Outlook says it's Wednesday the 24th already. How in the bloody hell did that happen? I swear it must be last week!

Ewan is almost 2 weeks old, and I think we're sort of getting settled in. Today I'm trying to get a few things done because I can't take any more of this resting crap. I feel lazy- and that's no good. I do realize that if I don't rest then I won't heal, but a girl can only take so much. So, Ewan is trying out the sling so I can type a little bit. I have 4 pages of a bigger update in draft on the laptop... I'll post it at some point.

Ewan Updates

Yesterday we went to our 2 week postpartum visit at the midwife. She checked out Ewan- he's good. She checked out me- I'm good, including my stitches, with which I was a little concerned. I've lost 20lbs of my pregnancy weight... still 14 to go. Apparently this is a good thing, but I was really hoping it would all be gone. Alas, I think I know where the rest of it can be found- most of it is in my bra... the rest is sitting on my hips. BAH! Freakin' mom body.

Oh yeah... I'm a mum. Weeeeeird.

Ewan's weight experienced the usual drop following birth. The bench mark is to regain weight and return to birth weight by two weeks. As of yesterday, Ewan weighed 7lbs 2oz, so he's a little ahead of the curve. He's definitely been eating enough! This means that nursing is triumphant. We had some major troubles with that for the first week, but I think we're getting the hang of it... mostly. Stephen and I both think he's getting/gotten his first growth spurt. He already looks bigger and I think he's put on a little more baby pudge- namely in his cheeks. He's already growing up! *sob* Ah well... it probably wouldn't hurt him to grow into the newborn sized clothing. He's still a little guy.

Sadly, Ewan got his first heal prick yesterday. He took it like a man, but I didn't enjoy it. So I guess we're getting the PKU after all.

Other than that... Ewan is super cute. He shows off his dimples pretty regularly. I found his ticklish spot on his neck and he seems to like a little bit of tickling. I definitely like the very near giggling. He also has semi ticklish feet. I think he and I are getting along pretty well. He likes sleeping on my chest and I don't like putting him down so that's working out alright. He really enjoys classical music (though right now we're listening to the bleepy stuff). He still keeps me up a lot of the night, but we're getting better all around.

squidyfishlove has had to go back to work this week, so it's been a bit harder for me, but we're getting the hang of it. I don't think I could have survived last week if Stephen had been working... somewhat literally. I've had to be on extreme rest to get these stitches to heal and I'm still bleeding. There is a very direct correlation between the amount of bleeding and the amount of rest I get. I spent the last two days pretty much hanging out on the couch and watching movies with Ewan and so was doing a little better- until I started running up and down the stairs last night and trying to get ready for company (there has a been a lot of that too). Today I'm trying to find a balance. I can't stand to sit on my arse anymore, but I don't want to end up with an infection. I actually have antibiotics here if I need them because I had a fever and some yucky symptoms at the end of last week, but I have held off on starting them because my stomach has been bad enough without allowing those to strip my system. No thank you. Eating is hard enough as it is. Especially since we've been living off of pizza for the last three days... I'm so glad it's gone. Thankfully the pizza was offset with a box of SUPER JUICY pears, apples and other goodies from Harry and David, sent by aunt Linda, uncle mark, and cousin Adam. (THANK YOU!) I wish I could just ask for a glass of juice and have it magically appear again like I was getting so accustomed to with Stephen free.

He's really kicked in with the housework- I've been pretty impressed. He won't let anyone touch the kitchen- it's his area. I haven't done a single load of laundry since Ewan was born- I also can't find a lot of things, but oh well. Mom has been over here and there, but she mainly just gets to hold Ewan while I sleep or hang out and make food for me while I feed the little dude. The few days she's been able to come over have been really good. Now that everyone is back to work, except for me, and it's been a couple of weeks, I'm trying to adjust to life with baby. It's weird. I don't know where the time goes. It seems like I'm constantly feeding and changing him, I'm still pretty tired. But I really enjoy him being around all the time. It makes me weepy- in a good way. I fear I've gone soft.

Things I would like to do, however: get an entire night of sleep, feel truly rested, put on make-up, spend some time on skin care, ride my motorcycle!, clean everything, frame some things, hang some things, go visit kevbonium in Portland, go have some really good coffee, go snowboarding, etc.

What a horrendous night!!!

So, that nasty egg concoction was not well digested by my body. The Castor Oil was not well received. Starting around 1am I was getting contractions, and by 1:30 they were coming hard and strong and three minutes apart and lasting about 1m 20 secs, on top of constant tightness. That was crazy no fun. Stephen was a champ and very helpful through that section, especially the part where I expelled the Castor Oil Eggs and goodness knows what else into one of the handy foot soak tubs I purchased for doing pedicures with to_rei_shi. That was a $1.56 well spent!

Given this, we called Darlene. I was pretty out of it. I was clinging to the counter at this point, managing to talk, but not that well. Seriously not fun. So... we decided to hold off the on the second does a little while long- I think it ended up being after 4am before I managed to really make it back to bed and stay there for longer than about 10 minutes at a time. 10 minutes in bed, 45 in the bathroom. GAH.

But... I had some show at 3:27, according to my log, and then more just before 4am. This means to me that those horrible contractions were doing something.

The good news is that after about 4:30 or 5 the priority switched to sleep- which we both desperately needed. At 9:45ish, I was getting up to use the loo again and felt rush of fluid, so I froze thinking maybe I'd soiled myself, but moved again and more fluid which I couldn't stop with Kegels. Then at 10:08 more fluid... and since then about 1 TBSP just about every time I move- so it looks like my water really has broken.

