Clara's Birth Story

Here's the story of Meredith's second sweet girl and her arrival in May of 2010.  I get teary eyed at the part where she kisses Annabelle in the middle of the night before heading to the hospital - that's a moment I'm not looking forward to, myself!  I share Meredith's worries about our other "baby" and how she'll handle the birth of our second, but I remember talking to Meredith after Clara was born and learning that Annabelle was adjusting very well.  Her story gives me hope that all will be well at our house in June!  I also LOVE the way Meredith writes about the misconceptions of the perfect natural birth which can often scare new mothers into believing they'll never bond with their babies.  When she says her girls are well-adjusted and brilliant, she's being modest.  Her girls are the greatest!  Enjoy her second story.

Throughout this pregnancy, my biggest worry was my older daughter and what she would think when I abandoned her for a few days then brought home a new baby. It totally consumed me and I could cry just imagining what having a baby sister was going to do to her. Well, I hate to ruin the ending here, but she was fine. A OK. There was never a single problem with her being sad or crying -- the first time she saw her baby sister, she gave her hugs and kisses and loved her so much!

Okay - so on Mother's Day, I was 37 weeks pregnant and I was ready for the baby. I went to bed that night feeling incredibly restless, and I just had a feeling that it was the night. I even got up and paced around the house for an hour around 11 pm, and when I came back to bed, I brought a bath towel and laid it down under me. The minute I laid down, I felt a "pop" and a trickle. My water had broken! I woke up my husband and he immediately called in to work (yes, at midnight - that's the military for you) and then his mom, who immediately bought a plane ticket to arrive in DC at 7:30 the next morning! I texted my dear neighbor who was in charge of watching my older daughter and let her know that she wouldn't be getting much sleep in her own bed that night! I hopped in the shower, then came downstairs and ate a pbj sandwich. I was definitely having painful contractions. I started trying all the tricks I had read about, and deep low moaning seemed to help the most. Between each contraction, I'd run around making sure everything was set for my other older "baby" and finally got my neighbor to come over. By this point, I was a little out of it - zoned out - and I was using language that is unsuitable for repetition. haha.

I crept upstairs to kiss my daughter in her sleep, knowing that her life was getting ready to be changed forever. She would never again be the sole focus of my attention, from here out, she would be sharing her parents. My heart was aching as I closed her door behind me, hoping that she wouldn't be too confused when she woke up the next morning. (She ended up having a blast and my neighbor, of course, did what any mama would do for her mama friends and spoiled that girl rotten until Grandma got in later that morning).

It was a 30 minute ride to the hospital, but we made it in 20. Car contractions were NO FUN! By the time I was checked in and the nurse checked me at the hospital, I was convinced that I must be on the brink of delivery. Nope. 2 cm. I was ready to settle in for a long morning, but when the nurse took my blood pressure, that all came to a halt. It was HIGH. High enough that even my husband, who wanted me to have a VBAC just as much as I wanted to have one, said, "No way - showtime." When you're giving birth after having a c-section, you don't get a lot of leniency that you might get if you haven't had a c-section. Long story very, very short, my little darling arrived by C-section a little after 6 in the morning. How can I ever forget that shaky little cry? I was definitely less drugged during the procedure than I had been during my previous delivery, but immediately afterwards I begged to be knocked out (being awake during surgery caused me to have panic attacks both times). When I woke up, I was given my baby who was just perfect and tiny. Now that I am a few years out from the experience, I often consider if I have it in me to do it all again, and I'm still not sure how I feel about that, but I definitely wouldn't mind feeling that wave of joy from holding your baby for the first time!

Just as a side note: I have watched "The Business of Being Born" several times. I've read almost every book on the market about pregnancy and birth. While having a c-section was very hard on my body (I still don't feel like I have healed completely), I want to make it clear that it does NOT interfere with your ability to bond with your baby. I still had the moment of euphoria and the "high" that everyone shares in the natural childbirth books - it was just a little delayed! I was also able to exclusively nurse both of my babies until they started cereal at 5 months and they are both healthy, well-adjusted, brilliant kiddos. I think a lot of times in our quest to advocate for natural, drug-free birth (which I still think is the best way to birth), we can scare mothers who aren't able to have that experience. There's a misconception that you won't bond with your baby the "right" way. I humbly disagree. Thanks, Rachael, for the opportunity to tell our story!

