Goodness gracious, where does the time go? I can't believe my little baby is already 3 and a half months old, and I certainly can't believe that my maternity leave is ending soon (4 months sounds like such a long time!). Raley has grown and changed so much. At her last check-up (last week) she was 11 lbs, 12 oz and 24 inches, which puts her right on the 50th percentile for both. A totally average baby.

Well, of course we think she's above average! She's making great strides in thinking and communicating. You can actually watch her think - it's pretty funny. She "recognizes" the camera, but just wants to study it every time it's pointed at her face. So she stops whatever adorable thing she was previously doing, stares at the camera, and we wind up with a lot of very serious, studying photos. Very cute, but only partially representational of her personality. However, I did manage to catch a whole series like this:

You're so funny, Mommy!

Using my secret weapon, the raspberry. That's right, I blow raspberries at my daughter and she laughs and laughs! The funny thing is that she has just started doing them, too, so now we can go back and forth.

She loves to check out new objects when you show them to her (or hang them over her head). She gets very serious and just stares. Then she does the same thing every time. I think her mental dialog goes something like this:

"Wow. That's interesting. Let me look at that. Huh. Looks strange. I wonder what it tastes like. Let's see if I can taste it with my tongue. *sticks out tongue* Nope, tongue is still too short.
(Note: Raley would be much happier if she was a chameleon or giraffe... or when she figures out that she can use her hands to bring things to her tongue. Until then, frustration).
I know, I'll talk to it. Maybe I can convince it to come closer. "Coo. Ooo. Goo! AH! AHAHAH! OOO!" Huh. Didn't work.
OK, how about if I just lean forward - maybe I can reach it...

Leeeeeaaaaaannnnn...

Nope, not far enough. Need to work on those abs. Well, I guess I'll just look at it some more.
Hmm... wonder what it tastes like."

I think she might be the first baby to learn to sit up entirely through her abs... she shows no interest in using her arms at all to push up, but focuses entirely on that crunch. That pose is also her "pick me up" pose - if she's lying on her back or sitting in bouncy seat and you stand over her, she'll start doing that to say "OK, pick me up now!" Also, as soon as we put her in her car seat she starts it... not the biggest fan of the car seat, still, although she doesn't mind it so much once we get out of the house and on the road.

Speaking of not using her arms, the same thing goes for tummy time. She's not the biggest fan of tummy time... in fact, we call it a "ticket to tantrum town." She will raise her head, but she's not using her arms to push up... it's all in the abs/back. In fact, many times she'll raise up one or both arms too:

Superbaby!

Maybe a future Yoga or Pilates instructor? I think she'll be pretty good at bow pose!

She's also gotten really good at holding her head up... So good that she pretty much hates to be in any other pose than "sitting up" (with a lot of support, obviously). One of the baby websites called babies her age "pre-sitters" which I just love. We like to ask her how the "pre-sitting" is going. In fact, she's pre-sitting on my lap at the moment helping me type this entry! Here she is with grandma:

Watch me pre-sit!

She has beautiful long, curly eyelashes. We were worried at first because when she was born she had literally 4 lashes and they were short and spiky. But they've really grown in and they're lovely. Of course, they're reddish blond so they don't show up real well in photos, but here's the best I could do:

Don't make me bat my eyelashes at you!

And finally the sleeping. She sleeps through the night now, just about every night. We put her down to sleep around 10 PM (she actually naps/sleeps from 7-10 usually but takes another bottle around 10) and then she's out until 6 or 7 in the morning. If we don't set an alarm clock, she tends to sleep later and then Daddy is late for work! She's pretty good about going down for sleep these days, too - like she knows that she needs a nap. But I realized last night that she's a lot like Homer Simpson in the trucker episode, where he takes a handful of pep pills to stay awake and then (realizing he's taken too many) a handful of sleep pills to "even it out." Then he's driving going, "I'm soo sleepy can't keep my eyes open. I'm awake! I'm awake! I'm so awake I'm... Sleepy, sooo sleepy..." If you've seen the episode (Season 10, Episode 17) you'll know what I mean. But sleep always wins out eventually.

So that's our life here. There has even been some craftiness here and there, but not too much...

Um, and in other life-changing news, I took a new job (same government, same program, different office). It's actually been in the works for a while, but just became official a few weeks ago. In September we'll be moving to Long Beach, California. So we're trying to get the house ready to sell. Stress much? If you know of anyone who's moving to Maryland, please let me know!

Hope you're doing well!

Does that count as the night? She still got us up before our alarm, but if we'd gone to bed when she did we would've gotten about 8 hours! (Of course, we didn't)

There have been a few developments around here - mostly baby-related. Raley had her 10-week checkup and was 10 lbs 9 oz and still about 21" long. She's healthy and pretty happy (at least sometimes!).

