And the 6 month stats are in!

Dr. says that Asher is perfect. I tend to agree. ;)

Height: 27 in (75th percentile)
Weight: 17.5 lbs (50th percentile)
Head: 17 (75th percentil)

It's all about the 7's. Lucky kid!

Hahaha, April. Yes, APRIL was my last update.

Before you judge, let me recap a normal day for you:
6 am: wake up, groggily fumble with phone to turn off alarm.
6:15 am: wake up for real, rush through a shower, grab my stuff and hit the road
6:45-7:30: bang head on steering wheel while sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic
7:30-4:30: Work magic, hold a few hands, make a billion phone calls. No, I don't work in a daycare, but it sure seems like it sometimes! Oh, and also add in some milking sessions (Crass I know) three times a day, as time allows.
4:30 (or sometimes 5, 6, or 7 pm): Rush home, braking intermittently for the Jim-Carey-A-la-"Me, Myself & Irene"-cops along the highway.
5:30: Snuggle the heck out of my baby.
7 pm: Reluctantly put my baby to bed.
8 pm: Eat dinner & do some chores.
10 pm: Pass out, only to be woken up at 3-4 hour intervals to pop a boob into the wee one's mouth.

But I digress!

Asher is growing and developing by leaps and bounds. It's positively amazing to watch him grow. In the past week he's started pushing up on his knees, rocking back and forth (and then faceplanting), scooting backwards, and screaming "mamamamamamamamamamama!" Oh and blowing "raspberries" that accomplishes nothing but spitting drool all over e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.

WHEW.

We're taking him in for his 6 month checkup on Monday. (Holyshitwherehasthetimegone?!) Will come back with stats ASAP!

And without further ado:

Might be time to update!

I'm not sure that anyone actually reads this blog, but I told myself I would update it for myself. Well, I've clearly been slacking, but in my defense, I've been busy playing with my adorable baby!

The munchkin is almost 4 months old now (holy shit time flies!). He smiles and giggles and about two weeks ago, discovered he could roll over. But only from his back to his tummy. When he's awake and rolls over, this pisses him off and he starts wailing. When he's asleep, he's quite content to just keep snoozing, so I guess we've got a tummy sleeper. This, however, terrifies me and Mr. Olive, but if we flip him over, he either wakes up and gets mad, or just promptly rolls back. What can ya do?

Poor kiddo has also started teething. We thought he had a few weeks ago, but now we're pretty positive. He'll just start gripping his gums with his hands and screaming in pain. :( He's also much crankier, drooling like a mofo, and has some nicely flushed cheeks.

And now, without further ado, a (somewhat) recent photo of the love of my life:

Parenting Advice

I am in no way calling myself an expert. Far from it, in fact. But I just want to throw this out there:

We would not be surviving without the help of my fabulous sister and a book she sent me. I forget when I received it, but at the time I was thinking, "Okay, a baby book. I'll read that once I have a baby" and continued to focus on my pregnancy. I wish I had taken the time to read it before Ash showed up.

The book, my friends, is called "Happiest Baby on the Block" by Harvey Karp. While not the best written book (in fact, I find it kind of annoying), it is chock-full of great information. If I had read this ahead of time, our 2 night stay in the hospital would have been SO much easier. We can now calm our baby in seconds flat. Wonderful. :)

The world's longest birth story

Baby Asher arrived on 12/26/2010. Labor lasted 61 hours, and was all back labor. He was 13 days late, and arrived weighing 8 lbs. 3.6 oz. at 21.75 inches long. And 100% worth it. :)

******************

It was a dark and stormy night.... er... wait. No, it was Thursday, December 23rd. I was 10 days overdue at this point, and starting to panic, because I'd had to schedule an induction for the following Monday the 27th. I decided I would try a blue and black cohosh tincture regimen the following day to see if it would get labor started. I cleaned off my desk at work, set up an out-of-office reply, and set off to Whole Foods to pick up the herbs. After that, I stopped and got a pedicure from my favorite cheap nail place. I got home and was contemplating sitting in our arm chair with the heating pad on my back because it was feeling kind of stiff. I got a call from our back up doula (Emma) because our original doula was out of town for the holidays. We chatted for a while and I told her about my back pain and how it was fading in and out. She recommended I sit on my birthing ball for a while and spend some time on my hands and knees (and if I got bored, I could scrub the floors. ;) ). I did that for a few hours until Mr. Olive came home around 9:30. He started talking about work and I interrupted him and said, "Aren't you going to ask why I'm sitting on the birthing ball?" and his eyes got kind of big and he goes, "Wait, what?" I told him I was either going to need to file a workman's comp claim for back pain at work or that I was having contractions. :)

