Faces of Claire-bear

Claire is only a few days old in this pic

About a week old here, doing what she does best...lifting that sweet little head!

13 days old here, looking pretty in pink!

About 4 weeks. Love this outfit!

First denim outfit

About 8 weeks old!

10 Weeks old here!

Life as a Mommy

Our hospital stay was great. When I arrived to my postpartum room my awesome friends in L&D decorated the room, a cute, giraffe pillow pet greeted me when i got into the room. It was a great surprise. Claire was such a sweet little baby, I was enamoured with her. I just kept starring at her thinking to myself, how did we create such a beautiful, precious person?! Breastfeeding went great, she wanted to eat all the time! I guess the 2nd nigh she started to cluster feed. I hate to say this but, that was painful and exhausting! I could bearly get her off and she would want to feed again. The nursery nurse said that it was normal, she was trying to get my milk supply to come in. About 3am I felt like I was going to pass out from exhaustion, I called the nurse in the room and asked for a pacifier. I know, I know...I read the books...no pacifier for the first 6 weeks until you have established breastfeeding. What a wimp, right?! Fortunatley, we didn't have any nipple confusion issues, and the passy gave me some sleep and some sanity for that matter :)

Going home was so exciting! I just couldn't believe that she was all mine forever! When we got home we were greeted with some beautiful flowers and a wonderful aroma of chicken spaghetti in the air. Thanks to Granny Janny (my mom, which by the way she hates that name. My sister and I gave it to her as a joke cause she is way too cool for a name like that.) The next few days were great, so many visitors coming to meet our precious Claire for the first time. Everyone fell in love with her immediatley.

I made a vow to myself that I would never forget how hard it is the first few weeks. And also to never sugar-coat how hard it is to any first time moms. I figured by doing this 1) I will be expecting the worse with our next child so maybe it won't be so bad and 2) So new moms will have an idea and also know that No, they're not the only ones. I swear no one told me how bad it was going to be those first few weeks. Although, some of my friends did say they told me, maybe I was in denial becuase how bad can a sweet baby be, right?! Wow! It is rough, especially after that newness wears off the first week.

After the first few nights of getting 30 mins of sleep here and there I started to break all the rules. I started with her just sleeping on my chest. She slept so soundly and it was so sweet. Not to mention I was able to catch some z's as well. Then, I fed her in bed and oops, fell asleep while feeding her more times than I care to admit. But, she would eat and fall asleep right next to me. I always made sure she was supported with blankets so she wouldn't role over or suffocate. This continued on for several weeks and then one day I let her take a nap on her stomach...another rule broken, I know! But, from that moment life got better. She slept so much better on her tummy! Within a few days I purchased a monitor that monitors movement, inculding breathing, and is very sensitive. Still to this day, Claire is a tummy sleeper and sleeps like a champ in this position. From about 5 weeks on sleeping and life in general seemed to get back to somewhat normal.

We are at 10 weeks now! She is growing like a weed! She went for a checkup last week and is now 12lbs 3oz and is in the 90th percentile for height, weight, and head circumfrence. Pediatrician said that she is doing great, growing proportionatley, and is just a big girl! She has a handful of tricks now. I can stick my tounge out at her and sticks it back at me and smiles. I make an "OHHH" noise and she copies it back to me....so stinkin' cute!!! She has rolled over a couple of times from front to back. And, she continues to hold her head up for longer amounts of time every day. She has literally been pushing her head up and holding it up since she was about 12 hours old. She is so strong! I can't wait until she starts to laugh, sometimes her sweet, little smile bring tears to my eyes. And lastely, she has 2 little teeth buds on her bottom gums!

Life as a Mommy is GREAT! Although stressful, worth every second!

1 day old! So tiny!

Getting hearing test

Going Home!!!!

Rewind To May 13th!

So, my little sister has been bugging me to start a blog since way before little Claire was born but I came up with every excuse not to do it. Now after seeing her blog I think its a great place to share life events with friends and family! So I guess I will start the day before Claire was born!

