The big kids

It's so amazing to see all 3 kids interact now. Both Anya and Baz are so in love with Lorelei- not an iota of jealousy to be seen! I love this pic of Anya as she enters the room to meet L for the first time:

And here where she meets her little sister...you can see the excitement in her eyes!

She's maintained that excitement still and asks to hold L every chance she gets. She loves just looking at her face and hands and feet.

Baz keeps repeating "mine baby" over and over. He announces every time she opens her eyes or burps, etc very proudly. He isn't as into holding her, but loves to pat her head or touch her toes.

It really warms my heart to see how happy they all are.

C-section thoughts

I really have to hand it to c-section mommies....of course, I knew it wasn't easy, but holy cow is this hard!! I'm sure a bit of it is that I know what a vag delivery is and was prepared for that so this is a huge curveball. During the pregnancy, I was able to get through the last few weeks by reminding myself how good it feels to push that kid out and feel great immediately. Had I been prepared to spend some time recovering from just giving birth, this may have felt a little better. I certainly don't get why anyone would CHOOSE a section over a vag birth- this is hardly more convenient and most definitely much more painful. Anyway, I am happy that Lorelei is here safe and sound and my delivery and recovery have been uneventful.

I am very glad that I pushed and pushed to make sure I was given Toradol immediately postop (I had to ask so many nurses whether I had or not that I felt like a pest). It turns out that I wasn't given it, so if I hadn't asked, I would have been much worse off that night! I also found a little miracle cure for some temporary relief- ice packs.....the PP nurse looked at me like I had 6 heads when I asked for an ice-pack pad that's intended to cool your hoo-ha after a vag delivery. Boy howdy, did that ice soothe my belly, though! Even now, I feel so good when I sit down with a bag of ice on my lap- it really works! I also find that maintaining my NSAIDS makes a huge difference- I missed a dose of Motrin while in the hospital and felt so much worse until I got my next dose. Maybe now my patients will listen to me when I tell them to take their meds regularly if they want to feel better!

I have a feeling this post is going to come in several installments....I don't get much time to just sit and type right now!

First I want to comment on what a joy Lorelei is.....of course, she's only 4 days old, but so far she's been a breeze (once she came out, that is!). Eats and sleeps and only the occasional cry here and there. Yes, I have BTDT, so I know that this could very well be her adjusting to her new environment and she could be very different in a few days or weeks, but for now I'm enjoying it.

Lorelei's birth:

Early on Sept 23rd (Tues), George and headed to the hospital for my induction. L had already hung in there for 2-3 weeks longer than her sibs and I easily dilated to 3 in the office, so it was reasonable that I would have an easy induction. Add to it that I was huge and uncomfortable and practically unable to sleep in any position at that point. We did the usual routine- check in at admitting, head over to L&D, get hooked up to the monitors, etc, etc. Dr. T came in right away and broke my water and started he pit- game on!!!

At first, it was easy- peasy.....mild contrax but nothing I couldn't handle. George and I broke out the cards and played a game of 500 rummy (which I won, despite the contrax- go me!!!!). W had a laugh over the fact that the last time we played cards was when in labor with Baz, and I think the time before that it was waiting for Anya! After a little more time, the contrax became more and more painful, so I asked for my epidural.

In the meantime.....Maureen had a nice time with the big kids and got Anya ready and off to school with no problem. She then headed over to the mall with Baz, who directed her to the projection game in the middle of the mall- his fave! He also scored a "Nemo" animated screen for their room. I was just pleased that Anya didn't argue going to school and fight Nana with getting dressed, etc.

Epidural time......it went in fine, but shortly afterward, my BP crashed and the ever-present puke monster showed back up. Thankfully, Dr. C was right there to give me some epinephrine to fight off the puke and bring my BP back and we were good again. However, this is where my uterus and cervix stopped cooperating. Afterward, we found out that L's head was down, but turned to the side. As a result, she couldn't make her way into the birth canal and despite being on the max dosage of Pit, my contrax never became strong and I couldn't dialate past 5-6cms. George and I could hear the OB consulting with her partner and trying to come up with other options, but when the terms "bleeding out" and "hysterectomy" came into play, we knew it was time for a section. (I didn't hear most of this, but I could tell from her face that I was headed for a section.)

