Baby's First Bath

Saoirse's first bath was a silly affair. She had massively puked all over Mommy and herself after her noon feeding today so we decided she finally could use a wipe down. Mommy got her naked on a towel where she decided to puke all over herself again. Daddy brought a new towel and then she let a massive poo loose all over THAT towel. She seemed to be okay with the bath, probably still in shock somewhat from all the puking and pooing. Now she smells lovely and has fuzzier, lighter hair.

And now for something completely different...

Baby Update

We went back to the doctor's office today after seeing the pediatrician on Monday because of concern about Saoirse's poor feeding. We were worried and our fears confirmed when they weighed her and she hadn't gained any weight since they saw her the week before. So we've spent the week supplementing her with what we now realize was an insufficiently small amount of expressed breast milk with a syringe and felt confident that she was eating better at the breast as well. Unfortunately when she was weighed this morning, she had lost an ounce. Not anything to freak out about, but definitely a cause for concern. We don't want to give her artificial nipples at this point so we had to scramble around and find a better way to administer her supplement. The doctor tracked down a feeding tube with a larger syringe that we are now using that to "finger feed" her with a much larger amount of milk. I think we actually overdid it tonite because she totally barfed on us earlier. lol.

anyway, it's been a very stressful week, we've been incredibly worried. The thing that kept us from completely freaking out was that all our medical professionals told us that she looked great, and seemed very healthy despite the lack of weight gain. But i've never felt anything as frustrating as being the only source of nutrition for another being and not being able to work together well enough to get enough milk from me to her. I know we'll get better at it as time goes by, but it sucks right now. no pun intended. lol.

We are SO thankful that we have a great resource in our doula Sarah and midwife Suzanne. They not only made sure that we had an AMAZING home birth experience, but have been incredibly reassuring and helpful in the weeks since. They are pretty awesome ladies. :D Sarah has lent us a top of the line breast pump as well as a breastfeeding pillow, and several slings to try. Anytime we have a question or concern we call her and between her and Suzanne, they go out of their way to work with us. I can't sing their praises enough.

Baby is crying, time to go attempt to feed her again. Moo. :)

2 Weeks Old!

More Visitors!

Aunt Jenni

Cousin Sophia

Aunt Amy

Cousin Olivia

More Daddy & Saoirse

I'm a baby!

Happy One Week Birthday Saoirse!

9/18 Pics

w/ Grandpa Clayton

NOT Best Friends
(Lhamo & Saoirse)

9/15 Pics

Daddy & Saoirse

9/12 Pics

w/ Aunt Cyndie

w/ Grandma Becky

w/ Grandpa Tooley

First Doctor's Appt.

Just got back from taking Saoirse on her first outing! She did really well and didn't scream the entire time like I thought she might. lol. The nurses and doctor were pretty impressed at her mega newborn strength and wigglyness. She's small, but action packed! :D

We're heading out in a few minutes on a quest for a nursing bra so that should be exciting. I'm so tired, and I'm the only one not napping right now, lol.

What's funny is that the birth was WAY easier than I anticipated, but this part is harder. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that we actually have a baby now. And I'm totally hormonal which is not so fun on top of being exhausted. But we have lots of good help and that's what keeps me from totally freaking out.

Thanks for sending so much love our way people! :D

Saoirse Gets Weighed

Little One

Hello Baby!

Saoirse Royse Tooley
September 11, 2008
9:32 pm
6.7 lbs, 17 1/2 inches
Born @ Home in Water
Labor start to finish - 5 hours

Let's Do This!

The birthing tub is ready to go!

Yay!

Had an appt. with Suzanne and Sarah tonite. Dilated to 2cm, 80% effaced, 0 station! woo hoooo! Baby still in awesome position! Hope we have a baby by the end of the week!

Labor Please!

Spent all day yesterday cleaning (okay, mostly mark and his mom did the cleaning and i crankily hobbled around feeling useless), the home is now ready for a birth! Spent last nite from 1-4am sitting on the couch. I watched an infomercial about ice cream i think (or maybe that was a dream), and then somehow slept for 2 hours still sitting straight up. lol.

Please send me "labor vibes" people! All I can think about is having this baby, and each day is getting harder and harder to make it through without crying from frustration!

