Baby Blues

Even though we had heard that every child is different, we still prepared our world for Cailin as if we were expecting Braden again. I got extra burp cloths, prepared the swing and backup swing, made sure there was a path for Aaron to walk the baby at night without falling over anything, etc :). Needless to say, Cailin is her own little girl. She doesn't usually need to be walked at night, isn't a real fan of swings and somehow keeps her food inside her. What does she like? Staring. As a mom, the thing I can often do that makes her the happiest is to stare into her eyes. Motherhood ... what a tough, tough job.

The beautiful blue eyes with long, curly lashes that stare back at me for up to 50 minutes at a time (no exaggeration!)

Birthday Thoughts (The Delivery Story)

Baby Center recommends that you go to the hospital when your contractions are about 5 minutes apart, 60 seconds long AND impossible to ignore (meaning you can't talk thru them, etc.) Althought this really is great advice, my personal recommendation might be to go a little earlier. Don't feel like you have to read this - I didn't really want to be part of it either but since I had to, here were my thoughts that day:


Saturday, June 27 (Cailin's actual due date)


7am - up - some contractions - irregular - must be Braxton Hicks. Heard that if you do things they go away. Need to do something.


8am - at Zoo for early member day. Beautiful day with some cloud cover. Watch a woodrat eat its breakfast, feed birds, walk around. Slightly stronger contractions than when I woke up. Hope these don't last for two weeks.


11am - tired of walking - nine months pregnant after all.


Noon - home. Rats - contractions didn't go away. If I sit and pay attention to them I will probably go insaane. How about a movie?


1pm - at the movie "Up" with a sandwich and butterfinger milk shake. Contractions? Probably but I have a movie and a milkshake to focus on. Much too busy to notice if they ar getting worse or more regular. Hooray for distraction.


3pm - home - laying down with Braden for his nap. Contractions seem longer and more regular. Should probably time them at some point.


4pm - ok fine. I'd guess they are about 5 minutes apart but they aren't 60 seconds long and they aren't all-consuming. But still, maybe Aaron should time them.


4:45pm - Aaron thinks they are about 5 minutes apart and 30-40 seconds long. Bright idea - shower. Have heard that a shower will stop them.


5:15pm - no more hot water. Feel great. Contractions even easier to ignore in the shower. Must be stopping.


5:30pm - Christensens are here to take us to dinner. Chatting. Can't focus on the conversation because of these darn contractions that are back now. Hmmm - maybe we should time these again.


6pm - Dinner isn't going to happen unles we stop by the hospital first. Contraction are about 40-50 seconds long and about 3-4 minutes apart. Christensens pack up Braden. Aaron packs me into the car.


6:45pm - hospital to be checked out. Can't ignore contractions but doing ok so far. Dilated to a 5. Wow. I am actually going to go into labor naturally. Both happy and sad about that. I guess we really won't get to go to dinner.


7:15 - labor and delivery room. Feel ok. Don't need epidural. Am a rock. I can do this.


7:25 - Oh the PAIN! Need epidural NOW. Why isn't everyone jumping to give me an epidural since I just asked for one 30 seconds ago?


7:30 - contractions every 2 minutes and 80-90 seconds long. Is that normal? Cailin's heartrate is dropping significantly with each contraction. Nurse concerned - means I am either about to give birth OR that Cailin is in distress. Probably need to do C section. That means spinal block not epidural. FINE - just put me out!


7:45 - Room empty except for Aaron. Docs conferring about my emergency c section somewhere else. Wait - I think that contraction was a pushing one. Get someone now!


7:48 - Aaon back alone. He told them but they didn't come. This contraction is DEFINITELY pushing. Notice Aaron running out again.


7:50 - People yelling for me not to push. (Do they know that pushing is kind of involuntary???) I am dilated to a 7 and pushing will rip my uterus. Perhaps they should that to my uterus!

7:55 - Need to break my water. Where in the world are the drugs? Can't we wait for the drugs??? No of course not - evidently this anesthesiologist doesn't like delivering anesthesia. I hate everyone.


8:00 - A new voice with an accent- evidently a doctor finally. Only a few minutes later and - tells me I am dilated to a 10 and she sees the head. No time to wait for drugs - baby coming now. Time to push after all. (Can they make up their minds???)


8:05 - Another miserable contraction (have been wanting to die for 40 minutes now) Finally get to push with it. Halfway thru push they tell me to stop again. What is it this time??? Oh - Cailin is here!

One of the most miraculous events of my life - and it only took half a push :)

Cailin Anne Christensen

Cailin Anne Christensen

Saturday, June 27

8 lbs 6 oz

21 1/2 inches

Lucky 7

Is seven really lucky? I don't know. But I am due in 7 days - June 27. Does that mean I will have the baby by then? My prediction is no. I predict I will go into labor on July 2nd, but if I don't, I will be induced on July 4th most likely. Most people can't believe I am willing to wait an extra week but I have to say this pregnancy has been pretty easy. I am one of the lucky ones. I don't get most of the symptoms that everyone else does. After learning that the "comfy chair" was inherently evil I have even fewer aches and pains than I did with Braden. The baby herself is also so mild. She is calm and lets me sleep at night. When I push on her little feet she pulls them in. A pretty good house guest over all. Perhaps I will let her stay a bit longer. After all, I haven't finished washing the car seat yet!

Remodel

OK - so I haven't wanted to talk too much about the remodel we have been doing but I think I finally can because it is virtually over now. It started in March and now with one week left we finally have our house to ourselves with only a few projects left to do. (Aaron is installing a few new door knobs as I type.)

Most of the work was fixing flaws in the house: the ceiling crack that got worse when we added the garage roof, the many holes in the wall from places that mirrors had been removed and carpet had been taken off, black cracks in ceiling tiles in the basement .... the list goes on forever. Of the more noticeable changes: we removed the hot pink carpet from its last holdouts, all of the mirror tiles on the walls, replaced the case and base for a more updated look, painted almost the entire home, covered the strange black tile in the entry with travertine and completely gutted and redid our upstairs bath. Here are some photos of before and afters:

Upstairs bath before

Upstairs bath after

The color of the travertine in the photo is a bit dark. We used the same tile for the entry way.The stairs before - a great example of the mirrors, hot pink carpet and occasionally carpeted walls.

The stairs now - tan carpet with shaker beige walls, espresso doors and white trim

Braden's half of the room

The new baby's half of the room (this is the best photo of the wall color)

Air Show

Was it last weekend? I can't even keep the days straight anymore... we (and about 300,000 other people) went to the air show. Braden had a chance to crawl into some cockpits, stand on some wings and I had the chance to sit because my father in law actually bought me a chair :). So kind! It was fun watching the planed do acrobatics, eating ridiculously expensive hot dogs, and even fun taking the bus ride back to the car.

A terribly photoshopped picture with all of us together - Aaron, Natalie Braden, Grandpa and Grandma Christensen.

Van - Go

There are a lot of things to like about Aaron's job but the fact that we get to use a company car for a flat monthly fee has to be one of the best. When Aaron was hired on he didn't get a choice of vehicles - we were just assigned a silver van that someone else had ordered. Originally I was somewhat mortified, but its utility finally won me over. It was great to have so many seats to give everyone rides. I loved how the seats stowed away in seconds to create as much cargo room as we could posssibly want - even enough to transport our full sized couch without leaving the back open.

Well, as these perks come, they also go. The company decided that vans were too expensive (with gas prices and the constant maintenance) so Aaron was asked to turn his in. Now we have a new Dodge Journey. Cute, fun to drive, and even with a built in cooler/warner. But (and I really can't believe I am saying this) it isn't a van.