say cheese

Today we tried taking pictures at home for Teagan's passport. Although we were unsuccessful at getting a shot that would work, I think that the pictures turned out hilarious. Take a look:

EASY, right?

Today Teagan and I have been having a "shhh" war. This means that Teagan cries and I try to "shhh" loudly, at least to the same level as her cry. Let's just say that I think I am going hoarse.

We've been reading a couple of helpful books since sweet Tea was born. Perhaps the most helpful technique out of them has been Karp's, from The Happiest Baby on the Block. This includes, "shhh-ing," along with swaddling, sucking, swaying, and laying on the side- otherwise known as "the 5 S's." Usually combining these techniques to calm Teagan really works. Not today.

We've also been trying to get her into a pattern from another book called "EASY," which stands for "eat," "activity," "sleep," and "you time." Today Teagan is doing OK at the eating and activity steps, but just won't sleep for longer than 20 minutes. Which of course means there is little or no "you time." Thankfully, she seems to be happy in her swing at the moment, so I'm taking this time to vent.

What I should really be doing is sleeping, right? Or perhaps taking a shower. It's funny how the first couple of weeks Sean and I thought we had it figured out. Turns out we just has a super sweet newborn who was really good at sleeping. Truth is, Teags is still pretty good at sleeping one long stretch at night, it just takes a while to get her there these days.... and in actuality, it's only been the last few days that have been rough; and today is my first day home alone without Sean in over one week, so I kinda feel like my failure in getting Teagan to rest is magnified.

I know there are other new parents out there who are having a much harder go of it and it's not going to be EASY to get into a routine. I mean, this baby is pretty new to the whole "world" thing, so there are lots of things that could be making her upset. I just feel bad for her every time she scream-cries and I can't seem to sooth her.

If she wakes again soon, I think I'll take her on a walk. We've been good and have gone on walks 4 out of the last 6 days so far and she always falls asleep- maybe that's my ticket to the S and the Y today!!

OK, Teagan, I've got my game face on, too. Let's do this, love.  

moving forward

I need to remember these things...

#1- if you're going to share a blog with a lot of people, you should probably be consistent in writing/keeping it up.

#2- every day of maternity leave goes by much faster than that of any other normal day.

#3- as challenging as some of your "new parent" moments are, there are other "new parents" that have it much harder than you do.

So, I'm feeling really humbled this week, as I usually do, when I realize how blessed we are and how the Lord continues to provide for us, even when we often neglect to acknowledge His presence in our lives.

It's been 6 weeks. Can you believe it?! Teagan is 6 weeks old! We have seen her first smile (at us and not just gas!), taken many baths, walks, trips to the store and restaurants... we've done so much! And... she is already around 10 pounds!

First walk through Rock Creek Park.

First Metro ride.

First lunch at a restaurant.

First visit to a memorial.

Yesterday I went to the doctor for my 6 week post-partum check up.  When the doc said, "OK, we'll see you again in one year," I almost couldn't believe it.  It's funny because at the end of my pregnancy I was going to the doctor two times a week.  I think I may miss driving to and from Georgetown University Hospital, waiting 45-60 minutes over my appointment time to be seen, and paying for valet parking... I honestly don't know how I will live without the excitment!

As I sadly count down the days until I go back to work, a lot of my anxiety over some of the logistical things we needed to figure out has begun to deminish because things are slowly, but surely, falling into place.

Sean got a job! He'll be starting this month (before he graduates) as a law clerk with the Dept. of Energy's Office of General Counsel.  He'll be working in the Financial Assistance & Procurement Policy division. (This is the division where he interned last year here in DC- they are also the office that oversees the office in Colorado- where he interned last summer.)  Once he passes the bar (he takes it this July), he will transition into a full-on attorney.

We've secured a child care situation for sweet Tea! This was probably the most anxiety provoking issue that I've been dealing with since we got pregnant.  Here in DC, people get on waiting lists for child care (either home care or centers) when they are like, 4 months pregnant.  Wait lists usually take at least a year for your spot to open up.  Even though I had heard this to be true, Sean and I had a lot of external factors that prohibited us from deciding where to start looking- for example, we had hoped that Sean might have a job opportunity in Colorado....  besides that, we knew that we needed to move to a bigger apartment and weren't sure if we wanted to 1) stay in the city, 2) move to VA, or 3) move to MD.  OR.... should we just find a place near my office?

