Ada's 5th Month

Welcome to sleep regression. Headquarters - Ada's bedroom! Oh sweet girl, you have challenged us this month. It is the craziest thing because generally you are a very happy baby but when you've had enough, you have had ENOUGH. You also are very particular with what you want and won't settle down until we figure out what it is. More often than not this month, what you want is to nurse. Just a few days before you hit 5 months your old sleep habits returned...yay! I always assume you are working on some new milestone when you get all wacky. Guess what it was this time. You can sit up on your own! Way to go Bug! I was not expecting that! You are just going to blow through these milestones like they are nothing.

First time sitting on your own and we caught it on camera!

You've pretty much given up sucking your thumb. Turns out I was worried over nothing. You have picked up using a pacifier (sort of). You like to use the wubbanub because you can manuver it into your mouth but you only actually suck on it for about 2 seconds before you pull it back out again.

You have really started playing with toys this month. You love chewing on Sophie or grabbing at toys that are hanging on your car seat or play mat. Grandma has reported that you can hold your own bottle as well. You really enjoy tummy time as well. Your new trick is blowing raspberries and you do it all.day.long! You have also started jumping in your jumperoo and will hang out in there for a good 20 minutes before you want to move.

Loves - toys, Sophie, nursing
Dislikes - us trying to get you to sleep when you aren't ready
Firsts - pumpkin patch trip, sitting unassisted, pig tails, sink bath

Raspberries

Ada has figured out how to blow raspberries! Turns out trying to videotape milestones is much harder with a toddler that wants to steal the show running around!

Ada's 4th Month

You are such a happy baby girl! My favorite part of the day is walking into your room and you greeting me with a gummy grin! That's right little girl - you're sleeping in your own room. I am so proud of you! You also slept through the night for the first time this month. 8pm-8am. I woke up and ran into your room to make sure you were still breathing. You had flipped to your belly but were fast asleep with your thumb in your mouth.

I couldn't help it! I love that face!

You've gotten much better in the car this month. We had to drive to Grand Rapids for a wedding and you made it up until the last 10 minutes before getting upset. You would rather ride in the City Select stroller because you can watch Madelyn and also keep an eye on Mom and Dad. You do okay in the Bob but I have to keep it moving and give you the ipod to listen to. You are fascinated by your sister and love when she gets right up in your face. You greet her with a smile every time.

We moved you up to the size small diapers. I started wearing you on my back in the Ergo. You much prefer that to any front carry wraps.

You have started laughing! Oh how I love that sound! I can usually get one by kissing your neck. You just love sitting and watching your family and are generally content as long as we don't leave you alone in a room.

We've been meeting up with all the babies from your birth class and it is nice to have some time with you. I also like that you are getting your own group of babies to spend time with and hopefully we have the beginning of some friendships here.

You've really started putting inflection in your babbles this month and you definitely want to be part of the conversation. I could sit and talk with you all day Miss. Bug.

Right now you love Mama cuddles and I love giving them to you. One benefit of being the second baby is that I know how quickly your babyhood will fly by and as a result I am always willing to give you that extra snuggle. I rock you to sleep every single night and watch you drift off with your thumb in your mouth. I am trying to carve that image into my memory. You look so peaceful.

We broke out the jumperoo and you LOVE it! I think we finally found your toy. You've also started going in your swing again and are fascinated by the toys that are attached to it now. You are always watching and learning. You are also rolling both ways now which means if I step out of the room, you are never where I left you when I get back.

First Pony Tail!

and here's Madelyn's for comparison

They both wore their first pony right around 3 months!

Ada's 3rd Month

Love that drooly smile!

We are really hitting a groove little bug! We made some major progress with car rides this month. Turns out you love The Dixie Chicks and you really love when I sing The Dixie Chicks at the top of my lungs. It also really helps when I lay my rice bag across your lap. I think you like the weight of something on your legs. We have attached 5.2 million toys to your carseat as well which keeps you from getting bored. Combine all these tactics and we can generally make it from Ann Arbor to Brighton without any issues.