Once the decision was made, I was hustled off to the OR, puking all the time. I also knew the situation was a bit more complicated because Dr. B came over to assist, despite an office of patients. Once I managed to get onto the OR table (again, stopping every few seconds to puke), Lorelei made a quick appearance and clearly was happy and healthy. Thankfully, my uterus cooperated from then on and the rest of the procedure went smoothly!

George went off with L to see her getting bathed and share the news with everyone. The big sibs were over the moon at this point. They both wore their big sis and bro shirts (you can see the pics on their site) and couldn't wait to meet their new sis. They were able to see her in the nursery and Anya was allowed to come see me for a few minutes. After a bit, they went off to have dinner and go to bed since I wasn't going to my room for a while and Lorelei needed to be in the nursery for a bit.

I was in recovery for an hour or two (pretty groggy at this point, so I had no concept of time) and was able to rest a bit. I had no pain then, but couldn't stop shivering for anything. The only bad thing at this point was that my epidural was so good that it numbed my arms, so when Lorelei was brought over to me, I couldn't even hold her. George helped out by holding her up to me, but it was so strange to not be able to hold my baby.

I think I was back to my room by 8 or so and very pleased to see that the other bed was empty (it turns out Maureen helped me out with that- thanks Maureen!). By then, my arms were back to life so I could transfer to my bed and start my recovery. My epi was still in, but I was able to make it through the night with just the maintenance dose.

A few hours later, the nursery brough Lorelei to me and I could finally hold my babe. She latched right on and nursed like a champ and I finally felt like I was back on track. The morning was a little rough as I learned what recovering from belly surgery is. The epi came out, but my BP was still a bit low, so I had a lovely bout of puking after taking a bit of my breakfast. THAT is not fun- barfing only a few hours after your gut has been cut open- owie!!! Luckily, it was just once and I was able to eat by lunch, which was a huge relief.

So those are the main highlights of Lorelei's birth- definitely not what I expected, but the end result was- a beautiful and healthy baby.

1st PP shower - heaven!

1st PP shower - heaven!

Lorelei Dawn

So here's our newest addition: 8 lbs, 11 oz., 20 inches:




And here's some video of her chattering away at one minute old:

Epi in ...5 cm ...waiting...

Epi in ...5 cm ...waiting...

Water is broken ...pit started

Water is broken ...pit started ... waiting now ...

12 hours to go.......

So here I sit feeling this creature squirming and poking inside me and wonder what she'll look like. Of course, every pregnancy has to end someday, but knowing exactly when it's coming is kinda weird. Very helpful when it comes to planning and childcare, etc, but still weird. It's a little bittersweet, too....barring any sort of BC failure, this will be our last pregnancy so this is my last night to be pg ever. Granted, I'm more excited now to meet our new babe and have my body back, but I do know that they day will come that I will actually miss being pregnant. For right now, I'm just going to worry about getting through labor and delivery tomorrow! And getting my DH back....for the past month, he's been on pins and needles expecting the kid to come any second. I'll be so happy when he can just calm down and relax a bit!

Anyway, I'll try to mobile blog tomorrow- if I can't use my laptop, I'll be able to post a pic or two and short updates from my phone. Stay tuned!!!

music (aka senic)

George has long been working at teaching Anya about his taste in music. This kinda backfired when he tried to incorporate her love for NBX with his love for Alice Cooper and played her "Sick Things". He thought she's be bored and hate it, but she LOVED it. Yeah, great....here's our beautiful little 3 year old girl trying to sing about sick things a la Alice...... Well, we finally moved on past that and now he's got another musical taste to entice. We've also had a little more "family time" in the van lately to try to save gas when we can so the kids can enjoy daddy's ipod. As a result, Baz is rapidly becoming a Rush fan. I can definitely live with that and it's soooooo cute to hear him ask "Play Rush please Daddy". He's also taken a liking to Kiss, but I'm not sure where that came from....George has some Kiss, but never was a big fan...I think it's just because they look funny. Oh, and Baz also asks for Alice Cooper as well, but I don't think he knows any songs in particular....yet.

