All is quiet in the Hunt house... for now, anyway.

Yes, I'm FINALLY getting to write another post! Aly just fell asleep, so mommy now has some "me time." Me-time is very precious these days! Unfortunately, when Aly sleeps, I'm usually doing things like making up bottles, cleaning house, or on very rare occasions, taking a nap myself. Not much time for "interneting" lately :-(

Things have been going well...little Aly is as ornery as ever. She's holding her little head up more, though she still looks like a little drunk when she tries to do it...lol. She's so alert, and is smiling more and more. We took a trip to my mom and dad's today for a few hours... they needed their "gram and pap fix," as they call it. They can't go more than a few days without seeing Alyson, or they're calling me saying, "Are you bringing her over?" or "We're gonna stop out, ok?" They're such proud grandparents. They want to watch Aly this weekend, so she's going to stay with them Saturday night. It'll give Russ and I some time together, so it'll be a good thing. We're thinking of heading to Pittsburgh on Saturday, more than likely we'll spend the day out there on the boat soaking up some sun and relaxing. (Ha-- relaxing...what's THAT?!)

Tomorrow, Aly and I are making our first 'big trip', just the two of us. Yeah, so we're just going to Pittsburgh, but it's still a big venture for us. The only places we've gone where it's just the two of us have been the grocery store and my parents' house. We're meeting up with my friend Joelle and her kids, and Deana and her son... a "girls and kids day out." We're gonna eat lunch at Olive Garden and then go to the mall. :-) I'm excited... I need to get out of the house for awhile.

In other post-pregnancy news... I've decided to start a diet. I started it a week ago and I'm down 4 pounds already. I am 5 pounds away from pre-preggo weight, but it feels like 50! I tried on my pre-pregnancy jeans the other day and I can ALMOST button/zip them, but it's still a stretch. But what gets me is that they are tighter in the hip/thigh area...GRR! I actually felt like i LOST weight in that area while I was pregnant, so why the tightness?! Guess it's the inevitable attack of the "childbearing hips." I just hate the fact that I'm totally in the 'in-between' stage where fitting into clothes is concerned. I don't wanna wear maternity stuff anymore, but I still have to wear some of my maternity pants/jeans, and I don't feel right in my pre-prego clothes yet. It's so darn annoying. It puts me in a bad mood when I think about it. I went from having a big wardrobe to NO wardrobe. I don't want to go shopping for in-between sized clothing that I'm not going to fit into in a few months. (wishful thinking.)

So we'll see how this diet goes. I'm still at the grouchy stage right now, where I'm wanting what I can't (well, SHOULDN'T) have.... i.e. chocolate, chocolate, anything to do with carbs, chocolate, carbs, and did I mention chocolate? To solve the chocolate issue, I've been drinking those slimfast optima chocolate shakes. They're pretty good, if I say so myself.

Well, I hear a fussy baby who is ready to eat-- YET AGAIN! So this'll have to be it for now. Hopefully I can start posting more often within the coming weeks. :-)

Take care... :-)

1 month already??!!

My little baby girl is 4 weeks old today. Where the heck did the time go?! Seems like just yesterday I was giving birth and suffering from an aching you-know-what and complaining about leaking boobs. LOL.

Anyway...

Alyson is doing great. She's growing like a weed and is soooo much more alert now! The only thing is that lately she's been more fussy, gassy and spitting up more, so as of today we've started her on Similac Isomil just to see if that helps. Here's hoping.

As for sleep (or lack therof, where I'm concerned), Aly is sleeping at least 3-4 hours during the night. Lastnight she slept from 1am-6:30am, but I'm sure that was a one-time thing. It sure was nice though! During the day her sleepy time is shorter though. She'll sleep for 2-3 hours then is up like clockwork sucking on her fingers and wanting to eat.

I have so much more to write but I can hear her getting fussy now so I guess I'll have to cut this post short. I just wanted to check in real quick to give an update on the little one. Here are some more pictures...









More to come soon!

Have a good night :-)

It's been awhile!!

