8 pounds, 5 ounces!

My baby girl is growing! At fifteen days old today, she now weighs 8 pounds, 5 ounces. That's 1 pound, 4 ounces more than she weighed at birth & 1 pound, 9 ounces more than she weighed at two days old! Essentially, she's gained 25 ounces in 13 days, or just under 2 ounces a day.

Last night we assembled the double stroller and this afternoon I put its first mile on by taking a walk around my neighborhood. It was a gorgeous day - upper 70s (I think), cool breezes, clear skies through the late afternoon. We opened all of the windows to let the fresh air in.

Double strollers are heavy and unwieldy. But they're not as heavy and unwieldy as trying to carry a 25-pound toddler and an 8-pound infant around the neighborhood, like, in one's arms. Plus, as my friend Heidi pointed out, resistance training. 'Nuff said. I haven't checked my weight in a few days but I have the feeling that the easy-to-lose weight is gone and the hard-to-lose pounds are left. Resistance training. hee hee hee!

Why are people so nasty?

A friend of mine, new digital camera in hand, recently decided to participate in an online weekly photo submission thing (I hate using the word 'thing' when writing, but competition just isn't right and it's too late to figure out exactly which word I want rather than 'thing'). Her idea was awesome and her photograph captured the idea well (though I will admit that the photograph itself isn't going to win any technical or artistic awards). Well, I don't know the whole story, but apparently someone or someones made some nasty comments about it. Now, why would someone do that? So, she took the photo down and posted a different photo with a good (but substantially less exciting) idea. Sad, because her concept was the best I'd seen, really. Sometimes I just have no sympathy for mean people. Jerks.

I want to be a...

...weather forecaster when I grow up. Can you list for me other jobs where you can screw up, um, almost daily and still retain your job? Yeah. Visualize your accountant doing the same quality work your local weather forecasters do. Here we go - you've got a 30-80% chance that I've got your account balances accurate, and they could be a little off, or a lot off, but I'm just gonna go for it and tell you they're a little off.......oh, they were a lot off? Oops! Yeah, well, um, that's accounting for ya. I'll tell you what, your account balance for tomorrow is sure to be $X.xx. ... Oooh, that wasn't right? Oops! Yeah, well, um, that's accounting for ya. I'm glad it didn't rain today as our weather people had predicted. It was an unbelieveably beautiful day!

Out & About!!!

Today we were a family about town(s). This morning we went to the Mid-America Science Museum in Hot Springs. It was far cooler than the Museum of Discovery in Little Rock, had a (somewhat lame but quite functional) toddler play area, and most of the exhibits could be enjoyed by young and old. Also, they took the Savers card, so we got $1.00 off each adult admission ($6 instead of $7) and kids under 3 are free. Only 50 mins away for us, too, since we live way out here, but a bit of a drive for Little Rockers. Worth the trip, though, I think!

Then we came home and napped (I told ya I'd have to talk about sleep in every post!). After that and a lovely 15-minute phone call to Shayna, we headed off to Little Rock to see if we could find a bra that would actually fit my...ahem...enhanced bosom. As if the 34 - 36 E I've been wearing since I had Owen wasn't enough. But I was being mashed, and that just isn't good for the lactating woman (nor is it good for any woman, but smashing can really be problematic for the milk maker). I've upgraded to 34 F, courtesy of Barbara Graves Intimate Fashions. Wow.

Monday, monday...

Today has been good, except for the stiff neck/upper-back thing that I have going on, courtesy of an odd sleeping position for a portion of last night, which Kristen spent the majority of practicing her new grunting sound. It's like "ugh" but it starts with an 'e'. Oftentimes it even starts with an 'eeeee'. I'd think it was pretty cute, except for that's hard to think when it's 4 AM and not only was I wishing I was asleep, and not only was I wishing she was asleep, but also I was hoping she would not awaken Herb or Owen with her special, fun, new noise.

