2 Weeks Old

Two weeks old already?! Where does the time go? We are all doing well. Keeping extra busy! It's a little bit more interesting keeping up with all of the kids extracurricular activities now that Cassie is here! Doogie's basketball is ending this weekend, but then next weekend soccer starts up and all three of them are playing again (Doogie, Jayde and Ryann), not to mention baseball season! So we will be even more busy. It's a good thing Cassie has been such a good baby so far, it does make things a bit easier and of course having family in town to help out makes a huge difference! Our weekends (and weeknights) seem to be full of activities! I am looking forward to summer when things will hopefully calm down some. Anyways, though...we are all doing well and enjoying our new little one!

10 day old check-up

Cassie had her 10 day old check-up yesterday. She is looking good, a little bit jaundiced but not enough that he is concerned. She is weighing in at 7lbs 5oz so she is starting to gain back some her weight and is almost back up to her birth weight of 7lb 9oz. She is hanging out around the 50th percentile in weight, height and head circumference. We told her she had some catching up to do since her siblings were always up at the top of the chart! I'm sure she will be too, eventually! So anyways, she is looking good and growing. She didn't have to have any shots yesterday, but they did do her other PKU. She wasn't super happy about having her little foot poked but she calmed down pretty quickly and it seems she's a pretty good little bleeder and the nurse didn't have to squeeze her foot to death to get her blood samples. She will go back for another check-up in another 6 weeks (for her 2 month check-up).

The Birth Story

Everyone seems to be adjusting pretty well to having a new little one in the house. It also helps that so far she has been a very easy going little baby. She really doesn't cry a lot and she's easily soothed when she does cry. The kids all adore her, CJ practically mauls her with kisses! I wish I had a picture the first time Jaxon held her at the hospital...his face just lit up when Doug put her in his arms and he leaned over and gave her a kiss on her head. Doogie finally held her for the first time this weekend. He was so surprised on how light she was and I think it made him realize how fragile she is. I asked him if he wanted to give her a kiss and he looked up in shock at me and exclaimed "she's too little for that!" Doug and I got a good laugh out of that! Doug went back to work today. He took the kids to school for me and will pick them up, so that I don't have to worry about that just yet. But we figured things should go fine with him being back at work, she's a really good baby and the kids have been really helpful with her.

So anyways, I thought I would go ahead and share our birth story (I've had a few people ask me about it). So if you aren't into that kind of thing you can just skip this part and enjoy the pictures! Okay.... as many of you already knew, I had my doctor's appointment earlier that afternoon on Friday (the 12th). I was really hoping that he would just go ahead and send me on over to the hospital and get things going, especially since I was already 4+ dilated for the past few weeks. So when we got into the room to see him and he was giving me a bad time about not having her yet...I said why don't you just go ahead and send me on over to the hospital and get things going! He pulled out his phone and called over to the birthing center and talked to one of the nurses. It seems that they had been having a pretty busy week over there. Earlier that morning he had a c-section to do and they had to send her back to one of the observation/waiting rooms afterwards because they didn't have any rooms open! So he wanted to check to see if there were any rooms open first. There weren't....so he decided not to strip my membranes or do anything crazy because he didn't want us to have to deliver in a waiting room! So we went on with my appointment...I was dilated a little bit more (up to 5) but I still really wasn't having very many contractions that were strong and frequent. So he told us to go home and give him a call in a couple hours and he would let us know what the room situation was.

