39 weeks

The fastest way to lose 17 pounds in 1 week. Also the cutest.

A Baby Story

The short version:
She was brought to bed of a fine boy. 10 points if you get the literary reference.

The long version:

Displaying the same forward thinking 'lets get this thing over already' attitude as his brother and sister, baby Star Wars decided to surprise us all and arrive 2 weeks early.

We weren't caught totally off-guard. I knew that I was dilated. I just figured that he'd hold out a little longer. So when I went in for the my regular checkup on Friday the 7th and Dr. W. said "you're at a 5 - there's no way you'll make it to next week" I still didn't get my hopes up that he would arrive quickly.

That night we went to a birthday party for Aidaleena and visited with Grandma and Grandpa for a while. Joe played WordShaker on the iPod for hours, all the while hassling me about being addicted to the game. I talked to my parents about the visit to Pearl Harbor they had made that day. We came home, put the kids to bed and watched some TV and played some more WordShaker before going to bed late.

At 1am I started having contractions that woke me up. I've had them on and off for a few weeks and they never get regular so I went back to sleep. I dreamed I was timing the contractions on the WordShaker game. By 3am I couldn't go back to sleep between them so I started watching the time. They were coming every 8 minutes and by about 4am were painful enough that I woke Joe up - mostly so he could feel bad for me and rub my back. We kept timing them but I'm pretty sure he kept falling asleep between each one. After a while, laying down felt awful so I got up, finished putting things in a hospital bag and finally asked Joe to call his parents. The contractions had gotten to 7 minutes apart but no closer and I really felt like we were going to be sent home - I almost didn't want to go.

His parents hustled over - by the time they got there I was starting to cry during each contraction. They still wouldn't get any closer together. The drive to the hospital was really hard. Sitting up in a seatbelt was about the worst position I could imagine and I was glad the drive wasn't any longer. I made Joe leave my hospital bag in the car - I didn't really want to get sent home and wheel a suitcase back out with me. We walked into the hospital right at the same time as my friend Jessica, a nurse who works in Mother/Baby. I was excited to see that she was on shift while we were there.

Joe told the triage nurse that I was in labor and she said she would check to see if I had made any progress because the contractions still weren't coming very fast. She kind of loitered around a little but she finally came back, checked and said "oh wow... you're at a 7. Let's get you across the hall and have a baby!"

After two inductions, for some reason I had imagined that going into labor on my own would be a slower process. So when the anesthesiologist (who fortunately had just arrived for the day) explained that she couldn't do an epidural because there wasn't enough time, I was really surprised. She decided to do a one-shot spinal block which would take effect faster. This part is a little bit of a blur - people were running around doing IVs and setting up the table for the baby and finding the on-call doctor. Joe and I laughed a little because we really hadn't thought we were here for an express-lane baby. Dr. H. commented that it's a good thing we hadn't waited for the magic 5-minutes-apart contractions because we never would have made it to the hospital in time.

The anesthesiologist did the spinal as quickly as she could but baby was ready and we started pushing before it had set up all the way. It did make the pain more manageable though so I'm glad it worked. It seems kind of funny to think about now - during the contractions I would push and the nurses would give instructions and it seemed really noisy and between them (they were 6 minutes apart) we would all chat about trips to Disneyland or how Violet and Dash would feel about waking up to a new little brother. We told the doctor that Violet was absolutely sure that this was still a baby girl and she had just been holding a carrot in the ultrasound pictures. How did she get ahold of said carrot? Mommy ate it of course. The nurses laughed a lot at that.

After just a few pushes we had us a baby! Dr. H. said there was definitely no carrot and it was a boy - what's more, he looked exactly like his father. I really like this hospital (the other two were born at a different one) because they let you hold the baby right away. With the other two I felt like I didn't see them until they were wrapped up in their little swaddled cocoon. They wiped him off a little, weighed him (7 pounds, 1 oz) and put him immediately on my chest. Then they just left us alone so we could see his precious hands and check to make sure he has that funny turned-under toe that Joe has (he does). He had been yelling at the top of his lungs and as soon as I got him back he settled down and opened his eyes and just looked around. He even nursed for a few minutes and I was relieved to find that I remembered how, even though it's been 5 years. Apparently I got 7 stitches but the spinal block had finally taken effect so I didn't know. Whew!

