Pondering the World
You may have noticed in my last post I mentioned only 36 weeks of pregnancy. Yes, I had Elsie when she was still considered premature. We were very fortunate and she was 100% healthy and happy. We did however have to stay in the hospital a couple more days because the doctors wanted to watch her weight loss and gain. Within a day she had lost 10% of her birth weight. The doctors were very worried because she was not latching and we had to begin feeding her formula from the beginning due to low blood sugar levels. We continued trying with breastfeeding, but to make sure our girl was getting what she needed we were feeding her 15ml of formula every 3 hours. Due to her size and our desire to breastfeed we did not want to give her a bottle. The alternative to bottle-feeding was filling a syringe and putting a tube on the end. We put the tube on our finger and she would suck our finger and we would push the food through. This made her happy, but I believe it also made her lazy. She had to do very little in order to eat. This process continued for the next 3 weeks.
Our Feeding Routine
“Enjoying” her first bath
Snuggling with Mommy
All of these pictures make it seem like her first days were easy, let’s just say that is not the truth. Twelve hours after arriving at the hospital my first bag of magnesium was empty. The doctors took my magnesium levels and discovered the levels in my blood were not where they should be for being put on an iv drip. They started a new bag an upped the dose. At this point I started feeling flush and hot. I had Elsie on my chest and I immediately had to have Josh take her because I was getting sick to my stomach. This is how the rest of the evening went. Josh took care of Elsie and I was either passed out or getting sick. At one point we had visitors, Melissa and her mom, and people were rushing around the room looking for something for me to get sick into and Melissa’s sweet mom grabbed the blanket on my bed and held it for me while I was getting sick.
The next morning around 8am I was taken off of the magnesium (thank goodness) and was put on a clear liquids diet. I was SO hungry, but I had to wait. We spent the rest of the time in the hospital getting used to having a daughter, feeding her, changing her, and snuggling. I would not trade these first days for anything in the world.
Elsie had to pass a carseat test in order to go home with us. This is her in the carseat as we were leaving the hospital on February 29th.
She needed a booster seat for her harness to hold her in the correct way.
I am back. I thought the birth of our child would be a good starting point for returning to the blogging world. After 36 weeks of a pretty tough pregnancy full of morning sickness, nausea medication, no appetite (until the end) and the anticipation of having our daughter I went into labor Sunday, February 26th @ 4:30 in the morning.
Like any normal night I got up at 4:30 to use the restroom and while I was in there my water broke. I thought to myself, she isn’t supposed to come yet, this can’t be labor. So after waking Josh up, in a sheer panic might I add, and calling the 24 hour nurse, it was confirmed my water had broke and we needed to head into labor and delivery as soon as we could.
Just the day before I had spent the day with my sister, Kim and we had started exchanging somethings I needed for the baby and I had asked her what I should pack in my bag because I did not have anything ready. I had also mentioned to Josh that we needed to put the carseat in the car. Well, at 4:30 am this is not an easy task. At least we had started thinking about it, but when you are in the heat of labor (mind you, I had not had a contraction yet) you are just rushing around overpacking since you don’t know what to expect. Josh was throwing clothes together, I was grabbing snacks (little did I know I wouldn’t eat again until Monday evening) Josh grabbed snacks, and we threw the carseat into the car to be installed at a later time.
Luckily we only live about 5 minutes from the hospital, yet somehow we didn’t get there until 5:00am. At that point they had us in the triage room in labor and delivery making sure that in fact it was my water that broke to make sure I was in active labor. While the nurse was taking samples and checking my blood pressure I felt my first contraction. The on call doctor came in and dropped the bomb on us to tell me I had Pre-Eclampsia. I did not have any signs of Pre-E before going into labor so somehow I was the lucky one to get it right before the birth. Due to being diagnosis with pre-e I was required to have my blood pressure taken every 5 minutes and have an IV drip of magnesium. Little did I know I would curse the magnesium about 12 hours later. the doctor checked me and I was 100% effaced, 1-2 centimeters dilated, and the baby was at stage 0. She was coming whether I was ready or not.
Due to my pre-e I was told my labor would progress quickly. Well, it all happened a lot quicker than I thought. First we had to make a much dreaded phone call to my mom, who had left for Georgia the day before. She thought Josh was playing a joke on her that I had gone into labor, because I had told her not to go because I knew she was coming early. My mom later realized that Josh would not be in a joking mood at 6:00 in the morning (let’s juts say he likes his sleep).
After the phone call to my mom we called my sisters. I knew if my mom couldn’t be there I wanted my sisters to be there to support me along with Josh. Jennifer and Kim made their way to join us and were there throughout the whole delivery.
As things continued to progress I was feeling more and more pressure on my pelvic bones. I felt the need to push, but they checked me again and I couldn’t. I was only 4-5cm dilated. By 8:30am it was time to push and after one weak push and declaring “I can’t do this!” I pushed again with all the energy I had and our precious baby girl was born @ 8:33am.
