I'm Ba-Ack!

Greetings, Blogosphere!

I have returned from the land of new-mommyhood and am beginning to resume some of my previous activities, modified of course to accommodate a 2 1/2 month old baby.

Lancelot is, as you have noticed if you read the above sentence, 2 1/2 months old. He is laughing, cooing, holding up his head, and starting to reach for objects, and I am the happiest mommy on the face of the planet.



Then, he'll screw up his face, poke out his lower lip, and start wailing. Then I'm the most frustrated mommy on the face of the planet.

That's what is so interesting about motherhood-- it is the happiest of times, and it is the aggravating-est of times.

Can I get an amen?

Fortunately, I am not alone in my new journey. Damselfly has helped me out a great deal, giving me advice, sharing coffee at Starbucks, and going for walks in our local park. I tell ya, it sure helps to have someone else along with you when you become a new mommy. Kind of like having a workout buddy. Strength in numbers, I say.

She told me that I'm not a bad mother because I forgot to buckle up Lancelot's car seat.

She taught me that nuclear explosive poos which are expelled out the back of the diaper and all over a baby's back are normal and are no reason to call the pediatrician.

She showed me how much babies love gadgets like the Rainforest Jumperoo.

Her little Flybaby and Lancelot are going to grow up to be great friends.



And most of all, she listened to me cry and moan when I thought I just couldn't handle this whole mommy thing, because she had been there, too, and assured me it would pass and that I would be a great mommy.

I don't know if I'm a great mommy, but the crying and moaning has indeed passed.

Hallelujah.

He's here!!

My little Lancelot arrived on Tuesday, November 28th at 6:21 p.m. He was 7 pounds and 14 ounces, and was 21 inches long.

Late Monday night, contractions started. The REAL ones. I decided to go to bed and get as much rest as I could, since I knew I had an ordeal ahead of me! Sleep never came, but I sat in my bathtub, listening to my "slow and sweet" mix on my mp3 player. I also went to the recliner, sat on my birth ball, all sorts of things. I called my doula at 1 am, and she talked me through some of the rougher contractions. I was able to calm myself down and get through a couple more hours.

6 am Tuesday morning, the water breaks. It's not running clear. Lancelot decided to pass meconium in utero, so we rush to the hospital. I was planning on having a water birth, but because of this particular complication, they have to keep me on a fetal heart monitor, so no tub for Guinevere!

7 am Tuesday morning, I'm settled into my room at the hospital. I'm pretty relaxed, considering I've already been in labor for quite some time. I have my husband, my mother, and my doula with me the whole time, and between the three of them, they keep me calm enough so that I don't ask for pain medication until 4 pm.

5 pm Tuesday evening, I've been pushing for 3 hours and little Lancelot is stuck tight. He's not moving down the birth canal. They decide to do a C-Section. While this is quite far from my original plan, I was totally relieved to know that in a matter of an hour or so, I would have my baby!

6 pm Tuesday evening, they take me to the O.R. They give me a spinal, and the pain of the past 18 hours MELTS away. (Had I known how good this was going to be, I SO would have asked for it earlier!! Natural birth, my a**. Ha!)

6:21, my little boy is born! Because of the meconium in the amniotic fluid, the neonatalogist has to see him right away, so I don't see my little baby immediately. Hubby does; he gets to cut the cord. He has our digital camera, so he snaps a picture of the little guy and brings it over to me while they start closing me up. Can you imagine? I see a photograph of my baby before I see the baby!!

About an hour later, they're done sewing me up and the spinal is wearing off. I go back to the recovery room where I get to hold my baby at last. He is the most beautiful thing I have ever looked at in my whole life. Until this moment, I had no idea what love was.

Tomorrow, Lancelot will be 2 weeks old! He is a very good baby, not terribly fussy, and sleeps like the dead. Yes, he wakes up every 2-3 hours for food and a poop, but other than that, nothing in the world will wake up this child unless he WANTS to be awake! This causes some problems, but I have to admit it's making the adjustment home much easier.

We're off to a doctor appointment now- a pediatric cardiologist- his pediatrician heard a heart murmur at his first well-baby checkup, and wants us to have it checked out. She assures us that it's quite normal in newborns to have this, but I'm still a little nervous!

Have a great day, everyone!

Random Acts of Kindness

While I often moan and groan about how rude people can be to pregnant women, I have often experienced random acts of kindness from strangers.

For example, I was walking across my college campus last week for the one class I'm taking this semester, and a young college-guy actually held open a door for me. Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles! Usually when I trek across Acadamia, I seem to disappear-- which is odd, considering my increased size. Generally, the college campus is the one place I could count on NOT receiving rude comments, because the general population of a college tends to be frightened by the sight of a pregnant woman, as if I would somehow contaminate them. Anyhoo. For the first time all semester, a young man of which I have no acquaintance saw me and was kind enough to hold open not one but two doors for me! I was simply astounded.

Additionally, I have experienced increased empathy from the baggers at the local supermarket. I shop at Publix, which boasts that "Carryout is a Publix service." How nice. Before I became pregnant, rarely was there a time in which the bagger actually offered to assist me to my car. Now, however, even if I only have three bags, they are always so eager to carry them out for me! So of course I take advantage of it! (I only wish they could help me all the way to my apartment and up the flight of stairs, into my kitchen, and put them away too! lol!)

