Just when you least expect it...

...something wonderful happens!

You suddenly get to meet a little angel...

...a little angel you've been wondering about for so many months...

...and who drops right out of heaven into your arms!


Victoria Emmaline Hobbs
Born June 26, 2009 at 1:03pm
6lbs • 9oz • 19.5" long


We went in to do a version and get her turned head down and discovered I was low on amniotic fluid. A version was impossible. Not so alarming as to think the baby was in distress, but definitely too risky to stay home and wait for regular labor to begin. Although I was hoping and praying for a natural labor and birth, the safest option was to deliver her by cesarean that very day. So at about 12:30pm, they took me into the surgery, and at 1:03pm, we had a squalling child in our arms. Quite a surreal experience. I was truly expecting a few more weeks of pregnancy, so becoming a mommy so quickly has been a huge adjustment for us.

Because she had some fluid still in her lungs, the poor girl had to stay in the nursery for 48 hours (agonizing for me, as you can imagine) for observation. She had some respiratory problems, had to be put on antibiotics in case of an infection, and we could neither hold her nor feed her. They started giving her formula after the first 24 hours, since I wasn't making any milk, and her respiratory problems began to quickly subside. On day 3, she was released to our room, and we were all released Monday afternoon.

We got home on Monday night, and have spent a few rocky hours (wait, I mean an entire night and day) trying to figure out each other and breastfeeding. :) But I think we'll do ok after all. With many prayers, of course.

Thank you for all your prayers during our experience and throughout the pregnancy!

Welcome, baby girl!

Hmmm...what to do?

So I ran across this wool at a neighbor's garage sale and even though there's only about 2 yards of it, I thought I might be able to use it for something for reenacting. It's definitely wool (I can tell by the itch it gives me), and it's a rather nice weight -- not lightweight, but not heavy either.

Any ideas as to what I could do with it? A shawl just doesn't seem right for it.

Quick update...

So, guess what? My baby is breech now. ?? What's up with that? Apparently, being so long and tall and with still pretty tight abs (from being a dancer, no doubt), I seem have a lot more vertical room in there than the "average" woman, therefore making it a little more difficult for the baby to somersault or lay transverse, and a little easier for the baby to just settle in at whatever vertical position he/she was already in...which in this case was breech. Since I got confirmation of the position on Thursday, I'm now pretty sure the baby has been breech for at least a couple of weeks, as the baby has definitely been laying in the same position for a long while now. I just think it was difficult to discern a bottom from a head and so we were thinking the baby was head-down.

So, I've been trying every possible at-home maneuver to get that little noodle to turn, but I can only get to a vague sort of transverse position at most. It's really kind of an "oblique" position, but instead of having a hard little head against my pelvis bone, I have a hard little head banging against my right ribcage.

Did I mention that it's a hard little head?

Luckily, though, the baby is NOT yet engaged in my pelvis due to the aforementioned space in my womb, so, in an effort to attempt to get the baby head-down, we've decided to try an External Cephalic Version (ECV) on Friday morning, provided we can't get the kid to turn naturally before then. I'm pretty staunchly against most medical intervention, but considering I'll be 38 weeks, and nobody around here will deliver a breech baby vaginally without me driving 3 hours to Dallas to get to the possible 2 OBs who might be willing to do the delivery, I'd rather try this external massage to get the kidlet to turn and just pray it all works out ok.

So wish me luck and send up your prayers for me this week. I want to avoid the ECV if I can, but if I can't, please pray everything turns out fine. Of course, ECV poses its own risks -- which I understand are small, but necessary to prepare mentally for -- like going into labor earlier than usual, or it not working and having a c-section anyway, or being just traumatic enough to distress the baby and cause me to have an emergency c-section. We went ahead and got our car seat this weekend, just in case we end up with a babe in arms next week.

Wouldn't that be wild!



Hee hee! But seriously, even though I can't believe I'm saying it, I hope I stay pregnant a few more weeks, so both my body and baby ripen up on their own.

I can't complain too much -- it's been an easy pregnancy and our baby seems to be healthy and strong...so I'm thankful for that. I hope everyone out there in blog-land is doing good! All you expectant moms: be sure and take care of yourselves! :)

Love and blessings to all,
Amy

Hello all....

Sorry to be such a snore on the blog-front.

It's been a while since I posted anything, mainly because I'm ashamed that I haven't finished that baby dress yet, that I thought I'd do over Memorial Day weekend. What's even more sad is that I really only have a couple of things to do and it's finished. So easy. But my energy has been....well, non-existent. Or, I guess, it has come in spurts -- and when it does come, I usually have something more important to apply my energy to (like washing dishes, or doing laundry) and extra-curricular activities seem to fall by the wayside. Ah, well.

Anyhow, I wanted to write something and let everyone know I'm still alive and kicking. So is the baby. ;) I've got only a mild kicker of a kid in there, so I'm thankful I'm not being beat up from the inside. Although I've not posted much of anything, I've been reading up on other blogs so I can keep up with everyone and your various pursuits. Extra, extra pleased at the recent announcements of new babies that are going to be born in our blog-land! Feels like we're all neighbors. :) Too bad we're not all neighbors. Wouldn't that be fun???

Well...wish I had more to say, but since I don't, I'll get back to work.
Hope everyone is well and happy this warm summer day!

- Amy