We are still alive

I don't even know where to begin. HC will be 8 weeks tomorrow. The time has flown by. I have almost rewritten our birth story which was so amazing. The short story is...It was a LONG labor and beautiful birth. Just what I hoped for. (not the long part) La was wonderful! I could not have done it with out her. She rubbed my back until I thought her arms would fall off. I spent almost the entire labor in the tub. We planned to deliver there, but ended up getting out the last hour before she was born. The experience made me love what I do even more. More details later.

A short list summary

At 8 wks this we know:

*HC laughs and coos all the time

*Her best time is the morning

*She is a little funky between 6-9pm

*Her favorite thing is still to nurse. In fact she just about does that non stop from 6-9pm.

*She hates her car seat

*She loves her bath

*She is a cat napper and a very light sleeper. Sleeps for the longest on our chest or in her sling. Otherwise it is lay her down, five minutes later pick her up, back to sleep, lay her down, five minutes later etc... you get the picture. Needless to say, I have not gotten anything on my list done that I was going to do on my maternity leave. Big dreams I had.

*She loves to talk with her mama

*LOVES the sound of running water. Hard heavy water

*Falls asleep to the sound of the vacuum

*Loves for us to bounce on the exercise ball and hold her

*Has the strongest eyebrow muscles and furrowed brow you ever did see (except for mine of course) as demonstrated below in her Halloween costume.

*Is the most beautiful, sweetest baby girl and the love of our lives! :-)

A peapod for Halloween

Walking in the Turkey Trot Thanksgiving morning

Trying on her Santa hat

Silly Bean

Winter jammies

Getting ready for bath time

My girl gained 2lbs at her 2week check-up

We are adjusting well as a family. Ali's mom is still here and leaves on Monday. We will fly solo next week. It's a lilltle scary. Our church family has sent meals every other day and they will keep coming thru Nov 12th or so, that has been such a wonderful ministry. Ali and I have been working on our birth story, only to open it today and it has been erased....ugggghhhhh! We will start over when we have some time.

I know you want to know her name, but she will go by H.C. for privacy reasons. We just LOVE her!

Here she is!

We are in love! Thank you for your wonderful comments. It's amazing all the love and support that has been felt by all. We are a little sleep deprived, but both grandmas are here helping us make it through.

Welcome!

I am so sorry for not updating til now...we have been very occupied on getting this miracle here. We had a girl! She weighed 7lbs 8 oz 19 and a quarter inches long, born today at 12:03 a.m.. She is beautiful! Ali will post birth story soon and I promise to get a pic or two on here.

Will today be my birthday?

Ali has been contracting and having bl**dy show. She has been working up to today and unfortunately hurt her back on Tues. while pushing for four hours with her patient and then had a chair slip from under her and she hit the ground. They placed her on the monitor and pea pod is fine. Her back however is killing her! She seems to be having some back labor that causes the pulled muscle to spasm. She has taken many jetted tub baths, got a massage, and is using our good friend's tens unit. She is doing great! I get teary eyed just writing this...not tears of sadness, but complete joy to finally meet this miracle and for my beautiful partner who makes life complete.

So much for the one a day...sorry KJ..

Sympathy pains

Well, the only one giving birth.. is me. Outpatient surgery tomorrow to remove a very stuck 5mm kidney stone. I told Ali, please hold off on labor til Friday and honey I'll be HAPPY to rub your back for you, because if it feels anything like mine has for the past three weeks....it sucks. It's sympathy pains...I just know it!
All your prayers and good energy appreciated.

One a day

As a surprise to KJ (because she basically said we were sucky bloggers) I am posting for the second day in a row... tough love I tell ya...

Completed nursery pics. La did such a great job!

This bookshelf a friend at church made for us.

La made these frames a while back and when we find out what our little surprise is we will hang just one with their picture.