Baby Doctor

Today we finally picked a pediatrician for baby! I think we were procrastinating a little on this final decision. I never really got around to reading about vaccines so I wanted to make sure we went with someone who could be at least somewhat flexible with us on them if we were to later decide to not go along with the status quo vaccine schedule. It's not that we aren't going to do them at all, but we definitely want to feel like we have a choice.

Had another appt. at the OB's office today as well. Everything still looking good! Blood pressure is back to normal, the Nettles must have worked!

Happy 33rd Birthday Mooty

Soapbox

So normally I try to stay away from talking about my personal political and religious views since this isn't that kind of blog. But...since I'm about to have a baby, I feel like this is "kind of" on topic. lol.

Is anyone else freaked out by the fact that Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin has a five month old baby? It doesn't bother me that other candidates have school age children, but an infant? Seriously, being VP or even possibly stepping into the presidency with an infant (with special needs no less) to care for seems really weird to me.

Why is no one in the media talking about this? I could care less that her 17 year old daughter is knocked up! I'm tired of hearing about it frankly. What I want to to know is : what kind of attention this woman can possibly pay to both her job and her baby. Being Vice-President is kind of a big deal job it seems. Not the kind you can just "leave at the office" at 5pm. I can't imagine how much time away from a very needy little being it would require.

I'm starting to think that people might be afraid to bring it up lest they be labled "sexist." But it would be nice just to hear that maybe her husband is the main caregiver and she's just not "that kind of mom" or something. It's just weird for me that it doesn't even seem to be an issue.

Anyway, we've been watching both the Democratic and Republican conventions and I've got politics on the brain. Trying to distract myself from my seemingly (up untill today) endless pregnancy. lol. :D

I see the LIGHT!

I had just started to reach the point of "omg, I'm going to be pregnant FOREVER, I can't take this any longer" when lo and behold...I think something is happening ! I don't really want to go into details or anything, and I doubt we'll have a baby before next week at the least, but it makes me feel better to know I'm heading in that direction. Yay! :D

Baby Drop

Had a great appt. with Suzanne and Sarah today! It looks like the baby has dropped! Yay! And she's still in the perfect position! Yay! :D

My blood pressure was up a teeny bit on Friday at the Dr's office and also today, so Suzanne suggested taking Nettles (herbal supplement) which is supposed to help with that.

Other than that, not much else to tell. I'm trying some different things to help get us in a good place to start labor. I sit on the exercise ball alot, walk, drink alot of Pregnancy tea and Raspberry Leaf tea, and take Evening Primrose Oil. So I guess if nothing else gets this started, I can hold out some hope that the full moon will work it's magic on the 15th. lol.

Oh, and I've kinda switched over to the midwife's calender as far as how far along I am. We'll just say at this point that on Thurs. I'll be 39 weeks.

Finished Nursery 360

Belly du Jour

No Sleep

So all of a sudden, sleep is becoming a big problem. Last nite I went to bed around 12 and was up at 2. The night before, down at 11:30 and up at 3. Phoebe is sort of a pregnant, sick and sleep-deprived zombie at this point. I guess I'm supposed to get used to this right? lol.

Oh, and Mark is sick now too. fun times in the Tooley house! :)

Cuuuuuutttteee

Birth Playlist

Simple Things (Album) - Zero 7
When It Falls (Album) - Zero 7
Shepherd Moons (Album) - Enya
Watermark (Album) - Enya
Memory of Trees (Album) - Enya
A Day Without Rain (Album) - Enya

Across the Universe - Rufus Wainwright
All I Want Is You -U2
All Is Full Of Love - Björk
Angels - Wax Poetic Feat. Norah Jones
Besame Mucho - Diana Krall
Climb - Mos Def
Come Away With Me - Norah Jones
Daylight - Rockabye Baby! Coldplay
E Horo - Mary Jane Lamond
Fade Into You - Mazzy Star
God Put a Smile Upon Your Face - Rockabye Baby! Coldplay
Heroine - The Edge & Sinéad O'Connor
Honey Honey - Feist
Hunter - Björk
I Go to Sleep - Sia
I Love You - Sarah McLachlan
Into Dust - Mazzy Star
Kissing You - Des'ree
Protection - Massive Attack
Soon We'll Be Found - Sia
Sparks - Coldplay
Swayambhu - Solar Twins
The Sweetest Gift - Sade
Theme From Harry's Game - Clannad
Unravel - Björk
Veni Creator Spiritus - Paul Schwartz
When I Look In Your Eyes - Diana Krall
Wild Horses - The Sundays
Yellow - Rockabye Baby! Coldplay

Sick Again

I'm two days into a summer cold that is going around, which I already went through once back in June. This really sucks. I feel awful. :(

On the bright side, Doula Sarah dropped by today with our birth kit! It's really neat to see almost everything we need to have a baby, all together in a storage bin, just sitting in the nursery ready to be used!