My Pregnancy

As most of you know Dave and I got married on Aug 15, 2009. We had discussed having kids and initially wanted to start trying immediately. After all the stress of the wedding and just getting back to life after the honeymoon, we had decided that maybe we should wait to try for a baby for 6 months or so. Well, about 2 weeks after that conversation, I was not feeling well at work. I contributed to being tired and well, being at work. It wasn't until my coworker, Mona, said, "I think you're pregnant." I thought to myself, I don't think so...then my wheels started spinning. OH CRAP! Maybe I am!! I went home and took a test and sure enough 2 NEON PINK lines! When Dave got home I told him the news and his exact words were..."Ya right, Whatever!" We then convinced ourselves that it was a false positive. I got on the internet and Googled "False positive pregnancy tests." Everything I read said, that false positives are not likely. Then, I started to accept the fact, that I was having a baby! Although we were so excited, we were scared!

My pregnancy with Claire was really normal and uneventful. However, there was probably not a day that went by that I didn't think there was something wrong. Being a nurse in labor and delivery put way too many bad thoughts in my head. I was constantly paranoid. I had Braxton Hicks contractions throughout, as early as 16 weeks from what I remember. I was always so worried, always timing them on my little contraction timer app. They never got painful or regular. The midwives taking care of me assured me that everything was fine and attributed the contractions to running around at work all day. At the time, I was worried but, looking back, I think all those little contractions helped the labor process.

My Birth Story

On May 13th at my routine 38wk appointment my midwife checked me and I was 3cm! I was so excited! But, my blood pressure was up that day so she decided to strip my membranes to see if that would kick me into any kind of real labor. I left the office pretty crampy and uncomfortable but nothing terribly painful. I had contractions that were uncomfortable all that night but nothing was regular so I didn't think it was the "real deal." I got sleep on and off that night but was rudely awakened by some stronger contractions around 4AM. Still nothing regular, like every 4-10 minutes apart! I had to work that morning so I went ahead and got up, took my shower and got ready. I figured if I really was in labor, running around all day on the unit would surely get me going. Dave left that morning at 5:30, I told him that I wasn't sure but thought I might go into labor that day. We were so excited but SO nervous!

So, before going to work I had to stop and get my girls some goodies. See, I work on the unit that I delivered on so, if I showed up without some kind of candy or snacks to have Claire, I would for sure be shunned for life! I remember walking around Kroger having contractions that hurt BAD! By the time I got to work, my contractions were hurting worse. I walked up to my charge nurse and told her I was sorry, I was going to be a patient today and not a nurse. I went ahead and checked myself in to triage. From there I was admitted at 4cm! My good friend Julie, that is a nurse at Baylor with me, walked by triage to wish me luck. My first question to her was "Do you have a patient?" She said no, in reply I said "Do you want one?" Julie graciously said YES and was my fabulous nurse all day! When I got to my labor and delivery room, I quickly got my epidural because I knew if they wanted to break my water, the pain would get alot worse rapidly! Glad I did because about 30 mins after I got my epidural my fabulous midwives, Allison and Sue, checked me and I was 5-6cm, they decided to brake my water. A couple hours later I had progressed to 9cm, and by 3pm I was 10cm! But, unfortunately, Claire had not descended low enough for me to start pushing. So, for 3hours I let her come down on her own in hopes that I would not have to push long. At this point I was very uncomfortable, my epidural had worn off and I didn't want to get more medicine in the epidural because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to feel where to push. Fortunately, around 6:30 they rechecked me and Miss Claire finally come down far enough to start pushing! Thank God because I was a WRECK at that point. I was hurting so bad and just wanted her out. Actually, I'm pretty embarrassed about what a baby I was at the end, I didn't think it was ever going to be over. Needless to say, I could feel exactly where to push! Claire was born about 20 minutes later at 6:54pm!

I must say a great big THANKS to Julie, Sue, and Allison! They were so good to me, I know I was a big pain...especially at the end. They stood by and supported me all day!

Claire Elizabeth Mazac. 8lbs (well 7-15.6 it rounds up), 19.5 in. That is Aunt Car-Bear's finger she's holding on to :)

Sweet little face!

Our little Angel!