DISCLAIMER: This is a whole blog post about feeding my daughter. If this will weird/gross/freak you out or maybe just bore you to tears, just skip right over it and wait for another post in the near future. :)
Just call me Leaks Mcgee. I can't seem to go anywhere without soaking through whatever I am wearing. I now know why moms hibernate in their homes those first few weeks.
The first episode happened when we took her in for her first check up at the pediatrician's office. They had her undressed on the scale and bed for assessing and she was not happy about it. Her cries started my milk up but unbeknownced to me. I had fed her before we came and was wearing nursing pads and a nursing tank under my shirt so I should be good to go right? After we found out she gained a pound and 3 oz in 8 days and I was told I could stop waking her up to feed every 3 hours, after we talked at length about immunizations, after we were told her goopy eyes were normal and the tear ducts would clear up and after we filled out a bunch of paperwork, I stopped and realized I felt damp. Looking down I could already see the milk leaking through my shirt. By this point we were checking out at the counter so I hurried through the last of the signatures, gave Matt the "let's go NOW" eyes and bolted to the car. There I looked further and saw I had soaked my whole nursing tank and conveniently had nothing to change into. It was a long, damp car ride home.
The second public display of this happened last Friday when I went to a co-worker's bridal shower on the plaza. I was excited to get out of the house, drive finally, catch up with my girlfriends and let Matt have some daddy daughter time after a long work week. I once again, fed her right before I left, put on 3 different types on nursing pads (silicone, cloth and disposable), a nursing tank and then my dress. I was feeling somewhat human and proud that I pulled myself together. I jammed to tunes driving there and had a feeling of being just Rachael again and not Mom-Rachael. We had a great time getting drinks and catching up for an hour or so then we decided to head to the place we were going to eat dinner at. As soon as I got up from the table I had a bad feeling. I went to the restroom of the second restaurant as soon as we arrived and confirmed that yes I again had soaked through everything. My nursing tank was so wet I could almost wring it out. Fail. I was so discouraged and embarrassed. I had to go back out there and tell the girls I had to leave early. I was only gone for about 2 hours at this point, I thought for sure I had a safe 3 hrs to kill before I had to start worrying. By the time I got to the car in the parking garage I had baseball sized leak spots on my cute dress. I called Matt on my way home and told him to get my pumping stuff together because I wasn't going to make it until she was ready to eat again.
Along with making too much milk and leaking everywhere, I have also struggled with her not fully emptying me with each feed because there is so much. She needs about 2-2.5 oz every 3-4 hours, my body is making 8-9 oz. So I have had blocked ducts that have added to the swollen painfulness. It is such a confusing battle to fight, if I pump I feel relief and can fully empty all the milk out...but my body then in turn produces more which is not what I am wanting. If you are engorged you are supposed to use cold packs, if you have a clogged duct you use warm packs, what if you have both problems? Who knew there was so much that is not intuitive? We broke down and gave her a bottle this past weekend because she had not aroused for almost 5 hours and I was in a lot of pain by that point. So I pumped off my 8 oz and she woke up hungry 30 min or so later. I knew she wouldn't get much so we decided to bottle feed her some of what I had pumped. She did great and took 75ml before falling asleep. Then she woke the rest of the night and breastfed like a champ. I was so nervous about her liking one more than the other or flat out refusing one option, so it was a relief to see she did fine going from one to another. I felt like I had the advice of so many lactation ladies running through my head and making me nervous to screw anything up. Giving her a bottle at 2 weeks was def. not recommended by them, but screw it that's what we did.
And so has been my life this last week. I feel like every mom who chooses to breastfeed their child struggles with some aspect of it all early on. Whether you make too much milk, not enough milk, you baby has trouble latching, you are sore, they just want to snack and not eat full meals ...every mom has their trial. From all my friends who have nursed though, they all say it gets better. Once your body and baby are in sync it really is easy and natural but until you get to that stage it can def. feel discouraging at times. A lot of people have asked me is there anything I was not prepared for with this new mom role and this is my answer. Until you breastfeed yourself, I feel like you can never be prepared. From work experiences I know how to work a breast pump, teach moms tricks to get their kids to latch, make sure they have a good latch and advise them in ways to keep milk supply up. I have yet to encounter a mom who needed help decreasing her supply or dealing with overproduction, so naturally that would be the struggle God gives to me :) It is not the worst struggle to have so I will take it and be thankful I am making milk, but I am not going to say it's been a walk in the park. Here's to less damp days in our near future!
