Baby Awesomeness

Good Lord, Thanksgiving is next week.  I can’t believe that we are coming up on the little one’s 2 month milestone.  I feel like I have been living from feeding to feeding, which actually makes the days go by pretty fast. I have wanted to make another blog entry before now, but having more than one free hand for more than a couple of minutes is more precious than I ever could imagine, and until now, those moments have been dedicated to showering, which Clark and Hannah greatly appreciate.

We took the full on crazy pills and took our biannual pilgrimage to the Georgia/Auburn game in Athens last weekend.  The weather was practically perfect and it was so good to get out of Huntsville and this house for a while.  We got to catch up with our friends and have some adult beverages and all in all, just relax and laugh for a while.  Hannah was a huge hit in her War Damn Eagle Onesie, and to be honest, quite the trooper.  We were able to try out our carriers.  The baby bjorn was the easiest to handle.  Other than getting my sweater fuzz all over her face, she napped and charmed our friends all day.  Hannah and I didn’t go into the game, we enjoyed the warm comfort of the Holiday Inn Bar.  Yes, a baby, in a bar.  They had some great couches that allowed the little one to continue her rigorous beauty sleep schedule.

It was our first car trip with Hannah and it went well.  She did her best to stay giggly and sleepy.  I never thought I would be one of those parents that sits in the back with the baby, but if it helps keep her quiet and lets me stare at her beautiful little face, so be it.

We did start to see the changes from our usual game day norms.  The dividing line between those with kids and without reared its ugly head.  Some of our friends went out to hear a band Friday night before the game and our other friends came by our hotel for drinks and then went downtown to meet friends.  Clark and I gladly stayed in and hit the sack.  There was a slight tinge of sentiment to our pre Hannah life of over beveraging and staying out late, but one look at the wee one and it makes it all worth it.

Life as parents continues to be pretty awesome.  Each day is a little different and seeing her grow and learn new things is just unbelievable.  I am so lucky to be able to spend this time with her.

Opinions are like......

We are going on week 3 of parenthood and we have had our share of ups and downs, but the happily the worst has been a few sleepless nights.  Over the past 10 months of both pre and post pregnancy, we have gotten a lot of advice and recommendations from both health care professionals and books on pregnancy and parenthood.  The information from all sources can be summed up as “personal opinions.”  Everything from tests we took while we were pregnant to sleeping recommendations for Hannah now in the first couple of weeks of life are up for interpretations.  One doctor said Hannah was due on the 1^st of October, the other said she was due the 26^th of September.  One book says to let the baby sleep and eat on their own schedule, the other says to set the schedule and let the baby conform to the schedule you set for it.  I think there needs to be big master book for parenthood called “Here are a bunch of things that worked for someone at some point, if they don’t work for you, don’t worry, you could still have a normal child.”  This has been pretty frustrating when you are trying to get a finite answer to a new parent questions, but the more we understand that there is probably more than one answer the less anxious we will be about the answers.

Clark and I have done a good job of sifting through the information and coming up with a solution to a few of the speed bumps we have hit.  We’ll continue to look for different ideas on how to approach problems, but am coming to appreciate how different every child is and what works for one may not work for another.

She's Here, She's Here!

Well the blessed event/day has come and each day after that has been better than the day before.  We have made it through the first week and are tackling the second a day at a time.  Friends and family told us to kiss sleep good bye and they weren’t kidding.  Some nights are better than the other and we think we are learning a little more with every sleepless night.  Overall she has been a dream.  She has already had her first doctor’s appointment and is gaining weight like she should.

The delivery went well and even though I had not originally planned on having a C Section, it went so smoothly, was the safest way to get her out, and was the quickest way for us to meet the little one.  Hannah stayed breech up until the last moment.  I remember when I was on the table, my doctor said “I love when they give me a foot”, two tugs and she was out.  I was relatively calm throughout the procedure, but when I heard her cry out for the first time, I was overwhelmed with astonishment.  I couldn’t believe that she was here; I couldn’t believe that she was ours.  Watching Clark hold her and bring her over to me is something that will stay with me the rest of my life. 

We have been a good team so far.  We have really been able to balance each other out.  Clark has some great intuition about why Hannah does some of the stuff that she does.  He has been a great help.  Some of the nights when she won’t go back to sleep after she eats, he’ll send me back to bed and he’ll rock her or hold her until she drifts back off to sleep.  With work, he has two weeks off and it has been such a blessing to have him home with us.

