37 Weeks

Not much to report on the baby front and I guess that's a good thing. Had a good doctor appointment today and while there hasn't been much more progress, my blood pressure is great. That is really encouraging since I've never made it past 37 weeks without some issue arising. With Elaina they had just begun to express concern when I went into labor...which prevented it from becoming a problem! I monitor it daily and have been pleased to see the low trend.

I've been sick on an off all last week so even my weight gain was minimal! That's a first!!

Eric is hoping to have most of his schoolwork wrapped up tonight and once that's all submitted we'll be free to concentrate on last minute preparation. Almost everything is done at this point but we do have a few little things left. Particularly practice our breathing...something that has fallen by the wayside with Eric's last big push to get done!

This pregnancy has been a delight as far as the girls' go. When I was pregnant with Grace, Hannah was just too young to really understand what was going on. She seemed to get it a bit more with Elaina, but was still fairly disinterested. She participated by having babies in her own belly :-) At that time Grace was really too young. This time around, however, Hannah has been excited from the beginning. Grace is just naturally more into babies and that sort of thing, so she's also been very interested. Elaina is absolutely oblivious and has, after all these months, finally started pointing to my belly and saying "baby". Does she get it? I'm guessing not.

Hannah won't leave for school without her good-bye kiss to the baby, and they both love to kiss the baby goodnight. I told them a few months ago that the baby could hear them so they should talk to the baby, read books, etc. It was only a few days after that, while I was painting the baby's room, Grace came running in with a pile of books to read to the baby, sure that the baby was bored! I hope their enthusiasm continues once the baby is actually here!

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!