Our Little Pumpkin

I wanted to go to the pumpkin patch and take a bunch of fun pictures (the colors are great for scrapbooking) but the weather didn't cooperate and she is too young to have any fun. So my second thought that would be super cute was to carve out a pumpkin and place her in it. The little hiccup in my plan was that Claire hated it. I am not sure if it was the texture of the pumpkin or if she was just crabby but she wasn't having any part of it. Maybe next year :)

We have to give special thanks to Grandma Colleen for our adorable outfit!

1 month down

We made it to the 1 month mark safe and sound. Just 1140 more to go, she would be 95 and I figured that would be a good age for me to stop worrying. I may be long gone but I will still be her mommy :)

This last month has been a blur and has gone by too quickly. We have had lots of sleepless nights, dirty diapers and tears, mainly hers and but also a few of mine. My sleep deprivation is compounded because of my milk supply being low. We have seen the lactation consultant on a weekly basis for help and ideas. Per their recommendations we have tried taking herbal supplements and breast feeding, followed by a supplement bottle with formula then pumping every 3 hours. This whole process takes about a hour and half giving me just about a hour or so to sleep. Just this last week we switched to a prescription to increase the supply and dropped the pumping. It has helped a little on both fronts, more milk and more sleep. I am grateful for both! At this point the thought is at least she is getting some breast milk and some is better than none.

Claire caught her first cold. It ended up being fairly mild, just a runny nose and was slightly congested. Dave become a pro a the nasal aspirator (nose sucker thingy). With her being so young other than using it and the humidifier there isn't much more we can do. I know it isn't realistic but hopefully all her colds will go that smooth.

Oddly she is losing her hair on the top of her head and looks like a little old man. If the hair on the side was long enough we could do a comb over! I was expecting for her to lose it in the back or all over but just the top was surprising. Thank goodness we had our photo shoot with Danielle before it started falling out.

Many thanks to our friends and family for the visits, meals and help. We appreciate your love, friendships and generosity!

Claire at 2 weeks (taken 09/25/09)

YEAH!! Claire's here!

(You'll have to forgive me in the delay in getting our blog updated but it has been a busy two weeks)

The funny thing is that as I was writing my previous blog I was having contractions. Now that in itself is no big deal since I had been having them for over two weeks, but they did start becoming more intense and regular. So after they had met the 511 rule (5 minutes apart, lasting for 1 minute for 1 hour) I woke up Dave at around 2:30 am and off to the hospital we went.

We arrived to a full house, yep the hospital was completely full. In fact all the birthing centers were full. Our nurse told us that OHSU and Legacy called asking if they could send delivering mothers over to Willamette Falls. I guess 09/09/09 was a popular day! We hung out in the admin room until 9 am at which point I was dilated to 5 centimeters and totally ready for an epidural, since I was exhausted being up since 7 am the previous morning and really wanted to sleep.

My mom showed up around 11 am right as I was receiving my epidural, so unfortunately she arrived just in time to watch me sleep :) Around 2 pm the midwife decided we should try to the regulate my contractions to push Claire down since she still hadn't "dropped" and was still sitting sideways. I didn't mind one bit, considering I couldn't feel a thing! Christy arrived shortly after 5 pm and is nice enough to go to our home a feed our poor dogs. They got kicked out of bed in the middle of the night and skipped breakfast. I can only imagine how confused and hungry they must have been.

Next thing I know it is 6 pm, I am dilated to 10 centimeters and time to push. Everything is going as planned, my pushes are making progress in moving Claire down and all is well. I really have no idea what time it started but I begin having a pain in my right side. Keep in mind that I have had an epidural and shouldn't be feeling anything below the my rib cage, but the pain keeps getting more and more intense. I am crying and shaking uncontrollably and around 8:30 pm the midwife calls in the doctor for a consultation since I am not able to push through the pain and Claire is showing signs of distress with each contractions. It is decided to up my epidural and use a vacuum to see if we can get Claire out with the next two contractions otherwise a c-section is the best course of action.

It all happened in a matter of minutes. The bed was broken down, Dave was given scrubs and I was wheeled to the operating room. At 8:53 pm (less than 15 minutes later) Claire arrives weighing 6 lbs 8 oz and 20 inches long!

God blessed us with a healthy, beautiful baby girl!!

The waiting game

It has been a frustrating couple weeks around the Hicks house as we anxiously await Claire's arrival. Our original due date was set for September 15th, but due to several ultrasounds saying she was going to be a "big" baby they moved it up to August 30th. That date came and went with little activity, just sporadic contractions. An appointment with my midwife that week indicated I was 2 centimeters dilated and 30% effaced with the ultrasound saying she wasn't "big" after all and estimated weight of 6.5 lbs. Needless to say I was quite disappointed.

Sleeping has been difficult due to my entire body hurting and the need to get up to go to the restroom every hour or so. I was mentally prepared for the end of August and now we are looking at mid September..... uggg! Even Dave is getting antsy, talking to Claire through my belly that is time to come out :)

My appointment this week sent me home in tears. Still only 2 centimeters dilated but now 80% effaced. My midwife said that I am not technically overdue until 41 weeks at which point we would talk about our options. So taking matters into my own hands I have tried several ways of inducing labor naturally with no success. Everything from walking, sex (yeah that is fun at 39 weeks pregnant), acupuncture, nipple stimulation (not fun, just left me sore) and leaving the last resort of Castor Oil, which I purchased today but am a bit chicken to take it.

Our friends and family have been great. They check in on me and see how I am feeling and if Claire has decided to grace us with her presence yet. Well it started out sweet and nice to feel loved but now I am just annoyed. My standard response is no changes, no baby, I feel fine. But really I want to scream don't you think if I went into labor and Claire was born we would let everyone know??

Thank you for letting me vent, sorry it is so negative. I am just so ready to be done with this stage and move to the next one. The bottom line is it is God's hands and I need to patient, something he has been trying to teach me for years. Maybe now I will finally learn my lesson.

Maternity Photos

We decided (okay

I decided) it

would be fun to get professional maternity photos done!! It was nerve racking and exciting at the same time. It isn't every day that you spend the afternoon with your enormous belly hanging out while someone is taking photos. Danielle has a great eye, creative ideas and made me feel totally at ease. You can see some of our photos along with her other work on her blog Sweet Country Photography.

http://sweetcountryphotography.blogspot.com/2009/08/patience-is-virtue.html

BBQ/Baby Shower

We had our first of two BBQ/Baby Showers last Saturday. It was fun, great to see everyone and really hot outside! Considering it was 10 degrees cooler than early in the week I really shouldn't complain but the 95 degrees had everyone sweating. Not to mention my feet, legs, arms, face.... basically my whole body was terribly swollen do to retaining water. Gotta love it!

It was at our home and thankfully Christy, Tammy, Tammie and Dave took charge and I was under strict instructions to do nothing, they had it covered. Our friends are very generous and gave us lots gifts and all the outfits are super cute. We are grateful for their thoughtfulness, generosity and for their friendships!

The last one is tomorrow and it is for our families. Alan & Alicia were nice enough to volunteer to host at their home, so lots of thanks going out to them. We have family coming in from all over Oregon, Washington, Canada and even Costa Rica!! Wouldn't you know it, it might rain! What a difference a week makes. I am confident it will hold off and thankful it is going to much cooler.

It never ceases to amaze me that amount stuff babies and kids need. Well maybe not need but that you can get for them. Good thing for showers or you could go broke getting set up just to bring them home. I think were there. Car seat... check, diapers... check, wipes... check, outfits... check, crib... check, I am sure I am missing something but I guess we will learn as we go. Isn't that half the fun of being a parent??