Nature's Cure All

So for the past 48 hours I have been battling one of the worse cases of diaper rash I have seen in the past 15 years I have been around babies/toddlers. Pretty much since we brought Grace home she has had a slight diaper rash from her extremely sensitive skin (she is her father's child), but recently this was made worse be two things. The first was that until last week I was eating dairy which apparently Grace is sensitive too as well (like her daddy) so the process of getting that out of her system consisted of lots of poops which means lots of diaper changes. Which brings me to the second reason, because I was going though like 20 diapers a day I switched to the cheaper version of pampers (baby dry) well it turns out Grace's butt doesn't like those either. So, last night her booty was BRIGHT red and in some spots actually bleeding from how raw she was. I tried EVERYTHING to find her some relief but nothing helped. Every time she went to the bathroom she screamed bloody murder which just broke me heart. Finally after soaking in a warm bath (we didn't have any baking soda or oatmeal bath at 10 pm) she stopped crying. So I started some internet research just to see if there was anything I do to help her get though the night. I found some CRAZY things that I just wouldn't try if you paid but I also found something very interesting that I figured hell it's worth a shot and it can't hurt her anymore then she already is.

What I found was an article written by a midwife about serve diaper rash treatments and guess what it said? BREAST MILK...yes, I said BREAST MILK not only takes the sting out of the rash but helps heal it. So as I said I figured why not? I pumped a little into a bottle and patted it on her little butt then let her air dry for about 20 mins. Sure enough when I put some Aquaphor on she didn't even stir. So last night was spent getting up to change her diaper every 2 hours (so she didn't sit in a dirty one too long) patting BM on her butt and covering it in Petroleum Jelly. This morning after another soak in a warm bath and some more BM coating I was able to put Burt's Bee Baby Bee diaper cream on her which is my personal favorite because of it's staying power. Then by this afternoon I was able to put her Rx cream from the doctor on without it burning her. It is now 930 at night and I just soaked her in an oatmeal and baking soda bath and I am happy to say that her butt is now just a slight shade of pink with a few red spots and she no longer cries when she goes potty.

So WHO KNEW?? Breast milk...really!

One Month!!

It is incredibly hard for me to believe that my little angel is a month old. These past 31 days have flown by. However, it has not been without it's lessons. So here we go...Things I have learned in my first month as a parent.

#1. Despite what you feel you will not die from sleep deprivation.

#2. I don't give a rats tail what anyone says Breastfeeding is NOT easy. It is a skill that both you and your child must learn together.

#3. Newborn farts are LOUD!!!

#4. Shower when she's napping. Who cares what else needs to be done if she goes down for a nap you hop in that shower!

#5. When your husband goes out of town (or in this case country) SOMETHING will go wrong or SOMEONE will get sick.

#6. SLEEP when she does. Housework can be done later or not at all.

#7. Colic SUCKS

#8. You can NEVER and I mean NEVER have a enough wipes or diapers.

#9. Your baby's cry will break your heart...every time.

#10. There is no greater love then a parent's love for their child. In my book Grace can do NO wrong....FOR NOW.

Counting Blessing

In previous blogs I have mentioned that Colorado was not our number one choice out of UPT. In fact it wasn't even in our top ten. Not because we had anything against the location or the plane. Steve was not very familiar with the C-21 and he had his eye on another plane. Since we have gotten here though we realized that God knew better then we did. This assignment has been a blessing. We could not have asked for a better location or a better squadron to be a part of. The people are so sweet and have truly been amazing since Grace was born. On Sunday the ladies of the 311th threw Grace and me a beautiful baby shower. Something that I know no squadron my father was apart of did for my mom with any of her four pregnancys. Since my mother left they have also brought us some meals which are a great blessing. After being up with Grace every 2-3 hours at night and most of the day by 5 o'clock I am exhausted. Some days I think about cooking and I just can't wrap my mind around even heating the oven. Not to mention that I eat off the left overs for days. So as I said they have been a true blessing. I have learnt from this assignment that there is a reason God sends you where he does in the Air Force and that no matter how unexpected the assignment might be you must keep your mind open because it could be the best assignment yet.

Two Weeks Already???

