December 27, 2007 (Venily 2 months, 2 weeks, 1 day old)


Got all the Christmas pics up!! I also put all of Venily's videos up here if you are interested:

http://s52.photobucket.com/albums/g30/jennifer_reyer/Venily%20Videos/





Venily's first Christmas has been awesome! We've been really busy the last few days trying to see everyone and going to Chrismas parties. Thank you to everyone who has made this Christmas special for our little baby girl. She really does have some of the best family around! I didn't really get a chance to take a ton of pictures because I was so busy with Venily, but I do have some I'll have to put up later. Venily got so much stuff, I don't even know what to do with it all, lol! Mommy and Daddy got her books, toys, a baby's first Christmas ornament, a frame, and a spoon with her name and birthdate engraved on it (I'm going to get her something with her name on it every birthday and Xmas b/c her name is so unique- I thought that would be cute, I've already gotten her a couple of things!). And her family got her tons more! She has a whole new wardrobe now (and some of the cutest clothes I've ever seen!), TONS and TONS of toys, hair stuff, books, collector's dolls (from her birth year and some that over 60 years old), coin collections (3 different ones actually, from 3 different sides of our families), hat and gloves, ornaments, blankets, money, a floor activity center, a walking/riding toy, an exersaucer, and even her very own star that we get to name after her (it'll be the prettiest named star in the sky!), plus a bunch more! All this for a little girl who'd be happy with a smile and a kiss!! She's so spoiled already, but who can help it? I just look at her and I want to buy her the whole world and every thing she ever wanted, lol.

On Christmas eve we were eating at Subway and a guy came up to us and was looking and talking about Venily and how fast children grow up and it really hit me! :( He was saying how next Xmas she'll be walking and talking! I can't believe it, she's going to be running all over the place and getting in to stuff! LOL! I can't believe how fast she has already grown and how much she has already learned and she's only 2 1/2 months old! Over the past 2 weeks she's learned now how to bat at her toys with her hands, it's so cute! At first I thought she might be doing it on accident, but I can tell now how she uses all of her concentration to steer her hand where she wants it and move it around. The other morning I came into the living room and Jason was taking her hand and hitting a toy with it and then putting it back down and she was bringing it back up and hitting the toy and laughing. It was the CUTEST THING EVER, lol! And the look on Jason's face was EVEN cuter, he was so proud of her!!! I loved it!

Venily is still sleeping awesome during the night! She's still a little difficult to get down at first (it takes me about 5 attempts in 30 minutes). But, once she's asleep, she sleeps for 6-7 hours straight EVERY SINGLE night! It's so great. Then she wakes up and I change her and feed her and she instantly goes back to sleep for another 2-3 hours! I still get tired sometimes because I can't get back to sleep right away, but at least it's not her fault. I just get too many things running through my mind.

Only 5 more days until 2008! I can't wait, it seems like every year just keeps getting better and better!

December 23, 2007 (Venily 2 months, 1 week, 4 days old)

We're so excited for Christmas!!! Merry Christmas EVERYONE!!! Venily just turned 10 weeks old yesterday! She's the best present anyone could ever ask for! She truely is a doll and just the sweetest, prettiest little girl in the world. She's asleep on my lap right now and it's all I can do to not kiss her beautiful lips right now and wake her up, LOL! I'm sure she'll have tons more pictures from Christmas that I can add to her pictures. Mommy has a HUGE picture-taking problem! :)

December 17, 2007 (Venily 2 months, 5 days old)



Guess what?! Venily beat her record, she slept for 7 straight hours last night (her former record was 6 hours)!! Yay! Is that considered sleeping through the night? I'm not sure... she went to bed at 11:00pm and woke up at 6:00am. Then I changed her and fed her and she slept for another 2 1/2 hours, so I got a much needed 9 1/2 hours of sleep! I hope she keeps that up.

We also got her 2 month pictures taken today! She looked really cute in them! She is wearing a little Christmas outfit and smiling!! I'm so proud of her, all of the other babies must be so jealous of her because she is so gorgeous, lol! We don't go to pick them up though until January 9th. I might just get her 3 month pics taken then so we don't have to make 2 trips.

