Wardrobe changes.

Someone had just gotten dressed and we were all three {Grandma Melamed} enjoying some time together when there was some intense root-toot-tooting.

So Hanny Lucy gets two pretty outfits today, lucky girl. Meanwhile mama's just lazing around in whatever fits her now and I have a feeling that's something I should get used to {for now at least, right?!?!?!?}.

I suppose this multiple get ups a day thing is also something we should get used to.

In other news, Guinness got to get up close to the baby.

He's been sniffing and seems very alert when she cries sometimes. The biggest reaction out of Guinness, though, is when the babe cries at night - he is such a creature of habit and to have his nightly sleep disturbed vexes him.

Oh well, we'll all adjust!

One week {& a wee little day}.

Pardon the second post in one day but I'm trying to catch up a bit.

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So we’re technically at a week and one little day old. Thanks to all the health setbacks {a really bad infection [including an104 degrees fever] that landed me back in the hospital two days after we got home; I just got home for good [hopefully]} I’ve been experiencing I haven’t been able to document things when/the way I’d like to but for now I have a few minutes; yippee!!

Anyway, I’d like to do these little statistics weekly for Hanna Lucy’s first month of life and then once a month or so afterwards, though I’m aiming to have a weekly picture in the same outfit to check out her growth visually. It’s so good to be home and we’re all hoping and praying to everything/one out there that I continue to get better and can be home with our little one. And what a stinker, she wouldn’t even look at the camera! So I’ll include a face shot and next week we’ll see if we can get her to look at the lens.

Let's see her face!

Ignore the odd lighting...we were in the hospital still and it was just a bit yellowy.

How old: 1 week old

Weight: it was 9 pounds 5 ounces last Friday and if I get my druthers later I’ll do an un-scientific weighing of me then me holding her. But let’s say/hope more than 9.5 ounces and less than her birth weight of 9 pounds 13 ounces.

Likes:

·      Nursing/eating.

·      Sucking; this reflex came out strong in our little one. A finger will do the job for a few minutes but then she soon realizes she’s not getting what she really wants. Since I was in the hospital and we were trying to stretch the milk I was pumping we gave her a pacifier a bit and apparently that went over quite well.

·      Her daddy.

·      Being held – this is a hard one because we can’t possible hold her all the time, can we?

·      Being warm.

·      Driving.

Dislikes:

·      Being hungry.

·      Being cold.

·      Not being held.

·      Sleeping between midnight and six AM.

Milestones:

·      Though it wasn’t for her, Hanna Lucy had her first ER visit…yuck.

·      She met two sets of grandparents and one of her uncles…such love!

·      She was born!

·      She met Guinness…he’s a bit more interested than she for now.

Sleep and eat:

·      Every three hours or so…I have to wake her. Me feeding her helps to keep fevers at bay so this is especially important.

·      She started sleeping better after my milk came in on Friday.

·      She sleeps best when held, though she has had some good stretches on her own.

·      We try to swaddle her for sleeping which seems to be better than not…too many of those infant arm spasms.

·      We’ve also tried a little sound machine {thanks to “The Happiest Baby on the Block”} but it doesn’t seem to help too much; perhaps when we’re a bit more stable we can start experimenting. 

Miscellaneous:

·      This has been such a horrible past few days and I’m really looking forward to feeling better; Michael has been such an amazing husband and our parents have supported us in ways that aren’t surprising at all but it just fills my heart so much to know how loved we all are.

42 weeks and a setback.

So we had our baby! But then I got really sick and had to spend some more time in the hospital; I had meant to post this last Friday when I would've been 42 weeks pregnant so please forgive the tardiness. I'm probably not going to be posting as often as before but who knows?! Having been sick and also being a newborn's mother, it might be kind of nice to feel even somewhat connected to the world, even if it's just me plastering something on the internet.

Anyway, let's update!

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And now there’s a baby! It was a reeeaaallly long week between the last update and this one and the last post but the happiest byproduct of is our beautiful daughter, Hanna Lucille. We’re recovering at home and looking forward to feeling more and more human as the days progress, though sleeplessness does not a thing to help with that. Let’s look at some stats.

How far along: today I would be 42 weeks – I had Hanna Lucy at 41 weeks and 4 days pregnant.

Symptoms:

·      We have a daughter, a real live baby that we’ve been entrusted {by whom?!} to care for.

·      It was a long and hard labor that ended up taking place in the hospital. Though not a C-section and I’m not recovering from surgery, it was actually a really difficult labor and I’m going to be recovering pretty gingerly these first few days.