You've turned into a full on thumb sucker. It is adorable at three months but I would be lying if I didn't say I am terrified of breaking this habit later. The nice part is that I don't have to get up and put the pacifier back in your mouth 485 times a day. I also feel like we are close to you sleeping in your crib at night. You haven't slept in your Rock n Play in at least a month. Plus, you've napped in your crib a handful of times and those tend to be your best naps. I'm a little sad because it means I have to get up and feed you rather than just feed you from bed, but that's okay.

See - it IS adorable!

I have a funny story I just have to share with you. The other night, you and I were in bed and Daddy was sleeping on the couch. You were having a hard time settling down so I decided to bring you out into the livingroom and bounce you for awhile. We walked into the livingroom and I turned on the lamp. You started babbling and Daddy jumped up from a dead sleep, grabbed your carseat and started bouncing it on the yoga ball. I started laughing and asked Daddy what he was doing and he told me that he was bouncing you. I told him that you weren't in your carseat and he told me that I was going to have to put you in there anyway. I reminded him that he needed to stop bouncing it first.

Mama and her ladies!

You started rolling over this month but we still haven't caught it on camera. You can roll back to belly but not belly to back. You also started sitting in your bumbo and are a much happier girl. I bought you a new toy called the Kickin' Coaster. You love being able to make your seat move rather than being stuck in a bouncer that we have to bounce for you. I discovered this when you decided to try and flip yourself out of Grandma's bouncer. Oh Ada bug, you are on the move kiddo! Most people don't believe me when I tell them you are only 3 months old because you act more like a 4-5 month old!

Kickin' in her Coaster

Love you to the moon and back Rator Gator!

Jabber Jaws

I told you this girl loves to talk!

Ada's 4th Week

Adarater - let's see, what happened this week?

We are still pretty focused on sleep around these parts. I've found we can break the night up into 3 parts. Part 1 - you go down around 7-8pm and sleep for a good 5 hours. Part 2 - (the wild card) you get up and eat then who knows what is in store for us until around 5am. Part 3 - 5am - you are either still awake from part 2 or are waking up to eat again. I usually bring you into bed with us at this point and we both fall asleep while you are nursing. We then sleep until Madelyn wakes us up around 7-8am. I can handle parts 1 and 3 but we've got to get part 2 under control. Trial and error, I guess.

Daddy has been taking you and Ziggy on late night walks and he swears it gets you back to sleep. He also says you are learning a lot about the neighborhood on these walks.

You've started being more alert during the day and are quite the vocal little girl. You love nekkid time, but who can blame you. Your hair seems to have some red tints to it.

We went to the Hands On Museum and you were very well behaved. We seem to be getting a lot more smiles out of you now. Love it!

Your first playdate. You slept through it.

I'm realizing this post is very similar to last week's so I guess this week brought more of the same.

That or I'm just lacking in sleep and can't remember anything.

Ada's 3rd Week

Oh Miss. Ada - you are keeping your mama on her toes!

We have started keeping her upright for 20-30 minutes after she eats and that seems to help significantly with the spitting. She still spits up but it isn't nearly as bad as before. Another week for her to develop her muscles is probably helping as well. We have also made some progress with the pacifier and that has made a big difference because she is no longer overeating like before.

Flashing her gang sign

Now our big challenge is sleep. We were putting Madelyn down and then dealing with Ada but Madelyn would hear us and know Ada was up which meant she needed to be up as well. We switched and started putting Ada down first and then Madelyn goes to bed. We are able to get a good stretch once Ada goes to bed around 7-8pm (she will sleep until 11-12) but then it's as if she has been drinking coffee all day and her eyes are wide open until who knows when. Sometimes we get her back down around 1-2am but then she's back up at 4am for the day. Yes, for the day. Other nights, she will be up until 4-5am and then she will sleep until 8-9am. Ugh!

I am attempting to keep her up during the day, but I like using the times she sleeps to spend time with Madelyn so it is a challenge. I looked back and Madelyn's early recaps and it seems she was the same way so hopefully it works itself out. Ada also has no interest in sitting back and hanging out. She wants us to be bouncing whatever seat she is sitting in or holding her. Fortunately, I accidently stumbled on a hands off method of keeping her entertained. I laid her on the kitchen table the other day while I was feeding Madelyn a yogurt. She was content for a good 20 minutes to just stare out the kitchen window. I've done it a few more times since then and it seems to work. I will take it!

