observations from the mom of a newborn

1. newborn babies sleep a lot

2. unfortunately, it might not be when you want them to

3. why is it when I am burping the baby, I burp? Is it the power of suggestion?

4. is there anything cuter then those gassy smiles?

5. nothing brings visitors like a new baby

6. you can never have too much pink :)

7. sleep? who needs sleep?

8. why is it when I change a diaper, she immediately fills up a new one?

9. we go through a lot of diapers. see #8

10. your other children will look like they grew 2 feet while you were at the hospital

here's her story :)

It is hard to believe that at this time last week I was totally unaware of how my world was about to change in a few hours. I went to Harrison's school meeting and enjoyed visiting with my friends and listening to the speaker for the night. I had no clue, no symptoms at all. I sure wasn't expecting anything. (No pun intended)
I got home around 9:30 and talked with Robert for a little bit before I headed off to bed. I watched Medium at 10:00 and then turned off the tv and read till about 11:30. After I turned off the light, I was just trying to get to sleep. I had a couple of contractions, but nothing bad. I certainly didn't think that maybe this was it. I was lying on my left side and I literally heard and felt a, "pop". Well, you have never seen a nine month pregnant woman move so fast. I hopped out of bed and went into the bathroom where I stood there for a couple of seconds while it registered just what was happening. I grabbed a towel and waddled down to Robert's office and opened the door and said, "Honey we are going to the hospital." His reply was something like, "Huh?" And I said, "My water just broke." Chaos ensued. We must have looked like a couple of crazy people as we figured out what to do next, I got dressed. Robert called my mom, who I swear drove here in record time. I called the doctor and she confirmed that we were indeed coming in. I think she even told me to hurry. I went in and kissed the boys goodbye while they slept, and we left with our camera equipment and that's it. I didn't have a bag with me, just what I was wearing.
When we got to the hospital I was examined and surprised that I was only dilated to 3. I was having some pretty decent contractions. We got settled in our room, met our nurse Penny and I waited for my iv bag to empty so I could get an epidural. Penny checked me again and I was dilated to 6. Progress! Intense contractions. The were irregular, thankfully. Some were worse then others. The doctor came in to give me the epidural and called me a, "tall chick." It seems I made him work a little more because of my height. He was kind of a jerk. During the process I asked him if he was almost done and he got angry with me. Trust me, I didn't care what he thought of me at that point. He ended up redeeming himself though.
No sooner had he given me the epidrual when I had the most intense sensation/pain I have ever felt. Penny ran over and because she had just checked me was quite surpried to find that I went from 6 centimeters to 10 in less then 10 minutes. She started calling people in and getting ready to deliver the baby. I pushed a few times, and looked down when the head was delivered and there she was. Our sweet baby girl was delivered a minute later. We both cried when we heard her first cry. After that my blood pressure started acting up. It was either too high or too low. So I didn't hold her right away. That was the only time I was nervous. I was shaking from the epidural, and concerned about my blood pressure. The doctors were not and assured me everything was fine. I am just a worrier. I started to feel like myslef in about an hour.
It was crazy and fast and wonderful all at the same time. The first couple of days feel like a blur. I hardly got any sleep at all. Audrey is now a great little sleeper. I have to wake her up to nurse. She is doing great. I feel like a human being again. We are still trying to find our routine, but I know we will figure that out.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your well wishes. What fun it was coming home and reading those. They will be saved and put in her baby book.

As far as my birthday, I think I got the best present ever. :)

smitten

Here she is, little miss Audrey Mae, Can you tell how much we all are in love? I am exhausted, but home. I'll update with her story later, these should tide you over. :)

IT'S A GIRL !!!!!

Hi, this is Chris, Jenny's sister-Surprise, Surprise! The baby arrived at 2:52AM at the shock and awe of her parents. Yes, Jenny's water broke at 11:50PM and they were off to the hospital!
Here are the specifics:
Audrey Mae
7 lbs. 9 oz.
20 in. long
has enough hair for a bow (the nurses gave her one already, as she was the only baby for a while in the nursery.)
Eyes: blue
Hair: Sandy blonde/brown (almost reddish tint)
Cute as a bug!
Mom and baby are doing fine, pictures to follow when the girls get home!

a quick update......