·      Baby is very healthy {& large…see below} and has a wonderful clean bill of health; we are so grateful.

Wait gain: I actually haven’t looked at mine yet but she clocked in at 9 pounds 13 ounces on her birthday. And 22 inches long, just for the record.

Size of baby: see above.

Exercise: we are sequestered at home, besides appointments, for the next few weeks.

Milestones: Hanna Lou is nursing every several hours.

She hasn’t been sleeping for long stretches of time but hopefully now that there’s milk coming in that will change, though she sleeps best in our arms and it would be ever-so-nice for her to sleep somewhere else for more than 20 to 30 minutes.

Despite her size she still fits well enough in the newborn clothes we’ve tried on and is also filling out those newborn diapers.

What I miss: well, I loved being pregnant but labor/delivery was the hardest thing I had ever done {two marathons seem easy in comparison} so I’m going to say that I do miss feeling the babe move around inside of me as well as lots and lots of sleep if I wanted it, but I am so glad to be on the better side of delivering a baby.

Sex: Hanna Lucy.

Movement: she’s a squirmer out here and swaddling her is a must for helping her calm down.

Thoughts/questions/concerns: hmmm...are we even capable of parenting?

Sleep: not much…let’s leave it at that!

Goals: get some milk coming in and hopefully have her sleep a bit more.

Random: It’s still such a surreal situation; we have a beautiful baby and we are so in love.

 xoxo, natty ♥

41 weeks.

We’re still pregnant and hoping not to be one week from today {that’s when they would medically induce labor}. Michael’s patient parents have been in town since Tuesday just putzing around with me during the day and we’re all feeling ready for something to happen.

It was a great last weekend we had {way back, almost a week ago}, friends in town and some warm weather, so we’d be OK with that being the last weekend…aka, having the baby tonight would be alright. So let’s get this update started.

How far along: 41 weeks – I was wrong last week; “post term” pregnant is for 42 weeks and beyond {yikes}. I’m just pregnant, albeit beyond my due date.

Symptoms:

·      I forgot to mention this last week but in a cruel twist of timing, the final weeks of my pregnancy have brought me some stretch marks on my tummy, kind of around my belly button. Dear Stretch Mark Fairy, way to wait until the end.

·      I’ve noticed Braxton Hicks contractions, it feels like my whole belly tenses up and tingles and they don’t hurt.

·      I believe I’ve even had some real contractions; they feel almost gassy in and around my lower back and belly.

·      I’m still hungry all the time.

·      My carpal tunnel is very crummy.

·      I’m kind of tired, but for a few days I was out and about quite a bit so I think that was it. After an appointment this morning I was supposed to come home and rest {thank you midwife Dorothy} but I haven’t felt like it, despite having a hard time waking up this morning.

Wait gain: 169 to 173…I saw it all this week; this morning was 169.

Size of baby: there are no more produce comparisons! So sad! I guess that baby is the size of a baby?

Exercise: some good walks in the neighborhood and then when temperatures plummeted yesterday {& the winds were howling – thanks a lot Old Man Winter, you’ve really given us a special season} we mosied around one of the museums for a bit {Natural History}.

Milestones: we had a Non-Stress Test this morning which measures baby’s heart rate for 20 minutes; as an active human outside of the womb, her heart rate should’ve been going slightly up and down according to her movements and any possible contractions I was having – and it did!

My membranes got swept twice. I won’t explain this beyond it’s meant to kick start labor.

If I make it to Monday, we’ll have a Bio-Physical Profile, which is a detailed ultrasound to check on baby and amniotic fluid levels as well as another Non-Stress Test. If that goes well then we see the midwife each day to attempt some more non-medical induction techniques before the looming deadline of Friday March 21^st – Medical Induction Day {something I’d like to avoid}.

What I miss: nothing really. I miss not waiting for a Momentous Occasion to occur at any moment, actually.

Sex: it’s s girl!

Movement: she’s still at it, which is good and what we want.

Thoughts/questions/concerns: let’s have this baby!

Sleep: it’s been the same as before, I’m up each two to three hours for the bathroom and some water.

Goals: not be medically induced.

Random: Is this our final Friday night without a baby? I keep wondering “is this our last ___________?”  

And…might we have an Ides of March baby? A March 16^th baby? A St. Patrick’s Day baby? I think a March 14^th baby isn’t in the works but I’m hoping in the next few days…

40 weeks.

