Odessa Street

Three weeks after his birth, I'm sharing the news here. Zane Kenneth was born on July 15 at 11:03 a.m, 9 lbs, 2 oz and 21 inches. All of my writing abilities (when I am not nursing a baby or cleaning up after one) have been soaked up by an online course I am been taking. However, I finished the course as of this morning, and my next goal is to write up his birth story. Specific memories are already fading fast, so I am determined to getting it all down somewhere.

In the end, we had a more medical experience than we had hoped, but both Zane and I were healthy and strong once the 20-hour labor ended. I am so grateful that I got to experience going into labor on my own, and that we had such a great team working with us for delivery. My recovery was fantastic - we left the hospital the next morning and went on a walk around the neighborhood on our first night home. I feel I healed almost immediately.

Zane has proven to be a pretty straightforward baby thus far. He eats a lot, has his days and nights backwards, and has not proven to cry all that much. He also lets me put him down sometimes, which his big brother was never a fan of me doing. Speaking of his big brother, Teo has taken to his new role extremely well - better than I expected. I am so proud of him, and I have teared up on more than one occasion because of what an incredible young boy he is.

So. More details to come. In the meantime, here's the newest member of our family on his second day of life.

Soooo... still pregnant! Ok then!

A few days ago, I had several hours of light but regular contractions, once every 7 minutes. I am supposed to call the midwives when I have painful contractions once every 5-10 minutes, so that was sort of a confusing state to be in. I decided to send Mateo to my parents', just in case, and then wait the night out. I was in for a long evening, as the contractions made sleeping difficult and the possible excitement made it even more so. However, I eventually fell asleep and woke up at 5 am, experiencing the same contractions once every 10 minutes. Eventually, they spaced back out to their once every 20-60 minute holding pattern I have been in for about a week.

The physical side effects of that were less bothersome than the emotional ones, because I was super excited that maybe it was going to be the big day. Turns out that was wrong (all wrong!) and so now, here we are again, back in the waiting game.

Yesterday was my 41+ week appointment, and I learned a few things.
1) Everything looks great, except that I am supposed to have a baby outside of my body instead of inside of it. Small detail. Otherwise, baby and mama are doing fine
2) I have not gained a pound since 36 or 37 weeks, which means that this baby has had somewhere between 4 to 5 weeks' worth of packing on the pounds to indulge in. I figured my caloric intake has just gone straight to him, and now I am worried we have a big fella on our hands.
3) I am still no further progressed than I was at my previous appointment, which sort of makes me want to gauge my eyes out.

But the key piece of information that I learned is that the midwives won't let me go past 42 weeks, so that means there will be an induction if my body doesn't get its act together shortly. So... there is an end in sight. I have really, really, really wanted to avoid an induction with this baby, mainly because I don't know if it will be my last or not and I would like to have the experience of going into labor on my own. I also would like to attempt a waterbirth, and I know from experience that the pitocin is so brutal that I may not be able to make that happen if I get induced. So. Blargh. I have a few more days to go and I hope he decides to come out and say hi.

In an attempt to get things moving, the midwife stripped my membranes yesterday. I had never had that done before, and was told it was pretty excruciating, but it honestly didn't hurt me. However, I went home and immediately started experiencing really horrible, awful, bad, terrible cramping in my abdomen and lower back. I also started having real, genuine contractions that I was having a hard time talking/moving through. The frightening thing about yesterday was that the cramping was so severe that I had a hard time recognizing what was a contraction until it was really at its peak, because I was in so much pain at baseline already. Jeff was asking if I thought this could be the beginning of labor, and maybe we should start timing the contractions, and I honestly freaked out and had a little panic attack. It occurred to me that I was going to have to be the one to make the call as to whether or not my parents should come get Mateo and/or we should head to the hospital. I honestly had no idea, because the pain was unrelenting and I didn't know what to make of it. I ended up just crying for a short spell while Jeff put Mateo to bed, and then I pacedthe house for a bit.

After about an hour of horrible, awful pain, it finally subsided. I am back to the more comfortable cramping and lower back pain that I experienced just after the sweep. Apparently, sweeping the membranes doesn't always work, and we should know if it did within 24-48 hours. It has now been 24 hours...

I'm hoping the universe works in my favor and gets this baby in my arms soon. This has been a long wait, and the last few days have been sort of tortuous with all these fake-outs and what not. The good news is that I woke up feeling energized this morning, and I am just so grateful to have gotten a good night's sleep after spending the entire day in some form of pain yesterday.

