Laynie's 1st hospital stay & 5/6 months old

Well...I was on a 5 month roll and lost track! What can I say? I am who I am! One day, Laynie will read these and see who her mother is for who she is...a busy procrastinator! Although she is actually 9 months as of the date I'm writing this, I'm going to break it into segments since so much has been going on!

A little after Laynie turned 5 months, my poor baby had her first hospital stay. She developed this little rash on her bottom that looked like little pimples. We went to Austin for my birthday in early January and I remember her having it then but it would come and go with diaper cream so I didn't think much of it. On Monday, January 13, when I dropped her off at Ms. Anna's the bump didn't seem bad...nothing to worry about. It was on her left butt cheek. By the time I picked her up, it had gotten bigger and redder. I knew we probably needed to go to the doctor but was planning on taking her the next day after work. I decided though to go ahead and make her an appointment for Tuesday morning. Monday night, she became increasingly more fussy and the spot was continuing to redden and she started running a little fever. By Tuesday morning it was firm, had come to a white head, and was warm to the touch. It was also painful when it was touched. Thank God I had decided to take her to the doctor instead of waiting!  We had to see Dr. Onhaizer, one of the other pediatricians at Pearland Pediatrics, because Dr. Gray (her regular pedi) was on maternity leave. He took one look at it and said it was an abscess that needed to be incised and drained meaning they would have to poke it with a needing and apply pressure to push the infection out. Sorry for the gory details! He contemplated sending us to Texas Children's right then. I really appreciated how much thought he put into it (I could tell he was really pondering the best decision) so I asked him what he would do with his own children. He said that's exactly what he was thinking about and said that he felt that we had caught it early enough to handle in the office. They moved us to a larger room in the office so that he had more room to move. He sprayed lidocaine on it to topically numb it but aside from that, there was no anesthetic. As soon as he sprayed the lidocaine, the abscess opened on its own but he still had to puncture it with the needle to make sure it was open enough to push all of the infection out. He applied a lot of pressure and there was quite a bit that came out. Needless to say, this was absolutely horrible to experience! She cried so so much! I felt so so bad. At the end, he placed a large band aid on it and gave us an antibiotic cream to apply. He also said she would need to sit in warm baths a few times a day to continue pushing the infection out. We went home and spent the rest of the day with lots of cuddles of course! 

By the next day (Wednesday), the spot looked a little bit better and she had broken her fever so we were crossing our fingers we were on the right track. However, by the end of the night, it wasn't really looking much better and she was still in pain. I called all of my nurse friends/family possible to see if anyone could provide any tips. My cousin Lorie who works in cardiology at Texas Childrens ended up being my life line and offered the best advice! I explained everything to her and she said from what I was explaining that it may be closing back up and that unfortunately, with cases like this, they often have patients who tried to take care of it in office but ended up in the hospital anyway. She said they would probably end up admitting her to the hospital and perform surgery and to keep her on strong antibiotics. I thought this was crazy!! I was freaking out and praying that it was in fact healing rather than worsening. As the night progressed, the area was still very red, hot to touch and was becoming firm again. I called the on-call doctor and he said it did sound like it was closing back up and that she would need to be seen again. He didn't feel it was severe enough to need to rush to the ER because ER's at night are a mad house but he suggested that we take her into the office first thing Thursday morning. We went ahead and did that and by the morning, it had come to a head again meaning it definitely need to be opened and drained again. Dr. Onhaizer said they could do it again in office but we decided to go ahead and take her to the ER. 

We got to the ER and there was only a few other kiddo's there waiting, thank goodness. We still had to wait quite a long time in the ER room before we knew what was happening. The worse part was that we could not feed her anything in case she had to have surgery. We finally got confirmation around 5 or 6 in the evening that they would in fact perform surgery to incise and drain the abscess and that she would have to be placed under general anesthesia and everything. Everything Lorie had told me was spot on! She definitely knows her stuff! I'm so glad she had told me all of that before because I probably would have been beside myself had I now known that was a possibility in advance. They started IV's to get her some fluids to keep her hydrated since she could not eat anything. Putting the IV in was so difficult because her little hands are chubby and her veins are hardly visible. The nurse had to put a light under her hand to illuminate her veins. He missed the first time and had to stick her again. Daddy had a VERY difficult time watching this and became very impatient! I stayed holding her head and trying to console her while he was on light duty to help the nurse see her veins. Ultimately, we had to turn the lights off with the small light under her hand until the moment he pushed the needle in to allow visibility as long as possible. Once it was in, and she calmed down, my sweet happy baby was her typical happy self! She was even trying to wiggle around and roll like she always does. My baby was so so strong! My mom came around 8 in the evening to bring us clothes and some other things we needed and stayed until Laynie was out of surgery and into a room.

