2 months!

Charlotte is 2 months old now! I can't believe it, time has flown by so fast! On Tuesday she had her 2 month doctor's appointment. She apparently doesn't have thrush anymore, just a white tongue which the doc attributed to milk. Hmm. Then why do *I* keep getting it? I've heard you can get it from the pump, but I hope not! It's not like I have an extra few hundred dollars lying around to buy a new one! Anyways, she is perfectly healthy and weighed in at 11 lb 4 oz (about 50th percentile) and get this... 24.5 in long! That's 99th percentile! I always thought she was a long baby, but my goodness. I wonder where she gets that from? Haha.

Yesterday I took her to the ENT doctor to have her tongue tie evaluated. Ever since she was born I had noticed a very noticeable indention in the middle of her tongue. All the doctors, lactation consultants, etc all said it was fine and wouldn't affect nursing. But we have had so many problems with nursing from the very beginning (we're still not nursing, btw... gotta love breast pumps!) I really don't know what else it could be. Anyways, so I had her checked out, and he just basically said go ahead and clip it. So we did! I wasn't really expecting him to do it yesterday. They had to strap her down and she gave him a big smile (poor kid didn't know what was comin') and he clipped it. It wasn't too bad, she cried for a bit, but she was ok. When we got home and I got her out of the car seat, she was smiling at me. :) So we'll see if this helps out at all with the nursing. I attempted to latch her yesterday morning (before the clipping) and she latched right on. (btw, sorry if this is TMI for anyone!) Twice! It was only for a few minutes. But then she fell off and got fussy. Oh well, atleast it's something!

I never would have thought almost 10 WEEKS after my baby was born I'd still be struggling with this stuff. But my baby is worth it. And I'm just plain too stubborn to quit.

Weekend Fun

This weekend we had some company! My best friend, Susan, came down to visit us from Birmingham. We've been friends since 7th grade and I think it's pretty impressive that we still keep in touch as much as we do!

So of course, we took lots of pictures. We took Little Lottie out on the town out to eat and took our stroller for a spin at the mall. That was the first time Lottie has been out in her stroller (well, outside of our neighborhood)! She did pretty well, she liked to look around at all the people walking by and at all the colorful things in the store. She also had plenty of compliments about how such a pretty baby she is! :)

And today my little princess is 8 weeks old! I can't believe it's been 8 weeks since she was born. It seems like I was just pregnant! I don't know if I'm weird, but sometimes I miss being pregnant. I miss feeling her kick and squirm around. And I miss sleeping! Ha. But don't get me wrong, I love cuddling with her and waking up next to her in bed. And I do NOT want to be pregnant any time soon! It was no walk in the park for me and I surely don't miss puking my guts out everyday for 6 months straight.

Anyways, now on to a new week!

For those who have babies or little ones and are interested...... http://www.ezzo.info (yes, the infamous Gary Ezzo of Babywise! Maybe he's not so "wise" afterall....)

auntie em comes to visit!

Today Charlotte and I had a visitor! A good friend of mine, Emily, came to visit us and have lunch. Emily and I go way back (all the way to freshman year lol). We were also in the same sorority. It was fun getting caught up. This was the first time she got to meet little Charlotte, too. Fun times all around! :)

Charlotte was happy about Emily coming!
What a sweet girl! :)

long time no update!!

Sorry about the lack of updates!! Of course, this is going to be one big update! :)

Where to begin?

As of today, Charlotte Rose is 7 weeks and 2 days old! She is getting big! If I had to guess, I'd say she's almost 11 lbs now! I think the last time she was weighed she was 10 lbs, and that was at her 1 month doctor's appt. She's getting so big!!

Just a few updates from since she was born....

The wonderful and lovely people from our church coordinated dinners for us. I cannot even explain how helpful this was and how blessed we felt during this time! It was so amazing not to have to worry about making dinner. I cannot express how grateful we are to have such a wonderful church family.

My mom came down to visit again during Christmas time. It was great having her here. She even watched the baby one night so Thomas and I could go out on a real date! We went to go see "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." Very good, by the way!

In early January, Thomas' mom came down again (she was here the day after Lottie was born with Fred) and spent a weekend with us. It was also great having her here.

Hmm.. And then the next weekend Thomas' aunt and cousin Addie came to visit. We went out to eat and spent some time together and they also watched Charlotte while we had another date night! Woo Hoo!

