Postmark from Heaven

Our little angel Evangeline Elizabeth Perreault entered the world October 24, 2011 at 8:22 p.m. She was 7 lbs 14.8 ounces and 21 inches long.

 Here's a link to more photos of 12-hour-old Evangeline

She and her mommy are resting comfortably at home. She is so vibrant and animated already! Mom, dad, grandparents, and aunts are so happy to have her in their lives already.

We love her so much and she was so worth the wait. Thanks for all your support throughout our pregnancy and into the first weeks of her life. We'll share her birth story later as well as our inspiration for her name.

Praise the Lord for good news in such a small precious package.

A Week Over Due Makes You Strong

Committing to natural birth is hard when you are a week overdue.  But we have to stand strong because we love her enough to give her that opportunity.

I really want to wait as long as possible for any interventions into Miss P's birth. It was hard, but today I expressed this to my doctor, who said she was on board for waiting another week. This was an improvement from last week when she said she rarely waits more than a week past the due date to induce.

People have asked me if I am miserable. At first I was really mentally bogged down about her not coming early, or on time. But I'm at peace with waiting now.

I'm feeling great. I've been walking at least a mile a day--most days three or four miles. This weekend that walking added up to close to 20 miles with one long stent with my friend Brenda walking around my neighborhood for almost four hours. We walked to garage sales, the library, the school where Brenda works. Then we walked around a park in her neighborhood the next day.

That said its really hard when you were prepared so far in advance and you are still waiting. I want every pain I feel to be a contraction. I wish my little girl was here already. He closet is full of clothes. The weather is turning colder, I had to take out the few cold weather maternity clothing I have today as the temp is supposed to drop below freezing tonight. People keep asking why she is not here yet.

Honestly I do not know, it's like asking when Jesus is coming back again.

The good news is she is healthy and I am healthy. And there is the constant reminder: babies are not like cartons of milk they do not expire.

That said....
We'll officially go one week past our due date tomorrow. Right now we have one more week till scheduled induction date of October 25th. I can change my mind if I still need more time, but after that, the doctor said she would be really concerned for the baby's health (and my sanity).
No one ever talks about what happens to your morale when you are two weeks late (most babies don't last that long).

I know you are all as anxious as Greg and I are. You want to see what she looks like, know her name, see what she does.... However, Miss P is still taking her sweet time, and that is fine. I need to learn patience. I'm learning that babies come when God wants them to. This is only the beginning. Parenting takes patience and conviction. That said Greg and I still need your support.

Please pray for a safe delivery whenever she comes if that is tomorrow or Tuesday night.
We'll be having an ultra-sound on Friday to confirm that she's still doing ok living in my belly (if she has not arrived yet). I'm hoping we don't have to go and that she comes before then : )
Thanks for all your encouragement.

Past the Due Date

So I know I would feel differently if her Due Date had not come and gone with no event...but it did. It is October 13th. She is not here yet.

Right now I am thinking how our society makes Due Dates out to date a child as though she were a carton of eggs or a jug of milk. I'm trying really hard not to think about it like that. I'm trying to re-frame the idea of a due date as more of a "guess date." I keep telling myself the longer she has to develop inside the womb the less of a shock she'll go through when she enters the world. 
I know I should be grateful for a happy, easy and healthy pregnancy so far. I should be grateful for more time to prepare for her arrival. I am. But as I have said before I feel overly prepared for her to arrive.
So far this week I've done my best to remain distracted. I'm finishing my T-shirt quilt of ZTA T-shirts from undergrad. I've been studying for the GRE. I made zucchini and pumpkin bread and took loaves to friends and neighbors. I completely used up all of my granulated sugar. I went to an elderly assisted living facility with my neighbor to visit a vivacious older woman named Beth yesterday. This was honestly the highlight of my day.
This week I've been on several walks. Yesterday, I ate my neighbor's homemade salsa with chips,  and an Amy's microwavable Indian food meal.
It has rained the past two days here. The leaves in the trees are turning a cascade of autumn colors, although the rain has brought them down. Greg and I really enjoyed our walk today. A beautiful morning after the rain.
Not sure what today holds but if I get more sugar I can make cupcakes!

