It’s amazing how small her hand is!
…or it’s rather amazing how big Matt’s hand is! 🙂
Little Madison is definitely growing…that’s the news we got at the pediatrician’s office today. Not only has she regained her birth weight, she’s surpassed it! Okay, not by much, 1 little ounce, but the MD says that’s a good thing. (7 pounds, for those of you who are counting.)
So, it’s 1 week later – S, Lucie, Madison and I are still functioning (kind of). Our friends and family have been really helpful and thoughtful this first week. Katie brought over dinner earlier this week – as well as an essential gift for Madison – cute shoes! My mom ventured over Wednesday and brought us dinner, too! She’s such the proud grandma, carrying around her brag book and showing pictures of Madison to anyone who will see them!
Speaking of photos, S updated the layout and photos can now be seen here.
I came across some photos that were taken of her when she was 1 day old…and it simply amazes me how much she’s changed since then!
I knew that Lucie wouldn’t have a problem with Madison…
it’s funny that a L-O-T can happen in 24 hours. let’s start from the beginning…
so last thursday after my ob checkup, i was still only dilated @ 1.5cm. it was looking like induction was going to be the only way peanut was going to come out.
friday morning i woke up early, determined to make some banana muffins for breakfast when i started to experience some cramping. (it’s about 06h30m.) okay not a big deal. then, another cramp/contraction. s finally wakes up at about 8.45a and that’s when i told him that he’d better start timing these things. my doc said that i needed to be having contractions 5 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute for 2 hours (5-1-2). just shy of the 2 hour mark, the contractions started to get closer – 4m, then 3. before you know it we were off to the hospital!
we arrived at the hospital at 12n. after a not so pleasant experience with the insertion of my IV, we headed up to the LDR floor and got settled into the birthing room. the trooper that i am (or thought i was), held off for the immediate epidural. after being there for 30-45m i decided that i needed the epidural sooner rather than later. it was about 2p when the epidural was started (by now, s is im-ing folks on his sidekick, my mom had arrived and my cousin the NICU nurse was on her way). before you know it i was at about 7cm and there were no signs of slowing down. with the help of my little support team, i started pushing BEFORE my ob had arrived! after 20m of pushing, i remember looking at the clock and telling myself that there is no way i’m doing this for more than 1h and that this kid is coming out before 5pm…10 minutes later, little Madison arrived! (s ended up cutting the cord!) i was really proud of s and my mom for not passing out! 🙂
our stay at the hospital was fabulous – the nurses were great, services were great – especially the well baby nursery. a nurse will come by pick up your baby, which allows you to get some much needed sleep, and will bring them back when it’s time to nurse.
(8.23.06 btw, it’s the 2nd day i’ve been working on this entry!)
coming home was…strange, for lack of better terms. i left the house with no baby and came home with one. so far, everything is going well (except for the lack of continuous sleep, 2-3 hour spurts several times a night don’t really make you feel rested). lucie has been GREAT with madison. at times, i think that lucie could care less that she’s here.
…so now it’s been a couple of days and i think that we’ve got some sort of system going on. s starts “working from home” next week so hopefully i won’t screw things up that badly…just kidding! 🙂
lessons learned:
- there is nothing shameless about getting an epidural
- pushing is a lot harder than i thought it would be, but solid determination can help a lot
- learn to swaddle before you give birth – it could save your sanity
- if you live in sf, give birth at cpmc – if 80% of the local population gives birth here (per my primary care physician), that’s definitely something to be noted
- a gift for the nursing staff never hurts – you’ll leave with even more hospital booty than you can imagine
here’s a picture of the happy, but very tired family…
…did the prenatal massage “speed” things along. Though I thoroughly enjoyed the massage (thanks PD for the gift certificate!), it did nothing to help coax peanut out.
After the massage I felt a bit more invigorated and with the help of a blended iced coffee drink from the coffee bean, I managed to motor on down to Lullaby Lane to make a few exchanges, got an oil change for the montero and made a pit stop at Trader Joe’s. (Oh, I did finally get the montero washed – yesterday! It’s smelling nice and citrusy and is shiny and slippery from the armor all “treatment”.)
I have managed to make a couple more freeze-ahead meals for S & I – penne with spinach and chicken sausage and fish cakes. Also made brownies last night – which S ate for breakfast this morning.
Carpal tunnel uneasiness is kicking in, so that’s all for now!
…and I have the best intentions of getting things done, but it’s just not working in my favor today. I planned on getting the montero washed and having the oil changed. Yup, not done. I wanted to buy a bunch of stuff on babierus.com, but they’re not accepting payment in the form gift cards just yet (the wankers). I did get some laundry done, bought some stamps online and took Lucie out for a walk at Fort Funston. Yah, I accomplished nothing today – sigh.
