Racing the meltdown

Well, the shorty and I went on another shopping excursion yesterday, this time to our normal WalMart and then to Publix. She got her usual amount of adulation, and balance in the universe was restored.

I came to the realization, however, that any outing is nothing but a race against the inevitable baby meltdown.

As it turns out, the attention span of a 7 week old baby is remarkably brief. The length of any nap time is also obnoxiously unpredictable. This should have been foreseeable. But, honestly, when I was pregnant, I had such fantasies of going places, doing things, visiting people, seeing the world (town) with a placid little baby. Erroneous!

Love that girl, though! Enjoy the pic of her in her pink giraffe robe!

You don't write me blog posts.... you don't sing me love songs...

Well, I'm back! I do apologize for my extended absence, friends. I have a 6 week old baby and basically I'm a walking movable feast, acting as her 24-hour buffet, and being food can sap the sarcastic energy on which this blog thrives right out of a person.

Speaking of Elise, love love love that girl. She's hilarious and way cute. Right before she cries she does this tiny little kitten cough thing. So it's *kitten cough**kitten cough*... WAHHHH. Really cute.

In recent weeks the sleep schedule has compromised my sanity. As in, I would either get 3 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period (famine), or 6 or 7 (feast). She's doing better now (fingers crossed) but I will never take sleep for granted ever ever again.

That said, the shorty and I have pretty much confined ourselves to the house so far. The reason for this is twofold. First, she hasn't had her vaccines yet, and second, going anywhere with a tiny baby is such a huge production with all the stuff I have to bring that it's usually easier to stay home and have Gavin do my bidding. However, I'm finally getting antsy. So today we decided we were going to go out and do stuff. I love to do stuff with Elise, because people will almost always compliment me on how cute she is. It's a nice golden parachute from the attention I got as a preg, when everyone opened doors for me all the time. See how I only remember the good stuff? That is so typical me.

Anyhoo, we went two places today: Toys R Us to get a Baby Bjorn baby carrier thing and WalMart to do our grocery shopping.

First stop, Toys R Us. I walk in with Elise and immediately everyone in the store starts ooing and ahhing over her in her cute little pink outfit and hat and her big blue eyes, etc. Appropriate. As expected. Thank you, thank you.

Next stop, WalMart. Elise is really bringing it, because she's hanging out (quite literally) in her new carrier on my chest and looking all around with aforementioned big blue eyes and I could barely keep my eyes off her myself in all her glorious cuteness.

It wasn't our usual WalMart, but when you go anywhere with my particular shorty, you're basically on borrowed time until she has a meltdown, so I went to the one closest to Toys R Us, which also happens to be the one filled with the surliest group of folks in Tallahassee. No one said anything to me about how awesome my baby is except one nice old couple. WTF. I was so confused. I won't tell Elise about this. She loved WalMart, by the way. I think it was all the colorful packaging and socioeconomic mingling that kept her so rapt.

Anyway, here are some pics of her for your viewing amusement. She's so way cuter than the baby panda in San Diego that is trying to steal her glory.

Going to visit Daddy at work. She prefers warm weather clothes. Actually, she prefers to be naked. But it's like 20 degrees right now, so I have to bundle her up. As you can see, she loves that.

Pensive. Vaguely amused.

Watching the crackling fire. Planning world domination.

Displaying annoyance with the paparazzi.

See you soon!

She's here!

Wow, well I have so much to tell you! First of all, check out my baby's cuteness. I cannot even tell you how obsessed with her I am. I could stare at her all the time. She is actually a really good baby, too. Even when she fusses, I can almost always calm her down by sticking my boob in her face. She is a total chow hound.

Anyway, on to the birth story... on Sunday night (Nov. 22), we checked into the hospital so that I could get the cervidil to help dilate my cervix. Well, it worked! The next morning I was between 2 and 3 cm dilated, and I was having contractions. At this point I said, "I would like my epidural now, please." And I got it. I could still feel a lot "down there" but it helped enough with my contractions that I was pretty satisfied, and it turned out that because I had some feeling in certain lady parts, I was able to participate more in the pushing process.

Anyway, so after the epidural, we waited for me to continue dilating. I had more contractions, and as they got stronger, I felt a lot of pressure, and my sweet husby helped me breathe through them, just like we learned in class. My sister Nikki was also there helping coach us through them by reading the monitor and telling us when to start and stop the breathing to get the most benefit. Having her there after she had the benefit of going through 2 births of her own was really valuable to us. Once we got to 10 cm and I started pushing, our other family members retreated to the waiting room and Nikki and Gavin stuck with me, one on either side, for the duration. Nikki counted off my pushing and coached me through how to push, which isn't as instinctive as you might think. Big huge props to Nikki. It was surreal scary at this point, knowing that this was it.

