hippie hippie joy joy

My mom found it just in time; Mila was able to squeeze into my sister's onsie-from 1986!! It had been on a Cabbage Patch doll in the basement, ha. She looked SO cute, I just had to have a little photo shoot, plus document the nap and then the lap time that she had when we met Sara for 'linner' (late lunch, early dinner) at La Grande Orange.

cuddling

This photo is super grainy but I love it.

Our trip to the Arboretum

This afternoon once Greg went to work at 1:30pm, Mila and I ran into Target (still get very uneasy about going there; she always manages to be in a fussy mood when we go there-how can my own daughter not like Target?!). We returned two items and picked up some photos. I was browsing the office decor (I thought that buying cute desktop organizers and clipboards would help my transition of returning to work) but Mila kept me from purchasing. Off we went. By the time we drove through our neighborhood drive-thru ATM to deposit a check, she had quieted down so I knew she was asleep. Over to the Arboretum we went. It was a nice afternoon, not too hot. I didn't have enough sunblock on and the shade there is scarce, but it felt so good to walk around. The only peacock we saw was on our way out, in the parking lot funny enough. (I guess they've all officially migrated to our neighborhood) (Yes, for those who don't know, we have wild peacocks in our neighborhood; I love hearing them squak at dusk).

Anyway! The best part of our hour at the Arboretum was the hidden bench that I found by the lake, on a little pathway. I was able to feed her and change her diaper while relaxing and watching the water and ducks. I definitely prefer either Descanso or the Huntington, but the lake at the Arboretum is really nice. 

The photos w/Mila are not good but when you're by yourself, you can't exactly hold a baby up to the rose bushes; I also didn't want to take down her shade cloth b/c it was so bright. Oh well, at least I have proof that we were there. 

zzzzzzzzzzz

A collection of sleepy-time photos, in chronological order...Just 'cause they're cute (and the one where she's swaddled and her hat is sliding up cracks me up; she looks like the Pope)

so fresh & so clean clean

Miss Mila loves bath time. 

We were gifted Johnson & Johnson bath products (classic) so that's what we use but I am curious to try Aveeno as well. We bathe her twice a week and it only takes about five minutes and she just sits and stares at us while I scrub her down. Greg's job is to strip her down while I warm up the water & grab the washcloth, hooded towel, and container w/spout. He plops her in the tub and picks her up at the end, while I take care of the scrubbing. We love our Puj Tub which is made of foam so it's super light, and fits inside our bathroom sink! I'll be sad when she outgrows it; I can imagine the back pain from bending over a bath tub; plus now I'll actually have to clean my bath tub! ;)

(*top photo is from her second bath ((we were too nervous to take photos during the first bath)) and bottom photo is more recent. Her body sure has filled out; no more funny arm and torso folds like you see in the top photo)

Greg transfers stores

About a month or so ago, Greg caught word that our nearby TJ's was looking to hire more people. I've been wanting him to switch to this store since we moved to Sierra Madre. He was due for a change-he had been working at the South Pasadena store for five years, which is a long time (TJ's transfers employees often) and this new store is humungous; it's the one I always shop at. He called the 'captain' (each store has multiple managers but only one captain) and she met with him and told him she wanted him at her store (this is his first time working for a female captain). So he said goodbye to South Pas (see cake photo) and now he's about half a mile away instead of 20 minutes via fwy :) :) And even better: the closing shift at this store is 10pm, as opposed to midnight. So he's much much closer, and he's home two hours earlier. I'm a happy wifey.

G.G.

Mila with her Great Grandma Peggy on 4/21. Very special!!

So, it's been over 2 months since my last post. Ideally, I would do my best to recap everything in a chronological order, but at this point that would be impossible. As time/energy permits, I will rehash what these past two months have been like (summed up in one word: Wonderful). For now, here's a photo of a smiley two month old, and what we've been up to most recently. 

 Our baby girl is happy & healthy. I keep saying that I don't know how she could be easier. She smiles often and has been doing well at restaurants and in people's arms. She likes to be held so that she's facing out, watching all the action. She likes fixating on the teal duck that hangs from her car seat handle. She likes both her pink & brown vibrating chair, and her swing which she naps in. She typically goes to bed around 11pm and sleeps anywhere until 5am through 7am. As long as she's swaddled in her 'Miracle Blanket,' I can sometimes put her down and she'll fall asleep on her own. 

Today she was laying on her activity mat and watching Cleo, who was chasing her own tail nearby. That's the first time I've seen her notice the cats. Yesterday evening the three of us were at our local Whole Foods and I looked over and she was grasping that duck toy in her car seat. Neither of us saw her grab it so we're not sure if it was intentional or accidental, but it was very exciting. 

