five-ish months

Leah,

Oops! I knew you turned 5 months last Friday. But I kind of forgot that I was supposed to do this. I mean, it's the holidays and we're busy. Forgive me.

Ah, five months. Such a sweet, sweet age. You're smiling and laughing and "talking" at everything. Adorable. Just today, you were sitting in the exersaucer and I told Jack to entertain you while I ran some laundry downstairs (sometimes it feels like laundry is all I do all day, Leah). When I came back up, you were CRACKING UP at whatever he was doing! And he was just drumming on some of the toys on your exersaucer. But you thought he was freaking hilarious! Your laugh is such an amazing sound. And you're quite stingy with the giggles. Please keep them coming.

You have officially graduated to your new car seat! You probably would have technically fit in the infant carrier until you turned one, but there was no WAY I was going to carry you around for another seven months. Not when you're already pushing 18 pounds and breaking my back. I love you, but honey, you're kind of heavy. Now, I still have to carry you, but it's much easier with just you in my arms! So, this new car seat is kind of a big deal. I pretty much fell in love with it before you were even born. I'm kind of a nerd, but it's great. It will keep you rear-facing up to 40 pounds! Amazing! And 5-point-harnessed to 65 pounds! Amazing again! But you don't care. You care that it's brown and pink and super cute.

Unfortunately, you have your first little cold right now. Just a crusty little nose. Lovely. You're also sneezing and Jack is coughing, so I'm really hoping it doesn't get worse for you. You've already let me know how much you despise my wiping your nose. And all of this congestion junk is making your already terrible nighttime sleep even worse. So I'm a little tired. A lot tired. Leah, I'm losing-my-mind tired.

Christmas is next week! Your first Christmas. Pretty exciting! Except that it will just feel like any other normal day to you. We, your brilliant parents, have taken advantage of that fact and purchased really practical gifts for you. A new car seat. A few new cloth diapers. Some clothes. I am really looking forward to a few years down the road when you are as obsessed with some girly disney princess or something as your brother is with Spiderman. Shopping will be more fun. :)

Well, I've been working on this on and off for a few days now. And it's 10:30 and you just woke up. So I think I'm going to be done now and go cuddle you. It's just about my favorite thing to do.

Love you,
Mom

Whoa! Scary.

I bought something called Earth Balance at Cub last night. It's a vegan "buttery spread." :) Anyway, I took a stick out of the package today and couldn't help but noticed the little stamped date on the end of the box.

SEP2210.

At first glance, doesn't it look like this stuff is going to be good for another 200 years? :) But clearly, it must mean September 22, 2010. Then I realized that it's already weird that it's good for another 10 months. But I'm not going to think about that for too long. Instead I'm going to enjoy the fact that I can make a semi-normal dairy-free cookie!

My sweet boy

I was walking down the hall after putting Leah to bed and noticed something odd in Jack's room.

Yeah, he's in a laundry basket. I grabbed the camera and took this. He caught me, though, so I made him pose for this one:

Reading in a laundry basket. Crazy kid. He told me it was comfortable because he added a pillow. Well, I hope so, because 15 minutes later, he was out cold.

Don't you just want to eat him up?

Bad news.

I reintroduced dairy on Thanksgiving. It was glorious. Especially when I realized the only thing I could have eaten was the turkey. :) So I continued to eat normally--not totally indulging on dairy, but not avoiding it either. I've been meticulously checking Leah's diapers and they've been fine.

Until this morning. If I was inspecting so closely, I probably wouldn't have even seen it. But it was there. Two little streaks of blood. Just like they looked a month ago when they first appeared.

Shoot! It's totally worth it, but I'm bummed. :(

Thankful for Thanksgiving

A month ago when I embarked on this dairy-free journey, I immediately thought about the upcoming holidays and what I'd have to eat. Well, more accurately, what I'd have to MISS. Like, everything. Sure, there are dairy-free substitutes for LOTS of things, but it's just not the same. I have absolutely no holiday traditions involving soy milk and dairy-free "buttery spread."

