Oh have we been busy!

I just feel terrible for not posting as often as I'm sure all of you would like but getting used to being a mom is taking a lot longer than I thought. Finding time to sit and write is VERY hard! Life was blissful after the first few days, but man, after two weeks of not sleeping bliss is far fetched.

Last I posted Emma was doing fairly well breastfeeding. Well, every day is different and I'll agree with my best friend Nikki that it's one of, if not the hardest thing I have ever done. I cry a lot and wonder if I'll ever feel normal and not want to scream when she latches on. Poor thing has no idea how much it hurts me, she just sits there and sucks away! I've been to three lactation consultants and finally feel confident that I am doing it right, it's just going to take time to heal I guess. The good news is she's gaining weight like a champ and the doctor's are very pleased with her progress.

We went to the pediatrician last week for her two week appointment and learned she's in the 25th percentile for weight and 50th percentile for length. Now if we could only get her in the 100th percentile for sleep we'd be good to go!

So about this thing we call sleep. I don't think I even know what it is anymore. Emma has her days and nights mixed up and I'm not very good at taking naps like I should. How can I when I have work to do, a house to clean and people to see and talk to! We're experimenting with her feedings and awake time so hopefully soon we'll see a few restful hours. I knew it was going to be bad but geez!

Big news... we actually went out to dinner last night! Emma was amazing and Dave and I were so happy to be out of the house. We went to Cafe Asia, our favorite restaurant. It was so yummy! I even had a martini! I know, but the small things are just so dang exciting!

Well miss fuss is acting like she's hungry again so I am going to post some recent pics and get outta here. I cant promise I'll post soon, but I sure am going to try!

She's here and beautiful!!!!

I bet you're wondering what took me so long. Well, mommyhood is pretty darn time consuming and finding just a few minutes to sit down and post has proven to be difficult. But, if I've learned anything in the last week it's to be patient and forgive yourself.

I promised the birth story so here goes...

We went in Friday morning (8th) for the induction at 7:30. By 8am my doctor administered Cervidel, which is a gel to help dialate the cervix. She also broke my water and started mechanical dialation, a bag of fluid placed above the cervix that pulls down and helps things move along. Contractions started almost immediately. They were 4 minutes apart and pretty strong. We walked the halls and tried to stay on top of them but it wasn't easy. Poor Dave, he didn't know what to do.

By 12:30 my doctor wanted to start Pitocin and break my water. I asked for the epidural but the doc said she didn't think my pain was enough. (yeah right!) She just so happened to come in between contractions!!!! I was not happy but couldn't really argue. By 4pm I was 4cm and 50% efaced. Contractions we about 2 minutes apart and my doc finally ordered the epi. Man what a relief, I thought I was going to die!

The next few hours I got to hang out with my family that drove in from Michigan. Little did I know that it was the lul before the storm. My doctor came in around 6 and checked me, I was 9cm and 100%, almost ready to push. The nurse told me I had had 8 contractions in a 10 minute period! She asked if I could feel down there and couldn't so they took me off the epidural - that's when it all started. Within minutes the drugs started wearing off and I was having contractions through the roof almost every minute! 15 minutes later I started to push, drug free!!!! I pushed for 2 hours and even after two shots of lidocain (sp?) I could feel everything! I gave up. I was so tired and just didn't have it in me anymore. My doctor said she would try the vacuum, but if it didn't work they'd have to do a c-section. At that point, I could have cared less, I was in so much pain it didn't matter and it didn't seem like she was coming out naturally, no matter what I did. So, out came the vacuum. 6 pushes later at 8:34pm miss Emma was born. She was 19" long and weighed 6lbs. 10oz. My doctor said that if she was a half pound bigger she wouldn't have been able to be born vaginally.

I am very thankful that I didn't have to have a c-section, but I do have a third degree tear and a sulcus, which I was told was an internal tear on the vaginal wall. I am still very sore, even after 7 days, and cannot wait to be able to walk normal again!!!!

