3 Weeks

It's amazing how three short weeks can completely change your life! Ainsley was three weeks old on Tuesday and our world has drastically changed. When you walk into our house, you can tell we've had a baby with bottles, clothes, diapers, and yesterday's newspaper still laying on the kitchen island! Ainsley's needs now come before anything else and we have been late to every appointment we've had since bringing her home. I don't eat breakfast until 11, lunch until 2, and I'm lucky if I get to eat supper by 7 most nights! That's a far cry from our old routine, where we would eat supper and have the dishes done by 5:30!

Ainsley has been doing pretty good on the formula. We switched to the Dr. Brown's bottles Monday night, and it made a huge difference. She can drink her two ounces in 15-20 minutes now, where it was taking her almost an hour to get the two ounces down with the other bottles we were using. She eats every two hours now, so that has been tiring, but we're making it.

Rita came over Monday afternoon and watched Ainsley while I ran into town to get formula and different bottles. Of course, she was an angel for Grandma! After I got home, Grandma and Grandpa Bowman came over to visit. Grandma was able to feed Ainsley a bottle!

Tuesday we had a busy day. We got our taxes done and then Joel got his hair cut. Ainsley had her first trip to the barber shop! She was good and didn't poop and stink the place up. Bob is ready for her first haircut and says that she's going to have her Dad's hair, which we hope she doesn't!

Tuesday night was a rough one. Ainsley projectile vomited after we gave her a bath and scared the crap out of me. I was in tears and ready to go to the emergency room. After she did it, she went limp and we couldn't wake her up. I was hysterical! Joel called his Mom and had her reassure me that she was fine. Sleep was almost non-existent that night because I was afraid she would do it again. We made it through the night and she hasn't done it again since.

Yesterday we had another outing. We went over to the Hallock's to celebrate Lou's 30th birthday. On our way there, we drove through quite a bit of rain and when we got to Woodson, it started hailing on us! Once we turned onto 67, the road was covered in hail. It didn't take long for us to drive out of it, and Ainsley didn't make a peep through all of it.

We had her three week wellness check this morning. She is up to 6 pounds 12 ounces and is 20 1/4 inches long. She is growing like a weed! Her face has really filled out and I just love her chubby little cheeks! A lot of spit has been forming at her mouth throughout the day and the doctor thinks that has to do with her acid reflux. She switched her medicine, and she is now on Prilosec. The doctor also wants us to start adding a little rice cereal to her bottles, and says that sometimes helps with acid reflux also. She wants us to stay with the Dr. Brown's bottles and says that is the best for Ainsley. We go back at 2 months for her next appointment.

She was wore out after her doctor's appointment this morning!

First Outing

Ainsley had her first outing today (other than going to the doctor). We ran over to Springfield to look for an end table and to go to Babies R Us. She was a perfect angel for us! The car seat does wonders, and she loves riding in it. I wish she fit a little better in it, though. She's still so small and the car seat is so big!

I also switched her over to formula today. It was really hard switching her from breast feeding, and all the doctors and nurses that I would call really pushed breast feeding. I'm calling the doctor tomorrow to make sure the formula I got is okay with them and then we're going to go to Walmart tomorrow and get more formula for her. I feel like a ton of weight has been lifted off my shoulders going to formula. I started pumping Friday and was barely keeping up with her. She must be going through a growth spurt, because it seems like all she wants to do is eat.

I went back to the bedroom yesterday evening to take a quick nap, and when I woke up and walked into the living room, Ainsley was in her swing with a pacifier in her mouth! Daddy said he made an executive decision and gave her a pacifier. She takes it for a little bit, and then spits it out.

Today, she has stayed awake twice for an hour at a time. She looks all around and is very content. Hopefully that means that she'll sleep a little better tonight! Speaking of sleeping tonight, Daddy also made another decision, and that is that she is going to sleep in her nap nanny tonight instead of the bassinet. I'm glad Daddy makes all these decisions and I'm the one that has to deal with the outcomes!

Ainsley in her nap nanny with her pacifier!

We had some visitors this afternoon. Ainsley's Great-Aunt Erin, Uncle Terry, and kids all came over. The kids couldn't wait to hold her!

Who does Ainsley look like?

