Welcome Little Bailey!

This is a magical story that begins with the most delicious prime rib dinner I've ever had and ends with one of the cutest little blessings to ever enter our lives...

Our good friends Jackie and Nate were nice enough to treat us to a home cooked, home delivered meal yesterday night. They bought a huge prime rib around Christmas and had been waiting for an occasion to cook it on their Traeger grill. What followed was arguably one of the yummiest meals I've ever had. And apparently Bailey agreed too. I thought I had felt a few contractions while I was napping earlier in the day and I was feeling crampy during the afternoon, through dinner and into the evening. Mostly I just wrote it off as cramps caused by Bailey's head being lodged so far down and didn't really start to think that it might be 'Go Time' until we were saying good night to Jackie and Nate a little after 9pm. Not being one to want to unnecessarily shock my husband (the planner of all planners) I basically just gave him some cryptic looks and a few non-committal comments along the lines of "Don't get your hopes up, but we might want to maybe think about getting out the hospital bag"

A few hours later, we were sure I was in labor and had decided to go ahead and get to the hospital. My goal was to get to there early enough to labor in the tub, but alas: No Dice. We were checked in around midnight, I was dilated to 5 cm and Bailey was having heart decelerations during contractions. Just like her big sister, we figured she had the cord wrapped around her neck and I was kept on monitors to keep track of how she was handling the contractions. What followed in the next two hours was amazing; I don't really like to take credit for it, since it's really up to the Big Guy upstairs, but he made sure I rocked at coping with the pain and focusing on getting that little girl into the world safely.

The nurses were literally still setting up equipment when I started feeling the need to push and by the time the doctor finally got his ducks in a row and had me push once, (accompanied by a very loud feral, spartan woman roar) he told me that I would have Bailey on the next push. My obvious reaction was something along the lines of "Yeah right...I'm a mom I know how the 'one more bite' tactic works" But, whodathunkit, Bailey came out on the next push (also accompanied by more roaring...I'm sure the staff loves me) lovely and lavender, with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck, arm, torso and legs. What a mess! She didn't cry, she just stared at all the new things going on and only offered a few sissy little protests as the nurses rubbed her down with towels on my belly. The first picture of the two of us together captures my feelings at the moment pretty accurately: What the heck just happened?

John and I spent the next hours trying to understand how this kid basically rocketed into the world. She weighed 7lbs. 11oz. and is only 19 inches long (2.5 inches shorter than her BIG sister) She breastfed for an hour soon after she was born and then commenced to take an 8 hour nap. I tried my hardest to get her to wake up for a feeding in between, but this girl L-O-V-E-S to sleep and I can't say I blame her. Not to jinx our situation, but she is really seeming like the most content little baby I've ever seen. Her cry is so quiet, it sounds more like a gentle suggestion that she might be uncomfortable and if someone wanted to do something to fix it that'd be great.

Big Sister Audrey had a heck of a day today too. It's her half birthday! She woke up and was whisked away to the magical land of IHOP with her Grandma and Grandpa S. where she reportedly ate her weight in pancakes, eggs and juice. They then came by to visit us at the hospital and she got to meet her new little sister. There was a lot of talking about "Baby! Baby!" but mostly, Audrey was fascinated by the fun clip-clop noise her shoes make on the floor and the cool buttons mom has on her bed. I think we're going to do just fine integrating these two into each other's lives.

Neither John or I have gotten a lot of sleep in the past two days, but we're running on euphoria, chocolate pudding, crummy hospital food and the knowledge that a whole lot of people have us in their thoughts and prayers. I am feeling great--good enough that the hospital staff seems skeptical of how good I claim to feel. And we're looking forward to some visitors this evening to keep us entertained. I've posted pictures on a new album on Picasa and we'll continue to update them as we take them and get them downloaded. We're really looking forward to going home tomorrow and settling in with our new family of four. Thanks so much to everyone who's thinking of us and wishing us all well. We feel amazingly blessed!

Thank You!

Here's a Thank You video for Auntie Em--She sent a care package for Audrey and Bailey...and arguably me too since it included cookies. I thought everyone would enjoy seeing Audrey in her new hat!

It's The Little Things

I know I mention it frequently, but life in the Schweighardt House really is crazy. And we're all nuts to make things work as well as they do. Everyone who has lived in the house knows that occasionally the time comes when you just need to get the heck out of Dodge. And sometimes having the house to yourself is as close to a vacation as you're going to get. I'd like to think this weekend was the best of both worlds for everyone involved. Marlene took the train to see her grandkids in Vancouver and Karen and Gary headed off to Seattle for some R&R with the Paynes.

