Liam's first few days in pictures

Welcome to the world little guy

Getting weighed and measured by Andrea with Eclair looking on

Hanging out with Mom and Dad

Counting all the fingers and toes

Visitors

Grandma and Grandpa Jensen

Blanca

First Bath

First Visit to Dr. Daley

I'm Zero months old

First Friends (Elsie Jo and Theresa)

Funny Faces

Teaching Eclair to share

Rooting on Cornell in the Sweet 16 (darn them for not winning)

First pair of Jordan's, sort of (look at those thigh rolls!)

Getting back to pre-pregnancy form

I know it's early but I said I was going to be honest about postpartum recovery and it starts now.  Here are the reminder photos for you:

First pregnancy belly shot:

Last pregnancy belly shot taken while in labor:

First postpartum shot taken 2 days after Liam's birth: (that little line down my belly is from the lovely postpartum undies not a linea nigra)

I gained a total of 22 pounds during the pregnancy and my goal is to get back to 140 pounds by 3 months postpartum. I have started doing NOTHING yet. I want to give my body at least 2 weeks to recover before I start going on walks or doing anything.  I weighed myself today and I'm at 152 pounds which is down 10 pounds from my final pregnancy weight of 162, that's just from the birth itself!

Welcome to the world Liam Christopher Garguile!

Liam was born on March 23rd, 2010 at 1:42pm at home on our bed. He weighed in at a whopping 8 pounds 7 ounces and was 20 ½ inches long.

The down and dirty story:
Labor started at around 11:30pm the night before and within 2 hours I was waking up Dominic and calling Andrea, the midwife to come. By around 9am I was complete but just didn’t feel like pushing at all. After several failed techniques I ended up getting out of the tub around 11:30am and actually had Liam about 2 hours later. The entire labor and delivery was both the hardest and most rewarding thing I’ve ever done in my entire life. There is absolutely NO WAY I could have accomplished this birth without several things:

#1 DOMINIC! He pushed on my back for at least 6hrs straight and at one point I nearly dislocated his knee, he never said a word or complained one time the entire time I was laboring. I have the best, most caring husband in the WORLD. Sorry ladies, he ALL MINE.

#2 the tub- If I could have stayed in there for the delivery you better believe I would have, unfortunately I don’t think Liam would have been born for several more hours and the thought of being in labor any longer than I needed to be was just not appealing at that point. I would HIGHLY recommend laboring and delivering, if possible, in a tub.

#3 Andrea and her assistant Alecia- They were both so patient with me and let me whine/deny I needed to do something different for HOURS before gently pushing me to try something new.

Now, if you want the FULL story, i.e. graphic and filled with medical jargon you should continue below. If you are not into gory details, STOP NOW. Again, the following is filled with LOTS of TMI and particulars only a midwife/birth junkie would appreciate.

Full Disclosure, I was overdue 2 full days and was willing to start trying things to get labor going. I stripped membranes that morning in the shower (much easier said than done) and didn’t notice much going on during the day. After Dominic got home we went for a brisk 1.5 mile walk and engaged in ‘adult activity’ before going to bed around 9:30.

I woke back up with cramping/diarrhea around 11:30 and decided to sleep out on the couch so Dominic could get a little rest. About 1am I decided that some help would be nice and came in to get Dominic up. Contractions were about 4 minutes apart and I let him know, and then quickly announced I was going to get sick. For the next 30 min I threw up everything I had for dinner and called Andrea to come and my parents to let them know to head down from Washington. After getting off the phone I labored on the ball and leaning onto the bed for about an hour. Dominic was putting pressure on my back and holding my tummy at the same time (thank goodness he’s got a large arm span). At that point I was ready to try out the tub and climbed in with my throw up bag.

This is exactly where I was when Andrea arrived. Dominic and I continued to labor in the tub with him putting pressure on my back for a few hours. At one point I got checked in the tub and was around 7cm. Andrea suggested I get out to pee and then try laboring on the toilet, a suggestion I didn’t take and promptly got back into the tub.

Eventually around 9am Andrea said “maybe you’re one of those women who is complete and just doesn’t feel the urge, do you want me to check you?” and I decided after a little more prompting that it was probably a good idea. In order to get a good exam we went to the bed, of course I was complete and probably had been for awhile. Hoping to minimize pain I got back in the tub and tried pushing on my own…2 hours later and literally no progress was made. I could feel with my hand just how low his head was and that there was plenty of room but he just wouldn’t budge with the pushes I was doing. MUCH prompting later, I moved to the toilet to empty my bladder and try some more. Finally, I agreed to use the bed and try some manual pressure which is ultimately what worked.

