weekly gratitudes

a started post, finally published.... hoping to actually stick to this:)

so while waiting for one of my many routine checkups while pregnant, i read in O magazine how oprah for years has kept a journal of gratitudes.  well, the sap that i'm turning into liked the idea, so i'm starting my own.

i'd like to start retrospectively, starting with the day i went into the hospital to have nora.  three - five gratitudes each day, published at the end of the week.  you may not want to read them!  but i'm blogging them to keep them in time with other life happenings.

sunday 11.25.2012
1. my husband for his support in getting me to the hospital and trying his best to ease my pain, including overpriced tomato soup.
2. my puppy for her all consuming concern for me, her curling up next to me was some needed love.
3. a hospital very near home that once i got to, gave me a great sense of relief!
4. a team of nurses who genuinely cared.
5. the blessed epidural that allowed me to get the best sleep i'd had in weeks... while in labor!

monday 11.26.2012
1. for a calm and restful morning, which allowed me the mental strength to have my baby!
2. the crazy delivery nurse who told such tall stories, i couldn't help but be distracted from my fear. and my doctor who happened to be at the hospital that day for delivery!
3. m for being a very good labor coach and the epidural for continuing to make it all possible!
4. my big, healthy, wonderful baby girl arriving safely and the first time i was able to hold her and acknowledge it was her the whole time in there.
5. my first night as a mom, holding my baby.

tuesday 11.27.2012
1. having no other place to be but with my newborn in the hospital.
2. taking photos of my little one and dressing her in real clothes.
3. the first day as a family.

wednesday 11.28.2012
1. my baby being healthy, with a few medical scares, coming out great.
2. getting to take her home!  the greeting from our puppy and getting settled.
3. sitting next to the christmas tree, where i had been a few days ago wondering when i wouldn't be pregnant!

thursday 11.29.2012
1. first full day at home, all of us here and cozy.
2. rebellion check at the pediatrician office and an awesome doctor.
3. first family walk!

friday 11.30.2012
1. a body that is mending, slowly, but having done so much, quite fast too.
2. starting to get a routine together.
3. napping after a sleepless night with nora.

nora jane's birth story

nora jane soma arrived november 26, 2012

at 9 pounds even, 22 inches long.

now that my baby is approaching her three week birthday (yes, every day is a milestone at this point!), i thought i'd write out her birth story before the details leave me.

nora, or "nora the ninja" as we fondly referred to her as during those last weeks of pregnancy, was a little late to show up to the party.  when she didn't arrive on thanksgiving, her due date, i was bummed... hormonal really;)

i was convinced that if i was late, which i never imagined i'd be, that the birth would be rough.  i was scared.  and all you can do is wait and having never had a baby before, i had no idea how i'd know labor was beginning.

well, you definitely know when you're in labor!  really didn't need to worry about that...
the night after her due date, friday, i started to feel weird.  just after spending an hour googling "acupuncture to induce labor"... go figure!  i had contractions for three hours and when i called my doctor, they of course stopped.  super weird.  i got m all excited only to feel super silly.

i went to bed confused.  no baby!
next day was a lot like the first, i had contractions sporadically, but at this point i was convinced my body was just taunting me.  that night i had a hard time sleeping though and by morning, i started making unusual pain induced noises and was assured this was labor.

so i go in at noon on sunday, get there all, "check me in!  oh first thing to know is i want an epidural!"  and they're all, "hold on, let me ask you about your medical history, slow like.  what's your birthday?  yada yada yada."  they monitor me and then crush my world by letting me know my contractions weren't "active" and that i'd not be able to talk through the real ones.  in my mind they were real, two minutes a part, but apparently they were "weak."  you have got to be kidding me.

so we went home, i cried in bed for hours and scared my poor puppy's memory forever.  needless to say, everything started to get more "active."  my water broke, which was awesome, because i knew they couldn't turn me away once i got to the hospital this time;)

we had been deciding between two hospitals, but there was no real choice to make once i actually felt the pain of it all.  southdale!  five minute drive, i'll take it!  (next time i'm camping out in their lobby for the last few weeks!)

so we're checked in, i let them know my birthday and such again, barely talking through the contractions.  we get moved up to the delivery unit and i get pain meds!  woohoo!  then an epidural!  what?!?!  bliss is most certainly the feeling you get while watching the monitor crest with a massive contraction and you don't feel it at all.

we slept a full night and the next morning was calm and exciting.
nora day!

