Vote For My Snugglebug!!


Yes, OF COURSE I entered my cutie into the Gerber photo contest on Facebook. Please vote for my snugglebug!! I will return the favor if you leave a comment on this post with a link. Thanks!!!!!! Good luck to everyone!

First you have to "like" Gerber's page HERE. If you have already done this ever before, skip this step.

Then, vote for my sweetiepie HERE.

Thanks in advance!!!
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Trash Into Treasure!

I love to go to yard sales because you really don't know what fantastic things you can discover!

A couple weeks ago I found this high chair for $5. Of course it needed to be cleaned up and a new cover/safety straps, but I figured that out.




My favorite model was napping at the time, so her teddy bear had to do.
I still have to figure out hoe to cover up that ugly stuff on the side of the tray... any ideas?


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2 month shots

Let's be honest, I'm a wuss. Pain and I are not friends and I think I actually have more sensitive nerve endings than most people. Thank God Lynaea got her daddy's pain tolerance! She had to have her shots today and I was dreading it. I felt like the worst mother in the world because she was having such a good day and I knew it was totally going to change and she wouldn't even see the pain coming!

BAM, it was going to huit her out of nowhere!

Well, the time came to give her shots, but she took it like a CHAMP. Of course she cried a little, but after a couple of minutes she was back to happy baby. I think I cried more than she did.

I just had to share my little joy. Peace and love!




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Post Partum Depression

Yes, it is hard adjusting to the whims of a newborn.

Yes, I fell off the face of the planet.

Yes, PPD sucks.

Fortunately I went to the doctors about a week ago to get medicine because my mood just wasn't lifting. Things are looking up! I fell off the face of the Earth for a while there, but I am slowly coming back. In a few days I hope to be as good as new.

Wish me luck!


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Becoming a Mommy Has Made Me Appreciate:

1) Having both hands at my disposal to type... or do anything else

2) Poop colors and frequencies (of the little one in my arms)

3) Showers

4) Sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time. I take that back... sleep period.

5) Lactation Consultants

6) The end of growth spurts

7) Every ounce my baby girl puts on

8) So much else!

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Birth Story :)

So, late February 2nd I started getting contractions and they were totally different from what I had felt before. Everyone told me that when you get contractions you know it... and I didn't really trust that until I got them! I certainly knew it. I had contractions regularly all night until about 7 am February 3rd... then they totally disappeared! I was not at all prepared for that because I thought only Braxton Hicks went away and I was so sure this was it! I actually got depressed because my husband had to go back to work. He left about 11am and I decided to distract myself with tv.

Well noon came around and so did my contractions... with a vengeance! By 3:30 my father in-law was rushing me to the hospital and when I got there at 4pm I was already 5 cm. I totally expected the ride to the hospital to be so much different (you know... screaming, crying, etc.) but it was actually pretty quiet. Apparently I shut out the world when I have a contraction. I had to call hubby, who was an hour away, to tell him this was it!

By the time he got there at 6pm, we walked a couple blocks around the nursery and it was time for the epidural. Good thing I asked for it when I did because it took an hour to get all my fluids in before they could put give me the epi. And man! Those contractions were getting pretty brutal. By 9:30 I was fully dilated and we were just waiting for the baby to drop and for me to get the urge to push (never got it actually...) I tried pushing then, but it was no use. An hour later I decided to try again and after an hour of pushing, Lynaea Jane was here!

She weighed 6lb 5.1 oz. (so little but I thank god for it because I felt EVERYTHING... it is called the ring of fire for a reason! Apparently my epi wore off...) and was 19 1/4 inches long born at 11:20 on 2/3/11. The one thing that kind of bothers me is they never told me her Apgar. They just told me she was perfectly healthy and I didn't think to ask. I had a miracle in my arms at the time!

5 days later she was back to birth weight and at 16 days old she is weighing 7 lb 2 oz!

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She's Here!

And it only took two weeks for me to post it........

