Archive for katie
the chunky monkey!
Posted by: | CommentsWell, it is documented in my last post that Roger guessed 7.2 pounds, and I said 7.3. We were both off by a LOT! Yesterday Katie weighed in at 7.11 pounds! That is almost 1 whole pound gained in 2 weeks since she was born! Usually exclusively breastfed babies are just getting back to their birth weight at the 2 week weigh in, so I was totally shocked when I heard that number!
Even after 2 years of nursing one baby, and 2 weeks into nursing a second, I am still absolutely amazed and humbled by what my body is capable of. Not only did my body know exactly what to do to make these new humans, but my body also knows exactly what these new humans need to survive and thrive after they have left the womb. I know that living creatures all around the world perform this miracle everyday, but it is still an awesome thing to witness first-hand.
acupuncture works!
Posted by: | CommentsWith Katie, I started having “pre-term labor” at 35 weeks. These often very intense contractions did not stop until the day I had her, at 40 weeks + 2 days. My midwife had suggested I consider acupuncture to help with some muscle/tendon pain that I had been having, and by the time I got in to see the acupuncturist I was 2 days late. She assumed I was there for an “induction”, and I decided whatever she might try would be fine–contractions every 3-5 minutes for most of the last 5 weeks was really taking its toll on my mind and body.
Long story short, I got to the acupuncturist office at 3pm, had 3 needles inserted by 3:10pm, and started having “active labor” by 3:20. At 4:14 we were in traffic, about 5 minutes from home, and I told Roger I needed to push! Roger had our midwife on the phone, who by this time was also on her way to our house, but she was stuck in traffic. She told Roger that he might have to deliver this baby. Now that the event is over, I really wish I could have seen the look on Roger’s face when she said that. At the time I was curled up in the back of the van, on the floor, dealing with labor. But can you imagine Roger’s reaction when he thought he would be delivering a baby!?
As it turned out, Katie was not born for another hour and a half, so there was plenty of time. But quite frankly, if I had not gotten out of the van when I did, I may have seriously had the baby in the van!
It was not until after the birth that Roger and my midwife discussed the details of the acupuncture visit. When I started active labor, I ask the acupuncturist to call Roger and get him back to the office (he had taken Julie out for a walk). She was so super duper calm, that when she said, “things are RAMPING up here”, he thought she said, “things are WRAPPING up here”, so he took his sweet time coming back! He says that when he got in the room, and saw me crying, he thought I just had “an emotional session”. Even the midwife said she didn’t sense the urgency in the acupuncturist’s voice. With me, she didn’t mince words. She looked me straight in the eye (and with a very calm voice) said, “I think you’re in active labor!”. And when Roger did finally get back to the office, she ask him how far the drive would be to get home, and when he said 15 minutes, she had a very concerned look on her face, and I think she said something like: try to hurry!
Of course, everything worked out perfectly. My midwife was here in plenty of time to get set up and my doula lives close by, and she was able to drop everything and be here within just a few minutes.
Someone has since ask me if it could have been a coincidence that I went into labor while having the acupuncture treatment, and my answer to that is that it was definitely NOT a coincidence. The acupuncturist noted a “change in my energy” when she checked my pulse before and after putting in the needles. At the time, I thought it was a little hokey-pokey that she noticed such a big difference, but since she produced results, now I’m a firm believer! My midwife says she’s never experienced anyone responding so quickly and positively to acupuncture treatment. And the acupuncturist told me that only one other time has a woman gone into active labor during treatment, and she ended up driving that woman to the hospital. So I guess my results were a little “unusual”, but the acupuncturist believes I was already “ripe and ready”, and that was just the little nudge I needed.
I admit to being somewhat of a skeptic at first. When we arrived at the office, we parked behind a car with a license plate frame that said, “acupuncture works!”. I told Roger, “ha! we’ll see about that!”. I also said that if it DID work, I would get one of those frames and put it on my car. Now I have to find one of those frames!
13 days old . . .
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In this picture, Katie is actually 9 days old…but today she is 13 days old. Tomorrow the midwife will be coming over to do an exam, including weighing her. Roger thinks she weighs 7.2. I’m guessing 7.3. She was 6.13 when she was born, and while it is very normal for exclusively breastfed babies to lose weight during the first two weeks, I didn’t have to wait on milk to come in because Julie continued nursing while I was pregnant (yes! you CAN do that!–I get that question a lot), and milk supply has been very good since giving birth to Katie.
Having two babies has been interesting so far. I am so incredibly grateful to have Roger home still while I recover from childbirth and get settled with the new baby. But I gotta say, it has still been totally exhausting and a ton of emotions all the time. I’m still in a lot of physical pain from the actual birth, which really bums me out because I’d love to be using this time with Roger home to do fun things as a family, but most days I don’t feel like doing anything! Katie is still in her newborn sleep, and I’m guessing she’ll wake up the day that Roger goes back to work–that’s exactly what happened with Julie!
