Visiting Santa

I took the girls to visit Santa at the mall yesterday. Amazingly, we managed to get a picture with BOTH of them smiling! Check out Caroline's "Marilyn Monroe" pose!



They also visited Santa at our church a couple of weeks ago. Actually, both Santas were "Santa's helpers", since Anna mentioned that they didn't look the same! Oops! We got some pretty good pictures of both the girls on Santa's helper's lap, as well.

4 Months Old!

Well, Caroline is officially 4 months old today! I can hardly believe it's been that long since we brought our tiny baby home! She went to the doctor today, so I have the new official stats: 14 lb 8 oz, 26 1/4 inches long. She's even longer than I thought! That puts her in the 75th percentile for weight and over the 97th for height. Wow! Her head is also in the 90th percentile -- plenty of room for that big, smart brain!

The doctor asked if Caroline was still happy on her liquid diet, and he was quite happy that I wanted to wait on solids. He encourages most moms to delay solids until around 6 months, but many are anxious to start earlier, so he always asks at the 4 month visit and lets them start if they're super eager. I'm not. I don't need the hassle! Caroline is very content on just breastmilk at this point, so there's no rush to add solids to the mix. I love the convenience of just being able to take my baby and my boobs and go, so I'm all about waiting!

We had big day yesterday. It was Baby Dedication Sunday at our church, and Caroline was dedicated. She did really well and didn't cry at all. In fact, she blew some bubbles for us while we were up in front of the church! My parents were able to come in for the dedication, which was wonderful, especially since they couldn't be here for Anna's dedication six years ago. Here's a picture of Caroline receiving her blessing in front of the church.



Right after the dedication, Anna and I sang a duet. It was Anna's first time to sing a solo in church, and she did a GREAT job! She was so poised and calm. She wasn't nervous at all! She sang her part perfectly, and her rhythm and pitch were impeccable. It's a miracle I even made it through the song -- once she started singing, I got all choked up! I don't think there was a single dry eye, especially in the choir. Anna has been the choir "mascot" practically since she was born, so everyone was amazed at what a big girl she has become. After we sang, she looked up at me and said, "Mommy, I want to do it again!" So I guess I need to look for more reportoire for her to sing in church.

I hope to get an audio recording of the service in the next week or so, and when I do I'll post it here for your listening pleasure. Until then, here's a (rather blurry) picture of the two of us singing together.

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'...

Caroline is rollin'! It's actually been about 2 weeks since she started doing it. I put her on her tummy time mat one day, turned my back for a second, and then when I looked back at her, she was on her back. So I flipped her back over and watched her do it again. After that, she was a rolling fool. The next day, I managed to get this video:



She also loves to stand and bounce. I'm working on getting her one of those stationary bouncer things so that she can bounce to her little heart's content. I have a feeling she'll love it! In the meantime, she'll have to be happy with standing and balancing on Jimmy's hands. Check out this video!



Also, an update on her stats. Caroline is now weighing in at a very healthy 14 pounds, which puts her somewhere around the 50-60th percentile for weight. I also got out the tape measure the other day and discovered that she's between 25.5 and 26 inches, which would put her squarely in the 97th percentile for height. She's my tall and skinny girl! She loves to babble and is starting to make some "ga" and "ba" sounds in addition to the generic "ah" and "uh" and "oo" sounds she was making before.

Caroline is also starting to recognize people, I think, and with that is coming a tiny bit of separation anxiety. At Sunday school yesterday someone was holding her, and she was perfectly happy until she heard my voice. Suddenly, she wanted ONLY MOMMY! She's also reserving her biggest smiles for Mommy, Daddy, and Big Sister (whom she seems to adore recently!). Here's a picture of my beautiful girls together!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Has it really been almost a month since my last post? Time sure does fly with a little one around!

Caroline is doing great! We took a many-legged road trip for Thanksgiving. First, we drove to my parents' place in East Texas for T-day. We had a great time, with lots of food! Caroline spent the entire meal asleep in her swing, but she got turkey and pie vicariously a few hours later!

That night, we drove up to Jimmy's parents' house near Fort Worth and were treated to ANOTHER Thanksgiving meal the next day along with a few of their friends who were really excited to meet Caroline. She got passed around a lot that evening, and I think she got pretty over stimulated because bedtime was an absolute nightmare that night. But she did eventually go to sleep and was in a great mood the next day.

The in-laws' house also has the benefit of Cousin Megan, who is 12 years old. Anna idolizes her, and she got to have TWO sleepovers with her -- one at Grandma's house, and one at Megan's house. Anna couldn't have asked for more!

Saturday, we drove from Fort Worth to College Station for a wedding. We gave ourselves plenty of time (we thought), but then we discovered that I-35 was completely shut down between Hillsboro and Waco. Since Caroline wakes up and screams whenever we stop moving in the car, she did a good bit of screaming during the delay. I felt so bad for her! Anyway, what should have been a 3-hour drive ended up taking almost 4.5 hours, and we got to the wedding with no time to spare. But at least we got there! There were tons of kids there, so Anna had a lot of fun. Caroline did great and was very smiley and flirty while she was being passed around at the wedding.

All-in-all, it was a great holiday week, but we're definitely glad to be home. Traveling with a baby is stressful, no matter how well it goes, and it felt amazing to be back in our own bed when we got home.

Happy Halloween!

Okay, so I'm a little late with the Halloween post!

We went trick-or-treating with my friends Gayla and Michelle and their kids. Anna went as a witch this year, and we decided that Caroline should be her little black cat. They were both adorable, and we had a great time.

Here are a few pictures of our crew.

The group picture is, from left to right, Hans and Gunnar (Gunnar is 3 weeks older and 5 pounds heavier than Caroline -- and they're betrothed, LOL!), Anna, Riley, Jimmy and Caroline, and Gayla with her twins, Ryan and Evan.



Here is a picture of Anna and Caroline together. Aren't they cute?



And here is a picture of Caroline and her "boyfriend", Gunnar.



Gunnar is quite possibly the most laid-back baby I've ever met. His parents can put him on the couch, and he'll sit there just staring at the ceiling fan, happy as a lark. Caroline lasts approximately 15 seconds (give or take 15 seconds!) before she's screaming to be picked up. We do not grow laid-back babies in our family, apparently!

As a further update, Caroline seems to have turned a corner over the last couple of weeks. She has gotten much less fussy, and she's going longer between feedings. I still wouldn't call her an "easy" baby, but she's definitely doing a lot more smiling and cooing lately, and she usually gives me 2.5-3 hours between feedings, compared to the previous 1.5-2 hours. She's also eating faster, so I can now usually feed her in around 30 minutes compared to the 45+ minutes it was taking before.

Unfortunately, with this kinder, gentler daytime personality has come a much more difficult time getting her to sleep at night. Bedtime has now stretched out to an hour or more of nursing her into a coma, followed by very carefully placing her in her cradle to avoid waking her. If she wakes up, we have to start all over again. For a while, she was also waking every 2-3 hours again at night, and that got old REALLY fast! But over the last few nights, she's gone back to her 5-6 hour stretches, so at least we're making some progress there. I could probably guarantee myself 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep if I'd let her sleep in her swing at night (she LOVES her swing!), but I'm really trying to get her to sleep on a flat surface for at least part of the day. Hopefully she'll grow to love her bed the way she loves her swing. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...right. But it's a nice thought!

Caroline is also lifting and holding her head up very well these days.



Anna adores her baby sister, and the feeling appears to be mutual. Look at those precious smiles!