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Coming Home
We were able to leave the hospital Tue around noon. Matt picked out a going home dress for Rowan to wear but she was drowning in it. Off it came and back into the onesie we went. I made her the onesie and headband she came home in so we called that sentimental enough. We had our nurse take a family picture of us before we headed out. Then we got Rowan all fitted in her carseat (which she hated), packed all our stuff up and got me in a wheelchair. Matt looked so proud carrying her through the halls of the hospital. Once we got moving in the car she settled in and fell asleep. She looked so small in her carseat and the straps were on the smallest setting.
We arrived home to find that my family and Gina had beat us there.
After we got her out of her carseat, we took her on to see her room and try out her bed.
Then we cut off yor hospital bands and you were free!
My mom and Shelby had run to the store and stocked us up on food while Alex and Gina decorated for her coming home. Everyone was so thoughtful and helpful that day it was a smooth transition home. We did her newborn shots and Gina left to head back to Wichita. My dad came over after work and they all took turns passing her around while Matt and I took a nap. We all woke up and ate dinner together and my family left. It was just us, our new family of three in our home, so surreal but so great!
Rowan's Newborn Pictures
Taken by the lovely Gina Dreher the day we got home from the hospital. To see all of them follow this link http://ginadreherphotography.smugmug.com/Babies/Newborn-Rowan/24103335_7nNCt2#!i=1958276568&k=hvtp9sQ
She did such a great job with them, Matt and I were stoked. Even though we look really tired and not the best, they capture the memories of those first few tired days. I love that she took pictures of all her little features and I was happy we got some with her big eyes open. Thank you friend for doing such a wonderful job! We love you!
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Perspective
I realized I never posted our last picture we took. Here she is at 40 weeks on the inside and a few days later on the outside.
First week
This first week home has been so great in many ways and a little challenging in a few. I am going to try and highlight some memories I don't want to forget, some things I am in awe of about Ro and give some advice to my former self.
First the memories...
-Your favorite spot this week has been propped up on your daddy's legs with him holding your hands and arms to your chest. You calm instantly and just look at him with those big eyes. This is the best spot to cure your crazy whole-body-shaking hiccups.
-Dad wanted to "air you out" down there to make sure you weren't getting a diaper rash too soon. So we piled a bath towel up and laid one of your swaddle blankets on top of it. We set you free and not 5 min later you started to pee. 5 seconds later we realized your swaddle blanket was not absorbent and the pee was pooling all around you. Then you started moving and getting uncomfortable and the pee headed for the edge of the blanket. Matt tried to pick up the edge it was headed to only for it to slosh back the other way and onto our couch. We abandoned the mission to contain the pee and just picked up you and all the towels and headed for the sink. We dripped it on me, the carpet, the hardwood floor and the couch...smooth moves mom and dad. And then we had to bathe you.
-We were told in these first 2 weeks or so to feed you whenever you wanted so my milk supply would match your needs and you could regain weight lost post discharge from the hospital. Your feeding schedule for the first week has been either cluster feedings, where you wake up every hour for 3 or 4 hours wanting to eat for about 10 min, or every 3 hour feedings that we sometimes have to wake you up for because you would sleep right through them. Once you are awake though you can eat for 30 min. Every now and then you will throw in some every 2 hour feeds too. I love when you want to feed every 3 hours at night because we can get some good sleep between those. A lot of people have asked if we are crazy tired and overall I would have to say no. There has been a night or 2 that have been really rough if you want to cluster feed from 1am to 4am but overall I can get 6 hours of sleep or so broken up. That was really all I was getting while I was pregnant anyway. And this sleep is the restful kind, on my belly, no urge to pee, no leg cramps, no repositioning....I am out. I have napped a few times in the afternoon while family or Matt has watched her and that has also helped. I think the sleep has been harder for Matt, who was used to getting 8-9 hours of good sleep and not ever being up in the middle of the night. My night shift instincts have helped me stay awake once I do get up with her to feed. He on the other hand could fall asleep 2 min after waking up. Don't get me wrong, we both are tired, but it hasn't been incredibly awful yet. Ask me in after another week of this though and I might be singing a different tune.
