One Month With Our Sweet Suzanna Grace

Suzanna Grace was one month old on April 28, 2014...please pardon the tardiness of this post :)

My word, this month has FLOWN by!  I cannot believe how much our sweet girl has changed in just 4 short weeks.

Age: One Month!

Weight: 8 pounds 12 ounces  You are a growing girl!  You have gained 2 lbs and 2 ounces since your doctors appointment at 4 days old.  
Height: 21 inches

                                   

Look how much you have grown from your 1st doctor's visit at 4 days old to your last appointment at 1 month and 1 day!

Diaper Size: Size 1
Clothes: Newborn.  Your Snuggle dressed are starting to fit you better around the shoulders and you can no longer fit into the matching PJs that we have :(
Shoes: None.  You wear socks and usually kick them off within minutes. 

Milestones and Fun Fact:

-Your umbilical cord fell off on March 31, 2014.  The doctor says that you have one good looking belly button!

- You really enjoy taking a bath.  We bathe you in the sink in a little chair and run the hose over you to wash you off.  I sing, "We're gonna take a bath today, we're gonna wash your hair...we're gonna take a bath today, show you that I care..." and you giggle. 
                                   
-Your Daddy takes more pictures and videos of you than even I do.  He looks at them throughout the day shows you off.  Daddy is a fabulous documenter! 

-You got your first shot (since the hospital) on April 29.  Bless your soul, you were so happy and smiley as Mommy talked to you...but then the shot came and Mommy and Daddy both cried with you.  You definitely cry like your Mommy by turning red and not being able to catch your breath.  Sweet angel, we got a taste of what it feels like as a parent to see your child hurt and we wished that we could take it all away.  We spent the rest of the day cuddling...mostly for Mommy's sake.  

-You are really good at holding your head up. You can do so for pretty long periods of time.  You have been known to throw a mean head butt! You like tummy time and will move your head from side to side.  When we lay you on your back, you can roll from side to side. 

-I can remember a week in my pregnancy devotional when I prayed for your digestive system and girl those prayers worked.  Without going into details, you have a superb digestive system...one which shakes and rattles your little body and can be heard several rooms away.  Your Daddy says that he won't need a shotgun to keep the boys away...he has plenty of embarrassing videos!

-You are WIDE eyed many times throughout the day and can really focus on what you are looking at.  From day one you rarely went cross eyed and could win any staredown.  Now, at the end of month 1, you are turning your head to look at Mommy and Daddy especially when we talk to you. 

-You are the happiest girl in the world!  You have been smiling since the first few hours that you entered this world.  You have two precious dimples on either cheek and I have been noticing two on either side of your chin too.  Goodness you are going to be one heartthrob! Over Easter weekend (3 weeks old) you started noticeably smiling at people.  As long as someone is talking sweet to you, you look, listen, and grin.  You even grin when you are nursing and sometimes when you are asleep.  You now "talk" too and to combine your sweet little voice and those big grins melts my heart.  

                                                   

                                   

                                

-Though you were born with a decent amount of hair, we woke up Easter Sunday and you had lost nearly all of it on the top of your head...luckily we had our bonnet ready.  Daddy and I have to oil your head up each night and laugh each time we do it as your eyes roll back in your head and you grin ear to ear with enjoyment.  

                                            

-You LOVE strolling and fall asleep soon after we begin our walks.  You also enjoy traveling in the baby carrier.  You took your first trip in the Ktan before you were even a week old. When Daddy first put you into the baby bjorn you immediately feel asleep.  Mommy thought that you had stopped breathing and freaked out, insisting that he take you out as quickly as possible. 

-You are a "lunching lady" and LOVE getting dressed up and meeting our girlfriends out around town.  Renee and Cherrianne met us for our first lunch outing since they were out for Spring Break.  We were only 30 minutes late and the waiter complimented both of us by saying how sweet and "well behaved" you were...he also told me that I "appeared to be healing well..." 

                                        

-When you were 2 weeks old, your Daddy left for the weekend to attend the Sunday round of the Masters (a "once in a life time opportunity") with Pat.  Lucky for us your Sissy came to stay with us.  You LOVED sleeping on her chest and strolling around the neighborhood.  Normally, Daddy would have not called Mommy all weekend but with you now in the picture he missed his girls and FaceTimed with us each day.  He even called from inside the Masters!  He brought you a Master's teddy bear which he says you will appreciate when you get older. 

-We like to FaceTime!  You will look at the screen and "talk" and grin at whoever is on the other end. Daddy likes to FaceTime with you on days that he has class. 

