And Miles To Go Before I Sleep...

I'm finally getting around to telling my tale and I'm so excited to be able to share this with all my family and friends.

I had this wildly funny notion that I would post a play-by-play during labor. I thought it would be neat if I could document the progression of things at least once an hour. Hah! Obviously, the joke was on me with that idea. So, I'll try to recap everything (most everything) as best as possible now.

Around 6PM Saturday evening as we were headed to dinner with my parents and brother I noticed that my contractions had changed. When these hit I could barely stand to stay seated in the car. Every inch of the road felt like utter torture against my back and my stomach. I knew things were definitely different and that something may be in store for us within the next couple days. Turns out, there was something in store for us that night!

When my family left after dinner, I told Chris about my contractions and that I had spotted. We were both pretty excited and nervous. This was it. This is what we'd been waiting for all these months. Now, all we had to do was finish up the 'last minute' bag and wait. I suppose I had been waiting on specifics to happen (nesting, for instance) to serve as sort of a precursor to the actual laboring and hospital trip, but that never was the case for me. I never felt a nesting desire and had read that spotting can indicate that labor is a couple days off. So I tried to rest through these contractions. Joke number 1 of the night. (Blogging through labor was number 2.) Clearly, resting and sleeping were not going to happen so we packed and talked and timed. It was a really good night together. The last time we were here as a couple, discussing the changes about to take over our lives.

Around 1:30AM we called the doctor and let him know that my contractions were about 4 1/2 minutes apart and were told to wait for a couple hours. So we waited. And we talked. And we laughed and made a little video to help us remember that time. 3:30 came and we started preparing to head out. We called the doctor and parents and made our way to the place that would forever mean something completely different to us.

After we got checked in and did all the routine set up to check Baby out we had free roam of the place. It was so nice to have the freedom to labor outside of the hospital room. The nurse that we'd hoped to get wasn't working so we ended up with a lady whom we'd never heard of or met before. It turned out to be one of the many blessings of that day. Patty was truly a God send. I will never forget her, nor all she did for us, as long as I live. Baby will always be a constant reminder of her. Patty is the natural childbirth 'specialist', if you will, at the hospital and was assigned to us. Her own childbirth stories are pretty amazing; she's the mother of 9 children, all of which were born naturally and the last 3 were home births. A simply outstanding woman. So she was there with us and for us to get us through this great challenge.

And what a challenge. My water broke within a couple hours after being admitted and things got hot and heavy from that point. Until then when Chris would ask me how the pain of labor was I explained it as an increased intensity that was difficult to handle at first, but eventually it was as if my body would almost tap out and my mind would take over, then the pain seemed less; then a new level would come and my body and I would work through that until it seemed to diminish too. It was a neat experience and one I won't soon forget, but once my water broke there was a considerable amount more concentration required to reach the point at which I could make the contractions seem less than they actually were.

I don't think any mother needs me to describe the hours of labor and what it feels like to be in that place, experiencing your body do what nature intended, so I'll spare the gory details. What matters most is that 16 hours later (including 3 hours of pushing...enough said) Chris and I welcomed our beautiful baby girl. My doctor let Chris introduce me as she entered the world and that was such an amazing and touching moment. Meeting my gal for the first time and having my husband, her daddy, give that to me...oh, seeing this in my mind again now makes me tear up. Of course she was given to me straight away and nothing in my or Chris' life has been in the same since.

I don't need to tell anyone about the lack of sleep or the overwhelming fatigue at midnight nursing sessions, but what I will say is that life is good. God has truly blessed us. We're your typical goofy new parents right now, snapping photos left and right and oohing and aahing over every single facial expression. We've turned into big gushy saps and are loving every minute!

Thanks to every single one of you, family and friends, for following us on this journey. I pray you'll stick with me and enjoy all the new times ahead with our sweet girl baby. And without further ado...

I'm very pleased to introduce you all to Arwen! 7 pounds, 14 ounces; 21 1/2 inches in length and the cutest little bundle of loving you've ever seen (or at least that I've ever seen) in your lives!

Quick To-Do

I will follow up with more very soon, but presently we are making arrangements to get out of the hospital. That's right folks, we have a little one!! I'll save all the beautiful details for the real post, but I wanted to give everyone the heads up.

