8 Week Ride

What a crazy 8 weeks this has been. Aven turned 8 weeks on February 25, 2011.

I have been a Mom for 2 whole months!!! Wow. It is really and truly unreal what an experience this has been. Earlier, I mentioned how the first 3 weeks are really hard. Then you turn a corner at 4 weeks and by 5 weeks you feel like your world may somewhat resemble itself sooner rather than later. The last 3 weeks with Aven have been awesome. She is getting bigger by the day and becoming more alert every day. When people told me newborns were hard, they were not exaggerating. They also said it gets better everyday. Again, no exaggeration. But no one prepared me for the moment your baby looks at you and smiles. OMG! That was the best day of my life. Seriously. It was February 17th, 2011 in the morning. I finished changing her diaper and picked her up and started talking to her in a sweet voice, like I do every morning...then she looked at me and gave me this super slow motion smile. I was so surprised and happy. Of course I started crying. I kept trying to blink back the tears because I couldn't see her smiling through them. =) Oh wow. That was the best thing. *gush*

This past week Aven got more visitors! Her Aunties (Heidi and Amanda) came down for 5 days. Heidi, Amanda, and my Mom put together an AWESOME baby book for Aven. Similar to what Heidi made for me for Andy and I's wedding. Heidi is such a great scrap-booker. I am totally jealous. I put together 1 page and realized I should leave the creativity up to her ;-)

We are headed up to Illinois for Andy's cousin Jacqueline's wedding and for Aven's baptism. I am looking forward to seeing family and showing off Aven. I am not looking forward to the snow and cold weather :-P I think maybe I am most excited to see Jonah (Chris and Cara's 3 year old boy). Jonah is going to have a little sister in about 3 months and I am very interested to see him with his baby cousin. Having grandchildren running around (granted we have a year or so till Aven is "running") really completes a family. Bookends, if you will...

Some more crazy news on my part. I got a new job this week as well! I am so excited. I am going to be working in the bicycle industry with a GREAT local company. More details later, but it is exciting for sure. HUB Endurance : The Multi-sport Pro Shop, is doing great really well. GAIA Fitness is still the coaching side--GAIA is under the HUB umbrella, if you will...go check them out!

5 weeks: The Ups & Downs

Hi all. It has been a while since my last post, but there has been so much going on it was hard for me to get some time to blog. Go figure, right ;-)

First, I only had 2 weeks of full maternity leave, then on week 3 I started back to work from home part time. For the following 2 weeks after that I have been working from home full time. Today is my last day of being at home with Aven. I am so sad. Tuesday starts me working from home in the mornings and then heading into the office in the afternoons. Needless to say, I have been in constant worry about how to balance work and Aven for the last 5 weeks. It has been really difficult to enjoy time with Aven while having this schedule. FYI, I would not suggest attempting this type of maternity leave unless you absolutely have to.

Second, we have had some house guests over the past weeks. Which was GREAT! My mom was here for a week and then with a 1 day break Andy's dad came for a week as well. It was so nice having the company while Andy was at work and the extra help with Aven. I don't know how I would have juggled everything without their help. But I will admit, it's nice being just the 3 of us again.

The main purpose of this blog entry is I want to talk about how I felt after we got home from the hospital. You could say I had the "normal" level of baby blues. I am not really sure what that level is, regardless, I know I experienced some amount of hormonal imbalance. I wish someone would have told me the truth about how I was going to feel or might feel after we brought Aven home. Sure the advice about how difficult and initially painful breastfeeding helped. Also, the honesty about how little sleep we were going to experience was good as well. But I want to enlighten my readers with my emotional state and how shocking it was for me to go through.

I'll admit it, I am a sensitive person. I cry at Hallmark commercials. My heart melts when I see a cute puppy. I feel though I am able to be rational when the tough gets going. I try to work through it rather than let it work me over. Emotionally, the first week of Aven's life was ok. I was nursing her, my milk came in, Andy was here to help me. All good and positive things. We were UBER tired, but nothing out of the ordinary. We expected sleepless nights and were able to adapt. I will say if I had to do it over again we would have slept when she did. We felt compelled to get things "done." What in the world couldn't wait? I have no clue. I can't remember now, but at the time it was important to get it done. Word of advice...when they say sleep when they sleep, they mean it. The lack of sleep contributed to my emotional state-big time.

