2 Weeks & Growing

Today is Carter's 2 week old birthday! :) She continues to keep us on our toes. Week 2 was much different than week 1, and in a not so good way. We have battled some sleepless nights and some feeding issues, both of which seem (now) to be on the mend. We are making progress in both departments and got a great report from the doctor today.

It's so funny to think now that Carter is 2 weeks old, she is still quite a ways away from Tillman's size on the day Tillman was born. Carter now weighs 8lbs 6oz, which exceeds her birth weight by 5 oz. She is in the 58% for her weight. Her length is now 20 & 3/4in. (20 in. at birth) and is in the 77%. The nurse said she is long and lean. Everything else went well at the doctor's office and we are thankful Carter is a healthy, growing little girl. We go back in 2 weeks for her one month check up.

Here are the week's pictures. Some are out of order & some are turned. Dad came into town this past weekend to spend time with his girls (& Josh). They are very much outnumbered now. :) The 2 of them ran a race in Greer Saturday morning and we spent a good part of the weekend around the house.

Cuddle time with Little Dep

T enjoying a cupcake from a baby shower Student Council threw for Josh & Carter. It was a surprise shower & the kids were all so sweet and thoughtful!!

Enjoying popsicles & sunshine

Love my big girl! She seems even bigger now that we have Carter with us.

Somebody is starting to fill out. Look at those cheeks and chin.

Dressed & ready to go out for the day.

Big Dep & his favorite girls

Post-bath

T opening a gift from Mom & Dad

She became very attached to the strings/ribbon from the wrapping. She stuffed all the pink ribbon in one sock and all the green ribbon in the other, and wore her socks the rest of the day/night like that. She also had a meltdown when Josh threw the ribbon away at bath time. Poor thing.

Concentrating hard

Ta-Da! "I'm the big sister."

"I'm the big sister." "I'm the little sister." shirts from Fancy Trimmins.

Wake time

Let's go! Dressed and ready for today's doctor visit.

Enjoying some more popsicles. 

Look at that sweet smile.

Pink cowboy boots from Great Uncle Ronnie. She'll have to grow into these. 

Sister time. 

So sweet and peaceful. I wish I could say all of our nights have been like this. :) 

Josh at his Earth Day race Saturday morning

This is what we do a lot of in the early morning hours.

Tillman "feeding" Carter some coffee. Yes, Carter is down in there, you just can't see her. Oh, and check out Tillman's polk-a-dot socks and water shoes. Gotta love that kid!

Sunbathing

Sporting her super huge mustache bib from Tony & Danica. She'll need to grow into this one too. 

This is our life as we know it now. At least for now. I'm sure the changes and transitions will come quickly. I'll try to keep you all informed and loaded up on pictures, but to be honest, I haven't been good about that lately. Most of these pictures came compliments of Mom. 

One Week as a Family of 4

Carter has been with us one week as of yesterday. We have loved getting to know her and spending time with this sweet baby. Mom is still staying with us (Thank the Lord!!) and helping make the transition from 3 to 4 much easier on us. She is a saint and we are forever grateful for all she has done and continues to do for us.

The pictures will sum up what our first week home has looked like, but it won't capture the sassy and defiant times Tillman has been sharing with us lately. She loves her baby sister, but knows things are different now. She doesn't quite understand why I can't pick her up and hold her and she seems to be more clingy for me than ever before. I've tried each day to give her some one-on-one time.

Here goes the week:

Welcome Home signs on the front door

The driveway was also nicely decorated with Welcome Home notes out of sidewalk chalk.

Balloons

Tillman was so excited to greet us when we got home. 

Happy to be home again

She was so excited she had to help Josh carry Carter inside.

Tillman couldn't wait to get Carter out of her carrier and hold her.

Playtime

I love them!

Wide awake and playing hard

Tillman told us she wanted to feed Carter a bottle, but when it came down to it, she wasn't very interested. This is all we could get her to do. 

Bath time

Poor thing  :)

At her first doctor's appointment - This was Monday.

Healthy as can be!

Enjoying some cuddle time with my newest baby girl.

I love this one! Tillman is reading a book to Carter.

"Holding" her little sister. I can't wait to see these two grow up together.

