Best big sister

I get asked all the time how Riley is doing and to be honest, she has done so well!!!  I am so proud of her!  She has loved her sister from the moment she saw her.  She is so so helpful with Reese and loves to help pick up her paci and put it back in her mouth, or bring a burp cloth or blanket for her.   She really loves to "pet" her and give her kisses.  She's not big into holding her and sometimes gets sad if Reese is crying for any longer than a second.  But when that happens she is so cute, she will say "It's okay Reese mommy is coming."  or "don't get upset Reese, its okay."  or she will urgently tell me (as if I can't hear Reese myself :) "Mommy, mommy Reese is crying." 



Riley talkes all the time about what Reese will get to do with her when she's bigger.  She will say things like "Reese will get to go to my school when she gets bigger." or "Reese will go on the potty when she gets bigger." and "I will share my toys with Reese when she gets bigger."  (well see if she changes her tune in about a year :)

It hasn't all been super easy and there have been times when Riley just couldn't understand by I couldn't just drop everything and play with her like I used to could.  But for the most part we have both adjusted well.

Riley has such a tender heart and LOVES her sister.  And we LOVE to watch the two of them together.  I know first hand what a blessing a little sister is and I am so thankful that Riley has that blessing too!

Reese 1 month old!

Seriously, Reese is already 1 month old?  That may have been the fastest month of my life to date. :)
Reese is such a sweet blessing!! She is a good baby and she continues to just eat, sleep and is starting to have a little more wake time.  She is absolutely beautiful and I love to just stare at her and play with all that hair.  I look down into her face and can see a ton of Riley.  Reese makes many of the same exact faces Riley did, especially when stretching. 

Not long after turning 1 month old, Reese caught her first cold.  Boo.  A sick baby is scary and I felt terrible for her.  She struggled big time at night because she just could not breathe well. :(  About that time she started getting more and more uncomfortable eating and started spitting up more, etc.  It got bad enough that we took her to see Dr. Shuman and sure enough she thought Reese has reflux as well.  I hate taking medicine myself and prefer not to give it to my children but she reassured me that giving her the Prevacid was much better than her not eating well for the next 6-8 months.  When she put it that way I instantly agreed.   We could tell a difference immediately and I am just so thankful there is a medicine that helps her. 

Reese started to skip 1 of her nightly feedings around 6 weeks old and has kept that up, so we are getting around 5-6 hours straight of sleep.   Oh the difference that makes for all of us!  A little sleep goes a long way for my attitude and energy level.







Reese did not have her 1 month appointment until 6 weeks.   Dr Shuman said Reese looked great, she was pleased that prevacid was helping, and Reese got a round of shots.  I think Riley was more upset by Reese getting shots than Reese was. :)

Here are her 10 day stats :
 7.3  lbs
 21 inches long

And her 1 month stts:
9 lb 12.5 oz
22 inches long
will add head circum. later

She is now smiling, and cooing some!! Love this!  She can focus better and see farther and she will even track my face all around.

We love you sweet Reese and are so thankful God blessed us with you!!




**Woah, now Reese is almost 2 months old! :)  I want to do a better job keeping this blog up-to-date.  Now that I kindof have my legs underneath me again hopefully I can.

Newborn photos

I went back and forth trying to decide if I should hire someone to take Reese's newborn photos or if I thought I could pull them off myself.  The pro that I used for Riley's photos had a newborn herself so I knew she wouldn't be able to do them and I priced a few others but in the end I decided to give it a try.  I know a pro photog would have gotten more variety of poses but I think I did a pretty good job.  It was nice not to stress about them, I wasn't limited to a short time frame and took these over several days.  If Reese wasn't doing well, I just stopped and tried again later.  We did have some mishaps, well really only one and it involved lots of poop...it was totally captured on camera.  But I will not be posting those as I don't want Reese to hate me when she's 15. :)














I am thrilled with how they turned out!! They are not perfect by any means but I am so happy to have these memories of my sweet girl. Oh and I so admire all newborn photographers (Paige!!!)...that was hard work!!

Reese's first few weeks

Whoa!  I am so behind.  I want to try to write things down before I forget!  My memory has always been pretty terrible but now I'm lucky if I remember my name :)  Lack of sleep does that I think.

