Seda Lee

Hi everyone!

Most of you have heard by now that Seda Lee Jenson (pronounced "see-da") was born on March 10. It's now March 19, and while she is napping in her bouncy chair I am going to try to squeeze in a photo-heavy blog post.

I went into labor spontaneously the night of Saturday, March 9. It was 11:00, midnight with the time change. I was asleep and woke up because my water broke. I noticed I was having contractions too. I went downstairs and told Josh. We tried to sleep and chill out a bit during the early labor, but I couldn't sleep; I was too excited. Throughout the night the contractions got stronger and closer together. At about 4 AM we called Jess, my doula. Then I called my doctor and got the only bad news of the whole affair - she was out of town! She was in Marquette for her kid's basketball tournament. This meant that the other doctor, Dr. F., was on call to deliver my baby. I was pretty upset for a bit. I really like my doctor, and she had been very supportive of the type of birth I wanted to have (which I won't get into, here), whereas the other doctor, wasn't so much. But I had more important things to worry about and we had to get over it. We headed for the hospital and arrived there at about 7 AM. One of my favorite OB nurses was working (remember I work there so I know everyone), and she was training a new one who I also really like, who was just at my orientation the week before.

I won't go into all the crazy details here, but I labored for another 7 hours once we got there and Seda was born at 1:55 PM on Sunday. All I can say about giving birth is, it was crazy intense - indescribable, really -  and my experience was everything I was hoping it would be. I want to say right off the bat, to redeem my comments above about Dr. F., that he was just awesome. 100% respectful and professional, and followed my birth plan exactly. I had nothing to worry about. I am honestly filled with gratitude towards him right now.

The birth was as natural as possible under the circumstances. I had no pain meds at all, and the only drug I got was after the birth when they gave me a shot of pitocin in the arm, to help the uterus shrink down or whatever. They made me have a "hep lock" in my arm just in case, but I had no IV. I also had to have continuous fetal monitoring, which meant no water birth, but that was OK with me. I am so, so grateful that I got to experience this; I'm still trying to process it in my brain by writing about it in my journal. It was just awesome.

Here's a picture of us shortly after the birth. I don't feel it's too indecent and don't mind sharing it. Seda was the pinkest baby our doula ever saw when she came out. Her apgars were 9 and 9. She was 6 pounds, 4.5 ounces.

I know I've already praised Dr. F., but I also just have to say that Aspirus Keweenaw was awesome all around. I'm not just saying that because I work there. Everyone - the nurses, CNAs, kitchen staff -  was just amazing and the experience could not have been much better.


And here are a bunch of pictures of Seda. These were all taken at home.

 This is the "I'm hungry" face. She's been a great eater so far.

 

 And here's the big sister. Willow has taken it pretty well so far, I think. She's been a little demanding, but I think she is starting to understand. She does love to help by running for diapers, etc. :)

 

My friend Sharon stopped by for a visit a couple days ago. Her due date is the day after mine was (March 25). I call this photo "baby out, baby in".

  

 Seda also had her first outing 3 days after her birth - a weight check at her doctor's. I was feeling pretty good that day, and after the appointment, we all went out to lunch! It was a pretty incredible feeling being out and about 3 days after giving birth! By the way, we left the hospital the day after she was born. A 1-day hospital stay for Seda, in contract to Willow's 105-day stay. :)

 

 And finally, here is a video of Willow in her awesome snow fort that Daddy helped her build. We've been trying to get her outside daily on her non-school days to blow off some steam. It's needed!

Willow's birthday / 37 weeks!

I know, I've been slacking off on the blog. Things have been just a *little* hectic around here lately. I guess once the baby is born, who knows what will happen to the blog...maybe I'll have time to update it while I am on maternity leave? Or maybe I'm completely delusional in thinking that. In the meantime, every spare minute of the past month has been occupied, basically. This weekend we finally had a second to breathe, sort of. I actually feel OK enough about work now that I didn't feel the need to work this weekend, and at home we are getting closer to being ready. Josh has brought Willow to a "bouncy house" fundraiser at the SDC. I just paid bills and am trying to squeeze in a blog post before they return.

First off, yes, I am still pregnant. I'm 37 weeks today. The baby could come now and it wouldn't even have to go to the NICU. I just took our big stash of preemie books and put them in the box for St. Vinny's! I am so thankful and still can't believe I did it. Here's a picture of me from last weekend at 36 weeks. It was on Facebook too, but for those of you who are not on Facebook, I wanted to post it here as well.

