Finding our Rhythm

After two weeks as a family of four, I feel like we are finding our rhythm. The last few days have been very nice, the nights are going much smoother (since we discovered Gripewater for baby's gas) and I am alone with the boys today for the first time...all day! It has been a good day!

On Sunday we put up our tree. While Arlo napped on Matt's chest, Sam and I decorated the tree. Sam loved putting up the ornaments and he hung almost all of them! It was a really relaxing and peaceful holiday afternoon.

Chocolate and Tears

I have been waiting to post until I had real worthy news. I just love opening my blog page and seeing my sweet little boy sleeping soundly and posting somthing more exciting than the birth of our second son is hard to come by and it means that life is moving beyond that magical and eventful day...but life has moved on and slowed down and post-pardum has hit.

Last night, after a full day without Matt's parents help, we were all exhausted and trying to have some down time in front of the TV (where else do you do that anyway?). I realized in a sleep-deprived haze, that Sam was not with us in the family room and headed upstairs to find him. I thought he might be playing the hiding game, where he hides under the crib and we find him...he hides in the same place every time. Sure enough he was hiding under the crib, though this time he was hiding with a brick ( I kid you not, a brick sized chunk) of Mexican chocolate, of which he had eaten a full corner, chocolate smeared all over his face and hands!

Now, a rational mother would have done one of two things...reprimanded her son for stealing chocolate and eating it at 7 p.m. OR laughed at the hysterical two-year old antics and cleaned up her son. This mother is not rational. This mother is post-pardum, wearing her baby in a sling, with milk boobies hanging and leaking like punctured water balloons in socks! This woman begins crying hysterically, in between sobs saying, "I'm an awful mother!" About this time Matt comes running upstairs hearing my cry and thinks I have dropped the baby. When he finds me standing in the middle of the kitchen with tears streaming and Sam standing next to me, chocolate covering every square inch of his toddler face, looking guilty as all hell, he, as a rational father, begins laughing hystercially! Poor Sam didn't know what to do, laugh or cry and, of course being the sensitive kid he is, begins crying because I am, because I can't stop now that I have started. Sam and I cuddled on the couch, he wiped my tears. Matt sat near by and comforted and then Sam said, "Mommy stinky". After some discussion and deduction, Matt and I concluded that Sam was telling me I had stinky breath! We all laughed at that and I felt so fortunate sitting there with my new family of four.

Arrival

Arlo Kenneth Grieshop arrived at 11:56 p.m. on December 5th, weighing 10 lbs. 10 oz. and measuring 22.5 inches after only 3 hours of labor.

In the end, I did need to take the castor oil to push myself into labor. Almost exactly 2 hours after drinking it, I started having very strong, very intense, contractions, 2 minutes apart. The labor progressed very quickly and only an hour after the midwife arrived, Arlo was born in our living room!

It was a fantastic labor and birth. For birth photos, please visit our family webpage, www.grieshop.5u.com , and click on the "photos" page link. Enjoy. A birth story will be soon to follow.

Not as Planned

Well, it is happening, just not as planned! It appears that my water broke around 3:30 a.m. and I didn't really figure it out until this morning...so at noon I called the midwife and she wanted us to "get labor started"!! So we went to Target and walked, I had contractions 3 minutes apart, then they stopped on the drive home, we walked some more around our neighborhood and it seems that may have done it! I have been having conractions 4-5 minutes apart for an hour or so. The plan is to go with this until baby comes OR until the contractions subside. If they subside we'll move on to castor oil induction.

It looks like we'll be having this baby within the next day (or two on the long end). Please send good thoughts...non-castor oil thoughts...my way!

December Baby

I know, the title is misleading...still no baby, but he'll be a December baby now! Last night we thought it was time...I had contractions 8 minutes apart for 3 hours. We called the midwife and the doula and I was mentally preparing myself for an all night labor...when around midnight the contractions faded.

I thought at least I'd get a "good" night's sleep (as good as you can get when you're this pregnant)...but I have a nasty head cold and so I didn't sleep much at all.

Sam is going to play at a friends house this afternoon for 3 hours and I am going to rest and meditate and talk to this little boy. Perhaps, after suggestion from a good friend, a deep meditative talk is all he needs to know it is okay to make his arrival. I am willing to try just about anything. Tonight is a full moon...I have the universe on my side now.

Though only 2 days overdue, I know what it is like to wait for an overdue baby and the thought of waiting another week is disheartening.

It Has To Happen Now!

Well, it has to happen now! My last pregnant and waiting cohort has had her baby! Yes, Kristy went into labor yesterday (the day after her due date) at 5 am and birthed a beautiful, 8 lb. 8 oz. baby boy, David, at 1:30 pm...only 8 1/2 hours of labor. She labored at home up until the last 2 hours and finshed off on all fours at the hospital. A perfect first birth and hospital birth!! Congratulations Kristy and Jeremy!! I am so happy (and extremely jealous).

I visited with the midwife tonight and it was a good visit. We had a long talk about the birth and what to expect in the next couple of weeks should I go way past due. That part wasn't fun to talk about, but was necessary.

I am still 70-80% effaced, 3-4 cm dilated and she stripped my membranes in hopes of moving things along...we'll see. I have certainly lost my energy in last two days and feel like we're close, but talking about the "past due plans" made me a little nervous. If by next Friday I have not had the baby, I will have a non-stress test at the hospital. I don't want to do that. Matt and I decided we'd try the castor oil on Wednesday if nothing has happened by then. I sure hope things happen by then....they have to, right??

Update

I got a phone call from a dear friend this morning wondering how I was doing. She said she'd checked my blog and saw nothing new and couldn't stop wondering about me. It was then I realized I would be feeling exactly the same way about any of my dear friends expecting a new baby any moment (and do feel about Kristy who is due today...I check her blog 2 times a day!). So I decided to give an update, though there isn't much to write.

I am still very pregnant and waiting. I had a second wind of energy yesterday and did a bunch of organizing, cleaning and general nesting type stuff. Sam was a big help and now I feel like I am looking for things to do during nap times...which isn't all bad! I completed Arlo's quilt this weekend and am making good headway on Matt's socks...but knitting doesn't always appeal to me. I even started making "waiting for baby" pot holders with left over quilt squares. The house looks great, very clean, organized...and I feel quite ready for this little guy.

I have been very "crampy" today and have been having some contractions, though nothing regular or even worth calling the midwives about. I tried checking myself yesterday as I don't see the midwives again until Thursday...but I couldn't really tell what was going on down there. It felt to me like I have dilated a bit more, but I can't be sure. It will be interesting to see what they say on Thursday...if I make it that long.

So there's the update. Lots of house projects, sewing, knitting and snow (we got 7" on Sunday). It is definitley winter here and so pretty!