1 Month

Well we have been parents for a month!  I love being a mother even though my sleep has become fragmented.  It is amazing how instantly I have fallen in love with Carly, even before she was born I loved her and felt connected.  I would do anything for Carly (I actually killed a bug with my bare hands the other day for her ...it was a little gnat)!  Nick is loving being a daddy!  He is so protective of her and also very helpful especially with changing diapers.  I didn't even change one diaper until she was 4 days old!  She has made a few messes with him and one day with me during three diaper changes she peed during the middle of it!  It traveled up the mat to her hair which wouldn’t be such a big deal to bathe her but since her cord hadn’t fallen off yet it’s a bit trickier. She is still as cute as can be though!  

These first few pictures were taken by my sister Rachel (she did an awesome job) on a little American Girl Doll bed when Carly was three weeks old.  So cute!  Thanks!

My mom was in California at my sister's when I had Carly so she didn't get to our place until day two from coming home from the hospital.  That first night home with Carly was really hard (we couldn’t figure out what she wanted) so we were very grateful when my mom arrived.  The fragmented sleep was hard but getting in and out of bed so much when trying to heal down there is what was the hardest.  Well my mom came to the rescue and was an enormous help!  She cooked us meals/desserts (so delicious!), cleaned up the apartment, and taught us how to take care of Carly and get her to sleep (she has quite a few tricks up her sleeve).  She would also get up with me in the night so that after I finished nursing I could go right back to sleep while she burped Carly, changed her diaper, and got her to fall back asleep.  She stayed with us from the 4th-8th and then came back after the weekend and stayed from the 10th to 14th.  Those 10 days were so much easier with her here and it was fun to spend so much time with my mom talking and having her teach me how to take care of a newborn.  I love my mom and am so grateful for her (Carly is too)!

After my mom left Nick's mom (Cathy) came in town to see Carly.  She was Carly's first babysitter!  Nick and I went to a birthday dinner for a friend and left Carly with Cathy and our niece Alexis.  Carly did great for them and Nick and I had a fun time with our friends.  It was nice to get out for a bit but I did worry about Carly getting hungry or crying too much for them (she was actually a perfect little angel).

We survived our first couple of weeks on our own but it was hard!  There were some bad nights but Carly is getting better and I'm taking more naps.  Nick got sick (probably from lack of sleep) so we were a little worried Carly would get sick but she is holding strong (I transferred some good antibodies to her!  Go breastfeeding!).  It is crazy how time consuming caring for a newborn is.  I don't know how the heck women take care of multiple children!  Good thing they come one at a time (usually)!  I really hope I don't have twins (props to all the mothers of twins).

A few things about Carly:

-She loves to sleep and can go 4 hour stretches at night

-she likes to fall asleep while nursing so I have to tickle her feet or under her chin to get her to keep eating

-She falls asleep on my shoulder after burping and slides down and will sleep on my chest

(2 weeks old)

-She like to be swaddled tight and suck on her binky (we have to roll up a burp rag and prop up the binky to keep it from falling out and having to keep sticking it back in)

-For some reason at night she won't sleep unless she is in the vibrating chair.

-One trick to get her to fall asleep is to lay her on our lap with her head at my knees and then move my knees side to side for a rocking motion.  My mom taught me this one and it is great especially when exhausted because it doesn't require a lot of energy.

-when she stretches she puts just one arm up above her head with her hand still in a fist.  It reminds me of the "black power" sign. haha!

-She can mimic our faces: sticks tongue out, lips in the shape of an 'O' (our favorite)

-Carly didn't have her first real bath until she was a little over 3 weeks old because her cord would just not fall off.  She really liked it until the end.

More pictures:

These were taken her first week.  I love her!

Nick is so sweet to little Carly and loves to hold and play with her.  She is going to be a daddy's girl.

Labor & Delivery

Here it is!  My labor story:

June 9th was my due date and everyone (including my doctor) believed that Carly wouldn't come until even after that (I thought I would have to be induced which wouldn't have been until the 17th).  On May 30th I went to my 38 week doctor appointment.  My doctor checked things out and said there were no signs that the baby would be coming anytime soon and I would likely be late (80% of women go past their due date with their first child).  I was pretty bummed but also glad I would be able to work another week to save up some more money before becoming a stay at home mom.