2 Month Check-up

Today was Caroline's 2 month check-up with the doctor. She's doing great! She still seems like a skinny little thing, and today I found out why. She weighs 11 lbs. 10 oz., which is about the 65th percentile for weight (up from about the 40th percentile at 2 weeks), but she's 23 3/4 inches long, which is 90th percentile for height! It looks like our girl is going to be a tall one! She also has a 90th percentile head, which means she has plenty of room for her wonderful, smart brain to grow!

They don't really ask about milestones at the 2 month visit, but she seemed to be on target when the pediatrician tested different things. She wiggled around for him quite a bit, and when he tested to see if she would straighten her legs on the table, he was actually able to let go and let her "stand" briefly on her own. He said she was very strong for her age!

Poor Caroline had to get 4 shots today, which offended her deeply. But she nursed right after and was eventually able to calm down. It took her a while, though, and she sounded awfully pathetic trying to nurse while simultaneously sniffling and hiccuping. The nurse in our doctor's office is so sweet and wonderful, but that didn't stop me from wanting to punch her in the mouth for hurting my precious baby! She said that giving shots is the hardest part of her job, poor thing. Of course, Caroline has probably forgotten all about the shots at this point, but I'm still mildly traumatized by them!

First bottle

With all the nursing problems we were having at the beginning, I didn't want to introduce a bottle to Caroline too early. I figured, since she could get the milk much easier from a bottle, she'd probably decide it was just too much work to nurse, and she'd start to prefer the bottle. But since we finally worked through all the problems we were having, I decided it was time to give it a shot.

It did not go well. We did everything "they" recommend when we tried it. She was hungry enough, but not frantic. Jimmy gave the bottle while I stayed in another room. He held her facing away from him so that she wouldn't associate the position with nursing. Apparently, he put the bottle in her mouth, and she looked at him like he must have lost his mind. Then she screamed. It was not just any cry -- it was a deep, gutteral wail that told us she was deeply offended that we would even TRY to offer her something as cold and impersonal as that plastic bottle, even if it WAS filled with Mommy's milk. She got a couple of drips from the nipple, but apparently Jimmy couldn't get her to suck on the thing even once.

After several minutes of trying, Jimmy finally gave up. Once he got her calmed down, I nursed her, and she looked extremely relieved. I'm not going to lie to you. I was more than a little relieved that she didn't just take to it right away and never look back. Yes, I'd love to be able to leave a bottle with her if I have to leave her in the church nursery or something, but if she doesn't take one, I'm sure we'll all survive. I'd much rather have a long and successful nursing relationship than to have her decide she prefers the bottle, though it would be nice to find a happy medium in there somewhere!

So we'll keep on trying. I'm thinking of leaving her in the nursery tomorrow night during choir practice and leaving a bottle with them to see if she'll take it when I'm actually out of the building. Anna never would take one at all, so it wouldn't surprise me if Caroline refuses it altogether, too, but I figure it's worth a shot to see if someone she doesn't know can get her to take a bottle!

Oh, and just as an update, Caroline is now somewhere in the 11 1/2 pound range! Woo-hoo! She's been gaining about 1/2 pound a week over the last 3 weeks, so she's doing really, really well now that I've stopped supplmenting her. She has her 2-month checkup on the 30th, so I'll get the "official" weight then, but I'm thrilled with her weight gain so far!

Do you think they're really sisters?

A lot of people have asked me where all of Caroline's dark hair comes from. Anna is so blonde now that it's hard to believe her hair was BLACK when she was born! But after getting Caroline's portraits taken the other day, I noticed that one of the pictures looks a lot like one of Anna's portraits from around the same age. Sure, there are some differences in their facial expressions, but I think both of them look like they're about to start talking and revealing all the secrets of the universe.

So here I give you Anna at two months along with Caroline at two months!

First Road Trip

Last weekend, we decided to take a road trip to Abilene for our college's homecoming weekend and Jimmy's 10th reunion. There were all sorts of choir events going on, and our old choir director is retiring this year, so we wanted to be there to see him one last time, as well.

The trip is usually about 5.5-6 hours from Houston to Abilene, but we figured it would take longer with a nursing infant. Boy, did it ever! Our first mistake was timing our getaway. Caroline typically nurses every 2.5 hours from the start of one feeding to the start of the next. So if I nurse her for 30 minutes, we have a two-hour window for travel.

The goal was to wake up, get the car packed, feed Caroline, and load her up as soon as she was done nursing. Unfortunately, that didn't quite happen, and by the time we finally got on the road, we had already lost an hour of our window. So we had to stop an hour or so into our trip to nurse. Fortunately, we found a great park where Jimmy and Anna could go run around, and the weather was delightful, so I just rolled down the windows and fed Caroline in the car. She seemed to like the breeze, and I got some great smiles and coos while we sat there.

Shortly after that stop, it was time for lunch, so we had to stop again. Then we had to make a pit stop about an hour later, and Caroline was ready to nurse again an hour after that. So 4 hours into our trip, we had already stopped 4 times! I was getting concerned that we'd NEVER get there! Fortunately, after the second time we stopped, Caroline decided to take a nice, long nap, so we made it to Abilene without having to stop again.

Friday night, we had a choir barbeque followed by a rehearsal. After an hour or so of rehearsal, it became abundantly clear that Caroline was not going to just hang out with me, so I decided to take her to the nursery that was provided. She stayed there for about an hour and did okay, but they did say she fussed some. By the time I got there to check on her, she was just starting to really wail, so I fed her again and decided to take her back to the hotel for the evening. I'm really glad I got to sing in that rehearsal, though, since I didn't get to sing in any of the events that weekend. It was amazing singing with our old college group. From the moment Doc raised his hands for the first time that evening, the sound was gorgeous, and it was like we had never been away.

Saturday morning, Jimmy sang in an alumni concert, and then Anna, Caroline and I went with some friends to pick out bridesmaid's dresses for my friend Joyce's wedding. Joyce's fiance was with us, and the poor guy ended up pulling childcare duty for my kids and my friend Angie's two kids. I started trying on dresses first, since Caroline was asleep in her carseat (a rare treat!). Of course, as soon as I got myself halfway buckled into the steel-belted undergarment the saleslady had given me (I swear, it had about 60 hooks on it!), Caroline woke up and screamed. She timed it just perfectly so that there were no women around, so Nathan had to take her out and figure out what to do with her. He did a great job bouncing and rocking and making little noises to try to settle her down. I told Joyce that any guy who would work that hard to comfort a baby he'd never even met before was definitely a keeper! nathan said he saw it as "practice"!

Saturday night, we went to an alumni banquet, where Jimmy got to sing with the alumni choir again. After that, we went to All School SING, and Caroline did great while we were there! Sunday morning, we drove to Sweetwater to attend church with some friends and then ate lunch at their house before heading home.

The drive home actually went MUCH better than the drive up there. I nursed Caroline before we left, and then we put her in the car and went. She made it about 3 hours before she woke up wanting to eat, and then she made it the rest of the way (over 4 hours!) without needing to stop again. We got home Sunday night around 11:00 after finally leaving Abilene at about 4:00 -- not too bad!

Portraits!

Today, I took Caroline to get her first portraits taken. I was feeling kind of guilty because I hadn't done it yet. I had Anna's done every month for the first year (the cheapy ones -- Wal-mart and Penney's, mostly), but with all the nursing issues we had early on, I just didn't have the time to go to a portrait studio and wait around with a cranky baby.

