intro to mamahood: the lovely and not so lovely bits and pieces of being a new mama

Being a mama is great.  I love it.  There are so many things I could tell you about that are truly lovely.  There are also some minor aspects that, well, are challenging.  Today marks one month since little Lola, or “Lols”( as my sister would call herJ) was born.  Boy do I love this girl.  I’m not going to lie though, this morning when she woke up for the third time at 2:47am I wasn’t looking forward to feeding her or changing her diaper, or spit up all over my shoulder.  I don’t enjoy smelling like sour breast milk.  Not one bit.  I also am a huge fan of sleep, so the complete and utter exhaustion has also been a little rough.  When you are this exhausted you have a hard time putting sentences together, there’s a little stuttering involved at times.  You might forget words and sometimes wonder if what came out of your mouth made any sense at all, then you repeat it back in your mind, and still, you wonder.  Because of this lag people treat you one of two ways: they either sympathize and are extra nice and super helpful; or they treat you like you are a little “slow.”  They may even insult you, like the irritated little gem of a checker I was so lucky to meet at the grocery store last week.  As I held a screaming Lola in my arms (she was a little overdue for a sleep sesh and a little hungry), trying to pile my random items, because with a newborn in tow, minus a grocery list, you end up walking aimlessly down aisles, haphazardly throwing pop tarts and wine in your cart.  But I digress.  So as I was saying, this lovely little checker (actually, she was rather large) asked how old Lola was.  I replied, “oh, uh, she’s just about two weeks” as a flustered me was digging through the bottomless pit that is my purse to find my wallet.  She then retorted, “Oh yeah, thought so.  You’re still walking kind of funny.”  Hmph.  So these are the not so lovely little bits that a new mama endures.  At least my lovely little bits.

Now for the lovelies, because there are many more of these.  I could go on and on…and on and embellish every little last lovely bit but I am positive no one wants to hear that.  So let’s keep it to the point—here’s my list…so far:

1. Snuggling.  I could snuggle this little bug all day every day.  Never does it get old.
2. The little sounds she makes.  She sounds a lot like a little gremlin, we always laugh.  Now that I think about it, I hope this is normal.
3. Those cheeks.  They are so warm and soft and kissable and irresistible.
4. Dressing her in cute little getups like this:

                                                                     and

 
...and what about this? 

5. That sometimes I’m the only one that can stop her crying.
6. These little feetsies:

 

7. When she wraps her little fingers around my thumb.
8. When I hear Brian talking so sweetly to her on the monitor from the other room.  Be still my heart.
9. Going to get our Christmas tree today as a family with my sis and her family.  There is something about having a baby that adds a new layer of depth to your life.  My heart was filled with joy as we all tromped our strollers through that festive little tree farm with our littles...

                                                     where we found these little beauties:

                                                 which soon turned into something magical:

and I finally found a tree topper I love.

seventeen days of lola

I have tried to write this post about twenty seven times in the past seventeen days.  Every time I sit down to write I find I am called to feed, or change a diaper, or would rather be snuggling or realize I should probably take advantage of the seldom opportunity to catch a few z's.  I have finally decided to take a few minutes (despite the exhaustion and need of a shower and the laundry pile that I think stands taller than me now) to share a little bit of our life the past couple of weeks, because my friends, it has been so lovely.  I am finally a mama...and I love it.  I think I was meant for this.  I never in a million years imagined I could love this little peanut so incredibly much.  All she does is eat (at all hours of the night), sleep, poop, and make the most adorable little noises you could imagine.  Sometimes she cries, but like most mamas I will sugarcoat it and tell you it's hardly ever and when she does it's pretty darn cute.  She also makes faces like this a lot, and I love this too.

Some people have asked to hear the birth story so I will give you the short version because It was a pretty long 25 hours of labor.  After 41 weeks and 4 days of hosting this little one in my belly, it was time.  We headed for the hospital to be induced on 11/11/11 which we thought would be a pretty awesome birthday.  We arrived at 8am, they hooked me up to all kinds of monitors (see below), gave me a pill, and before we knew it the contractions began one minute apart.  Little ones that quickly turned to big ones that quickly tuned to lots of pain and tears.  At about 9:30am two nurses ran in the room and started an IV and oxygen.  We thought maybe this was normal, or rather hoped this was normal?  She then explained that little Lola's heart rate had decelerated and we needed to get it up stat.  Fear overcame me.  Why did it happen?  Maybe we shouldn't have been induced.  Did we make the wrong decision?  All of these thoughts were racing through my mind.  The nurse had me change positions and she quickly recovered.  Thank God.

The contractions continued, we had another incident with her heart rate dropping (and quickly recovering), a lot more contractions (ouch), an epidural (thank you, Jesus), attempted sleep (unsuccessful), and another heart rate deceleration (ahhh!).  After this drop the doc said we would have to have a c-section if it happened again.  Daylight was upon us and it had been twenty four long hours of labor.  I had progressed to (almost) 9cm from 3cm in an hour or so (woo!).  This meant it was almost time to push!  In about thirty minutes I let the doc know I was ready and the pushing began, for about thirty seconds when Lola's little heart rate dropped again.  I was heartbroken, scared, and kiiind of freaking out.  I knew a c-section was coming.  Immediately the nurse dramatically ripped a chord out of one of my machines which triggered about twelve (okay maybe more like five, but it seemed like twelve) nurses, a doctor, and an anaesthesiologist in to prep for surgery.  A nurse threw some scrubs at Brian, he had a panicked, confused look on his face with which the nurse responded: "You need to make yourself look like me, GO!"  And we were off.