Emma is a great baby. She rarely cries, only when she's cold or being probed by the doctor. She does have GERD (reflux) which makes her hiccup and sneeze all the time, but I'll take it over anything more serious.

She took to breastfeeding right away but I wasn't doing it right and now have cracked and bleeding nipples. Every time I nursed I felt like crying it hurt so bad. I finally went in to see a LC nurse this morning and let me tell you, it's a whole new ballgame now.

Nights are pretty good. The first night was HORRIBLE, but we expected it. She woke up every hour and we had a really tough time. The following two nights were awesome in comparison, feeding every three hours. The third night was bad also, cluster feeding every hour for 6 hours, but last night made up for it, she slept for 5 hours straight!!!! Dav and I couldn't help but check to see if she was breathing! I'm hoping tonight is as good, it felt amazing to wake up slightly rested!

I'll post more later, but time is a valuable commodity these days and I need some couch time. Just know we are totally in love and can't wait to share her with the world. We've been advised to keep visitors away for 6 weeks because of flu season and RSV so as much as we would love to introduce her to everyone we need to hold off. I hope you all understand.

Here are some pics of your beautiful baby girl, miss Emma St. Clair Simpson

It's my due date!!!!

Hi everyone! I wanted to post over the weekend but decided to wait until today to fill you all in on what's been going on.

First, Cooper had surgery and is recovering very well. He has a 4" incision on his neck and a drain to drain out all the fluid build up. He has to wear a sock-like bandage on his neck to hold the gauze in place and absolutely HATES it! He shakes his head and the bandage falls off and the tube just flops around, it's really annoying to have to put the dang thing back on every half hour or so. But, good news is, he gets the drain out tomorrow and will only have to wear an e-collar for another week. We were giving him pain medicine but he was acting really weird. We decided to stop giving it to him and so far so good. He sure is a trooper.


On to what you all are dying to know I'm sure... sorry but no Emma yet. Today is 40 weeks but the doctor says my cervix is still very tight and closed up. She's way too comfortable in there. So, we've scheduled to be induced this Friday at 7am if she doesn't show her little face before that. We're pretty excited... just can't believe we will have her here in a few short days.

We do have a concern that I will have to have a c-section. My doctor told me that if I don't start effacing or dialating that there is a 40% chance I will have to have a c-section. So, in order to speed things up she recommends lots of walks and 4 pills of Evening Primrose Oil per day. It's supposed to help move things along. Send some good vibes that this little girl starts making progress, I really don't want a c-section!

We had a pretty eventful weekend... we put in the cabinets!!! It's so much different in the kitchen now. We still don't have countertops on the new parts, but we're planning to do an ebony stained wood until we can afford more granite. We also still need to get the new microwave for over the stove but that will come in time. Dave is going to be working this week on the electrical, water line and duct work, he's not looking forward to it but it needs to be done and we're running out of time! Here are some pics...



And, here's the official 40 week picture, taken this morning. I've only gained 25.5 lbs and am soooooo excited about it! Hopefully they will fly off when I have her and start breastfeeding. :) Thanks mom for the good genes!


I'm feeling pretty good aside from having a hard time getting around. I have lots of pelvic pain and have been having some contractions. They haven't been bad but they do happen and it makes me feel like I have to pee every time. Getting through a tv show these days without a trip to the bathroom is quite difficult! I think on average I get up about 5 times per night too, so that's fun. And, I officially now only fit into three shirts and have taken to stealing clothes from Dave. It's a good thing I don't have to go out every day, I think I'd have to wear the same outfit over and over again!

Work is under control, finally, and I feel ready. After today it should be smooth sailing until Friday. Yay!

Well, I'll post later this week if there's any change, but maybe, just maybe, the next post will be with pictures of our new little girl!!! Send love and prayers out way! I can't wait to meet her!