i will spare you the nitty gritty of labor.  some interesting points were:
- our delivery nurse referred to herself as "grandma judy" and discussed how she ate rodents for thanksgiving (raccoons, domestic vs. wild rabbits, snapping turtles, squirrel).  she is from georgia and gets creative with her food apparently.
- our nurse would leave for 5-10 minutes at a time while i was pushing, leaving m to hold the fetal heart monitor and to watch the screen for contractions.  kind of thought we'd have a bit more back up!  he did a good job though.
- i actually had an appt to see my doctor the day i delivered.  when she walked in that morning it was ironic and funny.  i got super lucky she was at my hospital that day.
- i pushed for 75 minutes and i have to say, it was my favorite part of labor... the beginning being my least.  going in i wouldn't have guessed that'd be the case!

nothing can prepare you for the euphoria of seeing your baby, realizing it was her all along in there.  i can cry with a drop of a coin just thinking about the pure happiness of it.

when nora jane came, all jaws dropped at just how big she was!  my doctor had estimate her a pound and a half less.  weighing in at 9 pounds, twenty two inches long, we were all wondering if this baby was in fact related to me!  especially with the curly mat of hair she had!  her face was most definitely m's however, so that gave some comfort;)

they handed her to me and it was all over.
so relieved, it was just the greatest moment.

healthy (except for a heart murmur scare... she doesn't have one, whew! oh and some jaundice) and happy, we're just incredibly blessed.
i'm in love.

notes on pregnancy: 40 wks!

{40 week bump!}

thanksgiving day is my official due date, but i'm rounding;)

still no baby.  getting a little impatient.

but everything's good so far, so i can handle the waiting.

in the mean time, i'm taking many naps.  it's nice.

oh and i do want to say, when i in fact have said baby, i hope to get back on track with posting more about home projects, ahem domesticity, than just life updates.  let's be honest, i live kind of a, if not boring, calm life, which is probably not too interesting to read about weekly!

this dream i'm working on.

what a lovely sentiment, "this dream i'm working on."

have you ever thought of a dream as something you actively pursue?

today, i'm over the 39 week pregnant mark, and so much of my time i'm now daydreaming of the future, of my dream day, week, year, life.  i haven't specified what my five and ten year goals are, but if i close my eyes, i can visualize them.

i see my family, our home, travels and my career ambitions.

i see us laughing and working hard to live to the fullest.

for most of our young lives we work toward many milestones, from sports, grades, college and grad school acceptance, to getting a job, owning a home, marrying, starting a family.  these milestones can be easily quantified on a checklist, but how do they make us feel?  should not our dreams that we are working on make us happy first and accomplished second?

from what i gather, much of adulthood could easily be claimed by guilt.

instead of chasing towards our dreams, we try to stay afloat and feel badly for what we aren't doing.

visualizing a five year dream is difficult when you can't feel satisfaction from today or this week.  it's especially difficult when you're more concerned with what others think you should be than who you know you are.

anyway, maybe this is all idealistic, but shouldn't we try to catch our dreams?

what's the harm?

i got the idea for this post from here

you can call him doctor

{m & his advisor}

until this week, i've never known m as a non-student.

i am so very happy & proud to write that he defended his thesis, passed with praise & after five-and-a-half years of hard work, is a doctor... the PhD kind;)

he's walking around excited about all the "free time" he'll have, now that he's not coming home from work, only to work more.  i'm excited about it too!

(i'm trying not to burst his bubble by mentioning the whole impending newborn thing!)

anyway, i'm relieved for him and know that he's already scheming some new way to advance his statistical skills, the guy can't go five minutes without learning something new.  i try to lead by example by watching real housewives or surfing facebook, but no no, he's dedicated and is already throwing out words like "publishing" and "book" and such.  he's so very smart and i wonder daily how i got so lucky and how he puts up with my subpar math smarts.

job well done, m!

notes on pregnancy: 38 weeks

{38+ week bump}

so, i don't know exactly why i'm posting this unflattering photo.

i don't know what is worse, my look or that it's taken in the bathroom.

sometimes smartphones allow you to make not so smart choices;)

but frankly, when you're body keeps expanding, you can't help but wonder, "how big am i... really?"

a photograph, good or bad, answers this question!

anyway, everytime i think i'm done growing, i wake up the next day bigger.

wow.

but, i'm pretty close to the end!

a baby is the result.

weird!