 

My last appointment in Wausau was February 11, and everything was fine - so good that he said I did not have to come back for the final appointment. Right now I'm focusing on preparing for the birth; I've been reading a ton, and have a doula ready to go. Yesterday we took a childbirth class too. I am so excited to actually experience birth! :)

But enough about me. Someone had a birthday recently. Willow turned 4 on February 19. The weekend before, we had a sledding birthday party at the Nara chalet and sledding hill. The party was a smashing success, if I do say so myself. The weather cooperated for sledding, Grandma made an amazing cake, and everyone seemed to have a good time. There were no meltdowns or crying by anyone! Here are a bunch of photos:

Margot, the youngest attendee:

 Cameron and Jess:

Willow and Papa:

Anna and Maisa:

Aspen:

DaveO and Amelia:

Scott and Garrison:

Andi and Cat:

Willow and Maisa:

Here's Garrison taking his turn at pin-the-tail on the pony. The party had sort of a horse/pony/unicorn theme. Willow is very into these lately.

Here's a shot of everyone eating. Somehow, I didn't really get a photo of Lewis or Jacob. I wish I would've taken a group shot of all the kids together!

And finally, here is a video of the Happy Birthday song, plus you can see the pony cake my mom made. It was a huge hit.

By my next post, we may have some baby photos!

Winter Fun, Still Pregnant!

Winter finally, belatedly arrived, and with a vengeance! We took all of these shots after our first real snow. Since then, it really hasn't stopped snowing. It's been so fun.

Willow still likes playing in her cedar tree, even in the winter.

We took her on her first snowshoeing outing. What a beautiful day it was; we even had some sun. She rode in a sled pulled by dad for part of the way, and walked in her own little snowshoes for part of the way. The snow had a crust on top, and at times Willow was light enough to walk across without busting through. We went up by the Quincy mine, which is why there are various artifacts in the background of some of these photos.

I thought this photo was especially cool, with the train. As you can see, Scout had a great time as well.

We stopped at a mound so Willow could climb. Scout loves to chase snowballs and catch them in mid-air. You can see the snowball up at the top of this photo.

Catching one.

We also took Willow out (cross country) skiing. She got skis for Christmas. She actually did a pretty good job, and really enjoyed it too! She didn't want to stop, even though it was getting dark.

Before we put her skis on, we did a lap ourselves with Willow on dad's back. She wasn't too happy about that and kept yelling "get me out of here!". The days in the ergo carrier might be numbered, even though Willow does still only weigh 27 pounds. We decided it might just be because she's so far down, and to see anything she has to lean back, and it gets uncomfortable. So Josh picked up a new carrier (I think we now own six baby carriers!) at the consignment store - it's the type with an aluminum frame where the kids is up higher, and more supported. We will see if it works. Willow was excited about it at home, anyway. The ergo has been wonderful, and will be again for the new baby.

These photos crack me up. This is what happens when you let your kid play with your phone. We were trying to keep her entertained while we were at the store shopping for carpet. You can see carpet rolls in the background of one of the shots.

 

 

We painted the new baby's bedroom, and are also putting in new carpet in that room, plus Willow's bedroom and ours too. We are also getting a new window in the baby's room. This is all great but it is just not happening fast enough for me. I guess I have the nesting instinct going on, but it's fierce! I just want the room to be done so that I can organize it and get everything ready. I also am going crazy because I don't have any time to do these things. Josh is going to Bohemia today so I won't be able to do anything today. I don't begrudge him for that though. I am just jealous. It's going to be a powder day. Anyway, I think when Mother Nature created this nesting instinct, she wasn't counting on moms who work full time. Maybe mine is especially strong since it never had a chance to kick in before Willow was born!

So, yes, I am still pregnant. 32 weeks tomorrow! Blows my mind. After the appointment in Wausau that I wrote about in the last post, I was more worried than I let on in the post. After that appointment, when I saw my regular OB, I had asked her what she thought the perinatologist might do if the baby still wasn't growing like he'd like by my next appointment. She said "he might want to deliver...". The other problem was that I wasn't really gaining weight either. So I was pretty scared. Stupid as it sounds, I was also stressing hard about work, because I'm not prepared yet and I was thinking if I had to deliver in 2 weeks or something, everything would fall apart. I decided what I'd do is just pig out hard for the whole 3 weeks, and I did. I can hardly remember what it is like to be hungry. I just eat constantly. It's not as fun as it sounds. That and the butt-in-the air clothespin thing sort of consumed me for a few weeks.

