Category Archives: Hadley

A Letter: One Month

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Dear Hadley,
Today you are one month old. And it has been an amazing month. I’ve loved you from the moment I found out I was having you, but on the day you were born I swear my heart doubled in size. I had no idea it was possible to love you even more than I did already. Just to be able to hold you in my arms and look into your eyes made it one of the best days of my life.

My beautiful bright eyed daughter
Adding you to our family has been one of the best things we ever did. Suddenly everything is perfect. And not only because I have a thing for even numbers (having TWO girls is just bonus!) but because you make everyone around you so happy. Your big sister, Ana, in particular. From the moment she met you in the hospital it was love at first sight. Sure, she loved you while you were in my tummy, but that was a little surreal for a four year old. She tells me almost everyday, “Mom, I am so glad Hadley is here in real life.”



You are an amazingly easy going baby. You eat, sleep, and poop like a pro. And you are the Best. Snuggler. EVER. Your favorite thing to do is fall asleep snuggled up against my chest. To be honest, it’s one of my favorite things to do with you. I can feel your warm breath on my neck, rub my cheek along the smooth hair on top of your head, and surround myself with your amazing baby smell. Hands down the best thing about having a baby is that I get those cuddles every single day.


Back to being a good eater; you are amazing. In fact, you were latched on and nursing within the first 10 minutes of your life. You pretty much consider any time you are awake and NOT eating, time wasted. Otherwise how would you keep up your massively chubby cheeks and multiple chins? You have gained weight like a champ and, while I could take some of the credit for the excessive milk production, it’s really all because my body has to keep up with you. Supply and demand, baby.


Your eating habits can only be rivaled by your strength. When you were in the womb, I knew you were going to be strong. You don’t kick so hard you take your mama’s breath away if you aren’t going to be one strong baby. You are already holding up your head with the skills of a baby double or even triple your age. We took you in to have your newborn photos taken when you were only eight days old and instead of slouching over in a typical newborn pose, you kept trying to lift your head up and look around the room. I can already tell that you are going to keep me on my toes, aren’t you?


Oh my sweet Hadley, we are going to have so much fun together. Having already been raising a little girl for the past four years, I am a pro at fairy tales and nursery rhymes, ballerinas and princesses, playing dress-up and restaurant. But I would be more than willing to improve my skills in any area of interest you desire. Whether it’s perfecting your soccer skills or learning about dinosaurs or playing piano. I would be happy to do it all alongside you. It’s our adventure, my dear, and it’s just getting started. I can’t wait to see where this amazing journey takes us. But you know what? It really doesn’t matter, as long as I’m with you.


Great big smiles for Mama!

All my love,
Mama

Adjusting To Two

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People keep asking me how we are doing now that we have two children. And I have to admit, we are doing great. Having TWO beautiful little girls? It’s pretty awesome. There were those people who gave me encouraging smiles while I was pregnant and said things like, “just wait until you have more than one” or “enjoy it. Because you won’t be able to do that once you have the baby.” But adding Little Miss Hadley to our family hasn’t slowed us down one bit. It’s not like having a baby somehow magically stops me from having an (almost) four year old. I still have to get Ana to ballet, tap, preschool, and play group. Now I just have to bring along the infant car seat (complete with said infant, of course) and a fully stocked diaper bag. I will admit, however, the diaper bag has taken some getting use to.



Not that my child is perfect (unlike Ana, this one actual spits up. Eww!) or sleeps through the night (like all new parents, I’m up every 3-4 hours. On. The. Dot.). It’s just that this time around I knew what to expect. And I was ready for it. BRING IT. Babies are cute, tiny, and highly portable. I may be singing a different tune when she starts rolling, crawling, and, God help me, walking. But I will have to deal with those obstacles as they come. And I will. And I will do it with a smile. Because that’s what moms do.


I’m not saying I don’t have any help either. Believe me, I do. I have an amazing husband and an incredible daughter who help me out whenever and however they can. As you guys know, Sim works from home so he is generally around to lend an extra hand. Like say, when Hadley blows out her diaper so ferociously that it leaks up the front AND the back of the onesie and the only way you can remove it without covering your daughters head in poop is with another person helping you out. He is also great at holding Hadley in the Baby Bjorn while he works away at his desk so I can get a shower.


Ana has been amazing as well. Everyone keeps asking her how she likes being a big sister and she often corrects them, saying, “I’m a big sister AND I’m a helper.” She likes helping with diaper changes (handing me wipes and putting the dirty diapers in the Diaper Champ), picking out what Hadley will wear each day, and she is the best at retrieving things I need while I’m nursing, like my water bottle, Chapstick, or the TiVo remote. She loves checking on her sister and covers her in kisses every chance she gets.



All in all, everyone is doing great. We have made the adjustment to life with a baby and it could not be going better. In fact, I feel guilty asking for anything for Christmas this year because I already feel like I have everything I could ever ask for and more. So much more.

