10 things I love about Gianna

There are a million things I love about Gianna but if I had to name only 10 here they are...
10. That she sings (coos) herself to sleep. Its so cute!
9. Since Daniel always sticks his tongue out at her since the day she was born...she now sticks her tongue out at him whenever she sees him. Its hilarious!
8. She is not a morning person just like her mom....she struggles to open her eyes in the morning and hates that she is so hungry that she has to wake up. I mean she tosses and turns and groans for like 20 minutes.
7. We spent $40 bucks on a mobile for her crib but she is quite content staring at the ceiling fan and looks totally disappointed when we turn it off. Who knew!
6. She looks like a little bird when she is hungry. Her eyes get really round and wide and so does her mouth which she opens and closes until she gets fed....its pretty adorable.
5. She very rarely cries and usually just gets a little fussy if she is hungry or has a dirty diaper.
4. She sticks her bottom lip out in a full on pout when she is upset.
3. I know I am biased but she looks like an absolute angel when she is sleeping.
2. She is totally content to sit in her boppy, swing, bouncer whatever and doesn't want to be held all the time. (Even though I love to hold her all the time!)
1. She looks just like her dad. xoxo

Welcome to parenthood

I can't believe that its been 5 weeks since Gianna was born. This has most definitely been the fastest month of my entire life not to mention the best month ever! The first 3 weeks were a complete mix of emotions to say the least. I think I was definitely upset about having to have a csection. While I was happy that Gianna was here and healthy no matter how she arrived, my body felt a lot different. Being pregnant wasn't my favorite thing in the world and I felt like I had been put through the ringer for 9 months physically and had so anticipated giving birth and feeling like myself again. So, when I had to have a csection and realized I had weeks of pain and recovery ahead of me when all I wanted to do was just enjoy my new baby and get back to feeling good, I was really upset.
But having Gianna here finally and having Daniel here with us the first three weeks made it all worth it! It was such an amazing thing for us to be able to bond as a family during that time and Daniel was such a huge help with everything since I wasn't able to do a lot of the things that I normally could do. Every day has been so awesome watching how fast Gianna is changing and growing and this week has been my favorite because she is starting to smile and there is nothing better than seeing a smile spread across her face.

It has been quite the experience figuring out our new routine especially breastfeeding which takes A LOT of time and patience but is definitely worth it for the health benefits for Gianna. Thankfully she didn't have any problems with taking to breastfeeding but it is a challenge being available to her every 2 to 3 hours when she wants to eat. I really cant complain though because for a breastfed baby she sleeps really well through the night. She usually only wakes up once and occasionally twice which is awesome. I feel like I sleep better now than I did when I was pregnant. There have been a few rough nights but most of them were associated with me not feeling good from the csection and having a hard time getting in and out of bed. When Daniel was home, we were switching on and off with diaper duty at night but once he went back to work I decided to do it myself since I have the ability to take naps during the day. Once I go back to work we are planning on working another routine out where we take turns.
During the day we both take equal responsibility for diaper duty and now that I am pumping Daniel will feed her sometimes too. We have made a game out of changing her diapers playing the old "not it" game so, we have fun with it. (I especially love it when Gianna poops or pees on Daniel which she seems to only want to do to him....its hilarious!) Daniel is a really involved dad and he loves to scoop her up and hang out with her as soon as he gets home from work. I would say all in all we have had an easy transition into parenthood but I would have to give most of the credit to Gianna. She is so laid back and never has crying episodes where we can't console her...in fact she very rarely cries. We definitely have it easy with her. She is really content and happy and her personality is really easy going which is a lot like Daniel.
Once Daniel went back to work, I realized its pretty challenging doing the whole parent thing on your own regardless of how good Gianna is. I swear Daniel goes to work and 15 minutes later he is home and its time for dinner. The days just fly by! I think its because everything revolves around a feeding, burping and diaper changing schedule and the rest of the time I am trying to squeeze in house cleaning and laundry real quick while she takes a nap not to mention the occasional shower. It is definitely a lot easier with that extra set of hands. But I love staying home with her and I know its going to be so hard to go back to work.