-I don't know how many times your dad has said something to the effect of -Oh wow, oh my, oh geez, she's just so beautiful, she is so pretty, I love her so much... He is totally in awe of you and so smitten. It has been so neat to see him step into being a dad. He is a natural. It makes me love him more watching you two together. The only time I got teary this week was watching him with you, it is just so precious. I dreamed about having kids with your dad since I met him ten years ago and it is everything I anticipated it would be. He is just wonderful.
-Best story coming out of the first week. I was really sore and hurting a few days out and needing to soak in the tub. I passed her off to Matt so I could start the water. Passing her off woke her up and she decided she was starving! I told Matt to keep her at bay at least for 15 min because I was really hurting. This was also around the time my milk started coming in. So I climbed in the tub and not 30 sec later I started to leak into the tub at a drop per second kinda rate. I tried to ignore the water getting cloudy and just try to relax but Matt brought her into the bathroom all crying and fussing...which made the milk flow faster. I was frustrated and just told him to pass her to me and I would feed her in the tub, balancing her above the water. She latched right away and was content. A min later Matt said, uh are you peeing? I looked at him all confused and he pointed to the water behind me which was turning yellow. At that time a loud fart erupted and she pooped. Matt started freaking out and saying, "Get out of there, quick, you are going to get poop in your stitches!" So I unlatched her, she began to cry again, I climbed out of the tub with poo seeds stuck to me, threw a towel on the bathroom floor and laid a pad on it, sat down freezing, dripping milk and trying to get her to relatch. Breast milk is sticky might I add, so my arms, legs, and belly were all sticking to each other, she was sticking to me and herself as she was trying to relatch and slobbering milk all over the two of us. It was quite the site I am sure. I wanted to cry at that point but looking back it was pretty funny.
-We went on our first "date" alone to Sonic on Saturday while Grandma and Aunt Manda watched you for half an hour. Sonic's line was forever long and we waited and waited only for them to tell us their slushie machine was broken. Fail. So we went to Sheridan's instead for some semi-melted custard. Matt ended up missing you and worrying about you more than I did. I was excited to get out of the house and not feel so couped up. He was anxious to get back to you and snuggle. It was a weird thought that for the first time in 10 months or so, you weren't with us. I knew you were sleeping and in good hands though and we were only 5 min away.
Things about Ro that are awesome
-She doesn't spit up...ever...at least not yet
-She doesn't wake up crying to be feed. Instead she wakes up and just makes rooting noises and some grunts until someone notices her
-She rarely cries when she is getting her diaper changed, even the cold wipes don't seem to tick her off...take that diaper wipe warmer I didn't buy!
-She will sleep on her back, she settles faster on someone's chest but what baby wouldn't? I am just happy she doesn't have an aversion to back to sleep.
-Her eyelashes are long, quite opposite of mine, and I love them
-She doesn't fit in any clothes besides onsies, we tried all her sweet newborn dresses, skirts and outfits but she drowns in them. Yay for hopefully getting use out of everything in her closet and not skipping too quick to bigger sizes.
-She has been eating, peeing and pooping like a champ which makes me feel good to know she is staying hydrated and hopefully growing well.
-You don't hate bathes in your sling. It sits in the tub and keeps you mostly above water but warm enough for you not to get frustrated...until we wash your hair :)
-She is ours...still hard to believe, still such a blessing
Advice to Pre-Mommy Rachael
-Buy more swaddle pods...you will worry about safe sleep more than you think you will and not want to swaddle Rowan for fear of it coming undone and suffocating her in the middle of the night. Swaddle pods also keep her arms contained for nighttime feedings so she can't fight the boob. They also zipper both ways (top to bottom and bottom to top) to allow you to change her pants while still keeping her upper half swaddled in so she stays mostly asleep. They are wonderful and will be the only "must have item" for your first week home.
-Have more towels on hand as your milk comes in. You will soak through a hand towel in one feeding from it dripping out the side she is not eating. It will be enough to feed a small country so get ready. I finally got coordinated to hold a bottle under one side and have her eat on the other, a got 45 ml in the bottle just from dripping. And that was a few days after my milk came in and was starting to calm down.
-Clean out your tub before baby arrives, you will soak in it often and it will feel like heaven.
