6 Week Update

Well, we are six weeks into life with XYZ and still alive and well! Xander is getting bigger and bigger. I can't believe some women have to go back to work at this point. I mean, I'm just now getting comfortable with him at home and looking forward to our days together, so I can't imagine having to throw a new change into our routine already. I'm blessed to work for a company that not only has to honor FMLA, but a company that also provides me with a paycheck during the majority of that time.

X has had a big week this past week. Mamina has been in town from Canada, and we've been eating like champions! We've also done our fair share of shopping, walking and visiting with friends. Today we even got to Skype with our family in Dubai!

Speaking of birthdays....we were able to get out for my birthday a few weeks back. Lori and our faux mom-in-law tag-teamed babysitting for us. We were home by 9:30, but it was fun to get out with friends for the evening. I even had 2 whole glasses of wine....while over a 4-hour period....so I didn't pass out! :)

Our Christmas was fun too. Nanny and Mamina were in town, so X was barely set down. We spent most of our celebrating at Lori's house, but we did make it to the Erwins the Sunday before. Here we are:

 

 

  

With all this help around, I've finally ventured back to the road. I've gotten a couple of good 30-minute runs under my belt, which have been refreshing. It's nice to be able to push myself a little again. I know, I know, I'm not pushing myself too hard, and I am listening to my body, but it's been nice.

 

We have the luxury of having a babysitter (Mamina) in house for New Year's, so we will take advantage of our situation and head out to a little get together Monday night for that. I think we'll be able to make it to midnight....wish us luck!

 

 

Thankful Timing

While Simon and I can't take credit for planning the timing of XYZ's birth to be at such a perfect time of year, I am especially thankful for it. Here are some things I'm thankful for:

• it's dark when I want to go to bed these days....7-8 p.m.
• it's light when I need to be awake....5-6 a.m.
• we live in the South, and even though it's only 50 degrees, if you stand in the sun, it's almost 70!
• Simon gets multiple 'free' days off with the holidays
• my mom gets several 'free' days off too
• with the new calendar year, Simon's vacation time starts over in January, so he can stay home some if I need him
• extended family has time off too

XYZ had his first road trip yesterday with the Erwin clan. We headed to Columbia to visit Grandpa Manny and his Kelley cousins. He did great in the backseat with Lily and Allie...they make good babysitters already. Note the acute need for another male int this family (that's a lot of estrogen):

X especially enjoyed hanging with his youngest cousin...she's older and wiser, so she is teaching him a lot:

Simon's mom arrived last night, and she's already got dinner cooking on the stove (it's noonish as I type this)! I've been able to sleep until 8 a.m., go to the grocery store alone, AND she and Simon are out on a walk with X right now, but I'm not even tired enough to attempt a nap...I really don't know what to do! She's here for 12 days, so I'm sure by the end of the visit I will have figured out what to do with all this free time again.

4 Weeks Down

Well, I can hardly believe what I am typing....lil XYZ is 4 weeks old today. Was it really 4 whole weeks ago that I woke up and thought, "hmmm, did I just pee in my pjs?"

After watching the terrible news about what happened in Connecticut, I'm sure we're all hugging our babies a little tighter these days....and seriously considering home schooling even more than ever! (Wonder if I could get my sister's family to move to Charlotte for this....Kim, don't you want to hang with your two sisters EVERY DAY?)

Anywho....this is also my birthday weekend....and possibly the first birthday in 35 years where I haven't reminded people one month in advance that Dec. 16 is coming up! I suppose being totally consumed with another life will do that for you. I mean how could you think of your own birthday when this little guy is smiling at you?

 

 

The past 4 weeks have seen a lot of change already. XYZ is starting to get a little more regular...sleeping and pooing. Although once I think I have one sleep pattern figured out, he goes and changes it. Again, this whole 'child rearing' thing is definitely a team sport. The week had caught up with me yesterday, and by the time Simon was home from work, I was exhausted. Luckily, Simon is a champ, and I went to bed at 7 and got 7 whole hours of uninterrupted sleep.....CRAZY! I feel like a new woman this morning.

 

On a side note...I thought I'd share this hilarious photo of what our Sunday afternoons look like as I mention them often. We are hanging at the Erwin's house.....and no, that's not XYZ in my lap....he's been confiscated by his faux grandma. But I get my hair done by Lily, a warm lap from Charlene (the dog) and baby rearing lessons with the doll from Allie. Sundays are big days for the Zora family!

