Two weeks

Our sweet baby girl was two weeks old yesterday. As I was reflecting at an early AM feeding just how much Morenna has changed, it occurred to me that I had yet to post the story of her arrival. I'm still adjusting to the lack of sleep and overall physical recovery, hence the delay... but without further ado (and I apologize for the length):

Thursday March 17th marked my last official day in the office. I had cleaned out my desk, said my goodbyes, trained my replacement and turned in my security badge. Needless to say, Friday morning I was more than anxious to begin the transition to motherhood. I was still battling my third sinus infection of the season, but my Mom was home with me and so we decided to try our luck at inducing labor with a really... really... long walk. I promptly took a nap when we got home and to my surprise, contractions started about an hour and a half later. They were regular... a bit too regular in fact, coming every five minutes right from the get-go. But despite the frequency they were very manageable, so we waited all evening with baited breath for them to increase in intensity. Unfortunately the night passed by and Saturday morning found me wondering whether this was really it or not. As the morning progressed contractions became irregular, some at 5 minutes, some at 8 or more - all completely manageable. So, M and I decided to take another walk followed by a nap. (See a pattern here? :-) ).

Saturday evening one of M's friends came over and we all played a game. Still irregular, my contractions suddenly started getting a bit more intense around 8:30pm. They continued to get stronger, but failed to become consistent. 5 min... 7 min... 3 min...

By 1am I was starting to get thoroughly discouraged. Anyone who knows me knows I hate being up all night, and although my contractions were very strong, they were still all over the map. My OB's words echoed through my head all night long... "call me only when your contractions are 5 minutes apart for one hour and you can't talk through them." I certainly couldn't talk through them, but they certainly weren't consistently 5 minutes apart. We kept waiting anxiously for them to become more regular. Boy, were we in for a surprise.

Around 6:30am the contractions made a drastic change. They started coming every 2-3 minutes apart and were so severe that I was getting sick with each one. At my wits end, I told my mom to call the doctor. Unfortunately my OB was at Disney World for the Easter weekend so I spoke with her replacement who told me I was welcome to come to the Birthing Inn to get checked, but they would likely send me back home. What a great thing to say to a weary laboring woman.

M and my Mom packed up the car and ate a quick breakfast. An hour later, we were on our way. I don't remember much about the trip other than my constant worry about how I was going to walk from the backseat of the car into the hospital. My contractions were so intense I didn't even realize I was pushing through them... until my Mom started hollering at me to stop pushing and start breathing. I think that was the first time in years I ever blatantly disobeyed her. ;-)

Somehow I made it into the Birthing Inn where a nurse ushered us into an observation room. While changing into a gown, my water broke... and I was thrilled. I knew now they wouldn't send me home. :-) The doctor came in shortly thereafter to discover me on all fours on the bed. Moments later, she announced that I was actually at 10 cm and the baby was already +2! I was so relieved. Nurses immediately came from all directions, shooing M and my mom aside so that they could wheel me down the hall into a labor room. It all happened so fast. In retrospect, it reminded me of something out of an ER episode. Drama, drama, drama. Thirty-five minutes of pushing later, our little girl was born.

While it certainly was no easy task, its amazing to all of us that labor, including transition, ended up being completely at home. I'm just glad I didn't have the baby in the car. :-) M and my Mom were fantastic coaches and I couldn't have pursued a natural, unmedicated birth without them. However, if there ever is a future baby expected I think we'll be a little wiser in our timing in heading to the hospital. But for this experience, ignorance was bliss. I guess. :-)

Pictures!

Thanks for your patience in waiting for the baby pics. I have loaded them onto facebook, and you can access them here. I hope to upload them to blogger soon.

Enjoy!

The Blossom Has Bloomed

~ Spring has come to our home ~

Morenna Sakura Marie

March 23, 2008

Easter Morning, 9:51am

6 lbs; 12 ozs

18 inches

More details to come...

The Long and Short of It...

Today marks the two-week point in the countdown to my due date.

And the long and short of it is:

My bags are packed.
The nursery is ready.
My resignation paperwork is complete.
Matt's bag of snacks is waiting by the door. (Like a true man he insisted I buy beef jerky for his snack. I think he thinks a stay at the hospital is comparable to roughing it).
The carseat is clean and installed.
My mom is packed and ready for departure.
There is food in the house.
There are clear liquids in the house.
My big purple ball is fully inflated.

But on the flip side:

I'm soooo tired.
I'm fighting a cold.
I feel miserable.
I can't sleep.
I'm getting impatient.
I'm suddenly emotional! (A phenomenon that has been MIA for the past nine months.)
I'm a grouch.

In medical terms:

I'm ready to have a baby. Let's get this show on the road!

The pregnancy diet...