-Pants for your baby are overrated, don't worry about buying them at first, onsies work just fine and are easier to change a diaper in quickly.
-Take people up on their offer to watch the baby so you can nap between feeds. It will feel a little rude but is totally worth it.
-No you do not have a UTI, that is just burning from your incision. Get ready for your stitches to hurt worse as the swelling goes away and they become more exposed. The peri bottle they give you at the hospital will be of much help to keep the stinging at bay. It goes away in a week so start your countdown if you find yourself getting pee shy from the pain.
-You will love her more than you ever thought. You will feel this crazy sense of protective parenting set in. I don't know if I could live with myself if something were to happen to her.
-Don't bother cleaning your sheets before the next baby, you soak through them with your crazy night sweats anyway. Your raging hormones leaving you having fits of menopausal-like hot flashes. It adds to your sexy look you already have going with your huge diaper pad, mesh undies, creams galore, leaking boobs, flabby tummy and now.....sweaty hair stuck to your forehead and neck. Just try to contain yourself Matt!
-Carry an extra shirt in the diaper bag for you! One trip of leaking through your nursing pads, nursing tank and shirt while trying to use your long hair and purse to cover the disaster up will be all it takes for you to kick yourself for not seeing that one coming.
And those are my thoughts from the first week of being a mom. It has been quite the experience so far but she has made it all worth it. :)
First the memories...
-Your favorite spot this week has been propped up on your daddy's legs with him holding your hands and arms to your chest. You calm instantly and just look at him with those big eyes. This is the best spot to cure your crazy whole-body-shaking hiccups.
-Dad wanted to "air you out" down there to make sure you weren't getting a diaper rash too soon. So we piled a bath towel up and laid one of your swaddle blankets on top of it. We set you free and not 5 min later you started to pee. 5 seconds later we realized your swaddle blanket was not absorbent and the pee was pooling all around you. Then you started moving and getting uncomfortable and the pee headed for the edge of the blanket. Matt tried to pick up the edge it was headed to only for it to slosh back the other way and onto our couch. We abandoned the mission to contain the pee and just picked up you and all the towels and headed for the sink. We dripped it on me, the carpet, the hardwood floor and the couch...smooth moves mom and dad. And then we had to bathe you.
-We were told in these first 2 weeks or so to feed you whenever you wanted so my milk supply would match your needs and you could regain weight lost post discharge from the hospital. Your feeding schedule for the first week has been either cluster feedings, where you wake up every hour for 3 or 4 hours wanting to eat for about 10 min, or every 3 hour feedings that we sometimes have to wake you up for because you would sleep right through them. Once you are awake though you can eat for 30 min. Every now and then you will throw in some every 2 hour feeds too. I love when you want to feed every 3 hours at night because we can get some good sleep between those. A lot of people have asked if we are crazy tired and overall I would have to say no. There has been a night or 2 that have been really rough if you want to cluster feed from 1am to 4am but overall I can get 6 hours of sleep or so broken up. That was really all I was getting while I was pregnant anyway. And this sleep is the restful kind, on my belly, no urge to pee, no leg cramps, no repositioning....I am out. I have napped a few times in the afternoon while family or Matt has watched her and that has also helped. I think the sleep has been harder for Matt, who was used to getting 8-9 hours of good sleep and not ever being up in the middle of the night. My night shift instincts have helped me stay awake once I do get up with her to feed. He on the other hand could fall asleep 2 min after waking up. Don't get me wrong, we both are tired, but it hasn't been incredibly awful yet. Ask me in after another week of this though and I might be singing a different tune.
-I don't know how many times your dad has said something to the effect of -Oh wow, oh my, oh geez, she's just so beautiful, she is so pretty, I love her so much... He is totally in awe of you and so smitten. It has been so neat to see him step into being a dad. He is a natural. It makes me love him more watching you two together. The only time I got teary this week was watching him with you, it is just so precious. I dreamed about having kids with your dad since I met him ten years ago and it is everything I anticipated it would be. He is just wonderful.