So anyway, I decided to go to a nicer studio to make up for not getting the pictures done every month. I'm so glad I did! I made an appointment for 9:00 a.m. and hoped for the best. Caroline is usually in a pretty good mood in the mornings, so I figured we might get one or two good smiles before Her Royal Highness decided she was done with the portrait thing. Fortunately, she was in a GREAT mood and was very smiley for the camera. At one point, the photographer had a highchair set up backwards with Caroline propped up on her elbows with her head up. Caroline thought that was the greatest thing, and she smiled and cooed and stuck out her tongue. The photographer and I were just cracking up!

So here are Caroline's first portraits. We got a few in her cute fall outfit, and then I got some naked baby pictures because you just HAVE to capture all that naked cuteness while they're little!

Here are a couple in her fall outfit. I'm into the brown and pink thing right now, and I just thought this jumper with the striped shirt underneath was adorable! Unfortunately, I had forgotten that overalls are a pain to photograph (the straps are always going all wonky and riding up and stuff), but I'll remember from now on! Even with the strap issues, though, they turned out really cute, and I still love the outfit!





These are the ones where she was so happy to be up on her elbows. If you can't see the tongue sticking out in the last picture, click on it to see it larger. It's a classic Caroline face!







And here's a classic pose that I just couldn't resist. Just look at that grin!



I actually got out of the studio for less $$ than I thought I would, given all the pictures I bought. The photographer took 100 pictures (yes, that's ONE HUNDRED pictures!), and I managed to eventually narrow it down to 8 poses, plus they threw in a couple of composite pictures and a CD with all 100 pictures on it. I was very impressed with the studio and the photographer, so we'll definitely be going back! Now I just need to find a time to take Anna and Caroline in together so I can get some sister pics!

Caroline gains weight -- at last!

It's time for another update on the nursing situation. This one is a GREAT update!

About a month ago, a La Leche League leader referred me to a lactation consultant at a nearby hospital who dealt with the same issues we've been dealing with when her 3rd baby was born. I spoke to her on the phone almost every day for the first week, and every couple of days the second week. She was absolutely invaluable because she had actually been through this and knew exactly what I was feeling and how dependent I felt on the supplemental nursing system (SNS) and the scale. She said that she finally had to just trust her body and her baby and just lock the scale in the closet and stop the supplements cold turkey. I was very nervous to do that, especially given my supply issues, but I saw an increase in my supply when I started up one of my medications again, so I decided to give it a shot about 2 weeks ago. At that point, she was 6 weeks old, and her latch and suck had magically improved, just like everyone said it would, so I decided it would be worth a try to see if nursing her frequently would improve my supply.

The first week was tough. Really, REALLY tough. She nursed constantly, especially in the evening, when my supply seemed to be the lowest. Sunday evening, I gave in and supplemented her with a couple of ounces, just to get her through the night because she'd been nursing nonstop for almost 5 hours, and I couldn't hear her swallowing at all when she nursed. That was the last supplement she had.

The first week, she gained about 2 oz, which wasn't much, but at least she was gaining. She was also having copious wet and occasional poopy diapers (usually one or so a day). I was a teensy bit concerned about the low weight gain and the smaller number of poos, but the LC reassured me that Caroline was probably just utilizing all of the breastmilk she was getting and recommended sticking with it and seeing how the second week went.

Boy, am I glad we did! Last Friday, Caroline was 9 lb. 13 oz. on the hospital scale. Today, she was 10 lb. 7 oz! So she gained 9 oz in a week. I did a before/after weight check, and she gained about 3.5 ounces when I nursed her. Previously, the most she had gotten was 2 oz (that was only once), and it was usually more like 1.5.

I am so proud of Caroline for finally learning to nurse effectively, and I'm proud of myself for making it this long. So after consulting with 6 lactation consultants, 3 La Leche League leaders, a chiropractor, a craniosacral therapist, and a speech pathologist, Caroline is finally 100% breastfed, and I plan to keep her that way for a good, long time! She's still nursing for 45 minutes every 2-3 hours (usually closer to 2), so I'm not getting any long chunks of time to get anything done, but I'm hoping she'll start spacing them out on her own in the next few weeks as we both get better at this nursing thing. Evenings are still difficult, and she cluster nurses from about 5 p.m. until bedtime around 11:00. She's sleeping well at night, though, and we usually get a 5-7 hour chunk in there somewhere so that we can actually get some sleep!

Anyway, there's the update. Thank you all again for your help and prayers during our difficult time. I think the prayers really worked! I'll update with new pictures as soon as I can!

Caroline Smiles!

Caroline has been smiling for several weeks now, but we were never fast enough to catch it on film. A week or so ago, I was finally able to capture a few pictures of her adorable smile! She gets really smiley during diaper changes and even coos and "talks" to us, so that's where I was finally able to get the picture. Here are some of the best shots I've gotten so far:





I also love this picture of Anna and Caroline together. Anna just loves holding her baby sister!



In other news, things finally seem to be looking up in the nursing department. Last week, I tapered off the supplementing, and it went pretty well. So Saturday, I decided to go cold turkey and just get rid of them altogether. I was prepared to nurse her very frequently, since I figured she would need to nurse a lot to build up my milk supply. The daytime went pretty well, but she started to get fussy Saturday evening. She ended up nursing for almost FIVE hours straight Saturday night, but we made it through the day with no supplements.

Unfortunately, Sunday evening I started feeling like dirt, so I took my temperature, and it was nearly 100 degrees. I think it was probably a plugged duct, which can often cause flu-like symptoms and fever. Sunday morning, I still felt pretty woozy, but by Sunday evening I was feeling much better. Sunday went pretty much like Saturday, nursing wise, but I did end up giving Caroline a couple of ounces of supplement Sunday night because it was obvious that she wasn't getting much when she nursed at that point. Fortunately, Monday went MUCH better, and today has been even better than that. I can tell that my supply is better because I can hear her swallowing a lot more frequently during feedings, so maybe we're on our way to being completely done with the supplementing!

All this nursing business has taken up a LOT of time, and my house is a dump, but if I can get this baby 100% breastfed, it will be SO worth it! Since Anna never took a bottle (even on the rare occasion we would have liked her to!), I had no idea how much hassle it is to prepare milk, figure out a way to keep it chilled while you're out, figure out how to fit it in the diaper bag, and then figure out how to warm it while you're out. With Anna, when I wanted to leave the house, I grabbed the baby and a few diapers, and I was good. This whole hauling milk around thing is for the birds!

More pictures!

Caroline is already a month old! I can't believe how fast time has gone. Between all of the constant attention that Caroline requires, plus trying to spend time with Anna and getting us all used to the kindergarten routine, the last four weeks have just flown by!

Caroline is still having some nursing issues, but there has definitely been improvement. It seems to be a two steps forward, one step back situation, though, so I'll be really encouraged and optimistic one day, and then the next I get worried again. We have finally gotten to the point that we can actually leave the house for short periods, and that has improved my mood considerably. Caroline has also finally made it back up to her birth weight, which is good. She's still pretty scrawny, but she's gaining consistently, which is the most important thing.

Other than that, she is absolutely fabulous! She's a very snuggly baby, which I love, but she's also a better napper than Big Sister was at this age. Over the last week or so, Caroline has started to smile and occasionally coo. She's always been very alert and observant, but lately she's starting to focus a lot more on her surroundings and really notice things. She loves lights, and she also likes to stare at the mobile on her swing. During her awake times, she'll just stare at me and smile, and when she gives me a really big smile, she wrinkles up her little nose. It's adorable!

