Germ-a-phobe!

OK....so having a new baby in the house brings on new concerns. One of these concerns is germs. I come by this naturally due to my past experiences with infants....if you weren't aware...both Jocie and Ella were hospitalized at 4 weeks and 6 weeks with RSV. A baby can catch RSV just like a cold. It affects their respiratory system and lowers there blood/oxygen saturation's. This, of course, scares the crap out of any parent! I am bound and determined not to land our newest addition in the hospital with the same thing!

Enter newest concern...THE SWINE FLU!!!! I know this is not too widespread, and it would be extremely unlikely that she (or Jocie, Ella, or Carl) would contract this virus....but to a brand new mother with MAJOR hormones flying around...this is starting to worry me! So much in fact that I will not take her to the grocery store (even though we are in dyer need of food).

Because of my mental state, I have made my family crazy with all the hand washing I have made them do. I am making Ella sing the ABC song while she is washing, so I know she is washing long enough. I'm pretty sure Jocie is missing a layer of skin due to all the washing that I am making her do. Just thinking about Jocie in the germ-infested school all day, and then coming home, makes me cringe!

I know I need to relax...but it's really hard :)Too bad I can't take a tranquilizer!

Speaking of washing...Claire had her first real bath this past weekend...she wasn't a huge fan of the tub!

2 weeks old

We have been very busy over the past week. Claire has been busy eating, sleeping and pooing. Her favorite time to poo is one minute (or less) after I put a brand new diaper on :) Because of this, we have gone through way more diapers than need be.

We've also had quite a few visitors this week. My step-sister Sarah and her kids came to visit on Monday. My mom came on Tuesday and left Thursday. I had a couple of school friends come to visit on Wednesday (Nicole Johnston and John Dietel). My dad and step-mom came on Thursday night and just left today (Sunday). My brother, John came on Friday evening all the way from Iowa and left today. And the biggest surprise was my sister Jessy came this morning! I had no idea she was coming...so it was great to see her. It sounds a little over-whelming, but I loved visiting with everyone!

Next week will be a reality check. This coming week is the first week we will be flying solo. We have had family here non-stop since Claire has been born, and this will be the first week we won't have any outside help. Which means I will have to go back to cooking and cleaning (oh crap!). I have gotten quite accustomed to other people cooking, cleaning and doing my laundry for me. Oh well, it had to happen at some point!

1 week old

This week has been a whirl-wind...but in a very good way. Wednesday, we were able to come home from the hospital. Grandma Judy had been staying with the girls all week, so I came home to an impeccably clean house with dinner already in the oven :)

To be honest, when we got home, I didn't really know what to do with myself. Claire slept all the time, and the girls seemed to be carrying on as usual...and I wasn't! I felt a little awkward in my own home, which had never happened before. But I think that feeling was apart of some of the "baby-blues" I was going through. I'm happy to say that I have been feeling a little better (mentally and physically) every day.

Claire has been adjusting well too. Right away, she was always too tired to eat. She would nurse for about five minutes, and then fall asleep. Because of that, I would have to pump (always a fun experience) and then supplement her when she finally woke up. Because of all of the pumping, I think I have enough milk to feed twins...hence,I look a little Dolly-esk, if you know what I mean (wink, wink) As she gets a little older, she is staying awake a little longer, and is getting into a better feeding schedule.

Jocelyn and Ella couldn't be any better at being big sisters. Jocie is the caring, layed back sister, that wants to cuddle. Ella is the busy sister, that has to be involved in everything. When Claire is getting a diaper change, it is Ella's job to get the wipes ready. When it's time for Claire to eat, it's Ella's job to get the "boppy" ready for me. Anytime I need anything for Claire, Ella and Jocie are my go-to girls :)

Carl has been a rock-star dad and husband. He has not only been a very loving dad to all three of his girls, but he has also been extremely caring and understanding when I'm going through some of my crazy new mom stuff. I don't know if I've ever loved him more than I do right now (ahhhhhhhh).

Clarie, being only a week old, mainly eats, sleeps and poops (a lot). But when she is awake, she loves to do "tummy time" and suck on any finger or thumb she can get into her mouth :) So far, she has been very content, and only seems to cry when she's hungry (KNOCK ON WOOD..I don't want to jinx myself).

All-in-all we are a very happy and healthy Adolohson family of five :)

The Big Arrival!