Wow...I really underestimated how little time I would have to myself these days! This is one of the first times I've had lately to actually sit down and even THINK about posting on here. I'll try to get as much in as I can before my little one wakes up crying to eat!! HOPEFULLY I have about a half hour left before that happens.

For starters, motherhood is wonderful. And not-so-wonderful. There are times when I'm on cloud 9 and there are times when I don't know if I'm cut out for the whole motherhood thing. Now don't get me wrong-- I love little Alyson to pieces--- but sometimes I am just so overwhelmed and frustrated, and I just don't know WHAT to do! The past few days were that way... I just became so overwhelmed with everything, and it seemed like no matter what I did to soothe her, Aly still cried and fussed. She's not colicky, as far as I know... usually she only cries when she wants to eat... but yesterday was just one of those days when the crying....doesn't.....stop. It really started getting to me and Russ, and that led to us bickering, and ME crying, and then I realized that it was time for me to stop trying to be Supermom and do everything myself, and admit that I needed a helping hand with Alyson.

Russ ended up taking her to my parents for a few hours, and it was just what I needed. I hadn't been able to get anything done in the house, because she'd cry just as I was getting into doing something, so I had a chance to get some housework done. I felt like a bad mom at first due to sending her to my parents' house, but they've been more than willing to help out, and I guess I just haven't taken people up on their offers because I feel like I need to do everything myself. The frustration (and lack of sleep) just built up and built up until yesterday I was at my breaking point. I needed sleep, I was upset because I was jumping down Russ's throat for stupid things and couldn't help it....ugh.

Today things are much better though. Aly fussed around midnight so I fed her, then rocked her back to sleep...then she woke up again at 2:30 and 4:30. After that, she let me sleep until 9am. 9AM! I get so excited when I get about 4 or so hours in between a feeding. It's amazing how our perspective changes when we become parents-- I used to treasure 8 hours of sleep, now I'm thrilled to death with 4 or 5. 6 or 7 is truly heaven....lol.

Breaktime... I hear a baby crying... :-)

Alright, I'm back.

But like I said, today's much better. I feel more relaxed. I just had to admit to myself that it was just TIME FOR A BREAK. I had my mom and Russ's mom helping out for the first week, then Russ and I felt more comfortable so we've pretty much been on our own since then. (Still with plenty of visits from the proud grandparents though!)

The first week was such a big adjustment though. It was no longer about me and Russ, but instead all our attention is focused on Aly. Having a baby really changes you and teaches you alot about yourself, by far! I'm just so in love with little Alyson. I can't stop staring at her! Every little thing she does just seems absolutely adorable, and she's already changing so much everyday! I look back at her first picture from the hospital, and she looks so different already! It's hard to believe that she'll be 3 weeks old on Thursday. Before I know it, I'll be talking about her being 6 months old!! Geesh.

Well, Aly's fussing again, so it must be feeding time. I hear her sucking on her fingers... she sounds like Maggie Simpson. LOL.

Before I go, I want to post the link to Alyson's webpage on the hospital's Web Nursery site. Feel free to leave comments ;-)

http://www.growingfamily.com/webnursery/babypage_view.asp?URLID=7O9N8E8U4J

Have a great day! I'll post more as soon as I can!

Alyson Elizabeth Hunt

Hey everybody! Sorry it's taken me so long to post about the birth of little Alyson. Things have been pretty hectic around here since the birth, as I'm sure all of you with new babies can attest to!

Well, I'll start with Thursday. Thursday morning we got to the hospital around 8am for my induction. At first, only I was allowed to go back and the rest of my family just stayed out in the waiting room. When I arrived in my room, the nurses gave me a bag for my clothes... they said, "Just remove everything and put this gown on" then told me they needed a urine sample (fun fun.) So I get all in my gown and come out carrying my pee sample, and there stand two good looking male student nurses along with the staff nurses. "Just great" I thought, sarcastically. Being a former nursing student myself, I knew that nursing students get to participate (and SEE) everything. Talk about embarrassing, being that they were guys... hehe.