December 14, 2007 (Venily 2 months, 1 day old)

Venily's doctor's appointment yesterday went really well. The doctor says she's very active and looks to be a healthy, healthy girl! She was 23 inches long and 12 pounds, 7 ounces! Her shots went as well as they could. She cried and it was very sad, but she doesn't appear to be in any pain today and isn't running a fevor or anything, so that's great! Luckily Jason was next to her when she got her shots, I don't know if I could have done it without crying. I updated her weight/height chart on the front page! She's getting so big! She has her next well baby visit/ round of shots when she's 4 months.

She'll be 9 weeks old tomorrow! Time is going so fast. She talks more and more everyday! She's talking up a storm right now, lol. Sometimes it sounds like she's actually saying real words like "mom," "dad," ect. Haha, Jason said that she said "Jason" the other day! It's really cute, she's laughing more now too! We weren't going to get her 2 month pictures professionally done, b/c we're tight on money right now and Jason thought I could just do them myself, but I think we might get them anyway. I'm waiting for a call back to schedule an appointment, so hopefully we'll be able to get them done next week sometime.

Venily is also getting more control over her hands now! She puts her knuckles in her mouth all the time. Her grandma taught her that so she'd be just like her Daddy! It's so cute, she uses all of her attention to bring her hand up to her mouth, suck on it a little bit and then alternate hands, lol! Sometimes she tries to get them both in her mouth at the same time, I want to take a video of her doing it next time, it's really cute! She can also hold toys in her hand if you put them in there.

December 13, 2007 (Venily 2 months old)






Venily is 2 months old today, happy birthday baby girl!!!

December 11, 2007 (1 month, 4 weeks old)

So, I've come to find out that people LOOOVVVEEE babies!!! LOL, it's not just me! We can't go anywhere without a dozen people coming up to us asking to see Venily and asking how old she is, what her name is, and telling us how beautiful she is! I thought a lot of people came up to me when I was pregnant (actually, I got a lot more smiles than anything), but WAY more people come up to see Venily now. It's a lot of women, but even some guys too, lol!

Oh, and Venily laughed for me a couple of days ago! She's such a cutie, I love her so much! She's still not taking a bottle, lol, she knows what she likes, and that's Mommy! We've tried a couple more times and she just chews on the end a bit and gags sometimes... same thing with the pacifier... what a dork! We'll keep trying, but we may have to just go straight to a sippy cup. 2 more days until she's 2 months and has her 2 month appointment! I can't wait to see where she is at with her height and weight, but am soooo not looking forward to her shots!

We're done with almost all of our X-mas shopping... I just need to get Jason something still. I bought Venily a bunch of stuff and it's all wrapped up sitting under our tree for me to open again on X-mas, lol. I'm such a dork too!! I can't wait until she gets all excited and she can open her own presents, that will be even more fun! I can't wait until she can write Santa letters, bake cookies with me, help decorate the tree, and all that fun stuff!! I feel so in the Christmas Spirit right now....





everyone!!!!!!!!! :)

December 8, 2007 (Venily 1 month, 3 weeks, 4 days old)



Venily is 8 weeks old! This past week she has been baby talking more and more. Especially in the mornings, she's definitely a little morning girl, which is hard b/c I am SO not, lol! She talks and laughs and smiles like crazy in the mornings. She says "aah, ooh, ooo, glue, mah,...(etc)." Plus all of her animal voices and monster voice. Jason has also gotten her to laugh on two seperate occasions this week, but I missed it both times. :( I've heard her laugh in her sleep before, but I really want to see her do it awake! I think she gets bored of me though because I'm with her all day. As I type this, Jason is trying to teach her how to sit up, lol.

Venily's eczema looks A LOT better now, but it's still on her neck and some on her cheeks. The lotion is working really good though with that, I'm really glad. I can't wait until the winter is over and it's not so dry! I also CAN'T WAIT to be able to go for walks again, staying inside is starting to drive me crazy! Venily keeps asking if she can go to the park, but I have to keep telling her no b/c it's too cold out! :)

We tried to give her a bottle again the other day, but she wouldn't take it! We're going to try again today in a bit, but I think I have to not be in the room. We'll see...

