Hello, Hudson!

He's here!!! I'll post the birth story later, once I've slept more than 2 hours (this child loooooves his boobies and accepts no substitutes, snoozes included) but I'm quite pleased to introduce you to Hudson Mark:

 

Oh, wait, that was my first view of him. Yeah, long story to come, but in the meantime, clearly this was not the planned VBAC. But know what? I'm pretty OK with how it all went down. I regret the promised easier recovery had we managed a vaginal delivery, but everyone made it out alive and somewhat sane (a state I'd seriously doubted when I was in the middle of 3 minute contractions every minute...) and it's a familiar state, this post-surgery one, so it's not scary like before.

 

HEEEERE'S Hudson! I'll try not to gush too much, but oh.my.word this little guy is beyond adorable. Seriously, cutest thing you've ever seen. He has dark blond red hair (totally red in the sunlight; yay!), his dad's nose and eyes (but blue, like mine) and my lack of a chin. Yet he looks exactly like Henri did at this age. We could just use the same baby pictures. Actually, since we don't have all that many, maybe I will...

 

Here's Henri meeting Hudson. She'd spent the day (and night) with a wonderful friend I will never be able to repay and was thrilled to visit me at the hospital. She was politely interested in Hud, seems not to mind me holding him all the time, and is very eager to help in ways we'd discussed prior to his birth (paci-inserter, diaper gatherer and disposer, singer). She liked the idea of holding him, even when he was crying, but he takes up more than her lap so it's a little difficult to manage right now.

 

Haha, she seems amused by his yelling.

 

Grandma Schoeffler was able to make the very long drive down to see him and hang with me for a bit (very appreciated!!!) We wish she could have stayed longer but hope to head to NY the end of Sept for a proper visit and bonding time

 

Home. He actually napped the whole ride (15 minutes) and it was glorious to have the quiet.

 

 

 

So, the stats: Born August 14th, 2013.

                     Weight: 8# 15oz (why yes, that is 1oz less than 9#. He's chunky)

                     Length: 21"

Short labor story: BIG question as to whether or not my membranes had ruptured, and if they had it was definitely for meconium and it'd been a few days. High infection risk. Was told to call with contractions every 8 minutes. At 1145pm on Tuesday I woke up with contractions. They were 8 minutes apart. I showered, walked, bounced on the ball. Within an hour they'd gone from 8 to 5 to 2 minutes apart lasting 1.5 minutes. I called the midwife, we headed to the hospital, I was begging for death....and I was only 2cm. But they kept me and I popped into the tub. And then demanded an epidural about 15 later. I had no break in the contractions (my uterus never relaxed) and the contractions were lasting 3 minutes each, and, well....guess I have no pain tolerance. At all. But midwife checked and I'd gone from 2 to 5cm in less than an hour. HUGE victory. I'm thrilled with that. My body can labor! Not well, but it did it. And I got the epidural and then 11 hours happened (I'll do the whole story later) and we went for a c-section. He had a little trouble at first and needed some resuscitation but perked right up and is fine. And I was fine. And Steve was fine. In fact, I think we were both really relaxed this time around. I was impressed with what Steve had the presence of mind to ask and do, and he was very hands on as soon as he was allowed next to the crib. And then they brought this little turtle over to me and I've been gushing every since. He is so cute! Not a great personality yet, all he does is cry and nurse, but I saw a smile last night and he's going to be a charmer.

Anyway, we're home and enjoying our first night as a family of 4. Henri stayed busy entertaining Bo and playing with his balloons, we ate a delicious meal prepared by the wonderful Jessica, and just now our considerate neighbors set off fireworks to celebrate Hudson's safe arrival. Hopefully he'll sleep a bit tonight (I'm not exaggerating....he takes 15 minute naps and then is back to nursing nonstop all day and night) and then we start normal life up tomorrow trying to adjust.

We're thrilled he's here and can't imagine life without him. Well, I can imagine sleep, but that's just part of the newborn phase, right? Right? Please tell me it's just a phase.....More photos and gushing soon!

Thrift trip brag

H and I dropped by my favorite thrift store in the world this morning, and as always it delivered:

A Melissa and Doug wooden barn in just about perfect condition (few chips in the paint and needed a wipe down, very quick fix). Retails for $60, I got it for $4. Woot!

