More and More Visitors!!!

That first weekend before my mom came we were expecting some more visitors. My brother (Joe), sister-in-law (Mollie), and my neice(Kayla) were coming to see little Payton. Also our good friends the Oppers were coming to visit, Colin and Chelsea. We were pretty excited. We weren't sure my brother was coiming until the very morning they arrived. We got a call saying they'd be there in about an hour, Kurt and I jumped out of bed and got our tails in gear.

When they got there they were pretty hungry so my brother and I went to the store to get some groceries for breakfast. This was the first time I had been out of the house since Payton's checkup the previous Monday. I was getting a little stir crazy and it was nice to get out. When we got back we made a breakfast feast and waited for our friends the Oppers to arrive. We had a good time visiting with my brother and his family, Kayla loved to hold her new cousin and was great with her. Aunt Mollie is a natural with babies so of course Payton loved her as well and my brother is baby shy so he just admired her from afar. Unfortunately their visit had to be a short one because they had to get back home pretty early that afternoon.

The Oppers arrived a little bit before we had to say goodbye to Uncle Joe, Aunt Mollie and Kayla and so after they left we began getting things ready for our cookout with the Oppers. We even got Payton outside for a little fresh air, in the shade of course. It ended up being a beautiful day for a cookout and time spent with friends and family. Colin really loved holding Payton and so did Chelsea they even brought gifts for her that we adored.

It was so nice for all of them to make those day trips up to visit. It's about a 5 hour round trip for my brother and his family and a 4 hour round trip for the Oppers so we really appreciated them coming up to see us.

I apologize, but I don't have any pictures from this visit, I don't know if it's due to me forgetting to take pictures or if I had my old camera at that time.

If I end up finding photos from that day once we get all of our pictures off of the old computer I will post them at that time.  Here are some general pictures from our first couple of days alone at home with Payton.  

Mom/Nana to the Rescue!!

Nana and Payton

Having my mom around for that second week of Payton's life was amazing. I've never felt so close to her. I got up with Payton for all of her night time feedings, which is time that I have come to charrish so much.  Then when Payton got up for her 6 or 7am feeding, I would get everything ready and Payton and I would go down to the spare bedroom and wake up Nana for her shift. Then mommy would get some much needed rest and she would also get to take some much needed showers as well. :) Mom helped around the house when Payton took her naps during the day and was just so supportive and comforting.  She even went with me to Payton's two week check up appointment.  I have her 2 week checkup statistics somewhere, in our messy basement, as soon as I find them I'll post those for you as well.

We put Payton in an outfit that her Aunt Niki bought her, when we went to her doctor's appointment.  She looked so adorable.

Here I am with Miss Payton before we left for the doctor's office.  The shadows are from my cameras shutter not opening all the way.  We have a new camer now, thank goodness.

Here we are just getting into the office.

Getting her weight

Waiting for Doctor Camilli

The week before my mom came when Kurt was back at work, I was really struggling with the lack of sleep and lack of cleanliness in the house. I totally underestimated the complete exhaustion you feel as a new parent. I ended up breaking down a time or two to both Kurt and my mom over the phone. I remember one night Payton would not stop crying and I didn't know what to do. Nothing I did could get her to stop. Finally I broke down crying and reluctantly I had to wake Kurt up. He was so great he held the both of us for a bit, let me cry and assured me that everything was going to be alright. He took Payton and did everything he could think of to get her to calm down. He suggested going for a drive, but I didn't know if that was such a good idea given that we'd have to get a diaper bag together and one of us who were both so exhausted would have to drive. Instead he took her into the laundry room put a couple of thick blankets on the dryer, layed her on top of them and started the dryer. Amazingly enough it worked. She loved the movement and the warmth below her and the noise as well. She cried after the first couple of times we took her away from the laundry room and layed her in her basinett, but finally after a couple of tries she fell fast asleep and we were able to get her into her bassinet.

