Mama said there'd be days like this...

You know, days when you have plans so you need to be out the door at a certain time.

Days when you can't even finish unloading the dishwasher because Little Miss needs to be held.

Days when she's eating way more often than usual because she slept too long during the day yesterday and needs to catch up. (mommy fail!)

Days when she wakes up while you are showering and screams for 10 minutes straight and there's not much you can do about it being all sudsy.

Days when she has a blow out and YOU need to shower again.

Mama said... she just never said they'd all be the same day. I'll probably be able to laugh about it soon, just give me a couple hours. And a nap.

Don't worry though, she slept through the second shower. 

*sigh*

Starting from Scratch

Exercise has always been a good source of stress relief for me. I don't run with music, because I like the peace and quiet when it is just me and the road. Given that I am also a bit high strung, I have been running consistently since I was about 14. And before that I tried just about every other sport imaginable; soccer, swimming, jumprope....

I have never been so injured or lazy that I have let too much time lapse between runs. I have always been able to lace up my shoes and go pound the pavement for at least a mile or two without stopping. I'm not a fast runner, but I was fairly consistent.

So now that I've taken a hiatus from running for the last 9 months, I am for sure starting from scratch and I'm not sure how to begin! I would consider this hiatus along the lines of a injury just so everyone knows. It had nothing to do with laziness. :)

So how does one start from scratch? I guess we'll find out.

My current and future running buddies. Aren't they cute??

PS- I'm thinking of trying the Insanity workouts. Any feedback on those? Recommendations on other workout videos?

6 weeks of Little Miss

2 days old

3 weeks old

one month old

5 weeks old in her blessing gown

6 1/2 weeks old and smiling up a storm!

Since she is spending more time out of her harness, she is kicking up a storm! She loves to kick on the floor and in the bath. She is super smiley when she wakes up in the morning, and right after she has eaten or had a diaper change. She smiles when I smile at her, and when we sing, or dance or talk to her. She is starting to coo and gurgle a bit, and I swear I'm hearing the beginnings of a giggle. She is going to be quite the little comedian!

Hip Dysplasia

I mentioned before that the day after Little Miss was born, her pediatrician referred us to an orthopedic specialist who diagnosed her with developmental hip dysplasia. The doc gave us the Pavlik Harness, which helps keep her legs apart, and the femur head in the socket so that it can develop properly as she grows.  She had to wear this "23 hours a day" to help keep her legs in a hip-healthy position. I put that in quotations because that thing has to be hand washed and drip dried, and lets be honest, that takes WAY more than an hour. 

Here she is in her little harness. We thought it looked a bit like plain lederhosen...

Last week she had her hip ultrasound, and even I was able to tell the difference in her hip socket from 6 weeks ago. Her hips are developing well, and now she just has to wear the harness "when she sleeps". This time is supposed to include nap time, but lets be honest, she doesn't exactly go down for a 3 hour nap yet. Anywho, we are pleased to report that she just has another 6 weeks of harness-wear during sleep time, then she is in the clear!

It is such a relief to know that this won't be a permanent problem for her. Because of this tiny inconvenience now, we are able to save her aches and pains and surgery later in life. I'm glad the harness was available, and that the diagnosis was made quickly.

What really surprised me is how many people recognized the harness, and knew what it was for because they knew someone whose child had hip dysplasia. I had only ever heard of it discussed in the context of dogs before, so I didn't even know how common it was as a human disability.

Labor Part 3: The Final 12 hours, including delivery!

Told you it was a long process... Here are Part 1 and Part 2 if you missed them. 

Midnight - 4 am: The blood pressure cuff automatically takes my BP every 15 minutes, but I'm so tired I barely notice. Erin came in to flip me from one side to the other at about 1:30, and says  she'll check my progress at 4 am. I am amused that I can use my left leg, but can't feel a darn thing or move my right leg to save my life. I happily fall back asleep.

4 am: I'm awake when Erin comes in but Alex is still asleep. I'm excitedly nervous. I tell her I could felt something different, but no urge to push yet. She is surprised to find that my water hasn't broken, and she breaks it in order to check my progress. I fist pump when she tells me I'm a 9. Woot! We get another fist pump when she says Little Miss is facing the right direction for delivery now. Woot Woot!

5 am: I am complete (-ly dilated and thinned), Erin reports that the Doc said I can keep resting and let my contractions keep working to bring Little Miss down so I don't have to push so long. Win.

7am: Erin is off shift again... and I get another nurse that I've seen before. I wonder if they are getting sick of me. It is time to push!

7:20 am: As strange as it may seem for some people, I decide I want a mirror to help me see her delivery. It was a great motivator for me to see how much progress I was making while I pushed. It also helped me to know that I was pushing the right way. Doc arrives sometime soon after this. He and the nurse do a great job coaching me and cracking jokes while I rest.

And I can't forget how wonderful Alex was during this process. He got to lift my dead-weight right leg, and accidentally dropped it once. I was still numb enough that it was just funny and didn't give me pins and needles. He was a fantastic coach, and partner. I couldn't have done it without him!

8:15 am: Ok, no one tells you that even with an epidural, pushing hurts! I should have guessed, but I was surprised near the end when I could feel... stretching.

8:32 am: After an hour and a half of pushing, Little Miss arrives in to world with a mighty wail. She turns pink right away and they lay her on a towel on my chest. I am in such shock that it takes me a moment to realize that I should help dry her off. She is wailing away, and just beautiful. 

Alex was a great photographer. He was busy snapping pictures away while the doctor was tending to me. I remember at one point I was talking to the doctor and asking him questions about what he was doing and my recovery when it kind of dawned on me that that was MY child on the other side of the room wailing, and I should be asking about her too. So strange!

