Two weeks!

Well, Ella turned two weeks old on Christmas Day. Obviously, we weren't going in for her checkup that day, so it was into the doctor on the 26th.

Little Miss was back up to her birthweight, 8lbs 6 oz. and was 20.5 inches long (was 20 at birth). The docker looked her over and essentially said she looked absolutely perfect. She hasn't been doing anything out of the ordinary, and I really didn't have any questions/comments/concerns, so the appointment went pretty fast.

I did ask, however, if I still needed to wake her during the night to eat. He said that since her jaundice was behind her, she proved that she could gain and maintain weight, and that she was eating well, that she could be left alone and to let her fall into her own routine. Exactly what I wanted to hear. Besides, I apparently had been shutting my phone alarm off during the night anyways. I'd wake up because of Ella crying, to look at my phone to see it was past the time that the alarm had been set for. Oops! When I told the doctor that, he just laughed and said that that was a definite sign that I most certainly was not a first time mom. We both got a good laugh out of that. Another funny of the appointment was that she had red glitter pretty much all over the place. In her neck, on her cheek, in her hair. Not quite as bad as the appointment the week before when the doctor found a speck of glitter in her diaper. We obviously are living in a house full of girls :)

Sporting just a wee bit of baby acne lol

Also, how in the world has two weeks gone by so fast? It seemed those last few weeks of my pregnancy dragged on, and now time is back to flying by!

So far, she's also proven to be a fairly easy baby. Mainly cries just when she's hungry, and as soon as she has her food, she's set. She's sleeping in 2-3 hour stretches during the night, and after eating its normally right back to sleep. She loves cuddles and her favorite way is to lay on your chest and tuck her legs under. We could both sit there for hours on end like that.

Addisyn and Alyse are still doing well with the new adjustment. Addisyn loves helping and Alyse likes doing whatever Addi does. They still fight over getting to hold her too.

Just like in the ultrasound, sleeping with her hand by her face

I feel completely overwhelmed right now. I have over 500 essays with just 4 days to do them. That's on top of taking care if a newborn and two toddlers. My house is a disaster zone with all of the girls' Christmas gifts. Not to mention, the house hasn't been cleaned since the day before Ella was born. There are about three loads of clothes to be folded as well as more to be washed. Along with a dishwasher sitting with clean dishes and a sink full of dirties. Once I get these essays knocked out I know I'll be able to get the other stuff taken care of. Until then though, I'll just stay stressed at looking at all the mess! And for anyone wondering how I have time to sit and write these posts with so much to do...the miracle of a smart phone app. When you're up in the middle of the night nursing a baby or sitting on the couch nursing during the day, it's amazing what you can do on your phone ;)

Fun fact: Ella had her first poop explosion on Friday, at two weeks old and three days. Of course, it would also be just after a fresh and clean bath.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Dupp girls!

Can I just say how incredibly sweet it was to get to spend the Christmas holiday with my THREE baby girls??!!? The magic of Christmas is most definitely there for Addisyn, and that is what truly makes Christmas so much fun. The fun, excitement, and joy of your child's eyes on Christmas morning is priceless. And, Alyse isn't too far behind her. She may not quite get Santa yet, but she loves copying all the things her sister says and does. And, Ella's first Christmas was her exact two week birthday. I'd venture to say that two weeks before Christmas won't be too horrible of a birthday lol.

"Christmas Dresses" lol

Christmas Eve, we went to both of my grandmothers' houses. Always so good to make the rounds. Then, Christmas morning we waited on the girls to actually wake up, which wasn't until a bit after 9:30!! Then, it was out to explore all the gifts from Santa. Mom, Dad, and Eric also came over to see what goodies they received. Next, Doug took the two older girls out to Mema's to wish everyone there a Merry Christmas. We decided it would be best to not take Ella out there, just because there are so many people, and we didn't want to take any risks of someone being sick.

Feeding the reindeer on Christmas Eve

For the second half of Christmas Day, we went to Doug's parents for lunch. And, Finally, it was to my parents house for dinner. Whew. Talk about a busy holiday! All in all, we had a fabulous Christmas. Always a great thing to spend time with family. And I'm not going to lie, having two little toddlers and a itty bitty baby around makes it that much better.

Ella lost her stump!

I almost forgot!! Christmas night, when we got home, I went to get Ella changed and dressed for bed. I grabbed a q-tip to clean her cord, and hen I went to touch it to her the q-tip in, it just fell off. So, on Christmas and her two week birthday, that last little piece of reminder of her attachment to me was gone. Kinda sad when you think about it.

Merry Christmas and happy two weeks to Baby Ella!