We ate dinner, did a few things around the house, and did some of our exercises and massage techniques. We decided we wanted to walk some more to see if that would help, so we decided to go to Target and walk some laps around the store. When we went to check out, one of Mr. Olive's friend's mom was the cashier. She made some annoying comment about how I needed to pop the baby out and I almost bitch slapped her.

Back home, the contractions became more regular, about 5 minutes apart and they kept getting stronger and more painful. I tried to sleep but kept waking up with every contraction so around 4 am, I got out of bed so that I wouldn't disturb Mr. Olive. I dozed on the couch, getting up with each contraction because it felt better to stand and sway from side to side. Around 7 am, the contractions were pretty regular, and about 6 minutes apart, so I called my midwives to consult. Cheyenne was on call that morning, and told me things sounded like they were progressing well, but I should try at make it a few more hours at home if I could, and to come in if they got more intense and/or closer together.

Mr. Olive got up at about 8, and saw how I was doing and went into a nesting craze. I was doing fine on my own, so I let him do his thing for a few hours. The contractions were regular, painful, and about 4.5 minutes apart, so we drove to the hospital around noon (this was Christmas Eve). We could have stayed at home longer, but we're about a 40 minute drive from the hospital, so I didn't want to risk it. (Ironically, that same weekend TWO couples had their babies on the side of the highway ihere, one on A and one on B, and of course our route was C, the only highway left!) However, by the time we got to triage the contractions had almost stopped. I had two the entire time I was hooked up to the monitor. As I was sitting waiting for the midwife to come in I heard them say it was Sue on call today, who was the midwife we met with to discuss our birth plan and was NOT a favorite in any way shape or form. This, combined with the fact that the contractions had stopped, had me pretty down. Sue came in and checked me out and I was only 2cm so they sent me home. She wrote me a prescription for tylenol with codeine and told me to take them so I could try and get some rest since I hadn't really slept. She said if they were real contractions, the codeine wouldn't do anything, but otherwise it should help. I was bummed. I didn't want to be "that" chick, who thinks she's in labor but really isn't!

Of course as soon as we walked out the contractions picked back up. We stopped at a grocery store to get the script filled (just in case I needed it) and spent a good hour walking around the store, stopping every so often with a painful contraction. We got some weird looks, and because the place was so crowded (Christmas Eve remember?) people were getting pissed at how slow we were walking. I found this entertaining, and knew that because I still had a sense of humor things hadn't progressed very far. Back home, we started up with the exercises and massage techniques again to get the baby to move off my back but he wouldn't budge.

We were both pretty tired at this point and tried to take a nap. Mr. Olive got some rest, but I was up every 6-8 minutes. My mom made it into town around 9pm that night. She and I chatted for a while and then I went back to bed, but was dealing with the same thing. I finally ended up taking some of the Tylenol and it didn't do a damn thing for the pain.

And again, around 4 am, I got up and moved to the couch where I would doze for a few minutes and then jump up to sway. At this point, if I didn't make it to a standing position before the contraction started, I couldn't move and had to sit through it, which was excruciating. I started feeling really ill and several times had to run to the bathroom or the kitchen sink and dry heave.

Thing got progressively more intense through out the morning, contractions regulated again to 4 minutes, and we decided to head back to the hospital around 11 on Christmas day. My mom, Mr. Olive and I all thought I'd hit transition.

The car ride was absolutely awful. Thankfully my mom had shoved a garbage can in my lap as we were pulling out of the drive way. I spent the whole drive puking and contracting at the same time. We got to the hospital and checked into triage and they admitted us this time; and this time, our favorite MW (Kim) was on call. I felt a huge sense of relief knowing she would be the one delivering my baby. Unfortunately, when she checked me I was only dilated to 4 cm's and hadn't actually hit transition. That was frustrating and frightening to hear. If this was still early, how painful would these contractions get later??

