Teaching Remy About Hannah

In an effort to make Hannah and Remy into friends, I tried a trick I read about online. We swaddled Hannah in a blanket for a day and then I gave it to Remy.

Do you think it's working?

One Week Old!

Hannah, you are one week old today!

You already have so much personality
and we just keep finding new things out about you every day.

For one thing, you love your left hand!
You always manage to get it out of your swaddle,
and you have it right next to your face everytime you eat or sleep.

You also love to show us your favorite finger...
We try not to get offended :)

(This picture was not staged...promise.)

You have been sleeping most of the time
(causing your silly mother to run to the baby books
to make sure you're not "excessively sleepy"),
and you eat every 2.5 to 3 hours.

Again, with the left hand...

(Sorry. No picture of Hannah eating.)

You love your play mat and your swing,...




...but you don't really like tummy time.

You have already melted our hearts...

We spend hours just staring at you and our favorite part of the day is when you are awake and staring back at us.

We love you Hannah-boo!!!

First Doctor's Visit

Today was a very eventful day for Miss Hannah! We went to the doctor today for her newborn wellness checkup and while she didn't much like being naked with a cold stethoscope on her chest, the doctor said everything was great... she was beautiful and healthy. Today she weighed 9 pounds, 2 ounces - 7 ounces less than she weighed at birth. But, since most babies lose about 10% of their birth weight, this was a good sign that she is eating well. Here are some pictures of her at the doctor's office.

After the visit to the pediatrician, we took Hannah to see our chiropractor, Dr. Myshka. He does a lot of pediatric consultations, since the whole birth process can be rough on them. But, he said everything was in alignment, which was good to hear. Perhaps it's because I pushed her out in 8 minutes?

Lastly, this afternoon, after we all took a long nap (Daddy, Mommy, Hannah and Remy), Hannah tried out her new play mat. We tried a few minutes of tummy time, but she was not loving it. But she did love just lying there and looking up at all the colorful animals!

Hannah is Home

Michelle pretty well covered the events of the last few days, but I wanted to add a few Daddy-related items.

First of all, she mentioned that Papi hit his first home run of the season on the day she was born, but the Red Sox also won. Good omen for my baby.

Second, I have (temporarily) given up on the "banana" nickname. For now, I call her my "Hannah-boo."

She is such an amazing baby. I know that things will change and our patience will wear thin, but for now, I can't believe how awesome she is. She is so content. She only cries when something is wrong. When her eyes are open, she seems to be thinking things out. We are both very thankful to God for this little miracle. Plus, I think she has Michelle's looks, which shows that God cares for Hannah.

The picture of Hannah on my stomach on our couch from Michelle's post was taken tonight. We have been watching Ken Burns' documentary on Baseball. She was sleeping on me as Jackie Robinson was making history in the big leagues. I only point that out because it is a memory I want to keep for the rest of my life. Me and my little boo...

The nights have been tough. Michelle has the worst of it because she has the food supply, and it is hard for me because there isn't much I can do to alleviate that. I have tried to wake up and lay in bed with her for moral support, but that has proven really really hard. For now, we have the system that Michelle mentioned in her post. I take Hannah and check her diaper and unswaddle her. Meanwhile, Michelle gets all of her pillows set up for feeding. This helps me stay up with her a little while longer because I got a little bit of blood flowing.

I'm not sure this added much to what Michelle said, but I wanted to mention it.

Newspaper?

We were just wondering if anyone still had a newspaper around from the day Hannah was born (Wednesday, May 20th)? We meant to pick up a couple so we would be able to tell her all about the big headlines around the world (besides Big Papi hitting his first homerun of the season and the Red Sox winning their game against the Blue Jays), but of course, we forgot! Thanks!!!

The first few days...

I can't believe that as I'm writing this, Hannah is already 5 days old! The first few days have flown by and we have been loving every minute of them! I'm still pretty tired and the doctor is having us wake Hannah up every 3 hours to eat, so naps are a blessing. Eric has been amazing at waking up with us at night and doing stuff around the house... and he's absolutely incredible with Hannah. My friend Julie told me once that when you see your husband with your new baby, that you fall in love with him all over again and that is definitely true!

So, here's a rundown of our first days together!

