Dogs do it too...

We have proven that dogs also eat to soothe their pain and suffering. Case in Point...Zeus Kapone Brandenburg-Pacula.

He's officially a chunky monkey. He is hiding his sorrows in his dog bowl and the proof is in the fat accumulating on his neck, chest and back. If you notice in the much needed mommy laptime picture you can see just from him sitting the fat rolls going down his neck and back.

Poor guy!

Baby Body

So.....I've only got 1lb to go to be at my pre-preggers weight. Which is about 8-10lbs over my reg weight cause it was december ( I always put on about 5 in december, this december I got carried away I guess). However, I look nothing like I did in December :(! Because all my muscles went away at month 3 so I am all chunky monkey fatty boombalatty at the same weight I was tight n fit before. THIS DOES NOT MAKE ME HAPPY!

I know by breastfeeding I will continue to drop weight, and in just 3-4 more weeks I'll be cleared for the much awaited "GO" to workout again. I can't believe its been about 4 months since I've worked out (I mean really worked out).

If it was a math calculation I think it would go like this:

Pre-preggers weight - loss of muscle mass + Baby weight = Baby Body

Total weight - Baby Weight = Jiggly Wiggly Post Baby Body

The goal:
Total weight - (Baby Weight+10lbs) + muscle mass = ROCKIN MILF BODY!!

There's a first time for everything!

Especially when a baby is first born...everything is a first. The first breath, the first touch, the first cry, the first feeding, TONS AND TONS of firsts.

We've been doing our best to capture our firsts on film, but some we just enjoy being a part of.

We've had our first trip to the hair dresser, first trip to the dr's office, first trip to the mall, first trip to Auntie Lyndsey's, first dinner out, first day of worship, first day at the park and our first full bath experience.

She's does great in the car rides as long as mommy doesn't take too long or leaves just after a feeding. Same with most every other trip out the door, no matter where we are going. I've been very lucky but some days we just can't make it happen and right when we get where we are going we need to eat.

She enjoys bathtime, luckily for daddy, no screams or cries. Daddy does all of the baths and he enjoys it too.

Here are a few "first" pics

The best two weeks

Today Madison is two weeks old!!

The past two weeks have been absolutely wonderful. She has so many amazing facial expressions that I swear i could just stare at her all day long. I'm sure many mommies feel this way but its overwhelming to me just how much I am truly in awe of her.

She is an eating machine and is gaining weight wonderfully, we have her 2 week appt tomorrow but at our last weigh on Friday she was up to 7lbs 5oz. Which is very good according to the lactation consultant. Strictly breastfeeding with no bottle these first few weeks, we will start to introduce the bottle this coming week I think, that way daddy can assist with feeding. We will take it slowly in case she doesn't transition back and forth real well.

She has been doing a good job of sleeping at night, we've had a few rough nights but not at all what I expected so I'm very thankful.

As for mommy...if it weren't for Jeff I'd never eat. I still have no appetite and I don't get hungry. I just start to feel weak and realize I haven't eaten in forever. Jeff started back to work yesterday and at 3pm I realized I needed to eat...this is odd to me, but it'll work itself out and I'll be the food loving big eater i always was! :) I'm still sore if I go all day without a pain pill so I'm currently taking a half a pill a day and that takes the edge and throbbing away. I have lost 25 lbs of the 33 I gained, but my body shape is completely different than pre-baby. I can't wait to get out more and walk more and start the gym again. In due time I will get all of these luxuries back, right now my main life goal is to feed my baby so that is what I do...all day long...the days fly by because it seems every 1-1.5 hours I'm feeding her which leaves me only about 30-45 minutes of free time to do stuff. The next thing I know its night time and we are getting ready for bed. :)

Here are some pics of her first two weeks.

Boobs

Well this isn't the first time I've been wanted only for my boobs. LOL!

She eats a lot, which is very good and makes momma happy. My boobs will tell ya another story in the way of soreness but its so very worth it!!

Madison's Birth Story

Our day started out very early with nervous energy running through the house..did we pack everything, what are we forgetting, did you get your phone?, what about the camera?, etc, etc, etc. I guess these are luxuries for those of us that knew what day they were headed to the hospital, everyone else kind of does it in a big rush out the door.