Wrapping Things Up

Here we are...on the due date. And no baby. The Little One is still holding strong in its tiny fort.

So, 40 weeks. Wow. I can't believe how the time has passed; how much I've grown (hah! yes, literally too); how much Chris and I have changed, individually and collectively. I can remember us talking the first few weeks and months after we found out I was pregnant about how selfish we'd become over the 3 1/2 years we'd been married. Being just us, it was nothing to pick up and head to the mountains. We could just pack the dogs and hit the road. Or to spend a Saturday night by the fire with a glass of wine. I know Baby won't keep us inside all the time, but it will change our habits dramatically, but for the best. Now, our thoughts are consumed with all the things we'll be able to with Baby and how much fun it's going to be spending time with Baby in all the places we love. And we are so looking forward to it!

I spent Tuesday evening finishing up a little gift for Chris, just in case the due date was the day. I made for him his very own receiving blanket for Baby. He's very excited about it, but hasn't been practicing with this one much since he's had a stomach virus this week; he hasn't wanted to touch anything Baby since the weekend. Before now he's been practicing diapering and swaddling Max, whom I'll introduce in another post very soon.

OK, on to the good stuff. We had a doctor appointment this afternoon. The doctor was great. We discussed again my desire for a natural childbirth and how we'd like to handle things from this point. My doctor was very open to, and in fact encouraged, letting me go another week, given that Baby and I both were still doing well. We had another NST and he also set us up for an ultrasound to check my amniotic fluid levels. Everything was perfect; Niblet's movements were great (and I had about 3 contractions during the test) and the fluid level is very good. So we're going to keep riding this train until Baby is ready to depart. I'm still only about 80% effaced, but have dilated a whopping 1 centimeter. Our next appointment is scheduled for Wednesday week and if I'm still preggers we'll repeat the whole process and begin preparing for what needs to happen going into Week 42.

If all stays well I'm planning to carry Baby as long as possible. My body is made for this and I'm not at all eager to have medical intervention until it becomes a last resort. Chris and I both feel strongly about this and thankfully my doctor was accepting of my wishes too. Tally ho! Into Week 41 we go!!

PS, here's for the not-so-great-news (in my opinion - if Chris were to ever guest post you'd get a completely different response). During the ultrasound the tech also checked to see how Niblet was tipping the ole scales. WELL! Turns out, Mommy may be delivering a small farm animal. She told us the Little One was estimated at 8.7 lbs!! Hand on the Bible, I asked her to recheck. She could not possibly have measured that correctly I just knew. Not sure if I mentioned, but just a week and a half ago Baby was estimated around 6 1/2 lbs. and they thought we'd have us around a 7 pounder. I was OK with that...but 8+ lbs!! Good grief! I am so not OK with a 9 pound Baby, for several reasons beyond the obvious. Chris has just been sitting around with a silly grin on his face all evening though. He couldn't be more excited about a little porker. I'm very interested to see how this all plays out.

Midnight Theories

For those of you keeping track, yes, I am still having contractions. We are going on nearly 7 full days of this buisness. I wonder what the record is? Who do you report things like this to in order to receive your prize? And can I choose my reward from a catalog like in grammar school? It's always hard to pass up on the flashing yo-yo.

So, yes, they're still coming. At least 1 every hour, often times more. And trust me, it's not for lack of fluid intake these days, not that it was before. Think of me as an aquarium and my organs as little fish! I was able to get some improved rest a couple nights towards the middle of the week, but the past 2 nights I've been woken up by them and the incredible pain in my hips. I hope the hip issue isn't a permanent side effect; I'll have to get a cane and sign up for rehab if so. Last night they were so frequent and strong that I woke Chris up grunting and groaning as I tossed and turned into more comfortable positions. We eventually just stayed awake and ordered some books for Niblet on-line.

Chris has this theory that Baby is maybe a girl and is refusing to leave its nest until we come up with a full name. We have Little Boy Baby's named nailed down, but Little Girl Baby is only holding steady with a first name. There's a short list of middle names, but we just haven't been able to pull the trigger on one just yet.

So my kid is stubborn, big surprise. :)

I Don't Deny It

Momma called me out yesterday because I was so nonchalant about this whole week. I'm still in no hurry to end my pregnancy. I want Baby here with us, but I can wait as long as there is no stress to Baby. We're just hanging out and enjoying our last bit of time together.

