"Mommy...you sleep a lot"....HA!

So, every afternoon, the ladies of the Heath household take a nap! Alyson comes downstairs after she wakes up and stands at the side of the bed...I wake up and she says, "Mommy..you sleep a lot"...HAHAH!! That's the biggest laugh ever! No...I just try to get sleep whenever I can! The truth is, I'm only getting about 4 hours total on average at night...interrupted...so my hour in the afternoon is to get me through the rest of the day!

Molly is growing well! We had her 3 week doc appt. this morning. She has gained weight and is almost 10 lbs. now! So, the breastmilk is doing the trick! Good stuff! She feeds ALL THE TIME! She is in the 85th percentile with her weight and head circumference. That's normal. Doc said she is tongue tied...which means that her tongue is more connected underneath than it should be I think. She did some tests in the office and said that she is fine and shouldn't need any intervention when she gets older...I guess in some cases, they have to snip part of the area under the tongue and it can affect verbal development. But, Molly was able to stick out her tongue and she's breastfeeding just fine so she said it's not anything to be concerned with. YEAH!!

Alyson is so sweet to her sister...loves on her and is concerned when she cries, wants to hold her...but she hasn't been too nice to me. She's begun hitting me and just acting out in general. Each day, I don't know what it will bring. I"ve been having some depression because of it...I cry a lot because in some way, I feel I'm not giving enough to Alyson, because I have to give SO MUCH to Molly right now since she is so little....I know it will pass and everything will be o.k. I just get overwhelmed, which the doctor said is normal. Other than that, Alyson is doing well and she will be 3 next month!!!

Mike had to go to Phoenix, AZ this past week...he's been gone since Tuesday early morning. This has been a challenge for me, but I made it!! He's coming home today!! He did his training to be a trainor with Swift and they already have a trainee for him! He trains someone for 6 weeks and then that person goes out on their own. But, good for him (and our family)...whatever miles that trainee drives for an entire year, Mike will get paid some amount per mile for every mile! And, that's for as many trainees as he can do...pretty cool! So, we are excited about that...he won't be home every night like now, but he will be home weekly and it is good for our family. :)

As for me...other than some blues, I'm doing good. Planning Alyson's birthday party...trying to pick out birth announcements for Molly..I think I have them narrowed down! My recovery is going well...my C-section incision is still itchy..so it's still healing. I take Ibuprofen still daily.....I'm driving now..so we get out of the house as often as possible!! I'm keeping our new house up with laundry and dishes and things...feels good. My weight loss has slowed. It's 3 weeks since delivery and I lost 40 lbs. :) PRETTY GOOD! I'm happy with that because it's only 10 lbs. to where I was when I got pregnant. I will continue to breastfeed as long as Molly wants to and that will help with losing more weight, too.

Bye for now! Hope anyone that reads this is doing well!

Link to new pictures!
http://adobe.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=hdc0iwz.8u9t7uez&x=0&y=ybl9lq&localeid=en_US


Love,
Angel :)

11 Days Old Now!

Hello!

Well...we are settling in nicely at home. I had a couple breakdowns and have felt some "baby blues" during the first week home, but now I'm better getting into some type of routine. I think it was just hard for me because I was in pain and just couldn't do everything that I'm used to doing. Especially where Alyson is concerned...I felt like I was losing some of my bond with her since I'm spending so much time with the baby...but I'm not. I think it will make our bond more special and she is a great helper! When Molly cries, she jumps up and says, "Mommy...go get her!! She wants the BOOB!" She's so funny! She will turn 3 next month and I have some fun classes arranged for her so we can all get out of the house and she can get some activity since I am limited right now. :)

Molly is doing great! She nurses all the time during the day, but I'm kind of getting her into a routine at night I think where she is sleeping for about 3 hour increments. She HATES having her diaper changed, but what are you going to do? I have to change it...can't let her sit in a wet or poopy diaper!

She sees the doc again at the end of August and next week, I'm busting out of the house and driving again!!! I am off of the pain medicine (ran out) and just on Ibuprofen now.

The dinners that people have been bringing have been so yummy and much appreciated! And, I've had visitors helping me mostly with Alyson and house things....it's been wonderful. Mike went back to work, but he's been home in the morning time for a few hours before heading out so that's nice.

Again, not that I'm watching my weight (well, I kind of am I guess, but not stressed about it), as of this morning, I've lost 31 pounds! Every couple of days I'm down another few pounds....which is great!

More to come in the weeks ahead! Here is a link to more pictures!!!

http://adobe.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=hdc0iwz.928hah8b&x=0&y=y85on5&localeid=en_US

Love,
Angel :)

Molly has arrived!!!

The day finally came! I had a doctor appointment on my due date (August 7th) and during that appointment, they decided to send me over to Labor and Delivery for monitoring as my blood pressure was way too high (152/93). The BP only came down a little in hours I was monitored...time to make a choice! Did I want to be induced (when I was only at 1 cm dilated and 20% effaced) and possibly have 2 days of labor or go for a repeat C-section. After much discussion with Mike and my sister Aimee and Kirsten, I decided on the C-section. This was about 7 p.m. The doctor thought that was the best decision and so did I. I walked into the operating room at 1:30, got my spinal to numb my lower body and laid down. Right away, I started to get a really bad neck spasm that didn't go away...I was wriggling all over the place, which wasn't good for the surgeons. The anestesiologist gave me a shot of Demerol to relax me and WOW, it did!! I was so loopy and I think I dozed off at one point.
Then, it was time to lift her out! Daddy was excited and had the camera ready!!

Molly Addison Heath
Born August 8, 2008 2:03 a.m.
9 lbs. 6.8 oz. and 21" long

After, they wheeled me into recovery and I got to hold my baby. She latched on to my breast right away, which I was so thrilled about! Then, we were taken to our room....where I shared it with 3 other mommies and their babies. Boy...was I not expecting that! With Alyson, because I had a C-section, I got my own room with a chair that pulled out for Mike to sleep and my own bathroom. At Kaiser-Morse Ave., it's all about sharing...it was awful. When I got Molly to sleep, another baby would start wailing or the nurses would come in. We made it through, though and the one thing I can say is that the nurses were AMAZING! Very attentive and so nice. I didn't have a grouchy one (except for one nurse I called the breastfeeding nazi!!). We checked out on Sunday afternoon and headed home!

Molly had her 4 day old appointment at the doctor on Tuesday. She did great and gained back some weight (she had lost about a pound, which is normal for newborns). She is a little jaundiced, but not terribly that the doctor was concerned enough about. My milk has come in and Molly and I are establishing our routines. Last night was actually a pretty good night (waking about 4 times to feed) and I am getting used to the lack of sleep. I'm actually seeing a pattern to her feedings and sleeping right now I think!

Alyson stayed at my sister, Aimee's during the hospital stay. She returned home to us on Monday. It's an adjustment...for her and us..and I think she'll ease into it more and more each day. She's not used to Mommy always being with another child or resting because I am still recovering. I think she is handling it quite well though..

Mike has to go back to work on Thursday. I'm not looking forward to that...we'll see how it goes. I'm still not recovered and still taking Vicodin for pain...and I can't drive anywhere for another few weeks...so I think it will be challenging, but we'll get through it!

Below is a link to a bunch of pictures! I'd love visitors, so if you'd like to come over, please email or call me! angel.heath@comcast.net or 916-568-9377. :)

Here is the link to photos!!
http://adobe.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=hdc0iwz.4lkkhekb&x=0&y=p6mmgq&localeid=en_US
Bye for now,
The Heath Family
Mike, Angel, Alyson and MOLLY!!