Confession #2: Childbirth wasn't so bad...

As I alluded to before, the birth of our first child was like a made for TV movie. There was drama, suspense, action and a happy ending. All within about an hour. And thank-gawd, b/c if it had lasted any longer I would have rather gouged my eyeballs out. Ok, maybe not :)

I think one of the blessings of Audrey's birth was my naivety. Through the whole process I remember that the dominant thought in my head was "I don't want embarrass myself and be the person who is told to go home b/c I wasn't far enough along." When my water broke, I "had to be sure" and re-read my books and looked stuff up on the internet (FYI, if you've never been pregnant, waters don't break like they do on TV. There was no big gush, no panic, no definitive moment. I've been told that everyone is different; mine was a "pop" trickle trickle, easily mistaken for pregnancy incontinence) -- my husband thought I was crazy, and a girl friend I called told me to get my ?!#@ to the hospital but I wasn't feeling any sort of contraction so in my mind I was going to get induced in 24 hrs.

My husband dropped me off at the hospital on the way to night shift (at my insistence, not his) and I assured him that even if I went into labor in the middle of the night I'd probably labor for 16 hours so he would have more than enough time to come home in the AM and catch the ending. My midwife confirmed that it was my waters that broke; however, I had not dilated anymore than I had been for the past 3 weeks. The plan was to induce in the AM if things hadn't started throughout the night. So, I walked out to the main drag, did some errands and met a friend for dinner.

Looking back, I was having mild contractions during this time but didn't pay attention b/c they were not painful nor did I feel them to be consistent or for any length of time. I remember being uncomfortable towards the end of dinner but as soon as I got home and layed on the couch everything felt normal again. I made some phone calls to tell friends that I would be induced in the morning and then got ready for bed.

I will spare you more details, but let you know that by about 8:45pm a good friend of mine convinced me to call my husband and get him to come home. Good thing b/c by 9:00pm the "big one" hit. BUT instead of having a contraction and waiting 10 mins for the next one, they just kept coming one after the other after the other. I started to hear these awful noises like a moaning cow; and then I realized it was me?!! Unreal. We live 2 1/2 blocks from the hospital. Husband made it home shortly after 9, it took me 1/2 an hour to crawl to the door, by some miracle the contractions paused for about 15 seconds when I ran to the car...we made it to the hospital by 9:45pm.

And you know what? This whole time all I could think about was "I CANNOT DO THIS FOR 16 HOURS; I NEED DRUGS!!!" so you can imagine my surprise when I got to the hospital and my midwife stated "OK, you are fully dilated and I see some hair, so with your next contraction you need to push..." SERIOUSLY?! WHAT ABOUT MY DRUGS?!! And the (very nice) nurse stated "this is even better than drugs, you're going to have a baby!" OMG, I couldn't have slapped her -- she ACTUALLY said that to me.

Audrey was born at 10:03pm. 2 hrs short of 38 weeks.

And then the chaos stopped. There was silence. And we got our happy ending.

Confession #2: Childbirth wasn't so bad. An hour of hard labor? I can do that again...LOL.

It's because of this that I am a bit nervous about the birth of this child. I am 37 1/2 weeks. Everyone expects labor will be about the same, possibly faster (I can't even imagine how that would be possible) but what if it isn't? and I'm gouging my eyeballs out? Or, what if it is and I miss the signs and end up giving birth on the sidewalk? I have a feeling that this baby will be arriving very soon and I am paranoid about being more than 10kms for the hospital...good times!

A Week of Firsts

This was a week of firsts for our little family:

1. It was Audrey's first day of preschool

2. Audrey spent her first night in her big girl bed

3. We had our first Garage Sale

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1. I can't believe that my baby is turning three this year. Preschool was something that my husband and I had wanted Audrey to experience but was going to forgo due to the logistical challenges that come with working full time. However, once we got preggers and mat leave coincided with the school year we decided to give it a go.

