More pictures :)

Here's some more pictures of little Gianna and Jamison. I finally got a picture of her and her daddy. And of her and Jamison together. He is such a good big brother. Gianna had her 2 week checkup last week and it went well. She had gained a full pound since her birth which doesn't surprise me by how often she likes to eat. The whole nursing thing is still not going as well as I'd hoped. It still is incredibly painful and due to the trouble we're having, she doesn't eat enough at each feeding which makes her want to eat again every hour and a half about. It's exhausting! Poor Jamison is really being a good boy despite the lack of attention he's been getting. He's been mostly potty trained for about 8 months now, but we haven't been able to work with him on naps or night-time yet. But I'm happy to say that for the last 3 weeks, he has not had a single accident during nap time and he's not even wearing a pull-up anymore. And he's also waking up dry in the morning a lot of the time now. I'm not brave enough to leave him in underwear overnight, but I think we're definately moving in the right direction. And he no longer needs my help at all with the process which is good since he usually has to go as soon as I start to feed Gianna. We are very proud of him. And Gianna is making progress too. She now smiles at us on purpose! :) I can't get her to do it enough to get a picture yet, but I'll keep trying. K, I think she's ready to eat again so I'm off. Enjoy the pictures! :)

Jamison got a little tired and fell asleep... :)

2 weeks old (almost)

I've posted some more pictures of Gianna and Jamison in the pictures section. I still need to get some pictures of them together though; for some reason we haven't gotten any of the two of them. Jamison is doing so well with adjusting to the new baby though. He tries to be so helpful. When I sit down to nurse Gianna, he picks up my feet, puts them on the chair, gets my boppy pillow and a bottled water. If Gianna cries, he pets her arm and says "It's okay Gianna". He constantly keeps me updated on her status (either "Gianna's night night", "Gianna's uppy", or "Gianna's sad"). And then the rest of his time is usually spent singing. For whatever reason, he has suddenly become an avid singer. Most of the time we can't understand the words, but I have caught Jackie, Bheg (which is Greg, his uncle) and Nanna's house (Grandma's house). He is such a cutie!!! Gianna still spends most of her time eating and sleeping.... usually both at the same time. Taking care of her is pretty painful right now and I'm really hoping that the pain goes away soon. It would be nice if she could eat a little more quickly since it takes about an hour to feed her with about 45 minutes in between feedings right now. Poor Jamison has been watching a lot of Thomas & Friends.

Well, here's a couple of pictures, but there's more in the Pictures section:

Can you tell the difference?

It turns out that Gianna and Jamison looked a LOT alike when Jamison was this age. Can you tell which one is which in these pictures?

1)

2)

3)

A week late...

I'm glad Jay finally decided to update our blog for the first time because Gianna's already a week old and I haven't even posted about her yet. I would like to have words for all those people out there who told me the second is easier than the first. That is NOT TRUE!!! There are TWO of them! If I could take them one on one, then yes, she is easier than my first was, but since Jay deserted me and went back to work today, I have to take care of both of them at the same time and it is scary! Now, that being said, I do happen to have them both asleep right now! I am very proud of myself despite the fact that Gianna spends most of the day sleeping. And despite the fact that Jamison got Oreo's for breakfast since I was busy nursing for an hour and he was hungry... Hopefully I'll get better!

So, about Gianna. After last Friday when I had made no progress at my last doctor's appt, me, my sister, my mom, Jay and Jamison went to Viewmont High School and walked about 2.5 miles around the track. I also sprinted up the bleachers about 20 times (Jasmine would have been so proud!). Then, Saturday morning, Jay and I took Kody and Jamison to the off leash park and did about a mile walk. And then on Sunday, I got a foot massage from my mom (it was online so it had to be valid, right?). I'm not sure if any or all of these things contributed, but Sunday night, I woke up having very painful contractions. They were about 20 minutes apart though so I knew I still had time, but I was getting so excited, despite the fact that they were keeping me awake the entire night. When it was finally time for me to get up and get ready for work, I was thinking 'yay, no work for me today!!!'. But I took a bath and the contractions stopped. I was so disappointed that I apparently experienced 'false labor'. So, I ended up just going to work. Right after I got there though, the contractions started back up again, but they were completely random. Like once every 7 minutes, then 20, then 15, then 35, then 9, etc... I of course did what anyone would do and googled labor and read that the difference between false labor and real labor is that false labor is very irregular and true labor is like clockwork. So, I figured I was in false labor again. I ended up calling the doctor from work because I was in so much pain and the nurse told me that it sounds like false labor but I should go home and drink a lot of water and take a bath to get the contractions to stop. So I left work about 4pm (I realize I should have just left work MUCH earlier, but I really didn't want to leave work for labor and then end up coming back again the next day because it wasn't really labor). I went home, got in the bathtub and drank a bottle of water. And instantly, my contractions were 3-4 minutes apart. Luckily my mom showed up about that time to help me take care of Jamison and instead we immediately left for the hospital. I called Jay and told him to meet us there. We got there at 7 and they put me in triage to see if in fact I really was in labor. She checked and I was dialated to a 7+!!! I was shocked! I am such a wuss; I never would have thought I could make it to a 7 all by myself. I had to get my epidural when I was a 3 with Jamison! Then they gave me the news that I probably couldn't get an epidural because the anethesiologist had just stepped into a C-section and I was going to quickly to get one. I panicked and apparently the nurse took pity on me so she pulled some strings and basically got me all prepped and then had the doctor run from the C-section, give me an epidural and then run right back to the C-section. Unfortunately, he could not do this till almost 8:30 so until then I was in quite a bit of pain. Jay said I hit him. And yelled. By the time I got my epidural, I was dialated to an 8+. 10 minutes later, they told me to push and 10 minutes after that Gianna Grace was born at 9:05pm. I didn't feel a thing after I got my epidural and I am eternally grateful to both the nurse and the doctor for making sure I could get it.

Anyways, that's my story for anybody who's interested. Time to feed Gianna yet again... :)

The New Arrival

She's here! Gianna Grace LaVanway was born on June 2nd at 9:05 pm, weighing 7 lbs 11 oz and measuring 20.5 inches. The hospital labor was about 2 hours long and everything went about as smoothly as it could. Both mom & baby are happy and healthy, and getting in some quality bonding time now. Jamison seems to be adjusting well to having a sister, but the animals are still a bit unsure around her. Below are a few pics from the hospital. To see the rest, click on the 'Pictures' link at the top of the page and go to Gianna's folder. Thanks for all your thoughts! We'll post more pics in the days to come.