First Day Home and a Bath

We finally arrived home from the hospital yesterday and are working on settling back into our lives. As anyone knows who has done it, it 's quite a change walking out your door, spending 3 days in the hospital and then coming back home with a new person. Things are going quite well. We are trying to adjust to much less sleep, constantly keeping our eye on the baby, and feeling like we are parents.

Here is Eleanor all swaddled up at home on the couch. She really likes being in this state and they taught us how to do it quite well in the parenting classes. We also watched the nurses do it in the hospital. It's too bad the MDs couldn't do it to save their lives and generally scrunched the blanket up around the baby like they were a ham roast.

Apparently Carrie took a picture of me napping yesterday with Eleanor. She seems to like me so far as I can tell.

We gave her her first bath at home last night as the water was too cold so she didn't enjoy it. Thanks to the stupid temperature indicator that came with the foam pad. I'm sure it involves litigation, etc... and them not wanting to be responsible for burning your baby. Nevertheless, i'll use my own hands to check the temp for the next bath so she can actually enjoy it. Needless to say, she now has the sweet baby smell of Burt's Bees. Thanks Burt!

Lastly, here she is sitting in the bath getting washed.

Eleanor Ruby Decker

We have a new addition to our family. She arrived on Wednesday morning 8:11 am and weighed 8 pounds, 11 ounces. We are currently in the hospital and are waiting to go home tomorrow. We apologize to everyone that heard late, or hasn't heard about this in a timely manner. It's been difficult to get a hold of everyone and i'm not used to Carrie's email account and didn't do a very good job of getting the word out.

Anyway, we're looking forward to getting home tomorrow and spending a couple days relaxing without constant nurse and doctor visits. Don't get us wrong, the care and people here have been really great. We're just ready to be back in our own digs.

Tuesday night we decided to go get spicy food and we were wanting to play some trivia (which we often do.) So we made a trip to Buffalo Wild Wings which we do periodically. It was a good night - I was beating Carrie at trivia for once... but then it became a better night when Carrie's water broke in the booth. The staff there was really gracious in cleaning up after us and helping us out and we went home to load up the remainder of our stuff in the car. Most of our items were already in the trunk thanks to planning ahead.

We arrived at the hospital at 8:30 and they immediately put Carrie on Pitosin to begin labor. They did this because of the worry of Strep infection since the water had broken and no contractions had started. Carrie's contractions started to build until about 1:30 when the midwife was paged back over and she was 7-8cm dialated. By 5:30am she was 10cm (full.) A half hour later she talked the midwife into letting her push because she said she was ready. Apparently she was because between 6 and 8:11 am she went to town, pushing really strongly and getting the baby out in "one of the 5 most succesful labors i've ever watched" according to the midwife. That's my wife - why am I not surprised at her achievements!? After the delivery, there were some complications with clotting and a tear. Things are good now and Carrie will develop her strength and stamina back over the next couple of weeks.

Needless to say, we are both ecstatic at our new addition. She is really beautiful and so mild mannered. Obviously she doesn't take after me. She (right now) has very dark blue eyes and mild brown hair. Both of these could very likely change. She seems like quite a content little baby and we managed to get some sleep over the past day. Her crying has really been negligible as well.

We've had many visits from family and are so grateful for such a huge amount of support. Everyone has been absolutely great. We are slowly trying to make calls and get all of our close friends in the loop. We are sorry for the delay. We hope everyone will be able to see her soon enough... i'm sure you'll love her as much as we do!

still waiting, or, due date, schmue date

it's been 6 days since the baby's due date and i am still very much pregnant. we'll see how things look tomorrow afternoon when we go in for the ultrasound and non-stress test. i'm hoping that everything is still healthy and normal so we can wait a few more days before intervening/inducing in hopes that labor will start on its own. cross your fingers! in the meantime, we've been keeping busy around the house (houses, actually--rob, bill and my dad did some work on the new garage insulation and drywall yesterday) while waiting for the little one to arrive.
this morning, rob made apple fritters for breakfast from his dad's recipe. we don't do a lot of deep fat frying in our house, so it was a bit of an adventure. rob took a few liberties with the recipe, adding some more apple and a touch of cinnamon. the results were, predictably, delicious and very filling.

this afternoon, i finished seaming up the baby surprise jacket and sewed on the buttons. the last bits are my least favorite part of knitting because you're not actually doing any knitting. still, finally finishing a project is very satisfying! it turned out nicely, if i do say so myself. the DVD definitely helped--i'd be happy to share it with any interested knitter out there. here are front and back views of my first non-hat-or-booties baby garment. note the exercise/birth ball as background--it's the best seat in the house when you're 41 weeks pregnant!

father's day...due date

yesterday we celebrated father's day with our dads over breakfast at fair grounds, IC's premier spot for organic, fair trade coffee and vegan waffles and french toast (you'd never suspect there are no eggs or dairy involved!). here they are, perusing their cards. i think rob was hoping that he'd actually be a dad by father's day. no such luck, as you can see... today is our official due date and though the day's not over yet, i strongly suspect that our baby, like the majority of first-borns, will be over 40 weeks when s/he arrives. we had a pre-natal appointment this morning and everything looks and sounds good--laura the midwife said that the baby has a "ready heartbeat." any day now, i hope...we scheduled a non-stress test and ultrasound for next monday just in case the little one stays put through the weekend. i wonder what the baby countdown widget at right will say tomorrow if it's already at 0 days today? hmmm...