All the stalls on the inside have their own doors that swing open. I was planning on just giving it to H today, but Mom recommended Christmas which I think is brilliant. If I need a distraction one day I can always pull it out, but this will be a great gift for the kids to share

Someone has a kid a size above Henri because this is the second time I've picked up shoes for her. Stride Rite brand in never-worn condition, in her size, for $2.50? Yes, thank you!

And of course some clothes. New shirt and sun dress for H, adorable summer overalls (Ralph Lauren, naturally) for Bo.

I was very circumspect in my spending this time, and rather hampered by having H with me. It's a tiny store, but the quality and quantity of items they fit in the there is astonishing. Also, love the regular staffers (is it bad when they know you by name, as well as most details about your life?) and I don't think I've ever walked out empty-handed. Just had to be annoying and share. It's always a rush when you feel like you've saved a ton of money :)

Short update

Not too thrilling, but here's what's on my phone at the moment:

Dustin in VT! Hard to tell, but the cousins matched that day

See? Same blue and brown :)

The rearranged living room. Feels so much more spacious!



Our outdoor space is coming along nicely. The bench is super comfy, and I love the whimsy of a candelabra for the evenings

Picked up a tunnel for 50cents at a yard sale on Sunday for H. She thinks it's hysterical, especially when we roll the ball through it or Dad tries to climb in

Finger painting with this cool paper we got from a dear friend; the paint only shows up on this type of paper and it smells like play dough. Pretty fun (clean) stuff.

Still need to finish up some papers so I'm looking to do anything else but. My appointment with my midwife was reservedly optimistic; no labor signs yet (I'd assume I'd know if I was, haha) and while I feel very welcome there I'm getting a strong sense there's a lot of anxiety about me delivering at the hospital and coordinating the care surrounding my meds, as well as Bo's expected large size. No one's pushing a C-section, but I know there will be a very large and collective sigh of relief once this child is out.
We got to go to Steve's softball game last night and there's supposed to be another today. With the cooler weather it was a nice way to spend the evening, and it's a great way to tire H out. And in totally unrelated news, I really like our fish, Clive. He has a great personality and very distinct swimming patterns depending on what he wants. We moved him over by the window near our new trunk seat and today while reading H a book he was very interested. So I ended up (on H's insistence) having to show Clive each picture of the book we were reading. It's nice to have a sweet, non-verbal member of the family :)

Ta-da!!!!!

Clinic hours have been completed. Phew, I never thought I'd actually write that. I have caught the required number of babies, seen all my menopausal clients and touched way more bellies than I can count. All that's left now until I can call myself a nurse-midwife? Well, quite a bit actually. But I made a list this morning and it's do-able and knowing that this baby could theoretically arrive as early as Friday (not that he's going to, of course, but I'm term and still think my dates are a bit off) is a great motivator to just do it. Along with my school list I made a "get done before Bo comes" list, a grocery list, a menu, and a list of everything that needs to be done around the house for a gathering we're hosting on Saturday (Pintrest has been getting a workout!). Not that lists accomplish anything, but I always feel massively productive when I make them.
In other news, it's miserably hot. I mean, it is everywhere, but it's really hot here. And humid. And it's not letting up. So after years of swearing I'd never do it, and then a few days of me being really really horrid to everyone around me, we got window AC units. And I haven't left the house unless absolutely necessary. But I've slept!
In celebration of completing clinic hours, and because my brother and his family were in town, H and I spent the last week in VT. We didn't really do anything except revel in the fabulous weather, get in lots of outside time, swim, eat lots of great meals, and soak in our fill of the most adorable baby in the world, Dustin. Of course I think my daughter is gorgeous because she is mine, but I realize that Dusty is by far the most beautiful baby ever. He's got the greatest smile and such a fun personality. H did great with him, was really gentle, made sure he had age appropriate toys to play with, and showed concern when he cried (which was very rare). Somehow they ended up coordinating their outfits almost every day which was so cute, but they were not the most cooperative of models, so photos are pretty slim. Bummed we had to leave as soon as we did but I have plans of moving back for most of September so that incentive is keeping me sane.
As far as the pregnancy goes, well, it's getting there. Mood-wise I was pretty happy with how mellow I was feeling and then in the past two weeks that's disappeared. Why must people ask and state the stupidest things?!?! Don't get huffy with me when you guess the wrong gender or start arguing about why you're right (what does it even mean "you look like it's a girl???), I'm aware I'm large so you can stop pointing out my obviously whale-like proportions, and why you feel the need to keep pointing out that heat must be adding to the misery of pregnancy I'll never know. Also, don't need your recommendations for starting labor (thanks, random guy in the grocery store) or a delay in my iced coffee order while you enumerate all the labor lengths of your extended family members. But other than being really irritated with the state of my house right now and wanting to do a complete overhaul (which includes banning anyone from stepping foot in it so it stays clean and organized), I think I'm being fairly rational. Steve and David probably have a different take on it.