False Alarm

Yesterday I went to the hospital after having contractions that were three to five minutes apart...but I was not dialated so they sent me home. I hate to call what I experienced a false alarm--because it makes me sound like that woman who is so clueless about her pregnancy--but I seriously thought I would walk in that hospital and walk out with a baby yesterday. Miss P has other plans.

The doctor said what I was experiencing was "early labor" and to not come back until I could not talk through contractions or breathe through them. She then said "it could be any day now"--a phrase I am slightly tired of hearing. The nice thing is that I could see the contractions on the monitor, so I at least knew I was not imagining things. Maybe at this point I've read too much?

39 Weeks and still waiting

I reread the section on labor and delivery in What to Expect When You Are Expecting twice this weekend, hoping to read between the lines and get a better idea of what "being in labor" would feel like for me. I felt like I was asking myself "When will Jesus return?"

Basically the book says labor is different for everyone. In the book it says the baby's brain sends a signal to my body to make labor, contractions and dilation take place. Therefore, I determined she is not ready to leave my body just yet. Mom and I went on two walks yesterday which I thought would help. The problem now is that my feet are so swollen that walking for a long time makes them more uncomfortable. We also went for a three mile walk this morning.

It has been wonderful to have my parents here over the Columbus Day weekend, and I am really going to miss them when they leave in later today. They helped Greg and I get so many projects finished around our house. They fed us, encouraged us and have made us feel loved.

Among those projects....Greg and my dad finally got his 1967 Ford Mustang up and running (although it needs a new radiator). This is the biggest smile I've seen on his face in a long time.

Greg and his Mustang

Patience

Not so sure why I am so set on her coming early.

Perhaps I was thinking because Greg and I were both born early that she might be inclined to be early too? Maybe it is because my feet have begun to swell and my back hurts.

Greg is ready too. He keeps telling me how anxious he is to hold his little girl. He would most likely write this himself if the Mizzou Journalism Ph. D program was not consuming 90 percent of his time right now. I feel like as we get closer to her due date we are finding all sorts of things we have not done yet. I've created a two page list, he's finished one list and made a new list. We cannot help that we are constantly planning I guess.

My parents are flying into town later today to help me prepare and possibly urge Miss P on a little. I like to call it "cheerleading."

I'm trying to wrap up some smaller projects around the house, get all the birthday/anniversary cards sent in the mail and catch up on sleep (as I say this at 2 a.m. awake yet again). Right now I am able to sleep for a little more than six hours at a time before I wake up. People may read this and think I am crazy, but I cannot wait till there is a baby to wake up for.

This morning I woke up and found my Baylor ZTA sorority sister Jen had her baby girl overnight. Part of me wishes I was in the same boat. I am so happy for Jen and her husband Ryan. They will be wonderful parents.

I wish there was something I could do to make Miss P want to arrive. I keep telling myself I have no control over this--and I know I don't.

Someone told me if there are things to get done around the house she might not feel like she can come...but that is really hard when you moved into a house pregnant and still have an office that looks like a junk pile looming around you.

I need prayers for patience. 

I scheduled another doctor's appointment for next Friday (10/14) in case she has not arrived yet. In a lot of ways I feel like a little kid waiting for summer vacation to start.

Are we there yet...

So I'm asking this question literally as the "child in me" refuses to come out...

I'm not super impatient, but yesterday I started to get that way. I know I still have a week left until Miss P's "guess date" but she keeps making me think she might be early. Yesterday Greg and I went to my last prescheduled doctor's appointment. Miss P was half asleep and had a low heart rate on the Doppler, so the OB sent us over to the hospital to be hooked up to some monitors.