But I guess the biggest issue that has risen since she was born has been the breastfeeding issue. 7 weeks later, and we are STILL not nursing successfully. I have been basically pumping breastmilk for her ever since (I have a great supply, so PTL for that!) and bottle feeding her. We had latch problems from the beginning. I have tried everything to get the girl to latch, and she just won't. It's extremely painful and shallow. It was really bad the first couple weeks. I cried soo much during that time, I don't even like to think about it! I know I was starting to slip into some post-partum depression because she just wouldn't "get it" and I was just so mad that everyone else seemed to have a great breastfeeding experience, and why I couldn't have it, just bewildered me. I had a horrible pregnancy (constantly sick) and a painfully long labor, and now this! lol. So, needless to stay, we are still working on nursing.... I am almost at the point where I am about to quit, but I think I am too stubborn to! It's just that after I have read so many articles about how much a risk formula feeding is, I feel like every bottle I would give her of formula would be pumping cancer into her!! Ahhhh... This is a whole other blog in itself, can you tell?

Moving on....

Basically Charlotte has just been getting bigger and bigger! She seems to have added a few extra rolls onto her little legs. She also grew 2 inches in a month, so now she is about 23 inches! I'm afraid she is going to be outgrowing some of her 0-3 month clothing pretty soon!

She also started SMILING!! :) She started that at about week 6, which I was so looking forward to. She is so cute when she smiles! It really makes me teary eyed sometimes. I can't believe God has given me this precious little gift. She has also started to make a lot of cute little noises, like little coos and cahs.

Here are a few pics from the last 7 weeks...

Right after babies first sponge bath! What a cutie!


This was taken on Monday 2/2/09, she just loves her little playgym!
There is a little mirror which is what she is looking at.
She just smiles at her reflection. So cute!


This was taken last week. She likes to sit in her bouncy seat as Thomas and I eat dinner. We were trying to get her to smile, and she finally cracked one!


A few weeks ago my dad came down to visit.


This is the picture we used in our birth announcement. Maybe you received one? :)

Those are just a few of the pictures we've taken over the last 7 weeks. She has her 2 month doctor's appt on February 17. I'll be interested to know how much she weighs then! And how long she is! She will be getting vaccinated, which admittedly, I am a little nervous about.... With all this news going on about autism and all that. I'm thinking about having her on an alternate schedule, which is what Dr. Sears suggests. You know, of The Sears Baby Book?

Until next time....

Charlotte Rose is here!!

My little baby girl is finally here! She was born this evening at 6:51pm, 7 lb 10 oz and 21 inches long! Perfectly healthy, came out kicking and screaming, and surprisingly more pink than most babies I've seen born! (You know, all those babies on TLC's "A Baby Story") :) Only 5 hours before her due date!

Here is the delightful story of my horrendous labor!! Ugh!! :)

Like I said in my previous post, my doctor stripped my membranes last Thursday. It is supposed to induce labor and is successful 50% of the time within 48 hours. Well, she was born much later than 48 hrs after it was done, but I had horrible painful contractions all weekend long, so I don't know whether to attribute it to the membrane stripping or umm.. "other methods"... or just it being her time! I don't know.

Yesterday, on Sunday, Thomas and I went to church then went to eat at Olive Garden. Very good by the way! And I was contracting the whole time. Sometimes they were regular, and sometimes not. We go home and I keep timing the contractions, they are anywhere from 5-10 minutes apart. I had to work that night, but at around 4pm, they started getting more regular and wouldn't go away, even while walking, which is what all the baby books says differentiates false and true labor. I get ready to go to work anyways. Actually, I DO go to work, only to be in more pain when I get there. Luckily, I was able to go home because I really though, "This is it!!" which I later proved to right!

Fast forward.... ALLLLL night long I was up and contracting. However, they were only 5-10mins apart, although they got much more intense and painful as time went on. The blasted hospital told me NOT to come in until they were 4-5 mins apart for 2 hours. What?!?! I don't think that'll ever happen!! lol. So... the next morning (after a 3 hr nap, man, I wish I would have slept more!! I didn't because I was afraid I would stop the labor! ha) the contractions tapered off a bit, but came back with a vengeance, that's for sure. Thomas and I took a walk around the neighborhood, which seemed to help get them back to where they were.

Still anywhere from 5-10 mins apart but getting even MORE painful. How frustrating is that??

