3 Weeks

Alexa is 3 weeks old now! She's changing every day. We are starting to get more of a routine going and most nights she sleeps a four or even five hour stretch. We hope to keep that going and gradually extend it so ultimately I can get a full nights sleep!

Each day we try to do one activity to get out of the house. Sometimes it's a walk around the neighborhood or a trip to the store. Today we walked around Grand Prairie mall and it was such a beautiful day!

Monday we went to the pediatrician and Alexa was up to 7 1/2 lbs. She is starting to feel much heavier! We started tummy time this week too so she doesn't get 'flat head'. I don't know how effective it is though since she can't really keep her head up and just turns it to the side. She seems to like it though and usually will fall asleep!

Tonight is the first night we're attempting to take her out to a restaurant. Tomorrow she gets to hang out with Brian all by himself for a couple hours while I attend a baby shower for a friend. And on Sunday we're attending a family reunion of mine so she'll get to meet a ton of family members! Busy weekend!

Week 2

I can't believe it's already been 2 weeks since Alexa was born! Time has really flown by. The days go by so fast! The first couple days home were rough but they continue to get better and better. Now that she's getting enough to eat she's a pretty happy baby. She's starting to stay awake longer, which is great because we get to interact with her more! If I could only get her to just do wake time during the day though things would be perfect! She's growing so much too! We can tell her cheeks are really starting to fill out.

We take walks with big brother Oscar almost every day and she really enjoys it or at least I assume she does since she's sound asleep! We took our first adventure to Wal-Mart on Wednesday last week. She slept the whole time except once I got to the check-out lane. We probably would have been able to make it out of there without her waking up but I picked the wrong line and ended up having to wait in line for about 10 minutes! She still did pretty good though and didn't fuss very much. We also stopped by my work and Brian's work on Thursday. She did great at both! I think maybe this weekend or next week we'll see how she does at a restaurant. It's crazy how in just a matter of weeks your life changes so much and you look forward to simple accomplishments like successfully making it through the grocery store or a dinner without fussing!

Pictures

Here's some pics from Alexa's first week. Her sleepy face is what we see most often, but occasionally we get to see her with her eyes open.

I ordered this sling and I love it! It has so many different positions you can put her in. I'm going to try taking her for a walk tomorrow in it.

Johannah and Alexa are going to be best friends once Alexa grows a little!

Brian loves holding her!

Bath Time

We gave Alexa her first bath on Monday and she absolutely loved it! She had been fussy all morning but we decided to give her a bath and see how it went. As soon as she felt the water she was so bright-eyed and calm. We gave her another bath on Wednesday and she still loved it. We're hoping that continues!

Meeting Oscar

When we got home on Saturday it was finally time for Alexa to meet her big brother Oscar. I came in first and greeted Oscar and then Brian brought in Alexa. At first he was scared of her (probably didn't help that I accidentally said "What is that", which as many of you know causes Oscar to start barking!). But after a few minutes he warmed up to her and wanted to sniff her. Now he seems to really like her and wants to be next to her all the time. It's so cute!

Alexa's Arrival

Alexa Nicole Fisher
7/9/09 at 4:46am
6lbs 1 oz
19 inches



Well it turns out I was right about those contractions! Brian and I didn't get to have our anniversary dinner afterall. As the day went on Wednesday my contractions ended up getting closer and closer together. By the time Brian got home from work they were about 5 minutes apart, but they were only lasting 35 to 45 seconds. I was thinking I wasn't really in labor because although I was having the contractions they really weren't painful. I decided to give my doctor a call anyways. She told me to go ahead and go to the hospital to have them check me out. Of course, after I got off the phone with my doctor the contractions were further apart so I felt dumb for even calling her! Brian said we should still go to the hospital anyways so off we went. This was at about 7:30 or 8pm. The whole way to the hospital I kept thinking how embarrassed I was going to be when they send me home. We pulled up to the hospital and Brian was going to drop me off at the emergency room but since I already felt silly about going I insisted he park in the garage and I'd walk myself in. We walked up to the labor and delivery floor (which I now realize was quite a long walk!). I'm pretty sure the nurses didn't believe I was actually in labor either. In fact when we were in the triage room they were saying that they'd probably have me walk around and may even send me home. But then they checked my dilation and to their surprise and mine I was already at 5 or 6cm! They couldn't believe it and of course admitted me right away.

We finally got settled in the labor and delivery room around 9:30pm. Since I was already dilated so much they thought I should go ahead and get the epidural. The contractions weren't really that bad and I was considering not even getting the epidural, but I was afraid they would probably get much worse. So I went ahead and got it around 10:30pm. Not much happened between 10:30pm and 2:30am. Around 2:30am they were monitoring Alexa's heartbeat and they noticed it would slow down everytime I had a contraction. This worried them as they were afraid she might have the cord wrapped around her. They continued to monitor it for a little bit and the nurse said if it didn't get better they might have to do a c-section. I started praying that wouldn't be the case.

Around 3:15am they checked my cervix again and I was fully dilated and ready to push. This was the hardest part but it still wasn't that bad. I pushed for about an hour and 15 minutes and then finally she made her debut at 4:46am! They put her on my chest right away and it was the most amazing feeling of excitement, relief, and happiness. Then they took her to the side to clean her and check her. That's what the video is.

She was breathing faster than normal and also had a slight temperature so they decided they needed to take her to the nursery for observation. Unfortunately I didn't get to hold her again for another 5 hours. That was extremely hard for me. Brian was able to see her in the nursery though and give me updates on how she was doing. Eventually she began breathing normally and they brought her in to see us.

We spent the next couple of days in the hospital and were released on Saturday morning. The nights in the hospital were pretty rough as Alexa wasn't sleeping much, which meant I wasn't either! Once we got home it was even worse. My milk hadn't come in yet so she wasn't getting enough to eat and she was not happy about it! Things are slowly starting to get better though and it will only continue to get better I'm sure. We are enjoying every minute of it though despite the lack of sleep. Brian has been such a good Daddy changing diapers, burping her, and being my gopher :-) We love her so much already and can just stare at her all day long! It was definitely worth every pain that pregnancy and labor brought!

Waiting

Monday was the official beginning of my maternity leave. With work out of the way, I am definitely ready to have this baby! There's not much left to do around the house other than tidy up a bit. I've managed to keep myself busy over the last couple of days though.

I don't want to get my hopes up, but I'm sort of feeling like we might have this baby tonight or at least within the next couple of days. I started having contractions last night after going to bed. They weren't regular but as the night went on they became more regular and I've been getting them every 10 to 20 minutes. I've also had some of the other labor symptoms they talk about (i.e. 'the show'). Everything I've read though indicates it still could be days after this. I sure hope not! These contractions are already pretty painful. It feels like really bad cramps and it's mostly in my lower back. They aren't lasting for very long at this point though so I still just have to wait it out.

Tomorrow is me and Brian's 4 year anniversary. So since Alexa might decide to come tonight or tomorrow, we're going out for dinner tonight. It might be our last night out for a long time! I just hope I can make it through dinner with these contractions!