We also have the inflatable birthing pool now which I can't wait to blow up! We're going to do a test run of the "hose maneuver" this week, which involves running a hose down the laundry chute and Mark seeing how fast he can get it hooked up to the spout in the basement.

It's starting to feel like we are really ready for this birth! We are so very EXCITED to meet this baby!

Dr. Appt. (8/22 - 37 weeks)

Nothing too interesting to report. Everything looking good! We are OFFICIALLY Ok'd to have a baby any day now!

Week 39

See the big picture

How your baby's growing:

Your baby's waiting to greet the world! He continues to build a layer of fat to help control his body temperature after birth, but it's likely he already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon. (Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) The outer layers of his skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.

He Farted in our General Direction...

Actually, he farted RIGHT ON US!

Tonite was Borders nite.
We Love Borders nite.
It's free.
We catch up on all our magazines and graphic novels.
Sometimes the other customers are annoying.
They talk to loud.
They have annoying whispered conversations.
They talk with their mouths full of cookie and smack their lips.
and sometimes....just sometimes...
They stand with their buttocks level with your FACE, 2 feet away,
rip the biggest fart of ALL TIME...
and then they just WALK AWAY!!!

LOL.

Sweet Dream

Yesterday at work Mark was watching some particularly monotonous training videos at his desk when he nodded off for a minute. He had a dream that he was kissing me and woke himself up puckering his lips! lol. Is that not the cutest thing you've ever heard?

Fantastic!

The nurse just called to let me know that I'm negative for the group B strep! yay! no anitbiotics for me!

This week is vacation so I'm spending it getting caught up on my "To Do" list. Mark's mom has volunteered to come over practically everyday and help me. Thank you Becky! :D Over the weekend we worked on the nursery and yesterday did 9 million loads of baby laundry. It's pretty awesome to have help since I wouldn't accomplish much by myself. It takes alot of effort just to get up off a chair and walk from one room to another. Forget carrying anything or picking anything up off the floor. lol.

Speaking of discomfort, I'm pretty much there. Sleeping is a challenge and I'm almost becoming used to being in pain in any position. Walking sucks too. But it's really not that bad, just annoying. So, message to baby: "anytime now sweet-bear! come on down!"

Dr. Appt. (8/15)

This was our big 36 week appt. at the doctor's office, which really didn't mean much except it lasted a little longer. Everything looked good and I hope to hear back next week on the Group B Strep tests. If you are positive (which 50% of women are) it just means they want to give you a round or two of antibiotics while in labor. My weight and blood pressure are doing great and I'm not swollen which is awesome. It doesn't look like the baby is coming early either because I'm not dilated at all. I was somewhat disappointed at this news because although I still have stuff to do to prepare for baby, I'm ready to get this birthing show on the road already. The thought of being pregnant for up to 5 more weeks makes me want to punch Mark! lol. :)

Week 38

See the big picture

How your baby's growing:

Your baby has really plumped up. She weighs about 6.8 pounds and she's over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). She has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold her hand for the first time! Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.

Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If she's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If she's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she's born, but they usually won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

Note: According to MY calender, I'm 37 weeks, entering week 38. According to actual measurements and the 9/11 due date, I'm a little over 36 weeks. Very confusing. :(

Birth News

So I feel like I can finally talk about our big change in plans at last! Over the last couple of weeks, some drama has gone down between our OB/midwife team and the hospital. It came to our attention that for the moment at least, we might want to figure out a backup plan. I started talking to our doula Sarah about the possibility of doing a homebirth with Suzanne, the midwife she is apprenticing with. Once I got over the initial shock of having to think about a change in plans this late in the game, I totally threw myself into the idea of making this happen, whether or not the hospital worked out it's issues with our OB.

Homebirth was something that I was interested in from the get go, but was under the impression that #1-it was illegal on the Missouri side and #2-it was definitely NOT covered by insurance at all. But apparently I was mistaken, Suzanne is a CNM (certified nurse midwife) so I guess that makes it legal, as opposed to a "lay midwife", and our insurance will cover some of the cost, probably not alot, but it's worth it to us to make it work financially.

