Weight Update

On Thursdays Pediatrician appointment, Lexi is up to 7lbs 13 ounces, still not back up to birth weight, but making progress. She gained 5 ounces in 7 days, they are supposed to gain between 1/2 ounce and 1 ounce per day, so she is in that range, but still trying to play catch up. We have started adding supplements of pumped milk to help bulk her up....I think she is getting bigger, but who knows...we will see next Thursday.

Mike and Vonda's visit

Derek's Dad Mike and his wife Vonda came to visit last weekend to see Ryan and meet Lexi, we had a short but wonderful visit, and the weather even cooperated! Here are a few pics from their visit. Ryan is lucky enough to get to go visit them next month in Kansas City, he even gets to take the airplane all by himself!

Mom had us all over for brunch on Sunday...she made her famous french toast and "goop" and quiche...yummy! If only Auntie Katie was there to showcase her food with pictures....maybe next time. :)
Kansas City in the house! The lighting is a little wacky because we were trying to keep Lexi out of the sun.

Grandpa Witt and Lexi

I love this picture! Ryan showcasing his Greinke jersey with Vonda, Mike and even Derek in the background.

Can't believe how big he is getting!

At the batting cages

Lexi's new tye dye outfit....so cute! She went out with us for about 5 hours on Saturday and slept through almost all of it!

Random photos

I have taken a bunch of pictures over the last few weeks, I just haven't gotten my act together to post them. :) These are in no particular order. :)

Ryan is becoming quite the pitcher, this is him practicing with Derek at my Mom's house in his new Zack Grenke jersey that Mike and Vonda brought him for his birthday.
Ryan and Derek practicing pitching at Mom's.

Dad and Lexi...big stretch!

I love this outfit...not sure what is going on to her right to give her that look on her face...lol

Dad and Lexi looking cute. :)

Grandpa and Lexi!

Pediatrician updated

Lexi had her 2 week pediatrician appointment on Thursday (her original due date), here is the update....she is now 7lbs and 8 ounces, that is up 4 ounces from the appointment before, but they really wanted her to be up to her birth weight by then. She seems to be eating a lot, so we are not sure what the issue is. It is not a major concern, just annoying to me since I want to make sure everything is ok with her. I am not sure if we should be supplementing her with extra or not...the pediatrician said it wasn't necessary. She is also up to 22 inches from 20 3/4 inches when she was born.

Lexi has been sleeping in pretty good spurts, we still haven't had a lot of luck with her sleeping in her actual crib. I have slept a few nights in the bed with her next to me, but inevitably we end up for a few hours on the couch with her sleeping on my chest. The night before last, she slept from 3am-7am, that was a really nice stretch of sleep for me! :) Usually it is 2-3 hours, which isn't too bad either....I have heard stories of much worse!

Derek's Dad and his wife Vonda came into town last night, they were very excited to meet Lexi, it is great to have them here. Ryan had a baseball game last night, and got to skip school today to hang out with Grandpa! We have him with us through Monday, he still loves holding his little sister whenever he can, we are going to give her a bath in a little bit. Him and I got out in the backyard for a little while today and played some hoops. I beat him in PIG. :)

While Derek, Mike, Vonda and Ryan went to Pike's Place Market today, I was able to run out and get my hair cut, it was a nice adventure out of the house...baby steps. ;)

Lexi's First Bath

Last week we gave Lexi her first bath, Grandma Cass is the master and showed us how to do it. Lexi did really well! She started to cry at first, but once she was in the water, she loved it, floated right on her back and was cool. Maybe she will be a swimmer like her mommy. ;) Auntie Katie documented the first bath.

12 Days in.

We are 12 days into Lexi's life and adjusting as we go along. The sleeping has been getting better, the past two nights I have been able to sleep in my bed with her next to me. She had gotten some kind of cold or sniffles so I was worried about her sleeping on her stomach...when she is on her back, she can sneeze easier....that was my rationale anyways. :) She has been spitting up a lot too, which I guess is normal. I have been able to sleep in 2-4 hour stretches at night, which I think is pretty good!

Derek went back to work last Wednesday, only to be laid off. Sign of the times I guess. The bad news is he isn't getting a paycheck, the good news is he has been able to be home and spend time with Lexi and I, which I am really happy about. He has been a big help, I have been able to get naps during the day and showers too.

I will post pictures next time, Grandpa Witt and his wife Vonda are coming to visit on Friday for Memorial day weekend, we are very excited for Lexi to meet them! After that, Grandma Witt is coming the following weekend, Ryan will be here the next 3 weekends as well, so we will have a full house the next few weeks.

We did venture outside on Saturday, we went to Ryan's baseball game in Monroe, Lexi did have to feed in the middle of it, so we missed about 1 1/2 hours of the game. Ryan is supposed to have a game today, but it is rainy and we anticipate it being cancelled.