But anyway... Things started out pretty slowly... the first hour just consisted of the nurses asking me a ton of admission-type questions, then they started my IV to get labwork. (Which took 3 tries. Normally I don't mind, but those were some BIG needles.) They then hooked me up to the monitors, and I could hear little Aly's heart beating away in the 140's. The nurse checked me for dilation and effacement, and said I was around 90% effaced and (sadly!) only 1 centimeter dilated. I had hoped to be more dilated by then.

Around 9am, they talked with my doctor, and the Pitocin was started, along with IV fluids. At first, I didnt feel much of anything. I was just having small contractions which truthfully I wouldn't have known I was having had it not been for seeing them on the monitor. The nurse then doubled my drip rate to 12. Shortly after that, the contractions picked up but still weren't very painful... just pressure more than anything. However, they were coming every 2 minutes or so. The nurse came back in a little later and cut my drip rate in half since the contractions were so close together. We went back and forth with the drip rate for the next 4 hours or so.

Around 12, my parents bought us all lunch, while I sat up in a comfy leather recliner, still not feeling much of anything. A nurse came in and my dad said, "If she doesn't progress, is there a chance she will be sent home?" The nurse said "Well, it's always possible." At that point, I started getting a little depressed, thinking, "I came here thinking I was having a baby today... I don't want to wait any longer!" A little while later, that nurse told us my doctor had called in wanting to know about my progress, so he was filled in on my status with the pitocin.

1:30pm came around, and I was still not having very strong contractions. I was getting majorly bummed and said, "Well, if THIS keeps going on, I'll be here forever." Just then, my nurse came back in and said, "The doctor is here to check you... I'll help you back in bed." I got back in bed and my doc walked in. He checked me to see how dilated I was and I was only 2 centimeters. He then gave me majorly good news... he said, "I'm going to break your water now." (YAY!) I got a surprised look on my face and the nurse laughed and said, "Looks like you ARE having a baby today!" She then pressed my call light and when another nurse called back to see what we wanted, my nurse goes, "Ok, go ahead and admit her now." :-)

Lemme tell ya, if my water had broken at home, I would have been flipping out! Talk about Niagara frickin Falls! LOL. After my water was broken, the contractions majorly picked up. Within 15 minutes, they were strong as heck. I said, "So when am I able to get an epidural?" and they told me, "Whenever you want, honey... just let us know." I tried to hold out for awhile, but by 2pm, I told Russ, "Go out to the nurses station and tell them I'll take it now." Unfortunately, we were told that the anesthesiologist was in surgery and would be a little while. I dealt with strong contactions for over an hour, and I heard the nurse say, "I'm going to give her some Stadol til he gets here." Now, I don't know if any of you ladies had stadol, but all it did was make me feel drunk and still in pain. I warned everyone beforehand, "If I act loopy with this stuff, don't laugh at me." LOL. It did make me a little, uh, more free with my speech. The only time I cussed was right after receiving the stadol. Right during a contraction, the blood pressure cuff on my arm pumped up just high enough to annoy me, and I said with my eyes closed and teeth clenched, "Why does that DAMN THING PUMP UP RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A CONTRACTION?!"
(But hey, if "damn" is the worst word I used, I figure I did pretty well.)

I got my epidural around 3:30pm, and if I could have kissed the anesthesiologist, I would have! (LOL... just kidding) Epidurals are WONDERFUL. Shortly after I had it, all I could feel was pressure. even though the contractions were peaking higher and higher. I was making Russ laugh because when I'd feel the pressure, I could also feel more amniotic fluid coming out of me, so I'd be like, "Here comes a contraction, and there I go pissing myself again." (Yes, still loopy from the stadol.)

My dilation progressed pretty quickly after the epidural, I think just because I was more relaxed and now allowing my body to do what it needed to do! Around 4:30 or 5, I was 6 centimeters dilated. By 6pm, I was already 8 centimeters! I told Russ, "You'd better call SOMEONE on their cell phone and tell them to cut dinner a little short!" (Our families were all downstairs in the cafeteria eating.) I guess when they heard, everyone dropped what they were eating and said, "Ok, not hungry anymore! Let's go!"

