The stars have aligned...

... or something like that. Was last night a full moon or something? Whatever it was, Isabelle slept in her cradle ALL NIGHT!! Despite getting up three times to change and feed her, she slept soundly in the cradle afterwards. I'm hesitant to say I've figured out how to get this to happen because I'm sure that will mean it won't work again tonight. But I'm so relieved that my first effort at putting her down there every time we got up actually worked!

Change diaper + nurse + burp + cuddle = Isabelle sleeps in the cradle and not on top of us in bed!

Maybe she finally realizes how cute she is when she's in there...arms always over her head :)

Of course she's also really cute when she sleeps on top of one of us. This is why we call her squishy face :)

Mass and the Pediatrician

I have never felt so anxious going to church before. I was worried that our usually quiet, sleepy baby would choose her first experience in Mass to be fussy enough for one of us to have to take her out. (We both get pretty annoyed with people who keep their fussy children in church rather than taking them out to the foyer to calm them down. Since before I was pregnant we vowed we would not be one of those parents and would make sure our child was not disruptive during Mass.) So at the first little peep she made, accompanied by the face that says "my diaper is wet and I'm going to be fussy until you change it" I took her out, changed her, fed her in the foyer during the homily and returned to Mass with a peacefully sleeping baby. Not so bad for the first time :) I'm getting more confident about taking her places - changing and feeding her someplace other than our house.

We went to the pediatrician today for Isabelle's two week checkup. She's still doing as perfectly as when she was born! Now weighs 8 lbs 5 oz!! I'm pretty sure a few ounces of that was just from yesterday and her constant feeding!!

She's also spent more time sleeping in the cradle! I love holding her and love cuddling with her when she sleeps but it is nice to know that I don't have to hold her constantly for her to sleep. I don't really feel guilty spending however long she sleeps just holding her because I love looking at her and feeling her snuggle against me but it is nice to have a break and be able to take a nap without her on top on me. We're going to attempt getting her to sleep in there tonight - Fingers crossed!!

I love this picture of her - tummy time on the boppy with her big cloth diaper bottom! So cute!!

Small Steps...

Well as I speak Isabelle is SLEEPING in the cradle and has been there for at least 30 minutes!! I know I've said before that she's slept there for that long already but this time I put her down BEFORE she was asleep (she's usually already asleep when I set her down in there) and she actually fell asleep in there! She's also listening to opera on the radio :) Not sure how long this will last but at least it's giving me a chance to sort the mounds of laundry that have accumulated. Hopefully we can repeat this again, maybe at night?! Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself...

Also had a few minutes to find this interesting blog entry about the latest on the Pampers diapers that are causing "burn like" rashes. Makes me feel even better about using cloth diapers :) More about those later but I'm loving it so far!

Isabelle's Big Day

Yesterday was quite a day for Isabelle! (And Tim and me...)

Event #1: During the first diaper change of the day (the first during daylight hours) I noticed her umbilical cord had detached and was just sitting on her tummy! Horray! We'd been cleaning it during diaper changes with a little alcohol since it had started bleeding a little. I was excited because we were waiting for it to fall off before we started using cloth diapers and we were almost out of the disposables we'd been using. (We decided to use up the newborn umbilical care diapers we received from various showers until it fell off.) With only 4 of those diapers remaining, I was worried we'd be stuck either having to go buy diapers (AHHHH!!!!) or use some of the larger disposables we received at a shower. Just in the nick of time!!

Event #2: Since the cord fell off we could now give her a bath! One of the nurses at the hospital told us she did NOT like the bath she got there and we've figured out that she's not a huge fan of being naked. So her first bath was quite the experience for her. The most screaming we've heard yet! But once we got her dried off in a hooded towel she was much happier. AND giving her hair a little wash also revealed a much redder color than before! In all of our wondering what our baby would look like I never thought about red hair but it's so cute!! Who knows what color it will turn out to be but right now it's the same color as Tim's was when he was a baby.

Event #3: CLOTH DIAPERS!!! I had ordered a small supply of Fuzzibunz a few weeks before she was born and I was so excited to start using them! They're so soft and fuzzy and I'm sure a much nicer feel than the disposables. They are a one-size diaper that we will be able to resize as she grows and continue using until she is potty trained. (The cost savings of these diapers is just amazing to me! A bit of an expense up front but then we're set until potty training AND for any other future children.) They are a little bulky on her right now since she's still pretty tiny, but her big diaper bottom is soo cute! After 24 hours of using them, I'm pretty happy. We also ordered some Flip diapers (which came today!), which is another cloth diaper system that lets you reuse the cover over and over before washing and just replaced the wet or soiled insert. They're currently in the wash but I'm so excited to start using them!

Event #4: Off to church for Baptism Prep class. In hopes of being able to schedule Isabelle's baptism sooner rather than later we decided to attend the class this month rather than waiting till the July class. I'm not sure if the other people there thought we were crazy for bringing our 10 day old baby but it gave me a little confidence about taking her places. I made sure she was fed and changed before we left in hopes that neither would have to be repeated until we got home. Well, of course, within 30-45 minutes of arriving she started fussing like she was hungry. So I had to get over my hesitation to breastfeed in public for the first time pretty fast. A few days before she was born I found a pattern online and made myself a nursing cover. I figured it would help ease me into feeding her in public places. I'm hoping I'll eventually be comfortable enough and skilled enough to not need a cover but for now I was very glad I had it! It certainly helped that Tim gave me a reassuring smile when I looked at him (probably looking a little scared) and mouthed "she's hungry". It was a small step but I already feel a little of my insecurities about it going away.

We also decided to take her for a walk. This was definitely more of an event for me than for her since I hadn't been out of the house in several days let along walking further than the end of our driveway since before she was born.

Pictures!

One of Isabelle's first pictures, with Stephanie our awesome midwife

With Nana (my mom)

With DoDa (my dad)

Going home!

Aunt Laura came to visit

With Gran (Tim's mom)

In the cradle my dad made when I was a baby. I wish I could say she sleeps here but she doesn't....not yet. She'll sleep there for about 45 min to an hour and only if she's asleep when we put here in there.

It's a girl!!!!

Isabelle Katherine McKay finally made her appearance on Monday, May 3 at 5:40pm. She was 7 lbs 3.9 oz and 21 inches long.

Despite being 2 weeks late and needing to be induced, she arrived without using any pain meds!! She arrived almost exactly 8 hours after pitocin was started. By far the most painful but most most amazing experience of my life. I can not begin to imagine having done it without Tim and Mary by my side the whole time. Mary was incredible, helping me get through every contraction one at a time, teaching Tim on the spot how to get me to breathe and using relaxation techniques that I couldn't possibly have remembered to do on my own. I progressed faster than Stephanie, the midwife, expected. When it came time to push all I could think about was how people describe it feeling like a ring of fire and I had that Johnny Cash song running through my head the whole time! The nurse brought a mirror over so I could see her head crowning which gave me that extra push of energy I needed. When Stephanie told me to reach down and pull out my baby, that extreme pain immediately turned into the most wonderful feeling in the world! I couldn't believe I did it! It was a minute or two before anyone turned her over to see that she was a girl!

We spent two nights in the hospital and came home Wednesday. It's been quite a week adjusting to our new sleep schedule but she's a pretty happy baby. We couldn't be more in love with her!