Who knew having babies changes your body?

Well , just about everyone ! But, what you don't know is exactly how much it changes your body until you personally go through it. I never gained a ton of weight with Aubrey throughout my pregnancy. From beginning to end I had gained about 20-25 lbs. Which is good because I was overweight to begin with. I am back at my pre-baby weight and have been since probably the third week after having her. The thing is though , I have like no muscle tone in my stomach ! I never thought I had muscle tone in the first place , in hind sight I definitely did! So, I whipped put my Yoga DVD the other day and gave it a go. It was tough, but I felt so much better after doing it! I was sore in all the right places, and relieved in all the right places :) So during the days when I am home with Aubs ( which is pretty much every day ) I am making it my goal to do some form of exercise. I definitely have a 20-30 minute window when I can get it done with no problem.
I also need to work on my eating habits again.....uuuhhhggggg. I have always struggled with food problems. Whether it was eating too little in high school (I won't get too in to that) or eating too much when I am stressed out now. I have food issues........ My sweet tooth has been out of control ! Or my self control has been out of control :) I have always loved sweets , I just need to practice a lot of self control. Being in the house the majority of the day has killed it. But, no more excuses! I am whipping my ass back into to shape and reaping the benefits . Who knows, maybe I will even start posting some pictures?

Aubrey and Daddy

I don't know if we could keep up with it, but I'm thinking about doing a daily Aubrey picture. Kristina's mother is always jonesing for Aubrey something, so it would be inspired by her.

Aubrey's 2 month checkup.

Well our little Aubs had her 2 month checkup today. She is measuring 22 inches long , weighs 9 lbs. 3 ounces , and her head is like 15 inches around . By the way, she is in the 25th percentile for growth , but her head is in a category of it's own at the 50th percentile ! We knew that was comin! All the nurses kept commenting on what a happy baby she was and how alert she seemed. She really is inquisitive. You can already get a little peek at what her personality is gonna be like. Now of course the most dredded part of the 2 month checkup is the shots . She had to get 3 shots and some sort of oral vaccine. She did cry and it was like a " I can't beleive this is happening to me!" , sort of cry. Then she proceeded to scream " AAHHH MAMA!" That was really funny because of course she doesn't know what she is saying, but I would like to think it was some sort of primal instinct , or maybe she is just a genius :) I got a little teery eyed , but did much better than I thought I would have. She is running a tiny fever and a bit cranky tonight , but she is such a trooper. All in all it was a great doctor's appointment and everything is going really well for our girl.

3 "new" videos

Aubrey update - Early December

Well it's almost 10pm on a Friday night and I should be trying to sleep while Aubrey is but I'm a crazy man. Actually I've really wanted to update everything because I know people have been dying to know what's going on.

If you follow Facebook updates from us you probably know it's been rough since we came home. Breastfeeding has proven much harder and unnatural than you'd think. Kristina really had a rough start not long after we got home. She was in a lot of pain, and to top it off the baby was seemingly hungry all the time. We ended up getting some nipple cream to help.

Then came the exhaustion factor, Kristina realized she was becoming a 24/7 milk machine. Couple that with not being able to really go out b/c first of all baby can't really go out until 2 month when she gets her shots, plus baby needs to eat often so where do you find the time?

We stayed at Kristina's parents the week of Thanksgiving. I had some time off from work already scheduled so it worked out. Kristina's mother has been an ENORMOUS help since we brought Aubrey home. She even took care of Aubrey one afternoon so Kristina and I could go to dinner and a movie, New Moon because Kristina LOVES the Twilight books. There were still plenty of rough nights though at her mom's house with Aubrey.

The thing is this girl just doesn't want to be laid down. This is basically what happens: she eats for a while and slips into a "milk coma", and she's out. I mean the girl is sleeping. Try to lay her down in the bassinet and in 5 minutes she's up and screaming. We've tried different positions: back, side and stomach. Sometimes she sleeps but most of the time she doesn't. The main ways that have worked to get her to sleep for an extended period of time is either a) in her carseat or b) laying on one of us.

One other thing happening is that she really seems gassy or has an upset tummy a lot. I think that's half her problem when she's so fussy, not that she's still hungry or didn't get enough to eat. The pediatrician and lactation consultant family friend have made several diet recommendations for Kristina including no dairy, no spicy foods, no sugar - we're also now trying to stay away from wheat and soy b/c they can be allergenic. I really think this is the cruelest part of parenthood so far, at least for Mom because going through pregnancy and labor's hard enough and she had to cut out enough during that time. Why can't she now eat whatever the hell she wants? NO FAIR MAN!

