I cannot pretend that I am anywhere near 100% though physically I have healed from labor and have a healthy, determined little girl in my arms. I say this so you can be gentle as you read my next few posts - I have only been able to sleep in 2-4 hour shifts since my 44-hour labor. As a person with bipolar, I can’t express how much this has diminished my mental capacity - right now Dora the Explorer’s plot lines lose me. So be kind or I’ll have to go postpartum postal on your bupkes.
Despite my mental fog, it has been three weeks since our “blessed event” (what a semi-sarcastic euphemism that is!) and I really should at least attempt to tell my tale. Or return to writing. Or whatever.
Let me start by saying that child labor - as in the kind that brings children into the world, not putting a child to work in the coal mine with that little canary - is not at all like they show on television. A woman’s water typically doesn’t suddenly break and bring an onslaught of contractions worth screaming over. Oh, nay nay! Labor, for most women as it was for me, is a game of hurry up and wait. Contractions come - they range from uncomfortably ticklish to truly painful - and then they go for a few minutes. For hours on end, it’s an ebb and flow situation with little progress as far as dilation. Only 1 in 10 women will actually have her water break on its own, the rest of womankind must wait for the good OBGYN and his/her giant crochet needle. Oh my, but I get ahead of myself! (more…)
We are proud - no, thrilled - to announce the birth of our daughter Miriam Rose! (Regales of my 44 hours of labor - yes, FORTY FOUR - to come once we’re settled and I’ve had more than 3 hours sleep in any 24-hour period.)
Born Tuesday, 25 March 2008 at 3:35 pm
5 lbs 3 oz, 17.5 inches
Welcome to the world, precious girl!
I’m 36 weeks along and huge. And tired. And fighting boredom. Bedrest really loses all its charm and luster after the 2nd day.
I’m on day 14. (more…)
Last Thursday I didn’t post a Dear Miri letter because I was hospitalized due to gestational hypertension. After talk of a possible amniocentesis (evil talk to this needle-phobe!) and maybe inducing, we decided against those procedures in favor of waiting on her lung development to be up to par before we reconsider inducing. I was sent home last night after 6 days in the hospital and put on bedrest.
Miriam is doing just fine - active as ever with a strong little heart and a big baby head - while I am working on keeping my blood pressure down. This involves spending a majority of my time lying on my left side and doing lots of nothing. I think it’ll take a day or two just to recover from that stressful hospital stay (though a shout-out to my lovely nurses Gloria, Shyla, Mary, Jaime and Shelly!) before we know how I’m really doing. I doubt I’ll be writing for a bit, but I do promise at least a weekly update with our condition, hopefully in the form of more Dear Miri letters. Maybe I’ll write them out and have Husband type them… Oh Justin!…
Dear Miri,
It’s getting crowded in here, little girl.
You are putting on weight - more than the estimated 4 lbs is my guess and probably longer than the estimated 17″ too! I can tell because the bottom half of my stomach is stretching and stretching without let-up. That and your activity is getting less intense - you’re still rolling around in there, hiccuping and jiving, but the “I will crush you with my force” kick boxer moves? Yeah, those are thankfully diminishing. (more…)