We decided that I will stay home an extra six weeks and go back to work the Monday after Christmas which will make her 4 months old. Its gonna be a poor mans Christmas for sure but we decided that the extra time is time I will never get back with her so I am really glad that we decided to do it and even more glad that my company was supportive of my decision. Staying home for 5 months total was way more than I had ever anticipated but we feel like its the best thing to do and I am grateful for the opportunity to be home with her as long as possible.
Next on my agenda is to start work on her baby scrapbook and to get her birth announcements out which should be soon so check your mailboxes. We were fortunate enough to have our friends the Woodwards buy us a gift certificate good for a sitting fee at a photographer that specializes in baby portraits so we took advantage and had Gianna's photo's done when she was two and a half weeks old. We had a couple family shots done too and can't wait until we get the prints later this week. She did such a good job having her picture taken but she is used to it by now since I act like the paparazzi snapping pictures of her every chance I get. I can't help it...she is just so stinkin' cute!

So, things are going great and we are transitioning pretty smoothly. I feel like this parenthood thing is so natural for me and Daniel which is funny because a little over a year ago I didn't even know if I wanted to have kids anytime soon and here we are and we love it! (And I say natural in the sense that its where we should be not that we are naturally good parents...thats something we are trying to figure out as we go.) We just can't get enough of Gianna....its just the coolest thing having her here in our life and I can't imagine it any other way. She truly is the best thing to happen to us and I feel like its made our love for each other so much stronger. Its just been a lot of fun and an awesome learning experience and I can't wait to see what the next day holds.

