Alone

Keith went back to work today.

Meanwhile, I'm getting my butt kicked. This having two kids thing is seriously rough all alone. Leah got super spoiled when Grandma Card was here and doesn't really know what it's like to not be held all the time. I'm amazed how much I was able to still do one-handed though. I actually made dinner, did some laundry, AND had a badly needed nap (while holding her, of course). But by the time Keith got home, it was already bedtime and I was totally cooked. He had to bail me out and take over with the bedtime routines or else I would have melted down. Although, he might argue that I melted anyway. : )

Two more days until the weekend.....I can do this.

Right?

"I'm crying about my mommy."

Bennett has been a good big brother. He seems to really love Leah and always wants to kiss and hold her. His kisses are a little rough sometimes but his intentions are good.

The only thing where he has struggled in the past week is bedtime. Normally he is really easy to put down. We read a few books, sing a couple songs, then say goodnight. He rarely has problems where we need to go back into his room to calm him down. But the last few nights he's been freaking out crying for mommy. Even if Keith is in charge of bedtime, he still cries for me. He calms down if I'm in the room but the second I leave, he cries for me hysterically. So unlike him.

Last night after I walked away, he did this and Keith went in to soothe him. He asked Bennett why he was so sad. His response was "I'm crying about my mommy."

Keith settled him down and came downstairs to tell me this. Oh, it broke my heart! It still makes me cry just thinking about his hurt little feelings. I am trying really hard to pay lots of attention to him. As much as I can (since I'm still sore), I get down on the floor and play with him or read him books or just hang out like we used to. But it's still different and it always will be now that I have another person to take care of. My little guy is so tender.

Meet Leah!

Here's the estrogen Keith promised....

Wow. Where do I begin? What an amazing couple of days we've had. We are so completely in love with our little lady! She is SUCH a good baby and is just so much fun to look at!

Meet Leah Elizabeth Card! Isn't she adorable?!?!


I'm posting the birth story so if you aren't interested, scroll down a bit. It's not too gory....

Labor started on Wednesday morning very early. In fact, the onset of labor is exactly the same as it was with Bennett. For both it was a Wednesday morning and contractions started at 2:30 am (about 3:00 am for Bennett). They were about 5 minutes apart from the beginning. Although they really didn't hurt much, there is no such thing as sleep once you realize you are in early labor. I tried to occupy myself until morning came without waking anyone up. Finally, I went back to bed and waited for Keith's alarm clock to go off at 5:00. I knew that once he knew, there would be no sleep for him either. I let him hit the snooze button a couple of times and when he started to get up for work, I told him he was getting the day off! Then the both of us tried to kill another hour or two before we started making noise. We watched mountain biking and random adventure videos on You Tube and timed the contractions. Finally, at around 7, we started taking showers and getting things together. The contractions were still not bad and I was fully expecting to be in labor for many, many hours (Bennett was 30). However, I was pretty sure my water had broken just as the contractions started to I definitely had to get to the hospital because of an antibiotic I was supposed to get before delivery.

We got to the hospital at 9:30 and they determined that my water had broken so I was definitely getting admitted. I was 4 cm dialated at that point. I got into my delivery room at 10:30 and met my "team". Once I got onto the monitors, the contractions slowed to 7 or 8 minutes apart so they started talking pitocin. I really didn't want pitocin since I was hoping to go as natural as possible. I had an epidural with Bennett and ended up pushing for FOUR hours. I attribute my horrible recovery to the epidural because of the long pushing phase. I had decided that I would rather hurt for a couple of hours with less/no pain meds than hurt for 6 weeks because of having no control of my body during labor. So, when they started talking pitocin, I was afraid I would end up caving. But they convinced me that pitocin was the way to go since I had a history of long labor. I definitely didn't want to be having a baby 30 hours later so I went ahead with it. Literally within a minute, the contractions started coming at 2 minutes apart. Ouch. There was just no break in between. So I broke down and got the epidural. I think the anesthesiologist was standing outside my door waiting for me to give in because he was there pretty quick.

This is just before the epidural...does it look like there is a nearly ten pound baby in there???


There ended up being a problem with the epidural because it went into the wrong space. It ended up being a spinal instead. I don't really understand the difference but basically it meant that the meds were not continuous and controlled with a pump. It was just a one time dose that they were going to adjust later. Whatever, it felt divine. I still had total feeling in my legs but I couldn't feel the contractions. I got about an hour and a half of nice rest. Then, all of a sudden, I started feeling it again on my right side. So I rolled over hoping it would redistribute the meds. Instead, that caused it to wear of completely! I went from 0 to ten on the pain scale in seconds. I could feel EVERYTHING and it hurt. They checked me for the first time since I got to the hospital and I was an 8 and fully engaged. Then my legs started shaking like crazy--I was in transition. They went running for the anesthesiologist but came back saying everyone was in the OR so I just had to wait a bit. Except that I started feeling a ton of pressure. Another quick check indicated I had only a lip of cervix left. I felt like I had to push NOW. Everyone went running. There was no doctor and I was pushing. The nurse prepping the table said she could see head. Seconds later, the midwife ran in and threw on a gown while everyone else was breaking down the table and getting in place. I was totally pushing by this point and within 10 minutes, she was out! She had a great scream right away and I held her for a while before they took her away to wipe her off and weigh her. She was gorgeous! What a relief to have her here!