But still not breastfeeding. We went to visit another lactation consultant (our 5th!), who explained that several things about Raley's mouth make it very hard/uncomfortable for her to breastfeed - high palate, receeding chin, and, oh yeah, a posterior tongue tie. So, we made an appointment with an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor and Raley had a minor "procedure" on Tuesday to get the tongue tie clipped. A few seconds, a little snip, and no blood. She wasn't terribly happy, but it might have been more because we were holding her down than any pain from the frenectomy. No major improvements in breastfeeding yet, but we'll see... we'll keep working on it.

In other news, we're going to push our luck a bit and go for a trip. We're heading back to Indy to visit the family - my side, plus Dan's grandparents. As previously mentioned, Raley's not such a fan of sleeping in the car seat, so this 10-hour road trip should be very interesting! We're planning to take several breaks and maybe hit up some letterboxes enroute... a short walk with her in her carrier will at least give her a nap!

Anyway, she's fussing again, so that's all from here... here's my happy baby!

Hello!

OK, so I know I said that this blog was going to be less about the baby and more about the craft, but have you noticed that flickr lets you upload videos now? How could I resist giving Raley the chance to show off her new vocal stylings?

Enjoy!

Raley turned 6 weeks old on Monday, and we had her well-baby check-up. And what a well baby she is! Here's the stats:

What a relief! I figured the length would be fine, because she keeps outgrowing her footed sleepers (we're now firmly in the 0-3 month size rather than newborn, and edging towards 3-6). But I was worried about her weight - she seems like a skinny little bean! And of course we always worry about getting enough food into her, especially with our crazy feeding combo (breast, pumped milk, formula) - which I'll have to devote an entire post to later. But it seems like we've nothing to fear; as her doctor said, "Keep doing whatever you've been doing, because it's working!"

Here's a few photos of the munchkin:

Whoa - birds and leaves and things!

She's recently really been able to focus on things a few feet away, and she'll watch them for minutes on end. As well as this swing, she loves the animals that hang from the bar on her bouncy seat, especially the elephant.

Playing in the fresh air!

my serious baby

To keep the baby from entirely taking over this blog, so that I can eventually go back to crafts again (well, assuming that any crafting is occurring!), I'd like to announce that Raley has her own blog for daily photos:
http://raley365.blogspot.com
Also, this firmly proves that I am a new parent in the digital age with long-distance family. Please visit and feel free to leave comments!

And, in the category of "things I wish I didn't know" I now have special expertise in self-diagnosing mastitis. Yep, it came back... exact same symptoms, exact same spot. Same antibiotics, new dose. Hopefully this will get rid of it (again)!

Dear Raley,

Today you are one month old. That's right, 31 days ago you joined our family. I can hardly believe that it's been such a long time and I can hardly believe that it's been such a short time. We're still getting to know each other, but here's some of the things I've learned about you this month.

1. You tend to be a very serious, calm baby when you're awake. You like to study the world around you, and you tend to have a slightly furrowed brow as if you're trying to figure out just what is going on.

hmmm...

I've always loved what I call "serious" babies, and I can't wait to see if you become one. In recent days, though, you've opened up a bit more and look around with a more open face. If you become a happy-go-lucky baby, Mommy will be fine with that, too!

the happy side of Raley

2. Of course, you still make some funny faces, and Mommy loves to capture them on her camera. We call this one Mr. Yuk:

If you see this symbol, it's poison!

3. You're growing up surrounded by yarn. You will either accept this and become a knitter (crocheter would also work) or you will rebel and reject all things fiber. Or both, depending on what age you are. However, I am doing my best to start you out right. One of your very first outings was to a yarn store:

Pretty yarn!

Then you went to the yarn party (where mommy forgot her camera), and just this week we went to hear the Yarn Harlot in Annapolis. Of course, this is what you did for her entire talk:

zzzzzz

but maybe you picked some things up by osmosis. At least you didn't cry! And when she put the knitting needles in your hand, you grabbed on tight, even in your sleep. You even got your picture put up on her blog!

And of course, your next big outing will be to Maryland Sheep and Wool, which is less than a month away. There's even a countdown blog to help you get excited from the folks at the Cloverhill Yarn booth, which will have lots of cool indie dyers and yarnies. Yay!

4. You rock the zip-front hoodie.

Babyz in the hoodz!

5. Your family loves you. Your grandma was here for your first four weeks, and your grandpa got to come visit for a little while, too. They spent a lot of time cuddling and snuggling with you, and had a really hard time leaving (and mommy had a hard time letting them go!).

one side of the family

Just today, your other grandmother arrived to spoil you for the next couple of weeks.

Hello to you!

And sometime next month your aunt and grandfather will get to visit. You hardly know what it's like to only have two parents to hold you. Can you feel how loved you are?

There's many more, but I'll save them for later. Don't grow up too fast, OK?

Love,
Your Mommy

I've been composing this entry in my head for the past four weeks, and hopefully I can steal some time to write it all down. Le bebe is asleep on the couch beside me (not on me!), giving me some valuable typing time. This is the story of how she joined our family! This is primarily written for me (I don't want to forget anything!) but as a first-time pregnant woman, I also loved reading other stories to see just how things really happened, so it's up here for everyone.