They got me situated in a "pregnancy triage room" which is basically just a labor and delivery room equipped for emergencies. I'd been there before back in June when I hit my head on the chandelier in our living room.  I sat on the hospital bed in the room. Then they hooked me up to the fetal monitor and started measuring her heart rate and mine to see if I had any contractions. They also gave me grape and cranberry juice to drink. I was actually happy and positive while we were at the hospital, despite the fact that I very quickly discovered we would not be having a baby.

Within five minutes her heart rate was back up to 140 (babies are supposed to have a heart rate between 120 and 160 during this time of pregnancy). Within 10 minutes she was already awake, kicking, and moving around. Greg would talk to her and her heart rate would go up. The nurse and technician said she was perfectly happy in her "home." All I could think is that my little girl needed some sort of dress rehearsal to prepare herself for coming out.

While in the room, I was made aware of all the details of a labor and delivery room.  There was a green cart with all the pain solutions one might want right in front of the window, a board with patient information (with a section for the baby's information too), no nasal tissues (which I thought odd), comment cards to praise the hospital staff (very clearly placed in the middle of the wall in front of the hospital bed), one chair for a guest, a food tray and small bathroom. I kept thinking to myself that if they took all the medical equipment out the room slightly resembled a dorm-room setup.

We had a nurse, technician, resident and doctor assigned to us. We spoke with each one. They were all nice. After they had taken my blood pressure and observed me and the baby for awhile they said she was fine, I was fine and we could go home. They said they needed to contact my doctor before they let me leave. This took the longest amount of time compared to the rest of the visit.

After about an hour in the triage they "discharged" us. This basically meant they said to go home and hope that we have our baby in the next week and a half or so. I've had a pretty uneventful pregnancy so far (knock on wood, or fiberboard since my Ikea desk is all I have).

So after this adventure Greg and I went to TGIFridays and had dinner, and maybe out last date as a childless couple. I'm going to miss our times out together, but we both expressed that we cannot wait to be parents. That trip took a lot out of me, but I am hoping that is all Miss P needed to feel confident enough to leave the womb.

Thoroughly Modern Cloth Diapering

In these last few weeks I have been reading up on what Miss P's life will be like once out of the womb. I've read several books and blogs on baby life, breastfeeding, child development and behavior. In many ways I feel bad that I am just now getting to this research.

This week I also met with Miss P's future pediatrician, and Greg and I got our first ever Flu Shots.

Now let's move from bump talk to bum talk...Miss P's bum that is.

A few months ago I came across the concept of Modern Cloth Diapering. At first, as a journalist, I was extremely skeptical of cloth diapers. All I had ever heard from adults was that it was difficult, messy and not worth the hassle. I'd watched people post information on Facebook about modern cloth diapers but never really understood it. I registered for a few in hopes that I might receive them and begin to understand what they were. I "liked" the Cotton Babies site, the Fuzzibunz and BumGenius sites and started asking a lot of questions.

Here in CoMo though, modern cloth diapers have really caught on. Several women I've met use them. They talk about cloth diapers as if it were an insider's club (a sort of sorority). They visit a store in St. Louis called Cotton Babies (and when they talk about going it sounds like hanging out in heaven). Let's just say that got me interested.

Then I discovered www.KellyWels.com. Kelly Wels has been called the "mother of modern cloth diapering." She recently released a book called Changing Diapers which breaks down the daunting task of Modern Cloth Diapering. I bought the book on Amazon.com and it clarified a lot of things for me. Kelly talks about the differences between the different diaper styles and companies like Fuzzibunz, BumGenius, G Diapers, as well as types like all in one diapers, covers, and prefolds. This opened a whole new understanding to me of the cloth diaper world.

I posted a question on Facebook asking those with cloth diaper experience to give me some feedback and the response was overwhelming. There were still those "nay-Sayers" who came from the angle of "cloth diapers are nasty and difficult" but there were about five women (mostly younger but seasoned mommies) with very positive things to say about the cloth diapering process. These women are amazing people--they want to help the environment, save money and love their babies bottoms. Most have husbands who are on-board with the modern cloth diaper movement as well. They know the cloth diaper lingo, but most of all they were willing to share how cloth diapering had changed the way they approach diapering.

After about two and a half weeks of research and these conversations I'm sold. I'm going to try modern cloth diapering. So the next question is where do you start...

First I've begun to purchase a few of my own all in one (AIO) cloth diapers which seem like they will be the most easy to use. Mostly these are FuzziBunz, but I do have one BumGenius and a few called Babyland that are from Japan. I do have a few prefolds with covers,  and a GroVia diaper with a liner.
An AIO has two parts, the fleece/waterproof liner and an insert. The inserts are either micro-plush or hemp. You can increase the number of liners depending on the amount of absorbancy your baby will need.

AIO diapers range in price online from around $10 to $27 a piece. This could sound expensive, but since they are reusable you end up spending around 36 cents per diaper change rather than the $1.60 you would spend with a regular diaper. Kelly's book talks about the economics of it all and says the average family can save $2,000 a year per child if they switch to cloth diapers, not to mention the waste reduction to landfills. Reusing cloth diapers produces a third the waste of disposable diapers and most of that waste can be easily cleaned where as a disposable diaper can take 20 or so years to decompose in a landfill. I've seen the landfills up and down the Florida Turnpike, and honestly I can say I do not want Miss P growing up in a world with more landfills.

There are great promos online through diapering stores like Green Baby Elephant,  Cotton Babies, and Kelly's Closet. These allow parents to get additional diapers for less. There are also cloth diaper exchange sites where people sell their used diapers/or the ones that did not work for their baby at a reduced price.

You do have to use a special detergent to keep the diapers from gathering build-up and protect the baby's sensitive little bum. My Facebook mommy friends had different suggestions for detergent options. One said you should use RockinGreen (a basic organic detergent) which runs $14.95 a bag and is good for about 40 to 50 wash-loads, another suggested making your own combination equal parts for Borax, washing (not baking) soda, & Oxiclean.

We've just begun this journey, so I'll tell you how it goes.  Our plan right now is to use disposables for the first couple of weeks (we have a good stash so far) and then after a month (or less) move onto mainly using the modern cloth diapers.

Discomfort Sets In

I've made it to Week 38. I'm sitting here patting myself on the back because I have made it so far but we still possibly have a month left until her birthday.

38 weeks! She could arrive at any time now.

That said here is my public pat on the back.

I have been really good so far. I have complained very little throughout my pregnancy. I have not felt sick for the most part. I've had some indigestion and heartburn, and a little difficulty breathing in my third trimester--but for the most part things have been good. I moved across the country, got the house ready, and sadly I've gained 40 lbs.

That said this week has been hard and I think I can say I am tired, and ready to not be pregnant anymore. I don't like the amount of effort it takes me to get out of bed to walk to the bathroom. I'd like to be lighter again. Honestly, I'm promising myself, I will never get this heavy unless I am pregnant again. I am tired and hungry most of the time. I feel large (ok huge). My clothes are limited. I have two pairs of pants that fit, four pairs of underwear, no bras and only a few shirts that cover my belly all the way. I miss my cute pre-pregnancy clothes.

The end is near enough...and she could arrive at any moment. I'm anxious, excited and a little uneasy about being a parent. Everyone keeps telling me I'll do great. Honestly, I do feel prepared. I've done my research, but at the same time I know I will be constantly learning and thinking on my feet as a parent.

That said, thanks to all who have supported me throughout my pregnancy--especially Greg who has put up with so much and even at 3 a.m. (when I felt so big and uncomfortable) was able to make me feel better. My little girl is so lucky to have a daddy like him, but not as lucky as I am to have him for a husband.