January 2009 - Recap

Well Nataroo, you survived an entire month with your rookie parents. And likewise, your rookie parents survived an entire month with a newborn.

January 2009 was a month chock full of adjectives - wonderful, scary, sleepy, amazing, breathtaking, heart-breaking, love-filled.

Your dad and I had no idea how we could love someone so much so quickly. Someone with the most beautiful pair of lips, someone who frequently expels the contents of her stomach all over our clothes, someone whose tongue is permanently taking residence outside her mouth, someone who (for the most part) calms down when her rookie parents sing "You Are My Sunshine", someone who could easily take the title of "World's Best Snuggler", someone who gets fairly grumpy when her mom makes her burp during feedings, someone who has single-handedly managed to fill the hearts of numerous people with an astonishing amount of love.

High points:

• Random smiles. We can't wait for you to smile on purpose!
• Your hysterical facial expressions. Seriously - this is why I can't get anything done during the day. I watch you for hours, waiting to see what you'll do next.
• Finally getting the hang of nursing
• Sleeping for four hours in between nighttime feedings. I don't expect this to last, but the few nights it's happened have been wonderful.
• You sleeping on our chests - one of the most peaceful experiences ever.
• Bath time (minus the horrific first bath - you would have though we were bathing you with hydrochloric acid)
• Introducing you to our friends and family. You have no idea how many people love you.
• Making up new songs
• Coming up with all sorts of silly nicknames for you (unfortunately "Natalie" is very far down on our list of names we call you)

Low points:

• The first two days home from the hospital. No need to relive it. It was rough but it didn't last long. And thankfully we never have to go through that again with you.
• You pooping on my hand after giving you a suppository (High point? Me wiping poop on daddy's hand after he laughed at me for getting poop on MY hand. Always remember this: never laugh at someone with poop on her hands.)
• The pain that acid reflux was causing you. Your dad and I have never felt so helpless.
• Your days and nights being mixed up for the first week or so.
• Me going on a dairy-free diet in the hopes that it'll help you not spit up so much (I know this isn't technically a low point, especially if the dairy-free thing helps you ... but seriously. Mommy misses cheese.)
• The first time I took you out by myself.

You made us parents this month. And it's been the best and hardest month of our lives. We couldn't be happier. We could be a little more well-rested (I'm lookin' at you, kid), but we couldn't be happier.

Hugs and smooches,

Mommy & Daddy

Weekly Natalie - Week 4

This is how I found Natalie a few mornings ago. Obviously Lee and I need more practice at this swaddling thing. Or maybe we should market this trendy, one-shouldered swaddle blanket.

We've raised one end of her bassinet to help with the reflux, and except for duct tape, we haven't thought of anything that'll keep her from getting all scrunched at the bottom of her bassinet. You can plainly see from this picture that she's really bothered by it.

Dairy Free

Because Natalie has been spitting up a lot (or at least it looks like a lot to me), I was worried that she wasn't getting enough to eat - that her burp rags held more milk than her stomach. She weighed 8lbs, 13oz last Thursday when I took her into the pediatrician. And I was hoping I could stop by today and get her weighed again, but they charge $55 for a weight check! That's more than my copay for a normal office visit. Insanity.

So I took Natalie to Baptist Hospital to get her weighed at the lactation office. She weighed 8lbs, 15oz. That's on the low end of 'normal' weight gain (1/2oz - 1oz per day) but the scale at Baptist might be calibrated differently than the scale at the pediatrician's office, so this might not be a good judge of appropriate weight gain.

The lactation consultant suggested I cut dairy out of my diet for 10 days to see if that's the cause of her spitting up. There's something in cow's milk that baby stomachs have a hard time digesting. So if in 10 days, she seems better, then we know what the culprit is. My consultant also said that after 10 days, I could slowly add dairy back into my diet, just a pared down version of what I was eating before.

But giving up dairy for 10 whole days? That's gonna be rough. No matter how poor Lee and I might get, we will always have cheese and organic milk (I'm ashamed to admit that I'm a total milk snob). So now I have to think of other mid-morning snacks to eat ... and I have to think of other ways for me to get enough protein.

But if it helps her feel better and helps her to gain weight, I'll do it. I've kinda gotten attached to her over the past 3.5 weeks ...

GERD

Whew. So there's finally a reason why Natalie has been acting so grumpy lately.

She had been cluster feeding earlier this week (from her 2-to-3-week growth spurt) and we just figured that was the reason she was fussier than normal. She was also spitting up more than she usually does, but again, we just thought it was because she was eating more due to cluster feeding.

But almost every time we tried to burp her, she'd have a fit. She wasn't crying her normal baby cries - these sounded like she was in physical pain. It was really heartbreaking.

And it was scary when she'd go completely rigid, from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. She'd plant her feet on our lap, stand straight up, arch her back, and let out some pretty gnarly cries. When she wasn't crying, she was making this horrible hacking sound. We felt so helpless, not being able to comfort her.

I finally called the nurses' line for our pediatrician and she suggested I bring Natalie in for a checkup. I described what was happening to her doctor and she said acid reflux was the most likely cause.

So now we have some medicine to give her twice a day for six months. After six months, babies' digestive systems have usually matured enough to where they don't need the reflux medicine anymore. But even if she still needs it after six months, who cares?

We haven't perfected the art of giving her medicine, but we're getting better. In a few more days, we should be pros.

Already we can see a difference in her. I fed her this morning and she burped afterwards without any crying. Our sweet baby is coming back!!

Weekly Natalie - Week 3

About 5 minutes ago, I made the executive decision to post a weekly picture of Natalie. I'm sure I'll post more than one picture of her each week, but I at least want one weekly picture of her to see how she's grown, and to see how her personality changes over the months and years.

I don't think I took this one last week, but it's one of my favorites.

This is what happens when Natalie's hungry, I'm not quite ready, and Lee has a burning question. Answer? Yes, Natalie will try to nurse from his nose if she's really hungry.

Growth Spurt

Just an FYI to me when we have more children (yes, I put "when" - even though the memories of labor and delivery are still fresh, I can see myself doing it again). or when Natalie goes through this again:

Growth spurts are painful. Maybe not physically (though it very well may be), but emotionally. Natalie has been going through her 2-3 week growth spurt over the past few days and we'll ALL be happy when it's over. She's fussier than normal and she's been nursing like crazy.

I know it's normal and that's what babies do, so it didn't really catch us off guard. But it was still rough not being able to console her.

But thankfully I see our sweet baby returning back to normal. I'd hate to have to ask Baptist Hospital what their return policy is.

(I kid, I kid)

Petunia

There's something that Lee and I recently discovered about Natalie ... maybe this is common among all newborns, but we've certainly never seen it mentioned in any of the baby books we've read.

This child often sounds like a feral pig. (Do I have any experience with feral pigs? No. But her noises sound like how I would imagine a feral pig to sound.)

She grunts, she snorts, she makes very unladylike noises ... especially when she's nursing. It's a bit disconcerting to hear such noises while she's latched on to me.

Does she have a deviated septum? Who knows? All we know is that she could make her own best-seller sound effects CD.

So we've added "Petunia" to Natalie's list of nicknames that Lee and I call her. Porky would be very proud.

