On My Own (Preview)

Mom left at 10 this morning. Aside from a few hours the other week, this is my first day on my own. Except it is not really on my own, since Mom got up with the girls and let me sleep in one more time and put dinner together before she left. All I had to do was put it in the oven. What a great Mom! The house is picked up and clean, and all dishes were done, so we're starting off ahead. Let's see how long the house stays this way.

Ruby and Claire are both going through adjustments with the new addition. They really love Haley, but they are challenging and difficult throughout the day. Ruby is on one minute and off the next with her attitudes, but Claire is pretty consistently grumpy and obstinate. And I really have to keep a keen eye on Haley with both girls, since they are young enough that they don't realize what is okay to do or not to do with her. This morning, they were hugging (after one got in trouble for hitting the other and needed to apologize) and fell on her. I was near enough to slightly break their fall, but they still kinda landed on her. I have to work hard to protect her, and it really cuts down on doing much else when I need to keep her out of their reach or at least in my sight. I end up holding her alot. How ironic for a thrid child! (I find I get more and more tender-hearted about the whole holding and comforting thing as each child comes along. Not usual with subsequent children, but crying breaks my heart way more with Haley than it did with Ruby.)

So, how did our first day go? We said goodbye to Nana, had a mid-morning snack and took a nap--all four of us. Claire in her bed, Ruby, Haley and I in mine. I got dressed around 2 p.m. and we had a light lunch (so we'd be hungry for dinner when Daddy got home) and we made a thank-you note and colored pictures for Nana (and had numerous discipline and training opportunities) and the girls played on the back porch for a bit. I actually remembered to put dinner in the oven on time and Casey made it home around 5:15. We ate and Casey put Claire to bed (already a basketcase by then) and I did a few dishes and folded some laundry. Ruby, Haley and I went for a short walk while Casey got on a conference call with the side business he's doing (yes, another side job. It will always be something:). I put Ruby to bed and spent the evening marathon-nursing Haley (she's 3 weeks old--growth spurt?) and playing x-box. Yeah, I know. There are numerous other things I should have been doing. I'd really love to have blogged then, but I find I can't really type while I nurse (I'm amazed at the things I can do--or at least find myself doing, like walking around, tending to the other girls, disciplining, getting things for them, etc.), and I was pretty tired again by tonight anyway.

12:15 and time for bed.

Babies, Barf and Blow-Outs

Haley is 2 weeks today. We've just been hanging out at home most of the time. Sandy (MIL) left last Friday night and my mom came in on Sunday night. We've also been getting dinners brought to us these two weeks, so I haven't had almost any sense of reality since Haley was born. I had a slight dose of it (reality) last Friday evening after taking Sandy to the airport. Casey wasn't going to be home till later that night. We weren't in the door 5 minutes before all three girls had, shall we say, "blow outs." I've heard that women who live together will synchronize on their cycles. Could my girls be synchronizing on bodily functions?

So, the update on our 3rd daughter is that she is a real sleeper and an eater and spits up more than my other two did. She had her initial well-check with Dr. Tom today and weighed in at 8 lb. 8 oz. Of course, she had a blowout right there in the room while we waited. (The only TRUE blowout she's had so far--not bad for being 2 weeks old--I blame Huggies. Never have had good experiences w/ those diapers--always leaking out the legs w/my girls. This wasn't just a leak, though. Serious business.) Good thing they needed her clothes off anyway, because she remained sans clothing until we returned home 2 hours later.

Ruby and Claire ask several times a day if they may hold "she." They really love Haley, but life has been slightly disrupted for them. It doesn't help that Claire is teething. She has not gotten ONE tooth without throwing up at least once before it comes in, and, though I see no evidence of 2-yr molars, she is teething for sure, evidenced by various bouts of vomiting this past week.

We actually made it to church on Sunday: just in time to rush in and get a seat. As the opening prayer began, Claire (sitting on my lap) let loose and puked all over Casey and me and herself. We cleaned up with baby blankets and baby wipes and got out of there before the prayer was over. Poor Claire kept saying "I sawy." "I sawy." We laughed all the way home about how ironic it was that we made it on time to church with a newborn, only to leave minutes later for something totally unrelated to Haley or me. I wonder what people must've thought when we were there one minute and gone the next. We can move pretty fast for a family of five!