As my sweet husband said to me: "You have arrived, my dear wife". What he meant was that I have pulled up a kingly chair at the pregnancy table.

Since M was at law school tonight, I was pretty much on my own for dinner... and so I ate what sounded good, not what was healthy. In retrospect, I binged. This was the menu:

• Hostess chocolate mini-doughnuts
• Pickles
• Strawberries
• Eggo waffles... and
• two glasses of milk

Yes, I ate all of this at the same time. Yes, it was delicious. Yes, I'm pregnant. Yes, I'm a little embarrassed as I realize I'm confessing it to the world.

Lord of War

"There are over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation. That's one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. The only question is: How do we arm the other 11?"

~Yuri Orlov, Lord of War (2005)

At the risk of being a link-dump...

I have to say this blog that a friend at work called my attention to is really funny, although very shallow. A genuine jab at pale Americans. The post on moving to Canada is probably my favorite... right up there with #55 on apologies.

Note: Not personally responsible for any questionable blog content. I didn't read ALL the entries.

The One Month Countdown

My pregnancy road is rapidly nearing the end. Today marked the beginning of my last month... should Morenna come neither early nor late, but on her due date. Highly unlikely. :-)

But with this one month countdown comes the urgent reminder of all that I have left to do to get ready. Here's the list as it currently stands:

• Pick a pediatrician
  
• Wash all the new baby clothes
• Finish decorating the nursery - low priority (pictures in the post below, if you haven't seen them)
• Write thank-you notes for all the sweet baby items
• Pack the diaper bag
• Stock the changing table (diapers - check; soap - check; need: wipes, etc.)
  
• Pack my hospital bag
• Complete the childbirth education class
• Freeze up some meals
  
• Train my replacement at work and submit employment paperwork
• Sleep, sleep, sleep!!!

Will all these things get done? Probably not. But I sure am gonna try... especially with the last one. :-)

La De Da

I know it's been a little while since my last post. Sorry 'bout that. Last weekend my parents came to visit and bring over the baby furniture that M and I had received as Christmas gifts. Although my poor Dad was recovering from the flu, they all made it over in one piece... dog included. :-)

While M and my Dad put all the furniture together, Mom and I headed over to a friend's for a lovely baby shower brunch. It was so nice to get to celebrate the coming of Morenna with so many good friends (including many old roommates) and my Mom.


Here's a showing of the ex-roomies who were able to come. It says a lot that they are all still my friends. :-) More pictures from the shower can be seen here.

After the shower (which carried on for almost 4 hours as we were having so much fun!) my Mom and I trekked home to check up on the boy's improvements to the baby nursery. We were not disappointed. And after just a few minor tweaks and decorating additions, we had ourselves a nursery. The video below provides the best view of the nursery, but I've also included some pictures (you can click on the slideshow to view the pictures individually).








So after the busy weekend, M and I spent President's day quietly at home together. This weekend was rather quiet as well. Friday showed every possibility of being a snow day... but alas, the bad weather was skittish. To boost my spirits, though, M treated me to a wonderful steak dinner. *sigh* My husband is so sweet to me. On Saturday we spent some much needed time with friends, tidied up the house, and got the rest of the nursery in order. Sunday we relaxed... and watched our childbirth education videos. Ack! No further comment.

Meme's Galore

So I was tagged by a friend to participate in this latest meme. But before I do I must discuss the some sentiment on the practice of memes.

It's been my experience that most bloggers tend to fall into one of three major categories concerning memes:

1. Those who appreciate them about as much as they appreciate the senseless chain emails that float about in their inboxes. You know, the ones with the sob stories that demand you forward the email to ten of your friends or else half of the children in Africa will die and God will stop loving you.

2. Those who neither like nor dislike them. If a friend tags them, they are more than happy to participate, but they don't often initiate them.

3. Those who think they're a world of social networking fun and would be happy to participate in one daily. Not to mention they like the word itself. Meme.

That said, it's safe to announce I'm in the second school of thought. But I hesitate to tag others for fear that they might be in the first school and terminate our friendship. :-) Therefore, I'm going to do something a teensy bit different with this meme. No one will be tagged at the end, but if you read this post, haven't participated in this meme before, and belong to the first or second school of thought... then please personally respond to the questions in the comment section of this post. I'm thinking specifically of Sandy S., Brittany/Alecia A., Cami, Aunt P., etc. You guys don't have blogs, but I know you read mine... so make yourself known. ;-)


And the rules are...

1.) Show some cyber-love to the person who tagged you. -- Well, I've never shown anyone cyber-love. That sounds rather sketchy. But here's to my friend, SEM, who has the most darling little girl and is a fantastic, well-rounded Mom to boot!

2.) Post the 5 Meme Commandments on your blog so no one cheats. -- You're reading them.