So we went home and started doing things to help get labor going. I made Doug take a nice long walk with me, about an hour or so. I did start having more contractions, however when we stopped walking they stopped as well. So I called my doctor to see what the situation was. He informed me that they did have a few rooms open now, but they had a couple of people scheduled to come in for inductions which would leave one room free. He told me if I could hold out until Sunday (the 14th) it would probably work out better, but it was up to me. He said that they wouldn't send me away since I was already 5cm dilated. So he said he would be there either way (he just didn't want me to go into labor on Saturday, because he wouldn't be on call). He then told me a few other things I could do that might get things started. I also got on the treadmill and started walking at a very brisk pace for about 20 minutes or so. I was starting to feel alot more pressure and having some cramping. So we decided to go ahead and head on over to the hospital (I was keeping my fingers that I wouldn't be sent home!) We got to the hospital a little after 5pm. I told them that I was feeling alot of pressure and having some cramping, so they took me into one of the observation/waiting rooms to check me out. The nurse couldn't find my cervix! She could feel my bag of water, and part of my cervix but not the whole thing. So she went out to get someone else (who had longer fingers than she did!) My doctor came in with the other nurse that she had found. He told them not to worry about checking me in there and that they would check when I got into a room. So I got checked in and another nurse checked me (and yes, we found my cervix!) I was up to 6cm dilated. So my doctor went ahead and broke my water and we just hanged out waiting on my contractions to get stronger and more regular. While we were waiting they went ahead and put the epidural in (but they didn't put the medicine in yet, since he wanted the contractions to get stronger first). However, they kept on doing the same thing....just one here and there and they weren't very strong. So he decided to give me some pitocin (which I had done with the last couple kids and I knew once he did that we would be going fast!) Sure enough not too long after I got my pitocin my contractions started coming alot harder and faster and I decided it was time for that epidural to come in to play! Now we just had to wait.... My doctor came in an hour or so later, sat down with his coffee and chatted with us and watched the movie that we were watching. He than decided to check me and see what was happening. He then asked me if I wanted to finish watching the movie or have this baby and that we could probably do both if we got going! My answer was of course "lets have this baby!"

So we got started...he joked around that he thought my full bladder was the only thing keeping this baby in! They got the room all set up and he got ready and I started pushing. I think it was the quickest birth of all my kids (and most of them were pretty quick!) It was about 3 really good pushes and out she came! And let me tell you there was nothing wrong with her lungs! She wasn't too happy about being pushed out of her warm quiet nest! Doug cut the umbilical cord and they put her on my chest, everyone was commenting on how much hair she had! Besides the hair another thing we all noticed was how long her feet, toes and fingers were and we all agreed that she was absolutely beautiful!

So all in all, we got to the hospital a little after 5pm (probably more like 5:30pm) and she was born at 9:00pm on the dot! So we had a pretty quick labor and delivery, everything went very smoothly with no complications or anything out of the ordinary. And we have been blessed with another beautiful and healthy child. We still can't get over how little she is....I know that all my kids were this little (or close to it) at one time in their life, but since they grow up so fast you forget just how small they were!

check-up

Cassie and I had our post partum check-up today. She is now 5 days old (the days have sure been going by fast!) She is for the most part a pretty content baby. The kids all adore her and are constantly asking to hold her. Not a moment goes by where they aren't surrounding me touching her head or hands and talking to her. It makes my heart swell to see how much they love her. Here are a few pictures of Ryann holding her...I need to get my camera out and capture them all with her. Ryann asked to hold her this morning after I had fed her, so I got her situated on the couch and was going to put a few dishes away in the dishwasher when I turned and saw this...so the dishes had to wait while I grabbed my camera and caught a few shots! Anyways, back to the check-up... She is doing great! When we left the hospital she had dropped down to 7lbs even and today when they weighed her she was up to 7lbs 2oz...so she is starting to gain it back and they didn't seem to worried about it. They said they like to give them about 2 weeks to get back up to their birth weight and I don't think that will be a problem!

So anyways, we are all hanging in there. Trying to get on some sort of routine! We are of course a little sleep deprived, but luckily she seems to be a pretty good sleeper so far (knock on wood!) and we are able to get some sleep! Doug is home from work this whole week and than next week we will see how things go...if I need him to stay home he will, but if not than he will probably end up taking kids to and from school for me and then go to work while they are at school.