This is when we realized that we had left the camera in the car. Because I was so sure that L&D would find a reason to send me home, I wouldn't let Joe take the suitcase into the hospital when we arrived. It had the camera in it. So the only pictures we had at that point were taken with our iPod. Joe, to his credit, decided to NOT play WordShaker while I was in actual labor. He also waited until the baby was delivered to tell me that he had set a new high score.


Another reason the spinal block is my New Favorite Thing is that it wore off fairly quickly and by the time I had some breakfast (a delicious veggie omelet) and was moved downstairs I was pretty much ready to be back on my feet. I really hate being paralyzed for hours and hours after an epidural. One of the nurses told me that she started punching our info into the computer at 6:20 and we had the baby at exactly 7:02. All in all, it was a fairly eventful start to the day.

And no, I didn't get either of the Christmas trees taken down.

Guess when the baby will be born!

If you are the winner... I don't know... I'll text you the code to visit the cute baby in the hospital and let you hold him.

The Third Trimester Lament

Feet
When did we grow so far apart?
Thank goodness for boots
I miss you.

34 weeks

alternately titled: A Little Slower Every Day

The cold weather is actually a welcome change because I don't feel obligated to chase after bike-riding munchkins, climb into tree houses (except to retrieve my paycheck... and I'm not making that up) go on long exploring hikes or participate in any activity that requires a bathing suit.

What we have been doing involves putting up Christmas decorations, sitting by the lovely fire, crocheting Christmas presents, indulging in some fabulous movies and wasting too much time at the doctor's office as scheduled appointments increase in frequency. Baby participates by pushing his knees, elbows and bum out to be patted and petted by any siblings who happen to be nearby.

30 weeks

Being in the '30s' seems a little surreal - we're actually getting there! Not too many more weeks and we'll have another little bundle.

Sprinkle/Star Wars/Hiccup is getting big and wiggly. All the sudden I feel a lot bigger. I don't know why it seems different this time around but I can see and feel the different parts of the baby shifting around. Joe sat in the back of Sunday School yesterday with his hand on my belly, feeling little knees poking and wiggling all over - we thought it was so funny. Of course we maybe should have been paying more attention... sorry Bro and Sister West!

He hasn't (yet) started hooking his toes into my ribs or trying to stretch out full-length, like Minnie always did. How are babies so strong? I thought she would puncture a lung. If I put on my seatbelt or wear a waistband that is tighter he sits and elbows and punches and fights against it. Long car rides are the best.

I've gained 20 pounds and I hate looking at the scale. I think I'm in the nesting stage because I work on the house a lot - I keep the kids' room obsessively straightened up, I've turned into a Person Who Makes Everyone's Bed and I've put new flooring down in three rooms all by my very own self! I took pictures but haven't posted them. Oh! I also made a car seat cover (again... haven't posted pictures) and I'm working on a cute crochet hat for the little nugget. I hope his cute brown blankets and clothes make up for the fact that I have no plans to take down the pink-and-orange curtains in his bedroom.

25 weeks

More than halfway there!

All my jeans still fit fine, if I can just keep them on my hips where they belong. I'm considering suspenders. I'm starting to grow out of regular t-shirts though, which is really frustrating. A few years ago I loaned my maternity clothes to a few friends and every single piece of clothing got lost. Sheesh. I borrowed a few shirts from my sister-in-law that will last a while. At least I have lots of pajama pants that are still comfy.

I've been managing to get to the gym at least once a week and I've gained 17 pounds. The extra weight makes running harder and those stupid ligaments in my lower abdomen are starting to stretch and hurt.

Baby moves around a ton and everyone can feel him. He gets really excited when the kids talk to him.

In denial

This pregnancy has gone by in weird chunks. There's the first bit, where you're convinced that you're going to be sick for the rest of eternity (because that's just how long the first trimester lasts). Then time lurched its way along to now - 24 weeks. Sprinkle/Baby Star Wars/Nameless Fetus is apparently the size of a Chicago dog... at least according to the last 'this week in your pregnancy' update I read with Minnie, who is obsessed with knowing how big the baby is. So there you go.

Mmmmm, Chicago dog...