They finally took us up to the Pre-Op surgery area around 8:30 or 9. The 3 of us got of course got to sit there with her until they took her back around 9:30. I'm surprised how well I did through all of this! I never cried once. I guess knowing that I was at one of the best hospitals in the world with the best doctors and also having the heads up from Lorie before all of this actually happened was comforting. The procedure was very quick. She was out in about 20 minutes. They made two incisions, basically poked two holes and drained it out completely. A loop drain was placed between both holes to keep it open. The "loop drain" looked more like a twist tie used at the grocery store and allowed for infection to continue to exit if there was any. It would need to stay in for a week then could be removed. Once she was in recovery, they fed her right away and boy was my poor baby hungry! She was a little groggy and fussy but once she was awake, which was only after about 15 minutes, she was smiling like crazy!! The nurses couldn't get over it! We were in recovery for a bit then were moved to a room for the night. They continued her on IV fluids and antibiotics. She did great through the night so we were able to head home by about 11 the next morning. She would continue to need to sit in a warm bath a couple of times a day so Nana (Corey's mom) came to the rescue and kept Laynie for a few days so that I could go back to work. Gammie (Corey's step mom) also kept her one day. I am so so thankful for all of the help we got from our parents during all of this! She healed perfectly from everything and now has a little scar where each hole was...nothing major that anyone will see anyway. 

I asked the doctor over and over again what we did wrong that caused this. I will be the first to admit that I am not a germ-o-phone at all...if some food falls on the floor, pick it up and eat it! I just don't freak too much about germs and I can honestly say I am hardly ever sick. So I asked if it was possible that I was not clean enough...should we have done something different with the rash?? What did we do to cause this?!?! I was assured by multiple doctors that it was just bad luck. There was nothing I did "wrong" to cause this. He said some kids just get these and that the diaper area is a very common area because it's warm and confined. He said they sometimes see kids who get them over and over. I'm praying our case is not one of those! Needless to say, if I see any little rash or bumps on her, I am on it like white on rice! We keep a tube of the antibiotic cream just in case. Lab results later confirmed that it was staph with MRSA. We're still not certain where it came from but the doctor explained that staph can easily be carried and "live" in various places of your body without infecting the area, like nostrils. He had us put antibiotic cream in our noses as well to kill the infection in case it were there. Fortunately the antibiotics she was on were effective and she has been perfectly fine since then! 

The week all of this happened was also my first week of classes for grad school. I swear it seems God was testing my limits with all of these things going on. I kid you not...life has been non-stop since our episode with the hospital! It is finally slowing down a little but only temporarily! 

Now the fun stuff about my little Wiggles! I tried to jot down notes as much as possible in my phone so that when I finally had the time to blog, I would remember it all! 

At 5 months she was still taking 2 naps: 1 in the late morning and one late afternoon. We finally transitioned her to sleeping in the crib January 5 and she did wonderful! She LOVES her blanket and likes to have it on her face when she goes to sleep. At first this was a little scary but she's been fine. Over the weekend while we were in Austin (before the hospital), she found her tongue and sticks it out most of the time! 

Laynie officially turned 6 months old on January 25. She weighed 14 lbs and was in the 14th percentile for weight. She was 25 inches and in the 22 percentile for height and came down a little in percentiles for head circumference at 43 cm which is in the 63rd percentile! 

She is still wearing size 3 month clothes and size 2 diapers. Laynie is drinking Gentlease formula (we buy the store brand) and has cereal with a bottle in the morning and eats stage 1 foods for lunch and dinner in addition to her formula. 

She is sitting up really good and started getting to her knees as if she may crawl. She also experienced her first Super Bowl and cheered on the Denver Broncos! We spent super bowl sunday at Lacey & Casey's house. 

Laynie is such a good and happy baby! She smiles so much and is just so content! She loves her jumperoo and the bouncy seat. She also loves playing in her Laugh and Learn Car. Rex loves it too and has to be reminded that it is Laynie's car, not his! Watching the two of them has continued to be so exciting! 

Laynie is 5 months old!

My sweet baby girl turned 5 months old on Christmas Day, December 25, 2013. The last month has definitely been an eventful one! I'm a little delayed in writing this because of all of the festivities as well as some technical difficulties! But at least I'm sticking to my monthly blog! yay!

Laynie weighs 14 pounds, .02 ounces. We were able to weigh her when we took Rex for his 3 year check up. She is wearing 3-6 month clothing, but mostly 3 month. Some of her 3 month jammies are getting a little tight but some still fit. Most of the 6 month clothes are still too big. I found yet another box of size 1 diapers in her closet (even though I "knew for sure" we were out of them as of my last blog!) so I'm hoping we get through that box before she grows out of them. They fit but they're getting snug!

