Michael and Jaspenelle

Baby Update

(Linda weighing Damian.)

Thank you so much for all your beautiful comments! I have a few minutes so I decided to drop by blog land for a bit and let you all know how everything is going.

Damian Michael Stewart was born on June 6th at 10:15pm and as you know, he is 8lbs8oz and 21 inches long. He is sooo perfect (I am sure every new mother says that) and came out screaming! (And has hardly screamed since, hehe!)

He was my first and labor was like nothing I expecting (I am sure that new mothers say that too…) Labor lasted 18.5 hours. We were at the birth center with my midwife for 7.5 of them. We ended up artificially breaking my water almost exactly an hour before Damian was born. I went through transition and pushed him out all in that time, it was very intense.

Michael was sooo wonderful, he was basically pushing on my back the whole time, when I was in bed, on the birthing ball, in the tub, when I was pushing… I didn’t know he had that kind of stamina (he told me that he was telling himself “if she can keep doing it, then I can keep doing this.”) I am amazed my body could do it all naturally, there was a couple times I thought I couldn’t do it but they were brief. I don’t think I couldn’t have done it without Michael’s constant support and encouragment, and Kim’s too! (My mother-in-law attended the birth, I somehow managed not to crush her hand.)

I tore a little (no stitches) so peeing really sucks right now. Breastfeeding is getting a little easier, I have to use nipple shields (I think that is what they are called) because I have flat nipples. I got a hickey on my nipple the first time we tried though (OW!)

We came home a couple hours after he was born (we are only 20 minutes from the birth center.) The midwife is coming over to check me and the baby tomorrow. I going to write a more detailed birth story sometime soon but for now I need some more naptime (and I think the baby needs some boobtime!)

(More photos here. None with me, I am not ready for my post-pregnancy photo debut quite yet.)

I keep getting struck by awe, we have a baby boy!

Damian Michael Stewart

Damian Michael Stewart was born on June 6, 2008 at 10:15pm. He weighed 8lbs, 8oz, and had a length of 21 inches.

Buh-bye Mucus Plug, Hellooo Contractions

If you are squeamish about bodily functions you probably shouldn’t read this. Basically, I might be in labor, but it is sporadic so I am unsure.

Now for details… I got up at 03:30 and had lost my mucus plug. Actually in my half asleep state I thought my water had broken so I woke up Michael. However the “fluid” was sticky mostly clear (ie: mucus not amniotic fluid.) Then I started having contractions and they were regular. 10 minutes apart and a minute long, then 9 minutes apart and a minute long. Then I got the laundry basket full of towels put away.

We started getting excited and the contractions stopped. Hehe, figures! Then they started again (as soon as I tried to get some more sleep) but now are very sporadic, varying from 4 to 12 minutes apart, though they feel a bit more intense. I wouldn’t say they are painful but they certainly force me to focus only on them and if it wasn’t for Michael helping me relax I would be a total tensed up ball.

I am bleeding a little now too, not much, just spotting and some in the mucus which is still coming out, which is normal. Debating calling the midwife or whether Michael will stay home at the moment now.

So maybe this is it, maybe it isn’t. Exciting though.

EDIT: I’ll be updating how stuff is going on my Twitter.

Feline Friday: Junior

This is a little kitten my in-laws had at their home on Memorial Day, she is about 4 weeks old. Her stray mother more or less abandoned her on their porch. I think it took every ounce of me that isn’t completely governed by maternal instinct not to bring her home…

Pregnancy Pet Peeves

I am pregnant and I realize this makes me moody, but that does not discount my emotions. The moodiness makes all my pet peeves glaringly obvious, which in turn makes me notice how ridiculous I can be. Which cam be depressing or funny at times.

One of my friends offered me a rather amusing solution for the annoying people who come up and invade my personal space try to rub my baby belly. Usually this action is met by a rather explosive variety anger on my part (haven’t been arrested yet though.) She sugguested I should just rub their bellies back, with a statement asking about what trimester they are in. It seems to get the point across quite well while keeping me in decently good humor.

Oddly enough, no one ever tries to touch my belly when I am out with Michael, maybe he looks intimidating… I don’t know if he is more protecting me or protecting everyone else from me.

Moving on in the land of pregnancy pet peeves, people who try to guess how I am feeling: you look ready to pop!/getting anxious yet?/feeling uncomfortable? Which feels the same to me as when someone says “Are you sick? Cuz you look like shit!”

I am pregnant, this is natural, yes it has its uncomfortable moments since it feels like I have a beachball full of kittens strapped to my abdomen. If I start feeling not fine, I will say so. I do understand that people worry but the only thing that is really stressing me about pregnancy lately is being assumed to not be anything but okay. Is this unfair of me to not want to answer the questions? Maybe, but I think everyone wants to be treated like their usual self most of the time, not as a curiosity. (This whole paragraph is mostly directed at people who are not family or close friends. Both family and close friends are allowed to touch my tummy as much as they want too.)