Then I heard about this website called DC Urban Moms.  It's a site that has a discussion forum in which moms in DC can talk about anything, including... NANNY SHARE!! I saw a post by a gal living in the neighborhood next to ours looking for another baby/family to share a nanny.  We met with the couple over dinner last night and everything looks really good. We are so compatible in terms of our child rearing philosophies, work scheudles, etc.  Get this- the couple are both attorneys, the gal also lived in Vietnam teaching English for a year, and the guy is from the south and watches SEC football.... with a friend who's an Aggie. This may seem like superficial stuff, but it sure did make it a lot easier for us to feel comfortable with them. They have an adorable son who is almost exactly 4 weeks older than Teags. We are still sorting out the details but it looks like we'll be interviewing nannies this month!  It's crazy, because I never thought a nanny would be affordable, but here in the city, if you share with another family, it looks like it's going to cost the same (or a little less) than a private home care or child care center.  AND- the family we are sharing with wants to hire a nanny who will speak Spanish to our little ones, which we are very excited about! Hopefully Teags will become fluent!

The last logistical thing we are working on is deciding where to move- we want more space for less rent, which is a bit difficult to find....  Teagan will be going to the other family's house to be watched by the nanny (which happens to be around the corner from my office!), so we are able to move pretty much anywhere that is still accessible by metro (in case the nanny needs to come to our house one day).

So, the hunt is on! We are not sure yet if we will wait to move until after Sean takes the bar- I guess it will depend on what we can find between now and May.  It's crazy to think that we will be in DC for at least another 3 years- meaning that we will have actually lived in one place for 6 years- I guess that's called "settling down?"

Here are some recent pics of our little family. I feel like we learn something new about caring for Teagan every day.  For example, yesterday we learned that I am not allowed to go shopping for her clothes by myself. She is gonna be one stylin' gal between the ages of 3-6 months! You should have seen all of the stuff on sale at Babies-R-Us!! Hahaha...

Wide eyes!

Practicing the Superwoman pose!

This is Teagan's, "why are you pointing that camera phone at me all the time?" face.

Winkin' in her first pair of jeans.

Cooing. Using new sounds every day.

My two loves sleeping the morning away... check out those precious hands!

  

Gym time! 

Amazing flowers from Sean, "just because." ("They were half price." - Sean) 

  

9 days old...

... but who's counting? Really, I am. And I can't believe how the days just pass by.

We've had a lot of milestones over the last 9 days. Here's a few highlights:

• On day 4 we went for our first pediatrician appointment and everything looked good.  They wanted to test her for jaundice so we spent about 2 hours in a lab waiting room for them to take blood from her heel.  It wouldn't have been so bad if we would have had a technician who knew what to do... he literally pricked her and then just held a tube there to catch the blood. Luckily, I had made friends with another technician the week before and she wanted to see Teagan. When she saw what the guy was doing, so told him to step aside and took over.  She massaged Teags foot and got the blood to come out much faster- I was so appreciative to her.  At the same appointment, the doc took a look at my legs because they were super swollen.  They decided that they wanted to do an ultrasound on my leg to rule out clotting.... this required that we spend another 2 hours at the radiology lab so that they could fit me in.  It was a super stressful day and I totally had a couple of crying-emotional breakdowns (out of frustration of being there, having to wait for so long, etc.), but thankfully Teags and I both came out clear of any sort of complications.  I have now purchased some compression stockings--- my dad assured me that my Memaw wears them though, so I am feeling pretty stylin'. 
• We had our second doctor appointment for Teagan today and all is going well.  She continues to put on weight so I guess that means that our breastfeeding has been successful thus far!  
• Teagan's umbilical cord fell off today, too!  It's a good thing too, because that thing was starting to smell foul. I mean really foul. The doctor said that it will still take a few days for the inner skin to get rough, but we are happy that she will no longer have that silly little thing hanging off of her. 
• I spent 2 days this week alone with Teagan while Sean went back to school.  We were together all day until about 9PM and I think we did OK.  I am still trying to catch up on sleep and was actually able to take an hour nap during one of her naps yesterday.  Sometimes when I think about how tired I am though, it makes me a bit weepy.  The hormonal changes are no joke.  
• I am starting to feel better physically... It's amazing how quickly the body can heal itself.  
• I've been able to shower every day!! AND keep up with the laundry... These are pretty big accomplishments.
• Teagan has the cutest cry.  When she's really going at it, she will squeak at the end.  This has earned her a couple of nicknames, including: squeakers and teagasaurus rex.
• Today we went on our first walk outside with the stroller.  We took it slow and went to Starbucks and CVS.  She did really well and kept her eyes open most of the time, checking out the new light and sounds.  
• We've had a handful of visitors, including Sean's law school buds and some of my work colleagues.  Everyone has been so sweet with her.  