Blessingway

A couple weeks ago, one of our best friends hosted a b.lessing w.ay for me. It was so loving and wonderful! We first came across the idea while we were on a mini vacation at the beach and were reading the The A.rt of B.irthing and in the book it describes this ceremony that many cultures do to bless a new mother and share stories of motherhood and birth and just really lift up and honor this new journey. Our friend S took the idea and ran with it, searching and reading all she could find on them. They were started in the native american culture. I gave S a list of women that were special to me for various reasons and in the invitation she asked them to bring a bead for my birthing necklace and a poem, verse, song (the song playing now is one that a friend brought to share) or words of wisdom about mothering and/or birth. We started the evening with each person telling how we knew each other and what was special about their relationship to me and then a short meditation to center and quiet us from our day. During the meditation we were asked to close our eyes and picture our hands and the hands of our mothers and all those that had mothered us in our lives. The use of our hands for both good and ill in the world. We placed our hand over our heart and over our wombs, both the full ones (three of us are pregnant) and the empty or where they used to be for the mom's who no longer have theirs. We were asked to treasure the gift of being female and mother and all that that brings and means.

We then went around the room and each person shared the bead they had brought and why they had chosen it and then their selected or written words of encouragement and love for me as a person, woman, friend, sister, mother. It was one of the most special times in my life. One of those times like our wedding when I wanted to start all over when it was done. Just stop the clock and be there a while. We laughed and cried. And felt such a connection to one another, it took me days to be able to wrap words around my feelings. I was given a beautiful gift that night that I will always cherish. Above is a picture of the necklace that we made from the beads. Each one has a special meaning to me both because of who gave it and also why it was special to them for me.

After we shared a meal, each person was given a candle to keep lit while I am in labor. I said I hope these are those short 4 hour burning candles... and they assured me they were :-)

Just a liitle update

No ,we're not in labor. Ali is 1cm dilated and 60% efface. Looks like we'll go more around her due date(Oct.6) but then again her family goes late. We have bag packed, pea pods clothes, CD's, car seat installed...are we missing anything? We don't seem to have much time to post, but I promise to keep you updated.



And go give a BIG FAT CONGRATS TO http://mommiesinthemaking.blogspot.com/

Belly Shot Proofs

Ok as promised...here are a few of our favorites. Don't pay attention to the blue ribbon...we played around with pink and blue and will have it changed(gotta love photoshop) once pea pod comes.

Holy Bagoly!

35 weeks...we're almost there! It has been crazy fun around here. We had our last baby shower on Sun and finished up our last CB class last night. I feel like this is now the home stretch to finish up last minute projects. We have seen some of our belly proofs, not all, but I will post them once we receive our CD. All in all I think they turned out good considering it felt like 100 degrees . Our good friend built the baby's book shelf, so now we need to tidy up loose ends in the nursery and I promise to post a final picture. At our shower on Sunday a friend gave us a CD w/ a song she had written and recorded for us and our baby called "Worth the Wait". We were so touched and still cry every time we play it. If I could figure out how to get it on here, I would. It is so beautiful. If anyone knows how... let me know.

Our lives are truly about ready to change. I get a little anxious and scared, mostly about the birth and just wanting everything to be okay. We have waited soooo long for this miracle...it makes me all teary eyed just thinking about it.

Dilemma #99

Need some advice. I have been pondering on what to do about our baby's last name. My last name has 9 letters and Ali's has 5. Do we hyphenate our last name to give the kid 14 letters or use both of our names, Ali's falling last, un-hyphenated? Let us know what your family did.


On another note, we had belly shots taken today by a local photographer. It was hot as hell even tho we started at 9am this morning. We are both unsure of how they will turn out since I was sweating by 9:15. Our photographer has assured us..no worries...that's what photo shop is for.
Ali was beautiful and so was her belly. We can't wait for the proofs!

Baby Shower

We had my work shower last Wednesday. It was so much fun. I got to see a couple people that used to work with us and I don't get to visit with much anymore. The food theme was Italian- our favorite. We played three games. I LOVE games and my favorite is p.ictionary. So of course we played L&D p.ictionary. There were three non-nursing people plus La there and they were all speechless as we drew things like perineal massage and bloody show. It was great! Pics below. Anyone care to make any guesses??

This was a really cool gift I thought. It is a bush that blooms in October when the baby is due and there were all these little tags attached with wishes for us and the baby. And the card was implanted with seeds, so you plant the card and flowers grow. Now that is recycling. All cards should be like that!

My sister surprised us with a video camera. We are so excited! Now we can make movies of our little peapod.

We are have belly pictures done Thursday. Trying to figure out what to wear and what props to use. One group from my work got together and gave us a first year baby plan from one of our local photographers. Very cool gift!

