Neely Lane

Yes, our daughter is more than a month old! And yes, I've only posted one picture on facebook. I hope she never reads this but I am amazed how many pictures I took of Graham in the first month, and how few I have taken of her. And when I do take pictures, it's usually the two of them together.How can I not take pictures of both of them?! It's so stinking cute. Graham climbs up on the couch and pats his leg and says "bebe". I lay her on his lap, he pats her head, and then he says "done". He also tells me she needs to go "nigh-nigh" when he wants me to put her away so that he can have me all to himself. He is very gentle when he touches her head and he loves to give her kisses.

I should title another post "9 Things I've learned during pregnancy, labor, and delivery".

1. I can finally tell the difference between Braxton Hicks and real contractions. My body does not start real contractions until the doctor starts pitocin. And then I go from 0 to 10 faster than my Ford Freestyle.

2. Epidurals are good. I commend women who do it natural, and I would like to think I could birth without one. Then again, why the heck would I want to.

3. If my water does not break, I do not know I'm in labor.

4. Ask the nurse to not start IV fluids. If needed for antibiotics or pitocin, ask her to KVO the fluids (about 30 ml/hr). This prevents bloating and cankles. It took a week to deflate after Graham (I had over 3 liters) and there was zero swelling with Neely.

5. Have a small baby with a little head.

6. Do not let the doctor cut the umbilical cord too close to the stomach. Otherwise, it makes it impossible to clean and looks like a little booger in her bellybutton. I've kept both my children's umbilical cord stumps. Ask to see them next time you're here. Don't think less of me.

7. Labor with only your husband in the room, instead of all the family. This way you won't have your father standing at the fetal heart rate monitor saying, "Oh, you're starting to have a contraction...this is a big one!".

8. Send the baby to the nursery at night. You get billed for it no matter what. There is plenty of bonding time at night once you get home. My friend Kim told me this before Graham was born, but we did not heed her advice. With Neely, we took full advantage and also stole as many diapers as possible.

9. Remind your husband to eat breakfast before going to the hospital so that he does not pass out while you're getting an epidural.

I digress. This is a post about Neely. On August 25th, at 2:45 in the morning, my water broke(I actually heard it). We called our good friends, Betsy and Jeffrey, to stay with Graham. The parents were notified and we got to the hospital before 5. I had been dilated to 1-2 for a couple of weeks and there was no change. So after 2 hours of weak contractions and no dilation, the doctor wanted to start pitocin. Not without the epidural, thank you very much. The epidural was started, Eric got his blood sugar back up, and pitocin ran for less than an hour before pushing started. Within 3 to 4 contractions, Neely was born at 9:29 and weighed 6 lbs, 9 oz, and was 18 inches long. At her one week appointment, she was 6 lbs, 15 oz and 20 inches long (someone's measuring tape was off) and at 3 weeks, she was 8 lbs, 6 oz. She eats like a horse. I'm glad the weight gain was out of utero. We stayed in the hospital for just over 24 hours, and $8,000 later, we came home to an excited big brother and two sets of doting grandparents. Eric's brother, Adam, flew in, met his niece and returned back to San Antonio in less than 20 hours.Eric got to stay home for a week and a half, which was fun for Graham. Eric built Graham a dresser during his time off and was out in the garage a lot. Now that Eric has gone back to work, G points to the garage door and says "Dada" thinking he's just hanging out there.Initially, Neely was too small to fit any clothes I had for her, so we had to buy newborn sizes, along with more newborn diapers. She wore those clothes for a month, and now no longer fits into them. As for the diapers...I've already changed her outfit 4 times today since yellow poop squirts up the back or out the sides. But we're finishing this package dang it! Life as 4 is quite different and good! We haven't even gotten all 4 of us in the same picture yet. But we're figuring each other out.

BK