Overdue Update

This post title may be a bit misleading, considering there isn't much to "update". Things are very much the same now as they were at the time of my last post. That isn't a bad thing, normalcy is certainly something that many families with an infant may crave, and it does feel like we've reached it. The days may be long, but the months feel very short.

Lucy's a relatively easy baby as far as it goes, though she does have her moments. I am continuing to nurse her exclusively, something I didn't do with Mia and I feel proud to be doing this time around. I didn't like nursing Mia, I didn't like feeling like I was the only person that could feed her, but this time around, since I have a good pump, it still feels like I have some flexibility. Besides, not having to wash bottles is a positive point for breast feeding!!

I am taking this Friday and following Monday off of work, and we are headed out of town for one night. It kind of feels like I haven't had a break in ages, and I certainly don't count my maternity leave as a break, considering the difficult recover plus the huge number of family members that were in town. And, with taking Lucy to work with me, I feel like I am constantly juggling my different roles. In the evenings, B will do most of the baby-entertaining which I am absolutely grateful for, but when she fusses, boob is almost always the solution, so I never really do get much of a break. It will be nice not to have to think about work for more than just a weekend and focus on having a nice time with my family, who I have been enjoying immensely recently.

Mia goes back and forth from being so helpful, independent and sweet to being needy, whiny and rebellious, but such is life with an almost 3/4 year old, I suppose. Our after work routine is so predictable, and she'll just do things like refusing to get out of the car, refusing dinner, and lying. So much lying! About nothing atrocious, just things like saying she washed her hands when they are clearly filthy. I've turned into my mother and told her that her tongue would be cut off if she continued to lie (my Mom told me that Jesus would be cutting my tongue off, but I'm leaving that out of this one...), but I was at my wits end in the moment.

Parenting from Work Life

This is going rather well, for the moment. Lucy is pretty easy going during the day. She'll generally fall asleep in her car seat on the way to work, and I'll unbuckle her, but leave her in there (within eyesight) until she wakes up. Most days, she'll stay asleep until 11 or 12, which gives me a solid two or three hours of powering through whatever needs to get taken care of right away. Phone calls, emails, etc. She'll wake up around lunch time, and I'll spend the lunch hour in my office holding her, and engaging with her until the lunchroom has cleared out a bit, and I'll head in there with her in her bouncy chair to eat quickly while she lounges. Sometimes, a co-worker will take her to their desk for a bit. 

After lunch, she'll lounge in her bouncy chair a bit longer, and fall back asleep. To get the longest possible second nap of the day, I'll usually put her in her pack n play, swaddled. She'll usually give me at least another hour, hour and a half of sleep. Once she wakes up from this second nap, it's about 3 o'clock, and I'll wear her around the office. She's usually a bit more fussy for the rest of the day, but by this point, I'm pretty satisfied with what I've been able to accomplish so it's not quite so difficult to juggle. I'll hope for a good feed somewhere between 4 and 4:30, so that she'll be in good shape after 5pm, in her car seat for the ride to pick Mia up, and hopefully, she'll even let me make dinner while sitting in her swing.

Evenings aren't quite as hectic as I initially thought they might be. She's still pretty content to lounge in a bouncy chair or swing while I make dinner and cater to Mia's various snack and juice needs. We don't have any more evening downtime, which is a bummer and I'm hoping we get back to it soon. But for now, evenings are still Lucy's fussy time, where she wavers between wanting to be wide awake, being hungry, and wanting to sleep. At this point, we still will do our best to keep her awake in the evenings until at least 10pm, or we're afraid she'll wake up multiple times over night. She always always wakes up at least once, and the goal is to delay that second wake up until morning.

She's been great, and when she's with me during the day, I marvel at how sweet and laid back she is. Even when she cries, I can still look at her and laugh because I know that whatever is wrong, it's not much. I'm not going to lie though... I do look forward to Brian's days off during the week, when I can go to work without having to juggle anything but my pump. Quite frankly, those pumping breaks feel like exactly that... a break. 

Lucy's 2 Months!

Time feels like it is both rushing by an crawling by at a snail's pace. But mostly, I can't believe little Lucy is already 2 months old!

Lucy's 2 month stats:

Weight: 10 lbs, 7oz. 32nd percentile

Height: 23 inches. 79th percentile

Head: 38.1cm. 52nd percentile

Lucy has the sadz after her 3 shots.

Lucy is nice and strong, has good head control and will hold herself up when you are carrying her. It's so freeing not to have to cradle your baby's head at all times, but she won't last terribly long before she starts bobbing back and forth. She's still eating well, her sleep overnight has extended into 4 hour stretches, and she's taking a few short naps during the day, with one extended 2+ hour nap. It's not always consistent whether the long nap is in the morning or afternoon, but I'm glad we're at least getting it.

This weekend, we made a big purchase that I had been agonizing over for the past several months. A double stroller!! I had been trolling craigslist and messaging anyone who had a decent looking stroller, when finally, we landed on this baby. Though nobody can accuse me of not thoroughly researching the double stroller matter beforehand, I wanted to make 100% sure it was worth the price (though used, it's still not an amount I'm willing to spend at the drop of a hat, especially considering it was going to eat up what was left of my Xmas stash). Anyway, I'm pretty thrilled with the purchase, and we took a very nice long walk with it on Saturday and fully intended to take one on Sunday, but I got caught up in the endless piles of laundry created by 2 human children.

