Weezin' and Sneezin'

We are still sick at the Muckerheide household. Several days cooped up in the bedroom with the humidifier on has helped, but we aren't there yet. Addie has been sleeping a bit better. She has gone to bed at a reasonable hour two nights out of four. I'll take it! She also seems to be stretching out the time between feedings. I get her up every three hours or so to eat, but I think it's because she has put on some weight and doesn't need as much. That, and the fact that it is difficult to breath and eat at the same time? I think it will mean good things for sleep once she's over this cold. Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I have to keep myself going somehow?

I'm still a bit under the weather too, but I've been able to work a little. It helps me feel connected with the outside world. Yesterday I realized I hadn't left the house since Sunday. For most of that time I hadn't even left my bedroom. Time just flies when you are having fun! I'm doing some showings with a client on Sunday, so it will be my first venture into the working game again. It's early, so I'm not really working, but it's nice to think that I might be able to still bring in a little money during this time. It will take some pressure off for when I actually go back to work. As nice as it is to be self-employed, there is no such thing as paid leave!

Photos At Three Weeks

Three Weeks and Smiling!

Wow! The last three weeks have flown by! It's been a blur of visitors, feeding, sleeping, and getting sick.

Adelyn and I aren't sleeping well. Addie has a lot of gas and has trouble sleeping before 2am. Consequently...I don't sleep much either. We both have been trying to catch up on sleep during the day. I think it's going better for her than me. We both have also gotten sick. I think we have a basic cold, but it's tough at this stage. We are nursing ourselves back to health and are hanging out in the bedroom with a humidifier. Hopefully we'll be better in a few days. Then we can focus more on getting Adelyn to sleep at a normal hour. It's hard when she's working through a cold AND gas.

Addie has really grown in these three weeks. She started at 7 pounds, 6 ounces and dropped below 7 pounds. As of Saturday, she was up to 8 pounds, 10 ounces (with her clothes on). She still fits in her newborn clothes, but she is also finally starting to fit into some of the 0-3 month clothes. She's a good eater! I never thought breastfeeding would go this well!

As for milestones...Addie can focus on an object or person, she can follow sounds, she is starting to coo more, and she smiled for the first time today!! The past few days she's been working on a crooked, half-smile, but today she smiled ear to ear when I spoke to her. She did it three times! Now, of course, she won't do it...but I'm going to count it!

I'm recuperating well aside from the cold. My c-section incision is healing well. I have almost no pain there now. That helps in the middle of the night when I'm reaching for her. Not using ab muscles was difficult. I'm so dependant on them! I'm almost down to my pre-pregnancy (or first pregnancy weigh-in) weight. I never thought it would come off so fast. I definitely have some toning to do, but can't hit the gym for another 3-5 weeks. Even then, I don't know how much time I'll have to worry about it, but I'm just glad it's coming off so well! I know it's vain, but I was concerned about it? I hope to be back to my pre-infertility drug weight at some point too. I'm about 8 pounds away from that. Not too shabby!

Welcome Adelyn Lee Muckerheide!!!

Adelyn Lee was born Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 1:28pm. She weighed 7 pounds and 6 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. She entered the world via scheduled c-section, so all went smoothly! Dr. E had to pull hard because she was stuck way up by my rib cage, but she came out kicking and pooping...right on Dr. E! :)

We stayed at the hospital until Friday afternoon. Since then we've had a ton of visitors. We've spent whatever other time we have getting into a routine.

At Addie's doctors appointment on Monday, we found out that her bilirubin was up so she was becoming jaundice. We had a bilirubin light delivered on Monday and she has been a little glow worm ever since. Her count had come down by our appointment on Tuesday, but not enough. Today we went in and her bilirubin was low enough to take her off the light. We go back tomorrow to see if her numbers are still low. If they are, we can keep her off the light for good.

Dad went back to work yesterday, so it has been a little tough on us. He's sad to not be able to see her all day, and I'm sad to not have his help. Grandma Sue has been with us this week to help us get acclimated to family life. We are also working on Addie's baptismal gown.

Today was a big day. Addie lost her umbilical cord...becoming a little less of a newborn. You know it's bad, when that is a sad day. I just see all of this just going too quickly for my taste!

Baby Face

I forgot to post this earlier. This ultrasound is from when we found out our little girl was breech on December 30, at 34 weeks, 5 days. It looks like she is going to have her dad's chubby cheeks. You just can't escape them as a Muckerheide, I guess!

Baby Muckerheide Has a Birth Date!!

Well, the little girl hasn't turned...so we are scheduled for a c-section on January 27th, at 1pm!! It is a little hard to know that I won't be able to try to give birth, but it's nice to know when she'll be coming and have a plan. Everyone knows the Muckerheide's like a plan!

So, we report to the hospital at 11am and hit the OR at 1pm. Hopefully we'll have a healthy little girl in no time. We will certainly post an update when it happens (or when we get up the energy to post after it happens). I need to post a new belly pic too...it has definitely grown.

I'm excited to meet our little girl...only six more days!!

30 Days and Counting...or Maybe Sooner?

Well, a lot has happened since my last post. I pushed to have another ultrasound and was able to get one. My intuition was right...something wasn't quite right. Our baby girl is breech. I have another appointment this Friday. If she hasn't turned we have a couple options. One is to go in this week (at 36 weeks) and try to turn her manually. Dr. English said that this is often hard with first pregnancies and the baby can always turn back. He also said it is quite painful. When he does this, he always has a room available in case we need to do an emergency c-section. The second option is to just schedule a c-section for 39 weeks. I think that might be my preference.

I didn't want to just give up, so I've been going to my friend Shirley, a chiropractor, for the Webster Technique. This is a more natural way to try to turn the baby. We shall see!

On Saturday I had my last, and largest, shower. It was a beautiful event with a ton of family and a few friends. My sister-in-law and two of my cousins (Jenny, Caroline and Kathleen) threw it for me. All I can say is this baby girl is completely SET for clothes!

I'm getting anxious to meet our little girl. I'll be 36 weeks on Thursday...so it's just a matter of a few weeks at this point! I've been nesting like crazy. After the shower I returned all of our duplicate items and started washing everything. I've finally gotten it all done and I'm feeling a little better about things. I still have to order a book shelf, because she already has quite the book collection! I've included the most updated photos of the nursery. Everything is coming together!