Eliza month 3 (Feb 6-March 5)

Eliza was blessed on February 7th. She started sleeping in her crib in her room Feb 8th, and did great from the beginning. She quickly started to hate the swaddle the middle of Feb, once she learned that she had so much room to move around. She started sleeping in the zippadee zip Feb 17th, and it was wonderful. She started learning how to grab things this month, although still wasn't very good at it. She started realizing who mom and dad are, and when we would come and go. She learned that after her first feeding every morning, was usually about the same time dad would get home from work, and she would watch the door waiting for him to come through it. She is a champion sleeper this month.

 

 

 

Eliza month 2 (Jan 6- Feb 5)

I'm slowly getting caught up. I never realized how difficult going to school with a baby is.

Eliza started rolling from front to back on January 13, at 6 weeks. She loves standing with balancing help also. She started sleeping through the night for 6-9 hours at 6 weeks as well. She can roll from her back to her side towards the beginning of February. She loves standing up, and only needs help to balance.  She hates being naked. She had her first ER visit January 24th, which turned out to be a waste of time. Our pediatrician was a little overzealous (or just plain crazy). We are now very careful about calling the after hours line. We also made the decision to switch pediatricians shortly after this. She started loving bath time this month, as long as her dad puts her in the tub and as long as it's toasty warm! At her 2 month checkup, she weighed exactly 8 lbs. Which just so happens to not even be on the charts for weight. She is 20 3/4inches tall (2nd percentile) and 37.4 cm head circumference (24th percentile). She is our tiny girl with a big noggin. She received her first round of shots, and boy did she get red in the face for about 5 minutes! Once we got her dressed and in her car seat, she was just fine and took a nap. She is the snuggliest girl ever, especially with her mamma!
Now enjoy plenty of pictures of her second month!

Motherhood

My thoughts on motherhood.

I was always worried that I was going to absolutely hate being a mom. I was convinced that I would have children because it was just what was expected of me. I was never baby hungry, but toddler hungry. I have always loved children, and knew I would have some someday. I did want to skip the newborn phase, though! I wanted to skip straight to a two or three year old. I was worried, especially towards the end of my pregnancy that I was going to not like it that much.

I am so very glad that I decided to become a mom. It has been the best thing I have in my life. I have LOVED having a newborn. She has been a dream for the most part. There is absolutely nothing better than snuggling a newborn baby that is your own. I had no idea how much love can exist in the human body until I had Eliza. I mean, I love my husband, and my love for him always grows. But the love a mother has for her child is one of a kind, and is indescribable. Having the love for my husband, which has grown since having a baby together, and the love for my sweet baby in my body all at the same time is quite the feeling.

My appreciation for my own mother has grown tremendously as well. She came and stayed with us for a week when we first got home from the hospital, and she continues to give me great advice when I have no idea what to do. I have always been grateful for her, but now I understand a lot of the things that she did for me growing up.

I never realized how much worrying happens when you have to care for someone so much. For this reason, I am so very grateful for priesthood blessings. They are so very powerful, and they work perfectly with mothers intuiton. God created men and women with such powerful gifts.

There are so many things that get put by the wayside everyday, and I have come to terms with it. I am such a type A personality, and it is hard for me to not do everything exactly when I want to do it. Especially when it comes to having a clean house. But when my baby wants to be held, I love holding her. Even if it means that I don't get all the laundry folded right then. I love that she loves me and wants me to hold her. It isn't always going to be that way, and I'm taking advantage of it right now.

One of the most surprising things to me is that when I'm exhausted because I haven't gotten anything done, and Eliza has been a little high maintenance, I love seeing her smiling face. She makes everything worth it.

I was worried I wasn't going to love being a mom. But I absolutely love it. I always wanted to be a working mom, and didn't want anything else. Until a year ago, that was the plan. I'm really glad that my plan changed, I think Heavenly Father knew exactly what was best for me. I just didn't know at the time, that I am meant to have many babies and take care of them. That is my main priority in life, and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!