The second week was a little harder. I was so unsure she was getting enough milk b/c she was fussy at the breast and wouldn't stay latched on. She would burp, I would put her back on, and she would get fussy again. It seemed like she didn't like how my milk tasted. To this day, I have no clue what was going on, but it drove me to tears every time. =( My confidence was in the crapper and I felt like total a#$. Andy was back at work part time and I had A LOT of quiet time to think and think and think. When your hormones are skyrocketing off the charts and you are new to breastfeeding and are alone...it is a recipe for trouble. Plus, I was in the house for 13 days straight! Cabin fever to the tenth degree. Thank goodness I was able to keep the random thoughts at bay. For instance, I was thinking about trying to juggle life, training, work, baby, husband, etc. in 1 single moment. Slightly overwhelming even if your hormones are NOT off the charts.

Week 3 it got a worse. Aven went through a growth spurt and wanted to nurse ALL THE TIME!!! I thought again, "What am I doing wrong that she is not satisfied and going to sleep after nursing?" She wanted to be held 100% of the time and if we put her down even for a minute...ear-piercing crying. Like the lactation consultant suggested, I kept with it and with help from my mom we were able to get through that week.

Then week 4 was like a light switch had turned on. She was nursing less (so I was pumping more to keep my milk supply up) and she was settling down faster after eating. Andy's dad was there to hold her...and thank goodness because that is ALL she wanted. Walked and held. I think the other thing that made me feel better was the hormones were subsiding and we had her 1 month check up with her pediatrician. She weighed in at 8 lbs 11 oz!!! Aven gained 2 lbs and 10 ounces in 1 month!!! Whooo Hooo!

Week 5 has been even better. Grandpa Sweet bought Aven her Winnie the Poo swing and life is good. We also got advice from the pediatrician and moved her to her crib and started letting her cry herself to sleep. The crying is getting less and less and she is entertaining her self more and more.

Being a Mom is much more time consuming than I thought. I love every minute of it though. It is so wonderful feeding her, bathing her, taking care of her, kissing her, holding her. I want to pause time and enjoy every minute of these first few months. I know she is never going to be this little or need me this much. I feel everyday she becomes stronger and more independent. As independent as a 5 week old can get. haha.

Friday night was the real kicker. She slept in her crib in her room for the first time. She did great! There was a little crying at 9:30 pm and 1:30 am, but very little. She settled herself down pretty quick though. Andy and I both remarked how we felt much more rested in the morning. I felt a little guilty that I was rested and she slept so far away from us. Yes, I know her room is only 10 feet away from ours, but it seems really far away. ;-)

Going back to my emotional state. I guess the best thing I can compare it to was hitting puberty. We all sorta remember it, mostly that we were the worst examples of ourselves to our family in our lives. I have blocked out the specifics of that period of my life, but I do remember be absolutely consumed with emotion. Everything was SO important. It was as if I was hopped up on emotional steroids. The Arnold Schwarzenegger of emotional outbursts at 14, if you will. Postpartum is sorta like that. I was all over the place and didn't feel in control of my emotions or surroundings. I was so worried I was burdening Andy with my nuttiness that he was going to leave me. I was worried I would NEVER be able to function in the real world. I was worried Aven was starving. I was worried she was sleeping too much AND too little. I was worried I was not giving her enough attention. Whoa. Lots and lots of worrying.

All that worrying led to me feeling like I was doing a job and doing a VERY poor job at it. In those first 3 weeks I had a hard time really enjoying Aven. I wouldn't say I was detached, but I was working a lot more than mothering...I think.

I am not embarrassed with what I was thinking or ashamed. Well...at the time I was, but now I realize it is normal and unavoidable. I do wish someone would have shared with me their true feelings about their first couple weeks of motherhood. --So that is why I am sharing this with you.

If you know someone who is about to deliver or just has delivered, give them a hug and tell them "It is going to be OK, really it is." And when they start crying, let them cry, don't try to fix it. At least that is what helped me out.

Breastfeeding and Aven video

Click HERE to see a video of Aven...

Click HERE to see my latest vlog.

