So we’re studying the ice age and cave men right now and I ask ds1 to tell me what he knows about the people who lived then and he tells me this-

“No-ma’am’s are people who move around from place to place instead of living in one place and farming”

Me- “er…you mean nomads?”

Him- “yeah, no-ma’ams!”

My oldest son had asked me once when I was still pregnant what the baby eats. I told him all about the umbilical cord and how he gets his nutrition through that. And he asked me if he used his mouth for anything and I told him about amniotic fluid and how he swallows it to practice for eating on the outside. Then he asked me if he goes pee, and I said yes, into the fluid. When it clicked for him that the baby was drinking his pee he was a little grossed out, but never mentioned it again. Until today. Baby man was happily chugging away this morning when big brother came up and said, “Getting some boob huh? Bet that’s a lot better than drinking your own pee!!”

Took the boys to a day in the life of a plantation. It was a short program but fairly informative, interesting, and good for their attention span lol Pictures here were taken by another member of our group but some were so cute I had to share

ds2: Mom there’s an iguana on Dora the Explorer!

Me: Boy, there’s an iguana in the living room!

ds2: But…the one on Dora can talk!!

later that day…

my eldest was yelling from his room to his brother who was in the kitchen. The baby was sleeping so I ask middle boy to go tell his brother to stop yelling.

ds2 (screaming from the kitchen): MOM SAID STOP YELLING!!!!!

Ds2: I’ll be “manamana” and you be “doot doo doot doo doo” Ok?

Not two weeks old and the boys have dubbed his first nickname:

Icky Nicky.

I suppose it could be worse.

There isn’t really a lot to tell! I will say first off, that this was my first baby that actually presented in an anterior position, like they’re supposed to. I will also say that having now had a posterior baby and an anterior baby that anterior isn’t necessarily the easier that everyone says it is, but it is definitely faster. I had a hard time for a long time visualizing how I wanted my delivery to go. I told everyone that if I had it my way I would just have a nice 4 hour long birth. 2 hours of easy stuff, maybe an hour and a half of the harder stuff, and a brief pushing time. I don’t know if it was coincidence or truly mind over matter but I got exactly what I ordered up.

• December 29th 3AM I woke up around 3am to use the bathroom like usual. I noticed when I lay back down that I was having slight contractions. At this point I didn’t think much of them. They were regular, maybe 5 minutes apart and almost pleasant in sensation. I decided to stay in bed a while since I’d had contractions much like this on and off for about the past week. 4AMI woke up again to use the bathroom and notice that the contractions were coming closer together and that I felt more comfortable while sitting on the toilet. I stayed there for a while, trying to decide whether this was it or not. I didn’t have any of the usual signs I had with my first two so I went back to bed.
• 4:40AM All of a sudden the pleasant contractions gave way to a very hard sharp contraction that really got my attention. I definitely couldn’t stay in bed any longer. I got up again and went to get a glass of water. The hard strong contractions continued to come and I decided it was time to wake up my husband. He went to fill the pool only to find the hose connections he was planning to use (on the washing machine) were rusted tight and all of his tools were 45 minutes away with his airplane. He ran to Walmart to get a pair of pliers and I got into the bathtub. I wasn’t able to get the bathwater high enough to be really useful and the floor of the tub was so hard that it was uncomfortable on my hips. It was better than nothing however and as a bonus my bathtub has a strong handicap bar in it that I was able to pull on during the contractions. When my husband got home he started working on getting the pool filled. I began to moan through the pains as they took more of my attention. I think this got his attention as well. My last two labors had at least 5 hours of the easy stuff and this was coming on fast. I got into the pool the second it began to fill so I could help gauge the water temp, and get the benefit as soon as possible. The water only got about a third of the way full when the hot ran out so I sat in there and figured we could add more later if needed. Shortly after this the contractions began to come in waves. I was thankful that I got a small 20 second or so break between them but each one came back with the strength of a run away train. I felt like I was pulled in every direction with each one. I’ve never experienced anything so intense. Hubby provided some counter pressure on my lower back which helped a little at first, and later became more of just something else to focus on. I tried to breathe through them when possible but things got faster and faster.
• 6:25ish AM Suddenly I felt an urge to push. I had a moment of doubt because I’d had an early urge to push with my last labor that just turned out to be my water about to break. I pushed slightly and sure enough my water did break with that one. I had enough where withall to briefly ask my husband if the water was clear and get his confirmation before I was hit with a rush of hormones. I suddenly broke into sobbing tears that I couldn’t really explain. The urge to push didn’t go away. I tried to breathe through the next two pushes still doubting them, and then on the 3rd my body took over and the baby’s head slid instantly to crowning. Again I tried to breathe hoping not to tear. The burning was intense. I wasn’t able to hold off and his head was out on the next contraction. At this point I had a slightly longer break between contractions and yelled to my husband to support the head. I also remember saying to just pull him out already but I’m glad he didn’t hear that part! My husband was surprised because he hadn’t even realized the head was out until I’d said something. It all happened so quickly. On the very next contraction his body slid out and into my husbands hands. I was so shocked momentarily because I hadn’t expected it all so fast. I sat and he handed me the baby who immediately let out a wail and pinked up beautifully. I was thrilled because I know sometimes fast babies can be slow to start. I sat in the pool a moment close to one of the pool heaters to keep baby and myself warm and waited for the cord to stop pulsing. Once it did hubby cut and tied it and I handed him the baby to go show the boys.
• 6:31AM I waited for the placenta which delivered easily. I examined it and put it in a bowl for the meanwhile. The boys came running in excited. My 3 year old said to me “Mom look the baby is here!” as if I had missed it!
• Later: I think with the fast birth it took my son a few days to come into himself. The first two days he seemed a little confused and mad. He nursed a lot and stayed on me close. Then slowly he began the relax, sleep better, and interact with us. The boys have truly taken to their brother. They love to hold him, kiss him and read him stories.
• Yesterday: We took him on his first outing to get the birth certificate. He slept through the whole thing. His cord stump fell off later that evening.
• Today: Nicholas is truly settling into himself and in with us. He looked up at me this morning and clicked his tongue at me. He looked so surprised and pleased with himself that he’d made a noise. I clicked back at him and he looked even more delighted to have gotten my response. I am just so in love with this little bundle. My husband has really pulled through helping with the boys and I feel like we’re all much closer as a family, now that our family is complete.

