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.

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.

Confirmation of life

Those first few months of pregnancy are rough, when you are sick and feel bloated, but haven't heard a heartbeat or felt the baby move yet. There's just no confirmation you feel like ass for a reason. These months have been dragging on since I've been feeling so badly, more than any of my pregnancies before. I was pretty nervous going into our ultrasound last week, just hoping to see a healthy fetus. I knew being sick was probably a good sign, but there's nothing like seeing your baby flip you off to know things are going well.

All's well with this one (nicknamed P3). At 12 weeks exactly, we went in for an Ultrascreen (combination ultrasound and blood test that looks for Down's Syndrome and Trisomy 13 and 18). We hadn't heard the heartbeat yet, so this was our first glimpse of life. And that little bugger was wiggling! Everything looked really healthy. The baby had a great heartbeat and was extremely active. We got to watch some hiccups for a while. And our test results were fabulous too - chance of Down's or Tri 13/18 is less than 1 in 8000 and 1 in 10000, respectively. And best of all, baby was measuring perfectly. I love to see that when it happens, because I always set my due dates according to my ovulation date. My ovulation date is the most accurate, and I know this (and my midwife trusts this). Had we used my date of last menstural period, my due date would be nearly a week off. So hooray for knowing your body!

Happy Birthday Ava!

My oldest turned 3 years old today. I can't believe she's soooo grown-up. Pics soon perhaps, if our computer doesn't go up in smoke.

Recent kid pics

Pushing pedals

We took our inaugural bike ride around town this morning. We've had our Burley for over a year, and my bike is brand new but has collected dust for a year. We got both while I was immensely pregnant, and the Burley isn't fit for infants, so we knew it would be a while before we hit the streets. But we made it out today and it was great! Both kids loved it and wore their helmets without a peep. We cruised the neighborhood in search of "For Sale" signs...yep, we're kinda sorta house-hunting.

Updates

I haven't posted in a while. I know. I think my blog is going to suffer a little in the coming months as I near the end of my school career. My stress and anxiety are just overwhelming sometimes, and it leaves me wanting to lurk more than post on the internet. So I will try to speak up when I can, but know that if I'm MIA, its cause I'm buuuuuuuuusy.

So updates...

Last weekend I attended Neonatal Resuscitation Program with Karen Strange, and it was an AMAZING class. We learned far more than just resuscitation of newborns. We learned about newborn physiology and some techniques to encourage a peaceful transition from intrauterine to extrauterine life. And, I got to meet Sage Femme, someone I've admired for a while and hope to interact with more frequently.

Alder is coming up on 9 months now. He still isn't crawling, and has no teeth. He's been on the verge of crawling for about 2 months, so I'm starting to wonder if he'll skip crawling all together. He's doing okay with standing if propped up in that position.

The life-after-school question is still up in the air. A big job came up but I've decided to pass because it is: 1) in Eugene, 2) full-time, and 3) research focused, and I want none of these things. My advisor has remained noncommital about whether I can work for him after graduation, so I'm starting to assume that means no. He's sending some hints that it is no, though I think if he really KNEW it was no, he'd just tell me no. Anyway, I'm definitely not counting on that. Right now I'm excited about developing my doula and childbirth education business, and possibly getting the opportunity to do some assisting at homebirths in the near future (Pssst...any area MWs reading this...I'm available!).

School is coming along, but pissing me off too. I'm still revising my final chapter, and time just keeps passing. My advisor is being tough on some of the revisions, so we aren't setting a defense date yet. Now it looks like I may stray into spring term. If so, at least my advisor has offered to pay me (a teeny, tiny amount) for spring term too. But dammit, I gotta finish!!

What else...

We got a new tv today. (grin) Finally...my piece o' junk tv can be retired, in favor of the nice, new, CLEAR imagine of our LCD flatscreen. As a LOST junkie, I can't wait to see my favorite characters on the big screen.

I've been doing a draft of our taxes, and it looks like we're going to get quite a little refund this year. Thank goodness...cause we're shopping for a minivan this summer and need more for that downpayment.

Not much else really. Just busy...and stressed.

Mama!