Mug Shots

Lee and I are very fortunate to have such talented photographer friends ... many, many hugs to Rae and Nicki

The following images are (c) Rae Leytham Photography

The following images are (c) Nicki Smith Photography

Birth Story

* Disclaimer: I know this is tremendously long. I hope nobody feels obligated to make it to the end. This is more for me to keep a record of how labor and delivery went.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

40 weeks, 5 days ... On New Years Eve, Lee played one last round of golf (9 holes) because he only had to work a half day. That night, we went to dinner with my parents. I wanted to get something spicy in the hopes that would kickstart this labor thing, so we opted for Thai food. I felt okay during dinner, though my mom later mentioned to me that she thought I didn't look well.

I started having pretty regular contractions after we got home. They weren't anything bad, but they were coming pretty consistently at around 9 or 10 minutes apart for a few hours. We were both pretty tired after dinner but ended up staying up and watching Dick Clark's New Years Rockin' Eve (because that's what you do when you're home and in your PJs by 10pm on New Years Eve!). After it was over, we switched over to Channel 3 to watch the pelican drop at Pensacola's Downtown Countdown. And as soon as the pelican dropped, everything changed.

The contractions went from being "Hmm, this is mildly uncomfortable. I think this a contraction." to "Aaah! This had better be the real thing or I'm in serious trouble!" We tried not to get too excited because we didn't want to get our hopes up in case this was false labor. But we did start getting our things together - we finished up packing the hospital bag, we got some snacks together, I made up a batch of LaborAid (pretty disgusting but an absolute lifesaver - a combination of lemon juice, honey, salt, baking soda, crushed calcium tablets, water, and juice), and we both grabbed a shower. The contractions quickly started lasting well over a minute and coming every 4 and 5 minutes. I hadn't had any other signs of labor so we weren't really sure if this was it - but I knew that contractions that close together probably meant something. So we called our doula and our midwife to let them know what was happening. Our midwife said to go to the hospital and our doula said she'd meet us up there.

I was concerned because Lee and I hadn't gone to bed yet. And I'm less than pleasant when I don't get a good night's sleep.

And in my naive vanity, I straightened my hair before we left. Note to self: Self, don't ever waste your time like that again. Labor is hard work. Labor is sweaty work. Labor is not the time where you look back and think "Dang, my hair looked good." Next time, a ponytail of unstraightened hair will suffice.

The contractions were still coming pretty hard during the ride to the hospital but thankfully there wasn't a lot of traffic on the road so we made pretty good time while dodging NYE revellers swerving their way home. I felt like our Bradley classes got me well prepared for how labor would feel. I was ready for a crazy-intense version of the Braxton Hicks contractions I had been feeling for months. Except that's not what I felt.

Apparently GB was in whatever position that causes back labor. And she was also in whatever position that caused my hips to feel like they were being pried apart. I was NOT prepared for that. That unexpected pain made me a tad (okay, a lot) panicky and I quickly forgot all the relaxation techniques I learned in our Bradley classes.

We got checked in really quickly and I immediately got checked for progress. In my mind, I'm thinking "Okay, these contractions have really sucked. I've got to be at LEAST 5 or 6 centimeters, if not more." Ha. The nurse told me I was a "good 2 cm".

Um, what?

I tried to maintain my composure, but inside I was freaking out. How on earth am I supposed to make it through 8 more centimeters of these contractions?

Thankfully my room had a Jacuzzi tub that I could labor in, so I immediately hopped in. The tub helped, though let's be honest - it's not a magic tub, and the contractions still hurt like crazy. It was during this time that I realized just why the epidural was invented. I had planned to have a drug-free delivery, but I was beginning to have second thoughts. Lee got in the tub with me and applied counter-pressure to my hips while our doula applied counter-pressure to my back. Counter-pressure (and having Norah Jones as background music) is a wonderful thing.

The nurse poked her head in and said that my contractions were looking really good (um, thank you?) and wanted to check my progress. Again, in my mind, I was thinking "Okay, these past two hours sucked worse than before, so I KNOW I've made some progress. It can't be physically possible to go through these contractions and NOT make any progress."

And I did make progress.

A whopping 1/2 centimeter.

I immediately burst into tears, looked at Lee, and said that I didn't think I could do this without drugs. Being the most wonderful labor coach on the face of the Earth that he is, he held my face in his hands and told me that yes, in fact, I could do this. He kissed my nose and reminded me to take it one contraction at a time and to not look too far ahead. That God wouldn't put more on me than I could bear. This was something he reminded me of many times that day.

I think by this time, it was around 9am. The nurse called my midwife to update her on my progress, and she said she'd be up there to check on me in a few hours.

I began to feel queasy and told my nurse that I thought I was going to be sick. She said that she'd go get me an IV of anti-nausea medicine. Our doula whispered in my ear that a lot of times, vomiting is a good sign while in labor and that holding it in can slow down labor. I was so glad to hear that. So I told our nurse that I didn't want an IV - that if I could throw up, I'd take that option.

And take that option I did. I quickly said adios to my Thai dinner from the previous night - I felt much, much better after that.

Over the next several hours I alternated between laboring in the tub, laboring in bed (on my side, to get Natalie better centered - worst. laboring. position. ever.), and laboring on the birthing ball (in some ways, better at relieving pain than the tub).

My midwife arrived and checked me. I was prepared for her to give me bad news - that I was at something like 2 3/4 centimeters. Thankfully she said I was at 6cm! I could have kissed her square on the mouth for giving me that news.

I got back into the tub and stayed there for an hour or so. Although I didn't realize it at the time, I think this last tub adventure was my transition period - I was in a very unladylike position in the tub with my head very, very close to the top of the water. To get through each contraction, I would moan "breeeeeeeeathe ... down to the baby" in very low tones. Lee and our doula were both worried that I was going to drown myself (not really), but I always knew how close my face was to the water. I just tried to focus on the ripples ... and not the fact that it felt like my hips were being set on fire.

I continued to have fleeting moments of sheer I-don't-think-I-can-do-this terror, but was always brought out of it by Lee and his kind, supportive words. He wouldn't let me wallow or self-doubt for too long. And for that, I am eternally indebted to him.

At about 1:30, I got checked again. Shock-of-all-shocks, I was already at 10cm. My midwife told me it was time to push. I told her that I didn't feel like I needed to push, so she said I'd just do a 'test push'. I was pumped about pushing since I had heard that pushing was the best feeling - it was a relief and felt great compared to the pains of labor.

Or perhaps not.

Pushing feels great ... for some women. For other women though, pushing absolutely sucks. It's NOT the best feeling, it WASN'T a relief, and it DIDN'T feel great compared to the pains of labor. And I was horrified at this realization. That I would have to endure any amount of this horrible pushing to meet our baby was a very overwhelming feeling.

And because pushing hurt, and because I hadn't slept in many, many hours, I was a bad pusher. I never, ever got the urge to push so I didn't think I was doing it right. I would puuuuuush for 10 seconds and then have to relax and take a breath ... which meant the baby would alllllllllmost come and then retreat. She was like a dang Whack-a-Mole.

I pushed while squatting, I pushed while on my side, I pushed while on all fours - I couldn't really ever find the best position. I eventually stuck with the squatting position, only because that was the one I felt I had the most control over.

Lee was right by my side the whole time, grunting along with me while I pushed. He was a great cheerleader. "Good job, baby! That was an awesome push! You're almost there!" It really helped to drown out some of my negative self-talk. There were a few times I had to focus on his face; he looked at me with all the love and support in the world. I thought that I might not be able to do it, but it wouldn't be because Lee didn't believe in me.

After an hour or so of pushing, instead of 'bearing down', I started to let my air out with each push - I sounded like a deflating balloon (Lee does a great impression of me doing this - feel free to ask him for a demonstration). My midwife kept telling me "Push like you mean it!!" My response? A sobby and blubbery "I don't mean it! I don't know HOW to mean it!"

We got to the point where the baby was right there, ready to make her grand entrance. All the baby needed was me to do 2 or 3 really good, really productive pushes. Unfortunately, at that exact time, I decided that I needed a break after each contraction. I had finally figured out how to push correctly, but it was incredibly exhausting. I thought that the nurses and my midwife would comply with my need to rest.

Ha.

So I, thinking that I was totally sneaky, decided to come up with any lie I could think of that would make the nurses and my midwife be okay with me relaxing after each push.

Me: I'm going to throw up! (I thought this would work because my midwife doesn't 'do' puke.)
* out of nowhere, a little tray for me to throw up in appeared on my chest *

Dang it.

Me: I can't breathe!! (I thought this would work because of, you know, the importance of breathing)
Random Nurse: Well you're talking, so obviously you can breathe!

Dang it again.

Me: My hips hurt!! (I thought this would work because I thought SOMEone would have sympathy)
Random Nurse: Your hips are going to hurt until you push this baby out!

Seriously?

Me: My back hurts!! (Again, I was really fishing for some sympathy)
Random Nurse: Your back is going to hurt until you push this baby out!

At that point, I decided that I hated every single person in the delivery room.

Before 1/1/09, I always thought that I would be able to maintain my composure in the delivery room. I've seen how crazy the women act on "A Baby Story" and I just knew that I could handle it better than they were. Was all the screaming and yelling really necessary?

Answer: Yes. Screaming and yelling helps.

And so does swearing. I vaguely remember letting a few choice four-letter words fly out of my mouth ... but apparently I let out a tad more than a few. Thankfully, Lee said that I wasn't swearing at anyone in the room (I would feel really bad if I did that) - I was just muttering the obscenities to myself.

I finally got a break after one contraction. My midwife said that she could see a head full of hair - and that she (our midwife) was playing with her (the baby's) hair, twirling it around and around. And that it'd be nice if I would just go ahead and push her out so she can see her whole head of hair. That brought me out of my funk and made me laugh.

More pushing.

Shortly after that, our midwife tells Lee to put on a gown and some gloves and deliver his daughter. I was scared since I wanted him by me while I was pushing, but our doula swept in and took his place by my side. She was a wonderful, wonderful addition to my delivery.

I had my eyes scrunched closed while I got through the last few pushes - and the next thing I knew, I opened my eyes and saw Lee pulling out our baby. It was the most amazing moment I have ever experienced. Seeing my husband deliver our daughter was beautiful. Miraculous. Sweet beyond words. He had such a proud look on his face. I had never been more in love with him. I had never been more proud of him.

Lee immediately put the baby on my chest. I had always thought that I wanted the nurses to clean the baby off before they put her on my chest. Freshly-born babies are, um, kind of icky. And slimy. And funny looking. But not our baby. I thought she was the most beautiful thing that God had ever created. I had no concept of her ickiness or slimyness. All I saw was perfection.

Lee and I were laughing and crying, just marveling at what just happened. We looked at each other for what seemed like an eternity. When the cord finally stopped pulsing, Lee cut it, and the nurses took the baby to get cleaned off and weighed.

Natalie Jane Smith arrived at 3:43pm on Thursday, January 1, 2009. She turned out to be the first baby born at Baptist Hospital (she was actually the ONLY baby born at Baptist on the 1st).

She weighed 7lbs, 10oz and was 20 inches long. Her weight has caused some confusion though. We think something was wrong with the scale in the delivery room. The day after she was born, she weighed 7lbs, 15oz. Which is complete silliness since babies hardly ever GAIN weight in the hospital. And even if they do, it's never 5oz. And her discharge papers listed her at 7lbs, 12oz. So we think that she was right around 8lbs when she was born. But according to the birth certificate, she was 7lbs, 10oz.

While all of her stats were being taken, I was getting stitched up. I had a very small tear because Natalie was born with her right hand touching her left shoulder. (Lee said she's very patriotic) Once that was done, I pushed out the placenta (ew - it's crazy how big that thing was).

The nurses had given the baby to Lee for him to get some skin-to-skin bonding in. Apparently babies really like hairy chests. And I just happened to have a hairy-chested husband in the delivery room - what a good coincidence! Lee started laughing and said that Natalie had scooched her way down his chest and was trying to nurse from him. He handed her to me since we wanted to try nursing as soon as possible after she was born. I saw something weird around her mouth - she was so ready to start nursing that she had pulled a few of Lee's chest hairs out with her mouth :)

She latched on like a pro and ate for about 10 minutes. I was so excited! I had heard how hard nursing can be and I had prayed that I would have a good nurser. Unfortunately this turned out to be a case of beginner's luck, as the ease of nursing quickly went downhill over the next few days.

One of the nurses went into the waiting room to share the news with our families. There were about 10 or 11 people total, so we had them come in small groups of 2 or 3 into the delivery room to meet Natalie. It was so, so special to share that moment with them.

The nurse wheeled me into my recovery room around 6pm. She helped me out of bed and into the bathroom. I'm really glad she was there because I got really, really lightheaded. I guess it never occurred to me that I'd be that dizzy, but it makes sense - I had lost a lot of blood! Thankfully the lightheadedness didn't last too long. By late that night, I felt good and even showered by myself.

While I was in the recover room, Lee stayed behind and played Daddy Bear, watching intently through the nursery glass as the nurses gave Natalie her shots and her first bath. My mom and my sister stayed with me in my recovery room; it was really fun for the Bushway gals to hang out for a bit.

Lee and the nurses wheeled Natalie back into my recovery room a few hours later. They had put a little pink bow on her head and wrapped her up burrito-style. She was fast asleep and looked just like a little angel. That moment was one of many moments where I suddenly started crying.

Lee and I wanted to have Natalie in our room with us, especially because I was insistent at becoming an expert breastfeeder - and I wanted to have her close by me whenever she was hungry. The whole 'expert breastfeeder' thing didn't pan out very well, as I was lucky if I could get her to nurse for 3 or 4 minutes at at time. Thankfully that time has increased exponentially - but it was definitely dicey for the first few days.

Around 1am on the morning of the 2nd, two nurses wheeled in our "First Baby of '09' gift into our room. Lee and I were asleep when they came in, so we didn't really comprehend what was happening or what they were bringing us. It wasn't until later that morning that we saw the extent of the gift - a complete travel system (stroller and infant carrier), full of diapers, wipes, a basket of fun stuff from Bath & Body Works for me, crib toys, a swaddle blanket, bibs, spoons, and more. We truly feel God has his hand in this gift ... the crib toys that were part of the gift matched our crib bedding that we already had at home. And God must have known that the infant carrier would come in handy for the first few outings we took because we hadn't felt comfortable using the sling yet (and the car seat we do have isn't the kind that easily pops out of a base - ours stays in the car).

***
There are tons more details that I want to add, but they don't really relate to the whole birth story. I'll just have to be better about posting new updates.

***

In summary, I'm still surprised that I managed to go drug-free. The pain was more than I was expecting. I wonder if she had been face down (and I hadn't had the resulting back labor) if I would have maintained my composure better. I'd like to think so. But regardless, I did it. I did it! The most unathletic, uncoordinated girl in the world managed to endure and finish quite a strenuous athletic event. That blows my mind.