First, the birth plan. The short story is that there wasn't one. I've been a junkie for reading birth stories and watching all of the baby shows on TV, and I have yet to see a birth that went according to the "plan." I decided that as long as the outcome was a healthy baby and healthy mom, I'd be fine with however we got there. That said, I did have some visions of my birth - laboring at home with Dan, driving to the hospital breathing through contractions in the car, laboring there with the birth ball and walking the corridors between contractions, possibly using the showers, etc. (spoiler alert! none of this happened). I wanted to be as drug-free as possible, but I wasn't ruling out the use of an epidural (which I knew deep down meant that I'd probably get one). But other than that, I didn't really have much of a "plan." Which was good, because I couldn't have imagined how it went.

The rest of the story is below the cut, for those who aren't interested or who don't want to know all of the (gory) details :).

Of course, if you want to know how I can possibly be knitting and happy while in labor, you'll have to read on (click on "MORE" below) :)

I'm smiling now!

I had a doctor's appointment on Friday March 7th and was 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced - basically no progress since the week before. However, on Saturday I lost my mucus plug... again. Yes, I'd previously lost a plug two weeks before, just after my first internal exam, and nothing had come of it (obviously). This time, though, the plug contained a little bit of brown tinge, but I didn't think too much of it, having been there before with no results.
Over the weekend, we walked around Costco and some other stores, but didn't really do anything else to bring on labor.

My due date was March 21st. The week of March 10th was supposed to have been my last week in the office, and there were a flurry of scheduled meetings for me to brief folks who would be filling in for me during my absence. I had prepared files and lists of all of the information well in advance of this, but this week was to be the "passing of the torch." One of the meetings was even scheduled for Friday the 14th, but I did tell my co-worker that I wasn't sure I was going to make it that long. But I went to sleep on Sunday night (the 9th) ready to go back to work for 5 more days.

Monday morning at 6:45 AM I woke up to feel my water breaking. At first I did wonder if possibly I had just lost what little bladder control I had left, but there were 3 distinct "trickles" and I knew. At that point, I realized that I would have a baby within 24 hours. I knew that if I had the baby by midnight on the 10th, she would share my mother's birthday; if I managed to be in labor for 18 hours before she was born on the 11th, she would share a birthday with my friend Kelly, my friend's daughter Lily, and of course Meli!

The alarm was set for 7 AM, so I had gotten a full night's sleep, and I didn't feel bad about waking Dan up a few minutes early. I poked him and said "I think my water just broke" and he said "Oh, wow." When I got up to go to the bathroom, a whole bunch more fluid came gushing out, solidifying in my mind that my water had indeed broken.

Dan called the doctor's office, who told us to go ahead and come in to the hospital - and we got the hospital that we wanted (what a relief! - my OB/GYN practice was delivering at 2 different hospitals, and you didn't know which one you would get until you called). So much for laboring at home with Dan! We rushed around the house like mad people (with me continuing to "leak!"). I gathered up pieces of knitting to take with me (I have my priorities!), and threw some extra clothes in a bag. We had packed our bags before, but they weren't quite "complete"! In all this time, I had yet to have a single contraction.

Dan put some plastic down on the seat of the car (yes, still leaking) and we drove the 15 mintues to the hospital, still sans contractions. I took the elevator to L&D and checked in, and was show to a room... still no contractions. I met my daytime nurse, Danielle, who was FABULOUS. I managed to do some knitting (still no contractions) - see picture above.

My doctor (Dr. B.) arrived and checked me, and I was still 1 cm and now 75% effaced. Then we started on pitocin - there would be no waiting around to see if I would start having contractions normally.

I got plugged into the (external) fetal monitor when I arrived, but now the contractions really started and there were some things of concern. Basically, the baby's heartrate tended to drop after every contraction. If it was dropping during the contraction, that would be normal, but with it happening afterwards, that was not right and indicated that the baby's oxygen levels were dropping. The distress was worse when I was lying on my back, better on my left side and best on my right side, and the very best when I was on a full oxygen mask. Aside from one trip to the bathroom (before the contractions really started), I spent the rest of my labor on the bed, generally on my right side. So much for the birthing ball and walking the corridors!

That was the first time that we had the c-section talk. Basically, if the baby continued to be in distress even with me on my right side and on oxygen, the doctors would opt for a section. For the time being, we were OK, but they wanted to bring it up.

An hours went by and my contractions weren't being detected by the external monitor anymore (with several repositioning efforts), so Dr B. came back to insert an internal monitor. Any hope that I had of getting out of bed died at that point! She checked, and I was still only 1 cm dilated.