Alder's first word: Mama. He's not even 8 months old, but it is crystal clear that he is trying to talk to me. It sounds more like mamamamammaamammama, but he ONLY does it when he WANTS me and it is really obvious he's trying to get me to come pick him up. If Keith picks him up instead, he continues to say mamamamama. I just love it. Ava wasn't identifyably saying mama until like 12-14 months, so this just really speaks to my heart.

Yep, Alder is a mama's boy.

"I don't want to!"

This is how my 2.5-year old says NO. We rarely ever hear the word NO around here. Is that weird? A toddler-near-preschooler who doesn't say NO? "I don't want to!" I absolutely love the way she says this. It sounds so polite, so mature (at least compared to screaming NO!). Ask her if she wants toast for dinner and she says, "I don't want to." I have no clue how we grew a child who doesn't say NO, but I love it and hope Alder follows in her footsteps.

Toddler cuteness

Despite the raging illnesses in our house, I've have seen glimpses of some darn cute kids lately. Ava is definitely in that phase where you wish you had a tape recorder going at all times. The things that come out of her mouth are sometimes hysterical, and sometimes amazing.

While at the doctor's office a few days ago, the doc came in and chose to start examining Alder first (both kids were sick and going to get checked out). So Keith started taking off Alder's clothes and the doc came over to take his temperature and Ava got REALLY upset...muttering that the "doctor is going to poke Alder". Poor kid has some obvious associations with the doctor and getting injections now. Anyway, it was both sad because she was so upset, but also endearing that she showed such strong concern for her little brother. (and no, Alder didn't get "poked" at this visit)

Today while playing on the floor with some blocks, I overheard Ava saying, "No Ant! You are supposed to be outside. You are not supposed to be inside. You better go outside!". Then she came and got me to help her take the ant outside. It struck me as amusing that she spoke to the ant so directly, as if she expected it to speak back. But I guess all her books and the few videos we let her watch do involve talking animals and bugs, so why wouldn't this ant talk back? Luckily she wasn't too attached to the ant, because I promptly squashed it.

Overall I'm really loving these stages with my kids. They are both just so fabulous. Next big challenges will probably be night potty training and FINALLY taking the pacifier away from Ava (still used at night only), and crawling for Alder and all the new challenges of babyproofing with tiny toddler toys around all the time.

Ick confirmation

Sometimes you just don't want to be right. I guess this is a lesson for me though - I should trust my instincts with my kids and illnesses, because I've been spot-on just about everytime.

Ava has croup. She's actually been much better today, but still has a touch-and-go fever and gives a good example of the cough on occasion. I expect tonight to be torture again. Because last night was the first night (so we caught it early) and croup usually peaks on night 3 or 4, we are opting to start the low-dose steriods tonight in the hopes it won't get much worse. Oh, and she's got the start of an ear infection too, but we're gonna let that run its course. Thank goodness at least her lungs were clear.

Alder has a ruptured eardrum on the left side. I was pretty sure he had an ear infection over the last week, and yesterday I saw the crusty drainage coming out of his ear. He still has the fever though, so we know the infection is still raging. We're gonna start antiobiotics since it has literally been weeks we've been battling this stuff. This will be the first antibiotics we've ever given to either kid.

Please send healthy vibes over to our corner of the world. I'm tired of this crap.

The sickness never ends

I guess it is the season, but man, this season is off to a rough start. Both kids have been sick for pretty much the entire month of December. There have been a few (maybe 3?) days of relative health, but other than that, there have been fevers, coughs, sneezes, and snot everywhere. I can't think of when they DIDN'T have a fever right now. It has been a week at least I think? Now it looks like Alder has at least one if not two ear infections, and Ava appears to have croup. Last night was TERRIBLE. We're headed to see the doctor at 1:30. Hopefully they can at least pass me some wisdom on how to juggle 2 sick kids.

Sick babies

We are weathering our first double-kid cold in the house. This is actually Alder's very first bug - not too bad making it all the way to 6.5 months! Anyway, it has proven to be fairly mild for both of them. There were slight fevers (under 100) and lots of snot, but it kept flowing so no bulb suctioning was necessary. Yesterday was the worst day. Today is looking slightly better. They both even slept okay. I kinda like this...a nice, gentle warm-up to what I'm sure (with the addition of daycare starting Thursday) will be a killer cold season.

