First Few Days at Home

Just a short update to let everyone know we are doing well during our first few days home with Noelle. When we first got home the first thing we did was introduce Maddie to Noelle and that went much better than expected. Maddie is certainly curious, and a little jealous, but has given the baby kisses and shared a pillow and blanket with her so we think they will be best friends in no time at all.

From looking at our pictures you would think all Noelle does is sleep. And the first day home that was about right. Since then she has not been a huge fan of rest, and instead would much rather eat all day long. We are definitely excited she is a good eater but we are hoping she starts sleeping for slightly longer than an hour or so at a time! In the morning Noelle is super awake and likes to look around at the world with her huge blue eyes. She is super cute! Later in the day and through most of the night we alternate quick naps with feedings, and we all are trying to get our rest when we can.

Grandma Hayhoe has been here the past few days to help out. She has been great taking Maddie for walks, cooking, cleaning, and of course she is super excited to cuddle with her first grandchild.



We also had an overnight visit from Great Grandma Gidjunis. Here is a picture of the 4 generations of women on my mom's side of the family.

Noelle's Arrival

So now that we have gotten a chance to rest a little, we thought we'd share Noelle's birth story. On Thursday when I got home from work Maddie was acting crazy. She usually greets me when I come home as if she hasn't seen me in months, but Thursday night she pretty much wanted to have nothing to do with me. Then she sat depressed on the couch with her dad the rest of the evening. I told B that she clearly knew something was going on. At about 1 am, I started having contractions every 12 minutes or so, and we all had a hard time sleeping. I went downstairs and Maddie started being super loving, getting up on my belly and wrapping her body around me. Bryan was so anxious (I didn't tell him for as long as possible) I thought he would never sleep again!

We had a midwife appointment Friday morning, and I was still having contractions. Jean said it was most likely false labor, but that since I was 1 cm dilated, 90% effaced, and she was in position to descend for labor, we'd probably go into real labor soon. We got home, we took our extra car and Maddie's crate over to Marisa and Jason's, had a snack at our favorite place, Rita's, and got on to timing some contractions thanks to Bryan's handy dandy excel spreadsheet! He tried to download an application for his phone that would do that, but since that didn't work he created his own equations in excel, and charted the time between and length of the contractions. He was very proud! The spreadsheets even had graphs! Who knew people with a law degree could formulate excel equations?

We felt for sure we'd be going to the hospital later that day. But no, our contractions stayed irregular timewise and I had them throughout Friday and through the night into Saturday. Our midwife called Saturday morning and we gave her the update on contraction times, and at this point they seemed to be getting further apart so we thought they'd stop and have Noelle later in the week. But instead the contractions again got closer together. Every time we were getting excited that we were about to have an hour worth of contractions that were 5 minutes apart, we had some crazy 9 minute apart contraction that ruined everything, followed by some 2-3 minute contractions. At 6 pm Saturday my contractions were still irregular, but we'd been in "false labor" almost 48 hours. I was having some really painful contractions and the contractions were lasting almost 2 minutes each.

Jean was at the hospital with another couple Saturday night so she said to come on in and get checked. We got ready, headed out, and expected to be home shortly. Instead, Jean checked us at about 8:30 pm, and we were 100% effaced but only 2 cm dilated. Since I had been having contractions for so long and nothing was really changing, she wanted to give me some morphine to help me sleep and stop the contractions. She said this would either stop the false labor, or put me in to real labor, and as she left our room we heard her tell the intern that we would be discharged at 7 am. They gave me fluids, sugar, and morphine, and after just 2 hours where my contractions were getting further apart, I felt a pop and my water broke. The plans all changed at that point, and the contractions quickly became 4-5 minutes apart and more painful again. Since I hadn't slept in 2 days and I knew that the hardest part was ahead, I got the epidural around midnight, slept a few hours, and by 4:30 am was feeling ready to push. Those last hours were so much faster than the first 48! I was only 9 cm dilated at 4:30, so they had us wait another hour, and then around 5:30 we started to push. The epidural had pretty much worn off already and I could feel everything for pushing which was helpful although maybe not as great painwise. Thankfully, Bryan was great and so was Jean and our nurse. Bryan didn't even pass out when he saw all the blood and goo (which was a surprise to all of us given his aversion to that kind of thing). Noelle ended up being much bigger than everyone thought, and had a huge head, so the pushing part of labor took a bit of time, but at 6:58 am they put Noelle on my stomach for the first minutes of her life.

Noelle was in the birth canal for quite a bit of time, and they did finally need to use the vacuum to help her head come out, so she was healthy but took a few minutes to really get herself moving in the outisde world. After a day she is still over 8 pounds, feeding well, and we think is the quietest and cutest baby on the floor! We aren't really sure who she looks like (maybe some Gidjunis and some Saxton in there but not a lot of me or B yet!), but definitely think her thick dark hair and beautiful blue eyes are awesome! We might be prejudiced, but she is pretty darn perfect (which is good b/c at about hour 36 of false labor I definitely told B that is she wasn't cute after all this I was sending her back!).

