bottle and it was really stressful for me when she refused to nurse. Today she still isn't getting it as quickly as she was in the hospital but she's gotten better and I am learning a lot from the experience. She sleeps great and goes long stretches between eating. For the past few days she's been eating around 4, 8, noon, 4, 8, midnight. I know they say newborns should eat every 2-3 hours but both of my babies have never needed that often! She sleeps great in her crib, the swing, car seat & of course while being held.

She doesn't cry too much and loves being swaddled, but also likes having her arms out. She really didn't like getting her diaper changed the first few days but she is now getting more comfortable with it. She does not like to be naked though, which we learned during her photo shoot this morning... We gave her a bath last night and she was a little whiny at first but ended up loving it. As long as she wasn't too exposed she loved having her head, back and tummy massaged. She has spit up maybe two or three times ever, and even then it was just tiny little amounts.

Jackson has been amazing. I was really nervous about how he'd react to Abbie. When he first came to the hospital he did well. He was with my mom and Tyler and he walked in the room to see me holding Abbie. While he didn't run right over to me, he acted happy to see me and had lots of fun running around the room. Eventually he came over to me and came to give the baby kisses. That's how its been at home too. He will do his own thing, and then notice something of Abbie's - stop what he's doing and look for the baby. If she's nearby he'll go and give her kisses, of course the 2-year-old handles her a little more aggressively than I would like, but I'm thrilled he views her that way.

When she was 4 days old I finally was the one who came and got Jackson when he woke up in his crib. When I peeked in his room he was happy to see that it was me at the door and exclaimed, "mama!" but then immediately got his serious face on and said, "baby! where baby?" He associates the two of us together but luckily doesn't treat me any differently. There have been a couple times when Tyler holds Abbie that he has gotten a little upset, but I think it's mostly because it surprises him. One minute he'd been playing with his daddy and the next minute he looks to him and he's holding Abbie. He's always been more of a daddy's boy so this doesn't surprise me. He has still handled himself really well though, he's getting really mature.

He has been playing great with my mom and sister and is totally comfortable and at ease with them. Even though it had been 3 months since he'd seen them he picked right up where they left off. He's also gotten much better at playing independently. Just a couple weeks ago he would never go in the backyard to play by himself for more than a couple minutes. He'd normally only want me out there with him if he played. But this week he has been out there a lot alone and while he will run inside often to tell us something, he is ok with being alone. I couldn't have asked for better timing with this.

Really I am so incredibly blessed to have two amazing, cute, healthy children. Blessed to have a husband, mom, and sister here to take care of me. We've got 2 adults to 1 kid right now so we've got a pretty good handle on things. We'll see how I do next week when it's 2 kids and me, but I have faith that Jackson and Abbie will be great :)

Abigail Ann Jennings

Abigail Ann Jennings

April 12, 2012, 8:09 am
8 pounds 1 ounce, 20 inches

Well, we knew she was coming on April 12, we just didn't know how early that day! I was scheduled to be induced at 9 am, she was born at 8:09 am, so yeah, we didn't quite make it to that appointment :)

Here's what happened

I finished that blog post at about 10 pm the night before she was born. That night I had packed my bag, taken a shower (luckily) and laid out everything for the morning. We were planning on leaving for the hospital around 8:15 and had one of Jackson's favorite babysitters come over to the house at 8 am. Everything was all arranged and it felt almost too perfect that we were able to plan it all out like that. The last thing I did before going to bed was dry my hair. I sat on the bathroom floor and Tyler brought me one of my favorite treats - an orange scone from Panera Bread that he got for me earlier that day. I wasn't supposed to eat food starting at midnight so I got that down around 11 pm.

We got to bed around 1130 and Tyler immediately fell asleep, I was exhausted from a busy day running around the house and hoping to fall asleep quickly. It wasn't happenings though. I had this weird pain in my lower back that just started bothering me when I laid down. No contractions, just a constant pain in my lower back. After 30 minutes or so it got more sharp for about 15 seconds then went away and the less intense pain returned. Then 10 minutes later the sharp pain came back and went away again-- and I started to realize something weird is going on.

I woke up Tyler to let him know what was going on, I told him these weren't contractions that he needed to start timing because it's all in my back, but he realized we should take it seriously. I was freaking out because I had not felt anything like this with Jackson. I was very uncomfortable and in constant pain though so I told Tyler to look up "back labor" on his phone or in my "what to expect" book because I had heard of the term but wasn't sure what it was. He started looking stuff up, and was convinced we were going to the hospital and just started getting ready. I was frustrated because I still hadn't felt a contraction in my tummy yet - how do we show up at the hospital and tell them that? But as he took a quick shower and got dressed I felt a pain in my tummy too so I finally realized this was real.

We had a friend lined up to be our "middle of the night" go-to babysitter so Tyler called her around 130 and told her to come on over! She thought she was off the hook since I was getting induced the next day, sorry Semra! She came over 10 minutes later and slept at our house while we took off for the hospital. I was still in shock that this happened so fast and in such different pain than I felt with Jackson. Once we got in the car I started having more regular contractions - I felt them in my tummy and back but I still had the constant pain in my back. We called my mom and let her know what was going on. She (and we) were just shocked that it was happening in the exact same timeframe it did with Jackson. We drove the 25 minutes to the hospital along the empty freeway and my contractions started coming faster and more intense, probably every 3 to 4 minutes. Tyler decided to just speed and put his hazards lights on because the roads were empty and I was in tons of pain.