So here are a few pictures. We haven't gotten a good picture of the smile yet, but we've gotten a couple of *almost* smiles!

Here's the tail end of a smile. The camera just isn't fast enough to catch them yet!



Some pics of bath time. At first, she hated baths, but she has changed her opinion in the last week or so.





Here she is, hanging out with Daddy. She already has him wrapped around her very tiny finger, just like her big sister. Daddy is in SO MUCH TROUBLE now that he's outnumbered 3 to 1!



And finally, just a picture of a happy baby.

Pictures of Caroline

Gone are the days of the alien mugshot they used to do in the hospital. The day after Caroline was born, a professional photographer showed up in our room and took pictures of her in several poses. They turned out really cute! We ended up only buying one (along with the professional photographer comes a very professional price!), but I think it turned out really beautiful!

Anna adores Caroline and asks to hold her all the time. Here's a picture of Big Sister Anna holding Caroline in the hospital:



And here's our first family photo with our newest family member!

Well, it's about time!

Time for an update, that is! I really meant to keep updating the blog fairly regularly once Caroline was born. Then life happened.

It's amazing what one little unexpected kink can do to turn your life upside down. I really expected to have plenty of time to be on the computer while Caroline nursed in those early days. I mean, heck, I got a ton of reading done when Anna was born because she was constantly latched on and nursing. I also mastered the art of typing while nursing because I could pop her on, balance her on the Boppy pillow, and have both my hands free.

Well, the best laid plans and all that. When we got home from the hospital Sunday, things seemed to be going well. Caroline was about 8 lb. 2 oz. at that point (down from 8 lb. 14 oz. at birth), but I wasn't worried because babies always lose weight in the first few days. My milk came in Sunday night, and I figured all was well with the world. Yes, I was pretty sore, but I was working on getting her latch better, so I figured the soreness would go away. Then we noticed that the dirty diapers were few and very far between. By Tuesday, they had pretty much stopped completely, and at Caroline's doctor appointment that day, Caroline had dropped to 7 lb. 12 oz., which I thought was odd, since my milk was in, and she was nursing regularly. Wednesday, I went to see a lactation consultant at the hospital, and that began an Odyssey that I never anticipated when I gave birth to this gorgeous creature three weeks ago.

The LC weighed Caroline, and she was down to 7 lb. 11 oz. I nursed her while we were there, and the LC taught me how to do compressions while she nursed to make sure she was getting plenty of milk, and she suggested pumping one side while I nursed on the other. I sat there for over an hour nursing her and pumping, and we gave her the little bit of milk from the pump in a syringe. After all that, she gained less than 1/2 oz. Yikes! So the LC recommended renting a hospital-grade pump and taking some herbs to increase my milk supply. She said that Caroline's latch was shallow, and she just wasn't sucking hard enough to get the milk out. She said I could wait 24 hours and see how she did, but at that point if she still wasn't gaining, I'd need to give her some formula.

So that night, I did everything she suggested. I nursed and pumped and took herbs, and around 3 a.m., when my baby was screaming and miserable, I gave in and fixed a little formula (about 1/3 oz) from one of the bags we got at the hospital. I fed it to her with the syringe, just like the breastmilk I had pumped, and that seemed to satisfy her little tummy enough that she could sleep. The next day, we went back for another weight check, and she had gained about 3 oz, so that was a great sign. The LC also said that I was welcome to come in for a weight check any time, so I continued to do that pretty much every day. Unfortunately, after the initial gain, her weight leveled off and then started declining again. By Wednesday of the next week, she was down to 7 lb. 8 oz., and I was really worried. We started supplementing a little more aggressively, and I started giving it to her in a supplemental nursing system, which is a bottle connected to a little tube so that the baby gets the supplement while she nurses.

Fortunately, that stopped the weight loss, and Caroline has now gained back up to 8 lb. 4 oz. I'm still going for frequent before/after weight checks, and I bought a digital scale so that I can weigh her at home and make sure she's still gaining. It's not really accurate enough to use for before/after checks (the hospital scale is accurate to .1 oz -- this one is only accurate to .5 oz), but at least I can tell that she's going up instead of down.

Because of all this drama, my entire life has been consumed with feeding the baby. She nurses for about an hour at a time, and then I have to offer her the supplement, which takes another 5-10 minutes. Then I have to pump. By the time I finish pumping, I'm lucky to get 30 minutes to an hour before it's time for her to nurse again. I feel like I ought to just superglue my butt to the chair and never leave the house! Feeding her while we're out is practically impossible, partly because it takes so long, and partly because it's impossible to be discreet when I'm trying to get the little SNS tube in her mouth while also trying to get her to latch on.

The good news is that things are getting better. She's now getting between 1-1.5 ounces when she nurses, so that's about triple what she got that first day at the LC. We've also been seeing a speech pathologist, who has shown me how to do some exercises to strengthen her tongue, cheeks, jaw, and mouth so that she can nurse more effectively, and they do seem to be helping quite a bit. Hopefully, we'll continue to see improvement so that we can cut back and eventually stop the supplementing altogether. Those who know me know that breastfeeding is something I feel very strongly about, and I'll do whatever it takes to make it work. This is the hill I'm willing to die on, and failure is not an option.

So, it may be a while before I'm back to posting regular updates, but I will get back to it whenever things settle down here. In the meantime, I'll post pictures and updates when I can. Stay tuned!

Caroline is finally HERE!

Well, it turns out that was it after all!

After my last blog post, we waited another hour or so, during which the contractions were getting closer and closer and stronger and stronger. So around 9:45, we headed to the hospital. On the way there, the contractions got REALLY intense. They were still really strong in my back but also started radiating into my belly a little bit. But the back part was what hurt the worst, and I must say that I do NOT recommend laboring in a car. There is really no way to relieve a contraction when you're strapped into a seatbelt, and by that point, they were coming about 3 minutes apart, so the 20-minute drive seemed like an eternity.

When we got to the hospital, they had me sit down while I waited for a triage room. We probably sat for about 5 minutes, but it felt like 5 hours. I had several contractions while I waited, and Jimmy rubbed my back while I rocked on my hands and knees. I do remember a nurse walking by and saying, "Good job, Daddy! Keep rubbing her!" We finally got to triage, and the nurse checked me and said, "Oh my word, you weren't planning on an epidural, were you?" I must have looked confused, but when I said no, she said, "Good, because you're already 9 cm -- almost complete!" Holy smokes!

So they called my midwife and set to work torturing me...er, I mean, starting a hep lock and taking blood. Seriously, this was almost worse than the entire labor. They blew out three veins before they finally got the line sited and flushed (I didn't want an IV, but they insisted on the hep lock for emergency access). I now have huge bruises on both arms where the failed attempts were, plus I reacted to the adhesive they used to tape down the line they finally got started. But anyway, on with our story.

Apparently, the tropical depression that came in last week caused a lot of babies to be born, so we had to sit in triage for about an hour waiting for a room to be cleaned and ready for me. Karen still hadn't made it over, and I was starting to get worried that I'd need to push soon, and she wouldn't be there. They finally wheeled me into a room, and I had three contractions on the way from triage to my room, which was just around the corner -- those suckers were coming FAST now! I went into the bathroom before getting into bed, and right after that, I started feeling the urge to push. Fortunately, Karen walked in just about that time, and took one look at me and said, "I guess we're about to have a baby!"

If only she had been right! When I had Anna, once I finally had the urge to push, it was such a huge relief that it actually felt GOOD. This time, it was different. Pushing was absolutely excruciating. Karen felt the baby's head coming down with the first few pushes and said that she thought I'd have her out in a few contractions. Then the head stopped moving. She kept telling me I just had to get it past my pubic bone, and then the baby would be out. So we tried some different positions. I tried squatting for a while to allow gravity to help, but that didn't make much progress. Then Karen suggested getting on my hands and knees for a while. That did seem to help some because that position opens up the pelvis a little more than some of the others. I was so exhausted at this point that I was actually falling asleep between contractions. Finally, after about two hours of pushing, the head started to crown, and Karen handed Jimmy a pair of gloves so that he could help guide Caroline out with her. Then Jimmy got the idea that it might give me more incentive if I could feel the baby's head. I reached down and was able to feel all her soft, LONG hair, and Jimmy said the biggest smile came over my face! After that, she apparently came out like she'd been shot out of a canon.

Caroline Elise was born at 2:10 p.m. on Friday, August 17, 2007. She was 8 lb. 14 oz. and 20 3/4 inches long. Her perfectly round head was 14.5 inches (the pediatrician at the hospital assumed she was a c-section baby), and she has the most beautiful and LONG brown hair! Caroline entered the world like the drama queen I suspected her to be based on her constant movement in the womb. She was face up, which is why I had such strong back labor and why it took so long to push her out. She also had the amniotic sac still covering her head, and she had the umbilical cord wrapped once around her neck, once around her torso, and once around her leg. She was born into a dimly lit delivery room (a big change from the bright lights and very medical atmosphere during Anna's birth) and was placed directly on my chest to warm up and get acquainted. I had some very minor tearing that required a few stitches, but that was it!

Anna is thrilled with her new baby sister and just adores her. As soon as I can, I'll get the camera hooked up and put up some pictures.

Getting closer together

Well, I spoke too soon earlier. Apparently, my body gave me a chance to rest last night so that I'd be prepared this morning! Contractions are currently about 4 minutes apart and lasting almost a minute and a half. They are DOOZIES! I feel them almost entirely in my back, and I have a feeling we'll be heading to the hospital within the next couple of hours. I think today is Baby Day!

Or not. Or maybe so....

My parents got into town around 3:30 a.m. I was still having contractions about 6 minutes apart, though they were starting to get closer. The ones that were really close together weren't as strong, but I figured they were on their way. So I laid down to try to rest before what I assumed would be a long night/day ahead of me.

I woke up around 6:30 with no contractions to speak of. Pissed me right off. I was just about positive that was it last night. Dammit. But since I got up, I've been having them again. Right now, they're about 4 minutes apart, but they're not any stronger than the ones last night.

Good grief, this is frustrating. I just want to meet my baby! If these are Braxton Hicks contractions, they suck because they hurt. If they're "real" contractions...well, I just hope they pick up soon. This is getting old!

This could be it!

I'm having contractions. They started around 6:00 this evening, right before dinner. They were very mild and not very regular, but as the night has progressed, they've gotten stronger and more consistent. Right now, they're about 6-7 minutes apart and lasting about a minute, so I think this could be it!

My poor mom drove home this afternoon with the intention of staying for the weekend because nothing was happening here. She left there around midnight to come back here so that she can hopefully be here when the baby is born. I'm going to feel really terrible if this ends up being a false alarm!

Whoever coined the term "fashionably late"...

...was obviously not waiting for a baby to be born. There is nothing fashionable about having to go pee every five minutes. There is nothing fashionable about swollen feet (though I'll admit those have gotten better in the last week or two). There is nothing fashionable about outgrowing all your maternity clothes so that you have to wear the same pair of shorts every. single. day. And while midriff bearing is fine for the young and firm of abs, it is not really fashionable for the bottom of your (very pregnant) tummy to hang out the bottom of all your tops because even maternity tops are not long enough to cover it. I suppose I could just pierce my (currently very outie) belly button and call it a fashion statement. Or get a tattoo so that at least there would be something interesting for people to look at when my tummy enters the room a full 5 minutes before the rest of me. But alas, I think I will just have to suffer with my bare tummy and worn-out shorts for a while longer. At least my belly stays cool.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, as of midnight tonight, Caroline is officially late. I never thought that it would come to this. After all, I went into labor with Anna on my due date (though it took 32 hours of labor to get her here, so she was born a day "late"), and second babies are supposed to come faster than first, so I expected to at least be well on my way to birthing a baby about now. But here it is, 11:30 p.m. on my due date, and not so much as a twinge.

I've done what I can to gently encourage Caroline to come out, but she seems very comfortable in there. Tonight I had a nice long soak in the jacuzzi tub and a small glass of wine (shhhhh -- don't tell the Surgeon General -- besides, what I REALLY wanted was a margarita with dinner, but I managed to refrain), and while I do feel relaxed, I still don't feel any contractions. She does like to stretch around in there (which is becoming rather painful!), and I've been trying to convince her that she'll have more room to stretch on the OUTSIDE than she does on the inside. So far, she is not listening to me. Hopefully, this is not a preview of a generally stubborn disposition!

Sigh. I am so ready to meet this baby. What will she be like? Will she have as much hair as Anna did, or will she be bald like I was as a baby? What will her personality be like? Will she have my pointy Vulcan ear, or will she get normal ears like Jimmy's? I'm also just ready to be unpregnant. The cute little belly was fun for a while, but now it's neither cute nor little. I'm ready to start taking care of Caroline on the outside now instead of the inside.

40 week midwife appointment

Well, this one was MUCH more promising than the last one! I'm dilated 3 cm and 80% effaced. She said she doubted I'd go more than another day or two, so that's good news! She also declared the baby's head "very round and very low".

My midwife also answered a lot of my mom's questions and really put her mind at ease. Mom was pretty uncomfortable with the midwife idea at first, but I think going to my appointment with me today really helped. She said she really understood why I like my midwife, and she now feels a lot more comfortable with the fact that Karen is not going to just let me sit there and bleed to death in the name of "natural childbirth" if there's a complication or something.

After the appointment, we went walking in the mall (it's too dang hot to walk outside!), and I had some cramping and a couple of contractions, but nothing that seemed especially productive. So I'm still waiting, but at least I know some of the contractions I had last week did some good. I was dilated more this morning than I was after 16 hours of labor with Anna, and that can only be a good thing, right?

Hopefully, we'll get to meet our baby girl soon!

Still Pregnant

Just a quick update. With essentially one day until my due date, I am still very much pregnant and have absolutely no signs of impending labor. I went to the chiropractor this morning, and his assistant predicted that I'd have the baby "sometime in the next three days" based on some of the different movements I've been feeling, etc. I guess we'll see how good she is at predicting these things! Dr. Wolff also said it sounded like I was getting "close", but he didn't specify HOW close! I went ahead and scheduled my next chiro visit for next Monday. I hope that I will arrive at that appointment with a baby in my arms instead of in my tummy!

My mom and my mother-in-law are both here this week, watching me continue to be pregnant. I feel very much like the watched pot that never boils! But I do still feel good and have very few complaints, other than wanting to meet my baby girl.

I have a midwife appointment tomorrow morning. I'll update the blog again after that!

Yikes!

I just saw this article about a baby in England who was born the other day. He was 14 lb. 7 oz., and he was born vaginally! Holy smokes! I've heard of babies that big being born by c-section before (there was a 16 pounder a while back, from what I remember), but to have one naturally (and yes, the mother did it mostly without drugs -- she did have some laughing gas, which is available in England but not the U.S.) is practically unheard of. To see the article and a picture of this behemouth compared to an "average" newborn, click here.

