1 Month

(Let's just pretend there is a "1 Month" sticker on Sprout.  I was so impressed with myself that I actually took the photo on time, until I realized the sticker never made it on her shirt.  There's always next month??)

It is hard to believe that a month has gone by since Sprout made her debut (okay, she's really 6 weeks, but what do you expect with my track record & this blog??).  It's been quite the flurry of activity.  With Bean, we had a slower paced first month and didn't get out much.  This time around (and due to Bean), we get out a lot more.  Sprout is a trooper and just goes along for the ride.

I like going back and look at Bean's stats to compare the babies.  So far, I feel like the two babies are completely different.  Bean was more quiet and I would have to encourage her to eat in the beginning.  Sprout, however, loves her food and would eat every hour if I'd let her.  Luckily, once she is fed, she's happy to just hang out in her swing until she's hungry again.  I also was more hands on with Bean - constantly holding her, mapping out our day based on her eating and sleeping, etc.  Not Sprout -- she's along for the ride.  Scheduling still is based all on Bean (sorry Sprout, get used to it).

I thought going from zero to one kids was going to be harder than going from 1 to 2.  I figured since we've done it all before, it should be easy.  Right?  Wrong! It's waaaaayy harder to add in that second kid because of the first kid! Newborn up all night?  Suck it up -- you have a toddler to take care of!

So back to Sprout -- here are her 1 month stats:

- 8 pounds, 4 ozs (week 5)

- Eats every 2 - 4 hours (sadly she does the longer stretches during the day, and shorter at night)

- Tolerates Bean and her constant loving (Bean likes to hold her, kiss her, lay on her, etc)

- Shrieking cry & very vocal.  When she's sleeping, we often forget we have a second kid; but when she's awake, she doesn't let us forget!

- Spends most of her day in the swing.

- Loves to be swaddled to fall asleep.
- Super chill in her baby bathtub.  With Bean, she got a bath almost every day.  Sprout is lucky to hit the week mark.  Sorry little girl. However, when she does get a bath, big sister Bean loves helping out!

- For the first 3 weeks, she slept in a bassinet in our room.  I'd feed her and change her all in our room, too.  On week 3, I would take her to her room to feed and change her, but would still put her to sleep in our room. Finally at week 4, she made the move to sleeping in her room full time at night (okay, in the morning around 6, she ends up back in our room until I get up with Bean around 8 -- if I'm lucky!

("I kiss him" -- something I hear multiple times a day.  Bean LOVES to be involved with baby sister.  She's always catching on to pronouns; however, she always uses the wrong one.  Daddy is a her and Bean is a him, ha!)

(Sprout and her crazy faces.  So far, I don't think she looks much like Bean.  I do think she has a lot of Steve in her.  Stay tuned for a "Who does Sprout look like" post.)

(Sprout is not in love with her paci, but will suck on one a little bit to fall asleep.  Bean used "gumdrop" pacifiers, but Sprout seems to be liking the soothies/wubbanubs!

 (Sprout loves having in her hands up by her face.  She's also starting to show some interest in her thumb, if only she can figure out how to get it in her mouth!)

(Matching sisters!)

Heins 57, or life as 4

A month has flown by since Sprout has joined our family.  I recognize I'm way far behind on the blog (although, I looked back and with Bean I did a 2 week post, and a 1 month post.  So going by that history, I'm just 1 post behind!).  The easiest way to catch up is to do a hodge podge post.  So here's random photos and commentary on the past month:

We took Bean home on Thursday, and thankfully, my mom stuck around for a couple extra days to help us adjust.  She was a big help in keeping Bean busy and letting Steve & I catch up on sleep!  Our first full day at home marked my birthday, but really it was just another day. Steve & Bean surprised me with roses! We didn't do any big celebration on Friday; but my dad, sister Sara, sister Amber + fam all came on Saturday to meet Bean.

(Sara approved of Sprout's name and loved cuddling her even more.)

(Sprout getting passed down the line.  Big Sister Bean got first dibs!)

(With family visiting, it got chaotic inside.  Luckily, the weather was just right for some sprinkler fun with cousins outside!)

(Sprinkler fun was followed by chalk bodies.  You can't tell in the photo, but Bean all those chalk bodies were hers and they were named "again" & "again-again" & "again-again-again".  Haha)

(Ahm & Abo and all their granddaughters who were in present.)