Then I just settled in to the labor - I was having contractions every few minutes, lasting for 30 sec - 1 min. I was able to breathe through them, especially with a little musical exhale that I just made up. I told our nurse that I was going to try and make it without an epidural. When not contracting, Dan and I watched A Baby Story (despite our childbirth class handouts which said not to dwell on the upcoming labor) and the Cartoon Network. I particularly remember Scooby Doo and Tom and Jerry.

New doctor - Dr J. - came in to do another check just after noon, and I was only 2 cm. He wished me well, and left me to keep laboring on. The worst part about the labor at this point was the blood pressure cuff. It automatically went off every 20 minutes, and seemed to have uncanny timing to start inflating right in the middle of a contraction. I hated that thing!

After a couple of hours, the contractions were piling up on top of each other and I started feeling very hot, faint, and unable to breathe. I ripped off the oxygen mask and then started to vomit. (Yes, 38 weeks of throwing up was not enough - I kept going into the delivery room!) At that point, I decided that I didn't need to keep on without any help and asked for the epidural. It was put in with relatively little trouble, and I was blessedly pain free again. I was even making jokes with the nurses!

At about 4:30 - just after the epidural - Dr J. came back to check again, hoping for 5-6 cm. Except I was barely at 4. So we had another c-section talk - Dr. B. would be back to check on me at 6:30 and if I hadn't made significant progress by then, we would be looking at surgery. Honestly, at this point, it didn't sound like such a bad thing.

After he left, I kept having contractions and then they started piling up - exactly like just before I asked for the epidural. I got hot, sweaty, felt like I couldn't breathe, ripped off the oxygen mask, and got the bedpan ready for the vomit. And then the damned blood pressure cuff went off... and my bp was 160/something, which made an alarm start going off, adding to the panic I was feeling. I told Dan that he needed to get someone because I needed help. I don't think he actually had to move, though, because I think the nurses came in again on their own. It was now about 6:15 - just before Dr B. was coming back. The nurse checked me, and lo and behold, I was at 10 cm and ready to push.

Yep, 4 to 10 cm in less than 2 hours. No wonder I felt like I was on a freight train!

I heard the nurse intercept Dr B. as she was coming into my room, and she said OK, turned around and put scrubs on. She came in, took out the internal monitor, took out the catheter, and I got in position to push with Dan on one side and the (new) nurse on the other holding my legs. The baby was "right there" and I started to push. For those that haven't had the experience, a push is timed with a contraction (since I'd had the epidural, the nurse was helping me to figure out when they were), and consists of: deep breath in, bearing down for a count of 10, big exhale, big breath in, bearing down, exhale, inhale, bearing down, and you're done.

I did three pushes (cycles of 10). Dr. B said that she could see the head and it looked like red hair! Then everybody got up and truly got prepared - Dr B. put on a face shield, etc. One more push and the doctor said I could touch her head if I wanted to - it was much softer and slipperier than I expected. One more count of 10 and then the doctor said that the head was out and I should stop pushing. I admit that I felt something at that point, but it still suprised me that the head was out already. One more push and the rest of her came out - which I definitely felt - at 7:18 PM. She started crying, they laid her up on my chest, and I was a mom!

Dan cut the cord, and we stayed there for a few minutes looking her over, counting toes and fingers, before they took her over to the side of the room for all of the weighing and measuring. Dan went with her while Dr B. tended to me - I had a 2nd degree tear (no episiotomy) which required stitches, and I delivered the placenta. Her APGAR scores were 8 and 9, and she was 7 lbs 4.2 oz and 21 inches long.

Hello, beautiful

So, if you read this far, you probably deserve a medal, but here's my summary. I did get an epidural, but I think it is probably why I managed to have a vaginal delivery - I relaxed enough that I was able to make a lot of progress in a little amount of time. The first 10 hours of labor were pretty slow, aside from the vomit highlight, but a lot happened in the last 2. From 4-10 cm and then 5 pushes and she was here! I think that the "labor" part went about how I'd imagined, painwise and sensationwise; the "delivery" part was so much easier.

And now I have a little munchkin! She shares her grandma's birthday (best birthday present ever!). The munchkin is now sleeping on me - this post took about 4 hours, 2 diaper changes, 3 feedings, and 2 naps to write!

UPDATE: As Cara guessed, it looks like mastitis - an infection in my breast tissue. I'm on antibiotics and we're pumping and working on different nursing positions. And working on nursing in general, but that's another post - sigh. Thanks for all of the well wishes!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

This will be a brief update... you'll see why.

The past week has had some milestones that I'll have to elaborate on later. We took our very first outing - to a yarn store! Grandpa (my dad) arrived on Saturday, so we got to meet him for the first time (plus the Albie dog, too!). Then we went to check out the Cherry Blossoms at the Tidal Basin. Finally, we wound up going to the Homespun Yarn Party for a few hours (photo by Jody here). Of course, she slept through all three, but we're trying to broaden horizons anyway!