Yesterday our little princess Grace turned 2 weeks old . I can not believe how quickly the time has flown by, but at the same time I barely remember life without her. We had her well baby yesterday and I can not tell you how relieved I was when our pediatrician said she looked prefect. At her 5 day well the nurse made me feel like the worse mother in the world for having to use a shield to get Grace to latch right even though the lactation consultant gave it to me and said that it was fine. Then she scared the crap out of me telling me that her dimple on her butt looked deep which could indicate a spinal defect! However yesterday Dr. Brice said that she not only thought Grace was doing just fine but that she is way more developed then what is to be expected in a two week. Take that mean old nurse at Ft. Carson!!! To update y'all on how she is doing other just great she weighed 7lbs 6 oz yesterday. Which is well over her birthweight and over a pound more then her discharge weight. (Guess using a shield the first couple weeks isn't bad after all!) We don't know if she grew any because according to their Scale she lost an inch in height but Steve and I noticed that their measuring thing was swinging back because it was missing a screw. I am just glad she has gained weight because as I said the nurse told me that using a shield could prevent her from gaining properly. So there you have it our little girl is doing just fine and I could not be happier! However I wouldn't mind if time slowed down a little she's only this small once!!

And then it hit me.

Somewhere between 3 and 4 am I found myself sitting Chris-cross applesauce on my bed with my crying 7 day old in my arms. We had been up for almost 6 hours straight trying to find her some relief from the gas that she just couldn't seem to pass. With every whimper my heart broke a little more. I didn't care that I had soaked though my nursing pads, bra, and tank top or that I had only gotten 4 hours of sleep the past three nights. I could careless that my c-section incision was screaming from walking/rocking her around for hours. I only cared that she was hurting and I could not do anything to help. When she finally passed out from pure exhaustion I sat there holding her and I couldn't bring myself to put her down. So I stayed there almost an hour just watching her sleep. It was in this quite moment that it hit me I am a mom. It was just a few years ago we were told that I might never be able to have children and there in my arms laid a prefect healthy baby girl. My days are now full of feedings and dirty diapers. I care way more about the consistency of poo then weather my hair or make up is done. I have traded jeans and cute tops for sweatpants and nursing tanks and sleeping in for sleep deprivation. I am living the dream sore boobs and all!!!

Receiving Grace

I had an idea of what kind of labor I wanted. I had a plan I was going to have Grace the way that God had intended our bodies to have babies. I wanted no pain killers, no medical intervention, I wanted to be able to look at my daughter years down the road and say "Yea honey I had you all natural!!!" Well, you know what they say about plans.....DON'T PLAN ON IT! You see I should have known because Grace is my daughter and let's face it NO ONE tells us what we are going to do. Grace's due date came and went and I showed no signs of labor after a week of still no progression AT ALL my midwife talked me into being inducted (not that I needed much pushing at 41 weeks).

Sunday (Dec 18th) we went to the hospital to have a foley bulb (spelling might be wrong) put it because it's easier on the baby if you are already dilated a little before pitocin is started. While getting hooked up to the monitors the nurse asked if I had been having any contractions of course I said no. She gave me a really funny look and said "Are you sure?" I told her yes I had just been having some cramping the past 3 days. She asked if I was having those cramps right now and I said yea. "Well Dear, that's because your having a contraction." I felt kind of stupid but it's not like I had been in labor before. She then informed me that my contractions were about 4 minutes apart. I was officially in labor. They decided to go ahead with the plan put in the bulb send me home with some Ambein and I would return the next morning. Before we left the hospital my contractions had gotten much stronger and definitely closer together, but the doctors said I still had a long way to go so it was best to just stick with going home.

I woke up the next morning groggy and very sore. Just because I slept though the contractions did not mean my body did. I was extremely excited though because I was having my little girl that day (once again DON'T PLAN ON IT). We got to the hospital about 7:45 am got all settled in and ready to get the show on the road when the midwife came in to check. Despite all the contractions I was having I had made NO changes from when I left the hospital the night before. All I could think was you have got to be kidding me. She didn't want to put me on pitocin because I said before it's easier on the baby if your already dilated. So they gave me another drug that there is no way I could spell and informed me that I was probably NOT going to have Grace that day. (I'm sorry what?) I did not get it. I was in labor my body was doing what it was suppose (or so I thought it was) and your telling me that I am not going to have her today? At around 2 pm I had made enough change that she felt they could start the pitocin. At that point I had been having contractions every 2 to 3 minutes for 22 hours. Within 20 minutes on the pitocin those contractions went to 6 in minute neither Grace nor I had time to breathe so they quickly shut off the pitocin and let us rest. A couple hours later they tried again on a much lower dip which kept them coming but a much more reasonable pace.