-You sleep in the Podster and LOVE how it hugs you just like your Mommy's arms.

-You LOVE getting your hair brushed.  Great Nancy (Black) gave you a very fancy monogrammed brush and you love it.

-Your Daddy likes for me to bring you into our room after I nurse you in the morning.  Since he doesn't get to see you a lot at night, he wakes up early to snuggle with you.  You adore sleeping on his chest while he reads...and takes pictures of his girls. 

Schedule: You are on a pretty solid 3-4 hour schedule.  I TRY to stick to something that looks like this:

4 am- Nurse and back to sleep
8:00-9:00-Nurse
12:00-1:00- Nurse
3:00-4:00- Nurse
7:00ish Nurse
10-10:30- Play with Daddy, Nurse, Bedtime

As I typed this out I realized that this isn't even what you followed today.  HAHA. 

You have been sleeping pretty solid 5-6 hours at a time at night!  Hooray!

New things that I have tried this month:

You went on your first walk with Mommy, Daddy, and Friend Uncle Toes at 3 days old.  We walked past Wrigley Field and went to visit Friend Aunt Ashlee at her store on Southport. Daddy was very cautious of all of the bumps along the way and nearly made us turn around and go home.  Mommy was glad to be out of the house and enjoying the sunshine!

You have met LOTS of sweet friends this month!  Each friend that comes over to meet you signs your "Forever Young" book and leaves you a special note.  We love reading over each of them and know that you will treasure it as you grow older!

A sweet message from our Uncle Bryson

Geoff loves you Suzanna Grace and as we found, he brings out the best in you!

Friend Aunt Leslie and Uncle Napper brought supper and came to love on you!

You met Friend Uncle Toes' niece, Bailey Bell when you were a 3.5 weeks old.  She is exactly one month and 1 day older than you and is sure to be a best friend.

Epstein is a pro!  

 Our sweet friends Michele and Riley Coffey came over for a visit too. 

 Uncle Dave (Roth) was a little scared at first, but before he left he had warmed up and couldn't stop kissing his "angel from heaven." #blessedyall

 Thanks Aunt Maggie for my NU outfit.  It looks much better on me than it did on the baby doll.

Daddy put you in the Baby B'jorn when you were crying and you immediately calmed down and fell asleep.  Mommy got scared and thought you stopped breathing so the whole thing was short lived. We will try again another time. :)

Weekly Updates: 

We have LOVED documenting your growth each week.  Mommy is not great at consistency so we will see how long the weekly pictures last.

We celebrated your 1 week birthday with cupcakes and a home cooked meal.  Daddy even brought each of us a flower to celebrate.  You have a sweet Daddy who loves his girlS very much.

                                      

 

Flowers from Daddy on your 1 week birthday.

 Dearst Little Girl,

You are the light of your Daddy's and my life.  I had no idea that I could love someone as much as I love you.  The way that your Daddy loves you makes me love him even more than I ever thought possible.  I hope that no matter that life throws our way in the years to come that we will always be able to remember how happy we are in these moments.  Because of you we want to be better, do better, make the world better.  Your Daddy and I will do all that we can to raise you to trust in the Lord, be kind to others, and to be the best little girl, young woman, and adult that you can be.  I pray that we are successful.

I rarely put you down and have been called a baby hog at times.  When friends ask when we might go out for a night without you and things of that nature I tell them that I have waited for you for so long that I simply cannot think about leaving you just yet.  (I know that the time will come when we need some time apart...it just isn't yet.)  Sometimes when you are asleep I watch over your crib and marvel at your perfection.  How can anyone not believe in God when their are such miracles as babies?  Your Daddy watches me over your monitor and a time or two has used the walkie-talkie feature to tell me to stop touching/poking you.  I just cannot help myself...I miss you when you sleep.

You are such an angel baby, Suzanna Grace.  Though 1 month seems like such a short time, I cannot remember life without you.  You are so loved.

Suzanna Grace's Birth Story

First of all, thank y'all so very much for your prayers for our family throughout my pregnancy, during labor, and now that we have our precious girl in our arms.  We have felt every single prayer.  

On Thursday, March 28 I took off work to go to my two doctors appointments (weekly check up with Dr. Heraty and weekly monitoring/sonogram with Nurse Barb).  I told my maternity sub that the chances of me coming to school the following day were pretty slim as my need to rest, relax, and just get ready for our girl was greatly outweighing returning to work.  I had in my mind that we would be meeting sweet Suzanna Grace sooner than later and that we would be attempting every natural way to get her a movin'.  That morning I went to the gym and walked for quite awhile plus I made a point to sway side to side every time I was standing.  I had even scheduled an appointment with a student's father to have acupuncture done that afternoon.   

