Cold Spaghetti

PapPap reads Will a bedtime story — The Lorax, one of Will’s (and Mommy’s) favorites! 

Kate and I: Zonko! Mother’s Day, May 14th. Kate is 5 days old! 

Our pretty girl, just after her sponge bath! Three days old.

Tiny baby feet – three days old today (May 12th!) 

First sponge bath with Granna, 3 days old! Your call: Is she smiling at Dad in the photo, or just passing gas?

Thanks, Gwen, for putting up such a cute announcement!

After a whirlwind Monday and Tuesday, Kate is here. I’ll post our birth story once I can get through writing it. It should be no surprise to anyone that, again, I managed to break all expectations and have drama in the experience. Maybe, someday, something I do will be “normal.” Until then, there will always be a story. The bottom line is that we (unknowingly) started with a dangerous, complicated situation and through good choices and instinct, turned it into a highly positive experience and outcome. (In contrast to Will’s birth, where we started with a healthy, normal situation and allowed poor policies and practices to speak against our instinct and turn a good situation into a fairly negative outcome.) We are happy, Kate is very healthy and nursing well. And she is beautiful!!



This is a test. The details of the birth will be here shortly!

THIS is what a woman carrying a term child looks like…My tummy, about 11 hours before Kate’s birth.

A pretty solid day of contractions, but nothing regular or intense enough to be making the cervical changes required for labor. (ie: never longer than 40 or so seconds for more than an hour.) I have to remind myself that there is no such thing as a useless contraction. Whatever is happening now means something that doesn’t have to happen when I actually do go into active labor.

My midwife called this afternoon and reminded me of what I already know and trust: the process is perfect. It IS a perfect process and one that does not require me or anyone else to do anything. My body is completely capable of figuring it out. My job is to give it the things it needs, rest and nutrition, to function.

Plan for the night and tomorrow: secure a copy of The DaVinci Code (I’ve not read it and decided that I’m in the mood for something engaging and mindless) and watch at least one more movie (limited to what I can find on my parents’ Comcast ‘On Demand’).

I ate Paul’s perfect egg and toast and that was enough to stop my tummy rumbling and I went to sleep. It was an up and down (ie: normal) sleep and I feel better rested, but still tired. At around 10:30, I woke up to really strong cramping and it took awhile to get out of bed. Once out, I took a shower, relaxed, and did a mini assessment of the situation: still contracting, somewhat regularly, but not necessarily hugely intense on a regular basis. I want to swim in the tub outside, but it’s rainy this morning and very humid. Instead, we went on a walk around the neighborhood — walking definitely works — and came back for bathroom and lunch. I think after lunch we’ll rest a little more and keep up the walking.

So far, I feel really good. For the most part, the contractions feel just like a muscle contraction, except over more surface area. When I feel rested, I like the sensation — it feels like a wonderful energy surge or power play (like a body builder flexing — I feel like a fighter!) When I’m tired or in a poor position, it is uncomfortable. I’m not really interested in talking anymore when I’m experiencing one, but I can walk through them and like the way it feels when I do — it sort of increases the intensity and feels good, like walking off a cramp when you’re running.

Few labors steadily progress and mine is definitely not a steady progression… it ebbs and flows and does not really have regularity (yet). I do really hope that this keeps up. I like the feeling that this could be the start of a Birthday!