keeping it real

Henry and I are having a quiet day today, as Celia's back at daycare for the first day in nearly two weeks. It's in the single digits outside- good wool sock wearing, hot tea drinking, fold the laundry in front of the fire weather.

Speaking of fire, last night around 9:00 we realized our furnace wasn't working. With the temperature dropping to around seven degrees, this was a big problem. Chris got the wood stove cranking and called the oil company's emergency line. Celia was already asleep in her room, so I piled blankets over her and kept Henry near the wood stove for the night. Late at night someone did come to fix the heat, so we were okay. Chris and I were both up too late, and he was up half the night keeping the wood stove burning and worrying about whether the heat was working.

It will be nice getting back to our normal schedule. I'll miss Celia when she's not home, but it's good to have time alone with Henry so I can give him my undivided attention. When Celia's home I have to give her as much attention as possible, and can't always do everything I'd like to with Henry.

Henry has been in a great mood today. He's been so smiley that I've been able to catch some smiles on camera.

After he woke up and ate this morning we talked and played, I folded laundry, and we did Henry's bath. He was even happy in the bath, and seemed pleased to try cloth diapers for the first time. I'm going to phase them in now that he's big enough.

Bad phone pics, but you get the idea. Henry fell asleep in his seat after the bath, so I took a shower and got dinner ready for the oven while he was sleeping. Then he woke up, ate, socialized for a while, and we went for a drive just to get out and so I could get a fancy coffee drink. I have errands to run, but it's so cold outside that I don't really want to be carting him around from place to place.

One more thing. You know those people who show post-partum pictures of themselves, looking like they'd never been pregnant just two weeks after having a baby? And you want to clobber them because they make you feel like a fat slob and wonder why you didn't lose that kind of weight? I'm typically a thin person, and even I don't bounce back like that. I want to have my old body back and fit in all my clothes yesterday, but I have to be patient. I did fit into my fat jeans this morning, though, which was a small victory. So in honor of that, and to keep things real and show you all that I don't live in some la-la land where I magically drop all the weight and have no belly left at all, here I am at five weeks post partum:

And I know it's not like I look horrible, but clearly I still have a belly. And if you didn't know me you'd think I wouldn't have much to lose, but I'm still much bigger all over than my normal self and have around 15 pounds to lose. My big goal for the months to come! I'm ready to start exercising again. May try to do something tomorrow...

Anyway, that's our day. Finally a quiet one.

Are you someone who bounced right back? Or did it take some time?

henry's birth

I always wish I'd had this blog to document Celia's birth, so I have been looking forward to writing Henry's birth story. Here it is.

Henry's birth was fast and furious. My labor didn't really even affect me until I suddenly hit transition at seven centimeters. I attribute this partly to luck. My body seems to be pretty efficient at having babies. But mostly, I attribute it to my mental state and preparedness. I wasn't expecting labor to be a horrible experience, so it wasn't. In fact, I was so relaxed and laid back that I wasn't even bothered by my contractions until forty minutes before Henry was born. I trust my body completely to birth my babies. It's what women are made to do. I work with my body and use relaxation and visualization to move labor along quickly. These things work. It sounds a bit hokey to talk about a mind-body connection, but it really exists and it's a powerful thing. There's nothing superhuman or physically tough about women who have natural births. We are mentally tough and in tune with our bodies. We trust that our bodies will do what they were made to do, and we approach childbirth without fear. When you understand labor, have trust, and are free from fear, it's likely you'll succeed.

As I approached 41 weeks of pregnancy, I started to worry that I'd have to be induced. When you want a natural birth, induction is not your friend. Depending on how your body reacts to induction and what methods are used, you can end up with all kind of interventions and end up completely out of control of your labor. I do best when I'm left alone to labor without interventions. Of course there are times when it gets really intense and I doubt my abilities, but the really scary times are when my power is taken from me and things are being done to me by others.


