Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Taylor one month old

Here is a few close up pictures of Taylor taken this afternoon. She didn't have a great night last night, but she did give me a two hour nap this morning, so I'll take it! The baby acne that she has is really starting to clear up now and she is having so much more awake time.




Monday, April 27, 2009

"I hold baby Taylor"

Yesterday after I fed Taylor, I was sitting her up in my lap to burp. Ella came over from watching cartoons and said "I hold baby Taylor". I was so excited to hear her want to hold her! I put the boppy around Ella's lap and let her hold Taylor. It was such a sweet sight. Just a few nights ago I decided to feed Taylor a bottle of pumped milk and let Ella help so that she would feel involved with a feeding. She laughed when she started drinking the bottle and told me "Baby Taylor is silly". Here are a few pictures of Ella holding her little sister.




Taylor's one month appointment

Today we headed to the doctor for Taylor's one month well-baby visit. Doctor said that everything looks good and she is gaining weight like a little champ! She is definitely long and skinny right now. She has outgrown her newborn size sleepers because she is just too long for them. She is still breastfeeding great and typically sleeping at least one 3 or 4 hour stretch at night, then wakes up twice to eat and goes back to bed for about 2 more hours each time. She is a fussier baby than Ella was and is pretty gassy at times, but we are learning her different cries and realizing when she is hungry, tired or just needs to burp.

Weight: 9 pounds, 5 ounces
Length: 22" long

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Visit with Ellie

We were so lucky to have Ellie and Lori visit us on Saturday for the day. The weather was great during the day and the four of us went to the park while Taylor stayed with Papa and watched NFL draft coverage. After the park the girls had lunch and each took a great nap. Ella even wanted to go home with Lori and Ellie, but we couldn't part with her :)

Here is a picture of the two girls together just before Ellie headed home. The hat that Ella is wearing is so cute and is a gift from The Dornfeld family. Ella does not want to take it off, so I imagine she will be wearing it in more pictures to come. Thanks for visiting and for the thoughtful gifts. The girls had a great time together and I hope they get to play again very soon.


Thursday, April 23, 2009

Ella and Taylor

The other night after we ate dinner, Ella decided to go and play with Taylor all by herself. She went over to her while she was in the swing and was looking at her and talking to her. Another cute moment between two sisters.



Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Potty milestone

Yesterday Ella pooped on the potty for the second time!!! The first time was more of an accident, but last night she told me that she had to go and sat on the potty and went like a big girl! I was soooo proud of her and she was pretty excited for herself as well. In a few more weeks I think that we are going to push ahead with potty training her (after she adjusts a little more to Taylor's presence) and hopefully it will go well.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Taylor's birth story

Now that Taylor is almost one month old, I figure I should put her birth story up on the blog for her to someday read about (and tell me over and over again how much she loves me and how thankful she is for all that I went through :).


I was scheduled for a c-section on Wednesday April 1st if I did not go into labor on my own by then. That would be 1 week and 1 day past my due date. Because I was hoping to VBAC, my doctors would not induce labor since it increases that chance of uterine rupture. Sunday March 29th J told me that I was the only one who did not realize that I was going to have a c-section on April 1st, and I was still being optimistic about going into labor on my own. So we called Lissa and started to plan for her to help us out with Ella on Wednesday night just in case I did not go into labor on my own before then.


Sunday evening we went to bed and I woke up at 3 am with contractions. I could not sleep through them and I kept glancing at the clock to try and time them. I woke up J and let him know that I thought I was in labor, but that I was going to shower and get a few things done, just to make sure that the contractions didn't stop. J said "ok" and fell right back asleep.


After I showered, I went to the basement and sat on the yoga ball while I played on the computer. I found a website that allowed me to time my contractions so I was chatting online and checking my facebook while I was timing contractions. After about an hour of contraction timing, I saw that they were about 3 minutes apart and never more than 5 minutes. They were getting progressively worse, so I went upstairs to wake up J and let him know it was the real deal. I called my mom and dad to see if one of them could come take Ella to school because I did not think that I could wait until 7 am to go to the hospital. I took a bath while J got ready and while we waited for my mom to come over so that we could go to the hospital.


At 5:30 am my mom arrived, we gave her a quick run down of what to do with Ella and we were on our way to St. Joseph hospital. We got there right at 6 am and headed straight up to labor and delivery. Got into my gown, got my IV, was told I was 2-3 cm and sat around waiting for the contractions to do their job. 30 minutes later, the nurse came in and told us some bad news. Because I was trying to VBAC, the hospital rules state that my OB must be present the entire time I am in labor. Unforunately one of the doctors in the practice was on vacation, the two midwives were manning each office and Dr. Epstein had to do surgery at Sherman. Our options were to take something to stop contractions until the doctor could stay at St. Joseph, we could go home and labor at home for a while and come back when things were completely unbearable, or we could leave and go to Sherman hospital. Since the contractions were strong and steady, and I was already 6 days past my due date, we decided to pack up and head to Sherman.


