Birth of Link Ryley May 10th 2008

On friday May 9th I woke up starving and having some contractions. I had some other symptoms that I will keep to myself but if you've ever had a baby, I am sure you can imagine. I called Jeanne and let her know all of the juicy details and then continued eating. I felt like this was "it" and for some reason I was feeling so sad and emotional about it. Every time I would look at Leif I would think about the changes in his life that were about to take place and how it was sort of unfair to him. I also thought about all of our sweet moments that were coming to an end. All of our rocking to sleep or snuggling to sleep or waking up together in the morning...they would all have a new added element, or would be near impossible with an needy infant. I cried all day. I called Jeanne at around noon and let her know what I was feeling and I called into work and asked them to find someone to work for me that night. I felt like the contractions were happening kinda high in my back, so I thought I had a long ways to go, and that when it started feeling "lower" then I would know they were serious.
Throughout the day I tried to hold it together and prepare myself for possibly having to go into work. I wrote in Leif's little journal that I keep for him all of what I was feeling, all of the things that were making me sad, and all of the things I was looking forward to with him being a brother. He was excellent all day and very sweet to me. I then called back into work at 3, only to find out that no one was able to come in and cover for me, that they all had plans. Ryan came home and I went into work. I called Jeanne on the way and let her know what was going on.

I will not go into how bad work was, but I was scheduled to be there til 10, and I left at 8. I called Jeanne on the way and she asked if I wanted her to come now and I said to wait until I got home. I wanted to make sure things didn't fade away once I got relaxed at home. I came home and rocked Leif to sleep, and then waited for Ryan to come and put him in his bed since I as having a little trouble getting him up and into bed.

Things didn't settle down, and a little after 10 we called Jeanne over. This was the happiest moment of Ryan's life I think. He was finally almost in the clear for delivering a baby himself. haha. I went and laid in bed and listened to my playlist. At around 11:30 Jeanne got there and checked on me and then went about getting things ready. Pam got there at about 12 and then there was always someone in the room with me. I turned off the tunes and started talking about what was going on, little updates about how I was feeling. I must have peed 57 times before the baby came out. I was spending most of the time sitting on my knees and kinda rocking when I had a contraction, but then my feet started going to sleep so I decided I wanted to lay on my side for a while. Ryan came and sat up on the bed by my head and when I laid down I started to hear my heart beat in my head really loud and started to feel pushy. My body pushed for about 2 minutes straight. I think it was 2 contractions, but it felt like one long one. My water broke right as his head was coming out, and then he settled for a few seconds and then came out. His head and part of the cord came out together and then the rest of him came out. They laid him up on my tummy and threw a towel over him. I just looked at him and checked him all out. A little bit after that we lifted him and saw that he was a boy. Pam asked if we had a name picked out and I said Link. A little while later I delivered the placenta and Ryan cut the cord and the whole time I just held Link. After about an hour I took a shower and then settled into bed, Leif woke up and came and snuggled with me while Pam did a little check up on Link. Measuring weighing, all that good stuff. He was 7lbs and 5 oz and 20 inches long. He was born at 1:58am. Things are going very well.

37 weeks

Well yesterday I reached 37 weeks pregnant. I had missed my last appointment with Jeanne because of another birth, and it was rescheduled for yesterday so that was kinda nice. I weigh 156 and even though i feel a little puffy, by blood pressure was fine and my swelling is kind of a come and go occurrence depending on activity. The baby is securely head down with her back over to my left side, but in the mornings her back is kind of in the middle. Her feet are way over on the right and I think she is going to be very long. I also think that she will have hair, but not as much as Leif. I am so excited to meet this baby, I am so curious about how it will look, its personality, and OF COURSE the gender. I am having contractions all day every day and I think if the baby drops she will be coming out ASAP. Notice our new brown walls that Ryan cranked out the weekend our carpet was "supposed" to come...Nice, huh.

