Introducing Caroline Grace Carlson

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Caroline is here! She is an absolutely beautiful baby, if I do say so myself. Here's the shocker, though... she has dark hair! Even to have hair is a shocker, but to have inky dark hair makes it doubly so. We think it suits her. We think she's perfect.

Comparison to Kate as a newborn: the exact same weight, same steely blue eye color, and same chubby cheeks. With that, the similarities seem to stop. Being a planned C-Section, Caroline was delivered easily and without much trauma to her. Poor Kate had to go through a long labor before she was finally taken by C-Section, so she was more blotchy and bruised. Poor Kate.

Caroline was so alert in the O.R., and she kept her focused gaze on me the minute she was placed in my arms. Nick noticed immediately that she has tremendous head strength (the nurse said so too), and when I put her on my shoulder to burp her, she can lift her head up. Way to go, Caroline!

Here's how our day went down...
4:00 am Woke up and got ready to leave.
5:30 Arrived at hospital where they immediately began prepping me for surgery.
7:15 My doctor arrived; she said I was actually having contractions 5 minutes apart. I didn't even realize!
7:30 Wheeled down to O.R. where I received my spinal block/epidural combo (least fun part), and they started surgery. It took longer for the doctors to get her out than Kate because of the scar tissue from Kate's C-Section. I wasn't full-out crying, but a steady stream of tears kept coming. It was from the emotion of it all, yes, but it was also from the anxious feeling of being completely helpless and unable to move my body. Nick held my hand, and dried my tears as they came.
7:59 After some serious maneuvering, they pulled Caroline out! They commented on her size, and how difficult it was to get her out even via C-Section. They immediately noticed her pink super-chubby cheeks and her cute little ears. They held her up over the curtain for one brief second for me to glimpse her precious face for the first time, and they took her to a corner of the room to get her stats and check her. Nick went along (with the camera, of course). Meanwhile, the doctors sewed me up. While they discussed their kids' summer plans, I was trying desperately to hear any bits of news from the far corner of the room as to what my baby looked like. I heard snippets like "more hair than Kate," but I wasn't getting the details I craved!! It felt like it took forever for them to finish with Caroline and finally bring her to me to see her properly and kiss her sweet face all over.
8:45 All done! They wheeled me to the recovery room where I stayed for 2 hours. Nick called our families, and I was able to breastfeed Caroline for the first time. A sweet nurse gave her her first bath. Then my mom and dad were allowed to come back (one at a time) to see their Caroline "number nine" (9th grandbaby)!
10:45 The nurses prepped me for moving to my postpartum room. When we got there, it took several more minutes for the L&D nurses to relay my info to the postpartum nurses.
11:20 Our visitors were admitted to the room, and I got to see my first girl, our Kate. She immediately found the gift on the floor (tissue paper is always fun), and opened it. It was a stuffed lion from her new little sister! Kate began her "roars" and didn't stop! She didn't realize that Caroline was a living being... until Baby finally made a little squawk. Kate was suddenly very interested, and she decided that Caroline was worth taking a further look at. She noticed that she had a nose... and noses are for picking these days, so pick she did try! After that, Kate quickly became more interested in the millions of things in the room she could explore. Overall, it was a successful first introduction. Kate wasn't Caroline's only visitor, though. Also admiring Caroline's cute nose were Gram and Grandaddy (my parents), Grandmother Mead (my grandmother), Nana (Nick's mom), as well as Jennifer Strain with her daughter Hayley (friends of ours from Lens Baby). Jennifer also brought her talent and her camera and snapped some AMAZING photographs of our little big bundle of joy. I will share a few of those in another post in a minute.

Since our guests left, Nick and I have been bonding with our "monkey," our sweet Caroline. Nick is an amazing daddy. Unable to really do much to help myself, Nick has sprung into "Daddy Super Hero" mode! Even now, he's watching a swaddling video he found on YouTube to remind himself of the proper way to bundle our girl. I love this man so much!

Feedings are going pretty well, but she's been a real sleepy-head for most of the day! This evening, my dear friend Melissa came to visit, too. She enjoyed her Caroline time!