And for posterity's sake, here are Mia's 2 month stats:

Mia at 2 months.

The Night of Three Times

Life with a newborn is constantly changing. You get few days in a row of sameness, and and you let your guard down. You think to yourself, "Hey! If this is how it's going to be, this isn't so bad." And then, things change again and throw everyone (your newborn included!) for a loop.

Lucy gave us 4 days in a row of good sleep. She'd go down between 10pm-11pm after a couple of hours of fussing and cluster feeding, stay down until around 3 or 4 am, have a quick feeding and be back down until around 7. A really great schedule that made perfect sense, allowing me to feed her until she fell back asleep and letting me get up and ready for the day. I've even learned to start loving the middle of the night feeding  now that I'm back at work, where we get to just cuddle quietly together without anything else to do.

Of course, everything changed last night. She did her cluster feeding a bit earlier than usual, and fell asleep an hour earlier than usual, at 9pm. So, I went with it. Put her down for the night and headed back downstairs for a full hour of hands free, boob free time! "Maybe we are inching towards getting our post-bedtime evenings back," I thought to myself, like the fool that I am.

All was well, even an hour later when B and I came up to sleep. She stayed asleep in her bassinet, breathing heavily. B and I fell asleep at 10, also perfectly contentedly. Of course, OF COURSE, Mia chose this night, this beautiful night, to start screaming at midnight. For absolutely no obvious reason once B went to investigate. And of course, OF COURSE, said screaming also woke our perfectly sleeping baby, messing the whole schedule up.

We may have gotten an hour of freedom, but we certainly paid for it in the middle of the night. Because Lucy's middle of the night wake up was so much earlier than usual, she woke up a second time at 5am, and this time, screamed every time I put her down, which meant we  dozed while she was in my arms for 2 hours (I couldn't even put her down next to me until 7am!).

Thank goodness it's Friday. It certainly makes these prickly eyes easier to bear.

The first week back

B left Wednesday for a work-training in Salt Lake City. It's been planned for a while, and I've been dreading it all that time. Every single time he brought it up in the past few weeks, I'd tell him to please shut his mouth on the subject, as I continue to pretend it is not happening until I absolutely must think about it. Anyway, things went quite well for the first night! Lest you think that I am superwoman, please remember that my Mom is still with us. Though to be fair, I was completely on my own for Lucy's bedtime and overnight care. Really, not that bad. The second night wasn't bad, she wasn't particularly fussy or resistant, but she stayed awake overnight for a good two hours. For the first hour, I didn't see the time go by. I'd look down at her little face and be so happy to have this time to hang out with her, but by the hour and half mark, when there were only 2 hours left before my alarm went off, the niceness of it had worn off. Every time she'd start dozing off, she'd need a diaper change, or the second time, she'd spit up all over herself and needed a full clothing and blanket change... so of course, she'd be wide awake after all the commotion. I'm adjusting to the lack of sleep, but by the end of the day, I'm totally wiped.

Closing out the first week of being back at work, and I am completely exhausted despite not being terribly busy. I'd been working from home the week before, on something that was quite a big deal and took a lot of time but was completely finished last Friday at 4:50pm, so that really made coming back in this week much much easier. I'm not sure where the exhaustion comes in, because physically, it feels like I'm able to rest more here, at my desk, in front of a computer, rather than at home, trying to juggle a baby, laundry, mealtimes, etc.

The thing about being back at work, and not being terribly busy, is that I've been completely focused and borderline obsessing about pumping. By the time I manage to get myself into the office (this should get better by the time B gets back next week), it's already been a couple of hours since the last feeding, so it's time to pump. And while I'm pumping, I try my darndest not to stare at the little bottles filling up ever so slowly. Once I'm managed to squeeze the last possible drops out of myself, I'll clean up, store the milk in those tiny little zip-lock bags I love so much, put them  in the little cooler I love so much, and rinse out my parts. Then, as soon as I get back to my desk, I'll do the math about how many more ounces I need to pump at the next session (and the one after that) to replenish the amount she ate the previous day. It's an obsession. I really hope I can start to relax about it soon, because I honestly don't think about much else during the day. It's exhausting! Mothers who go back to work and manage to do this for an entire year... serious kudos to you.

Today is Friday, and I've never been more excited about it!

Back to Reality

Lucy is 6 weeks old! Or at least, she will be tomorrow. But I am back at work, while Lucy stays at home with my Mom for the remainder of her visit. She leaves January 28th, and I will resume my experiment in "parenting from work" where little Lucy will tag along with me, be worn around my office as I try to get things done in between diaper changes, feedings and keeping her happy. This ended up working relatively well with Mia, at least until she got a bit too big to be content strapped to my chest. I'm hoping Lucy will give us a good 6 months -- once she starts to crawl and be mobile, it'll have to be full time daycare.

But, a bit about my seemingly short break. Lucy's birth was good, as I described in my last post. She's doing very well, feeding well, gaining weight well, no issues of any kind. She's a lovely baby, who is unhappy unless she's held while awake, but will sleep on her own without too much trouble. She was born at 7lbs, 2oz, and now weighs 9lbs, 4oz, so everything is going well there. I'm still breastfeeding, and hopefully everything goes alright with me pumping while I'm away from her.

