Hawaii here we come!

Call us crazy, yes we are traveling to Hawaii with a newborn! We leave in 9 days on December 28th and come back January 9th.

So yes this is very random. But my wife and I were talking about how we have time off together as a family. And probably won't have time like this again for a while. Plus we have been meaning to go out to visit C's brother, wife and their kids for a while now. So, what better time then now. This way they can all meet Reese. her brother is in the Army and is stationed in Hawaii.

I am excited and nervous about traveling with a 4 week old (at the time). I have my antibacterial wipes and plenty of hand sanitizer ready to go. There are still many things I will need to read about, like how to transport frozen breast milk on a plane (with lay overs) for 16 hours. As well as other tips and tricks for traveling with a newborn, what to bring and not to bring.

Here is a picture from this morning:

Two weeks old

Little Miss Reese is two weeks (as of yesterday). These past two weeks have been rough and amazing at the same time. Breast feeding and pumping has been interesting to say the least. It is a lot of work for me but I am not giving up. Right now I breast feed her and pump after in order to build up my supply. I have about 2-3 weeks of milk in the freezer which is great. And on top of that I leave some in the fridge so my wife can have bonding time with feeding too. Reese is doing well with both the bottle and breast so far… which is nice. She has some great nights and some not so great. For the most part she will go 3 hours between feeds, except nights like last night were she wanted to eat every 2 hours. By the time I am done changing, feeding, burping, pumping, and putting milk away about an hour and a half goes by. Which gives me very little sleep sometimes. But C has been great with helping, so we are getting by.

The baby went back to the doctors for a follow up on her bili levels and weight check. She is back to her birth weight (probably heavier now) and bill issue has resolved, yay! Yesterday we went to get her newborn photos done, I can't wait to see them! Here is a sneak peek:

My little snow princess!

Settling in at home

My sister took those adorable pictures. Little Ms. Reese is 9 days old now. Time is already flying! Her cord fell off this morning and she had her first real bath :).

She' here :)

So on Friday November 29th at 6:30am C and I went into the hospital for the scheduled induction. They started the pitocin, I was 95% effaced, 2cm dilated and -1 station at the point, so my midwife was expecting things to progress smoothly (since my body appeared to be ready). After about 2 hours of piton they broke my water and gave me an epidural in attempts to keep my heart happy during labor. The epidural took like four tries and was VERY painful! But unfortunately after 17 hours of labor I had only dilated to 4cm with no further progression. On top of that my epidural wore off completely, which through my heart into whacky rhythms from the intense pain. 

As you can imagine the next call was for a c-section. I was devastated but at that point I was in so much pain I was willing to do anything. So they wheeled me to the OR and gave me a spinal which was a MUCH better experience than the epidural! And at 12:14am on Saturday, November 30, 2013 Reese Brielle made her entrance into this world. After going through the whole process, hearing her first crying was the most amazing sound ever and made ever second worth it. She was born on C and I's first year wedding anniversary, what an amazing gift! She weighed 8lbs 3oz, 21.5 inches long. We are so blessed, and maybe I am a little biased but isn't she the most beautiful little girl ever!?

After the delivery my baby girl latched right on to feed like a champ! She had issues with her bili being high from a mixture of our blood. So for three days she was under bill lights which was so hard! But we are home as of yesterday and we survived our first night home :). Reese will need to get blood work today and tomorrow to make sure her levels are coming down nicely.

Here are some pictures: