Jane 5 months

Sweet little rollie pollie.  Jane has slept through the night two times.  She is getting up on her hands and knees and pushing herself backwards.  She has had licks of apple, banana, soft pretzel, and carrot.  I don't think she is ready for food yet, but she sure loves putting "food" in her mouth.  It is so fun to see her watch Kate play around her and include her in some of her play.  We are loving on our sweet little girl and can't believe she is growing and moving so fast!

Jane 4 months

Jane is such a sweet, chubby bunny.  I love her little laughs and giggles.  She is ticklish under her neck and armpits.  The best, is her giggles while changing her clothes.  She is rolling from her back to belly, but prefers to lie on her back and watch Kate dance around.  Jane has started drooling and sucking on her fingers.  I have put gloves on her hands at night, so we don't have another thumb sucker!  No big adventures this month because we still don't have her USA citizenship or passport!

Love the thighs and dimples in her knees!

Jane 3 months

Jane is getting fat! Lots of rolls on her legs, arms, and belly.  Dimples on her knees.  Mow hawk hair on top and a party in the back.  Sleeping 5-6 hour stretches at night.  Loves to stand and put her fingers in her mouth.  Jane's newest tricks are babbling and laughing.

Jane 2 months

Our baby is 13 pounds and 23 3/4 inches long.  She is having stretches of 3-6 hours of sleep during the night.  I tried to give her the bottle (while Bryan was in the hospital), but she wanted nothing to do with it.  Just like Kate.  She is starting to smile and coo.  Tummy time is not a favorite activity, but she was a perfect champ in the car seat during our drives up to Weiden.  We love you Jane!

Jane at One Month

Our sweet little Jane is already one month.  To me, she doesn't look anything like a newborn.  She has fat rolls and a big tummy.  She wakes every 3-4 hours at night to nurse, and boy is she good at eating.  She is able to hold her head up for long periods of time and is beginning to stand on her legs.  Jane is trying to keep up with her big sisters athletic abilities.  She has discovered her hands and takes a pacifier to help calm her down.  She has already visited 2 other countries outside of Germany- Austria and Switzerland.  We sure have enjoyed our time with this sweet girl and already want her to stop growing!

 Kate has already become a great big sister; protective and concerned about Jane and her whereabouts.  

 Jane and her little boyfriend Eddy.  

 We were able to bless Jane while my parents came to visit.  I need to get better pictures of Jane in her blessing dress before she outgrows it.  She slept through the whole blessing.  Such a good little baby.  

Our Miracle

We were a little surprised with the news of having another baby.  After my surgery last year, we were unsure if having another child was possible.  We are so grateful she is part of our family!

 We had family pictures taken when I was 20 weeks pregnant.  Kate had just turned two and we wanted to document the new addition to our family.  Jessica Mann was our photographer and did a amazing job.   

 20 weeks ultrasound of baby girl

24 weeks

This is when I really started to notice I was pregnant.  One day, I just sort of "popped".

26 weeks

30 weeks

33 weeks

37 weeks

 38 weeks

40 weeks + 6 days

After swimming with our friends all morning, I watched Brave Heart and bounced on the yoga ball.  I had had some contractions early that morning, but they didn't continue.  While I was bouncing, I started counting my contractions and they were 2-4 minutes apart.  By 4:30, I had to call my friend Maggie to watch Kate because they were getting closer together and stronger.  We arrived at the hospital around 5:30 and walked around just to make sure I was really in labor (I would hate to be turned down).  When we went to the labor and delivery unit, they asked for my "Mutter Pass".  I had totally forgotten it at home and Bryan had to drive the 30 minutes there and back to go get it.  Thank goodness for the autobahn! I was worried he wasn't going to make it and panicked.  Don't worry.  He made it.  When he came back though, he had all this paperwork to occupy him and I was laboring on my own.  Kind of sucked.  At about 8 pm, I asked him if he was done yet because I felt like I needed to push.  The midwife came in and checked, and I was only at 8 cm and she told me not to push.  I did.  My water broke and about 2-3 minutes afterwards, out came the baby.  I had to wait for contractions with this child because I hadn't eaten lunch or dinner, plus I played at the pool all morning.  I was exhausted!

 Jane Brooklyn Ahlborn

18 July 2015

20:27

Regensburg, Germany

4200 grams 55 cm long

or

9 pounds 4 ounces and 21 2/3 inches

6.5 hours of labor

 Big sister holding little sister for the first time.  She was so excited to get some gifts from baby Jane.  She got a princess purse, princess "tiger" snacks, chalk, a big sister t-shirt, and princess books.

9 days

Jane is very different from our Kate.  She has olive skin and dark hair.  Oh, and she is 2 pounds heavier! Jane's newborn pictures were taken again by Jessica Mann.  We will be taking family and sibling pictures next week and can not wait to get them all back!

One Month

My dad came with me to Kate's 1 month follow up appointment.  We had a bilirubin follow up too, since it takes awhile to get rid of that waste product for breastfed babies.  She is now at a 7.  Two weeks before she was 10, so we are trending down slowly.  She weighed 8 pounds 14 ounces and was 22 inches long.  Her head measured 36 inches.  She definitely doesn't have Bryan's head size, but pretty much everything else is Bryan!