food lit and a changing table: another hodgepodge post

one of the things i was looking forward to most this summer (aside from the obvious) was being able to do some leisure reading. i'm typically a fiction reader, but during my recent trip to the IC public library i was drawn to all of this food memoir writing...

i read julie & julia first--the author (check out her current blog here) works her way through all of the recipes in julia child's mastering the art of french cooking, volume one over the course of a year. at times i found her voice to be a tad annoying/whiny and some of the descriptions of her messy (okay, filthy) kitchen were stomach-turning, but it was amusing enough...

still haven't read heat yet, but i've heard lots of good things from friends and family members who have. bill buford gives up his desk job to become a line cook at mario batali's restaurant, babbo, and travels to italy to learn how to make pasta, butcher various animals and prepare classic italian cuisine. after all of the talk of aspic and other french culinary gems described in julie & julia that have never sounded particularly appetizing to me, i'm looking forward to learning more about the italian take on food, organ meats and all...

i'm almost done with stealing buddha's dinner, which i initially heard about on "all things considered". the author and her family came to the US as refugees from vietnam when she was less than a year old and she writes lovingly about the american (pringles, toll house cookies, ice cream) and vietnamese (pho, mooncakes) food of her youth. she also peppers her writing with 80's pop culture references, which i love.
bill finished the baby's changing table and brought it over to the house with kathie's help the other day. like the crib, it's absolutely beautiful, as you can see. once the changing pad and cover arrive from target, we'll be all set!

only five days left till the due date and i still feel great the vast majority of the time. afternoon naps have likely helped in this department, especially over the past few days when temperatures have crept into the high 80s. during trips to the dog park (another perk of summertime) over the last week or two, various friendly and inquisitive dog folks have told me in equal measure that i'm carrying low ("that baby has definitely dropped") or carrying high ("well, you haven't dropped yet"), that i look like i'm ready to pop or that i don't look like i'm full term at all, that the baby must be a boy or must be a girl. it's an interesting bit of anthropology, that's for sure...

baby shower!

this saturday was the baby shower at our new house. many thanks to betsy and sandy for hosting such a lovely party for us complete with a fun red wagon theme and tasty food. the mini cream puffs with chocolate sauce were my favorite!
here i am with a drawing i made when i was probably 5 or so that my mom included in her gift. if you can't read the (teacher's) writing across the top, it says "i am going to be a mother." apparently at that tender young age i envisioned myself doing a lot of ironing as an adult. 5-year-old me might be disappointed with my preventive get-it-out-of-the-dryer-quickly-and-give-it-a-good-shake-to-avoid-wrinkles method.

betsy, julie (hiding behind the belly) and me.

opening presents in the dining room. note the drop cloth under the table--we're a little cautious with the newly refinished wood floors. (l to r: betsy, kathie, sara (jackie's niece), jackie and me)

joyce made this baby blanket from a pattern in mason-dixon knitting, which we gave her for christmas. she will be adding a few more panels and a border--it was hard to give it back for finishing!



mom and i check out some board books. hanging from the columns is a clothesline of baby finery from my chicago girlfriends. it was all coiled up under tissue paper in a big basket. the end of the line was tied with a teething ring that draped over the edge--i started pulling and out came all of these cute baby clothes!

sandy, jan, joan, jean and kathie (in doorway).


sam and the huge sock monkey (a present from jean) hang out in henry's wagon. the monkey is now holding court in the nursery glider.

2 weeks

Check it out... time is flying by:

What our baby looks like now.

just some stuff that's been going on...

oscar got a bath, haircut and nail trim the other day at a nearby vet's office. he's so over it, as you can see. rob thinks the cut isn't close enough, and i more or less agree. on the other hand, oscar looks so pathetic when his hair is really short (especially his skinny little tail) that i'm kinda glad he was spared a close shave. still, i wouldn't be surpised if he winds up with an at-home cut that makes him look a little like a drowned rat before the summer heat has dissipated.

this was the tastiest dinner yet from our frozen stash of naomi's kitchen food--"fiery pork skewers" (shown pre-grilling). i added the pineapple and green peppers. it was our first use of the wee weber grill this year--deeelicious with coconut rice and a salad of fresh greens from the farm.

now on the needles...the baby surprise jacket! it's all knit in one crazy-looking piece, then folded ingeniously into a cardigan. surprise!!! the pattern is a little tricky (all garter stitch, but lots of increases and decreases), so i broke down and bought the instructional DVD. i didn't feel confident enough to go it alone with sarah, who's a pro at these by now, all the way in CA. you can see the finished product, with optional collar, on the cover. warning: my investment in this DVD means that any family member or friend having a baby within the next five years will likely get one of these! fyi, i'm using my koigu-esque yarn in deep shades of green, blue, purple and brown for this little cardi.

this might not look like much more than a big pile of stuff to you, but when i came upon it next to rob's desk the other day, it made my heart skip a beat. he had "packed" his hospital bag before i had packed mine! just so you know, in rob's style of packing, the clothes sit beside but don't actually enter the bag until he's ready to leave. this used to baffle and irritate me a bit, but i'm used to it now. i felt a great wave of affection for my husband as well as a pang of guilt for not having my own stuff together. it was a good motivator, and now my bag is mostly ready! 37.5 weeks and counting...