We made it to 40 weeks pregnant. And we’re still pregnant! It’s been SUCH a low-key week at home, which has been wonderful, especially after the hectic work pace I had been keeping since AUGUST. Michael was with me almost every day since he was pretty sick and there were snow days. I got things done in the apartment and lazed around a lot.

We didn’t go for very many walks {two, to be precise} but it was so snowy then slushy/icy then frigid. Excuses, excuses, but it might have been a good idea to try and get things going in the “let’s have this baby” department. As of yesterday, according to the midwife, there’s no progress. She cannot {nor can anyone, for that matter} predict when the baby will come but she tactfully told us that many first time mothers will go a bit over a week late. I’m completely OK with our daughter taking her time, though I’m actually feeling impatient – so maybe I’m not completely OK with it then? It’s just that we have some very special grandparents coming to visit very soon who would like to meet their first grandchild and we would like for that too…so let’s get this show on the road baby girl!

I am grateful for the week off, though. It was so nice to finally have mental space and energy to think about having a baby and being a parent – a luxury I had a hard time making time for when teaching and commuting was taking up so much of me. Thank goodness we’ll be living somewhere closer to work when the new school year begins AND that I won’t be adjusting to a new textbook/curriculum {read: basically starting from scratch}. So if we get another week still pregnant, I’ll be just as grateful, albeit a bit more impatient.

On to the details.

Shadowville still.

How far along: 40 weeks – I’m now officially post-term

Symptoms:

·      Pregnancy.

·      The carpal tunnel in my right hand hasn’t gotten worse but it hasn’t gotten much better; I’m hoping this is a miraculous “will disappear as soon as I’m no longer pregnant” sort of story.

·      I’ve had maybe a few “light” contractions, so the midwife told me, according to the crampiness I described, but she seemed to think more that it’s an irritable uterus instead; I think this is hilarious because I can envision an angry body organ shaking its fist. This irritability is just considering how huge a uterus gets at the end of pregnancy as well as all of the weight it’s schlepping around {at least seven pounds of baby plus several more pounds of other stuff}…this isn’t a painful condition, rather, I just notice it.

·      I’m still ravenous throughout the day and night. I even had several dreams in which I remarked that I was “starving” and could feel being hungry. Needless to say, I had a snack as soon as I got up the next morning.

Wait gain: 167; still losing a bit.

Size of baby: a pumpkin or a jack fruit.

Exercise: two neighborhood walks and then I walked an entire mall today {both levels}, at a decent clip today.

Milestones: we reached the “end” of a full-term pregnancy; it was great to hit weeks 36/37 and think that my baby was more likely than not completely OK and could go home right away after birth, but obviously 40 was the goal all along. It’s been a wonderful pregnancy; I’ve truly loved almost every aspect of it. I’m assuming labor/birth might not be so enjoyable but, naively perhaps, I’m so grateful for this whole experience. I realize that any subsequent pregnancies could be extremely different from this one so I’m especially thankful for it.

We also got our strollers assembled, all the cloth diapers laundered and stuffed, and bags mostly packed. Tomorrow morning the much-delayed car seat will be installed and inspected {thanks Metropolitan PD!}…we are as ready as we can be.

What I miss: not much right now! With the light at the end of the tunnel I’m feeling energized and excited.

Sex: still a girl.

Movement: it’s good and roly-poly. I’m feeling some movement way in the bottom towards my hipbones almost, which is an odd sensation.

Thoughts/questions/concerns: I have until 41 weeks and six days to be able to give birth at the birthing center vs. the hospital and to not be medically induced. I’m not worried about this timeline rather, like I mentioned, I’m feeling a tad impatient. I’d like to have our daughter here before her grandparents arrive. So, we’ve tried a few things: spicy food, walking, red raspberry leaf tea, and evening of primrose oil. Only time can tell if any of them will work so look out for an update! One thing I am able to say, though, is that I won’t try taking Castor Oil like some women do; it sounds gross gross gross.

Sleep: I’m still up every two to three hours, but I’m so used to it. Plus, I figure that my sleep will be just as broken up {if not more} soon enough, at least now it’s only needing to use the bathroom and I can go right back to sleep.

Goals: have a baby!

Random: will this be our last weekend together as two? Three, actually; I’d be remiss if I didn’t count Guinness. Again, I really am so glad I had this week. There might be a few random things I’d like to tie up around here, cleaning-wise, but baby preparation is at a good place right now as are we mentally. I’m so excited to see what this next phase of life has to bring us but I am definitely very much so continuing to enjoy my still-pregnant state.