At least he asks me for Baby Beluga over and over and over......tedious, but I can sing along with that!

Baz blew his nose!

Before I forget, I just want to add that Baz asked to blow his nose tonight and actually followed through!!!! He's been walking around lately with a finger buried deep in his nose- yuck! Both he and Anya are coming down with colds ( just what you want as you're about to bring home a newborn), but as I was putting him down tonight I noticed that he was trying to blow his nose (sans tissue of course). So I got up and grabbed a tissue and sure enough- he blew like a champ!!! That makes life so much better- I hate it when they are struggling to breathe and I know that the nose sucker is going to be a battle. One less thing I have to do for him- yay!!!!

Anya's cast

Anya has been doing fantastic with her cast- it really doesn't seem to slow her down one bit. She's the cool kid in class since nobody else has had a cast (yeah, lovely.....) and they all lined up to sign it. She gets to use sidewalk chalk at recess and it sounds like most of the kids want to draw with her rather than play on the playground. She's also gotten special jobs during gym class, so she hasn't complained about missing anything yet.

Her school had their "back to school picnic" yesterday and the kids had a BLAST. Carter now has some competition....she hooked up with a little boy who rides her bus almost as soon as we arrived and they spent the entire time there running around holding hands. She did play with other kids, but her new BF was always by her side. He seems to be cute and sweet just like Carter, so I do have to applaud her choice in friends!

Baz is still insisting that Anya (and all of the other kids at kindergarten) have taken his turn on the bus and at school- lol! He doesn't get too upset about it, but it really is funny to hear him say it! I do enjoy the time he and I have while Anya is at school- he's such a cute and sweet little boy. He often just comes up to me and gives me a big hug and kiss- melts my heart! I really hope this next babe is fairly easygoing so I can split my time between them and give him as much attention as possible. His favorite phrase now is "wanna play wif me?" and I want to say "sure" as much as I possibly can!

Preparation

Of course, as my EDD has been approaching, we've been physically prepping for a baby around the house, but as the reality of her arrival/eviction approaches, I'm focusing more on the person that's going to be joining our family soon. I think pregnancy makes me feel so crappy that I forget about the end result and jsut work on making it through each day. Now that I know that I have a little over 2 more days to be pregnant, it's so much more tolerable..... As I sit here watching my belly jump and twist as this kid wiggles around, I'm trying to imagine what our little "Ladybug" will look and act like. I'm also trying to imprint what our family is like now since I know that after she comes, it'll be practically impossible to remember what life was like before her birth. She's beenby FAR the most active baby in utero- so much so that she actually hurts me when she moves and kicks. (Right now I'm hoping she can kick in the right place and break my water, but that's another story and it hasn't happened yet, so I'm not counting on that!). I'm not sure what sort of personality that will translate to since Anya was the next active and Baz the least and now he's the most crazy. Anya was definitely a tougher infant, so that doesn't bode well, but I'm just not going to worry about it.

The kids seems eager to meet and greet their new sibling....except that Baz keeps insisting that the baby is a boy- over and over and over. I'm sure he'll adjust eventually, though! We rearranged the carseats today.....after the first failed attempt to install Anya's seat in the 3rd row (she puked the entire ride home from NJ when I picked her up from my parents), I tried to put Baz's seat there yesterday. Due to the stupid setup of the seats in our van, I can't get the seat in properly, so that won't work. After a bit of discussion, we put Anya's seat in the back and for now they will take turns sitting in each seat- luckily, they're close enough in torso length that they can switch- yay!!! So far, Anya hasn't gotten sick, but we've only taken a couple fairly short trips and haven't turned on the DVD player either. Here's hoping it works!

I've been feeling some more early labor signs today, which is encouraging....loss of MP all day and stronger contrax. We walked around the mall quite a bit and that definitely got things going, but since we've been home it's calmed down. I also have an increase in the lower back pain, which is very similar to how I felt before my water broke with Anya, but who knows where that will go too. I have no idea if anything will happen between now and Tues, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did (or doesn't). Tues would be nice so we can plan everything and because it's the start of Libra (oh, how I'd love a libra kid), but tonight, Sun, or Mon would be nice so I can be done and she can be here! Looks like we just have to wait and see!