I didn't think it was possible to be any more in love with Lee than I was. But his unfailing support and his unstoppable faith in me throughout both my pregnancy and labor made me fall even more in love with him. I never had any doubts about us as a couple before ... but now I'm even more confident in our ability to work together as a team. I'm so proud of Team Smith.

And I've never been more proud to be Lee's wife. He is the epitome of a doting father. Seeing him with Natalie absolutely melts my heart. He is so patient, so helpful, and so supportive. I am one lucky girl.

And I didn't know I could instantly love someone like I instantly loved Natalie. She's perfect. She's cuddly. She's got yummy feet.

My heart has never felt more full. I have a hard time thinking about her or Lee without tearing up. Even as I write this, I'm getting weepy.

***
God, thank you for blessing our family. Thank you for trusting us to be Natalie's parents. We know she is Yours and we'll do our best to raise her right.

Random Natalie Pictures

(I apologize if anyone is squeamish - I tried to keep the ick-level to a minimum)

All ready to catch Natalie

My baby-catching rockstar

Meeting her for the first time

In total shock as to what just happened ...

Napping with DaddyNatalie thinks she's Number One
(... and rightfully so)

Our "First Baby of 2009" gift from Baptist Hospital

She loved her first bath ... or, you know, not

Her tounge rarely stays in her mouth

The World is Now 7lbs and 10oz Sweeter

Hooray!

Natalie Jane Smith has finally arrived!

Lee and I are quite delirious from a wonderful combination of overwhelming love and sleep deprivation - so I'll have to keep this short.

Short story:

• First bad contraction happened at midnight on New Years Day - just as the pelican in Downtown Pensacola was dropping.
• Got to Baptist Hospital around 3am
• Labored until about 1:30pm
• Pushed for about two hours until she arrived at 3:43pm
• Lee delivered her! It was the sweetest, most wonderful thing ever. Just as Natalie was about to arrive, our midwife said "Lee, get over here and put on this gown and gloves and deliver your daughter!" He wasn't expecting to be able to do it (he and our midwife had been joking about him doing it for a few months), and I'm so glad he was. The look on his face was worth a billion hours of labor.
• She turned out to be the first baby born of 2009 at Baptist Hospital (a mom gave birth at Sacred Heart at around 1am on the 1st - that baby was the first '09 baby born in Pensacola). Baptist Hospital loaded us up with an amazing '1st Baby' present - a stroller, a carseat, diapers and wipes, some yummy bath stuff for me, a few toys (that just happen to be our exact crib bedding pattern), and some other fun baby stuff. 'Blessed' doesn't even begin to describe how we feel.
• Nursing is doubly hard when a baby inheirits her uncoordinated mother's coordination. Poor kiddo.

Stats:

• 1/1/09
• 3:43pm
• 7lbs, 10oz
• 20 inches long
• 14 inch head (Hooray!)
• Head full of dark hair
• Eyes exactly like her daddy
• Long toes exactly like her mommy
• The most beautiful lips God has ever put on a person
• Cuteness level: off the friggin' chart

Here are a few pictures:

Welcome to the world, angel baby.

Thank you, God.

GB Eviction Notice '08 (5 days overdue)

So here's the deal, GB ... you've got approximately 16 hours and 4 minutes to make your debut in order for Mommy and Daddy to be able to claim a nice tax deduction for 2008.

You're part of Team Smith, my dear. And being born in 2008 is how we do things around here. So let's be a team player, shall we?

Perhaps this will sweeten the deal ... Daddy said he'd buy you a pony if you were born today.

GB Eviction Notice '08 (4 days overdue)

My curiosity got the better of me and I decided to get checked at my appointment this morning. I am 90% effaced, dilated 1 cm, and GB is at -1 station. So all of these silly Braxton-Hicks contractions have actually been doing something all along!

I have another appointment in next Tuesday. I'll get an ultrasound so they can check on the level of amniotic fluid, how active GB is, and how her lungs (and other important parts) look. Our midwife said that they'll monitor me for about 20 minutes so they can get a good feel for how GB is doing.

Assuming everything looks fine on the ultrasound and assuming I don't go into labor before next Wednesday, I'll probably be induced that day (or perhaps next Thursday). Next Friday is my 42-week mark and that's when I would get turned over to an OB. I've heard very good things about the OB I'm assigned to, but I've never met him - so I'd rather be induced by my midwife than by someone Lee and I have never met.

Induction is definitely something I'm trying to avoid, but if that's the only way to have the outcome of a healthy baby and a healthy mom, then sign me up! But hopefully we won't get to that point. Our midwife doesn't seem to think so - she's still got her money on GB coming January 5th.

And so we wait ... semi-patiently and over-the-moon with excitement.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Weight gain: +35 lbs. I lost 2 pounds since my last appointment ... it's weird, but I bet it has something to do with my last appoinment being in the afternoon and the one today was early in the morning.

And Lee shaved his mountain-man beard!! I'm ashamed to admit it, but I didn't hate the beard as much as I was thinking I would. He now knows that he is physically capable of growing a full and fairly nice-looking beard. But I'm so glad to have my strictly goatee'd husband back.

GB Eviction Notice '08 (3 days overdue)

So we were hoping to share some exciting news today.

From about 9pm-10:30pm last night, I had fairly regular contractions every 8 to 10 minutes. In our childbirth book, it said to eat, drink some water, take a walk, take a nap, take a shower and see if the contractions are still coming. Since it was so late, I decided not to eat or take a walk - but I did everything else.

I fell asleep pretty easily last night and I wasn't woken up by any contractions - I mean, I'm a champion sleeper, but I doubt even this champion sleeper could sleep her way through labor - and I haven't had any contractions this morning.

So it's nice (?) to meet you, Mr. False Labor. Now please go away and bring your real/active counterpart.

GB Eviction Notice '08 (2 days overdue)

Who's still in my belly and not in my arms?

GB.

Even though she's 2 days late (or 6 days early, if I would only remember what I learned about in birthing class and how the average length of first pregnancies is 41 1/7 week), the lack of baby and the Christmas holidays have allowed Lee and I to spend a lot of one-on-one time together. It's been really nice.

Know what ELSE would be nice?? (*ahem, GB*)

GB Eviction Notice '08 (1 day overdue)

Since GB seems to have inheirited her daddy's sense of being on time, I realize I have time to get some little things taken care of before she arrives - like posting nursery pictures! We're about 90% done (the crib needs a couple more coats of top-coat, the dresser needs knobs, the closet needs a bit more organizing, etc), but I'm really, really happy with the way it turned out.

We decided not to go with a themed nursery ... mainly because I'm cheap and didn't want to spend the kind of money that can go into having a themed room. There's definitely a springy-green-with-a-few-pink-accents thing going on, but I don't think it classifies as a theme.

wall decal above GB's closet, courtesy of her Auntie Karen

changing table (my first Craigslist purchase!)

(yes, that's a gazelle ... and yes, there's a story behind it)

GB's dresser, the super-cute heart pillow that my mom made,

and some super-cute prints that some crafty lady from Etsy made

Lee is so proud of how the dresser turned out after he stained it

It makes my heart happy to see so many books for GB

Love, love how this turned out -

the dandelion wall decal over her crib

(yes, it was a pain to do, but so worth it)

GB Countdown '08 (Due Date!)

