Life at home

We've been home for 2 nights now with Isla, and things are going amazingly well. I will admit that I'm not looking forward at all to Zums heading back to work tomorrow! He's become Mr. Diaper Changer and has had a few explosions to deal with already.

Thus far, we're not feeling too sleep deprived and have managed to stay on top of all the laundry and house keeping. My mom and sister are to be coming up this week, so that will be a great help as well. And, the weather is to be great this week, so we are hoping to get out for lots of walks and fresh air.

We had a newborn photo shoot with Isla yesterday morning, so we are anxioulsy awaiting the proofs from that, as I have to say she looked quite adorable in all of them! This afternoon we'll be cheering on the Nuggets with our newest little fan.

Home Sweet Home

After a healthy report on her jaundice this morning, Baby Isla got to head home. It made us feel so good that the nurses said they were sad to see us leave as they enjoyed taking care of us and our little princess over the last few days. We feel so blessed by the care and attention we received from all of the nurses throughout all the shifts and our 5 days there.

Now, the real work begins without them at home. It was a beautiful day in Denver today and we were able to take Isla out for a walk and get her real taste of fresh air. My Aunt Vera and cousin Talara stopped by to meet the newest addition to the family.

Isla continues to be an angel who has yet to fuss and sleeps like a dream, allowing us to keep the house organized and get settled for life with baby.

Baby Isla - Day #3

The good news is that we get to go home tomorrow! Isla has been suffering from jaundice since Tuesday evening. They said that it's quite common, and there are many babies here under the heat lamps with her. Other than that, she's been a champ...feeding every 3 hours, gaining weight and becoming more alert by the day.

My mom and dad visited us at the hospital today. They were happy to see her so wide-eyed and attentive.

I felt so good today that I put on a little make up and wanted to show off my new amethyst earrings from my baby's daddy to me!

A Baby Story

So, how did our little princess arrive? Her official due date was Saturday, February 20. I walked over 3 miles on the treadmill that day, got loads of housework done and headed to dinner at our fave Mexi place, Real de Minas, hoping that any of the above activities would activate something. Sunday, I walked over 2.5 miles at the gym and started to feel a bit more abdominal tightening than usual.

We laid around most of Sunday and I put in a call to my baby guru friend Geri to see if these were 'real' contractions and if this was the start of labor. Her answer was, well maybe. That evening at about 11:30pm I got up because they were turning into real contractions...nothing intense or regular, but real nonetheless. As any practical mother-to-be would do, at about 4am I showered, straightened my hair and finished packing the hospital bag.

I started really timing the contractions (with a handy application on Zums' iPhone) about 5:30am and because they seemed quite regular accoring to the 5-1-1 plan, we called the doctor. Dr. Barenbaum said to head into the hospital. By no means was I at an 'ohmygod, these contractions are so bad I'm going to die' stage, but they were intense enough for a person with little to no pain tolerance like me. We arrived at Rose Hospital around 9am, got examined by the admittance nurse and were told I was dilated 1.5 cm. What!?!?! Thankfully, Dr. Goodman did not want them to send me home since I was 2 days overdue, so they moved us to a Labor & Delivery room and by 11:30am I had an epidural and was in relaxation heaven! I wasn't progressing much at all and at 2pm they manually broke my water. In doing this, they found meconium in the fluid (yep, she pooped in me). This can be quite toxic, so they hooked up an amniotic fluid IV hoping to clear this out but no luck. On top of this, my contractions stopped altogether, and baby's heartrate was staying steady at 150-160 then would suddenly plummet to 100 or less on a regular basis. We later learned this was because she was wearing the umbilical cord like a beauty queen sash and was clamping down on it ever so often.

A quick call was put in to Dr. Goodman around 3pm, and the nurses returned to the room and said that a c-section would have to be done since things were not progressing and to just get this baby into the world safely. Everything happened so fast at that point. Zums quickly changed into scrubs, I was given stronger pain meds in my epidural and we were swiftly wisked off to the operating room. Serious stuff, and we hadn't a second to think about what was really happening.