33 weeks tomorrow! wow! We have another CB class tonight. Those have been interesting. If I had to do it again, I would have been kept quiet about what I do when that question was asked. It is a hard line to walk when people ask me at break or after class.. 'does my doc/midwife to this or that?' I want them to have all the information, but it puts me in an awkward place. And then one person phrased a question last week with a preface ' no offense to you' talking to me and then asked her question to the instructor. None taken, believe me. Tonight is supposed to be more 'floor/pillow work', so I'm looking forward to that.

31 weeks

Alright... here it is. Thanks to KJ for not keeping silent any longer....finally a belly shot and a piece of the nursery all in one. La is still working on some canvas prints for the walls but behind me you see the tree she painted. We'll post a completed pic when it is done. And here I am just home from a 12 hour shift... 31wks ! today!! :-)

30 week milestones

This week we started our cbc. We were the token lesbians. There are 8 couples and one of the couples is taking this class for the second time. Oh how I wish they weren't. Have you ever encountered that one person who wants to make a comment on everything.....Ali at one point said "I did not pay all this money to hear him talk the entire class" Uggghhhh and for 6 weeks. The instructor is too sweet and probably wouldn't say anything, but we left there wondering if this is how he will be the rest of the next 5 weeks. What could he possibly learn this time that he didn't learn the first?

Today was our 30 weeek US....pea pod was not as active so we didn't get any good shots, not to mention I think our tech was new. The good news is the fibroid isn't affecting the growth of the baby...weight about 3lbs 9oz seems, fibroid seems to have disappeared. Dr H does want to ck back in 6 weeks to make sure.

We have had one baby shower that was given by my mom and have the other two scheduled Aug 12th and 30th. We are looking forward to that. I love to scan the items....it gets me in trouble sometimes when I seem to wonder off scanning random toys.....hee hee.

Nursery is 80% complete. I did a mural of a tree, so that took some time. A friend is making bookshelves for us...we have tons of books that Ali has accumulated over the years. I promise to take pictures when it's all done.

Baby is active all the time....it makes mommy very happy. Oh, and the US tech said she saw hair. I saw it too! Ali is a little unsure since she was bald til she was 3. I have to remind her about her recent dream, the baby had a head full of dark hair and blue eyes. I am tickled pink/blue to meet this tiny human....it makes my heart sing with joy!

We celebrated our 10 year anniversary on Sun. (Dating anniversary that is...I tell Ali we will always celebrate this one too, since this is how we got to the wedding one)

Thanks for following our journey, even though we haven't updated as often as we would have liked. If you stopped by...play our game over to the right..would love to see your guesses.

Calling all cloth diaper families

I am working on our registry and trying to figure out many cloth diapers we need.

Right now I have:

15 F*uzzy.buns (these go from small to large in one diaper)

4 Th*irsties Fab Fitted (size small)

15 B*um G*enius 3.0 (these also go from small to large in one diaper)

That doesn't seem like enough. The plan is to wash diapers every other day. Not sure how many inserts we need either. Anybody have advice or another brand they just LOVE and suggest we try?

Peek-A-Not

Oh my...where does the time go? We have been very bad bloggers lately. We spent this past weekend in Orlando watching Ali's nephew play in his All-stars baseball tournament. I needed a couple of cocktails after the 1st night of 12-13yo male testerone...OMG! We did manage to sneak off into two baby stores and register. I love B*b*ies- R -Us! We bought the baby's bedding, so now I really need to finish the nursery. I am getting very excited and nervous too. I get scared the most about being able to afford a child and if I will be a good parent. I'm sure that's all normal.?.



We leave next week for KY for a visit with my family. I can't wait. We haven't been home in 2 years and I miss them. We have a baby shower scheduled the 11th and our family reunion on the 12th. There are 85 of us cousins and I hope to see everyone at the picnic. We are in search of a new camera, since ours took a dive , so I will be sure to take some pics.



I will also update you with a new ultrasound pic taken a week ago. He/she is so stinkin cute. The ultrasound lady was so nice and switched over to 4D for us and gave us pictures...so very REAL.....I just get all giddy inside! Our little pea pod had it's legs crossed and heels tucked into his/her crotch...so we couldn't see the sex even if we wanted to....oh the suspense of it all!!!!!

Dreams etc..

