She's here!

Rosalie Elisabeth Jeanne was brought into the world on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 8:15pm. She was 6lbs 15oz, 20 inches long.

I'd waited the mandatory week, then on Tuesday morning went in to be induced. Contractions started around 9:00 that evening, and my water broke at 10:30 or so. I went into the hospital, but through the night my contractions became fewer and farther between. I actually managed to get like, 3 1/2 hours of sleep with few interruptions. Contractions were no stronger the next morning, so they put me on Oxytocin around 1:00pm.

Things got pretty intense, and around 6:00 or later I opted for the epidural. It was great. However, around 7:45 the nurses told me that that Rosa's heartbeat was dipping periodically. They didn't know why that was, but they decided they shouldn't risk anything, and if she was in stress, they had to get her out of the birth canal. I was up for anything that would help me meet my baby. By 8:00 Phil was wearing scrubs and they were wheeling me into the OR for an emergency C-section.

8:15 I heard from behind the curtain "You've got a girl!"

It was worth it.

D Day

Today is November 10th. Which is funny because it feels just like any other morning.... but I've been talking about this day for months. Every time someone asked "When are you due?" which became a very common question, this day was the answer.

The question now is, is this day the answer?

I doubt it.

However, we're going to do our best. Greasy Chinese food, getting my membranes stripped, some Phil and Me time, and a reflexology treatment.

Phil's nervous to be a dad, but he wants to meet the baby so much! I'm feeling pretty good about the whole thing, oddly enough. I thought I'd be more nervous. I do have that nervous tummy feeling that I get before all big events... I woke up like four times last night and just looked at the clock.

Plus I dreamed that when I went in to the doctor's she wanted me to sit over this seat with a big bucket on one end, and she left the door open.... the doctor in the dream wasn't actually mine, so that's nice. I remember thinking it was all very unprofessional.

I suppose D Day is not the most respectful euphemism, but it was what popped into my head. Actually, I think there's some poetry to having my baby right around remembrance day... new life in the wake of so much loss.

We'll see how the day goes.... So hard to believe that when the week is out I'll be a mom, one way or another (they'll induce on the 17th)

Welcome to the world little one... we're all waiting for you.

Welcome to the planet
Welcome to existence
Everyone's here
Everybody's watching you now
Everybody waits for you now
What happens next


I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
Like today never happened before

(Switchfoot)

So CLOSE!

So I'm less than a week away, five days to be exact.

Five is a good number, cuz it's one fifth of twenty-five. :)

My back is a little sore, but I'm doing well, no foot swelling, only a couple crampy feelings here and there. Heartburn happens rarely, although when it does it sucks and keeps me up for hours in the night.

We've run into complications with the baby room floor.... we're going to have to scrape a whole bunch of foam up off if it before we can put down the laminate. Someone glued the stuff down over every inch, and it's all rotted and gross so there's no leaving it in.

by "we" I mean Phil, he's been doing so much! He's such a wonderful man. He painted the walls yellow and we sponged the far wall with our new and improved green. Ma (Lee's mom) made us curtains from a gorgeous material we picked up, and she made a duvet cover for us and a couple blankets from it all.

We have some geckos to climb the walls, and we're thinking of making vines over the playpen so it's like a really huge, cool mobile. That'll be finishing touches for after.

First there's the daunting task of scraping the floor... :( Then we have to install the laminate hardwood. The good news is it's only $10/box at the ReStore, and they've got some pretty nice stuff!

Phil is so ready for this baby to come out, he's talking to it all the time and keeps telling it to hurry. :) The baby seems content, moving a little less, but still active and alert... I'm running out of room though, my belly is stretched tight! I'm definitely ready too.

We're looking forward to Tuesday when the stripping of the membranes will happen, and then I'm going in for a foot massage and my boss is going to do some reflexology pressure points stuff and see if she can help the process along... :D That'll be so great!

I'm putting together a call list for when I go into labour and another for after the baby comes... if you're reading this and you wanna know at either of those points, leave me a quick comment.

I'm getting so excited! Five days to go... at least until the week of waiting begins :)