Anyway, I'm more than halfway through this pregnancy and I'm still waiting to feel excited. Forget excited, I'm willing to settle for one day without intense baby-related stress. Where is the call-in show or helpful newspaper advice column for my questions?

Dear Addie - My oldest daughter had terrible colic and didn't sleep a full night until she was two years old. If we repeat this trend, how will I keep from throwing myself off the deck? And what will I do with the two sprained wrists that is all that will result from throwing myself off the deck?

Dear Addie - There is a juvenile Labrador retriever masquerading as my four-year-old son. How will I keep this oversized, energetic, slobbering animal from tackling a newborn baby?

And speaking of two older children, dear Addie, how will I keep them from feeling neglected, forgetting to do their homework, going to school dressed like street urchins, eating nothing but Pop Tarts and eventually sinking into a life of crime and door-to-door alarm sales?

Maybe this seems excessive, but these are the kinds of worries that keep me from sleeping at night and from doing absolutely anything to prepare for the baby during the day. I have a big box of boy clothes waiting to go through - it sits. People are asking if there are things that we need - I pretty much don't think about it. Eventually I need to move the two existing children into one room to get the other ready for baby - I don't. I can't figure out what is wrong with me.

I have issues. That's what blogs are for, right?

It's not a puppy

Ahhh, the ultrasound. To be honest, I wasn't as anxious for it this time around. I was excited because Bart and Lisa would get to see if they were getting a brother or a sister. And I was dreading it because one of the two was going to be grievously and heart-wrenchingly disappointed and I didn't really want to deal with it. You know, because I'm a good mom like that.

Our ultrasound technician was f.a.b.u.l.o.u.s. When we went to Bart's ultrasound, the tech breezed through the whole thing as fast as she could, pointed out that it was a boy and slapped down some pictures that, as I look at them 5 years later, are totally unrecognizable as a baby or any of its adorable bits and pieces. Her attitude was an unmistakable 'I look at babies all day and this is totally not interesting - now will you please leave so I can enjoy a refreshing beverage?' The tech this time was totally enthusiastic, pointed out all the arms, legs, fingers and toes we could possibly want to see, explained everything she was measuring (and why) and even wrote happy little messages from the baby to Bart and Lisa that got printed on some of the pictures. She made it so wonderful and involved the entire family.

On to the good stuff.

Sweet, sweet little face. I'm taking a little poll here because I think the baby totally shares features with Bart and Lisa and looks like our family. And my dad insists that this baby is completely indistinguishable from any other baby on the entire surface of the earth. I have some silhouettes I've done of both children for objective comparison. Feel free to weigh in on either side of the debate.

Here's where baby gets uncooperative. The nice ultrasound lady tried and tried and tried to get a good face shot with the 4D camera. Baby covered its face with its arms and huddled up.

I'm sure none of you care about any of these and scrolled immediately to the bottom to find out. OK OK here you go - the money shot.

Yep. It's a boy. Lisa was devastated. She's starting to come around. And we have like... zero names for boys (and two totally beautiful girl names that someone else will have to use.) Name suggestions are welcome but I'm absolutely not naming a boy anything that ends in 'aden' or using any names that have at any time been used in the Twilight series of not-books.

Halfway there!

At this point I'm in that frustrating 'I have nothing to wear' phase. So I spend most days in pajama bottoms. Most of my regular pants still fit but I get really really really tired of hitching them back into place every 3 seconds. My 1 pair of maternity jeans is too big. I did get one of those belly bands that are supposed to hold your pants in place and it works really well, as long as you are only standing or walking. It doesn't hold up to activities of a sitting/bending/picking-up-of-4-year-olds nature. At some point I'll have to break down and buy new clothes, but I haven't worked myself up to it yet.

The fall-back excuse

"I'm pregnant" is a great excuse for most of my failures right now. Examples:

I DID make my children a non-cereal-based breakfast (fresh strawberries and milk) but totally let Bart put maple syrup in his bowl. Not good maple syrup either. Generic-brand, corn-syrup-based, regular ol' pancake syrup.

I have a meeting with a client and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to make it out of my pajamas.

There's a strand of Christmas lights that has blown off the top of the house that hangs attractively next to the front door. It's been that way for a week. It will probably stay that way until Christmas.

