a baby story: lauren elizabeth

well, it feels like i have not updated in ages... and honestly, i havent. but like most of you know, our baby girl is finally here!!! i'm sure most of you have seen pictures/heard the story, but i want to write about it anyway. so, here it is!!

last monday (2/15) i went to the doctor for my 41week check up & still had no baby. so doc told me id' be induced on wed (2/17) unless baby b came. the doc did something called "stripping the membranes" (sorry if that is graphic) to "get things going". she said that doing said thing had a 50% chance of helping move things a long. well, needless to say it worked.

about 5pm mon night i started getting bad pains (not sure if they were 'contractions", but still pains). i had heath get me a heating pad they were so bad. we went to bed thinking id end up having to be induced on wed..... but at 2am i woke up to random yet strong spurts of "pain". they were contractions after all. we hung out at home til about 5am then decided to go to the hospital.

heath's good friend lynne is an obgyn nurse @ my hospital so she was going to be "my nurse". i got there and all checked in. i was about 3-ish cm dialated and pretty much stayed at that amount until 1130am when they sent us home.

after eating lunch & a relatively "painful" nap, we ended up going back to the hospital at 7:30/8pm b/c i literally couldnt take it anymore. i know i was hoping to "make it thru" the night and just deal with it in the a.m., but that wasnt gonna happen.

we checked back in the hospital, and heath's friend lynne was our nurse. she and another nurse both determined i was at 7cm!!! i'll skip over all the "gory details" and say that the last part of labor went pretty fast. we got there around 730/8pm and lauren was born at 9:35pm! so i went from 7cm to 10cm pretty quick! so quick that i couldnt get an epidural (sp?) ... even if i wanted one. i went into "labor" not wanting one if i didnt need it, and i didnt! also, (sorry if this is a lil personal) i didnt rip or tear at all!!! so i was very lucky! things went fairly fast and i was able to deal with the pain. lauren is healthy and we are such a blessed little family!!!!!

lauern was jaundice (sp?) so we had to deal w/ that for a few days. it included several blood tests (which was heartbreaking to hear/watch) but no "lights". eventully she got over that about a week later! we had a few visitors in the hospital... just the right amount... not too many but enough to help the time pass us by. we had to stay a full 48hrs after lauren was born. thursday night at 9:35pm, we got to go home!

my mom and jack came home w/ us that night. my mom stayed from thu night until the following week friday morning. which was SOnice. she helped keep me calm, give me free time, and of course bond w/ her first grandchild :) i loved having my mom here and of course cried the day she left! i didnt think i could survive alone w/ the baby during the day (esp since heath had to go back to work the monday after lauren was born). but,ive managed so survive so far!

heath's mom came the friday my mom left and stayed the weekend. it was nice to have her here for that short bit as well. we enjoyed the help but we've also enjoyed being by ourselves! i think we're adjusting, slowly but surely... but its been pretty good so far! lauren has had a few "rough days" and therefore causing me to almost have a 'break down" a few times, but in general she's a pretty good baby and we love her so much!!!

heath is SUCH a great father! i knew he would be but he is blowing my mind w/ all that he is and does. he loves lauren so much and its so great seeing him with her. she definitely is his lil princess. heath does a great job of calming lauren down and getting her to fall asleep. he also does a great job of calming me down and keeping me sane! he just loves her so much it fills my heart with such joy. his mom told me she thought "heath was ready to be a father" and she couldnt be more right. i am SO blessed to have him here. i love him so much and sometimes its hard to belive we have a family!!!!!!

its hard tho, i miss him so much during the day when he's at work. and i know lauren misses him too. i can tell she knows when he is here vs. not. plus even though i love lauren to death, i miss heath. yes he's here, but i miss our times together, alone! yes having fun, but even just spending quiet time together. on the couch or sleeping, or just being able to hold him. he is the love of my life and i hope that we are able to keep our relationship just as strong as it is now, or stronger, even with a baby. i think we are doing a pretty good job so far!! seriously, i am SO FREAKING LUCKY! just thinking and writing this about him is making me tear up a little. in a good way of course!

this past wkend (march 6-7) my dad and brothers came to see lauren. my dad and ben hadnt met lauren yet. it was fun having them here as well. my dad is so cute w/ lauren, i can tell he loves being a grandpa already! and ben was deadset on not holing lauren, well we got him to hold her and i secretly think he loves it... and her! im sure he's still nervous, but he asked to hold her several times :)

seriously, i cannot belive its already march and lauren will be 3 wks tomorrow! time is already flying by. people keep saying "enjoy these little times" b/c time goes fast and b4 you know it she'll be one... and they are right. altho we're tired, i have to enjoy her in this stage! she's just so cute. i cant stop looking at her. she's so beautiful! oh, and more and more as the days pass i think she looks like heath. ive been saying that from day one, but she really looks a lot like him. yeah there is some "me" in her, but shes got a lot of his physical features!

anyway, i havent had time to 'blog' about baby lauren so im trying to remember all that happened in the past 3 weeks. so im sorry if iam forgetting things. but here are some key/fun things and facts;
- she is very alert and has great head control!
- we have to change her diaper constantly!
- i used a breast pump for the first time on 3/7 and officially feel like a cow. ALSO heath fed lauren from a bottle on 3/7 for the first time! she still likes booby best but its a mile stone.
- she doesnt like her nooky at all
- she has music we play everything before bed that she likes, however MOM & DADfall asleep faster w/ the music, haha. its so soothing!
- i have lost 25lbs so far!!!! but i have 20 more i need to lose, esp before we get married!
- lauren discovered her cry and can really scream & wail! she hates having her diaper changed.
- she hiccups and sneezes a lot! i thought for a few days she had baby heartburn, but now i dont think that at all
- i love being at home w/ her but, it does get a lil lonely
- even tho there's the advice of "sleep when your baby sleeps", i CANNOTnap during the day. so come bedtime around 10pm, i am beat!
- lauren loves hanging out on heath's knees and chest. it puts her to sleep right away
- i am officially out of shape, my 8lb baby is making my arms kill with pain! this needs to change
- i cant wait for my 6wk check up... then i can start working out/running... and you know what ;)
- ANDwe have about a million pics of her already!!!

well thats all im going to write now. you know ill be writing more as i can. im sure most posts will be short and sweet (just b/c i can never find time anymore). but keep reading as miss lauren elizabeth continues to grow!!!

lots of love,
jenna, heath and lauren