Well, it's been a while since I've posted a blog....but that is because we have been very busy!

On Easter Sunday evening, I started to have some consistent contractions. I had five contractions the first hour, and the second hour I had six (I was told to go in if I had 4-6 contractions an hour for two consecutive hours). Carl and I were not really ready for this, but we hustled and got the dog to the neighbors, the girls to Severson's house for the night, and ourselves to the hospital by 8:45. Upon arrival they hooked me up to the monitor and saw that I was having consistent contractions. the Dr was worried that my uterus wouldn't fair well if she allowed me to keep laboring, so she decided to C-section that evening. After the decision was made, there was a crazy whirl-wind of action going on. I.V.'s being put in, blood being drawn out, and a multitude of Dr.'s introducing themselves. I was wheeled into the O.R., my spinal block was administered, and by 10:39pm, CLAIRE NATALIE ADOLPHSON came into the world! She was 6 pounds 7 ounces, and 19 inches long.

Our extreme excitement was soon met by extreme worry! In the first minutes of her life, Claire was having trouble breathing. The nurses started to administer some oxygen and then called the NICU Dr. to come and look at her. Once the Dr. got there she had only "pinked-up" a little, and so she decided to bring her down the the NICU. Of course, Carl and I felt completely helpless. I was still on the table being put back together again, and I couldn't see anything and really had no idea what was going on. Carl was being extremely positive, and telling me everything was going to be fine, but on the inside, he was freaking out too! After the longest 15 minutes of my life, my Dr. called down for an update on Claire, and I was elated to find out that she was just fine, and was on her way back up to my recovery room. They told me that once she got to the NICU she started to show all positives signs, "pinked-up" completely, and was just perfect! :)The rest of our hospital stay was much more non-eventful (thank goodness) and was spent getting to know our newest daughter. She is a tiny little peanut, that has her big sister Jocie's mouth and chin, and her big sister Ella's nose and eyes. She also has black hair, which I'm sure will all fall out since I only seem to grow bald babies :)

While in the hospital, we worked a lot on nursing and cuddling. Her sisters are completely obsessed with her. Jocie loves to cuddle with her on the couch, and Ella loves to be involved with EVERYTHING that has to do with Claire. She watches every feeding and every diaper change. She also loves rocking her and signing "rock-a-bye" and "twinkle, twinkle little star". She is taking the role of "big sister" very seriously! Our world has completely changed, and we are very busy, but in a very good way. I hope to keep you well informed through frequent blogs...if you don't hear from me in a while, just chalk it up to extreme sleep deprivation!

Some Progress

I had my 36 week check-up yesterday (I am now going in once a week). The Doctor said that the baby is still very low (and won't be traveling north), am dilated to 1 cm. and that my cervix is "thinned out". When she checked me, she said that she actually touched the baby's head!! (sorry to some of you fellas who just got extremely grossed out!). So she said I was making good progress. With this being my third baby, she said things might progress fairly quickly, but also could not. The nice thing, is that I KNOW the baby will be born on or before April 27th, so it's nice to have a "finish line" to look at :) She instructed me to call if I have 4-6 contractions an hour for two consecutive hours. Since I have to do a C-section, they don't want me to labor very much before surgery.

Wish me luck! On Easter (37 weeks) I will be considered "full term"!

PS - Heart Rate was 140

This Weekend

This weekend was pretty laid back (which was nice). But we did have a weekend visitor...her name is Bubbles. No, she isn't a dancer of any kind...she is a RAT! Jocie's science class has two classroom rats. Every weekend, the students take turns taking the rat home to care for it. We were a little apprehensive at first, but she's been a pretty good guest. Ella wasn't too keen on the idea right away, but she absolutely LOVES her now! She's way more interested in her than Jocie! Her favorite is when she runs on her wheel. Ella set a stool right next to Jocie's dresser so she can check on Bubbles whenever she wants to (which is quite often). Last night, she decided to put a blanket (washcloth) on Bubble's cage before bed. Bubbles must have liked the idea of a blanket, because this morning, Bubbles had managed to bring the washcloth into her cage, and was laying in it!

Last night we got into the Easter spirit and colored some eggs. The girls had fun, and did a nice job. We only two cracked eggs, which I think is a success!

I am now officially 9 months pregnant (36 weeks)...won't be long now. The baby will be here in three weeks or less...we are very excited!