But somehow, my recovery went a bit off track after the first couple of weeks. First, I had an allergic reaction to the pads I was using for postpartum bleeding - this was very painful and unpleasant, on an area that is already messed from birthing a human baby. The Doctor prescribed some steroids, things got better (though only after an EXTREMELY painful examination on my lady parts, that were already, as mentioned, messed up from birthing a human baby). But then, they got worse again, and evidently the allergic reaction then triggered an infection, which meant another trip to the Doctor. After a less painful examination but multiple viewings by multiple Doctors in the practice which, I have to tell you, did not reassure me that things were going to get any better if they kept on debating what the hell was happening to my angry lady parts, they finally came to an agreement, sent me off with some cream and things did get better. So that will have to do to explain my lack of energy for anything but feeding my baby, giving attention to my 3 year old, and managing the out of town visitors we had. 

Lucy's Birth Story

Since my office was closed on both Thanksgiving and Black Friday, I scheduled my maternity leave/vacation to technically start on the Monday following, December 1st. At the time I made my schedule, I thought there was absolutely no way I would make it to then without a baby, and while I wasn't completely off, I was pretty frustrated to find myself sitting in my office that wednesday morning, triple checking that everything I could wrap up was in fact, wrapped up.

That afternoon, I had my 39-week Doctor's appointment. I was fully prepared to get my membrane sweep, which my Doctor with Mia also did at my 39-week appointment, and I went into labor very very shortly after. B kept making jokes that he didn't want me to get it done that day because he wanted to be able to watch the Bears game on Thanksgiving. I told him very nicely to go screw himself, and secretly hoped for my labor to make plain my feelings on the NFL taking over way too many days of the week. But, as my Doctor walked in, she informed me that a membrane sweep was not recommended for someone who had tested positive for Group B Strep (which I did). I was basically enormously pregnant and enormously disappointed that I actually needed to wait for this baby to come out completely on her own. She did tell me though, that as soon as I was in any kind of labor, I should come in to the hospital to get my antibiotics started (because of the Group B Strep).

Thanksgiving came and went with absolutely no signs of labor, and I decided that I would no longer be relaxing. I bought one of those big pilates balls, bounced on it for hours a day, took long brisk walks, went shopping for our Christmas Tree, and decorations with my Mom (she insisted on an all-pink tree this year, to please her first grand daughter and celebrate the birth of her second). On Friday night, I contracted regularly and painfully for a few hours, but they weren't close enough together to be considered active labor. Plus, once I went to bed, they spaced out and let me fall asleep pretty soundly. The same thing happened Saturday, and Sunday night. By Monday, two days before my due date, I was exhausted and decided that if I contracted regularly again, we'd go into the hospital and at least see what they had to say about these contractions that were seriously getting on my nerves.

As predicted, it totally happened on Monday night as well, and B and I headed to L&D. I was fully convinced that as soon as I got strapped to the monitor, they would stop and I would be sent home. They did stop, but I was dilated to just shy of 4cms. My Doctor was on call that night, it was pretty slow, so he poked around down there a bit vigorously, told us to walk around the hospital for about an hour and see if my contractions could get regular enough to be considered active labor. Whatever he did down there definitely put me over the edge, and the contractions started coming strongly and closely while I walked. When I was rechecked, I was past the 4cm threshold for admittance, and I was put in a birthing suite and my antibiotics were started. An hour later, my antibiotics were in and my water was broken, which REALLY made things painful and quick.

I got my epidural after about 3 hours of post-water contractions. I didn't remember the epidural much from last time, but it was an incredibly unpleasant experience this time around. I do remember my first epidural completely numbing my bottom half and legs, so much that I couldn't hold myself up in my hospital bed. This time, I was told that I should continue to feel my legs, and that the only thing that would go somewhat numb would be my abdomen. I should continue to feel pressure, but no pain. 

It was actually kind of amazing. I could move my legs, not so much that I could walk, but I could shift in bed as I wanted to, lift my legs as needed, etc. I could feel that two hours later, my contractions were close enough together that I wanted very much to push through them, and alerted my nurse. Of course my labor would choose that specific moment to want to push, since it was shift-change time at the hospital and my Doctor (who had the overnight shift) had just left, so his partner (who I had met, but didn't particularly like) was now on call, but was in the middle of a scheduled c-section at a different hospital about 20 minutes away. 

Based on my history (with Mia) of a nurse delivery, quick pushing, and significant tearing, my Doctors wanted absolutely no pushing or pressure of any kind until he was in the room. I sat there, breathing through but not pushing through the strong (but not painful) contractions for AN HOUR AND A HALF before he came in the room at 9am.

He was as unfriendly as he was in the office, but he turned out to be really great at his job. He had me push once, during which I tore an inch (1st degree tear) along the line of my first tearing scar, and he immediately stopped me, gave me very specific leg positioning and pushing instructions, had me push three more times and by 9:05am, Lucy was born very gently into the world! I could feel everything but pain and felt very much in control of the whole situation. 