The drive to Sherman was incredibly uncomfortable, but they took us right up to labor and delivery and got things started immediately. It was about 8 am, I was still about 3 cm dilated but the contractions were getting stronger and were consistently 3 minutes apart. At 2:30 pm I was in a lot of pain and decided to get a shot of nubain to let me get a little rest. Though I was able to still feel the contractions, I managed to get about 45 minutes of sleep. Then the contractions were back and stronger than ever. Dr. Eptein came in to check me and he broke my water since I was about 4 cm dilated at that time. He also told me they don't hand out awards to women that do not get epidurals. The major decision to get an epidural this time (aside from the extraordinary pain) was that I did not get one for quite some time with Ella and I did not progress enough, so I was trying to do things a little differently this time around in hopes of a different birthing experience.

At 5:00 pm I asked for an epidural and the anethesiologist was in within a few minutes. I was at 5 cm and the doctor had started me on pitocin in hopes of speeding up my labor. I was really hoping that the chance to relax a little bit would help progress things. Unforunately, it took about 45 minutes to get the epidural in. Mainly because I can't help but flinch when someone touches my back, but also because the contractions were strong at 2 minutes apart and because of the spacing in my back. After the epidural I was able to get about an hour of sleep, which felt great. Then the nurse checked me and I was 7 centimeters and the head was very low causing me to feel some consistent pressure. The bad thing was that the epidural was wearing off and I was really starting to feel the contractions quite intensely again. They would not top it off though because they did not want me numb when it came time to push.

At 11 pm I was in unbearable pain and feeling quite a bit of pressure. Doctor Epstein came in to check me and told me that I was still 7-8 cm dilating and that although her head was "right there" as soon as they would touch her head, she would float back up. Meaning that she was not engaged. Since I had not fully dilated, and was stuck for 3 hours at 7-8 centimeters, the doctor suggested that I get a c-section. As much as I had wanted to VBAC, 20 hours of labor had me quickly agreeing to just get her out.

Taylor then arrived via c-section at 11:44 pm on March 30, 2009 weighing 7 pounds 3 ounces and 20 inches long.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Coloring Easter eggs

The day before Easter, Ella and Papa colored eggs together. Ella did a god job, though she didn't exactly understand how to "gently" put the eggs in the dye. After nap, Ella decorated the colored eggs with stickers.




















Sisters

Finally was able to get a picture of the girls together (sort of) .....



Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Easter 2009

We had a great time with family on Easter this year. First we went to the Overheidt house to celebrate with the Martin side of the family. They hid Easter eggs and Ella, Morgan and Brianna all got to find them and received a ton of candy! Ella had a great time finding them and yelling out "Oh, I found the egg".

After the Martin side, we headed over to Mama's side of the family. Ella had a great time reading her new Dora book from Aunt Colette and singing songs for everyone. She sang "Happy Birthday" to just about everyone there and enjoyed being center stage.

Here are some pictures from the egg hunt:




Thank you, thank you!

I just wanted to post a huge THANK YOU to Oma and Tia Lissa for all their help with Ella while we were in the hospital with Taylor. My mom was at our house on Monday 3/30 at 5:30 am so that we could get to the hospital and she took Ella to school and picked her up at the end of the day. Tia Lissa stayed the nights at our house with Ella so that I didn't have to stay at the hospital alone. She got Ella ready for school in the mornings so that J could drop her off and come right back to the hospital.

And once Meena came back from Mexico, she came by every morning for a week to pick up Ella and take her to school so that I could get some rest.

I really appreciate all that you did to make our transition to a family of four seamless.




Sunday, April 12, 2009

Word video

We have been working on letters and a few basic words with Ella at home. We started with some basic words and though she knows her name starts with an "E" , the rest of the words may be memorized.


Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Dr appointments

Yesterday I went on my first outing with Taylor. We went to my doctor to get my staples removed and a quick check of my incision. She was great in the car both there and back, but cried the whole time I was with the nurse. Overall a good experience out and it felt great to get some fresh air!

This morning we went to see Taylor's doctor for her one week check up. She did not sleep very well last night, so of course slept through most of her appointment. I have been somewhat worried that she may not be getting enough to eat, but the scale proved me wrong. Taylor weighed in above birth weight at 7 pounds, 8 ounces. That means that since we left the hospital on Thursday morning, she has gained a full pound. Her umbilical cord stump was also barely hanging on anymore so they cut it off and she now has a real belly button.

More pictures will be posted shortly....

Friday, April 3, 2009

Wecome Taylor Corrina Martin

Born March 30th, 2009 at 11:44 pm. Weighing in at 7 pounds, 3 ounces and 20" long. We came home on Thursday early afternoon and her weight was down to 6 pounds, 8 ounces. Both Mama and Taylor head back to the doctor this week for check ups.

We are still trying to get settled at home but are enjoying our newest family member. Ella enjoys telling us just what baby sister is doing:

"Baby sleeping"
"Baby crying"
"Baby happy"
"Baby cute"