She has discovered the TV

Ava has finally discovered what a TV does. She is sitting beside me right now, glued to Alice's future as she wanders through Wonderland. I can't believe I managed to have a kid who at nearly 28 months, only JUST decided she enjoys watching TV. Now when she was younger, we kept her away from the TV. I didn't buy into the Baby Einstein craze. She watched maybe 15 minutes of TV her entire first 18 months. But at some point I sorta started hoping she would take an interest. Not that I want a TV hog, but there are occasions that you just want to be able to plop the kid down in a safe place and now they are happy and entertained. So here we are, finally. So far the daily limit (no more than 1 hour average per day) isn't causing any tantrums. She has asked for "Alice and Underland" each morning lately, but on the days that isn't an option she seems okay with it. I know my mother-in-law has introduced a 30-minute ABC Winnie the Pooh video to her that she enjoys. And we've watched Finding Nemo once or twice. But so far, that is it. Thank goodness she doesn't know we have like 5 cartoon-only channels available on cable. I'm sure that day will come soon enough...

6 months!!

It was 6 months ago at this very minute that I was holding a newborn Alder. Just minutes old even! I can't believe how the time flies. Now he smiles and laughs, he talks his special language, he is nearly up on all fours and is trying to crawl, and he is almost sitting. AND he sleps through the night almost all the time.

We are really starting to see more of his personality now. We are seeing that he is more attached to me than Ava was at this age. He's very laid back and happy almost all the time. He loves his bananas, pears, and carrots, but is not nearly as fond of the sweet potatoes. His hair is starting to fill in and it appears to be light - maybe blond or strawberry blond, but possibly a very light brown too. There are quite a lot of red hhighilghts in his hair too. His eyes seem to be headed in the direction of hazel.

Alder's 6 month check-up was yesterday too, and he looked great! He weighs 15 lbs 14 oz (~15th %-ile), is 26.25 inches tall (~35th %-ile), and has a 17.5 in head (~65th %-ile)! He sure doesn't look skinny with his chubby cheeks, double chin, and rolly thighs.

Anyway, happy 6 months Alder!

Another nose bash

This time it wasn't mine though. Ava was running around at a friend's house this afternoon and she tripped over my foot. She fell, nose first, into the edge of the brick fireplace. Oh god...it was the most intense mommy moment I've had so far. I was SURE she broke her nose. I thought we were gonna be in the hospital. I don't know how, but she seems to be okay. She did scream for quite a while, but she let me gently prod around her face and nothing seems amiss. Wow. And no, she didn't get cut. Thanksfully the corner of the fireplace is rounded and the brick is smooth. So we got away with just a few drops of blood coming out of her nose.

I knew I hated those fireplaces.

Mega update

I've lost all sense of time. Seriously, minutes pass in seconds, days pass in minutes, and weeks pass in the blink of an eye. I remember as a kid when life passed at the slowest snail's pace, but now it is more like a rocketship. Somebody put on the brakes, will ya?

Life in our household has been continuing full-steam ahead. Nothing major has happened in the last week, except for the most minor case of the sniffles in both kids. My computer at school (where I have the most uninterrupted time to blog) doesn't like Blogger, so I've been unable to post from there and frankly, posting time at home is almost non-existent lately.

So the VBAC birth that was going on last week obviously ended. I was not called to stay the primary doula. Baby was born later that night via emergency cesarean, after a transfer from the birthing center for what the doula described as "scary" decelerations. While at the hospital, the mom was able to continue laboring all the way to 8 cm (that is 7 cm further than she got last time), but then FHT took such a serious dive a cesarean was performed immediately. Turns out there was a serious cord entanglement going on, and baby wasn't coming out without bringing the placenta with it. Healthy boy, 9.5 lbs. Mom is really happy she got to experience so much labor.

In other news, daycare woes continue. Ava is now registered for 3 afternoons a week starting after Thanksgiving, but that is not a convenient schedule for us at all. With some luck, all the right changes will take place in the next 6 weeks, and we'll get both kids in there for 2 full days/week by January 1. Cross your fingers for us. We're still on the waiting list for the campus daycare center, but it looks like that will be July before space is available.

