Catching up on Ali

I guess since I haven't blogged in months I'll do a catch up! 

Alice Violet Ladislas was born on Sept. 26th at 11:29 a.m.  I was induced 2 weeks early because of the pre-eclampsia.  I had been on bedrest for 4 weeks leading up to that, so I was very happy to be induced. 

We went in to the hospital on Saturday night.  The plan was for them to put cream on my cervix at 9 pm and 1 am which would soften it to help it dilate.  Then at 5 am they would start the pitocin to get contractions to start.  At 9 am my doctor would round and break my water. 

The first dose was put on my cervix at 9 pm while I was dilated to 1 and effaced 75%.  My family, JM and I hung out in the hospital room watching tv and just goofing off, trying to pass the time.  Then at 1 am another dose was put on my cervix.  I believe I was dilated to 2 and completely effaced...not the progress they were hoping to see.

I took advantage of the offer of Ambien to help me sleep and around 3 am I woke up with a weird feeling.  I woke JM up and had him help me to the bathroom which is where my water broke on its own.  We were both kind of shocked and not real sure what happened at first!  Our nurse was very surprised and said in her experience, rarely does your water break on its own when you're induced. 

As soon as my water broke the contractions started fast and hard.  I was in a lot of pain and asked if it was too early to get the epidural.  The nurse said if my contractions were strong enough to break my water on its own, then it was definitely an ok time!  They came right in and placed the epidural which was a little difficult because my contractions were so close together he had to keep stopping to let me breathe for them. 

After the epidural was placed I was given my first dose of pain meds which knocked me out.  I woke up around 9 when my doctor came in for rounds.  Just for the heck of it my doctor checked me herself while she was in there.  I was completely dilated and effaced!  Talk about a great labor, I went from 2 cm to 10 cm in my sleep!  Of course that was the only easy part ;-)

I pushed for about 2 hours but Ali's little head (she really did have an incredibly small head) got stuck on my pelvic bone somehow.  I pushed and pushed and pushed but I couldn't get her head to pop over the bone.  The doctor came in and had to use forceps, which of course gave me a 4th degree tear (yes, for those of you who don't know, that's a COMPLETE tear).  But Ali popped right out when she used the forceps and she was perfect!  Quite the conehead at first but it fixed itself within a couple of days.

My mom was in the delivery room with us which worked out great because JM was able to go be with Ali while they stitched me up and my mom held my hand.  Everything else is kind of a blur but I know it all worked out great.  My dad, brother and Dara were at the hospital and got to come in after we were all cleaned up.  They all (and my mom) pretty much lived at the hospital while we were there bringing in good food and such which was greatly appreciated.

Since then Ali has been the greatest thing to happen in my life.  She amazes me more and more every day.  I never knew you could feel a love like this.  She holds her head up like a pro and smiles all the time.  She cries maybe once a day and it's usually because she's too tired.  She started sleeping through the night at 2 months old and hasn't woken up during the night since.  Truly the perfect baby.

I went back to work at the beginning of December and we've been very blessed to not have to use daycare.  My mom cares for her most of the time, with Dara and JM filling in other times.  Since JM took this third job I don't have to work 3 days a week anymore.  I scheduled myself for Tuesdays from here on out because Ali can go to work with Mom (Nani) in the morning and then my mom takes her home for the afternoon.  To try to catch up on our bills I think I'm going to pick up Sunday nights because JM's off on Sundays so we can spend the day as a family, then he can put her to bed Sunday night and I'm home Monday morning when she wakes up.  Her and I will take our naps together and she'll never even know I was gone. 

We've done a lot in the last 3 months.  Ali was dedicated at church on Dec. 12th, was a lamb for Halloween, went to her first pumpkin patch....lots of good stuff.  Here's a link to our pictures so you can look through them all!
http://picasaweb.google.com/shannonmoliver

We also had our dear friend take her 3 month/Christmas pictures.  I absolutely love her pictures and she has an amazing style.  Ali absolutely loves her and the pictures turn out wonderful!  Here's a link to the website, click 'client moments', then our name and the password is "Ali".
http://momentsphoto.biz/

Let it out

Every so often, something happens and I just have to complain.  My husband will probably tell you that it happens all the time ;-).  But sometimes complaining to him isn't enough, I still feel like it's bottled up inside of me and I'll explode if I don't talk about it.  So, here we are. 
I occasionally am known to view others from my pedestal.  Occasionally.  But there are some things that I hope I will never ever do.
Now that I'm a parent, there is nothing in this world I wouldn't give or do for my child.  As a matter of fact, I'm writing this while working a night shift.  Most of you know that before Ali there was no way I would've EVER even considered doing this.  But we could use the money for me so I needed to pick up more shifts but I hate being away from her.  This way the only thing I miss out on is putting her to bed.  It sucks, but she doesn't even know I'm gone.  Then tomorrow her and I get to take our naps together!  And she's worth every second of it.
This is how I was raised.  My parents would have and still would move heaven and earth for me if I needed them.  This is how all my friends and the rest of my family was raised.  This is the only way I know.  My relationships with others, my work, and my marriage will always remain important to me and I will continue to work on them, but Ali takes presidence. 
So how in the world could a parent not speak to their child on Christmas.  No, there was no argument or anything like that.  The parent just didn't have time I guess.  The child even called the parent and left a message.  But the parent couldn't take 30 seconds out of their day to call and just say Merry Christmas.
I'm making a vow to myself that no one, including myself, will ever be more important than my child.  I truly believe this is how you raise confident children.  By making sure they know they are loved and cared about.  Not just assuming they know.  But by showing them, even when they're adults.

Updated!

Wow...having a child takes up a lot of your time!!!  I just logged onto this and realized how long it's been since I've blogged.  There were still polls of how long Ali would be and how much she would weigh.  There was even a tracker at the top for how big she was in my belly!!!  I've deleted all that stuff and updated the site, although I did keep the color scheme of her room because let's face it, it's pretty.  But I will make an effort to keep this updated now that Ali's here so everyone can know her latest happenings.  I probably should change the name of the blog from Shan's Life to something more fitting!