More Family Photos

Sweet Pics

Our dear friend Stacey came to visit us and see Nora Lee. She is an incredible photographer and took these during her stay.

The First Few Months

The things that were challenging about being a new mom were not the things I expected to be the hardest. I was prepared not to get much sleep and quite worried about it actually. (I am not fun to be around while tired or hungry - guess I'll never be on Survivor.) But sleeping has never been a problem. Nora Lee slept in bed with us which was wonderful on so many levels. In the first month or so she slept on my chest. For a while I was always on the couch or in bed with her on my chest sleeping. At night I would put two pillows on either side of me to support my arms and we just slept that way. When she awoke and needed nursing we were already in the right position. This was amazing because it barely required me waking up. As a result, I have always been well rested.

When she got a little bigger I began sleeping with her beside me and would nurse her by laying on my side with our bellies touching. She would just latch on during the night when hungry and then we would both fall back to sleep. We put a guard rail on the side of the bed so that she couldn't fall out.

Matt was nervous about this plan. He worried about squishing her in the night. As the months went on he realized that if he put a pillow between him and her he felt secure and she just got bigger and more durable and we were able to all sleep soundly together. I must say that our queen size bed was feeling a bit small though!

We have all been attached to "the family bed" because there is nothing quite like snuggling all night with the ones you love. Matt and I awaken each morning to a giggling, smiling baby girl. It's the best. A few nights ago we became aware that Nora Lee may not be sleeping as well as she could be in bed with us. She started wiggling and couldn't get comfortable. We put her in her crib to sleep and she passed right out. So the last several nights she has slept all night in her crib and seems to be doing well. I was worried about missing her in bed but it is nice to have a little more room to myself :) She is still waking every few hours to nurse and it does require me getting out of bed and going into her room but I think soon she won't need to eat as often and I will get more concentrated sleep.

Anyway, so the sleep things has been good. However, I was surprised how tired and sore I was after giving birth. My body felt very weak and tender. Even sitting down hurt. It seems like a no-brainer when something so big comes out of you but I hadn't heard anyone talk about it and hadn't thought it through to be frank. During the first few weeks all I could do was move from the bed to the couch, eat, nurse (more on that in a second) and sleep. I was still developing feelings for Nora Lee. Matt was connected from the first moment but I experienced more of a falling in love rather than a love at first sight.

Slowly, my strength recovered and I started to get to know my little one. How sweet that falling in love was.

Once everything healed, the hardest thing was nursing. When I was pregnant I was told about nursing consultants, nursing classes, support groups, and I thought what the heck is this? Just stick the baby on your boob and feed her, how hard can it be? Well, it was hard. And it did hurt. At the beginning I dreaded (and was scared to be honest) every time Nora was hungry. I dreaded the pain and wondered when it would get better. After 2 months or so it felt better and breastfeeding has gone smoothly (mostly) since.

I was really grateful to have those first three months to be home, figure out motherhood, rest, and do whatever felt right for Nora Lee and I. The world looked different to me after having a child and I wasn't ready to go out into it for a while. After that first trimester I began to get interested again in the outside world and looked forward to getting my body back in shape and being around other people and introducing them to my new love, Nora Lee.

Back To The Beginning

According to an ultrasound I had done in my 18th week of pregnancy Nora Lee was due on December 9, 2006. I had a feeling she would come early and knew once December 1st hit it was all fair game. Matt and I were planning a home birth and I pictured laboring surrounded by Christmas lights and holiday decorations.

Right after eating our Thanksgiving turkey we went home to begin preparing the house for the arrival of our own little turkey. We were ready. The plan was to have Matt's mom, my mom, my best friend Lena, and the midwives at our home for the birth. Each day that rolled by with no baby surprised me. I was sure she would come any minute...any minute now...hello...

Our family is loaded with Sagittarians and so we were not at all surprised that Nora Lee would be a Sag as well. As each family member's birthday passed we continued to wonder whose birthday would be shared with Nora. And then it was the due date - December 9th. Then it was the 10th, the 11th, the 12th. Surely she would be here any moment. Christmas came and went - I couldn't believe it. She was no longer going to be a Sagittarian but a Capricorn.