-Best story coming out of the first week. I was really sore and hurting a few days out and needing to soak in the tub. I passed her off to Matt so I could start the water. Passing her off woke her up and she decided she was starving! I told Matt to keep her at bay at least for 15 min because I was really hurting. This was also around the time my milk started coming in. So I climbed in the tub and not 30 sec later I started to leak into the tub at a drop per second kinda rate. I tried to ignore the water getting cloudy and just try to relax but Matt brought her into the bathroom all crying and fussing...which made the milk flow faster. I was frustrated and just told him to pass her to me and I would feed her in the tub, balancing her above the water. She latched right away and was content. A min later Matt said, uh are you peeing? I looked at him all confused and he pointed to the water behind me which was turning yellow. At that time a loud fart erupted and she pooped. Matt started freaking out and saying, "Get out of there, quick, you are going to get poop in your stitches!" So I unlatched her, she began to cry again, I climbed out of the tub with poo seeds stuck to me, threw a towel on the bathroom floor and laid a pad on it, sat down freezing, dripping milk and trying to get her to relatch. Breast milk is sticky might I add, so my arms, legs, and belly were all sticking to each other, she was sticking to me and herself as she was trying to relatch and slobbering milk all over the two of us. It was quite the site I am sure. I wanted to cry at that point but looking back it was pretty funny.
-We went on our first "date" alone to Sonic on Saturday while Grandma and Aunt Manda watched you for half an hour. Sonic's line was forever long and we waited and waited only for them to tell us their slushie machine was broken. Fail. So we went to Sheridan's instead for some semi-melted custard. Matt ended up missing you and worrying about you more than I did. I was excited to get out of the house and not feel so couped up. He was anxious to get back to you and snuggle. It was a weird thought that for the first time in 10 months or so, you weren't with us. I knew you were sleeping and in good hands though and we were only 5 min away.
Things about Ro that are awesome
-She doesn't spit up...ever...at least not yet
-She doesn't wake up crying to be feed. Instead she wakes up and just makes rooting noises and some grunts until someone notices her
-She rarely cries when she is getting her diaper changed, even the cold wipes don't seem to tick her off...take that diaper wipe warmer I didn't buy!
-She will sleep on her back, she settles faster on someone's chest but what baby wouldn't? I am just happy she doesn't have an aversion to back to sleep.
-Her eyelashes are long, quite opposite of mine, and I love them
-She doesn't fit in any clothes besides onsies, we tried all her sweet newborn dresses, skirts and outfits but she drowns in them. Yay for hopefully getting use out of everything in her closet and not skipping too quick to bigger sizes.
-She has been eating, peeing and pooping like a champ which makes me feel good to know she is staying hydrated and hopefully growing well.
-You don't hate bathes in your sling. It sits in the tub and keeps you mostly above water but warm enough for you not to get frustrated...until we wash your hair :)
-She is ours...still hard to believe, still such a blessing
Advice to Pre-Mommy Rachael
-Buy more swaddle pods...you will worry about safe sleep more than you think you will and not want to swaddle Rowan for fear of it coming undone and suffocating her in the middle of the night. Swaddle pods also keep her arms contained for nighttime feedings so she can't fight the boob. They also zipper both ways (top to bottom and bottom to top) to allow you to change her pants while still keeping her upper half swaddled in so she stays mostly asleep. They are wonderful and will be the only "must have item" for your first week home.
-Have more towels on hand as your milk comes in. You will soak through a hand towel in one feeding from it dripping out the side she is not eating. It will be enough to feed a small country so get ready. I finally got coordinated to hold a bottle under one side and have her eat on the other, a got 45 ml in the bottle just from dripping. And that was a few days after my milk came in and was starting to calm down.
-Clean out your tub before baby arrives, you will soak in it often and it will feel like heaven.
-Pants for your baby are overrated, don't worry about buying them at first, onsies work just fine and are easier to change a diaper in quickly.
-Take people up on their offer to watch the baby so you can nap between feeds. It will feel a little rude but is totally worth it.
-No you do not have a UTI, that is just burning from your incision. Get ready for your stitches to hurt worse as the swelling goes away and they become more exposed. The peri bottle they give you at the hospital will be of much help to keep the stinging at bay. It goes away in a week so start your countdown if you find yourself getting pee shy from the pain.
-You will love her more than you ever thought. You will feel this crazy sense of protective parenting set in. I don't know if I could live with myself if something were to happen to her.
-Don't bother cleaning your sheets before the next baby, you soak through them with your crazy night sweats anyway. Your raging hormones leaving you having fits of menopausal-like hot flashes. It adds to your sexy look you already have going with your huge diaper pad, mesh undies, creams galore, leaking boobs, flabby tummy and now.....sweaty hair stuck to your forehead and neck. Just try to contain yourself Matt!