Sorry, the videos are not embedded into the context of the vlog. Short on time these days so I did it the "easy" way. ;-)

There were some things I missed in the vlog, so I included some pics below...

Above and Below: 39 weeks (day before delivery) -- yes I was able to muster a smile between contractions hahaha

Above: Aven and Momma trying out the Moby wrap from Aunt Courtney =)

Above: Left-reusable cloth nursing pad -- Right-disposable nursing pad

Above: THE Boppy! A must have for breastfeeding ;-)

Aven's Big Debut!

I have said for weeks now that Aven would pick her birthday...well folks we have a girl with fabulous taste! New Year's Eve will always be her day. I am so happy. I have never been one to make sure I have NYE plans, but our baby girl changed all that now. ;-)

All day Tuesday and Wednesday I felt horrible. Pukey, tired, crampy, ICKY. I started with contractions Wednesday night. It started off feeling like PMS or menstrual cramps. Things progressively got more intense and by Thursday morning, I was not feeling well at all. I had a doc appointment with Meg and thought for sure I had "progressed" to the point of being admitted. The pre-labor cramps were THAT intense, or so I thought. Come to find out in my appointment, I was not dilated to the point of admitting. So we went home. By 1 am on Thursday the contractions were 5 min apart and super duper intense. I called Meg and she said she was already at Erlanger Hospital downtown delivering 2 babies. If I wanted to come in and get admitted I would have to deliver Aven at Erlanger (hospital) instead of Parkridge East (birthing center). I thought the contractions were so intense that delivery was going to happen at any time so we packed it all up and headed down the mountain to the hospital.

I was pretty disappointed we would not be going to Parkridge, but just like Ironman...when things change you better adapt rather than dwell on the things you can't change. So we were ready to deal with what was given us. We got to triage at Erlanger and filled out paperwork and met with Meg. I was hooked up to the stress test (baby's HR and monitoring contractions) and Meg checked me. I was only dilated to 3 cm!!!! I thought I was gonna lose it. The contractions were SO strong I thought for sure I was closer to 6 or maybe even 7 cm. Ugh. Home we went. I didn't want to "hang out" in a hospital when I could do the same thing at home. Plus, at the hospital I would have nurses telling me what I could and could not do. I don’t really like it when people tell me what to do – shocker, I know ;-)

At this point I had been in pre-labor since Wednesday night and strong labor since Thursday afternoon...not too much sleep in the last 48 hours. Meg gave me some painkillers at 5 am on Friday morning. I was able to sleep through 2 hours of contractions -- Whoo Hoo! At 7 am I woke up to a very strong contraction and then WHAM! My water broke. That was a strange and relieving feeling. At first, since I was so groggy I dreamt I peed the bed. Then 3 seconds into it, I realized it was my water and jumped up to the bathroom. Before I went to bed, I thought with the painkillers I might pee the bed (last time I took painkillers was when I was 19 for my wisdom teeth) or maybe my water might break so I put a towel down and wore a pad to bed. Thank goodness, because whoa it gushed. I was so happy. That meant I was really IN labor and we were gonna have this baby TODAY.

I called Meg and she said she was still at the hospital; if I wanted to come in now then I would go to Erlanger (hospital) and if I wanted to wait an hour or so I could go to Parkridge East (birthing center) and the on call mid-wife would deliver me. I thought, no problem. I have labored this long, I can wait another hour. Plus, the pain meds were still rockin' for at least another hour and I was able to rest for a little bit. We left the house at about 9:30 am and I was admitted at 10 am on Friday. I pre-registered all my paper work, so I all we had to do was say my name, age, ss#, birth date, and midwife. D-O-N-E. I walked down to the nurses station on my own (I was leaking amniotic fluid and didn't want to get the wheel chair all messy) and walked into our labor birth room (#10).

I had my pretty pusher (thanks SO much Carrie!), my birth plan, my coach (thanks babe), and we were ready to go. The bed was pretty crazy. It had this bar that arched over the top (right to left) and the bottom half of the bed lowered about 6 inches with a press of a button. Donna VanDevander, the midwife who delivered me, checked me and said I was 8.5 or maybe 9 cm!!!!! I had progressed from 3 cm to 8.5 cm in 4 hours. Andy and I were so shocked I would be able to start pushing soon. I was a little worried also. All I had heard about pushing, is it is like taking a big big crap. You basically feel like you are "pooping" your baby out. I told Donna I didn't think I knew how to “push” correctly and was worried I wouldn't do it right. She said not to worry and that I will know and when I feel like I gotta 'go' then GO. She was right. That is exactly how it happened.