Well, at Leah's 4-month-appointment last week (which was also technically her follow-up appointment for this dairy-free business), the doctor was very pleased that the blood in her diaper left so quickly and hasn't been back. He said that, combined with the fact that she didn't have any other symptoms (more fussy, hard tummy, etc) meant that this probably wasn't a dairy issue. So he said I could go ahead and reintroduce dairy if I wanted and just take it from there. If the blood stays away, we're fine. If not, then the problem is most definitely a dairy issue.

So I could have reintroduced dairy last week when we got the green light. But I didn't. I am waiting until this Thursday to reintroduce. That way I can eat totally normal Thanksgiving food. No fake milk, butter, or anything. I'm excited.

Of course I'm thankful for more than just Thanksgiving food. Like my wonderful husband and beautiful, healthy kids. And a warm, safe home. And so much more.

Happy Thanksgiving, blogworld!

four months

Leah,

WHAT? You're FOUR months? Who on EARTH let you turn FOUR MONTHS? Seriously, this is all just going so fast. But I'm loving every moment of it (well, most every moment), so don't stop. I'm sure you're just going to get cuter and more irresistible.

I was just telling someone the other day that I looked back at some pictures from our trip to the cabin this past August, and you don't even look like the same baby! You were so tiny (well, it's all relative) and looked so much more like a BABY. Now you look like a little GIRL! And you just keep growing. You seem to outgrow clothes in a matter of weeks. Which is probably good because they're all terribly spit-up stained by then anyway. :) Yes, you are definitely following in your brother's footsteps with your spitting up. I'm just hoping you outgrow it around six months like he did!

I had the depressing realization yesterday that I haven't had a decent night's sleep in four months. Let's do something about that, shall we? Like, I don't know, stay asleep longer than three hours at a time? Please? Pretty please? More sleep might just make me an even BETTER mom! Oh, whatever. You'll get there. And I'm sure pretty soon I'll miss your cuddly little body next to mine in the middle of the night when you decide you want to stay in your crib all by yourself.

This month marked your first Halloween! You weren't impressed. You were a very cute little pumpkin! But you hardly stayed awake to witness much trick-or-treating. I think next year will be much more exciting!

Now we're getting excited for your first Thanksgiving. Not that it will be much different than any other day for you, other than some extra guests. And you'll get to watch us eat all kinds of yummy food. Sorry, we can't share it with you just yet. You're staying on the same diet for a couple more months. Speaking of which, we're conducting a little experiment. You seemed to have a little intestinal distress, so I'm cutting all dairy out of my diet. The distress seems to have disappeared, which makes me a little sad because the dairy-free diet kind of stinks. The doctor would like me to try reintroducing dairy in a few weeks, just to makes sure that, and not just a small tear, was the cause of some blood in your diaper. So, in the next few weeks, could you PLEASE decide that you DO like dairy and that your intestinal system CAN handle milk products? Because, seriously, it's in everything. Hot dog buns. Hot dog buns, Leah!

I think you're becoming more aware of your brother. I'm not sure what took you so long--he's been cupping your cheeks and kissing your face since the day you were born. And every time you wake up from a nap, he wants to come give you a hug and a kiss! But now you're really responding to him--smiles and laughs--and it totally makes his day! "Mommy, Leah smiled at me!" I mean, we ALL get excited when you smile and laugh. It's priceless. :)

Until next month, sweet baby! Love you lots and lots.

Mom

Got milk?

Nope. It appears that Leah has a milk protein intolerance, so I've cut dairy out of my diet indefinitely. Or really, for as long as I want to keep nursing. And since the alternative is feeding her a SUPER expensive formula, I'm going to deal with the dairy-free diet.
Automatically, I thought, "Wow, I'm going to miss milk. And cheese. And yogurt." But then I realized just HOW MANY things have milk products in them. The great thing is that since milk is such a common allergen, it will be listed in bold underneath the ingredient list with any others (nuts, wheat, etc). So it's usually pretty easy to spot something I need to avoid. And I'm starting to get used to what I can have. For instance, some brands of spaghetti sauce have dairy and some don't. Some taco seasoning has it, some doesn't. Duncan Hines (cakes and brownie mixes) is about the only brand without dairy. Oreos don't have dairy. :)
Now, I love chocolate, but I never realized how much I count on a piece of chocolate (like a Dove promise or a few chocolate chips) after dinner. Well, most chocolate has milk. Even dark chocolate has "milk fat." (Sounds lovely, right?) But today at Target, I found this:
And it's awesome. No milk or milk fat or anything else dairy. Love it.