She has been to the Huntington twice, Descanso three times, Lacey Park once, and sees/hears many peacocks on our neighborhood walks. She enjoys walks more now than she did in the beginning. My mom and I took her to the Santa Anita mall on a recent drizzly day and she was so good; she seems to like shopping-uh oh!

I have two weeks until my maternity leave ends. It will be hard (harder than I can imagine b/c I'm not letting myself think about it) but I feel so lucky that we don't need to go the childcare route; Greg will have her twice a week, my mom will have her twice a week, and I'll have her the other three days. 

The biggest adjustment will likely be lack of sleep, and a new morning routine, seeing as how I'll need to wake her to feed her before I leave her in the morning..... and then I won't get to fall back asleep with her for her morning nap. Sob. 

Ok, I think that's good for now. I've gotten my feet wet, and now I can post much more often-hopefully.

 

A few shots from the hospital
(Greg and I are not so great about simply thinking to take photos. That's going to change, obviously; it already has!) So here's a select few from Saturday, starting from when I really started to feel the contractions and couldn't find a comfortable position to be in (I'll post the labor & delivery story soon) Then one of the first photos that Greg took of her little face after they bathed her and handed her to me. Then, Mila & I cuddling on Sunday morning from our room on the maternity floor (she was born Saturday evening). Then, a truly hilarious photo of her in her carseat; Greg brought it up to the room before we were discharged to make sure we fit the straps to her so we wouldn't have to do it in the car (it was raining and freezing outside when we were discharged on Monday at 4pm). And lastly, the classic shot of me carrying her in the wheelchair prior to getting in the car and bringing her home!

 

the sweetest face

Mila Jolie is here and she could not be more perfect. I have so much to write about, but not a ton of time or energy. For now, I wanted to post some photos, as much in chronological order as I can. Enjoy.

2/11 appointment

Back to Dr. Chou's office this morning at 9:30am. It's nice having morning appointments with all this angst. 
This appointment completely mirrored the last one. She checked my cervix to find that I'm no further dilated. She did an ultrasound to check the fluid level which was still fine. I told her that, though I had only been awake since 8:30am, I hadn't felt a ton of movement. Only a couple little dances, and they were soft and slow. We then went to the other room for the fetal heart rate monitoring. This time, after the 20 minutes were up, the nurse came in and said that I needed to drink some cold water. She gave me a cup and I drank it. More time went by and she checked again and brought me more cold water. This time I asked why. She said the baby wasn't moving enough, so we needed to help wake her up. I started getting nervous. By this time, also, my lower back hurt sooo bad. I wondered if it were from the position I was in; this was the longest I had lay on my back for 9 months. 
Finally, after 50 minutes, the nurse confirmed that she was moving more-so and we didn't have to keep monitoring. I was incredibly relieved to be able to sit up; both she and Greg grabbed an arm and helped me up. During the 50 minutes I counted about 20 movements. 
We met Dr. Chou back in the original room. She said everything seemed good. The concern, and the reason for the cold water, was that if a full-term baby stops moving as much, you can assume that she's pooped inside the womb. This is very risky because she could then inhale it. They would only poop because they're stressed. Babies that have produced this poop (called meconium(sp?)) have a slower heart rate. Yet, since hers went up after cold water, my doctor wasn't concerned.
And so, after another almost two hour appointment, she turned to us and asked us what we wanted to do. Suddenly, despite all of our conversations, I went blank and couldn't answer. Did we want to induce? Or not? I asked her to confirm that everything was fine and there's no sense of urgency. She said yes, we were in good shape and technically have the option. She then gave us two ideas: we either induce over the weekend, or we come back for another appointment on Monday afternoon. 
We decided to make the Monday appt but call her by Friday if we decide we want to be induced over the weekend instead.
This left us with plenty to discuss. I said I didn't want a Valentine's Day baby. We casually said it'd be super cool to have her bday be 2/12/12. We then said we hated the idea of having to pick her bday. We kept going back and forth. How nice to have it planned! (me). Let's leave it up to her! (greg). We went out to lunch (this maternity/paternity leave sans child is costing us so much money) and made a pro/con list for inducing. 
Here it is: 
Pros
We get her in 3 days at most
Better prepared (force us to finish packing the bag!)
Dr. Chou on same page (she would agree to being available)
Prevents possible complications (of leaving her cooking for too long)
Peace of mind (know when it's coming)
Greg's mom can plan trip from AZ
Baby won't get too big
Cons
Forcing the issue (as opposed to letting her come when she's ready)
Picking her birthday
Losing the element of surprise
Choosing time of day to be admitted (day? night? maybe we won't have a choice)
Little knowledge of any physical, negative effects of petocin (the hormone that they give you to stimulate labor)

To be continued...

