Maternity Leave

A quick word about maternity leave, from my perspective. After working full-time for nearly 10 years it's an adjustment to be off work for 8 weeks, now down to 2. It goes without saying that learning to be a mom to my new beautiful daughter is a lifestyle I love and cherish. This time together will be remembered always and set us up for a wonderful connection. But I must admit that being on leave has been an adjustment. Granted I spend all day in my house anyway but usually it's within the walls of my home office. Change of scenery it really is not. Change of tempo, absolutely. I'm used to taking time off for some sort of travel around or out of Alaska. Rarely is leave taken and I remain at home. And if I'm home I am productive.

Here's that word "productive." In my pre-Miss A mind I planned to take care of her, recuperate myself and get some projects done around the house. I figured I'd even reorganize my recipes with any extra time I'd come upon! HA!

Usually the measure of a day is made based on how much I could accomplish, cross of my list. Between work tasks and needs around the house, or planned activities, I could look back on the day and see how I was productive. Being a mom to a newborn is not the same. I don't have the familiar sense of what I "did" during a day. I know it's obvious but it's something to feel to know. I will not quantify the diapers changed or how many feedings over how much time. At first it seemed odd that simple things are not easily accomplished even though I'm home all day, like writing cards, updating the baby book and making dinner.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm learning to "be present." My friend Jesse wrote about this a lot when he served in Africa. I am there for my daughter, we veg out when she sleeps on me, and we stare at each other. Taking a shower or a trip to the grocery store becomes a major activity (I realize that will change). It's good to readjust my tempo and slow it down. I am getting to know and soak in my newborn's perfection. We are partners in the day. I'm calibrating for a new purpose in my life with many more tempo changes to come, which I know will pick up greatly!

I've thought a lot this past year about preparing and adjusting, but mentally considering maternity leave was not on "the list." It has been quite interesting and quite lovely. Now, to think about going back to work (in my own home) with my own baby. Thankfully we have Grandmas visiting all February to help with that transition.

So here's what I'm doing, or checking off the list, during maternity leave: love love and love.

(the recipes will wait)
*Amy

One Month Old

Miss A is one month old. Of course time just flies by and yet her arrival last month seems part of a far-away holiday land, long ago.

"Paws" the polar bear was made just for A by Uncle Kyle and Auntie Steph. I think her monthly photo shoot tells some sort of story (not sure what kind) about A's new relationship with Paws. I'm interested to see how the two of them evolve over this first year.

The days, on maternity leave for me, are sliding by. We might just be discovering some sort of routine. It's amazing to me that we've already had to retire some newborn clothes! Recently she's become soooo happy in the mornings. Every smile, reflex or the real deal, is amazing to witness. While missing some major smiles, this video glimpses at the happy morning girl (if you can stomach the talking mother).

She is quite strong and one of my favorite baby-isms is the Moro reflex. That's when she throws out her arms in a full reach. It's like she says, "what gives?" Or she's ready to catch a football. The outreach happens for just a moment, usually during a diaper change, and is hard to capture. Here's a partial "moro":

 Typical sighting of mom and baby

 Tummy Time!

She has great strength, and sense of hanging on!

Miss A loves her black & white books right now, finally felt sunshine during the dark Sitka winter and her hair continues to grow. It's been an amazing, challenging and life-changing month.

*Amy

The Greatest Gift

Miss A

Our daughter was born a week before Christmas on December 17th. We are in love with her and have thoroughly enjoyed these first 10 days with this beautiful, new life!

At nearly a week over due we decided with the doctor to induce labor on the 16th. It was a 19-hour day in the hospital, with about 13.5 hours of pain-med free go-get-em labor (while restricted to an oxygen mask and machines given bebe's propensity to move her heart away from the fetal monitor), I did not progress much in dilation (and not at all in the last 4 intense hours of contractions), so the call was made at 1am to move ahead with a cesarean section. A team was called in and assembled. My amazing doctor and her surgeon husband ran the operation which went as smoothly as could be. She was tilted in such a way that would not allow her to lower and engage for delivery. Plus, my pelvis was a bit small for her. Her being overdue and the failure to progress proved she would not arrive traditionally no matter what.