The pushing I was doing in the tub was NOTHING compared to the pushing that was elicited with her hand. I HATED it. Unlike what I tell patients all the time, pushing did NOT feel better. I pushed on my left side, in a semi-sitting position and squatting. The squatting position really worked the best with Dominic holding me up and me using his legs to keep myself off the ground, leaning forward onto Alecia when pushing. Two hours later and Liam was finally giving me that tell tale burning, which is WORSE than the bearing down urge. At some point I decided I didn’t care about stretching and he was just going to get out NOW. This finally did it and his head was born.

He was crying almost immediately and the shoulders weren’t even out yet. He had his right hand, which was the posterior one, up by his head/neck just like he had throughout the pregnancy. I tried just pushing to get the shoulder to give and when that didn’t work I gave a little downward pressure on his head. That didn’t work either, at which point I asked Andrea to help and she agreed. The posterior arm was delivered with a bit of work and the shoulders came easily afterward. I pulled him up and we got our first look at our new baby, Dominic was behind me supporting me and holding me up this whole time. I realized we didn’t know if baby was a boy or a girl yet and asked Dominic to check it out, pulling back the blanket we saw we had a little boy and Dominic announced him name, Liam Christopher.

This should be the end of the eventful part but it’s really only the beginning. We enjoyed our pink and screaming baby while waiting for the cord to stop pulsing, I was rather anxious to get the placenta out because I always hear how much better everyone feels afterward. After the cord stopped I felt a little gush and gave a push. Andrea said it appeared to be right there and applied a little traction. The cord started shredding a little and she stopped. I tried pushing while she gave some traction and that didn’t help either…leaving only one option, manual removal. Ouchy is all I have to say. It came out in two pieces and after a shot of pitocin and some methergin we all examined it to decide if it was complete or not, ultimately deciding it was. I had a first degree perineal laceration with a tiny second degree extension which was easily stitched up while Dominic held his newborn son. After a quick shower I climbed back into bed to nurse and enjoy being a new mom.  Can't say enough how thrilled we were to have him at HOME and have everyone come to us.

40 weeks, G's due date

Today is the due date...as suspected we have not had a baby yet.  I predict next week is going to be a much more likely time.  Dominic said on Thursday that this coming Tuesday March 23rd, would work well for him and I think G and I agree.  There are several reasons:
1. Baby won't share a birthday with any immediate family (Cindy's birthday was the 19th, Tony's birthday is the 24th, and Dominic's is the 25th)
2. Dominic can take the rest of the week and the following week off without feeling like he's taking too much time
3. The Garguile's will be able to meet a baby when they come just before Easter
4. it means mama (that's me!) was right and G went overdue but we didn't have to go that far over.
5. We get one more weekend child-free to just enjoy life without the responsibility of possibly messing someone up forever :)

This is the final fruit/veggie comparision and it isn't small!

It's hard to say for sure how big your baby will be, but the average newborn weighs about 7 1/2 pounds (a small pumpkin) and is about 20 inches long. His skull bones are not yet fused, which allows them to overlap a bit if it's a snug fit through the birth canal during labor. This so-called "molding" is the reason your baby's noggin may look a little conehead-ish after birth. Rest assured — it's normal and temporary

Some belly shots:  The big question I get now is "have you dropped?"  What do you think?

One more thing that people say to me all the time now is "you're so small you can't be due then" or the similar "you look too good to be due that soon".  I detest these comments.  I feel like I'm apologizing for handling pregnancy well and I shouldn't have to!  I've tried to stay active and eat reasonably even if I do LOVE dessert.  I'm certain it's genetic and I emphatically thank my family for those genes!  LEAVE ME ALONE PEOPLE, I promise this baby is a bit bigger than you all imagine besides, I'm up 22 pounds and that's perfectly normal. I'm off my rant now :)

Here is the summary, 1st shot ever, 10wks, 20wks, 30wks and 40wks!  Certainly some growth in those last 10wks

Dominic is going to do a final shot once I go into labor and a compilation video of the full progress and hopefully eventually the back to 'normal' as well. In the mean time I'll be cleaning, organizing and trying not to drive everyone crazy (or maybe be driven crazy by all the people asking 'have you had the baby yet?")

39 weeks

Your baby's waiting to greet the world! He continues to build a layer of fat to help control his body temperature after birth, but it's likely he already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon. (Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) The outer layers of his skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.

