What Do You Think?

Here are three pictures of our girls all around 2 months old. We've compared different pictures where they look more alike than others. However, these three were all similar poses and facial expressions.

What do you think? Do they look like each other?

Hannah

Grace

Elaina

I think it is neat to see/compare all three of them at different ages (but when they are all the same age). See their differences and similarities. It is amazing to me that all three of them could come from Eric and I. Children are truly one of God's greatest miracles.

The First Six Weeks

I'm the type that needs goals. I like to plan. I like to know how things are going to end up. I have to force myself to not read the end of a book. I will quite frequently read the entire plot outline of a movie before I watch so that I know what is going to happen. Although this is not always the case (there are definitely movies and books where I want to enjoy the surprise), I enjoy the story more for knowing what is going to happen.

Newborns drive me crazy. Crazy! From the moment of birth (even before that if you count the uncertainty of when you'll go into labor) they are unpredictable. Why are they crying? It is a toss up! How can I get them to sleep? Trial and error. Just not my cup of tea!! Although I love all my daughters dearly, I do not enjoy the infant stage.

So from the very beginning I tell myself that the worst of it will be over after the first six weeks. Realistically I know that at six weeks babies are still newborns. They still cannot express themselves. They still cry all the time! But the big difference? Every once in awhile, when you are very lucky, they will lock eyes with you and give you a smile. And that makes the sleep deprivation melt away. For a few minutes anyway :-)

So Elaina is now six weeks old. And ultimately nothing has changed. Elaina still doesn't nap well during the day (unless she is being held, of course), she still wakes up every 3-4 hours at night (unless she only does 2!) She has had her first smile, but most of the time she's too darn cranky to bother with that! But the end is in sight, because things really do start to get better from here on out. Even though I'm still up half the night, I know that any day now it can turn around and get better. And hope is a good thing.

Here are a few pictures to commemorate 6 weeks!

This is a common scene in our house. The girls love to talk to Elaina! I can't wait until she responds to them more.

If Eric and I look tired it is because we are! We barely slept the night before!
Our Little Easter Bunny!!

We're looking forward to the next 6 weeks! We get to know Elaina more everyday. Please keep us in prayer. We could all use a little extra strength...and maybe a bit of mercy, too!

One Month Old!

We made it through the first month! It is actually really hard for me to believe that Elaina has been part of our family for an entire month.

We're eagerly awaiting her laughs and grins. I know that Hannah and Grace will be over the moon when Elaina looks at them and actually reacts to their nonstop chatter!


At Elaina's 1 month check-up she weighed 8lbs 10 oz (50th percentile) and 21.5 inches (75th percentile). She's shooting right on up the charts.

Spring will soon be here (although it technically already is!). It is teasing us this year with a few warm days, then a few cold. It won't be long though until it warms up and stays warm. We cannot wait! Not only am I desperate to get outside in the fresh air and sunshine, but I am eagerly anticipating shedding these postpartum pounds! Yea spring!

She's Here!

I'm sure by now this is common knowledge, but I'm finally getting around to updating here.

Elena Jane Cunningham arrived on February 27. She weighed in at 7lbs 6oz, 2o inches (a full pound heavier than Grace, and a full 2 inches longer than Hannah!) She was three weeks early, and much to my delight, a full 9 days before Grace's birthday.

The story, if you are interested, is as follows:

I noticed that my cramping had turned into something more like contractions around 6pm on February 26. I wasn't sure if it was "real" labor or not and I was fairly convinced that it wasn't since it didn't seem to be falling into any sort of regular interval. Eric was actually out getting diapers for Grace in the snowstorm and I kept thinking what lousy timing this would be. Even though I suspected I wasn't in labor yet, and was instead suffering from Braxton Hicks contractions, I still felt relieved when Eric finally did show up.