On the day I turned 41 weeks, I was scheduled for a non-stress test for the baby. I went to the hospital that morning for the test. It took much longer than normal because the nurse kept saying they wanted more information, and I really knew something was up when different people kept coming to check the paper and ask how I was doing. I wasn't surprised when they wanted to send me for an ultrasound right away. It turned out that the amniotic fluid levels were low, and since I was already past my due date the safest thing was to deliver the baby right away. Chris had met me at the hospital when I realized something wasn't quite right, so we both drove home to get ready. We got Celia from daycare, got her settled and playing with Chris's mom, and then took off for the hospital.

We checked in and were settled in the antenatal unit by 7:00. My midwife, Colleen, came in and we talked about our plan for the induction. Although I needed to be induced, we still wanted as little intervention as possible. This is why I love my midwives. We felt secure knowing we could completely trust Colleen and that she would make sure we had as little intervention as possible while keeping Henry and me healthy. We decided to go with an induction method that is actually controversial in the natural birth world, but we used it with Celia and I've had long and thorough discussions with the midwives about it. Using misoprostol actually lessens the need for other interventions because it's very effective for me. With Celia, misoprostol was used to start my labor and I needed no other drugs, IV, or interventions.

I got the misoprostol placed at 7:12 pm. We were prepared for the induction process to go slowly because it didn't have a very strong immediate effect, and we assumed we'd be spending the night in that room and having the baby in the morning. I actually spent the first hour of labor doing some online shopping! I laughed at myself the whole time, but it was Cyber Monday and there were deals to be had on Christmas gifts! Colleen then suggested that we take a walk to see if my contractions would get stronger. We walked for a while, went back to our room for a little bit, and then walked around some more. While walking, I could tell I was having contractions but the movement prevented me from feeling them very acutely. Whenever I stopped moving around I could feel that they were getting stronger. They were still easy enough to get through and weren't really bothering me. At 10:30 we decided to lie down and get some rest before labor really got going. My contractions were a little stronger, but we were still thinking I'd need another round of misoprostol to really get going. At 11:15 my nurse came in to put the monitor on for a while. She had trouble finding Henry's heartbeat and it was very slow. She had me roll from side to side but that didn't help, and all of sudden she was a little panicked and calling for help. Colleen and two other nurses rushed into the room, and suddenly I had an oxygen mask shoved on my face and a nurse was getting an IV line in. Henry had just had a brief deceleration, but it was a scare since I hadn't been on the monitor all along. Meanwhile, Henry's heart rate came right back up and I suddenly started having much stronger contractions. This is when I started getting scared. It wasn't because of the deceleration, but because I was having trouble managing my contractions with people crawling all over me doing things to me. The oxygen mask made me feel hot, nauseas, and claustrophobic. The nurses' messing around with the heart monitor and getting the IV in were a big distraction and made it very hard to relax through the suddenly powerful contractions. Luckily Colleen was there to reassure me that it was okay to have the IV, and that they'd just give me extra fluids for a little while and then remove it. She could also tell, without me saying a word, that something had changed in my labor. I think she knew then that I'd be having a baby soon.

When the nurses were done and the room cleared, Colleen stayed with us. My contractions were getting intense and I lay on my side, rocking my hips back and forth through them. I asked Chris for my stress ball because I like to squeeze it during strong contractions. This was what got me through labor with Celia too. I was starting to feel out of control during my contractions because they had gotten so strong so suddenly. I thought I had a lot more time left to labor, because I had only been at 2 centimeters the last time I was checked. Labor was so intense that it felt like I was already in transition, and I didn't know if I could manage it for several more hours. At this point I wasn't talking much- just trying to relax my body, breathe and move rhythmically during contractions, and then rest between them. Chris recognized that I was entering the intense stage of labor in which I needed to retreat into myself. He put on the music I use to relax during labor, and he started giving me pressure for pain relief at a pressure point on my hand. Colleen did this amazing thing with placing her hands on my shoulder, hip and leg with gentle pressure that made my body relax during contractions. Those things helped a lot.

My version of an epidural: the beloved stress ball.

