Thank You

We are very blessed to have such a supportive community.  Friends, and even just friendly acquaintances have done extraordinary things for us to help us through this challenging and joyous occasion.  People have made us food, glorious, fantastic, food.  A week before Esme was born, I broke our car's side mirror.  The auto body shop on our street repaired it for free as a baby gift.  Heck, Alaska Airlines even bumped Derek's air miles for free so we can buy plane tickets at a discount.  People have stepped up to help us watch Penelope during labor and delivery.  I know doctors are suppose to be attentive to their patients, but wow, my doctor was my co conspirator and midwife.  She definitely went the extra mile for me, or it just felt that way.  People are so nice and generous!  Thank you!

Happy Father's Day

Happy father's day Derek.
 

Schools Out For Summer

Today was Penelope's last day of preschool.  She'll have to wait till September to meet new friends.  Her classmates this year will be moving up to the 4-5 age group next year.  She doesn't know it yet, but she might not be able to see her friends ever again.  On the bright side, Penelope will have the same awesome teacher Miss Kellee.

Perhaps I'm sad that Penelope is growing up.  Perhaps I'm sad that schools out when I could really use the time to rest with Esme.  Perhaps I see how excited Penelope is at preschool, and that excitement is on hold. Or my estrogen levels are dropping and I'm just feeling blue.

Welcome Esme

June 2nd 2012, Esme J Guist was born 8 pounds 9 ounces.

 

 

Labor Story

Friday morning, I scheduled a swipe with my doctor.  I wanted to guarantee Esme would be out on the weekend of her due date.  Also this made it convenient for Penelope to be cared for by our wonderful friend and neighbor, Lisa.  Although I was swiped, and my plug came out, and I was 3 cm dilated my doctor recommended I not take a walk to try to induce labor because the childbirth center currently had 7 women in labor; a full house.  The plan was to meet again with my doctor, Leslie Miller, in the morning on Saturday if nothing happened.  So on Saturday morning we met and she did another swipe and I was still 3 cm dilated.  She saw that I was thinning and there was indication I was in early labor.  Oh, I was group b strep positive, so there was another issue of getting me to the hospital early enough for antibiotics to be in my system for four hours before delivery or else Esme would be required to stay in the hospital for 48 hours.  We did not want this.  We did not want to be apart from Penelope for that long.  So, the plan was to take a long walk and head to the hospital around 11am, which we did. I was monitored and sent back home.  I was still 3 cm, my contractions were long, 2-3 mins, but they weren't strong enough.  But, it was not a wasted visit.  My doc gave me an antibiotic that lasted 8 hours, so even if I got sent home, I would have a large window to finally be in active labor.  A woman we passed in the hallway said to us, "they'll send you home, but as soon as you get home you'll start going into (active) labor".  We went home and I started to feel the contractions.  We timed them to make sure, it was 411 (contractions four minutes apart, 1 minute long, for an hour).  We were at the hospital by 5 pm.  I was 5 cm dilated and feeling the contractions.  On a pain scale of 1-10, I was feeling 7.  After being monitored for a while and checked by my doctor, I was still 5cm.  She explained that the baby's head is what would drive further dilation, but my amniotic sac was still intact.  She wanted to give me an opportunity for my water to naturally break, so to wait it out a bit more, I went into the jacuzzi.  Jacuzzis are awesome!  It made my pain feel like a 5!  I was in there for a while but decided I would get out at 9pm and wait for my water to break.  When I got out, my contractions started to feel like 8.  At 10pm I was done waiting.  Dr. Miller arrived only to find me still 5 cm dilated.  By 10:30 pm she broke my water for me.  Ready?  Contractions were crazy hard 9, 9, 9, 10, 10 and super long.  Um, this was not like Penelope's labor (she was born 5 pounds 10 ounces).  I was at a point that I wanted to push, screw the pain management, breathing exercises, ugh!  Doc checked me again and I'm fully dilated.  Derek said I might have only pushed for 3 or 4 contractions and Esme was out at 11:06pm.  Wow, that was painful!  Alas, Esme was in my arms and all was right again.