By the time we got the girls into bed and I took my shower, it was around 9:30 and I laid down to actually time my contractions. It didn't take long for me to realize that they did seem to be falling about every 5-6 minutes. Still, it was like a blizzard outside, and I wasn't about to call friends to watch the girls and have my parents venture out in the snow for a false alarm. We called L&D to ask what we should do. We felt like total morons, but with both Hannah and Grace I was induced, so going into labor naturally was something totally new to me. And with both Hannah and Grace, I didn't suffer from "early labor" but was thrown pretty quickly into the harder, faster contractions that are impossible to confuse with false labor!

After being passed around to a few nurses and eventually the on-call doctor, they determined that even if I wasn't in labor, I'd been far enough progressed in the doctor's office that morning that I should come in and get checked out.

We called friends and also my parents and then headed off through the snow. I was really filled with dread at the thought of inconveniencing everyone only to be sent home. I was so relieved when the nurse reassured me that my contractions were regular and that I was dilated to 5cm, so I would be staying. I was disappointed that this would be the first birth without my doctor, but I figured that it had to happen eventually. Although it wasn't deliberate on my part, it was in the back of my mind that if the baby held off until my doctor's office hours, then I'd get my doctor instead of the on-call doctor. So I didn't do anything to hurry labor along and let it progress on its own. I did get an epidural around 3am so I could sleep, though. I well remember how tired I was when Grace was born, and then the long night that followed with them bringing her to me constantly to eat! I wanted some rest before I had to do that again!

Lucky for me my doctor showed up around 7am and I was still in labor. She broke my water and put me on a bit of pitocin and 2 hours later (9:05am) out popped Elena! Although it certainly wasn't that easy, she was born in 2 or 3 pushes and Eric and I both noticed that there were scarcely anyone in the room this time around. As far as births go, I think mine was pretty uneventful.

Things have been going well. We had to be readmitted to the hospital on March 2 because Elena's jaundice levels had gone too high. They told us that we could leave her on a biliblanket for another week or put her under the lights at the hospital for one day and be done. We opted for the faster cure. So we were pretty peeved the next morning when the doctor wanted us to stay longer, and when we resisted that, we had to put her on the lights for another three days! So much for a fast cure!

So now we're at 3 weeks and the last few nights have been following a similar pattern. I'm hoping that she'll fall into a routine. I'm not foolish enough to think that newborns are ever 100% predictable, but I thrive on knowing what to expect, so the sooner she becomes somewhat predictable, the happier I will be.

The girls are adjusting well, so far. They seem to really like having a baby sister around. Even Grace, whom I was the most concerned about, loves to hold her. She will hurry to talk to her when Elena cries, and loves to identify her body parts. Hannah thrives in the big sister role, and enjoys helping with baths and diaper changing. I'm so proud of both of them.

We've also made the decision to change the spelling of her name from "Elena" to "Elaina." So from here on out, that's how it will be spelled. We discovered that the name was being mispronounced, which was not the reason we chose to change the spelling, but it was a factor. I Googled the name "Elena" and saw the other spelling and fell in love. I wish I'd realized that before we made it official, but oh well. We're waiting to here from someone about the actual procedure, but we hope to get it straightened out soon.

Hope to update much sooner this time!

37 Weeks

I'm officially the most pregnant I've ever been. Yea for baby #3!!

We had our 37 week check-up today. There is more progress to report--yea!!

I am now dilated to 4cm, which is the minimum they like to see before they'll admit you. I'm 80% effaced and the baby's head has now lowered into the 0 station. It is exciting to see so much progress in a week.

The doctor stripped my membranes today (they do this in attempt to trigger labor) and said that if anything is going to happen it will within 24 hours. Other than some extra crampiness I haven't had anything happen yet, so we'll see. Of course we are also going to have a snowstorm tonight and a change in barometric pressure can sometimes trigger labor. I'm not crossing my fingers, though.

