Daddy, I am afraid of the dark!

Alayna has been quite mixed up between night and day. She is so hard to wake up during the day, but as soon as big sister Kira is in bed, she decides it is time to wake up! I have tried it all...waking her up to eat more often during the day, taking her to bed with me at night, sleeping with her on my chest. Nothing was working. I was getting more and more tired each day, wishing I could at least NAP (but am still unable to fall asleep during the day even though both girls have no trouble with this!). But last night, daddy made a discovery. It was when the lights were OFF that she was fussy and active. As soon as I would turn the lights on to feed her she would calm down. So, last night we slept with the lamp on...and wouldn't you know it, she slept for 3 hours between each feeding! Afraid of the dark? Or maybe just frustrated that I kept shutting out her view of the world? In any case, I finally got a glimpse of sleep last night...and am hoping to get more tonight...

Squeaker

This is her new name. She doesn't whimper, she squeaks. She doesn't just cry, she squeaks loudly...
She is a beautiful baby and quite peaceful most of the time, but she can get quite loud and it is quite frustrating to hear that high pitched sqeak!

Alayna visits the doctor

After 4 days of green boogers, we called and made an appointment for Alayna to visit Dr Harmon in the office. Of course, the second I did, the boogers magically went away. I went ahead and took her in, though, and she checks out fine. The yucky mucus was originally caused from normal production at birth and then was aggravated by the suctioning. It thinned out and dissappeared as my milk came in and her system was more hydrated. The green was just from being caught up in her throat and getting breast milk mixed in...yuck! At least we are infection free!
Everything else checked out fine, too...already almost back to birth weight at 8 pounds even. No jaundice. Eating great, peeing and pooing great, too! We don't have to go back for 2 months if she stays healthy!

booger baby

Alayna seems to be the perfect baby that Kira was, so far. She eats on a predictable schedule, spends most of her awake time quiet and curious, and sleeps almost all the time.
The only thing we are worried about is her poor little snotty nose. It has been congested and running now since she was born. She doesn't seem to bothered by it and isn't running a fever, but green boogers are not what a new mom wants to see in her newborn. The doctor seems to think it is normal mucus left from birth, but on day 3, I would have expected that to be going away. Hopefully it is nothing, but a new mom has to worry, I suppose.

No sleep leads to cranky mommy

It was impossible to sleep in the hospital. And since I woke up bright and early on Thursday morning, I was already tired to begin with. But, no matter how tired I was, I could not fall asleep that night. I think it was a combination of the stress over our situation right now, the fact that Alayna sounded like a little Darth Vader with all her nasal congestion, and the fact that all of the sounds I was hearing made me think I was at work (and I sort of was!). I left Alayna with the nurses at about 3:00am and tried to sleep. I slept for about 1 1/2 hours before waking again...ugh.
So, of course, after also being unable to nap all day on Friday, I opted to head for home late Friday evening. But, once again, sleep was not to fall easily. I even took a Unisom and no sleep came. I drifted off about 3am again, only to wake at 6am.
Jeremy called a friend to come over Saturday to help get some light cleaning done and help watch the girls while he set up some work and I rested. Again, no sleep...but I was able to rest in a quiet dark room for a few hours and awake to a clean house!
Finally, last night I fell asleep at midnight. Woke several times (unbaby related...she sleeps like a dream!) but at least got 4 hours in a row at one time and 3 another! Whew! Maybe I will survive this after all!

The Birth...from Mama's Point of View

It begins at 3:30 in the morning on Thursday, October 19th, 2006. Due in part to excitement, part to the stress of everything else going on in our family right now, I woke up and was unable to go back to sleep. I went back in for a few last moments of peace and quiet with Kira sleeping soundly in our bed. No contractions, but Alayna was very active (a sign of the nighttimes to come!)...

At 6:30 am, Grandma came over to stay with Kira until she woke up, which turned out to be before we could get out the door. I turned out to be "one of those people" who shows up late for the birth of their own baby so I could get Kira settled with "appol sos" and “yonk.” Thankfully, though, Kira ran right to Grandma and climbed in her lap, so I knew she would live through the day.

We headed to the hospital, while Jeremy asked me all about what to expect…once we got there, we headed right to the room. My friend Amber had left me a note and a mint on my pillow and there were flowers and a balloon on the table. I didn’t expect that at all! Cindy was our nurse and she checked us in while Jeremy tried to figure out how to open up his “bed.”

As usual, I needed a couple tries to get the IV in, but once it was in and the pitocin was started, I was able to relax. I noticed the contractions started almost right away, but they were no more uncomfortable than the ones I had had all through the pregnancy. About 10:30 or so, Dr Brown came in and broke my water. I was 4 cm and the baby was at 0 station. He commented that hardly any water came out and then sat me back up so I could be comfortable. Sarah Brown had just had her baby on Tuesday, so she came in my room right after that to visit…along with other staff working that day. While I was sitting up visiting, the water started pouring out. Her head had been blocking it until I moved! After about 5 minutes, I layed the head of my bed down to lay on my side and the first painful contraction hit. Within minutes, the pain became very intense and I asked Jeremy to put on my Comfort Zone CD and Cindy called Mark to put in the epidural. Another patient had also just called for her epidural and since I was in control, I told Cindy I would wait until she was comfortable. I sure did regret that! Luckily, I was able to relax easily between the contractions, but had to really focus during each one. Mark showed up after about 20 minutes and put in the epidural. It worked great…on my left side only! I kept thinking that my right side would go numb, but it never did and Mark suggested that we try again. So, my epidural was taken out and redone. Luckily, it worked! And Mark knew just what I wanted…enough pressure to still feel the contractions and move my legs a bit.

Shortly after the epidural, I began to feel lots of pressure and I was dilated to a 7! Only a few minutes after that, I was completely dilated and baby was at +1 station. I asked for some Zofran because I was extremely nauseated. After I felt better, I rolled onto my back to push…but in minutes, my blood pressure dropped extremely low and I could hardly respond. I was flipped back over and when I felt better I pushed on my side instead…a first for Cindy, I think! It was hard to push at first, but once I got in position better I only pushed a few times and she was ready!

No tears, no broken tailbone! I wasn’t able to hold her right away because I was in such an awkward position, but she came right back to me after a few minutes on the warmer…
Alayna Grace Painter was born at 1351 on October 19th after only 3 hours 20 minutes of "real" labor! She weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce, 20 inches long…had no trouble after birth and is a feeding champion!