It starts with ds2 crying cuz his belly hurts. Then he comes up and tells me he has “poop juice” in his butt. Me-What???  He goes on to tell me he’s going to put poop juice on his brother. WTF??? I yell no, poop goes in the potty and rush him to the bathroom. I now find out the reason his belly hurts is he just snuck a half a pound of cheese out of the fridge and ate it. That’d make my belly hurt too, that’s a lot of freaking cheese! (note to self, invest in fridge locks) Then I find him brushing the cat with my hair brush. And then cutting up a teddy bear with the scissors (which led to the previous post). Then a moment of peace while he works on his cutting book, which was broken by him again threatening to now FEED his brother poop juice. He then comes and tells me his butt smells like flowers and that my butt is stinky.

Where do they get this from? I am truly at a loss.  I looked over what they’ve watched on tv this morning- Sesame Street, Mr Rogers, and Bindi the Jungle Girl. I find myself hard pressed to believe that any of those would discuss “poop juice” or butts smelling like flowers. Is this just the nature of boys? Someone out there with a daughter please tell me girls do nasty things like talk about poop juice too. (I cringe to think what kind of hits my site is about to get with the words poop, juice, and butt all in one sentence but I have to vent…)

Well oddly I’ve hit a kind of second wind in my energy levels. Despite a toddler who suddenly likes to be up at 2-3am, I feel pretty all right. My nesting level has changed however. It’s gone from non stop organizing and near frenzied knitting to mostly wanting to hole up in my bathtub. I’ve also found my level of irritability has gone up. I’m really, really trying to try and remember to count to ten and take a few deep breaths before freaking out.  It’s just once your children hit a certain age they suddenly decide they want to talk..and talk…and talk, and never stop talking. And sometimes when you’re on a car ride that takes more than 10 minutes to get to your location and the radio is playing good tunes and all you want to do is hum along, run over your grocery list in your head, and drive, constant nattering from the back of the car brutally disrupts that level of peace almost as abruptly as your alarm clock going off seemingly after your head just hits that sweet sweet pillow.  So I go back and forth between wanting to just cry because I need to turn in and have that kind of quiet head space time, and wanting to just snap and yell at people and really neither is a great option. I feel bad for my husband as well, he just wants me to come to bed at the same time as him and frankly I’m just not comfortable lying down anymore and don’t want to be in bed longer than I have to be. I’m touched out, I need some me time, and I can’t get it watching TV in bed.

I do have some knitting projects I need to finish before baby gets here, some split pants for ec’ing, some soakers for night time, that sort of thing. Otherwise I’m pretty happy with myself as far as baby clothes go. Maybe some more long sleeved t shirts. I’ve got lots of onsies but once we do kick the EC into gear I’m worried onsies will be in the way a bit too much. Besides I’m a little worried about the idea of snaps that close to a nekkid weewee.

