New blog name?

Any catchy suggestions for a new blog name? I was trying to think of some play off of To Kill a Mockingbird, or something along the bird theme, b/c I love my template and poem so much. Hmmm....anyway, new blog name to come, and suggestions are welcome!

Anna update!

Happy B-day, Mama! Claire was significantly past naptime in this pic, so was being a stinker, but I thought it was still a good pic of the rest of us!


Anna got to spend some QT with Nana, Aunt Betty, and G-dad for Grandmom's B-day. She was so alert for Nana here, I had to get a pic!

I braved my first solo trip with both girls today, and do hereby deem it a success. Of course, I didn't have to be at Anna's doctor appointment until 9:30, and it was a very chill waiting room with a TV on Nick Jr. BUT I consider myself quite the conqueror still, since I was up with Anna last night from about 3 to 5:30--feeding and then a major tummy attack. Oh yeah, and I also chose that time to watch the 2-hour LOST premiere, which actually ran about 30 minutes past when Anna fell back asleep! Note to self: If this tummy problems continue (which I obviously hope they don't), keep DVR stocked with shows to watch in the middle of the night.

Anyway, I told Anna and Claire's pediatrician about these attacks, and that Mylicon and Gripe Water do nothing for them, and she gave some prescription drops for stomach pains, and recommended I try cutting out dairy. YIKES!! I've been tracking my diet and when she has these tummy attacks for the past couple days, and I seriously have milk, yogurt, cheese, or ice cream with or after EVERY MEAL!! I will at least try it for three or four days, and earnestly hope (I dare not pray over something so silly) that dairy is not my baby's problem!

Anna is now two weeks old and up to 8lbs 7oz and in otherwise great shape, according to the doc.

In other news, Claire has reverted to her baby sleep habits of needing Jay or me to stay with her until she is asleep or almost. I have been indulging this, knowing she is probably just needing some extra mommy and daddy touch time, but yesterday it was pretty chaotic when Anna had a tummy attack right at Claire's naptime, so Claire was stuck singing to her dollies and reading EVERY BOOK in her bedside book basket (I would say a good 25 books) for an hour plus while I stayed on the other end of the house trying to hold Anna in every position imaginable to give her some degree of comfort. I would have just let Claire get up after that, but by the time I got Anna to sleep, Claire was asleep too, and I felt in dire need of a nap of my own!! Speaking of which, I think I shall retire for some much-needed zzzzs. Any advice on how to get Claire back into her big-girl bedtime routine is welcome.

At home with the girls!

Anna is five days old today, and we're all doing well. Claire has been home with us since Friday, and so far, being mother of two has been a wonderful thing! Of course, there have been a few times when both girls needed me at once, especially at Claire's naptime, when she's used to having my full attention. Anna mostly just sleeps, waking up to eat, fill her diaper, or put up with whatever torture I have in store for her (changing clothes, sponge bath, medicines). She's had a stuffy nose ever since she was born, and a nurse gave me some saline solution for it, so I've been doing that and the bulb syringe--both very tricky since neither instrument will fit into her tiny nostrils, and since they both usually need to be administered several times in the middle of the night. But so far it seems she will sleep anywhere: swaddled in her bassinet at night, in her swing or Boppy during the day, and of course, curled up in an admiring relative's arms. She is doing well nursing about every three hours, often four at night.

Claire is doing well with Anna, but for a lot of the time we've been at home, I've had someone else at home with me to give her attention, too. Every time she wakes up, it seems like it's a delightful surprise to have a Baby Sister again. She comes right over to her and "pets" and nuzzles her. She likes holding her, but usually only for a short time.

I hate to think that on the day after tomorrow I have to leave her to return to class at SE! But it's just one class, so only an hour and a half to two hours, so hopefully it will be okay. Although I am kind of considering wearing her in my sling or Bjorn!

How Anna made her entrance

So here's how it all went down: I went to my "officially overdue" doctor appointment on Monday to see if I'd made any progress and schedule an induction for sometime this week, as my doc doesn't let his patients go more than a week overdue. I thought it would be best if I could make it to my SE class on Tuesday, and then be induced, so he told me to come in for a cytotec pill on Tuesday afternoon. Sure enough, Tuesday morning around 2 a.m., contractions started waking me up! Luckily, my body didn't go into freakout mode like with Claire and not allow me to sleep. I dozed during the seven to fifteen minute gaps between, and although they never got regular, they were definitely pretty hard. Of course, I was laying down, which is probably the least efficient way to manage pain.

Claire also woke up twice during this time with a fever! So I gave her alternating doses of Motrin and Tylenol to try to bring it down.

In the morning, Jay called Diane to ask her to come over to take Claire to the doctor. As I mentioned in the previous post, Claire had had a gunky eye for a couple days, and now with this fever, we didn't want to take any chances on her getting worse and/or getting baby sister sick. So Diane got there lickety-split, and I took it easy all morning, counting contractions and trying to rest up. After lunch, Jay and I went to the hospital. By the time we got checked in and I got hooked up to everything and finally got checked for progress, I was already at a 5! So the nurses and doc said I didn't need any induction meds; they would just see how I progressed. That was at about 2 p.m. I was really antsy to get up and move around as my contractions got harder, but they were lasting so long that the doc wanted to keep me hooked up to the baby monitor to make sure her heart rate didn't dip too low. So since I had to stay in bed, I went ahead and asked for the epidural, and got it at about 4:30. It was perfect; I could still feel the contractions mildly, and wasn't totally numb in my legs like last time.

For the next few hours, I just visited with the people who were anxiously awaiting Baby Sister and read my book--gotta love the epidural! Claire came up at about 6, and was not too happy to see Mommy lying in bed all hooked up to stuff. She was much happier to play with visitors in the waiting room.

By 7:30, I had gotten to a 10, and it was time to push! Twenty-five minutes later, she was here! It was awesome! My nurse would coach me along through a contraction--three big pushes per--and then I would talk and laugh with Mom and the nurses (Jay was entirely too nervous to say much). That's pretty much all there is to tell! It was a very smooth process; thank you all so much for your prayers for that very thing! We got to go home the next night after Anna had hit the 24-hour mark, thank goodness. I barely slept at all while we were there. I was a little nervous about being comfortable at home without nurses waiting on me, but it was so much nicer sleeping in a quiet house in my own bed. After Jay got over the trauma of the birth, he was an excellent helper at the hospital and at home. :)

Claire just hit the 24-hour mark on her antibiotics, so Diane brought her home today, thank goodness. I'm so glad to have both my girls at home, and now I'm ready to get us into a good two-kid routine!