Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Visting Wynne

Last Thursday we went to Wynne for the day to see the grandmas and great grandmas.  We also got to see Melanie and her mom and Mary Fran stopped by to meet Piper too.

HA!  Piper looks like she is hitting Melanie!!
 


 Maw Maw and Piper


 Meme and Piper


 Maw Maw, Aunt Squeaky and Piper

 Nanny and Piper


Chunky Monkey!!

Piper's First Trip

I wanted to make sure and get newborn pictures of Piper.  So who else would I get to take her pictures than Kim Ginn at Sweet Portrayal?!  She has done Rhonda's kids and family pictures for the past 3 years and is amazing.  So amazing that we were willing to drive 4 1/2 hours to Rogers, Arkansas with a two week old to get them done.  I have only seen one picture as of right now but I can say now that it was for sure worth the drive!  I am on pins and needles waiting to see the rest of them.  Piper did good and stayed asleep most of the time.  Here is the one picture that we have seen.  I can already tell that I am going to have a hard time picking our favorites!!


This just melts my heart!  

We stayed with the Bramell's while we were in NWA.  It was Carley, Evan, and Lee's first time to meet Piper.  The twins were so excited!  While we were there, Cassie, Maye, Kara, Heidi, and Harlow came to spend a few hours with us and meet Piper.  Kara's girls were so excited to hold baby Piper, especially Harlow!  I think she would have stayed on that couch and held her all day if she could have!  It was really sweet to see their excitement.

 Carley and Becca getting some Piper love!

 Silly girls!
 
 

 Heidi and Jonathan playing on the seesaw!  LOL


 Heidi and Maye

 Sweet Harlow!  She gave Piper some good love! 

Cassie finally talked Harlow into giving Piper up!

Heidi's turn!

 All the kids!

I LOVE this picture!!!!

 Evan gave her back about this time!  ;)

And I stole this picture from Kara! Sweet girls!!!


2 Week Follow Up

I don't have any pictures on this post but I wanted to document how Piper's 2 week appointment went!  Baby girl likes her groceries!! She went from 6 lbs 10 oz at her 1 week appointment to 7 lbs 7 oz at her 2 week!  LOL   She gained almost a pound in one week.  She was up to 19 3/4 inches long and her head had grown some too.  The doctor looked at her tongue and made her an appointment the following day with the ENT doctor to have it checked out. 

So we went to the ENT and he looked at her tongue.  He said that he could see that she was tongue tied but that she had already torn a little bit of it.  He said that could have happened in a screaming fit.  I thought that was a little comical.  Screaming?  Not my baby!  (insert sarcasm)  The doctor said that since she is gaining weight that she is obviously not having issues eating with her tongue like it is so he wants to wait and look at her again when she is a year old.  We were fine with that.  I really didn't want to see him have to clip it right now anyway. 

First Trip To The Doctor

On September 3rd, Piper had her first doctor's appointment.  This was also her first time to leave the house since she came home.  I was excited to see what the doctor said about her and how much she weighed.  She weighed 6 lbs 13.4 oz when she was born.  When we left the hospital, she weighed 6 lbs. 7 oz.  At her appointment, she weighed 6 lbs. 10 oz.  So she had gained some of her weight back in less than a week.  The doctor seemed pleased and so were we.  He also told us at her appointment that she was tongue tied.  I had noticed that her tongue didn't stick out very far but hadn't thought much of it.  He acted like it wasn't a big deal.  Otherwise everything checked out great!

 She looks so tiny in her infant carrier!


Here is another random picture that I took the first week that she was home.


Sleeping Beauty!  I just love this one!!


Sunday, September 22, 2013

Piper's First Few Days Home

We stayed in the hospital until Friday.  We got home Friday afternoon and then Rhonda and Becca got to our house Friday night to meet Piper and help us out.  And oh my are we glad that they came.  The first few days home were tough.  Me and Jonathan were both sleep deprived and  I was still trying to recover from my c section.  Piper was trying to get adjusted to life on the outside.  I absolutely LOVED Becca's face when she first met Piper.  She had the biggest grin on her face.  She was just so excited.  It was very sweet.








The Saturday after we got home, we had a houseful.  Everybody was so excited to meet Piper.  Aunt Nanette, Uncle Dale, Nanny, mom (Grammy), and Aunt Pam all came to visit for the day.  I didn't get a lot of pictures from that day because I was just exhausted.  I am sure that they all got some pictures that I can post later.  Dad came on Sunday to see Piper again and visit with Rhonda and Becca before they left.  




So Sunday afternoon everyone left and we were on our own.  Sunday night was VERY hard!  We were up almost all night.  So Monday afternoon, we called in the backup......Grammy!  My mom got here Monday night and stayed until Thursday and she was a lifesaver!!!!  She took third shift so that I could sleep.  Because I was breastfeeding, I still had to get up to feed but mom would let me go right back to bed while she stayed up with Piper so I could sleep.  I was/am SO thankful.  I was about to lose my mind because I just hadn't slept at all.  