I’m a little concerned about my Thanksgiving dinner; I picked up my roast today and the cut looks like the “Don’t” picture in the Fine Cooking magazine I picked up Hoping it won’t dry out too much. I do have a good sauce recipe to go on it along with stuffing so maybe it will all even out. This will be my first time hosting guests since my oldest was about 5 months old, and in that case I had just had major abdominal surgery for the second time in less than six months and I ordered some Hickory Farms.

Otherwise here I am, just gestating. Mostly in peace. I like not having to really worry about going late. In fact I’ve been encouraged to go late since hubby doesn’t have any vacation time till after Christmas.  Baby is growing, moving often, and getting stronger. Quite nice

Just sitting here tonight and musing about how things come full circle. That should this baby come as early as his biggest brother did, then we’ve got about 3 weeks left.  That in a week from now I’ll be at the same point I was when my husband came home from six month deployment.  I must note what a change nutrition makes! At that point in time my BP was through the roof, and I weighed 30lbs more than I do now, despite the fact that I started that pregnancy 50lbs thinner than I did this one. I was looking at a picture of that day that I picked him up and could see how sick I was, and at the same time so incredibly happy. I was happy to have my husband back, happy to be pregnant, and full of expectation, excitement, and a nudge of fear of the unknown.  Right now, I’m at the end of that cycle, the end of the journey of pregnancy.  Coming to terms with that has been harder than I ever thought it would be. I truly honestly don’t want more children after this one. I have said for ages that three is my limit. And really, I haven’t enjoyed this pregnancy for the most part. I’m tired, it sucks doing this with two other small kids, pets, a house on the market, etc. And yet, I’m a little sad.  It seems like time is slipping away from me. I’ve said a few times that it’s snuck up on me, but really I had it in my head that once Thanksgiving got here, I’d have around a month or so to go. The end; the home stretch.  I’m not afraid of the delivery itself. Many times I’ve heard the expression that birth is as safe as life gets and for the most part that’s true. I feel somehow woefully unprepared to parent one more child though. And I don’t know why. I’ve got two beautiful, healthy (mostly!), smart, vivacious boys that I’ve managed to nurture, and at bare minimum keep alive this long, there’s no reason to think that I can’t do it again. It just seems to me however that with each child being so different, I fear whatever loop this one will throw me for. The first was clingy at first, but outside of that and the sleepless nights, he was manageable. But then the second came, and every last trick that worked for number one, the opposite was true for number two. And then number one threw us for the massive loop of potentially deadly food allergies and trips to the emergency room for IV’s full of epinephrine. Knock on wood but thankfully two has been somewhat low key in that respect. I figure that will come later on, since he’s a daredevil and as he gets more and more daring I’ll find a broken arm or leg somewhere from falling out of a tree or jumping off the roof. So I wonder, what will work for this baby? Will he sleep? Will he want to be carried, or prefer to play on his own? Will his brothers look out for him or torture him senseless? Will he have food allergies too? There is so much that goes with raising a child outside of just bringing them into the world. I get so many people telling me that I’m incredibly brave to birth at home, or to birth alone. I honestly wish that birthing was the hardest most frightening thing about motherhood because then the rest would be cake. Or the people who say oh babies are so hard. Yes, they’re time consuming, sometimes exhausting but really they are simple and don’t require a lot of thought. Hold them. Feed them. Change them. Burp them. Sleep them. Bathe occasionally. Keep warm. Smile at. Repeat. Then they start crawling, and putting things in their mouths, and then walking, and reaching for window cords, and then talking, and forming opinions, and asking questions, and things suddenly get a lot more complicated. I’ve never thought that it gets easier as they get older, just a different set of complications. They may sleep, or use the bathroom, but what do you do when they start asking how that baby got in there, or why people have different skin color, or why the man in the wheel chair has no legs, or why their aunt smokes when it’s so bad for you, so on and so forth? Today I sat there looking around my house wondering how children with older siblings survive, just looking at the toys with tiny small pieces, a scrap of plastic bag, an acorn, and a dozen other safety hazards I haven’t had to think about in some time. What an awakening! And time continues to creep. It seems like I lost something some where, complaining that my back hurt (because it did), or that I’m tired (because I am), because I should’ve been hanging onto these last moments.  Simultaneously part of me is just ready to get the show on the road, I wanted another baby, and miraculously got one coming (I wasn’t even supposed to be able to have the first two and now to be having a third is just amazing to me still), and I can’t wait to meet this little person. Just still, I hope that he hangs in a little bit longer, on the inside, just him and me. The end of the path may be looming near, even visible on the horizon, but we aren’t quite there yet, and are walking (waddling!) very…very…slowly.