5 days or less!!!!

So I had my 39 week appt today and was diagnosed with "3rd baby symdrome". Not really a syndrome, but just a stubborn kiddo. Anyway, my cervix made no change on its own, but the doc stretched it to 3 cm- wahoo!!! Even better was that I didn't feel a thing! The doc seems to think I'll go into labor on my own over the weekend (why I don't know and I'm not putting money on it), but if I don't, I'm scheduled for an eviction on Tuesday. Although I'm a little nervous about it since my body clearly isn't warming itself up for labor, so there's a chance that I'll end up with a section, it is sooooooo relieving to KNOW when the pg will end. I can start blocking out my office time and just planning the upcoming weeks a little, which has been hard so far. If only I knew whether she'll come over the weekend.......

Now the waiting continues......

So there I am a day before 39 weeks....a milestone for me!!! At this point with Anya, I was just about back to work already and this kiddo is still cooking! No progress to report, which of course means nothing. My water could break any second or I could have an induction at 41 weeks. I've got an appt tomorrow so maybe I'll have more info then, but I'm not counting on it. If I'm still just a fingertip dialated, it'll be the same story. I'm not sure when these docs start scheduling inductions, so maybe I'll find out tomorrow. I sure am hoping that labor would just start so I can get this show on the road!

Another sleep trial

Last night Baz slept at Nana and Dada's house and did fantastic....only a couple of quick wake-ups to say "mommy" and then back to sleep. Of course, he was up late, had a very short nap in the car, and had a super-busy day, so there was a good setup. However, he did seem thrilled with Anya's blowup bed, so we're having a go at letting him sleep in that tonight. Here's hoping it works and I'll only have the kid inside me keeping me up tonight!

Made it through the night!

Other than being awakened at 5:30 because the cast was too tight, Anya did great her first night in a cast. And since Baz had a sleepover at Nana and Dada's, mommy got 7 hours of uninterrupted
sleep- yahoo!!! (Actually, there were a couple of potty breaks for me, but what do you expect for 9 months preggo?) Thankfully, the tight cast issue was easily resolved with ice, elevation, and Motrin- whaddayaknow, it really works!!!! Stupid mommy for not putting ice on while she was sleeping, but I really wanted to take advantage of sleeping for once. She's in good spirits this morning- happily watching The Hobbit on the couch with an ice pack on her arm and eager to go to school so her friends can sign her cast.

I know she hasn't thought about the hot tub yet, so I'm hoping that doesn't become an issue for her, but I'm planning on buying a cast protector, so if we can get a good one, MAYBE she can go in....I certainly can't miss 6 weeks of hot tub (at least not before baby girl makes her entrance).

I also noticed today that my countdown box is down to single digits- wowsers!!!! I might actually have to endure an entire pregnancy this time-ack! Actually, besides the excitement with Anya, I felt pretty good yesterday (which doesn't usually happen). If I felt like that for the rest of the pg, I could manage another week if I have to, although I'd certainly prefer sooner rather than later. I think there's supposed to be a full moon tonight and there's an old wives' tale about babies being born during full moons......who knows??????

A trip to the hospital.....

But not to have the baby.....Anya took a spill today and landed right on her arm. Poor kiddo cried so hard and so long that we knew it was more than just a bruise. Unfortunately, we were right and she broke her arm right in the middle. Poor kid just couldn't stop crying but didn't want to leave the fair. We managed to convince her and get her to the van to calm down a little and get her to the ER. Luckily, Baz was very cooperative and just went with the flow (thank God- it would have been so much worse if we were fighting with him at the same time).

Here she is:

The ER was actually quite easy (for us- not for the rest of the masses waiting). I'm not sure if it's because both of us are on staff there or that the orthopod happened to already be there casting another little girl's arm (I think this is the real reason they sped us through), but we were in and out in an hour and a half! Thankfully, Anya wasn't upset at all about having a cast on her arm and was thrilled to pick pink! Here's hoping everything goes smoothly at school an we'll be golden!

Another cast for another kid...anya's

Another cast for another kid...anya's arm this time. more when we get home.