My contractions were now 2-4 minutes apart and Colleen wanted to check me. She did, and my jaw dropped when she said I was seven centimeters! I was so relieved to be that far along. I said to her, "No wonder I feel so awful!" Ha! I told her I had started worrying that I couldn't handle contractions that strong for much longer, and she said I wouldn't have to. She was right. At that point it was probably around 11:30 and my contractions got much stronger. I needed to vocalize through them, and my vocalizations got louder and louder. I vocalized on an "O" sound and worked on keeping them at a low pitch to help me relax and help bring the baby down. I visualized my cervix opening the rest of the way, and Henry moving down. It was not easy, but at least I knew I was in control now and that things were moving fast. I'm sure if you'd heard me moaning from the hallway, you would not have thought I was in control at all! But I was, I just had to be really loud. Colleen asked if I felt the need to push, and I said "Not yet". Sure enough, I did want to push starting with the next contraction.

There was suddenly a rush to get me from antenatal to a labor and delivery room. They hadn't been prepared for things to go that fast. I had to get in a wheelchair between contractions. I was told not to push (I ignored that and pushed anyway). Then the nurse literally sprinted down the hall with me to labor and delivery, with Colleen and Chris running behind us. I had dreaded having contractions in the wheelchair, but the vibration and fast movement actually helped me and I asked if we could do it again because it felt good. Everyone laughed, but sadly I did not get another ride. They were all in a big hurry because Henry was on his way out.

When I had Celia, the pushing stage was the easiest. I had nice long pauses between contractions, and was able to rest and relax during those breaks. I was in a sort of dreamlike state and Chris said it was like I was in a trance. This time was much different. I was almost constantly contracting with no break. Because I was always in a contraction, it was hard to catch my breath and get deep breaths in for pushing. Since I couldn't get a good inhalation, I didn't have the breath and the energy for strong, long pushes. It was very frustrating and I really had to concentrate to breathe deeply while contracting so I could push. The good thing was that, compared to my labor with Celia I was much more alert and in the moment. I was able to visualize where Henry was and concentrate on pushing effectively. I was also highly motivated to get him out quickly because the constant contractions made it so unpleasant. It was really hard work, but I guess I did okay because I couldn't have been pushing for very long. It was probably 15-20 minutes at the longest, because Henry was born at 11:56 pm. It had been less than five hours since labor began. Colleen says I'm made to have babies :).

Henry, just born.

When Celia was born, everything was a little foggy. I had been in that trace-like state that served me so well during labor, but was also hard to snap out of. Then Celia was taken away to the NICU and I didn't really get the chance to bond and fall in love with her right away. Her difficulties with feeding made it even harder for us to bond. We made up for it eventually, of course. But with Henry, I fell instantly in love. I knew what to expect. Everything was familiar. Because I knew how much I loved Celia, I knew ahead of time how much I'd love Henry too. I grinned, laughed, then cried as he landed on my chest. I knew how to hold him, how to nurse him. I knew right away how much I loved him. He was healthy and perfect, and there was nothing to prevent me from enjoying everything about him from the very start, and every single moment since.

miscellany monday

1) Yup. 41 weeks. This kid is happy as a clam in there. Meanwhile, I'm just worrying about how big he's getting! He's going to be so much bigger than Celia was. I'm still feeling pretty good, but my belly is getting so big and itchy, and I'm disappointed that I have so many stretch marks because I never got any with Celia. The other night we were looking at pictures from our wedding and from when Celia was a baby, and I couldn't believe how skinny I was. I can't wait to get back to my old self again. I'm tired of being so big. And of my face being fat (and yes, I know it isn't really fat, it just is compared to normal- look at my bio pic and header!). And of wearing literally the same two pairs of pants every single day.

I tried taking a bigger dose of castor oil the other day. It did have an effect and I had some contractions and even lost my mucus plug. But eventually they stopped, no real labor. Every time I have a contraction, I hope it's labor beginning. Every time I get up to use the bathroom in the night, I hope my water will break! Alas, in summary: 41 weeks, 40 pounds, and an entire bottle of castor oil later I'm still pregnant. Today and tomorrow I have to go for post-due date testing. I'm starting to get concerned that I'll need an induction.

