Girl Time

On Wednesday, I packed up Edwin for a drive to northern Lancaster County where I spent the early part of the day with a bunch of my girl friends from high school. We had a GREAT time catching up, talking about motherhood, children and our lives in general. There were lots of children running around inside and outside the house - I was the only one there with only 1 child. Looks like I have some catching up to do. ;)

Not everyone could make it, sadly, but we're hoping to get together again this summer and maybe even start getting together regularly.

I love how we were able to connect again so well as a group - I love you, ladies!

Almost a month

A month ago today, I was hoping and hoping I'd go into spontaneous labor. I can hardly believe that almost 4 weeks have passed since Edwin's birth. It's gone quickly, and he's growing! I've had to "retire" a number of his newborn sleepers and shirts. He's such a long boy that even some of his 0-3 month clothes are snug on him. You'll notice the same outfit in many of the pictures. These weren't all taken the same day, but I'm trying to make the most of the newborn clothes before he's totally grown out of them!!

Here are a few notable things from the past couple of weeks:
- His umbilical cord fell off and he now has an adorable belly button
- I started using cloth diapers on him (no, I didn't use them right away - I waited to dive into that until after his circumcision healed and his cord fell off). It's been nice using cloth diapers. If I'm getting low on them, I just throw the dirty ones into the laundry and voila! more diapers!
- He met all of his cousins. He was oblivious to this, of course, but had he known how fun it was for his older cousins to meet him, I'm sure he would have been thrilled to meet them too.

- He drank from a bottle for the first time today. Looks like he may be able to switch between bottle and breast pretty easily. That can come in handy!
- He's still not sure he likes "tummy time." We'll keep working on that.
And a parting shot for today...

Chilaxin with Dad

Our Little Jokester is Here!

Well, Edwin Daniel arrived bright and early on April 1, 2010. He arrive at 2:15 a.m. on Thursday - his due date.

Here are a few birth story details, if you're interested.

Because of some high blood pressure, I was induced on Wednesday, the 31st. I was really hoping to go into labor naturally and was actually contracting (no discomfort, however) regularly when we went to the hospital at 6 a.m. I was 2-3 cm dilated and about 80% effaced at this point - a good start
My midwife broke my water around 11 a.m. and uncomfortable contractions started about an hour or so later. This is me in the early stages - before contractions got really tough.
After getting to 4 cm and remaining there for a number of hours, the pitocin was started (cringe) at a low dose. That got things moving along (and tough!), but I wasn't fully dilated until midnight.
Then, finally, it was time to push, although I'd had a number of contractions shortly before that where my body just wanted to bear down!

Then, finally, after 2 hours and 15 minutes of pushing my 8 lbs., 13 oz. boy was born.

I got to hold him briefly right after birth, but because he was so calm and didn't cry much, they nurse took him to make sure he was breathing okay. He pinked up and it wasn't long before I got to hold him again.

A few interesting tidbits about my labor and delivery:
- I did it naturally as far as pain meds go - no epidural! It was a goal of mine to have a natural labor, and although I didn't go into labor totally naturally, I did "manage the pain" naturally!
- I had a mirror positioned at the end of the bed during the pushing stage so that I could see the progress. And I got to touch the top of Edwin's head as I was in between pushes.
- A birth ball was a wonderful tool early on in labor and I made use of it for a number of hours
- I ended up with a small episiotomy because Edwin's head was in the birth canal so long and some of my tissue just wasn't stretching. Did I mind when the doctor finally decided to make a small cut? NOT AT ALL! I was ready to meet my son!
- Labor lasted 14.25 hours - including the pushing.
- Edwin was 8 lbs, 13 oz., 21.5 inches long.