Little Dep getting in her cuddle time too.

Saturday Josh took Tillman to Clemson's spring game. Isn't she the cutest?

Having fun with her Daddy.

Tillman & Nolan

Look at that face. It screams, "I'm rotten and my Daddy spoils me." 

Play time

Bubble time - Mrs. Diane sent Tillman some goodies to celebrate her becoming a big sister and this bubble machine has been awesome!!

Love the smile

Josh, Carter, and I came home from the hospital Thursday afternoon. We had the option to stay in the hospital one more night, but chose to come home early because we were getting pretty stir crazy. Everybody was healthy and cleared to go if desired. I had been having a headache earlier in the day, but it had subsided by the time we were discharged. Good to go, right?? Wrong.

The rest of Thursday was pretty decent for me as far as being home, getting settled, and feeling good. My incision site has been great, and I've even weaned off of some of my meds, but that darn headache came back in the middle of the night. I was fine whenever I was laying down flat (sleeping), but anytime I sat up to go feed Carter, I would get a shooting pain to the front of my head and all down my neck. It was pretty miserable, but I kept telling myself I was just sitting up too quickly. Well, the pain and misery stayed with me as long as I was elevated. The only way I could get comfortable was completely flat on my back. 

The headache and symptoms stayed and were still a major bother Friday morning when I woke up. I contemplated what to do and ended up looking it up online. (Josh hates when I do this.) What I read scared me a bit and I soon got on the phone with the doctor. Minutes later I was on the phone with an anesthesiologist at the hospital and we diagnosed with a post dura headache. (Feel free to google it.) The anesthesiologist wanted me back at the hospital as quickly as I could get there so I could have a procedure done called an epidural blood patch. 

Basically, the puncture point from my original spinal block did not seal back up so I had fluid leaking in my spinal column. The solution was to take blood from my arm and inject it into my back at the puncture site. The blood would then clot and seal over the original puncture and stop the leaking fluids. Just what you want to hear when you come home from the hospital with a newborn, right? Wrong. 

The procedure should have taken 30 minutes or so and been pretty routine. Although, I failed to mention, this occurrence (post dura headache) happens to 1% of the population who have a spinal block. Yes, 1 in 100 and that lucky 1 happened to be me. I feel so honored... Back to the procedure. By the end of it all, there were 4 nurses and 2 anesthesiologists in my room along with a very nervous and anxious husband. The doctors and nurses had the hardest time drawing blood from my veins. They needed a minimum of 20cc of blood, and an hour later and a billion pokes later, all they had was 6cc of blood. Solution? Do a radial stick and go through an artery, yes an artery, to get the blood instead. 

The radial stick itself did not go as smoothly as desired, but eventually was successful and the doctors were able to inject 30cc of blood into my epidural space. After all of this, I had to stay at the hospital and lay flat on my back for 2 hours to give the blood time to clot. Josh was a trooper through everything, but it made him nervous that he couldn't see my face or help out during it all. All he could see was the epidural needle sticking out of my back the entire time the doctors were struggling to get blood from my arm. The procedure, although not enjoyable, was successful and I was able to go home happy and healthy about 4 hours after leaving home. 

All of this was said to introduce the next set of pictures to you. As I was having a melt down about not feeling good and being scared to go back to the hospital, our dear friend and newest guardian angel, Tawyna showed up at the house to do a photo shoot. Originally it was going to be of all 4 of us. Needless to say, Josh and I had to re-prioritize and leave for the hospital. So, Mom and Tawyna had to immediately take over as caregivers for both Tillman and Carter...and it was time for Carter to eat. Luckily I had pumped some emergency back up milk and had plenty to leave with them. They ended up having to feed Carter twice while we were gone and Tawyna was awesome enough to go ahead and take some pictures of the two girls for us while Josh and I were gone. 

SO, the following pictures are just a sneak peek of the photo shoot that was done while we were at the hospital. It's kind of neat though because Josh and I have been so thrilled and excited about seeing the pictures. They have all been a surprise since we weren't here to help with them and we love them all! There are plenty more, but these stand out as a few of my personal favorites. They make me one proud mama!!  (A million thanks, Tawyna!!)

My heart is happy!