She has quite a healthy appetite! Dr. Gray had us go ahead and start with fruit solids including pears, apple sauce, and prunes due to Laynie's constipation. She preferred food over juice or Karo. It got pretty bad a couple of times so I'm try to be very strategic about what she eats. I still typically put dark karo syrup in 2-3 bottles per day to assist with keeping her regular. Sometimes I feed her cereal with juice instead of formula. For lunch she eats either cereal with formula or cereal with juice. For dinner she eats a fruit with cereal. She still takes about 4 ounces of milk for all other feedings. She adjusted very easily to taking solids. She's just very nosey and looks all over the place which sometimes makes it difficult to feed her. I typically sit her in her bumbo and feed her but I'm putting her in her high chair more often now.

Over the last month, I slowly produced less and less milk. For awhile I was only feeding her in the middle of the night but even doing that one feeding, my supply dwindled and I wasn't able to keep up. The last time I breastfed her was around mid December. I had hoped to make it to Christmas with feeding in the evenings but it just didn't work out. I am proud though for making it to where I did. It was one of the most rewarding experiences and I strongly encourage any mom who is able to breast feed to do so. I miss the bond more than anything but I'm so glad I got to experience it this time.  On a happy note though, I never engorged or had pain when I stopped. I'm assuming it's because it was a gradual stop rather than all at once. The same thing happened with Rex. Yay for no pain! It has been nice not having to worry about what I'm eating or taking or drinking, especially through the holidays!

She sleeps pretty well at night! She typically has dinner around 7 or 7:30 then she'll play a little bit then take a 4 ounce bottle. After that, she'll play a bit then go to sleep around 9 or 9:30. This is about the same time Rex goes to sleep. Laynie will sleep until about 3 or 4 for a feeding. She'll have her bottle then go right back to sleep. She typically wakes up around 7 or 7:30. Of course, when I'm back at work, I have to wake her around 6:30 to get dressed and head to Ms. Anna's. During the day, she takes a morning nap which is typically about 30 minutes then she takes a long afternoon nap starting anywhere from 1:00 to 3:00.

She still sleeps in the co-sleeper next to our bed. My plan was to transition her to the crib over Christmas break and it has yet to happen! Yes, momma is having some separation issues! Seriously though, I couldn't find the plug to the monitor so I could not imagine moving her in there without a monitor! That was excuse #1. Excuse #2 was that she's had a stuffy nose for a week or 2 and I didn't want to move her until it passed so that I could closely monitor her. Good excuses, right?? :)

She is definitely quite the roller! She rolls both ways-back to belly and belly to back. She typically only rolls to her right and keeps rolling the same direction. When I lay her on her play mat, its usually not long before she rolls over. A lot of times I'll step away for a bit and she's rolled off the mat and onto the floor. She is very active and very wiggly! I call her wiggles all the time and even Rex has started to call her Wiggles! She was the exact same way in my belly...to the point that I was concerned she was having a seizure or something sometimes because she moved so much. One day this month, she was wiggling so much while she was playing on her mat that she somehow managed to get her foot out of her footie pajamas!

We are currently working on sitting up. She's almost there. She still needs some support but I know it will only be a matter of time until she's sitting up on her own.

This month I transitioned to giving her a bath in her tub in the big tub rather than in the kitchen sink. It's easier and she does well with it.

Laynie is such a happy baby. She smiles at anyone and people just love her! My favorite smiles are her morning smiles when I peek into her bed and say good morning. She gets so excited! I'm going to have to get it on video and share it! These last 2 weeks, she's become a little more demanding of my attention but for the most part, she is pretty content most of the time. She loves her bouncy seat, activity mat, and jumper exersaucer thing. This month she has also discovered spitting and making raspberry sounds so that is fun for her! Not so fun when I am trying to feed her but still kind of funny!

I definitely have a drooly baby on my hands! She constantly has her hands in her mouth and is chewing on her fingers. Unless she has a bib on most of the day, I have to change her outfit often because the top of her shirt gets completely wet with drool. I have a feeling teeth may be right around the corner!

Watching her and Rex bond more and more over time is one of my favorite things to witness. Although I have brothers and sisters, I did not grow up with any of them so I've never had a first hand experience with a sibling bond in regards to growing up together so I'm loving watching their relationship grow. Rex loves her so much and is so so sweet with her. He talks to her and calls her "mamacitas" and says "Yaynie" instead of "Laynie." He often says "Hi Laynie! We have so much to do today!" or says "You ready to go bye-bye Mama?" when we're getting ready to leave. He LOVES to lay with her on her play mat and loves to touch her head. I know as they continue to grow together, they will teach me so many lessons about love and that sibling bond. I'm so excited to watch them grow together.

Over the last month she had her first Thanksgiving, celebrated her big brother Rex's 3rd birthday and celebrated her 1st Christmas. It has been a busy busy month but a blessed one for sure! She got the laugh and learn car for Christmas from Santa and a multitude of toys from all of the grandparents. We spent Christmas Eve at Nana and Pop's (Corey's parents) and (hopefully) started a new tradition of having my mom and Corey's dad over at our house for Christmas morning breakfast. Later in the day, we went to my moms for Christmas dinner with my family. It was a wonderful first Christmas for my baby girl!

I'm excited to see what the next month holds! Maybe sitting up?? Maybe starting to crawl??? Time will tell!

Laynie is 4 months!

Laynie Magdalena is 4 months old!!

Laynie turned 4 months on Monday, November 25. Her 4 month check up was the next day (today). She weighs 12 pounds, 11 ounces and measures 24 inches long. Her head circumference is 42 centimeters! She is in the 25th percentile for weight, 39th for height and 75th for head size! haha!! I still think it's so funny that she is in the 75th percentile for her head. It really doesn't seem that big to me! She's got the cutest chubby cheeks that make her look much chubbier than she really is. Rex was typically in the 25th-ish percentile for weight so I'm still thinking she's going to be on the small size like him. She got 4 shots today and was definitely more fussy than usual. My poor baby!

Laynie is wearing 3 month clothes and size 1 diapers. We found another big box in the closet so that got us through even longer. I know now, we're on our last box of size 1's so we'll switch to size 2 when we run out of the 1's. Over the last month, my milk supply has slowed down dramatically so she is mostly formula fed now. When I went back to work, I had a feeling I would do good with pumping until that extra busy week of things going on hit. And sure enough...it hit! I had 4 ARD meetings in a week so I was very busy getting those prepared and started pumping in the afternoon right after school instead of around 11 like I had been. Once that happened, my production slowed big time and I ran out of the supply that I had in the freezer. So for about the last 2 weeks, she gets formula all day and I went ahead and stopped pumping. I nurse her either when I get home from work or at night to go to sleep and when she wakes up for her feeding in the middle of the night. It's been a very bittersweet thing for me because I really wanted to at least make it to 6 months so I didn't meet my goal. It's also been nice, though, not to stress about pumping at work. I'm enjoying continuing to nurse in the evenings so we still get to have that bond and at least she is still getting some breast milk. I'd like to continue doing at least that through 6 months, or at least through Christmas! Time will tell...

This month I discovered for sure that Laynie is sensitive to milk. I drank a good size milk shake and it made her very gassy and fussy. I felt so bad! She is drinking the Gentlease formula and that seems to fit her very well.

Starting this month, we will start introducing solids. We tried rice cereal for the 1st time today. She wasn't too crazy about it! We'll keep trying, of course :)

She is still sort of random with naps during the day. She still takes her little catnap around 7 every night and is ready for bed between 8:30 and 9. She wakes at night around 3:40 AM and sometimes more often but typically she only wakes once.

At 3 1/2 months, Laynie rolled over for the first time!! She didn't do it again, though, until this last Sunday (the day before she turned 4 months). She gets so close all the time but doesn't quite make it over. I'm sure over the next month she will be rolling all over the place

We went on our first road trip this month! On November 9, my cousin Adrian got married to his beautiful wife Lindsey in Wimberley, Texas, about 3 hours away.  We took the kids with us but Ashley went to her moms that weekend as well so that they could keep the kids while we went to the wedding. Laynie did pretty well on the road. She fussed here and there but over all it wasn't bad. We are planning on going to the deer lease the first weekend in December which will be a longer drive so I'm anxious to see how she does then.

Right after she turned 3 months, we celebrated Laynie's first halloween! My niece Valerie bought her first costume and she was Belle from Beauty and the Beast. She looked sooooo cute!! It was the cutest little onesie costume! We went trick or treating in Cody and Ashley's neighborhood. Laynie was asleep by the time we got around the block!

Rex has continued to be a wonderful big brother to his little sister! Aside from waking her up from time to time, he is so so loving with her! He mimics the way I talk to her in his little high pitched voice and Laynie just smiles away at him! I'm so excited to watch them bond more and more as she grows older.

This next month will be so exciting with all of the holidays coming up and a mountain of birthdays! I'm so excited to celebrate her first Christmas! Rex is at such a fun age for Christmas so it's even more exciting.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!

Laynie is 3 months old!!

My baby girl is 3 months old!! Crazy!!! The last month has been a very busy and eventful one so I have lots to tell!

