Oatmeal

No-Bake Cookies, originally uploaded by Brown Eyed Baker.

I have read that eating oatmeal is supposed to help increase your breast milk supply. I wonder if this is what they had in mind? I guess it's doubtful. However, it seemed like the perfect excuse to make my favorite childhood cookie tonight.

Nobody mentioned exactly how you are to consume the oatmeal.

My New Life

And I must say, I do love it. I was totally expecting to be overwhelmed and wishing these early days away. I was overwhelmed with the twins' early days and the constant 'round the clock feedings. This time? I guess I'm armed with the most helpful tool I could have... experience. I know that the middle of the night feedings will come to an end. I know that the 'round the clock care will come to an end. I know that the evening fussiness will come to an end. I know that the unpredictability of everyday will come to an end.

Other things I know? I know that this tiny, beautiful, little baby girl is just days shy of being a month old. I know that this first month has flown by already. I know that she's almost two pounds heavier and at least an inch taller than the day she was born. I know that she's already growing out of her newborn diapers and clothes and some of her 0-3 month clothes. I know that her legs are growing chunky and cheeks plumper. I know that she's already giving more sleep at night. I know that the breastfeeding woes that I experienced in the early days have passed.

The single most important thing I know? Piper is my last baby. This will all be over in a blink of an eye. So, no matter how tired I am or frazzled I can become, I'm trying to savor every sweet moment of it. These tiny baby feet are growing with each passing day and I know it won't be long before I look back at this photo and wonder where the time has gone.

Piper Johanna

Piper Johanna arrived on August 15th at 2:40 in the morning. August 15th was my due date so she was actually quite punctual!

My water broke (partially) around 11:15 pm in the evening and we made it to the hospital just shortly after midnight. I was having constant contractions every two minutes so I thought things might happen quickly, although I had no idea just how quickly.

When we arrived at the hospital, the nurse did a strip test to confirm if, in fact, my water had broken. Unfortunately, that came back as inconclusive (which it did when my water broke with the twins as well so I guess my pH must be out of whack or something). So, I was told that I may have to go home, since they couldn't confirm if my water had actually broken, despite the fact that I was having strong, regular contractions. I knew I was in labor (having done it once already before). However, I guess the nurse was not convinced. And, since it was a Friday night and I was only one of three L&D patients (and let's thrown in the fact that they were having a big birthday party at the nurses station for one of the nurses) so I, apparently, was an inconvenience. I was taken off of the monitors and told to walk the halls or whatever I'd like to do for the next two hours until they were to check me again. If I wasn't making any progress, I was going home. If I was making progress, I would stay and they'd call my doctor to come in. This was around 12:40 am.

So, I walked the halls for about an hour, with contractions coming one on top of the other (sometimes less than a minute apart). They were becoming unbearable and I decided to see if a soak in the tub would help. I filled the tub, which seemed to take forever, and finally climbed in around 2 pm. I knew I still had another 40 minutes or so to wait until they would check me again. Within a few minutes of being in the tub, I was experiencing contractions like I had never had before, and they were excruciating. After two of these contractions, my water (what was left of it) broke again in the tub. I had Gene call the nurse and she checked me again. At this point I was 5-6 cm. I was 3 cm when I arrived so my nurse knew I was staying. She called my OB to come in to the hospital, called in another nurse to start my IV, and call anesthesia as I was begging for an epidural.

Over the next 15 minutes, a nurse is jabbing my arm multiple times trying to start an IV as I'm suffering thru one horrendous contraction on top of the other. The anesthesiologist arrives and my nurse sits me up on the bed so that he can start my epidural. As I sit up, I feel this enormous amount of pressure and feeling like I have to push. But, it had only been 15 minutes since I had been checked and I knew I was only 5-6 cm. I should have a few more hours, right? There's no way I'm fully dilated.

The nurse checks me and I'm complete (10 cm) and the baby is coming. My OB has not arrived at the hospital yet and I hear my nurse requesting that the resident OB be paged. Great. They can't get my IV in my arm, I'm without my epidural and my OB isn't even going to be able to deliver my baby. And, all the while, I can't really focus on any of this because I'm lying there, eyes closed, clinging to Gene's arm, trying my best to deal with the pain.