I think Clara is about six weeks old in this picture, but it's one of the sweetest Mama/Baby pics I've ever seen!  They are both so beautifully happy, aren't they?  Thanks for sharing, Meredith!

Big Blueberry Madness

Anyone with a toddler will tell you that meal times are a gamble.  I've been having a really REALLY hard time getting Sylvia to eat good food.  I've tried every trick and tip in the book.  I think the biggest frustration is that her tastes and preferences change so quickly that I can't keep up with what she likes.  The only things she consistently eats are a ham sandwich every morning in the car and plain pasta every night for dinner - and I consider these to be HUGE successes.  So, you can imagine my delight when I was able to catch her doing this at our special GO CATS breakfast this morning:

She ate a blueberry waffle!  Hooray!  I was planning to make homemade waffles with her this morning, since UK was playing in the Elite Eight and she got that adorable bib/apron (I belive it's called a bapron?) from Laura yesterday.  I remembered at the last minute that we had some blueberries that were about to go bad, so I picked out the yucky ones and let her sprinkle the good ones on top of the batter before we closed the waffle iron.  The first waffle didn't turn out so pretty, so I started cutting the blueberries in half for the second waffle.  When I went to make the third waffle ALL OF MY BLUEBERRY HALVES WERE GONE out of the bowl!  Sylvia was shoving the last of them into her mouth and mumbling "mmmmm."  Geez Louise!  Who would have thought that all it took to get the girl to eat tiny fruit was to cut it in half and make it even smaller?  These are the things that make me feel like an idiot almost every day.  Anyway, she loved the berries AND the waffles, so our Big Blue celebration started with a bang this morning!

Next on the agenda - snuggle time with Daddy while Mama cleaned the kitchen.  This is why I love the weekends!

After we all got dressed in our finest UK attire, we ran some morning errands, which included going to Kroger.  Last week, I discovered that if we wander around the floral section and pretend to look at flowers, some nice lady will ask Sylvia if she wants a balloon!  Which she always does.  She clutched her balloon all day and wouldn't put it down, but I thought it was appropriate given our Big Blue theme for the day.  Here are a couple cute pics I snapped after lunch. She LOVES her cheerleader outfit from Grammy.  She shouts "Go Cat!" every time she sees it.

We went to Gina and Nick's to watch the game with the Sandfoss clan and Sylvia had a blast running around with "KC Puppy" (as she calls their dog) and Nolan, my cousin's little guy.  Luckily, UK won!  So now we get to play Louisville in the Final Four and OH MY GOODNESS I'm so nervous!  I loved being a Wildcat Family today, but I must say, a small part of me wishes this had happened when I was in college.  I know Lexington is going to be an amazing place to be this week! 

Not only do we have basketball to look forward to next weekend, but it's also the beginning of our SPRING BREAK!!!!  I can't wait to spend a whole week at home doing the things we love to do. 

GO CATS!!

Happy Birthday, Scarlett!

Sylvia and I took a delightful springtime drive to Lexington today for a special birthday party - Scarlett is ONE year old!  Remember all those babies I was hoarding last spring?  They're all about to turn one and today they were all dolled up in their springy best!

Sylvia dove into a cupcake within ten minutes of arriving.  She's her Mama's daughter!

Emily made these adorable little Mad Hatter Hats for the kiddos.  Sylvia tried to wear hers to bed tonight.

Megan with Clover and Emily with Scarlett - these two babies are besties forever!

Audrey and Ellie, chilling together on the baby play mat.

Sylvia, Scarlett, and Clover, checking out the yard.

Audrey and her Daddy, Michael - LOVE.

Double LOVE!

Emily also made this amazing pull string pinata for the li'l uns to open.  It was full of snack bags of goldfish!  Score!!

Scarlett tears into her birthday cupcake - yummers!!

Sylvia and Clover watch the slide show from the couch...

...then enjoy some tickle time.

Scarlett, Clover, and Sylvia.

Pictures like that last one really get me choked up.  Scarlett's mama, Emily, and Clover's mama, Megan, were my best girlfriends and roommates in college.  Sometimes it seems like yesterday that we were painting our kitchen red and dancing on the coffee table.  Then I look at these three girls and I'm all...holy cupcake!  We have KIDS!  And we're allowed to KEEP THEM!  I wish I could go back in time and show this picture to those crazy college girls.  They wouldn't believe how well things turned out.

