Dec 31: coming home

To begin with, i'm happy to report that Isaac seemed to figure out how to latch on after we sent him to the nursery last night. Maybe there was a class they didn't tell us about, but we've barely had any problems today.

Therefore, Today we came home from the hospital. The day was much more relaxed than yesterday. Not as many random people, more sleep at night, etc.

So here's Isaac, ready to go home.

Oops...he had a small blowout. Back to yesterday's outfit.

Amy and Brian stopped by on their way north. They weren't able to stay for long because Isaac got hungry, but it was still nice to see them for a little bit.

Then my family stopped by after dinner. While it is always nice to see them, it was especially nice this time because they did some laundry. I hadn't washed much of the newborn clothes since I was expecting a larger baby, so I wasn't really sure what Isaac was going to wear tomorrow. Instill don't have an answer to that, but at least there are possibilities.

I was going to post this tomorrow, but this child won't stop eating. I'll think hes done because he is almost asleep and not responding to stimulus to keep eating, but then he says he's sill hungry.

Friday: first day of life

Today brought a few challenges, lots of holding, and lots of visitors.

For example, it currently takes two of us to clothe Isaac. And since he liked to sleep, we had to unclothe (and then reclothe) to make him wake up for feedings. There was also a struggle to make him nurse on the right side...he won once, but we won most of the time. Of course, after the time he won he was hungry soon after, so I'm not sirens really won.

But besides that, we just spent a nice day with him and with visitors, getting to know him as he mostly slept. (there were lots of pictures with family and I'm not going to post, along with some cute ones taken on phones that I can't post right now.). Oh, he also had his first pee, which was expected. Unfortunately, I also got peed on. While I'm sure it is the first of many, I was hoping it would be longer.

Here we all are!

Isaac. The hat kept falling off, but his temp was on the cool side so we were trying to keep it on.

Isaac's celebratory dinner...that he didn't get to eat.

Mom and Isaac. We had both managed to get dressed.

Thursday: happy birth day

2:30am (Thursday): Amanda's dream about what a bad basketball player she is gets interrupted by contractions. For some reason she keeps going back to sleep even though it is a dumb dream.

3:00am: amanda gets up to see if they are real.

3:30am: Ben gets up. They play a few games while timing contractions. Things seem to be progressing and they call the doctor's office and plan to go the hospital around 7am

6am: they take a quick stop at Burger King

7am: Contractions are spreading out, but taking longer. They decide to wait to go to the hospital.

12pm: Contractions are close to 5 minutes. They hope to go to the hospital after lunch.

1pm: Contractions spread out again.

3pm: Contractions start to really hurt.

4pm: Amanda calls the doctor to see what is going on and if they should go in, even though contractions are not constant and range between 5-10 minutes.

5pm: the doctor says that it is Braxton Hicks and that I don't need to go to the hospital. Amanda pretty much cries for the next hour. How is she supposed to go through real labor if fake labor hurts so much? How is she supposed to sleep? How is she going to last through the night with the pain before her doctor comes on call?

6:30pm Amanda calls the doctor again, And this time talks to the doctor on-call (vs through the nurse). He says that Amanda is not in labor because those contractions are two to four minutes apart. And while I could go get checked, there isn't a good reason.

7pm: Amanda throws up her dinner.

9:30: after trying to sleep and completely not succeeding because of contractions, Amanda gets up and thinks her water broke. After looking all night for an excuse, she declares it is time to go to the hospital, even if they send every one back home. Ben quickly gets the last things together in case they get to stay.

10:00: Amanda is dilated to an eight! She doesn't have to leave! The baby is coming! Amanda asks for an epidural, even though the nurse says it is almost time and she could probably make it without one. (Did we mention even walking was getting painful?). A few contractions occur before the drugs can be administered and Amanda almost squeezes Ben's fingers off. Ben proceeds to only touch the top of Amanda's hand and Amanda squeezes the bedrail. The anastesiaiogist shows up promptly and administers wonderful drugs.

10:10: Everyone is happier once the epidural kicks in.

10:30: Amanda is dilated to 10!

11:45: Amanda starts pushing. (the doctor finished another delivery and so while he isn't there he is available.

12:00am: a mirror is brought into the room. Amanda enjoys watching the head crown, even though she wasn't sure she would.