32 weeks

I am going to see my midwife every 2 weeks now and I am up 2 lbs from my last visit for a total of 146. I am pretty happy about that. I am measuring at 30cms and have been consistently 2 cms behind my weeks so far. The little princesses heartbeat was 160 and its a lot easier to hear nowadays.
Monday was my birthday and I got a Lakewinds membership and a compost bin from Ryan and Leif. Saturday is my birthday party at Archiver's in Eden Prairie. from 1-4. I am feeling a little bit blah about it and right now I feel like probably no one will come. I sent out some invitations and invited people from work, but I feel pretty lonely right now so I'm not expecting much to come out of it. I plan to work on the print edition of this journal.
I am starting to want to get things ready for the baby, but Ryan is not so motivated. I have hauled a lot of stuff out of the craft/baby room, but it was hard going up and down the stairs so many times, and there are a few big things in there that i cant move.
In 2 weeks we have our home visit. Jeanne and Pam will come out at 1 and make sure they can find our house ok. They will also get the home tour so they know where to find everything they might need. We will then have to order our birth kit and a list of all the other "stuff" we might need(paper towels and stuff). I am going to work on my menus.

28 Weeks

This week was my 28 week mark and an appointment with Jeanne. Everything is going well. I am up to 141 lbs, and I think the 10 pounds might have something to do with the girl scout cookies coming out this month. My blood pressure was 92/62. The little one is head down and very active. Heartbeat was in the 140's this time.
The greatest news of all is that 2 months ago we checked my iron and it was really low(9.5) and we started working on getting it up. At my appointment we rechecked it and it was up to 12.5!! That is huge.

On another subject Ryan's parents just got home from a 2 week trip to Mexico. They brought presents, of course and one was a cute little dress. They also bought Leif a hat but it was too small so the baby will get that too. Leif got a shirt, so he wasn't completely left out.

24 Weeks

Oh Man, I popped! I feel like a pregnant lady. My body has been taken over by a little acrobat and she is very curious about what is going on in the outside world. She seems very sensitive to Leifs voice too and its pretty cool. At my appt last week I weighed in at 131 and the heartbeat was 160. I don't remember my blood pressure, but it was good. We have had some really cold weather in the last month, like single digits, but yesterday it was 30 and Leif and I were so excited. I am really hopeful that spring is actually going to happen this year.
I have been really craving sweets and I have been trying to ward them off with fruit and fruit popsicles. It is valentines day today and I got 2 chocolate hearts, though, so there goes all of my hard work, haha.
My birthday is coming up and I am trying to find something to do. I would kind of like to go on a scrap booking retreat because I don't think after the baby comes I will be able to do this for quite a while.

20 Weeks

I am, again, a little late posting, but I have a lot to tell. First of all I went to my midwife again and that was very eventful. She heard the heartbeat, and i "kinda" heard it i guess. It wasn't very loud, and the baby was moving around so much that it was kind of coming and going. It was very fast, and that is another sign that it could be a girl. My iron is very low, too low to be adjusted with food, so I am drinking the iron and herbs stuff. Its kinda gross but I am tolerating it. I also am having a little bit of sciatica, and I went to a chiropractor. She did an adjustment and acupuncture and it really seemed to help, but after I work, it seems to hurt again. Sherry is going to get me a back support thing to wear at work now and we'll see if that helps. I am feeling a little sick today. I think I am getting a cold, bleh.
The baby, Like Leif does not like things resting on her. I think we will have to invest in a lot of little pink feety pajamas.
gabby