 

 

At home....Day 3 Alone

So today marks my third day home alone with X. As you can assume by the fact that I am typing this, we are doing well. We have had quite the adventure over the past two weeks.

Nanny was here for our first week home from the hospital, which was great. Simon and I could get up in the morning, eat something and then go back to bed knowing X was in good hands.

Then it was just me and Simon for week 2. Simon was off Monday through Wednesday, which ended up being fantastic since our plumbing decided to explode Monday! OK, it didn't really so much explode as overflow. I'm sure if I'd been home alone, I would have just called 911 and said "please send someone, anyone to come help me!" Luckily Simon was here and handled the situation.

Here are some photos from our first 2 weeks at home:

 

 

X and I spent the past weekend out with the "Ladies Who Lunch" - dinner Saturday night and stamping Sunday afternoon. He was a trooper for both outings. Hopefully he will continue to be a trooper, and I can continue to get out of the house at least once a day!

 

 

Those hips do lie, Shakira!

I guess you all have figured it out by now....Baby Z is here! And we can officially call him Baby XYZ!

Xander Yannick Zora
11:04p.m.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
8 pounds, 6 ounces

We'd been to the OB on Friday to have an ultrasound and check his estimated size. They took a look and guessed he was 9 lbs, 9 oz Friday. The doctor gave me the option for an induction or c-section Monday because he was pretty sure my pelvis would not be able to handle that without complications.

We opted for the c-section. I just had this feeling that my body wasn't even going to go into labor so the thought of sitting around on pitocin trying to make it happen didn't seem like a good idea. I hadn't even really had a Braxton Hicks contraction at this point, so I was convinced I'd be one of these 42 week preggo women. Well, was I wrong!

Saturday morning around 2:30 I woke up and realized my water had broken. I wasn't having any contractions. We called the doctor, who said come on in to the hospital. We arrived around 3:30, which was very nice. We got a good parking spot...no waiting in line to get checked in, etc.

By 4 a.m., my contractions had started on their own. They were totally manageable at this point, but I was in the bed. So I decided to get up and walk around, rock in the rocking chair, etc., thinking this would/could help me progress. Wrong again. All this did was make my contractions stop! While the relief from pain was nice, I knew that was not the direction I should be going in.

So around the middle of the day, we started pitocin. By 3 p.m. I was ready for the epidural. I had progressed about to the halfway mark, and the doctor was impressed. He even looked excited. By 9 p.m.-ish I was complete and ready to push. The doctor was pumped at this point. I guess he realized this could mean less work for him, right!?

So I pushed for a good hour and half, and then the doctor came back. He checked me, and his whole face changed. He said something to the effect of, "If you can get this head out, I'll deliver the rest of the baby." with a look on his face like "this ain't going to end well." So needless to say, in all that pushing, I'd moved Xander nowhere.

So Simon and I talked and decided it was best to go for the c-section anyway. I was exhausted....remember, I'd been up since 2:30 a.m. and it was not 10:30 p.m. with no real food too. I knew I'd only get worse at pushing as the night wore on.

The procedure was quick, and the whole team was great. Before I knew it, I was in the recovery room with Simon and Xander. He was perfect....even had a little cone head from trying to come out 'normally.' Though he was smaller than everyone guessed, he was 'sunny side up' as they call it. Doctor said this was probably one of the contributing factors to why I wasn't moving him with my pushing. Then he told me I have a 'narrow' pelvis. WHAT? I've been described as a lot of things, but narrow has not really been in my body-description vocabulary! All these years of joking about my birthing hips went to pot with this one baby! Shakira is evidently wrong....at least my hips do lie!

Oh well. What's important is that he is here, and we are both doing quite well.

Some photos from our adventure:

The sign outside our room:

Family Portrait:

 



One of his favorite places - the Moses basket:

Today is his official due date, and all is going well. We had a good night of sleeping, eating and pooping last night, so no complaints. His arrival a week early was certainly very convenient. We were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with family, and Simon got two free days off from work! Hopefully he'll continue being a very cooperative baby!

Nanny has been here all week and went home this morning, so today begins the real test for Simon and me.

I suppose I'm going to need to change the name of this blog.....any ideas?

Really, I am only 5'6"....a 38 week update

Well, not too much news here on the baby baking front...other than Baby Z is still in the oven. He must like it in there.