Going back several weeks:

This time around our stay at the hospital seemed to zoom by and before we knew it we were making the drive home.  Riley was waiting for us at home by the front door and was SO excited to welcome her baby sister home!  She kept saying "Awww."  :) 


We were so fortunate to have my parents stay through the first weekend and then my mom stayed for another week!  They were such a blessing and help to us those and what's best is they helped us with such joyful, servant hearts.  They LOVE their granddaughters and really love to show it!

Reese has been such a sweet newborn.  She has slept well, nursed well and really that's all she did for the first 4 weeks.  She had her first doctors appointment at 10 days old and she weighed in at 7 lbs 3 oz (so great considering she left the hospital at 6lb 7 oz) and had already grown 1 inch so she was 21 inches long. 

We still cannot get over how much hair she has! We think she is absolutely gorgeous and I just cannot stop staring at her face.

I was able to take some newborn pics of Reese at 8 and 10 days old and will hopefully finish editing those and get them posted soon.


Just after Reese's first sponge bath


Proud daddy!


Happy mommy


Big yawn


Proud papa!






Aunt Kristi


Proud and super helpful Nana!



First real bath



Aunt Kate

Clay's mom was out of town when Reese was born, but she was so excited to meet Reese a few days later!

Clay's dad loving on Reese


more photos and updates to come soon.  I hope!

Meet Reese!!

Reese Bailey Graham arrived Monday, March 12, 2012 at 5:50pm.  She was a beautiful 6 lbs 12 oz and 20 inches long!






Unhappy Reese with a very happy and very sweet Amor!! She was Reese's first nurse and was so awesome!  What a blessing to have such a loving nurse!

First family picture!!

Fair warning: LONG Birth story below.   :)  Labor was kindof crazy.

So Sunday, March 11th was like any other Sunday at the Graham house.  We went to church, had lunch at with friends from church, went to target, had a normal naptime, and dinnertime. I was feeling so good I decided I would walk Scout and took him on our normal route (about 1 mile).  I felt so good when I got back I mentioned to Clay that I could have gone 2 more miles but we both decided it was best I not.  I told him I felt so good Reese would probably not come for awhile. 

Monday, the 12th I was the exact opposite.  I woke up SO tired.  I got Riley dressed and convinced her to read books with me in her bed.  Well, I fell asleep while reading to her and woke to her playing so sweetly on the floor of her room.  When I woke up I decided to get some laundry done and do a few chores around the house. 

About 10:45 I felt my first contraction. Now this will sound silly but I didn't really think it was a true contraction and was convinced it was not the start of labor.  But just in case I hopped in the shower with Riley and we got ready.  The contractions continued but were not terribly painful and (they felt SO different from the contractions when I was induced with Riley.)  I called Clay and mentioned I was having some pains but didn't really think this was "it."  Clay mentioned that he had called my mom and asked her go ahead and come a day early (she was all packed and ready to come but was just waiting until Tuesday because I wasn't being induced until Thursday.) 

We continued on about our day but I was having trouble playing much with Riley and she ended up getting to watch a few Dora or Diego's.  About 1pm I called Clay and asked him to come home because I was having trouble feeding Riley her lunch.  When he got here I was laying on my side trying to decide if these were real contractions and he convinced me to start timing them.  Well they were anywhere from 2-3 mins apart to 7-8 minutes apart and nothing consistent.  Clay played with Riley outside some, we put her down for a nap about 2:30.  About that time I asked Clay to call my sister to come be with Riley but I still wasn't sure if it was for real.  When Kristi got to our house I was still laying on the couch on my side and the contractions were definitely stronger now.  I started timing them again so I would have numbers when I called the doctors office.  Luckily when I called the nurse thought I should head to the hospital.  This was 4pm.

On the way to the hospital I think I only had like 1 contraction and I even told Clay I thought they would send me home and that it was false labor.  HA!  I even refused the wheelchair and walked to labor and delivery at the hospital.   I answered a few questions and signed a few papers, then walked to my room.  Clay had gone back to park the car and while I waited for a nurse the pain got worse.  Clay made it back and about 4:30 a nurse came in.  I immediately asked for an epidural.  She kindof laughed and said she would check me first. 