2) I gave Pita a new haircut the other day and it turned out pretty cute. My mom suggested cutting the back on a bias instead of straight across, now that her hair has gotten longer. It definitely helps it look less scraggly, but I'm still no professional.

3) I didn't get a chance to make vegan Thanksgiving stuff, not knowing if the baby would arrive. Now I'm in the mood to plan for Christmas though!

4) Celia was playing with White Kitty the other day. She put some beads around the kitty and said, "I married her. Look. She's married now." So I said, "Oh! Who is she married to?" Pita said, "To me. I'm her wife." Hahaha! Cutest thing ever.

5) We were going to go out to a pancake place for lunch yesterday, but it was way too crowded. In the same parking lot there was a fast food place that shall remain unnamed, and we really had to get lunch quickly because it was getting late. So, in we went. In case you don't know me or haven't read the blog for long? A fast food place is pretty much my worst nightmare, for so many reasons. When I ordered Celia's lunch, the choices for her drink were juice or soda. Seriously? Not even milk? Not that I like her drinking much milk either... So I asked if there was water and the lady said no! Not even water! Literally, a choice between two sugary drinks. So we got juice (which they had to dig around for under the counter, so everyone else must get their small children soda?!) and when we were sitting at our table I noticed this:

That's right. Her juice contained zero percent juice. I spent the rest of our lunch trying not to cringe every time little Pita took a bite. Luckily she didn't really eat or drink all that much, and for once I was more than happy about it. Smart kid- she knows what's real food and what isn't.

If y'all wanna send some labor-get-going thoughts my way this week, I'd be much obliged ;)

toddler trouble

I feel like I have nothing to say because we're just waiting, and waiting, and waiting for this baby to arrive. I'm starting to worry a little that I'll have to be induced. And what's really crazy is that since I had Celia at 38 weeks, I've now been pregnant for almost 3 weeks longer with this baby than I was with Celia. And it could even be a full month. Hope he comes soon!

We had a great Thanksgiving. Easiest holiday I've ever been involved in. We planned for Chris's family to come to our house and bring food, since we didn't know if the baby would be born yet. We all had kind of planned on the new guy being around for Thanksgiving and there was no way we'd be cooking or traveling in that case. So they came for the afternoon/evening, Pita played a lot with her cousins which was really cute, and that was that. At one point the kids were all playing with Legos together and it was so cute.

On Saturday morning we went to cut a Christmas tree. There's a tree farm right on our road. We were also lucky that it was in the 60s, so a rare warm and beautiful day for cutting a Christmas tree. I put the lights on during Pita's nap, and then we decorated it today. Chris got out our Christmas train to go around the tree, and Celia spent all morning watching it and incorporating it into her pretend play with her dollhouse and little people.

You can see Pita's ornaments all clustered in one spot at the bottom of the tree :)

Just as we're expecting the new guy to arrive, I've started having some problems with Celia. Of course. One downside of the fact that she's a bright kid is that she knows full well what's happening and that she is not interested in sharing attention with a new sibling. She has started having trouble at nap time, coming out of her room over and over, and is generally disobedient and yells, hits, etc. mostly with me. She isn't like this all the time, but it's noticeably more than it used to be. She thinks time outs are a big old joke too, and will run out of the time out spot repeatedly expecting me to chase her. So, we're working on these things. The most important thing is for me to have a plan of action so I don't lose my temper. If I don't respond consistently and calmly to her, we won't make any progress. On Friday I sat outside her bedroom door at nap time and when she kept trying to come out I would just calmly tell her to get in bed and go to sleep, and close the door again. When she couldn't actually escape her room, Celia got tired of the "game" pretty quickly. She cried and complained for what seemed like forever, but it was probably less than a few minutes total, and she was asleep about 20 minutes after we first went up for nap time. Not bad. I also made her a little "Nap Book" that outlines her nap routine and what she needs to do at nap time. We read it after her nap, and she was asking me questions about why I wouldn't let her out of her room. And then she said, "I cried, Mommy." It was so cute. Poor little thing. Little did she know I was on the other side of her door crying too... So I told her I didn't want to make her cry, but that I needed to help her take a nap and next time she could just stay in her bed and fall asleep without crying. She seemed to think that was a good idea :). Yesterday she took a nap with only a little complaining on the way to her room, and today she is napping after trying to come out a few times with me sitting outside her door. So far, so good. We've actually had a great weekend without too much toddler drama. Celia is at her best when she gets to spend a lot of time with her daddy, and she was Chris's little shadow all weekend.

