((((This was first written when she was 5 weeks old, and now she is 5 months old (almost) )))))
It's been about 5 weeks since little Lucy was born into this world, and let me tell you: it's been nothing but a roller coaster since BEFORE she got here.
So much has happened, I do feel the need to document it here, so one day if I forget all the details it will be here for her to read.
Let's start with a side story, involving my sweet, sweet fur baby Max. I have had Max for 10 years now. 10. years. He is my little tenacious terrier who doesn't listen, loves cheese and popcorn, and has been my sidekick through jobs, boyfriends/husband, living arrangements... he is just the best. I have a feeling that I will be touching more on his story later, but for right now, I can be brief and say: Max started getting sick (vomiting and not eating) when I was about 37 weeks pregnant. We went through a huge amount of diagnostic testing and treatment and I'm sad to say that there were several times throughout the 2 weeks this all went on that I was sure that we were about to have to say our goodbyes. He had to stay at the doggy ICU that was about 15 minutes from my house for the week and a half before I delivered Lucy... and I visited daily, sometimes twice a day. I waddled my very pregnant self inside, and sat either by his crate or in a room, on the floor, usually crying, as I visited with my sweet pup. He had a major surgery, ended up not eating, had to get a nasogastric tube, but my parents and I felt that he deserved a chance.... and I am thankful to say that NOW, 6 weeks after all of that, that Max is eating great, not getting sick, enjoying walks and being terrorized by his older sister Beulah.... But I tell you this as part of Lucy's birth story.
Bless my sweet mom (and dad for his long distance support) for coming in before Lucy was scheduled to be born to help with all of the Max stuff... he was requiring multiple medications and at one time we were even tube feeding him... that was a lot for us to handle solo with a new baby coming on board and I am SO THANKFUL that my mom flew in from their home in Santa Fe to help us for 2 weeks!!! <--- the longest my mom and dad have EVER been apart their entire lives together! What a sacrifice, for us and for Max.
So, things the weeks before Lucy's birth were EXTREMELY STRESSFUL to say the least. I don't think I had ever spent so much time crying (because of Max), but luckily we made it to d- day, but before that:
PREGNANCY:
So, anyone who knows me at all knows that pregnancy and I are NOT bffes. We don't really like each other at all, actually. With my first pregnancy, I had some annoyances, such as extreme morning sickness (hello 20 lb weight loss) and what I KNOW was cholestasis (resulting in crazy itching on my arms and legs).... and Lucy's pregnancy was no different. Crazy morning sickness again, and also cholestasis-like symptoms this time around starting at about 36 weeks with extreme itching on my arms and legs.... I still have war wounds from the itching. With my pregnancy with Lucy, I also had gestational diabetes. Which initially, I'm not going to lie, I completely freaked out about. But after I discovered what to eat and how often to eat it, I was in pretty good shape. And actually, eating low carb and frequently is probably how I should eat anyway, so touche.
Because of the gestational diabetes (and the growth scan that predicted Lucy would be a 9 lb-er!!), I was scheduled for an induction at 39 weeks, just as I was with her older sister Beulah. I am so SO thankful that I didn't go longer than 39 weeks in both pregnancies, but I was sad that I didn't have the whole "oh my God, my water just broke, let's rush to the hospital, I'm in labor" bit, but the OCD, Type A planner part of me is quite alright with it being scheduled.
Fast forward to Tuesday morning, the day I was to be induced to have Lucy. Naturally my biggest kid Beulah decides to wake up that morning at 1:15am with a 103 fever. NEAT. Because my mom was in town for the event, I woke her up and we all three sat downstairs (me, her and Beulah) trying to break her fever with piggybacking Tylenol and Motrin. I swear that I felt like at this moment everything that was going wrong WAS going wrong.
D-DAY:
We ended up going to the hospital as planned at 5:30 AM while my mom stayed home with Beulah, who ended up having strep throat (AWESOME).
Because of Beulah being sick, we were a tad bit late to our 5:30AM appointment, but luckily there was not a ton of other mamas having babies that morning. We had the best nurses EVER getting us set up to welcome little Miss Lucy into the world. Knowing more than what I knew going into it with Beulah, I'm not going to lie: I was totally nervous and scared.
They started me on pitocin an hour or so after I got there and nothing really progressed for several hours. It wasn't until around noon that a doctor came in a broke my water -- then things started happening, and I got an epidural. Thank goodness for modern medicine, y'all.
I sat for a lot of the rest of the day, feeling contractions and totally scared to death. (side note: they told me that Lucy MIGHT be a big baby because I had gestational diabetes so I was extra nervous about birthing her). I sat for most of the day texting my parents and sister giving them updates. It wasn't until the early evening that stuff really started happening. I was feeling contractions and starting to get really emotional. They came in and checked me --- and said everything was "ready" and that a baby would be born any time now.