You know you live with a 3 1/2-year-old boy when....

This is a shelf down by the cat's food and water bowls. I found this set-up when I went to feed Lucy yesterday morning.And yes, that's some weird all-black Spiderman. Likely a Happy Meal toy at some point.

I do love this kid's imagination. He's definitely ALL boy. And I adore that about him. Although sometimes I wonder--amid the sword-wielding pirates and web-shooting spiderman--if he'll still be the sweet, compassionate boy who will be gentle with his sister and still hug his mom when he's thirteen.

But then he'll go and do something like this

and I decide that he's actually a pretty well-balanced kid. ;)

Pet peeve

I hate when companies use incorrect grammar. You know, like the express line at Cub that allows "10 items or less" instead of "10 items or fewer." Well, I've got a new one, and I just can't believe it every time I see the commercial. Outback Steakhouse's new slogan is "Live Adventurous." Seriously. I kind of cringe. Mostly because, to me, it makes the company sound uneducated. Not that I pick my steakhouses based on their education level, but it's annoying. But also, having taught middle school reading and tried my darnedest to instill correct grammar into their little heads, it bugs me to see stuff like this. Because they're going to take anything "advertised" as correct. Bummer.

p.s. If you're driving yourself crazy trying to figure out what's wrong with the slogan, click here.

Why didn't anyone tell me?

My little "blurb" under my picture to the left still said something about baby #2 making its debut sometime this summer. Yup, that has passed. Baby #2 is now a beautiful 3 1/2 month old darling girl. :) Glad I fixed it! And a new picture for good measure.

One year ago....

I woke up, peed on a stick, and saw two pink lines.

:)

Mmmmm.....snow in October.

Actually, I think it's quite depressing, but Jack loves it. He is pretty sure it means it's also Christmas, so that's a bummer. :)
We took a little trip to Once Upon a Child yesterday to get boots and snowpants. Jack has outgrown his gear from last year. Then we came home, put Leah to bed, and played outside. He was in his GLORY and didn't want to come in. In fact, when Leah woke up, I said he had to come in with me. He settled for continuing to play on the deck and raked the snow and leaves off. Crazy kid.

three months

Leah!

Look at me! I'm actually writing your letter ON your three-month birthday. Not a few days later. I can tell you're not impressed. Well, I am.

You're three months! Or, as I said to Mimi today, you're halfway to solid food! That sounds even weirder. You can't be one fourth of the way to your first birthday! It's going too fast! Slow down! Actually, you just get more delightful every day, so keep going. Your newest delightful feature is talking. Not that you're carrying on actual conversations with us or anything, but the sounds you make combined with your facial expressions are just to die for. You're so responsive, and I can tell you are actually trying to tell us something. It's just so sweet. I got to experience your first laugh a few weeks ago (you've been stingy with them since then, however), and it was the most amazing sound ever! It made my day. Of course, I couldn't replicate whatever I did that made you chuckle, and even if I could have, you probably wouldn't have found it funny again. You're fickle like that. :)

Sleep. You still don't like it, but I think we're getting somewhere. And we have MIMI to thank for it. All it took was Daddy and me going to a Twins game and dropping you and Jack off at Mimi and Poppa's house for the evening. Mimi miraculously got you to fall asleep on your own, on your belly, and you stayed that way for over three hours. You probably would have stayed there even longer if we hadn't gotten you up to take you home. But it's definitely started a good trend--you go down awake for naps and at bed and only fuss for a little bit. Your naps are starting to get a little longer too, which is nice. I just hope they start to affect your nighttime sleep because I'm tired. Although, I do secretly love bringing you back into bed with me when you wake up very early in the morning. It's cozy, especially now that it's a little chilly in the house. And you wake me up with that intoxicating chatting I mentioned. Oh, I could just eat you up!