Jardin de Rebaud is complete and we had our first BBQ in the new yard yesterday. Burgers, hot dogs, sausages, chicken and yet there were only 5 of us. Anyways…for a few “before” pictures click here. Below are some pix of NEW and MUCH IMPROVED yard!
A new pathway (above) at the side of the house leads to this…
…a nice lawn area…
…and a little plant / gravel area.
Entering the other side gate, takes you to the patio (above).
Another pic of the patio.
The yard seems just so much bigger now that we’ve utilized the space we had. Hopefully, SF will have it’s summer at the usual time (September / October) and we’ll be able to enjoy it even more. S & I had a feeling that this would be finished before peanut arrived.
Looking forward to the rest of the week – have a prenatal massage scheduled, housewarming and birthday parties, an OB appointment (where we will, of course, find out that nothing has changed – why break status quo?), and probably a manicure. S will probably start “working from home” later this week as we look forward to peanut’s arrival…
No not yet.
…to a previous post.
We find out today that the little red wagon is ours! It had been dug out of the jungle while the yard was undergoing cleanup/demolition.
I’m a bit frightened to find out what else may be in there.
Not much of a “watch” since no progress has been made from my last OB appointment.
I should be enjoying this time off, right? I suppose I am – have been able to sleep in when I’m able…watch TV to my heart’s content (but am starting to get tired of it and HBO has been showing lame movies lately)…take naps…sit and browse the internet all afternoon.
Don’t get me wrong, I DO get out of the house. Since Wednesday was another broiler of a day in SF, Lucie and I ventured down to Ocean Beach along with the rest of the city. Lucie got to enjoy an outing at the beach and I got to cool off my feet in the cool Pacific. And Tuesday, I made a long drive to RWC to Babies r Us to return/exchange a few items.
I had very ambitious plans today:get the oil changed for the Montero, bring it to the car wash, perhaps a quick trip to Lullaby Lane. Those plans were quashed when we got home from Starbucks and Creighton’s (I gave in and had a butterhorn – haven’t had one of those in a looooong time and it was SO good!) as I fell asleep in the chair in Peanut’s room…for like, 2 hours! But…I did manage to clean the grout in the shower (I think our housecleaning peeps are slacking) and S followed up with some of the spots I missed or couldn’t get to, washed dishes and got a few goodwill bags o’ clothes filled up.
(We’re listening to Radiohead – Paranoid Android, to be exact – right now and Peanut’s poking me like crazy – does that mean he/she likes Radiohead? Or does it mean S should change the playlist on Rhapsody?)
Phase 2 of Chez Rebaud improvement is almost finished – hopefully C and her team will be finished and packed up and out at the end of the day tomorrow. The project ran over by 1 week – but really not our problem (as I had mentioned, last Friday was a drama day).
S & I got a taste of what children’s birthday parties are like. My cousin had invited us to her son’s 1st birthday party at Lemos Farm in HMB. She and her husband went crazy with the whole farm/cowboy theme. Children AND adults were given straw cowboy hats to wear. The kiddie favors came in red/blue handkerchief patterns. There were pony rides, face painting, a (pseudo) train ride, a haunted house, full on BBQ and deelish cakes from Whole Foods.
‘Tis all for now – hopefully I’ll feel more motivated tomorrow to get something even more finished.
So week #2 of M-Leave is (almost) over. Hmmm, what did I do this week? I know that I had an OB appointment (since that’s the only scheduled thing on my palm)…hmm…oh, I did get a manicure and pedicure…oh, and I went out to dinner with my mom, my friend G and her mom at one of many new hotspots, Nopa…slept, watched tv. Oh, Wednesday evening, we had dinner at the Millers – our first visit with baby Leo. No baking this week – will probably start up again next week. I started to pour through my recipe collection to find freezable dinner entrees for S and I – and found quite a few: salmon cakes, mac and cheese (of course), french onion soup, pastitio…
Yesterday was a drama day – not even 10 minutes at the park Lucie starts sneezing like crazy! So off we were to the vet to see if the foxtail she had gotten in her nose could be extracted. She sneezed and snorted up until our arrival at the vet (of course!). $84 and 1 hour later everything seemed fine. As soon as we left, she started sneezing again. Oy! Since she’s not sneezing violently, she seems to be okay, but we just need to keep an eye on her and watch where we take her. To add, she’s starting to develop dental disease – yes, at 3.5 years old. We got an estimate for that – let’s just say cleaning dog’s teeth doesn’t come cheap! Even though she loves people toothpaste, she just can’t come to love doggie toothpaste at all! Even the poultry flavored…
I won’t go into the other Friday drama – but starting Monday, the Jardin de Rebaud project will be back on track. And that’s all I’ll say about that.
Before the jump – just want to say that we’re thinking of our friends Niki & Bill who are making it official today at the Squaw Creek Resort later tonight. Wish we could be there to help them celebrate – but the idea of sitting in a car for the 3+ hour drive to Tahoe at 38 weeks doesn’t sound too appealing.
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