Maia's first days

At first she was a little angry about being removed from her nice, comfy dwelling. She was probably also a little embarrassed about being caught with her conehead on.



Luckily, the conehead look disappeared pretty quickly.


Daddy was beaming with pride.


But even he couldn't rescue her from the dreaded first bath!


Ah, naptime at last.


Before we knew it, it was time to go home! Thanks to BBFK for the going-home outfit.

and.....

IT'S A GIRL!!!!

Miss Maia Ellin joined our family at 11:19 PM on Wednesday, February 20, 2008. She is healthy and we are all doing great. We just got home from the hospital yesterday. Here's what went down:

Tuesday night we went to the hospital for the scheduled induction. They were very busy so we just kind of hung out for a while. I had been having some contractions on and off but nothing too regular, and they were barely noticeable to me. Around 11 PM, they administered Cytotec, which is supposed to soften the cervix and can also possibly start contractions. Never mind that the FDA has never approved it for this use, but I digress... Tried to get some sleep.

Wednesday morning they checked me and found that I'd dilated a bit more--to about 3 cm. I was having contractions that I couldn't really feel. They decided to start pitocin. We called our doula, Julie, to come join us at the hospital. The first few hours on pitocin were pretty uneventful. The contractions were getting closer together and were pretty bearable. The biggest problem we were having was with the fetal heart monitor strapped to my belly: the baby's heart sounded great, but she was moving all over the place so we kept losing it and had to readjust the belt frequently. Not cool when you're trying to cope with contractions by using different positions. I rotated between sitting on the birth ball to getting on hands and knees, to standing up and holding onto J.

As the day went on, I lost track of time in terms of how far I progressed, etc. They didn't check me too often, which was nice. All I know is that things got steadily more painful and that I did start having thoughts along the lines of "why was it that I wanted to do this without pain meds?" But I didn't want to give up, and J was such an awesome partner that I just wanted to keep going. My water broke around 2 PM--while I was on my hands and knees on the bed! J was standing next to me and actually heard an audible "pop"! By late afternoon/early evening I think I had gotten to about 7 cm. Somewhere in there they put in an internal fetal monitor so that I could change positions more freely without worrying about losing track of the heartbeat. At that point I felt like it couldn't be much longer, and that's the thought that helped me keep going. Well, things didn't seem to speed up a whole lot, but by about 7 PM I was checked again and was told that I was at 9, almost there! I kept waiting for the urge to push to arrive, knowing that then we would be in the home stretch. But the only time I felt like my body wanted to push was during the contractions. Apparently that's not quite enough. Around 9 PM the other doctor came and checked me, and I was still at 9, but wasn't completely effaced.

Then came the reality check. The doctors told me that they thought the baby was lying transverse, which would explain why we had trouble keeping track of the heartbeat, and would also explain why I still wasn't 100% effaced despite being at 9 cm. They told me that a c-section was looking very likely. They offered to put in an epidural and give me a little time to see if that might help the baby move into the right position. I decided to go ahead and get the epi then--something I had really wanted to avoid but that was looking inevitable if I was likely to have to have surgery anyway.

Getting an epidural when you're having contractions that are 2 minutes apart is no fun, but the anesthesiologist was awesome and once the meds started working I was able to relax. About 40 minutes later I was checked again and nothing had changed, so we decided to go ahead with the surgery.

Before we knew it, our baby was delivered and I have to say I was very surprised and excited when they announced that it was a girl! She looked a little like a Klingon when she came out--her forehead was mashed into a cone shape because she was trying to come out forehead-first. We knew then that having the c-section was definitely the right decision since there would have been no easy way for her to make it out the way she was trying to go!

She was 7 lbs, 10 oz, and 21 inches long, and she is absolutely beautiful. Daddy and I are completely in love already.

Pictures to come soon!!

Got excited last night when I had a few solid hours of regular contractions, but sadly they disappeared while I slept.

Only 24 hours to get moving on my own--induction is scheduled for 7 PM Tuesday...

I see that I am obligated to post daily lest anyone should get the idea that this baby has finally decided to come out!

Today I thought I should treat myself to a relaxing pedicure. The last time I'd been in the salon was 3 weeks ago, when I told the staff that it would probably be my last pedicure for a while. Needless to say, they were a little surprised when I walked in today. Then, there was the joy of being able to respond "6 days ago" to the question "when are you due?".

