Lauralyn 1 Month Old

Weight: Around 8 lbs
Diaper: newborn
Clothes: newborn

It's hard to believe a month has already passed.  Lauralyn has been such a sweet little blessing to our life.  She has gotten on a pretty regular sleep/eat schedule.  In the evenings she will eat at 7:00 and 10:00.  Then she has been sleeping until at least 2:00 and then again until anywhere from 4:30 to 5:30.  She is a great eater, but has a tendency to overeat and then spit up a little.  She nurses during the day about every 3 hours.  Right now she has a head of dark brown hair, blue eyes and dark skin.

I'm not one to stay home all the time, so she has been out and about since 6 days old.  That was the first day we took her to the mall.  She has been out to eat several times and even went to Canton Trades Day this past week.  She is so easy when we go somewhere.

Lawson hasn't really had to adjust much to his sister being here.  It's almost like she has always been around.  He loves her already and tries to give her a paci, blanket, toy anything he thinks she might need.  He is actually a big helper even though he's only 20 months.   He is able to throw her diapers away in the garage and can get pretty much anything we tell him that we need.  The biggest thing for him was learning that you have to be gentle with little sister.

Here are side by side pictures of Lawson and Lauralyn at 1 month.

Lauralyn's Birthday

Just like with Lawson, I was induced at 38 weeks with Lauralyn.  We went to the doctor on Wednesday November 2nd and Dr. Klouda wanted to induce on Friday the 4th.  I was already dialated to almost a 3 and 80% effaced.  My blood pressure was a little high, so she said it would be best to go ahead and induce before I got too sick.

Jarrett's mom came to town late Thursday night, so she was able to take care of Lawson while we headed to the hospital.  Here is the last picture of me pregnant.  I look sooo tired!  It was about 5:45 am. 

We got to the hospital, got admitted and headed to our hospital suite.  I say suite because we got the big corner room which was nice AND it was where my nephew Abram was born.

We got a slow start because the nurses could not get my IV started.  It took 4 tries, but finally my amazing nurse Marcie got it in and started the pitocin.  I was in relatively no pain until Dr. Klouda came and broke my water which I think was at around 9:30.  After that I got my epidural, which did NOT go great.  The anesthesiologist kept hitting a nerve and I kept shaking and kicked Jarrett.  I'm sure he will never forget the look of fear and pain in my eyes as he held my hands.  Finally everything got settled and and the anesthesiologist finished up.  After that I was pretty nauseous and not feeling well at all, plus I still felt pain on my right side.  Once Marcie gave me more pain medicine and I got over the nausea, I started feeling the urge to push.  There was NO down time.  They told me not to push and called Dr. Klouda to get there.  It was hard not to push, but once she got there it took four pushes and our daughter entered the world.  That moment with both of my children is the most amazing feeling in this world.  She was beautiful and cried very loudly!

Once she was cleaned up and in our arms, we noticed what we thought were "baby" grunts.  However, the nurse was concerned and contacted the pediatrician.  She said it was a sign she was having a hard time breathing.  They check her oxygen which was great and ran a few tests and took an x-ray.  The x-ray showed some fluid on her lungs.  The pediatrician said it could be either amniotic fluid that didn't get pushed out or neonatal pneumonia.  It was heartbreaking and I broke down for a second, but new in my heart that she was alright.  They started her on antibiotics, so they had to put a little IV in her arm with a little splint.  We ended up having to stay an extra night, and the culture they took showed that it was not pneumonia.  She also had to have amniotic fluid pumped from her stomach because she was spitting it up and would not eat at first.  Once they did that, she started eating like a pro!

While at the hospital, Barbar brought Lawson to meet his sister.  He really didn't seem phased by her and just watched her. 

Asher and Abram both wanted to hold her.  You can see her little splint in this picture.  

Two doors down, another couple from Lindale was having their little girl.  There is a good chance that these two will be good friends one day.  The is Claire Ann.

Finally, it was time to go home.  We dressed her up in a dress that was mine when I was a little girl.  



What a blessing she had already been to our family.  We are so thankful that she wasn't sick and that she is home a perfectly healthy now. 