Within 2 hours of delivery, I was on my feet and going to the bathroom with a bit of help from my nurse, who was also awesome. Somehow, I got her all to myself and she was basically with me at all times which was really great. I felt like I got such better care at this hospital than I did for Mia's delivery across town. On that first day, I felt absolutely great, declined the stronger pain medication (until that night... when things were not AWFUL but pretty painful when sitting up). 

Lucy was wide awake for a few hours following her birth, she latched several times and was taking really REALLY strong and painful pulls almost immediately. Around 2pm, B left the hospital to pick Mia up, we did the initial introductions and Mia was absolutely thrilled and sweet. Lucy brought Mia a "big sister" gift, which was an Elsa doll (since Elsa is the big sister and all), and Mia was totally charmed and impressed. By the end of Mia's visit, we had Elsa glitter all over the hospital room, but it was worth it. 

We were discharged from the hospital the next day, and while we had a rough first night, we've settled into a pretty good sleeping and feeding groove, so things are going well. At Lucy's first visit to the pedia (and during our meeting with the lactation consultant in the hospital), we found that Lucy had a tongue tie that was snipped right then and there, with absolutely minimal bleeding and 100% improvement on the painful latch. Other than that, I've felt so happy and fulfilled and incredibly satisfied with my two girls. More on her first days soon!

Lucy Catherine

A quickie update to share that Lucy Catherine was born on December 2, 2014 at 9.05am. After a weekend of contractions, I finally started contracting at regular enough intervals to go into labor and delivery. Lucy was born a few hours later, and we are now home and resting. I'll do a birth story post in a few days!

Still no baby, folks!

While Baby #2 is not quite late yet, she sure is taking her time to make an appearance. I am however, officially on maternity leave, so at least I am not sitting at my desk staring at my computer wishing I wasn't there. Part of me feels pretty silly for taking these couple of days off, but in the grand scheme of things, I think these two days will be most appreciated now, rather than starting on a Wednesday or Thursday when I come back.

Thanksgiving was nice, but pretty low key. We were hesitant to commit to anything since, yeah, but of course in the end we were cautious for nothing. On Wednesday, I had my 39 week appointment, at which I had made no actual progress. I asked for a membrane sweep, but evidently this is not allowed when you have tested positive for Group B Strep. The first time around, I didn't test positive and didn't actually think much of it, but the membrane sweep is what put me into labor the first time, so I'm starting to get discouraged that my body doesn't know how to go into labor without one.

On Saturday night, I was absolutely convinced I was legitimately in labor. I had contractions between 4-5 minutes apart, some were very painful and some were not, but they eased up after an exhausting 5 hours. I've been contracting on and off since then, which is also exhausting, but they are neither regular nor painful enough to keep me from talking through them. 

So! That's the update, non-update. 

Meanwhile, I've taken my "extra time" off to spruce up the Etsy Shop for the Holidays, so take a look at my new listings and share them with anyone you think might be interested!

Not much of an update

My Mom flew in from China and arrived in Las Vegas yesterday, so that is a relief.

39 weeks tomorrow, a few painful contractions last night that stopped as soon as I went to bed.

Follow along on Instagram for more reliable updates! (Link in menu)

Throwback Tuesday: Mia's birth story

This blog post was written (and published) on my [now defunct] family blog, and I thought it would be fun to repost it here while I wait (and wait and wait) for Baby #2 to make her appearance.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Mia's Birth Story

Mia Jennifer
 7 lbs, 2oz, 19"
May 25, 2011 at 4:56pm

By now, I am hoping that nobody is learning of Mia's birth for the first time from this blog. However, B and I are proud to announce the birth of our daughter, Mia Jennifer, on Wednesday, May 25th, 2011. For posterity, and other people's curiosity, I'd like to share Mia's Birth Story.

On Tuesday, May 24th, I had my final appointment with my OB. I had a morning appointment, but Dr. K was busy at the hospital again, so I didn't end up being seen until around noon. He did an exam, and found that I was about 2 centimeters dilated, but manually pushed me to 3 cm (which hurt like crazy, btw). He warned that I might have some mild cramping and bleeding.

After stopping for lunch at Jimmy John's, my cramps started to become a bit of a nuisance, enough so that I decided not to go into work that afternoon and lay down. The cramps "progressed" and became what I would consider contractions around 3 or 4 pm, and I began timing them at 9 minutes apart around 5. I decided to call B at 6pm, so that I could catch him before he left for his softball game that night. I didn't tell him that my contractions had progressed from 9 to 8 minutes apart by then, but that I'd like him to keep an eye on his phone in between innings. No use in him rushing home if the contractions went away, like I expected them to.

By 2 am, we decided this wasn't a false alarm, and it was time to head to the hospital. After gathering some essentials, taking a shower, we headed to the Hospital, car seat already installed. Mom followed us shortly afterwards. It was a very busy night at the Labor and Delivery, so I spent the first few hours of my hospital stay in a large triage room which lots of people would periodically walk through. I was at 4 cm dilated by the time I was checked by Cindy, my very nice overnight nurse. She had the exact attitude that I needed, especially since I was so nervous about getting the all the little procedures done (like the IV, epidural, etc.), and the fact that I was still not in my own room.