Oh and I can’t forget the flood of parenting advice from everyone, particularly those who seem hell bent on it only being their way or the highway. Do they really think I am going to retain anything they are telling me when I can’t even remember what I ate for breakfast? Sometimes they seem to think mocking me is a prefect way of getting their point across. Do they really think saying things like

• “Oh, a natural birth? Haha! You will be screaming for an epidural hun.”
• or “Cloth diapers, you won’t last a day!”

help me in any way shape or form? Mocking is not an effective tactic and I do not have the type of personality that cowers in the face of opposition. Just a warning, eventually Michael will not be around to protect you from me!

So that is pretty much it as far as the pet peeves go. On a whole, there is actually way more positives flying around then this post suggests. The good far far far outweigh the bad, which is a huge blessing, if it wasn’t for those kind words and actions I don’t I could keep the couple scraps of rational thought around when people annoy me.

So huge thank yous should go out to all those people, Michael, Dad, Aunt Vickie, Shannon, Eve, that lady at the garden center, both Aunt Ruths, Aunt Lois, Nana (yes I do get your comments!), AZ, Alex, Kim, Ginanne and a ton of people I am forgetting.

You are all keeping me from being arrested for assault!

Memorial Day Recap

From left to right: Kim, Greg, Ariella, Lydia and Ginanne holding her daughter Emily. (Michael, Jordan and I are off frame.)

On Sunday and Monday, Michael and I were up at my in-laws home in Elk, WA. Ginanne, Jordan and their daughter Emily, also came up, though they camped out down in the apple orchard. After they had set up their camp, we all decided to go down to the orchard and have a campfire. We roasted weenies and made smores (mmm smores!)

I really love Greg and Kim’s property, which is in a pretty densely wooded area near Mount Spokane State Park. It use to mostly border the park but the state recently sold some land to some developers who are changing it into a rural housing development (grrr.) Greg and Kim have a natural pond right by their orchard in the Spring. It is more of a swampy wetland for the rest of the year, but even then, I love all the rushes and wildlife in it (except the gigantic bloodsucking insects.) The orchard is nice too, though it was pretty much abandoned to the forest a long time ago, the apples are of an heirloom variety I believe.

On Monday morning, after gobs of pancakes and strawberries, Kim, Michael and I went for a hike around the property and out onto the land that is being developed. The people developing it have logged it pretty heavily. The lots are going to be quite large (6 or so acres) and the land is currently going for $6000 an acre. It is kind of sad to see the natural area destroyed, especially since it was state park land and I did not know the state could sell land they bought with my tax dollars.

It was really windy on our hike but also really refreshing. I love getting out an walking in nature and walking is really good for me right now, though if I try to go to fast I get Braxton Hicks contractions! I especially love all the wildflowers around this time of year up around Greg and Kim’s property. I’ll be posting several photos of them in my photoblog over the next few days.

After we got back from our hike and swapped photos (some of the photos in my gallery were taken by Kim, they are the ones with date stamps) we had burgers and potato salad and watched Pirates 3 (I honestly don’t get what all the hype is regarding those movies, maybe they just aren’t my thing though.) We normally visit the grave of a soldier at the Elk cemetery on Memorial Day, but Michael and I were so tired by that point that we just came home. (I have a lot more photos from the weekend, especially our hike, here.)

I had my ultrasound today, the baby is head down now and all is well. I am also now at the point I can go into labor without him being considered premature. Only 20 days till my due date!

Ultrasound and Flooding

(My super sexy husband! I took this photo of him yesterday when we went up to make sure the trail we are probably cleaning up next weekend wasn’t under water.)

I had an appointment with my midwife yesterday ans she asked me to get an ultrasound as soon as possible so that we can figure out the baby’s position. Normally Linda can tell how he is positioned by feeling around my belly but the baby is being very mobile and uncooperative lately (wow, didn’t expect him to manifest some of my more “endearing” personality traits so early… hehe!) She thinks he is breach again.

I’m a little concerned, I know Linda would not ask me to get an ultrasound unless she found it absolutely necessary. I am glad she is erring on the side of caution though. If he is breach there are still things we can do to get him back into the head down position, it will just get more difficult to do it as time passes (he is almost out of room in there!) She will deliver breach babies, but naturally there are more risks associated with that kind of delivery which we will have to be carefully considered. She has been very upfront about all that. So anyhow, I am shooting for being able to get an ultrasound early next week, before my next appointment.

I have the most horrendous heartburn today but otherwise I feel okay, still a little moody, but okay. I received a nursing bra via my Amazon Baby Registry today. It didn’t say from who but it is comfortable and really cute too, I love it. Thank you!

