Week Four

Eden began sleeping longer stretches at night by the fourth week! She went 6 hours between feedings for the first time and boy were we happy! Can't you tell how well rested John looks in this picture?

John is modeling our Baby Bjorn. Eden loves it - especially when daddy is wearing it!

Week Three

By week three, everything had started to smooth out with nursing - the first 2.5 weeks were challenging. If I had not had so many sweet women around me telling me it would get easier after the first 2 weeks, I think (actually I KNOW) I would have given up!

This was a very difficult week in many other ways. The lack of sleep was becoming overwhelming and I was on a hormonal roller coaster. I talked with some dear friends and family (you know who you are!) and was encouraged that what I was going through was normal, but I have to say - the things you think and feel at a time like this are something you could never explain to anyone until they have been through it!

I am thankful that God put so many great people around me, this week especially, to help me gain the right perspective! All-in-all I realized what a wonderful and relatively easy baby we had been blessed with and what a great support system we have surrounding us - we are so spoiled by God's love for us!

The highlight of this week had to be a visit from my friend Tiffany! She took some wonderful newborn photos of our sweet baby girl. Check them out here: Simply Yours Photography - Sweet Baby Eden

Week Two

After a week off, John was getting back in the swing of things with our Ranch boys, so my mom came to stay with me as I was still getting used to baby duties and the lack of sleep. We have commented SO many times how thankful we are for our families and their willingness to help us adjust to life with a baby. As wonderful as it is, it's not easy, and we don't know how people survive without their families during an adjustment like this!

Also, John and I were so thankful to our Eagle Ranch and Chestnut Mountain Presbyterian friends and family for supporting us with meals! We probably would have been eating PB&J for every meal if not for the help! Cooking for 10 people every night is quite a task and we are so appreciative to everyone who helped by cooking for our crew!

Week One Photos

Just snapped a couple shots of Eden at one week. She changes so much every day and we wanted to remember what she looked like when she was this little!

Week One

Two days after we got home from the hospital we had Eden's first doctor's appointment. There were a few concerns at her first visit - she was still jaundice, her hips felt loose and her weight had dropped a good bit. When she was born, she weighed 7lbs. 14oz. When we left the hospital she had dropped to 7lbs. 8oz. and the day of her first doctor's visit she was down to 6lbs. 10oz.

Dr. Hilton, our pediatrician, made an order to have a Bili-bed delivered to the house for Eden to sleep on to help drop her bilirubin level.

She hated the bed at first, but got use to it. Thankfully, she only had to sleep on the bed for about 2.5 days!

We also were instructed to try and get her weight up, so we did hardly anything but feed her for the next 24 hours, and when we went back to the doctor the next day she had almost gained a whole pound! She was back up to 7lbs. 9oz.

We were told that the doctor would just watch her hips over the next several weeks to see if they tightened on their own.

In the first week, we had 3 doctors appointments, which we did not anticipate ahead of time. Thankfully John and I had been relieved of our Eagle Ranch duties for the week so we were able to get adjusted to life with our little girl :).

Playing catch-up...

Now that Eden is 6 weeks old (I can hardly believe it!), things are normalizing and I have found time and energy to update the blog. I will start at the beginning...

Here we are the day after she was born in the hospital:

The second day, we came home from the hospital. Here we are getting ready to leave the hospital ( I was scared!):

When we got home, Gram, Pop, Aunt Lauren and Cousin Benjamin were there to welcome us:

Baby is here!

I know this is WAY overdue, but I couldn't skip the announcement on our blog. Eden Joy Cunnings was born Thursday, August 26th at 5:25pm. She weighed 7lbs. 14oz and was 20.5 inches long.

This little girl is so amazing!!