Wednesday night: I avoided eating deli meat my entire pregnancy because it was on the do not eat list, so I had only one request for my first after delivery meal... Jimmy John's! It's my all-time favorite sandwich place thanks to my years at Duke and their turkey sandwich rocks my world. So, my dad went to Jimmy John's and then to Sonic for a big ol' Dr. Pepper for me... it was great.

Eric and I spent most of this night just staring at Hannah and looking at each other with googly eyes... absolutely amazed that we had created this new life. Hannah got her first bath and we discovered that just like her momma, she loves to have her hair brushed!

Thursday: Our community group leaders Michael and Leigh came to visit us in the hospital, and we met with the pediatrician who told us Hannah was doing great... everything sounded good and she was very healthy, so we were happy to hear that! My mom and dad came for part of the day and hung out with us in the hospital, and I got to have Jimmy John's again for lunch (what can I say... I am obsessed!)

Friday: We left the hospital around 1 pm and after going to get my medicine and lunch (I'm embarrassed to say where), we made our way home. It was so much fun to bring Hannah inside and show her all around her fancy new digs... It was amazing to me that after all those months of putting her room together, she was finally there. We had a very relaxing Friday night at home; we were all able to take naps that afternoon and then our friends and neighbors Hilary, Jamey, Calla and Carter come over to meet Calla and Carter's new friend! Our first night at home was pretty good... we were up every 3 hours and Hannah seemed to adjust to the new surroundings well.

Saturday: On Saturday, my friend Cari and her mother and sister came to visit us and Hannah got lots of people time. She is so good about not fussing when other people hold her, so we hope she continues that! Cari is pregnant and due in November, so it will be exciting that Hannah will be so close in age to her child (we won't know if it's a boy or girl until June 10th). Saturday evening my parents came over for dinner and some more Hannah time. Saturday night was a bit more challenging than Friday night - Hannah stayed awake from 4 to 7, but Eric stayed up with her the whole time while I slept, and then he went back to bed once I woke up to feed her. Not a bad system, but when Eric goes back to work, that probably won't happen :)

Sunday: We had a very lazy Sunday, with all of us staying in our pajamas most of the day. It was nice to just relax and have some quality family time.

Today is Memorial Day and we had a cookout with some of my family - my mom and dad, my Aunt Pam, Uncle Larry, cousins Zach and Ethan and Zach's wife Katie. It was great for Hannah to get to meet more of her new family and she actually was awake for a good part of the afternoon, which was awesome. She had her eyes open and just stared at everyone and everything and was so great.

Of course now that everyone has gone home and it's just the three of us again, Hannah is sound asleep in Eric's arms... a familiar position. :)

Wow (Michelle's take on things)

So, Wednesday morning, I woke up about 5:15 AM and thought, "maybe I should keep sleeping... I'm so tired, and it's going to be a big day and all... I'll probably have the baby about noon or so..." So, Eric woke me up about 5:45 AM and as soon as I got up, I started having some contractions, which were very exciting. When we got to the hospital, I was about a 2, so they started the pitocin right away, which was great. I was afraid they were going to say "since you're already having contractions, why don't you go home and come back when they are every five minutes apart." I would have probably staged a sit-in if they had said that! But, once we got things started, it went pretty quickly at first, until my epidural. Like Eric said, it took her three times to get it to work... apparently the space between my vertebrae isn't very big, so she kept hitting bone. It was pretty uncomfortable and it felt really strange to have that kind of pressure in an area where you shouldn't feel pressure. She asked me if I'd rather her try to find a bigger needle (bigger than the 9 cm one she was completely burying in my spinal column), or just say we couldn't do it, or try it from a different angle. None of those sounded pleasant, but I told her I'd do whatever she thought was best. So she gave it one more try and with much prayer on my part (and I'm sure on Eric's as well, since he was watching that huge needle go in my back), it worked! After that, my contractions were painless - I could see on the monitor that I was having them, but I couldn't feel anything in my abdomen. And I thought that was it... I'd continue having these pain free contractions and then a few hours later, I'd push (pain free of course!) a few times and then Hannah would be in my arms.
Ha!