Laynie turned 3 months on Friday, October 25. She is such a good baby!! I thought Rex was good (and he was!) and thought it couldn't get any easier than him. I think Laynie has proved me wrong. She is even better than he was! It's crazy! She hardly fusses. When she does, I typically know exactly what she needs and do whatever it is so the fussing is minimal. She'll fuss when she's tired or hungry but typically not much beside that.

I don't know exactly how much she weighs since this month there is not a doctor visit but I can definitely tell she's growing! She is still in size 1 diapers. We had one big box left so she'll finish that out then we'll move on to size 2. She is wearing mostly 3 month clothes. Some of them still fit a little big but she's still able to wear them. Sometimes she's still able to get into newborn clothes depending on what it is. She's definitely chubbier than Rex was but not super chubby. I think my kids are just destined to be on the smaller end of size considering their gene make up! She is still mostly breast fed with one formula bottle around lunch time. Sometimes she has 2 formula bottles for the day but that's only happened a couple of times. She is always breast fed at night and early mornings before work.

Laynie got sick for the first time the day after she turned 2 months The weekend before that, Rex came down with croup. We tried really hard to keep him away from her but she ended up catching something. The night she turned 2 months, she coughed a couple of times but still slept through the night fine. In the morning, I fed her while we were at Ms. Anna's before I headed to work. When I was feeding her, I really felt how warm she was. If I remember correctly, she was running a fever around 102. I was in total panic mode because she was so little still. I headed back home with her and called the doctor. She ended up having an ear infection. The doctor didn't want to officially diagnose the cough as croup because it didn't sound like a croupy cough so she considered it a cold. She went ahead and put her on antibiotics and said she would have the cough for up to 2 weeks. The fever went down after she got the meds going in her and she recovered perfectly fine, Thank God! Hopefully that's our last bout of sickness for awhile.

Laynie went to her first wedding this month! One of my oldest friends, Clemente got married to Mari on October 5. It was a beautiful wedding! Laynie and Rex were with us for the mass then hung out with Gammie and Poppa for the reception. She wore the pink party dress Kim Collier got her for my shower. I couldn't wait for her to wear that dress! It was so cute on her!

We also got her ears pierced this month on October 13! What a fiasco that was! We took her to the Piercing Pagoda at Baybrook Mall. Momo had been wanting to repierce her ears too so she and my mom joined. Laynie and Momo were getting their ears pierced together! So cute! Long story short, the girl missed the mark on her left ear so the piercings were uneven! I was NOT a happy momma! We ended up taking the left earring out a couple of hours after it was pierced so that it could heal quickly and we could re-pierce it. The next weekend, my sister and step mom were in town for Laynie's baptism so they went with me to the mall to have it re-done. This time the girl got it right on the mark! Laynie cried but not for long. She cried much longer when they pierced both ears. Her BFF Lucy also got her ears done the day Laynie went for round 2. She looks so sweet with her little earrings!

On October 14, she put herself to sleep for the first time. I'm sure this has a lot to do with putting herself to sleep at Ms. Anna's. Typically in the evenings after work, she eats around 4:30 or 5 if she had not already eaten at Ms. Anna's before I pick them up. She cat naps around 7 for about 20 minutes. I feed her whenever she gets hungry in between that time then I nurse her one last time around 9 to get her settled for bed for the evening. Sometimes this puts her to sleep but when I lay her down, she usually wakes up then puts herself back to sleep. That first night, on the 14th, she fell asleep on her own on her play mat. At night, she wakes up 1-2 times to eat, usually around 3:40-4:00 and sometimes once before that around midnight or 1 AM. I feed her and we typically both fall back asleep pretty quickly. She doesn't like staying asleep in my arms the whole time anymore. She gets pretty wiggly so I put her back in her bassinet and she settles in. I feel like she's getting so big already! In the mornings, I feed her either right before we leave or right when we get to Ms. Anna's before I head to work.

Most importantly this month, my baby girl was baptized October 20, 2013! It was such a joyous occasion and I feel so incredibly blessed to have been able to share that day with so much of our family. My sister Leanne and brother in law Johnnie drove all the way from Denver to baptize her and be her God Parents.  Laynie wore the same gown that I was baptized in 26 years ago! It was always my dream if I had a little girl for her to wear my baptismal gown. It fit her perfect!! I plan to preserve the gown now so that we can use it again should we have another baby. If not, that way my children can use it for their children's baptisms. Laynie was baptized along with 6 other babies at Mary Queen Catholic Church in Friendswood. We definitely had the largest group to go up to the baptismal font when she was baptized which made me realize even more how lucky and blessed we are to have such amazing friends and family who love our and support our kids. I'm especially thankful that my sister and Johnnie made the long trip down here for it. After the baptism, we had a reception at our house. I hired a "trompo" stand and it was a total hit!! Everyone loved it!! And we loved everyone's company!