When we saw Dr. Heraty at 10:30 she told me that although I was making progress and would induce me if I wanted, she recommended that I come back to see her again at 41 weeks and then we could seriously talk about helping SG make her debut.  I felt a huge sense of relief as the thought of having to decide if I wanted to step in and induce was something that had weighed heavily on my mind and heart.  After all, we had been praying for the Lord to work in His time throughout the past 9+months and I just hated to step in and try to take control then.  SG's heartbeat was around 160 which is higher than it has ever been but Dr. Heraty said that everything seemed great and I was even measuring a little better than I had the previous week.    

Kyle and I headed out to grab something to eat before my monitoring appointment at 1 and enjoyed a lingering lunch of daydreaming and talking about our girl.  He walked me back to the hospital and then headed home to get some work done.  During the stress test Nurse Barb kept me hooked up for a bit longer as she noticed SG's heartbeat dropping a little after some small contractions.  She sent me over to have the sonogram done (which was fine) and when I returned she told me that she wanted the doctor to take a look at the results of the test.  She came back and shared that when they see this happening with the baby's heartbeat it means that the placenta is getting old and, in a nutshell, it's time for the baby to come.

To say that I was cheesin' ear to ear is quite the understandment.  As she began to explain what would happen I texted Kyle that we were going to have a baby sooner than later, to start getting ready, and that I would call him once I knew more.  Nurse Barb explained that a wheelchair was on it's way, Dr. Heraty had been called, and I would not be leaving until we had a baby.  Kyle immediately called, stating that sending a text was equivalent to writing an email or a note on a post-it and was not appropriate communication for such news.  In my defense, I was just trying to listen to the nurse while giving him the heads up too.

Taking selfies to let Kyle know that he needed to get on to the hospital.

I was wheeled over to triage where Kyle met me and from there the party began. Once we got into the labor and delivery room (a big corner room-the same one that Dr. Heraty delivered in might I add), we met our own personal nurse (Becky) and she started Pitocin. A resident inserted a balloon thing to help speed things along too. 

Kyle DJed the party...though he had several playlist on Spotify, he also took requests. 

 At first the contractions weren't so bad and I secretly thought to myself, "Hooray!  I can be that girl!"  Then the Good Lord laughed and they started getting intense and coming every 2-3 minutes.  Bless his heart, Kyle was nearly yelling down the hall for someone to come to relieve the pain.  Seeing as I just wasn't really sure if they were supposed to get worse or what exactly was going on...plus I had been warned that if you get the epidural too early it might wear off...I went through this 2-3 minute cycle for about an hour before sweet Dr. Heraty came in and boldly said, "Just get it...there is no reason to be in pain."  She did confess though that she was hoping to at least see me yell or something dramatic since my temperament had not changed since the contractions began. HA!  After telling me that she too had just gone ahead and gotten it...I quickly agreed.  (Remember, I just like to do what this precious Doctor tells me that she did...)  

Negative Nancy, the epidural doctor, came in told Kyle that he couldn't be in the room because there had once been a husband who watched, passed out, hit his head, and died and the next phase of the party began.  Our sweet Nurse, Becky, giggled with me and rolled her eyes at the epidural doctor's comments and agreed after she left that sometimes, even when you are the one in labor, you have to grin and bear it...and kill them with kindness.  I would say that after she left the room she had softened up a little. 

Hooray for epidurals!

Long story short(er), the epidural didn't really work on my right side so she did have to come back in and reposition it...afterwards it was great.  At one point I realized that I would never feel Suzanna Grace move inside of me again and got a little sad.  Just then I felt her rolls and realized that I could still wiggle my toes-thank you Lord for what turned out to be the best epidural ever!

Last picture as a family of two.

At some point after this Dr. Heraty removed the balloon and broke my water.  Nurse Becky suggested that we get some sleep and so we "rested our eyes" until around 3:15/30 when they said that it was go time.  (Sidenote-they did slow down the pitocin at some point because SG's heartbeat was doing the weird dip thing here and there...they also put some internal monitoring thing on her head that helped them to keep track of her HB.) 