So, no one told me that epidurals don't really cover the INTENSE pressure that starts to happen down there once the baby starts coming down the birth canal. Oh man, it was not cool!!! I was dilated to a 5 at 4:30 and I was ready to start pushing then... the pressure, combined with an oh- so-exciting catheter experience, was really getting to me. Thankfully, the pitocin kept getting increased, so that in the space of about 2 hours, I was dilated to a 10 and it was time to start pushing. Once my doctor told me I could start pushing, it took them no time at all to get the bed rearranged so that my legs were in the stirrups, Eric was by my side holding my hand, and the doctor was telling me to take a deep breath and count to 10. My nurse had told me that she thought the pushing part would take the longest, but I was determined to prove her wrong! I know people that have pushed for 2 hours, but after my first set of counting to 10, I knew that couldn't happen... after a few more counts, I was ready to give up! So, I gave it all that I could and 8 minutes (8! Take that 2 hours!) later, I heard her crying. I looked at Eric and I was just crying... I couldn't believe it. She was here and she was beautiful and healthy and it was the most amazing moment I've ever experienced.

After that, they took her to the side of the room and measured her and weighed her and Eric was taking pictures and then bringing the camera over to me to show me how beautiful she was and we just kept staring at each other and mouthing "I love you" to each other... we were just completely in awe of this new life we had created. The next couple of hours passed by in a blur, my parents and aunt Pam came in after the doctor got us all cleaned up, and we all just kept staring at Hannah and talking about how big she was. I didn't even care that I was still in pain from the stitches or that I was starving after not eating anything but ice chips and popsicles all day; all I cared about was her. It was truly amazing. I'm not as eloquent as Eric is and I have trouble writing down all of my emotions, but trust me when I say I was completely blown away.

Hannah's Birthday Part 3

HANNAH IS HERE!!!

We are very very happy to announce that Hannah Marilynn LeClerc was born tonight at 6:40 PM. She weighed 9 lbs 9 oz, and is 21 1/2 inches long. She has a full head of hair and is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

Here are a few pictures...

Hannah's Birthday Part 2...

Eric again...

It's 2:51. Not much to report. Michelle is pretty much in general discomfort, but the epidural is helping. Her contractions are coming at regular intervals, but not at very high levels yet. She has been dilated to about a 4 for a while now.

We assume Hannah is coming today, but she needs to get a move on. Your prayers right now are very important. We know that Hannah is going to be healthy and beautiful thanks to the many prayers prayed for her, but this whole process is wearing on her mother.

The doctor just walked in...

Will keep you posted...

Hannah's Birthday Part 1

This is Eric...

Well, the big day is here. Michelle and her parents and I are at the hospital and we are just waiting for nature to take its course with the help of drugs.

We woke up around 5:30 and got to hospital and in place by about 6:45. At 9:25, we started the epidural and it didn't go terribly well. In the end, it worked, but it took the anesthesiologist several tries to get it. I stayed in the room, but I couldn't hold her hand or comfort her. It was hard.

Michelle is resting now. The nurse said that it could take a while for her to be dilated to a 4, and then about an hour for each centimeter after that up to 10. So it could be a while.

We are in room 1307 at Washington Regional. We have to keep our cell phones off, but I do have the room phone (479-463-1307) and my laptop will be on all day I'm sure.

More to come...

Night Before Hannah Thoughts

This is Eric...

Well, tomorrow is the day. It is a little weird knowing for sure that the baby will come on a certain day. I was expecting "the call" while I was at work or "the shove" in the middle of the night. I was expecting a mad dash to get everything in order and then racing to the hospital escorted by the policeman who had pulled me over for speeding just minutes earlier. We had worried that we'd be in Walmart when Michelle's water broke (something I still don't understand) and we have stayed away from Tahlequah in case she went into labor so she could be close to our hospital. I won't have to keep the time between contractions, although I was ready for it...big time.

All that doesn't matter now. Hannah is coming tomorrow.

I'm not really writing this for the readers. I think I just need to put into words what I'm feeling and you all just happen to be lucky enough to read it.

I've convinced myself that I am calm, cool and with it (you thought I was gonna say collected didn't you). Truth is, I feel dizzy. It is hard to function at 100% when 50% of your thoughts are about a little girl in your wife's belly. A few people noticed this about me and asked how I was. I'm great. I don't feel worried or scared. I have a calm which is nice, but it is still hard to believe tomorrow is the day.

It's also funny to me how life events make me think about my parents. I wonder what it was like when they had Lori. I wonder if my dad felt the same way I do. I wonder how they got by without a warmer for their baby wipes or a modular travel system. I wonder what my dad thought the first time he held Lori. I wonder what his emotions were.

