Two Months Old!

Here is little Miss Paisley at 2 months old. She gets stronger, chubbier and more fun every day!

• Can control her head
• Usually sleeps 4-5 hours, but has slept for a 7 hour stretch and a 9 hour stretch...hopefully this continues!
• Still fits in newborn clothes, but can also wear 0-3 months
• LOVES tubby time
• She's not sure how she feels about TUMMY time
• Has the cutest, chubbiest leg rolls
• Brad calls her bubbles because she "shoots bubbles out of her mouth and her bum"
• Loves to eat
• Enjoys walks and being outside
• Likes to suck on dad's nose

One Month Old

My sweet baby is already 1 month! It is crazy how fast the time goes. I am savoring every precious moment I have with her. She is so perfect and I love that I get to be home with her all day! I can see how some people would get bored and get a little cabin fever being at home with a newborn all day, but I absolutely love it! Being a mom is definitely the most satisfying job I have ever had.

 

She is such a good baby. She hardly ever cries-when she is hungry she doesn't cry she just grunts and grumbles and makes smacking noises and that's how you know she's ready to eat. It's so nice to wake up to those cute noises rather than a screaming baby :) She eats about every 2 hours in the day, sometimes she will go as long as 4 hours, but we try to do every 2-3. At night she will go 3.5-4.5 hours which is great! It takes us about an hour at each feeding to get her diaper changed, eat, burp and get her back to sleep. She loves bath time and going on walks. She will wiggle and squirm until she gets in the perfect position and then she can sleep like a rock. She is still in newborn clothes which I love! We switched to size 1 diapers-she can still fit in newborn but she fills her diapers so full that we switched to avoid leaks :) Her cord fell off when she was 10 days old. She likes to be swaddled if her arms are out because she sleeps with her hands above her head...just like her dad.

 

She is just the sweetest thing and we love her so much!

