Day 203 - July 21

Yesterday was our first full day at home. And I learned it's going to take a while to adjust.

But I'm hopeful that Michaela will come around to the idea of "Yellow" being Cate, and being a baby on the outside instead of the inside now that we're getting back to a normal routine. She had a rough couple days of going back and forth to the hospital, not understanding why Mommy didn't come home right away, and just being generally way off her schedule.

She alternates between showing Cate all kinds of love and wanting nothing to do with her. I think that's probably normal, but it worries me a little, too.

But then, yesterday morning, she left Bear with Cate while she was eating and snoozing on my lap in bed. Since Bear is her most special possession in the world, I'm choosing to believe she really does love her new sister!

Day 202 - July 20

Friday dragged on forEVER!!!!!!

I had hoped to be discharged Friday morning, but between my own issues (I had to get two units of blood on Thursday), and Cate having some elevated bilirubin levels, along with the doctors waiting all day to do discharge orders for some reason, we didn't get to leave until dinnertime. Ugh.

Before leaving, though, we got a couple partial family pictures to mark the occasion!

Day 201 - July 19

The days very quickly blurred together in the hospital, but the big order of business on Thursday was to get Cate a bath.

We didn't have them bathe her in the nursery because I didn't want her stuck there and on the warming table for hours instead of being with me. Plus, the vernix is good for their skin, so I wanted to keep that on her and rub it in as much as possible before her first bath. We had planned to give it to her on Wednesday, and the timing just didn't work, so we took care of it during Daddy and Michaela's dinner-time visit on Thursday.

Oddly enough, she wasn't phased in the least about having her hair under the water... it was just the sponge bath part after that she didn't love - because she got too cold!

And I'm in love with this picture... which I took with my phone. Go figure.

Day 200 - July 18

I think it's pretty funny that Day 200 happened to be a pretty BIG day!

So, of course, everyone read about my midwife getting hurt a couple weeks ago, and how I quickly went from wanting the baby to come anytime, to wanting the baby to wait as long as possible (which, by the way, wouldn't have mattered - my midwife is out until at least September!). But, my major concern was that Michaela was going to "lose" her birthday - I really wanted to get past that on Monday, and then past her party on Tuesday.

Lo and behold, after the party on Tuesday (well, kind of through the party and then after), I started having early labor contractions on a timeable basis. Most of the afternoon, they were about 15 minutes apart, and I even went so far as to get in touch with my doula and give her a heads up. Jason also called into work and cancelled his flight for the night... even if it wasn't the real thing, I was having a hard time doing much around the house and wasn't sure how I was going to take care of Michaela through the night.

Real labor started some time shortly before midnight on Wednesday, and I stayed out in the living room to try to sleep on the couch and let Jason get some sleep in the bedroom. Little did I know, my, ehem, "vocalizations" through contractions were a little louder than I thought and Jason started timing them a lot earlier than I did. By about 3 in the morning on Wednesday, I had timed them for about an hour and realized I was actually in labor. Like, real labor.

Things went pretty quickly after that... Jason called our doula a little after 3am and she got her a little after 4am. By 5:40, we were heading out the door to the hospital... a complete shock to me after my terrible, awful, long labor with Michaela.

We got to the hospital shortly after 6, and by 8:17, Cate Madigan Dorval had joined our family on the outside! I'll write and share a full birth story on the FlyingFish blog (complete with disclaimer for anyone who doesn't want details!!!), but those are the basics.

Even without my midwife, and with the fear of a non-VBAC-friendly staff at the hospital, I got to have her via VBAC, with the help of the amazing coach, Jason; my AWESOME doula; and an L&D nurse who couldn't have been a better pick if I could've hand-chosen her.

I'll skip the ugly, immediately post-birth, Becca picture here, I think... though I might put it on the other blog. Instead, I'll share one I took of Cate with my phone just a few hours after she was born. Isn't she perfect??

Oh, and I had to put in the one of Michaela giving her new sister a first kiss. She's definitely still not sure what to think of the baby, but we've had a few sweet moments, starting with that one.

Day 199 - July 17

Time for some catch-up!!

If I knew what the end of Tuesday was going to have in store for me, the beginning of Tuesday may have been different.

But even with a baby imminently on the way, Michaela needed a birthday party! So we had our playgroup friends over, along with a few extra friends, and threw a small party in the morning. The theme was Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, the activity was lots of fun in sprinklers, and I spent most of the time having contractions and not doing much else. Thankfully, Jason was scheduled to fly that night, so he was home to do all the work.

The only really good picture I got was of her cake. Wasn't it adorable?? She loved it and I thought my friend Lyssa did an amazing job!

Day 198 - July 16

Happy Birthday, Michaela!!!!

I can not believe that our girl is 3 years old already! Every parent says this, but it feels like she just showed up yesterday, but at the same time it seems our world was never without her. We are so blessed to have such a funny, sweet, smart, wacky girl (who is also sometimes annoying, whiny, and miserable, don't worry!) in our family. I like to think maybe we did something right as parents, but she shows us daily that her personality comes from no one else but her!

I DID teach her how awesome birthdays are - you all remember that I celebrate my birthday month, week, and day, right? - and she was most excited about the balloons we had waiting for her in the living room and kitchen this morning, and getting to open presents this afternoon when Daddy got home from work.

I have two pictures for tonight... and then when I get a minute sometime over the next few days I'll update the FlyingFish blog with more pictures since it's been a while. Tonight's pictures are my little poser, who kept looking at me as she opened a gift until she heard the shutter click; and another of her enjoying what we gave her. Seems we finally got a present right!

(And I did no editing on these pictures.... I'm just too tired to think!!)

Day 197 - July 15

You know you've just gotten through a night of very little sleep (thanks to a few hours worth of contractions) when you walk into your own baby shower during coffee hour at church, and have no idea until someone literally points it out to you.

That was me today.

In my defense, another parishioner was celebrating her birthday, so there was a cake, which Michaela made a beeline for as soon as we walked into the Activities room. So mostly I was focused on keeping her from putting her little fingers into more than one piece of chocolate cake.

Next thing you know, someone is saying, "Surprise!" and then someone else literally had to point to the pile of gifts and the cute ducky decorations so I got what was going on. Jason just laughed at me because he got a heads up phone call before church this morning, so he knew what to expect!

I feel very blessed, though, that our church family put together a little shower for us, and that our priest had such nice things to say about us. It's always so hard when you move so much to find a place in a new church home. St. Luke's was the first church we tried when we got here (and then only tried one other before Jason made the call to go back to St. Luke's - I wonder if that's how he ended up the Senior Warden....), and we were welcomed with open arms, and were so happy to find a place so early in our time here. It took a bit to not choke up this morning (once I realized what was going on) when I realized that the love we have for St. Luke's is definitely not one-sided!

So tonight's picture is a quick shot of all the gift bags piled up in the dining room... now to find a place for everything!!