Dr. H, my very nice anesthesiologist came in and put in the epidural around 5 am. It was every bit as unpleasant as I expected, but B and Cindy coached me through and soon enough, I could only feel my toes. My contractions almost stopped once the epidural kicked in, so I was given pitocin after all to speed up my dilation. Cindy put in an internal fetal monitor, which is a little probe that gets stuck to the baby's head, and we had our first clue of what Mia looked like. Cindy had to put in two probes, because the first one got so tangled in her hair that the readings were not coming through!

By the time I was 6 centimeters dilated, they decided that I definitely needed to be moved into my own room. Since there still were no labor and delivery rooms, I was put in a makeshift room by adding the necessary machines/baby nursery/delivery table/bed with stirrups to a postpartum room. It was a bit crowded, but luckily, I wasn't moved again for the rest of my hospital stay.

Once I was settled in my new room, my day shift nurse named Haze started. B and I were thrilled to find that she was the nurse assigned to us, because she taught the birthing class which we attended a couple of months earlier. Haze has been a labor and delivery nurse for about 30 years. She was no-nonsense and efficient. Even though she was basically a 180 from Cindy, she was exactly what I needed as a coach during the actual delivery.

Around 4pm, after laying numbly and miserably in my bed for the whole day, I was finally 10 cm dilated. Mom, B and I asked whether Dr. K had been called yet, since we assumed he should be there before I start pushing. Haze said that Doctors don't get called until crowning, so we had a little work to do first. Dr. K had already stopped by to check on me a few times, since he had 8 women in various stages of delivery at the hospital at the time.

Apparently, I was unexpectedly efficient at pushing, because after about 30 minutes, Haze urgently called for Dr. K. When he still hadn't arrived 5 minutes later, Haze made a "NURSE DELIVERY" announcement into my call button and about 5 different people came rushing in to "catch" our little girl. Dr. K came in about 30 seconds later, welcomed by a crying baby. Unfortunately, Mia came out with one of her arms up by her face, rather than it staying down by her body as most babies do, so Dr. King arrived just in time to fix the damage. Luckily, it was nothing too serious.

Our first family photo!

At 7 lbs, 2 oz and 19 inches, Mia showed everyone that she was quite a bit trimmer than she was expected to be. She also had a full head of dark hair, very chubby cheeks and an adorable round nose. Our new little family spent the next two nights in the hospital, to make sure Mia was feeding properly and I was healing well.

Still Here, Still Pregnant

My mantra, for the time being, is this:

Every day your baby stays inside makes post-birth life easier.

I'm on the verge of 38 weeks, so the "full term" milestone has basically been reached at this point.  But the closer to 40 weeks (or even 41 weeks) you get, the better of baby is and the easier everything will be afterwards. Their eating is more regular, their sleep is more regular... everything. I keep telling myself this, reminding me not to wish my baby out of me until she's ready.

My college roommate, and one of my best friends, was pregnant and due 2 days before me. She gave birth early this morning to a beautiful little girl. It's their first and I'm thrilled for them, but their baby is only 2 gestational days older than mine, so... really... at this point... I've got a newborn inside me and I think I've hit the threshold of misery.

She's sitting quite low in my pelvis, and pressing against some nerves in my back and spine that send a surge of pain through me every so often. Most times, it's right when I'm getting up out of my chair, allowing her to shift just so into my spine... making me topple over if I don't catch myself on the corner of my desk or on the doorjamb. It's unpleasant, but since I can predict it now, I don't think I'll actually do any falling.

Today was Las Vegas' first foray into temperatures below 60 degrees. A couple of months ago, I decided that I did not, in fact, need any additional maternity clothes for the "winter" portion of my pregnancy, since I would probably only be pregnant for 1 or 2 weeks of actual cold weather. Despite only needing "real" clothes for a maximum of 6 more days (since we'll have casual friday, and casual wednesday-before-thanksgiving), I definitely regretted that decision as I tried to squeeze into and button my only pair of maternity slacks. The kind that still has a fly, just a really low fly, with those nice elastics on the side? Well, let me tell you... those do not fit a 9-month belly. I mean, I'm wearing them. But tomorrow? I'll be wearing leggings and a tunic. Sorry "business casual", but you'll forgive me this transgression. Once on maternity leave, I fully plan on getting back in maternity clothes (I'm not delusional) but I am sure those low-panel type pants will work just fine postpartum.

37 weeks!

Here we are, closing in on full term status!! At 37 weeks tomorrow, I basically feel like we're in an "any day now" situation, and while I don't constantly have my mind on going into labor, I have been feeling the need to sort of "wrap things up" every evening before I shut down my work computer. I find myself not starting anything new towards the end of the day, just in case.

I don't think I would be feeling this way, except that we had our first trip to Labor and Delivery last Thursday. I was having what I thought might possibly have been "back labor" from the Dr. Google descriptions, and I had been having these very painful type cramps in my lower back for about... 5 hours at regular intervals. I called my Doctor's office, and of course, they said to just go into L&D to get checked. B and I dutifully headed over there, even though I was fairly certain this wasn't labor, just to get some peace of mind that nothing else was wrong. B ran around like today was THE DAY but I told him that if he brought the car seat and my hospital bag in with us, I would kill him. So he did not. And after about 1 hour on the monitor and a cervical check revealing a "posterior and closed cervix", it was determined that I was in fact not in labor, everything looked fine, and perhaps the baby was just pushing on some nerves back there. Yes, perhaps. I mean... it still freaking hurt, but after laying down in various positions trying to get her to shift, she finally did and the cramps stopped around 10pm.

