Cold Spaghetti

Tiny baby feet – three days old today (May 12th!) 

First sponge bath with Granna, 3 days old! Your call: Is she smiling at Dad in the photo, or just passing gas?

Thanks, Gwen, for putting up such a cute announcement!

After a whirlwind Monday and Tuesday, Kate is here. I’ll post our birth story once I can get through writing it. It should be no surprise to anyone that, again, I managed to break all expectations and have drama in the experience. Maybe, someday, something I do will be “normal.” Until then, there will always be a story. The bottom line is that we (unknowingly) started with a dangerous, complicated situation and through good choices and instinct, turned it into a highly positive experience and outcome. (In contrast to Will’s birth, where we started with a healthy, normal situation and allowed poor policies and practices to speak against our instinct and turn a good situation into a fairly negative outcome.) We are happy, Kate is very healthy and nursing well. And she is beautiful!!



This is a test. The details of the birth will be here shortly!

THIS is what a woman carrying a term child looks like…My tummy, about 11 hours before Kate’s birth.

A pretty solid day of contractions, but nothing regular or intense enough to be making the cervical changes required for labor. (ie: never longer than 40 or so seconds for more than an hour.) I have to remind myself that there is no such thing as a useless contraction. Whatever is happening now means something that doesn’t have to happen when I actually do go into active labor.

My midwife called this afternoon and reminded me of what I already know and trust: the process is perfect. It IS a perfect process and one that does not require me or anyone else to do anything. My body is completely capable of figuring it out. My job is to give it the things it needs, rest and nutrition, to function.

Plan for the night and tomorrow: secure a copy of The DaVinci Code (I’ve not read it and decided that I’m in the mood for something engaging and mindless) and watch at least one more movie (limited to what I can find on my parents’ Comcast ‘On Demand’).

I ate Paul’s perfect egg and toast and that was enough to stop my tummy rumbling and I went to sleep. It was an up and down (ie: normal) sleep and I feel better rested, but still tired. At around 10:30, I woke up to really strong cramping and it took awhile to get out of bed. Once out, I took a shower, relaxed, and did a mini assessment of the situation: still contracting, somewhat regularly, but not necessarily hugely intense on a regular basis. I want to swim in the tub outside, but it’s rainy this morning and very humid. Instead, we went on a walk around the neighborhood — walking definitely works — and came back for bathroom and lunch. I think after lunch we’ll rest a little more and keep up the walking.

So far, I feel really good. For the most part, the contractions feel just like a muscle contraction, except over more surface area. When I feel rested, I like the sensation — it feels like a wonderful energy surge or power play (like a body builder flexing — I feel like a fighter!) When I’m tired or in a poor position, it is uncomfortable. I’m not really interested in talking anymore when I’m experiencing one, but I can walk through them and like the way it feels when I do — it sort of increases the intensity and feels good, like walking off a cramp when you’re running.

Few labors steadily progress and mine is definitely not a steady progression… it ebbs and flows and does not really have regularity (yet). I do really hope that this keeps up. I like the feeling that this could be the start of a Birthday!

Restless night… could no longer sleep after about 4am. I finally woke up Paul around 4:30. My contractions are roughly 30-40 seconds long and go about every 8 minutes or so. We tried to go back to sleep, but I really felt like eating (tummy wasn’t letting me rest) so Paul is making an egg and toast. It’s about quarter to 6 now. So maybe Kate will be a Sunday baby!

So, if you’re reading this Sunday morning/afternoon, say a prayer, light a candle, dance a gig, make a chant… whatever you can do to send positive thoughts our way!

I admitted this for the first time to Paul last night.

What is my deepest, most secret birth dream? To have a child born in the caul.

To Paul… and just Paul!

Today we are celebrating Paul’s Birthday only. Paul’s take: “I like this better than sharing a birthday. That means no sharing a birthday cake.”

Tomorrow is my “due date.” Kate has 19 days to get here — in other words, it’s T-minus 19 days and counting until she is retrieved surgically from my womb (42 weeks, 4 days). Next appointment is next Thursday (40 weeks, 5 days) and the following Wednesday(41 weeks, 4 days) is when monitoring would begin. If we don’t see her by next appointment, we’ll probably start stepping things up a bit (ie: stripping membranes) and I am *really* hoping she shows up before I resort to Castor Oil and Orange Juice (ick.)

Aside from all of that, everything is fine. I am anxious because I hate being on this clock to surgery (the woes of a VBAC birth) but in reality, there is nothing to be concerned about. I am having contractions off an on and feeling good. Send good, positive labor and birthing thoughts!!!

(Educational note: it is very normal to have periods of “practice” contractions that my last for several hours. Unfortunately, many anxious women rush to the hospital during them, get hooked up to a machine which (duh) sees a contraction, get admitted, and then when their labor slows and/or stops, are entered unnecessarily into a hundred unnecessary procedures to induce labor. When should you start thinking — note the use of the word “think” — about calling your provider to consider going to your birth location? When your contractions are a good 45-50 seconds long and you cannot walk or talk through them. THOSE are the contractions that change your cervix and signal labor. That is the point when we will be thinking about heading to Pensacola — an hour away.)