She's here!!!!
I was adamant that I was not going to be induced, partly because I didn't want to be responsible for deciding my child's birth date (it seemed like a big responsibility!) and party because I figured I would go earlier than I could be induced anyway (the earliest the doctor would induce me was 6 days before her due date) and partly because I'd heard horror stories about how terrible being induced was. But by the 15th (Saturday), I was so done with being pregnant and stressed out about going into labor that I asked my doctor at my appointment on Monday if I could be induced on Wednesday the 19th. He was all for not delivering a baby on Christmas day, so he checked with hospital scheduling and they had 1 slot left for voluntary inducement and I got it. Yay!
I still worried over it--I felt like I was pulling her out before she was ready. But Monday night, I had contractions for about 4 hours. They stopped at about 5am and didn't start up again, but it made me feel better. My body was getting ready to kick her out on it's own, so I wasn't jumping the gun too much.
So at 6:30am on Wednesday, my mother was kind enough to come to our house to get the kids ready and off to school and I arrived at the hospital at 7am. By 8, they'd started the pitocin and at 11:45, Jules arrived. I cried I was so relieved to be done with getting her here. (I had an epidural, so it wasn't from the pain :))
As always, the nurses and doctors all said she was adorable. I think brand-new out-of-the-womb babies all look sort of squished and lumpy, so I think they just say that to everyone, but she was perfect and I loved her little face, squishy or not.
She was 7lbs 2oz, and 20.5 inches long. She had the longest fingers! And she was good at breastfeeding right away. I soon discovered she has a strong sucking reflex and a binkie was necessary to save me from nursing non-stop.
Our first vistor was Nick and then the girls and my parents. Wilda was in St. George, but got a ride up the next day to see her.
I'm enjoying this baby way more than I thought I would. She's a character already.
She always has her hands near her face and often sleeps like this with them curled under her chin.
She is my first baby to love cuddling. And it's been so fun! I love holding her.
See, her face doesn't look so squishy, right?
Fingers.
She lost quite a bit of weight after birth. At her 1 week appointment, she only weighed 6lbs 12oz, so the doctor asked me to supplement with formula for a while to get her weight up. She seems to like bottles no problems and will drink the formula cold. She is such an easy baby!
Cecily thinks Jules is pretty cute. She's been sick for a lot of the last two weeks though, so we've had to keep them apart.
Mira, on the other hand, has not been sick, and she thinks Jules is the best thing since Little Debbie snacks. She asks to hold Jules every couple of hours, checks on her when she's sleeping, refills my diaper supply, feeds her bottles, and takes tons of pictures. This kid is baby hungry at the age of 7.
Before I went to the hospital, Cecily made this picture for me and hung it on the wall in my bedroom. That's a rainbow heart on the shirt, if you can't tell, and it's holding a rainbow lollipop. Across the top of the shirt, it says, "I LOVE U MOM." It makes me smile every time I look at it.
I stayed in the hospital 1 night and came home late the next evening. Christmas break had started for the kids and Steve had 2 weeks parental leave, so we got to be a cozy family for a couple weeks and I loved it. One day, Mira and Cecily were playing school and after they left on a "field trip," the cat decided to help Cecily out with her homework. Lol.
On the 23rd, we had a Frohlich family get-together for Christmas. This was the only picture I took and I took it before we left the house.
Christmas day was a fun, relaxing day. It went a little differently than most of our Christmases have gone in the past since Steve and I were too tired to make sure we had an activity planned and executed. Mostly we watched TV and took naps and ate food, besides opening presents, of course.
We had this advent calendar up and Santa is holding a star that gets moved each day into the pocket of the day it is. But on the 19th, when Jules was born, the kids took our crocheted baby Jesus and stuck it in the pocket instead. I thought it was so cute.
The last Saturday in December, we decided to try a family outing to the Utah Museum of Fine Art (the UMFA, haha). It was the last item on our Visit Salt Lake passes and it was the last day we could use the passes. We didn't think it would be crowded and we needed to get out of the house, so we attempted our first (1 hour) road trip and outing with the new baby. All things considered, it went pretty well. There is a funny story here, but I will have to tell it another night. It's getting to my bed time...
This picture doesn't do them justice, but if you look, her fingers are longer than her palm.
Skinny baby and Mira loving on her while I changed her diaper.
More Mira loves.
On New Year's Eve, we had a few friends over and played a couple games, toasted the new year and went immediately to bed. I was told I outlasted my parents, so I can claim not being old yet. ;)
New Year's Day, we went to my parents' house and Ben and Steve played LOTR, my mom, me, Cecily, Mira, and Dylan put a puzzle together, and the other kids ran around like crazy people or played on tablets.
One of the pictures Mira has taken.
This Saturday, we had a neighbor who is trying to start a photography business ask if she could come take some pictures of us and the baby in our house. I thought this pose was pretty cute of Steve and the girls.
She can sometimes get her fingers to stay in her mouth so she can suck on them. I think that's a lot of coordination for a 2-week old.
Can't wait to see what the next weeks and months bring!