All the efforts may have paid off though, because I went to Wausau again this past Wednesday and it was good news all around! Josh came with this time too. I gained 5 pounds. The baby stayed on the same growth curve and is now up to 3.5 pounds. And, it flipped and is now head down! So Dr. J. the perinatologist was happy. And I was so relieved I started crying when we left his office. I had my regular OB appointment the next day and she gave me a high five about the baby flipping. Sorry, Sharon and Amy...I guess you will not get to see a photo of me doing the clothespin thing. I was going to post one, but since I'm not doing it anymore, too bad. :)

So all is well in prego-land. I never thought I would be this big. I'll have to post a belly shot soon. Right now I'm in my pajamas and Josh is still asleep so he can't take my photo. But I am big! it's so great. I am trying to savor it.

 

Christmas

This was our year to go to Minnesota for Christmas. We had a great time, with the exception of Josh being sick the whole time we were there. :( It wasn't anything contagious (food poisoning, we think?), and he did manage to rally enough to visit a lot of friends and family.

Our first full day in town, we travelled out to Waconia to visit Mark, Amy and Ava. It had been wayyyy too long since we'd seen them, and it was so fun! Ava is 2 years younger than Willow, and they had a good time playing. Here's a picture of them jumping on the couch. What a couple of cuties!

 

Josh and Mark went in their hot tub (unfortunately I couldn't participate in that activity this time) while Amy and I watched the girls play, and we had pizza. Here are the girls, Amy and I.







At Grandma and Grandpa's house, Willow had fun decorating Christmas cookies.

Christmas Eve, we went over to Josh's great-aunt Lorraine's house, where all of her kids and grandkids were visiting as well. Willow had a lot of fun with those cousins, especially Bianca.

Just like two years ago, she had fun gambling as well.

Then we went back to Jack and Jean's to open presents; however it was already so late that Willow and I didn't make it until the end and had to go to bed. No big deal though; we woke up the next morning and plenty more present-opening occurred.

The best gift was probably the dollhouse that Willow got from aunt Jill and GG (that's Great-Grandma Lois). The dollhouse was made by GG's talented late brother, Tom. They also included furniture and dolls with it. Willow was pretty excited when they carried that up the stairs. Here she is playing with it.

She did receive the two gifts that she asked Santa for: an airplane and a bear.






Here she is in her new hat:





I had to include this one just because it makes me laugh. She was carrying around a bag, pretending to be Santa and distributing gifts.




Later Christmas day, we went over to aunt Joan and Uncle Ray's house to visit with Jean's side of the family. Willow spent most of the time playing with her favorite cousin (Josh's cousin), Katie. Katie is amazing with kids, and Willow is starting to remember her each time we visit the Jenson's, and ask for her. One special thing that happened is that Katie asked Willow to be the flower girl in her wedding this spring. It sounds like Willow and her second-cousin Natalie will share the job. Should be pretty cute...

One last thing relating to the holidays: Josh and I actually went out on New Year's Eve this year. We went to a "murder mystery" party given by our friends Andi and Jim. We were all assigned roles in advance. Josh was Jack Giuseppi, accountant to gangster "Big Jim" Ravioli, and I was his lovely wife Guilda. Ha. It was really fun, even considering that I was sober.

As far as the pregnancy goes, I am 29 weeks today. Yep, I am now 2 weeks past when Willow was born. I'm feeling pretty great about that. The baby is about 2 and a half pounds now. I'm up to weekly appointments with Dr. Hafeman, and I also have to have weekly non-stress tests. So far that has all been fine. I also had an appointment down in Wausau on January 2. That was pretty good...there was one sort of worrisome thing though, which was that the baby is not growing as fast as it was earlier in the pregnancy. It's fallen a little off of the growth curve it was following, though is still within the normal range. So now I have to go see that doctor again 3 weeks later, and 6 weeks, then 9 weeks. If everything was fine, I was just going to have to see him one more time 4 weeks later, and then I'd be done with him. I am trying not to worry about this, so please don't worry yourself either.

The other thing that is not a big deal is that the baby is still breech. This is more likely to happen because of my heart-shaped uterus. So on Dr. Hafeman's advice, I'm spending time each day with my butt propped up on pillows and my head down, with clothespins on my pinkie toes. Apparently those toes have an acupressure point that helps babies turn around. Don't laugh; if you look online, this is actually pretty common practice!

Here's the latest ultrasound photo.

We've finally gotten enough snow to have some winter fun (though still not nearly as much as we'd like!). I have some cute photos of Willow's first time skiing and snowshoeing, but I think I'll save those for the next post.