Well, I think Jason might need my help so I'd better go see what they are up to!

December 5, 2007 (1 month, 3 weeks, 1 day old)

The doctor says it's just infant eczema and there is nothing we can really do about it! That's what we figured, but I'm glad we went just to be sure. He says that it might get worse before it gets better, but if it gets too bad, we'd have to see a dermatologist. We just have to keep lotioning her up, so that's what I'm doing! Her forehead is already looking a little better. Also, they weighed her and she was 12 POUNDS!! She's going to be a big girl! Next week she has her 2 month appointment and she'll get weighed and measured again and he'll show us where she is on the growth chart.

December 2, 2007 (Venily 1 month, 2 weeks, 5 days old)

Venily is 7 weeks old! Her sicknesses seem to be getting better. She is still congested, but she is finally sleeping better again at night. She's back to only getting up 1 to a few times a night to eat and then falling right back to sleep, but some nights she is still fussy at first and has a hard time getting to bed. Her rash on her face, neck, scalp, and shoulders is getting worse though! :( And after researching it for a while, I'm pretty sure she has baby eczema. There is no real treatment for it, but I'm going to schedule her an appointment with the doctor tomorrow anyway and see if there is anything he can give her to make it better. I've also found some other things that you can do like give them daily baths, moisturize their skin at least twice a day, only use certain soaps and detergents and stuff like that. I hope that helps! I'm also going to try not drinking milk or dairy products, which is going to be soooo hard for me, but I'm willing to do anything to make her better. It's really common in babies and is hereditary so I'm sure she got it from me! My skin breaks out in a rash over almost anything (and I can only use certain soaps and things on my skin) and I still get it on my arms every winter. My poor baby, I hope she gets better soon!

This last week she also had her first bottle of pumped breast milk! I've read that you need to introduce it at week 6 or she might not take it later on. I didn't think that she was going to like it b/c she won't even take a pacifier (not that I really wanted her to have one anyway). But after a little bit of being confused and not really wanting it, Jason got her to drink the whole thing. It made me so sad, lol, my little baby girl doesn't even need me any more! We're not going to give her a bottle very often, but if we need to be somewhere for a long period of time and it will be hard for me to nurse, then it's good to know that we can still feed her!

Some of Venily's newest favorite things are taking naps with Mommy (she's such a good cuddly baby- I hope she stays that way!) and grabbing on to Mommy's hair with all of her might, lol!

My 6 week postpartum visit last Monday went really well. Everything looks good and I've lost all of the baby weight, plus 2 pounds. I actually didn't want to lose that much and it's going to be hard to gain it back (especially while breastfeeding which burns 500 calories a day), but I won't complain about it! As long as I don't lose any more I will be happy.

Venily is very excited about Christmas. We got our Christmas tree up yesterday and she just LOVES to look at all of the pretty lights!

November 24, 2007 (Venily 1 month, 1 week, 4 days old)

Venily is 6 weeks old today! And I am tired, lol! We have had a couple of difficult nights this week because Venily has a cold! :( It is really sad, I think she caught it from Chase because I brought her up to see him earlier in the week and he had a really bad cold- I kept them apart, but apparently not far enough...I guess I learned my lesson! Running our Vick's vaporizer has helped her along with sucking out her nose a couple times during the night. I'm not feeling very well either... and winter hasn't even started yet!




