Baby Story

Eliza Martyne Clapp is here!

8 lbs 2 oz 21 inches.

Born 6/6/10 at 5:51 a.m.

I want to write Eliza's birth story. I attempted to write it in my journal but typing is faster so I am going to do this instead. So if you get grossed out you may not want to read it!


It all started Saturday. We went for a long walk around the neighborhood hoping it would jump start something. Then we ate big lunch and spent time with some of my family who were in town. The day winded down and we decided she wasn't going to come that day. But I prayed so hard that she would come before my parents had to leave to go home. (my dad and sister were going out of town.)

Then at around 11 I had this weird cramp. It actually hurt. I decided maybe she was coming. So I showered and went to bed to sleep as much as I could. I didn't know what contractions would feel like, but I decided these hurt so they must be something. They started out about 40 minutes apart, then down to 20. I woke up hurting and the contractions were about 10 minutes apart so I got dressed while I still could. Then they were 5 to seven minutes apart. It was 2 am. I called the doctor and the hospital. The hospital asked how long the contractions had been close together. The real answer was about 20 minutes, but I lied and said an hour because I knew things were going fast. They told me to come in.

We got to the hospital and they put me in the triage room. I was hurting but it wasn't so bad. They checked me and I was 8 cm dilated so they admitted me and got us to a room. We got to our room at 3 am. I was still not feeling horrible, but I felt like I wanted to get an epidural just to be safe. It seemed scary. So they got me an epidural. It didn't really hurt or anything, but it felt weird and I was nervous.

After the epidural kicked in I felt better. Just a lot of pressure with each contraction. My parents and sister arrived and came to visit. The nurse came to check me again so my family left the room. The nurse said I was ready to push. She broke my water. It was 4 something, not sure exactly. Kase's parents had arrived but had to wait outside.

All the staff came in, I didn't know what to expect. They started counting and I started pushing. Kase was so helpful encouraging me. Pushing didn't hurt like I thought it would, but it did take FOREVER! I thought she would never ever come. The nurses bragged on me and said I was nice and that I was a natural breather. I just felt like I had to get this done and there was not enough energy to be mean.

I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get the baby out so I focused and tried to ignore the pain or the thought that I may die soon.

Finally, they called the doctor in so I new it was getting closer. My doctor wasn't on call so I had a different doctor. She wasn't as encouraging as the nurses, so I was not a big fan but she seemed nice.

I felt like my head might explode towards the end. And finally at 5:51 am she came out. That part hurt but then so relieving! She was beautiful, Kase cut her cord and they handed her to me. She was screaming, but when she heard my voice she turned and looked at me and stopped crying. I fell in love right then. She was beautiful with lots of dark curly hair.

The nurses took her to weigh and clean her. I was bleeding a lot so they kept pressing on my belly to try and stop the bleeding and that HURT more than anything!

Finally, they left me, Kase, and the baby alone. Our little family said a prayer together. We were so grateful she had finally joined us and everything was so good.

Kase said he thought her name was Eliza, one of the ones on our list. So Eliza joined our family.

Both of our parents and my sister were able to come in after her birth and meet her. It was so nice to have them there and share that time with them.

Things have been good. I am feeling better everyday. I worry about her and hope that she is getting enough to eat. Things are hard, which I expected, but I love her so much.

We are so blessed to have this sweet spirit with us. I love Kase so much and it is wonderful to see him in a different and new light. He is so good to me and to the baby. I melt everytime he holds her. I could not ask for a better husband.

I think I remembered everything.

Pictures to come!

Dear Baby,

The doctor teased me this week. On Tuesday, he said you may be here within the week. Being dilated to 7 cm seemed to make him think that. Your father and I got so excited and nervous. We made sure our bags were packed. We ate a good meal. We couldn't sleep from the excitment so we sang songs until we finally slept.

On Wednesday, I felt awful. I was so glad to feel awful. I just knew you would be here soon!

