Adventures in Juggling

…is here!!!!

May I present to you all Hazel Faye!

Born at 5:13 pm Sunday afternoon after a 20 hour, epidural-free labor (my daughter is a rock-star!)

She weighs 8 lbs 4 oz and is 20 ½ inches long…exact same weight and length as her mother! She is cute, chubby, has the most amazing, long fingers and just enough strawberry-blonde hair to keep her mama’s stylist hands busy. Mother and baby are doing awesome and happily breastfeeding.

She is named for her great-great grandmother, Hazel and her great grandmother, Dorothy Faye.

More pics here

I will blog later because I am just too distracted by the newest member of the circus act

Oh and give me a day or two to figure out the winner of the Target gift card..

Sorry no live blogging allowed. Holly made me take a blood oath on that one. Something about how can I be a good support person during her epidural-free labor if I am blogging up to the minute updates? What I won’t do just so I can wear the matching bracelet that she and the baby will be wearing. We’ll see if this is it.

Stay tuned…I will update when I can.

At 38 weeks gestation, my granddaughter is in desperate need for a manicure as her nails are likely to be pretty long about now. I wouldn’t doubt that she is just as uncomfortable as her mama as there is pretty much no more room in that bed-womb. If she would only come out there is a wonderfully comfy bed here under the Big Top just waiting for her to rest her sweet head. I know that her mama would love to tuck her in there.

Holly, just like last week, is more than ready. She is as big and as uncomfortable as one who is nine months pregnant can get. No, her belly button has not popped out to those who have commented and again I will tell you that it is likely that it won’t. Mine never did with all my babies and well, Holly is her mother’s daughter. Besides, what is the big, fat, hairy deal about the belly button popping out anyway? Holly couldn’t be lovelier even at her most pregnant. At this point the only thing that matters is this baby girl needs to be born soon. Except today because today, June 5, is my neice’s 28th birthday and if my grandbaby girl is as strong-willed as her mama or her cousin I would imagine that she would want a day all to herself. By the way, happy birthday, Melissa Faye. I love you so much that I would willingly sing Little Bunny-Foo-Foo for you any time, any place just like you did for me on my wedding day.

Last night Holly and I got out to see Sex in the City so I would say to my sweet granddaughter it is now time to come out because mommy has done everything that she needed to do before your arrival. What are you waiting for?…you mommy to curse some random someone and the day that they were born?…apologies to anyone who hasn’t seen the movie. Go see it if you haven’t. Even if you aren’t a big SITC fan (I’m not really) you will love it.

So, as I predicted by myself, Holly ended up in the hospital last night. No, she did not have the baby. Yes, Bill and I drove back from San Francisco around midnight. Yes, we are all very tired today.

Early labor or false labor or just uterine irritability seems to be why she has been co ntracting every five minutes for the last 24 hours. It’s okay. It happens all the time to pregnant women. Even Mommy~Dearest rushed to the hospital thinking that this was “it” with my FOURTH baby. You’d think I would know but clearly I didn’t. In the meantime, Holly and I are just chilling today. We have taken several easy walks, a nap, gotten pedicures and have been timing the contractions…still about five minutes apart but a wee bit more intense. No, we aren’t off to hospital yet. We have pretty much resolved to stay at home as long as we can be it hours or days or (God forbid) weeks. When we do return we are determined that the nurse who is so old that she probably attended my birth forty-six years ago will not be Holly’s nurse. Note to Nurse Methuslah: don’t brush off a patient’s intelligent questions about her care and your assessments. Just because my daughter is young and looks even younger without makeup does not mean that she is dumb as a post when it comes to her body and the physiological process of pregnancy and labor. She has taken the time over the last 30 weeks to educate herself about all things pregnancy and childbirth related.

At the risk of pissing off my maternal-child healthcare providers in the area, I have to say that I was not surprised to learn that this area was considered one of the worst places to have a baby.Access to good prenatal care in this valley is sometimes difficult. Case in point would be the very crowded office of my daughter’s chosen practitioner. While I am more than confident in the ability of Holly’s chosen practitioner, I find myself frustrated while sitting with her in the waiting room for her scheduled prenatal exams. I must be spoiled because although my OB-Gyn had a very busy, popular practice, I never had to wait more than 15 minutes to be seen by him with all of my pregnancies over the years.