It also occurred to me that Michelle is a whole different level of nervous than I am. She has to really go through this. She has been growing this life inside of her and now she has to force it out. I saw the video of the event. It's going to hurt her and I won't be able to help (thanks Eve, but thank you more epidural). All I can do is hold her hand and understand that she doesn't mean the terrible things she's saying about me. Then, my real worries start when that new life comes out kicking and screaming and covered in a gelatinous ooze.

At home, instead of catering to Michelle's every whim, it's going to become detailed poopy journals and frozen milk stored in our freezer, stomach time, "blowouts", and no-sleep nights. I know that we are ready for this...I think. We have all of the supplies (which I'm sure will only last three days) and we have her room all ready. She is already spoiled and she hasn't been born yet.

If this doesn't make sense, then you understand how I feel. I have 13 million thoughts swimming in my head and 12,999,000 (give or take 1,000) of them are about Hannah. This post is just me letting some of them out. Funny thing is...it helps.

Education Lesson for Eric

I guess I never really understood how a doctor checks to see how dilated a woman is. I sort of pictured that the mom-to-be gets on the table and then the doc pulls out some sort of a medical tape measure, and voila! "You are dilated to a _____."

NOT SO!!!

If you are like I was, don't ever go to a doctor's appointment when one of these "measurements" is done. Live in ignorance...and be merry.



And Hannah...hurry home.

News!

So, today, Eric went with me to the doctor and while I'm still only dilated to a "1," we set an appointment for next Wednesday at 6 AM to go in and be induced if Hannah doesn't make an appearance before then. So, definitely within the week, we will be having a Hannah! We can't wait!

Getting Ready...

This past weekend was Mother's Day and even though I'm not quite a mom yet, Eric got me some cute things and I got lots of Mother's Day greetings from people, so it was really nice. And I spent the whole weekend with my mom and dad who came over here both Saturday and Sunday and helped us with some finishing touches. My dad weeded our flower gardens Saturday (both Eric and I are terrible at yard work and they were VERY overgrown with weeds), and mom and I made freezer meals on Sunday. Eric got a lot of stuff done around the house as well that he'd been wanting to do - putting the living room tv on the wall and power washing our entryway. We also got our laundry done and tonight we are packing our hospital bags and we will be good to go! Here are some pictures of us making meals... it didn't take as long as I thought it would and hopefully they turn out super yummy!

Remy, cleaning up when I kept dropping cheese everywhere!

Also, tonight we went to a cookout at our community group leader's house and we had such a great time seeing everyone. I wasn't able to go to all of the meetings this past semester because of my work schedule and we've been on hiatus for the past month, so it was good to get together again! At the end of the night, they all gathered around me and prayed for Eric, Hannah and I and it gave me a real sense of peace about the whole thing. I'm still nervous about the actual delivery part, but I know God is watching over us and in just a few short days (hours?) we will go from being a couple to being a family... and I can't wait to meet our daughter!

Decking out the Mom car

So, today I went to the doctor for my normal weekly checkup, and while I am only dilated to a "1," she did say something that freaked me out. She said "IF I see you next week..." WHAT? IF? Like I could go into labor before next Thursday? AHH!!! That pushes things into high gear for sure!!! Because of that little freak out (and Eric's subsequent freak out over lunch when I told him about it), we decided tonight would be a good time to deck my car out with all of the baby essentials.

Eric's excited face :)

Eric trying to figure it out...

Look, it's level!

The final touches...

All done!

Eric also persuaded me to have my super pregnant picture taken... please ignore the terrible hair and the fact that I'm almost as big as the car now :)

Our great new chair! (And the Great Banana Debate of 2009)

We've finally got Hannah's room all done, and I am in love with it! I found the perfect pink gingham roman blinds on sale at Pottery Barn Kids that match the pink gingham shade on the perfect floor lamp and it all goes well with our great glider chair we found on sale here in Fayetteville. Thanks to Pepere and Memere (Eric's dad and Jeanne) for the chair... we love it!



The blanket that is on the back of the chair was knitted by Hilary's mom, Deb, and I'm so glad I said red when she asked me what color... I think it's a great contrast to the pinks and yellows and it matches the pillow that came with the bedding set.

So, that's it... now the room just needs Hannah Bean! (That is my new nickname for her... I hate bananas and I'm trying to avoid her being called Hannah Banana, even though Eric is dead set on it. But I think Hannah Bean sounds way better and doesn't bring to mind the grossest food of all time.)