Yes, there are hard nights. Yes, sometimes she wont stop screaming. But this job is the most worthwhile one I have ever had. I am so excited to have lots more babies and to raise them.

Eliza month 1 (Dec 5-Jan 5)

This post is only a month and a half late! Better late than never!

Eliza has been such a wonderful addition to our family. She eats well when she wants to, and is such a skinny girl! We went to her pediatrician once a week for her first month of life. All because he was convinced that she wasn't gaining enough weight. She pulled her umbilical cord off after 6 days. She decided she was done with it. She was born tiny, and has her own way of doing things. She already has quite the personality, and appears to be just like her mama. Her one month stats were 6lbs 14oz. She has been very alert from the beginning. She loves to be held, and LOVES to snuggle. She was still in newborn clothes. She went on her first trip to Utah right before she turned a month old. She also had her first Christmas, and her first New Years. She met a lot of people this month. She also really loves Mama and Daddy. She had her first long night sleep of 7 hours on Christmas Eve, at almost 3 weeks. It sure gave me a heart attack when I realized we both slept through a feeding! We also realized how much this girl loves her sleep! Wake her up from a nap and she will scream for 20 minutes. She is a really happy girl most of the time. We also realized that she has reflux, and the pediatrician prescribed her some medicine to help. She sleeps in a rock and play at this point. We tried a bassinet for her first two nights, and she absolutely hated it. She loves her swing, and loves her binkie. We did find out that she will only take the mam pacifiers, none of the other ones will do. She is very particular, and everything has to be done just right for her otherwise she won't have it. We sure love this sweet girl, and her little fiery personality!

Eliza Ruth Wood

This is just for my records, and so that I can remember it later. It is a little long, but here it is, only two and a half months later..

Eliza's due date was December 15th.
I felt my first braxton hicks contractions at 35 weeks. I had 3 really strong contractions that happened while I was driving. I had to pull over, and Isaac had to take over. We were on the way to pick up her car seat from Fedex. It had to be shipped, because we were given the wrong one as we checked out at the baby store.
Real contractions started on November 20th at 36 weeks and 3 days. Isaac and I were out Christmas shopping, walking around the mall. We kept having to stop because it was hard for me to breathe and walk at the same time. As soon as we left the mall, the contractions stopped. I had contractions for the next couple of days on and off. At my 37 week checkup, I was dilated to 1-2. After the checkup, Isaac and I went to a movie, The Martian, for Isaac's birthday. I had contractions the entire movie, about every 3 minutes. Of course, as soon as we left after the movie was over, the contractions stopped. The next day, Nov 25, was a rough day full of lots of contractions. It is also Isaac's birthday. We went out to eat at The Bridge for his birthday, and enjoyed our last date night without a baby. The next day was Thanksgiving, and I didn't have any contractions for the next few days. My guess for the baby to arrive was November 29, and the day came and went without a baby. By this point, Isaac and I were ready for baby to arrive. I was mostly just ready to be done having sporadic and ridiculous contractions. They were never super painful, just made it really hard to breathe, and I couldn't do anything else at the time. At my 38 week checkup on December 1, I was dilated to a strong 2 and 50% effaced. We left the doctors office, and I was upset and thinking the baby was never going to come. Isaac kept having to reassure me that all babies come into the world. No woman has ever stayed pregnant. All week I was hurrying to finish up all of my papers, projects, and assignments for my classes in case baby decided to arrive at any minute.
Labor started Friday night, Dec 4th. I didn't know I was in labor, I was convinced it was just like any other time. Contractions were 3-4 minutes apart at around 10 or 11pm. Isaac and I went to bed, he assured me that if they continued I needed to wake him up. They continued for an hour, very consistently. I finally got so uncomfortable that I had to move to the couch so I didn't wake up Isaac. I didn't want to wake him up, go to the hospital and then be sent home. Especially since he had to work at 3am. My lower back was killing me, so I grabbed a rice bag and warmed it up. I eventually got to sleep on the couch after my back was warm enough to not be so painful. When I woke up, my back was still very painful. I warmed up the rice bag again, and tried to relax. I called my mom about 10:30 or 11am. After telling her how I was feeling, she informed me that back pain was her only sign that she was in labor. Isaac had gone back to bed when he got home from work, and after talking to my mom I decided to wake him up and see what he thought. After talking about it, we decided that we would at least go into the hospital. Just to give me peace of mind. If they sent us home, it would be fine. I could at least know where I was at.
We got everything ready to go, and got dressed. We left for the hospital about 12:45pm.