Now, my chiropractor is predicting a "big" baby for me. My midwife has not weighed in on the subject. I've always expect one that's a bit larger than average. Anna was 8 pounds, so a 9 pounder wouldn't be out of the question for me. But I sure do hope Caroline isn't planning on cooking until she's 14 pounds!

More contractions, but no baby

Yesterday afternoon, I had a good, long round of contractions. They started in the middle of HEB while I was out grocery shopping with my mom. They started in my low back and worked their way around to the front, and some of them were pretty intense. So we came home, and Mom made dinner while I rested on the couch with my little microwave rice bag thing on my back. The contractions continued, and I was really getting optimistic about the whole thing. Mom was afraid to let me eat dinner, in case I was in labor. Why? I don't know. There seems to be some unwritten rule that women in labor can't eat. Don't people realize that they risk serious bodily injury if they try to keep a pregnant woman away from food? I figured, if I was in labor, I'd need my strength, so bring on the spaghetti and garlic bread!

After dinner, we all decided to go for a walk, and we circled the block a couple of times, fairly briskly. I had a few more decent contractions, but by the time we got home, they had pretty much stopped. Bummer. So I drowned my sorrows in some ice cream (fudge brownie ice cream with Hershey's syrup to up the chocolate factor, in case you were wondering!) and took a shower. I had a few more contractions late last night, but they fizzled out as well.

Today, my friend Gayla went to the mall with me, and we tried to walk the baby out. No luck, but I had plenty of people come up and ask me when I was due. When I said "Wednesday", I got looks of mixed shock, horror, and pity. I think next time someone asks me, I might just say, "Actually, I'm in labor right now!" and see what kind of reaction I get!

Anyway, I'm still here. Still VERY pregnant. And getting a little frustrated. At least I got to go get my toes done tonight. They're very pretty -- bright pink polish with white flowers on my big toes. Anna was very impressed with the little sparkly jewel thing the lady put in the middle of the flower. And the foot massage that went along with the pedicure was absolutely heavenly. You know, for all the care most pedicurists take not to go anywhere near a pregnant woman's ankles for fear of instantly sending her into labor (there's some acupressure point that's supposed to work for that), this lady rubbed all up and down my legs, ankles, and feet, and I didn't get so much as a twinge. Figures.

Stick a fork in me...

...I'm done! I'm seriously over being pregnant, and I'm ready to meet this little one!

Unfortunately, Caroline appears to be pretty comfy in my big, spandex uterus. I had a midwife appointment this morning (she's finally back -- woo-hoo!), and I'm still dilated "between 1 and 2ish cm". In other words, even after all those contractions Saturday night, no progress. Now, I do realize that some women go from not being dilated at all to having a baby 3 hours later, while others walk around 4 cm dilated for 6 weeks before delivering, so the dilation thing is not exactly an accurate indicator of how soon the baby will get here. Still, it would have been nice to see SOME difference after those contractions Saturday night! The one nugget of encouraging news is that Caroline is no longer floaty and bouncy, so her head is now low and pointed in the right direction. Head toward the light, Baby!

Other than that, the appointment was the typical, boring appointment. Blood pressure good, weight good, baby's heartbeat good, measuring right at 39 weeks. Jimmy got to watch Caroline run away from the Doppler this time, so that was fun.

Yesterday, I discovered one universal truth of pregnancy. If you wander into Wal-Mart 35 months pregnant, you will attract the attention of EVERY little old lady in the entire place. I have never answered so many questions in my life, and my GOODNESS, the number of belly touchers in that place was astounding! When I got home and told Jimmy about it, he offered to make me a sign for the next time I go out: Baby is due in a week. Yes, I'm ready to pop. It's a girl. Yes, I'm sure, even though your best friend's aunt's hairdresser carried JUST LIKE ME, and she had a boy. No, it's not twins. Yes, I'm certain. Yes, it sucks being pregnant in August. The baby's name is Caroline. No, she's not my first. No, my tummy is NOT public property! Yes, I'm aware that having sex might make me go into labor. No, it's none of your business whether or not I plan to try it tonight! Unfortunately, I think it would take a very large sign to fit all that information!

So, we continue to wait. I know that Caroline will come when she's ready, and I've asked my midwife not to discuss induction until I'm 2 weeks overdue, assuming Caroline and I are both doing well, but I reserve the right to be cranky about it if Caroline waits that long! I'm really hoping she'll decide to come out on her own before it comes to that.

I finally feel prepared!

Well, we finally got the dresser situation worked out, so I've been able to really work on Caroline's room over the past week. My mom also came to visit, and we went to Target and got some closet organizers for the vast amount of *stuff* that didn't fit into the dresser, etc. The nursery is finally finished, and I'm really proud of it!

So here are some pictures. First, the crib and bedding:



The dresser/changer:



The window on the wall opposite the crib:




Our wonderful Sunday school class gave us a wipes/bath stuff shower this morning, so in addition to all the diapers we got from the choir, I think it will be a nice, LOOOOOOONG time before we have to buy any wipes or baby wash/lotion. It's great to have that sort of thing taken care of so that we hopefully won't have to run out for those little last-minute things when we get the baby home.

Now that the nursery is done and my midwife will be back on Tuesday, I'm feeling VERY ready for this baby to be born! I had some contractions last night that felt a bit like the "real thing". They started in my back and worked their way around to my tummy, and they were kind of uncomfortable. That's pretty much how my labor with Anna started. They were fairly regular -- around 5-7 minutes apart and lasting about a minute each. But they fizzled out after a little while, which is good because I really want to make it until Tuesday! But after that, Caroline is welcome to come whenever she wants, and I will be using every non-medical method at my disposal to evict her from my uterus. I think I'm in for a lot of walking and squatting!

Here's a picture of me this afternoon in all my current ginormity:




Anna is also ready to meet her little sister. We got to go visit my friend, Michelle, the other day. She just had her baby boy last week, named Gunnar Eric. He is precious, and Anna is absolutely in love with him. She was thrilled to get to hold him. I think she's going to be a great big sister! Here's a picture of Anna and Gunnar:



So anyway, that's the most recent update. I do have an appointment with my midwife on Tuesday morning, and I guess we'll see then if those contractions last night did anything!

Another boring appointment

And I do mean boring. If the doctor hadn't checked me for dilation, there wouldn't even have been a point of her stepping foot in the room! The nurse weighed me, took my BP, and measured my tummy. Caroline has definitely dropped because I was measuring about the same this week as I was at my last appointment, a week and a half ago. Heart rate was in the 140s, and the nurse got a kick out of watching Caroline do her acrobatics trying to avoid the Doppler. Dr. Reed came in and checked me, and I'm "between one and two centimeters". So basically no change from last time. I'm still hoping Caroline will decide to wait until Karen gets back on the 7th before she decides to come, and it looks like the odds of that happening are pretty good. Then again, I was 2 cm three days before Anna was born, so I guess you never can tell.

I do think I'm doing some nesting, though. Jimmy finished painting Anna's dresser and moved it upstairs last night. We rearranged her room to accomodate the larger dresser and moved the other dresser/changing table into the baby's room. I got Anna's clothes all organized, and I filled up the drawers of the baby's dresser. But I still have SO many things that don't have a home up there! I have no idea where to store crib bedding, and all of the little gadgets (bouncy seat, swing, etc) are just sitting in the middle of the room, taking up space. I'll probably work on it some more tomorrow. I also need to get some pictures up on the walls and get Jimmy to hang up some of Anna's princess parephenalia now that we've moved her bed and gotten everything settled in her room.