The coming month will be busy busy again! I have a feeling that having one kiddo with a birthday and December and one in July will make time seem to go by even faster! Kinda makes me sad! I'm holding onto every bit of her being little while I can! I know it will be gone before I know it!

Laynie is 2 Months Old!

My baby girl is 2 months old today!! This month with Laynie has continued to be just as wonderful and even more wonderful than her first month. We continue to be blessed with a very good baby! She is an absolute joy and we can't imagine life without her.

At her 2 month check up today, she weighed 10 lbs .05 ounces and measured 22 inches long. She was about the 35th percentile for both weight and height. Apparently she has a good size noggin...she measured in the 75th percentile for head circumference!! Laynie is wearing size 1 diapers and 0-3 month clothes. She still fits into some newborn onesies and outfits but jammies are definitely 0-3 months or 3 months.

Laynie is a good eater! She is still mostly breast fed. At 5 weeks, I introduced formula for the first time. I decided to go ahead and introduce it to give me a break from nursing and hopefully hold her over longer between her day time meals. She was nursing very frequently during the day so I felt that she may not be getting enough to suffice. She took the formula perfectly fine without any resistance. She is currently on the Enfamil Newborn formula and has one 4 ounce bottle of formula a day around lunch time. Nursing is going very well!! I finally hit the no pain mark at around 6 weeks. I nurse in the football hold, cross cradle hold and if she nurses at night, I nurse her laying down on her side. I'm really glad I toughed it out and hope to continue to 6 months!

She is continuing to be an amazingly good sleeper! At 7 1/2 weeks, she slept from 9:30 to 6:30!! Craziness at that age!! She likes to stay up kind of late then sleeps great at night and sleeps late into the morning. This last week, we've been working on nixing the late afternoon/early evening nap when we get home and keeping her up until about 8 then getting her settled in bed for the night. Last night was the first time to try it and she slept until 3:45, ate then went back to sleep, and slept until 5, ate, then went back to sleep again. I'm loving that I am able to nurse her laying down now because I'm able to relax and fall back to sleep much easier. Most of the time I keep her in bed with me after she finishes eating.

This last month has been very busy for us! My sister Leanne, who will be her God Mother, and niece Valerie came into town for a few days to meet and visit with Laynie. Their visit was wonderful and I absolutely loved their time here. Definitely makes me wish even more that they lived close by. The week after they left, I returned to work. It has been going very well. Laynie has done wonderful at Ms. Anna's. I know that it's all because she is getting lots of loving from Ms. Anna, Ms. Lorena, Ms. Nora and Ms. Petra! I definitely miss my baby but it feels good to be back at work. I was ready to be back but not quite ready to be without her. I really cherish our time in the evening and soak up every bit of it. Pumping at work is going well. My conference is at the perfect time during the day for pumping so it works out well.

Laynie's baby status amongst the great-grandchildren for my momo has been taken already! My cousin Allison delivered her newest addition, Edison Augustus on September 17! I'm so excited that Laynie will have family really close in age just like Rex does. Allison's next oldest, Olivia, is 6 months older than Rex and they play so so well together. I'm sure Edison and Laynie will be the same way!

The next month continues to be super busy for the Robinson family! I'm loving watching my baby grow and watching her big brother be an amazing brother to her. We are so so blessed to have our babies! It's just about time to start planning Rex's 3rd birthday! Yikes!! Did I seriously just type "3rd birthday?!?!?"

Laynie's First Month

Ok...I'm really going to try to be better at this. I'm praying I stick to blogging to remember all of the little details as Laynie grows. It's so sad how fast you forget things and I see how quick I forgot those details about Rex growing so I want to try to keep up with it this time. If you see I'm slacking and care at all, feel free to remind me to blog! haha!

Laynie's first month home has been great! She is a very good baby. I was deathly afraid that I would have a tougher baby this time because Rex was such a good baby. So far, that is not the case. Let's pray it stays that way and she saves me some grief until she's a teenager! ha!

Our first week home, Corey stayed home the whole week. Corey was was completely on Rex duty because I was not able to tend to him much because of my surgery. Obviously my movement was limited and I wasn't able to pick him up so Daddy and Rex have really had lots of bonding time over the last month! My mom was here quite a bit that week and especially in the following weeks when Corey went back to work until she went back to work. My goodness, where in the world would I be without that woman?? My step-mom Elvia and step sister Cindy also came in from Denton that Thursday when Laynie was a week old to meet her and help me out. It was wonderful!

