I meant to write this at one month, but now Callie is two months old and I am just now getting a chance to write! I think I've been putting it off because it is quite overwhelming. So much has happened in so little time! Speaking of time getting by, I already wish I could go back and do it all over again. Even the not so perfect delivery. I am trying to slow down and take it all in as much as I can! She is still tiny, but she is growing so fast!
At my last sonogram before we had her, Callie was estimated to weigh a little over six pounds. I had several weeks to go, so I was expecting an eight pound baby! That was not the case-thankfully. She was so tiny, practically nothing I took to the hospital fit her. And turns out, I didn't really care what she had on in the hospital. Before she was born, I was only concerned about her being cute in the hospital. I spent too much time shopping for little hats with bows on them, because I couldn't bare the thought of her having on the hat that the hospital provides in all of her pictures! I found a little white one at Apple Annie's and then went online to get a pink one!
She's worn them some, but I have a feeling she has already outgrown them! They made me happy whenever I bought them though.
After being in the hospital for two nights with little to no sleep, we were completely exhausted. I didn't sleep on Sunday night before we went to the hospital, obviously. That night we had been to Mrs. Suzanne's for my "last supper." She cooked my favorite- grilled pork chops and baked potatoes! We took pictures and came home to finish up preparing for the hospital!
I could not get over all of that dark hair!!
Since they don't really take babies to the nursery anymore, I was up all night with Callie spitting up amniotic fluid. Austin seemed to have no problem sleeping on the uncomfortable couch beside us! In hindsight, that was a night I'll never forget, but I was really longing for some sleep.
On Tuesday in the hospital there was no rest for the weary. Somebody was
coming in at least every hour.
We were such a mess by Tuesday night that we asked Callie's nurse to take her to the nursery! Explaining that there was no nursery and she wasn't supposed to take her, she took her anyway and watched her overnight in the NICU. Before she left with her, she asked if we would like her to bring Callie back to us whenever she wanted to eat. I told her to keep her as long as she would!! #iwassotired She told us she would bring her back before shift change the next morning. Hallelujah. I ended up getting sick in the wee hours of the morning and not really sleeping good anyway, but at least I wasn't watching a newborn on top of that!
By Wednesday morning, we were ready to bust out of there. Austin was going stir crazy to say the least. Dr. Reeves came by early Wednesday morning, and we were on our way home before lunch. If we had been a little more prepared to leave that early, I think we could have been gone sooner.
The bow looks as big as her head. Whoops.
I feared the ride home and how itty bitty Callie Taylor would like the car seat, but it was no trouble at all. We were so scared of what she would act like coming home that we almost didn't make the fourth a mile trip over to Jackson Healthcare to drop off some paper work that was pretty important! Her little outfit Mama Jim got her to come home in may fit her in 3 months... It was falling off! We kept the bow on for the picture and then I put a little hat on her to keep her warm! We went straight home and my mama beat us there. Callie slept the entire way.
The first night we were home, mama and Mama Jim cooked us chicken nuggets. Mattie and Jake came by after school and Daddy Jim came too. Matthew came to get them before late and we all had supper. We had a house full of family, and I'll always remember that!
Callie was still a perfect baby at the time and never really even acted like she may cry unless I changed her diaper! Whenever we left the hospital with her, we had only really heard her cry two times. My mama stayed with us the first night to try to let us get some sleep. I was wound so tight that even on pain medication I could only sleep really good for a couple hours. We put the rock n' play by the couch for them to sleep and whenever we got up the next morning, Mama Mac was holding Callie. Her response was that "she just likes to be held" and "I didn't want her to cry and wake ya'll up!" That was Callie's first night at home!
On Thursday night, night two, Mrs. Suzanne came and stayed with us.
We gave Callie a little bath for the first time and she screamed her head off. We got the bathroom really warm and put her on a towel on the counter. At the time, she hated to be naked. I think it had more to do with being cold! We were praying the cord would fall off of her belly button quickly so that we didn't have to do many more baths like that. She was super cute in her little hooded towel anyway.
Friday night, Dennis, Beccy and Morgan came and brought us supper and visited. I had started feeling pretty rough and was barely getting around whenever they came! My daddy held her for the first time that night.
On Saturday, we trekked to Jackson for her check up at the hospital. We met my nurse in the hall and she was so sweet. It was good to see her under more normal circumstances! We found out that Callie's jaundice level was on the verge of being high enough to treat and we were to come back a few days later. We tried to get what little sunlight was available shining on her on the way home and over the next few days at home! We stopped at Target on the way home that day to get Callie a sleep sack because I did not like not being able to cover her up. I didn't want her to suffocate, but I also didn't want her to freeze and it was COLD outside. We were struggling to keep our house warm! Going in Target by myself felt like a vacation.... I bought myself some candy hearts and tried not to spend too long looking through all the things.
