Please welcome Elise Maya!

She was born at 11:02 a.m. Saturday, 2/27/10 and weighed 6 lbs, 12 oz. and was 19 3/4 inches long. The labor was 9 1/2 hours total, including just 13 minutes of pushing. I got my all natural waterbirth I wanted, and I couldn't have asked for a better experience. We got home today. Breastfeeding has been going amazing -- she was latched on right after she was born and continued to nurse for an hour-and-a-half. She's been going strong and I am feeding on demand. Upon discharge from the hospital, she had only lost one ounce since birth, which is awesome!

I will be typing up the birth story once things settle down and I'll also get some pics up.

I have a feeling the baby is coming this weekend

Maybe even tomorrow. I hope so!

Steady as she goes!

I am still hanging in there. Last night, I had contractions that were 2-3, sometimes 5 minutes apart starting at about 7:00 and lasting until 1:30 a.m. They didn't hurt and felt like the wavelike contractions I remember from last time. I so thought they were leading to something, but about an hour after I laid down in bed, they went away.

I'm at work today and have felt a few, but am hoping they pick up soon. I am ready to get this show on the road!

Happy 31st birthday to my hubby today. :)

39w6d appointment update

Well, I'm dilated to a 2 and not too effaced, but that's okay because I know things can change in no time!

She asked me if I have been feeling the baby move, and I told her it's been definitely way less. She decided to put me on the electronic fetal monitoring (you know, the same two bands they use when you're in labor) for 20 minutes. At first she was sleeping (the heartrate was steady at 120) and then they woke her up. The heart rate went up and down as it was supposed to, more like a rollercoaster with her movement. Needless to say, she passed the test. I even got to see some small contractions on the screen!

I have been feeling contractions ever since, but nothing that hurts and there's no pattern.

My midwife said I should have my baby on Friday because that's when she's working next. I am okay with any of the next three days because my aunt (L & D RN) works tomorrow and Thursday.

I scheduled my appointment for next week, but hopefully I don't have to go!

Still here! T minus one.

:)

I'm still here!

Two days to go until my estimated date of delivery. I hope I don't have to be at work this whole week, though! Whenever you're ready, Baby Girl . . .

Fluffy mail!

Behold! My cloth diaper stash has arrived. These are Knickernappies, which are a one-size snap diaper that goes from 8-40 lbs.


Colors are violet, butter, turquoise, chocolate, and raspberry.

When I go into labor . . .

my blog most likely will not be updated. I don't think there's internet access and I'm pretty sure the laptop will be at home with my hubby (this whole childcare thing is getting complicated -- since we don't know when I'll go into labor, we don't know who will be available to watch Andrew, so while we hope my hubby can be there, we're still not sure!)

Anyway, if you are Facebook friends with me, there is a friend of mine who is going to update (I have a "labor buddy" on the mommy board I am on and she will be posting my updates on that forum, and then another friend asked if it was okay if she re-posted those on my Facebook, so I told her that was fine). I have some great friends, and 99% of you are online! :)

If you want to be added as a friend, just respond to this post with your e-mail, or e-mail me, and I will add you after I verify you are not some serial killer stalker just trying to get in my business.

And wow, SIX DAYS!!! Give or take. This is crazy!

It's been awhile: this is what's new with Andrew!

Okay, so this is a horrible pic of me (my face really isn't puffy, but I was half-blinking when the self-timer went off) but Andrew looks cute!

This is Andrew with his favorite toy -- the Leapfrog Alphapet Explorer!

Here he is looking punk in Daddy's hat. :) Don't mind the Packers outfit -- we actually don't like football in our house, but my family is full of Packer fans who think they need to adorn my son in green and gold!

And last, a pic of my beautiful boy.

So what's new with us? We've been working on potty training! Andrew will now either tell us when he has to go or we put him on the toilet and he goes. Saturday was a milestone for me because he went pee for me for the first time (and succeeded to go three more times). Before, he would freak and say, "down! down!" and would not stay on the seat. We do diaper-free nakeybottoms in our house because we have no carpeting, so if an accident should happen, it's easy to clean up. He only went once in the house this weekend and that was yesterday when he decided to pee in his room. He did come out and tell me, though, so that's good. We want to get him good in the current set-up and then hopefully be able to put him down for naps and eventually bedtime without a diaper (urgh, this part scares me because it seems like it's going to be hard to do. Right now, his morning diaper is SOGGY).