I'm feeling kind of guilty for not getting out and enjoying a lot of warm summer days (all eight of them) because now it's FREEZING. I am still holding out hope for a nice, warm Indian summer. I won't hold my breath, but it would be awfully nice. Then we could enjoy our brand new stroller! Or maybe we'll just have to break it in next spring. :(

You certainly don't enjoy being in the car. I'm considering getting your next car seat soon, even though you won't need it for a few more months. Maybe you'd just like being a little more upright and seeing the world outside! But seriously, do you have to scream so loud when we're driving to Target? I mean, it's not like I'm going to leave you in the car. And it's not like you're just being crabby and the car ride is ill-timed, because as soon as I have you out, you're all, "Oh my GOSH, thank you for saving me from that God-forsaken vehicle!" and you stop whining and even offer a smile. Whatever, kid. It could be a lot worse than an '05 Honda Odyssey, let me tell you.

Well, my dear, it's another month in the record books. Er, the baby books. We have so much to look forward to in the next few, so I know you'll keep us on our toes! But thanks for everything you've already brought to our family. You're a beautiful girl.

Love,
Mama

My favorite boy

Around 3:00 this afternoon, I ventured into Jack's room to let him know he could come out. Well, he had fallen asleep, so I let him keep sleeping. But before I turned around to leave, I noticed something on his face. Oh, dear. He'd been coloring a Spiderman picture before getting in bed and it appeared he decided to take the red marker to his own face.



I had to leave the room because I couldn't stop laughing. Then, of course, I grabbed the camera to document it. When he finally did wake up almost an hour later, I said, "So, what did you do to your face?"
"I colored. I want to be like Spiderman in my picture."
Of course you do, buddy. Of course you do. :)

two months

Sweet Leah,

Okay, I'm unfortunately continuing the bad habit I started last month. You actually turned two months last Friday, but now it's the following Thursday and I'm just getting to this. What can I say? Life with two kids is busy. Wonderful, but busy.

We had your two-month well child doctor visit on Tuesday. You passed all the tests with flying colors! And you hated the shots. It was so hard to watch! Much harder than I remember it being with Jack. Not that I love him less--I actually think he didn't cry as much. But I also don't remember THREE separate vaccines with him. Poor baby. (Although Jack wasn't in the clear this time--he got a flu shot and screamed just as loud as you did). You weighed in at 14 lb 11 oz (atta girl) and a lanky 25 inches long. Seriously, I just make babies that refuse to be on the charts. But I like them that way!

My favorite thing about you right now is your smile. In fact, just this morning, you woke up and started making some noises but not fussing. So I dozed for a couple more minutes and got up. When I peeked over the side of your bassinet, I was greeted with the widest grin from you! You actually smile with your whole face! Your mouth starts to grin and then opens wide, and your eyes are so bright. Then your whole body starts to squirm with happiness. I love it! It makes waking up after a difficult night a little easier. Although, last night wasn't so bad. We were in bed by 10:00, and you woke up at 2:00 and 5:00. Yup, that's a good night. Bad is when you go down at 9:00 and wake up at 10:45, 12:20, 2:00, 4:15, 6:05, and 7:30. Yes, we've had nights like that as recently as last week. Let's not do it too much more, though, okay? It's hard to even think about functioning the next day.

You're also starting to have lengthier awake times during the day. You actually seem amused by your bouncy seat and swing, as opposed to just enduring them while I shower or make lunch. You continue to prefer the Moby for sleeping during the day, which I don't mind right now. Sure, you'll need to learn to sleep in your own bed eventually. Like when I don't feel like wearing your 30-pound body on mine. But until then, I think it's cozy.

You experienced your first Minnesota State Fair a few weeks ago. You weren't impressed. Actually, you slept through nearly all of it. In the Moby. My favorite part about bringing you was taking advantage of FM 107's "Lactation Station." It was a huge tent full of rocking chairs and fans with a couple of changing tables. So nice! And much better than trying to nurse you in the bathroom or in front of half of our state's population. It will be fun when you're older--Jack really enjoyed the animals, merry-go-round, and a great big corndog. :)

I love you, sweet baby. You're growing entirely too quickly, but I'm enjoying you so much. Just keep those smiles coming and I'll be fine. :)

Love,
Mom

And so it begins....

