Yesterday we decided to get out of the house and wanted to do something fall-ish. We took the baby on her first outing to the Nicasio Valley Farms pumpkin patch to pick out her very first pumpkin. She picked a perfect one that is just a little bigger than she is. Here are some pictures from the farm. It was a beautiful fall day.
Week one with Lois has been really great. We're pretty much tired all the time, but we were expecting that. Most days and nights she sleeps pretty well--that is for at least a few hours at a time. But often she's fussy and can't sleep. We're still just learning how to figure out what's wrong when she cries. Usually she either wants more food or is having digestion troubles. I should be napping while she naps, but instead I've been doing other things. One of those things is finishing her birth announcements.
Before she was born I started making her announcements, but I haven't finished with all of them. They are a little birdie ornament with vintage fabric on one side and felt on the other. On the backside there's a pocket that will hold her picture and a little announcement. I'm hoping people will use them for Christmas ornaments or something else after they get them. Tweet, tweet . . . Lois is here! Now, I just have to figure out which picture to use. This one is pretty cute.
Our little bundle was born yesterday, the 10th at 7:08AM, weighing 6lbs, 13ozs. She's beautiful, and we're so happy she's here. My contractions started the night before at around 6PM. At midnight we called the hospital and went over the timing and strength of my contractions, and the nurse told me to head to the hospital to get checked. When I got there I was 5cm, and the nurse said that bought me a ticket to labor and delivery. Although we brought our hospital bag and were prepared to stay, as soon as she said I was staying, I wanted to go back home! I started to get a little scared of the whole process. I tried to labor naturally until about 3AM but the pain became unbearable for me, so I asked for an epidural when I was close to 7cm. From about 5AM until 6AM they let us rest, and the contractions stayed steady, but after the epidural I didn't feel them. Then the nurse came back at about 6AM to check me and said I was ready to push. I was really surprised how quickly things were moving along. I pushed until 6:45 when the nurse said we'd stop pushing through a few contractions. She said she needed to go get the doctor because the baby's head was crowning. She said she could deliver a baby if she had to but didn't want to! I was thinking, wow, the baby's really about to come out. The doctor came in and asked me to give two sets of 5 pushes instead of the rounds of 10 we had be doing, and out she came! It all seemed to go by so fast. They brought her to the warming table to get cleaned up and checked, and then they brought her over to me. It was love at first sight. Here we are--both tired and teary eyed.
Time's up--at least I'd like for it to be! Today's my due date, but the little bun has yet to arrive. I feel like I'm the timer ticking. Reaching my due date has made me even more anxious than I have been though I know a lot of babies arrive after their due date. My next doctor's appointment is Friday. I'm looking forward to seeing what she'll say. In the meantime, I've been working on the baby's birth announcements. I started them weeks ago but put that project aside to do other things. They're pretty time consuming but still fun to make. Hopefully I'll finish them tomorrow (everything but the text since I won't know the information until she's here). I'll post a picture of one soon. Come on baby girl, come out! Sorry it's been all baby talk around here lately, but that's about all I can think about right now.
The bun is still in the oven, but my doctor said again this week that I'm progressing well (about 3cm dilated this week), and I could go into labor any day now. My back pain is finally gone along with all the other awful symptoms that went along with it. Turns out it must have been acid reflux after all because I tried taking Pepcid and the pain went away, thank God!! It's a miracle worker. I went and bought a huge bottle of it today (it's on my approved list of medicines to take). A few nights the pain was so bad I thought I'd have to go to the emergency room, so I'm incredibly relived it's gone. I hope I don't jinx myself by saying that!