After my midwife appointment yesterday, Michael and I drove around to look at the local flooding, the Spokane River is above flood stage right now.

This is the Spokane River downtown near the falls. The river bed normally completely dries up in some places come summer time. No one has seen it this high since 1997 though (which is the last time we had widespread flooding.) The are saying the river will crest sometime this weekend.

I took some footage of the river yesterday as well since photos don’t even begin to capture how fast the river is moving (here are some of the still photos though.) Michael needs to teach me how to get the video from the video camera, to the computer, to the blog, so no video today, hopefully I have one up tomorrow.

Nursing Bra Question

I have a question for mothers who have breastfed, what kind of nursing bra did you use?

I bought a cheap one from Walmart awhile ago (the only type that they had) and it is really uncomfortable now (I loath underwire and I don’t believe it really makes a difference.) I use to be a 36B cup but now I am a 36C. From what I understand when the baby is born my breasts will get even bigger? (Sweet.) My breast tissue is rather tender lately as well and going braless is not an option because I already need to wear breast pads almost all the time.

I don’t have a lot of disposable income so it needs to be reasonably priced. I don’t need it to be cute or lacy (never thought I would be saying that…) I need it to be effective. I put a few different kinds on my Amazon Baby Registry (scroll to the bottom) that look comfortable - has anyone used any of those types? What did you think of them?

Any other suggestions would be welcome too!

The Crib… again

So we got a couple sheets for the crib and guess what? They don’t fit! They are too big.

One of Michael’s coworkers gave us a used crib a few months ago, which is awesome since cribs are expensive! Other then some squeakiness, it seems like a great crib, it has wheels so we can roll it between the nursery and the bedroom if we want. It is called a portable crib but I didn’t realize that meant it was a different size from a “standard” crib (24×38 inches rather 28×52 inches.) So normal crib sheets don’t fit it.

So after the realization, I looked up portable crib sheets. The first ones I found were $30 each! Holy cow, I won’t even spend that much on sheets for myself! Maybe getting a standard crib made more financial sense… I looked again this morning and found portable crib sheets on Amazon for $5 each. Much better!

I still don’t want to order them though.

I know crib sheets are suppose to fit snuggly, but I don’t see why I can’t just tuck the larger sheets under and safety pin them in place on the bottom of the mattress or shorten then with my sewing machine. They fit pretty snuggly that way.

Bleh, I feel like I am stressing way to much about this.

Anyhow, beyond this small crib issue, its all good. I have been entertaining the thought of getting a moses basket for the bedroom but that is just an indulgence on my part. My dad got us a rocking chair (which I need to take a photo of) it is super comfortable. I’m sitting on it at the moment actually.

I think Michael and I are ready for the baby to arrive (though not for a couple more weeks, we want him to be full term!) I am at 35 weeks as of today, which means I am now “heavily pregnant”! That term sounds really funny to me. I think my sense of humor may be becoming more and more bizarre though.

I don’t feel “heavily” pregnant. I feel fantastic most of the time and everyone still seems amazed by how much mobility I have (they haven’t seen me try to get out of the tub…) I take quite a few naps and even more bathroom breaks but I still feel pretty comfortable. I have been having a fair amount of Braxton Hicks contracts but I have read that it pretty normal, my uterus is just getting in shape. They make my back ache though. The baby is still moving lots but I can tell he is running out of room in there. I love the look on Michael’s face when he feels him move.

Anyhow, I suppose I should get back to organizing the nursery. I need to finish putting the last things in my suitcase to take to the birthing center too.

Maybe I will have a cucumber first though…

Countdown

I had my midwife appointment today. I lost a pound since last time but Linda isn’t too concerned since my belly grew. I think I lost the weight doing housework actually. Since I am not on my butt at work all day anymore I have been a lot more active, I have been taking long walks in the park every morning too.

Today was Michael and my last Bradley classes (childbirth class.) We had a potluck (I made that vegan fudge for it.) We started the class 12 weeks ago with eight couples and now we are down to three (the couple in the far left of the photo had their beautiful baby boy two weeks ago but brought him today for us to meet! One other couple also couldn’t make it to this last class.) Jennifer Trunkey was the most amazing teacher, I highly recommend her to anyone local looking for a Bradley teacher. She is amazing.

I am really going to miss class, it was a beautifully supportive environment, though there has been some talk of a reunion a couple months after our babies are born (I think the last one is due in July. I am the next one due!) I really loved the class and feel it has helped Michael and I prepare physically and especially emotionally for labor and beyond.

Today marks 40 days to my due date but I do not feel stressed, I feel prepared and ready to face this upcoming remarkable transition. It is such a wonderful feeling knowing that we are soon going to have a precious beautiful baby.