Ada also loves being outside so I've been taking a lot of walks with the girls. A lot of walks.

Unfortunately, Ada had a funeral in her first month of life as well. I told Nick it depresses me that both girls have worn the same newborn sized funeral outfit. Sucks.

We finally bathed this baby! I decided to skip the whole bath scene and just go straight to the shower with mom method. It worked so well with Madelyn and Ada seems to love it also. Poor girl gets some serious cowlicks going post bath and they seem to stay even several days after. She still has all her hair and it is still growing. Her sideburns are over her ears now. I need to start pinning some ideas on how to organize hair bows and headbands because they are going to be out of control in this house!

Her fingernails are also growing like crazy - I have cut them once a week since she's been born. Madness, I tell you!

She seems to have pretty decent vision already. Nick and I have caught her focusing on objects and she has a pretty intense gaze. Great head control as well.

I being a mean mama and trying to catch her little cry on video. It is the cutest stinkin' thing I've seen and heard. She gets the lower lip quiver and sounds like her world is just terrible. Hopefully I can share a clip soon.

Ada's 2nd Week

Oh boy this week has been challenging! Miss. A has got her days and nights mixed up. Combine that with Madelyn's teething and this mama is one tired lady!

When we went back to the pedi for Ada's weight check, I asked the doctor about her 2-4am party time. She wakes up, eats and then just wants to keep sucking. The problem - she isn't hungry so everything she eats comes right back up...all over me. Fun! This kid is going through 3-4 pairs of jammies a night because of this. She also seems to fuss way more and is harder to burp at this time of night. We have tried getting her to take a pacifier but she is fighting us and a lot of the time is seems to make her gag.

The good news - she is weighing in at 10lb 3oz already so she is clearly not starving. Her doctor agrees, she just wants to use me as a pacifier at that time. She suggested trying to keep her upright longer to help with the fussing and keep working with the pacifier. And hopefully, it will be a fleeting phase.

Earlier in the week, both girls woke up around 2am. Nick was taking care of Madelyn in the livingroom while I fed Ada in our bed. Once Ada was fed, she started her eat/puke routine. Around this same time, Madelyn broke free of Nick and hightailed it to our room, wanting mom. Nick and I traded kids and I was able to get Madelyn down within a few minutes while Nick got Ada settled a full hour sooner than she settles with me. My best guess, when boobs aren't an option she will settle for a pacifier and is able to calm down faster since she isn't stuffing herself.

Crosses her feet just like her big sister!

We are going to keep trying this method and see if it works.

In other news, her umbilical cord fell off at 6 days but it didn't quite look right. I had her doctor look at it and she said it fell off before her belly button had completely closed and healed so we are still waiting for that to happen before bathing. She is also a peely mess - poor kid looks like a snake!

Quirky little things - she makes even more facial expressions than Madelyn. And she has a serious mad dog face. Lots of smiles - probably from gas but I'll take it.

She loves to bounce in her bouncy chair but doesn't like the vibrating feature. She also likes her swing. The car magically puts her to sleep.

She is officially out of newborn clothes - that lasted a whopping 2 weeks.

Ada's Birth Story

41 weeks and 1 day! That is how long this little girl took to grace us with her presence. I really thought I was going to be pregnant forever!

I started having early labor/false labor on Sunday morning (Mother's Day) and Nick and I really thought we were going to be heading to the hospital later that night. The contractions kept up throughout the night but subsided Monday morning. Monday night was a repeat of contractions about 15-20 minutes apart with nothing continuing during the day. Once again, they came back on Tuesday night and actually stayed throughout Wednesday but were always 15-20 minutes apart and not incredibly painful. I was desperate enough that I actually tried using the breast pump to get some action but nothing happened.

I had my 41 week appointment on Wednesday as well as a NST. Baby looked great and still seemed to be in a good position. My midwife said I could try castor oil but also warned that is a nasty nasty way to labor. I told her I wasn't that desperate yet but I also didn't think I would try the breast pump either so we will see. Later that day, I went to Meijer with Madelyn to pick up some castor oil and talked to my doula on the way. She agreed that while it is effective, it is not exactly a pleasant experience and to make sure I was really willing to labor with stomach pains. I bought the castor oil and figured if I made it through the weekend, we would give it a shot on Sunday night.