EVICTION NOTICE

To: GB Smith

You are hereby given an eviction notice and notice to vacate, on December 26, 2008, the premises owned by Suzanne L. Smith of the state of Florida, which premises are now occupied by you.

The reason for your eviction notice is:

Tenant has occupied the aforementioned premises for 40 weeks and her presence is requested elsewhere.

Dated: December 26, 2008

GB Countdown '08 (1 day left)

Merry Christmas to our friends and family!!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

One of the names we really like is Natalie. It means "born at Christmas" ... but it looks like if we go with that name, we'll have to change it to "ShouldaBeen Natalie" because it doesn't appear that she's coming today.

Lee and I had a really nice, really relaxing day. We slept in a bit, had a really great breakfast (I made blueberry pancakes and Lee fixed eggs and sausage), and took a much needed post-breakfast nap.

I've felt really drowsy all day today, so I haven't been as productive as I was hoping. But it's been nice having such a relaxing and low-key day to spend with Lee.

And GB? Just an FYI: Your eviction notice is going up tomorrow. So I hope you're all packed up and ready to vacate the premises.

GB Countdown '08 (2 days left)

Suze = baby-full.

The past few days have definitely been the most uncomfortable. I'm able to sleep in short bursts (I'm grateful that I can even sleep, what with this massive belly I'm sporting), so the lack of sleep isn't too terrible. It's the hip/knee pain and the amount of energy required to do silly things (getting into/out of my car, getting off the couch, etc) that's wearing on me a little bit.

We're both pretty antsy and can't wait for GB to make her debut, but we're still very much enjoying these last few (hopefully) days as just the two of us.

We spent a lot of time working in GB's room yesterday. Lee finished the last coat of topcoat on the dresser yesterday evening and we loaded it into her room a couple of hours later. We hung some pictures and loaded up her bookshelf (which is full of books that I cannot WAIT to read to her!). I think Lee is putting on the first of three topcoats on the crib tonight.

Side note - I love that Publix employees take your groceries out to your car for you. I know they offer it to everyone, but it was so nice to shop in a clean, organized, quiet store (I'm looking at you, Walmart) and then get my groceries loaded into my car for me! I could have done it myself, but there's never been a time where I wanted someone else to do it for me more.

Merry Christmas Eve!

GB Countdown '08 (3 days left)

*looks down at my bulging belly*

Yep, there's still a baby in there.

We had another appointment today. Thankfully it seems that GB has indeed dropped. I didn't get checked, so I don't know if I've made any progress, but my midwife said that I was measuring (from the top of my pelvis to the top of my uterus) smaller than 39 weeks. Which means that GB has dropped lower into my pelvis. Which means ... hooray!

I was convinced that I was going to go into labor today - only because Lee had an endoscopy scheduled this morning, and I knew it'd be our luck that I would need to go to the hospital but Lee would still be doped up on his drugs from the procedure. So I'd have to drive myself to the hospital.

But thankfully GB held off - and thankfully Lee's endoscopy went well.

And hopefully GB can hold off from coming on Christmas morning since that's the only time that our midwife isn't available. Christmas morning = bad; Christmas afternoon and night = good.

It's hard to believe that it's already Christmas Eve Eve.

GB Countdown '08 (4 days left)

Whose name rhymes with 'snooze' and is still pregnant?

Me.

I spent the day with my mom running errands and shopping for last-minute baby things (washcloths, a crib mattress, a changing table pad). It was a great way to spend my first day of maternity leave.

I seriously love the look on people's faces when they ask me when I'm due and I reply "Friday". Often, it's a look that says "Aaaah! Please don't let your water break all over my shoes!"

Maybe it's weird for someone 4 days away from her due date to be out running errands and visiting with friends, but I felt really good today. It's pretty crazy to think that the next time Lee and I see them, I could very well be un-pregnant. I've almost forgotten what that feels like!

GB Countdown '08 (5 days left)

Raise your hand if you're still pregnant.

*raises hand*

My parents came over tonight and they think I might have dropped, too. Prove them right, GB!

GB Countdown '08 (6 days left)

Today's update: yep, still pregnant.

We had dinner with our cousins tonight and they both think I've dropped a lot since they last saw me. And it might be my imagination, but I think they're right ...

GB Countdown '08 (7 days left)

Now that I'm so close to my due date (how did that happen so quickly?!), I figured I should start writing daily entries to keep our out-of-town friends and family updated on our progress.

We saw our midwife yesterday (12/18/08). I decided to forgo getting checked for progress this time. I hadn't made any progress at our last appointment and got a little bummed out even though I know full well that making progress (or not making progress) really means diddly-squat. So instead of getting my hopes up or getting bummed out unnecessarily, I'll just revel in my ignorance. I'll wait until I go to the hospital to get checked again.

The baby's heartbeat still sounds strong. And even though she's pretty much maxed out the available real estate I've provided, she manages to find room to wiggle and poke. My ankles and feet are channeling Fred Flintstone more and more each day - it's so not cute. My maternity leave starts Monday so it'll be easier for me to keep my feet elevated now that I'll be home during the day.

Our midwife will be out of town this weekend, so GB isn't allowed to come until Monday. (Not that we think she'll be early, but it'll be just our luck that she comes this weekend).

We're working on finishing up the nursery and hope to post some pictures soon. (here's a mental picture: celery green walls, espresso-finished crib and dresser, heirloom rocking chair, general baby cuteness, etc)

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Weight gain: 34 lbs.

BabyHawk

I got a groovy BabyHawk baby carrier in the mail yesterday - it's quite cool, if I do say so myself. Of course I haven't the slightest idea how to use it without getting tangled up in the straps, but thankfully YouTube has several videos about it.

I had a hard time picking out a pattern, so I decided to go with a reversible one so Lee and I could each pick one out.

Thanks, Jess :)

(the cool, hip pattern that Lee chose)

(the cool, slightly girly pattern that I chose)

Good to Know

I learned something new at our appointment yesterday - the fact that I'm not sleeping very well isn't just due to my humongous belly or trips to the bathroom every two or three hours. Our midwife told me that there's some pregnancy hormone that literally changes your sleep cycle. My lovely REM sleep is a thing of the past, and I have that wonderful hormone to thank.

So thanks, hormone, for taking some of the blame off my belly and my bladder.

Hospital Tour

Last night, we went to the hospital orientation at Baptist. There were a bunch of moms who were due in March, April, and May - so perhaps I should have signed us up for it earlier than I did. Lee said it was a good idea for us to do it when we did, so that we won't forget anything (like where to park, where to register, etc). It makes sense.

She told us about a lot of the classes that the hospital offers (breastfeeding, infant care, infant CPR, etc). I think some of those will come in handy. We also got to tour the maternity ward. I really, really liked the look of the L&D rooms. They felt pretty homey (you know, for being a hospital room and all), and not all cold and impersonal like I've seen in other places. The recovery rooms are nice, too. They each have a pull-out sofa and there's room to put an air mattress if the pull-out couch isn't comfortable.

Two of the L&D rooms have Jacuzzi tubs, and they're given out on a first-come first-served basis. Though at our weekly appointment today, our midwife said that she's kicked out politely asked people to switch rooms if they aren't using the Jacuzzi. Since I'm hoping to do at least some of my laboring in the tub, I'm crossing my fingers that we can snag one of those rooms!

