A Few of Our Favorite Things

Yes, I know I've been a terrible blogger thus far. I have a good excuse, though. My laptop is off being repaired, and it has all of the pictures of Stella's first few months on it. It should be back in a couple of weeks, so I'll continue chronicling Miss Stella's life then.

Until then, though, I wanted to write a post about some of our favorite baby products. I know a LOT of people who are pregnant, and I want to pass some of my wisdom (for lack of a better term) on to them as they're making decisions about what to buy for their babies.

The first thing that I HIGHLY recommend is Amazon Mom. You can sign up for free at Amazon, and when you subscribe to receive diapers, wipes, and other baby products on a regular basis, you get 30 percent off on them, PLUS they're delivered to your door in two days with no shipping charges. I felt really strongly that I wanted to use Pampers for Stella, but it was hard to justify the expense when other brands were significantly cheaper. Through Amazon Mom, I'm able to get Pampers for the same price as Costco diapers -- for example, a box of 180 size 1 Pampers for $28!

We have used our Boppy literally every single day since Stella was born. It's such a great nursing pillow (that's what we mainly use it for), but it's also super comfy for her to lie in or for people to use to support her when they hold her. We have the cover shown below and love it -- very soft and cuddly. (We actually have three covers, and I definitely recommend getting several.)

I always thought that my favorite clothes for Stella would come from stores like BabyGap and Old Navy -- stores that I like to shop at for myself. But our absolute favorite clothing brand -- the one that fits her best and is the most durable -- is Carters. Now, I'm definitely not a fan of everything they have. I really don't like stuff that says "ADORABLE" or "MOMMY'S GIRL" all over it or that has ugly animals all over it. But Carter's has a lot of really cute stuff that's more simple and classic -- but still looks like it should be worn by a baby. I'm especially a fan of their sleepers. Get the ones with the zippers! You do not want to be snapping nine hundred snaps during those middle-of-the-night diaper changes.

Stella's favorite pacifiers have by far been the MAM brand. I definitely think they're the cutest brand out there, so I was glad she chose them. We did buy a few different brands (Nuk, Soothie, and MAM) to have on hand so that she could choose her favorite.

We have at least 30 blankets (and believe it or not, we absolutely use them all!). Blankets are definitely one thing that you will go through a lot of -- swaddling (we use Aden+Anais swaddle blankets), covering the baby when they're in the car seat, laying the baby on the floor, etc. We have a lot of blankets that we really love and use all the time, but some of our favorites are "Crib Clouds" by Colorado Clothing. I had never heard of them before, but Stella received two (monogrammed!) from different family friends, and we love them. Stella has a pink one and a white one.

We use our Fisher Price Soothe and Glow Seahorse for every naptime and when we put Stella to bed each night. She loves to look at him, and the music lasts just long enough to help her drift off. And it's only about $15, so definitely a must-have!

It's inevitable that lots of people will want to touch your baby. And if, like me, you're obsessed with keeping your sweet baby away from as many germs as possible, you must buy these Johnson and Johnson Hand and Face Wipes. They're a gentle wipe and they kill 95 percent of germs. Well worth the price -- Target had two-packs of these on sale for $5 not too long ago.

Finally, I really hope that your baby won't get a cold for a long, long time. But if they do, saline nose mist is absolutely wonderful for clearing out their little noses and helping them breathe. I recommend Little Noses brand -- and get the MIST, not the drops. I have never had such a frustrating experience in my life as I did trying to get drops into that little nose.

I hope this is helpful. We had so many wonderful people who gave us GREAT advice about their favorite baby products before Stella was born, so I'm excited to be able to do that for others, too!

Stella's First Week - The Hospital

Since I didn't get this blog started until Stella was just over two months old, I wanted to write a couple of big posts covering her first and second months of life, just so I don't forget more than I already have. :) This post was going to cover Stella's first month, but just writing about the first few days was so long, I decided it would just cover the first week!

We took Stella home from the hospital on Tuesday, December 14. Before we left the hospital, a pediatrician examined her and told us that she was jaundiced and that we needed to keep a close eye on her because her bilirubin levels were at a 9.3. Of course, we didn't know anything about bilirubin then, so that was just gibberish to us. The pediatrician recommended that we take her in to see Stella's regular pediatrician that afternoon when we got home.

Stella all swaddled up at the hospital

Dr. Fung (Stella's pediatrician) examined her and said that she was absolutely perfect -- except for her yellow/orange skin (a side effect of the jaundice). She asked us to go to the hospital the next morning to have Stella's blood drawn so that her bilirubin levels could be checked. When they got the results, the news wasn't good -- Stella's bilirubin levels had doubled to 18 in just 24 hours. The pediatrician recommended that we check her into Children's Medical Center in Dallas to have the jaundice treated. Definitely NOT what new parents want to hear. When we arrived at Children's that afternoon, the bilirubin levels were up to 20, so she definitely was in serious condition.

