Don was so eager to give Lucy her first bottle since he felt a little left out of the whole feeding ritual. He is impressively confident and comfortable as a first time father. In fact, he even wanted to wait to give the bottle until my mom and I were out of the house so he could have some "alone time" with his little girl. Pretty cute huh?
A couple days ago we gave Lucy her first tub bath (before we had to give sponge baths until the umbilical cord stump fell off). I think I was being overly optimistic in thinking that it would be a joyful, soothing experience for her. As you can see from the picture she far from enjoyed it and spent the entire time screaming her little head off. Looking back it was somewhat comical-the fact that we filled the bathtub too full and water was spilling all over the floor and she peed on one bath towel and when we got her a clean one she pooped on that one. At the time I don't know who was more traumatized me or her. Thank goodness Grammy Pederson was in town to give us some guidance and advice.
Aunt Kristin was back in town this weekend (after leaving only 6 days ago) and we thought we would take a walk in Patterson Park. Lucy spent most of the walk in our arms as she was not a happy camper in her stroller.
These are pictures my Mommy and Daddy took of me after my bath and in my swing. I'm not a big fan of the swing yet, nor of baths, but my parents hope that will change soon. As of Monday, July 16, I am 6lbs. 8oz., and eating like crazy. Thanks for reading!
Aunt Kristin and Eric (a.k.a. Paul) Flores were also in town to help and support. So many people and so much fun! Everyone was great and Lucy felt so loved.
I started going into early labor (but didn't realize it) during a barbeque on the 4th of July. By 10:30 PM that night I was questioning whether this was it or not. However, I kept second guessing myself because I was told by a nurse that it would feel like a knife stabbing me in the back. I kept telling Don that I didn't feel any knives. But by 1:00 AM on July 5th I figured I should go to the hospital to be checked out since I was still feeling very uncomfortable. I thought they were just going to send me home, and was surprised to find out that I was 4 cm dillated and 90% effaced. The nurses looked surprised when I asked if this meant that I wasn't going to make it till the scheduled induction on the 7th. My labor progressed fairly quickly and without much incident (except for the fact that I had to have two epidurals because the first one didn't work and I progessed to 8 cm without a working epidural, but we won't go there). After 30 minutes of pushing, Lucy Rae Vander Griend joined us at 6:17am on her due date, July 5th, 2007. She was 6lbs., 0.6oz. Grammy Marshall-Pederson, Aunt Kristin Flores and Uncle Eric were on hand to witness, help, and photograph. And Grandpa Pederson jumped on the first plane out of Chicago and was at the hospital about 7 hours after her birth. So far she loves to eat, sleep, cry, and fill her diaper.
