Jacuzzi

After the closing on my house a few years ago, I stopped by the former owner's new place to pick up the keys.

He gave me a tour of his new place, and we chatted along the way. When we reached the backyard, he mentioned that his daughter, who had just received a new room with new furniture, now wanted a hot tub. "Wow," I said. "Are you gonna get her one?"

He replied, "You obviously don't have a little girl."

I totally get it.

One Month

Since this is the first time I've gotten around to posting (sorry folks, but it's very hard to type with a baby suctioned onto such a very delicate area of my body!) I feel like I owe you guys some fantastically inspiring and well written account of my experiences thus far. Alas, my brain has not fully recovered from pregnancy, so you'll all have to settle for some off-the-cuff ramblings.

I always imagined what the scene would look like when I went into labor. I'd be calm, laid back, almost aloof. Brad most likely would look like he was on fast-forward, unless, of course, I went into labor in the middle of the night, in which case I would probably have to yell "Brad-it's time!" several times before it would actually register and keep him from rolling back over to go back to sleep. I spent most of my pregnancy hoping that time didn't come too soon. I was very careful never to say "I can't wait" because there was always a very real chance that she would slip out a little too early. I spent 9 months trying to keep her in, and after a minor surgery and weekly injections to that effect, imagine my surprise when I found myself being induced a week before my due date.

I went to the doctor for my weekly check-up. I felt fine, but when the nurse took my blood pressure, we knew there might be an issue. At 160/100 (120/80 is normal) I was dangerously high, and after checking my urine, was showing signs of preeclampsia. Dr. Caminiti came in, examined me, and then said "well, it may be time to have this baby." I had actually made a joke when I left work that day about going to the doctor, finding out I had dilated further, and being sent to the hospital. Ha Ha....

That night was a breeze. Technically my induction started that night when they gave me meds to make me thin out an dilate, but the only painful part that night was sharing a room with a sleep talking roommate who had to keep her urine chilled in a plastic bucket in our bathroom. The next morning they decided I was far enough along to move to the actual Labor and Delivery room (private, thank G-d.) They started giving me Pitocin at about 8am, and broke my water soon after. My Dad and Brad's Dad were hanging out the whole time, while I became more and more uncomfortable. This is where things become kinda fuzzy for me. At some point, I moved from discomfort into pain, and from that time until I got my epidural, things almost blacked out for me. I tried to go natural. I'd always kept the possibility open that I may have an epidural, but wanted to see how far I could go on my own. The problem was, the thing they don't tell you in birthing class when they tell you how to breath, how to coach and time and count, is that apparently you don't always have a strong, 1 minute long contraction.

I was lead to believe that a contraction would start, rise to a peak at mid-point, and then taper off. Then I'd get to take a "cleansing breath" and rest for 2-3 minutes. I did NOT know that instead, I'd have 7 contractions in a row, one on top of another, without my 2 minute rest. I did not know that I'd go from a 3 on the smiley face pain scale to a 10 in 30 minutes. I did not know that I'd be expected to have casual conversation with the nurse while this was happening. I also did not know that I'd already dilated to 6 by the time my doctor showed up, checked me and said "If you want an epidural, you'd better get it now."

So I did. It took the nurse anesthetist 45 minutes and about 3 stabs at my spine to place the damn thing (my labor nurse actually looked at her at one point and said "are you new?") but I felt better right away, and stayed comfortable for a few hours until, basically, I was crossing my legs waiting for Dr. Egner to get back and deliver me. When she got there, the nurse reminded her that I'd rather tear than have an episiotomy, Dr. Egner yelled "NO!" at me, and then told me to push. No pomp and circumstance, just "lets get this baby out", which was great- I love my Doctor! I pushed for 45 minutes, which didn't hurt at all. I didn't scream, grunt or cuss. I watched my baby being born in the mirror above my bed, and the doctor put wet, warm and surprisingly clean, little Lilian on my chest while Brad cut the cord. She cried right away, but quieted down as I held her and just looked around at her new world. It's true when they say: as soon as that little baby is put in your arms, you forget all about the trouble and the pain.

So, I can't believe it, but it has already been one wonderful month in the life of Lilian Penelope Mahler! Today was her 1 month check-up, and I'm happy to report all is well. (Though after receiving her 2nd vaccination, Miss Lilian may disagree!) Lily is packing on the pounds like a champ- she's up to 8 lbs, 8oz and has grown 2 inches to 21.25". That puts some of my fears to rest- apparently there IS a reason she sometimes wants to stay attached to me around the clock-she actually needs that food to grow!

So she's eating, we're actually sleeping, and though my house is a disaster and her room is still in shambles, though I didn't get to have that "oh my G-d my water just broke", 4 am "honey it's time" moment, things couldn't be better.

Getting any sleep?

"Feed me, Seymour. Feed me all night long!" - Audrey II

Probably the most common question I've been asked since Lily was born has been, "Are you getting any sleep?"

My answer ...
While we were in the hospital: "Yeah, I can pretty much sleep anywhere, and the fold-out chair is OK."
After a week at home: "I'm used to weird sleep schedules from my work; I can handle sleeping two hours, waking up for an hour and sleeping again. It's cumulative, it's cool."
After last night: "mmmmmrph. No."

Jess and I usually (meaning over the past two weeks of our parenthood) have had to wake Lily for her night feedings; she'd otherwise just keep on sleeping. That arrangement has made things easy on us, and has lulled us into a false sense of security.

Last night, Lily woke up at 10 p.m on her own, and refused to sleep again until 6 a.m. She just wanted to eat and eat and eat...and also to eat. Consuming was a high priority for her, as well. It went down like this: Jess fed Lily and put her down as usual. She lay there making quiet noises for a little while, escalating quickly into full-blown crying. I would get up, check/change her diaper (she had some pretty good ones, actually), and walk around rocking her, trying to soothe her to sleep. She would just cry and root, looking for Mom's diner (so to speak). I always ended up having to hand her to her increasingly bleary-eyed mother, who would feed her for another hour or so. And then it repeated, with no sleep in between. To keep ourselves going, we watched Stranger than Fiction (which I just snagged from Amazon for like $3 - totally worth it, if only for the motion graphics), Superbad, and a variety of shitty TV.

This was our first experience with the "up-all-night-with-baby" thing. It was also the longest stretch of time Lily has been awake since she's been out-utero (or is it ex-utero? you know what I'm saying). We're not sure if it was due to her being overstimulated by my family's weekend visit including her first trip to a restaurant (Biagio's in Clifton) and meeting her cousins Eli and Abi.

Maybe she wanted to see how Stranger than Fiction would end.

She pooped today!

I used to think of poop as just an opportunity for some satisfying reading time. I often enjoyed it as a comedy prop as well. Today, I celebrated it as an event as I heard it from 5 feet away: a loud, wet "splorp" in my daughter Lily's diaper. And some leaking out the back, onto her onesie.

Upon our discharge from the hospital, Jess and I had received a paper listing the conditions under which we should call the pediatrician. According to the list, Lily should be makin' fudge at least 3 times per day. This morning marked the beginning of the third day since her last dookie.

So we called the pediatrician yesterday who told us that, as long as Lily was eating, making wet diapers, and was in good spirits there's nothing to worry about.

So today she pooped, and we cheered. I guess they were right when they said my life would change with the birth of my daughter.

hehehe.. splorp.