August 31, 2009

She's here! Gianna Leigh Pearce made her debut to the world on Monday August 31st, 2009. She was 7lbs. 13oz. 21 inches long. She didn't exactly come out easily though. Our doctor felt after a growth ultrasound at week 38 that she was going to be close to 9 lbs and he thought induction would be the best way to go. Initially this was not something that I even wanted to consider. I felt that she would come when she was good and ready but our doctor said he was going to set an induction date for the 31st and our due date was the 28th. He said he didn't like to let babies get much bigger than 9lbs.
At the time I didn't mind too much because I figured that she would more than likely be here by then. Well, the day before my due date, I went to the doctor and he said he wanted to stick to the induction plan especially since I hadn't even begun to dilate or thin whatsoever and of course she hadn't come early as I had hoped. At this point I was so uncomfortable and ready to have her I didn't put up a fight. So, we scheduled an appointment at the hospital for Sunday night to start Cervadil which is a drug that helps your cervix dilate. The plan was the next day they would start Pitocin and break my water and we would be on our way. The doctor did tell me what I already knew that often times induction doesn't work out as planned and there is a chance that a c-section would be necessary. He said we could just go straight for a c-section and I told him that to me that was a worse case scenario and I absolutely didn't want a c-section.
As planned, we went in at 5pm on Sunday the 30th to start the Cervadil and stay the first of what would become many nights at the hospital. My entire pregnancy I was not in the least bit nervous or anxious about labor especially since we had taken child birth classes. I felt like we were mentally as prepared as we could be and Daniel had been such an excellent coach in class and I knew he was totally ready to help support me during labor no matter what happened. But because everything was scheduled and the whole element of surprise was taken away, I found myself thinking of all of the what ifs and making myself more and more nervous.
Once we checked into the hospital I realized I hadn't eaten because I was making sure that the bags were all packed and I had everything that I needed and what not so I was totally starving. The nurse assured me that once the Cervadil had been administered and I waited one hour I could get something to eat. So, we got situated and Daniel left to get me a Greek chicken salad. When he got back I had already started having minor contractions and the nurse told me that unfortunately I would not be able to eat anything but ice now until I had the baby in case I went into full blown labor since contractions had already stated up.
Say what?! I had last ate on Sunday at noon and was starving and now I had no idea when I would be able to eat next. This was not good! The nurse offered to give me a sleeping pill to help me sleep so I wouldn't have to think about how hungry and nervous I was and I gladly excepted. Poor Daniel totally could have used one to since he had to sleep on this window seat/bench thing but the nurse wasn't going for it. So after a good hard nights sleep we woke up to the big day!
The nurse came into check me first thing in the morning and I was happy to hear that overnight I had dilated to a 1 and was 60% effaced. This was good news because the induction would have a better chance at being successful if I was already dilated. So by 7:30-8:00 they had hooked me up to all the IV's and started the Pitocin and we were on our way.
I started having pretty good contractions by 9:00am and I refused to let myself think about the Pitocin making the contractions stronger than normal ones. My biggest fears of being induced was that one, so many people had told me the contractions brought on by Pitocin were much stronger than natural ones and two, that often times c-sections have to be done due to lack of natural progress. So Daniel helped me stay focused and we worked our way through them as we had planned.
My goal was to go as long as I could without an epidural in hopes that it would speed the process along. And at 10am when my doctor came in and broke my water and the contractions started to get much stronger I put my mind to focusing solely on breathing and relaxing. My mom and Daniel's mom were in the room with us but only Daniel could really help me get through the contractions...he was awesome! At 10am I was excited to hear that I had made some progress to a 2 and was 70% effaced.
As time went on the nurse kept increasing the Pitocin and the contractions kept getting stronger and stronger but there was just no rhyme or reason to them. Ideally we needed them to be 2 to 3 minutes apart so I could start dilating more but sometimes they would hit hard and only give me 30 second breaks and other times there would be 5 minutes in between. It was frustrating. After 7 hours the contractions were getting so strong that the babies heart rate was dropping so they said I had to lay on my side from that point on. I couldn't do that for very long! I had been having so much back pain in the weeks leading up to giving birth and laying on my side during contractions was the most excruciating pain I have ever endured...ever! My back felt like it was breaking every time a contraction hit. The nurse and doctor came in and said it would be wise to get an epidural so that I wasn't fighting through my contractions and I could just relax which would hopefully speed things along. I was in no position to disagree so they sent the anesthesiologist in and within 10 minutes I was completely numb and relaxed....those things are seriously amazing!