Lauralyn's Arrival

Lauralyn Ricki English
Born November 4 12:26 pm
7 lb 6 oz 20 in

Halloween 2011

I have to admit, I wasn't really looking forward to trick-or-treating this year.  We have just been so busy, and I am just SOOO pregnant that I kind of had a bad attitude about it.  BUT, we ended up having a great time.

We headed back to our old neighborhood and met up with about 20 people to make the circle and trick-or-treat.

Here is Lawson before we left.  His outfit is from his Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Stacy.  They bought it for him while they stationed in Japan, and it fit perfectly this year so I thought it would be a perfect costume for halloween.

Here he is with our neighbors, Reed and Davis.  He LOVES to be around the older boys.



He did great trick-or-treating.  I wasn't sure if he would get it, but he sure did.  It's amazing how kids just follow what the other kids are doing.  Daddy held his hand the whole time as we went door to door. 

We did skip quite a few houses because we really don't need that much candy!!  The most funny thing Lawson did was after the first house he had a seat in the driveway and went for the candy.  He was ready to eat some right then!  And we let him eat on a Blow Pop pretty much all the way around the neighborhood, he loved it!  "Candy" is now a word that is part of his vocabulary.

And here is a picture of our family.  I can't help but wonder if this will be the last picture taken as a family of three.

36 Week Appointment

Yesterday I went for what I thought would be a routine exam. It was the first exam to see how the baby is positioned and to check for dilation. Jarrett debated back and forth whether he would be able to come, but finally decided he could get away from work to come to the exam. And it turned out that I was so glad he was there. 


The exam went well. I am 1 cm dilated and she is positioned head down. Right now she is measuring 38 weeks. 
The eventful part of the appointment was that her heartbeat was accelerated. The doctor checked it at the beginning of the appointment and at the end of the appointment and then calmly said, I need you to go check in at the hospital so that we can monitor her heartbeat. We weren’t too worried because she said it should be fine. I was so thankful that Jarrett had come to the appointment. And I was so thankful that my parents were able to watch Lawson for so long.

At the hospital we got checked in and hooked up to the monitors and everything turned out to be okay. It was actually nice for us to be forced to slow down for a second and just sit and talk. We have been so busy with moving, which I having blogged about, that we have had very little time to just relax.

I now realize that I really need to get her bag packed, my bag packed, the carseat in that car and a plan for someone to watch Lawson ready for while we are in the hospital.

I have a feeling Lauralyn will be here in the next week or two!!  My next appointment is November 2nd, so hopefully we will have a better idea then.

Lauralyn's Baby Shower

My friends gave me an awesome shower for Lauralyn.  We were given so many adorable outfits, blankets and precious headbands and bows.  It was so much fun to see all the PINK!!  I still can hardly believe we are having a daughter.  The table was beautiful! 

 

 The cake was delicious and gorgeous and matched the colors of her nursery perfectly. 

Some of the best friends a girl could ask for.  It's hard because with all of us having kids and working it is hard to actually hang out much, but I love each and every one of these girls. 

One of my best friends Bekah and Mikah Ann who will be about 6 weeks younger than Lauralyn!

My mom and mom-in-law, I am so blessed by both of them.

This is the sweet dress Lauralyn will come home from the hospital in.  It was mine when I was a baby!

My beautiful, talented sis-in-law, Ashley!  The shower was at her home, and she always makes it special.

I had a wonderful time and was blown away as usual with every one's generosity and love!  I'm always worried that I don't tell people enough how thankful I am for all the love and support.  It truly is a blessing to be surrounded by such amazing people.  

Labor Day Zoo Trip

The weather today was beautiful! We started off with coffee and muffins on the back porch while Lawson slept in.  Once Lawson woke up, we headed to the zoo.  It was Lawson's first trip to the zoo, so we were excited for him to see to see the animals.  Bekah, Michael and the boys and Matt Lindsay and Owen met up with us.

We started in the petting zoo.  Lawson enjoyed the petting the goats. 

Lawson just ran around loving everything.  He barely sat in his stroller, he was so busy looking at everything. 

I love this picture of him looking at the elephants.  He loves to see elephants in books and make the "elephant" noise.  So we were excited to show him realy elephants.  His expression below says it all. 

Lawson is taking a nap right now and then we are headed to have fajitas at the Carnathans.  This couldn't have been a better day to have off  for Labor Day with the cooler weather and all.