Next appointment is on Friday, if we make it that far, at which point we will schedule an induction. Fingers crossed, fingers crossed...

So, per my midwives, I am now five days overdue. I am feeling ok - not awesome, but I know it could be worse. My main complaint is that I have another human's head stuck in my pelvis, and it is very, very hard to walk. This, as a result, limits my ability/desire to go anywhere or do anything, resulting in boredom. And that's how this week has gone down. Lots and lots of boredom.

Last weekend was tough. Saturday and Sunday were normal, but then Teo had no school on Monday or Tuesday because of the holiday, so we ended up having four fantastic days together. And while I love that kid with all my heart and think he is the best ever, I simply do not have the energy reserves that a four-year-old requires over a four-day weekend. Plus, Sunday was hella hot and I was just bumming from being overdue and feeling like this baby is never going to get here. Luckily, I went over to my parents for the afternoon, where my dad played with Mateo in the backyard and I sat in a comfortable chair surrounded by air conditioned air.

The last few days, I have had some pretty significant cramping and contractions pretty much once an hour all day long. None of it is so painful that it makes me think I am in labor in any way, but it is all pretty uncomfortable and getting OLD. Jeff has been a super star and doesn't get at all annoyed by my whining, or at least he doesn't demonstrate any annoyance toward me.

The most frustrating thing about this whole process is that I have little to no control over it. I would like to avoid an induction, if possible, which means that the only real thing I can do is sit around and wait. I know about all the old tricks -- some people swear by them but most have been proven to be ineffective. I am doing what I can to stay active and busy, without completely exhausting myself or causing any sort of extreme discomfort. In the end, though, the baby will decide to come when he is ready, and I need to work on making peace with that. Not an easy thing to do at this stage in the game. We are so ready on our end!

Another thing is that every day he spends inside is yet another day that I don't get to spend with him before going back to school. I will be starting back part-time and I will take it slow, but I would love to have as many days with him as possible before having to start the day care thing.

I know he will get here. Eventually. And that it will be fine and this whole thing shall pass. I am just so impatient! C'mon little man, we want to meet you!!!

And the pregnancy continues! Yes, yes, it is not technically my due date, and I don't have any right to officially complain until then. But! Whhhhiiiiiiiinnnnne. I would just like to get this show on the road. I am super duper excited to meet this guy, a little nervous about delivery, and just READY to do this.

I went to the midwife yesterday and I am at 1 cm and 50%, which was not super promising. I was hoping it would be something awesome and she would say, "Looks like you won't make it to your due date!" Instead, she said, "So we'll talk about inductions at your next appointment." That was not exactly what I wanted to hear.

I would really like to avoid an induction with this guy, so I am hoping my patience lasts. If I go a week over, though... ugh. I have been given assorted due dates. The first was June 28, which is today. I told Jeff this would be a great day for a baby, since 6.28.2011 makes a nice mathematical formula (take 6 out of 28 and you have the same thing as 20+1+1). He immediately called me a nerd. At least I own it. The second due date I was given was July 3, and the final due date is July 4. Since July 3 is a Sunday and July 4 is a holiday, I didn't make my next midwife appointment for until July 5. That is ONE FULL WEEK away. I would like to request everyone take a moment to send some fantastic energy this way in the hopes that I never have to go to that appointment.

Besides the insane boredom of waiting for labor to start, I really can't complain. My legs feel better, I have a bit more energy, I am comfortable and sleeping well. From what I understand, this is not how the final days of pregnancy fare for most ladies. So... I should quit my yapping and just be grateful. I get it.

But I want to meet this kid!!!

We are entering the home stretch of this pregnancy, and I am getting super duper impatient. I don't remember feeling this way with Mateo. In fact, I remember sort of mourning the end of the pregnancy with him. Although this time around hasn't been bad or anything, it's just horribly inconvenient to be massively pregnant with a four year old and a puppy running amok. I can't wait to meet our little fella and see Teo become a big brother.

Laura came out for a lovely visit and we were both somewhat physically limited by injuries. She has hurt her neck and I am having leg issues from the pregnancy. Neither of us are completely bed-bound, but it was nice to have a visitor who wasn't frustrated by spending quality time sitting in chairs.

During her visit, I got to see Mateo interacting with Laura's fantastic 8-month-old daughter. Can I just say that I might have cried a few times watching Teo be so gentle and caring towards the baby? It made me all the more impatient to meet the newest member of our family.

