What we did this week:
She is so much more awake and alert. We were trying to see which side of the family she looked like, more like mommy or daddy? I tried tummy time, but she just went right to sleep. Avery loves her bouncy chair and looking around.
What we did this week:
Went out for our first date night and had fun but missed her! She is liking her baths a little more. I am definitely getting to know everything about her and knowing her schedule.
Milestones:
Sleeping/ Eating: Still up a few times a night. I have taken over night duty since Tyler went back to work.
Clothing: Fitting into some 0-3 month clothes and still her newborn.
Avery’s Favorites: She likes to walk around the house and look out windows. I have no idea what she is looking at maybe the trees or just different shadows of light.
Things I want to remember: My parents had to leave over the weekend and it was really hard to say goodbye. I wish we could live close to both our families. Family is so important and that amplifies when you have a baby. We had a dear friend from our house church Tosha come and help with Avery at the the beginning of the week so that I could still nap. It was so nice since I started taking care of her at night and was still tired from being sick. We had her first real bath since the umbilical cord fell off last week. She also watched and cheered for her first Beaver game. Avery was definitely becoming much more alert and looking around at the world around her.
What we did this
Milestones: She wasn’t weighed this week, but little lady is definitely getting heavier.
Sleeping/ Eating: Same Sleeping 12 am – 5 am, 6 am -9 am. I hope in the next few weeks we can get her to go to bed earlier. She is pretty consistently a three hour little clock. Eating is the same half feeding half formula.
Clothing: Starting to fill out some of the 3 month old clothes instead of swimming in them. We went to an outlet mall and there were so many cute baby clothes… seriously I am going to have 2 outfits and she will have all the cute stuff in this house.
Avery’s Favorites: She still LOVES her bouncer chair. I think she can see everything better and we play in it several times a day. I noticed she started grabbing burp rags, blankets, and my clothes so I got her a wubbanub paci (pacifier attached to a stuffed animal). This little giraffe paci is now a favorite and it is much easier for her to get it back in her mouth on her own since she is holding the little animal. Towards the end of the week she noticed a rattle toy so we will see if she likes that more.
Things I want to remember:
She is so funny when she wakes up now. It is usually 10 am until she is awake for a longer period of time and it takes her a good 15 minutes to wake up. She throws her arms above her head and grunts and squirms and makes all these funny faces trying to wake up. Avery hates anything on her feet, she gets out of any type of sock and even footie pajamas if she finds a wide enough gap between snaps. She even finds her way out of the miracle blanket, which is pretty much a straight jacket swaddle for babies. She just wants her feet to be free. Her hair is a little longer and is starting to stick straight up in the back of her head and her eyes seem to be more blue. Tyler thinks I am so crazy because I love her blue eyes so much, but I have brown eyes and have always secretly wanted blue. She is also starting to suck her thumb again and actually sticking her whole hand in her mouth at times.
What we did this week:
Monday was rough I think I ate something at my birthday dinner on Sunday which didn’t agree with Avery’s little belly. Luckily it was just a day and she was back to her sweet smiley self the next day. Beautiful Cora Jane Burns was born on Tuesday night. Avery is blessed to have a girl cousins on both sides that will be born within six months of her. I love that she will grow up with a close cousins. I was blessed with having that growing up and am still close with them. We are going to go to California in January to meet Cora. I can not wait to hold that baby! We went and saw Alex and her cousin Silas in Salem and went on a walk to coffee and just hung out. I think that Silas and Avery noticed each other a little, but still didn’t seem to care too much. Also in Salem we went to meet her other baby friend Emma and had dinner to celebrate my birthday with family. It was pretty much the busiest day I have ventured out by myself. It takes a lot to pack everything up and be far away from my house for a long period of time. I know it will get easier as I get out more, but man I was happy to stay home with her the next day and enjoy extra snuggle time. Friday my friend Whitney, who is pregnant with a baby girl, came to meet Avery and we went on a walk and to coffee. There are so many baby girls on their way into this world in the next few months that Avery can be friends with!