But I think the doctor jinxed us. On Thursday, I woke up and felt fine. Completely normal. It seems now that you will never come!

You see, I used to be very nervous about your arrival. In fact, I was fine with waiting another 2 weeks. You seemed very content where you are, and I was fairly comfortable. The whole delivery thing seemed scary. But now all that has changed. The thought of you finally joining us made me so excited, and now I can't wait! I wish for labor pains. (I am sure I will regret that.)Plus, I am not so comfortable anymore.

Now, I get up everyday and go to work hoping it will be my last day for a while. Every weird feeling I have I think maybe it could be the start of labor. Family is anxiously awaiting our phone call saying you're on your way. I debate calling the doctor to see if he is sure you can't just come now.

But nothing happens.

All because the doctor jinxed us.

Why won't you join us? We are ready. I think you are too. Please hurry.

Love,

Your mother

Good vs Bad

I couldn't decide if I should post this because I don't want to blab on and on about pregnancy, but that is pretty much all I have to blab about. So if you don't want to hear it then don't read it. :)

As I have said before being pregnant hasn't been so bad. I still have 4 weeks left, which seems REALLY soon, but I have heard that things go down hill from here. But so far, I haven't minded pregnancy and sometimes I kind of like it. Either way, I want to remember what my 1st pregancy was like. (I am not going to remember the 1st trimester, that was no fun.)

So to document for myself, here is my

Good and Bad List of Being "With Child":

Good: Realizing how powerful your body really is. It changes everyday is growing a little person.

Bad: Changing everyday. You wake up to new problems all the time. One day you suddenly have excessive heartburn, swollen feet, a non-existant bellybutton, or your favorite shirt stops fitting overnight.

Good: You have a reason to be lazy and not feel bad for it. You are growing a person after all.

Bad: Sometimes you are too tired to doing anything, even when you really want to. I really want to scrapbook, but I am too tired. Or you have the energy, but you really shouldn't be climbing on ladders to trim bushes. You have to rely on someone else to do those things.

Good: You get to decorate a new room! Pick out your favorite colors for your nursery.

Bad: All the "nesting" drives you crazy sometimes. (And those around you. A-hem... Kase)

Good: You get presents for the baby and they are really cute!

Bad: Sometimes when you open a baby present, you don't know what it is so you have to pretend like you do. I am not good at pretending.

Good: You feel even closer to your spouse because you are growing together and loving this baby you will soon have.

Bad: Everytime to try to get a good hug from your spouse your belly gets in the way.

Good: I actually feel pretty most of the time. I know some people don't feel that way when pregnant, but I like my belly. I feel like my body has a purpose. It's not just about me. I know other people might not think I look pretty, but I like me and that is what matters.

Bad: Even when you feel pretty people still comment on how huge you are today. It still doesn't sound good.

Good: Feeling the baby move. First it starts out as a little butterfly feeling. Then she gets so big you can feel or see that a leg/foot/butt is moving around. Very alien like but cool.

Good: Watching and feeling the baby grow over time. From a little dot in a picture, to a large wiggling thing.

Good: Loving a little person more than you ever thought you could and you haven't even met her yet.

Well looks like the Good outweighs the bad. Here is hoping for more Good to come.

Baby Shower Numero Tres aka Work Family Shower

I cannot say enough good things about the people I work with. They are awesome. And not just because they bought me terrific presents. :)

My work family threw me a baby shower. It was AMAZING.

Although I did get really nervous opening gifts in front of people. (There are more people at the shower at other tables, but I don't have a picture of everyone.)
There was YUMMY FOOD: (Not pictured is HOMEMADE VANILLA ICECREAM. My favorite.)

And of course a delicious homemade cake filled with strawberries. Oh AND it's cute:

And let's not forget the amazing gifts. Adorable stuff too. We even go the travel system AND pack-n-playI have been dying to have:

After it was over, my car was loaded full of loot. It was so thoughtful of my co-workers and bosses to do this for me. I am so blessed to work with such amazing people. I was overwhelmed by all they did for us. I cannot thank them enough.