All I'm saying is you gotta love the sex dreams when your pregnant. Without getting too detailed :-) I am always amazed at how vivid they are. Too bad it's Monday and when I woke up, La had already gone to work. It might have been for the best... she may have been overtaken and overwhelmed with ALL I was feeling :-)

24 weeks tomorrow! It is so hard to believe... 6 whole months! I was thinking this morning our baby weighs about 1.5lbs. That is so big compared to that little peanut he/she (better know as shim or pea pod) used to be.

Pregnancy so far... Overall, very enjoyable. My not so pleasant has mostly been GI related. Tons of heartburn with anything I eat or even drink sometimes, feeling full but not satisfied, gnawing nausea at times. The heartburn really has been the most unsuspected. Of course, I had heard of moms complaining of this but I always thought it would be a here and there kind of thing and more so at the end. For me it was my first symptom and has hung around everyday since then. The other unsuspected thing is this pounding heartbeat. Sounds strange but being aware, hearing my heartbeat in my ears or just feeling that pound most of the day- I was not expecting that.

The parts I love which far outweigh the GI discomfort are: feeling the baby move...all the time, seeing my body change, my boobs getting veiny and nipples darker, my belly growing. Thinking about pea pod, talking and singing to him/her. Being aware of our togetherness as often as I can. Daydreaming about when pea pod is here. All these things are the best, best parts!

This week we are signing up for childbirth classes, working on the nursery, working on the registry, cleaning out another closet. I have been on a 'get rid of stuff' binge which for me who likes to keep everything is a big deal. But these days I am wanting minimal stuff. I was on my way to getting rid of all but 5 pairs of underwear, 5shirts, 5bottoms etc when La stopped me. She said we would just have to go out and buy more.. whatever... she might have been right. I still might get rid of some more clothes today... I might like to have to replace them... if I h-a-d to.



I just ordered a breast pump. The M.ed.ela Pu.mp in S.tyle. Luckily we get them at cost at the hospital and can payroll deduct. This brand is the most popular with the moms I talked to.

Cloth Diapers 101

Ali and I attended a cloth diaper class the other night. We left there with a lot of useful information on over 10 or so different brands and styles. I personally like an all in one type. I think Ali is leaning the more old school route with the cloth diaper and then a cover..also known as t*h*irsties. Has anyone used any of these ie. fuzzy bunz , g diapers, bum genius or any other brand that you may have liked. Let us know what ya think.

Go give a BIG FAT CONGRATS TO http://amyandmelissa.blogspot.com/

Everything Must Go

I think Ali is nesting. I came home from work today to find my dear wife with her hair clipped back, t-shirt tight , looking like a halter top and mismatched pj bottoms. The house was smelling like a whole bottle of Mr. Cl*e*an had been poured thru out. I found trash bags strung all over, and if it wasn't looking like it could be trash last month, everything is being thrown away today. It really is a good feeling to go through all this junk...and boy can we accumulate stuff. So, everything must go!!!!!

****DON'T FORGET TO VOTE>>>>>>OVER THERE... THE BABY POOL>>>>>>>>>*******

Fo Real...

La felt the baby move for real this morning. She thought she had a couple weeks ago but figured out today that she really had. Our pea pod moves around all the time. I love it! We put up a little guessing game for the date/size etc... so take a guess.

We are reading a few childbirth books--- I.na Mae Gaskin's Guide. The Br.adley Method. Hyp.nobirthing. I am thinking about taking the hypnobirthing class. Anybody have any experience with hypnobirthing? I have not had many patients use it but I like the philosophy the best so far. La said she is fine with hypno 'as long as we can be in a group class. I don't want it to be just us- up in some crunch bugs house with incense lit'. I don't know what to do with her sometimes. I think the only class that will work with our schedule will be private. Better start burning incense at home now to get her used to it :-)

Belly shot progression... Note for next pregnancy. Use the same or similiar outfit each time.

Grateful

19 week belly shot

We are back from a wonderful vacation! We talked and laughed and read and ate and walked (well, me just a little) and basked in the sun and cool breeze. La gave me a soft pink shirt on Mother's Day with the word mom on it. It was so sweet! I love it and I love you, La.