We're continuing to get things done around the house since we seem to have endless time before the baby's born. This afternoon I'll go grocery shopping and we'll get ready to have a normal week- hopefully with a hospital visit thrown in.

the nursery

Welp, isn't it just my luck that the castor oil did pretty much nothing? I read so many horror stories about the side effects, and felt so brave taking it, and then nothing even happened!

Anyway, while we're waiting around for the new guy to be born I thought I'd show his room now that it's finished. There isn't much to show, really, because the room is very small. It was hard to get good pictures without a wide angle lens. Apparently there was also some major glare from the sun that I didn't notice when taking the pictures.

We didn't buy any new furniture. H will be using Celia's old crib, and the glider is one we already had too. The mirror and shelves used to be in Celia's old room. The red table came from my parents, and we repainted it to go with the room. The rug used to be my grandmother's. I collected the fabric baskets from around the house. The only new things are the crib skirt and curtains, which my mom made, and the alphabet cards on the walls. It makes a big difference to be able to pick out your own fabrics. My idea was to have classic antique-looking colors: white and cream, muted blue-green, rosy antique red accents. This could really be either a boy or girl's room, and the colors aren't too babyish.

Off to the midwife again this afternoon!

monday miscellany- 40 weeks!

1) Today I'm 40 weeks pregnant.

I no longer worry about things like whether my pants and tops match, or that my pregnant butt is big and saggy. These are literally the only pants I own that still fit and feel comfortable, so that's how I'll roll. Roll... No pun intended there.

2) Speaking of rolls, have I mentioned my weight and how much I've gained? Actually, never mind...

3) Something tells me the new guy is perfectly happy where he is, but I'd sure like to meet him in the next week. All those contractions I had last week were such a tease. Over the weekend I was pretty active, went for a brisk walk, and even tried a little castor oil to no avail. I just took another dose of castor oil this morning, so we'll see if anything happens with that. By the way, castor oil has a reputation for tasting awful and being hard to get down. I didn't find it that way at all. It doesn't have a strong taste, but it is very oily and thick. I mixed it with soynog (eggnog, basically) and since they're both thick liquids they mixed well and it wasn't too bad at all. Anyway, today would be a good day to meet our little Thanksgiving turkey but I don't have high hopes...

4) We just finished a really nice weekend, so I'm kind of glad the baby didn't arrive then. We had two full days of just our little family and since Chris and I have both finished our before-baby projects around the house, we were able to give Celia lots of attention. She spent lots of time playing with the bricks Nana got her, and quite a bit of time playing with Daddy. We've also discovered that Celia loves salmon and marinated steak tips, which is kind of funny coming from a vegan mother. Chris gets them sometimes and she gobbles them up. Yesterday she asked what we were having for lunch and I said I didn't know, and Pita said "Maybe Daddy can cook up some steak." Haha! (And he did.)

She LOVES having time with Daddy. She's always telling me she misses him when he's at work :)

Pita was so good and so happy all weekend, and I think it will be good to keep things as normal as possible and not make a big deal out of the baby in front of her. It will be tough once he's actually here, but I'm kinda hoping we and our families can keep things sort of calm and toned down for Celia. I'm mainly just hoping I'll get enough sleep to function somewhat normally to take care of her and keep our schedule consistent.

5) I'm also still really excited about Christmas time this year. I think it will be really fun to have Christmas in our new house, decorate the tree with Pita, and have the first Christmas that she'll really understand and remember. She's already talking about it, and she does remember some things from last year like Santa Claus, the decorations, etc. Plus, I think having a new baby around the holidays will be fun, and will help combat any baby blues I may end up with. It's such a fun time of year and we'll be busy.

