Parenthood-Week 1

My daughter has gotten her first period and developing breasts already....boy they sure grow up fast.

With the explosiveness measured in decibels......kid, your diapers can stop an adult conversation in mid sentence. (you take after daddy in this department)

You know you're a parent when you have your baby finally latched to the boob and you notice some diaper residue on the side of your thumb and think it can wait until after the feeding, in fear of not latching on again.

Anything going after 7pm is now considered past bed time.

Lifting your child while in the car seat is now strenuous lifting.

You get excited over ounces and hours.

It takes more time than you think to just get out the door for a trip to the grocery store.

You keep missplacing every burp cloth on site.

You find the mesh netted disposable big girl underwear from the hospital to be WAY too comfortable and wished they gave you a few more pair.

And Baby Makes Three....

Birth Story (in my frankness)

Okay, while its still fresh in my head....here is my rather frank personal experience of labor and delivery.

  7:00PM Arrived at the hospital to prepare my undercarriage to cooperate for induction.

9:00 Pm All hooked up to monitors, settled into our birthing suite and praying for more than 50% effacement and some dialation.

7:30AM- 1 cm dialated, 2/3 effacement and water broken. Oh did this part hurt and yes I cried like a baby. I am sure if I had progressed more, things would not have felt so bad. The devil drug Pitocin was started to get me into active labor and gradually increased. I found by standing up and rocking "Elvis style" helped with contractions and making sure I could get this baby to drop like Times Square.

1PM- Barely 2 cm dialated and in A LOT of back pain. Contractions were coming at 2 minutes or less. Walking or laying down or rubbing back didn't seem to make a difference.

1:30PM- An IV pain relief to help take the edge off things was given, but only the tinniest amount in fear that it would slow labor down even more than the awefully slow pace it was going at. It did help a little but wore off in 35 minutes and I would be begging for another shot of the stuff.

4:00PM- Barely 4 cm dialated and baby at -1 station, I was told of an alternative to an epidural. At this point I was in such pain for so little progress and couldn't contimplate another 15 hours of this kind of show. I had hit my "wall" and contimplated a c-section. My whole body felt like it was being ripped apart through my back and I was shaking in pain. I believe there may have been a Linda Blair moment when Matt asked me to relax through my breathing and this demon posesed voice comes out with, "This is my relaxed breathing."  Instead of an epidural, I was given a shot in the spine, but would allow me to still feel pressure and push for when the time came. Messing with your spinal cord is a whole new feeling in its self! Yet I was finally able to relax and catch a break from such intense contractions.

At this time, the room is quite, I am catching a few winks here and there. Matt is in and out of the room. Wasn't sure how much time had passed but recal waking up and realizing I was feeling the contractions again and feeling a bit cheated on the pain one had to go through to get the pain relief. Then I nearly eject out of the bed and blow chunks....right there on the sheets. And just in time for the husband and doctor to find me. After being checked, the Doc was surprised to fine that in 1 hour...I went from 4 cm to 10cm! Time to start pushing!

5:30PM- The stage is set for the star to make her presence and I am told of how to push. Matt helped in counting my push lengths and made sure to play photographer for the big debut. Matt was so in awe at all the action that he struggled in keeping my push counts. There was no crying, but dead set determination in getting this child out! Towards the end of each push, I would almost spasm and lose all control of the push. For once, my body finally got the idea of what to do and went on auto pilot.

5:56PM- Eliza is out and very aware! I didn't even have a chance to ask myself as to when I would hear her cry. After the cord was cut, they placed her on my chest and struggled to rub her down. Matt did his daddy thing as they put mommy back together down there and just couldn't believe the sight he just whitnessed. Much to the surprise of some, he saw the whole thing and didn't pass out on the floor.

Because they weren't expecting me to get to 10 cm that quickly after the spinal narcodic, it was hard to gaze at my daughter and not have the room spinning or wanting to fall asleep in the process. It took the next morning until I felt a bit more human.

I wonder if I had gone into labor naturally, would I have been able to handle things better. Yet my body was not being a team player and going another week wouldn't have done much help. I am glad I had Dr. Cooley and the wisdom that he brings in labor/delivery. He helped bring a healthy and wonderful baby girl into this world despite the interventions needed top get me to this point. And that is what is really important. I count my blessings though in this pregnancy

Oh how I hate to wait

I have never exactly played the waiting game all that well...especially when it would come to job searching. Here I am, 1 day past my due date and wondering if I will EVER go into labor. I'll have pains here and there, but nothing that turns into more than a bowel movement. To make things harder, I don't have lots of projects to focus on and my netfilx can only sustain me for so long after having been off of work for 1 week prior.

All sorts of folks have offered advice to help get labor going....non of which I think has any power or influence. Oh, and that natural method with your partner....good luck! I give kudos to anyone this far along to find it at all comfortable for either partner. I've tried the simple act of walking, which only results in sore flanks.

Each time I have been checked....there isn't much progress shown. Its hard to not feel like you are failing in some way. I don't want the devil drug pitocin, and certainly if things would result in a c-section despite it.

I've been fortunate in dodging a lot of belly rubs, horror stories etc in this pregnancy....but what is getting REALLY annoying is when people keep asking if I've gone into labor or not. I know they care, but it only makes things harder as I wait. Trust me, when I am ready to share the news, I'll do so when there is actually news to post...so stop asking me already! And after all, isn't it MY business to begin with? What if I wait until the baby is born to share? In all the media blasting that has become a cultural norm...there are just somethings that I think should be private for a little while until the public is informed.

Door's wide open

I guess my body must know I have time off from work because within 7 days, I've picked up 3 different infections. One below the waist, one in the chest, and the other in the eyes. Part of my maternity leave is being subsidized by 4 weeks of sick time I've accumulated. Although, I know that if my position was not in such high demand of me, I would have taken more of that time prior instead of toughing it out.

Now, can I just go into labor to make up for everything else? Yeah.....that would be nice :)

Eliza's Nursery

Here is the finished product of my pregnancy project. You could call this gender neutral with a hint of girl thrown in. When looking for the right art direction for this room, I wasn't impressed with much that was out there. Since I grew up loving classic children's books, I wanted to help pass on that love along with creativity which will grow along with Eliza through the years.

The book shelves on the walls are actually painted white contact paper. This allowed me to do something custom and for very little money required. Something I wouldn't have found in an online vinyl collection

I hope you love every minute spent here baby girl.










All canvas artwork is original-Oil on canvas with embroidered design and hand crafted buttons.

Mobile- Hand made by me-Felt, wire and hand crafted buttons.

Treasure Chest-Ikea Children's dept

Light Fixture-Ikea lights and personal ingenuity.

Quilt-Ikea children's dept.

Bedding-Land of Nod

Crib and Changing Table/Dresser- Wonderful hand me downs which have survived 4 boys prior!

Rocker Chair- Babies "R" Us