2 Weeks Old

On thursday, Cassidy made two weeks! We had our first pediatrician appointment, during which I was neurotically afraid they would take her away from us because she already has horrible diaper rash and nose congestion. However, we passed our "test" with flying colors! Our most exciting news is that she gained not just the recommended 5-7 ounces which would have returned her to her birth weight of 5lbs 15oz, but instead a whopping 1lb 7oz!

Yep, you read that right... 1lb7oz, which brings her up to 6lbs15oz!

The doctor was thrilled and said we could stop supplementing with formula. I'm thrilled about that because I've recently come to the conclusion that the formula we were supplementing with was giving her horrible gas, not to mention it will cut down on the amount of time it takes for each feeding.

We knew she had gained, but we had no idea it was so much! We shouldn't be surprised since it seems that all we did for the first 2 weeks was feed her constantly and in increasingly large amounts. But still, I feel rather proud of us when I think of the surprise and excitement on the nurse's and doctor's faces at seeing her weight gain!

So we are now feeding exclusively breast milk, most directly from the source, and some expressed and bottled. I'm a bit concerned about my body's ability to keep up with our little one's growing appetite, but we are going to do our best not to return to formula.

So here are some new pictures of our "not so little" Cassidy!

Introducing... Cassidy Addison

We are thrilled to introduce you to Cassidy Addison. We couldn't decide between the two names and kept returning to both of them, so we decided to go with both!

Our amnio went really well on thursday, with the lungs returning results of unquestionably developed and ready to go! So at 12:08pm on September 11, Cassidy arrived (though she didn't become "Cassidy Addison" until Saturday). She initially had some fluid in her lungs (not uncommon with c-section babies), needed some oxygen passed by her nose briefly, and spent a little longer than normal in the nursery but avoided NICU. Her official stats are 5lbs 15 oz and 17 3/4 inches long.

The c-section went much better than I expected, and my doctor was still patting herself on the back 2 days later ... and rightfully so! There was almost no excess bleeding and were no complications. She got a good look at the fibroids, which are indeed everywhere. The scar goes from the bottom of my tummy around my belly button and extends to about 2 inches above my belly button. It looks like it's healing really well. The scariest part was after Cassidy had arrived. Jeff followed her to the nursery and stayed with her there while they closed me back up. That part took an unually long time, about 1.5 hours, which I assume is because of the fibroids. If the doctor did have any concerns while operating, she hid it well!

Recovery is okay, but more painful than anything I've experienced before. We probably could have come home on Sunday, but my digestive system had some trouble starting back up again, so we pushed to stay one more night. We came home Monday afternoon, and are adjusting really well!

Here are some pictures on day 3 and 4. She was down to 5 lbs 10oz coming home, so our main goal the next week will be to have her gain weight before our first pediatrician appointment. Cassidy's coming home outfit, the preemie size green dress, is quite large on her. We'll have to try it again in a couple weeks.

Our adjustment at home is going really well, and it helps immensely that my parents are now 4 miles away from us, renting a house here. The nighttime feedings are rough, especially since we're breastfeeding, supplementing, and pumping every 3-3.5 hours. Since it takes about an hour to get through each feeding session, that doesn't leave too much time for sleep.

We'll be posting more pictures occassionally, so check back often!

36 weeks - Supersized.

The day before my c-section.