Paisley Jane's Birth Story

Monday August 12th: I am officially full term! 37 and 1 to be exact.  I was working a 12 hour day shift and I had been having contractions off and on all morning, but I had a doctor appointment at 9:15 so I wasn't too concerned. I went to my appointment and everything looked fine. I was 1/2 cm dilated and 25% effaced - exactly what I was at my appointment the week before. She told me my contractions were most likely just Braxton hicks. She measured my fundal height and I was measuring 35 instead of 37, also exactly what I was the week before and the week before that. So she scheduled an ultrasound for 8:30 Tuesday morning to make sure baby girl was growing well and there were no problems. I went back to work and continued having contractions all day. Around 3:00pm I started keeping track of them and timing them. They were inconsistent and ranging from 5-15 minutes apart and lasting anywhere from 15-30 seconds. Everyone at work told me not to worry and I just needed to take a bath and relax when I got home and the contractions would stop. I finished my shift and went right home and got in the bath. Around 8:30 I noticed that my contractions were 5 minutes apart and lasting about 30-45 seconds. I started to panic and decided I better call Brad, he was rock climbing at this point. He told me he was on his way home and he was going to help his friend move some stuff but that he was going to pick me up on his way. I attempted to get ready, but I was really starting to get nervous. I did not feel ready to have a baby. He picked me up and we went to his friends house. I would squeeze his hand every time I had a contraction and he noticed that they were closer than 5 minutes apart. I called my friend Brooke who works on labor and delivery and she said I was probably in early labor but people can stay there for a few days. She suggested I drink plenty of water and take a bath, when I told her I already took a bath she told me I probably needed to head home and start getting ready for the hospital. I was not prepared for that news. I started crying and telling Brad, "I'm not ready, I'm not ready." He was so good and so calm during this whole process and knew exactly what to do. It was about 10:00pm when we got home and Brad showered and started packing the few things that weren't in our hospital bag already. By this point my contractions were lasting about a minute and they were 2 minutes apart. I showered and tried to get ready but it took me 30 minutes just to get dressed since my contractions were so close. We finally headed up to the hospital and got there at 11:00pm. They checked me in on OB Emergency and told me they needed to monitor me for 20 minutes and then I could walk around if I wanted to. They checked me and I was 2 cm dilated. My contractions started getting really bad at this point, I was throwing up and moving all over trying to get comfortable. Brad was so sweet and was rubbing my back and holding the throw up bucket, he even made jokes about what I had to eat that day since he could see it in my puke. (special moments, right??) I finally told him I needed something for the pain because I literally thought I was going to die. Our sweet nurse Shaye came in and told me we needed to monitor the baby before she could give me anything. They put another monitor on me and said we just need a 20 minute strip. Well 20 minutes turned into an hour because I was moving so much from the pain that the monitor kept coming off. Brad told me I was practically passing out in between each contraction from the pain and exhaustion. He went to go get the nurse because he knew that wasn't normal. She came back in and checked me at 12:00 am and I was a loose 3. You can't get admitted to L&D until you are 4 cm or your water breaks. So we waited another hour and finally around 1:00 am on Tuesday August 13 I was admitted to L&D. I got my epidural (thank you modern medicine for that miracle) and I was so happy! My anesthesiologist did an amazing job and I barely felt a thing! At 3:00am my water broke - that is the weirdest feeling, and I'm so happy that it happened on its own because I was so excited to experience what that felt like. They told me they would just let me rest and plan to deliver around 5:00 am so I could get 2 full rounds of antibiotics since I was gbs+. The resident came in about 3:30 and said my Dr. wanted an update to see if she had time to get here. The nurse said you can check her but it's her first baby and she got an epidural so I'm sure she won't be far. Well I was dilated to a 10, my cervix was completely thinned out and baby girl was coming down! They said they would wait until I started to feel pressure and then I could start pushing. 20 minutes later I felt a TON of pressure and so they checked me again and said we needed to start now because this baby wasn't going to wait for anything. I pushed for about 4 contractions and then my Dr. showed up, I was so so happy she made it! I pushed maybe 3 more times once she got there and at 4:17 am our little miracle was here! My Dr. was awesome and she let Brad put on a sterile gown and gloves and help deliver the baby! He helped guide her out and cut the cord. :) She came out and let out a cry to get her apgar points and then she didn't cry again. She scored 9 and 9 and is absolutely perfect! It was the best experience ever and exactly how I pictured it! I am so happy that she is finally here and we can't imagine life without her! We love you baby girl!

Paisley Jane Fortuna

August 13th, 2013

4:17 am. 5 pounds 12 ounces. 19 inches long

 

 

8 months pregnant!

WOW! I can't believe that I am 32 weeks pregnant and that I only have 8 weeks left! I am definitely starting to get nervous. I have a lot done already but I still feel like there is so much to do. Her nursery is basically finished, I just need to get around to painting the rocker and making a pillow for it. I have some clothes, bath stuff, diaper genie, bottle warmer and a few other little essentials thanks to my great friends! So, I am on my way to being prepared for her arrival. I have made my hospital packing list and I plan on packing in the next few weeks...so weird! Brad and I are starting birthing classes soon, which will be so fun! I am taking maternity pics at the end of this month, I have the L&D photographer all scheduled and I have a list of "necessities" that I got from my friend who recently had a baby. I feel like I am missing a TON of stuff though, so if any of you have any tips of things I should have done before the baby comes, or things to take to the hospital, or things you found were helpful to have at home after you delivered, please, please please feel free to give me any sort of advice. It is terrifying to feel like you know so little for such a big event. But other than that, things are going great. I still feel really good and I am just trying to survive the heat. :) Only 56 days left...I can do it!

A birthday, a baby shower and a red door

A lot has been going on lately and although I don't feel super busy, I am apparently too busy to update this thing. Brad turned 25 on June 13th! He celebrated by going to work...super fun! I took pizza to his work to celebrate his big day (I love making a big deal out of birthdays) and then we went to buffalo wild wings for dinner with the family. I think he had a good birthday!