At Laynie's one month check up, she weighed 8 pounds, 11.5 ounces. She weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces when we left the hospital and was back to her birthweight at her 2 week check up so she is gaining well! At this appointment she also got her 2nd hep-b shot. She let out one big cry when they gave it to her, took a big breath in and was finished. Thank God because that little cry just kills me! She's a tough little girl so far! She was in newborn diapers until about 3 weeks and is now in size 1. This girl poops quite a bit and keeps me on my toes with diaper changes and laundry! We've hide quite a few blow outs! I understand the frequent and looser bowel movements are typical in breast fed babies so I guess it comes with the territory! She is wearing newborn size clothes but has stretched a little too long to wear some of the jammies.

For the first 2 weeks, she was exclusively breast fed. Around 3 weeks, I started pumping and trying a bottle. We had plans to go to our friends Mari and Clemente's engagement party that weekend after she turned 3 weeks so I had to start pumping and wanted to make sure she would take a bottle before we went. We first gave her the playtex drop ins since this is what Rex used. She would take it but sometimes struggled with it so around one month, I tried the Tommee Tippee because of the wider based nipple and she latched on great! Based on the bottle feedings she has had, she eats about 3 ounces.

Nursing has been bittersweet. I love having that bond with her and sharing that time with her. There is some definitely fulfillment for me as a mother knowing that I am nourishing her. The first month was very painful though and there were times I was definitely ready to throw in the towel, especially on the days when she wants to nurse more frequently. I'm glad that I've toughed it out and am on the downward slope now that it is easier. During the day, she typically eats every 2 hours, max but more often eats every hour and a half. The frequency in feedings is a big part of what has made breast feeding difficult. She cat naps during the day unless she is being held. In the evenings, she starts to wind down and takes a longer nap (just in time for Daddy to be home...little stinker!). At night she wakes every 3-4 hours to eat and goes right back to sleep. Thus far, nights have been great! Let's pray it stays the same!

Our first outing beside going to the doctor was to my Aunt Martha's house. We...well...I was ready to get out of the house! Laynie was just over a week old. At two weeks, we went to Scarlet's birthday party. At 3 weeks, Nini and grandpa (My parents) babysat for the first time here at the house. At 4 weeks, Gammie and Poppa (Corey's dad and stepmom) came over to babysit while we went to dinner from Brooke's birthday.

Laynie smiled at me for the first time on her 1 month birthday. When she smiles she looks even more like me! She really is a little clone of me! Around 3 weeks, her hair started to stick up in the back. The front lays down smooth then at about the crown of her head, the hair sticks straight up! My mom said mine did that when I was a baby and Corey's mom said his did too so it's definitely in her genes!

Rex has been such a sweet sweet big brother. He finally accepted that she was not baby Lucy at about 2 weeks! He knows that she is baby Laynie and looks for her in the mornings when he wakes up. He loves to help me with her and loves playing with her, especially when she is laying on her jungle gym on the floor. I'm so thankful and excited that he's so interactive with her already. I can't wait to watch them more and more as time goes on.

The month has been full of lots of visitors and there's so much more family for her to meet! We're so thankful for all of the love we've felt since Laynie's arrival from our friends and family!

Welcome Laynie Magdalena Robinson

Our baby girl Laynie Magdalena Robinson was born Thursday, July 25, 2013 at 10:46 AM weighing 7 pounds, 5 ounces and measuring 20 inches long. She was and still is absolutely perfect! We are so so in love with our little girl.

Laynie's birth was a scheduled c-section. Surprisingly I slept really well the night before and actually did not want to wake up when my alarm went off in the morning. I'm weird...I know! In fact, we were almost late getting to the hospital! Turns out it wouldn't have mattered anyway because I ended up waiting in the waiting room for about 20 minutes before my nurse came to get us to go to the surgery prep room. I was very antsy and honestly a little irritated that I was sitting in a waiting room! I'm not sure why it bothered me so much but it did! Once we got into prep, everything went smoothly. I was a little upset to learn that I would not be getting lidocaine before the IV was inserted in my arm. I was dreading the IV more than the surgery itself because I remember how bad it hurt when I had Rex. This time they put it in my arm rather than my hand and it was much better for keeping it out of the way. While it did definitely hurt when they put it in, the pain didn't last too long and it didn't hurt at all when they took it out. So...I can't complain too much :) 

The rest of the prep was fine. As I was sitting there, they had a monitor for the baby on my belly to listen to her heartbeat. I did not have a monitor for contractions, only her heart beat but we could tell when I was having them not only because I felt them but because her heart rate would increase when I was having them. They were happening pretty regularly so I'd like to think I would have gone into labor that day anyway. I really really wanted to go into labor on my own. I hated knowing her birthday before she was here and just like the idea of her coming on her own and having the story to go with the day of her birth. While I was very glad to be delivering her, I would have preferred that she come on her own, even if it meant a few more days of discomfort! So...since I was contracting that morning, we're sticking with the thought that I would have gone into labor that day anyway, even if it's just to humor me and make me happy! :) 

After the I got all prepped, there was some down time where we were able to sit in the waiting room with my family. My mom, Eli, Ashley and Jenny were there the entire time. It meant to the world to me that they were there with us! We got to hang for about 20 minutes before I had to head back. Corey's mom Rhonda, Mark, Sydney and Blair came just after I went back for surgery and were there to meet Laynie when Corey got to come out with her. 

