Look I knit something (and other non knitting stuff)

Here is Baby Yoda. So cute. I think the body will fit Lowan for awhile, but the sleeves, I'm not so sure. So he'll wear it now, and then I'll take off the sleeves and reknit them for next winter. He is also modeling his umbilical hat in one picture. This picture doesn't show the umbilical-ness of it though. So he's only modeled the sweater and not actually worn it yet, it's been surprisingly too warm the past couple of days. But soon!!


Lowan has been SO fussy as of late, he's teething and it is driving us crazy. Him too I imagine. So anyways, last night in addition to teething fussy, he was diaper rash fussy. So after his bath I had him naked and was playing with him. I had him cradled in the blanket I made a few weeks ago (so easy!) and was rocking him and bouncing him on the couch. He LOVED it and was all laughs. So then I made Kyle take over so I could take some pictures. And this boy is done being immobile. He has begun to really scoot around. He kind of slinks on his belly, but he went from one side of his crib to the other yesterday a couple of times. It won't be long now that he'll be everywhere.


Finally - here are all Tara and my kids. I have a cheerio obsession. It all started many years ago with Teagan. It was just a coincidence that I put them in the same pattern on Lowan. I had to go through the old photo cd's to come up with this one of Teagan. Look at these cute kids, Tara and I know how to bake us some cute babies. Boy, Teagan was a fatty! I didn't remember those thighs until I saw them again. They were huge. She makes Aidan look skinny, and he's no small fry. Lowan looks down right anorexic next to Tara's two chunkers. She's probably not going to like these comments, but it's funny. Anyone who knows Kyle and I wouldn't think we'd have the skinny baby. We're not little people. But Lowan is quite long.


So, I'm a terrible mom and something must be wrong with me, I took no pictures of Lowan on his very first Thanksgiving. I've got the day before and the day after and nothing of him at Kyle's family reunion with the 60 or so relatives. What is wrong with me. Oh well, there will be another one in two years. I'll take pictures then.

I've got to get a paper and a project done for school. I shouldn't have paused for this. But now I'm off.

Cute Boy Backyard Photo Shoot

Here are some pictures of my cutie from this afternoon.

Firsts

First Backpack Ride.



First Swim.



And in knitting news, I've finished the back and am 30% done with one front side. It's looking good!! I am excited to be working on the sweater. I won't post a picture, because they are pretty boring to look at.

Birth

Here is my birth story.



I went into labor on Sunday night right about 11pm and then we left for the hospital near 1am. My main moment of grumpiness through the whole labor occurred right at 11 when Kyle asked what was wrong. I guess I still expected the contractions to go away, but he says he could instantly tell things were different. We got admitted right away and Lowan was born at 7:15am Monday, March, 31st. He was a very healthy 8 pounds and 21 inches long.

When I was admitted, they check my dilation and I was 3.5 cm. The contractions were about 3 to 3 1/2 minutes apart. This was at about 2am I guess. I had gotten sick at home and thrown up a few times before getting to the hospital (I knew when I ate pizza for dinner earlier that evening it was a bad idea). Labor went surprisingly fast because the next time they checked me at about 4 or 4:30 am, I was 8 to 9 cm. WOW, we were all shocked. I was expecting to be about 4 to 6 at the most. My water broke (and there was no mistaking it this time!!) and my whole body was convulsing or contracting during the contractions. This happened about 6 to 10 times, were pretty sure that was my transition period.



The nurse came back in and checked me again, this must have been about 5am. She did not say anything, but went to the nurse call button and called for my midwife to come right away. At this point it crossed my mind that I may be fully dilated, but they weren't telling me. However, I had a lot of other things on my mind, or really only one all encompassing thing on my mind.

So I was ready to begin pushing, but had to wait. Kyle was phenomenal, he kept me focused and breathing through everything. I couldn't have done this without his help and focus, it was amazing. For someone who thought they did not want to be in the labor room with me when we first found out I was pregnant, he did so well, he could almost be a doula (ha-ha). He would not think so, and I'm sure it was our connection that made it possible for us to link and work through the contractions so well. He had me doing the funny breathing to keep me from pushing, which was very hard. The urge to push was very strong and hard to control.