On the morning of the 31st I felt some pressure/pain in my lower back that I thought was some type of constipation pain (I had no idea they were contractions).  Well I went to work at 9 and into an hour of work I went to the restroom and saw some signs that labor would be coming soon (blood/mucus).  Well I realized that the pain I was having was contractions.  I stayed at work because it wasn't too bad.  At around noon my boss came up to me and was asking about my last day of work (June 8th since I thought I would go over) and confessed to him that today would probably be my last day because I was in the beginning stages of labor.  He and my other co-works kept telling me to go home but I wanted to make a little more money and it helped keep my mind off the pain.  The day actually went by pretty fast.  I started to time how often the contractions were coming which was a little difficult to do since I was taking phone calls at work but they were 5 minutes apart.  In the early afternoon they were 5 minutes apart but the pain wasn't too bad yet but at around 3 they started to get a little worse and it was more difficult to focus on work so I ended up leaving at 4 (almost made it through all of work).  Nick didn't take a lunch so he was able to get off at 4 too.  When we both got home I finished packing the hospital bag.  We hadn't installed the car seat yet (the day before I was talking to my sister Rebecca who said I should probably do that ASAP...she was right) so we just threw it in the back and left.

Me before heading to the hospital (the first time)

Well we got to the hospital at about 5 and they checked me into a labor room.  I was only dilated to a 1 and my water hadn't broken yet.  They said I could stay and check me in an hour and if I progressed 1 cm then I would be considered in active labor and could stay.  After an hour I was only to a 1.5cm so they sent me home...but the pain was getting pretty bad so I asked for something for the pain and they gave me morphine.  It slightly helped the pain but mostly it just made me keep falling asleep between each contraction.

Right before leaving the hospital (I could still force a smile)

When we left the hospital it was almost 7 so we stopped at Zupas on the way home.  Nick ran in and got us some food but I could only eat half my sandwich because I was in pain, tired, and kept falling asleep between contractions and bites.  When we got home I got in bed.  Nick sat by me as I slept and helped me through each contraction.  He was such a great support and very understanding.

At about 10:30 I decided the pain was getting too bad and I must have progressed far enough for them to let me get an epidural...I was wrong. :( I had only progressed to a 2.5 but again they said I could stay an hour to see if I progressed.  After an hour I was only to a 3 and the pain was getting much worse.  My doctor wasn't currently working or on call and the on call doctor said I couldn't stay as an inpatient and get the epidural until I dilated to a 4 (I was definitely not a fan of this doctor).  The nurse said that usually they could help the labor progress but since I wasn't 39 weeks (only 38 and 6 days) they wouldn't.  Well fortunately they didn't turn me away but it is because Carly's heart rate kept dropping each time I had a contraction.  The pain was getting really bad (I was clinging on the the rails on the bed and Nick was using all physical strength to put pressure on my knees to drive my legs into my hips) .  It helped a lot but still really hurt.  I was in such pain and so upset about the stupid doctor's rule that I decided to do something about it.  I got up out of the bed and began to pace and do squats.  Gosh the contractions were painful and hard to labor through while standing.  It hurt so bad that I wanted to push but the nurse said not to because it would make me swell and make things worse.

I look gross and very unhappy (compare to previous happy pictures)

Well after an hour the nurse checked me since the last check and I was finally to a 4 at like 2:30am!  Yay!!!!!  The anesthesiologist was called and got there at 3 at which point I was dilated to a 7 (things started to go fast and I was not a happy camper).  By the time he got set up and hooked me up to the juice it was 3:30am.  The nurse put the catheter in and checked me again and I was already at a 10!  I was thrilled but also upset that they waited to give me the epidural and made me labor through almost my entire labor!  Let me tell you, the epidural was AWESOME but a weird side effect of shaking. With the next baby I am not taking no for an answer!

Although I was a 10 the nurse allowed me to rest and take a nap to allow Carly to descend on her own.  Nick took a nap too (he was exhausted too from helping me through my contractions).  At 4:45am the nurse had me push through the contractions.  The doctor got there at probably 4:55am and with just 2 more pushes Carly was out at 5:03am!  I asked the doctor if he was going to have to do an episiotomy (he was saying her head wasn't too big) but he said he didn't need to but then I ended up tearing (2nd degree).  I wasn't too thrilled about that.  Also, I'm not sure why but the doctor just went ahead and cut the cord.  We were a little bummed Nick didn't get to do it but I guess it wasn't the end of the world.  The nurses quickly cleaned Carly while the doctor stitched me up and then they brought her to me.

I couldn't believe I was finally holding her!  My sweet Carly!  I instantly fell in love with her and wanted to hold her against me forever!  She had so much dark hair and big beautiful full lips!  Weighing only 6lbs 7oz she felt so tiny and fragile that I wasn't quite sure how to hold her.

Nick went head over heels for his little girl!  He was so full of excitement and joy.  Doesn't he look so handsome holding her!?  What a cute daddy!