3.)Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself without grossing anyone out. Below.

4.) Tag 6 random people at the end. -- Change of plans, as mentioned above. So I guess that means I'm cheating... but it's all in good fun. :-)

5.) Let the lucky winners know by commenting on their blog. -- What if they don't have blogs? ;-) Who wrote these rules, anyway?!

And now for the the real reason you've kept on reading:

1.) Last year I posted seven random facts about myself (my meme of 2007 :-) and I grossed a couple people out with #1 and #7... so I guess I can't restate that one here or else I would be breaking rule number 3. :-)

2.) When I'm trying to wake up in the morning I usually hum random made-up melodies with my head buried in my pillow until I'm more awake. My husband thinks it's cute.

3.) Through my entire pregnancy I've had a STRONG aversion to chicken and a craving for Pop-Tarts and Toaster Strudels.

4.) On Christmas Eve I still leave out milk and cookies for my :cough: Dad and insist that the Christmas Tree stay lit throughout the night. It's been that way since I was a little girl.

5.) When I was younger I used to wake up in the middle of the night and be terrified that I was the only one in the whole world who was awake. (Excuse: we lived in the country so it was pretty darn quiet at night.)

6.) I drew the cover illustrations for the book, "The Penguins of Penguin Town", for a local library contest when I was nine. Seven years later the librarian who organized the contest discovered the book when the library was getting ready to dispose of it and saved it for me. It now will be part of Morenna's new little library.

Browsing the Shelves

At the risk of being overly random, I thought I might mention the two books I'm currently wading through:

Whitewash by Brent Bozell


The Faith by Charles Colson (No, I'm not kissing up. Chuck gave me a signed copy so of course I have to read it in case he stops by my desk to ask me how I like it... which he will. I'm not complaining, though. It's been a great book so far.)

A Bummer of a Weekend

It's been a bummer of a weekend. My cold turned overnight into a full-blown sinus infection, which led us to cancel our trip to Ohio. The baby shower didn't happen... or rather, it did happen, just without me. :-) My family was so sweet to have the shower even though I wasn't there, and they called me on the phone while they played games and celebrated and took lots of pictures. The cake looked absolutely adorable and covered in cherry blossoms. It all made me feel so loved.

My hubby took time off work to get me feeling better, too. It's been such a blessing to have him home. Plus the Giants won the Superbowl, so I guess this bummer-of-a-weekend still has some good points.

Now I'm hoping I can get back on my feet after spending 5 days in bed! It's no fun being sick but it's so nice to be waited on hand and foot. :-)

Be still.

This past weekend my maid-of-honor and I threw a baby shower for an old roommate, RKO (far right). It was so much fun! Oddly enough, 4 of us in attendance were pregnant (the two of us in the middle share the same due date). Needless to say, hormones ran high and there was much more "ooo-ing" and "awww-ing" than normal. Ha ha. Pregnant women can be so silly.

At any rate, we are all looking forward to celebrating the birth of RKO's first baby! :-)

Today, however, has found me in bed. :-/ Somewhere I picked up a really bad chest cold. Boo. I'm hoping it will be better before M and I leave for the Buckeye State (and our first baby shower) on Friday! I can't wait to see my Mommy and Daddy!

Forgetfulness

It's certainly not my intention to post only about pregnancy or baby-related items. But what's a girl to do when most of the obscure blogworthy things that take place in her day-to-day life seem to somehow be connected to one of those two topics?

It's only fair that I share about the forgetfulness that has become a common theme in life. (Read: Baby-Brain). It is most definitely a real problem. Take today, for example: as a co-host of a baby shower, I kindly pointed my guests in the direction of the coffee pot and encouraged them to have a cup with their dessert. Several minutes later, one concerned guest brought her cup of murky, but fairly clear, water to me for review. It certainly wasn't coffee. No, the coffee grinds were still sitting in the grinder, next to the coffee pot. What we had was one big pot of hot, light tan, water. Brilliant.

And if that wasn't bad enough, several weeks ago I calmly asked a friend if I knew any of his family members. After staring at me a good long while (I'm sure he thought I was joking), he politely replied, "Yes, you actually were my brother's debate partner for a semester." Oh. my. gosh.

Add to that the numerous times I forget to turn the lights out when I leave a room, or the frequent times I find myself in the basement and can't remember what I went down there for. If this keeps up I hope I don't start forgetting important things like, oh, where I put the baby.

On Hiccups and Slowness

The snow is slowly melting... and the nursery is slowly coming together. My wedding "thank-you" list is slowly nearing completion and every morning finds me sloooowly getting out of bed. I certainly welcome the slow pace these days, and find that I'm much less forgetful if I am slow to move from one task to the other.