The next day, I had a regular OB appointment, where I had actually progressed to about 1cm dilated and "nicely effaced", so B started freaking out all over again. I've been assured (by Dr. Google) that you can stay between 1-3 centimeters dilated for weeks, so that doesn't necessarily mean anything. I'd still very much like to not go into labor until my Mom gets here (on November 24th) but it sure would be nice not to be pregnant anymore...

By the numbers...

Before I get into it, let's just put this right here for posterity:

Mia, as Rapunzel, minus the blond wig that she did not want to wear, that incidentally made her look like a drag queen. 

16: The number of working days I have left before starting Maternity Leave 2.0

20: The number of days until my Mom gets here. And my personal "permission to go into labor" deadline. My belly has "dropped" significantly already. My go-to maternity pants are one of those "low panel" pants, that basically look like regular pants but with an elasto-waist no longer fit. I mean, they fit, but they are incredibly uncomfortable, so I've switched to basically wearing tunics and leggings every day. The recent drop in temperatures (Las Vegas finally got the memo that it was fall, and we've had 70 degree below days, with lows in the 50s in the mornings) has facilitated the switch away from those pants, so I guess this works too. And I refuse to buy another pair of maternity pants for a measly 29 more days. Part of me is still quite nervous about not holding out until those 20 days.

29: The number of days until my due date.

2: The number of items left on my shopping list. Want to know what those two things are? Super exciting: a thermometer (rectal) and breast milk storage bags. Neither of which are terribly essential, but it would be nice to at least have a working thermometer in the house by the time the baby is brought home from the hospital. We bought most of the other (boring) stuff this weekend, and even managed to score a free pack of diapers and a free Dr. Browns bottle from Babies R Us. Check your mail for coupons.

4: The number of Doctor's appointments I have left (and scheduled) for the remainder of the pregnancy. I have my first cervical check on Friday, and while it won't necessarily indicate much, if I go in and I'm 3 cm dilated... then I'll at least know to pack Mia's overnight bag in addition to mine.

36: The number of weeks pregnant I am, as of tomorrow. I had a terrible weekend of not-sleeping, and on Sunday night, I rearranged my pillow situation and managed to sleep uninterrupted for a good stretch. My belly is so low (and loose) that it hurts to lay down on my side without it being fully supported. So my belly has its own pillow now.

17: The number of visitors we have coming to Las Vegas for the Holidays this year. Arrivals are staggered throughout December, but  this is currently the official number. It is still subject to increase. My Mom and my Uncle have been furiously calling and sending emails for the past couple of days, but we managed to get most things finalized and I put together a nice long list of activities for them to do. It was a bit overkill, including links and ticket purchasing options, etc, but I'm glad I did it now while I still have the brain capacity (and patience) to put things down in list form. Goodness knows that I do NOT want to be bothering to look up how far away the Grand Canyon Skywalk is and how to purchase tickets while I am going on no sleep and breastfeeding.

6: The number of bedrooms the house they rented has. Thank goodness we were able to find something that will both accommodate them for sleep, but also has enough living space for everyone to gather together comfortably for those days. I'm really looking forward to it, but since Baby #2 will be a maximum of 4 weeks old at the time of their arrival, I am also pretty sure I am going to feel exhausted and frustrated at not always being able to participate in the fun activities. I remember feeling a similar sense of frustration when Mia was first born, when only my immediate family was visiting. I'm hoping that since I know what to expect, I'll be able to temper my frustrations a little and realize that I should enjoy the downtime with my little one(s) while I'm off work.

120: the number of earrings I have made for the Holidays. Check my Etsy Shop for new listings!

5: The number of skeins I have of a pretty pink yarn for Baby #2's blanket. While Mia's was done about a month after I found out we were in fact having a girl, I'm determined to have this one's done before I go into labor. Poor Baby #2 has gotten so few things of her own, this is the least I can do.

35 Weeks!

Today marks 35 weeks. In my (probably wrong) mind, this also means 4 weeks to go, since I went into labor at 39 weeks, 1 day with Mia. This also marks the gestational age at which my niece was born, and my self-imposed deadline for having everything ready.

We're basically there. Things are set up, clothes are clean. Bags are not packed, but we will do that this weekend. Also to do this weekend, buy a few replacement nipples for our newborn bottles (just in case), replace our broken thermometer (blame Roscoe for this one), and get some nursing supplies. And also, on Monday, I can order my breast pump covered by insurance!!

I've settled on some maternity leave and back to work plans. If things go well, without labor or birth complications, or after care complications, I'll take 6 weeks away from the office, with some unavoidable work from home time. I'm OK with this, and I really do wish I could fully take time off, but it's just not the nature of my job. The overall flexibility of my job comes from being the only person with those responsibilities in this office also means that I cannot completely absent myself for a long period of time. There are certain things that I and only I can do, so that's how it goes. Hopefully nothing too crazy happens during this time period, and I can stick with answering emails and only having to check in with the office once in a while.