By 6:45 or 7pm (can't remember exactly), I was 10 centimeters could feel the baby's head RIGHT THERE. The nurses called my OB and then had me starting to push. My mom and cousin Brenda came in the delivery room at this point. After pushing awhile, the nurses said, "Wow, you must have one good epidural block" because evidentally my pushing wasn't up to par...lol. I could feel the pressure and had the urge to push, but it wasn't that strong.

Once my OB doc got there (7:20-7:25ish), it was on. Doc placed a sterile towel on my chest and said, "I will put the baby right here." I was ready to cry by that point, thinking, "Wow, she'll be here any minute!!"

With my not-so-strong pushing, Alyson would start to come out, then wouldn't progress any further, so doc had to assist with the vacuum suction. All I heard everyone say was "Oh... look at all that dark hair on her head!" Everyone cracked up because evidentally once Alyson's head was out, she spit out the amniotic fluid in her mouth right off the bat. Doc suctioned her and I swear that amount of time waiting to hear her cry seemed like FOREVER, though it was only a few seconds!

Alyson Elizabeth Hunt was born at 7:38pm. She weighed 7 lb 5 oz and was 20.5 inches long. Russ's hands were shaking so much it took him 3 tries to cut the cord, poor guy! Hearing Aly cry and seeing her placed on my chest afterwards was truly amazing... such an indescribable feeling.

Before all this, Russ (the typical manly man he is...lol) goes, "No, I won't cry" when I asked him if he thought he'd cry at the delivery. WELL. My manly man had his head buried in my shoulder while hugging me... I could hear him just sniffling away. When he stood up, his eyes were all red and he was wiping the tears away. Afterwards, he told me that seeing Alyson born was the most amazing thing ever.
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Russ and I came home with our new bundle of joy on Saturday night. It was an interesting night, but I was fortunate to have my mom staying with us to help out. Alyson was up many many times through the night, but all went well. So far, she's been great through the night. She eats basically every 2-3 hours and has been taking at least 2 ounces per feeding already. She has a good appetite on her! She could be sleeping so soundly, but she'll wake up like clockwork and I'll hear her fussing and sucking on her little fingers, waiting for her bottle. Dealing with sleep, the past few nights haven't been that bad. She'll sleep for about 3 hours then sometimes I even have to wake her up to feed her! She's such a good baby and really only fusses when wants to eat, though she isn't too fond of bathtime yet. :-)

So far, Russ and I have decided she has his mouth (her lips are shaped EXACTLY like his) and his nose. She has my chin, I think...lol. And we both have dark brown hair and dark brown eyes, so she got those from both of us. Right now her eyes are really dark gray, but that's how mine were when I was born, so I'm guessing they'll turn brown soon.

Russ and I are just SO in love with our little girl. It's amazing how much having Alyson has changed Russ, too! The guy who once said "I'm not changing diapers" now VOLUNTEERS to do it. He's such a proud daddy and is already wrapped around Aly's little finger. She has tummy time with daddy every day. It's totally adorable. Needless to say, we've taken tons of pictures of her already.

I uploaded our first set of pictures, so here they are... I promise I'll post more soon. I just wanted to get all this posted on here to update all of you on how things have been going. I'll post again as soon as I can!

Take care, everyone!

Well, this is it!

Well ladies, today's the day our lives change... little Alyson will be entering the world at SOME point today!

I'm so darn nervous!!! And excited of course, but equally nervous. I just have no idea what to expect.

We go to the hospital at 8am... my parents and Russ's mother are going with us at that time, then my cousin Brenda is meeting us later this morning. (She and I are like sisters and always said we wanted to be in the delivery room with eachother! She's a fairly new mommy--her baby girl is 10 months old right now, so I know she'll be a big help to me!)

I didn't think I'd sleep very well lastnight-- in fact, I didn't think I'd sleep AT ALL, but I managed to get about 5 hours. I had a good cry lastnight (why, I don't know... hormones and feeling overwhelmed I guess....) and felt much better after that, actually. Afterwards I felt like such a dork because I really have NO reason to be crying! Darn hormones... :-P

I truthfully didn't know if I'd make it though the night without going into full blown labor, but I managed to do that too. All day yesterday I was having some mild contractions, but not anything at regular intervals. Just bad enough to make me uncomfortable. Also, (TMI warning) I lost more of my mucous plug through the day and evening yesterday. Grossest thing ever...blech. LOL.