Speaking of Julie, I’m happy to report that she seems to be enjoying her role as “big sister”. Ever since Katie was born, I always encourage Julie to come sit next to me and look at her sister, but when Katie was a few days old, I realized that Julie had not touched her yet. I believe she was waiting on permission to touch her, because that day I showed her how to gently rub her head and gently touch her hands and fingers, and ever since, she’s been doing that all the time. The other day she started giving Katie “eskimo kisses”, which is something I taught her a long time ago. Have you ever seen a 2 year old give a newborn an eskimo kiss? It’s absolutely adorable. The only problem so far is that she always wants to touch Katie’s eyes, which I don’t think would feel too good! So I have to keep a close eye on her when she’s near Katie’s face!
OK. Motherhood is calling (crying). Write more later…
Welcome Baby Katie!
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It is with great happiness and joy that we announce the arrival of our daughter Katie to our family. Katie was born at home as planned on Monday, September 15, 2008 weighing in at 6lbs 13oz. Katie is in excellent health and nursing like a real champ (just like her sister!). Julie calls her “See-See”.
The countdown is on!
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We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our new daughter, Katie, but not TOO anxious!!! I started having “pre-term labor” at 35 weeks. 37 weeks is considered “full-term” but of course closer to 40 weeks is considered more ideal because this is the time when the baby is building fat. We are also planning a home birth, and 37 weeks is the soonest I would be able to give birth at home (instead of a hospital). So…getting to 37 weeks was a really critical milestone, and I’m so excited that now I am at 38 weeks! However, it has not been an uneventful time! From 35 – 37 weeks, I was on bedrest because moving about seemed to bring on contractions. Once I was past the 37 week mark (last week), Roger returned to his day job full time, and I increased my activity level by a great deal. So far, there has been one incident, 3 days ago (37 1/2 weeks) when contractions were holding steady at 3 minutes apart for almost 2 hours. At around the 2nd hour, I decided to stop timing them, and keep myself busy. I completed some long overdue chores around the house, and spent some time playing with Julie. I had already put our midwife on “high-alert”, and called Roger to come home. It wasn’t long till the contractions fizzled out, and we went on with our day… It hasn’t been totally quiet since that time, but there hasn’t been enough activity to warrant another call to the midwife. At my last check-up, the midwife concluded that I will most likely progress to active labor “sooner rather than later”, meaning in the next few days or so.
A 3-D ultrasound is not something we would have done under ordinary circumstances. Our midwife requested that I have an independent diagnostic ultrasound done (outside of the ones I’ve had at Kaiser). We went to the person she recommended, and he surprised us by also showing us some 3-d images of Katie (I only requested a diagnostic ultrasound, which is the traditional 2-d black/white ultrasound). I am very happy and pleased to report that at the time of the ultrasound, Katie was measuring at around 5 1/2 pounds (perfect size for her gestational age!). Julie had IUGR because of a problem with the placenta, and doing these diagnostic ultrasounds is one way to determine if this problem is occuring again.
Seeing her face made this pregnancy seem very real to me, perhaps for the first time. Yes, morning sickness was very real for the first 6 months, and so was the 15 pounds that I lost during that time. I know it might sound crazy, but I’ve been so busy for the past 9 months with Julie, that I haven’t had time to focus on or even think about this pregnancy. Of course, I’ve spent countless hours every single day worrying about how I’m going to manage two kids by myself while Roger is at work. But beyond that, I haven’t had the luxury of day dreaming about motherhood like I did when I was pregnant with Julie.
So, all that being said, the countdown is on, and we should have a new baby girl soon!
Today we bought an anatomically correct baby girl doll for Julie. I plan to wrap the doll as a gift to Julie and let her open it after Katie’s birth. This way, she’ll have a baby to take care of just like Mama! These days, Julie has me and Roger putting diapers on ALL her little stuffed animals and dolls, and even other toys like balls, blocks, etc. She’s also into pointing out things that are similar or the same. For example, if she sees a picture of a chair, balloon, banana, etc. in a book, she’ll look around the room to find a similar object and point it out. So I think she’ll enjoy seeing her sister, and then looking at her baby doll. We’ll see though…she might not be interested at all in the doll, and only want to “care for” the real thing!
Today, Roger kept saying that this will probably be our “last weekend with Julie as an only child”. I think he was a little sad in a bitter sweet way. We are certainly very excited and looking forward to our new addition, but we also have the concern that we’ve heard from many other parents: “how will we possibly love another the way we do this one?” I am sure that our hearts will grow, and make room for another, and after a while, we probably won’t be able to imagine our life without them both!
Several people have advised us to enjoy this time with Julie before the new baby comes. But, how do you “enjoy this last bit of time with your only child”, when this is all you know? It’s kinda like telling expectant parents to “rest up before the baby comes”. That has to be the most ridiculous advise I’ve ever heard! First of all, there’s absolutely no way for expectant parents to anticipate how extremely exhausted they will be when the new baby comes. Not to mention…you can’t exactly store “the rest” in a bottle! So how do we “enjoy this last time with Julie as an only child” when this is all we’ve known for almost 2 years!?