Everyone left except my parents on Saturday night.  They stayed so that they could go to church with us to have Sprout dedicated on Father's day! Yes, we were those crazy parents who took their 5 day old to church.  

(We'll blame the sleep deprivation on Steve's closed eyes.  Look how tiny Sprout is!  Even though having it done on Father's day didn't matter to Steve, I pushed to have her dedicated on that day so that she'd be with same group of babies that were all born around the same time.)

(Sprout on her dedication day -- No, she didn't wear the ears at church, but I did think about it!)

My mom went back home with my dad, leaving Steve & I alone with the kids for the next week.  Things went fairly well.  Steve had a long list of projects he wanted to accomplish.  He quickly learned that wasn't going to happen and pretty much buddied up to Bean for the week.)

(Cuddles in bed! Bean loved us all laying together.  Even now, she'll get on our bed and tell Steve and I to lay down with her. If we are lucky, we can catch a few extra minutes of closed eyes while Bean thinks we are playing.)

My mom came back on the following Sunday and brought back reinforcements -- Gabbie! I don't remember why the weekend was rough, but I do remember my mom walking in and my breaking down crying. Haha, oh those crazy hormones.  Bean wasn't getting enough attention from us, and Gabbie was just what she needed.)

(Bean wanted to be with Gabbie constantly.)

(Frick & Frack wearing their "matching jammies".)

(My mom & I took the three girls to the zoo one day while they were here -- okay, really, I needed to go and get my wedding ring checked for its warranty.  It just so happens that the jewelry store and the zoo are 5 min apart.  Win-win!)

(Pony Ride! Bean loved it!)

(Question - Can you push a stroller with a 7 year old and a 2.5 year old?  Answer - No.)

(Riding the carousel! That girl on the outside had me nervous. She was riding alone and had issues like: couldn't get on the horse & when she did, her shoes fell off.  Sheesh.)

(Feeding the giraffe some lettuce -- Bean loved it this time!  Maybe it was the fact that we were at eye level with the giraffe and it's long tongue couldn't get through the fence.)

(Brushing the goats!  Bean wasn't traumatized by the poop this time, either.  She's growing up!)

(All 3 napped on the way home!)

I feared a huge fall out when Ahm & Gabbie had to leave.  But Bean was actually okay with their departure.  She talks about Gabbie constantly and just says, "play Gabbie in a few weeks".  I guess that means I have to do some cousin planning for Bean! Steve went back to work while my mom was still here.  His work is pretty crazy this month and he had to work a Saturday - leaving me at home for the first time with 2 kids for an extended amount of time.  It was a success! 

(Sprout got a little too comfortable in daddy's arms -- if you know what I mean!)

(I'm learning that bribery is great motivation.  A sucker and new play-doh toy eased the pain of Gabbie's departure.)

(We went to our friends' house for 4th of July.  We let Bean do her first sparkler, and she got a minor burn from trying to touch it after it burnt. She still had fun, though!)

(A shockingly good photo!)

This past weekend, Steve's family was able to come visit and meet Sprout!  I sucked at taking photos and came out with only 2 from the whole weekend.  His parents arrived on Friday and stayed until Monday night - giving me some extra help while Steve was at work! Scott, Ashley, & Tyson came up for Friday night & Saturday and gave Bean some extra attention and a new toy -- a sprinkler!

Our weekend was filled with lots of yummy food on the grill thanks to Doug & getting to sleep in thanks to Trisha! She would wake up with Bean and allow us to catch some extra sleep in the morning.  It may not seem like much, but it was a huge help for us!  They also helped Steve get some maintenance items checked off his list -- washing/waxing our car and scraping/painting some trim on the back of the house.

(While the others worked, I played with Bean outside with her new "Frozen" sprinkler from Scott & Ashley! She is timid to do it on her own, but loved being held as I ran around it, getting us both wet.)

(Bean wanted to be outside and paint, too.  So I gave her a cup of water & a brush.  She loved it.)

Welcome Sprout!

Induction was set for Tuesday June 14th.  Since I was to be at the hospital by 5:30 am, my parents came in the night before so that they could stay and watch Bean at our house while we were in the hospital.  I was induced with Bean and knew what the day/process would look like.  This time was a different experience in that Steve and I were at it all alone.  Last time, my parents were able to go to the hospital with us and provided distractions.  We had to come up with those on our own this time.