We had Raley's 3-week appointment this morning (it would have been a two-week appointment, but our pediatrician was out of the office last week). She's put on weight - our big girl is now 7 lbs 8 oz - and shrunk slightly - 20.5 inches - :). Everything else looks perfect. We talked about the screaming/fussing while nursing, and the dr thinks it might be a (more severe than typical infant) acid reflux that makes nursing painful for her. So, Raley is now on infant Zantac for the next few weeks to see if it helps at all. Grandma takes Zantac everyday, too - so now they just have more in common!

And as for why this will be a short post - I now have a temperature of 102.5. I got ahold of my doctor and I'll be going in to see her in the morning to attempt to figure out what's going on, and taking some (over the counter) medication tonight to try and keep the fever down in the meantime. That said, it's probably time for me to get some rest. Thankfully, both of my parents are here and so they are taking care of both me and the baby! Dan has to work late tonight, but will be able to take some time off this week in case this doesn't get worked out by then. All in all, it's taking a village, but we're getting this baby raised!

It's true, this has become baby central. Here's a photo for the knitters, though. See, we have 2 cats. When we set up the basinette in the living room (before bringing home the baby), they thought we'd bought a splendid new cat bed. They were very pleased (well, when we weren't shooing them out of it). Then the baby came home, and they didn't quite understand that it wasn't a cat bed anymore. In fact, they wanted to jump into it, no matter how far we moved it away from the couch. What's a knitter to do?

CatDeterrent 3000

Yes, that is yet another use for a yarn swift - the CatDeterrent 3000. It has worked amazingly well, plus it provides us with yet another place to hang things (baby clothes, burp rags, etc.) off of!

Well, that's about it for the crafty talk. I can honestly say I haven't been doing much knitting lately, so if you're here for the knitting you can just surf on. If you want to see the cutest baby in the world, though, read ahead!

Here you go:

Hello!

First, a word on her name - Raley. It does indeed rhyme with Hailey, Bailey, or Israeli (without the "Is"). I actually made up the name. I started with the name "Raederle" which is a character in The Riddle-Master of Hed series by Patricia McKillip (long out of print, but now available in one volume here - sorry, Judy, I gave you the wrong book before!). I pronounced Raederle as Ray-Der-Lee, and eventually shortened it to Raele, pronouned Ray-Lee. And that was our frontrunner name, but eventually I realized that I didn't want to have to give everyone a pronunciation guide with it, so Dan and I worked out spellings that we thought would be more or less phonetical. Raley was the result! We have now found it in one baby book and on one baby name website to mean "deer in the meadow" (the website says it's a boy's name, but we don't care!).
Margaret is my middle name and was my maternal grandmother's first name. Plus we liked how it fit with Raley.

If you hold my hand, the car's not so scary

We've now had several visits with a lactation specialist, because our baby is not the most cooperative in the world... when she wants to sleep, she sleeps, and nothing that anyone can think of can convince her to wake up (and this was using all of the tricks in the LC's bag). So we went back when she was more alert, and got the screaming fit (no, we're not trying to choke you, we're trying to feed you). Finally, as a last resort, we've achieved some nursing success by using a n!pple shield (basically a silicone "hat" to fool the baby into thinking she's still sucking on a bottle), and by baiting and switching her off of a bottle on to the shield. She still fusses and cries and carries on, but we're coming to believe that that may just be her personality. She seems to be a bit of a drama queen, for all that she's only 2 weeks old. Maybe it's the red hair?

Practicing our pose for our senior yearbook photo:

Do you recognize this pose, Aunt Kelly?

We did manage to give her her first bath (and a few since, too). What a production. Did I mention that Raley hates to be naked? There is no worse torture than a diaper change. Oh, except for a bath. Did I mention that she has a flair for the dramatic?

First bath

But when she's calm, she is very sweet. Here she showed us just how she did manage to fit inside mommy's belly (especially there at the end). See that right foot and how it's kind of hanging out there? Yeah, that was the foot that was wedged up in my ribs...

So cozy!

But the funniest thing about this pose was what's going on in the middle there where her hands and feet meet... check this out:

I like to hold my hand with my toes

Yes, that is her pinkie finger between her big and second toe. That's why she has monkey toes (you should see them spread out!).

And finally, here we are sunbathing with Daddy.

Catching some rays!

Back when her bilirubin levels were high, the doctor recommended that she spend some time in the sun to help break it down. We would hold her in front of the windows for 30-45 minutes at a time, and it made a noticeable difference - you could actually see her get less orange. Once her levels came down we've stopped the sunbathing, but it was fun while it lasted.

I wish I could say that that was Raley's first two weeks, but the truth is that I'm not caught up on the photo downloading yet. I believe that these photos cover Raley's first 9 days... with more to come.

Houston, we have achieved poop! So much poop... but I guess that's what happens when you store it up for days!

Yes, we took pictures (we are first time parents, after all!), but we are going to spare the internets. :)

Oh, and I did forget to mention one other activity that we can do in our little window while the baby sleeps... Lego Star Wars on the Wii.

Wiiiiiii!

