Carissa's Blog

*piuh* she's back on track now. I think she knows that she's back at her house where there's no grandma :(. Last night she slept around 11:30pm and stay asleep till 4:30-ish am. Which is good. Today she still wants to eat every 1 hr, but I think my milk supply already matches her demand, so I have no problem feeding her every hour.

Then I decided to take her to the park near our house using her stroller. She loves it, she fell asleep about 2 mins after we start walking. After that she was awake for a while, then I fed her again and then she took an hour nap and ask for food again *sigh* she's a lil snacker. Around 2:30-ish I decided to put her on my hotsling and do stuff around the house. I can't believe that she does like the vacuum cleaner sounds... hmm... either it's a white noise thing or I vacuumed too much when I was pregnant :) hahahahah. So I did her laundry because she likes to play this "let's see how many diapers you can change in 1 time" game. We changed her and she pooped it again and then we changed her again and she pooped it again.. usually she always wins... so far the record is 3 diapers per change.

Anyway.. Here are some pictures... not a lot.. but some :)

Weekend was fun and relaxing for me. I finally got my dreams back. I can dream again! we went to our first long car ride to grandma's house. Carissa likes the car ride and all the attention that she got from everyone.

BUT... yesterday we couldn't put her down to sleep. She got used to with everyone holding her while she sleeps. Every time i feed her, she fell asleep and then she woke up once we put her down on her crib. Last night she woke up every 2 hrs.

I'll post pictures later...

My Little Princess :) Click on the photo to see more pictures of my lil princess

Carissa 7/25/07 3:17 PM

Carissa is 3 weeks old today!! :) she's getting more alert each and everyday. Last night she slept 4-5 hrs straight! I was so worry but seems like she's alright, she woke up around 6 am and ate.. and play a lil bit with mommy and went back to bed.

We went to Target today because she needs more those sleeper that has zipper all the way to her feet. She likes to sleep in those. :)

My baby is awake right now.. need to entertain her! :)

3 Weeks Old

Sorry it's been a while since I put her pictures on the web. Last weekend Auntie Erica & the boys, great grandma, and great aunt Joni & fam came to Ames to see Carissa. Also grandma Bev is staying with us till tomorrow. We always love to have grandma around... she's such a big help for us. I finally got some sleep today, LOVING it. It's amazing how now I got 4 hrs to sleep and I feel like I'm so fresh. And shower is my relaxing time (like going to the mall and spent 300 bucks!) :)

Updates about me: I finally feel much better, dr. gave me some antibiotics to fix my breast infection. So all these times actually I was sick. I guess I have a really high tolerance with pain. Usually people who has breast infection feel awful. But good thing the pain is decreasing right now. Breastfeeding is actually harder than I thought it would be. But I know it's worth it for my baby. Nothing against bottle fed, but I am a strong believer in breastfeeding, tho it hurts so much! :D hahahaha especially when Carissa decided to sleep for 3 hrs! :) I feel like "c'mone wake up now.. mommy sore!!!" heheheheh


Grandma Bev gave Carissa a bath tonight. It's amazing how she can be relax when grandma gave her a bath, while when we (Carson and I) gave her a bath she will scream her lungs out :D.

to see more pictures of her

Carissa is officially unattached to me :(. Her umbilical cord stump fell off this morning. She still fussy around 3-7am. But Carson is such a good daddy, he soothe her and feed her from the bottle. I already pumped some supply for him to feed her.

Another news, Carissa got a gift from Netherland. Yeap Netherland! One of my fellow blogger reader sent me a gif for her. Here's the picture. Thanks Ira!!!

Today was our first time going out shopping. We went to Sam's Club to get more diapers, and then went to Target to refund some stuff that I bought.

Carissa likes her car seat and she pretty much slept through the whole trip. Only cried a lil bit but once I pushed the cart again, she back to sleep.

Shopping with a baby is harder than I thought. Challenging I should said.

Anyway seems like Carissa is going through her growth spurt, she eats constantly every hour. Feel like she attach to my breasts! She was awake from 3-7am this morning, I was so frustrated again, but good thing Carson is such a lovely husband, he woke up and help me for about 2 hrs, so I got some sleep and then I took care of her once my sanity level back to normal again.

Carissa is 2 weeks old now, she weigh 7 lbs 8 oz! :) what a big girl! last week she weighed 6 lbs 13 oz. The dr. said everything looks great, she looks healthy and we can take her for a walk 3 times a week. So mommy and daughter can get some sun & exercise.

As far as mommy, I already lost most of my baby weight. 5 more lbs to go. It's easier than I thought it would be. I guess breastfeeding help shedding those pounds away.

Anyway, that's it for today.

We will go to her 2 weeks check up today. I will update you what the dr. said.

