4 weeks

Annabel is 4 weeks old today! Crazy how fast time goes. Annabel is doing great. She eats about every 2, 2 1/2 hours during the day. She will sleep for about 2 hours at a time too. She stays awake for a bit then within 1-2 hours is back napping. She does really good at night too (at least I think so) where she will wake up about 1am, 3ish then 6ish. Sometimes she will go back to sleep other times we get up, since big sissy is up, and then she'll go back down an hour or two later. It's a little easier the second time around because I feel more relaxed and better prepared to calm a fussy baby.

Here are a few photos of the girls.

Updates

Things are going pretty good. Mia is doing a super job being a big sister. She loves to hold Annabel and talk to her. Annabel will just stare at Mia when she talks to her. Last night we gave them a bath together. It was so cute. Good thing Mia is petite as she was able to fit in the baby bath tub.

Good news to report - Annie's arrythmias are all GONE!! What an answer to prayer. She had to wear another holter monitor for 24 hours last weekend. Yesterday we had to take her to childrens memorial hospital to visit the cardiologist. They did another EKG and a few other tests. We were soooo relieved when the doctor said there were no skips! So we can put this behind us and enjoy our baby. After all we've been through with the pregnancy this was music to my ears. I know that God had his hand on Annie and us keeping her healthy.

My first week solo wend better than I thought. I was able to get out of the house each day to either the park, library or kids museum. Mia loves being home with me but she gets cabin fever. We go for walks or play outside which having a baby in May is so wonderful. Annabel is really a good baby. She is different than Mia in some respects as she sleeps much better (Mia's hernia was to blame I believe) but my girls both hate pacifiers and will not take them. I am not complaining as I don't have to break this habit. Annabel loves getting baths and loves laying in Mia' room. She nurses about every 2 hours during the day and is going much longer at night. She falls asleep in the car and on walks and is generally calm. She does seem to have fussy spells at around 4pm and 8pm with gas. But overall she is a joy and we are just so blessed with our two healthy girls.

Mia is just growing leaps and bounds. She is so aware of emotions and truly what is going on around her. Her vocabulary is just exploding. Everyday she amazes me. At the dinner table last night she would not stop talking. Usually it's the same conversation for a few nights in a row mostly about what we did that day and about her favorite books. She has a great memory. She has three baby dolls and has named them baby Corey, baby Kim Caprelli and baby Charlie. She mimics me all day long like if I am nursing Annie she will feed her baby or if I go to the nursery to change her diaper she will come and sit in the gilder with her baby. It's very sweet.

As of yesterday Annabel is 9 lbs and 22 in long Grow baby grow !

2 week check up

We are slowly settling into being a family of 4. Week one went really well. Corey was home all week and helped out so much. He took Mia out and really helped out around the house while I took care of Annabel. Annabel is really a good sleeper, which we aren't used to since Mia wasn't. Annabel seems to get up 2 times a night, once around 1 then again around 4 then will sleep until about 7 and is up for a little bit before her first nap. She is an eating, sleeping and pooping machine. Mia adores her and insists on going in the baby jungle gym with her or always wants to comb her hair and do 'nice' to her - it's so sweet.

Last Friday Papa and Aunt Christie came to visit. Mia had a blast playing with them and going to the park. We took Annabel for her first walk and she loved it. Sunday we took a family walk down to the library and Annie slept the entire time. Sunday Grandma came out with Papo and brought us stew for dinner - and brought back our beagles! The beagles didn't do much, sniffed Annabel a bit and Charles keeps trying to lick her but so far so good. Grandma is staying with us this week to help out, mostly taking Mia out and keeping her busy. Next week I will be solo!

I took Annabel in for her 2 week check up and she did great! She was 7 lbs 2 oz last week and today was 7 lbs 15 oz! I was so happy with her weight gain. Everything else looked great.

Mia has really been into reading Disney stories like Peter Pan and Snow White so we thought we'd see how she would do watching her first movie. We rented Peter Pan from the library and she loved it. She actually sat through most of it and declared that John is her 'favorite' character. Daddy bought her a snow white doll and she loves to sing twinkle twinkle (in a very silly voice) to her. She is getting so big and looks like a GIANT compared to Annabel.

Annabel Elaine is born!