10 days to go......

Contrary to George's belief, this kid clearly was not coming out early as her brother and sister did. Thankfully, I didn't ever believe or count on that, so I'm not surprised or upset by it. Of course, I'm COMPLETELY ready to have this kid out and have my body back, but if I have to wait another week or two, I think I'm up for that challenge. This is now the longest I've ever been pregnant, so now I just have to hope she comes out before her due date.....after that, I might just get a little cranky! I am a little concerned about her activity level....she's by FAR the most active kid in utero, which does not bode well for her future performance. Yes, I am quite used to sleep deprivation and sheer exhaustion from chasing toddlers, but I certainly don't ENJOY those parts of my life. Here's hoping she is expending her nervous energy while inside me and she'll be a calm and quiet infant and toddler!

As for the state of my cervix- for the past two weeks, I'm about a fingertip dialated. This is not much in the way of progress but it also doesn't really mean a whole lot. Particularly with later pregnancies, women go from no change at all to full-blown labor very quickly. I'm just hoping that I have enough time between the start of real labor and the intense pain to get to the hospital and get an epidural. The handful of painful contractions I've had already are definitely not fun and I have zero interest in an unmedicated birth.

Here's hoping Baby Girl E decides to make her appearance sooner rather than later!

Baz

As much as I'm so ready to be done with this pregnancy, I am really enjoying the alone time I'm having with Baz on my days off. While Anya is at school, it's just the two of us and I'm trying to make the most of it. We play in the hot tub for a bit and run any errands we have. It's sooooo much easier with one kid along!

Lately he's been into his Darth Vader beanbag chair....when he's watching tv, he plops down on it with his sippy cup. At night, he brings it into our room and when he's done sleeping in our bed, he lays down on it on the floor! He's also been singing more and more....loves nursery rhymes and sings along as I sing. It's sooooo cute.

His language is progressing very well....besides adding more and more words, he's including all the pronouns and adjectives into his sentences. He's also learning to identify and use letters and numbers

First week done

Anya has now completed her first full week of school and she still loves it- yay!!!! I knew she'd enjoy it, but I thought she might have a little trouble adjusting to such a long day every day, but she barely batted an eye. After our orientation with the teacher, it's clear that the day is structured very well to keep them interested and allow them some "down time" so they don't get overloaded.

She did get her first introduction to homework....a packet of sheets to practice writing her first name properly (Capital A, then lowercase nya). Without a struggle, it takes all of 5 minutes to do, but the first few days were rough. Now that she's gotten used to it, I think we've started a good routine of getting homework done after a short playtime when she gets home. WHo knows how long this will last!

Anya has also made many friends at school. She's been so pleased that there are more girls than boys in her class this year. Last year, she was one of 3 girls amidst 12 boys. She has made friends with several boys, but most of her playmates are girls now.

We've also noticed lately that she is blossoming into such a cool and fun kid. She's losing much (not all, of course) of the tantruming toddler and becoming more and more helpful and cooperative. She and Baz are playing very well together most of the time and they even work together to clean up their toys.

George has also found a movie companion in Anya. Turns out she loves the Lord of the Rings movies and happily watches them with him. In fact, her current choice for her Halloween costume is Eowyn.... of course, she was up SEVERAL times last night with nightmares after watching a few scary scenes last night, so we might put those movies on hold for now.

Day 2- mostly a success!

It appears that kindergarten is still a hit....Anya is eager to go back tomorrow and Baz is still asking when it's his turn for school! The little stumbles today were when George dropped Anya off in the cafeteria for "early dropoff" and she started with the waterworks and "don't leave me". I guess it isn't as fun being dropped off as it is rumbling off on a bus and she got a little insecure. However, I'm sure as soon as Daddy was gone, she jumped right in with the other kids and played. Luckily, she doesn't have to be dropped off very frequently. She also had an accident, but apparently she didn't get embarrassed, so that was good. She just trotted down to the nurse's office and changed her clothes. I just hope there aren't too many accidents.

Baz had a fun day of Colleen's and then Nana and Dada's house. He was thrilled with his surprise from Daddy- Cars wall decals- so now he can sleep immediately under his favorite cars as he "cuddles" with the 5-10 he brings into bed each night!