12:15: the doctor is called in because the baby's heart rate was slightly in distress.

12:57: Isaac Bruce is born!

Tuesday: 39 weeks

It's that time of week again! Doctor appointment time!

I'm dilated to a 2-3, 90% effaced, and the baby's head is still low and facing the correct direction. The OB also stripped the membranes, which is supposed to help if you're close to going into labor but not really do anything if you're not.

Stay tuned.

Monday: no work

Yay, we didn't have to work today. We took it pretty easy, putting some stuff away and going to see the mission impossible movie.

Saturday: high school

Some friends from high school got together for breakfast this morning.  It was really nice to talk with them again.  I haven't seen some of them for...probably seven to ten years.  So we all got caught up.  I was taking the recycle out to the garage just as they were starting to arrive and reflected on how weird it is that we're adults now.  It might not seem that way to us, but we really are.  We are in charge of bringing the recycle out to the garage.  (And lots of other things too :) ) 

Thursday: done

Hurray!  We're done with work for a long weekend.  And I got to leave early, which was awesome.

Tonight Ben and I went to play Hand and Foot with his grandparents.  We did really, really well the first hand but decided they must have just been being nice to us.  By the last hand, we were way behind.

Wednesday: conversation

Amanda: I feel like I've been having little contractions all night.
Ben: do they hurt?
Amanda: no.(sigh)
Ben: (laughs) this is the only time that we want pain.

Tuesday: 38 weeks

Today was a doctor's appointment! They're fun.

I'm dilated to 2, 70% effaced, and the head is "very low". Progress!

Due to various things though, it would be nice if he would wait to start contractions until noon on Saturday. Or do it tonight. But I'd like to be out of the hospital Friday and Saturday. It probably means that's when he'll come.

Monday: dropped

Apparently the baby dropped a lot over the weekend.  "Everyone" at work mentioned it when they saw me today.

It also meant that I had to go to the bathroom any time I walked for more than 50 feet.

Sunday: Christmas

Today was Christmas with one of Ben's extended families.  We brought banana pudding.  Below is a picture of it being made to make Dusty jealous.  We had a lot left over, so if any one wants some, come on by.  I'd also like to say that I have an awesome husband who got some puzzles in the gift exchange because I wanted them.

Flurry is also enjoying hanging out under the Christmas tree.  Her white fur does make her seem like the perfect accessory for the tree.

Saturday: pep talk

Jess asked what I'm telling Baby to convince him to come out...

*It will be more fun to be out.
*You can see Dad (and other relatives)
*Christmas is a fun time...you don't want to miss it.
*There's more room to move.
*You have a name
*We have everything that you'll need for the first little bit...and most of it is set up.
*It works with scheduling better if you come sooner.

What I'm not telling him...
*It will be cold
*it's hard work to communicate
*Going through the birth canal is traumatic.

Friday: It's time!

It's time to meet the muppets! (Did I trick anyone? Please?). Ben and I went to see the Muppet Movie. It was good. A bit more singing than I expected, but a ton of cameos.

Wednesday: Christmas party

Today we had a work Christmas party.  It was pretty fun.  There was a ton of delicious food and we did a white elephant exchange.  We did the stealing game, but didn't unwrap the presents first.  That made it a little weird, but it went a lot faster.  Someone (easily) managed to convince someone that is scared of critters that something was moving in the box she had.  It was fun to see her proceed to hold it as far away from herself as possible.  In the end, it was a kazoo.

We also submitted Christmas child pictures.  Here's mine.

Tuesday: 37 weeks

Today we hit the 37 week mark, which means Baby is full term and can come whenever he wants.  I've started giving him pep talks on why he should come sooner rather than later.

I went to the doctor and am a "true 1" dilated and 50% effaced.  So at least there is progress.  The last day or so has also had an increase in cramps, but nothing that hurts.  On the weird side of things, I've felt better the last week or two than I have for a majority of the pregnancy.  I am still pretty tired, but nothing else is really wrong. And I can deal with being tired.

Monday: phone

Work gives their employees cell phones.  Pretty nice, right?

Except that mine won't do an audible ring.  I know it can make noise because I can hear what different ring tones sound like, but it won't ring when someone calls.  It will vibrate, but I take it out of my pocket often, and then it really needs an audible sound.

And the volume is all the way up.  And I tried setting a ring tone in case the "default" was silent.  So now I am going to bring it over to tech support.  Bah.