Thankfully, within the next minute or so, I hear my OB's voice as he walks into the room. He throws on his medical coveralls (or whatever those things are called), checks me and tells me that I can start pushing. I pushed for three hours with the twins so I was expecting this part might take some time. Well, maybe it was because I knew the harder I pushed, the sooner it would be over or, maybe I was just better at it this time around, or maybe it was because I've already birthed two children, but after three pushes, Piper entered the world.

She was taken by the staff right away because there had been meconium in my water so they wanted to make sure she was sufficiently suctioned before handing her off to me. Thankfully, she was such a good crier that they didn't have to suction her lungs.

Two hours and forty minutes after arriving at the hospital, Piper was born. I actually ended up signing all of the consent paperwork (allowing the hospital to deliver her) AFTER she was born because she came so quickly. Despite the horrendous pain, and the scary moments of realizing that she was coming and no one seemed ready, I was thankful for how short my labor was in the end.

I still not happy with how my L&D nurse handled things. Contractions coming every two minutes upon arrival to the hospital should have warranted a bit more service than "walk the halls for two hours and then we'll decide if you're in labor", especially for someone having gone thru labor once before. You know when it's the real thing. She should have checked me sooner. She should have called my OB sooner. She should have completed the paperwork and medical history sooner. But, in the end, I had an uncomplicated delivery and a beautiful, healthy baby girl. Better service is at the bottom of that list.

Waiting and Wondering...

Less than two days away from my due date. I was 3 cm on Monday at my appointment and it's now an hour shy of Friday morning. I found this site that has a helpful contraction timing calculator that I've been using for the last hour. Do you think I'm in labor??

Or tap the S - key to begin
Start Time End Time Duration Frequency
10:53:05 PM 10:54:46 PM 1:39 5 m, 18 s
10:47:47 PM 10:48:50 PM 1:2 5 m, 45 s
10:42:02 PM 10:43:28 PM 1:24 5 m, 1 s
10:37:01 PM 10:38:32 PM 1:30 4 m, 37 s
10:32:24 PM 10:33:31 PM 1:6 5 m, 28 s
10:26:56 PM 10:28:45 PM 1:48 6 m, 1 s
10:20:55 PM 10:21:53 PM 0:57 4 m, 57 s
10:15:58 PM 10:16:34 PM 0:35 4 m, 39 s
10:11:19 PM 10:12:54 PM 1:34 6 m, 52 s
10:04:27 PM 10:05:22 PM 0:55 4 m, 18 s
10:00:08 PM 10:01:45 PM 1:36 ----
Print Results

Based on the above and what the dr. tells you, I'd say yes. However, I've had this pattern before and the contractions always seem to fizzle out. I guess time will tell.

Guess What?

Today is Monday... and I don't have to be at work!

counting down the days

counting down the days, originally uploaded by NyKuLei.

Two more days of work. Two more weeks of pregnancy. It's a lot to process and a lot of changes on the horizon.

Becoming a Mom to an infant again. Becoming a Mom of three kids. Leaving a job that I've had for the last eight years to a full time stay at home Mom.

Most are exciting. A few are worrisome. All are weighing on my mind.

Nursery Planning and Etsy Love

I've long been a fan of Etsy. However, I've reached a new level of adoration for the site over the last few weeks as I've been working on the nursery. Most of the decorating will be done with creations made by Etsy artists or vintage items purchased thru the site.

So far, I'm having a baby mobile custom made by the Perpetual Childhood shop. It will be similar to this one but will be mainly white with just a touch of pink.



Then, I found this fantastic artist who makes textile cards and small art pieces with recycled fabric and paper. Her work is beautiful! I contacted her after seeing her work and she offered to put together a collection of cards to be framed and hung in the nursery. I just got a note from her tonight saying that the cards are finished and she's shipping them out tomorrow. I can't wait to see them! Here is one of her cards:



You can check out the rest of her shop, here.

Lastly, I bought some Amy Butler fabric from Etsy that I'm thinking will go well in the room and my Mom has offered (since I can't use a sewing machine) to make some pillow covers for me. And, I'm also planning to do several swatch portraits (<- click link to read about them) with the fabric as well. I received half of the fabric today and am hoping the other half arrives in the next day or two.

While the nursery has been painted and the furniture is in place, I'm anxious to receive the rest of the goodies in the mail so that I can get started with the actual decorating! I found a vintage signage letter from Three Potato Four over the weekend that I'm waiting to arrive as well. The nursery theme is kind of vintage modern so I'm hoping all of this will work together well and the end result is what I'm picturing in my head.