OK, started this on Monday. Friday now and I am TERM! Woohoo, come on baby! Well, actually, wait until 8pm on Saturday as we have that party and I'd rather not waste all our prep effort. Last night the nesting instinct kicked in big time, and thanks to David shouldering all the heavy lifting my living room has been rearranged, our bedroom set to rights for Bo, all the newborn baby clothes are washed, and packing lists created. I didn't bother packing a hospital bag with Henri as I figured we'd have plenty of time (and we did, in abundance) but now that I have H I feel this pressure to make sure she's totally taken care of. So there's a 5 page instruction manual typed and printed, a packing list in the instructions plus a back up list.....this baby had better be normal and come in the middle of the night and make it easier on everyone.
I met with the MD on Tuesday to sign consent for a VBAC and she was very encouraging about it (quote: "you are planning a VBAC, right? Because we tell everyone they're the safest option"). I've said it before, but it's soooooooooooo good to be back where you're treated like you're not broken and can birth a child. Anyway, she switched me over to Heparin (ugh, 4 shots a day with tons more medication in each than the Lovenox) and did say she'd like me to schedule a C-section once I hit 41 weeks just to reserve a spot. No problem. I saw my midwife on Wednesday and asked to schedule one for today. She refused (meanie!) but is a bit concerned about my BP (it was ridiculously high on the first reading) and said Bo is already 8#'s (she's always super accurate on size, I've only seen her be wrong once and that baby shocked everyone by how big she was). She'll try to strip my membranes on Monday and I've been doing all the natural cervical ripening stuff for the past week. I know this child will not come till he's ready, but I'M ready. I never understood women who wanted to have their baby early, but I so get it now. Anyway, I've been having some intermittent contractions that remind me how crummy labor is so hopefully this show is getting on the road.
That's about all that's happening around these parts. Doing our best to stay cool and keep H entertained inside. Hope the next post is a picture of the bambino (and a decision on his name.....). :)

A snapshot of the week

 

I have written multiple posts here but it's being weird about uploading pictures from my camera, and since a post without pictures is quite dull, I've not published any. I've tried in the past few weeks to pull out my phone, so here's what we've been up to (in reverse order):

 

 

Children's Museum this morning. H actually was having a great time in the construction zone room, and I was completely overwhelmed with the sheer volume of bodies and noise. No plans to return, but we had a nice lunch down at Quincy Market and it was a fun family outing.

My "flower garden". As the woodchuck made his presence well known last year by chowing down everything I'd planted, I opted for the easy and lazy version of gardens this year and chucked a bag of wildflower mix in the space. It's a bit overgrown, but I love seeing what's bloomed that morning and think it's rather English Cottage

Still crying about this. H's last day of daycare was on Friday. For all the agonizing that went in to placing her in care, it's been 10x worse pulling her out. She loves it, they love her, I'm worried about her lack of socialization and stimulation once she's home all day with just me, she learned so much I worry she'll fall behind because I won't think to teach her something, she talks about her friends all the time and is very dedicated to her schedule.....I just feel awful about it. Long way of saying I sobbed the minute I dropped her off and continued for the rest of the day. Hope it's just end stage pregnancy hormones and that she'll really be fine.

The Green Room, her home for the past 9 months

The wonderful Cindy, H's main teacher. She's been a great support through a period of extreme change in our lives, and obviously I trust her with the most precious thing in our life. Wish there was some way of taking her home with us....

