Ramblings of an Autodidact: babies

Showing posts with label babies. Show all posts

Friday, November 5, 2010

Laylah Christian

I am exhausted! Thursday afternoon, my friend Brandie finally went into the birthing center. She'd been contracting for days and began dilating weeks ago. She saw the midwife in the am, who told her to go home, eat, shower, do some walking around the block and then come back when she was ready. She was offered the chance at a water birth, but decided she wanted the epidural more. Anyway, about an hour after the epidural her contractions had all but stopped (big surprise), so they began pitocin. I know that is usually the recipe for a c-section, but I kept my mouth shut. She'd already had 6 vaginal births and I didn't want to add to her emotional stress. Thankfully, the pitocin did indeed get things going well. Finally about 1 am she couldn't take the contractions anymore. She was also having pain that she felt was in her bladder - once the midwife heard that & removed the catheter, it was better. But by this time she's in very active labor. After witnessing a couple of contractions, realizing the epidural was wearing off, the midwife said, "Okay lets just go ahead and deliver. I've never witnessed a birth before. If you ever have the chance, don't pass it up. So amazing! First thing I know, I am seeing hair. The midwife called Dad over to catch the baby and he did great. Brandie pushed 2 maybe 3 more times and Laylah was here. She was crying immediately. Next thing I know, the midwife is saying "who's this lady?" It took us all a minute to realize she was talking about me. She said come cut the cord. I don't think I've ever gotten my camera strap off my neck so quickly. My hand was shaking. It was surreal. Then after the cut, baby is wisked over to the warmer for cleaning and weighing. When I realized I had blood on my hands, I didn't want to wash it off. It was too precious. Then the midwife told me I had blood on my shirt, and I smiled. I also told her that if it were me, I'd be taking the placenta home. Of course, I'd never seen a placenta (in person) before either. So far, no one wants to see the picture I took of it. :P

So Laylah Christian held out long enough to be born Friday Nov. 5th, her mommy's 36th birthday! She is pefect. And I am a Nanny again. :)

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Mikey & JoJo

While in Metaire alone, I took the oportunity to see both of my sisters. My sister Donna had her grandbabies which was great. I hadn't seen them in person in about 3 months. They've both grown so much. Mikey & I played with his hotwheels on his MeMe's super slick hall floor. He talks so much now, and he even sounds like his daddy. And he was calling me Aunt Penny. That sound you hear is my heart melting. I was so young when my niece and nephews were born that none of them ever really called me Aunt Penny. But now I have my sisters' grands to call me Aunt Penny. Little JoJo was a hoot. He's just all smiles. He looks just like big brother Chase right now. He's not quite walking, but very ready to run after big brother Mikey!

Stella's 1st birthday

Well, Gregory stayed home with his still recooping dad today while I went off to Metairie for Stella's birthday party. The party was a Strawberry Shortcake theme. So many people! Darlene has a large family, and there were quite a few of our extended family members there as well. For all of the people and commotion, Stella had a great day. She played, she danced, she tried to feed me marshmallows, and when I left, she had nursed to sleep outside in the cool breeze. I'd say she had a good day!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

more baby love

Let's see - Saturday night, before being born, her name was changed from Melina to Alina. And Sunday night it was changed to Alena. Alena Kristine, final answer. :)

(Almost) the whole family. Missing is big brother Devin, age 15, who lives with his dad.

Brandie and her little girls...

Eyes wide open!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

A new baby to love

Well it's just been a good baby weekend. We saw all of our babies in New Orleans yesterday. And today, Alina Kristine finally made her grand entrance. Brandie had called me last night to let me know it wouldn't be long. I was suprised she made it all night. She called me about 10:30 AM & said she was hurting, was going to call her doctor and go lie down for a while, but let me know to be ready. She called me back within 10 minutes & said I'm having a baby! This is baby #6. Number 5 came within 2 hours of labor, 20 minutes after getting to the hospital. I got to her house about 10 mintues later and it took us a good 15 minutes to get out the door. She was really hurting and not even responding to our questions. She was just concentrating on breathing. So I put on my flashers and off we went. I ran red lights carefully and flew down the interstate. We got to the hospital, got her in a wheel chair, and then she and her husband went back for assessment. When they hadn't called us to join her in 10 minutes, I knew she'd given birth already. I was right. Alina was born before all of the admission paperwork was done. But we still got to see her right away. She was having some breathing trouble, so she went to the nursery for a couple of hours. Her hands and feet were somewhat blue for a little while, but that gradually got better and she was nice and pink all over. She was just born so fast she didn't get much contraction squeezing which helps clear the lungs. Big sister Angelina and I finally left about 5 PM when things had all settled down, and my camera batteries were out. :)

But it's good to be home to my own baby...