My parents were here for the delivery and stayed a few days after.  It was wonderful to have them stay with us.  They were able to keep Nixon and be our food and “forgotten items” shuttle from the house to the hospital.  They were both so excited to be there with us and to share in her arrival.

That’s all I can put together for now.  The ol brain isn’t working on full capacity yet, but wanted to get something down.

I have a bunch of pictures of Hannah to share, but I have watched too many Law & Order SVU episodes while I have been home to put them up on the web, and don’t trust Facebook not to sell her beautiful pictures to advertisers.  So if you want to see pictures, just email me and I’ll send you a photo album.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts, prayers and encouragement.  Can’t wait for all of you to meet her!

Cheers,

Team McCarthy

Will there be an Audible at the line of Scimmage?

My best friend Grace called me yesterday to let me know that I was going to give birth to a baby a week from today.  I laughed because it is something that I am still unable to wrap my head around most days.  With the countdown ticking along, I grow more and more anxious to meet the little one. 

I was changing into my pajamas the other night and caught sight of my tummy in the mirror.  I just stood there looking at it for a while baffled that there is a little girl in there and she is the perfect mix of Clark and me.  She is ours forever.  A miracle like child bearing and birth is just so hard to fully comprehend.  The fact that our bodies are perfectly made to bring additional human beings into this world blows my mind on a daily basis.  Even with all the ups and downs of this pregnancy, we are so blessed to have been given this gift by God.

For the most part, I think we are as ready as we are going to be to bring her home.  We are hanging the mirror in her room this morning and that is the last thing to be done.  Mom and Dad will be down on Thursday night.  It will be nice to have them here to help take care of Nixon while we are in the hospital.  Mom is already putting together her list of recipes from the “freezes beautifully” section of the cookbook to stock up the freezer with.  I’ve packed and repacked my hospital bag.  There is really not much left to do except enjoy the last few days of a quite household.

With the date set, Clark told me that he has mentally prepared himself for delivery on Friday and to not go calling an audible and change it up on him.  I have about as much influence over that as he does, so we’ll see.  Personally, I would still like to be surprised.  I always thought I would have that moment where I call out to Clark and tell him it’s time and we throw the last couple of items in the bag and race off to the hospital.  Just like the scene from She’s Having a Baby when Kevin Bacon packs up the car and drives away without his wife in the car to go around the block when he realizes he is missing something.  But I am sure there will be enough surprises in our future that missing this surprise may be a blessing in disguise.

So unless Hannah calls an audible, I’ll try to get one more blog in before the big day.  Wish us luck!

Best,

Team McCarthy

Light at the end of the tunnel

In the words of Harry in Dumb and Dumber, “so you’re saying there’s a chance”.  My chance in this scenario is that this journey, as promised, will come to an end sometime in the near future and at least I know there will be a big prize at the finish line.  So as I have said before, Hannah is not being a team player.  What I thought was my rib aching all this time is actually a good portion of my internal organs being shoved 4 inches to the North.  Over the last weekend the dull aching pain in my upper right abdomen/rib area turned into a sharper pain.  So on Tuesday, I was sent to the hospital to have them check it out.  Seven hours later I left with the knowledge that Hannah is breech, going east to west with her dome shoved up into my right side, which I should refer to now as the scene of the crime.  She has crowded all my organs and especially my gallbladder, which they think is leaking.

So all of this is to say that now I have a scheduled C section on the 23^rd of September.  It is nice and weird all at the same time to pretty much know the date of her arrival.  I almost think it is cheating in a way.  There is always the chance that she will do her part and turn in the downward direction and come out on her own, but from what they tell me there isn’t a whole lot of room for her to turn. 

I have looked up on the “interweb” for ways to encourage the little miss to turn on her own.  Some of the ones that I have tried are lying with my butt elevated by either pillows or on an ironing board propped up against a couch.  Neither of these is comfortable.  I have also tried putting clothes pins on the outside of my pinkie toes.  This is supposed to be a pressure point that will encourage the baby to get moving.  This may work, but I’ll never know because every time I put them on (or actually Clark put them on because I can touch my toes), Nixon jumped up and pulled them off.  Lastly, I have tried putting a covered ice pack on the top of my abdomen.  Allegedly they do not like the cold and will move away from it.  She moved alright but not in any productive manner.  And I was just afraid that I was freezing her brain or something and probably didn’t leave it on long enough to do anything.

