Baby Rose

Her blessing day.



Coming home from the hospital.
Right after she was born.
Well Rose is now two and a half months old. So I should say a bit about her. She was born on August 7th, 2009 in the Lethbridge Regional hospital. Her due date was the eighth so she was practically on time. Because Margaret was three weeks early, I just expected that Rose could come any day. I usually don't mind babies early, but we were trying to move into our house, so the later the better. We did get moved in, it being the summer I spent a lot of time in

Waterton, in fact Rose was born on a Friday, I came home on Saturday and we all went up to Waterton on Sunday. I just couldn't face staying in Raymond. We had no kitchen sink or countertops, no dishwasher. So everything was done in the laundry sink, I can't complain, but it just gets a bit old after awhile. We didn't have a yard at all, only mud and no friends here. Waterton was great. My Mom was there and Christina and her kids, the first week and Ryan stayed for a whole week. So it was quite and they all totally took care of me. It was my best recovery after a baby. I did nothing, Jenny-Lynn would actually get mad at me if I even tried to do anything. We did get countertops and a sink in September so that made it a bit easier to live in. I am still slowly getting organized here, I think it will take while. Anyways back to Rose.

I woke up that Friday morning at about 4:00 am, Ava had woken up and I went to lay with her. I started to feel something then, just minor contractions, but they did keep me up for a bit, I went back to sleep and when I woke up I was still having them. Ryan had a bit more work at his Dads house, so he went there and then by about 10:00 I thought we should go to the hospital. Karie and Roger watched our kids. The joke always is that I wait to long to go to the hospital, but this time I wanted to try an epidural and so I wanted to get there earlier. Well of course that didn't work out, I always go to fast, but at least I wasn't fully dilated this time. I got to the hospital about an hour and half before she was born, Rose was born at 12:37 pm. Dr Adolff delivered her ( my regular doctor was Dr. Brown) It went as well as it can go I guess. I have decided that if I have another baby I will go in knowing there will be no epidural and that I can do it. For me it is a lot of mental thinking. With Rose I was dreading the pushing, so my body was revolting against it, I just did not want to relax and do what the doctor told me to do. Now I know I can do it and I just have to do it. (I know I have done it four other times but for some reason I was tired and worn out and mentally scarred for the pain, this is just a personal note for next time, if there is a next time) The great thing about having a baby is that it is mostly all over when that baby comes out. I can't say that I was shocked that it was a girl. She weighed 6 lbs and 15 oz (my second biggest baby Ava was 7 pounds). She was 20 inches long, her head was 33 cm and her chest was 33 cm. She came out healthy and strong, no bruising or anything squished. I thought it would be so nice to have a baby in the afternoon, then I could sleep all night. I even had a private room, but she was really gassy and was awake a lot of the night. I hate hospitals so I was glad to get out the next day. The kids came to see her. Reuben wasn't to impressed to hear that she was girl, but he of course got over that quickly. He loves her lots. Ava wanted a boy as well. Ava is my big helper, she is constantly hauling Rose around, which might be a bit dangerous but I can't stop her. She loves to hold her and change her and make her smile. She will also get her out of bed and bring her to me. Reuben is a big softy when it comes to babies, he is always holding her to. Caroline has really become a big helper. Now that Rose is a bit older she helps me out a lot. If Rose is crying, Caroline gets a blanket and wraps her up and gives her a suther and rocks her. Margaret is a different story. Lets just say I can't ever leave her in the same room as the baby. I have made the mistake a few times, once she pulled her off the couch onto the floor and another day she tried to carry her around her neck. We like to call Margaret very hands on. She like to touch you and sometimes it is a bit forceful. She isn't jealous, she just wants me to do things for her now and to forget about the baby. She does let the kids do things for her, which is a big help. So when I am nursing I just tell her to ask Caroline or Reuben and she does. Rose has been a different baby experience for me, she has probably been my hardest baby. Up until about now she would cry just about every night. I think it was things I ate or she was to stimulated, but there was really nothing I could do. She is better now and usually if she is crying it is because she is over tired. Except the other day I ate Kale and she was really cranky for about a whole day. The big trade off with her is that she is an amazing sleeper at night. She will now sleep for 7-10 hours straight. I have discovered that she is a thumb sucker and I think during the night she just puts herself back to sleep. My other babies just seemed easier than her. Last week I had to got to Lethbridge two days in a row and usually my other babies would just sleep the whole time, but little Rose is more vocal than that, she cries. I really can't complain and I think we are out of this stage but it was really hard to go anywhere or do anything, thus I did neither. I have enjoyed holding her lots, I haven't had her in the sling as much, but I have finally had to put her down a bit and clean my house and take care of my other kids. She is almost 11 pounds now and still has a little head. I think she has her own look, some say she looks like Reuben, but I can't tell. We blessed her Thanksgiving weekend (she cried during her blessing) All of my family was here and most of the Baldry's. We hadn't planned it but when we when we realized that everyone was here, it just worked out. Ryan blessed her as Peggy Rose Baldry, so I guess that is her name. (It just means I have to actually legally change her name to that) We wrote it as Rose Peggy Baldry at the hospital, but after that everyone kept saying that the other way sounds better. (I am still a bit undecided, don't tell Ryan) Oh, ya I am not sure where the name Rose came from, I have never thought of it in my life. I think it was because we were going through lots of names that first week and Christina was with us in Waterton (of course you weren't named out of the hospital, but it only took us a week unlike some people I know, for example Jenny-Lynn's Rachel and Betsy's Oscar. Aunt Jenny-Lynn actually told me I should name you Rachel and then she could change Rachel's name to Audrey, Rachel was 9 months at the time). It was in a conversation with Michelle Pollock and Christina and they were saying how they loved flower names and Rose came up. The day we went to the hospital to write the name down I still couldn't decide, we knew the middle name would be Peggy, but we also liked, Elaine and Kate. We were sitting in the car and I couldn't decide, so Ryan said he was going to pick the name out of a hat. He put in Elaine, Kate or Rose. He picked one and wouldn't tell me what it was, so off he went. I was leaning towards Elaine and he knew that and he always usually does what I want. But when he while he was in the hospital, I was fretting and had decided that I wanted the name to be Ruth. So when he came back I said, go back I want her name to be Ruth. He said he was not going back in and that I had to do it. Finally I said, so what did you name her, because secretly I knew he would name her Elaine because I thought that was what he thought I wanted. He said, I named her Rose. Oh, I said. I just couldn't believe he had named her what he wanted, so I said if you want Rose then Rose it shall be. I was impressed that he had taken some initiative, so she must be meant to have the name Rose. So really it was Ryan who named her. I am not sure if that story made sense, but it was sort of funny how Rose got her name. The whole Peggy Rose or Rose Peggy or Peggy-Rose thing was a whole other issue. I still think it should maybe be hyphenated then when someone says her name, she can say I go by Rose. Anyways she is a joy, despite the fact that she cries. She is growing out of the crying in the evening thing and she sucks her thumb so she has become really content. (I know I have to stop her but I think that is why she sleeps all night) I love that she smiles lots and she is starting to goo. We all love her lots.