We went back on Monday whenever she was one week old and she got the all clear. Thank goodness. Mama didn't want to deal with the jaundice treatment. This marked the beginning of week two! This week started the "Meal Train" and we had lots of yummy food dropped off throughout the following two weeks. I wish I had gotten pictures with all of the sweet people who came and visited and fed us! In addition to the meal train from church, we had other friends and family making sure we were well taken care of! Visitors were in and out and we enjoyed the people we love getting to meet our newest addition.
Week two proved to bring out a new side of Callie! She was suddenly fussy and sometimes inconsolable! At her two week appointment, we changed her formula to Gentle Ease and got her on Zantac and that seemed to help until a few weeks later whenever she was fussy again and never satisfied. At five weeks, we have changed her formula again to Soy.
As far as a schedule, we do not really have one! This child does what she wants, when she wants! I have tried a schedule and she just is not having it! She does consistently go to sleep for the night after her last bottle between 8:30-10:00.
She had been waking up once around 1:30am and then again around 4:30 or 5:00. More recently, she wakes up around 1:00 but I can give her the paci and she will go back to sleep until 3:30 or so. She wakes up for the day between 5:30 & 6:30. It really isn't terrible, but mama loves her sleep!
At first I was sleeping on the couch in the living room with her in the swing pulled up beside the couch. We had tried the rock n' play beside our bed and she didn't like that! So for about two weeks I slept on the couch with the exception of my mom coming to give me a break! The first time I got back in my bed with Austin, I cried tears of exhaustion/relief. I guess I thought sleeping on the couch would last forever. Sometime during week three or four we decided to try the rock n' play by the bed again and it worked. In the beginning I was getting up to go to the kitchen each time I got up to feed her and mixing up her formula! After a few weeks of that, I started going to bed with what I needed and never leaving the bedroom. Austin somehow slept through all of that. Since I have gone back to work, we have changed her formula AGAIN to ready to feed so I have to get up and go to the fridge most of the time. And Austin has started getting up with us most of the time, too! When she wakes up in the night, she never really cries. I get the bottle ready before she is out of control and she usually just goes right back to sleep. Before I went back to work, she would never go back to sleep in the rock n play after the second time she got up and we always napped in the living room until late in the morning.
Now that she's a few weeks older, she is waiting until later to wake up the second time and she doesn't really go back to sleep. And I have to go to work some days anyway! During my maternity leave and on my days off since then, we usually make sure we are awake in time for Hoda and Kathie Lee at 10:00! They're my favorite. Unfortunately, Hoda was out for the last few weeks of my maternity leave for the Olympics. Bummer.
Before Callie was born, I was really worried about how I would handle 6 weeks of being at home all day, every day. Pre-Callie, after a Saturday of being home all day, I was going crazy. But things have changed, and I can honestly say I enjoyed all six weeks of being home with her and the time I've had home with her since then. I went back to work after six weeks, but only three days a week. Without all of the help I've had, I may have been ready to go back to work! We have been out of the house some, too.
Callie's first outing besides doctors appointments was to Satartia! She was going on five weeks old and mama needed some sleep. I knew with that much family around it could happen! The second night we were there, my mama kept her in their room and let us sleep. It was fun having Callie on her first little family get away with the Freeny clan!
I don't have picture evidence, but we took her to the Rhinewalt's that same weekend to watch the Super Bowl! She went there before she went to Mama Mac's or Mammie's house! That same week we took her to Mammie's for her 55th birthday celebration!
We went for her six week check up the day I went back to work so I only worked for half the day. Mama Mac kept her and got her ready for us. She weighed 8 lbs 12 oz at her check up. She had gained two pounds since birth.
Her jeans were a little tight, bless it. Mama Mac said next time, she needs a top that covers her booty!
The working mom thing is taking some adjustment, but I am thankful to be working part time! The first day I left her, it was with Mammie. That was on a Tuesday. She slept terrible Tuesday night and I was a zombie by Wednesday so my mom came and stayed with us and got up with her through the night. I fell asleep in the recliner with Callie before my mom got to our house that night. I ended up sleeping from 7 that night to 7 the next morning with the exception of moving from the recliner to the bed. Never been so tired!! By that Thursday after dance, I could not wait to get my hands on Callie. Whenever I came home that night, she was screaming but I didn't even care! Knowing that she is in good hands makes leaving her easier. And I get lots of pictures through the day like the ones to follow:
We are loving this baby girl a little more everyday. The bigger and more alert she gets, the more fun she is. And it helps that we have finally gotten her formula straightened out so she is pretty happy most of the time! I already catch myself remembering those first days and just how special they were. I couldn't count the times I've watched the video I made of the day she was born. I wish I could go back and relive that again and again. I know I'll feel the same way about these days, too. I'm going to attach a few more of my favorite pictures and try to blog again before another two months pass!
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