Pregnancy-wise, I still can't complain. My weight gain has stabilized at a nice number, and I have a feeling it will stay here until the end. My appetite is pretty much MIA, most likely because the remaining space in my stomach is so limited. As mentioned, I am having some leg pain from the pubic symphasis diastasis -- mainly on the right side. Sometimes it is totally fine, and other times I can't walk without the help of a wall or table. It didn't start bothering me in any significant way until two days ago, but it was pretty debilitating when it got really bad. The pain comes and goes, though, so we shall see.

Meanwhile, little man is active as ever. All of my check-ups have been grand, and he is growing right on target. We have set up the details for the birth to some degree, though I should probably write up a little birth plan and get some other details nailed down in the next few days. Today is my first day off after finishing school, since Laura came the Monday following, so I am a little dizzy at the idea of how many things I can accomplish. We already have the crib set up and the clothes washed, so I feel a few steps ahead of the game. Next up, I'd like to make some playlists for labor and do a serious revamp of our house's organization system for some clothing and linen issues. Now that we are having a second boy, it makes it so very much worth my while to have all of Teo's old clothes organized.

These are luxurious tasks that I have been itching to do since I started grad school last fall. I'm going to relish these next few days of prep to the best of my ability... and hopefully I will be distracted enough that I won't be counting down the hours until my due date!

So, for whatever reason, I erased my first entry about this pregnancy. Just straight up deleted it. Awesome! Since my grand total prior to today came to TWO WHOLE ENTRIES, I am feeling great about deleting 50% of my content. Rad. Poor baby.

Ok, so, yes, I slack. In my defense, Movable Type was not cooperating. All that is in order now. Hallelujah.

And then, second, there is this pesky grad school business keepin' me busy. And the three-almost-four-year-old of fantasticness who eats up all of my free time. We have been trying to get him adjusted to the fact that I won't be able to spend every waking second with him when the baby gets here. That will be an experience.

So anyhow, 34 weeks now. I am starting to feel whale-ish in appearance, which is about when I remember this feeling sinking in last time around. Yesterday, at the dentist's office, one of the dental hygienist's saw me at the front desk and said, "Oh, wow, you are so unbelievably cute! When are you due?" I honestly could not believe she was talking to me, and I looked around for someone else who might be cuter and less pregnant than me. Cute? Cute? You don't call a girl who is almost 6' and is carrying around a beach ball in her abdomen cute! Don't get me wrong, I loved it... but geez, not the adjective I feel at all resembles my being at the moment. I just feel... big.

Currently, life is very much on standby. I end my first year of grad school in less than three weeks (YIPEEEE!!!!), and I just need to make it across the finish line at this point. Summer is finally here in Portland, which makes working very difficult. Combine that with the fact that I don't really want to be upright past 9 pm, and the fact that Teo does not want to sit around patiently while I work, and you have a recipe for procrastination. I will get there, though. Everything will get done. I will get there. It will get done. I will get there.

I have a ton of things I want to do before the baby arrives, but of course all of those things will have to happen after school gets out. So wish me luck for the next few weeks... hopefully I'll have time to update more (and better) once my schoolwork is all taken care of and handed in to the appropriate professors. June 9 is the magic day.

I am entering my third trimester... and this is only the second pregnancy-related post. I am kicking myself because I know that I am going to want a record of all of this. I love being able to read back on my pregnancy with Mateo, and it makes me sad that this baby isn't going to have a similar archive of the time leading up to birth. But enough with the guilt trip, I'll just start typing.

So, first, it's a boy. Yay! I wouldn't have cared either way, of course, as long as the baby was healthy and happy. Nothing drove that point home more than when we had an abnormal finding on our ultrasound, and were put through the painful process of getting further testing done. Those were some very difficult weeks, and I am happy to report that everything seems to have checked out fine. We had another ultrasound a few days ago as a six-week follow-up, just in case, and everything still looks good. Our doctor has been wonderful; I can't help but think that anybody who chooses perinatology is required to have a way with people, especially super-concerned, hyper-paranoid pregnant women. He scheduled one more follow-up with us in eight weeks, when I will officially be VERY pregnant.