Ruby, the Midwife

This is not the birth story, but I’m tickled by Ruby’s imagination and observant nature. I was sitting at the computer this evening, checking e-mail. Ruby came up to me, wearing rubberized garden gloves and carrying an oven mitt from her kitchen, telling me she needed to check my baby (in my belly—yesterday, she looked at my smaller-but-still-pregnant-looking belly and asked, “U have a tiny baby in or’s tummy?”) She proceeded to tell me to “lax” so she could squeeze my baby out. I told her that God made the uterus to squeeze the baby out by itself, but she said she was the midwife, and that she would do it. After a quick delivery (of a footling breech doll), she told me that she needed to clean off the baby before I could hold it (must be a hospital midwife!). After I got my baby back (5 days, according to her), she had to leave because someone else was having a baby. Not exactly what happened 3 days ago (thank God!) but humorous, nonetheless.

Haley Kay Cowart is Here!

Haley Kay Cowart arrived yesterday, May 22, at 4:24 p.m. One day before her due date. She was 8 lb, 2 1/2 ounces and 20 3/4 inches long. I am starting to write out the birth story, but it may take a few days to get my mind around it and gather the facts (didn't keep track like I did w/Claire's birth, so I'm relying on other sources for some of the specifics). In the meantime, here are a few pictures to keep the curious satiated.Mommy & Haley 7:17 p.m. 3 hours postpartum.

Haley and her abuelita--Sandra Kay (for whom the "Kay" was chosen. No, not for Mary Kay) Proud sisters Ruby and Claire

So far, Haley is sweet and mild-mannered. She "mews" like a kitten, which is a welcome change to the adult-sized yowl I've come to know as Claire's cry. I'll take that meow any day! It is too precious. She is nursing well and if I'm not mistaken, all bodily functions have "functioned" as of last night. Barb laughs and says the orfaces are present and accounted for, or open for business, or something like that. Both of us are doing well, and I'm quite happy to be on this side of the birth experience!

Could This Be It?

At 4:30 this morning, I awakened to a strong contraction and went to empty my bladder. A few minutes later, another one came, just as strong (sometimes my full bladder can make them feel more intense, so I expected a trip to the toilet to take care of the discomfort). Then a few minutes later, another intense one came. These required my attention and concentration to breathe, stay relaxed and not tense up. I woke Casey to tell him I had just had 3 very strong contractions in the last 15-20 min. and got up to get a snack, as I felt pretty nauseated. I decided to time contractions while eating.
So far, they’ve been 8-13 minutes apart and really intense. I’m glad it’s morning, because I’ll be able to call Barb soon without worrying about waking her for no good reason. Casey will probably stay home a few hours at least until we know what’s going on and if this is labor, and if it is progressing fast enough to warrant not going into work at all. I just remembered I need to take some herbs for my GBS (yes, no surprise, I’m positive yet again). Will update in a few hours if it is not labor, and if so, the next post may be a birth announcement!
For now, it’s herbs and back to sleep. Pray for me!

Contractions, Contractions

I just called a friend from church to cancel our plans for meeting today. The girls and I were going to spend a few hours at her house, which is at least an hour away. Last night, I was awakened many times by contractions, which, in my experience with my previous labors, usually means that the contractions are "real," but the same thing happened Saturday night, and they petered out to nothing special by mid-church on Sunday. I am virtually certain I will not be having a baby today, but the possibility (however remote) that I will be so far away from home (or anywhere--she lives way out in the country) when I realize "this is it" is way too much of a chance to take. I just picture myself giving birth alone in the car (with the girls in their car seats) on the side of the road and with no cell phone service, and it's enough to make the difficult decision to cancel.



Since 6:15 this morning, I've been trying to figure out what's going on, because if I'm not going to give birth today, it would be really good to keep my mind off the contractions by going somewhere or at least having an activity planned. I haven't officially timed contractions (the girls played with our "contraction-timing" watch the other day, and I have yet to find it again), but they've been about 3-5 minutes apart (by the clock) and fairly strong. I packed Casey's lunch, ate breakfast with the girls, took them on a walk around the neighborhood, watered the lawn & plants, and showered. I didn't notice a change in the contractions, but they were not debilitating. I don't know what I hoped to find out, because there isn't much difference between my Braxton Hicks contractions and real labor contractions. Needless to say, I ended up calling Case to see what he thought I should do. He feels the same way: almost sure I won't have the baby in the next day or two, but not worth the chance of giving birth on the side of the road or the kitchen floor of our friend's house.



So, here I sit at home. The girls and I are going to take an early nap in a few minutes and then see how things go after lunch. Maybe we'll try to stop by a friend's house here in town if I'm getting distracted by the contractions this afternoon. I'm not paranoid about going out--just trying to be careful about how far I go.