I can't tell if Ainsley looks like me or Joel. There have been people who said she looks like Joel, and there are others that say she looks like Tanner or a Gillespie. I know she has my fingers, toes, and chin, but that's all I can tell for certain. I think she has Joel's eyes and nose, and Rita said the other day that she has Drake's mouth. Who do you think she resembles???

Below are our hospital pictures.

Joel was a blonde, chubby baby!

Ainsley was a dark haired (blonde eye brows and eyelashes) skinny baby with chubby cheeks!

I was a dark haired average size baby!

The only thing I know for certain that Ainsley has inherited of her Dad's is her gas! It was one of the only things I didn't want her to inherit from him (along with his back hair and feet), but she sure is one gassy baby!!!

More visitors and a new outfit!

We started Ainsley on her medicine Tuesday night, and we can already tell a difference! She isn't gagging and coughing as much and seems to be sleeping better. She slept in until 8:30 this morning (granted, she was up 5 times last night), and I was so excited to sleep in a little. I'm starting to adapt to little to no sleep. I try to take a nap when Joel gets home, and that seems to help.

Ainsley's baby acne has improved and it's only on one cheek now. She's really lost a lot of her hair from the top of her head! Her double chin seems to keep getting bigger also.

Callie, Madilynn, and Audri came over to meet Ainsley earlier this week. It's hard to believe how much Ainsley is going to change in one short year. Madilynn is 11 months older than Ainsley, and she was running around babbling and playing with toys. I can't believe that will be my sweet baby in a few months!

Aunt Jennifer bought Ainsley a new outfit and brought it over last night. She couldn't wait to get her in it. The outfit was a size 0-6 months and I never dreamed that Ainsley would be able to wear it, but we put her in it and she wasn't swimming in it. It was a little too big, but she's so long that it half way fit her! I have to say, she looks pretty darn cute in it!

I just love the faces she makes! She likes to pout out her bottom lip.

We went to the doctor again

Today we went to the doctor again. I didn't think Ainsley was feeling right the last few days and had been grunting, crying, coughing, irritable, and gagging. She threw up a little Saturday morning and sometimes it's as if she gets choked on something and tries coughing it up. I called the doctor yesterday and they said that it sounded like acid reflux, but it could be something more serious and they wanted us to go in today to talk to the doctor. After explaining all of the symptoms to the doctor, she thinks it is acid reflux and gave us a prescription for Zantac. I have to give it to Ainsley twice a day, and the doctor said that she thinks we should be able to see improvement pretty quickly. If that prescription doesn't work, they have a couple others we can try.

Ainsley hasn't slept very good the last couple nights and grunts and whimpers while she's sleeping. Ainsley not sleeping equals Mommy not sleeping, so I'm anxious to try the medicine and hopefully we both can get more sleep in the next few days.

She is up to 6 pounds now! I thought she was filling out, and was so happy to hear that she was up to 6 pounds. She gained half a pound in the last week! I think she's getting longer also, but they didn't measure her today. I put her in a sleeper today and she's too long for it now, and it fit pretty good last week. We go to the doctor again next Thursday for her three week checkup, and I'm hoping she gains another half pound or so.

Josh, Kathleen, Nathan, and Augustus all came over this morning to visit. We wanted to get pictures of Ainsley and Augustus together, but he didn't wake up while he was here. Hopefully he's awake the next time we see him and we can see how little Ainsley really is!

We had her newborn pictures taken Saturday, and I have a few pictures that the photographer sent over. I can't wait to get them all back!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ainsley wants to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day!

First week and a half home

The last week and a half has flown by. We came home last Thursday afternoon and had lots of people anxious to meet Ainsley that afternoon. Jim, Rita, Dad, Thomas, and Tanner all came over that afternoon to see Ainsley. It was also Tanner's sixteenth birthday and his first time holding a baby! Everyone commented on how little she was and how they were so happy to finally meet her.

Thursday night was pretty rough. Around midnight, I was ready to send Joel to Walmart to get some formula because I was so frustrated with breast feeding. We made it through just fine, and it wasn't too bad considering that it was our first night home. Neither one of us slept very good that night, because we were too busy listening to every little sound Ainsley would make. She's sleeping beside our bed in a bassinet, so we could hear everything.

We had more visitors Friday. Jeremy, Kathleen, Jack, and Lani all came to meet Ainsley after school. Lani was able to hold her "baby sister".

