Welcome Little Girl

Karis Nicole Cherese

November 27th, 2007; 2:41 PM

8 pounds, 1 ounce

20 inches

We were blessed the Tuesday after Thanksgiving and welcomed our third child, and our first daughter, Karis, to our family. I went to see my doctor on the 26th, and asked if we could maybe induce, since it was my 39th week. He said, "Sure, how about tomorrow?"

You know, you can think you are as ready as you possibly can be and then your doctor says, "How about tomorrow?" and you think, "Wait...I'm not ready!"

And then you stand up and your body tells you that you are oh so ready.

So I got induced and things were going along great until there was an emergency C-section at the same time as I was ok'd to get my epidural. So we wait for an hour and a half. No problem. We wait for a while, and then I get my epidural and all things are great once again, except that my doctor is now in a meeting and wouldn't be back to see me for another hour or so. Finally my doctor is able to see me and we crank up the contraction drugs. Not thirty minutes later, Karis is born.

Yes, I know - I am blessed as the longest I have spent actually pushing any of my three children was thirty minutes. I think Karis, once we started pushing, took ten minutes, if that.

Karis, Mom, and Big Brothers Chase and Ryan

Ryan was thrilled from the first second with little sister and held her four of five times within the first half-hour. Chase, on the other hand, could not figure out what I was holding or why it was taking up his spot on my lap. He got even more upset once he figured out we had brought her home with us.

What were we thinking anyways?

Karis and Dad at the Hospital

Karis is a wonderful baby. She eats well, seems to be very content, and has hair! Yes, I had a baby with hair. I didn't believe it either. As she was crowning, I even asked the doctor, "Is that hair?!?!?" So far, at three weeks, she hasn't lost it yet so I keep hoping she'll keep it like Angela's two boys.

Karis gained over a pound in her first two weeks, weighing in at 9 lbs, 3 oz at her two week appointment, and yesterday she went back to the doctor (since she has a cold - poor little girl) and she gained almost another pound in just one week: 10 lbs, 1 oz as of yesterday.

Daddy wants to nickname her Rowdy, but I have a feeling her nickname is going to be Little

Girl. Ryan is partial to Stinky when she needs a diaper change. Let's hope that one doesn't stick.

Overall, we have many things to be thankful for and we feel very blessed.

Update

Doctor: So, are we going to check the cervix today?

Me: Yes, I want to update Tracy's parents on progress...let them know if they need to have the bags in the car.

Doctor: Well, you're about 3.5 cm dilated.

Me: I am? Do you think that she'll wait until her due date of December 5th?

Doctor: No.

Me: What happens if my water doesn't break until I'm 4 or 5 cm dilated and I can't get into the hospital in time for my epidural?

Doctor: Well, that's a possibility.

Me: But that would really hurt, I mean, with no epidural.

Doctor: Yes, it's pretty intense.

Me: (looking like deer in headlights)

Doctor: But you seem to have your babies fast, so it won't be too long. You'll do fine.

Me: But I really want my epidural.

Doctor: Let's just put it this way, when your water breaks get to the hospital sooner than later.

Me: That means no shower, right.

Doctor: Yes, that would mean no shower.

Pink Dryer Lint

The women of my church threw me a baby shower for Karis, since this is the first baby that we've had since we've started attending church. It was a wonderful shower - a great time of fun and fellowship. Almost twenty people were there, including Mom and Angela, so there was quite a crowd of us.

Because we have most of the things we need from Ryan and Chase, Karis is now completely decked out for the first six to nine months of her life. She will be much more stylish than Mama this winter, that is for sure. Especially since I'll still be wearing maternity clothes and transition clothes (which I fondly call my fat clothes). Between the shower, Mama, and both Grandmas, Karis does not want for much in the clothing department.

As I was washing her clothes this weekend to get ready for her arrival, I pulled out the lint collector from the dryer and saw something I had never seen before: pink dryer lint.

The times, they are a changin'.

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Sleep

Lately Tracy and I haven't been getting a lot of sleep. Around Monday Chase started developing a bad cough, and then on Wednesday the runny nose came. I took him to the doctor and found out that he has an ear infection. Poor guy. No wonder he was up every two hours. So now that he is on antibiotics he is starting to sleep better, but due to my lack of sleep I have caught his cold.

When I get a stuffy nose, I snore. And toss and turn. And keep my husband up at night. Poor Tracy, first Chase, then me.

To make matters worse, I am suffering the nine-month-pregnant insomnia stage so when I do wake up I can't seem to get back to sleep. Sleep, what is sleep? So at 4 AM this morning I just gave up and watched some t.v. with Chase. Chase gave up and decided he would go back to bed, so that just left me.

If this keeps up I might feel like I'm getting more sleep once Karis gets here.

So, everyone pray for more sleep at our house! We'd appreciate it.

Carving It Up

So, while Grandma and Grandpa Elmore were here we got to carve our pumpkins. Remember, that's when the Mom is bigger than a pumpkin incident happened.


At first, Chase wasn't so sure he wanted to dig in to the cleaning portion. He was not so pleased about the goop coming out of his pumpkin so he decided to inspect and perfect the already-cleaned-out pumpkins.


After a few minutes of this, he decided that maybe he could move up to tag-team pumpkin cleaning with his brother as long as Mom had already removed the big stuff.


After a while, we were all working on our own pumpkins, each at a different level of cleaned-out-ness. Please note the position I am sitting in. I sat in that position because it was the most comfortable way for Karis and me to sit on the floor. The only problem is that once we were done cleaning the pumpkins, I was stuck in that position. Yes, literally stuck. I could not move my legs. Tracy had to come and pull me up off the floor.

After Mommy got off the floor we started carving. Chase was done at this point. He had moved on to hang out with the big boys in the t.v. room. That left Ryan and me to make all the executive decisions.

Once we got everything finished, we were ready for the lighting ceremony. Ryan and I were very excited about this part. Chase on the other hand was not thrilled with the glowing faces. His favorite part of lighting our jack-o-lanterns was when big brother blew them out.

Five Weeks to Go!

Well, Karis and I have made it to week 35. That means that as of now my doctor won't stop labor if it starts...but talking with some nurses I know, they really like you to be around week 37 or week 38 before the baby is born.

I am going to get my bag ready for the hospital just in case.

We have lots of things to update you on: Chase is talking; Ryan can drive the excavator (yes, the big one); Tracy is taking a welding class; I am as big as a house.

Oh, yes, a house. For example, today I was attempting to climb over Ryan's booster seat in the back seat of Mom and Dad's SUV, and my oldest bluntly states: "Mom is way bigger than a mom."

Or, there was the night we carved pumpkins and I jokingly put one of the pumpkins next to my stomach and asked Ryan, "Which is bigger, the pumpkin or Mama?"

Ryan looked at the comparison and immediately answered: "You."

I had to ask, eh?

Pictures of Halloween coming this weekend.