Anyway, I pushed and pushed and pushed for a few hours, but the baby just wasn't moving enough. My doctor let me tough it out for a while but then told me that unless we could get her to move within the next few contractions, she wasn't going to move, and we were going to have to have a c-section. After going through all of that and exhausting myself with pushing, the last thing I wanted was to have to call it a day and go to the OR, so I gave it everything I had. The doctor also used a vacuum extractor and together we popped her out! It was the most amazing thing to see her for the first time! Here are some pics!

Bouncing on the yoga ball with Daddy (this really soothes her).

First baby-tub bath! We thought she would hate this but she actually liked it. We think she is going to be either an Olympic swimmer or a regular bather. We will take either.

In her swing! She LOVES this thing and will stay in there for hours between feedings. It is probably the most used item we own at the moment. Yayyy swing!

So that's our birth story! Every day is turning out to be an adventure when we learn something new about Elise. She is so funny and cute, no matter what, and we will basically do anything and everything to make her happy. She rules our house with little tiny pink-mittened iron fists of fury. More pics and posts to come about her, no doubt.

BIG props to my parents for staying with us since the birth and helping us get a handle on this parenting thing and special props to my mom for helping me get my breastfeeding established with all her experience and advice. Finally, thanks to everyone else for all the well wishes and support over this past week and two days! We did it, team!

Updates, updates

Hey folks. Well, here I am, 6 days post due-date and STILL EFFING PREGNANT.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, however, because tomorrow night I check into the hospital to start the induction process. Yayyyyy! It's obvious that this baby is not coming out unless we flush her out like we're on a quail hunt or something. Actually I have known this for a while - I feel validated that the doctors now realize it too...

Sooo anyway, we go in tomorrow night, at which time they'll give me some meds to get my cervix dilating and then the next morning they start the pitocin. It could be a long haul after that, but we'll see... rest assured that as soon as it's all over and I have pictures of the beeeeby I'll post them right away. We're bringing a laptop, so hey, if things are slow enough, we may even update the blog along the way.

Right now I cannot even explain to you how ready I am to get this process going. The baby is more frequently positioning herself riiiight up against my sciatic nerve on the right, which is excruciating, and my back is killing me on the left side too! My top speed is "slow waddle" and I am just so unbelievably ready to get this show on the road. I think this is nature's way of preparing women for the hardship of childbirth. Look at all this wisdom I'm dropping. Actually I'm just delirious.

So that's the update - not much else to report, because this issue has pretty much taken over my life! Hopefully by the next post there will be more Burgii in the house than ever before. Keep us in your prayers!

It's Friday the 13th and my cervix needs a pep talk.

So, first things first, still preg. I went to the doctor this week and my cervix is still pretty much the same as my last appointment - 1 centimeter dilated and about 75-80% effaced, which is better than nothing of course, but not enough action to make induction a possibility before 41 weeks. Grrrrrr.

I shouldn't complain too much. My due date is Sunday, and I'm really ok with waiting the full 40 weeks. But I am starting to get annoyed with my cervix. Really cervix? We can't work together as a team? Not even now, when it's showtime and your big moment to shine? The truth is, I haven't asked much of you up till pregnancy - you've enjoyed an easy ride. Now when I need some cooperation, you decide to clam up. All of my other lady parts have been there for me. Unacceptable.

Anyway, I go back to the doctor on Tuesday for another check-up. Keep your fingers crossed that someone decides to be a team player, ahem.

My birthday was great! We went out with some friends to a very nice dinner, and Gavin got me a kickass spa package. He says I will need it once the baby's born, which at this rate is looking like Christmas, New Years.... at this rate we'll miss the tax deduction cutoff and that will REALLY piss me off! I'm predicting Christmas Eve, 2009, 12 lbs, 3.5 oz. The perfect 3 month old.

Other than that, it is shaping up to be a great weekend, with beautiful weather and entertaining football games. I am going to make the most of it with some quality time with Gavin and the dogs. I'll let you know if anything interesting develops.....

Dirty Thirty

HAHAHA - I'm def not adopted, but it is my birthday and I thought this pic was funny.

Well, folks, here I am - 30 years old and still young and spry as ever. Ok, maybe definitely not so spry at the moment, but I'm hoping to regain my spryness very soon. I thought turning 30 would be a drag, but really, it feels good. It's like ripping off a band-aid and realizing, hey, that wasn't so bad.

One thing that helps is that I can say without reservation that I made the most of my 20s. I really lived it up in my 20s, folks, and Hallelujah for that. My mom always says that time will pass no matter what you do, so you have to make the most of it.

