Our friend Moby...

Nope, not the whale...the wrap. Elliette has, as the doctor so kindly put it, 'extra gas'! The extra gas has made my so sweet baby quite cranky the last few days. She has been getting very little sleep during the day because of her upset tummy, and has only been sleeping when laying on someone's chest. In addition to that we have made the decision to stop nursing. I simply wasn't making enough milk to keep up with her demand no matter what I tried (including supplements that made me smell weird!). Not only was I not making enough milk to satisfy her at feedings, she has not been able to effectively get the milk out. Nursing/feedings were becoming a constant stressor and making me a miserable mommy -which didn't help Elliette. Since she was already taking formula for most feedings and is thriving wonderfully we decided to just go that route. The new problem we've discovered is that although Elliette wasn't really using nursing as a tool for nourishment, it definately was her tool for comfort! So we now have a baby with a tummy ache and not much to comfort herself...poor thing!
In comes our friend Moby...
Before Elliette was born I had purchased a sling, hoping to be able to wear baby whenever I wanted to or just needed extra hands. Problem is that I didn't really care for the sling, and she hated it!! So, I spent the $40 bucks and bought a Moby Wrap today. OMG!!! It has been such a blessing to be able to carry her around, on her tummy so she's sleeping, and get stuff done!!!!! I haven't been stuck on the couch or in bed trying to ger her to sleep, and being held like she's nursing is helping her to comfort herself a little more. We're are still getting used to it, but tonight has been great. Hope it continues! Here are some pics of us and our new friend...

1 week...

Can't believe she's a week old already...

Nothing much new to report. She's sleeping all the time and getting better about eating. Doctors appt tomorrow to check up on weight.

Pictures are in reverse order of when they were taken, but I'm to tired to fix that right now!

She's here!!!

Elliette Grace Schilling is here!!

She weighed 7lbs 4oz and is 20 inches long. She arrived at 11:12 am on April 13th after the shortest and easiest labor and delivery I could ever imagine! My doctor put me in to be induced Sunday evening, I started having contractions around 4:30, and had my epidural by about 8:00. At 8:30 I was 3-4 cm, and when they came to check me around 10:15 I was 10cm and ready to push!! My doctor got there a few minutes before 11 and after 4 sets of pushes she was out!! She is so much tinier than we thought she would be! She has had some feeding/latching issues and dropped more weight than the doctors wanted, so we are supplementing with formula and a '5-French' tube/syringe, but she's doing fantastic. She is so calm and laid back - such a good baby!!! I'm hoping that stays the same way once we are home and established.

Here are some pics:

Baby coming Sunday...

...well not coming Sunday, but going to the hospital then! My doctor has decided to induce me at 39 weeks because even though she isn't as big as we had thought she was going to be, she is probably going to be as big or maybe bigger than Jackson and it is to risky for me to attempt delivery if we keep waiting. I'm technically 39 weeks today, but the hospital didn't have room for me today and because my doctor isn't technically the one on call this weekend she wouldn't put me in Friday or Saturday. So, I still haven't dilated or thinned out much, although the baby is dropping some. The plan at this point is to put me in the hospital at 8pm on Sunday and start cervadil and give me some sleeping meds. The cervadil takes like 10 hours to work, so it will most likely be sometime Monday when she finally gets here. Bed rest has definately been more bearable this week knowing that there was an actual date for her to come, and because I had sort of planned to stop working this week already so I'm not as upset about not being there. I did talk to to my HR guy at work and we are waiting for official confirmation from our disability group, but hopefully these 2 weeks I have been gone will be covered by short term which means I won't have used up my personal days and I will still have them for after she is born so I don't have to go back to work. We will see how that goes, but I am praying that is how it works out!

Art in the park

Jackson has a piece of art in display at the visitors center at Forest Park, which I have really been wanting to see. Since the doctor took me off of "strict" bed rest, I decided this meant I could get out and enjoy what looks to be the only nice day in the next week or so! Jackson wasn't really thrilled, but once he saw his art he got pretty excited.

After the visitors center we spent some time playing in the 'multi-ability' playground they have (its actually pretty cool) and then headed off to find more things to do. Josh and Jackson climbed the big waterfall, although neither could manage to do it without getting wet!

We decided to leave though, before we stuck ourselves in any more of these people's wedding pictures!