Kurt, Payton and I relaxing.  Another great thing about having my mom around is that I actually got to be in some pictures. :)

Our little Aunt Jemima

What a great husband and father Kurt is, he is one of the greatest gifts God has ever given me and now he has blessed us with an amazing little girl as well, I am so thankful. They are truely the two greatest loves of my life. I also can't thank my mom enough for being there for me that second week and for always being there for me when I need help even when she can't be here in person. Thanks Mom, I love you.

Here is a picture of Payton in a dress that I wore when I was a newborn back in 1980.  I wore this dress in Puerto Rico, we moved there when I was a month old.  Mom gave me the dress as one of our gifts at the baby shower.  It probably would have looked better without the headband and pants, but it was so sweet to see her in something that I wore when I was as little as her.

One day that same week, some of my friends from PAi, Jenny and Amanda, came to visit us.  I was so happy they came, it meant a lot to me to have friends around at this amazing and overwhelming time.  Here is a picture of us with Payton.

Me, Jenny(holding Payton) and Amanda

Princess Payton's Homecoming

We took Payton home from the hospital on Saturday August 25th(my dad's birthday by the way), we were so excited but a little nervous about not having the 24 hour nurses assistance that was so very helpful the first couple of days of her life. The nurses did tell us that we could call them anytime, 24 hours a day, though if we had any questions. Believe me we took advantage of that.

I unfortunately didn't get very much sleep the night before we went home. There was a women in labor in the room next to mine Friday night and she was screaming at the top of her lungs. It was quite frightening, luckily Payton was in the nursery because I think it would have frightened her. I couldn't help but pray while that poor women was in the next room screaming, thanking God for allowing Payton's birth to be so smooth and for allowing all of us to get throught the delivery in excellent health.

I underestimated the yearning I would feel for Payton when she was in the nursery that last night in the hospital, I think I was so exhausted the first night that it didn't hit me quite as hard. She was with me every second of every day for the last 9 months and when she was just down the hall I missed her terribly. I knew it was for the best though, I needed my rest to help me recover faster so that I could be the best mommy I could be.

When we left the hospital Payton looked so tiny in her carseat and I rode in the back with her to make sure that she was alright since she was rear facing in her carseat. She did just fine, but I didn't mind sitting in back with her, I just love to look at her. Kurt and I actually took turns riding in back with her for the first few months just to keep an eye on her.

She had a bit of jaundice as many newborns do, and we had to bring her back in on Sunday to get her bilirubin checked again.  The doctors and nurses advised us that the best remidy for jaundice would be to get her to eat. The more babies eat the more they poop and the faster that bilirubin will come out, so we did our best getting her to eat that first night at home with us and she did really well.

Saturday went pretty well, I was still very sore but the nurses sent me home with two huge heat/ice packs that helped a ton. We had a lot of family around as well who helped out with Payton a lot. Even Grandpa fed her once. He did a good job too. We did a lot of relaxing that first day which was nice, we were preparing ourselves for the night.   AT night Kurt and I, took turns getting up with Payton and she actually ate pretty well. Poor Uncle Kyle was the lucky one who got to sleep on the couch. He had to listen to us get up with her every couple of hours. She slept in our room in her bassinet for the first 2 months of her life. It was nice having her so close, but I didn't get much sleep because babies make a lot of noises in there sleep and I worried about every one.

Grandpa and Payton

Changing diapers was a two person job at times

The next day we gave her a bath and took her to the hospital for her blood test. Kurt took charge with the baths, I was so nervous to give her one. She seemed so fragile, I quickly learned that babies are more resiliant than they look.

When we got to the hospital the nurses said that her skin looked much better. They undressed her to get her blood taken and noticed that she was a bit cold. They took her temperature, which was a bit low and advised us to try to keep her bundled up with at least 3 layers as much as possible. When Payton left the hospital her weight was down to 6 lbs 8 ounces. They nurses wanted to weigh her to see if she had sufficient weight gain which she did. She had gained 3 ounces over night which was excellent, especially if we wanted to get that bilirubin out. We got the results of the test later that day and the nurses were right, she didn't need a bili-blanket, YEAH.