Other than those issues, this pregnancy is not all that much different than my pregnancy with Mateo. I am thankful that the physical side effects of pregnancy have thus far not been too bad for me with either child. I was incredibly exhausted the first trimester, more so than I remember with Mateo, but my life is also a lot more hectic now than it was then. School was a definite struggle because I often felt like I was looking at everything through a fog. I liken it to having a caffeine headache for three straight months. Second trimester was a breeze, physically, though a large chunk of it was spent dealing with the worrying and fears provoked by our initial ultrasound. As far as my belly goes, in the last two weeks, I have really popped. This week, I have had at least ten people make a comment about it. Accordingly, I am starting to feel some of the late pregnancy discomforts. For now, they are minor and I am still motoring around just fine.

Jeff has been great throughout this pregnancy; he is so excited. We went to Belize as a delayed honeymoon/early babymoon two weeks ago, and stayed in a hotel without telephone, tv, or internet. It was so relaxing and wonderful, a great way to celebrate our marriage and our impending arrival. In lieu of television, a lot of our time was spent watching my belly jump and contort in function of the baby's movements. It was entertaining. I get all teary-eyed when I think about how wonderful it is to go through this experience with someone who is just as invested in the process as I am. Every woman should have someone by their side during pregnancy, and it is something I will never take for granted.

Mateo is very excited as well; I'd say that he now brings up his baby brother at least once every day. A few days ago, he suggested that I should try to have twins (we had read a book with twins in it a few days prior), and I politely declined. I am so excited and nervous to see how Teo is going to react to his new role. He's been my special guy for so long, and I give him so much love and attention, I am worried he is going to feel neglected or saddened by someone else getting a lot of mama time. And the truth is, babies require a lot of attention. I don't know, we'll work through it. For now, I am trying to soak up a lot of Teo-and-Mama time because I know we won't get to be just the two of us anywhere near as often in a few months. Plus, he is at a stage which I truly love: talking a lot, making up stories, using his imagination in new and interesting ways. He is goofy and clever and, for the most part, pleasant. He is still a three-year-old, but I see him shift away from toddlerhood and towards boyhood more and more each day.

One glorious thing about this baby is that I have almost nothing to buy. My sister has diligently kept all of her baby stuff (I sold a lot of mine due to moves), and we have all the essentials ready to roll. This is such a luxurious position to be in, as compared to the chaos of setting up three different living situations within Teo's first year of life. The plan for now is to rearrange the boys' room -- they're sharing -- and I will need to buy a dresser. I will probably splurge on something new for this baby, maybe just a bedset or something, so that I can experience some of the baby shopping fever, but there's really no need. In general, we are pretty much ready for this guy's arrival, just need to organize. It's hard to coordinate this stuff while in grad school, but fortunately I should have a few weeks left at the end of the term before the baby arrives. I'll have a big ole belly by then, but so be it.

If I recall correctly, this is really when pregnancy speeds up. The first trimester drags on by, waiting to get to that crucial 12-week point. The second trimester just sorta hum-drums along, and the third trimester flies by, with the exception of those final weeks. I can't believe we are already here. I can't wait to meet this little guy and welcome him to our wacky family. This summer is going to be one very exciting adventure!

Now that we are married, have a backyard, and have a son capable of understanding basic directions, naturally it seemed time to get a puppy. World, meet River. He is a 10-week-old goldendoodle who is easily the most laid-back puppy I've ever met.

I thought I would work on crate-training. All the literature indicates that it can take a long time for dogs to get used to the crate, and that owners need to slowly train their pups to feel comfortable in it. Last night, River went in by his own choice and sat in there for awhile. I was enthused by this development, but recognized that it would still take awhile for him to feel comfortable enough to sleep there. This morning, however, he went in there again and laid right down, falling fast asleep within minutes. He repeated the scene again later. I guess he is cool with the crate after all...

A little while ago, he started stirring some, and making some weird squeaky sounds in his semi-sleep. I have come to understand, in the four days the he has been in our lives, that this means he needs to potty. We headed outside, and he immediately pooped. Done! I wouldn't say the fella is housebroken or anything, but he is clearly catching on to the basic process.

Thus far, he hasn't destroyed anything in the house or chewed up anyone's shoes. A little while ago, he tried to eat my book. I was expecting a hellion, and River is turning out to be a dream dog. My main goal now is to maximize these early weeks so that we can harness his awesomeness, resulting in a well-trained dog. I don't want to be too lenient with him now, even though his adorableness makes me want to be. We have already decided, for instance, that his furniture days are over. He'll know he's loved even if he can't sit on our couch...

We are so happy to have him here. How can you resist the cute??