What a completely different experience this has been so far! I am tired, yes, but I'm not completely out-of-it and exhausted like I was after a long labor and C/S with Kate. I feel more confident, and I'm really enjoying our sweetheart. I know my feelings could change at the drop of a hat, but I'm sure enjoying these moments.

Welcome to the world, Caroline Grace.

These are some of the pics that Nick and I took...

First Letter to Caroline

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Dear Caroline,

This is the first of many letters I will write to you as you grow. You will have no memory of these young days, and my memory fades so quickly that we will both cherish the documentation these letters provide. This first letter comes to you just a day and a half from your birth.

A few notes about my pregnancy with you... 
  • I found out I was pregnant with you on September 22, 2010. Kate had just turned 8 months old! Daddy and I were excited as we hoped God would add to our family soon, wanting our children to be close in age. We also felt nervous and overwhelmed that Kate would still be a "baby" herself when you would arrive.
  • I was sick for the first 15 weeks of pregnancy. I took medications to stop the nausea. (With Kate I wasn't sick at all.)
  • Braxton Hicks contractions started early with you, as they did with Kate, at about 18 weeks.
  • We found out that you were a GIRL on January 3, 2011, when I was 18 weeks along. Daddy knew you'd be a girl, but I thought you'd be a boy since I wasn't sick with my first pregnancy. I was thrilled to know you were a girl; you and Kate will share a neat bond.
  • We decided on your name when I was about 20 weeks pregnant. I always knew I wanted to use my grandmother's name for one of my girls. You're fortunate to be named for two of your great grandmothers; Caroline on my side, and Grace on Daddy's.
  • I had all the normal aches and pains of pregnancy: heartburn, sciatic pain, sore hips, etc. It was hard at times with Kate being so active to keep up with her. 
  • I didn't have much swelling with you at all! My rings didn't fit, but other than that, I don't think I retained much water at all. (Very different story with Kate!)
  • Since Kate was delivered by C-Section, we decided early on that you should come that way, too. Your birthday has been planned for several months! You don't seem to want to come any sooner. Thanks for sticking to the schedule!
I feel you now, moving inside me, pushing your boundaries as you run out of room in my belly. I feel like I've been pregnant for such a very long time, yet I somehow can't believe the date we've anticipated for so many months is almost here! But God has been anticipating you even longer, sweet child...

 For you created my inmost being; 
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; 
   your works are wonderful, 
   I know that full well. 
My frame was not hidden from you 
   when I was made in the secret place, 
   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 
Your eyes saw my unformed body; 
   all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
{Psalm 139:13-16}




We can't wait to see you; to count your tiny fingers and toes, to smell your sweet baby smell, to kiss your sweet head, to hold you close. 

We already love you so much, Caroline.
Love,
Your mama (& Daddy, too)

Kate's New Room

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Kate has a new room! We moved her to the next bedroom down the hall upstairs. It shares an adjoining bathroom with her old room (Caroline's nursery). I LOVE the results. The color on the walls (similar to the light blue/green in the blog design) is so soothing and compliments the dark furniture well. The details are old-fashioned (just like before), which makes sense since we just moved her bedding and a lot of her accessories over. Now the pink nursery is looking a little bare (accessory-wise) at the moment, but I don't think it'll take much to get it ready for baby Caroline.

The funny thing is, I think Kate really loves her new room, too. It took her a few days to get used to going to sleep in there, but she's gotten back to her regular easy-to-put-to-bed self over the last couple of days. She really enjoys being in there!

This is just a smattering of a few shots. To see more, scroll down to the Flickr slideshow.




89/365

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{rockabye baby}
I'm so glad I had my camera ready right at this moment. I was taking pictures of Kate's new room (stay tuned for another post) while Kate played. She pulled out her doll, put it on the rocking chair, and started rocking it back and forth. It was definitely a "NO WAY she's doing that!" kind of moment... her first evident pretend play. It gives me a glimmer of hope for this soon-to-be big sister and the real baby girl who's about to join our family.

Sweet Caroline (bum bum bum)

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Here's a brain dump about baby #2...




