2 weeks into motherhood

It still hasn't settled in yet that Aiden is my son - that I'm his mother. - that he's not leaving with my MIL on Tuesday, or that I'm not just babysitting the most adorable child. I think once my MIL does leave, and with Mike back at school, it'll hit me then. Right now I'm just floating along.. feeding, sleeping, eating, rocking.. and repeat. With the C-section, Mike and his mom won't let me do much more, which is good, because I keep wanting to.

I didn't have many nesting instincts when pregnant, but now that Aiden is here, I really am feeling the nesting urge - but because of the surgery, I can't do most of it - I'm not supposed to be bending down and picking up, or going up and down stairs a lot, or transitioning from sitting to standing often. And I can feel it when I have been doing a lot of that - usually when my meds are wearing off or I'm due for another dose.

It's been lovely having her here - I really have been blessed with some wonderful in-laws. Next week is going to be .. a new challenge I think. Great way to start off my 34th year - as my birthday is Tuesday! Being 34 hasn't sunken in either, but I'm not too worried about that.

This week I had some friends stop by to see me, and they all came bearing the cutest of gifts for little Aiden.

My friend Sue hand made the softest rag quilt:

It's just beautiful! and I love the colors!!

Pam and Vera stopped by to hang out with Aiden:



and brought food (Jim & Nicks - yum!)

Vera made two super-cute hats - one for now:


and one to grow into:


(I think he looks like the LOL cat with the lime on his head here)

and soft socks for Aiden's monkey toes!


I keep wanting to knit, but don't have the focus right now. I can't seem to put a yarn and pattern together for the life of me, so that's been put on hold for a bit. Let's get through Thanksgiving first and we'll see where we're at by then.

Presenting Aiden Michael Lauer!!!!

He's finally here!

Aiden Michael Lauer was born on Monday, November 9th at 11:21 pm after a long and arduous day!

So I had my 41 week doctor's appointment on Monday, and went in at 11:30 wanting to talk to the doctor about the changes I had been feeling all morning. I was thinking either a.) the baby had finally dropped, b.) I was having Braxton hicks or c.) something was going on! All I really knew is that it was finally something different than I had been feeling for the past two weeks, and I was hoping this would lay to rest the idea of having to induce me.
I met Mike at the Dr.'s office and was worried I would have to use the restroom before I had a chance to give my urine sample for the day, so when my name was called, I rushed right into the bathroom - where my water broke!!

I realized this when the color was all wrong (there was meconium in it) - otherwise I don't know if I would have recognized it for what it was! The nurse seemed awfully calm, and put us into the examining room, and I had Mike start timing what I now am realizing are contractions. It only surprises me more when Mike says that they are 2-2.5 minutes apart! I guess I had always thought of contractions as feeling sharper or more distinct. All morning they had just been an uneasiness in my stomach, as if someone was tightening my belt on my pants and I had just eaten a really full dinner -that plus some mild crampy feelings. I will admit, now that my water had broken, they were getting more painful - now they were more like a stitch in your side, just all across my belly.

The Dr. came in and decided to wheel me over to the hospital (the office and hospital are connected) - I was officially in labor!!!

To make a long story short, my water broke at 11:30, I was admitted around 12 and was about 3 cm dilated but the baby hadn't dropped. By 1:00 I had decided an epidural was going to be a good idea. They had to do two takes on the epidural, the first one put in had a kink in the catheter in my back and was stopped up, so they had to put in a second about an hour later. By 5:00 I was 8cm, and at quarter to 7pm I was 100% effaced and 10cm dilated, but still no droppage from the baby - so it was time to start pushing. After 3 hours, the baby hadn't moved very much, and his blood pressure was dropping - that with the meconium in it, they wanted to get the baby out sooner rather than later, so I was wheeled to the OR for a C-section, and our beautiful baby boy, Aiden Michael Lauer was born at 11:21pm on 11/9/9!

We arrived home on Thursday, and I can't believe that he is officially one week old now! Here are some pictures of my new baby boy:

Here he is home from the hospital:


A few with Daddy:




and at one week:





Ahh Sweetness:

still waiting....

No baby yet. Technically this Monday I'll be at 41 weeks, and no signs from baby that he or she is making a move for the door. :(

I think that's the hard thing about due dates - I'm perfectly happy being pregnant (I'm actually enjoying it quite a bit) and everything has been going quite smoothly, but now I have a little voice in the back of my head saying "something may be wrong here... no baby yet.. is this going to make delivery harder?...no baby yet....where's baby? why haven't you felt contractions yet?" etc. etc. and the little whispers go on...
If I didn't have a due date, I'd like to think I'd still be in my bliss of happy pregnancy. Although all the test I've had so far says' baby's doing fine - and I can feel (and see!) the little one moving all the time, so things like that usually quiet the voices.

Monday I have a Dr's appt. and I have a feeling an inducement will be scheduled. I know, I know, inducements happen all the time, but I know a lot lead to C-sections as well. And I know that a C-section is not necessarily a bad thing, just didn't jive with the image I had in my head of how labor was going to go.

I also realize I need to let go of any notion I had of how things are supposed to go, because from now on, I'm not in the drivers seat anymore - baby is. I think I can deal with that... I'd just like to meet the new driver!!! :)

I have finished a newborn baby hat - we'll see if it fits - I've heard 5-7 lbs for baby, but don't know how big the head is:


And I made mittens to match:



I'm almost done with Grumpasaurus Max - just needs feet and new facial feature colors - the blue is too light:


And I'm slowly working on another hat and the Ice Queen Pattern:


We'll see how Monday goes, and hopefully my next post will be all about our new baby!!!! yeah :)