I'm not going to lie. I was scared. I cried. I panicked actually. I think a lot of it was just all the nerves and hormones running through my body, but because of all the stuff going on at home, I just didn't feel like I was ready to have a baby! The feeling of panic and feeling like I was going to burst into tears, in correlation with feeling like I *might* need to go #2, they got everything ready to have a baby.
Not to get into much detail, I went through 3 rounds of "pushing".... I was so horrified that I guess I did a good job, because after the third round of pushing (so about 20 minutes), Little Lucy was about to enter the world. She was halfway out; they said to wait, but she just continued her way out into the world, and on the evening of March 31, 2015, Lucille Jane Boyd entered the world, screaming and unhappy about life as she would proof to be for the first couple of months of her sweet little life.
Despite the doctor's predictions, she was just a little bit bigger than her older sister, weighing 7 lb 9 oz. Pretty tall, just like her older Sissy.
She looked just like her bigger brother Sammy. She had dark hair (and a lot of it) and definitely had his little mouth. I had a mini Sammy.
The hospital stay was pretty uneventful. We nursed and nursed and nursed. I was ultra concerned about her gained weight and nursing the way she needed to be nursing, since Beulah and I had a much more difficult time.
COMING HOME:
We came home after 2 days at being at the hospital; nothing new there. We did continue to nurse. We nursed and nursed and nursed some more. We had my mom there (THANK YOU MOM FOR ALL THAT YOU DID DURING THIS TIME) to take care of Max and to help tend to Beulah. Much to my dismay, Lucy did develop some jaundice which required several visits to the doctor (and even to the local hospital) to monitor her bilirubin levels.
LIFE AT HOME:
I was determined to nurse Lucy, given the troubles I had nursing Beulah. DETERMINED. But all my sweet Little Lucy did was cry. and nurse. But something wasn't right. After 5 days of torture (for all of us), I made the decision to stop nursing and start on a formula. Given my nursing history with Beulah (where I never produced enough and she was always hungry), I decided to start giving her formula.
But, low and behold, we were in for quite a ride. We are still on the roller coaster ride, with the ups and downs involving colic (read here) and transitioning from 1 to 2 kids (read here).
Lucy has taught me more about being a mommy than any one else. I have learned selfless love and truly putting her (and Beulah) before myself in every way possible. I am so excited for life as it develops with me being mommy to Beulah and Lucy. We are definitely in for a fun ride!
It's been about 5 weeks since little Lucy was born into this world, and let me tell you: it's been nothing but a roller coaster since BEFORE she got here.
So much has happened, I do feel the need to document it here, so one day if I forget all the details it will be here for her to read.
Let's start with a side story, involving my sweet, sweet fur baby Max. I have had Max for 10 years now. 10. years. He is my little tenacious terrier who doesn't listen, loves cheese and popcorn, and has been my sidekick through jobs, boyfriends/husband, living arrangements... he is just the best. I have a feeling that I will be touching more on his story later, but for right now, I can be brief and say: Max started getting sick (vomiting and not eating) when I was about 37 weeks pregnant. We went through a huge amount of diagnostic testing and treatment and I'm sad to say that there were several times throughout the 2 weeks this all went on that I was sure that we were about to have to say our goodbyes. He had to stay at the doggy ICU that was about 15 minutes from my house for the week and a half before I delivered Lucy... and I visited daily, sometimes twice a day. I waddled my very pregnant self inside, and sat either by his crate or in a room, on the floor, usually crying, as I visited with my sweet pup. He had a major surgery, ended up not eating, had to get a nasogastric tube, but my parents and I felt that he deserved a chance.... and I am thankful to say that NOW, 6 weeks after all of that, that Max is eating great, not getting sick, enjoying walks and being terrorized by his older sister Beulah.... But I tell you this as part of Lucy's birth story.
Bless my sweet mom (and dad for his long distance support) for coming in before Lucy was scheduled to be born to help with all of the Max stuff... he was requiring multiple medications and at one time we were even tube feeding him... that was a lot for us to handle solo with a new baby coming on board and I am SO THANKFUL that my mom flew in from their home in Santa Fe to help us for 2 weeks!!! <--- the longest my mom and dad have EVER been apart their entire lives together! What a sacrifice, for us and for Max.
So, things the weeks before Lucy's birth were EXTREMELY STRESSFUL to say the least. I don't think I had ever spent so much time crying (because of Max), but luckily we made it to d- day, but before that:
PREGNANCY:
So, anyone who knows me at all knows that pregnancy and I are NOT bffes. We don't really like each other at all, actually. With my first pregnancy, I had some annoyances, such as extreme morning sickness (hello 20 lb weight loss) and what I KNOW was cholestasis (resulting in crazy itching on my arms and legs).... and Lucy's pregnancy was no different. Crazy morning sickness again, and also cholestasis-like symptoms this time around starting at about 36 weeks with extreme itching on my arms and legs.... I still have war wounds from the itching. With my pregnancy with Lucy, I also had gestational diabetes. Which initially, I'm not going to lie, I completely freaked out about. But after I discovered what to eat and how often to eat it, I was in pretty good shape. And actually, eating low carb and frequently is probably how I should eat anyway, so touche.
