the birth story

Since so many have asked...here is the short version, without all the gory details...

I woke up at 3am Saturday to discover my husband laying awake.  He had been up for a couple hours just thinking about things. I went to the bathroom and thought just possibly I could be having a slow leak from my water breaking (but it could have been just wishful thinking as well). I told Rick he had better get to sleep, just in case we had a baby the next day (again, mostly wishful thinking). I also suddenly remembered that neither my phone nor our camera battery were charged. So I quick plugged those in and then tried to fall asleep.

Not sure if I ever did fall asleep, I started noticing some pressure in my back and lower. I attributed it to gas. :) An hour later, I noticed that this 'gas' was coming quite consistently (every 8 minutes) and lasting for just under a minute. It was then 6 and I thought I should probably wake my husband though he hadn't slept well. I wanted to take a shower before a day at the hospital, and I could already hear Micah making noise from his bedroom.

Within the next hour, I took a shower, we threw things in our hospital bag, started Micah on breakfast, ate a few things ourselves, and had our friend come over to watch Micah.  By 7 I was pushing Rick out the door...these 'gas pains' were coming much more often, though I had lost focus on timing them.

Rick didn't tell our taxi driver why were going to the hospital, so that he would drive normal. Thankfully, there was no traffic on an early Saturday morning and we got to the hospital within 10-15 minutes (or 3-4 contractions if you are counting). As Rick paid, he told the driver what was happening....he promptly got flustered and yelled "May it go well!"

A nurse asked if I wanted an epidural when I walked in, and I said an emphatic yes....but then I didn't see her again for a long time! I was already at 7-8cm when they first checked me. The fetal monitor was abandoned as it didn't fit in my comfort zone of 'natural labor' positions. The epidural came eventually, but it didn't have time to work. I felt the urge to push and noticed there was no one in the room except Rick and I. A nurse walked in and Rick yelled, "I see the head!" The nurse ran out and within a minute our room had 12 people in it.  When we had arrived at the hospital, another woman was walking in in front of us....and she had her baby just 10 minutes before mine..thus the lack of personnel when Lydia was ready to make her entrance. The doctors switched scrubs and within 3 contractions, out came our beautiful little girl.

I had debated for months about epidural vs. natural labor and I definitely got natural. It was the most awesome experience I have ever felt....incredibly painful, but incredibly amazing as well. All in under 4 hours. PTL!

weekend adventures

 In celebration of 39 weeks, we decided to take a loooooooooooong walk to the 'park by the sea'. Uphill, downhill, 2 hours of walking, swinging, and knee bends, and yet still no baby! Can you tell that Micah doesn't believe this method is going to work either?

 Well, I just had to put this one in. Micah becomes more fun with each day we know him. What a sweetie.

doctors, big brothers, and one week to go

After my 39 week check-up today, my doctor said, "Turkish delight!" "It is almost ready to come out".

Is he referring to our baby or a Thanksgiving turkey?

Yesterday, Micah pointed to the baby crib and then my belly. Yep, that's where your little sister is going to sleep!  Today, when I got home from the doctor's, he said, "Its inside" to which I responded, "Yes, the baby is still inside."

How do kids know this stuff?

things that make you go hmmm...

As I left the doctor's office yesterday, he said "I'll see you next week, unless you go into labor before that".

Right....so is that the phrase you always say at 38 weeks or did he notice something during my exam that would cause him to think that a distinct possibility?

Either way, it's time to sort baby clothes, think about a hospital bag, and find the pack-n-play!

to nest...to nest!

Nightmares & Dayfears

Pregnancy can make you a bit crazy at times.

My glasses broke 2 weeks ago - the frames just broke in 2. In our pursuit of a welder, we lost one lens, and thus began the search for affordable new glasses in a foreign country. I was hoping to use the old scotch-tape method until we got home this summer, but the loss of the second lens prohibited that dream. I was pretty relaxed about finding a new pair until I started imagining going into labor for 10 hours and then asking the doctor to hold everything as the baby's head was crowning so I could put my contacts back in to see her!

Because my eyesight is so terrible, I received quotes from $150-$1000! On my second day of searching, we were treated to tea at every shop we entered. Such hospitality! But when you're trying to get in-and-out of as many places as possible to price compare, it means that you get sugar shock from all that tea! ;)  We finally found a suitable, affordable pair that has made my 3am wakings much more pleasurable. I can read my book for 20 minutes and then fall back asleep, rather than staring into nothingness for 2 hours wishing I could see something. :)

Last night I had a nightmare that two poisonous lizards came into our bedroom and bit me once in each leg. I got mad at Rick that he didn't slice their heads off before they bit me. Once awake, Rick attributed this dream to watching Crocodile Dundee before bed. Ah, pregnancy hormones.

Stress Tests

Last week at my 37 week appt, I had to have a "non-stress test" done for the baby. They strap 2 monitors to the belly and monitor if the baby's heart rate increases with her own movement.   So, every time I feel the baby move, I am supposed to hit a little buzzer. It is "non-stress" because it is not an invasive procedure.  I received these instructions in Tksh of course. So, last week, I don't know if our little girl had hiccups or if I just was feeling my own heart rate racing, but I pressed that little buzzer twenty times in the first minute. I decided that couldn't be the purpose of the test, so I backed off. Anyway, this 20 minute non-stress test resulted in a very stressed out momma trying to figure out when I should be pressing that little buzzer. On top of that, she must have been sleeping, because she hardly moved at all. Good grief.

So, yesterday, I got to do it all again! This time I tried asking if the baby was moving, did I need to continue to press the button? The nurse responded, if she doesn't move for a long time, we'll give you some sugar. (So, that was a mis-communication.) This time was totally different than last week in that she moved nearly the entire 20 minutes...like a gymnastics factory! Since I was so tired, I couldn't get too stressed out this time. And the doctor decided she/we passed and I don't have to do it again. Thank goodness!

Ladybug Baby Shower!

I was really blessed last weekend by a baby shower two friends threw for me. What great decorations! Creativity abounds when no Factory Card Outlet sits around the corner! We had a lovely time eating, playing games, praying, and visiting. It was a great visual picture to me of the friendships that have developed here over our first year. I am very thankful.

Saying hi to baby! :)

prego brain and snow

After several years of working on 2 little snow bookmarks frantically between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I decided this month that I would quickly finish the last 4 before the baby comes. If you have never cross-stitched, you need to know that each pattern has symbols representing different colors...a little like paint by number. So, I dove into this lovely bookmark-thinking the color choices were a bit odd, but it would probably work out in the end. As I started my last 6 stitches, I thought to myself, why would a snowman have a flesh-colored carrot nose? I checked the pattern again and lo and behold...I read the wrong codes for the entire bookmark! Indeed a yellow-colored snowman was not intended by the kit makers....they seemed to want a white and light blue one! Normally this discovery would dissolve into a flood of tears at 36 weeks of pregnancy.  But I am too exhausted to cry...so instead Rick suggested we keep this as a funny ornament for our tree to laugh at for years...the year our daughter was born and Mom made a yellow-snow snowman.

34 weeks

Well, here we are at 34 weeks. I feel like I grew an extra 5 inches of circumference last week. How can I tell? There seems to be less room between my head and my lap when I sit. 8:00 bedtime looks more and more appealing. Micah is pointing to where the baby is. So cute.