Here is the birthday boy passed out from all the fun!

He finally got a grill

Everyone at B-dubs

Happy 25th birthday Bradley Fish. I love you!

BABY SHOWER!
My bff Traci was so sweet and threw me my very first baby shower! It was so fun and decorated so cute! We had it at my house which was actually really nice and convenient because then I didn't have to load anything into the car. We had fruit pizza, watermelon, cucumber water and pasta salad. My sister Melinda was so nice to make the pasta salad! Thanks :) It turned out great and everyone was so generous! I feel so lucky to have such amazing friends who took the time to come to my shower and then totally spoil me and baby girl with gifts! Thanks to Traci, Melinda and Amber for all of your help and thanks to everyone for coming! I really have the best friends! :)

RED DOOR!
 In our kitchen we have a door that leads to the garage and we have wanted to paint it red ever since we moved in. On the 4th of July I decided I would be a good wife and paint it. Brad came up from working on the basement to take the hardware off the door...and well, one thing lead to another and we ended up with a huge project in front of us. Apparently the previous owner didn't frame the door and I guess we're lucky it hadn't fallen off yet. The door looked terrible before and it didn't lock, so it needed to be fixed - we just didn't plan on fixing it that day. But we both love the result and we're happy that we have a door that opens all the way, locks, and won't fall off :)

Pregnancy according to me

Being pregnant is the best, it really has been so great! But even with that being said there are a few "precious joys" that go along with it.

What I love about being pregnant
* Having baby girl with me all the time, everywhere I go. She is my little buddy
* Feeling baby girl move
* Watching Brad hold my tummy and talk to her
* Watching her do funny things on the ultrasound
* I have the best skin and hair right now, it's awesome!
* I always have an easy conversation starter, this is especially nice at work.
* I have the best job in the world - oh you walked on the moon?? I'm just growing a human life...no big deal.

The funny/not so great parts about being pregnant
* Everyone, and I mean everyone feels like they have the right to comment about your body. Come on people, am I the first pregnant lady you've ever seen?
* Random people ask you when you're due...excuse me, did your mother teach you nothing? Unless you see a baby crawling out of them you NEVER assume someone is pregnant.
* Hormones- I have said it before and I'll say it now, I cry over everything. Brad deserves a medal or something.
* Feeling like an albino whale, and then having someone tell you how pregnant you look that day. Thank you, I wasn't aware that my uterus is the size of a basketball.
* The techs at the Dr. office always ask me if I think I'll be able to give them a urine sample. I'm pregnant, of course I can give you a urine sample. I can pee 30 seconds before I walk into your office and if you hand me a cup and tell me to pee in it, I'll probably fill it to the top.
* Almost every birthing video I've watched the woman (and sometimes her coach) is naked. Why? Why does everyone have to be naked to deliver. Who knows, maybe its an unwritten L&D rule and I'll have to be naked too. I've already decided if I have to be naked, so does everyone else in the room ;)

I'm sure there are many more things I love and things I find funny about being pregnant, but that's all I can think of right now. :)

27 weeks and a new dresser

Wow, I can't believe I am almost 7 months pregnant! The time has flown by so fast. I have really "popped" in the last 2-3 weeks. You could hardly tell I was pregnant and now there is no question. She is about 2 pounds (crazy that she already weighs more than some of the babies in the NICU) and she is 15 inches long. She moves all the time which is so fun! I have loved being pregnant but I am definitely ready to have my body back. I miss running without feeling like I am going to pee my pants. But I have no complaints, baby girl has been pretty good to me so far. :)

 

BABY GIRL'S DRESSER

It's finally finished and it looks so great! Brad matched the stain to the color of the crib perfectly! You would think the dresser and the crib came together as a set. I am very happy with the way it turned out and I can't wait to fill it full of baby clothes! :)