Stephen has been sent out to bank and to collect my thyroid Rx refill... so while he's gone, I'm trying to get contractions going on their own (which will work better when I actually get up and start moving more- right now I'm just wiggling in my chair). If they do, we go with it. If they don't then I do the second round of terrible Castor Oil via the chocolate milkshake. I think I'll do the milkshake anyway- something cold and creamy (soy creamy) sounds really good on my shredded intestinal tract. I'm thinking yoghurt is going to be high on the list of edibles as well...

However, we made a run to the Co-op last and got a lot of really good food. I have fresh radishes, yams, the BEST apples ever- almost as good as the huge one I got in Germany near Blenheim- two big jugs of organic apple juice, pear juice, the shampoo and conditioner I love, and generally healthy, yummy goodness. I shall masticate it and love it all (in little bits at a time of course, I really don't eat that much)... and hopefully it will all stay put.

So anyway... we're still not in consistent active labor but I think we're on our way to getting there. Baby is still moving around... can't believe we're going to meet our little peanut soon! I washed everything last night... so lots of clean, soft clothes and blankets await baby!

The Grandma's have been alerted and will be arriving later this afternoon.

I wonder how long this is going to take... will we have an 11th or 12th baby? Probably 12th.

K Stephen, hurry up! I'm finally hungry again.

Where was I? *Ahem*

That was a much needed and much restorative nap, btw.

( Midwife Appointment, Part 2 )

( Butterfly Day )

Sorry... posted late. From Thursday, 30 August, 2007.

Project Pollywog: 34 Weeks, 3 days

Yesterday was our 34 week Midwife appointment. The topic of the day was home birth. As the reader knows, we have been reconsidering this possibility and leaning strongly towards it since discovering that our new insurance will not cover birth by midwife. Yesterday we discussed more in depth the logistics of it, some more details and addressed Stephen’s concerns of safety. Included below are the answers to our questions and hopefully many of yours as well.
Our big hang up has simply related to which hospital we’d rather be closer to. Both hospital options for the birthing center and being at home are not optimal, but it’s hard to know if one is worse than the other. If there is a life in question who can we trust? I think that in the end we’re taking a leap of faith that should we need it, Cascade Valley Hospital will not kill us. Home birth it is.
( Home Birth FAQ )
( General FAQ )
( Other Things We've Discovered )

The Cost of Having A Baby

We had our 32 Week Midwife appointment this morning. Despite a rocky start in getting there and me walking part of the way post tantrum, I think the fact that it turned out well is proof positive that Darlene really works for us.

The big question was whether or not we can stay with her. We found out that what it's going to cost us to stay there:
Facility Fee: $2,000 normally but she'll only charge us $1,000 given the situation if we decide to birth at the birthing center.
Professional Fee: $3,000 normally but she'll knock it down to $2,500, or if we pay it by 36 weeks (one month from now) she'll reduce it further to $2,000.

If we choose to have a home birth, there is no facility fee and the grand total should be $2,000 if we can pay her this month. She's cutting it in half for us, basically.

Needless to say, we're strongly considering a home birth.
( About Home Birth )
The bottom line here is that we do not want to change care providers. I'm sure you're wondering, and YES I did call our new insurance provider. They will not reimburse us a penny and they actually told me that they wouldn't have covered the delivery by a midwife anyway... though I didn't get full details on that bit. Regardless, we had a hard time finding someone we were really comfortable with and I don't want to start that all over again so late in the game. I feel like we'd be potentially compromising my health and that of the baby just to save the 80% or whatever the insurance covers (and even some of that is questionable at this point). It's just not worth it to me. We'll figure it out.

I'd rather work harder to make it work than compromise on this one. I'm just not comfortable with that and the last thing I want is added anxiety, which equals added risk. I guess this is where all those parenting choices come into play, huh? We want what's best for the baby. This is what we think is best. So here we are. We need $2,000.

So... other things:( About the Baby )

Mom is going to Canada to pick up our Quinny Zapp tonight. I may go with her, or I may go to the Clutch show with Stephen... dunno yet.

More about La Leche League meeting later.

P.S. Nose bleeds suck and I'd like to be done with them now... and Pickle likes bubbles. Silly goldfish.

Today we had our 24 week midwife appointment. ( More about the midwife visit. )

In the meantime, the baby is growing and developing. squidgyfishlove asked me to post some interesting facts about its current development. ( See Through Baby )

For those of you who have been asking about the sex of the baby (which is pretty much everyone I run into), I should mention that we are not likely to get another ultrasound. The only reason to do so would be if there is a problem, and therefore, I'm not hoping for that. I think it's a wonderful to surprise, the biggest we'll ever have, to find out then. I hope that everyone else can be as happy at we are that it's a baby. I mean seriously... would you love it any less if it were a boy or a girl? We won't. So what difference does it make? [end rant]

Weird thing for today: Although I don't ever forget that the baby is there, I seem to keep surprising myself in front of mirrors or when I discover that my turning radius is not what it used to be. Apparently I forget that my size and shape have changed.

I think there needs to be more yoga.

I know that it's normal... but I've gained 5 pounds since our last visit (8 weeks ago?). And this makes me sad. I think it's sort of ruined my day actually. I realise that this is one of the more ridiculous things I've ever said. But that's how it is. :(