L – Page 5 – Jocelyn Rau

February 5, 2013

A small miracle occurred last night

I have a feeling it is very early in the process to start talking about this, but yesterday was day 1 of weaning Lana from the pacifier. Cold turkey. Go big or go home, kids.

I didn’t think we’d have to do this until much later, but she had gotten so dependent on it to fall asleep recently that I’d finally had enough. Multiple nights in a row of being up for almost 2 hours with her in the dead of morning, getting in and out of bed, replacing that stupid plug in her mouth to calm her cries, whipping the sheets off my legs harder and harder each time in frustration, were the straws that broke this camel’s back.

I didn’t mind the thing for awhile, since it really did settle her instantly in her fits of wailing. Like magic. I soon realized why so many people use them. We never did with Della, but this kid’s just different. And she only needed it when trying to fall asleep, never if it fell out once she was sleeping or randomly during the day.

Lately, however, it was taking longer and longer for her to get to sleep with the damn thing, since every time it would fall out she’d immediately get frantic searching for it. She would take super long naps with it in her mouth, but I was willing to sacrifice that “free time” for me in order to quash her growing addiction. I had also noticed that she just liked having it in her mouth during the day to be quiet and look around. Nope, not happening, my dear.

Plus it had become a wicked game at night. Bedtime was stretching to a good hour or more until she would go in her crib without waking up, which of course meant I was always up later than I should have been. Then the nightly feeding was all but torture. I would have to play the dreaded find-and-replace game way more than I was willing to in order to get her back to sleep, by which time it was usually almost time to get up for the day anyway. And she had begun throwing in a bonus wake up sometime in the midnight hour, just in search of that obnoxious pink pacifier.

I was quickly reverting back to the walking zombie state. Our new Keurig definitely helped remedy that situation with a horribly convenient caffeine stream, but that’s not the healthiest solution either.

So yesterday I just said f— it. Sorry, baby girl, but I’m done playing this game. You’re losing your suck privileges on that little piece of rubber. And so it began…

Her usually solid 2-3 hour morning nap was diminished to a 5 minute attempt and then a half hour sleep spell a little while later, but both were done with no pacifier. She got another half hour nap in the boppy mid-afternoon, a 45-50 minute nap on her giraffe playmat around 5, then a quick 20ish minute snooze in my arms at 8 before getting ready for bedtime. Overall much less nap time than normal and each sleep except the one on her playmat was induced by being bounced/rocked in my arms, but the pacifier was not used once.

Then came bedtime. And I was fully prepared for an all-out battle and a night of severely abbreviated sleep.

Bedtime actually went much better than I had expected. I changed her, swaddled her, fed her, and started the arm bounce between 8:30-9, and there was very little fuss. Her eyes got heavy sooner than I’d imagined, and it only took a handful of repeat bouncing rounds before she was totally asleep. So I put her in bed between 9:30-10, which is definitely in the scope of a regular bedtime for her. I also left 1 arm out of the swaddle for the first time, in case she needed to get that little hand in her mouth for some suckling.

I then went to bed at 10, heard a couple rustling spells during the night but no all-out cries so paid little attention, then finally sensed her waking and getting ready to squirm and cry. Ok, what time is it going to be – midnight, 1, 1:30?

Dudes – it was 4:30! She had just slept for 7 straight hours, and since I actually took advantage of that I slept for 6.5!! That probably sounds like nothing for a 3 month old, something that occurs regularly, but I cannot tell you the last time she pulled that one off. I’m not kidding when I say I felt as if I’d had a week’s worth of sleep when I got up to feed her at 4:30.

It was our own little Monday night miracle, my friends.

A baby sleeping the best she has in weeks on the first day of not being allowed to have her beloved pacifier? I’m calling it a miracle.

Maybe it was because she was worn out after not napping as much during the day. Maybe it was because she was more sated after having eaten more often during the day due to said lack of long naps. Maybe she just didn’t really need the pacifier anymore anyway, and we had simply become slaves to it on our own.

Who knows. And I don’t really care why. I just hope it continues! I actually feel rested this morning and have some energy to tackle things around the house. I feel like I won’t just drag through today like I have for the past couple.