She also commented on how swollen my feet/ankles were (they're pretty bad - I'm glad it's cold so I can cover those puppies up in socks!). She told me to drink more water and rest more (she mentioned that I look more tired than I did at my last appointment - which is true). Resting sounds delightful ... the stack of laundry in our closet will just have to wait.

Nervous?

I've been asked quite a few times if I'm nervous ... and I'd be a loon (and a big fat liar) if I said no. I'm very nervous about a lot of things. But one thing I'm not too nervous about is the whole labor and delivery process. I think our Bradley Classes were tremendously helpful in getting both of us prepared for that. Of course, I'm a little nervous about it, but not nearly to the degree I was thinking I would be.

To be honest, I'm more worried about my water breaking while I'm at Walmart. Or work. Or my car. Or anywhere that's NOT home. I'm very happy with our choice to do this completely natural and unscheduled, but not knowing when it'll happen is driving me crazy. It's like knowing someone is going to punch me in the face sometime between now and January 9th, but that's all I know. So I start walking cautiously around corners and looking behind me in the hopes that I'm able to spot the face-puncher before he gets to me. Not that I'm equating going into labor with getting punched in the face, but you know what I mean.

And I'm also nervous about our first day home from the hospital. I'm sure we'll be ready to leave the hospital, but it'll also be scary being away from the 24/7 help of the nurses. Do they realize that Lee and I won't have a single idea of what we're doing? That GB will be left in the care of two amateurs? Poor GB ... I hope you don't mind being our guinea pig for child-rearing.

Unnecessary Worries

36 weeks, 6 days - We started our weekly appointments on 12/4/08 (our midwife told me that I'm now on the Frequent Flyer Program!). Lee had a meeting for work so he couldn't go with me, but our doula was able to come. She hadn't met our midwife before and wanted to introduce herself before we got to the hospital.

We had to wait a while to be seen because right before my appointment, our midwife got called to the hospital for a delivery. It wasn't a big deal, and it gave our doula and me a couple of hours to chat. I'm very glad she'll be there with us. I think her calm and easy-going personality will be a huge help to Lee and me.

I also found out that I don't have Group B Strep - woo hoo! It wouldn't have been a huge deal if I were positive for it, but it's nice to scratch that off my list of things to think/worry about. Now my list only has 599 things on it!

Our midwife also confirmed that GB is still head down. I told her that I swear it feels like she's sideways or completely turned around at times, but she assured me that it probably wasn't the case. At most, GB is probably just rolling from one side to the other (kind of like pivoting on her head). She said that gravity helped to get her head down, and it's not like gravity is suddenly going to stop. In other words, "Stop worrying about that, Suzanne."

She asked how the swelling in my left foot was, and I told her that it still gets pretty swollen at times. She checked to see how bad it was. Thankfully she said it was just normal 3rd trimester swelling and nothing to worry about. My blood pressure is also normal, so that helped to confirm the swelling shouldn't raise any red flags. (Worry List total = 597!)

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Weight gain: 31.2 lbs

Car Seats and Such

There's no turning back now - we are now the proud owners of a car seat and a stroller. At our last appointment, our midwife recommended we go ahead and get a car seat just in case GB decides to grace us with her presence earlier than we had planned. She didn't want Lee to have to make an emergency run to Target to pick up a random car seat just so we could leave the hospital.

So on Friday, we went to Storkland and made our financially-painful-but-so-worth-it-safety-wise purchases. The ladies who work there are so great. They took the car seat out to our car and showed us how to install it. We decided to go with a convertible car seat instead of an infant carrier, so it takes up a bit more room in my backseat. It's not terrible though; my parents were able to fit in the backseat without feeling too much like sardines.

My family and I have always been amused when we see someone pushing an empty stroller - we always want to go up to them and make sure that, yes, they know the stroller is empty and, yes, they know who has their baby ... and not, oh no! I must have left Junior at Starbucks! I wonder if anyone thinks of that when they see me driving around with my empty car seat.

I canNOT believe it's December already. In some ways, I feel super prepared for GB's arrival. In other ways, however, I feel woefully unprepared. I started organizing her clothes and diapers to make sure we have enough of each size (or at least enough of the newborn and 0-3 month sizes). I think we have enough onesies (says the woman with no experience of how often newborns end up needing an outfit change), and I think we're okay on diapers (says the woman with no experience of how often newborns end up needing a diaper change), but I might get a few more just to be sure.

I'm curious to see how this cloth diaper adventure will pan out. We've received plenty of disposal diapers from my baby showers, so we'll definitely have a backup. But hopefully we won't need them. Lee's been so sweet and supportive with my wanting to try cloth - and the diapers are so stinkin' cute - that I really hope we can get the hang of them.

Oh - and Lee's decided not to shave until the baby is born. He hardly ever shaves on Saturdays, but with our long Thanksgiving weekend, he didn't shave on Thursday or Friday either. And on Sunday he had a pretty good stubble going. I was convinced he'd shave before going to church, but he left it. And decided that he wants to take the month of December to see how long it'll grow. I'm not a huge fan of beards, but I'll do my best to support my scruffy, mountain man husband.

So Very Thankful

'Thankful' takes on a whole new meaning this year. We're thankful for the opportunity to be GB's parents ... we're thankful that God chose us to be GB's parents ... we're thankful for our wonderful friends and family who have shown us so much support and love .

I'm eternally thankful for having the most amazing husband ever - I have no doubt that he'll be the most amazing dad ever.

And I'm even thankful for the increasingly painful midnight belly kicks. No matter how bad a day I might be having, those kicks do wonders to snap me back into reality. It's hard to be grumpy when GB is having her own personal dancy party in my belly.

35!

35 weeks down, 35 days left! (And my joints feel like I'm 35x35 years old [give or take 1100 years])

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I'll eventually show this blog to GB (you know, after she can read and stuff) because I think it might be a cool memento for her. So GB, know this - your dad and I cannot WAIT meet you. Hmm ... let me rephrase that. We CAN wait to meet you (because I don't want you to come early if you're not ready to come), but we're so excited we can hardly stand it.

Appointment Update

I had another appointment yesterday (11/17/08). I got tested for Group B Strep and also got checked for any progress. I hadn't made any - which is fine since I'm only 34 weeks. And based on what I've learned from our birthing class and our midwife, knowing your progress (or lack thereof) can sometimes turn out to be a mind game. My midwife said she knew someone who was dilated at 3cm for 6 weeks ... and knows someone else who had made zero progress at her weekly appointment but had her baby that night.

Lee wasn't able to make this appointment with me (something about a job commitment - what nerve!). Our midwife walked in to the exam room and was distraught (not really) over the absense of her comic relief. She recommended that I start drinking red raspberry leaf tea and taking primrose oil - so it's off to Everman's for me!

I've almost made it the point in my pregnancy where my midwife will deliver me. She delivers babies from 35 weeks until 42 weeks. I assume anything before 35 weeks or after 42 weeks would be handled by an OB. It's nice to know that she's not automatically concerned if I go past 40 weeks - I don't want to be induced just because I went a few days past my due date. Though I'm perpetually early and Lee is perpetually late, so maybe it'll average out and she'll come on her due date.

I asked her what signals I should look for that will let us know when it's time to call her. She mentioned the normal stuff (contractions every five minutes which last for one minute that I have a hard time talking or walking through, and continues for one hour). Another clue she wants me to look for is how I respond to Lee. She said that Lee seems like the type to use humor to make me feel better or to ease a stressful situation (she's right). So she said I'll know something major is happening when I find Lee to be un-funny. I told this to Lee and he was highly offended, saying that I'll never be able to find him un-funny. That if me giving birth depends on me thinking he's not funny, I'll be pregnant forever.

