SHE'S HERE!!!

Mommy at 38 weeks in the nursery.

Our sweet baby Eliana

Braden meeting his baby sister

Our first picture as a family of four!

It's been way too long since I've posted on here and much has happened since then.....

On July 11th I went in for my scheduled C-section.  This was planned due to Braden having been born C-section and my Dr. and I thinking I probably would not do well with a VBAC considering I didn't progress well with Braden. From a planning standpoint, it certainly made it easier! Curtis' Mom and Dad come the evening before and stayed with Braden at our house that next day.  Curtis and I were at the hospital by 7am. I was shown to my room and proceeded with getting my IV in, monitors on, and asked a million questions. Then Curtis was given scrubs and we all walked to the OR. Curtis was asked to wait outside while I was taken in and sat on the operating table for the anesthesiologist to do my spinal block. It went surprisingly well and hardly hurt at all. I was quickly laid down and the numbness quickly took it's effect. Curtis video taped the surgery while Dr. Fenoughty and Dr. Huffman proceeded with cutting and pushing our little girl out.  Eliana Grace Burkholder was born at 9:30am.  She didn't cry right away, but once she was taken over to the incubator table and they started rubbing her down, she cried and her purple tint quickly turned to pink. We knew right away she was a beautiful, perfect baby girl!  Praise God! They continued to work on her getting her cleaned up, weighed, measured and dressed while I was being stitched up.  Finally, she was given to me to hold! :) We all went back to the room to recover. I continued to remain numb for several hours and it wasn't until about 2pm that I could feel and move my legs again. I was able to nurse Eliana while laying on my side with the nurse assisting me to roll. It's such a weird feeling to be so helpless. Finally, I we were taken to our post-partum room and approximately 4pm Ed and Carol (Curtis' Mom and Dad) came with Braden. It was so good to see him and he was excited to meet his baby sister. Later that evening my sister, Cara and her family came to visit. Braden then went home with them for next couple days and Ed and Carol left for home. I spent 3 days in the hospital and we finally came home on the 14th. The biggest challenge in those first few days/weeks was breastfeeding. Initially it seemed Eliana was doing great with nursing, but after a few days it became evident that something was wrong with the way she was latching on. She made me so raw to the point of scabbing/bleeding. By the time we came home, I could barely stand to have her nurse at all. I tried using a nipple shield as I had used with Braden, but she wouldn't take it with multiple attempts. I was so frustrated!!! I ended up trying to give her a bottle and she finally took the 2nd type I tried. Thank God! I know you're not supposed to give a baby a bottle until they are at least a month old to establish the breastfeeding.....but my child needed to eat!!! SO, for about a week and a half, she was bottle fed while I pumped. It was exhausting. And, Curtis had to get up in the night with me to give her a bottle while I pumped. He was able to appreciate along with me the sleep deprivation that comes with a new baby. Gradually I've been able to work with Eliana on nursing with the shield, once I healed. We are now back to strictly breastfeeding. One thing I've learned about breastfeeding with both my kids- it's not easy and takes a lot of perseverance to make it work. But I know it's the best start I can give them so I keep at it.

Eliana is definitely a more fussy baby than Braden was. I think part of her fussiness has been due to a dairy sensitivity. So, I've cut out dairy completely for the past 9 days which has definitely helped. And, she likes to be held all the time and has a hard time putting herself to sleep. I've read the book, "The Happiest Baby on the Block" which has helped give some strategies to deal with her fussiness. She's been a champ at nighttime sleep, though. She will go usually at least 4.5 hrs and up to 7 hrs between feedings. Generally, I'm only up with her once in the night. Don't get me wrong, I'm still crazy tired, but this is a manageable kind of tired. I've attempted outings with both kids twice now which can be quite the circus, but I'm learning how to manage them both.

Braden has been great with Eliana.  I was very fearful of how he would do since he's been very much a Mommy's boy and always wants me to hold him etc. But, he's done great. He certainly has had his moments and occasional meltdowns over my not being able to hold him due to nursing/holding Eliana, but overall he is adjusting well. He's allowed Curtis to take over a lot of the care taking of him (when Curtis is home) including diaper changes, bath time, bed time etc. Part of me misses not being able to do all those things for him, but I'm not super woman after all!  Braden loves to give Eliana kisses all the time and wants to share his toys with her.  He has said some funny things like, "Put her down so she can walk". And we have to explain that it will be a while before she'll be able to walk and play with toys like he does.  It's neat to see him try to process all of this.

One of my goals of being on maternity leave is to get Braden potty trained. So, my plan is we'll start with that the beginning of September once we're all in a good routine. Hopefully it will go well. Any and all advice would be appreciated!