Anyway, we made a doctor's appointment this past Monday to see if he had any recommendations for Aubrey's fussiness. Baby hadn't gained weight for the whole week since the last appointment, so we set another for the end of the week. We went back yesterday and she had gained 2 ounces, right on target at 1/2 oz a day. So for now I guess everything's ok. We got some Gripe Water to help settle Aubrey's tummy. That seems to be helping.

The little girl will be 1 month old on Monday! Craziness. This whole year's been nuts. I'm really bad at remembering years in general, but I'll never forget 2009 and everything we've been through. This may have been the longest month of our entire lives. Everyone reassures Kristina and me it gets better. I certainly hope so because it ain't easy lately!

Click here for my Facebook album of Aubrey with new uploads. I've added some videos below too from the last couple of weeks. Hope everyone enjoys them.

A few favorite pictures.

Here are a few choice picture selections. They're already on the linked Facebook album from the previous post, but I thought I'd put a few here too. :) - Dustin

Aubrey's Here!

We've been slacking off on the updates, our apologies. Ms. Aubrey Belle was born on Monday November 9th at 9:38pm. She was 6 pounds 6 ounces and 20 inches long. Her head was 13 1/2 inches around.

Aubrey was a week overdue and so we scheduled Kristina to be induced at 5am Monday morning. Once things really started happening the contractions were pretty frequent, every couple of minutes and she was up to 3 or 4 centimeters dilated when she opted for the epidural

I took a short nap after all of that, and when I woke up the doctor said that Aubrey's heartrate was dropping after each contraction which was an indication she was tired. The first strategy was to stop the pitocin drip and start it back up lower, but then Aubrey's head was face up so that's when we decided to get a c-section. Based on what was going on with the heartrate it really was the safest option, although it was the last thing we both wanted.

However, I must say maybe it was a blessing in disguise because the extended hospital stay has been helpful. The little girl has been having issues breastfeeding, primarily she just wants to sleep. The nurses have been very very helpful and so I'm thinking God knew we were unprepared (we took no classes) and we needed extra time here at the hospital.

I was posting updates throughout the day on Twitter, and now have a growing baby album on Facebook.

Here are some of the videos I've got on Youtube too:

Early on in the labor process:


Not long after her delivery:



Rocking with Daddy on her 2nd morning in the world:

Making progress!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Went in for my 37 week checkup today and man was I suprised! The doctor said Aubrey dropped down to a minus 1 station , I am 80 % effaced , and 1 centimeter dilated. This is a huge change from last week. It also explains the discomfort I have been experiencing :) He said it doesn't really mean anything as far as how soon I will be going into labor. I could still make it all the way to my due date or past it. He did say that it is a good sign my body is progressing on it's own though. And on a cuteness note , the doctor had a hard time getting Aubrey's heart beat because she kept moving all over the place :) When it finally registered it was 150 , which is what it's usually around.

Dustin and I will be going on the hospital tour tomorrow. I am really excited about that because I finally get to see where I'm gonna have this little bugger . I also have some questions that I want answered and I would love to put my mind to rest.

We will keep yall posted at the first sign of anything happening!

Belly cast tonight!

These are the only pictures I was allowed to upload of the belly cast experiment. I have a few more that shows Kristina in all her plaster glory but they are a little too revealing. :)

Belly measuring contest

Baby shower and 9 month update!

We finally had our baby shower this past weekend. It was everything I thought it would be and more! I have never felt so humbled and grateful as I did that day. To have all of my friends and family coming together to support and love this little baby they have never even met before was such an incredible experience! I can't thank everyone enough for making it such a special day , but THANK YOU all so much. When we got everything home and carried inside , we couldn't even walk into Aubrey's room :) My mom came over a couple days later and helped me organize everything which was a big help.

I am now officially 9 months pregnant ( 36 weeks) and can't believe it ! I had my weekly doctors appointment today and was a tiny bit disappointed. I came back positive for the Strep B test , which is really common. I have to get an I.V. of antibiotics when I go into labor, that will take care of any cause for concern. He also checked me to see if I was dilated and all that good stuff. I was not dilated , and Aubrey has only dropped to a minus 2 station ! It feels like this child is right on my freakin bladder. I can't even imagine what it will feel like when she is dropped down into my pelvis. Well here is to hoping she doesn't stay in too long!