more lulu pics

Here's Wade and Kevin in the pool. It's one of Wade's favorite things to do. And here's Luce in the little outfit that I wore home from the hospital (as a baby, not home from delivering her...). Things have been going swimingly. She is still sleeping and eating really well. She has had a stuffy nose that she caught from Wade (how nice of him to share). Fortunatly, saline drops and a bulb syringe have been doing a nice job of clearing her up enough to eat. The bath was her first - she was not happy to be a part of it. Now that her cord is off, at least her bathing happens faster. In other news, Wade's big boy room is slowly coming together. Kevin just installed a guard rail on Wade's toddler bed, effectively making it nearly impossible for Wade to fall out of bed. Wade is excited about the play rug we got for him - so much so that he was peeved at me when I set Lucy down on it. ("no mommy, that's MY mat.") We also installed night lights in the new room and on the way upstairs. We are going to try letting Wade sleep in the room for the first time tonight. I have my doubts about how well it will go...we'll see. More to come - maybe a recipe...if you're lucky.

Baby update!

Lucy is just over a week old now, and I finally have time to put up a quick post about how labor/delivery went and how our first days together have been.

I went into labor on Friday at around 9:30pm - although I didn't really know that was the start of things until later that night. My contractions were light, but just regular enough that I had Kevin pack up the last remaining things for the "hospital bag." Good thing we did that, because at around 1:30am, I woke up to some strong contractions and we practically ran out the door. Elsa was staying with us, so luckily we didn't have to worry about who would watch Wade (I can't imagine having to delay that epidural any longer!).

We got to St. John's by 2:20, and as Kevin wheeled me up to the nurses station, (we made one wrong turn, as our "tour" of L&D was supposed to be the following morning) I informed them that I was in labor and would like my epidural asap. By 2:30, I had about 4 nurses swarming my room to get my info and start my IV line. I think I must have asked for that epidural about 5 or 6 times, but I wasn't particularly worried about being a nag. I finally got it by around 3:15, and after 3 tries, it was working like a charm.

The rest was super super easy! Kevin and I hung out and the nurse checked me every so often. A little before 6:00am, the baby's stats changed, so the nurse checked me and said that I was ready to push. Then, she rolled me onto my side and told me not to laugh, sneeze or cough until the doctor arrived (I probably waited about 15 minutes before she got there.) As soon as that happened, the legs went into the leg-holdy things and I got to push through 2 contractions. Quick as that, Lucy was out and on my chest while they cleaned and suctioned her. I couldn't even believe how fast it all was - especially after the loooooong induced labor I had with Wade.

Kevin and I got to the postnatal room right in time for the nurses to whisk Lucy off to the nursery to get bathed and warmed up, so we ordered breakfast. It was like we were on a date! We had lots of visitors in the hospital - my parents came down from Chicago, Elsa brought Wade by, and Megan and Eddie came into town to meet Lucy. All of our local family and lots of our friends were also able to make it over to see our new baby girl. Anyhow, we feel so blessed and happy to have her and for her to have such a wonderful welcome from everyone.

Elsa was here to help out for Lucy's first week at home, and now my mom is in town for this next week. I am so grateful for the extra sets of hands - especially to help play with Wade. Lucy has been a dream baby. I never even realized how difficult Wade was until she came along and has proven herself to be the anti-Wade. All she does is eat, sleep and poop. I used to think the phrase "sleeping like a baby" was highly misused, since by Wade standards, that would mean sleeping lightly in short intervals. Now I know that it can really mean sleeping soundly through anything for long amounts of time! I LOVE IT!

Anyhow, here are some of the pictures I have uploaded to the computer. There are more to come, and I will post a slideshow soon, but these are it for now!