OK that's it for now.  Not too exciting, I know.  More to come soon!

... and suddenly, life is different.

Teagan Ella Johnson

Born 1/23/12 @16:25

7 lbs. 14 oz.

20 1/4 inches 

What a week it's been! This will be the first blog post that I write for all to read!! Finally, our baby girl has arrived!

If you read back through the posts from my pregnancy, you'll see that I had to be monitored for blood pressure issues throughout the 9-10 months.  All that really means is that I had a few extra fetal scans and doctor appointments to keep an eye on my general health and baby's overall development. Praise the Lord that we both never experienced any complications.... in fact, baby girl usually measured in the 70% percentile of growth at each scan, making us wonder just how big she'd actually be.  Because of my blood pressure, my doctor informed me early on that they would not allow me to stay pregnant past 40 weeks.  What this meant is that I would be scheduled for an induction if she didn't come early on her own.  

Recognizing that most first time babies are late (including in my own family history), I was pretty resigned to the notion that I would most likely be induced. With that knowledge, I found myself hoping to have a birth plan that included as little medical intervention as possible, save any pain relief options that I thought would help manage my general anxiety about medical stuff.  What I mean is that if I had to be induced, I really hoped that the first round of synthetic hormones (inserted onto the cervix) would help me go into labor prior to having to have a pitocin drip to start contracting my uterus.  I won't go into detail here because it's probably too much information and could spark a debate about natural v. hospital-intervention births, which I am not really interested in doing.

I decided that I wanted to try to bring on labor the week before my scheduled induction, so I began doing some of the things I had heard through Lamaze class and had read about... you know, bouncing on the exercise ball, squatting, etc.  I went to the doctor for my last OB appointment on Thursday, January 19 and found out that I was 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced.  That could mean anything, she said, as some women stay dilated for weeks before they actually go into labor.  I left feeling excited that at least something had started to happen.

On Sunday, January 22, I had a scheduled prenatal massage, just as I did the week earlier.  This time though, I let the masseuse know about my scheduled induction and asked her if she wouldn't mind doing some acupressure/reflexology points to help bring on labor.  She spent about 30 minutes rubbing and pressing various points on my feet and ankles and then finished out the prenatal massage really relaxing my lower back and hips.  It was dreamy! I finished the message around 14:30 and walked over to the hotel where Sean, Summer, Luke, and my dad were hanging out watching football.  We had a late lunch and watched the Patriots beat the Ravens.  Throughout the game, I started to feel cramping about 30 minutes apart- the pain was equivalent to that of menstrual cramp- sorry men readers.  I decided to tell Sean what I was feeling, but didn't think much of it as I had just finished the massage and figured maybe something that the masseuse did actually stimulated something...  

I guess I'll never know if the massage had something to do with it, but by 20:30, I had discharged the thing they call a "mucus plug." Again, TMI, sorry.  Sean and I were at home by this time and the event spun me into stir-crazy mode. I decided to hop in the shower and pack a last minute snack bag for Sean and Summer- "just in case we go into labor during the night," I thought... For some reason, I didn't believe I was actually in labor.  All of the things I had heard about what labor pains feel like were not what I was experiencing.  Also, I was not previously aware of my pain tolerance since I have never (thankfully) had any serious injuries- I figured that "real" labor would probably hurt much worse.  Throughout the night the cramping continued and Sean began to time them with his handy little iPhone app.  By 5:30 I had vomited and the cramping was about 4 minutes apart.  We decided to take my BP since the doctor encouraged us to call if it got high over the weekend and it was really up there: 158/105. Yikes!  We finally got a hold of the on-call doc and she advised us to come in to the hospital.