Oh, but I still visited my friend Keurig first thing…

January 22, 2013January 22, 2013

3 month stats

Lana turned 3 months old yesterday. She has now spent a whole trimester on the outside! I never thought of it that way before. Hmm, interesting.

We don’t have her next doctor checkup until 4 months, though, so I don’t have any official stats to share this time. But I’ll fill you in on how life with L is progressing and what’s changed since her last update.

Sleep. Well let’s see. She has been consistently down to waking up once a night to eat since around 2 months, but she hasn’t mastered sleeping through the night all the time yet like Della had by 3 months. She has done it 3 times, once for 2 nights in a row on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, but unfortunately that trend did not last.

Her last feeding before bed is usually around 8:30 now, but it still takes awhile for her to actually get to sleep enough to go into her crib without waking back up. So I get her diaper changed, swaddle her up for the night, feed her, then arm bounce her with her pacifier for generally half an hourish until she’s really out. Sometimes it takes longer, sometimes it takes less. And I know you’re not supposed to wait until a baby’s completely asleep to put her down so she can get used to putting herself to sleep, but I call horseshit on that one right now. Lana most definitely needs to be asleep for at least her bedtime or else you’re going to stand there playing dropped it got it with the pacifier for hours. That’s not my favorite game.

Her nightly wake up feedings typically occur around 3-4am still, but she’s gotten fussier about going back down most of the time. I used to be able to just change her, feed her, and she’d be ready to be put back down, but now when I burp her she wakes up and wants to play the staring game. So then I’ll use the pacifier again, which tends to be relatively fast-acting.

What else? Daytimes still have fairly little structure. She’ll take roughly an hour nap within about an hour of waking up and her morning feeding. Then the middle of the day is kind of hit or miss, depending on her mood that day. But then there’s usually another hourish nap in the evening before her bedtime feeding. I have noticed, however, that she tends to take a pretty long nap at some point during the day, it’s just not quite at the same time each day. So I guess that’s about 3 naps a day?

She’s still exclusively breastfed, nursing about 6-7 times a day, including the late night feeding. Some days there might be 1 more in there somewhere. And we’re still doing 1 bottle a day containing her vitamin drops. She has started becoming very distracted and chatty during her feedings, which can get a little annoying because they just take longer. She still eats well overall though, so I guess I can’t complain much.

The cranky spells have decreased since she was first born, but she can still wail with the best of them. The other day she high-pitched screamed in our faces, which always leads Ryan to believe she’s colicky. He actually looked it up again online, and apparently when babies pull their legs up into their chests quickly and seem to be “running” a lot it can be a symptom of colic. Trying to relieve the gas or whatever’s causing pain in there. Lana constantly has legs in motion. And the fact that her screaming fits always start with her going stiff as a board also points to some colic. But thankfully she still has never yelled for hours on end and will calm when you hold her, which I think is a good sign that she doesn’t have full-blown colic.

Her smiles and “stories” she tells are the best. My favorite is in the morning when I unswaddle her and her little arms instantly fly up next to her head in a huge stretch accompanied by a gigantic smile. She sure is a charmer when she’s not shouting at you.

I put her in the jumperoo for the first time today too. She can’t sit on her own or stand yet, but she’s so squirmy and active all the time I thought she might like something a little more stimulating than lying on her playmat. I think she likes it. She can’t touch the floor yet, just like Della when we first put her in it, so I put a big throw pillow under her feet so they touch something. I folded up a little blanket and propped it behind her head too, so she can stay upright better. She’s currently staring at the hanging animal toys with the music playing.

Not a ton has changed since last month, but she is definitely awake and alert more during the day. Certainly learning all about this new big world she’s in.

And since I know how much you fell in love with my comparison shots during my pregnancy with Lana, I’ve started one to keep track of her over the months. 1-2-3!

i forgot to put the pillow behind her yesterday, but she sits propped up well enough now that she doesn’t really need it. and she was tired and getting cranky, so i didn’t change her into a white onesie for the sticker. i’ll try to get back to matching next month.

December 22, 2012December 22, 2012

2 month stats

Yesterday was Lana’s 2 month birthday, we had her checkup on Wednesday, and here’s the lowdown:

Height: 23.25″ (75-90%)
Weight: 11 lbs. 2.75 oz. (75%)
Head: the doctor didn’t write down the measurement, but it was in about the 50% again

She’s growing like a little sunflower! And her eyes are staying so blue, I love it! Even the doctor said she thinks they’ll keep that color since they’re so strikingly blue right now. Yay! I love the dark hair with blue eyes combo, and we both have so many sets of blue eyes in our families I’m very happy one of our kids has gotten them.