Mr. Olive called our doula while we were waiting in triage, and she told us she was going to her mother's house but that we could call her if we needed and she'd try to talk us through it on the phone. So not cool because she'd assured us that the ONLY day she wouldn't be able to come down was Christmas Eve. I totally get not wanting to spend Christmas in the hospital, but she specifically said Christmas day wouldn't be a problem, and then she totally flaked out on us. Annoying.

After waiting in the triage room for them to find us a room (apparently it was a busy day at the hospital!) we got moved to one of the older L&D rooms. This wouldn't have been a big deal, except these rooms were much smaller and couldn't accommodate the labor pools, nor did they have showers. Our only choices for a shower were a 1-person stall across the hall with almost no privacy, or the D&C shower, neither of which I was comfortable with. Since my water still hadn't broken, I was REALLY looking forward to laboring in the pool for a while and wanted to cry when I was told that wasn't going to happen.

We spent the next several hours walking and changing positions trying to get the baby to cooperate so I could labor in peace (haha) but he still wouldn't budge. We had asked for minimal fetal monitoring, which we were thankfully granted. Our nurse came in every 1/2 hour to use a doptone to check on the baby's heart beat. After a few hours, she told us she needed to bring some equipment into the room, and wanted to know if it would disturb us (she was SO sweet!). I said it was as good a time as any, and that we would just go do a few more laps around the floor while they did that. When we came back though, they said the room was missing too much equipment and they'd have to move us to another room. It took them a couple hours to finally move us and I was totally distracted. I really needed to settle in so I could focus, and I couldn't. Adam was being wonderful though.

At around 7 pm, my midwife Kim came in and checked and I had only progressed to 5 cm. After a lot of deliberation, we decided to go ahead with some pitocin, on the lowest setting possible. An hour later, Kim checked me again and I was at 6 cm's, but I was about to die from the pain. It was so awful, so she suggested I try a dose of stadol, and told me it'd make me feel like I'd chugged a 6 pack and would take the edge off the contractions.

Well. I IMMEDIATELY felt like I'd chugged a handle of vodka, not a 6-pack. I had to lie down because I kept stumbling, and found EVERYTHING funny. So I was lying on my side and Mr. Olive was massaging my lower back. And in the middle of a contraction, I opened my eyes and saw my dad just standing staring at me. I was pissed; we said no family at the hospital during labor because I knew it would stress me out beyond belief. (My mom, MIL and SIL stopped by earlier in the evening to bring Mr. Olive some food and when they checked my BP it was 147, super super high for me)

Anyway, the contractions were super painful still; the stadol didn't do anything for the pain. I tried to stand up to get off my back, and it felt like I peed my pants. My water had finally broken! I went to the bathroom and let it drain out.

After about an hour, I started to lose my sense of humor. The contractions were so painful that I couldn't breathe through them. I was sobbing with every one. Nothing I did helped and I was still only dilated to 6 cm's somehow (my body did NOT want to let this munchkin out!!!). Mr. Olive was really concerned; he went out to head up the rice bag we were using and had a chat with Kim. She was concerned as well that I was so exhausted and they both came in and talked to me. We talked about it and they both told me they wouldn't think any less of me if I got an epidural, which I was really struggling with. I had made it so far without one but I wasn't sure I could keep going. I don't know how long it took me to finally say yes (I think we were at hour 54?) but after I did, Mr. Olive held me while I cried and kept repeating over and over that I was a horrible mom already. It was bad. (It's still bad, I'm crying while typing this.)

And then he got whisked away and the anesthesiologist came in and did his thing while I sat there terrified that I was going to wind up paralyzed. I kept asking what he was doing and I think he got super annoyed with me. The nurse tried to check my BP while he was still working and I wouldn't let her move my arms so I think I pissed her off as well.

So once he was done, and I was all hooked up to all the monitors and whatnot, Mr. Olive and I laid down to try and get some sleep. He pulled the chairbed over next to me and held my hand while I cried myself to sleep. The nurse and Kim came in every so often to flip me and to adjust the monitor because Ash wouldn't stay by it. I also kept taking off the BP cuff; they'd put me on an automatic one and it was squeezing my arm ridiculously tight and waking me up. So the alarm kept going off when it tried to check. Whoops.