He's still pretty active and wakes me up several times a night, but for the most part I am able to fall back asleep. I did have one night last week where I didn't....so I was a hot mess the following day. Luckily my boss is super cool and told me to go home and take a nap. So I did and felt like a million bucks when I woke up!

This weekend, we were at the Erwins (as usual), and Lori snapped this sweet picture of Allie admiring Sweetie (her name for Baby Z). She is totally in love with my belly. I wonder if she's just going to be done with me once he comes out. This week, she told me she thinks he's going to come out of my face. I said, "yeah, that sounds about right!" I mean, who wants to explain this to a 5-year-old?

We had our 38 week appointment today. I saw the one female in my practice, and once again, she asked, "How tall are you?" To which I replied, "Seriously, I'm 5'6"." She felt all around my belly and thinks Baby Z may already be 8 pounds. She thinks my pelvis could handle an 8.5 pounder, so she's not too worried, but she does want me back in on Friday for an ultrasound to try and get a better look at his size.

She was super sweet in suggesting it...as if I'm not concerned about giving birth to a 10+ pound baby. I reassured her that I am QUITE  HAPPY to come into the office whenever she wants me to in order to check on this baby's size. None of the male doctors in the practice have been the slightest bit concerned for me having a whopper baby. They've all just said, "oh yeah, he's big!" To which I'm like...uh, thanks. I mean what do you say to that other than....well, let's talk about getting him out! Needless to say, I wanted to hug the doctor today when she asked me to come back THIS WEEK and checked all the appropriate paperwork boxes to get insurance to cover the ultrasound.

So we shall see....I will continue to try my best to make him come out before Friday, but I still feel pretty 'normal' for whatever that's worth. I'm just not sure he's planning on making any appearances this week.....but my fingers are crossed.

Right on the money...at 37 weeks

After a week of nothing happening, I'm happy to report that we still have nothing happening! :)

My boss couldn't be happier. Every morning he swings by my desk and happily says, "You're still here!" I suppose it's good to be needed! People keep asking, "so how long are you going to work?" This only makes me wish (for like 2 seconds) we lived in Canada, where mom gets 1 YEAR off to have the baby. I'm working up until we're on the way to the hospital because here in the USA we clearly think it's no big deal to give birth and/or raise a child for that matter! I mean who thinks 12 weeks is enough time for anything....I took longer to train for my marathons! Anywho - this is a whole other situation for a whole other blog (which I do not plan on starting).

On a less controversial note: we had Lori double check Baby Z's car seat for us, and of course, she was able to tighten the strap in basically another inch or so! I'd seen her do this before - she basically is small enough to put her entire body in the car seat base and use all her weight to squish out that extra inch of safety in the strap. It's like magic. Simon and I are just too big/bulky to maneuver our bodies in such small places. So now I'm convinced Baby Z's car seat is going NOWHERE, which is great. Everyone should have tiny people in their lives for purposes such as this.

Today's 37 week appointment went fine. Baby Z's numbers are good, my numbers are good, and I'm pretty sure the doctor is now convinced I WILL make it to 40 weeks. (and I kinda am too) He just gave me this look like, "You're way too comfortable to be having a baby any time soon." OK, so maybe I'm reading into his facial expressions a bit too much...who knows! And his "right on the money" comment as he was measuring my belly sounded like he had won some bet with the receptionist about where I'd be measuring today.

I suppose something did happen, I've gone from 1 cm to 2 cm dilated this week, so I suppose that's progress. After all, I guess I could have regressed and hit 0, right?

And after giving up running last week, I have begun walking. It's been pretty good for the most part. We have a lake with a walking trail at work, so I'm able to get out and enjoy some fresh air in a beautiful fall setting most days. This weekend I took to our treadmill at the house, which is super convenient.

We've been pretty busy with odds and ends, which has helped keep me distracted from the fact that last week I was convinced I'd have a baby by this time this week, and now I'm convinced I have another 3 weeks to go!

Luckily, one of my friends from home recently moved to Charlotte, and it's been so great having her and her husband nearby now. They have a 12 week old. Last night we met them at another friend's house for dinner - and they have an-almost 6 month old . It was awesome to be able to see where Baby Z will be in 3-6 months and to have these friends so close to us. I joked that the three couples should do our New Year's party together since we'll all be in bed by 12:01!

 

Well, here's hoping there's something more exciting to report next week!