Breastfeeding is getting better, she is eating for much longer stretches of time(sometimes an hour and a half), so hopefully that means she is gaining weight. We have her two week check up on Thursday, so hopefully we will get good news that she is getting enough to eat. Given her parents, I am surprised eating is an issue....lol.

Thats is what is going on with us, it is baby baby baby right now, and she is totally worth it. She is a very sweet baby and we love her to pieces.

The first few days....

HAPPY 9TH BIRTHDAY RYAN!!!

We are settling in to life with our little Lexi, Derek and I are absolutely in love with the little thing! :) She has been a really good baby so far, (knock on wood!), we can usually figure out what is wrong with her, there are not a lot of massive "cry fests" or anything. Sleeping is probably our biggest issue, the bedrooms (including the nursery...argh) are way too cold for her to sleep down there, so her and I have been "sleeping" upstairs. It seems the only way I can get her to sleep is on my chest, it is actually really comfortable, except that I have to be in a reclined position on the couch, not laying down. Some people are able to sleep with babies in their bed, but I am too nervous about it. What the difference is between her on my chest and next to me in a bed?? I have no idea...that is just the way it is. :) During the day today, I have been "practicing" having her sleep on her back on the couch, so hopefully we can make that start to happen at night.

We have been tackling breastfeeding head on...the first few days were REALLY tough, it is so foreign and while it is natural...it isn't...ha ha. My mom has been a HUGE help, I don't know how anyone does it without professional help....thanks Mom!! Lexi lost too much weight when we went to our post partum appointment on Monday, so they had me pump extra and add that to her feedings, this worked well and by the next day when we went to the pediatrician, she had gained some of it back because my milk has come in. The goal is to have her back to her birth weight by her 2 week birthday on the 21st....her original due date...lol. Given how much she has eaten in the past day, I am hoping this will have worked itself out.

Ryan had another baseball game that Derek went to yesterday, I was sorry to miss it since Derek was the infield umpire....I would have gotten a kick out of seeing him running around the infield. Ryan's team won again, they have another game tomorrow.

That is our update...I will keep you posted on the latest and greatest Lexi news!

Lexi's Photo Shoot

My sister has always been very creative, always scrapbooking, crafting etc. and recently she has been dabbling in photography! As part of my shower gift from her, she wanted to do a photo shoot of Lexi, the pictures turned out absolutely amazing, I know Lexi won't be in this tiny phase for long, so I am grateful to have it recorded. Thanks Katie, I will be sending referrals and hopefully you can start making some money off your talent! :)

The labor story...

We are thrilled to announce that we had our baby girl Alexis "Lexi" Catherine Witt arrived Thursday May 7th at 12:25am, weighing in at 8lbs 3 ounces. Derek, Ryan and I are so happy to welcome her to our family...I will be posting MANY MANY pictures later, but wanted to fill you in on how she made her way into our world. One thing pregnant women will tell you is that you lose ALL sense of what qualifies as "too much information", so if you are weary at all about "women things", please skip to the next post...because here is Lexi's birth story.

The process actually started May 5th, I had a folley put into my cervix that would help start to dialate my cervix, it was like a rubber tube that blew up like a balloon. The plan (if it was to work) was to put that in at the Doctors office, then I should be dialated 3-4 cm by the time I got to the hospital to be induced on Wednesday. The plan worked, and by 7am on Thursday when we got to the hospital I was 4cm dialated and having contractions on my own!

I was excited that things were getting started off well, the Doctor came in to break my water at 12:45pm and I was still at 4cm dialated and having regular contractions about 2-3 minutes apart. The contractions started getting stronger and I had my edpidural put in at 2:45pm. The epidural was fantastic, the afternoon progressed fine and I couldn't feel the contractoins. :) There is a monitor in the room that shows the contractions and the baby's heartrate and things were looking like they were progressing...the nurse checked me about 5 or 6pm...I was still at only 5cm dialated. The Doctor came at about 7:30-8pm and I was still at 5cm. This was the first threat made by the Doctor of me having a C-section if things didn't progress in an hour. I VERY much did not want to have a C section! The next hour was odd...I started to feel pain in one of my sides, but didn't know if it was the pressure of the baby moving down in the birth canal or if the epidural wasn't working. I had no idea what amount of pain there was supposed to be with an epidural, but I knew the pain in my side wasn't right. They checked me after the hour and I had progressed to 7cm...just what we needed to avoid the C-section at that point. Yeah!

The problem was that I was in a lot of pain...again, not sure if it was what I was supposed to be feeling. The nurse checked my epidural by putting ice on my legs and stomach...I could feel everything (when she asked me earlier, I asked her if she really put ice on my leg or if she was joking), this meant that there was a problem with the epidural. To make a long story short, the line sheared off and the epidural fluid has stopped flowing into my back. They then paged the anethesiologist (sp??) to fix it. The amount of pain I was experiencing sky rocketed, I was near tears with each contraction. Derek was great about talking me through them and feeding me ice chips after each one. I do not know how or why anyone would would go through labor without an epidural, I sure didn't intend to, but for about 1 1/2 hours, I went au natural! That hour and a half took every ounce of energy that I had, and it got me to the 10 cm dialated that I needed so Icould start pushing. I actually wanted to push before they got the epidural back up and running, but they said I should wait so that I was more comfortable.

