You are my Violet

Baby girl finally has a name: Violet Kathleen. The complete stats: born at home May 26th at 8:01 am after a mere 5 hours of labor (yep, from start to finish); 8lbs 8oz, 20.5” long.

 

She is named after Steve’s grandmother and her middle name makes an appearance with several aunts in my family, most notably my mom’s aunt Kate, whose husband Dave officiated our wedding and baptised Timothy (being that he’s a Deacon he can do all those great things).

I’m still a little surprised it was a girl after all, but I couldn’t be happier. She seems to be adjusting easier than Ryan did so hopefully the first couple weeks will be a little easier on me. I’m optimistic that I’ll spend less time locked in the bathroom screaming into a towel because my newborn won’t. stop. crying. Much time was spent at my prenatal appointments talking about the precarious emotional state that is post-partum, and my dear midwife was able to convince me that, while my physical body may remember what it was like to be pregnant, go into labor and nurse a baby, my emotions are a lot more unpredictable and don’t necessarily remember at what low point they left off at with the last baby. Good news.

Three days today and she’s doing so well. Mom and Dad are in love (with each other and baby), Timothy is smitten and will easily sit for an hour holding his new prize, and Ryan prefers to steal her toys and sit in her bouncy seat.  All is well.

Welcome Little One

A week past her due date, little baby D #3 arrived at home this morning, much to the delight of her two big brothers. I guess she needed the threat of castor oil and pitocin to make her move. Born at 8:01am, weighing in at a whopping 8lb 8oz (nearly a pound greater than the other babes) and 20.5” long, here she is (name pending):

Her story (in my words):

Last night, after acupuncture and spicy Thai food, we went in for a non-stress test and to write out a plan for the next week with our midwife. Starting with herbs last night and more acupuncture for a couple days, then castor oil over the weekend and a transfer to a nurse midwife and hospital by Tuesday. It wasn’t the original plan, but a plan was called for since we were anticipating having baby at home and I was going into post-dates. I’ve always said that I’ll have my babies where they need to be born, and if going to hospital was the best thing for this baby, check me in. I’m fortunate to be in good health and have planned home births since our first baby four years ago.

After a round of herbs and bouncing on the exercise ball for about two hours while trying to finish knitting a sleeve, and watching the Dancing with the Stars finale (why must they ruin my show with The Bachelor…), off to bed I went not anticipating, though desperately hoping, for labor to start. Fast forward a couple hours to 3am and I wake up with some contractions. Pain enough to wake me up, but not often enough to get up. Two and half hours later, the contractions were getting under 10 minutes and by 6:15am, I paged the midwife and she planned to arrive in an hour. After that, I made some tea, promptly threw all of it up, and was pretty much in active labor. At 7:15a, when the midwife arrived I was having pretty intense contractions, but not really close together. She checked me out and I was at 9cm. Much like the last two babies, all I needed was something to get me to the tipping point, and it was a speeding bullet from there. Forty-five minutes later and some slow-breathing through those last tricky contractions and crowning, baby girl came sliding out.

I feel like there was a little more to it than that, but it was pretty much like the last baby: quick and dirty. Our 2yo came in at the right time help Daddy cut the cord; he was happy to do anything that required scissors. Baby and I climbed into bed, snuggled, and she latched on to nursing like a pro. Maybe that extra week helped.

Steve and I had talked a lot about whether we wanted the boys there during labor or not. It really depended on the time of day and some other factors, but the timing of this baby couldn’t have been better. Timothy woke up shortly after the midwife got there and was a little alarmed to see Dr. Tracy (she is also his pediatrician). When I explained to him that she was going to help our baby come today, he opted to stay home instead of go on his preschool field trip. Our au pair was up a little earlier than usual to make the boys breakfast and she brought them down right as the slippery peanut came out. Ryan was more than happy to observe the action, but Timothy was a little hesitant and waited until Daddy came out with the baby while I was get a little sewing done.

The boys love her. We couldn’t be happier. She’s been a stellar sleeper and nurser all day. She’s snoozing now and I should probably wake her so I can get some more sleep later.  I’m so happy you’re finally here little one.

Miscellany

A bunch of things are about to be described in no particular order and in no relation to one another, other than being related to me.

First, we got pictures of the “mommy baby tummy”. I did when I was pregnant with T and R and they’ve gotten more silly (and probably more precious) with each successive child. I think this one was the best though.

It was probably the last pose (if you can call it that) and I was ready to go when Steve suggested this. It mimics the last one with just  T where he is sitting on my tummy and we’re snuggling heads, but now my big boy is my backpack and my little boy gets the spot on the belly.

In a way this photo feels like motherhood to me: the boys get bigger and new ones arrive, and they’re always going to be stuck to you either by choice or necessity, big or small, heavy or light, happy or sad.

My arm and my hair look okay in this picture too, and at 38 weeks, its the little victories that count!

 

 

 

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On to knitting. My last Ravelry swap before the baby, and probably for a while, went out with a bang. I struggled with some colorwork mittens for my partner and was ultimately sad to see them go, but what goes around comes around with these things. My swap package arrived today and I couldn’t be happier with the thoughtful package that my partner sent me. The theme was “Sock it to me” and any knitting or yarn had to be fingering weight or in the general vicinity.

I love it when stuff is wrapped. I always wrap stuff, partially because I find great pleasure in wrapping presents and mostly because I know people like opening presents. Here is most of it, all wrapped up, spilling out of its box.

The packages on top were specifically put there for the small children in my life, so they can take their goodies and scram. They never actually scram because the entire contents of any box belongs to them, but there’s always the hope that I can savor carefully unwrapping “my” stuff. “Their” stuff:  some crazy cat-eye sunglasses, a wind up frog bath toy, and a pair of Cars themed socks for each of them. Hello? How much does my 4 yo LOVE that movie. These goodies hit my kids right on!  

And for me, a perfectly crafted, thoughtful package as if I had picked it myself. My partner obviously studied my wish list, questionnaire and probably the rest of my Ravel-life, and sent me some great finds. “My” stuff: 

• Box of Mighty Leaf tea in chamomile citrus
• Hank of Madelinetosh Lace in Celadon (swoon)
• Fall 2009 Interweave Knits that is out of print (gasp) and I’ve been dying to get a hard copy of
• Magnet that says “Yo”, my 2yo’s favorite salutation at the moment
• Bar of bittersweet chocolate (drool)
• Lusciously soft, fantastically blue, perfectly fitting pair of handknit socks (weak in the knees) in DIC Smooshy (faint)

 

Thank you Beth for a fantastic package. I loved it and I totally appreciate the thought (and knitting!) that went into it. Oh yeah, my feet thank you too!

I took this by my lilac tree on purpose, because I saw that you are from Texas and I know a few Texans who have a fondness for them, but miss them as they don’t really grow down there. If you are one of these such Texans, enjoy.

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I made cookies today. A day without cookies is like a day without sunshine. From Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food (May 2010): Raspberry-Lemon Whoopie Pies.

I didn’t “pie” them, per se, but they did turn out to be slightly lemony, puffy and cakey, and fit perfectly with the whipped cream-smashed raspberry frosting. Definitely a keeper. As with all Martha recipes the baking time was off, but I managed.