Elsie Mae Schumacher
February 26, 2012
4lbs. 14.7oz. 17.5in. long
Our First Moments
Proud Auntie
Daddy’s Turn
We are completely in love with our little girl!
For the last 12 years my family makes an annual trip to Shelton to visit my Auntie Dort. Auntie Dort is a special part of our family and shows you how great you can look at 93. She was my grandma’s best friend for who knows how many years. When both my grandma and grandpa passed away, we all knew we still had our Auntie Dort.
Dort is famous for her ALMOND ROCA. She makes this by hand every year and typically makes up to 30 batches for all of the “fans” she has created over the years. She makes 3 batches alone for my family. When we go to visit her we always start by catching up. She loves to hear what we are doing with our lives, and meeting all the new members, this year she saw Declan for the first time.
Auntie Dort meeting Declan for the first time.
Dort’s house shoots you right back into the 50′s. We love sitting in her loungers by the window and enjoying her green davenport. Also while we are chatting she always has plates of her goodies on the table. This year we got to enjoy almond roca and peanut butter fudge. She always makes the peanut butter fudges especially for Jennifer, though I know it is for me too! Finley loves going to Auntie Dort’s house because he gets to explore. This time he was very fascinated with her rotary phone. Here he is trying to call Papa Dave.
We also looked at old pictures she has of her during the 20′s and our family when my grandparents were still alive. During this time I was just sitting back and watching everyone. Dort loves to tell us old stories.
Somehow we didn’t get a group shot.
We all enjoy our trips to Auntie Dort’s and we eagerly await our next visit to see her. She is such a special part of all of us.
This New Years Eve, our friends Scott and Julie hosted a fabulous, food-filled party at their new home. This gave them a chance to show off the house to friends who have not seen it yet. It was fun to attend the first party of many they were going to have in their house. Of course the first hour or so was spent talking about the house, her wedding (in July) and all other girl stuff, while the boys watched a football game on the t.v. (wish I had a picture of it).
This is our annual picture in front of a Christmas Tree: Julie, Anna, me and Sarah (Melissa was missing)
Julie and Me
Julie and I met over 3 years ago and have been completely inseparable since. My sisters like to call her my sidekick because we rarely do anything without each other. I can’t wait to see Julie walk down the aisle this summer. She is going to be a beautiful bride! This also means she will be moving close to me, which makes me super happy!
We thought we would make use of some of the fun things Julie bought for the celebration. Here we are again, I think this is the last picture of the night.
After taking all these pictures, which the boys didn’t want to be in we spent the rest of the night eating, talking, playing rockband, and having fun with the poppers.
Thanks Julie and Scott for hosting such a wonderful party!
Megs
Thinking back on this year I can’t help but smile! So many wonderful things have happened since the last New Years Eve. Here is a little recap for all those who care:
In January we were able to celebrate the wedding of my sister Kim and Sean. It was such a sudden and unexpected event, we were so excited for the both of them. They were engaged in November 2008 and planned a wedding in 2 months. This all happened in the mist of our wedding planning, but we could not be happier for them.
During my spring break from school in April we traveled to sunny (& windy) Las Vegas. We went with 2 of our best friends Scott and Julie. We were able to take in the many sights the city had to offer, make fun of the “locals” going to the clubs in their “t-shirts” and visit a place I have never been to before, The Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon was such a beautiful sight and we walked for 1 mile along the edge. I was scared to death the whole time. We had a fabulous time with our friends we will need to do that again sometime soon, but for maybe only a 5 day trip:)
In June we were able to celebrate the birth of our nephew, Declan. After an early morning phone call to head to my sister’s house and watch my other nephew we were happy to be introduced to the newest member of the family. I can’t believe he is already 6 months old and sitting up and eating like a big boy. I remember holding him when he was first born. It has been great to see how Finley has accepted his little brother and how much love he has for him.
In August we celebrated the most important day of our lives, Our Wedding, it went off without a hitch (minus the dance floor being placed wrong and a small meltdown by yours truly). We could not have been happier with the way everything turned out and our beautiful pictures we have to show.
October marked our 2nd anniversary in our house. I can’t believe that over 2 years ago we bought our first house and though we have not changed many of the features we wanted to when we first purchased the house, this is going to change in 2010, we have many remodeling projects coming up on our list of things to do, and we hope to get them down and make the house feel more like what we imagined it to be back in 2007.
As this year comes to an end, we have many dreams and aspirations for the coming year. Josh hopes to continue to learn and gain experience in a field of work he loves, web development. I hope to start working towards my master’s degree and become an even better teacher for my students. Here to 2010, we wish for many happy moments with family, great travel and getting things marked off your to-do lists.
With Love,
Megan
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