Quick with pics

Fast update attempt. I really should be working on school work that needs to be done tomorrow, but...this this seems more important. :-P

So for the last two to three weeks, Amelia has decided that she's not going to sleep longer than an hour and a half at once during the night. Around 2 or 3am, she decides she's not going to fall back to sleep at all in her little co-sleeper bassinet, so I just bring her in to bed with me and she sleeps in my arms. I'm sure I'm making lots of bad habits, but right now I prefer making bad habits and letting myself get some sleep.  I'm considering saying screw it to putting her to sleep on her back, because she seems to sleep much better on her stomach (has only happened during naps with me sitting beside her, so far). However, having her sleep in my arms in bed with all those blankets in the vicinityseems much more dangerous. So if I'm already endangering my daughter's life, why not do it slightly less dangerously? She's got a good, strong neck, can roll over, and a strong urge to survive.

We went to the pediatrician, and she weighed ten pounds, four ounces. She's generally awesome.  Aw...my attempt to write this has failed. The kraken has awoken! Guess the stomach's not that great for sleeping....

Ernesto knows how to parent.

At Wildlife Prairie State Park. Amelia appreciated all the animals she "saw." It was actually pretty cool; all the animals were native to Illinois (though we were on a little farm example, here), so there were bison, elk, cougars, wolves, etc. And there was a lovely little butterfly garden.

Her favorite position. She'll sleep like that for hours.

Starved Rock State Park. Amelia was actually alert to cry at the beautiful views.

Amelia climbing. She wasn't very amused, but at least Ernesto was.

At the art fair down by Peoria's riverfront.

2 Months, 2 Days

Cesar joined us for a week, and we had a very brief afternoon in Chicago on our way to take Miladys to the airport.

There's a small lake in our neighborhood (called Lake of the Woods). We gave Amelia her first taste of the water. As you can see, she loved it.

Still at the lake, thus the shirtlessness. I thought they looked pretty similar in this picture.

You're clean, but are you smell test clean?

Silly.

Anne Marie and Connor came out for a visit!! We had so much fun, and Amelia charmed us all. And then their car broke down for the second time that trip. :(

Ernesto and I went for a walk on a rail trail. What a handsome, baby-wearing man. It's hard to go anywhere very far, because Amelia screams in the car. She doesn't fall asleep, either, her crying seems to keep her awake. So going for a walk on this nearby trail was a compromise to going to a state park an hour and a half away.

Mostly pictures. 5 Weeks!

Well, I already spilled my most interesting news this week when you guys lovingly drunk-dialed me, which is that Ernesto and I sold my Honda Civic.  It's surprising to me how easy it is to sell a car. At least Sam and Jennie will be hearing it for the first time. Now I have the much more fun task of picking out and finding a new (used) car.  As I told someone to tell everyone, I'm actually thinking of the Honda Fit.  Supposed to drive well, have versatile cargo space, good mpg, and it meets my most important requirement of having four doors.  Plus, I don't know why, but I've wanted a hatchback for quite a while.

Miladys is holding Amelia while I write this. I might not be doing many updates after she leaves. :-P

And now, lots of pictures.

What do you do when you can't get your daughter to stop crying? Just hang out with her.

She loves "standing" up/

Her first reaction to my face disappearing behind the camera.

A hint of her cute smiles.

A pretty representative picture of what she looks like when awake and not crying.

A Month Already

Ernesto and I are masters of diaper rash. Once it showed up on Amelia, we re-worked our diapering routine.  I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say that if this girl gets diaper rash again, it will be because god personally decided to smite her.

She's a month old!  That's crazy.  That means that we're two weeks away from being within a pacifier-permissible age, two weeks away from my milk supply being well established enough to pump, and two weeks away from my postnatal appointment with the OB/GYN.  Pretty much, 6 weeks is the best number of weeks ever.

The only new development with Amelia is that she has a period of three hours or so that she cries inconsolably every evening. It starts almost precisely at 5, and ends around 8.  She cries inconsolably at other times, too, but not with this regularity of timing. It sucks.

Did I ever mention that the day we got back from the hospital, I also got my admissions letter to the counseling program at Bradley (a small university here in town)?  Plus a little bit of financial assistance. Classes start at the end of the month.  They're in the evenings, so Ernesto will watch Amelia while I'm gone. Thus my interest in beginning to pump. I'm excited to be on the path towards a career that I'm qualified for.

I don't have many new photos, but here she is in the capable hands of her abuelita.

Three Weeks Old

We've made it to three weeks without killing Amelia.  Given my track record with plants, I deserve a gold star.  Or maybe Ernesto does.  