Thank you!

Baby Shower Numero Dos aka Family Family Shower

My wonderful sister-in-laws, Angela and Katie, threw me a baby shower. It was so much fun and so nice to spend time with family.

Food:

Family:

Kase's Cousin Reagan



Melanie & Holly




Cousin Nikki




Niece Sophie

Laura & Holly

Before Kase was born, they thought he would be a girl. His grandmother had bought some dresses for Girl Kase and mailed them to his mother. Since he wasn't a girl, he obviously didn't want to wear such cute little dresses. So his mother stored these dresses away for the future..... She passed these cute dresses onto our sweet little daughter.

Mother-in-law SuperDeb, Laura, & Kase

Sister-in-law Angela & Laura

Dad, Laura, & Mom

Mom, Sister Melissa, & Laura

Mom & Laura


Thank you everyone!!

Baby Shower Numero Uno aka Church Family Shower

My friend at church, Lea Ann, threw a sweet baby shower for me at her house. Several friends from church came and spoiled me and our little one.

Games: Everyone had to draw a baby on a piece of paper on top of their heads. Then I got to pick the best baby. I picked the one my mom drew. I didn't know it was her drawing. It was just the only baby with a cute face (and arms and legs).

Presents: Everyone was so nice and the baby got some really cute dresses and onesies. It was a really fun time.

Thank you!

Plans

Before I get into writing this post, let me just say that I know it may be a little controversial. I do not mean for it to be. But lately I have heard many different opinions and I realize this can be a touchy subject. I am just sharing my thoughts. Feel free to share yours.

Before I was pregnant, I always new it would be hard. Pregnancy would be hard, delivery, and parenthood would be hard. But I also knew that these experiences would be wonderful. Above all, I know that we have no idea what we are getting ourselves into.

So far pregnancy has been great. Changes come all the time: new feelings, new phases, a bigger belly. It has been interesting and I feel blessed to have had a fairly pleasant pregnancy so far.

One of the difficult things, atleast for me, is not knowing what to expect. I am a planner after all. We have no idea when this baby will decide to join us. We have no idea if she will be a super needy baby(like her mother) or a laid back baby (like her father). We have no idea what we feel like as parents. I could go on forever. But I guess part of becoming a parent is learning to give over some control. It will be an interesting ride.

Also, one of the most difficult things for me has been visiting daycares. It is so hard to go into a place and decide if the people there will take good care of your baby. If the atmosphere of a place is safe for your baby. It is so hard to look at people and realize they may be taking care of your baby for a large part of the day. They may be the ones who see your baby reach a new milestone for the first time, even before you do. No matter how nice these people seem, it breaks my heart and I haven't even met our little one yet.

Growing up, I always fully expected to be a stay at home mother one day, and maybe one day I will be. I know being a stay at home mom is hard. It is a lot of work. By no means do I think that it is all fun and games. But I wish I could be the one who creates the atmosphere my child will be surrounded by. I wish I could be the one who sees all of our daughter's milestones. I wish I could be with my baby and make sure she is safe and loved all day.

I know there are people who look down on working mothers. I have already experienced some of these judgments. I also know stay at home moms are also judged in the world today. You just can't win I guess. I think that every family is different and you have to do what you have to do to make things work. So people shouldn't judge.

Despite others judgments, I will not be a working mother because we want to afford fancy things or want cable tv. We do not live frivolously. I will not be a working mother because I think my career is more important than my family. I will be working because it is what is best for our family at this time.

Don't get me wrong. I have a wonderful job. I have been blessed with the most amazing co-workers. I feel a purpose in what I do for a living. I (mostly) like going to work everday. I am extremely thankful for the opportunity to work where I work with the people that I work with.

But I will miss my baby.

I hope I don't sound too whiney. We are very blessed with the amazing opportunity to have a child. I have a wonderful husband who is supportive and caring and sweet. He works so hard and is striving to provide for our family. I honestly could not ask for a better partner. We both have wonderful parents and siblings who are there if/when we need them.