Kate is nursing well. The first week was rough, but now she is a champ.  I produced too much milk in the beginning and possibly could have drowned Kate if I wasn't watching :) Being engorged is not fun the first couple of weeks while your body figures out what baby needs.  She started sleeping in her crib in her own room at 2 weeks because she is a very noisy sleeper (that is the best way to do it in my opinion).  I thought she was waking up to nurse again, but nope, she just makes lots of silly noises while she dreams.  She typically is in bed by 7-8pm, and wakes to eat 11-12, 2-3am, and 5-6am. Not too bad; especially since she wants to sleep all day too! It was hard for us to keep her up even a little bit during the day.  And we tried pretty dang hard with noise and movement.  Didn't work.  Kate is moving her head from side to side with noises, kicking her legs and arms uncontrollably, and arching her back. I love her cute little facial expressions as she is testing out her facial muscles.  My favorite is when she wrinkles her forehead or purses her lips:)

Two sisters in the ward threw me a post baby shower (Allison Crowe and Priscilla Baker).  It turned out super nice and a lot of my friends were able to make it.  They said that any party has a huge turn out because no one has anything else to do around here. Funny! We got lots of clothes in different sizes, handmade spit cloths, nesting boxes, pacifiers, toys, blankets, snack cups, nursing cover and diapers.  I could always use more pinks and purples in her wardrobe since we didn't know what we were having!

Almost there!

The third trimester is long and the most uncomfortable part of pregnancy. Sometimes I feel like I am carrying around a medicine ball.  I haven't had any pregnancy complications, just your typical pregnancy.  I have gained between 35-40 lbs depending on the time of day I get weighed.  I haven't noticed any swelling on my face or nose and my wedding ring still fits. Around 36 weeks, I noticed stretch marks on my breasts and was not super thrilled about the discovery. Other than that, I still make it to my exercise classes in the morning (spin and crossfit) and have become an awesome stay at home wife and nester.

 36 weeks.

37 weeks.

 38 weeks.

I met a friend in my crossfit class who has the same due date and has decided not to find out the gender of her baby either.  What are the chances?  It has been nice to struggle with her in class and go for walks on the trails here with her dogs.  The best part, she lives in our neighborhood too. 

This month we have been trying to complete last minute projects and cherish our time alone together.  Of course this involved going to the shooting range and sighting our AR-15, glock, and 45 with the new stuff Santa got us :)

 

Isn't this the perfect picture of motherhood? 

Bryan has been a stud, like always. I just got to brag! Work has been going well for him (in the unit and at the hospital), as well as extracurricular activities.  He won 3rd place in a racquetball competition.  The first place winner (on the right) is some nationally ranked racquetball player that was visiting from Fort Drum for work.  He gave Bryan some real competition! Then he got 1st place overall in a 5K this Wednesday (Jan 30).  What a stud!

2nd Trimester

During the first half of the second trimester, I was still in denial of being pregnant. I wasn't showing or having the normal pregnancy symptoms like everyone always talks about. I was able to keep up with my workouts for the most part and wanted to be treated like a normal, non pregnant person at work. 

Bryan and I told our parents around week 14. 

 16 weeks. 

I started to have strange thoughts about this time. I think most of them were due to the stress of moving, getting out of the Army (not working anymore), being pregnant, being bored, Bryan being missing (still at BOLC) from this important time in my (and our) life, and just irrational thinking in general. Wierd. 

 23 weeks. 

It was actually about week 19 that I really felt pregnant. Bryan was taking me out to dinner for my birthday and I wanted to put on some of my nice pants. Well, I got those suckers over my hips, but I sure couldn't button them. That made me sad. I guess it was time for stretchy pants and maternity jeans!

27 weeks.

My 21 week ultrasound was normal. Heart rate has been consistently in the lower range of 130-140s. We opted not to find out the sex of the baby. It will make for such a fun surprise when we finally do meet him or her. For now, we call the baby Billy.

The last half of the second trimester has been harder to run, exercise, and sleep. I have realized that I can't do more than 2 or 3 miles without finding a restroom, I have to bike with my knees facing more outward, and when I am at the gym's fitness classes I have to use all the modifications (which makes me feel weak). I usually fall asleep pretty easily, but around 6 in the morning I am ready to get out of bed because I have been laying on my side for 7 hours and my back starts to ache. Towards the end of the day I occasionally get sciatic pain which is unrelieved by anything. I just try to stretch it out, sit down, and put heat on the area that hurts.

Today, I am 30 weeks. I can't believe I am in my third trimester. I can't believe I will have a baby in 10+ weeks. I have been "nesting"- getting the baby room ready, reading parenting books and magazines, hanging out in the baby isle of Walmart, but I still don't feel ready. What did Bryan and I get ourselves into :) ?

1st Trimester

Every month my co-workers would find some reason to test me for pregnancy. They would think because my back hurt or I had a cough was a good enough reason to be tested. In June, I had unusual back pain to the point I was having trouble walking and getting out of chairs. The doctor ordered a script for a pregnancy test and I had a training medic draw my blood. I knew it would be negative. My co-workers just wanted proof. When I read the results, it didn't say negative. I thought for sure something was wrong so I called a fellow co-worker over to see the results I was looking at. She said, "Girl, you pregnant!" I couldn't believe it. I texted Bryan and then realized after I sent the text that this was probably a moment I should call him. His first words were, "I already knew." What?1?! Was I the only one who didn't know?

The first trimester was not bad. I craved Swiss cheese and green olives and felt sleepy before I found out I was pregnant. I didn't have morning sickness. I had  heart burn only when I ate pizza, twice. And I had this awful metallic taste that could never be brushed away (my mother had the same odd symptom). My friends husband cooked me a lot of steak during this time, thinking it was an iron deficiency? Other than that, I was feeling pretty normal.

This was taken at my 12 week ultrasound. Heart rate was not heard, however, the ultrasound said it was 155 bpm. Bryan was unable to be there because he was at BOLC (army training), but the technician sent him a picture. I was exciting to actually see the baby, because I was still in denial of the whole thing 

This was taken the day before I found out I was pregnant. 5 Weeks.