This morning I woke up in my soft bed to feeling our sweet baby moving around inside me.
Life is good... I am very grateful! :-)

Blame it on the fibroid

Just got home from the MFM doctor. It appears the culprit is Ali's fibroid. Before pregnancy it was 2cm x 3cm and it is now 5cm x 6cm, about the size of the baby's head. It is positioned between the back of the cervix and the rectum. The good thing about that is that it prevents in most cases the cervix from opening because in a way it blocks it and the bad part is the discomfort of having this thing push on her rectum and all the nerve fibers that run along the sacrum. That would explain Ali's description of feeling like there is a "knife in her butt". So they will watch the growth of the fibroid... hopefully the baby grows faster than the fibroid and moves out of the way. The doc said in 1% or less of these cases the fibroid grows and doesn't move out of the way and obstructs a term vaginal delivery. We are not even worrying about that... we'll just roll with whatever. For the discomfort, Ali can use M.ot.rin as needed and lots of hand and knees positioning to get the 'knife out of her butt'.

For the fun part... our baby looks beautiful! He or she was rolling around, doing flips, swallowing fluid, sucking his/her fist. Heart and brain looks wonderful. Cord, limbs, nuchal fold -- all normal. Weighs 8oz.

Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts. We so appreciate them!

Contractions

The contractions started around 5pm every 4-5minutes. We went to triage and saw Dr.G who prescribed terb and vi.sta.ril. Ali is still contracting and has cramping. Dr. G will call us in the morning to have us go for our formal ultrasound tomorrow instead of next Wed. No vag check tonight...she didn't want to irritate things more...FHR 160's..will update when I know more.

Scared...Need To Breathe...Triage *Updated*

Ali has been cramping all night long. She describes them as bad period cramps.....We are worried sick. Waiting on a call from the Dr. to tell us what to do. Dear God....I pray and pray and pray.

**UPDATE**

Ali was seen yesterday by Dr. G who said cervix was nice and closed and she was measuring between 18-20 weeks...listened to the baby's heartbeat..all was good and very active. So glad that happened yesterday, because it did help to ease some(not all) fears today. Ali had such horrible cramping all night...she couldn't get rest and then she did she dreamed her water broke...great. We called the Dr. this am and since she was just seen yesterday she prescribed bed rest and plenty of fluids and if cramping got worse, call, and she would be seen. Cramps are still there, not worse, just there. Ali has felt the baby move(thank God) so we feel good about that. We did get in touch with the midwife...she told her to drink plenty of cranberry juice and if not better to come in tomorrow for a urine sample. She is resting.....Thank you for all your words of support. We have our formal ultrasound next Wed and no peeking for parts......KJ :)

Going On 18 Weeks And Off For Our Babymoon

We are back from my parents and miss them already. I can't believe we won't see them again til Oct. They are headed up North to see their other grand kids. I told my brother he is gonna have to share my mom soon, so get in all the time he needs now. Granted he has 2 sets of twins 11 months apart (ages 6 and 7) and we will only have one. I just wanted to prepare him now.

We are 18 weeks tomorrow. Wow...time really flies! We leave again for the beach to celebrate our baby moon. We are going with our good friends S+K, who before we left for my parents had us over for dinner, and as we were greeted at their front door, they wanted us to know that they are not crazy...and that they are not planning on taking our baby, but rather love us and this baby very much...so we walk in and this is what greeted us..

There's more..............

and more......... I couldn't fit it all in.

S has offered to take care of our new little one on the one day a week we will need childcare. They have been collecting these things for the past couple years so that we can just drop off the baby and some breast milk and they have everything else... and I mean they have everything else. We said we could just move in with them and be set. The clothes in the closet are all labeled with the state and the year they were purchased. We are so blessed with wonderful friends. Now I am afraid we are going to need to find new peeps to hang out with because these people are obviously into babysitting :-)

Happy Birthday Mom!

We're here in Central Florida visiting my parents. They live in a very active retirement community, that we joke, it's D.isn.ey for 55y.o. and older. I hope I get around as great as they do when I'm their age. We have such a great time here and we can't wait til we can bring our little boo here too.



So Happy"69th" Birthday Mom and soon to be Grandmaw (again)!

Here we are heading to the pool

If You Put Your Cold Hand There... I'm Gonna....