My tummy is rumbling in strange ways right now after taking that castor oil. If I'm lucky, maybe by next Monday I'll have baby pictures...

it's beginning to look a bit like...

Yes, that's right.

The nesting is out of control.

Not only did I vacuum the house, scrub floors, clean bathrooms, and do two loads of laundry today...

I also did more Christmas decorating.

The in-laws might be confused as to which holiday it is, if they come over for Thanksgiving.

If the baby isn't born soon, I'll have decorated for Easter and the Fourth of July too...

So please, little H (yes, that's his first initial!), come very very soon!

Love, your Mama.

my new gig

No, the new gig does not involve the new guy yet, though I did think I was going into labor on Sunday night. It was a false alarm, but something was definitely going on. I had all the signs that I was in early labor, but maybe my body was just getting ready for it and then stopped. The baby has now dropped noticeably lower, though. It also gave us a good practice run for when labor does happen. When Chris saw that I was cueing up some Hypnobirthing tracks to listen to, he got a deer-in-the-headlights kind of expression on his face and started packing a hospital bag for himself- ha! Anyway, I started to feel better before bedtime and then overnight things slowed down and I wasn't in labor after all. I was glad we didn't call our families to come all the way for nothing.

On Monday morning I still wasn't feeling too hot when I got to work. I decided to spend the afternoon getting all my paperwork done, just in case I didn't end up coming back. When I received an email midday that reminded me why I never wanted to return to that job, I thought: You know what? I only have a day and a half left before maternity leave was scheduled to begin anyway. Screw this. I'm out. So last night I sent a few emails arranging for my leave to begin right away, rather than finishing out the week. And so begins my new gig as a stay-at-home mom! Yikes. What am I getting myself into?

I'll tell you what I'm getting into. Apparently somebody thinks my new job allows for lots of time to empty sinks full of dishes in the mornings.

This morning it was really warm and nice outside. Celia and I ran an errand and stopped at a park to play a little, and then we met Chris for lunch. It was time for her nap when we got home, and she must have been really tired after our busy morning because after reading just one book she said she wanted to go upstairs. Note to self: Keep the kid busy in the mornings!

I decided to start decorating for Christmas today. I'm nesting and literally can. not. stop cleaning the house, picking up clutter, and cooking things for the freezer. Because clearly I cannot bring a baby into the world when my kitchen cabinets haven't been wiped down five times. With Thanksgiving drawing nearer and the baby not born, I figured I might as well go for it with the Christmas stuff. I don't think I'll feel like decorating much in the days after the baby is born. During Pita's nap I got some decorations out and put them up. Also, when you're putting out new decorations and moving things around you end up wiping things down and dusting too- it's a crazy pregnant lady's dream, really.

And finally, Celia forgot her white stuffed kitty when she slept over at Chris's parents house. She was without it for a couple days and definitely missed it because she's pretty attached. We told her White Kitty was having a little vacation and she was okay with that, but she kept asking when the kitty would be back. Today we had a special FedEx delivery, and here was Pita's reaction when she opened the package.

monday miscellany- 39 weeks

1) Today I'm 39 weeks pregnant with the new guy. The new guy now has a name, by the way! I think we will keep it under wraps on the old internets, though. You all will just have to be surprised. I still feel pretty good, but I'm looking forward to packing up the maternity clothes and getting back to my old self soon. I'm still experiencing that end-of-pregnancy energy surge and making good use of it, and have been trying to wrap my head around the idea of impending childbirth and of having two children.

2) When I got in bed the other night, I was thinking about Celia and how we're now in our last days with her as our only child. It made me a little sad. Of course we will be happy to welcome the new guy, we want more than one child, and we want Celia to have siblings. But at the same time, this is a bittersweet time because I feel like my special days with Celia are numbered. I told Chris I was sad that I didn't have much time left with Celia alone, and he thought I was nuts. Boys... They just don't understand.

The next day Pita and I went out for a fun morning together. We looked at Christmas decorations (boy did she love that), went for a snack at Panera, and walked around a little.

She decided to try out her brother's car seat.