Venily had her first Thanksgiving and she did great! She went to her Grandma Lauren's and Grandpa Don's and then to her Great Grandma and Grandpa Reyer's and slept most of the day while being held. She had on her little Thanksgiving dress and looked adorable! That night though was the worst! LOL! I can tell this story now because it's been a couple of days, but it was definitely not funny at the time. She wasn't feeling that well during the night and you could tell that something was bothering her. She was fussy and wanted to be held and as soon as she'd fall asleep and I'd put her down, she'd wake back up and be sad. So, I kept feeding her b/c that made her happy and I didn't know what else to do. When she was done, she fell asleep on my chest and I decided to lay her next to me on the bed b/c she sleeps better like that and I was REALLY tired. Well, we were sleeping face-to-face, only a couple inches apart and she projectile threw up ALL over! Oh my gosh! It went in my mouth, all over my face and in my eyes and all in my hair, it was disgusting! My eyes were burning. It was 1:30 in the morning and I just started bawling, lol, because I was soooo tired. Jason had to get up at 5:30 but he woke up and cleaned her all up (she threw up a couple more times after that) and took off the sheets and pillow cases and everything else that she threw up all over while I went in the shower. After that she felt a lot better and was finally able to get some sleep. Looking back at it now it just seems like such a classic new baby moment that you hear about all the time, lol. Hopefully it's a while before anything like that happens again!

During the days Venily has been very happy though!! Her new favorite thing is her mirror toy. She LOVES looking at her gorgeous little face in the mirror and she swings her arms around and can actually play with some of the toys on it (though I don't know if it's intentual or not :), it's still really cute). She likes to talk to things too with her baby voice. The other day it was so cute too! We put her mobile above her changing table because she doesn't go in her crib yet and it gives her something to look at while getting changed. Well, I put her on there and I forgot to start it up and she was just looking up at it with the most concerned look on her face. I saw her and started it up. As soon as the music started playing she started smiling so big and it just made her so happy to have her friends singing to her- it was so precious! I still haven't caught her adorable smile on camera yet, it's so hard! I have one of her sleep smiling, but it's not the same. Hopefully I'll be able to get one soon!

I go for my 6 week postpartum visit on Monday and my pregnancy adventure will officially be over- that feels so weird to me! But... our family has a lot more pregnancy and babies to go!!! Venily is getting ANOTHER new baby cousin!!! CONGRATS Uncle Jim and Aunt Kayla! We are all so excited!



All three new babies will be so close in age and in the same grade level is school, it's so ideal! They are going to be the best of friends! Uncle Jason is already planning family trips with all of the little ones, it's going to be so fun!

Keep the babies coming, I can't get enough of them, lol!

November 18, 2007 (Venily 1 month, 5 days old)

Venily is 5 weeks old as of yesterday! We got her pictures taken on Friday and she did so good and was soooo beautiful in them! She slept the whole way there and as soon as we took her out of her car seat when we got there, she woke up and was ready for pictures and posing! She honestly could be a model. It was hard just picking one pose, I wanted them all! We get to pick them up on December 7th, I can't wait.

Venily has been smiling a lot more lately now too, it's so cute!! She looks like a little Japanimatian cartoon when she smiles, her eyes get so happy, they look like little sideways moons. Daddy is definitely her favorite person to smile at too, she really loves him! She also loves smiling at me when she wakes up in the middle of the night/ early morning. I know you're supposed to limit the amount of interaction you have with your baby during the night so that she learns that nighttime is for sleeping, but when she gets all smiley at 3:00am, I can't help but play and talk with her, lol, I think she knows that too and that's why she does it! I seriously get so overwhelmed when I see her adorable little baby smile! :)

November 13, 2007 (Venily 1 month old)





Venily is 1 month old today!!! Since she doesn't have a 1 month check up, I weighed and measured her myself (though probably not quite as accurately as they would at the doctor's office). She weighed 11 pounds (in the 77th percentile) and was 22.5 inches long (also in the 77th percentile!)!

We made an appointment to get her one month pictures taken on Friday.

November 12, 2007 (Venily 4 weeks, 2 days old)

We were bored today so we had a photo shoot, hahaha! Come see in "Pictures"! Venily is going to be a little model! :)

November 10, 2007 (Venily 4 weeks old)

Well, my pasghettio is 4 weeks old today!! I can't even believe it, but I feel like she's been with us forever. I've never been happier though! All of my clothes have spit up on them, I don't have 5 minutes to myself anymore, and I haven't had 8 hours of sleep in 4 weeks, but I wouldn't have it any other way! Things just feel right now, I love her so much and she is just what I always wanted in my life. I'm a little sad though that she's getting so old so quickly, but I'm really looking forward to seeing her little personality emerge and watching her do new things!

