She's here!
Born Aug. 23 at 1:53 PM after a relatively easy labor. 8 lbs. 9 oz. and almost 21 in. Brown hair, blue eyes. Skis for feet. Gorgeous.
Sorry for the time lag, we've been distracted.
Everything went fine (aside from one shaky-handed anesthesiologist who if there is any justice in the world will someday lose her brain cushion for about a day and half) and we're all doing well.
Our housemates (hereby known collectively as 'the Dudes' or 'dudestorm' -- apologies to Adam) and Jessie went above and beyond the call and were on Wren duty for about 48 hours solid. The Dudes are also proving remarkably adept at tiny baby care (which pretty much entails occasionally holding her, providing me with a steady stream of downloaded TV shows, and trying really hard not to be awkward about the whole milk-comes-from-breasts thing).
Wren is a dream of a big sister. Maybe not actually -helpful- but definitely not hindering in any way. She is very sad when Jane cries, and will come over and hold her hand and whisper to her. She's also having a blast with all her old baby gear and toys. Items she has wrapped in blankets and "put to sleep" today include:
- one eye-pillow
- one baby doll
- one red marker
- a small cordless alarm clock
- a tube of lanolin
- and finally, a stuffed frog
These all get a kiss on the head (or head equivalent) and a lovely rendition of either 'twinkle twinkle' or 'you are my sunshine' depending on Wren's mood.
In other news, I will never ever criticize my dad for getting me and my sister's names mixed up. I get the right name for the child about 70% of the time. We should have just gone with a numbering system like my grandmother.
Lazlo and the Wrennel are at the zoo right now, and Jane and I are chilling at home, watching some BSG. Although I think my BSG days are done, at least until these hormones don't make me cry and freak out about every tiny little thing. The Cylons! AH! Adama's face! Boo hoo hoo!
That's about all the news. We're well, and settling into being a family of four. We can talk about our kids now. Our girls. We feel incredibly, unbelievably blessed.
P.S.: Our blog is under maintenance right now, so this look is temporary.
but thank you for asking. I am in a bizarre sort of self-imposed communications blackout, in that I can't really call anyone just to chat. When I call, people pick up, because they think, "Oh! This must mean she's in labor!" and then I have to open the conversation with - No. Not Yet. Ha Ha. Thanks for Asking! I promise we'll let you know!
Argh.
However much the collective blog audience wants to meet the new Hollyfeld, I promise it pales in comparison to how much I want to stop living in expectation of labor. Of course I also want to meet little no-name very very much. And Wren does too. It's pretty much all she talks about.
That's a lie. She also talks about lemonade, bees, daddy, momma, horses, ponies, her bottom, "getting you," helping, eating, carseats, colors, diaper changes, big girl potty, shapes, books, Ramona, our housemates, Bodies of Water, Abba, and many many other things. She's REALLY enjoying talking these days. A lot.
Last time around I made what turned out to be a pretty unrealistic list of things I was looking forward to after having Wren. I think margaritas were somewhere on there, as was a resumption of toenail painting and an immediate glorious return to sleeping on my stomach.
Of course I am still looking forward to margaritas, but I think my last pedicure was when I was about 7 months pregnant with Wren, and sleeping on my stomach... well really sleeping at all in the first month or so with a new baby... ridiculous.
This time around I have more mundane wants. I'm looking forward to the end of pregnancy congestion. I'd like my giant sausage feet to get back to a normal size, and maybe someday to be able to wear real shoes again. There's an In-N-Out across from the hospital- I'd like someone to bring me lunch once I can eat it, maybe with a chocolate shake.
Things I am NOT smarter about this time: I got sucked into the same damn doctor's office trick I did last time. The whole, "I'm making an appointment but maybe we won't see you next week ha ha ha" AHH! DON'T TELL ME THAT! I wish I had asked for a little note on my chart- If you tell the patient she is going to have the baby in the next few days, and she doesn't, she will become Batshit Insane.
I think this is probably true for most women at this point in the pregnancy. Why do doctors say that? I could see the words getting ready to come out of her mouth but there was nothing I could do to not hear them. Knowing that my doctor didn't learn fortune telling in medical school, and CANNOT in fact predict when I will go into labor, doesn't help me at all. I am still going to go home and pack my bag and call my mom and start pacing and then NOTHING. And my due date is still 2 WEEKS AWAY. I am A MONTH from being induced, even. It's so mean to take me from a mindset of "yeah it will probably be a while" where I was perfectly content and functioning somewhat rationally, to "you might want to just go hang out at In-N-Out for the next few hours, just in case..." when really she has NO idea. She's totally guessing.
But in a few short thoughtless words, she sent me to crazyville, and there's no coming back without a baby.
Sorry we're the laziest bloggers ever. You'd think living in the same house as a Wimpkilling founder would embiggen the least cromulent of writers, but oh well.
It's slightly less than three weeks until my due date, and Wrennel was a week early, so we're trying to get ready over here. This involves mostly listmaking, followed by procrastinating, and rounded off with cookie dough consumption. Although I have had a burst (bleh. i hate that word, and pretty much any synonym- spurt, pop, gush. UGH) of energy in the last few days, which corresponded exactly with a drop in our bank balance. I think in one day last week I spent more money than I have in a single 24 hr. period since I bought my wedding dress. (which, stupid stupid wedding dress. gah) Anyway, cloth diapers are pricey at first. I comforted myself later by getting Lazlo to work out how much money we've saved doing cloth over 2 years with Wren, and that made me feel better.
I was also comforted by sitting in my new birthday chair. Thank you family and friends who gave me birthday money. You all bought a share in Ecktorp- my new friend from Ikea. You are all welcome to come and lounge in him. (I think he's a he- gender is a confusing thing among the Swedes. If his name were Brita, or Anna-Greta, or even Roger or Furnuft... I would know for sure- but it's not Roger- Dave has Roger-the-chair. And Fornuft is actually "silver"-ware, so I don't know. I'm saying Ecktorp is a man, man.)
Reading through this quickly (I'm in a time-crunch because Dave is doing some blog-messing-around-with) it occurs to me that I sound insane and jumpy and blathery. Which is at least true to life, for hot hot week 30-whatever of pregnancy with a super-helpful toddler who has started pointing to people in the grocery store and yelling "fat tummy!"
Quick Factual Update-
- Baby's Family Reunion in San Diego was awesome. Slightly overrun with kittens, which thrilled Wren, but overall fantastic.
- Arkay took the job in Chicago, so we'll be Churdless in a few short weeks. Wren (along with the rest of the house) will be devastated, and will probably assume that the new baby kicked out her favorite super-jumping roommate. However, upon his move-out, we're taking over his room. MORE SPACE!
- Chet and the Col. had an awesome visit. They were out here while everyone in our house was moving, so that sucks for them, but oh well. They were also here for the BOW CD release, at which Wren danced/ran/frollicked among the downtown LA homeless population and I got to use one of those awesome super-future pay toilets. You may think I'm being ironic, but seriously- it was GREAT. I would go back right now if it weren't for the traffic.
- Next weekend we're joining our church, and the greater worldwide community founded by Menno Simons. I'll be spending my freetime from now on sewing little cambric headcoverings (to hide my SHAME).
- Ramona is flea-bitten, but still lovable, and continues to harass our hateful hateful mailman (who possibly maced her up the nose, although this hasn't been confirmed...)
- Lazlo recently particpated in a marathon. That is a lie. However, post baby, our greater household is going to purchase Wii fitness, and become Diet House 2007. The pounds will come crashing from our bodies like sheets of ice from the earth's poles. Watch in awe.
