WEEK ONE

One week has come and gone.  We were in the hospital for the first part of the week (Wednesday through Sunday).  There were some complications that made us stay a little bit longer, but nothing too serious.  Caitlyn ended up having low blood sugar which required a glucose drip IV and also her bilirubin levels were high which needed UV lights.  Caitlyn was a champ eating even with the IV in her arm.  They IV came off after a day and a half.  Her blood sugar was stable for the last three readings.  However, Caitlyn was becoming more orange every day and her bilirubin levels were always just under the threshold.  The last two days of our stay she was put under the lights to get her levels down.  They finally came down Saturday night.

The first week was crazy.  We had a lot of visitors come see us and drop off food/presents.  Our friends are awesome.  Marsha took care of Colby and brought him to the hospital everyday.  Thankfully we knew Colby was in good hands the whole week.   Everyday Bill would go home and see Colby in the morning and before he went to bed.  Colby's routine was only slightly changed with him coming to the hospital.  Bill made me special videos of Colby so I could see him everyday.  They were amazing to watch.  Here is one of my favorite ones:

Caitlyn had  her first doctors apt on Tuesday.  She weighed in at 8 lbs 12 ounces. Our goal over the next two weeks is to get her back to her birth weight. Caitlyn has been spending her days sleeping near the patio window which is helping to get rid of her jaundice. She has been an angel so far.  She has been sleeping 2 to 3 hours after feedings.   Bill and I are managing by taking cap naps during the day and not doing too much.  So far we both are modernly tired.

Here is chubby cheeks at one week old:

The Birth Story of Caitlyn Leah Brooks

On Wednesday March 19th, I had a scheduled C-section planned for that morning. I was told the night before to stop eating after 12:00 am and come to the hospital at 5:30 am.  It was a rough morning.  With little sleep, we were still excited to finally meet our daughter.  Here is the time line of events that followed.

4:00 am-- Showered with some nasty soap and finished packing our hospital bags
4:30 am-- Got Colby's stuff ready for Marsha and preschool
5:00 am -- Bill ate some breakfast and packed the car
5:30 am -- Arrived at hospital and waited in ER room for 15 minutes
5:45 am -- Registered and walked to maternity room
6:00 am -- Nurses showed us to room and we get checked in and prepped for surgery.  The room is 1/8 the size of our last birthing room.
7:00 am -- Everyone is ready to go, but Dr. Bowman has yet to arrive.  We can't start earlier than 7:45 anyway due to hospital procedures.
7: 30 am -- Bill gets his scrubs on and prepares for videos/photos.  Dr. Bowman has arrived.
7:45 am -- I get wheeled in for spinal.  Once spinal was done, I got blankets put over my arms.  The curtain goes up and procedure begins.
8:00 am -- I am numb all the way from my chest to my toes.  I can smell my skin burning as my C-section incision is opening up again.  I feel the doctor pulling her out. I can feel a gentle pressure as she is lifted out of my body.  Bill cuts the umbilical cord.
8:12 am -- She is out and crying.  Dr. Bowman lifts her up and shows us her face.  She is perfect.  Bill has everything on video.
8:15 am -- She gets cleaned off and weighed by the nurses. I am getting stitched back up in the surgery room while Bill looks after the baby.  They come back 5 minutes later to say she is 9 lbs 5.9 ounces. We are in shock.
8:30 am -- I get to see her and have skin to skin.  I immediately start breastfeeding and she latches on like a champ.  This never happened with Colby.
9:00 am -- After breastfeeding, they check on her blood sugar since Colby's was low right after birth.  Her blood sugar was not as low as Colby's, but she still needed an IV.
9:30 am -- They put her on an IV and she comes back to the room for some love.
10:00 am -- Family is ready to see her and come meet our new girl.  We announce her name: Caitlyn Leah Brooks.  Her middle name is after my grandma's middle name.  Everyone is thrilled.

The rest of the day was a blur.  Caitlyn was finally here.  As new parents again, Bill and I felt a lot more confident on what we are doing.  This will probably hurt us later and knock us back to reality.  Maybe this new sense of empowerment let us relax more and enjoy the whole birthing process.  I was not as nervous as before with the C-section procedure and breastfeeding again.  I just was thrilled with everything because it was planned.. no guessing on what would happen because we had experienced it all before.  We took tons of photos and video.  Here are some pics from that morning.

Week 38

Four more days and our little girl is here.  I am officially on maternity leave.  The plan this weekend is to do all the little things that we need to do so we are ready for the hospital and the week that follows.  I want to make sure everything is in order so Colby's routine is not too out of whack.

I had my last doctor's visit Friday and everything went smoothly.  Sonogram showed she is nearing 8 lbs 1 ounce.  She will be big for sure.  Dr. Bowmen confirmed he will be the doctor to deliver the baby.  We went over the procedures for the night before and what to do that morning.   I have special soap to wash with the night and morning before the surgery.   My long term acting insulin will be cut in half that morning as well.    I  also not eat anything after 12 pm.  Thankfully I am the first surgery of the morning so I don't have to fast too long.  Dr. Bowmen said most likely she will need an IV just like Colby did when she comes out to manage her blood sugars.  We are mentally prepared because we had this scenario happen before.

This pregnancy was not as bad as my first.  I only had heartburn and swollen feet.  No severe back pain or PUPPS.  I did however gain 15 lbs more this time around.  I can't wait to lost the weight once she is out of me.  I am hitting the gym hard core at 6-weeks.

Here is a shot of me just four days before she comes out:

Week 37

My friends are amazing and threw me a surprise shower right underneath my nose.  I can't believe all the effort and thought that was put into the event.  Bill, Allison and Jess organized the party within our own house.  The only hard part was making sure I was not there while they set up.  It was an amazing surprise.  Bill wanted to go out for frozen yogurt around 3:00.  We left the house and got some yogurt.  Thrity minutes later Bill complained that he was not feeling well so we headed back home.  Everyone was waiting there.  We are so lucky to have all these wonderful people in our lives.  It looked like a PINTEREST explosion in the house with a continuation of the woodland theme. Here is some photos from last Sunday.

I opened up all the gifts and ate so much food.  Our baby girl has so many cute outfits/ diapers/ wipes/ other essentials.  She is set for a while.  We are truly blessed.

Week 36

It has been a crazy two weeks but let me share what has been going down.

The most important task to accomplish was the nursery.  The crib got put together the week before and the dresser was the next item to get put together. It seems like it was a lot easier this time around.  It only took about 3 hours to put the dresser together and the end table as well.  The tree decal was a little confusing at first, but Bill handled it like a champ.  It was so much fun putting this up together. It took about 2 hours and looked wonderful.

We still have to put up more woodland decals (which are taking forever to come from Etsy) and bring in the rocking chair and changing table still.  After the baby is born, these will be brought into the room. She will be sleeping in the bassinet for the first 6 weeks anyway.

Just need baby to arrive and then room will be complete