Sweet baby girl

My Michelle singing and playing ponies

Smiles! and other updates on kiddos

Marissa is 8 weeks today, and will be 2 months on Saturday, which also happens to be her grandpa's birthday. About a week and a half ago, we started seeing real big responsive smiles from her. :) Here is a picture.


 
We are really enjoying her smiles; definitely makes up for the lost sleep. Matthew claims that Marissa now knows how to smile because he is the one who taught her how.  I love watching how the older ones are interacting with their baby sister.
 
Both the big kids are doing very well at school.  Matthew is making straight A's on his report card, and no longer is in resource, so spending all day in the regular first grade classroom!  Michelle has mastered writing her name, is getting pretty good with scissors, and is better learning to listen and obey her teachers. It still is interesting getting all 3 ready to go somewhere and behave nicely while there, so when they do, they get loads of praise.  Typical in church is Matthew making Star Wars noises to go with whatever scene is in his imagination at the time, Michelle singing loudly with the hymns (the ponies singing) and then saying to her ponies, "That was some nice singing!" in a loud voice, and Marissa after nursing letting out a big burp.  At least life is never boring with my crew.
 
At 7 weeks (last week), Marissa had a doctor's appointment, and is now 9 lb 8 oz and 21.5 inches.  She had to get 3 shots too which were not fun, but some mama milk afterwards helped out with that.  She is getting stronger too...holding her head up better and supporting weight somewhat with arms and legs.  We get a lot of comments on how alert and focused she seems as well.  She loves looking up at lights and fans and people's faces.  I have noticed too that she starts out with a mild fussy cry, but can really let you know that she is not happy and is hungry if you can't get to her right away.  She is just a sweet baby and we love her very much.

Life with a new baby

Marissa will be 4 weeks tomorrow!  Not sure what she weighs at this point (8 or 9 lb?), but definitely we are getting lots of milk in and pee and poop out. Her nickname for now is "Squeaky" as she makes a lot of those sweet baby squeaky sounds. :) She is so snuggly and just plain cute if I do say so myself. ;) We are cosleeping for now (I do have a pack n play w/ bassinet insert set up in my room, but mainly am using it now for diaper changes/safe place to set her down) as that gets her and mama the best sleep. She is up about twice a night to nurse. The biggest challenge for me lately is trying to make sure I can get enough into her right before we have to get in the car to take the older siblings where they need to go (preschool, plus after school activities). I just hate it when we get in the car and she is crying because she is hungry, but there is nothing I can do at that moment. :( But, I do feel it is quite an accomplishment to get 3 kids into carseats all across the backseat and get someplace on time! :) It does help that my older two are 7 and 4.5 and can mostly get themselves in and out, although I still have to hold hands and remind them not to just run off in a parking lot.

I THINK my bleeding may have FINALLY stopped (hooray!) which hopefully means I get a nice long break from that (PPAF came at 15+ months with the other 2). Stupid hemmorhoids are still bugging me too, and seems like those make it a bit harder to do #2 (sorry, TMI). I have some hydrocortisone cream from the hospital I am using, so hopefully that will go down soon. Plus, I am upping the fiber in my diet (raisin bran every morning!) to help too.

So far, so good on PPD. I had that with both of my first two (actually just a worsening of my clinical depression that I have all the time), but this time I am under care of a psychiatrist who is managing my meds so we seem to have found a good dose for me.
 
Marissa has already been exposed to a lot of sickness since she has been here.  Chris were both still gettting over colds when I went into labor, both kids (and my parents and sister and brother who came to visit) got some awful stomach bug with throwup/diarrhea/fever right after we got home from the hospital, and since then there have been more colds, including one Michelle has now and I think Marissa got a bit of.  Thank God she did not have that stomach bug though!  Another good reason to breastfeed!
 
Nursing is going well....she lost some weight after birth (was 6 1b 10 oz Friday at the ped's office after she was born), but by 1 week was gaining again (6 lb, 15 oz at 1 week).  I have not officially weighed her since, but my guess is that she is 8 or 9 lb now.  She is definitely making a lot of diapers for us to change!  We go for her next checkup on St. Patrick's Day. 
 