More picture parade.....

First day!!!!

Here she is getting dressed for school....I can hardly believe this is my first baby!!!! Of course, she was up and ready to go go GO this morning. No fear or anxiety at all, thank goodness. A little crazy and excited, but all positive energy.










I can't leave Baz out- he was just as excited as Anya was!! In fact, he was the most upset when she got on the bus.....as George and I walked back to the house after waving her off, he kept saying "My turn for school! Anya took MY turn!" Poor little guy, but he got over it pretty quickly when he could go in the house and play with the toys by himself!!!






I've got some more pics, but Baz is bugging me for lunch, so I'll add them later. I wasn't able to get a good pic, but we were able to see Anya's ear-to-ear grin as she waved to us from the bus window. Clearly she was enjoying her bus ride and I only hope that the rest of the day goes just as well.

Now to figure out how to evict this other kiddo......

State of the pregnancy

I'll be 37 weeks tomorrow, which officially marks full-term- yay!!!! The bigger accomplishment is that I've avoided bedrest so far- double yay!!!! George has been convinced that I'm going to pop any second since last week, but I really have no indication that labor is just around the corner yet. Not that that means anything- I had no indication with Anya and she showed up early, so here's hoping I'm wrong, but I'm not going to count on it. As long as I make it to tomorrow morning, I'll be perfectly fine with having this kid. I was able to take Anya for her orientation today and as long as I can put her on the bus tomorrow morning, I'll be happy.

Here's the latest belly shot- it's kinda hard to get a good idea of just how big my belly is since the top is flowy, but you get the general idea. This is from Sunday, so 36w4d:

Ignore the sour look on my face- I was making a goofy smile so George told me to stop smiling. Although I suppose this is how I feel most of the time now anyway!

Baz update

Baz is slowly adapting to having his cast off. Since we removed it, he's never complained of any pain or flinched when we poke or move his foot around, so it seems to be healed. However, after being in a cast for 2 weeks, he's used to walking with his foot turned outward and sort of limping. Each day he's getting better and better about walking more normally- yay!!!!

He's also becoming quite the little boy (as opposed to baby). He's using complete sentences, including pronouns used properly. He now joins in singing bedtime songs with me now- I just love it. He gets specific about which song to sing next and jumps right in. Today he even sat at the piano and accompanied himself singing Twinkle Twinkle LIttle Star.

Kindergarten Orientation

As you can see from the pic I mobile blogged, today was Anya's Kindergarten orientation. First, we rode the bus to school and back. Anya was so excited to finally get to climb up those big steps onto the bus. I was excited when the bus started moving and the bumpiness of the ride almost stirred up some good contractions! The ride was mostly uneventful, except for the part when the bus driver tried to start up our mobile sauna after her brief chat with the kids and parents and the battery was dead. I was just thankful that I had brought along a bottle of water and some goldfish crackers or there may have been some puking involved. Anya's face was priceless when I offered her some goldfish only minutes after the bus driver told the kids they couldn't eat on the bus since she couldn't see them behind the seats and address any choking issues. She actually refused to eat them for fear that she'd get in trouble (WTG Anya!)

After that event, Anya and I had lunch at Wendy's- a big mistake at lunchtime on the last day before school starts. Oh well- I do feel like it brought me a few steps closer to evicting this child. After a quick stop at the shoe store to pick up her new sneakers, we headed over to the school for that part of the orientation. We managed to snag a parking spot in the field past the parking lot so I got another chance to stir up some contractions. Anya walked eagerly into the front door of the school and we headed down to meet her teacher. She happily spoke up and offered her name to her teacher and went to work on the scavenger hunt to locate things around the room. She really didn't interact with any of her classmates, but it was sort of chaotic with so many kids and parents crammed into the room.

All in all, it was a great day- Anya is incredibly excited for her first full day tomorrow and I *think* she'll be just fine. She even told me she wants the baby to come tomorrow after I put her on the bus in the morning. I'd be happy with that scenario too!!! Stay tuned tomorrow for "first day of school" pics.

On the bus!