Does anyone have any working mom advice? We thought about finding and paying someone we know to take care of the baby at their home. But I don't know anyone who would be interested in this commitment.

I know that everything will work out just fine. I am going to treasure the time I get to take off of work to spend with our baby. I know it will all be ok.

This baby stuff is hard already. But it's worth it.

Dogs vs Cats

Dogs are better than cats. There I said it. Atleast I think they are. I am a dog person I guess. Yes I suppose Cats are smart and everything. But dogs just love you so much. Besides, how often do you see a Cat as a service animal? A seeing eye cat? I don't think so.


Our dog is special. She is not particularly bright. She runs into things a lot and is afraid of scary things like the cord on the space heater. She is a little obsessive complusive. She must exit the family room using the left side of the couch and enter by the right side of the couch. Everytime there is a doorbell sound on the TV she thinks it's our door. The TV is downstairs, the door is upstairs. Makes sense right? Sometimes, just to mess with her, we tell her to go check the front door to make sure noone is here. And she does. She also falls down the stairs if you accidentally turn off the light while she is going down them.

Our dog is somewhat well trained. She knows how to sit, lay down, go to her bed, and shake. She knows what porch, walk, and outside means. She knows she isn't allowed on the furniture or up the stairs in our bedrooms.

Our dog is rebellious. She knows what she isn't suppose to do and generally she doesn't do those things. Unless she is left alone. She goes through bad spells. These are times when we are not around and she does specifically what she shouldn't. Like snuggle up on the couch for a nap, chew on the puppy gates leaving splinters everywhere, going upstairs and clawing on the door so she can get into one of the bedrooms, or crawling under the fence and running wild and free through our neighborhood. The most random was when she clawed a whole into the wall for no reason. Yes, that is why we call her the Monster.

She has good spells too. But every time I say something like "our dog has been really good lately." She has a bad spell. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

Last night, we were going to sleep and I said to Kase "You know, the dog has been good lately. I am going to regret saying it, but it's true."

And boy did I regret it. At 4:30 in the morning I woke up to a weird noise. At first, I thought it was a dream or someone in the house. Then I realized it was the dog. She was eating our carpet. Yes our carpet. The Monster had returned. There are holes in the carpet going up the stairs.

In her defense, sometimes her tummy gets upset and she wants to eat grass. There is no grass in the house so naturally carpet is the next best thing. Only it doesn't grow back.

So Kase had to let her outside and then back in and then I had to lay there and not sleep because I was afraid she'd eat more carpet. That's our dog.

Maybe cats aren't so bad after all.

But really how could we not love her with a face like this:

Or this:

Maybe she is getting us ready for parenthood. Although, I am pretty sure our baby will not eat carpet. I hope not atleast.

Speaking of parenthood, for those interested here is a photo of me and the baby last week at 27 weeks. Sorry it's so dark. Please ignore my hair and face.

Baby Update

Friday we went to the doctor for our 25th week checkup.

They did another ultrasound to check on the baby's kidneys. Her right kidney still has a blockage somewhere and is swollen full of fluid. It made my heart hurt to see her perfectly small bean-shaped left kidney next to the huge black (fluid shows up black on the monitor) right kidney. We'll have to do another ultrasound to check on the kidney again in 4 weeks. They want to make sure the kidney doesn't get too large and that the amniotic fluid levels stay high enough. She may have to be delivered early if things take a turn for the worst, she may need surgery when she is born, or everything may be OK and she could go full-term and just need medication to clear out the blockage. We're hoping for that one.

Other than that everything else looks good. Strong heart and good bones. She weights 2 lbs already, which is big for her age. And her feet are HUGE! Already 2 inches long!

It was fun to see our baby again.

