in the words of our doula.

Another guest post -- this time from Kim Wheaton, our amazing doula. Below you'll find her version of our birth story and a few of the pictures she took right after Lorelei was born (she pretty much let go of my leg, which she was holding during pushing, grabbed the camera, and started taking photos!). You can also follow this link to see all of the pictures she took, as well as a very sweet video she created of some of the edited shots.

Lorelei’s Birth

5/24/2011

            I got a call from you at around 10pm on May 23^rd, letting me know that your water had broken!  It was over a week before your due date, so this was a little surprise, but you handled it in stride, and decided to stay at home until labor picked up.  Your contractions started a couple of hours later, and at around 4am you and Jason decided to go to the hospital, after having slept only an hour or so. 

            Jason called me at around 5:30am to let me know you were there, and that things weren’t too intense yet.  He called again at 7:30, letting me know that you were dilated to 3cm, and that your contractions were getting stronger.  So I started to head to the hospital, and got there at 8:15.  It was clear that you were in labor—you had to concentrate through each contraction--but in-between you were your normal self.  I could tell, though, that you weren’t looking forward to the hard work that was yet to come.

            Shortly after I arrived you both decided to try and get some rest since you had been up all night.  Jason slept on the pull-out chair while you rested in your bed, which was difficult because your contractions were definitely getting stronger.  After about an hour it was really time to get to work, and Jason stood by your bed coaching you to relax your body as you had practiced during your pregnancy.  This worked well for quite a while, but at around 10:45 you began expressing some self-doubt.  “I don’t know if I can do this,” you said, but Jason did an amazing job reassuring you that you were doing great, and that you could do it.

            You continued laboring in bed, and you also tried sitting on the birth ball a little bit.  You were really nauseous through most of your labor, and having the pink bucket right by your head was a big help to you mentally (though you had trouble expressing that to us!  You were so focused it was hard for you to talk!).  You would also go back and forth between being freezing and really hot.  It was hard for you to get comfortable.

            At around 11:45 you said that you almost wanted to push at the peak of each contraction, and shortly after that you had a super long contraction (probably four or five minutes long!).  At 12:15 the doctor came in to check you and found that you were 5cm dilated, which was disheartening.  The baby was very low, which is why you were feeling like you wanted to push.  She also told you that she didn’t want you taking a shower, which is what we were going to try next to help with your pain.

            After she left the room you expressed more doubt, and told us that you couldn’t do this for hours and hours.  Jason and I were both reassuring—you really were doing an amazing job!  You had to go to the bathroom, and stayed in there to labor sitting on the toilet for about fifteen minutes.  Then you came back and sat on the edge of the bed.  Things were really getting hard, but you got yourself into a great rhythm with your swaying and breathing through contractions.  Jason and I stayed by your side, encouraging you and helping you to relax.

            At two o’clock you decided to lie back down.  You said that it hurt more when you were lying down, but you really didn’t want to move, so you stayed in bed.  “When will this be over?” you asked.  I suspected that you were in transition.  You were also making groans at the peak of the contractions that sounded like involuntary pushing.  I asked if you felt pressure or if you wanted to push, but you weren’t sure what to think, or weren’t able to express it. 

            It was almost three when the nurse checked you and discovered that you were 8cm!  This was great news, and by 3:15 you were almost completely dilated and ready to start pushing.  Pushing was very painful and difficult, and the doctor was saying things like, “push harder!” which really made you mad.  This was actually good because it gave you extra motivation to push your baby out!  Jason stayed by your head while a nurse and I held your legs, and you made good progress with each push. 

            At 4:21, Lorelei was born into the world and placed immediately on your chest.  Relief washed over you as you met your sweet baby girl for the first time.

in the words of a 3 week old.

Lorelei says: Okay, technically 3 weeks and 1 day, but give my mom a break -- she's tired from working so hard on my behalf! These pictures are of me doing my favorite activity: tummy time! I hope you notice my really cute pants; I'm borrowing them from my friend Juliette. Today, I held my head up so I could look straight forward for over five seconds and everyone was very impressed. I'm also starting to move beyond the "sleep all the time" newborn stage and into my fussy and awake stage -- but so far my parents are handling it really well despite my efforts to frustrate them! Gotta run -- nap time is calling.

papa and gramma b visit.

Are these the official names? Still not sure -- but regardless, lots of love involved.

lorelei, the live version.

Here are several short videos we've taken of Lorelei in her first two weeks of life.

Lorelei's arrival home:



First trip outdoors:



Bath time:





Working out:




Thanks to Ross and Meredith for the Flip Camera! What a great new parent gift :)

We're a little crazy about how cute Lorelei is, so lots of pictures and videos will continue to appear. Stay tuned!

fun in the sun.

baby gloworm.

Remember that toy from the 1980s?

We have our own version.

outings.

Thursday and Friday of this week I wanted to get out of the house and be a "real person" for a while. So on the morning of what was supposed to be her due date, we headed out to Caribou for an hour of coffee + oatmeal + Lorelei sleeping in her carseat. That went well, so I decided to venture out to the Sycamore High School end-of-year staff picnic today. I wore Lorelei in the Moby for two key reasons: I knew she'd be calm that way and she'd also be safe from the germy, prying hands of well-meaning teachers (and I wouldn't have to explain why I wouldn't let them pick her up!). Once again, she was a perfect little angel. I wish I had asked someone to take a picture of us -- I had actually put on makeup and curled my hair for the first time since she was born and was back in a favorite prepregnancy outfit, so it would have been nice to have documented myself looking semi-human for a change.

Since returning home from the picnic, though, Lorelei's feeding schedule has been off (even though the picnic was timed for a nap period anyway) and she's been overly fussy. I guess I should know better than to push my luck with a 10-day-old baby. We'll be spending what is supposed to be a beautiful weekend indoors, trying to get back on some sort of sleeping/feeding routine that doesn't involve both mom and baby sobbing uncontrollably -- cross your fingers for us.