Last Sunday she had her first bath and she actually did really well with it. She needed Jason to continuously pour water on her though or she'd get unhappy. I don't know if I'd be able to do it on my own though! On Monday she gave me her first real smile and I was just overcome with happiness! :) She smiles all the time when she's content and falling asleep, but this was the first time that she was wide awake and I was smiling and talking to her and she smiled back and her eyes were so happy too, it was the cutest thing in the whole world!

She's still eating really good and I'm so proud of myself for still nursing. It can be a little inconvenient at times, but I know it's what is best for her and I've set my goals for at least 6 months and then we'll see what happens. At 6 weeks I can start pumping too, but I'm a little scared that she'll only want a bottle after that.

She's still sleeping pretty good too. We only had one night where she was up almost all night and I'm pretty sure I know what the problem was. Every night since we brought her home, I've always put her to bed at night in her swaddle blanket. Well, it's starting to get a little small so I decided to put her in a sleeping sack blanket one night, which leaves her arms open and not swaddled in with her. I didn't realize that that could be the problem though until the next day, lol. Now she's back to sleeping good and I need to buy the next biggest size swaddle blanket as soon as she outgrows the one she has!

I'm going to get her one month pictures taken sometime next week and I can't wait to see how they turn out!

Well, Venily just spit up ALL over me, lol, so we both are going to get changed! :)

November 3, 2007 (Venily 3 weeks old)

Venily is 3 weeks old today and gets cuter and sweeter by the day! She is already getting so big, I wish I could slow down time so she'd stay this little for longer!! She is sleeping for one 5 hour stretch at night most nights which is awesome! Then she wakes up and eats and sleeps for another 2-3 hours, so I can't complain at all! Her most wakeful time is in the morning. She just loves to eat and be held all morning long! Then she sleeps pretty good in the afternoon and I try to get stuff done around the house. But sometimes she just wants me to hold her all the time so I'm getting good at doing things one-handed, lol. Right now she is on her Boppy pillow around my waist, eating while I type this!

On November 1st Venily and I woke up and turned on the radio to find that they are already playing Christmas music!! Now, while I am usually annoyed by Christmas music before Thanksgiving, it actually made me really excited. I can't believe that she is going to have her first Christmas soon. I can cry just thinking about it... and she already has 2 really cute Christmas outfits that I can't wait to see her in. So, on that morning we listened to Christmas music all morning long! I can't wait to celebrate all the upcoming holidays with our beautiful little girl.

Some day I'll update this site and make it pretty again, I promise, lol! I just have too much going on right now! :)

October 31, 2007 (Venily 2 weeks, 4 days old)



I'm so bad at updating this now, Venily and I are so busy during the day- she's asleep on my lap right now so I thought I'd update before I tried to take a shower, lol!

Venily had so much fun trick-or-treating on Sunday and seeing all of her family at her Grandma and Grandpa's house! She just slept the WHOLE time, lol! On Monday she had her doctor's appointment and she is doing really well! She was 8 pounds and 9 ounces and 22 inches long!!! She's already starting to outgrow some of her clothes even though she couldn't fit into anything when we brought her home from the hospital. So, she has definitely gotten back to her birth weight and then some, so we know she is getting enough to eat, which is hard to tell when you're nursing. I'm still charting when I feed her and for how long and stuff like a neurotic mother, but it makes me feel better to do it! Her next appointment is her 2 month appointment in 6 weeks and she has to get shots! :( I'm not looking forward to that part.

Other than that, she is hitting all of her other milestones on time or ahead of schedule. LOL, I'm reading through all of my books and making sure she can do everything that she is supposed to be able to do! Having a teacher for a mom is probably going to get old for her after a while though.