For the next 5 hours I watched the monitor showing us some crazy strong contractions that were happening to my body and I was thanking the lord that I couldn't feel them. Unfortunately, they were still really sporadic. So at 7:45pm when my doctor came into check me I wasn't too surprised to learn that despite everything I had been through throughout the day, I had made absolutely no progress since 10am. I was however, extremely disappointed and frustrated. I knew what was coming out of his mouth next and I was really upset about it. He said we are going to have to do a c-section. At that point what could I say other than do what you have to do.
Daniel asked him when we were going to do it and he said right now...and he wasn't kidding.
Daniel text my mom who had stepped out to get something to eat and they wheeled me away to prep me while Daniel got suited up in his scrubs.
*Daddy getting all suited up for the main event
It happened so quickly and I was so overwhelmed with the fear of never having had surgery before, joy in knowing I was about to meet my daughter and sadness that I was about to have a c-section which was the last thing I ever wanted.
The procedure itself was so fast. Daniel held my hand and kissed my forehead as they took Gianna out which took a whole 5 minutes maybe. The first thing I heard the doctor say was, dad do you want to see your baby? Daniel peeked his head over the curtain just as they pulling Gianna from my stomach and he said, wow she has a ton of hair! :) They quickly showed her to me, and then Daniel and her were whisked away to the nursery while they stitched me up which took another 30 minutes.
*Gianna makes her big debut to the world!
I will admit I cried being there all by myself and knowing it was going to be awhile before I was able to hold my baby. But I was so excited, relieved, and grateful that she was safe, healthy and finally here!
Daniel, being the amazing husband that he is, went and took a million and one pictures of her getting her first bath and getting all wrapped up in the nursery and came back in the operating room to show the pictures to me.
*Getting her first shampoo
*Already making those funny little faces!
It wasn't ideal but I was so happy to see those pictures and cried my eyes out when I saw how darn cute she was and that she looked just like her daddy!
Finally, they wheeled me away to the recovery room and after about 2 hours, I was finally able to hold our daughter Gianna.
*Holding Gianna for the first time...so in love!
It was the most amazing experience of my life and I will never forget the feelings that washed over me. I felt emotions I can't even begin to describe but mostly I felt grateful. Grateful to have an amazingly beautiful and healthy daughter and an amazing husband that was by my side every step of the way.
*Gianna sleeping after a long day of being born
*One day old and so precious!
*Daniel one day old circa 1981...can you say twins!
The next few days were pretty rough with the whole recovery thing and I wasn't able to eat solid food until Wednesday afternoon. (if you recall, my last meal had been Sunday at noon!) But every time I looked at Gianna I couldn't help but think it was all completely worth it. We finally were discharged from the hospital on Thursday and it was such a cool feeling as our new little family got into the car and drove home. It just felt so surreal.
*Gianna's first car ride
*Gianna at home with mommy xoxo
Once we were home, I was much more comfortable and I feel like recovery has been a little easier but its still been rough. My doctor said it will easily be a month before I am up and about again. In the meantime, I fill my days staring at our daughter in total disbelief that she is actually here. She has already changed so much in the last 11 days that its amazing! I still can't get over how much she looks like Daniel when he was born and even some of her facial expressions are just like his.
Daniel deserves father/husband of the year award for sure. He has gone above and beyond in taking care of me and Gianna and has made everything so much easier. I don't know how I would have made it if he hadn't taken 3 weeks off for work. He has just shown a side of himself that I knew was there but didn't realize the extent. He is just such an amazing dad already and I love to watch him with Gianna.
So, August 31st, 2009 completely changed our lives forever and while it was only 11 days ago, I just can't imagine life without Gianna now. She is such a blessing and we are the luckiest parents because she is so mellow. She very rarely fusses and eats and sleeps so well. I feel like the transition has been an easy one and the hardest thing about the whole process has been my recovery from surgery. We have been really lucky to have so many friends and family that love and support us that have been by to shower Gianna with love and gifts not to mention lots of awesome dinners for me and Daniel which have been a huge help!
Here are a few pics of Gianna's birthday and the days that followed and I am sure that I will be putting a million and one more up soon. As you can see from these pictures, our "9lb. baby" turned out to be a barely 8lb skinny little thing. She's definitely her daddy's girl to a tee. Thanks so much everyone for all of the well wishes and love. We feel so fortunate to be surrounded by so much love. xoxo
*Proud Daddy!