When I first heard that most people in the house were leaving for the weekend, I felt a sense of giddy excitement; Bailey was coming! Of course one of my children would choose to be born on the most inconvenient weekend for everyone else! It seemed like a sure bet--it might as well have been set in stone. But as the weekend approached, I realized I would've felt cheated if Bailey arrived early. It was a rare opportunity for John Audrey and I to be together, just the three of us. So, instead of setting our minds to getting this baby out into the world, Papa took Audrey and me on a date to Red Robin Friday night, we fit in some Toy-sploring at Toys R Us for Audrey and we even went out for donuts for breakfast Saturday morning. We didn't set out to accomplish anything major and Audrey was actually incredibly off-schedule and cranky for most of the weekend, but I loved it because we were together.

I feel like I've been struggling a lot lately, trying not to complain too much and become impatient while waiting for Bailey's arrival even though I know most people would say I'm entitled to feel that way. I've got a host of complaints up my sleeve that range anywhere from seasonal depression to back pain that I can call on to justify wanting Bailey here sooner, but truthfully, I need to learn to set it all aside and take stock in the moments I'm being given with my family right now. Even though I'm tired and cranky and my hips hurt, I still have an amazing husband who keeps me humble when I feel like the world should throw me a pity party and an incredible daughter who makes me want to burst with loving her, even when she cries through lunch time, spills milk on me and then resists napping like a fighting little Dragon. I am blessed.

I'm Starting to Feel Bi-Polar

Any time I have time to stop and have a thought to myself, it's either something along the lines of "Could somebody just get this kid out now?" or "Hey, I could suck it up and stay pregnant a little longer!". So, you can understand the bit about seeming manic depressive.

I'm uncomfortable enough now that I can't take naps or enjoy sleep anymore. That's right--I'm complaining! The inability to sleep (my second love in life, close behind eating) has sent me straight into crabby-pregnant-lady-ville. And I am finally realizing how easy I had it during my last month of pregnancy with Audrey. The Willian needs sleep. You should feel sorry for my husband.

Now, on the flip side of that coin? I love that kid--The one who has been trying to fall asleep by herself in the next room for the past half hour because she won't snuggle with me anymore. She's squirming around and occasionally talks to her monkey or calls out my name. I can't imagine us having a better relationship than we do now and it's a little scary to think about trying to bring another rugrat into our awesome duo. So, maybe a little more time would be nice...

I've got another doctor's appointment today which will most likely yield no new news...That's how I roll. I'll keep you posted on when this baby is coming. Anyone with an extra dose of patience? I'd be much obliged if you could pass it along!

...and, yes, I do realize that I ranked sleeping and eating before both my husband and daughter. They've got to have something to tell their therapists.

"This is Dinner; Your Next Meal is Breakfast"

...That should jog some memories for my brother and sister. I would say the phrase "This is Dinner" would rate in the top 10 that my mother repeated to us growing up...and you know what? She had a good reason. Last week, John and I were starting to get frustrated; Audrey went from sleeping until 6:30 or 7am to waking up at 5:30 and not wanting to go back to sleep. Blerg! For someone anticipating a large sleep deficit in the near future, this was not good news. We thought at first it might be a fluke, but after five days of the same thing, we were trying to identify any possible factor that might be causing her to wake up early and we narrowed it down to her probably not getting enough to eat at night.

For someone so schedule-oriented, I've been surprisingly cavalier with Audrey's eating habits; I would offer her food when we sat down to meals, but if she was hungry or asked for food in between, I always let her have it in the past. It also doesn't help that there are plenty of adults in the house who succumb to her cuteness and let her mooch food off of them when they're eating too. (Trust me, it's hard to resist the "Coo-coo? Please?" face) Anyway, I decided it was time for a change--I'm a fascist dictator about nap time, why not meal times too? The first day of "This is Dinner" was pretty brutal; scheduled meal and snack times? No treats in between? Audrey did not understand why all the rules had suddenly changed and she was not happy with her Mama or pretty much anyone else in the house...but she slept in past 7am the next morning...and the three after that too. So, I'm back to being cool with being the bad guy and Audrey is adjusting pretty well too.

It's always in hindsight that these things seem so glaringly obvious; why would you exhaust yourself, feeding your toddler on demand, worrying that she's getting enough to eat when you could create sanity in a simple schedule? I guess I was just holding on to some residual feelings from babyhood and worried that, yes, she might indeed starve to death between meals. Even though she's a "big girl" in so many other ways, it's hard to move on from that fear that you're not providing an essential need for them.