Her sleeping is getting good too. I think she’s down to 1 wake up per night for good (knock on wood!). She’ll typically go to bed around 9, wake up around 3-4, then wake again around 7-8. If she wakes toward the earlier end of those ranges she usually will take a solid morning nap after that 7 am-ish feeding, and if she wakes toward the end of those ranges she’s usually up for a while during the morning before her mid-day nap. Then there’s normally an evening nap before her last feeding before bedtime.

She still nurses about 7-8 times per day, as evidenced by that weight gain. I started giving her the one bottle per day with her vitamin drops in it last month, which I’ll continue until she stops breastfeeding. Fortunately she does great with the bottle, and I’m able to pump plenty to keep our frozen supply full.

And she smiles now!! That started at exactly 6 weeks, and it is just the most joyous thing ever. She won’t look like a grumpy little man forever, hooray!! The best are her morning smiles. She’s always so happy when I get her out of her crib to wake up. Probably because I’m unswaddling her and her arms are finally free.

She’s started “talking” a lot too, and loves to lie on her plush giraffe play mat and swat at and talk to the little toys that hang down from its arches. She will happily lie there for good chunks of time, which is very helpful to me. She also loves to get her little fists in her mouth, and has been doing that for the past couple weeks too. I think we may have a thumb-sucker on our hands. Fine by me; less time we have to spend messing with that pacifier, which she still loves to calm down or help fall asleep. Thankfully, though, she doesn’t sleep with it or need it to fall back asleep once she’s out.

I think that about does it for this month. I can’t wait to spend Christmas with our 2 little angels this year!

November 27, 2012November 27, 2012

1 month stats

Lana turned 1 month old on November 21, but we didn’t have her 1 month checkup until yesterday. So here’s how month 1 has gone…

Weight: 10 lbs. 3.5 oz. (75%) {7 lbs. 7 oz. at birth; 7 lbs. 8.25 oz. at 4 day old checkup (50%)}
Height: 21.5″ (50%) {19.5″ at birth; 20.5″ at 4 day old checkup (75%)}
Head: 38 cm (75%) {35 cm at 4 day old checkup (50%)}

The doctor was surprised that her height was only in the 50%, but she thinks that will start catching up quickly seeing how tall her parents and sister are.

Sleeping – about 2 wake ups right now. She usually eats somewhere around 9 and goes to bed, then wakes at 2ish and 5ish. Sometimes the wake ups are earlier/later, but they’re generally within an hour of those times. Last night, however, she did only wake up once at 3, but I’m not anticipating that to repeat itself tonight. Of course Della woke up last night too for the first time pretty much since Lana’s first night home, so I was still up twice. Because why wouldn’t she? But Della had dropped one of her nightly wake ups by the time she was 2 months old, so I’m hoping Lana will do the same.

Her daytime schedule hasn’t really solidified itself yet. Most days she’ll wake up and eat between 7-8 somewhere then go back down for a solid nap shortly thereafter. Then she’ll wake mid-late morning to eat and be up for a bit. Another nap generally comes in the early afternoon with more feedings throughout the evening (she “snacks” a lot during the day i’ve noticed) and maybe a short nap around dinner time, but that last part of the day is often fairly random. And then there are days that follow no set pattern whatsoever, so like I said, we’re still working on figuring out what she likes to do during the day.

The past couple days have gotten better, but she’s a pretty fussy little kid. She doesn’t have colic, thankfully, since she doesn’t scream bloody murder for hours on end, but she definitely prefers to be held than put down. So I invested in a sling this time around; it certainly helps free up my hands when Della needs something and I’m trying to get anything done around the house. I know everyone says to forget about how the house looks when there’s a new baby, but when things start getting messier than usual, piles of junk take up more and more surfaces, and I can see dust bunnies rolling around, I start to get itchy. But again, like I said, she’s seemed to calm a bit within the past couple days. Right now she’s actually lying on her giraffe playmat on the floor staring at her hanging toys, something she rarely does.