We've been getting our wills and advanced directives together around here. We already had a will, but seeing my aunt's death and the aftermath associated with her will and assets, I've realized how important it is to have everything meticulously prepared. I've been learning about trusts. There are just so many ways to take care of your loved ones after you die. Confusing stuff. Not like we have much to leave em (and not like we plan on dieing for 50 years), but I wanna make sure they get every penny!

Potty training! I think we are officially potty-trained here. Accidents are extremely rare now and almost predictable because of the circumstances. We still haven't tackled nap or night training because Ava has no access to the potty during those times, but it is coming soon.

Night weaning! Alder has night-weaned himself. This has been going on for about 2 weeks. I can't believe it. Last night he slept for 10.5 hours STRAIGHT. And he's not even 6 months. I'm so thankful we've gotten here with absolutely no urging on our part. Franny, I hope your next one takes a cue from Alder. Granted, things were still very rough 2 months ago, but to completely sleep through the night ON HIS OWN at less than 6 months...that is just worth almost anything.

Not much else going on. Keith and I are dreaming of our new minivan that we hope to get next summer.

Oh, and 2 days ago I finished writing the final manuscript of my dissertation. It needs major editing, and I still have to write a brief introduction and brief conclusion to the whole dissertation, but that should only take a couple of days. I can't believe I'm almost there. Hopeful defense date in late January.

And one more thing! I'm on the verge of signing up for my first class towards the long path to midwifery. I'm thinking this will be a one or two classes at a time, maybe a couple of times a year thing...so the entire curriculum will take probably 5+ years (I'm thinking of going for the AS degree which includes the CPM first, then possibly the MSM if I'm still into school and all). But that sounds about right to me. I have no apprenticeship lined up anyway. It takes time to figure those things out, and until I'm done with the PhD and have earned a little money, I can't even fathom an apprenticeship with no income.

Okay, that is all now.

Daycare woes

We're back on the hunt for daycare. Keith needs to go back to work full-time, and I need a little more time in my weeks to finish up school successfully, and to give myself just a few hours a week to exercise and stay healthy. Our favorite daycare is a 5 minute walk from our offices, and I get a discount as a student. But they don't have space now, and the waiting list is open-ended. Their best guess is there will be space by July, possibly sooner. The other daycare that gives me a student discount says they DEFINITELY won't have space until July. Greeeeeat. I didn't like them anyway. Luckily, the favorite daycare has two other sites in town, and one of them has space for Ava right now. Granted, it is only 3 afternoons a week, but it is a foot in the door. Once in the center, we get first priority to change schedules to something we like, and we get first priority to get Alder in as well. Too bad they are on the complete opposite end of town. But we like them, and our town is small, so we're gonna do it. So right after Thanksgiving, Ava will start 3 afternoons a week at daycare. It won't give me any additional time at school because I'll still have Alder at home, but it will be nice for her to interact with the kids and it will be a break for me and entertaining the increasingly-non-napping toddler. They said we should be able to switch to more convenient days within a month. And Alder should have a spot by mid-January. And thankfully, starting in January, I actually get paid again (a very, very small amount) to help pay for this daycare time.

Solid foods

Yep, that much time HAS passed. Alder is eating solids. We started him about a week ago...right about at 5.5 months. He's been exhibiting all the ready signs for 3-4 weeks anyway, and as much as I wanted to reach 6 months, it started to feel like we were just counting off days for no reason. So we have him a little sweet potato. He thought it was tolerable. He ate it fine - no tongue reflex. But he wasn't gobbling it down like our sweet potato monster Ava. So then we tried banana. That was a hit. And now he's onto carrot, which seems destined to be another favorite. We got our first solid food poop too, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. I guess when you are on a diet of 98% breastmilk, your poop still comes out mostly smelling like breastmilk.

Anyway, my little guy is growing up. He's nearly on his hands and knees now, and he can spin and roll around with ease. And maybe it is my imagination, but I hear a distinct "Mama" when he is upset and wants me to pick him up.

Low lead levels

Ava's lead levels are "very low" and nothing to be concerned about. Whew. Glad we didn't have to get her poked again.