3) I couldn't help myself, and got coordinating Christmas pajamas for Celia and the new guy. This is the back view of his:

How could I resist the reindeer butt? Celia's are reindeer pajamas too, but solid red.

4) This is my last week of work!

5) I'm really getting curious about when the new guy will be born. I kind of wish I knew. I wonder if it will be right near Thanksgiving.

6) If you blog, do you ever go back and read old posts? I love going back in time that way. Every so often I'll pick a month or two and read through all the posts. It's fun to remember what we were doing, see how much Celia has changed, and I often remember the days I wrote about.

7) Pita played in the leaves last week, and we have a lot more leaves to rake now. She's going to have fun.

monday miscellany- 38 weeks

1) I'm 38 weeks pregnant today. We sure are getting close, although it could still be another month... I've actually started feeling better in the last couple weeks than I did before. I think it's because my weight gain has stopped and my belly isn't really growing any bigger. I've gained about 30 pounds, which is also what I gained with Celia and then just stopped gaining. Everywhere I go, strangers stare and appear horrified at the size of my belly. No joke. It's getting old. I have more energy and am less uncomfortable than I was. This makes me fear that the new guy isn't coming out any time soon!

2) I love having good neighbors. I love that we have people nearby who are friendly and always willing to help each other out. I've now kept my next door neighbor's breast milk in my freezer during the power outage, and she's given me some of her big absorbant pads to keep in the car in case my water breaks on the way to the hospital. It's safe to say we've reached a whole new level in our relationship- Ha!

3) Chris, Celia and I all ended up sleeping late over the weekend. Pita and I are usually up around the same time every morning, so it was unusual. Anyway, Chris and I were both thinking on Saturday morning that we have it so good right now. Celia usually sleeps well, which means we can too, and in general things are just so much easier now with an almost-3-year-old than with an infant or toddler. Now we're about to return to square one with a new baby, so we are really enjoying our sleep now while we can!

4) Speaking of sleep, some days Celia still has a really good nap and on other days she no longer naps at all. She really does still need something, because she gets so cranky without a nap. Anyway, even when she doesn't sleep she had never left her room- or even her bed- during nap time. She would just talk and play in her bed until I came to get her. Well, the other day she went for her nap, was quiet for a while, and then I heard her bedroom door open. I went to the stairs and saw her coming down. "What's going on, Pita?" I said. "I didn't feel like taking a nap" she replied, "I just want to play." And with that, she got on her tricycle and rode out of the room, leaving me quite shocked. Hopefully she'll continue to nap most days- especially with the new baby coming soon.

5) We did some serious nesting yesterday. Chris and I both got a lot done around the house in the morning. We gave the family room a good cleaning, put away and reorganized toys, and rearranged the furniture a little.

6) Outfit of the Week:
This week I covered a big box with contact paper and let Celia decorate it, and it became her dress-up box. She had a great time dressing up yesterday.

our birth plan

I finished packing my hospital bag today, so other than some last-minute things I'm ready to leave whenever labor happens! I don't expect to go into labor for a while yet, but I'll be full term on Monday and one can dream. All this preparation and just wait, I'll still be pregnant at Thanksgiving...


I thought I'd share our birth plan, which is almost exactly the same as what we did with Celia. We have done a lot of research, completely over-educated ourselves about childbirth, and I take time to practice Hypnobirthing meditation. But when it comes to the actual birth, things are very simple. The birth plan could essentially be summed up as: Just leave us be. No drugs, no IV, no monitoring necessary. I'm just gonna have my baby. (Mind you, if any of those things became medically necessary we'd accept. But, most of the time they are not necessary, and interventions snowball into each other leading to unbelievably high cesarean rates.) Anyway, this is our birth plan:

We prefer a non-medicated childbirth with as little medical intervention as possible. Please discuss any necessary medical interventions with us before they take place. We will use Hypnobirthing and other natural techniques throughout labor.  

