We are on our own

Nana and Popi are going home tomorrow. Lexi just started fussing lately, and mom thinks she may have colic. Oh I pray that she is just having a bad couple of days due to saurkraut and beer. I am not good with the whole crying thing. The plan for the week is to sleep. It has been really nice having mom here to run errands, plant my plants, wash my windows, and cook. It will be tough week adjusting and our doctor appt. isn't until next Monday so I am a little unsure. It is a growing time for us, and I pray for patience for both Lexi and Kent.... ho, hum.

Life at 5 days of age

Alexa is settling in at home. We came home on Sunday and are adjusting well. We went on our first trip to the Doctor's office on Tuesday. Alexa is still a little jaundice and since she is small is struggling to latch and feed. She has lost 10% of her body weight already, which is concerning but we are working on her feedings. Today we went to the lactation consultant and she did gain 2 ounces since yesterday and talking to her. Alexa sleeps mostly, but in the past day has had wake periods where we can just sit and talk, not just feed. This is a good sign, and part of her coming early. Nights have been pretty good. Monday night she fussed a bit, but she just wanted to be held. Otherwise we are up a few times a night, but not bad.

There have been quite a few visitors (which is nice, but exhausting!), looking forward to tomorrow with only a quick Dr. visit and catching a few naps and maybe going for a walk in the Bob with Lexi. It is suppose to be another warm day in the 80's. I was thinking today it was nice not to be pregnant and miserable at school with it being so warm. Going to try to squeeze in a quick nap to get me through the night. Mom left to go to Madison today, she'll be back tomorrow night, but we are on our own tonight and tomorrow...YIKES! It has been really nice having her to help.

Alexa Lynn Wuebben

Pay Day! 2 weeks, 5 days early Alexa Lynn was ready to face the world! On May 15 @ 7:19 p.m., 6 lbs, 6 oz. and 20 in, she surprised us all!! Impatient like her 'rents, but optimistic like her Dad as she came out face up! Mom is thankful she was tiny and healthy!! We named Alexa after Kersten's Dad Allen, and Lynn is her mother's middle name (we wanted to continue a middle name in the family and thought that was the best one that we knew of.)

The Details: It started at 1:00 a.m., mommy started having contractions which she thought were just because she had not gone to the bathroom in awhile. They eventually started into a pattern where she realized, oops, contractions...maybe we should finish packing our bag. So every 5-8 min. we had contractions then Dad woke up at 3:30 and helped mommy keep track by starting a log. Mom had tried to go back to bed, but it wasn't working so she did some minor cleaning. We stayed about 5 min apart and decided to call around 5:00. At times we were 3 min. We were told to go to the hospital, even though mom was tolerating pain very well as we had not felt BW move for quite some time. Even though Mommy thought we would be sent home and these were merely Braxton Hicks, she was wrong! We were admitted around 6 and got settled into our room. From there we continued contractions around 2:30 min. apart-5 min. until about 1 p.m. At that point we decided to increase the intensity and were put on Potosin which hadn't even gotten into mom's system when her water broke at 1:15 p.m. 12 hours after contractions had started. Then between the Potosin and water breaking her contractions picked up their intensity with minimal rest time. Mom had her epidural around 2:30, she was 3 cm dilated and 95% effaced telling Dad that he owed her! Mom squeezed in a nap as she was exhausted and when they checked again she was 8 cm!! Yeah for the Anesthesiologist and Epidurals!! A half hour later they were calling the Dr. and they started pushing around 6:15 and she was born an hour later. Phew! No cesearan, no episiotomy....minor issues...just a a plummet in blood pressure after Epidural, but all was good with BW the whole time! We were thankful for our Duola Julie even though Mom handled the pain very well through most, the emotional support and sounding board was tremendous! She will be making a house call in 2 weeks and calling this week.