Determined not to be a slacker mother, I took H strawberry picking this week. I anticipated a very short grumpy stay with tons of prep work and no pleasure (lets be honest, that's how most adventures with kids go, right?) and was shocked with how much fun we had. It was a cool and overcast day, H got the concept right away, there were no bugs, strawberries are the perfect crop for kids to pick (no thorns, easy to identify ripe, easy to reach) and she had such a good time. We filled a flat with almost 12 pounds of berries in 45 minutes, and that's not counting the number of berries H ate (and did she ever eat!). She helped quite a bit with the actual picking, though once I got home I realized her version of packing them included smooshing them down in to make sure they fit, and there was a large number with a single bite missing (quality control?) so our usable amount was a bit smaller, but all in all a fabulous adventure.

We've been slowly making the living room into a decorated space. Lots of Ikea trips (because I keep forgetting stuff) and plans for a few more things, it finally feels like something other than a porch where old furniture got dumped.

Watching Dad's softball game. It was pretty toasty so she got to run around naked. She loves these games, always cheers for the wrong side, and it's a great way to burn energy off for her.

My living room rug! A bit obsessed with zebra print at the moment for some reason, so the room's being made over in that print and reds. We'll see :)

So excited about this find. I've always loved the road rug idea but the only ones I've seen have been so "boy" and industrial This one is perfect for H's room. For one thing, the blue is the exact shade of her walls, and for another, it's a really fun design with all kinds of scenarios on it. Fits the space perfectly, easy to clean and cheap....I've been having a blast playing on it

My first and only frivolous purchase for Bo (and no, poor kid is still without a name). A cream colored formal outfit for
church just screams for a blowout accident, but it's so soft and so cute...he got a new outfit.

I still have a few more clinic visits to complete, a few SOAP notes to write and a HUGE budget summary to complete (start......) before I can take my practice exam, comps and boards. Realistically I won't have boards done by the time Bo comes, but I hope to have the rest out of the way, though I just realized I'll be considered term in just 3 weeks. Eeks. Also, I changed my midwife back to the one I had with Henri and am feeling so much better about delivering at Cambridge. No guarantee about anything, but their VBAC rate is an amazing 90%, and it helps that I know every single person (literally) that I will see while staying there. They're excited to have me, and I'm feeling hopeful. The midwife I had been seeing was wonderful when I told her and gave me her personal cell # and email address and asked to be informed the minute I went into labor. I joked that I'd call her to be my doula and she was dead serious and said she's love to come. We'll see what happens, but it's great to know I have all these wonderful women willing to come help make my dream a reality. As far as the pregnancy itself, it still really sucks. I'm in way more pain than I ever had with H, he keeps flip flopping positions, I'm still crying about everything and I've measured 3 weeks ahead for the past 4 visits (either really big baby, weird shaped uterus or tons of fluid. none ideal options. I'd love for it to mean he's coming early, but highly doubt that). We'll see what my midwife says Tuesday, it might mean an extra u/s :( H has gotten to feel him move and was pretty excited by that. She's starting to observe babies more closely and was a big help in nursery on Wednesday night with the twins, so there's hope she'll adjust.

Anyway, lots of plans for family and renovations and re-doing my bedroom to get ready for Bo...and of course classwork. Hope you all have a great start to July!

One month gone

I've been very neglectful of this space but don't worry, you're not missing anything! Just life continuing at a rapid pace, a very tight deadline for a few big papers and then some breathing room before the big push to final exams and licensure, and, oh, a baby. Yeah, not that I think he'll be early (despite a lot of finger crossing) but technically he could be here in as little as 6 weeks. Name suggestions would be welcomed!
David has moved in for the summer and H is loving having another person to boss around/chatter at/comment on their every movement. Not much gets past her at this point and she's combining that with a killer memory to keep me on my toes. I tend to tune her out as the constant talking can be very overwhelming, but when I do listen she's coming up with some pretty funny stuff. A favorite activity is to "have a conversation", a tradition I started when she was a newborn, and one that she organizes for us now. It's a 2 minute check in of where we are in our day and what the next plans are, as well as a chance for her to tell me the pressing issues of toddler-hood. Generally it revolves around things like airplanes, what's for dinner, and what various relatives might be up to at that given moment.
We've moved on to bigger girl books and it impresses me that she'll sit for as long as she will while I read. Frog and Toad is a huge deal right now; I have a collection of 4 of the books in one and she'll have me read the whole thing a few times a day. Predictably, the Button Story is her current favorite. She also thinks Blueberries for Sal is the funniest story ever, and I have ambitious hopes of taking her to Blueberry Hill in VT. Realistically I'll let her pick out which tub she wants from the grocery store and we'll make cobbler or something....Anyway, a few photos from the past few weeks (I've been terrible about getting out the camera. It's so much more fun to just enjoy the moment as H refuses to look or makes an awful face when I pull it out):

