Went to get Abby's first portrait done today. Of course I was late, so we had to wait for another appointment. In the mean time, Abby got fussy and messed her diapers and we almost left and rescheduled. However, she managed to settle down and we accomplished the task at hand.

I can't wait to see the results! The poses were too cute! I just hope the pictures came out.

Ok, this is totally ripped off from emails I sent, but it is the whole story about her birth, so I'll just paste what I already wrote instead of reinventing the wheel:

We're home and pooped, but figuring it out as we go. She's now eating like a champ and even keeping some of it down. hahaha! It's disturbing, but I guess normal when they barf it up sometimes. No pictures of that fortunately. ;)

I didn't include the C-section pics on the picture page, but if you want to see the gory details, just email and I'll send you the link to those. Marti took 2 pictures over the curtain and then had to sit down. hahaha!!!

As for labor - that was AWFUL!!!! I started contractions at about 12:30 AM Thursday (Wednesday night) and went to the hospital around 7:30 PM Thursday because I thought my water broke. Well, it didn't quite break like in the movies, so I wasn't sure, but I have a "condition" (GBS) and I needed to have antibiotics if it did break, so we went in to play it safe. My contractions were still not regular or close enough to be in the hospital, but with the GBS, they took me in and hooked me up to an IV anyway.

The nurse said I wasn't really dilated much, but with some manual manipulation, she got that process started and got me from 1 to 3 in about 5 seconds. Um, OUCH!!!!!!!!!!! (But thanks for not just sending me home, too!)

About 2 AM I finally got an epidural and that basically stopped labor for all intents and purposes and then we started up again a few hours later. Still, my contractions were not regular or close enough, but I was making some progress, albeit slow progress. They gave me Pitocin to try to help, but had to keep turning it off because it looked like it was stressing the baby. It took HOURS to go from 5 cm to 6 cm!!!! My doctor was recommending a C-section but I didn't want that, so we continued with close monitoring of me and the baby.

Finally at about 3 PM on Friday, I'd reached the magic 10 cm and was allowed to push. Apparently I was pushing well according to the doctor and nurse (although I couldn't feel a THING!). However, the baby would not budge an inch. Well, not like they measure downward movement in inches, but you get the picture.

After close to an hour and a half of pushing, she still had not changed her position and her heart rate looked like it was a little elevated, although still within a safe range. It was time to give up and go into surgery. At 4:30 PM I stopped pushing and she was born via C-section at 4:49 PM!

Had I known then what I know now... hahaha!!! But, hindsight is 20/20, as they say. It was weird to feel all their work as they took her out, yet not really feel a lot of pain. I was given about every drug in the book, but still felt somewhat lucid and did feel a little pain as they tugged and pushed her out. THAT was really weird! Plus, when we got in there and the curtain went up, I looked up at the big light and could see pretty well perfectly a reflection of what they were doing!!!! Mental note to self: DON'T LOOK UP!!!!!! hahaha!!!!

I guess that's pretty much how it all happened. It's good to be home and figuring out how to be parents instead of in the hospital getting poked and prodded every 20 minutes or so. :) Don't get me wrong: we got lots of help and the care was great!!! But it was a little disorienting to not go outside for days, not sleep except for in short stretches for days on end, and to have someone come in to check me or the baby for something every few minutes or so. (OK, so it wasn't really that often, but it seemed like it!)

Like I said, it's good to be home! It was murder just trying to find time to pick up the phone to call anyone while we were there. I honestly just called my grandmother Wednesday!!!! My mom called her for me from the recovery room, but I didn't speak to her at that time. Then I forgot if I even called my dad in CA at all! He assured me that I did, but I don't recall the conversation on delivery day. (Must have been the drugs!)

Marti has been a doll taking care of me, the baby, and running home to take care of the dogs and clean up the house while I was still stuck in the hospital. I don't know how those single moms do it on their own. He just made me something to eat, so I'm going to go eat like a good little patient now. :)

Went to the pediatrician today and Abby's gaining weight back, so that's great! She got her foot stuck for the PKU test and HATED IT!

Dr. Caplan told me that if she hadn't latched on and nursed yet, we may not be able to, and if we do manage it, it will be hard since so much time had gone by already. She sent us right over to the hospital to see the lactation consultants.

I was not too optimistic, as I'd seen 2 already in the hospital and every nurse in the place did their part in trying to get that baby to latch. However, this lady had a little trick up her sleeve that worked great to get us over that hump.

Nipple shield. It's basically like a bottle nipple that hooks on and "tricks" the baby into thinking she's at the bottle instead of the breast. Eventually we wean her off the shield and she nurses like any other baby.

Or, at least that's the plan. We'll see how it goes.

For now, she's pretty much nursing like a champ and I'm happy about that.