Since sitting and scrunching my stomach for any length of time now is painful, and lying on the extra desk in my office at work was getting awkward, I have stopped working this week.  Nixon has enjoyed the extra company at home, but is frustrated to have to share the remote with me.  So for now I will catch up on my Netflix queue and hot baths.  I know two weeks sounds like a long time now, but I know it will go by fast.

Any good movie suggestions would be great.  Hope this finds you all well!

Team McCarthy

Ticking Time Bomb

Hello last month of pregnancy, can we please come to a gentlewoman’s agreement?  I’ll try to take it easy, rest, and try not to bump things with my belly if you will ease up on my upper abdomen and allow me to go 30 minutes without having to urinate.  Deal?

If only it was that easy.  We are officially in the final stretch.  My best friend Grace described it last night as the top of the ninth inning (they are going to Boston/Fenway this weekend for their anniversary).  If this is the top of the ninth, who is winning?  I would say Hannah has a fair lead on me and I am not sure if the rally cap is going to make a difference at this point. 

The good news is that, for the most part, have all the things we need to bring the princess home,  Crib, Clothes, Diapers, Monitor, Car seat (installed even), and binkies (pacifiers).  Of course we have more than that, but we feel we have covered the essentials.  Clark said we don’t even need those.  He insists that he slept on a concrete slab for the first two years of his life and learned to communicate and scavenge for food as needed by the end of his first week of life.  He expects Hannah to do the same or at least become self-sufficient by the end of October at the latest.

Clark is still remaining relatively calm, however, some extra questions are starting to pop up, such as “where is that bag of stuff you want to take to the hospital with you?’, “should I pack a bag too?”  He is also getting some great advice from friends.  A work friend said he has already done his part and should be able to just work throughout the birth anyways.  Other advice I agree with a lot more is to “just say you are sorry and ask if there is anything you can do.”  This is advice that Clark has taken.  For the past couple nights, by the time we get home from work, I have been miserable and sometimes in tears briefly from being uncomfortable and yes, probably at the mercy of hormone fluctuations.  He has been great and has taken on all of the chores that I can no longer do.

It is comforting to know we are in the home stretch.  The fact that I could literally go into labor at any moment is a funny feeling.  I am trying to be more aware of the amount of gas in my car (I often let it get down to nothing, bad I know), we have a plan for Nixon while we are in the hospital, and lastly I am trying to make sure I can walk away whenever needed from work by working a transition plan with my colleague.  Mom and Dad let me know they are on “High Alert” for the entire month of September.  They are committing to nothing (even serving communion next Sunday).  As soon as we head to the hospital, they will make their way down south.  So we continue the T minus countdown and pray for the patience (and some relief) to get through these last couple of weeks.

Cheers,

Team McCarthy

No, I am not having twins....

In the past two weeks, I have been asked 3 times on if I am having twins.  And two of the askers, were women.  I’m sorry, they should just know better.  The one man that asked was quickly reprimanded by a father in the room that he is to never ask that question, just say you look great or say nothing at all.  I have pretty much come to terms with my belly; however, I really don’t think that I am the largest pregnant woman that I have ever seen.  I actually think I look pretty good for a woman walking around with what could be a full grown baby in my loins.  I will say that my height is definitely working in my favor that I don’t look like I am going to tip over at any moment.  Now the following information may not paint the best picture.

I had my 34 week appointment this morning.  Everything looks good, but I am measuring 40 cm.  Now for those uninitiated, you are supposed to measure about 1 cm for every week of pregnancy you are.  This for me means I am measuring about 6 cm ahead of schedule.  There are several reasons for this.  I could have a lot of fluid in my tummy, an 8 plus pound baby in there, or she has dropped but not giving back the room at the top of my tummy that she has taken over at the bottom (in other words, she is being greedy and not a team player.)

This past week has been a tough one.  I have had a few mornings of nausea, and the feeling of being stretched like William Wallace in Braveheart has intensified and is pretty much an all-day feeling now.  Yesterday on the way home I gave Hannah a stern talking to about her participation in my physical deterioration.  I have kept up my end of the deal with nutrition, sleep, exercise and weight so the least that she can do is give me back my rib area and more graciously share my abdomen space with me.  I did have one other request that she give me a heads up of when she would like to make her appearance.  Some suggestions that I gave were to put the Justin Bieber song “baby” in my head, move her feet over to the left side rib, or lastly push her little fist in a thumbs up fashion into my belly.  As long as she is ready physically, an early arrival would be appreciated at this point as well.

Hope this finds you all well.

Best,

Team McCarthy