I wish I had more pictures of Ellie and Audrey, but alas, 'tis the nature of parties and cameras.  Those mamas are awfully special to me, too, and I know they know it!  It was so nice to visit with old friends today and celebrate the awesomeness of Scarlett!  Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

Evan

Well, I was waiting for it to happen, and tonight was the night.  Say what you will about the state of our nation, your politics, your religion, your thoughts on war, peace and everything in between.  When you see a picture of your little brother like this, everything changes.  For me, the Army is a whole new ball game these days.  When I saw this picture of Evan, I stared at it for a good solid five minutes and held back tears.  Then I didn't hold them back anymore, so the best place to go is the blog, right?  Right.

My first reaction was pure and simple pride.  I am SO proud of Evan.  For leaving home.  For making it through basic training.  For going far, far away from his family and his friends to do something he is passionate about.  I can only hope that my own kids will be so lucky as to find something that empowers them the way the Army empowers Evan.

My second reaction was fear.  What's going to happen to him?  Is he okay out there?  Does he know how to do laundry and cook himself dinner?  Does he have enough friends?  Is he being careful with all those GUNS?!  Ack!  So scared.

My third reaction was a sequence of images from my memory that swirled around this picture in my head.  His scrawny ten year old shoulders when I would clench him against my waist.  His crooked tooth grin when he would sit on my lap in the backyard swing set.  His pajama feet hanging off the edge of the bathroom counter when he watched me put my makeup on before going out on a Friday night.  When did he get so big? 

Next I thought about how all of these feelings of pride, fear, and nostalgia are only coming from me because I'm his sister.  Looking at this picture as a sibling is probably nothing compared to looking at it as a parent.  I can't imagine what a picture like this does to the hearts of my dad and my stepmom.  I should call them tonight, but I'd be a blubbering idiot on the phone.  I know Sally reads the blog, so...I'm thinking about you tonight!  And Evan, if you're reading, I LOVE YOU!  And I miss you.  But I am so incredibly happy for you.  Proud is the only word that can put all of this together, I guess.  I'm proud of you.  You're amazing.

A Great Weekend!

I don't know about anyone else, but I could really get used to this amazing weather!  If you told me this morning that the rest of the year would be brutally hot, but we'd get one, prefectly sunny, unbuggy, beautiful spring day like today, I'd take it!  Today (and yesterday, and last weekend) were absolutely magical!  Here's what we've been up to (can you tell I don't mind busting out the camera when the weather gets so gorgeous?):

Last weekend we started a couple of projects - I put together a little cabinet that should have taken me 30 minutes but took all morning because I'm an idiot and can't read directions.  Sylvia had fun, though:

No, Mama, you cannot put the shelves in.  Where else would I play?

Screwdrivers are not for babies!

You may or may not have noticed the brown streaks of dust all over Sylvia's sweatshirt.  That came from the project Sylvain started in the garage, which involved power sanding this old dresser:

So I could take over and start painting it to look like a new dresser!

This is what it looked like after two coats of paint last Saturday.  I did one more coat yesterday and will probably do some sort of clear varnish (or whatever you put on top of painted wood to keep it from getting all scratched up) next weekend.  The picture makes it look more pink than it actually is in real life.  The color is called Safflower from Olympic and I love it so much!  Painting the dresser has been a pain, though.  I keep reminding myself that we bought the dresser for $0.00, so a little work and elbow grease are probably well worth it.

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On Friday, I was off work and I can't even begin to describe how happy I was that I got to spend the whole day with Sylvia!  I've been so busy at work lately, and we've been so busy on weeknights and weekends, that I could tell the Nugget was starting to crave some Mama time (or maybe it was the other way around).  Anyway, it was supposed to be a little rainy but warm, so we braved the weather and headed to THE ZOO!!!  Grammy came along, because she had the day off, too.  It rained on the way there, but once we arrived, the skies cleared and the sun was shining!  It was a great day and I know we'll be spending pretty much ALL summer there, thanks to our passes from Dad and Sally (thanks, guys!).

Watching the penguins

These guys are so cool!

Our buddy's beautiful backside.

A little break at the playgroud, because slides are just as cool as animals, you know.

On our way to the Gorillas.

Our buddy's beautiful front side!  Can you believe how close we got?  I thought we might get pecked to death, but he was perfectly well behaved.

She's sitting still!  Take a picture, quick!

All the other flowers weren't quite blooming yet, but these babies were bold and beautiful!  Sylvia adored them.

I didn't get many pictures of the animals, but Sylvia's favorites were the elephants, monkeys, manatees and polar bears.  In one of our favorite night time books (On The Night You Were Born, by Nancy Tillmann), it describes what the world was doing when "you" were born.  It says, "When the polar bears heard, they danced until dawn!"  then later it says, "Whenever you doubt just how special you are, and you wonder who loves you, how much and how far....just look for the bears asleep at the zoo.  (It's because they've been dancing all night for you!)"  Sure enough, two polar bears were sleeping, so I said that line to Sylvia and she yelled "Nigh-night po-bears!  Lah you!"  

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Yesterday we spent all day working around the house and getting our projects finished.  Sylvain started working on our monster of a yard, Sylvia and I took many walks through the neighborhood, and we did lots of spring cleaning / organizing / ohmygodthebabyscomingwhatarewegonnado.  I had a mild panic attack when I thought about all there is to get done between now and June, but after yesterday and today I feel much better. 

This morning we woke up and dressed up to go to Claire's baptism!  I didn't tell Sylvia we were going to see Claire and *Charlie* until a few minutes before we got there, because once you say Charlie's name, she's going to scream it over and over again until she sees him.  Lesson learned.  They had a blast together at the post-baptism party.

The only boy she's never bitten.  Or girl, for that matter. 

The special girl!  Isn't she the sweetest?

Grammy and Poppy with grandbaby #3!  What pros.

Spinning and spinning and spinning and spinning...

...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand falling.

Sylvia and Callie crawled under this little cart and thought they were really cool.

A post-lunch chocolate snack.

 And there you have it!  Our whirlwind weekends in pictures.  We sat outside on our own deck after supper tonight and for a moment I almost cried because I was so darn happy to be in our own sweet house, looking out on our own yard, playing with our own Nugget and eagerly waiting for the next one to get here.  I imagined what it will be like when the baby is Sylvia's age, and Sylvia is about to turn 4, and we're out playing on the deck together as a family of four!  It was all smiles and hugs this weekend, and I can tell it's going to be a great spring!

Annabelle's Birth Story

I will never, ever forget, for as long as I live, the early morning call from Meredith to tell me her sweet Annabelle had arrived...four weeks early!  Meredith and I began our teaching careers together and became very close in our classrooms across the hall from each other.  She was the first close friend of mine to have a baby, so naturally, I watched her like a hawk during her pregnancy and asked her four hundred gazillion questions, because at that point in my life, I was NOT planning to get pregnant for quite some time, if at all.  Pregnancy was such a mystery to me, but Meredith seemed to glide through it like she'd done it a thousand times.  I was in awe of her (and still am).  The night before Annabelle was born, I sat at my computer for hours making my first baby song CD for Meredith, Justin and Annabelle.  So it was quite a surprise to find out she was born that night!  I was convinced it was because I spent so much time thinking about her.  So, you're welcome, Annabelle.  Glad I could help.

Here's Meredith's story of Annabelle's birth:

At 36 weeks, I was tired, tired, tired. I'd had one of my two baby showers and was going to have the other in a week, but for some reason, I woke up on that Saturday morning with a burning urgency to get everything ready for the baby NOW. I went shopping for a breast pump and got the car seat installed by a "professional". My husband thought I was nuts, but I came home around lunchtime feeling accomplished and ready for a nap. That night after a dinner of leftover Italian sausage rigatoni with tomato white wine cream sauce (yup - I remember the meal), we watched the UK - Florida game and man, oh man, it was one of those games. That was the year that UK struggled and Florida was #1 in the country and we lost at the very last minute. Around 10, I went to bed while my husband studied for a huge pathology exam that was coming up that Monday. As I drifted off to sleep, I started to dream that I had wet the bed. Suddenly, I woke up to discover that I HAD wet the bed - actually, my water had broken! My husband was coming to bed and I said, "Honey - either my water just broke or I wet the bed!" I was actually scared to death because I was only 36 weeks - everyone says that you're supposed to go late with your first baby and I knew that I was exactly 36 weeks - no miscalculations.

I hadn't really gotten around to talking to my doctor about what to do when I was in labor, how to know I was in labor, etc, etc. I called the on call number and the dr told me to come in right away if my water had indeed broken. I wasn't in any pain, so I took one last long shower, ate an apple, double checked my bag...then off we went, to the hospital! I will never forget that feeling on the drive to the hospital, knowing that it was the last time we would be just the two of us!