The other thing that I really want to remember about this time was how much Jonathan helped me.  I didn't change my first diaper until Piper was 4 days old.  He waited on me hand and foot. He  helped me go to the bathroom and get around.  He was amazing and I am so thankful for him.  I can't imagine women who don't have a good husband or boyfriend and have to go through all this by themselves.  This whole experience had made me fall in love with my husband all over again......which is crazy because I didn't think I could love him any more.  I am such a lucky girl!



Piper Cathryn Hardy Is Here!!!

(I am documenting this for my memory so I am sorry if it is too much detail!)

On Wednesday, August 28th, at 5:05 am, I woke up to my water breaking.  After 9 months of waiting, it was finally time to meet our sweet baby girl!  I woke Jonathan up and he jumped up and began getting everything loaded up in the car.  He was so excited!  I had everything packed for weeks.  I got in the shower.  Yes, I knew I wouldn't have one for a day at least so I wanted to be clean. I text a few people to let them know that would be the big day Piper would arrive.  We left the house about 6:00 and ran by Hardee's to get a biscuit. I knew that they wouldn't let me eat once I got to hospital so I made sure I got something in my stomach!  LOL  I am so glad I did because I was starving by afternoon. 

We got to the hospital around 6:30 and they took us straight to a room.  My nurse that day was Krisalyn.  I have to say that she was AMAZING!  I am so thankful that I had great nurses.  She called my Doctor and then checked to see if I was dilated.  I wasn't.  She explained that they would have to start a pitocin drip to help speed things up.  But before they could do that, they had to start an IV.  Well, who knew that starting an IV would be such an act of Congress.  It took 4 people 8 sticks to get an IV in me.  Let me repeat that......FOUR PEOPLE, EIGHT TIMES!!!  The anesthesiologist finally came and it even took him 2 of those times.  I have good veins, but wobbling veins, or so I am told.   So after all that, I finally got the drip started and the contractions began to increase.  I did well with the pain until about 1:30 when I had had enough.  I called for the epidural.  Jonathan watched while they gave me the epidural.  When they were done, he informed me that I was to never tell him that I was a wuss again!  LOL  His face was white and he did not like the HUGE needle they stuck in my back.  I, on the other hand, could have cared less!  I felt MUCH better after they gave me the good drugs!  lol They came back in to check me again and I had dilated to 1.  Still not near as far as the had wanted.  At about 2:45 the alarms started going off and my nurse came running in the room.  She flipped me on my side and said that Piper's heart rate had dropped.  About that same time, I had started feeling yucky too.  My blood pressure had dropped a bit.  They put me on oxygen and turned off the pitocin drip.  Krisalyn stayed right there with me and kept flipping me from side to side.  Dr. Glasgow was watching my monitor from her office and called my room to talk to Krisalyn.  By this time, I was a little freaked out.  Okay, a lot. After a little bit of her heart rate doing better, they started the drip again.  It wasn't long before her heart rate began to drop again.  Dr. Glasgow came in around 5:30 and I still hadn't gotten past 2.  She told us then that since I wasn't progressing and since Piper wasn't doing well, that I needed to have a c section.  By that point I was fine with that option.  I was worried to death about her and was just ready to get her out.  As soon as the Doctor left the room, I began to throw up.  I think the medicine got to my empty stomach.  They wheeled me back while Jonathan got geared up.  I think I asked for him 100 times while they prepped me.  I was so scared that they would start without him.  (I think I was just nervous and the drugs were talking!)  They brought him back and started.  He watched them the whole time!  I threw up the whole time.  Lovely.  And my loving husband held the bucket for me.  If that isn't love folks, then I don't know what is!  Piper Cathryn Hardy was born at exactly 6:00 pm.  She weighed 6 pounds 13.4 ounces and was 19 inches long.  After she was born, he went to go be with her, which is what I wanted!   I was just so glad the whole thing was over and that she was healthy.  Jonathan took her back to the room to wait on me while they stapled me up.  He wouldn't let any of our family see her until I got to see her, hold her, and feed her.  I am sure they didn't like that, but it meant the world to me that he waited on me. 

As soon as I got back to the room, he gave her to me and she immediately wanted to eat.  She latched on and stayed there almost an hour.  My Mom, Dad, Nanny and Jonathan's Maw Maw and Mom were waiting outside of the room in the hall waiting to meet Piper.  After she ate, the family came in to meet her.  They all agreed with us that she was just beautiful. 

 Before Piper got here but after the epidural!

 Welcome to the world!!!

 She let us know she had good lungs from the start!

 We were expecting a much bigger baby.  She was so tiny!

 Daddy was in love at first sight.  He is smitten! 

 Maw Maw, Meme, Daddy, and Piper


She was so alert!

 LOVE!!!

Our first picture together!

 Even her newborn clothes were too big.



We couldn't have asked for anything more.  She is perfect and we are completely in love with her!!!