The First Week

So, it's been a week since Ariel became our new roommate. Let's just say that we are surviving the long nights of hourly snacking and enjoying our days when we do nothing but sleep. That seems a little backwards. Huh.

Ariel is adjusting well to life on the outside (of the womb, not prison). She is breastfeeding like an all-star and sleeps like her daddy when she sleeps. Unfortunately, her days and nights are mixed up, which makes mommy and daddy a little more than tired. Ariel's favorite night time indulgence is sleeping on daddy's chest. They are so cute as snuggle buddies. She smiles quite a bit (probably due to gas) and squeaks in her sleep. She seems to enjoy listening to Eric and me read her books and sing those silly nursery rhymes.

She also had her first home sponge bath. She screamed for the first 30 seconds, then decided that being wet wasn't all too bad. She did great and now she's squeaky clean! Ariel's also had a handful of visitors come to see her. Man, she's popular already.

I am healing from the two tears I incurred during delivery and hopefully the edema (swelling) in my feet and ankles will take a hike soon. I'm ready for a nice walk outside as the weather has been absolutely gorgeous. We are handling the sleep deprivation fairly well. Even Pazu is feeling the effects of inadequate rest. However, he is very gentle with the baby and just wants to get his snuggle time in too.

Overall, we are doing great. Ariel has her first well baby check up next week. We'll keep you updated.

An All-Star Is Born

Sage City and the Greene Team All-Stars are pleased to announce the signing of their new shortstop.

Ariel Madison Greene

Signing Date: Wednesday, May 6

Signing Time: 10:03 am

Height: 19 inches

Weight: 5lbs, 14 oz

Hair Color: Black

Eye Color: Brown

As part of the big announcement, the Sage City Sentinel offers this play-by-play birth report provided by All-Star captain, Nicole.

I woke up around 2:30 am Wednesday morning to make my nightly visit to the bathroom. I noticed that my underpants were wet. Could my water have broken? As I contemplated this, I was hit with a serious contraction. These weren't like the Braxton-Hicks I experienced earlier that day. I actually had to breathe through this one. Ok, I thought it was a fluke. Yeah right. I spent the next hour breathing through eight more contractions. I woke Eric to let him know what was going on. We timed them and after fifteen minutes, called the hospital. It was time to make our trek to the land of medical professionals.

By this time, I was really starting to hurt, but things really took a turn for the worse after I strapped myself into the car. The contractions were coming hard and heavy and I wasn't sure if I would be able to stick with Birth Plan A: all natural, no epidural.

We made it to the Labor and Delivery ward around 5 am. I did my best to sit still as the nurse checked my cervix. I was already dilated 7 cm! Holy cats, Batman! That is virtually unheard of with first time pregnancies (most moms show up around 4-5 cm). This is when I bit the bullet and asked for the epidural. Things got a little fuzzy at this point, as the pain I was experiencing has blocked some of my trip to my L&D room. I did puke all over myself, so clearly I remember something.

It took about an hour for the anaesthesiologist to arrive. I knew I was getting close to missing my window of opportunity and I almost started to panic. Fortunately, it was not too late. I received my drugs around 6:30 am and despite my best intentions to go sans drugs, this was the best decision I could have made. As I continued to labor, I watched my contractions on the monitor. The were about 90 seconds in duration and about 30-45 seconds apart. Yikes. There would have been no way I could have dealt with that.

I was able to rest a little bit and I started pushing around 9:40 am. At 10:03 am, our little angel entered the world after 7.5 hours of labor. Eric was great through the entire ordeal and I officially give him the Labor Coach of the Year award.

Things have been a whirlwind since coming home, but we wouldn't have it any other way. Ariel is great and has already shown us how nosey she is and how much she enjoys her sleep (blame that last part on Eric). We send a special thank you to all who have prayed for us and for the health of our family. May God bless you always.

Shortstop Update: Weeks 38 & 39

So we are head into the ninth inning, this pregnancy is moving right along.
My 38 week appointment was April 23rd. My belly was measuring 38 cm and I had lost a pound. Woo hoo! After that 6 lb jump, I was getting a little worried. That brings my total weight gain to 14 lbs. Not too shabby. Shortstop's heart rate was 148 bpm. This was the week that my cervical effacement (thinning of the cervix) and dilation was checked. I was 1 cm dilated and 20% effaced. Really? That's it? How discouraging. For those who may not know, labor begins when the cervix is effaced 100%. Then the cervical opening has to be 10 cm before pushing can begin.
36 wks (9 months, 1 day)

39 wks (9 months, 22 days)

Had my 39 week appointment on Friday. Shortstop has descended into the birth canal is posts a heart rate of 150 bpm. My belly measured 38 cm, due in part to Shortstop dropping. I gained back that pesky pound I thought I lost, but I really shouldn't cry about 15 lbs when some women gain 50 or 60 lbs. My effacement and dilation was checked and I made some progress. 85% effacement and 2.75 cm dilated. Now that's much better. My last day of work was Monday, so maybe all the rest has been helping things along. Only six more days to go, if Shortstop is to arrive on time.

A Super All-Star

I'm going to take this entry to brag on my husband for a little bit. Not only is Eric a terrific person, he is driven and self motivated.

Within the last month, he was named Employee of the Quarter (EOQ) at work. EOQ is based on co-workers observations and acknowledgement of hard work that goes above and beyond the black and white job description. Way to go!

Eric also competed in the Salt Lake City Marathon. Now, he had three main goals for his 5th marathon:

1) qualify for the 2010 Boston Marathon (he needed to post a time of 3 hours:10 minutes). That's 7 minute, 15 second miles. Wow!

2) run his race in under 3 hours

3) return home with his daddy-to-be status (that means I wasn't supposed to go into labor early while he was out of town)

Well of his hard training paid off. He meet all the goals he set out for himself. We're going to Boston! Eric posted a time of 2 hours:58 minutes:14 seconds. Very impressive. You can get a more detailed account of the race on Eric's blog http://www.ironeric.blogspot.com/.

And as of this posting, Shortstop is still tucked away in Hotel Mom.

As one of our last date nights (without needing a babysitter), Eric, his brother, David, a friend of David's, and I went to see X-men origins:Wolverine. Since Eric has taken a liking to growing out his "mountain man" beard, he thought he might embrace the X-men energy. He shaved his beard to look like Wolverine's. He even styled his hair a bit to get that "wild" look. David thought Eric looked ridiculous, but I have to say, Eric could pass (especially if he had a leather jacket) for the popular mutant. He just might have to re-create this look for Halloween.

I thought the movie was a bit disappointing, but we had fun.