Finally the midwife arrived and told me I could start pushing. I was kind of in shock, I did not think it would happen so fast. Then the nurse confirmed that I had been ready for the past half hour while we waited for the midwife. The delivery was a little hard, mostly because Lowan was face up, or sunny-side-up, as my midwife said. So it took one and three quarter hours of pushing for our little guy to make his appearance. I definitely had some moments of utter exhaustion and feared being able to keep pushing. It's funny, I did not really pay any attention to the clock during labor, but during pushing, I kept looking at the time. I kept thinking I should be done by now, why is this taking so long. We did not know Lowan was face up. My mom was able to see everything she wanted to see (she was helping hold a leg for me) and Kyle was able to avoid seeing everything he did not want to see. He stayed behind me and for every single push, he counted for me. It was the only thing I focused on during the push and was also the most helpful. He said afterwards, he did not know if it was good or bad, but just kept doing it. I am happy he did, because I may not have told him to keep going had he stopped. The pressure got really great as Lowan's head was very near and finally, out he came. In one push, his head and then body. It was pretty amazing and I'd say the pain was not near as bad as it could have been. I think I've suffered more with the aches and pains of recovery more than the labor and delivery.

They put him up on my chest and began wiping him clean. He was the most beautiful baby I'd ever seen and I swelled with love. So did Kyle!



I was able to follow my birthing plan and did not have any unnecessary medical interventions, so I was really excited. My sister is describing Lowan as organic, which both Kyle and I think is very cute and appropriate for us!

Things got a little scary for us right after Lowan arrived because his color was off and he was grunting. They said he was in respiratory distress and took him over to the baby table to put him on oxygen. Kyle stayed with him as much as possible, even going with him into the nursery when they still couldn't get his breathing under control. I was really stressed out, but the nursing staff was very helpful and kept informing us that this transition phase can happen this way and he seemed fine otherwise, this was being done as a precaution. The pediatrician ordered a couple of chest x-rays which showed a partial collapsed lung, but was greatly improved by the second x-ray. We got to go into the nursery around 9:30 when I was being moved from Labor & Delivery to Postpartum for a few minutes. He was looking really good and the nurse said as soon as they got the lab results back and if things looked good (which they expected they would) we would be getting him very soon. I was getting really anxious and wanted to have him in my arms. This whole part of my experience is very hazy, I don't know all the details because I think I was pretty out of it after the birth. Kyle probably knows better what exactly happened, but I just care that he is great now.



After another couple of hours, he was brought to us in Postpartum, healthy and fantastic. They said he was doing much better and seemed to have no problems. We were very relieved. It was a very long four hours for me and I don't want him away from me for a minute now. Well, unless he's sleeping safely in his crib while I get my zzz's in my bed.

So we got home on Tuesday at about 2pm and Kyle's helped keep me fed and reminded me to take naps or at least lay down and rest as much as possible. He has been the biggest help and was the most amazing labor partner I could have ever hoped for.



I don't think I could have had this baby without Kyle's presence, I'm glad he decided he could be with me in the delivery room!

40 Weeks.

I have lots to say, but don't really have the desire to sit and say it yet. My need to get things back in order around the house, nap when the baby is napping, and love and cuddle Lowan when he isn't are much stronger than my desire to blog at the moment.

And then things are going to get even more crazy. My grandma and aunt are arriving tomorrow, my uncle and his wife are arriving Saturday, and my sister and her whole brood are getting here Sunday.

So... it will be awhile. But I finished putting together my belly progression sequence.

(It is not working right now... will try to get the photo up soon. Instead here is Lowan)



I got really big at the end, and now... not so big. It is really weird and surreal to no longer be pregnant and to have Lowan here with us. He is a great baby that has made me the happiest mom in the world!!

Lowan's Here

The baby is here. And he is fantastic. I am just going to post a few pics of our little man Lowan Thomas. He was born Monday morning at 7:15am. 8 pounds, 21 inches.

Home from the hospital.

EDITED TO ADD: You know you aren't in labor when you look as happy I we do in these pictures taken from my day in the hospital. In the morning on Friday, when the nurse checked on me, Kyle said "She's still smiling". He thought this was a good thing. The nurse however did not, she said it meant things weren't progressing and I was not really in labor. Which we already knew, but it was funny and I wanted to share the pics. I know I did not look like this when I was REALLY having contractions!

But no birth!

So it's been a long day and a half, but we are back home and Lowan has not been born yet. I thought my water broke yesterday morning and Kyle and I headed to the hospital at about 10:30 for a labor check.