The OR seemed so medical and white and sterile (which I guess is good) and just not what I imagined for the birth of our baby.  Brian stood by me the whole time and I squeezed his hand, really...really hard.  Within a matter of minutes I saw this little bundle and I completely forgot the past twenty five hours.  All of it.  All that mattered was this new little life, this little baby girl that was all ours.

Turns out Lola's cord was a lot shorter than it needed to be.  Whether we would have been induced or not a c-section would have been necessary.  Little Lola May was born on 11/12/11, 7lbs 7oz, 21 and one quarter inches and is pretty much perfection.  Brian has been the most amazing daddy already.  Nurses even commented a few times about how involved he was and how well we work as a team.  I have to brag a little, I mean look at him.:)

How cute are they? 

Welp, there you have it.  Seventeen days of this little pumpkin have been bliss.  I am one smitten mama and wifey.  More to come soon, until then, happy holidays to you and yours!

Lady in Waiting

                                                             41 weeks, come on baby!

Our little peanut was due one week ago today.  This was not my plan.  In the past I have never been much of a planner.  I am more of a fly by the seat of your pants kind of a girl, somewhat of a procrastinator if you will, and prefer spontaneity to a plan or boring routine.  But this mama business has thrown me for a loop.  All of a sudden I feel the need to plan every. little. detail.  We had the nursery ready months ago, I’ve read books upon books about pregnancy, sleep schedules, nursing and the like.  I also just knew I was going to be one of those mamas who went into labor at 38ish weeks.  I had talked to my girlfriends about what got them into labor and had all the right tricks up my sleeve.  God on the other hand, had a different plan in mind.  I should have known.

Instead, my 38ish week plan came and went, weeks 39 and 40 rolled right on by, and today I got a lovely little announcement from my pregnancy app that I am 41 weeks today.  Oh the frustration.  But I know God has been working on my heart through all of this, gently whispering “patience” and “peace.”  And I have not wanted to hear it.  I think a bit of me has actually started to resent him for it.  I knew this wasn’t good.  So today I sat down for some quiet time with Jesus and rested in his peace.  I gave all my worries and fears to him because he has called me to.  Just thinking about inductions and C-sections can get a girl a little worked up (I know, I know, I shouldn't be thinking about that yet).  But he wants me to rely on him and trust that he has a plan, and I know he does.  A prefect plan.

Cast all of your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

Whatever day this little girl decides to make her debut will be beautiful and perfect and just right.  Looks like she is deciding to take after her mama and be fashionably late and a little stubborn.  In the mean time I am going to soak up every moment of freedom and time with my husband I can.  We are going to enjoy the little things like picking up and going whenever we want, dinner out, not being (too) exhausted, late night talks in bed and being just the two of us before there are three.

my first little bloggy blog

My name is Stacy and I am starting a blog.  This is something I have wanted to do for quite some time.  Finally I have mustered up the courage to go for it and the discipline to figure out how to actually create the darned thing.  Why am I starting a blog you might ask?  Well, my friend, let me just tell you.  I have decided to write a blog because I think everyone has a story worth telling.  You just never know who you may touch, or who God may decide to reach through you.  He’s been doing some pretty amazing things in my life and I think it’s worth sharing.

 A little about me: I love my family, my husband, Jesus, my dogs, cooking, procrastinating (okay, I don’t love it but I do it, a lot), wine, winning, the feeling after a good run, the real housewives (yes, it's my guilty pleasure and I refuse to give them up), sweatpants, kids, any combination of chocolate, caramel and sea salt, sleeping in, iced lattes, and being pregnant.  (Yes, I am pregnant.  This little peanut is due November 1^st , she is our first, and I absolutely cannot wait!)

My nephew, Lute (see below), has already named her Cherry Cake.  I am almost certain he thinks this will be her real name and will be sad to disappoint him when we break the news. 

meet Brian:

Brian is my husband and the love of my life.  He is my lobster (lobsters mate for life you know?).  He is also my high school sweetheart.  Isn’t he dreamy?  A bit about him:  He is the hardest worker I know.  He loves me so selflessly.  Kiddos and animals love him.  He is going to be such an amazing daddy.  He is an avid Sounders fan.  He puts ketchup on everything, and it seriously grosses me out.  He has integrity.  He has the ability to make me laugh all day long, we’re talking belly laughs.  And I love it.  He is a people person, he is exuberant and animated and loud, and I am not.  He balances me out quite perfectly. He’s really funny, did I mention that?  He loves Jesus.   He started a construction business about three years ago that now supports our family completely.  I am so, so proud of him and am blessed, so blessed, that he is my husband.

meet Tank:

Oh, Tank.  Yes, we are those people who dress our dogs up in Halloween costumes.  I got Tank for Brian when we were 19.  He is our baby.  We are also those people who think our dogs are our children.  Don’t judge us.

finally, meet little Lucy:

My little Lucy.  She is my sunshine.  She is the most affectionate, loyal little fur ball I have ever met.  Her hobbies include snuggling, wagging, and giving kisses, lots of em… almost to a fault.

 Welp, that’s me and my little family who I love with my whole heart.  Thanks for reading and stay tuned for my adventures in becoming a mama, walking with Jesus, random happenings, and becoming more domesticated.