Mellow and Yellow

lounging with her bili blanket

Since Ella's jaundice levels had jumped the two points the morning we were discharged, the nurse recommended we make the appointment at the pediatrician for the following day which was Friday the 14th. First things were first and she weighed in at 7lbs 10oz, which means she lost 11oz form her birth weight. When we saw the doctor (before blood test results were ready) she guessed that she would have elevated levels just by her looks. Sure enough, she was at 16.something. Levels for treatment start at 16. Luckily though, since her levels weren't extreme she would be able to so treatment at home. That same day, the equipment company came to the house delivering her bili blanket. She would have to be on it at all times.

We went back on Saturday to follow up, and her levels had only dropped a few points after being on the blanket. So, we decided to give it a couple more days and to come back in on Monday. She also, was up to 7lbs 12oz. So she gained 2 ounces overnight! Which was proof that my milk supply was most definitely in :)

The cord was ginormous and really heavy

On Monday, it was back to the doc again. This time, there was a better drop in levels and it had gone down to 13.something. Although, it sill wasn't as low as it needed to be. He wanted her at an 11. So, we were told to come back on Tuesday (one week birthday, and my due date!). Still on Tuesday, not down enough. The doctor was pretty confident thought that she'd drop enough to come off the lights by the next day. That was enough to convince me.

Finally, on Wednesday, we went back one last and final time, and she was at 11!!!!!! Woohoo!!! We got the official discharge off the lights and she also got out if having to take the "rebound" test the following day because she was over a week old, which meant she had most likely gotten over the peak. I was just elated that we would have our baby girl cord free! It was very annoying only having about 2 feet if movement with her. Although, it did make for a perfect excuse to snuggle up in the chair with her on my chest.

The light's heatt kept her nice and sleepy

And, I believe she was 7lbs 15oz at that appointment. I'm wondering if she's going to be back at her birth weight by her two week checkup? I have a feeling she will be, or at least be pretty close!

I honestly cannot believe that A) she's here B) she's already over a week old and C) we are going to have her here for her very first Christmas!

Also, in her one week birthday, we had liane come out to the house to so her newborn pictures. We tried to get some family and sibling shots in as well, but as we all know lil Alyse is not a fan if the camera. She really needs to kick this habit!

Smurfette??

All in all, Ella's first week flew by. She's a pretty relaxed and chill baby. Mainly eating, sleeping, and pooping. I do lOvE this stage though. My favorite is just lounging around with her on my chest. Addisyn and Alyse are sill pretty excited about her and often fight over who will get to hold her first. I'm so glad that they are both adjusting well thus far. I was pretty worried about how alyse would react, but so far, so food!

Ella's first few days

After moving to the mother baby unit, Ella was able to meet some more of her family who had been anxiously awaiting for her arrival as well as her big name reveal! Of course, mom was already there with the girls, soon Karen, Megan, Zoe, and Eric were there. Everyone was in such awe over how much she looked like Alyse
when Alyse was a baby.


Her first night went well. The grunting noises that she had been making since her birth stopped overnight. Her blood sugar levels also regulated to where they needed to be. She was up quite a bit nursing, but of course that was expected. The next day, the pediatrician came in and said that she looked and seemed perfectly healthy and shortly after that, my doctor came in and pretty much told me she'd write the orders for me to go home whenever I was ready. We weren't going to leave without little Ella though, so we stayed one more night.



I don't know what in the world is up at Winnie Palmer, but they've made a couple of changes since the last time I had delivered. The biggest annoyances were having to record every single diaper change, every single nursing session, as well as recording how much I was going to the bathroom. Talk about aggravating! I had just had a baby, was trying to recover, and they're wanting me to remember to do all those things?? Sheesh! I could understand if Ella had some issues and that needed to be monitored, but I'm going to call the third time mom card here and say that I kinda know what I'm doing. And as for how much I'm peeing? I get that they need to know that, but why do I have to chart it?

Little Ella sleeping away on my chest on her second night.

Anyhow, the next day, Ella and I were both released. Luckily, my nurse was pretty much on top of things and got our discharge info rolling along pretty quickly. We realized that the Health Department wasn't going to make it to our room in time to deliver Ella's birth certificate, so we called over to their office (which we could see directly out my room window) and told them that we would just come and pick it up ourselves.

So not the best picture, but getting ready to go home :)

Next thing we knew, transport was at the door and Ella and I were being pushed through the hospital to go home. I'm not going to lie, leaving was in a way sad. I was sad that that was more than likely the last time I'd get to go through the whole pregnancy/birth/brand-spanking-new-baby experience. Maybe it was just all my hormones, but I was most definitely sad. I was also worrying about whether or not Ella would have to be re-hospitalized, as both of her sisters did. The nurse checked her jaundice levels just before we were discharged, since it was a concern I had, she was at 9.something (8 maybe??) which was higher from the 7.something he had been during the early morning check. Anyways, at that point I was cautiously optimistic that we would avoid Arnold Palmer this go around.

