40 Weeks and Counting

Today I shared this photo on my Facebook page.  It was a joke really, but it turned out to earn quite a few more likes than I had expected.  Only like 999, 875 and then, hopefully, she'll appear.

Now I'm quite sure that child's mother will indeed quit smoking if the goal is reached (sure, sure) or whatever else people seek out likes for on social media, but my primary goal was to let friends and family know that there's no baby yet and I've still got a sense of humor about it.

Today was the baby's due date.  I'm fortunate in that I'm not miserable, but we are anxious and excited to meet Baby #3.  So if rounding up some likes on photos encourages her, I'm all for it.  

My older children came much sooner, so this is uncharted territory for me.  I'm doing my research and reading up on inducing labor naturally.  Some I've tried (mostly walking) and others I've dismissed.  Castor oil?  If the side effects are worse than the condition, I'm not going there.  

Do you have any tips for inducing labor?

Sharing Pregnancy with Friends

2014 is the year of the baby.  My group of friends will be welcoming four new babies this year.

Babies due in February, March, May, and June

My sister and I were both pregnant with our first babies at the same time, and it was so nice being able to go through the process of becoming mommies together.  And now, we get to share the fun of pregnancy with two of our best friends.

Comparing kick counts, swapping wine for lemonade, and creating must-have lists for baby is so much more fun when it's with friends!  So if you're thinking about having a baby, you may want to consider convincing your best friends to get on board!

Maternity Leave Guilt

There are just 6 weeks left until Baby #3 is scheduled to arrive.  Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I'm assuming it won't actually be 6 more weeks.  It's been an insanely easy pregnancy, but I am noticing that things are getting more challenging (putting shoes on, not having to pee constantly, etc) and the baby's hanging out so far down that her kicks catch me off guard.

This was just a few weeks ago, but I swear I've doubled in size!

At my last prenatal appointment, however, I was a mess.  The holidays, losing my sweet aunt to pancreatic cancer on Christmas Eve, sick kiddos...it just was more than I could handle all at once.  So when I met with the nurse practitioner and asked about maternity leave, my desperation was coming through loud and clear.

Christmas morning--I miss caffeine.

Having her say that I might be able to go on maternity leave at 36, rather than 38 weeks, was such a relief.  Just knowing that it was a possibility made me instantly feel better.  There's a nap in sight?  Oh, thank God!

If you read my first birth story, then you may remember that my first daughter arrived prior to going on maternity leave.  That morning I made my mom the longest and most bizarre shopping list, because I had planned on using the last 2 weeks to get ready.  I don't want that to happen again!

After meeting with the nurse, I started stressing about work.  That's only 3 more weeks.  I've got two months of lesson plans to do, piles of grading I'm behind on, I still don't know who will be teaching my class, and I told the parents I'd stay as long as possible.    My worries about not being ready for the baby have been replaced with pangs of guilt for abandoning my classroom.  It's the difference of 2 weeks, but the way I play it out in my head you'd think I was forcing my students into slave labor.

To add to the guilt, I'm fine.  Exhausted, drowning in to-do lists, and feeling unprepared for this baby...but, physically, I'm fine.  I feel lazy for being so darn tickled at the idea of a few extra weeks to be at home.

Such is the life of a working mama.  I feel bad for working when I should be focusing on the arrival of the baby and taking better care of myself.  I feel equally as bad for wanting to not work anymore and leaving my class for 2 additional weeks.  Just wait until the going back to work guilt sets in!

What's a girl to do?

My 5 Favorite Girl Baby Names

We've got months until the birth of our baby girl, but the pressure is on to name this baby.  We named our first daughter, Georgia, relatively quickly.  It's a family name, but also had a old-fashioned American sound that we loved.  Naming the next baby took a little longer.  We loved Harper's name but difficulty picking a middle name had us doubting ourselves until we met her.  Clementine was the middle name we chose, by the way.

What are we looking for in a name for Baby #3?  It has to be a name.  You have to take her seriously as your college professor.  It can't be too similar or too different from her sisters' names, Georgia & Harper.  It can't be in the Top 20 Most Popular names.

Here are my favorite baby girl names of the moment:

Poppy  Normally, I steer clear of floral names because they sound dainty.  However, Poppy is spunky and free-spirited.  The Golden Poppy is California's state flower, and that makes me love it even more.

Sadie A nickname for Sarah, this name has old-time charm without sounding too much like a porch-sitter.

Harlowe  We can't use this name because of it's closeness to Harper's name, but I love the old Hollywood glamour it resonates.

Hattie We stopped watching the tv show Parenthood because each episode ended up being a bummer. One of the young characters on the show is named Hattie, and it's so unique.  Tori Spelling ended up naming her baby, increasing its popularity.

Penelope  I adore this name, and have ever since the Pinback song.  It's just so darn popular right now that I don't see myself choosing it.

What are your favorite girl names?

Not Scary Birth Story #2

If you've already read about the birth of my first child, then you know two things: it was ridiculously easy and she was a little early.  Those two things are exactly what I expected when I was pregnant with my next baby.

As I counted down the weeks to her arrival, my countdown stopped at 38 weeks.  I just assumed she'd be on her sister's timeline.  Ha!  Mommy Lesson #2: even though they have the same parents and are raised the exact same, each child is completely unique.  When I hit 38 weeks I remember saying, "I've never been this pregnant before" and feeling done.

Since my pregnancies had both been extremely uneventful, my appointments at the OB-GYN went like this:
Doctor:  How are you?
Me:  Awesome.
Doctor: Any questions?
Me: Nope.  See you next week.