She weighed in at a healthy 8 pounds 11 ounces, 20 3/4 inches long. And to think I was promised she'd be around seven and a half pounds... Don't worry, I got to give that Doc a hard time a couple days later. :)

I wrote about some of my thoughts on motherhood in this post, so I won't repeat myself too much. But I fell in love with this Little Miss pretty quick. 

Labor Part 2: The NEXT 12 hours

Sorry for such a long intermission everyone, turns out taking care of babies takes up a lot of the day! Go figure. Not to mention we spent a wonderful week on Lake Michigan with the in-laws, but who knows if I will ever write about that. If not, it was beautiful and I would love to go back. Like Newport Beach CA beautiful. Amazing!

Here is Part 1 if you missed it, and Part 3 to look forward to!

1 pm- 19 hours before delivery: I request pitocin, deciding it is the lesser of two evils at this point. I am ready to have a baby dagnabit! Doc checks me, still a 2. Double Dagnabit!

1-3 pm: I am strapped to contraction and fetal monitors full time now, but I can still get up and walk around if I feel like it. I decide to hang out in my room on the exercise ball for a change of scenery from the halls. Pitocin dosage is upped every half-hour. Contractions are getting closer together and significantly stronger.

3:15 pm: Contractions are 3-4 minutes apart, and significantly more intense than this morning. Alex is helping me breath and concentrate, and basically being a fantastic coach. I am tired, and in pain, and I want to know what my progress is so I can determine if I am ready for an epidural or other pain meds. I am told that the Doc is with an ER patient at the moment, but will be up as soon as he can to check me. I grit my teeth and bear it.

4:15 pm or thereabouts: We call the nurse in to see where the doctor is because I HURT. Contractions are now 2-3 minutes apart and I don't have the strength to stand up for them anymore. I sit on the edge of the bed because thats all I can do. Nurse says the Doc is still in the ER. I request an epidural, but she can't get it because the doctor hasn't ordered it yet. She offers an IV narcotic to take the edge off. I decline, knowing that I never wanted that during labor, because I didn't want to risk pushing while I'm high as a kite, nor do I want to risk it being in Little Miss's system when she is born. Since i have no idea how dilated I am, I'm not willing to risk it. 

5:00 pm: If I had the energy, I would be cursing my absentee Doc and whoever had tied him up in the ER. How dare they keep him busy while I'm laboring?? (Don't worry, I didn't actually have the spare brain power to think these thoughts at the time). Contractions are 1 1/2 minutes apart, and I am in agony. Alex is a champ at keeping me calm. The nurse decreases my dosage from 8 mu to 6 mu because Little Miss's heart rate is staying elevated.

5:30 pm: Doc and Nurse come in together, Little Miss's HR is still staying a bit too high. Doc takes me off pitocin and checks me. Laying on my back is the worst agony I have ever been in. I can barely catch my breath. He tells me I am still dilated to 2 cm, and that is the nail in the coffin. I burst into tears, and can't stop. I request an epidural, but he says they shouldn't give it to me yet because I reacted so strongly to the pitocin. He had originally wanted to get me up to 20 mu of pitocin, but that route clearly wasn't going to work. He wants to see what my body is doing on its own. He speaks to the nurse, and I only catch snatches of the conversation since I am hysterical, but he is suggesting the narcotic to the nurse. She tells him I had already declined it. I don't let her explain why at this point because the point is moot. I may have literally said at this point "Anything! Give me the drugs!" just like in all those cheesy movies. Whatever I said, it worked and sweet relief followed. I got the narcotics, was able to calm myself down and finally get some sleep. I had gotten about 3 hours of terrible quality sleep in the last 36 hours at that point. Alex slept too.

7:45 pm: The narcotics are starting to wear off enough for me to be curious about my contractions. They are back to 6 minutes apart, and are moderately painful. I ask to be checked again to see if I have progressed "enough" for an epidural. Nurse says the doc is with another patient. I'm no dummy, I request another round of narcotics and happily soar off for another 2 hours.

8:30 pm- 12 hours before delivery: My 4th nurse of the stay comes in to introduce herself. Actually she is the nurse who set my IV the morning before, so she knows me. Her name is Erin and she is awesome. Erin tells me that she was instructed "not to starve the woman" by the doctor, and that I should order dinner before the kitchen closes. I am again told I could eat steak if I wanted to. I am back to blessing the doctor for his liberality, we order food, and go back to sleep until it arrives.

9:30 pm: We've eaten dinner and I am starting to be aware of my contractions again. They are 5-6 minutes apart. As I come off the narcotics, Alex is helping me concentrate through the contractions again. They are more painful than those the morning I checked in, but much less painful than those on pitocin. Sometime around 10:30 I request to have to Doc check my progress as soon as he is able so that I can get the epidural. Even after a few hours of narcotic-facilitated sleep, I am FAR too exhausted to deal with 2 minute contractions again.

11:30 pm: Doc arrives and checks me. We all breathe a sigh of relief when he tells me I'm 4 cm dilated, but I get a bit nervous when he says Little Miss is facing sideways. No wonder things were taking so long! I request an epidural, but express my concern that it will slow things down again. Doc tells me that an epidural is not going to be a mistake at this point, and it may even speed things up. By 11:45 the anesthesiologist arrives. One minute I'm breathing though a contraction. He gives me the lidocane, puts the catheter in my back, and asks me how this next contraction feels. We say unanimously "what contraction?" and laugh. I feel fantastic, and fall asleep as soon as he leaves.

Still to be continued...