Life with Elise: Week 1

 

Written Saturday, March 28th

I can't believe Little Miss Elise is already a week old!  This week has really flown by and we have had so much fun.  We are all enjoying Elise so much and are so in love.  This first week my mom stayed with us and Ty was home from work so we pretty much always had 3 adults to the 2 children.  There were a few times Ty and my mom headed out to run errands during nap time and Carter woke up while they were gone so it was just me with Carter and Elise and we did just fine.  Carter is smitten with Elise and she is super chill and easy going so it's pretty easy to be honest.  We also had lots of visits from Uncie J and Uncie Taco and my dad traveled back up to see everyone Monday evening and again on Friday for the weekend.  It's been a bit of a constant party around here!  In the mornings Elise would wake up to eat and Carter would wake up while I was nursing her.  My mom would go in to get him and I would either get up when Elise finished eating or go back to sleep for a little bit.  If I went back to sleep Carter would want to come lay in bed with all of us after he ate breakfast.  I loved those moments when we were all in bed together snuggling!

Elise already loves her Oma!

 

My recovery has been pretty good.  I'm getting so much more sleep than I got when Carter was a newborn.  Carter went an hour in between feedings and Elise goes for 2-3 hours, sometimes even 3.5!  That extra week of plumping up in my belly sure has made a huge difference!  I feel like a human being and can function really well!  My tear this time has been a little bit worse just because of where it's at.  It tends to get rubbed more when I walk and is just more sore than what I remember from before.  In the beginning it hurt so much to pee that I held back tears while I was going, but it has already gotten SO MUCH better!  Tuesday, at 3 days postpartum, my mom and I took the double stroller out for a half mile walk.  Then on Thursday we walked 3/4 of a mile to Jeremy's house.  Mom pushed the stroller and I carried Elise.  On Saturday we walked a mile with Jeremy and I carried Elise in her baby carrier.  It has been so nice to get back into exercising already and I'm hopeful I'll be run/walking by the 5k I'm signed up for on April 18th.  Even if I'm not run/walking by then I'll be able to walk the whole race for sure! 

With Carter I was so afraid to take him out in public with him being premature and born in the winter, smack dab in the height of flu season.  I haven't felt that way at all with Elise.  I feel so much better this time around and Carter needs to get out, so we have.  We were discharged from the hospital on Sunday after just over 24 hours in the hospital and it felt so good to be home and to be with Carter.  I had missed him even more than I had expected!  We took our first trip out of the house on Tuesday when Elise was 3 days old.  My mom and I walked with Carter and Elise in the double stroller to the library.  Then we went to dinner at Panera and I even nursed Elise while we were there.  I always felt so weird nursing Carter in public even with a cover-up on, but it hasn't bothered me at all with Elise.  On Thursday when Elise was 4 days old she rode in the baby carrier while Carter played at the Children's Museum.  Then we had a picnic at the park by the museum.  That evening a tornado touched down in a town about 15 minutes from us and then went through downtown so we spent about an hour and a half in our tornado shelter in the garage.  Carter and Elise both did really well although Elise was upset and wanted to nurse pretty much the entire time we were in the shelter.  She didn't eat much, I think she just wanted to suck for comfort.

When Elise was only 3 days old I left her at home with her Oma for the first time while Ty and I went to a visitation for the dad of one of my friends.  It was hard to be away from sister, but we weren't gone long.  Then on Friday when Elise was 6 days old I took Carter out for a special mommy/Carter playdate.  He needed the special time with me and I enjoyed being alone with him, but after about 30 minutes away from Elise I was starting to get emotional and wanted to head home.  I knew she was in great hands with her Oma and she even ate almost 2 ounces I had pumped before leaving!  Carter had so much fun and was much better behaved after our special time together.  He really needed some mommy time and I was glad it made him feel loved and special!

I don't know why and I was surprised when it came out of my mouth, but I call Elise sister all the time.  I'd say I probably call her "Sister" more than I call her "Elise".  She really is the sweetest, most easy going little baby.  She loves being in her baby carrier, snuggled against my chest (and I love it too).  She also sleeps well in her bouncer and her swing even when they aren't turned on, though she isn't a fan of her Pack N Play and doesn't like sleeping in it.  She nurses really well and is an efficient little eater, she'll eat for about 10 minutes on each side.  Usually I change her diaper in between sides to help her wake up.  Then she typically poops her diaper while eating on the 2nd side which results in another diaper change!  We were all surprised by how many poopy diapers she had during the first few days.  She'd already had 3 poopy diapers about half-way through the day she was born!  We suctioned out her nose one night because she seemed to be struggling more than usual to breathe.  We were both prepared for it to be horrible, but she shocked us by sleeping through it!

