Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Happy Earth Day!

I totally forgot that it was Earth Day today - I remember when I was in Junior High, celebrating my first Earth Day - I was smitten! I read long, convoluted informational articles over the loudspeaker during morning announcements, and made an award-winning Earth Day shirt for the contest... it was fabulous! And now I need news-channel reminders and Oprah to knock me back to Earth Day...
yeesh...

Priorities...

I'm writing this with Dax attached to my boob...
and I was just thinking about whether it was more important that I eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or brush my teeth when he gets done and sleeps for 15 minutes... I've eaten some today, but I didn't brush my teeth yesterday...
forget about a shower (I usually brush my teeth in the shower)
it's funny though, because I shower, and then put junk in my hair to make it look like I haven't - to make it look like it does right now... thank God for deodorant and baby wipes, is all I have to say...

I think I'm going to try to cram in a sandwich and teeth... we'll see what happens...

Happy Birthday!!

Happy 1 Month Birthday, Dax Thomas!
:)

Monday, April 21, 2008

New Mommy Milestone!

I woke up yesterday, to Dax whimpering and beginning to cry at about 4:15am... so I brought him to bed with me for a snack.
Now, if you're breastfeeding, and it's early morning/late night, and you're tired, I think the number one way to do it is lying down on your side. I honestly hadn't tried it until about two days before this - and I have to say it's fantastic. Baby can find you, you're right there, and you can lay your head down... (I fell asleep the second time I did this, and woke to find Dax still attached and dreaming about eating, I presume - he was still working his mouth, but the sheets were wet underneath our little join)
So anyway. I think this position is great - and if you fall asleep, you fall asleep... no big deal.
But I was laying there in bed yesterday morning, and Dax had just finished eating (he pulls away, with a very full-looking, satisfied milk-face, pursed lips meaning he can eat no more), and I rolled him a bit more onto his back, and then snuggled him. We both slept for about three hours before he woke up again.
It was so lovely.

It was too lovely. Danger Will! I thought...
If it felt this good to snuggle with my baby in bed... chances were good I'd do it all the time... and then I'd have a toddler in bed with us, maybe even a teenager, if I wasn't careful!!

So it just so happened that yesterday I was feeling good (when I finally got out of bed around noon), and thought that I'd tidy up the baby's room (gifts had been slowly sifting in, and placed on the big chair and ottoman, laundry had been done, but hadn't been put away, etc...). Perfect time to test out his crib, right? :)
I laid him gently in his crib after I had fed him and diapered him, and he stayed asleep, through my bustling and rustling around in his room - that's so great, I thought!
I did this the entire day, including through the evening, and even through the night.
He went four hours between a feeding the first evening bedtime lay-down, and three hours the next! (see you later, two-hour feeding schedule!)

I woke up at 6 this morning to him wiggling and making his morning sounds (about to be crying-for-food sounds), and I realized how incredible the night had been - I got a few hours of sleep in a row! He slept well! The baby monitor had worked! The crib rocked!
But the realization hit me, as I heard my husband say - Wow! Only four weeks old, and he's already grown up!

So I snuggled him into bed with me for a morning feeding and nap.
:)


Wednesday, April 2, 2008

March 25, 2008: No retakes... this is it!

March 25, 2008
1:10 am

Man, I feel like I have to pee. These cramps must mean my bladder is fuuuuuulllll....
Now I've peed, but it's not getting any better...
These really, really HURT.
This must be it....! This MUST be it. Holy crap.
Yes - bloody show - check. Horrible painful cramps - check.
Good thing Anooj is already up (with his own stomach ailment - I hope we can get out of the house on time!)

2:30 am
Calls to friends and family - and we're on the way to the birth center!
I'm just sure we'll have a baby in a matter of hours, these contractions hurt so bad already...

5:15 am
Let's try the tub. Anything has to be better - a hot bath will HAVE to make this feel better...
Nope... no... now bring that trashcan back over here so I can puke up my last (who knew) meal of an extra long chili cheese coney with a blast from Sonic (I would recommend you NOT eat there any time during your last month of pregnancy - just don't do it - don't even be tempted to do it). This must mean I'm in transition! Way faster than I thought I would be - so that's fantastic!!

6:00 am
Hmm. Still no kid. No urge to push, even, and I want to die. These contractions are hurting so much, there's nothing I can do to make them feel remotely like "ocean waves" - those stupid natural childbirth books about imagery and breathing were all written by freaking men!

8:55 am
STILL no freaking kid - and I have to pee, but I can't even walk to the bathroom.
And now I have to throw up again - I'm shaking all over and sweating on the stupid plastic sheets under the real sheets on this bed...
I thought I was in transition last time - this is going to last forever - I'm going to be in labor and sick and puking and shaking and in SO much pain for freaking EVER!!

9:15 am
Made it to the bathroom - they said it might feel good to labor on the toilet, but it feels like ass - just like every other contraction, laying down, bouncing on the exercise ball, sitting on the floor, and walking - they all suck, and this sucks, and now I feel like pushing!

9:35 am
Made it back to the bed - but now I can only lay here on my side shaking uncontrollably every time I get that first really bad contraction (I get them in two's - one really hard one, one only slightly less hard to take - both with uncontrollable shaking to start them out - which freaks me out because I know the pain is coming....)
Oh wait - I think I can push now - I think I can - let's figure this out... which way would feel better... like this on my side? NO.
on my back? NO!
on all fours?? only slightly better than No.
on all fours with the exercise ball smashed up against the headboard, and me leaning on the ball and grabbing the headboard like it's about to save me from a ship going down in the sea?? ok.

10:00 am
I'm still pushing - PUSHING. I think I'm going to die!
I have to push three times for each contraction - I learned that it hurts to try to push only once per contraction and then try to stop... don't stop - keep pushing - KEEP pushing because it makes the pain a little more bearable!

11:00 am
A head is visible! (I didn't know this at the time, but there was a mirror under my bottom - so everyone could see what was happening up there - sweet.)
Do I want to touch the baby's head?? Are you kidding me?? NO! Just get this baby out!!

11:20 am
I don't think anyone saw it coming, but I wasn't about to stop pushing so everyone could get themselves all put together... This baby was coming out damn it! And did he! Poor baby was on the mattress before Anooj could get there, but he got it on camera. :)
And boy did I feel better!

Dax Thomas Thakker has arrived - and breathing alright, considering the trauma my body giving birth for the first time put on him. He had waited so long, he'd had to go to the bathroom, so he did... (I did too, so he shouldn't feel bad) His cord had been wrapped around him three and a half times - twice around his neck, and another one full time around his body like a vest and through his legs... there was cord everywhere when they finally got him unwrapped...

But here he is - all 7 pounds, 13 ounces of him (he was 20 3/4 inches long too!) - naked and still attached to me, and bopping his little head on my chest looking for a breast to nurse from. How freaking amazing. How utterly and unbelievably amazing...