What I've Learned About Motherhood

Being a mother is the most rewarding and incredible feeling I will ever have. There is no feeling to describe how much you love your little bundle of joy. But let's face it, motherhood isn't easy and peachy-keen all the time. Some days are downright tough and you feel like you aren't cut out for it. But in the end you learn new things day by day and as long as Hannah is growing and happy that's the most important thing to me!

Here is what I've learned about motherhood in the past month:

1. Waking up to see Hannah and watch her smile in her sleep makes my heart fill with joy.
2. Pee and poop become a part of your every day vocabulary with your husband.
3. Hearing your baby cry and not being able to figure out how to comfort them is so exhausting and frustrating after you go through the diaper change, feeding, and burping them for gas.
4. Pacifiers are my new best friend!
5. Cutting Hannah's nails freak me out beyond belief and I only try to do it when she starts scratching her face because I'm nervous I'm going to cut her skin open.
6. Not every child loves their swing!!
7. The "witching hour" or Hannah's fussy time is from 7-10pm, so tv is usually off limits and our shows are always DVRed.
8. Your clothes are never clean once you have a baby, they either pee, poop or spit up on you!
9. Hannah has more laundry than Travis and I combined. I'm doing her laundry at least 3-4 times a week, shoot me!!
10. You check on your baby throughout the night to see if they are breathing. Travis thinks I'm paranoid but I do it almost every night when I go to bed and if I wake up throughout the night.
11. Leaving the house is now a huge process, and it's hard not to be late anywhere.
12. Hearing your child laugh for the first time is so wonderful, it's worth getting up at 4am to feed and change her!
13. Breastfeeding is not easy and is not for everyone.
14. When your baby naps you get more done in your house than you ever did in a day before you were pregnant.
15. Through all the ups and downs I wouldn't trade being Hannah's mommy for anything! She is the light of our lives and makes everything worth while!

Baby Girl You Are One Month Old!

Dearest Hannah,

You have blessed our life beyond belief! We love every second with you including when you are super fussy. I don't remember what my life was like before we had you. It is rewarding and incredible to be your parents! You are getting so big right before our eyes!

We love you to pieces!

Love, 

Mommy & Daddy 

The First Month of Hannah's Life:

Height & Weight: As of July 27th you were 7 lbs. 10 oz. so I'm sure you are almost 8 lbs now! You are also 20 inches long!

Sleeping: It varies! But for the most part you are sleeping through the night. We are sure lucky parents! We put you to bed around 11:30pm and you usually wake up around 6:00-7:30am. You love falling asleep on Daddy's chest! You are still sleeping in your Fisher Price Rocker and refuse to sleep in the bassinet. We have those few nights where you wake up around 4am to eat but it's very rare.  Napping is a different story! You usually take 1-2 naps a day for around 3 hours each. You don't want to be put down to nap yet which makes things a little rough, but hopefully you will adjust soon. But when you nap you are usually out for a while which makes Mommy happy!

Eating: You are eating around 7-8 times a day and go 3 hours between feedings. Eating about a 4 oz. bottle of breast milk mixed with formula! We are looking to increase to 5-6 oz. within the next 2 weeks.

Your Hair: You have a ton of it! None of it has fallen out since birth, and we absolutely love it! It looks black, but if you look closely it's a dark brown color. Mommy loves putting bows in your hair!

Your Eyes: They are pretty dark, sometimes they look blue in the light but I think they are either brown or dark hazel.

Clothes: You are still so tiny and fitting into newborn clothes. But this week we are finally starting to wear our 0-3 month clothing!

Diapers: Wearing newborn diapers still, but may move you into size 1 today! Planning on starting to cloth diaper around the end of August.

Favorite Toys: You are finally starting to enjoy your your Luv U Zoo mobile gym! You get so excited when you see the toys that are hanging on it, and love staring at the bright lights. Other than that you are interested in your other toys yet. 

Your Favorite Songs: Mommy started singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to you last night and you just stared! So hopefully that will help right now when you are fussy!

Nicknames: Daddy calls you princess and Mommy calls you Lovey or Hannah Banana!

Milestones: You are finally starting to smile!! Also today was the first time you didn't scream and yelp during Bath Time, so Mommy definitely considers that a milestone! Gaining weight was also a huge milestone for you because you were having trouble doing so. You are also becoming much more aware of your hands and feet and noticing that they are attached to your body. You are also starting to focus on people & objects especially Mommy and Daddy!

Happy 1 Month Hannah Grace!!!!

The Birth of Hannah Grace Yee

I finally am able to sit down and write about the birth of our beautiful baby girl Hannah. It was probably the best emotional rollercoaster experience I will ever have. Here it goes:

When I went to the OB on July 1st, I wasn't dilated all that much, but the doctor thought I would go into labor on my own over the weekend. So Travis and I did a ton of walking around on Friday and Saturday to naturally induce me, and maybe have contractions start. On July 3rd around 4:30pm I went to the hospital because I thought my water had been leaking all weekend and contractions were coming and going. Travis and I didn't think I was going to be admitted because my contractions weren't strong enough, so I thought I would have been sent home. I had already been scheduled for an induction on July 4th at 7pm if I didn't go into labor naturally, so I figured they would just check me and have me wait it out at our house.

They decided to admit me then because I was dilated to 3cm which I was surprised about. The walking helped!! So the OB broke my water and started me on pitocin. I wasn't too thrilled about that because I had heard that Pitocin makes your contractions unbearable. I had mild contractions for about 2-3 hours, and was able to tolerate them for the most part. The only thing I had to deal with at that point was hunger, it had been about 7pm and I hadn't eaten since 11am that morning. Travis of course was also complaining about being hungry and I wanted him to be alert as possible, so he and my Dad went to Burger King which made me super jealous! Right after he left my contractions got horrendous, they were pretty unbearable. I'm happy my Mom had been in the room with me, because they started to come every 1-2 minutes and the OB checked me and I was dilated to 5cm. I wanted to go as long as possible without the epidural because I knew once I had it labor would slow down.

As soon as Travis came back I decided to get the epidural which was a tad bit painful but what was worse was sitting still while getting it done because the contractions were so intense.. Everyone who has had a natural birth I admire you! I seriously had tried to do it for a few hours but knew that it definitely wasn't for me. The epidural was a lifesaver! I couldn't believe how quickly I felt better, and I didn't feel any pain at all. The only thing was it slowed down my progress. I was stalled at 6cm for like 3-4 hours. Finally at 2am I was at 10cm and my epidural had wore off, and I started pushing. It was probably one of the hardest things I'll ever do. Hannah didn't want to come out, and I was so exhausted from pushing for an hour I thought it would never be over. If it wasn't for my husband and labor nurse I would have never been able to get past pushing. They were great motivators! Finally at 3:27am on July 4th, our beautiful baby girl, Hannah Grace Yee was born at 7lbs. 6 oz. and 20 inches long. In all my labor and delivery was about 9 hours long, which I don't think is terrible at all. I had a fairly easy delivery compared to a lot of other first time mothers I know.

The feelings I felt when I finally saw Hannah were unbelievable, the minute I saw her my whole life changed, and you just have this huge indescribable amount of love towards your baby. You really can't explain it. I must have cried non-stop for a half an hour, the feelings were overwhelming, she's just perfect, I don't even have the words for it.

Travis and I just marveled at her, and couldn't believe she was finally here after 9 long months of pregnancy. I said throughout my pregnancy I would never go through this again, after Hannah's birth I would definitely want to have another child. I'm so in love with her. She's just perfect in every way, shape and form.

More to come about Hannah! Here are some newborn pictures!