Sleeping out of sinc

Before we left for Hawaii Maycen was sleeping through the night, she would go down with a late night feed at 10 or 11 and wake up around 6 or 7 am then go back down for three or four more hours after an AM feed. Now we are trying to move her night feed up to 9pm but she is waking at 4am, I even tried to wake her at 11 for a late night feed thinking she surely would sleep till 7 or 8 am and she woke last night at 3:30 am. So I decided not to give in and feed her, I know she can go longer and after quite a bit of protest I got her swaddled back up and calm and after a painful 20 minutes of fussing she went back to sleep and stirred at 6:30am. I fed her then, My goodness what a heart breaker. I still am feeling bad about it today. So I guess this is our first mother daughter fight. Even though I technically won the argument I sure don't feel like a winner. How can something so little make you feel so bad and why do I have so many emotions attached to withholding a feed from her. I know if I continue to feed her at all hours of the night her tummy and body will get programmed to wake for a night feed but then you get so many other parenting theories that if you don't respond to your baby you will not build their trust and she is crying because she is trying to tell you something. I always want to do what is best for her and she is gaining weight appropriately so I should not worry but goodness rationalizing all these theories sure doesn't make me feel any better that she is crying for me to feed her and I didn't.

Good day for a Giggle- 12 weeks old

Maycen had her first little giggle at least that I heard today! Jared had her up this am and she was all smiles and then let out the tiniest little giggle. I didn't get it on film but here is a video of her and her adorable little facials.

This will surely give you a giggle, I couldn't resist getting Maycen's picture with the mall Easter bunny. So I headed over there after I met my friend Katie for lunch and well I think a gopher was standing in for the bunny or it was a dirty bunny, then again it was Tacoma Mall :) Maycen thought he was funny though, I thought he was a bit scary and was slightly nervous handing her over. If you click the picture you will see her better.

Head shoulders Knees and Toes

OK well this week has not been so hot on the body. Here is an update on me and my big issues. Before I was pregnant I had Hip issues that caused me pain when standing and walking and it was really tight, giving me Sciatica from time to time. I was concerned that this was going to be a problem in pregnancy and was going to Physical therapy but when I got noticeably pregnant PT was not helping because I could not stretch or move much with my belly in the way. I also took a good fall last winter snowboarding and have had back pain in my lumbar spine that concerned me.
Well to my surprise my Body did great with pregnancy despite all the fluid your body makes this great hormone called relaxin to allow your joints and ligaments to spread for labor, it does however make you at risk for falling, clumsiness and injuries. It also can cause people to have joint pain from the movement. I was lucky I had a bit of hip pain from the spreading but overall all my main issues had gone by the wayside likely from all the fluid I was retaining. No back pain, and my sciatica was pretty good. My feet hurt but it was from carrying extra weight, being swollen and being on my feet all day working.

However at 34 weeks when I began to get puffy and retain lots of fluid I began getting carpel Tunnel symptoms. Every medical person said it will go away when I have the baby. As I got puffier and continued to work it got worse I couldn't sleep at night and had to wear braces that I eventually wore in the daytime.
After I gave birth it did not subside my wrist actually got a bit worse and although the night time stuff is OK the repeated activities and feeding and carrying Maycen have brought new frustrating challenges. I finally had my hand therapy appointment and was not super impressed with the doctor. He actually did not ask me what I had been doing or anything he just suggested the cortisone injection. So I did one injection in my right wrist and things were good for about 5 hours afterward but by evening my wrist hurt soo bad, I have been taking Motrin around the clock and today I am having trouble putting any weight or holding anything. What a mess!
On top of the wrist issue, as I have begun to work out and all the fluid has come off I am now experiencing the return of my hip issues and my spine. My hip is really tight. I wish they could package that relaxin hormone, it worked great for me.
On the positive side I know now that my wrist could hurt a hole lot more than they do on a regular basis! Hopefully it just hurts now and it will feel better in a week. Also because I have been working out I am about 5 pound from my pre-pregnancy weight, yippee! So I am happy for that, even with all the Easter candy out there:) It is so nice to be some what back in my clothes, nothing quite looks the same as before but the numbers are close on the scale at least!