I had my shower at work this week They had this absolutely stunning cake and it turns out Julie's husband made it!  I had NO idea he was a cake decorator at all and especially that he was SO talented!

Of course G got a bunch more gifts, including this awesome quilt Irene made that has a bunch of different textures on it.

Then, Nancy's quilt (remember from back at the Washington shower) arrived and it's SO darn cute too!  G is one spoiled baby already.

My projects this week have included finishing up the to do list and I've made quite the dent.  I got a little end table for beside the rocker and the neutral lamp to replace the mismatched one in the nursery now.  Then today Dominic put up the quilt clips for me, I can't get back there and they're way to high for me even if I could.  Please disregard the mess, remember this room has the birth tub in it which means it also has most of the stuff we need for the birth...things that hopefully will be used up and out of here shortly!

Most importantly, I am over half way finished with the Blurb book (remember the one I made of our life before G, well I'm doing one for the pregnancy time too).  I really wanted to get everything except the final week post edited in the book so that when G arrives all we have to do is update with the birth story and pictures and send it to print!  Looks like I may meet that goal.

Belly Shots:

38 weeks

Your baby has really plumped up. She weighs about 6.8 pounds and she's over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). She has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold her hand for the first time! Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.

Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If she's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If she's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she's born, but they usually won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

Lots to report this week.  I started my maternity leave officially on Saturday but my last day was Thursday.  There is one little baby I'm still planning to deliver, assuming I haven't popped myself first, but after that I'm officially done with delivering babies with the exception of my own for at least 2 more months.  So far I've kept busy pretty easily.  I had a conference up in Sacramento on Monday and Tuesday, on electronic fetal monitoring (which I won't have).  G's blanket got finished up thanks to my conference, I usually knit to keep my mind from wondering.  The yarn is actually an organic cotton I got with a gift card from Tim and Mary back before Dominic and I got married.  I had always planned on making a blanket but just never got around to it.  When I found out we were pregnant I figured this was the perfect opportunity.  The colors remind me of a teddy bear and it's crazy soft.  The biggest fan so far is miss eclair!

 

Last weekend we did the belly cast.  It was pretty rough and I wanted to touch up a few areas, since it's just Dominic and I and I couldn't see below the belly or the boobs those areas were a little rough.  I did the touch ups this week and sanding should start today.  I really want to get it painted more than just a single color, although I am certainly not really artistically inclined when it comes to drawing or painting so we'll have to see what I come up with.  I've seen them done with mosaics, and really considered that, but that seems like it would make the cast heavy.  At least it will be smooth and hung before G's arrival.
 

A few more details of the delivery nature were ironed out too.  We have talked for a while about what to do with the placenta.  Being a midwife I have a terrible time just throwing out the placenta.  Most people hardly want to SEE the placenta, but understanding the job that organ does, it BUILDS YOUR BABY PEOPLE, I could NEVER just toss it out.  At the same time I'm not really a fan of just keeping something around for posterity, especially with our limited freezer space.  That left us with planting it or consuming it.  As much as I appreciate placentas I'm not about to just carve it up and eat it, but there is a nifty little trick where you dehydrate it and turn it into pills.  The nutrients in the placenta are still there but you just don't feel like you're eating it, only swallowing a pill.  I'm sure many people are still going 'there is NO WAY' but this is what we've decided to do.  Before we send the placenta off to a local lady to turn it into capsules we're going to do a placenta print or two.  I just picked up the paper and ink today and I'm thrilled to see the results.  This means G will have at least 2 things in the room from before he/she was born (the belly cast and the print)  the print ends up looking like a tree and often times people have no idea what the 'stamp' actually was that made the print.  Remember I did this for a patient and blogged about it here.  I got a little bit bigger paper and the ink is green instead of black so it will resemble more of a tree...hope Andrea and Dominic can pull it off. Here are a few examples:

 
Then today I decided to add another project to the list..you know, to keep me busy!  I had seen on the bump.com that some of the ladies had made closet dividers that were SOOO much cuter than those you can buy.  Crazy as it sounds, I hadn't purchased those yet and they were on the list of things to pick up if we don't get them at our last shower on Monday.  I decided instead on making them today!  They really weren't hard to do, directions are here, and they aren't perfect but unless you're critiquing them they're wonderful.  This first set isn't quite complete, I had to run out for another set of numbers, but the second is.

A few shots of us just hanging out this last week:

Belly Shots: