Home with 2 under 2

The thought of being home with both girls (being so little) was enough to give me anxiety when I was at the end of my pregnancy with Ella. I thought over and over about how the heck I would manage to pull it off - having one attached to the boob 90% of the day while also taking care of the other. Once Ella was born I had the baby blues for the first two weeks. Anytime I thought about Fraser returning to work, I broke down in tears. It didn't help that Ella started having trouble nursing due to her lip and tongue which just added a whole other element to my worries. 

Luckily the baby blues passed and I wasn't an emotional wreck any longer (phew). Being home with both girls has been amazing. Ella has been nursing wonderfully and Harper has been dealing with the lack of attention (getting used to not being the only baby) extremely well. Harper will see I have put Ella down and will come over for some snuggles or will bring me a book or toy. I have mastered utilizing the time I'm not nursing or soothing Ella, with playing or cuddling with Harper.

Harper is growing at a crazy rate. Everyday it amazes me all that she knows - all of the new words she's learned and her understanding of what I am asking. The little turkey still only has eight teeth, I'm waiting for the morning she wakes up totally miserable with about 8 new teeth poking through - ugh. We have seen some sneak peeks into the terrible two stage: slapping, saying no to everything, random tantrums over nothing. I think she's also ready to be toilet trained. She tells Fraser and I when she's going to poop. But I keep thinking is, Oh boy that's going to be fun with a small baby who is constantly nursing. I just know Harper will have to use the potty at the exact moment Ella is nursing. I better get used to walking and nursing at the same time.

 

Harper giving her sis big kisses.

Overall I am impressed with myself how well I've been taking care of both my girls - juggling both wanting to eat at the same time, both pooping at the same time, both screaming at the same time. There's moments in the day where I want to have a mini melt down, but many more moments where I am overjoyed with these two little blessings that mean the whole world to me.

Ella's Newborn Photoshoot + Update

I was so excited to receive Ella's newborn photo shoot disc in the mail a little over a week ago.We went with Inspired Photography by Christy - the same photographer we've used for all of Harper's photos. She is simply amazing and super talented. The angles she uses along with all of the props she collects - and the cute baby of course - we end up with stunning photos we can cherish forever.

Here are just a few of my favourites:

A quick update on little miss Ella:

Sleeping: Still sleeps awesome 95% of the time. She usually goes to bed at around 7/8 o'clock lately and will do anywhere from a 6 hour to an 8 hour stretch. She will nurse and then sleep another 3 hour stretch and continue this pattern until about 7:30am/8am. In the end I usually end up with at least 7-9 hours of sleep by the time I go to bed at night - which is great!

Breastfeeding: She nurses like a champ! Phew. What a relief. She had her tongue tie and lip tie release almost three weeks ago. It took a few days for everything to heal up and then she latched on like a dream. Thank goodness, because that was really stressing me out. Right now I'm trying some lactation recipes to keep my milk supply up.

Weight: She will have her 2 month appointment in the next few weeks and I'm excited to see how much she weighs as she definitely seems to be chunking up. Harper at her 2 month appointment weighed a whopping 16lbs! She was such a chunker but Ella is much more petite. 

Misc: Ella failed her hearing test twice on her right side. Most likely due to excessive crap built up in her ears (I've been picking it out since she was born). We're trying not to worry too much as the tests have been so inconsistent (one time she almost passed during several attempts and other times came no where near passing). We will need to bring her to St.Thomas for a two hour hearing test where they can run multiple tests to rule out hearing loss. The only thing that is worrying me is that I have hearing loss and had several issues with my ears growing up, where I had to see a specialist for several years. Fingers crossed that doesn't happen to our little babe.

Overall we have been getting the hang of juggling all that needs to be done with two small babies. It's had its rough moments where Fraser and I want to pull our hair out, but it seems to get easier as the time goes on. I'm enjoying every day with my two sweet little girls.