As mentioned before, we chose a Parent Participation Preschool and really liked the fact that it seemed like a gentle approach to school. Ours is lovely; wonderful environment, nurturing teacher, small class size. Audrey can be extremely shy so it was really important for us to pick a school that would build her confidence and independence.

In preparation for the big day, we bought Audrey some new Dora slippers for her "inside shoes" and I made her a little gym bag to keep her things in. I remember when I was small my mom did the same so I thought I'd cary on the tradtion. She was so excited to bring it school it was totally worth dragging out the old Singer. But you can be the judge:

2. Audrey's first night in her big girl bed was bitter sweet as well. Up until now she had been sleeping in her crib -- she's never tried to climb out, she treats it like her little haven and we have had a lot of success with her sleep in the crib. So, why rock the boat??


Well, we should have rocked it sooner b/c Audrey absolutely LOVES her big girl bed. All the fears I had about her waking up multiple times, or wandering into our room in the middle of the night, or waking us up earlier in the AM b/c she would be so mobile were completely misguided. She played in her bed all afternoon and only woke up once in the night. In the AM, she kept herself entertained until I went in to say good morning -- and she was so proud of herself for having slept in her "big girl bed."


The most unexpected surprise was in the afternoon when Audrey got upset over something. She went into her room, crawled into bed with her soother & blanket, cried for a while and then played for a bit. She emerged about 15 mins later all better and we proceeded to have a great afternoon. The independene of being able to self soothe in a comfy place of her own was something I was depriving her by relying on me to put her into the crib. So, here's to baby growing up!


3. The Garage Sale -- this was our first garage sale, and I think that it will be our last. There was something really unsettling about watching all my stuff get taken away for pennies. Craigs list would have been a much better option for the big ticket items, and then donating all the small stuff to charity would have been way easier (which is what we did at the end). Which leads me to my first confession: I think I have borderline "hoarder mentality" disorder :) I don't throw very much out. Rather, I am a very creative "hider" of things. With baby #2 coming, it is definately time to purge but it was EXTREMELY difficult for me to see our things go. When we watch hoarders on TV, I am totally disgusted with their lifestyle yet when they talk to the therapist about their fears and why they do it, it doesn't seem that unreasonable to me. I actually identify with some of them! Anyways, I couldn't stand out there and watch my stuff go away for nothing so I went inside and left my husband and sister to run the show. It sucked.

Oh, one last first: Our first days of rain all month! It was welcome for me, who has a little inferno growing in my bellly and about to burst any minute. Our vegetables appreciated it too. And with all the $$ we just spent on drain tile, it was good to see it going to good use!

Resurrection

It has been over two years and I've decided to put pen to paper (or rather, fingers to keyboard) and resurrect this blog again. Inspired by the birth of my first Daughter, my attempt at blogging was thwarted by the responsibilities and day-to-day business of our new little family.

However, with the impending birth of our second child I have been re-inspired to chronicle my thoughts of this new chapter of our lives. Some very exciting things are on the horizon that I think could be blog worthy:

Baby #2 is due Oct 11, 2011 -- the birth of my first daughter was a like a made for tv movie, so it will be interesting to see how this one arrives to this world! I already feel like she's bigger and ready to pop at any time...

Audrey will start preschool next week! I can't believe that my baby is turning 3 this year and that she is old enough for preschool. Unreal. Time really does fly by quickly. We chose a Parent Participation Preschool and I intend to blog about my thoughts on this model and the pros/cons of choosing this type of preschool for our daughter. We had our first new parent orientation last night and I already love the teacher, her philosophy and the classroom. But it will be a lot of work. Stay tuned...

Growing to a family of four -- definite anxiety there!

Some self exploration that I'm doing...stay tuned.

I just found out that a dear friend of mine is pregnant again with her second child as well. I love that all my close friends and I are having babies again at the same time. I grew up in a tight circle of friends the same age and I hope that Audrey and Baby #2 can experience that closeness in their childhoods too.

When did time start moving so quickly? Enjoy these last few days of summer!