Our First Week!

Our first week with little Penelope has flown by! Each day, or night rather, is getting easier so I hope to update the blog more regularly soon. I'm writing out her birth story before I forget the details...I'm sure this is going to get long:
Penelope Jane
9/16/08 11:15
8 lbs 4 oz
21 inches

About 4 am on Monday I started timing contractions because I wasn't sleeping through them. I decided to work from home just in case this was the real deal. About noon they were spacing out so I thought this was the dreaded false labor. I took Cece for a walk hoping that a few good squirrel chases would start things up again. It seemed to work because they came back with a vengence. At 4 I asked Chris to come home. Thank goodness I was able to focus on work most of the day because staring at the clock waiting for the next one would have made me crazy. By 8 pm contractions were strong and 3 to 4 minutes apart so we decided to head to the hospital. When we turned on the car the radio was playing "The Circle of Life" from The Lion King. I can't even remember the last time I heard that song on the radio. We laughed so hard it got me through multiple contractions on the way to the hospital. Thankfully I was far enough along to be admitted. Baby had finally dropped some, but still had a long ways to go. Chris and I walked the hospital hallways for a while and peeked in at the babies in the nursery. As many of you know I really wanted to go drug free. Well, by 11:00 all I wanted to do was lie down and of course that was the most uncomfortable position. Chris had all the pep talk lines I had given him to help me out. When I was at 5 cm I asked for the epidural. Chris said "But Laura, remember this is your marathon!" I said "I know, but 5 cm is halfway there and I'm okay doing a half marathon. That's a big accomplishment, right?" He laughed and said that it was completly up to me. By the time I got the epi about 45 mins later I had made it to 7 cm. We thought everything was going to fly by...well, I stayed exactly the same for 12 hours. We did try to increase my contractions with pitocin but it didn't do the trick. The worst part was 3 times we had all the nurses running in because Penelope's heart rate was decelerating. At this point I was so far off my "birth wishes" that when my doctor said she'd rather do a c-section now instead of waiting till an emergency required it I agreed right away. The c-section went pretty well. Penelope was really stuck so it took a little longer than usual to get her out. When they brought her over to me her face was scrunched up tight but Chris and I started talking to her and she relaxed to show us her beautiful eyes.

Recovery in the hospital went really well. The 2nd night home was pretty rough, but we are getting used to the pattern. Penelope is still getting over jaundice so she is somewhat sleepy, but we've had a few alert hours each day. We already see an amazing personality and of course have a plethora of nicknames for her depending on her mood. Next blog--meeting the Virginia grandparents (she already finds them pretty loony)

Penelope Jane--quick update

Thank you to everyone for all of the posts! Penelope and I are now at home. The hospital was wonderful. All of the nurses were amazing at helping us, but now Daddy has taken over and he is doing an outstanding job.

I can't get over how beautiful our little girl is...and that she's a girl! All you "boy" guessers had me convinced Don Juan was going to be Harrison Alan(now all the name secrets are out :)

As I know all of you want pictures immediately (and I can't blame you because she is darn goregeous...that's just her mommy's opinion). Our hospital has a photographer onsite so we had a photo shoot at day 2. http://www.firstdayphotogalleries.com/slideshows/091808apenelope/

I hope to get around to some more details about our first days together, but we are working on the feeding concept right now. We've mastered the crying to an expert level; however, the attitude towards food seems to be either "No, I don't want to even think of food" to "OH MY GOSH! I'm so hungry! Why are you starving me?!" But each day gets better and I'm sure Penelope will be updating with me often. Today she did fool Daddy into changing her diaper right when she needed to pee. That was great fun! Daddy will have his hands full with his girls. Here's one pic of them watching cartoons together this afternoon. Penelope seems to think the same way I do about those "boy cartoons"

She Has Arrived

First Introductions to Mommy!

Fresh from the oven!
Who is that masked Daddy?
Hello new world!
Proud PAPA!!
Plenty more pics to come once Mommy, Daddy and I get some sleep and some food.

Love you guys!!

40 weeks--Hello and goodbye due date

We are trying to be as patient as possible with this little one. S/he is obviously quite comfortable. My dr.'s appointment went well. If I make it to Wednesday I have another appt and at that point we'll schedule an induction for the week of the 21st. (that seems so far away!) I read that scientists have figured out that babies start labor so many books say to talk to your baby about how we can't wait to meet him/her. We've let Don Juan know all about the beautiful nursery and full bookcase of books and toys, the great weather we've been having, and of course, what it would be like to stretch out his/her legs without running into ribs. I will admit that I did have a desparate moment where I threatened that s/he would be grounded 1 year for every day late, but I was told that threats probably aren't the way to start my parenting...Then I started promising things "If you come this week you'll get that Wii just like your cousin Molly" Bribing probably isn't the best parenting tool either...I need to go to the library and pick up some books since I'll be finished with the pregnancy ones very soon. Me and Chris enjoying a steak dinner for my birthday. Maybe I should stop sending such yummy food down. Tomorrow I'll stick to brussell sprouts, waldorf salad and anchovies. What do you think of that, baby?
My full term picture.

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

Hi everyone!! As most of you know I work for a wonderful organization, Children's Cancer Research Fund. Please visit www.completethecure.com For the month of September we have corporate partners that are helping us raise awareness and education regarding children's cancer. All you have to do is watch short videos and hopefully forward on to friends. For every video watched $ is donated to help fund very important research. (Chris and I will be donating Don Juan's umbilical cord blood at birth. Thanks to all of the research in the past 10 years partially mismatched cord blood has been proven just as successful as bone marrow for blood cancers and various genetic diseases. Great information on this both at childrenscancer.org and marrow.org)

38-39 weeks

Okay--first a small request...our hospital is very strict on cell phone use due to it interrupting the security system in the nursery. We got a few phone cards but chris plans on sending out a mass email as soon as he can since there are computers in the lobby. If you'd like to be included in the email please send your preferred address to babystrand@gmail.com. We will try to update the blog with pictures ASAP but it may take a few days depending on what happens.
So as you can tell I'm still here...despite all those stories everyone has of so and so that they know who went early I'm trying to be pateint. PSA--the majority of first time moms go past their due date. Personally, I'm thinking the full moon on 9/15...we'll see.
We did have a very nice week. On Thursday Chris and I celebrated our fourth anniversary. He sent beautiful roses to my office. We are still having pep talks with Don Juan about dropping down. I know that there really aren't proven natural techniques, but I'm still trying a few. I sit on an exercise ball at work, walk in the morning, do yoga nightly and today even tried our neighborhood swing.



Cece likes to jump in the tree in the front yard. The squirrels scurry much faster now that she had jumped in after them a few times.

Me at 38 weeks (Amy--See molly and I do have the same shirt!)