Ella Kathryn's big arrival!

Well folks, Baby Dupp III (a.ka. Gummy, Coral, and/or Coral-Pie) is officially here. Presenting little miss Ella Kathryn. She made her big arrival during a scheduled induction on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 1:55 pm. She weighed 8lbs and 6oz (much to my relief she didn't take after her big sister, Alyse) and was 20 inches long.

A couple weeks prior to her delivery I discussed with my doctor about possibly setting up an induction date for 39 weeks just in case things didn't happen on their own by then. I was fully anticipating that I would go into labor naturally, given my past history of the other two girls. Well, little Ella proved me wrong, and made it the full 39 weeks tucked inside her little womb. So, off we went at 4-something in the morning to make it to Winnie Palmer by our scheduled time of 5am.

As our luck would be, we would have to sit in the super cold waiting room for like an hour. Finally, around 6:15 the nurse came and picked us up to bring us to my labor room. It was the routine medical questions along with setting up the IV and monitors. 7:30am the pitocin was started and was 4cm dialated and about 70% effaced. I was happy to hear that there had been some progress since my doctor visit the Thursday prior. I wasn't in any pain, just having the regular contractions that I've been having for weeks at home. I did request that I get my epidural placed though, before my doctor came to break my water. Not because I was hurting at the moment, but because I knew what was ahead of me.

At 9am the anesthesiologist was in the room ready to place it and Doug was out the door faster than I've seen him move in a long time. Placing it was a breeze with just a few awkward pinches. While she was working on getting the epi placed exactly as it should, my doctor came in. At 9:15 she broke my water and checked me again, and I was still at 4cm. It was funny though, because about 30 minutes after my doctor supposedly left to go to the office, she came back into my room to do another check. She was worried that I would progress super fast and would have been called to turn around halfway back to Dr. Phillips. No progress though, so she left.

At 12:15, I had moved to 5cm. Doug sent out a few texts to let some family know of the progress. Then, my nurse was called to her other patient's room because she was ready to deliver. So she sent a back up nurse into my room. This lady had me moving from one side to the other. Apparently, the baby's heart rate would drop a little bit and the monitor wasn't really picking up my contractions. This led to a conversation with the nurse that I was feeling the contractions, that they weren't painful just a bit uncomfortable. So she was like, well you have the epidural so press the button to get your extra doses. As soon as I did that that uncomfortableness went away. A few minutes later she asked if I had felt that contraction that supposedly just happened, and I totally hadn't felt anything. Now, that is truly a miracle drug. With that, she placed my left leg in a stirrup that was on the right side of the bed. This is the magic position that dialated me from 8cm to 10cm in less than 2 minutes with Alyse.

Just minutes old

Anyways, a few minutes later she came back in and told me about the lowering of the baby's heart and the monitor still not picking up all the contractions, and that she had called the doctor to let her know. Dr. Lambert made the call to have an internal monitor placed so that they could get a more accurate read of the consistency of the contractions. With that, I told the nurse that within the last couple of minutes I had started to feel some pressure and had been debating about calling her into the room. So, my nurse was back from her other patient's delivery and she did a check. She immediately told the other nurse to get a glove to double check. Sure enough, I had fully dialated from 5cm to 10cm in less than 30 minutes. They were then on the phone with the doctor. I kinda laughed about it and was told not to laugh because the baby might come out. That of course made me laugh again. Not sure if the nurse was fully serious, but then I coughed and was told no coughing either ;)

I had about a 30 minute wait from the cervical check until Dr. Lambert made her arrival. The pressure was getting much more frequent and much more intense. I just kinda breathed through them. The nurse basically stayed at my side and would frequently ask if I wanted her to call for another doctor just in case. But, I kept insisting that I would be ok. Dr. Lambert probably got to my room around 1:30. She did a quick glance and decided that she was going to change into her tennis shoes. Then, she was back, they had me do a "practice" push through my next contraction at 1:45, when she decided she needed to get all her gear on. It took longer than what I had been experiencing for the next contraction, but once it came, did the standard three pushes to the contractions. Apparently, she was really close. The next set of contractions brought her to the verge of her arrival. Then, on the first push of the next (the third) contraction, she was here. Less than 10 minutes of pushing, through only 3 contractions = the easiest delivery ever. Plus, my epidural was working perfectly, unlike it only working half way during Alyse's delivery.