They said she was a big baby when she was born and I was shocked to find out how big when they put her on the scale!!!


Isn't she cute? She came so fast that her head never got smashed. Everyone kept commenting that she looked like a c-section baby because her head was so nice and round.


She was 21 & 3/4 inches long. I love baby frog legs....


Big brother meeting her for the first time. She was about 4 hours old. He LOVES his baby sister!


Bennett and daddy looking at her little piggies.


My babies--


Little Leah-


A smile?


Proud Daddy-


Welcome home!


My girl...


Bennett loves to give kisses.




So we are adjusting to being a family of four. So far so good! She is a great sleeper and she is eating well too (would you expect anything less from 9+ pounder?). Nights have been pretty good and I actually have to keep waking her up to eat. She easily goes 4 hours at a stretch at night right now. Hopefully it stays that way for a while! I'm feeling pretty good too, considering. Not fantastic, but certainly not as bad as I did after having Bennett. I could barely walk after he was born so I consider myself lucky that I can stand up long enough to take a shower without crying. So as traumatic as it was to have a natural childbirth with very little warning, I got exactly what I wanted. I was able to have a lot more control of the process and it did a lot less damage as a result. Plus, I got a healthy baby girl!

We feel so blessed to have her here! It's especially sweet to be able to cuddle a newborn at Christmas. What a sweet reminder of the birth of our Savior and the reason we celebrate during this time of year.

Home Sweet Home

Momma and Baby sister are home safe and sound. Hopefully Andrea will feel up to blogging in the morning and will post some photos and infuse a little more estrogen than my "strictly the facts' boring posts.
This is Keith signing off.

Leah Elizabeth Card!

Mommy and baby are doing well and hope to come home in the morning. The blog master will be back and hope fully she will get some pictures for you all to see how perfect she is.

Uh, no news is....Great News

As you all probably guessed if the daily blog goes silent then likely something big happened. Big being the operative word. Can you believe a 9 POUND 12 OUNCE perfect baby girl! She is beautiful. I'll let Andrea fill all of you in on the gory details but will say that once she decided to come, she came quick. (unlike her passive older brother) Her name is still in contest. More details to come when the blog master feels better.

Tick-tock

And here's where everything starts to get real annoying. This could go on for days. Two weeks in fact, as my doctor won't induce me until I'm two weeks overdue. Being pregnant really sucks right about now. Made even worse by the fact that my friend that was due the same day as me had her baby yesterday...and another friend due a week after me had her baby today.

And here I am. Still pregnant.

Keith's mom arrived today. At least she has Bennett to play with....

Due Date

And still nothing.

At least this time I didn't go on a 20-mile mountain bike ride on my due date. I learned my lesson last time. It didn't work then, why would it work now?

Nope

Still nothing....

Santa

Hi again. Still no baby. And to answer Mindy's question...2 cm, 80% effaced, and -1 station as of Tuesday this week.

Bennett had a fun day though. We saw Santa TWICE!!!

We love our little town of Lansdowne. One of the small town traditions they have is Santa and the fire engines. Every year, the fire department drives all their fire engines up and down every street in Lansdowne with sirens blaring. Santa sits on top of one of the engines and they hand out candy canes to all the kids. It's a wacky little tradition but we love it.

Today was fire engine Santa day. Bennett just woke up from his nap when I heard the sirens getting closer (darn sirens woke me up, too...). Keith came running and took Bennett out of bed and threw his jacket on and took him outside. The engines were about a block away. First of all, it was pretty darn cold outside--a jolting difference from his cozy bed from seconds earlier. Then those loud sirens--what was going on? Bennett was excited in a sleepy, what-just-happened-to-me sort of way. He got his candy canes and hasn't been able to stop talking about it since.




Then, we went to our ward Christmas party where we saw Santa again. Bennett was surprised to see Santa NOT on the fire engine and wondered where his fire engine was. As you can tell, his first visit on Santa's lap was super exciting. He wasn't scared, he was just pretty much speechless. This Santa guy is so confusing....

War

Still no baby. Maybe I'll start updating the blog daily so no one loses sleep over whether or not I'm in labor.

A friend reminded me a few weeks ago of a remark I made shortly after having Bennett. They were expecting their own first baby at the time and were naturally curious what birth would be like. They asked me how it was. I don't remember saying this, but in their own words, my response to them was..."It was like WAR."

I do remember that my recovery was so bad that I had a hard time imagining that I could ever do it again. During those first few weeks when my memory was still way too vivid, I remember being stopped in my car at a red light and watching a very pregnant woman cross the street in front of me. I almost wanted to cry for her, knowing what lay ahead. That poor unsuspecting woman was about to go to war. She had no idea...