Later that day we said good bye to our families and spent some family alone time together just the three of us. It was great having our families there for support the first couple of days of Payton's life, we could never thank them enough for all of their help, it was kind of scary to think of them leaving but it was nice to be alone as our own newly established family unit as well.

Daddy loves to lay on the couch with his baby girl

Kurt and I had to take Payton to her first check up with her Pediatrician on Monday two days after we brought her home from the hospital. We had been referred to a Pediatrician from some nurses that Kurt knew at the hospitals he serviced, but the doctor that they suggested was very hard to get in with. Fortunately we met one of her collegues who gave Payton her second check up in the hospital after she was born. Her name is Doctor Camilli and she is so nice and so good with Payton so we stuck with her.

Kurt wanted to take off that first week after Payton was born to help me out at home, but ended up having to go back to work on Wednesday August 29th, then I was on my own until the following week when my mom was coming to stay for the entire week.

The Best Day of Our Lives

It had been a long hot summer of swollen ankles, a vastly growing waistline, and I was still working 40 hours a week at PAi. It was Wednesday August 22nd, and I had had another long day at work. A couple of girlfriends and I were going to go to lunch that day and I offered to drive, but my car wouldn't start. I called Kurt right away and luckily he was on his way home from Appleton and could meet me in the parking lot to see if he could get the car started or give me a ride home. My friends all offered to drive me home, but I said no, I only live a mile away from work and I knew Kurt would be along soon. They swore I'd go into labor if I tried to walk home so I promised I wouldn't walk and luckily Kurt got there soon after I finished work and got my car started for me.

When we got home Kurt and I got some ice for my huge ankles, we ate dinner and then we were off to bed. I must tell you before I go on that, as sort of a side affect of pregnancy, I snored so horribly that Kurt often had to go sleep in our spare bedroom to get any actual sleep. It was so bad that I would wake myself up sometimes thinking that someone was breaking into the house. This night was no exception.

I woke up around midnight for one of my very frequent bathroom visits. I apologize in advance from this point on as you will probably get way more information than you care to know. As I rolled out of bed and began walking to the bathroom, I found myself peeing. I thought "Oh my god I have lost all bladder control!", I ran to the bathroom and continued what I thought was a normal nightly restroom break. As I finished I got up and began to pee again, I thought "what the heck I just emptied my bladder and didn't feel like I had to go again" so I sat back down and wondered if my water could be breaking?

I had already noticed that Kurt wasn't in bed with me and knew exactly where he was. I got some protection and waddled downstairs to find Kurt. I had to call his name a couple of times before he woke up. He had no idea what was going on and he looked startled. I told him that I thought my water had just broke, and he was like "WHAT!, are you sure? What do we do now?". I told him I didn't know and that maybe we should page the doctor to see what to do. I hadn't had a single contraction as of yet throughout my entire pregnancy, so I wasn't sure how urgent this was, but I do remember hearing in Lamaze that if your water breaks to go to the hospital right away.

Just to be sure we paged the doctor on call. As we went upstairs the fluid kept coming so I decided it would be best for me to stay put in the bathroom. As I waited for the doctor to call back, I called my mom. My stepdad Steve answered and I informed him that I thought my water had just broke and that we called the doctor to see if he wanted us to go to the hospital, I told him that I would call them back to let them know if I was going to be admitted. I was allowed to have two people in the delivery room with me and I couldn't think of any two people I wanted there more than Kurt and my mom.

I hadn't packed my hospital bag yet so I had Kurt running around like a chicken with his head cut off trying to pack a bag for all three of us in about 10 minutes when the doctor called back and told us to get to the hospital right away. At this point I still hadn't had any contractions. Then I got up to help Kurt get our things together and they began. We managed to get to the hospital by 1am. It had only been an hour since my water broke and I began timing the contractions in the car on the way to the hospital, they were already 5 minutes apart, everything was happening so fast. They were mostly through my lower back, not pleasant at all.

