The Story...

Due date was October 9th.
My doctor said he'd induce on the 4th though. (much to my happiness...NOT fun 3rd tri)
I really didn't want to wait that long, and it seems as though neither did Anya :) Besides, last
doctors' visit I was dilated at a 3 and effaced at 70%.

On September 28th, I was done being pregnant, and willed myself into labor. OK, fine, I didn't, but I went into labor and was very happy about it!

Since I was positive for Strep B (same with Claire), it was important for me to go to the hospital sooner than later because they need at least 3-4 hours of intravenous antibiotic in me before I deliver.

So I called my doctor. They said to come in. At this point, I had started feeling contractions in the early afternoon at Target, with my sister in law, Camille, and Claire. Because we were walking around and everything, it's not like I was timing them.

So they had me come in. My doctor said he was looking for signs that I was actually contracting because I seemed kind of fine, but don't worry, they hooked me up to the machine and the contractions were coming at 4 minutes apart. But since I'm totally brave, awesome, and strong, I could handle it... :) I was now dilated at a 5 and effaced at almost 80%. My doctor said that my membranes were so thin that my water could break at any time...so it's not like I wanted to go home and pack! Who would want to clean up a water breakage?

So I was sent to labor and delivery and was set to go. Jordan came with Claire in a little while and then some family came over to keep me company. Finally, I got the epidural (I held off as long as I could, not that I was planning on going AL NATURALE or anything!!) But, the epidural unfortunately slowed down the contractions quite a bit...

Claire passed the time a bit with Diego, one of her faves, and playing with band-aids :)


She kept saying "Mama, sick." And she was actually wanting to kiss me all the time...which is rare because she usually, when asked for a kiss, says "NO" in a really cheeky way.

Around 8pm I was done with the round of antibiotics and ready to go, so they gave me pitosin and we just waited....and waited.....and waited....

Me being a dork. While waiting. Jordan was bored too.

Poor doctor had to come in at like 2am. But he had another patient that late anyway, so it was OK.

Finally, my contractions became a lot stronger and she was ready to come. My doctor was really really good at telling me "how" to push this time, and she came out in 4 pushes!! They still had to clip me a little...sucky. Oh well. A few stitches aren't so bad, I guess. Fortunately, Anya didn't have meconium like Claire did, and they gave her to me right after she came out! I didn't even know what to do about that...she was gooey :)

So I just kissed her. Claire had the meconium, so I didn't get to hold her right away while they cleaned her out.


I just love my little girl!! The first pictures.

I didn't cry this time with the birth. I don't know why, but we have definitely bonded with our little angel.

Yep, 8 lbs. 3 oz.! No WONDER I was so ornery during my 3rd trimester. Seriously. It was the worst (but still not as bad as the first trimester). I will stay up with Anya all night long every day for 3 months rather than repeat the 3rd tri... Claire was only 7 lbs. 3 oz. and was a few days late, so it was definitely different! But Anya seems more like she is a couple of weeks old, not necessarily chubby, just some nice chubby cheeks :)


Claire loves her too...so far :) She always wants to hold and kiss "baby sister, Anya."

So far, she is SUCH a good baby!! She sleeps ALL the time, nurses like a PRO, seriously. I don't even need to focus on the special hold to get her to latch on or anything! She also isn't gassy (yet, at least?) and hardly ever cries. Bliss! And so far, Claire has been great with her. She has her moments, but definitely doing pretty well...just the "normal" tantrums :) haha

And mommy loves her too :)



*The End*

Here I am at 2:45 a.m.

A couple of ways I think my life might change in the next few weeks...

-I will no longer pray to "keep down breakfast." Yes, it's still happening!
-I will get more sleep: I know this sounds crazy, but when you have to get up 15 times a night to pee, getting up 3 or 4 times seems like a breeze, right?
-My body won't go into snooze mode at 7pm every night
-Climbing the stairs in my house won't feel like I'm climbing Mt. Everest
-My belly won't feel like it's 100 lbs.
-I will have another "cute" little excuse as to why my brain has refused to function properly
-I may have aches and pains in other areas though...
-Chasing after Claire won't feel like the Running of the Bulls
-Putting in a load of laundry won't cause my husband to ask "um, did you just run a marathon?"
-My clothes will start fitting again?
-I won't feel like a beluga (which is our "nice" term for "whale" around here, since they're "smaller" than the typical whale)
-I will stop chewing on ice chips (of course, this is AFTER my starvation day at the hospital)
-I may stop "breathing like a 400 lb man." Yes, this is my husband's description of the way I breathe these days. I love you honey :)
-I will put the "I give up muu'muu" away...until next time...if I could ever imagine letting myself have a "next time" in the near future...
-I might not feel like a deadbeat mom? Or maybe I'll feel that way still but in a different way?
-I'll have twice the mess, twice the comedy, and twice the love
-My new child might have a name...
-Might start cooking again (but don't hold your breath)
-I will stop having to "eat or throw up" every 20 minutes. Man, that will be nice!!!
-I won't have to think up creative reasons why I need to have this parasite extracted from my body early :) (CUTE parasite, I'm sure...don't get me wrong)
-I will have gone through 2 incredibly long and not-fun pregnancies...something I never imagined I was capable of! (when pregnant with Claire, I would see these moms with 2+ kids and think, "HOW."
-We will be more poor :)
-Claire will be in for the "single-child-syndrome" shock of her life! How to handle more tantrums....
-My face will start deflating to only one chin
-I won't be getting up at 2:45 a.m. for toast