Still pregnant!

Well, I'm still pregnant! I have been lazy about blogging since going off work on maternity leave after the first week of August...so, I thought a little update was in order. As of today I am 39.5 weeks pregnant. My official due date is on Friday the 28th and I am absolutely ready to be done with pregnancy! I cannot wait to have Gianna and hold her in my arms instead of in my belly. My back concurs!
I decided to take 3 weeks off before my due date to catch up on my sleep and get some much needed relaxation before Gianna got here. I felt like I had so much that I wanted to do to while on leave before she got here too! Well, the reality is that I got everything done the first week and a half and since then I have been pretty bored and anxious to have this baby. I really don't think that I could've worked longer than I did because I am so uncomfortable and my back won't allow me to sit that long but I feel like I should be doing something everyday. Daniel keeps telling me that my job is to rest which sounds awesome but I can only do so much resting....I feel so unproductive! The bad thing is that if I leave the house I inevitably spend money so I try to keep myself as busy as possible at home.
I do have to go to the doctor once a week now so that gives me something to do. At my 38 week appointment the doctor decided to do a growth ultra sound because just by feeling my stomach he could feel that she was right around 8 pounds at that point. Sure enough he was right on! She was a little over 8 pounds and her head was measuring at 41 weeks....3 weeks ahead! Her legs and arms were long too but that didn't so much concern me the way the size of her head did. She is a big baby! At this point in pregnancy the baby gains a half a pound a week so the doctor said by my due date she would be over 9 pounds! (And what I was concerned about....her head would be at 43 weeks!)
The absolute best part about the ultrasound was that the tech switched it into 3D a few times and she has gotten a lot cuter since 29 weeks when we had our 3D ultrasound! She has the chubbiest cheeks which I love on babies and it looks like she has a little dimple in her chin like Daniel does. All in all I think she definitely looks a lot like Daniel! I can't wait to see her in person!
So, anyways, the doctor said that he doesn't want to see her get much bigger than that so we have set a date for me to be induced if she isn't here by then. So, the 31st is it....I won't have to be pregnant any longer than 6 days from now! I'm hoping she comes before that because I would rather her come on her own but if I have to be induced I have to be induced. So thats exciting to know she will be here really soon but a little scary to know she will be here really soon.
We are so ready for her to be here and I know that I am so ready to be done being pregnant but it is a little scary that after all this planning and anticipation....she's actually going to be here! We are as ready as we can be but I know that you can never be ready for everything. It is very exciting and crazy to know that our lives are about to change forever!
In the meantime while we are awaiting her arrival, I am doing my best not to call anyone. At this point if I call someone to see if they wanna go to lunch or just to say hi they get all freaked out...."are you in labor?!" No, I just wanted to say hi....disappointment on the other line. Trust me people....no one is more disappointed than me! haha! I am trying to text mostly but heaven forbid I take a nap and turn my ringer off...everyone under the sun seems to call at that point and again are texting..."why aren't you answering? Are you in labor?!" haha! I understand the concern for sure...its just funny to me. I keep telling everyone if I was in labor...I wouldn't call you...Daniel would.
So, we are nearing the end! The next time I blog will hopefully be of our new experience of being parents and a million pictures of our new little addition. Until then....

Gold Canyon

I'm sure most people have heard of Gold Canyon candles before. I know I have always liked their products and have attended quite a few parties here and there over the years. Well, my sister Chelsea had been talking about her friends mom trying to get her to start selling them for extra money for awhile. I told her when she decided to do it I would host a party for her. So, she decided to do it and I hosted her very first party. It was a lot of fun since I had all of my girfriends over after work one night and we had appetizers and chit chatted and everyone bought candles helping Chelsea make her first sale.
I was really excited because as a host I paid a whooping $25 and got over $125 worth of stuff! I was so pumped! I couldn't believe how fast Chelsea made $115 bucks in commission too just by hanging out with me and my girlfriends for a couple of hours....my interest was peaked. So, I decided to look into selling candles myself to see if it was something I could do to make some extra money. With Gianna on the way I could definetely use it!
So, I read up on it, saw how attractive the commission structure was and well, as I said, I already love the product so I figured what the heck! In order to become a demonstrator I had to buy a demonstrator pack which cost a $150 but if you sell $700 worth of stuff your first month they refund you what you paid. Chelsea sold over $400 stuff at my party so I knew I could make it to the goal in 2 parties. (Making money without having to put any money into it sounded pretty good to me!)
I had my first party last week and it was a lot of fun and I would definitely call it a success! My party sold $432 so I am more than halfway to my goal and I have 2 more parties booked this week. (One which has double the amount of people that were at my first party.)
Gold Canyon is similar to selling Mary Kay or Pampered Chef or what not in that its a pyramid selling stucture. (So my sister makes a profit off of what I sell) The difference to me is that people love the product, its affordable, the candles are the best on the market in that they actually smell up your whole house and I don't have to spend a ton of money keeping inventory of the product. I just have all of the scents in my kit to bring to parties and the product sells itself.
So, I officially have a side job selling candles and so far I really like it. I'm curious to see where I can go with it but in the meantime my goal is to make enough each month to pay for child care which at this point doesn't look like it will be very hard.
If you are interested in hosting a party or would just like to buy some candles for your self let me know! I have a website you can go to as well... http://www.mygc.com/cloviscandlechick
I think all of the products are awesome but I am huge fan of the wickless candles called pods that come in a Pod Warmer. They are sooo...cool! Basically, you buy the Pod Warmer which come in a couple really cute varieties and has an automatic timer built in so you don't have to worry about turning it off. The pods come in almost all of the scents Gold Canyon has to offer and the best part is they are only $5.98! I already have like 6 and they truly smell up my WHOLE house without being over powering and last forever.
I'm totally using this as a sales pitch right now but like I said I am a huge fan of the products too so I figured why not pass it on. I'm looking forward to doing more parties starting in mid-September after the baby is born. It will help me make some extra money and give me a chance to get out of the house for some girl time. I will post how it is going in the future but so far so good!