Anna is spending the night at a friend's house tonight, so Jimmy and I went and saw the movie Hairspray, which was fabulous. It was nice to have some couple time, and we didn't even have to worry about what time we got home! Of course, I'm posting this at 11:00, so we obviously didn't take full advantage of our free time!

I'm also waiting on an update from my friend Michelle. She had an external cephalic version this morning, which is a procedure to turn a breech baby. They were fortunately able to turn it, so the doctor started pitocin to induce her around 10:30 this morning. As of 7:00 this evening, there was still no baby, but I'm hoping to get an announcement soon! Michelle was due a week before me, so this has been a big reality check for me. My baby will be here soon!

Who comes up with this garbage?

For one reason or another, I love to watch those baby shows on TLC and similar channels. I don't know why I continue watching them, since between the L&D stories (I swear, they have about a 90% c-section rate on those shows, usually for completely unnecessary reasons) and the totally bogus breastfeeding advice, I generally end up wanting to throw something at the television at least once per show. But I do.

The other day, there was a couple who brought their baby home to a house full of every electronic gadget and monitor and soother you can possibly imagine. They had the video baby monitor (which I actually think is kind of cool because I always wondered what Anna was doing in her crib while she was singing or talking to herself), the little sound machine to make nature/womb sounds, a little thingy to make the crib vibrate while the baby slept, etc. Most of the stuff was expensive and unnecessary, but hey, if they've got the money, I guess most of it could have been useful in some capacity.

Except the "Why Cry" monitor. Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have come across yet another completely worthless (yet expensive! This sucker costs $170!) baby item.




The idea is that you hold this little doohickey up to your baby when he cries, and it tells you what's wrong. Uh-huh. Apparently, all babies have a specific pitch, volume, and pattern that indicates whether they are hungry, bored, tired, stressed, or annoyed (I notice there is no "wet/dirty" in there anywhere!).

Now, I have no doubt in my mind that some babies do come with distinct cries. I've heard rumors of these babies, and it usually takes their parents about 3 days to tell the difference between a "tired" cry and a "hungry" cry if the baby truly has different cries.

But then there are those babies who come with two settings: sleeping and SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER. This was Anna. I promise you that no monitor in the entire world could have told the difference between "somewhat bored" and "someone's trying to KILL me, here!" There was no difference. EVERYTHING was a Big Hairy Deal when she was an infant. Dirty diaper? End of the world. Being put in the carseat? Major crisis. Wanted to be held? Screamed at a pitch that could shatter glass. Needed a change of scenery? Sounded like she was being murdered. It was total trial and error with her. But you know what? I think that it's actually an important part of parenting to actually get to know your baby and learn what they need. No machine is going to take the place of a parent's personal knowledge of his/her own child. I think it's a little bit pathetic that our society seems to have gotten so addicted to technology that parents no longer trust their ability to find out why their baby is crying.

This little gadget is clinically tested in Spain, Korea, and Mexico. My question is, what if your baby cries in English, French, or Chinese? Oh, and then there's this little gem: WhyCry® has been clinically tested in Europe, with a success rate of 98% when used in conjunction with the accompanying symptoms chart. So let me get this straight. After the machine gives you a reason for the cry, you still have to compare it to a symptoms chart to figure out why your baby is REALLY crying? And people pay $170 for this? Um....I'm speechless. I am now convinced that common sense officially no longer exists.

I am a circus freak side show

Well, not really. But tonight I was getting my hair done, and Caroline decided to do her Alien impression. My friend, Gayla, caught part of it on video because she had her digital camera with her. My tummy was doing absolutely crazy things, and it drew the attention of every woman in the salon. We all sat and watched for a couple of minutes until Caroline decided to settle down a bit. It was quite the conversation starter, let me tell you!

Other than that, there's not much to report this week. I don't have a doctor's appointment because I couldn't get in to see anyone this week since Karen and Dr. Reed are out all week. I did call yesterday and make an appointment for the day Karen gets back because I was paranoid that it would be hard to get in after she'd been on vacation for two weeks. I wasn't about to risk losing my 39-week appointment!

Oh, one other notable thing. Today, I broke down and bought a pair of Crocs. Well, not REAL Crocs because I refuse to pay $30+ for ugly shoes. These are $10 Target knock-off Crocs. My color choices were powder blue and Pepto pink, so I am now the (not so) proud owner of a pair of EXTREMELY pink plastic garden clogs. I had to get them because my feet have turned into ginormous sausages, and none of my shoes fit anymore. At this point, I've ceased worrying about whether I ever get my figure back after the baby is born. I just want my feet back!

Just for grins, I'm posting a picture of my friend, Michelle, and me at our last sorority meeting about two weeks ago. Michelle's baby is due a week before mine, but it looks like she'll be induced next week if her breech baby doesn't turn on its own by Monday. We live close to each other, so we plan to diet/exercise together after the babies are born. I'm so excited to have a close friend to share this experience with this time!

36 Week Appointment

Okay. Deep breaths. I found out this morning that my midwife is going on vacation. For TWO WEEKS. She's taking her daughter to college in New York. She'll be back on August 7, and my due date is August 15. No problem, right? Tell me it's no problem. I don't WANT some random doctor delivering me. I want my midwife. So I guess I'd better hold off on all those home induction methods the "old wives" recommend for a while. No castor oil for me!

Oh, and not only that, but her backup OB is going to be out of town next week. So I couldn't even have HER deliver me if I go into labor next week. It would literally be a doctor I've never met before, and that just stresses me out a little bit. Also, as a result of both Karen and Dr. Reed being out of town next week, the OB office is completely booked, so I couldn't even get an appointment for my next visit until the following Monday, and that's with a doctor I haven't met yet. So while I should be going every week at this point, it will be about a week and a half before I can go back because they're all booked solid. What a day!

Other than that, my appointment went well. Caroline is still head down, and I'm still 1 cm dilated, so there's no reason to think that I'll be going into labor any time soon. Blood pressure was good. Caroline was very active as usual. The Group B Strep test they did last week came back negative, so I won't need to worry about antibiotics in labor.

After all that stress about Karen being out of town, I was very thankful I had booked a massage and a pedicure at the Aveda salon for this afternoon. Jimmy gave me a gift certificate for my birthday, and I figured I should use it now, since I won't get a chance for a while after the baby is born! It was very relaxing, and I'm glad I did it.

I also had a chiropractor appointment yesterday, and Dr. Wolff told me that everything is very well aligned and looking good. Hopefully when the time comes, Caroline will have a straight shot out of the barrel and won't make me labor for 32 hours like her big sister did!

Everything is pretty much ready for Caroline's arrival. The clothes and bedding are washed (though she probably won't use the bedding for a while, since we'll keep her in our room for at least the first couple of months), and I've ordered new hardware for the drawers on the dresser that will go in her room as well as the dresser that will go in Anna's room. Jimmy still needs to finish painting the one for Anna's room so that we can play musical furniture and get all of that worked out. Right now, all of the clean baby clothes are in a big Rubbermaid storage bin, and I'd really like to get a dresser in there so I can organize things a bit!

So there's this week's update. Kind of boring but not at the same time.

