our little blessings

Labor Story

For those that may be interested, here is my labor story for Abbie... we'll see how far I get writing it until I have a little one that needs to eat!

It started on Sunday evening, February 28th when I managed to get the stomach flu. Miriam had it a few days before me, so inevitably I got it, too. As miserable as the flu is by itself, it's so much worse when you are nine months pregnant! So, because I had the flu, Matt and I decided it would be best to bring Miriam over to her grandparents for a few days to allow me some time to rest. Now we realize that it was also giving me time to rest before our baby came! Finally, by Wednesday, I was starting to feel a little better. I still really hadn't eaten much since Sunday, however. But that night, I was having trouble sleeping so I decided to try and sleep on the couch in order to give Matt some rest. I was able to sleep on and off throughout the night but woke up probably every hour or so to some sort of pain in my stomach (which I now realize were probably contractions). That morning, I realized I was having contractions stronger than I had felt them throughout the pregnancy. Matt went off to work and I let him know I was going to start timing them... just to make sure it wasn't labor. Well, sure enough, I was timing them at about five minutes apart and they kept getting stronger. I had started timing at about 9:00 and called Matt just before 10:00 to tell him he better come home. I called up to the birth center and they told me to come in (I was already at 4 cm the previous day at my doctor's appointment, so they figured I should go). By the time we got everything together and situated in the van, we headed to the hospital. We had called Matt's parents and asked them to meet us at the hospital to get Miriam. When we arrived at the hospital, we stopped in admitting and then headed upstairs. The regular delivery rooms were all full, so I had to go into one of the other rooms in the birth center. My regular doctor wasn't there, but one of the other doctors was about to head back to the clinic and decided to quick check me before she left. Well, sure enough, I was already at 8 cm! That was around 11:30 am. By around noon, they decided to break my water because they figured I would be complete at that point. That seemed to do the trick... and one push later (which was actually four minutes because the cord was around her neck), Abbie was born! I am so thankful that everything went so smoothly -and quickly! I keep telling people that I got the natural childbirth I wasn't planning for at all! Miriam was even able to stay in the waiting room with Matt's step-mom and came to see Abbie shortly after she was born. She was delighted to meet her sister!

meet Abbie

Abigail Jacqueline (Abbie) joined our family on March 4 at 12:14 pm. She was 6 lbs. 13 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long. We are so thrilled to be a family of four! Miriam is enjoying her little sister (but gets very concerned when she hears her cry). We are all learning new routines and adjusting to all the changes a baby brings to a family. I will post more about the details of labor and our first few days home, but in the mean time... here are some pictures:

let's pretend

One of the things I have enjoyed the most about Miriam as she is getting older is her ability to play "pretend." She has such an imagination and comes up with the most creative ways to play with the most random "toys." Sometimes it's a paper cup with a few marbles and a pencil to stir that suddenly turns into a bowl of soup that she's mixing up. Or, it's a blanket and some Bingo chips (that I'm not even sure where we got from) that is a garden of vegetables. And then there's all the stuffed animals that turn into babies and need to be fed, changed and rocked constantly.

Here's an example from last week... I was busy cooking dinner and quite pleased that Miriam was entertaining herself, even though I wasn't quite sure what she was doing. Then I looked at the table and here is what I saw:

And everything had a purpose! Her stool was a changing table and she was changing diapers on her bears. I believe the spray bottle was used to wipe them and the blankie was used to wrap them up. She used the little tupperware container to fill up with water (I'm not sure what that was for... I just saw her carry it over to a cupboard, pretend to turn a sink on and bring it back to the table). Clearly, this little girl is ready to be a big sister! She's going to be a great helper. In the mean time, I will continue enjoying these little moments of "pretend" -whatever she comes up with to use next time.