What a difference a week makes!

In the past 7 days, my world has forever changed. Charlotte was born on Jan 10th, at 9:15 in the evening. She's beautiful and absolutely perfect - but I may be a bit biased. I went into labor on my own, Praise God - and while my birth story isn't what I would have planned, the result is a blessing from God.

I've been poked, prodded, monitored, watched, panicked, given birth, thrown up, been thrown up on, been peed on, been pooped on, laughed, cried, fallen deeply in love - and been completely overwhelmed by the entire experience. How will I ever adjust to the demands of this new little person that I don't really understand, and how was this world ever enough without her in it?

A few hours old...

A day and a half old...

Home, where we've been waiting...

In the 60+ year old baby gown, passed down through Jason's family...

Damn the paparazzi.

Someone please explain to my Mommy and Daddy how to care for an infant... they're OBVIOUSLY clueless.

My lazy uterus.

What's a girl gotta do to get some contractions going around here?

Just a quick update - had a doctors appt yesterday (80% effaced, dilated b/w a 1-2, he didn't mention station but she was +1 before, and based on pelvic bone pain, she feels a bit lower). So we're making progress, but not enough. He set her eviction date as this Friday. :o(

Assuming she doesn't come before then, we check into the hospital Thursday night at 10pm. It's hard when you totally trust your doctor, and totally don't want to do what he wants you to do. Very conflicting. I need to really quit trying to figure out a way to control this situation, and let God be in charge of planning her birthday... and her birth, as it stands.

But in the meantime - lol - I had eggplant parm for dinner last night, I've eaten more pineapple than you could possibly imagine, I'm drinking Red Raspberry Leaf tea, etc etc. I asked my OB about Castor Oil... he said it wouldn't be pleasant, and he doesn't think it works, but that it wouldn't 'hurt me', per se. We bought a bottle, but I haven't done much more than stare at it, as of yet. I have several girlfriends who have been telling me all along "just take castor oil!" but the idea of being dehydrated at the start of labor doesn't sit well with me. I'm not convinced that it will result in anything better than what the pitocin will do, so we'll see.

Charloooootttttttttte.............. come out, come out, wherever you are!!!!

Will blogging stimulate labor????

At this point, I'll try anything!

Yeah - it's been forever. I know. Maybe now that I'm officially on maternity leave - with no baby - I'll get into the swing of this... maybe.

Charlotte is doing great! Just over 6lbs, according to the perinatologist's calculations - which is small for her gestation, but she's fantastically healthy. Now if she would just come out to play! She has so many friends waiting to meet her.... *sigh* And her mommy is really worn out, truth be told. I considered myself so well-prepared for the aches and pains of pregnancy, but it turned out that my chief problem is one that I'd never even known anyone else to have - carpal tunnel syndrome. It's getting increasingly severe - my right hand is at least 50% numb all of the time, and moves into fiery pain up through my shoulder several times a day, keeps me up at night. LAME! That's what I think about that. Leave it to me to get the one random thing that there's absolutely no cream, no chewable tablet, no therapy for at all. I just hope it goes away quickly after I deliver, or else it's going to be an issue with newborn care. :o(

Her room is done, though! The only thing left to do is to hang her window treatments, and I hope to get that accomplished in the next day or so. Everything is laundered, and folded, and ready - I just need a baby!

Here are some photos...





In non-Charlotte related news:

Quite a bit has happened in the lives of some of my sweet friends. My friend, Niki (whom I requested prayers for back when the hurricane was hitting her family in Jamaica) gave birth to her sweet little girl, Sydney, in October - at barely 26 weeks. You can read about her amazing journey here.

Then, in December, another girlfriend of mine - Ana - gave birth to her sweet little boy, Jayan, at only 24/25 weeks. You can read about him here.

Both of these babies are incredible fighters, and I can't imagine how challenging and scary it must be to be the mommy of someone so tiny. But both are proof of just how big our God is.

My dad is still in Iraq - he gets another vacation in March, then should be home for good in July. Keep him in your prayers, if you think about it... the stations he is training the PO's at are increasingly dangerous, and in rather remote areas. We were accustomed to hearing from him every 2-3 days, but now it's every 15-17.

Alright, I'm off to eat some pineapple.