Nick's first time holding Carly

Pretty shortly after delivering they moved us to another room where we stayed for 2 days.  Nick was able to stay at the hospital the whole time with me and slept on a not so comfy cot. Carly was born at the perfect time because Nick already had Saturday off because he worked Memorial day instead and he always has Sunday and Monday off.

Well, all the nurses I had during the labor, delivery, and recovery were great!  At around 11pm each night after feeding Carly we had the nurses take her to the nursery so that we could get some good sleep and they would bring her in every 3-4 hours during the night for me to breast feed.  Breast feeding went pretty well!  The only problem I had was that Carly kept falling asleep while eating so I had to keep trying to wake her up which is surprisingly really hard to do to a newborn.

Carly's ears had this little ruffle!

She had to have an IV because I was positive for strep B and there wasn't enough time to give me the 2 doses of penicillin before she was born.

Cute little yawn

baby feet!

We had a few visitors: My sister Rachel and her whole family, Nick's sister Heidi, Nick's sister Allison and her girls, and our good friends Aura Maria (she took a lot of these pictures of us) and Eric.  They were all so sweet and brought us treats, talked, and took pictures. It was nice to have so much love and support from those in town as well as those who kept in touch out of town.  Our nieces and nephews that came to visit were so cute!  All of them were asking their mom to have another baby.  One of our nieces, Stephanie (3) was really cute and said that Carly looked like a little fluffy duckling because of her fluffy hair!

Heidi

Rachel

Elizabeth

Paige

Dallin

Aura Maria

Eric

Monday morning we finally went home!  Carly looked so tiny in her car seat.  I rode in the back seat with her on the way home just to make sure she was okay.  What a crazy feeling to leave home just the two of us and then come back as three. We sure love Carly and are so happy to have her as our daughter!  We are so excited to raise her and watch her learn and grow.

She looks so tiny in there!

Announcing...

Carly Dueck joined our family at 5:03AM on June 1st, 2013.  She weighed 6 lb 7oz, measured 19.5 inches long.  She has blue eyes and lots of dark beautiful hair.  She eats and sleeps pretty well and makes the most adorable sounds and faces.  She is truly a gift from God!  Nick and I could not be happier!

Easter

This is a few weeks late but I had to post about our fun Easter with the fam.  It was so much fun spending time with Nick's parents and brother's family up in Seattle.  Kevin and Nanci have such a cute family!  It makes me so excited to have our little one and more!

Easter was such a beautiful day to celebrate our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  I am so grateful for his sacrifice so that I can be made clean through his atoning sacrifice.

After we got home from church on Easter we snapped a few cute pictures and then Nick and I hid the 200+ eggs all over the backyard.

After our delicious Easter dinner (lamb with mint jelly, potatoes, rolls, asparagus, salad) the kids began the hunt.  Kevin and Nanci's youngest was not interested in finding eggs at all.  He just wanted to play with all of grandma's toys!  Grandma had us hide 4 gold and silver eggs really hard and each had a dollar in them.  The kids tried really hard to find them and were so excited when they got one.  As you can see from the pictures Brooks was really proud of himself for getting a golden egg (he is holding it up, showing it off). 

After the egg hunt and some yummy dessert we all goofed off in the living room as Grandpa Dueck entertained us with his musical talent on the organ and accordion!  It reminded me of when I was a kid and my siblings and I would dance around in our living room to one of us playing the piano or just a CD.  Joseph was fascinated with Grandpa's instruments!  Probably because they both had a billion buttons.  (I messed around on the organ a little bit too and actually found it quite fascinating!  I could only press the foot peddles with my toes though #shortpeopleprobems.  After I have the baby and I'm not working anymore and dedicate more time to learning the hymns I might try picking up the organ!)

The boys love Nick and always want to talk to him about the video game "Final Fantasy". (Sometimes they even call him to ask him how to get past a certain part!)

Is this just so cute!

This is Nick's old accordion from when he learned to play (he doesn't play anymore, but I'm thinking he should start up again!  It is such a beautiful sounding instrument and you can play so many varieties of music).  James got pretty interested and is going to start taking lessons from Grandpa!

And here is Mae!  She has gotten really into gymnastics within the last month and taught herself from watching YouTube videos (she said a good search is "eight year old doing gymnastics").  She made this routine up all on her own!  She asked me for some cool new moves so I told her about one that I did when I took gymnastics back in the day.  It's a backward somersault to a handstand.  She can almost do it but she said she would "master it" and show it to me at our family reunion in July.  She is such a cute girl and I think it is awesome that she learned it all on her own!