The first 30 days

I should have written this post a few weeks ago but life seemed to get in the way so here it is now, by the grace of the better late than never rule.

As many people warned me, the first few weeks of parenthood just downright suck.......usually. And perhaps I was one of those lucky pregnant women who had very little morning sickness and swelling, no acne, minimal fatigue and heartburn, fairly quick and easy labor etc , but sadly this luck did not follow me out of the delivery room.

What I did take with me from the hospital was a grab bag of narcotics, hemmorhoid cream, and sanitary pads large enough to double as couch cushions.....which only scratched the surface of the accoutrements I would need over the next few weeks to maintain my post partum body.Though some women quickly recover from pushing a watermelon through a passage the size of a prune, my physical recovery was a long and painful journey that unfairly colored my first few weeks of mommyhood with negativity. Between the hemmorhoids that caused nurses to gasp and offer more pain medication, a tailbone that felt surely bruised, the sore and burning nipples from hours of tugging and suckling, and the myriad small aches and pains from the IVs, stitches, and uterine cramping I was truely a hot mess---physically, mentally, and emotionally. But I will say that after just a couple weeks most of these issues had gone or were on the mend and life as a mom was looking up...slightly.

We made it through Marens first growth spurt and some minor acid reflux issues before the first month closed. By the time we were in the thick of Christmas shopping my crotch no longer emited agonizing pains, I was no longer crying during Mastercard commercials, and we had both mastered changing a diaper without getting covered in bodily fluids.

As the first 4 weeks came to a close I finally had an answer to my daily question to self-- "what did I get myself into?!" Because despite the aches and pains and crying fits for both Maren and I, I began to realize that parenthood really does get better and I knew that the days of smiles and giggles were just around the corner and that anticipation was enough to keep me motivated through the days of sleep depravation, sore nipples, and poop dodging ahead.

Welcome to Parenthood

Those of you that have experienced the first month of parenthood probably know why the blog has lain dormant for so many weeks. Those of you who were like me just a season ago, and wonder why people with kids are never on time and usually arrive smelling of sour milk, probably think Kake and Jelly are both kind of lazy and lack time management skills. How hard is it to spend a few minutes in front of a computer when you're home all day every day? Babies nap right?

Well yes, technically this is true but in the early weeks of parenthood, when you are consistently getting 3 hours of sleep each night and (I for one) feel like someone put an anvil on your seat everytime you sit down, you quickly find more important things to do with said precious nap time --- like take narcotic pain killers, clean the house so everyone thinks you have everything under control with plenty of time to spare for vaccuumming, and of course research how you're supposed to react to this experience according to baby related websites. As you can see, with all this activity there is no time for blogging......until now.

With the percocet bottle long empty and the nightly sleep hours frequently totalling a staggering 6-7 hours, Ive realigned my priorities and am ready to spend more nap time updating our life in cyberspace. It also helps that Kake gifted his itouch to me and I just found an app that allows me to update the blog via the itouch. So rest assured that most of the posts in 2010 will be crafted in the wee hours of the morning while Im feeding Maren. It should go without saying that the timing of these posts may lead to multiple spelling errors and misuse of simple grammar but please believe, I haven't entirely lost my marbles, they're just in a bag in the back of the closet for safe keeping.

Included here is a photo of the boss making sure we're performing our duties to an acceptable level.

Kake and Jelly's Last Day as a Couple

For those of you interested in the details of Maren's arrival, and with strong constitutions in the face of such graphic details involving discharge and legal narcotics, read on.

Sunday started like most at the household of Kake and Jelly with softball on Kake's part and errands for Jelly. Different this day was Jelly's breakfast date with a friend (where she got eggs benedict for any desperate pregnant women looking to try anything to go into labor) and a small amount of housecleaning and yard work in preparation for the HOPEFULLY last week of work before babykake's arrival. Little did we know, this would be the last "normal" Sunday morning for awhile.

(Times are estimates as we were preoccupied and sleep and food deprived for most of the rest of this journey)