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Weight gain: 29.4 lbs

They Did It Again!

To put it mildly, our wedding photographers, Wes and Rae Leytham, are phenomenal. They have an uncanny ability to make two goofballs (ie: Lee and me) look amazing. They must have a special goofball-to-good-looking filter on their camera or something.

Rae shot some maternity pictures for us last week and I think they turned out great. It's nice to know their talent extends to making a pregnant goofball look good.

Here are some favorites. Click on them for a bigger version (all images © Rae Leytham Photography)

I love this shirt. (It says "Pregnancy Support Team")

He's planning on wearing it to the hospital :)

He makes me laugh ...

A little daddy-daughter bonding time

I was only slightly worried about getting run over ...

(I LOVE how this one turned out, Rae!)

The Uncomfortableness

I feel very fortunate that I've had such an uneventful pregnancy. And while it's still uneventful, at around 31 or 32 weeks I finally hit the wall, otherwise known as The Stage of Constant Uncomfortableness (I know, I know - not a word).

I had read how uncomfortable women get in the 3rd trimester, but I guess I didn't know the magnitude of it until it happened to me. I'm not in the "get this kid out of me NOW" stage, but I'm definitely feeling the effects of my body slowly getting ready for the labor and delivery part.

Sleep? Ha! I simply don't think there are enough pillows in the world to help me sleep soundly. Though if I'd stop whining for a second, I'd remember reading that waking up every few hours to go to the bathroom or to rearrange my mass of pillows is really God's way of getting me prepared to wake up every few hours to feed GB. It's pretty amazing to think of it like that. But it's hard to remember that when my hips are yelling at me.

And it's hard when I look to my right and see Lee sleeping soundly. I've had fleeting thoughts of elbowing him in the back to wake him up so he could sympathize with me, but then I think that doing it would be cruel. It doesn't stop me from thinking about doing it, though. (And don't worry - I've mentioned this to him already, so it's not like I'm having these cruel thoughts in secret).

But there's only seven (!) more weeks left. I can totally suck it up and get through this final stretch. (But sometimes I just need to whine.)

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Weight gain: 27.4 lbs

Embracing the Waddle (and other notes to myself)

When I first got pregnant, I told myself "Self, you can certainly make it nine months without adopting the dreaded 'pregnancy waddle'". I naïvely thought the extra weight I would inevitably gain wouldn’t change the way I walk (and didn’t think for a second that it’d change the way I sit!). That I could gain 25+ lbs and somehow expect to be-bop down the road like I’d always done. Ha, I say.

Hey self, listen up! If/When you get pregnant with GB#2, embrace the waddle. Because if being pregnant with GB#2 is anything like being pregnant with GB#1, your hips will hurt like crazy. And adopting the pregnancy waddle makes them hurt a little less. Yes, you may look silly. But suck it up and waddle anyway.

And another thing, self: don’t feel bad about using the handicapped bathroom stalls. Non-handicapped stalls are not pregnant woman-friendly. You practically have to stand on the toilet to open the door so it doesn’t hit your stomach. (Whose dumb idea was it that bathroom stall doors open in instead of out?)

November

November 1st ... so it's very feasible that GB will be born next month. Next month. Next. Month.

(Aaaah!)

Pictures

So I know these aren't really good 'belly' pictures, but it gives a reasonable idea as to how I look now ...

Lee and me at our friend's wedding


My good friend Nicole and me

My sneak-attack kiss

It had to happen sooner or later ...

I was at Walmart trying to find some vitamins, when the guy next to me asks "So when are the twins due?". Ouch.

We ended up having a very pleasant conversation after that, but still. Major ouch.

Knobby Knees

31 weeks, 6 days - Today's really the first day that some of GB's movements have move past the "aww, how sweet" stage and entered the "hey kid, that kinda hurts" stage. Not that I'm complaining - nor do I want the movements to stop. I still love feeling her move around; it's just not quite as cute as it was a month or so ago.

Assuming she's still positioned head down, it's mainly been her incredibly knobby knees (sorry GB - you get that from me) that poke me the most. But knobby knees and all, I love this experience.

Appointment Update

We had another appointment yesterday (10/23/08). We got an ultrasound done - the ultrasound tech wanted to check the baby's lips and/or nose to check for evidence of a cleft palate, and she wanted to check on the baby's spine and head. Thankfully everything checked out fine. And also thankfully, it seems that GB has inherited her mother's head size and not her father's. Woo hoo!

Her heartbeat was a strong and healthy 152 bpm. And she’s already positioned with her head down, so that’s good. She still has room move around and switch positions, but she’ll soon get too big to do that. Hopefully she’ll stay where she is. And she’s face-up, or “sunny-side up”, which helps me to better identify which body parts are poking me at any particular time.

According to her measurements, she weighs 3lbs, 14oz. But our birthing class teacher said that weight estimates from an ultrasound can be off by as much as 4 lbs. So she can either weigh as little as
-2oz or as much as 7lbs, 14 oz. And she’s supposed to gain about ½ lb every week from now on.

I got to experience first-hand why pregnant women shouldn't lie on their backs during the 3rd trimester. During the ultrasound, something hit me like a ton of bricks – it was like a light switch turned on. I started sweating, got light-headed, and felt incredibly nauseous. It was one of the weirdest, most unpleasant feelings I’ve had in a long time. The ultrasound tech noticed that I was fidgeting around and breathing faster, so she quickly had me roll over to my side. And just like that, the light switched turned off. I was lying on my back so long that the weight of my belly was keeping oxygen from getting to all of my oxygen-requiring parts – and I’m sure GB wasn’t happy with it either.

Lee’s mom got to come to the ultrasound, so that was really special. GB just keeps looking cuter and cuter. And we got another confirmation that GB is indeed a “she”. So her closet full of pink and flowery clothes isn’t for naught.

Our midwife said that she'd call the lab where I was typed as having A- blood and explain to them that something isn't quite right over there. Mistyping a pregnant woman's blood is too significant to ignore. I'm just very thankful that I had dontated blood before and remembered that the Blood Center had told me what my type was. I hate to think what could have happened if I hadn't.

We’re meeting with a potential pediatrician next month and we’re meeting with a potential doula next week. She’s one birth away from receiving her doula certification and said she’d be our doula for free since we're helping her get certified. We want to meet with her ahead of time to see if our personalities mesh well. Because let’s be honest: Lee and I are a tad (ahem) wacky. And if someone is going to be in the delivery room with us, he/she needs to be accepting of our ever-present (but nonetheless endearing) wack.

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Weight gain: 23.6 lbs

Happy ...

... significant-birthday-that-shall-remain-nameless to my mom! (aka: Lu)

I love you!

Names

So GB doesn't have a name right now (you know, besides "GB"). Lee and I decided that we'll come to the hospital with a list of 5 or 6 names that we like, and wait until she's born to see what name best fits her.

Lee has joked (or "joked") that he wants to name her Leigh, so that when the first little punk calls and asks to speak to her, Lee will say "Yeah, this is Lee. What do you want? No, no - you've got the right Lee. What do you want?" He's already in full-fledged protective Daddy mode.

Naming a child is a huge decision! You have to take into account a lot of things (if the name rhymes with anything bad, if the initials spell out anything dirty, etc).