My milk came in Tuesday evening and sister had such a hard time with it.  She would start to eat, but then she'd pull off crying and snorting.  It was frustrating and would take me 15-20 minutes to finally get her latched on and eating.  I hadn't even mentioned it yet at our doctor's appointment when he mentioned she was really snorty and asked if she was born quickly.  We said she was and he told us that when a baby is born too quickly and the pushing isn't as controlled sometimes the baby's nasal passageways can get pinched causing them to be snorty and have trouble breathing, especially when they're eating.  I felt so bad knowing I in part caused her to be so snorty!  If you look inside her nostrils you can see they aren't open like they should be.  He said she should grow out of it.  She's already eating much better and only struggles to latch due to difficulty breathing and snorting on occasion.  Just like her brother, Elise sucks her thumb!  Carter didn't find his thumb until he was a month or two old, but Elise has already figured it out.  If she's hungry and I don't get to her quickly enough I'll find her contentedly sucking her thumb when I get to her.  It blows my mind!  I guess it shouldn't though since she was sucking her thumb during one of her ultrasounds.  I brought in a 3D ultrasound to compare her face and Jeremy pointed out she liked having her hands by her face even then.  She pretty much always wants to sleep with her hands resting on or near her cheeks.  For that reason swaddling has been a no go for her.  If we do swaddle her we have to do it with her arms up and her hands by her face.

Carter and Harper both love Elise so much!  Harper follows Elise from room to room and lays near her to keep an eye on her.  She doesn't like it when other dogs get too close to Elise.  Carter doesn't like Elise crying and tries to console her.  He'll say "It's okay, Issy Eese" and if she is still crying he'll kiss her over and over trying to get her to stop.  If he's kissed her an absurd number of times and she's still crying he'll then yell, "Stop it!!!!" in frustration.  He also shows her how to put her thumb in her mouth when she cries.  He'll go over by her and start sucking his thumb and get close to her face for her to see.  One day my dad was changing Elise's diaper and she was crying.  Carter didn't like her crying so he yelled, "Mommy, c'mere, please!"  When I came in the room he told me, "Issy Eese cryeet" and pointed at her, wanting me to make her stop.  If you ask him what his sister eats he'll tell you, "Mommy milk".  The first time he saw her nursing he said, "Issy Eese eat mommy!" then he put his mouth on my arm and pretended to suck my arm.  Carter knows Elise sleeps in our room with us.  One morning he woke up at 6 am and asked to come to bed with mommy, Issy Eese, and daddy.  It was too cute!  We brought him to bed with us and he slept for about an hour in our bed.  When Elise is in her bouncer Carter likes to sit by it and manually bounce it for a while.  Then if it turns off while she's in it, he'll say "oh no, oh no" and run over to turn it back on for her.

 

I am enjoying this adventure as a family of 4 so much!  It is so much fun to have a girl this time because although things are similar, there is also a newness to it.  Diaper changes are fun because they are a little bit different.  One of my favorite parts of the day is getting Elise dressed in the morning.  All of her clothes are so adorable and I can't get enough of her sweet headbands with bows and flowers.  She is such a snuggly baby, just like her brother was!  She likes to be snuggled up on your chest to sleep and would be completely content if she were to be held all day long.  If I put her in bed next to me, she snuggles up close to me and nuzzles into my chest.  I love having her in the baby carrier or on my chest so I can easily lean down and kiss her little head.  Her cheeks are so soft and chubby that it is impossible not to kiss them.  Her little legs are so skinny and adorable that I giggle every time I see them.  When she has her eyes open she really looks around and is so alert.  I'm so glad I get to spend all of her infant moments with her.  I can really soak them up without going back to work looming in the back of my mind.  It has also made it easier to pass her off or leave her at home so I can give Carter some solid one-on-one time which he desperately needs.  When I look at Elise I'm so filled with love I get teared up.  I feel so lucky to have two such perfect babies.  Neither of them have health issues and they are both so snuggly and sweet!  Since the moment Elise came into our lives she's made them even happier, richer, and even more full of life and love.  We've enjoyed each day and I'm excited for what is to come!