I haven't been posting too much about Lily, because I thought maybe folks wouldn't want to read all about how totally awesome my kid is. Also, I want to maintain balance and be perceived still as "Jana" and not just as a mom.

Not that being a mom hasn't become an important aspect of my identity. Still, I suppose you know what I mean. But that's dumb! I can't not write about her. Geez.

In any case, I'm not going to start some Lily filter, because, um, I'm not, so feel free to move along if you're not interested. I won't be offended. I won't even know!

I can't believe how quickly the time passes, especially since I'm not really doing too much besides reading, watching TV/DVDs, and waiting for Lily to wake up to eat. To date, she's pretty calm, but not too calm. She makes squeaky little noises and grunts a lot, pursing up her lips and raising her right eyebrow, a la Jack Nicholson. It's entertaining, and I have to admit that I'm jealous. Agent Scully used to pull that cocked eyebrow face, and I always thought, "How effective!"

We're still breastfeeding, and it's a challenge, just as everyone said it would be. Lily does fine, though, after we go through our customary several tries to get her latched right. I sometimes think how easy formula would be, and then I get all practical and think about the cost, in both financial and nutritional terms. I never seriously consider it, but I know why other people do. At two weeks, she weighed 8lbs 12oz, up from her 7lbs 1oz when she left the hospital. Painful or not, she's getting milk.

We've been to the park, the grocery store, Kevin's work, Lowes, and out to eat with friends Peter and Melissa. She's been good, only fussy sometimes in the car seat -- I can only assume because she isn't being held. She likes her little homemade baby wrap I cobbled together with $1/yard Walmart jersey knit fabric. Despite the pre-birth naysaying of more than one person, Kevin and I have successfully cloth diapered her in prefolds and wraps since she cleared her system of meconium. I'm not sure why so many had the attitude LIKE OH MY GAWSH HAHAHA YOU WILL CHANGE YOUR MIND when I told them of my plans to cloth diaper Lily (without using a service). To the curious: it's not as gross as you think!

Other than that, I'm just trying to take as many photos as I can, since I know she's changing by the day. I don't notice it, but I'm sure it's there, and I'll probably wake up in 6 months and forget what she looked like as a newborn. Is that why people have more kids?



These are from a day or two ago...

Hi everyone! I had a baby!

Lily Marilyn Hale
7 lbs 9 oz
19 inches
Born August 28, 2007

She's sleeping now, so I thought I would share her birth story with LJ.

So, as you may know, I was due on August 17th. Since I went with the traditional OB, they're not generally wild about letting women go over 42 weeks of pregnancy. I wasn't looking to sign up for an induction, but I wasn't necessarily totally opposed to it either -- at least not to the point that I would get into a battle about it with the doc. I was progressing from week-to-week with my dilation and effacement, so when they suggested I schedule the induction, I went ahead and did it.

Tuesday morning we called the hospital at 6am, as instructed, to find out if they would have space for me to come in. They told Kevin to call back at 8:30, then noon, and finally they called me in at 2:30pm. Kevin and I drove to Valley Medical Center, and arrived right in the middle of a nursing shift change. As we waited, I started having contractions. For the first time, they were pretty regular. So, I am glad to say that I actually started labor naturally at what was the last moment possible.

They put me on a low dose of pitocin to help move things along, and my body responded with gusto. After about 4 hours, I was dilated to nearly a 6, and at that point, I was ready for my epidural. I went into the delivery experience wanting to see how far I could get without pain relief, more out of curiosity than anything. Since I've never had major surgery, never broken a limb, nor had any significant medical issues, I had no idea what my pain tolerance is. I was not determined to have a natural delivery, though, and felt no guilt when I decided I was ready for the anesthesia. I had 3 contractions during the insertion of the epidural catheter, and thank God Kevin was there to help me through it. I'd been dealing with the contraction pain by squirming around a fair amount, so trying to remain completely still was a challenge, to say the least.

Once I had the epidural in, the contraction pain abated. After about 3 more hours, I was ready to push, and did so with the help of my mom and Kevin for about 30 minutes. My doctor arrived, and after observing a few pushes, things suddenly got frantic. More medical type folks came in to assist, and the pulled the bed apart to prepare for delivery, and they had me put my legs in the stirrups. I wasn't completely sure what was going on, but it seems that my placenta was tearing away from the uterus (or something...?) and there was some weird bleeding. The doctor wanted to get Lily out immediately, so they used the suction to get her out in one swoop. It all happened pretty fast. Kevin wasn't able to cut the cord because they wanted to get the placenta out immediately, and prevent whatever was going wrong to not get worse. I'm glad I didn't get a chance to freak out at any point.

All told, I got through the entire process in fewer than 8 hours, and it was not nearly as bad as I was told was possible. I'm pretty damned lucky; I had the easiest pregnancy I can imagine, and the delivery was quick. Did I mention that she's perfect?

No, really. See?