Sleepy Girl

I know they all do it at some point... usually at the dinner table. But it was just too sweet when I put D down from nursing to find my girl falling asleep on my shoulder. :-)

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Our Birth Story

I suspected we were going to have an early baby as early as Tuesday the 9th.  I was having an off day.  I was starting to get more Braxton Hicks contractions (also known as practice contractions) daily, particularly when exerting myself. And in the next few days would get more and more in the evenings.

Monday the 15th I had an appointment with my Doula, Doris Ann, and while we were together I asked her about the BH contraction I was feeling.  There was no pain, but there was a definite tightening of my uterus as my stomach would get rock hard.  She observed me during our visit and noted they were about twelve minutes apart and she could see them causing me to flush, a result of hormone shifts.  It was looking like prelabor.

Tuesday they were again milder in the morning but by the evening were about 9-10 min apart.

Wednesday evening they were about 6-7 min apart and getting kind of crampy. Wednesday night was a very rough night sleep.  I thought perhaps once I got up I might have to call my friend Amy and my Doula but things subsided once again.

Thursday morning I had a doctor's appointment.  I left Lily at Amy's and headed in to see what they could tell me.  I was 3cm dilated, 60% effaced and the baby was at a -2 station.  Since I had been prelaboring for a few days already - and getting tired of it - I made the decision to ask them to strip my membranes.  Which I was promptly told there wasn't much left of to strip.  So I called Doris Ann to update her and went to pick up Lily thinking I'd bring her home and we'd take a nap, rest up and see what happened next.  But I couldn't sleep through the cramps that kicked in with the contractions that were now 5-6 minutes apart, so I got up.

At 12:30 I was feeling a little sick to my stomach so I called Amy to come over, I didn't want to be alone any more. And by the time she got over my contractions were about three minutes apart.

At 2:30 my friend Ruth came over to pick up Lily.  Oh.My.Goodness! I did not anticipate the angst that would come with letting my big girl leave! But she told me, "Mama, stay here..." with her little hand up as a stop sign when I tried to walk her out the door. And I knew she'd be well cared for.

At 4:25 I threw up and it sank in that I was really in labor.  We called Doris Ann to come over and she arrived just after 5:00.  She said, "What do you say we have this baby by 8:00?" and Amy and I both looked at her like she had two heads.  My contractions were coming every 2-5 minutes, very erratic, and about a minute long at this point.  But we started walking around the circle of my living room, dining room and kitchen, pausing to squat with each contraction.

WARNING: This paragraph may be TMI.  By 6:30 my water still hadn't broken so I headed to the bathroom to see if I could feel my cervix and see how dilated I might be.  All I could feel was the bulging bag of water... and I mean bulging! It was beginning to pass through  my cervix, so I had no clue how dilated I might be.  And suddenly I was feeling a slight urge to push.

So at 6:45 my water still hadn't broken and I was feeling the urge to push with my contractions.  We'd been monitoring my temp and BP the whole labor and at this point I was reading 99.1 degrees. Coupled with my urge to push, come 7:00 we decided to head for the hospital to see what a cervical check would reveal.

Now, I live three blocks from the hospital... the longest ride ever!... but the girls parked me on the far side from L&D and walked me up to the third floor hoping to break my water.  So by the time we actually got there it was 7:38 and I was so ready to push.

We we're second in line to be checked in behind a woman in a wheel chair, moaning quietly.  By this time I was having contractions every minute or two and all it took was two contractions in the hallway to have them rushing me into a room to be checked.  At 7:43 I was 100% effaced and dilated to 8cm with a bulging bag of water.  They offered to me that they could break my water and I could have my baby and I said yes!  (The poor woman in the hallway got sent home because she wasn't dilated enough.)

As soon as they broke my water I was dilated to 10cm and we got down to business.  They didn't even bother to put my IV in until after I had delivered.  I started pushing at 7:55 and David arrived at 8:08!  He was crying before his shoulders were free.  There was a little meconium in the amniotic fluid, which they suspected happened on my long walk up, so they couldn't give David to me right away, but I had him to breast at 8:32 and he latched like a pro.  His Apgar scores were 9 and 9, I couldn't ask for much more.

I was monitored every hour for the next six hours to watch for the high blood pressure indicator of HELLP syndrome, but everything looked fine.  I was able to eat and urinate, both of which I could not do after birthing Lily, so I was feeling pretty confident that I was going to be okay. And we were discharged home the following evening. Whew!

David James

...is here.

February 18th!  Earlier than any of us thought.  7lbs 12oz, and 21 inches long.

Sorry, it's been hard to find time and energy to post.

We're home and doing well.  It was an unmedicated birth and I don't have HELLP syndrome! Yay! Jake is due home for R&R in the next couple of days and I hope to fill you in with the whole story then.

I think I'm Ready Now...

...been in prelabor for three days now...

...crampy Braxton Hicks are starting to get bothersome...

I think I'm ready now....

Potty Training

You know... in case you were wondering.

Our official position is that we are NOT potty training at the moment.

Having said that, I think it's all potty training.  We talk about how Mommy pees in the potty, when she follows me into the bathroom.  We talk about Lily peeing and pooping in her diaper and occasionally take solid waste to dump in the toilet (which she thinks is hilarious) and she says goodbye to it and helps flush the toilet. 

When she elects to wear cloth diapers... yes, I often give her the choice now, and we are about 30/70 in favor of disposable... we discuss where poop goes and she will tell me she shouldn't poop in her cloth diaper, that poop goes in the potty. 

She sits on the little toilet seat on the toilet as we get ready for a bath or shower, and occasionally just for the fun of it.

However, we have only had two successful potty events.  Once she was already in the bath and I could see a poop coming on... so that was pretty much all me.  And the other time she was chilling waiting for the bath water to finish filling, so I don't give her credit for that either.

Lily still denies a dirty diaper when asked.  And very infrequently askes to be changed.  I'm waiting on that one, as a sure sign she is tired of being dirty and ready to start "training."

The average age for a girl to potty train is 36 months anyway, so I feel no pressure.  (Boys are 39 months.)

Besides all that, I can imagine working so hard at it all and then David comes along and she wants to be a baby again....



What are my other mommy friends doing on the potty training front?

Whew!

I had to take Lil to the commissary this afternoon because we have a threat of snow tonight and we were in need of milk.  I figured it was better to get out there and do it now, than drag the girl out in the snow tomorrow.

A) I didn't realize it was "payday" today and the commissary was a zoo.  See, Monday is President's Day and thus we are paid today....

2) I am crowded.  Lifting Lil is enough to cause a Braxton-Hicks contraction these days... pushing a cart and collecting groceries was so much fun!

I'm tired and going to go lie down on the couch now.

Indoor Activities

It's windy and cold outside. So we're watching Thomas (again) and singing and dancing... which has deteriorated into spinning... :)

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February 8th

Is my Mama's birthday!! Happy Birthday Mom.

(it's a good thing I live across the country... she might be mad at me for this:)

I LOVE YOU MAMA!!!

Conversation

Lily and Dawson, talking over PB&J and carrot sticks.

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Practice, Practice, Practice

So I did a few maternity pic for myself last week, and I had a friend see them and really admire them.  She's due the day after I am... and wanted to know if I would take some pictures of her too.  Well, I'm not one to turn down a practice subject.  Here are some of my favorites:

Isn't she stinking cute!?