Well, except for the part where I have to nurse THEN still pump when she's done! It's like twice the work now, but it's better than nothing. Plus we'll have all that extra milk for when Marti wants to feed her or if we're out and about.

Short version:

Abigail Rose Harris born 10/14/05 at 4:49 PM. She was 7 pounds, 8 ounces and 20 3/4 inches long.

Labor started some time after midnight on the 13th and continued until about 4 PM on the 14th for a total of close to 40 hours of labor.

After all that, she wouldn't budge down the birth canal even after close to an hour and a half of pushing. She was born by C-section Friday night and so the next chapter in our lives began...

I'll write more later. For now I'm exhausted and we're trying to get a system down at home to care for her.

The nurses at the hospital were incredible, but now we're on our own.

Marti has been phenomenal!! He's taking care of me, the baby, and had been running home to take care of the dogs and get the house ready as well. I knew he was great before, but he's outdone himself now!

First things first: DON'T CALL US TODAY!!!!

I have been cramping pretty regularly since around 12 or 1 in the morning. At 4 AM I took a shower and that felt good, but they still continued after that until they were 15 minutes apart at 8 AM.

Now that I'm sitting up, I've had one, but not on schedule like when I was laying down, so I'm not sure if this means it was false labor or if it's just the calm before the storm. I have a feeling it will be today or tonight.

Marti took the dogs for a walk so they will be set for the day if we need to leave. (They still have thier doggie door!!) He was going to leave his phone charging while they walked. I refrained from giving him the "ARE YOU FREAKIN' CRAZY" look and suggested he charge it when he gets home and keep it with him on the walk in case my water breaks.

Stay tuned...

We had a little scare earlier today just as I was getting ready to leave to go get Shelley at the airport. I got all crampy and wasn't sure if it was labor starting or not. It was bad timing because it was TIME TO GO and it made it difficult to "wait it out" knowing people would either be waiting for me or stranded without a ride. However, chances were it wasn't the real thing, so I didn't want to panic and have them call a cab right off the bat either.

It turned out to be a false alarm and I made it through the rest of the night (so far) with no further incident except I seem to be a little tired and turning inward. I am going to bed in case I need the rest tomorrow morning in case things get moving.

The burger didn't do it for me. I guess it needs to be the official Birchler Burger to count. So, I'm still sitting here waiting for the inevitable and still not knowing when it will be.

We see the doctor tomorrow, so maybe she'll have some news for us after my exam. I'm hoping tomorrow is our day, but that may be a lot to ask for.

For now, I will just keep working on the crib set I'm sewing and maybe sort through one more box of clothes today before putting them up on the shelf for later.

It's good being off work during this time. I find stuff to do here and I don't have to worry about following up with (or forgetting about) my students for a while. Marti says it's like a weekend every day now since we get to wake up together and spend the days together.

Did I mention he brought me breakfast in bed today? Well, just some toast with butter and jam, but it was just what I wanted, so I think he should get "breakfast in bed" credit. :)

I ate that without even sitting up and then just went back to sleep for a little bit longer. I'm seriously enjoying this while I still can!!!!!

Jessica and Eugene took me out for a burger tonight, as it is sort of a family tradition for her side of the family on a pregnant lady's due date. Actually, her dad makes the burgers normally, but since he's not here, they took me out instead. :)

Well, it is my due date, and my stomach is SO hard right now! I told Marti this could be the night -- or maybe the morning depending on how long it takes to get things started.

We'll see...

Well, we made it a full 40 weeks! Yeah!!! That wasn't so bad so far. (Talk to me in 2 weeks if I still don't deliver!)

She's not moving around much today -- just a couple of wiggles to let me know she's ok. Last night she was poking out all over though!!!

My Countdown to Baby timer is at 1 hour 26 minutes right now. I told Marti it would be funny if that was accurate and not just the estimate based on when I set it when I got it.

I'm feeling fine today. I was a little tired last night, but was able to get dressed and go out to dinner. Mom took us out to The Keg for a really nice meal. It's patio weather again and I really did enjoy that!

She also took my fabric I was going to make a curtain for the closet with and is taking it to have the curtain made for me. One less thing to do... THANKS A TON, MOM!!!

She also brought some more presents from Pat and Nonnie, as well as a few things from herself and a cradle I wanted from one of her neighbors. Marti didn't want any more baby furniture, but when he heard he can keep the baby in it while he watches TV, he got really happy about having it after all. :)

I've been sorting clothes to put away since there's no way it could possibly fit in the closet. I have a good solid (full) bin for each age group now all the way up to toddler, so we can see where we are now and rotate them through more efficiently. Come to think of it, that's why I came in here -- to get something out of the desk to label the bins so I know what size is in each without opening them.