Big brother and sister are doing okay with adjusting, but are having a couple of issues.  Both have acted up a bit at school, I am getting a lot of "help me", "hold me", "I need a hug", etc. from them, and Monday night Michelle made a turd in the bathtub.  Gross!  But both are very loving toward their baby sister, almost TOO much...Michelle wants to hug her and ends up kind of laying on her.  But we are getting there, and Marissa is definitely a wonderful addition to our family. :) 
 
A few pictures:

Sisters:

She's here!

Marissa Evelyn Kapraun was born 1/27/2010 at 7:00 AM on the dot. She was 7 lb 4 oz and 19.25 inches.




Tuesday I had my appointment and got a membrane sweep done. Came home and felt some cramping which started turning to contractions by afternoon, and they were about 10ish minutes apart by evening so we called the midwives and decided to head to the hospital. Got there, still at 3 cm, so we walked around for 2 hours till they were about a minute apart. Got checked again and was still 3 cm and contractions slowed WAY down. The midwife gave us the option to go home and see if things start up again, or get a room and rest and see if things picked up again in the morning. It was getting closer to midnight so we decided to stay the night since our big two kiddos were already staying at our neighbor's house anyway and given how fast things went with the other two. Good thing we did! I slept about 2 hours, went to the restroom about 2:30 and never really got back to sleep. At 3:10 I felt a pop and gush and my water had broken. For the next 2 hours I labored sitting in a rocking chair just dealing with contractions getting more and more close together and intense. Then about 5:30 I was checked again and was about 5 cm. After a few more contractions, I was at a stretchy 9 cm and very soon after that my body was pushing whether I wanted it to or not. It took about 4-5 pushes and she was OUT! Right at 7:00 AM. She had the cord around her neck so the midwife cut it and took her over to get her started breathing. She just kind of went "eh!" and started breathing, no loud cry. I had a couple of small tears, but no stitches required. But now I can say I have had three natural vaginal births without drugs too! :) She has a lot of red hair, blue eyes, and is a gorgeous baby if I do say so myself. ;) She latched on like a pro right away and is nursing well. We took her to the ped this morning for a weight check and exam and is down to 6 lb 10 oz, but I think my full milk is starting to come in so she should gain some again soon.



What sucks is Chris and I both have had colds since last Friday (just in time for going into labor, fun, fun, fun!!!). Chris brought Matthew and Michelle on Wednesday to see Marissa at the hospital, and then Thursday morning Matthew wakes up puking and running a fever (which he still has). My parents and sister are visiting, and now today my mom is feeling kind of rotten. Michelle is okay so far and went to preschool today. So now I am just hoping all those antibodies in my milk work so Marissa does not get any of this crud!



Here are some pictures.

Me on Monday (2 days before she was born):

Beautiful baby girl:



Big brother and sister meeting her:




Proud daddy:
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Marissa and mommy:


Marissa and grandpa:


Marrissa and Aunt Karen:

39 week checkup

Had my checkup this morning.  Sunday we had issues with the car overheating (radiator fan relay or something like that), and thought it was fixed, but it was overheating again on the way to my appointment.  So due to stress from that, my blood pressure was up (158/88).  I got a cervical check at 1.5 cm, then she decided to do a membrane sweep due to the high bp reading and the fact that I am due in just 4 more days, and then felt me at a stretchy 2-3 cm and 70% effaced.  I had another bp reading and this time was 128/82, so much better.  I am supposed to go back Friday for another checkup and bp reading if I don't have her before then.  Been feeling crampy and a few contractions since the membrane sweep, but nothing spectacular yet.  Good news is that my sister is coming tomorrow evening to stay for the weekend and hopefully see the baby.  Looking forward to it!

39 weeks

Man, I have not posted in a LONG time.  I have been neglecting things here lately.  We are doing well, and I am now at 39w3d pregnant.  Ready to have her whenever she wants to come out!!!  Right now though I am dealing with a cold which is no fun.  I have lost a few pounds and a little of my mucus plug, so I think I am getting close, but no regular contractions yet.  I have an appointment this morning, and I think they will check progress (hopefully there IS some!) then.  Matthew and Michelle are both doing well...Matthew just turned 7 last month, and Michelle is 4y5m now.  They are showing some signs of anxiety about the changes their baby sister will bring, but are both excited to finally see her and meet her too.  I'll post again after my appointment with an update.