We headed to the operating room around 10:15. When I went back to the operating room, Corey waiting in the c-section waiting area while they did my epidural. That was much more painful than I remember with Rex. I told the anesthesiologist about the epidural going bad on my left side when I had Rex. He took a look at my spine and noticed that I have a slight scoliosis which would likely explain why that I happened. I thought it was very interesting! My ob-gyn, Dr. Ohlemacher and the other attending nurses and staff thought it was too and everyone was going back there to check out the slight curve in my spine! The doctor directed the epidural more to my left side because of this to make sure it didn't happen again. I was quite nervous when they were putting it in so the doctor had to give me some "liquid courage" as he said so that I could relax. It was the quickest drunk feeling I have ever felt!! Once I was relaxed, he finished up and all was well. By this point, I was feeling pretty woozy! I wanted to be as coherent as possible so that I that I was conscious and alert after wards to get a better start with skin to skin and nursing than I did with Rex. I tend to get very nauseous when I have surgery. This time proved no different and I got sick a few times once they started rolling with things. They gave me zofran for the nausea but it still got me. I can definitely see why they say no eating after midnight! By the time Corey came in, they had already gotten started with the surgery. I have to say it was pretty strange being awake as they were pulling and tugging on me. I was awake when Rex was born but I was extremely exhausted and drugged by that point so my memories are vague and sort of sporadic. Corey and I were talking here and there and before we knew it, we heart her beautiful cry!! It was wonderful!! I'm not much of a crier but I did cry a little bit when she was born. Corey did too :) 

After she was born, the finished sewing me up and Corey got to do a "drive by" with the family as they moved from the O.R to recovery. While they were finishing me, the medicine was getting to me quite a bit and I fell asleep. I don't remember going to recovery, I just remember waking up in there. Corey, Laynie and I were the only ones in there which I really appreciated. When I had Rex, I was completely unconscious immediately after having him because I was so exhausted. Everyone held my baby before I did. I was and still am so thankful that he got lots of loving and holding immediately but I really wanted to make sure that I got that initial experience with Laynie. To be completely honest, being in the recovery room made it easier for me to hog her and not have to worry about letting anyone hold her just yet. I honestly don't remember how long I was asleep from the time we got to recovery to when I held Laynie. I know it wasn't long and I remember waking up and wanting her right away. Once I had her, I got the enjoy that precious skin to skin time. I loved it! We were in recovery for about 2 hours before they moved us to our room. Our visitors followed us in then and visited with us. I still was not ready to give Laynie up quite yet so I held her for about another hour before I shared her! Then she got all of her loving from everyone! 

I started nursing after about an hour. Laynie latched on like a pro from the get go! I was so excited about it because this was a challenge with Rex. Ashley stayed to help coach me and stayed with me for the rest of the day. I will forever be eternally grateful for being blessed with the most amazing best friends in the world. I would be so lost without my Jenny and my Ashley. Just thinking about the unconditional love and support those two have always shown me, especially through this pregnancy make me tear up. I love them both so much. 

That afternoon my mom brought Rex to meet his little sister along with my aunt Mary Lynne and my Momo. Just as I predicted, Rex insisted that she was baby Lucy!! We kept telling him that it was Laynie and he would say "No! Baby Lucy!!" Nonetheless, he was very sweet with her from the get go. He wasn't too concerned with seeing me nor leaving me. He was with his Nini and Grandpa and that's all that mattered! 

The rest of our stay at the hospital was great with lots of visitors! We only had to eat hospital food a couple of times thanks to our visitors who brought us meals! Laynie was a champion nurser! Sometimes she would stay on the breast for 2-3 hours straight with a 10-15 minute break or two in between. Her pediatrician, Dr. Gray and the nurses said this was pretty normal so I toughed it out! She slept decently well at night for a newborn so I was very thankful for that! 

We headed home on Sunday. My mom and Eli met us at the house with Rex. My dad came into town that day too so that he could meet his newest grand baby. Jerry and Lucinda, came soon after to meet her too. Rhonda and Mark brought us dinner and some groceries that evening as well. We had a very warm welcoming by all of our parents and are so thankful for them! 

All in all, Laynie's birth was wonderful and went very smoothly! Although I don't have a crazy or exciting story to tell like I hoped, I am very thankful to have had a smooth delivery and perfectly healthy baby. We feel incredibly blessed to have our two babies home with us!