-Carry an extra shirt in the diaper bag for you! One trip of leaking through your nursing pads, nursing tank and shirt while trying to use your long hair and purse to cover the disaster up will be all it takes for you to kick yourself for not seeing that one coming.
And those are my thoughts from the first week of being a mom. It has been quite the experience so far but she has made it all worth it. :)
Monday, July 9, 2012
Rowan's Birthday...after the labor
After Rowan was born she got to hang out skin to skin with her dad and I for the first hour of life. The nurse put her on my chest with my hospital gown still on actually and Matt was the one who reminded her skin to skin was best at first and we should help me out of the gown, he really did read his daddy books! :) She was FEISTY! Moving all around, rooting, squawking and snorting. No sweet snuggly baby for that first 20 min. Then she calmed down and we tried to breastfeed. All she wanted to do was lick and gum everything. She latched a few times but wasn't interesting in sucking. I let it go and didn't push the matter, thinking she will suck when she is ready. While this bonding time was happening they were fixing me up down there. I had a first degree tear and got 2 or 3 stitches. I was told you don't feel anything down there because you are so excited your baby is here that she consumes all your attention...not so much actually. I felt all the lidocaine shots and when they didn't take, I felt all the stitching. Rachel asked if I wanted her to stop and try more lidocaine, to which I declined and said just go fast. A poke was going to be a poke either way right? I was just ready to close my legs and give that area a rest already.
Then Matthew brought our baby binder over to the bed that had our name options, time to settle this once and for all. Our two names were Cora and Rowan. We had a few middle name options for each that we still were debating. I have loved the name Cora from the start of our brainstorming. I liked the alliteration of Cora Clark. I thought it was a sweet name but still sounded strong, not too girly fru-fru. Matt found Rowan in his second round of brainstorming. As I have shared with many of you, his first round was full of many comical suggestions, his second round only had 5 names or so and they were all much better options. Rowan was one of these. At first I shot down the idea because I work with someone who's son is named Rowan. I feel like girls can get possessive over their names and no one likes to hear other kids named the same thing for fear of it becoming too popular. Matt said he was writing on the list anyway. He said the name had a red connotation to it which reminded him of her room and how we liked those shades for a girl and not pink. He also liked that we could call her Ro for short. He wasn't a huge fan of Cora initially but said he kept trying it out and it was growing on him. I decided to do the same with his name suggestions and the more I thought of Rowan the more I really liked it. We would poll each other every so often and say, "What have you been calling her today?" Over weeks of doing this we eventually dwindled it down to these two that we consistently thought of her as. Matt ended up liking Cora a lot and I ended up liking Rowan. So now we were stuck with two names we both liked equally. So I started brainstorming middle names, thinking if we found a good fit, maybe that would persuade us. I came up with 5 or so middle names for each name and the only combination I loved was Rowan McKinley. I thought it sounded good since Rowan could be a boy or girl name, McKinley made the name more feminine and girly without going overboard. Matt liked that Mt. McKinley is also the tallest mountain in the US, it made the name seem strong to him which he liked for his firstborn. I felt bad Cora didn't have an equally awesome middle name so I vowed to keep searching to make it more fair. Our top of the list for that name was Cora Reece, which was nice but I didn't love. So from that point on we decided to wait until she was born to make the call. Everyone kept saying she will for sure look like one or the other, so we banked on that. I should have known I would be just as indecisive with this as I have been with everything this pregnancy. When the time came and we were ready to make the decision, we looked at her and looked at the name list and looked back at her then looked at each other. We both shrugged and laughed and said neither name jumped out for us. Really?! Now what? She didn't "look" like a Rowan or a Cora. So I told Matt to just pick one, I couldn't take it anymore. He said well the best combo that we have consistently liked is Rowan McKinley, so let's go with that. I nodded in agreement and Rowan was named.
Then the NICU nurse came in to assess her and she got a thumbs up for being healthy. It had been over an hour now and everyone was dying to come back and meet her. My mom and Gina were the first ones through the door. They got about 10 sec of excitement in before the lactation lady followed and insisted we try breastfeeding again. So much for her meeting the family... how anticlimactic. Rowan was much more calm now and took to feeding great. We nursed awhile and then lactation left. When she was finished all the family came back. Gina caught everything on camera and I love her for it. Bring on the pictures....
