Gwen's First Week

Gwen is 9 days old today and every day has been wonderful! Here are a few highlights of her first week.

My mom's visiting, so we have been taking her on at least one outing every day to make sure she is used to noise and being out and about. Adam, my mom, and I took her out to dinner and she was perfect. She sat in her carseat and slept the whole time!

This may be TMI, but the only problem I have had as a mother so far is with milk production. Gwen has latched on and is so good at nursing and really likes it, but the problem is with me :( I am making barely any milk so at each feeding I have to nurse her, then we give her a bottle, then I pump. If I do a feeding by myself it takes a good hour and a half, so thank God for Adam and my mom. They have been taking shifts with bottles while I pump. The doctor says I still could start producing a sufficient amount of milk for her, but chances are that I have to give her formula on top of breast milk to make sure she is getting enough. I was pretty stressed and sad about this but am trying to stay positive because the doctor says being stressed about it will only make things worse. I am taking fenugreek and drinking non alcoholic beer throughout the day, both of which are supposed to help with milk stimulation and may take a week. I guess I should be happy that I can still nurse her at all, she loves it!

Gwenna got to take her first trip to the mall! She loves her stroller!

Diggy's doing pretty good with her. He is very curious about her and wants to sniff and lick her. We are still being cautious about how close he gets, but I think he is getting more and more used to her being around.

Robbie came over to visit!

This is one of my favorite gifts she has received. My mom got her a vintage lolly doll. Anyone who knew me as a little girl knows that I had my own lolly doll and it was my FAVORITE. It even was the theme of my first birthday party. I love that she has one of her own now :)

Most of all, her first week has been spent snuggling. I love her so much and am having such a great time being a mom.

Gwenna Blue Ralph, August 18, 2010

Well, the happiest day of my life came on August 18th, only 4 days late! Tuesday night I was winding down getting ready to go to bed when all of the sudden my water broke out of nowhere. I had no contractions or signs of labor before that! We spent a few hours showering, cleaning up, etc. then headed to the hospital around midnight. I finally started feeling mild contractions once we got to the hospital and by 4am the contractions were really hard and strong! Around 6am I had an epidural, I got some rest, then at 9am the nurse told me I was 8 cm dilated and would start pushing within the next few hours. I began pushing at 11:30am and Gwen was born at 12:21pm! It was the best moment of my life and such an indescribable feeling.

We came home on Thursday afternoon and had a great day/night. We had to take her to the doctor on Friday and found out that she had lost quite a bit of weight and had high bilirubin levels. My milk still hasn't came in, so now we have to supplement her with formula via a medical suringe while I nurse her so she gets some nutrition and we have to sit her by the window to help avoid jaundice. I was really concerned about all of this and super emotional at the doctor, but once I have talked to a lot of other moms, I hear this is all normal. Pray my milk comes in soon so I don't have to have a feeding assistant every time she wants to eat :)

Katie, Lexie, and Ellie got here Friday right after the doctor visit, and they all have been super helpful. Adam is doing such a good job too. I don't know what I would be doing without them! My mom is getting here tonight and staying for 11 days to help. I love having family around and sharing my beautiful angel with them. It is so fun to see how other people love your baby so much too!

Being a mom is the best thing in the world! I am so happy and in love!

Update #2: Again, No Baby

Another week, another doctor appointment, and still no baby. My doctor finally broke it to me this week that usually first time moms who haven't had problems with blood pressure, weight, diabetes, etc. go into labor about a week AFTER their due date. I'm due Saturday, we scheduled another doctor appointment/ultrasound for next week, and if I haven't gone into labor naturally by then, he will plan on inducing me early the next week.

She'll probably be late, which is fine. I will FOR SURE let everyone know, so if you ask me if I've had her yet, I'm done responding until she is born! I won't hide her in the closet.

Finally, I took a self shot in the mirror of my 40 week preggo self yesterday, haha. Not the best quality picture, but hope that makes some of you happy to see how gigantic the bump (or mountain) has gotten.

I'm not making anymore updates until she's born, so assume there's no baby unless you read otherwise :)

Update: Still No Baby

I have been getting lots of texts and phone calls asking if the baby has come yet. Believe me, I will let the world know when this baby arrives; it seems like she never will, haha. I guess I shouldn't complain until my actual due date has passed, only 6 days away, yet 6 more days of waiting/not knowing seems like so many! I am way too much of a planner for this spur of the moment kind of stuff :)

At my last doctor appointment, she had dropped and I was 1/2 cm dialated, which sound like good signs. Unfortunately, sometimes you can be dialated for a few days or a few weeks before anything happens, so that really isn't a good indicator of when she comes. I will be eager to see what the doctor says is the plan if the due date comes and she hasn't been born yet.

All in all, I just want a healthy little girl, but it would make me very happy to have a healthy little girl born in the next few days vs. having to wait a week or more :) Regardless, I will keep anyone who has asked me to posted!

Labor Inducers

I have spent the last few days trying everything that is supposed to induce labor. I have read of about 20 things you can do to induce labor. Much if my weekend was spent trying these various techniques to make you go into labor, but after walking about a million miles and eating enough spicey foods to make my nose turn into a faucet (among many other things I tried), I have determined that these labor inducers are a load of crap :)

I guess she will come when she's ready or when the doctor finally makes her. I don't blame her, I don't like to be rushed either! I just really hope she's ready soon!

Comic Con 2010

Comic Con comes to San Diego every July, and it makes for a fun filled weekend. I'm not into comics, Sci-Fi, anything like that, but it is so much fun having all of the people who come into the city for Comic Con around. It is busier than ever, which always makes for good people watching, but throw in the fact that a lot of people who attend wear costumes, and it makes for the best people watching ever. Here are a few picts. of just how busy it was everywhere.

Adam and I went to Tin Fish on Thursday to sit and people watch and then again on Saturday with friends. I heard a few old people on the news complaining about how busy and crazy it is, but I'm sad the Comic-Coners are gone :)

Jobs in San Diego, Over

I am now finished working both of my jobs here in SD. I thought I'd be so excited, which I am, but I have more of a weird feeling about it. Even though I'm so excited for the baby and my main job has gone downhill this past year, I still feel a little nervous and a tad bit sad about being done with work. At my Share the Care job, this past year things totally changed and I have liked it way less, but as far as having an easy job, good schedule, and good bosses/coworkers, I really was lucky. My last week of work my boss took some of us out for brunch, I had a lunch date with a few of my coworkers, and I got a lot of nice gifts from them, which was really nice. I loved my health clinic job, counseling pregnant women and kids, and doubt I will be able to find a job like that again :( I think overall I was really lucky to find those two jobs, and I definitely do want to go back to work eventually, just when we are moved and settled (I'm thinking around the holidays). I just hope that wherever we get moved to, I can find something that compares to the jobs I had here (just very part time though, so I can be a part time stay at home mom too :).

Since being done with work, I have been working on completing my list of things to do, running errands, and I had a doctor's appointment, so I really haven't had one second to get bored yet and don't think I will. At the doctor, I had an ultrasound, and things look good. We did find out her head is measuring a week ahead of schedule and her thigh bone is measuring 2.5 weeks ahead of schedule. I asked if this means I will go into labor early, and unfortunately the doctor said that it probably just means she has a slightly big head and long legs (both characteristics of the Erwin family babies :). You could really see the features of her clearly now, so it was a fun appointment. The doctor assured us that it definitely was a girl and we even got a good picture of her face.

I'm just waiting and waiting and waiting now. I really want her to be born early, but I think my luck will have it that she's right on time or late :)