Morenna, on the other hand, is anything but slow. Within the last month she has developed a habit of having the hiccups at least once a day. This has been a really unique experience for me. I knew to expect them at some point or another, but this every day stuff is getting a bit much. :-) If I sound like I'm complaining, I am... sort of.

At a recent Drs. visit Morenna was identified as being head down and ready to go. Every mother's dream, right? It's true I'm happy about that fact (although we still have 9 more weeks to go). But every time Morenna has the hiccups, she head-butts my bladder (more than you wanted to know, right?). The scene typically looks like this:

hiccup... bladder spasm... 3 seconds of peace...

hiccup... bladder spasm... Mom wonders if she should visit the restroom... Mom dismisses that thought... 3 seconds of peace...

hiccup... spasm... Mom stands up... Mom sits down... 3 seconds of peace...

hiccup... Mom dashes to the bathroom...

baby's hiccups stop.

Cute, Morenna. I guess that's one way to get me to do a little workout.

Snow Dayz

Today brought an unexpected snow day to our little Virginia home. One thing that is unique about this area is that winter snows most often blow through only once or twice a season, but when they do they leave behind a lot of snow. Today was no exception. Currently 5 inches and counting.

I worked from home part of the day, taking a quick break in the morning only to head out to the store for milk and the chance to have fun doing doughnuts. (Hey, an Ohio girl HAS to practice her ninja snow-driving skills AT LEAST once a season.) The snow is so beautiful and even now is falling in lazy soft-white clumps. To set the mood, I placed cinnamon-apple candles throughout the house and have a batch of banana bread baking in the oven. Mmmm. I love snow days.





In other news, M & I purchased a new piece of furniture for our kitchen. The new buffet fits perfectly in an otherwise wasted corner of our kitchen/dining room. Thankfully it came with lots of storage space, too... so I've been able to unclutter my kitchen cabinets and discover things that I didn't even know I had. :-) Moving the coffee pot has also freed up space on my counters, making me a much happier home-maker. I heart iKEA.

News in our House

Well, things here on the East Coast have been nothing less but hectic over the last month. As we moved past Thanksgiving and ushered in the Christmas season, our little household hit some rough times.

M's work contract at the Pentagon kicked into high gear the beginning of December, requiring him to work 15 hour days, including weekends. At the same time, my father-in-law came for a long-awaited visit. Needless to say, my father-in-law and I had a nice loooong visit together... absent my husband. Very interesting. Then Matt's old college roommate came to visit us with his 2 year old son. Again, Matt got to spent very little time with him. Major bummer.

For Christmas we were grateful to head to Ohio for a visit with my family and a chance to pull Matt away from work. The visit was nice, but very busy. Unfortunately I came down with a really bad cold on Christmas day and spent some of the day in bed. :-P

After a quick two-day time back in VA we were happy to fly out to California to spend New Years with M's family. This was a much needed visit, since we hadn't seen some of his family since the wedding in March, and others since last new year. We squeezed a lot of visiting in with the time we had, which unfortunately left us rather drained. New Years we spent in Fresno with my mother-in-law's family eating home-cooked crab, watching Ratattoui and playing Mexican Train. It was lovely.

In other news, here is my most recent "belly" pic:

Pregnancy has certainly not been a breeze, but it's fun to look back and see how far we've come. My second trimester has now come and gone and I must say it was certainly more enjoyable than the first. The aches and pains are there at times, but M has been so supportive and any bad times quickly pass.

Our baby girl is growing like a weed and we are getting so excited to welcome her into our little family. Last week I got to have a second ultrasound, since the technician apparently made some mistakes with the first. This second "viewing" of our little cherry blossom was so much more fun than the first. She was quite animated, yawning all over the place and smiling. I think my favorite part was getting a picture of the little foot that has been vainly attempting to push itself through my side. :-) You can see the picture of it, below.



Morenna weighed in at approx. 2 lbs and 9 oz and was about 14 inches long. Whew. I sure hope she finds the room she needs in there over the next 2-3 months, because I honestly don't know how she's going to fit. :-)

So anyway, that's the news from our little neck of the woods. I'm looking forward to posting more this new year and keeping everyone up-to-date on our lives.

Kung Fu Elections

Tired of all the political banter? Ready to witness the true strength of today's Presidential candidates? Spend your evening duking it out to the death... be on your guard against Hilary's special powers. ;-)

A New Year

Well, here it is 2008 and I haven't blogged in more than a month! So on that note, you might appreciate seeing my New Year resolutions...

• Blog more often. :-)
  
• Survive until 2009.
• Manage a more efficient social calendar.
• Get a tetanus shot.

Fulfillment of #1 to come soon with details of all the holiday happenings.

A quote to ponder

"Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt."

- Herbert Hoover