The Crib (or 'My ticket to fleeting moments of freedom')

 This weekend there were a number of landmarks reached in Esme's life.

First, she turned three months old on Friday! Wow! Where does the time go?

Then (the big news) on Saturday, Esme moved into her own room and started sleeping in her crib.

No more bassinet in our room. Hopefully this will help us reach the milestone of Esme sleeping through the night. She still needs to wake up for at least one feed but is getting longer and longer sleeps in. Her record so far has been 6.5 hours of continuous sleep. Great, right? Unfortunately that was 8pm to 2:30am.

Last night's schedule felt great to me:

 7:00pm-8:00pm : sleeping
 8:00pm-9:15pm: woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep without a fight (not so great)
 9:15pm: ate again
 9:35pm: finally asleep again
 2:00 am:  quick feed then back to sleep by 2:20am
 6:00 am:  quick feed and into my bed for more sleep
 9:00am: awake for the day

Great because she got 12 hours sleep and I got two sections of sleep that were 4-5 hours long.

Having naps in the crib also means that she is not always in my arms. Much as I love holding her, I do need to use the washroom and eat periodically which is very hard to do if you are trying not to disturb the sleeping baby in your arms.

Today I was able to shower and get fully dressed during her first nap (yay! that's a small miracle) and eat lunch, open the mail and load pictures on the computer during her second nap (also yay! another miracle).

It may not seem like much but after 3 months of restriction, this feels like the ultimate luxury; brief times during my day when i can actually try to accomplish little things. Don't judge me, I'm sure there are super moms out there who had it all together and were getting stuff done while baby was still 2 weeks old. I'm just enjoying a new phase which is moving towards good sleeps for Esme and small freedoms for me :)

In other news, Esme's getting to be a pro at holding her head up. She does this pose during tummy time that gives me a glimpse of what she'll look like when she's sixteen and lying on her bed doing homework :)

She also has made some attempts at crawling. The arms and legs weren't really in unison but with her legs going great guns and her nose down she managed to move quite a ways.

Laughing out loud is becoming a regular occurrence as Esme is ticklish and easily amused. Loads of fun to tickle her and get her laughing.

Esme likes sitting in her high chair while we eat.

Dangling in the exersaucer is tons of fun, but there is so much to look at she can't help going cross-eyed.

Playing 'airplane' with Daddy is fun too.

And Esme loves to brush her teeth.

Getting to be a big girl, our pretty Esme :)

A Birth Story

Well maybe not a detailed story but a birth timeline (better late than never):

February 20th, 2010

5:40pm - Water breaks at home while working on a computer project

5:45pm - Call Labour room at Kelowna General Hospital to inform them water has probably broken and we are coming in

6:10pm - Arrive at Kelowna General Hospital, already 2 cm dilated

6:30pm - Contractions begin, nurse starts IV with antibiotics for Group B Strep

7:30pm - Early labour (more intense contractions) begin

10:00pm - More intense labour, try nitrous oxide, hot shower, exercise ball, massage etc.. for dealing with labour pain.

February 21st, 2010

3:15am - Only 4-5cm dilated after hours of intense labour, try fentanyl to give relief from labour pain

8:00am - Still only 4-5cm dilated, doctor says I should get an epidural to see if it will relax things enough to dilate fully, it helps with the pain even though I'm not totally numbed and I'm still able to feel the contractions

9:30am - Doctor orders oxytocin to speed up dilation, because I've been in labour for too long after water is broken

11:45am - Fully dilated and they tell me not to push but to rest for pushing later

2:45pm - Nurse arbitrarily decides it is now time to push, epidural meds get turned down at my request and I feel the pain of labour and contractions greatly again, start pushing

4:45pm - Still pushing, baby's heart rate is decelerating and there is concern for her safety, obstetrician called and uses forceps to deliver baby

4:54pm - Just under 24 hours after starting labour, Esme Michelle is born.

She has a fever and they are not sure if it is due to prolonged labour, the fact that I had a cold and was hot throughout labour or the Group B Strep. Esme is rushed to the NICU where they draw blood for cultures and they start an IV of antibiotics to prevent life threatening infections in case it is because of the Group B Strep (like meningitis).

6:30pm - I am finally stitched up, cleaned up and wheeled to the NICU to get to really see Esme. Family members are allowed in one at a time to visit her with us.

We spend another 48 hours in the hospital waiting for the results of Esme's blood cultures while she continues to receive IV antibiotics. (Her fever cleared up within the first few hours in the NICU.) Finally the blood work comes back completely clean and we are allowed to take our baby girl out of the nursery to the ward but after coming off the IV she gets jaundice and they make us stay another night in the hospital to see what her blood work says in the morning. Finally at noon on the 24th of February we are allowed to take our sweet baby home.

Yahoo!

Esme's here!

This post is long overdue. Esme is here and almost 3 months old already. It's hard to believe how time flies and how quickly babies grow.

Every day is something new with Esme.

Last week she discovered her hands and would end up going cross-eyed over and over as she rediscovered these amazing treasures that just happened to pass into her range of vision.

She first rolled over when she was 4 weeks old but has recently been mastering the art and has become an ambi-turner (meaning she can turn in both directions when starting from tummy time) where before she could only turn to the right.

Esme is a smiler. After a good sleep and a good feed, she'll spend 45 minutes talking, cooing, smiling and laughing at anyone willing to play with her. Any more than an hour though and we have a sleepy, grumpy baby on our hands.

She loves people and being held. It's starting to become a problem because she sleeps best when she is being held and cuddled. Soon she'll have to transition from the bassinet into her big crib and learn to nap without comforting arms supporting her.

Bumbo seats and exersaucers are just around the corner for this little girl, whose constant motion is helping her to gain head control. She pretty much supports her head on her own and loves to hold it up and look around at everything and anything.

We love our precious Esme Michelle and there is nothing quite as rewarding as having her smile and laugh directly at us. (It's even endearing when doing a 2:30am diaper change, makes it hard to resent the sleep disturbance.)