One more reason to not like phones.

Sunday: easy

Today was a rather easy day.  The house had gotten cleaned Friday night, so there were just a few things to do this weekend.  So Flurry and I spent quite a bit of the day on the couch...napping, watching TV, and writing emails.  The first round of quilting is also done on the quilt, next I'll have to decide if I want to do a second round or not.

Saturday: stuff

Baby's stuff is taking over our house and he's not here yet and not all the large items are set up.

We had a delicious dinner with Dad and Pat.

Friday: first snow

Today I woke up to about two inches of snow on the ground. For the first time ever, I had really conflicted feelings about it. I love snow and the first snow is always fun, but we don't have a garage, we do have a long driveway, and we have two people that don't want or can't shovel. The plan, as time goes by, is to park closer to the street so t least there is less to shovel.

We didn't shovel this time; it will probably melt in a few days.

Tuesday: more baby

I had another OB appointment today.  Today we found out that he probably has a long torso.  The head is down and it took her a while to find the heartbeat because it was higher up (on me) then expected.  I'm not dilated, but that is normal I guess.

The glider also came today!  It got here super fast...I ordered it Sunday night.  And it is tall enough.  Phew.

Monday: flowers

Ben brought me some flowers a few days ago.  The pine in the arrangement smells wonderful and the lilies are beautifully opening up.

Sunday: one month

There's only a month left until this baby is due!  Hooray!

In honor of that, we're having a baby post today.

Shower

Ben and I had a shower on Friday night for the baby.  I again don't have any pictures, but it was a lot of fun.  We got several things that we need (or think we need) and had a wonderful dinner.  It was fun to have both guys and girls at the party...it's interesting to see how both sides think.

Diapers

Ben and I are probably going to go with a cloth diaper service.  In case you wanted to see the breakdown, I included a picture of the spreadsheet and some of my assumptions below.  Beware though: I only spent about 30 minutes getting some of the numbers so they might not be completely accurate.

*77 diapers/week  (this might be on the high end, but some forums had really high numbers)
*disposable diapers were assumed to be $0.25 per piece
*the diaper service gives free diapers if the child isn't potty trained by 2.5 years.
*transportation impact was not included in environmental impact
*initial cloth diaper cost was estimated based on some Amazon numbers...but still an estimate

Laundry
I did my first load of baby laundry today.  Aww.  Probably the first of a million loads though.

Packed
I also packed for the hospital.  (Which is one reason I did some baby laundry.)  The problem is that I need a lot of the stuff yet.  I only have so many pants that I fit into.  And I still am using the electronics and toiletries.  So by the bag there will be list of last minute things to stick in.

Clothes
I'd like to complain that only half the maternity clothes still fit.  It is a little annoying to put on a shirt that covered my belly fine last week only to have an inch of skin show this week.  (Although I'll admit, some of this has to do with which pants I'm wearing.)  However, it made it easier to pack shirts for the hospital.

(ok, ok, it isn't a maternity shirt.  But it still seemed to fit well in the section.)

Glider
We also decided to purchase a glider on-line without having tried it out.  This is a little nerve racking, as most of the gliders that we sat in where too short to rest our heads against.  But the reviews for this say that tall people can rest their heads against this one.  And this way it is in the budget to get a footstool too.


Day care

I visited a day care near where I work this past week.  It's gotten very high recommendations from some of the people I work with and it is Christian-based, so unless I saw something that really scared me I was planning on using them.  Everything seemed fine.  And it is about five minutes from work so I'm planning on going over there to nurse at lunch.  (At least, that is the plan.)  I'm hoping that will take away some of the angst I might have about leaving him.

Nine month picture

Since there are so many other pictures in this post, I thought I'd add one more of how I'm looking today.

Saturday: today

Today was a very nice day.  I got to see a lot of people.  I took a nap.  I worked on the quilt.

:)

Thursday: off to bed

It's bed time again!  Hurray!  It's one of my favorite times of the day.  I love the going to sleep part, but even the relaxing in bed before sleep is really nice.

However, at the rate I'm going there is no way I'm going to finish my son's quilt before he gets here.  I finally managed to get it all pinned, but I've only done about one quilt seam in the last week.  Oh well.  It would be nice to finish it, but I think sleep is more important.