Apparently I was not the only one confused about whether or not my water broke, as the hospital staff went back and forth yesterday if it had or not. The test was negative, but they thought it had as well. I just did not have the gush that some people have mentioned I could have expected. So they did an ultrasound to measure how much amniotic fluid was inside, it had gone from a measure of 16 a month a go to 7 yesterday. So at that point they figured even with negative tests, it must have broken. So I was admitted and they planned to induce with pitocin to speed things along because of the risk of infection after the bag of waters breaks.



I was moved to a labor and delivery room and began discussing options with the nurse and decided I'd like to wait on the pitocin to see if things started moving along on their own. My contractions, while weak, had progressed from 10 minutes apart when we arrived, to about 5-6 minutes apart once I was admitted (3 hours later). My midwife said that was fine and to re-evaluate me at 6pm and if no progress had been made, then to start induction. She went off call and the Dr. at my office was on call.



We discussed the difference of completing the break in my bag of waters versus taking pitocin with the nurse and so she called the Dr. to see what he wanted to do. At that point he said he was not sure my water had broken because that amount of change in amniotic fluid can happen. He said he thought we should do nothing all night and see if I made any progress over the next 12 hours and if I was not leaking and there were no changes, I could potentially go home. It would be between me and the midwife at that point.



She called in to check on me at 6am and still wanted to induce even though it still appeared that my water had not broken and my labor had slowed down quite a bit, I was only contracting once every 15 to 30 minutes and they were still very mild. Kyle and I talked about it and wanted to see if there was a more definitive way of finding out if my water had broken before we decided to proceed with induction. We really wanted to have as natural of a birth as possible. So once my midwife arrived, she did a different test and we had another ultrasound to check my amniotic fluid levels. At this point the new test still did not show amniotic fluid and the ultrasound showed the measurement up to 11 now. I guess these fluctuations are pretty normal.

So after a really long night of very little sleep and a lot of discomfort and no food (for me at least) we got released this morning at about 10:30. The first thing we did was go out to breakfast, I was starving. I think this is the first time I've gone 24 hours without eating solid food. Jello just doesn't cut it for very long!! Then we came home and took a nap.

I'm still having mild contractions that are pretty irregular and am at a solid 3 centimeters dilated, but still just 70% effaced. At this point, I'm happy to be home to let my labor progress on its own schedule to see if this baby wants to arrive in his own time. I still have a little less than a week until my due date and then another week until my midwife feels induction is necessary. So, while I would have liked to come home with a baby in my arms instead of still inside of me, I also feel very strongly about trying to have him in as natural a way as possible. I feel like my body just wasn't ready and while induction would have brought him along, I believe in the natural process of childbirth and would like to try my hardest to have the ideal birthing experience I can. After all, this may be the only child we have.

I've had pretty strong feelings about how I'd like to labor but they have kind of been made worse by my very recent watching of the movie The Business of Being Born which I'm pretty sure I first heard about over at Amy's blog. It was a really good movie (kind of distressing for a women who is 39 weeks pregnant) about the decline in the quality of natural childbirth in hospitals. So I really did not want to fall prey to the insistence of nurses and doctors that I had to be induced when it was not medically necessary. That was the thing my birthing class coach kept saying, just keep asking "Why is this medically necessary?" if you are uncomfortable with anything they want to do.

And the other experience that I kept having was they give you options that really sound like something you have to do. Like when they said, "we are starting pitocin because you need it" it doesn't really feel like I have a choice. But we got a fantastic nurse who made sure to talk to us a little more about benefits and negatives with choices instead of insisting what we needed to do.

So I'm still trying to keep an open mind because I don't want to me so rigid that I'm upset if things don't go the way I plan. I can't control everything, but I'm glad I controlled this situation the best I could.

So here's to laboring on my own!!

Getting Closer.

I had another appointment today and am now almost 3 centimeters dilated. My midwife did not mention effacement, so I am assuming I am at or near 100%. She was willing to bet I would not make it another week, but she was pretty confident last week also. I am having contractions right now, but they are weak and inconsistent which has been pretty standard over the last week. I mostly feel crampy, I don't know how that translates into actual labor. So it's just a waiting game right now and we'll see.

Not Yet.

