This Unfamiliar Road

And just like that..our little Eliza Cate is one month old. Time is, as usual, flying by. I am really trying to stop and cherish each little moment with her!


 Eating: About every 3 hours, but we still have random days of growth spurts where Bean is hungry constantly. The longest stretch has been 5.5 hours.

Sleeping: Oh yeah...this is what it's like to have a newborn again! It seems that Eliza has more digestive issues than Peyton did (spitting up, gas) so each night, I am up with her for about 45 minutes feeding/burping/settling. On "bad" nights, she sleeps for about 30 minutes then begins grunting, then wakes herself up. And the whole process begins again!
Her longest stretch of sleep is typically early night (~8pm) when she might go 5-6 hours! So, if I want to take advantage of it, it's an 8pm bedtime for me too. No shame here! As exhausting as this is, I know too soon that she will be walking and talking and not interested in cuddling.

Skills: Focusing on something, and starting to track! She's advanced ; )
I am convinced she smiled at me...then she passed gas. I'll keep trying!


Happy Times: Pretty much all the time! She is a content baby who loves to sit and observe. I call her "quietly curious".

Unhappy Times: She fusses when she's hungry and sleepy. And grunts when she's gassy or trying to break out of her swaddle!

Stats: 10 lbs, 2 oz (up 2 pounds in 2 weeks!); Wearing newborn and some 0-3 month clothing


Eliza Bean,
You are such a wonderful addition to our family! I am really enjoying getting to know you, and I'm eager to see your little personality begin to blossom. It's precious to see how much Peyton adores you, and I can already tell you love her. Thank you thank you for being such a good baby thus far...let's keep it up, ok?
We love you bunches!

As if our fall season hasn't been busy enough, we come to the most fun day of the month...Halloween!

Each year, Halloween becomes more and more fun. This year, we really enjoyed making our costumes and spending the evening with family and friends.
I began brainstorming costumes back in August...knowing we would have an infant that I would want to carry in the Moby. We love dressing as a family, and hope to continue this tradition for as long as possible!







As much as I try, I am not a very crafty person...but I was pretty proud of these costumes! Ben and I were graham crackers, Peyton was the marshmallow with fire underneath, and Eliza was wrapped up in the Moby as our Hershey bar.
The weather was perfect, and Peyton was so excited to go trick or treating! She actually 'got it' this year, and eagerly ran up to neighbors' doors.

I am already brainstorming for next year's costumes...ideas?

...ya know, like the fair, pumpkins, hay rides, and football!
Basically, a photo dump of the past 4 weeks!

Before Eliza was born, Ben and I knew we wanted to plan an outing to the fair with just Mommy, Daddy & Peyton. The timing was perfect (about 2 weeks after baby sister arrived) and it was great to get out of the house and spend some one on one time with our big girl. I'm so glad we did because for the past few weeks, it is all Peyton talks about.

It's 9:30am...

-I am showered and dressed
-Peyton is dressed
-Eliza is dressed (and asleep!)
-I made a healthy breakfast this morning
-Laundry is in the washing machine
-Dishes are clean

My house needs to be vacuumed, mopped, dusted...well, a really good deep clean. There is kid and baby STUFF all over the house. Things are not perfect...but it's these small victories of my morning that make me confident in my ability as a parent to 2 children.

Rather than worry about keeping up with everything, I am enjoying my day-to-day with my precious girls and my small victories.

This is the story of how our precious daughter entered the world!

At my 40-week check up, we scheduled a cervidil induction for Saturday, Sept 27. Cervidil is a prostaglandin placed near the cervix to help it soften and dilate. The plan for cervidil inductions is to insert it and let it work overnight (about 10-12 hours) then remove it and begin Pitocin to induce or augment contractions. Since this was my second baby, my OB recommended I check in to the hospital later (to give us a chance to put Peyton to bed!) and place the cervidil around 10pm.

So, after several days of long walks, eating pineapple, and rocking on a yoga ball...I realized this baby was not coming on his (her) own. I was super nervous about the induction, but spent the day on Saturday enjoying our time together as a family of 3 and my last day of pregnancy.

We checked into the hospital around 8pm, and I was SO happy to have one of my former coworkers (who now works L&D) admit me. She really put my mind at ease about the induction, and we both joked that maybe the cervidil would put me into labor and I wouldn't need the Pitocin :)


The cervidil was placed around 9:40pm, the monitors were on, and I settled in for a night of rest. Yeah. Right.

My L&D nurse came in about an hour later, and said "Are you feeling those contractions? You are in a good pattern." Yeah, I was feeling them. Not bad but definitely not conducive to a restful night.

Around 2:30am, the contractions really kicked in. I continued to change positions, empty my bladder, and grip the bed rail for dear life ;) After an hour of that, I finally asked for pain meds, which barely took the edge off. Looking back, I don't think my monitor was picking up the strength of my contractions because I was definitely in active labor with strong contractions!
We finally decided to pull the cervidil at 5:30am, allowing me a chance to "get up and shower if you want". No way...I had 7 contractions while brushing my teeth! Time for that epidural :)

At 9:00am, the midwife checked me: 8cm, but Bean was still high in the pelvis. She broke my water and walked out of the room. I immediately felt pressure to push, and asked my nurse to check me: completely dilated and head fully engaged.
After 8 minutes of pushing, our sweet GIRL entered the world at 9:38am. (No Pitocin needed!!)


We learned that the cord was wrapped around her neck two times, which is probably why she never descended into the pelvis until the end!
We also later found out that Eliza had a broken clavicle. I am pretty certain this occurred in the descent, not the delivery. Going from 8cm to complete almost immediately...I think she came in for a crash landing!



  There really isn't any 'treatment' for a newborn broken clavicle besides a sling for comfort. Eliza certainly never showed any signs of discomfort!


The big question: "Were you surprised it was a girl?" Honestly, I was slightly surprised but not as SHOCKED as Ben was :)

After I got settled into my postpartum room, Ben brought Peyton for a visit. Oh she was SO excited to meet the baby, and continues to be infatuated with her little sister.




One of my coworkers and dear friends offered to take some newborn photos before we went home! Here are some of my favorites:







 My recovery has been easy, thankfully! I feel great, although a little tired of course. Eliza has been a good baby, waking to eat about every 3 hours. So far, her personality seems to be "quietly curious".