I don't know if the doctor wanted to make me feel better by saying so but she did state that in all her 22 years of OB work I was the toughest laboring women she encountered. As the surgery wrapped up Harry Belafonte's music played in the OR and we all sang along. I think I was delirious from the last 20 hours and for bebe to finally arrive! Andy was amazing and we never cursed--it was just a focused day of hard work as a team. And here's where that got us:

We love her hair. We love her alertness. We laugh when she poops on us. We love her sleeping on us. We adore her big hands. We marvel at her sounds and arm stretches. We strive to soothe her when needed. We feel all is right and we have our family.

I wasn't hit over the head with overwhelming feelings and emotions. Rather, this start to Motherhood has been like waves washing over me with its amazing meaning and love.

I'm sure we'll read more soon about our beginnings with Miss A from Daddy, but for now I need to sneak in a shower while I can and before she needs to feed.

*Amy

ps--it's amazing how quickly we have begun using the third person when addressing ourselves as Daddy and Mommy. No hesitation to embrace those titles!

Yup, the Waiting Game

I thought we'd be done with pregnancy posts, but why not share an update as we wait for bebe girl to decide when she wants to make her debut?

Her due date on Saturday the10th obviously came and went. Actually, it was a warm and fantastically beautiful day so we took to Totem Park in Sitka for some brisk walking (by Amy's standards). She's dropped a lot.

This location is where Andy and I took a walk in January and discussed being open to starting a family. Seemed fitting to return to the area on the very day we've focused on for most of this year.

Maternity leave started today and we spent a good while this morning at the hospital for an ultrasound, Non-Stress Test and bio-screening. Everything shows that bebe is still doing well inside and all is functioning as it still should. From the quick look at her face she seems to be sprouting some major lips! I think they'll take after Andy. We had very visible confirmation that she is still a she. And we were given the very loose estimate of weight at 8 lbs. 1 oz, plus or minus 19 ounces!!! What a margin of error!

I am 2 cm dilated, thinning and effacing without contractions kicking in. Let's get kicking, I say! The plan is to repeat this morning's routine again on Wednesday if nothing transpires.

As we just wait and wonder, we pick away at house cleaning and walking. The baby/guest room is nearly finished (but again, she'll stay upstairs with us for her early months).

The dresser can only fit in the closet. It is FULL!

Andy says it's a lot of toe-tapping and kinda stinks not having control, but we'll take her when she's good and ready. Thanks for your thoughts and inquiries!

*Amy

Gorneration @ 39 weeks

Final belly blog photos at 39 weeks (chubby face included)!

Bebe is moving around as I type. 9pm is her party hour. Like clockwork she gets ants in her pants, or amniotic fluid. Maybe she likes that hour because that's when Andy and I have been indulging in an episode of "Friday Night Lights" over Netflix. The football games in the show might serve as inspiration for an internal PE class.

Andy's been great with working on our to-do list. And in the midst of our list he managed to shoot another buck after Thanksgiving and get it processed this week in our garage. I hope bebe has been enjoying her salmon, halibut and fresh venison diet thanks to her daddy. We also bottled his homebrew beer which I expect to be one of my first adult beverages when the time is right.

Pretty much our plethora of snow has been washed away by warmth and rain. We could have any sort of weather (snow, rain, sleet, sun) what ever day she decides to arrive.

*Amy

A $2 Bet

At the start of our pregnant journey I said something about my belly button eventually turning into an "outie." Andy said it wouldn't happen to me. "Yeah right!" So the $2 bet was on. The bet stands until delivery day, but at nearly 39 weeks of pregnancy it's still hard to say what happened... I think Andy will technically win because it's not a full outie. Which is incredible to me given how big and far my belly has stuck out this entire time. He seems to know or guess really well on the 50/50 stuff, like gender. So we'll see how his guess holds in one week (the 7th) which is when he thinks bebe will decide to come....a little earlier than her due date.