Amelia is a natural at tummy time. Her very first time, she not only tolerated it but enjoyed it for ten minutes. She's normally a free range baby, just sitting around in a diaper (who needs clothes?), but we also give her some naked butt time every once in a while. 

Watching Amelia watch the world is like looking at someone tripping on acid.  Her eyes get so buggy and freaked-out looking.  She just can't believe what she's seeing.  "What are these shadows??!"

My least favorite thing to hear someone say to me when Amelia is crying is, "What happened?" What do you mean what happened?  We were sitting here, and then she started crying.  That's what happened.

We went to a Natural Family Planning picnic, which was entertaining because there were many more children than adults.

Natural Family Planning picnic

This Sunday, Ernesto, Miladys, and I enjoyed a lovely Sunday afternoon at a local winery. I have no taste in wine, so I can neither be horrified nor appreciate what they're serving. I suspect that rather than missing out, my lack of taste is an advantage. Ernesto and I visited this winery last summer, when we were engaged.  The location is really nice.  They serve lunch for a few hours, so you can sit outside eating, and then wander around among the vineyard afterwards. It was amusing to me to return the next year, not only married but with a little daughter.

Amelia's got the chest nap down.  Ernesto uses little feet anchors.

 

Visitors

Anne Marie and Grandma Callahan came for a visit, which was awesome.  They arrived the Tuesday before last and stayed until Saturday.  We were very much a posse of ladies out and about on the town.  We went for walks, got our hair cut, and got pedicures together.  Grandma was a hoot at the nail salon, and also a big hit with all the staff, who called her 'Grandma' and wanted her advice on how to live a long and healthy life. 

Peeps!  I have my webcam back on my computer, and have allowed Skype to start itself again, so I am probably pretty available for calling.  My only caution is that I breastfeed around the house, so if there's no one in camera view when I

answer, I'm probably hiding just out of sight. 

In the cute dress that Auntie Anne Marie brought

Also, Amelia had her first submersed bath, which was such a big hit that she fell asleep in the water.  She loves everything about it except getting out, which is when she starts screaming at the top of her tiny lungs.

Chilling in her nice, warm bath

Walking along Grandview Ave, overlooking the Illinois River

Out on the town!

First bath with Dad.  This is going to be a good daddy-daughter task.

After Anne Marie and Grandma left, Miladys arrived that evening.  She's a little bit like Anne Niblock, in that she's always busy cooking or cleaning, and doesn't know how to sit down and do nothing.  Thus, our house at the moment is cleaner than when we first moved in.

With her very loving Abuelita.

Very tired, and with a cold that I'll probably give to Amelia.

Too Many Pictures of Amelia's First Week

Amelia was sort of bundled up in all those hospital photos.  She is, however, more of a free range baby.  She just chills out in her diaper.

Tried swaddling last night, and she woke up half as many times for feedings.  No more than three hours went by at the longest (don't worry, not starving her!), but as a result, I am very well rested and she was very hungry all morning.

Not looking forward to when she stops sleeping so much.

Good news: I had been worried I wasn't going to be very interested in Amelia, but it turns out that when your body manufactures a tiny person and pushes that tiny person out, you don't really have a choice.  I'm so relieved!

I also think that she is amazing.  Even though she's only six and a half pounds, she has so much muscle tone that she can hold her head up and support her own body weight on her legs when held up.  Her umbilical cord stump fell off on only her third day (glad I don't have to tip-toe around that).  She's peed and pooed like a champ, helping me to not worry about how breastfeeding is going.  And although Ernesto thinks she cries a lot, she's really relatively chill, so far.

I just spoke to Anne Marie on the phone, and she informed me that I don't need to worry about you guys feeling overwhelmed by too many pictures.  I tried to pick a selection that were not all her lying around with the same expression on her face.

Funny Face

Funny Face

Tongue

                       

Those Huggies diapers she's wearing suck.

Chilling after work

                      
Anne Marie and Grandma Callahan are arriving in about...one hour or so.  So next week will be even more interesting! =-O

Labor!

Warning: I'm pretty graphic, if you care.  Also, you can see my boob in one of these photos.  Sorry, brothers.

Early Labor

Ernesto makes me frozen padsicles for postpartum
 while I'm in early labor. What a guy! I intended
 to do this myself, but was a bit overpowered
 by the contractions.

