Baby Clare

Well, she's out!

Clare Scholastica was born on December 19th 2008 at 6:46pm. She was 6lbs 11oz and 19.5 inches long.

The started me on pitocin at around 8am, broke my water and my ob described me as 3cm dilated after forcing me open with a balloon. After 11 hours, no further dilation and Clare not dropping any further into my pelvis they gave me a choice

1. Get an epidural to deal with the contractions which were around 1 minute apart and rendered me unable to speak while they were happening and just wait to see if anything else happens (they said I'd probably have to have a c-section in the end.)

2. Go straight for the c-section.

The doctor (not my ob, but a nice parter of the same practice) told me that the chances of me dilating further were slim considering my mother didn't dilate with my sister or me and my sister didn't dilate with her kids. After 11 hours of pitocin and contracting it didn't seem likely that I would progress and that I might just end up spending hours in pain with no result and a c-section anyways..........

...............................so we decided to have a c-section.

About 20 minutes after I signed the forms Jon had Clare in his arms. :)

We're recovering very well and Clare has gained some weight since birth. She had her first pediatric appointment today and we found that she's in the 15th weight percentile, 35th length, and 70th for head circumference!! Ha ha!! My baby has a big head.

Anyways, here is my favorite shot of our cutie pie!!

Update

Being induced tomorrow at 7:15am!! Hopefully all goes well and we'll be able to show everyone pictures of little Clare Scholastica soon!! We're bringing the laptop and the hospital has wifi. Ha ha! So if Jon is still functioning after tomorrow's ordeal he'll probably be posting pics of our little bundle! Please pray for us!! Thanks!

Waiting....

So .....she's 4 days late now. She was supposed to be born on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Dec. 12th). Interesting factoid about the image of our Lady of Guadalupe: in the image she is wearing an aztec maternity belt to show that she's pregnant! Cool huh?

Just like me....I guess Mary wouldn't have had a specific due date to look towards when she was giving birth. Or maybe she just knew that Jesus would come out at exactly 9 months 'cuz the Son of God probably wouldn't be tardy. Ah, who knows. Mother Mary please pray for my patience.

I can't say I've ever wanted to feel bodily pain in my life....but going against all survival instincts I am really wanting the pain of contractions to start up. At least, everyone says they're going to be painful. C'mon baby! So prayers for baby to come soon would be greatly appreciated. I'd rather not be induced, which may be the case if she's not out by Friday.

There are a few reasons I'd rather not be induced:

1. My doctor will be on vacation.

2. Artificial administration of oxytocin usually means fast, painful, full force contractions instead of a gradual build up to them.

3. There's not even a guarantee that I'd be induced on Friday. I guess we have to request days and it's possible that I may be denied Friday, so it may have to happen next week! Being in the hospital on Christmas would be pretty lame.

Ah, but what a lesson for advent eh?

Patience people. I read so many of my friends' blogs saying that parenting is a time when you learn to give up control because you realize that you didn't have it anyways. So I guess it's time to start realizing that now. You think with all the surprises in life I'd have learned that already. Ha ha! Oh well, time to learn God's time.

An advent slideshow I made a while ago.

Advent 2006

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: advent catholic)

Coffee

The doctor said I can have a little caffeine. So don't worry, it's okay.

They sell Mystic Monk coffee at the Catholic Bookstore in town and I've been wanting to try it every since I saw an ad on my google ads sidebar, so I bought some on Saturday. Then I started hearing ads on Catholic Radio. I was on their website last week and about to order but I didn't.
This is my first brew of their Chocolate Mint blend and it's awesome. I highly reccommend buying this coffee! The Carmelite Monks of Wyoming Brew it and sell it so they can build a new Church for their order! So support a good growing Catholic religious order and get some rad coffee!!

There's a link to the Mystic Monk Coffee site.

http://www.mysticmonkcoffee.com/monks.html

Here's a link to the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming.

http://www.carmelitemonks.org/

39 weeks

Well I'm officially 39 weeks along! She's due next Friday the 12th. The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe! I think I've begun to feel Braxton Hicks contractions (false labor contractions.) Not too bad, just a little strange feeling. We'll see what real contractions feel like hopefully very soon! Since it's advent I should be working on patience......but I'm so ready and excited to meet this baby!! Here's some photographic evidence of me being ready to pop!

And here's what it looks like when I look straight down!!!