It feels really weird to be a ticking time bomb. I'm not really dwelling on it though. Life just goes on. I still have to go grocery shopping. I still gotta put gas in the car. I still have Christmas to prepare for. Life is still as busy today as it was yesterday. But when the phone rings and it's someone else asking if I'm in labor, that's when I'm reminded what a freaky position I'm in. At any moment, I could be minutes, hours, or even days away from war. :shudder:

Don't get me wrong, I'm beyond excited to meet our baby girl. And I'm ridiculously uncomfortable so the thought of going to war doesn't sound terribly bad if it means I'll be able to bend over again. But still, every now and then as I'm waddling around in some public place, I wonder if some new mom whose memory of birth is still fresh is shaking her head in pity for me, thinking 'that poor unsuspecting woman....'

I'll keep you posted.

Things are looking up

And no, I'm not holding a baby yet.....

But I was such a downer on my last post. I'm actually feeling TONS better. The real reason behind my whining was a fun little infection I had last week that did a number on my right kidney and other stuff (I'll spare the details). Thank goodness for antibiotics. A couple of days later, I'm feeling like a champ again. Well, as much of a champ as a 39 week pregnant lady can feel...

One week to go. Any bets on when she's coming???

Not only can I move again, I also got a little Christmas shopping done. That makes me feel better too! We also got our Christmas tree yesterday and we'll be decorating it tonight. FUN!

Also, I have to brag on my hubby a little....he was asked to participate in a art/craft show a few weeks ago and had anticipated having a lot of time to get a few new peices ready. Well, once again, work stood in the way and we weren't quite as prepared as we would have hoped. We did have a few small things though and we set up a little table and had a couple of peices of furniture there as well. Keith was still at work at 5:00 when I went to set up on Friday night. I set out our goods then left to get some dinner. When he got home at around 8, we went back to check in on things. We had almost completely sold out! He spent the rest of the night and woke up early on Saturday to whip out a few more things--which sold out again! We had totally expected the weekend to be a complete waste of time. AND, not only that......he got an order for a rocking chair. I gotta say, Keith rules. :)

December

I feel like I'm standing still and time is whizzing past me. I'm in suspended motion.

I've got 20 days until Christmas and I haven't bought a single thing. Not only that, we have no Christmas tree. No christmas cards. Visitors coming. Then throw in the fact that I have to somehow fit in having a baby within those 20 days. What am I doing sitting at the computer???

Rubbing my aching back and trying to give my swelling cankles a break, that's what. Whew. Less than 2 weeks until D-day. I can't believe it's already December 5th...but please oh please can't it be the 17th already? All I want for Christmas is my body back.... (waaaaa!)

Thanksgiving

It's the calm before the storm. I'm hosting dinner for 11 adults and 4 kids tomorrow. Although the shopping is done, I haven't hardly lifted a finger to clean the house...or cook for that matter. I'm in denial.

So, since I know that I won't have any spare down time tomorrow (and possibly won't be all that thankful anyways, ha ha), I thought I would share a few things that I'm really thankful for today while my house is silent (naptime is a beautiful gift), while I have my feet up on the couch, and a candy bar in my hand. : )

This year I'm giving thanks for......

-My sweet husband. He is my everything. I totally adore him and am so grateful for what an amazing husband and father he is. I can't even put into words how much this means to me. He has taught me so much and makes me a better person everyday. He works so incredibly hard to provide for us. I'm so lucky to have him as my best friend.

-Bennett--what can I say? He puts the smile on my face everyday and makes it all too easy for me to forget about my frowns. He has such a fun personality and I love watching him grow everyday. I feel so lucky to be able to stay home with him. He is such a sweet little guy. My favorite quote of the week: "Hey mom, guess what? I love you."

-Baby Sister. Although I'm getting a little tired of the backaches and the unexpected kicks to the rib or punch in the bladder, I'm already so in love with our little girl. With less than 4 weeks to go, this is a bittersweet time. Every day that goes by is one less that I will have Bennett all to myself. But at the same time, I'm so anxious to have her here. I've learned so much in the process of getting this baby to our family. It's been hard and sad and I'll always have a spot in my heart for the ones that we lost. Thankfully, it just makes having this one all the more sweet.

-Family--just a phone call away!! Of course, we'll miss spending time with grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. But at least I have had a lot of fun family Thanksgivings in the past. What fun times. I could tell a few stories here....

-Church. Almost goes without saying. Where would I be without this foundation?

-My home. I love my (too often dirty) house. And I love that Keith makes beautiful things to put in it.

-Health. I can only pray that we never know the alternative.

-Fall. It's so stinkin gorgeous! This will be our last Thanksgiving in Philly so I'm savoring how beautiful it is. After 8 years, I think I may actually miss this place!

-Our future. I'm so grateful to have so much to look forward to--new job, new home, new baby! What an adventure we have planned for the next few months!!

I could go on and on but I'll wrap it up with one final thing to be thankful for....PUMPKIN PIE. Bring it on baby! Good thing I'm wearing maternity clothes tomorrow. I won't even be able to feel the stretch from eating too much GOOD FOOD!!!! Anyone need to borrow some of my enviably cool elastic waistband wardrobe? ; )

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Conversations with a 2-year old

Randomly over a PB&J lunch, Bennett announced:

"Mommy, I gotta check my e-mail."