At the end of the 6 week period, I'll be able to bring baby to work with  me for an undetermined amount of time. In my head, I'm aiming for 6 months (which is also my breastfeeding goal this time around). My mom will be with us for a few weeks still, so I'll be able to leave the baby with her during the day for as long as she's around. If you haven't been following along with me for very long, I actually did this with Mia until she was about 10 months old. I plan on having her fully registered with daycare for drop ins, if I have meetings or court scheduled.

I'm feeling huge (though only up 8 lbs as of last Friday) and pretty much done, but I keep telling myself that the closer to my due date she stays put, the easier things will be post-partum. 39 weeks this time around would be great -- though a huge part of me wants to start stuffing my face with spicy foods as soon as I hit week 37. But I won't. Especially because my Mom's arrival is scheduled for Nov 24 (38 weeks, 4 days) and I would like Mia not to have to sleep at someone else's house during our stay at the hospital.

The last time, I had an induction scheduled for the weekend before my due date. I'm not 100% sure why I went with that option with Mia, but as a first timer, I had very little idea what I was doing. This time, I do not plan to schedule an induction, especially since I know that I can go into labor on my own. I ended up going into labor 3 days before my planned induction, the night following my 39-week membrane sweep. No two pregnancies are the same and yadda yadda, but hopefully, that's what happens again this time.

Shopping and Pumpkin Patches

The weekend was one of those weekends where things that seemed important before waking up on Saturday morning just stopped being so. Even though no floors were cleaned and no loads of laundry were done (something I am sure I will regret come Tuesday morning), it was just a really lovely weekend of quiet and togetherness.

I have a (short) list of essential baby items to purchase, something I fully intended on taking care of this weekend, but completely ran out of steam by the time I got to our first of three stops of the day. So, I only came out of my Saturday of planned shopping with completely non-essential baby items. Both of which are so pretty, I don't even care.

Vera Bradley Paisley Meets Plaid Messenger Diaper Bag

Vera Bradley Tutti Frutti Baby Shoes

Las Vegas finally decided to stop being so darn warm over the weekend, and while we didn't need jackets or scarves, it was nice enough to open windows and doors, and just let the cool-ish breeze go through the house. The freshness of spring that you get in your house on the east coast when opening your windows after a long winter of being shut in is what we experience around here during the fall. While I remember this happening much sooner in previous years, waiting until the end of October for temperatures to dip below 85 seems a bit ridiculous. But nonetheless, it is here and it is wonderful.

We were able to get ourselves to the neighborhood pumpkin patch as a celebration of fall. And while we had no turning leaves in the background, we were able to be outside for over an hour without creating a single drop of sweat, which really is incredibly pleasant at 8 months pregnant. Really, really pleasant.

MILP Roundup #366

This Round Up will cover the posts from October 19 through October 26!

Alice gets awesome pictures of her two superheros at the Pumpkin Patch. And how did you get away with only spending $9 on those rides? We spent $15 and only have ONE!

But I do has a few firsts: a solo trip with her husband since becoming a Mom to three, blogging from an airplane, and a new partnership.

A pretty slow week over at Full of the Dickens... just a new incredibly adorable baby, NO BIG DEAL!

Over at Magic Cookie, she gets a workout buddy for a few days as Bill runs his first 5k!

Cowgirl in the City has been busy making a beautiful quilt, following one of my favorite themes involving Paris and Croissants.

Kate over at BJJ, Law and Living learns that car keys have an expiration. It turns out, it's 152,021 miles.

Lag Liv celebrates weddings and birthdays and flights and leaps from rock to rock.

Portia over at Fumbling for Truth has a few words to say about a $37 million condo on the market. If you're interested in making a purchase, she'll get her license for you. (This is actually the kind of thing that makes me incredibly angry as well, so rant on!)

The Reluctant Grown Up celebrates 8 years of wedded bliss with another busy week, full of delicious food, concerts, and anticipation towards a weekend away!

The Queen of Hats writes about gender inequality in a different setting - gaming. That's RPGs (which means Role Playing Games, I looked it up.)

PYY over at Perspectives from a Hard Boiled Egg closed in on her 3rd week with Junior, who is gaining weight thanks to some triple feedings. The things we do for these kids, seriously. They have no idea.

Daisy over at Daisy, Just Daisy, shares some Gracie-isms, past the one year mark.

The weekly Mothers in the Legal Profession Roundup is hosted on a rotating basis at Butterflyfish, Grace, BJJ, Law, and Living, Mommy and the Sin City, Magic Cookie, The Reluctant Grownup, and Perspectives from a Hard Boiled Egg.

If you would like your blog to be included in this Roundup, pleases email any of the above mentioned hostesses! Magic Cookie's got it next.

Sprinkles and Hospitals and In Laws

Our little baby sprinkle was this past weekend, and it was just perfectly appropriate. Not too many people, simple and useful gifts, funny games, and casual delicious food. Our friends hosted at their place, planned on having everyone out by 5. Mia was (unexpectedly) the only kid there, but she caused plenty of drama. Towards the end of the party, she was twirling around some balloons, with a cookie and too-small sandals on, tripped, perfectly slamming her face onto the corner of a non-baby friendly coffee table.

