NaBloPoMo #…ah, forget it.

In twelve hours my sweet little baby will be exactly two weeks old. I cannot believe this much time has passed already.

Today was the first day I’ve felt a little stir-crazy. It’s probably because the baby and I stayed in bed until 2:30 this afternoon. She was up most of the night so we get our sleep this morning to make up for it.

Once I got up I felt so good and had so much energy that I convinced Jeff to make a Target trip with me. We walked through the store, running into some old friends, grabbing one or two things we needed and a couple we didn’t. Then we went to Jason’s Deli and ran into one of Jeff’s oldest friends who has been going through some rough stuff in the last year. We joined him and just listened. It was really nice and obviously good timing for him.

And now we’re home with a WIDE AWAKE BABY.

Life is so, so good…

NaBloPoMo #19-22

So. I failed. Kind of. I did my best to post everyday this month and failed. So here’s what I would’ve said for the past few days:

Our baby is amazing. She sleeps well, eats REALLY well (I was anxious about breastfeeding), interacts well with people, likes noise and action and her siblings.

I feel good. I’m healing from the birth well, have lost 25 pounds so far, and am finally sleeping when I have the opportunity. Spent the first two nights home worrying about her.

People are funny. And not in a good way unless you choose to see it.

We miss New Orleans.

John Mayer’s new album Battle Studies is beautiful.

We have the best friends and family in the world. Seriously. I wish I could explain more but I don’t want to brag. Seriously.

Jeff and I are celebrating our first wedding anniversary today. I cannot express what an absolute blessing my husband is, and how appreciated I feel by him daily.

So I’ll stop with my tripe, since I’m having my cake and eating it too.

NaBloPoMo #18

Me, holding a deep-sleeping Nola Jean: “oh my goodness!! She just smiled, really big!! In her sleep!!” Kaitlyn: “What?! REWIND HER FACE.”

So I’m not writing an actual post today. Because I just had a baby and totally forgot about NaBloPoMo. Maybe something more substantial will be here tomorrow.

NaBloPoMo #17

When I look back at the past 36 hours I sincerely cannot believe what has happened. From 150 Facebook posts and messages to the flood of visitors to the sweet alone time we’ve snuck in as a family…it has been a whirlwind. And it is not over yet although I’ve insisted on some rest for myself tomorrow.

There comes a point in every person’s life where you reflect on your past and choose to move forward from it and in some cases the people involved. For me, that point came this past weekend. I finally felt freedom from some of the things on my past that were really hindering me.

Now, looking back, I see where releasing all of that bad energy (and truly meaning that…not just spouting off about it) paved the way for Nola Jean. She was waiting for all of my energies to be available to bring her into this world.

And today, when I was absolutely spent and felt bombarded by the usual suspects? My mind immediately went to the positive, the things that I did that those people would NEVER attempt, the beauty I helped bring into this world, the sheer amount of love present in my life and the freedom felt at that moment…

“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”

NaBloPoMo #16

She’s here. Nola Imogene. 8.2 pounds, 20 inches long, and a nice head full of hair.

At noon sharp our beautiful baby girl arrived through a water birth under the watchful eyes of our amazing midwives and my absolutely wonderful parents.

I am amazed, empowered, in love and exhausted…so the full birth story will come another day.

She is beautifully and wonderfully made and we are so thankful!

NaBloPoMo #15

Last Weekend-As-Just-the-Four-of-Us Highlights:

Dinner at Logan’s Saturday night…steak and potatoes did this preggo good. I’m trying to carb-and-protein up to get ready for the birth, when a lot of energy will be required!

Running into Kait at Bridge Street on our way to Orange Tree (that’s TWO highlights in one). Kait is nothing but a big ball of joy and if you haven’t been to Orange Tree STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND GO RIGHT NOW THIS MINUTE. It’s a self-serve frozen yogurt place that is out of this world.

White Christmas today at Lee Lyric Theater…absolutely wonderful and now I’m ready for the holidays. The costumes were gorgeous, the kids were spot-on and it’s always fun to see a show with my mom. I would’ve attended Lee if I hadn’t been homeschooled and my very best friends in high school went there. I definitely have a soft spot in my heart for the magnet program and they did not disappoint today.

Alabama’s win and Florida’s close call.

Contractions. They give me hope! The secret to managing my pain so far has been heat. A hot bath, a heating pad, or warming up my buckwheat pouch and tying it in my sling against my lower back has really helped when they come on really hard.

Going to see the midwives tomorrow so I should have a good update for you!

NaBloPoMo #14

I really love the mail lately.

Etsy packages full of baby fun, awesome custom Colts t-shirts, a Battle Studies album release shirt, thank you notes (one beautifully handmade by my little sister), sweet handwritten baby cards, new books. I really love the mail.