2 Week Doctors Appt

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Hadley had her two-week doctors appointment today. It’s crazy to me that she has already been with us for two weeks. Yet at the same time, it seems like she has always here. Anyway, here are her stats from the appt:

Height: 21″ (75th percentile)
Weight: 9 lbs 5.5 oz (85th percentile)
Head: 36.6 cm (70th percentile)

The doctor came in to the room reading her chart and said, “So it looks like we have a good eater here. She has gained about a pound and a half since birth. Or about two ounces a day. I don’t think we are having any problems with your milk supply. You could probably feed, what, twins? Triplets?” I laughed (that was my joke he was stealing after all!) and stopped nursing my little piglet so we could get on with her appointment. Everything checked out fine and she is doing great. Then the doctor sent in the nurse and she did the routine PKU test on Hadley. Other than that, there was nothing else to report. Just one healthy little girl.


I have uploaded the pictures from Hadley’s first two weeks here for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Hadley’s Birth Story

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On Monday, November 8th I woke up at 4:30am to use the bathroom. Nothing unusual about that for a pregnant woman. However, I thought it was a little odd when I felt the need to pee again a half hour later. I got to the bathroom, barely sat down on the toilet and felt a gush of water. My water broke. It was seriously the most convenient water breaking in the history of, well, ever. It was so convenient I would have thought there was no possible way it could have been my water breaking if it weren’t for the fact that once the gush stopped, I was able to actually pee. I then promptly went back to my bed, turned on the light, and started checking my sheets to see if anything leaked. Nope, totally dry (Again, super convenient for this OCD mama). Sim woke up, asked what I was doing to which I replied, “I think my water just broke.” He was instantly up and wanting to take me to the hospital. I told him I wasn’t having any contractions so I was pretty sure we didn’t need to go anywhere. I climbed back in bed, grabbed my phone and Googled “water broke no contractions” and figured we had some time to kill.

A half hour later, at 5:30am, I finally had my first contraction.

So we had a nice leisurely morning. Ana and I cuddled in bed for awhile. I cooked us a nice breakfast of French toast and sausage. I had no idea when they would let me eat again and I knew I would need something to keep my energy up. I took my time getting ready, shaved my legs and finished packing my hospital bag. I arranged to have my good friend Cyndie pick up Ana for the day. Then when my doctors office finally opened I called and the advice nurse told me to come on in.

We arrived at the hospital about 9:30am. We walked into the maternity area and Sim commented that he didn’t remember any of this from when Ana was born. But it was all coming back to me. They checked me in to the maternity triage to make sure my water actually broke (it did) and after a series of medical questions, tests, and monitoring I was final admitted to the hospital and checked into my Labor and Delivery Room at 11am. We walked into room 322 and it was instant déjà vu. Sim said, “Now this part I remember.” To which I replied, “That’s because I am pretty sure this is the same room where we had Ana.” We checked the pictures from her birth on my blog and sure enough, everyone was wearing security badges with 322 on them. We were going to be having Hadley in the same room we had Ana. I decided that was a very good thing and instantly felt comfortable.

At this point my contractions were still really irregular and not painful, so it was clear that my labor was going to need a little assistance. But since I had tested positive for the Group B Strep, the doctor on call wanted to get in a round of antibiotics (about four hours) before starting the Pitocin. So Sim and I kicked back, watched some bad daytime television, and waited.

At 3:15pm they started the Pitocin. Initially it completely stopped my contractions and I was getting a little worried they might start talking c-section, but after continually upping the Pitocin my contractions started coming more frequently and started to really hurt. I was happy that my body was responding to the drug, but not too happy about the pain.


At 6pm they checked my cervix for the first time (since my water had broken AND I had the Strep B they wanted to check me as little as possible to prevent possible infection) and I was dilated to 3 cm. THREE. With the pain I was in, I was sure I was at least 7 cm. I could not believe I still had so far to go. The contractions were coming so close together and were so intense I was really shaky and light-headed. At this point, I made the decision to get the epidural. They called the anesthesiologist and by 7pm my epidural was in and I was one happy girl.


At 8pm the doctor checked me again and I was 8 cm. I was ecstatic! I am a firm believer that the epidural allowed me to finally relax enough that my body was able to progress. At 9:25pm the doctor wanted to check me again and I was 10 cm, 100% effaced and at zero station. The doctor and nurses got everything ready and at 9:30pm I started pushing. Hadley Elizabeth Bateman was born exactly eight minutes later at 9:38pm.


It’s a Girl!

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Introducing Hadley Elizabeth Bateman.
Born: Monday, November 8, 2010 at 9:38 PM
Height: 19.5 inches
Weight: 7 lbs 14 oz

When I find the time, I plan to write up Hadley’s birth story. It’s a good story so I want to give it the time it deserves, but in the mean time, I have uploaded all the pictures from Hadley’s birth, Hadley’s second day when she (finally!) met her sister, and Hadley’s third day when we came home from the hospital. Enjoy!

Now I am going to go back to staring at my beautiful daughter. Night!