When we arrived at Bellin Memorial Hospital in Green Bay like I said around 1am, we were escorted directly to Labor and Delivery. The first nurse that took care of us was awesome, her name was Mollie and she was of course wearing Green Bay Packer scrubs, which is quite funny because Kurt and I are huge Bears fans. She was so sweet we absolutely loved her. She had Kurt fill out paperwork and worked on verifying whether or not it was in fact my water that had broken. After a quick exam, it was confirmed I was in labor and Payton was on her way.

We called my mom back right away to let her know to get going, but Steve told us she had already left after our first call. That made us giggle, she was so excited and thought if it was my water breaking they for sure would be admitting me that night. She ended up getting there around 2:30am.

My contractions were getting closer together and I was dilated 2 or 3 centimeters.

We discussed pain management options right away before my mom even got there. I knew for sure that I wanted to have an epidural, but the nurse encouraged me to try to wait as long as possible. She did advise me though to have the anesthesiologist come in and put the catheter in right away while my contractions were still half way mild. Then he could come back later when I decided to have the epidural and they would administer it through the catheter that was already in place. This was definitely a great decision.

At about 5 am, I couldn't take it anymore and needed something for the pain so she gave me a medication to help me relax so I could possibly take a nap. It helped tremendously I was having such bad back labor I couldn't get out of bed or move to try any other positions that we learned in our Lamaze classes. At around 7am the medication started to wear off and the contractions were coming about every 3 minutes so I asked for the epidural. It took about 20 minutes but it helped me tremendously. I couldn't feel the contractions any longer, YEAH, just the pressure from them which was perfect.

The contractions started to slow to about every 15 minutes, which I was glad for because I had at this time only had about 2 hours of sleep since Tuesday night and it was Thursday morning. Anyways the nurses decided to give me Patocin to speed things back up which was fine with me. After that the contractions came back strong and I was dilating at a regular pace. At about 8:30am, I was 10 centimeters dilated and ready to start pushing. I couldn't feel the pain, just the pressure so the epidural was working perfectly. I pushed for about an hour and Payton was born at 9:46am Thursday August 23rd, 2007.

Kurt cut the umbilical cord and they placed her on my chest on some blankets, she was perfect. For a vaginal birth she had the most perfectly round head. She was so beautiful, I don't think I have ever seen anything so amazing in my life. Kurt helped the nurses give her her first bath. The doctor asked him to guess how much she weighed and he guessed 7 lbs. He was so close she weighed 6 lbs 15 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches tall, good guess Kurt.

Mommy and Payton's first picture together.

This is Doctor O'Toole, he's awesome. He's definitley one of the reasons that I will miss Green Bay when we move, if I could have him deliver all of our children I would in a heartbeat.

First Bath

Payton and Nana

I was purely exhausted and was shaking so badly after the delivery. I was freezing and the hormones were making me shake uncontrolably. They put about a million blankets over me and gave me heat packs for my back which was pretty sore. The epidural was wearing off by now. I wanted to enjoy my little girl, but could barely keep my eyes open. Mom and Kurt were great, I don't know what I would have done without them. My sister got there before noon and they all looked after her so I could get some much needed rest. They let Kurt get in a quick nap as well, but I think he was too excited to sleep much at this point.

Payton and Daddy

First family photo.

We had already called Kurt's family and his Mom and sister were already on there way to the hospital, we were expecting them around 10 or 11pm that night. His dad and brother were coming Saturday to see our newest family member as well.

Aunt Niki and Payton

Payton and Grandma

The hospital staff were just awesome, every nurse that took over with each shift change was just wonderful. The visiting hours were very flexible as well, they allowed Kurt's family to come up and see Payton in the nursery when they got into town that night. We let her sleep in the nursery because we knew we wouldn't be getting much sleep for the next couple of months and were well advised to take advantage of the nurses at the hospital. We were able to stay in the hospital until Saturday which was also great.