Here are pictures from the 3 ultrasounds we have had so far. I labeled things because it just looks blob-like to me:



7 weeks- a tiny peanut:
20 weeks- looking like a baby: 25 weeks- She is bigger and squished and kept moving around a lot so they couldn't get a lot of good pictures. Here she looks like Skeletor. It's just one eye, nose, and skeleton mouth: 25 weeks still- They tried to get her huge big foot. It's the blobish thing above her body. HUGE
25 weeks still: This is a picture where they tried to get her hand. I can see an arm and a fist.
Anyways. We are really excited to meet our baby. We're praying that things get better with her kidney. We love her so much already. She loves her daddy already and moves around a lot when he talks to her.

One day I will post pictures of my growing belly. But my computer is slow uploading things. Stay tuned.....

Finally

It finally happened. Someone who doesn't know that I am currently growing a baby, asked if I was pregnant! That means that to atleast some people I actually look pregnant, and not just put on a little weight! At work we have several older gentlemen who are our security guards and I pass by them every morning. I did not tell them about the baby because they are very grandpa-like and I wasn't really sure how to start that conversation. This morning I got on the elevator and one of them followed me in and whispered the ever coveted question "Are you pregnant?"

YES!!! YES I am thank you!!!!

In hind sight I wish I had said no and acted offended. You know just for a little while. But I guess that's not nice to do to your work grandpa.

Advice Needed: Apply Here (or whenever I see you next)

If there is one thing that I have noticed about being pregnant, it is that everyone has advice. Don’t’ get me wrong, I need advice and lots of it. (I will get to that part in a minute.) But lately I have been getting advice on things that I don’t want. I am sure this problem will get worse.

Here’s how it goes:

Unneeded Advice: At this point I am still fitting into some of my regular clothes. However, for some reason several people at my work keep insisting that I go out and buy a bunch of maternity clothes. One lady even texted me on a Friday night to remind me that I need to go shopping for maternity clothes, as if my expanding belly and unbuttoned pants were not enough to remind me.

I am going to get maternity clothes. If fact, with help from my Mom I have purchased a few things. But I don’t have money just lying around to go buy a new wardrobe that I will only use for a short time. I will get there. No rush.

Needed Advice: Where is a place to buy cheap maternity clothes?

Unneeded Advice: People like to comment on my appearance. Apparently being pregnant gives everyone the right to be rude without actually being rude. Example #1: A coworker walked by at work and called me chubby. Perhaps it was a joke, but I don’t find it funny. Example #2: Another coworker told me about a girl she knew that ended up with boils on her face. Thank you. I really needed to hear that. Now I have another thing to worry about, getting face boils.

Speaking of bellies. People at work keep asking me if I am sure that everything is fine because so-in-so that they know who is pregnant is as far a long as I am and they are showing a lot more. They say I should double check with my doctor that everything is OK. Just FYI I have checked with my doctor and everything at this point is fine. I am a tall girl. I have lots of room for a growing baby.

Needed Advice: Is there a magic lotion that will make my belly not itch as much? Anyone?

Unneeded Advice: I need help with girl names. I admit it. We have a few that we like, but we just can’t decide what feels right. I change my mind everyday. I think I like old fashioned names. There is a coworker of mine that keeps suggesting that I name our baby the same name as her teenage son. No offense, but I don’t want to name my kid after someone else’s kid. That’s weird. At first I thought it was a joke, but now it’s been suggested so many times I think she may be serious.

Needed Advice: I do welcome name suggestions! Just not your kids name. That’s weird.

Side Note: If you are my coworker who has stumbled upon my blog and think or know that I may be writing about you. I am sorry. Just blame it on my hormones and/or stop being weird!

More Advice that I need:

Do you have to use special laundry detergent for baby clothes?
Do you prefer the stand alone high chairs or ones that strap to a chair?
Are the car seats that go into the strollers the best route or two separate things?

I know I still have a while to figure most things out but I am obsessed with looking at baby things online.

I’m sure I’ll have more needed advice later. I need lots. I promise not to complain about any given advice on my blog in the future.