She is here

Whew. The baby finally came out. :) I was actually starting to wonder, being 5 days overdue and a full 3 weeks later than my last kid.

My daughter was born on Tuesday, February 17th at 7:45 am after 5 easy hours of labor. She weighed 8 lbs 14 oz and was 20.25 inches long, and had a 13.75 inch head and 14 inch chest (big!). She's got 10 fingers and 10 toes and is absolutely perfect. The birth was wonderful. I really couldn't have asked for better. Despite being by far my largest baby, I didn't tear (!!!) and felt in complete control pretty much the entire time. Keith was able to catch his daughter, and I reached down and grabbed her as she completely emerged. It was awesome.

Now, at 5 days old, we are dealing with weight loss, jaundice, and a lack of pooping. This is something I've seen before and is very frustrating. We have a midwife visit later today so we'll see how it is going. Otherwise, things are going quite well. The older kids absolutely ADORE her. My body is healing very quickly, thanks to the easy birth. She's even sleeping a fair amount (though that might be because of the jaundice). If we could just get the milk flowing and get her weight up.

Officially Overdue

I can't believe it. My due date was yesterday. I'm still pregnant.

Granted, this is normal for most women. The average pregnancy is longer than 40 weeks. But MY pregnancies have all been weeks shorter. I've always known it was possible I could go longer, but considering my other two kids were 12 and 16 days early and were healthy and of good size (7,4 and 8,6), I really didn't think this pregnancy would go so much longer.

So here I am, weeks more pregnant than I've ever been, measuring much larger than I've ever been, wondering when this kid is coming out. I wonder what will be different since this baby has cooked so much longer. Will I notice less vernix and lanugo? My other kids were covered in it. My son had a pretty good case of jaundice too. Could we avoid that this time? Will this baby be more awake and alert because of the extra weeks? I hope so. Could breastfeeding be easier? That would be so cool. And of course, I AM wondering how much BIGGER this kid is going to be. Still curious whether it is a boy or girl too.

Today is Friday the 13th. I don't really have a problem if baby chooses to come today, though I think Keith is a little freaked by it. The kids both have colds right now and I'm getting one too. And I've got a new cold sore brewing. But I don't really want to wait until we are all healthy for this baby to come out. That might not happen until May.

So baby, please please please come out!

Who isn't ready?

We've only had 18 months of warning. And free assistance. And reminders everytime you turn on your tv. So who the f*@! isn't ready for digital cable? Are you freaking kidding me? Postpone it by 4 months, postpone it by a year. It won't matter. If you aren't ready by now, you probably never will be and there is only one person who can fix that.

Is this what it feels like to be overdue?

I'm not overdue. In fact, I'm only 38 weeks 3 days pregnant. But this is now my longest pregnancy. My daughter would have been born yesterday, and my son 5 days ago. So it kinda feels late to me. With all the prelabor activity starting at 34 weeks, and the several false starts I've already had, I really thought I'd be holding my baby by now. I guess this is what they mean by "the third baby throws you for a loop!" My midwife laughed and admitted she was waiting for me to go 2 weeks overdue, though she also said she didn't think I actually would. God, I hope she's right. No way I can imagine this pregnancy being a MONTH longer than my other two, not to mention that my son was nearly 8.5 lbs at 37.5 weeks...so an extra month could mean a rather large baby!

I'm hoping this extra time means no jaundice or breastfeeding problems this time. And it would be cool if the prelabor lead to an extremely short and easy labor. Wishful thinking? Probably. But I've got a lot of time for thinking right now, and I'm choosing to think about that. :)

Ouch

I think I may have a broken rib. I can't believe this little critter inside me could be so mean to his/her mama. I guess quarters are getting very tight in there. This pain has been present for 1-2 weeks, but it is just getting worse and worse. I still have a cough too, which makes it so much worse. Certain postures and a cough or sneeze just make it feel like a knife in my side. Guess there isn't much that can be done, except wait for relief from the pressure once the baby is out. Speaking of which...I started seeing some mucus last night, but it was only very minor. It could be anytime. If this baby picks a timeframe similar to when my other two arrived, he/she will be born between Tuesday and Saturday of next week. I'm nesting like crazy, and in 2 days I will be free of all commitments. I can't wait to meet this new person.

A New Day

I'm happier to be an American today than on any other day I can remember. I watched (on my big, crisp tv) the first African-American President take the oath to be Commander in Chief. I have so much hope for this change in our government, and for Obama's energy to stay the course. We have so much to do, but for the first time I feel like people are willing to work to make things better.

Wish I could have been there in person.

Where have I been?

Where on earth have I been? Wow. I can't believe my last update was in September. That is pretty sad. The truth is, life has just been very busy. I was forced to reduce computer time, and my blog is one of the things that had to take the back-burner. I'm not quite ready to say, "I'm back," but at least I'm here for today.

For the fall I was teaching two classes at the local university, and that kept me very very busy. I was also teaching childbirth classes (for which I have my certification exam TOMORROW), attending doula births, raising 2 kids, and of course, gestating a third. In mid-November I was in a car accident that tore things up a bit. I have "minor" injuries I guess, though it is now almost 2 months later and I'm still seeing the chiropractor, acupuncturist, and massage therapist. The accident was caused my an insurance-less fuck who plowed at 35 mph into a stopped car (and that stopped car then plowed into me). Three people, including myself, were taken to the hospital. I was sent straight to L&D because of frequent contractions (at 27 weeks), but things settled down with rest and hydration. And we had another ultrasound, but resisted finding out the gender again. The at-fault driver's car was totaled. My car wasn't too far from totaled. And come to find out he had no insurance, no driver's license, no car registration, AND he had 2 kids in the car who were not his kids and who were not in proper child restraints. How can people be so clueless?

Anyway, that accident has left me with even less time for blogging because of the HOURS of weekly appointments. Things are considerably better now. Then in December I got REALLY sick. It has been about 5 weeks now and I'm still sick. The holidays were non-existent because I could barely drag my ass out of bed. Finally now, things are starting to look up. I'm nearly 35 weeks pregnant - exactly 3 weeks away from when my son was born. The house is almost ready for baby. We even had a house cleaner come visit yesterday. I just bought a new nursing bra, which makes me sooo excited. And my birthday is in just a few days.

It is hard to imagine I'm going to have another newborn soon. My oldest is really excited about it. It has been a completely new journey to have her so aware of her new sibling this time. I'm very excited to meet this little person. I would sure like it if he/she would lay off my SI joints.