We've also been watching the Olympics as a family and have become quite addicted. This is good because it keeps my mind from wandering to the inevitable -- when will Baby arrive?

We've hit the single digits!

Only nine days to go. How can this be?

Pants-off appointment

Hey, I had to come up with a catchy title. I am 1-2 cm dilated but still pretty thick, as my midwife put it. She could feel the head. She said I should have the baby on Saturday because that's the next time she's on-call.

I have gained another 2 lbs. (yuck), the fundal height was 36-37 cm, and the heartbeat sounded great, as always.

Fourteen days to go, give or take a week!

I am really exhausted

I need to start going to bed earlier. This 12:30 a.m. stuff is starting to wear me down. Blah.

I'm going to do cloth again!

Yep! I'm officially crazy! :) I really miss it. I started cloth when Andrew was 9 months old (see pic above -- this was Andrew's debut in cloth) and continued for 7 months. I only quit because I was sick of coming home from work to three (on average) poopy diapers that DH wouldn't even flip the poo into the toilet from. Also, DH had unhooked the hot water from our washer as a "green-saving" feature and I think that wasn't helping as far as stink problems (I tried stripping my diapers and using more and less detergent -- basically everything that is suggested; needless to say, even people who wash in hot water get stink issues).

I sold my entire stash of BumGenius 3.0 one size diapers (24) and was happy to get half of what I paid for them.

A few weeks ago, I started thinking about cloth again -- I have a lot of friends who do it -- and I figured hey, why not? I'll start cloth when Baby E is big enough to fit into them (generally speaking, around 8 lbs. -- I'll use Pampers Swaddlers for the early days because those were the only NB diapers I liked for Andrew -- the others all leaked).

Anyway, this time I am going with a one-size snap diaper, because I wasn't a huge fan of the Velcro (correct term is "applix" since velcro is a brand name, but WTH -- I don't care -- it's Velcro). Even if I always made sure the Velcro was on the laundry tabs when I threw them in the dryer, I would still get diaper chains. I should mention that from June through October, I hung my stash on the line every time because that's what I prefer, but in the winter, it's an impossible feat in Wisconsin.

So, this time I ordered 24 of the Knickernappies because I asked around and figured out what would work for skinnier babies (skinny thighs and little butts, like Andrew's -- I am betting Baby E will also be that way, considering that's how I was as a baby/toddler). They are such CUTE diapers! Here's my friend's store: Cotton Tails If you scroll down, you will see all the colors. She has 10% off the Knickernappies (only through Friday this week, if you are interested) and I also got another 10% off because it was my first order and I am a member of a certain mommy board. I am a fan of the one-size diapers because they grow with the baby (8 - 40 lbs.) and will go from newborn to potty training. If you multiply out the cost of disposables and compare it to cloth, cloth is a better deal. And they're so cute! I ordered 6 different colors -- 4 of each in the chocolate, butter, raspberry, spring green, turquoise, and violet. So, my total cost is $388.58. Of course, there is the cost of laundering the diapers, but because I have a high efficiency washer, it is honestly pennies per load. Pretty awesome.

DH is going to help out a lot more this time with the diapers (all he needs to do is flick the poo in the toilet -- I will rinse the diapers when I get home from work), and he will also re-hook up the hot water (if I remember correctly, the process is cold pre-rinse, hot wash, followed by a 2nd cold rinse).

Now the fun part begins: waiting for my fluffy mail!

37 week appointment!

Woohoo! BP is great at 108/70!

Woohoo! I lost 1 lb. from last time (realistically, I think this is just because I went to my appt. first thing in the morning but shut-up -- let me celebrate!)

Woohoo! Heartbeat sounded good and my fundal height is measuring at 35 cm!

Woohoo! Everything looks great from the ultrasound last week; they even had the high-risk doc. take a gander and she's just a small baby.

Woohoo! She confirmed that the hospital did lift their visiting restrictions (put in place for the H1N1 which has all but disappeared now), so Andrew and any other family members and friends can visit in the hospital. It was just one support person plus grandparents before, so that's a plus!

Boo! I am GBS positive! (Yet again; I was last time, too.) I didn't think I'd be able to escape that one.

Woohoo! Since I don't want to end on a negative, the midwife said I look awesome and that I will be a great candidate for the waterbirth. She just said that when I know I am in labor, even if it's early, to call them and let them know so they can reserve one of the birthing tub suites for me.

This is my 36 week pic from last Wednesday.


Let's compare from my starting pic at 3 weeks, 6 days, shall we? :)