Visit from Great Grandma

Chris' dad and step mom (aka PawPaw and MawMaw) brought Killian and Kiera's Great Grandma Lee to visit us today. Grandma Lee and Aunt Kendra came bearing gifts for all of us. Here are some pictures. Uncle Ryan and Aunt Ronda visited as well.

MawMaw, Kiera and Great Grandma Lee

MawMaw, Kiera and PawPaw

Kiera and Great Grandma Lee

Two Weeks Old

Thanks to a recommendation from my cousin Melanie, Kiera has a new friend - the Fisher Price Seahorse. It does a great job soothing her.
We went to the doctor today for her two week checkup. Unfortunately it seems that breastfeeding is not going as well as I thought. Kiera has not regained her birthweight, so the doctor is having me supplement with an extra ounce at every feeding. We'll go in on Monday for a weight check and see how she is doing then.

The trip to the doctor was our first adventure out together (today was the first day I was "allowed" to drive since delivery). We ran a couple of errands and at our last stop, the lady who parked next to me told me there was a nail in my tire. Well, we were a block from Discount Tire and I had just fed Kiera at the doctor's office, so I went for it. She slept like a little angel while we waited for an hour to get the tire replaced!

Last night Kiera's umbilical cord stump fell off. I put it on the coffee table, but I think Max must have eaten it because it wasn't there in the morning - ha! Yesteday we enjoyed our first walk around the block in our subdivision. I love our stroller - the Graco SnugRider Infant Car Seat Stroller Frame. I use it all the time, no lugging around the pumpkin seat for me!

Happy Valentine's Day

We had a good first week at home. Breastfeeding has certainly been a challenge. I almost gave up, but luckily I had great support from friends, family and especially Chris. I also went to a great new moms group for BFing at the hospital and it was awesome and extrememly helpful.

We have contractors working on remodeling our hall bathroom. Yes - we love to do everything at once. They started the day Kiera was born.

Chris' Aunt Bonnie made this hat for Kiera. Everyone loved it and it makes me laugh. Our friend Kris got Kiera this Valentine's Day onesie.

Our Valentine's cutie

We had a nice Valentine's Day at home with our family of four.

Vistors and Helpers

We had a lot of visitors at the hospital. Unfortunately we didn't get pictures of everyone, but here are a few.

Our friend Susan holding Kiera

Our friend Lynn holding Kiera
Pops meeting Kiera

Our friend Kris holding Kiera

Kiera's Great Aunt Cathy Nonna holding Kiera

Nonna, Pops and Kiera

First family picture!Killian was sick with a fever the weekend we brought Kiera home. He had to stay quarantined to his room. We were blessed to have Nonna and her friend Carrie come over the day after we got home. They cooked all day and made us lots of great meals - lasagna, chicken soup, kielbasa bake. Carrie even brought a delicious Texas sheet cake. Carrie is a nurse and she helped with Killian too. Chris' sister Erin did laundry for us, yay! Our friend Kris made an awesome roast that lasted for 3 dinners.

Homecoming

Today we brought Kiera Elizabeth home. It was a great day, lots of sun and nearly 80 degrees.

Going home outfit

Our neighbors, John & Lisa, decorated our front porch.

Max, our standard poodle, was excited to meet Kiera. He licked her feet.


First nap in her crib.

Welcome Kiera Elizabeth!

I thought it would be appropriate to start our blog with the new addition to our family! Our sweet baby girl was born on Thursday February 5, 2009 at 12:11pm. She weighed 9 lb 4 oz and was 20 inches long.


The Labor Story
My contractions started being regular around 6pm on Wednesday the 4th. We ate a good dinner and tried to get some rest that evening. Around 1am, the contractions were coming every 5 minutes. The doctor said to go to the hospital when they were 5 minutes apart for an hour. So we left for Clear Lake Regional around 2am. We called Donna, Chris' mom, who wanted to be there for the birth and she started driving down from The Woodlands. We checked into the hospital and found out I was 5cm dilated - halfway there. They also said Kiera was ballottable meaning she would float up during my exam instead of being engaged against my cervix. This changed my plans of being able to walk around during labor. They restricted me to the bed because they said until she was engaged, there was a risk of the umbilical cord coming out first.


I made the decision to try to deliver without an epidural. Our nurses were really nice and Chris and Donna were great support. At 7am Dr. Klein arrived to check on me. He said I was 7 to 8cm and he broke my water. I also asked for some non-epidural pain relief at this time and was given Stadol and Phenergan to take the edge off. Really they made me sleepy between contractions and I didn't open my eyes much after that. The last stage of labor from 8cm to 10cm was really rough. I was begging for them to examine me to say it was time to push.


The Delivery
Then the pushing phase started and man, that was harder work than I expected! The nurse kept saying, "you have to push this baby out, we can't do it for you". I think I pushed for about 45 minutes. My contractions slowed down, so there were long pauses of waiting between pushes. It was awesome to be able to feel her progress through the birth canal during that stage. Finally the nurses decided it was time to call Dr. Klein - we could already see/feel her head for goodness sake. Chris didn't think the doctor was going to make it, his office is across the street from the hospital! Dr. K did make it in time and gave me a local anesthetic. Shortly after that she was born! Dr. K said, "Whoa, that's a big baby". She was crying immediately. Then, as he placed her on my chest he said, "Here is your toddler"! I was amazed! She was so beautiful. I think I just kept saying "Wow" over and over. I asked the doctor what he meant by the toddler comment and he said, "your baby is at least 9 pounds". We couldn't believe it!


Chris cut the umbilical cord and then they whisked her away to clean her up and examine her. She scored 9.9 out of 10 on the Apgar score. We were impressed! The doctor stayed to stitch up my 3rd degree tear.


It's cold out here!

Proud Dad!

Proud Mom!