Are some of these wishful thinking??? Maybe.
I guess I'll see...and maybe you'll get another inspiring post about it in a few weeks. Or, T-24 days, to be exact!

It's time for the 3rd trimester "I Give Up" muu'muu

Except it's not Hawaiian, so maybe I shouldn't call it a muu'muu. Maybe I should call it the "Thai Tent!" (it's my Mom's...from Thailand I think...and my Mom used to be a little...thicker so it fits me a little better these days!) Hmmm and now that I think about it, my mom has LOTS of actual muu'muus from her days in Hawaii...need to tap into that. I could wear a tent every day for the next 2.5 months! Yay!



Yes, Jordan loves this look, as you can imagine. He loves it so much he tells me to put it on every night........AFTER......he goes to work :) He somehow does not think it's flattering. I just think it's great because let's face it. It is the only thing I can wear that is NOT TIGHT on me!!! Liberating, I must say.

I wore this after work like every day when I was pregnant with Claire.

Sorry honey, it's not going anywhere for a while...

P.S. Shiny, isn't it??

It's a.........

Yep! Claire is going to have a little sister! We're very very excited :)

Here are the ultrasound pictures...pretty fuzzy on the face this time, unfortunately (I think IMC's ultrasound machines were better or something bc Claire's was much clearer) but there are some cute ones of the feet, legs, and arms.

In the profile pic above, she is facing up, but it's really fuzzy--crown of the head is to the right of the image with face tilted back (does that make sense?)

I think the foot picture is my favorite. But, hopefully, esp. when it comes to the face--hope this isn't a good representation of what she'll really come out looking like :) I think she'll be 100 times cuter!

Not done complaining....

This is my life.

Wake up.
Hopefully Jordan will let me sleep in when he comes home from work (which is usually what happens)
Hope that when I get "vertical" I don't want to hurl.
Request some kind of breakfast, in bed. (isn't my husband so nice?)
Eat that.
Hope I can get out of bed, with the food in me, and not want to hurl.
Spend the rest of the day moping around, wanting to hurl.
Try my best to sleep as MUCH of the day away as I possibly can
Think about what the heck sounds good to me? And no, Saltines never do.....
Pizza does sometimes.
But if I throw that up, or anything up, that's the end of that craving...
Claire much prefers the company of Daddy right now. Who wouldn't??
I have desperately asked around the neighborhood for a potato. (baked potatoes always seem to sound good to me) Finally got one (thank you HEIDI!)
Some days are better than others. Some days I can't seem to keep anything down. And I'm supposed to exercise??
Zofran and Phenergen do NOT work. Well, they do work to give me a bad aftertaste whenever I eat anything, constipation, restless leg syndrome, and false hope...
This baby better LOVE me.

Just keeping things real. I do NOT know how any of you guys got pregnant more than...twice. :) (but then with Claire, I wondered how any of you guys got through pregnancy more than once? We are all crazies. Crazies.)

Claire is going to have a........

SIBLING!!!!

I am a little over 8 weeks pregnant. The sibs will be a year and ten months apart. Wow. We wanted them to be close, so this is great! Definitely faster-happening than expected though!

Um, sadly I don't have any picture because, even though I do have two ultrasound pictures of the little shrimp, I don't know where our scanner is, and it definitely isn't hooked up. But I've been too aloof from the blog to care at this point. I NEEDED to get SOMETHING UP!!!!

I am SO SICK. That's why. This one has been worse. More throwing up, more feeling tired and ornery all the time. I feel bad for Claire really. She has a deadbeat mommy at the moment, and it probably really sucks for her. Every day, I feel I just want to sleep the next 2 months through so I can be in the second trimester and not sick anymore. It sucks. OK I'm done complaining now. Very grateful to have another little cutie around the house.

And that's another thing. My house. A disaster. Kinda grosses me out just being inside of it right now. But Jordan has been awesome. He has done more cleaning than...ever! And better yet, he has been so great to take care of Claire while Mommy is on her deathbed....

Anyway! I think it's probably another girl. Which is just fine by me :)