She's Here!

Eleanor Lorraine arrived very late on the night of February 24th. It was 11:59, a mere 19 minutes after arriving in labor and delivery. The short story (at least as short a story as I can tell) is that I came down with a touch of stomach flu around 10 pm. After vomitting, my body started contractions about 2 minutes apart. I decided I better call my midwife, even though I wondered if I was just sick. I was pretty miserable, as the contractions were coming so quickly, were really intense, and I had very little rest between. My midwife said I sounded pretty bad and better come in to the hospital; she would meet me there. I hung up with her and called my mom, who left right away to come here. Then, when I got off the phone with her, I called a neighbor/friend to see if they would come over to stay with Ethan until my mom arrived. I cannot even tell you how miserable I was feeling, and really scared, too, since I did not know why the contractions were so close together. They usually say to go to the hospital when your contractions are 5 minutes apart, but I was less than 2! We got in the car and headed to the hospital, which is not far away, but it took us a little longer since we were in the middle of a snow storm. Between a contraction, I called my mother-in-law to let her know we were coming to the hospital. The plan all along was to call her to come relieve my mom so that my mom could come to the hospital. Well, that wasn't going to happen with the snow. I told her not to worry about coming and even said I wasn't sure if I would be sent home (ha!).



On the way to the hospital, I really started feeling even worse because, besides the constant contractions, I was getting tingley everywhere, especially my hands, arms, and legs. Will pulled up to the ER entrance, and I got out and went in while he parked. They took me up to L & D in a wheel chair, with Will following close behind. All I kept asking for was some water or ice chips because my mouth was so dry. People kept saying they would get me some, but no one did. At the time, I was very annoyed but in too much pain to say much about it. (Later, my midwife told me they didn't want to give me anything because I had been throwing up, and they wanted to be sure I didn't have a fever, too. Also, they think the tingling was due to hyperventilation.) My midwife got up to L & D about a minute after us and we went to a room for her to examine me. I couldn't get control of my tingling/shaking, but I finally managed to get into a gown. When she checked me, at least 10 minutes after arriving, I was dilated to 5. Sitting in the bed, I was miserable because it really is the worst position to be in during contractions. Will was doing his best to be supportive, but, honestly, every time he touched me, I wanted to swat him a way. To my credit, though, I didn't, and let him feel like he was helping.



I asked repeatedly about an epidural because I knew that if I was going to have these extra strong contractions with little rest, I would need one. They said I would have to get hydrated first, which is when I got really scared because I knew this would take time and would delay the epidural. It was around this time that I started feeling like I was bearing down with little control. According to my midwife, I calmly said, "He's coming out. He's coming out." In my mind, I was yelling, "He's coming out!" She said to me, "Michelle, his head is very low. You're probably..." and then she looked and saw the head. I'm pretty sure she said, "Okay, I need some help here!" Then she asked me to push one more time, and all of a sudden there was a naked baby on my chest. She asked Will to announce what it was, which took a few seconds since the umbilical cord was in the way. Finally, he yelled out, "It's a girl!"



It was nuts. Just nuts. The pushing did not hurt at all that I remember and actually was a complete relief to me since it stopped the contractions. I could not believe that I had just gone from 5 to 10 dilated in so few minutes and that I had given birth naturally, as I always wanted to but didn't think I really had in me. (Believe me, I give myself very little credit since I practically sneezed Eleanor out, and many women do it naturally with far more effort.) I also couldn't believe I had a girl. I really was just so surprised. When I called my mom, Eleanor was still on me, screaming, and my mom had literally just gotten to our house to relieve my neighbor of watching Ethan. Later that night I said to Will, "You realize that if we had waited for mom, we would have had Eleanor at home or in an ambulance?" All night long, we kept saying to each other, "I can't believe how fast that was!"

It was the next day that my midwife told us it was only 19 minutes total from the time we arrived in L & D to the time we met our daughter. She also said that my white count was up enough to show that I definitely had some kind of infection. She thinks that vomiting made me produce prostaglandin, a hormone that induces labor. Basically, I threw myself into labor - fast! I don't recommend this method, but it did get me what I wanted: my baby!

And here she is...

This was probably an hour after I gave birth. Will didn't have our camera until then because he left everything in the car in the mad dash to get up there.

Shari, the best midwife in the world! I was so glad she got to deliver Ethan and Eleanor.

Our nice night nurse giving Eleanor her first bath. Will stayed for this whole process. He never lets our babies out of his sight. I, meanwhile, tried to sleep but was unsucessful.

In the warmer after bath.

Aunt Laura meets her neice for the first time.

Gram and Pop Pop came the next night, too.

Eleanor and her "catcher."

First family dinner.

Chillin' in the papasan chair.

Grandma Lorraine holds her namesake.

Proud Papa.

One Last Post?

Well, when I wrote the last post, I was really hoping that by today I would have a new baby. But, alas, I do not. The good news is that I am actually glad I don't have a new baby right now because I'm nursing a sinus infection and would like to be a little healthier come birthing time. I'm on an antibiotic, though, so as soon as it kicks in, bring it on! I'm hoping we'll be announcing "It's a _____" sometime this weekend or early next week.