This kid is strong! From about the minute she was born she’s been able to pick her head fully up off your shoulder and move it around. She turns it side to side on her own while sleeping, even though I do make sure to put her down on opposing sides during the night. She grips stuff like nobody’s business, and she loves to try to stand up when her feet rest against your lap. She enjoys busting her little hands out of her swaddle, but it does still help keep her contained and calmed at night. She’s quite the startler, too. I admitted that napping on her stomach helps that to the doctor yesterday, for which I was promptly scolded. I know you’re not supposed to put babies on their stomachs until they can roll to help prevent the occurrence of SIDS, but I figured if she can move her head around on her own, she’s never face down, and it lets her nap for hours, why not? Wrong-o apparently. The doctor said SIDS happens much more often during naps than at nights, so I said ok, I’ll go back to playing by the rules.

Breastfeeding is still going well. She latched on beautifully from the beginning, and fortunately that has continued. Her night feedings are great – she wakes up, I change her diaper, she eats 5-10 minutes and is back asleep. Her daytime feedings are usually shorter and more frequent, aka “snacks”. I don’t really care though, as long as she eats well and efficiently at night. I am going to start giving her 1 bottle a day and then keep pumping so the frozen supply remains stocked, mainly so I can give her those nasty vitamin drops. Della hated them and if they get spit out they stain the shit out of everything, so I’m not even going to try putting the dropper right in Lana’s mouth. Into her bottle of breast milk they will go. And she takes a bottle like a champ too, so I’m not worried about any sort of nipple confusion.

All in all I think she’s adjusting nicely to being an outside baby. She is certainly a wonderful addition to our family, and I am so happy she and Della will have a sister with whom to go through life. I hope their sisterly bond grows stronger every day and is never broken. Happy (belated) 1 month birthday, our little squawker!

she’s always so serious. we have yet to see this one smile

November 14, 2012

The Life of L

As you may have noticed, I added a new page up top – “The Life of L”.

Just like “The D Daily Dose” is for Della, it will be a journal-type entry page for Lana’s life. Unlike Della’s page, however, I plan to use Lana’s more for statistical stuff rather a daily (or weekly, monthly, whenever i get around to it) note – growth, milestones, firsts, etc.

So for those of you who follow The D Daily Dose, hopefully you’ll enjoy The Life of L, too. As our family grows, so does the blog.

November 10, 2012November 10, 2012

Lana’s Birth Story

It’s taken me a little longer to get to actually writing down the story of Lana’s birth than it did Della’s after she was born, but such is to be expected for #2 when #1 is constantly running around the house. Hopefully I haven’t forgotten any of the important details already!

When Della was born, I had no idea what was happening. I didn’t know I was in labor, just that something really really hurt. So by the time we finally got to the hospital with her, I was already 9 cm dilated and basically ready to push. She arrived approximately 20 minutes after we walked through the hospital doors. Woah.

So with Dv2.0 (we didn’t know if we were having a boy or girl, so she won’t become “Lana” quite yet), I knew I should probably pay a little more attention to everything to make sure we got to the hospital with some time to spare. Especially since my doctor said it was highly likely that I would deliver equally as fast, if not faster, than I did with Della. Again, woah. I definitely didn’t want to have a baby at home or in the car. Yuck.

Then I found out I was group B strep positive this time around, so my doctor explained that ideally they wanted me at the hospital at least 4 hours before delivery so they could administer penicillin through an IV. They like to give 2 doses 4 hours apart to help protect the baby as he/she comes through the birth canal with this. I’m not entirely sure what would happen if the baby were to contract group B strep, but I didn’t really feel like finding out. So needless to say, I was on high alert for any unusual aches, pains, or just generally odd feelings for the couple weeks before Dv2.0’s birth.

Della came 8 days early, and my doctor said women tend to have similar gestational lengths with subsequent babies, so I was fully prepared for another early delivery. With our trip to Peoria exactly 2 weeks before my due date, you’d better believe we had everything we could possibly need for an out of state delivery packed in the car for that one – my hospital bag, a hospital bag for Della, the infant car seat, and all of my prenatal records in case a doctor in Peoria would have to do the delivery. I knew that if we weren’t 150% prepared, we would definitely be coming home with an Illinois-born kid. (not that that’s a bad thing, that’s where i’m from. we just didn’t exactly want to have to deal with all that.)