My blood pressure was still okay, but slowly rising. This is often a step toward preeclampsia, a slow upward movement. I mentioned to the doctor that Grace's birthday (the 8th) is next weekend and since my next appointment is two days prior (6th) to Grace's birthday, I'm concerned that if my blood pressure is high they'd want to induce me on the 6th. My doctor was very understanding and is going to have me come in next Tuesday for a blood pressure check. If it is showing an increase, they'll induce me that very day.

I'm of the opinion that I don't want my blood pressure to go up, but if it is going to I'd rather they do something about it before Grace's birthday rather than wait for it to get worse and then have to be in the hospital for it.

Looks like it might be soon!

Progress

We had our 36 week doctor appointment (although I'm nearly at 37 weeks, oh well) today. This is the first time that they checked to see what progress has been made. That's always exciting because you know the end is near. The baby will hopefully be born sometime in the next 3 weeks or so.

My blood pressure looked completely normal, so it appears that I may actually have a baby on his/her own schedule (but please, please not on Grace's birthday!!). Although with Grace it was actually rather nice to be induced since she was considered full-term and that allowed my parents to get here in time without all the rushing to the hospital business. But it would be nice to deliver without the benefit of a blood pressure cuff strapped to my arm.

Anyway, for those who are interested I am dilated 3cm (out of 10) and 70% effaced (100% is the goal) and the baby's head is in -1 station (0 is considered engaged and +4 is when the head is leaving the body). Relatively good progress for how far along I am. Technically speaking the baby could arrive at any time. Or I could remain the same for the next few weeks. What will be more telling will be seeing whether there is any change between now and my next doctor appointment. Or, I suppose, if a baby shows up before then :-)

The Plague

I've been MIA for far too long, I know. But bear with me, I do have a good excuse!!

Just after my last post we discovered that our brand new kitty had brought more than love into our home, but also ringworm. I'd heard of it, but never realized what a horrible thing it is to deal with.

Apparently there is no "cure" for ringworm, just treatment. And it takes a long time. We are going into our 6th week of treatment for Callie, and our dog Marcy also caught it, and she's going into week 5 (although only 4 for both with oral medication). Daphne has escaped unscathed so far, and we're hoping it will stay that way. Apparently ringworm will usually resolve itself in about 3-4 months, but if you want to shorten that, you must treat it aggressively.

Every week we give the animals two lime dips (a foul-smelling rinse that stains everything it comes into contact with and threatens to suffocate you with its stink!) and two anti fungal baths (that we have to let sit on their skin for 10 minutes before rinsing off). We are also giving them daily oral meds which costs a ridiculous amount of money. It has been an ordeal, to be sure, and all of this in my last trimester of pregnancy.

The vet told us that Callie is a carrier, and doesn't have any actual "spots", so there is no visual way to see if she is recovering. Marcy has spots on her nose which are pretty much gone now. We're taking a gamble and releasing them this Saturday when they are done with their medication. The vet said that they are usually clear two weeks after hair starts growing back into their spots. Marcy's started that two weeks ago and Callie never had any. However, the only 100% sure way to find out whether or not they are cured is to do a fungal culture, which can take up to 3 weeks to show results. Since we don't have the money, nor patience, to treat them for another 3 weeks while we wait for the results (when they are probably fine), we are just going to pray that they are cured and let them out of their cages and back into our lives.

Of course is they are not cured, we risk the chance of reinfecting everyone, including a newborn baby. It is a struggle for me to trust that the Lord can take care of us, and that all will be well. I am frequently tempted to do just "a bit" more treatment just to make sure, even though we've been reassured that they will probably be fine, and it is costly and time consuming. I'm also literally at the end of my strength when it comes to dealing with this. At 36 weeks of pregnancy I want to rest, not give my cat a bath!!

Please keep our family in prayer this weekend as we go ahead and release our pets and reenter "normal" life. And pray that the ringworm truly is gone so that we don't have to deal with this all over again after the baby is born.

Check back soon...we hope to have news on the newest addition very shortly!