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Alex's Birthday

Alex will likely be the newest addition to our extended family. He is the son of my nephew's live-in girlfriend. (nothing complicated or anything, LOL!) Anyway, he's adorable, and he turned 5 this week. Plus it was a chance to see my niece and nephews and all of their babies, which is a rarity since my sisters are not speaking to each other (that's a long stupid story, so we'll skip it).

And then we stopped in to visit Stella too. She was wearing the crocs we got her as an infant. They were so big at the time compared to her tiny feet, I never dreamed she'd wear them this soon. Of course, at 9 months, they are just an accessory. She is very close to standing alone!

Oh, and the day began with Greg going to a job fair @ the Army Corps of Engineers office. I love the irony that their office is on Leake Ave! Anhoo, his cousin that works there was at the job fair and introduced him to a few key people. It almost sounds like it's just a matter of which job Greg wants! There's still a financial miracle needed for us to be able to move, but "signing bonuses" aren't unheard of. Also, they'll buy our house if it doesn't sell after 6 months. This could happen quickly! Or, it could take quite a while. Who knows. But it looks like we will be going,sooner or later.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Video Game Blowout

My boy turned 10 last Tuesday, and Saturday night he had a slumber party. We made tickets for his all night video game blowout and sent to about 10 friends. We ended up with 7 boys, aged 7 - 12 who ALL made it to daylight! It was so fun to watch a few of them as they beat their record for staying up late. We had video games going in two rooms, sometimes 3, plus hand-helds-a-plenty. Everyone had a great time.

We started the day with a special visit from Stella and all my in-laws. It was her first time here.

Then friends started arriving later in the afternoon for cake and such.

Later in the evening, my nephew and his family brought Chase for the sleepover. It was Joey's first visit here too.

But Mikey's beginning to know his way around...

After all the grownups left, the blowout was on!

We did have one little girl here - Angelina. She's 4, and her 3 brother's were staying, so I said just let her stay. I really expected to have to bring her home late that night, but she did fine. She asked to call her mom around 11. She said, "I want to call her, but I don't want to go sleep there." After that, she started playing one of the games they had going in the living room, and winning. She was beating everyone. The boys were calling "Next!" over who'd play this 4 year old girl next.

Angelina was the only one to fall asleep, around 1:30. She played till she dropped.

I have to admit, around 4:30 I was giddy. I had made some coffee at about 3 AM, but that just made me wired and giddy. Greg was dozing now and again, but I stayed awake. It was rough, but I wasn't going to just arbitrarily make them shut it down so I could sleep. So I began awaiting sunrise. At sunrise, I could tell them they'd all officially stayed awake all night, and then send them off to Gregory's room to watch a DVD. And that's exactly what I did. I had already told Gregory what I was going to do, and he was okay with it since he wanted his friends to see his new Invader Zim DVDs anyway. By 5:30 I was staring outside praying to see the break of dawn. And it finally came around 6:15.

So I went around the house, gathering boys as the game rounds ended, then brought them all outside for a picture (not very good since I really couldn't see).

I then told them all that they'd officially made it, but I needed to sleep. I asked that they all go to Gregory's room, grab a pillow and a comfy spot and watch the new DVDs. I let them know they didn't have to sleep, but I wanted them to stay in his room (with the exception, of course, of needing the bathroom). It got quiet quickly, and I went to bed. What I didnt know was that Greg got up shortly after that and was occassionally peeking in on them. He tried to take a picture, but couldn't figure my camera out (eyes rolling). He said they were piled everywhere, like a pack of little wolves. Anyway, he said they all slept until at least 10. He let me sleep til 11. :)

Everyone was gone by about 2. I drove about 45 minutes away to meet my niece-in-law to return Chase. We had leftovers for dinner and all turned in about 9:00. Gregory was still awake when I fell asleep around 10:30, but barely. He slept until 12:40 Monday afternoon.

It was quite exhausting, I still feel *off*, but I am so glad we did it. And so thankful for friends who let us keep their kids up all night. All of these kids have bed times and game limits at home, and no one gave us any grief about doing this or asked us to do any limiting. My son had exactly the party he wanted and I couldn't be happier for him.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Chase & Mikey's birthday

Two of my nephew's 3 boys had birthdays last week, Chase turning 9 and Mikey turning 2. The party was fun. Somewhat low key for them - no major entertainment, just an at home party. It was so nice to see them all, and how they are growing so fast. Just another reason we want to move home. We're missing out on so much with the kids in our family.

Mikey