October 27, 2007 (Venily 2 weeks old)

Venily is already 2 WEEKS OLD TODAY, I can't even believe how fast the time has gone!!! Her cord has completely fallen off and I'm really excited that I can finally give her a real bath now! I might do it tonight or maybe tomorrow when Jason is home and can help me. I have a feeling that she is going to hate it because she HATES even getting her diaper or clothes changed. She likes to be covered up at all times! I think I'm going to run the hot water in the bathroom for a while to get it all steamy and warm in there before I give her a bath so hopefully she'll like it more.

She's also getting good at holding up her head for short bits at a time. When she's awake, she LOVES to lay on my shoulder and look around at everything with her big, beautiful eyes. She looks so cute and curious, lol! Jason is convinced that she looks just like him, but I'm not too sure. I want to see newborn pics of Jason to compare her! She looks nothing like I did as a newborn though.

Tomorrow Venily is going trick-or-treating with Matthew and Kaitlyn and she's really excited about it! Cathy and her family got her a really cute pumpkin Halloween costume! I can't wait to see what she looks like in it!

Venily is still sleeping really good at night. She just moves around a little and makes little noises when she's hungry, which wakes me up. Then I usually change her (which she hates and usually cries the whole time) but as soon as I button her clothes back up she is happy, then I feed her and burp her and she falls right back to sleep for another 3 hours or so! Today we went grocery shopping for the first time together and that went well too. It's a bit more stressful, but she was only fussy for a little bit and slept the majority of the time. I definitely won't be shopping on a Saturday again if I can help it though.

Monday is Venily's 2 week doctor follow up visit! I can't wait to see how much she's grown!! I still haven't put up my pictures, but I will soon! Oh, and I got her announcements done. I'm not really impressed with them. Walmart screwed them up like they usually do with all of my pictures. I ordered 50 and the first 50 they did too light and so they did another 50 that are too dark. So, they gave me all of them. Oh well! I made an online announcement too that you can look at if you are interested:

http://www.birthvillage.com/?bID=1536&p=1020381021

I also submitted her info to the Kenosha News and The Journal Times so please keep a look out for her birth announcement in those two papers and let me know if you find them (I'm not sure if I get either of those papers)!


I wanted to get newborn pictures of Venily done, but seeing as she is already 2 weeks I don't think I'm going to. :( But, I will be getting her 1 month pictures taken in 2 weeks!

October 24, 2007 (Venily 1 week, 4 days old)

Venily is doing great! She is only 11 days old today, but she already looks so big and grown up! She's eating a lot- about every 2-3 hours and sleeps a lot too, I still have to wake her up sometimes during the day to eat. She's starting to stay awake for longer periods of time too and looks around at everything. We've been busy the last couple of days going places! She's already been to Target, Walgreens, Walmart, Yorkville school, Wheatland school, and all around Burlington. She's so good in her car seat and driving in the van- she just sleeps the whole time! Her eyes are starting to look darker gray and her umbilical cord is starting to fall off today too.

I'm good and trying to get sleep. Some nights I get more sleep than others. I think I try to get too much done during the day though and I really need to start taking naps during the day, but sometimes I'm so busy I completely forget to even eat too, which also doesn't help. But, I wouldn't trade it all for ANYTHING!!! Venily is sooooo precious! Her little face just melts my heart. Especially her little expressions- like when she doesn't want to eat and clamps her lips together and sticks out her bottom one, it's so fricken cute... or when she is looking up at you and concentrating and wrinkles up her forehead and slants her eyebrows, lol!! I love her so much! And Jason said that no matter what's gone wrong during his day, all he has to do is look at her little face and it makes him feel better! :)

I have more pictures to put up, but I don't know when I'll ever get to them, lol! I have more errands to run today around Burlington, I still need to eat lunch, and I have a lot to do around the house, plus I really should take a nap!

October 19, 2007 (Venily 6 days old)

Okay, I guess it's about time I updated this!