In case y'all didn't know...it totally hurts while you are pushing, so you have to mentally get on top of the pain and push through it. I had never really done something like that. In triathlon, I am pretty notorious for pushing to the pain cave, but never really committing to go INTO the cave and staying there. Sure, I will dip a toe in for S and Gs once in a while, but never really IN there. Andy was AWESOME. He kept me updated on what was going on down there...I couldn't look (worried I would lose my concentration). Andy, Donna, and the 2 nurses gave me such awesome words of encouragement. I couldn't really tell you what they all said today, but it helped me during the process. I think I had 45 minutes of pushing (my contractions slowed WAY down). Donna said that was how it goes. Your body gives you a break between pushes. I remember 4 really big pushes at the end and she was here!


They wiped her off and put her on my chest. So strange to have this person who, at the onset, seems so fragile lying on your chest learning how to breathe for the first time. Wow. They all were making guesses on how much she weighed. One person said 7 lbs. one said 7.5 and then they asked me. I said 6.3. She was 6.1!! FINALLY my mother’s intuition kicked in. Haha.

They took Aven to a bassinet in the labor room (under a heat light) and finished her up. It was great to have her with us at all times.

Warning: this may be a little TMI or gross…

Then they finished with me. The midwife delivered my placenta. I asked if it was intact and she asked me if I wanted to see it. I surprised myself and said yes. It was SO strange looking. First, it was grey. I thought it would be red/pink. It was also HUGE. I would guess it was about 8 inches in length, semi round, about 2 inches thick, and it had veins all over it. Donna numbed me and stitched up the 2 small tears I had. I had 1 inside and 1 small “crack” on the right side. I got some ice. Held Aven-Ahhhhh. I was DYING of thirst and asked for a giant Coke. That Coke NEVER tasted so fricking good. Holy crap. =) I also had packed some Endurox (fruit punch flavor). That tasted amazing too. After about 48 oz. of liquid I had to pee. They had to measure my pee. They did it with this strange sitz bath looking thing. I received the infamous “awesome” mesh panties and 2 ginormous pads.

After that we stayed in the labor room for about another hour or maybe 2 hours. Not sure, after arrival at the birthing center, I totally lost track of time. Once all the footprints, weighing, paperwork, etc. were finished we caravan to the recovery room. I pushed Aven’s bassinet, the nurse pushed me in a wheel chair, and Andy pushed our cart of bags and pillows. The nurse was too cute. She kept telling all the other nurses how talented I was at multi-tasking. Haha.

The recovery room was really nice too. It was private and comfortable. The bed wasn’t as comfortable as it appeared, but really what “hospital” bed is, right? We stayed or 30 hours and were cleared to go home. YEAH! I was uber super stoked to sleep in my own bed and NOT be in pain. I wanted to get our little family home and stop being bothered by someone checking my vitals every 4 hours.

All in all, I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. I am SO freaking glad we did not deliver in the hospital. The nurses and midwife at Parkridge East Birthing Center are simply amazing. They are so sweet, sensitive, kind, and supportive. They looked at my birth plan and didn’t question anything on it. My midwife was AMAZING! Even though Meg didn’t deliver me, I felt Donna was perfect and am so happy with the entire experience. I think it was about 15 minutes after Aven was born I said to Andy I think I could totally do that again. Of course, not anytime too soon, but I am not fearing childbirth in the future. I think I said the same thing after my first marathon and Ironman…

Thanks for everyone's support over the past 39 weeks. I feel truly loved.
I hope to be a good Mommy to Aven and love her more every day.

Baby Girl is HERE!!!

Hello all! Well if you haven't heard, Baby Girl Sweet is HERE!

We named her Aven Eve Sweet.

