Three Months

A Visit With Auntie

My sister got to meet Claudia this weekend for the first time when she came to visit. My mom came, too. It was a very short visit but so good to see them. 

Claudia and my mom. Doesn't Claudia look like such a big girl here? 

With Aunt Cathy.

Claudia also met the Easter Bunny! 

What a difference a week makes

This is the week that I was supposed to go back to work from my maternity leave. My baby girl is 11 weeks old but because I was in the hospital for a few days before giving birth, I was supposed to return to work on Tuesday. This time last week, I was a complete wreck with way too much anxiety about leaving her. I had spent most of my maternity leave worrying about how this would go. Maybe it's because I knew my job too well and I knew myself. I let the busyness play out in my head over and over. And maybe the anticipation would have been the worst of it. Or maybe not.

And then last week I did it. I called my boss and told her I wasn't coming back. I immediately felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. And then about an hour later panic set in. Real heart palpitations. What did I just do? Could I call her back and tell her I'd made a mistake?

I have flip-flopped most of my leave about what the right thing would be for me and Claudia. I know it's different for every mom but I think this is what I'm supposed to do for now. We'll see how it goes. I'm hoping to eventually work part-time but until then, this is what we'll do.

I plan on trying out a mom's group this week. Maybe we'll enroll in Gymboree classes and when she gets a little older - story time at the library. In the summer, we'll take walks to the park and around the Arboretum. Maybe we'll go swimming at the pool just down the street. We'll visit the local petting zoo and feed the ducks. We'll meet daddy for lunch and go to the children's museum. We'll have fun together every day.

Girls' Night Out

Saturday was my first girls' night out in a long time. Joe stayed home with Claudia and I went to Kamilah's bridal shower/dinner. 

Monica was in town for the event and it was so good to see her. 

The bride-to-be. So happy for her and so happy that Monica introduced us several years ago. I'm very excited for her wedding in April.

Lunch Dates

We have had some lunch dates recently. Having a new baby during the winter months means we've had a lot of cabin fever but have managed to meet some friends here and there.



We met Jennifer for lunch one day. 

All ready for a lunch date with Holly. 

Baby's first visit to the Cheesecake Factory and her first meeting with Teresa. 

First Valentine's Day

I had a sushi date tonight with my two loves and this little lady slept through her first Valentine's date. 

More Visitors

Claudia recently had a visit from her other grandparents. You can tell they were enamored.

Two Months

Look who's two months old!

This is what 5 days old looks like

Tomorrow Claudia will be seven weeks old so I'm late posting these photos but we had some adorable portraits taken when she was five days old.

Visitors

We've had lots of visitors over the past couple weeks, some without photos to document their visit with Claudia. Here are a few pictures from our visits.

 Alison came to visit a couple weeks ago. 

Claudia's grandma, Jo Ann came to visit, too. 

My friend, Cathy came over one day and brought lunch.

Monica came from Missouri to spend a week with us. 

Our friends, Waad and Hend came to see Claudia, too.

One Month

It's hard to believe but my baby is already a month old.

One showing off her legs for good measure. :) 

My Favorite Season

This is the time of year when I post about all my favorite movies as award season begins. Most all of the award-worthy movies come out around Christmas which is when we typically have our movie marathons. New baby right before Christmas = no movies for us. So I can only tell you my favorite movies I have seen this year.

• The Spectacular Now - This is possibly the best, underrated movie I have ever seen. It's reminiscent of a John Hughes movie from the 80s.
• Mud - I love Matthew McConaughey and he is on a roll right now.
• 12 Years a Slave - Amazing and gut-wrenching true story.

Cousins

While my parents were visiting, my mom's cousins, Pam and Terrie came by to see us. Pam lives in Australia so we don't see her very often.

Left to right: Iris the dog, Pam, Terrie, my mom and Claudia

Claudia Meets Grandma and Grandpa

Recovery for me has not gone quite as expected. After leaving the hospital, my blood pressure continued to stay the same (and even get worse) instead of better, despite meds. After feeling unwell and making a couple of trips to the ER for IV meds, treatment and observation, I hope I'm on the right path. Good thing our back up arrived this week - grandma and grandpa.

My mom with Claudia.

My dad with Claudia.

Joe and I with our three week old baby.