We're still waiting. Things have been busy. I felt sick most of Thursday, all day yesterday and off and on today. I feel faint a lot of the time. I have barely there contractions all the time. But nothing real so far. No real labor to speak of. It's not so bad because I keep telling myself I'll be 4 centimeters and 100% effaced at my appointment on Wed. and then labor can really kick in. I'm just getting the beginning work done with ease before the hard labor begins.

So I'll post again soon, maybe after the baby arrives or maybe before. We'll see how I feel.

Not long now.

I had a Dr. Appt yesterday and am currently 2cm dilated and 70% effaced. I had quite a few contractions and even thought they were moving along rather nicely. They went from painless to mild discomfort. They even seemed to be getting closer but not very regular. The contractions eased up as I relaxed a little more and went back to painless and sporadic. I felt a little flu-ish this morning, which is also a good sign of progression.

My midwife is pretty optimistic as well. She said I needed to make my next appointment (for next Wed) but might not make it till then and maybe she'd see me this weekend to have a baby. I'm excited, but don't want to get too hopeful. After all it is possible that I stay this way for awhile.

So who knows, maybe a baby will be here within the next few days.

Big Ol' Belly

Here I am at 37 weeks. I am getting more and more uncomfortable. I can no longer lay on my left side because it hurts all the time. My back hurts less, but my front hurts more. I have been getting more stretch marks, even a few on my lower back... what is that all about? But I am so close I can't even believe it!!



I had a Dr. appt today and it was uneventful as usual. She was really good about answering all the questions I had after taking a marathon birthing class over this past weekend. The thing she stressed the most... don't be a control freak about birthing. She told me to not go to the hospital with a long list of things I don't want done or don't want to happen, just in case they do. It's good advice, about the same thing Tara told me. Go with the flow! So that is what I am trying to do.

I've been trying not to complain too much, but Tara is getting sick of me. She said every time she calls me I am in a grumpy mood and groaning a lot. I still feel pretty good for the most part and will definitely miss being pregnant once the baby comes. But I am so excited for the little guy!

Still no crafting, but I've been slowly working at getting the baby's room ready. It is so close. I just need to get the dresser/changing table thing from my parents house and into my house. It is some old piece of furniture that is kind of like a cabinet, but it will be our dresser changing table.

Maybe soon I'll have something crafty to post.

Can you feel the love??

I sure can.

Everyone has been nothing short of extremely generous!! I can't believe how lucky we have been with this pregnancy. RheLynn sent me the cutest baby gift... a stuffed horse and rabbit plus two little blanket/burp cloths.



So cute, the little stuffed animals are so sweet and I can't wait until the baby shows an interest.



Then there has been the unbelievable amount of things people have been so generous to hand down to us. I finally spent a little time sorting by size. This laundry basket is full (OVERFLOWING!!) of everything that has been given to us from others that is sized up to 3 months. I don't think our little man will have to wear the same thing twice. I only hope there is someone I can pass it onto when he outgrows everything. There is so much cute stuff.



And here are the few new pieces. I am so happy to be clothing our baby in nearly all hand me downs. I think these clothes are not worn long enough before little ones outgrow them. And it makes me happy to be avoiding the unnecessary purchases when there is already so much out there.



I did feel the need to buy one outfit (I think it is the only item of clothing I've personally bought so far) that the baby will come home in from the hospital. I thought he should have his own new special bought by Mommy outfit. It is the stripped jumper. So cute!!

As the belly grows...

Here I am from last Tuesday. About 35 weeks.


I can't believe how big I feel. I have been having terrible back pain lately that has made life hard. I'm sure it is pregnancy related, but I get this kind of back pain at other times as well. It is just harder with the big ol' belly hanging out there in front of me. Kyle and I were just talking about how we really should get prepared for the trip to the hospital and I was talking about when I should start my maternity leave (in two or three weeks?? - I could technically start this week) and he said it was too soon for him and to slow down. It's coming whether we are ready or not!! That's not to say that we aren't also excited, but terrified is up there as well.

I scheduled my Christmas massage for this Friday morning. And then we have a super intensive baby class weekend. Friday evening, all day Saturday, most of Sunday and again on Monday evening. WOW!! I would have preferred the six week class, but when I scheduled it, we did not know that Kyle would not be traveling for work. Oh well, I just hope it is informative.

Still not much crafting going on. I am jealous of RheLynn and her 365 days of crafts. Sounds like fun. I just don't have the motivation to do much else than lay around.