It's what I like to call "the great post-pregnancy hair loss experience."

For some reason, when you're pregnant, all of those extra hormones in your body do something to "hold on" to the hair on your head. I've always been one to lose a good handful of hair when I shower (just ask my dad, who used to take apart the shower drain at least once a month to clean it out), so this phenomenon is actually a welcome pregnancy side effect for me.

Well, when you're done being pregnant, it still takes a while for all of those hormones to leave your body. But once they do, watch out! Your body makes up for the fact that it hasn't let go of hair for a good 10 months and you think that you might go bald if you keep brushing. Apparently I am shedding hormones like crazy now, because I'm also shedding hair. Combing through my hair after my shower this morning, I almost got myself tangled in the mess. I thought, "My gosh, what is with all of this hair?" Then I realized that around the two-month mark is about when the hair loss started with Jack, too. I actually had a hair cut around Jack's two-month birthday and my hairdresser commented on how much I was losing. Yikes!

Luckily, I have plenty of hair to stand losing a bit every time I shower. And now that I know I'm not going crazy, I'll just have to be careful not to plug up the shower drain. As it turns out, my dad the drain-cleaner doesn't live here!

one month

Dear Leah,

I'm not off to a great start. You turned one month last Tuesday, the 11th. And here it is the following Sunday, the 16th, and I'm finally writing this. It's not a great first impression on my part. I'm sorry. Please don't hold it against me--I promise to be on time with your two-month letter. Really.

So, one month ago (or thereabouts), I was holding a brand new baby girl in my arms after a long wait. You were 9 days late (not super fun, but you're worth it) and wouldn't come out until I labored for nearly 28 hours (again, quicker would have been great, but you're worth it). You were the most beautiful baby girl I'd ever seen (I can't say that you were the most beautiful baby because your brother might read this some day....). Actually, you looked quite a bit like Jack, except that you came out with a head of hair. Surprise! Where did that come from? Beautiful.

It was really nice to get home and start figuring out our new life with two kids. Of course, as soon as we were home, I was kind of wishing for the hospital again. You would too--the nurses down the hall are a godsend. ("Sure, take her to the nursery tonight so I can finally sleep"). But we did get used to life at home after a while. Oh, who am I kidding--we're still working on it. Jack in particular. "What? I can't just be noisy whenever I want and smother my sister with kisses when she's sound asleep?" Poor kid. He didn't see this coming. The idea of a baby sister was a bit of a novelty. But really, he's great. You will be fantastic friends someday.

Fair warning, blog readers: I'm going to say breast.
So, I thought we were set with this breastfeeding thing. I mean, it's enough that I'd already successfully nursed a baby, but you were a champ of a nurser in the hospital. You latched on right away and I was so grateful that it was going well. Then we came home. And my milk came in. And holy mother of God, I was pretty sure I was going to die. I won't go into detail ("Too late, Mom") about the pain, but it really was like nothing I've ever felt. You could not latch on without me crying or screaming (I may or may not have sworn once or twice--I apologize). Luckily, I'd had such a great experience with your brother, so I knew it could be better. So Daddy and I went to see the wonderful women at the Breastfeeding Center at Methodist. And God sent an angel/lactation consultant named Diane. She immediately fixed your latch and I nursed without pain. It was amazing! I was ecstatic! Your father wanted to saint Diane! And then we got home. And seriously, it was like you knew that Diane wasn't sitting there anymore. We did everything she told us to do and had very different results. Painful results. So we endured through the weekend and went BACK to the Breastfeeding Center on Monday. Diane was there again. "We're back," I said, almost in tears. "Oh, this is why we're here!" See? Angel. She helped me again. This time it wasn't SO terrible once we got home. But I knew I was just going to have to give it some time. And I have. And darling, I think we've got this down now.