Other bets I would have lost if we gambled more? Stretch marks. So far I don't have a one, which again, amazes me given that my belly has tracked bigger than average at all appointments. I'll give kudos and thanks to Burt's Bees Mama Bee's Belly Balm and Palmer stretch lotion. Also, I've never been "sick" with morning sickness, never had weird cravings, and according to Andy no mood swings. Overall it's been a lovely pregnancy.

I never expected to have such intense heartburn though. One day I drank heartburn soothing tea, chomped on some Tums AND took a max. strength Zantac (recommended by Doc.), only to have heartburn STILL afflict me that day! I get carpal tunnel pains on my right wrist/hand, and a wrist stabilizer worn while sleeping has really helped. Edema of my feet is ridiculous no matter how much water I suck down. The wedding rings were replaced in Sept. by my Claddagh ring from Ireland, but now my hands wear no jewelry. I can't wait to deflate to a smaller size and hopefully get back to some old shoes at some point!

Of course I'll miss the parts of pregnancy most women do....the baby movements, connecting to new life, letting your belly hang out, indulging in foods you wouldn't normally allow, and I'll really miss Andy's regular contact to my stomach, the kisses and little talks to the belly (of course I can't wait to see him with little girl in person). But at some point we can cuddle on the couch together again!

Andy says he'll miss rubbing belly but he won't miss restless nights of sleep (oh yeah, those have been no picnic). He'll miss watching me grow and says it's been interesting. He agrees that the pregnancy has been good overall. We both won't miss cardboard boxes. What kind of side effect is that? Well, when we've ordered or received packages for all we need to supply for bebe, it generates a lot of boxes from the mail. Thank goodness for the recycling center!

The baby/guest room is a disaster. Or, an organized mess which I understand. We've been waiting on a changing table and crib for awhile and they finally came on the barge this week! We don't need a crib right now as that will be downstairs in her room, but for awhile we'll have her upstairs with us in a co-sleeper. But it's hard to put together a room when major pieces of furniture are missing. So that will be a big task for us this weekend, our last without child probably. As you can see, I just have stuff hanging out and waiting to be dealt with, like bedding and a mattress!

One thing I'd recommend to all mamas-to-be is to check with insurance coverage for prenatal massages and chiropractic adjustments. What an amazing difference it makes for comfort! But almost more importantly, these weekly appointments give me something to look forward, some anticipation for relief from general aches and pains. The mental benefits for looking forward to and then enjoying those appointments added so much to this journey and I rarely thought, "when will this ever end?" Self-care is big time important.
But it is time to move on and bring little girl into the world. Just let me get a haircut and see "Breaking Dawn" in the theater before that very soon day arrives! And I better find $2 to give my husband.

*Amy

Full Term

Hurray! 37 weeks and feeling good about this marking of time. We reached full term during a very snowy Sitka day. We are no means new to snow but given that all last winter we never laid eyes on a shovel and never scraped off our cars, this week of luscious, wet snow brings back familiar wintry tasks and feelings.

Watching Andy shovel (since I can't!), wearing warm gear and taking in the breath-taking snowy scenery makes this winter so far a really great one.  Love it today as the rain will come again and wash it all away.

This past week we had our third and final ultrasound with bebe--just to confirm her position, which IS head-down. What developments in seeing a defined spine, close-up of her mouth practicing breathing by gulping amniotic fluid in and out. Just as we were starting to see her eyes, she flung her hand over her head blocking the view. The technician said it was very dramatic and Andy quipped, "she must get that from her mother." I don't know what he's talking about!  Once again, the photos we took home are no where near as neat as what we saw in real time.

We started the parental-to-be tradition of childbirth classes and have to say so far they're pretty fun! Our instructor is an OB nurse here but a certified midwife in her native Australia. Pretty great lady. And we have 2 doulas-in training attending. Among five other pregnancies in class we've got the closest due date. 

I've been feeling slight movements by my pelvis. Our doc., instructor and the doulas noticed bebe's  slight descent south. The beginning of the end (of pregnancy)! Andy's getting antsy.

*Amy