Here are some other things I have been doing for my wrist before I get a ton of suggestions. I am taking vitamins and supplements, primrose oil vit b6, motrin, can't use diuretics with breastfeeding, using a chiropractor, doing exercises with a rubber band on my hand, wearing braces and stretching, and now cortisone injections. I am looking to do acupuncture maybe if things don't look up but it is like $70 out of pocket.

Anyway if anyone has any other solutions, surgery is on my list but the recovery is extensive and they do one hand at a time.

11 weeks, 12 pounds, 13 days till I got back to work

Our Birth class met today and Patti took some great shots of us and Maycen. Patti is a Doula and she is also a Photographer, if you are interested in her work go to pattiramos.com or her blog page. It was so fun to see every one's babies, Maycen was the first one in the group born. She is still pretty petite being 2 weeks early but we are out of new born clothes and some 0-3 and now in the 3month clothes. She is 12.2 pounds and moving through the diapers fast both in size and number:)

Trying to get her back on schedule after Hawaii and the time change. I am not really sure it is going well. I am grateful she sleep through the night but would love for her to be more cooperative on outings. Car rides used to be delightful are now becoming stressful with screaming baby tactics like opening and closing the window, using speed bumps on the side of the road to sooth the baby and rocking the car with the brake at stoplights. I now understand why people buy those baby on board things. It is not so you will drive safer around them, I think it is so when you notice them driving bizarrely you may understand them better and take pity on them. Some rides are better than others but because she is sleeping through the night daytime sleep is not guaranteed any longer and some naps are as short at 20-30 minutes if there are distractions or we are out and about. I attempted to try on a bra at the store the other day and it sounded like I was killing her before I could pick her up.

After reading my friends blog from a year ago and she had detailed stories of her challenges I figured I should include mine as well. I love being a Mommy but there are definitely challenges. I thought it was great to read her blog from a year ago and see how far they had come. Anyway those are the big challenges, nothing too serious but none the less important and even though it seems stressful running errands now, I am sure in a year I will look back and think...and I thought that was tough, try temper tantrums:)

First Vacation and a lot of other firsts

Jared and I just got back from Hawaii with Maycen now 11 weeks, picked up Chopper from the Doggy kennel and are getting settled back in. Maycen had a lot of firsts traveling to Hawaii. From Plane rides, Rainbows and Oceans, toes in the sand and salt water, to the first time in a pool and swimming suit it was a great. Things went better than I would have thought and it was nice to just get away and enjoy the warm weather. The plane ride there went well she really didn't fuss too much, the way back a bit more but we also were delayed two hours and so there was more time trying to keep her sleepy. I am sad to say her schedule is a bit out of whack and she had a rough day back but hoping she will sleep though the night again. We made a bed in the hotel for her and her sleep positioner in the bedside table drawer. It actually worked out pretty good.

The first night there she had done so well on the plane but when we took her to dinner to watch the sunset she wasn't having it and let everyone enjoying the sunset know she was tired! Otherwise she slept lazily on the beach in her sun tent after playing with her toys while I tanned and Jared golfed. I got a relaxing stone massage which was great, a bit pricey and I actually got a burn from one of the stones on my back, but otherwise fully enjoyed. Jared and I had planned on having my co workers friend babysit Maycen while we went on a Dinner cruise but traffic and baby got us running late and we decided it was better to take her along than to have to rush and maybe miss the boat, so we canceled on her. Our timeshare, the first time we have actually stayed at it, was amazing and it will be a place our kids are going to love with so many pool slides and toys and kid friendly activities I am really excited, it will be great for when she gets bigger.

I was surprised that there were quite a few other babies vacationing there as well.