I cannot write this letter without mentioning my favorite baby product of the last month, the Moby Wrap. Mostly because you're in it right now, allowing me to write this. I honestly don't know what I'd do without this thing! I certainly wouldn't get anything done during the day, and getting you to sleep would be quite the chore. And you LOVE it. You just get right in and settle down. Most of the time--sometimes it takes a little walking around and coaxing ("REALLY! YOU LOVE THIS THING! SETTLE DOWN!) to get you to stop crying.

The Moby was particularly handy this past week when we traveled to Pine City and spent a week at a cabin with Mimi, Poppa, Sean, and Andrea. Which leads me to why this letter is late. I guess I could have brought our computer and spent some time in the one hot-spot cafe in the county, but I preferred sitting by the lake reading (with you in the Moby, of course). The week was really fun. You mostly just slept, but everyone else had fun lying in the sun, fishing off the dock, and kayaking. Maybe next year you'll have more fun!

Oh, and you're smiling! So fun! I have yet to catch it on film. Mostly because I don't want to stop talking to you and making you smile long enough to find the camera. But it's so fun--it makes you so much more interactive. Especially fun in the middle of the night when I'd really rather not be waking up to change your poopy diaper!

Well, my dear, happy one-month birthday (or close enough). I really can't believe it's already been this long, but I'm so excited for the coming months and watching you grow. You are a very special little girl! God knew we needed you (not that Jack isn't special and precious--you're just a nice balance). :)

Love you so much,
Mom

Is it weird?

I can't bring myself to remove "Julie" from my list of blogs.

But is it weird that every time I click on all of those links looking for updated posts, I also click on Julie's? What am I expecting to see? That she's updated her blog from heaven? Maybe I just need to see her face sometimes.

birth story

I happen to have a few spare minutes (that's a big deal with an infant and a 3-year-old, by the way), so I figured I could share the story of how Leah entered the world. You know, in more than one word. Usually when people ask me about the experience, I just say "long." And it was. But we'll get there.

My due date was July 2. When my weekly doctors' appointments started in June, my nurse practitioner checked my cervix, found that I was already dilating and effacing, and said, "Oh, I don't think you'll make it to July." Awesome! I'd love to have this baby early. Like before this Minnesota summer gets really hot. Well, I made it to July. I made it to my due date. I even made it to the 4th of July, which was really the only day I didn't want to give birth. I mean, who wants to share their birthday with the country? I had a weekly appointment on July 6, at which time my doctor performed a non-stress test and scheduled an induction for the following Monday, July 13. REALLY not a route I wanted to have to take (mostly because I was planning on a natural birth, and my confidence in that dwindles at the very mention of pitocin). Anyway, since I had to work until I went into labor, I just kept trucking in, my very presence answering the ever-present "you're still pregnant?" questions. But I hung in there. All the way until July 8.

July 8 would have been a great day to have Leah. Not only would her birthday have been 07-08-09, she also would have shared her birthday with her Poppa (my dad). But that didn't happen. Not even the tiniest hint of a contraction. However, I woke up on Thursday, July 9 at about 5:00am with more than just hints of contractions. I was pretty sure these were the real thing. And I was excited! I went to the bathroom and came back to bed and told Dan that he probably shouldn't go to work because I was pretty sure I was in labor. He took Jack to daycare and came back and made me some toast. I had started timing contractions and was just watching TV in bed. Well, by mid-morning, I was only having a couple contractions an hour. We decided to go for a walk. Rather than get things going again or speed things up, the walk seemed to stop things all together. Great! So I think I took a nap. A few hours later, I started to get contractions more regular again. Okay, here we go! Nope, they stopped again after a while. Dan picked Jack up in the afternoon and we all took a little trip to the Maple Grove Farmers' Market after supper. We went on with our evening and I went to bed convinced that I would, indeed, need that induction on Monday.