Jim and Rita stopped by Friday afternoon and Rita helped give Ainsley her first bath at home!

Lou and Alaina came Friday night. Alaina looked pretty good holding a baby! She'll be holding her own before we know it.

Friday night we slept a little better, but we both were still pretty nervous. Joel is such a good Dad already and was doing almost everything around the house for me as soon as we got home. He unpacked our hospital bags, put dishes away, laundry, watched Ainsley while I took naps, and the list goes on. I don't know how I would have survived without him!

Saturday afternoon I had gone back to the bedroom to take a nap, while Joel was watching Ainsley in the living room. I had fallen asleep and was awakened by Joel yelling "Shit!". I put my glasses on and ran into the living room to see what happened, and I see that Joel is changing Ainsley's diaper. I asked what was wrong, and he said, "She pooped on me!" I looked down and all I could see was poop all down Joel's leg. I immediately cracked up and ran for the camera. (Yes, I ran for the camera instead of helping my husband!) He had Ainsley laying on the foot stool and when he took her diaper off, she pooped and it shot out and was going to land on the floor and he said he jumped in front of it so it didn't get on the floor! Like I said before, he's such a good Dad!

Mimi came and met Ainsley Saturday.

Sunday was a pretty lazy day. It was Super Bowl Sunday and Joel was pretty stoked that the Packers were playing. Dad and Joel watched the Super Bowl while I took a long nap that evening. I changed Ainsley's diaper when I woke up from my nap and her umbilical cord fell off. Of course, I was grossed out by it, and was glad Joel was home to pick it up for me!

Over the next week, we had lots of visitors and the days began to run together. Below are pictures of visitors from the last week.

Nolan and Jodi came to visit.

Uncle Thomas and Aunt Jamie came to visit a couple days.

Great-Great Grandma Mary, Great-Great Aunt Royce, and Great-Great Aunt Bessie came to visit!

Aunt Jennifer and Drake came over to visit one afternoon. Drake was excited to tell Uncle Joel all about baby Ainsley when he got home!

Great Aunt Sudi, Abby, and JD all came to visit one afternoon.

Mark and Debbie Bicknell came to visit one morning.

Tuesday was Ainsley's one week doctor's appointment. She gained two ounces, and was up to 5 pounds 8 ounces. The doctor was happy with that and said that a baby should be back to the birth weight by 2 weeks. Joel and I felt a sigh of relief when we learned that she gained a little weight because we both were worried about whether she was getting enough to eat. While breastfeeding, there isn't a way to tell how much she's getting and it reassured us that she was doing just fine. The nurse thought Ainsley still looked a little jaundice, so they had to prick the heel of her foot to get a blood sample to test. I don't know who did worse while they were getting the blood; me or Ainsley! She screamed and wailed the entire time. The nurse had her little foot so white from trying to get the blood out and then once she was done, wrapped it up in a bandage and her foot started turning purple!

Her level came back at a 12, and the doctor said we didn't need to take any further action on it and that the level had to be at least at a 20 in order to do light therapy or any other treatment. I had a list of questions for the doctor and she didn't look at me like I was too crazy and took the time to listen to my concerns and reassure me that everything was fine. The doctor told us how we had a perfect baby girl, and that we need to go back in two weeks for her next checkup. When the doctor walked in and went over to look at Ainsley, she said: "Oh, she's so tiny; but she has really big feet and hands!" Ainsley still has a lot of skin that she has to grow into, but I can tell that she's filling out a little each day.

Below is Ainsley on 2/11

I left Ainsley for the first time Wednesday afternoon. Mom came up, and I needed to run into Walmart for a few things. I was gone for a little over an hour and it was really hard! I couldn't believe how hard it was to leave her. Joel didn't want to leave her Monday morning and had a hard time with it, and I can totally understand why! I'm not planning on leaving her for a few weeks now.

Grandma Shelly helped give Ainsley a bath while she was here.

We have noticed that she has started keeping her eyes open more often each day. She'll keep them open for about half an hour at a time now and do it three to four times a day. She's very alert, and watched the mobile in her swing yesterday. She likes to make noise while she sleeps, but I think it's gas pains. We catch a few smiles every now and then, but that's probably gas too. Her hair is starting to fall out on the top of her head and she's getting a couple bald spots. Baby acne has kicked in also, and hopefully it goes away quickly.