I placed my cold hand on Ali's belly Sunday morning and I felt a kick. It was amazing! We had our 16 week appt last Friday and heard the heartbeat with a Doppler. The midwife said "he" is very active(150) and was kicking all around, obviously does not like anything cold. Our friend C gave us a medical Doppler to use and we have played with it non stop. This is really real!!!! and I have had some moments of freak out! Wheewww like just now. Ok, it's gonna be ok...right?

Baby Got Bump

We have been bad belly photographers. Ali is 16 weeks today and I think she is finally starting to show...how exciting!

To Snoogle...Or Not To Snoogle?

That's this weeks question. Ali is having trouble getting comfortable at night. I already seem to think we need to invest in a king size bed...since we have introduced more pillows. So if you have a snoogle..let us know what you think or any other comfortable device you might recommend.

Our first purchase over $10

Thank you everyone for your advice... it made me feel less 'behind'. I found the checklist online... love that... and we had actually already done everything we were 'supposed to' by now, except for three things. A friend told us about this jogger stroller she saw at a local consignment shop so we went by to check it out. It's in great shape and was only $50... so we bought it. Very exciting!!

La started on the nursery mural tonight...looking good :-)...we will post when it is finished

What to do when?

I am feeling like I have no idea what to do first and when for planning for our baby's arrival. It feels like planning a wedding but without that book that says 8 months before you do this, 6 months before you do that, 5 months before... and so forth. Is there a book like that for this? When do we sign up for birth classes? I don't even know where they are! What books must I be reading? When do we register? Which car seat do we choose? Wash the baby clothes? What all needs to be done? What am I missing? I am feeling clueless today, not knowing where to start.

Birth Place

In the comments on the last post, Mimi asked if we were going to deliver at my hospital.

I have toyed with the idea of home birth. In fact, my colleagues hear me say quite often 'you k-n-o-w the hospital is no place to have a baby'... half joking, but half not. But getting La to agree to that is a battle I am not up for and I think both people really have to be on board for a good home birth, fear is a powerful thing and the energy needs to be right. So the next best place for us is my 'work home'. And while we tend to be very possessive of each other in the sense we all want to take care of each other, we are also very respectful, so it will work out fine to have all my work peeps within walking distance. I work with some really good people. You know that expression this person 'is good people'... that is the majority of my co-workers. We say all the time... we stay here mostly because we genuinely like each other and like spending our days together.
So, my goal is to labor at home as long as possible and then go up there for the birth. Our doula is a midwife I used to work with, but retired last winter for a life with more sleep and to pursue her massage therapy career. I am so happy she agreed to help us. She has an amazing spirit and her presence will make me feel safe, encouraged and cared for.

Hatched By 2 Chicks

Ali is 14 weeks today...yipppeeee... We spent our weekend at gay pride. It was so much fun to see old friends and ones that have had a baby. Ali wore a maternity shirt...not that she's showing much, but it seems to be comfortable...and we're all about comfort. After pride we stopped by C & A's house to pick up a gift her and her mom bought for us...it is so damn cute....I took a pic to show it off and that's what our baby will wear to gay pride next year.

In baby news...We are trying to figure out if we will do the testing for Downs and spina bifida? I hear there are a lot of false positives? I guess we both feel like if it's not going to change our minds, why take the test? Ali also plans on a natural child birth...you go girl...(I am woman..hear me roar)...so that brings up our hiring a Douala. I think it is totally a great idea. I am such a fix it kinda person, so I see this as someone really helping her do this! I think I may need the epidural or some kind of meds. I am still in ahhhh...I just love this baby!

Read All About It **updated**

Ali was at work yesterday when her and her co-worker S decided to do an us scan. This is Ali's way of telling her co-workers who don't know yet. They placed our cutie patootie(one that doesn't look like a puppy dog running up the hill...refer to 1st us scan) up at work today on a sign in the most "used" bathroom for "employees only". They used one of the us pics and the sign that read "Can you guess who my mommy is?" So far no one has guessed Ali...hee hee. I would love to be a fly on the wall..... Her one co-worker V...came out of the bathroom and said; wait a minute...who the hell is this...you have to know V, she is a true redneck! I love it!

**update**

The plot thickens... what is the most natural next step for a bunch of L&D nurses to do with a guessing game? Yep, you guessed it... turn it into a gambling ring on Fac*e*book. They have about $70 in the pot so far. Ha... loving it!