The Scoop

The trick-or-treaters

"Nursing time"

Announcing our newest arrival!

Name: "Baby Bunny Bun" (Not really of course)

Birthdate: October 21, 2009. 9:05 a.m.

Dimensions: 7 lbs. 10 oz., 20 1/4 inches

Special features: Long fingers and toes. She can actually grab my finger with her toes! Wide, dark eyes. Adorable nose. Dark hair, but a little lighter on top.


Delivery: A relaxing pedicure, an active outing to the park with CJ (up and down on the teeter-totter for 15 minutes) and a nice spicy Mongolian dinner put me in to labor the night before I was to be induced. CJ stayed over night at a friend's house and Taylor and I tried to check into the hospital around 2:30 a.m. By this time my contractions were already 2-3 minutes apart, but we had to wait around for at least an hour before we could even get a delivery room. 31 babies in the hospital nursery that day! (It was pointed out to me that this might have something to do with the ice storm last January which kept everyone home from work for a few days.) I had a hugely powerful epidural (thank goodness) and then at 9:05 Bun made her entrance after 30 minutes of pushing. I'm sure it would have been faster, but it was a very, very, very good epidural. I couldn't feel a thing. In fact, I couldn't move on my own for most of the day. I hadn't realized that when the anesthesiologist asked if that felt better that the medicine hadn't fully set in yet. So, he gave me an extra dose of something. Little did I know that this particular anesthesiologist has a reputation for being quite liberal in the amount of drugs he'll give. Ah! Sweet relief!


Bun has been such a calm and content baby. We pressed the nurses into letting us be released from the hospital after 24 hours instead of 48. It seems like it's been mostly down hill from there, though. Maybe my pessimism is due to the fact that I had only a few hours of sleep last night. I guess I should wait and write this when I'm more rested...in 18 years. Because we left the hospital early, the jaundice test had to be repeated at the doctor's office the next day. And since Bun's number was a little high, it had to be repeated at a hospital the following day again. The day after this, we realized that poor little Bun was completely tongue tied, all the way to the tip! So, the next day, she had to have a little minor surgery (which was major in my opinion!) and have her tongue clipped. We spent the next afternoon and evening feeding her by a dropper, wiping up blood, and trying to teach her to suck again.


Since discovering her tongue, Bun has also discovered her voice. It's still a very sweet cry, just louder. CJ loves to hear her cry and will coo at her: "Oh! What a sweet little noise! Oh! What a cute little cry!" At the beginning of Bun's life, before finding her voice, Tay would sarcastically say, "I can't stand that crying. Someone please put a pacifier in her!" And he also would joke that he was going to time the amount of crying she did in one day. I think this idea came from Jim timing Dwight's personal time on "The Office."


The last few days have been difficult ones with a little colic setting in. I'm hoping this phase ends quickly because it's heartbreaking to see such a cute little thing being so sad, especially when I'm used to her being such a content and happy baby.


CJ is taking all the change very well. She loves her sister dearly and wants to constantly hold her, kiss her head, touch her face/hands, etc. She has had just one melt down episode, a few days when she was mean to my Mom, and once when she told me to put the baby back in my tummy. Other than that, she has been exceptionally good. Not even one potty accident! (Knock on wood.) CJ has also been keeping me laughing. One hilarious little anecdote is too close to inappropriate bathroom humor to write down here. If you'd like a good laugh, I'll send you an email about it. Another funny thing she did was when she climbed up next to me on the couch while Bun was nursing. She wrapped her stuffed doggy in a swaddling blanket identical to Bun's and proceeded to lift her shirt and latch her dog right on! I think she knew she was being funny because when I asked my Mom and Tay to come and see, CJ broke out into a hysterical fit of laughter and couldn't stop for several minutes.


Tay has been my very manly angel. He has been chef, man servant, peace keeper, bread winner, clown, grocery shopper, cheerleader, gopher (go for this, go for that,) and fix-it man. He has kept some semblance of order for poor CJ's life and made sure I've had good nutrition and rest. He and CJ had a great time trick or treating together and playing at our Ward Halloween party. CJ wanted to be a pumpkin again (hooray for easy!) Taylor sported his l.e.d. cowboy belt buckle again and programmed it to say, "I am a digital cowboy." I walked into the bathroom when he was half way done drawing a pixilated beard on his face with permanent Sharpie marker. Unfortunately we never got a picture of it that night before it was rubbed, shaved, scrubbed, and scratched off.