17 weeks - opps

I am very late getting this done, because it is the week before Christmas and I have been working an awful lot.
Last Friday, the 14th, was my first appointment with Jeanne and Pam. Leif and I drove over to St. Paul and went up for our meeting. We talked about my diet and how I need to eat more protein in the morning and thats why i get dizzy. We also talked about my itchiness and that I needed to drink more water. I told her about how i was feeling depressed and wanted everyone to leave me alone and when they didn't i got super angry. I weighed myself and i was 118 which is where I thought i had started. She sent me home with a little shopping list of red raspberry leaf tea, motherwort, and rescue remedy. I was a little leery of the tea and most things that look and smell like grass clippings can't taste much better, but it is pretty good. I am drinking 2 cups a day, because thats what my little tea ball holds.
Ryan comes tomorrow to stay with us for a week! I made him a welcome home banner last night at work so that he knows how much we love him and how happy we are to have him with us at Christmas. We are also having his favorite meal, angel hair with spaghetti sauce. I have to work from 11-3 after I pick him up :( , but then i am off til Saturday night! I really am blessed to be able to have people who are willing to switch with me. I haven't taken a new picture for this week either, but maybe we can get a family one on Tuesday.

13 Weeks Pregnant

I wanted to try and make this an every 4 weeks journal, but a lot has happened in the last 5 weeks so I didn't quite have the time. The morning sickness is completely gone, Praise God!, and I only have slight feelings of being lightheaded on occasion. During the worst of it, I started taking b-6 every day, and after about a week, it started to subside, and by 2 weeks it was gone. At 12 weeks I felt well enough to stop taking it and I have been doing great. I feel pretty tired in the evenings, but I am starting to believe that is coming to an end soon too.
We finished up all of our midwife interviews and have decided to use Jeanne Bazille. She is lovely and has 27 years of experience. She is in St. Paul and I will be going to her house for check-ups until the end of the pregnancy. I think she does a home visit in the last month. My appts with her will start at 15-16 weeks. Ryan has become completely comfortable with the idea of a homebirth since we have met with Jeanne.
Work is going AWESOME. It is the hight of holiday cardmaking season and we are very busy. On Monday I am going to be trained to teach classes. I am so excited about this. I have completed all 3 of our Christmas cards and Jenny's also. I need to finalize my mailing list though so that i can get the pictures printed. We are also going to make all of the gift tags for the presents this year, and I have decided to go with a penguin theme. I am going to get all of the stuff to make them, but save the assembly for when little Ryan gets here on the 23rd.
Leif is waking up so I better go for now. Next time i post it will be Christmas probably.

8 Week Pregnant

This is my attempt to track some of the highlights of my pregnancy for my third child. Once it is complete I plan to make a journal all scrapbook style.

I found out I was pregnant the morning of Thursday, September 20th. I was 4 days late and even though we had been trying to conceive for 7 months, I was still shocked. I had to think quickly to come up with a clever way to tell Ryan so I didn't have to keep it quite for too long. Leif and Ryan were going up to the cabin that weekend, so I decided I would pack a surprise in the bag and that way he would find it and be surprised. I got a little t-shirt that said big brother and I made a little card that was kinda baby-ish and said "Leif's going to be a big brother". I wrapped the whole thing in curly ribbons and put it on top so that when Ryan unzipped the bag to get Leif ready for bed it would be the first thing he saw. So when he called me that night to tell me that it was cold up there and that he had Leif all bundles up in his feety pajamas, I knew he would have seen the shirt and asked him how he liked his surprise.
"What surprise?"
ARE YOU KIDDING ME
...anyway I walked him through it, explained everything, and he was happy. Not giddy, not freaking out over the moon like I was, just happy. I think he was in shock.
His parents were up at the lake also and he told them the next day. They are excited and have told all the rest of the family.
I have gotten into action on the hunt for a midwife. This will be a homebirth. Ryan and Leif were both born naturally in the hospital, but I just don't feel like I need to go to the hospital again. I really want a more personal treatment from my caregivers and I secretly hope that Ryan will catch the baby. I told him that I was going to catch it myself and he said, "won't you be busy enough". i told him that he could do it then, and he kinda just went pale. We'll see.
This pregnancy has been ok so far. I feel like I am putting on a little weight, and things are moving around. I have felt tired and the last couple of days I am trying to ward off nausea.
I am planning to update this every 4 weeks, I am 8 weeks today.