This morning Herb took Owen to Kindermusik class while I cleaned up the house, did some laundry, and watched a two-week-old episode of Desperate Housewives. Now I'm on last week's episode. They've got some f'd up fake people on that show is all I've gotta say about that. This afternoon once Herb left for work I got to take a nap with Kristen & Owen. Nap good. O is still asleep but should be waking up soon - I'm guessing I have about 30 minutes. I think anyone reading this will find that most of my posts would include monologues about my family's quantity & quality of sleep if I posted any more often than I do. As it stands, I don't think I'm going to be able to resist the urge to give a sleep report no matter how infrequently I write. Eh, such is the nature of my life at this time.

Off to eat. 21 of 34 pregnancy pounds gone. Can't complain about that!

March 24

Today was a beautiful day...and the last few days have me believing I might actually be able to do this 'mom-of-two' thing successfully.

Owen gave Kristen a lips-kiss for the first time today. And once he realized that she wasn't going to cry after he did it, there was no stopping him! He was kissing her arms, hair, cheeks, & forehead all day! And then it turned into kissing mommy, too! Yay, b/c Owen's not a particularly liberal kiss-giver.
I'd forgotten how frequently infants make poop diapers. Thankfully they're breastmilk poop, which , while I wouldn't want made into a cologne or anything, don't smell particularly foul to me. It's even time to change one now!

I have wonderful friends...

...near and far. Although the move to Arkansas has been a difficult transition for me in many ways, I'm regularly amazed at how many friends I've made and how loved and lucky I often feel. Thank you to all of my friends for caring about me and my family!

I'll try this again...

Yeah, this lasted a week when I tried it back in August. But I do have a few things I'd really like to write about, and I have a lot of people I want to keep up with. So, we'll try this again. :)

First, the big news that everyone already knows: we have a new baby! Kristen joined our family on Wednesday, 3/15/06, at 10:10 am. She was 7 pounds and 20 inches long (no ounces or fractional inches for my girl!). Here's how she came into the world:

On Tuesday, 3/7, I had a regular 37 week appointment with my OB. By that time, I'd been contracting for a couple of weeks, was ridiculously uncomfortable, emotionally unstable, and definitely convinced there was no way I would make it to 40 weeks with my mind intact. I'd hoped for a spontaneous labor and unmedicated birth but decided to ask about elective induction at that appointment, given my awful state. After checking my cervix (almost 3 cm and 25% effaced at that time) and deciding I had a great chance of successful induction without increasing my risk for c-section, we scheduled for 3/15. Of course I was still hoping that I'd end up in the hospital on my own but I was so relieved to have an end in sight, too. It helped my spirits dramatically to be able to say "8 more days" or "7 more days". That Friday, Ms. Mucus Plug parted ways with my cervix which renewed my hope of spontaneous labor. Then that Sunday I had some great contractions for a few hours straight which I thought would result in a baby...but they stopped. Monday night I got the best sleep of my third trimester, so I figured, "Oh no, no baby in sight." Tuesday night (3/14) I was up just about all night with discomfort and excitement about my 5:00 am induction time the next morning. I slept from about 2:00 to 4:00 am, and then we were off to the hospital.

When we arrived, we got settled in and they ran a 30-minute strip recording Kristen's heart rate and my uterine activity. Only a mild contraction or two during that time, and her heart rate was perfect and steady. Toward the end of that time, the nurse checked my cervix to see where I stood prior to beginning my oxytocin. Shocked, she announced that I was 5 cm dialated and about 70% effaced. I was so excited ~ this was going to be more of an augmentation than an induction! I was going to have my baby today for sure! She started an IV and then started the oxytocin. They started at the lowest dose, which was 2 (but I don't know the unit of measure), and then increased it by 2 every 15 minutes, up to 20.

At around 6:30 am, my wonderful friend and birth assistant (she was there for the birth of Owen, too) Amy arrived. Her job has been to entertain me and make me laugh and she did an outstanding job as usual! We were cutting up so much that the monitors were having a hard time getting readings on my contractions and the heart rate monitor was not working well either. The nurse (the second of my birthing journey, as shift change was at 7:00 am) wasn't particularly impressed that I was "up & around" so much, but I hadn't left the bed. hee hee hee. Anyway, by 8:00 or so, I was near the max dose of oxytocin that the nurses could give without additional orders from my doctor, and things were getting a bit more uncomfortable anyway so I wasn't quite so giggly. Still a mighty fine mood, however. :)

