This is Just Wrong

Take a look at that high. Yuck!

~ 2 Months

Dear Ivy,

A couple of days ago you turned two months! TWO MONTHS! I seriously can't believe how quickly the time has gone by. I was watching video the other day of your first bath and you were so little. You are not my little Newborn anymore. ::tear:: You are a chunker! Time needs to slow down!

You have developed so much in the last month as well. You are much more interactive. You smile and coo all the time now, which started around 6 weeks. You also mimic our facial features. If I stick out my tongue, you will do it back. You have learned to put your hand in your mouth. You can now track objects and you love to stare at your mobile.

Physically, like I mentioned already you have grown leaps and bounds. At your most recent Dr's appointment you were:

12lbs 9.5 oz: 90th Percentile!
23 inches: 75th Percentile

You grew out of the Newborn clothes and have grown out of most of your 0-3 month things. Your eyes are still blue and your hair still strawberry blond! :D You developed baby acne around 4 weeks and it finally went away at around 8 weeks. It was sad to see your little face sooo red. You were sick for the first time ever at 8 weeks. You developed a little cough and you were very fussy for a couple of days.

Sleeping is going pretty well. This month you really liked your swing and would nap in it during the day. For some reason though, when it comes to going to bed, you will not go down in your bassinet unless it's after 12pm and you have to be very tired. Most nights you give us a 4 to 5 hour stretch and then two hour stretches from then on. In the early mornings, I normally put you in bed with us, as I miss having you close to me. Soon, I will be going back to work and I really hope that you will start going down in your bassinet earlier.

And I am constantly amazed at how I love you more and more, each and every day. By becoming a mother, you have filled the missing puzzle piece in my life. I thank God for bringing you into our lives!

Love,

Momma

I Couldn't Resist

I seriously love leggings for babies! Ivy currently has two pair and she wears them quite often. Other than being cute, they are also great for diaper changes.

Here is Ivy rocking some:



So today, when I saw these on the Babysteals.com, I couldn't resist and bought her some. I can't wait for them to arrive!

Hello Fall

I can't believe that it's officially fall! My favorite season of the year! Time for cooler weather, warmer clothes. Well... it will probably be awhile longer before it stays cool. But anyways, it's nice to know that once in awhile the temperatures will drop and we will have a cool day here and there.

More than anything though, I am shocked at how quickly time is flying by. I still feel like it should be the beginning of summer. Not fall and Ivy not 2 months old!

But fall started out right, with a break in the hot temperatures. I would have loved to have spent the day outside taking advantage of the cooler weather before it warms back up, but Ivy is sick. Poor little girl! Even though I spent the last two days inside with a coughing, fussy baby, I thoroughly enjoyed having all the windows and front door open. It was a nice change.

Tomorrow, I plan to put the fall wreath on the front door. I am saddened to see though that it's supposed to hit 100 this weekend! :(

Cousins

Ivy is very lucky to have two awesome cousins. Madelyn is a about a year older than Ivy and Jackson is almost 3 years. We typically see them a couple of times a week and hopefully they will become close friends because of this. We always talk about about how in a couple of years Ivy and Madelyn will be having tea parties together and sleep overs!

The other day Madelyn was excited to see Ivy and wanted to play with her. Ivy just sat in her carseat and watched. It was too cute!

This is my first try posting a video so hopefully this works!

Birth Plans

I know many women feel that birth plans are not useful or just set you up for every complication there is to occur. Being addicted to theBump.com's pregnancy message boards, I read every reason under the sun, as to why you should not do one.

"You can't control labor, so why create a birth plan", was a favorite.

And I can kind of see why for some women that a birth plan doesn't seem very necessary, especially when having an epidural. But I personally think you still should do one. There is more to a birth plan than pain management.

Birth plans should be short and sweet. One page highlighting what is important to you.
I could have typed out my views on every single potential procedure or intervention, but that would have been overkill. No nurse or Dr. wants to read that. Let alone have the time!

Since the desire for a natural birth is not the norm, I feel having the birth plan helped me achieve my goal. When we arrived at the hospital, we didn't need to discuss anything. David just handed our nurse our birth plan. Our nurse did what she needed to get me admitted and get things going and then left us alone! No one came in and asked me if I wanted pain medication. I wasn't checked "every hour", to see how far I had progressed, unless I specifically asked.

After Ivy was born, we had a long discussion with our nurse. She had a lot of questions for me, like did I take any childbirth classes. Why yes I did, Bradley Method! She also told me that she really liked it when moms came in with birth plans. She said that it helped her know exactly our views and what we desired. So birth plans are good. If anything it hopefully helps you become knowledgeable about the different types interventions.


I knew I wanted a natural birth, but how do I put that on paper?

I found it extremely helpful reading others woman's birth plans. I will admit I did some C&P'ing of those that I read when I wrote my own. Many thanks to lovely ladies on theBump: Natural Birth board!

Since, they shared I will too:


Birth Plan


Mother to Be: Robyn
Husband: David
Doula: Mandi
Practitioner: Dr. Smith

We are pleased to be working with the nurses and physicians at Community Hospital for our birth. We are looking forward to a low-intervention birth, but understand that there may be situations in which our choices may not be possible. In striving for this, we request the following:

We want to be informed of any procedures in advance and to be allowed the chance to give informed consent.


• First Stage:

Please don’t offer any pain medications, unless I ask for it.

We request intermittent fetal monitoring and limit the number of internal exams.

We desire the freedom to walk around and change positions during labor.

Heplock administered instead of an IV.


• Second Stage:

I would like to try “mother-directed pushing”, once I feel the urge to push.

I do not want an episiotomy and would prefer to be allowed to tear naturally.


• After Birth:

I wish for immediate skin-to-skin contact and to breastfeed. Please delay all evaluations and medications to the baby, till after we have had a chance to bond.

We want to allow the cord to stop pulsating completely before it is cut. My husband David, is to be given the option to cut the cord.

Delivery of placenta: Spontaneous or encouraged with breast feeding. No routine pitocin.

Please do not give our baby formula, glucose, plain water, a pacifier or bottle.

• Complications & C-Section:

We would like to avoid a Cesarean unless absolutely necessary for the immediate safety of our baby. Should our doctor feel that a Cesarean has become truly necessary, we would like the reason(s) to be clearly explained to us, and we should be included in the decision making process.

I would like to have the surgery explained to me as it happens and to have the baby given to my husband immediately after the birth prior to any evaluations, treatments, baths, etc.


Hopefully this helpful to someone out there!

1 Month Photo

I should probably post this! Here we are at our one month photo: