Long overdue

Both Elena and this blog! ;-)

Two weeks late, I am finally getting around to writing Elena's birth announcement here. The basics - Elena Grace was born on May 6th at 5:38am weighing 7 lbs 8 oz and 21.5 inches long. I was 41 weeks 3 days.

The long story:

On Wednesday the 5th I woke up feeling pretty 'done'. More so than I'd felt in the previous couple weeks. I was exhausted, sore and all those fun things that go with the end of pregnancy. I called and left a message with my OB to get induced ASAP and waited anxiously for her to call me back. She didn't call me back all day however and I spent the day feeling fairly irritable and trying to not take it out on other people. I was having sporadic contractions but nothing to really pay attention to. My wonderful friend and neighbor mommagriffith invited us over for dinner which lifted my mood considerably and so we went over there and had yummy Mexican. While we were there was when I started to notice I was having more contractions that seemed fairly close together. I didn't think much of them, though. A few days previously I'd had a long bout of regular contractions that went away and I thought the same thing was happening again. When we got home from dinner there was a message on my answering machine from my OB to make an appointment the following day so we could discuss induction and I felt relieved thinking there was an 'end' in site. Nathan encouraged me to time the contractions I was having, which I thought was silly, but I agreed anyway. I noticed right away the contractions were 5 - 7 minutes apart but I definitely didn't consider them to be that painful. Uncomfortable yes, but nothing I couldn't handle fairly easily. I was having a lot of pain in my back though so I bounced on my exercise ball for awhile which really helped.

After awhile of timing contractions I decided to run a bath and see if that would help my body relax. I still felt that these contractions were not 'real' and I was getting pretty tired and just wanted them to go away so I could go to bed. The bath was very nice, but the contractions continued. After I got out of the bath I tried walking around to see if I could get the contractions closer together and more intense, but that didn't work. They continued to stay at the 5 - 7 minutes apart and of mild to moderate intensitity.

I'd been timing contractions on and off for 5 hours when I thought maybe I'd just try to go to bed. I was so tired. I didn't make it laying down through more than 4 contractions though. Up and moving they didn't feel bad, but lying in bed made them almost unbearable. I started to feel fairly overwelmed at this point. I was still certain that this labor was not real, or that it was very early labor, but it was uncomfortable enough that I couldn't get any rest. Around midnight I decided to call the labor and delivery floor to see what they suggested. They suggested that I come in right away, since I'd been experiencing contractions for so long without them going away, and told me that my OB would likely not send me home, even if this was not real labor. I woke up Nathan and we called his mom to come and sit with Gabe. It was while we were getting ready to go when I started to notice the contractions were getting stronger and closer together. It was almost like I needed that mental 'I'm having a baby today!' thought in order for things to really get going. By the time we got in the car I was quite uncomfortable.

The drive to the hospital was by no means fun, but it wasn't any worse than I expected. Having to labor while sitting strapped into a seat has got to be one of the most uncomfortable ways to labor though. When we got to the hospital the only real thought in my mind was 'I want that epidural, and I want it now' but sadly that wasn't going to happen right away. They got me admitted and hooked up to the monitors. I think laboring flat in your back in bed has also got to be one of the worst ways to labor but I sucked it up and gripped the bed rails for dear life while they got their 15 minute strip of the baby's heartbeat and my contraction pattern. After they got that they checked me and with a contraction pattern of 3 - 5 minutes apart and a check showing I was 4 - 5 cm along put me into the category of 'active labor' (no really? haha). I begged them to get the jacuzzi tub going and call anesthesia ASAP.

Now I've heard that laboring in a jacuzzi tub is like a 'natural epidural' to which I must laugh. No, no it is not. It was nice in the sense that I could relax better between my contractions but the contractions themselves were just as intense. I did enjoy the tub though and was glad I had that to labor in while I waited for my epidural. Anesthesia actually arrived fairly quickly and it didn't take long to get set up and get the epidural placed. Once it was placed I was one happy mom. I got checked again and was 6 - 7 cm but baby was still up at a -1 station. Nathan and I decided to take the time to relax and try to nap before delivery time.

I couldn't actually nap because I was still feeling intense pressure with my contractions, however I was able to doze between them well and I felt so much better not being in pain. Around 4:30 I started noticing a difference in the contractions, I was starting to feel an urge to push, but it wasn't a very strong urge and I was honestly too tired to buzz the nurses to tell them. At 5:00 my OB came in and checked me and found I was complete, baby at a +2 station and we could push whenever I wanted to. I was surprised, because it had all seemed to happen so fast. We woke up Nathan and my OB got all gowned up and within 10 minutes I was ready to push.

Pushing this time was an entirely different experience than it was with Gabe. I won't go into too many details, but my epidural was absolutely perfect. I was numbed enough to not feel too much pain, but I could feel all that intense pressure and my pushing was so well controlled. I won't say it seemed easy, because pushing is not easy, but it was 10 times better. It also took considerable less time! In fact, it took so little time to push her out that in that moment they took her out and put her on my chest I hadn't even fully had the time to process it. I just stared at her and couldn't believe she was finally born! No crying this time, unlike with Gabe, but I think that's because I was in so much shock and I felt such wonder looking at my beautiful baby girl.

She's got this amazing olive skin tone and a full head of dark hair. I'm not quite sure how Nathan and I produced a girl who looks so dark, but I love it! She is absolutely beautiful and perfect in every way.

My recovery this time has been so much easier as well, something I am so grateful for.

Here is her first picture, right after her bath:



Happy family:


Next blog: Elena's hospital trip. I'll write that one when I get a chance! Hopefully it won't take me too long.

Birthday Boy

I feel a bit guilty that this blog is coming 4 days late. Ooops!

This year has gone by much, much too quickly. It's hard to imagine to me that a year a go today I was sitting at home with my 4 day old baby boy. And right now he's walking around the living room attemtping to beat up my exercise ball! How did he get so big so fast??

We had a nice little party for him Tuesday evening. My inlaws and Nathan's grandparents came over and we enjoyed presents and cake. I don't have many pictures because I spent the time filming on the video camera or helping him open his gifts, but hopefully Nathan's step-grandpa will share the pictures with me he took. The gifts Gabe got were wonderful of course and he's in love with all of them.

Gabe didn't really enjoy the cake, but I'm not surprised. I enjoyed watching him hesitantly test it out anyway! Nathan finally thought it would be fun to shove Gabe's hands into the cake and see how he'd react. He wasn't super pleased and it resulted in him needing an immediate bath!

Gabe only a few minutes after he was born:


My big boy on his birthday:


Motherhood is quite different than I thought it would be. I knew of course that I would love my child. But I never understood what the depth of my love for him would be. It's been a wild ride this year, and I'm looking forward to doing it all over again!

Nook!

Today I had quite a surprise when my husband came home from work. He had to drive out to Tigard today for work, and he told me when he was driving home that he'd gotten me a gift. Now when I thought gift, I was thinking flowers or perhaps a box of my favorite Tim Tams or some random baby item. Instead I about fell over when he handed me a Nook.

I was, at a time, totally against e-readers. I heard of the kindle and was just not impressed. To me, I felt books should always be read on paper. I didn't like this new idea of turning a book into something similar to an ipod or a small laptop. I also was under the assumption that it would be similar to reading a book on a laptop - something I have done and do not enjoy. After awhile it really starts to hurt my eyes.

Once I had Gabe though, I started to really see the advantages of an e-reader. I honestly haven't read much since he's been born. I'm too busy and by the time I get a moment to myself, I'm usually falling into bed out of exhaustion. It was simply not practical to hold Gabe while holding a book at the same time. So my books have been collecting dust on my shelves. And admittedly, some of my borrowed books are gathering dust too (really must return them...). I started thinking recently how much easier it would be to have an e-reader that I could just carry around the house with me. Something I could hold in one hand while also holding a child. Not to mention I'm running out of room to store books. I still wasn't totally sold, but was thinking of it. Then whem mammagriffith got one and I saw it I was definitely in love with it. I like the digital ink screen the absolute best. No eye strain! I have all ready started to pour into one of the free classics provided with the nook - Little Women.

I'm still in awe that Nathan even thought to get me the nook. He knew I wanted one, but I didn't imagine us purchasing it anytime soon. It was very sweet of him. He told me I deserved something nice for myself. Yes, I almost started tearing up.

Night at the opera

Nathan and I had a wonderful night away on Friday. When we first got out to Portland we stopped in at Men's Warehouse to get Nathan a jacket to go with his pants. He looked pretty handsome if I do say so myself:



When we got to the hotel we both got all dressed up, unfortuantely my camera would not fit in my little purse so we couldn't get a full-sized picture of the two of us. I got a few pictures before we left. I very much like this picture of myself. I felt very fancy and pretty.





When we got to Morton's we were ushered to a big huge booth all to ourselves, despite the place being packed (yay anniversary reservations!) and were greated by this on our menus:



I had been planning on getting a lobster tail, but thought to myself...why not try a whole lobster? I've never done that before. Honestly - big mistake! I clearly had no concept of how big a full sized lobster is (they did tell me it was a 3.5 pounder, I should have figured it out, but something just didn't compute!). When they brought out my meal my jaw nearly dropped to the floor in shock. The plate was HUGE. So here I am, this very large pregnant woman, with a humongous plate of food in front of me...I think I might have looked like a glutton. But then I decided to get over it and dig in. I only got through the tail portion before I was full. Yup, should have stuck to the tail.

We attempted a picture of the ginormous lobster with Nathan's cell phone. It didn't turn out great, but you can get an idea of how large it was:



Morton's apparently takes a complimentary picture for special events and so they took a very wonderful picture of Nathan and I, put it in a black cardboard frame, and it was signed by all the wait staff. I then proceeded to lose this great picture in the taxi. Yeah, I was having an awesome brain night.

After our meal (which was seriously delicious, we topped off our entrees with a wonderful warm brownie filled with hot fudge and served with ice cream) we were whisked off by taxi to the opera.

I had always assumed, and have been told by mommagriffith who has season tickets to the opera, that most everyone dresses up to attend the opera. Nice dresses, suits etc. I'm not sure if it was just the show we went to see or what, but Nathan and I were quite surprised when half the audience was in khakis and jeans. We were truly the best dressed there. Only one other woman was wearing a nice dress. I admit, I didn't feel out of place at all. Instead, I felt that everyone else was out of place. ;-) I just can't picture attending an opera in jeans.

The opera itself was fine, but not anything to shout about. The first two introductory acts (which I can't recall the names of) were sung in Italian I believe. I found them to be a bit confusing, despite the subtitles, though when I read the plot later they did make a bit more sense. They were not very engaging however, nothing about them really drew me in. The main show was even less appealing and while I don't have much to compare it to, I don't think I like operas sung in English. The title of the show was Trouble in Tahiti and it was about a 1950s couple going through rough times in their marriage, both of whom look for love and satisifaction in other places, while their son sits and home in front of the television and fantisizes of an idealistic 1950s dream family - happy homemaker, a loving husband and doting father who has a successful career, all of this packaged in a lovely white house in the suburbs of America. It is an iteresting subject matter, but I felt the opera itself fell flat.

That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy myself, though! We had a lot of fun dressing up and feeling fancy for a night. We caught a taxi back to the hotel (this is where I lost our picture from Morton's) and we both completely passed out upon arrival.

Gabe did great at Grandma and Grandpas. He didn't sleep well, but I'm not surpised. He just has too much fun playing when he goes to my inlaws place. He hardly noticed when we came to pick him up the next morning, I don't think he even realized we were gone. This gives me a lot of relief honestly, because I was concerned how he would do staying there overnight when Elena is born. Now I know he'll be just fine.

So that was our fun evening out! I can't believe I've been married 3 years all ready. It feels like the time has just flown by. It's been an amazing 3 years, that's for sure.

Enjoying the sun

Today was a BEAUTIFUL day here on the coast. Not often we get to say that. This afternoon I visited my neighbor and Gabe and I enjoyed sitting in the sun on her porch while she gardened and her kiddos ran around playing.

It was so warm, it felt delicious.

When Nathan got home, we decided to go for a walk, and to take Gabe without his stroller. He LOVED it. He rode in Grandpa's wagon for awhile, ran around holding Nathan's fingers (he could not get enough of that) and kept reaching out to all the trees along the way. Grandma and Grandpa of course brought him to every tree within reach so that he could touch them and try to figure them out. Every time they pulled him away it was to a chorus of whines and him reaching out, wanting to go back. The only real fussing came when the sun was starting to set and it came time to put his coat on. When we reached our road we tried to let him 'walk' the last half of it, but he was so facinted by the rocks he kept letting go of Nathan's fingers and sitting down to play with them. Such a fun time.

I made a decision...

...and it's not any of the 3 that I posted! I found this one and think I prefer it, mostly because I don't have to buy a new bra to wear it. Of the other 3 I posted, only the last one would have worked with a regular bra - the 2nd one looked like it would until I got a look at the back, it was scooped and low.

So I believe I'll be ordering this one:



Now if only I could find my measuring tape...I have no idea what size I am...

Opera dress

Today my husband informed me that, for our anniversary, he is taking me to the opera! I was quite surprised. It would have been funner if he woudln't have told me, but he had to tell me...I need to find an appropriate dress in time!

After some online searching, I have found a few that are possibilities. My favorite is the first one, but I can't wear a regular bra with it and since going braless is NOT an option I either need to find a decently fitting strapless bra in time or pick a different dress.

Opinions greatly appreciated. :-)