We have not a single decent picture of the three of us from the Sprinkle, so this will have to do!

She bled profusely, and we were scurried off to our first visit to the ER. Of course my first born would take the celebration of a second child to remind us all of her presence by causing such a ruckus. But honestly, she was so brave and answered all the doctors' and nurses' questions with such specificity, it really surprised me. Thankfully, she only needed a bit of skin glue and today has a bit of a bruised and swollen cheek.

At the ER

The next day

We also had a house guest over the weekend, my father in law, whom I haven't quite forgiven stayed with us from Thursday to Saturday. I knew that being 8+ months pregnant (34 weeks as of Wednesday!), my patience wasn't going to be great, so I kept out of the way. I went to work as usual on Friday, I did a craft fair all day Saturday, and B planned to take his dad out to watch the football games elsewhere on Sunday morning before our Sprinkle. We planned it well, and B's patience was worn a bit thinner than mine by Monday night. 

Mia is not a huge fan of his, and while I'm not sure the visit turned everything around for her, things did go better than I expected. He tends to yell and speak loudly in general, so she interprets it as meanness. There wasn't much of that this time around, thankfully, but I did notice that he has the tendency to correct her at every opportunity, rather than letting one of her parents do it (or choose not to do it, in certain cases), so she doesn't have the most positive association with him. 

A WEEK, and it's not even Friday yet.

It may only be wednesday, but we've already had plenty going on to cover the activity level of at least one week.

First, our master bathroom floor was starting to get wet beneath the tiles. Anytime anyone would sit on the toilet, the tiles underneath would wobble. We've sort of realized it for a while, and realized that we'd probably put it off for long enough. Sure enough, we got a contractor in and as soon as he pulled up a couple pieces of tile, it turned out that the toilet had been leaking into the floor every single time it was flushed, so our entire subfloor was soaked through. He diagnosed that this had been happening for years and years, and the only reason we didn't realize it sooner was thanks to a layer of vinyl that was keeping everything contained. Meanwhile, that nice layer of vinyl protected a huge mold culture, allowing it to thrive nicely in the dark for... ever.

Work started on Saturday, and, as seems to be the case in all construction, has not been going smoothly. Delays, materials, etc. Whatever, it sucks to have something out of order and to have someone you're depending on 100% with seemingly little control over the schedule. Our contractor did at least show up this morning (only an hour after he said he would) and has at least started to lay down the new tile. He promises to be done this afternoon, which... I'm not holding my breath, but it would be awfully nice since B's father is arriving tomorrow and I do not want to have everyone sharing the same bathroom.

This is all  happening at the same time as Mia's diagnosis with the daycare plague number 10934987, this time Hand Foot Mouth. It sounds disgusting (and every time I've told anyone that she has hand food mouth, they think I'm talking about Hoof and Mouth, which... are not the same thing), but so far she just has a fever on and off and some painful sores on the underside of her lip. It's probably pretty painful, but she doesn't seem to be complaining too much, and is enjoying her unlimited TV time. She's isn't welcome back at daycare until the sores are better -- which, is hopefully tomorrow, because B and I have already taken 2 days each, since she's been out since Friday.

To top it all off, I've got what could be considered the most embarrassing and unpleasant symptom of pregnancy ever. I will not say what it is -- though you can probably guess -- to maintain a semblance of dignity here. It is listed as "resolving after delivery" but I can assure you that things will not go well if it does not resolve itself before the 7 weeks I have left. 33 weeks today. No cute bump picture because... BLARG.

On the need to be a Princess

Every morning, for the past couple of weeks, it's been the same requirements from Mia in picking her outfits. "I wanna be a princess." Evidently, "being a princess" means wearing a skirt or dress. The poofier the better, of course.

In the midst of my nesting fervor, I've already packed up the majority of her summer clothes, and while the highs are still in the 90s, the mornings have been quite chilly and I've been steering her in the direction of shirts with sleeves, rather than the whispy little tanks and summer dresses she may prefer to fit her "princess" requirements.

Usually, by about Wednesday, she runs out of "princess" items, and has to resort to shorts or pants. I insist to her: "Mia, Princesses can wear pants too!". Well, apparently not. Mia came home from daycare yesterday and informed me that Charlie (an older girl) told her that she was NOT a princess because she was not wearing a dress. I told her that Charlie was wrong, and that she didn't make the rules. Anyone can be a princess, no matter what they are wearing. Even boys can be princess if they want to be!

Really? Are we dealing with this kind of peer pressure in the 3 year old classroom? I knew that raising daughters would mean facing body image issues, self-esteem, judgment from other girls, etc. But I didn't realize we'd be getting a glimpse into those adolescent issues this early on.

This morning, she asked her father to dress her. Undoubtedly because B lets her wear whatever she wants. She's no dummy. She found a tutu and a pink t-shirt. Both were weather appropriate, and while I can't imagine it's comfortable to run around a playground at daycare in that outfit, it's her choice.

B dropped her off at school this morning, and reported that as soon as she entered her classroom, she went straight up to Charlie and said: "I'm a princess today." I'm still pretty baffled by the whole situation, but B said it was very much of a warning. Don't give me any shit today, I'm a Princess. At least she's standing up for herself.