At 3:27pm we heard the healthy and mighty screams of our beloved daughter, Isla (eye-la) Sophia. I didn't get to see her right away, but I certainly heard everyone commenting what a big girl she was. Zums cut her umbilical cord and stayed with the nurses to clean her up and weigh her...a plump 8 lbs 4 oz and 21 inches long. Wowzers, as I never really thought I was that big!

I went to the Recovery area for a good hour, where I had a terrible case of the chills and just felt out of it from all the drugs and pain meds. We were finally a family of three in our own room around 5pm.

I can't say enough about how wonderful all the staff at Rose have been. The nurses have all been so patient and kind and nurturing. Isla has been a dream baby thus far, taking well to breastfeeding every 3 hours and being a mild, sleeping baby in between feedings. Unfortunately, she became quite jaundiced Tuesday evening, so she's on the baby sunbeds right now trying to get everything back to normal. Considering all that can go wrong, if this is the biggest thing, I have no complaints.

We are eager to get home Thursday or Friday and fall into our own family routine!

Lovin' our little girl

Baby Isla was feeling the love big time today as we received visits from Karina and Brian Bender, Kalyn Louise, my mom and Candy. My recovery is going really well, and we were able to be up and about and go for a walk along our floor. Though she's only been in our life for a little over 24 hours, we're already asking ourselves, 'What was our life like without her?' Breastfeeding is going very well, she's sleeping in 3-4 hour increments and Zums has changed every diaper since her arrival. The three of us are a great team!

Introducing Isla Sophia

Here she is...Isla Sophia Graham. She arrived Monday, February 22 at 3:27pm, weighing in at a whopping 8 lbs 4 oz. Details of delivery and such to follow. In the meantime, we're enjoying our time at Rose Hospital with the exceptional staff and should be heading home on Thursday. We are immensely blessed!

This is what overdue looks like

Her due date has come and passed. She's already testing our patience. Luckily, I'm still feeling well, and no aches and pains to complain about. We hit the gym for long walks on Saturday and Sunday and were hoping that a Mexican food dinner on Saturday night would kickstart labor. No such luck. We'll keep hanging in there!

A little wine, chocolate and love

Saturday we headed to a wine and chocolate tasting at Bonacquisti Wine Company. The chocolates (including jalapeno fudge and dark chocolate truffles) were amazing, especially with the Colorado wines.

For Valentines Day, Zums got me a fab red patent leather bag from Nordstroms and a 10 pack of classes to Belly Bliss (bring on the Mommy & Me and Post Baby Abs classes!). We enjoyed a delicious 4 course dinner on Saturday night at LaLa's Wine Bar.

39 and feelin' fine!

I had my 38 week appointment on Tuesday, and I'm making zero progress with dilating and effacing, so it looks like Baby Graham is very content right now. I've felt great all week and hit the gym every day and my normal pre natal yoga class on Friday.

I was officially 39 weeks yesterday and managed 2.6 miles on the treadmill. I would think all this walking would get some things going for delivery, so we'll see. We're back at the doctor on Tuesday to see Dr. Barenbaum and hopefully to hear of some new progress.

13 days and counting!

Time is flying, and I personally don't think this baby is going to be arriving anytime soon. I'm still feeling well and staying active - I hit a pre natal yoga class on Friday and managed a 2.5 mile walk with a co-worker the same day. We were unintentionally at the gym at 5:30am yesterday, as we had a beeping smoke alarm with a low battery going off and just decided to get up and get the day started. I've slowed down a bit, though, as 2.6 MPH is now my 'fast' pace on the treadmill.

Baby gear-wise, we feel that we're as prepared as we can be at this point...the bouncy chair, the swing, the pack 'n' play, a few Boppy's and the car seat ready to take to the hospital. I head to the doc for my 38 week appointment on Tuesday afternoon.

Lovely gift, missing card

We got a darling set of Aden & Anais muslin swaddle blankets on Friday, but unfortunately there was no card or packing slip included so the gift giver is a mystery. So, to whomever sent this, thank you very very much and please let us know who you are. And, this was a much needed item!