The Pruett Place: September 2012

Claire will be two weeks old on Monday, which is hard to believe. In some ways it seems like she is older than that and in some ways it seems like she was just born. When you are up so much of the day and night it feels like you have doubled the time in weeks. Overall, she has been a fairly easy baby. She sleeps a lot in the day and night. Some times it takes her awhile to fall back asleep in the evening time and we have noticed her having more wake time in the evening. We want to make sure she does not get her days and nights confused. Kate did that for quite awhile and it was not fun! Claire also gets the hiccups quite a bit and she will not fall asleep if she has them. They can take awhile to finish and we feel so bad for her because they sound painful. She really does not spit up very much at this point. She is a pretty good eater as long as we can keep her awake when nursing. We are happy that she does not seem to have reflux like Carly did. She did have a little bit of jaundice just like Kate and Carly did. We will get an update on that at her two week appointment on Tuesday. Claire is my blood type which is O positive. When we look at her we see a lot of Kate in her and yet she also has her own individual look. Just like the other two girls she is starting to lose the little hair that she had, which makes me sad. Kate and Carly continue to be great big sisters and love to hold and talk to Claire. Carly seemed to be a little more emotional the first week we had Claire. It wasn't in response to Claire or about her, but she just was getting more upset about little things than usual. This past week has been better, though. It also helps that we have gotten a little more into a routine. It was also good for me to spend some one on one time with Carly when Kate was in preschool. Carly continues to do really well with the potty training with the exception of having bowel movements. She has had a couple of accidents as far as that goes and will only go in her diaper. She is very proud and excited to be wearing underwear!

As far as the delivery goes, it went pretty smooth. We went in at 7:30 am on Monday, Sept. 10 and she was born at 4:05 pm. Once Dr. Hartley broke my water (which was pretty painful) my labor went pretty fast. Due to my height it always takes a little more medicine than usual for the epidural to work. They gave me so much medicine that I started feeling pretty light headed and had to sleep for awhile. I had been thinking that it had been awhile since they had checked me and pretty close to 4:00 the nurse checked me. Right away she said it was time for me to push and to wait for Dr. Hartley. As they were preparing me I was thinking "How in the world am I going to push? I have no energy at all." Then, Dr. Hartley came in and said something that made me chuckle and the nurse said "Stop pushing, stop pushing!" I seriously was not doing a thing and I said "I am not pushing." Dr. Hartley was still trying to prepare her table and herself. She did not have everything prepared though and Claire was just coming out on her own. It required no effort on my part. Dr. Hartley then said, "You see, if you have four kids it will be even easier than this." Zack was quick to respond and say that we were done having kids. After Claire was born, Dr. Hartley had to finish getting her equipment to finish taking care of me. I had been given so much medicine that I did not get feeling back in my legs till about 1:00 am that evening. It was quite the sight to see me getting up with my spaghetti legs. I about took a nurse down at one point because I was falling and could not make myself stop. At another time we all heard a kerplunk as my leg fell from the bed and we were all like "What was that?" Only to realize that it was my leg that had fallen and I had no idea since I had absolutely no sensation in them. As we left the hospital on Wednesday, I felt a sense of sadness. I had had all three of my girls at Medical Center of Plano and I felt sad knowing that I would never again experience childbirth there. I have been so pleased with that hospital and the care that I have received and the care that I have seen Kamara receive through Ryleigh and Marabeth. I of course was ready to go home, but I also wanted to hold on to that time so that I wouldn't forget what it all felt like. We truly feel blessed. I was so thankful that Zack was able to take off 6 days of work. He took off the Friday before hand so that we could get everything ready. Our washing machine happened to break the Thursday night before having Claire. Great timing! So, we quickly picked out a new one on Friday and got it that Saturday. Thank goodness he was able to have that time. Then, he had the whole week off starting with that Monday. It went by way too fast! I also want to take this time to thank both my family and Zack's family for taking time off of work to help us out with Claire, Kate and Carly. It gave us peace knowing that Kate and Carly were in good hands. Here are some pictures from Claire's first couple of days.

The last pregnant picture taken of me in the hospital.

Kamara and me in the hospital before Claire was born .

Zack and me.

First embrace with Claire

Claire and her Daddy

Her first cry

Look at how big I am!

I love how it looks like she is looking at Zack.

I love you so much, Claire.

Aunt Kamara and Claire. I felt overwhelmed with emotion when Kamara walked in to see Claire. What a journey we had been on with babies this past year. Every time I have had a baby I cry when Kamara comes in. There is just something that I know she feels and she also knows what I am feelings. It always just comes over me.

Nana and Claire.

Papa and Claire.

Dad Dad and Claire.

Mom Mom and Claire.

What a sweet picture of them looking at Claire.

Aunt Lori and Claire.

Aunt Sheri and Claire.

Aunt Keari (Kay Kay) and Claire.

Cousin Breanne and Claire

Cousins Tate and Laci and Claire

Notice Claire's footprints above his pocket. So sweet!

Uncle Brett and Claire

Uncle Chad and Claire

Cousin Jaydan and Claire.

Claire's first bath

Look at that sweet face! See the pictures of Carly and Kate below to compare.

Here is Carly when she was a couple of days old. Carly had more of a round head and bigger eyes than Claire.

Here is Kate when she was born. Claire has those same big cheeks as Kate did and you can't really tell but their eyes are very similar in shape.

Enjoying time with Claire in the hospital.

Sweet sisters meeting Claire for the first time.

Our new family of five.

Such proud big sisters!

Getting her hearing test. She passed, yeah!

Who knew the hospital food could be so good. Look at that! It is a lobster salad.

My favorite nursery nurse, Sherrie.

Having our Celebration Dinner on our last night in the hospital.

Cousin Ellee and Uncle Michael.

Cousin Ian and Uncle Michael.

Nana and Papa

Getting on her cute outfit to go home.

Here was our room #214.

Getting wheeled to the car.

First time in carseat.

Welcome Home Claire!

Uncle Rod was a champ in that he babysat all four girls so that Zack's parents and Kamara could be up at the hospital. He also found our dog Dixie after she went temporarily missing while we were in the hospital. I guess Dixie was uneasy about us bringing home another baby. Thanks Rod! Because of that he did not get to see Claire until we were home. Here is Rod and Claire for the first time.