Milestones: She was back to her birth weight at 8 pounds 6 oz.
Sleeping/ Eating: Still up a lot a night at least three times for extended period of times. My mom and Tyler were still taking turns for the night shift. I was able to come home from the hospital on Saturday, but still very weak and tired and needed sleep.
Clothing: Newborn- we had to go out and get her a few more pjs that fit since all of the 3 month ones were huge. It was fun to get out to Carter’s and Old Navy and look at all the baby stuff.
Avery’s Favorites: She really liked just being held and falling asleep on people.
Things I want to remember: It was such a huge help to have my parents here an extra week and her auntie Molly. I still wasn’t feeling completely myself yet and had to nap. We spent the week mostly hanging out with Avery and resting. Since I didn’t get to see her much the first week I was just soaking in all the snuggle time and learning everything about her. Her umbilical cord fell off around day 14. We took her to her two week doctor visit and she had to have four pricks to get blood and she was screaming and wiggling and it made me so sad for her.
What we did this week: We went to a lactation appointment and it was my first time driving her and taking her in her carseat and stroller. We also went shopping for a few more newborn outfits and to lunch. Avery is really good in her carseat and she just sleeps and enjoys the ride. Avery’s cousin Silas came to visit her and they really didn’t notice each other at all, but it will be fun to see them grow together. We celebrated Jason and Molly’s birthdays at our house at the end of the week. I felt a little back to normal. We had pizza and apple crisp, oh so good after all that terrible hospital food.
Milestones: Her weight dropped to 7 pounds 11 oz. She had her first Dr. appointment and her Nanna and Daddy took her since I was still in the hospital. Her weight was back to 8 pounds 4 oz at her appointment. Tyler said he was the only dad with a newborn baby without a mom.
Sleeping/ Eating: She was going to sleep around 2 am and wakes up again at 5 am and then 7am. She definitely had her days and nights mixed up. When I was pregnant she was very active at night. I was still in the hospital and pumping so she would get bottles of formula and breast milk. She was a really good eater and loves getting a bottle.
Clothing: Newborn size. We had known that she would be over 8 pounds so I didn’t buy very many newborn outfits, but she was swimming in the 0-3 month clothes. The newborn size is so tiny and cute once I got home I bought her a few more outfits.
Things I want to remember: Avery found her thumb right away and started sucking on it. She must have been doing that inside me since it came so natural to her. We all noticed that her fingers and feet were so long for a newborn. She had a major cone head, but for some reason we didn’t take any pictures of it. Tyler had to take Avery home by himself and he said that he drove so slow with the baby in the car. Luckily we only live about a mile away from the hospital, otherwise it would have taken him a long time to get home. His sister Molly came to visit and took Avery on her first trip to Starbucks.
Avery’s Favorites: She likes sleeping in her rock n play crib and seems to like her swing. Everyone was so flustered with me being in the hospital that the swing accidentally got run over by the car. Avery was safe in her carseat, but that was the end of her first swing.
What we did this week: I was in the hospital so I was only able to see her for a few hours a day. There was one day that I was in the ICU that I didn’t get to see her at all. At that point all I wanted to do was cry, but since I was having major breathing issues I knew I had to try and not think about it so I could get better and get out of the hospital and home to our sweet girl. Tyler and his mom took care of her the first three nights, then Tyler took care of her the rest of the time I was in the hospital. My mom stayed with me in the hospital most of the time. Tyler was such a great Dad right from the start. We never would have thought that he would be taking care of our baby without me.
Water Breaks
My water broke at 41 weeks pregnant at 11 pm it was the night before I was scheduled to be induced. I thought it would take a while for contractions to come and we could relax at home before going to the hospital. Oh was I wrong, my contractions were a minute and half apart and very strong right after my water broke, so we left for the hospital. When we got there the anesthesiologist on call was asleep so I had to wait two hours for the epidural, which seemed longer with the contractions. Once I was given the epidural I was able to relax and let labor progress. Tyler and I thought it would be all night before I would be ready to push so he went to sleep. The delivery nurse and I were surprised that two hours after I had gotten the epidural I was ready to push. Tyler is a very heavy sleeper so the nurse had to shake him and let him know it was time to start pushing. He woke up confused and had no idea it was time to deliver our daughter.