Because of the gestational diabetes (and the growth scan that predicted Lucy would be a 9 lb-er!!), I was scheduled for an induction at 39 weeks, just as I was with her older sister Beulah. I am so SO thankful that I didn't go longer than 39 weeks in both pregnancies, but I was sad that I didn't have the whole "oh my God, my water just broke, let's rush to the hospital, I'm in labor" bit, but the OCD, Type A planner part of me is quite alright with it being scheduled.
Fast forward to Tuesday morning, the day I was to be induced to have Lucy. Naturally my biggest kid Beulah decides to wake up that morning at 1:15am with a 103 fever. NEAT. Because my mom was in town for the event, I woke her up and we all three sat downstairs (me, her and Beulah) trying to break her fever with piggybacking Tylenol and Motrin. I swear that I felt like at this moment everything that was going wrong WAS going wrong.
D-DAY:
We ended up going to the hospital as planned at 5:30 AM while my mom stayed home with Beulah, who ended up having strep throat (AWESOME).
Because of Beulah being sick, we were a tad bit late to our 5:30AM appointment, but luckily there was not a ton of other mamas having babies that morning. We had the best nurses EVER getting us set up to welcome little Miss Lucy into the world. Knowing more than what I knew going into it with Beulah, I'm not going to lie: I was totally nervous and scared.
They started me on pitocin an hour or so after I got there and nothing really progressed for several hours. It wasn't until around noon that a doctor came in a broke my water -- then things started happening, and I got an epidural. Thank goodness for modern medicine, y'all.
I sat for a lot of the rest of the day, feeling contractions and totally scared to death. (side note: they told me that Lucy MIGHT be a big baby because I had gestational diabetes so I was extra nervous about birthing her). I sat for most of the day texting my parents and sister giving them updates. It wasn't until the early evening that stuff really started happening. I was feeling contractions and starting to get really emotional. They came in and checked me --- and said everything was "ready" and that a baby would be born any time now.
I'm not going to lie. I was scared. I cried. I panicked actually. I think a lot of it was just all the nerves and hormones running through my body, but because of all the stuff going on at home, I just didn't feel like I was ready to have a baby! The feeling of panic and feeling like I was going to burst into tears, in correlation with feeling like I *might* need to go #2, they got everything ready to have a baby.
Not to get into much detail, I went through 3 rounds of "pushing".... I was so horrified that I guess I did a good job, because after the third round of pushing (so about 20 minutes), Little Lucy was about to enter the world. She was halfway out; they said to wait, but she just continued her way out into the world, and on the evening of March 31, 2015, Lucille Jane Boyd entered the world, screaming and unhappy about life as she would proof to be for the first couple of months of her sweet little life.
Despite the doctor's predictions, she was just a little bit bigger than her older sister, weighing 7 lb 9 oz. Pretty tall, just like her older Sissy.
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| photo by Lori Sapio <3 |
She looked just like her bigger brother Sammy. She had dark hair (and a lot of it) and definitely had his little mouth. I had a mini Sammy.
The hospital stay was pretty uneventful. We nursed and nursed and nursed. I was ultra concerned about her gained weight and nursing the way she needed to be nursing, since Beulah and I had a much more difficult time.
COMING HOME:
We came home after 2 days at being at the hospital; nothing new there. We did continue to nurse. We nursed and nursed and nursed some more. We had my mom there (THANK YOU MOM FOR ALL THAT YOU DID DURING THIS TIME) to take care of Max and to help tend to Beulah. Much to my dismay, Lucy did develop some jaundice which required several visits to the doctor (and even to the local hospital) to monitor her bilirubin levels.
LIFE AT HOME:
I was determined to nurse Lucy, given the troubles I had nursing Beulah. DETERMINED. But all my sweet Little Lucy did was cry. and nurse. But something wasn't right. After 5 days of torture (for all of us), I made the decision to stop nursing and start on a formula. Given my nursing history with Beulah (where I never produced enough and she was always hungry), I decided to start giving her formula.
But, low and behold, we were in for quite a ride. We are still on the roller coaster ride, with the ups and downs involving colic (read here) and transitioning from 1 to 2 kids (read here).
Lucy has taught me more about being a mommy than any one else. I have learned selfless love and truly putting her (and Beulah) before myself in every way possible. I am so excited for life as it develops with me being mommy to Beulah and Lucy. We are definitely in for a fun ride!
Wierd reading this. Brings back lots of emotions, lots of stress. But we ended up with a happy Max and another sweet little girl to go with her big sis. Mwah.
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