So once we got home from our weekend in Peoria (did i ever tell you about that trip? it was awesome – i’ll have to get to that in another post.) it was full-on wait and see mode. Fast forward 1 week, and that’s where things get interesting.

On Friday, October 19, my mucous plug started coming out. TMI, you say? Sorry – this is a post about pushing out a kid. It’s nasty business. Now I had seen this before Della was born too, a full 16 days before my due date with her. She was then born 8 days later. So once I saw it this time, I thought ok, maybe we have another week? I was 38w6d pregnant on that Friday, though, so I highly doubted I’d last another whole week, but who could say. It did automatically kick me into high gear, however. I did laundry, did some last-minute house cleaning, and made sure every single hospital/newborn thing we needed was packed and ready to go. I also alerted my mom, who I had on call since we all got back from Peoria. Our plan was to have her come up to stay with Della while I had the baby, assuming she could arrive in time. She lives almost 2 hours away. Yikes.

Then very early on Sunday morning, October 21, I was awakened by a contraction. It was about 1:30 am, and I was 39w1d pregnant. Ok, this might be it, I thought. The contractions kept coming about half an hour apart for the rest of that night/morning, until I finally got up around 7 and told Ryan I thought I’d better call my mom up. He looked a little scared as I explained that I’d been having contractions for the better part of the night, then said something along the lines of ok, I guess this is it. Yep, here we go again…

I got up, texted my mom that it was most likely show time, she responded that she would be on the road shortly, and I hopped in the shower. Fortunately I had gotten that last bit of cleaning and laundry done on Friday, so I pretty much just waited for the pain to kick in more; the morning Della was born, I did laundry and a bunch of chores, probably to keep my mind off the awful pain I was experiencing yet ignoring. Smart.

My mom arrived at our house shortly after 9 am, which was like record time. Fortunately I hadn’t woken her up, since my aunt, uncle, and cousins were at their house that weekend for a half marathon my cousins were running in Chicago, so they were all up and getting ready to leave the house anyway. Ryan had left to run an errand that unfortunately was going to take him a good hour to hour and a half, so I was just praying that things didn’t progress too quickly just yet. The last thing I wanted was to have to go to the hospital without him!

Then the day just kind of slowed down. My contractions got progressively more intense, but their consistency was pretty much nonexistent. I had called the after hours line for my doctor’s office since it was a Sunday to see when they wanted me to come in, because I wasn’t sure if the rules were different with the group B strep. The nurse spoke to the on-call doctor and said for me to go to the hospital when my contractions were 5 minutes apart for half an hour. Ok, cool, will do. Let the timing game begin.

All morning and into the afternoon the contractions would get closer and closer together, but never for a full half hour, then just suddenly disappear. Oh great, this isn’t going to happen today after all, I kept thinking. We took some “last day pregnant” pictures with Della, tried to explain to her that Mama and Daddy might have to go get the baby today so she wasn’t freaked out if we all of a sudden up and left, and basically just let her have fun playing with Grandma. Then finally around 2 pm they started to come closer and closer together at their strongest intensity of the day. Ok, now we’re getting somewhere.

Della had just gone down for her nap when Ryan and I loaded up the car and headed to the hospital around 2:45 and got checked in and settled into the triage room right about 3 pm. This was a whole different world than I experienced with Della’s birth. That day was a whirlwind of racing to the hospital, getting wheeled up to the labor and delivery floor because I could neither walk nor talk at that point, rushing into a delivery room, Ryan going back out to the car to get the bag/pillow/camera right as the baby was about to come out, and us having zero idea what was going on. This day was infinitely more relaxed. From waiting at home all day until the contractions progressed far enough, to me not trying to clamp my butt cheeks together the entire ride to the hospital and actually enjoying it, to walking myself right up to the L&D floor, to hanging out in the waiting room for a bit, to having plenty of time to answer all of the nurse’s questions in the triage room, to walking myself over to the delivery room with our bag, to just knowing what to expect period.

So now we were in the delivery room, and we continued to play the waiting game. They got me hooked up to the IV and administered the first dose of penicillin, and we watched some football. When the nurse checked me in the triage room I was 5 cm dilated, which made me happy because I was hoping for 4 cm. The contractions hadn’t been nearly as painful as I’d remembered everything being before Della was born, so I was really hoping I was far enough along to not have to be sent back home.