Big Sister

I've gotten such a kick out of watching Anna over the last few weeks. She's getting so excited about the baby. She loves to put her hands on my tummy, and if Caroline moves (and she usually does!), her eyes get really wide, and she smiles and laughs. It's really cool to experience this through her eyes this time around!

So yesterday, Anna took a sibling class at our hospital so that she could learn about babies and what to do with them. They watched a little video called "Sibling Silly", which was very cute. Then the teacher showed them some pictures of newborns so that they would be prepared for how the baby will look. They included a few pictures of things like the umbilical cord, some mild head bruising, and a minor rash so that the kids could see that babies sometimes look a little different at first, and that's okay. They also showed pictures of babies nursing, which I thought was a nice touch, and something that Anna will definitely have to get used to. After that, the teacher talked about how to hold the baby, with emphasis on ASKING first. This is something that I have a feeling we'll need to reinforce a LOT with Anna. She's such a little mother, I have a feeling she's going to want to hold the baby all the time! The teacher also talked about toys that babies can and cannot play with and showed the kids how to use a toilet paper tube to test whether the toy was okay for the baby.

Then she divided the kids into groups and taught them to diaper and swaddle baby dolls. It was hilarious to watch the boys, many of whom had never gone near a baby doll before! One little boy was completely grossed out by the idea of changing a diaper, and he was VERY vocal about it! But not Anna. She swaddled the baby doll expertly. Then when she went to change the diaper, she was not content to merely take one diaper off and put another on. Oh, no. She wanted to wipe the baby, too! So she found a napkin, opened it up, wiped very carefully between the baby's legs, put on the clean diaper, and then swaddled the baby again and held it in her arms and rocked it, supporting its head in her elbow, just like the teacher said to!

After that, we got a tour of the L&D unit so the kids could see where their baby brothers and sisters would be born. The poor teacher then asked if they had any questions. One little boy piped up and said, "How will the baby get out of Mommy's tummy?" The teacher handled it well (she said something about the doctor getting the baby out), but considering this was a class for 6-9 year olds, I was surprised the parents hadn't addressed that with the child AT ALL. I certainly haven't given Anna the gory details, but she does know that the baby comes out through a special opening between the mommy's legs.

Oh, and forgive me for my mini rant, but would someone PLEASE ban those stupid Heely shoes from all public places? One of the little boys in the class was wearing them, and I wanted to strangle his parents for allowing him to coast through the L&D unit without a single thought about whether he was going to knock over some poor pregnant woman or nurse. Seriously. They're bad enough in malls and grocery stores, but in the hospital? Ugh.

Okay, off the soapbox now. Here are a few pictures of Anna at the class. Also note the new 'do. She's very proud of her "grown up" hair!

Getting ready to wipe the baby:



Finishing up the diaper:



Time to swaddle:



Carefully supporting the baby's head:



Anna's "graduation" certificate from sibling class:

I have cankles!

Cankles = calf/ankles. This is so not fair. I never got swollen when I was pregnant with Anna. I blame my friend, Leanah, at church. She told me on Sunday, "Oh, you're just so cute pregnant! You don't even have swollen ankles!" So two days later, I looked down and couldn't tell where my calves ended and my feet began. Cankles. Sigh.

Other than that, things are great, though! I had my 35-week midwife appointment this afternoon, and things are looking good. I asked Karen to check the baby's position, since she still seems to be flipping 180s on a regular basis. She checked me and said she was pretty sure she was head down (also told me that I'm 1 cm dilated), but she wanted to do a quick ultrasound to make sure. She sent me across the hall, and sure enough, Caroline is in launch position. She's still very floaty, though, so I'm not 100% convinced that she'll stay that way. I've been doing squats and bouncing on the exercise ball tonight to try to encourage her to gravitate and stick. Jimmy thought it was hilarious to watch me typing on the computer while bouncing vigorously on the ball, but hey, if it helps, it will be worth it! The ultrasound tech also said that she's "definitely still a girl." That's reassuring because if she's not, our son will be wearing a LOT of pink!

I didn't get a weight estimate or anything (ultrasound can be off by 2-3 pounds at this point, anyway, so I don't put much stock in weight estimates), but Babycenter.com says that Caroline is around 18 inches long and probably weighs about 5 pounds. Of course, Babycenter.com also says that she's running out of room, and her movements should be getting smaller. In that regard, Babycenter.com is full of crap. They clearly have not met my little alien because I still get giant bumps and rolls on a regular basis. Last night, Anna spent about half an hour at bedtime singing to Caroline (this baby ALWAYS reacts to music!) and watching, wide eyed, as my belly morphed into strange shapes as the baby somersaulted and rolled around when she heard Big Sister's voice. I've decided my uterus must be made of spandex, since she obviously still has plenty of room to maneuver in there!

Last Saturday, some friends threw me a baby shower, and that was a lot of fun. We got some really wonderful gifts, and the food was fantastic! The cake was the best I've ever eaten, and I still have one piece left! My friend, Melissa, gave us the cutest little pair of hot pink capri pants and a little floral top that I plan to use as Caroline's coming-home outfit. It's absolutely adorable! I'll try to post a picture of the outfit, if I can ever find my camera, which went MIA the day before the shower. It has to be around here somewhere! We also got the infant carseat yesterday, and I installed the base this morning, so the hospital will now let us take our child home if she's born. And now, I guess we just wait.

Oh, George, how I missed you!

We spent part of the weekend at a friend's beach house this weekend. There were tons of people there (there were actually three beach houses -- two were rentals), and it was SO much fun! We got to swim in the ocean (despite some rain this morning, which did finally clear up enough to let us swim, but not enough to keep Anna's lips from turning purple from the chill!), build sand castles on the beach, and hang out with our friends (all 30+ of them!). We all went to dinner last night, terrorizing at least three waitresses who earned every penny of that 15% gratuity that is added for parties over 6 (the number of spilled drinks from our sordid party of rambunctious kids was probably double their usual weekly quota!), and then sat out on their deck watching the moon float over the ocean. It was really beautiful.

The only problem was that I discovered about halfway to Galveston that I left George at home. George is my ridiculously large maternity pillow (Best Pillow Ever! Link here), and he has made sleeping during the last few months so much more comfortable. Now, normally I wouldn't have been too upset. I mean, it was just one night, right? Surely I can arrange pillows around me to get me through one night! But I happen to have a cold this weekend, and I can't breathe lying down. Since everyone knows they don't give you the good drugs when you're pregnant, this means that I have to find some natural method of relieving my stuffy nose, and the only thing that seems to work is to elevate my head to a practically-upright position.

The house we were staying in had exactly two extra pillows, so let's do the math. One pillow under my head. Check. One pillow behind my back. Check. One pillow under my bump. Check. Okay, we're out of pillows, so what to do? I needed one between my knees and at least two more under my head to get me upright enough to breathe. So let's move on to the beach towels (which were thankfully unused at this point). Move the pillows under the head (ah, I can breathe!), and fold one towel to go under the belly. Wait, I'm still going to run out! Okay, these are big towels, so what if I rolled them? Finally, a solution! So I ended up with two rolled up towels -- one under my belly and between my knees, and the other wedged behind my back. It wasn't George, but it got me through the night.

You know, Jimmy gave me a hard time when I ordered George. He thought George was a waste of money and that he took up too much space (thus the name -- we figured the pillow was at least as big as an extra person in the bed!). After all the tossing and turning and rolling and stuffing and wedging that went on last night, Jimmy is now feeling the George love. I don't think I'll be hearing any more complaints from him!