The third reason we didn't seriously consider homebirth at first was that Mark didn't feel comfortable with the idea at the time. After receiving a great deal of childbirth education, and seeing how well the pregnancy has gone, he's now all for it and I think we're both feeling some anxiety lifted from our shoulders. There were so many things about going to the hospital that we were uncomfortable with (despite trying to convince ourselves otherwise) and, if everything goes well, we don't have to deal with all that now.

If something were to happen that required us to go to the hospital, we'll still head over to Olathe. I'm going to continue to go to my weekly appts. at the doctor's office as well as seeing Suzanne, so that if I needed to transfer from the homebirth, it will look as if that was my plan all along. It's very confusing actually.

I'm so excited about the changes that this decision brings. My goal is to actually birth in the water which I'm REALLY looking forward to. Suzanne brings a birthing pool that we set up and connect to hoses running from the washer. It sounds fantastic. Mark is looking forward to being able to be even MORE involved at home than he would have been able to be in the hospital. It will just be more intimate and comfortable for us, and hopefully making the birth safer and less traumatic for me and baby.

We had our first appt. with Suzanne tonite at home. She was very pleased to find that baby is now in the "perfect" position and down quite low. She gave us a list of things to gather for the birth like vinyl tablecloths to protect the floor and bed, towels, baby supplies, snacks, etc. She brings the rest! We'll see her again the 25th for another check.

I've got a doctor's appt. tomorrow that is our big "36 week appt." at which some more tests will be done. Will update on how that goes this weekend. :)

Suzanne's Website

Pre-Baby Celebration

Thanks so much to Becky & Cyndie (and also to Jenni W!) for hosting our celebration on Sat. nite! They really went all out!

We felt so grateful that so many supportive friends and family were able come out and hang out with us for a few hours in a hot art gallery and eat pink cupcakes. It was a really good time!

And thanks to everyone's incredible generosity, Baby Saoirse will definately not go naked! lol! You guys rock! THANK YOU! :D

Correction

I think the way I've been posting our weekly baby growth updates is a little confusing. I'm posting the update for the week we are IN, not the week we've just completed. That's the way my pregnancy planner is set up so it made sense to me. But now it's saying I'm full term and that is sort of misleading. Yes, i WILL be full term next weekend, just to clarify. Right now we are just a day short of 36 weeks according to the first due date (Sept. 7).

Also, there is a big change of plans in the works. I can't spill the beans yet...but I will as soon as it's confirmed.

Week 37 (Begins Sun.)

See the big picture
How your baby's growing:Congratulations — your baby is full term! This means that if your baby arrives now, his lungs should be fully mature and ready to adjust to life outside the womb, even though your due date is still three weeks away.Your baby weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard). Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But don't be surprised if your baby's hair isn't the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children come out as blonds or redheads, and fair-haired couples have been surprised by Elvis look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz.

Power Down

Yesterday was an interesting day. We had already nixed plans to work outside because of the stifling heat, and then nixed plans to work INSIDE because of power brown outs. It took all afternoon for KCP&L to fix the problem. In the meantime, our neighbor Abby went and got a blow up pool, we made limeade and then we all had a pool party in our shared driveway! Afterwards the dogs got baths which they weren't very happy about. lol.

Pre-Natal Massage

that...was....AWESOME! thanks to Mark for the best present EVAR! Just got back from my 60 min. massage and I'm all floppy and loopy. :)

Dr. Appt. (8/1)

Another great visit! Baby is measuring between 34 & 35 weeks which is right in line with both of our due dates. (9/7 & 9/11) The midwife seemed to think that she might be a little bit posterior
(head down but facing front instead of back) and suggested keeping up with doing pelvic tilts on hands & knees to try to turn her. She didn't seem too terribly concerned about it though.

I actually lost 1/2 lb. since last visit, so I guess that 4 lb. gain evened out. sweet!

Next visit is Aug. 15 and after that every week until baby's birthday!

Week 36/Month 9 + Belly Pic

See the big picture

How your baby's growing:

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position. But if she isn't, your practitioner may suggest scheduling an "external cephalic version," which is a fancy way of saying she'll try to coax your baby into a head-down position by manipulating her from the outside of your belly.