I must insert a disclaimer here that Lego Star Wars does not involve moving the controllers around, unlike most Wii games - no tennis swings or bowling windups, just using the joystick and buttons. But it gives Dan and I a way to relax a little bit between feedings, and Raley likes hanging out asleep on the Boppy. She heard the Star Wars music often enough in utero (well, for the last week or so - we haven't had the Wii for very long) it must feel very familiar.

And that's our update - we made it through another night, and achieved poopy diaper! Today we're contemplating a bath (for baby) and possibly our first trip to the mall! Big plans!!!

Our baby girl is a week old today. I can't even believe it! And what a week it has been... Thanks everyone for your congratulations and comments - I'll try and reply soon, but please know that I appreciated each and every one of them.
Le's see if I can recap some of the past week. Her birth story will have to come later when I have more time...

Our family

So she came into the world on Monday night, and like most newborns was fairly awake for a while. We spent a couple of hours in the labor/delivery room, and then went upstairs to our "maternity suite" where we spent the next few days together. My mom flew in on Tuesday (after having changed her original flight from March 17th!), and Dan went to pick her up from the airport, leaving me for my first shift "going solo." Yikes! But we made it through.

We got to go home on Wednesday morning. We had a special outfit prepared - a Baby Yoda Sweater knit by her mommy (I sewed on the ribbon ties in the hospital... I thought I'd have a few more days to work on it at home!), and an afghan knit by my grandmother, Margaret (which is my middle name, too).

Home!

At home, we met the cats,

What is this?

hung out in our swing,

Again, WHAT is this?

napped with Grandma,

Zzzzzzz

plotted world domination,

Evil petting zoo!

and made funny faces!

Do you smell something in here?

We've had an interesting time medically... She was jaundiced, and this morning was the first day that we didn't have to go back to the hospital for a bilirubin test (hooray!) since her numbers finally started going down.

She's also not nursing particularly well - she latches on but won't suck for more than a few seconds before screaming. We thought that things might get better once my milk came in and nursing wasn't so frustrating (because there was actually food there), but it didn't - if anything it got worse. After a few days of this, I started pumping and we fed her the pumped milk via eyedropper (in addition to continue to try using the breast).

On Friday night, we called our doctor's 24-hour line because we realized that she hadn't had a poopy diaper since Thursday. The pediatrician decided that we needed to start supplementing with formula, and we needed to do feedings every 2 hours. So that's a three-stage feeding process: breast, breastmilk (via bottle now), and formula every two hours... By Sunday morning, still no poo, so we went in to see the pediatrician. The doctor decided that she was healthy, happy, and getting enough to eat, and we should just keep an eye on her, but keep up the 2-hour schedule until her 2-week checkup. For the record, she still hasn't had a bowel movement, in fact, but the doctor says we're in wait-and-see mode. I also have an appointment with a lactation consultant for Wednesday morning to work through some of these breastfeeding problems.

At this point, it would be such a relief to just have to whip out the boob, rather than going through the entire production, so I'm hoping we can get her back nursing soon. Of course, I have Dan to help me at night and Mom and Dan during the day (until Dan goes back to work on Wednesday - noooo!). But our lives are currently broken down into two hour blocks, about 30-60 minutes of which is wrapped up in baby, leaving an hour or so of "our time" for those little things like sleeping and eating.

The good news about keeping a baby with such a full tummy is that she tends to sleep really well once we finish with the feeding production, so we do get that hour without very many interruptions. In fact, we usually have to wake her up for feedings (always fun!). And the other good news is that she wakes up for several periods during the day, generally during or after feedings, and we get several minutes of quiet, happy baby who is very content to just look around and check out this crazy world that she's part of now.

Hello there!

She's the cutest baby ever, and we're so glad to have her. Now if she would just poop!!

(more pictures here)

She's here!

Hello world!

Raley Margaret
March 10, 2008 at 7:18 PM
7 lbs 4 oz
21 inches

Perfect from head to toes!

The whole story (and more pictures) to follow, but no one guessed the correct date on the contest :).
ETA: Everyone is doing great health-wise (besides a little sleep-deprived which is now the norm I understand!), and we came home from the hospital today.

Crazy!

It's been an interesting couple of days around here... but I'm pleased to say that everything is fine.

On Monday, though, I made an unscheduled visit to my doctor's office with some interesting symptoms... extreme swelling of feet, hands and fingers (at 9 AM, which is not normal!), headache, vomiting (OK, the morning sickness is still with me, but this was a little unusual), and a general feeling that something was weird. When I got to the doctor's, my blood pressure was 145/120... pretty high, especially when my bp on my last visit to the doctor (3 days before on Friday) was 90/72. All of these symptoms add up to potential pre-eclampsia. Yikes!