31 weeks. This kid is low and waaaaay out there. Just looked at the scale and I'm up 20 pounds :( No idea how that happened except perhaps for the ice cream, cookies, cake, iced tea, chocolate bars, tootsie rolls.....I did pass my glucose test, though!

A typical play scenario. I assume we're having a picnic here, a favored activity

As labeled, brought home from school. It did great in our window but withered and died within a day of transplanting.

Ogunquit day trip a few weeks back. Pretty much the easiest way to entertain Henri, ever

Easy way to entertain me, too :)

Steve, before the tide forced us to retreat to the river side of the beach

What most of my pictures of her look like at this point

These were after I halved the recipe. Yum!

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A favorite tree at the park



Our new couch! Nothing too crazy, but it's comfy and currently tear-free

If we remember to get it out once in a while there should be plenty of photos next week as we have the ambition to join some good friends in Nantucket later this week. Very very excited, many fingers crossed that I'll be able to finish my papers by then and that the weather will hold :)

Happy (belated) Birthday, Henri!

She is two, and the two's have hit. Can't believe how much fun she is, and that I'm actually starting to feel sappy about the early years. We had a prolonged celebration of her time with us, and while I think she's still expecting a single tangible item to appear as "her birthday" she seemed to enjoy it all, and will now tell you she's two.

Easter Morning

Sitting in service with us

Church egg hunt; she had a great time with it this year, got the concept and was happy with just the eggs

Family portrait attempt

Gloating over her loot

The annual "attempt to walk off Easter lunch" walk

She comes home from school with adorable hair-do's

Visit to VT; filling her pockets with pebbles from the walk

3 generations, 3 people looking at the camera.

Sticks! VT has all kinds of fascinating play things

My folks came down for the weekend; checking out birds with Papa

Present time! H still has trouble getting in to them (I appreciate that she doesn't just rip them open) but knows there are good things inside packages and gets very excited

Still young enough to be more than thrilled by just the box (she was pretty excited about the new romper inside, too. "so cute!")

Gram made her favorite; apple pie!!!!

Trip to the park

Throwing rocks into the pond at the access ramp. She was very brave when all the geese came up to her to investigate. Those guys scare me a lot!

Picnic time! This made a big impression as she still talks about eating outdoors. Also, she got a loaf of bread from Allie which made her little life. She's a bread fiend and is convinced Allie is the only one who knows how to make it.

She also got new cooking dishes. Aunt Allie knows the way to a little chef's heart!

Birthday morning snuggles

A water table from Gram and Papa. HUGE hit, she plays with it incessantly inside and out. Uses a lot less water than a pool, much easier to keep clean, and come this winter I can put rice in it for a sensory table. She's loving just splashing in it, swimming her people in it, and adding flowers to the top tub to make soup.

A mushroom baby

It's getting to be time for a haircut

We spend a lot of time in the table

She took this plastic carrot and put it in a mitten and pretended it was an ice-cream cone. Little imaginations are hilarious.

No doubting these two are related

At least she has my eyes and my intolerance to hunger to let me know she's mine as well....

Getting to be such a big kid

Like most of the NE, we've had two gorgeous weeks. So, lots of water table time!

Her favorite stick. She knows exactly where it is when she heads outside, it goes with her everywhere. Growing up we all had our own staffs, so I'm happy to see her picking up on this on her own.

Checking out a bump on it

She'd just poured water on herself and was not happy about it

 

And a flash back to my first sighting of Henri on 4/29/2011

She had the cutest face I'd ever seen

Last year at Easter.

 

All-in-all I'd say she has a great time. She received tons of great gifts (books, clothes, dishes, play food), saw her favorite people both in person and on Skype, and ate all the treats she loves (Mr. Sushi for her birthday supper). I'm looking forward to what this next year brings us with her, and I'm sure this time next year I'll be lamenting how big she's gotten and how cute she used to be :)