During Labor and Delivery, we would like:

• Access to a labor tub.
• A quiet, calm environment.
• Not to be offered pain medication or to be questioned on pain level. We are aware of pain medication options, and will request medication if we wish.
• Not to have an IV unless it becomes medically necessary.
• For mom’s water to break naturally.
• To have as few internal exams as possible.
• Uncoached pushing.
• To be free of time limits on pushing, as long as baby is healthy and progress is being made.
• To avoid episiotomy.
• For perineal support/compresses to be used as needed.
• For baby to be placed on mom’s chest immediately after birth.
• For baby to be given to dad if mom is unable to take her.

For the Baby, we would like:

• To delay cutting the umbilical cord until it has stopped pulsing.
• For the baby to remain with mom and dad and begin breastfeeding after birth.
• For Chris to cut the umbilical cord.
• To decline erythromycin eye ointment.
• Breast feeding only- no formula please.

With Celia's birth, this is pretty much how it happened. I never got to use the labor tub because I was ready to push when we arrived at the hospital. If we're there earlier this time, I really want to try the tub. I had no IV, no drugs, felt great and recovered fast after delivery. Chris helped deliver Celia, and the room was calm and quiet (silent much of the time) while I pushed. The only thing that had to happen that we didn't want was that Celia had to have a bottle of formula soon after birth. She was hypoglycemic, which can quickly become very dangerous and cause brain damage in newborns. So, obviously we allowed for that.


There's no way of knowing what the new guy's birth day will bring. For now this is our plan, and we hope it will work out well as it did for Celia!

monday miscellany- 36 weeks

1) Today I'm 36 weeks pregnant with the new guy. I've kind of dreaded this last month of pregnancy because I thought I'd just get more and more exhausted. But, in the last week I actually started feeling a little more energetic. Maybe that nesting instinct is kicking in? At the same time, I still wouldn't mind going into labor any day now because my belly is getting so big. I'm measuring right where I should be, but I'm still a relatively small person otherwise. People always think I'm due any day because the belly looks so big compared to the rest of me. I still have some reflux, and some sciatic nerve pain that's new. But overall I feel pretty good!

2) Celia really loves drawing and writing. I need to start saving samples of her work, so I'm keeping a few things she made yesterday. She did these by herself, so I think they're pretty good for a 2 1/2 year old!

She said this one was a person (on the left) and a funny costume (the pink).

      This is her name. She's really good at making the C, L, and I, but isn't as sure about the E and A.                                           

3) The November Cooking Light arrived last week, and I'm looking forward to trying and veganizing a few recipes. Having a new baby around Thanksgiving may prevent much Thanksgiving cooking though...

4) Speaking of Thanksgiving cooking, I've been making this Pumpkin Gingerbread Smoothie lately. Sometimes I don't have an appetite for lunch these days, and this is really good and very nutritious.

5) We had a birthday party for one of Celia's friends over the weekend and they had a bouncy house. Pita had the best time! She was the youngest at the party, but she had no fear jumping around with the bigger kids. It was Halloween themed, and she loved wearing her costume all day.

6) Speaking of birthday parties, we have to start planning something for Celia's. The only problem with a January birthday is that we can't predict the weather at all and can't plan on doing something outside. I'm not sure what kinds of indoor activities we could plan. Maybe a couple winter crafts? Winter themed snacks, and maybe set up some climbing toys or get a ball pit? Just put out toys and let the kids play? A sledding party would be fun, but we can't guarantee there will be good snow. Celia keeps asking about inviting friends for her birthday party, so we have to do something with friends this year I think!

7) I have big plans for baby-related posts coming up soon! Since I didn't start this blog until Celia was almost a year old, I never wrote about her birth or how we plan for birth, or any little baby things. I definitely want to document those things this time around.

8) Sometimes the house gets very quiet, and usually it means Celia and Chris are hiding in their living room fort, telling each other stories. The other day I infiltrated the area and got a picture.

9) And finally, we haven't had many leaves in our yard until recently so Celia hasn't really played in piles of leaves yet. On Friday we played outside and started raking some piles. Pita had the best time playing in them. She was really cute because she would ask me for permission every time she wanted to go in a pile. I think she was worried to mess up the work I did. This week I'll try to get the rest of the yard raked up so she has even better piles to jump in.