Here are a few pictures of Noelle's first day of life:


A little gooey, but trying to look around.


Snug as a bug in a . . . blanket?


First family photo.

Little Amoeba Arrives at Last!

Just a short post to let people know that this morning Amoeba was finally born! We welcomed Noelle Evangeline Saxton at 6:58 am Sunday, August 16th! She is already quite a big girl at 8 pounds 3 oz, and was a healthy 20 3/4 inches long. We are obviously thrilled that Noelle is here and that she is healthy, and both mom and baby are doing great!

We'll post more later, for now we are all getting some rest at the hospital. We'll be home Tuesday morning and look forward to lots of visitors then! Just remember, we'd really appreciate a call before you come by in case we are napping, and that we will be out of control and ask you to wash your hands before you hold Noelle! If you can handle our over-protective tendancies, we'd love to see you!

The Waiting Game

Well I had been convinced for weeks that I was really due August 11th and that Baby Saxton would surely come that day, but as it is 4 pm, and I am not in labor, I guess today is not meant to be the day. We are optimistic that Amoeba will arrive soon. The baby has dropped into position, I am having a lot more cramps and contractions these days, and the midwife did type into her computer last Friday "Labor Alert" for my file, so anytime now we should be welcoming our little one.

I did it make it through the summer camps at work, which made all my co-workers happy. It was a long summer for everyone with the flu going around, but it was one of the best summers I've had in the 5 I have worked full-time for the program. Going to work now is sort of annoying though, as everyone asks "When are you going to have that baby?" or "You're still pregnant?" which makes me want to shoot back some kind of sarcastic, probably not work appropriate response. I know everyone means well though and that they also are just excited to greet little Moeb's into the world.

Besides that, things are pretty good. I have developed pregnancy carpal tunnel syndrome, which is apparently quite common for women who give birth in the heat of the summer. I guess the vessels that bring blood to your hands and wrist are really thin, so even a small amount of swelling can sort of crush them. My right hand definitely feels it more than my left, and it especially hurts at night, but besides gripping heavy things and trying to brush my teeth without pain, it hasn't been too much of an issue. I guess since I never suffered from morning sickness this isn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.

So we are just going to play the waiting game a little longer! It is nice to know that worst case scenario, we'll be meeting our little one in just 2 weeks! We'll keep everyone posted!

Another Doctor Visit Down, Another Visit Scheduled

This morning we had yet another visit with our midwife to make sure little Amoeba is doing well. She is doing fine, but still hanging out in there. Apparently she is pretty content to keep compressing Laura's bladder and kicking her in the ribs. Since we don't know when that will end, we had to schedule another appointment for August 21 (we already have one for August 14)! I think if we have to schedule any more, we may need to have a prenatal intervention for the little one about making her parents wait.

Apparently, the midwife knows better than us how pregnancy goes and when a baby will be born. I'm just shocked to find that our complete lack of medical expertise made us wrong about when Moebs would be born. We're hoping that the new August 18 due date is wrong, but at this point, it is anybody's guess.

Laura is still hanging in there. She feels like she is huge, but that is not the case. Laura's best friend, Catherine, and I agree that she's actually pretty small for being 9 months pregnant. Again, it is that extensive medical training talking.



Well, that is about it. If Laura has the baby soon, we will try to update the blog as soon as possible, but it may be a couple of days. We will probably email/post on facebook when the baby is born, so either friend me or let me know if you want to be on the list to find out.

Since we are likely to start turning our camera into a baby photo machine very soon, here's a photo of the cutest dog in the world enjoying the peace and quiet before her sister comes. We hope to be giving you all the good news very soon!

I'm Back!

After a hiatus to take the bar exam, I'm back! I'm officially finished with the Maryland bar exam and am now enjoying the last few days of quiet before the arrival of little Amoeba. Before you all ask how the exam went, I just don't want to talk about it. I've always been the kind of person that wants to let the exam go afterwords. Please don't be offended if you ask and I say I don't want to talk about it, walk away, or throw something at you. I get the results in November, so for now, just know that it is over and I'll give you the (hopefully positive) results in a few months!

Things on the home front are going well. Maddie and I have been enjoying spending a few days together without my study materials blocking her access to the couch. The fort I built myself in the basement has been demolished and the house is starting to look less like a library.

On the baby watch front, Laura is finishing up her last week of the summer programs. Although her boss would love it if the baby came after this coming Sunday, we're ready for Moebs to come any time. The bags are packed for the hospital, baby stuff is on the ready, and the calm before the storm has settled in. We've been taking nice long walks every day, albeit a little slower than normal. I think Maddie has gotten more exercise in the last two days than she did the last two weeks of my studying! Come to think of it, I've also gotten more exercise in the last two days than the last two weeks of studying!

In any event, we're just waiting now. If you haven't heard anything about the baby in the next couple of weeks, don't ask. We might just tell you we don't want to talk about it, walk away, or throw something at you.