Camille sleeps in her crib - December 13, 2009

I decided it was time to try to have baby Camilley sleep in her crib. Ainsley NEVER slept in her crib. Every time her body touched down she'd let out a huge wail. So, I walk up the stairs in a robotic sort of trance with Camille in my arms. No big movements or sounds from me, and I'm trying to avoid all the creaks on the stairs (suddenly, there seems to be a bunch of new ones in our floorboards!) Down she goes, slowly and soundlessly. Her butt touches the mattress, then the rest of her body and not a peep from her. The big test is sliding my arms out from underneath her and creeping away noiselessly. And there it is! So, it wasn't something I did wrong with Ainsley. She just didn't want to sleep in there, I guess. Camille goes down and stays down for about 45 minutes. I will call that a great success!! Later that night, she slept in the crib for the night, into the early morning, and the following night for a few hours as well. Looks like this new crib is going to work out just fine.

In the following days, the baby fell asleep in her "sleep beside" under the Christmas tree (she's our best little Christmas present we could ever get!) and Frank carried her upstairs and laid her in her crib while still in the sleep beside. Not a peep from the little chickie! I love that sleep beside. And so does baby.

Bright, smiling baby Camille - December 09

Camille smiled a great big smile today! This is not a poop smile either. No flatulence went along with it (I'm pretty sure). She has dimples like Frank - big huge dimples when she smiles. First she squinted her eyes then opened her mouth into this big, toothless grin. Such a cute baby. I will get a picture of this if it kills me! Every time the camera finally clicks, I miss it!

All my helpers are gone! - Tuesday, December 1, 2009

What a sad day for me. I was really getting used to Frank being around all the time. He did all the things he's been planning to do for years: organize and clean the basement and garage! Plus, run and get every tiny thing I ask him to. I also had a reprieve after Thanksgiving, Ainsley was off school Monday (yesterday) so she was my runner. She was my good little runner every day she was home. Now I have to do all that running myself! I couldn't imagine getting the baby in and out of the car without Frank. However, I did some practicing, so I might be okay!

First thing this morning, as I'm sitting here boo-hooing to myself, Camille spoke up. She cooed at me - a really big one for the first time! I think she was saying, "You can do it, get it together Mom, for real!" I called Frank right away (he had only walked out about 10 minutes earlier) to let him know what he missed. This is just the beginning of Camille's voice. I have a feeling she will never let herself be ignored! That's my girl.

Camille's Baptism - Saturday, Nov 28, 2009

Camille was baptized at 5 weeks old. We wanted to have her blessed as soon as possible. My sister, Tara, is her godmother and Frank's cousin, Mike, her godfather. It was so cute to have Ainsley, and Miranda and Gene (Miranda and Gene are Tara's children; they are four and five) sit in the short pew in the front row right in front of the church. They were so good and so interested in everything that was going on. I was so proud of them. There were three other babies being baptized, as it was Thanksgiving weekend and apparently the perfect time to do it. Camille slept the entire time through the service. The only time she woke up is when Father Whitman poured the water over her because a little trickle made its way to her eye. It was a very special service. Afterward, we traveled downstairs for coffee and cake, joined by about 20 friends and mostly relatives. Camille slept through that, also. What a great baby!

Camille Sleeps Through the Night - Friday, November 27, 2009

It's hard to believe that we went to bed around 1 am on Thursday and woke up around 6am with the baby. She slept a whole six hours straight. Way to go! Mommy feels pretty good after getting all that sleep.

Camille's One Month Visit to the pediatrician - November 24, 2009

Camille is perfect! We are truly blessed. She has grown to 8 lbs. 9 oz. and is in the mid-range for her height and weight. She grows so much every day. We are so lucky and thank God every day for her.

Camille loses her belly button - November 9, 2009

The nurse told me to use water and soap to clean Camille's belly button. Nothing else?! No alcohol? No peroxide? These are all the things I used for Ainsley's belly button ten years ago. Hers took awhile to fall off.  Camille's took 17 days to fall off, and I didn't have to do more than give her a bath. I was getting out of bed after nursing Camille and I had been laying on something. As I went to brush it off the bed, disgusted that there were crumbs or some kind of foreign fuzz ball in my bed, I realized just before I got rid of it that it was Camille's belly button. That little bugger's belly button fell right off by itself! So I put it in an envelope, labeled and dated it, and put it in the "Camille momentos" file.