Avery is here!
After two hours of pushing Avery Grace Nelson entered the world on October 4th, 2013 at 6:20 am. She weighed 8 pounds 6 oz and was 21.25 inches long. She had blue eyes and light hair. Right away I thought she looked like the Nelson side of the family with a few Burns aspects. The moment she was placed on my chest and we could see her little face we both started crying. People always tell you that when you meet your child for the first time it is overwhelming, but the experience was so much better than imagined. We spent the next hour or so just the three of us along with all the nurses weighing and bathing her. She is the first grandchild on both sides so everyone was outside in the waiting room anxious to see her. We spent that day staring at her and visiting with family. Right away Avery found her thumb and started sucking on it and had very busy hands and feet, she also had a pretty strong neck for a new-born.
What Pneumonia?
The night of her delivery, which was a Friday, I started getting uncontrollable shakes followed by high fevers. The nurses thought it was from labor and thought it would go away. Then I kept getting fevers and shakes so they thought it was a uterine infection and gave me antibiotics to treat that. My fevers and shakes kept coming back and by Monday morning I was having trouble breathing. I had come down with a serious case of pneumonia and was rushed to the ICU to be treated. Avery was discharged and sent home with Tyler and our parents. It was horrible to be separated from our new baby girl, but I knew she was in good hands and concentrated on getting better. That Monday my oxygen levels were so low they thought they were going to have to put me on a ventilator and put me under for a few days until my oxygen levels returned. When the doctor was talking about putting me under and on a ventilator it was the scariest moment of my life. Luckily I was able to improve on a cpap breathing machine instead. I spent four days in the ICU and then went back up with the labor and delivery floor so Avery could come and visit. I was finally able to go home the following Saturday after what seemed like a lifetime in the hospital. We are so blessed to have family and friends that helped us through my hospital stay and recovery plus adjusting to having a new baby.
Milestones: She now weighs 9 pounds 14 oz. I think she is starting to get a little chubby which i love!
Sleeping/ Eating: She goes to bed around 12 am and then wakes up once at either 3 am or 5 am and then sleeps til 7 am. She will then go back to bed until 10 am so if i need extra sleep I snooze with her. Then she has two good naps during the day. She is eating every three hours a combination of breast milk and formula. I went to the lactation consultant this week and my milk supply doubled since last time. It still isn’t enough to fill my little chunky baby up, but it was nice to know my efforts are improving what I can give her. The pneumonia and antibiotics have made breastfeeding difficult.
Clothing: She is definitely out of her newborn clothes, they are way too short on her. The first little outfit I bought her when I found out I was pregnant no longer fits her, which is a little sad. She is also moved out of newborn diapers into the size one.
Avery’s Favorites: She loves her little bouncer chair. She will sit in it and kick her legs, smile, and coo. Before this chair she wasn’t really letting me put her down that much during the day. It is nice to have a few minutes to eat my lunch and clean her bottles.
Things I want to remember: This week she started cooing and being able to look into your eyes for short periods of time. She is smiling consistently in reaction to faces and noises you make at her. Avery is such a joy to be around and such an easy baby. I don’t have a comparison, but I think we are pretty lucky. She has also noticed our dog cowboy a little bit when he makes noises. It is easier to get out for walks and errands now since she has a semi schedule.
What we did this week: We had such a special weekend with my dear friends from high school who flew up her to meet her. You know you are true friends when you only see each other once or twice a year and it feels like no time has passed. It was so fun to share Avery with them and it was so nice to have all the extra help around. We made freezer meals, went shopping, went to a very girly movie, and took a gorgeous fall walk to Starbucks. I wish we could all live closer, but since we don’t our visits together are very special. We also did our weekly FaceTime with my family and her Nana and Papa came up separately to see her and her auntie Megan.
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Raising Nelsons 