The Next Day

I guess Lilli has decided it is time to give a little. Last night she slept for 4-5 hours in the bassinet, where she has currently been napping for the last two hours! This morning Daddy and I both got separate REAL smiles and she would copy us when we stuck our tongues out at her. She also seemed to get really excited about petting the kitty (though this may be delusion on our part - I think it's a little early for this kind of respnonse). So we're feeling better today - I just hope it sticks :p

The First Month

It's been sort of rough. We haven't found our rhythm quite yet. The first two weeks were not great and then I had to go back to the hospital for a D&C as I had retained part of my placenta - I then had to have a blood transfusion partly due to the birth and partly due to the D&C. We had wonderful friends visit while we were back in the hospital and a ton of other wonderful friends make us food so we wouldn't need to cook for a while! The last two weeks have had ups and downs. Lilli does not like the bassinet so our sleeping arrangements have been a bit random. She also doesn't like pacifiers so no help there. The swing has been moderately successful but I think she sees it as entertainment more often then some place to fall asleep. Mostly she falls asleep while eating and I fall asleep while holding her before I can try and get her in the bassinet. Most recently the three of us have had colds to deal with - Dan got it worse than Lilli or I but we're all still a bit congested. We're at the point where Dan and I are desperately waiting for that first really big smile at one of us - maybe with some giggles - we're pretty worn down with crying and staring, at this point and are really praying for some genuine happy interaction. We know it will come but we are essentially in the boot camp of parenthood and just trying to get through every day in one, halfway sane, piece.

Birth Story - Finally

So we went in to my prenatal appointment on the 1st. Of course everything looked fine but I hadn't made any further progress and we were trying to avoid induction with pitocin. So since Doc was getting sort of antsy we decided to go ahead and let her strip my membranes and see if that would get the ball rolling - it did, rather dramatically. My water broke in the office and at that point we were basically on our way. We went home to get our things together and relax for a couple hours then headed in to the birth center around 1pm. At that point we just hung out for a few hours hoping that labor would start on its own but nothing was happening. I think around four or five we all agreed it was time to start the pitocin (I don't have any prior experience to base this off of but it wasn't that bad). After a little bit contractions finally started - and this is where everything gets a bit fuzzy. I'm sure I made it through the first few centimeters just fine - we walked, used the tub, used the birth ball but after a while I started throwing up and this was the point that I sorta just blacked out and rode out the storm. Things cleared up for a little bit when I started feeling the need to push (I got the "you need to wait for the doctor to get here speech" - yeah right :p ). For a while the pushing was great but then the contractions started coming right on top of each other and I'd been at it for several hours and was exhausted. But after 23 hours of unmedicated labor - three of which I was pushing - Lilliara was born at 9:40 on 11/2. She wasn't a screamer and the doc was a little worried but she was "fine". We both had fevers for a short time and I was rather anemic (nearly passed out when they were transferring me to recovery) but after an extra day in the hospital we got to come home. Then 2 weeks later I got to go back and have a D&C as we had trouble getting the placenta out - the doc had to remove it manually and apparently some of it got left behind. Hopefully I'll get a clean bill of health at my appointment tomorrow and I can start feeling human again.

On our way...

So we went in for our check up this morning and I figured we may as well let the doc sweep the membranes - it would either work or not - and it ended up breaking my water. So now we're on the clock - we will have a baby by tomorrow at 10am at the absolute latest - but hopefully sooner ;) I haven't started contracting yet but we will be heading in to the hospital in about an hour so we'll see how things go from here... Dan is excited because if she comes by the end of the day then her 1st birthday will be 11/1/11 :D

4 Days Later

So today was the 40 week appointment - although it was four days after the due date. Dr says I'm now about 3 cm and 80% effaced so I've made a little more progress. Because I'm now technically overdue we had to go in for a Non Stress Test (NST) today. Basically I had to lay in a hospital bed with all the monitoring gear on for an hour or so. Baby looked fine on that and the ultrasound machine (apparently, Dan and I couldn't make out much on the ultrasound). Also I am having some little contractions which is good - sort of a pre show kind of deal. We have to go in on Sunday for another NST if baby doesn't come before then. After that we have the 41 week appointment scheduled for Monday if we make it there. So again we are basically just waiting for things to kick into high gear. Hopefully the next update will be from the hospital ;)

Still Waiting

Doctors appointment was uneventful. I finally stopped gaining weight, I haven't dilated or effaced any further so now she's started mentioning what we might do in the coming weeks to get things moving. She wanted to sweep my membranes right there but Dan was at work and there was no way I was going to take that kind of pain by myself, not to mention we aren't due until Sunday so intervention seems a little premature at this point. Next week we start doing non stress tests along with twice weekly appointments. On that note though I wouldn't mind it if she decided to show up on time but I really don't have any indicators of that happening so :p

For those of you who are on the baby alert system I figured I'd let you know the basics of how it will work. Essentially everyone who got a text last night will get another one once real labor starts, you'll then get one when we head into the hospital (which could be many hours apart so just chill ;), and you'll get a third once baby is here with all the vital stats and what not (which again could be many hours from the previous one) we may throw in a couple in between but for the most part these are the messages you'll get. With that you can respond with texts - which we may not be able to respond to depending on what's going on - but we won't be answering any phone calls so please don't try and call. Eventually we'll probably send out another text letting people know when we'll be willing to start answering the phone, but for most that will likely be after we get out of the hospital.

For those of you who didn't get a text, if you can receive them and would like to, just get your number to us - you can send me a message on facebook if need be. Also I'm sure we will be sporadically updating on facebook but that will be less consistent than the text message system.
So with that business out of the way, here's hoping she decides to make her entrance soon.

Dr's updates

So I don't have GBS - this is awesome because it means I can labor at home for a bit as opposed to going to the hospital right away to be put on antibiotics. Also todays visit puts us at 2 cm and 50% effaced so apparently we are making progress - I can't really feel the contractions that are doing the work so that's pleasant. We started a pool at work so if anyone wants to add their two cents you're welcome to :) One of my co-workers thinks I'll be having the baby Thursday but no one has put me past my due date so I guess we'll see.

The Doc seems to think we're a little bit crazy because we don't want dilation updates while in labor but I'll be dealing with other stuff - I think she also sees my lack of impatience as being rather strange. I just figure she'll get here when she's ready. In the meantime I've been getting some stuff done - We got all the diapers washed, folded and put away - clothes and blankets too. We did some cleaning this weekend including the car and now we just need to get the rest of the house in order. I've also started packing the hospital bag including the outfits for Lili to wear home - apparently this is one of the most important things you can pack ;)

That's really all I've got for now - just waiting :D