Despite the uncomfortable contractions, I DID get in to my hair salon to get my hair done, so now I'm all freshly trimmed and highlighted for those oh-so-lovely hospital pics. LOL. Also, our good friends called yesterday and said, "You guys are coming over for dinner tonight." (No complaints from me on THAT one!) They told me, "We don't want you to have to cook tonight and then get the house all cleaned up again. You're having a BABY tomorrow, you need to relax." They're so awesome.... it's wonderful to have friends like that, lemme tell ya.

Well, I'm off to hop in the shower (ok, so maybe I won't be HOPPING...) and then to make Russ and I some breakfast. They said I could have a "light breakfast." I know I probably won't be getting to eat or drink much (if at all) until little Aly is here, so I'd better eat while I have the chance.

Wish me luck....please keep me, Russ, and little Alyson in your prayers. I'm hoping this birth goes as smoothly as possible today!! :-)

More updates as soon as I'm able...

I love rollercoasters, but not the one I'm on today...

Ever since I learned of my planned induction yesterday, I've truly been in such a DAZE, like I said in my post yesterday.

My emotions are one big rollercoaster right now. I've been sitting here in amazement, thinking how today and tomorrow are my last two childless days for the rest of my life. Not in a bad way, mind you...but it's just crazy to think about.

It's the last two days where it's just "Me and Russ." Then on Thursday once Alyson is here, our little family of 2 turns into 3, and we're responsible for this new precious little life. And EVERYTHING is going to change.

Russ and I were sitting around talking lastnight, and that's all I could think about....how much things are going to change just in a few short days. It's not going to just be about me and him anymore...and I wonder how OUR relationship will change. I'm excited for what's to come, but so incredibly nervous at the same time.

*sigh*

For now, I'm just trying to get last-minute things done in the house. I have this list of things I'd like to get done within the next few days, but I have absolutely NO desire to do any of it. I'm just so TIRED! I really need to get myself motivated. It figures, any other day I'm a big ball of energy lately, but now that I HAVE to get things done, I am completely worn the heck out. Come on, energy...where'd you go?!

Wow.....THURSDAY!!!!

Well. I'm sorta in a daze right now!

I just got back from the doctor's. I definitely have some good news! When he checked me this morning, he said, "Oh, your cervix is very soft... 100% effaced... paper thin!" He said that I'm about the same amount dilated, though.

As I sat there wondering, "Ok, so what next?" he looked at me and smiled... he said, "Well, you're due Friday... do you want to wait and see whether you go into labor, or do you want to be induced?"

(I was sitting there thinking, "What... wait... WOAH!") I then laughed and told him, "Well, I am getting kinda impatient here!" He said he'd call and talk with the birth center to see what times they have available for inductions. I waited a few minutes and he came back and said, "Thursday at 8am."

THURSDAY AT 8AM! I could be holding my little Alyson in my arms on THURSDAY! AAAH!

I'm feeling tons of emotions now. Nervous...excited...happy....surprised....just, WOW. I wasn't expecting all this today. I was expecting him to tell me nothing had changed and to come back to the office again in a few days!

OH...and also this appointment, he did DEFINITELY strip my membranes. He came out and said so today. He goes, "Well, I stripped your membranes, so you could very well go into labor sooner than Thursday!" WOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I'm just so happy right now. I've called everyone close to me to tell them the news. Everyone's on standby with their cell phones handy...lol.

It's just nice to know that if nothing happens in the meantime, I have an actual TIMEFRAME. I know at least SOMETHING is going to happen Thursday. Hopefully this induction works without any problems and Russ and I are holding our little Aly by Thursday night. I'll keep you all updated!! If something does happen before Thursday, I don't know if my hospital has wireless internet access, so I might not be able to update until I get home. I'll have to check on that one :-)

For now, I'm going to put my feet up and hopefully I'll be feeling some contractions soon or my water will break! Maybe I should go do some jumping jacks.....hmm.

Have a great day!