Dangerous Wonder

This will be my last post on this site as my subscription is coming due and I just can 't justify paying money when there are other sites that are free. So for further news check out my blog at www.dangerous-wonder.blogspot.com. This site will be up until Nov 4th.

Sorry that I haven't posted again this week. I really have been trying to follow the adage "sleep when the baby sleeps". It hasn't always worked out, but with two little ones I rarely have time to justify sitting down to blog when there are dishes and laundry to be done. So this morning is the exception. Kyle got up early with Dean and the two of them went off to help some friends of ours move. I'm not sure just how helpful Kyle will be with Dean in tow, but I appreciate his thoughtfulness in giving me some time. Abi is still wanting to be up at night and if not up nursing/sleeping with mommy. My milk supply has come in well so now I am beginning to work on her sleeping on her own and regulating her feed/sleep cycle more. Hopefully that will turn her clock around so that the rest of the house can get more then 3-4 hours of sleep at night.

As difficult as it has been with her fussiness at night, I must say that overall this "post-partum" period is going a million times better then the last. I feel a lot better (minus sleep deprivation) and have actually been on a couple of short walks already. The baby weight is coming off quickly thanks to Abi's voracious appetite and my muscles are barely even sore. As far as Abi goes, she is eating plenty, well hydrated, was barely jaundiced for a day or two, and is a quick learner. Dean is beginning to warm up to her and isn't quite so intimidated by her. He's even reached out a couple of times to touch her. I was worried that he would cry a lot when she cried, but so far it hasn't seemed to bother him. I think his only "beef" with all of this is his loss of routine. I am working on getting that back for him and scheduling his nap better so that he doesn't get overly tired and doesn't feel neglected either.

This is definitely a learning process, but the thought that keeps me going is that this is all I have to do. I don't have to return to work at a certain time, nor does anything around the house need to be done by a certain deadline. If it doesn't get folded, emptied, cleaned, washed, learned, or eaten today; well there is always tomorrow. As hard as it is for me to do, I am learning to just take one day at a time and trust God for the grace I need for that day. So far it has worked and I am at peace in the midst of my chaos!

I do have new pics of Abi that I will get up in the next few days. She is such a little peanut! ;)

Our tiny baby girl is here! Thank you so much for all the thoughts and prayers. So sorry I haven't gotten to posting sooner, but the wee one is slightly more high maintenance then her brother was at this age. She is still working out of the cluster feeding stage and I'm hoping to get more then two hours sleep tonight. Well on to the story...

I was scheduled (as I mentioned before) for induction Friday morning at 0630. Well as it would happen, I went into labor on my own (albeit early labor) around 11pm Thurs night. The contractions were very regular from that point on, progressing from every 6 min to every 3-4 within about 2 hours. They only lasted about 45 secs to a min which I was very glad of as my last labor they lasted 2-3 min. They started getting painful about 1 am and I knew at that point I wasn't going to get any sleep that night. I had been dozing up until that point, but not really sleeping much. I woke Kyle at 3am after my contractions had remained at every 3-4 min for 2 hours. We got packed up and headed to the hospital around 4am. When we got there my contractions slowed down to every 5-6 min again and much to my dismay my cervix was COMPLETELY unchanged from my previous week's Drs appointment. Argh! I walked for awhile and then at 6 am the nurse went ahead and started my induction as scheduled as it didn't seem like I was going to move into an active labor pattern before 0630 anyway. I labored on the pitocin until 9am and felt that though I was managing things well I was tiring quickly and I just wasn't up for another long painful labor. I decided then that when my Dr came into to check me if I was changing my cervix enough and in a good contraction pattern that I would go ahead and get an epidural so I could rest and maybe enjoy this delivery. At 9 am I was 3 cm, 80% effaced and Abi was well situated in my pelvis. Thus at that point I had my nurse begin the process to get the epidural. Good thing I did that then too as while my Dr was checking my cervix he went ahead and broke my bag of waters to help move things along. Move things along it did! My pain went from being an 8/10 to an immediate 10/10. Fortunately I didn't have to wait too long for the epidural and by 9:45 or so was much more comfortable. My nurse checked my cervix again at 10 am and I was now 5 cm. At 10:45, my nurse noticed a change in Abi's heart rate on the monitor and decided to check me again. I was now already at 9 cm! Right after this the anesthesiologist came back into give me additional medicine in the epidural as I was experiencing a little pain in one area of my pelvis. At 11:15 my nurse checked me again and I was now completely dilated, but of course really didn't have any urge to push as my epidural was in full effect. We did some trial pushes anyway and it was evident that this was going to be a much easier delivery as I was able to move her down even without being able to feel. My nurse left to call the doctor for direction and asked me to let her know if I felt the urge to push. Well as soon as she walked out the door I noticed that I was feeling more pressure and a slight urge to push. I waited a few more contractions to make sure, but then called her. It wasn't an out of control urge, but definitely there. When she came back in her attitude was "ok then well lets get ready to push". As soon as she got me all positioned to do so though she told me not to push as Abi's head was already crowning. At this point is when I praise God for the extra heavy epidural as it allowed me to hold off pushing until my doctor was able to get there and control the delivery. I pushed a total of two times and out she came. I also only tore slightly along the old scar tissue from last time. It was such a peaceful, calm and happy delivery. Both Abi and I are recovering well and I feel a million times better then I did last time. Now we just have to get over this cluster feeding hurdle! :)

Here are her Stats:

born October 19th, 2007 at 11:50 am

weighed 7lbs 9 ozs

length 20.5 in

head circumference (the important part) 13.25 in (compared to brother's 15 ins!)

Enjoy the pics!

Abi less then one minute old!

The official weight.

Protesting the first bath.

Dean "holding" Abi for the first time. He is truly fascinated by her!

The happy family.

Our sweet girl in her going home outfit.