Around 5 am Kim came in and checked me and I was finally dilated to 10 cm's. Shortly after they had me start pushing. With the first push, Mr. Olive had to run to the bathroom to puke (weaksauce! ;) ) but he got it out of his system and was awesome after that. I guess though that I wasn't 100% effaced because Kim was doing something and I thought I heard her say there was a lip? I wasn't quite awake yet. Anyway, and then she was trying to turn the munchkin; he had his head cocked to the side at this point. So I looked up at the mirror and her arm was halfway up my vag; totally disconcerting. I also obviously couldn't feel anything so I had no idea if I was even pushing right but she said I was doing well.

After 2 hours of pushing though, she had to consult the hospital OB who was this pompous ass woman. She marched in and said that I was at -1 station (Kim was saying I was at +1, and since she was there, I believed her. Wishful thinking maybe. ;) ). She then proceeded to tell me that since everything still looked good they would let me push for another hour, but after that, she would come back and they'd have to either use forceps or a vacuum or give me a c-section. (She said a bunch more crap that pissed me off but I don't really remember it now.)

I guess that was the challenge I needed though, because I had him out 1/2 hour after that. Once I could see his head I had an energy burst and pushed him out really quickly. It was cute; Mr. Olive had been a great coach and was saying all the typical things, "C'mon, you can do it. You're doing great." But as soon as HE saw Ash's head, his demeanor totally changed and he was practically yelling, "OH MY GOD! YOU'RE DOING IT! THERE'S ACTUALLY A HEAD THERE! OH MY GOD! YOU'RE DOING SO GREAT!!" Hehehe, it still makes me smile. Anyway...

It turns out that he'd pooped in utero, but somehow kept it all blocked up behind him. Thank goodness for that, because otherwise things would have gone very differently. He was on my belly for maybe a minute; they suctioned out his nose, ears and mouth, and I held his teeny little hand while he cried. Because of the meconium they didn't wait for the cord to stop pulsing; they clamped it and had Adam cut it, and then they whisked Asher away to give him a full check.

I had a small vaginal tear and got 2 or 3 stitches, but that was the worst of it. Phew! I delivered the placenta and they cleaned me up (I was a MESS from when he was on my belly). And then I finally got to hold my son.

So there. That's the full version. I told you it was long. :D

D-Day

Dear Oliver,

Today is your due date. I woke up so many times last night, and each time, I groggily though, "Why am I awake? Wait! Am I having contractions!?" And each time, I was disappointed. I cannot WAIT to meet you little baby!

Love,

OliveMama

Talk about hormotional!

So a few days ago, I realized we'd never added any bottles to our registry. I'm planning to breastfeed, but as I have to return to work after 12 weeks, I'll need bottles to feed Oliver during the daytime. It was 4 am when I had this epiphany, so of *course* it was a huge deal and had to be taken care of immediately. I pulled out my trusty laptop, opened the BRU website, and logged into our account.

And that's when I noticed that there had been quite a few items (some of them pretty pricey!) purchased. And I lost it. I started crying. Our friends and family have just been so freaking generous between our wedding and our baby. We are so damn lucky.

My sister, mom, aunt and step-mom hosted a shower for us this past weekend. It was absolutely wonderful. Not only did we get some adorable and sweet gifts, but I got to see my family and friends. My sister lives across the country, and I hardly ever get to see her. (Though surely this is the true secret to our functional relationship. ;) We CAN'T annoy each other 2000 miles apart!) I also got to see 3 of my nearest and dearest friends. I miss them like woah.

We've finished moving! Our old place is cleaned and keys have been returned to our landlord. We're still working on unpacking our new place, and the nursery is a complete disaster. Not only have we not unpacked any of the baby stuff, but we have no where to PUT the baby stuff. Why? Because we still don't have furniture for Oliver's room.

The Mr. and I are incredibly picky when it comes to furniture. We'll find a crib that we like, but the changing table won't be quite what we're looking for. Then we find a changing table that we like, and shockingly, ALSO love the crib, but the set is no longer available for purchase. Now, truthfully, I'm not particularly worried about having a crib set up because Oliver will be sleeping in our room for the first few months anyway. However, not having the changing table and a dresser set up is driving me BONKERS. I have limited time to "nest" (6ish weeks!) and I want to get crackin'!

In other news, we've written a first draft of our birth plan! We'll review it at our next appointment, but it feels good to have something done. :)