I started to go a bit crazy I must admit. I was huge and SO ready to have this baby and I didn't want to wait one more second. I cried to my midwives and actually had the belief that she may not come. Maybe this whole thing was just a cruel joke and she wouldn't come out. The midwives assured me that in all their years of experience, a baby had never not come. I wasn't so sure.

I must say that looking back now, the timing could not have been more perfect. I spent the days of Decmeber eating home cooking, playing board games with my family and soaking in the love.

Matt's parents who had flown in for Christmas and to be here for the birth had to go back home to Orlando. We packed up the Christmas decorations and waited some more.

Now normally a doctor would have induced labor using medication but I felt no need to induce as long as both Nora and I were doing well. One week after the due date I began going to visit my "back up doctor". He was the one who would be delivering Nora Lee if there were any complications and I needed to be in a hospital instead of at home. He did a biophysical profile on Nora and I to make sure there were no signs of distress. I continued to go to him every few days. Things always looked good but as the days went on he began to get a little nervous.

On December 29th - 20 days after the due date - we began to try some natural ways to encourage Nora Lee to come. I knew that one way of inducing labor was through taking Castor oil. I was not at all excited by this plan because I knew that the typical protocol was to take the Castor oil, begin vomiting and having diarrhea, and then go into labor. This didn't sound appealing to me. I took blue cohash and my midwives gave me 12 hours to take the herb and see if it did the trick. Nothing happened. I had until 10pm that night before I had to begin the dreaded Castor oil. That evening an incredible wind began. It was so strong trees were falling down in my neighborhood and soon the power went out.

I called my midwives to ask about taking the Castor oil that evening because I had no power to heat my home, water, or lights. This created a tricky situation for having a home birth especially since I planned to deliver Nora Lee in a hot water tub.

I was advised to sleep through the night and see if the power came on in the morning. I awoke at 10am with no power. On the midwives advice I began taking Castor oil and took three doses throughout the day. To my delight, I had no nausea but I did get a delightful case of diarrhea. And still, no labor. I was assured that if I waited another night and took a final does of Castor oil the following day that labor would begin. That evening I decided to have an acupuncturist come to my home to give me a treatment. About 30 minutes after she left labor began.

The power was back on again and I was cozy at home with Matt, Lena, and my mom. The contractions began rather quickly and were very close together from the beginning. Lena and mom were nervous and really wanted to call the midwives but Matt and I knew that the labor was not intense enough yet. At some point Alex was called and she came over. When she arrived she was surprised how far along I was and checked to see how dilated I was. When she removed her hand my water broke everywhere. The women began setting up the hot water tub in my bedroom. Each person took turns letting me rest on them and helping me to labor.
Once my water broke the pain was much more intense. I remember feeling drugged and kind of floaty. I sort of went to another place.

After about five hours Alex took me into the bathroom. The sensation inside me was really intense and I wanted to escape from the pain. She held my hand and looked deeply into my eyes. She encouraged me to sink down into the pain and to let Nora Lee's head open me up. I remember having the thought that there was no way out of this except through. I wanted to tense up but I knew that it wouldn't help. I made the decision to take a chance and try it. On the next contraction I completely let my body relax into it. Instead of trying to escape the pain I sat right into it. It was the most amazing experience. In that moment, my body opened up and I began to push. Alex said, "Are you pushing?" And I told her that I had to. She said "Wait, get off the toilet and into the tub!" So she helped me back into my bedroom where a 5 foot, circular tub had been set up. I got inside and was surprised how hot it was. (In order to give birth in the water the water needs to be the same temperature as your body. This makes the transition for the baby as if she is still in the amniotic sack and she doesn't take a breath until her body feels the cooler temperature of the air. This allows the baby to be under the water for minutes if needed without taking in air.)