What a roller coaster of a pregnancy then labor and delivery. It all started out at our 20 week ultrasound when they found a 'soft marker' for abnormalities - an echogenic bowel. We were then given a level 2 ultrasound and told our chances of having an abnormal child were 1% ...long story short we opted NOT to take any further tests and trust God that our little one would be born fine.

So keep this in mind, this has been in the back of my head the entire pregnancy even though Corey and I both felt nothing was wrong with our baby. Last Friday I went in for my 39 week check up and was thrown a curve ball. Everything was looking fine until Dr. McGee listened to the baby's heartbeat - it sounded funny. So she hooked me up to a NST right away and heard an irregular heart beat. She said not to panic but head over to labor and delivery. So we call Grandma, she picks up Mia, Corey leaves work and picks me up and we head over to Northwestern. We are then told we need to go for an ultrasound to make sure the baby is growing properly. Ultrasound is fine, baby looks great. I get admitted because I had actually started to contract while in triage. So now the echogenic bowel scares is sorta in my head but now this heart irregularity has taken precedence! UGH the worries!

The run down is at 5pm I am about 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced. We get admitted to the labor and delivery unit on Friday.

520 pm - They start my IV
625 pm - They start me on Pitocin to induce labor since it's not happening
850 pm - Dr. McGee breaks my water and lets me rest
1000 pm - I get my epidural - ANOTHER HUGE SCARE - they ask Corey to leave, come in and start my epi and my heart rate Skyrockets to to upper 100's I am freaking out. The doctor explains to me that they did a test run and must have went too close to a blood vessel, so they take it out and redo and my heart rate comes down. I was ready to say screw the epi I will deal with the pain. But glad the epi worked..
In and out of sleep all night, Corey is sleeping most of the night. My contractions are really strong but I can't feel much. I feel pressure and know the baby is coming!

May 8th (Corey's birthday!!)
630am we start to push
714 am Annabel Elaine is born, weighing 7lbs 4 oz and is 20 1/2 inches long. The pediatrician team comes down immediately and they exam her (she gets a 9 on her apgar test). She is then sent to NICU for further monitoring. They order a 24 hour holter exam and a sonograph on her heart. Corey and I visit her and spend time in our room (which felt like a hotel - the hospital was great, we actually had a lakefront room and I saw the sunrise).

Finally after waiting for the cardiologist to give the ok after all her tests, we are free to take our little girl home! Grandma brings Mia to the hospital and we take our girls home Monday afternoon.

Annie is doing great. I took her for her peditrician check up this morning and she actually gained back her weight loss (she was down to 6 lbx 15 oz on Sunday and now back up to 7lbs 2 oz). My doctor reassured me that the arrhythmia that Annie has is very common and newborns usually outgrow them within weeks. He said being Northwestern much of the tests were just overly cautious and that I shouldn't worry. We do take Annie back for another holter exam in a few weeks and am confident things will work itself out.

It was a crazy pregnancy from week 20 and through all the scares and hurdles I am so glad we have our healthy baby girl home with us. She looks EXACTLY like Mia as a newborn, it's too cute. Mia loves her and keeps asking why all she does is sleep. We told her just wait in a few weeks she will be more interactive. I can't believe we are now a family of 4 - it feels so much more complete now.

Annabel Elaine (Elaine is after Corey's grandma, Annabel we both loved the name, plus 'ann' is a family tradition on my side, we will call her Annie as a nickname)

weekend

We had a really nice weekend. No baby yet. I am getting very anxious about the delivery and just want it over with and the baby home! The weather was super nice this weekend so we were able to get most of the annuals planted and Mia enjoyed the park several times this weekend. Daddy has been taking her to the local high school track to 'run' and jump 'turtles' (hurdles). She loves it. After the doctor on Friday we hung out at Millenium park a bit to cool off. Mia also was saying hi to her sister last night but then decided to "close the door" and pull my shirt down, she had enough :) Last night I made lasagna to freeze and I also have homemade Eggplant Parm in there....that's all! Last time I had a ton of stuff frozen but those two meals should last us a good week. Mia was non stop singing this weekend. She is obsessed with "I'm a little Teapot" and wont' stop singing that.

Almost 39 weeks

Nothing new to report. I am still 2 cm dilated but more thinned out. The baby has moved down more so slow progression. We will keep waiting. If nothing happens this week I go back to my doctor next Friday then we'll discuss an eviction plan. I am predicting she wi come this Thursday. Corey thinks Friday.

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