Ironically, I woke up a little after 4 having some contractions.  I'd been having them off and on all week, but never any that would wake me up.  The word for the whole day was "surreal". It was surreal to think about the fact that I wouldn't have to worry about going into labor or when baby would be coming -- she was coming today!

I woke Steve up just after 5 am, got everything pulled together, and made the 3 minute drive to the hospital (sorry Steve that I haven't let you fulfill your dream of a mad dash of driving to the hospital with a wife in labor).  Once we were there, we went to labor and delivery, checked in, and got the show on the road.

The first hour int he hospital is just spent going through paperwork (I had pre-registered, so really it was a nurse on a computer verifying everything), prepping the room, and starting an IV.  The nurse started me on pitocin a little after 7 and marked my beginning progress at 4cm & 80% effaced.  I could feel the contractions, but they were pretty similar to what I had been experiencing.  They weren't "painful", but did get annoying.  I had already "ordered" my epidural, but told the nurse I didn't want it until after the doctor came in and broke my water.

I watched the Today show while Steve read a book and nodded off and on.  The contractions picked up a little bit (nothing I couldn't handle), but the nurse did offer to get me that epidural sooner - I declined.  Our pastor came in and prayed with us right before the doctor came in.  Once the pastor left, it was time to get things really going.  My water was broken just before 9am and the anesthesiologist immediately followed with the epidural.  I did have a couple of strong contractions during that time.  Steve told me later he had concern for me and could tell I wasn't "just ok".  I felt the epidural go in and could tell it was more on the right side than the left.  That wasn't an issue. . . until later.

(Feeling much better after the epidural!)

(Steve on his "perch".  He would alternate between this window bench, a recliner, and my side -- he'd help in the changing positions and feeding me ice.)

The epidural kicked in and I was feeling much more comfortable.  Well, contractions were more comfortable, but laying in the bed was not so much comfortable.  I just continued to watch tv and doze off and on all morning.  The nurse did a good job of coming in every 45-60 min or so and helping me to change positions.  Each time she would have me change positions, she'd check me.  At the first check at 10:30, I was only at a 5.  My heart kind of sank at that number.  I had Bean by 1:20 and had a goal of a noon baby.  I wanted a baby by lunch time because I was STARVING.  I don't remember that with Bean.  The ice chips this time around weren't cutting it.

(Watching TV & playing on my phone -- I had plans of trying to blog, but with the IV in my left hand, I couldn't use it.)

At the 11:30 check, I was at 7cm.  Woohoo! Now that's better.  But again, my dream of a noon baby was dashed. I went back to whining about how hungry I was.  I got checked at noon and was still at 7, nurse commented on how she was going to come in more often to change the positions so that the baby would come down.  I turned on SVU to pass the next hour.  With Bean's labor, I didn't feel a single thing once I had the epidural.  This time around, if I was laying on my left side, I could feel more (remember that whole "the epidural was stronger on the right side comment"??) of the contractions.  They weren't painful, but present. My contractions also started to become a little inconsistent.  The nurse upped the pitocin to try to get the contractions to be closer together and consistent again.

At 12:55, I had been laying on my right side (and not feeling much).  The nurse came in and checked and said I was at 9! (I started to hope for a baby by 2pm!) She had me flip over to my left side and said she'd start to ready some things and come back shortly to check progress. By 1pm, I was starting to really feel uncomfortable.  I could feel immense pressure with the contractions and was starting to lose it.  I hit my button for an epidural boost and asked Steve if I was a crazy person to call the nurse right back in.  He said to do whatever I needed (however, he didn't confirm that I wasn't being crazy). I tried to tough it through another contraction, but hit the nurse call button.  She came right into the room as I did it.  There was a nurse on the intercom asking what was needed and my nurse responded with, "just hold on a second."  She then checked me and informed the other nurse that, "We need the doctor and delivery team NOW!" (Okay, she didn't yell "now", but her face kind of enforced that word.

It was a flurry of activity for the next few minutes.  I had immense pressure and the urge to push, but the nurse just told me to wait for the doctor.  She got the bed ready and put the stirrups up - with the disclaimer of, "don't put your legs up until the doctor is in here!" The doctor came into the room and the nurse told him - "baby is right here!"

