She's Here!!!!

Avery Elizabeth arrived at 10:08pm on Monday, January 19. She's 6lbs, 3 oz, and 20.5 inches long. Both of us are doing well. Our crazy birth story will follow at some point....the highlights: no epidural and the fastest vaginal birth my Dr. had ever been part of.

Get Out Your Stopwatch and Keep it Out

It's been a frustrating 17 hours....I woke up at 1am last night with labor contractions and have been having several an hour since. And yes, it's now about 6:30pm. As per all the advice books, I tried to "sleep" through them. Ha! Though I was able to rest some, I definitely didn't sleep since both my uterus and back felt like they were in a vice grip. How does one snooze through that? I tossed and turned, read a little, and finally gave up around 6:30am.

Since the contractions weren't coming regularly or lasting for more than 30 seconds, I waited it out until my Dr. apptmt. at 10am. The nurse put me on the fetal monitor for about 30 minutes and confirmed that I was in early labor, contracting anywhere from 6-10 minutes apart. Unfortunately for me, though I was 80% effaced, I was only 1cm dilated. For those of you that don't know, you don't get to have drugs until you are 4cm dilated, and you don't start pushing until 10cm. So I had a long way to go as of this morning. And, as of right now, still have a long way to go.

I haven't stopped contracting since the pains started. I tried cleaning and staying on my feet to get things going, but all that did was bring on shorter, more frequent pains. So, I've been trying to rest for the past few hours. And for the last few hours, the contractions have settled in at about 10 minutes apart and just under a minute long. We'll make the trek to the hospital when I have contractions lasting 1 minute that are 5 minutes apart for an hour....or when my water breaks.

So, the Dr. said it could be tonight. It could be tomorrow. It could be a week. As long as the contractions continue, I'm optimistic that things will happen sooner or later. For now, I'm doing my best to relax and cope with the pain and discomfort. So much for an easy, quick birth! Please cross your fingers for me that these contractions pick up and we get to go to the hospital soon! PLEASE!

They Just Don’t Make Booths Like They Used To

Today, I indulged a pizza craving and went to lunch at Vinny’s Pizzeria with a co-worker. Like on usual trips to Vinny’s, the hostess showed us to what resembled a spacious booth. However, upon attempting to slide into the booth, I realized it was not as spacious as it appeared. At 39 weeks pregnant, I was unable to fit without pushing the table several inches towards my lunching companion. Yikes. That makes a girl feel really good about going halfsies on a pie.

Luckily, I did not need the Jaws of Life to pry my pregnant body from the evil booth after enjoying my pizza pie. Lesson learned. I’ll request a table if there’s a next time.

I Can See My Breath…In My House

Panda’s welcome mat was temporarily rolled up for about 12 hours when Greg and I got home from work last night and discovered we had no heat. Well, actually I didn’t realize it at first. I’ve finally been running hot and was cooking dinner, so didn’t even notice it was only 55 degrees in the house. Greg walked in the door and immediately noticed the frigid temperature. Leave it to the guy from Wisconsin!

After realizing there was nothing he could do to get the beastly furnace going, Baylee, Maggey, Chase, Greg and I piled into our bed with the one space heater we own programmed to high. It actually didn’t get unbearably cold in the bedroom last night, but did get down to 49 degrees in the rest of the house. Yikes! I have actually never been so glad to get in the car and drive to the office…

Luckily, today was a work-from-home day for Baby Daddy, so Green Heating and Air came to the rescue early this morning to replace a faulty igniter. Later in the day, Baby Daddy emailed that he was basking in 68 degree heat, as he was treating himself to an extra 4 degrees since we/I typically keep the heat on 64. I say go for it!

As for Panda, I wanted her to stay in the warmth of my womb until we had the heat situation resolved, so she was temporarily unwelcome to make her debut, especially since the low gets down to 13 this weekend. The welcome mat is officially back out, so we’ll see if she takes her cue in the next few days as we're now 8 days from her due date!

The Waiting Game

The waiting game is on. I’ll be 39 weeks Thursday, and I’ve showed absolutely no signs of imminent labor. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. I saw the Dr. this morning and everything, from my blood pressure to Panda’s heart beat, checked out normally. She basically said, see you next Monday! I guess Panda is just being a typical girl and taking her time making her big debut!

Since I was so paranoid about having her early, I’ve done just about everything I can do to have things ready for her arrival, and did most of those things over a month ago. All her clothes and linens are washed and folded; the car seat has been set up since 1/1. I’ve read baby books, sterilized bottles, bought diapers, pads of all sizes, toilet paper, and breast pads (thanks, Katie!). Now I’m into freezing meals. The great thing about cooking is that for some reason, it really gets the Braxton Hicks going. While that doesn’t indicate that true labor is imminent, it does help to thin the cervix, which is certainly a step in the right direction. I think Panda is already a foodie like her mom!

If you think making ahead and freezing sounds like a good idea, you may be wondering what, other than soups and stews, freezes well? Well, lots of things! I’ve made calzones, enchiladas, mac and cheese casserole, meatloaf muffins, tamale pie, and more. The Bayer family certainly won’t be relying on Baby Daddy's cooking (no offense!) or take out menus for at least the first month after Panda is born.

Here are a two of favorite make-ahead recipes to get you started!

Macaroni and Cheese Casserole
-I divide this into two 8x8 dishes, bake one for dinner and freeze the other.
http://food.realsimple.com/realsimple/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1123185

Tamale Pie
-Same as above, I divide this into two 8x8 dishes, bake one for dinner and freeze the other. Leave the cornbread topping off the one you freeze, and just make and pour that over the thawed casserole before you bake it. Yum!
http://projects.eveningedge.com/recipes/tamale-pie/

Enjoy!

I Want An Eggplant Baby!

Well, we’re 38 weeks along now, and though I’m not getting absolutely desperate to deliver at this point, I am drafting my list of activities to try in order to induce labor. I heard several years ago about an Atlanta restaurant that basically guaranteed you’d go into labor after eating their eggplant parmesan. I did some google research, and found that the Italian restaurant, Scalini’s, is just down the road in Marietta. To date, more than 300 of the pregnant customers who ordered the eggplant have given birth within 48 hours to "eggplant babies." If it doesn't work in two days, the moms-to-be get a gift certificate for another meal. Now this I’m willing to try. I’ve got 1/19 penciled in on the calendar for a dinner date….now I really want an eggplant baby!

More on the legend here, as well as a link to the eggplant baby wall of fame:
http://www.scalinis.com/Bambino.htm

Pregnancy Brain Strikes Again

So, this morning, I received the following email from Baby Daddy, “So, I threw some jeans in the laundry this morning. Did you accidentally buy a small jug of Publix laundry detergent thinking it was softener????? I noticed it was open ... did you use it thinking it was softener?”

Whoops. At least our clothes are really, really clean.