I am 1 to 2 centimeters dilated and 50% effaced. What does that mean? We still could be waiting awhile. lol. My next appt. is Monday. They will perform a couple of non stress tests on the baby to make sure it is ok, then schedule an induction. The longest they are willing to let me go is 2 weeks. Will I make it? Your guess is as good as mine. After all, I thought I would have the baby early, clearly I don't know what I am talking about. :)

I am off to my meeting, have a great night.

a little party, a little overdue

You may recall that Harrison turned 7 on the 30th of Dec. You also may recall that the little family party for him was cancelled because I got sick and thought I might cough this baby out. I was hoping that we would be able to have his party before the baby arrived and today we succeeded. I had our family over for cake and ice cream, and the most important part-the presents! I even told Harrison last night that just in case the baby decided to come ( I know, who am I kidding?) that I would have daddy still go ahead and have the party without me, provided that the timing worked. You know what he said? He told me, "I would make sure that we saved a piece of cake for you, mom. " Spoken like a true kid. We had a good time, it was nice and relaxing. Harrison got some neat stuff. The new Lego Police Station is already built, thanks to auntie. Harrison even managed to get in a couple of laps around the pool on the new electric Mini Cooper that Santa got for him and Charlie and delivered at Grammie and Papa's house. :)

Nothing to report baby wise. I am so excited to see what the doctor says tomorrow. I have a feeling they will be talking to me about inducing and right now I am tempted. I just want to meet this baby. Seriously, I can't wait. We are all excited and ready. I had a couple of Braxton Hicks contractions, but just like before, they never turn into anything else.

I watched a great movie last night. My parents got me the movie Waitress for Christmas. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but watch out. You will have a serious hankering for some pie when it's over. :)

So tomorrow after the doctor's visit I have to go to Target for some necessities. Nothing like waiting until the last minute, no? They are having their dollar days sale now and have a good deal on wipes and diapers. Can you tell that I am ready? This baby is going to be like every other member of Robert's family and be late. Really, it's true.

We still don't have any names picked out that are official contenders. We are a sorry set of parents. I keep thinking of my cousin Les and her husband taking the baby names book to the hospital and the nurse asked them, "What is wrong with you people?" Yea, that's us too. But I won't be taking the baby name book with us. I have a few suggestions up my sleeve, but nothing that Robert and I can agree upon. It's like pulling teeth with him. He has even suggested names that he doesn't necessarily like, just to say that he gave me a suggestion. That's a big help, honey!

I will let you know what happens tomorrow. My home school group has their monthly meeting tomorrow night and last Friday at school I told them that I plan on being at the meeting. Why miss it?

And lastly, I have figured out a fantastic way to turn forty and not really even realize it. Have a baby around your birthday. I'll be forty on Friday and really haven't given it a second thought. I've got bigger fish to fry right now, you know what I mean? :)

Have a good one!

trying to be patient...

Well I am trying. After all I am technically not overdue. I've got a week left and if history serves as any kind of reminder, this baby will be late. Yesterday the doctor examined me and had nothing to report, not even a minor change. She talked to me about the option of inducing. That will be something that is discussed more next week if nothing has happened. She is pretty conservative and frankly, so am I. Just once I would like to go into labor myself. Both of the boys were late. I was induced with Harrison and had my membranes stripped with Charlie, and that got the ball rolling. Trust me, I am not going to do that again. I will consider induction again, but I'm not in a big hurry. The only advantage is that I would know who would deliver the baby. That part is tempting. Of course, I could be in a completely different state of mind next week and be begging to be induced.

About the photo. This is Charlie and my sister's sweet dog, Coco. It was taken at Christmas and was one of those photos that just happened. I was sitting behind them on the couch and Charlie walked up and sat down next to her and put his arm around her. I can't believe I got the shot. Even though it is dark, it is one of my favorites from the day. It speaks to me about who Charlie is. When I was looking through the photos last night, this one struck me as, "waiting".

still pregnant

Happy New Year. This year promises to be eventful for us to say the least. I am still sick. It is not fun. I have coughed so hard that my sides ache and I have even given myself some contractions from doing so. On the plus side, we got two new dressers for the boys, so we can move their old shared dresser into the baby's room and use it as a changing table/dresser. We also got a new desk for the living room that will have our computer on it. It was hard to find one reasonably priced that matched our Mission Style furniture. Good old Target to the rescue. I have to say that it looks great. Things are really starting to come together. And with less then 2 weeks to go, that's a good thing.
Today I accomplished a big task. We now have a car seat for the baby. What a relief, I was starting to worry that I would have to send Robert out to get one while I was in the hospital. I ended up with this one.

I also managed to find this nifty diaper caddy that you know will store scrapbook stuff when it's no longer needed in the nursery. :)

I also started a craft blog again. There is only one post there right now, but I hope to get some more things posted soon. I had to change the name. Someone else has my old name, and it definitely isn't me. :o The new blog is called, "My Crafty Escape." It is mainly just for me to keep track of my projects and reconnect with some stamping friends. :) The link is over there on the right.
So all in all, things are moving right along. Now if I could just get over this cough!