I put my legs up and was told that the next time I felt pressure to go ahead and push.  A contraction started and they both looked at me and said, "now might be a good time to try." I felt the pressure and pushed!  I could feel the relief in my stomach as the baby came out.  Doctor had me stop so he could clean out her mouth (she was immediately crying!).  He was going to have me push again to get the body out, but her hand came out and body just slid out after it all on its own.  Steve and I were sort of in shock since it just took 1 push (as opposed to the 45 min with Bean!).

Sprout came into this world at 1:15 pm (that's right, only 20 min from that 9 cm check to baby being born!) weighing a small 6 pounds, 7 ounces & a long 20"! She was immediately laid on my chest, which (not gonna lie) grossed me out a little.  With Bean, they put her on my gown, but then took her and weighed/cleaned her up and then brought her back to me to do skin-to-skin.  Not this time.  She was placed right on my skin under my gown right upon coming out.  I got slimed on my face and that was about enough for me. Haha!  Doctor knew not to ask Steve to cut the umbilical chord, so I did it (I did it with Bean, too!).

(Sprout)

(Daddy getting to hold Sprout for the first time.)

We got to stay in the delivery room for a little over an hour.  I was stitched up, the room was cleaned up, and it was just Steve, Me, and Sprout. Can I just say SURREAL, again?!  A nurse came in a little bit later to get Sprout's vitals and stats.  At that point, we had her sent to the nursery to get cleaned up and I was transferred to my recovery room.  All in all, the day went just about the same as it did with Bean's, only with a little more excitement in the end.

My parents brought Bean up to meet her new baby sister later in the afternoon.  Other visitors included our pastor and his wife and my friend Sara (and another pastor and his wife along with a church visitor the next day).  Days in the hospital seemed to run all together.  The hospital experience was much more streamlined this time around.  Sprout and I would share the same nurse, meaning 1 nurse would come in and check both of our vitals at the same time.  That eliminated a lot of in & out of staff!  Sprout slept most of the first day, and I would have to work to nurse her every 4 hours.  At night, she cried and needed much more attention.  During the day, Steve would head back to our house for a few hours and my mom would come and stay with me.

(First picture as a family of 4!  Bean LOVES baby sister -- although she still is convinced the baby's name is "Noah" after a baby from church.)

(This is how we usually find Bean.  In Sprout's face giving her kisses.  She LOVES her baby sister.)

(Sprout likes to keep her hands up to her face, whether sleeping or eating or chilling around.  Although right now, she mostly just eats and sleeps.)

(Check out that hair! They say that heartburn is an indication of a baby having hair.  It's been true for both of my kiddos so far! Her profile also shows off that she definitely has Steve's nose!)

(Sprout has ginormous feet -- and I say that completely out of love. She also has very long fingers.  I'm guessing she's going to get her daddy's height!)

(More sister cuddles.  Meeting Sprout has made Bean age waaaaayyy to fast.  Slow down girls!)

(It's hard to tell in the photo, but the bottom of the board in our room had a list of things that needed done before we could leave the hospital.  When you got that item checked off (i.e. "blood work"), you put a duck magnet above the item.  Once your "ducks were in a row" you got to leave.  We were discharged on Thursday and was home shortly after lunch.  My mom stayed a few extra days to help us acclimate to being home with TWO kids.)

Homestretch - LAST pregnancy update!

Last few weeks of my pregnancy were long, uncomfortable, and stressful (at times!).  I discovered that my doctor had a planned vacation the week before my due date.  I was pretty stressed over going into labor while he was gone, and of course I had a lot more time able contractions and a few nights of fearing a hospital run in the night.  We had a plan of what to do with Bean if something did happen in the night, but it still made me stressed at times.  I'm a planner and operate best when I know what to expect.  So once doctor offered me an induction date, I took it!  We knew by the end of June 14th, we'd be holding Sprout!

Actually having a date made it more nerve wrecking (so much to get done!) and less stressful (I can actually make plans and be prepared).  But then there's the whole, I still could go at any minute.  I focused on the date on the calendar and tried to soak up as much time with Steve and Bean as our last week as a family of 3.  Bean could tell change was around the corner and definitely craved (and appreciated) the extra attention.