PS - Yes, I do understand how good bananas are for children and all of their wonderful benefits and when Eric is home with Hannah and feeding her on nights I work, they can eat mushy bananas to their heart's content. My friend Julie also hated bananas before she had her baby, and she keeps telling me how she learned to like them and I can too... but I'm VERY skeptical.

We've been busy!!

We've had so many things going on these past few weeks, ever since Eric came back from Connecticut, but the problem is that we've both been sick almost the whole time! So, this is going to be a long post, because I finally feel like blogging again! Eric got sick in CT, and I thought I had avoided it, but a few days later, I started feeling bad and ever since we've both been blowing our noses and coughing a lot. But, that hasn't stopped us (well, not too much anyways!) in getting stuff ready for Hannah.

On April 18th, I had a baby shower thrown for me by our family friends Lisa and her daughter Micah and it was so much fun! It was so good to see people who I haven't seen in awhile, and I got a ton of awesome things for our sweet baby. Also, they did this cool thing where they had everyone answer some questions about predictions for Hannah... what day she'll be born, what she'll grow up to be, what age she'll get married, etc. It was really neat and Eric and I are looking forward to putting them in her baby book and going back over them from time to time as she grows up. Here are some pictures of the shower... it really was a great day!!

Me opening gifts

Me in front of the food table

The Hannah Cake

Hilary and Calla (just one of the cutest twins of all time!)

Sue, my cousin-in-law Katie, and my aunt Pam

Charlotte, Graci, and Cari (who is due in November!!! We are so excited!)

Lisa and Micah

The next Saturday, April 25th, mom and dad came up and helped Eric and I with our big garage sale We made over $400 dollars, so we were excited - we've never had a successful garage sale! Hilary (my friend who lives across the street) had one as well, so we were able to advertise as having a mult-family sale and we had a ton of people come by. We were kind of worried because we technically live on the outskirts of Fayetteville in a small town called Greenland, but that didn't stop the people. It was funny though because Eric was convinced we should have started the sale at 8 AM rather than the 7 AM we had put in the paper and on the signs, and he was grumbling when we woke up that morning. But, at 7:07 AM, when we had already sold a ton of stuff and there were 10 people in our driveway, he came to realize that perhaps that's why we never have luck when we go to garage sales... the early bird definitely gets the worm!!! But, it was a good day, and we were able to get rid of a ton of stuff that was cluttering our house.

This past Tuesday, April 28th, was my last day at work and I must say it is a great feeling to not be standing on my feet all day and working until 10pm. I feel a little guilty about it, but there is just so much I feel like I need to get done before Hannah's big arrival... our house is a mess (of course, if you know us well, you know that's usually the case!), and I want to get some freezer meals made so that Eric won't have to make dinner every night :) But, I am also getting some rest, which helps me with my nausea in the morning, and keeps my feet from swelling too much. Unfortunately, I've started having some carpel tunnel in both of my arms, which is apparently common in late pregnancy due to all of the swelling. So, I've started seeing a chiropractor and just keep wearing oh-so-attractive wrist braces, which help a lot. It's a very unpleasant feeling but it should go away after I give birth, so I'm just trying to suck it up and deal with it until she gets here.

Finally, this past Friday, the girls from work threw me a small shower at Olive Garden and it was a lot of fun. It was just us girls and my friend Rasheeda from Tulsa, who also works for Walgreens, was actually in town so she was able to be there also.

Ann, Meriah, me, Sarah and Rasheeda

We had a great time eating great food and I got some cute stuff for Hannah, as well as some much appreciated Baby Einstein videos... I've heard they are a lifesaver :) Also, one of the pharmacists, Ann, had brought a "death by chocolate" cake from this amazing bakery here in Fayetteville, but when the waitress came to bring it out, apparently, someone in the back had accidentally stuck their fingers in it! Here's a picture of the cake (they tried to cover up the holes with chocolate sauce?)... the manager came over and reimbursed Ann for the cake, but it was just so wierd!

But, from this picture, you can see we did eat part of it... and oh man, was it amazing!!

It was chocolate cake, with chocolate mousse in the middle, and chocolate buttercream frosting covered by chocolate ganache on top. Just thinking about it makes me want to go buy one right now! So, we all took a couple of bites from the side that was still good and then Olive Garden gave us all our own desserts as well, so I think I got enough chocolate for the night...