At about noon, I just couldn't take it anymore. By this point, I have been in labor for 20 HOURS!!! I call the doctor and the nurse tells me to come in and get a labor check, which we do. When I am there, she checks me and I am only 3 cm dilated. Why was I not surprised? But she said since I was in pain, I could check into the hospital.

So we go across the street to the hospital, get checked in, IV'd, monitored, and all that good stuff. Now, up to this point, I was against having an epidural. I really wanted to have a natural labor and delivery, but seeing as how I had gone sooo long with so little progress, and this pain was just about unbearable, I gave in an had an epidural. But now I am not sorry about that at all, because it actually sped everything up.

Got the epi at 2pm, by 3pm I was 4.5cm.

By 5pm I was 8cm.

By 6pm I was 10cm, and ready to push!

It was pretty awkward trying to push when you couldn't feel what you were supposed to push!! Haha. Thomas was there with me and my mom was with me, too. I pushed for about 30 mins, and out she came -- face up!! Haha. No wonder I was having all that back pain!! I tore a little bit so I had to get stitched up from that...

But they put this little pink alien on my chest... Seriously, that's what I thought at first!! lol I don't think I knew WHAT to think! I just couldn't believe this little baby just came out of me. I don't know what I was expecting... haha. But she had a little conehead (which is normal) and she was wiggly and cute as ever! Oh, and so much HAIR!!! Definitely wasn't expecting that one! :)

Of course, then they cleaned her up and gave the little angel back to me....

We tried to breastfeed, but I think she was a little doped up from the epidural, so she didn't latch on very well. We've tried again later when we got settled in the mother/baby room, but she just keeps falling asleep or just won't latch right. Hopefully things will get better.

Of course, I haven't had any sleep, and I'm not expecting to for the next few days. They just brought her back from the nursery in the CUTEST little setup ever!! Since it is close to Christmas time, they brought her out in her bassinet in a huge red stocking, complete with a little white and red hat. SO CUTE!! See for yourself...

So right now we are just getting used to being mommy and daddy! I didn't realize babies eat so often! Every 2-3 hours! Sheesh. That'll take some getting used to. But in the mean time, here are some more pics of the little cutie pie!

Looking up at mommy!



Being assessed! Perfectly healthy, by the way! :)



Resting quietly. In her little candy cane hat!

I'll add a little more once things get settled!! Hopefully I'll be able to update the blog a lot, but if not, you can add me as a friend on facebook, Hilary Hill. That's where our ton of pics will be stored!!! We are so blessed to have this little sweetheart enter our lives. But I realize the adventure has only begun!

The beginning of labor...

So I went to the doctor today for one of my many weekly prenatal visits, and she examined me, and I was only still 1 cm dilated. I've been 1 cm for about 3-4 weeks now. I've been trying to do all the natural ways to induce labor, but no luck so far! :)

She ended up "stripping my membranes," and I'm not going to go into what exactly that entails, if you're really curious, you can google it. Anyways, it hurt like heck, that's for sure!! And ever since then I have had very irregular (and painful!) contractions. I keep hoping that they will "regular up" but so far, no luck. I have to work this weekend on Sunday and through Tuesday night (go figure, working on my due date!). Charlotte is kicking around as usual, so that's good! My doc mentioned being induced soon (and I'm not even at my due date yet, what the...?) which will NOT be an option, I don't care if I go over 2 weeks past the due date. It's not like she's going to stay in there!! lol. I have been reading on the 'Net about stripping membranes and it seems to have a 50/50 success rate and is supposed to induce labor within 48 hours. We'll see how that goes!!

Here is a recent picture of me. 9 months prego, and getting ready to go to work! I can't believe we have made it this far. For some reason I don't feel very "big" though, even though I have gained... umm.. quite a bit of weight, of which I am worried about losing after the baby comes. I'll worry about that later, though!

a blog for little lottie

Hey there! I have decided to make a blog for our little soon-to-be angelface!! We are so excited about little Charlotte Rose getting here. Thomas and I both have family and friends across the country, so I have decided to put together this little blog to show what's going on in Little Lottie's life! I hope to post lots of pictures and little tidbits about what is going on in our lives. I hope to update it quite a bit, but we'll see! I've never been good at keeping up with blogs, but hopefully I'll keep up with this one.

Just for the record...

My email is hilhillrn@gmail.com
Thomas' email is hillthl@auburn.edu

Or you can leave comments on here for us to see!

Enjoy! :)