Another time, (again at the college campus,) I had to park a LOOOOONG way from the building entrance. A young woman saw me, smiled, and said, "They should have parking for expectant mothers up front!" That made me laugh. I thought of the store Babies R Us, which actually DOES-- next the handicapped parking spaces, there are two or three spaces with a sign designating them "Stork Parking: Expectant Mothers Only." I LOVE that! Every parking lot should offer such spaces.

*Smile* I am now 8 days away from my due date!! I'm trying my best to look back at my pregnancy and call up the happiest memories. I would much rather remember the kindnesses I have been shown than the rude comments and unpleasant physical aspects of pregnancy! If anyone wants to share their "happy pregnancy" stories, I'd love to hear them!

When I can't think of a good post title, I'll just call it "Bob."

Pregnancy is just one amazing discovery after another of bizarre and wonderful things one's body is capable of doing.

For as long as I can remember, I have had oily skin. I suffered from wretched acne in high school, which calmed down as I grew up but never completely went away. Then, I became pregnant, and BAM! I looked like a 13-year old again. Gah.

Then came the second trimester. My skin cleared up beautifully, I had never had such a clear complexion. I was loving it!

Now, in the final weeks, my face has dried up and is cracking and peeling like the desert floor. If I squint when I look in the mirror, I can see tumbleweeds traveling across my face, and I hear the theme from Rawhide in my head. Also, my back is now covered in pimples. What on earth??!! Pimples on my BACK?

It seems to me that my body just can't decide which parts of it want to be oily and which parts want to be dry. Although I suppose if I'm going to have zits, I would much rather have them on my back where no one can see them.

Thankfully, I find myself amused by my body's antics. I only have a couple more weeks of weirdness, and then my body should return to its previous state. Hopefully!

In other news, my friend is coming over today to decorate our nursery. She is a professional interior decorator, and her baby gift to us is for her to come make a beautiful room for our little baby! I'm so excited. I'm going to go take a "before" picture, and when she's done I'll take an "after" picture and show the miracles she has wrought.

I hope everyone has a lovely day!

Dilation, Effacement, and The Waiting Game

It seems like I'm always hearing the Jeopardy! theme song in my head these days. I feel like I'm watching the grass grow, or the paint dry.

It's the Waiting Game. I am now just past 37 weeks, and according to my doctor, my cervix is beginning to open up and thin out (in other words, "dilation" and "effacement" have begun!) so things could get exciting any day now! Every time I have a Braxton-Hicks contraction, I'm willing it to be productive, to open things up a little bit more. (Or, to "dilate" and "efface" a little bit more! Don't you just love all the big medical words??!!) The Doc says the more work gets done through Braxton Hicks, the less I have to do while in labor-- and that sure sounds good to me!

Today, I haven't had many Braxton-Hicks. Pooie. Nothing getting accomplished down there today. (In other words, no dilation or effacement for me today!) I guess my cervix is taking a day off. How nice for my cervix. I suppose it's saving its strength for the next session of grueling dilation and effacement. It is resting up, preparing for its next feat of athletic endurance and prowess, as it completely changes from its current physical state.

Imagine what it must be like for the poor dear. For nine months, there it has been, closing off the uterus, protecting dear little Lancelot. Now, it is being asked to stretch far beyond its current shape and size, and on TOP of all that, to thin out a whole bunch, too! (How many of us can expand and thin out simultaneously??!! I sure can't! Kudos to cervixes everywhere! By the way- what IS the proper way to pluralize the word "cervix?")

Well, dear readers, I'm off to enjoy a lovely Italian dinner with some friends. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!


ps- for any of you readers who are ALSO playing the waiting game, I'm sending wide-open, thinned-out cervix-y thoughts your way!!

Things to Smile About

Today I thought I would compose a list of things that have caused me to smile in these last few weeks. These are things that would not normally be spectacularly wonderful, but being 36 weeks pregnant, these things have become nearly miraculous. Enjoy!

1. Last night, I slept 4 1/2 hours straight without waking up to go to the bathroom.

2. I actually got through an evening at church without anyone commenting on the size of my belly.

3. Feeling giddy and excited from ordering a car seat base, as though I was actually ordering, say, a high definition television , or hundreds of dollars worth of my favorite candles.

4. Sugar-free ice cream

5. Laying in bed reading all afternoon while DH built shelves for the nursery.

6. Setting up a diaper-changing station in my bedroom. Again, it made me giddy. Why? Why should the equivalent of a toilet sitting out in my bedroom be a happy thing? Well, it was.

7. At my last doctor visit, I hadn't gained any weight from the previous visit. Yippee! (Although the previous visit was only a week before. In normal life, one generally wouldn't gain a lot of weight in only a week! lol!)

Heaven...I'm in Heaven...

Do y'all remember a little while ago when I was talking about my middle-of-the-night emotional breakdown? I begged my husband to have "a day off from being pregnant" remember? Well, today I got to do that.

I went for a pre-natal massage today.

'Nuff said.