All right, I must go get ready for work.

Almost Better

But still feeling lazy. I've got this nagging cough left behind from being sick but am feeling almost 100%. I only have five weeks left in the pregnancy and can't believe there will be a little baby here so soon. Kyle is very excited (so am I, but he is so cute about it).



Here are Kyle and I at the baby shower. He stopped by towards the end after spending the day gold panning. I barely got to enjoy my cake. I've had a few pieces since the shower, but was still sick that I could not taste it entirely. I think I need to get another cake to enjoy now that I'm feeling better.

I have not done hardly anything crafty, which has me a little sad. I've been busy with work and doctor appointments. My doctors office is far away, probably 20 miles or so. And the appointments have been a little longer than they were in the past. Today I had to go get a third ultrasound to make sure the baby is on track size wise because I haven't gained a whole lot of weight. The technician said everything looked fine. But the appointment took me three hours with driving time, waiting time, and an hour of ultrasound time. That is just ridiculous. What a waste of a good part of a day. And Wednesdays are always harder because I work both morning and then back in for a few hours in the evening. So I like to get some time at home in between, but not much today.



So here is the hat I knit for the baby. The one that turned out to be a little too big. It has a Charlie Brown type zig zag stripe as requested by Kyle. I started a sweater also, but don't know how excited I am about the pattern. Mostly because I need to mix up the colors (I don't have enough of the brown (same yarn as hat)) and am having a really hard time thinking of ways to mix in the second color with the set up of the pattern.

I feel like YUCK!

It was supposed to be a good weekend. The baby shower was on Saturday. But Thursday night, I knew I was getting sick. I could feel it. Kyle said to pretend it was not coming on and maybe it would not happen. But I know my body pretty well. So I took it easy on Friday (which is pretty easy since I don't work on Friday's).

Saturday morning I went to help my mom prep food for the shower. But I was no help at all, I could barely stand up for more than 10 or 15 minutes before I felt weak.

On to the shower, I felt better for a while. Stayed on my butt as much as possible, which is easy to do since I'm pregnant. But by the time it was over I was ready to go. I had to wait around while clean up took place because I did not drive there. So I was home by about 5pm and into pajamas within minutes. Straight into bed. There I stayed for the rest of the... um... three days. Okay not really, but I've mostly been in bed or on the couch since Saturday night until now. I did have to go into work this morning for about an hour this morning for something that had to be done today. I have been feeling better today... mostly just a hacking cough and head congestion. At least the chills, sweats, and fever have gone away. Kyle bought me some cough syrup for me to take last night so we could hopefully both get a decent night of sleep. He was concerned because today was his first day back at work. He just called and said he is pretty sure he is getting sick. Poor guy, he just started back and he already hates to take time off. But if he feels even 1/2 as bad as I did, there is no way he can go to work.

So enough about being sick... it is really not that interesting anyways.

My friends and family were all so very generous for the baby shower. We got all sorts of things we needed. A stroller, a car seat, bedding, towels, washcloths, diapers, a bouncy seat. All sorts of things, I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of it. Unfortunately I barley remember what everything is after opening it and then taking to bed. I haven't really had a chance to look back over what we got. All I know is I am one lucky mama with one very lucky little baby on the way.

I'll probably be back to work tomorrow, but don't know how long I'll last. I'll try to add some pictures later. I don't have the energy now.

4D Ultrasound

Today was our 4D Ultrasound. We got lots of pictures... Here are a few:



His nose is right in the center of the picture. His hand is by his chin. The darkish spot in the upper left corner is his eye.



Similar to the first picture, but his hand is close to his mouth.



Here he is frowning, this was taken after the ultrasound technician poked my belly a whole lot to try to get the baby to lower his hands from his face. (This is our third ultrasound and he has had his hands in front of his face every time). He made some very definite faces after she jiggled my belly.



This is him getting his hand in his mouth. He was working at trying to get the thumb in for nearly the whole ultrasound. We have a future thumb sucker.




Finally there is a picture of his hand. His face is in the background, you can see his mouth right behind his pointer finger and his eye is toward the corner. His hand is covering his nose. His thumb is sticking out like he is hitch hiking. Maybe looking for a ride out of me.

It was a good experience and I'm happy we got the pictures. I really appreciate that someone thought to get this for me as a Christmas gift.