Just a little update from me, it's amazing how every time I think I can't do this.. and I look at her face, and she throws me her random smile and laugh. Every time I cried and think I need my mother in law, she look at me and smile.

It is hard to be a first time mom, I have no idea how to balance stuff.. my body all sores and I feel so restless. I don't feel like doing anything. I know that I still need to eat and take care my body since I'm breastfeeding. Sometimes I feel I want to give up on breastfeeding.. but I don't want to.

Why can't I stay positive, I know if God gave me this beautiful child it means that He knows that I can handle this. He won't give me anything beyond my strength and ability.

I really amazed by those single mother out there. This task is harder than I thought. But hopefully I can go through this.

Saturday night was kind of rough without grandma, Carissa was awake from 5-9am. I guess she just misses her grandma. Since 5-9 is grandma shift usually. But after that she fell asleep real good. We wish that grandma lives 10 mins away.

Mel & Oke were here and they helped us with getting us food, so that was nice. Then they left yesterday. Thank youuuuuuuuu.

Last night she was awake for 5 hrs.. from 6-11pm! we finally gave her a bath to relax her.. change her diaper then I feed her. Then she slept really good... she woke up maybe 3 times last night. Which is pretty good... I got some sleep.

Alright now she's awake again...

Hmm.... what do you think??? they do have the same hairline and chubby cheek. But I think their mouth/lips looks so similar.

This is going to be interesting :D hahhahahaa.

Since I cried yesterday, grandma stayed with us another night. I feel bad keeping her with us but at the same time I do need the support. I think I'm having baby blues, I cry at least once a day hopefuly I'll be better soon... it's hard not to cry, I don't know why. I read a lil bit about baby blues and how to control it. Hopefully I will do fine.

Yesterday I got a chance to see Ringga's baby. His name is Alexander Ariata-Julius Bell, he so look like Dave. Nothing look like ringga... here is a picture of him (we call him peanut) since he's so tiny and small..

So today finally Bev went back home.. Melissa, my brother, and petra are here visiting us. I'm so amazed how big Petra is now. Here are some pictures from today (and some from yesterday)

Petra visit

Hahahahahhaha she looks so different now... still she's cute! look all the hair!!!

more pictures from today

Carissa Day 8

Information from our homebound visit:

Carissa now weighs 6 pounds 13 ounces (we hope she is over 7 pounds next week)
Carissa bilirubin was at 12.3 (212) - this is well within the normal range (it is now below 40% of babies at her age)

Everything else was good - she eats, she poops, and she sleeps.

Carissa's latest bili-test:

Sorry for the delay guys! :) brief updates: Carissa is doing great her jaundice level is going down. So She won't need any billi blanket or light box. :) Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Click on the image to view more of her pictures.

Carissa

Carissa is 5 days old today. Everything is going well today. We had to go back to the hospital to get her bilirubin test for her jaundice. She was at 15.6 (or 260) which is still in the acceptable range. On Saturday she was at 13.4 (or 228). Jaundice is supposed to peak at day 5 or 6 and anything below 20 is safe right now. We need to give Carissa some more sun time in the windows, If she does not get better we will go back to the hospital on Wednesday.


We were able to see our pediatrician today. Her name is Dr. Kathleen Foster-Wendel. She was very nice and said Carissa was doing very well. Carissa has gained another 3 ounces and is up to 6 pounds and 12 ounces (close to her birth weight). We also found out Carissa has O+ blood type. Some interesting facts about O+ blood type:

• Almost 40% of the population has O+ blood
  
• Patients with Type O blood must receive Type O blood
  
• About half of all blood ordered by hospitals is Type O
  
• Type O blood is the universal blood type and is the only blood type that can be transfused to patients with other blood types
  
• There is always a need for Type O donors because their blood may be transfused to a person of any blood type in an emergency

While we were out and about in Ames we stopped by the police station to get her car seat inspected. We were glad we did this since the base was not securely fastened and her harness was too loose. Ames provides this for free and I definitely recommend it for new parents.

We will post some new pictures later tonight.

Today wasn't a good day, we went to the hospital twice :(. First time, we went there to check Carissa since she has a little Jaundice. Went to the hospital for the blood test and all that. She's still in the border line of jaundice, so we will bring her back again on Monday and then we will see her pediatrician.

After that we went back, everything was fine... Mandy, Andrea and Dietz came by. They saw Carissa only for a few minutes because I have to feed her. (Thank you guys for all the wonderful gifts - we already read her the two books and she will listen to the music soon). Once I'm done feeding her, she suddenly threw up all the milk that she just consumed and mixed with blood. So I was freaking out and we called first nurse and rushed her to the ER. I guess I didn't think about maybe my breast was crack and bleed so she got it from me. All the way to the ER, she was fine.. she was sleeping the whole time. Anyway spent too much time at the ER room, I finally checked my breast and yes there was a crack and dry blood on the niple (sorry... TMI).