38 Weeks

38 Weeks and counting. . . ! Casey’s supposed to take some belly pics this weekend. I took some with my little camera yesterday in case the other ones don’t happen (we’ve been meaning to do belly pics every few weeks, and hope we actually remember this time), but I’m not sure how good they are. Everything looks fine on the back of a tiny camera, but I am infamous for out-of-focus photos. Casey’s nice camera takes great pictures, but only if Casey’s taking them! It’s one of those that you really have to know what you’re doing to get a good result. The whole reason Casey got me my own little point-and-shoot camera is because I was almost always taking horrible pics (and getting really frustrated) with his nice one. The quality on his camera is so much better (a poster-size print is a piece of cake for this camera—looks great) that I always prefer that he take the really “momentous” pics. I hope the batteries cooperate with us when we have the baby. They have not been keeping a charge very long lately (yet when I put them on the charger, they show up fully charged).

Anyway, today was a really productive day. Case has every other Friday off (he works 8 9-hr days and one 8-hr day, which makes up for a whole day off—love that schedule!), and we got a lot done today. This may be as close to nesting as I’ve really ever been—I don’t know why nesting isn’t something I do, but with each baby, I keep waiting (and looking forward to) an extra burst of energy and motivation to scrub, polish, organize—whatever you’re supposed to do in the days/weeks before giving birth—only to have the last days come and go with nary an inkling of bleaching the shelves in the fridge or taking a toothbrush to the tile grout on the backsplash. In some ways I consider it a blessing, because “nesting” can get a woman into serious trouble once labor is in earnest. Many women tire themselves out with this burst of energy: sometimes taking the precious hours of early labor to completely wear themselves out with “preparations” that are hardly necessary (and often damaging) to a natural, no-frills birth experience.

So my laziness has its perks, I guess. It isn’t that I never think about doing these things, but my body cannot keep up with my mind’s desire to accomplish the “things that really should be taken care of before baby comes,” and for sanity’s sake, I have to push some thoughts to the backburner and just focus on conserving energy and expending it frugally. Even if we accomplish all we have planned for this weekend, there are still at least ½ dozen other things I can come up with off the top of my head that should be dealt with before Cowart 3.0 arrives. Yet life will go on if those things don’t get done today (or perhaps this summer, or maybe ever).

That being said, our day was both productive and relaxing. We really enjoyed it. Mostly odds and ends having to do with preparing for company (my sister and her husband and new baby will be visiting next week and then my MIL is coming a few days later to help w/our new baby). Putting together the guest room, hanging a shower curtain, cleaning and organizing the office (I was truly dreading this—it was almost wall-to-wall with boxes, furniture, toys, paperwork, etc.), oh, and HANGING PICTURES. This is to be written in the history books. We have been living in our home for a little over 2 months and ALREADY have pictures hanging on our walls! This is something of a record (for me). I believe our last house saw 2 YEARS of naked wall-ness before I finally decided to hang 8 pictures one day. I just don’t have an artsy or creative bone in my body, and get paralyzed by perfectionism. Plus, I get used to things quickly. Bare walls don’t scream at me after awhile. When there are pictures, I notice them, though, and it felt great today to see something pretty on the wall.

I think most of “our” productivity today is due mostly to Casey’s motivation and continuing work, and not to any “nesting” that I may be feeling. Were it not for his energy to continue, I would have thrown the towel in after washing the dishes and doing a load of laundry (I was ready for a nap by 9:30 this morning). The differences we noticed in the little things we did were so amazing, it was almost easy to continue with more projects, and makes me excited about tomorrow’s projects (probably consisting of putting the crib together, building a foundation for the girls’ playhouse, then treating the wood on the playhouse, planting the tomato plants we bought today, taking some belly pics, complete change-out of winter/summer clothes for Casey (this is WAY overdue. . . it has been overly warm here for more than a month) and just generally organizing and cleaning things that have fallen by the wayside.

At any rate, and for whatever reason, I feel much more ready to have this baby now. I’ve had all the home birth supplies for a few weeks, but as of Tuesday, they are all in one place and easily accessible to us and the midwives. Today, our home feels more put-together and “homey,” which will no doubt help with mental relaxation in labor. And my body has been feeling crowded and twinge-y and waddle-y, along with some really good, strong contractions. Another week or 2 of this, and I will be more than happy to complete this season of pregnancy—even in the next few days I would feel prepared, but another week or 2 would be more than enough preparation to endure even many hours of hard work. I love how God made pregnancy that way. Just long enough to prepare for it and be glad for when it’s over. The discomforts of the last few months (and especially the last few weeks) make labor more feasible, I think.