Am I There, Yet?

Yesterday was Josh’s birthday.  The poor guy’s birthday was overshadowed by the birth of our daughter…but, I think he’ll get over it.  Actually, I wanted to do something out of the ordinary for his birthday…I couldn’t let the day go by without anything to remember it by.  We were overdue for an adventure.  So…after church we jumped in the van and drove to Atlantic City.  We’d never been there before and thought it was the perfect excuse for a daycation. 

Atlantic City is CRAZY.  Of course, we are pretty crazy, too.  Who takes two kids and a two-week-old baby to Atlantic City?  Us.

We had fun.  We walked up and down the boardwalk.  The kids played on the beach.  We did some window shopping.  (That’s all we could do when the stores were A/X Armani Exchange, Michael Kors, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co, etc…)  We had dinner at The Rainforest Café at Trump Plaza.  We called this trip our “scouting trip.”  We scouted it out so that Josh and I could go back some day for a romantic weekend getaway.  When it’s just the two of us, we’ll take the time for a concert or a show and we won’t eat at the Rainforest Café.  We’d prefer to check out Bobby Flay Steak at the Borgata.  Anyways…someday is a long way away when you have an infant. 

Happy Birthday, Josh.  I hope it was a great one and that you have a fantastic year.  I love living this adventurous life with you.

Here’s a picture of the kids on the beach.  I thought it was pretty cute in spite of the fact that Titus is being attacked by Lilly’s flyaway hair. 

Everybody keeps asking how we’re doing, so I thought it was time to update my blog.  Lydia will be 2 weeks old tomorrow and she’s doing great.  I took her to the doctor yesterday and she’s growing.  She’s above her birth weight, so we’re thrilled with that.  Also, her head grew an inch.  My due date was this past Monday, so conceivably I could still be pregnant with a baby whose head is one inch bigger than it was two weeks ago.  Timing is everything.

The doctor is please with her progress and commended Josh and I on our confidence with her.  It felt good to hear her say that because I don’t think I had a lot of confidence as a parent of a newborn with the other two.  This is a completely different experience.  I have a lot more patience with everything and I think it’s because I realize how short this baby thing lasts.  They’re off and running before we know it.  I look at Lilly and Titus and wonder where the time went.

I’m doing great, too.  I’m gaining my strength back and am even getting out for some light exercise.  I’m not back in karate, yet…even thought the kids keep nagging me about starting again.  (They keep teasing me that I’m only a white belt and they’re both yellow belts.)  I feel 200% better than I did two weeks ago.  I think part of the reason is because I weigh 27 pounds lighter than I did two weeks ago.  Talk about weight loss!  I’m still about 10 pounds over my ideal weight, but I’ve got time to worry about that later.  Right now I’m focused on taking care of my family.  My job is to eat healthy, get rest and some light exercise…I can’t worry about a complicated diet plan right now.

I’ve put off other things, too.  I’m behind on housework.  I’m behind on Thank You notes.  My to-do list is getting pretty long.  Hopefully my family and friends will forgive me!

Overall, this has been a really easy transition.  Lydia has eased into our family seamlessly.  I should’ve done this third child thing sooner.

We are in Day 6 of Lydia’s arrival and still having a good time.  She’s doing great and we even got some rest last night.  We took her to her first doctor’s appointment yesterday and everything checks out.  She’s eating well and starting to gain back some of the weight she lost at the hospital. 

I really like our pediatrician.  While we were at her office she started to talk to me about my health and worked out a schedule with Josh for me to get exercise and rest.  I have never had a pediatrician talk to me about my health, but she knows that if I am healthy and happy, then my children will be healthy and happy.

While we were at the appointment, I asked about Titus’ wheezing and coughing.  The doctor took some time to listen to him and didn’t like what she heard.  She immediately stuck him on a breathing machine and gave us some prescriptions to treat asthma.  I’m glad I asked and I’m glad that he finally has some relief.  He’s been having a tough time sleeping at night, so hopefully that will end soon.

Here are some updated pictures of Lydia:

Doing what she does best…sleeping.

Making a new friend with a stuffed animal.

I guess plans change and it’s important to be flexible, right?  I posted that we were going to the hospital next Tuesday to induce labor and delivery.  Then I was woken up a little after 2:00 AM on Friday morning because my water broke.  We got to the hospital by 3:00 (after making arrangements for a friend to come over and watch the kids) and settled in to wait.  My contractions didn’t pick up by 8:00, so I was given Pitocin to speed things up and our new baby girl was born before lunch.  Lydia Hope joined our little family at 11:42 AM at 8 lbs. 2 ozs. And 21 inches long.