Well that's pretty much the story of Payton's birth. I'll make a post for her homecoming as soon as I can as well. Here are some more pictures from this amazing day, enjoy.

Daddy admiring his baby girl.

First Bottle, Yum

My sister took this picture, it's one of my favorites.

Nana and Aunt Yashica were having fun while mommy and daddy took naps.

(I did have a good picture of my sister with her that day, but couldn't find it,

if I do I'll add it in soon,

sorry titi Yashica)

Our Giggly Little Girl

Unfortunately I haven't been very good at getting posts up, I was trying to go in chronological order, but since I haven't been that great at working on my blog Kurt thought it would be a good idea for us to at least put a video of Miss Payton on here for you to view until I get back into gear.  

Here is a cute video of Payton last weekend when we were at my mom's house in Waukesha, WI where we took our first mini family vacation.  We took her to the zoo on Thursday, my mom doesn't work on Friday's so she watched Payton as Kurt and I went to the Milwaukee Public Museum to see the Body World's exhibit, and then we attended a wedding on Saturday, our friends from college Dean Pogodzinski and Jenn Braier got married.  

She loved the step between my mom's living room and the kitchen and her and Nana played a lot there.  She couldn't stop giggling, hope you enjoy.  

Like I said before I will try to get my posts updated and be better about it.  Sorry.

My Beautiful Baby Shower

Well after a long hot summer of being pregnant, my mom and sisters(Yash and Mollie) threw me an awesome baby shower at my moms house in Waukesha, WI.  Just in time too.  It was August 4th 2007 which is my neice Jaqlyn's Birthday, it was so nice of her to share her big day with Payton and I.  She was my helper in opening our gifts and I made sure she was the first to open a present that day.  Kurt and I got her a brat doll and a gift card to go to see the Brat movie in the theaters.  I think she really liked it.  Here's a picture of her and my other niece Kayla playing in the guest room at mom's house that day.  

It was so fun to see my family and friends and we were so blessed with so many amazing gifts for Payton.  I was obviously huge and it was very hot that day, but mom made sure to keep the house nice and cool for me.  Regardless of her greatest efforts though I continued to swell like a baloon.  Here is a picture of me and my huge belly.

A few of my friends from college came including Danyel Lachermeier and Jennifer McEvilla.  I found out some amazing news about my friend Jenny that day; after a couple of years of trying to get pregnant her and her husband were expecting twins in March of 2008.  I have to get in touch with her to find out if she's had them by now.  I believe she would have had a boy and a girl, Reece and Cole.  Here is a picture of the two of us, you can't even tell that she's pregnant yet, I think she was about 8 weeks along here.

The party was so fun and I am so thankful for everyone that was there, everyone that sent us gifts and for all of their generosity.  Here are some more pictures of the shower and I just have to sneak in a picture of Kurt, his family and I when we went to two weddings this summer. Enjoy....

Here I am with the beautiful cake that Mollie brought, it was so yummy.

My mom got the letters of Payton's name at a craft store and painted them, they are so beautiful and as you've already seen they are hanging above Payton's bed.  Here's me opening the "O".
Kurt's sister Niki made letters for Payton's room as well.  They were wood and she used some really cool scrap book paper to decorate them.  They are hanging above her changing station. 
This is a burp rag that my aunt Clarice made she embroidered it and everything.  She knows I love turtles, it says "Payton Nicole Loves Mama and Daddy".
Here are the sheets and curtains for Payton's room.  They are green, white and brown with elephants.  

Here I am with the wonderful ladies in my life that made this party happen.. 

From left to right... Mollie, my mom Kathy, me and Yashica.

My sister got Payton a shirt that says "everyone loves a brown eyed girl", too bad I don't think Payton will be able to wear it, here eyes are blue/hazel.

Mom got me a corsage to wear.
Here is that picture I was talking about from the weddings last summer.  I was six months pregnant here.

Here I am after the baby shower when Kurt grabbed a quick picture of me.  Little did I know how soon Payton would be arriving, I was almost 9 months pregnant here