She says I'm not right for not wanting to share. And I agree with her. It's particularly greedy of me. I admit my fault.

So, fine. I'll share. In 10 minute installments. How's that? :)

The Week in Review

Monday morning

3AM: I begin having contractions and these are a much stronger pressure than the previous few that I’d had. I stay awake to pay attention.

4:30AM: I wake Chris up and tell him that I’m having contractions and that they’re harder and around 20 minutes apart. We stay awake and talk. Contractions keep coming in 20 minute increments and aren’t easing.

5:30AM: Between contractions we start talking about how much fun it’s going to be to finally meet the Little One. Whether or not we’ll actually be the good parents we want to be. How fun it’s going to be showing the Niblet off to our parents. I wonder how long it’ll take.

6:30AM: I decided that I’ll go on to work. It will probably do me more good to be at work, moving around, than lying anxiously at the house. Call Momma to give her the alert so when the time comes she can get mothers back to pick up their children and she can hurry along to the hospital.

By this point, I’m having breakfast and holding my stomach and Chris is packing the ‘last minute’ bag. Things are flying all over the place. Well, not literally, but it is funny to see him run back and forth through the house dropping things on the table as he passes. Then he decides he’s going to start noting the contractions and he goes to get his notebook. Can’t find said notebook. It gets frantic.

It’s like the OD scene from Pulp Fiction. From various rooms I hear “Have you seen my little black book!?” I can’t help myself: “Your little black medical book?”

“Yes, my little…my little black book! Have you seen it!? It was right here!” (Insert random noises: crashes, books falling, papers being shuffled, footsteps going back and forth)

Sadly, the little black book hasn’t been located. Not a biggie. Around 9AM the contractions begin to slow. Not sure what to think of this. All day long they waxed and waned, getting us excited again and then left scratching our heads.

I call the doctor’s office to ask if the inconsistency is OK and not stressing Baby. The nurse gets all worked up and tells me that we need to come in and be checked. Huh? Why the excitement? It’s just contractions, right? “Well, I hate to not get you in and then something happen to you in the middle of the night.” Wait a minute! Something happen? To me? The baby? Fine, I’ll rush down there.

Doc’s office is closed. Read: two very pissed off parents-in-waiting. That’s a 40 minute ride! My regular doctor happens to be on-call at the hospital. Tells us not to come by there. She’s not sure why the nurse got her panties in a wad (I ad-libbed that); but that the inconsistency would definitely not hurt Baby and that my body is trying to figure out what to do. Hah. If my body doesn’t know what the heck it wants to do, no wonder I feel all out of sorts sometimes. We have dinner, head home and laugh it off.

Tuesday morning

Throughout the night the contractions come back at consistent intervals and get increasingly stronger. All right, maybe yesterday was the practice run, let’s get this party started.

Nope, still the irregularity and an ever-more sleepy Mommy and Daddy. Yesterday Baby seemed to be having the time of its little life in there, starting to slow down now though. I assume it’s getting tired like me.

Decide I’ll go on to work. I’m struggling with the grumpiness and the contractions that haven’t stopped but are getting harder. Surely, we have to be getting somewhere? Meet Chris for lunch.

Noon: The contractions have started coming regularly again. 15 minutes apart for an hour. We call the vet and make sure we’re still on for dropping the girls off. Yes, they hope they see us this evening!

1PM: 10 minutes apart and making me catch my breath with every one. Let Chris know.

3PM: What. The. Hell?! They’ve slowed back down to about 20-25 minutes apart. I think my body is rebelling. Wimp.

6PM: I finally get home from work and we decide to try Mexican food at K’s suggestion. Whatever at this point, we’re at a day and a half by now. We’re game. Holy cow! They’re getting closer again. Whoa! 8 minutes! All right. I address Baby as if it’s Doc Holliday, “Let’s do this, Lunger.”

9PM: They’ve picked back up again. I’m so tired. I ‘rest’ (meaning I keep my eyes closed to relax and think about what Baby is going to look like) between contractions. We’re still between 5 and 8 minutes apart.