I progressed nicely on my own then, at a pace of about 1 cm an hour. The nurse asked what I thought about pain management, if any, and I explained that I wanted to try to go as far as I could on my own since I’d done it once before with no meds. I knew I could get an epidural if needed, which I didn’t really want but wasn’t totally averse to either. She said there was another option, which was a morphine-type drug they could put in my IV to just take the edge off, and I said that sounded like something I’d try before the epidural for sure. So they ordered both, just in case. She explained that the IV drug needed to be given before I reached 8 cm, though, or else we ran the risk of the baby being really sleepy and potentially a little unresponsive when it was born. Ok, I could handle that.

Finally I reached about 7 cm, and things were getting pretty painful. I asked for the IV drug, and it was the best decision I made that day. I instantly felt almost drunk, and my entire body was able to relax. I no longer needed to even breathe through the contractions; I could just lie there, watch the numbers go up and up and up on the contraction monitor, and laugh. Yeah, you think you’re still causing me pain? Not a chance, contractions. I’m on cloud nine right now. Bring on 8 more kids! (no, not really. this drug was just that good.)

I was honestly about to fall asleep when the nurse, resident doctor, and medical student came in and said they had spoken to my doctor, she was on her way, and it was time to break my water. Well crap. Nice timing, dudes. It was about 6:30 pm at this point. So they broke my water, which took a little while because there were apparently more layers than they anticipated, and then things took a turn for the worse. I think it was a combination of the pain meds wearing off (the nurse said they would last roughly an hour) and the contractions getting stronger and closer together once my water had been broken all happening at the same time, because all of a sudden I got incredibly nauseous, sweaty, clammy, and felt like I was going to pass out. Fortunately I neither barfed nor fainted, and that weird feeling passed after a few minutes.

But holy hell were those contractions getting awful. Finally after a couple more I called the nurse back in and said they were getting really painful and I felt kind of like I needed to start pushing, so my doctor and the others came back in and got all set up. By that point I was starting to feel really weak too, so instead of keeping my feet just in the little steps they’d pulled out, I asked for the full leg stirrups to hold them up for me. There was no way I could do that myself anymore; my legs were too shaky.

So my doctor, the resident, and the med student all pulled up their chairs for ring-side seats, while Ryan stayed behind my right shoulder like he did with Della and let me squeeze the shit out of his hand. He tried talking to me for a bit, but I just told him to be quiet please – I had to just stare at the ceiling and breathe as these things crushed my insides. Finally I told them this REALLY hurt, and they said ok, then go ahead and start pushing with the next contraction.

Now, when Della was born, the doctor and nurses in that room guided me through every contraction, push, breath, etc. I needed that! I had no idea what was going on that time. But this time, they just sat there like I was an expert or something. So I tried to remember what to do – feel the contraction come, take a deep breath in, blow it out, another breath in, hold it, push, count to 10, and do it again 3 times. Well, that first pushing contraction I could only push twice before it was over and I was spent. Before the next one came I asked if I was doing it right, mainly just to get them to say something.

My doctor said yes, I was doing it exactly right, and if I tried putting my chin to my chest and kind of curling my body around the baby it could help guide it out more. Oh yeah, chin to chest. I forgot that part. So I tried that tactic for the next couple contractions, and I think 2 rounds later little Miss Lana Marie came screaming into the world. That last push when I could feel her head come out I just kept pushing and pushing and pushing with everything I had until I literally felt her entire body just tumble out. I had my eyes closed at that point and was just trying to get the baby all the way out before my body gave out and I would have to try again, because I didn’t think I was going to be able to survive another contraction. So I didn’t see that she came out with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck twice, but they must have gotten that off her in half a second because by the time I opened my eyes, looked down, and saw her come flailing into my arms, she was screaming like nobody’s business. And with a full head of black hair! I couldn’t believe that. No wonder I had such nasty heartburn the whole time I was pregnant.

But before I looked down to see her, Ryan said “It’s a girl” and I almost died. We had another little girl!! I couldn’t believe it. I was so thrilled that we gave Della a sister. Plus, as you know, I was sure again that it was a boy. I said if we have another kid, I’m not even going to say what I think it’ll be because I’m obviously always wrong.