1) We decided on a name! Caroline Grace Carlson will be named after two of her great grandmothers. Caroline was my dad's mom who passed away several years before I was born. I have always wanted to name a girl Caroline after her. Grace is Nick's maternal grandmother. She's such a sweet and loving lady who always has a smile on her face. How lucky this baby girl will be to have a piece of both sides of her family in her name.

2) She is going to have Kate's nursery, and Kate will move next door into the room with the antique furniture that was in my room growing up. We ordered another crib to match the dark wood in that room, and it should be here in just a few weeks. We'll take down the double bed and maybe put in a twin bed that goes well with the set. I think it would be nice to have a bed in there still, and the room is big enough to accommodate one (I think). Kate's bedding will go with her, and I've ordered this bedding from Pottery Barn Kids for Caroline...


3) Speaking of Pottery Barn Kids, Caroline already has her own Anywhere Chair like Kate's. When I ordered Kate's at Christmas, I had to call about 6 times to get the order straightened out. I'll spare you all the details, but I ended up with an extra set of the insert pillows and a $50 merchandise card as a "we're sorry" gift that I used to buy the slipcover. SO, I got Caroline's chair for free! Gotta love that.


4) I started organizing all of Kate's clothes she's outgrown. Unfortunately, Caroline will be born at the beginning of summer, while Kate was born in the winter. I hope there will be some overlap with the clothes we have, but all the cute summer things we had for Kate will for sure be too big for Caroline. Also, Kate was quite the spitter-upper, and there are lots of stains on the newborn clothes. They seem to have darkened and multiplied during the time in storage. Yuck. I'll have to see how some bleach and/or Oxi-Clean help. Poor Caroline... the hand-me-downing begins. :)

5) The C-section date is May 31, which is only four days from my due date. She could decide to come sooner, but we will have a May baby! I'll deliver at Baylor Frisco this time, since my doctor now steers patients away from Centennial Medical Center (where I delivered Kate). Our stay there was fine, but if your doctor says she'd rather not work with them, you listen! I look forward to taking a tour of the other hospital. It looks beautiful!

6) We're really excited that our girls will be so close in age. I'm sure that it will be difficult the first couple of years, but I look forward to them playing together and becoming best friends. Some days I get really nervous, though. Like today when we took Kate to the nursery and we were paged 10 minutes after we dropped her off because she was screaming, and they couldn't calm her down. I think, "We have a baby. What were we thinking?" But I know God has given me all the strength I'll ever need as I depend on Jesus to parent through me. Please help me remember this when Caroline comes! I'm sure I'll need the encouragement.

7) Caroline kicks all the time. I look forward to when it's a whole leg or arm moving across my entire belly. What a fun feeling that is. At 22 weeks plus, she's probably about a foot long and weighs about a pound. I go to the doctor again this week. Won't be long, and I'll be going to the doctor every 2 weeks again. Didn't I just do this? (Don't answer that.)

8) We "test drove" a few double strollers. We really like the Baby Jogger brand. We want something that will accommodate a car seat, and these both do. The City Mini is a double wide stroller and folds very easily. The City Select is more versatile. You can use it as a single stroller or a double with a wide variety of seating options. They could face each other or not, depending on how friendly they're feeling! There's lots of storage room below. To fold it, you have to take off one of the seats then fold it. I'm sure I'd get used to it really fast. Thoughts??

City Mini Double
City Select

9) We already bought a new baby monitor, and we'll need an additional camera, too. Our first one was almost shot. I bought this new one to try, and although I love it, the lowest volume setting isn't low enough for me at night. I'm a very light sleeper, and I don't want to wake up every time Kate whimpers as she rolls over in her sleep. I love all the other settings about it, though. Not sure what I'm going to do about it yet. Maybe I'll buy another one to try out. Again, if you have suggestions, let me know. Monitors are so frustrating to buy; none is perfect, and they're so expensive.
10) Being type-A, I have to make my list an even 10! I would like for Caroline to have a nickname. I like Callie; Nick doesn't. The dog next door is Callie, and he says there are a couple other dog Callies he knows, so he says it's a dog's name. He prefers C.C. Um, VETO. I really like Callie, and I can't think of a cuter nickname for Caroline. We're open to suggestions!