My last two weeks of pregnancy stats:

*Baby dropped, meaning my pelvis hurts more and I have a nice waddle.  Sleeping is a bigger issue due to the pelvis pain since I can only sleep on my sides. But with baby dropping, I don't get up to pee as much. So you win some, you lose some.

*Lots of tightenings/contractions happening. They usually occur at night, but have woken up with some in the morning a couple days.  

*Bending over is extremely difficult. Unfortunately, Bean requires me to bend over a lot. . . 

*Progress kind of stalled around 2.5 - 3cm

*Pretty emotional about another kid - more so about the adjustment Bean will be going through

*Eating LOTS of chocolate

*Pretty set on a 1st name, waffling on the middle name

*I finished up final projects for baby and random things that have been piling up around the house.

(This was the week that contractions/tightenings became pretty consistent AND the week that doctor was on vacation -- eeks!)

I tried to soak up lots of time with Bean -- story time at the library, intentional play time with her (which was mostly with a Mickey/Minnie doll and I got tired of acting out the same scenario all the time), lots of cuddles and snuggles in her bed and on the couch, and special treats (i.e. ice cream, suckers, and of course - chocolate!).

(We went on a donut date after storytime at the library.  Even though it was lunch time by the time we got out of the library and to the donut shop, but the sugar high was totally worth it.)

(My grandma has been working on making up some receiving blankets for Sprout and made a couple special blankets for Bean.  She's been using them to practice holding and playing baby with them.  And by playing baby, I mean she lays on my lap, puts the blanket over her, cries for milk, and makes me feed milk to her in her sippy cup like you would a baby with a bottle.)

(LAST pregnancy photo just a few days before induction day! Boy am I thankful it isn't a "41" on that board like I had with Bean!)

A Special Visit (with an unplanned dilemma)!

Bean had some special visitors come during Memorial Weekend -- Mommom & Poppop! She got some extra attention and got to bond deeper with her grandparents.  She's ready for them to come back after baby sister comes!

While Steve's parents were here, we packed a lot in -- 2 trips to our favorite ice cream spot (which makes the preggo happy!), lawn work, grilled out each day, a trip to a new nature park, Trisha headed up all meal preps giving me a break, and even Scott and Ashley came up to spend some time with us! 

(I think someone has her Poppop wrapped around her little finger.  Who can resist Bean's sweet little, "play with me??" request?!)

(Even though Mommom was the official story/bedtime manager, Bean was able to get Poppop to read her one story before nap.)

(No trip would be complete without some art time with Mommom!)

(I have no idea where this game came from, but Bean found my sewing measuring tape.  She would have 2 people hold it across the room.  We were then told to make the tape bounce while she jumped next to it saying, "Jump on the ceiling, doo doo doo!"  She was entertained this way for HOURS. Seriously HOURS. She still sings her little chant and jumps around the house, but the tape measure is no longer needed.)

(Sporting her glasses and of course a stick on our little nature walk at the new park!)

We had a great weekend and are thankful that Steve's parents are willing and able to make the trek out our way to spend time with us.  We also appreciated their flexibility when our fridge went totally caput! We've had lots of issues with it, but usually a simple defrost and resetting the fridge fixes it.  Not this time.  We could get the freezer compartment back up and running, but the fridge portion temp would never fall below "danger zone".  So while they were here, they watched Bean and let us run to a store and fridge shop.  The new fridge is ordered, but won't get here until AFTER sprout arrives - yikes! In a cool twist of fate, friends of my parents were visiting them in IN and were able/willing to detour on their trip back home to drop off my college fridge! So now we are using a tiny fridge, but making it work!

(Never a good sign. I am super thankful that we have a big freezer in our basement! It became a lifesaver!)

(The fridge was definitely the most stressful part of the weekend for me.  After working in a dining court in college, I have food safety drilled into me.  Seeing the thermometer in the danger zone everytime I opened the fridge sent me into a panic.  We did purge a bunch of food and have had to limit what's in our small fridge now.)

(My college fridge, haha.  It definitely makes me feel like we live in Europe -- tiny fridge to only store essentials and multiple trips to the store for the week.  It sounds worse than it is.  It's kind of nice to have a reason to get out of the house a few times a week and is helping to pass time before Sprout comes.  But boy will I be happy when that new fridge comes!)