Someone also told me a long time ago to get up and do things when I got the opportunity, even if I felt like staying home and being lazy or taking the more comfortable route, because I'll never regret having the experience. At the time, something inside me perked up and thought, this is great advice, so I took it.

So here are some of the greatest hits of my 20s, in no particular order.

1. Marriage! I married Gavin just 3 months shy of my 25th birthday, and now I look back and think - wow, I was a child bride. But it was the best decision I ever made. It's been such a great ride so far. I love him more and more every day and here we are about to pop out a puppy! I love you heeeeeeny!

2. Trips with friends to fun places! (NYC thrice, Vegas twice, New Orleans twice, Key West twice, San Antonio, Denver, football road trips to Nashville, Birmingham, Atlanta, Auburn, Tuscaloosa, Athens, etc.)

There was a time when I felt a tiny bit guilty taking these trips, because I may have had homework (during college or law school) or perhaps the responsible thing would have been to stay home and study or do laundry, but I stuck to my philosophy and went anyway. Sometimes I just packed Maddie up and took her with me. Looking back, those memories are priceless. I took a lot of these trips in law school, so much so that Gavin called me "Miss Goes-out-of-town-a-lot." He has a way with nicknames. We were courting then, so I think he just missed me.

All I can say is that you really are only young (like that) once, with that kind of freedom and energy, and when I look back, I remember the things I did, not the things I perhaps "should have" been doing at home. I guess they all got done somehow.

Props to Gavin for encouraging me to take all the "girl" trips I have taken over the years - he never put up a fuss about the money I spent or the time I spent away from him - thanks Bear!

3. Family trips! My fam knows how to travel - Canada, California, the UK, Utah, NYC, such great times and memories with loved ones. Also, my trip with Gavin to Italy was something I'll never ever forget.

4. Study abroad program! 6 weeks in Oxford England, with backpacking jaunts to various places in Europe on the weekends, including Amsterdam, London, Dublin, Belfast, Paris, always staying in inexpensive and sometimes scary hostels. I was so lucky to be able to do that with a group of pals from law school. I had practically no money, and barely got home by the skin of my dad's Visa card for "emergencies only", but I had the time of my life.

5. Sports car! Glad I rocked the convertible sportscar for a couple years - it was something I always wanted to do and loved every minute of it.

6. Career! I have been really fortunate to have had great and challenging jobs with excellent mentors and fun opportunities. It's been demanding at times, but, to my own shock, being a lawyer has suited me well, and I'm really happy with where I am now.

7. Baby! I have wondered throughout this pregnancy whether my last hurrah as a 20-something would be to have a baby. How very silly of me. Elise loves my uterus - it must be like a 5-star hotel in there or something. It's ok, though - it will be a great way to kick off the thirties.

It hasn't all been smooth sailing, but it's true what they say, that when you look back on your life, you remember the good things, so hang in there. Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes. I really really really hope to be posting about a birth verrrrrry soon!

Love ya!

Heyyyyyy

I caught Maddie mid-yawn.

Well, I'm still preg, but definitely getting there... as of today I am 38 weeks and it DEF shows. There she blows!

Hmm, what is new that I can tell you... the baby has "dropped" which means that, pelvically speaking, she is positioned appropriately to be born. This is not a reliable indicator that labor is imminent, however, because this can happen weeks in advance. Of course.

Elise is looking good - measuring a little on the petite side, but that's ok. If I have to choose between popping out a 6-7 pounder or a 9-10 pounder, my vagina and I will take the smaller baby, thanks. Heh - I said vagina.

Girlfriend kicks me and stretches out her tiny gams A LOT, which is still neat, even after all this time. Frankly though, I'm really ready for this to be over. Not to be a Negative Nancy, but I can't really do anything comfortably and I am not a person who enjoys being uncomfortable. Which is why I wouldn't have enjoyed Woodstock.

So Gavin is watching this thing about a half-wolf, half-man that supposedly killed lots of people in France in the 1700s. Apparently a cop and a zoologist are trying to "crack the case" in 2009 to determine whether the killer was a person, an animal, or a mythical creature, like a chupacabra or something. It is ridiculous. I haven't seen the ending, but something tells me the results of this investigation 300 years after the fact will be inconclusive. Gavin and I have such different tastes in TV sometimes. Basically, if it features time travel, alternate dimensions, space, volcanoes, wolfpeople, or cavemen, you can find it on my DVR, thanks to Gavin.

In other news, I wanted to blog about the current babies in my life - my doggies. Maddie and Sugarbear have gotten really clingy these past few weeks, which makes me think that they know something is up. Here are some pics of them snuggling up to Gavin... awwww.

I know, they are cute. ell, I will keep you updated on any new developments.... hope to talk to you REAL soon...