One Month + Sleeping + Breastfeeding

Where has a month gone? I cannot believe that our sweet Ella is already a month old. It feels like just last week we were in the hospital. 

One month update:

Sleeping: Ella, thankfully, has been a pretty good sleeper since we've brought her home. Almost everynight, with the exception of one rough night here and there, she sleeps a good 5-7 hour stretch at the beginning. She usually goes down for the night between 8:30/9:30 and will sleep until 4am - wake nurse/bottle (pumped milk) and sleep another 2-3 hours. She's also really good for going right back to sleep - not stair at me wide awake for a few hours like her big sis did when she was itty bitty. 

Personality: Ella is pretty passive, however lately she has been a lot more fussy. Harper was lactose intolerant the first year and we're thinking Ella may be showing signs as well. She's been super gassy and has a rash on her face off and on all day. Looks like I will be on a strict dairy free diet again for a while..ugh. 

Breastfeeding: Boy where do I start. When Ella was first born, I was so relieved because she seemed to breastfeed like a champ. This last about two weeks when my breasts were really engorged with milk. Then I started noticing my milk supply going down and Ella was having a hard time latching and staying latched. I also noticed her tongue looked odd - rather than having a pointy tip on her tongue, hers had almost a heart shape. I started researching and immediately found information of tongue ties. I didn't need anyone to confirm her tongue tie since it was so obvious. She would cry and you literally see the skin underneath went all the way to the tip - pulling her tongue inwards. I quickly made an appointment with a clinic that uses a laser to correct it for minimal healing.

Up until her appointment I had to pump to keep my milk supply up and to save my poor nipples. We went to her appointment, they confirmed she had the worst tongue tie a baby can have and also a severe lip tie. Both were corrected that day and we were sent on our way. The worst thing about the whole procedure is the excercises you have to do afterwards which consist of rubbing the incision three times a day to keep it from reattaching. Yikes. 

Weight: 8lbs 14oz (three weeks)

This past month has zipped by and it's definitely had it's ups and downs but I wouldn't change it for the world! Love my two little ladies. 

Labor + Delivery + Meet Ella

What a difference this labor and delivery was. With Harper I had a 25 hour labor that started with my water breaking. With Ella, I woke up at 3am July 11th with horrible contractions and lots of pressure. At first I didn't believe I was in labor as I thought she would never come on her own. I was supposed to be induced the day before at 39 weeks 6 days - but never got called in as they were too busy. Well it didn't matter as she had plans of coming on her own anyways. Funny how things work out sometimes. When I woke up with contractions they were very painful and were coming every 7 mins but quickly went from 7 to 5 minutes apart. I still stuck it out at home until 7am before calling my mom to come over to look after Harper. Boy was that a mistake. At this point my contractions were 3 minutes apart and I was terrified I had waited too long and I was going to have the baby in the car! I was bursting into tears with every contraction, which made for an interesting car ride to the hospital. Let me tell you - riding in the car while experiencing painful contractions is by no means fun. 