So when I walked into his office at 39 weeks, and said "I'm over being pregnant," I probably shocked him.  But what he said next was a bigger surprise.  He asked when I wanted to have the baby.  I get to pick?  He took out his smart phone, shared his work calendar, and said I was eligible for induction.  I picked the next available date, which just happened to be the 4th of July.

Totally naive, I didn't realize there were such mixed feelings about being induced.  When I hear people talk about it, it sounds like a full throttle, excruciating nightmare.  However, that wasn't my experience at all.

The morning she was scheduled to be born, I got up early & continued to Google baby names (we were 99.9% sure her name would be Harper, but her middle name was harder to select).  Since we had some time to kill, we got Matt some breakfast at Starbucks.  The barrista asked if we had any plans for the day, and I bet he didn't expect us to say we were having a baby in a few hours.

We checked into the hospital, got the meds started, and then waited.  I read gossip magazines because that's what I do when I'm on vacation.  Having a baby is kind of like a vacation, right???

Around 1, I requested that Matt get the nurse.  When she came in, she told us it was time.  I can't remember what we were chatting about as she prepped the room for delivery, but she told me I had to stop laughing.  Otherwise the doctor wouldn't have time to get there.

He arrived and, within minutes, so did Harper.  My own little Miss America.  It's fun to look back at baby pictures of her because there's just so much "Harper" in these.

Fortunately, my request to go home early were heard and we were able to leave early the next morning.  I had never left Georgia overnight before and was ready to get our new family of 4 together.  Seeing how tiny (6 pounds, 13 ounces) she was absolutely kills me.

Thankfully, my girls have been best friends from the second they met and the transition from a family of 3 to a family of 4 was relatively easy.  Harper was the mellowest baby on the planet, which only seems fitting since her delivery was so stress-free.  Maybe she's saving all the drama for her high school years.

Not Scary Birth Stories

As I get closer to the welcoming of Baby #3 into our family, I'm more and more obsessed with all things baby.  My husband laughs at me whenever he catches me ohh-ing and ahh-ing over infants I have absolutely no connection to.  One of the things I've been reading up on are birth stories.

Having two children already, I'm pretty comfortable with the whole giving birth process.  My expectation is that this delivery will go similarly to the last two.  And even if it doesn't, I've got an amazing team of people to support me.

But reading all of these birth stories online has made it very clear why mamas-to-be are freaked out!  Most sound like they are Halloween specials!  Not so, ladies.  Not so!  Having a baby can be a miraculously easy day.

So I wanted to share with you my stories...not too brag about my easy deliveries or make you think I'm Super-Mom, but just so the truth is out there.  People do have easy deliveries!

Georgia's Birthday...
Georgia was born on what was to be my last day of work before maternity leave.  I was 37, almost 38 weeks, pregnant.  And to be completely honest, I wasn't ready.  I got up for work and was rushing around, trying to get to a parent/teacher conference on time.  Then my water broke.

Being a first-time mom and in denial, I wasn't convinced I was in labor.  It wasn't time yet!  Lesson #1 in Mommydom: Kids have their own agendas.  I woke my husband, we called our moms, and decided we should go to the hospital.  At first, I was calm.  We packed up some essentials and the dogs (they were staying at my parents', not joining us in the delivery room).  It wasn't until about two hours later that I started stressing we weren't at the hospital yet.

                            Leaving my parents' for the hospital--I don't remember being that big!


After we arrived at the hospital and they confirmed my water had broken (did they think I had just been peeing constantly for hours???), I was checked in.

And then we hung out.  Since I wasn't having contractions, I was given pitocin to give the process a jump start.  At first the contractions were no big deal.  As soon as they became painful, I asked for an epidural and ceased texting my out-of-town siblings.

Everybody is different, and has a unique plan for their child's birth.  Mine involved high-fiving modern medicine and decreasing pain.  If your birth plan is different than mine, awesome!  It'd be really boring to Google "birth stories" if we all had the same one.

The epidural allowed me to take a nap.  Sometime in the day (probably after administering happy drugs), I was asked if I would mind if the medical students were present during the delivery.  I had imagined it would mean one or two extra people.  Maybe my memory betrays me, but I feel like there were a dozen of them.  Considering I'm actually kind of shy, I'm shocked that I allowed it.

The actual delivery was short...there weren't hours of pushing, swearing, or snarling at my husband.  Just 20 minutes and then our sweet baby arrived.  She was tiny with great big eyes and insanely long eyelashes.

I was grateful at how easy the whole process had been (mostly for myself, but also for my sister who was also pregnant and due less than a month later).  Honestly, that was it.  I went into the hospital in the morning, had a baby in the afternoon, and hung out with my family until I was released to go home.  And this was the more dramatic of my deliveries.

 Cousins...born 2 weeks apart.

I'll be posting about the birth of Harper 21 months later next.  

Adjusting the Original Nestle Tollhouse Recipe

Today was a return-to-the-original baking day.  Today we rocked the Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.

While I stick pretty closely to the recipe, I do make a few adjustments.  One, I double the vanilla.  The recipe calls for one teaspoon, but two is twice as wonderful!  Second, I use Crisco.  I'll be honest, the idea of Crisco grosses me out.  I don't exactly know what's in it, and that's probably for the best.  I like how fluffy the cookies become when using Crisco.

I'm sure I'm not alone in my slight twerking of the traditional recipe.  What are your adjustments to the original?