Once the epidural was fixed, I started pushing...and pushing....and pushing....I started pushing at 10:30pm and at 12:15, I got C-section threaten #2. They told me I could have 15 more minutes or they were going to do a C-section. I was completely exhausted and told myself that I was going to give everything I had for these last 15 minutes and after that, I knew I had done everything I could and would have to be ok with having a C-section. About 10 minutes later, I made some good progress, and all of a sudden, she was crowning and the room errupted into a flurry of activity, doctors running around, machines being brought in, NICU nurses, just in case...I had another big push where she was almost out and they made me stop pushing because they weren't ready! Derek quotes me as saying "ARE YOU KIDDING ME??" It hurt so freaking bad! I had to wait for another contraction before pushing again, then with the next contraction out she came! Physically,it was the biggest feeling of relief I have ever had. Derek was crying like a baby, my mom was crying like a baby and I was so exhausted I just layed there! They put Lexi on my chest and let me see her, then she was whisked away so they could check her out.

Part of the reason I was so exhausted was that I couldn't eat anything after some of the drugs started...so the last thing I ate was a granola bar at 11:30am....at midnight...that wasn't helping me. The TV was on the room while going through labor and I swear as I was pushing everytime I looked at the TV there was a fast food commercial on with a huge hamburger on it! What I would have done for a hamburger right then! As they were cleaning Lexi up and fixing me up, someone handed me 1/2 of Derek's Subway sandwich and I devoured it like I had never eaten before in my life. It was the best sandwich I have ever had. lol.

I know this is a long story, but wanted to share my experience, you never know what is going to happen when you go into labor, I am just happy to have a healthy, beautiful baby girl. Derek and my Mom were in the room with me and they did a fantastic job of supporting me through the entire experience. Ryan was able to be there for part of the afternoon and came back the next day to meet Lexi. My good friends Allison and Julie were able to be at the hospital and visit me when it was over....they stayed until the wee hours of the morning...and got to witness the sandwich inhaling. :)

Derek and I could not be more happy with our little Lexi, thank you to everyone for their support and best wishes throughtout the process. I have some great pictures of Lexi courtesy of her photo shoot with Auntie Katie today, I will post those once I have time. Lexi has been a very mellow baby so far and we just love her to pieces.

We are heading to the hospital....

Well, the day has come, we are scheduled to be induced at 7:15am this morning, we called and they did not have a bunch of ladies show up in labor, so we are on schedule! We will post updates as soon as we can...think happy baby thoughts for us today, we will need all the help we can get!

Baby Update

Sorry for the multiple posts in one day...I was a bit behind!! I promise that my new love for facebook will not take away from my dedication to blogging. :)

Last week we went in for our 37 week appointment, this was the point we REALLY wanted to get to to make sure our little girl's lungs were in good shape. Dr. Dydell said she would either induce us on Thursday (yesterday) or Monday, but she had to consult with Maternal Fetal Medicine (our analogy is that it is the CYA department). Well, they recommended that the Dr. wait until 38 weeks before inducing us, so we are now scheduled to be induced in the morning of May 6th (next Wednesday). Derek and I are really excited to meet our baby girl, and I am ready to not be pregnant and working anymore.

We will keep you all posted!

Red Sox vx. Indians

Well, every streak has to end eventually, the 8-0 Red Sox lost to the Cleveland Indians last night. The Indians had a really good pitcher who could throw fast balls, change ups and even curve balls! The Red Sox lost by one.

When Ryan was over at our house last weekend, Derek took him to the park to practice his batting...Ryan has struggled with the change to kid pitch baseball and Derek didn't really like what the coaches had done to his swing....so they went to "fix it back". When they got home, Ryan was all smiles and said they had a great time. Derek called the baseball coach to let him know that they worked on his swing so the coach wouldn't be surprised. On Tuesday, the coach called him in the middle of practice and said "anytime you want to work on Ryan's swing...go for it!!" Ryan apparently hit the first 5 pitches at practice into the outfield. GO DAD!! :)

In the game agaist the Indians, Ryan struck out his first at bat (against the really good pitcher) and his second at bat, he got a single...it was so cute, you could see him smiling as he ran to first base! Funny....you could see the smile on Derek's face too! ;) The kid behind him got a hit and Ryan scored from first tying the game...unfortunately they couldn't hold the Indians in the bottom half of the inning and lost. It is their first loss of the year, and only Ryan's second loss in the 2 years he has played baseball...not to shabby Ry-guy!