So I had a fun day staying at home on Tuesday to do a 24-hour urine test (yes, just as much fun as it sounds!) and then back to the doctor on Wednesday for more blood tests. Thankfully, my blood pressure calmed down for the rest of the week and the other symptoms seem to have calmed down a bit. My feet and hands still swell up over the course of the day, but it's not first thing in the morning. And I've only thrown up one other day (which we can blame on the morning sickness!). And, my test results appear to have not been too concerning, since I haven't heard back from my doctor. I have an appointment this Friday, so we'll double check.

Meanwhile, here we are at 34 weeks:

34 weeks, 2 days

That's pretty Crazy, don't you agree? I can't believe I have 6 weeks to go...

I've been amusing myself recently by coming up with the best descriptive verb for my mode of locomotion. I'm definitely not walking anymore. For a while, waddling was perhaps best, although I liked wobbling, too. If I'm in a hurry, I tend to bustle. Today I've been in some pain (baby position no doubt) and I think I was lumbering. Who knows what tomorrow or next week will be!

I've also been keeping myself busy with some (non-knitting) Crafty! I've been working on some wool covers for cloth diapers, and I think I'm starting to accept that I might not get enough of them knit up (6 weeks to go!). Luckily, I found some great patterns and tutorials online for making baby clothes out of recycled wool sweaters. My mom gave me her old serger when I was home for Christmas, and I was looking forward to trying it out! A thrift store trip, and look what I've come up with!

From the Baby Bum Sweater pattern and a merino sweater, I've got a few gray covers:

Baby Bum Sweater!

The one on the bottom was the first one that I made, and it will only work if she's born with skinny chicken legs (hey, you never know!). A little recalculation, and the top one looks like it might just work. There's a newborn fitted diaper inside to help visualize...

And with some Sweaterpants instructions and a striped sweater, this is what I have so far:

Baby pants!

They still need an elastic waistband, but for that I need to excavate my regular sewing machine from where it's been buried in the basement. That might be a project for Dan for one night this week or this weekend...

So that's the update from here. We're looking forward to some quiet times over the next few weeks staying pretty close to home and trying to get everything ready as best we can... 6 more weeks!

the Big Apple!

New York City!

Last weekend, Dan and I took a little trip up to the Big Apple! It was the holiday weekend, so we had 3 days to enjoy it... and Dan's brother, Sam, was visiting the US on a business trip and let us stay in his hotel room, making the trip very appealing!

We managed to pack a lot into 2 days (on Monday we just drove home)... and most of it starts with a B! The photo above is from the Staten Island ferry, which we took solely to get a good look at the Statue of Liberty (which you can just barely make out behind us). About 90% of the boat were tourists like us, and we all got off on Staten Island and turned around and got right back on for the return to Manhattan!

We also saw...

Broadway!

Bones!

and a Blue whale! (Plus this photo has Baby on Board!)

We got half-price same-day Broadway tickets (from TKTS) and went to see Rent. I've owned the soundtrack for many years (I think my sister got into it first, when I was in high school), and loved the movie, but this was my first time to see it live. It was awesome! The baby loved it, too, and kicked around to several of the songs :) After we bought our tickets, we went on the website and found out that they are going to be ending their Broadway run in June 2008 (after 12 years!), so I was really greatful that we got to see it before it ends.

We also went to the American Museum of Natural History (which is the museum from Night at the Museum), where we saw some dinosaur bones, and some other exhibits including the Oceans Hall. It's an interesting museum, with some older exhibits (taxidermy in particular) surrounded now by "renovated" surroundings.

And of course, what's a visit to New York City without a little bit of shopping? I visited Seaport Yarn (which will be moving to a new location in a couple of weeks), which is just as bizarre of an experience as all of the reviews I've read about it online. It's in a building with absolutely no signs or other obvious clues on the ground floor - you walk past a doorman to an elevator. The weekend I was there, the regular elevators weren't working so I rode up in the freight elevator with 4 bags of trash! Then you get up to the 5th floor, and the store consists of many small rooms (crammed to the ceiling with yarns) connected by hallways lined with shelves with more yarns and books. It's a packrat's dream (I loved it!). And I was happy with what I bought:

Baby Bamboo!

Brilliant stripes!

That's a machine washable (!!) bamboo/wool blend (Sirdar Snuggly Bamboo Baby) and 100% wool in a self-striping rainbow colorway (Diakeito Rococo). Both bought in appropriate amounts for baby garments...

And I stopped at Kinokinuya (which has moved, but the website still had the old address! Which ordinarily wouldn't have bothered me so much, but walking was quite a challenge, and I was a little peeved when I found out their new location was just a few blocks away from one of the subway stops we'd used earlier that day), where I bought:

Books!

Three new additions to my library of Japanese knitting books. From left: From left: Baby Knits (0-24 months) ISBN 4-277-14158-7; Women's Knits/Stylish Knit Autumn & winter ISBN 978-4-408-62830-1; Men's Knits (M, L, LL) ISBN 978-4-277-13332-6
I'm pleased to say that I've already knit one thing from the baby book! I'll have to share photos with you next post.