Ella went straight to my chest while the nurses wiped her down. It was such a sweet moment. Then, it was off she went for her evaluation. I think I overheard them saying her Apgar scores were 8 and 9. Everyone was shocked that she wasn't heaver than what she weighed out, because she looked much bigger than her actual weight. Once I got her back in my arms, we were told that she was grunting a bit, which is actually a sign of respiratory distress and that her blood sugar was low. They asked me to nurse her to hopefully bring her levels up. They brought a pediatrician in, who explained she may have to go to the transition nursery, but after he did a good lookover he decided that she didn't need to do that, but just to keep a close eye on her. The sugar levels also leveled out after her feeding.

We then had a little bit of time to bond while we waited for the effects of the epidural to wear off. It was so nice to have a new little newborn in my arms again. There really and truly is no greater feeling in the world than just having pushed out a baby that you've been growing inside of you for the past 9 months and then having that sweet baby in your arms. It's so surreal to know that that tiny person had just been inside of you.

They are so happy to finally get to see little Ella

Around 4 o'clock, mom made it up to the labor room (we were still waiting to be moved to the mother baby unit) with Addisyn and Alyse. The look on Addisyn's face was absolutely priceless. She was literally smiling ear to ear and her mouth dropped open. She came over to me and baby Ella as fast as she could and told me that she was so excited that her new baby sister was here. Surprisingly, Alyse was pretty excited too. Then, it was time for the girls to hold their new sister. It was so awesome to watch both of them interact with little Ella. Mom was dying to know the little babe's name and asked Addisyn what her sister's name was. Of course, Addisyn stuck with Coral-Pie, but I asked her if she wanted to know the baby's real name. That's when we told her Ella Kathryn. And, Addisyn was so happy and complimented the name saying it was beautiful.

Addisyn and Alyse meeting Ella for the first time!

Next thing we knew, it was time to move up to the mother baby unit and we were being wheeled away to our new room. On the way there we dropped Ella off at the nursery for a quick bath and look over from the nurses. All in all, it was another beautiful moment. It's virtually impossible to explain the feeling of labor and delivery as well as meeting your baby for the first time. All I know, is that I am so blessed to have three amazing baby girls and I wouldn't trade them for anything in the whole world!

Me and my girls <3

38 and 3

Holy big belly at 38 weeks! Can't believe I'm posting this :/

Well, today marks the day of this being the longest that I've ever been pregnant. Gummy (or the newer names Coral-Pie, which just doesn't cut it for me) has managed to stay in longer than both of her two older sisters. Go figure. Third baby and longest pregnancy. I had my check up on Thursday, and still sitting at 3cm. Not any progress, but it's not like that really means much. My doctor still described my cervix as "favorable" so it's not like all these contractions haven't done anything. The past few days, the contractions have gotten much stronger and have even had a handful in a row. But nothing that lasted long enough to warrant a trip to labor and delivery. And, my doctor also told me she is on call over the weekend, so maybe things can get moving along sooner rather than later.

I feel like I've ran out of room. Most of my shirts are too short. My pants are constantly falling down. I've lost all since of self respect walking around the house with the bottom portion of my belly hanging out. I feel like I should put on a wife beater and have a can of beer in my hand. Just a few more days, and the majority of these problems will go away. However, the sad news is, is that these issues will be replaced with jiggly flab that won't allow me to wear normal jeans but leaving the maternity pants a bit too big. Lose/lose, but one of the joys of motherhood.

Heart burn is nasty. I've been living off of Tums. Especially at night. I've also reverted back to trying to take an afternoon nap while the girls take theirs. I can definitely notice the drop of energy. It's going to be a long time before I have any of that to spare. 

Last Saturday, was the city's Christmas Parade. Addisyn's school participated and I spent the Friday before up at the school helping decorate. Because of being uber pregnant Doug went along with Addisyn during the parade. I figured waiting around at the line up for over an hour and walking that distance would leave me pretty swollen and uncomfortable. So, Alyse and I claimed some spots as spectators and later the rest of the gang came to watch as well. Addisyn was so excited when she rode past and was sure to throw some candy to Alyse. The float turned out adorable, and we just found out last night that we won first place for the most Christmas spirit. How cool!

Thursday night, Addisyn had her Christmas Pageant at the Pre-School. It was so adorable to watch all the little ones singing and doing their motions to their songs. Addisyn has been singing them around the house for quite sometime now, but it was fun to see it all put together. And, of course it would be my kid that was digging at her pants almost the entire time because her tights were bothering her. Luckily, she was in the back row so hopefully not too many people noticed. She was so proud of herself though and was extra excited because she was able to be on the stage. Such a ham.

The girls went to the Boat House for the weekend, leaving Doug and I alone for one final weekend. It's nice to just relax, but it's so strange not having the girls. Pretty much my whole world revolves around them and to have them gone is just awkward. Today, went out with Zoe to the mall and also got manicure/pedicures. Good to have a day to myself. Not sure what to do tomorrow. I'm sure we can come up with something.

But, for now, we continue waiting...patiently ;)