10PM: Son of a building block! They’re slowing again. Screw it. This is just a big cosmic joke: Hey, let’s see how long it takes before she kills someone. Can you plead guilty to murder by reason of insanity if you’re insane because of fatigue?

All night long the contractions come and go. Some with incredible force and others with just extremely heavy pressure. I can’t sleep. Someone will pay for this. I’m in a ‘poop or get off the pot’ frame of mind now. Let’s either have this baby or let’s don’t. I’m good either way.

Wednesday morning

Get up to go work. Decide I’m going to try to get an appointment with the doctor. If I go to work I’m certain I’ll drive a stake through someone’s heart. There’s no way I can concentrate, let alone have the patience to deal with anyone. I can hardly stand myself at this point. I’m going on maybe 8 hours of broken sleep. No good. Plus, Baby’s movement has slowed and that’s getting me a little nervous.

Appointment at 10:30. Get checked out. Effaced only a bit more, around 80%. I had mentally prepared for no changes and wasn’t let down. No dilation still. Fine, whatever. Baby…what’s going on with Baby? Let’s do an NST. Yes, let’s.

NST showed a perfect little Sweet One. Moving and shaking and making Mommy look like a fool. I don’t even care. My Little Monster is A-OK and dancing again to Daddy’s voice. I’m a sleepy, but happy Mommy now. Think I’ll try to nap in this comfy recliner while the test finishes.

They tell me that I’m having more BH contractions than real ones. That I’m drinking gracious plenty water throughout the day, but the fatigue is likely keeping them coming. Go home, take Tylenol PM and get some rest. Rest will get those fake ones knocked out and probably get the real deal kick started. Whatever you say, doc.

Schedule next appointment for the following Wednesday, my due date. Have lunch, ice cream and head home. The hubby and I spend the rest of the day lounging. I take the meds around 7:30 and am down for the count by 8:30. Sleep through the night. Ahhh.

Thursday morning

I don’t feel like killing anyone. Great success!

Still having contractions off and on. Chris says at least we have a war story. He’s a sweetie; glad he’s my partner in this. Still not nervous about labor, believe it or not. I’m ready for it whenever Baby is.

Also, the office ‘When’s She Going to Drop It’ pool started yesterday. A few folks weren’t that excited to see me this morning, as Baby and I lost them some cash yesterday. From here on out, every day I am more likely to be a disappointment than a joy when I come into the office. It’s good for my ego. Here’s one conversation I had this morning:

Me: (preparing my oatmeal)
Co-worker: Mel! What are you doing here!? I was expecting to give you a high-five the next time I saw you.
Me: Yes, I live to let down.

In his defense, he’s a good guy and it was all in good fun. Lucky for him I feel better today so we laughed about the whole fiasco. Forget chicken soup for the soul. Rest is so good.

I should point out that my attitude hasn’t changed. I’m still in no rush to get Baby here. I’m taking things day by day and enjoying this last bit of my pregnancy.

No Rush

I'm so sorry to disappoint those of you anxiously awaiting a progressive report. No changes from the last two weeks. Still about 70%-80% effaced. Still no dilation. Still carting around one very excited and antsy husband and Daddy-to-be. Still laughing and sympathizing with one Momma that just about can't stand waiting around anymore to be a Mawmaw.

Sorry everyone, looks like Baby is just not in as big of a rush as everyone else to make his or her grand entrance. And I think I'm the only one that's totally fine with that. I'm not quite ready at all to be finished with this pregnancy. That's not to say that I'm not looking forward to having my Baby in my arms to love and cuddle and kiss and squeeze, but I'm not ready just yet to share my Little Monster or give up these feelings of Baby moving inside me or any of the number of other feelings that pregnancy brings along with it. Call me kooky, I don't care. :)

So, the doc says Baby Surprise is still head down and still holding steady around 6 1/2 lbs. (Erm...does that mean that Mommy put on that weight this week?! Gah!) He thinks too that we're looking at about a 7 pounder by delivery time. My numbers, Baby's heartbeat, everything else looked great he said.

Everything is ready: crib is dressed and new car seat has arrived. And with that we're still sitting around being lazy, enjoying this potentially last weekend of alone time. We are signed up for an infant CPR class on Sunday afternoon though. Chris has taken the class twice, I think, for fire training, but I've never had it and am looking forward to it.