LABOR STORY:

So, I called Jason on Saturday the 13th and told him very calmly that I thought I was in labor, but I wasn't sure and that first time babies take like an average of 14 hours to get here so I told him not to rush home. I packed our bags and cleaned up around the house in case today was the day. I vaccuumed, did laundry, did the dishes and picked things up, lol, all while timing my contractions which were about 3-4 minutes apart. They were like menstral cramps though, nothing like the pain I see women in on most shows so I wasn't even sure I was really in labor! When Jason got home and saw the bags by the door and that I had already brought Xoey to my mom's, he was upset because he didn't realize how serious I was or he would have rushed home. I told him that we needed to go to the hospital right away because even if I wasn't in labor I was having a lot of bleeding and needed to go anyway. So.... off we went. I was timing the contractions in the car and they were 2-3 minutes apart and Jason started going faster and faster! I told him to slow down, lol, b/c I thought we'd get there and I'd be like 1 cm dilated and look like an idiot. All the while though the contractions were getting a bit stronger. I'd close my eyes through them and not talk and they'd last about 45 seconds and then I'd be fine and talking and laughing again. When we got to Labor and Delivery one of the first people we saw was Cathy! We were so happy that we came in on a day that she was working (she only works weekends) and she was really excited and we got to have her as our nurse!! I got put into a room right away and Cathy checked me and said "Wow, you are not going to believe this but you're 8 cm dilated already!" It was so crazy! I've seen enough Baby Stories and Birth Days to know that it was WAY too easy for me to already be at 8 cm. All of the other nurses couldn't believe it either. Then Cathy asked me if I wanted an epidural b/c if I didn't get it right then, it would be too late. I said yes and they gave me an I.V. (this one didn't hurt at all) and got the guy in there right away. The whole atmosphere in the room was so nice! The nurses were all talking and laughing and excited and I felt so at ease. The epidural wasn't too bad and about 20 minutes later my contractions had gotten a lot better, though I could still feel when I was having them. Cathy said that b/c I had gone so quickly the last two cm might take a while but when she checked me again a little bit later she said I was 9, almost 10cm and she broke my water by putting a heartrate monitor on the baby's head. A lot of people showed up to visit then. My mom, Rick, Lisa, Jacki, Jake & Kaitlyn, and Lauren. I started feeling uncomfortable during my contractions so Cathy checked me again and I was complete and she had me do a practice push to see if I needed my epidural turned off. I pushed and she said that the baby was coming quickly and that I was really good at pushing so she called my doctor and had me start pushing. Jacki said that she would videotape the birth for us- I was so excited but still in shock. I felt like I was in a dream b/c everything was moving so fast and nothing was as bad as I imagined it was going to be. The doctor came and after only 18 minutes of pushing (I don't know how some women push for hours, oh my gosh!), Venily was born! I didn't scream or anything I was just really focused and had my eyes closed the whole time, lol, though I did have to have a small episiotomy (which didn't hurt at the time and I was actually really thankful that it made it go faster, but it did make the next several days quite uncomfortable especially since I don't take pain medication). So, after being at the hospital for less than 2 hours, Venily was born at 4:28 p.m. and they put her on my chest as soon as she came out! I was overwhelmed with happiness and still in a dream-like state, not thinking that this could be real because it was so easy and I couldn't believe how gorgeous she was or that she had so much dark hair- I wasn't expecting that. All of the nurses kept telling me that I must have been meant to have children because of how easy it was for me! (But it runs in my family a lot of the women in my family have fast births, my dad was actually born in the car in the parking lot outside of the hospital!). Jason cut the cord- which he told me about later b/c I wasn't even paying attention- I think I had actually forgotten that he was in the room, lol, even though he never left my side the whole time. Then the nurses took her to the warming table to clean her up and weigh her and stuff while I got stitched up by my doctor. I watched the videotape right away b/c I was so interested and wanted to see what happened. It was crazy- I couldn't believe how big she was coming out, lol, but I was SOOO glad I had it taped b/c I would have completely missed it otherwise since I had my eyes closed. When the nurses were done with her, they wrapped her up and I got to hold her and then everyone else who had been waiting in the doorway and in the hallway came in and saw her.