Hospital arrival and check in 6am, wheeled back to labor and delivery at 6:20am, get put into temporary labor room (curtain) at 6:30am, answer a ton of questions like birthdate, address and do you have electricty and plumbing? (yes, that was asked)....Dr stops by and orders the Petocin....7am HERE WE GO!

Upgrade!! YEAH~!! (ok so the upgrade is actually the standard, but it made us feel good) Upgraded to a private labor room (shared bathroom) at 7:30am. This was much nicer and more comfortable and where I spent the next 13.5 hours.

What a long day in bed. With Petocin (PET) you can't walk any farther than your IV's will reach and you can not walk up and down the hallways while on PET. So we sat, we chatted, the nurses continue to increase the PET, we had visitors, my hubby surprised me with a great little stereo that hooks up to my iphone so we jammed out, i shook my booty a little in the bed...we were having fun just letting the time pass. Then we started to ask, well how much PET is usually needed to get this thing going, what else can be done, etc, etc. The nurse said "The max we can give you on the PET is 20, but I haven't seen anyone get that high yet." There are other options but we will stick wtih the PET per your Dr and see what happens. At 12:30pm I was at 20 PET..LOL! Nothing like a good jinx from the nurse HAHA! At 3:30 I was still on the PET, contractions getting more intense but again, nothing too bad. At 4:30 my water broke..YAY!!!!! Contractions rapidly increase from tolerable to pretty damn intense (of course being on the highest dosage of PET for half the day is a good reason for this...PET multiplies the intensity of the contractions sometimes by up to 10x's worse than natural contractions). By 6pm contractions were so intense and so close together I wasn't sure i'd ever get a break to breath.

Knowing all along I was going to get an epidural I decided to order it at about 7pm. NOTE: I WILL NOT WAIT SO LONG NEXT TIME!!! The dr came in and got me all set up...here is the hard part. I'm having very intense contractions but while you get an epidural you have to stay COMPLETELY STILL and sit in a very uncomfortable position...this was probably the hardest thing I had to do ALL DAY LONG...but I'd do it again in a heart beat...it was the difference between night and day!!

Post epidural my contractions were the same but I COULDN'T FEEL THEM! My hubby was happy cause he had his joking, smiling, fun wife back. :) AND, it made my labor progess so much faster cause I was able to relax and let the body do its thing. At 8:10pm I was still only dillated 4cm (yep 13 hours later), I just knew it was gonna be another 12 before we met our baby girl...well surprise surprise..15 minutes later I was at 7cm!! YAHOO!!!

At 9:15 I was transferred to a labor room, by then I was dillated 10cm and ready to start to push. The great thing was I pushed through the contractions but didn't have the pain too! I pushed through my contractions for about an hour, we had a little problem getting her over the bone (she has a bruise on the back of her head)
:(....The Dr came in to check at 10:15 and we still had a little bit to go, he left and with 2 more pushes he had to be called back in. Then the room had 3 techs, nurses and my Dr. A few final pushes with the Dr and Madison Olivia was born at 10:31pm. I only had to get 2 stitches for a small tear. She weighed 6lbs 15oz (which I rounded to 7lbs for ease of typing to everyone) and scored a 9.9 on her apgar test! :)

It was a long long day but the last part of it went by so fast that I guess all in all I was very lucky. I had intense contractions for a few hours, an epidural that progressed me along super fast, a tough hour of pushing and an ANGEL to embrace at the end.

My hubby was an amazing coach and support the whole day, I couldn't have made it through the day so calm and content without him.

Post birth daddy followed her to the nursery for a bath and other check up requirements, before heading home to let out the dogs and get some rest. When they came back from the nursery daddy handed me a ring box (the one my engagment ring came in) and inside was a beautiful heart shaped Peridot (august birthstone) ring with 2 small diamonds on the side...this was a gift that Madison bought with her first allowance (wink wink). How sweet is he?!?! Mommy got some rest with Madison, she slept on my chest most of the night..we attempted some breast feeding and tried hard to get some rest. I was in awe all night and still am. What an amazing day and experience!

RECAP:
Hardest parts: 1. waiting to long for epidural and having to sit still during intense contractions, 2. eating nothing but ice chips ALL DAY LONG!

Best parts (besides hearing her first cry and holding her for the first time): 1. getting an epidural cause it allowed me to enjoy the pushing process and be that much more aware of everything except pain

Happy Birthday Madison!