week 40

2/9: Two days post-due date. After eating at Green Street Restaurant behind Lake in Pasadena

 

Due Date Appointment

I decided I'm going to forget about back-tracking and accounting all these days off that I've had, because they've all blurred together now (now that I'm finishing up day 9!). I can summarize: tons & tons of eating out, waking up without an alarm clock, walking around town, cleaning, and eating out some more.
Ok, let's skip to missy's due date, 2/7 (also my mom's bday!)
We were so hoping we wouldn't make it to this appointment! I thought for sure we'd have her before then. No valid reason why~it was just my wishful thinking ;) Alas, we arrived at 8:30am for our appointment with Dr. Chou. 
First, she checked my cervix. Still only a cm dilated, possibly 1.5. Bummer. At least it didn't hurt quite as much as the last exam did. 
Then, she did an ultrasound. We got to see the screen but she didn't spend much time explaining what each white blur was; it was more about checking her fluid levels. I told her my concern about how full-term babies are at risk for low fluid levels, based on what I had been reading. She happily reported that we were in good shape. She asked if the baby is as active as ever. That's the one question she would ask us at every appointment, especially towards the end. I said yes. 
Then she said I'd go to a different room and monitor the fetal heartbeat. Afterwards, we would meet up again and talk about what we wanted to do. She said that we could induce if we wanted to, especially since my cervix was a bit dilated and effaced; meaning it was in good shape for induction. She then asked if we wanted to be induced. My response was 'we want to do what you recommend.' And Greg's response was 'we do want her to come naturally, on her own.....but we also value your opinion' to which I nodded in agreement. Dr. Chou said that she agreed; ideally, she would come on her own. Yet she had the concern that the longer things go, the bigger she will get. This part I didn't really get, because she's probably only about 7 lbs, and really that's no cause for concern. (In recent news, a woman gave birth to a 13 lb baby in Iowa, and another to a 15 lb baby in China(!)). 
Anyway, we went and monitored the heart rate, as seen in the photo below:

haha. I look pretty funny. And my belly looks huge. Those are the same bands they put on you when you're admitted into labor and delivery, so that you're constantly listening to her heartbeat, and there's also a squiggly line that indicates contractions and her movement, like what you see on the news when there's been an earthquake. Here was hers:

What you see above is all good. Steady and strong heartbeat and movements, indicating good activity coming from her. After 20 minutes we got to go back to the other room and Dr. Chou joined us in there. She said everything looks great, there's no cause for concern, but until she arrives we'll need to monitor things closely, so we agreed to return two days later, for the same appointment. She said, depending on that appointment, we would then talk about possibly inducing. She mentioned the weekend, we didn't ask why. We later deduced that the weekend is best for her since she doesn't have appointments that she'd have to cancel. Fair enough. We said goodbye and realized we had been there for almost two hours(!)

So we continued on with our day. By the way, Sunday, 2/5, was Greg's last day at work for three weeks. So he's officially on 'paternity leave' to coincide with my maternity leave. He had to give notice way in advance so we took a risk and decided on the 5th. He returns to work on Monday 2/27, yay!

Amongst more restaurant-dining, we talked about how we felt about inducing labor. It's a tough decision that we didn't necessarily feel ready to, or compelled to make. I think we've remained hopeful that by the Thursday appointment, I'll have dilated more. And/or maybe we wouldn't make it to the Thursday appointment!

To be continued...

Maternity Leave Day 4

Yikes, I should have kept this up daily instead of relying on my pregnant 'memory' (lack thereof is more like it). I think that on Saturday 2/4 I was incredibly lazy. Greg worked 1pm-9pm and I stayed in and I think the only productive thing I did was a load of dishes; otherwise I spent a lot of time on the couch.

maternity leave day 3

Day 3. It's only noon but I feel like I've already gotten a lot done. I stripped the bed and am washing all our linen. I've cleaned everything off the floor of the nursery so that I can vacuum. That explains why the swing is in the center of the room. I'm still writing thank you cards for baby gifts that we continue to receive(!) This little lady is so spoiled already, but really, it's that the three of us are so blessed to have the friends and family that we do. 
I love so many elements of the nursery. I love all the white. I love the Ikea dresser. I love the stuffed animals on the ladder. And I really love the 'library wall' with all the books from Grandma Peggy & others. Maybe we'll extend the wall down, buying more shelves so that some can be at her reach for when she's mobile and wants a puffy book to chew on. 
My mom is headed over to go to lunch and then Target for nursing attire. Then, our friend Chelle will stop by. Greg is working 11am-7pm tonight so we'll get to eat dinner together which is an extreme rarity. 
Plus, it's another beautiful day~75 degrees or so. Aside from the fact that I haven't gone into labor yet but am anxious to do so, I really have nothing to complain about :)