But it isn”t just access to care and hospital beds availability here in the Central Valley. I find myself disturbed by the attitude of many materlna healthcare providers and young women of childbearing age here in this area. It would seem in comparison to the Bay Area, where I had all my babies and practiced for years in maternal-child nursing, that here women don’t actively seek regular prenatal care nor actively participate in ensuring good overall health for themselves and their unborn babies. At the same time, some, not all, practitioners seem to prefer compliant, quiet patients who just do as the good doctor or nurse tells them rather than question why or what other options they might have. In contrast is overall prenatal care in the Silicon Valley where women seem to more empowered to actively particpate in their prenatal care. At the same time, practitioners in the Silicon Valley seem to respect that their patients are bright, articulate women and treat them as such. Yes, what I am observing here is rather broad generalizations but the high infant mortality rates here as well as the number of women who receive little or no prenatal care in this valley compared to the numbers in the Bay Area suggest that maybe my observations might be worth considering. The laboring woman who comes into a hospital in this area who prefers to remain upright and mobile during labor and delivery as well as be an active participant in the decision making process is often viewed archly by my colleagues. A laboring woman shows up to a local L & D with a birthing ball might be looked at like she is crazy. I have attended enough deliveries here in two local hospitals to feel that the prevailing attitude is the best laboring woman is the one who is tied down to the bed in a supine position with an epidural on board and pitocin running into her veins. She is so much easier to manage…especially if she doesn’t question anything.

So having reflected on all of this I would put it out there that not all pregnant wome in the Central Valley are as dumb as posts when it comes to their prenatal care and their care during labor and delivery. They are bright, articulate, have taken the time to learn about and understand the processes of pregnancy, labor and delivery as well as the options that they have to ensure the safe delivery of a healthy baby. They are more than prepared to actively participate in this which means they just might ask questions or suggest other options you might consider. These women are of all ages and all races and all socio-economic levels. My advice to you is respect them as you care for them and support them. Perhaps this is the beginning to actually improving infant mortality rates here in the Central Valley.

Holly is now full term in her pregnancy and so very ready to deliver like now or even yesterday!

Meanwhile, my granddaughter is well over 6 lbs now (Zoë, who was born at 37 weeks, weighed 7lbs 6oz). The baby girl is now head down and in position just waiting for the all systems go signal. It could be today…or it could be three weeks from now. One thing I know for sure is Holly and her midwife have mutually agreed that she will not go past 41 weeks.

I’m keeping the baby stats contest open because as of right now, the baby is still not here so it’s not too late to get your guesses in.

Why bother pre-registering for an anticipated hospital admission when one is expecting a baby when you end up sitting in the patient registration waiting room for 1½ hours? Just wondering.

No, Holly did not have her baby. She did have some extreme swelling and sudden visual disturbances this afternoon which the on-call OB (midwife is out of town until the end of the week) told her to get to the hospital ASAP. So off we go to the hospital where we ended up sitting in the waiting room of patient registration because (according to the gum-chewing clerk who looked no older than 17) we have to wait even if Holly pre-registered in February. The clerk was a real bright bulb because she asked (never once interrupting the rhythm of her gum chewing) if Holly was “like, pregnant?”.

Um, like, yeah!

She finally did get into labor and delivery where tests were done, baby was monitored and the on-call OB appeared to tell her that she was fine. He then explained that she is having these symptoms because she is…

PREGNANT!

Well at least that burning question has been answered.

He also told her that only one thing would stop these symptoms that she is experiencing…

Don’t be pregnant.

Oh yeah he was a funny guy!

Lessons learned today:

• when the time comes for this baby to be born, it needs to be during the middle of the night so we can go in through the ER and just move on through to L & D rather than deal with all the pre-registration versus registration bullshit.
• at least wait until the midwife returns at the end of the week because the on-call OB really isn’t as funny as he thinks he is.