They immediately put her under the bili lights (blue lights that help break down the bilirubins so that she can excrete them) and also put her on IV fluids. Seeing them put my tiny baby on an IV was one of the saddest things ever. Unfortunately, when babies are jaundiced, they get really lethargic and not at all interested in eating. That's a catch-22, though, because the only way for them to get over the jaundice is to excrete the bilirubins in their pee and poop, so the IV fluids were necessary.

Sleeping under the bili lights.

Sweet baby feet sticking out of her hospital bed.

Poor sweet baby with an IV in her arm.

We stayed at Children's for 2 1/2 really long days. I stayed with her the whole time (because I had to feed her), but there was only one place in the room for a parent to sleep, so Ben reluctantly went home to sleep and care for the dog.

They tested Stella's bilirubin levels every eight hours while we were there, and while they went down initially, they were stuck between 16 and 18 for the majority of the time we were there. It was such a frustrating and scary experience -- we just wanted to take our girl home!! Luckily, Stella just loved being under the lights, and she was perfectly comfortable in her little bed, just snoozing away.

The doctors had told us we could go home when her levels got down to 14, and on that Friday evening around 7:00, we got her latest results -- 14.3 -- and they decided that was close enough! We still had to do some follow-up, and we had to make sure to put her in sunlight a lot at home, but our little family could finally be at home together!

Ready to go home!

The rest of Stella's first week was spent getting settled in at home and getting to know our girl. She was a great sleeper from the start, sleeping four and five hours at a time at night, and she was also a voracious eater -- we couldn't keep her full! She also loved sitting in the sunlight and doing her phototherapy. We could not have asked for a sweeter or more perfect little girl!

Sweet Stella sitting in the sun at home. She had to wear these goggles to protect her eyes from the light.

Welcome to the World, Stella Kate!

The arrival of our sweet Stella Kate was a big surprise! I wasn't due until December 22, but early in the morning on Sunday, December 12, my water broke. We quickly packed up (luckily, I'd already made checklists of everything we'd need) and drove from our house in Waxahachie to Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.

I hadn't eaten dinner the night before, and I knew they wouldn't let me eat after I got to the hospital, so we stopped at Whataburger and got taquitos on the way. I only got one, which was a BIG mistake. Next time I have a baby, I'll stuff myself before we get to the hospital.

We got checked in at the hospital, and they confirmed that my water had indeed broken and that Stella Kate would make her appearance soon. Unfortunately, my labor wasn't progressing very quickly. I stayed dilated at a "one" for about four hours and was given pitocin to try to speed up labor. The pitocin worked -- the contractions were extremely painful and close together -- but didn't work well enough. By about 1:00 in the afternoon, I was crying from the pain of the contractions -- and still only dilated to a "one."

Ben and my parents had been trying to keep my mind off of labor all morning, but it wasn't working anymore. I decided that I needed to have an epidural immediately, if not sooner. While I was waiting for the epidural, I didn't think that I could do it anymore. I told Ben to "just get me a c-section!!" Right as I was at my lowest point, the door to my room opened and my best friend Luci (Stella's Aunt Luci) walked in. As soon as I went into labor, she packed up herself, her husband, and their two kids and drove to Dallas from Edmond, Oklahoma, to be with me. She couldn't have arrived at a better time!

Just after Luci's arrival, the anesthesiologist came in. He was without a doubt my favorite person in the universe at that time. I had been so afraid of getting the epidural, but it was a really easy experience and immediately began to ease my pain. I continued to labor for a couple more hours, not in pain, but still not making much progress -- I was dilated to a "three" at about 3:00 that afternoon (nearly nine hours after I'd gone into labor).

My parents, sister Kate (who drove up from Austin as soon as she heard the news), Luci, and, of course, Ben stayed with me all afternoon. Since I wasn't making much progress, they decided to turn up the pitocin even more.

Unfortunately, that caused Stella some stress, and her heart rate began to decrease every time I had a contraction. They repositioned me on the bed several times to try to reduce the stress to her, but it didn't work. At one point, there were half a dozen people frantically trying different things to make her heart rate come back to normal, and one of the doctors looked down at me and said "If it doesn't go back to normal soon, we'll have to take you in for an emergency c-section." Talk about scary!

Luckily, they were able to resolve the issue and my labor continued. By this time (about 6:00), I was dilated to a "seven," and by 8:00, the nurse told me I was ready to start pushing! I couldn't believe that my sweet girl was about to be born. Delivery was really easy compared to the rest of labor, and at 9:28 p.m. on Sunday, December 12, 2010, Stella Kate was born!