So we got to the hospital and checked in only to find out that I was only dilated one tiny centimeter. Boo! Although I remember every single detail, I am going to fast forward quite a bit...after getting pitocin through an IV, I dilated to 10 cm, but after over an hour of pushing, it became clear that the baby was stuck. She wouldn't budge and I couldn't move (I had an epidural - after 5 hours of pitocin contractions, I was begging for it), and then to top it off, my blood pressure started to sky rocket and the baby's heart rate was slowing. The doctor told me that I was going to have to have a Cesarean. At first I cried and begged and pleaded, "NO!" After all, I hadn't read any of the books' chapters on C-sections! It wasn't even an option to me. After some more pushing, though, it wasn't up to me - we had to get the baby out. I was prepped for c-section (definitely leaving out all of those details!) and I will always remember the moment in recovery when I was "with it" and got to hold my little baby for the first time (right before she got carted off to the NICU for a few hours). It was such a fun feeling to finally meet the little sweetie who had been kicking me and become my best little buddy...she still is! Sometimes, it still blows my mind that not only did I make and grow a baby, but I am responsible for teaching her so much. It's a pretty awesome responsibility, being a mommy!

...and Meredith is the best.  Here's sweet Annabelle, 5 years old and every bit as beautiful as her mother, but looking just like her daddy.

Stay tuned for another birth story from Meredith - sweet little Clara was born in May of 2010 and she is a DOLL!

This is How I Nest

Two weeks ago, I was dreading the thought of putting together a baby room.  Then something crazy must have happened to my brain this week, and I suddenly got "the itch!"  Good thing, too, because by this time in my last pregnancy we were almost done with Sylvia's AMAZING room.  I think that's why I didn't want to start this one, because there's no way it could be as cute as Sylvia's was.  Oh, but WAIT...it can.  And here's why:

Blue Dusk!

I finally settled on a paint color after picking up tons of paint swatches last weekend.  I decided on Blue Dusk earlier this week, then I spoke to Emily and it turns out this is the exact same color she used in her bedroom - which I already knew I loved - so that sealed the deal.  I think it's pretty crazy that, out of all the "blues" out there, we picked the exact same great color.  I've been pinning lots of blue and coral colored inspiration pics like these...

...and I didn't want to overdo it on the pink, so I decided to go with blue walls, a white chair rail (you know I love my chair rails), and then coral/pink accents in the rest of the room.  I'm working on a little coral project tomorrow (that paint is called Safflower) that I'm really hoping turns out to be as amazing as I think it'll be in my head, so stay tuned!  Also, I loved doing the stripes in Sylvia's old room, so I'm considering taking it a step further with this one and trying my hand at chevron stripes or perhaps a stencil of some sort?  Who knows.  Time will tell!

We woke up early this morning and made a big ol' family trip to Lowe's for our low VOC paint and supplies.  We came home and I got straight to work!  It took me all day, even though it's a small room.  I took lots of breaks to play with Sylvia, switch out the laundry, watch the UK game...that kind of stuff.  And right around 5:30 I finished it up!  I'd post pictures, but it's dark and I want to wait until tomorrow, but just know that as of right now, I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!  I love it so much that I don't even care how badly my hands and arms hurt!  It's really a beautiful color. 

I finished just in time, too, because we had some special guests for dinner tonight.  Ann, Andy, and Cecilia came over to pick up some furniture and knick knacks we had set aside for them, so naturally dinner turned into play time which turned into...

PAJAMA MATTRESS JUMPING SLUMBER PARTY WRESTLING MATCH!

A flying leap.

It was nearly impossible to get a still shot of both of them at the same time, so I gave up.

Sweet Cecilia in her cow jammies!

When the pigtails come out, so does the Wild Woman hairdo!

"Hey Cecilia, lets see who can scream louder, kay?"

Since we had Andy here, I made the burly menfolk move Sylvia's new couch into her room (no, I have not moved out her rocking chair yet, but I will soon, yikes!) and the girls wasted no time climbing on it and squealing and screaming and clapping and jumping and having a dandy old time.  It was great to visit with the Reynolds' and I'm fairly certain that both of these girls will sleep very well tonight!

Tomorrow's little project invloves my Dad's power sander, so....I'm pretty darn excited about it.  Get ready for another post about how awesome (or how terrible) my little project turns out!