As a side note, if you believe in full moons make sure you check back Monday for some good news and maybe a guest post from the hubby. A couple people at work are sure the Little One is coming then.

Wait for Me Please!

I like grocery stores and enjoy going grocery shopping. I don't mean like buying groceries at the local Super-Whatever, I mean walking down the aisles of a real live grocery store. You know, those places that only carry food and the occasional seasonal general merchandise. I worked in a grocery store from the time I turned 14 until I got out of college, so I guess they just feel comfortable to me.

That said, a HUGE new grocery store has recently been built in our town. I can't even believe this thing is here. It's enormous and beautiful and shiny and oh so out of place, but I love it. I love it so much I pray for it's success! Chris took me inside there for the first time this past weekend and it was love at first sight. (He normally does the shopping now, but that story's for another post...)

Picture it: Me, new grocery store, 2PM on a Saturday afternoon. I was so tired and achey from walking around all morning doing Baby exchanges, but after I was inside it was all Chris could do to drag me back out again! Not only is this place clean and spit-shined, but the aisles are wider and the buggies are broader. The selections are better and there's a fresh salad bar and deli to boot. It's like Ruby Tuesday with benefits. If I'd have been alone I can promise you I'd have stopped at one of the tables just to sit and soak it all in.

Best of all, this new little beaut has the best organic food selection around. That's not saying much though; we aren't really in an area where there's a market for organic products. But Chris and I do try to buy as much organic as we can (and will go out of our way for it since I got pregnant). We aren't food snobs by any means, in fact we're border line tree huggers, but really get a rush when we find places where we can buy affordable organic yummies, especially fruits and veggies. This new grocery store has that AND a great selection of all types of products! So, today the hubby is going to wait for me before he goes shopping. Mommy, Daddy and the Little Monster have a date tonight!!

Envy me, ladies. :)

Something New and Strange

I feel my stomach in my lap. Hmmm, that's very weird. Chris says to take heart, to think of it as Baby sitting in my lap. I don't know though. I think I'd rather feel the Little Monster's skin on my leg rather than my own.

Ah well. I've made it this far without a prego belt, I think I'll just keep on truckin'.

May I Have Your Attention Please...

We have toes!! Chris and I felt the Little Monster's feet the other night, which is not uncommon. For a while now I've felt like I could tell when little feet where mashed against my stomach. But this was different. Same foot, but this time there were clearly 5 little buttons on the end of that little foot!! It was so incredible.

I've never wanted to nibble on a tiny human so bad in all my life!

Also, we finally got the crib up and ready so be on the lookout for pictures of my aunt's wonderful craftiness!

The Most Important Meal

I love breakfast. I can't get enough of breakfast actually. I would eat breakfast morning, noon and night. I did in college; although, in college it was mostly cereal. Cooking a real breakfast for one wasn't very motivating, but driving home on the weekends for breakfast was never out of the question. In fact, I would drop this laptop and head home right this very second if Momma or Mawmaw called me. Who cares if I just had my bowl of raisin bran?! Not me! Nothing save an apocalypse could come between me and a table full of breakfast goodies. And if there's Mawmaw's red-eye gravy or milk gravy watch out! Mel's got a whole other purpose! I don't care who you are, you can't deny that your mom's food is good, but nothing will ever surpass your grandma's cookin'.

I fancy that the Little Niblet is like me in this regard. I was almost always up on the weekends around 7AM (yes, I'm an early bird; I blame my Pawpaw for this). And generally I'm starving. So, I'd get up, make myself oatmeal or cereal and head outside with my cuppa joe - and by the way, I can't wait to have a cup of coffee after Baby's here (also a habit developed while with Pawpaw; boy, I miss him.)! Since I've been pregnant I still get up early, but now I lay around for a bit to talk to Baby and feel for movement. I think I've probably been like this from the first time I felt tiny little scratches in my belly. Baby's pretty sluggish in the mornings, but always up for some small talk. Very similar to me. Until breakfast is out that is! A nice bowl of something and a 1/2 glass of OJ later the two of us are raring to go.

I love to sit here in the mornings and share this quiet time with Baby while Chris and the dogs are still sleeping. I hope the Little One really does enjoy waking early and having breakfast as much as me so that this little routine never has to change for us.