Well the roads were empty until we saw a police car up ahead heading the same way on the freeway. I'm told Tyler to just pass him, he'd see our lights on and realize something major is going on - he wouldn't stop us. But I was wrong. As soon as we passed him we looked back and saw the cop pull behind us and turn his lights on. Tyler was mad but I for some reason was calm about it (probably the only time all night that was the case). I knew as soon as he saw me screaming in pain he'd let us go. So the cop walked up to the car Tyler yelled out the window, "my wife is about to have a baby we're going to the hospital!" I don't think I was having a hard core contraction at the time but I started acting the part. When he saw me he immediately changed his demeanor and told us, "I'll escort you there!" So we were only about 2 miles away but he turned on his lights and we followed him the rest of the way. He even went out in the middle of the red lights and cleared the way so we could go right through. It was pretty hilarious actually and Tyler snapped a pic with his phone.

As soon as we pulled up to the hospital I was having an actual contraction so I stayed in the car while Tyler got out, grabbed my suitcase and rushed inside and got me a wheelchair. I then got out of the car and the police officer was standing right there asking if he could help. Tyler pushed me in the wheelchair while the police officer carried my bag in the door. I wish we had a picture of that scene.

Other than the whole not getting sleep part, going into labor in the middle of the night is pretty ideal. The hospital and triage is empty and you get to be seen by the nurses much quicker. As we wheeled up to the desk I remember looking at the clock and it was 2:30. I still feel like it takes forever to get processed and back into an exam room, but it was probably only 10 minutes. They got me back in a room and checked that I was dilated to about 6 cm, I was so grateful I wasn't farther along so I could get my epidural. I had to lay in that room for about 10 minutes before I got up to the delivery room. The anesthesiologist was in the room really quick and started asking me tons of questions and finally gave me the miracle drug. Up to this point the pain in my back was still constant and had not gone away, and my contractions were coming every 3 minutes.

After the epidural was put in the pain went away within a couple minutes and I was so grateful. But I still felt a little off, I told the nurses I wasn't feeling great but didn't know how to explain it but I had chills and started shivering. Turns out my blood pressure was dropping dramatically and I got really nauseous. Luckily they handed me a little barf bucket because that orange scone came right back up. It was not my finest moment, but after I got it out I felt so much better. The chills lasted for about 30 minutes and finally went away. After everything got back to normal I was checked and just still at 7 cm, my water still hadn't broken. So they gave Tyler and I a couple hours to just lay and rest before I would need to start pushing. I don't think I ever completely fell asleep but it was good to rest pain-free.

They came back in with the doctor for the first time around 6 am and checked me, still at just a 7 or 8, so they broke my water around 6:30 to start getting my labor going. Within 30 minutes I was starting to feel pain and pressure and I had dilated all the way. My epidural was starting to wear off and so for the first time I pressed the "i need more drugs" button, but it wasn't really doing anything to stop the pressure. It was time to start pushing around 7:30.

Tyler was a great help during the pushing. Seriously, he was amazing during the whole process, don't know how I could have done it without him! He was right by my head telling me to breathe and giving me ice chips during my breaks from pushing. After 40 minutes of pushing she finally got low enough and I knew it was time for her to come out! Just my luck, the doctor and the rest of the staff weren't in there yet and took about 3 minutes (felt like 30) to come in the room. I had to wait to push until they all got there and it was the hardest thing of the whole process. But then as soon as they got in position I pushed one more time and there she was. I heard her crying and it was the best noise I could have ever heard. I was thrilled she was finally here and looked so healthy.

They immediately put her on my chest and she stopped crying and looked up at me. It was such an amazing experience and I was so in love with her right away. The 2 pictures below and above were taken during this time. She was also starting to look like she was ready to eat right away which I was thrilled with. She ended up nursing great right there in the delivery room an hour later. After holding her for 15 minutes or so I started asking if they were going to clean her off and make sure she was healthy. The doctor had said she seemed heavy so I was kind of anxious to know how much she weighed too. When they did take her to the scale, they told us 8 pounds 1 ounce, and it was just the weight I thought. Well I thought she'd be 8 5, Tyler thought 7 14 so we were pretty close. But of course Tyler points out he was closer :)

It was a great delivery, and seriously so similar to Jackson's it was like de ja vu. With both babies the contractions started between midnight and 1 am, we got to the hospital at 2:30, was dilated to a 6, got the epidural, rested for a couple hours, the doctor broke my water and a couple hours later the baby was born. I am so grateful for my 2 healthy babies and have loved these first days with our little Abbie.

Meeting big brother for the first time, Jackson was amazing! He just got excited to see her and kept giving her kisses.








Looking over at Daddy, at his school downtown Orlando.

I'm having a baby tomorrow

It's a weird thing to say, but with my induction scheduled for 9 am tomorrow, it's true. I have so many emotions right now but I'm excited for this new phase of my life, becoming a mother to 2. I never thought I'd make it to my induction date but unless something happens in the next 12 hours it looks like that's what's happening. The reason im getting induced a few days early is because of my history with Jackson. He came one week early, very fast in the middle of the night. My first contraction ever was near 1 am and he was born at 9 am. And the other major factor is that he weighed 9 pounds 2 ounces even coming so early. So hopefully baby sister will be a bit smaller than her brother. I've gained the exact same weight but I've been much more uncomfortable these last couple weeks, my guess is she's 8 pounds 5 ounces but what do I know, she could be 7 she could be 10...

Anyways, I'm so excited to meet this little girl tomorrow! April 12, 2012 sounds like it will be a great day...