Long month ahead?

I can't believe August is already here. I'm going to be a mom at some point during this month...crazy! I'm so excited for Gianna to finally be here but anxious about not knowing when she is going to be here. How do you plan anything when there is a chance you may or may not be in labor at that point? It's just a weird feeling knowing I am full term now and its just a waiting game from this point on.

I am hoping that she will stay put at least until after next week. I definitely don't want her coming when I am still at work this week and I would like to enjoy at least one week off on maternity leave before she arrives. (God knows I could use the rest!) My body however is ready to throw in the towel now. I barely sleep (I'm talking 2 to 3 hours a night max!), I waddle when I walk, I'm swollen all over and my back and hips hurt so bad! The worst is all of the sudden I have a heat rash on my stomach....really!? Come on! I think its from wearing high waisted maternity pants in this heat but however it got there....its not comfortable.

If I'm gonna be this uncomfortable and she is going to hang out until her due date or worse....longer, it's going to be a long month!

I used to think she was gonna go over her due date but lately I've had the feeling she is going to make an earlier debut. It might just be wishful thinking though. As uncomfortable as I am I want her to take all the time she needs to cook in there and come out healthy. But I am worried about her coming past the 24th because my sister Chloe will be going back to Houston to start year round at the Houston Ballet Academy and won't be back until Christmas. Gianna will already be 4 months old by then! That will definitely make me sad.

I guess I will just have to be patient...easier said then done. In the meantime I am just trying to keep my eye on the prize and know that all this will be worth it in the long run. Daniel has been so amazing through all of my complaining and whining he deserves an award of some sort. No matter whats going on, if I ask him to rub my back or neck, he will stop what he is doing and without making a peep give me a massage. When I have a mental break down because I'm exhausted and can't make sense of anything instead of calling me crazy or getting mad at me he tells me to hang in there and that I am doing a great job "taking one for the team."

We have been going to child birth class once a week as I said in a previous post and while he likes to joke around and make the class a little more fun, he is very serious and intent on learning ways to be a good coach during labor. He has really taken all the info seriously and talks to me about different things I would like and how he can help me to make things go smooth for me. Its really sweet. I am so lucky to have him as a husband and I know he is going to make an awesome dad!

So, this week I am just going through the motions at work and praying Friday will be here before I know it. After that I'm just going to take it one day at a time and try to get as much rest as I can. I know that once I am done work and am afforded the opportunity to take at least one nap a day things will be a lot easier! We shall see.....

The Countdown Begins!

My last day of work is officially on Friday August 7th! That's 10 more working days and oh how I hope they fly by! I'm so ready to throw in the towel. I realized this weekend that I'm not so much bothered by being pregnant but being pregnant at work. I'm so exhausted at this point that I would love to take a little cat nap here and there and it would make it SO much more manageable. Also, my ever expanding hips and the pressure on my back make it hard to stay in one position for too long and sitting for 8 hours is really not fun. I try to get up and move around but I inevitably find myself being stuck at the computer.
I think once I am home I will be so much more comfortable and ready to wait out the last few weeks with a lot less complaining. haha! I can't believe that I actually thought I could work up to my due date! Ha! I clearly didn't know what I was getting myself into. My only concern at this point is that she stays in long enough to give me at least a week of relaxation.
The whole time I have been pregnant I have felt that she would be born in September since most first time moms go over their due date and mine is August 28th. But I have this weird feeling now that I am going out on leave to try and rest up and get some stuff done before she gets here...she will be coming early. Haha. I guess we will have to wait and see. In the mean time I hope the next two weeks go by fast and not like today has gone....so very slow!