My ER visit - Thursday, October 29, 2009

Camille is now five days old and I'm not feeling any better. In fact, I'm feeling worse at this point. I'm bleeding as much if not more than I was in the hospital, and the pain in my middle was still bad. I was actually getting worse instead of better. So, I called Dr. Malak, my Ob/Gyn and spoke to the nurse. She told me to go to the ER immediately and she ordered a STAT ultrasound and also ordered blood and urine tests. So, Frank and I headed to the ER and nothing came up out of the ordinary. The last hope to figure out what was wrong was for the ER doctor to do an internal exam. Upon this examination, he found a small piece of placenta that did not show up on the ultrasound. He said this is what was causing my problems. He ordered me to also take Motrin instead of Tylenol. Motrin is a stronger pain killer than Tylenol.

After this, I felt like I was about a week behind in my recovery, but I started feeling better and was on the road to recovery.

Camille's first visit to the pediatrician - October 27, 2009

Camille's weight went down to 6lbs 10oz. This is normal. The doctor said she would like to see her at the end of the week when she's exactly one week old and she would like her weight to be back to her birth weight. I reported that we were changing about 6 diapers a day at least and that she is breastfeeding exclusively. Dr. Duffy said that she was perfect, just keep doing what we're doing.

Note:  Camille almost hit her birth weight at one week. She was 7lbs. exactly (4 oz short).

Naming the Baby

We attended baptism class at our church six days before the baby was born. We did not have a name yet and I was getting nervous about it. Father passed out a list of saints' names and Camille is the female derivation of a saint's name. (I forget the male form) That name really hit me. I told Frank and he liked it too, and so did Ainsley when asked later. But we didn't come up with the middle name, Grace, until right after the baby was born. Grace was the name of our nurse who was really wonderful. She must have a lot of babies named after her, because we've seen two more babies with the middle name Grace in the paper, and they were born at the same hospital. Plus, one of the other nurses said, "You got another named after you, Grace."

Camille Grace. What a beautiful name for a beautiful little baby!

Baby arrives! Friday, October 23, 2009

Thursday night after dinner, Frank and I arrive at the hospital and we have the entire Women's Center to ourselves. No other moms or babies that night, so it was pretty quiet there. So we settle into the labor and delivery room, which is pretty nice with a TV and CD player/radio. Dr. Malak arrives and in 3 seconds, inserts Prostaglandin (I believe!) into me to ripen the cervix. Just in time to watch Survivor on TV, then the nurse gives me a sleeping pill around 9:30 and my mind starts to drift for awhile. Around 11:15, the action begins. Here come the contractions. These contractions seem like mid-labor contractions. They were kind of strong, with only about 30 seconds in between them. My Dave Matthews CD was put in and it was time to concentrate. This is how it was during the entire night. I kept getting up to go to the bathroom and the poor nurse had to un-hook me from the monitor and eventually the saline IV all night. Then, finally, around 7:30am, she checked and there was hardly any progression. I was still at 1cm, with 50% effacement. The doctor then authorized some pain meds and I fell asleep for a short amount of time. The doctor came in around 8:15 - Frank and I had snoozed for about 40 minutes. He then broke my water, decided not to give me Pitocin, and that's when all heck broke loose. The contractions were much stronger with less time in between. We were not going back to sleep.

This went on for about an hour and a half. Then, I got the epidural. I had caved during the night and let it be known that I definitely wanted one this time (with Ainsley, I did not have one, the anesthesiologist was MIA!). Still not a lot of progression, but when I was sat upright and given the epidural, I went from 2cm to 7cm right then! I also asked for my mommy, who rushed from home and came into the delivery room with us to witness the birth of her tenth grandchild!

Everything went smoothly with the epidural. I felt no pain, but I could feel the pressure, which enabled me to push. After about 4-5 pushing sessions, Camille Grace Klaric came into the world at 11:37am on Friday, October 23, 2009. She was 7 lbs. 4 oz. and 19 1/2 in long. What a complete miracle!