We've had good nights and bad nights recently. It seems like she starts to get really fussy around 4 in the morning and whimpers and grunts while she sleeps. Joel has been getting up with her and takes her into the living room so that I can sleep a little more. I really can't say enough how wonderful Joel is. He loves both of us so much and is such a good Daddy!

Ainsley Rose Freeman

How do you write about the greatest day of your life? I know I'll never find the perfect words to describe it, but Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011 was perfect in every way. We welcomed our daughter, Ainsley Rose into the world at 5:02 PM in the middle of one of the biggest winter storms in years. She weighed 5 pounds 12.4 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long.

I'll start with the night before she was born. We went to the doctor Monday afternoon and he decided to induce the next morning at 6. Because of the winter storm, we got a hotel room in Springfield. I had the worst heartburn of my life all throughout the night and only slept for a few hours. I'm sure nerves played a part in not sleeping either, but I ended up keeping Joel up for most of the night too. When we woke up Tuesday morning to go to the hospital, it hadn't snowed as much as they thought it would at that point, and we had no problem making it the three blocks to the hospital.

Once we got to the hospital, I was checked in and taken up to my room. They immediately started prepping me and the nurse snuck in some crackers so I could eat something. The nurse put the iv in, and had trouble with the first one, so she had to try again. The second one blew, so a different nurse came in and was able to get the iv in with the third try. I was worried that our day was already starting out with things not going right, but the next few hours were pretty easy. I slept a little and was still able to get up and go to the bathroom and sit in the rocking chair since I didn't have the epidural yet. I didn't really feel the contractions and the nurses told me I was lucky! They had checked me when I got there that morning and I was dilated to a 3 around 7 that morning. Around 11 the nurse came in and said that they wanted to break my water and if I wanted an epidural that I needed to get one then. She said that the guy that did the epidurals was on the floor and he was one of the best. I was still undecided on the epidural, but decided to go ahead and get it. Getting the epidural ended up being the most nerve-wracking part of the entire day. Of course, I couldn't catch good luck and the first epidural he put in didn't work right, so I had to get two different epidurals. Once we had the epidural in, the doctor came in and broke my water and checked me again. I was dilated to a 5 around noon.

Mom and Jamie showed up around 11 and Joel went to lunch with them while I had my epidural. When they got back up to my room, I tried to take a nap again and when I woke up, I was itching like crazy from the epidural. I was starting to feel a lot of pressure at that point, also, and would have Jamie verify that I was having a contraction when I felt the pressure and she said I was. They didn't hurt, it was just pressure and it felt like they were coming more often. Hunger was starting to kick in, and they let me chew gum and have hard candy so I wanted to get some Bubblicious gum so that it seemed like I was really chewing something. Around 3, I asked Joel to go down to the gift shop/cafeteria to see if he could find me some gum. He went to the gift shop and they were closed! Because of the snow, anyone that didn't need to be at the hospital left, and let me tell you-St. Johns was EMPTY! I still wanted some bubble gum, so Jamie and Mom decided they would go down to the cafeteria for me to see if they had any.

In the meantime, the shifts had changed, and my new nurse came in to check on me. I told her that I was itching like crazy from the epidural and she said that she could probably get me some Benadryl to stop the itching, but she needed a doctor's approval. A few minutes later, the nurse and doctor both came in and decided to check me to see how far I was dilated at that point before giving me the Benadryl. The doctor looked at the nurse and said I wasn't getting any Benadryl at that point and I was dilated to a 10 and needed to start pushing! We had no idea I was that close. The nurse immediately starting telling me to push with the next contraction, and told Joel that he needed to hold one of my legs for her. Joel wanted to stay up by my head the whole time and didn't really want to hold a leg, but he knew that he didn't have a choice. I'm sure he's happy that he ended up holding one of my legs because he was able to see everything that went on. Her head was crowning in no time and they told me they could see her hair. I was so excited that she actually had hair! (Joel told me later that when he saw her head crowning that he thought her head was going to be tiny and was so worried that she was going to be so small. He said that with each push, her head kept getting bigger and he started feeling better.) I pushed for an hour and a little after 5, Ainsley was born! The labor was pretty easy, and I'm so happy that I was able to experience it.