Matt asked me if I wanted him to get in the tub with me, I think I said "I don't care I just want you close!" He was already in his swimsuit and hopped in with me. I sat in his arms as if he were a chair and I held onto his fingers while I braced myself with my feet against the opposite side of the tub. I immediately began pushing when my body said to push. My mom and Lena were watching from the bed and the three midwives were in front of me outside of the tub. My midwives, Alex, Elizabeth, and Beth were incredible. One was in charge of working with me, one was in charge of the baby, and one was in charge of monitoring my heartbeat and Nora's heartbeat. Elizabeth walked me through each sensation so that I always knew what was happening. When my body said to push I pushed as hard as I could - I gave it everything. Then when my body said to stop, I stopped. This meant having Nora Lee's head halfway inside me and halfway outside at one point. Then her whole head was out and I could look down and see her dark hair. Then on the next contraction I pushed her whole body out. Alex caught her and brought her to the surface.

At first Nora didn't move. She didn't breathe or open her eyes. We all looked at her, wondering. Then Elizabeth said, "Oh my god, she's sleeping!" Nora then let out a little squeak and we were all relieved. They put her on my chest and I just looked at her. She reached out and grabbed Matt's finger and he was a goner. I didn't really feel anything except exhausted. I didn't have any emotions really. I was just numb. This surprised me but it was okay.

I was bleeding quite a bit and needed some treatment. The midwives took me to the bathroom and Nora Lee lay on Matt's chest in bed. They snuggled for about 45 minutes while I was in the bathroom.

I began to faint from the blood loss so I was given two shots of petocin to cause my uterus to contract and stop the bleeding. I lay on the floor for a few minutes and was then able to be cleaned up and helped to bed.

As I got into bed with my new little family I realized that I was starving! It was 5am and I hadn't eaten in so long. All I wanted to eat was blueberry pancakes. My darling Lena made pancakes for everyone and then we all went to sleep. An hour later the midwives got up to give Nora an exam. And then, we were parents...

Here We Go...

Nora Lee is going to be seven months old in a few days and I am finally ready to begin the official documentation of this tiny beauty. I have so much to share and am doing this to remember all of the precious phases and to share them with all of the people I love. I'll start where she is now and will post later about earlier (and later) stages.

Nora Lee is a total and complete joy. We had no idea what an incredible experience parenthood would be. We heard that it was wonderful but didn't know it would be THIS wonderful! Matt and I have a goal each day to make her laugh as much as possible. Its like a drug. She looks up with her big blue eyes and then gives this little giggle and grin and we're toast.

We call her "The Chicken". She got her nickname when she was still in my belly and we saw her during an ultrasound at about 7 months. She had these little chicken legs and I mentioned that I had a chicken growing in my belly and that's what she's been ever since. Two weeks ago she went in for a check-up and the doctor asked if she was responding to her name. We guiltily looked at one another and said "no". When we left the office we decided that we better start calling her Nora Lee sometimes or she will never know anything other than "Chicken".

She has two teeth on the bottom and two front top teeth are on the way. She began teething around 4 months and had quite a hard time with it. These last two teeth don't seem to be troubling her the same way -thank goodness.

Things have changed a lot in the last week. She can't crawl exactly but she can get around wherever she chooses by sliding her body across the floor (this goes better on hardwood floors than carpet). She is very strong and is determined to get where she is going! She continues to stop throughout the day to do down dog (for those of you yogis) in an attempt to stand up. I feel like she may walk before officially crawling.

Nora Lee is big into tags and tiny tiny tails on stuffed animals. Anything she finds, blankets, washclothes, clothing, stuffed animals, she goes right away for the little tag and sucks on it. Its the funniest thing.

The other day Matt and Nora were in bed together dosing when she let out the biggest fart and scared herself half to death - she startled then fell back to sleep again.

We have been giving her some food - mashed zucchini, banana, carrots, green beans, canalope, etc. She makes the most hilarious faces as if she is eating something horrid and then asks for more.

We have been teaching her a bit of sign language but so far have not gotten a response. I'm curious to see how it goes.

Her anthem at the moment is:

"Little tiny little chicken
Little tiny little girl (Oh baby)
Little tiny little
Sweet tiny chicken
You're the sweetest little chicken
in the world"

I can't beleive she is seven months old. It feels like I was just pregnant. I am also aware that my life is going to change in incredible ways as she gets more mobile. Its hard to keep up even now!

Well, that's the latest.

Love,
Sara Jean