I think I made the owners a little nervous--about every 15 minutes they looked over at me and said "Are you OK?!" I told them that while nothing would make me happier than to go into labor right then and there in the massaging pedicure chair, I was pretty sure they had nothing to worry about.

Last night we had pepperoni pizza for dinner and have been trying other "natural induction" methods at a rate that puts our honeymoon to shame. I started to get hopeful this morning when I had about 2 hours worth of regular contractions...but then they petered out and here I sit. I'm hoping it's a start though...

Still considering the castor oil method. Will see how I feel in the morning.

stork of the northeast?

I just spent 20 minutes staring at a gorgeous red-tailed hawk perched high in a tree in my backyard. I think he looked right at me once. I know we don't have storks up here, so, um, maybe this is the northern assistant of the stork? Just sayin'...

still cookin'...

So, went to the doctor this morning. Baby is doing fine, BUT...to my dismay they have scheduled me to go in Tuesday night for an induction. They were talking Sunday night, Monday night, but I said I wanted to wait as long as possible so they agreed to Tuesday night as long as I was willing to come in Monday for another non-stress test and amniotic fluid check.

So, please keep your fingers crossed that I go into labor on my own before then...I am trying all the tricks that I know of. I am even getting desperate enough that the castor oil may have to come into play over the weekend...

daily update

Yes, baby is still cooking. Last night I pigged out on a Chili's Awesome Blossom hoping it would stir things up in my abdomen enough to trigger labor. Instead I just ended up feeling nauseous from eating too much grease.

I suppose it was for the best, considering the current weather here in New England...we got a lot of snow last night and now we have freezing rain. Poor J shoveled our entire 400-foot driveway by himself last night just in case we might have to make a quick getaway.

Maybe we'll get a Valentine's baby??

to pass the time...

A few days ago, I was tagged by one of the coolest people I know. Since I have nothing better to do while I wait for this kid to pop, here goes:

1) Link to the person that tagged you.
2) Post the rules on your blog.
3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4) Tag at least three people at the end of your post and link to their blogs.
5) Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6) Let the fun begin!


1) In my lifetime, I have lived on 3 different continents (OK, so one was my semester abroad in Europe but I think that counts).

2) In grade school, a friend and I made a "Hindu Dot Collection" by punching holes in cardstock and coloring the punched-out pieces with markers. We kept them all in an envelope. We're still not sure why we did this.

3) The first presidential election in which I was eligible to vote was in 1992. I voted for Bush Senior. I've learned a lot since then.

4) I have a hard time applying mascara without opening my mouth really wide while I'm doing it.

5) I can't eat a raw tomato without gagging. (Exception: salsa).

6) My husband has a subscription to Playboy and I would be disappointed if he canceled it. They really do have good articles.

And now I'm going to be very naughty and not tag anyone. Consider it one of my final acts of "I'm pregnant, and I can do whatever I want!"

still waiting...

Reaching the end of the day here on my due date...and still no baby. I did have a pretty strong feeling that this one would be a little late, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.

It's freezing out and snowing, so maybe that means tonight's the night? We'll just have to wait and see...

make room for baby

We have several pets, but our cat Monty is pretty special. He's super affectionate, and due to his love of being held (and the fact that he will cry until you pick him up), we've been referring to him as our "practice baby". Apparently he's taken this moniker to heart, because I've been discovering him "trying out" pretty much every new piece of baby-related gear in the house.

Exhibit A: Monty in the crib


Exhibit B: Monty on the changing table


And, Exhibit C, captured this morning: Monty in the stroller


I hope he doesn't get too upset when baby comes and he finally realizes that we didn't buy all this stuff just to give him more places to curl up and nap!

(excuse the photo quality...took them with my cell phone!)

6 days and counting...

Last night I woke up to roll over (which happens about 6 times a night), and when I grabbed my body pillow to bring it around to the other side, it was soaking wet. I really thought my water had broken until I realized it was just sweat (OK, gross, but such are the joys of being pregnant). Oh well! I'd be pretty upset if my water broke in bed anyway. Our mattress is only a year old and I'm not sure just how waterproof the special mattress protector we got duped into buying really is.

This weekend was spent cleaning the house (as I mentioned previously I have been terrified that I will have to run to the hospital leaving a messy house behind). Some may classify these activities as "nesting." I think J would call it something else. Something along the lines of "the weekend my wife wouldn't crawl out of my ass until I sorted through the pile of mail I've been accumulating since 1998."

Now that the house is clean and things at work are winding down, I am definitely ready to get this show on the road, so to speak. Send some good labor vibes my way!