Below is Ainsley Rose Freeman, born at 5:02 pm, Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011. She weighed 5 pounds 12.4 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long.

Joel cut her cord and they took her over to the warming table. I could see her on the table from my bed and could tell she was really long and skinny! Joel followed the nurse over to the warming table to get a better look at her. The next half hour was the worst part of the entire day. There was something wrong with my placenta and it wouldn't come out, so they had to do an episiotomy and pull it out. It took them half an hour to get it all, and I wasn't able to see Ainsley the entire time. Joel had her wrapped in a blanket at this point and was holding her trying to show her to me, but each time he would get her low enough for me to look at her, I would cringe in pain again. I was finally able to see our little girl for the first time around 5:40 and she was wide-eyed and just stared at me. She was perfect!

They took her a little while after that for her first bath and Mom and Jamie came in to get a look at her. She didn't mind her bath and never really cried. While that was going on, the nurse came in and gave me Benadryl because the itching had then gone down to my trunk, and told me that it would make me tired. She ended up giving me a double dose and I fell asleep shortly after that. I know Joel, Mom, and Jamie snuggled and loved on her for the few hours that I slept and it made me feel a little better about crashing right after giving birth.

Ainsley after getting her bath. Her hands were still pretty blue!

Aunt Jamie holding Ainsley!

Grandma holding her first granddaughter! (Daddy didn't get a very good picture!)

The interstates were shut down by Tuesday night because of the snow and the police were giving out tickets to people on the roads, so Mom and Jamie ended up getting a hotel room that night. The hotel was three blocks away and it took them an hour to get there and got stuck three times! I'm so glad no one else tried to come up that day, because the roads were terrible.

First family picture!

When I woke up, they took Ainsley to get shots, etc. and I took a shower. When I got out, she still wasn't back and I remember thinking how hard it was not to have her beside me. Her smashed-in nose, swollen eyes, little puckered mouth, long fingers and toes, big feet and hands, and soft baby hair is all I wanted to see! That night, she was awake and ate good throughout the night. The next day, she crashed! They came and got her around 8 Wednesday morning for her pictures and to see the pediatrician and she was asleep when they brought her back. She slept until around 4 that afternoon and didn't eat once. We were worried, but the nurses reinforced to us that it was normal and they will sleep for the first 24 hours or so after they're born. Mom and Jamie came and visited again around noon Wednesday before they headed home and Jennifer and Brian braved the snow and came up later that afternoon. She woke up while they were visiting, and they were able to see how alert she was.

Uncle Brian, Aunt Jennifer, and Ainsley

Ainsley passed out Wednesday.

Wednesday night went as well as it could while being in the hospital. The nurses would come in at all hours of the night to take her for various things. They had to weigh her at midnight, do a bilirubin test around 2 and because she didn't pass it, they came in around 5 to get blood from her to check her levels, and then the doctors start coming in at 6. Thursday morning we both were ready to get home! We met with the lactation consultant that morning and she gave us a lot of good pointers, and the pediatrician came in and talked to us and let us know that we had a perfect baby. Jodi also stopped by to see Ainsley Thursday morning while on her lunch break.

I dressed Ainsley to get ready to go home, and Joel got a laugh out of a little mishap I had while dressing her. Of course, he also got it on tape, so I'll never forget it. While putting her boots on her (which were too big, if you can't tell from the picture!), I couldn't figure out why her second boot wouldn't go on her foot. The first one went on easily and the second one wouldn't go on, no matter how much I tried to shove her foot in it. I finally pulled the boot off her foot and reached in it, and there was still the packing paper in the bottom of the boot! Oops!!! We packed our bags and finally got all our paperwork done and headed out around noon. It was so hard to put her in the car seat. She is so little in that "big" car seat! I was definitely a nervous, over-protective Mom on the way home and had to sit in the back seat with her. The interstates were clear by the time we went home Thursday afternoon, but getting out to the interstate from the hospital was terrible. Fifth Street was snow-packed and there wasn't any visible lanes. I'm so glad that ten minute drive out to the interstate is behind us!

Daddy holding Ainsley before going home.

Mommy snuggling with Ainsley before putting her in the car seat.

We're all ready to go home!

This is the snow we came home to!

I have a grunting baby in the swing beside me that wants someone to talk to, so I'll post another blog on our first week home later on.