The rest of the afternoon and night went really well. I was able to breastfeed then pretty quickly after she was born which I had been looking forward to for a while and she latched on good. Jason was so happy that everything went so well and called a bunch of people to tell them I had the baby. He was so good with her and so excited and in awe of her, I can't even believe it. He has surprised me so much and I just love him so much more than I could have imagined. He has never shown ANY interest in babies before but he loves his little girl so much! He holds her and stares at her for long periods of time and talks about how beautiful she is and everything. And a couple of times I went to the bathroom while I was at the hospital and I'd come back out to the room and he'd be holding her in his arms, walking around with her and singing made up songs to her- it was just SOOO cute!!

The first night at the hospital she slept ALL night long too! I slept for a total of 45 minutes and that was only because the nurses took her away to take her blood and stuff. Otherwise I just stared at her and I wasn't even tired in the least bit. I tried waking her up every 30 minutes to eat and I would change her diaper and play with her and talk to her and stuff, but she just kept on sleeping, lol. I definitely regretted not sleeping the next day though! I was so tired and every time I'd be close to falling asleep, some one would come to visit us. The next night then was AWFUL! I was REALLY tired and Venily wouldn't eat any more. I could tell she was hungry, but she hadn't gotten the swing of breastfeeding yet. She stayed awake all night and cried a lot. :( Because I had gotten less than 2 hours of sleep in 48 hours it was really hard on me. Jason kept wanting me to call the nurse to take her to the nursery or supplement her with formula but I didn't want to seem like a failure. Eventually I spoke with a nurse though and she really helped me out. She helped me get her to eat and then took her for about 2 hours so I could sleep and things have been all uphill from there!!!


THE FIRST FEW DAYS HOME

Oh my gosh, Venily has been such a little angel ever since we have been home. She sleeps really well, has been nursing great (almost every hour the first day and now about every 2-4 hours and I usually have to wake her up to eat or she would just keep on sleeping), and hardly ever cries (only if she's cold while I'm changing her or if she needs something, though I usually figure out what she needs before she gets to the point of crying)! Jason stayed home with me for the first couple of days and I basically took care of Venily and he took care of me! The only bad thing was being sore from the episiotomy but that has almost completely gone away now- and I'm not even tired like I thought I would be. I sleep for a couple of hours every time I'm tired and that is working out really well.

We went for Venily's follow up appointment on Wednesday and she was at 7lbs which was a 6.5% weight loss so that is really good (there is only a problem if there is an over 10% decrease)- and with her eating so well, I'm sure she'll be putting on a lot of weight now. They also said she has really good coloring and isn't jaundice at all- she completely takes after her father on the skin color- I was really pale. She has another follow up appointment on October 29th and I can't wait to see how much she's changed until then.

Other than that Venily and I basically just hang out, sleep, and eat! And yesterday we went on our first family walk! If I'm feeling brave I might trying going to the store with her later today, but I'm not really sure about that yet!

Yesterday was also Venily's due date! I'm really glad I'm not still pregnant! And I'm so happy that I had such an easy pregnancy, labor and delivery, and now an easy baby! My final count for my pregnancy was a weight gain of 23 pounds and as of yesterday I've lost it all except for 4 pounds- and to be fair, I'm pretty sure my boobs weigh at least that much more now, lol! And no stretch marks- I was really worried about that for a while! Overall I could not have asked for anything better- we're been so blessed that everything has worked out just perfectly!!

Thanks again to everyone who has congratulated us, stopped by, and/or given us cards and gifts (and food!!)- we really appreciate it! I put up some of the pictures on here, but we have so many it's hard to put them all up on all the different sites that I try to keep updated, so I put all of her pictures up on photobucket. You can see them here:

http://s52.photobucket.com/albums/g30/jennifer_reyer/Venily%20Just%20Born/

October 15, 2007 (2 days old)

We're back from the hospital and everyone is doing great!! Venily is the sweetest, prettiest little baby girl you ever saw and the delivery couldn't have gone more perfect if we had planned it!! I will write the details and labor story and put up our pictures as soon as I get some time. Right now we are relaxing, catching up on sleep, and enjoying being a family! Thanks to everyone who visited us at the hospital and/or called and congratulated us! We are just so incredibly happy right now!