Our house is in a bit of chaos, what with our basement remodel starting in less than a week, but Will is really trying his best to keep things organized. The garage is packed, and the nursury is filled, as is our living room/kitchen, but most everything is at least on a shelf. Will has been working SO HARD, bringing things up out of the basement. There is A LOT. I think this has finally been a wakeup call for him, that he needs to stop hanging on to so much stuff. I feel bad that I can't help more, but I should be able to help more when we bring our things back downstairs. I am really looking forward to the finished product. I should have taken before pictures! I will take some with what is left of the basement right now and then when it's all done. Ethan has been having a blast playing in the emptying basement. All the kid needs is a paint can and a "drumstick," and he's good to go. I think he will have a hard time the couple of weeks that we will not allow him down there. Should be interesting.

As an update from last week, Ethan has been a lot better lately. I've learned that I have to anticipate hard transitions and plan ahead accordingly. He's big into making lists (i.e. scribbling on a notepad), so we often make lists for what we're going to do next, like leaving the house. And if he feels like he's being my helper, things go more smoothly. He has his moments, but I'm thankful he has been so much more pleasant to be around this week. Of course, he requires constant attention, and every day I think about how the most difficult part of having a newborn around will be giving Ethan the attention he wants. I'm very thankful that I will have a lot of people around to help out. My friends have already offered to take Ethan away on playdates, and I know that my family will be around to help give him attention, too. I'm really looking forward to seeing how he does with a new baby. I can see it going both ways, so we'll see.

I realized I never posted our sledding photos from an outting with my great friend Catherine and her son, Derek. Ethan and Derek are BFFs, though you wouldn't always believe it when they're fighting over toys! There are also some other recent pictures.

This is a VERY common thing these days. I told you: Will's been working very hard lately. He's pretty tired.

We took another trip to the Chicago Children's Museum. Ethan loves this exhibit for building.

Ethan attempted to climb up this net that leads to a pirate ship, but had to abort.

One of my best friends from college, Susie, is due a couple of weeks after me with her first, a boy. This was taken at her shower. Guess who won the Guess How Big Susie's Tummy Is game? :)

Ethan put on my snowboots - wrong feet, I think, but not bad.

One of two entertaining sleep pictures.

I almost peed my pants when I saw this one (who am I kidding, I'm 38 weeks pregnant - I DID pee my pants a bit). It was like he was trying to escape but just couldn't stay awake. Too funny.

Since we had yet to take a naked belly photo, I decided it was time, so I put the timer on the camera.

Will took this one last night. Not the most flattering light. Hello baby.

Looking Forward

It seems to me that Ethan has been sick more than he's been well this winter. We've moved from cold to cold to Hand Foot Mouth Disease and back to cold. It's been rather frustrating, but I guess that's the price we pay for having other friends around and going places. Kids pass germs around so easily, it seems.

After the last post is when Ethan came down with HFM, which was brutal. He got a pretty high fever, was all around miserable, and then had these awful mouth blisters, making sleep very difficult. He was so sad whenever he was going to sleep because even though he was so tired, he was in a lot of pain. He would literally sleep cry and was all around pathetic. So sad.

After being healthy for about a week, he came down with yet another cold, which has hung on for a couple of weeks, turning into a pretty bad cough and causing a slight fever over the weekend, as well. All of his illnesses have been a big wake up call for Will and I about what life will be like soon when we throw a newborn into the mix. At first, I was downright terrified, but I'm kind of learning that I cannot possibly prepare for what it will be like, so I'm going to stop trying. I know that things are going to be very difficult for a while and there will be many-a-frustrating moments, but, really, I'm just so excited to meet this new little Meuer that I don't care right now.

Which brings me to the title of this post: looking forward. There are so many things I'm looking forward to, but high on the list is simply being done with this pregnancy. Don't get me wrong: I know I am completely blessed to have not only become pregnant easily but also to hang on to my pregnancy. And there are lot of things I like about being pregnant, such as the fun belly, the love you seem to get from everyone - especially strangers, and the excuse to eat whatever whenever without the weird looks. But, in general, I really don't feel well throughout my whole pregnancy. The beginning is certainly the worst, but there has not been one day since about 6 weeks that I've really felt normal. After every meal, I feel "icky" and just not myself. And now that I'm so large, I am just darn uncomfortable. Putting socks on is a major process, as is shaving my legs (I've recently started bringing a stool into the shower to put my foot on), sleeping, and all things bathroom related. Sneezing without needing to change my underwear would be nice, too. I'm just done.

Pair this with the fact that Ethan has been the tantrum king lately, and I am actually looking forward to the "break" that a hospital stay will bring. Sad, yes, but also true. I will miss Ethan a lot while I'm away, but I am actually excited about not having to deal with his disciplining for a couple of days. Is this terrible? Oh well. It's been a long winter.

Of course, what I'm most looking forward to is the moment when I meet little baby Meuer and Will announces "It's a ________!" My one midwife is adamant that the daddy gets to reveal the gender, which I think is great. I really have no idea and am just so curious right now. Will it be a brother or a sister for Ethan? Will he be beating up a little baby boy or girl? Who knows? But I can't wait to find out and hold and love and cuddle this new baby!