12:30pm--A usual bathroom trip includes a loud unexpected plop--apparently this is what the pregnancy books call a "mucous plug" and it is no longer plugging anything
2:00pm--"Theres something going on in my pants" I said to Kake. Upon closer inspection it seems it COULD be the first signs of my water breaking.....or it could be a strange discharge which is not uncommon in late pregnancy.....so the Dr was called for advice
3:00pm--Upon the advice of the Dr, we packed up a few last minute items and headed to the hospital for what Kake was sure was the arrival of his son/daughter and what I insisted was nothing but the alarmist attitude of my Dr. But be sure that we set the DVR to record the Eagles game before leaving so we could catch up when we got home later in the evening
4:00pm--We were checked into Labor and Delivery and, through the use of the high tech method of a color changing qtip, it is confirmed that the ongoing gushing that has soaked two pairs of my pants is indeed amniotic fluid and not incontinence (whew! How embarrassing that could have been)
Initial exams showed that I was about 3cm dilated and 75% effaced......
10:00pm--After a few hours of walking the L&D halls with consistently stronger but not entirely unbearable contractions, heaven arrived in the form of a geriatric halitosis ridden anesthesiologist and a pertinear 6 inch epidural needle....and some pitocin to try to help speed up labor considering that once your water breaks there is limited time in which its safe to deliver the baby
2:00am--Kake enjoyed a nice nap on a reclining chair, interrupted by my frequent calls to the nurse to see if it was normal that I felt an intense need to pee every couple minutes--apparently the epidural takes away pain but not pressure hence my desire to pee during every contraction...this I never knew! After a shocking and startling exam by the Dr it was determined that I was ready to push this babe out, BUT, he /she had recently taken the opportunity to turn sunny side up, which is not ideal for anyone involved, so the plan was to wait another hour reclined on my side to see if this would coax the baby to flip around again, or at least move lower so the Dr could manual turn him/her around
3:30am--Turn up the Salt n Peppa and "Push It"!!! For a first baby 40-60 minutes of pushing is fairly lucky. And that is also misleading as, in the words of my Dr, I apparently have a pokey uterus. My once 2-3 minute apart contractions somehow slowed to a relative snails pace of 5-6 minutes apart, resulting in a lot of waiting in precarious positions over the following hour and a sore arm for Jake who had to hold my leg up the entire time.
4:12am--BabyKakes made HER arrival with a full set of feverishly working lungs but otherwise limited fanfare. My shock and disbelief of babykakes being a girl--I was absolutely convinced I was having a boy--was not lost on the medical staff as I made repeated comments like "Really? A girl? Really?"
The Rest--As you may imagine the rest of the morning raged by in a blur. I think I had the best seat in the house as my rotund belly kept me from seeing the graphic entrance of babykakes into the world, as well as the bloody hot mess that resulted at the end of the bed. Kake valiantly hung in there for the upclose version of the "Miracle of Life" and even participated by cutting the cord. There was some minor stitching involved for me and lots of cleanup and monitoring for babykakes with Jelly left in the middle looking back and forth trying to decide who's hand to hold.

In the end we both decided that babykakes might have entered the world in a startling fashion, and might have surprised us with being a girl, but she was of course the most perfect baby we could have ever asked for.

If This Is It......The Arrival of BabyKakes

Much to our surprise, we had more than an Eagles game to look forward to this weekend. After an uncertain water breakage and trip to the hospital on Sunday afternoon, during which the Huey Lewis and the News song "If this is it" played on in the background, it was determined that we "werent leaving the hospital without a baby". My hope was that it was the one in my belly.

About 14 hours and a turn of the calendar later, our little girl arrived!!!
Maren Elizabeth Rossiter was born at 4:12am on Monday 11/16/09, weighing in at a lucky 7lb 11oz and 20 inches long.

Mom, Dad, and baby are doing well and spending lots of days ahead trying to figure each other out!! Read on for the uncut, detailed and graphic version of the baby story.

The Final Countdown.....I Hope

How far along? 39 weeks
Total weight gain: 35-40 lbs, Im pretending some of that is the result of swelling and not halloween candy binging
Maternity clothes? Its getting hard to find shirts that fit....Kake's closet may be raided soon
Sleep: Relishing my last few full nights of sleep!!! But I still have the multiple bathroom trips to contend with
Best moment this week: Having a couple days off work to relax and cook meals to freeze for those days of mayhem to come
Movement: slowing down but still steady, especially when Im trying to sleep!!!
Gender: More unsolicited guesses are coming in for BOY, but hopefully it wont be long until we know for sure
Labor Signs: Minor cramps but nothing convincing.....despite lots of reckless behavior like massage chairs and indian food ;)
Belly Button in or out? A slightly bulging flat button
What I miss: Being able to walk more than 1/4 mile without being exhausted and winded and sweaty and an overall hot mess
What I am looking forward to: The annoucement of "Its a ______!!!!"
Weekly Wisdom: Conversations with strangers that start with belly stares and comments such as "woah, wow, woah....when are you due?!!" can actually turn into pleasant experiences
Milestones: Apparently I am making some progress toward labor by being 50% effaced (you have to get to 100% to dilate more than a few cms)

The Two Week Wait

How far along? 38 weeks
Total weight gain: 36 lbs, I think, Ive stopped asking
Maternity clothes? Of course, but I only have 2 sweaters so Im hoping the winter weather holds off for a few weeks
Sleep: Restless, including at least 2 bathroom breaks and numb hands
Best moment this week: Getting our stroller in the mail--I know its lame, but the stroller is surprisingly fun to test drive around the house
Movement: babykakes is definitely auditioning for Riverdance this week
Gender: No big reveals since last week
Labor Signs: Minor cramps but nothing convincing
Belly Button in or out? Still flat
What I miss: Wearing socks without them cutting off circulation in my swollen feet
What I am looking forward to: Shirts that fit so I dont get a cold draft on my belly
Weekly Wisdom: I just learned why the poop of breastfed babies doesnt have an odor---there's no bacteria in breastmilk to cause a smell...Who knew that was the reason?!!
Milestones: At my OB appt this week I was dilated to 1cm, 9 more to go!

Babykakes First Photo Shoot

This weekend Melissa and her sister Valerie joined me at Valley Forge National Park to take some photos of my uber pregnant belly for documentation of this (hopefully) rare time in my life (seeing as how my last name is not Duggar)--and to log the first photos of babykakes. I put a few of my favorites up on the blog with this post but the entire photo shoot is available for your viewing and work distraction here.

Please disregard my puffy face, some of the weird facial expressions and my man hands.