Baby-wise, we're doing good. She's quite active during the mornings, which can make it hard for me to concentrate at work! You can easily see the movements by watching my belly, though, which entertains me and my co-workers. She makes big movements at night (changing positions), which means that I can never plan on how I'll feel in the mornings. I've come to realize that my comfort level (doing things like walking or sitting) depends a lot on how she's positioned. The weekend in New York was fairly painful - I think she was crushing a nerve in my pelvis - and every step hurt. By the time I woke up on Tuesday morning, though, she was off of it, and I was feeling good. This morning she was sticking out the front, and walking again became painful, although in a completely different place. I wonder where she'll be tomorrow morning!

I'm still having a touch of morning sickness (a day or two a week with puking, some nausea the rest of the time), but it's so much less than it used to be that I feel like it's nothing. The heartburn is constant and completely obnoxious, plus the medicine I'm currently taking is becoming less effective the more I take it.

I'm doing pregnancy yoga in a class once a week, and then a bit at home. It's definitely helping - I can't believe how flexible I am, or how much I can still move!

I haven't really been having a lot of strange dreams - none (so far) where I've been pregnant. The worst one was an anxiety dream where Dan came home and said he was leaving me, but he wouldn't tell me why. I had a son and a small dog. It was one of those dreams where you wake up and aren't sure what the reality is - know what I mean? I have never been so relieved as when I looked across the bed and he was there. I think I asked him about 4 times the next day if he was going to leave me (and he is quick to reassure me that he's not going anywhere!).

I've only been having a few cravings lately (mandarin oranges being one!) but I've been making a lot of smoothies - pretty much one per day. I usually make enough for two glasses, so Dan is also on board with this plan.

My next doctor's appointment is on Friday, and I think after this I start going every week! Only 7.5 weeks 'til my due date! Yikes!

Adorable!*

Baby Pants!

I have made baby pants! And I think they're adorable!

Details:
Pattern: Baby Bell Bottoms, by Alison
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted, 100% single-ply merino wool, colorway "loro barranquero"
Needles: 16" circular size 8(?)
Started: December 7, 2007 (traveling to Colorado and Albuquerque)
Finished: December 21, 2007 (traveling to Indiana)

These were actually started once and then ripped, when a short reality check assured that they were super-sized...

oops

That's one of the legs around my wrist. Yes, I wanted bell bottoms, but not quite that much of a bell. Of course, I could have just made them in a bigger size, but then I would have had to change the lengths, too - size large width with size small length would have resulted in very strange pants!

Or, A could be for Ample!

That belly is ample!

That's me at 29.5 weeks. Everything baby-wise is going well - she's kicking right now in fact! I did fail my 1-hour glucose test (like some other people), so I have to do the 3-hour test. (Hopefully, like Cara, I'll pass it!) My first test was in mid-December, but they couldn't work me in for the 3-hour until now... the nurse told me that between the tests I should "Try and avoid eating sweets like candy and cookies." Over the holidays. Rii-iiight.

After all, I definitely had to eat at least one cake - the one for my baby shower!

Yummy!

That's the cake and the guest of honor - the bump! We both really enjoyed (a small piece of) the chocolate cake and ice cream! It was... Ambrosial!

Let's see, other things... I'm still throwing up a few mornings a week (1-3 times), but several days I feel fine. Except for the heartburn/acid reflux, which is Awful... Taking a Pepcid usually settles things down, but eating is still an adventure! It's getting increasingly uncomfortable to walk - my pelvis is not terribly happy about this baby's head being wedged into it. I can't wait to see what 10 more weeks will bring!

Otherwise, everything is going well! We had a quiet evening at home for New Years, just us and the cats, and some sparkling Apple cider:

Happy New Year!

We've now suceeded in clearing out the craft room entirely, to make way for the nursery! Of course, Dan brought all of the craft stuff into the dining room so that I could sort through it... well, many bags to Value Village later, the dining room is almost back to normal. Maybe tomorrow night! I have found some fabulous things that I'd forgotten about! And I've finally said a final goodbye to several crafts that I had briefly dabbled in, but which didn't quite "catch."

And I've started one more project for the baby... I've been feeling a tremendous amount of startitis, with a particular urge to start a sweater (but I don't really want to make a maternity sweater at this point, so it wouldn't fit me for a while), but I've managed to hold it off for the most part! But I'm trying to get more prepared for the baby, and making soakers for cloth diapers is smart! Here's the latest:

That's a waistband

It's the Curly Purly Soaker (pdf), in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted, colorway Sherbert. Size small, and I'm using needle sizes 4, 6, and 9 (I think). We'll see how much progress I make tomorrow when I'm sitting and knitting for 3 hours!

Well, one of my resolutions this year was to blog more (especially once Baby Girl joins us!), so hopefully you'll be hearing from me again before too long :)

* Yes, I did sign up for the ABC-Along. Maybe now I'll be encouraged to post at least twice a month!