Saturday, January 25, 2014

Isn't She Lovely

So, our sweet, perfect, angelic, lovely daughter is here. Our daughter. We have a daughter. A little girl. I still can't believe it.

This is going to be a long story, mostly so that I can remember it, so if you just want pictures (which I totally understand because she's gorgeous) just scroll down.

My last doctors appointment was on Friday the 17th and I basically leveled with her about how done I was with being pregnant. She worked some special doctor magic and said that hopefully I'd go into labor within 24 hours, otherwise it'd be another week of waiting. All day I excitedly paced and cleaned and hoped and by the end of the day it was quite clear nothing was going to happen. I texted my friend Tierney, who had been waiting for the past month to come watch the kids at the big moment, not to worry because nothing's going on.


Skip forward to 3am. I was having contractions every five minutes, the big sign that you should head to the hospital. I was laying awake, Aiden for whatever reason, kept waking up with nightmares and had to be returned to bed, and Rory was awake playing in his crib for some unfathomable reason. In the midst of this strangely active night I finally turned to Sean and told him that I was in labor. He asked what I wanted to do and I said...nothing. I'll just lay here awake and...wait. Seemed like a good plan. And he somehow went back to sleep.

By 5am I was pretty certain I should go to the hospital but I really didn't want to bother anyone just in case it wasn't real labor. Yes, at 39 weeks with my third baby I should have known it was the real thing. I finally called and woke my mom up who told me to call the doctor but again, I figured I'd just wait until later so I didn't wake anyone up. I had this weird vision of calling my doctor and interrupting her Saturday morning pancake breakfast with her kids. Finally, at 9, I called and told her what was going on and she very firmly told me to GET TO THE HOSPITAL. So, we did, except we dithered around for another hour because we are crazy.

We got there at 10am and they assured me that yes I really was in labor.  I told them all I wanted to try going without pain medication. Sean begged me to reconsider and the doctor and nurse exchanged a "okay crazy lady" sort of look. The contractions had tailed off so my doctor decided to break my water, which I knew was a horrible terrible idea but went along with anyway. Within minutes my labor went from chugging along slowly to moving at a break neck pace. And I quickly changed my mind about that pain medication. I knew I could get through the contractions but there was no way I could push a baby out with this kind of pain.

The anesthesiologist showed up and it wasn't the usual guy. It was some lady who I'd never met, who kept stabbing me in the back which caused horrible muscle spasms, and then she'd scold me for moving. I was on the verge of telling her to just get the heck away because the pain was worse than the actual labor pain. Finally she finished and I waited for some relief.  I waited and waited and waited through the contractions before the doctor mentioned that it might just be too late in the game for it to kick in. At this point I started to panic.

Finally, I could tell it was go time. This stretch of half hour involved much yelling, mild hysteria on my part, annoyance and frustration on the doctors part and utter terror on Sean's part. It was like a classic Hollywood portrayal of labor with all the screaming and yelling and crying. And then she was here! And she was actually a girl! The most perfect, beautiful girl ever.

 
Audrey Juliet
January 18th, 2014 12:20pm
18 inches, 7 pounds 2 ounces

Sean and I have been at home snuggling our kids all week. The boys are both very much in love with her and I can already tell she'll have them both wrapped around her finger. Life with three has been absolutely wonderful.









Sunday, January 5, 2014

The Longest Christmas Break in the History of Christmas Breaks

This is the last day of Christmas break for Aiden. It has been a wonderful two weeks filled with lots of family time, pajamas, junk food and enough toys to swim in. We were really lucky that Sean had six whole days off, including Christmas Eve and Christmas and even New Years Eve.

We had a great Christmas, mostly because Sean was home to celebrate with us and I didn't run myself into the ground trying to make everything perfect, unlike this year's very exhausting Thanksgiving. This has actually been a really restful time, despite both kids being home and perpetually hopped up on sugar and new, fun, shiny toys. 

Sean and I even bought ourselves new, fun, shiny toys: Iphones. That's right, we've surrendered our ancient, no-texting, only-make-phone-calls cellphones and bit the bullet. I've been open to the idea for awhile but Sean has been firmly against it and in the end we never went for it because it seemed so....frivolous. Just so unnecessary.  Do I need to stream music and movies from a tiny hand held device? Do I need useful coupons to pop up on my phone when I enter a store? Do I need a nice lady named Siri who answers all my most pressing questions? No. I don't. BUT IT IS SO FANTASTIC. So, yeah, we were quick converts and frankly it's really nice to be able to text family or friends instead of trying to make a phone call over the sound of two very loud children. So unnecessary and so utterly fantastic.

After Christmas we had a rather epic snowstorm that left us with a foot or so of snow. Aiden was supposed to head back to school the Thursday after New Year but got both Thursday and Friday off from school. Thank goodness because going back for two measly days seemed really silly to me and frankly I just didn't want to get myself out of bed and make lunch and stand in the cold while he waited for the bus. Snow days are good for everyone over here. Except Sean, who will never have a snow day. Poor Sean. 

Finally, we (meaning me) are in the final (seriously, FINAL, the end is nigh, please) days of this pregnancy. I'm at the point of practically living at the doctor's office I have so many appointments and they've given me the not-useful-at-all discussion about how I could go into labor at any minute. Also, I may not go into labor for a couple of weeks. Either one. Constant vigilance! But try to relax. So, you know, not helpful at all. During the day every twinge and ache makes me hope that this could be it! Please let this be labor! At night however every twinge and ache throws me into a panic as I think about how unready we are. So not ready. I think it's pretty normal but my attitude amuses Sean who just hopes everything happens when he's home.

So tomorrow we're back to real life. Alarm clocks and non-pajama clothing and having to be places on time. These two weeks have been great but maybe getting back into the swing of things will encourage the last little Christmas present we're waiting on to finally get here.