And not so blissful times

In less than 2 weeks I have had mastitis twice and have a case of thrush. I am currently trying to fight my second bout.

Breastfeeding is an art alright, and it looks like I'm failing art. I had none of these problems with Faith or Samantha, and then had tons of problems with Elijah. Looks like I'm starting off where we left off with Elijah.

I don't know what I'm going to do if I continue to have problems. The first time I had it with Carrie I knew I was to blame. I think my bra was too tight and I was wearing it all the time because I couldn't stand for anything to touch me, and then Carrie was sleeping for several hours through the night and I was so happy to get some sleep that I didn't wake her up, causing me to get engorged.

BUT since Sunday I have been going braless unless I go out, which isn't often and I wake her at least every 3 hours at night. So I have no clue what went wrong this time.

She is quite the eater though. She usually wants to eat during the day every 1 1/2 hours. Then, it takes her 30 minutes to eat. So I am pretty much feeding this girl around the clock.

Sweet bliss

Carrie Elaine was born on 9/10 at 9:27 am, weighed 8 lbs even and was 19 1/4 inches long!

The labor was definitely short. They started pitocin at about 6:30 and I had my water broke at about 8:30. When he broke my water I was 4-5, which was impressive seeing as how the contractions hadn't been bad at all (I was a 3 when I came in). So he breaks my water and I go ahead and get an epidural even though things weren't bad yet. The epidural obviously took a little while to get placed and the contractions were still not bad at all the whole time. They had it in place at about 9:00. When they got the epidural in, she checked me again and I was a 6. Unfortunately it wasn't taking in part of my right side though and there was a spot that I really felt the contractions in, and it really was hurting bad. They had me roll over to my side for awhile, which didn't work either. They were finally able to fix the problem, though I'm not really quite sure what they were doing. I told the nurse that it was a lot better but there was still a lot of pressure in my bottom during contractions that I had to breathe through. I didn't think anything about it but just figured it wasn't working again. She went ahead and checked me again, and low and behold I was an 8! Now mind you this was only 10 minutes since she had checked me last. I was just in shock. She ran out of the room to call the doctor. He was there within 5 minutes and there was already every nurse in my room and my bed being broke down. My doctor didn't even have time to get completely dressed. He sat down and I guess was waiting for a contractions. I thought he was doing some pulling down there and seriously if I had been able to feel my legs I would have kicked him. Turns out it was the baby's head coming down! The next contraction they had me push. A whopping 3 pushes later and our little Carrie was born. So um yeah, went from a 6 to complete in 20 minutes.

I was in complete shock and wasn't ready at all for delivery time, mentally. Chris kept waiting for me to break down crying, like I always do, but I just sat there in shock that it was all over. I was expecting it to take at least a couple of more hours! I just sat there looking at her and trying to figure out if all of that really happened. I tried nursing her before they took her away to the nursery but she just sat there with my breast in her mouth and she was just like um, why is this here and what am I supposed to do. I was afraid she wasn't going to get nursing down very well. Needless to say, I was completely wrong. When they finally brought her back to me a few hours later she was starving and latched on right away. From then on out she nursed at least every 2 hours for 30 minutes at a time.

Unfortunately Chris had come down with a stomach bug that I suffered from that previous Monday. He didn't have a fever and was able to be there for the labor and delivery, but he only held her for a second after she was born, just as a precaution. He also went home as soon as they took the baby so he could get some rest. He called me that afternoon and unfortunately had woken up with a slight fever and so he obviously thought it best for him to stay home. I was completely bummed, but also felt the same way. The kiddos were able to meet their new baby sister on Saturday and they have all been doting on her ever since. Even Elijah! Every few minutes he will have to come by and touch (lightly!) her head and sometimes will give her a little kiss. It is just too precious!

Now onto the name. We really liked the name Anya and were planning on naming her that. After she was born though it just wasn't right. We then went through many more names and just couldn't find one that seemed to fit her. So nameless our baby girl stayed. On Saturday we thought it would be Claire. I really love that name. But when Chris came back that evening Claire didn't seem to fit either. Finally, about 15 minutes before we were discharged on Sunday we seemed to have found the name that fit her. I don't know how many times my nurses kept asking what her name was, and I felt horrible that we hadn't come up with anything yet. I don't know why it was so difficult this time.

Needless to say, we are in love. Completely and totally in love. Again.

Today is the day

It's about 3am and today is the day I will be meeting this little one. I have to be at the hospital at 5am where they will start the induction. Obviously not exactly the way I wanted to do it but it is what it is. Maybe if I lived an hour away from the hospital again like I did with Faith and Samantha then I would have gone into labor on my own, so I have to suffer in the car with contractions. Instead with Elijah and this one I live about 5 minutes from the hospital and so of course I have to be induced. Sigh.

This girls are just over the moon excited though and can't wait to find out if they will be getting a new brother or sister. This pregnancy has been so exciting for them. It's odd to think though that this is more than likely our last one. I say more than likely because we absolutely will not be trying for anymore, but I know sometimes God's plan is different. I am mentally done with pregnancy. So it's just strange every time I feel this baby move just thinking it will be the last time I feel a baby move inside of me. To me, it is the best part of being pregnant. But I won't lie. This pregnancy has been difficult for me. I have been exhausted throughout most of it and for the last 3 months have been hurting pretty bad (in the hips) and it has been really hard to move. And the heartburn this time! Oi! In the last few days the itching has been unbelievable too, and I have never itched before.

I won't have any computer access while I'm in the hospital and so I won't be able to update everyone probably until Sunday or Monday. Wish me luck and keep me in your prayers!!!!

Waiting, waiting, and more waiting!

That's about all that has been happening here in our happy little household!

Needless to say, this little one is refusing to come up. Big surprise seeing as how the other 3 didn't want to come out either and were all late. There is an end in sight though. If I haven't had it by Friday I will induced Friday morning. With Elijah I was pretty upset about this, but honestly this time around I am just ready to be done. It is unbelievable how hard on my body this pregnancy has been. It hurts to move. Plus, add in the job search and Chris not being able to go out until I have the baby, and the fact that my mother-in-law has been staying with us in our little 2 bedroom apartment for the last 3 weeks until I have the baby, and yeah...definitely ready to have this baby!

We are still waiting on jobs too, of course. It's funny how it seems to go in spurts. Everyone seems to call for tryouts at the same time, and then you go a month or two without hearing a peep from anyone. Granted, there hasn't even been any jobs posted since August doesn't help. We have heard about a couple of jobs through the grapevine and he has applied for all of those, so again it's just the waiting game. He also applied to one in a beautiful, touristy area up in Michigan but let's just say we aren't holding our breath on that one! Chances are slim to none that it is a conservative congregation so we aren't expecting to hear back from them. Still, it would be nice! lol

So that's where we are so far.

Seems like it has been forever since I have posted pictures. I will post more as soon as this little one decided to come into this world!