We finally went back home around 5:30-ish, I called the La Leche League (the breastfeeding support group). And one of the volunteer who lives in Ames told me how it's so common that the baby suck a crack niple and swallow blood, and ended up throwing up blood. Stupid ER doctor! I am a firm believer of breastfeeding... seeing my baby drinking formula makes my heart broken. I think breastfeeding is the best for babies and i feel so much closer to my baby when I feed her. I cried so many times when I saw her taking a bottle of formula because I don't want her to throw up blood again.

I started to pump, good thing when I pump there's no blood. Tho the doctor told me to pump and dump, I still feed her the breastmilk that I pumped. She's okay now, she hasn't throw up since then. I will pump till my niple heals, ugh.... I love my baby so much that I don't even know what to do! :(. My heart broken into pieces seeing her cry because she's hungry and she doesn't like the formula.

Hopefuly tomorrow will be a better day for us. We still have to go back to the ER to give them some update about her. I will not tolerate that dr. who told me to stop giving my breastmilk to her!

Anyway here are some pictures from today... you can click on the image to view more pictures.

Carissa Day 4

We're home..... Grandma Bev will stay with us!! yay.... I don't know what I can do without her...

Carissa Day 3

Today kinda a relaxing time for mommy & daddy, Carissa woke up at 5:30am for feeding. She sucks like a champ, she likes to eat and she already had 4 dirty diapers today.

Ringga, Ramona, Putri and Karen came to visit us today, they got a chance to hold her and play with her.

Here are more pictures from today.

Carissa Day 2

It's amazing how her face slightly changes after she's born. She's even more cuter than ever! :)

Ok Birth story from me...
1:58 am: I felt my water pop, went to the bathroom and went back to bed suddenly there's this gush fluid came out. Carson already fell asleep, so I called first nurse and then she told me to go to the hospital ASAP.

2:00 am: the nurse hooked me to an iv since I'm group B-strep test positive. so they had to give me an antibiotic every 5 hrs. Contractions come regular every 2-3 minutes apart. Pain still tolerable.

6:00 am: can't handle the pain anymore, contractions come every 1-2 minutes. So I asked for epidural and they check my cervix... 5-6 cm

7:30 am: finally I got my epidural... the process of getting it was painful but after that.. I'm in heaven!!! :)

finally I had time to relax and got some sleep. Dr. checked me around 9am and I was already 9 cm so she said I'm gonna start to push around 10am.

Start pushing at 10:30-ish, didn't really feel anything.... except some pressure, finally at 11:58am she decided to come out... so fast that i got 30 stitches!!! yeap 30!!

So there she is... perfect...beautiful 7 lbs baby 20 inches long... Carissa Amelia.. she's such a smart baby. They said baby will make an eye contact by 6-9 weeks old..and there she was, alert and really responsive with voices.

Carson was a good supporter.. i love him so much.. and i love carissa more than anything!!!

The news for today is that Carissa Amelia Andorf was born at 11:58am on July 4th, 2007. She weighed exactly 7 pounds and was 20 inches long. She came after about 10 hours of labor and I am sure Destri will tell you her experience with that. Both Destri and Carissa are doing great and both are now finally getting some sleep.

Carissa is very alert and she likes to look around a lot. I want to say I am very proud of Destri and I am lucky to be married to such a strong woman and have her as the mother of my child.

Here are a few pictures from the first few hours of our baby's life. Many more to follow.

Ok here she is.. our lil diva.. will come to the world on July 4th where everyone in US will celebrate her birthday with fireworks.

We're in the hospital right now, my water broke at 1:58AM while I was watching Dexter, and carson already in his deep sleep.

Anyhow, we'll update you guys later once the baby born. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers, so the birthing process smooth sailing :).

I woke up this morning around 6:30-ish.. weird... I felt so super charge of energy. I woke up then I checked my emails ( I know.. I'm such a nerd). Then I feed the pets, went upstairs and prepared carson's lunch box. Made pancakes for breakfast, I tried to combine homemade strawberry jam with the pancake mix.. I wonder what is it taste like :D heheheh I'm waiting for Carson so we can have breakfast together.

After I'm done with those, I went upstairs prepare the guest bedroom for my mother-in-law. Changed the sheet, and even the comforter. :)

Done with that, I took all the laundry from our bedroom and start doing laundry :).

Now I'm trying to think what else should I do???!! I need to clean my car.. I will do that next after carson left to work. Oo and I need to double check on Carissa's room make sure she has everything... OOO and I still need to sterilize those bottles!!! yeah I can do that! :)

Alright.. time to get busy again!! :)

PS: as far as my baby and contractions.. uhm.. nothing really new.. same old stuff... I guess she's as stubborn as me... she will tell me when she wants out.. even she tells me which sleeping position is best for her... oooo such a spoil lil princess! :)