Here are the names that we're considering:

• Mallory Jane
• Natalie Jane
• Catherine/Katherine Leigh

I love the name Mallory (even though I'm sure people think of Family Ties or The Babysitter's Club books) - it's my favorite name we've talked about. But the bad part is that in French, it means "unfortunate" or "unlucky". I wonder how mean it would be for us to name our daughter something that means that. Though it does mean "Army counselor" (or something like that) in another language.

Natalie, coincidentally, means "child born at Christmas". But I think the name might be too popular and/or trendy - I don't want her to be one of six Natalies in her class.

Catherine is a great name, too. But I don't know if the "th" in Catherine is too much with the "th" in Smith. What if she has a lisp? [I would want to call her Cate, though]. Lee's concern is that people will call her "Kathy Lee", but I contend that in 10 years, kids won't know who (the famous) Kathy Lee is.

Those are the three that we know of. Then there are a few names that we're throwing around:

• Audrey Leigh
• Nora Jane
• Jillian Leigh
• Kara/Cara Jane

(Jane is Lee's mom's middle name and my aunt's first name - and it's also just a really cute name)

Then again, maybe we haven't even yet come up with what GB's name will be ...

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ps: Happy Birthday, Dad!! I love you :)

Tagged!

I got tagged by my friend Jessica, and I've been instructed to post seven random things about me (or The Adventures of Team Smith). So here goes:

1. Watching Lee with our friends' 2-year-old daughter melts my heart and just confirms that he's going to be an amazing father. I am the luckiest girl in the world.
   
2. I want to learn how to make biscuits ... the real kind - the ones made with shortening, butter, and everything else that's not healthy. I won't make them all the time, but I still want to know how to do it.
   
3. I really love our church. I'm glad Lee and I have found a place where we can grow individually and as a couple. God has done some really amazing things in our lives.
   
4. It upsets me when people tell me they feel sorry for our child because she'll have a birthday close to Christmas. Please don't feel sorry for her! She will be loved, well taken care of, and constantly told her how special she is to us. That's more important than any silly present.
   
5. I'm so glad the weather is cooling off. I'm far less cranky and my hair looks much nicer in the fall.
   
6. Taking off this semester turned out to be a great decision. I can't even imagine how stressed I would be if I had to deal with homework, papers, and tests on top of everything else.
   
7. I love www.etsy.com. So far I've purchased a keychain, a diaper, and three prints for the nursery ... and there's only 412 more things that I want to get.

A Plus!

Woo hoo! No Rhogam shot for me - I got retyped on Tuesday afternoon and my midwife's assistant called me this afternoon to let me know I'm A+. Whew!

I'm so A Plus.

Type Mismatch

I called the Northwest Florida Blood Center and they still maintain that my blood type is A+. The woman I spoke with said they type-check everyone's blood when they donate, so that means they've type-checked my blood type three times (yes, I'm a horrible person for only donating three times) and confirmed that I am A+.

I left a message with my midwife to see if I can re-typed with her to confirm her results. Her records say I'm A-; the Blood Center says I'm A+. I've done some research on the Rhogam shot and I'm not too impressed with the potential side effects or the lack of studies on the effects of Rhogam on a fetus, so I'm praying that my midwife's office's records are wrong. If they're wrong (and I am, in fact, A+), I don't have to worry about the whole Rhogam thing.

And besides, I've really, really liked saying that I'm "A plus". I'd hate to give that up.

Hiccups

It's not at ALL funny when I have the hiccups - but for some reason, it makes me smile to feel GB's hiccups. Is that bad??

Wordle

http://www.wordle.net/ makes me giggle. You type in a website, and it'll spit back out an image containing the most used words on that site. Apparently I say "like" lot. And apparently I say "apparently" a lot.


(click below to see it bigger)

Warm Kool-Aid

28 weeks, 4 days - I had my glucose test done today. I had heard horror stories about how awful the drink was, so I really wasn't looking forward to it. And while yes, it was a tad gnarly and did taste like warm, overly-sweetened orange Kool-Aid, it wasn't the worst thing in the world. The worst part was how I felt afterwards. I'm not used to drinking really sugary drinks, and I got pretty jittery and light-headed. I had to wait an hour and then got my blood drawn. If my levels are high, I'll get a more extensive test for gestational diabetes in two weeks.

I've gained 4 lbs since my appointment 3 weeks ago - grand total: 21.2 lbs.

I think today was 'Training Day' at my midwife's office. There were at least three or four nursing students from Pensacola Christian College (who wear the traditional nurse uniforms from years ago instead of scrubs - they looked so cute!).

One of the student nurses was in the room with us during my appointment. Our midwife spent a lot of time explaining procedures and medical terminology to the student, which was nice because I was able to learn some stuff too. Of course, though, in between being taught by our midwife, the student nurse was blushing and laughing at the comments that Lee was making. Learn a little - get embarrassed a little ... I'd say our student nurse's first day went rather well.

My belly is measuring 27.5cm which is right on track for my being 28 weeks along (1 cm/week). We got to hear GB's heart rate, too. Thanks to the sugar overdose courtesy of the glucose drink, GB's heartrate was really fast. And she was moving around like c-r-a-z-y.

Our midwife told me to start monitoring GB's kicks. I'm supposed to feel her move at least 5 times an hour, twice a day. That shouldn't be a problem - she's a very, very good mover. And shaker.

I also found out that my blood type isn't what I thought it was. I always thought it was A+ (or, "A plus", as I like to call it), but apparently it's A-, which means I'm Rh negative. Lee's blood type is O+, so he's Rh positive. And this has the potential to be a bad thing, so I have to get a shot of this stuff that will trick my body into thinking that the potential "positiveness" of the baby's blood isn't a foreign substance. If we were both positive or both negative, it wouldn't have been a problem. But because I'm one and he's the other, I have to get this shot. And I'll have to get it with every pregnancy. Interesting. (Here's a website that makes sense out of what I just said: http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/rhfactor.html)

Our next job is to pick a pediatrician and set up a tour of Baptist Hospital. And our birthing class teacher mentioned that she has a friend who's trying to get certified as a doula - she just needs to attend one more birth to get her certification. A nice thing is that she wouldn't charge us anything. But I'm wondering if I'd get panicky with extra people in the delivery room. In the grand scheme of things, it's not a huge decision. But we'll still think about it and pray about it to see if it's a good choice for us.

I see our midwife every two weeks now! Way back in May, I thought that December would never get here. And now, here we are, going for a checkup every two weeks. Grow, baby, grow!

Farewell, Innie

Dear Innie Belly Button,

What can I say? It's been nice knowing you, and I do hope you'll eventually come back.

Over the past month or so, you've gotten progressively shallower and shallower. You spent a few weeks almost completely flattened out. Until now. Now it's like you have split into two separate beings, each with its own agenda.

The bottom half? You're still flat and have resisted the urge to turn into an outie. Thank you for that. Except you don't match your counterpart.

Because the top half? Yeah, we've got a problem. Apparently YOU think it's okay to break away from the pack and have a mind of your own. YOU think it's okay to poke out like a turkey timer. Do you two halves know how weird it is to sport a half-innie/half-outie? Very.

If I have to lose my cute innie belly button, couldn't it at least happen all at once? Is that too much to ask? Hey top-half, stop trying to be the hero. Slow down and let bottom-half catch up. And bottom-half, if you're eventually going to become an outie, just do it. Commit!