So that is about it for now. I will try to post some more pictures later! :)

More Baby Pictures

We are now home from the hospital. Here are some more pictures of Cassie.

Cassandra Diana Crowe

Born February 12th, 2010

at 9:00pm

7lbs 9oz

19 inches

Cassandra Diana Crowe

Little Baby Cassie, Born Feb 12th, 2010 at 9:00 pm. Mommy and baby are doing well. Cassie has lots and lots of hair, like her sisters and we are trying to figure out if she looks more like Jayde or Ryann... We should be home on Sunday... Then the fun really starts... With the way CJ has grown, I forgot how small the little babies are...

Doug

There goes the Neighborhood

Today Rachael and I received a nice little letter from the City of Richland because one of our neighbors complained about a 12 year old dog barking and I quote “all hours + seems to be barking at nothing”. About three weeks ago, Rachael’s parents took Athena because she’s a handful and with the new baby, we wanted to reduce the stress we would have with the extra puppy. That only leaves Balder, who spends most of the day laying on blanket and looking sad. During the summer, we had a neighbor try to post a complaint to this blog about our family, and had it not been for Rachael requiring her to approve the post, it would have been automatically posted. Seriously, who does that?

So, there is someone in our neighborhood, who is reading this blog and trying to post messages and now they are complaining to the City of Richland. They obviously have to be very close to us to make the statements they have made and we are friends with most of the neighbors, except one. This begs the question, why not come over and talk to us?

So, now I need to call the City of Richland Attorney, and provide the information we have on our nice neighbor and explain to them the situation we are in. And the funny thing is, I hate barking dogs as much as the next person, so if balder was barking, I can understand the complaint. However, there was no barking or it certainly did not meet the requirements for Richland’s Animal Disturbing the Peace.

So, to our neighbor, who is reading this and trying to justify what they did, I’m a firm believer in Karma, so I’ll sit back and know, you have one coming your way…
Doug

Waiting....

Sorry it's been a while since I've updated! We are all doing fine at the Crowe house. Just waiting... The kids are starting to get more and more excited about the upcoming arrival (especially the girls). Jaxon's my little worrier and has been making sure that we have everything that Baby Cassie needs! My last appointment went fine...still hanging out at 4+ cm dialated. My next appointment is tomorrow. I am my doctor's last appointment of the day before he goes on call...so I'm hoping that he'll just send me over to the hospital and get things going! :) I am ready to be through being pregnant! At my last ultrasound last week, they estimated that the baby was weighing in at 7lbs 10oz already. So keep your fingers crossed that Baby Cassie will be coming this weekend!

In other news, my birthday was nice. We just stayed at home and BBQ'd, my parents and Doug's came over and we watched a bit of the Superbowl. I've been enjoying my new lens that Doug got me for my birthday. It's a 50mm f/1.4, which is great for low light and getting some great depth of field (DOF). I'm having alot of fun playing around with it and it will be great for taking pictures of the baby! The pictures you see are some that I've taken with it!

So anyways, that's about all that's been going on lately. Stay tuned for another post (hopefully soon) announcing the arrival of Cassandra Diana Crowe! :)

February is here!!

That means this little munchkin can come at any time now! There wasn't too much change at my last appointment...maybe a 1/2 cm which puts me up to 4 1/2 cm dialated. He did tell me to take it easy for another week just to be on the safe side (they want to make sure her lungs are fully developed). So I'm not supposed to be doing anything that could cause me to go into labor. I go in again on Thursday for another check-up and we'll see what the little stinker is up to and if I'm moving along at all.

Looking forward to my birthday present (a little early) arriving hopefully today (that's what UPS says anyways!) Doug ordered me a new lens for my camera and I can't wait to try it out and play around with it!

Anyways, nothing much happening for now...just waiting....
Also it's not too late to put in your baby guess. Just go to http://www.expectnet.com/games/TheSixthCrowe