The actual delivery was one of the most memorable and special experiences of my life.  Everyone was so calm and cheerful.  Kyle started us off by praying for our growing family, for the nurses and doctor, for mommy and baby, and for himself.  It wasn't until this very second that I allowed tears to flow as the anticipation of finally meeting our girl was coming to an end.
With Nurse Becky, Dr. Heraty, and the baby nurse, I felt like I was amongst friends as Kyle and I welcomed Suzanna Grace in to the world.  We listened to the Mississippi Blues (Junior Kimbrough to be exact) as each contraction came and in between we chatted and laughed...nothing like you see in movies.  After about 4 contractions and pushing through them, I watched Suzanna Grace enter God's beautiful world.  (No, I had not planned on watching it happen, but in the moment I could not help but want to really experience it all---and I would suggest it to all mothers.)  She yelled out just enough to let us know that she had made her debut but she quieted down as soon as Dr. Heraty laid her on my chest.

"For this child I have prayed..." 1 Samuel 1:27

IL Masonic calls themselves a "Baby Friendly" hospital which means that they allow baby and mommy to always be together.  Suzanna Grace stayed on my chest for 1.5-2 hours as I recovered and as we got to love on her. They did not take her to check her stats until after we had time as a family of 3, she nursed a little, and we had time to bond.  I LOVED this aspect of the delivery too as I know how important that initial skin to skin bonding time really is.

Daddy holding his little girl for the first time.
Yes, Suzanna Grace is the FIRST baby that Kyle has ever held.

I love this close up of Suzanna Grace.  Take a look at those LONG fingers and PERFECT little nose.  Notice Kyle's drivers license picture on his ID tag too...pretty sure that picture was from a time when he was on summer break during college. HAHA! 

Moore, Party of 3.

Daddy standing with his girl while she got all checked out.

Proud Daddy.

Happy Birthday Suzanna Grace! 

   

Birth Stats:

Time: 4:04 am

Weight: 6 pounds 15 ounces 

Height: 19.5 inches

              

We made it to the Mommy and Baby room around 6:30 am or so on Friday and by noon the following Saturday we were headed home!  (For documentation purposes:  SG and I were fine and were told that we could go home whenever we wanted but Daddy Kyle really pushed for us to head out as he was ancy being in such a confined area...especially since he could not walk around and add steps for his Fitbit challenge. HAHA!)

A look at our short hospital stay and first day home through pictures:

Moving from the LandD room to the Mommy and Baby room required an additional set of hands...yes, I needed 4 changes of clothes for myself and SG...plus my curlers, make-up, treats for the nurses, house shoes, etc....

My parents and MA jumped in the car as soon as I called to tell them that I was being admitted into the hospital.  They made it to Chicago about an hour after she was born.

SuSu checking out Suzanna Graces fingers and toes.

 Daddy's first diaper change.

 SG getting her hearing checked before we left.

Bless her little heart, the hand smocked dress and bonnet plus the newborn shoes were just a little too much for her.  We settled on just wearing the gown for the ride home.



 

  

Daddy Kyle and Big Jim were in charge of getting the car and car seat ready while Sissy, Aunt MA, and Mommy dressed Suzanna Grace to go home.  We got call after call from the men asking how to get the thing out of the car.  HAHA.  The nurse so kindly stated that the directions should be on the side of the car seat.  Sissy laughingly remarked that with all of the advanced degrees (including one in engineering) these two shared, one would think that they could take a baby car seat out.  They eventually figured it out!

Daddy showing Suzanna Grace her palace.

Kyle's Dad was Big Jim when we brought her home...since then we have tried out several names but none have stuck...we will go with "NoName" for now. 

That Sissy is so excited to have another Moore girl in the family!

So thankful for our girlfriends.  SG is SO loved!  And yes, Ashlee cried.

Liz G. cracking a joke with Kev, the baby whisperer, looking on.

Suzanna Grace, we are sure, will get her height from Keith...since we named her "Suzanna Grace Keith".  Auntie Renee telling SG about all the walks we will take this summer.

Sweet Fischer holding SG.

  

Mommy and Baby MATCHING PJs! 

Over all, the labor and delivery were perfect.  Everything was just as I had expected, if not better.  There was a fair amount of pain in the beginning but I was reminded through it all what a blessing each contraction was.  We prayed through each phase of labor and believe me, I could feel the prayers coming from friends and family as well.  

I had no idea that my heart could be so full with love for Suzanna Grace and her Daddy.  She is such an angel baby and I cannot wait to watch her progress through life.  Our prayers now turn to her health and happiness, her development, our parenting...and yes, even to her future friends, husband, and children  (it is never too early to ask for such blessings).  Please join us as we pray for our girl and teach her to love God and to put other before herself.

We are blessed.