Then Matthew brought our baby binder over to the bed that had our name options, time to settle this once and for all. Our two names were Cora and Rowan. We had a few middle name options for each that we still were debating. I have loved the name Cora from the start of our brainstorming. I liked the alliteration of Cora Clark. I thought it was a sweet name but still sounded strong, not too girly fru-fru. Matt found Rowan in his second round of brainstorming. As I have shared with many of you, his first round was full of many comical suggestions, his second round only had 5 names or so and they were all much better options. Rowan was one of these. At first I shot down the idea because I work with someone who's son is named Rowan. I feel like girls can get possessive over their names and no one likes to hear other kids named the same thing for fear of it becoming too popular. Matt said he was writing on the list anyway. He said the name had a red connotation to it which reminded him of her room and how we liked those shades for a girl and not pink. He also liked that we could call her Ro for short. He wasn't a huge fan of Cora initially but said he kept trying it out and it was growing on him. I decided to do the same with his name suggestions and the more I thought of Rowan the more I really liked it. We would poll each other every so often and say, "What have you been calling her today?" Over weeks of doing this we eventually dwindled it down to these two that we consistently thought of her as. Matt ended up liking Cora a lot and I ended up liking Rowan. So now we were stuck with two names we both liked equally. So I started brainstorming middle names, thinking if we found a good fit, maybe that would persuade us. I came up with 5 or so middle names for each name and the only combination I loved was Rowan McKinley. I thought it sounded good since Rowan could be a boy or girl name, McKinley made the name more feminine and girly without going overboard. Matt liked that Mt. McKinley is also the tallest mountain in the US, it made the name seem strong to him which he liked for his firstborn. I felt bad Cora didn't have an equally awesome middle name so I vowed to keep searching to make it more fair. Our top of the list for that name was Cora Reece, which was nice but I didn't love. So from that point on we decided to wait until she was born to make the call. Everyone kept saying she will for sure look like one or the other, so we banked on that. I should have known I would be just as indecisive with this as I have been with everything this pregnancy. When the time came and we were ready to make the decision, we looked at her and looked at the name list and looked back at her then looked at each other. We both shrugged and laughed and said neither name jumped out for us. Really?! Now what? She didn't "look" like a Rowan or a Cora. So I told Matt to just pick one, I couldn't take it anymore. He said well the best combo that we have consistently liked is Rowan McKinley, so let's go with that. I nodded in agreement and Rowan was named.
Then the NICU nurse came in to assess her and she got a thumbs up for being healthy. It had been over an hour now and everyone was dying to come back and meet her. My mom and Gina were the first ones through the door. They got about 10 sec of excitement in before the lactation lady followed and insisted we try breastfeeding again. So much for her meeting the family... how anticlimactic. Rowan was much more calm now and took to feeding great. We nursed awhile and then lactation left. When she was finished all the family came back. Gina caught everything on camera and I love her for it. Bring on the pictures....
Getting the text that she arrived
Matt's family arriving
Gina's first peek into the room
Mom meeting her granddaughter
The rest of my family walking in...and the lactation lady that would spoil our fun
Meeting grandpa
And Aunt Shelby
Meeting her cousin, soon to be BFF if her mom and I have any say in the matter :)
Meeting Nana, Papa and Aunt Leslie
Back to mommy and daddy
The proud daddies and their girls
Meeting Aunt Meme after moving to the mother baby side of the unit a few hours later.
With her handsome Uncle
With Rachel, our awesome midwife...who is due any day now herself. Glad we beat her to it :)
Family photo
My excited family
Aunt Beth thinking you are the cutest baby ever and so excited to meet you!
So in love
Aunt Gina finally getting in on some picture time!
Katie and BJ arrived with their boys who each brought Rowan a flower. What handsome little suitors she already has :)
Love this! Katie look at our families! Who would have thought this is what our lives would look like when we met in high school? So neat to share all this with you :)
Meeting Great grandma and grandpa Clark
Day 2 at the hospital, meeting more friends!
The Noonens
The Steensons
Carrie and Beth
Leanne! I love this picture too
The Blacks
That wraps up our hospital stay. I will save another post for going home pictures and stories!
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