Welcome Chloe!

Welcome Chloe Mae-Lihn (beautiful blossoming lotus) to our family! She was born on November 10, 2008, and weighed 6lbs 14 oz, and 17 ½ inches long. This delivery was much different than when Clancy was born, at least in my perspective. No, we did not take any pictures of the ultimate Frisbee team for work, nor did the baby come in 2 ½ hours after we got to the hospital. Instead, when we woke up that morning, after I came back from working out (don’t laugh, I do work out occasionally now J), Laura said that she was having contractions about every three minutes. So we began to make arrangements to go to the hospital, and dropped Clancy off at Yeh Yeh and Mah Mah’s.

We arrived at the hospital about 9:45 am only to find out that the contractions ended abruptly. The nurse decided that we should walk around the hospital to try and get the contractions started again, which we did. After 1.5 hours of walking around the labor and delivery floor, the contractions started again, and the doctor decided to break the water. 3 hours later, Chloe was born at 3:36pm. It marked the start of my paid paternity leave, as well as double stroller – extended shopping cart using – two child caring lives, which Laura and I are thrilled to have. I am especially excited to be able to claim another dependent on our tax return. J

Chloe has been a pretty quiet and calm baby so far. Then again, I am a pretty sounds sleeper at night, and I am not as involved with the nightly feedings. This is not because I do not want to help, but just that I am not blessed with the ability to help. She is also a very good eater. Chloe weighed a whopping 7 lbs ½ oz today at the well child visit.

Clancy is also very excited to be a big brother. When we woke up the day after the baby was born, he kept pointing to our front door saying “Baby? Baby now? Play toys with Baby?” He loves giving Chloe hugs and kisses, and has been handling this very well.

Thanks for everyone’s love and support during our recovery. What?! I can’t recover too?!

Due Dates..A Cautionary Tale

So here we are bigger than a "parade of homes" at 37+ weeks--pretty good for someone who's had contractions since the 22 week mark, right? Right. How glad we are that the baby wasn't born that early, but after taking medication every 4 hours and being on bedrest (which I interpret differently than my doctor), it is kind of weird that I am still pregnant.

On the Tuesday before Halloween I was in active labor and admitted to labor and delivery for the blessed event, but this baby had everyone fooled. After staying at the hospital for 15+ hours waiting for this little one's arrival, my doctor reluctantly sent me home, but assured me that I'd be back within 24 hours to deliver. Not so, and a week and a half later I am wondering when this baby will decide to make its debut.

As the understatement of the day, I would like to say that I am pretty anxious for this baby to be born so my clothes will fit, we can save the rainforest by reducing our TP consumption, and I can stop second guessing every little bump I feel from the inside. In the last couple of weeks, I have gone from a heavily medicated, doctor-ordered couch potato/semi-sedentery lifestyle to a non-medicated, emotionally volatile, marathon walker (ok the last one is an exaggeration). Last weekend Andrew, Clancy, and I walked around the mall for 3 hours just trying to coax the baby out, and since then Clancy and I have gone on long daily walks through the downpour to the now-duckless duck pond. So far walking is NOT the answer. So since I am not to keen on drinking Castor oil, taking black Cohosh, or going into a deep state of meditation to commune with my baby about why it is not coming out (actually recommended by one online expert), I guess I will just have to do as every other pregnant lady does and wait it out. As my doctor said when I asked what I could do to induce labor, "If there were something you could do, noone would ever get to their due date."

The moral of this cautionary tale is...don't plan a timeframe for the birth of your child. If you just plan to have a baby within a year of the estimated due date, you'll probably not be disappointed. P.S. My doctor pledged to induce labor on my due date if the baby isn't born by then, so Nov.25th, here we come!