As I said before, it started with irregular contractions at 2am.  I tried not to pay attention and get some sleep, but that was largely unsuccessful.  I started timing them around 6am, and they were 5 minutes apart lasting 40 seconds.  When I stood up, their frequency increased to about every three minutes, lasting from 40 seconds to a minute.  I kind of doubted that it was really labor, though, and considered not asking Ernesto to stay home.  It's not like the contractions weren't hurting, they were.  It's just after so much time waiting for this to happen, even when the evidence is staring you in the face it's hard to believe.  Around noon, Ernesto started getting antsy and wanted to go to the hospital.  Meanwhile, my goal was to labor at home for as long as possible, and our doula hadn't even come yet, since she was having a hard time finding a babysitter.  She arrived finally at about 2pm with her shadow doula, and confirmed that I was still only in early labor.

Total early labor time: 14 hours

Active Labor

After making me do lunges up and down stairs, I finally moved in to active labor around 4pm.  I got this fantastic inflatable pool to use to labor in.  I love water, so it made sense to me I might really benefit from the pool.  So we get it filled with water when it starts leaking.  I got in anyways, while everyone else was trying to find the leak.  I only spent two contractions in there before I hopped out.  I was shaking and trembling uncontrollably, which made my doula worry about me being in transition.  A hot shower, however, did help.  Around 6:30, I said I didn't think I could take it anymore, and I would like to go to the hospital (and possibly ask for an epidural).

Total active labor: 3 hoursish?

The disappointing labor pool.

Before getting in.  This is one of the few pictures of us with my belly!
  This robe reminds me of what The Dude might wear.
Also, by a miracle, I didn't have any stretch marks!!  Thank you, good genes.

Transition...? and Delivery

Who knows when transition actually occurred.  We left the house at 7.  My water broke in the back of my car (thank you, doula, for putting an absorbent chuck beneath me), and we arrived at the hospital at 7:30.

As they were wheeling me up to labor and delivery, I started feeling the urge to push.  So imagine my surprise when they check me and tell me I'm only 5cm!  I was sooooo sad, and immediately asked for an epidural.  If I was only halfway, I didn't think I could take it.  They told me that sometimes people at 5cm want to push, but that I would tear my cervix.  So I felt terrible when I couldn't stop pushing.  With the epidural I had asked for, the fetal monitors on my belly, and the IV line to fluids I was hooked up to, I saw everything I had hoped for about this birth slipping away.  I wouldn't have minded an epidural, but I had really wanted to try without it.  But I'm worried I'm further hurting my labor because I still can't stop pushing.

My unbeLIEVable doulas, Malory and Krystal.
I don't know how anyone goes natural without a doula.

Anyways.  I've been in the hospital itself for about 5 minutes.  The nurse is lackadaisically charting my intake while I'm on all fours still pushing (trying not to!).  Obviously, I'm very inexperienced with the sensations of labor and giving birth, but I swear I felt the baby moving down, but thought I must be wrong, since I was only 5cm 5 minutes ago.  Finally, during a contraction, I put my hand down to check myself, and felt the baby's head RIGHT THERE.  I told my doula, I think I can feel the baby with my hand.  She, awesomely, asked me if I wanted to ask the nurse to check me again.  I said yes, the nurse checked me, and flew out of the room to call my OB (he lived five minutes away, luckily), since the baby could already be felt.  People quickly flooded in (I didn't know that surgical techs attended births). Needless to say, I didn't get the epidural, nor did I want one at that point.  It looked like my OB wasn't going to make it, especially when he apparently couldn't swipe in to the after-hours door, but he made it up with about 10 minutes to spare.  I honestly didn't care at all at this point, though it was nice to see him.  He let me push at my own pace, in whatever position I wanted (which ended up being on my side with my legs supported), and just sat at the end of the bed letting things unfold.

I didn't push voluntarily at all.  I vomited the baby out my butt.  It just came.  Twenty to thirty minutes after arriving at the hospital, Amelia finished sliding out. (Five centimeters my ass!)  All the sensations involved in this are so crazy that I feel like they'll be burned into my memory forever.  I never want to have a baby again, but that was amazing.

Just being in the hospital was weird, too.  Food=awesome.  But being so wired from birth that I couldn't sleep combined with super frequent vitals sucks.  Also, other than tearing, no one ever talks about what your whole crotch feels like afterwards (I had a minor tear on the inside of my vagina. Dr. Ma said it was practically first degree, but he stitched it anyways just to be on the safe side, he said).  Everyone says, oh, natural birth is so wonderful, I was able to get up and go to the kitchen and have dinner with my family.  What?!  A bloody dinner that you can barely waddle to, yes.  Oh, also, I have identified the smells of childbirth, and they are blood and witch hazel.

My whole team.  Elated it's over (and just beginning)

Coming up next: How we've been doing at home, what Amelia's like.