Claudia's First Christmas

We celebrated Claudia's first Christmas in a very low-key way. We're watching movies On Demand and are getting ready to enjoy Chinese takeout. Claudia doesn't know but Santa still visited our house. She received an ornament, activity mat, Ugg booties, new jammies and an outfit.

We have also been gifted with a lot of Christmas outfits. I had bought one outfit and one pair of jammies just in case she made her appearance before Christmas. Since she arrived we have received more festive wear from friends and family.

My first Christmas onesie from Aunt Cathy.

Here's the outfit that I bought before she was born.

Clockwise: Elf suit from mommy's friend, Jennifer; red union suit from mommy's coworker, Kristen; reindeer jammies from mommy's friend, Kate and more reindeer jammies from mommy; another outfit from Aunt Cathy.

Brand New

One of our baby girl's hospital photos when she was just a day old.

Claudia's Room

I never did show off pictures from Claudia's room. These were taken before we added the bedding which is a gray chevron crib skirt and yellow floral crib sheet.

Meet Claudia

Our little girl arrived almost three weeks early on December 12. She wasn't ready to come per say but we had to evict her. I had developed preeclampsia and my condition was not improving. Doctor took awhile to weigh the benefits and risks to both of us before he decided we should induce before I got any sicker.

It all started with a routine doctor's visit on Monday afternoon. During my appointment, he checked my blood pressure three times before sending me to labor and delivery at the hospital to be monitored. He told me to expect to be there a couple hours. Then he said, "Well don't get too surprised if we keep you overnight for more testing." The couple hours turned into overnight and the next day, that turned into a discussion about induction. I also learned that even if I wasn't induced, I wasn't going home. This made me antsy to meet our baby girl but I also wanted what was best for her. Finally on Wednesday morning we decided to induce.

My labor was started around 11 am and silly me decided to go 9-10 hours without an epidural. I have no idea what I was thinking. I was completely exhausted. I like to tell people that with my pregnancy-induced insomnia I hadn't slept since April but I really wasn't sleeping in the hospital either. The entire labor was 15 hours with two of those hours pushing. During my final pushing, soon after the doctor arrived, our baby girl's heart rate plummeted. Doctor did an unexpected and very quick episiotomy to just get her out as fast as possible and then when she was out she wasn't breathing. Everyone rushed over to her. What went from a room of three medical professionals (including my doctor) soon turned into a room of ten medical professionals including two NICU doctors working on our baby. Nobody said anything but they just did their job. Soon we heard a cry. After checking her out for awhile longer, they announced she was fine - she was perfect. Instead of sending us to Mother/Baby within two hours after labor (standard at our hospital) they kept us for seven hours to keep an extra eye on me and baby. I honestly can not say enough great things about my doctor, the nurses and the care we received at our hospital. Everyone was so calculated and careful with us. I felt so confident with every decision.

After five days in the hospital, I'm home and so is our baby, Claudia Grace at two days old. We are exhausted but we are learning her cues and have mastered the art of swaddling, burping and being anxiety-ridden new parents. It's lovely.

Brand new

Just a couple hours old 

A day old

Day two and leaving the hospital 

Thirty-Six Weeks

Thirty-six weeks and the doctor has asked me to wrap up work and go on bed rest as I've started having high blood pressure. It's a bummer to be at home during all the festivities going on this time of the year but hopefully the rest will do me and baby some good.

Thanksgiving

Our last Thanksgiving as a family of two came and went. Joe's mom and stepdad came to visit and early last week I was given instructions from my doctor to take it easy due to an elevated blood pressure. So I have spent a lot of time resting. Thanksgiving dinner meant catering from a local restaurant. I did venture out for a couple of meals. One was a Christmas tea that Joe and I had planned weeks ago for us to do. It was a fun experience and maybe will be a tradition in the future one day with our daughter.

Joe and I at the Christmas tea. Bring on the mini sandwiches!

One Last Hurrah

With about five weeks left until baby's anticipated arrival, we had one final celebration today with my church.

Super cute decorations and gift table.

The proud parents to be.

The hostesses (minus Lola). What sweet church friends!

Thirty-Four Weeks

Forty-One

Friday night we celebrated Joe's birthday at Japonais. Yes, that's octopus. Eww.

My prego self had to play it safe with a steak. Probably for the best since I need the extra iron anyway.