We drove to the hospital, and I was convinced that we were going to get sent home. I wasn't in pain that much. Mostly just uncomfortable, and I could hardly breathe.
Walking into the hospital was the worst. I didn't want Isaac to drop me off, so we parked and walked in together. I pushed the button to be let into the Labor & Delivery hall, and they immediately opened the doors. We walked down the hall and the nurse helped me into a room. She gave me a gown and had me change. She checked me, and then went to get the resident on call. He checked me again, and said I was dilated to 3cm, 80% effaced, and at a 0 station. They decided to admit me. The resident joked that he didn't think I was actually in labor because I was so calm. The nurse, who was my absolute favorite, did all the check-in stuff and then had me walk up and down the hall to progress labor a little. At this point, I hadn't decided if I was going to have an epidural or not. I wanted to wait until I actually felt pain to decide. That happened when I was right in the middle of the hall. I literally didn't want to walk down the rest of the hall. The resident came down and asked if I wanted a wheelchair, and of course I said no. I wasn't about to be a whimp. He asked if I was going to want an epidural, and I said that I for sure was. I got back to the room, and they said the anesthesiologist was in surgery and was going to be another hour. It was 3pm and they checked me again. I was at a 5 and 90% effaced. I was, at this point, actually in pain. It was so much that I was indeed screaming, and the whole floor probably could have heard me. The nurse gave me some sort of pain killer in my IV to take off some of the pain. It didn't seem to help too much, but it did make me very nauseous. It did, however, make the pain bearable. At 4 the anesthesiologist came in and started to get me ready for the epidural. It took what felt like forever for it to happen. But once I had the epidural, I felt great. The only downside to the epidural was that it slowed the whole process down. Had I not decided on the epidural, Eliza would have made her entrance two hours earlier. I was able to get some sleep after the epidural, and just relax. They checked me at 6 and I hadn't progressed at all. They asked if I wanted Pitocin, or if I just wanted it to take its course. I decided to take Pit, and the contractions picked up like crazy. I was checked at 6:40, and was dilated to a 7. Then again at 7:30, I was at an 8. At that point, my water still had not broken. They said that I could have them break my water, and that would probably make me progress really quickly. My family was at Red Lobster eating dinner, and waiting for me to progress more. I wanted to wait for them to be back before the baby came, so I told them I wanted to wait a little while. At about 8pm, they broke my water. I progressed to a 10 by about 8:15. Right at that time, Isaac called my mom to see how close they were. They were pulling into the parking lot, and everyone was running to the elevator. Jared, my sister's boyfriend, and my dad were running the fastest. Which is funny because neither one of them were going to be in the room. Jared waited in the waiting room(because he was sick). My dad and sister waited out in the hall. My mom and Isaac both stood by me. Since nobody knew if the baby was a girl or boy, everyone that walked in the room the entire day made a guess, and there was a tally on the board. I pushed only a few times, and only for 19 minutes before Eliza came. It also helped that I threw up a few times while I was pushing. I was shocked that a little girl came out at 8:43pm, since I was convinced that I was carrying a little boy! Isaac cut the cord, meanwhile I was in total awe of the fact that sweet baby was mine. I kept saying to the doctor that that baby was mine, almost asking if I was dreaming or if everything had just happened. They let me hold my sweet girl for a few minutes before they took her to get measured. The nursery nurse then took her to measure and clean her up. She was COVERED in white vernix. So much so that you couldn't see any color! My mom and Isaac went over with her to get cleaned up and measured, she was 6lbs 1oz and 19 inches long. My dad was anxious and telling everyone that he was ready to come in and see her! The resident and doctor stitched me up, I only had 2 first degree tears. The nurse and resident both told me that I needed to have lots of babies because of how quick the whole process was.