I reached max dose at 8:15 am and my doctor, Ken Taylor, came in to check on me at 8:30 am. He asked how I was feeling and talked with me a bit about how he thought the day might go. He then checked my cervix and was impressed that I was at 6 cm and 100% effaced. I, somewhat disappointed, said, "Really?" and, somewhat surprised, he replied, "Yeah, why, where were you when you came in?" I told him 5/70 and he chuckled and remarked that if that was the case, today was going to be this baby's birthday with or without the oxytocin! Knowing that, he said he could break my water and move things along if I was ready, and that as soon as my body took over, he would shut off the oxytocin. It was abotu 8:45 am. I consented, felt that warm & wet release of fluid, and then...ohhhh..... myyyyy...... God. Active labor really began. My own body took over. Immediately. The oxytocin was shut off. And I was painkiller-less, just like I'd wanted. I'd heard that pitocin would just about kill any chance of an otherwise unmedicated delivery. I'm here to attest that it's not true!!! My contractions were every 2 minutes and were 1 minute long, so I got a 1 minute rest between each one to collect myself and prepare for the next round of pain. Sometime around 9:15 or so, Owen arrived with Gramma Bit and thankfully, they walked in just after a contraction ended. I had just enough time to tell him hi, that I loved him, that I was going to get Kristen out of the uterus soon, and to have a great day, and then I looked at Herb and told him to get Owen out of there before the next one began. Through each contraction, I would take a deep breath, moan as I exhaled, breathe in, moan, and then lay quietly and try my best to relax during my down time.

Before I knew it, Dr. Taylor was wanting to check my cervix again and let me tell you, the last thing in the world I wanted was someone checking my cervix. He checked between contractions and told me I was fully dialated and he was ready whenever I was. I didn't feel quite ready to push and I was scared, too. Within five minutes, my body was demanding I push...it was almost like my body took over and did the first push for me, and then I told the nurse I was ready. But still scared. I gave the first push a try, telling myself I could just not push if I didn't want to, and it felt better to push than to not push. Dr. Taylor checked my cervix again and said she was pretty high, at a -2 station, and I just about lost it. That seemed so far and I said I couldn't handle the pain for hours & hours & hours. After being reassured by Dr. Taylor, the nurse, my husband, and my Amy, I did my first few sets of pushes (2 per contraction) lying on my side and while it seemed to help with the pain, it didn't feel effective, so I asked for positioning suggestions from Dr. Taylor.

He helped me roll onto my back and up into a reclining position, not lying flat and not sitting. I put my arms between my legs and grabbed the arches of my feet and that felt effective. But I just have to say, unmedicated childbirth is painful. Continuing with my 2 pushes per contraction rhythm for the next however-many minutes (I'd guess it was about 30), I was able to feel exactly how hard I was or wasn't pushing and make slight adjustments according to Dr. Taylor's advice. He didn't want her to come so fast that I had an awful tear and I was able to hold back when needed or push extra hard when needed to get her where she needed to be. And then, at 10:10, before I knew it, she made her debut! And I was so proud of myself and felt so wonderful and overwhelmed and happy!!! Daddy cut her cord and she was placed on my chest where I got to talk to her and look at her and comfort her right away. She was so beautiful and looked so much like Owen, too!

I had an episiotomy plus a small tear beyond it that needed repair so Daddy took Kristen over to the nurses to have her checked out while I marveled at what I'd just accomplished. Within ten minutes she was back in my arms, and though I'd planned to nurse right away, I was so busy staring at her and talking to her that I forgot to do it for another several minutes! Dr. Taylor showed me the placenta (as I'd requested) and it was amazing to think that was where Kristen had spent the last 8+ months. A short time later, Gramma Bit came in with Owen so he could finally see his mommy and meet his new baby. Then Kristen got her nurse on!

She was alert for a couple of hours before her first nap and during that time we were moved to my recovery room. I walked from my laobr & delivery room to my recovery room and it felt great (not to mention that my nurse was thrilled to see me mobile...she stood in the doorway exclaiming, "Is that my patient walking to her own room??? Look at her!"). We got settled in, Amy left to go back to Oklahoma City, and we ate birthday cake and finally took a nap...though it was only around 12:30! What an amazing morning that turned out to be.