I seriously was in a euphoric shock that we had another baby girl. I was so exhausted and relieved that that was all over. I was crying a little (and i think ryan was too), and just lying there totally spent. I kept laughing and saying how happy I was that that part was over, and Ryan kept saying “I can only imagine.” My body started shaking like I had severe shivers, but the nurse said that was completely normal with all the hormones racing around and leaving my body. They asked if we had a name for her, and I couldn’t even get it out – I had Ryan tell them her beautiful name, Lana Marie.

For those curious, Ryan came up with the name Lana, just a few weeks before she was born. We struggled mightily with both a boy’s and girl’s name this time. One night he was just listing off some names and said “Lana. How about Lana Marie?” and we both instantly loved it. And Marie is my middle name (which came from my great-grandmother’s middle name). Voila.

I held her for a minute or two before they took her over to the warming bed to get cleaned off, weighed, and measured, and Ryan went over to begin the paparazzi attack. Fortunately I only had a small tear that they needed to stitch up, so they took care of me at that same time. The bed in the delivery room was positioned so that I was looking right at Lana’s little bed, so I was able to watch everything they were doing. That was really cool for me, because I didn’t see them doing any of that when Della was born. We had been in a different delivery room that time, and her little station was more off to my side. Plus with Della I just wanted to lie there and do nothing, whereas this time I knew basically how I was going to feel and was ready to watch the baby instead.

Lana Marie Rau was born at 7:24 pm, almost exactly 4 hours after we arrived at the hospital. I think I deserve a gold star for getting there in the perfect amount of time for them to administer the penicillin that I needed. We asked the nurse after Lana was born how long I pushed, too, and she looked over at the chart and said “Oh, about 8 minutes.” Most excellent!

So after Lana was all done with her newborn stuff, they handed her back to me and I began nursing her right away. Let me tell you – this kid has been able to eat from the start. She stayed on there pretty much the whole time we stayed in the delivery room before heading up to the mom and baby floor, which was probably a good hour. Chow down, kiddo, chow down. And speaking of chowing down, I knew that after delivery this time I was going to have Ian’s pizza, since it is right across the street from the hospital. Ryan ran out to get us each 2 slices, and I think that was the best pizza I have ever tasted. Much better than the gross hospital food cheeseburger and french fries I had after Della was born that tasted like nothing.

We waited a little while before sharing the news, just to let it soak in for ourselves, then the texting, emailing, calling, and picture sharing began in earnest. Since it was pretty late by the time we got settled up in our recovery room, my mom just kept Della home that night. Ryan went home around 10:30-11 I think, and I had them take Lana to the nursery. We did that with Della, too, and it worked great. They brought her back in for feedings every couple hours, but that allowed me to get a little sleep and Ryan had his own bed. That first night I just kept thinking “We have 2 little girls now!” I was so happy.

My mom and Ryan brought Della to the hospital to meet her new baby sister the next morning, and she has just been turning into the best big sister ever since that moment. She wanted to give the baby a kiss, which was the greatest thing I’ve ever seen. I think she was a little hesitant to come see me since I was sitting in the hospital bed, but she soon warmed up to everything in the room and was her usual funny little self. Plus I had gotten her an Elmo bag full of little books and crayons and stickers as a big sister present from Lana, so she was excited about that and had something to play with. So we were there until Tuesday evening, because due to the group B strep the pediatrician gave a 48 hour monitoring order for Lana to make sure she was ok. All signs pointed to perfectly healthy, so they actually let us go home an hour or two before the full 48 hour mark. I was definitely ready to get out of that room by that point. Trying to keep Della entertained in there was becoming kind of a chore. I had forgotten how easy it was when she was born since she was the only one to worry about.

So we came home a happy, healthy family of 4 (plus grandma) and have been getting more and more used to life as such every day. My mom stayed with us until the next day, then came back up the following week to help me when Ryan went back to work. Talk about a life saver! This past week was my first week home alone with the 2 little girls, and we all made it through in 1 piece. I’m calling that a success!

That is the story of how Lana Marie came into the world and our lives and hearts. We love you so much, little one! Welcome to our family!

Della inspecting her big sister gift