I'm sure I can think of many, many more... but right now I'm too tired.

I'm pregnant.

Feeling better

Thanks for everyone's comments and phone calls. I'm feeling much better this week - if a bit tired and worn out. We never did figure out anything past "fever of unknown origin" but at least it's gone.

Other than that, the first part of this pregnancy has gone by uneventfully. We finally heard baby Sprinkle's heartbeat, the doctor estimated it was 155-160 beats per minute. So now I can start wildly speculating about the gender of the baby, even though we have a good 5 weeks before we can find out for sure. I'll give you the answers to some old wive's tales and you can speculate and assume with me.

Cravings: definitely sweet. I could have French toast and strawberries at least once a day and never get tired of it.

Aversions: some meat, but it's only a texture thing. Acidic things (like spaghetti sauce) give me heartburn so I avoid them.

Carrying: high. This baby is up in my ribs already.

Chinese birth calendar: says it's a boy

Skin: I definitely have had more break-outs and skin problems during this pregnancy.

OK that's all the OWT I can think of. The kids are really excited to find out what this baby is. Lisa insists that not only is it a girl, but that Sprinkle will be her twin and they'll look exactly the same. Bart doesn't have his heart quite as set on a brother, he's more focused on the fact that he won't be 'the baby' anymore. In some ways he's happy because he insists he's too big to be the baby and in others I can see that he's worried about being displaced. Already I'm having a hard time picking him up and letting him lay in my lap and he's said to me "there was always room for me to be your baby before THAT baby!" Sheesh.

With sprinkles please

And if you're one of the 5 people who don't know yet, I'm sorry. Bart and Lisa have been such efficient news-spreaders that I pretty much haven't said anything.

So yes, we're having another baby. The kids have affectionately named him/her Sprinkle, because when we first showed them pictures of how big the baby would be, the comparison was "your baby is as big as a sprinkle on a cupcake." Lisa was especially taken with the description and started saying things like:

"Mom! Don't jump around like that! You're shaking Sprinkle!" and

"Do you think Sprinkle needs some more peach pie?"

Yes. Sprinkle does need more peach pie.

Sprinkle is due next January, on my sweet Grandma Bev's birthday. This makes my heart happy.

When 'they' say that subsequent kids show much faster, 'they' ain't a-kiddin. Either that or Sprinkle didn't need more peach pie.

This pregnancy I crave bread and sugar. Through the whole morning-sickness phase I ate toast in all its varieties (French toast, peanut butter toast, buttered toast, toast with jam...) and tons of fruit. Too much sugar (like a doughnut) makes me ill. Go figure.

What I can't eat is ground meat. It doesn't matter what species of meat it is - turkey, beef, venison, chicken - if it's ground, loafed or meatballed, I can't even look at it or even think about it. Bleh.

I've turned into a person that cries. A lot. Pretty much over nothing. Like, I started to cry on my way to Sunday School because Bart was being a stink and when I rubbed my eyeliner off and had black on my hands, I was prrrreeeeeetttttyyyyy much in hysterics because I had to teach the Laurels and there's no way you can do that without eye makeup on. Seriously.

At 14 weeks I've gained 9 pounds which seems... well... OK. It's harder than I thought it would be to see the numbers on the scale go up and up. I took a few of the sickest weeks off from the gym but I've started going again and am keeping my fingers crossed for a healthy pregnancy.

Today we finally finally got to hear the baby's heartbeat and that was very re-assuring, especially considering the last week.

As any Facebook friends will know, I've been in and out of the ER this last weekend with an unexplained fever and headache. It seems like such a silly reason to spend hours and hours in the emergency room but the fever can be scary for a 14-week fetus and they ran tests looking for all manner of bacterial infections.

Results: nothing.

With no improvement over the weekend, one doctor wanted to do a lumbar puncture to test for meningitis (scary!) but then decided against it. He did order a lot of blood work though and I think those vampires took half my blood because I've been wasted and dizzy ever since.

Results from blood work: nothing.

In fact one doctor said "you're really a very healthy person... except that you're sick."

So that pretty much catches you up to right now. Baby = healthy. Mom = not so much. Joe is taking good care of me and right now I'm eating a Kneader's cinnamon roll that he went to get me. I'm telling myself that I'll wake up better tomorrow.