We arrived to the hospital, Fraser wheeled me up in a wheel chair as I could barely walk. They immediately took me into a room as I was crying with every contraction. The nurse checked me out, I was 4cm dilated and she informed me they were admitting me - well duh. A nurse came in to give me my IV and boy was she terrible at that task. She couldn't get the needle in as there was a "vessel" in the way..she was literally digging around in my vein - I was screaming. Im normally really good with needles but holy Hannah. Fraser went white and almost passed out because he watched the entire thing. In the end I didn't end up with an IV in - but had a very green and sweaty hubby breathing heavily next to me in a chair. Another nurse came in and gave me an IV in the side of my arm. At first I was nervous as I never had one there before but it hardly hurt and she had zero issues. Thank goodness. Once that ordeal was over, they wheeled me to the delivery room and checked me again as I was having some of the worst pains I've experienced in my life - including Harpers labor. I was 6cm's dilated - went from 4 to 6 in a matter of 45 minutes. I felt like I was dying. I had the most intense urge to push. The nurses knew I wanted an epidural but had to wait until my bloodwork came back and for a clerk to ask me the standard questions. I was screaming for them to hurry up. The nurse left to see if my results had come back and I had several super strong contractions and was pushing - it was like I had no control over me body. It was terrifying. I stared to bleed and panicked. The nurse came running in and offered me gas while the anesthesiologist was on their way. What a trip. The room was spinning, I felt nauseous and at one point I thought I was going to pass out from the pain. Thankfully the anesthesiologist came in shortly after and saw the state I was in. She told the nurse to check me to make sure I wasn't fully dilated. I was 8cm's. I was dilating at a crazy rate. She asked me if I wanted to bother or of I wanted to just start pushing as it most likely wouldn't take much longer for me to be fully dilated. I believe I very assertive and slightly angry "NO" came out of me. I immediately had flash backs of Harpers delivery and pushing for 3 hours, needing forceps to get her out - and the damage she caused. There was no way I was risking feeling all of that. I got the epidural  which was a challenge as I had to stay perfectly still while experiencing my body being torn into two - or at least that's how it felt. A few minutes later and I started to feel some relief. The nurse checked the babies heartbeat and we heard a loud pop - my water broke. She checked me and I was fully dilated. I went from 4cm to 10cm in less than 3 hours. Luckily I was able to rest for an hour since I finally had no longer wanted to push - to labor down. The hour flew by and they were getting me ready to push. She came super fast - 10 pushes and she was out. Barely broke a sweat. Such a nice delivery compared to Harpers entrance into the world. 

What a difference when you labor super quickly - the contractions at least for me, were about 100 times worse. Yikes. I should have gone to the hospital sooner!

In the end we had a beautiful, healthy little girl. Weighing in at 8lbs 1 oz and 21" long. Dark hair, dark blue eyes. Just like when her sister was born. 

We got to leave at the 24 hour mark which was great. Came home for Harper to meet her little sister. She was not too sure about her but warmed up within the next few days. 

Now for lots of pictures:

Overdue + Induction

 

Well my due date has officially passed, I am now 4 days overdue with baby # 2. I didn't expect to make it this long in my pregnancy with health issues and past stresses, but here we are. Baby girl has until this Wednesday to make her debut or I am being induced sometime on Wednesday (6 days overdue). My OB wasn't going to make me wait until I was 41 weeks to book an induction date, probably because of the fact that I have been in pre-labor for the past two weeks (constant contractions) and I am 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced (as of last Thursday). I am really nervous about being induced, only because I never experienced that with Harper (my water broke when I was 5 days overdue). I'm hoping it won't be anything major being that my body has already started gearing up. I know a lot of women that had to be induced at 41 weeks due to no dilation or effacement - which makes the process a little more difficult. With me being dilated and my cervix thinning, they will break my water and hopefully my body will do the rest.

Surprisingly I have had a ton of energy and have been nesting like crazy. Fraser's officially home for the next three weeks which eases my mind being that he can chase after Harper while I clean and organize the house like a mad women. I usually feel really good in the morning and go down hill pretty quickly throughout the day.

We've been busy playing and entertaining Harper - making use of every last moment we have as a family of three. This past weekend was so beautiful, so we spent a lot of time with Harper outside - going for walks and playing in the backyard. Here's a bunch of random pictures from the weekend:

These were some cute shots I got of Fraser and Harper touching my big belly:

Also some quick picks of the nursery. I still have lots to do in her room, but I wanted some progress shots:

It's been a busy last week, getting any last minute things finished before the baby is here and now it seems we are at the end. If I don't go into labor tonight (which would be cool if I did because then both babies would have been 5 days overdue), we will spend tomorrow just relaxing with Harper and triple checking our hospital bags for Wednesday. We cannot wait until we meet this little lady and to finally see what it is going to be like to be a family of four.