The Gift of a Good Start

My Mom and Jeremy's Mom tag-teamed to give me a great start to being a Mom of three. What a huge gift the last 2 1/2 weeks have been.

Even before the Moms stepped in my good start started with a good anesthesiologist. I could tell right away that the spinal went very smoothly--despite me being extremely nervous. Surgery went fine. It is a little surprising what surgeons say while they are working.

While I was in the hospital, my parents kept Aliza and Josiah at their house. Jeremy's Mom took care of Anna and I at the hospital. She spent the night with us so that Jeremy could come home and sleep. It was a much better experience to have a private room at the hospital. Because Karen could stay with me I was able to keep Anna with me the whole time. I was much less emotional and was able to get a little sleep. The first morning I had to cry. I had kept Karen up all night with one need or another. She really was a private duty nurse for me and I was so very thankful to have her with me.

My Mom was able to take off 2 weeks from work. She either spent the day at my house or I spent the day at hers. The day included supper and cleanup. Jeremy and I got spoiled having a few minutes each evening to sit alone at the table and chat. She reassured me that I was really supposed to do nothing because, in fact, I had just had surgery. It took me a while to adjust to doing nothing.

Jeremy's Mom came back to our house for 5 days to help. She came loaded with groceries and supper ideas and some fantastic pumpkin harvest scones. Today she left me with a clean bathroom, swiffered floors and leftovers.

Now I'm on my own! For the first day I'd say we made out pretty well. Now when Anna settles in for the night I'll be asleep instantly.

Anna--2 Weeks

I'm in love with this sweet little face.

Today my driving and lifting restrictions ended. I guess I thought that meant I was magically healed. Not so much. All I did was take Anna to the doctor by myself and carry Josiah to the step for time out and my body let me know I still need to take it easy.

A Little Bit of Christmas

We made our M & M pretzel treats and decorated the tree. That's the extent of Christmas decoration for me this year!

I took the ingredients and the mess right to my Mom's house. I had great helpers and it was really fun to do. Josiah ate and ate and ate the Hershey Kisses and the M&Ms.

This was Josiah's first year of really getting in on the decorating. He wanted to put the star on top.

Josiah and Aliza hung most of the decorations by themselves. Can you tell? Jeremy spent a long time trying to get one string of lights to work. It was a puzzle that didn't get solved. Aliza took a good picture of the tree (and Daddy's elbow!) I call this our interactive Christmas tree. It can be handled and redecorated whenever the mood strikes my little ones.

The Process of Becoming Siblings

The thing I was most looking forward to after delivery was introducing Aliza and Josiah to their new sister. The night before my c-section we told Aliza and Josiah our baby's name and that Uncle Joel and (Aunt) Brandi would be at our house in the morning because Mommy had to be at the hospital "while it was still dark." Aliza burst into tears. By morning she was fine, but she didn't make things easy on me! When Jeremy called Joel to tell him Anna was born, he heard Aliza in the background saying, I know my baby sister's name, but when I open my mouth it doesn't come out! (She forgot the name.) After I got situated in my room and Anna was cleared from the nursery Jeremy brought the children to the hospital.

This is how well it went:

They were, by far, more interested in the traditional fishing pole gift from Grandad than their baby sister. I had no idea, but apparently Aliza was expecting me to give birth to her 6 month old cousin, Renee. The one who can laugh and sit up and interact a bit. She told Grandma and me that her sister is not her favorite. Renee is. We didn't react. We just realized that she was surprised by how small and "uninteresting" a baby is.

Two days later:

The night we came home from the hospital Aliza asked to hold Anna and she was very very happy. She still declared that Renee was her favorite. That story has changed now. She wants to hold Anna several times a day and gives her hugs and kisses. Aliza peeks at Anna while she sleeps and says, She is soooo Adorable.

This is the only time Josiah has wanted to hold Anna. He likes to touch her head and check her out here and there, but for the most part he is busy pretending with his tractors and tools. The other night Anna was crying at bedtime. Josiah wanted to check on her and came back to his room crying alligator tears because Anna was crying and that made him sad.

So here is the first and only picture I have of my 3 children together. Aliza holding Anna's hand and Josiah giving her a kiss.

4 year old Perspective

As of 24 hours ago Aliza had no idea that Mommy's produce milk to feed babies. Last night she saw me feeding Anna and did a double take. She kept talking and then started asking questions. So I gave her a simple explanation with proper anatomy language. Her summation, So, Mommy, you drink milk and it comes out your breast?

While we were driving to my parent's house for Thanksgiving today, Aliza was in the back seat of the van and making up a song on her perspective of babies. One line was "Babies grow in Mommy's tummy and come out very tiny." Another line was, "Babies drink milk out of Mommy's breast."

Then I was feeding Anna just before we came home. Anna's eyes were open which really mesmerized both Aliza and Josiah. Just as I was getting ready to feed Anna, Aliza goes screaming out of the room, "EVERYBODY! COME QUICK! COME QUICK! YOU ARE GOING TO MISS IT!" Breastfeeding was a spectator event that she wanted everyone to witness.

It hurts to laugh, but I couldn't help it.

Anna Elizabeth

Anna Elizabeth Heslop
8lbs 40z 20 1/2 inches
Born at 8:04am on November 22, 2010

She is beautiful. She is content. A good eater, a good sleeper. We are so thankful that she is part of our family.

Anna and I came home from the hospital today. I have so much to be thankful for. I did not get a spinal headache!!! Praise the Lord! I had no idea I could come home and actually function. My other personal little miracle is that I started having contractions at 1:30am the night before going to the hospital. C-section or not Anna would have most likely been born on Monday.

Now I must sleep. Happy Thanksgiving!

Just Some Thoughts

I've thought about blogging this week, but I haven't quite known what to say. I'm still not sure my thoughts are collected enough to write anything coherent. I'll go with the bullet-point-random-thoughts style of writing for tonight.

• I can almost count hours instead of days until delivery.
• We have to be at the hospital at 5:30am on Monday. Neither Jeremy or I was thrilled about that schedule change.
• Yesterday's mental/spiritual challenge was to be content rather than throw a pity party for myself.
• Most people have unique birth stories for each of their children. I can tell you exactly how mine will go. However, I am praying for joy in the journey despite still wishing things were different.
• Besides a healthy baby, please pray that my spinal will not result in a headache and that I will have a quick emotional bond with the baby (that goes back to my other birth stories).
  
• I am most excited about Aliza and Josiah meeting their baby sister. I can't wait to see their reaction and how they respond.
  

In other news....

• Aliza is really into cutting with scissors. She has a craft table in the kitchen where she has been cutting out the tiniest pieces of doll house furniture and paper doll clothes which she printed on the computer. This has resulted in a paper takeover of the kitchen floor.
  
• Josiah learned a new word this week: excited. He runs in circles around the house saying, I'm excited. I'm excited. I'm excited.
  
• Aliza also informed us of a new word she learned. Ominous. We asked her what "ominous" meant. She said, "something is going to happen. Thunder and lightening are ominous." She told us that she learned that on Martha Speaks. (I guess some TV makes for smart kids!)
• On that note, Netflix has saved my sanity this week. I'm afraid it will for the next several weeks....or months.

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is just days away. I really can't wrap my head around the fact that I will be home with a new baby by then. We are going to my parents house for Thanksgiving. I've reserved a bed there! I hope I feel like eating some turkey.

Jeremy will post on Facebook and I'll ask him to write a quick post for me (with a picture).