Her first name is a mountain flower. The Aven can be found in Nova Scotia and upstate Vermont. We like the name because it is unique without being strange and it is really pretty. I found the name on-line when I searched for "southern baby names." Not sure if it really is a "southern name," because I went back to look for it again under the SAME search, I couldn't find it. Hmmm. Strange but cool, maybe I was the only one meant to see & find her name that day. After we realized Aven was a flower we liked it even more. Coincidentally, Heather is also a flower; found in the foothills of Scotland. It seemed like a perfect fit. I really liked the fact it started with an "A" as well. We thought if we picked a middle name with an "E" then Aven and her Daddy would have the same initials...the whole family would have a connection ;-) Initially, we couldn't find a middle name we both liked and that flowed with her first name, until she picked her birthday. Yup. Her birthday (New Year's Eve) is the reason we gave her the middle name of Eve. =) Andy came up with it and I fell in love with it immediately.

Aven was born on 12/31/2010 at 1:46 pm in the afternoon. Her measurements are: 6lbs. 1 oz., 19.5 inches long, head: 13 inches (wowza), & chest: 11.5 inches. She scored an 8 and a 9 (out of 10) on her Apgar tests. She has perfect hearing, according to her hearing test Saturday morning. She has all 10 toes, all 10 fingers, and is looking to be the perfect little bundle of joy. =) Yeah!




So far breast feeding is going well. We are still learning, both she and I, but I am confident the bigger she gets the better her latch will feel. She is pooping and peeing as much as she should. We did 2 days with the disposable diapers from the hospital. They are good, but are rubbing her in areas and her skin is a little red. Today, we are trying the cloth diapers. They look really really big, but still fit her. I think they keep her warmer too. Nice.

As everyone mentioned--we are tired. Multiple days of no sleep prior and then the rush and excitement of actually having her HERE...exhausted. Trying to get naps in when she is napping.

We were able to go home after 30 hours! (Yeah natural childbirth!) I was so excited to sleep in our own bed (without pain) and get home with our baby girl. Andy was an awesome driver and we made it home safe and sound.

Everyone has been so wonderful. Andy's Mom (Elaine) and her husband Al were able to take a "vacation" between the holidays. Good timing too, because they were here for Aven's birth. It was awesome having them here. They cooked some crazy awesome food for us and froze it on Wednesday. Elaine reorganized the nursery on Thursday night and they helped us with a ton of things at the birthing center. "Aven" got me some beautiful pink/peach roses and a card today too! ;-)

LOVE the Facebook congrats and to offers to make us food. (I am ravenous!!!) Speaking of food, Deni and Lloyd dropped off New Year's black eyed peas, greens, and ham for us! What a treat!!! Last night we cracked open the bottle of French champagne our friends Zach and Alexis gave us and celebrated 2011 with our new little family.

I will be posting up a labor blog as well. But I wanted to get an initial update out there. Thanks everyone for the congrats and well wishes. I will leave you with my most recent pic...Aven is getting her vitamin D to ward off any jaundice. LOVE the big windows in the great room. ;-)

38 week vlog/blog

Hi everyone. According to my due date, I have 11 days to go! Yikes. We are getting really excited to meet her and being able to get to see her. We were just talking last night about how fast this pregnancy has gone. When I break it down into trimesters, the second trimester went by the fastest. But in reality 40 weeks is not THAT long of a time, considering the end result is a human being! Heavy stuff.

I have posted up a 10 min vlog to this blog as well. Topics: Dr. appointment, breastfeeding class, pretty pusher, and random stuff. BTW, pay no attention to my super sexy pajama pants at the end of the video ;-)

I also posted up some photos from Christmas and things we have accomplished in baby girl land.

Take care and try to relax ... I will be posting to Facebook and sending out text messages when baby girl decides to have her birthday. ;-) My next appointment, barring an early arrival by baby girl, is 12/30/10.

Hugs, Heather

Andy cooking the lobsters (no worry they were flash frozen, so we were "humane")

YUMMY.

WHITE CHRISTMAS!

Driving up the snowy mountain

Baby girl prints

Mobile

Baby girl's perspective of mobile

Quilt I made from the extra material from curtains, bumpers, and dust ruffle

37 week Vlog

Attempt #2 at a vlog. Much shorter this time. Only 2 parts! LOL If you have trouble viewing in my blog just go to www.youtube.com and search 2SweetMomma and it should be listed under my videos.

Take care and talk to you all soon. Heather