Back to work!!!!! :)

Well, tomorrow is my due date and I'm still feeling pretty much the same. I'm a little more uncomfortable and strangers are telling me I look ready. I guess my turkey timer must be on my back, because I haven't seen it pop yet and they seem to know something I don't know. :)

I watched 2 women give birth on tv this morning without drugs. That is, THEY had no drugs for the delivery. Not like I need drugs to watch them. hahaha!!! But it was a little scary. Mostly funny on one of them because of the looks on her face as she progressed and realized what she was in for.

Silly woman! That's what the epidural is for!!!!!

I made it out of my last full shift at work without a baby! Now it's just time to wait it out at home. Got my hair cut last night since I probably won't be getting my hair cut any time soon after the baby is born.

I worked a few hours today to wrap it up properly and now I'm officially on maternity leave. It feels weird putting "personal leave" in my out of office message at work. It sounds more like I can't handle my job and just need some time off! But, I guess for privacy reasons, they have to insist that I don't say anything resembling medical or maternity leave unless it's one-on-one to a student in conversation.

Whatever.

:)

Last day at work today! Did I mention I'm 3 days from my due date?????? YIKES! Crazy stuff!!!!!

Only 2 more days at work!!!! Today they are having a pot-luck lunch for me. It was supposed to be a surprise, but I carpool with Tiffany, so I would have figured it out when she got in the car with food, so they told me in advance after all. :) Thanks guys!!!

I'm headed off to get ready for work now. Stay tuned...

Cute moment of the week: Marti singing a made up song of "I swallowed a basketball" at the doctor's office.

Things I won't miss when I'm not pregnant anymore:
Urgently needing to go to the bathroom for what wouldn't even fill a shot glass.
Not fitting through some tight spot and instinctively turning sideways to try to fit, only to realize that it's worse that way!
Heartburn!
Baby limbs poking me in the side.
Staggering to the bathroom in the dark in the middle of the night.

Things I will miss when I'm not pregnant anymore:
Being able to give in to the "sleep monster" and going in to work for a half day from time to time.
Being 20 lbs over my normal weight with a massive belly and having people tell me I'm "skinny!"
Showers, baths and good stuff like that. Or at least that's what I hear. hahaha!!!!

On another note, we didn't have the baby on our wedding anniversary today. Marti was a sweetheart and bought me some gifts and a card even though I told him he didn't have to do anything special.

We also went out to Morton's and split a brontosaurus steak for dinner tonight. It was special and splitting it was just right since I can't eat a full meal right now without waking up with the urge to puke anymore.

And any day with Creme Brule is a good day! What did I ever do without Creme Brule????

Went to the doctor again today. No news is good news. If I deliver over the weekend, there's a likelihood that I will see a different doctor in the delivery room, which was news to me. Bummer. I will have to go early or wait for the weekend to end so I get my doctor.

I did have a little back pain last night. It was pretty quick and just once, but it was definitely like they described in class. It felt like something was pulling on my tailbone. Here we go!!!! That's a sign something is working down there!

It still could be a couple weeks away in all reality, but that's still a good sign that we're on our way!

I put in my notice at work that I will be taking my leave of absence as of the end of this week. I started crying this morning because I was just so tired. I think it's time to stop worrying about it and just stay home.

I counted out the weeks I'm allowed off and that lands me right after the new year, so that works for me.

I had another rough night last night and scared the b-jeebers out of Marti in the process.

I finally got my appetite back, so needless to say, I kind of ate a lot for dinner and dessert. However, when I went to bed, the baby must have given my stomach a kick and shoved some up my throat, making it feel like I was throwing up.

I jumped out of bed making a "MMMMMPPPHHH MMMMMMMPPPPPHHHH MMMMMPPPPHHHH" noise and just trying to make it to the bathroom in the dark and not step on the dogs.

Of course, this woke Marti from a deep sleep (as it did the rest of us!) and he thought I was going into labor.

I don't think it happens that quickly where I'll wake up in the middle of the night making weird noises, but it was still funny.

I tried sleeping in the glider (like I did last time this happened) but this time, the upright angle put too much pressure on my bladder and I couldn't sleep because it felt like I had to pee the whole time.

So, I went back to bed and gave it another try.

No dice.

One hour later, I was MMMPPPHHing again and running to the bathroom. I never did throw up, but it was disturbing all the same. So, I went down to the recliner downstairs and slept there until about 4am when I knew it would be safe to go back to bed horizontally.

I'm having a half a rice cake for dinner tonight. (Just kidding!!!)

Saturday agenda:
1.) Cut melon and make melon ball salad for Marti. After Mom and Beryl brought over the salad for Jessica's shower, Marti determined that he loves melon balls.

2.) Clean out nursery. All the wonderful gifts (and MANY gift bags) are piled up in every corner still.

3.) Work on and maybe finish a crib bumper for Diane to put in the crib at her house.

4.) Continue wondering if today will be the day...