She was born at 11:20pm on 2/3/11. She weighed 6 lb 5.1 oz. (so little!) and was 19 1/4 inches long. She was 9 days early and in perfect health!

Day 2:


Day 12: I finally caught her oo face :)



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Oh.. That Is NOT A Braxton Hicks Contraction!

I am in early labor! Oh my goodness I'm so excited but WOO those contractions hurt! Just wanted to update... sorry guys it's hard for me to focus right now. Wish me luck! Timing my contractions is all I can think about!!


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Almost 38 Weeks!

Oh my goodness, one more day to go! It depends who you talk to, whether 37 weeks or 38 weeks is full term, but in 1 day there will be no dispute! I will officially be full term and am giving Lynaea the go-ahead as soon as tonight hits! Of course she will propbably be a stubborn one... she is her mother's daughter after all.

I know all of the old wive's tales to induce labor naturally (and have been trying some over the past week and a half) and I'm hoping one of them will work one of these days! Wish me luck because I will need it. Only stadol for me and even that... oh let's be realistic I'll probably use stadol. There's only so much pain a woman can take!


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Give Me Pitocin and I Will NOT Be Nice!

C-section numbers have been growing in the last few years. At my hospital, 33.6% (was 20.7% in 1996) of all the births are done by c-section, whether emergency or planned. Why the increase? Pitocin usage. It is the synthetic version of oxytocin (the hormone pregnant women secrete during labor) used to start or speed up the process of labor

Just some of the risks of Pitocin:
For the mother: Higher rate of complicated labors and deliveries, greater need for analgesics and anesthetics, postpartum hemorrhage and a higher rate of placental rupture and separation life-threatening to both the mother and baby.
For the baby: Fetal distress, a higher rate of jaundice, low apgar scores at 5 minutes, permanent central nervous system or brain damage and fetal death.

With naturally paced contractions, there is a time interval between contractions allowing for the baby to be fully oxygenated before the next contraction. In induced or stimulated labor, the contractions are closer together and last for a longer time thus shortening the interval when the baby receives its oxygen supply. Reduced oxygen could have life-long consequences on the baby's brain.

The longer, stronger, and closer contractions directly leads to more epidurals. Epidurals tend to slow down labor and make it harder for women to push. Then the doctors finally say "there's nothing else to be done, we must do a c-section!" (emergency c-section numbers are rising)

Doctors do know best right? Actually, America has the worst infant mortality rate of the ENTIRE DEVELOPED WORLD. It also administers the most pitocin. Interventions are not needed! In fact, a controlled randomized study showed that the use of pitocin to stimulate labor was not as productive for the progression of labor as allowing mothers to change positions during labor by walking, sitting or standing.

I have decided that the only way I will be induced is if  my water breaks unexpectedly and it has been a few days. (so infection does not harm my daughter) Any other time they can kiss it! I will not be induced.

C-section risks (just a few)
1) It is major surgery and infections can occur.
2) Those who deliver by planned (no previous health problems) Cesarean are 2.3 times more likely to be re-hospitalized within 30 days
3) C-section babies have higher rates of childhood asthma. Being pushed through the birth canal squeezes fluid from their lungs, so babies delivered vaginally tend to have fewer respiratory issues.
4) They are cutting THROUGH your abdominal muscles.
5) Longer recovery time
6) The hormones that are supposed to be secreted at birth by both mother and baby are not secreted at all, making it harder to recover mentally, physically, and go through the bonding process.
7) Babies are also more noticeably aggitated and harder to console in the days following birth. (see #6)

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Oh Please Baby, Don't Go Past Your Due Date

Pregnancy has become extremely uncomfortable and I can't imagine Lynaea staying in there past her due date! Oh who am I kidding, I can't imagine her going past 38 weeks (full term). I am sitting here going insane wondering when she is going to come. 38 weeks is only 3 weeks away! 7 weeks seems like an eternity...

Last night I thought I was starting to go into early labor which made me nervous because she's still too little. Everything's fine now, but I can't stop thinking about when she is actually going to be here! Oh, the insanity...

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