Around 9 pm that night the new midwife on shift informed me that I was only 4 cm!! Twenty-six hours of labor and I had only made it to 4 cm oh and Grace was still posterior. She decided it was time to break my water to help things along. I was exhausted at this point. I hadn't eaten since 6 am that morning and I felt like someone had hit me with a Mac truck and then backed up to do it again. Each contraction was stronger and I didn't know how I was going to have any energy to push. Within minutes of her breaking my water I was pretty much begging for an epidural. I just couldn't do it anymore. After I got my friend epi I thought it's just smooth sailing from here. I was able to actually close my eyes and rest. That was until at 2 am my room was flooded with nurses.

Grace's heart rate was dropping and not returning to fast enough. They started me on oxygen and flipped me from side to side until they got the result they wanted. It was the scariest moment (up till that point in my life). Having about 6 nurses working on you and worrying is my baby okay. I get choked up just thinking about it. After they got her back to normal I thought Thank God that was over, but I was wrong....so wrong. It happened another 4 times. The last time being at 8 am in morning. I knew something was really wrong when the doctor came in. You see unless you need a doctors intervention at Ft. Carson you see a midwife and they work with the "normal labors". Dr. Clarke explained to me that Grace was wedged funny and they were going to try and turn her MANUALLY to get her to come out. I won't go into details here but OMG even with the epidural I thought I was being ripped in half. He got her to turn half way let go to get a better grasp and she turned right back. (Did I mention she's my child?)

It was then that he told me that we had no other option. She needed to come out in the next few minutes or things were going to get much worse for her. These were the scariest words I have heard. I didn't even care that I was going to have major surgery I just wanted my daughter in my arms. The next 20 minutes were a blur. All I know was there were people everywhere moving me all over, hooking IVs, and everything else. Then I was wisked away into an OR where more people were all over me. I was terrified. I just wanted her here. I didn't know I was holding my breath until one of the nurses told me. Then I heard Dr. Clarke say "Initial incision made 8:50" I thought OMG STEVE'S NOT HERE YET HE'S GONNA MISS IT! Just then I see him white scrubs and all. AND YES, He made it though the whole thing without passing out!!! Ok so now that my husband was there I was ready for Grace. Which I didn't have to wait long because at 8:52 I heard the best sound in the world. My baby girl's cry well scream really but still the best sound ever. So finally after 49 hours and 52 minutes my little girl made her grand debut into the world. When asked would I do it again my answer is simple I would not change a thing. She's a miracle and I am blessed to have Grace in my life.

Ready to Pop!

This picture was taken at 36 weeks. I will admit that I have definitely gained a little weight since then. Not to mention our little Grace has weaseled her way down into birthing position making my stomach much more elongated. We are sitting at 38 weeks and 3 days right now and I am so excited I could bust. However, I finally understand what everyone meant when they said that in the end I will be so ready to NOT be pregnant. Aside from my 9 months of morning sickness I would say that I have had a fairly easy pregnancy which I am thankful for. Recently though things have gotten a little rougher. Grace has very little room left in there but that hasn't stopped her from trying desperately to stretch out. I can not tell you the number of times I have an arm poking me one direction and her foot digging into my rib cage at the same time. Plus she is much stronger now then she was even just two weeks. I have caught myself saying ouch out aloud a number of times without thinking about it. People in stores often give me weird looks when this happens. I can't even get started on sleeping. I toss and turn for about 30 minutes just trying to find a comfortable position and just when I have settled down for a "nights rest" little one decides she's going to move, often causing me to toss and turn for another 20 minutes or so. Napping would be nice but since everyone is so freaking hyped up on baby watch I can't get more then an hour a day without a text or call. Not that I mind much but if I don't answer right way it's because I am asleep not because I am in labor no need to keep calling. I promise to let everyone know when the eviction notice has been posted and Grace is on her way out! If you haven't gotten a text, a call or it's not on Facebook it hasn't happened. :-) Although believe me NO ONE is more ready to meet this little girl more then Me and her Daddy! So stay posted it's coming ANY DAY NOW!!!