This was an amazing experience and now we have a bundle of joy! We are enjoying our waking moments with Alexa and get to go home today! We have had a few visitors including Erika and soon to be Alexa's best friend Charlotte on Friday to help get our carseat in. She brought pretty tulips from her yard. Good focal point for mom! Popi and Nana Prochnow stopped by on Friday night at 9 and also on Sat. Tri Friend and prego Jodi stopped in on Sat, she looks great!! Grandpa Wuebben stopped in on Sat, but I think was afraid he break her so didn't want to hold her, but admired her from a distance. Grandpa and Grandma Wuebben will stop by on Monday, as Grandma will be back from her trip to the Dells. Tim and Stefie are planning on coming up today. Mommy is going to go get a little sleep now!

Lexi is a perfect little baby, although she was a little tongue tied in the begining we had the ENT Dr. stop by and fix that in a 5 min. procedure and now she is ready to go! She is sleeping soundly right now! When she wakes we will get her new outfit that Nana picked up and washed for her to go home in today. (Nana and Popi also hit the garage sale in Cedarburg that Mommy was planning on going to and picked up a few other things on Sat., Popi put together the swing too!) Pictures to be coming soon!!

Shower #3

This weekend my good friends Erika and Julie threw me my final shower with my friends. Good eats with egg salad and chicken salad sandwiches, fresh fruit salad, spinach salad, pasta salad and yummy cupcakes!

It was fun to spend time with friends and thier little ones. Julie and Miss Sienna (10 months), Erika and Miss Charlotte (2 months), Michelle and Miss Brynnleigh (4 months), Joanne and Miss Abby (4?) and Miss Ruby (18 months?) and Annie and Lindsey. The Moms were there including Barb H., Mom and Corey.

My mom was worried that BW would arrive before we were ready. "I feel like I need to come back one more time before the baby is born to help get everything done." Who's nesting? No worries Mom, I washed the 0-3 month clothes, put everything away, get the car seats installed tomorrow, and the Diaper Genie was set up. We plan on picking up some last minute things such as the changing pad, playyard sheet and maybe a few other things prior to the arrival of BW. I plan on attending the Cedarburg rummage sale this weekend and hopefully finding those last minute things.

36 Weeks....

Another busy week, but it does help it go by a bit faster. I'm tired, but to be expected. My heart burn/acid reflux is unbelievable and tums is not working. Not hungry, but forcing myself to eat.

My "family" at John Long Middle School threw me a shower this week. I am still shocked at thier generosity. I'm thinking there will be little that we need to go out to get prior to BW's arrival. Not only did I get the swing I had registered for, but many people even got me little gifts such as books, toys, wipes, onesies, etc. They decorated the face room and my team made snacks. I still can't believe it! I even had to look up who some people were that got me gifts as only their names were familiar.

Cathy, Will and Stef stopped by yesterday as they can't make it to the shower this weekend. It was fun watching Will as he laughed and grunted and was just so darn cute. Sasha was ok until he fussed a bit...then she started her hissing and growling. She will need to realize who is boss pretty quick!

Mom is coming down on Friday and my last shower is Sat. I'm really excited to see everyone!

35 Weeks

Mommy is feeling big, feet are swelling a bit, and the two naps she took today were welcome! BW is growing by the minute. This week I wore my Grafton Blackhawk basketball t-shirt to work. While talking to my m.s. principal he so kindly pointed out, "Kersten, Go Big or Go Home, Nice." Without thinking as I put it on that morning, it was on my shirt...never thought about it. Ha! I would have liked to go home and been less big....but, atleast I'm not the house quite yet.

Mommy all tired with Baby Sasha Swaddled

At our last class this week, we learned to Swaddle. So upon our nightly tired stupor, Kent tried out his swaddling skills (seen below) on our unsuspecting victim. She is our baby after all...spoiled that is for sure. Well, to let you all know the swaddling worked, she stopped crying and started purring as Daddy passed her onto tired Mommy. And then we finished watching Brothers and Sisters online as Mommy held Sasha in her arms. What will we do?

The Unsuspecting Victim