We also spent a lot of time with our friend Abby, one of my travel Nurse friends. Jared and I seriously considered making her a part of the family. It is a lot easier to get ready with a baby with three people to trade out feeding, getting ready and for me pumping:) For now we will keep her as Auntie Abby but it was really fun to hang out and have her met Maycen. We also did the Luau up by the hotel, although we have seen it a few times, the food is always great and it was just nice to get out. I love any activities with load music now, no one can hear if the baby is fussy, it's great.

We didn't do a whole lot this time, just watched the sunset from the beach and hot tubs, ate yummie seafood, tanned, had a few Mai Tai's and relaxed. I have to say Maycen's timing got a lot better and she would sleep while we went in the hot tub at sunset at the end of the day it was a nice treat.

I want you all to have a wonderful St. Patties Day! We already had our Corned beef and Cabbage and Irish soda Bread but I am sure we will have more:) Also I would like to take a moment to let Dave (my brother in law) know that we are thinking about him and his family in the passing of his father who died of complications from his cancer treatment.

2 months

Miss Maycen had her 2 month Doctor appointment this week. She now is 11.4 pounds and 22.5 inches long. I think they miss calculated her height at the first doctor's appt because she jumped from 20 to 22 in less than 2 weeks from her birth. Anyway she is finally outgrowing her newborn outfits and onsies, soo Sad. Her appointment went well, she got her 2 month shots and rotovirus vaccine which is oral. She is becoming a lot more active playing and kicking under her little gym. She is pushing up on her hands on her tummy and trying to sound out more sounds. She has been sleeping great so far, knock on wood although I think Hawaii will ruin that. Currently I can put her down around 9:30 or 10 and she will wake about 8-8:30 am. She usually stirs when the dog wakes up itching and whining but she will usually settle back in once he stops. We are still looking for a nanny for when I go back to work. It is just really hard to find anyone that can take maycen full 12 hours, daycares do not do that and Jared leaves a few days after I begin work for Arizona. Well, Aloha! We are off to Hawaii on Sunday and I need to get packing!

Meet Mr. and Mrs.T

Jared and I had the pleasure of introducing little Mayce to more grandparents! Jared's Family visited us for a fun weekend of activities. I will post pics soon. I had a few surprises in store for Jared's Birthday on Thursday and I felt more like superwoman getting it all in and the house relatively clean for guests. Maycen and I woke up bright and early on Thursday to make daddy's B-day cake and breakfast and to feed Maycen of course. I had some extra frosting left over from making the cake so I just figured I would make cupcakes for his co- workers with the extra frosting. I had a few errands to get in before Jared went up to get his parents and I had just finished cleaning so I stopped at his office with Maycen and the Cupcakes. Jared's work is not like mine where anyone in sight with food is followed and the food is gone in a few minutes. So I had to actually drum up some cupcake takers. how sad is that:). Maycen and I ran errands while Jared got his Parents. First they meet the Granddog, chopper then met Maycen and I at Panera Bread for lunch. I surprised Jared with a B-day scavenger hunt to find his big gift, Linex for his truck bed. This was supposed to be done in full, but Jared took his truck out last week and it died, so I am SOOO glad I did not drive it as it would have died and I probably would have gotten blamed for the breakdown.

The next day we celebrated Jared's b-day and headed up to Woodenville. We went to two wineries and spent most of our time at the Redhook Brewery for lunch and the tour. Maycen did great and came along... Yes a baby on a beer tour, what?! Poor child. Crystal and I laughed about the Sweet home Alabama comment, you have a baby...In a bar. Oh the things I said I would never do. The tour was great by the way if anyone is looking for a rainy day thing to do. We headed back once I realized I had used the last pumped milk.
On Sunday we headed to the coast to see the ocean and try our hand at off the dock crabbing. We came home with an empty trap but hard to say if someone helped themselves to our crab or they were just really smart and got out. We did leave it for several hours unattended.
On Monday Jared and his dad went golfing and Crystal spent the day spoiling Me and Maycen. It was a nice visit and I am so glad that they got to meet their newest grandchild.