Now back to this Sierra Nevada Summerfest Lager…

Oh, and we are still collecting guesses for the Coming Attraction’s arrival contest.

awwww!!!!

Daniel tells his niece, every chance he gets, just how much he loves her.

Don’t forget The Coming Attraction Contest

So many of you have followed the news, the development and preparation of the coming attraction that I feel like Holly’s baby girl already has a large group of cyber aunties and uncles who are getting just as excited as my circus is about her arrival. Since you have been here I am trying to think of a way to include you as we anticipate her joining us here under The Big Top.

No, you can’t be there for the delivery. Holly has made it very clear who can be there (midwife, nurse, mommy~dearest and Holly’s two best friends) and although she is a part of a circus life she doesn’t want a circus-like atmosphere in the birthing suite.

Go figure!

But I do have an idea on how to include y’all in the big moment as we wait for it. You are all invited to guess the day, time, weight and length of the coming attraction. The person who is closest to the baby’s actual vital statistics will win a $20 Target gift card.

Not that any of this has anything to do with Holly’s baby I will offer some info that might help in your guesses.

• The baby’s due date is June 19.
• No, I will not tell you how much weight Holly has gained!
• Holly was born four days after her due date on December 19.
• Friday was the day that Holly was born.
• She was born at 5:58 pm.
• Holly’s birth weight was 8lbs 4oz.
• She was 20½ inches long.

All this info may or may not help you with your guesses.

Don’t delay! Send your guesses to nicurnmama at aol dot com. Good luck!

At 36 weeks, my grand daughter weighs at least 6 pounds. Her Auntie Abby weighed 6lbs 14 oz when she was born at 36 weeks gestation. There is definitely little room in that bed-womb of hers as she pushes hard on her mommy’s bladder, ribs, diaphragm in the hopes of stretching out a bit. At this stage she gains a little more than a half an ounce a day. There’s only about 28 more days to go!

Her mommy is restless, anxious, sleepless and so not appreciating her daughter trying to stretch out. She is happy though that the baby has dropped. Her hospital bags are packed and she is pretty much ready to go now. It won’t be too long now!

The countdown is beginning! Holly is thisclose to being done with this pregnancy. Actually I am thinking she was done in the middle while in the throes of hyperemesis. At least I know I was back in the day. But Holly is truly suffering from T.O.B.P. syndrome (tired of being pregnant) and she is ready for little Miss Coming Attraction to come out. So much so she is looking into old wives’ remedies to get things moving. And who better to ask than an old wife, er, her mom.

She knows the first thing out of my mouth is going to be is have a little sex because she reminds me it ain’t happening right now. Young parents take note, someday, in one form or another, whether you are ready or not, a conversation sort of like this will happen to you too. Consider yourself warned.

Okay, sex is out of the question and good thing because that is what got us all here in the first place, right?

There’s always good ol’ castor oil and orange juice. Aaaahhh, yes! Nothing like a little bowel cleansing and massive intestinal cramping to get things, er, moving. After all that one would be definitely putting you in the mood for labor and delivery, right?

So a little cleanse isn’t the way to go, then perhaps how about a little nipple stimulation? I know that will increase the traffic here thanks to freaks googling “nipples”.

:::this is me waving hello to the freaks::::

Um, yeah, I can’t believe that I am discussing alternate uses of electric breast pumps with my daughter. But she is nine months pregnant and she is tired of being pregnant. I definitely was done when we got to primrose capsules and what to do with the oil, where to put it and how to put it there. Perhaps we should just go back to that labor-inducing salad that was all the rage back in the day when I was pregnant with her sister Abby.

Did it work?

Well, it was either that or the sex or maybe it was the fact that it was time and she was ready to be born. I’m sure there are a lot of self-induction remedies that anectdotally work but ultimately it comes down to the fact that this baby will come when she is good and ready and whether Holly is ready or not. Hopefully it will be fairly soon because she is ready.

Okay, NOW y’all may share your own old wives’ tales of labor inducing remedies.