Fortunately, the baby must have heard all this going on and decided she didn't want to be born that way because my contractions kept up all night long. I was able to sleep sitting up on the couch in 20-30 minute increments. In the morning, the contractions were still going but had gotten to more 10 min apart. I told Nick he wasn't going to work that day and called my mom to come get Madelyn. We decided to send Ben to school and figured we would have Caleb come get him when we needed to head to the hospital. Around noon, the contractions were 5 min apart and Nick and I were running out of ideas and things to do. I found that if I sat down, the contractions would space out but if I was up walking around or standing, they got closer together. We called our doula and she decided to head over. Around 3pm, I decided to try getting in the shower again just for something new to do. The contractions were 3-5 min apart with the weird spacing when I sat down.

Well the water must have triggered something because within 10 minutes of being in the shower, I was climbing the walls. The contractions were on top of each other and I was finding it about impossible to manage them. Our doula came in and said it sounded like we needed to head to the hospital so she sent Nick to get Ben and was going to help me get ready to go. I told her there was no way I could get out of shower and she told me I could and had to. I ended up getting out of the shower and sitting on the toilet. I remember begging her to tell me this was transition because if it wasn't, I couldn't take anymore. She said she was going to grab a glove from her car and check me because she believed I was past transition and needed to decide whether or not to get to the hospital by ambulance or car. After checking, turns out I was at a 10 but the baby was high enough she felt safe getting there by car but she was going to ride with us just in case. She also called ahead and had a stretcher waiting for us at the door.

The ride to the hospital was ridiculous. Our poor doula was literally riding in the trunk space of the car because we had all the carseats in the back seat. She is trying to coach me to not push while Nick is trying to navigate Ann Arbor traffic to the hospital.

When we got to the hospital, the staff helped me onto the stretcher and off we went. Sort of....

UofM built a new women's hospital and it has only been only since March. Well, they are still working out the kinks and I ended up on a roller coaster ride throughout the floors of the hospital. One of the elevators didn't fit the stretcher. Another one of the doors was locked. Meanwhile, I am lying on this stretcher going back and forth through the lobby while the nurses are running TV style. I am wearing my sunglasses. Yes, I am. And still trying not to push, which is not a quiet process. Poor people stuck watching this charade.

Finally we got up to the room, skipping triage (yay! no 20 min strip for me!) and I can start to push. At this point it is around 4pm.

I remember a few things from pushing. Once, the midwife started talking to me about the HepLock and giving me some story about just in case. I told the nurse we could do it in between the next set of contractions and then told her the same thing a few more times. She told me later she realized the IV wasn't going to happen so she just gave up.

They also had a hard time getting the baby's heartrate when I was standing and kept wanting me to lay down. I wasn't opposed to laying down and it actually ended up being the way I delivered but I couldn't figure out how to actually get myself into that bed. They tried telling me that they were going to do an internal monitor on the baby's scalp if they couldn't get a good reading. Apparently, the honesty in me was flowing full force and I told them that was NOT going to happen. I'm trying to get a baby out, you're not about to start sticking things up there.

I also remember my water breaking and freaking out over what it was. There was meconium, but I figured that would be the case since I was over a week late.

The student midwife kept telling me that this was a safe place and the pooping was a natural part of childbirth. I told her, I understand and I am not afraid of pooping - I am actually trying to!

Finally, the baby started crowning and I was able to get the head and neck out but her shoulders were stuck in my pelvis. Fortunately, I was in my own head at this point and didn't realize what was happening. Our doula said that the midwife had called to whoever the expert baby removing team is and they were on the way but by shoving what felt like an extra 10 hands into me and shoving on my belly and pelvis, they were able to get the baby out in about 45 seconds and the team wasn't necessary.

Baby was born at 6:10pm. It was such a relief to not be pushing that it took me a minute to even ask what we had. Finally, I asked Nick. What is it? He gives me this look of shock and says "it's a girl". I said "girl?" He goes, "yeah". I then say, "we don't have a name!"

She had pinked up and started crying before the pediatric team had even gotten her to the warmer so I got her right back for skin to skin.

I ended up with with 3 second degree tears but it is still way better than a c-section recovery.

Stats:
Ada Elizabeth Barish
9lb 10oz
21"
6:10pm