We still hadn't decided on a name. We knew what we were going to name the baby if it was going to be a boy, but we had a couple different options if it was going to be a girl. Isaac came over after a little while and said she looked like an Eliza. I definitely agreed. Our little Eliza Ruth was screaming, and oh so wonderful. She was given the middle name Ruth after Isaac's maternal grandmother. Once we were both cleaned up, they brought her over and I attempting nursing. I quickly learned how ferocious of a little human she is. She nursed very well, and liked to bite! It was almost as if she was born with teeth! After I nursed her, my dad and sister were able to come in and hold sweet little girl.
Once everyone got a chance to hold her, they left for home. Eliza had to go to the nursery, to get all checked out, and I hung out for a little while and waited for my epidural to wear off while I ate applesauce and drank juice.
At about 11:45pm or so, the nurse came in and helped me use the bathroom and then wheeled me down to my postpartum room. Isaac then went with Eliza to get her first bath. After what seemed like forever, they came back and I got to hold my little girl again. The time I waited while they were both gone felt like 5 hours, although I think it was maybe an hour and a half. The entire first night, I think I slept maybe an hour. I didn't want to sleep, and I couldn't sleep. I just wanted to hold her and watch her sleep the entire time.
We had our friend Breanna stop by Sunday morning, and my sister Lindsey and Jared stopped by as well. Isaac's two older sisters, Anika and Karlee, and their families come and visit on Sunday afternoon, as well as my parents. We could have been discharged Sunday evening, but we decided to stay an extra night. There was a postpartum nurse and a nursery nurse that we had at all times. The only nurses that I didn't like the entire time I was there, were the ones that just so happened to be the two the discharged us. The nursery nurse that we had the second night, was AMAZING! She held Eliza all night in the nursery, so that she wouldn't be fussy, and so that I could get some sleep. She brought her in to me every 2.5-3 hours so that she could eat, and then would take her back to the nursery and hold her. She was the sweetest lady! However, the nurse right after her was the worst. She brought Eliza in every 25 minutes telling me that she was hungry because she kept chewing on her hands. When in all reality, Eliza is just really fond of her hands. She was born with two round marks on each wrist where the skin was rubbed raw from her chewing on them in the womb. Anyways, so I would try and feed her, and she wouldn't eat, because she wasn't hungry. At the same time I had that nursery nurse, the postpartum nurse that I had kept wanting to chat with me all the time. She would come in to take vitals, and would stay and chat for a half an hour! I was trying to sleep for peetsake! The two of them were bound and determined to not let me sleep! I did LOVE the rest of the nurses that we had. Eliza's going home weight was 5lbs 10oz.

I'm very glad that my doctor, Dr. Kim Cox, was able to be there to deliver Eliza. Since it was a Saturday, it was whoever was on call that was supposed to deliver her. He just so happened to be there when I was walking the hall and said for the nurse to call him when I was getting closer, and he would come back and deliver the baby. I loved the atmosphere of the hospital, and most of the staff, they were wonderful. I really hope that the rest of my babies delivery experiences are somewhat similar to Eliza's!
I loved not finding out the gender for my first baby. I think it made the whole delivery experience such a fun one! I was worried about having an epidural, because I don't do well with any kind of pain medication. It was a great experience though, and I wouldn't change getting one. My legs were tingly the entire time, and I didn't have any feeling, but I still had enough movement. There really aren't too many things I would change about the whole of it.
These are pictures that were taken the day we went home by someone who goes around to all the rooms at the hospital.