Anyway, I guess I could count that as something off the To-Do list too, right? I'm so darn close to getting it finished. John cleaned out my car for me this weekend and we installed Bailey's car seat, My friend April came over on Saturday to help me put the crib together and I have at least a week's worth of grocery's in the kitchen. Check, check, check! On top of all this productivity, I'm starting to get much more uncomfortable. Even Audrey is getting uncomfortable; she flat-out refuses to snuggle with me before nap time anymore since my belly has gotten so big. Instead, she finishes her milk, points to her crib and says "Bun?" (That's Audrey for "bed") and proceeds to snuggle with her lovies in her crib before falling asleep. I've never been so jealous of a stuffed monkey in my life.

I'm supposed to go to the chiropractor again today, so maybe I'll be a little less bitter about feeling like I'm toting a boulder in my belly and my hips are falling apart once I get adjusted again. Did I mention I'm uncomfortable? I'm not complaining...I would never do that. I just need Lex Luthor to fix me.

Lots to Celebrate!

First and foremost: Today is Audrey's newest cousin's birthday!!! Lucas Vincent Bohannon was born today, is oh, so super cute and seems to be doing very well for a guy who decided to arrive several weeks early. We couldn't be happier for Steve and Julie; Steve's prediction that Luke would beat Bailey definitely came true and now I'm getting (if it's possible) even more excited about the eventual arrival of our little gal too.

I went to the doctor yesterday...and there is nothing interesting to report; I still need more iron. I only gained one pound last week. Boring, boring, boring...This is good. I'm also actually making progress on my Bailey check list (I NEVER finish check lists), but I also just added the item 'Laundry' to the list, which as we all know, can never truly be done. So, there you have it--I'm setting myself up for failure.

In other news: did you see the absolutely fantastically gorgeous pictures that Natalie posted of us on Facebook? If you don't have access to Facebook, just trust me, they're amazing and I'll post the link to her website again when she adds them. This is my favorite:

If someone were to ask me who Audrey was, I would give them this picture--no words needed.

Oh, and remember how I've always been unsentimental about professional belly pictures and didn't want to do them with Audrey because I knew I wouldn't take the time to do them with any of my other kids? Well, consider me reformed:

That makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

So there you have it: new baby cousin, boring baby doctor appointments, a super sweet big girl who was a baby not too long ago and a new appreciation for my Baily baby belly. I'd say I've got the fever! Let's all Celebrate!

The Month of The Bailey

Happy New Year, Everyone! John and I celebrated with the good folks in the central time zone this year and were asleep by 10:30. Our line of thinking was: why subject ourselves to unnecessary sleep deprivation when we're headed for quite a bit of it in 2010 anyway? Best to start the year out with a good night's sleep. For those of you wondering why I wouldn't leap at the opportunity to organize a party and stuff my face with delicious celebratory food to ring in the new year...I instead had a leisurely, two-hour breakfast of pancakes, bacon and cinnamon rolls the next morning. These are the happy thoughts I will cling to when caring for a newborn and her crazy big sister: sleep. food. And lots of it.

Even though John took a four day weekend, it feels like it has flown by. We've been taking down Christmas decorations and are still working on cleaning and organizing the house from the Holiday madness. And as always, we're slowly checking off the To-Do list for Bailey's arrival.

Our friends Steve and Natalie came to the Tri-Cities for the weekend with their three boys and I volunteered my belly as a model for Natalie's photography portfolio. It's always so much fun to see these guys, but I feel like Audrey really got to bond a lot more with the boys this time. She especially latched on to their oldest: Christian. (Audrey calls him "Chin-Chin") I think he is angling to get in her good graces so she'll send him care packages full of cookies when he's in college, though. We spent Saturday night and Sunday afternoon playing, eating, catching up and taking pictures. It really was a great time and it went by way too quickly.

Now, suddenly, it's Sunday night and most people have to return to the real world in the morning. I may not have a technical job to go back to, but I sure do have a lot of procrastinating I've been blaming on the holiday weekend to catch up on. In the mean time, I'm trying not to think too fondly of getting this kid out of my belly. I'm full term, which has a tendency to get my hopes up, especially when I'm starting to feel like I'm carrying a bowling ball in my hips and have occasional false labor contractions. I also don't have a lot on my schedule this week...perfectly open if I were to say...oh, I don't know....have a baby? Here's wishing!