Today we’re 9 days “overdue”. I’ve had lots of contractions but nothing steady yet. The goal is stay as relaxed as possible and not get anxious about it; accomplished so far.

It is so weird to me that girls who were “due” after me have already had their babies…most of them because they were induced. One of them was induced and ended up with an emergency C-section.

So can you guess what the #1 question I get everyday is? When am I going to be induced. Like determining a due date is a perfect science, when in fact there’s absolutely no way to know for sure. I didn’t even measure 39 weeks at my last prenatal so I was prepared to wait. The only way we’ll consider medical intervention to get the baby here is if something major happens and it is TOTALLY necessary.

Not that women who choose an induction (in other words, when it’s not totally necessary) or a planned C-section are wrong. That’s their choice and one that I am in agreement with…because it’s THEIR choice and they’ve made it, hopefully, with as much education as possible.

And I think that’s what all of this comes down to; as women, it’s up to us to support each other and to assume the best about one another. When an expecting mother talks with me about her plans I try to approach the conversation with the mindset that she is making the best decision for herself. Because I really appreciate that 99% of the women I’ve talked to about MY decision have taken that approach as well.

Feminism Lesson #476: taking advantage of the opportunities given us to lift each other up.

NaBloPoMo #12…and #13…and so on?

Last night we went to Rosie’s to celebrate Jake’s Big Birthday. I wasn’t going to go since I had a rough afternoon yesterday, but after an evening nap and some stretching I felt better and decided this would be the last time in a long time that I could just GO. Jeff had to shoot a dress rehearsal and so the choice was mine.

I got dressed and drove over to the restaurant and had a wonderful time with some of my favorite people.

Jeff arrived right as we were being kicked out and after we stood around outside for as long as possible we finally headed home. I was WIRED, so we watched our Thursday shows (we love the NBC lineup).

We had almost made it through Parks & Recreation (we always watch The Office, then 30 Rock, then the other two) when Jeff’s phone rang. It had to be 12:15 and it was one of our best theatre friends calling to vent. As Jeff answered the phone I had a nice hard pain shoot through my abdomen. It shocked me and I instantly felt like going to the bathroom. So that’s just what I did. I took a nice warm bath and climbed into bed around 1:00am…

…and about 40 minutes ago I woke up, had my “bloody show”, and now I’m having very random contractions! Jeff has said for a while now that Friday the 13th would be the day (it’s the third one this year, which is very rare and super cool in my opinion). We’ll just see…I don’t want to get ahead of myself since this could totally be false labor as this is my first pregnancy and blah blah blah…

…or I could have a baby today!

NaBloPoMo #11

Well, I woke up with morning sickness today.

We found out we were pregnant in February, the day that we returned from a whirlwind (30 hour) trip to NYC. I made french onion soup for dinner and had bought a test when I picked up some gruyère for the soup. I took the test and Jeff walked in the door right on cue…the plus sign appeared and that was that.

On March 9th we had our annual fundraiser for work and I usually get really, REALLY sick after. I’m nasty allergic to shrimp and our whole event is based around seafood.

This year, though, I didn’t get sick at all. The caterer made me a plate of deliciousness that he made sure hadn’t touched anything that would make me vomit.

We hadn’t told a soul that we were preggo, which was easy considering I wasn’t showing yet and hadn’t been ill at all. So IMAGINE MY SURPRISE when I wake up two days after the event absolutely debilitated.

I was sick almost the whole work week. I returned halfway through the day that Thursday and told my boss what was up. He helped me keep the secret a little while longer and was totally gracious about my being sick (the fact that I had like, 52 sick days built up helped).

Anyway, my morning sickness/nausea lasted from that Sunday in March (the 11th, I think) until June 1o. I just learned to endure it. June 10 through almost the end of July was a slight reprieve; I’d only get nauseous when my body temp got too high or if I got into a really stressful situation.

And then August hit and I was vomiting again. By eating protein every two hours and keeping as cool as possible I could control it.

Suddenly it’s October and the nausea is GONE. Like, no joke…just GONE. Everything had finally balanced, I guess, and until 2 am this morning had stayed away.

But now it’s back and all I can hope is that it’s a good sign we’ll get to meet Baby White SOON.

Please?

NaBloPoMo #10

Last night K announced to me that the baby is late because it is a boy. This is a huge development in her world, since she’s been on Team Pink ever since we got pregnant.

I asked what made her reach this decision and she said that he’s “still growing his penis”. Now usually K would say something like this out of humor and a desire to make us laugh; this time she was dead serious…

Hopefully laughter is a good way to start labor…