So, today is Mother’s Day and we came home from the hospital with a beautiful new addition to our family.  Lydia is a great baby with a great temperament.  Her brother and sister adore her and we’re excited to begin our new life as a family of 5.

I wanted to post a few pictures before I get back to my family.  Introducing Lydia Hope:

The end is in sight.  Hooray!  I thought it would never get here.  Well…not really.  I knew I couldn’t carry this baby forever.  I’d hate to be known as the mom who carried the first high school graduate in utero. 

Anyways…I had a doctor’s appointment yesterday and we’ve decided to go ahead and induce labor.  So we’ll be heading to the hospital to get her outta there…unless she decides to come between now and then. 

We still have lots to do between now and then, but it’s nice to have a date and a plan to work towards.  We still have no baby furniture…no crib, no dresser, no high chair, no stroller.  But, there have been many babies born with much less than what we have.  It would be nice to have someplace for the baby to sleep…but the rest will have to wait.  At least we have a mini-van and a car seat to bring her home in.  Transportation for our three kids took priority over baby furniture. 

We’ll figure it all out.  I’m just glad that I’ll be holding my baby in my arms (and not my belly) a week from now.  We can’t wait to meet her.

We’d appreciate your prayers as we go through this life changing week.  I’ll post pictures…so keep logging on!

***OOPS!  I’m editing this because I realized I didn’t mention what day we’re going in to the hospital.  Tuesday, May 13th will possibly be our baby girl’s birthday. 

I have to admit that I’ve been avoiding public places these days.  I just get a little embarrassed at times by all the stares and comments about my large belly.  I’m short.  My belly sticks straight out because there’s nowhere else for the baby to go.  It may look odd to people, but it shouldn’t.

Just today, I dropped Titus off at his school and the director looked at me with a highly sympathetic look and asked me how much longer until the baby is born.  I told her two weeks.  She replied by saying she thinks it’ll be much sooner than that.  I told her I hoped it would.  As I was leaving I caught a glimpse of a mom and dad dropping off their son and when the dad saw me his eyes got huge and he said, “WOW!”  I know he wasn’t trying to be rude.  I just don’t like all the attention and I’ve been getting a lot of “wows” and “whoas” lately.

Last Friday, Josh and I went out to lunch after dropping Titus off at school.  I was walking by a group of people enjoying their lunch when all of a sudden I heard a guy teasingly say to his wife or girlfriend, “Hey look, Honey!  That could be you pretty soon.”  Out of the corner of my eye I saw the entire table turn to look at me and I heard a collective, “Whoa!” followed by laughter.

I’m trying all the home remedies to speed up this labor.  I’m doing everything from drinking chamomile tea to walking.  This last weekend I decided to be a mall walker.  I was walking through the mall and stopped to look at some adorable baby shoes.  A pregnant woman and her mom were standing next to me.  The mom (soon-to-be-grandmother) started a conversation with me by asking me when I was due.  The conversation moved in the direction of whether or not I was having twins.  This is a typical question.  Throughout the entire conversation, the pregnant daughter stared at my belly in horror.  I’m sure she was trying to imagine herself being this big and from the look on her face I don’t think she liked the prospect.

Last week at my doctor’s appointment I was walking out of the building and there was a woman outside talking on her cell phone.  She stopped mid-sentence and said, “WOW!  Somebody’s having a baby!”  I’m sure the person she was talking to was thoroughly confused.

I will admit that I’ve gotten into more conversations with strangers over the past three months than I have in the entire time we’ve lived here.  Most of the time, I don’t mind the conversations.  The stares make me uncomfortable.  I try to ignore them.

But, for that reason, I try to stay at home as much as possible.  I’m a hermit.

Pretty soon this will all be just a memory.  (That’s what I keep telling myself.)

Speaking of conversations…(this is completely unrelated)…I had a silly conversation last Wednesday.  After church we took the kids to Baskin Robbins for the 35 cent ice cream cones.  When it was my turn I asked, “Do you have any sugar-free flavors?”  The lady said, “No we don’t.  Would you like a soft serve cone instead?”  I asked, “Is it sugar-free?”  She looked at my like I was the one who was nuts and said, “No.”  I turned her down.  If I don’t want a scoop of ice cream because it has sugar in it, why in the world would I want a soft serve cone with sugar in it?