Then I woke up at about 2:30 am on Friday, July 10. This time I was confident that these were the real thing. :) I started timing contractions again, sent Dan downstairs so he could actually sleep, and watched the hilarious middle-of-the-night television selection. Luckily, these contractions actually stayed pretty consistent and some were pretty intense. Yay! Maybe this is it! Dan took Jack to daycare again, with plans for my parents to pick him up (you know, in hopes that we'd be at the hospital or something). Well, although the contractions stuck around all day, they never really got bad enough to go to the hospital. They would be between 3 and 6 minutes apart, varying in intensity. I was sure I'd be doing this for a while, and I was a little discouraged. Finally, around dinnertime, things seemed to pick up. I was needing to really concentrate during contractions and they were finally getting closer together. At about 7:00pm, I had been having contractions 2-4 minutes apart, lasting 45-80 seconds, for about two hours. So, we decided to head to the hospital.

I was a little nervous about getting to the hospital too early. With Jack, I was only at 2 cm when I arrived and STILL at 2 cm about 6 hours later. Depressing! This time, we arrived at the hospital at about 7:30 pm, got up to OB triage, and got settled so the nurse could check me. I was at 4 cm. Okay, better than 2, but I was hoping for at least 5. Due to the shortage of nurses and rooms not being ready, we had to walk around for a while. After about an hour, I really just wanted to sit, so we went back to our triage room. It wasn't much longer before we had our own room, which was lovely. We met our awesome nurse (Erin), one of the on-call OBs, and a great attending. The nurse and the attending were around quite a bit, and they were great at distracting me between contractions. During contractions, I found it most comfortable to rock in the rocking chair. Dan was fantastic support, and we had an awesome playlist going on our laptop.

At about 11:30 pm, my nurse decided to check me again. I was at 5-6 cm. This was my first clue that I was in for another long labor (oh, did I mention that Jack's was just over 30 hours?). Dan called my mom, who wanted an update before midnight and then not again until the baby came. We continued to labor and things got more and more intense. I was sure I must be dilating really quickly, and hoped I was nearing transition. My nurse checked me again at about 4:00 am and I was at 8 cm. Progress! Slowly but surely. I decided to have them break my water, hoping to speed things up a little. (Unfortunately, they found that I had meconium--baby poop--in my fluid. It would require a couple extra people at delivery to make sure Leah didn't aspirate any of the fluid). All breaking the water did was make the contractions nearly unbearable. It's amazing what a little cushion of amniotic fluid can do! The intensity had me convinced that I must be close to complete, so I asked my nurse to check me again around 5:00 am. Unfortunately, I was at ALMOST 10 cm. There was just a lip of cervix left. Piece of cake, I thought. I'll get rid of that lip in no time. False. at 5:30 or so, the lip was still there. I was clearly frustrated, and in pain, so my nurse offered to push it back during a contraction while I started pushing. It sounded brutal, but if it meant getting to 10 cm and ACTUALLY pushing this baby out of me, I was for it. Yeah, brutal doesn't even come close. I'm pretty sure I thought I was going to die. But it worked! And my little girl started descending almost immediately.

"I have Erin Bennett ready for delivery in 352." A more perfect sentence had never been spoken by my beautiful labor nurse. :) In came the on-call OB, the attending, at least three pediatric nurses, and two more OB nurses. It was quite the party. I started pushing and she started coming pretty quickly (I joke that my gift after long labors is quick deliveries). Once she crowned, I slowed down the pushing a little bit. Then all of a sudden, her head was out, and with one more push, all of her was out! Seriously, the most amazing feeling in the WORLD! Official birth time was 5:53 am. Due to the fluid issue, Leah was clamped, cut, and whisked away before I even had a chance to look down and see her. They brought her to the warming bed and started working on her lungs. Basically, they wanted to get as much as they could OUT of her lungs and mouth and everything before she started crying and breathing. So while they finished with me--placenta, a few stitches, etc--Dan went between me and Leah, giving me updates and taking pictures. Finally, they were done with both of us and I got to hold my sweet girl! My sweet LITTLE girl, at 9lb 13oz. :) She beat her brother by 5 ounces! I guess that's what an extra week in the womb will do!

And what timing she has--she just woke up. :)

Leah, in pictures

Posting a few pictures is about all I have time for. :) So without further ado, a few shots of Leah's first (almost) two weeks of life!