We stopped by the hotel to pick up Summer, said hello/goodbye to Dad and Luke, and arrived to the hospital at 9:00.  A couple hours later a resident and med student came in to check me out (Georgetown is a teaching hospital, so there are lots of folks in and out)... What they said shocked all of us: I was already at 5 cm and 100% effaced! That's half way there! I couldn't believe it. They inquired whether or not I wanted an epidural for the pain and I had decided that I would- but would like to wait it out as long as I could.  An hour or so later, the contractions were getting really close together and I started to worry that I wouldn't be able to sit still for the epidural if I waited much longer.  The anesthesiologist came and I was able to breathe through 3 contractions while the epidural was being set up.  After that, they checked me again and I was between 7 and 8 cm.

Things were moving very fast.  One of the things that I really appreciated about the epidural is that they only administered the minimum for my height and weight and then gave me a push button to increase the medication if I felt I needed it.  I'm not sure if this is how it's done in other places, but I hadn't heard this before.  As the contractions increased, I was able to leave the medicine at a level where I could still feel cramping, but not intense pain like I had been feeling since we arrived to the hospital that morning.  Within another hour or so, the doctors said I was at 10 cm and that it could be time to push.  When they went to check if they should break the waters, the waters broke with a simple touch- no crochet hook! It was a strange feeling, almost like a little balloon popped in my belly.  Another woman was giving birth in the room next door, so we had to wait it out about an hour before the main doctor could come in to oversee my pushing.  Once I was instructed to push, I could tell them when a contraction was coming on and the L&D nurse confirmed it with the monitor.  After 30 minutes of pushing through about 7 contractions, little Teagan was born!!!  Everyone in the room was so encouraging and helpful... and I am so thankful that Sean and Summer were there to support me.

What followed was about an hour or two of Teagan getting checked out, me getting fixed up, and all of us preparing to move to the maternity ward.  Sean, Teagan and I spent about 48 hours in the hospital. We were discharged and arrived home on Wednesday, January 25.

I am so thankful that the Lord allowed Teagan to be born early- literally 24 hours prior to my scheduled induction.  I am also thankful that I was able to spontaneously experience labor and have a vaginal/normal birth with no needed medical interventions or complications from my BP.  I feel secure about my decision to use pain medication as it really helped by allowing me to remain calm and confident in my ability to deliver sweet Tea into the world.

Well, there it is.  More to come later on her first week at home.  Sean and I are doing great and finding our routine.  He is the most amazing husband, friend, and baby carer any girl could ever ask for. I am truly blessed to have him in my life and am excited to grow in love and life with him and our baby girl.  

ready and waiting

The gang's all here! Well, almost. Summer, Luke, and Papaw Stice arrive next week.... until then, Sean has nicely situated all of our childhood (and since collected) stuffed animals to await baby girl's arrival!

We didn't realize what a motley crew we had until we lined them all up.

From left to right: Andy the Armadillo, Giraffe, Thai girl, Kiwi, Cactus, Nuclear Bear, Hanoi Gorilla, Sheep, Ally the Alligator, IKEA Cat, Dumbo, & Camel.

not long now.

I got to see you move your facial muscles around today during a scan.  You made a really funny face right before we snapped this picture.  It took a while to get you to move your hands out from in front of your face; I think you're going to be just like your dad- sleeping with your hands above your head.  I'm getting more and more excited to meet you and to hold you.  I think I've started to move past the anxiety and fear about the birthing process and into a place of eagerness. You're going to be "full term" in about 48 hours, the day before your dad's 32nd birthday.  Then, only 20 days until the "due date." Maybe you'll come a bit early. Maybe not. Either way, all I want to do until then is stare at this picture and imagine what you're going to be like.

I'm pretty sure I'm already in love with you.