Well, when she checked I was at 8 cms!  What??!?!  I thought at most I would be 4-5.  But 8??  So she and another nurse started rushing around trying to get the room ready.  They were rushing around so much and things happened so quickly they never started the antibiotics I was supposed to receive because I was gbs + this pregnancy.  And they never even got Clay into scrubs.  My nurse also said the anesthesiologist was in a c-section but she would try to get him to come.  Time flew from that moment on.  I was in alot of pain and was saying some really fun stuff.  "Dadgum, doggone, schnikes" haha!  Clay gets quite a kick out of it now.  At one point I even reached out for the nurses arm and begged for her to "help me" :)  My doctor was on vacation b/c it was spring break so the doctor covering for her came in and luckily just before it was time to push (about 5:25) the anesthesiologist ran in.  He was able to give me a partial epidural ?  (not sure what that means but the doctor said that even though she knew I felt a lot of the birth it really helped by taking the edge off.  Can I just say how thankful I am for modern medicine!)  While lying on my side getting the epidural the doctor was talking to the nurses about how busy she was that day.  Dr Thayer had not only her and my doctors patients but was covering for a third doctor as well.  Dr. Thayer even talked about how at that very moment another patient was ready to deliver and at 10 cms but she had an epidural and I was so thankful that I was getting to deliver first.   Well just minutes after getting the epi, I was pushing.  About 4-5 sets of pushes later, Reese was born at 5:50.  I am so thankful she came on her own and was not induced.  But as all the nurses told me if I had waited any longer Clay likely would have delivered our baby.  They also were adament that with the next baby I must come in as soon as any contractions are consistent.  

I am so thankful for many things but I am especially thankful for
-Beverly, my doctors nurse knowing when to send me to the hospital
-clean hospitals, knowledgable doctors, nurses, and anesthesiologists
-no complications from being gbs+ even though Reese didn't get the antibiotics
-Dr. Thayer delivering me before another patient who was also ready to deliver
-the nurses who rushed around got everything ready but remained so calm and encouraging and helpful
-Clay calling my mom to come early.  She arrived before Riley woke from her nap and she, my sister and Riley were able to visit shortly after I gave birth.
-Clay, he was so helpful, encouraging, and amazing during delivery!! Love him!!
-And most of all for a health, beautiful baby girl!!!

What an experience!!!

the name game and induction???

Clay and I have gone back and forth over sweet baby #2's name for several months.   Funny thing is we were only letters apart on the names we each loved.  Clay loved Reese and I loved Reed.  (I know Reed is most common as a boy's name but still I loved it  And I loved the name Reese too but it just has been pretty popular around here lately so I was reserved.  And I didn't want her to be referred to with the candy, even though I love Reese's peanut butter cups.)

I had been praying about which name and honestly I still don't feel like God clearly said to me one name or the other, but He did remind me who the spiritual leader of our home was and so late last week I asked Clay (for like the 200th time) if he really thought that Reese was the best name for our girl.  When he answered (once again) "I really do."  I  happily agreed.  It only took a few hours to decide on the middle name and so baby #2 will be named.....

Reese Bailey Graham!!!

We love her name and so does Riley.  It helps us all feel a little more connected to call her by her name!

----

So yesterday I had my 38 week appointment with Dr. M.  She said everything looked great, the heartbeat was good, my blood pressure was good, I had made some progress (80%, 2.5 cms dilated), so all was good. 

Then my sweet doctor went on let me know she would be out of the office the week of my due date (which is also spring break.)   Crazy, because a few weeks back I remember thinking how I was surprised she was not going to be out of town. 

So Clay and I are left with a BIG decision.
To induce before my dr is out for the week or to go into labor on my own.   Luckily, I did not have to decide right then.  The plan is to go back to see her on Tuesday, check my progress and by then I will have to decide if I want to be induced.  If I do, then Thursday will likely be the day!!!   If I want to go into labor on my own (which is what I have been wanting to do all along) then I will be assigned to a partner doctor in her practice (whom I have never met.  eek.)   And when I go into labor, I will likely just deliver with any of the 1 out of 10 drs who could be on call for that particular week.   We are leaning towards induction but still not 100% sure.  I still feel like I could go into labor on my own before even then, I am having some contractions, but nothing crazy, and there have been a few other signs that I will spare the details of.   But I'm not sure, she very well could want to stay put for a few more weeks even.  Ha!  I'm still talking myself in circles.  We are just praying for wisdom and for making the right decision!  We would love if you would pray for us too!